Are Your Priorities Balanced—Robert and Kay Lee Fukui

How do you balance your time between your spouse, your family, and your business? Do you have a balance that works for you?  Our guests today are Robert and Kay Lee Fukui, and they share with us some of their insights into managing your relationship while running a business. 


TODAY’S WIN-WIN:
Using a quadrant scorecard to measure how you take care of yourself, your relationship, your business, and your wealth.


LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

  • You can visit our guest’s website at:
  • Get a copy of our guests’ book: CLICK HERE.
  • Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:  
  • https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/
  • If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
  • Connect with our guest on social:
    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayleefukui/
    • https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertfukui/
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingintandem
    • Instagram: @ThrivingInTandem
    • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com@thrivingintandem
    • Podcast: https://marriedentrepreneur.co/blog


ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Robert and Kay Lee Fukui, co-founders of i61, Inc., empower married entrepreneurs to achieve a balanced work/life dynamic. Robert, with 25 years in sales and marketing, and Kay Lee, with extensive experience in banking and family business operations, combine their expertise to help couples scale their businesses without sacrificing their marriage. Their innovative consulting program, Power Couples by Design , and their book, Tandem: The Married Entrepreneurs’ Guide for Greater Work-Life Balance, reflect their dedication to thriving relationships and successful enterprises. 

ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/.

TRANSCRIPT

Tom DuFore (00:01):

Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team, and as we open, I’m wondering how do you balance your time between your spouse, your family, and your business, and do you have a balance that works for you? Well, our guests today are Robert and Kay Lee Fukui, and they share with us some of their insights into managing your relationships, especially the relationship with your husband or wife while running a business. Robert and Kay Lee are co-founders of i61 Inc. and they empower married entrepreneurs to achieve a balanced work-life dynamic. Robert brings 25 years in sales and marketing, and Kay Lee has extensive experience in banking and family business operations, and they combine their expertise to help couples scale their businesses without sacrificing their marriage.

(01:05):

Their innovative consulting program, Power Couples by Design and their book called Tandem: The Married Entrepreneurs’ Guide for Greater Work-Life Balance, which we discuss on the podcast today, reflect their dedication to thriving relationships and successful enterprises. You’re going to love this interview, so let’s go ahead and jump right into it. I’m excited to have you all on the program here and really talking about this idea of marriage and business and all things orienting around that. And one of the things you’ve recently finished is a book called Tandem, and so I’d love for you just to open a little bit and give us a little overview about what the book’s about and what led you to write it.

Robert Fukui (01:46):

Thanks, Tom, really.

Kay Lee Fukui (01:46):

Yes, thank you for having us.

Robert Fukui (01:48):

Excited to be here. And franchise is, as we said off air before we recorded, there’s a section and/or chapter about thinking like a franchiser. So our book Tandem: The Married Entrepreneurs’ Guide for Greater Work-Life Balance is geared for the married entrepreneur. The husband and wife may or may not be working together, but one at least owns a business. You’re married and you’re trying to do marriage and build a business. And especially, I think even with franchisees, sometimes you think you’re buying a business in a box, and so you think everything should be hunky dory. You just buy this thing, you get it, you get your management team, your crew, and you’re good, right? Next thing you know, you’re working probably longer than if you just had a 9:00 to 5:00 job and if you break it down hourly, might be getting paid less.

(02:33):

So that’s not what we signed up for, especially because now you’re not even able to have the freedom that you wanted to spend time with your spouse, your kids and all that, enjoy life as you’re building this business. And so, the book is really to address these issues is how do you do marriage and business well? How do you have work-life balance? What does it even mean and is it even achievable? And how do you do both well? I guess, is the bottom line. And so that’s what our book is about. It’s part marriage, relationship coaching and part business consulting, all wrapped up in one.

Tom DuFore (03:03):

Well, it’s fantastic and it’s one of the drivers who I was excited to have you on the show. I work with my wife and many of our clients that I’ve worked with over the years, whether they own and run the business together or one spouse owns the business and then the other is in a supporting role in trying to balance all of these things that go on. I guess to lead into that, as we start thinking about this, I like this idea in the notes that we reviewed about harmonizing marriage and business. And so, can you talk through a little bit about strategies for creating this kind of balance if there is such a thing with running the business and also managing your relationship?

