Ral West Livin' the Dream | Business Mentoring

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Transcript:

Welcome to another episode of The Brand Called You vodcast and podcast show that brings you leadership lessons, knowledge, experience and wisdom from thousands of successful individuals from around the world. I'm your host, Ashutosh Garg and today I'm delighted to welcome an accomplished entrepreneur from Alaska, USA, Ral West. Ashutosh: Ral, welcome to the show. Ral: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Ral is the founder of Ral West: Livin’ the Dream. She is the creator of From Overwhelmed to Living the Dream: Create More Success with Less Stress. She has had unparalleled expertise in scaling businesses, marketing acumen, and organizational management. Ashutosh: So Ral, before we talk about scaling businesses, please tell me about your own journey in brief. What would you say has defined your career path toward business and entrepreneurship? Ral: My first business was a marketing and consulting company in Anchorage, Alaska, which I started in the early 1980s. I then worked with my husband in a business he started in 1982. Together we grew and ran it for about 25 years, turning it into a very profitable enterprise. Eventually, it was managed by a professional COO and CFO, freeing us from the day-to-day operations. Several years later, we sold it to Alaska Airlines. Since then, there have been a few other iterations of our careers, but that was a major one. Ashutosh: Let’s talk about scaling businesses. How does an entrepreneur identify the right time to scale, and what are the first steps? Ral: The demand for your product needs to exceed your capacity to deliver it. Before scaling, ensure you have systems in place and clearly defined tasks and responsibilities, ideally in writing. Whether hiring employees or investing in tech, clarity is essential. Define objectives and desired outcomes before making investments and consider ROI carefully. Ashutosh: What strategies have you found most effective for managing the risks of rapid business growth? Ral: Rapid growth is often followed by reduced profitability because growth is expensive. Be realistic and conservative about your growth path. Increase overhead in small increments tied to actual revenue increases. Keep an eye on the bottom line to avoid growing overhead too quickly. I've seen business owners overextend, expecting more revenue than they receive, which can lead to layoffs, asset sales, or even bankruptcy. Ashutosh: Should entrepreneurs bring in a mentor or coach during growth? Ral: Absolutely. More minds are better. We had an advisory board of top businesspeople who guided us—sometimes urging us to be bold, other times to scale back. You also need to monitor your systems, have a strong team, and ensure responsibilities and procedures are clearly defined in writing. Balance your infrastructure investments with actual need—it’s a guessing game sometimes. Ashutosh: How have digital technologies impacted business scaling? Ral: Technology greatly affects growth potential. Even 40 years ago, we used tech to automate our reservation system for charter jets, which helped us grow. Today, tech enhances communication, enables remote work, reduces real estate needs, and opens broader markets. You can hire fractional workers and replace tasks with automation—just be sure your ROI calculations make sense. Ashutosh: What role does customer feedback play in scaling a business? Ral: Customer feedback is everything. Companies that adapt based on feedback tend to succeed long term. Have systems to collect and implement feedback, update service standards, and ensure your team understands the importance of customer satisfaction. It’s easier to keep a happy customer than to find a new one. Ashutosh: What about company culture—how important is it during scaling? Ral: Company culture is foundational. From the start, the entrepreneur needs a clear vision of their values, which become the organization’s cornerstone. These values should be consistently communicated to your team, customers, and vendors. Don’t lose sight of your culture—it dictates long-term success. If you claim honesty or excellence, you must demonstrate those consistently. Ashutosh: Your airline business must’ve relied on strong systems. Why does a business need systems? Ral: Every business—large or small—needs systems. A system is just a series of steps or a process. Whether answering phones or delivering products, systems guide actions and ensure consistency. The more complex the business, the more intricate and defined the systems must be. Ashutosh: What role does technology play in building systems? Ral: Technology simplifies systems. Where systems were once written and manual, now they’re digital. Our reservation system allowed us to reduce staff and manage bookings efficiently. Today, tech is used across accounting, marketing, inventory, restaurants—you name it. It improves operations everywhere. Ashutosh: Do systems provide freedom for the business owner? Ral: Definitely. Without systems, you work in the business, not on it. Systems let you teach your team, ensure tasks are done consistently, and give you space to step back, see the big picture, and shape the business's future. Ashutosh: How do systems support consistent, world-class customer service? Ral: I’m passionate about customer service. When it’s bad, it's often due to a lack of systems. Once, an airline took 13 days to return my luggage and we had no way to track it—clearly no system in place. Contrast that with a hotel that gave me a direct text number for any needs. It created a seamless, elevated experience. That’s a simple but powerful system at work. Ashutosh: Final systems question: what’s the correlation between customer care, culture, and customer service? Ral: Company culture should stem from the owner’s values and be embedded throughout. In our business, our vision was to create happy passengers who wanted to return. Our guiding principles—what we called the “WERQ” ethic: Win-win, Efficiency, Responsibility, and Quality—gave our team a framework for decisions. This translated into better customer experiences and stronger loyalty. Ashutosh: Now tell me about your course From Overwhelm to Living the Dream—what inspired you to create it? Ral: It’s not a book yet—it’s an online course. My daughters inspired it. People often tell us we’re “living the dream” with multiple homes, a yacht, frequent travel, and still running businesses. Our daughters said, “Teach people how you do it.” So I built the course to show how to step out of the day-to-day and create a life of freedom. The key message is: organize your business with systems to reduce stress and increase success. I also offer a free article, Six Essential Secrets to Business Success, at ralwest.com/secrets. Ashutosh: Thank you, Ral, for sharing your incredible journey. You are certainly living the dream. Thank you for speaking in such detail about scaling, systems, and the importance of a strong culture. I loved your WERQ acronym—brilliant. Thank you again! Ral: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

As a podcaster, I feel immensely honored and excited to have had Ral West as a guest on my show. Her wealth of knowledge and unique experience promises to offer my viewers and listeners valuable insights from our thought-provoking discussions. - Ashutosh Garg, 'The Brand Called You' Podcast

Transcript:

Today I have with me Ral West. She has over 40 years of entrepreneurial experience and quite a journey to share—a really cool, amazing story that I think you're going to really enjoy. She has a massive passion for business, comes from an entrepreneurial family—as do I—and her current business, I absolutely love the name: Ral West: Livin’ the Dream. Ral teaches entrepreneurs how to overcome overwhelm and accomplish more success with less stress so they can have a smooth-running business and live the life they deserve. All of those things are things I’m passionate about too. Today we’re going to spend most of our time hearing about Ral’s journey, and my intention is that something in this episode is inspiring, thought-provoking, or maybe even gives you an aha moment. Ral, thank you so much for being here. Ral: Oh, thanks, Cheris. It’s a pleasure. I first need to ask—because I imagine my audience might be curious, and I don’t know the answer—is there a story behind your first name? “Ral”—R-A-L—it’s unique. I’ve never heard it before. Is it short for something? Where did it come from? Ral: It’s not short for anything. It’s the whole name, and it came from my parents’ imagination. There’s kind of a long story behind it, but I’ll try to condense it. I was conceived on a round-the-world trip, so my initials needed to be RTW, which stands for “round the world” in the travel business. They wanted something unique. My brother was Richard, so they couldn’t use that name. The “R” came from a comic strip character named Prince Valiant, but “Valiant” didn’t start with an R—so they changed the “Val” to “Ral.” Oh my gosh, I’m so glad I asked you that. What a fun story! Ral: Apparently, I was conceived on New Year’s Eve when they were supposed to be at some parties. That’s the first time I’ve ever shared that part of the story. So fun! Okay, let’s start with your background. I know your dad had a business, but you chose not to go into it. Tell us a little bit about your childhood or whatever you think is important for some backstory. Ral: My father was involved in Alaska tourism. In fact, he’s known as the founder of Alaska tourism—they called him “Mr. Alaska.” We had small cruise ships, hotels, motorcoaches—basically moving passengers all over Alaska. Alaska was like a second home to me, but my childhood home was in Seattle, Washington. I did work for the family company for several years, but by my mid-20s, I needed to move on. I moved to Ketchikan, Alaska to become the Director of Marketing for a small tour company, and then about a year later, I moved to Anchorage to open my own business—a small marketing consulting firm. That’s where I met my husband. He was picking my brain and decided to start a company helping Alaskans book condos and travel to Hawaii. We got married, and I ended up working in that business with him for 25 years. Eventually, we sold it to Alaska Airlines. Wow, what an accomplishment. I can’t wait to hear more details. But first—interesting fact: we’re both Washingtonians! I was born and raised in Richland, in the Tri-Cities. I met my husband at UPS—University of Puget Sound in Tacoma—so lots of Seattle visits. Ral: Oh wow, my daughter is a graduate of UPS! Oh my gosh, how fun! So we’re alums. Small world. Let’s talk more about your childhood. Did you get to go on those boats and tours often growing up? Ral: Yes. I like to say my middle name is “Travel,” even though it’s really Teresa. I have travel in my blood. I went to Alaska nearly every year starting at age four. I was on cruise ships, buses—all over the place. I also traveled the world—went to Europe at 13, and shortly after, Japan. Wow, that’s a remarkable childhood experience. I was 15 when I went to Europe for the first time. It’s such a special age—you’re old enough to remember and appreciate it. Ral: Absolutely. Let’s move on to the experience of growing your business with your husband, the one you eventually sold to Alaska Airlines. That’s not something you often hear in someone’s bio. Can you share some highs and lows? Ral: Oh, so many. Early on, I was juggling everything—I had a baby, I was breastfeeding her at my desk, holding staff meetings, and on the phone with clients all at once. I was your typical overwhelmed entrepreneur. Eventually, I realized I needed to go all-in with my husband’s business. We had synergy—our strengths complemented each other. But then one year, the airline we used to fly people between Alaska and Hawaii stopped operating that route. Suddenly, we had nothing to sell. We were taking cash advances on credit cards just to make payroll. We thought about closing the doors. But we believed Alaskans needed a way to escape those long winters, so we found a way to charter a jet. Everyone thought we were crazy—chartering a whole jet with no idea if we could sell the seats. My husband signed the contract anyway. I told him not to worry—they can’t take money we don’t have! We did our homework, ran the numbers, and figured out it could work. His mother even put up her retirement account as collateral. That summer, he sold every seat. It was a huge success. We went on to charter more planes—wide-body jets like DC-10s and 767s—and the company grew rapidly. This was the late '80s and early '90s. Our daughter was five or six. We were doing everything. Time was a luxury. That’s when I started figuring out how to create systems to make things run smoothly. We studied with Robert Kiyosaki before he wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad. He told us to read The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. We bought it and realized it was exactly what we needed—systems that would allow the business to run without us. I even went back to college for a degree in organizational management. I’d come back from class, implement what I learned, and my team would groan, “What did she learn this time?” But we actively applied it all. That’s what made the difference. So many people read books and do nothing. But we implemented. That’s the secret. Before we go on—your dad was a successful businessman. But you mentioned credit card debt and using your husband’s mom’s retirement for collateral. So you didn’t have family money funding this venture? Ral: That’s right. My parents were generous and supportive, but at that time, my dad was expanding his own business—buying cruise ships. His capital was tied up, so we had to make it work on our own. I remember that summer: no soda, Kool-Aid instead. No movies. Road trips in a camper. It was lean, but it was a valuable experience. And the journey continued? Ral: Yes. We developed strong systems, hired an outside board of directors, and brought in a COO and CFO. Handing over the business was like sending your child off to college. They asked, “Will you really let us run it?” My husband struggled with that more than I did, but we did it. The team we hired didn’t know each other but became great friends. They took our carefully laid foundation and grew the business even more. I was a little chagrined—it was amazing to watch! So the transition was gradual? Ral: Yes, we trained them for 6 to 12 months. We had regular meetings and set up metrics so we could monitor everything, even while traveling. I was also involved in nonprofits and serving on boards, which made it easier for me to let go. Eventually, we knew Alaska Airlines was considering entering our market. We figured they had deeper pockets, so we sold the business. Our customers were upset, but it was the right decision. That was in 2008. Alaska Airlines hadn’t made a major acquisition since buying Horizon Air, so it was a big deal for them too. The business was called Hawaiian Vacations. We transitioned operations for a few months and helped train their team. Letting go of our own team was the hardest part—they were like family to us. We even tried to pivot into a cruise line business to keep our staff, but the deal fell through when the bank wouldn’t lower the price after we discovered structural issues with the ships. Later, those same ships went up for auction. We won them at a low bid and eventually got five ships operating in Alaska through a charter model. We leased the ships to an operator and focused on collecting lease payments. When COVID hit in 2020, everything paused. The last ship couldn’t operate, so we sold it at a loss. That forced us to pivot again. After the sale to Alaska Airlines, most people expected you to retire. But you didn’t. Why not? Ral: Because business is a game—and I love it. I’m passionate about it. It excites me. I can’t imagine retiring. That word is a four-letter word to me. I want to stay vibrant, strong, and healthy. I plan to live into my hundreds—actively! After selling the ships, we pivoted into real estate. We’ve been investing for 30–35 years, but this time we entered multifamily syndications. Now we own or co-own over 6,000 apartment units across the southern U.S. Our newest business—Ral West: Livin’ the Dream—was inspired by our daughter. She said, “People are always telling you that you’re living the dream. Teach them how you did it!” And I thought—well, that’s actually a great idea. It’s a passion of mine. Now I’m developing an online course called Overcome Overwhelm: Create a Smooth Running Business with Less Stress. It walks through six essential secrets to business success, including systems, culture, team leadership, data, and customer service. I even use systems in my personal life—like a Christmas gift spreadsheet to track what I’ve given people each year. It makes the holidays stress-free. I do the same with packing lists. Lists reduce stress and prevent overwhelm. To find me online, go to ralwest.com, or to get my free download, visit ralwest.com/secrets. I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram as Ral West Livin’ the Dream or Ral West LTD. Let’s all be living the dream!

"Ral is an outstanding podcast guest. We had a dynamic and genuine conversation—one of my favorites, in fact! Her energy, kindness, and openness are a powerful combination." - Charis Santillie, Charis Your Life® Podcast Host

Transcript:

Welcome to another episode of The Brand Called You vodcast and podcast show that brings you leadership lessons, knowledge, experience, and wisdom from thousands of successful individuals from around the world. I'm your host, Ashutosh Garg, and today I'm delighted to welcome an accomplished entrepreneur from Alaska, USA—Ral West. Ral, welcome to the show. Ral: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Ral is the founder of Ral West: Livin’ the Dream. She is the creator of From Overwhelmed to Livin’ the Dream: Create More Success with Less Stress, and she has unparalleled expertise in scaling businesses, marketing acumen, and organizational management. Ashutosh: So, Ral, before we talk about scaling businesses, please tell me about your own journey in brief. What would you say has defined your career path toward business and entrepreneurship? Ral: My first business was a marketing and consulting company in Anchorage, Alaska, which I started in the early 1980s. I then began working with my husband in a business he started in 1982. Together, we ran and grew it for about 25 years into a very profitable enterprise. Eventually, we hired a professional COO and CFO, which allowed us to step out of the day-to-day operations. Several years later, we sold the company to Alaska Airlines. Since then, there have been a few other iterations of our careers, but that was a major chapter. Ashutosh: Fantastic. Let’s talk about scaling businesses. This is always a million-dollar question for any small or startup business. How does an entrepreneur identify the right time to scale a business, and what are the first steps? Ral: First, the demand for your product needs to exceed the time you have available to provide it. That’s your first indicator you need help. But before you bring anyone on—whether it's an employee or contractor—you need systems in place and a clear definition of tasks and responsibilities. Ideally, write this out and use it in your hiring process. If you're investing in technology to scale, the same rule applies. Clearly define your objectives and desired outcomes before making the investment. Then weigh the ROI so you're not investing more than you can reasonably expect to get back. Ashutosh: Well said. What strategies have you found most effective for managing the risks associated with rapid business growth? Ral: Rapid growth is often followed by a period of low or limited profitability—growth is expensive and comes with growing pains. To manage this, be realistic and conservative about your growth expectations. Increase overhead in small increments that align with actual revenue increases. That helps minimize the impact on your profit margin. Always keep your eye on the bottom line. I’ve seen too many owners get swept up in euphoric optimism, growing their overhead too fast—adding expensive executives or making big capital investments before the revenue materializes. That leads to having to lay off staff, pull back plans, or even sell assets. If you don’t catch it in time, it can lead to bankruptcy. Ashutosh: What should entrepreneurs consider when growing—should they bring in a mentor, consultant, advisor, or coach? Ral: Definitely. More minds are better. In our business, we had an advisory board made up of top business people. They helped guide us—sometimes encouraging us to be bolder, sometimes warning us to pare back. Mentorship is incredibly valuable. But you also need to keep an eye on your systems. Delivering a consistent product depends on systems. You need a good team with synergy and clear responsibilities and procedures in writing. You also need to scale your infrastructure at the right pace—not too fast. It’s always a bit of a balancing act between how much you invest in infrastructure and when you actually need it. Ashutosh: Great response. My next question is about digital technologies—how have they impacted how businesses scale today? Ral: More than ever, technology shapes a business’s growth potential. Even 40 years ago, we used tech to automate our reservation system when we ran charter flights between Alaska and Hawaii. That was a game-changer for us. Today, technology allows for easy communication, remote workforces, reduced need for physical office space, and broader market reach. You can use fractional workers instead of hiring full-time. You can even replace some workers with technology, which helps control labor costs. But again, weigh the tech costs against what you save or gain in revenue. Ashutosh: What role does customer feedback play in scaling a business? How can it be integrated into a growth strategy? Ral: Customer feedback is everything. Businesses that pay attention to feedback—and make changes based on it—are the ones that succeed long-term. You need a system to collect and implement feedback regularly. This helps you improve service standards and stay aligned with what customers actually want. It’s far easier to keep a happy customer than find a new one, so make sure your entire team understands how crucial customer satisfaction is. Ashutosh: That brings me to my next question—when companies scale too fast, two vulnerable areas are often culture and systems. Let’s start with culture. How important is it to maintain company culture and values when scaling? Ral: Culture is the foundation of any business. From day one, the owner needs a clear vision of their values—these are the cornerstone of the organization. As you grow, that foundation must remain stable. You have to communicate it to your team, customers, and vendors. Never lose sight of your culture. It defines how your company will succeed over time. If you stand for honesty, then deliver on that. If you value excellence, make sure you’re defining and delivering excellence in a way your customers recognize. Ashutosh: A few minutes ago, you mentioned your airline business—which couldn’t possibly run without strong systems. Why does a business need systems to run smoothly? Ral: Every business—no matter how big or small—needs systems. At the most basic level, a system is just a series of steps. It’s a process or a procedure. You can have a system for answering the phone, processing orders, delivering products—everything. Without systems, you can’t operate effectively. Ashutosh: What role does technology play in creating and defining those systems? Ral: Technology makes systems easier to execute. Before, everything was manual—handwritten or typed procedures. But today, technology can actually execute the systems for you. In our business, the automated reservation system reduced staff needs significantly. Tech helps across all areas—accounting, marketing, inventory, even restaurant operations. Ashutosh: Can systems give more freedom to the business owner? Ral: Absolutely. Without systems, the owner has to work in the business constantly. But with good systems in place, tasks get done consistently, and the owner can step back to work on the business, shaping its future instead of being tied up in daily operations. Ashutosh: How do systems help a business deliver consistent, world-class customer service? Ral: This is my favorite topic. I travel a lot and have experienced both excellent and terrible customer service. Bad service usually comes down to a lack of systems. One time, it took 13 days for us to receive lost luggage from an airline. No one could tell us where it was or help us. Clearly, no system was in place. On the other hand, I recently stayed at a hotel that had a simple text-based system to contact staff directly. They rotated shifts, introduced themselves, and offered help with anything I needed. That system totally elevated the guest experience. It wasn’t complicated—it just worked. Ashutosh: One more question on systems before we talk about your work. What's the connection between customer care, company culture, and customer service? How can that be communicated to customers? Ral: Company culture must be based on the owner’s values and communicated throughout the organization—all the way to the customer. In our business, we had a concept called the “valuable final product.” For us, it was a happy passenger getting off the plane saying, “I want to go to Hawaii again!” We also had guiding principles called WERQ—Win-win, Efficiency, Responsibility, and Quality. We trained our team to make decisions through that lens. If there was a customer issue, they’d ask: Is this a win-win? Are we being efficient? Are we being responsible? Are we delivering quality? This gave them clarity and empowered them to act—leading to a better customer experience. Never lose sight of your culture. Communicate it all the way to the end product the customer receives. Ashutosh: Wonderful. Time for one last question. Tell me about From Overwhelm to Livin’ the Dream: Create More Success with Less Stress. What inspired you to create it? Ral: It’s not a book—yet! It’s an online course. The inspiration came from my two daughters. People often tell us, “You’re living the dream”—we have two homes, a yacht, we travel constantly, and still run businesses. They wanted to know how we do it. My daughters encouraged me to teach others how we’ve stepped out of the day-to-day, sold a business, and still manage multiple ventures while living this lifestyle. So I created the course to share that—especially the importance of organizing your business with systems. That’s the key to reducing stress and gaining freedom. I also offer a free article called Six Essential Secrets to Business Success, which is available at ralwest.com/secrets. It outlines the foundational principles every business owner should know. Ashutosh: We’ll be sure to include your website and the free resource. Ral, thank you so much for sharing your incredible journey. You are certainly living the dream! Thank you for explaining what it takes to scale a business, maintain strong systems and culture, and deliver world-class service. I love your WERQ framework—outstanding. Thank you again for joining us. Ral: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

"Ral West's recent interview on the Ask Ralph Show was an illuminating and practical discussion on avoiding burnout for business owners. As the founder of a successful coaching firm, Ral spoke from experience about the common pitfalls entrepreneurs face that can lead to exhaustion. One of the key takeaways from the interview was Ral's actionable advice on setting boundaries. She explained how business owners often overload themselves by saying yes to every opportunity. Her tips for delegating tasks and automating processes were concrete strategies any entrepreneur could immediately put into practice. Ral's wisdom and candor made it clear why she's such a sought-after expert on entrepreneurial burnout. Any business owner would be wise to take her advice to heart and implement the practical steps she outlined." - Ralph V. Estep, Jr.

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"Ral has been a delightful guest on the Well Aware Podcast from day 1 of our planning the show, to well after content rollout. I most appreciate her communication abilities both on and off the record. As an interviewee, I really love how Ral takes her time to express the message behind her content - to me it shares the level of peace and patience that I think reflects on the nature of what she's delivering to audiences - own your business, it doesn't own you. Thank you, Ral!" - Conrad Ruiz

Transcript:

number one is always mindset um you have to have the faith and the confidence that you can do it and that you can grow your business and have a have a a bigger picture of what you might be able to achieve. The Podcast Empire: Podcast Mastery for Women in Business Welcome back to the Podcast Empire Women in Business Series, where we help purpose-driven women launch profitable podcasts to build their brand, their influence, and share their messages of impact. I’m your host Tracy Lee Cook, and I want to bring you today a phenomenal guest who's making waves in the world of business. She is an entrepreneur of over 40 years, and this series is a great way to find out which women, like our guest coming up now, are impacting the world in their chosen industry. Today we have someone truly remarkable for you, and as you embark on your own podcasting journey, make sure you check out the show notes below for your free podcasting resources. Today's guest is no other than Ral West. She is in Alaska, I’m in Australia, and this is incredible that we can connect as entrepreneurs, as women in business on a forum like this. So here’s what I know about Ral: when people want to create a life of their dreams, and they want to overcome overwhelm and create a smooth-running business with less stress, then they go to Ral. And she knows how to help you set up systems to organize and grow your business and reduce your stress. We were talking pre-show and yes—you can have it all. As a veteran entrepreneur, we're going to hear so many insights today. So join us as we delve into Ral’s journey, her insights, and the strategies she's used to overcome challenges and achieve success, and the practical advice that has helped her get to where she is today. Let’s dive into this empowering episode. A veteran entrepreneur of over 40 years—that is absolutely fascinating. I can’t wait to delve into what you do and who you serve and how you came to this place of having freedom and less stress in your life. You’ve just come back to Alaska from your Australia visit with your daughter. How do you make that possible? Ral: Well, yes, I’ve crafted a life where my business goes wherever I go. I can work from Australia, I can work from Europe, Antarctica—you name it. We’ve taken our laptops everywhere we go and as long as we have some signal, we can keep on top of things. And it didn’t come about overnight though. In the beginning, obviously we were up to our eyeballs in running a business like many other entrepreneurs and like many of your listeners. And we found that, you know, we didn’t have time for ourselves, for our family, for each other. And you know, it's like, oh, this is wonderful that we have our own business—but oh my God—isn’t there another way to do this? So it took a lot of learning, a lot of studying with mentors and taking courses and reading books and figuring out how to go about making this business fit our lifestyle instead of the other way around. Tracy: And how much emphasis do you put on investing in a coach or mentor to shortcut that? Ral: I could not be where I am today without having spent many, many thousands of dollars on mentors. And in fact, next month I’m going off to Florida to study with Tony Robbins, taking a Business Mastery course—because there’s still more to learn. You’re never done learning. So it’s very important to continually invest in yourself. It’s the best investment that there is. Tracy: Because I really feel—and you can agree or disagree—but I feel as though when you do invest with a coach or a mentor… Because you’re the founder of Ral West: Livin’ the Dream, and the creator of a course for entrepreneurs, “Overcome Overwhelm: Create a Smooth-Running Business with Less Stress.” So within those words and within the scope of the work that you do, people are investing in coaches like yourself, Ral, and investing in podcast courses with me because they want the shortcut. They want the proven strategy. They want the blueprint. You've already made all the mistakes so that they don't have to—your clients or your members don't have to. Can you talk to us and let our audience know how you discovered your genius zone? I love this question for women in business. How did you discover that what you’ve got—you can make a business from? Ral: Well, that took years—figuring out first of all how to create the systems in our business. We had a business for 25 years, and it wasn’t until halfway into that time that we started really realizing how systems could help us get out of the “mom and pop” running-the-business mode. Once we figured that out, then it took a few more years to actually develop the systems. Ultimately, we were able to exit the business and sell it. We sold the business to Alaska Airlines many years ago. But before that, we were able to extricate ourselves from the day-to-day and pass the management of the business over to a professional Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. So we at that point became free to have a second home in Hawaii, travel the world, get a yacht—you know, do all these things that we wanted to do—and yet the business was still humming along, running the way we wanted it to. We were able to keep track of it from wherever we were, because we had set up systems and metrics to be able to know exactly how the business was doing at any given point in time. That’s something that you don’t just snap your fingers and—boom—you have. You have to work at it. And then you get to the point where: “Okay, now I’ve got all this set up, I’ve trained my team, I’ve got manuals in place, I have metrics that tell me how the business is doing—now I can step away.” And we did. After doing all of that, and working that same kind of magic on a few other businesses, and helping other people do that with their businesses, I realized: “Huh, maybe this is my superpower.” That maybe systems is really what I know how to do. And it occurred to me the more I met other entrepreneurs, that it was somewhat of a unique superpower—not everybody understands what a system is or what it can do for you. That’s when I got the idea—and actually with the help of both of my daughters, who said, “Mom, everybody thinks you guys are living the dream. Why don’t you teach people how to do it? They want to be you. So teach them.” Tracy: Great advice from your daughters! Absolutely. They could see something that was there and you went for it. And that's the whole key to being an entrepreneur—just really having that dream. But I like how you talk so much about systems. Would you believe that a lot of entrepreneurs come in and they’re scared of asking for help, or they feel as though it’s a weakness or a vulnerability if they outsource or ask for help? Would you see that in the entrepreneur world at all? Ral: I think that there’s a big mistake being made by many entrepreneurs in thinking that they can do it all—and do it all themselves. That old adage of, “If I want it done right, I’ve got to do it myself”—that’s a huge, huge mistake. You really don’t know it all. We can’t. Even though we can be experts in a number of areas, there are still areas where we don’t have all the answers. Especially today, it just seems like there’s such a multiplication of technology and everything else—how can you possibly know everything that’s out there? I think we have to reach out and get support—from contractors, from mentors, from other people. I mean, why would you file your own taxes? Here in the U.S., filing taxes is kind of a big thing. I know in Australia it’s easier, but here you really have to have a CPA help you with your taxes—especially if you’re in business for yourself. So why spend the time trying to teach yourself all of that when that’s not your real area of expertise? And that’s not what you’re making your money from. Put your time into where you’re going to get the biggest return. And for me, that’s helping people to create the systems and give themselves the life and the business success that they want. Tracy: Absolutely. I mean, I liken systems to—I know how to grab a lawn mower and mow my lawn, but I’ve got a gardener. I know how to clean my house, but I’ve got a cleaner. And you’re not only supporting other people and their businesses, which is great—and helping communities and the economy—but you’re also freeing up your time to do the things that you’re a genius at. That’s where you’re the expert, Ral—you come in and you show people systems. Which, you know, have got the automations. Now I’ve got to ask this question: in the AI era, with systems and automations, what do you see as the biggest shifts in the entrepreneur world around that? Ral: Oh my—that’s huge. I mean, I think we’re just scratching the surface of what AI can do for us. I know I have an awful lot yet to learn about it. I’m starting to pick at it here and there, but I may end up hiring somebody to teach me how to do it—because again, that’s not really my area. However, I’ve always believed in technology and getting automation to do whatever it can. If you can automate anything, it’s better than relying on humans, actually—because we’re fallible. And oftentimes the automation is going to be able to give you a more consistent product. But you can’t necessarily automate everything—it depends on your budget and how much automation you can afford. Way back when, in our business, we made a huge investment in an automated reservation system. That was new back in the early 2000s. That was a big deal. And it took us a couple of years to figure it all out—we were kind of the beta for this company with their reservation system. But once we actually pulled the trigger, we were able to totally exponentially grow the business, reduce our labor cost, and serve our customers so much better—so much more efficiently. That was huge. But nowadays, you don’t have to have a big company or invest huge amounts of money to use automation in many small ways to get tremendous gains. In my course, I talk about getting leverage. Well, technology is a super source of leverage. You really need to look around—Google things, go into the app store and just put something in there and see what happens, in terms of finding an app that will help you streamline a particular function that you're working on. Absolutely. I think we have just scratched the surface in AI, and I truly believe that “prompt engineer” is going to be a new job title of the future. Ral: Well, I know our daughter that lives in Australia is a teacher, and she just blows my mind with how she is asking ChatGPT the questions—because the responses that she gets are so much better than mine! She words the prompts correctly and has learned how to do that. There’s an art to that. Tracy: Absolutely. And entrepreneurs coming into your world—because you’re a coach and a mentor—you’re teaching entrepreneur systems. What would be the top two things that you notice recurringly, over and over again, that entrepreneurs come to you with? Is it where to start? Is it how to set it up? Or is it mindset? What would be the top two things that really stand out to you with entrepreneurs wanting to really set their business up for success? Ral: Number one is always mindset. You have to have the faith and the confidence that you can do it—that you can grow your business and have a bigger picture of what you might be able to achieve. I think many entrepreneurs think too small. They need to think big. And they need to realize that their time is valuable. If they don’t value their time, they’ll end up doing things like you just mentioned—mowing their own lawn or cleaning their own house—and that is not the best way to use your time. In fact, recently I was in on some kind of webinar, and this guy was saying: “I figure out how much my time is worth by the hour, and if I can get it done for less than my hourly worth, I pay someone else to do it.” Now the trick is to make sure you value your time high enough. I think too many of us think, “Oh well, I’m not worth $200, $300, $500 an hour.” It’s like—aren’t you? What can you create with your business and with that time, if you weren’t bogged down with all this minutia? Or cleaning? Or mowing the lawn? Doing your own bookkeeping? I see too many entrepreneurs who are still trying to take care of their own books. Why? That’s so easy to outsource—bookkeeping, CPAs, social media, you name it. You can outsource everything. And then use your time to work on your business and plan the future of your business and figure out how you can best serve the most people. That’s how you create your value and worth in this world. And especially women—we tend to undervalue ourselves. Don’t make that mistake. Tracy: Absolutely—some golden nuggets shared there for sure, Ral. Because time is our biggest asset, and it can come from old programming, trauma—so many things. You know, that scarcity mindset, that poor money mindset. I remember being on a call with a business mentor back when I first started getting into entrepreneurship and realizing what it took. And I said, “Well I can’t do that, because nobody else can do that.” And they very abruptly said to me—and I so needed this—“What makes you a unicorn, Tracy? What makes you think nobody else can do this? Are you that special?” And I went, “Oh.” I was kind of annoyed—but I was kind of relieved as well. I just needed that third-party validation—that it’s okay to outsource, it’s okay to have a system set up that somebody else can follow and I can check in with. And I’m not a unicorn. That was my biggest breakthrough as an entrepreneur. And this is why people like you, Ral, are so important with systems. Because this is the big gap in entrepreneurship and women in business and online business—that really stands out to me. When I have conversations, people are still using pen and paper. People are hesitant to invest in a virtual assistant. And these are the biggest things that stand out to me. It’s so important that people connect with you, so you can fast-track them. You’ve got the proven blueprint. You’re a 40-year veteran entrepreneur—no doubt you’ve made all the mistakes—to fast-track someone else’s success. And you know we want that smooth-running business. We want that time freedom and to be able to leverage our time in more effective and productive ways. So with resources—if somebody hasn’t got the budget to start—what would you advise they do? Would it be Googling? Watching YouTube videos? Attending free seminars? If they’re trying to work up to getting that collateral behind them to invest in those systems? Ral: I don’t think that many systems cost a lot of money. You start off by just looking at what it is that you do every day. What do you spend your time on? And how can you make that more efficient? Take a group of activities that are most like each other and group them together and say: “How can I find a way to get this done faster?” Sometimes it’s just an app—and most apps are not very expensive. I don’t think money needs to stand between you and creating systems. Ral: I mean, shoot—some of my systems are just as simple as creating Excel spreadsheets to organize the flow and keep track of things that need to happen. I’ve got a spreadsheet that logs all of our medical appointments so I can quickly go and say, “Okay, when’s the next time we need to see such-and-such doctor?” That’s a system. It just takes so little time to save you time—and save you that headache. Put a spreadsheet together of all your maintenance tasks. Once you get that created, hand it to somebody else and say, “Here are the maintenance tasks that need to be done around here. Do it.” That doesn’t take that much money. So no—don’t let the lack of funding stop you from getting started. You can start small and grow. And yes—you can Google and YouTube just about anything. Don’t be afraid. Tracy: I really like that. And I love how you said use your Google Sheets—because what we set up for our business will transfer over to our personal life and vice versa. Do you find that as well? People start getting the dinners organized or maybe meal prepping or they’ve got a menu that can automatically go to their online shopping to be delivered—it’s just absolutely endless. Your family sporting events or holidays, and booking that out for the year. Would you advise that women in business kind of plan their three months or six months at a time and diary-block that time for certain things? Is that something that can lead to better productivity as well, do you think? Ral: I think so. We do that. In fact, we have a 12-month calendar and we block out time for all of our travel, special events—if we need to fly someplace to do our doctor’s appointments, we’ve got to block that time out too. Yes—and I use the same kind of planning and systems for our life that we do for our business. That is—organize things like a project. A project could be Christmas, and you just put it all in one spreadsheet. “Here are all the gifts I need to do. Here are the cards. Here’s this.” Whatever. You can use that same system for planning a party or doing an event or launching a podcast. You’ve got a list of tasks—organize that list of tasks and make sure all of them are recorded in one place so you know everything that has to happen. Then you can check them off one by one. If you’re not organized, you’re going to be doing a lot more than you actually need to do to get something done. Tracy: The busy work, right? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And I think getting organized—just knowing you’ve got a system—creates so much more clarity. You’re not caught in that confusion and overwhelm. Your mindset and personal growth improve too, don’t they? Ral: Well yes. And have you ever woken in the middle of the night going, “Oh—I’ve got to remember that”? Well, if you have it all written down and organized in some kind of software—whatever kind you use—you don’t need to have those middle-of-the-night shocking “uh-oh” kind of moments, because you’ve got it handled. One of the things that I use is a program called OmniFocus, which I bought years ago. It was a more expensive app at the time—now I don’t think it’s that big a deal—but it’s just one of many. It helps me organize everything I need to do: business, personal, tax, finance—whatever. It’s all in this one program. You can schedule things out. If there are recurring tasks, you schedule them so once you complete something, it automatically goes to a month later or three months later—however often that task needs to happen, even daily. Having it all in one place gives you peace of mind that everything is handled. You know it’ll all get done. Tracy: Absolutely. There’s nothing more invigorating or inspiring than checking off all those boxes—or looking at your calendar at the end of the day and going, “I got all of that done.” I love that. Now, we are going to connect our audience with you. Please check out the show notes below so you can connect with Ral and see what systems could be effective and useful for your business—as a woman in business, as an entrepreneur—no matter what part of the journey you’re at. And Ral, what kind of message do you want to leave the audience with today? Ral: I would like to say: you’re never too old. And don’t ever say something is impossible. You can do it. I don’t believe in dead ends. There’s always a way. Tracy: I like that! That needs to be on a coffee cup: “I don’t believe in dead ends.” I absolutely love that. Ral, thank you very much for being a guest on the Podcast Empire today. Now remember to check out the show notes below and connect with our wonderful guest—and access the free podcast resources from the Podcast Empire to learn more podcast marketing and branding tips. We’ll see you in our next episode. Thank you once again, Ral—and we’ll see you in the pod. Bye for now.

