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Vicky Bates with Maid in America, Anna Bostwick and Liz Cicerchia with ESP
On this episode of Charitable Georgia, Brian Pruett is joined by Vicky Bates from Maid in America, and Anna Bostwick and Liz Cicerchia with ESP. Vicky delves into her personal narrative, recounting her fight against breast cancer and her path to recovery. She reflects on the evolution of her cleaning service, from its modest inception to its flourishing present, highlighting the exceptional quality and meticulousness of the services provided. She also talks about her company’s involvement with Cleaning for a Reason, an initiative offering complimentary cleaning services to households grappling with cancer.
Anna and Liz share insights into ESP and Java Joy, organizations dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities through community programs and providing vocational opportunities via a mobile coffee cart operation in Atlanta.
A native of the greater Atlanta area, and an alumnus of the University of Georgia, Vicky Bates, owner of Maid in America, established her company 28 years ago, and has been operating it independently since its founding.
She pours much of her energy, and a great deal of her heart into this enterprise, and in addition to many loyal customers, she has been awarded the Best of Acworth recognition for the past six years as well as Best of Kennesaw most recently, a truly remarkable achievement.
Vicky has a daughter who, incidentally, works with her, and two beautiful grandchildren, and she is married to a professor at Kennesaw State University who has six grandchildren, all of whom also call her “Meme.”
Vicky has a heart for serving others, and has been partnering for six years with “Cleaning for a Reason,” a non-profit that provides cleaning services to cancer patients, a connection that evolved through her own status as a breast cancer survivor.
Active in her community, and within her church, Vicky’s interests include daily exercise, regular adventures with her family, and fellowship with friends and neighbors.
Anna Bostwick is the Atlanta Program Manager with the non-profit ESP. ESP exists to create transformative experiences for people with disabilities and their families, changing communities for the better.
Anna graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Special Education with an emphasis on adapted curriculum. She taught in Dekalb county for 5 years before finding her way back to ESP in 2022, where she volunteered throughout college.
When asked why ESP, Anna shared, “I love the mission of ESP and the community that we provide for our participants and families across the entire state of Georgia. Meaningful connections are something that I feel passionately about, and I’m proud to work for an organization that takes great value in that as well.”
Outside of work, Anna enjoys being outdoors with her husband and two dogs and cooking southern comfort food any chance she gets.
Liz Cicerchia would travel from Marietta to Athens each summer for a week (sometimes 2) of summer camp- whether it was overnight at Twin Lakes or day camp, Liz wanted to be a part of ESP as much as possible.
She would visit for annual events, such as Big Hearts, but the distance meant she was somewhat limited in participation and connection to her favorite people on a consistent basis.
Despite the challenges of COVID, Liz was able for the first time to participate in weekly ESP 360 programs thanks to their virtual cooking class. With the expansion of Java Joy to Atlanta, Liz was able to interview for employment and was hired as Atlanta’s FIRST Joyrista!
Not only did it provide meaningful employment, it ensured more consistent time of connection and engagement with staff she admired and fellow local participants who quickly became some of her best friends. As ESP Atlanta grows Liz gets to engage in all that ESP offers without feeling like she’s missing out by not being in Athens.
The offering of consistent and special events – from club events, monthly family dinners and weekly programming means Liz gets to thrive with her favorite people right in her “backyard”
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and resources. We put the fun in fundraising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.
Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday morning and we’ve got three more fabulous guests. Uh, and it’s been a crazy week of weather. It’s warmer than day today, the last several days, and it’s going to get even colder tomorrow. So I hope everybody’s got their Eskimo jackets ready, some hot chocolate and movies ready for tomorrow because it’s going to be really, really cold. Uh, if this is the first time listening to Charitable Georgia, this all about positive things happening in the community. And as I mentioned, we’ve got three fabulous guests this morning. And my first guest is going to be Vicky Bates from Made in America. So Vicky, welcome this morning.
Vicky Bates: [00:01:15] Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Brian Pruett: [00:01:16] So, uh, you and I have met, uh, actually, just, what, a couple months ago. Networking. And, uh, you’ve got a pretty incredible story of overcoming and over achieving, I guess. And also, uh, overcoming adversity. You’ve, uh, had breast cancer. Uh, you just had hip surgery. You’re already walking around from hip surgery. So that’s pretty awesome. So if you don’t mind, share a little bit about your background. Then we’ll talk about what your, uh, how you got into what you’re doing.
Vicky Bates: [00:01:39] Okay. My background. Well, you know, Brian, I’m a little older than you, so my background is more extensive. Where do you want me to start? So background, I guess. You mean, like, with my business. So, um, my cleaning business came when I was about 30 years old, and. Oh, I just told my age, because now, you know, I’ve been in business for blah, blah so many years. But anyway, um, just as a stay at home mom, and then, um, my daughter’s dad lost his job, and, um, and then I just had parents, friends that started asking me to clean for them. And I have a home ec degree, so that’s kind of my background. And, um, so that’s where Made in America started. And within about a year, I started hiring people and, you know, just enlarging the company, duplicating myself. And, um, so fast forward 28 years, um, Maid in America has been in business. Oh, gosh. I feel dirty saying that because that is what they say as old as dirt. But, um, and so that’s a little bit about how Maid in America started. Um, God’s really blessed my company ever since then. And, um, really thankful for a lot of things that have happened since I started. Um, so.
Brian Pruett: [00:02:56] Well, if you don’t mind, can you talk a little bit about your experience of going through the breast cancer and surviving? And so can you give some people listening? Might need some hope to hear about what? Yeah.
Vicky Bates: [00:03:03] And I hope they hear this because, um, my breast cancer journey started, um, nine years ago. So next year I’ll be celebrating my 10th year. Awesome. And I’m getting my first tattoo. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Very tiny. My husband’s going to hate me, but, um, so I was diagnosed nine years ago in March, and, um, it’s what’s called ductal cell in carcinoma. Um, that’s actually the best breast cancer to have. Um, um, it’s the same breast cancer Suzanne Sommer had originally. And of course, she died later from a more aggressive breast cancer. And so, um, so when my journey started, um, it’s a little different. I had, um, my doctors that, um. Well, I need to back up. My girlfriend, who had told me about Suzanne Somers, had also had the same breast cancer I had. So, um, she told me, Vicky, I want you to read two of Suzanne Somers books before you go and do any aggressive, um, um, you know, measures that your doctors are wanting you to take and, you know, which would be chemo and radiation. Um, and so I did. And my husband is a professor at Kennesaw State University. And his background is, um, you know, a lot in the health industry, does a lot of research. So he understands how to interpret, um, you know, research and all the lingo that goes with it. So we did a little research and found out that I was at a low risk for reoccurrence.
Vicky Bates: [00:04:37] And so I opted not to do the chemo and the radiation. And I also opted not to take a really nasty drug called tamoxifen. And I’m not saying that those are inappropriate measures. It just it wasn’t my journey to do that. So I took a more, um, natural approach. Um, of course they took the tumor out. Um, the first time they thought they had gotten all the margins clear and they weren’t quite sure about one margin. So they went in, um, and took out just a little bit more. And so that’s all I did. And, um. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I don’t do, um, mammograms anymore either, just because there’s so much radiation way less now than there was then. So I’m not saying I won’t ever do one, but, um, but I do thermography and sonograms and regular checks, and I see my breast specialists every year. And so they’re just they’re happy with everything. And so it means changing your diet a lot. Um, so I did a lot of that. And, um, um, sugar is probably the biggest get off your list in your body kind of, um, thing you need to. And so I so I really watched my, um, sugar and some other things in my diet and exercise is just, just extremely, extremely helpful. And so since I’m married to an exercise physiologist, he will back that up.
Vicky Bates: [00:06:05] And so I was already exercising a lot, playing tennis, going to the gym and all those things. Um, unfortunately, right now I’m not going to the gym and exercising because I did have a hip replacement. And, um, that was exactly three weeks ago. And so, yeah, I’m, um, not using a cane or a walker. Well, you start out with a walker and then a cane, but, um, so I feel pretty blessed there. I got to be a little careful. She’s the bionic woman now. Well, in one part of my body, I hope to not see any more bionic parts. Um, and so. But once I started my breast cancer, um, journey, um, because I did have to change and modify a few things, I found out about a nonprofit organization called cleaning for a reason. Um, and so they’re based out of Texas. Um, and then I found out, well, a little bit about them and thought, well, you know, I own a cleaning business. And what do they do? They partner cleaning businesses all over the world or not. The world, the country and, um, some other countries, um, to provide free cleanings to families who have a member that might be going through, um, cancer treatment. And so I’m like, well, I’m just so going to do this. And part of my decision also, um.
Speaker4: [00:07:24] All right, I have.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:25] Well, I had cleaner. I don’t have a tissue.
Vicky Bates: [00:07:27] I’m going to get through this.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:29] Figures. Every time I don’t have a tissue, somebody cries and I have a tissue. Nobody cries. So, Kevin, I got somebody to cry. But there’s a joke there, so we’ll. We’ll talk about it.
Vicky Bates: [00:07:36] No, but I had a little nephew that passed away eight years of age, um, from brain cancer. And so we watched that journey for two years. Um, and so he’s my little hero. He’s one of the reasons why I also opted to be a partner with. Thank you. Brian. There’s my tissue. Well, who cares if my mascara runs? That’s right. You’ve seen it before.
Brian Pruett: [00:08:01] Nobody’s watching. They’re just listening.
Vicky Bates: [00:08:04] But anyway, those are good tears. And so he’s he’s in heaven. And, um, so he was, um, a lot of the reason why I decided because I, um, was able to help my brother and his wife a little bit with their house cleaning by sending some help when he was going through that journey. So, um, so we have been providing, you know, those services for about, um, seven years now because it was a couple of years later that I found out about them when I, um, first was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Brian Pruett: [00:08:37] So, so could you, uh, somebody might be listening again. You don’t know who. Never know who’s listening, who might be going through this kind of the same journey. Could you just give somebody some some advice on, you know, uh, just a little bit of glimpse of I mean, you’ve already talked about a little glimpse of hope, just kind of what to do and maybe who to. I’m sure people talking to and reaching out is something to do, but what what can you give some advice on?
Vicky Bates: [00:08:58] So I guess more specifically, when you find out you’ve been diagnosed with an illness, I always recommend that you listen to your doctors, of course, but to also do your homework and do your research and find out what some other options might be. How can you get healthier for some of the treatment coming up? I mean, I have a good friend, Susan Guthrie, that, um, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me. Sharon had a double mastectomy recently, and it runs in her family. That was a very aggressive form of breast cancer. She had to do what she had to do. Mine was not aggressive. Mine was the best kind to have. But I had to pay attention. And I was glad I didn’t go through the chemo and the radiation because that’s really, really harsh on your body. Um, but I just recommend that, um, that’s a good time to really, um, to really deepen your prayer life, um, and find out who your support system is. Um, surround yourself with others that can give you some of their experience and advice. So I did that with my friend Sue Madison, who was an exercise, um, instructor at the Y. Um, over in Kennesaw. Kennesaw at cornerstone. And, um, and then, of course, I read some information she recommended, which was Suzanne Somers, like I said before. So I just did a lot of reading and so recommend, man, just when you find out what that diagnosis was, do your research all about it and find out what others have done. Find out what your options are.
Brian Pruett: [00:10:30] And I think the support system is huge because a lot of people, uh, I know some folks who just want to curl up in the corner and shut everybody out, and that’s not not what you should do. So reach out to some folks. And I mean, we’re all community. We’re here together, help support each other. So, um, so, by the way, I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but go owls. I’m an alumni from KSU, and I actually spent some time working in the, uh, office where the sports. Exercise physiologist professors are. So how long has your husband been there?
Vicky Bates: [00:10:58] Gosh, he’s been there about 15 years. It’s the nursing college. It’s in the nursing college building.
Brian Pruett: [00:11:03] Yeah. So when I was there, it was actually in where the gym is. So they moved. So, um. All right, so I had mentioned that you and I met, uh, doing some networking. So that’s one of the things we talk about on here is networking. And, um, I’ve been networking Atlanta now for about 30 years. And there’s, there’s always some bad things, but there’s more good things if you do it right. Uh, you got a positive story you can share about networking?
Vicky Bates: [00:11:26] Oh, absolutely. Um, I think a lot of people go into networking thinking what they’re going to get out of it, and about how many business cards they’re going to hand out. And I’ve learned it’s really not about you. I mean, in a roundabout way, what goes around comes around. That’s true. So what can you give to that networking group? What can you provide and how can you help others in that group? Um, I think so many people that are in networking, um, oftentimes are new in their, um, their job or the company they’re representing or their business. And so oftentimes they’re a little awkward when they go into a group. So sometimes I’ll look in that room for someone that looks like they’re just alone. And I’ll go up and speak with them. I always highly recommend look for that person that’s trying to hold up that corner of the two walls over there and introduce yourself, and instead of giving your card out, ask for theirs. Find out a little bit, a little bit about them. And you can always, um, text or email and share information about your company, your business, or how you can help later. I really think in the moment it’s about it’s about others.
Brian Pruett: [00:12:38] And so I hope other people are listening because we I talk about that all the time. Don’t go in and try to sell something because it’s you’re not going to do it. You got to learn about the other person, take interest in them. And as you said, what goes around comes around. So, um, you’ve been generous when you first met to donate something for a prize at one of my trivia shows last, actually, it was in October. Mhm. Um, and then since then you’ve actually jumped on board to be one of my deluxe sponsors for the trivia for the, for this year. So first of all, thank you for doing that. Um, but I wanted to ask you, other than the fact that, uh, you’ve gone through your journey with breast cancer and stuff like that and you had the, the support around you, but why is it important for you to be part of the community.
Vicky Bates: [00:13:17] Um, part of the community, because we’re not meant to live on an island by ourselves. Um, and in the community where you give back. So I. I read this little book one time and now I can’t remember the name of it, but it was about your. Your crowns that are. Well, your blessings that you’re going to receive in heaven. And I’m a believer, and I know where I’m leaving and where I’m going when my time is up here, I know where I’m going to be. And so that’s where we’re going to hear all the hallelujahs. And so we might not always feel them or hear them here, but I know that the least little thing that I can input in someone’s life. I’d rather it not be seen, because I know my Heavenly Father is going to see that. And I know two and hope that it blesses that person. Just, um, just a gentle hug or just an eye contact, um, a handshake, telling someone, you know, you’ve got just a beautiful smile. You should do that more. Tell my husband, I said, you know, you’ve just got this handsome smile. You should do that a lot. And, um, because he really does. So, um. That’s just kind of how I feel about that.
