Business RadioX ®

Peter Schneider With Primerica

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Peter Schneider With Primerica
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Peter Schneider has been President of Primerica, a public company traded on the NYSE (PRI), since April 2015.

As Primerica’s President, he is responsible for the Company’s strategic and reputation functions and works side by side with the CEO on all important corporate matters. Corporate and Foundation giving programs are part of Primerica’s reputation function.

Mr. Schneider has a deep commitment to Primerica’s mission of helping families become financially independent and is one of the Company’s primary spokespersons with public officials, regulators and the community, as well as the Field Force.

His responsibilities also include corporate governance, government relations and oversight of the legal, compliance and media functions. Along with Primerica’s Chief Administrative Officer, Peter has been one of the drivers of Primerica’s DEI initiative.

Mr. Schneider joined Primerica as its General Counsel in 2000, Mr. Schneider continually has accepted increased responsibilities, which have included human resources and growth and distribution of Primerica’s Field Force.

Before joining Primerica, Mr. Schneider was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Rogers & Hardin. Primerica was one of his major clients. Prior to joining Rogers & Hardin, he worked at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.

Mr. Schneider serves on a number of charitable boards and is active with industry groups on behalf of Primerica.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • More secure financial future for middle-income families
  • Families are generally optimistic about their financial situation

 

Doug Phillip With Budget Blinds

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Franchise Marketing Radio
Doug Phillip With Budget Blinds
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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.

Doug Phillip with Budget Blinds, is an experienced Vice President Operations with a demonstrated history of working in the food & beverages industry.

He is skilled in budgeting, operations management, management, sales, and strategic planning.

He is a strong business development professional with a bachelor’s degree focused in business, management, marketing, and related support services from Auburn University.

Follow Budget Blinds on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • What should aspiring franchisees look for an in franchise opportunity

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 Doug Phillip with budget blinds. Welcome Doug.

Doug Phillip: [00:00:41] Hey, thanks for having me, Lee. Great to be here.

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

Doug Phillip: [00:00:49] Oh, you know, budget lines is such a great brand. We’re a franchise organization that is actually the largest custom window coverings franchise in North America. We have franchisees that serve our customers in all 50 states across the United States. We’re all across Canada and we’re even in Mexico. You know, budget lines has actually been around since 1992. Unbelievable. We’re going to be celebrating our 30th anniversary here this next year in doing business and designing windows for our customers. It’s such a great brand.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] Now, can you share a little bit about the back story in history? What was the genesis of the idea?

Doug Phillip: [00:01:28] You know, it actually started with what’s commonly referred to as the five guys. It was a group of friends and family that started this business back in 1992. They started as a business for themselves and then a couple of years later started franchising, and it’s grown ever since. You know, it’s really neat when you look within. We actually call it a family between our corporate structure and our franchisees. But this family has grown so much. We’re in over 1300 territories again across North America. And what to me is so wonderful to watch is the franchisees. People buy in. They might buy one territory and then they keep expanding. They add territories to their business because they like it so much. They’re successful and then they get their family involved. So we have so many franchisees that, you know, have their their own family operating within that business, or they help them buy another territory to get into the business. So it’s been great to watch over the years how this business has evolved.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:25] Now has the kind of profile of an ideal franchisee evolved as well.

Doug Phillip: [00:02:31] You know, it’s interesting in the world of franchising. I’ll tell you a little story that you know you’d never see on a resume. I actually started with my family owning our own business all the way back when I was very young. My brother and I would watch my parents start their own business. It wasn’t a franchise at that time, it was their own, and so they had to develop the model. They had to figure everything out. And so I grew up in that world of watching and living in my parents, you know, providing for our family. And that really set the foundation for kind of getting into what I think of small business. That’s that’s such an important part of my life. When you look at franchising in today’s world, it’s actually very easy to get into. You go to Entrepreneur Magazine’s top 500 over half of the top 20 of those costs less than two hundred $200000 to get involved with. So it’s actually fairly inexpensive to become your own owner within a business and and not have to report up through the corporate America. It’s actually very simple for people to get involved in and to be part of.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:38] So when the brand first started out were the franchisees looked the same as they do today.

Doug Phillip: [00:03:46] You know, they probably probably did. I wasn’t involved back when it first started, but we actually have a mix of different types of people that get into the business. There’s folks that have already, you know, owned other franchises and other businesses that are looking to expand their portfolio. We also have people that have never owned their own business and want to be part of this. We actually have a process to be able to teach people, no matter where you’re coming from, to get involved with the business, to help you be successful.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:15] Now what are some qualities that you find successful franchisees have that are maybe that first time franchisee?

Doug Phillip: [00:04:24] You know, great question, Lee. You know, it’s interesting to watch people get into business, there’s so many different reasons that they get into business. There’s so many different things they’re looking from and what they consider success to be, whether it’s financial supporting their own family, their lifestyle, just so many different reasons. Now, when they get into the business, you know, again, some people have a background of owning their own business. Some people don’t. But the qualities are really somebody that you have to be happy with what you’re doing. There’s so many different opportunities in franchising to get involved with find something that you love, something you’re interested in because you’re going to be doing it every day. And then you know what? What I’ve seen is it takes somebody that’s going to be aggressive and willing to take chances. Again, you’re starting up a business or taking over in a business that’s there. You’re the person that’s responsible for that, and you need to be willing to go out and be aggressive to go chase that down.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:20] Now, do you have any advice for emerging franchise laws in terms of what they would have to do to help support that new franchisee in their system?

Doug Phillip: [00:05:32] You know, it’s an interesting question, Leigh, in the world of franchising, I do believe it is all about supporting the owners. And so in budget blinds, we actually earlier this year so proud. We’ve got a brand new facility and we invested in over 40000 square feet of training space that we have an opportunity to bring new owners in to be able to learn the business. It’s state of the art training rooms and then we’ve got a huge open area that we create what we call an experience center. But it’s an experience to be able to learn the business. It’s hands on getting in and understanding how they’re going to operate and what they need to do to be successful. So if a new franchise organization is coming in to me, it’s about how you set up your support for the franchisees to help them be successful. We’ve got, you know, again, I told you, we’re going to be celebrating our 30th year. We’ve got so many franchise success stories out there that have happened through the years. It’s truly a wonderful part of budget lines.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:30] Now, what does budget blinds do for those franchisees? Is there a opportunities for them to learn from each other? Is there kind of a sense of community among the franchisees?

Doug Phillip: [00:06:42] There is. I mentioned it earlier. Our franchisees refer to it as a family. It’s our corporate associates, our staff. It’s our franchisees and how everybody works together on the business. So it’s really unique. We’ve got all the standard departments, from marketing to technology operations within the corporate structure and all of the years of experience that people bring to the table to be able to support our franchisees. But then again, imagine we’ve got all of our franchisees across North America and all of the years of experience they have in doing the business. Well, chances are, if there’s a problem, somebody runs into, somebody’s got a solution. And so this network, this family of people that support each other has truly been unique within budget lines. I absolutely love it, and it’s something very special.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:29] Now, how does that kind of logistically operate for that franchisee? Is there like a Slack channel? Is there a regular calls or is there, you know, Facebook Group? Like, how do you kind of facilitate that kind of collaboration?

Doug Phillip: [00:07:45] You know, great question. We’ve got a number of different ways. We have an operations team that’s based in the field that supports our franchisees. We’ve also got a field marketing team that helps our franchisees understand and do better with local area marketing. But you know what? It’s this family. All of the different channels of communication from Facebook to we have regular calls that we get are regional franchisees together on on a weekly and monthly basis to walk through the business. What to do, what are the initiatives we’re working on? What problems are people having that we can all solve together? But it’s this network of communication on a very regular basis that I think helps us to be successful.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:24] Now, when you have a franchisee out in the market, maybe first time, maybe they worked in a corporate setting. What are some dos and don’ts when they’re kind of launching their franchise in a local market?

Doug Phillip: [00:08:38] You know, if they’re starting a new business, first and foremost, you’ve got to learn the business extremely well, it’s why we’ve got that experience center I mentioned over in Dallas that we’ve created to help people get started in their business and truly learn our products, truly learn installation and how to take care of their customers. One of the unique things I think about budget blinds is our customer experience and how we’re out in customers homes helping to take care of their needs. Truly designing beautiful rooms that make our customers happy and want to do business with us again. For a new franchisee coming in, it’s so important to just truly take the time to ramp up the business, understand the products, understand what you’re trying to solve for the consumer so that we wind up having happy customers that want to come back time and time again.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:28] Now did the pandemic, maybe for some changes into the operation in terms of, you know, how you do what you do, that maybe will be a silver lining and you’ll be able to implement post-pandemic.

Doug Phillip: [00:09:41] Yeah, you know, for all small businesses, this pandemic has been just a crazy world in the last couple of years. You go back, it shut down so fast, and all the new regulations that were out made it tough to get out in customers home. It made it tough for small business to even operate. Matter of fact, across the United States and in Canada, so many small businesses were forced to close because of the nature of of the business and the changes. We actually grew. We invested in our own infrastructure and we invested in our franchisees to help them to be successful and we grew. So we added things like a virtual consultation so that if we couldn’t be out in the home, our franchisees had the opportunity to connect virtually through all the online platforms that we utilize today. We created new tools and processes and created support for our franchisees so that if they were in an area where they were struggling because of the regulations and ability to get out, they could still be successful and make it through to the end of this is what I mentioned. I’m so proud of the work that our franchisees have done. We’re actually larger today and set up better for success coming out of this pandemic and where we stand today and probably where we were going into it

Lee Kantor: [00:10:56] Now for the people out there that are listening in one to learn more. Is there a website?

Doug Phillip: [00:11:04] There is its home franchise concept. If you’re interested in the business or learning more home franchise concepts as the parent company for budget lines, we actually have six different brands in the Home Improvement and Home Services segment. We have a van, a clean concrete craft, tailored living kitchen tuneup and bath tuneup and of course, budget blinds. But if you go to that website home franchise concepts, you can click on the franchise info, put a couple of pieces of information there in our incredible team. We’ll call you back here very quickly to start talking through the business and what the opportunities are now.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:41] From an ideal franchisee standpoint, do these ideal franchisees have kind of a sweet spot in their own personality and skills in maybe sales? Or are they more operational minded or are they more management minded? Is there kind of a, you know, kind of a best practice in terms of the type of ideal franchise, like what kind of qualities that they would have?

