With Charles Gaudet, the CEO of Predictable Profits and the author of “The Predictable Profits Playbook: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Dominating Any Market and Staying on Top“ (voted #1 Book on Sales & Marketing by Indie Excellence) and host of The Beyond 7-Figures Podcast.

Charles has been an entrepreneur since the age of 4, created his first multi-million dollar business at 24, and has helped others generate millions with his strategies. He has received numerous awards and recognition (including founding a company named as “One of the Best Seed Stage Companies” by Ernst & Young), received his Certificate of Leadership Development from The US Army War College and has his business advice featured around in the world – including Inc., Forbes, Salesforce, Success, Entrepreneur, and Fox Business – as well as on podcasts and radio. He was also named one of American Geniuses’ Top 50 Industry Influencers.

Join us in our conversation as Charles shares invaluable insights on scaling a business sustainably, overcoming burnout, and redefining success beyond financial gains. He breaks down the mindset shifts that helped him navigate challenges, from his early entrepreneurial ventures to advising top CEOs on growth strategies. Tune in for practical lessons on resilience, leadership, and building a business that supports both your goals and your quality of life.

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Takeaways & quotes you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• The Power of Asking Better Questions.
• Work-Life Balance vs. Prioritization.
• How AI is Changing Business.
• The “Mountain Analogy” for Success.
• Quality of Life Over Money.

“”Quality of life is more important than anything else. The wealthiest people I know aren’t necessarily the richest—they just have the highest quality of life.”

-Charles Gaudet

Check out these highlights:

• 03:51 Charles shares how he started entrepreneurship.
• 06:48 The common mistake of small business owners.
• 34:39 Charles talks about his love for problem-solving and how his brain works differently due to diagnosed learning disabilities.
• 46:43 The mindset shift during 2020—teaching clients to ask, “Why could this be the best thing that happened to me?”
• 54:42 Hear Charles’ final takeaway to the listeners…

How to get in touch with Charles on Social Media:

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below:

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®… 

Charles Gaudet  00:04

We actually don’t need to have the answers anymore. We don’t need to know the answers. The answers are around. There’s enough resources, there’s AI, there’s brilliant people. What you need to know is the questions to ask. That’s the muscle that we have to build. The advantage of the future is going to go to go to those people that know to ask the questions that other people haven’t thought to ask themselves.

GGGB Intro  00:28

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  00:55

Alrighty. Welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®. I am so excited to welcome Charles Gaudet to the podcast today. Welcome Charles. It’s a pleasure to be here. 

Charles Gaudet  01:13

Thank you. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:14

Well, you’re in the right place. So I serve and I’m talking to entrepreneurs, including online information entrepreneurs, including service providers, experts of all kinds based in the US and around the world. I know this is going to be an amazing conversation, and folks stick around. We’ve got some real experience here with us today, and I already know that they’re going to be some big things that come up that’ll be super, super helpful. I’m really looking forward to this. Let’s get Charles introduced. For those of you that don’t know Charles, Charles Gaudet is the CEO of Predictable Profits and the author of “The Predictable Profits Playbook: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Dominating Any Market and Staying on Top“, which was voted #1 Book on Sales & Marketing by Indie Excellence) and host of The Beyond 7-Figures Podcast.  He’s been an entrepreneur since the age of 4, created his first multi-million dollar business at 24, and has helped others generate millions with his strategies.  He’s received numerous awards and recognition (including founding a company named as “One of the Best Seed Stage Companies” by Ernst & Young), received his Certificate of Leadership Development from The US Army War College and has his business advice featured around in the world – including Inc., Forbes, Salesforce, Success, Entrepreneur, and Fox Business – as well as on podcasts and radio.  He was named one of American Geniuses’ Top 50 Industry Influencers. So Charles, that’s a hard bio to keep up with.

Charles Gaudet  02:53

Well, I get cool points with the kids. So that’s all that matters, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  02:57

I’m here for the cool points with kids as well. And a big shout out to Brian Keith, who introduced us. Brian works with one of my favorite clients, and it was fabulous. We connected, and right away he got me a couple of amazing intros, including to Charles. So super happy to do a shout out to Brian, Charles, so you started at the age of four. I’d love to know like, where this entrepreneurial spirit came from. I think they’re, you know, in talking to a lot of entrepreneurs, this model that you’re talking about, where kids are just like, it’s in them, that it’s part of them, as a youth, like they just have that entrepreneurial energy and ideas, and then others figure it out as an adult, or they try a different path that really doesn’t work for them, and then they become an entrepreneur. Talk to us about your path and why it started so early.

Charles Gaudet  03:51

Well, you know, there’s this saying that people make decisions for two reasons, either inspiration or desperation, right? And for me, the story of entrepreneurship started actually out of desperation, even at the age of four. So when I was little kid, my dad, you who also had his own business, he worked every waking hour of every day, so I’d get up in the morning and he’d already be at work. I’d go to bed at night, and he would come home after I went to sleep.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:29

And what did your dad do? What was his construction company?

