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Raj Subrameyer With ChaiLatte Consulting

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Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Raj Subrameyer With ChaiLatte Consulting
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RajSubrameyerRaj Subrameyer is a tech career strategist focusing on helping people to land their dream job and become successful leaders. He is passionate about guiding professionals to maximize their opportunities and discover their zone of genius.

He has given multiple TEDx talks and is a sought-after speaker at various conferences and has been featured in numerous podcasts and publications, including Entrepreneur, CEOWorld Magazine, Authority Magazine, Career Addict, Thrive Global, Addicted2Success and The Good Men Project.

He is also the author of the new book – Skyrocket Your Career. His areas of expertise include career advancement, leadership, motivation, productivity and entrepreneurship.

In his spare time, he loves traveling and enjoying craft beer. You can find more info about how he serves people through his website.

Connect with Raj on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Mindset, consistency, leadership, entrepreneurship, and career development
  • Some strategies people can use to find jobs
  • How to be successful in your career
  • Advice for people who are looking to make a positive impact in their life and others
  • Strategies to ace interviews
  • Strategies for salary negotiation
  • Stay motivated to accomplish our goals
  • Avoid burnout
  • Stay productive and manage work/life balance

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to B.R. Ambassador to learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Raj SubraMeyer with ChaiLatte Consulting. Welcome Raj.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:00:44] Hey, how’s it going?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] It is going well. I am so excited to hear from you. Tell us about Chai Latte Consulting. How are you serving, folks?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:00:53] So I’m a tech career strategist, so what that means is I’m I help people in the tech space to find the dream job and become successful leaders. And I’ve been in the tech space for over 15 years now and I help other people to get unstuck in their career. So that’s the main part of what I do. As part of trial, I did consulting. But two other things which I also do is I speak at a lot of conferences and private events for companies. In fact, as we attack and I’m actually going to give my second TED stack this week on Saturday, and finally, I do a lot of writing. I love writing and sharing my knowledge and various topics, which includes motivation, entrepreneurship, leadership, career advancement. And I write for a lot of large publications and tech companies as well. So that’s how I serve people.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:48] So what’s your back story? How did you get to where you are today?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:01:54] So I grew up in the southern part of India, living in a really conservative family and from a young age, I had this inferiority complex believing that I wasn’t good enough. That is partly because my dad, he studied in scholarships throughout his life and then there I have my brother who is a genius who has three masters and a Ph.D.. And then there was the average kid who didn’t do well in anything, you name it academic sports stating I was average and everything. And when I grew up from academics was pushed quite a bit, and since I couldn’t excel like other people when it comes to academics. My initial childhood was very depressing and had anxiety, stress, and I was an introverted, shy kid. But later on, during my second year of undergrad, I got this awakening that all this well, I’ve been living a life based on other people’s opinions. I was letting other people’s opinions be my reality, right? And in the process of not disappointing other people. I was disappointing myself, so once I came to that realization, I decided that, you know what? I’m going to transform my life. I’m really tired of living this kind of life, and I know I have my skill set. I know I. I’m here for a reason. I’m going to figure it out. And that’s when the real transformation happened. And fast forwarding 16 years down the line, I followed various strategies. Learn so many different things. Gone to so many different experiences to transform my life from a shy, introverted kid earning a minimum salary into running a six figure business and becoming an international keynote speaker and author as well. So that’s kind of my high level story in a nutshell and why I do what I do right now.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:47] So now I’m sure you’ve worked with lots of different folks coming from lots of different backgrounds. Is there a thread among them all when it comes to this kind of self-belief? That may be that they’re not aiming high enough or they’re they’re kind of sabotaging their own success or their, you know, kind of living a life for someone else. Are you seeing kind of some similarities among folks from different backgrounds?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:04:13] Definitely. So irrespective of the back, irrespective of the backgrounds, the cultural differences and where they grew up at this mental block. Happens really young for a lot of people, and once they become adults, it continues to chain them from possibilities, right? It’s a big obstacle for them and change starts from shifting your mindset from a place of scarcity to abundance in the sense you need to believe that, OK, you’re here for a reason and you have a skill set and you just have to figure what that is, right? So only when you come to the realization, then the real change starts because there’s the saying, right? And then in English, where we say you can take a horse to the pond but not make a drink. So I see a lot of a majority of the people I actually I meet. They have a mental block and they’re afraid of the unknown what the future holds for them, and so they’re afraid to take the next step. And what I tell them is just start small, and if doesn’t work, then try another thing. If it doesn’t work, try another thing. Experiment with things, and that’s when you find your true passion and purpose as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:33] So now how do you help, folks? Kind of. Align their journey with kind of their superpowers, because if you ask some folks, they’ll go, Look, my ideal day is just playing video games and partying. That’s my purpose. I want a job that lets me do that. And how do you move people from kind of these maybe superficial desires and wants to like this? Like you said, this kind of more mission driven and more aligned with values driven journey.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:06:07] So first of all, yeah, I wish I had that job where I just play video games and party all night, but I’m just kidding. But the point is to to really find what your strengths are and align your focus based on that. I recommend everyone, even your listeners, to do a simple exercise. It’s called the mind dump exercise. The way you do it is, it’s really simple. You just take a notepad and a pen and put a vertical line through the middle of the paper and on the left column of the paper. Write down all the things you love to do and like to do or want to do. And then on the right side of the column, write down all the things you hate to do or you don’t want to do and do that in an uninterrupted manner, say, for 30 minutes to an hour. No Facebook and text messaging because this is thing, folks. All the things you want to do in life is actually in your brain. You just have to unlock it and make it visual. And this exercise helps to do that. And when you finish doing this exercise, what are you going to see is based on your strengths and things you want to do? You can start seeing patterns in terms of what you really want to do in life. So, for example, say it noted down, You love communicating, you love collaborating. You love creativity. You hate being micromanaged. You. You want to make an impact. Yeah. Then maybe you probably want to join a mission driven company where these trends can be utilized, right? So you could start figuring out different patterns. And based on that, you could figure out, OK, why do you want to focus on and then proceed accordingly?

Lee Kantor: [00:07:50] Now are you finding that in today’s world, you know this. Hopefully we’re post-pandemic at this point, but the mentality has shifted from people. Maybe when they were younger, saying I have to get a job, I have to work for someone else. My life is going to be working for someone else to more and more folks saying, You know what, I am going to control my own destiny. I want to be in charge of my career in terms of what my kind of work life is going to be, and I’m going to be an entrepreneur.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:08:21] Definitely, so in the past six or seven years, we are seeing a trend where there have been a lot of new programs, a lot of new companies, not of New Start, which are encouraging people who have the entrepreneurial mindset to give them a channel to do things right, to experiment and figure out things. And I see that trend, which has been progressing for the past five or six years. And right now, if you see in the age of social media where you have YouTube online courses, like a lot of free online courses, you do not necessarily need to have a degree to actually do the job. You could just learn stuff from YouTube videos and online courses and still do a job, say, for example, of a software developer. Right. So I think we live in an amazing era where you have a freedom to do a lot of things. So once you explore your strengths and figure out what do you want to do? I think the opportunities are endless. And yes, the future is really bright for entrepreneurs, and I believe everyone has an entrepreneurial mindset. It’s just about taking action on it. That’s what it boils down to.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:33] So now how do you help people who who might kind of aspire to be entrepreneurs but maybe lack that self-confidence or or have some fear when it comes to the structure and the framework of what an entrepreneur’s life is like because an entrepreneur is kind of an eat what you kill world, you have to, you know, kind of find the business, you have to serve the business, you have to get paid for the business and you’re ultimately responsible. You’re wearing multiple hats. Whereas if you get a job, I’m a cog in the machine. I can just hang out here, you know, I can, you know, slowly kind of manage my career up that infamous ladder and then live a life that way without having to worry about maybe some of the things that an entrepreneur has to worry about.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:10:25] That’s a great question, and I think a lot of people need to hear this. So first things first, we all need to understand that in life, especially when it comes to jobs, there’s no security. There’s only opportunity. So what do I mean by that? So people say who work for the big companies like LinkedIn, Salesforce, Microsoft data their jobs were secure, but when COVID hit, even they laid off thousands of people. So people who worked at the company for four months got laid off with people who work for the company for 20 years. It didn’t matter. So if you think they’re secure in your job and your full time job, then you just kidding yourself. So that having that context now coming to entrepreneurship, people have this wrong notion that OK, to be an entrepreneur, OK, you just have to take risk and then blindly go into something. No, that is not the case at all. For example, the way I started my own business was, I had a full time job, but then started experimenting with different things as a side hustle, right? So I started doing workshops and training programs for I.T. professionals. And then soon I realized that, OK, I’ve been doing this for six months, and it’s not giving me the passion that the joy I wanted to get from work.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:11:47] And then I started pivoting to various things. And then for the past three and a half years have been coaching people so you can have a side hustle experiment with different things. And once you find that niche, the thing which gives you joy, which you get, which has the possibility for a sustainable business, then you slowly start taking the leap in making a side hustle, your full time hustle. Right. So there is a method and madness, and when you talk about risks, you have risk everywhere in your full time job, working for someone or running your own business. It all boils down to what you’re doing, whether you have a plan. What is your backup plan if things go bad, like when COVID hit? And are you ready to pivot and try to figure out, OK, in the current situation, what best can I do? If you have those four kind of mindset in the way of thinking, then anyone can survive. No matter whether you work for someone or whether you run your own business

Lee Kantor: [00:12:47] Now are the principles the same when it comes to money? Like, is it the same strategy if I’m negotiating a salary with a prospective boss as it is as an entrepreneur from negotiating being paid for a service?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:13:03] Mm hmm. So I think that. A couple of the basic concepts is the same, which is you have to have the conversation based on data and facts, right? So for example, say you’re negotiating your salary with the company, you want to go online to Glassdoor and other websites and do research on what you need to get paid for the experience you have. And based on the knowledge you’re going to say, Hey, based on my research, based on my seven plus years experience and based on the cost of living, this is what I think will make me happy. And this is what matches my skill set, right? So you’re making a case based on data and facts, and the same holds true even if you’re running your own business. So say, for example, you’re talking to a potential client, you are going to tell them that, Hey, I’ve helped over 50 plus clients and you can see the results on my website, but the testimonials and what I could bring to the table. So based on my experience and based on things you know, I could offer, this is what I’m worth. So what do you think about it? Right. So it’s kind of a similar conversation and it’s kind of a similar concept. But I would say that, yeah, with clients, when talking to clients, you need to be a better salesperson and better communicator than just in to a company during a salary negotiation, right? Because I think that’s where the differences, but the basic concepts are the same where you approach the conversation with data and facts and let your emotions aside, because when you get emotions in a conversation, then people focus on the emotion, but not on the actual data and what topic are talking about, right? So that is something to think about.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:53] Now, I’m sure you would agree that in today’s world, being a lifelong learner is a must have that quality. You must have that. This isn’t you can’t kind of rest on your laurels in today’s world if you want to stay relevant for any period of time. Are there some things that you would recommend folks do to invest in themselves?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:15:12] Oh, 100 percent. Especially in the post-COVID era, we are seeing the nature of job exchange where people have figured out that you can be productive doing remote work, and since a lot of jobs were lost during the COVID period, now people are looking for jobs. So the odds are at least a thousand thousands of people are applying for the same job you are applying for or if you’re already. If you already have a job at a company, the odds are there are six people up for promotion, but there’s only one slot left right. So why should they choose you compared to other people? That’s where this extra learning you do is going to come in the picture. So the way you could actually add extra skill sets is you could go to different online websites, which offers courses like Coursera, Udemy, Khan Academy, LinkedIn Learning and add extra skills to add extra courses to your already existing skill set. And when they when it comes to decision making and they see that you have taken those extra courses and show proactive ness to constantly learn, then you are going to be preferred compared to other people.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:16:27] And also, it makes you more marketable because the name of the game right now is being jack of all trades and master of none, which means that you need to know the basics of a lot of things because you tend to wear multiple hats when you join a company. And taking these extra courses is going to give you insights into various different topics and you are going to stand out from other people. So those are some ways you could, you know, learn and also you can hire coaches or mentors who could help you out because this is a thing, folks. If a person has already gone through that journey, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just have a coach or a mentor who could support you, who has already gone through the journey and just get the golden nuggets to get you on the faster track instead of, you know, spending 10 years to get to the gate to the same level. So those are some things you want to consider when it comes to learning.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:22] Now, if someone’s out there that is looking for a job, what would be your strategy that you would share with them? Like, it’s hard for me to believe that jobs can be had, like putting your name in a job board or applying like in a mass way or an anonymous way. I would think that if I was looking for a job today, I would spend a lot of time looking at my network, looking at who knows who aiming at certain companies and then be more strategic and targeted through people I already know that can refer me in, rather than just hope that my resume gets found in a in a kind of a mass way that seems to be like trying to win the lottery.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:18:06] Oh, that’s really well said. And that’s the current problem we are facing because people think your jobs are strategies ad hoc where you have a single resume and then just keep applying for jobs and then you it to the universe saying, OK, some job is going to, you know, magically come to you. Now that’s not the way it should work. So here’s a quick look three to four step strategy for anyone who is looking for new jobs, right? We already talked about the mind dump exercise. That’s the first thing you need to do based on that. Figure out four to five career options which align with your strengths and from then from from that list. Choose the top three career options. Ok, first focus on the top three and for those top three career options have three different types of resumes with the right keywords related to the job because the number one mistake people make is using the same resume for whatever kind of jobs. And that’s not going to work, folks, so make sure you have the right information related to the job you want. That means you’ll have three different types of resumes in the use case and just going through right now. And then I’m going to LinkedIn profile to reflect different keywords in all those three resumes that you have so that you set it up in such a way that it reflects the ideal job you want, right? The reason you have an updated LinkedIn profile with the right keywords is everything you put on LinkedIn is rich SEO information with just search engine optimization information. And what recruiters do is they use recruiting softwares and then say they’re looking for a software developer. They would put keywords such as programing, collaboration, teamwork, Java and those keywords.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:19:53] And if you have those listed on your LinkedIn, you are going to show up in the results, right? So we cover LinkedIn and then the next final thing you want to do is start applying for jobs and track your job application process in an Excel sheet. Because this one is going to happen, folks, you’re going to be 100 jobs in the year in your job application process. Then all of a sudden you’re going to get a call when you’re at a grocery store saying, I’m company, I’m calling from company ABC about the software developer Jeff. Do we have a minute? Do you have a minute to talk about it? You have no clue about what the job description was because you applied for a hundred companies and out of nowhere you’re getting a call right? During these cases, what are you going to do is if you’re tracking your jobs, you could say, Oh, just give me a minute, let me get into a quiet place. And in one minute, what are you going to do is you’re going to go into this Excel sheet where you’ve been tracking your jobs and then look at the job description. And now you have some context when you talk, you see what I’m saying. So doing all of these steps is going to help you strategically apply for jobs instead of, you know, randomly going through the motions of life. And also for more information, you can definitely check out my website and also you have templates there. You can download about the different things I mentioned. And of course, you could always get my book as well. But at least these strategies is going to really set you up for success to start with.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:25] Well, let’s talk a bit about your book, skyrocket your career. Tell us about that and what someone will find if they get the book.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:21:35] So this is a thing. Currently, people feel anxious about their job security. They have this fear of the unknowns, and a lot of people want to mention their career, but they don’t know how to do so because they don’t know what strategies to follow. I wasn’t the exact same situation in 2008, where I applied for four thousand two hundred and ninety three jobs, one two nine three jobs and I got one job out of it and that was not an internship, but it was a full time. It was not a full time job, but it was an internship. And that whole experience going through this application process of over a thousand plus, Jeffs taught me a lot about how to apply for jobs and how to strategically market yourself and fast forwarding 15 years down the line. I’ve gone through so many different roles. I’ve attended 100 100 plus interviews and I’ve conducted even more right? And I wanted a book which gives all the strategies which could help people get unstuck, help them find jobs, be successful at a job and also set themselves miles apart from the competition. So that’s where the book is about. So for anyone reading the book you’re going to the book is going to take you through the entire job lifecycle process, which is from starting from searching for a job, then how to attend interviews, how to negotiate salary. Once you get a job, how to be successful in it. And then once you’re successful, how to set yourself apart from the competition. So that’s where the book is about. It’s only ninety nine pages, and I’ve been very grateful and lucky that my book hit number five on the Amazon bestseller list, and it just got the best nonfiction book award from Reader’s Favorite, which is a pretty big organization. So the point is, if you are stuck in your career looking for ideas to move forward and you really want some motivation, then probably this is the book for you.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:39] Well, congratulations on all of the success, Raj. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you. If somebody wants to learn more or maybe have a substantive, more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, or get a hold of the book or any of your other resources, what’s the website?

