In this episode of The Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider dive into personal updates, the evolution of their community, and their exciting future plans. They discuss the importance of consistent growth within the Tactical Empire, the success of their accelerator program, and the value of community engagement. Jeff and Sean also emphasize the power of couples’ annual planning and how it contributes to personal and professional success. Join them as they share their journey and the upcoming developments that will help elevate the community even further.
In this episode of The Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider dive into personal updates, the evolution of their community, and their exciting future plans. They discuss the importance of consistent growth within the Tactical Empire, the success of their accelerator program, and the value of community engagement. Jeff and Sean also emphasize the power of couples’ annual planning and how it contributes to personal and professional success. Join them as they share their journey and the upcoming developments that will help elevate the community even further.
00:00 Introduction and Personal Updates
02:46 Evolution of the Tactical Empire
05:58 Community Building and Member Engagement
08:47 Future Plans and Educational Offerings
12:08 Accelerator Program and Member Success
15:13 Couples Annual Planning and Communication
17:56 Call to Action and Closing Remarks
Jeff Smith (00:01.758)
Welcome to another episode of the Tactical Empire. am joined by Sean Rider. How are you, man?
@shawn_rider_ (00:09.038)
But how are you you were trying to show me a scar or some sort on the top of your head? said it was a TV
Jeff Smith (00:15.434)
That is still blood. Yes. I walked into my children's corner of their television after I tucked my son in the other night. And so, yeah, there's a...
@shawn_rider_ (00:24.942)
Sharp off the dome piece
Jeff Smith (00:29.802)
Yeah, split me wide open. There is lots of dangers of living on the road.
@shawn_rider_ (00:37.556)
I bet there is. It's like a kid that grew overnight and they're not used to how big their body is and they just like run into a pole or something. they're, the overhang on the island, they just bump it because they're used to walking under it or whatever.
Jeff Smith (00:45.302)
You
Jeff Smith (00:52.054)
100%. 100%.
@shawn_rider_ (00:54.954)
Are you in Gettysburg yet? Where are you?
Jeff Smith (00:59.05)
We are in Gettysburg and we came here. Gettysburg Farms, it's very nice. There's alpaca and horses and chickens and huge ass bunnies for the kids to play with and it's a nice park. So nice and big.
@shawn_rider_ (01:16.652)
and ghost and ghost
Jeff Smith (01:19.978)
Ghosts there. There is. I didn't know anything about this. This is news to me, but there there are people two doors down from us went to a haunted orphanage the other night and that sounds like something. Yeah, that sounds like something I don't want to be messing with. I don't know.
@shawn_rider_ (01:34.796)
Ross and KC.
@shawn_rider_ (01:40.526)
Yeah, go walk in the woods later tonight and just start talking some war nonsense and see who talks back. I grew up, I'm from Hanover, Pennsylvania, so I was like 25, 30 minutes from Gettysburg and one of my grandmothers lives, lived in Gettysburg and her, she's deceased, but her spouse still lives in Gettysburg across from the seminary, so I don't know if he drove by the seminary or...
Gettysburg College, if you drive down the road and you see like like a like a little blue and pink train in someone's front yard like human sized for like a kid that is my grandmother's house so they they own
Jeff Smith (02:24.926)
okay. I will check it out. We will be going there.
@shawn_rider_ (02:29.516)
Yeah, yeah, so that's down. It's near the square, the downtown Gettysburg, but Gettysburg is great. had a lot of places explored, going on little bus tours. It's pretty cool. So I'm glad that you guys are there, but you're two weeks away from being here, so I'm excited about that.
Jeff Smith (02:45.108)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. That's gonna be good.
@shawn_rider_ (02:46.7)
We we're planning some good stuff. Jeff's family is gonna be in the area for about a week. Jeff and I are gonna hang out a ton. He still has to respond to my text on which metabolic class he's going to come to. But I probably asked Jeff like 10 questions today, so I will look for that answer later. But we're gonna record some content for you guys. We're gonna plan out our year. We're gonna be starting up free monthly webinars based on different topics. That's something that we have decided to do.
