Bryan McAnulty: Welcome to the Creator's Adventure, where we interview Creator's from around the world, hearing their stories about growing a business. Today, I'm talking with Scott Rowley about creative ways to find the right niche for your business and how to be clear on who you serve. Hey everyone. I'm Bryan McAnulty.

I'm the founder of Heights Platform. Let's get into it.

Hey everyone. We're here today with Scott Rowley. He is the owner and founder of peak prosper. He lives in Whitefish, Montana and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. With his coaching business. Scott has worked with hundreds of men to help them turn their dreams and goals into reality by focusing on business mindset, vision, and goals, to create an optimal business performance.

Scott, welcome to the show.

Scott Rowley: Hey, what's up Bryan. I'm stoked to have a conversation with you today, man. Thanks for inviting me on. Yeah, sure.

Bryan McAnulty: So my first question for you is what would you say is the biggest thing that you did or that you are doing that's helped you achieve the freedom to do the things that you enjoy?

Scott Rowley: Hmm, great question, man. And I would say the biggest thing. If I was to pick one item, I got really clear on what my dream was, what my vision was, what, what business I wanted to start. Why I wanted to start it beyond just the motivation to make money and have more time freedom. And these extrinsic things that we get when we build a successful business.

See what I see so many entrepreneurs do in the early stages of their company and even in the mid stage and later stage, they lack a real. Why or purpose beyond themselves and growing a business. And I got really clear on what my purpose was. Bryan. I built my business coaching company really out of the peer desire to inspire, educate, and empower other entrepreneurs with the skills and the resources and the mindset to turn their dream into a reality.

And if I was to share just a couple more things that I continue to do. To maintain my momentum here. I'm now five years into running this business. I continue to iterate on my vision and build a more powerful, intrinsic purpose to turn that vision into a reality. And I'm not afraid to ask for help from mentors and coaches and other resources outside of myself when I feel stuck or I feel like having some extra support to get to the next level is necessary.

To break through my current barriers. So we talked about three things there, just vision, purpose, and having the humbleness and humility to ask for help from other experts in the field. All right.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. That's a great point. So you help these high performing entrepreneurial men grow their businesses. And one of the reasons you've been able to help these clients is because you've worked with.

Hundreds of people to help them grow multiple six or seven figure businesses. Can you share a little bit of what you've seen in working with all these businesses and how you've kind of understood what works and what doesn't work? Cuz as I understand it, you have this kind of research based research based methodology.

Scott Rowley: Yeah, certainly. So, I mean, I, I think that we would both resonate with some of the commonalities and challenges that we experience in entrepreneurship, Bryan and. I'm I'm reminded of something that one of my mentors said years ago. He said, Scott, new level, new devil. And whenever an entrepreneur that I work with is experiencing a desire to reach a new level in their business.

Maybe it's the them earning their first 5k or 10 K month. Or maybe they've hit a consistent six figures and they want to scale up and build a team and grow their business to a profitable seven figure business. They experience new challenges. So if we look at an entrepreneur that's really in the early stages, they're looking to establish their first six figures and get proof of concept.

Some of the challenges that I see guys consistently experiencing one is procrast. It's not procrastination because I don't want to do something it's often procrastination because I don't know how, or I don't have the resources or I don't have clarity on exactly what the next steps are. And another thing that I see coming up consistently as well is motivation and motivation kind of goes hand in hand with ensuring.

You took the time to clearly define exactly why you were starting the business in the first place, because as we can both relate Bryan, we, you and I, and all of the listeners that are listening to this show right now, experience massive peaks and massive valleys in our entrepreneurial endeavor. And if we don't take the time to really clearly define what.

Inspiring and motivating us intrinsically to turn this business into business into a reality we'll experience burnout when the valleys become too long or too hard to work through. So that's, there's a couple of things there. When I see entrepreneurial stepping into this we'll just say a new level.

