Warren Sager With Warren Sager Coaching

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for high velocity radio.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:13] Lee Kantor here, another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a fun one. Today on the show we have Warren Sager with Warren Sager coaching. Welcome, Warren.

Warren Sager: [00:00:23] Thank you. I’m glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about your practice. How are you serving folks?

Warren Sager: [00:00:29] So, you know, through and through. I’m an entrepreneur at heart, built and scaled many businesses over the years. And after a lot of successes and a lot of failures, I think I’ve learned a lot. I’ve got a few gray hairs and earned every one of them. And I’ve decided that taking all that experience and hopefully help other entrepreneurs accomplish some of the things they want to do without going through some of the trials and tribulations that I have. And so really excited to be helping other entrepreneurs scale and grow their businesses by helping them institute a solid growth system into their organization.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:05] Now, having, you know, been part of multiple organizations and companies that you’ve started and I’m sure just collaborated with. How was starting a coaching business different from any of the other entrepreneurial ventures that you were on, or was it just like any other one?

Warren Sager: [00:01:24] No, I’m glad you ask us. For me personally, it’s been one of the hardest business to is to start. So most of my other businesses involve products and services that were easy to offer people. It was very clear in black and white, and it didn’t involve any business development. I just promoted my product and it sold as a business coach. One of the challenges is that I’ve got to go out and do one on one business development. I’m actually selling myself, which is something that I’ve not had to do, and I’m learning a lot through the process, which is great because always learning, growing and stretching as a leader and an individual, which is fun.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:02] So how is it different selling yourself as the product or service or product izing yourself as opposed to, you know, a widget or one of the other, you know, multiple items that you had sold in the past.

Warren Sager: [00:02:15] So great question. The number one thing when selling a product is you really got to be very proud of your product and be willing to shout it from the rooftops. And I’ve always been proud of everything that I’ve sold. And don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of myself and the coaching that I do and the value proposition that I offer. But also I kind of grew up to be a humble person and talking about all the great things that I do and all the value that I put out there is is not normally something that I’m comfortable doing and speaking out loud to folks. I like to be more behind the scenes and just be more of a servant leader than to to be out there and being in front. And so that’s that’s one of the things that I’ve had to work through and I’m still working through.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:58] So any advice for other people that have the similar at least the way they see themselves as this humble servant leader? How do you kind of shout from the rooftops or show enough social proof or enough evidence, case studies, some of those other things that maybe are doing the shouting for you to help get the word out so that people do choose you because you can’t help people if they don’t know that you’re available to help them.

Warren Sager: [00:03:25] Yeah, absolutely. So there’s I’ll answer that in two parts. Part number one would be, first of all, I’ve got to and you’ve got to get over the fact that you don’t have something awesome to talk about sell and that you’re proud of. So got to get out of my own head and say, no, I’m confident in what I’m doing. I just need to get out there and offer it. So that’s that’s the hardest part, but it’s also simple. The second part, though, is and so what’s next? And for me, what I’ve been able to do is, again, as a successful entrepreneur, I do have a core group of people that I’ve worked with over the years in other capacities. So there’s there’s a common respect of knowledge and experience, and I’m starting with them as the core group of people and working through them and helping them and explain to them what I’m doing. So then they could be the voice to help me get out there to the greater community and show and offer what I’ve done, prove through my core group to the greater group that doesn’t know who I am yet.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:22] And that’s a great lesson for the listeners, is to start with people who already know and like you and build out from there, rather than start with complete strangers and try to build a relationship, you know, with nothing other than, you know, the website or a blog post or something like that. Start with people you already know.

Warren Sager: [00:04:40] Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that my coach has taught me, because, again, I have my own coach to help me grow my business. They’ve told me that cold, calling people out of the blue. It just is very ineffective. So you’ve got to start with people that love you and care about you and grow from there. If you just sort of shout out there to everyone in anyone, it’s just going to be a waste of time and energy.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:02] Yeah. And, and what you need when you’re starting are some quick wins. It’ll help you get the quick wins, get the momentum, get that energy going in the right direction to keep you fired up and believing in yourself that you can do this.

