Business RadioX ®

Max Echeverria With Eskuad

by

Max Echeverria is an “Alien of Extraordinary Skills,” Tech Geek and entrepreneur. With a background in Industrial Engineering and M. Sc. in Industrial Engineering, who brings technology to the next frontier in field worker productivity and compliance. Eskuad is a no-code productivity and compliance field data platform that works regardless of internet service.

He’s former basketball player, former bass guitar player, and live music fan!

Connect with Max on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Goals for the round
  • How the Atlanta Business Radio community can help
  • Why focusing on fieldworkers

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Max Echeverria with Eskuad. Welcome.

Max Echeverria: [00:00:44] Thanks, Lynn, for having me here. I’m glad to be talking to you.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:48] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your squad. How you serving folks.

Max Echeverria: [00:00:53] So basically, we developed a self-serve platform. That means that people that wants to use it can just go and use it. And it’s designed mostly for people working in the field. Think of foresters, truck drivers, maintenance workers, miners, all of them. They go to the field and collect a lot of data every day and they need to go back to their office to create reporting and send them to their customers bosses, some of some of them also to auditors. So what we do is we allow them to do it on their phones and collect all the data in the place they’re like in their job site, and then all the reporting is created automatically and delivered where it needs to be delivered. And it works regardless of Internet service quality, which is a good perk for guys in the field.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:49] So what was the genesis of the idea? How did you know this was a problem that needed to be solved?

Max Echeverria: [00:01:55] I was one of the guys in the field, so I was working when I was in college the side hustle to pay for my studies. I work as a tourist guide and since I’m from Chile originally, I was in the south of Chile and I was taking high school students to the Patagonia on the Argentinian side, and I needed to report back to their parents, to my boss, and also collect data for some reports that we use for negotiating with the vendors and suppliers. And basically that work required me to be awake from 9 a.m. till maybe 3 a.m. after the kids went to party at some club or something. And then I needed to create all those reports, which took me like two hours a day on Excel and then I needed to send them over email. So basically I was trying to get some some more sleep. That’s how we started with the idea.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:54] Are the workers in the field, are they primarily throughout your system? Are they doing this kind of like with the paper and pencil? Like how are they collecting the information they need for the report?

Max Echeverria: [00:03:05] Yeah, you got it. Like most of them still use pen and paper in like super huge industries such as the ones I described, even though they have some solutions that are designed to collect data, let’s say using digital forms or some plugins from systems such as the ERP systems they use, but they don’t work well when they’re in the field because with a lack of good signal, some of their systems fall apart. And even if they have offline and online mode, they still require more steps to be used. So they typically go back to pen and paper and when they have signal they use. One of those systems or just straightforward excel sheets where they transcribe the data and create the reporting manually.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:52] So in either of those cases, they’re still having to kind of revisit things that they if you were a more efficient and effective, you can capture it as it’s happening without having to kind of do that kind of back and forth with the same data, even though you’re you’re done working for the day, but you’re really not you still have a ton of administrative tasks to do.

Max Echeverria: [00:04:15] Yeah, like it’s exactly like the Monsters Inc movie when, like they said, like, you haven’t done your paperwork yet. Yeah, that’s exactly what they face every day.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:26] So now in your solution, how do you come up with a solution that leans on technology? You know, with all these hurdles you have the you still want to avoid, I guess, reporting verbatim exactly what happened. You want to capture that in a in an efficient way. And you also have to deal with that kind of erratic Wi-Fi or however their signal is, the Internet, wherever they happen to be, is.

Max Echeverria: [00:04:53] Yeah. So we created this magic thing, sync algorithm that enables syncing with low bandwidth. And when you don’t have signal, it stops sinking, so you save battery. So basically the system allows users to input data all the time and sync it when it makes sense to sync it and also prioritizing what to sync depending on the currently available signal. So that takes care of the syncing problem. And the collection problem is solved by inputting data in a simpler and faster way in the phone rather than taking notes for everything. And because we’re using databases and all of that, it enables them to input less data because some of the the information it’s already collected in the database, like if you click something like if you select a selector, it pops, it shows up, let’s say three other things that you should input if you’re doing it manually. And also we use the same sensors of the phones to collect some of the data that they need to collect. So we automate some data collection too.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:09] So now some of the I guess the tricky part of this or a tricky part of this is a lot of time the people in the field are the smartest people, right? They’re dealing with things in real life in real terms, and they understand things a lot deeper than maybe some executive that hasn’t been in the field in months, years or ever. And they’re making decisions for this field worker that just may not be the best way to do something in in real life in the field. Like how do you kind of help them capture, you know, capture the right things and be able to kind of be nimble enough to make a change because somebody in the field figured something out better than somebody in an office somewhere.

Max Echeverria: [00:06:53] So because of exactly what you described and actually you describe it better than I do, typically, we decided to go with a bottoms up approach. So we’re going to the users and giving them access for free and actually they can use it for free for like forever if they’re using it with some restrictions. But because they start using it and figuring out stuff that works well for them, then a supervisor sometimes realize, Oh, this is working. This is how probably Peter started reporting faster than before. And then they can use the product for like the company as a pro version where they pay. So we decided to go with a freemium model so we can actually leverage the knowledge and all the smart solutions that the field workers come up with.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:50] But does this just give the field workers another job because now they have to input all this data initially in order to create a better system down the road for others?

Max Echeverria: [00:08:01] Yeah, but like, in the beginning it was like that. But now we have more things in place, such as standardized reports that they need to report to like state level organizations also for compliance with some certifications that they need to comply with. And also we have this, um. Like repository of forms and reports where the things that we as a company have created and some users have already created for themselves are shared among others. So we’re basically leveraging the knowledge of the community and sharing it with others. So it’s not an additional job to create these things. But regardless of that, creates takes less than creating one report once. So they could sit down one day and do it, and then they forget of all the other days doing it like creating reports manually.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:10] So when you started like what stage of a business are you at now? Is this happening in the wild now or are you funded? Like, where are you at?

Max Echeverria: [00:09:20] Yeah. So we started bootstrapping and now we’re funded. Like since, uh, like a week ago we closed our first fund raising institutional VC investment, but it’s already working in 34 companies in Chile, my home country and in the US, mostly in the northeast and like the southeast of the US. And also we have a user like a couple of users in Ecuador, like randomly they started using it. So the product is working is like you can just go and use it at this moment. And in terms of the company, we’re like 14 people now. So we have a team to cover most of the things we needed to cover. Thanks to the investment.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:11] So now, when did you kind of realize that, hey, we got something here because it’s kind of an innovative approach to go bottom up where a lot of folks would just try to sell it in. And then have it be deployed by the field users. But you decided to go the other way where obviously there are some risk involved there. Can you talk about how that conversation came up and how you were like, Hey, we have to do it this way. This way is going to be better in the long run.

Max Echeverria: [00:10:41] I mean, we.

Max Echeverria: [00:10:42] Came with that idea after we tried the original approach of like talking to the operation managers and like those titles and, and figuring out that they say like, Yeah, but we have X or we have this solution, but they don’t know when. When we talk to the other guys because I was one of them. And like I have my classmates from college, some of them work in the field in different industries. They all told me like, yeah, the problem as a supervisor of a small team is that I need to be asking them for like the copies of what they did, then transcribing it. So when I talk to the operations manager and then I talk to the users, there was some disconnection which you described before between the needs in the field and the supposed to be the needs that the management had in their minds when they were buying solutions. So because of that disconnection they were having problems at. Rolling out the solutions. And also that was kind of a barrier for us to talk to them because they said like, we have been cheated before. It didn’t work well. Those are bigger companies. But when we went to the users, they were like, Oh, this is working, this is fun. This is actually they have said it is fun. And also they have said that they save time. So there was a misalignment in situ. And then we decided like, let’s try with the users, let’s try a guerilla approach and let’s see how it goes. And we are doing it now. So we’re still evaluating how it works, but so far it has been working well.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:26] So when a user uses it, are they still being able to deliver the report that management wants or is it something that they now have to convince management, Hey, this new report I’m doing is better, trust me.

Max Echeverria: [00:12:41] No, actually the hack that we figured out was to allow the user to replicate the exact same report that they sent to their bosses in our product. So they just do it once. And their bosses don’t know that these guys are using a tool. They just receive the same report. And but for the users, it’s super cool because they stop reading them manually. And at some point they realize, oh, so I don’t know, like John is reporting way faster than he used to do before. Like, I’m going to ask him, like, these supervisors are wise, too. So they ask them and then they tell him, no, I’m using this tool. And that’s what I don’t know, like Jennifer and Jordan have been using too. Uh, so then that’s the ha moment where we found a potential business with them, like we start selling to them.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:41] So now has it happened so that a field worker, you know, stumbles upon your solution, They start using it, it starts working. Are they kind of virally sharing it with their other field workers? Has that happened yet?

Max Echeverria: [00:13:56] Yeah. So, so we created a couple of features that enabled them to invite their colleagues. So we have like actually last month we saw 35% of the companies that we serve expanding. And the reason why they expanded was because they, like users, invited other users. And out of the 34 companies, four came through a user that left their old job. Like they could be fired or they quit, but they kept the product with them because you can use it as a single user. So once you leave your previous job, the organization disconnects you from the organization, but you can keep your profile. So those four users started working somewhere else and then expanded to. So that’s how we achieved the four of the 34 companies was because a user moved somewhere else and expanded again.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:54] Now, when a user’s doing this, it’s kind of creating a manual on how to do the job. Is that part of the deliverable? Is that the management gets kind of a manual of how to do the job.

Max Echeverria: [00:15:09] Actually, no. But it’s a good idea. I’m gonna think of it. But yeah, basically they’re creating a. More efficient process. So actually. In between the lines of that new process and what they are doing, there’s actually a potential manual of how to do things better, but we didn’t have that idea. So thanks for that idea.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:38] So that was my idea. Yeah. So I hope you remember me when you go public, you know, I hope I get part of that friends and family round.

Max Echeverria: [00:15:50] Yeah, I’m gonna. I mean, for example, one of the users in a environmental services company, she was creating like, like, like the new processes manual for the team as part of their implementation. And she asked me for some wording and screenshots and stuff, but it’s not part of a deliverable from our product. It’s something that they come up with at this moment so could potentially be part of the product.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:24] So what do you what’s next? What do you need more of?

Max Echeverria: [00:16:29] I mean.

Max Echeverria: [00:16:30] At this moment we’re implementing more things to actually solve the new problem of. Taking some time to create the new forms and the new reporting and setting up the system. So most of the engineering time, it’s going to reduce the time to value for the users, which is kind of the. Biggest barrier for them to start using it. And and in those efforts, we’re implementing some features related to the forms repository told you about. Also integration with some components that we have.

Max Echeverria: [00:17:12] And.

Max Echeverria: [00:17:15] On the other side. We need to get more users and grow. So it’s mostly about marketing and sales.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:22] So if somebody wants to learn more, try this out or get on your radar maybe to partner in other ways. What is the website? What’s the best way to get Ahold of you and your team?

Max Echeverria: [00:17:34] Yeah. If you want to check us out. Is e-squared dot com like esque.com and there’s a button right there to contact us and another button to try out the solution. Or they can just go to the app store and play store and download the app and set up an account and start using it.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:53] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success and the momentum. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Max Echeverria: [00:18:01] Pinky Leon.

Max Echeverria: [00:18:02] You’re doing two, like talking about our stories. It’s super important for us. So thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:09] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

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Abigail Baker With Centient Imagine

by

Abigail Baker, Founder of Centient Imagine.

She is a consultant and public speaker that works to inspire organizational change by working with executives to forge a better humanity through the convergence of technology, belonging, advisory, and creativity. When it comes to transformation, disruption, and change, her favorite words are “let’s imagine” and “I wonder” to inspire companies to reach new heights.

She is a firm believer that stories have the power to change the world and is a wellness advocate who often pushes the envelope in organizational development, challenging the status quo, and creating a holistic work environment. She believes that creating space in your life to play, imagine and dream is vital in culture evolution, problem-solving, stress management, and innovation. She is also a workplace safety thought leader who teaches defense thinking, radical belonging, and active shooter training.

Connect with Abigail on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Their fight against the recession has the potential to breed workplace violence and betray belonging
  • Becoming more skilled at developing leaders in our organizations
  • Anchoring change in organizational culture
  • Change requires sitting in your discomfort and pushing deeper into issues before driving towards solutions because when we sit in our discomfort we’re forced to face the truth about ourselves and the ecosystem that has made us who we are professionally and personally
  • Taking the “not on my watch” vow as a leader and the importance of drawing the line in the sand

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Abigail Baker with Centient Imagine. Welcome, Abigail.

Abigail Baker: [00:00:43] Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Lee I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Sentient. Imagine how you serving folks.

Abigail Baker: [00:00:51] Basically what we do is we want to forge a better humanity and we do that through a lot of different ways, and we focus on technology and help business leaders really capture modern tools and craft the stories needed to create culture change and transformation and creativity and innovation within their organization. So we are excited to partner with executives and really use these stories and initiatives as the backbone of organizational culture shifts and communications initiatives. Program audits, workforce training. We cover a lot, but technology and kindness and care and just creating a better workforce is at the heart of everything that we do.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:33] So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Abigail Baker: [00:01:37] So I came from a very untraditional background. I started out kind of going a little bit, you know, more of the corporate path. I was actually a creative for a long time. I was in music and was telling stories through music. I was in production, and then I went back to school as an adult and I got my bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree. And I really realized that my creativity and the way that I see things differently is really, really needed in the workplace. And so that’s what I chose to do, is follow that and not step away from that creativity, but reconstruct it and learn a lot about technology. And technology has grown over the years since I’ve been in the workforce as a full time employee, and I started my first company in 2016 and now, you know, I’m spinning up some different entities and doing some different things and it’s just been a wild ride and a fantastic journey.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:40] So how has it been talking to the corporates regarding using storytelling and using your creativity to help them with their messaging and help them with their corporate culture?

Abigail Baker: [00:02:51] You know, a lot has happened since the pandemic. I think pre-pandemic I want to say that it was a lot harder to do. So we were in a different time. Things were somewhat less complex and the pandemic threw a lot of corporations into a tailspin and they just needed new solutions, Right? And so by the time I was popping up and really putting together my portfolio, a lot of the business leaders that I was in touch with reached out to me and we forged collaborations because of that, because new ideas were needed, because creativity was needed. And a lot of times it really is just looking at the same issue in a different light. And that’s why I think inclusion and having just a broad set of people across the table and people who can really lead versus manage, that’s another thing that I’ve realized, you know, as I’ve worked and as we’re kind of in this post pandemic phase right now is that we are not really cultivating leadership in our organizations. And so there’s a huge leadership gap right now, and we need people who can rally people together and step up and set the vision and push forward.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:09] So what are some symptoms an organization might have that’s kind of breadcrumbs if they’re paying attention that maybe they do have issues with their culture, maybe they do have a lack of leaders on the bench. What are some of the things that maybe are obvious to you but aren’t so obvious for the people that are in the midst of the chaos?