Okay. They've reached six figures consistently and they want to grow to seven figures and. They have new challenges that come into the operation of their business. Oftentimes that means they need to hire a team. They need to step into a leadership role. They need to shift from someone that was doing a lot of things to someone that is delegating and leading a team and inspiring them to create new products, services, marketing strategies, and systems to improve the business.

So oftentimes what I see many entrepreneurs, at least those that I work with, they don't have the natural. It's, it's not even so much as natural leadership skills. They haven't taken the time to really develop the leadership skills and the mindset to coach their team, train their team, lead their team, hire the right people in the first place that are really aligned with their vision and values for the company, because what, what I see can happen and I see it happen to a lot of my clients it's happened to me as well.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to speak on this one wrong hire. Can really screw up the performance and the momentum that you've built in moving your business forward to actually hit your growth goals in a six to 12 month timeframe. It can really slow your vision down and it in the early stages of a business, when you're making your first one or two, or maybe your fifth hire making one wrong hire can really, really screw things up and pull you into one of those performance valleys.

That I was talking about just a couple of minutes ago. So there's just I guess a handful of challenges that I see entrepreneurs go through both in the early stages and mid stages of developing their company and things that have probably come up for both you and myself. Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. I actually wanna mention something about the hiring.

It's a little bit off topic, but I think it could be really valuable because I completely agree with your point that one wrong hire, especially very early on and really be detrimental to your business. So with myself, I feel that I was kind of fortunate that I always had the mindset that that was important.

So I didn't, I didn't have to go through maybe making that mistake. Fortunately. But I've seen others struggle with that. And for me, my approach, my approach to it, and I think maybe why people would think differently about it is when you wanna hire somebody, especially like that first or second person.

It's common to think to yourself. Okay. I'm, I'm trying to save my time now, so I'm gonna hire somebody and then it's gonna save time. I can focus more on the things I want in my business. But it's often, I guess, maybe misunderstood that the process of going through that is not a time saving process until really after they're hired and after they've been with you, maybe, maybe six months or so, maybe even longer than that.

And so for me, like in our first couple hires, like I went through thousands of job applications and like reading them. Wow. Reading me and my wife, reading through all of those. And like people, others have told me like, well, that seems like it takes real lot of time. I just wanna hire somebody and delegate.

But I do feel I really made the right decision with that so far because our team is all like really close to each other. And our team all really fits with the same vision, the same goals. And really works well together. And I think definitely like you're saying that is especially important in the beginning.

So I just wanted to mention that, cuz I'd encourage anyone listening. If you're at the stage now that you're thinking about delegating or, or hiring the first person or a couple people on your team it is worth the investment of really taking care with that.

Scott Rowley: Yeah, I think you, you made some really good points there. Bryan and I, I actually don't think that it was off topic at all. It was right on topic and I've, I've created a [email protected] called the massively inspiring business vision. And that that resource is really a framework for helping entrepreneurs get really, really clear on their business' purpose and their business' values so that they can start to develop the culture that they want to start hiring around and building.

The company for, so, I mean, the absence of clarity around what those core values are in your business creates confusion. When you go to the marketplace to start hiring people and man, my, my hat's off to you, it sounds like you did a very methodical job of getting clear on the culture that you want to create.

And you were able to find the needle in the haystack of thousands of applications that really aligned with exactly what you were looking for. Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty: Thank you. Thank you. And that, I agree that is It is super important. It sounds kind of like esoteric to think about, oh, well company, company values and all that, but it really is important to, to get everybody aligned with your goal and understanding that, and everyone working towards that same the same end values, I think.

So I definitely agree with that. In your coaching business, we notice that you're really focusing on this specific target market. Mainly men who are building a business and also share this passion for Adventure and the outdoors. Did you choose this demographic because of like a past experience? Is there any, like, is it because of common patterns and clients that come to you?

What, what made you choose this specific niche?

Scott Rowley: I'm so stoked. You asked me that today, Bryan. And for, for me specifically, I have a very I have a very strong affinity. And spiritual connection to the outdoors. I love back country skiing and snowmobiling and backpacking and mountain climbing and doing these high Adventure sports.

