Business Strategist Athan Slotkin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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