Doug Phillip: [00:12:04] You know, I think in so many different franchise models lead, there is more of a specialty that’s needed, but again, I’ll go back to what I think is unique and special about budget lines. I see so many different types of personalities come through start up businesses or buy existing businesses and be successful. We do. There is a need to have an outgoing personality to be able to be successful selling in the home. But a lot of people, if that’s not their their true skill, they hire people that can do that. There’s the installation side of the business and you know, you know, the the hands on being in the home, installing window coverings. Again, some people have that skill set in their background. Some people don’t. But the great piece is it’s a simple model. If that’s not my skill set, I can hire people to do that. And it’s and it’s not a hard function to have to perform.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:58] Now, do you help your franchisees with hiring? I know that obviously that’s their own business, but is there some best practices you’re able to share to help them attract the right folks?

Doug Phillip: [00:13:10] Yeah. So it is interesting in the world of franchising, we can’t hire and and go through the process for them, but we do have national programs that we’ve put together to help recruit and source potential candidates that meet the needs for our franchisees. Very difficult in today’s world, even finding employees to be able to work in businesses and small businesses. We all see it in the news every day. But we bring some incredible resources that help our franchisees solve that and we’re adding to that every day. And then second, you know, what are the the tools and materials that the training needs for these new people coming on board? And we’re continuing to build out what our inventory of support materials are for our franchisees as they bring in a new new employee, whether it be a salesperson and installers, somebody working in their office. We have the tools for them to be able to train them and make it easier for them to get started in the business.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:07] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. One more time with the website.

Doug Phillip: [00:14:12] It is home franchise concepts.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:15] All right, Doug. Well, again, thank you for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Doug Phillip: [00:14:21] Thank you so much, Leigh. Great to be on the program.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:24] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

 

Jonathan Weathington With Shuckin’ Shack

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Franchise Marketing Radio
Jonathan Weathington With Shuckin' Shack
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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.

Jonathan Weathington joined Shuckin’ Shack in an official capacity in 2014 at the outset of franchising. Initially hired as VP of Franchise Development, he was promoted to CEO in November of 2014.

Prior to working for Shuckin’ Shack, Jonathan helped build the second Shuckin’ Shack in Historic Wilmington NC, and spent 14 years in the service and retail industry with companies such as VF and BB&T.

He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in International Relations. At home, Jonathan enjoys spending time outdoors and hanging with his wife and two cats – Frank and Etta.

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: [00:00:31] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Jonathan Wethington with Shukin’ Shack. Welcome, Jonathan.

Jonathan Weathington: [00:00:42] Hey, Lee, how are you doing?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] I am doing great. Before we get too far into things, tell us about Chuck and check How are you serving folks?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:00:50] Sure, I think we’re serving folks really well. We started in two thousand seven single unit and grew to a second unit in two thousand twelve and then started franchising in twenty fourteen. And and really, it’s our goal to just treat people well by serving them the best seafood and coldest drinks possible.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:06] Now what’s the kind of the origin story of the franchise? Did it start out as a mom and pop and then just organically grew into a franchise? Or did it set out to be a franchise from the beginning?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:01:18] It did not set out to be a franchise from the beginning. I think like most other restaurants, it really just set out to survive the first year from the beginning, and that was that was twenty seven. We were kind of headed into not a great place as far as macroeconomics are concerned across the nation, but just kind of started kicking butt and taking off and grew from there. And the partners. I was not a founder, but I knew the founders and I was around when the concept started and I saw it grow from just a single location. Mom and pop with two business partners and a 960 square foot location just grew every year. Started looking for a second location somewhere around late. Twenty ten or sorry, around late two thousand eight. And then things really started taking off. Finally opened a second location in twenty twelve. And then we’re in the process of looking for a third location and at that point decided to shift gears a little bit and focus a little more on franchise growth.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:18] Now, when you made that kind of switch to being a franchise group. Organizationally, how did that impact kind of your day to day because that’s a different real business, right running a franchise. Being a franchisor as opposed to, you know, running a franchise?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:02:36] It’s an extremely different business, you’re no longer just an operator, and I came in from the outside, though I knew the founders and I helped them build the second location. I was working for a couple of other companies at the time that they started franchising, and so I came in completely from the outside to help them specifically grow the franchising side. I had a rich history and, you know, processes and procedure and all of those things and kind of consolidating. I’d gotten a taste of really ultra ultra large business for some of the previous organizations I had worked with, and I knew that Chuck and Jack was scalable. But to answer your question directly, the partners, I think, found out and really knew coming into it that you’re no longer an operator of a single restaurant. It’s no longer your base. Goals are the same, which is to treat your customers exceptionally well, served great food and give people a good time. But how you get there on the franchising side is a little bit different because now you’re responsible for imparting that knowledge and training that within your own system to new franchisees coming in who may or may not have any familiarity whatsoever with your brand.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:44] Now, what does that ideal franchisee look like? Are they kind of that second act executive or are they the professional franchisee that is looking for another maybe a food concept to kind of round out of portfolio or the empire builder that’s going into a market and wants to take over the, you know, the the area?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:04:08] I think all of the above, I think that’s one of the beautiful things about franchising in general is that for us, at least for us, I can’t speak for every brand, but I’ve certainly had these conversations with other brands and that the diversity within their own franchise system is pretty great and that we do have folks in our system who are in empire building mode. I want to start with one, I want to build 10 and I want to do that over the next 10 or 12 years. And they have multiple units of multiple brands and they see us as as a long term investment. We also have a single unit franchise owners who are owner operators, and right now in our system, that’s our bread and butter. We love single unit owner operators. They tend to care about the business extremely well. Their numbers are typically even better than us as our company units, because let’s face it, they have to pay us royalties and marketing fees. And so there’s more of an incentive for them to run a little bit tighter ship. And, you know, they’re really invested within the community. And then on the other side, we have former military former military in our system. We have folks who have retired from their other careers and started the second career in this. So they come from all different directions. And I don’t think that’s just your main to check and check. I think that’s franchising as a whole. That’s one of the best parts about the industry and the sector overall.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:25] So in your system, what separates kind of the rock stars from the kind of average?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:05:31] How they treat people. That’s it. You know, we give people a great systems, we give them great products, we give them great marketing materials to reach their customers. We can drive customers in the door. That’s not an issue. It’s how they treat people. That’s what separates the rock stars from from the average folks. And again, that may not be just germane to us, but at the end of the day, when people come into a restaurant, they’ve already decided that they’re going to spend money there. It’s how you can make that money, have value to them. What is the worth like? How do they feel walking out of the doors? Would they, without hesitation, say yes, I will absolutely come back within the first few minutes of coming into their visit. And that’s it how they treat people and how invested they are within their local communities. That’s what separates the great from just the good.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:20] Now how does the organization help a franchisee when it comes to their people and their talent? What are you doing to help them kind of identify the right check and check employee and also keep them?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:06:37] Sure. So I think on our end, a lot of what we do, we don’t we don’t certainly hire for any of our franchisees or anything like that, but we encourage folks to hire for talent as opposed. I mean, sorry, we encourage folks to hire for personality as opposed to talent or as opposed to skill. We want people within our four walls who can speak to others just like you’re in someone’s living room. We desire folks who work for us to have a genuine sense of connection with other human beings. And quite frankly, the product doesn’t matter. We just happen to serve an exceptional product. And so that’s that’s one of the things that we teach is a part of our university training is how do you identify those kind of life skills that go beyond what you might find in a restaurant? And then as a part of our further training, once we actually get people in the doors and we’re training our employees, we kind of throw out all what we believe are a bunch of bad habits that a lot of other brands use that may work for them, but it doesn’t work for us. We don’t have greetings within our stores. We don’t wear name tags. We don’t do all the typical stuff that you might see in a franchise restaurant. And that’s because when we want, when people walk in the door, we want them to feel welcome. We want them to feel like they actually belong there, like it’s a place that they would go, hang out. I’m not going to come to your house and hope that you have a nametag on and hang out with me. That’s not what I’m after. And so for us, we kind of create that homegrown environment and we are teaching. And I say this very, very often, especially when we’re talking about bartenders and servers in front of the house employees. We’re not teaching them to do the certain things we are teaching them to read the room. We are teaching them to read other people and respond accordingly. And that’s one of the things that makes us extremely different from other brands.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:24] Now, during the pandemic, were you forced to kind of make some changes that maybe will have legs post-pandemic?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:08:33] Of course, yeah, I think we were we would be not telling you the truth entirely. We didn’t take a look at our entire system and say, What’s working, what’s not working, what’s not working? Let’s not put any time, effort and energy into it, and let’s focus on what’s working. That was a little bit more of our approach. We knew, practically speaking, when you’re talking about seafood and you’re talking about our brand. There’s not a whole lot of ubiquity on seafood and delivery. And so we knew that we could not compete with pizza or or some other concepts that may have a great delivery program because that’s what they’re known for. I mean, I order pizza at my own home, and we knew that we wouldn’t be able to compete with that and capture that customer. However, what we did know we could do is stay engaged with our customer base. And then when they were ready to come back or ready to order to go or pick something up, or they just wanted to get out of the house and drive up to the curb and pick something up from us, we were there and we tried to focus a lot of time, effort and energy on exactly that, which is engaging our customer base, making sure that they were there and that we were there for them. And then as time progressed, we were able to, depending upon, of course, the state and the municipality. We were able to develop some take home programs with taken boil kits and booze to go kits and those things. But I think the name of the game for the pandemic for us was just agility. No idea was stupid. Quite frankly, no idea was immediately swept under the table. We everything was on the table and we considered everything and adaptability and agility. Just pragmatism, I think, is perhaps the best way to encapsulate our approach to dealing with COVID and continuing to do it

Lee Kantor: [00:10:15] Now as we end this year and we move into next year. Are you targeting certain regions or is it kind of the whole country in play right now?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:10:27] I think a majority of the country, you know, 20, 20 was kind of our early twenty twenty one late twenty twenty was kind of the first time we started offering franchise opportunities for the right folks across the country. Prior to that, we had primarily been focused on the southeast U.S. east of the Mississippi, of course. We just wanted to have a little bit more market proof and markets outside of the Carolinas. And now that we have that and we’ve seen our restaurants grow and do exceptionally well, not only away from the coast but outside of the Carolinas. We’re at the stage in our development. We’ve got a lot of the right pieces on board internally. We’re partnered with the Great Development Group, Braintree Franchise Systems, franchise brands and we’re poised to grow as long as with the right people. And I think that matters more than anything else is that we would consider relationships and franchise partners in other states near or far. But you got to be the right fit in our system, and not everybody fits and that’s OK.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:32] Now, any advice for the emerging franchisor that’s out there, that’s listening on how to kind of get over the hump and get that escape velocity?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:11:44] Sure, I think the biggest thing is to have high brand confidence, and that sounds that sounds so silly and stupid, especially if you’re a founder of your own brand. But if you know your brand more than anyone else, which you should, is that continue to lean into that and continue to make sure that you depend upon that when you’re making decisions. And I think furthermore, just because someone hasn’t done something doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. And so I think that, you know, you have to determine obviously systems, procedures, all of those things, but lean on what you know. And that’s at the core DNA of what your brand is and what it has been and what’s gotten you there. Then maybe it’s not something you should you should sacrifice moving forward.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:30] Well, if there’s somebody out there that wants to learn more about the opportunity, what’s the website?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:12:35] Sure, it’s Chicken Shack franchise,

Lee Kantor: [00:12:38] And that’s chicken with no gee, right?