Brian Pruett: [00:14:35] All right, well, uh, you can obviously tell you enjoy having a good time as well, because you and your team Wednesday night were having a good time.
Vicky Bates: [00:14:42] Oh, yeah.
Brian Pruett: [00:14:43] And we’ll get you out there. Right. We’re going to get you out there for trivia. So, um, so, uh, Vicki, let’s talk a little bit about Made in America. We talked a little bit, just a little bit about it. But first of all, I want to know how you came up with the name because I obviously I like the name Made in America. Obviously it’s made not mad, but Shirley, but how you came up with the name and then we’ll talk about more of the business. Well, I.
Vicky Bates: [00:15:02] Better make sure my ex-husband hears this because he’s the one that gave me the name my daughter’s dad. And, um, he has always teased me. He said, you know, I’m going to get some rights to that one of these days.
Brian Pruett: [00:15:12] Oh, there you go.
Vicky Bates: [00:15:12] Um, so he came up with it, not me.
Brian Pruett: [00:15:14] All right. Um, well, so, uh, uh, is it just residential? You do commercial as well?
Vicky Bates: [00:15:20] Oh, we do residential. Um, uh, we specialize in residential, but we are just now expanding our commercial division. Um, so, um, which would be offices, uh, facilities in, um, larger commercial industrial areas where they have, you know, break rooms, bathrooms, offices, um, that type of commercial and then, um, and then we also serve um hoa, um, community amenities. So if you’ve got a neighborhood you live in that has a large clubhouse and some bathrooms, pool, bathrooms, um, we have several accounts that we serve there, and we really love those accounts. Um, so those are the majority of the areas that we service.
Brian Pruett: [00:16:07] Okay. And what part of metro Atlanta where all do you serve?
Vicky Bates: [00:16:09] Okay. So we serve all of Paulding County and cities around. So let me just describe this or tell you the cities, because it’s not every city within all the counties around. So um, so Acworth and Kennesaw hub, um, and I did start in Paulding County, so that would be Dallas and Hiram, um, parts of Douglasville that go into Paulding County. Um, and then, of course, Powder Springs, you wrap yourself around to, um, um, parts of Marietta. We go to northern and western Marietta. We don’t go into eastern South Cobb. Um, and so we also. So we also serve Woodstock and Canton, I think Holly Springs. So I think I did a big circle. Hope I didn’t miss anything. There you go. Cartersville. Oh my goodness Cartersville. How did I miss that right. Love Cartersville and Emerson. Um, and so those areas of Bartow County.
Brian Pruett: [00:17:07] Okay. Um, so do you have any advice you can give some people who just love clutter?
Vicky Bates: [00:17:14] Love clutter? Why? Do you know what’s growing inside of clutter?
Brian Pruett: [00:17:19] Obviously they don’t. So just just give some tips on some cleaning. And you know, obviously other than hiring you, what can people do to kind of, you know, keep it from getting to that point?
Vicky Bates: [00:17:28] Well, work on it, um, one day at a time. So I recommend getting, um, a project list. Um, that helps me a lot. But if you what really helps is when you hire a cleaning professional cleaning service that should free up your time for the projects. And so we all have those projects, those spring cleaning projects where we’ve got to attack that closet, we’ve got to attack that catchall table that’s got all kinds of stuff. If I could tell you the stuff that my technicians see, I’m like, I’m glad they hired me. Now they can get rid of some of that. But it’s just you just got to, like, put it into bite sized pieces. You can’t just go at it all in one day. So you just got to break it down.
Brian Pruett: [00:18:09] So folks who might not have ever used a cleaning service and they have tables like you just went with stuff on it, but specifically stacks of stacks of paper and all that. How do you guys go about, do you guys throw just throw stuff away, or do you kind of organize it so people can go through that?
Vicky Bates: [00:18:24] And, well, I’m going to tell you, no, we don’t. When you walk into someone’s office space, you’ve got to respect the office space. So if you came in my office, I have stacks. I don’t want them touched or moved. And this stack represents one thing and this stack represents another. And if you were to walk into my husband’s office. Well, there are stacks on the floor, stacks on the credenza, but he knows what’s in those stacks. And so they’re there for a reason and a purpose. So we respect that and we will clean around that. But when we go into other areas where you’ve got a kitchen table and a few things, we’re going to move as much as we can. But we do want to respect someone’s working space, right?
Brian Pruett: [00:19:07] Yeah. Um, what all is involved in the cleaning? What all do you guys do?
Vicky Bates: [00:19:12] Um, pretty much anything that’s not a liability to my technician. Um, where she’s not climbing, um, or she’s exposed to hazardous, hazardous, um, material. You know, if there’s a room that, um, has, you know, animal droppings and that kind of thing, we’re not. I’m not going to make her do anything that I would not want to do, but, um, so it’s pretty much all the surfaces in the kitchens and bathrooms or bathrooms specialists. So we know to disinfect in those areas. Um, and we don’t just clean around and cut corners, we actually move things. Um, and it’s a top to bottom scrub. All of my technicians have gone through a cleaning excellence program through Made in America. Um, before I even I do want to tell you how I hire this is really important. So before, when I’m interviewing someone, um, of course, we check all of our technicians when we hire them, their background through a national, um, background service. So there’s a whole vetting process. Um, and so before I hire someone, I feel like she’s first I hire people that have experience, I have her clean my house, and she gets me a three hour sample of her cleaning skills. And if for any reason, I see stuff that I feel like is not trainable, I’m not going to hire her. But, um, that’s where we start. And then the next day, she goes out into the fields with one of my three, um, well, four trainers, one of my four trainers, just the two of them. They spend a day cleaning about three, 2 or 3 clients homes. Um, she, um, and then after that, she’s able to go out by herself. So we don’t do team cleaning. It’s solo cleaning. So there’s no bumping elbows. Um, there’s no rotating faces like you would see in a team.
Vicky Bates: [00:20:54] And, um, and then there’s more rapport built between my employee and that client. That client. The other thing, too, there are a lot of companies that use subcontractors, and we don’t all of our cleaning specialists are calling my cleaning angels are actually employees, so we take good care of them. And, um, another way we take care of them. So they take care of my clients is we pay them well, I make a lower profit margin and pay my technicians probably more than I would get paid if I were the one doing the hourly cleaning. And so we have less of a turnover and more loyalty. Um, so but back to the cleaning. So it’s pretty much everything. We have a list of what’s considered basics, what most people want day to day. Um, we have what a lot of people start with, which is our most popular cleaning. It’s called the deluxe top to bottom. It touches a lot of high and low surfaces. It’s kind of like a big spring cleaning. Um, and then we have an add on, you know, list, so no clients. Cleaning profile is the same. I mean, we got a basic list. Um, and then I customize as needed. So I tell my clients, hey, this is your cleaning, not mine. So there’s my basics. That’s the foundations. Is there anything you want to add or take from that? And so that’s what we do. But the liability part if there’s China crystal, that kind of thing, we’re not going to touch grandma’s stuff because you can’t replace that. And my clients know that. Um, and the other liability would be to my technician not climbing on anything below beyond one step or bunk beds, because her health and her safety is important. Right.
Brian Pruett: [00:22:35] Can you give somebody an idea of what the basic package is and looks like and then maybe what an add on is?
Vicky Bates: [00:22:40] Okay, so basics would be cleaning all of your countertops, your faucets, your sinks and detailing, not cursory cleaning. It’s going to be um, um, some of the the cabinets. It’s going to be the outside of all your appliances, the inside of your microwave, your tables, your furniture, your knickknacks. Um, we specialize in floor cleaning. So, um, the sweeping and mopping and, hey, with our floors, we use a company called a private company called Norwex. And that’s they carry some of the highest fiber on the planet. So after Christmas, when all the throw up is there, the glitter, the tinsel and everything. So it grabs all the glitter that a regular mop or broom won’t, won’t pick up. So we use pretty expensive cleaning products and materials and um, of course, dressing, making beds. Um, we’re specialists in the bathroom, so top to bottom, tub showers, toilets inside out, disinfected. Um, and we now make our own disinfectant, um, so that we know that it’s more nontoxic. Um, and then, of course, mirrors and, um, um, cobwebs, uh, shutters, blinds, window seals, uh, light fixtures, ceiling fans, wall vents and then add ons will be things like thoroughly washing your baseboards. Most people don’t want that every visit, right? So why make an ongoing service impractical? Because you’re going to get charged for that. So I try to make it real practical. So the add ons would be like washing baseboards, washing doors, door frames, um, washing walls, um, fully washing cabinets top to bottom. Most people, most people don’t want their cabinets or need them washed top to bottom every visit. So it’s an add on. So we try to just keep it real practical. So a windows we do we do the interior windows. Um your garage if you need your garage swept a mop that can be an add on. So there you go.
Brian Pruett: [00:24:37] There you go. Um, so what um, I just had a question and went out of my head. Um, yeah. Um, so when you guys are cleaning and, and, uh, working with individuals, what, um, how often would you recommend somebody do you guys do, like, packages or do you do it one time or what does that look like?
Vicky Bates: [00:24:58] Everybody’s different. So the majority of our cleaning, um, clients are bi weekly, have a lot that are just monthly and have quite a few that are weekly. And then we have our occasionals that call us when they need it. Um, so it really is up to that household. If you’ve got, um, a lot of kids, you’re probably going to need it more often. Okay? And everybody has a budget, so it depends on that.
Brian Pruett: [00:25:22] Okay. So if somebody listening wants to get a hold of you for your services, how can they do that?
Vicky Bates: [00:25:26] They can call me. Um, so my number is 770. Well, don’t call me right now because I’m busy, but it’s forwarded anyway. My business manager gets it, but it’s (770) 427-4448. You can also text me. You can also go on our website if you want to get a free cleaning quote. Um, go to made Made in America and that’s I in America. And then GA as in Georgia. Don’t forget that part because you’ll get the wrong cleaning service. So it’s made in America. Ga. Com and forward slash quote will take you over to a three minute, um, form to fill out, submit it, and then I’ll get back to that person with a quote.
Brian Pruett: [00:26:07] Awesome. So I do have a question on on how you guys do the quote, because that kind of brings up a question in my mind. Anyway, um, without looking at the, the the space, how do you guys go about doing a quote?
Vicky Bates: [00:26:18] So without looking at it, um, I’m pretty good at ballparks and so I can give good ballpark. I can also show it to give an exact quote. But when you’re doing a first time cleaning, it’s really hard to know how long a technician is going to be there, because you can walk through and see it with your eyeballs. But when unless you’re down on your hands and knees cleaning it, um, um, time is money. And so we charge for time. And so I give a good ballpark on how long we feel like it may take. To clean the first visit. And then once we’ve cleaned that first visit, I have a little follow up, um, that I send to that client first, want to make sure they were happy. Then I have a follow up to the technician, and that follow up system that I use helps me to give them an exact quote for what their cleaning would be every time.
Brian Pruett: [00:27:08] Um, so you you actually are going to be part of something coming up this Thursday. Mhm. You want to share about it.
Vicky Bates: [00:27:15] Oh yes. I’m really looking forward to that. That is the second annual. Is that right. Yep. Okay. Um Acworth Business Expo and yeah I appreciate you inviting me. I’m looking forward to it.
Brian Pruett: [00:27:27] Um, so come check out Vicki and her her booth. It’s going to be 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday night at the Acworth Community Center. So got any you want to get? You got any surprises coming up? You gonna do anything surprising there? No magic tricks or nothing.
Vicky Bates: [00:27:40] Oh, I try not to do magic.
Brian Pruett: [00:27:43] Show off your your bionic hip.
Vicky Bates: [00:27:45] Oh, that would be really a disaster right now. Nothing magical there.
Brian Pruett: [00:27:49] All right. Yeah. So just come by, check her out. We got about 32 vendors right now. There’s still some time to sign up as well. If you guys want to sign up, you can reach out to me, Brian at B’s. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. So Vicki, thanks for coming on and sharing a little bit of your story. Don’t go anywhere. We’re not done. But um, I’m going to move over now to Anna Bostwick right. Yeah. And Liz uh, sure. Do it again because I’ve already forgotten how you say it.
Anna Bostwick: [00:28:14] How you say your last name. Liz.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:28:16] Oh, Cicerchia.
Brian Pruett: [00:28:17] Cicerchia. Don’t see, I had to totally mess that up. But you guys are with ESP. You and me, right? Correct. Yeah. So, um, for. We’ll get into that in just a second, but, um, we’ll start with you and I. Can you share a little bit about your background?
Anna Bostwick: [00:28:30] Yeah, yeah. Um, first off, thanks for having us. We’re really excited to be here. Liz and I are pumped, excited to share the mission of ESP and grateful for this opportunity. Um, a little bit about me. I’m from South Georgia, uh, born and raised in Swainsboro and then went to the University of Georgia, where I graduated with a degree in special education and an emphasis in adaptive curriculum. Go Dawgs. You know, still feel like we should have made the playoffs, but that’s for another conversation.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:28:57] I agree.
Brian Pruett: [00:28:59] Um, I don’t, but we won’t talk about.
Anna Bostwick: [00:29:01] Yeah, that’s okay. We’ll drop that. We’re good friends right now. Yeah. So I graduated from the University of Georgia. Um, that’s how I kind of got involved with the ESP. What started as me having to meet credit hours and get volunteer hours for my major of special education, and volunteering with ESP quickly became something that I just picked up doing in my spare time, because the minute I walked through the door, I was able to see how special it was and, um, how much the mission was really impacting the lives of so many families and so many participants, and really changing that community of Watkinsville Athens for the better. Um, so graduated from the University of Georgia, went on to teach for five years in between Athens and DeKalb County. I taught self-contained special ed, really enjoyed certain aspects of it. But around the fourth year I started really noticing that the skills which I actually kind of noticed during the pandemic, when we were taken out of the schools and were teaching from home, what I missed the most was the interaction between myself and my families and my students that I was teaching in person every day, and I really realized how much I missed that and that the the connection was the piece that I really enjoyed. So about that fourth year, I started thinking about what my career could look like after that. So insert ESP, I started emailing some people and lucky enough they were expanding or relaunching in Atlanta. So I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. That’s a go into a whole story about that and talk about tissues. I would need them. Um, talk about God. Thank. Put me where I needed to be at the right time. But, um, yeah. So I started there about a year and a half ago, going on two years, started as a program coordinator and have transitioned into a program manager and get to work every day with people like Liz and, um, really cool people who have taught me more about myself and teach me a lot more than I’m able to teach them every single day.