Abigail Baker: [00:04:31] That’s such a great question. One thing that I said to my clients recently is no news is not good news. Silence is not golden. We really have to get away from this concept of, oh, well, I don’t hear anything. And so I think my clients are, you know, are my employees are doing okay. Right. You know, I don’t hear any buzz at the water cooler. We have to dig deeper. We have to ask questions. And a lot of times business leaders forget that because there is a power dynamic, right? So people really have to be able to trust you. And that trust comes by asking questions and listening instead of talking and always being the loudest voice in the room. And so I really want to tell, you know, businesses, if you’re hearing nothing from your employees, that is not a good sign. Right. And a lot of business leaders and. Managers ignore that.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:26] Now, some of the things that you’re asking of the leaders are to have some uncomfortable conversations with their people. Is this one of those kind of necessary evils? This is just part of you have to go through this type of pain in order to have the growth that the leaders ultimately want.

Abigail Baker: [00:05:46] Absolutely. You know, in I think it’s a Western society thing. We really don’t like discomfort. Right. And we’re so lucky to live in a country where we have so much abundance. Right. And we often forget that change comes through discomfort and leaders often have to stop rescuing people. We have to learn to get uncomfortable together in a holistic way and in a way that promotes change in order to move forward. Right. It’s like clearing a path through the jungle. Yeah, You have to hack at the trees and, you know, get the bugs out of the way. But once you do that, you have a way forward. You’re forging a new path. And so it’s it’s critical that we have these crucial conversations right where that are that are really grounded in trust. And so what what some leaders, I think have done is as we you know, we’re coming out of the pandemic now. We have all of these this recession buzz going on is, you know, they’re like, well, hey, tell me, you know, tell me what you think. But if you haven’t built that trust, those crucial conversations fall short. So you have to make a practice of asking questions, having crucial conversations, building trust and getting your team and even yourself used to being uncomfortable. One thing I do, Lee, is every single week, multiple times a week, I do my best to get out of my comfort zone. At this point, I actually do get out of my comfort zone. I will do something or experience something that I’m afraid of that makes me uncomfortable and I notice that if I even go one week without doing that, I start to fall back in old habits and old rhythms that really block my my critical thinking and innovation. So it’s so important that we do things and explore together as a community, things that are uncomfortable so that we are enlightened and can think outside of where we are right now.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:47] Now are the strategies you deploy different for like kind of a mega corporation? The ones that get all the headlines, the ones that are typically laying off thousands of people at a time, and then they go through one of those cycles and then it’s over. And then they’re like, for all the survivors, they say, Trust me, things are different now. And then all those people are, you know, have these scars that they remember two years before they were layoffs. And, you know, nothing’s really changed as opposed to like a smaller company where everybody knows everybody and there’s, you know, more organic conversations and authentic conversations. Are the strategies the same or are they foundationally the same or and the tactics are a little different or are they totally different?

Abigail Baker: [00:08:33] I think that the foundation are are very much the same. The tactics are completely different because with larger organizations you have to learn how to measure change differently. And if you don’t, you can be very discouraged. Right? You also have to really get good at influence, right? Especially as an outside consultant. You have to learn how to influence in a matrixed organization and be able to kind of follow a path to get to the decision makers who can then move the needle and bring about change. And you’re so right. In a smaller organization, there’s different dynamics now, I will say with smaller organizations, and that’s mid sized companies, that’s small businesses, startups and nonprofits. So what are the biggest obstacles can be when you have the person at the top who is really not on board, right? So there’s kind of less decision makers that are there that can balance the equilibrium a little bit. And so that can be challenging in itself. But you really have to use different tactics and different measurements of success in different types of organizations.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:46] So now, what’s it like working with your firm? How does an engagement begin? What is usually that first point of contact?

Abigail Baker: [00:09:54] So I work very relationally and for me, I take on projects where I feel that I can make an impact and where I feel that people will be able to change. I’m not the I’m not the type of consultant to hire. If you want a quick fix. I always put myself out there as a revolutionary and a positive disruptor. And so when engagements come in, it usually starts with a relationship and a conversation. I also do a lot of discovery myself and my team. So there’s a series of discovery meetings, lots of conversation and communication to make sure that we’re a good fit and also to make sure that organizations are often ready to change. Right. And of course, you know, I don’t like to go nuclear. I don’t like to to, you know, airdrop into into a gig and start to, you know, drop bombs. I work very holistically and we start from the bottom and and we move up. But at the same time, there has to be a readiness for change. And so I take a lot longer probably than most consultants to set up engagements. But the engagements I have are deep and they’re long term, and I often walk away with lifelong connections, relationships, friendships and colleagues that I respect and they respect me. And we trade value in these in these types of engagements. So, you know, I’m a deep thinker. I’m passionate about what I do, and I build all of my my engagements on a relational level.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:28] Can you share a story of maybe one of your successes? Don’t name the name of the company, but maybe share what the challenge was and how you were able to go in there and help them go to a new level.

Abigail Baker: [00:11:38] Yeah, I think one of the most incredible experiences as a consultant is to to witness growth, and that’s whether you’re consultant consulting or speaking. And there was a nonprofit that I was working with where they were really, really struggling with resistance. There was a lot of people who didn’t understand the need for change. They couldn’t wrap their heads around the technology. And one of the biggest messages that I crafted was you have to be in love with learning. And that’s really how change becomes easier, is you’re in love with learning, and curiosity fuels your learning. And you also have to just tackle new challenges playfully. And that was that was probably the biggest thing that was able to deflate all of the tension around the required trainings that we were rolling out and really get people on board and just playful. You know what? You’re not going to know everything that this technology is supposed to do. The training might be difficult, but be playful, be curious, let your imagination run wild. But we often squash this right as especially as we grow up. The older we get as adults, we really kind of turn that down on ourselves. And I think it’s so opposite to hear someone say, you know what, that playfulness, that imagination and that curiosity that you had as a kid and maybe even young adult, I want you to flip that light switch on and that is going to fuel you for the rest of your professional journey. And that’s probably one of the biggest changes that I saw in that organization at that time.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:17] Is that kind of a common challenge for organizations to foster that beginner’s mindset when so many people are afraid to show the weakness and vulnerability of I don’t know, or, you know, they might lose their job because they’re supposed to know, like it’s a balance between I have to, you know, exude confidence and competence and show that I know stuff. But I also have to be humble and mindful that I don’t know everything. And it changes so rapidly. But I know where to look. I think, you know, like that balance is difficult for especially those politically minded people that are good maybe at climbing the corporate ladder. Yes.

Abigail Baker: [00:14:01] Absolutely. And that’s such a good point because we’ve lost well-being in our organizations. And there’s so much fear right now, like you said. I mean, there’s a huge mental health crisis happening in corporate America and also just our country. Right. People are still suffering from the trauma that they experienced during the pandemic. We have a huge, you know, thing happening with women leaving the workforce because they have other duties and they’re not finding the support they need. And now we have companies insisting that people come back to the office because they’ve lost human connectivity, which is a real concern. Right. And then we’ve had cost containment because of recessionary, you know, measures and indicators that have been coming up. So there’s just so much fear right now in the workforce that people cannot play. And I think it’s people cannot even be passionate. Right. But I also think that people are so focused on climbing up that they’re not really committing to learning. Right. And again, it’s a strategy and that comes down to organizations, leaders. They are the ones who guide culture. They are the ones that really set the standard. And if you find that your populace is only interested in moving up instead of gaining knowledge and working with other humans to create something good that is on you. And I think leaders really have to. Again, we talked about leadership versus management. Leaders have to realize that they are driving this car. Right. And they need to be the ones to initiate the fixes.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:43] Yeah, I remember. Or one of my first interviews I ever did was an HR person. He told me something that kind of stuck with me. He said when it was regarding this type of training, he’s like, Do you want to train people and then have the fear that they might leave or do you want to not train them and just keep them the way that they are? You know, like what? What’s a bigger win, you know, which is worse from a risk reward standpoint, You know, letting them just figure it out and hope it works and then they stay a long time and then you’re dealing with somebody that’s not happy, that’s, you know, kind of sabotaging or you train them and they become a superstar and inspire other people. But they might leave and go. And, you know, they’re so inspired and valued that they go somewhere else. I mean, it’s a risk and it’s an investment. But I think I’d rather have a bunch of people with the right attitude than just be stuck with somebody that’s not I’m not thrilled with. And I kind of dread seeing every day.

Abigail Baker: [00:16:44] Exactly. And that’s that’s ecosystem. So let’s say we take this model, right, where companies are committed to investing in their employees, they’re training them up. They’re creating rock stars. Right? The truth is, you know, depending on some of their other indicators, such as, you know, is there a gender pay gap? Are they, you know, paying people in accordance to market rate? What’s their culture like? But, you know, I think personally that that that measures out in the ecosystem, right? That balances. So, yes, you’ll have a couple people who are rock stars who might want to go and move up. But if you holistically support those people, guess what? Those rock stars are going to refer other people, Hey, I’m leaving. You know, I got someone else behind me that can come in. And I told them how great the training program was. Don’t worry. You know, you’re in good hands when you when you do the right thing. It pays off. And companies have to remember that.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:38] Well, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Abigail Baker: [00:17:42] You know, I’m on a mission to create a better world, a better America where everybody everybody benefits from the holistic health of the workforce. And I’m also really passionate about corporate America because it impacts society. It impacts our government. Right. People who work 40 hours a week for a company, you are committed, you know, and there’s so much that companies and people can do to really grow and just be better. And so that’s what I’m looking for. You know, anybody who wants to collaborate, who wants to work together, who wants to have coffee, who shares the same passion, you know, please feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to chat with you.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:28] So is there a website for someone to connect?

Abigail Baker: [00:18:31] Yes, there is sentient with a C. Imagine.com and from there you’ll be able to see a plethora of some of the other initiatives and think tanks that I’m spinning up and LinkedIn is a great place to connect with me as well. I’m Abigail Baker on LinkedIn and I look forward to connecting.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:49] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Abigail Baker: [00:18:54] Thank you so much, Leigh.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:55] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter

David Gracey With Network 1 Consulting

by

There would be no Network 1 without the vision and commitment of David Gracey. Since its founding in 1998, he has grown Network 1 into a top-notch IT services company dedicated to delivering the best solutions for Atlanta’s small and mid-size businesses. His responsibilities include creating the vision and strategy for its growth and establishing the culture of Network 1. He loves educating the business community on the benefits of implementing the best technology solutions for businesses and is a regular speaker for professional organizations, business associations and private companies. He has written articles for, or been quoted in, Atlanta Hospital News and Healthcare Report, International Legal Technology Association Communications Technologies Digital White Paper, Physicians Practice, American Bar Association GPSolo eReport, Georgia Medical Group Management Association, and The Wall Street Journal.

A Georgia Tech graduate with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, he is originally from Clarksville, TN, but has called Atlanta home since 1985. He is a member of Vistage International, an active leader at Trinity Presbyterian Church and a member of the Capital City Club. When not at work, you’ll find him in a fitness class, peddling his bike, sweating out the toxins in a hot yoga class, spraying golf balls around the course, trying out new cocktail recipes, drinking the world’s best coffee, and spending time with friends, his three kids, and his lab(ish) rescue, Juniper.

Connect with David on LinkedIn and follow Network 1 Consulting on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Biggest challenges he have had to confront and overcome in that time
  • Network 1 in the next 25 years
  • Advice for others that may be considering starting their own business or those that have a business but aren’t seeing the same level of growth that he have experienced

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have David Gracey. He is the founder and president of Network one Consulting. Welcome, David.

David Gracey: [00:00:45] Hey, Lee, Thanks for being here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Network One, how you serving folks.

David Gracey: [00:00:52] Will Network One is a 25 year old IT services company. We provide cybersecurity support desk and cloud services to small and medium sized Atlanta based businesses. And yeah, like I said, I’m the founder and owner of the company. We have 45 folks now and we serve 130 Atlanta based businesses.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] So how have you seen kind of the industry evolve since you started doing this before? You know, I guess network consulting was cool?

David Gracey: [00:01:21] Well, I’m not sure that network consulting has ever been cool. But, you know, if you think back in 1998 when we started, the IT world was a vastly different place. We had Internet just coming on the scene in businesses. Email was just starting to be used. Dial up was still the main way that that folks in offices access the Internet. And it was, you know AOL and Prodigy and all those wonderful things. A bad day in it was when you couldn’t access your files. Viruses were still very much in their infancy. So as you can tell, things have changed quite significantly in the last 25 years from a technology perspective.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:59] So what inspired you to kind of go on your own instead of, you know, work with some of the larger players?

David Gracey: [00:02:05] Not sure the word inspired is the word I use. You know, I haven’t always had a burning passion to start a company. It’s really more of an opportunity. This is actually my third job after graduating from college. And in my second job I was working in a the similar industry and one of my clients made me an offer to come work in house for them and use that as an opportunity to say thank you. But no, I’m actually thinking about starting my own business. And they said, we’d love to be your first client. And so that’s how it all got started. And so back then it was I was the only employee. I had one client, and I worked out of the basement of my house. So it was quite a different place than we are today.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:45] Now, were you doing kind of work that was similar to when you were employed?

David Gracey: [00:02:49] Yes, it’s similar, similar type of industry. So back then, you know, technology was different. We we went on site to do all of our visits. There was really no such thing as remote support for what we did. And so it was a lot of driving around Atlanta, visiting businesses and fixing laptops and servers and helping them understand technology and use it better.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:11] But as kind of the employer and the employee in your firm, you were doing the work at at where you were and also trying to find the next job or an additional job.

David Gracey: [00:03:24] Yeah. So I was I was a technology consultant, so I was helping helping people with their computer issues. And this along came the opportunity.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:35] Right. But you had to do the actual consulting and do the selling.

David Gracey: [00:03:39] Yes. Well, and the selling and the accounting and the taking out the trash and every every job known to man. Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:48] So was that a difficult transition to trade one job for, like you said, 10 to 20 other jobs?

David Gracey: [00:03:56] Um, yeah. You know, switching from wearing a lot of different hats is both a challenge and an opportunity because as you, as you grow as a company, we, you know, we went from one person back then to 45. Now I’ve worn every single hat at the company over the years. And as you grow and you’re like, if you’re a company like mine where you’re cash flow funded, basically we don’t have private equity behind us. You know, the Gracie family has to fund any kind of new hires or anything that goes on. Um, what we, what we did was we would hire somebody once we could afford them and try to hire the best person we could who was also better at doing that particular job than I was. And over time, you know, I kind of transitioned and became the person I needed to be at that at that moment of the company’s development until we could hire folks that were better than I was at that job.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:53] So any advice for other kind of founder, founder slash worker slash technologist people? Like what was the first hire? Was it another person to do the consulting? Was it another person to do the selling? Was it another person to do the bookkeeping and accounting?

David Gracey: [00:05:11] Yeah, Well, so, you know, we’ve tried to outsource as much as we can, outsource as much as makes sense. So, you know, outsource as much accounting as you can. You know, we’re not an HR person, uh, kind of eat your own dog food because we’re asking our clients to outsource technology to us because we’re able to hire the best and brightest technology people and give them a career path. If you’re a 25 person law firm and you hire an in-house technology person, what career path is that person going to have? It’s it’s tough to to keep them. The good ones are going to outgrow you very quickly and move on and and leave you and work for somebody else. And the bad ones. Well, you’re stuck with a bad a bad hire. What we’re able to do is provide a technology career path from, you know, day one in the technology world up to, you know, ten, 15 year veteran who’s done all types of technology things in the world and and be able to retain those folks, which is a really important part of our culture.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:11] Was that philosophy around since the beginning or was that something you kind of figured out as you were growing?

