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Shannon Earle With Coach with Shannon

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Shannon-EArle
High Velocity Radio
Shannon Earle With Coach with Shannon
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Coach-with-Shannon

Shannon Earle, Life Coach at Coach with Shannon.

With a Masters in Communication and Leadership, she have worked with individuals for over 18 years. Before coaching, she worked in therapeutic boarding schools for young adults, assisting them in finding themselves and helping the family to learn to work together.

She then incorporated neuroscience, and everything changed! She coached individuals, school staff, and students on shifting how they experience and relate in their lives. The tools that she teach have impacted her clients lives in such an amazing way, it is a gift for her to be their coach.

Working with CEO’s and School administrators allows her to utilize her skills in leadership to inspire new ways of approaching their teams. When we understand the basics of what the brain is doing it is a lot easier to understand that our employees also have fast brains and with slight shifts we can create cultures of growth.

She have two amazing daughters who inspire her every day! She was a Division one swimmer and one of the most amazing jobs she have is to bring mental performance skills to Fresno state swimmers. She love people and I she love what she does.

Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • If you want to create change you will need to pay attention to what the brain is doing
  • When you are in charge of your reactions and shift to making choices we are truly free
  • Fast thinking/Slow thinking
  • Our internal emotions are up to us
  • Thoughts create our perceptions so if we want to have a different experience we will need to change the thoughts we are thinking

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Shannon Earle, who is a life coach with Coach with Shannon. Welcome.

Shannon Earle: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about coach with Shannon. How you serving folks?

Shannon Earle: Um, well, I have been working with clients for the past, um, 18 years and a whole bunch of different capacities. Um, I started out working with young adults who were meeting some assistance and kind of finding their confidence. And then I worked with their parents, and then eventually I moved into creating my own kind of coaching practice. And now I work with anyone who is ready to shift maybe their mindset so that they can start to move in the direction that they want to. So I have athletes, I have parents, I have CEOs, I have, you know, really anyone who’s really ready for a change.

Lee Kantor: So what are some symptoms that a person might, uh, be ready for a change or might consider getting some coaching?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Good question. Um, I think that a lot of the times what I see with clients is that they come to this place where they feel like there’s no hope. You know, like the brain has kind of created these limiting belief systems, um, throughout their lives to the point that they can’t see outside of that, the possibilities have kind of dimmed. Um, and they’re just they’re at this place where it’s like, okay, this is not how I want to be living my life. Um, I would like something different, but I’m not really sure how to get there. And so when they then show up like that, it’s just amazing to help them understand what the brain is doing to keep them in that state, and how they can start to kind of work around what’s happening until the brain starts to understand that they would actually like to live a different life. Um, so yeah, usually it’s like for me, I think in my 40s, it was like I felt like I was in a tunnel and I was just like, is this it? Like, is this what life’s gonna be like? Um, for young adults? I think it’s a little different for them, and it’s more of probably self-doubt. They’re just like, I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Um, and helping them gain some control over what it is they’re thinking so that they start to gain that confidence. So it’s a little different depending on the age of the client.

Lee Kantor: Something you said that struck me was you said the brain is doing this. So how does that come about? Like, is this just kind of a result of a bunch of habits? Or you’re kind of like, I picturing kind of a record where it’s just a needle in a groove, just going over, kind of creating a pathway that maybe isn’t serving you.

Shannon Earle: Yeah. So it’s not a bad, um, description of you get into these grooves. It’s, you know, what neuroscience is saying is that we have these neural wiring systems in our heads, and they get created based on what’s happened in our lives. So one of the statistics that neuroscience figured out was that we take in 11 million bits of information in a second, but the brain and its beauty will edit it to 40. So you’re only receiving 40 bits of information out of 11 million. 11 million that actually happened, was said it was around you, but your own. Your brain’s editing it because you can’t actually handle all of that information. The problem is, is that those 40 bits are based in maybe when you were five, right? Like whatever happened, the brain was laying down the wiring to get you to where you are now, making quick work. It’s always wanting to make quick work of what’s happening. So when something happens, the brain’s going, oh, well, this is just like when you were 13. So this is what’s happening. It’s just it’s not always accurate. It’s just old. And so if we’re wanting to approach life a little bit differently, we actually have to start to create new neural nets in our head for the brain to follow.

Shannon Earle: And the way to do that is through our thoughts, right, is to think in a new way, which isn’t easy because the brain’s like, let’s not do that. Let’s do it tomorrow, right? I don’t really feel like it. It doesn’t really like new the brain. It prefers to stick with what we know, even if it’s miserable. It’s easier for the brain. Doesn’t have to use as much energy. And so my job as a coach is to help. I’m outside of that neural system. Right. And I get I can see it a lot easier than, say, the client, because it’s hard when it’s yours, because it feels real. Um, then I can start to help create that new neural wiring. Right? And then with practice, the brain eventually will just kick in. It’ll be its new automatic. But the beginning part is more challenging because we have to bring our awareness up and we need to be able to understand that what we’re thinking, because the brain’s always thinking, it’s always having some sort of thought process. We’re just not always consciously aware of what it’s thinking. But those thoughts are creating our perception of what’s happening in front of us, which then we respond to the world in a certain way.

Lee Kantor: So how did you develop this methodology that kind of gets people out of this rut and opens their mind to, you know, this new pathway or doing things a different way in order to get a different outcome?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, well, I have to say I have to give a lot of thanks to the young adults I worked with because they were not, um, coming on purpose. They were very resistant. And so I honed my skills in having to kind of show up differently all the time. And then I’ve just I’ve studied and didn’t really read a lot about neuroscience. Um, I had an amazing teacher who helped me kind of uncover some of the tools. It’s there’s there’s so much information out there. It’s just sometimes putting it all together and being creative enough to say, okay, well, that didn’t work, so let’s try this. Um, but I’d say it’s I’ve, I have worked, you know, one on one with people for so long that I think I’ve just got a, I’ve created a huge tool bag to be able to help, um, people kind of work around the resistance that the brain’s going to bring and, and also teach really clear tools of, okay, look, this is what’s happening. So if you want to do it differently, you’re going to need to pay attention and start choosing. Um, but I think mostly I really do think the young adults and their parents. Right. Like, the parents, um, really helped me hone my skills of being able to just meet people where they are and with no judgment. I mean, I’ve heard I’ve heard some of the most horrific stories of people’s lives and watch them overcome them. Um, that really nothing surprises me. Uh, and so I think that that’s a gift that I have of just like, okay, you want something else? And let’s get there. And there’s no judgment on who you are or where you are. Let’s just start to practice what you do want.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about maybe some of the behind the scenes so a listener can visualize what happens when they’re when you’re speaking with one of your clients, like they’ll come to you. And you mentioned some of the reasons they come to you. Are you, um, kind of prescribing a hey, try this exercise. Um, are you just listening to them or do you give them homework? Like what? What are some of the actions you recommend them taking and what how do they come back to you with kind of the result of that? And then how do you kind of make whatever tweaks necessary in order to keep them on track or keep them at least trying to create these new pathways.

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, so a little bit of all of that. Uh, in the beginning, when I first have a new client, there’s a little bit more on my side of teaching because I want them to have an understanding of some of the basics of what the brain is doing.

Lee Kantor: So they have to buy that, right? They have to buy into that premise. Right? That the brain there’s neuroplasticity, that it’s not a permanent thing. That what was yesterday isn’t necessarily what’s going to be tomorrow. They have to intellectually believe that in order for any of this to work. Right.

Shannon Earle: Sure, absolutely. Um, and it’s interesting because, you know, we all have our, our belief systems. And so some people are going to lean in a little bit faster and some are going to lean in a little bit slower. But yes, without a doubt, like they need to have a a want. And even if they have to suspend disbelief, like, just like I don’t really I’m not really sure that what you’re saying is true. That’s okay. As long as they’re willing to lean in a little bit and try it out. Usually at that point that it’s going to work right. Things are going to start to change. Like, I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but this feels different. Um, if they can get to at least that, then it starts to make sense. Because if you think about it, so what I’m bringing is so new, a lot of the times, not as much, because it’s so out there in the world right now about how the brain’s plasticity is malleable. Um, but it’s new and the brain’s going to resist it. So if we can just work our way through to where we’re creating just slight new neural net to where the brain’s like, oh, I understand what you’re saying, because in the beginning, it doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Shannon Earle: Sometimes it seems too easy, even though it’s not. Um, so it’s absolutely the client needs to want to. And the clients that show up and they’re just ready. It’s unbelievable what they can do in such a short period of time. Because some of the things like just to give you an example, that can be kind of challenging is, you know, we have our current reality and it feels so real. We have all the emotions that go with that reality. We have the thoughts that go with that reality. We’re in this particular space. And my job, a lot of the time, is to then allow and help them create the possibility. Right. Where are you going? Well, that’s not real, right? So the brain’s going to resist that because that’s scary, right? To create a new reality where you’re happy or you have more joy, or you’re in the career that you want. Um, the brain just keeps going. Yeah, but that’s not true. And so it’s my job is to keep this possibility, which is in between, in this unknown uncertainty which we do not like. Um, we can get better at it until that new possibility becomes the new reality.

Shannon Earle: And that’s quite challenging for the brain, because the brain wants to know what’s happening, even if the knowing is going to keep them where they are. And so to suspend that needing to know in order to move towards this new possibility takes practice, and that’s where my job as a coach is to just help, help keep their brains focused on where they do want to go, because the brain’s automatic is what’s wrong or what’s about to be. And if we stay focused on what’s wrong and what’s about to be, we’re going to create more of it, because that’s where the focus is. So the energy goes there and it’s helping them learn how to acknowledge that’s what’s happening because it’s going to. We can’t stop that. It’s biological and keep moving it back to. Yes. But it’s also possible that I can move over here. And I’m going to start looking for things that are moving me in this direction. Right. And so it’s this constant bouncing back and forth until the brain understands this is where we’re going. Right? I’m in charge of what it is that you think. And we’re going to think and move in this direction.

Lee Kantor: Now is it in order to get the, um, complete buy in. And not just the lean in is do you have to come up with ways to get some, like quick early wins? Like something that demonstrates, hey, this is going to work. You know, I know I asked you to suspend your disbelief for a minute, but there we’re on a path that is going to get the outcome you desire. Do you have to? Is there a way to demonstrate kind of, um, evidence? That’s not just I want that I hope that I wish that, but something like, oh, yesterday it was this, and today it’s this, and then tomorrow it’ll be this other thing. Is there ways or exercises you can do or the listener can do right now that can show them evidence of the possibilities?

Shannon Earle: Um, yeah. Uh, you know what I when clients come to me, I, I have them, you know, sign up for a certain amount of, uh, calls because I know the bounciness that’s going to happen for the brain and resistance, so that I have that in my favor and that, you know, within, you know, six calls, things should be moving. Um, but just for the listeners today, the one thing that I would say is, um, the brain’s going to give you an automatic answer to whatever it is it’s happening. It’s just going to tell you, here’s what’s happening. And what I’d say is maybe, you know, that might be the accurate answer. But if you can start to practice just within things that don’t just anything in your life actually. So you’re driving along and someone cuts you off, you have an automatic response to that. And instead of just going with the automatic response and following the neural net that that takes you down, stopping for a minute and saying, okay, how else could I respond to that? Right. And find 3 or 4 other ways, not right ways. You’re not trying to, um, fix the situation. You can’t. The person already cut you off. You’re just trying to come up with some creative ways to approach whatever just happened, and it could be in any area.

Shannon Earle: Say you have kids and your kid does something, spills something all over important paper, you’re going to have an automatic response. So you could then say, okay, I’m going to look for other responses that I could have had. You could be like, oh my gosh, that was brilliant. It’s like a monet. Like, did you see how it spilled all over that right now? That’s not automatic because the paper was important. It’s chosen. And so it’s looking for different ways to respond to different situations in your life on purpose. And the only way that you can really do that is if there’s the first fast thought that comes which you can’t stop, that it’s going to come automatically, not the one based in your past. But if you can find three other ways to look for, look at a situation and how you could think about it, actual thoughts you could have. Now you have four choices. Choose the one that feels best to you, Not right. It just feels better. So if if my kid spills stuff all over something that’s really important, I’m going to have a wave of just, like, anger, frustration, whatever happens to me. And if I can slow down and say, okay, I could respond in a way that like, oh my gosh, that’s like a monet or oh my gosh, you know what? I didn’t really want this job anyway.

Shannon Earle: Um, which is just crazy, right? And or you know what? I really like the color purple. If it was soup. Now those aren’t. I’m not trying to fix anything here. I’m just trying to get my brain to understand that are options. There’s not just the automatic frustration and anger. I could choose these other things. Right? And once I’ve interrupted what the brain’s doing, now I have a shot at deciding, okay, what am I going to do here? But if you can’t interrupt that automatic response, you actually are not in choice. So I it’s called I call it shopping, but and it’s like looking for 3 or 4 other ways that you could see or perceive or approach whatever it is that’s happening. What else could be happening here? Right? The guy cut you off in traffic because his wife is pregnant, and he’s trying to get her to the hospital. Um, you know, he just, like, was on his phone. Um, I don’t know. Aliens took him over. It doesn’t really matter. It’s that you want to start utilizing your frontal lobe to think differently. And when you start getting good at thinking differently pretty soon now you can start to open up your horizons for the possibilities that exist. So, yeah.

Lee Kantor: Now that’s a fantastic example. Thank you for sharing that. And I think a key element of that is you do this preemptively. You you look at a scenario maybe that’s triggered you in the past, like someone cuts you off and I get angry. And then when there’s no emotion or no stake, then you come up with these multiple other, um, responses that you shop for so that hopefully next time when this happens, your brain already has other choices. It’s not going to that default, you know, just instinctively.

Shannon Earle: Hundred percent because and this is one and this is for all your listeners. The amazing part about the brain is that and I love how you just put that together because it’s so true. Like, we can take scenarios that have happened in the past that really got us and then rewrite them right. Look for 3 or 4 other ways we could have handled it. And the brain, because you’re thinking it, you’re doing it in your head. It thinks it’s happening, which this is a brilliant tool for parents, because if you can get your kids to walk through how they would have responded differently on multiple ways with no energy of that, there’s a right way. That’s the hardest part for parents. Um, now the kid is walking through their head, right? And even us, all these different scenarios, which is what you’re right when. Then something happens again that is high stakes. And you’ve been practicing. Looking for other possibilities in these lower stakes things that the brain’s not really worried about. You’ve got a shot at actually going, whoa, wait a minute. I think I could actually choose how to respond here because I’ve been practicing on the day to day. Right? Like at the grocery store or whatever, when the brain, it’s not resisting you because it doesn’t care if you choose an orange, an apricot or a peach. Right? It’s not making. It just doesn’t mind about that. But you can still practice in all these areas, and you’re building the neural wiring for choice, right? So that you can do it when it’s when it really does matter.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think that this and I think this is one of the benefits of working with the coaches. You can play out scenarios in a safe space so that when there is kind of more, at least perceived stakes or the there is more emotion in a given situation and you happen not to be there. Your clients have now choices and it’s not. They don’t always have to just pick the default that they’ve always picked. Now they see that, oh, there’s five other things I could be doing here. And I’m going to pick this one. This is going to make me feel better at the end of the day.

Shannon Earle: Absolutely. And you know when we can move into choice I have a client that it’s amazing what she’s done. Like, so her husband said to her one day, I want a divorce. And she did not want a divorce, right? And so then, knowing that I had a period of time to work with her, I. We decided she’s like, okay, so you’re not tell him I’m not thinking about that or talking about that until July. So she had some space and time, right, to start to shift who she was being and how she was being without putting all her energy into my life is over. I’m getting a divorce, right? Because once we shift our thinking towards this is terrible, which I’m not saying that it’s not. Nobody wants to hear that, right? But if we focus then on that, we’re going to we’re moving in that direction. We’re moving towards divorce. And she didn’t want to. And so for the last, you know, I don’t know the period of time that we worked with each other, she started focusing on. Nope, I want to stay married. What do I need to do for that to happen and start shifting who she’s being and how she’s thinking and paying attention and being aware of her life. And she transformed a lot of the things she wanted to transform anyway.

Shannon Earle: And the husband is not really sure what’s happening. Right? He wasn’t sure like, what the heck’s happening and whether or not they’ll stay married or not, I don’t know, but there’s a lot better shot at them staying married with her, deciding and putting all my energy into the thing I do want. Even though throughout our time together, her brain kept moving back towards, oh my God, this is a catastrophe, right? This is terrible. And and with her saying, you know what? Take time to catastrophize. It’s okay. Just don’t let it go all day long because that’s not your goal. Your goal is not getting divorced. Your goal is staying married. So I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s the kind of stuff that I’ll do with a client is really helping. If you have a goal, it’s helping keeping that brain focused over there, even though the brain’s going to constantly want to attend to what could go wrong. Um, but you just don’t want to stay there. You can stay there for a little while. There’s nothing wrong with catastrophizing. There’s nothing wrong with feeling sad or any of that. Just do it on purpose and give it a time frame so that 90% of your day is on purpose, focusing towards what you do want.

Lee Kantor: Right? Like, you can feel it, but you don’t have to live it every second of your life. Like there’s a difference there is.

Shannon Earle: It’s like you’re you’re feeling the sadness on purpose for, you know, 20 minutes and then the brain’s like, yeah, remember, you’re kind of sad. Yeah. No, I’m going to give you 20 more minutes tomorrow. Um, and you do actually take the time to feel all those feelings on purpose so that you can then be free to create the rest of your day, right?

Lee Kantor: It’s like you like to have dessert, but you don’t want every meal to be dessert.

Shannon Earle: Exactly. Really great analogy. Yes.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, let’s talk a second about the the business of coaching. You mentioned you serve so many different groups of people. Like what is it? How do you get a client in any given. Like, how do people know to to choose Shannon. Like, how do you, um, you know, get the the calls you need in order to get the clients you need in your marketing?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, you know, it’s been amazing. I actually feel really blessed that, um, I most of my, almost all my clients are word of mouth. Like, it just people talk about what’s happened for them, or people are watching people’s lives transform and change. And so then they reach out to me. I’ve, you know, I have my website, which is wrong on the little thing. Um, coach Shannon. Um, but really it’s word of mouth, which, you know, I think with coaching, it’s kind of like you want somebody, you know, uh, somebody used and it’s been effective because it’s it’s so personal. Um, I also I work with, um, Fresno State swim team. Um, so that’s the athlete piece. Is that actually coach the team? The women’s team, um, uh, every week during their season, um, which is I was a swimmer in college. I swam at ASU, and, um, so that’s how I get the athletes is people start spreading that that mental performance side. Um, but yeah, mostly it’s word of mouth. Um, I do have Instagram for parents, uh, where I focus because I’ve, I’ve worked a lot with parents of young adults. That’s been the 13 years I was working at a program. Um, but yeah, mostly it’s been word of mouth, which has been amazing. Uh, and, uh, you know, I just I’m always honored that somebody would say, hey, you should work with Shannon now.

Lee Kantor: We didn’t even, uh, maybe we can get this in a future episode. But just the mental toughness element of sports is. Must be just a really interesting, uh, part of your job as well, having come up through the ranks as an athlete.

Shannon Earle: Yeah, absolutely. I.