Robert Fukui (03:45):

Yeah, I think when it comes to work-life balance or imbalance in a lot of people’s lives, I mean, we don’t know exactly what it is, but we know we’re not feeling it right now. We know things are a little bit out of whack. We probably feel we’re not spending the time we’d want to in our personal side. And so the first thing we always recommend is, number one, as husband and wife, you got to sit down and define what balance means to you. And first of all, it’s not a quantitative measurement. It’s about how much time you spend in business or at home. It’s a qualitative measure. So I’m speaking of business owners, so you should understand quantitative versus qualitative. Qualitative is subjective and at the end of the day, as you’re talking as husband and wife it’s like, what’s the bare minimum thing we can do every day regardless of how busy life gets that will make us feel connected and you feel emotionally supported or physically supportive of each other?

(04:40):

Research shows and even psychological research shows that as little as five minutes of an intentional time every day as husband and wife, meaning you’re looking each other in the eye, you don’t have your phones, you’re not thinking about business stuff, but you’re just asking, “Hey, I love you, I appreciate you. How can I support you?” And having a five minute just eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart conversation is good for the day. And people might think five minutes isn’t a lot, but how many times do you really do that on a daily basis as husband and wife? So it’s not a time issue, it’s really quality of time.

(05:16):

And so we’d say, okay, let’s in your calendar, deconstruct it, meaning start with a clean slate and whatever you say the priorities of your life are before business, each other, yourself, of course, your kids and whatever, start blocking out time during the week for those quality times. The date nights, the five, 15 min check-ins. We start first thing in the morning with our check-ins and so things like that. So start with a clean slate on your calendar and put the priorities in first and then block it out and then it leaves you a lot of time in the calendar to still do business.

Kay Lee Fukui (05:51):

And it can be as small as we walk the dog after work, we take the dog around the block and we get some exercise, check in with each other, see how our day was. That way when we’re having dinner, we’re not talking about work the whole time. And it’s just nice to feel like you put on a different hat like, okay, this is how we end our work day by going on the walks, just checking in with each other, getting a little exercise, getting some fresh air, getting away from our office.

Robert Fukui (06:18):

Yeah, so it’s that transition period. It’s a psychological switch and it’s a transition period for us to go from work mode into husband and wife mode.

Tom DuFore (06:28):

Inevitably, it seems sometimes running the business and marriage and so on can result in conflict at some point between the relationship and the business. You talk about using disagreements as a catalyst for growth in marriage and business. So can you shed some light on that?

Robert Fukui (06:45):

Yeah, we’re always going to have points of disagreement. We’re two different people and sometimes you’re going to have two different viewpoints, and that’s a good thing. And especially if you put it in the business context. As husband and wife, we have similarities and personalities and styles, but we also have differences. And those differences are very healthy because those different perspectives, I mean, if you just think of it just in business itself, you don’t build a team around you that think exactly like you, that wouldn’t be healthy at all because then there’s no growth. The different perspectives are actually healthy, but how do you prevent it from becoming a conflict and becoming an issue and getting personal as husband and wife? So let’s make the issue the issue and don’t make it personal and make it emotional. And next thing you know, now we’re having emotional conflict and then we can’t resolve an issue and move forward. Because if we can’t resolve the issue, it’s really hard to move forward in business and just at home and in life. So it’s not just a business issue. So it’s a life issue.

(07:44):

So when it comes to conflict, we have what we call rules of engagement. In a disagreement or when we have a conversation that potentially can get heated, what’s inbounds, what’s out of bounds? And so out of bounds means we avoid triggers, the thing that can trigger each other negatively.

Kay Lee Fukui (08:05):

And yes, we know what those buttons are, you guys.

Robert Fukui (08:05):

You know what kind of phrase, saying, even a nonverbal response that can trigger your spouse. So when we get into heated moments, sometimes we want to let them have it a little bit.