Brian Pruett: [00:30:58] So you shared a little with me about, uh, some yesterday when you, you and I sat down and, uh, she was talking about you, Liz, a lot.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:31:05] Oh, wow.
Brian Pruett: [00:31:06] So, uh, she said you’re the, uh, the first original what we coffee person, right? Or something like.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:31:12] That? Um, yes, I am the first original. Um, we actually call it, um, juristas. It’s like barista, but with adding joy.
Brian Pruett: [00:31:24] Nice, nice. Can you share a little bit more about that? What do you guys do?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:31:32] Um, I actually at first initially I did start out. I first heard about it through a good friend of mine who I know really well, who has been part of ESP. Then he was like, okay, I should get more involved with this. In urban, more involved with it in an Athens since 2005.
Anna Bostwick: [00:31:58] What about Liz? What a joy. Sisters do. Like, who do we work for? What’s the company you work for?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:32:03] It’s actually called Java Joy. Okay.
Brian Pruett: [00:32:07] And do you guys? Is it like a mobile thing or do you go into a facility or both?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:32:12] We actually are mobile, but we do have a permit place at the, um, Mercedes-Benz, which I highly recommend. I’m going, by the way.
Brian Pruett: [00:32:21] So if you go down and see the Falcons of the United, make sure you go see Liz.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:32:24] Yes.
Anna Bostwick: [00:32:25] Kart 116.
Brian Pruett: [00:32:27] Nice. Awesome. So Anna, let’s uh, talk a little bit. First of all, I’m curious about the name. Do you know a little bit how the name came about for the the foundation for ESP?
Anna Bostwick: [00:32:37] Um, so it stands for Extra Special People. And that’s exactly who we serve. We? Yes, we serve people that have unique abilities, um, that are unique in their own way. And we really, um, like to exemplify the fact that we celebrate those disabilities and the abilities of all people and that it’s not something to shy away from. It’s something to be proud of when you have something that’s unique about yourself. So we really celebrate all of our participants and our families in every single way, which is exactly what the name sounds like.
Brian Pruett: [00:33:07] Extra special people, right? And I like the you and me part right there in that too. So, uh, that’s really cool. And I also like the, the participants aspect of it. Right. Because, uh, as you mentioned, it is one of the, uh, I guess, uh, people in society kind of look down on folks like that, and they’re all, we’re all human. Yeah, right. So, um, Liz, what’s your favorite part about being a part of ESP? What do you what do you like doing the best?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:33:32] Oh, wow. For me with the power of ESP and Java Joy, I made some great lifelong friends.
Brian Pruett: [00:33:46] Awesome. That’s awesome. And you said you’ve been with since 2005. Is that right? Yes. Awesome. So, Anna, share a little bit. You told me yesterday about some of the programs you guys do. Can you talk a little bit about those?
Anna Bostwick: [00:33:58] Yeah, absolutely. Um, Liz filled chime in anytime you want to, girl. Okay. Um, so we have a couple of different things that we do. We have some umbrellas that we like to call them under. We have 360. Hooray! And then Java Joy 360 is, um, our events that we do once a month. We call them club events. It’s a way for our participants to be able to really have a social two hours and be able to mingle with their peers. We’re doing a really fun one coming up on the 26th. Do you remember what it is, Liz?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:34:29] This one actually coming up on this coming Sunday. Oh yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:34:32] We are having one on Sunday, which we’ve had a great partnership with Elite Skills and Fitness, which is a local business in the Marietta area, and they have welcomed us in and are providing karate lessons for our participants this Sunday. But next week we are having a masquerade ball to kind of kick off Mardi Gras and get in the get in the spirit of that. Um, but yeah, we do club events once a month. And it is not only is it a way for our participants to be able to hang out and just do what anybody else would do on a Friday night, but it’s also built in respite for our parents. It allows our parents to be able to go out to dinner with their friends or, you know, go grocery shopping or fold the the load of laundry that’s sitting on the rocking chair that they haven’t gotten to. It’s really, um, two birds with one stone kind of situation. We also do family support, which that can look lots of different ways. It can go from helping a family that’s struggling with, you know, keeping their lights on to providing a free meal after a surgery or something like that, and also family dinners once a month where we invite every single one of our families, new and current, to come in. It’s a free meal. It’s a really informal setting for our families just to be able to chit chat, get to know one another, talk and mingle in.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:35:44] A some training as well.
Anna Bostwick: [00:35:45] Yeah, some training sometimes. Um, it’s really a way for our participants and our families to get to know each other. I always say the people that can talk the highest of ESP and that can advocate for us the most, are our families that have been a part of it for so long. They’re the ones that can really spread the mission and speak to how it’s changed their lives directly. Yes. But yeah, so that is some things that we do with our 360 programing. And then we also have hooray, which is our camp portion of ESP. We have eight weeks of day camp in Athens, Georgia or in Watkinsville, and two weeks of camp in Rome and in Atlanta, Georgia. We’re really excited to say that we are having our first summer camp in Atlanta this summer. So yeah, two weeks of that to look forward to. We get to partner with the YMCA of the McClusky YMCA in Marietta and also the Georgia Highlands College, um, in Marietta, the campus. So really, really excited for the.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:36:41] Sometimes it’s sometimes KSU as well.
Anna Bostwick: [00:36:43] Yes, yes. Um, and then we have Java Joy, which is what kind of Liz was talking about and referencing earlier. It is our way to provide meaningful employment to adults with disabilities. Um, it’s really how we launch in new cities and how we expand. It’s a way to push forward our mission. Um, we recognize that 87% of adults with disabilities are able to work and do not have the opportunity to work, and lots of times it’s great opportunity, any, any kind of employment opportunity for our adults with disabilities. But we wanted to make sure that they were forward facing and have the ability to engage with community members and really, you know, advocate for themselves. I think everybody can tell that Liz is perfectly capable of talking and being able to express what she’s thinking and feeling and has all the skills to be able to do that. And we want her to be able to provide a space for that. So Java Joy, we really are. We are a mobile coffee cart that goes into metropolitan Atlanta. We serve all areas of Atlanta, really. We go into the we really disrupt the workday. We go in and be and able to form those meaningful connections with adults and different places that may not have the opportunity or have ever had the chance to interact with somebody with a disability. And it’s a way to show that like, hey, we’re just like you. We are normal. We can do everything you can do. We are just here to kind of advocate for our participants and allow them to do that themselves. Yeah.
Brian Pruett: [00:38:06] Now there is a specific age range you guys work with. Are you guys work with all ages?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:38:10] Um, it is all ages. But in order to be a barista, you had to be 18 and over, all right.
Anna Bostwick: [00:38:16] Correct? Correct. So like Liz said, we serve all ages zero to no upper age limit. Our oldest participant right now is in Athens, and she’s in her 60s and our youngest is probably four months old. Um, wow. We really pride ourselves on being able to accept everybody at the stage of life that they’re in. And we also accept all disabilities. So whether. You have ADHD or down syndrome or cerebral palsy, you are welcome in ESPs doors and not only welcome, but you are going to be celebrated from the moment you walk in until the moment you leave.
Brian Pruett: [00:38:45] Awesome. So, um, you probably already mentioned this, but share again the areas that you guys are in.
Anna Bostwick: [00:38:51] Yeah, yeah. So right now, specifically in Atlanta, we are localized in the Marietta community where we are doing Liz’s from Marietta. So she loves it. It’s in her backyard. Um, we are localized in the Marietta community where we are doing all of our 360 programing that I mentioned earlier, like our club events, our family dinners, stuff like that. But we also we welcome families. Although we’re localized in Marietta, we have families that are driving from Stone mountain, from Buckhead, Brookhaven, all over the metropolitan area, and Java Joy, like I said earlier, you know, really serves all of Atlanta. So anywhere that’ll book us, we are. We will. Like I said, we’re mobile. We can hitch the trailer to a car and we are on the road. It takes. Liz has had some early, early mornings. I think we served. We had the privilege last week of serving the Georgia Chamber of Commerce at exit issues at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. And what was that wake up call, Liz about 3 a.m., something like that.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:39:44] Yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:39:44] Yeah, yeah. Early.
Brian Pruett: [00:39:45] You just stayed up all night, right?
Anna Bostwick: [00:39:47] Early wake up call, but worth every second. We really enjoy it. Um, but then is as far as statewide, we have our original location that started in Watkinsville, Georgia. It has. It’s about 37 years old. We’ve been here for a while now, and it’s really flourished from where we were serving about 15 families to where I think it’s 900 families now in Athens. So we’re serving, um, over over 1100 families statewide right now. And then our other, um, city that we serve currently is in Rome, Georgia. So kind of Dallas area is a halfway point. Um, but yeah. So we’re currently just, uh, reiterate in Rome, Watkinsville and the Marietta area.
Brian Pruett: [00:40:27] So you shared with me the story yesterday, too, of the, uh, the CEO. Now that how she took over, could you share that? Because that’s pretty incredible. Yeah, yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:40:34] Yeah, I love sharing.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:40:36] Actually. She’s actually a personal friend of mine that I’ve known for much longer than Ispy actually first started. Yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:40:46] Awesome. Yeah. Liz, Liz and LA are very close. Um, but yeah, I think Laura’s story is truly just a testament to the person that she is and how, um, I think you can look at ESP from where it started and where it is now to see how much it truly means to her. But just a little about that. She, um, Martha Wiley was our founder of ESP. She started it just because she saw a need for the community of people with disabilities to be able to gather on a regular basis, that there’s not really anything for them to do after school. There was no social activities or anything for them to participate in, and she saw a need for that. So she would meet anywhere where there was a prison parking lot, church parking lot. Um, she just needed some space. So that started. They had summer camp. Um, and then I won’t get into all the nitty gritty about all of that, but Laura was not ten years old. She was a sophomore in college, and Miss Martha, unfortunately, was diagnosed with cancer and sat them down and told them that this was it essentially, um, that if ESP was going to continue, it was up to them. And she handpicked Laura at 19 years old, old to take over esp um, Miss Martha unfortunately did pass away, but she left, in my opinion, esp to the only person that could have done with it. What they did. Laura, like I said, was 19, took over, she became a student and uh, um, executive director overnight. And she turned ESPN to what it is today. She is still currently our CEO. She has been in Leadership Atlanta. She is um, you can see her all over. She has a podcast or is working on getting a podcast. She’s working on a book deal. Um, she’s just great and has been such a driving force with ESP and truly has a heart for serving our participants and making sure that they are getting equal opportunity in this world.
Brian Pruett: [00:42:32] That’s awesome. So you and I met on January 2nd at a referral rally. Yeah, yeah. So obviously you do some networking as well. So, uh, share a positive story of networking for you.
Anna Bostwick: [00:42:42] So networking like I said, we have actually I don’t know if I did say it. We have just come to the Marietta area in March of 2023. So we haven’t been here even a even a year yet. Um, but it’s been great. So networking has been something that’s been very new and something that we’ve had to really lean into since we’ve been in Marietta to make sure that our name is out in the community. But just I mean, the referral rally was so positive in itself. So many positive experience like yourself came out of it. And I just have to reiterate what you said earlier about it was so important to listen to people as they were explaining what that they did and not try to push your name forward, but really figure out ways that you could help. Um, that naturally, I feel like comes for employees of ESP to be the people that help and support and do things like that. So it’s been great just to be able to provide that kind of, um, experiences for people and how wonderful it’s been to be a part of the community and really get our name.
Brian Pruett: [00:43:36] Out there. So. So, Liz, I have a question for you. What’s the you said you made some really lifelong friends from from this. What’s a what’s a favorite thing for you of meeting new people.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:43:46] Um between new people and and also old friends as well. Um, most of them actually do live in Athens, which I really want to live there, by the way.
Anna Bostwick: [00:44:03] What’s your favorite part? Liz, what’s your favorite part of meeting new people?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:44:11] For me. I just say I’ll just mean for me. Like me, like I’ll be like saying, hi, how are you? Mhm. Just the.
Brian Pruett: [00:44:19] Simple things.
Anna Bostwick: [00:44:20] Yeah Liz is great at making connection and just getting anybody to talk. She has no problem. And being the first one to speak up. Um she is I mean there’s a reason why I supposed to be here today. She is great at spreading the mission and just making people feel extremely.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:44:34] And we do have a great team with Hayden, Emma Barton and Hayden and Taylor. Mhm.
Anna Bostwick: [00:44:40] Yep.
Vicky Bates: [00:44:41] Awesome, awesome. She’s got a great handshake.
Anna Bostwick: [00:44:43] She does have a great handshake. She does.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:44:46] We also do give hugs. Yes.
Anna Bostwick: [00:44:48] So that is something that Java Joy does. As we say. You get your cup of coffee and then you get a hug. Um I think Laura talks about this all the time, and she’s going to kill me for not knowing the right number, but I want to say it’s eight hugs a day that you have to get nice. That does like something for your that releases some endorphin in your brain. So Java Joy likes to fill that gap and likes to make sure that we are providing those hugs and a cup of coffee to start out your day.
Brian Pruett: [00:45:11] So, speaking of hugs, uh, March 21st I’m doing another. It’s a it’s called the America’s Hometown Hero Expo, and it’s veteran and first responder owned businesses and businesses that want to hire them and and just support them. But we have a group coming and they were on the show, uh, a few a couple months ago called paws for life. And they’re bringing Rufus out, and Rufus gives hugs. So if you want a hug from Rufus, come on March 21st to the Acworth Community Center. Now, Rufus, when he stands on his hind legs, is looking you in the eye. Okay? His front paws are on your shoulders. He’s literally giving you a hug. I’ve got some pictures. I’m getting a hug from Rufus. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m getting a hug from Rufus. That’s just awesome.
Anna Bostwick: [00:45:50] Yeah, yeah, I think I put Liz and Rufus up against one another. Yeah, well.
Brian Pruett: [00:45:55] You guys will have to be there to get because we’re going to have a booth. That all it is, is come get hugs from Rufus. Oh that’s awesome. Liz can come and get your hugs from Liz and Rufus. Cool, cool. There you go. So, uh, and let me ask you this, um, you shared just a little bit already, but why is it important for you to be part of the community?