Raj Subrameyer: [00:23:54] So I’m my life’s work can be found on my main website, which is Raj Subra dot com, which is, ah, a sub genre. And if you want to know more about the book and download a free chapter so that you can make a judgment, whether the book is for you, go to skyrocket your career books. Just those two websites will have all the information about me and let you know how to connect with me. And of course, I live on LinkedIn, so make sure you connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me because if you found this content valuable, I post same similar kind of content on a daily basis on LinkedIn as well. So if you follow me, you’re going to get that on your news feeds as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:41] Well, thank you again for sharing your story today, Raj.

Raj Subrameyer: [00:24:44] Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:46] All right, this is Lee Kantor will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Alecia Wellen With Alecia Wellen Coaching

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Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Alecia Wellen With Alecia Wellen Coaching
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AleciaWellenAlecia Wellen brings over 20 years of corporate experience in the financial sector where she has contributed in compliance, marketing, operations and sales capacities.

As the Founder + CEO of her own coaching and consulting firm she offers professional coaching, consulting and Reiki to national and international leaders and high achievers looking to leverage their inflection points to reach a higher potential, whether it be in their personal or professional lives.

She is seasoned in helping entrepreneurs, executives and small businesses explore where they are now, how they want to accelerate and where they want to go next.

Helping individuals and small businesses optimize themselves in times of transition is where she thrives.

Alecia holds BS in Marketing from Metropolitan State College of Denver, MBA in Finance from Regis University, Series 7, Series 24, Series 66 and Series 99 FINRA registrations and is a Usui Reiki Master. With over 700 hours of coaching she holds the Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentials.

She is also an Affiliate Member, IOC, at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School affiliate.

Connect with Alecia on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Coaching and entrepreneurship
  • Journey to coaching and balancing being a working mom

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Alicia Wellen with Alicia Wellen coaching welcome.

Alecia Wellen: [00:00:43] Hi, thank you. So happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Well, I’m excited to learn about your practice. Tell us how you’re serving, folks.

Alecia Wellen: [00:00:50] So I do a little bit of coaching, a little bit of consulting, so it’s a nice mix of both. I work predominantly with executives, entrepreneurs and small businesses. And really the common denominator for any of them is just whoever is going through a period of transition, whether that’s growth in the business, entering or exiting C-suite, just various transitions in life and business. And I show up to support them, however they need me to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:19] So what’s your back story? Were you always a coach or is this kind of a new adventure for you?

Alecia Wellen: [00:01:25] It’s somewhat of a new adventure. I do have a twenty one year finance career under my belt. Have always really enjoyed that. Have nothing bad to say about a really great experience, you know, through all of the firms that I’ve worked with over those twenty one years, I always participated in a mentoring program, whether that be a mentor or a mentee, and I always found a lot of purpose in those relationships. And I started getting really great feedback from some of the people that I worked with, you know, kind of asking, Hey, why don’t you do this for a living? You should get paid for this. You’re so good at it. And I heard it enough that I decided, you know, maybe I should pay attention to that a little bit more and dove into it. So, you know, I thought I’ll never regret learning something new, so I decided to look into a coaching certification program. There’s a lot of people out there that call themselves coaches, and it was important for me if I went this route to be credentialed. And so I looked into some programs. So I took one one step forward and the universe took 10. And before I knew it, I was certified and receiving referrals. And that’s sort of how it came to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:29] Now, when you were in your kind of corporate world and they were using terms like mentor mentee, it’s that was that kind of where coaching was in their kind of language. And they’re kind of the way they were going to to market in terms of how they’re serving their people, that this was only for a handful of people. It wasn’t, maybe not throughout the entire organization. And are you seeing that change a little bit?

Alecia Wellen: [00:03:02] Yeah, so in my experience, it really was something that was made available to everybody, regardless of what position you held at the firms, anybody could, you know, pair up with a mentor and a mentee and go for, you know, a year period or six month period of, you know, various growth places. And so it was the programs within the firms was very much that. Although, you know, our executives within the firms were made available to executive coaches outside of the firm. And so there was a little bit of both. I think that what I am seeing now is just really a lot of different companies embracing that coach mentality and wanting someone either actually on staff that they’re sort of ready, readily available for anyone who’s interested in it or they’re going to third parties such as myself hiring in and having you spend a certain amount of time with a certain number of people or a certain group of people during a peak transition or a certain project, or as they’re ready to execute something. And so there’s there’s definitely a new temperature out there of people sort of embracing the coaching aspect of the business and kind of farming that out. Or, like I said, in some cases, actually hiring people in for those jobs.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:17] Now, if you were to advise an enterprise level organization that was wanting to implement some sort of a coaching program, what would be some of the do’s and don’ts?

Alecia Wellen: [00:04:28] That’s a great question. I would say, you know, interview many coaches, I think like I had touched on earlier, a lot of people call themselves coach. And so really being clear and intentional about what you want for your firm or your company in the way of coaching and sort of what purpose you’re you’re looking to fill their, you know, interview a lot of different ones, see where the chemistry is, the sort of who fits which bill for you and really, you know, make it accessible. I think in the past, it’s always been sort of a privilege, right? If you’re in the C-suite and you’re an executive, you can have access to something like a business coach. But it’s really a genuine and very rich resource for anybody in the firm. You know, I found a lot of purpose in mentoring and coaching people that are new into the workforce or as they’re transitioning into managing people for the first time. And so really making that available to everyone, regardless of what their title is, I think is really something to offer. If you’re going to have a program like that, I think one of the don’ts is to only hire one coach and sort of force that person to fit into every mold for every person. You know, lots of coaches bring different things to the table. So you might have a coach that works really great with executives or really great with middle managers or with different projects and things. And so you’ve got to look for that, that sweet spot for yourself. So really, I think the biggest thing to be mindful of is is who you’re bringing in and for what purpose. And it doesn’t have to be a one size fits all.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:01] Now, in your journey from being kind of a corporate person to being an entrepreneur, was that a difficult transition to go from maybe a larger enterprise that had a lot of resources and a lot of kind of an ecosystem around it to now? Hey, this is Alisha’s kind of thing, and then she’s got to make you wear a lot of hats.

Alecia Wellen: [00:06:23] Mm hmm. Yeah, you know, I’ve held a lot of different capacities and titles throughout my career in the corporate world. You know, I’ve got an undergrad in marketing, I have a master’s in finance. And then as far as my credentials inside firms, you know, various things sales, marketing, compliance, operations, management. So you know, it’s kind of those pillars of business, right, that that I’ve gotten through education and job experience that has really, you know, supported me in the entrepreneurial space. And so I won’t tell you that it wasn’t a scary transition. It certainly is. You know, when you’re kind of going out on your own and looking to do something like this and to your point, letting go of the safety net, it can be a little scary. But that’s really what drove me. There’s a passion there. There’s an excitement there. I was very motivated to see what I could do and where I could take this, this coaching business. And so it was a little bit of a transition. But I did have some confidence from my past experiences, my network of people, the exposure that I had within the corporate world, along with my credentials and education.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:26] So any advice for other people, maybe that are thinking about leaving a corporate setting and going there own and doing their own thing? Is there any advice you would give to that person, you know, to make a smoother transition?

Alecia Wellen: [00:07:42] Well, face your fear, right? Get rid of that imposter syndrome and just do it right, you’ve got to try it in order to know. So first and foremost, just do the thing. If you’re hearing a nagging in your life and you’re chasing a sort of fulfillment that you think you’re ready for it. Listen, it’s it’s if it’s not scary, it’s probably not worth it. So I say power through that faced your imposter syndrome and go for it. And the other piece, you know, which is kind of a nice platform to speak about entire coach. There’s lots of people out there that have done it before you. There’s a lot of people that can get excited with you and for you and help support, you know, people that have done it, people that have coached people to do it. So look for some resources and support there. So no one take the step and no to look for some support and resources in the way of a coach or a mentor mentee or another business that can support you.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:36] Now, having kind of worked on both sides of this kind of world, any thing that you would like to share for someone who has never had a coach before. Maybe something that that happens when you’re working with the coach that this person may not think or may not be aware of. That is part of what you kind of experience when you’re working with the coach.

Alecia Wellen: [00:09:01] You know, that’s a great question, too. You know, if you’re going to enter into a coaching relationship, you know, be open to explore, right? The coach’s job is really to create a container for exploration and discovery. I don’t recommend a rigid agenda of any kind, which is funny for me to say because I’m very much type a person and I love structure and organization. But as far as coaching goes, you’re you’re doing something that you can’t quite account for if you’re looking to level up and become the next best version of yourself and really transform. You can’t account for what’s going to happen. You can’t gauge every step of the way and taking steps one through 50 to get there. There’s a little bit of that, but there’s also a lot of magic and wonder that happens if you allow space to receive coaching and really see a different perspective that you never thought was there or you’ve never realized was there. And so it’s really up to the coach to tease that out and facilitate that transformation. A lot of times it’s tapping into something that has always been there, but it’s deep down and you’ve got your saboteur kind of in the way telling you you’re not good enough to do it. You’re not credentialed enough. You’re maybe too old. You, whatever the limiting beliefs are, but sort of shining that light on those blind spots and finding your leader within to get rid of those limiting beliefs is super important. But it’s really affording the magic and wonder of coaching. It’s really affording that space of exploration and discovery so that you can tap into something that is either lying dormant or you just never knew was there and you bring it to the surface for the first time.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:42] Now you use phrases like imposter syndrome saboteur. And if a person isn’t self-aware enough to see those things in play, are there symptoms or are there some things happening that maybe you can say, Well, you may not call it a saboteur, but if you’re doing a B and C, that might be construed as sabotaging, you know, or if you’re saying you don’t have imposter syndrome, but if you’re doing a B and C, that might be what imposter syndrome looks like to the outside person. So are there things that you can share that maybe are happening in a person’s life that might kind of open their eyes that, hey, maybe these things are happening to me and I’m just not aware or I’m not at a place yet where I’m vulnerable enough to make myself aware that these things are happening.

Alecia Wellen: [00:11:39] Yeah, you bet. You know, being fearful is one, you know, negative self-talk, keeping yourself safe, playing small, playing safe, you know, not getting over hurdles that you really want to, you know, having your eye on a prize but not quite getting there. Repeating patterns where I keep going through the same pattern all the time, whether it’s a relationship or a job or whatever the case may be, but you see a repeating pattern that you keep going through the same things over and over. You’re kind of in that that vicious cycle of imposter syndrome. And so, you know, if you want to take the step forward, but you just don’t, that’s a clear indication that there’s a saboteur in there somewhere. It can also resonate very much as perfectionism. You go halfway and then it’s not exactly what you want it to be, or it’s not as perfect as you want it to be. So you sort of abandon it or you pivot to something else. And so it’s really about the coach helping you find the value and the resonance and then standing up to those limiting beliefs that saboteur. But it can look like all of the things that I mentioned. And you know, quite frankly, I’m going to make a general blanket statement here. In my tenure, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t suffer from some type of limiting belief. I think we all have it. I think it’s all there somewhere and can kind of manifest and present different for everybody. But a real flag for me as a coach is if someone says, Oh yeah, I’m not subject to that, that doesn’t apply. I want to get curious and ask some questions and really dig into that because I think we’ve all got it in some way, shape or form.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:19] So now in a person’s journey in life, how much of the time should be just spent, you know, trying to get to a new level? Like, how much time should you be investing in yourself, bettering yourself? Is this something that is that’s just that’s the definition of life. That’s what you should be doing as a human being? Or is there times when you should be pausing, reflecting, being grateful, appreciative and staying in that state for a while?

Alecia Wellen: [00:13:49] Well, I, you know, the word should is operative there, Leigh, I think anything done out of obligation is probably not going to be valuable in resonant and you’re not going to get to the endpoint that you want. And so, you know, there’s not really a tried and true everyone should spend x amount of time or X amount of hours or months working on themselves. It’s really about, you know, what do you as an individual want to do? But also, who do you want to be in this life? How do you want to contribute to your life and others? And, you know, giving back in various ways, and that’s the beauty and coaching for me is that no two clients are the same. So that looks and feels different for everybody. It’s a very unique path, a very unique experience. And so, you know, it depends on who you are and what you want to do and how you want to accelerate forward. And so there’s not a secret sauce that that magically works for everybody. I do think that every person has something inside them where they want to do better. No better, be better. And you know, that’s kind of the seasons of life, right? You get to different graduation days throughout your life and you’re chasing something. And so we naturally mature, but you kind of get to a place where you look around and think, Oh my gosh, how did I get here? What am I doing? Do I want to do this? And you know, you kind of take inventory of who you are, what you’re doing and what you want to do next. And so it’s it’s really kind of getting to that point in various times in our life where we just look around and think just what I want to do is this who I want to be. And and that’s sort of where the next growth phase start.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:27] And that’s really one of the benefits of working with a coach is to kind of probe those those kind of areas.

Alecia Wellen: [00:15:35] Absolutely, yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:37] Now, one of the reasons we do this show is to help coaches learn from each other. Can you share with our listeners how you got your last client?

Alecia Wellen: [00:15:48] Um, well, I’m in a unique spot. You know, I don’t do a ton of marketing, I do a little bit, but I would say 90 percent of my clients come through referral, which is a really beautiful compliment from my clients. If they’re sending me people or I have a repeat client, that it’s validation for me that what I’m doing is meaningful. The reason I’m coaching is really to coach for the greater good and to really give back. That’s really the whole point of me doing this. It’s very fulfilling to me. And so, you know, the very last clients I got was very simply a text message. It was pretty informal and it was, hey, one of your classmates from your coaching program, you really stood out to them and I’m looking for a coach and they recommended you. So how can we get started? How can we connect? And so it’s really predominantly referrals that come my way. And to answer your question specifically about my most recent, it was it was very much that through a referral.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:43] Now are you doing anything that helps the referrals come or are you just doing good work and then they just happen organically?

Alecia Wellen: [00:16:52] You know, for me, this started out as a side hustle, right? So I myself am very much in a growth phase. And so I only work with a certain number of clients for a certain period of time throughout the year. I care a lot about quality over quantity. And so it’s for right now, it’s doing the best work that I can like. I said, giving back and helping people and sort of watching them blossom in their own graduation days. And so we’ll see where it goes from here. But for now, it’s really just doing the work that I know that I’m good at. And having that come back to me in the way of new clients or, like I said, repeat clients. So that’s kind of how it is for now.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:32] Well, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you. What is the website?

Alecia Wellen: [00:17:39] So my website is very simply Alicia Whelan dot com. I also do have an Instagram page, Alicia Whelan coaching as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:48] And that’s Allie CIA W.E.F LLC and. You got it. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today, you’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Alecia Wellen: [00:18:01] Also, well, thank you so much for having me, this has been really nice, I really appreciate Vietnam.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:05] All right, this is Lee Kantor will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Steve Denton With Ware2Go

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Steve Denton With Ware2Go
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Steve Denton is the CEO of Ware2Go, a UPS company. Digital technology and AI executive, Steve Denton has spent 20 years reimagining digital sales channels to level the playing field for companies to compete and win.

A serial entrepreneur with deep expertise in digital technology, ecommerce and AI and a proven track record of building high-performance organizations, Denton has now turned his focus to creating smarter fulfillment networks and democratizing 1 to 2-day delivery as the CEO of Ware2Go.

Prior to joining Ware2Go, Denton was President and CRO of Collectivei, a company that uses B2B data to make sales organizations more informed, efficient and profitable.

He served as CEO of GSI Media, which sold to eBay in 2011, then as GM and VP of eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions, where he oversaw billions in ecommerce revenue and ran nine advertising and martech companies.

He also served as President and CEO of Rakuten LinkShare after serving in multiple executive positions at LinkShare prior to its acquisition by Rakuten. Prior to his career in technology, Steve held leadership roles at FedEx and Pepsi.

