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Justin Cotta Holmes with Maine Business Advisors

November 21, 2022 by angishields

Buy a Business Near Me

Justin Cotta Holmes with Maine Business Advisors

00:00 /

As the owner of Maine Business Advisors, Justin Cotta Holmes and his team offers a full service business consulting and brokerage firm.

They assist business owners in growing and expanding their operations, selling their business, preparing for retirement and planning for their future.

They specialize in helping owners of small and mid-size operations.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Buy a Business Near Me, brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador program, helping business brokers sell more local businesses. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Buy a Business Near Me Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with main business advisors, Mr. Justin Cotta Holmes. Good afternoon, sir.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Good afternoon, Stone. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate.

Stone Payton: It. Yeah, we are delighted to have you on the program. I’ve got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think a good place to start might be if you could share with our listeners and with me Mission Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah. Yeah. You know, so I was a financial advisor and I just had a lot of clients who were selling businesses and we’re trying to figure out the best way to do that. Kind of stumbled into this. We’re actually a franchise of Transworld Business Advisors, the global business brokerage. And so what we do up here in Maine is, you know, we help business owners, you know, value their businesses, market those businesses typically, you know, in a confidential manner and then negotiate the sale of those businesses. You know, Maine’s a very small and rural state. We are a small business state. We have no major corporations that you would find on the on the Forbes 500 list here that are headquartered in Maine. So, you know, we’re just a mom and pop state. And, you know, we get a lot of older business owners that are looking to transition out in both in the near future and the next 5 to 10 years.

Stone Payton: So was there anything in particular that compelled you to go with an established franchise system like Transworld as opposed to something smaller or just kind of your your own thing?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Well, I’m a big fan of of not, you know, trying to, you know, create something from scratch when there’s a model that already worked. I mean, I talked to other business broker franchises out there and, and they all seem to have aspects that I really appreciated. But Transco really had the full package in terms of the marketing system, the reach to the buyers, the 40 year track record, you know, that huge global presence and the people that I met there early on when my wife and I were doing our due diligence were just really great people, you know, with a ton of experience, and we felt very comfortable moving forward with them.

Stone Payton: Well, and I got to believe that when you are initially speaking with someone on the buying or selling side, that while you may not have personally been engaged in that type of deal, I got to believe somebody on the Transworld team has and you have some precedent, you can you can probably almost go to the the Transworld Library of Congress or whatever you call it, right?

Justin Cotta Holmes: You know, 100%. I mean, you know, like if I opened up a coffee shop and I bought a Dunkin Donuts franchise, you know, I’m not worried that I don’t know how to make the coffee and my customers aren’t worried that I don’t know how to make it either, you know, because you got a system there that you plug into and and, you know, you kind of hit the ground running from day one. You got a great support team behind you that can help you in every aspect of the deal.

Stone Payton: So was it a little bit scary, though, going out and doing this? You said you and your wife are doing due diligence. Was a was it a little a little bit frightening to to get out there and do this thing?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah. Yeah. I think it was you know, it was a bit of a pivot for me with my career path. I think I was kind of bored, you know, as a financial advisor and looking to do something different. My wife has a very successful career, as is a national recruiter in the insurance and employee benefits side. But the investment piece of it for us was a big one. And we’ve got three kids and, you know, one one in college at the time and two headed there shortly. And then we closed on our franchise, Stone March 1st of 2020. So when the world stopped turning two weeks later, we thought we had made a colossal mistake.

Stone Payton: Oh, man. Yeah, but you weathered it. You made it. You Not only did you weather, I get the sense that you that you prospered through that process.

Justin Cotta Holmes: You know, we really did, man. And the reason why is because, you know, I think this is sort of a recession proof industry, like the march of time is what it is, irrespective of global pandemics or economic recessions or workforce shortages or what whatever, you know, whatever seems to be happening, that might be an impediment to economic activity as a whole. You know, the reality is, is that business owners are going to reach that day where they no longer want to or are able to run their operation. And they they want to enjoy a well-earned retirement. And so, you know, that that time is going to come, whether things are good or bad. And that’s what we experienced during the pandemic. It just took off kind of by itself and kind of surprising, really, you know.

Stone Payton: So. So what are you enjoying the most about the work? What are you finding the most rewarding now that you’ve been at it a while?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Well, I think. First of all, everybody has a different story, right? And so the stories are all compelling. And you get to know these people that have put their just their blood, toil, sweat and tears into building an operation. And and I find that fascinating. We have an exceptional team Stone our brokers. Know I’m a native to Maine, as is my wife. None of our brokers are, but they are great ambassadors for the state. And they do exceptional work with our clients and with our prospective buyers. So, I mean, I love my team and and I and I really have had only positive experience with our clients. I feel like I don’t deserve to enjoy my job as much as I do.

Stone Payton: And you’re working correct me if this is not accurate, but you have clients on both sides of this buy sell equation. Is that accurate?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah. I mean, we typically represent the sellers in the transaction. I mean, the buyers come through the marketing efforts that we do on our own and through Transworld assistants. But, you know, we’re paid by the by the seller. And so our focus is really to negotiate the best and fairest price for them and make sure that they’re they’re getting what they deserve out of the deal. And we obviously strive to make sure that the buyers are are comfortable as well. We do a lot of work connecting them with lenders, sometimes with attorneys. Cpas, you know, in Maine is seeing an influx of people into the state that we honestly haven’t seen snow in and probably over a century. And so a lot of these folks need to know, you know, what town should they live in, what school should their kids go to? You know, where’s a good place to grab a bite to eat, you know, And so we sort of play the role of ambassador, you know, for our state. And, you know, I mean, along with the business brokering thing, I mean, a big part of our mission here is really just Maine’s been a really well kept secret for a long time. And and we have a beautiful country. We have a beautiful world. But I would put Maine’s quality in place and quality of life up against any place in the world. And so, you know, we’re championing not only the idea of owning a business in Maine, but actually experiencing our incredible natural beauty, wonderful people, fantastic environment. You know, I think we have a lot for for people of all walks of life to really like when you come to live in Maine.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds to me like you could be in the economic development office as well. You certainly.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Well, I was actually there about ten years ago, actually. So I worked in economic development for the state for about six or seven years at the local and federal level before I transitioned into the private sector. So you nailed it, man. That’s that’s you know, that’s what I did before this.

Stone Payton: So the sales and marketing thing, I think we found yet another benefit of being associated with an organization like Transworld. And how does the whole sales and marketing thing work on a day to day basis for a guy like you, a practice like yours, or I guess you’re out there cultivating relationships and you probably really know that that local business community, don’t you?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah, we do. I mean, we partner with a, with a firm who does our business valuations. We don’t, we don’t do that work ourselves. We find there’s real value there. We work with a company that has a ton of experience and they work directly with brokers, including a number of Transworld offices. And then the process of of engaging with the seller, performing the valuation, putting their marketing package together, and then getting that live and getting it pushed out to websites like Biz Buy, sell and business broker, dot net. You know, transfer has made that process extremely easy for us. It’s kind of a plug and play thing. You put the information in and you send it live and they get it out for you. And then, you know, you kind of, you know, I don’t want to make it sound easy, but we typically see interest from buyers coming in, you know, as early as that same day, if not the next day. They’ve really done a really good job perfecting that process.

Stone Payton: All right. Let’s talk timeline here a little bit on either side of the equation. But I guess I was really kind of focusing on exiting. I’m an entrepreneur. I own 40% of a pretty successful media company. We don’t have exit on our mind at the moment. But but if we did have exit on our mind at the moment, we’re probably already too late, right? We we need to be talking before we’re ready to eggs. So talk a little bit about practical timeline when people should start, you know, having conversations with you.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah, well, JFK once said the time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining, right? So I think coming up with a plan ahead of time is the right strategy. There are a lot of of of of aspects to to selling a business beyond just getting that check at the closing table. You know, there’s a lot of variables and we don’t we don’t profess to be experts in it. You talk about capital gains while you want to be speaking to a CPA. You want to talk about structuring some sort of owner financing. You really want to get an attorney involved, Right? But there are so many different ways to structure a deal. And so, you know, separate and aside from just determining the value in the business and selling it. A business owner has the opportunity to finance their retirement. You know, if they want to do some sort of owner financing aspect and get interest on that payment for a few years, that helps to augment Social Security payments or any kind of 401 K or IRA that you may have set aside. And then also just structuring deals in a certain way so you can minimize or mitigate the tax impact. Those are all things where we really encourage our clients to, very early on in the process, work with a qualified attorney, a CPA and a financial advisor and get all of their ducks in a row because the last thing you want to do is sell your business and then six months be writing a six figure check to the IRS. I mean, nobody wants to do that, right?

