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Speech Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  

Hey, this is Michael J Penny with five paragraph.com. And if you really want to learn how to level up your life, you should be listening to the time to shine today podcast with my friend, Scott Ferguson. Time to shine today varsity squad it is Scott Ferguson and welcome to Episode 131 with my man my Leatherneck my marine dude, Michael penny from five paragraph att.com. He’s fantastic. He’s a lot of fun. His passion for the United States is above reproach. He’s a good buddy of mine. He’s gonna drop some serious knowledge nuggets on you regarding adding value to every situation, the value of a handshake and a heartfelt smile. And I could go on and on but without further ado, here’s my really good friend,

Unknown Speaker  0:53  

marine patriot

Unknown Speaker  0:55  

Michael penny from five paragraph.com

Unknown Speaker  1:06  

Time to shine today varsity squad it is Scott Ferguson and I have somebody from the Marines and all you guys know that I was a Navy guy. But I also admit that the Marines are the men’s department of the Department of the Navy they go out they get after they crush it. Their first and last line of defense and I got a true baller Michael Penny is the company five paragraph and I’m not gonna lie to you and say know everything about the company I’m brought Michael in to really explain it but Michael is a combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. He served in the Marine Corps. Infantry Third Battalion seventh Marines deployed twice to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2005. six and seven, Michael reenlisted during the second tour and transferred to Quantico to become a weapons instructor. So basically took a bunch of boots and he taught him how to fire side by side arms and rifles and stuff. He’s so he’s a total badass this guy. All right, he’s certified as a combat marksmanship. Coach, trainer, instructor trainer is a formal formal school instructor, school trained designated marksman small arms weapons instructor and foreign weapons instructor. So basically, I’m gonna kind of stop there. He’s just he’s a total badass. But he’s, like I said, He’s the creator of five paragraph business plan, taking military operation format and applying to business. So before you tune out and think this is just for veterans, go to the website five, and that’s the new miracle five paragraph.com and he sets right in there. No military experience required that all of you guys could be men and do it. I’m kidding. But I brought in Michael here. And if you watch this video, this guy brought it today, man, he’s a suit and tie. He’s got his ribbons on he’s crushing it. Michael, welcome to the squad, but I need you to tell me first, your favorite color. Well, thanks For the huge intros, I really appreciate it. My favorite color is scarlet red. scarlet red. Oh, absolutely. We have Scarlet and gold in the Marine Corps. One of the huge reasons why I love being on the red team, no big deal. Red, red. It’s my favorite color. Yes, I know. It’s hugely aggressive. Red is always on the attack. It’s the it’s the color of patriotism. It’s the blood we shed in order for this wonderful liberty that we experienced. So yeah, absolutely, man. So, again, welcome to the squad. Can you give us the origins and we started maybe when you enlisted into the Marines and, you know, kind of a little bit of maybe tell us a really good story about maybe being over Ramadi or share with us a little bit of the origins before you really got into the five paragraph. Sure. Yeah. So I have been looking at the military as an option when I was in high school and then 911 happened. Yes, I’m that young 911 happened to where I graduate. from high school in 2004, and already knew that I wanted to join the Marine infantry guide tested high enough on the SF, hey, you go and do whatever you want to do. I said, I want to go, I want to be a grunt. And everybody was like, You’re freaking nuts. And what it really was, is I wanted to go and add value in a place where I felt as though I could add value to this greater overall tribe. If you’re going to go and fight go and fight with the best. And this is kind of a

