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Multiplier Mindset® with Dan Sullivan

Multiplier Mindset® with Dan Sullivan

Hosted by Dan Sullivan and Strategic Coach

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Episodes

253

Latest episode

Jul 2026

Language

EN

About the show

Strategic Coach founder Dan Sullivan shares his wisdom and insights with entrepreneurs who want to multiply their freedom and success.

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60 recent
August 12, 20268 min

How Entrepreneurs Can Publish Books Without It Being A Chore

Dan Sullivan used to write books the hard way: long, lonely hours at the keyboard. In this episode, he explains the small‑book production system he created in 2014—focused ideas, a repeatable structure, and an editorial team that lets him produce a new book every quarter—and shows how entrepreneurs can adopt the same approach. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:What first got Dan writing books over 30 years ago.The commitment he made at 70 to write a different kind of book every quarter.Why his new book project stalled just four weeks in.Who the books are for and how they’re meant to be used.How Dan selects each quarter’s book topic. Show Notes: You can choose to write only about ideas your clients have already paid you for and that are proven in the marketplace. Long-term creative goals, like a book every quarter for 25 years, keep you active, productive, and future-focused. Advertising taught Dan to write succinctly by getting a complete message across in just a few seconds or inches of space. Strategic Coach® books are written specifically for Program members and for their associates who may want to join. Every quarterly book follows the same structure, with eight chapters, an introduction, a conclusion, and a consistent layout. Short, focused books can reveal which ideas deserve to become bigger, mass market books. Writing a book entirely on your own is often slow, lonely work that doesn’t suit most entrepreneurs. If you maintain your health, you can keep doing meaningful creative work for your entire lifetime. When a company pays you to advise its people, your recommendations can be constrained by the organization’s agenda. Most entrepreneurs get better results by collaborating with an interviewer or editor who can draw out their ideas. When you’re stuck on a project, asking a capable team member to take over the “How” can instantly create momentum. Resources:The 21st Century Agent by Dan Sullivan The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time Management Wanting What You Want by Dan SullivanThe Impact Filter® Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

July 22, 202622 min

Why It’s Worth The Entrepreneurial Risk, with Maria Callahan

Maria Callahan owns a tax advisory firm and has redesigned it around entrepreneurial freedom. Here, she shares how shifting from “professional accountant” to “entrepreneur,” pruning wrong-fit clients, and using Strategic Coach® tools helped her build a lean, right‑fit firm where tax season is calm, her time is protected, and the business supports the life she actually wants. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How boredom led Maria to entrepreneurship.The risks and sacrifices she made to start her own business.What first drew Maria into accounting.Why she enjoys working with taxes and tax planning.How Strategic Coach has been a pivotal part of her life over the past few years. Show Notes: Professional accountants tend to get hardwired to believe there’s only one “right” way to do accounting. Strategic Coach members recognize how their industry operates, but deliberately design businesses that operate in a way that makes sense for them. Once you’re credentialed, you can choose to be an entrepreneur whose specialty happens to be accounting. The joy of entrepreneurship is focusing on what you love doing, what you’re best at, and the clients you love working with. Not every customer or client is right for you, and accepting that lets you eliminate wrong-fit work and stress from your business. Sometimes the best move is to stop offering products or services that distract you from what you do exceptionally well. Real leadership involves making time to think about your business, where it’s going, and who will be on the journey with you. Focus Days™ are for money‑making activities, Buffer Days™ are for setup and support work, and Free Days™ are 24 hours with zero work. Either you take Free Days intentionally, or your body will eventually force you to take them. Doing everything yourself is one of the most exhausting and expensive habits an entrepreneur can have. If you never challenge your own beliefs about work and success, you’ll never step outside the limits they create. Strategic Coach members learn from each other because they’re in different industries but face remarkably similar challenges. Resources: Unique Ability®The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time ManagementWho Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Tax-Free Wealth by Tom WheelwrightKolbeTransforming Experiences Into MultipliersThe Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin HardyThe Positive Focus®