Charles Gaudet  04:33

So he did industrial and commercial construction, and so he did the seven days a week, so up until about the third grade, I really didn’t even know my dad all that well, because he had been working all the time, and I’d never really seen him all that much. So when he did come home and when I did see him, he would say, kid, if you ever want to make something of yourself. You gotta be an entrepreneur. And so being four years old and just desperately looking for my father’s love and attention, I decided I was gonna start a business. And so I created artwork. I sold artwork to my neighbors so I could tell them, Hey, Dad, look, I’m an entrepreneur. And that really worked out well. And from there, I think, came the inspiration, because I got so much support from my dad that I just continued to do that, and I I just started all these different businesses all the way through school, and then I went to college and studied entrepreneurship there, and as I graduated, we started that business that was nominated by Ernst and Young as being one of the nation’s best stage companies, eventually selected as such by a company called Venture One. So you know it was desperation. But I’m also a huge believer that with every challenge comes with it, and equal and opposite opportunity. And so while that was the challenge, the opportunity is I love my life and I make an impact. People always have different hobbies. For me, my hobby is my business. I get paid to work with people that I genuinely love and find awesome. I feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:28

That’s amazing in your early idea of entrepreneurship. I mean, it sounds like your dad from a like, an hours and availability perspective, like, did you take on that same idea of of entrepreneurship being this full time commitment, how did you view it then, and how do you view it now? 

Charles Gaudet  06:48

Oh, that’s a really great question. So as most small business owners, we come into business with one primary strategy, hard work, and then we work really hard. We try to deliver the best product or service we can. And then we go from hard work to really generating word of mouth and referrals. But usually that’s where it ends. So, for many business owners, they build their business in the back, so hard work, word of mouth and referrals, and they usually cap out around that one to $3 million level on that, on that strategy. Now I followed in my dad’s footsteps. When I started this company and 2020 yeah, 2020, about that? No, I’m sorry, 2000 I got my ears messed up in the year 2000 right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:44

Post babies, math is hard for me. I used to be really good, and they’re, you know?

Charles Gaudet  07:51

Well, it was. So I started this business in 2000 right? This other business in 2000 and I decided nobody was going to award me, so I would set my alarm for 330 in the morning so I wouldn’t “oversleep” and if I happen to get up at midnight to go to the bathroom, then I would stay up from midnight and just continue working. And I would work until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. And I did that seven days a week. It didn’t matter Christmas, no problem. I’ll work. I’ll just get up extra early and make sure I work, you know, like Thanksgiving, no problem. I’ll work till the turkey’s ready. Like, that’s just that was my attitude. And then all of a sudden, I’m driving home one day, and I can see through my windshield. My house on on the left hand side of the road, and I knew in that moment I wasn’t going home that day. And what happened was I had the shooting pain from my spine all the way up into my brain, and I didn’t know what was happening, but I just knew that what was going on was bad, and I ended up in the emergency room, and the doctor had me on my back, and he said to me, you’re dying. And I’m like, wait, what he says, your organs are shutting down. And I didn’t. I’m in my 20s at the time. I didn’t know what’s going on, and I’m like, what? And he said, we’re trying to figure this out. We’re running these tests, but your organs are shutting down, come to find out, the stress, the over the hard work, the lack of sleep, all of that, didn’t do me any favors. It worked against me. And I remember driving home and thinking to myself, I don’t understand. I’m doing everything that everybody’s telling me to do. Early bird gets a worm. I’m the earliest bird there is like, what’s happening? Thing right now, and something had to change. And so that’s at the moment where, again, desperation crept in, right? That’s the moment where I started to have to put strategy behind the work that I did or the work that I do. And once I started putting strategy, at the time, I was in $1.1 million in debt. I was able to pay my debt back, I was able to then make my first million so within a year, which was really cool.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:29

Well, that whole inspiration, desperation, right contrast, and it’s, you know, so much of what you hear, especially in business and in a lot of like, I’ve been to conferences and I’ve worked with business coaches, are people buying a solution to their pain, right? Or are they buying a promise of a different future, right? Sometimes it’s both. And it sounds like, you know, reaching this really tremendous crunch point. I mean, you’re telling this story. And I remember reading a few years ago now, an article about the legal industry and how some people in, like, really high pressure environments were literally like that, just working themselves to death, you know, proud of the badge of working 100 hour weeks, or whatever it was. And it’s, you know, you look back in in history, human history, like we’re not designed to do that to ourselves, right? Like homeostasis and the way that our bodies heal, like it is you have to have that balance. And so some of us force ourselves into that position of figuring out the balance, which it sounds like you did.