Jonathan Weathington: [00:12:41] No, gee, that’s right s s h youkai n Shack franchise.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:48] Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for sharing your story today. Thanks, Lee. All right, this is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

Debbie Radish-Respess With Invisible Horizons Coaching and Consulting

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Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Debbie Radish-Respess With Invisible Horizons Coaching and Consulting
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InvisibleHorizons

Debbie Radish-Respess, an executive and leadership coach, located in the Nashville, TN area, is the founder of Invisible Horizons Coaching and Consulting, a global executive coaching firm.

With over three decades of professional experience in corporate operations and executive human resources, Debbie is a proven results-driven leader. Her expertise includes strategy, change management, talent management, and organizational development, employee relations, and executive and leadership coaching.

She is a highly effective communicator and team leader with a proven ability to build long-term relationships across internal and external customer environments built with integrity, confidence, authenticity, and trust.

Debbie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Management and Human Relations and her MBA from Trevecca Nazarene University.

Based on her previous diverse experience, she chose to complete Newfield Network’s certified coaching program and became a credentialed Associate Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation.

Additionally, she is a Certified Practitioner in the Shadowmatch and StandOut assessments.

Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.

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 Debbie Radish-Respess with invisible horizons, coaching and consulting. Welcome, Debbie.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:00:45] Thank you.

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

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:00:53] Oh, I do it through executive coaching, leadership, coaching, trying to build the inner game of those leaders who actually want to take their organization to the next level.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:04] So you use an interesting phrase in her game. Can you tell us a little bit about how you’re defining that?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:01:11] Yeah, I I really look at how we show up with our own biases and assumptions and how that influences our behaviors and actions, which in turn affect how we actually lead a team. So our inner game really has to do with our emotional state, our mental state and how we communicate with folks.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:41] Now you talk about biases, how like what are some maybe unconscious biases? You see, folks have that to you. It’s like, you know, maybe a flashing red light, but to them, it’s invisible.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:01:55] Actually, I don’t think that we have subconscious biases. I think that we really are. We have we don’t have unconscious bias. We actually have subconscious biases. I think that we know that we have biases, but we don’t always see them. Two that I talk about a lot within businesses are called ones called in-group favoritism, and another is confirmation bias. And the in-group is kind of where we just kind of hang out with people who are just like us. I kind of attribute that to like the storm troopers. You know, we all look the same talk, the same act, the same. Our hair is the same. We think the same things, we believe the same things, and we really lack the diversity that really needs to occur to be an innovative organization. So that’s that’s one of the two. The other one is the confirmation bias, which is where we are going to seek out. Quote unquote, facts that are going to make our opinions be truthful, whether they’re really truthful or not. So we’re actually just confirming what we want to believe instead of actually getting the the right stuff right

Lee Kantor: [00:03:08] Now, do you find that most companies want to solve these problems or are they kind of OK with what they are? And just say, Look, this is what we are and this what we believe and and that’s it.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:03:22] The clients that I talked with actually after we have a conversation, they see that there is a disconnect between their mission, vision and values and actually what they allow to happen in the organization so their guiding behaviors don’t necessarily fit in with what they. Have on the walls or what they preach. So, you know, my job is to come in and just see what is that alignment and when they recognize that there is a misalignment, we can then kind of go deeper into their own inner game because it starts with the leaders now.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:04] So at some point, there are some incongruity, right, that they they’re saying one thing and they’re behaving in a different way. There’s a football coach I forgot who said this, that says You kind of you are what your record says you are. So your actions are kind of what, no matter what you’re saying is is nice, but it’s your actions that are are kind of reality. When you point this out to people, is this a lot of times like, Oh my god, I didn’t realize this or is it like I sensed that something was amiss, but I didn’t realize that it was this?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:04:39] Um, yes, to that, actually. Sometimes they do recognize that there is something that they’re missing, that’s that invisible horizon. And on the flip side, there are some times where they’re like, I had no idea that that’s what it was. So I think that it comes from two separate places, but it really comes down to that inner game. And how well, how will they know themselves or how truthful they are with themselves?

Lee Kantor: [00:05:10] Now it sounds like you’re these are or could be construed as hard truths where these are, you’re not kind of polishing up something and tweaking something. You’re really getting to the heart of kind of a true north of an organization. And that, for some folks, might be difficult and might be too painful to adjust. Is there a way to kind of ease them into this or is this something of a rip the Band-Aid kind of strategy?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:05:39] Clients actually dictate that we it depends on how they want it. Sometimes I’m a pretty bold coach and a very strategic business consultant. And there are times where compassion I’m always compassionate regardless of whether the Band-Aid needs to be ripped off. And it really is about asking permission on how far they want to go or how deep they want to go. They will eventually get there, but coaching is all about not leading, but it’s actually walking and partnering with the client at the pace that they’re willing to go. I hope that made sense.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:22] Right, so you’re kind of letting them, you’re giving them recommendations and then but they have to ultimately lead.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:06:32] Yeah, actually, so coaching isn’t about giving recommendations, it’s actually helping them come up with solutions because I play on both sides of that fence. If I’m solely coaching, it’s actually just partnering with that client and having them come up with their own solutions and the path that they want to take when I’m consulting. They may ask specifically what are some recommendations? And I use my coaching skill set to be able to help them come up with ideas and solutions and innovative ways of being able to address some of those things that they don’t necessarily see. Because when when a when a person comes up with their own ideas and solutions, they have one hundred percent buy in to want to make it. Can lead a horse to water. I think that you’ve got to be able to at least show the water and let that person decide, what path do I want to take to be able to go there?

