Dennis Geelen with Zero In

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

Stone Payton: [00:00:15] Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this morning. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast consultant, author and founder of Zero In Mr. Dennis Geelen. How are you, man?

Dennis Geelen: [00:00:37] Hey, I’m good. Thanks for having me on.

Stone Payton: [00:00:39] Stone Yeah, Delighted to have you on the show. Got a ton of questions. Probably won’t get to them all, but maybe a good place to start. Mission. Purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Dennis Geelen: [00:00:53] Yeah, just really trying to pay forward what other people have done for me, I guess, to wrap it up in a short little boat.

Stone Payton: [00:01:02] So what is the back story? How in the world did you get on this this path and land in this line of work?

Dennis Geelen: [00:01:10] Yeah, that a story here, then. I spent over 20 plus years in the corporate world, always in pretty high profile senior leadership roles and. I thought everything was playing out according to the script. And then at the age of 43, for the first time in my life, I was laid off and threw me for a huge loop. My initial reaction was, I got to jump right back in and keep following the script. The script of get get a post-secondary education, get a full time job, get married, buy a house, and then put a little bit of money away until you’re 65. Right? Well, I wasn’t finished the script yet, so I was supposed to jump back in, but with some great discussions with my wife and and just the interest in scratching my entrepreneurial itch, I decided I’m going to take a year in bed on myself, try and start my own consulting company, and here I am four years later. So.

Stone Payton: [00:02:14] So wasn’t that a little bit? I guess the best word is scary for both you and your wife, for you to just jump off and try something that different from the established pattern.

Dennis Geelen: [00:02:24] Yeah. The only word I would change in your sentence there is a little bit. It was really scary. Yeah. I mean, maybe not at first. At first I think I was way too naive and way too prideful once I realized, Oh, boy, there’s a bunch I don’t know here, and this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was. And I had to humble myself. That’s when it became a little scary.

Stone Payton: [00:02:50] And so as you got things going, I’m sure it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Do you remember some of your early mistakes and what you what you feel like you learned from them?

Dennis Geelen: [00:03:01] Oh, man. Tons of mistakes early on. Well, the first one right off the bat was probably being prideful and naive and just thinking, if I build it, they will come. Then once I started to get a much better understanding of branding and marketing, I started to realize, Man, I have to niche down. I really just announced myself as a business consultant and that doesn’t appeal to anybody. What what business, What industry? What problems do you solve for what types of companies? And at first I just thought, well, I don’t want to narrow myself down. I can do all kinds of different stuff. I get all this experience, but I wasn’t appealing to anybody, so I really had to pick a niche, narrow down and focus my branding and marketing on that. And that’s when things really started to pick up. So probably that pride, that naive and that lack of niching down, Where were my biggest mistakes in the beginning?

Stone Payton: [00:03:54] So yeah, describe your niche if you would, because I really applaud your your commitment to doing that. And I know a lot of small business people solopreneur are reluctant to niche down, but you speak to that a little bit and describe your niche, if you would.

Dennis Geelen: [00:04:09] Yeah, I went through a few iterations. I would say in the beginning with Xero in it was originally, Hey, I could do leadership or I could do project management or I could do leading at your operations. And really what I landed on as my niche was I want to help medium size businesses create a better customer and employee experience. But even then when I set it like that, it wasn’t appealing enough because A there’s a million other consultants that already do that. Now I sound just like them. So I ended up changing the way I say that to. I help companies solve a difference. And that got the eyebrows up. What do you mean by that? Well, you either have a different customers because you haven’t created this great experience. You haven’t created a brand that they love or you have in different employees. You haven’t created a culture where people are passionate to come to work each day for your company. That’s what I help you with. So once I figured out that niche and how to present that, that’s when things really took off.

Stone Payton: [00:05:14] Now, would you describe yourself, your practice as a as a solopreneur? Is that an accurate characterization?

Dennis Geelen: [00:05:21] Yeah, I’m an independent solo consultant. I don’t have any employees. There are times where I might partner with other consultants if I’m taking on a large engagement, but pretty much zero in is a one person show.

Stone Payton: [00:05:33] So does does it get lonely or have you figured out a way to work through that?

Dennis Geelen: [00:05:38] Yeah, I mean, in the beginning it was very exciting to be building your own thing and betting on yourself and doing this all by yourself and wearing many hats. And then once I had started to figure things out, but I needed to get to the next level or I needed to bounce ideas off somebody. And then, especially during the pandemic, it got really lonely. Then it became this. Instead of it being this excitement of wearing all these hats and having all these ideas going through my head, it became this pressure of, I have all this on my own shoulders. So the loneliness definitely can kick in at times.