David Gracey: [00:06:18] Oh, gosh, no. I mean, so much has changed in 25 years. Um, culture, we’re very explicit about our culture and I mean, every company has a culture. It’s just whether you write it down on paper and, and make it explicit. But for us, it’s really an internal tool that we use to make sure we are all in alignment with where the company is going. If you if you’re clear about your culture and you hire people who fit that mold, and then you also remind everybody at company meetings, you kind of bake it into the fabric of your company, what you stand for and what you’re looking to do. Everybody in the whole company is pulling in the same direction. And that is a that has a multiplier effect. So, you know, making sure that you’re you’re you identify who you stand for, what you stand for, who you are, and what you’re looking to achieve is really been hugely valuable for us. And no, we didn’t actually sit down and write down our our values till probably 10 or 12 years into doing this. But it doesn’t stop you from, you know, starting early and doing that and spending some time on that. It’s important.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:29] Now, when you started and you had that one client that you had known and you know, that was maybe in your head, that was like an easy leap to make, right? I’m going from one job. I have this other one in my pocket. So that isn’t it’s not starting from a blank sheet of paper, a blank page. Right. You you jumped into something that existed. When did you start feeling like, hey, this has I’m getting traction and this is something that maybe I can have in 25 years. I can grow this. When did you know that what you were doing was different than maybe other IT folks out there?

David Gracey: [00:08:06] Well, yeah, it’s very common in our industry to kind of do what I did, which is go from, you know, working for another company and going either in-house or being in-house with a company and then start spinning out and starting your own company and your client follows you. That’s very common. We’re consultants. There’s there’s anybody can claim to be a computer expert who’s ever booted up a computer. And we have hundreds, if not thousands of local companies here in Atlanta that compete with us. Um, but but very few of them really grow. And so the, you know, the transition from that is, is, uh, you know, I guess the it probably took several years of just kind of being in survival mode, like making sure, hey, we got enough money to make payroll, We’re, we’re paying our bills. It was several years before I really felt stable. And in fact, the very first client that I had a year after I started my company announced that they’d be shutting their doors. Fortunately, they were a branch offices of a much larger company. And so I was able to do some consulting with the other branches to kind of put food on the table. But ironically, had I known that they would be closing in, you know, less than 12 months after I’d started my company and they were my only client, I may not have decided to to do this. So sometimes too much information can hurt you.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:29] So. But did something happen that occurred to you? Hey, this is something that I can grow, that it doesn’t have to be, you know, kind of me as the, you know, expert and the person that doing all the work that I can build a team and I can offer something that’s different than other people. You mentioned culture earlier. It must have been something you were doing that was working in order to grow and stick around for as long as you have.

David Gracey: [00:09:57] Yeah. You know, I think if it comes back to to to one thing, it’s I’ll hate to bring culture back in, but I’m going to bring culture back in. But it’s hiring people who are similar in mindset to you, similar in value and having similar values. And if you if you’re explicit about it and you hire people who are like that, they’re going to stick around longer and they’re going to be happier employees and they’re going to be folks who work a little harder for you. And if you have if your employees are happy and they stick around, you have very little employee churn, then that’s also going to lead to better client satisfaction, happier clients who stick around longer. And in our business, it’s very much a recurring revenue model. So we pick up a client and we have, you know, we do IT services for them every single month for years as opposed to picking up a client and doing a project for them, and then they go away. So more like a customer model. Um, and that’s really important to keep those clients happy because if you’re going to grow and we’ve grown 10 to 20% pretty much year in, year out, if you’re going to grow, then you need to to keep your current clients happy and add new clients. You got to do both, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:11:09] But did you learn that from having some people that maybe you were like, Hey, I got this new project, Oh, I need somebody, Oh, let me grab this person. You throw them in there and they’re like, Wow, that that did not work. Well, I like it too, then.

David Gracey: [00:11:23] Yeah, we’ve made plenty of hiring mistakes.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:26] That you’re like, Hey, you know, this culture thing, maybe there’s something to that of making sure they’re a culture fit and then I’ll train them on some of these other things.

David Gracey: [00:11:36] Yeah. I mean, the first couple of years, you’re basically just hiring for skill set. Like, hey, I need, I need a senior experienced person and hire them. Back then we would run job ads back in the late 90s. We would run an ad in the newspaper and, you know, whoever faxed us a resume, we would pick that up. So my how that has changed. But um, yeah, I mean fortunately now, you know, we’re big enough that we have a farm system. We can hire entry level people and train them up and they understand what our culture is. But yeah, back then you kind of don’t know. You have to hire who you can get. And if you’re one person or two people, it’s hard to hire another person. Like not a lot of people out in the in the work world want to go work for a one person shop or a two person shop. So that’s a real challenge in those early days. So, you know, if you if you’re if I were starting it now as opposed to back then, you know, I would look to, you know, okay network with other people in the industry who can hire maybe 1099 some folks get some part time folks who can help augment but yeah it’s it’s hiring the right person in those first years is is a real challenge. It’s gotten a lot ironically it’s gotten a lot easier for us as we’ve grown and and our you know, being in a I’m in a couple of peer groups so we get together every couple of months and talk about challenges. And I do here very regularly. Probably the number one complaint, uh, my, my peers have is hiring the right people. And I think we have solved that. We that’s probably one of the, the least important problems we have to deal with because we know how to hire. We know how to test for culture. We know how to test for skill set. And you hire somebody with, you know, 0 to 2 years experience. It’s a very low risk type of situation, but that’s changed significantly since the early years of Network one.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:23] Yeah, if you crack the code of of that, and especially in the industry where you’re at, where there’s probably like negative unemployment, you know, that’s special. That means you are doing something different and that you are bringing to the table a layer of safety and security for your clients because then they don’t have to worry about this because believe me, they’re worrying about this.

David Gracey: [00:13:46] Sure. And that’s yeah, certainly people you know, we have passwords to our clients systems and it’s important that we hire people who are going to not not sell those secrets to the Russians. And so making sure you’re you’re hiring the right folks is is hugely important. And, you know, I’m a I’m an engineer by education. And so I love systems and I love processes. And so our hiring process is very regimented and we don’t deviate from it. And we’ve got some great online tools we use. We use a Myers-Briggs type of test, we use IQ test. We have, um, different types of memory tests that we can give people. For instance, you know, if you’re on the support desk, there’s a lot coming at you. So there’d be the ability to move at a fast pace, not get overwhelmed by that pace, and be able to remember kind of what’s going on on the call and making sure you’re taking care of your client, all that you can test for all that. And there’s some really easy to find online tools that help you do that. But then, you know, kind of once they check all the boxes, then you have to understand the culture. Okay, what’s what are they what do they get excited about? What makes them interested in technology? Why do they want to be in the technology field? So a lot of those kind of questions we ask in the interviewing process.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:03] Now, you mentioned the importance of systems and processes. Can you share maybe how you go about building a system and a process that is kind of, you know, tested and vetted but also is replicatable?

David Gracey: [00:15:17] You’re talking about for hiring.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:19] Or just for anything. I mean, you said that’s your kind of a superpower of yours is you think in systems and processes. So when you’re kind of building out a system and process for anything, is there a certain kind of do’s and don’ts on how to do that effectively?

David Gracey: [00:15:33] Well, yeah. So first of all, test, test new things, you know, try out new things. Um, when we start with something new, um, you know, reach out to your community in the early years of, of this company, as a business owner, I really kind of held my cards close to the vest. And I think it’s natural for somebody to do that when they’re building a company. You kind of don’t want to share what you’re doing and for for fear that your competitors are going to kind of swoop in and take your clients or take your employees in Atlanta. I mean, in technology, mean this is a huge market. And you’re talking, you know, thousands of companies with 10 to 100 employees who need what we do. And it’s it’s very easy to find business. So there’s plenty of business to go around. So join a peer group and I’m in to that really have helped develop me as a leader. One is industry specific, so it’s competing companies in non-competing markets. So this is ten other companies that sit in the room with you from different parts of the country and you share what’s working and what’s not. And so I’ve learned from my peers, so learn from what other people are doing. People are testing out new.

David Gracey: [00:16:44] I mean, in in technology we have software tools that does pretty much all of our work. And so understanding what the best tools are out there, you know, ask people who are already doing it, you don’t have to, you know, forge a new trail every time you want to create some new system or process. Um, and then the second, I mean, I’ve been in for gosh, over 15 years as a, is a, is a, is a group called Vistage and that is a peer group that is the opposite. It’s nobody in the room is a competitor, but they’re all local to Atlanta and they’re all small business owners. And you sit around and, you know, all small businesses share common problems. So in that group, in that room, I’m able to hear like, what kind of technology I’m sorry, what kind of problems people are having or accounting problems or what’s going on in the economy, what kind of headwinds or tailwinds are going on, how to find better bank a banking relationship and understand and that’s really more of a leadership development type of of group. And both of those both of those peer groups have been invaluable to my growing as a leader and as our company growing as as a company.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:54] Now. What’s been more rewarding for you in your growth and in your leadership? Has it been kind of hitting that tipping point where you’re like, okay, we’re good and we’re growing, or is it this been around for 25 years? And now I’m scaling in and probably thinking about the future.

David Gracey: [00:18:16] Um, the single most important or the single most interesting thing to me, I guess rewarding is the word I would use. There for me was something that I’d never really expected to find as a business owner, and that is I get a lot of fulfillment out of seeing other people join our organization and grow and develop professionally and be able to put food on their family’s table. So to be able to to bring people on board who are willing to, you know, work and focus and try different roles within Network one, take a risk there. Maybe they go from a technology role into a sales role. That’s been really invaluable to me. And we’ve had, you know, several examples of folks who come from interesting backgrounds and we’ve taken a chance on them. Maybe they didn’t quite fit what we were looking for at the time, but we gave them a chance and they were grateful for that opportunity and they seized it. And they it’s kind of the American dream, right? You see an opportunity, you take it, you you seize it and you grow as a person and you get some some skills. And, you know, we love people to stay at Network one and grow and develop here. But some people are need to spread their wings and go elsewhere. And we celebrate that. We want to help them grow as much as they can. If they want to try something different, you know, go for it. And we celebrate that and encourage that. But really, one of the most rewarding things is to see folks at my company try different roles, try different departments and see where they fit. And sometimes it’s a success, sometimes it’s not. But you learn from every opportunity and and move forward that way. So that’s been the most rewarding thing about me in this role.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:59] Now, what is an ideal network one client look like?

David Gracey: [00:20:04] Yeah, I’ve mentioned before, I mean, typically our clients have 10 to 100 employees based in Atlanta, and most probably 80% of our business are going to be law firms, medical practices, financial services or construction companies. And but pretty much if you’re a services professional services kind of firm in Atlanta, 10 to 100 employees, that’s what we work with day in and day out. We have we work currently with 130 clients and some of those we’ve had 15, 20 years. So we have we have some clients have seen a lot of growth at Network one and we’ve helped them grow as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:42] Now, are they coming to you as the first time they’ve ever hired professional help in this area or are they switching from another IT company like or are they coming to you because they have a problem or and you’re triaging it like what is usually kind of that first point of entry.

David Gracey: [00:21:02] Usually it’s not like an acute triage situation, like they’ve had some kind of data breach and, you know, the bad guys are rooting around in their system, collecting all the passwords. More likely it’s they’ve they’ve they’ve got a competitor in their competitor us in there who’s doing their technology. And for some reason they’ve either outgrown the service or they’re not getting the service that they they want or need. And it’s kind of a death by a thousand cuts. They’re just are fed up because changing providers is is full of stress. A lot of anxiety around that. Now, from our perspective, we onboard clients every single month. So for us, there’s a checklist. We we jump in, we take care of everything. We deal with all the pent up demand because there’s always pent up demand when we when we bring on a new client and we start tackling the projects that we’ve agreed that need to be addressed. So. So usually they contact us and they’re they’re shopping around for different IT companies that do what we do and usually we’re, you know, one of 2 or 3 that they’re looking at and we come in and meet with them, understand what their, their technology needs are and understand what their business goals are. We really want to understand where they want to go as a as a firm and and help them grow into that and be the best partner that that we can be.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:20] Now, what are some kind of symptoms for that firm that has maybe using a competitor of yours like that? There’s a better solution out there if you poke around a little bit.

David Gracey: [00:22:33] I would say the number one complaint we hear is that, hey, when we have a problem and we pick up the phone and we call our technology provider, we don’t get a person on the phone or we don’t get a response for a day or when they come and fix the problem, the problem recurs again and they’re not fixing it right the first time. They’re not finding the root cause to figure out what’s going on with the with the issue. Those are the types of things we hear. And they kind of get tired of it. And it’s it’s amazing how much pain companies will put up with in the technology world before they actually pick up the phone and start looking for another solution because they’re just typically a company is going to change it providers about every 5 or 6 years. And so they don’t change often. And when they do, it can be painful for them to to think about and plan for that. But like I said, we do this all day, every day, and we’ve got a checklist for our onboarding processes, about 150 different steps that we go through, but we do it all the time and we’ve gotten pretty good at it over the over the decades.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:37] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website? Sure.

David Gracey: [00:23:45] Ww network one consulting.com and that’s the number one good stuff.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:51] Well David thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

David Gracey: [00:23:55] Lee appreciate you having me on.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:57] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter

Mitzi Hill With Taylor English

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Mitzi Hill is the founder of Taylor English’s Data Security & Privacy practice. She works with business owners and executives to ensure that they are ready to compete in a global supply chain that requires attention to privacy and security through use of technology.

Her experience includes fifteen years in-house at Turner Broadcasting, where she oversaw multiple regulatory compliance programs, international content licensing, and legal clearance of new technology systems.

Prior to her time in-house, she was with a large international law firm, where she focused on technology and media issues, including satellite distribution, copyright infringement and First Amendment claims.

She has handled technology, IP, compliance, and international business matters for more than twenty-five years. This strong background allows her to work closely with clients including retailers, logistics companies, service providers, platform operators and others to ensure that they are prepared for privacy and cybersecurity requirements imposed on them by laws and by their customers.

She enjoys helping clients develop policies, contracts, and workflows that protect information assets and thereby confer a competitive edge. Among other things, she creates data processing and cross-border transfer agreements; counsels US and international companies on compliance with privacy laws including the GDPR and CCPA; serves as privileging counsel on security and compliance audits; and handles data breach response. she writes and speaks frequently on data security and privacy issues. She also routinely handles technology licenses, SaaS agreements, and general commercial services agreements.

She also has an extensive background in media and intellectual property issues and has handled film productions, media and sponsorship rights, program distribution, and music licensing. In addition, she has spent significant time overseas, having resided in London to oversee a client’s legal function in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In her free time, she works to support Georgians diagnosed with ALS, reads avidly, and supports the Tide. She also travels, and has been to Egypt, Hong Kong, Jordan, New Zealand, Syria, Thailand and other points distant.