Stone Payton: Right. Well, and I can envision you as kind of a quarterback, like you’re the guy who knows the guy, Right. At least can tell me, you know, these are the folks that you need to talk to. And maybe here are even some that we’ve had some really great experience with working with and through. Do you find yourself playing that role of quarterback?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Oh, 100%. I mean, you’ve got to be the quarterback and you’ve got to be the head coach. You’ve got to be the cheerleader. You’ve got to wear all those hats. You have to have a positive mindset. You’ve got to find a way forward. You can’t let personalities and emotions get in the way of things. We’re really fortunate that we have a great network of of attorneys, advisors and CPAs that we work with. We never recommend one. We we put them on a list and we say, here are some folks. We to your point, we’ve worked had good success with these folks. And you know, we’d love to get your feedback after you’re done working with one of them. If you end up choosing them and let us know if we should recommend them again. And you know, we’ve got some really great people up here that really know what they’re doing and our clients benefit from that expertise and knowledge.

Stone Payton: Well, and I suspect that you find yourself educating sellers, because while I may have been doing this for 18 years, I haven’t been selling my business for 18 years. So there’s just so much I mean, we don’t know what we don’t know. Those of us as entrepreneurs who have who have built something and are getting ready, I bet you find yourself and maybe myths is a misconception, maybe as a is a better word. But it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that there are some myths or misconceptions about how this whole thing works, that you kind of have to help them work through and really help them understand the process.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Oh, yeah. You know, absolutely. And, you know, I think with very few exceptions, there are some real common concerns that a business owner has going into this. And first and foremost would really be confidentiality, you know, And eventually your employees are going to find out you’re selling a business, right, when you’re introducing the new owner. But there’s there’s a real there’s a real science to doing that in a way that’s not going to get people to leave right now, especially when every business is struggling to keep people. And then over and above that, you know, customers don’t like change and competition loves to exploit those opportunities when there is a transition. So, you know, we really put a big emphasis on the confidentiality aspect of the process. Transworld is really helpful with us as well, but we we do a really good job, I think, of vetting prospective buyers, non-disclosure agreements, buyer profiles, verification of funds, you know, that seems to put business owners minds at risk because a lot of them come in thinking like, Well, the cat’s going to get out of the bag from day one. Everyone’s going to quit. No one’s going to come buy my stuff and my competition is going to take over. How am I going to sell my business? And it just doesn’t really have to be that way. When you’ve got somebody who’s, you know, who has got your best interests at heart, you know, and I like to think that we do so well.

Stone Payton: It certainly sounds like from from your tenor in the way that you’re describing things, that you do have your client’s best interest at heart. And one of the things that I’m beginning to learn from from hosting this series, this is so much more of a relationship oriented business. I recognize there’s there’s obviously this transactional aspect to this work, but man, your business is deeply rooted in building and sustaining relationships, isn’t it?

Justin Cotta Holmes: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, and again, I kind of go back to maybe being such a small state, and we all know each other. I mean, some of the attorneys that have done our closings or classmates of my wife, you know, some of the people that are selling a business are, you know, distant relatives of mine. I mean, you know, you know, everybody knows everybody up here and there. And that’s both good and bad, but. But you do. You do really have to. You have to have the right personality and the right mindset. And again, I just have to mention our team of brokers all follow a similar philosophy and they just do an exceptional job of communication. That’s the other thing I’d say, Stone, is that once your you’re listing is live, it’s almost like you’ve got a secret and you’re expecting everyone to find out. So when you don’t get any communication back from your broker as a business owner and you’re trying to sell, you start getting nervous. So our brokers do a really good job of communicating back to our business owners and saying, Hey, here’s what’s going on this month, here’s who we’re talking to, here’s who we’re vetting, here’s what’s happening. We’re working on this. You got any questions? Reach out to us. You know, people need to be reassured. I mean, we’ve even had instances when people have started this process and they haven’t even told their spouses that they’re selling, you know, So these people need a lot of hand-holding. Yeah, they need a lot of hand-holding. They need a lot of assurance. I mean, they put their life’s work into building this business, and the last thing you want to do is blow it by by letting word get out, because you’re not taking the time to to dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s, you know?

Stone Payton: All right, before we wrap, I would love to leave our listeners really on both sides of the equation if we could, buyers and sellers alike, with just a couple of pro tips, things to be thinking about, reading, doing, not doing. Number one Pro tip gang. If you’re listening out there is reach out and have a conversation with Justin or somebody on his team. But just if we’re beginning to think about about this kind of thing. Yeah, maybe a couple of actionable pro tips.

Justin Cotta Holmes: I think I think from the owners perspective, you can know the current owners perspective. You can never start too early. And if you’re talking to a business broker and they’re focused on getting you listed and getting you to market before you even know what your company is worth, you know, hang up the phone and go talk to somebody else because this process is meant to be deliberative. It’s meant to be slow for a reason, because, you know, it is probably the biggest financial transaction that a business owner will perform in their life more more than selling a home or certainly selling a car. And so, you know, make sure that you don’t feel like you’re being rushed. Take your time. And if your valuation doesn’t come back where you want it to be, then make sure that your broker either either in their firm like we do or other they have partners that can guide you in terms of increasing your valuation. Don’t allow yourself to be rushed through the process. You get one bite at the apple and you and you can’t you can’t redo it. That’s what I would say on the seller side, on the buyer side.

Justin Cotta Holmes: It’s really a matter of supply and demand. Keep in mind the demographic shift in this country. We have baby boomers who are going to be retiring by the thousands over the next 10 to 15 years, and a lot of them are small business owners. It is a buyer’s market right now to a degree. And so make sure you’re buying a business that you’re comfortable running, that you feel good about running, that you have some sort of relevant or transferrable experience, and that there’s a team of employees in place that can guide you. And when you buy a business, don’t change anything, don’t change the name, don’t change the service offerings, don’t paint the building. You know, don’t do anything. People like consistency, you know, And so if you do buy a business, the best compliment you can get is when six months go by and somebody says, Oh, I didn’t even know that you bought this place. I thought it was still the other people. You know, that means you’re doing something right because you change too much and they just won’t come back.

Stone Payton: What Fantastic. Counsel, I am so glad I asked.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Well, thanks, man. Off the top of my head. So there’s probably a few holes in that, but we’ll go with it.

Stone Payton: Yeah. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to learn more? Connect with you. Have a conversation with you or somebody on your team.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Yeah. You know, you can go to Main Business Advisors. That is our website. It has all of the information about who we are, what we do. And, you know, that’s a great place to start. Everything is automated. I see every email and inquiry that comes in. So chances are, if you’re interested in selling a business or in buying a business, you’re going to start by by talking to me and you know, and if you’re interested at all in owning a business in Maine, you know, do a Google search. I mean, I couldn’t be more proud of where I’m from. Stone I really can’t. Maine is just a beautiful, wonderful place to live, work and play, regardless of how old you are. And, you know, I know we might seem like the last stop on the bus line up here in the corner. A lot of people think we’re part of Canada, but we’re not. But come visit us, maybe not in January or February if you don’t like snow, but come see how wonderful our state is. And I think you’re going to fall in love with it just like we have.

Stone Payton: What a pleasure, Justin, to have you on the program this afternoon. Thanks for investing the time and energy to visit with us and share your insight and perspective. This has been informative, inspiring and I don’t know, man, just a fantastic way to to invest a Wednesday afternoon.

Justin Cotta Holmes: Now, man. Well, the pleasure was all mine. Stone, I can’t thank you enough for having me on there, and I appreciate your audience taking the time to listen to this. And and best of luck to all of you out there.

Stone Payton: My pleasure as well. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Justin Carter Holmes with main business advisors and everyone here at the Business Radio X family saying we’ll see you next time on Buy a Business near me.

Chris Johnson With Nation’s Finest

November 19, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

Association Leadership Radio

Chris Johnson With Nation's Finest

00:00 /

Chris Johnson is the President/CEO of Nation’s Finest, a 50-year-old non-profit providing housing, health, and other critically needed support, to over 7,000 veterans and their families annually in California, Nevada, and Arizona.

For the last 30-plus years, prior to joining Nation’s Finest, Chris served in leadership positions for a variety of other non-profits including Evergreen Treatment Services, Mending Kids, and the National Kidney Foundation, and was promoted to a variety of local, regional, and national positions during his 12 plus years with the American Red Cross.

Chris’s career has afforded him a diverse variety of opportunities with three key skill strengths in common: communications, resource development and team building. He has been blessed to have had the fortune to actively participate in humanitarian and community support initiatives at the same time. He has served on no less than 20 different boards of directors and has been an active volunteer since the age of fifteen.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn and follow Nation’s Finest on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

50th Anniversary
Recognition of those who support veterans competition “Nation’s Finest 50”

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: We’re broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Chris Johnson with Nation’s Finest. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Johnson: Glad to be here. Thanks for the invitation.

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

Chris Johnson: Well, nation’s finest is a 50 year young organization this year, and it was founded by some Vietnam veterans that felt that the Vietnam era veterans were not being treated the way they needed to be and stepped up and stepped forward to make sure that that change occurred. So for the last 50 years, we’ve been doing whatever is needed to ensure that veterans have a place to live, get the health support they need, and can manage the the challenges that sometimes come up in seeking VA support and help, just the knowledge of how much is available and where to go and how to get it. So right now our focus has been on veteran homelessness as a priority, but we also were looking into all of those other issues just describe because we want to make sure that those who have served and have earned the support are getting it now.