Stone Payton: [00:06:16] Well, I can hear it in your voice and I know our listeners can as well. You you obviously have a passion, a real fervor for doing this kind of work. What is the most rewarding? What are you enjoying the most about the work at this point?

Dennis Geelen: [00:06:31] It’s really helping others. When I’m working with a business client. Every business has its own unique challenges, so bringing in a different perspective, maybe asking some questions they wouldn’t have thought to ask. Seeing the light bulbs go off and then then leaving them with a roadmap, a plan for here’s how we’re going to get from from A to B, It’s just so satisfying for me to see that after I’m done working with the client.

Stone Payton: [00:06:56] Now, you wrote a best selling book, The Zero in Formula some some time ago, and now you’ve got a new one out called The Accidental Solopreneur.

Dennis Geelen: [00:07:07] Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:07:08] So was it were the experiences different from each other and what was the experience like putting that book to together? Yeah.

Dennis Geelen: [00:07:19] They’re very different. The first book there, The Zero in Formula I wrote when the pandemic first happened, all of a sudden I was given a bunch of time, a bunch of freedom. A bunch of my consulting was put on hold because of this COVID 19. I decided I’m going to write a book. So I just took what I do with my business clients and put it into the form of a book. So it’s a nonfiction business book. Here’s my formula. I do have some stories, some examples in there from clients I’ve worked with or other businesses around the world. But it’s a nonfiction book. This the next book, The Accidental Solopreneur, which I just released, very different in a few ways. One, it’s not a nonfiction book. This is a fictional parable. So I had to learn how to get good at writing fiction, developing characters, developing the story, creating some drama while still inside this book. I give all kinds of tips and strategies for for solopreneur. And that’s the other thing that’s different about this book. The zero in formula is meant for businesses and CEOs and business leaders. The accidental solopreneur was made for people like me who decided I want to bet on myself and do my own thing. If you want to be a solopreneur, here’s a book for you.

Stone Payton: [00:08:43] And you built an online course to complement the book. I’m operating under the impression that that the two tools, the resources work together if you do it properly. Yes. Talk about that a little bit.

Dennis Geelen: [00:08:55] Yeah. So the book, as I mentioned, is a non fiction parable, so it follows the story of a guy that leaves the corporate world and starts his own business. But I didn’t want it to read like a textbook. Yes, the strategies and there’s tactics in there. But if you really want to dive deeper into this and how you might be able to do this yourself, that’s where I decided an online course would be a much better medium for that. So that’s where I take them through a bunch of resources. I give them a workbook to work through. How do you find your niche? How do you package your services? How do you build an audience? What does that look like for you? And I really walk them through that in a bunch of videos.

Stone Payton: [00:09:31] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a guy like you, a practice like yours? Do you find yourself needing to go out there with some discipline and some rigor and some structure to sort of, I don’t know, shake the trees or. Yeah, how does how do you get the new business, man?

Dennis Geelen: [00:09:49] Yeah. The biggest thing that’s been successful for me is leveraging LinkedIn. I mean, social media, just about everybody has it. But LinkedIn is the one that is specific for business. So I decided that’s the one I’m going to double down on. I had to really learn what works on LinkedIn, how do I give away value so people see me as a credible expert? How do I show up consistently? How do I write so that people find my posts engaging and valuable and interesting? So I’ve really taken the time to learn that platform and grow my audience there. And that’s been probably the biggest marketing strategy that I’ve doubled down on since I started Xero IN.

Stone Payton: [00:10:34] So have you had the benefit of one or more mentors as this effort has unfolded for you?

Dennis Geelen: [00:10:42] Yeah, several. Once I humbled myself and realized I don’t know everything, I need help. I started looking at, well, who are some successful people out there? So every time I’m doing something, I make a concerted effort to reach out to some people who’ve been there and done that. People who have grown an audience on LinkedIn, I reach out to them and I and I befriend them and I give value and I and I try and learn as much from them. When I’m writing my books, I reach out to bestselling authors, and you’d be surprised how many authors, well known authors are okay with having a Zoom call and just dropping some knowledge on you. When I’m creating my online courses, I reach out to people that have done it. And you know, I always want to put my own spin on it. I enjoy learning, but I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I want to learn the best practices from people who’ve been there. So tons of mentors I’ve been able to leverage over the years.