Charles Gaudet  11:42

Yeah, and so balances is an interesting word, right? So I attended this event with Tony Robbins. Now, between my wife and I, we invested over a quarter million dollars Tony Robbins traveling the world. And just because, you know, he’s a smart dude, and we wanted to learn some things about life, but this was a separate event from what I invested in with Tony. And Tony was speaking on stage, and he was talking about work life balance, you know, and the importance of work life balance. And then all of a sudden, you hear in the background, and in comes Tom Brady, who flew in by helicopter and then walked up on stage, and so he had just finished, I think, a practice or something like that. And Tony says, Hey, Tom, we’re talking about work life balance here, and I’d love to get your take on it. And he goes, Tony, work-life balance is a myth perpetrated by average people. If you want to be the best, you have to be willing to throw your life out of balance. And so I thought about that, and I’m like, Whoa, Tony’s gotta be pissed, because he just completely changed what Tony was. But I’m like, But Tony, you know, was like, Okay, walk me through. What do you mean by that? And he said, I find that for most people, when you want to be the best, the most you can ever focus on is three things. And he said, you know, for me, it’s been my family, my health and football, and that’s it, those three things. And he goes, so social, never really made it in the top three. So I’m not the guy going out partying all the time and hanging out. I don’t have a million different friends, you know, that’s just not who I am, because I just focus on those three things. And, you know? So I think when we talk about balance, it’s what are going to be the three things that you really want to make sure that you’re really strong on and and everything else you have to be willing to, you know, let go.

Charles Gaudet  12:07

Totally. And my idea of balance, by the way, because I’m that guy, I am like, I’m either mom role, or I am in my business or, and I’m learning this, taking care of my body, right, engaging in self care, prioritizing sleep, and that’s it. Those are literally the buckets that I have capacity for. And so balance is not like, Oh yeah, you know, balanced in every area of life. Now balance for me also is like, more of a flow. So like in any given week, I might have days that look like lopsided, but my goal is that in the course of the week, I’ve paid attention to each of those areas in the way that they require.

Heather Pearce Campbell  13:43

And I know enough about you, Heather to know that you love what you do. Is that fair? That’s fair, right? And so if you love what you do, wouldn’t you also say that it’s probably more important to have, you know, work, life integration, like, to be able to just when you love what you do so much that actually never feels like work. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  14:45

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Heather Pearce Campbell  16:28

It’s like what we’re doing right now is technically part of my work bucket, right? I’d put it in the work bucket, but it’s also some people may not want to hear this. It’s also part of my social life. So it’s also for me, how do I multiplex in the areas of my life where I create overlap for my other needs? So for example, you know, work is often a lot of where I also get my my social needs met, because I also love my clients, I love my colleagues, I love who I work with, and I’ve surrounded myself with really good people, and it’s like my time with family. How do I double up on family and maybe exercise, or, you know what I mean, filling some of those other needs? And so that’s another way that in life, I have found that it doesn’t have to be this segmented pie, right? You can double up on those buckets that are important to you and the way that you design your life.

Charles Gaudet  17:29

Yeah, absolutely for sure. Yeah, no, I think my son, who’s training to be a professional race car driver.

Heather Pearce Campbell  17:39

Oh, wow. 

Charles Gaudet  17:43

We went for a walk the other day, and he said, Tana, I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong. Like, what does that mean? So I look at all my friends, and, you know, they’re always hanging out. They’re having so much fun, you know, but doing this, they’re doing that, and I feel like I’m left out. I just don’t have enough time for everything in the day. I go, what are your top three priorities right now? And he’s like, Well, I think it’s clear, it’s racing. It’s my family, which includes his girlfriend, and working out and health, and he’s like, I don’t really have time for anything. I mean, he’s got a job now, so he squeezes that in, but he’s like, I don’t really have time for anything. And so I had to share with him. I go, Look, you can always make more time. And there are going to be some listeners that aren’t going to appreciate what I have to appreciate what I have to say. And you know, it is what it is, but you look at a pyramid, right, or a mountain, right? Mountain pyramid, however you want to visualize it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:50

I love mountain analogies. If you’re like wondering how much I love them, go to my website. It’s a, I’m a lawyer, like I’m an attorney, and my website has so many mountains. So keep talking. I just need to know.

Charles Gaudet  19:01

Let’s talk mountains, right? So at the peak of the mountain, how many? How many people can fit on the very peak of the mountain, right? Would you agree it’s very few in comparison to the base, right? So I said to my son, I’m like, look at at the top of the mountain. There’s going to be very few people. If you look at the most successful people in the world, they’re all going to say the same thing. They’re going to say that, you know, they just have a core group of people that that they surround themselves with, right? A very just core group of people. But I said you can always have more friends, you can always have a better social life. You can always do all of that. You just have to be willing to climb down a mountain. So the question is, what are you willing to do? What is most important to you? Is it most important you get to be the best that you can at your career? Then you have to be willing. To stay at the top. But if being the best in your career isn’t as important to you as having like, just a great social life, then you can come down that mountain. So the choice is always yours. And for him, all of a sudden, it felt like you could see it in his face. It was just a million pounds lifted off his shoulders because the world in general is catered to average people, right? And there’s nothing wrong with being average, right? But they give you these rules of if you want to be average, like this is what you have to be willing to do. And you have to have, like, the full work life balance, and you have to have this social life, and you have to do this, and you have to go out, and you have to do all this other stuff. But then, if you want to be that positive deviant, somebody who’s going to stand out, you know, you got to be okay with you’re gonna be okay with, you know, having, having that change.

