Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Danielle Cobo: What would you do if you were given the opportunity to have a second chance in life? That's what we're going to be discussing today on the unstoppable grit podcast. Our guest Robin was given a second chance to life. She was some devastating news that she had a baseball sized tumor in her brain. And through her journey has learned how to develop grit and resilience, but this is not the end of her story, although she had had this baseball sized tumor and through her journey has learned how to develop grit and resilience.
But this is not the end of her story, although she had had this baseball sized tumor right before we jumped on and hit record for today's episode. She had shared some new news with me today, and we're going to be diving into it. So without further ado, Robin, thank you so much for joining the podcast. I believe that what the message you're going to share today is something that many of us could hear right now, no matter what phase we are in life.
Robin Osborn: Hi, Danielle. Thank you for having
Danielle Cobo: me. Yes. Tell us a little bit about your journey. I mean, you have been an entrepreneur. You've been a success story in building a business. You have overcome a baseball sized teamer, but there's so much more to the depths of your story. And we had discussed kind of earlier, the parallels in some of our story.
So share with our listeners a little bit
Robin Osborn: about yourself. I'd love to. My background, I was an athlete as a young kid. I had a very all American family. I'm a twin and I won the lottery with siblings. My siblings are amazing. So life was great as far as growing up. When I turned 21, um, fortunately my dad took his own life.
He was a business owner. And we were given the opportunity to take over the business in one day. So my middle sister, my twin brother and I, my mom sat us down, said, you can run the business and get along or I'm selling it. We said we wanted it. So we had 40 employees and it was really the school of hard knocks in business 101.
And you were
Danielle Cobo: 21. Is that correct? You were 21 when you took over this business.
Robin Osborn: Yeah, so I would say as a kid, I always had a leadership qualities and so the journey began where an FAA repair station. So we overhaul landing gears. We also do government contract work, and I'm really proud to say we've successfully around that company for the last 35 years.
Through that journey, I look at life and I say, it's about peaks in pre peaks because you're always going to have the ups and the downs and a pre peak is always being on the cusp of coming out of that valley. And so for me, I do a lot of positive mindset about 25 years in, we got stuck. I was like sick and tired of doing the same thing, getting the same results, didn't know how to grow the company to the next level.
We were still very, I would say, mom and pop shop in the way that we operated. I read the book Traction by Gino Wickman, and I call that the business Bible, but it really changed my perspective. It inspired me. I called Gino Wickman up, I flew out to Detroit, I got trained in the EOS process, which stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System, came back, we implemented it in our business, and we doubled our revenue in 18 months.
So for me, really leaning in and taking control because I always felt like the business controlled us was freedom and relief that I had always prayed for. And what I would say is the 2 a. m. thoughts. On how am I going to solve this people issue, or how are we going to create enough cash flow? It really was an amazing operating system.
And so from there, I realized that I wasn't in my gifts. In that I really wanted to go out in the world and help people get not only traction, but I really wanted to help be a teacher and a guide to the, what I call EQ to taking all of that knowledge of being in the trenches and falling on my face. And helping not only family businesses, but all businesses, anyone that's looking to grow.
And so I've been doing that now for 10 years. That
Danielle Cobo: is quite a story. I mean, first I'm sorry for the loss of your father, you and I both share that we both lost our parents taken by suicide and it's a hard journey to go through and the coping and healing and to step in and into a position at not only a position where you are.
Trying to cope and heal with the loss of your father, you're now 21 years old and you are now taking over a company with your siblings that has a young age to take over an organization and to successfully grow it is no easy feat. Thank you. Tell us a little bit about this EOS system. It sounds like you've read this book, you got trained on it, but what have you learned through implementing this EOS system that you have learned to kind of apply not only in your business life, but in all areas of your life?
Robin Osborn: Yeah. So the learning with the operating system is it comes down to accountability. And what I truly mean by that is 1st and foremost, it starts with you doesn't matter if you're an owner, you're an executive. It truly is looking in the mirror and really getting. Authentic with how you're showing up because what I find when I go into companies is that they're either pointing the finger, but they're actually not stepping into owning the values.
They're not holding themselves accountable. And as they say, as go you so go, they is I found in my own company. I was being a week later. Because I would come in, I would have my hands on my hips. I was frustrated and I wanted to blame. Truly, for me, I, you know, I would show up late. I was the owner of the company.
I felt entitled. I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. From all the pressure and whatnot, so I made excuses and once I realized, like, in order to truly change, you've got to own your part and do the hard work and then it naturally starts to become a catalyst for change. I would say the key to the EOS operating system, there's a lot of different systems out there.