Lee Kantor: [00:07:35] Right. But also remember, some of these horizons are invisible.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:07:39] That is correct. But it’s all about the deep questions. That’s that’s part of the journey. And it’s a journey, Leigh. I mean, it’s not like there’s never just a destination. That’s why coaching occurs year after year after year because we continuously grow and learn and develop and just we have such awesome depth within ourselves that you can’t get it all at once. I mean, that’s just not reality and and businesses change and leadership changes. And, you know, let’s just look at the world environment right now that has changed, which means we have to also be able to step into a new and different version of ourselves. And that’s it’s a beautiful journey.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:24] Now what are some of the symptoms that an organization might be going through or or seeing show up that it might really be attributed to these kind of core issues that you’re dealing with?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:08:37] Um, turnovers, always a big one, though, that’s a really tough one nowadays, because there there’s a lot of people that are just leaving organizations because they can, you know, there’s there’s such a high unemployment rate, there’s a lot of jobs on the market, on people. Unhappy people is a big thing when you’re, you know, this has been since as long as I’ve been in business. When you have your good employees, you’re strong. Employees become less engaged or even disengaged. You know that there’s a problem. Leadership is typically a big challenge when when you start seeing that or not so big, you know a big word right now and turnover is a big word and not, you know, retention is a big word right now. All of those underlying things, when people start complaining more than they ever have before it, it’s it’s the same to me. It’s the exact same problems as it has been. I’ve been in business for 30 years. Those haven’t changed and the underlying currents are, are you listening to the employees? Are you watching them? Are you looking at their behaviors and where is the disconnect in what you think you’re doing within the organization to what’s really happening in the organization? You know, are your clients happy? Are your are your vendors happy? You know, I look at the entire supply chain and go, Where’s where are you seeing the hiccups or the bottlenecks that need to be looked at? And then you start looking at it always comes down to people. And I think that that’s I think that that’s where the you just have to be aware it starts with awareness.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:32] And then so but when you start seeing some of these things pop up and they might be like, you know, you can attribute it to outside forces and you’re like, Wow, it’s not me. It’s, you know, the pandemic or it’s not me. It’s, you know, this is happening everywhere. But at some point you have to kind of look in the mirror and say, OK, what can I control and what can I help? You know? And then this is where it sounds like somebody like you or your firm can come in and really kind of help me see holistically my role into this and what I can be doing to improve the situation for my team and my company, my community.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:11:10] Correct. Correct. And and you have to want you have to want the change. It’s it’s not, you know, I don’t I don’t want to work with someone who is not willing. To take some tough steps, coaching and consulting can become very uncomfortable because part of the transformation that happens is you have to get out of your own way and that’s uncomfortable because it means that you’re going to try something different. So, you know, you’ve got to want the change, and that means you have to want to be a little uncomfortable. And again, the client sets that that rating of how uncomfortable they want to get and how soon.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:56] So now how do you kind of allay some of the fears for folks that are maybe new to this or I haven’t taken these kind of bold steps when it comes to showing some results. Is there a way to kind of take some baby steps in this in terms of show, some results get some momentum or this is to me an area where I think people hesitate before choosing a coach because they’re unsure that this change is going to be for the better.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:12:28] Yes, changes, changes always for the better, you know, you make it what you make it. When a person literally starts thinking about, OK, what am I doing that I could be doing differently? That’s that’s the first step and and it’s literally just having a conversation with someone like me just picking up the phone and saying, All right, let me just talk this through. What do you offer? What where do we want to go? And I just ask the question, what what’s important to you? What’s the underlying current? Why now? What have you tried in the past? What hasn’t worked? What has worked? Typically, there’s a lot that has not worked in the past, which is why they’re trying something different. And it really is that the first step is just having the conversation. I offer free consultations. You know, it’s just, Hey, let’s just have a conversation and see if this is even a fit for you. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not. And that’s OK. And you know, my job is to serve my clients, whether they’re really my clients or not. I got into this because I love I love serving others, and I love seeing them prosper in a way that touches their heart. It’s not just about the financial goals, it’s about building teams and building trust and having respect and all of those soft skills that leaders are not always taught that actually drive the bottom line. So when a person starts feeling the change within themselves, the results of that is manifest on their team and on the others that they that they are actually serving.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:17] Can you share an example of a group you work with, an individual you work with that maybe went in thinking, OK, we’re going to solve problem a but then after working with you, they realized that the the impact is going to be greater than just that maybe tactical thing they were after initially. But it was more kind of cultural and it impacted the whole organization and obviously don’t name any names. But if you have an example that can illustrate maybe the challenge they had and then how you were able to inject yourself and help them get to a new level, that’d be great.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:14:49] Yeah. One of my favorite stories is I worked with a CEO. He owned his own business and we had worked together in a past life. And he said, Deb, you’re in this new thing. Let me try this out. What is it? I don’t even know what I’m going to get out of it. So he actually kind of came into it haphazardly, did not really think that he needed to learn leadership skills. He was the owner. He could make the decisions. He was successful. And we started with executive coaching that transitioned into not just the executive coaching, but we did some team coaching where I got his group together and they had a bed of very nice family feel. But there was an underlying current of distrust and we got to the heart of that, and we went through about a four month program of learning to trust each other, being able to be open and honest but compassionate. And they the success of them they had in over eight hundred percent revenue increase. The team has been there now. It’s been multiple years and he actually was in a business that was very, very high turnover because it’s a very, just hard industry. And he’s not only retained but promoted his folks and he’s built and some additional staffing. So that is one of the greatest success stories because I just love the fact that he went into it kind of haphazardly.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:16:30] He is a much better leader. He actually learned that he was getting in the way instead of really helping and supporting. He learned how to support in a manner that was more successful for his team and what the team needed, not what he thought they needed. So they listened better. It was just, I love, love, love that story. And that’s what a lot of my clients get is they come in with one one idea and it blossoms into cultural change and team development and greater respect and trust for your fellow colleagues, even executive teams where you kind of sometimes have that little backbiting or you have the we’re all together in it as a team when we’re in the meeting. But then we leave, excuse me, the meeting and you’ve got two people go off and they’re talking about others and you have another little click that goes off and. The success is when those those people walk out of a meeting and they’re laughing and they’re there together and they’re not in little clicks. That’s where that’s where you can really see the transformation in an organization. And I’ve had that multiple times with my clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:45] Now in your work, do you have kind of a sweet spot in terms of industry size of organization that you work with?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:17:54] I love manufacturing. I come from the manufacturing background. However, I have kind of morphed into like wealth management, financial advising, distilling. I’ve got home construction and business construction and the challenges that these organizations have. Honestly, are exactly the same. They just happen to be in a different industry. So although I love manufacturing, I can speak the lingo in other organizations and be very and help them be very successful.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:35] Now any advice for other coaches out there that are trying to build a practice and maybe moving from one niche to another?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:18:45] I do. When I initially started, I really thought manufacturing was at, and I really had my mind set, and this is where you come up with biases, you know, 30 years in business and it’s all been in fairly under the umbrella of manufacturing. I felt that that was the only place I could work. And all of a sudden I found myself not having manufacturing clients. I was being referred to other industries. So my very first recommendation is to recognize and understand your own biases and. Kind of consider what that is doing, is it helping or is it hurting you, is it holding you back? Is it propelling you forward? Take that leap of faith. Not. Don’t be afraid to just think, Well, I’m stuck here. I can’t go anywhere else because it’s a bias. I mean, we we can absolutely overcome it. And it’s about mindset change and habit changes. The second thing that I that I really tell everybody, including myself, is just take that step. So if I’m going to recognize and be aware of the biases that I have, I consider what are the steps that I can take that’s going to make me feel uncomfortable, but that’s going to take me in a different direction if we’re not agile, if we’re not flexible, if we don’t build in that ability to. Be able to serve those clients, whoever those clients may be. It’s really going to be hard to be successful because sometimes some of the best clients come from areas that you’re not even considering because it comes back to that first point of the biases. Um, and then as with everything, be kind to yourself. Give yourself permission to try new things and provide a platform not just for yourself, but for your clients of safety, respect and compassion. And be authentic. I can’t I can’t stress that enough is to be who you are and step into that awesomeness. That’s how we were created. It’s it’s a beautiful place to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:02] Well, Debbie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you. Is there a website that people can go to to learn more, get on your calendar to have a more substantive conversation?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:21:15] Absolutely. It’s called invisible horizons coaching. And there’s a number of places that they can just, you know, click here to to chat.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:25] And that’s horizons with an S. Right?

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:21:28] That is correct. Invisible horizons, yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:31] Good stuff. Well, Debbie, thank you again for sharing your story.

Debbie Radish-Respess: [00:21:34] Great. Thank you. Leigh, I appreciate your time.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:36] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Amber Saunders With The Saunders Firm

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Amber Saunders With The Saunders Firm
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As is a highly regarded attorney whose mission is to enhance the lives of families by securing their futures tomorrow, it took personal loss to underscore the importance of estate planning to Amber Saunders. Since that point, she has tirelessly dedicated herself towards this cause, using her expertise in finance, business, and legal decisions to help families realize their financial goals.

Saunders holds a law degree from the prominent John Marshall Law school in Atlanta, GA. Graduating in 2009, she has amassed credentials that have helped her excel as an attorney.

Notable accomplishments include serving as a Judicial Assistant to the Honorable Judge Penny Reynolds on the State Court of Fulton County, receiving the Advocacy Award for her work with the Moot Court Team, served as a Dean’s Fellow for her legal writing skills, and served on both the local and regional board for the Black Law Students Association.

She is also the author of Ahead of the Curve: What Parents Need to Know to Get their Kids into College.

In 2013 Saunders started Saunders Law Group, representing high-net-worth families and their businesses in various personal and business matters. Currently, Saunders is Principal Attorney of The Saunders Firm– a law practice specializing in providing a new approach to business planning that incorporates tax, succession, business, estate, and intellectual property planning into every aspect of the work done for clients.

Connect with Amber on LinkedIn and follow The Saunders Firm on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Estate Planning
  • Law
  • Protecting your legacy
  • Protecting your business estate
  • What Parents Need to Know to Get their Kids into College
  • Intellectual-property planning
  • Conservatorship
  • Women, Wine, and Wealth events

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

Shannon Hudson With 9Round Fitness

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9Round
Franchise Marketing Radio
Shannon Hudson With 9Round Fitness
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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.

9Round

Shannon “The Cannon” Hudson, founder, and CEO of 9Round Franchising, LLC, is a former IKF Light Middleweight Kickboxing Champion of the World. He trained under legendary boxing trainer Xavier Biggs, brother of 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Tyrell Biggs.

After over 70 bouts in the ring, competing in Canada and Europe, Shannon could not find a place where the average person could be exposed to the “Top Secret” training of some of the best fighters in the world. That is where his vision for 9Round began.

He knew that if he could take the grueling workouts he did in the ring, and create a non-intimidating, convenient circuit workout format, then the average person could enjoy the benefits of boxing and kickboxing without getting hit.

Shannon is a family man himself with two children, so keeping the workout short but still effective was key when creating the 9Round concept.

Shannon and his wife, Heather, opened their first 9Round studio in 2008. Since then, the brand has grown to more than 750 locations across 42 states and in 12 foreign countries.

Shannon is fully involved in the day-to-day operations of the business and constantly works to bring the best support to 9Round franchisees and the best workout experience to 9Round members.

He released a business book entitled Zero to 100 in early 2016, which is a candid memoir of the journey from one 9Round location to the first 100 locations being opened. This book made Shannon a best-selling author on Amazon. Shannon enjoys public speaking and motivating others by thinking outside the box.

Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn and follow 9Round Fitness on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How 9Round responded to the pandemic and helped franchisees get through the shutdown
  • Evolve faster when you have crisis
  • Strategy for continuing to develop additional comprehensive support for franchisees
  • Overcoming challenges in business

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by Akosombo 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 fun one today on the show, we have Shannon Hudson with 9round fitness. Welcome, Shannon.

Shannon Hudson: [00:00:42] Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about nine round fitness. How are you serving, folks?

Shannon Hudson: [00:00:48] Well, we serve people by helping them punch and kick to get in better shape with kickboxing fitness program. And we we use kickboxing as the vehicle to make people feel better and just live a better life.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:02] So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in fitness and in kickboxing?

Shannon Hudson: [00:01:06] Great question. My older brother, almost nine years older than me, started martial arts when I was born in nineteen seventy nine and I grew up basically in a karate school. I remember going to watch him do karate, and when I turned seven years old, almost eight, I started karate in the same karate school and just grew up loving it, started competing in karate tournaments, then went into boxing and kick boxing and turn professional. As a professional kickboxer, I won a world title in 2011. Up in Canada had a great career. I got to meet some really neat people. I got the fight on Chuck Norris World Combat League. As a professional, I got to do some really neat things and get the fight in Europe, representing the USA over there on the kickboxing event in Europe a couple of times. And you know, I wanted to create something that I could give to the average person, but take out the getting hit part and make it all about fitness and fun. And we created my wife and I created this 30 minute workout back in two thousand eight, and here we are 13 years later and seven hundred locations later.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:12] So now when you were making the transition from being a professional fighter to creating something that you know a regular person could enjoy and benefit from, was that a difficult transition to just mentally kind of wrap your head around, OK? Everything I’ve been doing and training for has been to succeed as a fighter in a ring, and now I’m going to take some of those techniques, similar techniques and then use it for a regular person to just kind of get in shape with mentally. Was that difficult for you?

Shannon Hudson: [00:02:44] Of course. I mean, you have to think we got the term we use as beginner friendly, right? So how do we take something that I took to a very high level and make it beginner friendly where anyone can do it? And that’s kind of the mentality you have to have when you want to scale something on the masses is to make it very beginner friendly. So that’s what we’ve done, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of it. And you know, so so yes, it is challenging, but it’s a different mindset. Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:13] Now when you’re when you were first kind of playing around with the concept and you were focusing in on beginners and people that don’t want to be kind of the best fighter they can be, but just want to kind of start moving and play on the ground with their grandkids. That’s a different kind of audience and clientele that I’m sure you were surrounded with. Was that hard for you to kind of kind of wrap your head around how to serve these kind of people that are just, you know, for them going to check the mail and coming back and not be winded is a big victory.