Shannon Earle: You know, I went off to college at 18 to go, and I was at this, you know, I didn’t even really understand what I’d gotten myself into. But, you know, a D1 school, Pac ten at the time, and I was not mentally prepared for just just catching up to the fact that I’d made it on a team like that, um, which I think is pretty prevalent among athletes in college in the beginning especially, is that, you know, imposter syndrome. So really helping them with that. But, um, just helping them choose like, okay, so how are you going to show up? I mean, athletes are just like a rare breed in that they they hyper focus in on this one sport and they have so many skills that the thing that I hope I can do with some of the athletes is help them translate those skills that they do in the water, or in water polo or soccer or softball, whatever it is they’re doing over into their life. Um, because that’s the piece that I got into was that when I left swimming, I’d been a swimmer since I don’t even remember when I learned to swim, I think I swam before I walked, um, but when I left college swimming, I was at a loss. I wasn’t sure who I was. And, um. So I help them when they’re in the swimming, you know, in the pool and trying to help them get to the goals that they want. But I also try to help them in that transition into life, which can be quite rough, uh, to, um, shift into, on purpose, the life that you want and take the tools that you learned in swimming with you because or whatever college sport. And I think that the higher level athletes go, the harder the transition can be into life.

Lee Kantor: Right? Because like you said, you started this, you know, at birth almost, and it becomes your identity. And if you don’t have that, then then who are you? It’s a very difficult transition.

Shannon Earle: Absolutely. Yeah. For sure.

Lee Kantor: Well, Shannon, it has been a joy chatting with you. Uh, one more time, if people want to connect, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Coach Shannon. Com is the website, and I think you have my email on the on your radio. Uh, yeah. And that’s a good way. Yeah. So.

Lee Kantor: Well.

Shannon Earle: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

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

Shannon Earle: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Doug Levin With JobStars USA

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Doug Levin With JobStars USA
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Doug Levin is the Owner of JobStars USA, a career services practice serving entry through executive-level job seekers.

He is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and Career Coach with 10+ years of experience in the world of career services.

Connect with Doug on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How to build an interview-winning resume
  • Why large job boards aren’t your best bet
  • Tips for building your LinkedIn profile
  • Differences between a private sector resume and a federal resume (government)
  • How to connect with recruiters
  • How to build your network

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Doug Levin, who is the owner, resume writer, and career coach with JobStars USA. Welcome, Doug.

Doug Levin: Hey, Lee, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Job Stars USA. How are you serving folks?

Doug Levin: Sure. So Job Stars USA is a career services practice that I started back in 2013. We provide resume writing, career coaching and job seeker services. So all sorts of things ranging from resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, personal bios, career coaching in terms of making a career change. Interview prep and then some kind of job seeker services. So things like applying to jobs on behalf of clients, sending the resume to recruiters. Everything is geared around the B2C, helping individual job seekers achieve their career goals.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Doug Levin: Yeah, so like I said, I started the business in 2013. Coming out of undergrad, in 2005, I joined the company CareerBuilder, and I worked there from about 2005 to 2011. You know, back in those times, CareerBuilder and monster were kind of the top two job boards. And so I kind of got, um, you know, a good education on the whole world of job seeking recruiters and job placements. So basically, I worked there for six years. My last role at CareerBuilder was with They had a they had a business called CV resume and it was basically their resume writing service. And so I ran that for two years and learned about the resume writing world, learned about the career coaching world, and after kind of having enough of the corporate world and had just earned my MBA, kind of had an entrepreneurial itch, decided to quit my comfortable corporate job and start a business. So I kind of, from 2011 to 13, kind of laying the foundation, eventually launched my website job stars, uh, another few years of kind of learning the craft and kind of fine tuning the offerings, doing kind of some side hustles along the way. By 2017, I was doing this full time, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Lee Kantor: So those big job boards like monster and CareerBuilder are those like, do people really get jobs that way? It just seems like a lottery ticket strategy.

Doug Levin: You know? It’s definitely not necessarily the best way to go if you’re a job seeker. I mean, I do think some people certainly get jobs, you know, whether it’s indeed or ZipRecruiter or monster. I mean, these are very popular places to go search. It’s very like just convenient and easy for job seekers. But the problem is, you know, it’s it’s definitely highly trafficked. There’s a lot of competition. There’s a lot of spam jobs. I do think there are real jobs on there. Um, so, you know, it’s it’s a tough, tough place to pin all your hopes as a job seeker. Um, yeah. But, you know, using personal referrals, um, connecting with recruiters, you know, attending in-person events, networking. These are all things you can do besides just, you know, kind of relying on the job boards.

Lee Kantor: So what’s a spam job? And why would someone create a fake job?

Doug Levin: Well, back when I worked at CareerBuilder, lots of companies would kind of purchase. Um, you know, like I said, spam jobs where for one reason or another, they’re posting a job so that they can get access to applicants. Um, whether it’s, you know, people uploading their resume, their phone number, email. I mean, there’s a bunch of nefarious reasons why. I don’t know exactly, but we did have a problem at CareerBuilder where companies would, you know, they would pay CareerBuilder for, hey, we’re posting a job, but then we would learn it was spam job and whatever they were using that for. Um, it wasn’t beneficial to the job seekers. It was making them upset. And so we had well, CareerBuilder had to put in some safeguards to be like, we’re only selling job postings to, you know, actual, legitimate companies.

Lee Kantor: Now, if you were a job seeker in today’s market, um, what are some of the kind of do’s and don’ts to, um, you know, get your next gig?

Doug Levin: Yeah. I mean, I think the number one thing that I would recommend is to leverage your personal connections. So, um, identifying people you can actually count on to, um, put in a good word for you is, is the number one avenue? Um, now, not everyone has the most extensive network of people they can ask, but, you know, kind of that water cooler, you know, two people in an office, you know, um, really has that connection where if you know somebody that works in a company and that company is hiring. That person you know can put in a good word with the decision maker, the hiring manager. They might be friends. They might pass each other in the hallway. And that carries a lot of weight. So it’s a little more strategic to kind of think of it that way. And again, like I said, I understand not everyone’s going to have those connections. Um, but that’s number one. Beyond that, um, you know, if you’re forced to apply to jobs online, which a lot of job seekers are, you know, it’s important to personally, I recommend avoiding the job boards. So kind of what we talked about with the indeed the monster, the ZipRecruiter. I would recommend going directly to a company’s website and applying versus applying through one of these platforms. Same with LinkedIn. So let’s say, you know, Boeing, for instance, is hiring for a position you want to apply to. And it’s and you find that job on indeed. Let’s say you know option A is you can apply through indeed. Option B is you can go to the Boeing website, find the find the posting and apply through there.

Doug Levin: The reason you want to apply through the company website versus a large job board is it’s just another step. It’s another layer. Um, and most job seekers aren’t going to put in the effort to, you know, kind of find the job on the company website. And so they’ll just kind of apply through the job board and it’s just flooded with applications. And even if your resume is perfect, um, you know, the competition is just so high when it’s so convenient and easy to apply. Um, so that’s, that’s, you know, applying through company website. The last thing I would say is making sure your resume is ATS friendly and visually appealing, which basically means if you’re applying to jobs online, you know, taking that example of applying to a job on on the Boeing website. Boeing uses an ATS, right? So there’s all different types of ATS. Ats stands for Applicant Tracking System. Um, it’s basically software that manages the flow of applications. One of the functions of an applicant tracking system is the ability to analyze your resume against the job description that they’re hiring for. So they’re looking for keywords. It’s an automated process. So it’s really important that your resume is free of distortions like graphics images charts, tables things like that. So when we say ATS friendly, you know it should be a document that’s free of those things. And then also it should have the right kind of keywords that are tied to the job posting that you’re applying to so that you have a good score. Um, so yeah, there’s a lot of different things. Those would probably be my top three broad tips for job seekers.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned LinkedIn. Is there, um, some do’s and don’ts around your LinkedIn profile? Are there some things that you’re like, hey, never do that. If I see that that that person’s never going to get hired or things that are like, okay, then this is going to give them a leg up.

Doug Levin: Um, yeah. So, you know, LinkedIn is an important piece of your presentation as a job seeker. So, you know, really it’s your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Those are going to be the two things that recruiters are going to focus on. Um, usually the resumes first, you know, you’ll apply. They’ll look at your resume if they’re interested. Then they’ll if they want to do a deeper dive, check out your LinkedIn. So when you’re approaching, how do you present all your information? The resume and LinkedIn should work in tandem with each other. You know, be complementary to each other. So in a case where, let’s say you have 20 years of experience and you’re trying to keep your resume at two pages, which really isn’t a lot of space. The LinkedIn is kind of your opportunity to kind of backfill and complement your resume. So maybe certain things that don’t make the cut on your resume could go on your LinkedIn. You don’t have the same space limitations over on LinkedIn as you do on the resume. So it’s a strategic thing where, for instance, LinkedIn has a project section where you can include long form descriptions, you know, projects you led, um, programs, engagements, things like this that might just take up too much space on the resume.

Doug Levin: So, you know, if you have projects you want to highlight, use the project section. Build that out. Um, I mean, to your broader question of are there do’s and don’ts? You know, I think everyone’s a little different. Um, I can’t. Nothing comes to mind as far as. Oh, this is a, you know, definite do or don’t red flag, but you just want to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is, is populated with good quality content. Um, so similar to keywords on a resume, you kind of want to think of it the same way over on LinkedIn. So if you imagine a recruiter might be searching on LinkedIn for certain keywords or terms, you want those populated in your resume or in your LinkedIn profile. So in the summary or in your job descriptions, you know, you just want to think about from a search perspective, if a recruiter is looking for someone with B2B sales experience, for instance, you’re going to want that term, um, in your LinkedIn.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about LinkedIn posting? Is there anything you could be doing proactively, strategically to connect with people in the organizations you’re trying to work in and, and either through your own posting or commenting or or dealing with, you know, other people’s posts from the companies you’re targeting. Do you have a strategy around that?

Doug Levin: Yeah. So I think, um, posting is a good way to kind of stand out in the crowd a little bit and to show a little bit of your knowledge or personality or a different side of, you know, your professional presentation. So posting is, you know, different for everybody. Um, one way to approach it is to share other people’s, you know, kind of like a retweet over on Twitter X, you know? So on LinkedIn, you can follow, um, people that you admire in your industry or more broadly. So if you’re a little hesitant to like, you’re not sure what you should post, you can start with just sharing other people’s posts and commenting on it. Um, or, you know, if you do feel comfortable enough to post, um, you know, posting about things, you know, you know, your personal experiences, whether you’re in sales or marketing or you’re in a particular industry, um, you know, just kind of sharing nuggets or tidbits that people might find helpful. And, um, it’s certainly, you know, a way to demonstrate expertise and just willingness to put yourself out there and share your opinion.

Lee Kantor: Now, should you also be using LinkedIn as kind of research for your own intelligence when it comes to targeting individual companies? So like you mentioned, the importance of, oh, if you know somebody at that company, you know, ask them to say, hey, my buddy sent a resume in, you know, so maybe that’ll get them higher up on the list at least. Maybe they’ll get an interview because of that. But on LinkedIn, should you be kind of saying, okay, who’s the second or third degree connection? Maybe, um, that I can kind of warm my way in there to at least identify or find somebody that might know me or somebody that I know so that I can get that referral in.

Doug Levin: Oh, 100%. I mean, I think LinkedIn has to be the number one place where you can kind of map your, you know, connections to companies, to decision makers and really, you know, find who the who the right person is. Um, that’s either making the decision or could be the connection that you need. So, um, one thing is, you know, obviously everyone kind of has a LinkedIn profile, but, you know, companies also have their own profile, you know, so one thing that I like to do and one thing I recommend is following company pages. And so once you follow a company page, you can actually click and see who the employees are of that company. Now if you’re like on just kind of the free LinkedIn service, um, there’s limitations to kind of, you know, the level of employees you can see that work at a company. If you have LinkedIn premium, however, um, you can kind of, you know, peel back the layers and find all the employees that work in a particular company. So, um, and that can be very valuable because let’s say you find a company that’s hiring for a particular position. Um, oftentimes they’ll even show who posted the job. And then so if you can pull that person up and see what common connections you have, I mean, you might be able to, you know, identify that that connection and kind of work your way into a referral or something like that. So, I mean, yeah, LinkedIn to me is just a gold mine for kind of doing research on companies and decision makers and, and finding what you need.

Lee Kantor: Now, you also mentioned recruiters and um, some people, you know, get bombarded by recruiters contacting them, but other people never hear from a recruiter. Um, what are some of the things you could be doing that catch the eye of a recruiter?

Doug Levin: Yeah. So recruiters, um, you know, I think the first thing to understand as a job seeker is that recruiters don’t work for you. Um, recruiters work for, you know, the company that they are trying to place positions for. And so, you know, unless you’re highly specialized or highly, um, you know, highly sought after, you know, recruiters again, their interest is in finding the best candidate and serving their client, which is, um, which is the company that they represent. So, um, but, you know, a savvy recruiter still wants, you know, qualified candidates, you know, coming through their, you know, their inbox or their desk. Right. So most recruiters, um, I mean, and it depends if we’re talking about an in-house recruiter that works for a company or a third party recruiter that works at a staffing firm. But let’s take the example of a third party recruiter that works at a staffing firm. They typically earn their salary when they place a candidate into a role. And so they’ll earn like a percentage of that placement. And so a good recruiter is going to want, you know, qualified candidates coming across their desk so that they have more, you know, a deeper pipeline of candidates that they can present to, to the company. And so while I, you know, while I kind of suggest, hey, it’s important to remember that recruiters work for the company, not you. They still want to hear from, you know, qualified candidates. So as a job seeker, um, you know, there are ways to outreach and, you know, kind of introduce yourself, whether it’s going to a recruiter, um, like a staffing firms website.

Doug Levin: Most staffing firms have a contact us. They’ll say, upload your resume. Leave us a note. You know, and that’s a way for recruiters to for job seekers to kind of connect with recruiters. There’s no guarantee or promise of anything. But, you know, that’s one simple way to just get your resume into the hands of recruiters. And if they find you valuable. Valuable, they might have an opportunity. Um, another thing is like, uh, distribution services. So there are. There are resume distribution services where you could basically email your resume to recruiters at staffing and search firms. That’s a little more like, um, less work than what I just mentioned as far as going from firm to firm and uploading your resume, that’s kind of more convenient. Um, it’s like an email blast and you’re sending your resume out to a bunch of recruiters, um, oftentimes thousands at once. And that’s just a simple way to to kind of, um, get your resume out there. Otherwise, if you want to be recruited, if you want to be headhunted, you know, it’s it’s really building a strong LinkedIn profile, making sure your profile is populated with content, um, the right keywords and all that so that recruiters can find you. You have to make yourself visible and attractive so that recruiters want to contact you.

Lee Kantor: So let’s talk a little bit about Job Stars USA. Um, who is the ideal candidate to be working with you?

Doug Levin: You know, so I work with a pretty broad range of clients. What I would say is, you know, we’re exclusively B2C, which means business to consumer. So we work with entry level through executive level professionals. However, we don’t, um, kind of do the B2B side. So large outplacement or anything like that, which is beneficial for, you know, our clients because we’re we’re able to kind of keep a little more of a boutique feel, um, a little more personal focus. We’re not serving these large outplacement contracts. Um, having said that, within the B2C Career services. Like I said, entry level through exec. Um, a broad range of industries. There isn’t necessarily one particular client. I’ve worked with 22 year olds coming out of undergrad. I’ve worked with CEOs of companies. So a really broad range there.

Lee Kantor: So what is their the pain that they’re having where they have to call Doug. Are they just frustrated or they just want this to happen faster. Like what is their struggle.

Doug Levin: Yeah, I think it’s both those things. It’s a lot of different things. You know, the job search is is full of rejection and frustration and difficulty. It’s highly competitive. Um, I guess I would say kind of the most prominent thing is people need help with their resume, um, building something that’s visually appealing, that works with applicant tracking systems, that communicates you know, the extent of their experience and achievements. There’s a lot that goes into that. Like even with even with AI and all the different resources out there, building resumes is a craft. You know, I’ve been doing this a while now, and it really is it a craft. And so a lot of people just, you know, don’t have the time, don’t have the experience or the, the want to, to kind of engage in that. Um. Also a lot of times, you know, it’s, it’s the career coaching side. So it’s the interview prep, it’s the career change. It’s the dissatisfaction with the career path and identifying a new a new way forward, um, or preparing for interviews. So, yeah.

Lee Kantor: Is there merit for people who are maybe they’ve already started their career, but to, you know, kind of job hop their way to higher salary faster than by staying in one organization for a long period of time.

Doug Levin: Um, I wouldn’t recommend that. I suppose it’s possible. But, you know, the risk with job hopping is, you know, it kind of, you know, doesn’t look great on a resume. And you’ll get questions about how come you’re only in this role for a little while or, um, and so it might be beneficial or advantageous in the short term, but in the long run, I think you’re probably better off sticking it out with the with the company that you’re with. As long as it’s a good company and there’s upward, you know, potential and that most employers hiring managers appreciate longevity.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team. Where should they go? How do they connect with you?

Doug Levin: Sure. So job stars.com. It’s all one word. Uh, I’m the owner. You’re welcome to reach out and, um, send a contact us through the website. You can give me a call (312) 788-9686. Happy to, um, review your resume or LinkedIn profile or just kind of provide any support that I can.

Lee Kantor: Well, Doug, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Doug Levin: Awesome. It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Ross Sonnabend With Verusen

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Ross Sonnabend With Verusen
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As CPO, at Verusen, Ross Sonnabend is responsible for product and design, the product portfolio and the customer experience. He brings exceptional expertise and industry knowledge in technology products with over 20 years of experience with established and startup companies, drawing on a background in Business Strategy, Finance, Operations, and Product Management.

He has worked with investors, founders, and management to help strategize and develop company vision, bring products to market, and ultimately take ideas from paper to scaled businesses. Ross was recognized as a Supply Chain Pros to Know by Supply and Demand Chain Executive in 2021, 2022, & 2023.

Most recently, he was Senior Vice President, Product, Strategy, and Marketing at RF Code, a leader in industrial IOT and hardware asset management for data centers and supply chains. Before RF Code, he served as COO of Univa (sold to Altair in 2020) and was a founding member of Interset Software, a leader in Security Analytics, which was sold to Microfocus in 2019.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • About Verusen
  • About Verusen’s clients and what industries they’re serving
  • About Explainability AI Agent

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories today on the Land of business radio. We have Ross Sonnabend, and he is the chief product officer with Verusen. Welcome.

Ross Sonnabend: Hey, Lee, it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Verusen? How you serving folks?

Ross Sonnabend: Sure. Verusen is a purpose built AI solution that serves the maintenance, repair, and operations MRO space. The MRO space is part of the indirect supply chain that helps keep manufacturing lines up and running, stamping out widgets.

Lee Kantor: And then we’re here to talk about a new AI product that you guys have developed.

Ross Sonnabend: Yeah. So we just released a new bit of functionality around our solution in general that helps explain the decisions our AI solution actually makes.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we get too far into that, do you mind kind of giving us an AI 101 about what you’re seeing today on the landscape of AI, what’s available for enterprise entrepreneurs, organizations, and, um, where maybe there’s an opportunity there for them?