The key is consistent execution. So, you don't use it as a flavor of the month once you decide to truly. Engage and embrace it. You got to get in there and strengthen the muscle and do the reps in consistency. And I find that true in, you know, personal transformation as well is getting a coach, getting open, honest, and transparent with what's getting in the way and then making a decision to own it and be consistent with it.
And that's what I, I would say I use that to drive me in my recovery. From my brain surgery as well. The tools work no matter if it's for business or your personal life, if you're really inspired and committed to change, you can, it's limitless. You know, I've
Danielle Cobo: worked in organizations where I'm sure you've seen this as well.
That a lot of times a leadership team will look at an employee and be like, well, they're not performing or they're not doing X, Y, Z. They're not meeting the expectations. Very rarely do I see a leader like yourself look and do and self reflect and say, well, what am I modeling for my team? What expectation am I setting through the role model that I'm doing?
What are my contributions? If people aren't meeting the expectations, am I developing them? Am I taking the time and effort to develop them? And I don't see that as often in an organization from a leadership perspective. A lot of times it becomes this blame game. And I also see it on the other end where there will be people that are working in those saying, well, I'm not getting promoted and.
they're not doing anything about it. Instead of saying, well, if I want to get promoted, there's got to be some accountability on my own. And am I taking the time to develop the skill sets that I need? Am I having my reaching out to people and creating advocates and sponsors within the organization? And as a business owner, it's the same, the same applies.
You know, if we're not seeing growth within our business, it's always time to pause, reflect, and say, well, What am I not doing maybe right or what can I do differently and hold myself accountable to it and be consistent in our execution? Because you're right. I mean, there's stats out there that say that a lot of people will create New Year's resolutions, for example, and then by the second week of February, 87 percent of us have already given up on them.
And so we create these visions of what we want our life to look like. But a lot of us don't achieve our goals because we're not consistent. in our execution. And
Robin Osborn: we make it too big. So what I would say is when you're really focusing on what is it that you truly want to create and achieve in 2024 is when we're sitting at, it's December 31st, 2024.
We're closing our eyes. We're envisioning what it looks like, maybe three to seven key one year goals is once you get clear on what that looks like, then how do we reverse engineer that? So how do you eat the elephant one bite at a time? What's it going to take the first quarter of 2024 to really set you into success for achieving that by the end of the year?
And that's where the accountability piece is so powerful, because if you're not truly going after and executing on that first quarter, we call rocks, 90 day priorities, you won't achieve the end of the year. And it's, you know, self correcting. So I say, if you know, the 1 year goal is your control panel on the airplane, then your weekly accountability in action.
So what do I need to do to track. What that looks like. If we're going to grow 20%, what do we need to do the first quarter? And then what does it look like in action? It's not just the number. You've got to really use measurables to create what the action looks like. So revenue is keeping the circles connected with the current client base.
It's finding new clients. So what does that look like? And to me, it's the same with, we're going to lose 25 pounds this year. Great, but it's really, are you food prepping? We can't just weigh ourselves every week. It's not going to get it done. Yeah.
Oh,
Danielle Cobo: the battle with the weight. This is I joke around in my household. I have four different sets of jeans, four different sizes of jeans, depending on where I am in my accountability to my lifestyle. And it boils down to a lot of what you had just said is that I can set a goal out there. But if I'm not being specific on which days I'm working out, what is my workout going to look like?
Food prepping is a big one because if it's the end of the work day and I'm exhausted and I go into my fridge, I'm like, what can I whip up really quick? It's never going to be as healthy if I go into it with intention and saying, this is what my meals are going to look like this week. This is what the groceries I need to get.
This is what I can prep ahead of time. Maybe I can make a dinner one night that's healthy, cook some extra, have it for lunch the next day. But I love what you say in taking that step further is you can have the goals, but where is it going to be when it comes to applying it and how is it going to be an action that's going to help you achieve your goals, whether it's in business, whether it's in advancing your career or our choices and lifestyle that we have our
Robin Osborn: personal goals.
Yeah. And I think the key is. Preparation. I love that you use the word prep because I think in business and personal, whatever those goals are, we have to think it forward and be prepared. So we're proactively managing, but the other thing is when you have an obstacle or you get stuck, don't go to victim because a lot of people use time for an excuse or like I say, you need to learn to be selfish.
Time management, I would say universally, most professionals don't do an amazing job with time management. They're either over committing or we're not doing the self care to take the time to actually make an appointment with yourself and block it. So you putting yourself last and for me, I live this. And going through a major health opportunity, the light bulb, you know, my priorities changed because I learned that that's not for me.