He is passionate about leveraging technology to solve complex problems and enable merchants of all sizes to compete in the new era of Business to Everyone (B2E).

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Supply Chain Challenges for Merchants Ahead of Holiday Season
  • Who would benefit from working with Ware2Go
  • the biggest challenges your customers are facing
  • Advice for merchants selling across multiple marketplaces and sales channels this holiday season

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

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 onpay 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 on pay. Without them, we could not be sharing these important stories today on the Atlanta Business Radio. We have Steve Denton with where2go. Welcome, Steve.

Steve Denton: [00:00:43] Hey, Lee. Good, good to talk to you, and thanks for having me on the show.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about where to go. How are you serving, folks?

Steve Denton: [00:00:52] Well, I think the best way to think about us is think about us like you think about Uber or you think about Airbnb. Right. We’re we’re a technology company. But instead of connecting riders and drivers or hosts and folks that want to stay in their houses, we connect merchants who have products to sell into a network of warehouses across the country that all have different capabilities and and capacity. We connect that through one single technology platform. We connect them through Tier one carriers and transportation providers and layer in enterprise quality data insights and business intelligence, so that these small and midsize businesses have really three things. One, supply chain with a footprint that allows them to offer two day delivery to anyone in the country via ground to flexibility to be able to meet the demands of today’s evolving supply chain change and three enterprise grade analytics and business intelligence so they can compete and win at today’s sales environment.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:52] Now, when you say small to midsize, how are you defining that and what makes kind of the profile of that customer that fits that, that description?

Steve Denton: [00:02:00] Sure. Our typical customer does anywhere between, say, $5 million a year in gross merchandise sales, two hundred and fifty million a year of gross merchandise sales. We certainly have clients that are are less than that that might have some specific needs or some unique challenges and certainly have many that are above that, but that’s right there in that sweet spot for us.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:20] So now what are some of the challenges that they’re facing, where you’re the right fit for them?

Steve Denton: [00:02:26] I think I think the biggest challenge is if you think about today’s entrepreneurs, you know, they’re really great marketers. They’re great at selling products, manufacturing products, providing great service and but where their challenge is, you know, competing with large enterprises on the supply chain side, right? So if you think about it, I think that digital landscape is really leveled the playing field so that companies of all sizes can compete digitally for sales, different budgets, but certainly can compete. But when it comes to supply chain, you’re shipping out of your own garage or your basement or a storage facility that you have in your area of the country. It’s really hard for you to compete for today’s connected consumer that expects access to the world’s inventory at a transparent price point. They want those goods tomorrow or the next day, and they’re not interested in paying for shipping, and they want an easy returns process. So it’s just it’s an area where you don’t have a level playing field. So for for those merchants who want to compete for global customers and want to offer the same experience to those consumers that an enterprise would offer, we help them and we level that playing field and we do it in a way that is asset light doesn’t require a capital commitment and works very much like Uber. It’s a pay as you go model. So that flexibility and that intelligence and that footprint for them tied to Tier one service providers is actually a huge way for them to win and compete in today’s economy.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:56] So now walk me through logistically how that’s going to happen. Say that I am that person you described. I have a giant warehouse or I’m using a giant warehouse in my market and I’m saying, You know what? I want to serve folks coast to coast. Let’s start with America. So now what do I have to do different? How do I kind of partner with you and how do you help me kind of solve this problem?

Steve Denton: [00:04:18] Sure. So so let’s use a real use case. Let’s say you’re based here in Atlanta and you’ve got a warehouse here and you’ve got thirty two percent of your customers on the West Coast. So those West Coast customers really now have a ground option of four day delivery, four to five day ground, or you can send it air. Either one’s going to either drive a lower customer engagement score because I’m not willing to wait four to five days for that or two. You’re going to have to eat it in margin because you’re going to subsidize it because I’m probably not interested as a consumer paying for air when I can just get it delivered to me in one or two days from somewhere else. So what we would do is we take a look at your sales history or technology, a technology platform called Network View and analyzes your sales. It looks at your sales projections and maps it out and says, Hey, let’s keep your warehouse in Atlanta, right? You own that. That’s your asset. Let’s subsidize that with the warehouse in Sparks, Nevada. And with that new footprint, you’re going to be able to offer eighty eight percent of your customers today or less ground delivery. We figure out the technology figures out the percentage of the inventory and the SKUs based on your sales and your projected sales to play some forward stage and sparks Nevada.

Steve Denton: [00:05:33] That’s a simple technology integration. We’re connected to see you’re on Shopify, that’s your cart. So it connects to your Shopify cart or distributed order management system routes the orders either to the Sparks warehouse or your Atlanta warehouse. They get shipped out either from you in Atlanta or our team out in sparks, and then we close the loop. Are you with your accounting system and your CRM so that you can email when the tracking number and we close it out financially in your QuickBooks or whatever financial application you’re using? So it’s relatively straightforward set up, it’s all done through technology. And the nice thing about it is you’re getting involved and you’re paying as you go. If you ship 10 packages, you’ll pay for 10 and you’ll pay for the labor for 10. If you ship two hundred, you pay for the labor for two hundred and the shipping for two hundred. So in today’s economy, right, we’re warehouse workers are really hard to find and you’ve got a labor shortage there. That flexible labor model labor model works really well for you and allows you to execute against that in a way you couldn’t do it on your own.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:34] So now if folks aren’t kind of leveraging your platform and are kind of doing it by themselves, is that really contributing to some of these supply chain issues that you’re hearing so much about nowadays?

Steve Denton: [00:06:48] No, I mean, it would be it’s hard to do it on your own. But most of the supply chain issues that that are happening today, it’s not really a function of folks trying to do it on their own. You really got three three pinch points. They’re one. Manufacturing’s been online all year, but the ports are jammed up. I think recently I read an article there’s like seventy two container freighters out in the Port of Los Angeles, right? And just starting to work around the clock. And so you’re having trouble right now getting goods into the country. So that’s creating a pinch point. The other side of that is you’ve got more inventory in this country than you’ve had previously. So you’ve got a ton of inventory in this country right now that didn’t sell last year. So depending on where you were from a good standpoint on the side of the pandemic, if you were selling exercise equipment or you were selling consumer products or health care equipment or Home Office goods, things like that, then you probably made out pretty well in terms of sales. If you were on the other side of that, maybe apparel and things like that, you’re sitting on a lot of inventory right now. So you’ve got record levels of inventory in this country, record levels of inventory coming in and about five and a half percent vacancy rates in the warehouses. You combine that with the port congestion and then the shift of B to B to B to C or as I like to call, I call it business to everyone. You’ve got capacity issues in the transportation providers. That’s what’s causing your biggest pinch points right now. Those three things.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:24] So how does this get resolved?

Steve Denton: [00:08:27] Well, I think one, you’re going to see the holiday season start early, right? So retailers right now are concerned about having enough inventory for the holiday season. At the same time, they’re sitting on a decent amount of inventory. So I think you’re going to see holiday promotions moved away early this year in order to do a couple of things. One, clear out old inventory. So I think you’re going to see a lot of buy one get one and the get one is going to be some inventory that needs to get moved too. I don’t think you’re going to see a ton of deep discounting, as you’ve seen in previous holiday season, just because the lack of inventory that a lot of these retailers and merchants are going to have. And then and then lastly, consumer behavior, right? I mean, I think you’re hard-pressed to ask anyone that, you know, did they receive or ship a holiday gift last year that got delivered late and most of them would probably raise their hand and say yes. And I think from a consumer standpoint, we kind of saw the impact of that on last holiday season. So I think there’s a good opportunity to shift consumer behavior and pull it forward for the holiday season this year.

Steve Denton: [00:09:37] So you you’ll start seeing holiday sales or holiday promotions like any day now it’s all going to get pulled forward. We need to drive in early quarter, get the goods cleared out of the warehouses, drive sales and and free up the congestion in the ports. And that’s why they’re working 24 seven. And and then the last thing about it is being smart about where you’re placing your inventory. It doesn’t make any sense to place inventory that’s going to sit for nine months in a in a in a warehouse that’s near Port City, right? You’re tying up valuable space and you’re paying a premium for that. If you’ve got goods that need to go into long term storage because that’s just the reality of what it is right now, it makes sense to work with a company like ours or other providers to find long term storage needs in the center of the country where you’re going to pay less. There’s more availability from warehouse space and free up that warehouse space and the port cities, which is typically on the coast now.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:34] Do you think that this is going to create some scar tissue for some people that used to maybe doing things like just in time? And then now they’re saying, look, we’ve got to hold on to some stuff because we can’t trust this supply chain anymore.

Steve Denton: [00:10:49] Yeah, just in time has been really hard. That’s been a. Hard way to execute for the last two years, right? The lean process is really smart, but it’s been hard to execute just for the unforeseen. So you’re already starting to see those shifts, right? I mean, you see right now the number of electronics, whether whether they’re cars or exercise equipment that are just sitting because they don’t have the right computer chips. We see a lot of goods coming in for our customers that are coming and it might be missing two or three items. So it’s creating this whole new economy. Lee, around different service providers that are actually installing these in the warehouses or the distribution facilities when it was actually happening previously at the manufacturing center overseas. So. So I think from a scar tissue standpoint, it’s the diversification of the suppliers and and spreading that out over the year and building a little bit more buffer in your inventory, which ultimately is just more costly. We’ll come through the other side of this. I mean, last year, there were issues that challenge last year. This time was manufacturing had been offline, right? So the big issue was cargo jets being able to get the inventory into the country this year. Manufacturing’s been online, so it’s the cargo ships that are having trouble getting into the country and it’s just a longer transit time. So definitely scar tissue built up. It’s having people rethink their supply chain, especially from the manufacturing side, and carrying more inventory than they normally would carry, which is again, why you’re seeing more inventory coming into this country right now.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:24] So now, as part of where to goes kind of scope of service, are you seeing that adjustment in that side as well? Like, you’re kind of putting the last pieces of the pie together for some folks?

Steve Denton: [00:12:36] Well, it’s interesting because when we started the business right, our our offering really started once you got the goods into the country, right? So we would inbound your goods from whatever port you were bringing them into in the country. Or maybe you had brought them into a staging warehouse and then we would take it from there into our network and and we would do the warehousing in the last mile as as times have changed, right? And more and more of these customers or clients need need more help. We’ve expanded our services to actually start working directly with the manufacturers and importing those goods from from overseas destinations and getting involved early and often just because our technology provides better visibility into it. And then frankly, as part of being a UPS company, we’ve got access to resources and assets that a lot of our customers don’t, so we can bring those to bear for the benefit of our clients and and their consumers. It works out good. So we’ve had to expand our offerings to move further up the food chain to provide a more end to end experience versus just final warehousing and last mile.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:49] So now what advice do you have for folks that are selling in multiple marketplaces and sales channels for the holiday season? Is it is the diecast already? Is there anything to be done?

Steve Denton: [00:14:03] Well, I think I think look, digital channels allow you a lot of flexibility and you know, more often, you know, you can turn the dial up and turn the dial down. With with with a lot less lead time right than traditional sales channels. So as more and more of merchants and retailers and manufacturers are selling digitally and selling more and more digitally, the nuances of that really come around. The first one is around inventory, right? So the first the first thing a lot of folks need to think about is fencing their inventory. And what I mean by fencing their inventory is, let’s say you’re working in multiple marketplaces, you’re working on Amazon, maybe you’re working on eBay or Wayfair and you’ve got multiple marketplaces where you’re working. You need to be able to fence your inventory and say, Okay, I’ve got just make up a number. I got a thousand units, you know, I don’t want to make the entire thousand units available to all the channels equally, because you might have different margins and different channels. You might have different price points. There’s different levels of expectations. So the first thing you need to be able to do is fence your inventory. And so I’m going to make four hundred of these available on Amazon. I’m going to make 200 available on eBay, and I’m going to reserve some of this for direct sales, right? The folks that are directly navigating to my site, people that are on my email list, consumers that I have a relationship with directly versus just through marketplaces. So fencing the inventory is one of those things that a lot of folks learn the hard way, because if you’re if you’re in one of these channels, right, and they run a blow up sale and and things go gangbusters, you can quickly find yourself out of inventory, which seems like a good idea, except for those consumers that you’ve built a relationship that are on your email list and they’re coming directly to your site, navigating and finding that.

Steve Denton: [00:15:50] Promoted, but you don’t have the inventory, so fencing that inventory is really critical. And I always like to pass that on. It’s just a digital sales best practice. And then I think on the supply chain side is really having a diversified footprint, right? Because you’re going to be able to get these goods in the hands of your consumers because I think you’re going to see if you’re not going to see discounting. As deep or steep as you’ve seen it in previous holiday seasons, then the consumers then are going to be looking for fast and free delivery. And recently we ran a study and it shows like seventy two percent of the merchants are planning on free and fast delivery this holiday season, where 36 percent of them only do it year round. So I think you’re going to see a premium on that and then you’re going to see a premium on easy returns. Right, and if you can’t compete there, it’s going to be really tough, so venture inventory? Have a diversified footprint. And free and fast shipping, easy returns, and then the last piece is you’ve got to go early. You can’t wait. Right, because if you wait too late, you’ve just you’ve got to pull it forward and it’s going to give you a better experience.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:03] Well, good stuff. Congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team. What’s the website?

Steve Denton: [00:17:11] Sure, it’s WW w where to go, and that’s where are the number to go. And we’d love to have a conversation with you.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:23] All right, Steve, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Steve Denton: [00:17:26] Thanks, Leigh. You guys have a great week and thanks for the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:29] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

 

Jamie Cecil With The Brass Tap

by

Franchise Marketing Radio
Franchise Marketing Radio
Jamie Cecil With The Brass Tap
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Brought To You By SeoSamba . . . Comprehensive, High Performing Marketing Solutions For Mature And Emerging Franchise Brands . . . To Supercharge Your Franchise Marketing, Go To seosamba.com.

Jamie Cecil with The Brass Tap, graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Management.

For the past 20 years, he has worked for various restaurant groups in franchise development and operations roles.

Follow The Brass Tap on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by SEO Samba Comprehensive, high performing marketing solutions for mature and emerging franchise brands to supercharge your franchise marketing. Go to SEOSamba.com that’s SEOSamba.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Jamie Cecil with brass tap. Welcome.

Jamie Cecil: [00:00:41] Thank you, Lee. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to learn more about what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about the brass tap. How are you serving, folks?

Jamie Cecil: [00:00:50] Well, in Brass Tap is a it’s a craft beer bar kind of entertainment venue. We have an extensive local kind of brewery offerings local craft beer, specialty cocktails, premium wines. When we pair that with a great company of food items as well, so every location is a little bit a little bit unique. About three thousand thirty two hundred square feet. Nice, comfortable feel. We’ve been franchising now since twenty twelve and things are going well.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:21] Now, can you tell us a little bit about the history? Did it start out with kind of being a franchise in mind or was this kind of a local hangout that just organically grew?

Jamie Cecil: [00:01:31] Yeah, you know, it started in 2008. There were three partners that got together, and they kind of saw a unique kind of a niche, if you will, for craft beer. And they were like, you know, no one’s really doing it and no one. Some people that were doing it weren’t doing it well. So they created this thing, and it was just at the time it was just craft beer and wine. There was no food component and they opened the first one up and here in Tampa and Wesley Chapel back in 2008, and it went well and then they started franchising it on their own realized that that wasn’t a good option, or they weren’t doing it very well. So we, as FSC got involved in twenty twelve and quickly craft beer was at that time was still very esoteric. You know, you couldn’t go anywhere and everywhere and find a craft beer. You know, now you go to Walmart everywhere and find craft beer. So we we found out through a bunch of surveys and things like that that we needed to bring on liquor. And we also brought on food as well because at first we were having, you know, restaurants come from outside and bringing food in. So we’re like, let’s, let’s keep that money in here. So we’ve done a great job with our menu and then brought liquor on them on board as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:45] And that’s just part of the natural evolution of the the business, right? You’re just listening to your customers and they’re kind of guiding you into what they want to need.

Jamie Cecil: [00:02:54] Exactly, exactly. The key thing was, you know, we we didn’t want to novo because there’s, you know, a lot of people out there, they just drink cocktails. So a craft beer bar is not going to really appeal to them. So bringing that alcohol bring in the upgraded wine and obviously bringing the food is done several things. One, it’s increased the sales and it’s and it’s really helped kind of elongate the stay when people come. And it’s something crews increase the sales, like I said a second ago.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:23] Now are you finding that craft beer and craft brewing is now kind of raised everybody’s game? Everybody is kind of having to to be a little better where maybe as a society we were tolerating not so great beer, you know, a few decades ago.

