Finish the Job - Whale Hunting Series: Landing the Fish

You didn’t lose the deal at the beginning. You lost it at the end.

In this episode of Finding Your Innergator, RB Wright breaks down the final phase of the Whale Hunting series: Landing the Fish. After the research, the plan, the presentation, and the negotiation, this is where everything either comes together… or falls apart.

Using a powerful real-life story of taking his nephew offshore to catch his first king mackerel, RB shows how easy it is to do everything right and still lose the fish in the final moments. Too much pressure, not enough tension, or poor execution—and it’s gone.

The same thing happens in business every single day.

Closing is not a moment. It’s a skill. And it requires discipline, clarity, and execution when it matters most.

What You’ll Learn

•  Why most deals are lost at the finish line, not the beginning
•  How rushing, hesitation, or poor execution kills the close
•  The importance of maintaining control and discipline in final moments
•  Why closing is about guidance, not pressure
•  How to confidently ask for the business and lock in the next step

Key Takeaways

•  “Closing is not a moment. Closing is a skill.”
•  “The difference between almost and closed is execution in the final moments.”
•  “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
•  “Finish what you started.”

The System Behind the Close
Landing the fish is not a solo act. Just like on the boat, success requires coordination, awareness, and control. From managing tension to positioning correctly, the entire system must work together to finish the job.

Your Challenge This Week
When you get to the close, stay locked in. Don’t rush it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t assume it’s done. Guide the process, ask clearly, confirm commitment, and execute with precision.

If this episode helped you, share it with someone who needs to learn how to finish what they start.