Ross Sonnabend: Yeah, absolutely. So I think first and foremost I is a catch all at this point, right? It means many different things to many different people. And so when I’m talking about AI, I’m talking about a collection of techniques that allow for more automated decision making. Uh, you know, starting with, you know, things like natural language processing, things like machine learning, things like agentic AI, you know, all the way up through generative AI, which is what I think most people think today when they talk about when they think about AI, they are thinking generative AI, which are the ChatGPT, the Claude’s, the Gemini’s of the world. Right. And that’s that’s because those guys are taking a lot of oxygen out of the room. And it’s very cool. It’s very cutting edge. But the big question for those types of technologies are, how can it be used in an enterprise context, whether you’re an entrepreneur or whether you’re an enterprise enterprise software company like we are or an enterprise itself. The big question is, out of all of these different techniques that are available to you, what’s the right use case and when is the right use case to, you know, to use these particular techniques? And so I think, you know, where where we are and what Verusen does is a, you know, purpose built application for this MRO space using purpose built AI.

Ross Sonnabend: So if you think of Gemini or you think of ChatGPT, all of those are generally available models. That means that they’re trained on, you know, publicly available information that’s out there in the world for the purposes of answering general questions. Right. You know, like the other day, I was asking ChatGPT about my low voltage wiring. So that’s great for answering general questions. But when you want to get down to domain specific areas like MRO, for example. There’s not a lot of training that’s happened on that stuff. And so where the opportunity is, is to go deep into domain specific areas like MRO and then build on top of, you know, build solutions that are purpose built for the domain that you’re going after using the techniques and technologies that are available to you.

Lee Kantor: And then so that’s what Verusen has done, right. Like, so you created us your own AI around this specific, uh, industry and the work that you’re doing.

Ross Sonnabend: Right. So like we said, MRO is a very specialized space, right? It’s focused on procurement, folks. It’s focused on maintenance and operation folks. And it is unless you’re in the space, you don’t really know about it, right. And so what Verizon. And so all AI solutions kind of start with the data. What Verizon has done is amassed a certain amount of data about the MRO space. Like for example, we have ingested over 40 million parts that are used in MRO space. That comprises over $12 billion in annual spend. We’re growing that and looking at, you know, expanding that data base, you know, with every customer that we bring on. And so that data forms the basis of all of the AI models that we build or the training that we do that allows us to be able to build what I like, I would call this like a small language model where instead of thinking about it as an LM, you know, we’ve built a model that has knowledge and is specific to to our space.

Lee Kantor: So now how does that help your client? Like how do they leverage this, um, amount of data that you’ve accumulated and put it in a machine that’s going to give it, I guess, more actionable information.

Ross Sonnabend: Yeah, it’s a great question. So in our space, along with, you know, almost any other space I’ve ever worked in, you know, data is a problem. In the first question they have to ask yourself is, what do I have to do to prepare my data to be used by some of these systems? What Verizon has done is we’ve kind of eliminated that question by using AI. So we take data as it stands in your legacy systems and ingest that data. When we ingest that data, we use advanced technologies using Llms and NLP to make sense of that data and fit it to our data model. Once it’s in our data model, then we actually run machine learning models to make recommendations on these inventory stocking policies. Right. And that’s something that historically humans have had to do, right? They had to look at maintenance records. They’ve had to look at the expected life of every little part that goes into a machine and make a gut feeling, you know, recommendation that says, I think we need to have, you know, five of these on hand and ten of these on hand. What we’ve done is we’ve taken that knowledge, built our machine learning models to make these recommendations, and then we use generative AI through this new capability that we just launched to explain the decisions that you’re making. So the benefit and upshot of all of that is a as a customer of Verizon, you can get to value in under 90 days, which is which is really good.

Ross Sonnabend: Second, you don’t have to tell us everything about your data. The system understands the data as it’s been given to us. We map it to our model and we’re able to make recommendations very, very quickly. And thirdly, you know, lots of companies use AI or ML machine learning to make recommendations or help make decisions, but what they don’t do is help explain why they made those decisions. And so there’s this criticism of AI that it’s a black box technology. In other words, if you were to go and say like, why did it make this decision? A lot of companies will say like, well, it’s just the AI algorithm making the decision for you based on the inputs that we’ve trained on it. You know, what we’ve tried to do is go that extra mile to be able to say, if you know nothing about AI, but you know a lot about MRO, we want to be able to give you the data that you need to validate the decision that was being that was made. And we do that in a plain English generative AI, uh, set of statements that we generate for every recommendation that we make.

Lee Kantor: So this AI agent is not a kind of a search box for your clients to use. This is just an engine for you to help your clients.

Ross Sonnabend: So I think that’s a really good distinction. It’s a really good point. When we talk about agentic AI, we’re not necessarily talking about chat bots. You know, when I talk about agentic AI, what I mean are task driven, purpose built, like for for our purposes, let’s call them little applications that do one thing really, really well. So this agent that we’ve built that we call our explainability agent all it does, its entire purpose in life is to look at the outputs that our machine learning models output and explain them using plain English understanding.

Lee Kantor: Right. But again, this isn’t like your clients aren’t going to a portal and typing in. Explain this to me. You are using this to give reports to your clients that explained things to them.

Ross Sonnabend: Right? It’s less about reports. And like in our in our user experience, every part that we have, we make a recommendation on. So every recommendation also has an explanation on the screen. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: And that explanation is a new development right. Like that’s the new thing.

Ross Sonnabend: Yeah. I mean it’s all relatively new, but that the new new thing is that we’re using generative AI to, to develop those explanations so that if you don’t know anything about AI, but you want to understand why our system made the recommendation that it did, it tells you, you know, 4 or 5 plain English sentences right there on the screen.

Lee Kantor: So, um, giving this new information to your clients, is that like, how is that helping them make better decisions or helping them, you know, make another dollar.

Ross Sonnabend: So the benefit of our system in general is usually working capital savings, cost savings, or not buying something that they would have otherwise bought. Spend avoidance. Right. So what we’re doing, what explainability does in general is it builds a layer of transparency, right. Because we’re not afraid of explaining why we made the decisions that our system made and trust. Right. So that now you have a skilled operator on the other end saying, okay, why did Verusen make this decision? We tell that operator why the decision was made. And then they get to either agree or disagree with it, make sure that they, you know, make sure that they agree with it. And then they, you know, they go and are able to execute that. That bit gives someone who doesn’t necessarily trust AI the ability to feel good about the decisions that it’s making. Number one. Number two is in our space. At least, there’s a growing problem of skilled workers aging out and not enough skilled workers coming back into the same roles. And so our system, being able to explain the decisions that it’s making, can actually help people who maybe have less experience in making some of these decisions, gain more trust and be able to make the decisions that they would otherwise not be able to make.

Lee Kantor: And does this happen faster than it did previously?

Ross Sonnabend: So it is for every recommendation that we make. The explanation is there instantaneously. So if you were to pull up a record in our system, you would the first thing that you’re going to see is the explanation that the system has given it. So other before we implemented this, you know, what you would do is you’d go and you’d look at the screen. It would have these different metrics and KPIs on there saying, here’s what your old policy was, here’s what your new policy is, here’s the service level it’s expecting. And then you, as a skilled operator, would have to put all those different data points together and say like, do I agree with this or disagree with this? What the explainability does is it removes the need for someone to spend the time connecting those dots. We’re connecting the dots for them.

Lee Kantor: And then what is this thing rolled out right now or what stage are you at in its development?

Ross Sonnabend: Oh yeah. So this is this is our first generative AI solution, and it’s the first agent that we’ve built. It is generally available today with our software. Um, but the really cool and exciting thing is, is that this is a foundational capability for other types of AI agents that we are currently in development on.

Lee Kantor: Oh, so this is the first of many?

Ross Sonnabend: Absolutely. Like, we are committed to Agentic AI, which again is more focused on building task oriented AI applications that do one thing really, really well. So like for example, one of the next agents that we are, you know, working on is around accepting recommendations, right? So today in our system, you have if you have 250,000, uh, materials that you are keeping, an inventory will make a recommendation on all 250,000. And we expect that someone is going in and reviewing that and making a decision. That’s not that’s that’s good. And it’s important. It’s kind of the state of the state. Uh, you know, three years ago Today, we think we can use AI to help accelerate those decisions and acceptances with human guardrails on there so that so that humans are not taken out of the decision loop. But instead of focusing your time on accepting or rejecting a recommendation, we really want you focused on achieving the business goals that you’re trying to achieve. And in this case, those business goals are identifying where you already have materials and, you know, in your company instead of having to buy them. Identifying obsolete materials, identifying where you have, um, off contract buys that can be made on contract buys. These are the kinds of things we want our customers focused on. Not not, you know, having to go through 250,000 recommendations and make a an agree or disagree decision.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you decide which, um, kind of specific thing to focus on next. Like how are you prioritizing this? Are you getting input from your customers, or is this something that internally you’re doing on your own? Like how do you decide you know, which is the next? You know what comes next on the roadmap?

Ross Sonnabend: It’s a great it’s a great question. Right. And it’s always, you know, this is the the biggest burden of of being a product manager in general is how do you make the decision on what gets prioritized when you have all of these different competing priorities. Right. So we’ve got customer feedback. We’ve got our own set of views. We’ve got prospects feedback. We’ve got our sales team’s feedback. You get feedback from, you know, ten, 15 different vectors. Um, ultimately it comes down for us to two things. One is what about our system? Can we use AI to improve and kind of ten-x, right? How can we make the experience ten times better than it is today? And that example of just making a a, A giving an explanation. You know, today when we didn’t do that before, that’s like a ten x type of improvement. Um, so that’s one that’s one branch of the decision tree. The other branch of the decision tree is, you know, where are customers struggling, right? Where do customers want help? Uh, because that’s the lowest hanging fruit. We see challenge here. Let me help fix that challenge. And that’s where we, you know, we got to this acceptance agent idea. It’s customers don’t want to have to go through and accept 250,000 recommendations. They want the value that you get after you review those recommendations. So how can we use AI to help them get to that value more quickly, you know? And then thirdly, you know, um, sales. Right. What are gaps in the market or gaps in our product that we can use AI I to to shore up. So those are kind of the three main vectors that we look at when we think about how we productize the so product.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Ross Sonnabend: Uh, the best way is uh verusen.com. So it’s www.verusen.com or verusen.ai. And, you know, we have lots of materials available there, demos available. And then if you want to get in contact with someone, there’s a button right in the middle of the screen to say contact us.

Lee Kantor: And Verusen is spelled v e r u s e n.

Ross Sonnabend: Yes.

Lee Kantor: Well, Ross, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Ross Sonnabend: Thanks, Lee. I appreciate you having me.

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

Leigh Burns With Fox Theatre/Fox Gives

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Leigh Burns With Fox Theatre/Fox Gives
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Fox Gives is the philanthropic arm of Atlanta’s historic Fox Theatre, dedicated to preserving historic theaters and supporting local communities. Opening in 1929 with nearly 100 years of history, the Fox Theatre has become a driving force of preservation, with dedicated efforts to maintain its original character while inspiring hope and revitalization for other historic venues throughout the Southeast.

Since 2017, Leigh Burns has been the Director of the Fox Theatre Institute, a division of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Before joining the Fox Theatre, she held positions as the Education Coordinator with the Georgia Main Street Program and additionally served as the Outreach Program Manager and Certified Local Government Coordinator with the Georgia Historic Preservation Division.

Most recently, Leigh was named as director of Community Partnerships for Fox Gives, an enhanced community partnerships program dedicated to preservation efforts and support for theaters throughout the Southeast. In this new role, she will focus on the overall success of Fox Theatre’s Multiyear Grant Program and sustaining and leveraging partnerships for Fox Gives. She will also oversee staff of the All-Access Pass Program and will extend bilingual education goals for the nonprofit’s Fox in a Box Program.

Leading Fox Gives, she oversees all grant programs, education, membership, statewide theatre presenting and preservation partnerships. Since 2008, the Fox has awarded $3.2 million dollars in financial support for historic theatres in Georgia and the Southeast. Additionally, her team supports more than fifty-five statewide non-profit theatres and arts centers through Georgia Presenters.

She has twenty-five years of professional historic preservation experience including internships with the National Park Service and the Historic Oakland Foundation and received a Masters of Heritage Preservation Degree from Georgia State University. In 2014, she received an Award of Excellence in Historic Preservation Service from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

A native of College Park, Georgia, Leigh resides in Druid Hills and serves on the boards of the Georgia Downtown Association, the Red & Black and Young Harris College Alumni.

Connect with Leigh on LinkedIn and follow Fox Theatre on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • What is Fox Gives, and how did it grow out of the Fox Theatre Institute

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories today on Atlanta Business Radio. We have Leigh Burns, who is the director of community partnerships with Fox Theater Fox Gives. Welcome.

Leigh Burns: Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me today.

Lee Kantor: Well, for folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Fox gives? How did that begin and how are you serving folks through that?

Leigh Burns: Absolutely. Well, Fox gives is now kind of the the second generation of the Fox Theater Institute, which started in 2008. Anyone who’s from Atlanta probably knows a little bit about the Fox Theater history. And we were saved in the 1970s, and our board has been amazing and really giving us the opportunity to share not only professional development and trainings across the state, but grant funds. We’ve now given away about $4.2 million in grants and have about five different programs to kind of help smaller theaters around our state, and even some in the southeast grow and then continue to have success.

Lee Kantor: So when it comes to the giving part of Fox gives, you mentioned helping the other theaters, but how did that evolve at first? I mean, as you mentioned, the Fox Theater was kind of in a tricky situation in the 70s. And then how did it grow out of it, and how did it get to the point where now you can be so generous?

Leigh Burns: Sure. Well, I mean, you fast forward a couple of decades, and the Fox Theater has been fortunate to really, um, have a great opportunity for selling tickets, for having big events, for earning end earning revenue that could be shared with other theaters. But the step in between that that we saw, where theaters were reaching out to us a lot at the Fox for referrals for work, especially conservation, restoration type work, also with operational advice and the outreach from the theaters became so strong that the board really thought, you know, this would be a great way for us to continue the legacy of our early years as Atlanta landmarks. What people probably don’t realize is the Fox was going to be just one of many buildings that are our first original kind of grandfather board started. And so this gives us an opportunity to work on other historic buildings and pay our successes forward. So of course, first, operating well in the black, having great opportunities with Broadway, with comedy, with dance, with everything, and and making that success known. And then also, I think you have to remember the, the groundswell of kind of a return to Midtown and the success that Midtown’s have. So being able to pay that back around our state has been a huge gift for us.

Lee Kantor: Now, there’s a lot of talk about how movie theaters are struggling. Is live theater not being impacted in the same way that movie theaters are?

Leigh Burns: No, we’re really not seeing that.

Leigh Burns: Um, we’ve had a tremendous Broadway season this year and plan for one next year. I think there’s a couple things at play. I think post Covid, people want that sense of community. Um, they want to experience live theater together. Comedy shows are definitely more successful and more popular than they’ve ever been. I think there’s this sense of that isolation that we felt and needing to come back out and be together to do things and maybe even step off technology and put the phones away and experience something, live together in a shared environment.

Lee Kantor: So you think that in movie theaters, it’s too close to being watching it in their house with their big screen TV? And then that live theater is like a totally different event and experience.

Leigh Burns: We do. I think it’s a very different experience. I mean, obviously there were, um, opportunities to see, um, musicals and things like that during Covid through all kinds of, you know, launch platforms. But we really don’t think you can duplicate the experience of seeing that live and in person here at 660 Peachtree Street. We just think that’s still a priceless experience for most people.

Lee Kantor: So can you talk a little bit about what the day to day looks like? Um, for Fox gives, are you? I’m sure you’re bombarded with requests, but how do you kind of curate and decide? Um, you know how the funds are shared?

Leigh Burns: Sure.

Leigh Burns: So once a year, um, we start that process in July. We have an open application where you, um, submit a letter of intent. Then you’re given access to proceed with the application. Your theater has to be a nonprofit or operated by a city or county. Of course, some of our grants require a match. So you have to come to the table with match for that project. Um, you submit the application. We have a committee of outside reviewers that scores those. We award those by by competition. We award them typically around September. And then you have until the end of the next fiscal year, which actually wraps up for us around June 15th. So it’s a pretty quick process. We usually have about 2020 to 25 applicants for half $1 million in annual funding. So it’s fairly competitive. Um, but we see a lot of theaters and performing arts centers coming back to get multi-levels of funding. So they might start one phase with securing their roof. Then the next year they come in and do historic plaster repair. Then they might wait and come back and work on some things like replacing seats and those kind of things. So everything’s kind of done in phases. Um, but it’s, it’s been very successful. And, and we’re now in our 17th year of Fox gives and so proud of what we’ve been able to share.

Lee Kantor: Now um, is there any effort, um, in the education space with so many cuts when it comes to the arts, whether it’s music or theater programs? Um, from the schools themselves, is there any outreach that Fox does when it comes to education?

Leigh Burns: Absolutely.

Leigh Burns: In March of 2024, we launched our new high school program. It’s called All Access Pass. It provides an opportunity for high school students to come here to the Fox and experience not just a show, but shadowing professionals here at their Fox, at their day to day jobs at the Fox, we also go out to the schools and we work with them, and we really talk to them about not just singing and dancing and acting, but what life looks like for our own careers. For those of us who might work in sound design and light design in marketing. So we have made a conscious effort really to ramp up our education program. We’ve had our Fox in a box program for over a decade, which is our K-5 program. But this expansion into high school has really given us opportunities to look at job development. That was something that our board and when we went out and did strategic planning, really wanted to focus on how we could encourage that. So that’s what the All Access Pass program does.

Lee Kantor: So how do you, um, see Atlanta’s arts and theater community as compared to other kind of similar sized cities out there?

Leigh Burns: I think our arts.

Leigh Burns: Programs are still continuing to grow. We collaborate a lot with our fellow partners around the city. We’ve worked with theatrical outfit Seven Stages. Um, we still have art centers not yet to open. We’ve been working with a community in Grove Park for about seven years, and they’re going to be opening a new performing arts center. So I think the health of performing arts is very strong. Um, in spite of what we’ve seen at the federal level with cuts to NEA and other programs, I really feel like, um, now more than ever, people need this outlet and this place to be social. Around the arts. Um, the high museum is thriving. Center for Puppetry arts. So many of our neighbors. Atlanta Botanical Garden has amazing performance based, you know, opportunity. So we just see it as room for growth. And and we’re excited.

Lee Kantor: Now where do you see some opportunity? Is there any, uh, types of theaters you’d like to see more of, or is there any types of, um, whether it’s more comedy? You mentioned that there’s been a lot more comedy lately. Do we have enough of those and enough diversity around the types of content that’s being made in those venues?

Leigh Burns: Well, I think we’ve started to see a little bit more dance. Um, focus on dance again in Atlanta. It appears that, um, people really are connecting to more of an opportunity to diversify programing. You know, we’re so lucky here at the Fox that we host Alvin Ailey American Theater Company every year in February, and we’ve been able to work with our students around that. We’re just hoping that we can continue to provide the best diverse programing for not just the Atlanta audience, but for the Georgia and with our grants program. You know, if if there’s things that our grantees need, um, to diversify their own programing, maybe they need a spring floor for dance, maybe they need Technology upgrades to their ticketing and website systems. That’s even something that we provide here at the Fox through Technical assistance grants.