"Having Ral West on my podcast was an absolute inspiration! Her insights into stress management for business owners were both engaging and informative. Ral provided actionable strategies that any entrepreneur can implement to reduce stress while maintaining high performance. Her ability to simplify complex topics and offer practical advice about business systems made the conversation incredibly valuable for anyone looking to create more balance in their business and life." - Tracey Cook, The Podcast Empire

Transcript:

all right hello and welcome to another expert inside interview my name is John Goldin from Sales Pop online sales magazine and Pipeline or CRM joining you as usual from a sunny San Diego and today I'm delighted to be joined by Ral West who is up in Alaska how are you doing Ral I'm doing great John thanks yeah I'm trying to think if we've had somebody from Alaska I think maybe one but certainly we haven't had that many people from Alaska on the show so um that's great great that we have you here and Ral is a seasoned professional over 40 years of entrepreneurial experience in respecting both the tourism and multifamily real estate circles recognized for founding scaling selling successful businesses authoring courses and contributing to various boards while also being a philanthropist and a dynamic speaker founder of Ral West Living the Dream and the creator of the course for entrepreneurs Overcome Overwhelm: Create a Smooth Running Business with Less Stress and what we're going to talk about today is learning how to be an owner and not just an operator of your business. Let's face it, Ral, when most people start a business and entrepreneurs, they default into operation very quickly because they have to, but extricating yourself from that can be a big challenge. Absolutely, absolutely. It's a bigger challenge than you think, and that's where I was probably 30–40 years ago, just up to my eyeballs in all the day-to-day and trying to do everything myself, thinking that I knew best how to do everything—and you know, I wore myself out. Yeah exactly, and obviously burnout and just disillusionment and all those things can come very quickly. But you've developed some principles to help you actually go from operating the business to owning—delegating, running the business. Yes I have, and it was principles that I learned along the way, and it took me a long time to figure it out and take lots of classes and read books and so forth and experiment. And so what I've done now is taken all that 40 years of experience and encapsulated it into a course where in eight modules I can streamline that whole process so you don't have to go through the years that I went through. It's very simple—you know, six principles—and it's like a six-legged stool that the business foundation must rest on. Yeah, so let's dive into a couple of the principles. What would you say is the key starting one? The very first place that I would start is with developing systems. And I mean really basic things like just figuring out what it is that you're doing with your time. How are you spending your days or your week, and all of the tasks that you have on your plate, and figuring out which of those tasks are really the most important that you really have to do and which ones you might be able to transition to either automation or another person—hire an outside person, a virtual assistant, or whatever your situation is. But you have to do it properly. You have to actually itemize what you're doing, itemize your steps, your processes, and even get into trying to document your decision-making processes. That's a little trickier—get inside your head, figure out how it is that you decide when to make a shift in your advertising or whatever. That's a little more complicated, but that's where you start. What's really interesting about that is that oftentimes the processes that we have or the way we do things—they just organically develop over time. We don't put a lot of thought into them. And sitting down to do something like this to say, "Okay, I'm going to isolate these and look at them—how do I actually do them, and can they be systematized?"—normally I would say you end up finding that there's a lot of waste and overlap of work and all of that kind of good stuff. Absolutely, absolutely. But it does take spending the time. You have to step back and actually set aside some time to do that analysis. Otherwise, you're just going to keep juggling all the balls all the time, and you don't realize where you're wasting time because you're involved in it. And nowadays, we have the benefit of being able to do a lot of automation, being able to get virtual assistants, being able to get contractors—all of those great things. But the problem is that if you haven't defined the processes or what you're going to automate, you're just going to automate terrible processes and end up in the same situation. Absolutely. So it does require you to actually be a bit strategic about it and thoughtful and set aside the time to take a look at what it is you're doing and how you’re producing whatever your product or service is. What are all the steps that are involved in getting a customer in, serving that customer, delivering that product? And then it goes throughout—how are you gathering your customer feedback? What systems do you have for making sure that you're finding out if your customers are happy or not? The real key to keeping a business successful is to make sure that you've got satisfied or, as I like to say, delighted customers. Yeah, and obviously you can't do that if you're logged down in all these things that are going on in the background—things that the customer doesn't see and frankly doesn't care about. Nope. And so yes, the more you can take—again I'm going to say it—step back and take a look at your business as a holistic entity or organism, how do you want to structure that business? So you start with systems, but then you look at measuring and tracking. And you look at what kind of leverage are you using? Do you have any leverage or could you be using more—like using automation or getting a virtual assistant? Those are just two small ideas. And then building your team—whatever your team is, however big or small your company is, you can have a team. Maybe it's a bookkeeper and a virtual assistant—whatever. That's still a team. And then consciously and intentionally create your culture. Think about what you want your business to stand for. How do you communicate that? Those are all really integral parts. Those are the six principles. Yeah, no and I like what you just said there about hiring the team that makes sense for you—big, small, whatever it needs to be. But I think the next part of that, Ral, is we're great at saying, "Okay, I'm going to delegate this," or "I'm going to find somebody to do this," and then we just second guess it. And then we go, "Well, you're not doing it exactly the way I did it," and then you think, "Well, maybe I’d just be better off doing it myself," and you end up back at square one. Yes, and that's a mistake that many people make. The trick is that there's an art to delegating. Just saying, “Here, go do this,” you might get—it's like garbage in, garbage out. If you don't provide enough instructions and enough detail—this is what I want, this is the end result that I'm looking for—and then check back. There was an old expression, I think Ronald Reagan said it: “Trust but verify.” You can't delegate something without following up and seeing how they're doing, checking in on the process, checking in on the end result. That's how you effectively get something off your plate. Otherwise, you're just throwing something into the wind and hoping it turns out. And then if the person's delivering the result and they're doing it efficiently or whatever, then it doesn't really matter that they're doing it differently than you used to do it. You have to put your ego aside a little bit. Yeah. You outline what's the most important criteria for that particular project or task, and then let them do a little bit on their own—as long as it stays within the criteria and you get the result that you want. And then you mentioned about culture. Culture is such an interesting one, because most businesses, large or small, the culture tends to happen organically. It tends to be taken from the original leader of that business—if it's a small business, the founder—and there's no real attention paid to it, no intentionality. So therefore it just becomes a reflection of whoever started the business. But when people are starting their businesses, they're worrying about cash flow and getting customers and all these things. I feel like culture is probably relegated down to the bottom of the list because you probably don't think you need to worry about that so early in the process. You're right. And I think in too many cases, culture happens by accident instead of on purpose. And then you may find out like, "Oh, that's not really what I wanted my company to stand for." Or if they're all busy and worried about the bottom line—is that what you're projecting? Worry and miserly energy? So I think it is important to get a vision for what you want your company to be 5, 10, 20 years from now—and also the vision of what you want your life to be. If you built this business or you're starting this business, it's because you have some kind of dream or vision. So how do you make sure that this business is going to get you to where you want your life to be? And again, that requires being intentional about it and making sure that your business supports the lifestyle that you want. Too many times people start the business and then pretty soon they realize that the business is really in charge—they’re not. And they're getting swept along by this inertia that they created, but now they're out of control. So how do you help people when that happens—people who maybe had a vision for what they wanted, started a business, and now they're so down in the weeds of operating it that they can't even remember what the vision was? We have some exercises that we have people go through. It requires going somewhere quiet to reflect and answer some questions about just what I said—what's important in your life, what is your why, where do you want to be 10 or 20 years from now? You have to sit down and kind of go through this mental process of digging into your mind. And again, you have to be quiet to do it. You can't do it when you're in the middle of the maelstrom. Unfortunately, it's so noisy today and we're so distracted that even taking that quiet time out seems like such a burden to a lot of people. Like, "What are you asking me to do—sit and think for a while? I don't have time for that." But maybe it just takes an hour. It doesn't have to be several days. You just go out to lunch with yourself and give this some thought. I have good questions that will probe and pull the information out of people to help them arrive at these answers. And you mentioned the "why." I feel like that's something a lot of people gloss over or don’t go deep enough. Even when setting up a business, they go, “Why?” and answer, “Because I want to be my own boss,” or “I want to be an entrepreneur.” That’s not deep enough—that’s not going to carry you through the tough times. Nope, no it's not. And I have an example of that in our business. Gosh, 30 or 40 years ago, we had a real challenge—an economic crisis—and it was, “Do we keep the doors open or do we close them?” My husband and I sat down over lunch and asked ourselves, “What are we doing? Are we going to stay or go?” What we got out of that was digging deep and realizing: no, we love this product and we feel like people need the product. We were selling Hawaii to Alaskans, so this was almost like a public service. Our why was that we felt it was imperative that Alaskans had a nice, easy, and relatively inexpensive way to get to Hawaii—so that in the middle of winter, they could get to some sun and surf. We felt compelled to keep going to be able to provide that service. So we knuckled down and figured out how to do it. We took on huge risk and made it happen. Ran that business for 25 years, grew it to eight digits in annual revenue, and sold it to Alaska Airlines. Wow, that’s fantastic. What that just communicates is that when you sat down and really looked at the why, you decided that why was powerful enough for you to continue. That’s what people need to do before they hit a crisis—so that when they do hit bumps in the road, they can revisit that purpose. Yes, come back to purpose and say, “This is why we're doing it.” This is why we’re willing to redouble our efforts or do whatever it takes. That why part is so critical—not just for entrepreneurs, but for anybody doing anything in life. Absolutely. And I also like to have you dig into what is your passion—what is it you really love? If your business or your job isn’t feeding your passion, why are you doing it? I think sometimes we have such an entrepreneurial culture here in the States and people feel compelled—like, "I need to start my own business." And they often start businesses in areas they’re not passionate about. Maybe they just think, “This might be a good opportunity,” but there’s no real connection. That obviously makes things hard, especially when the going gets tough. Yeah, I mean, maybe they’re making money at it, but you have to ask yourself—am I just in the grind? Am I doing this just to keep income going and feed my family? And you're not really engaged—you’re not feeling it in your heart. To me, that’s a crime. I would love for people to be hooked into what their heart says they need to do with their lives. Absolutely. And I think people are more in tune with that today—even customers. They’re more in tune with the personality and culture of whoever they’re doing business with. Especially with small businesses, if you're not passionate about it, it's going to come across. You're not going to be able to distinguish yourself. I believe that's true. And like you said, your customers are going to feel it. When we talked earlier about delighting your customers—if your customers don’t feel your enthusiasm and your energy around what you're selling, they won’t experience it. Exactly. One of the simplest things is that you have control over how you show up. So if that’s how you're showing up, you need to ask yourself some serious questions. This is not one of my six principles, but it's an overarching theme to everything—and that is mindset. If you don’t have a positive mindset, and if you don’t believe you can do it, that’s going to be an impediment. So getting your mindset in check—making sure that you're healthy mentally, physically, and all—is very much a part of making sure you’re successful. I 100% agree with that. I think mind and body are incredibly important—not one or the other, but both. And let’s not underestimate it. That’s not easy. It’s something you have to intentionally work on. I think it’s something like 70%+ of our daily self-talk is negative. That’s whether you're a billionaire or a pauper—it doesn’t matter. Isn’t that true? You’d like to think that you don’t have fears and insecurities and negative thoughts—but we all do. Sometimes we need help to get out of that. You need to listen to the positive podcasts, read books, go to events. I like to go to Tony Robbins events. They really get you pumped up. Have you done any fire walking? I did! A little over a year ago, I walked on fire and I loved it. Was that difficult in the end? No. It was much more difficult anticipating it than actually doing it. But once I got into it—Tony teaches you how to get into that state of mind—and talk about mindset. When I actually did it, I didn’t feel a thing on my feet. I just felt so exhilarated and alive. If I can do that, I can do anything. And boy, wouldn’t that be a wonderful attitude to take into every day? Absolutely. And nowadays there’s no excuse—there are so many resources at your fingertips. Free podcasts, blogs, everything you could possibly want. All you have to do is make the decision to use it. Yes. Maybe you could choose to do something positive like that instead of playing a video game or binge-watching Netflix or something else that might be fun—but what is it doing for you? Exactly. Rather than your doom-scrolling. Yes—and I’m guilty of doing that sometimes too! But every once in a while, I go, “Why? What am I doing?” I think the first step in anything is recognizing it. So we admit that we all do it. Now we need to do something about it. Well listen, Ral, this has been fascinating. All of Ral's information is going to be below this video. But before we go, please tell people a little bit more about you and what you do. The business that I’m working on right now is, as you said earlier, it’s Ral West Living the Dream. I started it because I believe in living the dream—and I want to teach other people how to do that. It is possible. I developed an online course with eight modules that covers all of these six principles, and I can teach you how to build that successful business and have the life where you can be living the dream. All you have to do is reach out to me. You can reach out to me on my website ralwest.com. There’s a free webinar on there and information about the course. I would love to hear from you—please, please reach out to me. Fantastic. Well like I said, all the information will be below this video. I encourage you to reach out and check out Ral’s work. Thanks again, Ral. Thank you for watching and listening. See you all again very soon. Thank you.

Transcript:

Well, in the industry of promoting business success and working with entrepreneurs, the biggest myth is that the entrepreneur has to work their butt off 24/7, be a hard worker, put in long hours, and be kind of like a slave to the business in order for it to succeed. That’s false because that’s someone working hard but not necessarily smart. The smarter you work, the less time you have to put in. That goes back to using tools like systems, leverage, teams, culture, and performance tracking so you can work on your business instead of in it—and then you don’t have to be there all the time. Hey everyone, this is Dev Miller with another episode of The Inventive Expert. I’m your host Dev Miller, a serial entrepreneur growing several startups into seven- and eight-figure businesses, and founder and CEO of Miller IP Law where we help startups and small businesses with their patents and trademarks. If you ever need help with yours, just go to strategymeeting.com and grab some time with us to chat. Today we’ve got another great guest: Ral West. We’re going to talk about using systems within your business, data tracking to measure performance, building teams, and being purposeful with company culture. Welcome to the podcast, Ral. Ral: Thanks, Devon. It’s a pleasure to be here and I’m absolutely excited to talk to your audience today. Devon: I just gave a quick overview of what we’ll cover. For those who haven’t caught your Inventive Journey episode—our sister podcast—go check that out for Ral’s full journey. But for now, could you introduce yourself a bit? Ral: I’ve been an entrepreneur for over four decades. It started in Anchorage, Alaska, back in the early 1980s when I opened a tiny marketing consulting business. Soon thereafter, I joined my husband in a business he started. We operated a charter air service between Anchorage and Honolulu, selling package tours to Alaskans. We built that business to eight digits in annual revenue and sold it to Alaska Airlines in 2008. Since then, we’ve pivoted to other industries, including leasing small cruise ships, investing in multifamily syndications across five states, and just continuing to build businesses while living the life of our dreams. Devon: That’s a great journey. Now, taking those topics I mentioned earlier, let’s start with systems. Everyone knows having systems makes sense, but often struggles to implement them. What does setting up systems in a business look like to you? Ral: It’s a process, and it starts with assessing what you currently have in place. Most of us already have some kind of system, even if informal. Look at what’s on your plate as the business owner—and especially if you’re also the operator. Identify what you’re doing that could be on someone else’s plate. Develop systems to delegate those tasks so you can spend more time growing your business. Start by tracking your tasks: daily, weekly, monthly. Write them down. Document the steps. That framework allows you to teach someone else how to do it. It did take us years to develop all the systems we needed to step out of the daily operations, but we were able to do it because we had strong systems, data measurements, a solid team, and an amazing culture. Devon: That’s definitely great insight. Sometimes people don’t even know where to start. Is it as simple as writing down your day? Ral: Exactly. Write down what you spend most of your time on. Make a list and assess how many hours you’re spending managing email, answering questions, dealing with customers. Look at how some of those tasks can be grouped and handed to someone else. Use automation to streamline. Tools like AI can now organize your inbox. Start with simple assessments like: do we have a system for taking orders? Finding customers? Creating products? Get all those steps in writing. Once documented, you can develop systems for data tracking, leverage, and delegation. Use a virtual assistant, outsource tasks like bookkeeping. Group content creation and schedule it in batches. That’s how you begin working on your business, not in it. Devon: That’s a great perspective. Now, once you’ve started building those systems, how do you track performance? Because without measurement, you’re just guessing. Ral: Exactly. You must track and measure performance. What gets measured gets improved. That means creating key performance indicators (KPIs) for every aspect of your business. Start with financials, of course—revenue, expenses, margins. Then move to customer experience—how fast are you responding? Are people happy with your service? How many referrals are you getting? Next, evaluate your team—how efficient are they? Are they producing desired outcomes? But first, you need a benchmark. Track what you’re doing right now. Document your time, your client response rate, the cycle from inquiry to sale. Then make incremental improvements. That’s how you build a well-oiled machine. Devon: You mentioned team building. Not everyone has a big team or even a team at all. What does team building look like when you're just starting out? Ral: Your team can be as small as one or two people. Maybe it’s a VA or a freelance designer. Whatever your structure, you need people who can take work off your plate. The key is not size—it’s how you lead and how aligned they are with your goals. Hire slowly and intentionally. Clearly define roles and expectations. Communicate what success looks like. Empower your team by giving them the tools and information they need. Create a sense of ownership and pride in the work. Devon: That’s powerful. Now let’s talk culture. It’s often overlooked by startups and small businesses. Why is culture so important? Ral: Culture is everything. It determines how your team interacts, how customers are treated, and how sustainable your growth is. And if you don’t create your culture intentionally, it will happen by default. You need to ask: What do I want my company to stand for? How do I want people to feel working with me? What values matter most? Then you embed those answers into your daily operations. In your meetings. In how you onboard new hires. In how you handle challenges. Culture can be your biggest asset—or your biggest liability. Devon: Totally agree. And earlier you mentioned mindset. How do you coach business owners to develop a mindset that sets them up for success? Ral: Mindset is the invisible factor that affects everything else. If you don’t believe you can succeed, you’re already sabotaging yourself. And yes, it’s something you must work on daily. We’re bombarded by negative self-talk. I always say you have to guard the gates of your mind. Fill your day with positive inputs—podcasts, books, affirmations. Surround yourself with people who lift you up. I also recommend time to reflect. Even one hour alone with your thoughts can help you reconnect to your purpose. Think about what you want your life to look like, and how your business can serve that. Your business is a tool—not your identity. Devon: That’s such a great reframe. Before we wrap, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to an overwhelmed business owner right now? Ral: You don’t have to do it alone. Ask for help. Reach out to a mentor, a coach, or even a peer group. And most importantly—don’t wait until you’re burned out. The sooner you start implementing systems, tracking performance, building a team, and creating culture intentionally, the sooner you’ll start reclaiming your freedom. You can have a business that thrives and a life that lights you up. That’s what I call “Living the Dream.” Devon: Love that. For those who want to learn more, where can they find you? Ral: My website is ralwest.com. You’ll find a free webinar there, plus details on my eight-module course that teaches you how to implement everything we talked about today. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s ready to start living their dream. Devon: Perfect. Thanks so much, Ral. And thanks to everyone for listening and watching. We’ll see you on the next episode of The Inventive Expert.

Transcript:

Teammates, teammates, teammates—we are back once again. If this is your first time listening to the Move Swiftly podcast, welcome to the number one show on innovative teamwork. Great to have you! Looking forward to having you back. For my regular listeners—you did it; you hit the play button, so you know what's about to go down. Alright, whatever the challenge, whatever the obstacle, whatever may feel like it's getting in your way—we are here to indirectly tell you: you are not going through it alone today. I have Ms. Ral West, the founder of Living A Dream, who is going to give us a master’s class. You guys heard me correctly—a tutorial on how to actually systematize your business. So you’re no longer working in the business so much, but on the business, allowing what the business was meant to do in the first place to be delegated to the right people and to a system. All that being said—Ral West, welcome to the show! “Thank you, Aswand, appreciate being here.” Yes! And I'll tell you now: you are the first one to have joined the Move Swiftly podcast from Alaska, so you're breaking some barriers today. This show has been going on for five years now, and you're officially the first one from Alaska. Great accomplishment! Now, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover regarding how you built your business and how you're teaching people to systematize. But let’s start at the beginning—tell us a little about your background, how you grew up, lessons you learned, and we’ll go from there. “Okay, all right. I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, into an entrepreneurial family. My father had one of the very first tour companies in Alaska—people called him Mr. Alaska because he was credited with founding the tourism industry up there. So business and Alaska were in my blood. In my mid‑20s, I moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, for a director‑of‑marketing role with a small tour company. I hemmed and hawed but accepted it. After a year, I thought I could run things better, so I moved up to Anchorage in 1981 and started a small marketing‑and‑tourism consulting business. That’s where I met my husband. He was in real estate and construction, and he got the idea from what I was doing—even though his main motivation was the free trips to Hawaii—no shame in that! Some of my earliest clients were hotel companies, rental‑car companies, and Inner Island Air in Hawaii. I was representing them to Alaskans, so I was flying off to Hawaii a few times a year. My husband jumped in to represent Alaskans who owned condos in Hawaii. We built a friendship first, got married less than a year later—and still, after 41 years, we like each other. It’s refreshing today. Growing up, my dad was independent—he did things his way, even if it wasn’t always right. His favorite song was ‘My Way,’ by Frank Sinatra—and his independence rubbed off on me. I couldn’t stand working for others; I knew I could do it better. So even though it was scary and risky, I jumped in and figured it out. We then expanded into rental-car and hotel packages. A turning point came when scheduled carriers pulled out of flights between Alaska and Hawaii. My husband discovered a plane with idle hours and chartered it—essentially buying the whole plane every time, regardless of seats sold. It was a massive financial obligation. When we couldn’t back a letter of credit, my mother-in-law put up her retirement account—they believed in us. My husband went door to door and sold every seat. That’s how we launched our charter‑air service. At that point, I quit my own business to be full‑time with his venture—we were the quintessential mom‑and‑pop outfit, doing everything ourselves with a young daughter in tow. Our system wasn’t sustainable; something had to change.” Around that time, we were in Kona, Hawaii, with Robert Kiyosaki, who we’d been studying under since the late ’80s in Anchorage. Over lunch by the pool, he introduced us to the beta version of the Cashflow Quadrant game. We became beta testers, and he recommended two books: The E‑Myth by Michael Gerber and The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack. We grabbed them on the way back and devoured them. That’s when we got serious about systems. We already had some systems in place, but those books pushed us to double down: documenting repeatable procedures, creating job descriptions, establishing training courses, and forming company culture. Within five years, we grew from a mom‑and‑pop shop to having a COO and CFO, freeing ourselves to live on Maui. We also built daily, weekly, and monthly metrics to monitor company performance remotely. In the late ’90s, we went fully online and became beta testers again for a reservation system. It let travel agents and individuals book flights, cars, and hotels online—even when staff wasn’t on duty. Our revenue skyrocketed into the eight‑figure range. We also formed an external board of directors, who earned free trips in exchange for advisement. But then Alaska Airlines planned to launch flights from Anchorage to Hawaii, and we knew we couldn’t compete long term. So we hired an investment banker and pitched ourselves for acquisition. Alaska Airlines bought us instead of entering a costly competition. When asked about implementing lessons from those books: The E‑Myth taught us to stop working in the business and start working on the business—systematizing tasks, creating documented procedures, and structuring training cohorts rather than on‑the‑job learning. The Great Game of Business emphasized open‑book management—sharing financial statements, explaining profit-and-loss, involving employees in understanding metrics, and incentivizing success with bonuses and celebrations. After the acquisition, Alaska Airlines didn’t want to operate Hawaiian vacations, so we transitioned thoughtfully—keeping our team (“Ohana”) intact. We pivoted, acquiring small cruise ships to offer unique Alaskan experiences, yet leased them to a cruise operator, so we invested while they ran operations. The venture lasted about ten years. Then came COVID. Cruise tourism collapsed. We pivoted to multifamily real estate—a move aligned with Kiyosaki’s asset-focused mindset: acquiring assets, minimizing liabilities, and generating passive income and cash flow. Today, I serve business owners through my online course—an eight‑module program outlining six essential secrets to business success: leverage, data & KPI tracking, systems & documented processes, team development, corporate culture, and world‑class customer service. Everything is scalable and transferable across industries, not just travel. The modules guide you to build systems so your business works without you—and you can live your dream life. If you want to reach out or learn more: visit RalWest.com. There’s a free webinar introducing those principles and giving you a taste of how to build a successful, scalable business that lets you live your dreams. Let these words inspire you: imagine you are back in 1981, having that tough conversation with your future self. She’d say: “Believe anything is possible. There’s never a dead end—you just find a way around, through, over it. Don’t give up. It doesn’t matter how old you are—keep going.” And with that, mic drop—fellow teammates, continue to Move Swiftly. We’ll talk more soon.