Lee Kantor: Can you educate our listeners a little bit about what that transition looks like when somebody leaves the military? What is there for them to help them transition?

Chris Johnson: And that’s actually evolved positively a lot over the last few years. They’re now getting actually a person to connect with as they transition, but that disappears shortly after their departure from the military. And as you can imagine, the military has a very structured style of operation. You get in there and you get trained in how the military doesn’t matter which branch does business. And then there’s an expectation that once you leave the military, whether through retirement or you’ve served your term, etc., that you now go back to what we call normal living and there’s an expectation you’re going to evolve back quickly and easily. And that isn’t all the case, always the case. You sometimes, as you can imagine, those that have served overseas and and especially during times of conflict, you’re seeing things, you’re hearing things you’re dealing with, things that could create some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome or or trauma. And you’re now out in the world having to find a job, having to do things. And all of that hitting you at the same time sometimes creates a challenge. And we’re here to help manage and maneuver you through that challenge so you can get back to heading toward being the best you you can be.

Lee Kantor: Now when you’re working with a group that is so well trained and so mission focused, is it difficult to get them to ask for help or to identify those who are of need?

Chris Johnson: That’s a very perceptive question because, yes, one of the biggest challenges is they’ve been trained and are very proud of the fact that they can do a lot of things on their own and they don’t need help. And they’re very proud of who they are and what they’ve done. And as individuals, asking for help sometimes seems like it diminishes their importance, etc.. So our job is to go meet them where they are, build levels of trust, get them whatever support they need, so that then when they feel comfortable and trust us that we’re there for them, they come out of that shell as so use for a term and look forward to finding their way and their path back home.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that you’ve been doing this kind of work for 50 years now. Can you talk about how or what you’re doing to celebrate that 50th anniversary?

Chris Johnson: Well, what we’re doing is we decided we would take the 50th year because we realized we’re not alone in the world. There are tens of thousands of organizations out there and individuals out there supporting and doing their best to make sure that those who serve get the support they need. So we decided we’re going to create a we’ll call it a competition, but it’s more of a recognition. And we’re going to identify through nomination process 50 individuals that they’re not seeking recognition but deserve to be celebrated for the amount of success they’ve had stepping forward on behalf of others. So we’re calling it the nation’s finest 50. And we’re hoping people will nominate individuals that have helped them, individuals that started companies that are helping and making sure that veterans find their way home. That’s our best way of reminding everybody that there are people out here that are committing their lives and their finances in a lot of cases to making sure that those who have served are getting the support they need.

Lee Kantor: And this is kind of goes along with your mission to help support these veterans where they are and whether it’s through you specifically or just other organizations that want to help the veterans, you want to make sure that those folks are recognized and they’re part of the community that’s trying to help.

Chris Johnson: Absolutely. Couldn’t have said it better myself. We’re trying to make sure that the world at large understands that there are a lot of people out there doing amazing things to support these groups and hopefully encourage others to do the same.

Lee Kantor: And your work primarily takes place in the West.

Chris Johnson: But currently our footprint is predominantly in the Western United States. But we do help people all across the country in all 50 states. But our physical presence right now is in the western United States. We are getting asked to come support other states as far away as Florida and DC and Hawaii. And we’re wanting to walk to make sure we continue the excellence we’ve had for 50 years as opposed to run to support those. But we do a lot of long distance phone calls to help veterans in need and families of veterans who are trying their best to support their family members as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s your back story? Have you always been involved in association work?

Chris Johnson: I’ve been involved with non-profits for my entire adult life. My father served in the Air Force for 33 and a half years, went through the Korean and the World War two conflicts in the very beginning of the Vietnam conflict. And so I have had a passion and been supportive of veterans my entire life. I was number 32 back in the day when they had the draft, the year they abolished the draft. And so I’ve had some friends that didn’t come back from the Vietnam War. And so I’ve been committed to supporting veterans my entire life and have been very honored and blessed to be given this opportunity to lead. Nation’s finest. My predecessor, Peter Cameron, who founded this 47 year, he founded it 50 years ago. He was the CEO for 47 and one half years. That shows you the commitment that he had to supporting. And I’m honored to try to continue his legacy.

Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for other association leaders out there that are taking over from a founder? Is it a different type of challenge when you’re dealing with that type of a transition from somebody whose vision is kind of imprinted in the DNA and culture of the organization to now you being the fresh blood in the in the group?

Chris Johnson: Well, that’s an hour conversation there. But the but it’s a very, very observant. You have a challenge because you’ve got a company culture and a style and a way of doing business all the way up and through your board of directors. If you’re a nonprofit or a corporation that’s been in place for a long time and no two people do everything alike. So the tough challenge and I’ve been fortunate in my career to have done this a couple of times, your your challenge is just making sure you embrace the legacy and the work and all the great things that have been accomplished by the individual before you celebrate the way that that individual did business in the areas that work and look for areas that need to be tweaked a little bit or wholesale changes that need to happen so that you can evolve because the world changes. And the one advantage and bring in somebody in after somebody has served that long is you do get a different look and a different perspective on it. But be prepared. If you’re going to go through this as a leader, you’re going to encounter cultural company, cultural dynamics. You’re going to have people that are outstanding in what they’re doing, but could be even better in another position in the organization. And you’re going to find voids and challenges that need to be fixed.

Lee Kantor: Now, Do you have any advice for young people who are maybe at the beginning of their career about the importance of joining associations and nonprofits and leaning into volunteer and leadership roles?

Chris Johnson: Sure. I think it serves two very important purposes. One is you do get to see how the business dynamics work in a nonprofit world, which, even though they’re a business and sometimes focus more on mission than on the business side of things, it does show you a different way of doing business. That can be it allows you to have the freedom to get involved in something that you’re passionate about and support something you’re passionate about without having to necessarily be the day to day person doing that activity. And what I mean by that is serving on a board, serving as an advisory person for a nonprofit. And what I find a lot of folks in my 35 plus years of doing this, a lot of folks use it so that I’ll use accounting as an example. They spend their entire day and their career starting out in accounting, and they would love to do something other than accounting and getting involved in some. An area that you’re passionate about allows you to maybe learn about marketing, get involved in fund development, get involved in business operations, and learn a little bit more about that. I will pretty much guarantee you, though, you’re going to enjoy the challenge and you’re going to feel good about what you’re doing. It’s just hard not to feel good when you realize and get the opportunity to meet those people you serve and just see in their eyes how much of a difference you’ve made in their day and hopefully their life.

Lee Kantor: And these organizations are hungry for volunteers and people that want to be involved. There’s you’re I’m sure, not saying no to a lot of volunteers.

Chris Johnson: So, in fact, just like you’re hearing now, the the business world is struggling to find staff, volunteers and organizations such as ours are no exception. The world has changed. We do a lot more things remote now and getting active volunteers to physically be present has been tough and we’ve had to evolve. So we’re even using volunteers to help us with remote activity, meaning you can be in any state or any any area of the country and still help an organization. Please reach out to them because I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised in how anxious they’ll be to utilize your talents.

Lee Kantor: And there’s probably a group out there that is doing work that you’re passionate about. You just don’t know about them yet.

Chris Johnson: You’ll be amazed if you type in to to the search engines. An interest you have, you’re going to see hundreds of non profits pop up. And I would, if it’s okay to mention a couple of places to go, or GuideStar and Charity Navigator and you can type in what it is you’re interested in, You’ll see where the charities are from. You’ll even be able to see whether or not they’ve had challenges or successes. And that’s not a bad way to go to kind of narrow the list of available charities to serve for.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to connect, connect with you, what is the website? What’s the best way to get ahold of you or somebody on your team?

Chris Johnson: Well, if you want to nominate somebody for the award or you want to just reach out to any of us, go to nation’s finest dot org all one word nations, finest dot org. And there’s access to all of us there, the nomination form. And if you want to reach out to me, you can just click a button and reach out to me.

Lee Kantor: And then that list of the nation’s finest 50 is that only for the folks in the areas you serve? Or that can be anywhere.

Chris Johnson: That’s anywhere. In fact, if you went to the site now, you’ll see some fairly prominent folks that you’ve seen involved in supporting the military and in particular veterans. And you’re going to learn a lot of stories already from I think we just started accepting nominations on the 11th, and there’s always already been quite a few that have come in. But yes, any time in the last 50 years. So if somebody was a tremendous help and they have since passed, please nominate them. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to recognize all of the nominees, but we’re going to give a special award to the 50 that are chosen by the blue ribbon panel. And if you look at that blue ribbon panel, it’s some pretty impressive people on that list. But you’ll also find access to some of the service. If you’re a veteran in need, reach out to us. And if we can direct you to a support in a state or a city close to you, we’re happy to do that. If we can provide support, we’re happy to do that as well.

