5 Habits to Grow Your Leadership and Your Business

Like it or not, accept it or not, it’s still going to be true. Leadership happens everywhere. And if you ever want to grow beyond a side hustle, or maybe you’ve already grown your business beyond a side hustle, this is your full time, 9 to 5, you’re all in on this thing. If you ever want it to grow, to become an asset that supports you and your lifestyle, and not just a job that you have to work, then, my friend, one day you’re going to have to lead other people. But a leader doesn’t need people to be a leader. You’re leading yourself now. Today, I want to share five things you should always be doing to grow as a leader. Now why? Because every time I upskill my leadership, I scale up my business, and the same will hold true for you.

Welcome to the Digital Nomad Entrepreneur podcast, everyone. My name is Eric. I am a full time digital nomad entrepreneur, traveling around the world with my wife and our four kids. And at the end of today’s episode, I am going to give you a travel update. I keep those to the end because not everybody that listens here wants to be a digital nomad. Travel isn’t their cup of tea, but they want to grow in business, and they like leadership and business growth. That’s why you are listening. So I’ll save the travel updates to the end.

Now, if you have been a listener for any length of time, then you know I talk a lot about leadership. In fact, leadership is handily the thing that gets the overwhelming majority of my time. Seven out of ten books I read are about leadership. Seventy-five percent of the podcasts I listen to are on leadership. The majority of my day spent in my businesses is leading. And you, my friend, well, you’re a leader, and your leadership skill set is hands down the greatest limiting factor to your business growth. But the opposite is also true. The greatest fuel for your business success is an expanding leadership skill set. Now, I do a leadership tip of the week in every single episode, and I am going to do the same in this one, because I believe so adamantly that leadership is the greatest deciding factor on your future success. I want to make sure I give you a little nugget each week. But today I’m going to spend the majority of the episode talking about how to grow as a leader. Five things that you should always be doing, whether you’re a leader of just you, or you have a team, or maybe you’re an aspiring future leader. You need to be learning right now. It doesn’t matter. Now was the time to start leading this week. Right now, in fact, you’re already doing it, because this is a leadership podcast. I don’t promote it as that, but in a lot of ways, it is a leadership podcast. And so even if you don’t want to see it as a leadership podcast, it is a leadership episode, and you’re listening, and you’re going to be growing as a leader. You’re putting in the work right now. So I congratulate you, because as you grow as a leader, you’re going to grow your business.

Now, real quickly, what do I mean by leadership? What I mean by leadership, because it’s not just about having people, it’s not about giving out orders, it’s not about delegating tasks or anything like that. What do I mean when I talk about leadership? Well, a leader sets a direction. That’s the first thing a leader does. A leader gets an idea of where they’re going, and they set a direction and they say that way, that’s where we’re headed, where we’re going to take that mountain. Or they may say we’re going to cross this ocean, or we’re going to traverse Antarctica. A leader sets a direction. They cast a vision. They see a different future ahead of them, and they start to share that future with others. They start to work towards that. That’s vision. Vision is a picture of a preferred future, and a leader sets the direction, a leader comes up with a vision.

A leader then ensures that the resources are in place to move forward at least one step. What do I have to do? I may not be the one making sure all the resources are there. The first step, the next step, is getting somebody to get resources. Or maybe I am going to be a resource provider for a while. Whatever that is, it varies, depends on the place you are in your journey. But a leader is definitely ensuring that resources are in place to move forward, at least one step, maybe fifty steps, maybe a hundred steps, but at least one.

Leaders adjust their plans based on new and updated information. Leadership isn’t about getting it right, it’s about making adjustments. Leaders also empower others to find their own personal success, as they help the leader reach the leader’s best success. Leaders lead with gratitude and an abundance mindset. So that’s what a leader does. A leader sets direction, ensures that resources are in place to move forward at least one step, adjusts their plans based on new and updated information, empowers others to find their own personal success as they help the leader reach the leader’s best success, and leaders lead with gratitude and an abundance mindset. I’m glad I wrote that down, because I would have never been able to say it twice like that.