Unknown Speaker  4:30  

a token that I’ve carried with me throughout my entire story. And so when I went into the Marine Corps infantry, this kid from Michigan, right fill Michigander right, my first duty station you said at three seven weapons company with cat red was 29 palms, which is out in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Southern California. So to go from the Great Lakes State to 932 square miles blowing stuff It was a huge culture shock of his change, needless to say, but it was also it was one of those things where I needed big board rules. You know, okay, you’re gonna give me a rocket launcher. Well, I hope that I’m responsible enough to actually employ said rocket launcher, right? Yeah, we do too. So I love being in the Marine infantry. Honestly, I thought that it was an extraordinarily hard drive. I did my fair share of complaining as well. But looking back on it, we got to wear pajamas and boots to work and blow stuff up. I mean, that’s pretty freakin cool. That’s also right. Well, and, and so, you know, doing two tours to Ramadi, Iraq, which was just an absolute, it was a shock man. Let me tell you what we did Ramadi, in 2005 2006. We went around as a as a company. We hit somewhere between 250 and 250 IDs. We went out there and we found over 275 IDs so we’re just ID is an improvised explosive device kits anybody what it was those frickin cowards over there with plant them to they didn’t want to man up and fight us one on one so they plan to blow us blow us up right Michael? Okay, right well, I mean think about it from a front end insurgency perspective and I probably like yourself watched Red Dawn

Unknown Speaker  6:25  

right when the first one or the second one

Unknown Speaker  6:28  

the first one we’re not gonna talk about there was no second one I don’t know what you’re saying. There’s no sir. Bobby lower rates. That’s a weird would do the same thing, wouldn’t we we would do the same thing. It’s what I’m trying to say. It’s one of those where it’s like respecting enemy for the tactics, techniques and procedures that these people would employ. Right. And they were smart enough to put washing machine timers on some of these devices and stuff, you know, as dead arm switches. And it was interesting in studying the enemy from the perspective of if you were to turn them around. around if it was your country, if you were trying to defend yourself in such in such an instance, how would you do it and that was, that was the first time that I truly started understand when hearts and minds the value of not expanding ammunition, the value of a handshake and a heartfelt smile, they honestly will win the war. And this is something that is spoken of by sunsoo in the art of war, right. Yeah, and I would rather go about that in order to then work in unison with our allies that are on the ground this foreshadows where I’ve wanted to actually go in the Marine Corps as my experience and went into it thinking, hey, maybe I’ll do recon or be a sniper or something like that. I don’t know. In Quantico, I got to go through all of those cool schools, foreign weapons designated marksman, coach, trainer, instructor, trainer, all of that stuff, and it enabled me and empowered me is a noncom Mission officer to be able to go out there and instruct, I used to stand out in front of 300 lieutenants at a time over at the basic school and instruct those 300 lieutenants is one of the eight Marines who are on the hill, right? And we would push the 300 lieutenants, through their periods of instruction as well as their snap into their live fire. Right? Imagine having somebody who wants to fiddle around with a weapon system that’s in front of them in their college classroom, auditorium style, and then on top of it, you’re gonna give these people live ammunition I mean, like good. Okay, so teachers are like, Oh, man, teaching is the hardest job in the world. I’m giving my students live ammunition and firearms. What are you talking about? Your jobs for daily teaching in Detroit? Henry Fonda godless smoke check a bunch of people you had to salute. Say goodbye. It was, you know, I mean, you know, it’s, I mean, we need the leaders. I mean, they’re they’re groomed to be leaders, but they need someone like you that’s been in the trenches that’s been there. I did some of my own training over and cornado over in Seal Beach and stuff. So I take on officers quite a bit. So how did how did we move forward into the five paragraph Michael? Okay, so I’m glad that you asked because in my third tour, I was an embedded adviser to the Afghan uniformed police. And I saw the effectiveness of what advisors on the ground could really do. So for word, after the Marine Corps, I actually invented a product, brought it all the way to market scaled, and it failed miserably as businesses do. And as I was talking to a fellow marine about that business and giving him the pitch, and we’re done with the meeting, his big venture capital guy, Norwich grads, all sorts of connected, we’re walking out and he’s like, Hey, man, here’s sergeant in the infantry. Gorgeous Yeah. Why? Didn’t you just write an operations order for what you want to get done? And it’s like a five paragraph operations order, like yeah, lightbulb moment is off. There you go. So five paragraph is taking an operations order, and the nuts and bolts of great business plans and combining those two working wheels into a highly efficient wheel. So don’t reinvent the wheel. Take two working wheels, bring them together, make a zero to one product, as Peter teal would say. So five paragraph operations order is how we would construct patrols, how we would put together a letter of intent, let’s say for instance, in opening a schoolhouse, everything, everything, everything from an executive officer level leadership all the way on down to the sergeant to the petty officer on the ground on the deck. They’re all using the same five paragraph operations. Order. it. And so I saw this as a huge opportunity in business. Love it. Love it. So you parlayed the military operations order into the civilian life in the fence as well. Yeah, exactly kind of what you did, which is fantastic, man. That’s, and that was kind of that light bulb was with somebody that you while you’re an embedded advisor that can talk to you about it.