Lee Kantor: So, um, how does the the money get generated for Fox gives? Is that donations or is that just built into ticket pricing. Like how do how do you kind of build the funds so that you can, you know, reinvest them into the community?

Leigh Burns: Right. It’s earned income here at the Fox. Um, portions of tickets also concessions, um, some merch. And then of course, we have our amazing ballrooms which earn a, a nice, um, you know, profit for us. So we return that out back into the state. And again, it goes back to our mission of to preserve and share. And so we take a portion of our funds that we earn, and we give it back to communities around our state. We’ve been so fortunate, um, that we’ve been able to do that.

Lee Kantor: So what’s on the, uh, kind of roadmap moving forward? Anything you’re excited about?

Leigh Burns: Well, the roadmap moving forward looks great with grants. We selected a multiyear grant last year. We gave one grant for half $1 million to Hart County Community Theater. They have made a lot of efforts around rehabilitating their facade and beginning to make a lot of upgrades to their interiors. So we’re looking at seeing kind of that investment come to fruition. That’s the largest investment we’ve ever made in a single theater, um, with one check at a time. So that’s really on the horizon. And then our second season, our second, um, school season of our all access pass program will begin. We’re in the selection process right now, so that will begin in September. And just really looking forward to continuing some of these programs and and inspiring youth and, you know, really getting them talking with their other family members about how they can be engaged generationally in the arts.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Leigh Burns: What we would love more of is.

Leigh Burns: People to support their local theaters. Get out there and volunteer. Um. Get out and come to a performance. Support them. Have their children engaged. You know, all kinds of opportunities around art education. Many of our theaters are in performing arts centers that offer classes, um, that have galleries that sell items to continue their business. So just really being aware of what’s around you. We have a great, um, website where you can find out more about our grants and our theaters we work with, and we would love that engagement.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Leigh Burns: It is Fox theater.org.

Lee Kantor: All right. Well Lee, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Leigh Burns: Thank you so much, Lee. We appreciate this opportunity.

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

Ral T West With Ral West Livin’ the Dream

by

High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Ral T West With Ral West Livin' the Dream
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Ral West is a Visionary Business Leader and Systemization Expert, who employs her 4+ decades of entrepreneurial experience and her passion for business in her newest endeavor: “Ral West Livin’ The Dream”. She teaches entrepreneurs how to be the owner rather than operator of their business, so they can have a successful business and live the life they deserve.

She has an online course and a Mastermind program. She and her husband have founded several businesses, one notably achieving 8 digits in annual revenue before being acquired by Alaska Airlines in 2008. She has invaluable experience in scaling businesses and mastering the art of effective systemization. She honed her business acumen with real life experience.

She is a master at the practical implementation of business theories to create effective processes that transform businesses and multiply success. A respected figure in the tourism industry and multifamily real estate circles, she has been a guest speaker on numerous podcasts and has authored courses.

Ral and her husband live in Alaska and Hawaii when they are not jet-setting on their worldwide travel adventures.

Connect with Ral on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • 6 Principles for Lasting Business Success;
  • How to organize your business to create personal freedom;
  • How delighting your customers boosts your success;
  • The Entrepreneurial Mindset;
  • Build your business to support your life goals, not the other way around

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Ral West, who is the owner of Ral West Livin’ the Dream. Welcome.

Speaker3: Hi, how are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Raul West. Living the dream. How you serving, folks?

Speaker3: Okay, well, I am using my 40 plus years of entrepreneurial experience to teach business owners how to be the owner of their business and not the operator. You know, get out of the day to day and step back and work on your business instead of in it, so that you can have some freedom and enjoy your life.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your experience, you find that most entrepreneurs just get on this hamster wheel of just kind of doing the work, doing the work, doing the work, and they never really kind of maximize their efforts and their talents and delegate a lot of the activities.

Speaker3: I yeah, I would say that many entrepreneurs, too many are doing that. I certainly did a couple of decades ago, and I was pretty exhausted and miserable. So I want to teach any entrepreneur that’s doing that where they think they have to do it all, and they can’t let go of any of the tasks. I need to teach them how, how not to do that so that they can actually enjoy life and get sleep and have some self-care and spend time with their family and that kind of thing.

Lee Kantor: So what was that moment in your life where you said, enough is enough? There has to be a better way. Let me learn some systems and processes that can help make my life easier.

Speaker3: Yeah, well, it was over 30 years ago, and I had a young daughter, and, you know, she was having to do her homework and eat dinner at the office because we we were working late just about every night. And, and the diet consisted of like McDonald’s and pizza and Chinese and, you know, any kind of takeout. And I realized this was not healthy. I mean, I was certainly not healthy. I was overweight and out of shape. And, you know, I was starting to feel the, the stress and the the toll that that was taking on me and on my relationship with my husband and all of that. So, yes, something had to change. It was not sustainable. So I started learning. I went back to college, I started reading books. I got recommendations from our mentor who was Robert Kiyosaki, and this was before he wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad. He told us to pick up a book called The E-myth by Michael Gerber and that kind of, you know, saved our life. So it goes back that far.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a little bit for folks who aren’t familiar with the E-myth. I read that as well when I was younger, but I don’t know if you know this current generation is that fluent in in the terminology that he was using. But can you share a little bit about some of the basic principles that he was espousing?

Speaker3: Yeah. You bet. And actually he’s done many versions of that book since then. He’s he is updating and keeping current so you can still find it out there. And there’s e-myth for contractors and E-myth for, you know, all kinds of different lines of work. And basically what he says is that the, the e in the e-myth is entrepreneur. And he says that the people become entrepreneurs because they have this grandiose idea that they know, they know how to do it all, and they’re going to have this wonderful life and freedom. They don’t have to do what anybody else tells them to do. And then they find that, you know, doing the particular craft or talent that they had is not enough. They also need to know how to manage, and they need to have wear all the hats in a business like marketing and finance and operations and the things that maybe they weren’t having to do if they were just doing their particular craft, you know, whether it’s plumbing, accounting, law or whatever. And that you you need to be able to take care of all aspects of your business and step back and be the manager.

Speaker3: And then in order to grow the company, you need to duplicate yourself. You need to be able to teach others how you do things. So that means you need to document your processes and your procedures so that you can have the same outcome no matter who’s doing it. Um, he used the example of McDonald’s, where it doesn’t matter where on the planet you walk into a McDonald’s, your Big Mac is going to taste the same. And that’s because they have fine tuned their procedures right down to the number of seconds that the burger is on the grill at such and such a temperature and so forth. So it is so finely tuned and finely defined that, you know it’s the same all the time, and that’s what you need to do in your business and create those systems and document all of the processes and your procedures and your rules and your guidelines and so forth, so that you can duplicate everything and step back, and then you can start it all over again and, you know, open up another location if you want, or you can just sit back and enjoy your life a little bit.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that kind of the first step that if anybody who’s out there, maybe solopreneurs or business coaches out there listening. Is it something that the first step is this kind of documentation of all of the processes that you’re doing currently, that at some point you got to write everything down? There’s no way around that. If you really want to delegate or you want to scale.

Speaker3: Yes. And of course, nowadays you can just do a Vimeo, you know, or a loom or something. You don’t have to write it. You could speak it into a video and and but basically you have to document it in some way. Um, if you want consistency and if you want your customers to be served the same way over and over again so that their expectations are always being met. Yes, yes, you have to be able to duplicate that that excellent product over and over and over again and don’t leave it to chance. So it starts with it’s documenting what you do. And then also you have to take a look at what you’re doing and see how you’re spending your time. You know how many of your tasks that make up your day are a small, repetitive tasks that someone else could do, or that you could find automation to do it for you? Something to gain some leverage so that you can save time. And that’s that’s very important. And I do that in my personal life as well as in my business. You know, you don’t want to be bogged down by minutia.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you tell the entrepreneur out there that’s saying, well, that sounds good if I was making hamburgers, but I’m a consultant, you know, like people, I’m getting paid to be creative and problem solving and critical thinking. I don’t have it’s difficult for me to write down how to answer every possible scenario that could exist in order for me to delegate this kind of skill.

Speaker3: Well, sure, you’ve got some things that are, you know, intellectual property type of talent and, you know, you you might not be able to take everything out of your brain and duplicate that. But there are some things that are like the same questions or the same issues that come up over and over again. And you can certainly document that and create some guidelines, um, create some frameworks that you can use to teach and, and help your clients. Um, I think that there’s many ways that you can organize your, your knowledge and your information, And I do remember, you know, we had a business with about 50 employees, and I was in charge of the marketing department, among other departments. But, um, there was a point in time where my marketing team asked me, how did you know that it was the right time to increase our spending in advertising? And it took me back because I didn’t know how. I knew it was instinctive. It’s just like you’re saying, you know, if you’re a consultant, there’s some things that you just know they’re in your brain. And so this was something that was just in my brain. But I had to to be very intentional and conscious about trying to figure out what my thought process was that could guide me to make that decision. And I finally was able to break it down to the metrics that needed to be watched and that if, uh, sales data, for example, showed that there was a decline over a period of like three days, you know, reducing sales calls for three days. Ah, that’s a trigger. Now you need to increase your advertising to to pump up your business. So there are some things that you can document and systematize.

Lee Kantor: Now part of your, uh, title I guess is visionary business leader and systemization expert. Um, when did you go from having your own business that was your business to coaching other people and helping other people, uh, learn from all that you accomplished in your career?

Speaker3: Well, for years and years, I’ve been helping other businesses to grow and to scale. Um, not that I did it for a living or, you know, as a business. Um, but I’ve helped others, you know, ten-x their business by following my advice. And it was just a couple of years ago that it was suggested to me that I actually teach people how to have the kind of life that we have, because not only am I good at systematizing businesses, I’m good at systematizing our life and we’re able to live the dream. We travel all the time. We have two homes, we have a yacht, we still manage several businesses. And you know, it all seems to go very easily and people can’t can’t grasp how I can keep so many balls in the air and still be able to have all of this free time and enjoy my life. So that’s when I decided that, you know, maybe it’s time for me to, uh, give back and use my 40 plus years of experience to help other people.

Lee Kantor: So when you decided to get into this type of coaching and helping other people, business as a business, what were some of the things you did to launch and get the escape velocity that’s needed for any successful business?

Speaker3: Well, the first thing I did was I, I do what what I tell people to do, which is to design the business around your lifestyle, not the other way around. I want my business to to support me in the way I want to live. So I opted not to do one on one coaching because that kind of ties me down and demands an awful lot of my time. So I wanted to use leverage. So I decided to create an online course where I could teach many people and do the course once, record it and have it available online, and then anybody can take advantage of it at any time. So that was one thing. And then I have hired coaches and mentors to help me get my products out there, and have guided me as to what are the next steps. And I’ve been advised my next step should be to start a mastermind. So that’s what I’m doing right now. And the mastermind will be a small group of entrepreneurs who are running a seven and eight figure businesses where they’re too much involved in the operations and need help getting out of that day to day and stepping back so that they can And work on their business and become the owner rather than the operator.

Lee Kantor: So at what point did you develop these six principles for lasting business success? Was this at the beginning? And this was what kind of is the foundation that the all the entire business is built around?

Speaker3: Yes. Um, so two years ago when I started this, I had to take some time to sift through my 40 plus years of memory and determine what were the things that set us apart. Why was our business so successful? Why were we able to grow it to eight digits in revenue and sell it to Alaska Airlines? And why were we able to go on and create other multimillion dollar businesses after that? What were the tools? And, you know, I call them my principles. So I, I determined that there were six. And and those are the six principles that are the foundation of my course. And also, I believe, the foundation of any business that wants to be successful for the long term and be able to be operated with an owner versus an operator. And so I yes, those those six principles have been employed by us for decades. But I just pulled them out, identified them, and created a framework around them. And as I said, I’ve gotten mentors and guides to help me figure out how to do that. And, you know, personal branding is something that’s, you know, relatively new. So I had to learn how to get online, how to use social media, how to put my name out there, you know, website, YouTube channel, all these things that are so new to me because that was not part of our, our business formula before.

Lee Kantor: Do you mind sharing some of the principles?

Speaker3: I would be happy to. Uh, the first principle is systems. You know, you have to create the systems. The second principle is to track your data. Measure and track your performance and create reports so that you always know what your KPIs are and make sure that you’re measuring the right KPIs. Um, then there’s, um, leverage. You know, many ways to use leverage. One of them being education and others are learning how to delegate properly. There’s an art to delegating. Um, so anytime you delegate, that’s giving yourself leverage. Using automation is a form of leverage. And social media is a form of leverage. Getting getting your word out to many people with relatively little effort. And then there’s creating your culture, creating a very intentional culture that it just absolutely is imbued throughout your organization and is communicated to your customers and to your community. And the next is your team. You have to nurture your team, empower your team. Give them the authority and the ability to to operate, you know, on their own and do what needs to be done and give them guidelines. So you need to keep all of these things going and they’re all in conjunction with each other. And then that’s principle number five. Number six is customer service. And you want to have the ability to delight your customers, not just serve them well. I mean that’s good. That’s important. But if you delight your customers, you’re going to have customers who keep coming back over and over and who refer other people to you. And that’s really a key to lasting business success. And then you rinse and reuse all of these principles. They are not a set it and forget it. You have to keep working them. They’re like a six legged stool. And if you let any of those six legs get too short or not pay enough attention, your whole organization is wobbly. So you need to pay attention over time to all six principles.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that, um, delighting your customers is one of those things that a lot of entrepreneurs fall short in. They they spend so much energy in trying to get a client and doing whatever they have to do to attract and and get that client that once they have the client, they kind of move on to the next client, and they don’t invest the time and resources to really surprise and delight their existing customers. And I think that’s an untapped opportunity for growth for a lot of business owners.

Speaker3: I believe yes, absolutely. And, you know, it’s not just entrepreneurs. There’s large corporations that are really missing the boat on that too. How many of us, as customers, uh, feel frustrated, uh, and annoyed by the way we are treated by some of these large corporations? So, yes, they all could use a little lessons in delighting their customers.

Lee Kantor: Now, what are the symptoms that an entrepreneur is having? Uh, that might be a signal that, Hey, I got to get in touch with Ralph.

Speaker3: Oh, uh, working too many hours, not having time for your family. Not having time for yourself. Being exhausted, uh, feeling like you want to grow the business, but you just can’t because there’s only one of you and only so many hours to go around. And, you know, if you’re feeling kind of stuck, um, that’s a good sign that you. You need me to help you get over that, because oftentimes the, the, the business owner who’s involved in the operations becomes the roadblock to growth because too many of the decisions and too many of the problem solving, uh, needs are going through that person instead of being handled by the team. So if you’re in that position, please reach out to me. I can help you. You don’t have to go through the agony that I went through. I can help you.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how this can work for somebody? You don’t have to name the client, but maybe, uh, explain the situation they were in and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Speaker3: Well, sure. I mean, obviously, we did it for ourselves, um, in our own business, um, and, and were able to step away from the day to day operations and, and hand things over to a COO and a CFO. And then many years later, we sold the business to Alaska Airlines. But I’ve also helped, like another business, a small business, um, who the business owner was working, you know, like, around the clock. We couldn’t go out to dinner with this person without her taking several phone calls during dinner, because she just had to be doing it all herself. She wasn’t using any kind of team, and, uh, she wasn’t able to to, like, take a break, go away for a weekend or anything because she had to stay glued to that business. And so we started teaching her how to document her systems, how to create systems, how to use technology, and and how to how to onboard a team member, and in such a way that she felt confident that they could take care of her customers the same way that she would. And we explained to her how, you know, you need to create like a manual and outline all of the the guidelines, all of the processes, all of your, um, you know, your rules and how to how to handle a customer that has an issue, what do you do for them? And all of these things? She gradually started to employ them. And then over a period of about, oh, I’d say about ten years, she annexed her business and now she’s able to take month long vacations.

Lee Kantor: Wow. I mean, the impact is real, you know, that’s it sounds, in some ways simple. Oh, just systematize, delegate it. Just for a lot of entrepreneurs, that’s a big ask.

Speaker3: Well, yeah. And I’ve heard a lot of people say, well, I don’t have time to write down what I do. I don’t have time to, to create this system. And my response is, well, if you don’t take the time now, you’re never going to have the time for yourself in the future. You you have to invest the time now so that you can reap the benefits of that later.

Lee Kantor: And amen to that. Amen to that. Well, if somebody wants to learn more or have more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, um, or get into one of these masterminds or take the course, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Speaker3: It’s very easy. If you know my name, you know how to find me. It’s Rahel West. So the website is Rahel West.com. You can find me on LinkedIn under Rahel West, a YouTube channel, Rahel West. And any of those, uh, have ways to reach me. And on LinkedIn, I have a weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to. It’s free. And every week there’s tons of information. Every week, of course, is a different topic. And there are actionable strategies for you to use in your business right now. And also on my website, there’s a lot of podcasts like this one that I have done guest appearances on, and they’re all available there and on YouTube to watch and learn. So yes, and please do sign up for my mastermind. I would love to to have a bright, ambitious entrepreneur come on board and and have me help create the life that they really want.

Lee Kantor: And that’s real West r w e m.

Speaker3: Yes. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Speaker3: Well thank you Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Liz Wolfe With Liz Wolfe Coaching

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Liz Wolfe With Liz Wolfe Coaching
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Liz Wolfe is a seasoned business coach, author, and speaker at Liz Wolfe Coaching who coaches entrepreneurs to get unstuck so that they can launch and grow an abundant business.

With over two decades of experience, she has empowered people with her three-part coaching system starting with a clear vision coupled with purposeful action, and removing hidden barriers to get breakthrough results for her clients.

She got her entrepreneurial start growing up on a sheep farm in Western Pennsylvania with her mother and two sisters. They built a cottage industry making and selling woolen items, which helped Liz develop her public speaking and selling skills. Later she moved to NYC, where she used those skills to create a successful computer consulting business with her husband, Jon.

Eventually she transitioned out of the technology business to apply her experience in a more interpersonal context, helping business owners to develop an abundance mindset.

She says that one of her greatest accomplishments is staying married to her husband for 25 years while running a business with him. They have two wonderful children. Always eager to get in front of a crowd, she also runs bluegrass jams in New York City.

Connect with Liz on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Three Keys to an Abundant Business (Ask Powerfully, Give Wholeheartedly, Receive Graciously)
  • Procrastination/resistance, mindset issues and how they relate to the style of running a business

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Liz Wolfe, who is with Liz Wolfe Coaching. Welcome.

Liz Wolfe: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on.

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

Liz Wolfe: I’m a business coach. I’m based in New York City. And what I do is I coach new entrepreneurs, mostly, mostly new entrepreneurs, to get unstuck so that they can launch and grow an abundant business.

Lee Kantor: So they at go, they’re stuck. Is that is that a yellow flag right at the beginning?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. People get unstuck. Uh, meaning they’re stuck because they say, ah, man, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I don’t know how to do it or I’m too afraid. Or they say, you know, I have this really awesome idea. Or they say, somebody came to me and said, hey, you want to participate in whatever it is and they don’t know how to proceed. Their, their their mindset takes over. They get afraid. They did it once before and it didn’t work last time. It’s like the fourth time trying. So there’s all kinds of ways that people can get hung up.

Lee Kantor: So it really strikes me that I didn’t realize that they would have these issues at the beginning. I would think the beginning is where all the energy and the momentum is.