Shannon Hudson: [00:03:48] No, you’re so right. And it was challenging and it surprised us. When I say us, my wife and I, you know, because you think boxing, kickboxing, you think this guy? Tough stuff, kind of kind of thing. But when we opened it open the very first nine round location, two thousand eight, we realized, Oh my gosh, females are a big part of this. And today, demographically, we’re 60 to 70 percent female age 30 to 40, and it really surprised us. Can this can younger people in older people do it? Absolutely. But that’s really that’s a real sweet spot for that. And my wife, Heather is a big advocate for it and believes that one of the reasons is females want to feel empowered and they they do feel empowered, punching and kicking where maybe guys like you and I, Lee grew up wrestling and roughhousing. And maybe, maybe females didn’t do that as much, but it surprised us on who this what? Who’s attracted to this? And you know, we’re very now we’ve learned so much and we’re very grateful for it. But it was surprising and very different than we thought originally.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:54] So then when you were starting out, did you have to kind of format the classes a lot different than maybe you initially drew them up?

Shannon Hudson: [00:05:02] No. You know, that’s funny. You say that the nine stations, the nine different rounds are still the same equipment, same same type of round, but we do different drills on the rounds every day. The workout changes every day, so we didn’t have to change anything as far as the core format of the model. We’ve definitely improved since then. We have full time workout programs in-house that program all these workouts for the franchise owners out there. And you mentioned the word classes it’s. It’s funny you say that because we really don’t have classes, the 30 minute sessions is a circuit that’s running pretty much all of the most of the day. And when a member shows up, they can just pop in the circuit whenever they whenever they get there, which makes it really appealing for very busy people so they don’t have to make a set class time.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:49] So you don’t have to be there at noon, you can come at any time and then just jump in and you where you start is where you start and it takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Shannon Hudson: [00:05:58] You got it. You nailed it. It’s like a conveyor belt. It’s perfect.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:01] And then now, what about from a franchisee standpoint? Is your ideal franchisee like kind of that fitness wellness person? Or could it be anybody?

Shannon Hudson: [00:06:10] It is. Well, it’s a couple of things that the director of the studio, which which is the face of the business and that might be an owner, operator or it might be a manager, right? So like Lee, if you wanted to hire. I don’t know you, Lee, and you didn’t want to be in the day to day, then you would hire a manager to run the studio who would be into fitness. Yes, and love people and love being the face of the business. If you were the owner operator and wanted to do that as your job right, you would be in there and you would be. And we definitely want you to love fitness. One of our values is you have to love fitness. You have to love people. This is a people business and you’ve got to be to connect with people. So, yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:50] So somebody on the team has got to be that face for the nine round fitness studio.

Shannon Hudson: [00:06:56] You got it. You have to have a driver in there that drives the business. That’s the day to day is the face of the business, kind of like I’m the face of the franchising company, right? I go to the events I’m on, I’m on the radio shows with you, right? So, so yes, you have to have that person that has that passion for it because that energy and that excitement is attractive and that’s what you want.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:17] Now, when a person takes on this, are you looking for that owner to be kind of just that fitness wellness person that’s serving that local community? Or at this stage, are you looking for kind of I need empire builders who is going to take over a market that’s going to, you know, take over a large territory. And so therefore, I’m looking for more of the professional franchisee who maybe has other franchises that are aligned with this from a customer standpoint. But then they can weave this into a make a really dynamic portfolio.

Shannon Hudson: [00:07:50] Yeah, great question. Actually, we’re looking for both. We will take both, you know, we love the smart business operator. That’s very advanced in franchising. In fact, we have several that own other concepts, not fitness, but they are multi unit owners and they do very, very well with they get franchisor. They understand it’s about systems and building people and training people and developing them. So, so yes, however, we we love the dynamic, passion driven person as well that’s willing to join a team nine round and willing to be coached and trained and follow a system. So the answer is we will do. We will take both of those.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:28] Now, how did kind of COVID impact the business in terms of a lot of locations weren’t allowed to have face to face? Were you the way you’re set up? It sounds like you might already kind of have some social distancing as part of just the makeup of the fitness center. But did that really impact you or were you able to navigate that pretty well?

Shannon Hudson: [00:08:48] Well, yeah, it impacted us a lot. I think restaurants and fitness centers and gyms really got hit the hardest, I think. But you’re right, our model is set up. You know, our stations are minimum seven eight feet apart. So the social distancing piece is actually pretty easy for us to do. But again, physical people breathing hard huffing and puffing. Yes, it did cause a lot of operational issues. But you know what? We we capitalized on that. We created an in-home at home workout. We have an app called Nine Room. Now, a lot of nine round franchise owners are selling this piece as an at home only workout, and they’re being able to take the revenue from that or include it in the membership to make the membership more robust and more well-rounded. So you have an in-studio membership, but you also have your app or you can plug on and turn it on at home or on all the apps the Roku, the iOS, the Android. So you know what? We built a studio at our headquarters to film these workouts in, and we have all the fancy lights and cameras and we’re on all the apps. So, you know, in great crisis comes innovation and different technology that’s advancing, and we’re proud to be a part of that and lead the way in that. So. So yes, it impacted us. It’s been hard. It’s not been easy. You know, we’re in 17 countries, too. So that throws a whole nother wrinkle in because the U.S., you know, half of the U.S. is vaccinated and the and doing better with with COVID, we’re handling it better. But now there’s, you know, the the variant and then you have the other countries or not as far along as we are for, for example, Australia, a lot of them are on total lockdown. We’re getting ready to open up our first location in Vietnam, but we can’t the whole countries lock down all of a sudden. So has it been hard? Yes. But you know, some good things have come out and with innovation that has come out of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:41] So now what has it been like for you as an entrepreneur, somebody who came up as a professional athlete and is now kind of growing this massive global franchise network? Any advice for the folks out there, maybe with an emerging brand themselves and how they can, you know, they aspire to where you’re at right now?

Shannon Hudson: [00:11:03] Absolutely. You know, the advice is don’t let the business outgrow you write a lot. A lot of founders sometimes, you know, founder and CEO are two different things. And I’ve so far I’ve been very blessed. I’ve been able to learn the CEO piece in the business piece and I’m still learning it every single day. Don’t get me wrong, but a lot of founders don’t continue on to become the CEO and operate the business, operate the chain at this level. So if you are one of those people, you have to decide. The advice is do you want to learn how to run the business or do you want to just be a founder and not really be in the day to day operations of running a business? I’ve decided, yes, I want to be the operating the business, so I enjoy it. I love it. I enjoy building a team and learning business systems. And so those are things you have to decide if you if you want to do so, whatever the decision is, commit to it and don’t let the business out, grow yourself and rock and roll.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:02] Now, do you think that you might have somewhat of a competitive advantage being an athlete at the highest level like you have been and you have been surrounded by coaching and great coaches and leaders that you just see that as part of the team is having a coach or a great leader. So therefore you kind of gravitate towards that role. Or maybe you look for people that have those qualities.

Shannon Hudson: [00:12:28] Oh, hundred percent. I mean, being competitive, be a competitive fighter or being a professional athlete has helped me be competitive in business. And I think anyone and I think everyone is competitive to a certain extent, but I take it even further. I like to win. I like to beat my kid and Mario Kart, too, you know, and playing video games. So I’m just competitive, right? So yes, and you have to you have to have that drive to win in business. You have to be competitive. I mean, it’s a competitive world. And I look I have trainers still today that that in business trainers, coaches and also physical trainers and coaches. So everyone needs a coach. Everyone needs to be held accountable. Everyone needs to be pushed to go as far as you can possibly go. And absolutely, it’s helped me. Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:15] Now how do you help your franchisees as coaching involved as part of what the franchisee gets is their access to kind of these great leaders that you get to benefit from?

Shannon Hudson: [00:13:28] I mean, we think it’s the most important thing we can do as a franchisor is the training, and that’s also teaching, so our people are what we call them. Franchise business coaches have to be good at teaching franchisees. We do regional trainings. Everybody has a franchise business coach in-house. We were out there, a corporate rep, when they open, if they’re struggling, we’ll go see them. We have annual conventions, we have online training modules that they go through online universities, they go through. I mean, it goes on and on and it’s something that continuously has to evolve and it’s very, very important. And people call it training, but it’s really teaching, you know, training and teaching basically the same thing. You have to be teaching and become a good teacher. So everyone here needs to really work. We really work hard on our communication skills, are teaching ability or teaching skills, and we’re saying what the franchisees need. We have a franchise advisory council. We’re asking them, Hey, tell us, like, what training do you need on marketing? So we’ll find that we’ll develop it. If we can’t find it, we’ll make it so. So you’re right, one hundred percent. I think good franchise systems out there have great training teaching programs, and it’s very important

Lee Kantor: [00:14:41] Now for the folks that are in a local market. What separates kind of the rock stars from the kind of middle of the pack? What are they doing in their local market to really be successful and serve and really nurture the relationships that you need to have in order to serve a local community?

Shannon Hudson: [00:14:58] Great question. It’s all about execution franchising. We have the playbook done. It’s who can execute the best. And a lot of people don’t understand that marketing is one of the most important things you can possibly do. It’s why I’m on this radio show right now. What am I doing in marketing, right? Because I mean, a great example that I tell everyone is McDonald’s. They don’t have the best product, but they sell more hamburgers than anyone in the world. Now why? It’s that? Why is that was the marketing they have. I mean, it’s the marketing they’ve done years and years consistently over and over and over. So in the community, you have to execute, you have to be out in the community, be the face of the community. You need to be the nine nine round guy or girl or gal out there. You have to be the face and and it has to be consistently done. Do we want a great product? Absolutely. Do we give a good product? One hundred percent. But without the marketing, no matter how good your product or service is, if you don’t do it and do it consistently, no one’s going to get helped by it. Get served, as you like to say, and I like that terminology, we’re serving right. We keep that attitude, keep marketing. That’s how you win in this business.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:10] Now what do you what are you looking at as you continue to expand? What are the next, you know, the end of this year and next year look like for you guys?