Kay Lee Fukui (08:18):

What?

Robert Fukui (08:18):

Exactly. So we might do something that, for me, I shouldn’t do, which is be sarcastic. So that’s just going to set her off. And looking back, if you’re just looking from the top in, you know that’s not healthy for the conversation. It’s not going to help it. It’s just going to make it worse. So that’s an example of out of bounds in rules of engagement. We don’t do that because it’s not going to be productive for the conversation. And inbounds will be the things that create a more safe and healthy environment for a conversation.

Kay Lee Fukui (08:50):

Because a lot of times we marry somebody the complete opposite. I know Robert’s very detailed and I’m more the creative and it used to drive me nuts, but now I love it. I embrace it. When I need something, a project that needs to be very detailed, I’m like, “Honey, can you look at this and help me out?” So we try and work in each other’s strengths as opposed to letting it bother us because for some reason when we were dating, we thought it was cute, but once you get married it’s like, “Oh my gosh, you’re really annoying me.”

Robert Fukui (09:16):

Yeah, so as she’s pointing out our differences. So we use this personality assessment for ourselves and for our clients to see where we connect and where we have synergy and where there’s potential conflict. And one, as a CS, I’m more introverted, she’s more of an I, which is extroverted. And so when we have conversations where we’re trying to make decisions, she’s a verbal communicator and she’s going to process verbally. I’m more internal, so I need the time to think internally and be quiet. So that can cause an issue right there because I need a moment, but she wants to keep talking it out and it drives me nuts. And also sometimes when she’s talking it out, I’m thinking she’s making a decision. And so I start to disagree because I’m afraid she’s making a decision when actually all she’s doing is brainstorming verbally.

(10:06):

So we’ve had to learn of how to address each other’s communication style and one, she knows I need time to think, and I know she just needs to process verbally, but I don’t need to disagree with her, I just need to have a conversation with her. So that’s that inbounds is do allow her to talk and I just know I’m not trying to fix anything or come up with a solution, I’m just having a conversation with her. And then she also knows I need time. And so that can drive each other crazy when someone actually wants to move forward and the other one wants time, that in itself can drive each other nuts. So when we need a moment to process, we just let the other person know, “I need a moment,” maybe 15 minutes, a half an hour or whatever, and then we’ll come back and pick up the conversation. So that’s what’s an example of inbounds in the rules of engagement.

Tom DuFore (10:56):

Kay Lee, much like you, I’m a maxed out I on the DISC and a very high D, and my wife is a CS like you Robert. So as you’re describing that, I said, “Oh, yes, that sounds so familiar. That sounds so familiar. I’ve been through that myself many times and definitely relate to that.” So as you start talking about embracing this conflict and setting some of these boundaries, what’s inbounds and out of bounds, do you have any maybe first steps that a couple might be able to take that listens into this, say, “Okay, I like this. My husband or wife, we haven’t had that kind of a conversation,” where would you even start?

Robert Fukui (11:36):

Well, just the first thing we do with our clients is do the DISC assessment and you can even take the free ones and all that. That’s fine. And then we have a little tool that shows, a little chart, about where the personality type and communication styles and then have a conversation about this is why you guys rub each other the wrong way in moments of conflict. And then we come up with a solution. And sometimes you need a third party, especially if you’ve been married for more than a minute. A lot of times it’s hard to resolve these issues on your own because that turns into conflict. And so just trying to resolve your communication styles and how to communicate better, sometimes that conversation itself can create conflict. So sometimes don’t be afraid to get outside help and perspective.

(12:23):

But the DISC profile or Myers-Briggs or Enneagram, any of those things, whatever you’re comfortable with, that’s always helpful and enlightening because you want to know what is your go-to when it comes to time of stress. And in those times of stress, we go to our corners of our type. And I know a lot of people have a hard time with these assessments. They say, “Oh, they’re pigeonholing me. That doesn’t define me.” And you’re right, it doesn’t define you, but what it does is create self-awareness of what’s your go-to when things get stressful. Like I said, I’m going to crawl into a corner. She wants to more attack. She wants to resolve the issue, so she’s going to go on attack mode or what seems like attack mode to me because I’m in a corner. She’s not really attacking, but she wants to resolve the issue and she’s verbal.

