Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Steve Landrum, principal of Etowah Sales Solutions and seasoned sales leader with more than 36 years of experience driving business growth. As an outsourced VP of sales through Sales Acceleration, Steve helps businesses across industries determine, build and realize their full potential. Over his career, he’s doubled company sales to to record levels, expanded distributor networks internationally, and coached sales teams to lasting success. A Georgia Tech graduate, certified sales leader and two time president Circle Award winner. I’m almost done, Steve. He is passionate about servant leadership and equipping teams with the skills and mindset to win in today’s competitive market. Steve, welcome to the show.

Steve Landrum: Well thank you Trisha. Wow. What a what an opening. Wow. I mean, I just feel like I’m family with you. Well that’s awesome.

Trisha Stetzel: You are. Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: I am so excited about having you on the show today, Steve. And you have so, um, so much in depth knowledge in this sales space, which I will have to say, most of us struggle with, whether we’re good at it or not, good at it, or want to learn more, we all have room to grow. I’m so excited to have you on the show. So, Steve, tell us a little bit more about you and then we’re going to jump into the business stuff.

Steve Landrum: Well, I appreciate that. I always like to make a joke that in 37 years of sales, Not all of my hair is gray yet. Uh, and I still got all of it. I still got a full head, so I can’t. I can’t believe it after 37 years of sales. But, uh, I have just had a fantastic career. Tricia. I, uh, I’ve had I’ve had so much fun, I, I came up, um, I was, I was a little bit of the black sheep in the family because all of my family are entrepreneurs. All of them are business owners. And I learned a lot from my grandfather. I watched my dad run a business. Um, I was kind of a black sheep. I went into corporate life, so I, I went into corporate life and kind of kind of climbed the ladder that way. And, you know, the, the school of hard knocks going through corporate life. But I learned so much, and I am one of the fortunate few that can really say I had fantastic mentors along the way. Uh, two, two especially, that really, really taught me business, taught me how to do business, how how to talk. They taught me everything of, and I owe it all to them for my success, I really do. Um, not everybody can say that. But, you know, going through my career and just using those lessons over and over and see, see, see how they constantly, you know, yield results and success. I got to a point in my career where, honestly, I was, you know, the travel was, was was tough. It was it was tough, you know, raising families and, um, missing a lot of ball games and missing a lot of events. And the entrepreneur in me, I that always was there started coming out and Covid gave me a reason to do it. And I started this business five years ago. And it’s just been a blessing. It’s been a blessing. So now I get to give back to other business owners, um, all the lessons that I’ve learned and I’m just passing passing those along. That’s what I’m doing.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And I love that, that you’re able to bring these big business experiences and your expertise from being in the corporate space back to small to midsize businesses. And I love that. That’s fantastic. So let’s talk a little bit about Itoa sales solutions. Tell me about your business, Steve.

Steve Landrum: Well, thank you, thank you. Um, it was kind of a it’s kind of everybody says, what what what is that? Well, I actually live on the river. I live on the Etowah River. It’s an Indian name. It means town. Um, in, in, um, in Indian. So, um, I just felt like it was kind of meant to be my little emblem that I use for my business. I had somebody draw a picture of a tree. I just think a tree is so representative of of healthy everything. If the roots are healthy, the trees healthy. And that’s the same thing applies in business. So I had a I had a personal friend of mine who was an artist draw me a little emblem when I launched this business five years ago, and it was a picture of my backyard. It was like meant to be. So it it’s stuck. Um, I loved it. Um, the tree in front of the river. Uh, that’s honestly what I. What I look at out of my window. So I made I made a business emblem out of it. Uh, long story short.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, I think it’s beautiful. And you guys go and check out the logo. We’ll have a link to Steve’s page on the website. It’s beautiful. Is a very full tree with beautiful roots in front of the river. It’s amazing. So let’s talk a little bit about who you serve. Steve, who is your audience. And then let’s dive into a little bit of sales. I think you have some information that would be very important to the listeners today.

Steve Landrum: Well, I appreciate that. Um, you know, my my target, you know, really who who I want to help the most and who I can make the biggest impact on. You mentioned a second ago, Tricia, are the small to medium sized businesses. And really, I just define that in revenue size. You know, I’ve worked for businesses as low as $1 million in revenue. Um, they’ve got to have something going on, you know, to, to to be able to afford at least some kind of help from me. Uh, so a million bucks in revenue is, is typically the bottom, bottom side. And I’ve worked for companies as big as $80 million. Um. Um, it gets more complex the bigger the company, for sure. But everybody has sales problems. And I’ll share I’ll share some stats in a little bit, um, to that effect. But I’m agnostic. Any any kind of B2B business is fair game. Um, and I’ve worked in many, many sectors already, uh, serve lots of different industries already with my business. Um, and I’ve just had a, had a blast because sales principles, even though each engagement’s different sales principles can be applied to any kind of business. Great sales principles.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, that’s so true. And I mentioned it earlier. We all struggle a little whether we’re good at it or not. There’s always room for growth. So where do we start, Steve? Let’s dive right in.

Steve Landrum: Well, you know, in this digital age, Tricia, you know, we’ve got so, so many tools and everybody’s trying to figure out AI. And we live in a digital world that’s full of emails and, you know, my inboxes. I’m sure yours is too, you know, jam packed every day. And how do you keep up with the with the emails and the messages and the, you know, and all of those kind of things. But I’m going to go back and I’m going to get, you know, for lack of a better word, a little bit old school. And I’m going to go back to a couple principles I really want to talk about. This doesn’t apply just to salespeople. This applies to any kind of business person. Anybody with any kind of business, whether that’s B2C or B2B, can use these principles, and they’re timeless. They never they never they never stop giving if you practice them. So let’s talk about a couple if that’s okay. Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, please.

Steve Landrum: Well, so. So I have, um, you know, I’ve done a lot of profiles over the years, you know, aptitude profiles, and I’ve, you know, I’ve tested and taken those myself. And one of the interesting qualities I have is the ability to win others over. So in a profile assessment, it’s called a woo woo win others over. So but that is a principle any business person should, should try to endear to and try to to hone that skill. If it’s it’s it’s foundational. So, um, one really, really cool principle associated with becoming a woo. And this is this is a little bit counterintuitive, but to get someone to like you, you have to get them talking about yourself. Let me say that again. You’re not doing the talking. You’re doing the listening, but you’re getting that person talking about themselves and the you. And you’re using their name often in that conversation. And it’s subconscious to that person sitting across from you, uh, whether that’s in a virtual meeting or whether that’s in person. But if you’re saying their name over and over and over, subconsciously they’re saying, this person is really interested in what I’ve got to say.

Steve Landrum: And that in turn endears them to you. You win others over by getting them to talk about themselves. Um, it’s an old sales principle. And every, every salesperson I’ve ever coached and managed, I’ve had some great ones. Um, I get them to say, uh, stop. Stop this and open these, ask questions and listen, get that person talking. Yeah. Um, it’s been it’s been a real, real interesting principle. And I’ve seen less and less people using it, to be honest with you, Tricia. Um, but if you get if you, if you get to know the person, if you really get to know the person and let them tell you about themselves and there’s a, there’s a, you know, there’s this trust and you gotta, you gotta knock down a wall or two to do that, man. You’re, you’re off to the races in with a great relationship that’s being built. Um, and I always remind people about this ratio and I didn’t design this ratio. I think the good Lord above designed this ratio. You got two ears and one mouth. You got two ears and one mouth, so use them accordingly in a conversation.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, uh, you know, I have always believed that just being naturally curious and asking good questions and allowing that person to tell you about themselves builds rapport. I love when people ask about me. So, Steve, am I doing a good job of woo right now?

