Fighter Pilot Now Business Owner Dom "Slice" Teich On Strategies From The Cockpit That Help You Increase Business Profits (#256)

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Dom Slice Teich brings his fighter pilot background and applies them to guide pilots, athletes, business owners, and students with afterburner techniques that American fighter pilots use to ensure mission completion. As an Amazon bestselling author, business owner, entrepreneur, civilian and military instructor pilot he knows that busy individuals and teams struggle [00:02:00] with information overload. 

Since 2002 Slice has guided hundreds of students towards their goals. His blueprint is called Single Set Mindset. And impactful group of 40 fighter pilot guides with a combined experience of 700 years. They share proven formulas and life advice to the insider circle community to ensure success and big goal achievement all while avoiding overwhelm overload and flame out. They dive deep into the productivity world to provide guidance through short and impactful steps. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and wow. We have with us today a fighter pilot, a business owner, an entrepreneur, an all round terrific fellow who's gonna be sharing his insights, his wisdom from the trenches, and a whole lot more.

But I'm gonna pause it right there. Dom, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's really a pleasure to have you with us. And I'm curious, Tom, there's always a story behind the story, so I'm wondering what's [00:03:00] your story? What got you to where you are today?

Dominic Teich: Thanks for having me on, Jeffrey. I'm I'm glad to to share and hopefully maybe give some little nuggets of of help to any business owners that might be experiencing some pain or maybe have failed in the recent timeframe, because that's definitely been part of my life is the little failures that, and sometimes big failures that are painful along the.

Grew up, dad owned a bunch of single family homes, so I grew up renovating and painting and dealing with renters and that's how I was introduced to real estate. And, he did a bunch of stocks and commodities and he did really well in the C-suite exec world and still is doing well.

I remember vivid. One night we were having a chat and he said, really the only thing that has worked for him and has been consistent and avoids a lot of the ups and downs, avoids a lot of the boom bus cycles that we see in the stock market is real estate. And I thought that.

It was pretty interesting because we grew up with it. And so [00:04:00] I took that path. I didn't have any money. I had a bunch of college debt and so I started out, I bought my own house and I rented a room out to my buddy and I renovated it, and then I sold made some money. And then, I bought another house and I bought a rental property and then I bought an eight unit complex and we just started scaling from there and that's where it took off.

I can't say that I. Every aspect of real estate because there are a lot of challenges as you can imagine with owning businesses. But that's the background of, where I started was seeing that at a very visceral and ground level growing up, 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Some terrific advice that you got and what's interesting with business owners, they'll start a business and to your point, Real estate is not necessarily the strategy or the intention that they had, but they'll start to buy real estate even to support the business. So instead of paying rent, they'll buy a building, they'll operate outta that building, maybe rent part of that out.

And it's very often that I hear, you know what, Jeffrey? The real estate ended up being worth more than the business. Or when [00:05:00] you have a business and you have a liquidity event, you'll keep the real estate and it's a passive income that's coming in and that's, terrific to do that. And let me ask you this from the real estate side of thing to the business world.

And for listeners out there, this is all gonna be in the show notes. I really encourage you to go there. It'll be a point and click because you're a bestselling author and I love the title of your book, Single Seat Wisdom, Practical and Valuable Life Advice from America's Fighter. And so the question I wanted to ask you, Dham, and I've been looking forward to being with you and having this conversation.

So I mean, my goodness, the world of being a fighter pilot I can't even imagine what you and your other fighter pilots were going through in terms of the stress and pressure and just the high stakes that's going on there. But when you go from the field of fighter pilots to the field of life and business, what are some of the similarities that you're seeing?

Dominic Teich: I think that there are a lot, and I think if I was a business owner what I'd maybe wouldn't want to hear, but is good to hear is [00:06:00] that major league baseball players don't step into the batter's box and hit a hundred mile an hour fastball. That took a strategy and it took a lot of practice and dedication to getting to that point. And the same thing happens in the fighter pilot world. I definitely was not born a fighter pilot. It was a learned experience. I was a civilian flight instructor for a number of years before I even joined and went into the military. So, I grew up teaching a lot and that's, typically where I kind of gravitate to is once I become an instructor, then I start to teach. And that's, speaking of single seat wisdom, this was my way of giving back for all of the really cool experiences that I've seen in my life. And what it is, we've published two volumes and we're working on volume three.