(13:10):

And so what we do from there is then based on that knowing what our go-to would be, I have to say, “Okay, honey, I need a moment. If we’re going to have this conversation, you coming at me is not going to help.” But if I say, “Honey, I need 15 minutes to think, and then we’ll come back to the conversation,” that will appease her because she wants to resolve the issue. She doesn’t necessarily need a solution, but she doesn’t want me just to run away and hide because then it’s unresolved. But if I tell her, “Give me 15 minutes or half hour or even ’til the end of the day, and then I’ll come back and pick up the conversation,” that’s good, right?

Kay Lee Fukui (13:52):

Mm-hmm, yeah. And you tell me that you love me. I think too, another thing is sit down and talk with your spouse about their childhood and find out some of the things that triggers them because then you’ll be so much more empathetic. When Robert would get upset about something and I have no idea, but then when he would tell me the story behind it, the childhood, that trauma or the trigger, I would have so much more empathy and be like, “Oh, now I understand.” It unlocks it a little bit.

Robert Fukui (14:20):

Well, just like for you, honey, about stepping out. One of the things we had in counseling when we were going through our own rules of engagement and counseling, she said, “Okay, if you have a disagreement and you feel it gets heated and you need a moment, don’t just walk out without saying anything.”

Kay Lee Fukui (14:34):

Yeah, because in my family, we didn’t resolve conflict. Our idea of conflict was just hanging up on the phone, get in the car, storming out of the driveway, walk away from people. And so when Robert and I would get into a heated conversation, I would have anxiety thinking, “Oh, my gosh, he’s going to leave and is he going to come back?” And so that would just really make me fearful as opposed to now if he needs time away, like he said, he’ll say, “Honey, I love you. I need a timeout right now. I’ll be back at such and such time, and we can pick up the conversation.” And that just eases me. And I’m like, “Okay, I can do that.” But each couple, it’s different. You’re going to have different issues.

Tom DuFore (15:15):

One of the things that helps embrace some of this relational aspect of running the business and blending the two together, the marriage and the business all in one, is this idea of maximizing margins in the business. And you talk about not just the financial margins, but the time margins as part of this. So I’d love for you to talk a little bit about that idea and what you mean by that.

Robert Fukui (15:42):

Time margin is we start with 24 hours in a day and then we got to do stuff, and then hopefully we have the time left over to enjoy life as well. So the time left over to enjoy life, well, let’s just call that, in financial terms, the profit margin. That’s the goal. That’s the stuff we keep and we enjoy. And so how do we build that margin? And so in business, a lot of times the go-to is if things aren’t going well or if we want to grow the business or whatever, the go-to is put in more time if we don’t have the money to hire more people or to invest into other systems and processes, whatever, to increase efficiency. But what we do, our go-to tends to be put in more time.

(16:28):

And so what happens is if you look at some of the performance research out there is that the average business owner spends about only 35% of their time on the business activities and 65% of the time in the business activities. So for those that are not familiar with that term, in the business activities are those day-to-day duties, administrative duties, just to check off the to-do list to keep things moving. But the on the business activities are the things that would move the business forward. And that’s maybe it’s going to look for a new partnership or a new venture or for restaurants, testing out new menus or some research and development. Some of those big items that putting more time in it would move the business forward. And we don’t spend enough time on those areas because we’re too busy on the day-to-day.

(17:19):

And so what we need to do to increase your time margin is to flip the ratio around to 65% of the time on on the business activities. So if you think about all the things that you know would be healthy for your business, but you haven’t got to because you’re caught up in everything else, think about that if you put more concentration of your time in those areas, what would that do to the trajectory of your business? And also just for yourself, I think you’d be even more fulfilled in working the business because we probably enjoy that aspect of it more than handling a customer service issue or invoicing or doing administrative work. And so trying to get that ratio around so you spend more time on those on the business activities will not only move the business forward, but will also energize you because you’re doing stuff that you love.

