Conquer the Chaos: The 6 Keys to Success for Entrepreneurs

CLATE MASK

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR

CONQUER THE CHAOS

The Six Keys to Success for Entrepreneurs

SECOND EDITION

Copyright © 2024 by Clate Mask. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Mask, Clate, author. | John Wiley & Sons, publisher.

Title: Conquer the chaos : the six keys to success for entrepreneurs / Clate Mask.

Description: Second edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2024] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023047938 (print) | LCCN 2023047939 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394217380 (hardback) | ISBN 9781394217403 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781394217397 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Small business—Management. | Small business—Growth. | Success in business. | Strategic planning.

Classification: LCC HD62.7 .M3797 2024 (print) | LCC HD62.7 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/06—dc23/eng/20231207

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023047938

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023047939

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: © Dimitris66/Getty Images

Author Photo: © Allie Renee Photography

To Charisse and our kids, who have seen the ups and downs of entrepreneurship as we have lived it together, every step of the way. I love you guys and I love living our family Mission together. Keep going, keep serving, keep growing.

Foreword

There is nothing more inspiring than sharing a well‐told story of transformation. Especially when it's written by the ones who experienced it as this book describes. And most especially when the transformation of the ones who experienced it led to the transformation of hundreds of thousands who benefited from participating in the outcome of that story.

This book is about such a transformation. The story of Keap.

I'm Michael E. Gerber, creator of the E‐Myth and author of the E‐Myth books—now 34 strong.

I met Clate Mask years ago, when Keap was Infusionsoft. He and his partners had come to a point in their company and their lives when the question was not only what to do, but should we?

In short, the chaos Clate speaks about here had turned into doubt. Doubt about whether their original idea was worth pursuing any longer. I've seen that doubt in the faces of literally tens of thousands of clients of ours at Michael E. Gerber Companies and E‐Myth Worldwide. Not only a state of chaos, but a state of confusion—confusion that puts everything into serious question.

It was just that state that I saw in Clate and his partners when we met. Are we in the right business? Are we doing the right things? Are we really up to this job we've created for ourselves? Is it really worth all the trouble?

I invited them and their senior managers to join me in The Dreaming Room™.

I remember their faces when they were done. It's astonishing when a Dream comes alive in one's day‐to‐day experience. Clarified with a Vision, a Purpose, a Mission. It was astonishing to see the dramatic shift in Clate's state of being, and his partners' as well.

What had brought them together to found Infusionsoft had, in only a few intense days in The Dreaming Room™, amalgamated into a new, visceral understanding that, lost in the chaos, now had somehow become clear, vital, renewing.

They told me as such when we met later on.

It wasn't as though they had discovered something that wasn't there, in Infusionsoft, before—it was that, in the chaos, they'd simply forgotten it.

In The Dreaming Room™, they told me, they remembered it. They remembered why they'd become entrepreneurs. They remembered how it felt there, at the beginning, The extreme joy of it. The extreme delight of going out on their own. The immense pleasure they shared in creating the future, of designing a business to transform the lives of small business owners, to provide their clients with the experience they themselves were living, through the technology they'd been applying so originally, so well.

It was that vitality I saw in Clate's eyes as he spoke to me about what they thought of as the new Infusionsoft. It is that vitality you'll see in Clate's story as you come face to face with your own, as you read what follows here, as you come face to face with your business's reality. As you come face to face with the truth underlying the reason you created your company perhaps not that long ago. And yes, the chaos. And the chaos that clouds it up. And the confusion that comes from that chaos.

It's not only that inevitable confusion that Clate describes so well in this book, but also the intense joy that comes from seeing through it.

There's nothing like a truly great book, I say. Enjoy what follows, because you're reading it!

—Michael E. Gerber

Preface

About 14 years ago, we wrote Conquer the Chaos to teach small business owners how to grow a successful small business without going crazy. The book was a New York Times bestseller, and entrepreneurs all over the world told us how much it helped them. We shared it with our customers and used it as the foundation of what we teach to entrepreneurs. Our company grew to over $100 million in annual sales, with over a hundred thousand users and 2,000 partners who teach and serve our customers. And yet for all the success of the first edition, it was incomplete. Furthermore, some of those original strategies have morphed and needed to be updated as the world changed.