That challenge me physically and mentally. And what, what I found in my human experience is that I connect most powerfully to other individuals that share that common. That common passion for the outdoors. One of the, I guess extrinsic reasons that I started my business was so that I could spend more time doing the things that I love and Adventure in the great outdoors is something that I'm incredibly passionate about.

And the further that I got into business and exploring in the mountains, the more I started to realize how many other adventurous men there are out there that are either running their own business, or they have an entrepreneurial dream that they want to turn into a reality. And on some of these mountain climbs or sea adventures that I, I, I go on, I I'll consistently bring new friends with.

And it is just amazing to have conversations about life and business in the outdoors. And I, what I start to see is the intersect of our passion for building a business that has a positive impact on people and our planet and our passion for the outdoors. So what, what I've, I've started to unpack here.

Some of the I guess, twists and turns and adventures that I went on personally to land on my niche and many of my clients, they work across a variety of professional industries, but most of my experience really falls into three areas. I work with consultants Adventure guiding companies, actually, and contractors.

So they're all businesses that are providing some kind of a service and they have an affinity for the outdoors and a passion for Adventure. I think that we could probably talk for 30 minutes or 60 minutes about the, the framework for really dialing in the psychographics, demographics, the geographics, the business details of who your niche is.

But in, in my experience and I can just speak from my firsthand experience and the experience in working with my clients. It is very, very important to get clear on the type of person that you truly want to work with. I would call these like dream clients. I mean, who is somebody that you would be so stoked to work with or just go hang out?

I mean, I'd, I'd rather spend my working hours working with people that I love hanging out with outside of work, instead of like a completely different demographic. So. There's there's some resources, again at peak prosper, you guys probably have some resources at on the Heights Platform to help people really dial in their niche.

But this, this task, this project really it's a project dialing in your, your niche, the importance and value of it in the early stages of your business should not be overlooked. And just a couple of last comments on this. We talked about procrast. About 10 minutes ago or so this is one of those items that I see a lot of entrepreneurs procrastinate on, no matter what stage of business they're at, you know, in the early stages, your niche is different than who it's going to be when you're at seven figures or eight figures.

I mean, you will go through iterations of who you're targeting and who you're working with, but it it's more important to get clear on a snapshot of who your ideal customer. And then go test it in the marketplace, start talking to those specific individuals and sharing your product or service with them and getting feedback from them so that you can really dial in who that person is.

And what about your product and service is resonating for them? So again, it's, it's one of those items that gets procrastinated. For all kinds of reasons and decision fatigue is definitely one of them, but I would challenge everyone if you're hung up on nicheing to pick something that you, something or somebody that you are passionate about working with and go test your message and your offer with that audience of people in the real world.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. I think that's a great example. Because what I like in particular about your business is. There might be some other Creator's out there who they're saying, okay, well I'm a business coach. There's a lot of business coaches, so, well, I should be, should there be a business coach for this particular business or, or should I coach this particular aspect or, or thing?

And for what you, you did, you figured out. Okay. Well, I really like outdoors and Adventure. I wanna work with people who like that too, and that actually became your niche. So I really like that as an example, that if you're struggling to figure out, well, how do I differentiate myself? It could be as simple as.

I mean, it, it is, it can take time, of course, but it could be, it could be simpler than you think in like, just figuring out who it is that you wanna work with. So if you're listening now and you, you don't feel like you have that really dialed in yet, then maybe just think about who is it that you would ideally work with.

If you had all these clients who said, oh, well, this client, like, they really enjoy like outdoors. Like I do. So that's the client I wanna work with. And that can be your niche.

Scott Rowley: Yeah. And one, just one last comment on nicheing. I think that as entrepreneurs we're best prepared to help who we used to be. So if you look at some version of who you were a year ago, or six months ago, or a few years ago, and who you are today, You were already equipped with the skills and the knowledge and the experience to help who you were.

So there is a niche right there. That's like an easy way to identify someone that you could help.