Warren Sager: [00:05:16] Yeah, well, that’s one of the things I wanted to speak to is kind of how I came to coaching, and it kind of speaks to the point you just mentioned. So I didn’t become a coach. That kind of coaching found me and growing up in a family business, it was actually a farming business. And one of my mantras today is Work smarter, not harder. And the reason I believe that so passionately is when I was growing up, we worked the opposite. We worked so hard and not smart. My parents both died young and I believe a lot of their health conditions became happening because of the stress of the life they created and the hard work that they had to do. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s really what I believe. And so it really imprinted in me this focus on I don’t want it to be like that. I want to be able to work smarter and have a life that’s not as hard as what I grew up with. So I started my first business and guess what happened? I was right back there with most folks and like my parents, where I was still working really, really hard. And don’t get me wrong, hard work is great. Everyone needs to work hard. But it gets to a level where it’s. Alarming and too much. And and the folks out there will know what I’m talking about when it happens. And so I’m like, wait, wait. This is exactly what I said I wasn’t going to do. So what’s happening here? And that’s when a little luck jumped in. And I found through a entrepreneurs organization, which is an entrepreneur group, that I became a part of a peer to peer network of entrepreneurs.

Warren Sager: [00:06:43] And they actually, as part of that group, used a operating system to help scale businesses for themselves. I’m like, Wait, there’s a system, there’s a process. There’s actually a way to do this that kind of has best practices. And I dove into that all in very excited, and that transformed my business. And from that all of a sudden, because it was so, so important to me and I was so passionate about it, all my other entrepreneur friends started saying, Hey, wait, you like have a really successful business and you don’t seem to be working that hard. What’s your secret like? It’s not really a secret. I’m actually just going all in with the system and people started buying me lunch and coffee and I started just helping people because obviously I figured out how to really implement these processes into my business and they wanted to learn how to do it for theirs. And it just sort of kind of kept growing from there until one day one of my entrepreneur buddies had a business that was failing and he’s like, I need somebody to come in more holistically, not just lunches and coffee. I need some real help. And so I helped him transform his business and coached him through it, him and his leadership team, and literally watched him as a leader and the team and the company thrive and grow. And I said, Holy crap, this stuff really works not just for me, for others. And after that I’m like this. This is my passion. This is what I’ve got to do. I’m great at it. It comes from a really place of of of value. And I want others to have have the same benefit as I did.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:16] So at some point you went from just helping out friends over coffee to, you know, having an actual paid coaching gig.

Warren Sager: [00:08:27] Yeah, exactly. And then from it just kind of grew from there organically. And now only recently am I kind of getting out there outside of my normal scope of people that I know and say, Hey, wait, I’ve now done this for a while. I really am good at it and I’ve got a good track record. Let me see who else is out there that getting out to that next level of of businesses that might not know who I am, but they should and I like them to.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:51] Now, you mentioned earlier that you have a coach. Did you always have a coach or was that something that happened later in your career?

Warren Sager: [00:08:59] Yeah. So again, one of the things that I learned the hard way is a coach is really important. And no, I didn’t get a coach until I actually became a coach. And the first thing they said when I joined my coaching group, So who’s your coach? And I’m like, Holy moly, I don’t have one. Well, well, we got to fix that right away because how can you grow and help other people unless somebody’s also helping you grow as well? So everyone everyone should have a coach in one form or fashion. And you look at some of the most famous people in the world. The quick example that I usually go to is somebody like Tiger Woods, the number one golfer in the world for a long time and throughout his entire career, even when he was the number one golfer in the world and no one could touch him, he still had a coach. Why? Because you need one. It’s just so important to have somebody help, help you grow, see things you can’t see, you know, your blind spots and just hold you accountable to to be the best you can be. So everyone should have a coach. And I learned that too late. But not everyone is there yet. And they could they can get a coach and help grow as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:05] Now, are you finding that leaders are more open to using a coach nowadays as maybe when you started your career, like could you even imagine your parents and their position going, Oh, I’m going to get a coach? Like it probably wouldn’t even be on their radar.