But the first two volumes have 20 chapters a piece, and they're each written by a different fighter pilot. So it's their perspective that they've gained either from the third dimension or from their life as a fighter pilot. And they distill that down into some short and punchy anecdotal stories That they thought might help the reader as [00:07:00] well as at the end their wisdom. So even if you're not a reader they're very easy to, just grab the book, grab your favorite drink and sit back and for 10 minutes just read a little story and kind of, you know, think about what that might have been like.

But there are a lot of similarities, especially in the business world. I've. And one of them is the drive and the inability to quit. And I think that was one of my maybe stubborn is the word that comes to mind, but when you're a business owner and you know it's gonna work and you have the vision, And you've got that drive to continuously improve and, again, step back in the batter's box, even though you struck out yesterday and just to get back to it.

I think that's one of the strongest character traits that I learned was that you're gonna get beat down pretty good, but you just gotta pick yourself back up again.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so being stubborn, sticking with it, not giving up, seeing it through, getting all that done. Let me ask you that because and I'm wondering how it was from the cockpit to the business world. With that in [00:08:00] mind, there's always a time and place for everything. Everything's always situational. And Don what you're saying.

Yes. There's absolutely a time where most people actually give up and they're so close to getting to the goal line, crossing that finish line. They don't even know it. And there are times, and I've made this mistake myself, where I actually should have quit a long time back, but my stubbornness, my ego, whatever it is at that time.

Has me keep on doing something that I shouldn't. So from being a fighter pilot and being in that situation, which is different than being in business, literally it's life and death. You're up in the skies and you're doing that. But taking that to the business world, how do we know when to keep going or when to say, you know what?

I'm gonna pause. It's not working out. Let me figure out another direction. Or just stop it all together.

Dominic Teich: Yeah, I think that's a great question to have because I'm laughing right now because the one that comes to mind is the time that I took a sledgehammer and chucked it through the kitchen wall, and it went into a bedroom. Cuz I was renovating eight [00:09:00] unit apartment complex over a Christmas break and this was the third year in a row that I had used time off to push really push my business to the next level.

Right. And when you're starting, you know, you're, really watching your money closely and we had a lot of money going out and not a whole lot of money coming in. So, I just kind of stood back and I was frustrated because I wanted to be home with my wife and kids.

I wanted to hang out and do the holiday thing, and I did not want to be swinging hammers, even though I knew I could do it. But like you said, should I just grit or should I quit and I quit doing the things that didn't serve. The bigger picture. Right. And it wasn't me being a failure. could, I failed at that event, right?

I failed to prioritize the thing that was important and hopefully, you know, I just was, I was like, man, I hope my family is with me in the long run. At some point I will probably sell this property. So, I think that's a really good thing to ask yourself that takes a little bit of. maybe self introspection and just [00:10:00] to of sit back and go what am I doing with this?

And that's tough to do sometimes as a business owner when you're just sprinting. Every day is a sprint. Especially in the first, I don't know what your experience has been, Jeffrey, but the first year is always a disaster for me. Anytime I started a business. And then the first three years are tough.

And then after about year three is when I've. Built this rhythm and either told myself, I'm gonna turn the business off, which I've done before on another business that was not serving the bigger why. And then at year three also going, oh, you know what, this is starting to become enjoyable because there's processes and people and things that are running it, and it's, serving the bigger purpose.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I'm right there with you. I find you know, my experiences three years seems to be where things finally start to click and they get going. And, you know, I also have a saying, at least for myself, when I've been there, I've been starting things up. It's been, Hey, take your projections, take your revenues, cut them in half.

Take your expenses, triple them, quadruple them, and then you're probably [00:11:00] getting close to reality. You're still not at reality, but you're probably getting closer to reality. You know, We always start with the best of intentions and life happens, and that's just the way it goes. That's part of the journey.

Dominic Teich: I have a lot of stories and just I look back and then the other thing too is I think keeping it light, and it may not be very funny in that minute, in that time, but again, in the second or third multi-family property I jacked up the landscaping budget and.