Shannon Hudson: [00:16:18] Yeah, great. Great question. We’re hopefully going to open in three new countries Vietnam, Indonesia and Qatar in the Middle East. We have a pretty big presence over there in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. We have almost 40 locations in Saudi Arabia. We’re going to continue with our app. We’re doing some new technology inside our studio with screens, workout screens, coaching screens by the workout stations to help give the customer a better experience. So a lot of innovation, a lot of exciting things happening. And you know, we’re hoping to finish the year strong and start 2020 too strong because, you know, New Year’s is coming a big time of year for us, New Year’s first quarter of twenty twenty two. So we’re just ramping up staffing up here. We have more on the Home Office staff. We have more team now than we did before COVID and I’m very proud of that. So we’re excited to continue growing and continue kicking well.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:13] If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website?

Shannon Hudson: [00:17:20] Easy nine round. That’s the number nine. Are you? And we’re looking forward to getting as many people punching and kicking as we can.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:29] Lee Well, congratulations on all the success, Shannon, and you’re doing amazing work and we really appreciate it.

Shannon Hudson: [00:17:37] Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:39] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll sail next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

Joanna Tress With Mattanna5DX

by

Joanna Tress
Coach The Coach
Joanna Tress With Mattanna5DX
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Matthew and Joanna Tress is a married couple celebrating a life of purpose and passion by liberating the performing artists within themselves and sharing that sweet freedom by helping others do the same.

They are the founders of Mattanna5DX.

While they are not professionals, they have performed at public and private events consistently for the past 30 years. You’ll get a taste of their “secret sauce” of bringing dreams to reality when you participate in one of their virtual or live events.

After hosting workshops, music nights, and showcases over the years and touching hundreds of lives, they’re taking it all to the next level for you. They’re here to facilitate, collaborate and motivate.

Connect with Joanna on Linkedin.

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 Joanna Trece with Mattanna5DX. Welcome, Joanna.

Joanna Tress: [00:00:44] Hello, I’m so happy to be here, Lee.

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

Joanna Tress: [00:00:52] Well, Matina, five, is actually short for the Matina five dimensional performing arts experience. So we are a collective of people age thirty five and older here in Orlando, Florida, or wherever. All over the world, they would like to sing, dance, act, play an instrument or express themselves creatively in a supportive judgment free zone. Or we’re having fun and helping one another overcome whatever obstacles we might have when it comes to getting on stage or in front of the camera as a performing artist.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:30] Well, it’s interesting that you’re targeting this kind of a little bit older group that may be a lot of performing arts folks go after I was recently interviewing someone and they told me this interesting fact, and you’re probably can resonate with this when they talk to children that are like preschool, kindergarten, they ask, Who’s an artist? Everybody raises their hand. But by the time they’re in fourth and fifth grade, only a handful of people raise their hand anymore when they’re asked if they’re an artist. And at some point, people are starting to self-select out of the arts. And, you know, only the the one person that can draw well considers themselves an artist, and everybody else says they’re not an artist anymore. And I thought that was really sad, and I’m excited to learn how you’re kind of rekindling that artistic spirit in, folks.

Joanna Tress: [00:02:21] Thank you so much. It’s definitely needed because in particular, the performing arts with the dance lessons, the band and the chorus at school and community theater often target the children, and we’re busy investing time and energy and resources into helping our youth develop those skills and then see where that takes them further on in life. But for many of us, when we’re grown up, we’re at the height of our careers. We’re taking care of families, even older parents, et cetera. We found that our experiences in the performing arts have gone to the back burner or nonexistence or whatever. Hopes, dreams and aspirations we had as a young person have sort of died. So we want to rekindle that and let people just have that missing piece of their life or build and be able to delve into their art and just really feel alive again, happy and satisfied with where they are because they’re being their authentic self.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:23] Now, how did this idea kind of come about? Is this something have you been involved in the arts your whole career or is this kind of a second act for you and your team?

Joanna Tress: [00:03:34] Right? Well, this is where I started off with what high school and college performances make my first professional demo back in nineteen ninety three. And I’ve been in multiple bands and a community, theater, productions and things over the years. And then I taught kids as well. So I’ve seen both sides of the experience where I taught young people as far as singing stage presence and beginning piano. And that is where I realized that, well, wait a minute, I want to do things now. I want to have fun and I could continue to do community theater. But there are a variety of options. Now I’m creating a new option that is going to to help someone who maybe doesn’t have the confidence or the skill level doesn’t know how to plug into the arts. My I have a gateway to that and we’ll do our own thing, and folks can add that to their resume and their workshops and things that help them get to where they want to be. So really, we make dreams come true. People have all kinds of creative concepts and ideas, and we can collaborate on them and make sure we find a way to make it happen.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:51] So why do you think so many people kind of self-select out of this performing arts? Is it because they feel like, Oh, you know, my window is closed, I’m not going to become famous? So then why bother? Or there’s too much rejection? They’re never going to pick me. Like, what are some of the reasons you found that people kind of opt out of the arts at, you know, at a certain age?

Joanna Tress: [00:05:13] Yeah. And it’s all of the above. People respond to a survey that’s on our website, and some of the responses include that when they were young, their parents want them to focus on academics even though they had an interest in the art. So sometimes it’s that family pressure or the family business and for them, for a particular career path and they don’t see where it can fit in. For others, there was an accomplished young woman who studied opera for years could sing and play the piano, et cetera, have even put out a record. But then she had an accident, and that that drastically dramatically affected her ability to sing. It was an injury to her face and put her in intense pain, so she put that on the back burner for years. So a lot of times it could be health related. It can be just the responsibilities that we think are we don’t have time. It’s those who feel that they’re not good enough, that they don’t have anything to offer, that they won’t make it. You get rejected so many times for certain auditions and and then you just sort of want to give up. So it’s a combination and everyone has a story. And we actually delve into that so that we can frame our experience. That’s keeping us away from what we love to do and really create a bridge that we can cross over. All right, that was then. This is the next chapter, and here’s what we can do now.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:44] So now what are the five dimensions for Montana five d x?

Joanna Tress: [00:06:50] Well, the five for performing arts that I mentioned as far as creative expression, playing an instrument, acting, dancing and singing, while also we want to make sure every time we get together that we’re immersing ourselves with our five main senses. So we’re going to have something that excites the eyes. Something you can touch and feel physically, tactically. Of course, what you can hear with your ears, which you can smell and what you can taste, especially when we have our live experiences. You know, even if you were giving a goodie bag, it’s going to have something to indulge your senses so that you’re completely immersed in that experience. That’s why we call it five dimensional. And of course, the fifth dimension is also magic, so we’ve got a little sprinkle of that, too.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:39] Now what is the experience like for someone who wants to kind of join forces with you or participate in some of your activities?

Joanna Tress: [00:07:49] Ok, well, the first stop is W W W Dot Matan Lee Kantor, that’s M82 A and a dot org Mactan, a double t double edged sword because that’s where they’ll see what we’re about, and they’re invited to take our initial survey to see where they are. We follow up. We have a secondary survey to get more specific and then we have a free 30 minute consultation to let them know what we can do for them, how we see them. And then of course, we invite them to one of our events online, virtually by Zoom, of course, first. And of course, what that leads to after know, sometimes there’s an open mic element. Sometimes there’s a creative writing and even meditation element. Sometimes it’s an assessment. We have an actual process step by step, but ultimately we want to get together and put a live show on for the community to buy. Tickets have sponsors just all of us delve in and and present a customized show based on each person’s interest. So every show we’re going to do is different.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:08] And then so it’s primarily for people in the Orlando area.

Joanna Tress: [00:09:12] Well, the live events, yes, you’ll come to Orlando for the live events, but of course, the virtual events and we’re getting together on Zoom. I’ve attended many successful events online. That’s, of course, because of COVID. That’s we’ve transitioned to so we can all still share and participate in the workshop activities and even have the spotlight in that group setting. We’re all pretty comfortable with that now, and you’ve got to start somewhere so virtually we can serve the world and then go for that special thing. Got to come to Orlando, and it’s the big time comes over when we get COVID under control, like next year. We look forward to that.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:54] So now are you partnering with other organizations that are involved in the performing arts or would like to be?

Joanna Tress: [00:10:01] Absolutely. I I have organizations that I love and support, like the Tim Aqua Arts Organization here in Orlando. I went to a live performance before the shutdown and blew my mind. There is a collective with recording studios and stages small stages called Jacob JIC. I’ve attended their events and support them, but we are really open to all of the places that have been used that have an audience that we can help and nurture. And we’re opening that up. So we participated with where we attended Orlando Fringe. We’d like to volunteer next as Theater Festival. So really, we’re just getting involved we can and getting the word out. That’s really what I’m doing. The podcast circuit for the radio is to spread the word, to get more people to join us, so we have more to work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:04] Now do you find that there’s some kind of maybe businesses that would like to have you maybe do a luncheon, learn or do some education to kind of instill that creativity and that artistic kind of culture into their organization?

Joanna Tress: [00:11:20] Absolutely. I am open to that and I am working on reaching out to businesses for that. Next week actually is my first lunch and learn, so to speak. It is at a a place for the healing arts, so they focus on on total health and wellness with natural things, maybe alternative or homeopathic, whatever you want to call it. And I was invited to attend their staff meeting because we can talk about the therapeutic qualities so they have plenty of clients who would love to have this creative outlet and to really show how it incorporates into your overall mental, emotional and physical health too. So we’re just starting with that next week.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:09] Now you talked about the events you do virtually and in person. If someone goes to your website, is there some samples of that? Can they kind of get a feel for what an event looks like or sounds like?

Joanna Tress: [00:12:23] We don’t have the samples yet. I will. When I connect with someone, I can share testimonials with them that I have on other websites. So experience that I have had and gotten positive feedback, things like singalongs and music nights that are posted. And so it’s not trying to be secretive, but we try to streamline things and we’re really inviting people to connect with us and then we have so much to share from that point. But we want them to get in touch with us and share a little about themselves as well, because the more feedback that we get from those who visit Montana, the more customized we can have to really make this experience what people want and need. You sell them what they want and then you give them what you need. That was the advice I’ve got recently.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:16] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success if somebody wants to learn more one more time with the website.