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

Chris Johnson: Thank you for allowing me to share it. That’s what we’re all about. Get the word out and let’s help those who need it.

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

Susan Marchese With American Industrial Hygiene Association

November 19, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

Association Leadership Radio

Susan Marchese With American Industrial Hygiene Association

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Susan “Sue” Marchese, CAE, MS, is AIHA’s Managing Director, Strategy and External Affairs. AIHA is the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving occupational and environmental health and safety in the workplace and community.

During her tenure, Sue has helped rebrand AIHA, rolled out numerous public awareness campaigns, and increased membership from new audiences. Sue holds a Master of Science, Organizational Development degree from New School University. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE).

Connect with Susan on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

Latest in MarTech in associations
Modern P.R. approaches in the association space
AIHA during the pandemic

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Sue Marchese with American Industrial Hygiene Association. Welcome, Sue.

Sue Marchese: Hi, Lee, great to be here.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about the AIHA. How are you serving folks?

Sue Marchese: Absolutely. So air is actually an association that has been around for almost 100 years. Industrial hygiene has a little bit of a misnomer. And so the way we like to explain it is that H.R. is the association for scientists and professionals who are committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety or RFS in the workplace and the community. So some people have thought industrial hygiene means that that’s for people, for professionals who are cleaning buildings. But it’s really not. It’s about ensuring that there is reduction of risk mitigation of any kind of problems that could lead to further health issues. So they’re really scientists and really not people who are just cleaning buildings.

Lee Kantor: Now when when there is sometimes confusion when it comes to a brand like that, how has that evolved over time? Did it start out always being about scientists and just the name was kind of created confusion, or has it evolved over the years?

Sue Marchese: Yeah. So back in 1939 when it was founded, it was it was the Industrial Revolution, right? So there were just it made sense for the professionals who got into this space to be known as industrial hygienists, because it was typically in the manufacturing factory type of setting. But then it really expanded to military, laboratory, academia. It just really expanded outside of industry or industrial. So over the decades it sort of became this misnomer. And that’s why back in 2018, when the board of directors of our organization took a step back, they said, you know what, maybe it’s time we need to revisit this. So after market research with our own members and some outside allied professionals, we decided, you know, it’s time to really just be known as h h a for the legacy factor. But when we try to introduce our brand and the concept of this association and what our members do, we introduce it by explaining what occupational and environmental health and safety is. So we’ve had to kind of do what I call a brand evolution. We really didn’t rebrand arguably, but we just have begun to tell the story of not just what our members do, but the outcomes and how they can affect lives and communities. So it has been a bit challenging, but we did do this brand evolution back in 2018 through 2020. We launched and it was three pronged approach. So it was change the logo, sure, but it was also about educating the general public. So through earned media, public awareness campaigns. And then the third and final is outreach to universities, trade schools, etc. to try and raise the awareness factor of what is this particular organization, what is this particular profession. And that was the hallmark of this brand evolution. Air used to just represent the membership strictly, but the evolution turned into an opportunity for us to brand the profession of these professionals.

Lee Kantor: Now, were the members kind of saying, Hey, great, finally, that creates clarity. Now people understand the importance of my work, or was it something that they were like, Did you have a struggle from a membership standpoint, or was this something they were hungry for?

Sue Marchese: So I think that the answer is yes, we have a little bit of both. And ultimately, when we started our market research studies, when we were doing interviews and a full survey to the membership and focus groups, we did it very deliberately to make sure we had the data behind the fact that the majority of members were all for it. And we’re full steam ahead on doing this brand evolution. So by all means, we definitely weren’t just doing this in a small, isolated room in our offices, and we made sure that we talked and communicated with the members in advance. And really they they really were the ones who made us go in that direction with the one caveat, and that is don’t get rid of our legacy. So there that’s where air still remains. And I guess we were kind of thinking, well, you know, Geico did it right or IBM did it. Nobody knows what those stand for acronyms anymore. And HHR is the opportunity for us to then explain. So that’s our brand is really just age, but then it is about who our members are. So, so that said, we we try to ask them, talk with them, communicate with them. And we did not do it. As I as I mentioned from 2018 to 2020 took us two years, not because we were dragging our feet, but we were trying to be deliberate. All that to say in 2020 when we launched, there were laudatory remarks from many, many members, even outside allied professionals, saying this really helps.

Sue Marchese: This definitely is going to help raise the awareness of the profession and the membership. And then, of course, we definitely heard from people who were super vocal and were not happy thinking that we were turning our back on the history of the organization. But, you know, they were really few and far between. I think that we actually counted about three people who were super vocal about it out of our 8500 members across the country and Canada. So, you know, we we had to be super cautious in how we approach this. And yet I do recognize the fact that people are going to want to hold on to their history and the hard work that they did in their careers. Why turn their back on it? But rather, we looked at it as an opportunity to enhance the future of the profession. So, yep, we had yes, we had a couple of naysayers and a couple of people who were not happy, but we also addressed them one on one and had opportunities to have open town hall meetings to get out concerns or whatever it may be, even after we launched. So I think that all in all, we had a very successful brand refresh and this brand evolution has really served us well as an organization. In fact, as organizations have been suffering over the last couple of years during and post pandemic and Chase membership acquisition has grown and our retention has been phenomenal.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, those are all clues that maybe you’re on the right path.

Sue Marchese: I think so.

Lee Kantor: Now, as a member of Air, what is kind of what are they looking to get out of the membership? How do you help them take the profession in their own career to a new level?

Sue Marchese: So there is a particular function of an industrial hygienist or an occupational and environmental health specialist. Those people are not just making sure people are wearing steel toed boots in a dangerous construction setting or they’re not making sure that there is no injuries on the job. Those are not the only things that they do. They’re actually taking scientific experiments and sending them to laboratories and digging deep almost as if they were kind of, I guess you can say, forensic scientists in the workplace and making sure that there were things that are not harmful. They were also they are also instrumental in making sure that PPE, which is suddenly become a household word. Where in the past it had not been. But with the pandemic, something that professionals have done for years to ensure that there’s proper PPE usage in the workplace. That’s one of their functions. And now that is that has become a household word. Unfortunately, I guess on one hand, because of the pandemic. So the the function of the of the professionals also leads to the fact that they need additional education. They need to keep up their relevance in the field. They also have an opportunity to go after a certification called the c i h certified industrial hygienist or ci h. Designation. Because of that designation, a lot of our members do turn to J to seek out very reputable education, webinars, courses, various opportunities at our annual conference, which happens in May every year.

Sue Marchese: So that is a predominant reason a lot of people usually say that they’re involved with. I j that’s predominant. But the number one when we do our needs survey or our member needs survey, the number one reason that they want to be involved with h.r. And the benefit that they feel they can take away is association with our reputation. Being involved with h.r. Has an opportunity for them, i guess for networking, but also for the the strengths of our of our role with these professionals and in companies. So this is where we always hear that it’s about i’m joining h.r. Because i need to i want to not just for the education, but because i have to for my to uphold my reputation as a professional. The other benefits, of course, there are numerous ones. I can’t even go on. I’ll waste everyone’s time telling you about them. But I can tell you the last. The third benefit that we always hear is our wonderful publications. We have the Synergies magazine, which comes out 11 times a year, and then we also have our journal for occupational and Environmental Hygiene. So those are just the top three reasons and benefits that members enjoy.

Lee Kantor: Now, are there chapters locally around the country for people who want to get involved, or is this a national conference that everybody goes to? Like how does an individual kind of plug in?

Sue Marchese: Yeah. H.r. Has local sections, although they are not directly part of national. They are our affiliates and they are their own standalone entities, their own 500 1c3 but we as an association, foster them, work with them, encourage them. In fact, we even have a staff presence person on staff who make sure that the local sections are provided with graphic design needs or things to keep them rolling at a very easy pace rather than them having to start things from scratch. So even though a national doesn’t necessarily manage all of the local sections, they are tied to us. We also have our annual conference, and our annual conference brings together a lot of our volunteer groups. Aj is one of the one of the most unique organizations and that our members cover so many different industries. You know, like I mentioned earlier, maybe back in the thirties it was just really manufacturing, but now it has hit every single industry you could imagine. So our committees are as numerically large as the industries that our members touch. So we have committees such as excuse me, Respiratory Protection Committee, biological hazards, committee incidents, response committee. So there are just there for first responders or for indoor air quality and things of. That nature. So because of that, our committees, I believe we are up to over 70 committees and working groups at. Super active volunteers. That’s an opportunity for them to all meet at our annual conference next year in 2023 is going to actually be in Phenix. And they we change locations every year. And this is an opportunity for the committees to get together, but also for the members to take advantage of concentrated amount of time to get their contact hours. So the conference usually is about 18 to 19 contact hours for three days. So our membership really does kind of span the entire country, as I mentioned earlier, but also a lot of people from Canada.