Connect with Mitzi on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • About Taylor English’s Data Security & Privacy Practice
  • How can businesses protect themselves
  • Some red flags that would signal businesses need a privacy check up

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Mitzi Hill, and she is the founder of Taylor English’s Data Security and Privacy Practice. Welcome, Mitzi.

Mitzi Hill: [00:00:46] Thanks, Lee. It’s great to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] Well, before we get too far into things, do you mind defining some terms? What is data security and what is a privacy practice practitioner do?

Mitzi Hill: [00:00:57] Well, Taylor English is a full service law firm here in Atlanta. And what we do for clients in the data security and privacy area is sort of a full range of services. A lot of what I do is compliance advice. So monitoring the changes in consumer privacy laws that are popping up around the country and that restrict or govern what companies can do with information that they collect about their customers, in some cases their employees and in some cases their business contacts, and helping them figure out how their data can be kept confidential and secure so that it meets all of those privacy law requirements.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:40] Now, is this specific to certain industries or is this something that all businesses should be paying attention to?

Mitzi Hill: [00:01:46] I think it’s gotten to the point that all businesses should be paying attention to it. It used to be that privacy was really only the realm of certain industries. It got a little broader starting about ten years ago and and covered a lot of consumer facing industries. And what we are seeing now is that the laws that are coming out and the compliance measures that are required really apply to both B2C and increasingly to B2B kinds of companies.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:19] And then early on it was like kind of fintech health care concern and now it’s trickling into, you know, even mom and pop businesses, anybody who has, I would imagine, credit card information or things like that.

Mitzi Hill: [00:02:31] That is exactly right. Credit card information, website, interactive, anything, technology services provider’s other services providers that may have electronic communications or deliverables, all of those can be affected.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:46] And so what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Mitzi Hill: [00:02:49] Well, I’ve been in practice for about 29 years in Atlanta, and I have spent my whole career in the technology area. When I started practicing, it was generally referred to as, quote, computer law. It has evolved as consumer, and commercial technology has evolved. But I started I was in house for 15 years at a very large media company and worked in the early days there on some privacy related issues. And as privacy and security started getting to be broader concerns across all industry verticals a few years ago, about ten years or so ago, I got more and more involved in those areas as a complement to what I already did on the technology side.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:38] Now, it sounds like this is just the evolution of technology, right? At one point, you know, tech was its own thing and now every business is pretty much a tech company in some form or fashion.

Mitzi Hill: [00:03:50] That’s exactly right. And that is exactly why regulators have started to get interested in this area. It used to be that not only tech was its own thing, but it really wasn’t collecting any significant amounts of data from anybody, from users or from consumers or from employees. And now we all have devices everywhere we go. We have a phone. Our cars generally are connected. There are public Wi-Fi networks everywhere we go. We conduct our banking online. We conduct our commercial communications online. We stream the video that comes into our homes. All of those things are in the background, collecting and processing and analyzing data about us. And so that’s what has made regulators in the last ten years or so say, wait a minute, is this okay with us? And should there be any ground rules for collection and use of data about people?

Lee Kantor: [00:04:54] Now, when you’re working with clients, is this something that when you’re informing them about this, is it something that the industries in general are kind of voluntarily trying to stay ahead of this? Or is this something that people are just going to wait for the government to make rules and then adjust?

Mitzi Hill: [00:05:10] It’s a little of both. I think historically and by historically, I mean all of about 20 years ago when these issues really started to emerge, most industries and most companies. He’s tried to be ahead of privacy concerns, largely through the use of the kinds of privacy policies that you see. If you ever scroll to the very bottom of anybody’s website and look in the footer links starting 8 or 8, seven, or eight years ago. The regulators in the European Union decided in part because of the ubiquity of devices and the power of social media and big tech, and in part because of some surveillance and government intelligence rules in various countries around the world, that they wanted to put some limits specifically on how data are gathered and used. And so for companies that had a business presence in the EU, they could no longer really stay ahead of it because they were then faced with a comprehensive privacy rule here in the States. We do not yet have a comprehensive national privacy rule. But what we do and so many companies are that have tried to stay ahead of it, are now in the position of they must comply with the EU rules or rules in another international jurisdiction and or there are now privacy rules either enacted or pending in roughly a dozen states that are going to be coming online in the next two years. And I think that is really going to be the point at which most companies throw their hands up and say, I can’t get ahead of it. I’m just going to do what the government tells me to do.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:51] So how does the government stay on top of something that moves so rapidly and government historically isn’t that nimble? You know, you know, now we have a whole AI conversation occurring. You know, when people see, you know, or played around with Chatgpt, even though they’ve been talking to their Amazon for years and haven’t connected the dots, that that similar thing was happening there. But how does a government regulate something without impeding any of the progress?

Mitzi Hill: [00:07:24] Well, it’s a really good question, and I think that question is in part why the US does not have a national privacy law, because the regulators have not in Washington have not been able to to agree on a framework that would that they all think would sufficiently protect consumer privacy without unduly impinging on business innovation and technological freedom. I think the EU took the calculated position that privacy is. To to give prime privacy the position of primacy, if that makes sense, and to bet that it would not substantially inhibit inhibit economic progress. It just would mean that companies had to learn to adapt to a new framework of rules.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:16] So has that been the case?

Mitzi Hill: [00:08:19] I think it has. You know, we now they are fighting all the time with big tech. If anybody who pays attention to this has probably worn out the buttons on their calculator, trying to add up the fines that Facebook and Google and their ilk have incurred in the EU over the last couple of years. I think the last running figure was something like a billion and a half dollars and that was before some some penalties that were announced last week. And so there is, as always, when there are significant new regulations in any area, there are some lawsuits and some regulatory skirmishes going on to try to help business figure out exactly what the parameters and limitations of government authority in this area are. And I suspect what happens in Europe will will continue to inform what state legislators and potentially our federal legislators enact in the US.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:17] But it sounds like whatever’s happening there is going to be it’s just a matter of time here.

Mitzi Hill: [00:09:25] I think to a certain extent that is going to be true in part because most businesses have. There is there is almost no such thing anymore as a purely local business. Most companies have suppliers or customers or employees who are in other jurisdictions than where the business has its headquarters. And because of all the electronic communications and because of all the data gathering, I think I think we can expect that privacy and regulation of privacy is going to increase in importance. There has been, however, a difference in the way US regulators have approached privacy. That I think is pretty important and pretty distinct from how the Europeans approached it. The Europeans start with the rule that you cannot collect anything. Personal data about anyone unless you have a legal basis. So a defined kind of justification for it. For the most part, in the US, we are not seeing that sort of threshold requirement. Instead, in the US it tends to be you can continue to collect and use what you need for your business, but there are going to be rules about how. Carefully you disclose it and about potentially what you can do with it once you’ve got it inside your shop.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:52] And that’s really at the heart of it, at least here in the US, right? People have lost, I guess, either the will to care about how much data is being collected. They’re not aware of how much data is being collected. But I’m sure as an individual, if you saw clearly what a website or whatever app you’re using was doing with the data you had and how it was monetizing it and what they were getting for it, you might not sign up as quickly to certain things.

Mitzi Hill: [00:11:24] I think that’s exactly the the the view that many regulators have. I think increasingly that’s the view that a lot of companies have. You know, many, many companies in the big tech area are actually supportive of the idea of the federal government passing some national privacy legislation that would make the rules a little clearer and a little more uniform across the country. And you mentioned I earlier, we’ve had the head of Google calling for regulation of AI. And we’re we’re seeing both Congress and EU take steps in that area.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:03] But it always makes small business people a little nervous when the biggest players are for some sort of regulation that could kneecap the smaller players that are trying to do something different.

Mitzi Hill: [00:12:15] That is exactly right. And at least in the privacy area, at least in many of the US states that have looked at it, there is some threshold size requirement before the laws apply to you. That is not true in every single state that has enacted a privacy law. But in California, which is sort of the platinum standard for the US state privacy efforts in terms of how comprehensive and how developed it is, there is a size threshold. So if your business is under, for example, $25 dollars in revenue every year, the law might not apply to you.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:52] So now when you’re dealing with clients on this issue, how are you like, what are those conversations like? Are they coming to you with something to triage or are they just want to be informed, You know, what are those initial conversations look like?

Mitzi Hill: [00:13:09] It depends on what’s going on in the client’s business. A lot of times, particularly with small and medium companies, what they’re doing is coming in and saying, Hey, I provide services to much larger companies, to the Fortune 100, Fortune five hundreds, whatever it is. And increasingly my customers agreements form agreements require that I sign up for all kinds of data processing and data security commitments. Can you help me figure out whether, in fact I have to sign up for these and and how much of my resources I have to commit to some sort of privacy or security compliance? So we talk about it in that respect. We also, particularly with companies that are consumer facing, many of them are aware either generally of these trends in the privacy area and they come in and essentially want to check up. You know, they say, do we need a privacy policy? Should we have other policies? Should we be looking at other documents like our customer agreements or our supplier agreements to make sure that everybody up and down our supply chain is, you know, compliant the way they need to be? Should we be talking to our employees about this and delivering any training so we can do that? And then the third sort of general bucket when people come to me is either they’re not aware of these rules or they have deferred their efforts to comply with them. And they in the meantime, either they or one of their suppliers suffers a data security breach or a data security incident that needs to be responded to. And then we can address forward going compliance once the incident is managed.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:51] Is that like obviously there are certain things that that move this to the top of the priority list. I’m sure a breach of of their firm or an industry, you know, maybe competitor or complementary business is a wake up call that people need. But are there other kind of red flags that are, hey, this needs to be really more important in our to do list than it is right now. It’s not something that we can afford to wait. So can you share some of those red flags?

Mitzi Hill: [00:15:22] Sure. I would say based on the regulatory trends for 2023, anybody who is deploying an AI tool within their business probably ought to be having a privacy and general technology compliance conversation with their lawyer. I would say anybody who is using tracking technology on their website or in connection with their online advertising should definitely be having a conversation with their lawyer. The same for companies that use content. Or applications that may come from third party providers like a map insert that is pulling identifying data from users or using behind the scenes services like Google Analytics or Facebook to power your checkout and your cart. Those third party providers are frequently tracking your users and we are seeing not regulation to stop it, but we are seeing some lawsuits that are trying to crack down on those kinds of efforts. And a lawsuit obviously is hugely disruptive and expensive to deal with. And so talking with your lawyer about any of the any of the tracking that you yourself do or any of the tracking that your third party providers may do is important. The other sort of red flag, I would say, is any company that is dealing in health information or other sensitive information, financial or it relates to children, to minors online, or it has to do with biometric data, similar kinds of categories to those that would that would also be a flag to have a conversation with your lawyer about what you collect and why you’re using it.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:13] And in health care, isn’t it right that even if you’re not dealing directly with a patient or something, but you are working within the health care industry, you have to be compliant to a lot of rules in order to work in health care in pretty much any form or fashion, right?

Mitzi Hill: [00:17:33] Yes. So the scope of health care privacy is really complex. And in general, medical providers and medical payers, like insurance companies, have very specific rules they have to comply with, but so do their suppliers. So if you are providing a benefit to employees that of a hospital, you may you or to patients of a hospital, you may have a compliance issue that you weren’t aware of. And and the other thing that we are seeing is that a lot of. Entities that are not directly in the health care space, but provide some kind of a wellness tool or a wellness app and are collecting, you know, quasi medical information about people may also get sucked into not the formal health care rules under our HIPAA laws, which are the ones that govern your doctors. But those may start increasingly being covered by the state privacy laws that are coming out. They’re tending to classify some of that data in a way that means you have to protect it even if you’re not a HIPAA entity.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:47] Now, if you were advising clients, how often should you be talking to an attorney about these issues? Is it something you have like an annual check in or is it something that the attorney is going to tell you when something changes? Like what is that kind of back and forth look like?

Mitzi Hill: [00:19:04] Most of my clients, if they’re not consumer facing and if they’re not in a sensitive industry or collecting sensitive information, I tell them that we probably ought to check in about annually right now because there are so many state laws coming into effect over the next few years and we expect more and more states to pass privacy laws. And so just checking in to make sure that their current privacy policy and their behind the scenes privacy practices remain compliant is important. Anybody who’s in a who gathers sensitive kinds of data is in a health care or wellness space, deals with children, deals with biometric information, or is doing a lot of consumer facing targeting and tracking. I would probably suggest right now that we talk about every six months.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:55] Now, if if a firm says, you know what, I can’t keep up with this. Is it easier for them to just adapt, like what’s happening at the EU, at their level of privacy and then say, look, that should cover me for a while.

Mitzi Hill: [00:20:10] I think for smaller and medium sized American companies, probably the better standard is California. California’s law is largely modeled on the EU, but it’s got some particular tweaks in it that in many ways it is less onerous than the EU’s laws. But in some ways it has higher requirements. And because most of the states in the US that are now passing privacy laws tend to look at California’s as the model because it was first and it has been in effect the longest. That is probably the standard to which most companies that would probably be the baseline standard.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:52] Well, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, how do they get a hold of you?

Mitzi Hill: [00:20:59] I am. We have a fully, fully interactive website. My email address is M Hill at Taylor english.com that’s important.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:10] It’s Taylor english.com. If you go there is there some information on this topic somewhere on the website?

Mitzi Hill: [00:21:17] They can yes. We publish a lot. I publish a lot of blog posts on this. You can find them insights. Taylor english.com. You can also follow me on Twitter or on LinkedIn to see those.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:31] Right But if they go to Taylor english.com they can find information on data security and privacy I’m sure. Yes, they can.

Mitzi Hill: [00:21:39] Yes, they.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:39] Can. Good stuff. Well, Mitzi, thank you so much for sharing your story, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Mitzi Hill: [00:21:45] Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with your audience.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:48] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see y’all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter

Nirjary Desai With KIS (cubed) Events

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Regarded as one of the top Southeast Asian event producers, Nirjary Desai is the Chief Experience Officer and Founder of KIS (cubed) Events, specializing in one-of-a-kind event experiences with serious wow factor for renowned brands, celebrities and personalities worldwide. Born in Zambia, raised in South Carolina and educated in London, Her polycultural upbringing instilled a passion for global travel, socially conscious businesses and inclusive community building. Her worked within the hospitality and travel sector with American Airlines, IHG Hotels and Starwood Hotels & Resort and has founded several travel and hospitality industry brands and businesses.

As an expert, thought leader, and mentor, she specializes as a keynote speaker and panelist focused on: multicultural events, women in business leadership, minority and small business owner discussions, Southeast Asian influence, philanthropy, motherhood, corporate DE&I, entrepreneurship, multicultural experiences, authentic womanhood in life and business, staff and team diversity, and creating a “Seat at The Table.”

Connect with Nirjary on LinkedIn and follow KIS (cubed) Events on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Women in Business
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Event Industry Trends
  • Multicultural Events
  • South Asian Influence/Culture
  • Diversity Equity & Inclusion
  • Training Programs

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Nirjary Desai with KIS (cubed) Events. Welcome.

Nirjary Desai: [00:00:44] Hi Lee, How are you? Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about KIS (cubed) Events. How you serving folks?

Nirjary Desai: [00:00:53] Yeah. So KIS (cubed) Events is actually in Luxe elevated boutique experience Event Marketing agency. We work with our clients, either personal clients or brands to help deliver and bring their mission to life in a seamless way for their events.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in the event business?