Liz Wolfe: Well, and that’s can be another part of it. Of course, you could have had a bunch of momentum and really be excited to do it and then had a few failures along the way. So when I say launch and grow an abundant business from, you know, as new entrepreneurs, um, that could be anybody who’s literally doesn’t even know what they want to do, they just want to quit their job, and they just hate their job and don’t want to do that anymore. To somebody that’s even been in their business for maybe three years, and they have tried a few things and it’s very frustrating. You know, they did a lot of free coaching or they tried different products or whatever that is. So there’s a certain amount of quote unquote new entrepreneurs, somebody from like, let’s call it 0 to 3 years.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Liz Wolfe: Well, my backpack story is that I had a crazy mother in a good way. No, I grew up on a sheep farm. When I was five years old, my mother said, I don’t want to live in the city anymore. And she had zero experience being a farmer. But she moved us out to what became known as the Wolf Family Sheep farm. And that’s right. My last name is Wolf and we were on a sheep farm. Was great marketing for the day. Wolves in sheep’s the game, but we really had to figure out what resources we had and for survival, you know, for money. We had these sheep so we would make products, we would spin wool, we would sell the lamb meat, we would go to festivals. We would take the sheep with us to these downtown Pittsburgh and share them on the spot. There was many ways in which we had to be innovative and creative, and really use our skills to create products that we would turn into money. And so I grew up in an environment that was that all the time. So I the first thing I did out of college was I said, well, I don’t want to get a job, so let me go do this.

Liz Wolfe: And what I did was I opened a store that was selling those products. Now I’m in my you know, it was 22 at the time. The fact was, it wasn’t that authentic for me. I was really doing it to help my mother. And so I was doing it in Connecticut. She was in Pittsburgh. Anyway, it didn’t it didn’t work out. But, you know, every good business coach has to have a good big failure in their past, right? So you can look and go, well, I saw what didn’t work. So let’s figure out what would work. And one of those was developing skills. I became a computer consultant selling CRM systems. Love to help small businesses. I really only realized later, oh, look at all the skills I had that I didn’t know I had, right? So often we overlook those skills that we have because we didn’t learn them in school or something. And it turned out that I had a knack for helping people because I had been through that experience myself, having my own business now 28 years. And my biggest accomplishment is I’ve been married to my husband the whole time I’ve been partners with him in the business. So here we are.

Lee Kantor: And so together you’re doing coaching as well.

Liz Wolfe: He actually still sells the CRM software. It’s called maximizer. It’s a great small business CRM system. Everybody’s heard of Salesforce, but not everybody wants to spend the money on it. So that was a that was a turning point in our business where I said, well, I don’t really want to do the technology anymore. You know, in the 90s, it was really like I’m always reminded of a story I read about the when penicillin was invented, it was incredibly effective. Like you could administer it to people and animals and it would instantly, you know, within 24 hours, get better. Of course, that doesn’t happen anymore. But that was what CRM and technology was like in the 90s. People you don’t you don’t realize that people like, had no idea how to use how how to take their paper systems and put it into a technology. Technological solution. A system that didn’t exist. And still to this day, some people don’t do it, but it’s much more run of the mill now. Everybody knows how to use Excel or whatever. They use Monday.com or something. So but he continues to sell to mostly to financial advisors. That is the the market that’s really well suited for that particular software. And I just got tired of the tech. I just got bored with it. It was fun when it was fun, and it’s more fun to work directly with people.

Lee Kantor: So now in your work, when you’re working with these entrepreneurs that are at some level of stuck. You mentioned something earlier that I’d like to get into a little bit, that you didn’t realize all the skills you had when you were an entrepreneur. You know, at age five, you know, making a wool toy for a kid at a festival. Um, can you talk a little bit about how, like if our listeners says, oh, yeah, you know, I don’t know if I believe that, like, is there a way to kind of audit yourself and to come up with maybe some of the hidden skills you have? Are there some questions you ask, uh, your coaching clients in order to help them discover maybe some of these, uh, little pots of gold they might have just within themselves?

Liz Wolfe: Yes, absolutely. So one of the I believe a myth of entrepreneurship is that you have to be a certain level of, of respected expert or have credibility. And it is true that you it’s important in the beginning to build credibility so that people see you as a credible expert. However, it doesn’t mean you have to have a PhD, or it doesn’t mean that you have to even get certified to be a coach. It doesn’t mean that you need 20 years in the business. What it means is that you look at your own strengths, and this is the part I think that gets overlooked quite a bit, which is everybody always says, well, what’s the problem that you can solve for people? And you don’t have to have any years of experience if you can solve it for them after just doing it for one year. That’s that’s not the point. You don’t have to have your PhD, but that falls flat for me. This. What what problem do you have? What problem do people have that you can solve? I add to that, what problem do people have that you care about solving for them? Because if you don’t care about solving it, then it’s not going to inspire you to get better at solving it. You’re just going to be like, that’s the way, you know? After a while. I used to love teaching people how to use Excel because it’s a kind of complicated program, and it’s really cool when you learn it. After a while, I didn’t care about solving that problem for people anymore. Got got wrote. So everybody has their own personal perspective on what that problem is. And if you care about solving it, you have a perspective on the best way to solve it. And so that is what I think people should really leverage is yes, their skills, their experience, but also their in their their inspiration to help solve that problem.

Lee Kantor: So to kind of, um, like transfer some of your passionate, uh, your passion with your skills and your enthusiasm to solve a problem is more important, I guess, mentally, than just having the ability to solve the problem.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. And through that, you’ll have the incentive to figure out how to solve the problem for the person.

Lee Kantor: Right? Because everything is more aligned.

Liz Wolfe: Yes, absolutely. And I just think people are smarter than they think they are. They’re better than they think they are. They have more experience than they think. And I, I mean, sure, people will come to me and say, well, let’s put it this way. I say, if people ask me, how long have you been in business? It means something to say that I’ve been in business for 28 years. Especially when you hear all the statistics about how businesses fail after five years or whatever that is. However, I have people that I can think back to in my first year of training or coaching that still I hear from. It meant I met a man recently that I hadn’t seen in a while and he said, I still use something you say every single day. And I think, wow, you were in one of the first coaching programs I ever led. And he still uses it to this day. Why? Because he’s listening from a perspective of I want my problem solved. So I’m going to look to this person who’s there, ready, willing and able to solve it for me.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier you use the word abundance and abundance principles, I believe. Can you talk a little bit about what you mean by that?

Liz Wolfe: Yes. It’s one of my favorite topics, as a matter of fact. So abundance means different things to different people. And some, for some people it’s money, but surprisingly fewer than you would think. For some people, it’s freedom. Freedom of time, freedom of money, freedom of creativity. That’s another thing. And why would I be hesitant or have fears around doing anything? Those are scarcity thoughts, scarcity based thoughts. And one of the skills that I’ve developed as a coach is really helping people to be able to make distinctions between when their thoughts are scarcity based versus abundance based. So it’s based in these abundance principles, which, by the way, I didn’t make up, nor did Wayne Dyer, nor did this, you know, the think and grow rich guy 50 years before him or the person that a thousand years ago. Right. These are principles that have been in available to us for literally for thousands of years. And so the skill is being able to make the distinction between what is a scarcity based thought, what is a belief, and then what is an abundance based thought. So for example, some people will say, oh, it’s so hard to start a business. Okay, um, that’s a scarcity based thought. I’m not saying there aren’t challenges to it, but if you go into it saying it’s so hard and I’m going to fail, I’ve done it before. I’m going to fail again. Oh, let me figure out how to not fail again. These are all scarcity based thoughts. So the you you’ll be more effective at what you do when you have more helpful thoughts that are based in abundance principles.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, there’s a lot of, you know, people want to believe that things are easy. And I think this is where even some of the principles of abundance, um, are kind of either misheard or misunderstood. Just because you want something doesn’t mean you’re going to get something. It’s not a magic wand to flip a switch and say, instead of believing, uh, businesses or I failed in the past, I’m going to say every day, I’m not going to fail today or I’m going to be successful today. And just that activity isn’t enough to. Um, maybe it won’t bear the fruit of maybe what you want just because you are kind of using abundance language. So how do you help kind of manage the expectations of some of your coaching clients?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, that’s a really, really great question. And I think this is where you’ve got these devotees of the Law of Attraction, and then you’ve got the the people that are like, well, that doesn’t work. You can’t just sit around and you’re in your front porch and go, I can’t wait today for $1 million to come in the mail. You know, it’s not it’s not that. So one distinction is to notice how helpful are your thoughts in in moving you forward or in being productive. So, for instance, the thought that I don’t know if anybody’s want will pay here. This is one of my I guess you could call it a pet peeve. One of those things. You know who? Um, nobody. Nobody will pay me what I’m worth. That’s a big one that you hear a lot of times. And so the people say, you know, you really got to charge what you’re worth. And I have to tell you that I actually don’t believe in in worth as a. Let me put it to you this way. People don’t sit around and say, you know what? I’m going to hire Liz Wolfe because she’s worth it. Meaning like she she should because she believes in her. I’m not saying it right. They’re they’re sitting around saying, I’m going to hire those, Wolfe, because it’s clear to me that she’s going to solve my problem. They’re not sitting around going, you know what? Because she’s just such an awesome person and she just worth it. I just want to give her some money. Right? You see why? Like we keep thinking it’s about us. It is not about us. It is about them. And so that person who has their thoughts is trying to build themselves up through this idea of, well, if I just visualize it, or if I just convince myself I’m worth it, I’m going to spend time in front of the mirror saying, you know, you deserve it. That’s another one I. Oh, that’s the one. I also that phrase, I deserve it. People don’t give it to you because they deserve it. You know that Liz. She’s she’s I like her. She deserves.

Lee Kantor: Right. She she put.

Lee Kantor: In the time. So here you go.

Liz Wolfe: Here you go. Right.

Liz Wolfe: They’re not thinking about that. And so the the thing about the law of attraction, and I certainly adhere to the principles of it. What gets overlooked is that there’s also a law of resistance. And someday I’m going to make my next million.

Liz Wolfe: Dollars by.

Liz Wolfe: Writing the book about the law of resistance, which probably people don’t want to read. Why? Because it’s going to explain how hard it is.

Lee Kantor: Right?

Liz Wolfe: Not how easy it is.

Lee Kantor: It’s the work part.

Lee Kantor: That people don’t want to do.

Lee Kantor: Right.

Liz Wolfe: And fear is a resistance based thought. I’m afraid to move forward because. And so if you acknowledge that there’s both the law of attraction but also the law of resistance, then you can see why there’s a struggle, that it becomes much more clear. And so you can stand in front of your mirror and say, I’m worth it. I’m I deserve it. And you could still feel feelings of scarcity because you just can’t seem to convince yourself. Or you can be quiet by yourself and close your eyes for the moment and just experience gratitude. You know, just just literally every human being on the planet, you don’t even need to have something to be grateful for. It’s a feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach. You can literally just say, I am grateful and just experience that gratitude. And now what you’re doing, as Wayne Dyer said, was abundance is not something you acquire. It is something you tune into. And when you relate to those moments where you felt and feel that abundance and create that for yourself, that’s where the law of attraction, because when you do that, you feel so excited and so inspired and so motivated, and the fear based conversations don’t come in. And that’s why you’re more effective.

Lee Kantor: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: When I was, um, I’ve coached some people, um, when it comes to especially freelancers or consultants or coaches, when it comes to coming up with a price, you know, that that’s a difficult thing for some people. Um, and one of the things I said to start with is just what’s a number that you can say in a mirror without laughing or feeling weird about, you know, let’s start there and then get some clients there and then just work your way from there. At least you know you’re not going to feel kind of weird about it or like that. You’re, you know, it’s like you said, they feel like, you know, they don’t deserve that price or that rate. Um, but just, you know, let the market decide that.

Liz Wolfe: First of all, I really, really appreciate you saying that because I have said the exact same thing to people where they’ll say, you know, well, other coaches or or other therapists or other video editors or whatever they’re charging, you know, $500 an hour. And then I say, okay, but if you can’t say to somebody and feel confident about $500 an hour, you’re never going to do it. In fact, I had an incident where somebody was trying to sell me their marketing program at some point. You know, everybody’s always trying to sell you their marketing program. And the program was quite expensive. It was $15,000 or something like that for three months, something like that. And the and the program, this was pretty early on in my career in coaching. And he said, I will be able to get you $5,000 a month clients. Now, why would I not have the $15,000? Why would I not spend $15,000 to get $5,000 clients? Presumably, if I got one a month for 12 months, it would be a lot of money. A lot more money than I’d spent. It’s because at the time, I didn’t even think I could sell a $5,000 training or coaching program. So even if they came to my doorstep, I just didn’t have the mindset that I was going to be able to sell a $5,000 coaching program.

Lee Kantor: Right. That’s the that you got to get past that hurdle first, right?

Liz Wolfe: Exactly. And, you know, there’s so much that goes with that. Like even sitting here now, I don’t know, is my program worth $5,000 a month? Right? You know, it’s all all our crazy, crazy talk we have in our head.

Lee Kantor: Right. Well, there there’s a guy I read a lot of of his name, Seth Godin, and he says price is a story. I mean, it’s not prices. There’s lots of things that lots of different prices. I mean, you just have to build the right story around it.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. That’s right. There are coaches that are a lot less expensive than me and a lot more expensive than me. And I found for the for the niche that I have of my new entrepreneurs, that this is something that typically will resonate with people and that they find doable. And so they’ll and yet it’s an investment and it’s something that they’re at stake for. So that’s my balance that I’m looking for.

Lee Kantor: Right. And then you have a track record that they can look at and they can feel comfortable with. Um, you’ve done this now for a bit. Do you have that to, to lean on and then they can make the decision if it’s if they see the value and it’s worth it to them, and they believe that you can help them get what they need, then they’ll, you know, then they’ll sign on. I mean.

Liz Wolfe: That’s.

Lee Kantor: Right. That’s business. That’s and that’s what their business should be, is doing kind of a version of what you’re doing and having all that social proof and having the expertise and the confidence to charge what they want to charge.

Liz Wolfe: That’s right. And, you know, I once charged 50 bucks an hour for coaching. I remember the first time I was like, wow, 50 bucks an hour, you know, because I was jumping up from the 30 that I. Whatever it is. Right. You just you can you increase and and it’s it, it builds upon that’s another abundance principle which is I like to think of it more like you’re building a house than you are going on a journey with some far off destination. The top of some mountain that you’re going to summit someday, right?

Lee Kantor: You’re earning your way up the ladder, but it’s built on your own belief. Like you have to believe you deserve each step of that ladder so that you can get higher and higher on the ladder.

Liz Wolfe: And you’ll you can keep going, and you can go as high as you want, or as stay down low as you want and goes from there.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So now, um, if do you have any advice or tips you can share when it comes to maybe, I’m sure it’s not the first time somebody’s heard about these kind of abundance principles, but is there some low hanging fruit in individual A listener right now? Some action they could take right now to unlock some of these abundance principles in their own lives?

Liz Wolfe: Absolutely. So I have what I call the three keys to an abundant business. It’s applicable in your personal life as well. I used to long, long ago. It was the three keys to a richer life. And since I’m a business coach, I do three keys to an abundant business. And here’s what they are. Ask powerfully. Give wholeheartedly and receive graciously. So everywhere you look in your life, first of all, all three of those things are within your realm of control. Maybe you only have two years of experience and you feel like, who’s going to hire me? I only have two years of experience. Or maybe you don’t know enough. The quote, connections, the right connections, etc. those are outside of the realm of your control. You can’t change any of that. But what you can do is you can take deliberate and explicit action by number one asking. So are you at the end of your sales calls? Are you asking directly for the sale? Are you asking for referrals? Are you asking for help? Are you asking? There’s I can’t I there’s thousands literally of things. And so when I say ask powerfully what I mean for that is asking specifically. This also relates to vision.

Liz Wolfe: What is your vision. I want to make more money. Me too. But I don’t want to make $5 more. Right. I want to know. I want $100,000. I want to get to 100,000 or 500, whatever your number is. So? So you’re specific. The second part is give wholeheartedly. And the give wholeheartedly is basically, you know, the what they say, you know, give and take is, is is the balance there. And giving is really okay. If you want referrals or you want sales, how can you give that? In other words, can you give a referral to somebody else. Can you? I’ve actually done that on some of my coaching business, um, strategy sessions where I kind of know the person’s probably not going to hire me or they’re not quite the right fit. So I think, who else can I refer them to? I could try to fit that round peg in a square hole, or I could just refer them to someone else and then I’ll get a referral. Remember, when you give something, you’re actually creating more of it in the universe. And the third part is to receive graciously. And of course, the gracious part is with gratitude. But the receiving is where we, most of us, need to do the most work.

Liz Wolfe: Meaning we think we want to have a thousand clients or whatever. You know, let’s not not be silly and not, say, a thousand. We think we want 30 clients, but we aren’t. We’re not in a space to receive it. We think we want our training video to go viral, but we’re not ready to receive that. We think we want money, but when somebody offers us 20 bucks for gas because we drove them to Boston one day. We say no. So there’s so many ways that we don’t receive that. Even if you just worked on that one part of your business or your your personality around receiving it would make a difference for you. So you can start with any of those three things. And even like, I love to give stuff away. I live in New York City and I have a stoop, I live a townhouse and I have a stoop, and I just put stuff on the stoop and people come and take it away. And then my house is cleaner, so nice. So it can be a little like that, right? It’s just like a clearing of it could be letting go of a grudge.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I find it. Um, the mindset shift for me that helped when it came to selling was when I stopped trying to sell anything. But I just tried to listen and see if I could help solve whatever problem they had. And then if I had if what I had could help them, I would share it. But if it didn’t, I wouldn’t share it. You know, it’s just we’re having the same conversation. It’s just the way that I was looking at those conversations changed.

Liz Wolfe: Yes, 100% there. But where the shift in the energy was that you were ready to offer and give in that moment, and if it was a good fit and if not, you know, don’t do it.

Lee Kantor: Right. We can still be friends, you know, like it. I find sometimes salespeople, they just are so focused in making sure they get their pitch in and they tell you everything they can do and how wonderful they are. They stop listening to the other person to understand really what it is, the outcome they desire.

Liz Wolfe: I have a I had an experience, I got a might have even been a setup call meaning like I knew he said can. I was interested in whatever he was selling or whatever it was. And so it was like a call. And so he got on and he started with the spiel and I, I’m a questioner, so I always have a lot of questioner. It drives my husband crazy. I’m like, he says, let’s go. And I’m like, why do we have to go now? Right? It’s always a thing. I always have a question. And so, you know, he was like a couple minutes into it and I started to say, well, what about this? What about that? And he actually got like a little bit upset with me or, you know, brusque with me and said, well, if you just let me finish my pitch then, you know. And I was like, wait a minute, I’m expressing interest in your product right now. And I have questions. He was not listening to me at all, right?

Liz Wolfe: I was like.

Liz Wolfe: Okay, what you’re telling me is I have to sit here for however long it was going.

Liz Wolfe: To be. It’s like those time shares.

Liz Wolfe: Right. Just listening to you. I mean, the last thing I was going to do was buy something from this guy. He didn’t care.

Liz Wolfe: Anything about what.

Liz Wolfe: I had to say.

Liz Wolfe: Or what.

Liz Wolfe: My.

Liz Wolfe: Needs were, because.

Lee Kantor: His boss told him that. You got to say this script and you’re going to say the script, and that’s what, you know, he had in the back of his head.