But ultimately like we're leveling up the tactical empire and with that With that we level it up the expectations of the men in the inner circle So Jeff, I want to take some time today and and because you were the original creator and still currently the you know The main leader of the tactical empire. Why don't you? Excuse me. Why don't you talk about what's changed? And how the tactical empire has evolved Over the past two years, right? I got into it as a client
about two and a half years ago, you were my mentor in another organization before that. But I came into this one because it was more hyper-focused on what I wanted to focus on, which was tactical business steps and investing steps to help my specific family. And while I believe in blueprints to help educate people, each individual should have a specific customized plan.
And that's what I felt like I wasn't getting in other groups that I felt like you had the knowledge and experience to help me with. But now you've built a group with other men that have experiences in specific fields. So any guy can come into the group and get help usually in an area that they want to specialize in. what have you seen change and what have you helped facilitate in the development and growth of the tactical empire?
Jeff Smith (04:37.483)
Well, I mean, it's it's it's evolved Quite a bit, I guess. My sole focus is on it now. It wasn't necessarily two years ago. I was splitting time. I was trying to balance I guess like intellectual property direction with what I wanted to do and then like getting kind of the guardrails off of what I want to do which like coming 100 % sole focus on tactical Empire has allowed me to really like just
be myself and not really hold back with what I wanted to do. ultimately, the intention when we started this was to create a community and a culture of men that were looking for expansion in every area of their lives. it came originally from me being pseudo frustrated with like my self and my, I guess,
The way I'm mentally wired, which I think almost everybody is in the group, like-minded individuals are always wanting more, right? High achievers are pushing their boundaries and it creates anxiety, it creates stress that probably isn't necessary. And it took me a really long time to learn that and you can work at a different level. You can work smarter and more strategically.
some of us, me included, I was just wired to just run harder and like just work harder, like not necessarily work smarter. so, and my kids were growing up, I've told this story a bunch of times, but I mean, like my kids were getting older and I realized that like my opportunities of what I was talking about were slipping away from me as far as like being an integrity with like being a great husband, great father and making a lot of money. I wanted all those things. didn't want any of those areas to slip.
And so for me, was a really like soul searching mission on like, what am I going to give up? Am I going to go over here and like focus on being a great dad? And then like, but why, why do I have to do that? And so like, I just really rebutted that like thought process of like, you've got to, you've got to choose one of them. Right. And so like, the reason that we were doing that is because we were looking for
Jeff Smith (06:56.102)
The reason that the group exists is because I think that I found more people with that same problem. I found more people that were creating more problems and anxiety and stress for themselves within their marriage and their kids and their homes and in also like spinning their wheels on production on the side of the thing, making money side of things. And, and so it, I just really wanted it to be a community of men that we're leveling up together and that we're still keeping.
grounded in our principles and values that we really like what what we came there to do in the first place right the money keeps stacking and you keep going buying assets doing things getting more cash flow and ultimately it's nice to have the inner circle around as guys that can keep you grounded on like hey man this is what was it is important and was important ultimately so like don't don't lose sight of the the true reason that we're doing all this.
Right. And then also on the other end of that, like don't lose sight, but also they push you and hold you accountable. Cause it's fun to see everybody winning at such a high level. And it's super motivating to be around people that are doing things and actively pushing. I think I'm really good at compressing time for people. Most people put a timeline on things that are far too long.
timeline of achievement of things they want to do. They'll say, I want to do this in 10 years or whatever. And like, I think that you can compress that down into a much more succinct timeframe. And so that's, that's one of my things that I enjoy doing. And so I watch people challenge themselves and these guys in this group are getting faster and faster at moving the needle with what they're doing. And I've said before that the reason that I created the
group selfishly and that we're shutting the door to a hundred guys is because I want that to be its own community, its own culture. And I want deal flow in there. I want to shift focus to like really producing opportunities for that group of people that they can help each other level up and do business together and everything like that. And ultimately that's, that's what I foresee for probably 12 to 24 months from now is I'll, I'll probably be spending more of my time.
Jeff Smith (09:17.386)
doing deal curation and evaluation, getting us kind of building off what we're doing this year with strategic partners and things like that, making sure that we have a really strong group of strategic partners to serve our whole community. Because I think that's one thing that people aren't really aware of is that like we have preferred pricing with people, we have preferred access to certain businesses and people.
that can help you leverage time, money and speed in where you're going and what you want to do. And I'm not going to slow down on that front with continuing to bring in the right people that are good culture fits for our organization there, because I do believe in what they're providing. And certain guys can use that to build their systems as they build their seven levels of financial freedom.