"Speaking with Ral West was great, her "game-changing" innovative “6 Essential Secrets to Business Success" transforms chaotic operations into smooth-running, scalable systems. Ral’s guidance on building robust systems, and cultivating an empowering company culture, and strategic planning will enable business owners to overcome overwhelm and unlock consistent, profitable growth. I recommend Ral West to any entrepreneur looking to elevate their business and live their dream life!" -Aswand Cruickshank, Move Swifly Podcast

Transcript:

Welcome everyone to Doing Business with a Servant’s Heart podcast. I'm your host, Steve Ramona. I am so fired up to have you join us today. Wait till you hear my guest. I got to spend five minutes with her and you guys are going to just be so blown away. We developed this podcast with the idea of a servant's heart in your life and in your business. Imagine the impact and difference you can make in your world to the people that you serve. We're bringing guests on that are going to motivate you, inspire you, and educate you—that servant's heart, how to grow, how to give, and how to be super successful like my guest today. And you're going to see some great things she gives away just to help all of you in the audience. Here’s your call to action today: Think about how you're going to serve yourself and others today and what impact you'll create today. The keyword is today. We were just talking before the show about indecisiveness. She takes action. That's why she said, do the same thing with serving—just finish watching the show and maybe share it with somebody else. That's one of the many ways you can serve. And I want to thank my sponsor today, Pantheon Alliance—join a community of high-income entrepreneurs and business leaders to create a thought leader platform to help grow and change the world. You get to be part of that. For more information, just reach out to me. With that being said—Impact! Difference! That's what my guest does. And this wonderful lady has been doing it for many years. She looks 40, she's been doing it for 40 years—so she started very young. Half kidding. But she has a servant's heart. She's giving and still succeeding. With that being said, I’m going to—hopefully I say this right—Ral West, welcome to the show. Ral: Thanks, Steve. Steve: Did I get close? Ral: Ral West, yes. Steve: Ral West. Yeah, I got it right. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. Ral: Thank you for having me—having us—having me—having you—whatever. You know what I mean. Steve: Why do you give so much? Ral: Well, it's just a beautiful thing to do and it makes me feel good. I get tremendous satisfaction and a feeling of reward when I see other people benefit from what I'm able to give. And I don’t mean just money—we’re monetarily generous too—but when I can help somebody have a better life, improve their business, that gives joy to me. So yes, I'm giving, but I'm also receiving. Steve: Thank you for sharing that. All of that—because audience, it's so powerful. You've got big background, lots of experience. You’ve sold ships, you've been working with companies. What did you learn in your background to help you be a better person, a better servant today? Ral: Oh my goodness. How long do we have? Well, Steve, when I was still very, very young as an entrepreneur, I started investing in myself—in personal development courses, mentors, you name it. I was a sponge, soaking up as much as I possibly could. And all of these people and resources helped shape me into the businessperson and leader that I have become. If you'd asked me when I was 18 or 20 years old what I’d be doing 50, 60 years from then—this would not have been on my mind. I followed the path that was laid out for me and opportunities came up. My husband and I seized them. We took huge risks. Our family and friends were shaking their heads going, “Are you crazy?” Our CPA said, “That's a big risk.” But we’d done our homework. We’d done the math. We’d looked at our spreadsheets. We knew it was a calculated risk, so we did it. And most of the time we won. There were times we didn’t. That happens. Steve: Well, and that’s important, Ral, because you didn’t win all the time. Warren Buffett didn’t win all the time, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos… you’re not going to win. And audience, if you're an entrepreneur, you're going to have mistakes and losses, right? Ral: Well, and as Robert Kiyosaki—one of my mentors—said, every mistake is a learning opportunity. I would use those mistakes to drum it into my head: “Okay, this is what you're not going to do next time.” I am a walking encyclopedia of things—and how to do it better. And that’s what I'm trying to share now in this phase of my life. You don’t have to make the same mistakes I did. I can teach you how to avoid them. I can teach you how to have the life you really want and deserve and have your successful business—because I’ve done it. I’ve been in the boots, slogging through the muck, and figured it out. There was no school or class that taught me exactly what to do, but you just own everything, bring everything in, soak it up, experiment, and just do it. Steve: Audience—she’s giving away everything she learned, so you don’t have to spend 40 years of ups and downs. You might be able to flatten that curve a little bit. That’s why I love having you on and what you’re doing. Ral: It’s a lot cheaper, too. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on education. Steve: That’s a great point. That’s a million-dollar point right there. That’s fantastic. So let’s segue into your courses and your mastermind—because that’s where the magic happens. Talk about those. The inspiration for those. Ral: Well, the inspiration for my course actually came from my adult daughters who said, “Mom, you guys are living the dream. That’s what your friends all say. You travel all the time. You have your businesses. You're off to Europe. You have a yacht. You have two homes. I want to be like you.” And our daughters said, “Why don’t you teach them how to do it? Mom, you know how you were able to achieve this life—so teach them.” I thought, “Well, I don’t know…” And then I started looking into what becoming a personal brand means. And I thought, “Oh, that sounds scary. I'm not sure I want to do that.” But then my character kicked in and I said, “Well, why not? I will learn.” So I jumped in and started learning. I hired lots of coaches—I’m fortunate to be able to hire people who know what this business looks like and how to do it. And yet even with the coaches, I still made mistakes—but I’m moving forward. I decided that one of the best ways I could maintain my lifestyle and still get the word out—what I want to teach—is to have a one-to-many approach. That would be to have an online course. So I took a course on how to create an online course. Then I started building the course. In less than two years, I created an eight-module course. What I did was look back through my 40+ years of experience and ask myself: “What were the key things that truly made the difference in our success?” I honed in on six principles—or what I call my “six essential secrets to business success.” The course is built around those six principles—but it’s eight modules because there's a beginning and an end. Every module has video lessons, examples, and I include resources—examples from our businesses. Just as an aside, one of our major businesses was one we started about the time John and I met. It grew to eight figures in annual revenue over a period of 25 years, and we sold it to Alaska Airlines in 2008. That was the point where most sane people would say, “We can retire. We’ve got it made.” But no—we couldn’t do that. We still had energy, enthusiasm, and ideas. So we started investing in small cruise ships. These were cruise ships that were bank-owned—the cruise line had gone bankrupt, and the ships went back to the bank. We picked them up for pennies on the dollar. We used our resources to plow money into them, fix them up, make them ready for passengers, and leased them to a small cruise line that operated them for us. Those ships are still operating, but we’ve sold them gradually to that cruise line. When COVID hit in 2020, we had one ship left. We got a call in March 2020: the ship is tied up at the dock, we’re not allowed to operate. Canada wouldn’t let us in. That ship mostly operated to Alaska, but also Mexico and the Columbia River. No ships were operating. So we realized—we pay attention to what’s going on in the world—that this was a sign. We needed to pivot away from the cruise industry because it was going to be a while before it recovered. We did our research and decided the next thing would be multifamily real estate. People were needing to rent. Homes were becoming too expensive. The rental market was booming. So we started investing in syndications—where you become a partner in purchasing an apartment complex. We’ve invested in over 6,000 apartment units across the U.S. And of course, our timing was impeccable—we started just before interest rates really started to climb. It’s not an easy road right now, but we still believe in the fundamentals. So we’re hanging in there. Steve: And it's amazing how you full circle—back in the day, marketing, you had to learn how to do advertising, and now you're doing the course and went back, learned, got uncomfortable, and here you are. Ral: Right. And you know, the principles are still the same as they were 40 or 50 years ago, but the technology is entirely different. That’s where the learning comes in—how do you apply the principles using today’s technology? AI, for example. Just a few months ago, I was like, “Oh gosh, I don’t know how to do that,” and now I’m using it every day. It’s incredible. It’s such a game-changer. Saves so much time. Steve: Oh it is. And you're such a learner. I can tell because you're so passionate when you talk about learning. “Now I can do AI every day”—where three or four months ago, “What the heck is that?” That’s a great lesson for your audience. Learn. I’ve always wondered the difference between an owner and an operator in a business. What is the difference? Ral: Oh, there’s a huge difference. The owner gets to go off and have vacations and enjoy their life. The operator is stuck in the day-to-day. The business owns them. You started a business—but really, what you did is buy yourself a job. That’s not what most people have in mind when they say, “Ooh, I want my own business.” What they really want is freedom—the freedom to make their own decisions, to be creative, and to have a life they enjoy. And that enjoyment looks different for everybody. I believe you need to start your business with the future life you want in mind, then build the business to support that lifestyle—not the other way around. You don’t want to be stuck being the operator. But to transition out, you have to start as the operator. I did everything. It was painful. I was exhausted, overweight, out of shape—my health suffered, my family suffered. It was not pretty. But I had to learn how to develop systems, how to delegate, how to build a team, how to use leverage. I didn’t even understand what leverage meant. But I studied with Robert Kiyosaki—he was a great teacher. We learned how to build a business that could grow and scale and allow us to step out of the day-to-day. We hired a COO and CFO and said, “Here you go. This is everything we've built. Run with it.” And they did. They grew the company even more than we imagined. It was fabulous. We were sitting in our second home in Maui, cruising around on our yacht. We had the metrics, reports, and tracking to know how the business was doing. We weren’t just running off—we had eyes on it from afar, through regular meetings and management check-ins. Steve: Takes a village. Ral: Yes, and it doesn’t have to be a huge village. Even if you're a solopreneur, you can still have a team. My little business has a team: a virtual assistant, a marketing company, my bookkeeper, my CPA—that’s my team. Steve: Yeah, that’s to help you. You can’t do it alone. Entrepreneurship is not a lone adventure. Ral: Not at all. Steve: You're very philanthropic, from what I’ve read. How does that play into your business philosophy? Ral: We learned about philanthropy from Robert Kiyosaki too. He believed the more you give, the more you get back. We adopted that philosophy and started giving a percentage of our income every year. We became prominent supporters of community causes in Anchorage, Alaska—where we operated our business. We even won an award for our service efforts in the community. It helped our business, too—we operated wide-body jets between Alaska and Hawaii. We could donate trips to Hawaii to charities for fundraising. It was great PR and the community loved us. But then we moved beyond business-benefiting causes and began contributing to causes dear to our hearts. One of those was education. A small private school in Anchorage was about to close. The landlord was going to foreclose. We stepped in, bought the property, became the landlords, and over the years gave over $2 million to the school. That school is still running today. Our daughters went there. I feel amazing about what we did. Steve: That’s incredible. You gave—and received. Not just the money, but the heartfelt warmth. It’s energy, right? Ral: Yeah. And you can always make more money. But what you do with it is really the important thing. I enjoy the finer things, but I also love enriching people around me. We live in a small town—Sitka, Alaska—and we’re major contributors to most nonprofits in our community. Steve: You’re such a blessing. We're coming to the end here. I want to end with a fun question. I’ve reserved a table at a restaurant in Alaska for you—Table for 4. You and your husband will sit in two chairs. The other two chairs—who would you invite, dead or alive? And what would you serve? Ral: Oh my gosh, Steve, that’s probably one of the most difficult questions I’ve ever been asked. Hmm… dead or alive? Okay—Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, and Deepak Chopra. Steve: What a table! I might have to get a 6th chair! Ral: Right? Deepak is probably Ayurvedic vegetarian. Robert wants steak. Tony—he’s a big guy—he’d want a lot of food. So whatever they want. Steve: What’s your favorite food? Ral: Steak. Steve: There we go. Amen to that! Steve: Incredible podcast. You’re an incredible guest. I know people are asking—how can they reach you? Ral: Very easily. If you know my name, you’ll find me. My website is ralwest.com. On LinkedIn, I’m Ral West. I have a weekly newsletter called “Ral’s Success Principles”—please subscribe. Every week I share actionable tips and strategies to improve your business. On my website, you’ll find info about my free webinar—and yes, reach out! I’d love to teach you how to have the life you really deserve. Steve: And she has free resources on her site too—including a PDF called Six Secrets to Essential Business Success. What a great way to grow or start your business. Subscribe to her newsletter. Subscribe to my podcast on YouTube. Share these things—it’s a servant’s heart gift. It’s free, and that makes it powerful. Thank you all. Ral and I thank you for listening to this episode of Doing Business with a Servant’s Heart. Have a great day, everyone! Ral: Thanks.

"Ral was an incredible guest on "Doing Business with a Servant's Heart" Podcast. She motivated, inspired and brought valuable education to my audience. Looking for a great guest Ral is your gal!" - Steve Ramona, Doing Business With a Servants Heart Podcast

Transcript:

Been known to pop out a phrase where I say friends known and new. I don't know, they're both kinds—friends known and new. By the end, I've gotten to know you. I've seen Peaches and thrown in some comments when she was on a livestream that involved my husband being on screen. He's off screen—D Scott Smith, motivational listener—he's off screen and my producer for Aspects of Aging. I know that I got excited about meeting—do you say Ral? It's like pal, Ral. Oh great. Ral. And Peaches, is it Udoma? Oops, some gremlin came in and turned off your mic. I'd be the gremlin probably. It’s Udoma. Great! That’s the way I’ve actually been pronouncing it—is that the American pronunciation? Yeah. Wow. Where did Udoma come from? Europe? No, that’s my ex-husband’s name, and it’s Nigerian. Wow. We had a doctor for the kids mostly—Dr. Iwan China—and I’m like, where did you get Iwan China? To me it sounded of the Asian persuasion, and he’s going, “Oh no, it’s from...” and it was a Central European last name. But he had studied in Canada and decided to come down to the U.S. to practice. And so that’s always fun to know the background. So did you say Nigerian? Yes! Yay. We have known a few—I would say a hand and full—because it was the parents and the kids, specifically from Nigeria. And Dad actually went back and brought us some clothing that was made right there in his hometown. And Peaches, since my husband already put your links up on the screen, I think it would be a great time for you to introduce yourself to Ral and maybe you can just guess or give your perspective on why I got really excited about pulling you on to something called Aspects of Aging. And I tell you—I’ve had a 29-year-old on the show, so it actually doesn't have to do with the number of birthdays. So Peaches, go ahead and introduce yourself and I'll let you know if you try to guess why I brought you in. Go right ahead. Are we live? We have been live for three minutes and fifty-four seconds. So everybody got to see me looking at my teeth in the mirror. That is great. Oh, you know what, I try to warn people when we go live, this is going to happen—the little is going to happen in the middle. And I don't put on a show voice because the picnic table... Well, well, that's okay. You know what— Yeah, did you put on lipstick? A long time ago. But I was just checking my teeth in the mirror just now. But that's an aspect of aging. Love it. Well, I mean—not checking your teeth—living. That’s an aspect of living. It’s not checking your teeth that’s an aspect of aging, but not being ashamed of checking your teeth is an aspect of aging. So part of what I see is just being freer to be who you are and not worried so much about looking good all the time. So, everybody, I hope you enjoyed looking at my teeth with me. I look at the camera lens, and so a lot of things happen that I don't see until I watch again. I tell you, the thousands and thousands of fans of Peaches are just going to be going, “You’ve got to watch this one. She starts to check her teeth and then she says the most incredible things that have just changed my business and my perspective on life.” Well, I don't know if it's going to be that incredible, but Ral, thank you for being so forgiving about my teeth checking. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. What did you want me to say, Christine? Where did you want me to start? I know now that I've completely flustered everything... I would love for you—okay, so you are literally meeting Ral for the first time— Yes. —and so she's going to look at you with her life experience eyes, she's going to look at you with her business acumen, if that’s the right word, and she's going to listen to you because she is in this hour that's unscripted and unedited with you. So I think she's going to be watching and listening for some commonalities. So please tell her—well, you can just talk about the things that you talked about even on the show with Russ and Scott. I'm not sure I even remember. I mean, it was just great. It was a stream of consciousness conversation. You help people. I posted that out, got so many comments on that post. And I wanted people to know about you and I went, “Wait a minute, I want to know about her. Maybe she'll come on my show.” Yes, I do. I mean, I do—I hope I help people. That’s the goal. You do. You do. You have actual—when they say, “Read this testimonial from this person who made a flip or realized…” The one thing that comes to my mind are the people who are super busy making money and end up at the same time putting kind of a teeter-totter effort into promoting a nonprofit. You know, it’s like, “Wait a minute, somebody ought to do something about this... I’m somebody. I will.” Yes, I do. I help people who are launching nonprofits, people who are trying to enhance the outcomes of their efforts with nonprofits, people with for-profit businesses, people in relationships, people who need mentoring, young people who need mentoring in every career field you can think of. I’m called a Mama Bear, and what I do is I just come in and protect my bear cubs and show them what they need to do to be safe and effective and successful at whatever they’re pursuing. Mama Bear has life experience. And you have both life experience, business experience, when-things-go-wrong experience—and lots of when-things-go-wrong experience. And you help people to see this is maybe not your most effective or efficient way. I just remember that you help people to specifically see the— I don’t know—the mud around their ankles. What’s slowing them down? What’s keeping them from maybe finding their path or discovering their potential? Sometimes people come to me who already know their path and are successful at their path, but they either want to pivot or they want to up-level their game in some way. And some people are coming to me looking for a path. And some people have several different paths, and they’re trying to figure out what order to go in or where their focus should lie. Some people come looking for a partner in life, and some people come with partners already in place who need help with that partnership. And some people are students and they want support in creating a trajectory for themselves of success out in the world. It runs the gamut—people from all over the world. People who are older, people who are younger, people who are in their middle years. Yeah, I love people. I don’t hear you turning anybody down. You're probably—okay, I'm presuming—I don't know if you have medical, financial, and legal expertise, but if it’s an area that you can speak to, then what you're listening to is who they are. And that—I'm going to tell you right now—ding ding ding. So learner and pivot are two of the reasons why I wanted you on. I pivoted at about age 60, 61—completely different, doing what I do now than what I have done up till now. I was always in a room with one or two, three people, depending on whether I was a classroom teacher or whether I was a hired in-home caregiver. So I was the “wanted invader.” I had to make sure that I was—I don't know—the right mixture of butler and quasi daughter-in-law, but professionally objective and making sure that I didn't—if I ruffled feathers, if I did things, I put it in the left cupboard instead of the right, that I recognized very sincerely, this is your home and your life, and I will continue to learn to do this in a way that helps you feel comfortable that I'm invading your space. And then when it was classroom, it was more classroom management, and I was the leadership and I better have an answer and a direction and a way of teaching. And then I turned into a person who does this a lot—talking nice with my fingers—and saying, I would love for what you do to come onto the screen. So pivot is one, and along with that would go learner. But even today—I was hired to be a teacher, I was hired to be an in-home caregiver, and now I’m like, oh, I am doing something that's entirely adult to adult. You have the choice. “Thank you for flying Aspects of Aging. We realize that you do have a choice, and we’re glad you’re here today with us.” So I’m a learner in what is business, because I see—I envision—a business that would actually help achieve a goal that would be sustainable living for people who are—I will use the word elderly because it paints a picture of someone who has challenges that would keep them out of slinging french fries or being a lumberjack, which maybe they’ve done both and many more through their life. But at this point, they need a place to live that is safe, where they are not vulnerable. And how could those people really participate in keeping the finances coming in so that they can be self-sustaining, self-determined, interactive, and just—coming up with businesses where the people who actually live in subsidized or low-income or free housing can participate in making sure that money comes in. And I just thought, I don’t know how to do or create or start a business. And here are these two people—Peaches and Ral—who have come on my screen that I can start to glean some information and some ideas from. So Peaches, I just threw a bunch of stuff at you, but I have a vision for creating something that almost seems impossible—or it's happening quietly all over the world—and I would love to know more about it and to actually enact that. And when I tell people clearly my vision, they say things like, “Well, why don't you apply for this community grant so that you can get it started and get to the point of that sustained business that the people participate in who live there.” So they are continuing to live as they always have—they’ve contributed, and they glean the positives from it. So when people catch the idea of my vision, they want to help. And I get really excited about something that hasn’t happened yet—but this also hadn’t happened yet. I turn 65 next week. So I’ve been doing this now about four years from when I first said, “Okay, I’ll go in front of a camera,” to the point now where I’m actually asking people to come into a live talk. Some of these people go, “I never do anything like this. This is not something I’m comfortable with.” And I can say, “Me too. This is how I felt.” And sometimes they go, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.” I feel like I’ve got two people that are very accustomed to talking to a person that’s on the other side of that little thing right here. Ral, I told you that I had seen one of your video podcasts. Yes, thank you. Well, and also an advertisement—I don’t know if that was part of a podcast. It was advertising you and what you do. I don’t know—I do know you would be better at describing what it is you do than I would, so I’m going to stop guessing and just let— Oh, and that’s how I knew that you have a different hairstyle because I had seen you just in a video and it's like, oh, it’s as if that video just happened, and then you went and came back in. So a lot of these videos are very—they touch the person right now. They're not worried about whether it was done two or ten years ago. And I love it as content that enters people’s lives, which is why I do Aspects of Aging for Aging Better Network. Because what we talk about can cause a person to go, “I never thought of it that way. I didn’t know such products existed. I didn’t even know that I should say that to my doctor, my financial advisor.” You know, it's an opportunity to hear and interact and be a lifelong learner and maybe make a pivot as either a caregiver or as a person who wants to have enriched longevity. I do. I do. Ral, please tell us about you, your podcast, what it is you advertise, why—and Peaches will learn as well. Okay, thanks Christine. Well, I have been an entrepreneur and starting my own businesses for over 40 years. So I was in my mid-20s when I just, you know, decided to go into business for myself, and I haven’t stopped. I keep starting new businesses. In fact, this business that I'm in right now is less than two years old. And I won’t tell you what age I was when I started it, but— Okay—but that’s your choice. Yeah, the main point is that I don't care what number is related to my birthdate or whatever. I'm too young to stop, too young to retire. And I just—I keep having ideas, and I keep seeing areas that I want to get into. And this one—this business—is teaching other entrepreneurs how to build their business in such a way that they don't have to be owned by the business. They can be the owner and not the operator of their business. And I have done that myself through several businesses, primarily one business that my husband and I had for 25 years. We worked ourselves out of a job and handed the business over to managers and went off and bought a second home on Maui and got a yacht and started traveling the world while our business just kept growing and growing—up to eight digits in annual revenue. And then we ended up selling it to Alaska Airlines. But for several years, we owned the business but we were not involved in the day-to-day. Didn’t even have an office there anymore. And that’s what I want to teach other entrepreneurs to do, because I see too many people who are kind of—they’re stuck. Their business owns them. And they can’t take a nice long vacation, or sometimes they can’t even take a night off because they’re still answering the phone or whatever it is. And it doesn’t have to be that way. So that’s what I’m devoting myself to in this business—is teaching. So you mentioned learning, and you also mentioned pivot. Well, this is a new pivot of mine. I'm great at pivoting, by the way. We've pivoted many times. And I’m also a lifelong learner. I am totally committed—I’m addicted to learning. And actually, it's an addiction that I'm not seeking a cure for. I'm just embracing it. Yeah, I'm addicted to learning. I’m not going to stop. I don’t care what the age is on my birth certificate or whatever. I’m going to keep going. So that’s just in a nutshell what I do. And this business—the name of it—is Ral West: Livin’ the Dream. Because that’s what I want people to do. I want them to live the dream. We’re living our dream. You know, we have several businesses still, and yet we go off to Europe for six weeks. Last month I spent the whole month with my family because our youngest daughter got married. So I wasn’t working. And then this month, I’m hard at it. So, you know, that’s my life. And you were in Texas? Yes, we were. And I’m in Waco. So that’s been called the belt buckle of the Bible Belt by a man whose dad started a radio station here more than 40 years ago. And he says, “You hear about the Bible Belt—we are the buckle.” And it is pretty well centered depending on where you draw your lines across the way that Texas is shaped. Yeah, so our daughter got married in Austin. Yes. And you reminded me, as you were speaking, that I would say one of my favorite bosses of my husband was one of his first bosses. He had been in the Air Force before we got married, and then he finished his college and then he got this job. And I won’t quote him quite right, but he said something along the lines of, “I’m going to teach you everything that I know and how to do everything I do and how to handle situations—whether they be financial or people walking into the bank with difficulties, the management part, the people that you're managing—I’m going to teach you everything. Because I really want to know that if I’m out with a surgery or something, that the rest of the company will go, ‘Well, they’re doing just fine.’” That no one needs to hold their hand. They all know what gaps to fill. He wasn’t keeping secrets and saying, “I’ve got to hang on to my job. They need to know they need me.” It’s like—that’s not my— Yeah, I’m the opposite of that. And it sounds like you have practiced that with the people that you hire and that maybe have come up through some of the more—I don’t want to call it the wrong thing—they came in with skills that would be, um, fresh out of high school, fresh out of college. Yeah, a lot of our people that worked for us—our business was based in Anchorage, Alaska—and a lot of them were entry-level, very young. Some of them, like only 18. And so they didn’t know that much about business. We taught them how to read a financial statement. We taught them how to analyze our P&Ls. We got all of our team aligned so that they would understand what it looks like to have the company win. And then we made sure that they won if the company won. So we shared the profits. And they knew exactly what the numbers were—it wasn’t a hidden secret. We were quite transparent. And then we would hand out the bonuses, and then we would celebrate. We would have fantastic parties. We would rent limos and take them to five-star restaurants. And there was one time we took everybody to Las Vegas for the night. So, you know, we really nurtured our team and our culture so that this business would grow. And we inculcated our principles of really caring about our customers and making sure that our customers were not just happy but delighted with us, because we depended on repeat clientele. We operated air service between Alaska and Hawaii. There are not that many people who live in Alaska in order to fill those planes every year. We had to have the people going many times between Hawaii and Alaska. So, you know, we carried 35,000 people a year on our chartered wide-body jets between Anchorage and Honolulu mostly. And yeah, we just—we grew the business. We taught our team. We laid out the procedures. We had manuals. We had classes. We did everything we could to build the team. And we’re quite happy that many of those team members—who we call our Ohana (in Hawaiian, Ohana means family)—so they were Ohana to us. And we knew that eventually they would leave our company. Nobody was going to stay there forever. And we wanted them to be better armed with more skills and be able to have a better life when they left us than when they joined us. Many of those people are tremendously successful now, and we’re so happy. Wow. Talk about already setting yourself up just as a person Um the difference between being a classroom educator—I want all 23 to absolutely, no doubt about it, this person is ready to move from third grade to fourth grade. I'm setting them up for success and to leave me, and not going, “Ah, you're kind of supposed to stay here because it's such a bother to have to train someone else.” You're just going, “This is who you are.” And as you evolve and grow, you're finding, “Wow, I would like to replicate some of these skills and potentials I found in myself in a slightly different way or a very different way.” And you're just throwing rose petals, you know? Meanwhile, when they love working for you, and I don't know—a competitor or just someone else is just going, “Why don't you consider coming over here?” One of the first questions: “Well, what kind of parties do you throw for us when we're doing well? Is it gonna involve travel and seeing exotic things?” And have the person go, “Well, we… if you do well, we don't fire you, and eventually we'll give you a raise.” You know? And here you are giving them a reason to make your company able to be very generous to them. And what I heard was a little bit of Alaska. In order to continue to have a robust tourism, you were getting the robust going. You were—your numbers were making a real impact on the Alaskan economy. Well sure, yeah. And I think one thing I would say is that many of our Ohana members have come back to us—we sold the business like 17 years ago—and they come back to us and say, “That was the best work experience I've ever had. You guys were the best.” You know, we were people. You cared about us. We were family. And these places that I've worked since then? I'm just a number. They don't get the same feeling that they did with us. But we loved creating that atmosphere. That was the culture that we nurtured. And so those are some of the pieces that I teach. I have an online course, and so I teach what we did to be successful. We've replicated those same principles in other businesses that we've grown, and we've helped other people grow their businesses with the same principles. So they work. They're timeless principles. Well, you just mentioned your course, and so I'm looking—Ral is R-A like “pal” with an R. West is spelled the same as the opposite of East. And which one of these would I… it looks like if I use Ral West as all one word—R-A-L-W-E-S-T—and I do this in case someone's listening and they can't look at the screen right now, so I'm just saying R-A-L-W-E-S-T. You can be found on Facebook, on LinkedIn, and that is your website. People can find your course? Yes, ralwest.com. I am a graduate of your course—I'm not, I'm not—but, you know, here I… why not? I know where, what… you know? So I have graduated from your course, and what can a person that I'm interacting with—I'm trying to talk them into giving a grant for my vision, I'm trying to let them know that I would be an asset to their business, their vision—what can I tell them that I am prepared to do because I'm a graduate of the Ral West course? Is that too weird of a question? I don't want to put people… It's a little strange. But basically, going through the course you learn what I call my Six Essential Secrets to Business Success. Try to say that ten times real fast. And those six secrets—or principles—that I teach can be used in any situation. So whatever business you're creating, whether it's a for-profit or nonprofit, you're still going to use these same principles. So I would say that I know how to create an organization that can run very smoothly and efficiently with a team that's aligned and effective, and with a culture that nurtures the principles and the values that are set forth. And we deliver customer service that delights our customers. So that is applicable whatever you're doing. And it teaches you also to step back and be the manager, the owner—you’re not in the day-to-day. So you could create a nonprofit and have it run with all of these principles in place, and you don't have to be there to punch all the buttons every day. You've got it set up so it's running like a well-oiled machine. I did ask the question in the wrong way. I thought, now what are my new skills that I can convince someone else—no, it's what I have taken in as a person, as an entrepreneur, as a leader in something, and how I practice that out so that I can have delighted clients. Yeah, and they're secrets. And I would keep them secret so that someone could say, “I just wish I was naturally like you.” And I'm like, “It isn't all natural.” Business or this sort of leadership didn’t come naturally to me. But I can tell you where you can also take on some characteristics that would create a culture for the people that you lead. You know? And have someone go, “Where?” and it’s like, “RalWest.com.” It’s—you know, they’re just six principles. It's not like rocket science. But for me, yes—because I've never even built a lawnmower or a clock or anything. Neither have I. So for me it’s rocket science. Business-wise, I have not created a business beyond being a summer tutor. I created that business. And this is just so helpful. I’m going to let you… I know there’s one more thing, and I know that Peaches has been nodding her head, so I don’t want to forget all the things that have come across her mind. So Ral, was there one more thing I kind of interrupted? Yeah. These principles are just the foundation of any business enterprise. And I liken them to being a six-legged stool. So you have to have all six in place and you have to revisit them continually. And if one of the legs becomes too short or is missing, your organization is going to be wobbly and it's not going to be sustainable into the future. So you have to make sure that all six of these principles are adhered to and practiced continually. I don’t hear you turning anybody down. You're probably—okay, I'm presuming—I don't know if you have medical, financial, and legal expertise, but if it’s an area that you can speak to, then what you're listening to is who they are. And that—I'm going to tell you right now—ding ding ding. So learner and pivot are two of the reasons why I wanted you on. I pivoted at about age 60, 61—completely different, doing what I do now than what I have done up till now. I was always in a room with one or two, three people, depending on whether I was a classroom teacher or whether I was a hired in-home caregiver. So I was the “wanted invader.” I had to make sure that I was—I don't know—the right mixture of butler and quasi daughter-in-law, but professionally objective and making sure that I didn't—if I ruffled feathers, if I did things, I put it in the left cupboard instead of the right, that I recognized very sincerely, this is your home and your life, and I will continue to learn to do this in a way that helps you feel comfortable that I'm invading your space. And then when it was classroom, it was more classroom management, and I was the leadership and I better have an answer and a direction and a way of teaching. And then I turned into a person who does this a lot—talking nice with my fingers—and saying, I would love for what you do to come onto the screen. So pivot is one, and along with that would go learner. But even today—I was hired to be a teacher, I was hired to be an in-home caregiver, and now I’m like, oh, I am doing something that's entirely adult to adult. You have the choice. “Thank you for flying Aspects of Aging. We realize that you do have a choice, and we’re glad you’re here today with us.” So I’m a learner in what is business, because I see—I envision—a business that would actually help achieve a goal that would be sustainable living for people who are—I will use the word elderly because it paints a picture of someone who has challenges that would keep them out of slinging french fries or being a lumberjack, which maybe they’ve done both and many more through their life. But at this point, they need a place to live that is safe, where they are not vulnerable. And how could those people really participate in keeping the finances coming in so that they can be self-sustaining, self-determined, interactive, and just—coming up with businesses where the people who actually live in subsidized or low-income or free housing can participate in making sure that money comes in. And I just thought, I don’t know how to do or create or start a business. And here are these two people—Peaches and Ral—who have come on my screen that I can start to glean some information and some ideas from. So Peaches, I just threw a bunch of stuff at you, but I have a vision for creating something that almost seems impossible—or it's happening quietly all over the world—and I would love to know more about it and to actually enact that. And when I tell people clearly my vision, they say things like, “Well, why don't you apply for this community grant so that you can get it started and get to the point of that sustained business that the people participate in who live there.” So they are continuing to live as they always have—they’ve contributed, and they glean the positives from it. So when people catch the idea of my vision, they want to help. And I get really excited about something that hasn’t happened yet—but this also hadn’t happened yet. I turn 65 next week. So I’ve been doing this now about four years from when I first said, “Okay, I’ll go in front of a camera,” to the point now where I’m actually asking people to come into a live talk. Some of these people go, “I never do anything like this. This is not something I’m comfortable with.” And I can say, “Me too. This is how I felt.” And sometimes they go, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.” I feel like I’ve got two people that are very accustomed to talking to a person that’s on the other side of that little thing right here. Ral, I told you that I had seen one of your video podcasts. Yes, thank you. Well, and also an advertisement—I don’t know if that was part of a podcast. It was advertising you and what you do. I don’t know—I do know you would be better at describing what it is you do than I would, so I’m going to stop guessing and just let— Oh, and that’s how I knew that you have a different hairstyle because I had seen you just in a video and it's like, oh, it’s as if that video just happened, and then you went and came back in. So a lot of these videos are very—they touch the person right now. They're not worried about whether it was done two or ten years ago. And I love it as content that enters people’s lives, which is why I do Aspects of Aging for Aging Better Network. Because what we talk about can cause a person to go, “I never thought of it that way. I didn’t know such products existed. I didn’t even know that I should say that to my doctor, my financial advisor.” You know, it's an opportunity to hear and interact and be a lifelong learner and maybe make a pivot as either a caregiver or as a person who wants to have enriched longevity. I do. I do. Ral, please tell us about you, your podcast, what it is you advertise, why—and Peaches will learn as well. Yes, so my background is in entrepreneurship. I've been an entrepreneur for over 40 years. I started my first business when I was 19 years old, so if you do the math, you'll know how old I am. I grew up in Alaska in the tourism industry. My family had a very successful company, and I eventually took that over and grew it and expanded it. We had over 250 employees at our peak, and I loved creating systems and creating culture and building a team. I loved building something that could run without me having to be there every single day. So those are the things that I now teach other business owners how to do. Because what I realized is that most people go into business because they want freedom, and then what happens is they become a slave to their business. So I teach them how to scale it in a way that gives them their life back. Because if you're still in your business every day, if you still have to be the one that solves every problem, that talks to every customer, that makes every sale, you're not really a business owner—you just own your job. And so I help people make that transition from operator to owner and to really get their business working for them. That’s the sweet spot. That’s when you can start to live the dream. And that’s why my company is called “Livin’ the Dream,” because it's really about reclaiming your life and making your business work for you instead of the other way around. So I do that through an online course that I created. I also have a mastermind program, and I do speaking and coaching and consulting. So a lot of the things that I learned in those 40-plus years of running businesses—making a lot of mistakes, figuring things out the hard way—I now help other people implement those same lessons without the pain. I love that. And I really think that you've got something there that a lot of people either have forgotten or never heard: you don’t have to do everything yourself. You can structure something to work without you. And I don’t know about you, but when you talk about having over 250 employees, some people might hear that and feel intimidated, but I hear that and think: she figured something out. Because that’s not just about hustle—that's about systems, that’s about culture, that’s about intentional leadership. Exactly. And it's not about micromanaging. You can’t micromanage that many people. You have to have leaders and structure. So I love helping people figure that part out because once you get that in place, everything starts to change. The goal isn't just to work harder—it’s to create something that has a life of its own. That's how you create freedom. That’s right. Freedom and impact. Because if you want to impact more people, you need to build something that’s scalable. You can only do so much by yourself. Yes. And as we’re getting older, one of the big aspects of aging is realizing that our time is more valuable than ever. So I love that you’re helping people use their time well and invest it in something that lasts. Exactly. That’s why I say it’s not just about building a business—it’s about building a legacy. And that legacy doesn’t have to be massive to matter. Just something that works, that creates value, and that doesn’t suck all the life out of you to keep going. Yes. And one of the things I love hearing is when people tell me they finally took a vacation without checking their email every 10 minutes. That’s a win. That’s freedom. That’s beautiful. Thank you both so much. This was such a rich conversation. Thank you. It was so fun to have this time with both of you. I feel energized. That’s the goal, right? Absolutely. Yes, let's go climb mountains! Let’s do it. And fix businesses. And write poetry from our hospital beds at 98. And make smoothies with the Vitamix at 92. And dance solos at 65. Thank you both again. What a joy.