Bryan McAnulty: Yep. Yeah. That's a great point. That's something that I've referenced often for especially a course Creator's dealing with imposter syndrome. Because you think, oh, well, who, who am I really equipped to help?

Am I really the most like world class at this thing, if you don't feel that you are, that doesn't mean that you're not able to make a course yet because everyone who is even just one step below you, those are the people that could benefit so much from your experiences. So, yeah, I definitely agree with that.

I wanna go into a little bit about like the components of building successful businesses. So let's see, we have in our research here, we looked up and you referred to this idea of keeping the minds operating system updated. Can you explain a little bit more about this and why mindset is so foundational to becoming successful in business and continuing to grow?

Scott Rowley: Absolutely. And I'm, I'm probably gonna share some acronyms that nobody's ever heard of. You're not gonna find them in books because I made them up. And I think John C. Maxwell, he is famous for making words up in one of his speeches. I forget the word, but somebody came up to him afterwards and said, John, that's not a word that you just shared.

And he said, exactly. I made it up. You look at the entire dictionary before that word existed, someone made it up. So I want to talk about emos and emos is the the entrepreneur's mindset operating system or the entrepreneur's minds operating system. If you think of your mind as like a software, and let's just say your mind's software is running on dos, which is an operating system from.

What Bryan 10 years ago, 20 years longer than that. Yeah. Way back. Yeah. If, if your mind is running on an operating system that is 10 or 20 years old, it's not gonna be suited with the, the thoughts and the beliefs that are necessary to take the actions in alignment with the vision that you have created, or the dream that you want to turn into of reality in your business.

And. What, what we do to keep our minds operating system updated is implement the Peter method. And Peter stance is, is PT, E R R. And that stands for your programming. If we look at programming as the software or the operating system that your mind is running on, these are your beliefs and how you see yourself in the world, or see yourself in your business, your world.

That, that operating system now is fueling your response to triggers, which is T okay. And, and triggers are the thoughts that you have in your mind about yourself or about problems that you're having in your business or things that you were thinking about, about things that you're going through. It's also people, places and things.

Okay. People that you're interacting with, things that you're experiencing. And places that you're going to these trigger emotional states that we have inside of our body. Okay. Which is the E in the Peter method. And what we do as humans is we take actions based on our internal, emotional state. Okay. So we have a trigger, a thought a place, a person, a thing that triggers an internal emotional state, that emotional state is what motivates us to act.

Okay. So humans are motivated to act based on how we're feeling and the R in the Peter. Stands for response. Okay. And our response now is formulated based on what we're thinking and what we are feeling, our emotional state and all of this foundationally is now running on this operating system where the programming of our beliefs in our world view and what this is creating Bryan is the results that we experience in our business, in our lives.

With a production of a new project or task or something that we want to ship to improve our business. So people wonder, well, why do I keep attracting the same problems in my business? Why can't I solve this issue with my niche? Or why can't I grow from doing a quarter million dollars a year to my first million dollars a year?

Everything feels like such a grind. Well, if we go down to the operating system or the programming that your mind is running. We have to upgrade that first and foremost before turning a new level of growth into a reality is even possible. So we have to, we have to believe that it's possible and upgrade our beliefs and how we see ourselves in that vision.

By applying the Peter method before we can start taking new actions. In alignment with our vision, we start thinking new thoughts. We start feeling different emotions. We start taking different actions at different levels in our business growth, and we start to experience different results.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, that's a good point because often the, if somebody's really stuck with where they're at the way to get out of that is not to keep doing the same thing over and over.

Something has something has to change. And so it it's, yeah, maybe sometimes it. All the time, I guess it's going to be necessary to first understand in your mind what has to be different. And then you can take the different actions that are going to get you that different result. Exactly. So we saw a lot of success stories that you've had one of them you mentioned where you helped a client get from zero business experience to his first client who paid them 150,000 for mountain climbing services.

We saw about how you worked with a client go from nearly bankrupt with a restaurant to more than seven figures. So could you share with us if possible, what do you think are maybe some key factors that contributed to these success stories?