Lee Kantor: Now, getting back to that brand evolution that you were talking about, how are you seeing kind of public relations and this level of communications? How have you seen it evolved since, you know, in your career in working with associations?

Sue Marchese: I, I have a sort of like I like to consider that there is such a thing as modern public relations. You know, there there is the typical earned media of public relations where you you draft press release and you pitch it to different media outlets. That’s definitely still alive and well. And we do it, you know, my my team and I, we do that. But I the modern portion of PR or public relations that I have really espoused over the years in my entire career has been public awareness. And to me, that is done in so many different ways, whether it’s taking advantage of social media. But one thing that we do at age is we do in our public relations department that I run is targeted outreach. So, for example, we have this public awareness campaign that I mentioned earlier about getting the word out about the value of this. And when we launched that a couple of years ago during the pandemic, we were able to reach out to different. Large industry professional associations and connect with them. Connect our members with them.

Sue Marchese: Excuse me. So, for example, chemical manufacturing is specifically chemical as opposed to product manufacturing. Chemical manufacturing has a lot of hazards, a lot of potential impacts. And we know and our members believe that it is not just about checking the box and making sure that they are following OSHA standards. It’s definitely important. Of course it’s paramount, but there’s more to it. It’s about going that extra yard and making this a core value in a company. So that’s what we did. We had brand ambassadors from our membership, write blog articles and be interviewed and different things like that with various chemical manufacturing, professional associations or even trade American Chemistry Council, for example. I had done some coverage of the imperative for H in the workplace. So those are just a couple of quick examples of how I think it’s modern PR because even though we were not necessarily getting coverage in the Wall Street Journal or something of national impact like that, we were actually doing very, very targeted media outreach to those those key audiences that we know our members can impact.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that as the media consumer is becoming more and more fragmented, they’re looking for those niche publications and outlets to find the information that’s important to them. And to show up there is probably more efficient than to be in the Wall Street Journal that, you know, a lot of folks that it’s not as relevant to them or as impactful as it is to the way you’re doing it, that the folks that should hear it need to hear it, are going to hear it. If you work through the the media that these people are paying attention to every day.

Sue Marchese: Exactly. Yep. That’s the philosophy. That’s our strategy.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you seeing that as a trend or is that just kind of the evolution of media now that it’s so fragmented and that everything is kind of on demand when people are they’re trying to find the information when they need it in the places that they, you know, are used to looking rather than, you know, maybe 20 years ago when there were just kind of the go to media outlets that everybody paid attention to. It seems like everybody nowadays is on their own journey and that they have their own kind of media that they look at and that it’s hard to reach any large group of people with one message efficiently anymore.

Sue Marchese: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. It’s definitely a trend is definitely what I would call a modern PR professional. Should have that in in their quiver as a strategy. So it’s definitely a trend. And I like how you said it. You know, like everybody is really having the opportunity to choose their own news and their own outlets and things like that. And I think that that’s exactly what we as association, PR and communication professionals need to do, and that is to hone in on where we think. The right people are going to be reading and and then go where they live and go where they read and try to get in involved in their interests. And we at AIG are actually doing that through a bunch of other ways besides person power, where we pick up the phone or we contact associations and do some of the education like I was talking about earlier. But we’re also doing a lot of digital pure martech kind of, you know, types of efforts where we’re looking at geo targeting people, where for attracting them to become customers for our education, for our purchase of our books and other things like that. We are doing a lot of web advertising. In fact, just recently we took a we dipped our foot in the pool of hiring a digital audit to be accomplished because we wanted to make sure that we were actually doing things that were effective, that were actually going to be seen by the right people. So whether it’s for PR or for marketing, even, I make sure that we are trying to have some very targeted, very laser pointed types of efforts and campaigns, because after all, we are really tiny. Our organization is a total of 62 people. My team is a total of six, and yet we have some tremendous, tremendous energy and opportunities. But we also want to make sure that MarTech is working for us. The technology is smart and that our strategies are implemented properly.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you give some advice for the association leaders out there to in and around how to create that team that plays nice together? Because sometimes marketing, PR, advertising, there’s kind of a blurring of the lines of who does what and the impact that each are having. How do you kind of create a team that can work together well on that overarching mission?

Sue Marchese: Yeah, well, interesting story. When I got to Asia eight years ago, I was unfortunately met with that exact thing that you just described. There was a lot of kind of factions or, I don’t know, silos or whatever the thing may be, however you call it. I had to come in and see what I could do and try to see how we could all work together. The absolute first thing that I did was I sat down individually with each one of my team members and I talked with them about their personal brand. So I started one on one and helped them look inside themselves as to what how they wanted to be perceived as a professional. And I continue to work with each one of those people, whether they were here eight years ago or they’re new to our team a couple of months ago. I do the exact same exercise with everybody and I revisit it on a regular basis because that’s one way I can help coach my team into being the best professional that each one of them can be. So that is a mission of my own.

Sue Marchese: And as a whole, I have seen that work quite well. At our organization, we run our one. It’s really important for me to have a brand standard for our marketing communications and PR, and we as a department run the department with that brand standard first, first and foremost. And so if I had any advice to give to anybody, I would say look internally first and make sure that your team is where they want to be, because then as they are comfortable with themselves and they are more surefooted and know that they have someone who has their back, meaning that PR or that communications manager or director, they can then do their very best to work with others in in the department, in the entire association. So there’s a lot to be said about how you go about doing that and how much time you you spend doing that. But to me, it’s worth every minute of your of your time as a director or as a VP, because ultimately it really does come back and help.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, you have to listen. You have to allow people to be heard so you can all get on the same page of what we’re all trying to accomplish here.

Sue Marchese: Exactly. And and again, the brand standard, like I mentioned earlier, is something that we we try to revisit every couple of years because things may change. But ultimately, we’ve pretty much as a department, we have kept to our brand standard. And it’s it’s basically almost like running our internal Marcum and PR department, like an agency, you know, as if we were an internal agency for our different department teams, membership, professional communities, education, etc.. So yeah, that is definitely something. I think if Markham and PR could help become the hub of the wheel, that I think is very huge accomplishment for an association.

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

Sue Marchese: You have helped so far really phenomenally by allowing us to have this opportunity to to to speak on the radio show. What a tremendous way for us to get the word out about our profession and also for me to talk up my phenomenal colleagues who I work with and all of the phenomenal accomplishments, actually many award winning accomplishments as well. But one other thing that we can, if you all could do to help, and that is to get involved in A.S.A.P.. And I myself am a senior now, and it was something that took a long time. But I think that getting involved with CA with the association is something that’s important for association professionals, whether it’s just, I don’t know, you know, sitting on a committee or even just simply reviewing potential awards and being someone who gives back to the association. Because there’s so much, so much education, so much wonderful information that they provide for for those of us who are kids, who are certified association executives or even just in general for folks who are in the associate association space.

Lee Kantor: Well, so thank you so much for sharing your story today. If somebody wants to learn more about HHR or connect with you, what are the coordinates? What’s the best way to do that?

Sue Marchese: We have a website which is a IHH dot org. We also have 0ehs careers dot org. That’s for people who might be interested in getting involved in the particular profession. So please check it out. And they’re very consumer oriented and very useful tools for people.

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

Sue Marchese: Thank you, Lee. Have a great.

Lee Kantor: One. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on the Association Leadership Radio.

The Power of an Ordinary Life, with Harvey Hook

November 18, 2022 by John Ray

Inspiring Women PodCast with Betty Collins

The Power of an Ordinary Life, with Harvey Hook

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The Power of an Ordinary Life, with Harvey Hook (Inspiring Women, Episode 52)

Everyone, no matter how ordinary they might believe themselves to be, can leave a lasting impact on the world. That’s the message Harvey Hook, author of The Power of an Ordinary Life, offers in his book and in this interview with Inspiring Women host Betty Collins.

The host of Inspiring Women is Betty Collins and the show is presented by Brady Ware & Company.

Betty’s Show Notes

As he states on his LinkedIn profile…

I create opportunities for people and communities to thrive.

Harvey Hook is my guest on this episode. I interview VERY few men on my podcast, so when I do, you know he has something big to offer my listeners.

He talks about his book, The Power of an Ordinary Life…

I wanted to write a book for what I would call the everyday, average, ordinary person, of which I am one who wanted to learn or discover if they could live a life that would leave an impact on the world. And I wholeheartedly believe every individual, every impact, every person can have an impact on the world around them. I wanted to bring others onto a journey where they could discover the steps that they could take to affirm themselves and recognize that an everyday, average, ordinary life are truly individuals who can change the course of the universe. And I truly believe that.

What did you learn when you wrote this book?

I began to realize what I was writing down in the book was who I am. I have found my purpose. That drives me. It’s the thing that leads me through life. I begin my purpose from this vantage point. All people of value, all people have hope. There’s always hope at the end.

Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.

For more information, go to the Resources page at Brady Ware and Company.