Anna Bostwick: [00:46:11] Um, our mission. I’ll just go ahead and say it is to create transformative experiences for people with disabilities and their families while we’re changing communities for the better. So it’s in our mission statement to make sure that, yes, we’re serving people with disabilities and their family, but we’re also serving our community on a daily basis. It’s a way, in my opinion, I feel like you’re fulfilling God’s mission and God’s Word when you are, um, serving people that aren’t like you in a in a way. So it’s a way just for people in our community to be able to serve their community and be able to be a part of ESP. I always call it you get bit by the bug. Once you come to one ESP event, you’re going to come back to a second. It is truly a magical experience, so it’s just important for us to have the community involved, to really buy in and to lean in to our mission and be able to be a part of something that’s really unique and really special. Um, we’re excited, like I said, to be in Marietta, we’re pretty new here, which I’m again, so grateful to have this opportunity to be able to kind of spread our mission and spread the word and get people to know about ESP a little bit more from this area. But the community is a big part of that. We can’t do this without community members. We can’t do this without the support of the community. So it’s important for us to be a part in every way that we can and to have people joining us.
Brian Pruett: [00:47:24] So. So, Liz, do you uh, obviously you love giving hugs. Yes. And that that can make anybody smile anyway. But you smiling and giving hugs, I’m sure, uh, brightens anybody’s day. But why do you like being in the community?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:47:38] Uh. For me. The for me, being a community is a I can do more. Mhm.
Brian Pruett: [00:47:48] Mhm. There you go.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:47:49] Yeah. And plus with, with being a barista you actually start out with a actually a brown apron not a right. Because you have to get 20 hours before you get your white apron with your name on it. Mhm.
Anna Bostwick: [00:48:04] Mhm. This is exactly right Java Joy. It’s treated just like any other job. There’s an interview process. There’s a training period and we take it very seriously. There’s job improvement. We have professional development. We have all that fun stuff. So we treat our jewelry pieces just like you would treat any other employee. But Liz is exactly correct. And you have graduated to your white apron, haven’t you, girl I.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:48:25] Have, yes, we have a thing called, um, a white apron ceremony when they fulfill their. I’m going three hours. We do a white apron ceremony and and usually a. Senior priestess. We give it to them. Yeah.
Brian Pruett: [00:48:41] That’s right. Awesome. Well, I can tell you, if you gave me a white apron, it’d be stained pretty quickly. I spill stuff. That’s why they made.
Anna Bostwick: [00:48:47] Bleach, right?
Brian Pruett: [00:48:48] Yes. So, Anna, how can other than the financial aspect of it, how can individuals and businesses get involved with the ESP? Absolutely.
Anna Bostwick: [00:48:56] Um, volunteers we need we are serving so many participants right now, and, um, our families are just really flocking to ESP, which is I think it’s a testament to how much our families need the services that we’re providing, and they need that support group that’s built in within ESP. So a great and easy and free way to get involved in ESP is just to come volunteer. You can find what we are doing on our Facebook page ESP Atlanta. Or you can go to our website esp UNM, org.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:49:27] And Instagram and.
Anna Bostwick: [00:49:29] Instagram. You’re right esp Atlanta, we have our own Instagram page. Um, Liz is a frequent, um, source or subject of our Instagram page and on our posts. But, um, yeah, I would just say that volunteer is really where we need our community members, and it is a easy way to be able to see the mission in action and be able to see the way that we are transforming the lives of our participants and our families. Yes, obviously the financial support, we’re a nonprofit. We can’t do it without that financial support. So it’s a great way we always invite people to come volunteer to kind of, um, see what we’re doing, and then they want to give us their money after they see it, because they truly do see how special it is and how wonderful the things that we’re doing are.
Brian Pruett: [00:50:13] Do you, uh, you mentioned something that’s coming up Sunday now, but you had some other events that’s coming up pretty soon too. Do you want to share about that?
Anna Bostwick: [00:50:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, a way to for families, if any families are listening that have a child or an adult with a disability or know somebody that has a family member with a disability, you can fill out our new family interest form by by going to ESP, um, org. Um, but yeah, some of the events we have coming up this Sunday, like I mentioned, from three to 2 to 4, we are having a karate class at Elite Skills Fitness on January 26th. We are having a masquerade ball at another wonderful, great partnership that we’ve been able to form here in Marietta. We are currently housing our office space and all of our programs, club events, family dinners, things like that out of First United Methodist Church of Marietta, which they’ve been wonderful, great host, um, great connections, but that’ll be on the 26th, that masquerade ball and then followed on the 31st of January. We will have our family dinner.
Brian Pruett: [00:51:13] Yeah. Awesome. So I do have another question. Um, if somebody is listening and maybe new to having, uh, somebody in their life that, you know, has special needs, what kind of advice can you give them?
Anna Bostwick: [00:51:27] Um, I actually have a stepbrother with down syndrome, so I don’t even know if we were able to chat about that yesterday. But the advice I could give you is that you’ve hit the jackpot, in my opinion. Um, I always say my stepbrother’s name is Seth, and that if everyone in the world could be a little bit more like Seth, the world would be a much better place. Um, I think you look at it as obviously your life is going to look very different. You’re not going to be able to have the same things that you maybe dreamed of for your neurotypical child, but man, oh man, the experience that you’re going to have with a child with a disability are completely unique, but so special in their own ways. And really, um, I think that they are the gifts from heaven to be able to have the ability and the opportunity and the privilege, in my opinion, to be able to have that experience of working with somebody and being able to have a family member with a disability is just really special. So my advice would just be, you know, don’t look at it as an opportunity that’s being taken from you would be looking at it as an opportunity that some people never get the chance to have, and that it really is unique in its own way.
Brian Pruett: [00:52:34] Another thing that I would say, and this goes for anything, but also don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Anna Bostwick: [00:52:37] Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, that’s a big part of ESP is that we have we haven’t launched the program here in Marietta or in Atlanta yet. It’s called ES play. It is a way for our babies. We like to call them 0 to 3 years of age to be able to gather. They participate in music therapy, and it’s a way for our children to be able to start building that support system, but also our families. Um, I can’t imagine going home. Well, I need to start imagining I’m actually, you know, uh, me and my husband are welcoming a baby boy this summer, so really excited about that. Thanks. Thanks, but I can’t. I’m trying to slowly wrap my head about it. I guess it’s coming one way or the other. Leaving a hospital with a child, much less leaving a hospital with a child with a disability. You’re really just kind of sent with no resources and nothing to be able to tap into and no support system. So ES play ESP recognized that and created ES play to be a place for that. These families can come and have that support system right out of the bat. We have some mothers that are still. Found out that their child is going to have down syndrome. Um, so we want to provide that space of support and that space of community for our families to be able to ask questions and have a the opportunity to really seek help in any way that they can.
Brian Pruett: [00:53:52] Right. Hey, Liz, what kind of advice would you give?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:53:56] Uh. Mm for me says I’m the. First kids with down syndrome in my family.
Anna Bostwick: [00:54:10] What kind of advice would you give? What’s what’s special about you?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:54:15] Um hum.
Anna Bostwick: [00:54:19] Can I help you out?
Liz Cicerchia: [00:54:20] Uh, yes. Yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:54:21] I think that Liz is capable and and able to do anything that anybody else does. I think my advice would be that when you see somebody with a disability is not to assume or not to just, um, the stereotypes that come with people with disabilities is completely false. And I think that it is important to look at each individual and their unique abilities and be able to really get to know them.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:54:47] Yes.
Brian Pruett: [00:54:48] And I would agree for you guys, you obviously you can’t see in here, but Liz is a firecracker.
Anna Bostwick: [00:54:52] She is she is that.
Brian Pruett: [00:54:53] She’s lighting up the studio. I can tell you that. She’s got the red.
Anna Bostwick: [00:54:56] Hair to match.
Brian Pruett: [00:54:57] Yes. Um, so you you work for a nonprofit, so you haven’t really started a nonprofit. But let me ask you this. If you were to start a nonprofit of your own, what kind of advice would you give somebody who might be thinking of that or even trying to look for a job for a nonprofit?
Anna Bostwick: [00:55:11] Um hum. Um, networking. I think getting your name out and really spreading the mission for nonprofits is important. People. There are more good people in the world than bad people, I really think, and people that want to help and want to be a supporter. So just making sure that you’re sticking your neck out and you’re not afraid to talk to people, um, Laura Whitaker is the queen of that. She is not scared to talk to anyone. She will spread. Yes, I agree with that.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:55:38] Yeah.
Anna Bostwick: [00:55:38] Liz, um, she will spread Espy’s mission any chance she got, she gets. So I think it’s really important just to take every opportunity you have to network with your community and network with people that want to help you spread your mission.
Brian Pruett: [00:55:49] Awesome. Share your website one more time.
Anna Bostwick: [00:55:51] It is ESP you and me, the words Y-o-u and me.org.
Brian Pruett: [00:55:57] All right Vicki, I’m coming back to you because I forgot to ask you a question. So you obviously started your business. You said we won’t say how long again, but give somebody some advice who might be thinking about starting a business. What would you tell them?
Vicky Bates: [00:56:10] There are so many things you got to really pay attention to. So. But mine’s a for profit, so. Right, right. Probably a little bit of a difference. Um. Well.
Vicky Bates: [00:56:23] Starting a business is knowing what you’re kind of knowing what your goals are going to be in that business. I think that’s really important is setting goals and you’ve got to know resources. So any new business starting needs to have resources that they trust. They probably should do that first. Um, who is going to be your human resource? Um, you know, company or person, um, who is going to be your accountant, who knows your business, who is going to be your, um, your banker that knows your business. So the things that all of the, the cogs in a wheel that, that facilitate a business running smoothly, make sure you’ve got trustworthy resources set up first. And make sure you set up your business correctly, um, you know, through your accountant, however that’s supposed to be because I had to reestablish mine early on because I had not set it up correctly. So and having really good business systems will come out of that.
Brian Pruett: [00:57:25] Right. And the same thing, don’t don’t be afraid to ask for help. Right.
Vicky Bates: [00:57:28] Oh yeah. Absolutely.
Brian Pruett: [00:57:30] Um, all right, so as we wrap this up, I always like to do this too. So, um, I would like for each of you to share either a word, a quote, just a positive nugget for somebody listening today, the rest of 2024 and beyond. So, Vicki, what can you share?
Vicky Bates: [00:57:46] Hey, put me right on the spot. So it’s probably, um, a scripture. And um, I think it’s we just get so tempted to be anxious when we’re in business or in endeavors. And so is to go to my Philippians Scripture, and you put me on the spot. Now, I can’t remember it, but it’s, um, be anxious for nothing. But in all things, um, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds and your checking account.
Brian Pruett: [00:58:19] Liz, you got something you can share that’s positive? Good quote.
Liz Cicerchia: [00:58:23] Um, since I also do work at chick fil A as well in Marietta. Um, definitely. Since we were just honoring MLK day, I would. Definitely after just a very quick quote that, you know, go after that awesome girl.
Brian Pruett: [00:58:45] Very good. Make sure you go by and see Liz at Chick fil A in Marietta. Anna, what kind of what you got?
Anna Bostwick: [00:58:51] Um, I think I would just say to be open minded to new experiences and new people that you could meet, especially with espe, you come across people that are unique in every single day and every single way. So just being open minded to that would be my advice.
Brian Pruett: [00:59:07] Awesome. And the last thing that I like to do is to thank you as a lost art. These days you talk about the simple things. No, thank you is just simple, but it’s lost art. So first of all, Vicki, thanks for what you do for the community and especially those with the cancer, uh, and being the uh, being hope for those who have, uh, are going through that and gone through that. Liz, thank you for being a light in this dark world. Thank you. And, Anna, thanks for what you’re doing for the, uh, the, the ESP group and and all the community as well. So everybody out there listening, let’s remember. Let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.
BRX Pro Tip: Taking Your Customer Service Experience Up a Notch
BRX Pro Tip: Taking Your Customer Service Experience Up a Notch
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about improving customer service.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] Yeah. I think that this is a neglected area that a lot of business folks aren’t investing enough time and energy in. I think it’s so important to level up your customer service experience with your clients. And it doesn’t have to be some earth shattering thing. It can be little things.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Like when Chick-fil-A cashiers say our pleasure after they’ve served you, they’re delighting their customers. You know, at Costco, it’s a policy if any employee of Costco sees something on the ground, they pick it up. And because of that, whenever you go to Costco, there’s nothing on the floor. And guess what? That makes their customers pretty happy. At Nordstrom’s, they made a policy that says they’re going to take anything back without giving you a hard time. They’re not going to allow that, you know, one percent or less than one percent of their customers who are taking advantage of that generous policy affect the vast majority of their customers who are just trying to take something back. So, they decided to be very generous with their return policy, and guess what? That delights their customers.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:15] Is there anything you can be doing in your business that’s going to delight your customers and take your customer service up a notch? I think it’s so important to connect with your customers, make them feel good about doing business with you. And by doing that, you’re going to further separate yourself from your competition and you’re going to be helping kind of build that indispensable go-to service provider goal that most people in our circle are trying to be. You want to be that go-to resource in whatever niche you’re serving. And having stellar customer service will help you get there.
BRX Pro Tip: 3 Useful Prioritization Frameworks
How 100 is Better than 1 Million
Author and Small Business Coach Pete Srodoski
Pete Srodoski is author of the book, Lead With Empathy: Elevate Your Leadership & Management Skills, Build Strong Teams, and Inspire Lasting Change in Your Business.
Pete is not only a seasoned CEO, COO, and small business coach, but also a devoted husband, father of five, and a mentor. With his debut book, Pete combines his vast experience in entrepreneurship and small business with his passion for empathetic leadership and organizational development.
He embarks on a mission to empower individuals and teams to reach their utmost potential, weaving in his own insights as a family man and leader. Pete’s two-year journey of research and exploration into the intricate dynamics of empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication has culminated in a book that promises to be a beacon for aspiring leaders and anyone looking to foster a more compassionate and understanding workplace.
Balancing a successful career and a bustling family life, Pete Srodoski stands as a testament to the power of empathy and the importance of fostering positive relationships, both personally and professionally.
Connect with Pete on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:15] And welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host Sharon Cline on a surprise Wednesday show, and today in the studio we have a CEO, COO, and a small business coach who’s also the author of the book Lead with Empathy. Elevate your Leadership and Management Skills, Build Strong Teams, and Inspire Lasting Change in Your Business. Welcome to the show Pete Sadowski.
Pete Srodoski : [00:00:44] Hello, hello hello hello. Thank you so much for having me.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:47] Oh my goodness. So excited to talk to you. I am really into authors these days, and I’m just so excited to see that you posted on Cherokee Connect about your book. Yes. It’s not a small book. It’s doing very, very well. I did some research on you.
