Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Justin Mink. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

Showing real, genuine appreciation for a client goes beyond corporate gifts and thank you cards; it’s about building a relationship based on trust, respect, and mutual value. The work that I do with clients is more effective when there is a high level of vulnerability and safety in the relationship. This allows leaders to fully embrace my coaching and drive the kind of progress that my clients want. First and foremost, I authentically care about my clients and their success – that’s the foundation for everything. Beyond that, it’s the little things – an email to a team that calls out each leader’s unique super powers. A question about an important life event that a client previously mentioned in passing.  All the little things add up to help the client feel appreciated as a human being and not just a number

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been an entrepreneur since my early 20s, when I had a corporate desk job and started a weekend side hustle that was way more fun — and lucrative — then my 9-to-5. That kicked off my entrepreneurial journey and, as every leader has experienced, a roller coaster ride of big highs and devastating lows. One of my most exciting highs was cofounding a company in Dallas called Music Audience Exchange that today has over 100 employees and has done $100M+ in revenue. But that high only lasted for a few years as I ended up contracting a chronic and at times debilitating illness. I was working 80+ hour weeks, engaged to my now wife, and all the stress and strain created the conditions where I just couldn’t recover from a viral illness. That experience made me believe entrepreneurship and leadership was synonymous with chaos, stress, sacrificing health, relationships, and time for any other interests in life. So I thought I was done with entrepreneurship.   And then reading the book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business – which dives into the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) model – changed my life. It contained simple answers to questions that I didn’t think had answers and showed me that leadership doesn’t have to dominate your life.  I had read all the theories and leadership fads, but this was the simplest framework that I had encountered.  Practical tools designed to help leaders get more of what they want from their business while also living a better life. After taking a 5-year break from leadership, I was inspired to jump back into an entrepreneurial venture, this time armed with EOS. I joined a small start-up as their Revenue leader, and over a 6-month timeframe of r running the business on EOS, our revenue velocity almost 2xed and we made work-life balance a company value, capping all employees’ hours at 40/week. Team engagement skyrocketed while the company also reaped financial rewards, a transformative experience for me both professionally and personally. I was inspired to devote the rest of my career to helping other entrepreneurs experience the same kind of freedom – from frustration, stress, and chaos – that EOS made possible for me. My professional and personal calling–as a Certified EOS Implementer working with leadership teams and an Executive Coach working with individuals – is to help high-performers create freedom in their lives, to process and let go of the things that no longer serve them, and to maximize performance AND gratification, happiness, and fulfillment. It’s a privilege to earn the kind of trust that I have with clients, a confidence that I consider a real and sacred responsibility to serve them to my best and highest ability.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As an a-type, high-performer, my instinct — and everything I had been taught — was that any and all problems could be solved by going harder. So when I got sick, I treated my health issues like I would any other problem. I explored countless modalities, therapies, treatments, you name it I tried it with a level of intensity that ultimately made my problems worse (especially when the latest treatment inevitably failed to help me get better). It’s only when I took a step back and started exploring what the pain had to teach me from a place of curiosity vs. desperation that I started to  heal. Self-reflection, stillness instead of action, and taking a holistic mind-body-spirit approach to healing from a place of acceptance–that was the approach that ultimately started the healing process. Now I’m at a place where I can keep the good, accept and release the bad, and ultimately get even more of the optimal performance that I once believed could only be achieve by intensity of effort.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My practice as a Certified EOS Implementer (i.e. a business and leadership coach) and Executive Coach was a massive pivot! Previously, my career had been split between entrepreneurial leadership with enterprise digital marketing sales. I’m a textbook Visionary – lots of ideas, creative, strategic, forest through the trees thinker – but really don’t like the minutiae of day-to-day business management, being accountable for other people, and all the little details that great operators (or Integrators) are so naturally skilled at. So when I was a leader, I thought that there was some deficiency in my leadership skills.  I just assumed that great leaders were supposed to be great at everything! Really understanding myself–what I love to do and what I’m great at doing, where I can operate in my zone of genius and contribute at my highest and best capacity–is what ultimately inspired me to become a solopreneur and coach. You can’t pour out of an empty cup, and this pivot allows me to constantly refill and rejuvenate my energy, passion, and enthusiasm for the business, which in turn allows me to be the kind of coach that helps drive the outcomes that my clients want.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eosworldwide.com/justin-mink
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmink/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinmink7365

Image Credits
Justin Mink