Steve Landrum: You are saying my name often and I think I’ve used your name already about 4 or 5 times. So I think we’re off to being being good friends for sure. It’s just an old principle that works. It’s it’s it’s timeless. It’s timeless.

Trisha Stetzel: It is. We all love to hear our name. Okay, so that’s number one. We’ve got one mouth and two ears for a reason. So talk less, listen more. What’s next Steve?

Steve Landrum: Well, let’s let’s stay on that subject of of a good name. Let’s, let’s let’s stay on the subject of a name, okay? Because, you know, if you think about it, Tricia mo, I’d say 99.9% of us. We have a name because it was given to us. Right? So we didn’t pick it. We didn’t pick it. Somebody gave that to us. So if somebody gave that name to us, think of it as a as a gift. Right? What are you going to do with that gift? Are you are you going to abhor it, you know, and make it good? Uh, are are you going to are you going to lessen the name that’s been given to you? You are are you going to, you know, dirty, dirty it up, so to speak. And there’s an old proverb that I love. There’s an old proverb that it was taught to me by my grandfather. He believed in this principle. He was a contractor. He was a home builder. One of the entrepreneurs that that had an influence on me. Um, but it goes like this. It’s Proverbs 22 one. It says a good name is to be desired more than great riches. Good name is to be desired more than great riches. In that order. So business people always want to be associated with with a business person that’s got a good name, they always do.

Steve Landrum: Who to be associated with a creek or, uh, you know, or, you know, somebody who’s a, who’s a rookie out of something, or he’s always trying to use words to craft. You know, an ulterior motive or something when you build that good name for Tricia, I’ve seen it over and over. Build your reputation and your name and what it stands for. The riches. Come, come. Do you want to be associated with somebody they can trust? A good name. It’s just. Just that simple. It’s time and again a timeless principle, I see. And I, and I share this for a reason. Because I coach and see a lot of great, great skilled young salespeople and what they what they really want to what they’re trying to do. They think they gotta go out and they gotta, they gotta they’re thinking about money and how much they can make and and all these, all these things except the fact of building their name and reputation and in that relationship of whoever they’re trying to to, to build to if you do it. If you do it right, uh, it’s gold. It’s absolutely gold. Uh, and it’ll pay dividends from you for years and years and years.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, so what is it, a name? It’s good to. So two things I picked up, Steve, is it’s good to use a person’s name when you’re having a conversation. It builds trust and rapport. But the name of your organization or your business can also be very meaningful and build trust. Did I get that right?

Steve Landrum: You did. You did. The business name is important for sure, Tricia, but everybody knows me for Steve Landrum. Steve Landrum’s business. Right. Trish Trisha Stetzel business can you know, I like Trisha Stetzel. I’m. I’m going to do business with her. Not at all. Solutions. Everybody wants, you know, my name. The person’s name. That’s what you got to work on. That’s what you got to work on. Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Mm, I love that. Okay, Steve, we’ve had two great lessons here. What do you want to tell us next?

Steve Landrum: Well, I’m going to stay on that theme one more time. One one. One little tag on lesson. Uh, for for for a second, uh, if I may. When you’re, when you’re building your name and when you’re building your reputation, you know, try, try to define what your core values are and try to try to communicate those people. People want to know who you are and what you stand for. Right? And and you know, some core values that are always great. You know who whoever you are and who, whoever, whatever the business stands for. Honesty, trustworthiness, likability, smarts. You know, uh, are all virtues that that any client, any client, any business that you’re doing business with will tell others about any of those virtues. People will say, yeah, Steve got that or Trisha Stetzel got that. You should check them out. Uh, those are those are just great virtues. But know your core values and communicate those to. Because trust is earned. Trust is earned. It takes time to earn trust. It does. It takes time to earn trust as you’re building relationships. But it can be lost just like that in an instant, for sure. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: That is so true. All right, I have more questions for you, but I know people are already ready to connect with you, Steve. So I’d like to pause for just a second here and allow you to tell us what is the best way for folks to connect with you, if they’re interested in doing that right now?

Steve Landrum: Yes, ma’am. If you’ll share, I’ve got a website that I shared. You can go. There’s plenty of places that you can click and, um, see content. Uh, connect with me as far as email or phone number on my website, uh, or my email address. Um, you can you can certainly email me, uh, as well as laundromat sales acceleration. Com so thank you for asking.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And you guys, just in case you need the spelling on that, the back end of it is sales acceleration s a l e s x e l e r a t I o n. And that’s how you’re going to find Steve. Okay. I want to roll back into you talked you open up the conversation about AI. And as you’re taking us through these old school principles, as you called them, I’m curious about how we use these old school principles when we’re meeting people on line. Steve.

Steve Landrum: Yeah, I appreciate that. Um, they still apply in the digital world. So even if you’re not communicating in person or virtually, you know, that’s live Still utilize the same principles as you’re talking to people. Um, say something about your your personal life or, you know, tell them about your grandkids or tell them about where you’re going on a trip in the email. Just, you know, be personal. Everybody’s got five gazillion emails they’re looking at every day. But just make it personal. Make use that person’s name. Tell them about yourself. Tell them you know, have fun. Just be be be real. Is is what it means. Um, so so that’s number one. I mean, using those principles in a digital age certainly certainly means a lot. But I’d like to say to, you know, emails and messaging, especially Tricia, when you’re communicating, it’s so easy to be misinterpreted, right? When you’re not speaking, live with a person. The context of the email, I mean, I was I was asked last week, what did you mean by that email? The time, I didn’t understand the tone of what you were saying. That was a client asking me, and I said, there’s a there’s an email for you. There’s email for you. No, no, no. Uh, misinterpretation. Uh, required. Uh, this is what I meant. But that’s that’s the you know, that’s where we’re at now in a digital age. So the more you can make your emails and your messaging warm, uh, the better, the better in this world we’re living in now. So, um, and make sure you’re clear. Make sure they’re there direct. Make sure there’s no ambiguity in your messaging and the way you’re talking to people. Make your yes mean yes and your no mean no. I’ve always, always said that, too. It’s a, uh. How about that for a principle, right? Uh, uh, old school principle. But just just be clear. Just be clear in, in your messaging because nobody wants to go through a 20 email chain to understand what you meant by your first email. Right.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Can I draw in an old school principal? How about we just pick up the phone and have a conversation? Thank you.

Steve Landrum: Oh, you’re a woman after my own heart. My goodness. Uh, that’s that’s it, that’s it. Uh, can I have a phone call with you, or can we jump on a virtual call and talk? Simple as that. Yeah. Or.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Because there’s so much language around this, right? Or even over the phone. Just verbal is so much better than written because we don’t know if yes means yes or no means no all of the time because we communicate differently.