Heather Pearce Campbell  21:05

Totally, I think it’s a great analogy, and it’s also a little bit like, as you get older, maybe it’s an aging thing, right? You get even more clear and more clear and more clear on who you actually want in your life, who deserves to be there, who is supporting you to become the best and highest version of yourself. And that is not everybody, right again, it gets down to these hard choices, and they can be hard. 

Charles Gaudet  21:37

It’s when you get older. And then there’s one other event that happens that really ends up bringing that all into perspective. Can you guess what it is?

Heather Pearce Campbell  21:47

I mean, I have a couple ideas in my head. I don’t know if they’re the same as yours.

Charles Gaudet  21:52

The death of a loved one, oh, parent, or a best friend or somebody close.

Heather Pearce Campbell  21:59

Totally. I was going to say it’s like death or having children that help you in many ways, get very, very clear on what matters and what’s most important. Yeah, and I went through death fairly young. Lost my mom, actually, she was diagnosed right before I started law school, so not as a baby. Sorry to hear that. But yes, that it that was one of the clarifying events in my life, and it’s why, when I graduated law school, I did not follow a traditional path.

Charles Gaudet  22:29

Yeah, I lost my father two years ago, and my world changed immediately in that moment. And you know, for me, I was so concerned, up to two years ago, I was so concerned with just making enormous amounts of money for the sake of making money and accumulating all this stuff and blah, blah, blah, and then since then, I’ve just prioritized the quality of my life more than anything else, and living in this place of gratitude, just gratitude quality of my life. And you know, if you know anything about racing, for example, it’s incredibly expensive, like it’s prohibitively expensive. It’s crazy. It makes no financial sense whatsoever, right? And my son understands this, and he was like, Dad, I you know, I can understand if you don’t want to pay for this. I mean, it’s, and I’m like, does it make you happy? This is does they’re like, Do you love it? Love it, love it. And he’s like, incredibly. And I’m like, then don’t worry about the money. Just go have fun. At this point, all I care about is that you and mom and your sisters and everything are just loving life and and the girls, they do their own like ballroom they’re ballroom dancers. That’s not inexpensive either, like that, but it’s like, you know what? I’m like, You know what? That’s where, that’s the only I don’t care, to buy fancy cars and you know, you know all this other stuff. Like, I’m just like, let’s just have fun. You know what? Let’s go on a cool vacation. Let’s do this. Let’s do that. Let’s make sure you guys are taken care of and as a gentleman. Garrett Gunderson, wonderful, human being, wonderful, absolutely brilliant. And I’m out in California with him, and we were talking about wealth and making money. And look, my company is named, predictable profits, right? So obviously money is something that I’m very well versed in. But we’re talking about money and wealth. You. And he said to me, you know, I have clients that just make about $100,000 a year, that are some of the wealthiest people that I know, and I have other clients that are billionaires and some of the poorest people that I know.

Heather Pearce Campbell  25:18

Right. Say that again for the kids and back, I know, right?

Charles Gaudet  25:23

And he’s like, Do you know what the difference is? And I was like, I don’t. And he said, the wealth is measured by the quality of your life. So how do you feel the quality of your life is right now. Do you wake up inspired, and do you feel healthy and pain free? Do you have energy that lasts you to have the day meaningful relationships with your family and and so forth, and happy with the work that you do and all that other stuff and and I thought about it, and I’m like, wow, that’s a fascinating perspective. And so right away, I picked up the phone and I called my kids and my daughter and my son, they’re on the phone. And I’m like, I got a question for you guys. Like, we have, you know, friends that have these private jets and all this other stuff. And like, we don’t have a private jet, at least not yet anyway, and I’m like, so but you know, they’ve got exceptionally, you know, significantly more money. Would you say their quality of life is greater than yours? And without skipping a beat, they’re like, No, absolutely not. And I was like, well, that’s interesting. Like, how would you rate your quality of life? They said, Oh, honestly, it’s probably the best out of anybody that I know I will Okay, well, that’s good, but what makes it the best? Because I’m curious, what makes it the best. I said, you know what? You support everything that we want to do, whether it’s ice skating or ballroom dancing or racing, like you guys are always very supportive, and you know, everything that we want to do and that’s important. And then they said something that I’m like, You know what? Winning it almost makes me tear up just thinking about it. They said, we genuinely want to spend time with our parents and and that’s important. And I’m like, Oh my God. Like, that’s winning right there. Like the fact that I’ve got teenage kids that are saying our quality of life is so good, because we genuinely want to spend time with you. And I’m like, Oh my god. So you know, when we look at this stuff, my daughter, my youngest daughter, walked in my office today when she got back from school, and even though I was in the middle of something, I’m like, no stop. You have all my attention. What’s up? So, you know, we talk about business, but I feel like in business, if you want to be the best CEO, the best leader possible, you have to be able to lead by example and what you do in your business, how you know? One of the things Tony would say is how you do it anything, is how you do everything, right? So, how do you lead in business like, and also in life like, you gotta be able to do multiple different things right in business and in life like, how do you how are you show up as a family member? This is going to be, you know, how do you show up as a as a team member, that type of thing. I just went on a gave you a whole list of verbal vomit, right there.