@shawn_rider_ (10:14.466)
Yeah, well, I mean, thank you for sharing all that from it from I wouldn't say an outsider's perspective, but a client transitioned into partner for the tech empire. I think over the past two, two and a half years, the group has become cleaner and consistent, more consistent. I wanted to say consistent ter because that would make sense cleaner and consistent ter, but more clean and more consistent clean, meaning the direction is more clear.
And the type of men we're bringing in are, clean isn't the right word, but like it just makes sense to say like, they're a higher quality type of man that is ready to learn and be coached and then ultimately take action. Cause we truly don't want men that want to learn and then not take action. So I think that's where the speed comes into play, what you're saying. And then from a consistency side of things, like I remember getting in the group.
I mean like, okay, we have critical tasks on Monday and wins on Friday. Well, some weeks it would be critical tasks on Wednesday and wins on Saturday, right? It was like, what day are these gonna hit? What topics are we talking about? So I think we've gotten very consistent in the rhythm for the group, which helps with the men and continually making progress. And then early on, it was like, are we meeting this year? Where are we meeting? How often are we meeting? And so now we're just way more consistent with, hey, this is gonna be by.
Jeff Smith (11:31.368)
Yeah.
@shawn_rider_ (11:40.462)
you know, bi-annual meetings. Maybe that's not the right phrase. Bi-annual would be every two years. We're meeting twice a year, every six months. We're gonna meet in person and we're getting faster at picking those spaces and getting the men signed up for those. So our next one is late September in Little Rock, Arkansas. So pumped about that. But yeah, man, I think what I get most excited about is seeing the men get results.
faster and then ultimately I feel like we've gotten more of this especially recently is the men are they they've been networking with each other probably for the last year but they're leveraging each other more or education and getting insights from one another and so I do like that from within the group but then also the strategic partnerships that you're bringing in I think for the sake of speed and compressing time.
So it's really cool to see. I think the guys in the 90 day accelerator, we're seeing them take action faster. so I think that was a big move that we've made over the last six months is having men go into the 90 day accelerator. It's doing exactly what we had hoped it to do, which is get men very quick wins and get big wins early on and to get clarity before they get into a group of 65 fire breathers. It can be very intimidating.
Jeff Smith (12:48.896)
Yeah.
Jeff Smith (13:04.949)
Yeah.
@shawn_rider_ (13:06.014)
for these guys to get in the group and you know, my critical task is to write SOPs for my general manager. And then you see another guy post that, you he just funded $2 million worth of real estate or something like that. It's like, fuck, like I'm not at this level. Well, we all are. We're all just doing different things on the train tracks to progress. So what's the biggest thing that you feel? I kind of mentioned some things earlier on what we're going to be adding.
For people particularly for free with the monthly webinars, but what are you most excited about? Coming up for the back half of 2025
Jeff Smith (13:50.002)
man, I think you did a really good job. Before I started on that 2025, I think you did a really good point or you did a really good job of describing like us iterating both our products, our offerings. like, I was really frustrated with the results that we were getting. And so like, that's why we went back to like the lab, if you will. And it wasn't that we weren't getting results. wasn't that there was no predictability and consistency across what we were getting.
Like I wasn't winning at like a 90 % rate with the guys and like that was, that was frustrating. and, so I, I think we got tighter on our intention with our product offerings and we got tighter with our avatar on who our ideal client was. And both of those things, as we continue to iterate and get better, cause we will continue to get improved. will improve on that even going into the next years and
And they're going to get better and better as we go. Cause to your point, the accelerator has already leveled up the game in the, the ideal client profile that we're bringing in. And so I think that that will only continue to manifest itself in better and better culture fits as we go forward and, and which, which improves the whole group. Right. And so that's super powerful. So thank you for saying that. Cause I,
I agree with what you're saying and I think it's just it means we're moving in the right direction as a company and so that's great. 2025, what are we seeing? We're coming with continuing education that Sean's kind of talking about and mentioning. I want to put together many courses. I want to put together more training opportunities for everybody, for the masses, to help more people. I think we can get ourselves out there. We've got a huge
Facebook community that we mention in here all the time, the Tactical Empire community. It's different than the business page, but there's seven, 800 people in there. I want to deliver more value to that group. I want to also provide some accessibility to you and I on a more regular basis that we can teach just smaller things that can help move people's lives forward.