Scott Rowley: Yes. And you I just want to sit with those for a second because those success stories were quantum for those individuals.

And when I taught quantum, I. Life changing game, changing business changing, never before experienced breakthroughs as a result of applying some of the stuff that, that I, that I teach and. Bryan. I don't know why you do what you do, but you have a why that's fueling your drive to build the Heights Platform.

And part of my, why that I, that I shared in the beginning of today's conversation was to inspire, educate, and empower entrepreneurs with the mindset and skillset necessary to turn their impossible into a reality. And. We talk about Xander as the individual who went from zero business experience to landing a, an over six figure contract in his first business enterprise ever.

And that's life changing for somebody, you know, to, to go from this mind of. I don't have any business experience. I don't know how to do sales. I don't know how to organize my project. I don't know how to organize my pitch. I don't know how to position my offer, but I have the technical skillset to deliver on a huge project of this magnitude to closing the deal, delivering a world class product, it's actually called the gold mountain via feat and Eura Colorado.

If any of our listeners want to look that up, it is one of the most epic Adventure experiences. For people in the world. And I don't say that lightly. But what, what Xander and I did and Evan, the restaurant owner who went from nearly bankrupt to he's crushing seven to eight figures now we, we, we went through that upgrading of their mindset, really flushing out the thoughts and the habits and the beliefs that were corrupt.

Like the corrupt operating files at old software, and then installing new thoughts, new habits, new actions. And they started to experience new results in not just their business, but their personal lives as well. Their relationships, they started showing up different differently. Energetically. They, they, they got in tuned with their intuition so that they, these ideas that come from the ether.

Were something that they could actually process and act upon. Instead of having that imposter syndrome come in and them thinking that it wasn't possible for them. We also worked together to upgrade their vision of what they thought was possible. Okay. A lot of us entrepreneurs have these impossible visions of.

Some future reality that doesn't even exist yet. I mean, look at Elon Musk and the never before created products, services, and launches that he's turned into a reality. He created these visions that were so vivid in his mind that he could, he could feel them. He could see them down to the detail. And as a result of that clarity that he had, he was able to create strategic plans and teams that were necessary to turn that vision into a reality.

Furthermore, Because the vision was so inspiring and so big. For people like Xander and Evan that I've worked with and people like Elon Musk and people like you, Bryan, they're able to ally attract a following of dream team, a players so they can actually deliver on the vision and turn it into a reality.

So we talked about, I think three or four elements there of some of the methodology that I teach, and it really starts with mindset. Really changing our thinking so that we can take new actions in alignment with our vision and upgrading our vision for our business. And that, that resource that I talked about a couple of minutes ago called the massively inspiring business vision helps entrepreneurs get really, really clear on what their vision for their business is, so that they can create a plan and break that down into the baby steps that are necessary to actually turn it into a reality.

And with that level of clarity, they, they start to understand the resources or the team that's necessary to actually manifest. They want to realize. So that's just a little bit without going off on a, a conversation here for, I mean, we could talk about that one question probably for an hour. Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. Got it. All right. Well, what would you say? Let's say if there's a listener out there today that they're trying to build a business, but they're feeling stuck and maybe they're experiencing some burnout right now. What would you suggest that they do to get out of.

Scott Rowley: Hm, great question. And something that I've faced at multiple points through my entrepreneurial experience and what I would suggest whether you're at burnout or you're not at burnout, maybe you're far beyond burnout.

You're motivated you're in your flow state, you are creating, you are building, people are buying your product or service. Take some time to reconnect with your. I think it was Simon Sinek quoted this gentleman, but I don't think this is a Simon Sinek quote. He said he or she, who has a strong enough, why can bear any, how the, how you're going to turn your what into a reality.

And I've talked multiple points today about intrinsic motivation, the importance of getting really, really clear on your purpose beyond your profit. Why do you want to build this life changing business changing product or service on the Heights Platform? Why do you want to go become a, a world class construction contractor?