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:41

But no, no, it’s really an important point, and I think for those of us, especially who are parents, who have this very big conversation of, you know, and again, back to balance and understanding. There’s no such thing as true balance, right? However you see it, whether it’s more of a flow, whether it’s a set of trade offs, because life is trade offs. Sure it’s just being really clear about are you doing and spending your time and attention on the things that really matter, right? And the things that really matter will fill you up. They bring you more life energy, right? And this is the discussion of if you’re not doing the things that really matter to you, it’s a process of depletion, not feeling you up like you can tell the difference, and the fact that you have kids who are filled up, who recognize not only the blessings that they have in their life, but also the quality of relationships that they have, and are able to identify that and say, yes, this is what matters. I mean, Dad hashtag winning huge, right? Yeah, good job. It’s amazing and it’s an ongoing conversation. I mean, I’ve struggled in my own work and business about, how do I demonstrate both commitment to my work, my ethics, my priorities and parenthood in a way that does not teach my kids that we have to be glued to devices for example, right? Yeah. I mean, it’s a challenge, and in each moment, like you did, turning to your daughter and giving her your full attention, we have opportunities to demonstrate our values and to demonstrate what really matters.

Charles Gaudet  30:34

For sure. No, absolutely. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell  30:38

Well, I love that, and I love that your kids recognize what matters. And I’ve got two kids, even though they’re young, they’re both, if you’re into like, zodiac, they’re both cancers. They both really feel what people around them feel. They’re very tuned in, and they are the sweetest. They of course, clash like siblings do, even though they’re five years apart, right? We kind of thought like, oh, maybe that’ll be a nice buffer, because they’re not just like, a year or two, oh, but they’re both so strong willed, and any day of the week and twice on Sunday, family is going to be one of their top priorities, and one of the things that they constantly say they’re most thankful for, right? Which, again, is like, Oh, my heart. My mom heart. I don’t know if I can handle it all.

Charles Gaudet  31:24

I I know. I know I get it, totally.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:28

So switching back, I mean, and I love that conversation about work and life, switching back to the work side for you, what do you love most about your work? What really keeps you going in doing what you do?

Charles Gaudet  31:43

Well, what I love most is just the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, like I get paid to work with people I love work that I just love, that I call my friends, right? And it’s like work feels like play, and you know? But to go a little bit deeper, what I love is also my biggest challenge. So it’s interesting, right? So I work with some of the top seven, eight figure CEOs and founders on the planet. That comes with a double edged sword, right? On one hand, it’s incredibly inspirational, because we work some great people who are doing some extraordinary stuff. And, you know, I learned from them. They learned from me. We have a wonderful game of intellectual ping pong, and it’s phenomenal. The other component of it is the understanding that, you know, when you’re working with people of that caliber, the money isn’t necessarily what they’re you know, the money and what they’re paying me isn’t, you know, most important to them. What’s most important is that they’re taking time out of their day to engage with me. And you know, what am I going to say to them that’s going to make it the most valuable use of their time and and that becomes, you know, challenging. I mean, I talk about, you know, seven and eight figure CEOs, but I’ve had clients that were doing 500 million a year, and I’m like, wow, what am I going to do? I mean, I had a client doing over a billion, right? But it’s like, what am I gonna do in this moment to make sure that the time that we’re spending together is gonna be the most valuable use of his or her time? And so that’s what keeps me up at night, but that’s also what drives me, like when AI was like, I could spot the AI trend way back in was, like, November 2022, and that’s when I kind of went, slipped back in old habits, and I was up late, you know, early in the morning, late at night. I had to stay in front of this, because I had to be able to advise my clients on the impact of what AI is going to have on their business, on their industries, on their employees, on everything. Because most companies just they weren’t prepared, and still, frankly, today, they’re not prepared for the impact that AI is going to have, you know, on their business, their company, their industries, the whole deal. And it was like, you know, it’s a challenge, but I love it. I thrive on that stuff. Like, give me a problem that nobody can solve. And I’m like, I love it. Bring it on. Let me figure it out. You know, that’s, that’s where I get my rocks off, you know? Oh, that’s fun.

Heather Pearce Campbell  34:49

So is it then, the process of solving a problem that you love, is it knowing that it’s always going to be a different problem, like, is it the variety? I’m curious if you’ve honed in on an answer. I was actually having this same conversation with a friend who similarly was like, you know, some of these people have from a financial perspective, outperformed me by quite a ways. Yeah, and it’s like they’re not hiring you to be a duplicate copy of themselves, right? Not at all. And then, like, taking that pressure off of like, what is it? And that’s why I was curious, do you have an answer about what it is when you know you’re asking yourself, what is it that I can bring to the table for this person that has achieved this very high level.