Now, real quickly, before we get into the five things you need to be doing to improve as a leader, so you can overcome your greatest limiting factor in your business growth, your business reaching success, I want to lead with a bit of gratitude. I want to say thank you to J. Bledsoe Jr. for leaving a review of the podcast. They wrote: “Eric does a great job of taking complex business concepts and creating simple systems that are applicable across businesses. It doesn’t matter your business, you’ll get tons of value from the DNE podcast.” Well, thank you, J. Bledsoe Jr. And you picked up on it. I love a good framework. I love systematizing for success, and once I do, I like to share it. I like to create frameworks, create systems, and then share those with others. So thank you very much for leaving that review, I really appreciate it, and it was really kind of cool to see you picked up on that.

All right, so how do you get better as a leader? Well, first off, it’s important to understand that as a leader, you may be alone. Leaders may start out alone, but they never travel that way for long. You’re going to attract some followers. You’re going to attract a tribe. So what are the five things that you should be doing?

Number one: always be reading a book on leadership. Even if you have another book, even if it’s not your nighttime bedtime reading, maybe you like to read fantasies, maybe you like to read fiction, maybe you like a good Tom Clancy, that’s totally okay. You’re going to be reading more than one book at a time, but one of the books should always be on leadership. I used to always, and still do, but even more so when I was starting out, I had a leadership book with me at all times, and if I was out doing something and I had to wait, I opened my book and I read it. I get up early in the morning, do a little bit of reading, I read a little bit in the evening, I would read the leadership book whenever I can. And I’ll tell you something, when I discovered audiobooks, that may be the best thing that’s ever been invented in my world. I love audiobooks. So always be reading at least one book on leadership. Now, if you’ve never read a leadership book, which one should you start with? Well, I put a link to it in the show notes. I think you should start with the book Axioms by Bill Hybels. Powerful Leadership Proverbs is the subtitle. I’m going to put a link to it in the show notes. If you’ve never read a book on leadership, that is one I would start with.

Number two: always have at least one leadership podcast episode per week that you listen to. Boom, check it off, you’ve done it for this week, congratulations. There’s going to be times you are going to be able to put information in your brain through some headphones, driving, mowing the yard, grocery shopping, going for a morning walk, whatever it is. Have a podcast that you look forward to that talks about leadership, and make it a priority. Yeah, I listen to some other podcasts too. I like to listen to Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs, I like that podcast. I like to listen to American Scandal. I like to listen to American Elections: Wicked Games, I like it, it’s really good. Recently I discovered the American Revolution podcast, I like history podcasts. And I’ll be honest, here’s why: because if I fall asleep listening to it, I don’t care. History is not going to change when I listen some other time. So I like to listen to a lot of those, but I’m always, always listening to at least one leadership podcast episode per week. Actually, I have several leadership podcasts that I listen to their episodes every single week.

Number three: always have one leadership lesson you are working to master. Have one. Maybe you’re just going to write it on an index card, maybe it’s going to be on a Post-it note. You’re going to be learning lots of leadership things, and that’s okay, that’s good, and they’re going to start to stick over time. You’re going to hear some things get repeated, and that’s good, because what gets repeated gets remembered. A lot of leaders like to put their leadership axioms into quick little sayings, because memorable is portable. As you train yourself in this more and more, more of it’s going to stick, but you don’t want to just leave it up to chance. You want to have one leadership lesson that you’re working on to master. I have a morning reading that I read through every morning, a list of things I read down through. It’s my personal doctrinal affirmations, statements I read directly from scripture verses about what I believe about me as a child of God. I read our three year plan. Right now, every morning I’m reading it’s January 2028, we are about to, and it goes on from there and explains what we’re about to do as a family, how much revenue the business is bringing in, what the team looks like, what my weekly schedule looks like. And I read that. Then under that I have a list of five things I’m working on in the business, the five business engines, the five processes that make a business engine work. I have one leadership thing I’m working on, one lead gen thing I’m working on, one lead conversion, one collecting and managing money, and one project management process. These are all processes I’m working to improve one at a time. So I read down through what my priorities are right now. What’s my leadership priority for the company, what’s my lead gen priority. Then I get to the next statement, and it’s the personal leadership skill I’m working on. I have to read these things every morning because this is my personal vision collected up together, and vision leaks, so I have to remind myself. I read this every single morning. This is fuel for me. It takes me about six minutes to read through it, and it’s worth it to me, I want to give my day a great start with these six minutes. But even if you’re not going to have a whole bunch of things like that you read, that’s okay. You grow into it. Don’t compare your beginning to my middle. But you need to have one thing that you’re working on, one leadership lesson, and you need to always be working on at least one. Have a list of others as you learn something, keep a list. I have a note in my Apple Notes that’s just leadership lessons, and when I hear a new rule I’ll open the note and put it down in there. Then when I’m looking for that next thing, sometimes I go back and read that list and remind myself, that’s something I want to work on.