Unknown Speaker  11:25  

No. So okay, how the light bulb went off is I was already working in another company. I was out of the Marine Corps. I was I was talking to him about potentially investment money. And he said, why not give this pitch and operations order format, where the embedded advisor element, that piece in the back story is hugely critical. For me, the founder of phi p to be able to use that mission here as advisors With five p the overall military management method for the modern workforce when we work with organizations to create a custom learning experience for them and their people, we assess train advise and assist them in hundred arise that they are given standard proficiency the exact same way that we did as an embedded in Pfizer element. Okay, so if you go to five paragraph comm, or check out the book which you can get free plus shipping. All that we’re saying is that you pay shipping and handling, we will send you the book, you will get 30 days free access to the five Pete inner circle. That’s our templates and all of our online learning experience into a 15 minute assessment with me, that usually trails off into a 45 minute assessment because we get to talking with people. And the idea being is that we are there to provide you one on one Advisor Services. We can come in and do around the conference room table up to 10 participants We can do one to three day fully planned out programmed, eight hour a day workshops, where we’ve got up to 100 participants. I’m used to instructing five days a week 300 lieutenants going through at 17 Lieutenant details and 300 lieutenants PR as well as all of the other recall all of the other training all of the other advisors stuff downrange that’s what I’m bringing to our advisor cadre. That’s what I’m personally bringing to life five P’s that brand I get to be the convenience of it intelligible for your toolbox, love it, love it fantastic. Some that really nobody’s really offering it’s very unique people are offering it, but not in a package format like you are. So if I am at a networking event, which here in South Florida, we kind of can, you know, but if I’m talking to somebody and I’m using the the golden rule of you know, One mouth and two ears for a reason. I’m shutting up and I’m listening. What kind of things might they be saying to me, Michael, that would make them a great candidate, prospect or referral or an introduction to five, five paragraph? Absolutely. I’m so glad that you asked. And I appreciate that you do. They’re small to medium sized business owners who have a process in place for how they’re making money potentially in a skilled labor market. They might even be a landscaper, they might be somebody who’s doing homework around around the house. They’re a contractor, and they want to run multiple crews, and they’re trying to get that manage that business management piece to click for them. Okay, so we’ve seen success. We’ve seen success with everything from healthcare to corrections to insurance companies. We’ve even seen a junior high classroom using five p they’ve got it on a bulletin board. It’s actually really cool. But we’re target what we’re looking to build Help. Are those fine folks that were in flyover America that were the silent majority on the last go around. They’re focused on growing this through skilled labor. You go to five paragraph calm right now, go ahead and check out my letter from the president that’s on there. We sent copies to Donald Trump. I will proudly say this publicly, Donald Trump sent me a letter back, go and check it out at five paragraphs calm. We’re looking for those types of business leaders that are small to medium have processes for making money, but they need that business management put into place so that they can delegate their authority and command their business like a general Love it. Love it in the lead from the front and push from the back a little bit. And that’s fantastic. That’s what five paragraph does. Like I’m going to ask you since you know about Red Dawn, early one with Patrick Swayze and sheen and other Eskimo, right? Let’s get in our DeLorean with Marty McFly then so you I’m sure you go back at a future right. So yeah, there. Let’s go back to the 23 year old Michael. Okay, kind of knowledge nuggets. But so we call him here time to shine today. What kind of knowledge nuggets are you dropping on? The 22 year old Michael, with the experience that you knowledge and wisdom that you have now to help them shorten his learning curve and level up.