Pete Srodoski : [00:01:01] Oh, really?
Sharon Cline: [00:01:02] Well, a little bit without being a stalker. You know, I worry about that kind of thing. I don’t want to be inappropriate, but I did see that you posted about book authority, which was really cute. You said that it Lead with Empathy is the eighth best management audiobook of all time, according to Book Authority.
Pete Srodoski : [00:01:18] So excited about that. And, um, you know, it couldn’t be any more grateful for that. Um, there’s seven books better than Lead With Empathy. But, you know, so far.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:29] That’s what you’re saying. Yeah, at this moment.
Pete Srodoski : [00:01:31] But, uh, just just a wonderful accomplishment. And the journey for lead with empathy. Um, it’s I was never intending it to be this, this powerful, this successful. Really. And so for me, it’s it’s very warming that that’s taking place. Well, do.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:47] You mind if I ask a little bit about your background before we get to the book? So clearly you were in the business world, CEO, CEO, um, a bunch of different letters that you throw together, I’m sure apply to you happened to mention before the show that you used to run King of Pops.
Pete Srodoski : [00:02:01] Yeah. Back before. It’s now a franchise program. But before that, um, I oversaw all of the company’s operations and sales.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:09] So how did you get into the business world? Have you always been since you were a kid?
Pete Srodoski : [00:02:12] No. So interestingly enough, I started in retail, okay. And I worked my way up. So my first real management job, I was 18 years old, and I was the store manager of a Hollywood video.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:25] Back in the day.
Pete Srodoski : [00:02:26] And if you could imagine, we had VHS.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:28] Oh, wow.
Pete Srodoski : [00:02:29] Yeah. So it’s been a minute. It has been, um, and Hollywood video goes out of business and I get a job across the street at PetSmart. Okay, uh, work my way up to a store manager role, and then I run multiple stores, and, um, I realized that, um, I just wanted more out of life than this. This retail world. Right. Um, I just I couldn’t imagine myself working those ten hour days, nights, weekends.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:54] Managing people all the time.
Pete Srodoski : [00:02:56] Just all the it. You’re really dealing with people at their very worst. Um, you know, the store manager doesn’t get called, um, when things are going great. You know, the store manager gets called because it was a problem. Yeah. So, you know, when I hear the page, like, uh, mod to the front of the store, um, I was like, oh, no. So, uh, you know, I took a chance and I took a role with, uh, King of Pop’s, and, uh, that was the game changer for me. That just changed my entire life. And, um, they were.
Sharon Cline: [00:03:28] Looking for someone to manage. Is that how that happened?
Pete Srodoski : [00:03:31] Yeah. So it was, uh, you know, when you’re a small business, the first group of people that you have work for, you are people that are in your, you know, uh, community. So, uh, people similar to you, they have the similar experiences as you, their family members, friends, etc.. And so I was the first guy that they had brought on board that was like a true and tried leader that had experience managing other people. And, uh, for them that was that was a really big deal. Wow.
Sharon Cline: [00:03:56] So it was a it was a win win. They hired you with experience and then you got to build this huge brand.
Pete Srodoski : [00:04:02] Yeah, yeah, I was I was a part of, um, you know, the tree elves, which was really cool, where we dressed up like Christmas elves and delivered Christmas trees. Oh. Did you really? Sorry.
Sharon Cline: [00:04:12] I haven’t heard of this. I’ve been kind of limited. Clearly, I’m missing out. So can you tell me about that? Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:04:16] So, uh, you know, you sell popsicles, uh, from April all the way until October, maybe November. And then guess what? People don’t do anymore. They don’t buy frozen products and eat them outside. Um, because it’s cold. So we said to ourselves, we have all these trucks, we have all these employees. We don’t want to fire everybody every November and then hire them back in February. So what can we do for those 2 or 3 months? And we had this brainstorming session and the decision to make Treehouse was came about, and that was right before I got there. But we went into overdrive, um, when I, when I joined the company and opened up Christmas tree lots across the entire East Coast. We had one in Virginia, one in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, one in Tennessee, uh, a couple in Georgia. And we had these Christmas trees. And then. We would dress up like elves, sing a song when we got to your your house, and then put the Christmas tree up. And then we’d pick it back up after the season and chip it. Oh no kidding. Yeah, we would chip it and put it at the Atlanta Beltline.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:18] Oh my gosh, how ingenious. People hate getting rid of their trees. Yeah, yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:05:22] We do the entire thing and dress like elves. And then we’d make holiday flavored popsicles as well. Oh how festive is that a blast.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:30] Do you love.
Pete Srodoski : [00:05:30] It? So much fun, backbreaking work, though, in case you’ve never lifted Christmas trees off of a truck. Not lately. Uh, we would get delivery of 500 Christmas trees, and you’ve got to put these things on your show. I threw out so many shoulders.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:44] Oh, my goodness, over the years. But you know, the energy behind that is so festive and fun that I bet people can feel it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:05:51] Yeah. You know, it’s something that’s just so enjoyable. Like, you never really had a bad day. Oh, except we had a couple of times that trees would fly off of our trucks on the highway, uh, which would create a bad day. Um, but for the most part, you know, like, every time I went somewhere and delivered a Christmas tree dressed as an elf, the kids are just having a blast. Everybody’s so happy. I’m getting offered drinks everywhere I went. Heck, yeah. And it was. It was a really fun, um, environment, you know?
Sharon Cline: [00:06:21] So you got to experience all of that and be part of King of Pops. And what was your next step after that?
Pete Srodoski : [00:06:27] Yeah. So, um, I was recruited, uh, good old fashioned, uh, headhunter called you, sort of. The headhunter was the CEO and the owner of the major competitor for King of Pops, Steel City pops. Dun dun dun.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:44] This is very dramatic. Oh it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:06:45] Is. There’s a fun article about why one of the King of pops, the Kingsmen, uh, defected to the. It’s a funny article, but somebody wrote it. Defected to the competitor. Um, and that’s about me. Oh my.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:59] Goodness.
Pete Srodoski : [00:06:59] Um, and so I left and went to Birmingham, Alabama to be the CEO of Steel City Pops. Um, the company had gone through a chapter 11 restructure. The previous ownership team moved out and there was a group that took over. And so I had the just pleasure of taking over, uh, recently bankrupt frozen dessert company two months before Covid.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:23] Oh, geez.
Pete Srodoski : [00:07:25] What a blast. Uh, and the next 18 months of just pure, um, arduous stress of being a CEO turned, uh, terminated my employees twice. 400 people. Twice. Oh.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:39] Oh, no.
Pete Srodoski : [00:07:40] Beg them back to come back after. After the first wave of Covid, we got a pptp loan. Okay. Gotcha. I had to rehire them again.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:48] Oh, my goodness.
Pete Srodoski : [00:07:49] Only to fire them again.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:50] Oh my goodness. Okay, well let’s talk about that just for a minute. Because anyone in the business world can you imagine the nightmare that must have been for you. Yeah. And how daunting. And you clearly have a big heart. Look, your book is about empathy, so how could you not feel all 1000 different emotions? How did you manage it?
Pete Srodoski : [00:08:11] Um.
Sharon Cline: [00:08:11] I know you have to do what you have to do. I get that, but, like, how did you manage what it was like on your end to do that twice?
Pete Srodoski : [00:08:17] It’s really tough to, um, it’s just to even bolster that further. Um, my wife and I had surprise twins, uh, just a few months before. Uh, yeah. Babies four and five. And, um, so I’m having to travel to Birmingham, Alabama, where I was the CEO, and I stayed all week long, and my wife had to do it all by herself. Um, and it was unexpected. All of this was very unexpected. Covid hit. That was unexpected. Um, you know, I had a great I had a great group of people, um, we we all huddled around this, this operational methodology called EOS. Okay.
Sharon Cline: [00:08:57] I don’t know what that is.
Pete Srodoski : [00:08:58] It stands for, uh, entrepreneurial Operating System. And it’s from a book called Traction by Gino Wickman. And it’s a it’s a framework for how to run your business. But what it does is it empowers your team, and it gets this leadership team together that all share in the same dynamic and want to fight the fight together.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:18] Instead of against you or against each other. You’re you’re more of a team.
Pete Srodoski : [00:09:23] Yeah. And it’s that concept of everybody rowing in the same direction. Right. So, um, when I took over, we instantly implemented that right before Covid, and I couldn’t be any happier that we did. Um, had we had not implemented that system and that leadership team be built out, I don’t think we would have made it the year and a half that we did. Um, but everybody rallied together. They all felt empowered. They were all a part of the program. And I just kind of. You know, one foot forward every day.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:54] How wonderful to have a plan. It was almost like you had a plan before you needed the plan. So it’s so it’s so disorienting when you have to try to scramble and figure yourself out. And I mean, even as a parent, what am I going to do if if this happens with my kid or that, you know, like having a plan like lowers your stress level, but still sounds like you had a lot of stress to deal with.
Pete Srodoski : [00:10:15] Well, it was a tremendous amount of stress. But no, you’re you’re right about the plan. And as I as I think about it as a business coach, that’s pretty much my pitch for people when I work with them as a coach is just, do you want to be in the driver’s seat, or do you want to be in the passenger seat for your business? And most people say, I want to be in the driver’s seat, but right now I’m not in the driver’s seat. So I think that’s that’s kind of the the key. When I, when I had the opportunity to run Steel City was walk in the door, Institute this this new program, implement this new program collaboratively with the current leadership team, develop a structure where everyone is empowered, has a say. We’re all fighting for the same goal. And I think that carried us as far as it did. You know, we had a a very difficult time nonetheless with, you know, the first round of PPE for anybody that was dealing with that. They told us we had to spend all of our payroll in ten weeks. And, you know, so people are hiring more people than they needed to. And then on week nine, they told us that you actually had 24 weeks to spend that payroll, but we had burned it all already. So it’s just a lot of just awful management when it came to the program. But no one really knew what was going on in, you know, the unprecedented.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:33] We were out of our depth, everyone. Yeah. And you can’t plan for that. You can you can figure it out though. You did.
Pete Srodoski : [00:11:41] Well, I don’t know. I mean we tried to well.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:45] I don’t forgive me that I’m unfamiliar with Steel City, but how did they not survive? They did not.
Pete Srodoski : [00:11:50] Survive. After about 18 months as the CEO company went out of business, uh, we, you know, we absorbed a tremendous amount of debt from the previous chapter 11 restructure. So like I, we had over $100,000 a month in debt that we had to pay of debt payments. So when Covid hit and we had to close all 28 stores, no more vending, no more catering whatsoever. We just walked, you know, basically up to the firing squad. And, um, you know, we had to figure it out. So we pivoted, we we innovated, we created a popcorn line, um, which was cool. And that gave us a little bit of, um, uniqueness and allowed us to sell in stores. And, you know, we created a wholesale division and packaging. And, I mean, we did everything in our power to stay alive, but, um, just that that. Huge burden of the the previous, uh, you know, debt was just too much.
Sharon Cline: [00:12:53] So you’ve got such a daunting task as it is to come into a company and try to save it, and then even realizing that you can’t. How do you deal with the I mean, the show is fearless formula. Like, how did you deal with the natural fear that comes along with that? You’re supporting your family? I’m surprised. Twins, I mean, yeah. How did you manage?
Pete Srodoski : [00:13:15] I would honestly say, um, there was a couple of times where, um, I was in my car and I was driving, and I was talking to the owner of the company and our CFO, and we had a three way conversation going on, and we were waiting for that PPE loan, and we couldn’t make our payments to our employees payroll. I had already foregone months of payroll, you know, to try to make it my we can’t pay for groceries and my parents are helping out. It was a really difficult time. Um, and I just remember I was in Gainesville, Georgia at the time in my car driving back from 85 and, um, to Cumming, and I’m in the car and I got the phone call that we got our PCP loan and, you know, um, I pulled over on the side of the road and just cried. I just, I didn’t know what else to do. I it was I was so overcome with emotion, I just cried. I just sat on the side of the road crying because that meant I could pay my employees. That meant I could pay bills.
Pete Srodoski : [00:14:17] And I had multiple lawsuits that we were engaged in because we couldn’t pay rent and we were getting thrown out of stores and getting, you know, every week. It was another store that was getting locked up on us. And, you know, landlords needed their money too. So it was a it was a really awful time. But, you know, I really felt like at that time, you know, trust in the people that matter to you. Um, work hard, put your best foot forward, um, and do the right thing. You know, um, I have a lot of faith, and, you know, I believe in, you know, that kind of, um, that backbone. Like, I’m on the path that I’m supposed to be on. My family was so supportive. My father, who’s always just so incredibly, um. I don’t want to say unsupportive, but, um, someone who’s just, you know, a little unique in his own way. He he said to me, uh, Pete, I’ve never seen you work as hard for a company as I’ve. I’ve ever seen you work for this company.
Sharon Cline: [00:15:16] Really? Yeah. Your heart was in it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:15:19] Yeah. And it’s like, if you feel like you’re. You’re a part of something and you feel like you’re really giving it your all, um, at that point, you’re you’re just like, I can do anything I can. I can continue to fight this fight.
Sharon Cline: [00:15:33] I don’t know. I feel like the support that you have with the people around you, to me, feels like the common theme for people is that if you are surrounding yourself with people who are supporting you and caring about you, somehow, that just has the the ability to bolster your emotions and what you have to deal with when you’re stressed and scared. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:15:55] You know, you know, my wife was just she’s just an amazing woman. And she was the she’s the rock of our family and my kids and coming home and them being proud of me and how hard we’re working. And so, you know, you’re proud of that. And you, you you feel really good about yourself and you’re willing to do whatever it takes.
Sharon Cline: [00:16:18] I mean, that’s it right there. And the fact that you had such emotion knowing that you’d be able to, um, pay your employees, which because, you know, that’s so important to them, you know, you have like, your heart in it. And to me, I feel like that’s everything. Like when you really, genuinely are caring about what you’re doing, whatever does happen as a result, you’ve done the best you can and there’s like a peace that comes with it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:16:42] Yeah, that’s well, you hit the head on the nail, right? Is if you’re putting your best foot forward and you’re doing the very best that you possibly can. Um, at the end of the day, you have a peace. You know, I always say that I have to fall asleep in my own bed every night, and I have to put my head on the pillow and and do I believe that I put my best foot forward, and I’ve done the right thing by my employees and by the people in my life. And ultimately, um, I make mistakes, probably more than everybody. But no, I make tons of mistakes myself. And I would.