Nirjary Desai: [00:01:17] So it’s really interesting. You know, I never planned on being in the event industry, so totally fell into this space. My background’s in marketing and brand management, originally from the hospitality industry and travel industry. I used to work for previously known as Starwood Hotels and Resorts, now part of Marriott International, in their marketing and brand management side. And about 18 years ago, South Asians started utilizing a lot of full service properties in hotels. And you know, with my family being in the hospitality industry, I was just getting pulled into so many different aspects of the business. And for my corporate job, it was really interesting because there was a lack of cultural competency when it came to cultures, cuisines and the multicultural celebrations. So I got pulled in from that perspective, and then I saw a big void as far as like the average hotel company or property or venue or vendor suppliers that didn’t really know about a lot of different multicultural ethnic communities and their culture, their cuisine and how they celebrate in order for them to gain the market share. So I was, you know, working with friends, family. My business kind of just started from viral marketing through my own network. And it’s crazy because now here I am almost 18 years later where we’re doing stuff all over the world, but we’re also helping other businesses or entrepreneur or women owned companies or even just doing training in the hospitality industry.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:02] Now, do you find that there is a thirst for this type of knowledge and they do want to kind of immerse some of their team in these different cultures so they can really serve them in the way that they would like to be served rather than just have them pull from a menu of items that a bunch of people that aren’t them thought about in a boardroom somewhere.

Nirjary Desai: [00:03:26] Yeah, absolutely. I think there’s a big thirst. I think the other thing is where our industry overall and where our global economy is when it comes to labor or just even raw material goods and supplies and just reliability and professionalism, I think the biggest thing that we are noticing in the hospitality industry right now is. The hospitable has been kind of removed and we as our company are really trying to bring that back. You know, I think being in the service industry has been looked down upon for such a long time and now more so than ever, the industry’s lost a lot of people. So having to reeducate the current, um, market of individuals who are servicing these communities is extremely important because we want to make sure that wherever clients go, they feel included and that it’s an inclusive environment and it’s welcoming.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:32] Now walk us through what it’s like working with you. So if a client or a brand comes up to you and says, I want to do an event, do they already have that baked or is it something where they’re looking at you now they can begin thinking about what it could be or, you know, some of the trade offs they might have to make? Like what stage are they at? And the event creation stage when they first start having conversations with you or the team.

Nirjary Desai: [00:04:57] So it really varies. We have clients that come to us in the very beginning stages and then we have clients that come to us after they’ve selected a destination or a location or a site. You know, we are turnkey, so we do like the approach from beginning to end. I think it also helps kind of quality control the event from start to finish. And our clients really appreciate that because we’re really focusing on leaving no stone unturned.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:28] Now, when you are involved at the beginning, they could be coming to you with just like, Hey, I want to do this in in Maui, and then you start off from there. Or they can say, we think the theme should be whatever. And then that’s the theme. Like, like how does this kind of brainstorming in this event creation work?

Nirjary Desai: [00:05:52] Well, number one is we get to really understand our customer and our client, right. In the business that we’re in. If we’re working with a corporate client, our client is not just the marketing manager or the CMO or whatever. You know, it’s an entire team that is aligned with what the mission of the event is, right? So we really kind of go through a think tank of understanding their mission, what their goal is. Is this something that’s internal? Is this an event that’s more internal or is it more external for their customers? You know, are they trying to promote more team building? What is their goal from the event? So it’s not just like, oh, hey, give us a theme or give us a destination. It’s for us to also really understand their mission and think that’s a big part of today that’s necessary is to really understand the mission of these brands and these clients. And then if it’s a personal client, you know, that is, say, planning a destination event or a reunion or some sort of retreat or something like that, it’s really understanding, number one, what is important to them is cuisine important to them? Is logistics important to them? Is budget important to them? Because based on that, that’s what we are going to focus on as far as recommending a location or what’s going to be the right place to pick, you know.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:14] So when they have kind of an idea of the outcome they desire, then you can start narrowing down the options or giving them options that maybe they hadn’t thought of yet in order to, you know, evoke that emotion. Maybe that’s at the heart of what they’re trying to deliver.

Nirjary Desai: [00:07:32] Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s not as planning events and producing events in different parts of the world. It’s not just as simple as like, what’s your budget? What’s the destination you want to be at, you know, and like, this is.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:46] The color palette, Like, Yeah.

Nirjary Desai: [00:07:48] Exactly. We our, our processes, we do a very thorough analysis and understanding of our client. And then once they decide to move forward with us, you know, we go through a very detailed like budget meeting for them to really understand real costs, because one of the things is that a lot of customers don’t understand what the cost of doing business today is, especially if it comes down to working with different customs, different cultures, different countries.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:22] Now, when it comes to creating an event and choosing an event as a whether it’s a marketing, whether they’re doing it for a marketing purpose, maybe they’re doing it for talent, you know, keeping their talent longer, talent retention. Can you share maybe some of the like your pitch for somebody if they’re thinking of maybe taking some marketing funds and investing it in event rather than ads or investing it in other ways, or using events as a way for customer retention instead of other things.

Nirjary Desai: [00:08:55] Absolutely. Mean, number one, you know, anything and everything in marketing comes down to keeping it simple and stupid. That’s what I’d love to tell people this because I think the biggest thing is, is you have to invest in your people because when you invest in your people, they are more invested in serving your customer properly. And I think that’s a lot of, um, an area that, you know, companies are failing at because they’re so busy just looking at numbers from a scalability perspective, but not internalizing understanding everything that really goes into making the experience for the end user, whether it’s your employee or whether it’s your customer, extremely seamless. You know, we work with a lot of corporate clients who are really looking to elevate their brands, but from internally, you know, and they really are doing a lot of team building. They’re trying to do more education. You know, for example, if the client has an office here in Atlanta, but the company is headquartered, say, somewhere in Ireland, and they want to basically showcase to the team here in Atlanta what a team building day in Ireland would look like. But it would have to happen with all of the American US based employees. So, you know, we kind of help them curate, you know, the culture that is in Ireland. But here in the US through team building and through networking, but also understanding what the company’s mission and goal is.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:36] So is that a good client for you, somebody that is a global firm that has offices in the US?

Nirjary Desai: [00:10:44] Absolutely. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:46] So how do you kind of get on the radar for those kind of folks? How are you networking with global brands?

Nirjary Desai: [00:10:55] A lot through LinkedIn, a lot through our PR team. A lot of it also is cold calling, but most of it is relationship building. You know, thinking about it from that perspective, it all comes down to building the right relationship and understanding what is that customer, um, what are their pain points, you know, and how can you make a difference and how can you help them elevate their mission, You know, because a lot of what we’re seeing now is the cultural competency and cultural sensitivity and diversity. Equity and inclusion is a major area that companies are really trying to focus on as far as education and training is concerned. And we do offer those types of trainings. Um, you know, for example, if there’s a company that is, say, from India and they’re trying to do business in the US, we help with kind of the training of what it is to have a company in America, how the American mentality is, and then also what the South Asian customs and cultures are and how they operate and what’s important to them. So that way all parties can understand what everybody is trying to get into.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:12] Now, can you share a story? Don’t name the company, but maybe explain the challenge that they had in that regard and how you were able to help them get to a new level here in the US.

Nirjary Desai: [00:12:22] Yeah. So we actually are, for example, where we’re working with a company out in Mexico, you know, right now. And they are really kind of focused on understanding culture for the South Asian community because they are what we call a destination management company, right? And they are losing a lot of business due to not understanding customs or being able to communicate clearly with the client. So we’re basically going in and creating a custom training for them that’s specific to their service that they offer and to their business. But in order for them to be able to. Fuze um. The similarities between their culture and the South Asian culture, right? Especially if the customers are coming from the US and wanting to work with a company in Mexico if they were doing their events there.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:23] So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Nirjary Desai: [00:13:27] Yeah, we are. You know, we are definitely looking to help any company that is looking to build their cultural competency and understand multicultural clients and how to do business in different parts of the world, but along with also how to build diverse teams. And what exactly is diversity, you know, when it comes to teams. So we would love to partner with businesses and companies that are looking to train and grow from that thought leadership perspective.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:58] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, where should they go?

Nirjary Desai: [00:14:04] They should go to our website and which is kiss cubed events.com. Or they can connect with me directly on LinkedIn because we are really focusing on elevating excellence in the hospitality industry and the service industry.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:21] And that’s Kiss Cubed Events.com and that’s kiss cubed events with an s.com.

Nirjary Desai: [00:14:30] Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:31] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Nirjary Desai: [00:14:36] Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:39] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see y’all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter

Nick Marcarelli With Shadow-Soft

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Nick Marcarelli is passionate about building great teams to tackle modern business challenges. He oversees the day to day engineering practice and business operations at Shadow-Soft. He works closely with the Shadow-Soft team and customers to develop engineering solutions to solve IT business needs. Previously he spent 7 years managing a technology rental and leasing portfolio for a subsidiary of TD Synnex.​ He is an avid sports fan and enjoys cooking meals for friends and family.​

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Common challenges that small to large enterprises are trying to solve with transformational infrastructure
  • How do organizations evaluate technology decisions with all the noise from industry
  • How to insulate your organization from the hype of the new shiny tool
  • What buzzword technology concepts are actually solving organizational challenges in technology
  • How do local partnerships foster innovation

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Nick Marcarelli with Shadow Soft. Welcome. Thanks for having me. Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Shadow Soft. How you serving folks?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:00:48] Sure. Appreciate it. So Shadow Soft is a integrator in the Kubernetes and kind of modern platform space. What that means for those that aren’t in tech is we we help customers ranging from kind of upper mid market into enterprise, build their platforms to host applications and serve their customers. So we help with all the kind of the boring stuff in the data center that helps make everything move so that you as a consumer get the things that you need.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:17] So if they’re not working with you, how are they attacking this problem?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:01:21] A lot of a lot of companies are, you know, building it on their own. I’d say most companies take that approach initially and from a sustainment perspective. So they have data centers or maybe they’re all in in the cloud these days and they’re building that out with their teams. But one of the hard things about building teams that can sustain and innovate is that you can’t know everything. So we focus on a specific set of technologies and we come in and help with project based work into some longer term sustainment as necessary.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:54] So a lot of times these folks think, Oh, we can just deploy our own people on this and then they quickly realize that they’re in over their head or it’s evolving too quickly and they need an expert.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:02:05] Yes, that’s absolutely correct. And that’s the gap that we try to fill for these organizations, is that it’s hard to be an expert in everything. We’re not an expert in everything, but the areas that we focus on, we can really help propel that innovation forward so they can meet the demands of their customers.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:23] So what are some of the symptoms that they’re having if they decided to deploy their own team that maybe, you know, dangers ahead and maybe we should be kind of getting some help here? Like what are some of the things that they run into where they’re like, okay, this is going to get this is harder than I thought.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:02:41] There’s a there’s a few there’s a few symptoms that are most common. We found that, you know, someone will come in, leadership will come in on the technology side and say, this is where we’re going. And then what if that leadership changes halfway through that transformation? Or maybe it doesn’t really get off the ground or maybe it does. And there’s a staff challenge where, you know, people go to a new company. So keeping the right people, the, you know, the people that have those skills in place, that’s a big challenge in the marketplace. Tech is very competitive. But also sometimes we we set out to do something and then we have to go a different direction. And I think that’s that’s where we end up. Meeting customers in the marketplace is we set off to do this, we built this thing and now that leadership is gone or we’ve lost the staff to support it, we don’t know which way to go. So like we really try to bridge the gap there to go, let’s get you, you know, a right sized vision for what you can do. Let’s assess the areas, the gaps that we can try to upskill around and then let’s set you up for success.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:45] Now, how do you help your clients kind of avoid that shiny object syndrome where they heard or read a blog post or a or a podcast about some new technology and they’re like, Oh, that’s the solution. You know, it sounds good. They’re I’m all in. And then they want to, you know, go down this rabbit hole where a lot of times those things end up poorly. How do you kind of manage the expectations and help your clients, you know, in that manner?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:04:17] There a lot of noise? I would call it in tech, where you have, you know, all these companies, these, you know, software vendors that are building offerings for customers and they’re all competing against each other. So everyone’s representing their solution as the end all to all problems. And it’s our job to help educate customers on not falling for that trap. And this is so prevalent in just tech, not lots of industries, but in technology specifically because everyone wants to be first. They want to be doing the new innovative thing? Well, sometimes the new innovative thing is not it’s not ready for prime time. So we spend a lot of time. Assessing the maturity of those solutions in the market, making recommendations based off our experiences and really clarifying and identifying those core concepts and technology. We’re we’re very focused around terminology, buzzwords, you know, kind of buzzword. Bingo is what we call it in the industry. And one of the big challenges around that is a customer may go, Oh, I really want this buzzword. Ai is a good one right now. I think everybody on earth is exposed to that, you know, artificial intelligence. And we have programs that are going to replace jobs and do all the thinking for us. None of that is true at this point. It’s just the new shiny thing that we’re all kind of obsessing about that’s been happening in tech for about 4 or 5 years. It’s just kind of become a consumerism thing because ChatGPT at this point.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:00] Yeah, it’s funny that I mean, people have been talking to Siri and their Amazon Echo for years now and not connecting the dots that that was a form of I.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:06:13] Absolutely. Yeah. The whole natural language processing thing is not new. It’s been around for. You know, in principle ten years. And it’s embedded in the kind of the way that we exist as people for for good or for worse. But yeah, AI is not new. It’s just it’s becoming. A relatively powerful construct in technology now, but it’s the journey is really just started.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:43] Well, getting back to how you serve your clients. You mentioned a lot of times you start with a project. What are those kind of initial first projects typically for your client? Like what’s that initial pain that one of your clients says, You know what, help us with this, this, this. We’re having a hard time here. And then maybe over time your value becomes evident and it evolves into larger and larger work.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:07:08] Usually it starts with a customer. As you just explain goes, I need help. I need I need a path. Please, please help us God. So what we typically start out with is an assessment, because usually, especially with the technology side of the house, there’s not a lot of documentation. Um, a lot of that institutional knowledge maybe is left the organization. So we have to go in and we have to go. What do you have? And then we measure that against what we would you know, we would say our best practices around a certain project. So in a world where we’re focused on Kubernetes. You know, that usually starts with we have these eight frameworks that we operate from and we go through and we assess with the customer, okay, against this framework of architecture, you know, do you have the required components to have a sound architecture? Do you have the right components for security? Do you have the right components for disaster recovery and backup? You know, if that ever came into play. These are core technology concepts, but it’s a little hard to see all the things you need to do when you’re living in the fire. So we go in there and we assess and then we build a roadmap usually over 12 months, and we help rate. These are high risk items that would be low effort that’ll that’ll mitigate that risk that you have today. And we’ll build a plan to address those things, whether it’s through adding of services or redeployment of infrastructure and applications. We may decide that a certain application needs to be completely refactored because it doesn’t fit the needs of the platform and the end customer. So all of those things kind of get drawn down into what we would call the assessment part, which for us, you know, usually ranges between 2 to 4 weeks and it’s immersive and it’s a collaborative thing, but we’re using our experience in the marketplace to guide customers towards best practices.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:10] How do you or do you have a way to kind of. Keep your talent pipeline filled.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:09:21] It’s a great question. Everybody struggles with it. So. So do we. So what we’ve found is we like to take smart people and help build them. So because we’re a consultancy, it’s it’s not just about having a person in seat to fill a role. Customers are leaning on us to be experts. So we have a very focused view on training and upskilling because that has to translate to our customers. So we’re always looking for, you know, the right type of. You know, related individuals, you know, that have a background in that and then adding in the tooling and the experiences so that they can go apply that for customers for their benefit. So, you know, just like anywhere we’re we’re finding raw talent, we’re training them, we’re guiding them, we’re bringing them along. And, you know, we’re always learning there’s not a person on our team that is not spending time learning new things, new concepts, new products, because the world is innovating at a speed that’s hard to keep up with. So we stay very focused on our lane around Kubernetes and automation work and the open source world. So we stay focused on that. And then we we attempt to learn and apply as much as we can.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:41] But you’ve also built an academy and offer courses to help upskill folks.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:10:46] That’s correct. And that’s something we’ve been doing specifically around Kubernetes, because though Kubernetes has been around for, you know, 7 or 8 years and. In principle, the adoption of it in commercial industry is really happening right now and it’s complicated. And it also is a shift away from the way. The business has been managed previously. So there’s some similar parallels. Right. You go, okay, well this is basically a virtual data center, but it’s not a virtual machine. So there’s some some differences in approach and the way you develop software and the way you sustain that infrastructure. So we built this academy to help give customers some education on understanding the differences in the way that we run. Infrastructure and applications in the old way. And what this new way is really built for. And not everything is a great fit for the new way. So it’s a big part of helping customers and helping other technologists that maybe are interested to understand those differences. And then we continually add the more technical concepts. So we’re focusing on the business technology concepts and adding the technology, you know, hands on concepts along the way with our Academy.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:11] So how has the Atlanta technology ecosystem impacted your business?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:12:18] Well, Atlanta is a great innovation for technology. It’s a hub for it. There’s lots of great companies in Atlanta. We’re really the. You know, we’re the commerce of the Southeast, right? Everything kind of comes through here. So we may have, you know, large banking and finance financial institutions, but they’re they look like technology companies. Right? Everybody’s everyone’s a software company. So for us, it’s been great. It’s created a tremendous amount of opportunity locally. And there’s a lot of great talent in Atlanta. So while everyone thinks of technology innovation, they probably think of Silicon Valley. There’s these hotspots, especially in the Southeast, but definitely in Atlanta where. The companies that are headquartered here have huge technology requirements, which means we have a great concentration of excellent software engineering here. So we we find that great. We you know, Atlanta is very collaborative, which I don’t think you can say about every portion of the country. So we’re happy to be here and helping out, you know, local companies that are focused on innovating.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:25] And what is that ideal fit customer for you right now?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:13:29] Generally, you know, we would say. It’s more about what they want to do, but our customer base tends to look like. Upper mid market. So, you know, that’s kind of a generic term, so I’ll be more specific. Um, you know, $1 billion in revenue up is usually a great fit because of the technologies. They require sophistication and they require people and they require some budget. But what’s really cool is that a lot of these newer companies that may be, you know, born in the cloud going about it a different way, maybe they’re software companies. They’re they’re using the same technologies that we’re working with, you know, in a Fortune 500. So it gives us a wide range. So we’ve actually, in the last few years been helping out a lot of companies that would be much smaller, even small medium business, but highly sophisticated from a technology perspective. So for us, a customer that’s, you know, using Kubernetes as a platform to deliver their services, great fit for us, um, high velocity verticals. So think transportation, manufacturing, fintech, great fit for us retail because of all the data that is processed and collected. So that high velocity kind of vertical is a great fit for us to come in and be helpful in their journey.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:51] And if they’re interested in engaging with you, they can go to the website and then there’s ways to, you know, if they’re looking for help with talent, they can they can kind of take a course there or if they want to get an assessment, is that all available on the website?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:15:09] Yeah, So they can definitely come to our website and it’ll see, you’ll see our the way we go to market for customers and the types of things that we like to help with. So we have a whole center of excellence around Kubernetes. Um, we have our academy as we spoke about previously, where they could sign up and they could consume some of the later, you know, technology trends related to Kubernetes. And yeah, you can reach out and we can, you know, talk through what a project looks like and what that assessment looks like, or if you know what you want to do already, we can help scope that out and provide you a project plan for how we could how we could engage.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:47] And what’s the coordinates? What’s the website?