Steve Landrum: That’s right, that’s right. Um, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m a big believer in professional networking, and I’m, I’m, I’m fortunate to be part of, you know, some great groups or around my community. And, you know, when we do reconnects, when we get back together in between meetings. Uh, Tricia, always I always tell everybody, do your best to to to be in person, to try to get back together in person and if not in person, virtual. And I’m saying these in order for a reason. Virtual second and then a phone call third. But all all three of those are the big three, you know, don’t don’t settle with an email or don’t settle with text. Um, make it intentional, uh, to to be able to speak, live, live with somebody.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. You know, we live in a space where people are so much more comfortable hiding behind an email or a direct message or something. Electronic and lost is the art of building a relationship with a human being from the beginning.

Steve Landrum: Right on, right on.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m feeling pretty good right now, Stevie, because I invited you to a phone call first and then to a video call so that we could actually have this conversation. So I’m feeling pretty good right now. Yeah.

Steve Landrum: Great progression, great progression.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I feel like I’m doing all the right things. So let’s talk about what’s next. So we’re building relationships. How important is that compared to what we’re actually putting on the table and selling all the bells and whistles of the product or service that we have to offer?

Steve Landrum: Fantastic question. I appreciate you saying that. Obviously, you know, in business we’ve got to be able to communicate our products and services, right. Any any good business person, any good salesperson has got to have knowledge of what what they’re selling, what what they’re talking about. Right. But I always had a rule of thumb. And again, this is back to some of my mentors that back back in um, back in corporate life that taught me. But they always like to say that 40%, 40% of the success formula comes from the product knowledge. Only 40%. That’s less than half. But 60% of the success comes from your attitude and how you carry yourself and your humor and the conversation and how well that relationship is being built. 60%. So yes, it it does matter. It does matter. We got we got to know what we’re selling for sure. But, uh, I’ll be honest with you, Tricia. You know, when I’m hiring salespeople for clients now, I look for attitude first, I do, I look for attitude first. And I don’t care if they don’t have the skills and the industry that I’m trying to. I will teach them the product skills, but give me attitude. Give me a great attitude and a roll up your sleeves. Um, go, go to go to battle, you know, type type of mentality. And I’ll make that person successful for sure.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. I think oftentimes we do hire for knowledge and skills versus attitude, and it makes a huge difference when you’re hiring the right person with the right attitude. You can teach the other stuff, right?

Steve Landrum: You can, you can, and I can’t take credit for this principle. I’m going to name somebody who everybody will recognize. But Zig Ziglar, you know, everybody knows that name. Zig Ziglar in sales and and he said, he said, this is so true because I give him all the credit. It’s your attitude, more than your aptitude, that will determine your altitude. I mean, I love that I’ve said that. I’ve said that a million times in my career, for sure. Uh, it’s your attitude, more than your aptitude and other and otherwise, your product skills that will determine your your altitude. That’s so true. It’s so true.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s beautiful. All right, so you took us old school today. We’re back to relationship building. Really connecting with humans on this, like, real ground level. We’ve got a few minutes left together today, Steve. So what? What is it about sales, or are there some statistics out there? I know you said you had some for us force, or there are some things that you’d like to share with the audience today specifically around that topic.

Steve Landrum: Yes, yes. Thank you. Tricia. Um, I know these stats and I think they’re accurate because that that I’m about to share. Uh, because we, um, through the organization that that certifies me sales acceleration. We have surveys from over about 5000 business CEOs. These are all their answers. And this is what they tell us. This is what they tell us. So this should make people I don’t know if it makes people feel better because everybody’s in the same boat or worse. But I’m just going to share. So when it comes to sales strategy, a business sales strategy, these are again from CEOs, 85% of CEOs say they do poorly at it. Sales strategy. In other words, uh, do we know where we’re going? Do we know what what our target audience is? Do we have a value proposition? Do we know how to communicate it? Uh, do we know our competitors? Do we know how to track our sales activity. That’s what I mean. 85% say, no, we don’t do that very well when it comes to sales analysis, which means do we have goals and quotas matching where the business really needs to go overall, does everybody have clear, clear directives about all of that? Um, can we capture that with metrics and reporting? 93%, 93%? Trisha say we’re terrible at it.

Steve Landrum: 93% of businesses say say they’re bad at it. Two more, two more sales math methodology, in other words, is the sales process really defined? Does a salesperson really know what steps they’re going to take to get that, to get that sale, whatever it is, product or service? Um, do they capture it in a CRM? Do they capture their their sales activity recording so we can measure, right, and talk about things? 95%, 95% of CEOs said, no, we don’t. We don’t do it. Or if we do it, we do it poorly. 95%. And then one last one. Um. Nobody on boards properly? Very few companies on board. They’re they’re people. Much, much less they’re salespeople. They just kind of throw them, throw them to the wolves. And, um, the stat there is 90% of CEOs say, no, we we we don’t do that. Well, uh, so don’t feel alone, folks, that if you feel like you’re not doing well in sales, you’re in the same boat. Everybody needs help.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Which is why we need Steve in our life. I’m just saying, we need Steve in our life. Um, alright, so, my friend, we are at the back end of our conversation. I know you have lots more that you can give to our audience, and I would love for people to connect with you. You guys. As usual, I will have all of Steve’s contact information in the show notes, so you can just point and click if you’re sitting at your computer. If you’re driving, please wait till you get home and then you can point and click and get in touch with Steve. But I have I think there’s one last old school thing that you can share with the audience as we leave our time together, and it’s about the follow up. So can you tell me one more old school thing that you’re doing with people as a follow up that might have to do with a pen and paper? What?

Steve Landrum: Oh, what a setup. What a what a perfect setup. Alright, Tricia, nobody does this anymore. Nobody does it anymore. Have you. When’s the. I’m going to ask just a general question to everybody about the whole audience. When is the last time you took a note or a piece of stationery and wrote a handwritten note to the person for whatever, whatever they did for you? When’s the last time everybody’s done that, right? And I want I want you to think about something. When is the last? Think of the last time you receive something from somebody, a handwritten note. And how did that make you feel? It made you feel great. Everybody loves it. So in this digital email crazy messaging world we’re living in, take the time to do a handwritten note and I promise you that person will have a hard time throwing it away. So do it, do it.

Trisha Stetzel: I still have some of those notes laying around here, because I have a hard time throwing them away, and I can check the box that. It’s only been about four weeks since I sent a handwritten note, because I, I think I’m taking, uh, yeah. It’s, uh, you’re right. It take it’s hard. Right? It’s hard.

Steve Landrum: Takes time. It takes.

Trisha Stetzel: Time.

Steve Landrum: Takes time.

Trisha Stetzel: Be intentional which makes it full. Yes. It makes it so meaningful. Steve. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining me today. I love these old school lessons. I hope that everyone takes at least one action from our conversation today to go do some old school activity.

Steve Landrum: Loved being with you, Tricia. Thanks a lot.

Trisha Stetzel: Great. Thanks again. That’s all the time we have for today, guys. So if you found this conversation with Steve valuable, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston business leader ready to grow. And be sure to follow, rate and review the show. Of course, that helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. In your business, your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Ambar Balderas, director of operations at the Debt Defenders by cement law firm. Ambar is an operations executive challenging challenging law firm norms by reengaging how leadership, growth and accountability work in the industry. With a background that spans legal, technical and operational expertise, she designed systems that scale with intention, empower teams, and eliminate waste. A first generation Mexican American and self-made leader who rose from legal assistant to executive and bar brings resilience, adaptability and people first leadership to everything that she does. Her mission is clear modernize law firms from the inside out and build organizations that work smarter and serve better. Amber, welcome to the show.