So, number one, always be reading a book on leadership. Number two, always have at least one leadership podcast episode per week. Number three, always have one leadership lesson you are working on. Number four… leader, subscribe to the Digital Nomad Entrepreneur podcast. All right, I’m just kidding, they do, but that’s not really what number four is. Real quick, before I get to actually number four and number five, they kind of go together. It would mean a lot to me if you would subscribe and share the podcast, share this episode with someone, share a past episode, and leave a rating and review. I’d love to hear from you like J. Bledsoe Jr. did with their review, I’ve got a couple more I’m going to read over the next few episodes. And also send me emails. I got a really great email question from Dan that I’m going to answer in an upcoming episode, it was the first time I’d ever been asked this question in this way, and I’m really looking forward to answering Dan’s question in an upcoming episode. So, emailing Eric at DNEPodcast.com. Leave a review, a rating for the show, make sure you subscribe, do all the nice things.

All right, so back to our list. Number four: always have a Batman. Now I’m going to give you number five, because number four and five make sense when put together. Number five: always have a Robin. You need to be somebody’s Robin. You need to have a mentor, a leadership mentor that’s just a little further down the road from you, that can let you know, hey, you want to avoid stepping over there, hey, you don’t want to do that. If you’re lucky, you can have a mentor that is miles and miles and years and years down the road, great, but they don’t have to be really super far down the road from you, especially since you don’t want somebody so far down that they don’t remember the stage you’re in right now. You want to have somebody that has the answers, has the gadgets, has put their time in, that can invest in you, that you can bounce ideas and questions off of. Always want to have a mentor that is your Batman.

And because leaders lead with gratitude and an abundance mindset, always have one Robin too. You are already further along than somebody else. You can already begin to mentor somebody. You may not be able to say, well, hey, I know how to get you to a million dollar business. Because maybe you’ve never done that. But you may be able to say, hey, I can give you some advice on what I learned starting a side hustle, and how I’ve learned to do that in a way that isn’t taking time away from my family, or how I had to rebalance, or whatever it is. You’ve got enough experience in life that you can be somebody’s Robin. A leader always has a Batman, and they always have a Robin. Be somebody’s Robin, be somebody’s Batman. This is how you have the leadership energy flowing through you. If you just receive and receive and receive and never give, it’s terrible. Maybe you’re going to start with somebody that’s much younger. Maybe there’s a volunteer program at a nearby school, or maybe you volunteer at the Boys or Girls Club or a summer camp or something like that. You can be investing in the next generation of leaders. Maybe you are the next generation of leaders, and you’re going to help out in an elementary group somewhere. I don’t want to hear it, you have what it takes right now to be a Robin, because here’s the thing: you’re already working to make yourself better. You’re trying to learn, you’re trying to grow, you’re doing the right things, you are going the right direction.

Is it hard right now? Yeah, it is. You know what, I got to be honest with you, it’s always going to be hard. This is what we are doing as entrepreneurs is hard. Now here’s the thing, what’s hard today isn’t going to be hard three years from now, and three years from now you’re going to be like, I can’t believe I used to think that was hard. But you’re going to have a new thing in three years that’s hard, that right now would literally crush you. But it’s not going to pop up right now because you’re not that far along, you’re not that far down the road, it’s okay. But you’ve got to know it’s coming. Now, you can choose to let that stress you out, or you can just accept it. It’s hard to be stressed by reality. I am, when I find myself being stressed, it’s because I have a misalignment with reality and my ideal, where I think it should be, how I think it should be, what I perceive to be fair and right. Or I let myself get into a situation because of a lack of systems, or I just don’t believe that I can say no, and so I start to let myself be overwhelmed by things because I say yes to too many things, and now I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’m feeling stress, but it’s a choice, I let myself get there.