Unknown Speaker  16:21  

Oh, man. All right, I tell you what, here’s something that I have no problem sharing. I have not had a drop of booze for over 10 years.

Unknown Speaker  16:33  

So maybe,

Unknown Speaker  16:34  

like I would go back to I would go back to him. And I would say, I would say you’re on the right track. You’re on this something. What’s your thinking here? All right, put that down, plug on the jug and pick up books. Which, which right around that time is is when it really started clicking into gear for me, where it was like, wait a minute, Yeah, if I hang out with other drunks similar, get drunker. And then, you know, I was hanging out with the other. And it’s Yeah, sure. It’s marine sailors and other stuff like that. You’re, you’re the, what you’re the, the aggregate of the five people that you spend most time with. Right? So you have to be able to search changing those things up. So 22 year old Mike was definitely you know, I’d already done Think about this. I already done two tours serve money, Iraq. 22 year old my 22 year old Mike was going through Quantico, sure. And starting to do the the advisor, trainer thing and all of this other stuff. And I was really starting to get into that headspace of, Hey, wait a minute. I know what my assigned value is. And I want to level that up as you so eloquently put it. So you’re on the right track. Keep a plug on the jug, keep reading books, keep doing what you’re doing. Matter of fact, 22 year old Mike Penny was when I really stepped out and started and started doing the truly getting the instruction stuff done. So, yeah, so that’s, that’s 12 years ago and 34 now, so

Unknown Speaker  18:13  

beautiful. So

Unknown Speaker  18:15  

then what is the big the big, you’ve accomplished so much at 34 years of age, brother, you’re still young buck. So like, is the big the big thing that Michael wants to accomplish? Sure. At the Business Development Group, Business Development Group using seip. Think about this. Okay. You’ve got a whole bunch of business leaders that are all using the same template. Can you imagine alignment? Can you imagine business development to the absolute extreme? Because now all of you are supporting agencies the same way that Army Navy Marine Corps Coast Guard, you don’t all look the same. look a little bit the same. We were a camouflage to work, but you definitely don’t act the same coast guard in the Marines act very different. From how the let’s say the Air Force to your butcher, but But wait a minute, how do you get artillery and people who fly jets and people who steer boats? How do you get them all onto the same page? Right? Like hey, you want to you want to five p the world just like you know Grant Cardone do an accent, you want to five to the world. So that being said, Do you get any pushback from companies that bring 5pm one new first kind of layout the operations plan for their company? Believe it or not, it’s not the pushback. It’s the vulnerability that leaders experienced. They’re like, wait a minute, hold on. You want me to brief the same plan to the board of directors and then turn around and brief that to all of the VPS correct. Right. Right. It works. And to us, it’s like, yeah, that’s a no brainer. That’s that’s what the general does. And then so on and so forth all the way down the chain of command. When you’re a sergeant you back brief your platoon commander and then you turn around brief all your All your people. Interesting. Right? Right. Right. So, so that’s the biggest hurdle for a lot of leaders is they’re really putting out the transparency. I would say the number two is, when you delegate authority, it’s time for you to walk away. Mm hmm. There’s no micromanage. There’s no helicopter parent. You know, when you’re done delegating authority, that’s it. soundwalk away. Okay. And here’s the third thing. And I would say, this is probably the most critical, okay, this is the biggest takeaway for anybody that I talked to in regard to fi P. If you delegate your authority, to be able to go and take action, you must delegate your authority to make observations, observations on your behalf. That’s how you get that feedback loop. That’s how you get mission bias. That’s how you lower turnover is by getting people to go and take action. And then when they turn around and tell you what actually took place. You got to take it into account the next time that you go around and playing logs. There are a whole lot of people who’d rather be all results driven? And I get it, man Come on plan, do check act, Edward Deming. Yeah, I get it Bill Smith over there and Lean Sigma and six sigma and all of this other stuff. I studied all of them. Alright, but I like looking at Gifford pinch you the third intrapreneurship you need intrapreneurial leaders, sergeants, petty officers on the ground on the deck. They are entrepreneurial leaders who pick up that guide on under their own initiative and say we’re going over there. Right. I know what the commander’s intent is, I know what the desired end state is. Here’s all of the objectives in between, and we need to hit them. Okay. So if you’re putting this into place, and I absolutely believe that you should, every business in America should have this level of accountability and transparency. It’s got to have that feedback loop we can help you. It starts with getting the book at five paragraphs, calm getting one on one like this, and then we can do we can Do the conference stuff and everything else virtually all service. So, you know, the whole slides in the background and stuff. Yeah, we’re accommodating love that after the overcome a love it Yeah, yeah, absolutely, definitely overcome. So we talked a lot about the dash here at time to shine today. And Michael, you know, you like me have faced you know very close calls for lack of a better term but how do you want that dash remembered that little dash in between your your life date and your expiration date? How do you want that remember maybe a legacy statement epitaph How do you want your dash remember,