Ambar Balderas: Thank you for having me. That hyped me up.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, good. I’m glad.

Trisha Stetzel: I love to create these beautiful introductions because we don’t often do it for ourselves. So that is my gift to you.

Ambar Balderas: I appreciate that very much.

Trisha Stetzel: You’re welcome.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, so tell us a little bit more. I know I gave your professional bio, but tell us a little bit more about Amber.

Ambar Balderas: Yeah. So just as you said, I’m a first generation Mexican American woman, um, Chicana born and raised in Houston, Texas. Uh, first in my family to graduate college. Um, Um, even though I’m the youngest of four. First to become a homeowner. So I’ve been navigating a lot of aspects of life that, um, I haven’t had the privilege of having someone with experience to help me through, um, came from a pretty difficult background financially. Uh, but despite those hurdles and despite some personal setbacks within the family, you know, graduated second in my class, um, got appointed to the Naval Academy, um, first one in my family to fly in a plane. Um, so that was surreal. Um, and, uh, life, life took me a different direction. Um, I’m in the civilian sector now. Uh, but I kept trekking through and rose in the ranks in the legal industry, um, at a very young age. Um, I, uh, got to the position of being basically an executive in a law firm. Started a law firm from the ground up. Um, for did that for about five years. We became multi-state. Um our average case value was, um, upwards of seven figures. And, um, after my time there, uh, continued to do so. Now for the Debt Defenders as their director of operations.

Trisha Stetzel: You’ve had such an amazing career, and you can’t be more than 20. I’m just saying.

Trisha Stetzel: I get that a lot. I get that a lot.

Ambar Balderas: Um, I accelerated really quickly, and it’s actually, um.

Trisha Stetzel: The.

Ambar Balderas: Age factor is something that is a blessing and a curse. Um, I know I don’t appear to have that look of authority and experience, um, but I’ve been doing this for eight and a half years, and I’ve been doing it very, very successfully.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s wonderful. Congratulations on all of your successes and being the first of many in each of those areas that you described. And thank you for your service. Yeah.

Ambar Balderas: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. One of the things that, um, I and I talked about it in your bio or when I introduced you, Amber, is the scaling, right? So, um, most law firm consultants get scaling wrong, or this is what, um, what I understand from you. So from your perspective, what is it that they miss and what actually works in practice when it comes to scaling.

Ambar Balderas: So law firm consultants, it’s a very smart business, right. To be a law firm owner you have to be an attorney. There are a few states that I know of that are changing that I believe Arizona would pioneered that. Um, but for decades and decades and, you know, century that’s been that you had to be an attorney to be a law firm owner. Many law firm owners don’t go to business school. Don’t take those business courses. Right. And it’s it’s definitely an area that is a smart business move. However, not every law firm fits that traditional mold, and law firms have been set up in this traditional structure for a very, very long time where it’s assumed that to be in leadership, to be a high or key decision maker, you must be an attorney. Um, I believe that that does a disservice for both your attorneys and your support staff, for your attorneys. It’s sort of, um, pressures them into striving for that partner track, which isn’t fulfilling or serving for everybody. Some attorneys want to be an attorney. They don’t want to be a manager and that’s fine. I understand that’s what you went to school for. Um, while some support staff have the the not just the, the know how of how to get a case from the very beginning to the very end, but the intricacies of dealing with all the different court systems, all the different filing systems, case management systems, they actually do the frontline work, right? I always call them the backbone of the firm. If things wouldn’t happen, if we didn’t have the support staff, and it does a disservice to them because those people who do have those aspirations and do those have do have those natural leadership qualities.

Ambar Balderas: Well, they kind of get shunned, right? The ceiling is there because they don’t they can’t take it there without that title or, you know, the degree. Um, that’s not to say that attorneys can’t be in leadership, right? Like some do have those qualities and that desire, but many don’t. Um, and so, um, because of these norms, the, the advice that is given is often very cookie cutter, right? It it caters to that traditional structure and it doesn’t really allow, um, an openness or an innovative way to look at and tackle different issues. Um, and because of that, they multiple things can, can go wrong. Um, they often I like to joke, they often isolate their prey. So in conferences they’re typically catered to the law firm owners. Well who are law firm owners, attorneys. So you don’t have that The non-attorney brain going there, right? Um, at these conferences, they’re presenting vendors, tools, software, you know, their preferred partnerships. Um, in these beautiful. I mean, they do such a great job, these beautiful sales pitches. And it’s such a cool presentation. Um, and it builds up that hype. But you need individuals who are, um, more, uh, keen to have that, like research and development mindset. Have that curiosity. Ask the right questions. Really make cost benefit analyzes, and make sure that whatever is being advised to you actually fits to your culture, to your workflows, um, to your to your people, to your practice area. Um, because gone are the days of the general practitioner that serves the town right. A lot of law firms are forming very niche practice areas. And while some might be similar, um, they’re they’re just so different from each other.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. As you were talking, I was thinking about a concept from a book, E-myth Revisited, about the three eyes of a business owner, and as an attorney or a practitioner and a business owner, you wear all the hats in the business and I love that. Uh, what you’re talking about is really turned that norm on its year around. Instead of being the hat wearer of everything in the business, you can actually have a director of operations or someone who’s really tuned into the business while the practitioner goes and does what they’re good at. I love.

Trisha Stetzel: That. Exactly. Yes.

Ambar Balderas: And then they feel fulfilled because they’re doing what? What they’re passionate about, and you’re actually being more efficient because you’re utilizing the time in the way they can provide value to your company the best. So I mean, it’s just, um, it’s so funny that you think it’s such a simple idea of like, could we set it up differently? And it sounds so simple, but, you know, when you’re when you’re tackling those, like, decades long traditions, it can be a hard thing to, to kind of overcome.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. And especially in the attorney space, there is so much tradition there. I’d love to dig around a little bit more in this modernization where you can scale up and you can hire people to do the things that the attorney shouldn’t be doing, so they can go do their job. So what does that look like deeper in in terms of leadership and the culture and the daily operations of an organization that is built different?

Ambar Balderas: Definitely. So first and foremost, you have to make sure that the structure still respects the expertise of your attorneys. I mean, in the legal industry, there’s no getting around it. You cannot perform law without your attorneys. Um, however, what what I’ve done is leverage the paralegals, the senior paralegals, you know, the individuals who have really been the ones to take their attorney there. Right? Help them get to those points of of being of winning those trials or, you know, winning a settlement after settlement, whatever the case may be. Um, and having them manage the team, manage the support staff, give the advice of what’s going to make what can we do to make our lives easier? Because if our lives are easier than our attorneys, lives are easier If we’re faster, more efficient, and not losing quality, then we’re being the best we can be for our attorneys. Um, and it really starts with culture because, you know, um, I think you need to be cognizant of the fact that, you know, there might be some attorneys who aren’t going to like that structure. So being very transparent about, hey, are you okay with the department manager of whatever legal department you’re in? Being a non attorney, being transparent is key.