Jeff Smith (16:06.066)
I've got there's a book I'm writing about the seven levels of financial freedom. It's going to come out. It's kind of I'm in the process of finishing it right now, but it's called Operation Wealth. it's a it's kind of a playbook or a guide on how to implement all this stuff into your life. And so like, if you don't want to pay us, you don't want to be in the group, you can just buy the book or we'll send you the book for shipping or whatever we do with it when it rolls out.
And you can implement all these systems in your life on your own. And that's kind of what we want to do. We want to give away the game so that like, we can find all the right people to be in the actual inner circle. And if you don't want to be in the inner circle, that's great because we don't want you there. And so that's fine with us. And so that, mean, that's kind of where we're at on that. And then at the end of the year, we've got some really neat stuff coming up that Sean is really passionate about. We do a couple's annual planning.
Um, every year. And it's one of the things that we emphasize more than anything getting into the group. And I agree wholeheartedly with some of the things he was just telling me at a team meeting, which are that we could pour a lot more energy and effort into squaring that away, structuring it to give the guys like a step-by-step, uh, like plan of execution there. Um, and,
I was telling him that my wife and I both agree that like that's the number one game changer that's come about in our life over the last five years. And I think we probably five years ago is when we started implementing it, something around that time. And it's been the number one thing to improve communication, improve acceleration on where we're going and like make massive life decisions on like what we want out of life.
I truly believe that if we weren't doing those couples annual planning sessions, we would never be in an RV full time. Just because like it's the byproduct of that level of opening up communication and like peeling back the conversations of like what ifs and like, do we have to do things like this forever? Or do we even want to do things like this for even the next year? And like those are conversations a lot of people don't have.
@shawn_rider_ (18:05.112)
Yep.
Jeff Smith (18:26.954)
So I won't belabor the couple's annual planning, but it's something that we're rolling out next year, or this year, excuse me. And we're going to provide a lot more structure and guidance on that front, which will help our people. And then we're going to open it up to all of you too, just because I think it's super powerful thing to get people moving in the right direction.
@shawn_rider_ (18:47.938)
Yeah. Hell yeah. Well, now that you got people excited, yes, we do have more coming out with that. I'm super excited. I think you're coming to town at a right moment. I think if you would have came to town a couple of months ago, we wouldn't have been set up to be as productive. But I think we're hitting a really good stride right now. And you guys that might listen to a lot of the podcast episodes, it's like, hey, every like two or three months, you guys are talking about hitting a good stride and progress and like...
It's like, yeah, that's the point. We constantly look back and say, well, shit, 90 days ago, we're definitely in a better position than we are, but then we're also forward focused and thinking about what we need to do to make it incrementally better. It doesn't come without its hiccups, struggles, hurdles, personal life stuff, things going on. So we're out here doing the damn thing that we're trying to help other people do. So if you've been listening to enough podcast episodes and you are not in the inner circle,
If you have not started with our 90 Day Accelerator program, it's time. We're ready for you. The group is ready to have you in there. And obviously, you've been listening to the content. So you are ready. Jeff, feel free to send the people out with a little call to action.
Jeff Smith (20:00.003)
Yeah, man, if you guys are listening, you found value here, like we've got a ton of content on YouTube. Go ahead and subscribe out there. You can absorb all our stuff, get a taste for what we're teaching. There's a lot of courses out there that we've thrown out there for free. And like I said, the Tactical Empire community on Facebook is a community group. It's not a business page. There's another, and then we're Tactical Empire on all the different platforms.
If you are interested in the accelerator program, it's 90 days of two-on-one coaching with Sean and I we will drive you forward in all areas and Generally I There's no one that's come through the program that we haven't got at least a hundred percent ROI for at this point and so Like I said, we've only been doing it for three months But we've had a handful of guys come through and every one of them's got at least their ROI from it a hundred percent. So
If you're interested, DM us, Sean or I, we're interested in having you guys as part of the group and we would love to work with you for the next 90 days. So let us know, have a kick ass week and thank you for listening as always.