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Hi, my name is Ral West and I'm the owner and founder of Ral West Livin’ the Dream. We had a crisis in our business early on—my husband and I had lost the primary source of revenue. We were running a scheduled charter air service between Anchorage and Honolulu, and the carrier we were using pulled out of the market. We had no way to get people to Hawaii. Over lunch, we asked ourselves, “Should we close the doors?” But we both felt strongly: no. We had to provide this service. People in Alaska needed a way to get to Hawaii—our sun, sand, and surf destination. We needed to find a way. At the time, we were taking cash advances on credit cards to make payroll. But we kept going. Then, an opportunity came up to charter our own plane. My husband negotiated the deal, and we began running our own charters. Eventually, we even pledged his mother’s retirement account to secure one of the charters. That was scary—but he was highly motivated to sell every seat and protect her money. We were guided—by strong intuition, a knowing. I still rely on that kind of inner guidance. I pray, I ask what I should do, and I listen. Now, in this business, I feel called to help entrepreneurs who are exhausted and consumed by their companies. They don’t have time for family, for friends—they don’t have a life. And I know how to get them out of that. So, where do I start? The first step is assessing how they spend their time. Break it down. Document processes and look for ways to automate, simplify, and delegate. Most people tell me, “I can’t delegate—they won’t do it right.” But that’s not a delegation problem. That’s a training and systems problem. Proper delegation means clearly defining the task, the outcome, and checking in to ensure success. Yes, this takes effort. It’s not instant. But over time, you gain back your hours, your nights, your weekends—you move from working in the business to on the business. I’m at the point in my career where I don’t have to work. I choose to because it’s my passion to help business owners. If I could go back in time, I would build these systems from day one. It would’ve saved me so many sleepless nights. Today, there are so many tools—AI, apps, automation. We didn’t have that when I started. So yes, orient your business in a way that doesn’t make you a slave to it. Delegation was my missing piece. I was the bottleneck. I felt like everything began and ended with me. I needed to step back and take a 10,000-foot view. Ask: what’s really going on here? How do I scale? Usually, scaling means getting help—contractors, VAs, employees. People say, “I can’t afford help.” But if you don’t plan for it, you’ll never get there. You need a vision, confidence, and a plan. Include systems, measurements, reports to track progress, team development, leverage through education, mentors, and build the culture you want to live into. As for tools—I’ve used OmniFocus for over 10 years. It might not be the top app now, but it works for me. Everything I delegate goes into OmniFocus. People always ask how I never drop the ball—this is my secret weapon. I even use it for birthdays and Christmas. I have a spreadsheet that I update every year to track gifts: who gets what, whether it’s ordered, wrapped, delivered. For birthdays, I program e-cards in advance. It makes things manageable. Now about stress: yes, it still creeps in. I use a technique I learned from Robert Kiyosaki—if everything feels chaotic, imagine it like a whirlwind of leaves. Grab one leaf. Nail it down. That’s your “stable datum.” Then grab another. Break it down, simplify, and prioritize. Focus on what truly matters, not just what’s urgent. What’s my secret to a good life? A positive attitude. That’s 99% of it. Know that you’ll be okay, that answers will come. You’ll be taken care of. You can do anything you set your mind to. I even walked on fire at a Tony Robbins event. Firewalker West—that’s me. You can find me on LinkedIn under Ral West. I have a weekly newsletter, and my website is ralwest.com. Thanks for having me on the show!

"Ral is one of those people who makes you feel like you can climb Everest in sandals without a backpack. She has a mesmerizing sense of calm in her life and her approach to complex business problems. Her mindset and technical acumen make her a fantastic business operator and influencer in her community. She had her priorities straight and her values locked in. She is a storyteller of the highest caliber and the voice you need in your corner. Ral is a class act and the epitome of what integrity and vision looks like in a business leader. I recommend her as your climbing instructor as you conquer your most treacherous mountains." -Eric Stopper, Pulse Ox Podcast Host

Transcript:

so if you're building a company and you'd like to have an exit someday whether it's passing it on to your heirs or selling it or whatever your exit strategy is you need to get yourself out of it so that the business has value on its own and the way to do that is to start with establishing systems which means really taking stock of what it is that you do day in and day out what ises your week look like what does your month look like and what are some of those tasks that really could portioned off for someone else to do and that means you need to dig into the details of you know what are your tests what are the what's the lwh hanging fruit in terms of what could be handed over to somebody else but you can't the delegating is an art and you can't just hand off a bunch of tasks to somebody and say okay there I've delegated now I'm done with that walk away that doesn't work and that's why a lot of people say I tried delegating and it doesn't work so I can't do that I've got to do it myself in order to get it right so what I say is no you just got to learn how to delegate better and then then it will be right so delegating properly means really spelling out what it is that you want done what is the end result you're looking for paint a picture of what that good job looks like set a time frame for it and make sure that you're setting reminders for yourself to follow up hello everybody and welcome to the show my name is Tiffany Alexander and I'm I have a wonderful guest for you today uh this is the podcast unveiling Journeys and if you've been following along you know that I'm a huge huge fan of the power of referrals and that is mostly how I meet a lot of my guests I ask these amazing people that I've been introduced to I say hey who else do you know that I need to know and by the way I have someone that you need to know which is exactly how everything went down for me to meet Ral today she has an amazing story and we get to talk about where her journey has brought her and she gets to kind of crack into all of that with us so please welcome my guest and my new friend Ral West hey how are you doing today way over there in Alaska I'm doing great Tiffany thank you it's been it's been such a pleasure getting to know you well thank you the first most important thing we want to know is a little bit about who you are right now and what it is you're working on and then we're going to go backwards in time and talk about how it is that you journeyed into going that direction I am today is um well my name is Ral West and I have a business that's just under two years old called Ral West living the dream and the reason it's called that is because my purpose is to teach entrepreneurs how to have a successful business and live a dream life which I believe is entirely possible and I've proved it for myself and other people that I've helped so I'm today I'm working on uh promoting an online course I'm about to launch a master Master mind and just doing a bunch of things to get the word out so that I can reach as many entrepreneurs as possible I love that the biggest part of why I was enjoying hearing your story when we first met was how far you've come the neat things that you will crack into that you've done in the past what you're doing right now but that you've turned this corner of like gosh how can I help more people how can I put the word out there I've developed these systems and these amazing processes and I want everybody to know about it and I thought how do we make that how can we tell more people number one I got to get the word out to have you on here and then let's do this tell me a little bit more about like did you go to school for doing what you do right now take take us back to the beginning of where this started the School of Hard Knocks so okay so the the the nickel tour of my life is that I was born and raised in Seattle Washington my family was involved in Alaska tourism so in my mid 20s I moved to Alaska to take a job and then I moved on I started off in ketan which is way far south in Alaska and after about a year I decided to move north to Anchorage and start my own business and so that was in the early 1980s which means that I've been an entrepreneur for well over 40 years so please don't do the math as to how old I am um anyway I started with this tiny business in Anchorage met my husband he started picking my brain and started accompanying using some of the ideas from what I was doing because I was helping people in tourism with their marketing and advertising and some of my clients were located in Hawaii and he saw me flying off to Hawaii to meet with my clients and he's like hey I like going to Hawaii and I want to go there on a business trip you know like free and so he figured out a way to merge his real estate background with what I was doing in tourism and started a little company I was in on it from the beginning because I was advising him and counseling him but we got married you know soon after but I said okay we're not working together you know I've got my own business she've got yours but it didn't take him long before he broke me down and I started working in in his business which of course was our business by then and we grew that little tiny business which we started uh from nothing and we grew it to eight digits in annual revenue and over a 25 year period you know it it was quite substantial business and then we ended up selling it to Alaska Airlines so yeah so this business we ended up being a scheduled Charter Airline so we chartered widebody Jets and ran them between Alaska and Hawaii carrying over 35,000 passengers a year between the two states and it was incredible and that's the ground on which I you know broke my chewed on the the training wheels and everything to learn how to set up the system systems and how to go from being the mom and pop company to being able to walk away from the day-to-day and get out of the grind stop being the exhausted overwhelmed entrepreneur and step back to be the owner and let the business run on its own with all the systems and the team and the culture and everything that we had developed so once we were able to do that and brought in managers to run the place for us with everything that we had established the company just you know kept growing and growing and growing and we were able to Jet off to our second home on Maui we had a yacht that we cruised around on and we traveled the world and luxury style and that was the beginning of our live in the dream and we haven't looked back so we sold that business but then we kept pivoting into other Industries and deploying our resources and using the same principles that we used in the first one and have been able to to run several businesses at a time and yet still make maintain our lifestyle where our time is important to us spending time with family spending time traveling doing what we want to do living life on our terms that's what it's all about and that's what I want to teach people how to do because I see so many that are really engulfed in their businesses and they don't get the time off they don't take care of themselves you know they're like I was they don't go to the gym they don't work out they don't have a healthy lifestyle and they're stressed and I understand that because I was there and I want to help them out of that spot right you are speaking life into all the entrepreneurs or business owners that are listening to this episode right now because they're thinking wait a minute I don't want to admit it but I'm like a tired business owner or I'm revealing to myself that maybe I am lacking these principles of foundations of taking a little bit of myself out of being the most important part of the business that was something a mentor told me years ago was like Tiff if you are irre placeable how are you going to let someone else run your business you you have to be allowing these systems to be put into place where where would you say people should start because they're already thinking oh my gosh I need to know you I need your advice what are some of these nuggets that you want to share with them were the these processes did you invent them yourself was it a system you jumped into I didn't invent them I learned from others I had many mentors along the way however it took me long time to pick up all these pieces so what I'm offering is you know all of it in a in a nice neat little bundle so that people don't have to go through the years and years of learning and experimenting that I did yeah so one of the great mentors that I had for many years was Robert kosaki and we started studying with him way before he became famous for writing which Rich Dad Poor Dad and he directed us to a book called The e- Myth by Michael Gerber and we devoured that book book and it was a lot about establishing systems and developing um ways for you to duplicate yourself so that as as you were just saying you know if you're the only one that can do anything then you are limiting the growth of your company and you know there's no way that we could have sold our business to Alaska Airlines if John and I were still trying to do everything ourselves there's just no way there wouldn't have been any value in the company so if you're building a company and you'd like to have an exit someday whether it's passing it on to your airs or selling it or whatever your exit strategy is you need to get yourself out of it so that the business has value on its own and the way to do that is to start with establishing systems which means really taking stock of what it is that you do day in and day out what is your week look like what does your month look like and what are some of those tasks that really could be pored off for someone else to do and that means you need to dig into the details of you know what are your tasks what are the what's the low hanging fruit in terms of what could be handed over to somebody else but you can't the delegating is an art and you can't just hand off a bunch of tasks to somebody and say okay there I've delegated now I'm done with that walk away that doesn't work and that's why a lot of people say I tried delegating and it doesn't work so I can't do that I've got to do it myself in order to get it right so what I say say is no you just got to learn how to delegate better and then then it will be right so delegating properly means really spelling out what it is that you want done what is the end result you're looking for paint a picture of what that good job looks like set a time frame for it and make sure that you're setting reminders for yourself to follow up you don't just set it and forget it you have to follow up and I love using uh Ronald Reagan's expression the trust but verify yeah have to do that and if you miss that step then you know you're gonna get what you get you have to you have to maintain the responsibility for that task until it's done you don't have to maintain the doing this of it but you're still responsible for making sure that it's it's carried out in the way that you want and so those are some really basic things that you could start there and then move on to like how can you get leverage how can you find leverage for yourself technology letting other people do some of your work so delegating hiring a virtual assistant or other staff making sure that you you're Outsourcing what you can like to a bookkeeper or to a marketing agency making sure that you have a good team even if it's people who are not employees you still have a team you know my virtual assistant is not my employee but she's part of my team so is my bookkeeper so is my CPA my marketing people you know that's my team so um you know at one point when we had the big company we had like up to you know 50 or more employees we don't want to do that anymore but I still have to have a team yeah and and then you have to um carefully craft your culture what do you want your company to stand for what are your principles and values that you want carried out throughout your organization how you deal with your customers how you deal with your vendors how you deal with the rest of your team those are very important pieces that often times are overlooked and I think people end up with a culture by accident instead of on purpose and I believe in very very purposefully and intentionally building the culture that you want and the culture needs to to match you you need to to build it around your personality and your values and I even go so far as to say you need to build your business to support you and your lifestyle instead of the other way around I love that think it's a mistake I mean I didn't start off by doing that but now I'm thinking oh yeah if I'm going to you know any business that I start or maintain these days it has to be supportive of my lifestyle or I don't want to do it yeah that so you know that those totally those are some of my my big pieces of advice and I teach six principles and these are the six principles that when I scanned my 40 plus years of entrepreneurial experience I went what what are the things that we did that really made our business stand out and be successful and these are the six principles that I found and they are Timeless principles so it doesn't matter if it was 40 years ago or today or 40 years from now these principles will still be the rock solid foundation of a business that has sustaining success yeah now the technology and you know methodologies and so forth will change but the principles won't I love that one thing that you mentioned is where you've gained all this knowledge which I think is the culmination of what us as Leaders as entrepreneurs business owners what we do we take and we learn learn learn from everywhere and what you've done is you have paid for your education and in some cases paid for your uh lack of Education right when we have go through the School of Hard Knocks right I tell people Hey listen you're going to pay one way or the other you're going to pay for ignorance or you're going to pay for education and what you've done is you've created this little world of all of the best pieces that got you through it all through the mistakes and now you're like this is it this is what I believe people should walk into and now this is something that you are presenting to them to say hey I crack the code on what it is that makes it duplicatable repeatable removes you from the process and I think you did it and you've made it into like a course so that they can step into something no matter how frazzled or crazy or little or big that they seem that they can apply these principles right with what you've invented right or you've put together yes absolutely the course is is easy and it's um you know it's all online you can take it at your own pace they're all video uh lessons and worksheets so you can you know do it it's a do-it-yourself kind of course I'm not you know going to walk you through this is what to do for your business but this is this is the concept and here's I give you guidance on how to apply it to your business if you want more help then I'm developing a mastermind program where it'll be more of a you know do it with you and I'll be guiding you for you know 12 months out of the year and you know work with you at a in a small group of other CEOs and business owners and that's a lot more indepth but you can you can choose whether you want to just get your feet wet and just take the course or you want to go Whole Hog into the Mastermind program I love that I love that you're putting all these things together for people to be able to walk into tell me I want to Circle back just a tiny bit when you sold your business that you worked so hard to invent all this stuff up and grow with your employees you freed up the time I know you told me that you didn't just stop there what did you then start to move into and apply these principles over and over again with the next businesses you started jumping into yeah well after we sold um the Hawaiian vacations we started investing in small cruise ships and I said earlier my was involved in Alaska tourism so I was familiar with little cruise ships taking passengers to Alaska and we became aware through some industry contacts of a couple of ships that were bank-owned so their operator had gone bankrupt and a a bank had them sitting tied up at a dock in Seattle and we knew that they were there and so we talked to the bank about it and you know struck a deal and it took over two years to actually purchase the ships because the first time around we hired a team to dive and measure the hulls get the thickness of the steel and we found that it was not up to Coast Guard standards so we went back to the bank and said you know we need to adjust the price because we have to spend x amount to get these ships you know worthy seaworthy again and uh the bank said no so we said okay well enjoy you know you can sit on them for a while and a couple years later another bank had taken over the assets of the first bank that had said no and uh they said do you still want those ships and we were like well no we've kind of moved on we're not you know I don't know but anyway we we made a run at them and we're able to pick them up for like 18 cents on the dollar compared to what we were willing to pay for them before and so we ended up with two little ships under 100 passengers they needed a lot of work to get them ready for passengers because they'd been kind of just like sitting rotting at the dock you know and so we got them ready and found a found a little Cruise operator in Seattle who had some small ships and we said would you like a couple more to operate and they said sure So we basically leased the ships to them and they operated them they marketed them so we didn't have any responsibility other than you know plowing the money into them to make them ready and um then a year or so later there was another cruise line that went bankrupt and we were able to step in and buy the assets from the banks that held the the papers and so then we had five ships that were operating with this one little Cruise Line in Alaska wow well they operated in Alaska Mexico Columbia River and the cruise line is called uncruise Adventures they they do a fabulous job so for about 10 years we uh we did that cruise cruise ship business but then covid came and we had one ship left because we had been selling them one by one to the the cruise line because they they wanted the the ships on their balance sheet and we said yeah that's a win-win we do that right so March of 2020 came and you know we got the phone call that said ship isn't going anywhere it's tied up we can't make the lease payments um you know so that was our our sign that it was time to exit the cruise ship business and so after that we looked around we did a lot of research and decided that multifam real estate was where we would go next you're you're flipping cruise boats little baby cruise boats and you're like well if I can flip a boat I think I could go to property it seems like the other way around like maybe if I flip a house I could flip a cruise boat and here you are starting with something unheard of in my mind like I said the principles are the same that's what's so great is that you're you're explaining that you can take these systems and put them into anything that you really want to apply to and I want I want people to hear and feel that I can't even imagine going and flipping a a little boat but at the same time I could right we could we could do it with multiple things and you are striking that like Visionary thing with people to let them know they're missing out right if they don't have the right systems in place because then walked right into the your next venture tell me about the door yeah well we we we joined a group to learn I mean you know we were starting off kind of blind and we had done a lot of real estate we had real estate holdings in Alaska and Hawaii and we had had them for uh you know a long time and started investing in the early 19 or mid 1990s so we weren't new to real estate and my husband had been in real estate before but multifam syndications that was a whole new bag uh so we needed to learn about that and we joined a mentoring group it was Brad sunrocks apartment investment Mastery we joined his millionaire multif family Mastermind as I said okay you know we need to FasTrack this we want to go all in so we're going to join the group of the movers and the Shakers so we did that in the spring of 2021 and uh within a couple of years we had invested in 23 properties across five states representing over 6,000 apartment units and you know it's not easy I I caution everybody that there are high risks involved in doing Investments I mean they our Airline Charter Business was incredibly risky cruise ship business was very risky so is real estate but you have to be able to you know evaluate the risk and you know don't risk more than you can afford to lose oh it's painful to lose but you know if you can sleep at night knowing that well you know we'll be okay we be out on the street if we lose here then then go ahead and you know there's a lot of learning we've learned a tremendous amount in the I guess it's been four years that we've been involved in the multif family investing and there's a ton that we've learned ton of mistakes that we've made and we just keep going and I'm not sure how long we'll be in it but you know that the industry's been hit with some really hard times with the interest rates rising and property taxes and insurance have just really hit the cash flow so we're not cash flowing these properties like we thought we would when we went in but we're not giving up and um you know who knows what the next pivot will be well you know I did start this new business two years ago so that's one little pivot oh yeah and the Mastermind that's going to be huge you're going to be able to pour this culmination of all of this knowledge from multiple sources through you with your wisdom of your highs and lows into the the people that you're able to have prob a certain level of like a high level someone coming in that isn't going to question need to death but at the same time take action with every step that you're doing with them ...well that's the key I mean you know I can't I can't help anybody who's not willing to do the work that I am recommending that they do they can't just listen to me and expect the change to happen down hands down I mean there were people that I would recommend that book The e- Myth to and they would read it and I'd say yeah great you know are you are you using some of the strategies no but it was a great book I really enjoyed that book but yeah are you doing it well no was like okay well what good was reading the book then right right oh my goodness you really do have to take action and I think that's one of the things that sets us apart is that a lot of times we've learned things and then we apply them and there you go now I've learned things about being healthy and losing weight that I haven't always applied guilty I love it I love it is what we know what to do we're doing our best right yeah in this phase of my life living the dream to me means being healthy and physically fit and so I do work out regularly with a trainer I know I need the trainer to kick me in the butt because otherwise won't do it and I'm really committed to being healthy and fit you know I'm older now and I realize that this body isn't going to just you know able be able to keep functioning the way I want it to Forever without giving giving it some support so you know I try to eat in a healthy way and make sure that I get some exercise that's part of living the dream that is absolutely and when you have the ability to have your schedule ideally the way that you want it which you want to help people get to that point I had this amazing person I saw at a one of these little random seminars one time and he said carve out the day in the ideal life that you want to have and I was like well I want to do this this this this and he's like find out what's left and that's the amount of time you have left to work and I thought what a reverse idea of yeah make your schedule ideal and then you know I've got 30 minutes free this day two hours free this day and I have to make my business work in that time was almost like pressing me I like the challenge of knowing oh man what could I get accomplished in a couple hours a week instead of 40 right you know it's what what do you place your priorities on you know and like now if I've got a workout with my trainer that's not negotiable you know I can't meet with a business contact or whatever no cuz do at the gym so I'm going to the gym and even days when I really don't want to go to the gym because I'm tired or not feeling well or something I go to the gym right you guys have do you have the extreme like six months of light and six months of dark you and it's not super high up there right no uh see uh little geography lesson here Alaska is so big that the the the light and dark varies it depending on how far north you go so it where we are and Sitka we're closer to Seattle than we are to Anchorage an we're a thousand miles south of Anchorage 750 miles north of Seattle well Fairbanks is another 300 or so miles north of Anchorage and even in Fairbanks they have some light in the winter and some dark in the summer but you go north of Fairbanks above the Arctic Circle and that's where you have uh areas with the latitude being that far north that you have no sun above the Horizon for a certain amount of time in the winter and no sun below the Horizon for a certain amount of time in the summer you just you know follow the latitude and we're quite a ways further south oh that's good so like right now here um it's staying light until 5:30 it's light at you know 7 7:30 in the morning kind of nice yeah that's kind of normal everybody forgets to realize how astronomically large it's the largest state by multitudes over size of Texas twice the size of Texas yeah it's over 600,000 Square mil and just think about this it's almost one square mile per person that lives in Alaska those are the funnest little fun packs it's like gosh we didn't even know I mean I couldn't really point out some of the little Midwest States on a map necessarily but I live in California we got just stay over here yeah yeah well yeah Alaska's just like huge and and at one at one time we had four time zones until a governor legislated that it would be a single time zone because we spread so far from east to west how about that that's incredible hey at this point I think everybody's thinking my gosh I need to know you I want how do I find you how do I come follow the things then the advice and these courses that you have created and the ones you are creating what is your favorite method for someone to come find you well I I think the easiest way um is to go to my website which is very simply Ral west.com and on the website you can sign up for my free webinar it's like a 45 minute uh lesson on quite a few of the things that we've already talked about here a little bit more in depth um there's also information about my course and um lots lots of other freebies and you know copies of podcasts that I've been on like like this one and another easy way to find me is on LinkedIn yes again just R West I have a Weekly Newsletter that's free and just subscribe to the newsletter and it's every week There's tips about some aspect of running your business so it's really concrete information that you can use um I also have a YouTube channel and you can subscribe to that and there's videos posted there the website LinkedIn YouTube all very perfect and all those will be in the show notes below so you guys can click into that follow her friend her connect with her so that way you can get these nuggets of wisdom that she is pouring into everybody um I am so grateful that you were able to come and hang out with us I say us me be on the show today what are a few little nuggets you want to leave with everybody before you go like maybe a little tidbit well okay I I'll be repeating myself a little bit but you cannot grow your business if you're trying to do it all yourself you have to to get some leverage you have to duplicate yourself that's that's it that's it no other yeah and another nugget is get a mentor get several mentors learn from other people you cannot know everything yourself going to college isn't going to do it for you you know you just you really have to find mentors people who are doing what you want to do and learn from them another thing is don't limit yourself you can really do anything that you want to do just you know you have to believe in yourself you have to have faith and trust and go for it take action you know I think that's that's it and lastly but not least you're never too old yeah never you know take care of yourself keep going and going like the ever ready bunny amazing you are wonderful I'm so grateful for all the moments that we've gotten a chance to spend together I love what you were able to share with everybody in this episode and everybody you're going to go right now and go follow friend connect so that way you can follow along on this journey and if you're the right fit and you're thinking oh my gosh I need her to train me teach me let her know and we are just a caller click away I'm so excited that you were with us today thank you again for your time and I will see you guys on the next episode bye thanks Tiffany

Transcript:

“Ral West was a fantastic guest on The Rise Leader Podcast. She shared invaluable insights on overcoming overwhelm, building efficient systems, and leading with intention. Her ‘six secrets to business success’ provided practical, actionable strategies for business owners and leaders looking to scale and streamline their operations. Hearing her journey—from building a thriving company to selling it to Alaska Airlines—was both inspiring and eye-opening. Grateful to have had her on the show!” -Jeff Eschlima, Move Swifly Podcast

Transcript:

I might as well do it myself. I give them the task and it's done poorly or not at all. And my response is, then you're not delegating properly. There's an art to delegating. It's not just, "Here, do this." You have to use the acronym of SMART delegation—making sure it's specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Just boil it down to: paint a picture of what you want done. Make sure this picture is very clear as to the outcome you're looking for—not only in terms of what does a good job look like when this project or task is complete, but when should it be complete, and all of that. This is The Rise Leader, the podcast dedicated to empowering today's leaders to create lasting impact. Each episode delivers insights, strategies, and inspiration from top professionals and visionary thinkers—designed for those leading teams on the front lines and from the executive suite. Discover actionable tools and inspiring stories to elevate your leadership journey. Step up, make a difference, and join the Rise Leader community. With over 40 years of invaluable experience scaling businesses and mastering the art of effective systemization, Ral West is not your average entrepreneur. She is a seasoned professional with a track record of success. Ral honed her business acumen with real-life experience. She is a master at the practical implementation of business theory to create effective processes that transform business and multiply success. Ral's journey is a testament to the belief that you don't have to choose between business success and personal freedom. I love the theme of all of that. Ral, welcome to The Rise Leader Podcast. I appreciate your time to talk with the community today. It's wonderful to be here, and I'm sure we're going to have a great chat. The first question that I love to ask all of my guests is related to your career path and what has ultimately shaped your leadership style. So maybe you can answer the question and unpack a little bit more about your career trajectory. My career started well over 40 years ago, in my mid-20s, in Anchorage, Alaska. I started a marketing consulting and advertising agency specializing in tourism. Shortly after that, I met my husband. We started working together and grew that business for 25 years. We ended up with eight digits in annual revenue, and we sold it to Alaska Airlines. We went from being the mom and pop running the business day-to-day, with our fingers in every pie of the business, to learning how to be the owner rather than the operator. We could step back and let the business run on its own. And that’s the point at which it was marketable for a sale to Alaska Airlines. And then we’ve not stopped—we’ve created other businesses and had other investments. Less than two years ago, I started yet another business. I'd say that my leadership style has shifted quite a bit—from being the boss and telling everybody what they needed to do, to now my focus is more on teaching and being an example, and trying to be an inspiration. Don’t just do what I do, but watch what I do. Let me show you how you can make changes in your life to make your life and your business better. So of course, the main theme of the podcast is to give the community actionable tools to improve their situation. We have a range of leaders—on the front lines doing work and executive leaders. I really loved your six secrets to business success. I wondered if you would unpack that for the community, and maybe we can pitch and catch on the various elements of that. So I looked back, when I started this new business, over my four-plus decades of experience and tried to pick out the main ingredients for our success—what set us apart from other businesses. Those six principles that arose from that investigation start with: Systems—have systems to run a business that can grow beyond the mom-and-pop. Data—make sure that you have data tracking. Measure your performance, create reports, so that you can do database management and monitor your business from wherever you are. That allows you more freedom to have a more hands-off approach to your business. Leverage—systems give you leverage. Delegating gives you leverage. Proper delegating. I've experienced successes and failures, the right way and the wrong way to delegate. Education is one of them—exposing yourself to other minds and people who know more than you do is a fantastic form of leverage. Team—you have to build a team. I don't care how small your business is, you need a team. Even if it's contract people, a virtual assistant, a bookkeeper—whatever it is, that’s your team. You need to empower your team. You need to make sure there’s alignment in your team, all going in the same direction, going after the same goal. Culture—this is something many businesses neglect to pay attention to. We were incredibly intentional about our culture—maybe not from the beginning, but when we started learning more, we realized that it was very important to be purposeful and intentional about building a culture that would impact our team, our community, our customers, and let everybody know what we stood for—what our guiding values and principles are. This was a huge boost to our success. Customer Service—or as I like to say, how to delight your customers. Incredibly important. Let’s go back to systems for a minute. I love the fact that you refer to it as the simple systems. Just to retread on my career a little bit—I worked in the home building industry, worked for home builders, and then ultimately became a public home builder. If anybody knows about corporate, it's about systems. I work with a lot of contractors since getting into coaching and consulting—smaller organizations, mostly private. Systems, to be quite frank, doesn’t seem to be a strong suit within my industry. I'd love to have you use your experience on what you've worked on in your own businesses or what you've helped others with. Can you highlight some parts of the simple systems that you think might be helpful to the community? Yes, I'd be happy to. We've had some experiences being on the customer end—not happy experiences. SIMPLE is an acronym that stands for: •Standardization •Instruction •Manuals •Policies •Logistics •Efficiency All of these are integral to creating systems that will make your company more efficient and produce the product that your customer wants consistently. Somebody asked recently, “Would you keep going back to McDonald's if every time you went there, the hamburger was different?” No—you want to have consistency as a customer. This is one thing, particularly in the contracting space—they're very good at their craft but horrible at running a business in an efficient, systematic way. To me, it's not hard because I've been doing it for so long. But you have to have organization because you can't have systems without being organized. That takes some planning and being able to step back from the doing of your job to looking at the big picture—maybe taking that 10,000-foot view of your business. Systems help you create consistent paths and processes. Make sure you have manuals written, policies and procedures: “This is how things need to happen all the time.” Make sure your team is well-versed in those policies and procedures. Use automation. There’s really no excuse for not using automation today. AI is in its infancy, but if you're not using AI, you're behind the eightball. So—create the systems, use the technology, build your team, write things down, make sure there's a step-by-step process for getting things done right. Two observations based on your comments. Number one: you used the term “there’s really no excuse.” My observation has been part of the excuse—which I refer to as victims of our own success. Now that I’m working a lot with contractors, I see a lot of success on their end. I’m going to refer to it as financial success, to start with. Fortunately, we’re in a pretty abundant industry and a great market here locally, and there’s a lot of financial abundance that’s flowing through. And so that’s why I refer to it as victims of their own success. They are out there producing financially and earning, but the problems I see with that are—usually a founder or an owner of an organization, you couldn’t take a one- or two-week trip to Europe if you wanted to, because you’d come back and your business would be a crater. You haven’t empowered other people to do things, or you don’t have systems that run without you. My whole point is: why wouldn’t you just want to have both? You've already built a successful business financially. Not everybody wants to work themselves out of a job, but how about work yourself into a place where you can enjoy some of the fruits of your own abundance? So that’s point number one—about the victims of success. And then point number two is: all of the SIMPLE systems—the training and the policies—unfortunately, that stuff is just not sexy. There are people that consider things like that sexy, but most of the folks that I work with, at least in this industry, it’s just hard to commit to doing those things. And when you have this other side of the equation that is financially abundant, then why do I want to invest time in policies? I remember one of the things you told me on that call last year was—after you've written the policy manuals and things of that nature, you need to have a rigorous discipline to go back, I think you suggested annually, and review those to make sure—because we all know how life works. Things evolve, and if you don’t have a regular cadence of review, then those documents get out of alignment or out of touch. Those are my two observations based on what I’ve seen a lot here in my industry. So—any thoughts on that? I would love to hear a compelling argument from somebody that’s done as much business as you have on why these things—even though they might not be sexy—are worth the effort, and how that might lead to that first part, where you might be financially abundant, but there’s so many other benefits of focusing on these elements. I want to talk about the cost of not using these systems. You might be financially successful, but what’s the cost to their life? What’s the cost to their relationships, their family, their health? If they are tied to the business so much that they can’t take a break, if they have to be there all the time watching every little piece and particle of their business to make sure it’s done right—that is not freedom. That’s not my definition of success. And when you talk about creating systems, processes, procedures, manuals, etc.—whether that’s sexy—well, no. But having the life that you really want? That’s sexy. I think being able to take off and go to Europe for six weeks and not have to worry about the companies while you’re gone? That’s sexy. So what is it that you really want? How do you define success? Is it just monetary, or are there other aspects to your life that you need to add into that equation? Let’s talk about mental health. Let’s talk about physical health. Let’s talk about the well-being of your team. If they’re just waiting for you to tell them what to do all the time, does that make them feel successful and empowered? Are they going to be in alignment with helping your company grow? What are your long-term objectives? I have an online course, and one of the— the very first module of that course is: identify what you want for your life 10, 20, 30 years down the line. What is the life you really envision? Is it working yourself to the bone every day, or do you have another vision of being able to enjoy your life, spend time with your family and your friends, do some traveling, or play golf, or go fishing? Get that vision in your mind and then build the business so that it supports that vision—instead of the other way around. I think a lot of business owners get it backwards. You want to be the business owner; you don’t want to be the business operator. You don’t want to have your hands in every aspect of your business day in, day out. You need to be able to step back. Financial success is going to be limited by how much you, as the sole operator of the business, can do. You’re going to run up against your own personal limitations—unless you grow the systems and create your team and culture that can allow the business to grow to the point where it has value on its own. We would never have been able to sell our business to Alaska Airlines if we had still been the mom-and-pop running it. We stepped back and hired managers to run the business for us. We had set up all the systems, and we had the foundation laid. We had the team, the culture, the data tracking, the reports, the measurements—and then several years later, we were able to have a nice juicy exit from that because we were not the operators of that business. That’s beautiful. That takes some forethought and some planning and some intention to create a business that is marketable. So the question is: what do you really want for your life? Do you want to be a slave to your business, or do you want to be the owner reaping the benefits of that business? Love that. So maybe before we leave SIMPLE systems, I also wanted to focus on efficiency. From your experience, what are the types of efficiencies that—by implementing all the other things we talked about—the standardization and instructions and all that—that is the key to efficiency. Your observations based on the businesses that you’ve built and sold and working with other organizations—what are the type of efficiencies that you should expect by doing the hard work that is all the other elements? I’d say the greatest leap in efficiency for us was automation. We had a business where we were operating widebody jets between Alaska and Hawaii, carrying over 30,000 passengers a year. For many years, our reservations were taken by sales agents over the phone—talking to travel agents or individual passengers—and that was very labor intensive. We made the decision to invest in developing an online reservation system. We ended up being the beta, and it cost us well over six digits and almost two years to develop this automation. And the minute we flipped the switch and started taking reservations online, we were not only able to reduce our staff by almost half, but the volume of business just multiplied. It was like exponential growth. So that was a huge leap in efficiency. Far more efficient to let the technology do the work for you. Our watchword was: “If technology can do it, use technology. Don’t rely on labor and humans.” There’s always an element of human error. You’ve got a much more efficient and effective operation if you’re using technology. If your business is not taking reservations, your technology would be different—using AI, getting some of your processes streamlined. Your billing, your accounting, managing your appointments, managing your email inbox—all of these can be done with AI or other software. For over 10 years, I’ve used a task management tool that has served me well to juggle many balls in the air without dropping them. And I have people like my CPAs and bankers saying, “How is it that you’re able to keep track of all these things and you’re always following through and making sure that we’re getting this or that done?” I said, “Well, I have a secret weapon. I have my software that I use that enables me to keep track of everything from my own personal doctor’s appointments and birthdays to taxes and financials.” I have software I use to help with efficiency. I call it my brain. Because if I lost that thing—oh boy. You know, let’s segue to leverage. One of the things we’re going to talk about is effective delegation. Delegation is the number one thing—when I’m doing work with frontline leaders and executives, I say: if you wanted to just pick one thing, this is one keystone skill that would make your life better and the business better—if you were to become better at it. Let’s talk about leverage. It could be delegation, it could be other things, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on getting leverage in business. There are many leveraging tools that you can use, but I do think that delegation is a key one. And it’s one that many people do poorly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I can’t let anybody else do this because they just wouldn’t do it right. I might as well do it myself. I give them the task and it’s done poorly or not at all.” And my response is, “Then you’re not delegating properly.” There’s an art to delegating. It’s not just, “Here, do this.” You have to use the acronym of SMART delegation—making sure it’s specific, achievable, relevant, and timely. Just boil it down to: paint a picture of what you want done. Make sure this picture is very clear and to the outcome you’re looking for—not only in terms of what does a good job look like when this project or task is complete, but when should it be complete and all of that. It behooves you to not just hand it off. You’ve outlined it clearly. You’ve designated the outcome you want. You’ve said when you want it done. And then you’re still not done with delegating. You have to follow through. You have to create a system for a feedback loop, where you go back to the person or team to whom you’ve delegated and check in with them and say, “Okay, what’s your progress? Where are you at? Let me take a look at it.” Ronald Reagan had that line: “Trust, but verify.” That’s what you need to do when you’re a delegator. You can’t just delegate and then walk away. No, you’re not done with it until the job has been completed as per your desired outcome. It’s really not that complicated, but it’s amazing how many people do it poorly. Right. I think this is a natural tie-back to what we were just talking about with the SIMPLE systems, right? What I see here are process manuals and standardization. I see a lot in our industry—and what I coach these organizations to do—how many people are hiring folks for their organization that they don’t even have a job description? Something that outlines the job responsibilities and what they expect to have done. And even if they do have a job description, they come to work—I love how you talked about the feedback loop. I work with organizations that don’t even have an annual review. In my mind, it should be more than annual—like at least semi-annual reviews. And then underpinning that would be: what’s the frequency of structured communication that you have? Sitting down one-on-one with your direct reports and actually having an agenda. My very simple agenda is three points. And I believe the direct report runs the meeting. They come into the meeting and say, number one on the list: “Here’s how things are going in my world. Are the trains running on time, my key metrics, how I’m doing and how my team is doing.” And then number two on the list is always: “How do I need support from you?” So you’re asking the leader. And I always saw leadership as: remove obstacles for other people, and see things from a higher level. And then number three is the most fun, because number three is now where the leader gets to give the direct report feedback. I love how what you were just talking about with delegation seems to go back to the SIMPLE systems piece. And if you have those SIMPLE systems in place, then that underpins that effective delegation you were just alluding to. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s all intertwined. All these principles are like a six-legged stool. You really can’t have just one or two or three legs. You have to have all six, and they all work together. You can’t have systems without delegating, or delegating without systems. If you don’t start with the basics of how we run this company—how our product is produced, how we deliver it to our customers, and what actions need to be taken along that process—you don’t have a clear picture of that and sort of draw it out. You need to get down to the basics. Sometimes it seems minuscule in terms of the details, but that’s important. You made some very good points about having the metrics. But you can’t have somebody deliver unless you had the systems of metrics set up, right? They wouldn’t know what they needed to report to you. So you have to establish that for them. You have to put the proper hat on their role in the organization. It’s like a machine. All different cogs have to be working together, or the machine is going to fall apart. As the owner, you have to keep all those different parts oiled and maintained so that they work smoothly. That’s your job. Cool. Well, you alluded to this in your opening by referencing personal development. You mentioned to me when we had chatted prior about some of the real driving forces or influences that you’ve had in your career. I think we’re exactly on the same page. We believe that our own personal development is the key to our own learning—but then opening up that broader mindset and skillset helps us improve as leaders. I’d love to have you talk with the community about how personal development has influenced your career, and maybe even some of the key figures or pieces of work that have been the most influential to you. You bet. When talking about leverage, personal development is one of the best forms of leverage. We cannot know it all without getting mentorship and guidance and pulling knowledge from other sources. So it’s very important. We’ve spent probably hundreds of thousands of dollars on education—not just college. We started learning from Robert Kiyosaki in the 1980s, way before he wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad. We attended some of his courses in Anchorage. We credit him for a lot of the success we have enjoyed because we took his advice, and he’s been a tremendous mentor for us. I’ve studied with Tony Robbins a lot. He’s another tremendous source of knowledge, and he knows how to pull in other experts to his programs so that you’re getting the advantage of not just his wealth of knowledge, but others. And I still invest thousands of dollars every year in education. I’m addicted to learning and growing. That’s an addiction that I’m not seeking a cure for. I intend to keep it going the rest of my life. I think that personal development—getting mentors, studying, reading books, listening to podcasts, and keeping your mind active—is incredibly important for being a leader. Many things I’ve learned have nothing to do with business. They have to do with my own personal mindset and learning how to take care of myself—learning how to make my health a priority. Particularly as I get older, I go to the gym, stay strong and healthy, and eat right. That’s part of my definition of success and part of my definition of living the dream. Because how do you live the dream if you’re not healthy? You know, can’t get around, right? It’s a holistic approach to life and success. It sounds like personal development has been a big part of your personal and business trajectory. You mentioned a couple of folks like Tony Robbins that have this tremendous amount of energy and ideas, and they're just connectors. The other thing I love about Tony Robbins specifically is he always seems to be out there on the cutting edge—using his influence and connectivity to bring the best resources available to bear. I think he just had a webinar, or a three-day course, that was 100% free. He did. Not everybody resonates with Tony Robbins, but he’s a great example of a resource. Yeah. It’s wonderful that he’s driven by a compelling desire to teach and raise people up. It was called the Time to Rise Summit. I tuned in for part of it. We're going to 10-Day Life and Wealth Mastery in Fiji this summer—and Business Mastery. There’s never an end to what you can learn. Another source of learning and networking are mastermind groups. I belong to at least two, maybe three, different mastermind groups, and they’re all valuable. You can learn from the leader of the group, but you’re also learning from your peers and the other people you’re networking with—and that’s very important too. Everything that you just said is validating. I look at your situation and, you know, I’m not about envy, but you’ve created a lot of success in your life. And yet, you continue to invest heavily. Maybe it’s not a vacation, but what a wonderful place to go. From what I understand, you’re at it for like 12 or 14 hours a day, and for five of those days, we don’t get to eat. I don’t know how enjoyable that’s... I don’t know either! I think personal development is key to both life and business success. I don’t see how you can have lasting success in business unless you raise yourself up. And if you raise yourself up, you’re also going to be raising your team up. We used to offer education opportunities to our team because we wanted them to grow. We always said that when somebody joined our company, we knew they were not coming on board for the rest of their life—that this would be just a portion of their life. We wanted to make sure that they would leave our employ better, and that they would have a better life after spending however many years with us. We get great joy from watching the successes of the alumni from our company. It’s fabulous. So Ral, I would like to have you tell the community a little bit—you’ve got this course that you just launched: Overcoming Overwhelm: Create a Smooth Running Business. Could you highlight for the community what you’re doing with the course and what you hope the desired outcome is for somebody that might purchase that? Well, the content of the course is the six principles that I just went over. There are eight modules to the course. The first is an introduction, and then each principle has its own module, and then a summation in the eighth module of, “Okay, where do you go from here?” You have to reapply all of these principles continually. We talked about doing it at least once a year—better twice a year, or more often—to make sure you’re still adhering to the principles and actively applying them in your business. This course is designed to teach business owners how to be the owner and not the operator of their business. How to get out of pain points where they’re overwhelmed or overworked, stretched too thin, not able to grow the business because they’re holding the business back—by being the bottleneck, by not delegating, and using the systems. It’s really the answer. Business owners can make a better life for themselves by using these principles—advance their business, and make more monetary success. It’s available online. It’s not a specific period of time that you have to take the course on a certain date. You can enroll at any time. There are recorded lessons. Each lesson has worksheets and exercises that you need to do. And then we have an online community where you can ask questions and get feedback. So you’re not just going to be set adrift with the contents of the course. Greatly encourage people to check it out on my website. So go ahead, just ralwest.com? Absolutely. We’ll have links and we’ll have the path for that in the show notes. I think that’s an exciting opportunity for folks that need to bolster that kind of thing in their own businesses. Final two questions I like to ask all of my guests, Ral: Number one—who has been the most impactful leader in your life or career, and how so? Robert Kiyosaki. Okay. And it’s because of all of the principles that we have learned from him—not only business principles, but life principles and mindset principles. They were a huge influence on us. Over three decades ago, we started learning from him, and I still feel his influence. There are still lessons that I just say, “Yep, I remember—I learned this from Robert, and I’m still doing it.” Tremendous impact on our lives, and many, many others. But he would be number one. Yeah, I love that. I think Rich Dad Poor Dad is probably the one that he’s most notable for. I read it probably 15 years ago, and it made me start thinking more—even when I was in corporate—it made me start thinking more entrepreneurial. The Cashflow Quadrant was exemplary. I read that—where you learn to be an employee, self-employed, a business owner, or an investor. What is the best actionable leadership lesson that you’ve learned in your life or career? Could you please share that with the community? Yes—investing in yourself. Getting the education, going to the courses, joining the masterminds, getting a mentor—all the things that you can do to better yourself and to learn and grow. That’s the best thing that you can do for yourself, for your company. It makes you a better leader and a better person—and more successful in life and business Thank you so much for taking time to jump on the podcast today and talk about your experience and lessons learned over the years, and to provide this resource with your on-demand course. I value your time. This has been two wonderful conversations that I’ve had with you. I’m so appreciative. Oh, thank you Jeff. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to be on your show. We’d like to thank our sponsor, Learning Edge—your go-to source for energy-efficient building education. I’d like to thank The Rise Leader community. Please don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast, like it, share, and leave us a review. Thank you. That’s it for this episode of The Rise Leader. Thanks for joining us today. To connect further, visit riseleadershipa.com, where you can find show notes, resources, and more episodes. You can also find The Rise Leader on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show. Your feedback helps us reach more leaders and continue to deliver valuable content. Until next time, remember to step up, make a difference, and lead with impact. This is The Rise Leader, signing off.

Transcript:

hey everyone this is DC brown with the CEO sales strategies podcast I got a really great guest her name is Ral West uh and Ral has a long history of building companies and we're going to share together the uh principles that she's used to actually build these businesses and actually set up a life that everyone tends to want to have and um there's six core principles we're going to talk about so get your pen your paper out write them on down uh and uh let's talk to to Ral in one moment uh folks if you're interested in personalized meaningful relevant followup and you want a system for doing that or you're interested in taking in growing your Revenue making it from unpredictable to predictable Revenue uh reach out to us or myself at Doug CEO sales strategies and let me know you're interested and we'll get some more info and some conversations going without further Ado let's go talk to Ral and let's talk about those principles you're G to really like this hey Ral welcome to the CEO sales strategies podcast thanks so much for being here today hi Doug it's good great to be here and you are coming from the great state of Alaska correct yes yes the largest state yes indeed the largest state in landmass absolutely over twice the size of Texas wow you know I didn't know that I should know that yeah we have almost almost one square mile per person wow see you know all those years of college evidently didn't pay off on my end on the geography side well you're not alone I have to dispel lots of misconceptions about Alaska when I meet people and oftentimes I'm I'm told I've never met anybody from Alaska before and I say well that's because there aren't that many of us that's true so there's only two states in the United States I haven't been to North Dakota or Alaska so those are two on my list to go to well I hope Alaska's first yeah well why wouldn't it be yes yes starts with an A you got to start alphabetically right so R you have a you have a really interesting backstory and a back history why don't you tell everybody what you've done and let's set frame for this okay well the nickel tour is that um over four decades ago I became an entrepreneur by starting my own small business in Anchorage Alaska I wasn't from Anchorage I was born and raised in Seattle but I moved to Anchorage in the early 1980s and there I met my husband and he started um stealing some ideas from me actually and started a business that involved uh some aspects of my business which was marketing Consulting specializing in tourism his background was real estate and construction and he ended up starting a business where he was representing uh condo owners who lived in Alaska but had condos in Hawaii and some of my clients were in Hawaii and he saw me flitting off on business trips and he wanted free trips to Hawaii too so yeah I I you know not not to get in a controversial subject here but I probably would have borrowed those ideas too if I was in Alaska and wanted to go to White yeah but I made him pay me and he said okay I'll take you to dinner so I say that was our first date he says it was a business meeting um it was a date well the question is did you write it off that's the question I'm sure he did I'm sure he did uh but uh yeah because he paid but less than a year later we were married so just you know think about that yeah you know I think he I think he did well so uh we we worked together I mean I still had my own business and so I wasn't day-to-day involved in his for a little while but pretty soon I got kind of sucked into that because it was getting bigger and bigger and when we started doing guarantees on chartering Jets to fly people between Alaska and Hawaii then my interest was very much peaked and I abandoned my little business to work full-time with my husband and we're still married spend 41 years so it's worked okay and that business uh we grew for 25 years got it to eight digits in annual revenue and then sold it to Alaska Airlines and then instead of retiring like many thought we would at that point we pivoted into other Industries and started buying and leasing small cruise ships and then after that kind of went away at you know during covid then we started getting into investments in multifamily real estate syndications and were invested in about over 6,000 apartment units in five states across the US so that's just a you know the nickel tour of my background and we still have several businesses most of them real estate oriented but in 20123 I started another business not that I needed another business but my daughters who are adults uh sort of urged me to start sharing my journey and they found that everybody who meets us says we want to have your life you guys are living the dream and they said you need to teach them mom because you know you have a knack for being able to juggle all these businesses and still do all of your traveling and have your two homes and your yach and so forth and how do you do it and I said oh well it's easy because I just do you know this this this and this and they said yeah teach people it's not that easy for them so I decided that you know this really is a passion for me I love business I love living my dream so let's make it into a business and see where it leads me and the deal I made with myself and my husband is that as long as it's fun I'll keep doing it and so far it's been fun and so you have developed over the years we'll call them success principles right right for for sustainability and and other factors in business and doing exactly with what you just talked about which is frankly most people's goal in business even if they want to build a business to exit it they want to build the business to exit it to move on to you know what people call quality of life like you know being able to take the trips do whatever you know have the the financial stability and and everything else that comes along with that so what I'm curious what are the well let's start with principle number one what what what would that be systems systems got to have systems I don't care how small your company is whether you're just starting out or whether you've been at up for 10 or 20 years you have to have systems even just basic systems you know how to organize your emails how to organize your workflow um how you know how to pay your bills automating things as much as you can just basic systems and then as your business gets more complicated and and it grows your systems need to get more complicated as well and you know your team will likely grow and therefore you need to develop manuals and written procedures and written policies so that you can pass them on to other people and share your knowledge so that they can start doing some of the things that you've been doing by yourself you want to take some of that workload off of your shoulders so that you can focus on growing the business or taking some time for yourself you know most most entrepreneurs when they start off think oh I'm gonna have so much Freedom I'm G to be my own boss and then they find out that the business is the boss and that they're owned by the business they've just got another job and they're employed by their business and that's not what they really wanted when they got into it right yeah well and you know I've I've had that issue as well you know we start a new company and it's like oh well I know better and then all of a sudden it's like oh well this is as we started the other companies we're going through similar thing now we might be a little more ahead because we know to create some systems so to speak right but to me systems give you predictable leverage they give you predictable outcomes if they are truly a followed system because uh you could have the you know the the planning and the you know procedures down but if it's not accountable to those those two then it goes the other you you can write them down and then file them away and never use them and that's going to work you have to actually act on them and you know just yesterday I created a new system for my new business because I found I was you know overwhelmed by a certain type of task and I'm like wait a minute I need to start employing something that I preach and I created a system and all of a sudden it's like that feels wonderful I got that off my shoulders so yeah it's an ongoing process these principles are Eternal you know foundational principles and they last for all time it doesn't matter that you know I stumbled upon them 40 years ago 30 years ago they're still applicable and and you have to use them consistently well that that that is what I love about what you said is it's an ongoing process so companies who are small even single person operators right they can have systems in their business and as we grow those systems change I heard you say that and and I've experienced that as well and frankly if we don't have systems in the business we then run into stagnation points and we'll get stuck that's that's what I've learned by not having systems is that the case for you or or you get burned out yeah you realize that you know you're trying to jump juggle too many balls when the system can take those balls from you and take care of them yeah it's like pushing the gas pedal down on your vehicle and keeping it in neutral eventually the engine says no more exactly and you know that's where I was about three decades ago you know we were uh mom and pop running this business that was growing and we were juggling everything ourselves and I had young kids and volunteer activities and oh my God you know sleep was a luxury didn't take care of my myself didn't take care of my body uh you know I was a mess I didn't eat right you know didn't exercise and yeah I realized something has to change this isn't this isn't sustainable so one of the things I wanted to ask you because a lot of people will bring this up it's like okay well if I'm going to leverage or create systems through other like technology or other people or whatever what happens if they don't you know like they I don't know the people don't follow it breaks or you know then don't I get sucked back into having to fix all this stuff all over again and I got more on me than I did before well now you're referring to some of the other principles among the six so systems was number one but number two is to measure and track your data so you're not going to know if something's going awry unless you have the data so you have to set up some metrics so that you can track what's going on and you know stay on top of it no matter where you you are I mean we had metrics and reports set up so that we could be traveling halfway around the world and we'd get our daily weekly monthly reports so that we knew how the business was doing wherever we were now internet of course makes that quite easy so there's that and then the third principle is leverage which is you know using your team members Outsourcing if you can using automation all these forms of Leverage actually education is a form of Leverage getting more information you know in your head so that you can deploy it and when you use leverage properly and that brings us to the fourth point which is build your team if you're going to leverage your team there's a right way and a wrong way to do that and the right way is to make sure that they have all of the guidelines all of your policies all of your procedures written job manuals this is kind of tying the systems into the team and when your team is fully armed with the tools that they need then you can trust that team to carry forward in the way that you want and that brings us to the next principle which is your culture if you don't purposefully build your culture and teach everybody these are the important principles these are the foundations of our business our guiding principles then you use those to also guide your team and you can set up what we learned from Robert Kiyosaki is the fruit bowl theory of business which is you have a bowl with firm sides whether it's glass or wood or whatever your bowl is made of those sides are static but inside that bowl the fruit can be whatever you want grapes bananas oranges whatever and they're free to use their own discretion as long as they stay inside the shape of that bowl so you know sometimes my husband would say we're like putting up a snow fence on a highway you know you're you're doing well as long as you stay on the highway and don't go across the snow fence so being in New Hampshire you know about that kind of thing but um so those are really really key aspects and they are all intertwined you can't take just one of these principles and have it stand on its own they all depend on each other it's like a spider's web or sometimes I call it a six-legged stool and that reminds me there's a sixth principle the sixth principle is customer service and not just any old customer service but customer service that Delights your customers so in order to find out if you're delighting your customers you need to go back to principle number two which is measuring and tracking your data—get the feedback from your customers so that you know if they're satisfied and if they're not, find out what they want, what will make you happy, what will delight you, and then you have to put your systems and processes in place to make sure that that's delivered consistently. So there you have it. We're speaking with Ral West and Ral is laying out her six principles for success in business based on 40 years of doing business and doing it successfully. You know, I was thinking as we were going along and you were mentioning all of these principles—some people are probably sitting there going, “Okay these all sound great in theory. How long does it take me to put all this in?” Well, it took us about five years. When we started diligently learning, reading books, studying with Robert Kiyosaki etc., he pointed us to the book by Michael Gerber called The E-Myth, which everybody—every entrepreneur—should read. That book was really a roadmap for us. And the difference between us and most people is that a lot of people—we would refer them to that book—and they’d say, “Yeah, I read that book, it was a great book,” and then I say, “Well, did you use those principles, did you execute?” “Well, no, I haven’t gotten around to that yet.” But our trick is that we actually executed what we read in that book. So we started purposefully developing the systems, purposefully developing the team and the culture and all of that. That did take us a while, but we were learning as we went along. So somebody learning from me can have the benefit of all those learning experiences and I can compress that execution time quite a bit. Now it may still take a year, but not five years. And when—at the end of those five years—we were able to walk away from the business. We hired a COO and a CFO, and they took our foundation and grew the business even more. And we went off to our second home in Maui and traveled around on our yacht and flew around the world and visited all seven continents and we’ve been having a ball. And I agree with you—you know Michael Gerber’s book—I think it was Molly’s Muffin Shop was the first example or something like that if I remember correctly. I want to talk with you about one thing because I understand these principles and I’ve lived them. I’m a data optimization guy, right? So I look at all the metrics and measure everything and they tell you a story. That’s where, when you’re measuring things folks, the data—the math—will tell you the story. And so you know where to go in and intercede or what’s working great or what’s working amazing and what’s not working at all so to speak. Yes—as long as you’re measuring the right data. Good point. That’s an excellent point. You must measure the right data. If you’re looking for output and you’re not measuring what gives you the output, you’re gonna—you know, I mean it’s like flying in air. You mentioned flying in a plane and you know if you want to go to Maui but you head east, you’re not going to make Maui. Not unless you start in Japan. No, but you run out of runway and fuel usually by the time you get there. So I’m sitting here looking at this and I’m like okay, great—the person looks at this and they go, “Okay I can put all of this in place, it will take me a year… ahh, you know Ral, I’ve been in business for seven years now, ten years now…” I’m playing the other side of the fence—the objection side—going, “Can I really put in a year? My business is so messed up, it’s crazy.” Well there’s that. And then like, “Okay, you’ve got your business to this point and you don’t want to make any changes, so you like it the way it is?” There you go. Yeah, you know that—that’s fine. Keep doing it. And you keep doing it, and you’ll get the same results. If you want to have change, you’re going to have to do something different. So let’s talk about letting go then, because this—this was—I can say even in my life, on some of the companies that we’ve had—letting go was scary for me. Because it was like—and then I learned, you know, it’s me, right? Because there are people out there who are way better at certain functions than what I can do, and I learned that kind of through the hard way. But a lot of people won’t let go. So how does one—because you had to learn to let go, right? I mean, you had to—I’m not saying take your hand completely off—I’m saying let go and let others do what you’re putting in place of the systems. So what’s the mental mindset that goes on, and how does one kind of work through that process? Okay, well here’s kind of like a metaphor that can help you. Think of it—it’s like you’re the captain of a ship. And you’re at the helm of the ship. And you have all of these dials and gauges and so forth in front of you so that you’re watching all these different aspects of the operation of the ship. And you have an engineer that keeps the ship running. And you’ve got lines and fenders and you know, there’s all kinds of systems that keep a ship moving in the right direction. Now, as the captain, you have to steer the course for that ship. And the course is not always going to be a straight line—you know, especially if it’s a sailboat you’re certainly going to be tacking back and forth. And you need to make adjustments to your course as you go along. So that’s your role as the captain of the ship—to navigate and set the course, make the corrections, make sure all the systems of that ship are operational. That includes all of your crew or your team. And all of the water, the power, the fuel, everything that makes that ship run—you’re in charge of making sure all of those are in place. So you are not going to just leave the helm. I mean, I think that’s what happened when the Exxon Valdez hit—you know, hit a reef—the captain left. So that’s not a good idea. So you need to keep your eye on it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be doing everything yourself. You’re not going to be deploying the lines or down in the engine room or any of those other tasks. You have to put your team in place to do that and make sure they’re doing it the way you want. You run out of runway and fuel usually by the time you get there. So the person is sitting here looking at this and they’re like, “Okay, great. I want to work smarter not harder.” The person who’s in that place is saying, “Well, I’ve been in business ten years—can I really change this?” And the truth is, if you want to keep getting the same results, do the same thing. But if you want new outcomes, you have to do something different. That’s where the mindset shift comes in. If you’re serious about building the business around the life you want, not building your life around your business, then you have to decide. Because there’s always a way. You don’t need to feel trapped. People think it’s going to take too long. But you can compress the time if you execute, not just consume content. That’s what I teach. And when you have systems, metrics, leverage, a strong team, an intentional culture, and you truly delight your customers—when all six principles work together—that’s when things shift. That’s when freedom becomes real. That’s how we lived on our yacht, traveled the world, spent time with family, and watched our businesses grow without us in the weeds every day. So if you're wondering where to start, start with that question: What do I want? Then build your business to serve that. Because your business is a tool—it’s meant to support your life, not consume it. So exactly. And so that makes total sense. Well I thank you so much for being here and bringing your A-game to the CEO Sales Strategies Podcast. I knew you were going to, so thank you, thank you, thank you. Any last parting words that you want to share with people? Oh wow, well you put me on the spot. I just think that I believe firmly that anybody can do what they set their mind to do. And you don’t need to be limited by gender, age, anything. Just go for it and have that confidence and faith in yourself. And don’t accept any dead ends—there’s always a way. Perfectly said. Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here today. Thanks Doug. All right—did you write them all down? Did you write all six down? Systems, measuring and tracking data, leverage in all kinds of forms including information, building a team the right way, right? Your culture—teaching everybody the right way and what the culture should be—and your customer service. And you know, I’ve often said that customer service is not a separate function of the sales process. And a lot of companies do that. It’s crazy to me. Because with your customer service, they can be one of your strongest sales divisions in the company if you do it right. And, you know, I loved what we talked about at the end there—you know, risk. Be willing to risk. Have the confidence to go for it. And you’ve got to do the work necessary. And if you do those things, everything will be great. And step number one, which is what we teach you to do, is get clear on your truthful goal—your outcome. And once you do that, build your business around your life—not your life around your business. Speaking of creating leverage: if you are interested in never dropping a sale again, gaining more sales, never losing a relationship, and retaining your relationships forever—gaining more referrals out of those—follow-up is the number one reason that people don’t have that. We created an automated, proactive, meaningful and relevant follow-up system. And we’re releasing that system. If you’d like to be one of the first to be on that system, it’s called VITNO—V-I-T-N-O—that means “you matter” in a Slavic language. VITNO.com. Reach out to me for that. Or if you want to grow your revenue in 2025, reach out to me at Doug@CEOSalesStrategies.com. Email me and put in the headline, “Hey, I’m interested in follow-up,” or “I’m interested in growing my revenue.” And we’ll have some dialogue and we’ll assess if we can help you. All right, until next time—go out and sell something and make someone happy. As I say every time: sell win-win-win. You win, they win, someone else wins. Please don’t discount when you don’t have to. If you build your value in correctly, people will not ask for discount. Remember—if you sell something and discount it, you might have to sell six or ten other things to make up for the discount. So you don’t want to be working harder and harder. As Ral says, you want to be creating leverage. Until next time, this is Doug C. Brown with the CEO Sales Strategies Podcast, saying—to your success.