Joanna Tress: [00:13:22] Yes, WW w dot Mattina dot org. That’s M a t a and a dot org, m a t a and a dot org.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:36] Well, Joanna, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Joanna Tress: [00:13:40] Oh, I loved it. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:45] Once again, that’s Montana Dawg. Joanna Trece. Thank you for sharing. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you. Thank you. All right, this ad Lee Kantor, we will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

 

Vincent Moiso With VIS Aspire Inc

by

Coach The Coach
Coach The Coach
Vincent Moiso With VIS Aspire Inc
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Vincent Moiso is a principal and President of Oceanside Glass & Tile and is also the founder and president of his own coaching business, VIS Aspire Inc.

He recently launched his alter-ego brand SUR•THRIVE•AL GEAR, as well as publishing his playbook for the entrepreneur and the hight performer, How to Survive the Wilderness.

Last year he collaborated on a new online course, the Complete Guide on Developing Tile & Stone Specifications with Architects in partnership with Ceramic Tile & Stone Consultants.

Fourteen years of his business career was spent as a principal partner and Vice President in an international tile and stone manufacturing and distribution firm.

With an MBA from Cal State Fullerton and a BA from the University of San Diego, Vincent has also taught multiple business courses at his alma mater where he serves as President of the Alumni Board of Directors for the University.

He has been a keynote speaker and presenter for industry events such as Coverings, Tile and Stone Expo, Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, Total Solutions Plus, USD School of Entrepreneurship, J Serra HS Business Magnate program and many other events.

Connect with Vincent on LinkedIn.

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 Vince Moyosore and he is with Vis Aspire. Welcome, Vince.

Vincent Moiso: [00:00:44] Thanks, Lee, I appreciate you having me on.

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

Vincent Moiso: [00:00:52] Yes, I’m focused on on really small business. I’ll tell you this, it’s a funny statistic. Less than four percent of all the small businesses in the U.S. even make it to a million dollars, and most entrepreneurs don’t know how to even get there, and they certainly don’t know how to get past that point. So I help them scale, and I do it through a people first approach, and I’ve been doing that about eight years at this point since I exited from my previous business and just enjoy getting people to that vision of success.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:28] Now, can you talk a little bit about your journey from entrepreneur doing the work and, you know, being the CEO of your company and growing that successfully to then transitioning over to being a coach for other people to help them kind of experience similar results that you you experienced?

Vincent Moiso: [00:01:46] Yeah, you know, Leigh, I have no idea if this is typical or not, but of course, it’s one of those entrepreneurial stories where it happened organically. So I was I was in a flooring business distribution business for roughly over a decade. I had two partners in that business and I really was looking to grow the business in a different direction. So we just hit that point where somebody had to exit and I did so gracefully. And when I exited, I was immediately looking for the next thing, right? You know, typical entrepreneur. And and there was a business client of mine, longtime client of mine, that he needed help. And I was thinking about jumping into the business and taking some of that money and reinvesting. And it just didn’t pencil. So I looked at all the finances and put together a plan, and it didn’t look like that business was going to cash flow with me in it. And so I gave him the bad news, and then he looked at me and he said, You know, I, I could use the help. Like, I just I would love to do all this stuff that you presented to me in this plan. Would you consider consulting and coaching me? I kind of scratch my head and said, Hmm, that’s a business. And yeah, I would love to do that. So I did it, and he was my first client, and I took on two more right after him pretty quickly and I realized, Wow, I had this transfer of trust and that there were a lot of people that looked up to me and needed that help. And I really love coaching. Like, I’m just I. I have it in me. It’s it comes very easy and natural to me. And so I organically started. That’s when business fire started. I formed my S-Corp within weeks of that first engagement. And then the rest is history.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:40] So now when you’re working with a client in that in that manner, is it coaching where you’re just kind of that objective third party asking questions, helping maybe nudge, but not actually rolling up your sleeves? Or is it kind of bleed into some consulting where, OK, you do this? I’ll do this. You focus on that. I’m going to get a team working on this and then you’re kind of doing some of the work too. Or is there? Is it specific to that or is it kind of very engagement to engagement?

Vincent Moiso: [00:04:14] Yeah, it does vary, but it is the answer to that is both right. I am definitely rolling up my sleeves and get my hands dirty, and at least I have found with my clientele. You got to do it because there’s a lot of blind spots, right? And all of a sudden, you know, think of it. And most of my clients have been running their businesses for decades, right? And so they’ve got all kinds of blind spots, right? It’s their baby. They started it and they just they can’t see the forest through the trees, so to speak, right? And and I inherently, as I dig in to find those pain points and ask those questions, I’m absolutely coaching because I want them to find the way on their own, of course, because I don’t want to do it for them. Otherwise, I’m not really coaching, right? They’ve got to figure that out, and it’s something that they’ve got to continue to execute on long after I’m gone. That being said, I still have to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty because some of it requires that you’ve got to really dig in deep.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:16] Now, when you’re working with folks, your background was in flooring, tile, things like that. Does it transfer to like, say, I have an ad agency or in my case, I own Business RadioX, I have a media company like is that something that’s transferable or is it kind of play better in the kind of the industry that you started in?

Vincent Moiso: [00:05:36] Yeah, great question. I love that question, and I did. I have to preface that with just some context. I did a short stint. I was lucky enough to be captured to do a reality television show called The Moment. And as a result of that show, I got to spend six months. I took a six month hiatus at the time to the University of Notre Dame. So I mean, couldn’t be two polar opposites, right? I’m running a flooring business and then I spent six months and I’m working with the football program and I’m working with the marketing department in athletics and meeting a lot of high, high end people out of the University of Notre Dame. And they all were looking at me as this treasured business entrepreneur guy that could come in and help them because they don’t they don’t think that way. And I was I honestly, I was tripping out. I’m literally scratching my head going, I cannot believe these guys at the University of Notre Dame are looking to me for advice and coaching. And it was it was the first time my eyes got opened to that whole concept, and I understood that the skills transfer doesn’t matter what it is a widgets or widget and you’ve heard that term before. It really doesn’t matter because when you strip it all out and you just start to talk about running a business and how to treat people right and how to retain key employees and how to do the things that are going to grow, scale and and and bring your business ultimately to success doesn’t matter what the business is.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:13] So now let’s let’s have you roll up your sleeves a little and talk about what are those first conversations look like when you’re talking with a new business owner that you know gets on your radar, you think it’s a good fit. You have kind of that initial discovery type conversation where you’re kind of explaining what you do there, explaining where they’d like to be. How do you kind of help them see the forest for the trees?

Vincent Moiso: [00:07:37] Yeah, I shut up and listen. By the way, so I definitely do not start the conversation by telling them all the stuff, my whole background and my CV. I figure if they’ve done their homework at all or I’ve been referred, I’ve either already got that transfer of trust or they’ve gone online and seen my resume. So I really shut up and listen, and I asked this one question Please tell me about you. Tell me about your business. And most importantly, tell me about the pain points in your business. So like, what is holding you back? And I just listen and I take notes and I’ll ask questions in between as things come up, because it might be they’re just struggling with some of their some of the people that are working for them. It might be. They just don’t understand how to read their financial documents. They’re not inputting, they’re not bookkeeping appropriately. It might just be I’ve hit a wall. I don’t know how to develop a sales forecast or plan, or they’ve never done a strategic plan session. They haven’t created mission or vision or values. You know, it’s I could go on and on. You’ve heard it before. Reality is is the best thing for me as a coach that I could possibly do from day one and continuing throughout any relationship that I have is listen.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:59] All right, listen, so you listen and they have a laundry list of challenges or things that are keeping up at night. How do you help them prioritize to say, You know what? Let’s start here because we have to start somewhere. You can’t, you know, kind of get them all at once. You’ve got to begin with one of them. How do you decide which is the one that is going to be the lever to unlock maybe the potential of this firm?

Vincent Moiso: [00:09:24] Yeah, I’m always identifying. So as I’m listening, I’m identifying where, and I do that through where I’m watching body language, listening to tone, where we spend the most time on. And I’ve already identified in that conversation a top three priorities. Then I repeat what I heard, right? And I say, here’s the top three things pain points, whatever you want to call them that I heard and now tell me really, which is the one that you want to spend the most time on. What’s the one that’s going to move the needle for you? And and depending on what that is, that’s really what we’re going to focus our time. So it’s just, you know, again, it’s just a line of questioning. But if I’m listening, if I’m doing my job and I’m really listening, then I’m listening for all those cues. I’m watching for all those cues, and I’ve already written down the top three now. So so the way that my process works is I’m only going to focus on those top three and sometimes only the top one as as a starting point. And I’m looking for a long term relationship.

Vincent Moiso: [00:10:26] And while I’ll do certain things like strategic plan sessions and other coaching that might only be in 90 day increments because I like to, I follow a very, very specific plan. I follow the 12 week year. It’s great, great way to do it, and I feel like we can. We’re better off. We’re more inclined to take things in small doses. So I work that way, but I’m looking myself for a long term relationship, so I know we’re going to hit that starting point, priority number one, whatever that is. And that might be the first thing we focus on in the first 90 days. And that’s all we’re going to focus on. But I’m know I’m going to break that off in tranches and move on to the next thing and have a long, long running relationship as long as I’m a fit. I mean, I know I know pretty quickly if I am a fit because I know what my skill set is and I and I don’t ever want to take somebody’s money unless I know I’m going to add the value that I’m promising.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:20] Now you mentioned that you kind of target three things. If you were to look back at all the people you’ve had this conversation with, are those three things similar across the board? Are there ten that you see a lot and then it could be anyone? It could be three of any of these five. You kind of going, do entrepreneurs kind of have the same problems?

Vincent Moiso: [00:11:42] Pretty much they all they all pretty much have the same same problem. First, two questions I always get right, because as it starts off kind of a little top level right, everybody wants to know how they pay less, how they can pay less taxes. And then the second question I get is how do I exit out of my business? And they don’t they don’t necessarily want to get out of their business at that point. They just know they don’t know what they don’t know and and they want to hear, is there an even an exit for me? And once I get past that, because that’s not really the pain point, right? Ok, great. If you if you really and truly want to build out an exit, great. Let’s figure out what’s going on in your business right now and we can determine what that is. I find that financials are typically number one, especially in the small business arena. And when I say small business, I’m talking in that I’d say my sweet spot is in that one to 10 million in revenue and say less than 10 employees on up to about 50 employees. That’s that’s those are the businesses that I really target. And then I have big impact on and they they struggle, really understanding how to read a P&L, how to read a balance sheet, how to forecast appropriately, how to plan appropriately and really how to reduce expenses to optimize profitability. That’s absolutely number one. People are number two. They struggle to manage people. They they struggle to manage themselves. And and therefore there’s a conundrum right of Wow, I’ve got this revolving door of employees and I don’t understand why that’s happening, right? And then the third is time, you know, everyone, everyone complains about not having enough time and or exhaustion, exhaustively working way too many hours. And so I tend to focus on those three things finance, financials, people and time.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:48] So now having done this, you put together a playbook to help entrepreneurs kind of self manage, I guess a little bit if they don’t. Have you around?