Unknown Speaker  22:36  

add value to every situation no matter how explosive, no matter how vulnerable you feel, add value to every situation. It’s something that I I even expressed in my TED Talk, which again at that five paragraph com add value of every situation no matter how explosive it may be. And that that’s really how you get in In between, you know those laws everybody’s got the blues man, everybody deals with that type of stuff is just, you know, rest, relax, recoup, surround yourself with people who give you energy. You know, go out there outside of your comfort zone, find something else. Boom, it snaps into place. Throw yourself into situations, you know. Sure, but but really, it’s that it’s that add value. Love that. Love it. What are three things really say three nouns person, place or thing that Michael can’t live without? Oh, man, that’s great. Great leaders focus on the noun. Put the right people in the right place the right thing. Okay, people first, my immediate team. You did say people that’s plural. So my immediate team at five pa couldn’t live without. All right, and Lisa and Brian and john and all of the other folks that help out in a in a greater capacity over there. But that immediate close circle. It is so hugely important that people understand that fine P is not the Michael J Penny show it is a team of people it is a tool for their toolbox and I am simply the conveyance for it. The the places were the places you can name three anything you want.

Unknown Speaker  24:22  

Oh, okay. What’s three things you can’t live without

Unknown Speaker  24:25  

three things that I can’t live without. I gotcha.