"Ral West's insights on automation and systems on the CEO Sales Strategies Podcast were truly transformative. Her expertise in building and selling multiple businesses shines through, making complex concepts accessible and implementable. I highly recommend tuning into this episode to anyone looking to scale smarter and achieve sustainable success." - Doug Brown, Host of 'CEO Sales Strategist' podcast

Transcript:

Hey everybody, it's Manny Mallister with the Power Up Your Life podcast. We just finished recording with Ral West, and this woman and her commitment to living the dream and her extensive entrepreneurship background and the focus on working on your business rather than in your business resonates so much with me and every member of Go Abundance Women. Anyone who's building a big life, a big business and needs that space for their life—not just their business—you’re really going to get a ton of value out of our conversation with Ral. But before we get started, let me tell you a little bit about my new friend Ral. She is a visionary business leader and systemization expert who employs her four-plus decades of entrepreneurial expertise and her passion for business in her newest... see I told you... Ral teaches entrepreneurs how to be an owner rather than an operator in their business so they can have a successful business and life that they deserve. She and her husband have founded several businesses, one notably achieving eight figures in annual revenue before being acquired by Alaska Airlines. Super interesting exit there. Ral is a master at the practical implementation of business theories to create effective progress that transforms businesses and multiplies success. She and her husband live in Alaska and Hawaii and when they're not jet-setting around the world, they go on tons of adventures. More information can be found on ralwest.com. So let's dig in. Excited to show you this episode. Hello everyone and welcome to the Power Up Your Life podcast. I'm Manny Mallister. And I'm Kelly Resendez. And we could not be more excited today to have with us Ral West. Ral, you are such a bright light. I am so excited to dig in with you today. Why don't you kick us off by letting us know a little bit about your progression in your own words? Okay. Well, it's a long story because I started my entrepreneurship over four decades ago. I'm much younger—I mean, I started when I was like two, you know? Yes, exactly. Anyway, I moved to Anchorage, Alaska in the early 1980s and started a little marketing consulting firm. And there I met my husband. He liked the idea of traveling to Hawaii, which is what I was doing to represent some of my clients. I specialized in the tourism industry, and so he started a business to take people to Hawaii. And I merged my tourism expertise with his expertise in selling and creating product, and we grew a business together for 25 years. We grew it to eight digits in annual revenue and then we sold it to Alaska Airlines. But before we did that, we worked ourselves out of a job. We figured out that we could not be the mom-and-pop running this business with our hands in every single pie and twirling all the plates ourselves. So we developed systems and nurtured our team and our culture and used leverage and we got out of the day-to-day operation. Bought a house in Maui, bought a yacht, started living the dream while our company just grew and grew and grew. And it was fabulous. We went on after that to enter into a couple of other industries after selling that business. We've been involved in buying and leasing and selling small cruise ships, and we've been involved in the multifamily real estate space—syndications. We were partners in over 6,000 apartment units across the country. And then two years ago, I decided to start another business. My adult daughter said, "Mom, you need to teach people how you have developed this life where you can run your businesses and still take six weeks to travel in Europe and do whatever you want to do. Go off on your yacht. Everybody wants to be like you." So I thought, okay, well I don't know anything about this personal brand stuff but you know hey, I'm young enough to learn. So I jumped in and started a business called Ral West: Living the Dream. And I teach entrepreneurs how to do what we did—get out of the day-to-day, work on your business instead of in it. Be the owner, not the operator of your business. So that's what I'm doing. I have an online course and a newsletter on LinkedIn and I'm just going strong. That's all you've done? I mean, you haven't done anything else? Anybody listening is like, "I want to be Ral when I grow up!" There are a few other things I've done, but those are the main ones. Absolutely incredible. I love the “Live the Dream” moniker. You choose to speak into existence what you do but you know, before this exit to Alaska Airlines, before all these tremendous wins that you've had in your life, there had to have been a time on that journey where you felt stuck—where there were times that you didn’t know what to do next. Talk to me a little bit about any strategy or things that you do to get unstuck when you feel that way. Oh my goodness, where do I start? Yes. Well, there were times—I’ll just go back to the dark days of being exhausted all the time and working night and day, raising a young family. In fact, we joke that it took us 10 years to have our second kid because we were too busy to do what we needed to do. So we have two daughters, 10 years apart. And so I was even hiring people to help me take the kids to school and cook for us and so forth because I didn’t have time for any of that. And yeah, something had to change because my health was suffering. I was overweight, I was very out of shape. The idea of having time to exercise? Just like—yeah right. You know, sleep comes first. Thank you. And then exercise. So it was through a series of reading books and talking with our mentors and getting ideas for how to grow the business. And I say that probably the biggest boon to that effort was a book that was recommended to us by Robert Kiyosaki himself. We had lunch with him on the Big Island back in 1994 or so, and he said, “Get The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.” And we picked it up that afternoon at the bookstore—and we still had bookstores back then—and we devoured that book and said, “Oh my God, this is what we need to do.” Michael Gerber taught about how to create duplicatable systems in your business—teaching other people to do what you do, and duplicating yourself. Making sure that all of your processes, all of your tasks and procedures and mundane things that you do—that you feel like, “I’m the only one that can handle this. Nobody else can do what I do”—and that’s hooey. And you have to figure out how to teach other people how to do it. So we worked on that. It did not happen overnight. It took us years to get ourselves out of that day-to-day and teach our team. We had to work intentionally on the culture—to build a team that was empowered. And we developed some guiding principles that would be like—my husband would call it—the snow fence. You know, we live in Alaska, so as long as you’re on the road and in between the snow fences, you’re doing good. So give them the parameters and allow them to make decisions within those parameters—and be okay with the fact that maybe some of those decisions aren’t exactly what we would have done. But hey, does it meet the need? Does it serve the purpose? Is it serving our customers? That’s another thing that we did—we implemented total quality management to make sure that our customers and delighting our customers was very much at the center of our entire culture and our organization. Because we knew that we needed repeat business. We were chartering widebody jets, taking people from Alaska to Hawaii. You know, there aren’t enough people in Alaska to fill those jets over and over again. We had to get the same people going two or three times a year sometimes to make our business successful. So that’s what we focused on. And yeah, there were a lot of head-scratchers and, “I don’t know how we can do this,” and “Business is growing and we can’t keep up,” but you just take it one step at a time and just work. As you created those systems, as you delegated more—tell me a little bit about that journey then to start taking care of yourself. Did it give you the freedom then to be able to do that? When did that come into... obviously you are super healthy and one of the most present people, and to even imagine you being different than that is a little bit impossible almost. So how did that journey go? Yeah, it was not an overnight thing either. I had fits and starts, you know. I would get into exercise—and you know, it didn’t happen until later in life. I would say that there were years—like a few years here and a few years there—that I’d be like, “Okay, I’m really committed to working out,” and that would go really well for a while, and then something would happen and I’d get injured or something, and I’d fall off, and the weight would come back on and all that. But for the last—what is it, the last six years—I’ve been very, very dedicated to staying healthy and eating right. And I work out. In fact, right after this I am going to the gym and working out in between doing a couple of podcasts. So you know, I just make it a priority in my life now. So yeah, it’s got to be something that you put up at the top of the list and you don’t compromise on it. And I’ll tell you—there are days that I feel sick or I’m tired and I don’t want to go to the gym, I don’t want to do this. But you know, you just bite the bullet and do it. Exactly—it’s the idea of, if you say it’s a priority... if you want to know if it’s really a priority, show me how you spend your money, show me how you spend your time. It sounds like health is actually really a priority right now. And Kelly and I are co-founders of Go Abundance Women—we’re a tribe of healthy, wealthy, generous women who choose to lead epic lives. And so many things that you’ve talked about resonate so deeply with every woman in our group. The setting aside your health, the not making yourself the priority because you’ve got all these other mouths to help feed because of your business—and the need to manage your way out of it—that is so incredibly important to every entrepreneur that’s part of our organization. So thank you for your insight there. I’m also curious—the idea of entrepreneurship in general—it’s not the normal path, right? It’s not what we’re taught. Like the Robert Kiyosaki message—talk to me about the idea of unconventional strategies that you’ve got. Unconventional opinions that people might not agree with. Because you’ve got to kind of have that air of unconventionality to get into entrepreneurship. How do you feel about that? Yeah, well I think I was lucky that I was born into an entrepreneurial family. So the idea of, hey, just do it, just take the chance and put yourself out there—was part of our family culture. And I remember sitting down with my dad when I was wanting to start my first little business, and his words were, “Yeah, go for it. See what you can do.” And if I failed, okay, then I failed and I would go do something else. But it starts with having the belief that anything is possible. My mother had a little saying—“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” And so I think I was just imbued with that kind of attitude and mindset. And I think that’s the key to being successful—really in anything, but particularly as an entrepreneur. You’ve got to have faith that you can make it happen. And you’ve got to have faith in yourself. And yes, there are very discouraging times. There’s times when—gee, it’s not working out the way I wanted. But you just have to pick yourself up. And then I also do a little deep digging into my soul and sort of ask my higher power, “What is it that I’m supposed to be doing? Should I be continuing this path?” And time and again I get the answer: Go for it. Go for it. Just put yourself out there. And you know, it’s easy to say the worst thing that can happen is that you can fail. And those of us who—fail is a four-letter word, you know. “I don’t want to do that!” But you do have to get comfortable with making mistakes and it not being perfect. The goal is not perfection. And you know, people sometimes call themselves recovering perfectionists—that would be me. I call myself that. Yeah, so we really have to cure ourselves of that because it’s not going to be perfect, it’s not going to be pretty all the time. So you just have to go for it. And I think that’s the key—just try one thing after another and don’t give up. I remember when in our business we had a really disastrous situation where the airlines that we were using to get people to Hawaii—this was before we started chartering—they pulled out of our market. And we had no way to get our passengers, our customers, to Hawaii. And we sat down over lunch and said, “You know, maybe we should just close the doors. We don’t owe anybody any money because we started with nothing—just ourselves.” So, you know, the answer came to us: No, this is a service that’s really needed. It’s a product that people in Alaska really want. So we have to find a way. So I just said, “You know, there’s no such thing as a dead end. We’re going to make this work. We’re going to figure something out.” And before long, John had found an airplane that was available to be chartered. And people thought we were crazy. You know, you were talking about the naysayers: “What are you doing?” We were going to charter this plane in the summertime in Alaska. And people said, “People don’t go to Hawaii from Alaska in the summer. Summer is when everybody wants to be in Alaska! Why would you charter this jet in the summer?” And I looked at my numbers. I studied the spreadsheets of what we had actually produced over the previous years. And I said, “No, we’ve got the numbers. We can fill this one plane. We can do it.” And so we did. And John’s an amazing salesperson. And we filled every seat. And particularly, he was motivated because we used his mother’s retirement account as collateral for the charter guarantee. So that'll motivate. Yeah. So that’s another aspect of being an entrepreneur: you’ve got to take a big gulp and take some risks sometimes. So, next question here. One of the things that we’ve noticed—especially with highly successful women—is that a lot of us have daily recipes and rituals that we really kind of get into or do regularly. And it sounds like some of what you’ve done for yourself now and putting yourself first is there. But are there other things that you’ve always done that really you attribute some of your success to? Well, I am a planner and an organizer. I used to create lists of things to do—and I’m sure you know, sticky notes everywhere, that kind of thing. But quite a few years ago—probably over a dozen years ago—I got into some software that helped me organize everything. And that’s my Bible, my go-to. I call it my brain. If I don’t have that, I can’t do anything. So last thing every night, first thing every morning, I check what it is that I need to be doing, what are the highest priority things. And I shift things around to make sure that I’ve got the time to do the things that are the most critical. So I’m constantly working that. And this app keeps track of everything for me—not just business, but all my personal life. You know, birthdays, Christmas, you name it—everything. I’m like, which app is that? Little marketing here for them. Right, well it’s called OmniFocus. But it’s been around for a long, long time and there are many, many others that are newer that are just as good. But I’m into this one and it would take me so many hours to transition everything to another app. I figure as long as this one’s working, why throw it out? But it keeps growing and they keep improving the app. It organizes things by project, so you can look at a particular project and see what’s coming up. And you can— It’s like that—which project board is the best or which CRM is the best? The one you’ll use is the best. Exactly. Just making sure you’re fully engaged. Some people just use their calendar or the little reminders app. And I’m like, yeah okay, that’s fine, but my life’s a little bit more complicated than that. I don’t think that my little reminders app could keep up with everything. I mean, I use it to remind myself when to pay property taxes and everything. That’s awesome. Andy and I have a digital twin platform that we’re launching. And one of the things you said—it’s called a brain—it basically takes all of your content and uses it so that even when you’re tired, you can even ask your AI brain, “What would I do in this situation?” So I think a lot of us that are very productive and have a lot of different things that we’re focused on—we need that support. And it’s not weakness. I think it’s a strength that we can lean on some of these other technologies as well. Yeah. Although I do get teased a lot for being sort of a slave to this app. Your brain is— What’s that? Absolutely—your brain is meant to use information to move it through, not meant to hold things. So having that second brain to hold things clears things up so that you can really think things through. Oh yeah, I know. And my daughters tease me all the time about my memory not being as good as it used to be. And I said, “Yeah, that’s because my hard drive is full.” I always tell my nannies that—"Oh my God, I used to be so smart.” And then all of this business stuff and the family and all of the things. I feel that in a big way. You know, that leads us into— Larger hard drive. I know! Gotta get an upgrade. This leads us into another really important piece that I think is an actionable potential nugget for our listeners. When you’re lacking clarity, when you don’t know the decision to make, you know, getting really clear on where you’re going is the best way to get to where you want to go. But when you’re lacking that clarity, tell me a little bit about what you do to gain clarity so that you’re headed in the right direction. You have to stop for a little bit and slow things down and think about it. I remember being told by one of my mentors, “If you can’t make the decision, then don’t.” Sometimes you’re just not ready to make that decision. So wait until it becomes clear to you. I think sometimes we push it—we force ourselves—“I’ve got to make this decision. I’ve got to choose.” Well, sometimes that answer is not clear. Maybe you need more data. Maybe you just need more time. Maybe you need a good sleep—I don’t know. Whatever it is. So do give yourself the opportunity to get that clarity. And it’s not going to come just because you will it. And then another thing that I learned along the way is that when you’re operating in chaos, it’s like being in the middle of a windstorm and the leaves are just whirling all around you. You can’t think. You are not thinking straight. You can’t. So you have to slow things down and take one leaf at a time and just pick it out of the air and put it down and create what’s called stable datum. Get clear on just one or two, and then again and again and again until that chaos kind of settles down, and then things become more clear. So give yourself that opportunity to get the clarity—but take it one piece at a time. Sometimes you have 10, 16, 20, whatever things going on at once. Especially females—we’re so good at multitasking. Well, sometimes that’s not a good thing to do. So sometimes you just need to slow it down and say, “Okay, what’s the one thing that I can actually handle and get done right now?” And then that leads you to the next thing and so forth. Love that. Feel like you’re speaking into my soul, Ral. Absolutely. Holy moly. There were just so many amazing ideas and actionable steps that you’ve given us today. But I think for me, what’s really resonated is just slowing down and listening and waiting. A lot of times, you know—I have a lot of faith—and like you, I do wait sometimes for that guidance. But we do need to slow down enough to do it. Some other things that you’ve said: anything is possible. That unconventional belief. So many of us have just played it safe and taken the easy route of just certainty. And I think uncertainty is where the magic happens—and that willingness to fail. So those were really the top highlights for me. Thank you so much for that. I completely agree with those. The “anything is possible” and then “just go for it.” I mean, a very building block of entrepreneurship is figuring out how to work on your business rather than in it. And that slowing down, that thinking time, the ideas of how do I affect change and create these SOPs so things that are recreatable without my hands is the only path to scale. And I also really loved—I say a lot that if you want to look at any problem, the easiest way to solve it is to get as close to truth as possible. I love that you went to the numbers. When people were saying, “Oh, it can’t be done,” you just went to the truth. You went to the numbers and you showed that it could. And then you went for it. That is incredibly commendable. Well, thanks. And that’s one of the principles that I teach—is tracking your numbers. You know, many people don’t do that. Yeah. It also matters so much to us at Go Abundance Women, at the Power Up Your Life podcast, that you’ve imparted this wisdom on us. And we want to be able to have the chance to lift you up too. So maybe tell us—and tell our listeners—what is an introduction or a resource that, if you had it, would be life-changing or game-changing for something you’re working on? Okay. Well, what I offer is my course, obviously: Overcome Overwhelm: Create a Smooth Running Business With Less Stress. And if you want to learn a little bit more about the course, the free way to do that is to look at my webinar. It’s on my website, and you just sign up for it. The website is www.ralwest.com. And there are several places that you can sign up for the webinar. It’s free. You can watch it any time. It’s not like a set time. And it’s like 45 minutes long, and it has really actionable tips and strategies that you can use right now to help you and your business. And it’s an introduction to what’s in the course as well. And another thing that you can do—and I know I’m not supposed to offer too many items, too many choices—but LinkedIn: I have a newsletter on LinkedIn that’s free. Just subscribe to my newsletter. It comes out once a week, and it’s just jam-packed with actionable strategies and tips and things that you can do right now to improve your business. I love that. So check her out at ralwest.com. And it has been such a blessing having you here helping all of our listeners power up your life. So if you love this episode, feel free to share it, like it, comment, and we’ll continue to bring amazing guests like Ral West to the table. Just grateful that you’ve all joined us here today. Thank you, Ral, so much for giving us your wisdom and time today. Just so incredibly impressed with everything that you’ve done. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone for joining us, and hope you power up your life. See you next week.

“Ral West was an incredible guest on the Power Up Your Life Podcast. Her story of building an eight-figure business from scratch—and eventually selling it to Alaska Airlines—is not only inspiring but packed with actionable wisdom. Ral’s energy, clarity, and passion for helping entrepreneurs build smooth-running businesses were magnetic. She doesn’t just talk about success—she’s lived it. Our listeners walked away with powerful mindset shifts and practical strategies they can implement right away. We’d have her back anytime!” -Kelly Resendez, Podcast Host of 'Power Up Your Life'

Transcript:

Hello everybody out there, I am your host. That’s right—we are back, and this is Profound Professionals. It is the interview series that has been coming to you for nine years now. Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it! We have brought you industry experts from all over our beautiful globe. They help improve your personal life, help you grow your business—and today we have Ral West. So welcome, Ral! How are you? I'm doing great, Jessica. How are you doing? We are super excited to have you. Now, you're going to have to tell us all about your fabulousness. Tell me all about you. Well, where do I begin? I guess I could say that my fabulousness started when I became an entrepreneur in my 20s, which was over 40 years ago. I started a little business in Anchorage, Alaska, and then I met my husband. We kind of joined forces and built a business together—he borrowed some ideas from me, and I helped him grow it. Twenty-five years later, after we’d grown it to eight digits in annual revenue, we sold it to Alaska Airlines. Wow! Yeah! So that was a fabulous exit. Would have been the perfect time to retire—but no, we didn’t do that. Our friends were like, “What are you doing?” And we went on to get into some other industries. We started buying small cruise ships and leasing them to cruise operators. Then we got out of that when COVID time tied the ships up at the dock. Yeah, we had one ship left and I was like, okay, this is it. So then we pivoted into multifamily real estate. We’ve been investing in real estate since the 1990s, but this was a whole new type of investment. This was through syndications and investing with other partners. We’ve invested in over 6,000 apartment units across several states in the U.S. in the last few years. And now, less than two years ago, I started another business—like I needed another one really badly, right? I'm thinking you might be slacking there! Yeah, and again our friends are like, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you just relaxing and enjoying life now?” And I’m going, well, I am enjoying life—but this is what I want to do. Actually, my adult daughters suggested that I start teaching people how to do what I’ve done, which is how to run businesses and still have this fabulous life, which we call living the dream. So the idea is: okay, I’m going to teach people how to do this. I created an online course—that’s done now—and now I’m embarking on a mastermind to help people apply the principles that I teach in my course. And the basic idea is: learn how to become the owner of your business and not the operator. Get out of the day-to-day grind. Get out of being the one that has to do it all. Get out of having the business depend on you entirely. And free yourself up—free your time, free your consciousness and all that—so that you can go have a good time and still have a successful business. Have it running along like a well-oiled machine. But you have to set up a lot of systems and you have to have measurements that are tracked. You have performance reports, you have to have a great team. There’s all kinds of things that I teach for how to do it so that you can have this fabulous life. We travel all the time. We have two homes. I’m in our Maui home right now. You know, this is how we live—we’re always jetting off someplace. I rarely go 30 days without getting on a plane. If I’ve been 30 days in one spot, it’s like, “Oh, I’m getting kind of set in my ways!” So that’s the short of who I am and what I do. This is a business that’s being built from my passion—passion for business and passion for teaching people how to have a life they really love. I’m hearing possibly two ways they can work with you: they can talk to you about getting into investing in the apartments collaboratively with you, possibly, and then also learning how to build these systems and work their business. That’s kind of the primary focus? Yeah, that’s the primary focus. I have the course, I have the mastermind coming up—love to have people enroll in that. That’s going to be a 12-month program, and it will involve me on the group call with the small mastermind group and giving my firsthand assistance with growing their business. But growing it in such a way that it's less of a burden and just brings them more joy—and really, the most important thing, brings them legacy. I'm sure you have a system for what is their exit plan. They have to have a plan for that, and making sure they have things like key person insurance and making sure that they’re doing things so that, again, they don’t have to be the star of the show. The show can run without them. If they’re looking for an exit, they have to keep in mind that you don’t buy a business that’s run by a mom and pop—or at least you don’t spend much for it—because you have to buy the mom and pop too. So if you really want the highest return on selling your business, you’ve got to get out of the day-to-day operations. Otherwise, you’re limiting the value of your business. We couldn’t have sold to Alaska Airlines if we were still involved up to our eyeballs in day-to-day operations. And I will remind you as you're watching our Profound Professionals podcast that we are not giving you financial, legal, medical, or any other kind of really crazy advice. You need to go see your professionals—go see your certified people. But really look at Ral’s program and see about working with her and coaching with her. Make sure that you remember you’re responsible for your business decisions and the things you decide to do. Absolutely—we don’t want them coming back to the show saying, “Hey wait a minute.” This is just my personal advice, not an experience with the letters behind my name. Well, you know what though—there’s a lot to be said for having done it. But I really like to remind people that as entrepreneurs and as grown-ups and as businesspeople, we have to make our own intelligent business decisions. Talk to our attorneys, talk to our financial planners, look for really good coaches, check their references, do your research, and work with people that are brilliant. My husband and I are doing lots of different kinds of investing right now and we’re working with different kinds of coaches because we’re doing lots of different things. Guess what—we’re not experts in any of them. So we have to do our homework, research the industry, research the coaches, and try to make an intelligent business decision. And it can still go wrong. That’s—yeah—there are lots of learning experiences along the path. I’ve had my share—more than my share sometimes. But one of the things I teach is that building your team includes gathering mentors. You have to have mentors. You don’t know all of it yourself. A good CPA needs to be a member of your team. Your attorney, your bookkeepers—all of this—because we can’t be the expert in all of these many areas. And you have to really do your homework with all these people: checking their references, looking at their track record, because that speaks volumes to how they’re going to be able to show up for you. So how can they find you if they’re looking to get into this course and check this out? Well, the easiest way—two easy ways, actually—on LinkedIn. They can find me there with links to all my websites and everything. I have a weekly LinkedIn newsletter that I’d love to have everybody subscribe to. Or you can just go straight to my website, which is ralwest.com. There are many links on there: you can get into my free webinar to watch, to give you some more in-depth information about what I teach, and then there are signups for the course as well. Yeah, just get to know me. I have a YouTube channel too, which you can subscribe to. I’ve been on lots of wonderful podcasts like yours, and a lot of them are on my YouTube channel. So you can learn a lot about what I teach and what I’ve done by watching some of those podcasts. Well that’s one of the great things about being a guest on our show—you’ll be able to put it on yours, we’ll put it on ours, we’ll put it on our site, you can put it on your website. It’s going to be everywhere. People are going to have a hard time not falling over it. That’s wonderful! Yeah, we need to spread the word and get the word out about your podcast so that everybody watches it. It’s a great collaboration. It for certain is a great collaboration. Now give us a tip—what is something we can do to start getting ourselves ready to live this great life and jet around and just work because we have passion to, and not because we need to? Well, I guess the first thing to do is take a look at how you’re spending your time and assess what you’re doing that maybe could be shortened—you know, you can shorten your time by using some automation or delegating. Getting a virtual assistant. Take a look at some of the easier tasks—the repeatable tasks. How much time are you spending just going through your email inbox and things like that? That is not the highest and best use of your time. How can you get some leverage and spend less time doing that kind of thing? That’s a great place to start. So that would be my tip there. I love that. Now if they take your class—before we move on to the next section—I was just thinking, if they take your online course, does that come with the mastermind? Or can they take it separately and then join the mastermind? Or is there a combo bundle package? How does that work? Yeah, the mastermind will include the course. So if you decide to start with just the course, and then—like many people who’ve started on just the course—they go, “Okay, yeah, I’m not really following through on this, so I need a bit more handholding,” then jump into the mastermind. So at it from either direction—yes, they could. But the mastermind will include the course, and there’ll be some more accountability and a lot more assistance with the mastermind. Yeah, so accountability is awesome. And I can truly testify that Ral is good at accountability. She’s been tapping me on the shoulders about a few things. We’ve been in a group together. I love that. We need that encouragement and support and cheering each other on to achieve the goals that we have in front of us. And that is hugely, hugely important. I so appreciate that. Now one of the things we love about our shows—and you guys all know this, so get typing, put it out in the comments wherever you’re watching this show, even if it’s the replay and you’ve seen us months later from broadcast—put what cause you care about. Because someone’s going to be nice enough to hit that share button, and we can spread some awareness, inspire someone to give time, treasure, or talent, or just do something good. You could be a hero—whether it’s the day we’re streaming this live or whether it is months or years later—you could be someone’s hero. You never know who needs to know about that cause or who could actually use it for themselves. There are just so many ways that spreading awareness and taking this little moment within our show is super special. And we’ve done it since episode number one. It means a lot to me and to our guests. So Ral, share with us a cause that’s close to your heart. Okay, and I appreciate the fact that you’re offering this opportunity. There’s an organization in my little hometown of Sitka, Alaska—it’s called alaskaraptor.org (that’s the website)—and it’s the Alaska Raptor Center. It’s a hospital and a healing center for primarily bald eagles, but all raptors—owls and hawks and so forth. It’s just a wonderful organization. Sometimes the eagles are injured because of a power line or automobile or something like that, and they come to the center and they rehabilitate them and heal them. And then they teach them how to fly—there’s a flight center there—and then when the eagles are ready, they get released into the wild. There’s a ceremony for doing that, and that is just so amazing. It just always gives me goosebumps and tears in my eyes when I see those eagles fly again. It’s just amazing. Alaskaraptor.org—we’ve never heard this one before, so I’m so excited that you shared it. And you know I love that we get to learn about so many different causes from all over the world. People have shared causes that touch families and individuals and animals and environment all across our globe in different ways. And this is definitely a new and different one, so that’s exciting. Thank you so much for sharing that. And you can check in your local area to see if there is some special bird or raptor cause, or you could check out the one in Ral’s neck of the woods too, if that so touches your heart and inspires you. Thank you again for sharing that. How about a book? Keep typing—you know what to do. If you’ve written a book, if you love a book, if it’s inspired your life, helped you grow your business—put it in the comments. Don’t keep it to yourself. It just might be the book that transforms someone’s situation or life at this moment. Just the teacher they need to hear. Right when the student is ready, that teacher shows up, we say. And I believe that to be true for books. I’ve had books sometimes on my shelves for years and never touched them, and then at the moment when I need that information, I decide to pick it up and read it—and it’s exactly the book I needed to read. However it managed to get itself there—who knows—but that has happened to me more times in my life than I can say. So I am just thrilled to have all our guests share books that inspired their personal life or helped them grow their business. How about you, Ral? You’ve got one for us? Oh absolutely. Well, I’ve got several, but the one that I will pick is a book that really helped us shape our business and get us out of that day-to-day that I was talking about. It’s a book called The E-Myth. It was written by Michael Gerber—it was written over 30 years ago, but he’s done updates to the book since then. He’s still writing, and it is such a masterful book for entrepreneurs. Because the E—capital E—myth, and the E stands for entrepreneur, and it really dispels a lot of myths about what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, and gives you guidance as to how to grow your business in a sensible way. And that’s where we learned about creating the systems that we needed to get out of that day-to-day grind. Yeah, you know it’s on my bedside table. I picked it up and started scanning through it again, but I have it. I didn’t reread it again, and I think time—it is sitting next to my bed. That is a message if I ever heard one. The timing. The universe is speaking. That’s exactly right. Now before we get to the close of the show—and I’ve really enjoyed having you here on our show today, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too—but is there anything else about you personally or your business that we didn’t cover that you’d love to share? Oh my, well, there’s lots because you know I’ve been around a long time. But I’ll try to cut to the chase. Well, and I think that’s my main message to people is, you know, don’t let anything hold you back. Don’t let your age hold you back. I mean, you know, I’ve been around more years than I hope I look. And I’m very focused on staying fit and healthy, and that’s what keeps me energetic and alive. So just give yourself permission to do whatever you want to do. Believe in yourself. Have faith. And don’t let any numbers—like age or the numbers on a scale or anything else—hold you back. Just go for it. I love that. That is absolutely great advice. And if you’re out there thinking, “Wait, I’ve got great advice. I could help someone grow their business or have the best life ever. I should be on this show.” Well come on—reach out to us and our team and they’ll tell you just how to get yourself scheduled and booked. Now I know that kind of felt like a final thought, but I’m going to ask you for one last final thought. I thought I would give you space to expand on your program or share anything else you wanted. I just don’t want to hang up with you. I’m having too much fun. She said, “Don’t let anything hold you back.” That’s the big, big inspiring thought I heard. Anything else you want to share, or have we covered it all today? Well, no, I mean, you know, we certainly haven’t covered it all. But how much time do we have, right? Yeah. But I think that, you know, business—owning a business—is meant to be the gateway to the life that you’ve dreamed of. And if instead, it’s become the gateway to a job, and it’s a grind and you’re feeling burdened and not that happy, and you’re not taking care of yourself, and your family doesn’t get enough of your time, and you don’t get to do fun things, you don’t get to travel and so forth—then you really need to learn what it is that I teach. Because you deserve to have this freedom, and you deserve to have the kind of life that you really want to have. And don’t let things hold you back—like feeling like you have to do it all, or you have to be the one to make all the decisions. Those are myths, and I can help you dispel those myths and learn how to let go—but do it in a way that you still have control. You still know what’s going on. You’re not just throwing in the towel. But you can do it in a very smart way so that you can run your business the way you want to, but still have the freedom to enjoy your life. I mean, you know, we only get one life. Live it the way you want. That’s my primary message. That is a great, great message. Thank you so much for being on our show today, Ral. And thank you out there so much for watching and following and sharing and commenting and engaging and participating. We care so much about all of you. And as always, I’m your host, Jessica Kotch. This has been another Profound Professionals. And until next time, be kind to yourself out there, and be kind to each other. Bye.