At the time, I, I was starting out again, we had a lot of properties under renovations and I was really watching the money and it cost me $110,000 and I didn't have that kind of money. And nor should anybody have that kind of money to just throw around. But that was in a six month period, I got to learn what most people would take four to eight years, to learn.

it was a difficult lesson to learn, but you just have to take those in stride and take that punch to the face and then get yourself back up and try again.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I hear you and Dom, let me ask you this. So you are into real estate [00:12:00] now and investing in properties and all the benefits that come with that. Whether it's real estate and passive income coming from rental properties, or someone's doing a high tech or low tech or manufacturing, or they're in a family business, they're a second or third generation.

In many ways, business is business that the industry may be different, but the strategies, the tactics, the best practices, as I'll call them. Often remain the same. And that's, for our Deep Wealth, our nine step roadmap, why we're so successful with what we do is we're industry agnostic. So when you combine what you learned as a fighter pilot and you had some of the finest training that the world has to offer some of the brightest minds and the best money being invested in you to have you as an ace fighter pilot, you're taking that you now applied that to life and to your.

But big picture wise from a 50,000 foot in the air view, normally I say that most people don't get the concept. You probably do. From, being the fighter pilot, what kind of strategies could you share for our listeners who are coming to this particular podcast saying, you know what, [00:13:00] I'm good at what I'm doing, but I wanna take it to the next level.

I'm not where I wanna be. I know I can do more. I know I can help more people. I know I can be more successful, but I'm missing that something. What comes to mind in that kind of situation, big picture wise?

Dominic Teich: So even if you're starting out, or you're in it right now, is you have to ask yourself the people that are the closest to you that do the best work with you. I wouldn't even say for you for the business. You have to ask yourself, is your team dragging you down or is it building you up?

And that was something that I messed up in the first year. in year two, I fired 80% of the people that I hired in the first year because they were the wrong people. They weren't bad people, they were just wrong for what I hired them to do. So I hired fast, which is opposite. I would flip that and just, and hire more, not even slow, that's the wrong word.

I'd just be a little bit more diligent about you. Interviewing more people and just figuring out exactly who I need for that position. And so I think even somebody that has been in it for a while that maybe wants to level up, you have to ask yourself those [00:14:00] hard questions. Are those people that you have in those are they really building you up?

And in fact, I've been in the real estate business and then also writing books for a number of years and. All of the stuff that goes along with that. And just recently late last year, I had to remove a property management company that had been with me for a number of years cuz they weren't running the business.

Like I needed to be run. And it took about six months and it was painful, but, Man, it is a breath of fresh air. Just this last month has been the first month where we've really started to get our feet back, underneath us after covid. So I think even if you are early or you've been in it for a while, you have to sit back and go what is just constantly evaluate and look at, like you say, from the 50,000 foot view.

Who's the fat kid that's slowing me down on the team. And maybe I can take his backpack and put him at the front of the line and maybe he's the brains of the outfit, but he or she's slowing me down. And just look at your team that way. To see where you can maybe gain a little bit more momentum.

And then I think the bigger piece [00:15:00] that I've learned from the real estate business and then into single seat mindset, which is the business, we give all of the profits to a children's cancer nonprofit. when I made that leap for that business to write books and have a web presence and to do podcasting and all of the stuff that goes along with that.

Many Years ago, a lot of people would look at my life and say, wow, you're very successful. But for me, I felt like I was in this hamster wheel just going around. I was just at a sprint. I was a very high achiever. And then after a while I just kind of sat back and go what is success and how do I define that?

And when I define success, I. Was successful in my own definition, very quickly, and that caused another problem. So I think the jumps from achievement to success, the next step up from that is significance or a word. I'm just picked the word significance, but what significance does that have?

Cuz you could buy a hundred unit, multi-family, apartment property and make 20 million on it, but then [00:16:00] you could end up, in the slum. Under the streets in Las Vegas, cuz you gambled it all away and there's no significance to it. So these books, single Seat Wisdom specifically, and thank you for mentioning that impactful project is that the significance of that is that people can't undo that work.

It's published, people have these books on their shelves. They're all around the world. And people are buying 'em and talking about 'em and they like to read 'em and they're just, it's so different. To have a compilation book with all these different minds talking about challenges and struggles and failures and all that kind of stuff.

So I think that's really where, obviously look at your team. Even if you're early on or you've been running a business for a while and you wanna level up, and then as you sit back from more of a philosophical level I would say that the word significance or something, a synonym for significance.

Ask yourself that. What significance does this business have? Is it serving my bigger good or is this maybe a business I can figure out? Probably what you are very good at is how do I figure out how. [00:17:00] Get this business to a point where I can then sell it and do something that is gonna, be bigger for my life.