Okay.
Danielle Cobo: Speaking about preparation. So what I was having a conversation with a girlfriend last night, and we were talking about. That feeling of overwhelm. She's got five kids. They're all in sports. She's a nurse practitioner or no, she's a physician assistant. So she has a busy, busy mom and her husband travels a lot.
And I was, you know, and I'm a business owner, mom of six year old twins and my husband's in the military. So he's gone all the time. And we were talking about these challenges of feeling overwhelmed. And it came to me this morning. Where I like to choose a word for a year, and 2024, my word is going to be intention.
An intention about everything when it comes to, let's say, self care, for example. My intention is going to be, I am going to dedicate time in my schedule for working out, for a massage once a quarter. But be intentional about planning it ahead of time. So that weeks, months don't go by when all of a sudden I'm burnt out and my neck is hurting and I'm going, gosh, I would really like a massage when I can take a more proactive approach in it.
And the same goes for the intention of having connection with friends and family. My intention for 2024 is I want to reach out, whether it's text message, email, DM, whatever, you know, call, obviously is always the best, but to one person that I care about per day. Every single day, the intention is going to be phone a friend, a family member, somebody to help build those relationships and be intentional about being connected with the people I care about the most because so often we get caught up in work and all of a sudden we look back in our life and we realize that we're not in touch with our friends as much because we've been so focused
Robin Osborn: on work.
Absolutely. And coming off of my brain surgery, I had a really new perspective in life, a new, just honestly joy for being given the gift of a second chance. And when I would go to the gym, I would smile at a stranger that kind of had a grumpy face. And through my joy of life, they would awkwardly, like, smile back, thinking, like, why is she so happy?
But I made it a game that every day I wanted to change one smile. So I think starting with baby steps is really, you know, there's a lot of perfectionists, overachievers. I say back it down and just one baby step can bring a lot of just joy in knowing that you're making change. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing.
Danielle Cobo: It's those small changes that we make on a consistent basis. That lead to the big changes in our life. And there's a book I'm trying to remember. It's about the 1%. There was a particular racing team, cyclist team, where they were consistently year over year. They weren't winning the Tour de France or one of the tours.
I'm not a cyclist, so please forgive me and not knowing the exacts of all of this story, but what resonated about it was that. They made 1 percent chances or changes that led to big results. So they taught them how to wash their hands so they weren't getting sick a lot. They found pillows that were the best pillows for each of them so that they would get better quality sleep and they traveled everywhere with the pillows.
They change little minor things on the bike. They change their cycling routine just a little bit. But all of these little changes, their 1 percent changes, led to big results. They ended up earning back to back in these tours because of these little changes that they made. So a lot of times we have these visions of, I want to achieve this particular goal and it becomes so bigger than ourselves.
That when we don't achieve it, we internalize it and we judge ourselves for it versus what you're saying is make little changes and let it lead to big results.
Robin Osborn: Yes. And I live this. So it took me a year to walk one mile. So for me, I would step up every day into my best, whatever my best was for that day, lucky for me, I had a golden retriever named Charlie girl, and Charlie and I, some days we would only do a quarter mile and then my left side would give out on me the neurology and I literally would drag the leg back home.
I didn't beat myself up. I really learned self love and self acceptance for where I was at, because I'd always been an overachiever. And then the next day, we might go a little bit farther, and then I just kept at it. It took us a year, but the consistent execution is what really, and believing in truly, you are going to do it.
Well, I
Danielle Cobo: want to shift just a little bit and kind of, but it correlates to what you're talking about right now, because you have this brain tumor and it was a baseball size, but you had also shared something with me before we jumped on it. Are you okay sharing it with our listeners?
Robin Osborn: Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm hitting just over two years that I overcame this benign brain tumor.
And really got a new perspective in life and we're running in just excitement and gratitude for that journey. And then we just found out two weeks ago that my brain tumor is back. So, big shock. It took, I would say, about a few days to really process and get to what I find is the most important thing is just acceptance.
Because staying in victim, It doesn't help or serve anyone, so I am going to be having a more extensive surgery. And so I'm about 23 days out, and I'm, you know, in the process of. Really learning even a deeper knowledge in my first and foremost, my faith. Cause I really do believe that gives me a lot of peace.
And secondly is I'm in fight mode right now. I'm doing my walking and I'm fixing my nutrition. I want to go in the strongest I can be. And I'm, you know, staying out of the head trash, the negativity and continually every day focus. So I learned that optimism is attainable through gratitude.