Sharon Cline: [00:17:14] Like to compare mistakes with you. But no, you’re right, like you can. I am the queen of mental torture and beating myself up for what I could have done and hadn’t done and should have done. But when you do have that feeling of I can look at this time and not dwell on the mistakes that I made, or I can say I didn’t know better because I, I would have done better if I knew better. There is a peace that comes with that and a surrender that, um, you know, doesn’t have to follow you every place you go and be a shadow on you. It can be learning experience.
Pete Srodoski : [00:17:47] Well, there’s you carry a lot of PTSD from that time like I, I, I know it sounds weird to even say those, those things like that’s it’s almost a shock to people that actually, you know, suffer from PTSD. But after that, it was hard to remember that time and not get mad. Oh, because of like, I felt like, you know, it’s the entire time that I was with Steel City, it was our backs are against the wall and we’re just. You know, trying our best to survive.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:15] Do you think they hired you in an attempt to save them selves?
Pete Srodoski : [00:18:19] Um, yeah. I mean, I really felt like had Covid not happened, I’d still be there and we’d be cranking. Um, that’s the saddest part about it. That is.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:27] It’s tragic.
Pete Srodoski : [00:18:28] Yeah, it really is. Um, we we just we had so many great ideas and we were trending up. And in the previous team mismanaged the company so badly, um, that taking over was kind of like, well, this actually isn’t going to be that hard. Um, you know, we have this, this great opportunity and we can do it. And then Covid hit, right? Like after we made our first tour of stores and visited all the territories, then, you know, snap Covid.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:59] So you are at Steel City. Things. The Covid hits, things fall apart. You clearly learned a tremendous amount in that whole process. Yeah, yeah. Is that what led to your next step and the book?
Pete Srodoski : [00:19:14] Um, yeah. Not yet.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:17] Okay, let’s hear your next step. This is fascinating to me.
Pete Srodoski : [00:19:19] Well, I’m glad it is, because this is probably a one of the bigger, more challenging things for me to even talk about. But, um, so my next step is, um, I’m kind of flailing at that point. Um, it was very difficult at, at Steel City to, to overcome that time at Covid. And I started looking for opportunities out in the business world, and I just had a lot that didn’t feel right.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:43] Were you looking at places like LinkedIn and were you were you having people call you as well? What what was that like to job search? Well it’s.
Pete Srodoski : [00:19:49] Weird. So, um, I’ll tell you, one of the most interesting things is for somebody who, like myself, that worked in retail, you’re always taught just to continue to fight up the ladder and move up the corporate ladder. When I eventually became CEO, I had some kind of fake I don’t know why it’s fake, but some kind of expectation of the way the world should be. When I step into my office that first day, it’s like dreams.
Sharon Cline: [00:20:14] It’s not fake, but it’s like, you know what you want to feel.
Pete Srodoski : [00:20:17] Yeah, like. So I walked in and I. I’ll never forget this. And I tell this to people all the time, is that I sit down at my desk for the first day as a CEO of this big company, and I was like, huh, nothing changed and I was expecting something to happen. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just like this immaturity or whatever, but it’s this blind immaturity. But I’m sitting at my desk and I’m like, man, nothing changed. And at that point I realized it didn’t. It doesn’t matter what you’re called or what your title is or what your position is, it’s like, am I serving? Am I giving back? Am I, do I have purpose?
Sharon Cline: [00:20:52] So the the title didn’t satisfy you in the way that you thought it would?
Pete Srodoski : [00:20:57] None of it did. No, none of it did. Being the, the none of it did. It’s just, um, it’s just like anything else. It’s like, if your dream is to go work really hard in and get a Ferrari, you get that Ferrari and you’re just kind of like, oh, what’s my next dream?
Sharon Cline: [00:21:12] Wow, isn’t that fascinating about just, I don’t know, humans in general. Yeah. Like our personalities and what drives us and what doesn’t, because a lot of people are really motivated by that dollar and that title. Um, but it says something really special about you that your character is more about helping, not just achieving the material things or the title, but actually giving and making an impact.
Pete Srodoski : [00:21:38] Well, and that definitely leads to a little bit in my in my learning about myself and who I am of of what it’s eventually turned into. Okay, next, next step.
Sharon Cline: [00:21:49] All right. Your job hunting.
Pete Srodoski : [00:21:50] Oh yeah. So job hunting, looking for jobs, interviewing. Et cetera. Et cetera. And I had this opportunity. And I’m a learner. I love going to new industries and taking on challenges and learning a completely unique job. So I had a full career in retail, then this full career in popsicles and frozen dessert. And this opportunity came across to be the CEO of an innovation and design studio in Atlanta, um, a very well respected, uh, company called Thrive and Thrive. Um, very, very cool stuff. Um, made the first ever at home HIV test, um, made all of the wolf. Um, uh, the appliances in people’s kitchens by Wolf with the red. You know, you’re kidding me. Now, they did all those, uh, they also did the first ever at, uh, the side by side Keurig that has the coffee pot.
Sharon Cline: [00:22:46] And the thing and the. Oh, like, yeah, you’ve got your little your regular drip coffee. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:22:51] So they did that come up with that? They they did. So Keurig doctor Pepper reached out to them. They they innovated. They used their industrial designers to draw it all out. Then they had their mechanical engineers build it. That’s that’s what they do. They take these incredibly cool challenges and then they turn them into reality.
Sharon Cline: [00:23:08] That’s amazing. Yeah. How fun is that? That’s like creating.
Pete Srodoski : [00:23:12] Oh, it’s so cool. Uh, and learning that industry was a completely unique industry. I had no experience whatsoever. I mean, I popsicles and and and retail. So that was my third career change. Um, and it was, it was very it was very much marred with a lot of, uh, challenges. You know, I saw a lot of red flags. Okay. When I joined the company, the owners weren’t talking to each other, the two owners. And it was it was a doozy. So I was the guy that played middleman. Um, so we had the CEO and the C Co chief creative officer, and then I was the COO, and I was the guy who knew about expenses and knew how to manage people. And it was just so I was the middle guy. Oh, man. And cut to a couple of months, maybe six, seven months later. And, uh, the CEO has a breakdown. Um, kind of a mental breakdown he goes off on one of our female managers, says some really inappropriate stuff to her in front of clients. She quits almost the next day.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:23] This is like a TV show or something like, could you even believe it?
Pete Srodoski : [00:24:26] It’s going to get worse. Oh, no, it’s going to.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:27] I’m just trying to picture this because you can’t predict someone doing that either. No. Okay. So holy cow.
Pete Srodoski : [00:24:34] Yeah I know it’s going to get fun. I’m getting nervous. Are you. Yeah. Um, it just because, like, I this I very rarely talk about this. Okay. Um, so but this is the journey. And this is why I’m bringing this up. Because it is the precipice. It is the catalyst for this book. Got it. Um, so the CEO of the company sends me and the other owner a message says, I’m going to go away for a month. I got to work on my mental health. No problem. His first day back, he comes back. My wife and I, we make muffins, the kids make muffins, and we’re walking them back in the office. We go out to lunch. Everything is fine. He and I have had a great relationship. His right. After lunch, he bursts into my office door, grabs the laptop off my desk, and starts swinging it as hard as he can at my head. Uh, luckily, I blocked his two shots with this MacBook Pro with my arm. Um, blood spraying everywhere. And then he punches me as hard as he can in the face and knocks out one of my teeth.
Pete Srodoski : [00:25:41] No reason. We have no idea why it happened. Then he walks out and he goes and he makes himself a cup of tea. And I’m just sitting there bleeding everywhere, floored out of my mind. What just happened? I have no clue what just took place. And, um, I get up, I, I leave, I’m scared. This guy’s got a gun. You know, I have no idea. This is the owner of the company in my office. Just assaulted you. Just. I mean, bad to my. I can’t feel my arm. I think he broke it. Um, my face is swollen and bloody. Um. And so I get to my car, and I call my father in law, who was a police officer for 30 years and a Swat team member, and he tells me, call 911 right now because if he has a gun, somebody needs to get there and then go drive yourself to the emergency room. So while I’m waiting and I call 911, I see him leave and he leaves for good. And I’m sitting there and I’m just spitting out blood and my arm, I can’t I can’t even feel it. Right.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:53] I’m so speechless.
Pete Srodoski : [00:26:54] This is a true story. And I told you there was more.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:58] There is more.
Pete Srodoski : [00:26:59] Um, and so, uh, eventually we talked to the police, and everybody saw it. It was it was right in the middle of the the the headquarters. There was no justification, no understanding. So I drive to, um, uh, Forsyth County, um, Northside Hospital. I go to the emergency room, I’m getting x rays, and I’m doing all that kind of stuff, and I get a text message or an email. That I got fired. So then he fired me.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:31] The same man that.
Pete Srodoski : [00:27:32] Had just assaulted me, fired.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:34] Me and left. Fired you over email.
Pete Srodoski : [00:27:36] With no explanation, just said we want to thank him for his time with the company. I still to this day that’s two years ago, have no idea why he did it. No idea.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:47] How badly were you injured?
Pete Srodoski : [00:27:49] It took me about a week to start feeling my arm again. Um, yeah. Reconstructive. I need to do reconstructive surgery to my mouth for the tooth. And, uh. Yeah. So the arm. I started to feel it again. What happened to this gentleman? Well, he went to jail. Fulton County. Um, and we’re currently engaged in a lawsuit right now. Um, he’s. He got served with two counts of criminal, uh, aggravated assault with a weapon and then one count of simple battery.
Sharon Cline: [00:28:21] So it’s still haunting you?
Pete Srodoski : [00:28:22] Yeah, I still deal with it all the time. And he denies everything. He’s claiming the fifth on everything. My goodness, I know. Yeah. So, uh, this is where the book comes from, right?
Sharon Cline: [00:28:36] It’s interesting that you’ve been assaulted and had such a, um, you know, harrowing experience that would give anyone PTSD and you’re still dealing with. And then you write a book about empathy.
Pete Srodoski : [00:28:46] Well, I have to. Let’s hear. It’s, uh, as a Christian, what I believe is I’ve got to find a way to to to forgive this man. And that’s hard. Like hee hee.
Sharon Cline: [00:29:00] It was without provocation.
Pete Srodoski : [00:29:02] With with no provocation, which is the hardest thing for people to understand, right? But after that, trying to find a job. How do you tell a new employer that how do you tell somebody new that the reason I was let go was because I was assaulted? Um, with no explanation to. So it’s it’s very challenging, um, to deal with that. And, um, I just had to say to myself, how do you forgive yourself? How do you forgive him? And my wife was so nervous. How are we going to get, um, money? How are we going to continue to get paid? You know, I’m the only breadwinner in the house. Five kids. And you.
Sharon Cline: [00:29:47] Were happy in this position too.
Pete Srodoski : [00:29:48] Right? I loved it, loved it. Such a great company, everybody. You know, like I said, it’s just this mental health issue where I think he. He really was volatile, very physically volatile. I mean, just a couple of weeks before he went off on that female manager in front of clients and she quit. So like the catalyst was already there. And I said to myself, how do I marry? This strong desire to find a way to forgive this man, which is nearly impossible. To? How can I be helpful and guide others? And so the naturally this through this forgiveness journey I came up with this concept for a book lead with empathy, which was how do you find a way to treat your employees and treat your team like human beings respectfully? And not just like their employees.
Sharon Cline: [00:30:51] What I love about the book is that you say, what sets this book apart. I think that’s really important. You’ve got some bullet points here, and I think that’s really important, because when someone is looking for a book, you want to know what? What’s so special about this book that I should buy it? And I love that you’ve got some things written down. Practical, actionable strategies, insights from a seasoned leader, essential skills for modern times, which is so important. Um, I just feel like it’s so great to be able to have, you know, it’s it’s 140 pages or something like that. Yeah, it’s a short read. Yeah. It’s perfect because I’m.
Pete Srodoski : [00:31:22] Not an author.
Sharon Cline: [00:31:23] Listen, you are now, I don’t have a lot of time either. So it’s like, okay, give me what I need in a in a concise way that is not going to make it seem like I need a dissertation to be explained to me. So I appreciate that you have here’s here’s what I can offer you. And it all comes from your own real life experience. So you started to kind of organize your thoughts and get together. How would I how would I want to have a perfect kind of team, and how would I lead a team that would make me proud? And that’s how you came up with the concept?
Pete Srodoski : [00:31:55] Yeah, yeah, and it’s based on the two principles. I said to myself, what’s the hardest thing I’ve ever learned in management? The first thing that came to me when I was a younger manager is, the hardest thing I ever learned in management is how to manage other managers. Which is a it’s a it’s people don’t understand is that like there’s different motivations from an hourly employee who’s just working there through college or what have you, versus an individual that this is their career.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:21] Yes, yes.
Pete Srodoski : [00:32:22] And so that was the first big challenge for me. And I said to myself, I think a lot of people, even if they’re CEOs, in fact, especially if they’re CEOs, um, have struggled with this basic concept of not everybody is just there for an hourly job. You’ve got plenty of people that this is their career. They care tremendously. They don’t need to be talked down to. They want to work hard. They come to work every day with a desire to do better. So helping them, elevating them is, is going to be a better way for you to get more out of them, rather, and better for the company naturally, rather than you, um, just talking down to them, telling them what to do all the time.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:05] Treating every manager as the same.
Pete Srodoski : [00:33:08] Exactly.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:09] Yeah, I love that notion, because I’ve heard that the, um, like, even people in the company I’ve been working for, the hardest part of the job is not actually the job. It’s dealing with the people that they have to manage under them, which is fascinating to me. It’s dealing with the personalities. That’s kind of what you’re saying.
Pete Srodoski : [00:33:25] Yeah. Personality management becomes, you know, just an astronomical part. Um, I was fortunate enough when I was in retail to take a couple of courses called Situational Leadership. And, uh, thank you, PetSmart, if you’re listening for paying for that.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:41] But shout out.
Pete Srodoski : [00:33:42] Shout out PetSmart who? Um, but, you know, they paid for me to take this course by Harvard Business College. And it was a blast. Right. And you learn so much about how people’s personalities are different and you can’t manage everybody at the same, the same way, depending on their experience level and their personality structure. Be fair and consistent with all, but manage a little bit differently depending on where they are. You know, if you treat somebody who’s a brand new employee the same way you treat somebody who’s been with the company for ten years.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:12] There’ll be resentment.
Pete Srodoski : [00:34:13] Yeah, you’re gonna have a lot of different results.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:15] Interesting.