And a lot has changed in 14 years. Digital marketing has become a necessary part of small business success. Work‐life balance is completely different in the new world, with COVID rewriting the rules entirely. And yet work‐life balance is actually tougher for entrepreneurs today than it was 14 years ago. In addition to the market changes, we've learned so much from serving entrepreneurs at Keap. Our methods have evolved. Our products have evolved. Automation has evolved. And now AI is changing everything.

Small business owners need the revised edition of Conquer the Chaos now more than ever. The world has become so chaotic. It is incredibly challenging to grow a successful business when the business dominates your life. The Lifecycle Automation method we've pioneered has been a total game changer for small businesses. The work‐life balance techniques are critical for balanced growth, with business and personal success. The Leadership section comes from years of practicing and teaching a model that creates great results in great places to work. I'm excited to share important updates to the book that will be appreciated by original readers and new readers alike.

This is no minor revision. The six strategies from the first edition have been reworked into the Six Keys to Success. There is more emphasis on the execution of the entrepreneur's life plan and how it ties together with the business strategy. The revised edition is more practical, more concrete, and more balanced in its approach to business and personal success for entrepreneurs. It is born out of lessons learned working with entrepreneurs for another 14 years since my co‐founder and I wrote Conquer the Chaos.

Speaking of my co‐founder, Scott Martineau has taken a product role at Keap so he can focus exclusively on product development for our customers. That's his passion. He liked the idea of a revised edition and he liked even more the idea of not having to co‐write it. He fully supports the Six Keys shared in the book. Scott continues to be a great business partner and friend.

I should also note that Scott's brother, Eric, the other co‐founder of our business, is back at Keap, after leaving the business for a tumultuous season. Such are the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. It's great to have Scott and Eric doing what they love at Keap: building game‐changing—no, life‐changing—products for entrepreneurs and their teams.

The bottom line is, since we wrote Conquer the Chaos about 14 years ago, we've had a lot of experience with the Six Keys to Success. We've never put together all Six Keys and taught them succinctly in one place. We've practiced them ourselves and we've worked with our customers doing the same. We have observed what works and why it works. As we've studied and practiced the Six Keys to Success, we have refined them and distilled them into actionable steps all entrepreneurs can take to improve their business and personal life. We are so excited to share these powerful keys with you.

HOW THIS BOOK WILL LEAD YOU TO SUCCESS

This book does not contain stuffy research or theoretical models that only make sense in a classroom. Each of the Six Keys to Success is based on real‐life entrepreneurship, with practical examples and stories from over two decades of living and teaching this stuff. We live and prove the Six Keys to Success every day, as do our customers and entrepreneurs everywhere, sometimes almost accidentally. Sure, we stumble at times and lose our edge with one Key or another. But we are practitioners of the Six Keys to Success. And we have experienced and seen more than enough results to know these keys work for those who use them to unlock business and personal success.

In Part 1, The Entrepreneur's Quest for Success, the first three chapters present the real story of small business ownership. They include the fear, the pain, the ego, the overwhelm and the emotional struggle. They also include the thrill, rewards, and triumph of small business ownership. In Chapter 1, The Entrepreneurial Revolution, you'll learn why millions of individuals choose to become entrepreneurs, even though they might know the struggles they'll soon experience.

Chapter 2 lays out the entrepreneur's Quest for Success. You'll learn about the Hierarchy of Success, the real definition of success for entrepreneurs, and the stages of small business growth.

In Chapter 3, you'll learn what small business chaos is, why it happens, and how it can block our success or even destroy us as entrepreneurs. We'll cover The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship and how it shows up in the extreme, as well as the more subtle ways it affects us if we're not careful. You'll come to realize we can and must conquer the chaos to achieve the success we want as entrepreneurs and we'll introduce the way to do it: the Six Keys to Success for Entrepreneurs.

In Part 2, Chapters 4 through 6 cover The Personal Keys to Success. In Chapter 4, we dive into Mindset—the one that entrepreneurs must cultivate to win. This is the mental stamina and emotional capital entrepreneurs need to rise above the chaos and discouragement that are commonplace in entrepreneurship. Successful entrepreneurs are intentional about protecting their mindset and fueling their positive energy so they can achieve peak performance.

Chapter 5 covers Vision. But we're not talking about the business vision. Here, we're talking about the personal vision entrepreneurs need, the Life Vision that provides meaning and direction to your business pursuits. Building a small business is incredibly demanding. Without a clear Life Vision, the chaos of the business will almost certainly knock your priorities out of whack. Your Life Vision enables you to build a business that serves others while protecting what matters most and propelling you to achieve your most exciting business and personal goals.

