424 | Louis Boivin and Joey Vari | How to Build Successful Habits in One Year

·49 min·4 clips

Joey built an Excel habit tracker to master his daily routine, which he followed like a Bible.

The episode opens with host Chris Thompson introducing the Leaders of Tomorrow podcast and its focus on young entrepreneurs in the Student Works Management Program. He highlights the impressive growth of over 20 operators on the painting side and 15 on window cleaning, with top businesses growing by over $300,000. Guests Joey Vari and Louis Boivin, from the greater Montreal area, are introduced with their first-year revenue figures ($68,000 and $74,000 respectively) and their current sold business totals ($175,000 and $188,000). Joey describes his first year as a roller coaster, facing challenges with door-to-door sales in minus-20 weather, estimates, and production, while also struggling with shyness and rejection. Louis shares that his first year was difficult due to a lack of clear vision and goals, leading to problems with motivation and discipline. Both identify missing elements: Joey points to not following established work systems, having a poor team culture, and working solo despite being a team-oriented person; Louis emphasizes procrastination, bad phone habits, and poor time management. Joey reveals that upon reflection, his biggest holding back factor was his personal habits, like inconsistent gym attendance, poor diet, and bad sleep, which bled into his business energy. Louis echoes that his habits, such as wasting time on series and movies instead of productive tasks, negatively impacted his business. The conversation shifts to what went well in their first years, with both valuing the immense learning experience, breakthroughs in personal development, and the production side where Louis excelled by being on-site with his teams. Joey and Louis describe their mindset entering the second year: Joey felt disappointed and spent months reviewing his performance, while Louis was motivated after a banquet realization that he had lost his initial drive. Joey explains the key changes he made, including adopting a habit tracker—an Excel sheet outlining a perfect day with habits like gym, reading, and no fast food—which built discipline and helped break big goals into weekly actions. He also shifted his mindset to view the business as a team endeavor, embraced ownership, and adopted an abundance mindset regarding leads. Louis details how, despite having a better plan and improved habits initially, he still wasn't hitting targets in the first two months of his second year. A pivotal two-week family trip without phone service allowed him to reflect, realizing he was trending lower than his first year. Upon returning, he started listening to podcasts, including Leaders of Tomorrow, which inspired him to commit to door-to-door canvassing every day from 4 to 7 PM as a non-negotiable standard. This led to a dramatic turnaround, with sales weeks breaking records from $12,000 to $30,000, and improved consistency in other life areas. Joey discusses the importance of building a strong team early, recruiting managers in November and December, which helped him achieve weekly targets. Louis shares that he delegated more responsibilities to crew chiefs instead of hiring a production manager, helping his team develop. When asked about the future, Louis talks about new opportunities like investing in condos and potentially joining forces with friends, while Joey explains how seeing top operators' success made him realize the power of breaking down a vision into daily actions. In their final advice, Louis stresses the need for a clear vision combined with attainable daily standards, like door-to-door every day, to maintain discipline. Joey recommends a thorough review of past performance, habit tracking, and preseason planning. The episode concludes with host Chris Thompson summarizing the actionable insights and promoting the Student Works recruitment drive for fall campus interviews.

As heard by us

A practical episode about how sleep, routines, and discomfort shape a first business year.

Habits drive this Leaders Of Tomorrow Podcast episode, with host Chris Thompson, head coach of the Student Works Management Program, guiding two most improved operators through what went wrong, what changed, and what they took from running a first business.

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Why you'd press play

You want a first-year business lesson that starts with sleep, habits, and the energy you bring to the work.

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