Kay Lee Fukui (18:07):

And it’s usually, it’s things that only the owner can do, like the innovation. You’ll hear people say, “Oh, I’ve been wanting to do this for years.” But they just never made time or got around to being able to move the business forward and grow in it.

Robert Fukui (18:22):

Yeah, so in fact, because even in a franchisee or a franchise system, they give you systems and processes, but yet even within that as the individual owner, there’s still going to be stuff that you got to figure out on your own. And so we look at, okay, there’s an acronym we use ADE, A-D-E. The in the business activities, what can you automate to make it more smooth and more efficient? What can you delegate and what do you might need to eliminate? What are those tasks in your bucket that maybe you need to say no to now or forever? What should you be delegating more of? And then what do you need to automate or automate more of? And so when you look at what you do on a day-to-day basis and then say, “Okay, these are the on the business activities, the two to three tasks that I really enjoy, I’m really good at, that’s the stuff I want to do more of,” but the rest of the stuff, how do we automate, delegate, or eliminate?

Tom DuFore (19:18):

For someone who maybe ends up listening into this and says, “Boy, I like what they’re saying, it’s music to my ears and my husband or wife and I, we sure could use a coach or a consultant or someone to help us sort through this,” give us a little overview of how someone can get in touch with you for you to support them or help them out with this.

Kay Lee Fukui (19:35):

Well, you can go to marriedentrepreneur.co/multiply and find out more about us and our book and yeah.

Robert Fukui (19:43):

Yeah, so there’ll be three options. There’s of course, the book Tandem: The Married Entrepreneurs’ Guide for Great Work-Life Balance, or if you just want to kick the tires a little bit, there’s actually a free guide on better work-life balance to talk about some of the things we discuss. And then if you’re just impatient and do want to talk to us like you said, then there is a link there for us to just book a call.

Tom DuFore (20:01):

Well, this is a great time in the show where we make a transition and we ask every guest the same four questions, and the first question we ask is, have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it.

Robert Fukui (20:15):

Yeah, so well, the first day-

Kay Lee Fukui (20:18):

You got a funny one? [inaudible 00:20:20]

Robert Fukui (20:19):

Well, it’s funny now, but I remember early on in our marriage, in fact, it might’ve been before we even got married, but we’re at least dating or engaged, I was investing into my first rental property and I did all the due diligence and I’m going to invest into it. And Kay Lee says, “I don’t have a good feeling about this.” And I just poo-pooed it because feelings doesn’t add up in the due diligence. So I went ahead and invested into it. Well, it costs us dearly. And so I did that one more time after I got married, and then when the pain hits in the six figure mark, you finally go, “You know what? Maybe I should listen to my wife’s feelings,” because that is relevant because sometimes I know a lot of entrepreneurs that run by gut. And so not so much by due diligence and facts and figures, and so you need both.

(21:09):

And so what I learned from that is, like I said earlier in the conversation, she’s got a different perspective in how she thinks and evaluates things, but it doesn’t make it any less significant or relevant than the way I do it. And so I listened to her and from now on and from then on, we only make decisions, especially big ones like that, or just big ones in general, unless we’re both at peace with a decision. And so that’s what I learned.

Kay Lee Fukui (21:34):

Yeah, because it’s hard for me on that note is I can’t prove it. I don’t have any facts or figures. I can’t say, “Here’s the numbers,” because he’s a numbers guy. And so when you’re just going on a hunch, yeah. So it can be challenging. I agree on that one, honey. That was a big one.

Robert Fukui (21:50):

Of course you agree.

Kay Lee Fukui (21:54):

I think there’s probably be a miss because I didn’t decide, make it… I’m more spontaneous. Robert’s the planner. And we probably missed out on some things in life because I’m like, “Oh, let’s just see how it goes.” And then the opportunity is missed because we didn’t plan ahead and it’s already sold out or the opportunity is no longer there.

Tom DuFore (22:13):

Let’s talk about on the other side, let’s talk about a make or two, a highlight that you’d like to share.