Remember to follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. And forward our podcast along to other Inspiring Women in your life.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Betty Collins
I’m Betty Collins. And this is inspiring women. And today I’m doing something that’s a little bit different. I’m actually going to interview a man, but I guarantee you he will inspire you today. He’s got an amazing journey, and he and I have had some time together and I said, I really, really want you to be on my podcast. He’s just done some exceptional things and we’re going to talk about some of those things. But before we get started today, I have with me Harvey Hooke, and he has he’s a legend in Columbus, Ohio. As far as I’m concerned. He’s just done it. And he’s he’s just a great example. And he lives out who he is, which is what’s great about him. But, Harvey, I want you to just take a couple of minutes and tell us who you are and tell us a little bit about you.

[00:00:45] Harvey Hook
Well, thank you so much. I’m overjoyed to be able to be on the Inspiring Women podcast. So, Betty, thank you so much. So, Harvey Hook, I’m a the youngest of three boys born to a lumberjack and seamstress in Lincoln, Maine, northern Appalachia. I like to say that we were a hillbilly elegy, but without all the downside of that, we have, we had love, faith, family connectivity, and we stuck together through it all. Early on in my life, it was very important to me to know who I was and what I was supposed to do with my life. While my friends were searching for jobs and careers I was searching for what am I supposed to do with my life? Because this is how I was made and I wanted to live out my purpose. Background in Psychology, Master’s in Counseling, Denver Seminary and then piecing together 40 years of nonprofit work, serving incarcerated kids and inner city at risk youth in Denver and in Columbus, 26 years working with business, professional and government leaders. So when I was working with At Risk Kids, I was kind of a mentor, coach, counselor, guide, and I simply did the same thing with business, professional and government leaders. And so I’ve been in those roles over the years. I did some time serving children and families in the Dominican Republic with health care, housing, and the latest initiative is working with a friend to help serve homeless individuals here in central Ohio. Yes, married, two kids, both married and five delightful, delicious grandchildren.

[00:02:37] Betty Collins
There he goes. If you if you could see us, he he just lit up with a smile on that when we said that I had met you when you were in in that phase where you were really with the business community having integrity and ethics. And you always had an impression on me. And it was funny, when we had lunch a couple of months ago, you said, you know, we kind of know of each other. And so let’s just have let’s break bread together. We had a great time and.

[00:03:01] Harvey Hook
It was just the most natural thing to greet with a hug. Yeah, we just. It just was what we were supposed to do.

[00:03:07] Betty Collins
We did. We did so. But I but what has always I want to talk about today, something that you really achieve. And when people write books and they’re an author that the process is a big deal. Right. But you wrote a book, The Power of an Ordinary Life. And as we head into the end of 2022 and we head into the holidays and all those kinds of things, I want to say this book is powerful. It’s a good time to to be reflective. But your book, The Power of an Ordinary Life, I have the book and I haven’t read it thoroughly, but I keep saying it’s my next book, but it’s just the the title of it caught me from the beginning. So talk to us a little bit a bit about the book. You know, what’s the premise of the book premise?
00:03:56] Harvey Hook
I wish my next lifetime I’m going to be the guy that comes out with like the Nike logo statement saying just do it right in this lifetime. I can’t say anything that that quickly. What I wanted to do, I wanted to write a book for what I would call the everyday, average, ordinary person, of which I am one who wanted to learn or discover if they could live a life that would leave an impact on the world. And I wholeheartedly believe every individual, every impact, every person can have an impact on the world around them. I wanted to bring others onto a journey where they could discover the steps that they could take to affirm themselves and recognize that an everyday, average, ordinary life are truly individuals who can change the course of the universe. And I truly believe that.

[00:04:58] Betty Collins
And we’re in a time where we could. Really use some change in the course of our universe, right? For sure. Why did you write the book? What’s the why behind it? I mean, you kind of talked about that, but is there more to the why? Because that’s important to my why.

[00:05:13] Harvey Hook
There’s a practical reason why I was turning 50 and I needed to do something to leave my mark on humanity. So I was going to run a marathon until my orthopedic doctor said, Your left knee will not allow you to do that. And I was very disturbed. It really, really bothered me. I want to do something and I’m I journal I go through seasons of journaling every day or weeks and months at a time where I write my reflections down. And I was reviewing my journal and I discovered in my journal the game plan for the book. I wanted to help people come and know and understand what’s your what’s my destiny, what’s my purpose, what’s my mission? What are my gifts and abilities? What are my priorities? What’s my strategy for getting it done? How do I leave an impact on the world around me and what will my legacy be? And those were notes. I had journaled. I put the I, I wrote those down. I’m fairly well read.
And so I literally went to my library and sorted books into stacks that applied to each of those categories. And I looked at what others said about those things. And then I began. Then I wrote the outline to the book, and I started from there.

[00:06:38] Betty Collins
So how many years have you journaled and did you keep? Have you kept all.

[00:06:42] Harvey Hook
That journal for 40 years? And I’ve kept everything I’ve journaled. Oh, that’s why now there are, there are times in seasons where eight or nine years in a row there’s kind of nothing. Yeah. And then there are seasons where it is just flush with thoughts and poems and reflections and notes.

[00:06:59] Betty Collins
And so that was what started. Well, in the opening to your book, it’s there’s this unknown young woman named Ashley Smith. So who is she and why would her story matter to us?

[00:07:13] Harvey Hook
Oh, she really she really touched my life. I could have began the book with a story of someone that we all would know. It could have been Mother Teresa, right? We know that story. Ashley Smith, 26 year old young woman, single mother, her daughter had been taken from her because of repeated drug and alcohol abuse. 18 months prior to this event in her life, her husband had gotten into a fight, was stabbed and killed. This was a Friday night. Saturday morning, she is going to go visit her daughter, Paige, who’s living with a relative. Hours before this, there’s a man named Brian Nichols was on his way to court in Atlanta. He overpowered the female deputy, took her gun, took her handcuffs, her handcuffs, handcuffed. A deputy he met along the way, went to the courtroom, found the judge in the court. Reporter murdered. Both of them murdered. Another officer on the way somehow found his way into a federal police officials home, killed him, took his truck, made his escape. So Brian Nichols, subject to the largest manhunt in the history of the state of Georgia on the run. Ashley, it’s now 2:00 in the morning and ashley steps outside her apartment, smoke a cigarette. Brian Nichols shows up, gun into her ribs, pushes her into apartment. Ashley says to herself, My life is over. Long story short, he ties her up. He takes a shower. She’s in a chair in in the in the bathroom with him, towel over her head.

[00:09:05] Harvey Hook
He cleans up and he wants to talk. She began to talk about herself, her abuse lost her husband, lost her child drug abuse addiction. And he came to realize he was talking to somebody who was very much like himself. He untied her. She convinced him to take the truck. She would take her car. They went and hid the truck. And then they came back to her apartment. She began to read from the book Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. He began to ask questions. He agreed to let her go visit her daughter and gave her 40, $40. She made pancakes for him. And put real butter on the pancakes and. That transpired into her calling the police. And when the police arrived, Brian Nichols walked out the front door waving his t shirt in surrender and gave himself up to the police. And so she was he had offered her to take drugs with him. And she figured if she was going to die, she was not going to leave a legacy of drug abuse in her blood system. And she refused, no matter what it would what it would take. And so that’s why her life matters. She was just struggling to hold on. But in those hours, those 7 hours that took place between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the morning, everything came to fruition in her life. And Brian Nichols was given an opportunity for the beginning of a new life. That’s why her life matters.

[00:10:55] Betty Collins
Ordinary life. The power of an ordinary life. Yes, I’ve heard I’ve heard that. I’ve read the work worn book. It’s fabulous. And they’ve gone through all of that. So that’s why you started with her? Powerful. So if anything else, find out who she is, right? Yes. What did you learn when you wrote this book? What did you learn while you were doing this?

[00:11:22] Speaker2
I began to realize what I was writing down in the book was who I am. I. Going to fast forward from when I wrote this book ten years into the future and the greater clarity is come. I believe that people who know who they are, it’s your identity, why they are here, that’s your purpose, how you should live. Your character are best prepared to love, love, serve and lead themselves and others in healthy, high impact ways. And there’s a study out of London, in London, England, tied together with, I believe, State University of New York. That literally shows that people who know and understand their purpose in life are healthier, happier, and they live longer. There’s something that takes place all the way down to the cellular level that really transforms those people who know their purpose in life.
And if I fully believe that if I’m employed somewhere, my number one job is not sorry, Betty, serving the needs of my employer. It’s bringing my purpose to work with me each day. And then myself and my purpose together are then best combined to serve the needs of my employer and whatever clients and vendors are that we serve out there. Hmm.

[00:13:00] Betty Collins
That’s a lot to learn. That’s a book in itself, right? It is. It is. Well, in your mind because you’re very focused on purpose. What is purpose to you? Oh, man.

[00:13:13] Harvey Hook
Purpose is. Wow, you would think I should be the expert having the expert answer for this. Ask Rick.