Nick Marcarelli: [00:15:51] Uh, shadow Softcom Shadow. Soft with a hyphen in between.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:56] Shadow hyphen. Soft.com. There you go. All right, Nick. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Nick Marcarelli: [00:16:04] Thanks for the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:05] Appreciate it. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter

John Philbin With Spectacular at Work

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Firmspace-sponsor-bannerA proud workaholic, John Philbin has always known how important it is to love what you do. As the founder of Spectacular at Work, he helps companies compete + win and helps them create cultures where their people thrive. He advises CEOs and develops future business leaders around the world. He and his team coach leaders and up-and-comers, help companies determine who to hire to make their company stronger, and architect leading people processes to make sure companies have a steady flow of future leaders that fit their culture.

He works with some of the most respected companies in the world (Blue Cross Blue Shield, PWC, Aon, Reebok, McDonalds) and with companies who aspire to be great. Really any company that wants to be better at the people stuff, no matter the size or industry.

Connect with John on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Right time to plan for succession planning
  • What does succession planning entail
  • Finding the right talent to fit the roles needed to operate a successful company

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:03] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Chicago, Illinois. It’s time for Chicago Business Radio. Brought to you by Firm Space, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to firm spacecom. Now, here’s your host.

Max Kantor: [00:00:21] Hey, everybody. And welcome back to another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kanter. And before we get started, as always, today’s show is sponsored by Firm Space, thanks to Firm Space because without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And we got a good one for you today. On today’s show, we have the CEO and founder of Spectacular at Work. So please welcome John Philbin. Welcome to the show, John.

John Philbin: [00:00:44] Hey, thanks so much. It’s great to be here.

Max Kantor: [00:00:46] Excited to talk to you about everything you’re doing. So let’s jump right in. Tell me a little bit about Spectacular at Work.

John Philbin: [00:00:52] Oh, sure. Spectacular Work is a management consulting firm that specializes in leadership development and organizational effectiveness. And what that means is we help organizations to organize themselves effectively and to help leaders be ready to ensure that their company can compete and win.

Max Kantor: [00:01:15] Now, how did you get involved with Spectacular at Work?

John Philbin: [00:01:19] Yeah, so I founded Spectacular at Work in 2019. Just maybe a little background with that help. Sure. Yeah. So I trained as a psychologist and I was a traditional psychologist helping people with their emotional problems. And I sort of found my way into business on a part time basis. I wasn’t really that interested in it when I started. I was really interested in, again, doing clinical work and helping people with their life struggles. But I talked my way into a firm that did some consulting related to what I do now, and I like I found my life’s work. It was really pretty obvious right away that this was my field. And so that was a firm that I got started in. 25 years ago. I started a firm with this great guy, Ed Goldman from Hewitt. Some listeners might know Ed Guttman. He wrote a couple of great business books, and he and I started a firm together. We built it. I ran that for 15 years, and then I sold my majority stake before starting Spectacular at work in 2019. And along the way, I’ve worked with, you know, thousands of executives, hundreds over 100 CEOs and over 100 CFOs. And I tend to help companies at the top with leadership development and succession planning.

Max Kantor: [00:02:47] So when spectacular work goes in to a company, what are you exactly doing to help them? How are you helping your clients?

John Philbin: [00:02:56] Yeah, I think there are 2 or 3 key things we do. So one thing that we do is help them decide who the right team members are. So we have a practice that we refer to as our assessment practice, and that focuses primarily on helping companies define the kind of capabilities they need. So what kind of people do they need in order to play key leadership roles? That’s one. Then the second is helping develop the next generation of leaders, and that is a combination of leadership and succession planning and what we’re doing. There is some assessment, some coaching and a lot of 360 work. And what we do is we help leaders build a plan for themselves to be ready to take on more responsibility. And the idea behind this kind of work is that we’re accelerating the development of the highest, highest potential people in the organization. And so that’s a second thing. And then we help a lot with team effectiveness, particularly helping the leadership team come together, have a shared set of goals so that they’re working on the same thing. You know, it’s very easy, Max, for leaders to come together and believe that they’re aligned but really work at cross purposes. And so staying aligned is an important it’s really an imperative for leadership teams. And we have processes that really help leadership teams get aligned and stay aligned so that they’re really competing with. Their competitors in the marketplace not competing with each other on the leadership team.

Max Kantor: [00:05:03] And are these processes when you come in and you kind of lead these workshops or help the company like understand this, are these processes that the company can still utilize after you guys leave? So this is like long term.

John Philbin: [00:05:18] They definitely are. So what we’re doing is we are trying to build capability that remains once we’re gone. So I’m a big believer in the importance of management routines and management routines are really just the business language for habits. And what we do is we help leaders and leadership teams develop the right habits to take what they get taught and they start to implement with us and use it in the long term. There’s Max. There’s one other piece of work that’s related to that that maybe I’ll spend one minute on. And we at spectacular work, we have a partnership with a virtual reality business simulation firm, and that’s a mouthful. And what it means is we work with a firm that helps leaders practice skills by going through business simulations. So we teach leaders and help them practice the skills around things like giving feedback and getting people motivated and aligned for change, things that are changing in their organization. So and our partnership with this virtual reality business simulation firm, which is the name of that firm, is Immersion. That’s another part of our work really helping strengthen organizations capabilities.

Max Kantor: [00:07:05] You’ve talked a lot about leadership development and also you brought up a little earlier succession planning. Now, can you talk about how those two things go together, but then also how they’re two different things?

John Philbin: [00:07:18] Sure. Yeah. There is sort of a muddy line between leadership development and succession planning and leadership development in some ways is the more general term. And and the idea behind leadership development is again, this. It’s accelerating people’s readiness to take on broader responsibility. So strengthening people’s ability to take on different parts of the organization. So moving from one job to another or getting promoted and taking on significantly more responsibility and succession planning is the part of leadership development that is focused on defined roles. So helping a company. Uh, ready its candidates to be the next CEO. So all companies have a CEO, but at some point that CEO is going to move on or retire and having there’s. Lots of economic value associated with making sure that you have a steady flow of the right kind of future leaders. And many, many companies don’t spend as much time getting themselves organized to be sure that they’re going to have a good candidate or set of candidates for each job in the company. And so one of the things we help companies do and I’m sorry, one of the things we help companies do is have a ongoing process so that they have ready now successors for as many leadership jobs as possible, as many executive and senior management jobs as possible.

Max Kantor: [00:09:19] So for you, what’s the state of the art succession planning?

John Philbin: [00:09:23] Mm Yeah. The, you know, succession planning and a lot of companies looks like, uh, what we sometimes refer to as replacement planning. And that is they, they have a couple of people who they know are going to take on more responsibility in the future. They have somebody who will probably be the next CEO and they have somebody who will probably be the next CFO or the next head of HR or general counsel. And to to a lot of companies, that’s succession planning and that’s really replacement planning. And there are some real challenges associated with replacement planning, what succession planning is. Is having a clearly defined set of expectations associated with a role. Meaning we believe that our next general council really needs to have these skills. Needs to be this kind of leader and needs to have this set of expertise and background knowledge, for example. And so defining the target for future candidates to have to hit is the first step in succession planning. Really understanding what the expectations of that role are going to be in the future. And that’s the tricky part. Succession planning is about readying the organization for the future. And what a lot of companies do is they have a current CEO and they decide that the next CEO should look a lot like the current one.

John Philbin: [00:11:14] Well, the conditions are going to change over the intervening years. And so what what’s really important at the start of succession planning is having this defined set of expectations for what the role looks like. And then it’s identifying people in the organization who the leadership team and often the board of directors believe have the underlying skills that can be developed into one of those senior roles or one of those executive roles at the company. And this takes a number of forms. It usually includes some form of assessment and the there are very common forms. I mentioned earlier the 360, where you ask everyone around the individual whether or not or you ask them to paint a picture of the candidate’s strengths and development needs. Often we get involved because we have assessed thousands of executives over the years and we help identify what are the gaps between a particular candidate’s readiness now and what those requirements are for the job. So in a lot of ways, a central piece of succession planning is developing a gap analysis. And and then once you’ve developed a gap, so you have someone who has run a is financially quite literate. They have been a general manager of a division, but it’s a global company and they don’t have any experience outside running businesses outside the United States.

John Philbin: [00:13:12] And so finding ways to get the candidate. Experience. Doing things that they haven’t done before is an important part, and sometimes that means putting them in a job rotation. So moving them from the job they’re currently in into another job. And sometimes it means getting them involved in other ways in developing those skills. We’re big believers that the vast majority of of development occurs on the job, but things like executive development in at at major universities. Executive coaching, project based learning. There are a number of tools that we use that help people develop the skills now for big roles like a CEO job or any senior executive role. You’re never going to be able to give someone every experience that’s necessary to be ready. What you’re trying to do is choose the most important ones and determine whether or not the candidate is able to grow those skills over time. So that’s at the heart of succession planning. Once someone moves into a new role, then they often benefit from some support, some mentoring from someone who has had a similar role or some executive coaching and executive coaching and is a key service that we provide as well.

Max Kantor: [00:14:58] Now, John, for my final question for you, this is a question I like to ask all my guests. For you, what is the most rewarding thing about what you get to do with Spectacular at work?

John Philbin: [00:15:11] Gosh, I really have a pretty great job. So there are a number of parts, but if I could only choose one. Working with people, getting them ready for a job that they are really motivated by and really care about and are really excited about. And then when they come back to me, sometimes five and ten years later and they say that work we did set me on a path that I don’t think I could have achieved on my own. I get to work with incredibly talented people and, you know, we’re just an extra little ingredient in really talented people’s ability to take on more responsibility. That’s probably the most satisfying part of my career and the thing that’s the most motivating.

Max Kantor: [00:16:07] And John, if people want to learn more about Spectacular at work, how can they find you guys a website or social media?

John Philbin: [00:16:16] Yeah. So we are busy on LinkedIn in particular and we’re at Spectacular at work. Three words. And if people want to reach out to me, the easiest way to get me is John J. O h n at spectacular@work.com.

Max Kantor: [00:16:37] Awesome. Well, John, it was a pleasure talking with you today. I mean, your answers were so informative and so thoughtful, and I just really enjoyed talking with you about Spectacular at Work. You guys are doing a lot of good work for the community.

John Philbin: [00:16:51] Max, I really appreciate the time. Thanks for making it such an easy conversation today.

Max Kantor: [00:16:55] Anytime, John. Anytime. And thank you for listening to another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kanter, and we’ll see you next time.

Intro: [00:17:06] This episode of Chicago Business Radio has been brought to you by firm space, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to firm Space.com.

Zac Larson With IntentGen Financial Partners

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Firmspace-sponsor-bannerWhen Zac Larson launched his career in the financial services industry nearly two decades ago, he wanted to take a different route than most. One that was purpose-driven rather than fear-driven. One that focused on the joy of living generously and serving others, not just selling products. The opportunity to do just that presented itself to Zac in 2001 when he joined Thrivent.