Jamie Cecil: [00:03:41] Yeah, it’s funny you say that because our opening team goes out and you know, when we first started opening brass taps, twenty twelve twenty thirteen, they would ask their, you know, the people that were actually for training, but they OK, you know, what is everybody think a craft beer, you know, they get they might get a a stellar or something like that and they’re like, Oh my gosh. Now craft beer, when they ask that question, you know, people, oh yeah. You know, zombie dust or there, talk all these great craft beers. So definitely craft beers is definitely more mainstream now, and the people’s knowledge of it has increased greatly over the years.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:17] Now, do you see that trend just continuing to blossom? Is this are we at kind of the beginning of this, even though it seems like in a lot of places, there’s a lot of choices now that there weren’t before, but it seems like we’re kind of in the beginning of this curve. Not it hasn’t reached maturity by any stretch, I wouldn’t imagine nationwide.

Jamie Cecil: [00:04:35] We agree 100 percent. You know, there’s still a lot, but there’s craft breweries open up left and right. Obviously, 20 20 put a little little halt on the craft brewing kind of bolt. But twenty one we’re seeing craft breweries open, left and right and people that are producing great craft beer. That’s who we want to partner with when we come into town. We let all the craft breweries know that we’re coming and they definitely want to be on our on our wall. We’ve got 60 types of craft beer and you know, they fight to get on that wall, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:05:09] You become almost like a hub of all the choices, right?

Jamie Cecil: [00:05:14] Exactly. Yeah. And we’ll do things like we’ll do what we call a tap takeover, for example, and we’ll we’ll partner with a particular brewery. And, you know, depending on how many of their brewing at the time, it could be 10, 15 or 20, and they’ll come over and they’ll take over those 15 20 taps and we’ll do a a special just on. On their their beers for that night, and those things really draw a great crowd because, you know, people like that that that that newness and the idea of they can come to one spot and get a whole bunch of different craft beer instead of kind of skipping all over town, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:05:45] Like you become the curator for the community.

Jamie Cecil: [00:05:49] Exactly.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:50] Now, when you started kind of when you got into the franchising stuff, obviously it wasn’t as you didn’t have all of the kind of these kind of flywheels going at the same time. Do you see a future? Like what is what is the kind of the next iteration of this? You’ve added the the cocktails, you’ve added, the wine, you’ve added the food and you’re the curator in the community. Are there new things in the horizon that you’re looking at adding to the mix as well?

Jamie Cecil: [00:06:19] You know, obviously it just now it’s finally it just keeps polishing it. You know, right now we’re testing a new line of gourmet grilled cheeses and some of our locations. You know, there’s five different gourmet grilled cheeses that we’re working on. We’re also rolling out a brunch program that is obviously it’s done extremely well in the locations that have started. So those are, you know, you talk about what are we work on next? Those are kind of the things that are going to help just continue to elevate Brass Town.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:47] Right? It sounds like you’re really you have kind of now all the pillars are in place and now you’re just kind of, like you said, polishing them all up.

Jamie Cecil: [00:06:55] Exactly. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:57] Now, how did you help your folks kind of manage the pandemic and still managing the pandemic? Like this, to me, is one of the the powers of franchising and being with the right franchise partner, having kind of a lot of brains solving on this problem can help the folks as opposed to being a mom and pop in the local market where they don’t have all these resources. But can you share how you’ve helped your folks kind of survive and thrive in this environment?

Jamie Cecil: [00:07:24] Almost definitely. And yeah, that was it was an interesting year last year, of course. You know, one of the things that we did, obviously the day it happened. Chris Elliott, our CEO, we called all the executive team together like, OK, you know, it’s kind of like battle stations. How can we help our franchisees stay in business? Because nobody, you know, there’s not there wasn’t a playbook on this thing. So several of the things that we did, you know, we reduced and eliminated royalties, you know, put all royalties and market fees on on hold for all of our franchisees. Then we went to bat on the other PPP money. When those things came out, that was a massive document for the four franchises for everybody to read. Scott Lewis, our CEO, sat down and went page by page on that thing and really helped our franchisees kind of walk through. How do I apply for this money? How do I get it? What do I need to do? We work with the franchisees to help them get their money. The other thing that we did, we work with our franchisees and on my side, on the development side, with their leases reaching out to the landlords and walking them through and how how we can help the the landlords understand better what’s going on in our world. And fortunately, we were we were able to save a bunch of stores. You know, we we didn’t have any closures last year and brass tap this year is having its best year ever from a sales standpoint, obviously from a deal signing standpoint as well. So I’m really proud of how we helped our franchisees kind of weather this storm that unfortunately there wasn’t a playbook for

Lee Kantor: [00:08:58] Right and that shows kind of the nimbleness of the organization and and just kind of the all hands on deck attitude. And that’s what I’m sure new franchisees are want to hear those stories because that gives them some comfort in their decision. Now do you find that that the way the economy is set up now in this year and in the coming year that this is kind of a I don’t want to say a golden age for franchises, but it seems like there’s a lot of interest in franchising now as people are either kind of sick and tired of the grind and and want to kind of have a say in terms of their financial future and then are kind of taking personal accountability and looking at franchising as a path to secure their financial future. Are you seeing that as well at the Brass tab?

Jamie Cecil: [00:09:51] Oh yeah, most definitely. People, people want to control their their destiny. Like you said, they don’t want someone else going, Oh, OK, today you have a job, by the way. Tomorrow you don’t they they want to. They want to control their their future and franchising. And obviously, the brass tap is a great vehicle for for doing that. You know, you are your own boss and you can you can make a make a great success out of this thing. So yeah, so we’re seeing a lot of people that want to control their future step up and join brass tap.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:26] So now what is that ideal franchisee look like for you? Or is it somebody that has? Has kind of hospitality, food service, background or is it that kind of enterprise level executive?

Jamie Cecil: [00:10:36] Let see a key because it’s, you know, we do have food and there’s a little bit of liquor. But I tell you just a strong business acumen and understanding how business works and how to take care of customers. So strong business acumen, ability to, to want, need and desire to to serve the community. Restaurant experience helps. But again, our training program is going to help them kind of understand all the moving pieces of brass tap.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:07] And then so so you are getting some of those kind of corporate refugees that are saying, Hey, you know, I’m done or I got laid off for the last time and reordered out of this. I am going to do this on my own and then they raise their hand and go, You know what? In Tampa, I went to this place. I really liked it, and I think that would be a cool thing to open in my town.

Jamie Cecil: [00:11:26] Exactly. Yep, most definitely. We’re seeing we’re seeing a strong influx of that.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:30] And then when they go through that process, is there any kind of how would you advise them on choosing a franchise? And obviously, you know, you have the brass, Tobias. But when someone’s going from corporate into this kind of a world, what are some of the things they should be looking out for?

Jamie Cecil: [00:11:47] Well, you know, I mean, there’s a there’s a myriad of them. Obviously, the PhD is kind of the place to start and work your way through that and obviously get they need to pick something that they’re they have a passion for, you know, and we’re forcing at the brass tap. You know, most people have always wanted to own their own bar, right? So at the brass tap, it’s, you know, I want to own my own bar. Well, we have the vehicle to help you do that. So, you know, that’s a unique selling point that we have a brass tap because at some point and everybody’s everyone’s setting the bar going, man, we could own one of these. This would be fun to do, wouldn’t it? And then obviously a little turn in the economy and now people want to control their own destiny. So brass tap fits perfectly with that.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:32] So now let’s talk about the craft brewers that are out there that want to partner with the brass tap. What do they have to do to get on your radar to kind of show that they got the right stuff to be on your in your bar?

Jamie Cecil: [00:12:45] Well, we try and do local craft beer. So for example, the tap while in Tampa is going to be different than the tap wall in Dallas, Texas, which can be different than the tap ball in Kalispell, Montana. So, you know, reaching out to the local franchisee if there’s if they’re a craft brewer in the state of Montana, reaching out to the franchisee there in Kalispell, Montana, and checking in with him, that would be a perfect way to do it. Or they can obviously reach out to me and we can put them in contact.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:16] So it’s all kind of the boots on the ground are the ones that are in charge of discovery in terms of, you know, what’s the newest, latest and greatest in their local market?

Jamie Cecil: [00:13:25] Yeah, exactly. Now, you know, obviously we help them. You know, we have a craft brewery expert in-house that can help with that. But you know, most, most guys, once they get up and running, they get it and then they’re out kind of feeling it, you know, tasting beers and all that kind of good stuff. So but starting out, yeah, we’ve got an in-house craft brewery expert that that helps with that relationship.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:50] Now, are you seeing parts of the country that, you know, this kind of craft brewing is bubbling up in areas maybe you didn’t anticipate? Or is this kind of nationwide at this point?

Jamie Cecil: [00:13:59] It’s nationwide at this point. You know, obviously, California started this craze many, many years ago and is still kind of the kingpin for craft brewery or craft brewers. And but we’re seeing it in Texas. We’re seeing it in Florida, we’re seeing it in Oklahoma. I mean, there’s craft breweries blowing up all over the place. So it’s it’s literally nationwide. But I mean, if you want to give someone the kind of the thrown California is kind of the kingpin of craft brewery, good stuff.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:27] Well, congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to get a hold of you and learn more about the opportunity, what’s the website?

Jamie Cecil: [00:14:34] Our website is Brass Tap Beer Bar.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:38] Good stuff, Jamie. Well, thank you again for sharing your story today.

Jamie Cecil: [00:14:43] Thanks, Lee, I appreciate the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:45] All right, this is Lee Kantor, we’ll see all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

Deb Foy With Novus Global

by

Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Deb Foy With Novus Global
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Deb Foy With Novus Global, discovered her passion for the human race after receiving her own coaching experience through a transformative season in her own life.

She fearlessly left behind a successful IT career to embark on a new adventure in the coaching space, and has since reinvented herself into a six-figure executive coach. She simply invites people, teams, and companies to flirt with their greatness and live out their best version of themselves.

As an associate partner and coach for the Meta performance institute, she believes that everyone can transform their life and live the life they were meant to live and fulfill what they are capable of, her story is living proof.

Her life’s mission is to create a space for people to redefine, reinvent, and live fully alive in what’s possible. Deb’s deep care and inspirational ethos has led her to become a sought-after coach with Fortune 500 companies.

Connect with Deb on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How people operate out of 4 human survival needs

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Deb Foy with Novus Global. Welcome, Deb.

Deb Foy: [00:00:43] Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about your practice. How are you serving, folks?

Deb Foy: [00:00:50] Yeah, so I get to create sacred spaces with individuals and allow them to really tap into their full potential and live the life and career that they are capable living.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:04] Now what’s your back story? How did you get into this line of work?

Deb Foy: [00:01:08] I hired a coach and my life transformed and I was able to do exactly what I told you live to my fullest capacity. And now I get to actually do that with others.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:19] Now what were you doing where you thought a coach could help you?

Deb Foy: [00:01:23] I was an I.T. executive running teams. Thought I was running teams to their fullest capability and realizing that I really wasn’t, but not not knowing that. And so this really opened up a lot of things for me to really work with people and have them truly look at what is holding them back.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:45] Now, with getting a coach at that time, was that something you thought of on your own? You said, Hey, I need a coach or was that something that your organization you were with said, You know what? Coaching is important to us, and we’re going to assign coaches to certain people.

Deb Foy: [00:01:59] And I know there is an individual in my life that said, I think you need a coach. And then I actually paid for it out of my own pocket at first. And then, yeah, and then the rest is history. I was able to really start to get results that I was always looking for. And then, you know, other people then started to support it.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:22] Now, do you find that in companies today, there are more open to coaching and that coaching is just part of the kind of way they serve their employees?

Deb Foy: [00:02:32] I think it’s I think it’s turning into that. I still think there is a ramp up for people to really understand what coaching can do, not only just for the individual but for teams and the actual culture within companies.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:48] So what are some of the ways that you see a coach kind of helping transform somebody to be kind of a better them?

Deb Foy: [00:02:57] Yeah. So often when I I I coach individuals like in corporate America, is that we we don’t really show up pre-determined. And to get max value out of things, we just kind of show up and just let life. We live life. So we kind of show up in and disempowered ways and we kind of get in our own way and we don’t even see that we do that because that’s our default. And that’s how we kind of just show up and operate from our our operating system, if you will.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:34] Now there’s a line from a movie. I forgot what movie was, but the character said he’s a twig on the river of life. And and that’s kind of struck me because I think a lot of people, it’s how you described they were kind of just just going along with the current and whatever happens, you know, they’re kind of reacting to it as it happens. It sounds like in your kind of framework, it’s more you get to be more proactive and make more choices.

Deb Foy: [00:04:01] Absolutely. Yeah. And I and I love what comes to mind is the for human survival needs when you talk about the twig because we talk about like that in a lazy river. You know, we all most of us have been in the lazy river. You just hop on a tube and you kind of go where it takes you. And that’s exactly I love that twig and analogy because like when when we have an awareness around some of the things and how we operate, we don’t necessarily want to go where that current is taking us.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:31] So tell us about those for human survival needs and how your framework helps us kind of get the most out of ourselves.

Deb Foy: [00:04:40] Yeah. So the first one would be looking good. And in most cases, we’re more committed to one or a cocktail of these four needs. And you know, when when you see somebody walking down the street and they actually trip and fall, what’s the first thing that they typically do is they get up and they look around and see if anybody saw them because we’re really focused on looking looking good, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:05:08] And it’s something that they’re less concerned about their own well-being. But if somebody saw them, that would be more hurtful to themselves.

Deb Foy: [00:05:17] Right. And so that that shows up that can show up in many different aspects in our lives. But just think about in the corporate setting when we show up at a in a boardroom or a meeting of some type that we show up and we’re more committed to looking good than anything else, whatever the meeting is about kind of thing. And so that that shows up more than just walking down the street and then stumbling. The second one would be feeling good. And again, you know, we have we have a may have a tough day and we want to like stop the pain, right? And what are we typically want to do is we want to come home. We want to like grab our favorite snack foods, sit down and maybe not flex it out because we just want to feel good. We want to we want to self comfort and we’re focused on that more than anything else sometimes. And that shows up in many other facets too of I’m just really more focused on just feeling good in this moment in time.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:13] So what are the other two

Deb Foy: [00:06:16] The other two is? One of my favorites is being right more than sex or heroin. Our brain wants to be right about something. And I always ask, what do people’s brain want to be right about? And it’s usually around our limitations when we have a story that we usually share in the space of, you know, your kid gets their license, you throw them the keys, the car and you say, get, you know, be home by eleven o’clock. And so story plays out. Where are the parents at ten point fifty nine, usually right at that door, waiting for that kid to come home and the kid comes home and it’s ten fifty nine. And what’s the first thing that’s said to them? Is cutting it close, aren’t you? Because why? Because they wanted to be right. Right? I’m not saying so. And again, how that shows up in so many aspects of our life. So, so the last one is being in control. And so we we as human beings, we want to be in control and so, so often we don’t plan ahead. You know, so often I’ve been late for a meeting. So you find yourself at the light, the green light, and you’re like, you know, come on, come on, baby change change because we want to be in control and we feel like we’re in control, but yet we are in control. But it’s that need so these for human survival needs at any one time that we’re more committed to or a cocktail of them that kind of gets in the way and is possibly a pattern that shows up in our life, that gets in the way of the very things that we say that we want.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:56] So then we we have kind of most people you believe have kind of a north star. There is something that they are aiming at. And then some of these, I guess you call them survival needs get in the way of them achieving that because there are almost self-sabotaging themselves as they go towards that goal.

Deb Foy: [00:08:16] Absolutely. Yeah, we all have a, like you say, North Star. We like to say vision, right? We all do have a vision regardless, regardless if it’s written down or not that we are moving towards and they’re all always movement in our lives. But then yet we are more committed to one of these four things, and there’s a host of other things that we, you know, gaps in our lives that that hold us back, that we allow to hold us back. And we don’t we don’t even know our relationship or narrative around these things, typically.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:48] So is that where a coach can come in and ask some probing questions and really kind of dig maybe layers deep and not just take things at face value and really kind of probe and see what is that vision? What is the steps they’re taking and make them aware of some of the self-sabotage, or maybe just kind of unconscious activities that they’ve been doing?