Robert Fukui (22:20):

I think for me, just making the leap into entrepreneurship. Growing up, that wasn’t never on my radar. My dad was actually a pastor and he just told me, “Go to school, get good grades, get a good job and all that, stay out of debt.” So having a business was never on my radar. And actually when we were dating, Kay Lee said, “I can see you having a business,” and I thought it was just too risky, but years later, as I started processing, I was like, “You know what? Yeah, maybe I’ll entertain that,” as I got to my mid-40s. And so I made the leap eight years ago, and that’s been just probably the greatest decision I’ve made. It’s not always been successful in everything we do, but I think the fulfillment of what I do now, it’s just greater now because I get to work with these business owners and the team and now with the couple and helping them through these issues, both in marriage and in business, I think is just so much fulfilling than working in a Fortune 500 company and just making the shareholders happy.

Kay Lee Fukui (23:16):

And I’d say the leap for me was we wrote our book and we decided to do a non-traditional book tour. So people that we knew, we contacted them and we said, “We would love to come out and if any of your community would like to hear about our book, please let us know.” And oh my gosh, people had dinner. It was different at every stop. Somebody had a dinner party for us. We met at the library because you guys, libraries are free if you ever need a place to have a meeting, you just need a library card. Coffee places. We’ve had churches. And so we did a big circle. We were gone for, was it six weeks?

Robert Fukui (23:52):

Six weeks. Drove around the country.

Kay Lee Fukui (23:54):

Yeah, and then we got to see a lot of parks and great… We went to the, oh my gosh, the Grand Tetons, you guys. It is so beautiful. We went to Bryce Canyon, that was beautiful and met so many people along the way that we didn’t even know. People just kept introducing us to other people along the way, and we had a fabulous time.

Tom DuFore (24:13):

Wonderful, wonderful. Well, the name of the show is Multiply Your Success, and we always ask every guest, have you used a multiplier to grow yourself personally or professionally or any of the businesses you’ve been involved with?

Robert Fukui (24:26):

Yeah, for me, the multiplier has always been just having good counsel around. Of course, I got my wife, but I’m also part of a mastermind group I joined about four years ago, and that’s been huge. Being able to sit with 12 business owners twice a month and talk about issues and brainstorming for each other, encourage each other, and it’s not just about the advice you get that helps your business, but also you’re growing with each other. And I think that in itself, I think that creates an environment that you’re always energized in your business because sometimes you need a little pick-me-up. Even though we have each other and we’ll encourage each other, but sometimes coming from your peers too, that’s an added extra boost. And so it’s not just the tactical stuff that helps, but it’s really the community that really boosts you and keeps you energized and moving forward. And so that’s always been a multiplier for me.

Kay Lee Fukui (25:17):

I’d say be intentional about relationships, connecting to people, reaching out. I hear people say, “Oh, well, nobody reaches out to me,” or I’m like, “Well, have you connected with them lately?” They’re like, “No, I haven’t. I’m just waiting on them.” And I just think, especially in this day and age, meeting with people in person and just staying connected and encouraging each other, and we’re big in community as well in different areas. We have a community in Hawaii, Montana, Alaska.

Tom DuFore (25:49):

Wonderful. Well, the final question we ask every guest before they go is, what does success mean to you?

Robert Fukui (25:56):

Yeah, so that can be very subjective, but we came up with a four quadrant chart. It’s just basically across essentially, and it’s how do you take care of yourself, your relationship, your business, and your wealth. So the wealth being the money just you invest into and just grows without you working at it. So the self and the relationship part is, those are the two areas that we tend to neglect because we’re busy with the business or investing or whatever. We’re doing this thing to give us a better life in the future, but in the meantime, we’re missing out on some of the best times of our lives as you’re younger.

Kay Lee Fukui (26:30):

And our health is terrible, I mean-

Robert Fukui (26:31):

When you’re older.

Kay Lee Fukui (26:32):

Well, yeah. No, when you don’t take time for yourself and you just let your health go, oh my gosh, how many entrepreneurs do we see there?