Why do you want to go start an Adventure guiding business? Why do you even want to become an entrepreneur beyond the perceptual freedom that you think it is going to bring to your life and your family? And especially when you're two years or five years into an entrepreneurial endeavor and you have invested so much time and energy, and you're going through one of those valleys, take the time to reconnect with your why and upgrade your why, because what fueled you in the beginning may not fuel you two years or five years from now.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, I like that point. I think I've heard people before say, okay, well, you should just do something and figure out how to make money and then go from there. But I kind of disagree with that and I kind of agree with what you're saying that it's really important to figure out that why, because what happens a few years from that when you realize you, you get burned out, you really don't enjoy it.

You're not passionate about it. You don't feel that there was a reason for it other than making the money. And so ultimately to, to continue and be at a level of super successfulness with whatever you're doing, there's gotta be a really strong why that goes beyond any amount of profit.

Scott Rowley: Exactly, man.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. So what do you think is the best quality to have as a business?

Scott Rowley: Hm, as a business coach, I think one of the best qualities is leadership. And when I talk about leadership, I talk about influence and not being some big Instagram influencer or TikTok influencer, but the power to influence, inspire, empower, and educate other individuals across below and above.

Okay. That, that means that you have the develop, the confidence and the clarity and the methodology and what you teach and coach so that you can help almost any walk of life. And that's, that's what I believe is one of the most important qualities to develop as a business coach or business strategist.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. I like that. Cause yeah, I think as you're, you're kind of hinting at there, it, it, it goes through to your, your team, your customers. To your clients? Everything. I like that. All right.

Scott Rowley: Before we, and if I might, if I, if I might add one more, if I might add one more thing too, because there may be some consultants listening to this or business coaches it's to, to take the time, to define and clarify exactly what your methodology is and the, the steps that you take to help a business grow.

So that it is clear in a linear fashion in terms of how you create the result that your clients desire. So I just wanted to drop a, a couple of there influence and clarity of your methodology.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. Yeah, I like that too. That, that's also one of the things that we tell all course Creator's most important thing about building a course, a coaching service.

You have to be super clear on what is the result that you're provid. Because number one, you, you need to understand it for yourself so you can get people to that result. And number two, you need to make it really clear. So your customers understand what they're buying from you because that's what they wanna purchase.

They don't wanna purchase your course. They don't wanna purchase just talking to you. They're looking for this specific end result. Awesome. All right. Well, before we get going, I have one more question for you, and that is if you could ask anything to our audience, Anything at all, anything you're curious about anything you want them to think about?

What would that be?

Scott Rowley: I, you know, I want to know what is, what is your five to 10 year vision? What impact do you want to have on the people on our planet? And how is your business going to turn that five to 10 year vision into a reality? The reason that I, I dropped that question because is because it gets us thinking long term in, in terms of the positive impact that we can have through the vehicle of entrepreneurship and Bryan.

I believe that entrepreneurs are the people that have the power to improve society. The health of our planet. And the ability for just the global humanity to live happy, prosperous and fulfilling lives. So the question again was what would, what is your five to 10 year vision that objective that you're aiming for and using your business as the catalyst to get there?

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. That's a great question. All right, Scott. Well, before we get going, where can people find you online?

Scott Rowley: Yeah, thanks for asking Bryan two places. So peak prosper.com is the best place to find all of our free business resources. We. Workshops and have courses and all kinds of worksheets to help you implement our methodology.

We have tons of free stuff on [email protected]. And I also run a podcast called the peak prosper show. You can find that on iTunes, Spotify, or whatever. Platform you listen to podcasts on I interview successful entrepreneurs and business leaders and pull out stories and elements of education to inspire and empower you on your journey towards turning your vision into a reality.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. All right. Well, thanks so much, Scott.

Scott Rowley: Awesome. Thank you, Bryan.

Bryan McAnulty: If you enjoyed this interview and won the chance to ask questions to our guests live tune in on Tuesdays when new episodes premiere on the Heights Platform, Facebook page, to learn more about the show and get notified when new episodes release, check out the Creator's Adventure dot com until then keep learning and I'll see you in the next episode.