Deb Foy: [00:09:13] Absolutely. And it’s a space like no other that is able if people show up in that vulnerable, authentic way, going like this is what’s going on. This is how it is occurring to me. And this is what is kind of getting in my way. We can unpack those things and the very things that we’re always available to them will become crystal clear and more in focus. And therefore they’re able to then move toward and move the needle towards those very things that they want instead of the things that they didn’t want.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:43] Now do you find that the folks that can be vulnerable and have enough kind of self-awareness to even raise their hand to be open to having coaching are are kind of going to get the most out of this? And the folks that maybe need the most coaching are the ones that aren’t self-aware and that they do not kind of look deeper into themselves.

Deb Foy: [00:10:09] Yeah. So so what? What comes up for me when you share that is that everyone comes to the space in a different level of awareness and we are we’re able as coaches to work with whatever level of awareness that they have and to open that up for them. And so, yeah, the ones that possibly know that that they have a different level of awareness and want something different possibly would start in a different place. And those that maybe don’t have awareness would start in in a different place. But we can get those all those people into a place where they’re moving the needle and actually achieving the results that they’re looking to achieve in their life.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:52] Now is this framework that you’ve developed. Is this something that you developed yourself or is this something that you’ve just kind of cobbled together from other folks? How did you come about this?

Deb Foy: [00:11:04] Well, yeah. Well, no. This global, we kind of our foundation and my methodology focuses on the human survival needs, but also focuses around what we call go live. And it stands for growth, ownership, love, integrity, vision and energy. And when you unpack your relationship in the narratives around that, for individuals, teams and cultures within companies, people begin to show up differently. People begin to really start to tap into their energy and their potential like they’ve never have before.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:46] Now in your work, do you work primarily with individuals, maybe entrepreneurs? Or is it something you go to enterprise level organizations and work with entire teams?

Deb Foy: [00:11:56] We do both, and we actually branch out into other avenues as well and work with a lot of professional athletes as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:04] So in that in your work, then it can be a variety of folks and. And the outcome isn’t always kind of a business case, it could be like you said an athlete who is just trying to kind of get the most out of themselves.

Deb Foy: [00:12:17] Absolutely. We do a lot of mindset performance coaching for athletes. Hmm.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:24] Now can you share a story, maybe with an entrepreneur, maybe you work, I’m sure, with some coaches as well, but a story where they came to you and they had a challenge and maybe explain the challenge. Obviously, don’t name the name, but explain the challenge they had worked with you and then the new level you were able to help them get to.

Deb Foy: [00:12:43] Yeah. So we worked with a team within an industry and they hired us to really to actually. Enhance their leadership within the individual members of the team and then in in in the result would be the team in their leadership capability. So we went well beyond that and in working with us, we were able to when someone when a team actually creates their goals and objectives for the year, it usually takes months. And in our two in three day training, we had them do this and basically they were done with their goals and objectives within an afternoon. And then we followed up with a coaching engagement and in that coaching engagement, they were able to save $60 million just as it relates to shortening their product launch because of our coaching and how we then continued to invite them into expanding their intuitive fences. And what I mean by an intuitive sense is that what you think is possible and what you think is impossible. So when working with us, we expanded their fence saying that they could continue to reduce the timeline for that production, and they were able to save $60 million. In addition to that, that same team, actually prior to working with us, wanted to go after business that they thought was impossible to be awarded. And in working with us, we then expanded their intuitive fence around that. They went after that business and they were actually awarded that new business that they thought was once impossible to achieve.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:38] Why do you think so many people don’t aim higher?

Deb Foy: [00:14:45] Um, there’s we believe that leaders and and I call everyone a leader because we lead our own life. Always struggle with underestimating their ability and underestimating their team’s ability. So we like to say and we deem this phrase and copyrighted it, it’s met a performance. So we don’t, you know, it’s always a buzz of high performers. We say, what is a better performer? Performers ask themselves in their teams, What are they capable of? Which there’s no ceiling to. So when you begin to have that shift and you begin to ask yourself and others that very question. You begin to really challenge yourself and ignite your energy as it relates to doing and accomplishing that result.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:41] Now, one of the reasons we do this show is to help other coaches learn from each other. Can you share with our listeners how you got your last client? How did your last client come to you and your team?

Deb Foy: [00:15:54] So this person I was talking to. It was a referral, actually someone that they knew had coached with me. And so they were they were recommended, said, Hey, you really need with what I’m hearing from you. I really think this firm could help you in achieving the goals that you’re looking to achieve. So we had a conversation and in fact, you know, we actually have a conversation around, is it a good fit? Is it a good fit for them and is a good fit for us? And then in talking to this person, they had some pretty, pretty awesome goals that they were going after and they didn’t know how they were going to achieve them. And so then that’s how I got my last client. And and again, you know, word of mouth is comes from a very strong place because that person has experienced it in there like this is what you need in order to get what you’re looking for. And that’s typically how we get most of our business is by word of mouth and the life changing experience that those people had, that they want to share with people in their in their system.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:05] And how do you kind of help them or encourage them to share when some folks who go or work with a coach of any kind, they either like to keep it on the down low like so they can have people think they’re doing this all on their own, or they’re embarrassed not by your work, but just embarrassed that they might need help or they don’t have all the answers. How do you kind of help your clients have the confidence to recommend you and refer you and share the good work that you’re doing?

Deb Foy: [00:17:37] I think what happens is that their language starts to change. They actually start to show up differently, more confident and in ways where people around them begin to ask them, What are you doing differently? And then they’re just they just share honestly, like, yeah, I’ve started to coach because they really recognize not only is their language changing, they’re changing it, they’re actually seeing the shifts and the transformation right before their very eyes. And they usually ask these people what’s going on and what’s different about you? And they share in that regard, like, honestly,

Lee Kantor: [00:18:18] Well, is your ideal client you mentioned you work with a variety is the ideal client, though that individual kind of high achiever that’s looking to get to a new level. The, you know, Fortune five hundred or enterprise level company and you mentioned, you know, a high performing athletes, any or all of those are the kind of sweet spot for you and your team.

Deb Foy: [00:18:40] Yeah, absolutely. And I think I think the the most fun I have are the people that are that know they want to change and are looking to change and are ready and willing to do the work.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:55] Right. There’s no shortcut or hack away from doing the work like there’s no kind of silver bullet, I know a lot of folks are looking for something like that, but this this takes some effort.

Deb Foy: [00:19:08] Absolutely. Yeah, I say you can’t get it at a, you know, you can’t pick up a pill and take it. It takes the effort. Yeah. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:15] Well, Deb, congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to learn more and have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website

Deb Foy: [00:19:25] Nova’s global or? My website is also dubbed for Wacom. And so we’d love to have a conversation with you and see what you’re up to and champion you. Advocate for you.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:39] And that’s Novus novel US Global. Well, thank you again for sharing your story, Deb. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you. Thanks so much. All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see, y’all next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Greg Beyer With JDC Group

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Greg Beyer With JDC Group
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JDCgroup

Greg Beyer, Senior Vice President, leads the next generation IT workforce and SAP strategic consulting and advisory practice for JDC Group.

Greg spent 13 years at SAP where he served as head of services sales for the South Market Unit for SAP North America. In this role, Greg was responsible for leading SAP customer transformations to the Intelligent Enterprise across many industries and for all SAP’s product portfolio.

Prior to SAP, Greg provided leadership in various consulting companies including Price Waterhouse and CSC, across multiple industries for more than 20 years in finance, sales and distribution, human resource & payroll management, enterprise resource management, and professional services.

Greg holds an undergraduate degree in History from Lawrence University and an MA from George Washington University – School of Business (GWSB).

Connect with Greg Beyer on LinkedIn and Follow JDC Group on Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • JDC Group’s 16-year history
  • SAP Strategic Consulting and Advisory Solutions group

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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 onpay 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 on pay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories today on the Atlanta Business Radio. We have Greg Beyer with JDC Group. Welcome, Greg.

Greg Beyer: [00:00:42] Hey, Lee, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about JDC Group. How are you serving, folks?

Greg Beyer: [00:00:49] Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s an exciting story. Back in 2005, our founder, Yohannes George, who had been in the Sapp ecosystem for a long time back in the 80s and 90s, he decided it was at the Atlanta area, was was ripe for an opportunity to start a staffing firm around SAP. And so JD, see, you know, they they they focus primarily on SAP opportunities and then expanded from there and to staffing around business transformation. And that’s where we are today, right? Strong relationships in the South and mid-Atlantic areas, primarily around Atlanta. And now we’re expanding that footprint to include SAP is consulting and advisory services.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:33] So now, as part of the evolution, has it been kind of primarily driven by your clients demands or is this something that you’re seeing and ahead and you’re ahead of your client?

Greg Beyer: [00:01:44] Yeah, absolutely. I would say to you that what’s what’s really the market forces for me are creating an opportunity that are are more expansive. And by that, I mean, it’s its customers today need, I would say, a three pronged approach to to support in their IT infrastructure. Their business challenges require sometimes prime implementation work where they have consulting firms come in and advise them and help them consume their software. Other times they they do direct staffing where it’s maybe project based and then then real expertize by individual right solution architects, business process experts, things like that. So really, it’s the market that’s driven this opportunity.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:28] Now are you finding that just more and more major enterprises are kind of choosing SAP and that because of that inherent demand is just really kind of helping your company grow?

Greg Beyer: [00:02:43] Yeah. So, you know, obviously I have a bias here, right? So I’ve been on the SAP ecosystem a long time since the early 90s, in fact, even before I had email. But but I would tell you that SAP is really a leader in digital transformation. Their tools and their applications and the software that they provide is really unparalleled in terms of arrival. And by that, I mean, they also expand out into the hyperscale world. So they’ve got cloud relationships with Google and AWU’s and Microsoft. But in terms of customers, really, I think that the interesting thing around SAP is they’re all hyper focused on on process efficiencies. And this is, I would say, namely due to supply chain issues and challenges around manufacturing as you see them today. And then also there’s labor force issues, right? It’s hard to find good people today. And so SAP can help our customers maximize values, maximize their value, whether that’s doing more with what you have or implementing best in class solutions. And as I mentioned before, the real the real final touch or icing on the cake is, is their relationship out in the marketplace with the hyperscalers and cloud based solutions?

Lee Kantor: [00:03:57] Now, when you’re working with your clients, how does kind of what’s kind of the initial point of entry and then how does it kind of expand once they see the depth of your knowledge and services?

Greg Beyer: [00:04:09] Right, so we we normally engage with customers in the revenue, you know, I would say our sweet spot is three billion and below in terms of revenue, and that’s because these types of customers, we either number one, have an existing relationship with them, supporting them in SAP or non sap I.T. areas. The second thing is they’re looking for a partner to come in and provide them guidance. And what makes us uniquely qualified for this is our ability to be flexible and tailor our delivery model for our customers. So for example, if a customer wants more direct guidance in terms of how to consume their software, whether it’s an architecture question or really a three to five year roadmap, we can provide that assistance. Other customers already have SAP expertize, and so they don’t really want that direct guidance. They want an adaptive model where they can get access to solution architects and specialty services, and we provide that as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:07] Now you mentioned talent earlier. Can you talk about your the backgrounds that your SAP team members have and how do you continue to have a pipeline of quality talent?

Greg Beyer: [00:05:22] Surely I can do that. I think what really positions GDC as a specialty, an experienced group, is that we were our main core team is comprised of former SAP employees. These employees have played various roles in their careers in and around the SAP space, including in program delivery and customer care, account management, business strategy and solution architecture. Every one of us shares similar DNA in terms of we’ve all led implementations. We understand how to run efficient teams and build quality products and drive successful outcomes for our customers. And then lastly, to that point, all of us maintain and have existing relationships within the SAP ecosystem, and that includes even within SAP’s product ownership as well as the executives in Waldorf. So we keep keep a close eye on key decisions around products and the direction each of them is going. And we also keep close relationships in terms of how to solve business challenges that we see every day. And to your to your last question, I think what makes us unique is that we can tailor our implementation offering and we can handpick the people that we know that have the expertize that each customer needs. And so having having those relationships in the ecosystem for years and years really gives us that exposure and opportunity.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:49] And can you share a little bit about how you’ve seen Atlanta and the Southeast grow in terms of an area of growth for consulting and services group like yours in and around SAP? Is this are you kind of very bullish about our future now? I would imagine this is a totally different landscape than it was 16 years ago when GDC started.

Greg Beyer: [00:07:12] Yeah, I would say to you that Atlanta is absolutely a major market in the U.S. there are many Fortune 500 companies here. It’s a hotbed of technology, and there exists what I think is an abundance of opportunity to help our customers innovate. And that for me, even in the last nine, 10 years that I’ve been in the Atlanta space, I’ve seen it grow exponentially. So there’s a ton of opportunity and there’s a need. Right. So our customers, our customers are seeking partners that can help simplify the message and help create successful outcomes outcomes with consuming technology. But the other piece to this for me is GDC has long established relationship and many customers in the Atlanta space in the South, but also specifically in Atlanta. And that customer base allows us to to to uniquely position ourselves to have conversations and figure out how to support our customers, depending on what they’re looking for. And so we we look forward to expanding that footprint and with the the growth and addition of the SAP consulting and advisory services, we’re looking for new customers who seek out that type of partnership that GDC can offer.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:26] Now, are you seeing any trends in the marketplace looking forward into twenty twenty two? Are you seeing, you know, with the remote working? Anything that’s happening that is going to contribute to your success?

Greg Beyer: [00:08:41] You know, it’s it’s we have right? And I mentioned earlier. So e-commerce and supply chain challenges have been a huge topic for us. A lot of customers are seeking advice and input in that area. And I really, as far as the remote model goes, you have to be able to provide a core competency in that space. And so for me, your ability to identify and and be able to drive project implementation work remotely is a key to success. And so that means experience really becomes the most important thing in terms of helping customers have success with their implementations.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:21] Now what do you need more of? How can we help? Do you need more clients? Do you need more talent? What do you what do you need more?

Greg Beyer: [00:09:29] Well, I would tell you both, you know, we’re open to opportunities if customers are seeking advice. We would welcome the chance to meet with them and hear what kind of challenges they’re trying to solve every day. And in terms of talent, it is a never ending quest to to seek out and find high quality people. And it is it is something we talk about every day. And you know, you’re you’re some would say you’re only as good as your latest implementations, and we’re looking for well-rounded people that have high emotional intelligence and willingness to be part of a great team. And that’s what JD is all about.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:07] And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, is there a website?

Greg Beyer: [00:10:13] There is. I can send that to you, but it’s I believe it’s JD.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:19] Yeah, JD Hyphen Group is a website I have here. If somebody wants to connect with you directly, is LinkedIn the best way to do that?

Greg Beyer: [00:10:27] That’s correct. Please have them do that.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:30] Good stuff. Well, Greg, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Greg Beyer: [00:10:33] Thank you, Lee. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:35] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see, y’all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

 

Patrick Metzger With PM and Associates

by

PatrickMetzger
Coach The Coach
Patrick Metzger With PM and Associates
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PMandAssociates

PatrickMetzgerCertified EOS Implementer Patrick Metzger has always been a teacher, coach and facilitator at heart. After spending over a decade as a public school teacher and coach where he helped build high achieving teams and assist them in reaching their goals, he decided to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

After starting his own coaching and consulting business, Patrick transitioned into holistic high performance coaching. Within two years, he was working with clients across North America and performing professional talks and trainings.

Patrick is passionate about using his teaching and coaching skills and expertise in partnering with and supporting teams and leaders for growth and success as an EOS Implementer, CEO of PM and Associates and Founder of Velocity Masterminds which is launching late 2021.

Currently, Patrick works with dozens of organizations across the Midwest and nation within a variety of industries in helping them get more out of their businesses, themselves and live their ideal lives. He enjoys helping young startups lay the foundational bricks of success, as well as guiding $100M+ companies in increasing efficiencies and making a greater impact in the world.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How to create a successful business

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Patrick Metzger with PM and associates. Welcome, Patrick.

Patrick Metzger: [00:00:42] Hey, thanks so much for having me, Lee. Excited to be here, man.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your practice. How are you serving, folks?