Chapter 6 is about Rhythm, which rounds out and ties together the three Personal Keys to Success for entrepreneurs. One of the amazing things about entrepreneurship is the lab for life the business provides to help you become your best self. This key is about creating a natural and exciting flow in your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual execution, which ties into your Life Vision, to help you become your best self.

In Part 3, The Business Keys to Success, Chapters 7 through 9 explore the Business Keys to Success, starting with Strategy. Most small businesses start with big goals and dreams, but the daily grind of running a business can douse the flames or diffuse their efforts across too many priorities. Successful entrepreneurs have a way of doing the right things at the right time instead of constantly running their business in a reactive, firefighting mode. They know what to say no to. In this chapter, you'll learn how to set your Company Strategy and your Customer Strategy so you can proactively build a successful business.

In Chapter 8, we hit Automation, which is the big time‐saver that unlocks the ability to grow the business and maintain an enjoyable lifestyle. As I always say, The fortune is in the follow‐up. Lifecycle Automation (LCA) is a proven method for automating the follow‐up process in your Customer Strategy so you can grow sales and save time. Simply put, it's a systematic way to get and keep customers by creating great business relationships. LCA is the great game‐changer for small businesses, making it possible to get off the trading‐hours‐for‐dollars hamster wheel and build a profitable, enjoyable business that brings balance to your life through the power of automation.

In Chapter 9, we cover Leadership, which makes it possible for entrepreneurs to have great impact and freedom and achieve their highest goals. Many entrepreneurs want to keep the business small because they don't want to lead a team of people. But that limits their income and impact. The truth is, leading your team to achieve a shared vision for the business is a skill any entrepreneur can learn. And when successful business owners learn how to go from entrepreneur to CEO, their success and freedom soar.

In Part 4, Putting the Keys into Practice, Chapters 10 and 11 show you how to put into practice the Six Keys to create sustainable success. These chapters focus on how to implement the Six Keys, with proven tips and tricks to keep going, keep serving, and keep growing.

In these Six Keys to Success for busy entrepreneurs, you will discover there is a better, more productive way to run your business. You'll learn that balanced growth really is possible. And you'll discover that by implementing these Six Keys, you can conquer the chaos, making it possible to find the time, money, control, impact, and freedom to live life on your terms. That's the joy of being an entrepreneur. Let's get started!

Part 1

The Entrepreneur's Quest for Success

The difference between the great and good societies and the regressing, deteriorating societies is largely in terms of the entrepreneurial opportunity and the number of such people in the society. I think everyone would agree that the most valuable 100 people to bring into a deteriorating society would be not 100 chemists, or politicians, or professors, or engineers, but rather 100 entrepreneurs.

–Abraham Maslow

1

The Entrepreneurial Revolution

Mike Callahan is a great entrepreneur. Right out of high school, he started a landscaping business and poured his heart and soul into it. After the normal struggles in the early stages of any business, he began to produce income at levels his friends and family envied. His business was succeeding by all accounts. Soon he married his girlfriend and life was going great.

As the business grew, it demanded more and more of Mike. Not just his time—it demanded his energy, creativity, and passion. He was happily growing the business, feeling a rush of excitement that's hard to describe if you haven't started a business that's succeeding. Most people have no idea what it's like to pour their energy, their finances, and their very identity into a business that struggles early on, starts to show promise, and then produces the cash and satisfaction the entrepreneur always hoped for. It is thrilling!

Mike was living the entrepreneur's dream. But things were out of balance at home. His wife was feeling neglected. So Mike did what most entrepreneurs do when wearing many hats in the business and running a juggling act in their personal lives. Mike did his best to be there for his wife as the business continued to grow. And yet important events were slipping. Little moments and opportunities were lost. Life was all about the business. Hobbies, friends, and personal interests had faded to the background. And Mike's marriage was going downhill.

On Valentine's Day, Mike got the devastating news. His wife was done. She was leaving him, feeling betrayed by Mike and the business he loved. No amount of apology would change her mind. They got divorced, both of their hearts broken by the growing and successful business that was taking more of Mike's time and energy than he ever anticipated.

Unfortunately, Mike's story is not unique. More and more