Ambar Balderas: Um, and I find that more and more of the newer generations of attorneys that are coming out of law school are completely okay with it. Um, so that’s been that’s been nice, a nice shift, a little bit easier to build the team up like that. Uh, but yeah, really leveraging those senior support staff who have worked Every single angle of a case from beginning to end is so key, especially if you’re a high volume firm. Um, that is especially essential in those in those moments. Um, and then you still have your attorneys there who are overseeing and check box, check boxing, um, all of the things that are required. Right. Anything that’s legal opinion, legal strategy, legal advice must come from the attorney. Um, the beauty about that structure is you can then scale a little bit easier because. The, the it’s almost like a filtering system of what needs to get to the attorney. The attorney no longer has to go through every little approval process just to get a case moving. You remove that bottleneck. And it is only when that legal opinion strategy advice is needed in which they’re being pulled in for that, you know, high value assessment.

Trisha Stetzel: So I do have some attorney friends and teams that listen to my show. And I know right now the attorney is thinking, gosh, I don’t have to manage people. That sounds amazing, right? They a lot of attorneys go to school and believe that this amazing practice that they’re going to build is not about managing people. It’s about working the law and doing working those cases. Yes, exactly. And it’s so I can see like this relief. Oh, there’s a solution to that. I don’t have to manage people.

Ambar Balderas: Yeah, exactly. And um, as I mentioned it, if, if anything, what what that kind of system or building team building does is it just expands your, your options. Right? You know, you don’t have to pigeonhole yourself into. I can only look at my attorneys for these positions. You can look at everybody, and whatever makes the most sense is what you can go with without having to restrict yourself in any way. If that’s an attorney, awesome. You know, there probably are some attorneys who who get energized by that, but they no longer feel pressured to to or feel like they need to be perceived as if that’s what they want.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. They get to choose. That’s really amazing. So, Amber, I know that there are folks listening who would love to connect with you. So what is the best way to connect with you?

Ambar Balderas: Yeah, the best way is going to be LinkedIn. Uh, just search for my name there. Um, Amber Balderas. I’m sure you have it neatly on the on the screen. And, um, I’m easy to find. You’ll see these glasses.

Trisha Stetzel: Perfect. Yes. You guys, as always, I will have the link in the show notes so you guys can just point and click if you’re listening. Her name is spelled a m b a r b a l d e r a so that you guys can find her on LinkedIn, just in case you’re listening and not in a place where you can point and click. So, Amber, if it’s okay, I would love to go into this space of technology. It is changing so fast and AI is all around us. So with so many tools, AI and other, those things that are helping us automate in the market, how do you evaluate what’s worth adopting without chasing all the shiny objects that are out there?

Ambar Balderas: That’s a that’s a great question. Um, you know, my undergraduate degree is in management information systems, uh, which is sort of a hybrid of business and computer science. And my master’s, um, which I’m working towards right now is a master’s of science and information science. Um, so I love tech. You know, um, I have a motto that we just talked about this morning in my team chat, which was automate what can be automated. Like anything that can be automated should be automated. I’ve always been big on that. Um, now there’s an asterisk. Asterisk to that, right? Uh, because there’s strategy, implementation, all of that, that goes with it. Um, speed doesn’t mean fast. It means readiness. Right? Um, but with with that, we have to acknowledge that technology is such a fast, fast growing, evolving beast. And kind of how I was mentioning earlier with, um, the attorneys how they get, um, singled out in these conferences and given these amazing presentations, like, these tools look really cool. They, they look like, um, and they are sold in the fact that this you need the solution. It’s going to make life easier. Look how awesome this thing is. Um, that being said, though, that’s why you need someone in your team that can ask the questions, right? That can, uh, take a pause and really look into the use case for your company.

Ambar Balderas: Um. With AI, for example, there is a lot of hype with AI, but one of the things I’ve done recently is that a town hall with my firm where I talk about AI hallucination, I talk about AI model collapse. Um, I talk about, um, AI, you know, plagiarize ation, um, and different elements that, um, That all those companies that hype it up to try to sell their tool aren’t really addressing. In fact, I had a meeting very recently with a vendor trying to sell an AI conversational tool for a direct mail campaign. I had these questions because I know about these these, um, these, um, areas that need great improvement. Um, and his answer was really a non-answer. And that’s sort of where we’re at, right? There’s so many people wanting to get on the hype train, get on the money train. What’s a quick tool we can make leveraging these llms large language models, um, so that we can sell that to. And again, speed isn’t really how fast you you go. It’s how ready you are. Like, sometimes the best thing you can do is take your time. And so you really need to be cautious right now because there’s so many people wanting to get on that money train. And not everybody’s an expert. Um, really look into, um, some of those, some of those, um, areas where AI is consistently proving to degrade itself, um, as the different, uh, evolutions get rolled out.

Ambar Balderas: Um, that way when you ask those questions, you can discern whether this company, whatever tool you’re demoing, has really thought through that process. I know for the legal industry, especially AI, hallucination is a big no no. You know, we we can’t, uh, which AI hallucination would be like, um, it making up a fact, making up a case law, making up, um, an event. Um, and there’s been attorneys who have gotten in trouble for citing hallucinated case law in documents they file in court. Um, so be cautious. Um, there’s also been, uh, things like, uh, companies who have implemented AI, you know, organizational wide, be it with email purposes, document purposes. And the AI can be tricked to give confidential information to a third party source. Um, so someone who is aware of the spate of technology and the speed, but also sort of cautious in knowing that there are, um, there are just too many people who really want to chase that shiny dollar when they’re selling you something. Um, is so important to have someone like that in your team. Um, so it It’s a wonderful, um, it’s a wonderful tool, but it just needs to be done. Well, right?

Trisha Stetzel: It should be vetted by someone who knows what they’re doing, particularly in the industry, knowing what all of the, um, the bad things that could happen if something goes wrong. Right. Uh, or if it creates AI hallucination. I learned something new today. Thank you for.

Ambar Balderas: Sharing. Yeah. So, yeah.

Speaker5: Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to explain.

Ambar Balderas: Model collapse really quickly, just since that’s the other technical thing I mentioned. But basically, um, you know, AI was trained on, I mean, a probably seemingly infinite amount of data that had already preexisted in the internet from humans. Um, well, now with, with all of this AI use and because a lot of the LMS or large language models built into their own AI that learns from its own repetitions. And because now a lot of the content in the internet is AI generated, so it’s learning from itself in that that medium as well. It basically degrades itself. Um, and I think that’s another thing. I guess a final thing to point out is like, if you hear content creators or read an article and they talk about the success of something to do with AI without acknowledging any of the human component or element that went into it, there’s you need to ask questions about that. So like if, for example, um, there was a recent article that talked about, um, how AI uncovered something about some kind of medical disease that 50 years of medical science and and research couldn’t get done. That is not a. That’s a disingenuous way to say that, because it recognizes a pattern that humans didn’t see in the existing 50 years of research that the humans did. So very important. Like it’s very fast paced, but you just everyone needs to take a second and really think about how the information is being presented to you.

Speaker6: You have such a vast array of.

Trisha Stetzel: Experiences where you’re very technical, and you can bring this, all this technical technicality into a space of humans and building culture. And I love that. That is beautiful. So thank you for sharing all of that as we get to the back end of our conversation today. Amber, I would love to know, as a first generation Mexican American Mexican-American woman who’s built. You built your career in spaces where most people didn’t notice you or they weren’t looking at you specifically. What message would you share with other leaders about resilience, equity, and even creating systems that truly empower the people or the humans that are in these organizations?