Patrick Metzger: [00:00:50] Yeah, so I’m a certified iOS implementer, so I work with small to medium sized businesses all across the nation, and what I really do is I come into those businesses as a business coach and facilitator and really help them execute at a much higher level by helping them implement an overall operating system that deals with everything from helping clarify their vision and structure to making sure they’re tracking the correct data and executing to the fullest, basically.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:21] So now what is kind of the pain point that your clients are coming to you with? Are they just at the beginning stages that they want to just kind of start fresh and then build their own, you know, professional operating system? Or is it something that they’re just kind of struggling and they come to you to kind of help them through a challenge?

Patrick Metzger: [00:01:40] Yeah, great question. You know, if you look at every business, it doesn’t matter if you run a lemonade stand or if you’re running Google. Everybody has issues, right? Everyone has multiple issues around people, processes, lack of vision, lack of communication. So the the big item that I typically see with businesses, you know, I work with everyone from solopreneurs to $100 million plus companies. But there’s so many issues around lack of communication. Owners, visionaries having trouble letting go of things. That’s a huge one that I very, very frequently see as well. And then just, you know, people want to get more out of their business and they just don’t have a really solid method of how to get there. And anybody that’s ever worked with a coach knows that when you have an outside, an outside facilitator and outside perspective, it’s absolutely priceless. And pointing out a lot of the things and digging out a lot of the things that you may be know are there, but they’re either hard or you don’t know how to bring them up, maybe within your business.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:44] So now, what’s your back story, how did you just start finding a heart for these entrepreneurs?

Patrick Metzger: [00:02:50] Yeah, yeah, I kind of I’ve kind of gotten here in an unorthodox way to tell you the truth. So I was actually a teacher for 11 years. A lot of middle school, a little bit of upper elementary. Loved it. So teaching coaching has always been my passion. It’s always been my big, big, my big. What do they do and my big why? As part of that is everything I’ve done over my professional career has always been about helping people achieve more. So I’ve helped students. I have helped kids on an athletic field. I was a football coach for a long time. Now it’s really just transition to helping individuals through some high performance coaching, but now mainly working with just leadership teams across the country. And how do you get more out of your team? How do you get more out of your business because every single person is is looking for that. But I, you know, going way back, I left teaching to find what it was that I really wanted to do, and it took me a while to realize that teaching coaching was absolutely something I wanted to do forever. But I did not like the lack of freedom in teaching.

Patrick Metzger: [00:03:57] And, you know, I worked with a business coach myself and to tell you the truth, that’s really who kind of set me on a different direction. I did a lot of health, wellness coaching, consulting when I left teaching because I had a very strong background in that. But he’s the one that really kind of saw way more in me and really started to dig that out. And from there, I really transitioned from health wellness into more holistic, high performance coaching that led me to working with CEOs managers. And that’s where I really ran across the iOS framework, which stands for entrepreneurial operating system. And I was sold. I immediately borrowed thirty thousand dollars against my house, went and did the training and never looked back, started with my first business six weeks after that. Fast forward to now just about a couple of years and work with over 20 companies nationwide. Everyone from, like I said, solopreneurs that are really building the foundation and laying the bricks of their business to $100 million plus companies that are really just trying to break through the ceiling.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:58] Now, for the sake of this conversation, let’s talk about the beginning stages and how to create that successful business. Once you had the framework from iOS and you had kind of a blueprint on how to execute the service of coaching, I guess, and the deliverable back to your client. How did you get that first client? How did you kind of move from? I don’t know. Can I do this to, yeah, I’m doing this and this is I can do this and I won’t have any kind of imposter syndrome. I’m qualified to do this and I’m the person to do this.

Patrick Metzger: [00:05:31] Mm hmm. Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, I’m always one of those people where I’d rather have my back up against the wall or put me in a corner because I’m going to figure it out. And I’ve just always had an attitude like that of Don’t tell me what I can’t do because I’m going to make sure that I prove you wrong. But I had a I, you know, when I when I first was looking into becoming a professional iOS implementer to tell you the truth, I I talked to a lot of other implementers around the country and I said, You know, you guys, I don’t, you know, I don’t have the business experience that the rest of you do. A lot of you guys have done, you know, you’ve been CEOs, you’ve done consulting forever. I mean, I was a teacher. I said, I’m a teacher. You guys, you know, how is that going to work even? And they every single one of them told me the exact same thing. They said, Patrick, if you’re a great teacher, you can get people to understand things like the system, the tools, the methods that we use. If you can facilitate really tough discussions, ask things that people feel extremely awkward asking or talking about, they said. If you can do those things, they said you’ll learn about people’s businesses.

Patrick Metzger: [00:06:41] And if you’re a smart guy, you’ll learn them very, very quickly. So that, you know, that gave me a ton of confidence in like, Hey, I can absolutely do this and I’m going to be very, very good at it. And they said that they a few of them actually said, You know, some of our best implementers are former teachers because they know how to teach the tools and then they’re deadly effective at it. So, you know, when I started out, I knew it was going to be a journey because I did not have a really strong business network. I mean, actually, it was very, very, very small. So I knew no one thing I needed to do first was really build up that network and then just start putting myself out there, start being seen, start, start offering up value. That’s a huge part of this business is in helping first, providing value first. So my first client actually came like I said, it was about six, maybe six or seven weeks after I became an implementer. I offered to do a talk at an entrepreneurial center right here in North Dakota, where I live, and I think I only had man, I think I only had four attendees at that thing. You know, I put on about a two hour workshop around iOS and all the benefits it provides and such.

Patrick Metzger: [00:07:54] And the client, eventually that I got out of that talk wasn’t even at the talk. He was somebody that had signed up for the workshop ended up not showing up. And here’s the power of follow through in sales right here is I asked him. I sent him a message after the workshop. I think it was the next day or something. I said, Hey, so sorry that you couldn’t make it, you know, I’d still love to chat with you. And I never heard anything. So I thought, OK, whatever. Well, fast forward, probably a week or two after that, I was driving along interstate here in North Dakota and I was about to go by his business and I thought, You know what? I’m going to stop, I’m going to pull in and I’m going to go introduce myself. And long story short, he and I sat there for two or two and a half hours. He started dumping on me on all the struggles in his business and things that were happening and weren’t happening and booked a 90 minute meeting with his leadership team that night. I think I came back that next week right away, presented as a team, they were sold. And that’s how I got started. Really? Wow. Be persistent. Right?

Lee Kantor: [00:09:02] That is great advice. And that is and and great being so proactive. A lot of folks, you know, the first little hint of they don’t like me, they just hide and then forget about them and try to repress all that. But you kind of leaned into it and said, Look, you know, people are busy. Let me go. Check this. Let me, you know, literally knock on the door and congratulations for doing that. I mean, that’s a great testament to others about really, how hungry are you? Who wants it more?

Patrick Metzger: [00:09:31] And yeah, some you know, some people hear the word no or they hear silence and it breaks their spirit. For me, I hear those things or I get silence and I go, All right, here we go, baby. You know, I look at it as a challenge, really, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:09:45] Like, no does have to me. No, it could just mean not now. So you got to just keep grinding. Now, for folks out there that are kind of building their maybe first business, maybe they’re about to take that leap from, you know, working a corporate job or just a normal person job and then being an entrepreneur. What are some of the kind of foundational pieces they need or the tools they need in order to be successful?

Patrick Metzger: [00:10:12] Yeah, I would say a couple of things number one, bank on your network. You know, the people that can help you go to them, ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The biggest item, though, Lee, I mean, man, you have to be willing to invest in yourself. And that’s a huge leap. You know, when you when you leave, whether it’s corporate or, you know, steady job, whatever it may be that you’re doing. And if you’re going to go out on your own, it’s terrifying. It’s exciting in the same. But man, the best advice I can give is if I could go back and do it all over again, I would have borrowed the money. I would have taken the steps to do things correctly and right from the very, very beginning. So I think a lot of people kind of they leave, they kind of test the water, you know, they kind of get partway in and then they get a little worried and then they back out a little bit and then they dove in for a little bit further. And it’s it’s it’s time, you’re burning time and you’re burning money along the way to me.

Patrick Metzger: [00:11:16] You know, if you’re going to roll your roll the dice on yourself, you have to go all in and that’s always energy resources, money, time. But yeah, man, if I could go back, I would have borrowed. I would have borrowed a huge amount of cash and said, Hey, I’m going to hire the people that I need that are experts in marketing, and I’m going to get coaching and I’m going to do all these other things so that I can blast off from the very beginning. And it’s a huge step backward, and that’s what scares most people is they feel like they can’t go backward. And, you know, I always make the analogy of, man, if you’re going to jump across a cliff, you know, a huge valley or canyon, you can’t stand at the edge and just jump. You always have to go backward and you better take a good run at it. So invest in yourself, do what you got to do up front because it will accelerate the process tremendously. And that’s, you know, you’re you’re you’re wasting time. I think if you don’t do those things

Lee Kantor: [00:12:14] Now, when you look back at your career thus far and you kind of look at your teaching to now, your coaching. Are you finding some threads and similarities on how folks learn and how they absorb this kind of information? Like do you think coaching would be a worthwhile way to maybe tweak some of what the learning that happens in schools?

Patrick Metzger: [00:12:38] Oh, absolutely. You know, as a as a former teacher for a long time and coach and now working with adults, I mean, I can see so many of the things that are missing and a lot of what’s missing is it’s, you know, there’s a difference between teaching and coaching. You know, if you’re familiar with like John Maxwell’s five levels of leadership, there’s a big difference also between management and checking boxes. But at the top is coaching and coaching is truly caring, connecting, making sure people understand it. I think a lot of people, when they hear teaching or when they attempt to teach, they think it’s just presenting information. And you can present all the information you want. Does it mean that it’s soaking in and that it doesn’t mean it’s being absorbed and being used effectively? Because that’s the biggest difference is implementing being able to implement what you learn and execute it as well. So, you know, as I think of kind of my whole journey to. An effective coach is not just presenting the information, they’re not just putting it out there, they are connecting through stories. They’re connecting through commonalities. They’re getting very they’re making an emotional connection with the people that they work with because that’s what makes the biggest difference. I don’t care who you are or what level you’re at business school and athletic field. You know, you look at the most successful coaches in the world. If you’re going to talk athletics in particular, there are people that can connect with their athletes and their staffs extremely, extremely well. And it’s all about being your true self and being a fantastic listener, swallowing your pride and being genuinely curious about people, I think is big too.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:32] Now, any advice for that listener out there, that is, they have their business and maybe they’re struggling. Is there something that they can do right now? Is there some low hanging fruit for that entrepreneur that is kind of maybe in a rut or a plateau that they can kind of. You know, elevate their game a little bit and move the needle in their business.

Patrick Metzger: [00:14:57] Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You know, you use your network or reach out to people that can help you. You know, on one end of that, you could work with a coach. You could pay to work with somebody like that. Not everyone has those resources, even though I would highly recommend it because it’s going to pay for itself in the in the long run. But a lot of us have fantastic resources and connections around us. At many times. We unfortunately don’t tap into, you know, if you’re a business owner, man, talk with other business owners, join a mastermind. There’s a ton of resources online groups online that you can get a ton of valuable feedback, whether it’s personal, professional, whatever it may be. But don’t be afraid to ask for help because everybody needs it and nobody likes asking for it. No one likes to swallow their pride and do those things. But when you do, it’s going to make the difference. And ultimately, that’s what we’re all looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:54] Now, I know you’re relatively kind of young in your career as a business coach, but have you kind of landed on a sweet spot of what type of an entrepreneur is the best fit client for you?

Patrick Metzger: [00:16:07] Yeah, I’m yeah, I’m thirty eight years old. I feel like I’ve lived three different lives. I always say that I feel like I had my teaching life. My transition life and now doing what I’m doing now as a business coach. But the neat thing about iOS and what I bring into organizations is it’s industry agnostic, so it doesn’t matter. I mean, I have clients that are, I have medical, I have construction, I have real estate technology. I have a little bit of everything and it works fantastic fantastically within companies that are anywhere from. I mean, I have some solopreneurs. I have some $100 million plus companies with hundreds of employees also. But I will always say I kind of have a sweet spot. They’re not such a sweet spot, a sweet spot. I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for working with entrepreneurs that are really starting at ground zero because there’s nothing more exciting than working with someone that has a dream. They can see the dream, but what what I’m doing is I’m coming in and I’m actually making that dream a reality. I’m helping walk them through that process of creating clarity around everything from their values to their organizational structure to their big why and what and who they are and what they’re going to be about and what’s really important to them all the way to.

Patrick Metzger: [00:17:37] How are we going to execute it? What’s the rock hard rock solid plan that we’re going to start right now that is actually going to get you to that point? And it’s so fun to see as a team grows, and maybe it’s one or two people that start and then they’re able to add that next employee and then it helps elevate them. And then they add that next employee and they’re able to elevate further and further. And then it’s and then you just have that compounding effect. But too many people don’t ask for help early enough in the process, and they just sit there and they spin and they spin and they spin and they wish and they wish about what all these things that they want to see happen, but they don’t take the steps to actually make it happen. So yeah, I would say those startup entrepreneurs I absolutely love, but you’ve got to find someone to that’s willing to make that, that investment because it is a big one at the beginning.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:30] Now I see here that you’re also launching a national mastermind platform. Can you speak of that a little bit?

Patrick Metzger: [00:18:38] I am, yeah. So the Mastermind platform is called Velocity Masterminds, hoping to launch it late fall or very beginning of twenty twenty two. And the whole concept from that really came from the idea of looking at all these other masterminds and business groups and things around the nation and even world that exist. The one piece set I felt like was really missing is they are a little borderline. Even your best ones are a little borderline transactional. But there’s also that personal growth and development piece missing from it. So this mastermind is going to be similar to many others you would find, and I’m not going to name any in particular some of the biggest, most popular ones, you know, but it’ll include a fantastic peer group, regular meetings around talking business, talking through issues, introducing each other’s businesses. How can we help? What can we do for you? But there’s also going to be a different component to it that really focuses on, Hey, if we can improve you as a professional or as a on a personal level, excuse me, we can really improve who you are as a person and start to have deeper and higher level conversations and get really open and transparent and rah about who you are and who you aren’t and start to improve that facet within a person. It raises your professional ceiling as well. And I felt like all these masterminds that are out there really lack that deep connection within the group and with between the people within that group. So, yeah, super excited to to launch that. It’s going to be really niched out by different industries and as far as professional level. So we’ll have visionary CEO groups, we’ll have more operations and integrator type groups, but then we’ll also have groups based on industries as well. So real estate groups and technology groups and construction groups and you name it. So yeah, it’s it’s going to be a lot of fun spend a lot of work so far, but it’s going to make a big impact.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:47] Well, we’d like to support you in that if there’s anything the Business RadioX network can be doing to help you get the word out about that. I’m a big believer in mastermind groups and I think that that sometimes they do get too transactional and that it creates a lot of pressure to bring leads. And I think that there is something missing and I think a bigger Y and really getting maybe layers deep with the individual would help them kind of see that and not make it so transactional. So we’re here to support you. So if there’s anything we can be doing for you, please let us know because that’s a cause that we would love to get behind.

Patrick Metzger: [00:21:20] Awesome. I appreciate that.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:22] Lee Now, if there is someone out there that wants to learn more about what you’re up to. Is there a website they can go to to maybe find some of your resources or get on your calendar?

Patrick Metzger: [00:21:33] Yeah, the best website is go to my personal one. It is Patrick Metzger. You can learn a little bit about everything that I do. So like I said, I am a certified iOS implementer. You’ll find a link on there that will actually take you to my iOS website kind of a microsite. There you can learn about the strategic consulting team that I have, where we really kind of take a concierge approach to helping with people issues within businesses. And then very shortly there will be some information coming on that mastermind onto my personal website. And then also you can find my podcast there as well. So I do run the Patrick Metzger Show podcast, where we interview high performers from around the world really focusing on their journey to the top and what’s what they’ve had to do to get there.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:18] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success you’re doing. Important work and we appreciate you.

Patrick Metzger: [00:22:24] Yeah. Thanks so much, Leigh.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:25] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see, y’all next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Business Strategist Athan Slotkin

by

AthanSlotkin
Coach The Coach
Business Strategist Athan Slotkin
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AthanSlotkinAthan Slotkin is a serial entrepreneur and award-winning business plan strategist. He’s successfully tested and launched multiple businesses, across industries.