Charles Gaudet  35:42

So I used to ask myself that question a lot, and then one of the things that I realized is, so what I didn’t share is, and a lot of people aren’t aware of this, when I was a little kid, I was diagnosed as having one of the worst cases of learning disabilities that the doctor had ever seen. I couldn’t believe that the doctor actually said that in front of me to my mother, right? Oh man. And then she went on to say, I’m just shocked that he could, that he can actually, you know, perform and attend a regular school. It just like, it’s amazing to me. And I’m hearing all this stuff, and I’m going, Oh, my God, but over time, again, challenges, opportunity, right? Can be the same word. My brain doesn’t work like everybody else, like it really doesn’t. I couldn’t. The doctor was right. I could never learn in school. I had to go home and learn on my own in school, on my own, after school, right when I read a book, like, in order for me to comprehend it, I have to draw pictures and underline, like, inside the book itself. I’ll use different colors sometimes. So I’ll be like, Okay, so, you know, red is a has a different level of importance then blue and, you know, I’ll I’ll go do that. And I have to every single day. I have to be very careful at the foods that I consume and the foods that I eat, because that impacts my ability to think I have to prioritize sleep. Because if I don’t get enough sleep, then it impacts my ability to think, to think I have to exercise in the morning, because, again, so it’s like I spent 47 years trying to figure out how to actually function. And then, you know, so back to kind of what we’re talking about when it comes to work. Because I can’t. My brain works differently. You and I will look at something and we’ll see two different perspectives, and so I can always offer a fresh perspective into a conversation. And that right there is where I realized that’s my unique ability. It’s my greatest weakness as well as my greatest strength.

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:08

I love that. Do you think that you arrived at that understanding just through a process of learning to trust yourself? How did you get there? Like, how did you arrive at that place of that knowing? Because I think even in the industries and the folks that we serve, and I suspect there’s some overlap between our clients, there’s so many people that even at our ages and I sounds like we’re the same age, struggle with.

Charles Gaudet  38:36

There’s no way we’re the same age. I am definitely older than you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:41

Nope, nope, nope. You said 47 I’m about to turn 48. Whoa, right?

Charles Gaudet  38:49

I’m gonna have to have what you’re eating,

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:50

Yeah. Oh, I so appreciate that. I call it. The extra weight I carry around just makes me so youthful. So the thing that I love about what you just said is, I think so many people on their journey, even when they’ve quote, unquote, arrived right from the outside world, have this internal struggle of still, whether it’s, you know, oh my gosh, what’s the disorder that everybody has that is escaping me. ADHD, well, ADHD, for sure, we all have that. And if we didn’t before, COVID and children, we all have it now. No, like for feeling like you’re pretending to be somebody else. Why am I imposter syndrome? Imposter syndrome, yeah. And I think you know, it’s what I’ve learned in my own work is that it is literally the process of doing the work that gets you through that syndrome. And even when clients have shown up with a problem that I’m like, You know what? From a legal perspective, I’ve not solved this problem before, but when I trust myself to be in the conversation every single time, legal solution or not, we will have a conversation about what is a practical solution to this. Whether or not I know the answer to the legal side, you can always find out the answer to the legal side, right? Yeah. And so I also have learned like to just trust that inner knowing of being very present to the conversation, because not only do I love the process of solving problems, but also I generally have a very strong intuitive sense of how the person on the other side of that problem is going to behave.

Charles Gaudet  40:37

It is so, so that’s an interesting lesson in leadership, right there, right? Because there’s several different ways in which you can actually get to that. So when I was in high school, I was a wrestler, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:50

So all the sweat suits, the saran wrap.

Charles Gaudet  40:54

I did that, I was all about that, right? But when I started wrestling, my freshman year is the first time that I had ever stepped foot on the mat. I didn’t realize that kids actually started wrestling when they were little. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:10

Right? Was it Greco, Roman freestyle? What was your wrestling of choice?Yes. 