Vincent Moiso: [00:14:01] Yeah, or at least to get him started? I mean, ultimately, the the book that I wrote that will get released later this month is it gives you a taste of of Wow, I want to recognize these things that I can do and potentially on my own in the end. So as you get to part three of the book, I’m very explicit and very direct. You can’t do it alone. And anyone who thinks that they can is crazy. I mean, just I I was a collegiate athlete. I played football in college LA and I was I was talented enough to continue my career for about four seasons out in Europe. And you know, when I was most effective in my athletic career, I had a coach. I had a coach. And and what was so funny to me is I spent a decade as an entrepreneur, more than a decade as an entrepreneur, without a coach. And when I finally got introduced to the concept, I was like, Wow, I just reflected on when I was the most productive in my life, and it was when I had a coach and the moment I got a coach, it completely changed the trajectory of my business and the success within my business, and I continue to have a coach to this day. I’ve I vacillate back and forth. I’ve had two coaches at times because I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of having a coach and the success that that brings because we all need that level of accountability. So my book, while it does give a lot of nuggets and a lot of self-directed opportunity, in the end, you’re going to hear me loud and clear tell you that once you understand those concepts, get a coach, it will. It will get you to the next level that much faster.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:59] Yeah, there’s a saying that says if you think hiring a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur. And if people are trying to be their own coach, they’re hiring an amateur.

Vincent Moiso: [00:16:09] Totally. I mean, it’s it’s so funny, I mean, you think of I mean, you’ve probably got a laundry list of success stories, not just in business, but I think of even athletics and you think of the top top athletes in the world and they have nothing but coaches around them. And so why is it in business that we think that we can just do all this stuff on our own? It’s kind of crazy when you think about it, and I always laugh, I laugh at myself for spending so long without one.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:43] So now in your kind of growth as a coach and you’re moving from, you know, your practitioner now you’re coaching other practitioners and obviously this coaching business is its own business. And then now you have the book. How are you seeing kind of coaching evolve through you in this team that you’re building around kind of your methodology?

Vincent Moiso: [00:17:07] Yeah, that’s a really good question, I. The other thing I started a podcast this this summer to and my and my podcast is just a partner. My he’s a PhD, he’s also a coach. And we were sitting in our backyard having a beer. And, you know, it was five minutes of how’s the family? And then we immediately got into business, you know, so we laugh at each other all the time because it’s like you get to entrepreneurs in a room. What are they going to do? Well, they’re going to talk business, right? And and so we got into this concept of because we’re huge believers in transparency in the workplace accountability, communication being so critical, talking about email etiquette, just really simple things that I think people in any organization, just they they want, right? They want clear direction. They want communication, they want transparency, they want visibility, they want all these things. And so we talk about all these, all these topics. And I have a I have a lot of fun doing it. And the reason I bring that up and the question that you asked is I see myself evolving as I get into these concepts and I practice one hundred percent of what I preach. Otherwise, why would I why? Why coach it right? And I think what really differentiates me is I’ve been an entrepreneur for a long time, runs successful businesses and I and I practice one hundred percent of the things that that I coach. And I don’t coach on things that I don’t practice, and I think that’s where it’s evolving otherwise. You know what? I start to feel like the professor that I had that had zero, you know, back in college, my undergraduate study, you know, that had zero practical application of what he was teaching, right? And and and that’s that’s hard right. And I find that that my clients relate to me because they know that I’ve done it and what I’m teaching is has been put into practice successfully.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:10] Right. It’s not a theoretical. There’s kind of evidence behind every, every thought. Now, when a person comes to you, how much kind of self-awareness do they have to have to even kind of get into your orbit? Like, is this something that some they’re going to share with the friends? Hey, hey, you know what? I’m really struggling and they’re like, Oh dude, you got to call Vince. I mean, he really helped me like because to me, a lot of entrepreneurs have that kind of lone wolf mentality where they’re like, Look, this is my thing. I built this. I can do this, and then I’ll just try harder. I’ll just, you know, like it’s they don’t they have personal accountability in that they don’t want to ask for help and where it may be part of their accountability should be to another person, not just themselves.

Vincent Moiso: [00:20:03] I’m laughing the whole time you’re saying all that, it’s just it’s a great it’s a great example, and yes, there has to be some self-awareness and I can tell within five minutes if that self-awareness is there or not. So early on I made I made a lot of mistakes. I took on just about every quiet client. So there was there was quite a bit of that as I dude, you got to talk to Vince, right? And and I would just take them on and not really do the listening that I told you about Lee. So that part of my process has radically evolved and gotten so much better. And now I just listen where I think I threw up too much in those first meetings and then I would just take the client on. I have to know that they’re going to execute on what we talk about. Otherwise, I just don’t have the time. I just don’t. I mean, I’m the Lee. I took on one of my clients. I became the interim president of the business, so I’m turning a 28 year old business around right now. So the last four years I’ve been the interim president, took them through two acquisitions and now I’m really working, working on on creating an exit for that business and and the two other partners that are in it. And that takes time, right? So so I also have to be a purveyor of my own time and respect others time. And in doing so, I I’m very selective with the with the clients that I take on.

Vincent Moiso: [00:21:29] And so in that first meeting, I really have to know that their self-awareness, that they’re ready to do the work because if they’re not ready to do the work and they’re not ready to execute, I just I just can’t do it. I don’t have the patience for it. And I know that they’re not getting the true value out of the money that they’re giving me. And I’d rather be with somebody because I’ll tell you, you know, again, I’m going to use. I always use athletics football specifically. There’s no prouder moment than watching your team execute on everything you just worked on all week in a game, right? And same goes in business. There’s no prouder moment for me than to watch this company blossom and get the success exactly the way that we set it up for that. So if if I’m not going to, if I’m not going to get there with somebody and they’re not and they’re not ready to embrace that, I move on now and I made that mistake early, early on where I didn’t created a lot of agony and a lot of anxiety. And then you get into this mode of, Well, I’m just going to make it work, right? Well, no, it’s it’s a two way street. It’s just like having a relationship, right? It takes two to tango. And so if that other person isn’t ready and willing, then it’s not going to work.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:48] Now, can you share a story, maybe a success story in the and it doesn’t have to be. Oh, they made the most money ever, but maybe they were struggling with something. And maybe you help. Maybe it was a blind spot. Then you help them kind of overcome and they got to a new level. And for you, it was kind of rewarding. It was something that said, You know what? This is resonating with me in terms of my values, my philosophy, and this allowed me to really kind of let that blossom.

Vincent Moiso: [00:23:17] Yeah, my my favorite, my favorite client story. And they’re still my client. You know, now going on six years, I think roughly five or six years. But in the first year, they doubled revenue with me and the blind spot was they just they were they were in the mode. They had already been in business for eight years. At the time that that I came came in and they had no idea that they were just taking on. Every project was a design firm and they were taking on every project that they could and they just weren’t charging enough because they were basically fear based selling and fear based pricing. So their whole business was around fear. And it was great. I’m just going to grab and capture whatever I can. I’m going to be one hundred percent customer focused and great. It’s good to be customer focused in the healthy way. They were customer focused in the unhealthy way, so the customer was driving everything that happened instead of them being in control of their own destiny as as a business. And so you can imagine they were running on a hamster wheel and they just could not figure out how they could not get to the next level, raise raise revenue to where they wanted it to be. So I just got that the light bulb turned on by letting them see that they weren’t charging the right price.

Vincent Moiso: [00:24:47] They were allowing customers to rule the roost. They were not in control of what they were doing as a business and with each other. There’s three partners in that business and with each other. They had an established, very specific role and responsibility with each other. So as as simple as those concepts may sound, to many people, it was a total blind spot for them. And it was funny. For me, it was great because I shifted just those three simple things just the organizational structure, getting clarity around role and responsibility among the partners and employees, and then changing their pricing structure and then shifting how they communicate externally. And they doubled revenue in the first year. I was with them and I was just like, we were high fiving at the end of it. It was awesome, and I just loved seeing their success and their eyes open to what’s possible. And now as they sit, anything’s possible, right? And and the business that they’re doing in the clients that they have and what they’ve created is is great there. Ironically, they’re they’re looking for an exit at this point among the three partners. So I’m helping them through that. But that’s that’s definitely my top of my list as as one of the funnest engagements.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:06] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or get a hold of any of the resources that we talked about. Is there a website?

Vincent Moiso: [00:26:17] Yeah, just check out if they just go to Vince. So that’s the easiest and you’ll they’ll jump on to, you know, that’s the the parent company business buyer Inc.. So does Vince moist, super easy. And then you can check out my other site, which is more dedicated toward the launch of my book and everything surrounding that specific process. And that is sort thrive, U.S. start, thrive or thrive us. So either one of those websites will get you all the information you want.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:49] And that’s Vin CMO. I sohu.com.

Vincent Moiso: [00:26:53] You got it right.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:55] Good stuff, Vince. Well, thank you again for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you, Lee.

Vincent Moiso: [00:27:00] Thanks for having me on. I really, really appreciate it. That was fun.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:04] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.

 

Terri Harof With Workout Anytime

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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.

Terri Harof is an inspiring leader with 30 years of senior-level expertise in sales & marketing and business development with global brands. As Director of Franchise Development and Chief Brand Believer at Workout Anytime, Terri’s responsibilities include driving the domestic & international growth of the brand.

She has been married to her husband Doug for 24 years and they have three amazing sons, 1 dog, and 2 cats.

Their days are spent cheering on their boys, traveling, entertaining, gardening, coaching, and teaching group fitness classes, which she has done since college!

Connect with Terri on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Marketing strategies to gain members post-COVID
  • Advice to other operators as they bounce back from COVID-19 challenges

 

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