Stone Payton: [00:11:42] I mentioned earlier your energy, your obvious passion for for the work. And in the same breath, I mean, I this is not my first rodeo. I know sometimes you got to run out of gas, man. You got to recharge. Where do you go? And I don’t necessarily mean a physical place. Where are you going to to get inspiration to sort of recharge those batteries?

Dennis Geelen: [00:12:06] I love to read, so I’m always reading at least 2 to 3 books at a time. Oh, my. I love fiction. I love to read a good John Grisham book, but I’m also wanting to read things that are challenging me. So I’ll read different fiction books. Some of them are business related, and then some of them may be completely unrelated to business. Maybe it’s a historical book, or maybe it’s an autobiography, but it just allows my mind to get away from my own business for a while. But it also injects new ideas, new perspectives, and I find that very refreshing.

Stone Payton: [00:12:47] So what’s next for you, man? Where are you going to be really spending the bulk of your your energy over the next, I don’t know, six to to 12 months in anything really different or new?

Dennis Geelen: [00:13:00] Well, since I released the Accidental Solopreneur, it’s really taken off. I’m getting all kinds of people from around the world messaging me, saying, Wow, I felt like that was my story. This chapter really stood out to me. This felt like you were speaking about my life. And then when they take the online course, it’s, Wow, I can do this, too. So I’ve also started offering coaching calls where if they want to go even further and they just want to spend an hour with me and we dissect their business idea or where they’re stuck, that’s really been taking off. I wasn’t sure that it would. I knew that there was a bit of a market here because people were always asking to pick my brain once they saw zero in taking off. But now I’m just kind of writing this out, saying, Wow, how far can this go? Will helping other Solopreneur actually take over more of my time than my business consulting? And if it does, I’m fine with that. I just love helping people. So just just really watching to see where this solopreneur coaching side of things goes for me over the next year.

Stone Payton: [00:14:04] I’d love to leave our listeners with a couple of actionable, I’ll call them Pro Tips, a couple of things that they ought to be thinking about reading. And look, gang, the number one tip reach out and talk with Dennis. That’s your number one to to tap into the online course, get your hands on the book. But maybe a couple of things that we should be thinking about reading doing not not doing.

Dennis Geelen: [00:14:27] Yeah, a couple of resources that have been very influential on me. If you want to go down the road of starting your own consulting business like I did with Zero in There’s a great book by Patrick Linson called Getting Naked, and it’s told in the form of a parable, but it’s about this small consulting company that just gives, gives, gives. They give free advice, they give free value away. And that’s what attracts customers to them, clients to them. And I really started adopting that philosophy. And it works. I mean, if somebody wants to book a call with me before we even decide it’s going to be a paid engagement, I just start giving away advice immediately. They start seeing me as a credible expert and that’s been huge. So getting naked by Patrick luncheon is great. There’s somebody I follow on LinkedIn, Twitter and subscribe to their newsletter. Her name is Caitlin Bhagwan. She is the CEO of a company called Customer Camp and she has a newsletter called Why We Buy. She is all about customer psychology. Why do customers choose certain things? Why? Why do they have these behaviors? What what makes them want to purchase certain things or decide on this product versus that product? And the insights that she gives is just invaluable. And every newsletter I get from her, I’m like, Man, I need to inject that back into my business. So why we buy has been a huge resource for me. And then on the solopreneur side of things, Justin Welch and his newsletter, The Saturday Solopreneur, has been very influential in my journey as well.

Stone Payton: [00:16:12] I am so glad that I asked.

Dennis Geelen: [00:16:15] There you go.

Stone Payton: [00:16:17] Okay. Let’s make sure that our listeners can reach out, have a conversation with you or whomever is appropriate. I want to make sure they can get their hands on this book and have easy access to this online course. So whatever you feel like is appropriate LinkedIn, you know, website. I just want to make sure they can tap into your work, man.

Dennis Geelen: [00:16:37] Probably the best place for them to go then would just be my my personal website. Guillen got me there. There’s links to the book. There’s links to the online course, there’s links to coaching calls, There’s links to zero in where they can see what I’m doing there. Or the other place people can connect with me directly is on LinkedIn. I love engaging with people there and just getting to know their story and helping them any way that I can.

Stone Payton: [00:17:04] Well, Dennis, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this morning. Thank you for investing the time and the energy to share your perspective and your expertise. This is been an informative, inspiring, marvelous way to to invest a monday morning. Man. Thank you.

Dennis Geelen: [00:17:23] Yeah. Thanks so much for having me on.

Stone Payton: [00:17:25] All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, consultant, author and founder of Zero End, Mr. Dennis Guillen, and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.