Liz Wolfe: That’s right.

Lee Kantor: Well, Liz, it has been an absolute joy talking to you today. So much passion and and understanding about coaching. And I imagine that your clients really get a lot out of the conversations you have with them.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. Thank you so much I appreciate it. This is a great conversation.

Lee Kantor: Now is there, before we wrap up, is there a story you can share or maybe that illustrates that? Do you have a client? Don’t name the name, but maybe share the challenge they had. Um, you know, when they came to you and how you were able to help them get to a new level?

Liz Wolfe: Oh, gosh, so many great stories. You know, I, I have, uh, people often ask me, what is the success, you know? Tell me your big successes. And I say, well, it’s it’s a little hard to define it because I, for instance, have a client who decided to publish on Amazon and do do these beautiful word search books on Amazon. And the huge success was she published her first one. Right? She didn’t even sell any of them yet. She just the the work that it took to get there and and so that that I consider to be a great success. And then I have the, you know, the other side, which is that people who have been frustrated, this one woman who’s an education consultant, she was working as a teacher. And, you know, the Department of Education doesn’t it doesn’t sound a bad pay, but it just was not great. And she became an educational consultant, and she made $250,000 in her business in the second or third year she was in business. And so the In both of those cases, the biggest hurdle was the mindset around it. Can I do this? Do people care? Is it am I able to? How can I pull this off? So sure, we talked all about all the skills and everything that it would take to do the productivity part of it, but the most beautiful part is where you have that breakthrough to the other side where you say, wow, I did something that I actually didn’t even think was possible.

Lee Kantor: And they took action. They didn’t. It wasn’t in their head anymore. They were actually, you know, doing the thing.

Liz Wolfe: They were taking action. And I will tell you, this, being a business, being in business, whether it’s new or 50 years into the business, whatever it is, I always like to say it’s the best personal development workshop you’re ever going to participate in. And so being in action is the thing that helps you develop those skills and to have you get past those mindset barriers.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation. What is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Liz Wolfe: Liz Wolfe Coaching.com. But that is Wolfe with an E. Unlike the big Bad Wolf, it’s wolf with an E. Liz Wolfe Coaching.com. And actually, I have a quiz on there. It’s a short, fun quiz that will help you to figure out what your CEO leadership style is. And of course, it comes with some content that will help you to figure out in areas that you feel stuck how you might get unstuck.

Lee Kantor: Well, Liz, thank you again for sharing your story, doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So are you. So thank you so much for having me on.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Ilham Askia With East Lake Foundation

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Ilham Askia With East Lake Foundation
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Ilham Askia is a seasoned nonprofit leader with a deep commitment to advancing social justice and equity. As the President and CEO of the East Lake Foundation, she is responsible for leading the strategic vision and ongoing work with partners to ensure progress towards the Foundation’s mission.

The East Lake Foundation was established in 1995 to revitalize the East Lake neighborhood in Atlanta, GA by igniting new opportunities for families living there and creating a vibrant community where all residents thrive. The Foundation’s goal is to support programming that addresses mixed-income housing, the cradle-to-college and career continuum, community wellness and economic vitality.

Prior to her role at the East Lake Foundation, Askia served as Co-Founder and Executive Director of Gideon’s Promise, a national nonprofit public defender organization whose mission is to transform the criminal legal system by building a movement of public defenders who provide equal justice for marginalized communities.

She spent 15 years changing the culture of indigent defense representation in America. Under her leadership, Gideon’s Promise was also the subject of award-winning, HBO Documentary, Gideon’s Army.

Her career initially kicked off as a Teach for America Fellow in the District of Columbia Public Schools. She later taught, facilitated teacher training and wrote curriculum for public school systems in Washington, D.C. and Georgia. During her tenure in education, Askia worked with talented children who loved to learn, wanted to succeed and desired to feel safe.

However, many of her students were impacted by the effects of over-policing in their neighborhoods, limited resources and inadequate legal representation. The latter being a lesson she learned earlier in life when both her father and brother were sentenced to prison.

Follow East Lake Foundation on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How business leaders can engage meaningfully – whether it’s through employee volunteerism, philanthropic investment, or supplier relationships – and be part of creating more equitable growth in Atlanta.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories today on Atlanta Business Radio. We have Illy Askia, who is the president and CEO of the East Lake Foundation. Welcome.

Speaker3: Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about East Lake Foundation? How you serving folks?

Speaker3: So the East Lake Foundation is located on the furthest east neighborhood in the city of Atlanta, in the East Lake community. Serving East Lake as well as some of Kirkland Kirk Kirkwood, excuse me. Community. And so we are an organization that is 30 years old this year that focuses on community development, mixed income housing. Cradle to college education, community wellness and economic vitality, and partnership with many organizations that work in the community. Ymca start Me Emory is a business school, Columbia Residential, Drew Charter School, Sheltering Arms, and all of our other early learning programs in the in the on the East side.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk a little bit about the Genesis? How did this foundation begin?

Speaker3: So, you know, over 30 years ago, you know, the East Lake community had a ton of struggles. It struggles. It wasn’t the most desirable place to live, to work, to play. Although there were many committed families living in what was then a public housing community called East Lake Meadows. Over the last 30 years, because of the vision of three plus all of their partners architects, Mr. Tom cousins, who is a philanthropist and a developer, is a developer in Atlanta. Miss Eva Davis, which was the president of the tenant association, which was then East Lake Meadows, now Villages of East Lake, and Miss Renee Glover, who was the CEO of Atlanta Housing Authority, along with many other political, public and private individuals, came together to reimagine this community. And so the East Lake Foundation was birthed to make sure all of the investment in education and resources and job training and wellness opportunities for families who have historically been denied access. Our role as the foundation is to continue that work, to make sure everyone has an opportunity to thrive. So the foundation was started by Mr. Cousins in 1995 and still continues to serve the families in East Lake and the families whose children attend Drew Charter School.

Lee Kantor: Now, these type of partnerships are kind of unique and special, aren’t they? This isn’t like if you just plopped yourself in another community around the country, you’re not going to find a lot of these are you.

Speaker3: Know, we are very unique. We are one of 27 neighborhoods through a national network called Purpose Built Communities. And so the East Lake Foundation was the catalyst to this holistic transformation of neighborhoods. And so we serve, as I know, we’re in a golf neighborhood, but we serve as the community quarterback for all of the services provided by our partners. Um, in to to ensure that the neighborhood thrives. So this ecosystem of partners across the neighborhood and across the city collectively make sure that this thrive. So purpose Built communities is taking this Eastlake model and adapting it to communities across the country. There are not many of us, but the ones that we do have in place in partnership with Purpose Built, make sure that those families get everything that they deserve.

Lee Kantor: Can you describe kind of the purpose built kind of mission and purpose? Like what? What would be kind of the dream? Is this something that you would like every neighborhood to be a purpose built community?

Speaker3: Well, I would like every neighborhood to define what success means for them. And so for the Eastlake Foundation, we worked with residents who lived here, legacy residents and partners, to say, what would you like to see in your community? You know, over 30 years ago, we did not have a high performing school. Our graduation rate was 30%. It is now 98% graduation rate the highest, one of the highest in the city of Atlanta. Um, we did not have, you know, a strong, robust early learning centers. Now, all of I call them the tiny people are now 96% of them are kindergarten ready to go into formal education. And so, with our partnership with purpose built communities, our goal is the East Lake Foundation is to inspire other neighborhoods to look at this four pillar or this four pronged model of what I mentioned before, implement them into their neighborhoods, what’s best for them, whether they start with education or they start with a health center like the YMCA and then build upon that foundation. So our goal, yeah, is every community that has not had an opportunity for investment or where investment has left is to be an East Lake, um, version, their version of East Lake across the country.

Lee Kantor: And and how um, it just it seems unusual and in a good way that you were able to to or at least the people who started this were able to kind of together, um, see a vision that was very inclusive, that made sure that nobody was kind of left behind. Um, whereas in a lot of communities nowadays there’s, you know, this kind of gentrification where it’s out with the old, in with the new kind of mentality.

Speaker3: So, you know, that credit really does go to Mr. Cousins and Miss Davis. And so Mr. Cousins, who was very deeply involved in the corporate business community in Atlanta, right, really encouraged to invest in the city. The one great thing about the city of Atlanta is the public, private, public private partnerships that have happened across the city. And, you know, Eastlake is not a is is a beneficiary of that collaboration. And so the vision of Mr. Cousins to make sure that the business community has its hands in supporting the work here. And Miss Davis’s vision of making sure a family is not left behind. And families have an entity like the Eastlake Foundation and its partners to turn to when there’s needs or desires of things in their community. And so the you know, sometimes I refer to him as unlikely allies for decades, continue to work together and bring on leadership in this community that understand those core values that we will always be resident centered. Our businesses, small businesses and large businesses will collectively work together to make sure every single person has access to the resources and tools needed to thrive.

Lee Kantor: So now that you’re leading the organization, how are you like, what’s your roadmap? What’s your vision for the coming years?

Speaker3: So one of the big things over the next 5 to 10 years is, you know, continue to ignite economic opportunity here in East Lake. We have a number of people who live here who have micro businesses and small businesses. We partner with Emory School of Business and the Start Me program to provide opportunities for, I say, the everyday person, the everyday working person to figure out not just how to build a business, but also to scale a business. So economic development is a big, big portion of our strategic plan right now, as well as to continue to invest in affordable housing, workforce housing on our in our neighborhood, but also to help influence other neighborhoods, um, in the city. And so those are two major economic development areas. We have the trust at East Lake in partnership with the Atlanta Land Trust. We are currently constructing 40 townhomes right here in East Lake for families who are now renting to have an opportunity to own their own home in a in a space that they can afford. So we’re talking about incomes between 68,000 and $103,000 a year to be able to have your piece of dirt. So that is a and support families along the way. So those are two big initiatives, I would say, on the economic development piece that we’re very excited about this year.

Lee Kantor: So what’s kind of a day in the life of Ili? Are you, um, kind of just building partnerships to, um. Are you serving the community directly? Individually? Um, like, what do you do kind of on a day to day basis?

Speaker3: My sister in law, who runs a nonprofit in Phoenix, always refers to me as a hands on CEO. You know, I’m a former educator. I have I spent 15 years in criminal justice reform. I am a hands on, on the ground kind of person. And so the life of Eli is having conversations like this and talking about the work that we’re doing in the East Lake Foundation, talking about the legacy, sitting and meeting with our residents. You know, we have decision day at the school where all of our students, our senior graduating class, are telling us where they’re going to college or what their post-high school plans are. That’s coming up. And so the day in the life of an East Lake Foundation CEO is to be on the ground, to be in the office, to work with his board and to build relationships. And that is the biggest part of my work, is understanding the uniqueness of this community, the legacy of the community and the amazing people that live, work and play here.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was it like the first time? Were you did you grow up in the area? Is that how you, um, got to where you are, or did you come from somewhere else?

Speaker3: No. I’m originally I’m a northerner. Um, but I consider myself a Southerner now. I’ve been in Atlanta for 20 years. I’m originally from Buffalo, New York, but I did grow up in, um, a community that was very similar to what East Lake used to be. And so in a public housing community, the way East Lake used to be. And so I really understand what it is like to be around family and friends and people that I care about, who, if they had the resources and the access, could have really thrived in the community. I was just a fortunate, a lucky person to be in the right place at the right time. I happened to be pretty smart and athletic and was able to find my niche and find my way, but it didn’t have to be that hard. And so for East Lake, the reason why this role is so important to me, and significant is I want to make sure every child has a seamless path to success as they define it. Um, the other thing I think to know is that I lived in Atlanta for 20 years. When I first got here, I knew no one, um, I had a baby and I lived on the south side, and someone told me about the East Lake family Y and that the Y, um, would watch your child, your infant, for two hours while you worked out or when you went grocery shopping. I was like, oh, my God, that’s so unique.

Speaker3: I’ve never heard of that. Let me try it. So I would travel from the south side of Atlanta, Campbellton Road, Cascade Road area all the way to East Lake to participate. And so my children actually grew up in the Y for a long time. I did not know until after ten years of going to the YMCA about the history of the community and why the the the childcare was so unique. It was to eliminate barriers for mothers, for caregivers, so that they can live their everyday life. And so the, the, the YMCA, the people who took care of my child, children who lived in the community, we grew up there. That was that is still my family YMCA. And so when this role, um, this opportunity came about, I wanted to give back to a community that gave so much to me and my family. And so I just think that it’s a special place. It’s a unique place. And if anybody gets an opportunity to visit or to live or to work here, they will feel the same way. And so, um, I just understand what it’s like to grow up, um, with in humble beginnings, I’ll say, and not have support and have to, you know, really fight your way through. And then I just don’t want any other child to have to live or experience in that. So if we can make it easier, that is what the East Lake Foundation is here to help do.

Lee Kantor: So that experience at the Y was your kind of this aha moment where hey, a community I can be part of something that’s bigger than me that I can. I can really take what they’ve done so far, which is amazing. And then, um, and then put your stamp on it and to expand the vision.

Speaker3: Exactly what are the real time needs of families? Because they evolve over time. What was once needed in the you know, the mid 90s looks a little bit different now. You know, in now in the 20 at the 2020s. So yes, that is that is the goal. And to listen to our residents, listen to our children, listen to our families.

Lee Kantor: Now when you’re thinking about affordable housing, is there any discussion about these, you know, the the tiny houses, the mini houses that they’re building in different communities?

Speaker3: Um, there’s discussion and I’ll say that there are people who are, um, expertise at this work. Um, and for us at the Foundation, we are very family focused. And so any new construction or Rehabilitative construction that we are a part of the foundation we want to make sure can serve families. Um, and then also we want to make sure for our population that’s aging so they can age in place, that is accessible for for seniors, for our active older adults. And so when, you know, tiny houses may have that, we have that discussion, but we really are looking to continue to build 2 to 3 bedroom, um, places for people or units so that families can grow and have the space, um, that they need to thrive.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Speaker3: So, you know, I read it’s a nonprofit. So I think one is to continue. You know, I appreciate being on this show to continue philanthropic support for the community. Follow us on social media, go to our website, Eastlake Foundation.org. Come and visit and take a tour of the community and meet its awesome people and for the business community. I first I want to just leave. I’d be remiss remiss if I don’t say thank you to all of the businesses that have supported the East Lake Foundation and this neighborhood, whether it’s philanthropic support or programmatic support, we have a number of initiatives coming up. People can go and visit on our website. We would love for people to connect with us, to volunteer with us, um, and just learn more about the things that that are to come.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about folks who might be curious about the purpose built communities network? Is that something that they can kind of connect with you to learn more about?

Speaker3: Actually, Purpose Built has its own team, so you could also visit purpose built communities, um, on their website. And just to note, Lee, there are two other purpose built communities that I work with closely that the Foundation works with closely there. Grove Park Foundation on the west side of Atlanta, and focused community strategies in South Atlanta. And so there are actually three groups, three neighborhood holistic community groups that are working together in partnership with purpose built communities to make sure that all of our communities have access. Because I will say, when the three of us win, Atlanta wins.

Lee Kantor: But is is purpose built communities built around the East Lake Foundation model like is were you kind of.

Speaker3: Built so so purpose built was created to take the East Lake model and help implement it in neighborhoods across the country. So purpose built East Lake Foundation inspired the the purpose built model. So without East Lake there’s no purpose built so that we couldn’t be at every place at every time. The East Lake Foundation and so purpose built as an entity, as an organization goes across the country with a team of experts to help neighborhoods figure out the best strategy for their community to, to, um, to blossom into something similar to what the East Lake community has.

Lee Kantor: Well, it’s, uh, really important work. You must sleep well at night knowing the impact that you’re making.

Speaker3: I try, I try. Most nonprofit leaders will know we never sleep.

Lee Kantor: But the impact is real. I mean, the impact is real. When you’re affecting families like that, you can change the whole trajectory.

Speaker3: Yes. We are literally on, since our inception, our fourth generation of families coming through. And it’s great to see, um, many of our then children, now adults, graduate from grad school, graduate from undergrad, buy a house. And, you know, so it’s a long game. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. When you’re talking about changing things, generation generations at a time. And so it is an honor to serve, um, this community. It’s an honor to serve in this seat. And I could not do this without our fabulous board and all of our business partners. So, yeah, it’s a great it’s a great thing. I sleep well at night till I don’t.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants, they’re.

Speaker3: Always on my mind.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about Eastlake or connect with you or the team, is there a website? What’s the best way to connect?

Speaker3: They can follow? Uh, go to Eastlake, Foundation.org or follow us on social media. We are on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and you will see all of the real time things and also come and celebrate us. Celebrate with us for our 30th anniversary. We have a big five K coming up the first Saturday in August and a huge party with a purpose in partnership with the East Lake Golf Club on November 1st. So please, please, please, we would love to celebrate with everyone.

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

Speaker3: Thank you so much, Lee, for having me.

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

Randy Lyman with The Purpose Driven Leader

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HVR-Randy-Lyman-Feature
High Velocity Radio
Randy Lyman with The Purpose Driven Leader
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Randy-LymanRandy Lyman, The Purpose-Driven Leader, combines decades of business experience with a deep commitment to fostering emotional intelligence, spiritual grounding, and transformational leadership. His area of expertise is leading from a place of strength through vulnerability, creating cultures where authenticity and emotional connection drive high performance.

His book, The Third Element, which was released on March 19, 2025, makes these complex concepts accessible and actionable. It reveals the missing piece in manifestation that most people overlook—emotions. Randy teaches how unhealed emotional patterns can secretly shape our reality and how to transform them into a powerful tool for attracting abundance and fulfillment.
His own pivotal moment came after achieving material success but recognizing the emotional disconnection and stress that limited both his potential and his team’s. This awakening led him to focus on emotional awareness and belonging, which became the catalyst for dramatic business growth and renewed purpose.

Today, Randy shares his principles with individuals and organizations seeking clarity, connection, and authentic transformation. His teachings equip others to harness emotional intelligence, build meaningful relationships, and turn inner healing into outward success.

Beyond his professional life, Randy is a passionate craftsman who builds custom motorcycle motors and restores classic cars—blending precision with creativity. He is married, devoted to his family, and deeply rooted in his community. Randy’s mission is to inspire others to heal, lead, and unlock their full potential by embracing The Third Element: emotional truth.

Connect wtih Randy on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Randy’s personal leadership journey
  • How adding spiritual practices to workplace culture can foster a more calming environment
  • Misconceptions leaders might have about introducing spiritual practices into the workplace
  • Advice for leaders who want to begin incorporating spiritual practices and emotional awareness into their leadership style

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Randy Lyman. He is the purpose driven leader with the Third Element. Welcome.

Randy Lyman: Hello. Good to be here with you.

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

Randy Lyman: Well, the latest way I’m serving folks is my new book, The Third Element The Missing Key to the Law of Attraction. And in that, I give people an opportunity to understand a little bit better the rules of the game of life. I’m also doing a personal coaching and corporate coaching.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Randy Lyman: Well, 35 years ago, at the age of 28, I was a left brain scientist and engineer and entrepreneur with multiple, uh, million dollar businesses. I was very successful, but I wasn’t necessarily happy and fulfilled. I met a woman by the name of Maria who I spent three years with, and she opened my eyes to a different way of looking at the world from a little more of the unseen, the emotional, spiritual side of life. And as I learn more about that, I was so intrigued and drawn in. I started applying what I was learning, and my success in the material world has blossomed.