My family, my friends, the world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Tom, I really like the points that you put out there and there's a lot to unpack. And for our listeners, I really hope you're paying attention and let's unpack that for the benefit of our listeners. So going back slightly. What you said was really the team is everything. And not to put words in your mouth, what I heard you say is perhaps going back, if I could change a few things, I would hire slowly.

And fire faster as opposed to the other way around. I perhaps hired a little bit too quick and we've all been there, Dom, I've done that too many times and that I can remember where I hire too quickly. You get all excited and unfortunately the candidate does the best sales job in the interview and then it's all downhill after that. So to take our time hiring, but then when things aren't working out, to really be quick on letting people go because the team is everything. And I wish I said this quote, I didn't invent it, but it's one of my favorites. It's [00:18:00] both for growing a business, which is what we focus on, and also liquidity event.

John Maxwell, when the team works, the dreamworks. And so when you don't have those performers, those, let's call them B, C, and D players, really hold back the entire. And Dom, to your point, you're so right. When we hang on to someone a little too long, maybe they'll pick it up or I don't really feel like having the conversation today or whatever.

The other team members feel frustrated and discouraged. Hey, don't they care? Why is this person still here? So I really admire that strategy that you're sharing with us. And then circling back to significance, and I love what you said about that and. Going on that point, are you saying that significance finding significance in what we do, tying that into our business activities?

So my words would be, hey, all the success in the world, all the zeros in the bank is nothing. If there's not fulfillment that comes along with that. In fact, it's failure. To your point, it's [00:19:00] failure. You could be the wealthiest person and on the magazine covers every magazine. But if you're not happy, if you're not fulfilled well, then really you're a failure when you.

Different kinds of measurements. Thoughts about that?

Dominic Teich: Yeah. I think the thing that a lot of people, right, they don't like those confrontational, the ugliness that goes behind letting somebody go or firing somebody. But I think the piece to that is you have to ask yourself, did you really define. What you needed that person to do. And then aside from that one point more often than not, I have fired myself from jobs that I was doing, from things that I was doing as a business owner because I had no business doing that.

That didn't serve the better part of the business. There's no reason for me to be doing accounting. I'm the business owner. I am not an accountant. I can do account. that's a working competency. That's not my genius. I started the business. I'm a founder and that's what I like to do.

I like to get things going. I have the inertia and what I learned throughout the years is [00:20:00] very specifically what I don't like doing and I don't like doing. I can do it. I don't like the CEO and the COO stuff that goes on in the business. I can do it, but I fired myself from that. And I fired myself from being an accountant and I, so fire yourself from jobs that you're doing because those are the pain points that are, you're probably putting roadblocks in front of yourself, and I know that's it with me is that I, in the first year, Where things are very turbulent.

I have a lot of energy to continue to tackle those big problems that come up and if you're one of those people that just wants a peaceful day, you're setting yourself up for failure as you're laying in bed in the morning and you're like listening to yourself breathe and praying or meditating or, or taking that five minutes that you need to just get your mindset.

Know that when your feet hit the floor, there's gonna be some fires that need to be put out that day. And you are the person that can guide, the firetruck, but you don't need to drive the fire truck to use kind of an analogy. But just know that that's part of it. And I think for [00:21:00] me, what has.

Served my businesses more than anything was just going, you know, I can do that, but I'm not going to 

 There's only a certain amount of time in the day and there's somebody else that I can pay to do that. And somebody told me this many years ago he said, if you want to be a millionaire, you have to treat your time like a millionaire.

So I sat down and figured out what one hour in dollars was worth to me and that. 500 plus dollars. So I said, if I'm gonna be a millionaire, then I'm gonna treat every hour of my day, like $500 an 

hour. And when I did that, Granted, that doesn't mean that I won't pick up trash on my property or I step over things cuz I'm above whatever.

If I'm there, I'll take care of it. But I also am very cognizant of the finite amount of time that we all have in this world. And if you're not treating your time with respect, then you're basically gonna be using your time to make money versus spending money to make more time is kind of how I view that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's very wise and some [00:22:00] terrific advice and strategies that you're sharing with us. Dom, really big picture wise, what you're saying is, Hey, I'm gonna fire myself from things I probably either a, shouldn't be doing or I could do, but I don't like doing. I'm gonna fire myself from there. Bring people in. Yes, it costs money, but.