And today, as a founding partner of IntentGen Financial Partners, he is able to live out these values – empowering people to make intentional financial decisions so they can live with greater purpose. Zac and his wife, Kristin, have been married since 2003 and have four boys. In his free time, he likes to coach his sons’ basketball teams and enjoys golf, scuba diving, skiing and bike riding. He also serves in many roles at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Connect with Zac on LinkedIn and follow IntentGen Financial Partners on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Retirement income planning
  • Investment management
  • Wealth transfer
  • Tax efficiency strategies
  • Generosity- Creative Charitable Planning

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:03] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Chicago, Illinois. It’s time for Chicago Business Radio. Brought to you by firm Space, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to firm spacecom. Now, here’s your host.

Max Kantor: [00:00:21] Hey, everybody. And welcome back to another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kanter. And before we get started, as always, today’s show is sponsored by Firm Space, thanks to Firm Space because without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And we got a really good one for you today. On today’s show, we have a founding partner and wealth advisor at IntentGen Financial Partners. So please welcome to the show, Zach Larson. Welcome to the show, Zach.

Zac Larson: [00:00:47] Thank you. It’s great to be here with you.

Max Kantor: [00:00:49] I’m excited to talk to you about everything you’re doing. So let’s jump right in. Tell me a little bit about intention.

Zac Larson: [00:00:54] Well, first of all, there’s a lot of financial management, financial planning companies that are out there. And in some ways we’re very similar to those. We help people manage their money, the efficient with taxes, protect their their plan and and take care of people they care about. But there’s some really unique that I think we’re doing in that message is resonating with people and that’s helping them focus on intentionality. Meaning what do they want their money to do for them? What do they want their their life, their impact, their experiences to be? And it is such a privilege. It’s so much fun to just dig into that with people and help them figure out what they can accomplish.

Max Kantor: [00:01:29] So what exactly is your role within intention?

Zac Larson: [00:01:33] My role is two parts. I for 20 years have helped people one on one think about the purpose of their money. So we talk about asset allocation and all sorts of investments and tax tax, things that nobody really loves to talk about, but we all need to. And then we focus on how they want to use their money, what they want it to do for them. So that’s probably about half my time with intention or maybe two thirds of it. Even still, the other part is in leadership and development. We have been blessed with growth over the last 15 years especially and have a phenomenal team of of colleagues that I get to work with. And so we’re we’re talking about their career path, their advancement, their fulfillment, and also looking at opportunities to grow our company in terms of hiring more great people or acquiring other advisors.

Max Kantor: [00:02:25] And how did you get into this line of work and then how did intention come to be?

Zac Larson: [00:02:31] Well, for some reason I’ve always either been blessed or cursed, maybe with enjoying and understanding numbers. And so it was just something I’ve known that I wanted to do for a long time. I did internships in college. I went to a little school in Illinois called Augustana College and started into this career right. Right out of school. And intention came about because three, four years in, I had worked with other colleagues. I became good friends with a mentor of mine, someone who became a friend and a colleague. His name is Corey Schmidt. And we realized that we had some very complementary skills and had more fun and could do more when we worked together. So we we began in 2005 working together and and grew a team from there. And intention came about specifically six years ago as we went into a more independent space within the financial planning world. And independence just gives us autonomy to run a business the way that we need and bring in the products and solutions and and expertise that our clients need.

Max Kantor: [00:03:38] Now, you touched on this a little bit ago, but, you know, for a lot of people, money is an awkward thing. It’s hard to talk about. It’s hard to discuss, but it’s so important. We all need it. We all use it. So how do you help people use and and grow and give their money with intention?

Zac Larson: [00:03:55] Most people, when we meet them, have done a lot of things kind of accidentally. They’ve learned perhaps from parents, they’ve learned the hard way and they’re just kind of going through life. And most most people do not want to do a budget and we don’t spend a lot of time on that either. We talk about aligning your money with your priorities right off the bat. So let’s take an example. If you’re in your working years and you’re like most people, you get your paycheck, you do life, you pay your bills, and then at the end of the month, you probably have a little bit of guilt around, Oh, I wish I would have given some more or I wish I would have saved some more. And we try to just help people flip that script and say, if there’s places you care about that you want to give to, whether it’s a local charity, a church, family members do that first be be purposeful with it, be intentional, and then let’s put money into savings. We call them save to spend accounts and save to save. And just the the specific automated, systematic process of doing those things first and then spending once left starts to change the game for people.

Max Kantor: [00:05:03] So you’re helping people with money in different areas of their life. I know you just mentioned like philanthropic ways. Also, I know retirement investment. So what would someone need help with for them to come to you?

Zac Larson: [00:05:19] Yeah, we we have built a company that tries to meet people where they are on their financial journey. And so there aren’t minimums. And we have a team and a partnership to help wherever a person is. But our niche really is in the retirement transition phase. So we look at plus or minus five years of retirement. You’re trying to figure out how you can do it or you’re in it and you’re saying, What else can I be doing? And in that phase, there’s a key financial and emotional transition that happens. People move from accumulation to utilization or accumulation to distribution. So they’ve been saving they’ve hopefully been seeing their net worth grow over time and now they’re seeing how do I use it? That’s where we step in and I think have some great unique perspectives on how to give them confidence, to spend it, to enjoy it, but also make sure that they don’t run out of it and that they can take care of the people and places that they want.

Max Kantor: [00:06:17] You’ve talked about, you know, giving back. Why do you think it’s important to give back? And can you describe how how you do this year to year?

Zac Larson: [00:06:27] Yeah, there’s both, I think, a philosophical and a practical edge to that. So for Theosophically, I believe that’s just what we’re called as people to do is to take care of others. I think if you come from a faith perspective, that’s that’s part of most faiths. If you come from just being part of a community, there is a desire to take care of others. But I think also from a practical sense, people need that in their plan. And I use this phrase a lot. I’ve seen it happen with clients. Imagine you hit this retire of yours, whether it’s a boat, whether it’s a new home, and then you go to enjoy it for the first time and you look around and you’re like, Dang, I just got this boat of my dreams, this house of my dreams, this trip of my dreams, and somebody else is already doing it better. And if we measure ourselves against others and against the world, there’s there’s just never enough. And then if you look the other direction, there are people who who have it way worse who who are dealing with tough stuff that need some support. And I think generosity helps to balance that scale of saying no against the world. There’s never enough. But maybe I’m in a spot where I do have enough and I can support some other people. And it it provides such great balance and perspectives in people’s lives.

Max Kantor: [00:07:48] Now, Zach, you mentioned that you are writing a book. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Zac Larson: [00:07:53] Yeah, the book has been on my mind for a lot of years and it really is about how to empower people to spend and give and live with intentionality and retirement. And yet it’s not so much a how to book. It’s trying to be a vessel, be a voice for people’s stories who have done this well, who have experienced the freedom that says, you know what, I have saved, I’ve prepared for this, and there’s more that I can do. So we talk about empowering people to live intentionally or to live with greater purpose. That can mean a lot of things. It could mean you’re ready to retire sooner, to give more than you had been, to start a business to help your kids or grandkids with college, to take family on a trip, to have experiences with friends, all sorts of things. And a lot of times people don’t have the process to do that well and they don’t have a plan that gives them confidence. And that’s what what we get to be part of all the time. So this book will will be out later this year. And the goal is to be a give give a chance for people’s voice to be heard, for their stories, to give other people confidence around their retirement.

Max Kantor: [00:09:07] Now, is there a certain age or certain financial level where people should begin thinking about their retirement plans?

Zac Larson: [00:09:16] Yeah. With within that five year mark I mentioned, I think people really need to go from a theoretical view on retirement or a hypothetical and actually start thinking practically about where will this happen. So if you’re a long ways from that, there’s things we can help you do to get ready so that it’s an easier transition. But if you’re in that zone, then I’ll just share a concrete example from a meeting this morning. A person had a a couple had accumulated a lot of cash in their last few years before retirement, and they said, we’ll just spend down our cash first. And what they didn’t realize is that they would be in such a low tax bracket, they wouldn’t even get to use their deductions if they just spent cash. So we helped them look at a balance of where to take money from from different types of accounts, IRAs, 401. Ks insurance, annuities, cash and say you’ve got all these tools. Let’s let’s find the right mix to get you the money that you need so that you can maximize what your opportunities are with it totally.

Max Kantor: [00:10:18] Going into retirement can be both thrilling and exciting, but also it can be scary and with intention. It seems like you guys are there to help make the process as easy and seamless a transition as possible.

Zac Larson: [00:10:32] Well, that’s that’s certainly the goal. I had a great learning experience last summer. We had prepared as a company for a lifelong dream I had, which was to take an extended sabbatical. I’ve got four teenage boys and my wife and I wanted to have some time with them. So we learned a lot how to to run our company well and take care of clients. But I learned a lot personally, and I found out in my free time I happen to spend money. I have hobbies that are expensive. And it was a great learning experience for people thinking about retirement. Because if you have hobbies that require money, some of those rules of thumb won’t work for you. You can’t live on 80% of what you’re used to because you might actually spend more when you have more free time. Conversely, some people have hobbies that don’t take any money and they could actually live on a lot less. So we want to personalize a plan for people. There’s three things that go into that we talk a lot about impact. Who do you want to have impact on experiences and then purpose? What is it that you’re going to be doing and how does your financial plan support your IEP, your impact, experience and purpose?

Max Kantor: [00:11:42] Now, Zach, for my last question for you, it’s a question I like to ask every guest that comes on Chicago Business Radio for you. What is the most rewarding part about what you get to do?

Zac Larson: [00:11:54] It’s seeing people realize. That their possibilities can actually be probabilities. They can do these things. They’ve dreamed of it. And we put those dreams into action. And it sounds a little, you know, like a Make a Wish foundation or something. It’s not. This is people’s lifelong savings. It’s their hard work. But we’re giving them a process or a plan that equips them to go take action on things that they’ve maybe always wanted to do. And I read a great quote last summer. It said, The quickest way for a dream to die is to wait. And we help people get started. We help them stop waiting and make those plans happen. And it’s it’s incredibly rewarding.

Max Kantor: [00:12:39] I love that quote. That’s that’s a good one. If people want to learn more about intention or they want to work with you guys in some capacity, how can they learn more? Do you have a website? Social media, Of course.

Zac Larson: [00:12:51] Check us out on Facebook. Check us out on our website. The website is intention.com into entgegen.com. They can look me up on LinkedIn and send a request and we’ll connect that way. So would appreciate people who want to learn more.

Max Kantor: [00:13:09] Totally. Well Zach, thank you so much for being on Chicago Business Radio today. You’re doing great work and we appreciate you being on the show.

Zac Larson: [00:13:17] Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Max Kantor: [00:13:19] And thank you to listening for another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kanter, and we’ll see you next time.

Intro: [00:13:27] This episode of Chicago Business Radio has been brought to you by firm space, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to firm Space.com.

Marguerite Pressley Davis With Finance Savvy CEO

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Marguerite Pressley Davis is a former Wall Street analyst who became an advocate for entrepreneurs in Atlanta and beyond. She is the founder and CEO of Finance Savvy CEO, a privately held company which improves financial literacy and business finance among entrepreneurs as a way to increase their profitability and to close the country’s gender and racial wealth gap. Through her work, she has helped small business owners to raise over $33 million in capital and increase their annual profits on average by 63%. She has two decades of international business experience which includes her work at Goldman Sachs, controlling over a $2 billion portfolio of private equity, alternative energy and commercial real estate investments.