Lee Kantor: So, um, as you were already working at the time, what about what she was saying? Unlock something inside of you.

Randy Lyman: Well, she helped me see that everything around us is a mirror of what’s inside of us. And the universe is creating our reality for us every moment based on our thoughts, our actions and our emotions. And the emotional part was the part I was not aware of. So I was doing all I could to be educated and to work hard and put in the hours and serve my customers. But I wasn’t aware of the emotional side of being human. So any old emotions I had, negative emotions I was hanging on to. Subconsciously they kind of crept into my world and they kept me from being the best I could be. And once I started to uncover those and address those, I was able to really multiply the effectiveness of my thoughts and my actions.

Lee Kantor: So what was kind of the first emotion that you were dealing with that gave you this kind of aha moment?

Randy Lyman: Well, for me it was a combination of anger and frustration. Underneath that was sadness. But I was doing all I could to find success, and the world wasn’t responding to the way I. To me, the way I thought it should. And to me that was very frustrating. I was I was again intelligent. I was working hard, but I wasn’t getting the rewards I knew were possible in the material world. And once I went through a few emotional healings, I went to a four day communications workshop for business communications, and the third day we went through an exercise that got me to a level of, uh, feeling of something I experienced 12 years earlier that a family member had said that had hurt me, and I subconsciously pushed that down and believed if I was competent in the material world, I would get their approval. Well, that really worked well to motivate me to material success, but I needed to feel that emotion. And so when I did in this workshop, it was very, uh, it was a huge upheaval. It was a very dramatic moment for for me, it was kind of an icebreaker for the group. And I went through the emotions around what my uncle had said to me about wishing I was more like a friend of mine, and I wasn’t who I was. That’s how I heard what they had to say. So I went through this emotional release and four days later, when I went back to work, then my world changed. All the people around me who had previously been incompetent suddenly became competent. Or they left my life. And being a physicist, being a scientist, it’s always caused an effect for me. And I saw the the cause was my emotional release and the effect was my relationships changed and that changed my life. I started looking at everything differently.

Lee Kantor: So when you say there was an emotional release, what how did that show itself? Was it did you throw a chair? Did you break a window? Did you cry like what occurred?

Randy Lyman: I just I broke down and cried like like a little kid would cry. And I was an adult man. I’m a logical, successful guy. But that emotion that that hides within us hides in what a lot of people refer to as the inner child. So there’s our adult ego self ego not in a bad way, but our adult personality. There’s our higher self. I believe our soul that comes through our intuition and other ways we connect with our higher soul. And then the third is that inner child. Now the inner child isn’t just a useless child. The inner child is joy and creativity and excitement and a lot of things we need in life, especially the creativity part. So we don’t want to kill the child. We don’t want the child to run the show. But that inner child in me that was hanging on to that pain was able to finally release it. So I cried the tears in front of a room of 15 people and it was just so pure. There was no embarrassment.

Lee Kantor: So how did your physicist brain, uh, handle kind of this spiritual awakening.

Randy Lyman: Well, I was so intrigued by Maria, my partner at the time, and the thing she was teaching me, and just the way she saw the world from such a place of purity. She saw the she saw God in every way. She saw love in every situation. And I wasn’t able to do that because of my own clouded judgment, based on my own emotional wounds. And so her world worked for her when she wanted something. It worked out. Her life just flowed very smoothly in my life was a constant battle. And I didn’t want the battle anymore. So even though I didn’t understand how she was approaching life, I saw how she was easily able to achieve results. And that’s what I wanted. And that’s what engaged my scientific mind to figure out what the heck is going on here. What am I missing?

Lee Kantor: Now, was she achieving the same level of materialistic results you were achieving?

Randy Lyman: No, she wasn’t the same level of materialistic results, but with regards to friends and business relationships and health improvements and just synchronicity in her life, her life flowed. Now she had lower expectations than me and she didn’t have the same financial rewards, but she had a sense of calm and ease and fulfillment. And that’s what I was missing. Even with all the financial and business achievement and success, I was missing that level of calm and fulfillment.

Lee Kantor: But you weren’t trying. That wasn’t what you were after.

Randy Lyman: No, that wasn’t what I was after. But that’s what I knew I was missing. Because if you’ve if you’ve met and you’ve been a very successful person, I think you realize that material success does not bring happiness. Material success does not bring fulfillment momentarily. It does. And it brings a lot of comfort. And I love material success. Don’t don’t get me wrong, but that the emptiness that I felt inside from not being connected to the people around me and feeling like I needed to achieve more in order to be happy. That’s what I wanted to move past. To move through and move past. And I wanted that sense of fulfillment that I. That she had.

Lee Kantor: So in your mind before her, you I guess you equated, if I got these material things, then I would get this kind of inner peace and then.

Randy Lyman: Absolutely. Because that’s, I believe, right.

Lee Kantor: So it’s that cause and effect. You said, if I do this, then I’ll get that.

Randy Lyman: But that’s not the way the game works. And, you know, a lot of very successful people who are not happy. And so the happiness is that we achieve through material success is fleeting. It’s momentary. It doesn’t stay with us because even when we’re successful, we still have to drive in traffic. We still have to, uh, talk to people we don’t necessarily care to talk to. We still need to, uh.

Lee Kantor: We still. Yeah. Still, bad things happen to everybody, and challenging things happen to everybody. There’s people that have a lot of wealth and are unhappy, and there’s people that don’t have a lot of wealth and are unhappy. I mean, um, I don’t know if there’s a correlation between all of those things, but when you’re adding this type of spirituality into your coaching and in helping other people, I guess, get to new levels, how, um, how do you kind of help them understand that this might be what’s missing, and this is what’s keeping them from maybe achieving the levels, even if those levels are materialistic or as part of your practice, trying to, you know, maybe de-emphasize some of the materialistic.

Randy Lyman: Well, I’m not against material success. I love material success. So what I do with left brain people and most people is I start out by let’s write down the problems and challenges you have in life. What do you want to see different, or what do you want to see added? Or what do you want to see gone? What changes would you like to see? And first we we talk about what we want to change. And then we say, can we do this simply through your current methods and if. And then the third level is aside from the second level being the approach, the third level is what does this feel like? Does it feel frustrating? Does it feel, uh, agonizing? Do you feel jealousy? What do you feel around this situation? So the mind has to work through it one step at a time. So outside problem. Second thing. What can I do? Third thing, what do I feel? And then if there are emotional feelings behind all this and people think emotions are bad. No they’re not, they’re natural. So we talk then about the feelings and we talk about the reason we have emotions and the value of those. And then we talk about Out the emotions that we didn’t feel completely in the past. That energy is still with us and we are able to release that energy through some specific techniques. So we take a left brained approach to emotions. I’m still a scientist and I’m still left brained, and that’s the simplistic approach that I take.

Lee Kantor: So. So you’re saying that there’s some simple A-b-c steps that anybody could take in order to, um, get a deeper understanding of these, the inner emotions that maybe are holding us back?

Randy Lyman: Absolutely. There are steps we can take. And in my new book, The Third Element, I outline, first of all, why? Because we’re not going to go down a tunnel that has no light at the end of the tunnel. So the first thing I do is give some people, give people some understanding of the light at the end of the tunnel. And why should I even open Pandora’s box of my emotions? So understanding is where we start.

Lee Kantor: So when a person comes to you, um, are you doing active coaching right now or are you primarily, you know, talking and selling your book?

Randy Lyman: I’m doing I’m primarily talking selling my book. I’m working with a few people on active coaching, but primarily I’m selling my book. But what’s your question?

Lee Kantor: So I’m just wondering when a person comes to you, are they coming to you because, hey, my business is struggling or are they coming to you with, hey, I’m not feeling joy anymore. Like, what’s the what’s kind of the impetus to begin a relationship with you or learn more about what your book says.

Randy Lyman: Any form of stalled progression or success, if they’re looking for a change and they’re not finding progress, or they’re not finding success and they just don’t know what else to try. That’s when I come in.

Lee Kantor: So it may not be, hey, sales are down like that. That’s not a problem you’re trying to solve. Or if you do this, this might solve that problem too.

Randy Lyman: This solves that problem too. So I’m very well versed in conventional business coaching and conventional management and leadership and all that. And I believe in all that. But at a deeper level, when we’re when we’re doing all the things we know we should be doing and we’re applying the techniques we’ve learned worked in the past or work for others, and we’re hitting a wall and we’re just these techniques I know should be effective or are not effective. Then we go a level deeper of okay, what needs to be felt and how do I need to change my, my, um, thought process and my thought patterns? And where’s my opportunity to feel something from the past? I’m ready to release.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, once you identify it and I’m assuming you have some techniques that will help a person release those emotions, then once the released. Is that it? You’re done. Now it’s. I have closure. I can move on. Or is there something else you have to do to kind of, you know, heal the wound that’s been opened?

Randy Lyman: Well, there’s there’s levels to it. So if a person gets even 50% of the way through it, their life’s going to be better. And some things I’m still working on after 30 years. But when we have a breakthrough of any sort, small or large, in my experience the physical world around us responds and improves. Now, um, we we still need to show up and do the work and think positive thoughts and make active decisions and do the work. But that work becomes more effective as we heal the old emotions. Oh, the other thing I want to say, Lee, is we don’t need to understand the emotions. We just need to feel whatever it is, process it through our feelings and our body and release it now. It can be done through working out, uh, punching a punching bag, singing, screaming at a tree. Just sitting in a place, uh, in nature or in life and being grateful for the wonderful people in our life and for the things that are positive. If we get to a place of feeling at any level of emotion and we’re able to breathe and work through that without blocking the feeling, our life improves.

Lee Kantor: Now what do you tell the person who says, I don’t? You know, I’m not a crier or I’m not, you know, I’m not a feelings person. There’s plenty of people out there that feel, I don’t know if it’s shame or embarrassment or what. The rationale is, why they almost take pride in not showing emotion.

Randy Lyman: Well, I can speak to that from my own perspective. So I was taught by the world around me that if if I showed emotion, I was weak. Now we can show emotion and not be weak. There are two separate things, but I learned that if I’m emotional at all, then I’m going to be seen as weak. And as men, our position is to provide and protect. And as men navigating the world, it’s important that we are respected. So I’m not just going to break down and sob in front of people who don’t understand. And I don’t need to break down and sob every time. But I’m being I’m exaggerating here, and I don’t make decisions based on emotions. And I’m not an emotional person. I’m still a logical reason. Reasonable take action person. The reason I’m sharing the message is because it’s been so useful for me, and I understand it so well, as from a person who was completely left brain, who is now much more balanced. So men have to be respected. Men are worried that we’re going to lose our effectiveness if we feel our emotions. Now we can feel our emotions without being overly emotional.

Randy Lyman: We’re not going to make decisions being based on emotions, but we can show up more compassionate, more caring. We can be more vulnerable in the way that we share. Yeah, I’ve made some mistakes in the past and and working with a team, I don’t want to make these mistakes. How do we work together as a team? Together? Being a key word together as a team to navigate this. And so I don’t have to show up as a leader. I don’t have to show up perfect. I don’t have to show up with all the answers. And yet when I help other people achieve success, they respect me and they see me as a leader and they get behind me as a leader. So leadership is not about barking orders or be this being the smartest guy in the room. Leadership is about helping the group achieve success through individuals in the group achieving success and through the group overall achieving success. And I can do that from a place of calm and confidence without having to exercise the power of my title.

Lee Kantor: Now, early on, um, when you started answering this, you mentioned that, um, that men are taught, I guess, through the world or whatever, just through life, that they shouldn’t show emotion. They shouldn’t, you know, that that’s a, uh, that equates to weakness. Or they could think that the but earlier you you mentioned that if they would just spend time by themselves in nature or, um, or, or with these kind of emotions and show the emotion, like, why is it difficult for them to even show emotion when they’re alone? Like there’s no one judging them except themselves. There’s no nobody, um, embarrassing them. They’re by themselves if they can’t still show emotion alone. Isn’t that that seems to me a bigger problem.

Randy Lyman: Right? Right. And great question. Thank you for clarifying your question. I didn’t hear that correctly. You said it right. I didn’t hear it right the first time. So here’s the here’s the deal. The emotions are so big, we’re afraid they’re going to continue forever and they’re going to take us over. That’s one of the challenges because we need to be as men. We need to be in control. And we’ve seen people who are emotional and they’re out of control, and we don’t necessarily realize that we can let this emotion through and move past it. And again, that’s what I explained in the book. And then the other thing is it’s painful sometimes, even if it’s something small from the past. And I was not abused and I didn’t go through all the emotional challenges many people did. But when those memories come up of being embarrassed or shame or whatever that might be, they hurt. They’re overwhelming. And our ego is designed not not like I have a big ego. I’m a narcissist. Just the personality part of our ego mind says that it’s going to protect us from any pain, whether it’s picking up a hot piece of wood off the campfire, it’s going to hurt, or whether I feel my emotions alone, someplace in a safe place. It’s going to hurt. And that part of our brain protects us from that pain. I want to add one other thing, because I know you’ve got other great questions. I say do it alone, but we can also do it with a friend or a mentor who understands, especially if we can find somebody who we connect with, who is on a similar journey of just becoming more aware of their emotions. Then we can work with somebody else, and we don’t have to do it all by ourselves. But most of the time, for men, we’re kind of on a journey by ourselves when we start down this path.

Lee Kantor: Now, is this book primarily for men?

Randy Lyman: No, this is very generic. This is the game of life. There’s only two rules. There’s a lot of there’s a few other things to understand, but there’s only two rules. One is when we respond from a place of of love and caring instead of fear, we’ll find an answer a lot faster. And the second is it’s really based on God or the universe does not judge us at all. All we have is the law of attraction, and the Law of Attraction says things that are similar to each other vibrate, similar, similar vibration of frequency of each other, are attracted to each other. So our thoughts have a vibration. Three categories or three elements. Our thoughts have a vibration, our actions have a vibration, and our emotions have a vibration. And the challenge with emotions is they’re bigger than time and space. So if I had an emotional experience two years ago or 20 years ago, I didn’t feel completely that energy stored within me and the universe. The Law of Attraction says, oh, I want you to feel better. I’m going to remind you of this old emotional energy you’re holding on to. I’m going to remind you with an irritation, with an annoyance in real time. And nobody has taught us before. Hey, there’s a connection between this annoyance and the opportunity to release this old emotion and make our life better with fewer annoyances. That’s the book.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you came to this kind of spiritual awakening as a scientist, did you immediately say, I am going to test this thesis using scientific, uh, you know, fundamentals? Am I going to double blind test this? I’m going to do some research. I’m going to really hold this hypothesis, uh, to the scientific method.

Randy Lyman: So the the, the best I can explain a scientific method was whenever I had an irritation, and I set my intention on finding the underlying emotional issue that was related to that outside irritation or challenge in my life every single time. 100% of the time I attempted to do this, I succeeded. I didn’t always understand the reason, but as soon as I felt whatever I needed to feel and release that emotional energy. The outside world changed 100% of the time. So I guess part of the double blind test is there was problems I tried to fix in my life, like like relationships with vendors through logic and reason. And I got nowhere for months. And then that part of me kicks in and says, Randy, you know better than this. You know, you got to look at the emotion. And I’d go and look at the emotion, and I’d do one of my exercises tapping, journaling. There’s 14 different exercises in chapter seven of the book. And I would go through one of the exercises and I’d get to a place of feeling, I don’t have the ball, I don’t have to cry. Sometimes I get just a feeling in my body. Sometimes I’ll get a tear in my eye. That’s it. But I had a physical, tangible, physical feeling come through where I changed that old emotional energy into a physical action or feeling of heat. Then the problem went away. So I’d work on a problem for weeks or months. It would not resolve itself. Again, I remember. Hey, go back to the emotion. I feel the emotion and you’re talking within hours or days. The problem would be fixed.

Lee Kantor: But when this happened, I mean, as a scientist, you have to agree that when something happens anecdotally in science, people don’t, you know, take it to market. They test it. Did you did you go to a stranger and or come up to somebody or have somebody, you know, go through the process, um, and test it, you know, kind of with somebody in the wild that wasn’t you?

Randy Lyman: Yes, absolutely. So coworkers I worked with, I’ve had, uh, got over 20 men cry at my desk, come up and see me and start talking, and I just hold that space, listen, ask a few questions, and pretty soon they’re in a place where they’re emotional because I’m comfortable with it. They’re comfortable with it. They feel what they need to feel. I talk to them a him a few days later and the problem’s gone. I’ve worked with family members, I’ve worked with neighbors, I’ve worked with, um, friends and acquaintances and just held that space and asked questions. And when they get to that place of emotional release again, whether it’s small or large, they feel it. And then I ask them later, hey, how’s how are you doing? How’s things going? God, that that problem went away. And pretty much every time I can’t say for certain 100%, but pretty much every time, at least 80% of the time, those people’s particular problems, they were speaking with me about speaking to me about where they had a chance to feel whatever they needed to feel. Their problem went away. Now we still need to address challenges. I still had to fire people. I still had to get rid of vendors. I still had to deal with lawsuits and rules and all those things in the material world that doesn’t go away. But at the same time, in order to keep that problem from recurring in my life. The emotional healing, as I call it, or experience, kept that problem from getting bigger or coming back again.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody out there is struggling and would like to give your, um, hypothesis a go, uh, where can people find the third element and where can people connect with you? Is there a central website for some of this, uh, material?

Randy Lyman: There is a central website. My my name, Randy Lyman. Com I’ll run together. Uh, last name l y m a n so Randy Lyman, they can find access to my book. They can find access to books that I’ve been helpful for me, practitioners I work with for, uh, hypnotherapy and, uh, Reiki and things like that. They have access to, um, some of my tapping exercises. But the book is the best place to start because it’s so logical and reasonable and easy to understand, and I think that’s the best place to start. Not because I want to sell books, because right now the e-book version is dirt cheap. I think it’s just a couple bucks. And this is about helping people understand the rules of life that are pretty simple, and regaining control and getting hope in their life, and having faith in God and realizing I can take charge of my thoughts, my actions work through some emotions and my life’s going to improve. So my website’s the best place to start.

Lee Kantor: Well, Randy, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Randy Lyman: Well, thank you for having me on. This has been fun. Your questions have been great. I like the work you’re doing.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Lauren LeMunyan with Spitfire Coach

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High Velocity Radio
Lauren LeMunyan with Spitfire Coach
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Spitfire-Coach

Lauren-LeMunyanLauren LeMunyan is the founder and CEO of Spitfire Coach, an adaptive leadership and innovation firm on a mission to help leaders ditch outdated playbooks and unlock real-world results.

With a no-fluff coaching style, Lauren specializes in building unstoppable leadership pipelines, creating cultures of psychological safety, and driving innovation mindsets across industries.

Lauren is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), dynamic keynote speaker, and fierce advocate for leading through change with grit, grace, and a whole lot of guts.

When she’s not fueling high-growth organizations, she’s lighting up stages and shaking up old-school leadership norms.

Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Why Most Leadership Books are Wrong and Harmful
  • The Dangers of Performative Leadership
  • Creating and Psychological Safety: The Hidden Engine Behind High-Performing Teams
  • Coaching Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs But Few Actually Use
  • Pivoting to Profitability: Leading Through Uncertainty and Change
  • Why Most Leadership Development Fails — and How to Fix It
  • The Most Powerful Tools in 2025 – Dilemma Flipping, Critical Thinking, Patience

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Lauren LeMunyan and she is the Spitfire Coach. Welcome.

Lauren LeMunyan: Thanks so much, Lee. It’s great to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Uh, what’s it like being the Spitfire coach? How are you serving, folks?

Lauren LeMunyan: It’s a little warm. It’s a little hot, a little spicy. But we get right to business. We get. We get that high velocity going, you know? But basically, it’s about helping people get all the weight of the shoulds, coulds obligations off of them so that they can emerge as their most purpose driven and awesome selves.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about your backstory? How did you get involved in coaching?

Lauren LeMunyan: Oh, you want the short version or the long version? I know we only got a little bit of time here, but I know, I know that every coach has their own kind of wake up story, but for me, I was in a an 11 year career, I was married, I was living in Las Vegas and Co-running a CrossFit gym, and I was sleeping for hours at a time, drained. And I thought, hmm, my job must be making me miserable. So I thought, I need someone to help me with this. But I didn’t seek the help until I literally hit the floor in my own life. Um, and that was from using alcohol to kind of numb whatever unhappiness I had going on in my life. And after 13 months of me avoiding that help, I finally said, you know what? I’m about to throw my life away if I don’t get myself in order. And that came in the way of a life coach. And that coach just started asking me questions that I’d never thought about, which was what makes you happy? What gets you inspired? And it was all about helping other people.

Lauren LeMunyan: It was all about helping them discover it. And he said, well, what about you? And I couldn’t answer that question. And that aha moment led me into discovering my own passion for coaching. I knew it in the CrossFit space of helping people get past those internal mental blocks of feeling physically stronger. But I thought, you know what? That’s what I’m more interested in versus just lifting heavy weights and putting them down. So I got certified as a coach ten years ago. I got divorced, I sold my house, I moved back to Washington, D.C., I quit my career in association management with no clients and said I’d rather be broke and happy than unhappy and knowing what’s making me miserable and willingly doing that. So that is kind of the short, long version. But really, coaching is what makes Present to Future Vision possible. It worked for me, and I get really excited when I see people light up and find that clarity and really do it for themselves and believe in themselves again.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was the transition like going from coaching, you know, fitness and wellness and health and then coaching, you know, leadership and business?

Lauren LeMunyan: Well, you know, it was very similar because those same feelings of self-doubt, of who am I to show people how to be healthy, healthy and happy when I don’t feel that way myself. Like I probably was the most unhealthy I’ve ever been being a CrossFit coach, which people don’t believe because I was super strong. I was supposed to be eating well. Um, and it was that same type of thing where when I became a certified coach, I knew I had to clean up my own stuff if I could feel confident helping other people. Um, so there’s a lot of similarities, but I think for people who are really effective in the coaching space, they first have to address their own resentments, their own mental blocks. They’ve got to clean up their baggage or it gets leaked into all of their sessions and client engagements.

Lee Kantor: So now who is the ideal client for you nowadays?

Lauren LeMunyan: Oh, it’s anybody who wants to have fun, who wants to kind of who isn’t afraid to shake things up and try new things. Um, I think the people who come in and say, Lauren, I’m so coachable, you can’t tell you how many leaders I get. I’m so easy to work with Lauren. Um, but the people who are like, you know what? I’m scared. I don’t know what this is, but I trust you. And I think when there’s that mutual trust, um, you get some amazing co-creation and, um, and openings and awareness. And so people who can take really clear, direct feedback of like, here’s what I’m noticing, here’s some patterns that I see emerging. And they’re like, Holy crap, I see it too now and let me do something about it. So it’s the people who aren’t just engaged but are ready to take action.

Lee Kantor: So when people come to you and tell you how coachable they are, is that a yellow flag? Like, how do you feel about that orange flag?

Lauren LeMunyan: It might be even red.

Lee Kantor: Those people who are so self-aware that maybe they’re missing. They have some blind spots.

Lauren LeMunyan: They usually have, um, some, uh, subscriptions to Harvard Business Review and Forbes. They love to read articles and tell you all about what they know, but they never put it into practice.

Lee Kantor: So what’s, um, for a listener out there? What is kind of is that one of the symptoms that you’re reading so much, but you’re doing so little? Is that kind of, uh, maybe that’s a sign that, hey, maybe I need a coach.

Lauren LeMunyan: Yeah, I think it’s bypassing. It’s. You’re hearing everyone else’s advice, but you’re not listening to yourself. And I think when you have that kind of overwhelm of information and shoulds, that’s where you really should lean into. Like coaching is an amazing space to just kind of process and be still. And I think especially in the US, in our society, we’re a go, go, go go go like look busy, be busy that we miss the really critical art of being still and being silent to allow that inner voice and that intuition to emerge. So yes, coaches can absolutely help to open that space up for you.

Lee Kantor: But at some point, you have to get out of the book and into the work, right? Like the work has to be done. You have to. A friend of mine says, do the do you have to do the work?

Lauren LeMunyan: Well, I would say you have to be the work first. So I see a lot of my clients get so wrapped up in the doing that they’ll have an I actually just talked to a prospective client this morning about this where he he’s like, I love a good plan. I’m really good at planning. And I said, and how’s your implementation? He said, well, I always, you know, go off course. And I said, because you haven’t embodied the transformation. You don’t know who you want to become. So until you can actually become that person and believe through that lens, the doing doesn’t matter. It’s always going to fall off.

Lee Kantor: So when you were making the shift into coaching full time and you were being coached yourself and they asked you those questions about, you know, what fires you up and what your true north and things like that. And you articulated, I think you said you want to help people. That was kind of at the crux of a lot of your work, right? Was that is that correct? I want to make sure I’m on the right track. Um, and then when that happened and you had that aha moment, what changed in terms of like taking an action, like did the next day, all of a sudden you were taking productive action in the right direction or like what was the shift after the aha moment?

Lauren LeMunyan: Well, so it actually was the opposite, because I was so used to.

Lauren LeMunyan: Building and doing for others, I wasn’t doing it for myself. And so the big prompt was to just be still and to journal and to reflect. Because if we go into that kind of I’m inspired, here’s my light bulb, I’m going, we’re not actually like getting the full picture yet. Like, there’s still so much to marinate on and process. And if we’re jumping to go, go, go and do, we don’t actually know if that’s a reactive mode or if that’s actually someone that something that’s future vision towards what we want to create. And so I think that critical thinking lens of is this coming from me because it’s my old default operating system, or is this something that’s now newly programed into this future vision? So I knew that if I was repeating behaviors from my past mode, I would get exhausted. I’d lose my voice. I’d get sick. Um, and we call it actually like the baby giraffe syndrome, where you first learn a new skill and you’re, like, super awkward, but you’re like, I’m so excited. And I got to share it with everybody. And then you keep falling down. Um, so I realized I need to keep practicing. I need to I need to observe other people in this space. I need to work under other coaches. Um, or else I’m going to come off like every other, like creepy life’s life coach who’s like, let me show you how to be everything to everybody. Um, so I was really patient with it, and I was patient with myself, which I knew was a new way of being. And that’s how I knew that I had a new transformation happening.

Lee Kantor: So you believe that this pause in between maybe chapters is an important component that can’t be shortcutted. You have to sit still, and you have to listen to your inner self in order to really get to that next level.

Lauren LeMunyan: Ding ding ding. Yeah, we call it bypassing. So if you don’t sit with it, if you don’t process it, if you don’t reflect on it, you’re missing the nuggets. You’re missing all those amazing lessons and insights that you can apply to those next chapters. And if you aren’t, if you’re bypassing and speed cutting through it, you’re actually probably going to have to relearn those lessons in some other fashion. Um, and they get a little more painful because it’s like, hey, you didn’t really pay attention the last time. So the more that you can slow down, it actually will save you time later on, and it will kind of lessen the blow later on, because you’ll have even more skills and resilience to face those hardships or to face those challenges. You’ll be like, oh, that looks familiar, because I reflected on that before and I know what to do now.

Lee Kantor: Do you find that in today’s world, you know, between the short attention spans and and just people wanting results, um, before maybe earning them, um, that we are susceptible to, let’s call it like catchphrase leadership, like, you know, lean in or let them or, you know, like, whatever. The hottest new.

Lauren LeMunyan: Were you checking out my past episodes? I’m my podcast.

Lee Kantor: It’s just there seems to be every couple weeks or months, there’s some new catchphrase that everybody is like, this is the secret to life, if only I regurgitation. So is that. Do you find that just people are there, they’re hungry for something. And this is catchy. And and a lot of people are buying it and they’re like, hey, that seems like the, you know, that’s going to work for me.

Lauren LeMunyan: Yes.

Lauren LeMunyan: I actually did a whole video on this of like the potency of self-help books will last for about two weeks. And then you realize very quickly that the tools that were shared don’t actually work. They worked for that person. But you try to, like, convince yourself that I just need to do these things. But again, because we’re not pausing and we’re not figuring out what we actually need and how to get that need met, we’re living through the lens of someone else. And so it’s really easy to get excited because you see all these gurus going around like, I’m so successful. And by the way, most of who you’ve mentioned all hang out together. So it’s the same content repurposed in a different way. There’s a whole thing about it. It’s really scary and gross. Um, but the reality is we don’t have short attention spans. We just haven’t been told that we matter enough to go slowly. We’ve gotten wrapped into the capitalism model where it’s like, you’re not enough, do more go. And if you actually, like, sit back and and question who wins by me being busy. Who wins by by me not thinking I’m enough, you start to uncover that it’s not actually about you, and therefore you don’t need all these experts telling you how to live your life. You can just chill out. There’s a great woman I wish I remembered her name that runs the Nap ministry, and it’s all about just take care of yourself, slow the pace and notice. Like it’s not even about Buddhism. Or like you don’t have to have a religion to do it, but like, just start noticing who wins by you chasing down the next fad, the next phrase, the next thing.

Lauren LeMunyan: It’s all the same marketing blitz of you don’t know enough. You aren’t enough. None of this stuff is new. None of what I’m doing is new. I’m just bringing it out in my own voice and lens. It’s the same thing as these books, and they’re half baked like they’re they’re fluff. If you’ve actually, like, read them beyond just like the the back cover, it’s one thought that could be an email Matched with about 4 or 5 fluffy stories that don’t even have any legitimacy. And it’s usually written in the lens of someone who has a high level of privilege and has never really experienced hardship in their life. As much as they want to say, woe is me, I didn’t have anything. Um, Mel Robbins was already at a Ted talk where she just happened to slip in her five second rule. Oh, it just came to me. It’s all these very manufactured stories that people grab onto because it sounds good. It’s like our own little Disney myth that we’re like, oh my God, if it worked for them, it can work for me too. And I think we’re all kind of looking for that silver bullet or that that permission slip to kind of bypass the hardship that we have to live through to get better. But like, we all have trauma. Everyone has trauma in their life. And so we have to heal from it to get to another place. There is no shortcutting it.

Lee Kantor: So now when you’re working with your clients, is this just part of the process you have to bypass? You have to, uh, you know, kind of come to terms with your trauma. Like, what are the kind of what’s your methodology? Ideology.

Lauren LeMunyan: So I don’t. What I do is I acknowledge it. Like if I notice that someone is focusing on a past storyline, that’s where I’ll say, you know what? This sounds like something to work through with a therapist. Um, as a coach, we focus on present function to future vision. Um, some coaches get in trouble with that. It’s actually in the ICF guidelines to not play pay, play phony therapist. But what I do is bring attention to I’m noticing a pattern in your language. I’m noticing that we’re getting stuck here. And so if I notice that there’s a wiggle, that there isn’t like a really stuck storyline here, because that’s when I know that it’s really deep trauma that another professional needs to deal with, then I can help them rewrite their scripts. I can help them upgrade the storylines that they’re telling themselves, because most times people don’t realize how much they’re re-embedding the storylines that aren’t working for them. Um, there’s actually a great book called Mind Your Body. Um, Doctor Nicole Sachs, like love it. Just finished it and she talks about this process called Journal Speak, which is about addressing through writing things that have gotten us stuck in the past, but it helps us reframe it in a positive way because most times we’re not able to communicate these really deep seated emotions like we’re just repressing all the time. And so it’s popping out and then we’re self-sabotaging.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned journaling. And, um, a lot of coaches are big fans of journaling. Is there some, um, maybe techniques you can share when it comes to journaling? Because journaling can mean a lot of different things, and it can be done a lot of different ways. Is there some best practices you can share when it comes to, um, efficiently and effectively journaling?

Lauren LeMunyan: I would say just do what works for you. So my style is probably different from most people. Um, but I love the tangible of having a pen with a with a spiral bound notebook, and my minimum is three pages every day. It can be fluff. It could be. Here’s what my to do list is. It’s I use it as brain dumps.

Lee Kantor: What’s an example of fluff?

Lauren LeMunyan: Oh, like, uh, the sun is outside. My baby’s asleep. Like, it’s just kind of. It’s not fluff. It’s just more of like a here’s what’s happening in my in my present space. And actually, I shouldn’t I shouldn’t denounce my stuff. Um, it’s more of like taking an inventory of what’s happening in the present, um, so that I’m more in a, in an observation space. Um, but where I’ll take that is how am I feeling right now? What sensation and am I feeling in my body? What happened from this? So usually, like I do it as a daily practice, but I also will pull it out if I’m feeling overwhelm, if I’m feeling confused, if I’m feeling like I need some more clarity. And I just am like putting everything on paper and helping to sort things out. Um, so I use it as kind of like a sounding board. Um, and so whenever I have clients who are like, I hate journaling, I said, cool. So I want you to get a piece of paper out right now, and I’m going to set a timer for a minute, and I want you to just write, well, what do I write? Whatever you want, whatever comes up. I don’t care if you write the same word over and over again, but you got to get yourself in the practice of it. That’s why meditation is a practice. Yoga is a practice. Journaling is also a practice. And so it works when you do it. Um, there is no perfect way. In fact, I don’t think that you should ever go back and look at your journals. It is for you, and it’s really there to create more mental space and to help you sort through things that are going on and clogging up some brainwaves too.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re talking about all this kind of inner work for an individual, are you also doing work that’s translating to their business challenges?

Lauren LeMunyan: Oh, it’s all interrelated. So I call it holistic coaching because there’s always if you start pulling one thread, there’s other things that are going to lift up. Um, so we’ll typically start with business challenges. Um, and then the client will usually emerge other things. So I don’t ever go looking for it. It just kind of appears um, or they’re like, oh, this this skill really worked well with an employee. I think I’m going to use it with my wife, and then we’ll start to play with, okay, what would that look like? Where what shifts or tweaks would you make. And so it’s never use this thing and then, you know, step and repeat copy and paste and everything. There are nuances to relationships. There are nuances, um, in environments and different situations. And so again, it’s that critical thinking lens of how might this work and how might it not? And where do I need to tweak? Um, but yes, we we focus on every aspect of people’s lives. But specifically, people want to see results in their business because that’s how they pay their bills. That’s how they keep their employees, uh, with their lights on and keeping them happy. Um, so when people have money in the bank, they are more empowered to do other things. And so we like to focus specifically with people in an employment setting or with their business.

Lee Kantor: What’s a typical challenge that an entrepreneur that works with you is struggling with? Like what’s usually the first challenge that comes, you know, or is there a typical one? Or like some people come with sales, some people come with talent, some, you know, they all have different ones.

Lauren LeMunyan: Yeah. Well, so they come to me and they’ll say one thing and it’ll actually be something else. So they’re like, I need, uh, I need to work on bringing my team together, or I need to work on team management. And so we’re it usually comes down to is it’s boundaries. It’s clarity around expectations and roles. Um, and it’s them being able to delegate and not get their hands in things. So a lot of it’s around control and trust.

Lee Kantor: And then, so, um, if they’re in need of maybe some delegation skills, what are some baby steps they can take to let go?

Lauren LeMunyan: Yeah. Well, so I think it’s first, what are they willing to let go of? What are the things that they absolutely need to manage and oversee. And then what are some ways that they can start to hand off. And then also have checkpoints. So one of the biggest, uh, search keywords on our website is leaders leading leaders. Because people don’t know how to manage high performers. So like I should just let them do what they need to do, but then I don’t know what they’re doing and then they’re off off to the races. But I think it’s a matter of having CEOs specifically and and leaders who are leading other people to be clear on what needs to happen. Who’s going to do it, when are they going to do it by? And then when are we going to check in to make sure that we’re aligned? So when those things can happen in a process, then you can create more consistency. And I think that’s the core element of it, because I think a lot of leaders think if I do this one thing, then there’s an assumption that it’s all going to come together. But businesses organizations are microorganism like it’s an ecosystem. So you’ve got to make sure that it’s maintained and that you have the right people in the right seats doing the right work. And then they also have a space and a place and an expectation of when to come back to things, to make sure that they’re on the right, on the right page, on the right track, and they have the resources they need to get the job done.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates, um, how your coaching can elevate somebody? Uh, don’t name the name of the person, but maybe share the challenge they were having when they came to you and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Lauren LeMunyan: Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, unfortunately, I wish this weren’t the case, but I hear from so many CEOs when they’re just like, they’re like, I don’t know if I have to close up shop. I don’t know, you know, if I can make payroll, like, they’re coming to a place out of a place of desperation. And I wish that this was a more proactive maintenance so that we didn’t get to that place of like, I don’t know if I can make this work. Um, but I will tell you a really positive story. So there was a business owner, and I do, um, an exercise of what’s the quality that you admire most in other people. And this person said, Joy. And I said, that’s really interesting. You know what? What is it about Joy? And he said, you know, I just don’t feel any joy in my business. I don’t feel any joy in my life. And I really miss it. And through our time working together, um, I kept linking things back to Joy. I kept saying, okay, tell me, what brings you joy about this? What about this? Like getting people back to that passion of what got them started in running their business. And after six months, they had this reflection of, like, I found the joy back in my company. I, I love what I do, I love this, and I’m sharing it with my team members. And so like I get goosebumps, like just thinking about this. And I know this probably feels kind of vague, but it’s literally helping people fall back in love with their with their companies and being able to spread that energy to other people and creating those safe spaces for people to also be excited to come to work. Like, imagine that right now of like people being excited for Mondays and not and not dreading coming to the office or logging in. And I think that that’s the gift of like insight and awareness of helping people get back what they had.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a niche that you serve primarily, or are you industry agnostic? Um, is there a sweet spot?

Lauren LeMunyan: I mean, I love me some tech clients. I love professional services, services and design. I love creative fields. But, um, if you’ve got a passion for psychological safety, positive disruption, and you care about your people like I’m here for it, so I am not a I am not going to say no because you’re working in, you know, um, sanitation. Um, because I did have a client with that. I don’t I don’t judge it because it brings in money.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wanted to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Lauren LeMunyan: You can check out our website at Spitfire. Com. We also have our YouTube channel and podcast at Spitfire Coach or Spitfire Podcast. And we do tons of of free stuff. But also we can come in and help your team feel more confident, upskill them in psychological safety and leading with certainty through these volatile times. Um, and help to equip your leaders with amazing coaching skills so they can be better communicators and problem solvers.

Lee Kantor: Well, Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your story, doing such amazing work, and we appreciate you.

Lauren LeMunyan: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

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