Charles Gaudet  41:17

So I ended up taking state titles and Roman freestyle and regular as well. But the journey between my freshman year having a losing record, I didn’t win one single match, to my senior year being undefeated. You know that in and of itself, it doesn’t happen by accident. The odds of that happening are so far and few between. So there had to be something that happened. And the lesson that I took from there is the same thing that I apply into my business. And there was a time when I would show up on the mat, somebody asked me if I was nervous? And I was like, Yeah, of course. You know, I’m very nervous. And the more I talked about it, the more I realized I felt it. So the next time I went on the mat and they go, are you nervous? Are you kidding? I’m born ready. Let’s bring, let’s do this. And I said it, I felt more confident. And then I continued to say it over and over and over again, and then before long, I was like, Bring it on, like I’m ready. And so I showed up differently. So it’s one thing to show up differently, but then when you talk about trusting yourself, at that point, I knew I was lying to myself, but in a way that worked for me. I had to, like I worked for it worked for me. But the trust comes just, you know, as we’re little kids, you know, we learn to walk by falling multiple different times, and then when you’re standing and you actually get it, you’re walking one step, you’re wobbly, you’re trying to figure things out. And it doesn’t. It takes practice before now, like you don’t even think about walking. You stand on one leg and not, you know, not care about it. You can walk and do multiple different things all at the same time, and so forth. And it’s and you do that because you trust in your abilities and like for you and your practice, your first client, I’m sure you’re nervous. I’m sure you made a lot of mistakes. We all do. I did too, but, but then it’s like, now you’ve done this so many times that it’s like, yeah, you know what’s going to happen? Like, you know what’s going to happen. You’re going to deliver a kick ass result. Your clients are going to be happy. And it’s like, because you know where they’re at, you know the gap you have to fill. You know you’ve done it a million times over. You’re going to fill the gap. You’re going to have a happy client. So it’s like, you’re telling yourself, I’m the world’s best at whatever, and you know, you can deliver on it, so you just do it right? So it’s like, yeah, there’s that balance there, you know, there is that self talk and whatnot. And I talk a lot about mindset, and even though I’m the predictable profits guy, and, you know, we have strategies and systems and, you know, processes and whatnot, which we call the predictable profits operating system, which we build and install inside of businesses for that predictable, sustainable growth. But that’s great, but an engine doesn’t run well if it doesn’t have the right fuel, and the fuel that’s going to run the engine and support the business is going to come from like, what is your mindset when 2020 shut down and the world was falling into pieces. You know, we said. To our clients right off the bat, like, why is this the best thing in the world that could happen to you right now? Now, for several of our clients, they thought we were smoking the wacky to wacky, right? I mean, we have, yeah, we have one client who had multinational organization. He only got paid when people got on a plane. He wasn’t allowed to leave the country. Planes are grounded. His biggest competitors are going out of business. And he said, he called me up and Sarah’s all disheveled. He said, Look, I just need your blessing. Can I shut the company down? And I’m like, hell no, this is what? How much longer can I do this? We’re hemorrhaging money. And I’m like, Why could this be the best thing in the world that could happen to you right now? And he goes, I don’t think you understand what’s going on. You know, in Australia, things are different. And I’m like, no things are the same. Why could be the way? Could this be the best thing in the world that could happen to you? And it took a little while for him to get there, but finally he started saying, well, hmm, you know, my competitors are going out of business. It’s opening up the the landscape a little bit more. And lo and behold, we fine tuned. We made some adjustments to his strategy. And even though he only got he before that, he only got paid when people were on planes. After we adjusted the strategy, he ended up breaking every daily, weekly, monthly sales record became the number one in the entire world within his niche, and he still holds that title today, still number one in the world. It was the best thing in the world to happen to him. And 86% of our clients experienced the best years they had ever experienced in 2020 because they focused in on this is an opportunity, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  46:43

Well, you find what you’re looking for. This is it about the human experience, right? And so you’re looking for things to reinforce a fear based or negative feedback cycle. You’re going to find them. And you know, you just demonstrated through that story how the reverse can be true. And I think it’s just so important as humans, with we all come with that wiring that makes us want to look for the negative. It’s just built in, right? Yeah, yeah. We really have to actively rewire ourself in in that regard. And you know, back to like you have this process that you walk people through, even from a mindset perspective, how do you shift? How do you look somewhere else? And I think, you know, at the end of the day, this whole idea that people think, and I remember even in the early parts of my career, thinking this, like all arrive when, you know, and I remember thinking, like, 10 years into my practice, I’ll have more of the answers. I’ll feel, you know, more stable or secure in myself, or whatever, or, you know, when I’ve reached this point, then I’ll see it, you know. And it’s what I realize is nobody arrives. It’s always a process. Everybody, every day, is using their wing in IT skills, you know, and it is really just about learning to trust that process. And how do you trust the process? I mean, you just demonstrated through your internal mindset work. 

Charles Gaudet  48:13

Yeah, you’re right, absolutely right. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  48:16

Well, I love what you do. I love that you and I know you focus a lot on getting people out of being the sticking point in their business, right? Not having a business that relies on a CEO, a single person, and even in your own life, I can see that you’re somebody who has walked the walk. You’re not just talking the talk about values and priorities, and even in the last couple years, shifting more to quality of life. And I think this is such an important conversation for people to be having, because it’s way too easy to get stuck in the cycle of just chasing the money, the accolades. All right, all arrive when right. And I think, you know, like you said, for so many of us, going through a really significant loss or a reframe of our priorities is the often, the first time that we’re like, Wow, am I really looking at the right stuff. And you know, it can happen much earlier. So I know you’ve got something coming up. I want to say you mentioned in January. Do you want to talk to us a little bit about founders fuel, sure, and then anything else on the horizon? And then I’ll ask you a couple questions about where people can find you, and we’ll pull out some final gems.