Connect with Marguerite on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Should Atlanta’s small businesses worry about a recession
  • The Do’s and Don’ts of creating a financial plan for starting your business
  • Why every small business owner should consult with a financial coach before they raise capital
  • How can entrepreneurs and small business owners protect themselves from bank collapses like Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Marguerite Pressley Davis and she is with Finance Savvy CEO. Welcome, Marguerite.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:00:38] Thank you, Lee Thanks so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:40] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about finance savvy CEO. How are you serving folks?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:00:45] Yeah, absolutely. So at finance savvy CEO, we really focus on helping small business owners and entrepreneurs to really enhance their financial confidence and competence when it comes to the money side of running a business. So we focus on through our programs and membership only we focus on financial planning and overall financial education to help you make better business decisions. With the financial impact in mind.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:16] Now, are you working primarily as an educator or also as a financial planner or wealth manager?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:01:22] Yeah, yeah, great question. So ultimately, yes to the financial educator piece, but we only work with small business owners and entrepreneurs. So for the business finance side of things, so we don’t do kind of the wealth planning that some of our friends in the personal finance space do. But one of our core programs actually is your profit playbook, where we focus on financial planning for their small business. You know, what we see a lot is that small business owners and entrepreneurs, when they try to either A, raise capital or B, just operate daily in their operations, they really have questions around, well, I have limited amount of funds, limited amount of capital, so how can I make the best use of it? So that’s where our financial planning side of the house for their business comes into play.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:10] And is that a do it for you or do it with you or do it yourself offering? Yeah.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:02:16] So we we do it, do it with you. One of the things that I strongly believe in, what we really promote at finance savvy CEO is that we want our small business owners and entrepreneurs to feel empowered with their finances. We want them to feel confident that, Hey, I understand what’s happening financially. And by me understanding it as that business owner, it’s going to help me make better decisions. So we are all about at finance savvy CEO the do it with you model. So for example when we’re going through your profit playbook, we are actively working with our small business owners and entrepreneurs, hearing them through step by step how they’re doing it. But we’re there with them holding their hands because at the end of the day, we want them to be able to stand on their own two feet when they’re talking to investors or they’re with their team making a decision. We want them to hear us in the back of their heads saying, okay, I understand why I’m doing this. I understand the implications. So we’re all about doing it with you so that you can stand on your own two feet financially as a small business owner or entrepreneur.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:22] And then what is the profile of your ideal client? Are they at the beginning stages where they may not have a CPA or a bookkeeper, or are they more established and the those resources aren’t kind of providing the intelligence intelligence that you are?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:03:38] Yeah. Yeah. So ultimately, we work with clients across the spectrum of both revenue size as well as industry. So let me talk about the revenue size first. So sometimes our clients span between $0 in revenue, meaning their pre revenue, and they want to get things right from the start when they’re starting their business. They may have gone into it because they absolutely love what they do, but they don’t really necessarily understand or have a strong grasp on finances and the money side of business. So for those entrepreneurs and small business owners that are just getting started, we support them to to ensure that they have a great foundation of understanding of the financial decisions that they’ll have to make. But also we help them to say what is realistic for your financial plans, what’s realistic for how much you need to fundraise? And then that spans all the way as well too. We have companies in our community that are at the $10 Million revenue mark, but their questions are a bit different. They’re there because they say, Hey, we’re at ten, but we’re wanting to scale. We want to have that exit and you know, five years out, ten years out.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:04:49] And we have to ensure that we’re doing that. As a CEO, I’m making strong financial decisions. So it really ranges across revenue size and across industry. Now to the second part of your question. Is it like, hey, they don’t have a CFO, they don’t have a CPA, a bookkeeper? No. One of the things that we recommend is it’s what I like to call the financial trifecta. So the financial trifecta that I recommend, like every single entrepreneur in small business have, is like they have that bookkeeper on their staff or that’s outsourced. They have that accountant and the tax. On their team, but we also promote that that is still no substitution for you as the business owner. Being able to get intimately involved in your finances so that you can have intelligent conversations with your bookkeeper, so you can have intelligent conversations with your accountant, because ultimately they’re they’re steering the company forward, not the support resources. So we say that, hey, still is that CEO, we want you to know it, understand it, but definitely work with that financial trifecta as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:55] So what’s your backstory? How did you kind of find the heart to serve these people in this manner?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:06:01] Yeah, so I have been in the finance industry for almost going on 20 years now. Um, I actually started out on Wall Street. I was at Merrill Lynch, then transitioned to Goldman Sachs, where I focused on private equity and commercial real estate investments. So we invested in everything from like concrete companies to hotels and casinos and that to date myself. But back in the last recession we saw around the 2007, 2008 time frame, um, you know, we had this whole thesis around our investments built around that Vegas would be recession proof. And that thesis was absolutely wrong. And as we saw back then, the markets tanked, hotels went under, casinos went under in Vegas. But for me, it was my first realization that the work that I did, I didn’t want it to be so closely tied to something I couldn’t control. I can’t control the markets. So for me, it was the catalyst to say that I wanted to work directly with the CEOs, directly with the CFOs before those businesses went downhill. So I transitioned to a career in mergers and acquisitions consulting. It was all about buying and selling businesses, divesting unprofitable business units, and did that for about half a decade, worked in some really cool places like Ireland and Amsterdam and Mexico. But what I realized after that point was that when I reflected back to the last recession, we had small business owners were going out of business much faster than corporations.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:07:43] And so the missing component there that I found was really it was the mismanagement of finances, the lack of understanding of some of these small business owners for how to navigate really challenging times, just like we’re seeing now in the economy. So I from there, I started my own tech company. It was a retail tech company just to ensure that I could make that transition from the corporate space into the finance space. And, you know, for a lot of small business owners, the reality was, is that, you know, even if they went to MBA program and, you know, I was at NYU, but you learn a lot about corporate finance, that doesn’t always translate to how is a CEO? Do I think about my small business finances? So from there I found myself at a pivot point after we exited my first tech company and it was like, What’s next? I went on to work at a $25 million venture fund as a managing director, creating investor readiness programs, getting in small businesses ready to raise capital. And that was the missing piece. At that point, the light bulb went off. Hey, I really need to double down on making sure that small businesses stay in business longer. They’re actually profitable so they can generate wealth, not take away from wealth. And from that finance savvy CEO is born as we know it today.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:02] And then when you were trying to build this community, were the lessons learned kind of challenging to go from kind of a big corporate and dealing with, you know, mega companies with unlimited, seemingly unlimited resources, you know, to a person with a dream, you know, at their kitchen table. And, you know, was it difficult for you to kind of relate to that person and kind of see the struggle that they’re going through and have that level of empathy to really kind of feel like you can make an impact on them because the impact on that person is more personal, I think. And it’s more like you see the results with your eyes and how it affects their family and their neighborhood and their friends and their community.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:09:48] Oh, yeah. Lee, you’re so spot on there. You know, I we did for my team. We did bonuses this past year. You know, at the end of every year. And it’s the impact is not only on the businesses, but it’s also like as a small business owner that, you know, having my team and seeing the impact it has on them. Like one of my workers sent me a picture of a mattress that she was able to buy her parents with her business. So you’re right. It’s like that life impact they’re having. And so it was a different transition for me. Lee And I think that that was one of the biggest catalysts point of why I made the transition to small businesses, because in the corporate space, you find a way to, you know, save them a million, 5 million, and they want 10 million more. But when we’re talking about small businesses, like on average, our clients will grow their profits at least 63% on average when they start working with us. So that can mean a different life for them, a different ability of how they can pour into their own communities. And so it’s a bit of the why, why I do what I do is because of the immediate impact that you see.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:10:57] I think for small business owners and entrepreneurs, though, the biggest lesson learned for me as I transitioned over was that it is every decision that they make. It has a life impact for them, right? So if they have a month that’s unprofitable or a year that’s unprofitable, that may mean less that they’re able to do for their families, less that they’re able to do for their community a real immediate impact. Whereas in the corporate world it is, okay, let’s just roll it over to the next quarter. So what I love about that in the work that I do is that I’m able to not only change the trajectory of what they can save, what they can pay themselves, what they are able to do. As it relates to hiring most of our business owners, they make, at least for those that are the zero revenue point, within 24 months, they’re making their first hire and that has a larger economic impact that they have immediately. So you’re spot on with that. Definitely a transition there. But it’s also part of the crux of the why of that transition for me from corporate to small business.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:05] So let’s educate some of our listeners. You brought up a point earlier and you used the word one of the metrics that matter, I would assume, is profit. You didn’t say revenue. And to me, as a small business owner and having interviewed thousands of small business owners, I think a lot of people keep their eye on the wrong ball sometimes and they think that revenue is the most important thing and you can have all the revenue you want without profit and you’re not going to be in business very long.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:12:35] Oh yeah. Oh yeah, spot on. So I think that, you know, for for decades, even if you look in the VC space there, they were using revenue as this metric. But I see revenue is almost a vanity metric. It is great you write your business can’t survive without sales. But the challenges with that is it’s not just about what you make, it’s about what you keep of what you’re making. Like I have had clients where they were making $1 million a year. Let’s call it, but they were only keeping less than $5,000 of it. But then I had companies who were only making 50,000 and they were keeping $25,000 of it. So who’s better off? Right? So I think one of the things that we have to change as a small business community and what I what we’re constantly pushing and finding finance savvy CEO is it’s about the financial management. It’s not just what’s coming in, but it’s what are you keeping? And I’ll even take it a step further. It’s not only what you’re keeping in profits, it is what are you doing to grow that money? So we also have to elevate ourselves also from the profits. How much of it is you’re keeping? Are you keeping? And that has a lot to do with again, how are you managing the money that comes in? How are you making those really tough decisions around how you’re allocating that capital, what you’re spending? But then also, what are you doing to grow it? How are you thinking about investing? Those profits. How are you thinking about what gets retained so that your business can grow into that vision that you have.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:10] Now in some of your work helping your clients with like, say, maybe they have several service offerings, but you see, if you do a deep dive and the metrics, the financial kind of signals that that each one of them has, one of them might be a loser and it might be popular and there might you it might be hurting you. Every sale could be, in essence, kind of damaging your business, even though, like you said, we call those metrics, the vanity metrics cause metrics where it looks like you’re killing it. But in reality, you could be kind of putting yourself out of business. Do you help the client analyze kind of, you know, put a PNL on each one of their service offerings to see, okay, do more of this and less of this, and maybe you should change the price of this because you’re losing money on every one of these.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:15:01] Oh, yeah.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:15:03] Absolutely. And I get so excited about that because that’s the core of one of the service offerings that we have is around the financial analysis piece. And sometimes what you’ll find is that when someone isn’t comfortable with the numbers, what they do is they avoid looking at their finances. And what I tell every small business owner and entrepreneur, I say it’s like you had lunch and you have a piece of spinach in your teeth. Well, how’d you just looked in the mirror? You could have taken that spinach out your teeth, right? It’s the same way with the finances of taking that time to analyze the end of every month, every quarter, every week, depending the frequency, depend on your business. But taking that time to see what’s truly happening, you know, sometimes when we’re making sales again, it’s vanity. It feels good, it feels great. We’re selling out. But you have to take that step back and say, But is it worth it? Am I only making so many sales because I’m spending more in marketing than I’m actually generating in the revenue? Or is it the fact that I’m selling because my price is so low so I can’t even cover my cost? So that’s exactly one of the core areas that we focus on is the analysis piece. But to also your second point there around the pricing, one of the things that we do is we have a pricing lab and a lot of the times what I find is that small business owners and entrepreneurs, when I said, Hey, how’d you come up with your pricing, they’ll tell me, Oh, well, I just looked at my closest competitor and that seemed about right.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:16:32] And I’m like, Hey, we can’t do that because we don’t even know how our competitors came up with their price. And now you’re just taking their prices. So being able to really do detailed analysis around the pricing, understanding the key value points that they’re delivering, what makes them different, justifying that that price that they’re charging is even sustainable is one of the core pieces in that analytics that we do. Now, another piece to that, what I recommend that every entrepreneur and small business owner is doing is something, what we call it finance savvy CEO is financial wellness checkups. Now these financial wellness checkups, you deep dive into what is truly the profitability that you have. Not only is a company wide, but your different revenue streams, your different product offerings so that you can see, hey, is this something we need to keep on or do we need to see if there’s adjustments that we need to make? Or does it just need to be retired altogether?

Lee Kantor: [00:17:32] Now walk me through. Say, okay, I’ve heard what you’re saying. I like you as a person. I think you’re smart. I think you have all the qualifications I need to be successful. I’m in. What is that kind of onboarding? First types of conversations you’re having with me to get me up and running so that I can have, you know, a solid financial plan moving forward?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:17:55] Yeah, absolutely. So we’re having that conversation. Loved all the nice compliments now, but one of the first things that we do to get our clients onboarded with your profit playbook, where is the group financial planning that we do? We also do some one on one financial planning as well through more so the consulting agency side of things. But ultimately, one of the first things that we do is we never assume that is like the, the biggest, um, you know, it’s a huge core value of mine and finance savvy CEO. So we never assume that you have anything to bring to the table. What I mean by anything to the table you can come to us for, for support without any historical financial information. Meaning you may say, Marguerite, I don’t have any past financials to give to you. I’ve never done that. You know, I haven’t had the bookkeeper. I haven’t had an accountant. Help me. I have nothing. So we never assume you have those things coming in. So we start from ground zero. So when you get to us, we do an intake survey. And that intake survey is going to give us more information about just your business, your tenure in business, the types of products or services that you have, the challenges, the pain points that you have. But most importantly, Lee, when you get onboarded, the one core thing that we are focused on is where are you trying to go? I care a lot less about where you’ve been versus where you’re trying to go. What is that vision for your company? Because depending on where you’re going to go, we could build totally different financial plans, financial roadmaps, financial projections. Because if you tell me, Hey, Marguerite, my goal is to exit my business in five years.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:19:37] Or if you tell me, Hey, Marguerite, you know I want to keep this business and hand it off to my kids one day. Well, to that entrepreneur, that tells me you want to exit in five years, we’re going to build out a more aggressive financial plan for your business that allows for a lot higher growth so that you’re going to be more attractive to investors so that you can show the market size is really there and you’re able to tap into it and you’re able to capture a good portion of that market. It’s going to be an Uber growth model. We’re going to we’re going to build there. But now if you tell me that maybe you’re building that business from your retirement and you really just need this to to to maintain for your family, your risk averse, well then we’re going to build a much more conservative financial plan for your business. We’re not going to do as many aggressive marketing strategies. Maybe we may even ensure that the cash reserve that you have for your business is a lot more is a lot bigger than that company that told me they just want to exit in five years. Right? So, so I’ll summarize that and say the biggest thing that we need from you when you on board is clarity in that vision. Where do you want to go? So we can ensure that the plan is specific from, you know, templates here. That’s, you know, broken arrows is no, it’s about building out a financial plan, a financial roadmap that makes sense for where you’re going and that meets you in a place that you’re comfortable taking your company. Because after all, you’re the visionary.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:03] Now, once you hand me this plan, is it Now I’m off and you’re giving me homework and I have to do some work here or or there’s recommendations Like what? What happens next? And how do you keep me accountable?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:21:16] Yeah, absolutely. So once you have your plan in hand and you know you have your financial plan, you’re clear on that road of where you’re going. We actually have something it’s called our finance savvy CEO collective, and that’s our ongoing membership program. So what we hear from our founders, our CEOs, is that they really love exactly the word you used accountability, the ongoing accountability to make sure that they’re sticking with their plans. And guess what? Sometimes you can stick with the plan and things don’t happen as planned, and that’s okay. So the purpose of the membership that we do is our clients come into the membership and it’s monthly ongoing accountability and support. So ultimately what’s happening here is if things get off rail, things get off track. We’re talking about adjustments that can be made. If things are going great and you want to change things. Those are the discussions that we’re having inside of our membership. I think one of the biggest things that I see for small business owners and entrepreneurs is they build these financial plans. And, you know, to your listeners, right, if you have a financial plan and it’s sitting up on the shelf and you haven’t used it, I think one of the biggest things is, is why aren’t you using it? Did you get somebody to just build it for you and you weren’t active in the process? So it’s not connected.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:22:31] Being with you. It’s not meaningful. A financial plan. You have to actively use it. So one of the core things that’s really important is the ongoing accountability. So no matter if it’s your part of our membership and or not and you’re getting support, every entrepreneur needs to be able to say, Am I checking in on this financial plan? Am I making sure we’re going in the right direction? It’s no different than in your car where you have your gas light, you’re monitoring your speed. You keep a check on it to make sure you’re in the right direction. Because if you’re not looking at that gas light in it, it comes on and you’re 30 miles away from a gas station, you could be in trouble. It’s the exact same thing with the financial plan. If you’re not actively using it, you’re not actively monitoring. How are you doing Compared to plan, you could easily be off rails and your business could be headed to a downturn. So I love that we have the membership lead because that’s that monthly accountability where we’re doing our what I call our money dates. That’s where we’re doing our hours, our quarterly business reviews, the whole nine.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:36] And that’s an important component, right? Without that, it’s really difficult to grow if you’re not kind of keeping track. You can’t just, you know, use your bank statements as a measure of how well you’re doing. You have to really be looking at this on a regular basis in a strategic manner and really kind of diving into the numbers. Because without really understanding this, it’s really difficult to grow. You’re hoping for a lot of things to go well if just and you have control over more things than maybe you think.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:24:08] Oh yeah, oh yeah, you’re so right. And keep in mind too, I love what you said. If like you’re just looking at your bank statements, what you’re doing there is your bank statements have already happened. Right? So it’s almost by time you’re looking at your bank statements, you’re looking at something in the past. I really challenge small business owners and entrepreneurs to not just look at the past. Yes, the past can help inform our future, but what a financial plan does is it allows you to be forward thinking. It allows you to be proactive. You know, if you kind of think of a boat, if you’re just sitting on the boat, sure, the boat could just drift any direction. But what if you’re actively steering that boat? What if you’re actually actively taking it into the direction that you want? You’re going to get totally different results.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:53] Good stuff. Well, Marguerite, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:24:59] Thank you, Lee. Appreciate you.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:01] Well, if somebody wants to connect with you or somebody on your team, where should they go? What are the coordinates and where do you have a lot of resources to get them started, right?

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:25:12] Yeah, absolutely. So you can connect with us on finance savvy.com or just Marguerite Presley davis.com. One of the things with free resources if you go to finance savvy cio.com there is a ton of free resources on there. If you check out our blogs we have free downloads resources of recommended you know, support resources that we love. And then, you know, if you’re if you’re ready to take the step with more support, we you can find out more about our membership program as well as your profit playbook. But you can always also just shoot a note on the contact form. I’m always happy to connect with small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:54] Thank you again for sharing your story.

Marguerite Pressley Davis: [00:25:56] Thank you. Lee Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:58] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

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