His rapid, iterative, heavily-analytical approach has been the key for over 700 new entrepreneurs in 2019 and 2020 alone, helping them package up their business with business plans, financial models, and presentations while teaching them how to become the stellar CEO they want to become along the way.

His work has been featured across, TV, radio, and conferences worldwide.

Connect with Athan on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Top 5 tips for how to start a business
  • Pick a business that people need
  • Pick an industry that you understand very well or are willing to become an expert in
  • Pick a business that has LARGE profit margins
  • Know your numbers – financials, “unit economics” – inside and out
  • Think mid-to-long term

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Athan Slotkin, the shadow CEO. Welcome, Athan.

Athan Slotkin: [00:00:45] Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. What’s a shadow CEO?

Athan Slotkin: [00:00:52] It’s a name that one of my clients gave me that I just decided to run with afterwards because I kind of served as this hidden person behind their businesses, just helping work through strategy and or package together their business for outward presentation, things like that. You know, generally, I like to stay quiet and you know, it’s all about their business shining and me just kind of stepping in there to give a bit of help.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:17] You’re the guy behind the guy

Athan Slotkin: [00:01:18] Or gal, the guy behind the guy or gal. Yeah, exactly.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in helping CEOs be the best they can be?

Athan Slotkin: [00:01:30] Yeah, so I mean, I started off in consulting, so like I normally kind of dissect businesses and think maybe a little bit too analytically at times. I went, went off and went to grad school, worked in corporate, but was always kind of creating my own businesses on the side. And I’ve created all sorts of things, you know, consulting services, businesses, real estate, products, technology, all sorts of things. And so people started to catch wind of that, you know, and it just kind of became a thing, to be honest with you. So I think it’s the combination of that plus like the rise of the digital economy, right? And it just kind of became a thing all of a sudden. And so now, you know, I spend my time working on all sorts of different businesses B to B to C, B to B, B to E, you know, brick and mortar, digital, all sorts of things. You know, one weirder than an exit, it feels like at times, but that’s what keeps it keeps it interesting.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:29] So now what is the pain that these folks are having where they’re like, I better call Ethan. I need a shadow CEO to come in here.

Athan Slotkin: [00:02:36] I think it’s I think it’s largely three phases, you know, three three parts of the timeline that exist. One is for new entrepreneurs who either don’t have idea is or they don’t know which idea to pick and they don’t know how to mobilize it, then you know how to kind of sequentially mobilize their business, especially because it’s their first one. So they both want to mobilize whatever their business is and also learn learn that that approach for future businesses as well to become a serial entrepreneur. The second one, I would say, is people raising capital who want to package up their businesses. Make sure sure the strategy is sound. Make sure they look very good, et cetera. And then the third one is people who are stuck in their businesses. So maybe they’ve had a good amount of success, but they flatlined. They’re too close to their own business. They can’t quite see it straight, and so they need somebody from the outside to kind of pull apart their business. See where there’s opportunity. Match it up with with research and data and give clear direction in terms of where the business should go and, more importantly, why the business should go in that direction.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:38] So now? When they come to you, what is coming to you mean, is it I get to work with Athan or are you sending me to a course to take to solve my own problem? Or you have a team of folks that are going to help me? Like, what is an engagement look like with your?

Athan Slotkin: [00:03:56] Yeah, yeah. In my case, I particularly intentionally chose to keep it small. So it’s me and I have some contractors or part of my team as well who kind of augment the product. Make sure that what we’re putting out is best in class. And so, you know, I like working directly with with most of my clients. On top of that, though, we do have, you know, I put out a book that’s releasing soon. I have guides that are releasing. I always put a content in and articles of waste that I set things and become a better entrepreneur or things like that. So we also have these products, quote unquote products as well, I guess you’d say. But the core consulting business is a lean, you know, a lean strategy consulting operation. It’s, I guess you’d say, augmented by my excellent global team around me as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:44] So now are you doing coaching or consulting? So is it something where you’re meeting with me to kind of ask me some questions to help me self discover my path? Or are you saying, no, you’ve got to do this? This is how you do. You build an email list? This is how you get clients. This is how you do this. I have a team of people. We’re going to go and build the landing page. We’re going to do this stuff. You know, sometimes you need help. Sometimes you need a helper.

Athan Slotkin: [00:05:08] Yeah, you know, it feels like oftentimes that it’s between the two of those, actually. Sometimes people want strategy and they want me to be the helper, right? And, you know, put the things together and look through the strategy and make adjustments and make sure it’s packaged and polished and all that good stuff and or make sure that we’re on the path to clarity. But most of the time, even when that’s the case, you know, they want to be able to discuss and dissect and come up with the direction and all that good stuff as well. So, you know, it’s oftentimes a combination of the two of them, to be honest with you. I would say, like my visceral reaction is I don’t normally classify myself as a coach per say, but every single engagement, every single client entrepreneur I work with always has some component of coaching that exists there. And that’s predominantly because, you know, they’re coming, you know, because they need help in some way or another, right? And it’s it’s humbling to do that sometimes, especially as the leader of a business. And so I like taking the time to be able to talk through with them and make sure that they’re confident and clear in the direction, regardless of whether this is their first time being an entrepreneur or they’ve been an entrepreneur many times before.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:18] Now, I don’t know if this crisis is the first time in your career that you’ve seen probably the magnitude of people that are displaced or deciding to choose a new career or a new adventure. But I would imagine this is a record number of entrepreneurs that are self-employed or entrepreneurs for the first time, either they voluntarily left an opportunity or they were told to voluntarily leave or involuntarily left, but there was a lot of displacement in the workforce, and there’s tons of people now that are cobbling together a second act, third act. And and there I would imagine that some of them are kind of freaking out a little bit and somebody like you in their corner could help them really figure out a path that seems strategic and it’s going to lead them to a better place. Are you finding that there are a lot of folks coming your way?

Athan Slotkin: [00:07:12] Yeah, I love working with those entrepreneurs, to be honest with you. And there’s also a variety in there, too, of course, which is not just in terms of what kinds of businesses, but there are some who are coming who don’t even know what kind of business. Some people I’m working with right now, who came through the door and didn’t even know they just knew that they wanted to start a business. They didn’t know anything more than that, in fact. So part of that is like this kind of combinatorial discovery of what their core skill set is, how it kind of crosses over with what they’re interested in, where there’s the capacity to make money and actually operationalize it, kind of the combination of all of those, right? So I love working with these entrepreneurs because oftentimes there’s there’s a lot of opportunity to be able to grow, have them understand what it’s like being an entrepreneur, how to think through it, what it’s going to feel like because they don’t know what that’s like it as well as, you know, give them frameworks to be able to hone in on either what business ideas, the one that they want to start, or also how do they prioritize and make decisions as an entrepreneur in their business, which sound surprising because oftentimes these people come from business, but it’s quite different coming from, like corporate, let’s say, where you have kind of your scope and what you’re doing, and there’s some parameters in place versus having an almost infinite scope as an entrepreneur, even if you’re focused on one particular business where where it’s not always intuitive to figure out how you actually make those decisions, how you prioritize. So I love working with those, those entrepreneurs.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:36] Now what advice would you give that maybe corporate refugee that left maybe a large enterprise and is now kind of untethered and on their own? Because, you know, it’s a different mindset when you’re kind of a cog in a machine and now you’re the leader of an eat what you kill world.

Athan Slotkin: [00:08:55] Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing I would say is, you know, you can easily feel pressure theoretically when you leave, you have you had a job, you were getting paid on a consistent basis and you had predictability in terms of what that what that felt like, right? And so that could cause an entrepreneur who’s breaking off who’s unplanned to kind of, you know, panic to some extent and then go directly down the pathway first. That’s going to make them money in the short term, even if it’s not the best and most strategic pathway, right? So what I would say to that is, you know, planning for the fact that it may take some time to ramp up your business, whatever it is to get it to where you want to get to. But the reason why you’re doing this, the reason why you’re breaking off, is because you have freedom and probably because your business has more, more upside potential than working for a company. And so taking the time to one, you know, mentally prepare yourself so you offer coming in and to actually plan out and analyze your business to make sure that it actually has a chance to get to where you want it, to get to feel out what that pathway is going to potentially look like and ensure that you’re comfortable with that pathway.

Athan Slotkin: [00:10:01] I think it’s far better. It’s a good investment of your time and energy, rather than just having to break off early and panic. And then you kind of then you get you get down a rabbit hole really fast. You only have so much time as an entrepreneur, as a person, for that matter, right? And what I don’t like seeing happen is someone panicked because they have to make short term money because they, of course, have to pay the bills like we all do. Of course, you know, much better would be to have the right mentality in mind and the vision for for what the likely trajectory is of your business and and be able to focus on building out that business and having the money saved, let’s say, to be able to, of course, pay the bills and eat food and all that good stuff while you’re building out your business.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:42] So you have enough runway so you can kind of aim it. Maybe this this goal that’s farther down the the path rather than just kind of go for maybe some short term wins that are taking you farther and farther off your kind of true north course?

Athan Slotkin: [00:10:59] Yeah, yeah. Like, like you’re saying an overshoot the runway, I would say to some extent, you know what I would also say linked to that as well is don’t you know not to rely on to the extent possible outside capital, try to figure out how to be scrappy in your business and generate cash, right? Even if. It’s along the lines of your strategic plan of what your business is. Figure out how you can generate cash, doing what you wanted to do with your business and bootstrap it to the extent that you can do it. And you know, this is coming from someone who helps people raise capital. There’s a time and a place for that. But when possible, if you can bootstrap, I think that’s that’s a more preferred pathway. Most of the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:37] Well, it sounds like especially maybe five to 10 years ago, people were very quick to raise money, and that became the job of the. The main function is raising money, which is a job unto itself. But now it seems like more people are going this bootstrap way to try to. If, if anything, you’re increasing your valuation when you when and when it’s the right time to raise the money.

Athan Slotkin: [00:12:01] Yeah, it sure is nice, like you’re saying, being in the position where you have leverage over investors because you’ve already had a lot of traction, a lot of movement and not needing the money, but rather wanting it or being open to it for scaling, right? Right. That’s quite different than being under the gun and being desperate. And then you’re in a really tricky position all of a sudden, right? And you know, you’re either, you know, not able to raise the capital to be able to keep your business afloat or you have to raise it such a terrible valuation that you know, it just kind of crushes the upside that you were seeking in the first place.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:36] Now what does it look like logistically if I raise my hand and say eight 10, I think I want to work with you? Like, what is the process look like? Are we going to have some sort of a discovery where you see if it’s the right fit? Do I am I sending you my business plan? Like, like what? What is the process look like to start working with you and your team?

Athan Slotkin: [00:12:57] Yeah, so in almost every single case, there’s always this kind of ingestion period, I guess you’d say, where, you know, ask whomever it is, send across any and all bathroom that they have, right? And that may range everything from, you know, a pretty detailed business that’s had some success. And, you know, it has financials and has marketing materials and all that good stuff, too. Literally, the other end of the spectrum is someone just doing a brain dump essentially right where they write right into into their intake form, everything that they were thinking about their business or what they want to achieve or whatever else it is. And so there’s kind of that ingestion period first, which I also match with a little bit of research because I like to come in prepared in the kind of first conversation and having that kind of thing. But thereafter, that’s when it kind of splits a little bit, right? So if it’s, you know, it’s working one on one with someone, it would be calls and a series of calls to be able to discuss, you know, analyze things, come up with very clear next steps and then keep them the, you know, the motivation and momentum going along the way. Alternatively, you know, for those who come in and are, you know, are asking for documents to be put together because they want to present or they want to look really good or they want clarity on their business, you know, that’s where that, you know, the process splits a little bit where, you know, after asking you questions, you know, me and my team are working to be able to put together the best possible things either give you clarity on the business or. Make you look at, you know, augments that what you’re already doing to make you look good as you’re presenting to outsiders. So, you know, it depends if it’s a collaborative model, meaning a coaching type model or if it’s, you know, hiring the strategy consulting team to put together the best possible strategy and documents that exist.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:38] And then the part of the reason we do this show is to help coaches learn from each other. I know you don’t consider yourself, maybe a coach solely a coach, but definitely there’s some coaching involved in your work. But can you share with your with our listeners how you got your last client?

Athan Slotkin: [00:14:59] Yeah, it’s a good question. How did I get my last client? I have a decent. So there’s a few ways that people come in. I’m trying to think who my last year was, to be honest with you. But, you know, usually these days. It comes from I get a decent amount from LinkedIn. So that’s a pretty good channel for me. I’m on a handful of freelancing platforms, so that’s not bad. I have, you know, sometimes I appear as like guest host on TV and places like that. So that’s that sometimes helps. And then these days, because I’ve had my business for a while, at this point, I get a good amount of referrals. So, you know, for me, this is probably isn’t a surprise for anybody with the services business, right? But. I just put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that I’m always delivering and the people are quite happy afterwards with the lens that it’s a referral base business and I want to make sure that I’m constantly delivering the best possible product and my team probably both appreciates and maybe hates me for it a little bit as well. I certainly do put pressure on us to deliver, but I like I really like and prefer the referral channel. You know, it kind of means you can short circuit the process. There’s no limited calls and energy that’s necessary. They kind of come in, you know, pretty interested, pre-sold at that point, right? And then it’s just a decision of, you know, are you are you keen to work with them? They’re a good fit that that exists there. Can they function and fit within the budget? Things like that, right? But other than that, they come in pre-sold. So I try to emphasize and orient a lot of our energy towards that, to be honest.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:40] Yeah, I was telling someone recently, I think that old, that old kind of saying ABC always be closing is always be curating or always be connecting. I think that’s the updated version of that old saying. Is that for sure that you’re just looking for the right fit? I mean, you want these people to win, whether it’s with you or without you. I mean, you’re trying to help them.

Athan Slotkin: [00:17:04] Yeah. To your point, you know, I oftentimes negotiate against against myself a little bit too right if I have a conversation, I had this happen twice last week, if I’m not mistaken, whereas having conversations with someone and I said, You know, here’s what I can do. Here’s where I can help as much. And this is, you know, I just I tend to be pretty direct about it, right? Rather than what I don’t want to have happen is I don’t want to get into a situation where I oversell and that’s just going to lead to a terrible outcome, right? Where they’re disappointed because they don’t feel like they got what they wanted. It’s not a good fit. So. I don’t negotiate against myself. As long as it means, you know that the the entrepreneur, the person can get in the right direction because I’ve been there, I’ve been I’ve been an entrepreneur too many times and sometimes it’s ambiguous in terms of what to do. So, you know, it’s the reason that I’m sure many of us do what we do right is because we like working with entrepreneurs and helping and helping them. So, you know, I want to make sure they get in the right direction, even if it’s at my expense.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:05] Well, congratulations on all those success. Thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you. Is there a website folks can go to to learn more, maybe get on your calendar or see some of the resources you might have?

Athan Slotkin: [00:18:20] Yeah, for sure. It’s just shadowed that CEO Shadow CEO.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:25] Good stuff. Hey, thank you so much.

Athan Slotkin: [00:18:29] Thanks for having

Lee Kantor: [00:18:29] Me. All right, man, I appreciate you.

Athan Slotkin: [00:18:32] All right, cheers, have a great day. Bye, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:34] All right, this is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Business Coach Kevin Kru

by

Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Business Coach Kevin Kru
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It’s easy for business owners to feel like slaves to their own business.

Coach Kevin Kru helps coachable and ambitious leaders go from worker bee to CEO so they can achieve their dreams and enjoy the journey.

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • R4 Planning System
  • How business owners attract and keep talent in such a competitive market
  • How business owners track the performance of their company without getting overwhelmed by KPIs, OKRs, and all the other acronyms out there

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Kevin Kru. Welcome, Kevin.

Kevin Kru: [00:00:41] Thanks, Lee. I appreciate the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about your practice. How are you serving, folks?