Pete Srodoski : [00:34:16] So that was the first concept is, is how do I manage managers. And then the second concept is how do I manage remotely. And that’s something that’s becoming even more important now is this remote leadership.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:27] Well when you were saying, um, imagining managing a new employee as opposed to a ten year employee, you have to know all of your employees. It’s not just a so, so and now, pandemic wise, it’s so many people are remote. How do you get to know people when you can’t physically be with them?
Pete Srodoski : [00:34:46] Often you have to be intentional. It’s the number one thing that people miss is you can’t expect it to happen without your involvement. So being fully intentional in learning and growing with your team and then verifying, validating, making sure that what you say you’re holding that team accountable, you’re providing that feedback to them. You’re being honest and transparent. There’s so many things that you can do, and some people will say, well, no, empathy means that you’re just being easy on everybody. Absolutely not. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. Um, you can be as terse and as difficult and as as as demanding as you want, as a boss and as a manager and a leader. But you have to make sure that you are being consistent and transparent and holding people accountable and verifying and giving them the reasons why. Right? Because people do come to work every day with a desire to do great things.
Sharon Cline: [00:35:40] So to get up in the morning, yeah, face traffic or do whatever. Exactly.
Pete Srodoski : [00:35:44] And and they’re, they’re willing to do it. I mean, 95% of people I’ve met in my life are great employees. And if, if um, and even I frequently hear about, like, this generation. Right. And you’re smiling. You know exactly what I’m about to say.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:00] Well, no, I don’t. But it’s funny because, well, I’ve heard that that phrase of this generation doesn’t want to work and blah, blah, blah. So you’re finding something different, completely different.
Pete Srodoski : [00:36:10] And it’s they just don’t know how to in many cases. So I have an expression I say all the time is what does good look like? And you have to find a way to share that and, and and really provide that. What does good look like as a mentor to the younger generations? And it’s it’s almost your responsibility to say that an entire culture is missing the point. It just couldn’t be any further from the truth. In my my observation.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:40] When you say, what does good look like? Can you give me an example of how you would define that in a corporate sense? Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:36:46] I mean, if you’re going to give somebody instruction about how to take care of a task, you need to explain to them, how do they know what what would look good in your eyes. So if you’re going to give somebody a task, it doesn’t matter if it’s a basic to do or a lengthy to do. Talk with them, say, hey, here’s my expectation of what this should look like and by what time. Now a couple of days in follow up with them. Hey, you know, I gave you a task a couple days ago, and I’d love to know how you’re doing. Can you show me what you’ve got so far? Right. So basic check in and then at the end, provide feedback, help give them the barometer, help give them the guidelines to what good looks like.
Sharon Cline: [00:37:28] What do you find is, uh, do you have a list of motivating factors for people? Employees are, um, because I’ve heard that there are some people are very motivated by money. If you compensate them well, they will perform well. Um, some people are motivated by public, um, praise. You know, in the in the team meeting, you said, you know what, Pete? You did an amazing job on that. Really? Thank you. And that’s so motivating. Um, are you finding that there are some common themes this way?
Pete Srodoski : [00:37:59] Um, you know, it’s interesting. I would love to say yes, but I would actually say it’s it’s really, um. It completely depends on the business and the industry that you’re in. Um, you know, traditionally, you know, I’ve had sales departments and I’ve been a sales director, and I’ve had companies that had sales departments, and those folks traditionally gravitate towards that money. Right? Yeah. Um, that’s just kind of like if you’re on a full commission or you’re on a 50% commission and you’re probably more interested in money, I’m not saying that’s always the case, but that’s that’s generally.
Sharon Cline: [00:38:38] That’s why I work, you know, and do what I do. It’s nice. I’m providing a service. I get paid for it. I can support my dog. Yep. You know. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:38:44] And it’s just so I guess it’s different. And as I’ve been in now, like five different, very unique career fields, um, and widely different, um, industries, I would say there’s, there the only commonality between all five of those is that every person or most every person who have worked for me or who has worked for me, has wanted to do a good job. And that’s a very optimistic outlook. And it’s I always, always have to ask myself as a CEO, as a CEO, it doesn’t matter. Whatever position I’ve held, if someone is failing, I always start with me. How have I failed them? Because more than likely, it’s my fault.
Sharon Cline: [00:39:35] Because you haven’t plugged into them and figured out what it is that they may be lacking.
Pete Srodoski : [00:39:41] Yeah. We’re, um. I haven’t managed their direct manager. Right. You know, you start to move levels up and you start to have bigger gaps. And if somebody on your team is failing, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been able to turn around an individual on a team after someone’s told me that they have no hope. Really? Oh, it happens all the time. And and the reality is it’s because people give up on employees. It’s easier to give up on somebody to be done with them, to not give them a chance. I mean, as I’m saying this, I’m thinking of five, six, seven people just right off the rip immediately that I know of recently that I’ve been told that this person is not going to work and I’m, I’m, I’m, I say, you know, hey, let’s just give them some time. Let’s, let’s, let’s tease this out a little bit more. And, um, you realize that when you invest your time into people, they get better. It’s really incredible. And it’s like, if you’ve committed that you don’t want this person to get better, they’re not going to get better. So it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy as a leader. Might just be easier that way.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:48] Do you find that people are more likely to just fire someone than to really figure out what it will take for them to 100%?
Pete Srodoski : [00:40:55] And on top of that, they won’t even just fire them. They’ll just complain about them until they quit.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:02] Oh, the worst. So toxic. So toxic.
Pete Srodoski : [00:41:05] I mean, if if, uh, if managers in so many cases spend 80% of their time on the bottom 20% of the employee pool, and if instead they focused on their top employees and focused on leveraging their top employees, instead of focusing on what’s wrong with my worst employees and just gave them an opportunity and helped give them a buddy and a peer mentor. And there’s so many different things that you can do to get that bottom 20% up. But all we want to do is gripe and complain about the people that don’t work well at our company.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:36] Until they quit.
Pete Srodoski : [00:41:37] Until they quit.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:38] And then the hard work is done. Now we’re just going to hire somebody else.
Pete Srodoski : [00:41:42] We repeat the cycle, and it’d be so much better if we treated them empathetically, you know? Um, I love.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:49] That you have that statistic. And from your own personal experience, that 95, what did you say? 90. Some more than 90% of people want to do a good job and want to feel satisfied and happy.
Pete Srodoski : [00:41:59] Yeah. I mean, I can count on one hand how many people in the last five years of my life I would look at and say. This person didn’t want to do a good job. Now you might need to. You might need to bring it out of them.
Sharon Cline: [00:42:12] Yeah, but they just kind of showed up, phoned it in, so to speak.
Pete Srodoski : [00:42:15] Precisely. Very few, and I’ve worked in retail. I’ve worked. I worked in every industry. I worked in food service. I worked in a very few people I can really count on and remember that I would look at and say, this person wasn’t worth our time.
Sharon Cline: [00:42:34] So you’re able to go through and, um, really collect all of these experiences into a book where you like, okay, now I’ve got to really go into publishing this book. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:42:45] Well, it’s funny because my next company running publishing.com really helped out that.
Sharon Cline: [00:42:49] Oh my gosh. So that this publishing.com that’s like pizza.com or something. You know what I mean? It’s like publishing.com.
Pete Srodoski : [00:42:58] It’s like providence right. Like it’s just like this is providential. I didn’t have any expectation that this would happen this way. Um, but, you know, for me, I’m in this forgiveness journey. I’ve got to move on from the gentleman who attacked me.
Sharon Cline: [00:43:11] Can I ask you briefly? Yeah. Was it a challenge to really access the forgiveness part, like is something that you really had to work on? I’m wondering what parts of your personality made that accessible for you? Because I can think of many people who would not ever get to the point of empathy and could play the victim really hard and hate the world. Pretty hard for it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:43:33] Well, um, yeah, I like to see the the optimistic side. I like to, to to move along with things. I like to handle adversity and move on. And, uh, part of that’s, you know, my upbringing, you know, my, my parents and, and the way they’ve, they’ve taught me and, and growing up in New York and moving at a young age to Texas and having to deal with cultural changes. And so I’m like, I’m used to this experiential thing about rolling with the punches, which. Is the name of my company. Is it? Yeah, I named it roll with the Punches. And I did it, uh, as an homage to the man who punched me.
Sharon Cline: [00:44:12] Oh, my goodness.
Pete Srodoski : [00:44:13] So, um, in kind of a two way street, right? What? Roll with the punches is both a nod, you know, figuratively to, like, I can roll with the punches, I can deal with adversity. And then it’s also I got punched in the face. So wouldn’t it be funny if I named my company after getting punched in the face?
Sharon Cline: [00:44:30] You took something that could have been something, you know, obviously haunting you forever in a negative way, but you actually made it a positive for yourself.
Pete Srodoski : [00:44:38] I think you have to reframed it. Yeah, I think I had to. I think if I didn’t, um, there was a tremendous amount of pain coming from the physical assault and the depression afterwards. Um, the feelings of inadequacy as a man, as a father, as a husband, um, not knowing what’s coming next, I had to find a way to transfer that energy into a positive. And so creating this book became an outlet. And then creating roll with the punches, which this is my business coaching, um, roll now. And that’s what I do now. That’s the catalyst. That was the reason I said to myself, how can I help people like this man before they do what they did, before they do what he did?
Sharon Cline: [00:45:31] You still don’t even know why he did what he did.
Pete Srodoski : [00:45:34] No, no. He refuses to give any explanation to the police, to prosecutors, to investigators, to the HR department.
Sharon Cline: [00:45:41] When you look at what you’ve been through in so many different, um, I don’t know if you’re looking at a business slice of pie like you’ve kind of had many different slices out there. Do you know what I mean?
Pete Srodoski : [00:45:52] Like, not intentionally.
Sharon Cline: [00:45:54] No, but you have rolled with it and you’ve you’ve, um, learned something, obviously, through all of it. You know, there’s there’s there’s so much wisdom that you have that, um, not like most people. Lots of people stay in the same industry and don’t explore and expand. So I can see why this would be so valuable because you have, um, you know, retail experience, you have food service experience, you’ve got creating machinery experience, I mean, that touches so many different industries. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:46:25] Yeah. And, and that’s and.
Sharon Cline: [00:46:27] Dogs and.
Pete Srodoski : [00:46:28] Dogs I have tons of in movies.
Sharon Cline: [00:46:30] And oh.
Pete Srodoski : [00:46:31] If anybody’s looking to open up a movie store, um, let me know. And, you know, I think I think part of that, though, is, um, for me, um, what’s what’s kind of filled my cup, so to speak. Is this helping others? Right? How do I marry? Service and serving serving my community alongside all of this wisdom, all of this stuff in my head. And I found this way to be a business coach, really does that. So I get so much energy and and conviction.
Sharon Cline: [00:47:05] You feel like, you know you’re in the right place. Oh yeah. You know. Oh yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:47:08] In fact, I had a friend of mine who recently sent me a note that somebody’s looking for a new CEO, and he said, you want me to put my name out and put your name out? And I said, no, I’m where I need to be.
Sharon Cline: [00:47:20] Oh, how interesting was that moment?
Pete Srodoski : [00:47:22] Um, honestly, it it took me 39 years to know where I’m supposed to be in this world. Um, and I don’t want to do a day where I’m not.
Sharon Cline: [00:47:34] That’s amazing. Isn’t that just the goal? You know, for a lot of people, yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:47:39] I wish this was how I felt when I became a CEO that day, but it wasn’t.
Sharon Cline: [00:47:43] How fascinating your journey is, though. It’s, I mean, physical, uh, um, fear, you know, as well, it’s not just the emotional mental you actually are, you know, attacked, which is fascinating and horrible and I can’t imagine. But at the same time, you learn something through that as well. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:48:02] Yeah. I mean, and actually, if you think about it, the way things work in this world, the path and the reasons why. Things happen the way they do. My next role I really wanted to find a remote company because I was scared of going back into the office. The assault was so fresh. I can’t imagine, um, my last time stepping into an office, I was bludgeoned, so, um, and I had I had not blocked those those MacBook Pro shots, and they had hit me in the head instead. I might not even be here. I mean, the the violence behind those swings were it’s like baseball, you know.
Sharon Cline: [00:48:41] Do you relive those moments? Yeah, I would, I would relive it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:48:45] Yeah. It’s weird. Like I can’t remember anything that happened last week. Um, but I can tell you every second of that day it’s trauma. Yeah.
Sharon Cline: [00:48:55] I love that you’re taking something that is traumatizing in many ways, and you’re reframing it to be experience. And let me save somebody else from ever having to experience what I experienced.
Pete Srodoski : [00:49:09] Yeah, and there was a bit of a release too, because for about a year I refused to talk about it. I couldn’t tell people what happened except, you know, close family members and friends. I couldn’t I was embarrassed, I was so embarrassed. Um, and and.
Sharon Cline: [00:49:24] You took it on as a personal attack that you deserved it in some way.
Pete Srodoski : [00:49:27] I deserved it, and that that really helped me understand victim mentality a little bit because, wow, it. I don’t consider myself somebody that would be a victim of anything. You know, I’m a six foot tall, 270 pound man like, you know, sleeve tattoos. I, I’m not somebody that is a victim too often. And for me, um. Wow. I was so embarrassed. Uh, publicly, I couldn’t talk about it during interviews. Um, I had to find other ways to kind of say that, you know, the owner attacked somebody, and I lost my job as a result, and I just couldn’t say it was me.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:04] Well, and it’s interesting, if there were so many different employees, why were you singled out? Doesn’t that just, like, haunt you? It would haunt me, too.
Pete Srodoski : [00:50:10] Um, I think.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:11] You I.
Pete Srodoski : [00:50:12] Think if you think about the and I, I don’t know, I can only guess. Right. But I think that if if I’m thinking about the, um. The psychology behind it. He probably was most comfortable with me. The other owner wasn’t in the office. I was the only other executive in the building. And if he was thrashing out because he couldn’t take it anymore and he was crippling under the stress of running a business.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:42] You were the you were the target. You were the partner.
Pete Srodoski : [00:50:45] The easiest person that he would feel the most comfortable attacking. He’s you know, he didn’t want to attack a fresh out of college kid and, um, somebody who, you know. But here I am, this, you know.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:58] Trying to help and welcome back. Yeah. Go to lunch.