July 2, 20260 min

The Shift That Happens When You Commit To Your Best Work, with Jane Pegg

Dr. Jane Pegg is a veterinarian specializing in dentistry and oral surgery, and her ambition led her to build an enterprise that includes both a hospital and a school. In this episode, Jane shares how she went from feeling unhappy in traditional jobs to doing only the work she’s best at and loves most. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How you actually grow as an entrepreneur by designing your own future instead of following a prescribed path.The number one thing entrepreneurs learn in The Strategic Coach® Program.Why Jane’s first year in Strategic Coach® was very different from what she expected—and why that turned out to be a good thing.The most valuable part of The Strategic Coach Program for Jane so far, and how it changed the way she thinks about problems and opportunities. Show Notes: Entrepreneurs learn at a very early age that they can’t just follow along; they have to create their own path. Entrepreneurs create their own futures, and the best ones always see their futures as bigger than their pasts. Problems are raw material for expanding the usefulness of your business. If you do something only rarely, you have no ability to become truly proficient or truly exceptional at it. If you don’t know where you want to get to, it doesn’t matter which way you go. You won’t get any closer to your next goal by sitting still. Entrepreneurs need the courage to say, “There’s no other option. This is what we’re doing.” Strategic Coach thinking tools aren’t tied to a particular industry; they connect directly to your unique experience. Entrepreneurs have to figure out for themselves what they want their main area of focus to be. Resources: Unique Ability® Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

June 10, 202620 min

Not Being Normal Is Your Biggest Advantage, with Andy Howard

Andy Howard always knew he didn’t think like everyone else, and school confirmed it. Today, he runs Karuna Impact, a niche property business that converts underused commercial buildings into homes and channels a third of its profits to fight child bed poverty. Discover how Strategic Coach® helped Andy transform discomfort and loss into clarity, confidence, and a powerful freedom of purpose. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why Andy’s entrepreneurial mind didn’t fit formal education.What Andy started doing after school that finally felt energizing.How a neglected niche in property became a huge growth opportunity.How Andy has gained confidence and clarity through Strategic Coach.What sparked Andy’s renewed sense of purpose as an entrepreneur. Show Notes: Many successful entrepreneurs don’t thrive in school, so they use their own experience as their real education. Most coaching programs focus on goals and tactics; Strategic Coach focuses on expanding your freedom. Freedom isn’t handed to you—you earn it through the entrepreneurial journey. To be free in any area of life, you first need freedom over your time. As you grow your personal freedom, you naturally create greater value for others. For many entrepreneurs, work loses its energy once it feels routine. Big opportunities often live in niches that most people overlook. Social impact and company profitability aren’t mutually exclusive; a well-designed business can achieve both. Strategic Coach thinking tools help you get crystal clear on your vision and the people needed to achieve it. Every Program Coach is an entrepreneur, so they coach from real-world experience, not theory. Finding a community of like-minded entrepreneurs makes it easier to take risks and pursue bigger freedoms. Clarifying your freedom of purpose gives you the motivation to keep growing long after you’ve hit your initial goals. Resources: Karuna Impact The Kolbe A™ Index The Impact Filter® The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs Everything Is Created Backward by Dan Sullivan

May 20, 202632 min

Find Your Fellow Gritty, Courageous Entrepreneurs, with Eric Hansen

Eric Hansen built his business the hard way—decades of grit, risk, and going it alone. But he hit a ceiling he couldn’t break through by himself. In this episode, Eric shares how joining The Strategic Coach® Program helped him multiply his business, reclaim his time, and design a more balanced, purposeful entrepreneurial life. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why entrepreneurs talk about completely different things with one another than anyone else in their lives.The two crucial stages that signal you’re ready to join The Strategic Coach Program.Why Eric said no to Coach for years—and what finally changed his mind.The kind of wireless telecommunications company Eric has been growing for nearly three decades.How Eric has actually gained more free time and freedom as his company has scaled.  Show Notes: When corporate executives meet, they share wins. When professionals meet, they discuss problems. When entrepreneurs meet, they trade stories about their biggest failures and comebacks. Entrepreneurs routinely put themselves into situations where they have to grow as people in order to create the solutions they need. Great entrepreneurs are always acquiring new capabilities, and that continual growth is what builds their confidence. The most successful entrepreneurs can go through almost any kind of trouble and still find a way to come out stronger on the other side. In the Strategic Coach® community, you never have to explain yourself because everyone has lived through their own version of the challenges you’re describing. It’s a powerful advantage for a new entrepreneur to admit they don’t know everything and be open to learning. Companies, like people, move through distinct phases of growth, and each phase demands a different kind of leadership. When you’re staring down potential business ruin, you quickly discover who you are and what you’re really made of. Grit is a crucial entrepreneurial capability that never shows up neatly on a resume and is almost impossible to judge on the surface. Most small businesses don’t survive beyond their first few years, which makes staying power and resilience a serious competitive advantage. The willingness to be vulnerable, especially after major setbacks, can become one of an entrepreneur’s greatest superpowers. Resources: The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan Grit by Angela Duckworth The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brook The Impact Filter®