Charles Gaudet  49:38

Got it Well, as I mentioned earlier. You know, having these learning disabilities, whatnot, trying to find ways in order to to focus and so forth, has been just a lifelong mission. I I started working with a functional medicine, not a doctor, but an expert. No. A phenomenal individual, such a functional medicine. Oh yeah, I’ve learned so much for him, and he’s really transformed my life. And I said, look, here’s what I’m trying to do, and he and I have experimented with a few different things. And I said, let’s turn this into a product. And originally, it was to build it for ourselves. And so we worked with a formulator. It took about seven and a half months right before we almost gave up. The formulator, made a change in the manufacturing process, and all of a sudden it was like, Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This is incredible.

Heather Pearce Campbell  50:38

Like, Oh like, a good change, a happy change huge. 

Charles Gaudet  50:41

It worked phenomenally well. And so we created this product that helps specifically the unique needs and demands of the entrepreneur, the founder and the executive. We wake up in the morning, we have to be on point. We have stresses that we have to be able to keep, manage. We have to be able to at the end of the day, to unwind and be able to go to sleep. And this really just hits on all those courts. And so we formulated this. We’ve called it founders fuel. We of course, love it, but then we had to get the website built. And so I said to the web designer, I tell you what, let me. Let me send you some samples. You understand what you’re building, and then you tell me what you think. And he took the samples, and he calls me up, and he says, I don’t want you to pay me for this. So what are you talking about? Charlie for free. He goes. I want equity. I go. What he goes? You have no idea. This has changed my life. I got more done in four hours than it would take me days to do. So I don’t know what you’re doing, but I want end and so, you know, we’ve early beta testers. We’ve gotten some incredible results. And so we’ll be opening it up in a very slow launch in January. We’re committed to making the best product that’s available out there. And so we’re going to do it slow. We’re going to continue to collect testimonials and and reviews, and then, you know, plus, we got to make sure that manufacturing, we can handle the the demands and and all that other fun stuff. So that’s going to be that’s foundersfuel.co So the website is still in the process of being built, but it’s foundersfuel.co.

Heather Pearce Campbell  52:35

Amazing. Maybe by the time this comes out, you will have just launched. We can talk about scheduling. That’s a fun story. I didn’t know that was a product. I was thinking like, you know, mastermind or like something, you know, much more typical, but that’s how fun. What a cool thing to kind of venture into. Yeah, so and folks, if you’re listening, we’ll share that link and any others that Charles wants us to share. But really quick, Charles, let’s check in with you on you know whether, and it’s totally fine, by the way, if the answer is no, I love my guests who are like no, the answer is no. Do you like for people to connect with you? And if so, where would you direct traffic?

Charles Gaudet  53:17

That’s probably, I mean, look, they can always check us out at predictableprofits.com. Again, that’s predictableprofits.com. There’s a lot of resources and ways that they connect that way. LinkedIn. Charles Gaudet, I’m very active on LinkedIn, so if they want to send me a connection request and just mention that they were on this podcast, they heard me, I’ll accept it, and it’ll be just a great way to be able to follow one another. And yep, so either predictable profits.com or LinkedIn, either, let’s do both predictable profits.com and LinkedIn or Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it, right under the handle Charles Gaudet like it’s, you know, it’s cool. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  53:58

You’re findable. All right, we will share those links. I also am a fan of LinkedIn. So people know that I will often shout about LinkedIn folks. Pop over to the show notes. You can always find those at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. You will find Charles there. Make sure that you go follow him, connect with him. We will also share the link to founders feel I will personally be very curious about that, and I have my own reasons for why, but I love that little project, Charles. Such a pleasure to connect with you today. I’m so grateful for your time. I’m so grateful that Brian connected us. What final thought, words of wisdom, action, step. It could be whatever you want it to be. What would you like to leave our listeners with today. 

Charles Gaudet  54:42

Oh that is a great one. I guess it kind of all depends on when you ask me that, because it’s always going to be, you know, different things depending on right. What I’m going to say is that. Yeah, we actually don’t need to have the answers anymore. We don’t need to know the answers. So what I mean by that is the answers are around. There’s enough resources, there’s AI, there’s brilliant people. What you need to know is the questions to ask. That’s the muscle that we have to build. The advantage of the future is going to go to those people that know to ask the questions that other people haven’t thought to ask themselves. Now how you do that as a muscle you’re gonna have to build, you have to create context, you have to have experience, to know certain questions to ask, right? I can’t get on the golf course and know to ask the same questions as say, Tiger Woods would be asking, you know about my swing and how to improve, because I don’t have the same context as as he has, but is really just focusing in on asking better questions. Remain curious. I love that. Instead of passing judgment so quick, maybe ask, why did they do that? What is the impact that they were expecting? How could we do this better? How can I apply it into my life? How can I apply this into my business? Why could this be an opportunity instead of a problem like ask better questions.

Heather Pearce Campbell  56:22

Love it. I’m gonna put all those questions in the show notes. Folks, you heard it here. I love that. Learn to ask better questions. Charles, I’m so grateful to you. I really look forward to staying in touch. I hope we have the chance to do this again soon.

Charles Gaudet  56:35

Sounds great. Well, together, we’re better. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  56:38

That’s right, you as well. 

GGGB Outro  56:40

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.