Ambar Balderas: Yeah, that’s a really wonderful question. You know, it it is difficult, um, when you look around and not very many people, you know, look like you, um, speak like you have your accent or even just share the experiences that you had. However, you know, it’s important to push through. It’s important to hold your space, hold space for your hard work and your success. And I get it. I have imposter syndrome. Don’t we all? But you have to just breathe and hold that space with confidence. Um, I think for me, what I. What I try to make sure to do is remember that I’m good at putting these puzzle pieces together, and I do so with while ensuring that I’m getting a lot of feedback from my team, making sure that all of my ideas don’t just work in, in, um, don’t just work ideally, but also work in practice. Um, but I just try to focus on understanding that I know I’m good at what I do, and I know I’m good at helping people make their job easier, be the best that they can be in their roles And just taking it one step at a time. Um, and of course, always resorting back to being data driven, um, you know, communication, that’s the hardest part. But as long as you’re showing in, in those reports and in your data and your and in your dashboards, your success, that speaks volumes in itself.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, I love to sit here and talk to you for like, another 90 minutes, but we can’t because we’re at the end of our time. Um, you’ve said some really thought provoking things, and I appreciate you bringing so much knowledge and care to the conversation that we’ve had today. I really enjoyed it. Amber.

Ambar Balderas: Awesome. Thank you so much, Tricia. It’s been a wonderful experience. I hope I did well.

Trisha Stetzel: You did fantastic. So tell folks how they can reach out to you one more time.

Ambar Balderas: Yeah. Um, for anybody who’d love to reach out, I mean, I would love to connect, bounce ideas, hear your stories. Um, please follow me or connect on LinkedIn. It’s at Amber Balderas a m b a r b a l d e r a s.

Trisha Stetzel: Beautiful. Thank you again. I’ve really enjoyed our time together today.

Ambar Balderas: Thank you as well. Have a good day.

Trisha Stetzel: You too. All right, my friends. That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran, or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Joshua Kornitsky, a fourth generation entrepreneur and professional eo’s implementer with more than 20 years of experience in technology, business strategy, and organizational growth. Joshua first experienced the power of EOS as a leader in 2015, when this system brought clarity and growth to his own company. Since then, he’s lived EOS as an owner, a leader, and now as a coach, helping leadership teams across the country align their vision, strengthen accountability, and execute with confidence. He also hosts a Business RadioX show. You guys Have to Listen to It, where he highlights business leaders making an impact in their communities. Joshua brings a unique perspective on how iOS transforms both companies and cultures. Joshua, welcome to the show.

Joshua Kornitsky: Thank you for having me, Trisha. It’s really great to be here.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited. I can tell when I’m doing people’s bios, they get a little uncomfortable. They’re like, really? She’s going to say all those great things about me. Yes, I am, because we don’t do it for ourselves very often.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’s true, it’s true.

Trisha Stetzel: Very excited to have you on today. So, Joshua, tell us a little bit more about who you are.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow. Well, thank you for the opportunity to talk about myself. I appreciate that. Um, as you said, a fourth generation entrepreneur, uh, I was born in the northeast. My parents, my grandparents both owned new car dealerships, and just through the evolution of what that business was like, I ended up in the car business. But we as a family are no longer involved. Uh, and to go back to the to the great great grandparents, that first generation of entrepreneurs, uh, they were immigrants coming here and did what they needed to do in order to get started. And in those days, pretty much everybody had to be an entrepreneur in one way or another. Um, I’m I’m somewhat amused and pleased to tell you that my great great grandmother, uh, was a bootlegger, um, making, I presume, bathtub gin, that I’m not a gin guy. But if I could figure out how to make bourbon well, at home, I might do that. Um, but I. I was born into the automotive industry, and I’m forever grateful for that because, um, it allowed me to see every aspect of of the good, the bad and the ugly of working with businesses, working with people And learning how to engage and interact. Because as the auto industry has in many regards, uh, created a negative impression of itself, not everybody is that way. And having grown up, uh, and being taught by my dad, who also had been in it since he was a teenager, I learned that there were two ways you could approach things. One was to to hit a customer over the head hard and make a bunch of money, but never see them again, or take good care of a customer. Make a fair profit, treat them well and you will see them over and over. And that was kind of my foundation in business was understanding that. And uh, when my dad passed, he was selling cars to the grandchildren of people that had bought cars from him initially. So it’s a proven process, right? It’s a strategy that works. Treat people well and they’ll come back to you. Yeah, absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. That is an amazing story. Thank you for sharing that and being a fourth generation entrepreneur is, um, I find few and far between. We don’t see as many people coming from that background, if you will, and I love the lessons that you’ve learned from that. So you’ve also worked across IT industries, software design, executive leadership. How does that play into where you’ve landed today? And being in a an owner or a coach in the EOS space?

Joshua Kornitsky: So thank you. That’s a great question. Um, the first thing that I’ll tell you is that that anything with technology, whatever I used to know has a limited applicability today, but the skills remain the same. And in the skills that I developed, because I, I was early in on technology when there weren’t very many people in able or capable or knowledgeable or more directly curious, uh, that that we’re able to step up and learn and help. So the biggest thing that I think technology brought into my life that carried forward to now is that curiosity, because I’ve learned over time that the best way that I can offer any type of guidance or structure through iOS or through any other engagement is to understand first what it is that the the individuals I’m dealing with are contending with. And, and it’s all too easy to be prescriptive and to walk in the door and say, well, here’s this system. Everybody needs to do what I say when I say, and it’ll all work out. Number one, you’re not going to succeed. Number two, they’re not going to succeed. And number three, if you try to use the same recipe, you can’t bake 17 different cakes. You’re only going to end up with one. And it’s probably not going to be a good one. My apologies. That’s my mom ringing through on bypass.

Trisha Stetzel: You know what? It’s all good. And listen, we’re all human here. And even before we started recording, we talked about, uh, how we both are caring for aging parents. And it happens. Right? It’s just part of what we do.