April 29, 202628 min

The Scary Decisions That Fuel Top Entrepreneurs, with Zack Oliva

From the start of his career, Zack Oliva has deliberately moved toward where he sees the next wave of growth. Now co-owner of a national energy law firm, he shares how he makes major career and business decisions, builds a focused niche, and uses entrepreneurial thinking to stay in the right position for long-term expansion. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why Zack says he “wasn’t a real person” when he started his firm in 2013.How focusing on the right people allowed Zack’s company to grow exponentially.Zack’s attitude toward every person who comes through his organization.How The Strategic Coach® Program has helped Zack and his business partner grow their company 3-4x.Why Zack thinks joining Strategic Coach® is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. Show Notes: Becoming a professional takes years of study, but becoming an entrepreneur starts with choosing to keep growing beyond your credentials. Most professionals follow best practices, while entrepreneurs create their own rules and go where the future growth will be. Entrepreneurs are people who want to grow. Your personal growth as an owner sets the ceiling for how big and how fast your company can grow. Choosing a growing niche creates a powerful platform to multiply opportunity. Casting for roles, not hiring for generic jobs, helps you find A‑players who fit your vision and teamwork standards. Treating your team members as whole people, not just employees, creates loyalty, creativity, and staying power. A business becomes more valuable when it runs increasingly well without the founder at the center of everything. Trusting your intuition is a learnable skill that gets stronger when you pay attention to past decisions and meaningful coincidences. Entrepreneurship is largely a game of confidence, and protecting that confidence is one of your key responsibilities. Strategic Coach thinking tools and workshops give entrepreneurs and teams a shared language that accelerates connection and progress. Investing in your team’s development produces more creative, capable people who free you up for higher-level work and a fuller life. Resources: Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time Management

April 8, 202633 min

Growing A Business Without Breaking Your Bond, with Kerby Skurat and Cristina Edelstein-Skurat

When life partners become business partners, tension can quickly intensify—or multiply everything that matters. With the right tools and mindsets, that partnership can become extraordinary. In this episode, Kerby Skurat and Cristina Edelstein share how Strategic Coach® has helped them build a thriving business and a strong marriage at the same time. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How life partners Dan Sullivan and Babs Smith co-run Strategic Coach.What Strategic Coach has helped Cristina and Kerby achieve with their business.How Cristina and Kerby grew their real estate business into a $10‑million‑a‑year company.Cristina and Kerby’s core values.What led Kerby to the decision to shut down a $16-million company.Why both members of an entrepreneurial couple should attend Strategic Coach workshops. Show Notes: Many entrepreneurial couples end up with an almost adversarial business relationship that spills into their personal life. Unique Ability® gives each partner a clear lane, so “best with best” teamwork becomes possible instead of competitive. Entrepreneurism usually shows up early in life and quickly becomes a lifelong way of operating. Choosing the entrepreneurial path means you’ve opted out of the job market and into creating your own game. Strategic Coach provides the structure, tools, and community that support this unique way of life. There’s an art to staying in your lane, especially when both partners are strong‑willed and driven. Every individual has a distinct way of creating results, and honoring those differences turns conflict into collaboration. Real data, real statistics, and real projections give you the confidence to make clear decisions and smart adjustments. A business can be big and profitable and still be the wrong one for you. Shutting down a good company can be the smartest move if it frees you up for great opportunities. Time away from your team, in a room with other entrepreneurs, often leads to the biggest strategic decisions. Hearing other entrepreneurs’ success stories can inspire you to take action on your own goals. Strategic Coach workshops create a thinking space where you can focus on what could be, not just what is. Getting help at deeper personal levels, like marriage counseling, can dramatically improve your business teamwork. Strategic Coach tools work just as well at home as they do in the office. In a team of any size, the speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack. When both partners are in the same coaching environment, it’s far easier to stay aligned on vision and decisions. Resources: Unique Ability® Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front StageEverything Is Created Backward by Dan SullivanThe Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller EOS® Worldwide Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy How To Sell Transformation Using This One Question Do You Know What’s Keeping Your Clients Awake At 3 A.M.? Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