Now, are there some of you listening that may have diagnosable anxiety conditions that legitimately cause stress and you may need counseling and medications? Absolutely, the healthiest people are the ones that get help. So get the help. But don’t let something become a crutch that isn’t real if that’s not really going on in your life. This is hard, it’s always going to be hard, but here’s the thing: you’re trying right now. You’re working hard right now, that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what a winner does. And you’re going to get better and you’re going to learn. You already know more than you did last year, you already know more than you did three years ago. The you right now is very thankful that the you three years ago learned something, did something, accomplished something. And the you three years from now is going to thank the you right now for learning, for trying, for taking chances, for picking yourself up and brushing yourself off and trying again, because that’s what it takes to win. And just the fact that you are listening to a podcast, trying to learn something, trying to get better, that is what it takes. You are winning right now, and I’m so proud of you. And I am humbled that it’s my voice you’re listening to, and I take it seriously, so I make sure to really come to you with actionable things.

Come on, be reading one book, be listening to one podcast episode, have one leadership lesson you’re trying to master. Those three things aren’t hard. I’m not saying you have to read fast, it could take you all year to read a leadership book, that’s okay, just work on it a little bit here, a little bit there. Have one podcast, most episodes, like mine, are hardly ever over thirty minutes. You’ve got thirty minutes. There are a lot of other leadership podcasts that are even shorter. Embrace it. Always have that one leadership lesson you’re trying to master, a Batman, and a Robin. These things are not time consuming, they’re not hard, you can do it.

What is this week’s leadership tip of the week? Are you ready? Leaders never throw their team under the bus. We have a client right now in my business that is very, very upset, and I am taking full responsibility, taking all of it on, taking the brunt of all of it. And that’s okay, I’m not afraid they’re going to hurt me, my value as a person is not wrapped up in one person being upset. Now, they have a legitimate reason to be upset, they should be upset, I would be upset if I was them. But I praise my team in public and I correct in private, and with this client of ours, it’s a hundred percent my fault, because it’s always up to the leader. We had a system that failed, and it wasn’t my people that failed, it was a system that failed, and I’ve stepped in as a leader and I’ll take the blame. I never throw my team under the bus. As a leader, you should never throw your team under the bus.

All right, now real quick, a travel update. We’ve got about three weeks left here in Costa Rica, and then we are headed to Argentina. We’ve bought our airline tickets, we have our first Airbnb for our first three weeks. Things are happening. We’re learning all about Argentina, learning about the blue rate and the red rate for exchanging money, getting ourselves set up to get the most Argentine pesos for our U.S. dollar. So we’re learning, we’re getting excited, ready to go, ready to move there. But before we do, my parents are coming to Costa Rica for the second time. It’s so cool to have them join us for a week on our travels, and this is really new for them, they’ve not done much international traveling, really none, they’ve always gone to the same resort. The first time they came to visit us last year here in Costa Rica was huge for them, and it was so much fun. This time we’re expanding the adventure, we’ve rented a car and we’re going to travel around Costa Rica a bit, see some sights with them, stay in a couple of different Airbnbs, which will be exciting for everyone. And then when they leave, we’ll be leaving two days after them, headed to Argentina to do two months of fast travel. We’re going to be in one place for three weeks, and then we’re going to be moving every week to a week and a half, by bus, we’re going to take a night bus one time, a night train, an overnight train. I’m really excited about it, the kids are pumped for it. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of Argentina, and I love steak, and Argentina, well, they’ve got you all beat there too.

So there you go. We’ve been through a lot there. Five things that you need to be doing, we’ve cracked through a leadership tip of the week, we heard from J. Bledsoe Jr., we’ve talked about some travel updates. I really would love to read a message from you, an email, I appreciate all the emails, I’d love to read a review from you in an upcoming episode. So until next time, chase the big dream, lead with courage, and safe travels.