It allows me to work on the business or on my life, not in the business. And if I hire right and I get the right people in, they're probably better than me anyways. So I'll have a better business when all is said and done. And one of the things that we look for at Deep Wealth when we're working with business owners, to your point, Dom, does the business run without you?

And for most business owners, it's no way. It doesn't, and that's a huge red flag. It's not great for the business, not great for growth, and everything else that goes along with that. So I really respect what you're saying. Fire yourself from things that you shouldn't be doing or you don't like doing.

You'll enjoy your business more. It'll be a bigger business. And let me ask you this, and before I ask this question, I wanted to ask you on the personal side, I know in your book and in your bio your nickname [00:23:00] as a pilot was Slice.

Dominic Teich: Yeah.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Can you share with us, you know, how that came to be or, or the story behind the story on.

Dominic Teich: Yeah, so when I was a young fighter pilot, I was on a sortie, a flight that we would, we took off and we did for lack of better term, like a lot of people have seen the movie Top Gun. So we're dog fighting essentially. So it's very close in person that wins each set or each fight is the fighter pilot that shoots the other jet faster.

Right. So that's the goal is to shoot the other guy faster. So we do our first flight, we land, we leave the jets running, we get gas. They give us gas on the ground. We take off again. So we can get two sorties, two sorties for one, it's a twofer.

And on the second sortie on the last set, I started to cocky is the wrong word. I started to get very comfortable and with comfort sometimes comes complacency. So I was a little bit complacent and the fight went vertically up. as you go up in a fighter jet, you slow down and you lose the [00:24:00] ability to control your jet.

As much. As you do when you have more air speed. And as I did that, I was pointing at the other jet and shooting missiles, simulated missiles, of course. And the instructor in the other jet was doing the same thing to me. So we broke a training rule and we broke a rule. We say our rules are written in blood because you can die.

And we had a very close pass. So in the fighter pilot world, we have namings. So the young punks, like we're were called punks and a lot of other names. But when we get named, it's a naming ceremony. And they said, I tried to slice the other guy in half and I also was in a, fighter squadron that.

In Japan. That was the Samurai. So it fit the ninja sword theme that we had at the time. So I guess the lesson from that is, that I failed on that flight. I broke a training rule, almost died. Could have killed somebody else, And that's part of being in the business of, the high stakes business.

And you and business owners do that too, right? You'll have some very close passes that almost take you out. And if you are humble enough to [00:25:00] learn from that, maybe you'll get a, name from it. That'll stick. And then also, you just gotta learn to pick yourself back up again, because failure sometimes has the best lessons learned for.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. Unfortunately, or fortunately, failure often is the best teacher. I mean, Success is great, but it's the failure. That's where we really learn, and thank goodness you're here to talk about it. And it didn't go the other way. And so let me ask from that, getting the nickname Slice and being in that, really that high pressure, high tension situation to, as a fighter pilot, the sorties that you're doing or the missions that you're on, I'm gonna throw something out there.

You can tell me if I'm on base or off base. I would imagine that the pressure that you're under when it's the real deal and you're out there and you're doing what you're doing, that the pressure there is a very different, I'm gonna say more intense kind of. Than in business. And when we don't have that experience of, of what you have as business owners, I often feel that sometimes maybe we're taking things to an extreme or either proportion.[00:26:00]

You have both experiences now. You've been in literally life and death situations in the battlefield as a fighter pilot. You're now as a business owner, dealing with what feels like a life and death situation. But when you contrast a two being the fighter pilot, has that changed how you take on life with a so.

Problems that come up or what seems intense, maybe are you taking a step back because you've seen the other side of it, you know what it's really like or not?

Dominic Teich: I honestly think that being in business there's maybe you're not gonna die right that second, So I think that maybe there's, that aspect of it that lives within the fighter cockpit. But very rarely do we ever fly, even though we are single seat fighter pilots.

And we fly the jet and you have to know your jet very well. You have to know the systems. You have to know how to handle emergencies and all that stuff cause you're the only one in the aircraft. So there is that edge to that. But business owners do the same thing. You're in the single seat.

You make those decisions every day that are tough to make. [00:27:00] And I think the similarity to being in business and being a fighter pilot is the idea of working together. Because very rarely do I take off and just. I would say I hope, never do I take off and just wanna serve myself on my mission because I'm working with at least one other fighter jet, if not over a hundred depending on the mission.