[00:13:20] Betty Collins
Warren. Yeah.

[00:13:22] Harvey Hook
So it is that thing that. Drives me the thing that leads me through life. So I’m going to tell you what my purpose is while I search for a much better answer. Okay, well, purpose. It’s your reason for being right. My your reason for being. And then I’ll come back to my purpose. Thank you. Brain cells for kicking in.

[00:13:50] Betty Collins
Okay.

[00:13:51] Harvey Hook
Use your reason for being. Conversation. Three years ago, company CEO. We’re talking about my book. And he says, Harvey, you when I was 25 years old and this guy has done well, I was looking for a job in a career. I didn’t give one iota of thought to purpose. And it was it’s always been my wiring. It’s nothing. I don’t think I decided to do it. I think I had to do it to know what my purpose in life was. So it’s the reason why I’m here. It’s the reason behind everything I’ve ever done in my life. And there’s been different iterations over the years based on how I viewed or what particular segment of the world I was serving it. My purpose in life is to create opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive. That’s what I that’s what I do. So what does that look like? It looks like when I was leading the the organization, the gathering. And we would we would bring business, corporate faith, government leaders together, and we would listen to Tony Dungy, Elizabeth Dole, zig zag, you name whoever these people were.

[00:15:18] Harvey Hook
I wanted to give deliver the best of the best to the leaders in Columbus so that their lives maybe could have a better impact on those people that they led and served. So it was always about seeking to make the person better, create opportunities. Part of that was, you know, as a as a white guy from small town USA, I jumped into in Denver, in Columbus, working in this area of reconciliation and race. And I’ve done it my entire adult life and maybe somewhat of an anomaly to my peers in the community. I went out to the significant African-American leaders in our city, and I put together forums and conversations, and they were always held in the black community, not the white community. Don’t come to where we’re at. And then I would seek to bring the white community to them on their turf. The significant speakers were always black, so it was always an opportunity. So I would lead in those areas that they weren’t necessarily in my job description. But it was a it was a way to make our community a better place to live.

[00:16:39] Betty Collins
Which is your underlying purpose. That’s just who you are. I know that when I read Purpose Driven Life, I also did Simon some x y went to the University of Why with Betty Clark. She helped me and I kind of took those two and kind of they intertwine, but yet purpose was kind of the first and then the why. They worked hand in hand. So I don’t know if you’ve ever gone through that. I’m sure you have, but.

[00:17:05] Harvey Hook
It just fabulous. I’ve read I read some of his works.

[00:17:09] Betty Collins
It just putting those two together on purpose. And it really, really helped me have a whole new I’m not about depreciation your tax return, you know. And so it just really solidified things for you.

[00:17:21] Harvey Hook
And knowing and understanding your wire on knowing and understanding your purpose, whatever path of life you’re on, they’re going to be broken toes, busted ankles, skin, knees, successes, failures, bruised divorce, drug addicted children, cancer, you name it. But if you’re pursuing your why, your why will help to sustain you through all of that as opposed to, well, this is just a job. This is just a career.

[00:17:56] Betty Collins
No, I mean, when I did those two things together, my whole entire outlook changed.

[00:18:02] Harvey Hook
Yes.

[00:18:02] Betty Collins
Which which is why I’ll go into this next question. I mean, you told me that people who have purpose know I’m going to put the why in there as well. They live longer. They’re healthier and happier than their peers. I’m sure my audience would love to hear more about how do we know that? How do you know that? I’m sure it’s because, you know. But why are these people happier? Why are they living longer? Why is their health in order? Because life isn’t easy, but it can be easier, is how I describe it.

[00:18:32] Harvey Hook
Um. I. So much of this is rooted. It comes from my worldview. Yeah. Whether our you or our audience can relate to this or not, if you. If you can’t look for transferable concepts, that will work for you. I believe myself in humanity. I believe we we were created by God. And I believe he has created me with incredible worth and value. And if I am part of humanity, all of humanity comes equipped with inestimable value and worth. So I begin my purpose from that vantage point. All people of value, all people have hope. There’s always hope at the end. The glass and I have been depressed. I have been curled up in an inn on my bed before. You know, I have had all of those things going on in my life, but there has always been a purpose that would bring me back up out of that. Right. So it’s in that context, I’m not sure I’ve answered your question, though.

[00:19:48] Betty Collins
So you have I mean, I think when people understand the why and purpose, which is why I like doing and talking about your book at this time of year, because people do a lot of reflecting. They do a lot of, hey, we’re having holidays, hey, we’re in in the year. Hey, you know, we’re starting a new January 1st seems to be this reset. So I think people need to get a hold of the purpose and the why and they will have a healthier, happier life.

[00:20:13] Harvey Hook
So and so and a variety of ways to put yourself on a on a pathway to discover your purpose in life, of course, Kindle version or buy the hardback or swap back the power of an ordinary life from Amazon. The Internet’s a great place. How do I how can I know and understand my purpose in life? There’s a variety of resources out there with a series of questions. I began by journaling. I began by listening to others, and then I add practical application to that, as in, you know, the emotional quotient, the disk, Briggs Meyer, the Enneagram strength finder. There’s a variety of tools out there. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover most of those tools till later in life, but onto OC. So Harvey, your purpose is to create opportunities for people in communities to thrive. Well, how do you do that? Well, my my results tell me. I’m a visionary. I’m a. I’m a connector. Yeah. This introvert, when he goes out to networking events, just becomes the big extrovert who’s connecting with everybody. I’m a connector. I’m strategic, I’m an advocate. I’ve got to be fighting for something or someone. I’m I’m a builder and a maximizer. That is the profile of somebody who is is an entrepreneur who starts things and builds things and maximizes them. So I have a history that goes with that. So I add the internal discovery that comes by answering key questions, boiling it down to discovering your purpose. And I add on to that some of these resource tools that give me the freedom to forget about my weaknesses most of the time and give most of my attention to my strengths. I early in my life, in career, I was doing it backwards.

[00:22:19] Betty Collins
Yeah. I think we all do that, though. You know, it’s easy to do it. So. Obviously, you know your purpose. You define it. Well, it’s it what’s interesting is you could be on a beach somewhere and instead you take on this whole new big thing, which I’ll let you talk about. But so obviously, knowing your purpose, it’s your life’s work. It isn’t. I’m this age. I’m done. Right. And so how has knowing your purpose impacted life work? You know, I don’t know if I’m asking that correctly, but you’re you’re not retired at all. You’re not stopping at all. You’re just doing something differently because it’s life’s work.

[00:23:04] Harvey Hook
It’s it’s my life work to live my purpose until I’m gone. I’m 69 years old and there are other things in life I could be doing. Every significant role I’ve ever had in life came because somebody picked up a phone and called me. I’ve never needed my resume and I’ve got a pretty good resume. I’ve sharpened it multiple times and nobody ever wanted me when the resume went through the door first. But so so for me, it was an opportunity. I got a phone call. Yeah, from an attorney friend here in Columbus, Ohio, Juan Jose Perez.
And he is starting a. Nonprofit organization, Vista Village Vista, Beautiful View, Vista Village. And what we are doing is we are developing a tiny homes community to serve homeless individuals, tiny homes, 420 square feet, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living area, front porch. And we are putting all that time and energy and effort into the beauty of the home, because we want to embrace the dignity of the individuals whom we are going to be serving. It is in southeast Columbus. We have 15 acres of land we’re developing it in. In two phases. And the people we’re going to serve will be truly the homeless living in their cars or living in the camps who want to come off the land. Young adults aging out of foster care.

[00:24:42] Harvey Hook
Ex-offenders returning to society. Veterans and those coming through substance recovery programs. We’re going to put those populations together. There’s a great meal and need in each one of those communities. Every individual who comes into this village, this is what we’re doing to seek the best outcomes for success for them, not for us. Each one of them comes in, will have an existing relationship with the service provider. So they’re not meeting anybody new, so to speak. They have a service provider. They have a case plan. They make a commitment to continue that case plan to live at Vista Village for 18 to 24 months. Yes, we will be the new people. We will facilitate and coordinate the services. We will have rules and guidelines. But our hope is to provide these individuals hope, help love healing, professional services, financial literacy, mental health care, health care, dental vision, workforce development. So our community partners will provide all of that. And then over 18 to 24 months, they will secure employment, have a savings account. And then at the end of that, we will work with other community partners to move them to their own independent living and the broader community. And at that point, that opens the door for the next resident to come and live at Vista Village.

[00:26:25] Betty Collins
And the reason I wanted you to to talk a little bit about that was just everything’s driven by purpose. You don’t have to do what you’re doing, right? You’re 69 years old. You don’t have to do. But yet your purpose drives it. Your wife drives it, and you’re the power of your ordinary life. Continues, yeah.