Pete Srodoski : [00:51:02] It was it was it was wild. Um, you know, so I’m looking for a a remote job for my next role, and I, I, um, applied at a bunch of places, but I’m being very particular here, um, because of my last experience. And I stumbled onto publishing.com, which is a. Very just unique business. Um, the owners were 26. The two brothers were 26. So young. And their previous jobs were Chinese food delivery driver. And, uh, worked at the front desk of a gym.
Sharon Cline: [00:51:38] Wow. Huh. Well, their journey is interesting, too, I’m sure. But you stumbled upon them.
Pete Srodoski : [00:51:44] Well, they became YouTube famous and created a business as a result of it. And, um, they’re very tenacious guys and super nice and.
Sharon Cline: [00:51:54] Smart, obviously.
Pete Srodoski : [00:51:55] Um. Smart and lucky. You know, sometimes you got to be in the right place at the right time, and you’ve got to be in an industry that’s about to hit. And they were in that industry that was about to hit, um, and very smart. They, they very tenacious, you know, guys that were no problem, you know, working 18 hours fearless, 100% fearless. Um, and and they made up for their lack of knowledge and experience with that tenacity.
Sharon Cline: [00:52:25] How fascinating.
Pete Srodoski : [00:52:26] It’s really cool. And I joined that company to run their operations. Um, this is a large company, $100 million, fully remote, global. Um, we had people in every country on the planet, basically, and, um, tons of clients and customers, and we taught people how to self publish books for passive income.
Sharon Cline: [00:52:46] That’s amazing.
Pete Srodoski : [00:52:47] Yeah. So we had an online e-learning education, um, service and um, yeah, it was it was a blast. And it was there for a year. And, um, the company decided that they wanted to try to create an AI software tool like most companies now. And, um, I bowed out. I have no experience in that whatsoever. And I can’t lead a company at this size with no experience. Um, so. I decided that, like, that’s a perfect opportunity for me to start this business coaching.
Sharon Cline: [00:53:26] Interesting that you kind of listen to your intuition so strongly.
Pete Srodoski : [00:53:29] Yeah. And it was we, we we had really great relationship the owners and I. So we were having these conversations. It didn’t come as like a, an abrupt departure. It was something that we talked about it for a while. We both we all agreed that I’m not the guy that’s going to be able to take this business to the next level. They wanted somebody who’s proven to scale a software business to $1 billion. Wow. And, you know, that’s just that’s just not me.
Sharon Cline: [00:53:59] You were in a good spot for a while, but then you felt like you had another place to be. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:54:04] And that entire time, you know, I call it providence. I would never have learned how to publish books. You know, and so I was able to marry my experience at thrive with my experience at publishing, to make this brainchild, this lead with empathy, which was that that was the finale of my forgiveness journey. So I don’t think that I would have been able to officially finish that journey had I had not worked at publishing and learned how to self publish books.
Sharon Cline: [00:54:37] I saw you also have an audiobook.
Pete Srodoski : [00:54:39] I do, I, you know, um. You didn’t snoop well enough for audiobooks.
Sharon Cline: [00:54:46] Oh, really?
Pete Srodoski : [00:54:47] So this is the only book I’ve wrote?
Sharon Cline: [00:54:49] Oh, okay. Because I only saw you. That’s the only book that lists you on Amazon as an author. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:54:54] I have a publishing company, and I’ve published, um, uh uh, five other books.
Sharon Cline: [00:55:00] Wow. Congratulations.
Pete Srodoski : [00:55:02] Thank you, thank you. But, yeah, this this audiobook. Uh, Dan? Dan, I think his name is Dan Wilson.
Sharon Cline: [00:55:07] I saw it on on Amazon because I’m an audiobook narrator as well. So it’s I always look to see. I wonder if he needs another, you know, and if I know someone, that would be a good fit for you. But I was like, well, dang, he’s already on top of that, too.
Pete Srodoski : [00:55:19] Yeah. So, um.
Sharon Cline: [00:55:21] Yeah, something I use ace as well. Yeah.
Pete Srodoski : [00:55:23] It’s something that they teach you at publishing. They teach you how to publish, how to publish everywhere, how to get it in front of literary agents, how to, you.
Sharon Cline: [00:55:31] Know, it’s amazing so many people have such great stories and just have have never had a way to. And here we are at home, you know, able to do so many things at home. Yeah, well, how exciting that was to be able to learn something that you could actually use yourself. You know, it’s not like you’re not a consumer of it. You know, you actually became a consumer of what you were teaching.
Pete Srodoski : [00:55:51] Oh, and it was great. Um, what a great way to get invested into a company is to use the product and to get excited about it. Yeah. I tell you, 25 years old, I’m running a PetSmart store. I never would have said 15 years later I was a published author. I had a book that was a best seller on Amazon. Yeah, eighth best management audiobook of all time. Yes. And all time.
Sharon Cline: [00:56:14] Anything of all time. And you have a 4.9 review score of 110 reviews. That is a very nice statistic. Thank you. I would be very proud of that statistic.
Pete Srodoski : [00:56:23] But you know, I appreciate it. The, the I never would have thought in a million years that I would have run a dessert company, a frozen dessert company, that I would have worked for the I, I didn’t even tell you this, but I worked for the Atlanta Braves for a year.
Sharon Cline: [00:56:36] Holy cow. Just sprinkle that in.
Pete Srodoski : [00:56:38] Sprinkle that? Yeah. Uh, and I was the manager of, uh, business development. And so anyways, like, I.
Sharon Cline: [00:56:45] The journey.
Pete Srodoski : [00:56:46] The journey has been a blast. But when I was there running PetSmart stores until I had that spark that like, I need something more from this life than what I’m doing right now. I don’t want to be 50 working at a retail store.
Sharon Cline: [00:57:03] Well, you had drive. You had to. You had.
Pete Srodoski : [00:57:08] To. Gumption. I don’t know, I don’t know what it is. I don’t know, uh, something their drive is such a good word. Um, there’s just some spark in your chest, and you’re just not going to be satisfied unless you get more out of this life.
Sharon Cline: [00:57:23] It’s so many people concede, and you can. I know, but there are people who do. And that’s what the show is about. Is that fearlessness that you have?
Pete Srodoski : [00:57:32] Please don’t listeners, please do not concede. Keep fighting. Please keep fighting.
Sharon Cline: [00:57:40] How has the reception been of your book? Like what are you finding? People are loving about it.
Pete Srodoski : [00:57:45] Um, you know, I’m I, I have a large personality, but I don’t ever feel like I do anything great. So, um, I have a natural humility. Yeah, I have the all of these people reaching out to me on LinkedIn and Facebook that said, um, hey, this this book was great. And I’ll tell you, this is the moment where I just like, kind of got and I went in or is, um. And if you’re listening. Thank you. Um, I there was a gentleman that was on Facebook and he had posted, um, the best books I read last year, and he had a picture of two books, and one of them was lead with empathy, and I didn’t, I was floored. And then on top of that, the mayor of canton said, that was my favorite book last year.
Sharon Cline: [00:58:35] Oh my gosh, I have like tears in my eyes. And I was so emotional for me because what a satisfying, what a validating experience. That must have been magical.
Pete Srodoski : [00:58:45] Yeah. And I had no idea it was like, that just blew me away. That all happened. And I remember taking a snapshot and sending it to my mom and dad.
Sharon Cline: [00:58:53] And I’m like, look what happened.
Pete Srodoski : [00:58:55] This is crazy. And, um, so it started, you know, naturally, I’m working on my second book, but it started as one of those things where I just became really proud, um, and that the journey, it was worth it. Getting assaulted, forgiving that man.
Sharon Cline: [00:59:14] Having a fire. 400 employees. Twice.
Pete Srodoski : [00:59:17] All of it. All of it. The stress my wife had to go through when I was gone and she had the kids, and she’s getting all the kids up for school and bottle feeding two twins. And just the stress and the gumption that my wife went through. And I could never, ever repay her for what she did so I could do that.
Sharon Cline: [00:59:37] It’s so sweet, you know?
Pete Srodoski : [00:59:38] And it’s it’s it’s incredible. So the journey has been worth it. And that’s why I say don’t give up. I mean, I’ve just consistently in my career hit wall after wall after wall after wall. And I just can’t let that stop me.
Sharon Cline: [00:59:54] One of the best quotes I ever read, and I think about it a lot, is that, um, at the end of the day, I’ve never been proud of giving in to fear. I’ve always been proud of doing something in spite of it, you know? And that’s something I think about a lot is, um, telling my story because I’m making my story every day. Right? Yeah. Being able to tell my story, to say I was afraid, of course, but I still did it because the times where I can torture myself at night, putting my head down, is when I’ve given in to fear and just allowed it to make decisions for me. Yeah. Um, and it’s a natural instinct, of course, that we have, but. And it’s there for a purpose. But when I allow it to control me, I’ve never been proud of it, you know, but to but to but to do what you’ve done and taken justifiable PTSD and still been able to find a place in your heart to say, here’s how I can help people with what I’ve learned. And not turned bitter. By. It is. It’s impressive. Thank you.
Pete Srodoski : [01:01:02] I want to be bitter. Right. It’s easier.
Sharon Cline: [01:01:05] Well, I mean, I can throw the best pity party you’ve ever heard. I can be the bitter, the bitterest person and enjoy it fully. But it’s, you know, it feels so much better.
Pete Srodoski : [01:01:16] In.
Sharon Cline: [01:01:16] To do the opposite.
Pete Srodoski : [01:01:17] Yeah. In the moment it might feel great to be bitter short time, but it kind of goes back to I lay in my bed every night and, you know, I’ve forgiven the man that did this to me. And it took a long time. And, um, he wronged me in so many ways. And, and and my wife and my family and my kids and and I can’t but take that incredibly personal. But I’ve. I’ve passed the point where I need to forgive him like I’ve done it. I’ve forgiven him, and I, I understand, um, that he was going through some horrible moments and and I don’t want that to happen to other people.
Sharon Cline: [01:01:58] Well, who who is your perfect client for your book?
Pete Srodoski : [01:02:02] Um, you know, I would say anybody that, um, manages, um, other people. Um, especially if you haven’t been doing it for a long time. Of course, I would always tell people, if you’re the kind of person that says that you don’t need help, then you’re probably the person who needs it the most. Um, because everybody needs help.
Sharon Cline: [01:02:24] Yeah. So if someone wanted to reach out to you directly to talk to you about your book or any of your experiences, how could they do that?
Pete Srodoski : [01:02:31] Uh, Facebook, you know, my how I found you. Yeah. Facebook. Linkedin. Um, I’m just I’m just a regular guy, you know, like, I, I go to varsity and get hot dogs, so I’m just like anybody else.
Sharon Cline: [01:02:45] Uh, you don’t lead walk around with, like, published author. No, no, I or your book in hand, just in case. No.
Pete Srodoski : [01:02:51] If people who know me are like, yeah, that’s just a normal dude. Oh. Um, uh, so you can just reach out to me just like any other person. I just happen to write a book because I got assaulted. And other than that, I’m. You know, I watch scary movies like everybody else.
Sharon Cline: [01:03:07] Well, Pete, I want to thank you so much for coming in and being so candid with your experiences and and being willing to share what some of the, the scariest moments that people face. Um, you have obviously handled with grace and given a nice blueprint for people to potentially understand that if they don’t turn to empathy and turn to forgiveness, it can become something horrible and debilitating. But you’ve you’ve done the opposite, and hopefully you’ve inspired some people to look at some of the darker things in life and maybe reframe them to something that can help other people.
Pete Srodoski : [01:03:41] Well, thank you so much for having me. On if if there’s only one person that from this conversation today was inspired to do better, be better, continue fighting. Um, forgive then I would look at this as a success. So thank you so much for having me on and I really appreciate your time.
Sharon Cline: [01:04:00] My pleasure. Pete. Thank you. Um, I think the same about the show. I hope one person, the the one fan I have is listening. Well, I’m enjoying it. Oh, great. You’re right. So you should feel great. And thank you so much, Pete. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula here on Business RadioX. And again, I’m Sharon Klein, reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.
BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Automate Humanity Out of Your Brand
BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Automate Humanity Out of Your Brand
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tip. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I love automation. And I’ve started employing more and more automation in my work at the corporate level and for the studio that I run. But I think it’s so important that we don’t automate the humanity out of our brand.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Yeah, you got to always remember that business gets done between human beings. And it’s so easy to automate the humanity out of your brand when everything is done in kind of a mass manner. You know, you’re trying to kind of automatically do these things. So you automatically say certain things and you email certain things or you post certain things that anybody could do or anybody can say. And you you leave some of the imperfections of being human out of it.
So I think it’s important to not make your content too perfect. It has to have a personality. It has to sound like you. Ideally, it has to sound like a human at the minimum. And I think it’s important to lean into authenticity over perfection.
Like in our business, the best interviews, we do sound like real conversations because they are real conversations. There are two business people talking to each other. They’re meant to sound that way. It’s meant to be sound like, you know, we’re talking over dinner and the listener is on a table next to us overhearing the conversation.
That’s what we shoot for. That’s what we train our people to do. And that’s why our content is so listenable and compelling. People during the conversation, they misspeak. They say, you don’t have to edit all this stuff out. You’re not making an NPR podcast. This is content that you want to capture that captures the humanity of the people talking. You want to hear their passion. You want to hear their intelligence. You want to hear their humanity. So don’t make your content too perfect, but make sure it is done professionally.
BRX Pro Tip: Are You Telling the Right Story?
BRX Pro Tip: Are You Telling the Right Story?
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Today’s question, Lee, are you telling the right story?
Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] Yeah. When you’re talking to your prospect in a sales situation, there are some clues that – when you’re telling your story or you’re telling your pitch to your prospect, there are some clues that they might be giving you that you might have lost them or that you’re on the right track. The first clue is, are they nodding their head when you talk? If they’re nodding their head, they’re kind of agreeing with you. If they’re smiling, they’re kind of agreeing with you. They’re recognizing the truth in what you’re saying. They can kind of imagine themselves as part of using your services.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] If their arms are crossed, if they’re looking at their watch, or if they’re on their phone, you might have lost your prospect. They might not be interested. They may not be believing what you’re saying. So, you better make some changes when it comes to things like that.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:59] When you ask prospect about your solution and they talk about it as if they already own it, then obviously you’re on in a good place, and they’re already imagining themselves already buying what you’re having to sell. So that’s always good and it’s always good if you can lead them down the path where, as part of the conversation, they are taking ownership of whatever it is your service is providing.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:25] But again, if their arms are crossed, if they’re distracted, if they’re looking to leave, those are bad signs and you better change something, or else your prospect is not going to buy what you’re selling.