And so the idea of teamwork and if you're in trouble to ask for help, and that takes a little bit of humility, which I did not have for many years. And fortunately that was eventually got beat out of me through enough failures to just start admitting that I'm wrong, pick myself back up and learn from that, versus hiding from it and trying to protect my own ego.

I think there are a lot of similarities to business ownership and being in a single seat fighter jet. And I think if you can learn to just admit that you were wrong and admit that you made a mistake, that's a big one. But then more importantly, as a business, And as a fighter pilot, if I have something going wrong, I need to know who to call for help.

And it's not Ghostbusters, but it's essentially getting on the radio and [00:28:00] talking to my wingman or calling another instructor pilot and saying, Hey dude, have you seen this before? there's a weird thing going on in my jet. Can you open up your checklist? And as a business owner, I'm gonna call my CPA and go, Hey, have you ever seen this happen?

I'm, getting ready for this liquidity event. How do I roll the funds so that I can avoid tax or. Legally do this, that and the other thing. And so just knowing who to call, there's a lot of similarities to business ownership cuz you don't have to do it yourself, but you do have to make the decision yourself if you're the instructor or the mission commander.

And that's a lonely seat to be in, but business owners do it too.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So true. Really checking the ego at the door, which is hard for a lot of

people. It's been hard for me at times, and my ego has unfortunately led the way to some bad decisions or saying, Hey, I really need some help. I really mess this up. Don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me? Sometimes it's hard for people to ask for help, so really it's being humble and being agile and checking the ego at the.

I'm hearing you say, surround yourself with the right resources of people, the right team of [00:29:00] people, that you can help them, they can help you, that both as a fighter pilot, but also in the business world. Very similar, different situations, but similar strategies to really get you across the finish line as a winner.

Dominic Teich: Yeah you said it a lot better than me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: and let me ask you this. You've given us so many strategies. How we can take from where we are today to take ourselves and the business to the next level. Is there any other strategy that comes to mind or something that I haven't asked on a strategy side that's been meaningful for you, either as a fighter pilot or now as a business owner, best selling author.

Anything that you would share with our listeners?

Dominic Teich: I think the last little piece, if this is the last thing, is something in single seat wisdom, volume two. There's a test pilot, astronaut fighter pilot that wrote a chapter in there and his chapter's called plan execute, debrief, and so, as different individuals operate differently on that spectrum, right?

 I plan enough to get going, which is also bad because I might miss some of the [00:30:00] finer planning points. Some people get stuck in planning and they get stuck in that analysis paralysis. Phase and they never get going, and then they never start learning through failure and seeing how things work. So I would say if you're like me, I've learned that during the planning phase I need to ask people questions and get people on the team to fill in and build a better plan.

And then if you're somebody that gets stuck in the planning phase, then you need to give yourself a deadline and have somebody hold you accountable if it's not yourself to a date to get going. So that's the. The execution portion of it is, that's the fun part. It's where you start to put your plan to action.

That's where I really thrive. Because fighter pilots we like to fly and that's the execution of our plan. The planning stuff is just something we tolerate. So that we can go do the fun stuff, which is flying. So during your execution phase, that doesn't mean that you can't tweak your plan, especially if you're a business owner.

So just think of that as you're executing your plan. Is this working? Do I need to retweak my plan? And [00:31:00] what you're subconsciously doing there is you're debriefing yourself. You can debrief yourself throughout the day on your drive home at the end of each day, maybe the start of each morning. How did yesterday?

Write notes down even if you think that you're super sharp and you can remember all that stuff. Notes take notes. Whether that's typing voice notes. There's so many ways to keep all of those little nuggets that you can go back and listen to, and specifically you'll learn what you thought was a big problem in the past is not a problem now.

And so that's just part of growing. But the debrief portion or the, I'd say that's probably the biggest. Thing that I've seen in the business world outside of being a fighter pilot or the biggest thing that I took from being a fighter pilot was how to effectively debrief. And again, I'm just giving a plug to the book, but single seat wisdom, volume one one of the fighter pilots, dirty Bird, he is the Air Force equivalent of a top gun instructor pilot.