Warren Sager: [00:10:21] It’s changed so much. You know, one of the reasons I probably didn’t have a coach is there was no such thing as coaches. There were no business coaches 25 years ago. It just was unheard of. In fact, the business systems that now that a lot of businesses are using, that I coach and others coach that didn’t exist either. So there’s a lot of growth in the past 15 to 20 years, especially coaching in the past five years, that now it’s not weird or crazy to be thinking about having a coach. It’s just this is new industry that’s really grown up and it’s great because life is hard and people need all the advantages they can get. And a coach is just one of those things.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:55] Now, for the person who maybe has never used a coach before, what are some of the symptoms that maybe they need a coach or at least consider having a conversation with a coach to see if it’s a right fit?

Warren Sager: [00:11:09] Yeah, that that is exactly the right question. So first of all, when I’m looking for people that need coaching or when they come to me, the first thing I’m looking for is this growth mindset. Some people kind of think they want help, but you can tell from talking to them. They’re not really in that mental space to grow and make things happen. And no one can coach somebody if they don’t really want to grow and be coached. So that’s the first thing on both sides. You’ve got to be real honest with yourself that you really are ready to grow and have a coach. And the second thing within specifically within business coaching, which is what I do, it’s very simple. There’s two things. I’m looking for a company that is doing amazing things. They’re growing and scaling, but the CEO owner is miserable because life is just like, Wait, I’m achieving all the success, but I am just not happy. I’m working too hard, I’m stressed, I feel too much pressure. I’m doing well successfully with financial benefit, but not making all the money like it’s just not quite right. So why? Why am I doing so well and still not where I want to be? So that’s the first thing I look for and that’s a great need then for a coach. And then the second thing is the opposite of that, where they’re working hard and they’re doing their job and their business and it’s running, but they’re stuck. They just know that they want more and no matter what they do, it’s not happening. So they’re obviously missing something and they’re looking for some help to help get unstuck.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:34] Now, you mentioned that you were made aware of a certain methodology about business. I believe it was the entrepreneur operating system that we said.

Warren Sager: [00:12:44] The Ontario Entrepreneurs Organization.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:46] Entrepreneur Organization, the AEO, peer to peer group. Right.

Warren Sager: [00:12:50] But there are many operating systems out there and they’re very, very similar. So one of the bigger ones out there is called iOS Entrepreneurs.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:59] Operating, right? Yeah, that’s the one I thought you meant. But you were talking about the other one.

Warren Sager: [00:13:03] Oh, is is a different.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:05] Thing, right. They’re not affiliated.

Warren Sager: [00:13:06] Right. A scaling up run harness program is is another very strong and successful operating system. Actually, though, the one that I decided to work with is a company called Metronome and Shannon. Cisco is the head coach and owner of that company. And very similar story to me where she grew up in a successful business and she knew there had to be a better way and she built found this better way of coaching with a system. And then she sold her company and people said, Hey, you did so well with your company, come help me with mine. And she just kind of kept building and building, and then she just became an authority figure, wrote some books. The main one is called Metagenomics on How to Scale and Grow Your Company. And all of a sudden, like she said, Well, I can only help so many people as a coach. So you know what? I’m going to create a coaching company and help train other coaches like me to learn the system so they can get out there and help more companies and more entrepreneurs. And it’s just it’s a really great organization, but all of the coaching platforms out there are very similar in any one of them can help companies really grow and scale.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:11] Now, do you have any actionable advice for a listener right now so they can help them maybe take their business to a new level, maybe become a more successful leader? Is there something right now that people could be doing or thinking about in order to grow?