Transcript:

If you're just a mom-and-pop company, you're not marketable because they have to buy you as well as your business. It was because we had taken ourselves out of the business, out of the day-to-day, and that the business was running very smoothly and very profitably without us, that we had more value as a business. So we hired an investment banking firm and made a pitch to Alaska Airlines and eventually convinced them to buy us. It's time to reinvent. Welcome to the Lessons of Entrepreneurship: The Journey of Reinvention. Today I've got a special guest for you: Ral West. Ral, tell us a little bit about yourself and your mission. I live in Alaska. It's one of the unique things about me, and I've been an entrepreneur for over 40 years. Began in Anchorage, Alaska, starting my own business. And we've had several businesses. Probably the major business was one that we had for 25 years, and we grew it in Anchorage from nothing to eight digits in annual revenue. And then we were able to sell it to Alaska Airlines. That was quite a few years ago. And since then we've started other businesses and sold some and moved on. About two years ago, I started another business called Ral West Living the Dream. It's my passion project. I teach entrepreneurs how to build their business in such a way that they can be the owner and not the operator, so that they can have a life and live the dream and still have a robust business. I'm interested to know why that specific thing is your passion project. Is it the thing you struggled with the most, or was it the pivotal moment? We were struggling when we were starting out the first, oh, dozen years or so operating our business. It was growing. We were the mom and pop, and so we were doing everything, and we were working all the time. It was hard to take time off. Our poor oldest daughter, who now lives in New South Wales, she had to come to the office after school to do our homework because we were still working. And sometimes we'd have fast food dinner in the office because we were still working. And this was not a good lifestyle. So we realized something had to change, and we started to study and learn how to operate a business so that you don't have to do it all yourself. And it took about five years to learn everything that we needed to know to how to set up systems and create a culture, build our team, create all the tracking mechanisms so that we could watch how the company was doing no matter where we were. And at the end of that time, we were able to hire a chief operating officer and a chief financial officer. And then we could step away and let them run the business because we'd established all of the systems and the culture. We'd laid the foundation for them, so then they could grow it from there. And they did. And as I said, they grew it to over eight digits in annual revenue, and we were like, "Wow, this is amazing." And then from there we moved on to sell it to Alaska Airlines. And so it's a passion because I see too many entrepreneurs that don't have the freedom to live life the way they want. They're tied to their business, married to their jobs. Instead of starting a business, they just bought themselves a new job. And that's not the way it's supposed to be, I don't believe. So I'm just taking it upon myself, my personal mission, to free entrepreneurs to live life the way they ought to be living it and still have a successful business. It's possible to do both. For the person who'd probably see themselves in this, when you were in the business and operating day-to-day, what were you saying to yourself, or what was the thing that was preventing you from stepping out of the business or trying to figure out how to step out of the business? Oh, I think we had the misconception that we knew best how to do everything, so that means we had to do it ourselves in order to get it done right. And we hadn't developed the guidelines to be able to teach other people to do what we did. I remember one really pivotal moment when I was leading our marketing department and they were wondering how it was that I knew that we needed at a particular point in time to increase the spending on our advertising. And it took me back, because I was like, "Oh, I don't know how I know that. I just do. It's like instinct. I know that now we need to increase our advertising." And so I had to analyze my thought pattern, and it took me a while to figure that out, maybe two or three weeks. And then I gradually figured out, oh, I'm watching our sales trends. So by that time we'd figured out how to measure and track what all of our trends were. And so I determined, okay, let's watch this statistic. And if this particular statistic for sales calls and sales volume were to go down three days in a row, that was a sign that we needed to increase our advertising. So we would up the budget and buy more advertising. This was in the late 1990s, so most of our business came from radio and television and newspaper advertising in our market. So that was how we needed to get the word out that, hey, we've got better airfares, and so forth. And every time we increased the advertising, we'd get more calls, we'd get more business. It was like magic. So once I'd identified the metrics, then I could say to my marketing team, okay, this is what you need to do, this is what you need to watch for. And then I was free, because they didn't need me to make that decision for them. They could carry on without me. So one little decision at a time, or one little process at a time, we gradually worked our way out of that day-to-day job. At the end of that five years, we bought our second home on Maui, which we still have. Six years ago, we still enjoy it. We bought a yacht and we started traveling around the world and just enjoying ourselves. And all the while, we were able to keep track of how the business was doing because we had all of these metrics, all of these reports. So we were able to still guide and monitor the business even though we didn't have to be there day in and day out. Freedom sounds like it. So many gems. I think a lot of entrepreneurs identifying with that, feeling like you are the best person to do something. If I let someone else do it, it's not going to be done. I'm glad that you bust through that myth as well. You showed how sometimes you become the brain of the business and you know what you want. We're off to a good start. What would you say your superpower is? You've been in all these businesses, and the thing that you think made you different as an entrepreneur—what would that thing be? First of all, I say systems. But I didn't have that superpower to begin with. My real superpower was that when I learned something, I actually applied it. I executed. And it's that taking action, instead of just reading a book or taking a course and you say, "Oh, that's good, that's really good stuff, good to know that." But unless you're really doing it and taking some action and putting it into application in your business, you can't realize the benefit of what you just learned. One of the things that I was learning in those days—we had lots of mentors—and one of our major mentors in those days was Robert Kiyosaki. This was before he wrote the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. He was coming to Anchorage on a regular basis to give classes, and his classes were things like money and you and creating wealth. There were so many business gems in those classes because we had been following him for several years. And one time we were in Hawaii and he was there, so we had lunch with him at his hotel. And he said, "You've got to go buy this book." The book is called The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. So that afternoon we went to the bookstore and bought the book and read it immediately. And when we got back to our office in Anchorage, we started applying what we'd learned in that book. And that was really the game-changer for us because his book really spelled out how you set up a business with systems so that the business can run with or without the owner or the founder. And just—the formulas were all there. We just needed to apply them. You met Robert Kiyosaki before Rich Dad Poor Dad, and he was teaching about cash flow? Yes. He created the Cashflow game while we were studying with him, so we got to play the beta of the game, and he was testing it with us and our daughters, and it was great. He's brilliant, very brilliant. We learned so much from him. How cool is that! That's very awesome. I also like that you say that you read and you apply, because I've experienced that. When you read and don't do anything, all you do is get overwhelmed. Yeah. And I think the trick is, you don't have to do it all at once. That's the old eating the elephant proverbial thing. So just take a piece of it and do that, and then move to the next piece and do that. And about the same time, I decided to go back to college because I'd been a college dropout. So I was in my 30s and I said, "Yeah, I want that degree." And I certainly didn't need it to advance my career—I already owned a business—but I just, I wanted that degree. And as it turned out, the program that I enrolled in was called a degree completion program at a private university in Anchorage. It was meant for mid-career professionals, and so they taught us really applicable stuff. And I would go to class at night and I'd go to the office the next morning and I'd say, "Hey team, guess what I learned last night and this is what we're going to do." And they would just go, "Oh no, is it now?" They were calling me the change junkie, but it was all such good stuff. And that just further enlightened me. I learned about total quality management and a lot about creating your company culture. There were several classes that I took on that and wrote papers on it, and some of the papers that I wrote were about our own business. And that was fantastic. And we learned how to really mold and shape our culture to be the kind of business that would really excel. Looking back, I know that if we hadn't done that, we would not have been a target for a purchase by Alaska Airlines. There wouldn't have been anything to buy, for one thing. If you're just a mom-and-pop company, you're not marketable because they have to buy you as well as your business. So it was because we had taken ourselves out of the business, out of the day-to-day, and that the business was running very smoothly and very profitably without us, that we had more value as a business. And the culture was so good, and we had nurtured such loyalty from our own team and with our customers. That when Alaska Airlines came—because our business was that we operated air service, charter air service, between Alaska and Hawaii—we were chartering widebody jets, like big 767s, the big ones. And we were carrying over 35,000 passengers a year between Alaska and Hawaii. And Alaska Airlines wanted to come into the market, but they knew from their research that we were really doing a good job in that market, and that our customers were extremely loyal to us. And they knew that it would not be easy to get us out. We recognized this and recognized that their pockets were probably deeper than ours. So it would be a better deal for everyone if they just bought us, rather than them trying to win the market and we get into a fare war and nobody would make any money because we'd be cutting the prices down to where it wasn't profitable. So we hired an investment banking firm and made a pitch to Alaska Airlines and eventually convinced them to buy us. And that way, they basically bought the market and just stepped in, and they had all of our customers. Now, our customers were not happy about that. They thought we had abandoned them. But it was what we needed to do, because we would not have been able to survive if we were trying to compete against Alaska Airlines. We had competed against other major airlines and won. We competed against Hawaiian Airlines. We competed against Northwest Airlines and so forth. But Alaska was different. That would have been a tough one. How did you get into that line of business? Because it's not the average thing in a conversation to hear that someone is in the airline business. You mentioned "we," I'm guessing, so maybe tell us a little bit about that. I grew up in the travel business. My father started a travel business in Alaska in the 1940s. I was born and raised in Seattle, but Alaska was part of my blood. Being part of the family business, I started off working for the family company. And then after a few years, I wanted to be out on my own. So I got a job offer in Ketchikan, Alaska, which is the most southern city in Alaska. I took the job as a director of marketing for this small tour company, and I loved the job and I loved the travel industry, but I just felt like I didn't totally agree with the way the owners were running the business. And I thought, okay, I need to take myself out of this because they're not going to do things my way, because I'm just an employee, right? Why don't I see what I can do on my own? And I decided to move to Anchorage, which was the big city in Alaska. I would use my background in travel and tourism and my marketing background, and I would help small tourism businesses with their marketing and help them grow. So I did that. And shortly after I arrived in Anchorage, I met this young man who had a little tiny office across the hall from my little tiny office, and we got to know each other. My first clients were companies in Hawaii who were selling travel products to Alaskans, and I knew that Alaskans love going to Hawaii. So that was my first pitch—was I'm going to represent these travel companies. I was flying off to Hawaii on business trips, and this guy across the hall was going, "Are you going to Hawaii again?" and "How do I get in on this? I like Hawaii. I'd like to go on business trips and get free trips to Hawaii." So he started picking my brain and decided that—his background was real estate—so he combined tourism and real estate and started representing Alaskans who owned vacation rental condos in Hawaii. And that's what he thought his business plan was. And I was like, "No, in the travel industry, you'd be better off packaging it—not just the condo, but the air and the rental car and other things." And at some point I said, "You can't just keep getting this free advice from me. This is what I do for a living. You're going to have to pay me." So he said, "Okay, I'll take you out to dinner." And we've argued for 40 years whether that was our first date or just a business dinner. He actually recently admitted it really was the first date. We were married less than a year later. I had my business and he had his, but obviously I was involved in his from the beginning, and it just kept growing. And at some point I said, "Okay, I need to"—especially when we started chartering big jets, because that just happened. We started off by just buying seats on the existing carriers, but then they pulled out of the market. So we had no way to get our clients from Alaska to Hawaii. So it's like, what are we going to do? Do we just fold up shop and close the doors and walk away? It's like, no, people in Alaska really need to be able to have this easy and inexpensive way to get to Hawaii. And so my husband found a way to charter a plane. We did it for just a summer season, and everybody thought we were nuts. And I looked at the numbers and studied the spreadsheets and figured out that we had done that volume in previous summers, so we can do it. So it was a very calculated risk, and we risked his mother's retirement account because that's what we needed to get a letter of credit to secure this charter. My husband particularly was very motivated to make sure that was a success. He didn't want to lose his mother's retirement. So that was the beginning. And then we just kept getting bigger and bigger planes and more and more flights, and the company grew. And those were the years that we really got overwhelmed because the company had grown from just a handful of employees to 20, 25—it was 50—but it's, this is a lot. So that was when we really dug in and started to learn how to do a better job of running a business and not just, you know, taking care of everything ourselves. So that's how it came about. That's so interesting. Thanks for sharing that with us, Ra. I know that you talk a lot about branding and finding your voice, and I was interested to know that for entrepreneurs in the online space wanting to stand out, what would you say you see people doing right, and what do you say maybe people are doing wrong? I'm still new at that. I've only been at it for two years, but it's been a pretty steep learning curve. You think that it's easy to get into social media and set yourself up as this personal brand, and it's just not as easy as it sounds or as it looks because the marketplace is so noisy, so crowded. Whatever social media platform you're on—whether it's Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever—you're just competing with thousands of other people, many of whom are doing the same thing that you are. So you have to do something to set yourself apart. You have to, for one thing, be very consistent and very prolific with your content and with your posting. And that takes a lot of effort. So in order to do that well and do it so that you're not working 24 hours a day, you have to use the leverage that I talk about in the course that I've created. One of my principles that I teach is leverage. So you have to use leverage. Get a VA or hire a firm to do some help with your social media. Use software that helps you do your posts. Use software and AI to help you create your content. There are so many ways that you can use leverage to make your voice go further than just your efforts can make it. Get that help and get mentors. Hire people that know more about it than you do. And don't just assume that, "Oh gee, I know this particular field or my particular area so well, I've got it made." Not quite. It's a little more complicated than that, and there are so many experts out there that will tell you, "I know how to get you all the leads that you want on LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram. Just take my course or hire me." And some of them do know what they're doing and do a good job. And others—you'll just spend a lot of money and get nowhere. So you have to be really careful and do some homework, get some references, and see the track record before you just jump in and spend that money. Tell me more about your course. You mentioned that you have a course? Yes. So I created a course because my idea with starting this business is that I want to teach entrepreneurs, but I don't want to do it one-on-one because we've created this life, this living the dream, and we're traveling a lot and enjoying ourselves. So I don't want to be working quite that hard anymore. Don't need to. I created a course so that I could teach many people and have it be a low price point. So the course is called Overcome Overwhelm: Create a Smooth Running Business with Less Stress. It took me, gosh, almost a year to finish creating that course. And it's all done and recorded so that people can take the course at their own pace and do it whenever they want. But then I realized that some of the people who were taking the course were not as disciplined about getting through all of the modules. There were eight modules to the course, and each module has four or five video lessons. And they get part of the way in and then go, "Ah, now I'm overwhelmed again." Now I'm creating a mastermind program, and I'm targeting owners of businesses that are doing seven and eight digits in revenue. So businesses that have been around for a little while and have a bit of structure to them, so that I can teach them how to use the six principles that are the basis of my course and show them how to use those principles in their business, give them some guidance, a little bit of taking them by the hand, and then have a peer group—the other people in the mastermind—they can all work together and learn from each other. The mastermind is actually being launched now. It'll start in the middle of the summer, and it'll only be like 20 to 25 people. I want it to be an intimate personal relationship with the people in the mastermind. And that's what this next big thing for this little business is. And there are other plans for the future. But right now, I think the main thing is you can take the course, and that's a lot less expensive than the mastermind. But if you want some help with executing and actually applying the principles, take the mastermind and then I can help you with it. You mentioned the six principles. If you could, tell us the first principle? You bet. The first principle is to establish systems. You've got to have systems, even just very simple basic systems—like organizing your tasks, having an automated calendar, having your bookkeeping set up on an automated basis. Make sure that your bills are paid automatically online, and so forth—things that save you time. Or hire people to do it for you. So creating these systems to free up your time so that you can grow the business. The second principle is to set up your measurements so that you can track your performance and see what you're doing, how you're doing, your revenue, as well as what is your marketing actually producing, what's working well, what isn't working. And it's the old: if it's not working, stop. If it is working, keep doing more of it. And that's a really key element to being able to grow a business, is you've got to know how you're doing so that you can grow it. Then there's leverage, which I talked about earlier. You have to use leverage, and there's many different ways to get leverage. But you have to be purposeful about it. Some people probably by accident use leverage, but if they're really focused on, like, how can I leverage my time, how can I get more done with less time, then I think you really make some much bigger progress. Thank you for sharing those with us, Ral. It's interesting you talk about the first one being setting up even basic systems, because things get out of hand really quickly. And even with this little business that I started two years ago, I had to establish systems. And it takes a while. You don't start the business and immediately know all the systems that you're going to need. You have to figure it out as you go along. And then those systems are going to evolve as your business grows. Things get a little bit more sophisticated, a little bit more complicated. Then your systems have to grow too. So it gets better and better. Thank you for that. What would you say is the best business advice, and then the best life advice after that, that you've gotten? Gosh, the best business advice—that's a tough one to narrow it to one. I have over 40 years of experience with lots of advice. So I think probably the best business advice is to take action. Just do something. Don't just sit around and think about what you're going to do. If you have an idea for a business or something, actually take some action and go for it. Have confidence, have faith in yourself. And do some research. Make sure that you're just not going out and blindly starting a business without knowing whether or not anybody wants what you're trying to sell. And then go for it. Trust yourself. And then, life advice—don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are the best leverage. Education is one of the best forms of leverage, and you get an education every time you make a mistake. Or at least you ought to. If you're making mistakes and you're not looking at them to figure out what the lesson was in that mistake, then you're missing an opportunity. So embrace your mistakes. Make as many as you can, and learn from them as much as you can. And then you can keep moving forward. And don't make the same mistakes over and over again. Make new ones, bigger ones, better ones that you can learn even more from. Thank you for that, Ral. To the audience—please, if you could go to RalWest.com. Ral, where can people follow you? Where are you the most active online? LinkedIn is where I do most of my posting, and I'd love for people to subscribe to my weekly LinkedIn newsletter. It's called Ral's Success Principles. And of course, find out about my mastermind. You can go to my website and on LinkedIn. And I even—I have a YouTube channel, Ral West. You can watch a lot of podcasts like this one and many videos on there. I think I have over 60 videos on my YouTube channel, so you can... Oh wonderful. You said your newsletter is called Success Principles. Maybe you can give us your most recent success principle that you shared in your newsletter? Every week is a different topic. We talk about things like creating policies for your business—what kind of policies will really help your employees to feel more empowered. And things like how to use AI. And things like how to set up your tracking. Just lots of very actionable strategies and tips in the newsletters. Thank you so much, Ral. It's been a pleasure talking to you. I make sure I ask this question—is there something that you wanted me to ask that I did not ask? Another piece of life advice is world traveling. That's a fun thing to do. Highly recommend it. As we talked a bit earlier, we go to Australia quite often because our daughter and family are there, and we love traveling around the world. We learn so much from visiting different cultures and different places in the world. Be open to exploring the world around you and just embrace life. And so I guess—just don't let anybody stop you. Just keep going for it. Doesn't matter how old you are or anything. Just go for it and do whatever you want. And you can. Thank you for that—those encouraging and wise words. Thank you, Ral. It's been a pleasure. Thank you, Priscilla.

Ral is a very personable and genuine communicator. She brings a soft intensity that draws an audience to listen closer. Priscilla Shumba, Podcast Host Lessons Of Entrepreneurship | Reinvention Journey

Transcript:

And you know it's not that hard these days to get a virtual assistant for even just a few hours a week to take some things off your plate. Make sure that you're outsourcing what you can—your bookkeeping or some of your correspondence. Get some help with managing your emails. I hired a person to help me get an AI tool to organize my email inbox because I found I was spending like an hour or two a day just sifting through stuff, and it's like, yeah, you know, this is just crazy. And I spent a little bit of money getting this tool, and I'm saving myself at least an hour a day. Yeah, it's amazing. I was just talking the other day about doing this podcast. What used to take my team about five hours to produce the show on the backside of an interview, I think takes less than two hours at this point. You know, and so it's amazing what tools can help us be much more efficient in what we put out into the world. Yeah, but you do have to kind of stop what you're doing and assess how you're spending your time. You're not going to get out of the weeds and the doingness and being overwhelmed unless you can just pause and say, "Well, wait a minute." And you need to be able to be somewhat objective about how you look at how you're spending your time. Hello, my extraordinary women friends. Have you ever poured your heart into building something from the ground up only to face an unexpected pivot that asked you to begin again? That's exactly the kind of conversation we're having today with Ral West, a seasoned entrepreneur who built and sold an 8-figure business and now helps others do the same without losing their life in the process. One of the things I teach is that it's not enough to grow a business. You have to fall in love with it. That means designing for both time prosperity and wealth prosperity. It means building a business that gives you freedom, joy, and the space to live your life fully—not just work in your business around the clock. That's exactly what we dive into at the 11th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference happening this November in Colorado. Ignite is where bold vision meets soul-centered strategy, where women entrepreneurs raise up their voice, their visibility, and their businesses for greater impact. Early bird registration is now open at cammygellner.com/ignite. In today's episode, Ral and I talk about what it really takes to scale a business without losing yourself in the process, how to step back from daily operations, why entrepreneurs get stuck in the weeds, and how to reclaim the freedom you set out to create in the first place. We talk mindset, systems, and redefining what success actually looks like and what it means to live the dream in business and life. Let's meet Ral West to Extraordinary Women Radio. Well, welcome to Extraordinary Women Radio, Ral. It's so awesome to have you here today. Thank you, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, and tell us where are you joining us from today? I'm joining you from Sitka, Alaska, which is down in southeast Alaska. Yeah, we were just chatting about that. It's on an island, isn't it? Yes, it is. It's a very large island. Very cool. And we're just west of British Columbia. Excellent, excellent. Well, how's the weather up there these days? It's, you know, in the low 50s and got some sunshine today, so not too bad. Excellent, excellent. Well, I want to dive in with your journey. I want to start with your journey, and I think one of the things that jumped out at me when I was looking through all of your information was you built an 8-figure business and eventually sold it to Alaska Airlines. So tell us a bit about that journey. That was an adventure. We started in the tourism industry and gradually started adding services. We added a flight-seeing division. We added a cruise ship service division. We started a charter airline and, over the years, grew the company to about 100 employees and had about 25 vehicles, a bunch of aircraft, and a fleet of boats. We ran that for 25 years, my husband and I. And eventually, we sold the cruise division and the flight-seeing division to Alaska Airlines. And they still run that today. It's a great company, and we were pleased to be able to do that. Wow, that's quite a legacy that you’ve built, and just the experiences you must have had along the way—what were some of the biggest lessons that came from that chapter of your life? Oh my goodness. I think the biggest thing was learning to let go and trust the team. When you start a business, especially as an entrepreneur, you feel like you have to do everything yourself. And you're bootstrapping it, and you're learning as you go. And eventually, it becomes too much. So you have to learn to start building a team, delegating, creating systems, and having performance metrics in place so that you can make sure it's working. But not being in the weeds, not micromanaging. And I didn't start off that way. I was in the weeds for a long time. I was exhausted. And I really had to shift how I thought about it and how I ran the business so that it could grow and thrive and eventually be sold. Yeah, and I think that’s such an important point. Because I talk a lot about this with women entrepreneurs: building that freedom and that time prosperity into the business. And it doesn't happen by accident. You have to really be intentional about building the systems and the team and the support. Exactly. I talk a lot about time prosperity too. Because you want financial prosperity, yes. But if you don't have time prosperity, what good is it? Exactly. You need both. Yeah. I love that. So how did you come to do the work you're doing now—helping others build those systems and that freedom? Well, after we sold that business, we started investing in other companies. And we started mentoring some of the owners of the businesses we invested in. And that grew into coaching and consulting and helping people with operations and systems and scaling. And it's just become such a passion of mine because I see so many entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed, burned out, and they feel like they’re failing because they can’t keep up. But the truth is, they’re just trying to do too much. Yeah, and that’s not sustainable. So when you think about building a business that gives you freedom, what are some of the key systems or shifts that need to happen? One of the big ones is mindset. You have to believe that it’s possible to run a successful business without doing everything yourself. That’s a huge shift for a lot of people. And then from a practical perspective, you need to look at what you’re doing every day and ask, “Should I be the one doing this?” And if not, can it be automated? Delegated? Streamlined? So true. Exactly. Documenting processes, using automation tools, hiring support even for just a few hours a week—it all adds up. And suddenly, you start to reclaim your time and your energy. And you know it's not that hard these days to get a virtual assistant for even just a few hours a week to take some things off your plate. Make sure that you're outsourcing what you can: your bookkeeping or some of your correspondence. Get some help with managing your emails. I hired a person to help me get an AI tool to organize my email inbox because I found I was spending like an hour or two a day just sifting through stuff. And it's like, yeah, you know, this is just crazy. And I spent a little bit of money getting this tool, and I'm saving myself at least an hour a day. Yeah, it's amazing. I was just talking the other day about doing this podcast—what used to take my team about five hours to produce the show on the backside of an interview I think takes less than two hours at this point. You know, and so it's amazing what tools can help us be much more efficient in what we put out into the world. Yeah, but you do have to kind of stop what you're doing and assess how you're spending your time. You're not going to get out of the weeds and the doing-ness and being overwhelmed unless you can just pause and say, "Well, wait a minute." And you need to be able to be somewhat objective about how you look at how you're spending your time. Hello, my extraordinary women friends. Have you ever poured your heart into building something from the ground up only to face an unexpected pivot that asked you to begin again? That's exactly the kind of conversation we're having today with Ral West, a seasoned entrepreneur who built and sold an 8-figure business and now helps others do the same without losing their life in the process. One of the things I teach is that it's not enough to grow a business—you have to fall in love with it. That means designing for both time prosperity and wealth prosperity. It means building a business that gives you freedom, joy, and the space to live your life fully, not just work in your business around the clock. That's exactly what we dive into at the 11th annual Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference happening this November in Colorado. Ignite is where bold vision meets soul-centered strategy, where women entrepreneurs raise up their voice, their visibility, and their businesses for greater impact. Early bird registration is now open at cammygelner.com/ignite. In today’s episode, Ral and I talk about what it really takes to scale a business without losing yourself in the process, how to step back from daily operations, why entrepreneurs get stuck in the weeds, and how to reclaim the freedom you set out to create in the first place. We talk mindset, systems, and redefining what success actually looks like and what it means to live the dream in business and life. Let's meet Ral West to Extraordinary Women Radio. Well, welcome to Extraordinary Women Radio, Ral. It's so awesome to have you here today. Thank you, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Transcript:

Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. We have another exciting guest for you today. Let's talk about the problem. The problem is that most entrepreneurs start their business chasing freedom and success, but ironically they find themselves overworked, overwhelmed, and buried in daily operations, constantly fighting fires. Now instead of running their business, their business ends up running them. And there's no time to scale, no time to innovate, no time to keep up—or so they think. The fact is, as a seasoned business owner—I've been doing this for 20 years—I wasted too much time not paying attention to this information that I'll be giving you in today's episode. I wasn't paying attention. I didn't think it was for me. I thought that was for someone else or when I got more advanced. But the fact is, what we talk about in today's episode—working smarter, slowing down to speed up, building systems and processes, and mindset shifts that will allow you to actually take this business where you want it to be—it is key to getting off the hamster wheel. It is key to having the business you started out with. And so today we're talking about this problem of entrepreneurs struggling with so many things to do. They're burning out. They're not getting ahead. They look at their bank account week after week, month after month, day after day, and it's never the amount they think that it needs to be. And it's because you don't have these systems and strategies that Ral West, my guest, will be sharing with us today. Now before I introduce today’s guest, let’s talk about social media. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and finally get results from your social media, let's you and me hop on a phone call and build a strategy that works. Right now my calendar is open for a complimentary social media strategy session with me for business owners that qualify. All you need to do is head over to lindsya.com/booknow, fill out that short application. Let's see if you qualify to get on a free social media strategy session with me, where we can look at your social media, start generating leads, develop this system for social media that will free up 5 hours or more a week, that will allow you to actually get high-quality leads from your social media. All you need to do is head over to lindsya.com/book- So let me introduce you to today’s guest. Miss Ral West is someone who knows exactly how to make this systems happen. Ral West is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience in building businesses that scale smoothly without burnout. Through her Overcome and Overwhelm framework, she helps business owners free up time, reduce stress, and finally create a business that supports their dream lifestyle. Let’s welcome Ral to the show. Are you ready for next level growth in your business? Welcome to the Lindsay Anderson Show, where we pull back the curtain on the exact strategies, tools, and mindsets that build milliondoll empires. If you're hungry for more time, more freedom, and a whole lot more impact, you’ve come to the right place. Buckle up, because we're about to ignite your business journey. Now here's Lindsay. Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. I’m so excited to welcome today’s guest, Miss Ral West. Many entrepreneurs start their business and they end up just becoming the owner and not the operator of their business. This is exactly what Ral will be sharing with us today. Welcome to the show, Ral. Tell us a little bit about why you're the expert we need to be talking to about being the owner of your business and not the operator. Okay Lindsay, it’s because I was there. I was in the mom and pop seat in our business for 25 years. My husband and I had our fingers in every part of the business, and it was overwhelming. It was exhausting, and we were limiting the growth of the business because we couldn't do all of it, and we couldn't direct every single aspect of the business. We learned that we needed to step back. We needed to create systems, empower our team, and develop a company culture where there were guidelines for our values and principles, and the team could carry those out whether we were earned or not. So we were able to use a lot of leverage and establish tracking mechanisms so that we could have performance reports delivered to us wherever we were. And it was by being able to work on the business rather than in it that we were able to grow the business to the point where we could sell it to Alaska Airlines. Was a very nice exit. Very nice. The hard work that you put into that really ended up paying off. The discipline that you showed around those systems and culture—all those things that most people don't think about when they're diving in to do this business. I think it's important for business owners to start off with the long-term vision that they have for their life, not just for their business. What do they want their life to look like 10, 20, 30 years down the road? And how can the business model support their life instead of the other way around? I think sometimes we get it backwards. I try to teach business owners how to have the business success that they want and the life that they want. So here's a business owner. They're like, "Ral, you're absolutely right. I have to take this more serious, have a long-term vision for my business instead of just fighting this fire stuff every day." What are some of the biggest mistakes that you see business owners make as they start down this path of systems and having a long-term vision for success? Okay. One big mistake is either not delegating at all or delegating poorly. There is an art to good delegation. And many times I hear people saying, "Oh well, I can't let anybody else do this. I'm the only one that can do this." Big mistake. You need to learn how to delegate in a way that is clearly outlined. What are the steps? What are the processes? What's the outcome that you want? And the timeliness—when does it have to be done? And not so much how to do it, but more focused on what's the outcome that you're looking for. Maybe you, as the owner, need to let go of some of the process and allow some freedom for your team. As long as they get to the end result that you want, if they have a slightly different way of going about it, that needs to be okay. Letting go of that control. I love that Ral. I see that a lot in our business as we help entrepreneurs build those systems. You sound like you're talking from experience. Can you give us an example of a business owner who needed to let go of their perfectionism—which got us so far—can you share a story with us? There’s many, but I’ll use an example of a business on Maui that we helped set up. It’s a vacation rental company. She was doing everything herself. She didn’t know how to run this business. We set her up in the business and taught her. She had a tremendous background in customer service and hospitality, but she had never run a business herself. So we showed her how to set up the metrics, how to track her performance, and how to keep all the statistics so she could send us the reports. We put quite a few vacation rental condos under her care as the property manager. As time went on, we found she was working night and day. She was taking phone calls. If we had a meeting with her, she'd interrupt the meeting several times to take a phone call. Out to dinner—she’s on the phone. She’s constantly on call for her business. We said, "You need to get the support of some team members. You need to establish some procedures, some guidelines. Write it down. Create some manuals so that you can outline for them what a good job looks like and how you would do it. Then you can teach them and hand it off." She gradually started to do that. She hired people as contractors, and she gradually was able to say, "Okay, I’m not on call for these hours because I’ve got so and so doing that for me." Eventually she was able to grow the business tenfold and has a team. She’s actually able to take month-long vacations, and I’m sure she still checks in on the business, but she’s able to leave town and know that things are still going to be running the way that she wants them to. And it’s been a huge lifecher for her, and her business is super successful. Yeah, and you know what a powerful story. My question for you is, what is the biggest pushback you get when you go? And is it, “I don't have the time for this, Ral, I don't have the luxury of having a bunch of cash in the bank”? What are they saying to you, and what's your response? They'll say, “I can't afford to hire somebody.” The pushback is time and money. My answer is: can you afford not to? Because what are you leaving on the table in terms of revenue—and your health, mental health as well as physical health—if you keep trying to do it all and you're wearing yourself out? I was there. I was in bad shape mentally and physically. I didn't take care of myself because the demands of the business were so constant. And my relationship was suffering. Our kids weren't getting the attention that they needed. We ate poorly. It was just a bad scene. So it's too costly to not get the help that you need, to not let go a little bit, and to not learn how to create the systems, how to delegate, how to build your team and allow the business to grow. Yeah. If you're serious about business and it's a long-term situation for you, you won't be able to get there without what Ral's talking about today—period. You'll turn for the rest of your time till you burn out and life sucks, basically. If you're thinking of ever exiting with a sale, like we did—yeah, sell a business. If you are the business, so is that what you want? So you have to make the business be able to stand on its own. We are all on board here. We have business owners. They're like, “Ral, you're right. Something needs to be done.” So give us the first few steps that a business owner should take to start going this direction. Okay. My number one principle that I teach in my online course is to establish the systems. And that’s where you start. How do you start a system? You start by taking stock of what it is that you're doing. What are tasks? What are the processes? What is involved in bringing a client on board or delivering your product? Depends on your business model. Look at your day in, day out tasks. How much time are you spending on certain repetitive tasks—going through your email inbox, scheduling appointments, billing, taking care of your books? What are the kinds of things that are the most easily offloaded onto someone else? Those usually are those repetitive tasks. And then it’s important to just write it down—whether you're using a computer, shoot a video, whatever you need to do. Get it recorded so that you know what needs to be done. The more you do that, the easier it is to say, “Oh, someone else could do this because here it is, step by step, this is what has to happen.” Creating emails to follow up with people can be automated so easily these days, especially with AI. You can get virtual assistants, which are relatively inexpensive. So you can't use “I can't afford it” as an excuse. And so the more you automate your processes and the tasks, and the more you use technology to help you, and the more you understand what needs to happen and chunk it down—bite-sized pieces—and then get those pieces handled either by automation or by another person. Yeah. There's easily 5 to 10 hours a week of stuff you can just tell someone how to do it. But if you're not slowing down to speed up and taking the time to write this down, there's so many gaps in everyone's time. Like, you don't even know—it's like the eating thing. If you're just grazing all day, you don't know what you've ingested. And time is our greatest asset. So tracking that shows you so much. I remember just recently I was feeling quite overwhelmed because I had so many follow-up emails that I needed to do and I just couldn't keep up. And then I went, “Oh, ding, this is one of the things that I teach. Why don't I start doing this?” So I created a spreadsheet, and I handed it off to my VA. There were columns on the spreadsheet—where this is this kind of response that's needed, and that kind—and then we created some form emails. And if I needed to personalize it, I could. But then it was off my plate. So now we have a system for keeping these follow-ups going so that I don't drop the ball and I don't leave anybody ignored. The Ral of the future won’t have to do this. You saved her a great deal of time by slowing down and just writing it down. I’m sure it would have been easier for that day to just send the freaking emails, right? But then what about the next day? Ral would also be sending those emails, and we want to save her from that. Yeah. And so now we're developing and working on a better CRM to use, which is a customer relationship management software, so that it can keep track of all the follow-ups—there's so many. And this will just make you have a better business. Thank you for walking us through those steps. If you want the listeners to take anything away from today’s episode, what would you say that is? What's the most important thing we need to know from you today? Get out of the mindset of thinking you have to do it all yourself. You have to share the load. You have to delegate and work on your business. Create the kind of business that can be sustainable, successful, without your micromanagement of it. I love that. Now you've done so much. You've gone through the heartache of business. You sold your business. Now you're off and doing so many other things. If you could rewind, what is one thing you would have wished you would have known when you started this entire journey? Oh my god, there’s not just one journey—there’s just one thing that I wish. Okay, go ahead. What is it? I know there is a laundry list, but there’s so much that I wish I had known. I think that you start off and you think you have a path in mind, and sometimes life takes you on a different journey than you thought. So don’t be locked into “this is my path.” Sometimes an opportunity will come along and you need to be ready to seize that opportunity. Forty-plus years ago, did I think that we would have had a business that would have grown to millions of dollars in value and operating jets—chartered between Alaska and Hawaii—carrying 35,000 passengers a year? That was not what I started out to do when I opened my very first business. But it happened because we saw the needs and we seized the opportunities. We were willing to take the risks. And beyond that, when we sold that business, we didn’t stop. We started finding other opportunities. We started investing in small cruise ships that were bank-owned. We were able to buy them for pennies on the dollar, fix them up, lease them to a cruise operator, and did that for 10 years. And COVID put a clincher on that. Now we’re into multifamily real estate investing. We still have many balls in the air. And yet, we’re able to live the life of our dreams. We travel when we want to. We were in Europe for six weeks in the fall. We’re going off for a month this spring. We have the systems in place and the businesses operating smoothly with the team we’ve created, and we can enjoy life. We have two homes, a yacht, worldwide luxury travel—that’s everything to us. The freedom, the time to spend with our family—that’s what it’s all about. I love it. I think there’s a real message in there too. I think I heard you say, even scripting it out when you start, just showing this discipline and scheduling it out, the opportunities that become available—it’s better. So you may as well just enjoy the journey. Because if you're doing the right things, you'll get there. Don't have it be so rigid in your mind what I'm going—it's way better than whatever you're thinking. Yeah. And the world keeps changing, so you got to be able to pivot when you need to. And I think that, getting back to your question of what do I wish I had known, I wish I had known all the things that I needed to do to build a business without me being so involved in the details. I spent probably 10–15 years being way too inundated in the details when I didn’t need to. Heed the warnings, guys—it’s the answer. Okay Ral, what a great interview. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. Before I let you go, I'm going to turn the time over to you. Let us know how to find you and anything else you want the audience to know. Oh, thanks Lindsay. Yes, I'm on LinkedIn under Ral West, and I have a weekly newsletter filled with actionable tips and strategies on ways to improve your business. Do that first thing, and then check out my website, ralwest.com, for more information about my course and all the other things that I do. Thank you, Ral. Appreciate you sharing today. Thank you, Lindsay. What a great conversation I had there with Ral. We really appreciate her coming on the show and sharing her wisdom with us. Here's the reminder for everybody listening: you do not have to stay stuck in overwhelm. Success isn’t about doing more—it’s actually about doing what works. And if you're ready to simplify social media and turn it into a client-generating machine, let's build a strategy that actually works. All you need to do is head over to lindsya.com/booknow. Apply for a complimentary social media strategy session with me. Spots are limited. It's only available for very specific business owners who qualify. But head over, fill out that application—lindsya.com/book-now—and I look forward to seeing you on that call. As always, thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Lindsay Anderson Show. Cheers to you and your success. That's a wrap for today’s episode of The Lindsay Anderson Show. If you loved this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share how you’re leveling up your business. Want more? Connect with Lindsay Anderson and get the tools you need to crush your goals at lindsya.com. Until next time, keep pushing, keep growing, and turn those business dreams into reality.

Transcript:

Ral West was hosted on The Guiding Voice podcast (The World's only quintilingual podcast and Asia podcast Awards winner 2024 in Education category) recently, her insights in this episode were nothing short of transformational. With over 40 years of entrepreneurial wisdom, she masterfully highlighted the essence of overcoming overwhelm in business. Her practical advice on transitioning from operator to leader, mastering financials, and leveraging systems for scalability resonated deeply.

Ral’s emphasis on customer satisfaction, proper delegation, and understanding net profit over gross revenue was a powerful reminder of what truly drives sustainable success. Her belief in tracking results, documenting processes, and fostering a positive mindset added layers of actionable strategies that every entrepreneur can benefit from.

Thank you, Ral, for sharing your expertise and inspiring us all to thrive!

Naveen Samala
Podcast Host
The Guiding Voice

Transcript:

Curiosity. Lifelong learning. Invention. Innovation. Future. Optimism. Universe. Supreme intelligence. Leadership. Inspiration. Innovation. See what isn't there. Efficiency. Systems. So folks, you have tuned into TGV, and welcome to The Guiding Voice podcast series—the world’s only quadrilingual podcast at this moment of recording. We are trying to embark into multiple languages as we speak. Here, we embark on transformative conversations for a better future, and we want to simplify and amplify your journey to success. I’m your host, NIN Sala, dedicated to making the world a better place by bringing you wisdom through valuable discussions with experts—designed to simplify and amplify your success. Thank you so much for tuning in. So folks, we are joined by Ral West. She’s a seasoned entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience building and selling businesses. As the creator of the Six Essential Secrets to Business Success, she helps overwhelmed business owners streamline operations, delegate effectively, and create scalable systems. Through her course, Overcome Overwhelm, Ral empowers entrepreneurs to reclaim their time, reduce stress, and achieve a thriving business without constant involvement. Today, we are going to present an interesting topic: how to overcome overwhelm and discover the secrets to running a smooth business. But before we get into the topic at hand, here’s an exciting twist. Let’s tickle our guest’s brain first. Ral, get ready for a rapid fire round of random words. I’ll mention a few and would love to hear the first thing that comes to your mind without thinking much. Ready? Let’s get started. [Rapid fire responses omitted—they are repeated in the actual content later.] Ral, first of all, hearty welcome to The Guiding Voice podcast series. How are you doing today? Excellent, thank you. I’m in Alaska—very far from you. Yes, I’ve heard great things about it. You have to tolerate the weather, but it’s so beautiful, right? Very, very beautiful. So let’s get the ball rolling. Ral, you have built and sold multiple businesses over the past 40 years. What key factors have contributed to your ability to grow and scale these businesses successfully? Well, first of all, in order to scale a business, you have to have systems. You have to grow a business by taking some calculated risks. We used data-driven management. We track all of our results, track performance, keep track of financials. Another key thing is that as the entrepreneur and owner-operator, you need to learn to duplicate yourself—which means teaching other people to do what you do so that you're not so tied to the business. Last but not least, you need to delight your customers. That is the most important aspect. I'm obsessed about customer experience because I’m a Six Sigma guy, and I know where you're coming from. Ral, I have another question I’ve incorporated recently: who is your guiding voice? My guiding voice is my intuition and my values and principles. I have to check with myself to see if it feels right. Now please talk to us about the toughest lessons you’ve learned in your entrepreneurial journey. Yeah, well, don't always like to admit those. But there have been times when I didn’t do enough homework, didn’t run the numbers well enough, didn’t consider that the major factors I was using in my assumptions might be totally different when the time for the exit came. I needed to also calculate the downside—what happens if those assumptions are not true—and run the numbers that way too. Now let’s get into the topic. Overwhelm is a common problem for business owners. Can you walk us through a real-life example of how you’ve helped a client go from overwhelmed to streamlined success? First of all, I did it for myself. I was a young mother, running a business, had volunteer activities and a household. I was a mess—working all the time, not sleeping, not paying attention to my husband or myself or my health. Life was just not balanced at all. That’s when I started learning systems, duplicating myself, delegating, creating a team and culture that could run the business without my constant involvement. Once I learned how to do that, I began teaching others. One great example is a young lady on Maui who started a vacation rental business. At first, she was running it 24/7—couldn’t put the phone down. We taught her how to set up systems, track results, create manuals and procedures, gradually train people. She hired a part-time assistant, then improved her website, added automation, brought on more team members. In just over 10 years, she multiplied the business tenfold. Now she takes month-long vacations and has dinner with no phone in sight. It’s lovely—she enjoys her life, and her husband’s happy too. I think everybody needs that, right? Everyone listening or watching this episode might be thinking, “I want to get there.” Absolutely. You deserve a successful business and a life. You became an entrepreneur because you wanted freedom, and too many times that freedom is just not there. But you can learn to get it by using systems, processes, documentation—everything I teach. Ral, you created the Six Essential Secrets to Business Success. Can you give us a sneak peek into one or two of those secrets? Sure. The six secrets are like a six-legged stool that forms the foundation of a business. If you don’t have even one, it can topple. The first two secrets are: 1) creating systems and 2) measuring your data. You need to know what performance metrics to track—sales, revenue, timelines, etc.—and get reports weekly, daily, or monthly. Your team should understand the value of the data. It takes time and trial and error to figure out what works, but once you do, you can run your business by the numbers. Sometimes people measure the wrong thing. Early in my career, I was only looking at gross revenue. I hired a consultant who told me I was making money, just not profit. I wasn’t measuring net profit. That was a huge lesson. Gross is good—but net profit is what matters. And what about entrepreneurial mindset? When you’re building a venture, you often do everything yourself, leading to burnout. How does one shift from being involved in every detail to a true leadership role? You need to document what you do. Pick apart your day or week, figure out what you're spending time on. Some things don’t require high skill—you can automate, outsource, or delegate. You also need to delegate smartly. Clearly spell out the result you want, then follow up. Trust but verify. If you set it up properly, you can hand off work successfully. Can you talk to us about foundational systems every business should implement to become scalable and sustainable? It’s all the things we’ve talked about—systems, measurements, tracking. Find leverage, whether that’s automation, technology, partners, or delegation. Watch your finances closely—know where your money’s going. Don’t overspend during growth just because you think you’ll get big quickly. Spend as you can afford it. Watch your net profit. Make sure you have the right team, customer service systems, and an intentional company culture based on your values. If you don’t create your culture on purpose, it happens by accident. You also help business owners live the life they want and deserve. What’s the first step toward achieving that balance? First, decide what “living the dream” means to you. Is it yoga, camping, hiking, golf, travel, family time? For me, it’s travel and family. To get there, you need financial freedom and a business that runs on its own. That means systems, data tracking, all six principles in place. It’s not rocket science, but it takes focused work. The goal is to work on your business, not in it. Think of yourself as the owner, not the operator. What common mistakes do business owners make when managing their finances? The biggest one is not tracking them. Some business owners don’t even look at their P&L. That’s terrifying. You need a bookkeeper producing timely reports. Understand where revenue is coming from, what it costs to produce, what your acquisition costs are. Don’t increase overhead until revenue supports it. Everything must align. Ral, this has been an incredible conversation. Let’s add some spice with the second rapid fire round. Ready? If you had one gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say? "Believe in yourself." Describe yourself in one word. "Positive." Describe your leadership style in one word. "Inspirational—I hope!" What’s the best business advice you’ve received? "Focus on the bottom line, not the top line." A book every entrepreneur should read? "The E-Myth by Michael Gerber." One thing you can’t live without in your daily routine? "Gratitude—every single day." If you had one extra hour in the day, how would you spend it? "Self-care—sleep, exercise, quiet reflection, reading, meditation." Most important trait of a successful entrepreneur? "A positive mindset." Favorite productivity hack? "Time blocking. I use OmniFocus for task management, and I block out time on my calendar to focus on big projects and keep the small stuff from taking over." Let’s flip back to the mainstream. How does enhancing customer experience tie into creating a scalable and efficient business? Customer satisfaction is everything. Why does a business exist? To serve customers. If they’re not satisfied and you don’t have repeat or referral business, you’ll fail. Customer service should be part of every department and initiative. Your culture should focus on delighting your customers. That’s one of the main reasons we were able to scale and sell a multimillion-dollar business to Alaska Airlines—because we had happy, loyal customers. I love that. It reminds me of a quote—if you satisfy one customer, they might bring 10 more. If you irritate one, they’ll take 100 away. Exactly. Happy customers refer friends. Angry ones go to social media. Ral, thank you so much for accommodating this recording and sharing such amazing insights. I really enjoyed our conversation. How was your experience being hosted here? It’s been very fun! I appreciated the rapid fire—it was a little challenging but fun. I’d love to know, what was the most valuable little jewel you got? Customer mindset, focusing on the bottom line, and identifying the right metrics. Those were my big takeaways. Wonderful. If you liked those takeaways and your listeners did too, please tell others and visit my website. I offer a free webinar about these principles. Just go to RalWest.com and sign up to get more jewels of wisdom. Absolutely. For those watching or listening, you’ll find her website link in the show notes. Thank you again, Ral, and I look forward to hosting you again. That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.

Ral West was hosted on The Guiding Voice podcast (The World's only quintilingual podcast and Asia podcast Awards winner 2024 in Education category) recently, her insights in this episode were nothing short of transformational. With over 40 years of entrepreneurial wisdom, she masterfully highlighted the essence of overcoming overwhelm in business. Her practical advice on transitioning from operator to leader, mastering financials, and leveraging systems for scalability resonated deeply. Ral’s emphasis on customer satisfaction, proper delegation, and understanding net profit over gross revenue was a powerful reminder of what truly drives sustainable success. Her belief in tracking results, documenting processes, and fostering a positive mindset added layers of actionable strategies that every entrepreneur can benefit from. This conversation was an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship with clarity, efficiency, and purpose. Thank you, Ral, for sharing your expertise and inspiring us all to thrive! -Naveen Samala, Podcast Host, The Guiding Voice

Transcript:

Audio Episodes

Having Ral West on the podcast was an absolute highlight! Her journey from a childhood blackberry business to launching *Livin' the Dream* is truly remarkable. Ral’s deep well of experience provided incredible nuggets of wisdom on business growth, overcoming challenges, and her new course, 'Overcome, Overwhelm,' offers actionable insights for every entrepreneur. Her practical advice and passion for efficiency are game-changers. Jen McAllister- Host, Ju$t Figure It Out Podcast

Ral West is an exceptional podcast guest whose insights into entrepreneurship are truly transformative. With over 40 years of experience in the tourism and real estate sectors, Ral brings a wealth of knowledge and practical wisdom to the table. During her appearance on Smashing the Plateau, she shared invaluable strategies on overcoming overwhelm, the power of saying no, and the importance of creating efficient business systems. Ral’s ability to connect with the audience and provide actionable advice makes her a standout guest. Her commitment to empowering other entrepreneurs through mentorship is both inspiring and impactful. If you're looking for a guest who can offer deep, actionable insights and truly inspire your listeners, Ral West is a great choice. - David Shriner-Cahn, 'Smashing The Plateau' Podcast

"I had the pleasure of hosting Ral West on The Coaching Equation Podcast, and her insights were nothing short of transformative. Ral's expertise in building robust business systems and her journey from a small office in Alaska to a life of freedom and adventure truly captivated our audience. She has an incredible ability to break down complex concepts into actionable strategies, making them accessible and impactful for business owners and entrepreneurs at any stage. Ral's approach to strategic hiring and process management has helped provide our listeners with the tools they need to scale their businesses efficiently and sustainably. Her genuine passion for helping others succeed and her wealth of experience shine through in every word." - Ryan Lang, Host 'The Coaching Equation Podcast'

I had the pleasure of hosting Ral on my podcast, Women Influencers, where we discussed her illustrious career. Ral demonstrated exceptional knowledge on creating systems that keep business running smoothly, and brought a fresh perspective to our discussion. Our conversation was both engaging and impactful, leaving a lasting impression on our audience. I highly recommend Ral and her business, Ral West Livin’ the Dream, as her expertise and passion are truly outstanding. - Veronica Malolos, 'Women Influencers' Podcast

Ral is an absolute gem! I had her on my podcast as a guest recently and she is a breadth of knowledge. She's humble, down to earth, real, and has amazing stories and wisdom to share. I highly recommend hiring Ral as a speaker or guest on your platform. She has so much value to offer your audience. - Holly Jean Jackson, Host of 'Inspiration Contagion' Podcast

Ral West’s appearance on the Mental Toughness & Body Show was nothing short of exceptional. She provided deep insights into her success as an entrepreneur, especially in the areas of systemisation and adaptability - her greatest strengths. Ral shared how she approaches business like a game, skilfully building and optimising systems that drive growth while remaining flexible to change. Her practical strategies and passion for playing the business game with a mindset of constant improvement left a strong impression on my audience. I highly recommend Ral as a speaker and guest for any platform looking to inspire and equip their audience with real, actionable value. -Robb Evans, Host Mental Toughness & Body Show Podcast

Rarely does a guest demonstrate the kind of agileness and resiliency that Ral has over the course of her career. She transitioned and adapted to shifting business environments with intelligent and calculated risks. If she has done remarkably well for herself imagine what she can do for your business and life. Kudos Ral!” -GMick Smith, Host of 'The Doctor of Digital™' Podcast

It was great to have Ral on the show. She provided so much great advice to our audience. We appreciated her practical nuggets that really helped our audience to "level up". She also shared so much insight about her 6 Essential Secrets to Business Success. We look forward to her show going live and collaborating more in the future. -Gresham Harkless, Host of 'CEO Podcasts' Podcast

It was great having Ral West as a guest on my podcast, Streamin' With a Purpose. Ral has a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur and has taken that experience to help others on their entrepreneur journey. I would recommend using the tools she offers to help streamline and automate your processes to make your journey go that much smoother. The entrepreneur journey is not an easy one. It can be downright challenging. Thanks to people like Ral, who understands that and responds with the tools you need to do it better. -Sylvia Montgomery Owner, SiMMs Solutions for Business & Life, LLC Podcast Host of Streamin' With a Purpose

Ral West brought such valuable insights to our audience on the You World Order Showcase podcast! Her unique approach to simplifying business systems and focusing on freedom and sustainability really resonated with listeners. Ral's years of experience and genuine passion for helping entrepreneurs thrive made her episode impactful and inspiring. Highly recommend Ral to anyone looking to streamline their business and live their dream life! -Jill Hart, Host of 'The You World Order Showcase' Podcast

Ral recently joined me on the 'Chief Change Officer' podcast- a Global Top 3% show dedicated to personal and organizational transformations. With over 40 years of experience building, investing in, and conceiving businesses, Ral embodies the art of mastering change repeatedly, all while staying true to her soul, grit, and wisdom. Our conversation was a joy, and I hope anyone listening can draw inspiration and lessons from her human intelligence, shaped by a life of pursuing and fullfilling big dreams. -Vince Chan, Host of Podcast 'Chief Change Officer'

Ral has amassed a unique set of skills and experience in her 40+ years in business, and she has distilled her insights into impactful and meaningful lessons that business owners can implement. I really enjoyed having her speak as a guest on my show "Life Changing Questions For Business Owners" Kevin Bees, Podcast Host, 'Life Changing Questions For Business Owners'

Ral was one of my favourite, of now 600 guests, we've had on our Grow A Small Business podcast in the last 5 years. I heard her on our Quick Fire Friday version first, and reached out to ask her to do our main format - where we run through the guests' business journey, the up-and-downs, lessons learned and valuable tips they can provide our audience. And Ral delivered. A humble, smart (especially people-smart), driven and down-to-earth business owner who had me nodding and agreeing with every approach she has to business, and in each corner. Thank you Ral, and congrats on your continued small business success." -Troy Trewin | Founder of 'Grow A Small Business'

I have interviewed over 400 guests on my podcast Ideas & Impact, and Ral stands out as one of my guests who brought not only gold nuggets of wisdom to share with my audience but she was properly prepared and stands out as an interview that will impact many of my audience members because of the insights she shared." -Jeremy Jones, host of 'Ideas & Impact' podcast

"Ral West was a fantastic guest. She’s a dyed in the wool entrepreneur from an early age and has decades of experience and wisdom that she generously shared on our podcast together. It was fascinating to see how Ral and her husband have leveraged years of different success businesses into active and passive real estate investing. I look forward to having Ral back on the show." -Roger Becker, host of 'Street Smart Success' podcast

"Ral’s invaluable contribution to our podcast is a true sign of her knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship. Highly recommend engaging with Ral to enhance team building and business organizational skills." Rael Bricker, Podcast Host

What Others Are Saying

Ral is an incredible master of business. Her track record of success alone sets her apart from the crowd. She was so generous with her time and went above and beyond in coaching me and my husband on a very high level business negotiation that resulted in a big win for us! I will definitely continue to consult her when it comes to big business decisions that I find myself feeling uncertain about.

Miranda Phillips

Dr. Miranda L. Phillips is an emergency medicine physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a lifestyle medicine physician with SahaVida Institute in Sarasota, Florida, and an entrepreneur, investing in multifamily real estate.

Ral West has the proven results to coach anyone as a growing entrepreneur. The first and most critical piece I look for when looking to execute a big goal successfully is whether I can find someone who has already done what I'm trying to do. Ral's massive success as an entrepreneur inspires me to keep working with her on our most critical business decisions month after month.

Dan Brisse

Managing Partner, Granite Towers Equity Group

Ral West is a powerhouse of entrepreneurial experience with a knack for teaching others to achieve their dream goals. I have witnessed Ral building her own successful businesses for over 30 years and know she has a passion for helping others achieve success.

Tom Behan

Former bank president and CEO of a multibillion-dollar company, and a lifelong entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of the Alaska Clubs and past president of the International Health and Racquet Sports Association (IHRSA) Tom was a member of Hawaiian Vacations’ Board of Directors. He also co-authored a book: “Entrepreneurship: Prepare for Prosperity”

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