Transcript

0:12

Hello everybody and welcome to Finding Your Innergator Podcast, where we talk about discipline, relationships, and the habits that release to greatness that is already inside of you. I'm your host, Arby Wright, and I am so glad that you're here. In each episode, we'll explore powerful lessons, real life stories, and practical strategies to help you live intentionally, build meaningful relationships, and unlock your full potential. But greatness isn't something you stumble into, it's something that is built every single day. So let's get started and begin the journey to finding your innergator. What's going on everybody? I am so glad that you're here. My name is RB Wright, and I am your host, and you are listening to Finding Your Innergator Podcast. Man, you know what? I have really enjoyed the last several weeks. I hope that you have. We've been building something. I hope that you have started with the research. You gotta know what you're going after, right? I hope you set out a good plan. You gotta have the structure. You gotta have that structure. Remember, we talked about the spread, that presentation, that's your one shot to get their intention. Last week, we talked about the fight. That's the negotiation. That's where the pressure shows up. That's where most people lose. Today we're talking about something that may frustrate you. It does me more than anything else. It's called landing the fish. Here's the truth. A lot of people get the fish to the boat. You can see it. It's splashing you, and they still lose it. They still lose it. You guys know that I love to fish. We fish a lot of tournaments, we do a lot of recreational fishing. We enjoy fishing, enjoy fishing at a somewhat high level. And so these analogies that I'm using are really lessons that I've learned from fishing and also through business and how they they correlate. So I appreciate you sticking with me during the fishing analogies. And today I want to I want to paint a picture for you, right? You've done everything right. Everything right. You found the fish, man, you got that strike. You fold it the right way, you manage that tension, you had controlled tension, and now there he is. He's right there at the boat. You can seal it, see it, you can feel it. You're seconds away, and then it makes one last run. Violent, fast, unexpected, and you're not ready and you lose it. Kind of makes me think of uh something happened about a year or two ago. Uh I took my nephew fishing for King Mackerel. It was a week after uh the fourth of July. We just had a big tournament that, excuse me, it was two weeks after the fourth. We just had a big tournament here, and he had never really done much offshore fishing. 18 years old, and he'd never caught a king mackerel. And so he went. There's two or three of us on the boat. He was excited, trying to figure it out. Now, if you know anything about kingfish and you catch one in a 20-pound class, that's that's a pretty good fish. Especially for your first one, right? Well, we've been sitting there fishing, caught some 15, 20-pound kings. He hadn't caught his yet, and all of a sudden we get a takedown. I mean, the line is screaming. He's all excited, he's fired up. I give him the ride and I'm coaching him the whole time right. I'm like, take your time, deep breath, pull the rod towards you, wind down that negotiation, steady, steady. He does everything right. I mean, everything right. He fights the fish perfectly. We get it all the way to the boat, and this is a big fish. I mean, he's in the he's gotta be in the 40-pound class. Big fish. He the fish comes up and kind of lays on its side and it's just out of gaff range. I just cannot reach it. And I got I got my six-foot gaff, and I cannot reach this fish. That's what they do, right? They just messing with me. And he's kind of laying there. And I looked at LJ and I said, hey, buddy, be ready. This fish is probably gonna make another run. That's exactly I hadn't got it out of my mouth, and the fish took off. I mean, he dove like lightning. Well, he had to rod really high, and without realizing it, he had tightened down the drag and tightened it too much. And that fish took off when he made that last run. All of a sudden you could hear it go bink, line broke, fish was gone. I I remember looking at him and you could see it on his face. He he was, he knew that that fish was gonna be in the boat, and he did everything right until the very end. I mean, that's slanding the fish. If you ever watch guys in tournaments, I mean, you're sitting there, are he just fishing? Uh guys who fish a lot will be excited and we're talking to each other and we're communicating to each other what's happening. You can usually have a helm guy, a line guy, guys on the rod, and a gaff guy, and we're communicating with each other. Nobody high fives. Nobody is is uh yelling out anything of excitement as far as, hey, we've done this and giving each other high fives and celebrating is the word I'm looking for, until that fish is over the side of the boat and in the boat. Because it doesn't matter, it doesn't count, right? I'll tell you something else I'm thinking about is that when I'm on the boat and I've got my line guy fighting the fish, I'm not just sitting there watching them. I'm at the helm. And I'm constantly working that boat to keep that fish at about a 45 degree angle off the back. Why am I doing that? I want to see the fish. I want to be able to control the positioning. I want to be able to help maintain the right tension on the line. If I can see the angler and I can see that line and see what the fish is doing, I can coach them from up front instead of just running around chaotic. I'm working with the angler and I'm helping to guide the process. Landing the fish is not just about the person holding the rod, it's about the entire system working together. Now, RB, what does this have to do with work? Appreciate the fishing stories, but what does this have to work? Let me bring it into your world. This is happening every single day in business. You did the research, you built the plan, you had a perfect presentation, you handled the objections, and now you're right there, ready to close. What happens? You rush it, you push too hard, you try to force the decision, you get excited, you're talking too much, and just like that, you lose them. Or you hesitate and you don't ask for the business, you don't guide the next step, you leave it open-ended, and just like that again, you lose them. Or you execute poorly, you don't clearly explain what happens next, you don't confirm commitment, you don't like it in. Man, that line breaks. You lost them. Same thing, different environment. I hope this will stick with you. Is I don't believe that closing, closing is not a moment, right? Closing is a skill. And it requires every single thing that we've talked about in this series the discipline, the clarity, the execution. Where people get it wrong is that they think closing is about pressure. It is not. Closing is about guidance. It's like I said to you a while ago, when that fish is at the boat, I'm I'm I'm excited. Yeah, we're there, baby. We're we're almost there. But I'm not panicking, I'm not rushing, I'm in control, and I'm guiding that fish, I'm keeping the right tension, I'm trying to position that boat correctly, I'm working with the angler. And when the moment comes, we execute clean, decisive, intentional. It's the same thing in business and in life. When you're at the close, your job is not to push. Your job is to guide, guide the conversation. Remember last time I told you ask to ask better questions, guide the decision, guide the next step. And then ask. Confidently, clearly, no hesitation. Look them dead in the eye and ask. Because if you don't ask, you will not get. Now, something else that's important is a lot of people get right to the end and they relax. They think it's done. It is not done until it's done. Until the paperwork is signed, the commitment is real, the next step is locked in. It is not landed. And this is where discipline matters the most. Stay locked in, stay focused, stay intentional, because the difference between almost enclosed, the difference between almost enclosed is that execution in the final moments. Here's your challenge this week. When you get to that moment, when it's right there, don't rush it. Don't hesitate. Don't get sloppy. I know you're tired, but stay in control. Guide the process. You've worked too hard to get to this point. Manage that tension. Remember, we talked about controlled tension. Not too tight, but not a lot of slack. Ask for the business. Ask for the signature. Confirm the next step. And then you land it. You land it. I tell you every week, and I mean it, that inside of you there is greatness, but greatness isn't built in starting. It's not even built in the middle. It's built in finishing. So don't just think about this as closing. Finish. Finish what you started. I hope that this series is helping you. I I I absolutely love this because it's always a reminder to me, right? Reminder to me. If you know someone who is maybe struggling with the clothes maybe, maybe not focused and doesn't have that discipline and clarity that allows them to execute where they need to be, and you think this will help, share it with them. Share it with them. I look forward to hearing feedback from you on your clothes, on how you landed that fish. Feel free to send me a comment here at the podcast site. I would love to hear how things are working with you. In the meantime, I hope your week is fantastic, and I look forward to talking to you next week. Everybody, thank you so much for listening to the Finding Your Inner Gator podcast. You know, if today's episode helped you, share it with someone who needs to hear this message. Remember, greatness is achieved through discipline, intentional action, and optimizing the relationships around you. I look forward to getting with you next week. Now, go Gatorize your day.