Unknown Speaker  24:31  

Oh fan,

Unknown Speaker  24:32  

I would say from a very simplest perspective, you know, my truck I can’t live with you go. And I love my American made Chevrolet truck. My my coffee. I can’t live without just to give you a little bit of a Hey, how do you keep this energy thing going? You know, but from a people perspective. It really is. You know, it’s the folks right there that are near and dear to my But honestly from a place and I and I totally mean this 100% I cannot live without America. I Oh, not joking. But I’ve been I’ve been all except for Hawaii and I absolutely love our country. I love it. I’m willing to die for it. Thank you so much for saying that, you know, especially in this day and age and the stuff that’s going I don’t want to go there this conversation. But thank you so much for saying that. So it’s a it’s a breath of fresh air to talk to somebody that’s a patriot like myself. So we’re going to as we wind it up a little bit Michael, we’re going to go into our leveling up lightning round. You and I could talk 1520 minutes on each one of these but I need first answer no explanation. This they’re easy questions. You’re ready. Ready? All right. What’s the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received? Oh, my goodness. If you’re not having fun here doing it wrong. All right. What’s the name? share one of your personal hats. contributes to your success. Absolutely when I wake up I immediately go I brush my teeth and then I have a daily routine where I just need to be grateful do it I’ll be there I’ll be brushing my teeth and I’m just what am i grateful for? What am I grateful for got to take stock What am I grateful for? Because I’ve been there on the other side of the planet living out of a backpack with a gun in my hands and interior What am I grateful for love it I do the same thing I list them out. I put it right on my website what I’m grateful for every day so people that do check that out they like it. So excellent. Others in five paragraph and of course time to shine today.com my shameless plug. What is another website that you go to to level up and again quickly lightning round? Sure, Click Funnels. I like what Russell Brunson. Got it. five paragraphs calm is clickfunnels Love it. Love it. So now what you’re reading now. Not what you’re the flavor of the month name the book like minds like the travelers gift or men search for meaning by Viktor Frankl you know like I got a couple bucks that if you were saying Scott man I’m not feeling good for you got a book for me I hand you one of those two but what do you think? What’s your book to tell the level up it’s probably thinking Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill only a baby the Bible yeah I like that but you know you know Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People has their digital spot my heart from just better understanding how the human psychology side you know, but also I would say that there’s something like war is a racket by Smedley Butler or even the Communist Manifesto. like can you believe how crazy this is? You know it’s don’t just drink your own Kool Aid. Look around and be open minded. Love it. So if you can be one age for the rest of your life and don’t say right now what if you give me one age for the rest of your life? What would it be probably 25 love it. Great quarter century beautiful. What’s your favorite charity and organization you like to give your time and your money to? Probably the Institute of veterans and military families, good for you. And last question to toffee. What’s the best decade of music? 6070s 80s or 90s? a late 60s early 70s. Yet some plastic they’re being coming out anytime. Yeah. So how can we find your brother? So you can go to five paragraph comm you find folks know about that you can connect with me on LinkedIn. It’s Michael J. Penney. That’s p and n. e y. You know, everybody misspells it. So there’s no relation to JC Penney at a time were you doing too well with your stock now? You’re part of that. But hey, no bus. You know what? Last question for you. What’s your definition of a life well lived

Unknown Speaker  29:01  

Who

Unknown Speaker  29:02  

a life well lived is seen my children of which I have for those were out there living by those guiding valued principles, which that I worked so diligently to empower people with and that’s add value. add value to every situation. Yes, it’s more than just that. You know, great leaders focus on the nouns the right people, the right place the right things, you can accomplish anything by not taking a breath. You know, just take a breath, man, it’s all good. Take it take a look around tactical pauses, okay, from time to time. So yeah, I want to see my children really be a success, and I want to see them argue for patriotic values. The Constitution means a whole lot to me. And I’ll say this, none of my children get a cell phone until they write the declaration of independence in a cursive my hand, nice. If you can’t write it, you can’t read it, and then we’re going to lose founding documents and that matters very deeply. I love your values man. And in squad we just had a masterclass mind blowing masterclass with my good friend Michael penny from five paragraph and again, it’s five numerical five paragraph.com He’s always adding value in every situation, you know, you have to sit back, take a step back, maybe a 30,000 foot view and assess trained advise and assist. Now he’s looking for a perfect referral for Miko, which I have a few of mine already are small to medium sized businesses really the level looking to level up and you know what, he would tell himself younger stuff and he’s telling you to level up the What do you use, I love this plug to jog, you know, laugh the sauce, you know, get yourself keep yourself reading, keep yourself educated. You know, make sure if you’re a leader that you’re delegating authority to get a solid feedback loop. So if it worked great, if it didn’t, you can maybe make a few changes, tweak it and level up. You know, he’s telling you to focus on the nouns no No u ns nouns the right people, right place the right time. And most of all, take a frickin breath. Sit back, have fun and enjoy this journey in Michael, you know, not only is a he’s a fellow veteran but you as a fellow patriot. He’s leveling up his health is leveling up as well. He’s hungry yet he’s humble. And you’re part of our squad now, Michael. So thanks so much for coming on, brother.

Unknown Speaker  31:22  

It’s an honor privilege. Thanks for having me. You bet.

Unknown Speaker  31:25  

Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast, probably brought to you by Southern Nugent real estate real estate excellence, who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter in nugent.com. If you’re a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on time to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com slash gust. If you liked this episode, please subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast. There’s a link in the show notes Your website. Also there you will see a recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you have been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating until your friends have subscribed while you’re at it. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up. It’s our time to shine.

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