Joshua Kornitsky: It does? And, uh. Yep. It does. And I and I love her dearly. And I’ll check on her as soon as we’re done.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. This is what makes us human, Joshua. Fair enough. All right, so, Joshua, clearly you have a great IT background, leadership background. I’m very curious. I’d like to roll you back all the way to 2015 with your first experience with, um, iOS and the implementation of that. What was the biggest shift you noticed in 2015 that really grabbed your attention about this implementation?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so let me set the context a little. We I had been recruited to become chief technology officer for a B2B lead gen company. Me, and they were a successful company. They’d been in business at that point, probably eight, eight, nine years. Um, and they were growing, but they’d hit a ceiling and, and that’s what caused them to go out and look for help. And, and quite often that’s what brings entrepreneurs looking for a solution is, is what brings them to the book traction, which is what EOS is based on by Gino Wickman. And for us, um, they brought an implementer in or the CEO brought an implementer in. And we began the process and it’s quite normal. Um, I remember to this day it’s quite normal to think, oh, it’s the flavor of the month. You know, this month everyone’s going to wear blue shirts because it’ll change the way we are. Uh, but it turned out that the system really isn’t promising magic, and that’s what got my attention first. The second thing that got my attention was it doesn’t pretend to bring magic, the discipline and the accountability that I learned. And the biggest thing that changed for me was understanding that you you could have a highly accountable culture and still be at a place that people enjoyed working because the, the, the assumption is quite often that, that, oh, well, you know, you’re just bringing in more scrutiny, more depth of drilling down to understand every aspect of where every second of every day goes. And that’s not at all what it’s about. What it’s about is understanding that in an open culture where people aren’t afraid and they understand their job and they align to the core values that they’re actually able to to exceed their own expectations and provide an unbelievably, um, inspired level of, of work and service because they want to be there.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that to me, that spoke to me, that’s who I am. I’ve always been someone that’s been drawn to making sure that the work that I do matters to me. I’m a fan of Daniel Pink’s book drive. And in in drive, he talks about how intrinsic motivation is by far the most powerful form of motivation out there, and that’s what speaks to me. So what I found in iOS as chief technology officer was the ability to help the folks who worked with me do, uh, their jobs more effectively, to have clarity when they came into work to understand what the expectations of them were at both a micro and a macro level. And together we were able to set goals that made sense. That helped drive us forward. And I know it sounds like I’m reading off a cue card, but that’s really what what excited me about it. So much so that that I co-founded a software company with one of the principles of, of, uh, the company I was working for. And we started with us right out the gate. And it was only because we were both experienced in it that it made sense. Typically, it doesn’t really align with the startup. But, uh, while I did step away from that company, I believe they’re still running on us today. Wow.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s amazing. All right, so I want to take a deeper dive into iOS. There are likely people listening who have no idea what iOS is, and there may be some misconceptions about it. You tackled a few of those things as you were talking about your experience in the beginning. So let’s talk about iOS. Take a deeper dive and any misconceptions that you think people may have about it.

Speaker1: Sure.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’d be easy. The the very briefly, what iOS does more than anything else is three things. It gets everybody aligned around the vision of the founders of the organization. It instills discipline and accountability, Traction, as we call it, and it works to help the leadership team, which in an entrepreneurial business, which is who we typically work with. Often that that leadership team came together because different people with different skill sets organically either grew into the role or there was an identified need, and they brought somebody into the role, and they typically can have very disparate backgrounds and very disparate experiences. So while they’re capable of working together, they may not have healthy relationships as a leadership team. So that’s what we do is we we do that vision traction, then help them become healthy. And as the leadership team embraces it, so does the rest of the organization. And that’s really in a nutshell, what what EOS can do for a business and as it progresses and matures. And I had a quarterly planning session with one of my, um, I’m already graduated clients, meaning a client that went through the whole system, which takes about two years and they still bring me in to facilitate their quarterly and their annual planning. And we pushed hard as a group to see what we could do to continue to improve what’s already working. Because I’m not a believer in saying, you know, nobody on a scale of 1 to 10, nobody’s a ten that doesn’t speak to who I am. You can get to attend, but I’d like to believe that there’s an 11. I’d like to believe that we can continue to grow and excel, but it all starts with the work they do. So the only thing I really do is facilitate the brilliance in the room. I don’t bring the brilliance. I just bring a structure that that makes it.

Trisha Stetzel: And that’s what makes you a great coach. I love that, Joshua. It’s all about standing in the greatness of our clients, right? I think you and I share that same ideal. Um, if people are already interested in having a conversation with you. They want to learn more about iOS or the implementation, or just ask you some questions. What’s the best way for folks to connect with you?

Joshua Kornitsky: So I’ve got a long first name and a long last name, and I my my email address is at EOS worldwide. So what I did is I took my cell phone number (678) 414-7696, which you can call. But I put a I registered it as a URL. So dial that.com and it’ll bring you to the the website where you can get in touch with me. Uh because otherwise it’s Jay at EOS worldwide. Com and I joke that I have to get extra long business cards in order to fit that. So 6784147696.com we’ll get you to me.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. It says the guy who infamously comes from technology. What a great idea.

Joshua Kornitsky: I just want to make it simple. You know, the easier we make it for people to find us.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, absolutely. Okay. For those of you who are going to go look up Joshua or find him on LinkedIn. His name is spelled j o s h u a last name k o r n I t s k y. It’s so much easier to go to his phone number. Com so.

Joshua Kornitsky: You can go.

Trisha Stetzel: Everything that you’re looking for. You guys know I’ll put that in the show notes so you can point and click. If you’re sitting at your computer please do not do that. If you are driving in your car, wait until you get home and then you can point and click and connect directly with Joshua. Okay. So back to this conversation. Listen, you’ve lived iOS as a leader and owner and implementer. You bring such a unique perspective to your clients because of that and because of your background. So I’d really love to hear tactically, um, how you really create this alignment. Right? You talk a lot about culture in the business and the leaders embracing what’s happening, and then everyone follows. So give me some like tactical ways that that’s happening as you’re implementing this tool with your clients.

Joshua Kornitsky: So the way that that we work with our clients and I say we because there are 850 US implementers around the world, uh, we all can determine where we help one another. I’m willing to travel. Others aren’t. Uh, I have clients that are fully virtual, and I mention that because the journey is the same, regardless of whether it’s virtual or in person. We start with a day called a focus day. Actually, back it up. We start with what’s what’s a 90 minute meeting, which is where the leadership team, uh, gets into a room with me or gets onto a zoom call with me and I give them a 10,000 foot overview. Because if you expect someone to be able to jump right into something transformational with no knowledge. You’re going to be disappointed. So we give that 10,000 foot overview where I take them through at a very high level. How EOS is is designed, what it helps with, where it enables them to, to find areas to improve. And what is, as I mentioned earlier, what’s really, really important is it as a system. And this is something we say internally. It’s intended to be handrails not handcuffs. So we we want to to take them through the leadership team, through the education process. If what they hear in the 90 minute meeting speaks to them. And I’m going to give you a 45 second overview, we explain to them the history of the US.

Joshua Kornitsky: I talked to them to understand who they are and what their goals are. And then at a very high level, I take them through the six key components of iOS, which, when Gino Wickman wrote the book traction, what he ultimately determined was that all business problems fall into six categories vision, having people aligned with where you’re going, people having the right people in the right seats, data using real hard data rather than aspirational accounting, as I call it. Um, and when you’ve got that first half down where you’ve got the right people in the right seats, you know where you’re going and you’re using real data issues pop up. Pretty common, pretty clear. So we teach our clients how to identify and resolve those issues and make them go away forever. Then the fifth key component is process. And that’s just simply having determining what the right and best way things need to happen and getting that documented and, uh, followed by everybody there. That’s really the magical key to if there’s any magic here. That’s where scalability lives in. In. Trisha. I know that you are a veteran. And thank you for for your service. But in the military, a little bit process driven. I presume that process is there because it works.

Speaker4: Uh huh.

Joshua Kornitsky: You know, and and while it may be occasionally, uh, redundant, the best way to make sure that airplane takes off every time, the best way to make sure that that boat doesn’t have an issue is to have a checklist and to make sure. So we work with them, but they control the pace. And then the the last piece we do is we teach them about traction. We teach them about setting what we call rocks, which is a metaphor for a goal. And we teach them about having an established meeting pulse. And that’s really the 90 minute meeting, and we take them through it once they find that, that, that it is the right path for them. Uh, we’ll set up a focus day and we spend eight hours together with the leadership team. During that eight hours, we teach them about hitting the ceiling and how to break through hitting the ceiling. And then we start with this remarkable document that that is free to anybody that wants it at EOS worldwide. Com or they can reach me and I’ll share it with them. It’s called the Vision Traction Organizer. It’s eight simple questions. What are your core values? What’s your core focus? What are you best at? What’s your ten year or long term target? What’s your marketing strategy? Meaning what do you say to people? Who are the people you want to talk to? And what is it you say to them? Then we set out a three year picture, a one year plan.