March 18, 20266 min

How A Walk In The Woods Shaped A Life Of Freedom

As a six-year-old exploring the woods alone, Dan Sullivan discovered that freedom plus responsibility creates confidence, creativity, and self-trust. In this episode, he connects that childhood experience to the way entrepreneurs grow today—by choosing freedom over fear, embracing intelligent risk, and creating environments where exploration and imagination can thrive.​Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The kind of childhood freedom Dan was given to explore on his own.How that early freedom directly connects to how he created and continually expands The Strategic Coach® Program.Why it might seem like the world is more dangerous for children than it used to be. Show Notes: Giving a child room to explore something a bit risky teaches them to take responsibility for their own safety and choices.​When parents are ruled by fear, they overprotect their children and tightly organize every activity, unintentionally blocking growth.​Constant surveillance and control erode a child’s sense of freedom and make independent decision-making feel dangerous instead of natural. Being trusted to “go into the woods” on your own is an early version of entrepreneurial freedom: you decide, you act, and you own the consequences.​Making up your own fun in unsupervised environments trains the same imagination entrepreneurs later use to invent offerings, markets, and business models.​Today’s world isn’t objectively more dangerous than it was 75 years ago, but 24/7 media makes rare tragedies feel constant and personal.​Dan’s parents made a conscious decision to tolerate risk in exchange for developing a strong, independent, and confident mind.​That parental mindset mirrors great entrepreneurial leadership: you protect against true catastrophe but don’t smother initiative with control. Overprotective environments create compliant rule followers, while freedom with responsibility creates self-managing value creators.

February 25, 20268 min

Turning Silence Into Your Secret Weapon For Sales

In this episode, Dan Sullivan shares how one powerful question can transform any sales conversation. Instead of pitching, you invite prospects to imagine their bigger future and talk themselves into working with you. Learn how The R-Factor Question® builds instant trust, filters out wrong-fit clients, and makes every sales call about them, not you. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How to use one question to turn any sales conversation into a deep, future-focused discussion.Which types of businesses and professions can most effectively use The R-Factor Question.What it means—and what to do next—when someone refuses to answer The R-Factor Question. Show Notes: A great sales conversation starts long before you speak, with a trusted referral that pre-sells your credibility and lowers resistance.​The R-Factor Question instantly signals that the conversation is going to be about the prospect’s future, not your offer or your agenda. When you ask someone to imagine their life three years from now and describe what progress would make them happy, you shift them into possibility thinking. The person who does most of the talking in a sales conversation is the one doing the buying, so let your prospect talk themselves into their future. Silence after you ask the question is your best tool because it proves the question has landed and gives the prospect space to think deeply. When a prospect openly shares their dangers, opportunities, and strengths in response, they’re demonstrating real trust and a desire for a relationship with you. If someone refuses to answer The R-Factor Question, they’re telling you they don’t trust you, and the most productive move is to graciously end the conversation. The first thing anyone truly buys in the marketplace is a relationship, long before they decide on a product, service, or program. People don’t actually want your answers; they want better questions that help them discover their own best answers and next steps. Asking questions you genuinely don’t know the answer to keeps you curious, keeps them engaged, and reveals what they really want to transform. By focusing on their three-year future, you immediately differentiate yourself from every salesperson who is focused on this quarter’s sale. A prospect who shares painful parts of their past or their failures with you is demonstrating deep trust, which is the foundation for any meaningful transformational work. Knowing early that someone is not a fit protects your time, energy, and team so you can focus on clients who genuinely want your help. Resources: How To Improve Business By Asking Good Questions

February 4, 202627 min

From Self Employed To Real Entrepreneur, with Jessica Christy

Many entrepreneurs are technically “in business” but still trapped working for a relentless, 24/7 boss: themselves. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Jessica Christy unpack what it takes to build a true entrepreneurial company instead. Hear how a painful team exodus became Jessica’s biggest growth catalyst and how clear core values, better leadership, and greater control over your life create a company you never want to retire from. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Jessica’s original “entrepreneurial moment” while she was still working for someone else.How her medical aesthetics company, Beauty Culture, helps clients far beyond surface-level appearance.What makes her company stand out in a crowded, diluted industry.How to build the confidence to step into big, scary opportunities.What Jessica has gained since joining Strategic Coach®. Show Notes: Most entrepreneurs aren’t running true companies yet; they’ve simply created a demanding job where they work for themselves. When you’re self‑employed, your “boss” follows you everywhere—24 hours a day, 365 days a year—and is often tougher than any previous employer. Being your own boss doesn’t automatically make you a good boss, especially for your team or for your future self. The Four Freedoms at the heart of entrepreneurial motivation are freedom of time, money, relationship, and purpose, and true entrepreneurial companies are built to expand all four. If you’ve designed a life and business you truly love, the desire to retire largely disappears because work is an expression of your purpose.​When entrepreneurs get together, the most valuable conversations are about how they transformed failures and crises into breakthroughs, not just about their wins.​The more you learn as an entrepreneur, the more aware you become of how much you don’t know, which keeps you curious, humble, and growth oriented. People rarely leave “bad jobs” so much as they leave a lack of leadership; team members crave clear vision, accountability, and support from their boss. Strong core values act as the navigating compass for your entire company, guiding who you hire, fire, promote, and partner with. Resources: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber Unique Ability®

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