Kevin Kru: [00:00:49] Yeah. So I work with small business owners, entrepreneurs who, you know, kind of started out with gusto, excited about their vision, but maybe find themselves in a bit of a state where they’re feeling more like a slave to their business, which can happen. And there’s a lot of excitement, a lot of promise. But then now you get into the slog of it and you find yourself overwhelmed. And certainly in the last year or 18 months, we’re seeing some unprecedented challenges for the small business community. And so I have the privilege of working with these folks and helping them to feel less and less like the worker bee and the slave to their business and more like the CEO through helping them just install systems and frameworks in their personal life and in their business life, and then with their company so they can really achieve their dreams and enjoy the journey at the same time.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:44] So what’s your back story? How did you kind of have this heart for small business?

Kevin Kru: [00:01:49] You know, it’s a pretty varied back story actually started back in the day in a ministry context, in a church setting where I got a lot, a lot of opportunities to spend one on one and small group kind of coaching and mentoring students and young adults. And really, you know, kind of developed a heart for seeing people develop personally. And then when I went into the marketplace and found myself in technology and just kind of learning the ropes and growing myself, finding that some of the challenges associated with business are significant. And so over the last few years, I’ve really developed more of kind of a blending of those two worlds where I get to work with business owners and people on a very one on one personal level where they’re very close to their business. They have a lot of skin in the game. Whether it goes well or poorly, has a significant impact on their personal lives, their family lives, their personal net worth their own sense of well-being in the world. And so I get to really partner with them, walk alongside them through some of the ups and downs.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:06] So how did you kind of develop the methodology that you use to help, folks? Is this something that you’ve just kind of cobbled together over the years, or are you following someone else’s principles?

Kevin Kru: [00:03:18] Well, I’m not sure that I truly have anything, you know, starting purely from scratch. I think I’ve read a lot of books. I’ve used a lot of different frameworks and have learned a lot from people that have gone in the road before me. So I’m a big fan of Don Miller and story brand and business made simple. I’m a big fan of Whitman and the entrepreneurial operating system at us. I’m a big fan of Michael Hyatt and some of his personal productivity tools. And so when I’m face to face with my clients or shoulder to shoulder with my clients, what I bring to bear is a lot of the frameworks from some of those sources in a in a cabin crew kind of way, right? As we digest all this content and we learn to use it ourselves. It takes on our own sort of personality. So I bring the Kevin version of all of those things to bear to my clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:18] So is that where that are for planning system comes into play that you’re kind of that’s your gumbo that you created from a variety of ingredients?

Kevin Kru: [00:04:28] Yeah, that’s an interesting way to put it. Yeah. So the R for planning system is really about kind of this rhythm, rhythm of life, rhythm of business where we’re working in the business and we spend a lot of energy in the business and and we get tired. And so we need to step out and spend some time working on the business. And so the R for the four R’s that are a part of that are recharge, report, reflect and refocus. And so this is yeah, I would say it’s somewhat of an amalgam gumbo of what I’ve read and what I’ve been able to adopt elsewhere and made it in a way that works for me and for my clients. And so whether that’s on a daily rhythm, a weekly rhythm, a quarterly rhythm or even an annual rhythm, it looks a little bit different depending on what period of time we’re looking at. But it’s really important to just spend some time recharging, right? So we’ve got the weekend. We’ve got the weekend to recharge, spend some time unplugged from work, spend time with families, spend time like I was yesterday out of the Frisbee golf course, just getting some time away from the business and thinking too hard about it. But then Sunday evening, one of the things that I do every Sunday is I have my weekly planning ritual and I start by after recharging reporting.

Kevin Kru: [00:05:56] I want to look at the reporting data from last week, and there’s certain key performance indicators and metrics that I look at to give me an objective sense of how that week performed against my goals. And then I’m reflecting on those things. I have some journaling exercises that I like to go through to ask myself important questions like what’s working, what’s not working? What do I need to do better? So we’re stepping out of the system to kind of evaluate the performance of the system and work on the system itself. And then the fourth component, after recharging reporting reflecting is the refocus. And the refocus is, of course, kind of future focus. It’s I’ve got this week ahead of me or if I’m doing it, this on a daily basis or a quarterly basis or an annual basis, whatever that period ahead is, what is the vision? What are the goals? What are the tactics? What are the most important priorities that I need to find time on my schedule and I find that. Of course, why I’m doing these things is important, and you have to be clear on that. And that’s really important for long term vision. You know where they happen, your environment and things like that.

Kevin Kru: [00:07:05] I’m really focused with my clients a lot on when these things are going to happen. And so this kind of gets into time management where, you know, if you haven’t scheduled a time block for these things that we’ve said are the most important priorities in our business or in our life to happen the when just sort of escapes us. Got one hundred and sixty eight hours per week. Hopefully we’re sleeping roughly a third of those. And so that doesn’t leave as much time as we would want. Everything’s pulling at us for time, for attention. And so if we’re going to get serious about achieving what we say is important and ending up with a life that is meaningful, we’re going to need to schedule these things in. Otherwise, if we don’t say no to a bunch of other things, those things are going to come at us. And one of my favorite quotes is every yes needs to be defended by a thousand knows. Every yes needs to be defended by a thousand no’s. So that end of that planning ritual for me on a Sunday night is just telling my hours where to go, telling them what to do for me versus having having somebody else prioritize my life.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:20] So now is this structure, it sounds like it’s almost a I don’t want to say virtual coaching system, but it’s definitely an accountability partner because if you follow this system, you’re kind of holding yourself accountable to maybe some objectives and some priorities that you either asked your your help for or came upon this system and then figure it out themselves. But the prioritization, the making non-negotiable, you know, appointments with yourself that you’re putting in a calendar and blocking them and then helping people make sure everything’s aligned with the true north or wherever there they want this journey to go. Are you helping people kind of formulate that in a macro way and then giving them the system and then they just go off and implement it themselves? Or you there also as their, you know, human accountability partner and human kind of support system to help them make sure that they execute on what they promise themselves that they wanted to do.

Kevin Kru: [00:09:23] Yeah. So I think what you’re asking, is there a DIY DIY version of this? Yes, there is. And is there a version of this that has a human level of accountability? And the answer is yes and yes, you know, there there’s lots of people out there who can take a system like this, any system and run with it and have a lot of success, and they themselves have a high degree of personal accountability. Although I think it’s more fun when you do it with people, right? Or at some, some loose level, even if it’s not professionally to have people in your court to have people rooting for you, to have people asking you about, Hey, you said this was important for this quarter or this is the priority this year. How’s that going? And you know, loosely, that’s that’s great. Some people, especially if there’s an important initiative or, you know, there’s pressure on them or they just really have a high level of ambition, understand that just like having a personal trainer, you know, yell at you sometimes or challenge you or encourage you or explain the process of you want to pick this weight up and not that one at this point. And unpack that for you. Just like having that personal trainer is helpful and oftentimes just results. Practically speaking in more exertion, having a business coach is the same type of thing where we can get stuck in our own heads. We can, and I’m the same way I have coaches in my life as well.

Kevin Kru: [00:10:53] So this is this is not just for some of us. I think all of us can benefit from this where we’re walking in community with people and and they’re holding us accountable. And so, yeah, we can install and we should install accountability systems that we ourselves are beholden to and even people that that report to me, for instance, I have a meeting later today with somebody that works for me, and I’m approaching last night’s reporting session knowing that that meeting is holding me accountable to getting my metrics in the scorecard. And I want to set a good example for the people that work for me. So I’m not going to ask them to fill out their scorecard ahead of our meeting if I’m unwilling to do the same. So I want to be able to walk the talk. So there’s there’s accountability with being a leader. I think of just walking the talk, but also I need people that have a level of objectivity that can see from a perspective that I can’t see because I’m in my own head, I’m in my own business. I lose objectivity and and having a regular cadence of somebody in your life to be as committed to your goals and to your success and to your flourishing as you are, is a really affirming thing that results in measurable results above and beyond what you might be able to accomplish on your own.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:16] How does a person come to you? Like what is the pain that they’re having? Where Kevin is the solution? Are they do they have to have evolved to a point of this kind of self-awareness and personal accountability to say, Hey, I need some help? Let me call Kevin. Or am I struggling with something tactically that Kevin is giving me a solution, knowing in the back of my head? Sometimes I need help, and sometimes I need a helper, and then that turns into maybe a different type of relationship with Kevin down the road.

Kevin Kru: [00:12:49] Yeah, that’s a great distinction. So the second part of what you’re describing is that I’ll call that more of a consultant, somebody that has a particular skill and I don’t have that skill. So I need to outsource that skill to somebody else. Sometimes specifically, especially related to marketing type of skills, that is an area that I go down with my clients. I mentioned story brand and story brand as a framework for messaging and for marketing, and that’s a background that I have. And so sometimes when that surface is in a coaching relationship, we can go there and Kevin can play more of the role of the expert in that sense. But as a coach, my role is not so much to, you know, for you to outsource the doing of work. To me as a coach, my role as a coach is to help you get clear on what you want sometimes, or if you’ve already gotten clear on what you want, what’s an execution system to pull it off? Sometimes people will just come to me with with a symptom or a pain of like, I’m feeling overwhelmed. My my schedule is is controlling me and my business is running me. My people are not engaged. We don’t have a way of tracking what success metrics look like. Or maybe they don’t even know to ask that question about tracking KPIs or tracking scorecard. They just know that they’re not living the life that they want, or they’re not getting the level of success or follow through. That they envisioned everybody can start January one with. Cool ideas about what they want their future to be, if that future is going to come to pass, we have to engineer and then execute on that.

Kevin Kru: [00:14:37] Those things generally don’t fall into our laps. So that means we’ve got to translate big picture vision into yearly, quarterly, weekly and then daily getting stuff done, execution, identifying where my best and highest use is as an entrepreneur, building a team to to help fill in the gaps or to help extend our capabilities and having a management system that would allow us to know are we on track with our goals? Is the structure that we put in place successful or not? Do we have visibility into the things that signal for us that we’re succeeding? So people come to me with a variety of symptomatic signals. Some are able to articulate those in a more sophisticated way. Some not where people would say, You know, I have a very specific thing in mind, can you please install this on my business? Those people tend to be a little bit more of the DIY crowd, right? They’re going to read the business book. They have the wherewithal to then implement that in their business. I tend to work with folks who are just feeling overwhelmed. Maybe they don’t even have the time to read that business book, or they’re just they’re overwhelmed by the options, and they have a hard time sort of picking a track to run on. So I have a track to run on and we do a diagnostic to find out where kind of the gaps are. And then we dove in kind of 90 days at a time and we measure the results over 90 days. If you take an assessment day one, you take an assessment day 90 and we want to see that transformation in key areas over that time.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:21] Now you’ve mentioned KPIs. Is there some universal KPIs that we should all be monitoring or this? Is this something that you have to really dig deep into each person’s situation and understand what they’re trying to do to figure out the appropriate metrics to measure?

Kevin Kru: [00:16:40] Yeah, that’s also a really good question. So universally, I mean, obviously, we want to know about things like profit. We want to know about things like overhead, like revenue. But and those are more kind of outcome or what what I’ll call lag measure based. However, there are LEED measures, things that we can do, behaviors that are going to lead to those LAG measures or those outcomes that we want. So on your P&L, your balance sheet. These are more results of things that we’ve been doing all quarter. But what are the activities and behaviors that lead to revenue or lower overhead or something like that? And that’s going to vary depending on the organization. And so and that’s also going to vary based on what symptoms people present when they first come to me. And so one of the KPIs I will track with people who are really having a hard time with time management is how many am rituals did you get in this week or how many weekly rituals did you get your weekly ritual in this week? And when I say am ritual, our weekly ritual, I’m just referring to that time that you’ve carved out. You’ve protected where you are going through this process. Essentially, you’re recharging, your reporting, you’re reflecting and you’re refocusing and you’re telling your hours what they’re going to do for you. You’re reprograming every hour of every day for the following week, and that might sound a little neurotic pre programing every hour of every day, but I will tell you that if you don’t defend that time, somebody will take it.

Kevin Kru: [00:18:10] So if you want that power to work for you, you have to be the decider of where that hour goes. And that doesn’t mean that every hour of every day is work. I’m talking about scheduling time with your family, scheduling time with your musical instrument or out playing frisbee golf or whatever it is. What I’m talking about are the things that are important to you. Is planning for self-care important? Yes. Dreams don’t work unless you do another one of my favorite quotes. So it’s not all work all the time, but how about sleep? Is sleep important to your body? How about working out? Is it? How is health important? All of these things have to take place. In a when there has to be a win for these things and we only we have a finite amount of time. So part of this process is just embracing our own finitude. I can’t make a twenty fifth hour today. All I can do is just do the best I can with the twenty four hours that I have and I have to. I have to come to terms with the fact that if I redline myself for too long, something’s going to break. So I have to come to terms with that. I have to face that.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:18] Now, if I looked at your calendar, would every kind of hour be have a different color? So like I would see sleep, I would see dinner, I’d see family, I’d see go to the movies, I’d see, you know, do my sales calls like whatever your your day is, you fill every slot. There’s not, you know, empty spaces. You’re you’re you’re kind of allocating every hour to something meaningful to you.

Kevin Kru: [00:19:45] Everything that’s important to me, and so usually that means that about 50 to 60 hours a week is filled with something even after hours. So there’s key things that I have to get done before I leave on a trip this Thursday with my family. One of them has to do with a scorecard for my son, actually. And many of your listeners are thinking, Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t want to be his son. But we’re working through some stuff with my son and we’re looking for a transformation, and a scorecard is simply incremental way of measuring that transformation. So I got to do a scorecard for my son. I think it’s six p.m. tonight after I come back from a rock climbing gym, which is also scheduled. So from a color coordination standpoint, it’s not. It’s basically work is one color of families, another color. My wife’s calendar is another color and so forth. So it’s more it’s more domains, I guess. But yeah, I just in a similar way to budgeting, budgeting money, you know, entrepreneurship and kind of that whole crew is really fond of of giving every dollar a job and. And so in the same way, we we have a finite amount of money in our disposal. We have a finite amount of time at our disposal and we need to plan accordingly.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:02] Now, one of the reasons we do this show is to help coaches learn from each other. Do you mind sharing with our listeners how you got your last client? How did your last client come to you?

Kevin Kru: [00:21:16] Uh, through a referral. So I’ll give you the last two, because they were slightly different, last one was more of a consulting engagement website, consulting engagement, where I’m not building their website, but I’m helping them define their criteria for shopping for web designer so that they go in with their very clear understanding of what they want to accomplish. Because there’s nothing worse than hiring somebody professionally and not being able to articulate what you want the outcome to be or what success looks like. And sometimes people don’t even have if it’s not their domain, expertize have the language to articulate that to, let’s say, a marketing person. So we’re helping with that. And she came to me through a referral and through a coaching client. The one prior to that was, you know, honestly, just I believe it was social media content that I had been putting out related to faith driven entrepreneurs and faith driven investors and even the R for system. And this gentleman came to me and we just started coaching together. So we are second week this week really with a need to hey, I’ve got to up my game. I’m getting pressure from my sales. It’s actually not a business owner. This is a sales leader within an organization that has sales reps reporting to him, and he’s he just needs to improve with time management. And he saw some of the stuff I was putting out with respect to time management and performance, and I think you responded to that.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:51] Well, good stuff. Congratulations on all the success, Kevin. The amazing story. Well, it’s an amazing story in the self-discipline that you have and your personal accountability and the way they are able to transfer that knowledge to others, it’s very impressive.

Kevin Kru: [00:23:09] It’s a blessing. I mean, I I would do it for free if I could afford it, because it’s it’s it’s a calling. And it’s not. It’s not just a product that I buy. It’s something that people buy. It’s a heart. I’ve a very close relationship with my clients and their success is deeply meaningful to me. It’s about the relationship and I appreciate your sentiment.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:34] Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website?

Kevin Kru: [00:23:40] Yeah, you know, I have a resources page. If you go to Kevin Cru spelled Crew Kevin Crew Resources, you can find my R for planning worksheets there and download them. I think it’s like the second section on that resources page. So Kevin Kruger Resources. And you can download and DIY that are for planning system. And then if there’s if you want help with that system or any other system or framework to install on your business or your life, all my contact information is there. The two assessments are also there. So there’s an entrepreneur for health assessment and there’s a small business revenue assessment that are also on that resources page. And if you’re curious kind of where you stack up and where your gaps might be and opportunities to improve those two assessments are great places to start.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:28] Well, thank you again for sharing your story. Kevin, you’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Kevin Kru: [00:24:33] Thank you, we appreciate your time.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:34] All right, this is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.

 

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