Joshua Kornitsky: We establish goals for the next 90 days, and then we keep a list of all of the other issues that are important, but that we’re not going to deal with now because there is a magic to getting those on paper. Because if you and I talk about something and we both agree that someone’s got to walk the dog, but neither one of us write that down, the dog’s going to be scratching at the door or we’re going to be cleaning up. Um, and and really, that’s iOS at the highest level in a nutshell. There’s, there’s other tools that we teach over those two years. But once we’ve gone through those first initial three days, which are spread apart because you got to have time to absorb it, you’ve got to have time to to understand it and try it on. Then I meet with my clients once a quarter and and do a two day annual planning every year. And it just leaves them all of the time in the world to understand that the business has to keep going, to operate their business, to succeed in their business, but with a different structure and a, in most cases, a completely different type of accountability. Um, that’s that’s it in the nutshell.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Yeah. That’s amazing. Now, I heard you say I know people are already interested. They’re like, oh, I need to talk to Joshua because this sounds right up my alley. But I heard you say earlier that this isn’t necessarily meant for Are startups. So what type of client or you know, at what stage of business does iOS make the most sense for? And who do you find are your I’ll call them your best clients or your ideal clients for iOS.

Joshua Kornitsky: In a perfect world, iOS is is designed and built for organizations between 10 and 250 employees. I personally have clients with less than ten I don’t currently, but in the past have had clients above 250. But that’s the sweet spot. And in the idea behind it is a startup has uh. And I’ve been part of two startups. A startup has one thing in common. They all have is is too many hats and not enough heads. And in that instance, I will tell you that iOS could stop that brilliance from shining by imposing a rule set on a on a business that’s simply not mature yet. Um. With regards to anything that’s already struggling. While yes, iOS would help, we don’t typically want to talk to folks who are struggling because adding additional work into what is already a stressful situation is really unlikely to benefit them, because they’re in they’re in the staying alive mode. Um, so who we typically work with are clients that their business is doing well and they just can’t seem to break through to get to that next level. And they find the book traction because they’ve tried everything. And if you think about the entrepreneurial mindset, these are folks who solve their own problems. So they’re not accustomed to reaching for help. And when they finally have that moment where they go, you know, I’m going to have to reach for somebody, that’s when we can help them. Because if they’re not ready, and I’ll use the analogy that I use when I talk to people. If my lovely wife tells me, hey, you should lose a little weight, I’ll nod and acknowledge her. If my doctor says you really should use lose a little bit of weight, I’m going to pay attention, but I’m probably going to just nod my head.

Joshua Kornitsky: But when I go to put on my jeans and they’re a little tight, oh, crap, looks like I need to lose a little weight. That’s where we do the most effective work, because if someone or a leadership team or a leader doesn’t feel like change is the only thing that’s going to make the difference, there’s not any amount of anything I can say that’s going to change their universe until they’re ready to embrace it. And that’s the hardest part, because in that entrepreneurial mindset, I know it, I have it. Part of you feels like you’ve done something wrong if you need help. Yeah. And and I have very, very healthy clients that I, that I met that were already very healthy. And you still have to help them understand that, that if they are theoretically at $10 million and their goal is to get to $30 million in five years, the skills you need at 10 million are very different than the skills you need at 30 million. The personnel you need, the things that the business will require, all of those things you don’t necessarily have that ability to scale today. You can certainly plan for it. Yeah. And that’s just part of the natural growth that comes with every business. You can’t rush that. Uh, there’s a famous old technology book called, uh, The Mythical Man Month. And in that book from the 1960s talking about data processing on cards, they say that you you must work to overcome the common management belief that you can accelerate the baby by hiring nine pregnant women and be pregnant for one month only. It doesn’t work that way. There isn’t a shortcut. But. But there are best practices, and that’s what we can help them with.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, okay, so I shouldn’t tell anyone that their pants are too tight. They have to experience it themselves. That’s what I’m getting.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s the analogy. But but speaking as someone who occasionally has that challenge, you do know when it when it’s the case and you know it’s it’s time. Yeah. Either that or you got to buy new pants and that’s not going to help your business grow.

Speaker4: No, that’s definitely not going to help your business grow.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. So I our time has flown by. And Joshua, I’ve got one last question for you before we wrap up. So for those business owners that are listening who do feel stuck, or maybe they know that their pants are too tight, uh, and they feel out of alignment with their teams. What’s one simple step that they can take today or tomorrow to start moving closer to the clarity and accountability Ability that iOS will provide.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’s funny that you use the word clarity, and there was no discussion on this, um, built in to iOS at the leadership team level and ultimately through the business is this concept of a clarity break. Take a piece of paper and a pen or a pad and a pen. Put your phone down, put your laptop on, do not disturb and and said, start with an hour once a week and just set that time aside and don’t focus on anything other than what does your business need. And and just think about what does your business need. And from there, I suspect very strongly that you’ll fill up that pad. The good news is you’re everything that’s great in your business. You’re responsible for. You made that everything that’s a little off kilter. Well, sorry you made that, too. But by starting to just create that list of the things that your business needs. The next thing that you can do is prioritize that list. And once you’ve prioritized that list, you can begin to take incremental steps, just little things. You know, it’s everyone wants to to move the mountain in a day, so to say. Um, all you’ve got to do is, is 1% better than the last time you did it. And you can make that impact over time. So stop. I have a I have two daughters. My youngest daughter and I talk often about the concept of you. The only way to solve a big problem is, is you eat the elephant and bites. The only way to solve your big business problems. You’re not likely to have a massive revelation or a lottery win that’s going to change everything tomorrow. Perfectionism is the enemy of progress. Just take an incremental step and and reach for help. There are people that really and truly have a help first mentality and and want to help.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, just like you Joshua. That’s why we connected, right? You you have said so many things that would come straight out of my mouth. And I love the idea of 1% better or eat that elephant one bite at a time because we can’t swallow it whole. That’s just the bottom line. Okay. Thank you so much for being with us today. I have learned so much about you. You guys, if you want to connect with Joshua on email, I know his name is very long, but it’s J dot at EOS worldwide comm or Joshua. Give us that website where we can 6784147696.com.

Joshua Kornitsky: And I’m old school so I’m happy to actually talk on the phone too. But that’s the number you can call. Or you, you, you can go to the website and it’ll direct you to how to find me.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that yeah. You guys, Joshua and I, we are very much alike. So get on the phone with Joshua, have a conversation, learn more about what he’s doing, and if you feel like it’s the right fit, then just say yes. Joshua, thank you so much for being with me today.

Joshua Kornitsky: Trisha. Thank you so much for having me. It was an absolute joy.

Speaker4: Awesome.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today, guys. If you found value in this conversation that I had with Joshua today, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston business leader ready to grow. And as always, please follow, rate and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.