Danielle Cobo: Okay. Cause a lot of people will say, I've got this, I'm going to beat this.
I'm going to go into it with a great attitude, but there's some people out there that just are like, I can't even comprehend that because they hear devastating news and it just consumes them. Some people. It can be consumed by it and some people, they find a way through it, but on a deeper level, how do you feel like you've been able, like, how do you feel that last time is different than this time?
And how is it preparing you for this time? Because last time you received the news and within two days you were having surgery, now you've got 23 days to process
Robin Osborn: this. Yeah, it's really, I call the tumor the gift because look, I didn't ask to have a brain tumor. I think what's interesting is it doesn't have to be a brain tumor.
It can be anything in business as well. Like, we all have, you know, COVID. We all have to adapt, pivot, adjust. We're not all powerful. We're not in control. And so to me, all I have is today to be my absolute best. And also, it's really getting a strong team. So I believe in my neurosurgeon that he is the best.
To really get this done to where it's going to extend my life and, you know, get it a hundred percent. So again, in businesses, you know, if you don't have the right team, then what are we doing here? Right? So, you know, the emotional side of it, I have a very supportive family. I've been married for 30 years.
I have an amazing husband. I have two man children that are 28 and 25 and you know, it's tough because for me, when it's all said and done, I want to be here to see them continue to grow and develop, that's to me, my life and my world. And I feel like I've been given a gift of sharing the journey. Like I'm learning every day more about resilience, about perseverance, and staying positive.
So I call that being an adversity warrior. And so for me, my goal is to have an amazing Successful surgery, and then share the wisdom and help people become better. So purpose having a, what I call the higher calling is coming from servant leadership in the learning, not just the learning from the surgery, but the learning from taking a business over at 21 from all of the peaks and pre peaks.
And we all have them. We're all adversity warriors. So I would say that's where I'm at is being open to verbalizing and, you know, putting into a book something that's really going to help change people's lives. It's
Danielle Cobo: so exciting to hear that you're writing a book because I, my book is coming out soon and There were some challenges that I experienced a couple years ago, and what I found through writing the book was, it was a very healing process.
Coming out of writing a book, in a sense, still who I am, but from a much different perspective, because a lot of healing happened through the process. And taking that pain that had been carried for so many years from trauma from childhood and being able to heal from it and turn it into a purpose, as you said, a higher calling and sharing the message and being in servant leadership by showing up and being vulnerable has been a life changing experience.
Powerful.
Robin Osborn: It's interesting because I, you know, prior to finding out that I, the tumor had reoccurred, I have become a C12 chair, which is a, you know, I was launching in your Belinda, a for Christian CEOs and business owners, a opportunity to equip a greater purpose for a greater business for a greater purpose.
And so to me, That's where I want to say that whether you're listening to this just for your own personal growth, or as a business owner, it mirrors the same in that how you really, you know, get a clear vision of what do you want for your life. And then what are you, how are you going to step into that?
Such a good question to
Danielle Cobo: ask ourselves. What do you want for your life? What do you want to do with it? I take it a step further in saying, who do you want to be? So often we say, I want to achieve this particular goal and when you achieve this goal, who do you want to be and show up when you achieve that goal?
And that goes into like that greater calling that you had that you're sharing
Robin Osborn: with us. And who do you want to serve? How are you going to take your unique ability and God given talents and serve?
Danielle Cobo: Absolutely. There is something very fulfilling. in life of spending each day focused outward. There's actually a book outward mindset that I had read in previous years.
But when you focus your day on how can I serve others, It is living a happier life. It just is because you're called to something greater and higher and there's fulfillment and joy and being able to serve others and see, you know, a situation where maybe somebody is feeling down and out and you've lifted their spirits and you get to see that joy that radiates from it.
It's definitely, uh, brings a lot of joy, a lot of joy. Well, where can our listeners. Find you.
Robin Osborn: I have a website, Robin, R O B I N Osborne, O S B O R N dot com. Well, we will go
Danielle Cobo: ahead and include that in our show notes. And thank you so much for joining.
Robin Osborn: Thank you, Danielle.
Danielle Cobo: Well, for you that are listening, what would you do if you were given a second chance?
What are some areas in your life where you're going to make small steps that are going to create big results because you're committed? To being an action, that's what you get to ask yourself. And once you find out what that is, share it with everybody, let everyone know what you're going to be creating in your life, what actions you're going to be doing, tag us in it.
We want to hear and celebrate your success story, tapping into your God given gifts and sharing it with the world. So thanks for tuning in and until next week be unstoppable.