And he wrote The Art of a Fighter Pilot debrief, and there's actually a little debrief methodology. You know if then chart in there, right? So did you execute [00:32:00] your game plan? No. And then there's like questions that can lead you down there. So if you haven't learned how to effectively debrief, that could potentially help you.

But I think the big question you need to ask yourself as you're debriefing, was it luck? So did you succeed and was that just a lucky thing that happened? Or did you fail? Or did you hit your plan? And so you need to ask all those questions whether or not you were successful in your endeavors.

it was an abysmal failure. There's a lot of lessons for your future growth right there in that debrief portion, and I wouldn't wait to debrief till the end of the year. Right? You don't give feedback to your employees one time a year. It needs to be a constant thing. So, a couple minutes every day just to take some notes.

that Really got my business to another level was just identifying those problems and then retweaking my plan and then executing and debriefing all over again.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Now, what a terrific success loop that you set up. On the one hand, what gets measured gets done, and so you're certainly doing that, but then you're debriefing, [00:33:00] okay, what worked, what didn't work? How can I improve it? But you're doing it near real time, so it's not. Six months ago. What did I do? I mean, Most of us have problems remembering what do we have for lunch five days ago?

Nevermind, a month ago. So, I just love how you're doing it, right away and thinking through your thoughts and writing it out, or talking it out to really get you there. And Don, before we start wrapping up I wanna ask this. And so firstly, I wanna give you a formal thank you on the podcast for being in the service and we're talking offline and it's worth repeating you really doing what you did so we could all do what we do and have us enjoy our way of life and do the things that, that we do.

So, truly a heartfelt thank you. And so, Dom, let me ask you this as we head into wrap up mode. You know you talked about one movie, Ghostbusters. I'm gonna talk about another movie and it's a terrific thought experiment and let me set it up. It's a fun question and here it is.

I want you to think of the movie Back to the Future. And in the movie you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. So [00:34:00] here's the fun part, Dom. It's tomorrow morning. You look outside your window. Not only is a DeLorean car, there door is open, it's curbside, it's waiting for you to hop on in.

So you hop in and you're now gonna go back to any point of your life. Dom as, I don't know, a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be. What are you telling your younger self in terms. Life wisdom or life lessons or, Hey Dom, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like?

Dominic Teich: So it would be this one concept is I enjoyed having fun, and I loved joking around and laughing, I knew where I wanted to go and I missed some of the fun moments during that journey and very specifically in Air Force pilot training, when I had finally gotten there.

It was a number of years of competing to get to that spot. I did not give myself any days off. I didn't give myself, I didn't wanna look back and see any missed chance. At maybe failing out or, [00:35:00] not achieving my dreams of being a fighter pilot.

 There were some experiences that I could have still had during that journey.

 And I still could have achieved my dreams of being a fighter pilot. I just took myself a little bit too seriously during those times. So what I learned from all of that, cuz I'm still very much wired that way, especially when I'm starting something like I talked about earlier, I love startups and founding businesses, and I've got the energy to do that. I need to give myself some marked points along the path, along my plan so that when I hit those I tell myself, and I more or less force myself to enjoy that and to celebrate it because I will miss those and I will keep going and I'll burn myself out.

And I have this cycle that it's happening much less now as I start to know and learn a lot more about myself. However, Have fun on the journey, I think would be the big thing. And then when you do hit those milestones, that would be the better word that I was looking for, those milestones, make sure you celebrate them and take some time off, and then that helps you to recharge.

[00:36:00] Boom, you can get back to it again. And if you're like anything like me and you just want to keep going, you need to force yourself to stop and take a knee, catch your breath and sometimes you'll learn a little bit during that timeframe.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Dom is terrific life advice and think about it really as business owners, as entrepreneurs, whether you're a fighter pilot, even, we're all Type A personalities, and how often is it that we get to the top of one mountain. We just keep on going. Okay, next mountain, even higher. Let me get there. So I love what you're saying of, hey, enjoy the journey and celebrate.

Celebrate the milestones as you get there. What terrific advice, And, is. It's a wonderful way to wrap up this episode. Dom, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. Your terrific 'em. You're terrific strategies, your insights, and as we say here at Deep Wealth, please continue to thrive and prosper while you say healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

Dominic Teich: Thank you, Jeffrey. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get [00:37:00] an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix. 

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Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I [00:38:00] invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even. 

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the [00:39:00] years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, A-plus.

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Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

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