Robert Fukui (26:39):

So for us, success is how well am I taking care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? How well are we taking care of our relationship, each other, our friends and our other family members? And then of course, how well is our business going? And of course, how is our money growing without us working for it? And so when those four areas are, we feel like we’re doing good, we’re investing well in those areas, you just feel more fulfilled and you’re enjoying life because if you’re only focused on one area and the other areas are being neglected, you don’t feel as fulfilled or as balanced.

Kay Lee Fukui (27:13):

And I would totally agree.

Tom DuFore (27:15):

Well, that’s very, very well said. Well, Robert and Kay Lee, as we bring this to a close, is there anything you’re hoping to share or get across that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

Robert Fukui (27:24):

I just think this whole topic is about work-life balance. And I think it’s number one, you never really arrive. All the things we talked about and achieving balance and maintaining our relationship as well as building a business, that’s always a work in progress. And you got to keep fighting for it. And the bottom line is don’t accept the status quo. Don’t think this is as good as it’s going to get. Always be growing in your own self. That’s one of the questions, ourself. How do we grow professionally? How do we grow our business? How do we grow our wealth? And to always be in a position of growing in these areas.

Kay Lee Fukui (28:02):

And growing together.

Robert Fukui (28:03):

And growing together, because there’s always something to learn. And so when you start that rest on your laurels kind of thing, that’s when things, you can fall into a rut and life is just not as fulfilling. Even if you have a business, it’s almost like a 9:00 to 5:00 job. You’re just doing it. But if you’re continually growing in all those areas, yourself and your relationship and your business and your wealth, then you’re going to do well. And so again, I think the bottom line is don’t accept the status quo of where you are. Always be moving forward, pushing forward to do better.

Tom DuFore (28:37):

Robert and Kay Lee, thank you so much for a fantastic interview. And let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. So takeaway number one is when they talked about harmonizing business and marriage and helping think about do you have a work-life balance or a work-life imbalance? And they said, very often entrepreneurs and leaders will look at this and think about a quantitative measure. How much time am I spending or how much time do I need to cut off or allocate? And really what they said is, you need to look at qualitative measures. First, what is the quality time that you’re actually spending together? And I thought it was interesting when they shared that research found that as little as five minutes of high quality time can produce that connection point for your relationship and your marriage. And they gave the example for them, what they do is they walk the dog around the block at the end of the day and use that as a window of time to just connect with one another.

(29:40):

Takeaway number two is when you have disagreements in the business and the marriage, or sometimes both. And they said it’s oftentimes caused through similarities and really the differences or different perspectives you take. And so they suggest having some rules of engagement put into place. What is out of bounds that you’re not allowed to say that neither one should venture into? And so they’ve established their own rules of engagement, but I think it’s a great takeaway to start with. And they said one way to help you with that is, for example, taking a DISC personality assessment or one of the other Myers-Briggs or an Enneagram assessment. And while it’s not to pigeonhole you in any way, shape or form, it’s just to help you understand yourself and how you react under stress. So I thought that was a great little takeaway. And if you do that together, that’ll get us back to takeaway number one of spending some quality time together. That’d be a fun little exercise to do with your partner and your spouse.

(30:39):

And takeaway number three was when they talked about maximizing margins. And I really liked this concept that they talked about. In your business you know where your margins are and if you’re maximizing them from a profitability standpoint. Essentially, what is your profit margin, the financial profit margin in your business. And I love how they talked about this idea of having a time focused profit margin. How much time are you profiting out of the business? And they said, an average business owner spends about 35% of their time working on the business and about 65% of their time working in the business. And how can you work toward flipping that around? And they have an acronym called ADE where the A stands for automate, the D represents delegate, and E stands for eliminate.

(31:33):

And now it’s time for today’s win-win. So today’s win-win comes from the end of the episode when they defined success and what success means for them. And they created a quadrant and they said, how do you take care of yourself, number one, your relationship, number two, your business, number three, and your wealth, number four? So how do you take care of yourself, your relationship, your business, and your wealth? And they look at that to try to give them a holistic picture on what success looks like for them. And so that’s the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.

Posted in
Big sky franchise team logo inspired by the Old West.

Multiply Your Success®

Franchise Your Business