Warren Sager: [00:14:27] Yes. So there’s two things I want to share. First of all, is the most important thing you need to do as leader is these three things. One is, what is the job of a leader? And I think a leader job is only basically three roles that a leader should have in their position. You need to set the vision for your company that everyone knows and understands. You then need to build a team of a players the best that you can find to help you execute on that vision. And then the third and only thing you have to do as a leader is you need to help your team support them with the tools and resources so they can be successful and then hold them accountable to do it. Those are the three main things that a leader should be doing. And what happens is leaders do all sorts of things when they run their companies except these things, and these are the things they should put their time and energy in and let the rest of the team members do the rest. So that’s really important thing on a high level. But I’m going to take like another minute or two. I have this whole long speech that I give on ways that entrepreneurs and leaders can grow. And I’m just going to just do a bullet list real quick, just so I can hit them and you can see what they are.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:39] It sounds good.

Warren Sager: [00:15:40] Number one thing is for companies to be successful, they need to huddle. You need to have daily huddles, weekly huddles, meetings to communicate. Communication is key to being cohesive. You’ve got to have meetings. You’ve got to huddle, too, is you’ve got to have stats, metrics, goals, specific information that everyone knows. And it’s black and white and people are working towards it and you’re measuring it. What measure matters? So you’ve got to do that. The third three is you need to have a visual strategy so everyone can see where you are and where you going and how are you going to get there. If everyone if you said, Hey, let’s go to California and everyone just hopped in the car and went, it’s not the same as, hey, let’s map it out and we’re going to stop here in this day and here that day, you got to have a plan and everyone needs to be on it. Otherwise, who knows what’s going to happen? Next thing is you need to plan to accomplish that scratch strategy just because you want a strategy. It’s not just going to happen. You’ve got to plan it. What are we going to do this quarter? What do we have to do this month? What are we going to do this week? What are those actions? So a lot of people are planning. They’re just getting up every day and going to work. And what do I got to do today? You got to plan.

Warren Sager: [00:16:43] And culture and core values is what drives most really successful organizations. So it’s so important to build a strong culture and have these core values that are living and breathing through the organization. So it’s it’s part of who you are and everyone knows what to do because that’s kind of the rules of what guides everyone through what they do. And then two quick more points and I’m just about done. Recruit, recruit, recruit. You’ve got to have those a players in your company. That only happens through constant recruiting. You can’t just wait for a need and oh wait, I need somebody. So always be looking for people, great people, and always being able to improve your organization with great people. And the last point is a scorecard. How do you know if you’re winning unless you know what the score is? So it’s so important to be having these goals printed big and large in an organization and be following them on a regular basis. Everyone on the team needs to know if we’re winning and if we’re winning, then we need to be celebrating. And if we’re not winning, we need to figure out what’s not working and fix it. So there’s my long speech in like 2 minutes or less, but those are all the things, the highlights of what people should do to help build stronger organizations. And our entire coaching program is to support the things that I just said.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:58] Now, is there a niche that you specialize in? You mentioned a lot of ecommerce. Is that your specialty or is it kind of industry agnostic, your work?

Warren Sager: [00:18:08] So these systems are industry agnostic and a really good coach can work with any team because the product or service is not what’s important. It’s, it’s the systems and the people and that’s kind of the same across all boards. But having said that, having experience in ecommerce and that’s my background in some of those tech fields, sure, it’s always better to work with people that you have more of an understanding about how they operate and the kind of leader they are. So my goal is to is to specialize and focus on more of the ecommerce people since that’s that’s where I came from.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:43] So if somebody wants to learn more again, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s a website?

Warren Sager: [00:18:50] Yeah. So sure, I’m out there on all the socials, but also Warren Sager, that’s my name and that’s my my website and would be happy to have a free introductory conversation with anyone that wants to know more. And people like me that love coaching. Obviously I’m now I’m doing this for career, but remember I started this because it was just something I love to do and I cared about. So I just love helping people. And if somebody reaches out and wants help, always happy to start the ball rolling and get them started, you know, at just to help them out because life’s too short, it’s too hard, and we all need to help each other as much as we can.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:27] Amen to that. Well, Warren, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Warren Sager: [00:19:33] Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:34] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on High Velocity Radio.