[00:26:46] Harvey Hook
Continues. And I’m here to help my my younger associate, John Perez, who’s 66, who the reason we’re all in this thing together as an attorney, he has clients. One of his clients was sued by the city of Columbus to move a homeless camp off their downtown property. And John chose to work with the city, work with Mount Carmel health care system and their homeless outreach ministry to transition that camp off to an alternate location. So we handled it ethically, morally, spiritually and not legally. And so as he got engaged in this process, he said he asked, what about the homeless? How are we serving the needs of the homeless in this community and nationally? Two years of research. It’s from there that we discovered tiny homes. It is more cost effective. Yeah. Wraparound services does provide a much higher degree of success on the back side. And and then John and I get to continue to live out our purpose, and others will join us in this effort.

[00:28:07] Betty Collins
Well, what I know, my audience knows now is you’re obviously your book is amazing. You should read it. You understand purpose. Talk to my audience as we kind of wind down about. How do you get started in knowing that for you? You said it came really natural to have my purpose, right? How does someone get started when they’re going to get ready to start a new year they’re getting? I mean, everyone does this. What do we call them?

[00:28:34] Harvey Hook
The the New Year’s resolutions.

[00:28:36] Betty Collins
Instead, how would you direct people in my audience to go know, start with your purpose and here’s how you start doing that? How do they do that?

[00:28:44] Harvey Hook
Well, however you want to do this, whether it’s an iPad computer. I love paper and pencil. Right. You ask yourself the question, why am I here? What’s my purpose in life? I would ask five other people in your life, What do you think my purpose in life is? On the beauty of that is they get to think about their purpose as well. I would look at the five or six significant things you’ve done in your life and what brought what gave you joy from doing those four or five things where you sensed you were successful? Not that the final results were were worthy of an award, but successful because it filled up who you were. I would look at those things. I would and I can provide to you and to your audience resources such as the Enneagram or the Emotional Quotient. I’m connected to leaders in those fields in Columbus. I can provide a series of questions and a process for people to go through, but it really, you know, it’s not worthwhile. You know, it’s not you know, you don’t you’re not going to come up with in six guesses, so to speak. Right. But but you stay with it and you’re right and reflect. And I had a friend I shared with him my version of my purpose at that time. And he said, Harvey, that’s way too many words. I think it’s I think I’m down to seven words now to create to create opportunities for people and communities to thrive. It may be longer, but I know and understand what.

[00:30:28] Betty Collins
What that is what.

[00:30:28] Harvey Hook
That means. And it doesn’t mean it’s it’s not it’s not tiny homes. It’s not the business community. It’s not my work in the Dominican Republic or incarcerated kids. It’s all of those things. It’s simply who I brought to each one of those situations and then what I brought out of myself while I was there.

[00:30:49] Betty Collins
I know our audience would love it and we’ll we’ll connect and make sure that they can go to these resources that you definitely can to get people started and get people thinking and getting the mindset change the purpose. And of course, you didn’t say they should read the power of an ordinary life, but I will. Oh, please. It’s right now. It’s on Amazon. Still, correct? Yes. Yeah. Okay. All right. It is. So you definitely just want to go out and find that, but I want you to leave. What are your final thoughts on today’s conversation? We just enjoyed listening to you. I can get very you notice I haven’t talked much, which is not like me. I’ve done more listening today. But what would be some final thoughts that you would like to leave with the audience.

[00:31:30] Harvey Hook
For on those occasions when someone wants me to autograph my.

[00:31:35] Betty Collins
Book? Yeah.

[00:31:37] Harvey Hook
I write the date, I write the name and I ask the question, What will you do today in some small way to change the world forever? I always ask that question. It’s so. It’s not. So I’ve chosen not to quote. Give a short quip, inspirational comment or best of luck in life, which for those who do it great, good for me. It’s a throwaway line I don’t want to use. I want the person to read what I wrote and look at themselves. And that’s that’s the starting point. So what will you do today in some small way to change the world forever? Because I can’t be in Ukraine today alongside a Zelenskiy. I can’t do that. But I’m going to encounter people in my neighborhood, people in my family, people in the workplace over the next three or four days. And there’s something I can do there.

[00:32:40] Betty Collins
Ashley Smith did it 2 a.m. in the morning.

[00:32:42] Harvey Hook
Yes, she did.

[00:32:43] Betty Collins
Correct. Well, it’s been a pleasure having you today. I enjoyed getting to connect connect with you a couple of months ago. And I just wanted my audience to really hear the message that you have so powerful. So Harvey Hooke, he wrote The Power of an Ordinary Life. He’s lived a very powerful, ordinary life and just does it so humbly. So thank you for being with us today. And we’re looking forward to some of those resources that we can my audience can take it a step further.

[00:33:11] Harvey Hook
Wonderful. I’ll put those together and get them.

[00:33:13] Betty Collins
Over to you. Sounds wonderful.

[00:33:15] Harvey Hook
Thank you, Betty.

Jerry Fu with Adapting Leaders

November 18, 2022 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Jerry Fu with Adapting Leaders

00:00 /

Jerry Fu is a conflict resolution coach who helps Asian-American leaders advance in their career and life journeys.

Having taken on several pharmacy leadership roles, Jerry started coaching in 2017 to help other Asian-American professionals deal with the conflict they encounter at work, with their culture, and within themselves.

Prior to starting his coaching business, Jerry served as a pharmacist and began facilitating leadership workshops in 2012.

Today, Jerry offers a range of coaching services, which includes individual coaching, group workshops, and keynote presentations.

He has appeared on over a hundred podcasts and plans to appear in plenty more. To learn more, you can visit https://www.adaptingleaders.com.

Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn in This episode

Career journey
Conflict Resolution
Self development
Cultural influences
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Best books to read

This 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.

Stone Payton: 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. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast Conflict Resolution Coach with Adapting Leaders, Mr. Jerry Fu. Good morning, sir.

Jerry Fu: Good morning, Stan.

Stone Payton: Well, it is a absolute delight to have you on the program this morning. I think a good place to start would be if you could help me and our listeners kind of get our our arms around this this topic, this whole field of conflict resolution. What is it? Why should we be thinking about it? And what what have you learned in your time working in that arena?

Jerry Fu: Yeah. Yeah. Conflict is important because it doesn’t go away on its own. And the benefits of learning to deal with it, whether it’s a healthy conflict like personal growth or an unhealthy conflict like a roommate who hasn’t paid his rent is. Yeah. The sooner you learn to deal with it, the sooner you can move on to to more meaningful, more important things. The sooner you can have some kind of peace of mind knowing that not only can you enjoy the fact that you’ve moved past the situation, but to being confident, knowing that the challenges that you encounter inevitably next round you’ll be more prepared for.

Stone Payton: So what’s the backstory, man? How did you get involved in this kind of work?

Jerry Fu: Sometimes you don’t choose it, sometimes it chooses you. And so in this case. Yeah. I realized very quickly that I didn’t want to admit it. I just knew that any time someone was upset with me, my people pleasing nature would kick in. And my immediate response was to placate and take the path of least resistance, even if. Something was not quite to my liking or might even compromise some legal or ethical implications. And. I learned this when even when I was dealing with things as a pharmacist. Right when I remember. I’ll give a quick example. At one point, a patient ran out of refills on his diabetes testing strips and he kept just making a big scene about, well, legally it shouldn’t matter. I need strips, I need strips. I need to be able to pay for them. And I just remember that one night I just didn’t have the energy to fight it anymore. So I just gave him a courtesy bill. But the problem, right, was that once I set that precedent for him, he insisted on it every time. And. You know, which is which anyone would understand. Hey, yeah, diabetics should have testing strips, but, you know, after a while, people may question, How are you filling all these prescriptions on this insurance when legally you haven’t crossed your T’s and dotted your eyes? Right. And that’s money that we could lose from insurances just to audit us. And they say, oh, well, you know, legally you didn’t have everything lined up, so we’re just going to take all the money back, right? So now I’m out. Whatever revenue I could have made had I done things properly, had I stood my ground right to say, Hey, look, I understand you. You need your strips and I need to talk to your doctor before I can do anything right. And to be able to have the courage to stand up to that. And even if he says I’m going to complain to your supervisor, shouldn’t matter. Right? The compliance is number one. And I just didn’t like the fact that he didn’t like me unless I gave him what he wanted.

Stone Payton: Hmm. All right. So you sought out coaching. You began to read up on this, begin to study on what happened next.

Jerry Fu: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, the other challenge was when I actually stepped up into leadership and I realized that if I did not manage expectations well. And then I was the one who got in trouble. You know, just it was just really frustrating. And so, yeah, the funny thing is, is. When you get over the fact that you don’t have to figure this out on your own, you don’t have to, like, stumble around in the dark. Because these problems aren’t new, but they’re just new to you. And so when I started to study leaders and work alongside leaders, I really respected them. I studied how they brought out the best in me, how they even managed conversations with me to be sure that I was doing everything that I needed to do to pull my weight. And they would share their resources and say, Hey, Jerry, here’s some here’s some books that you might like and that you have useful information. And that’s a great first step. And we all know that even though leaders are readers, it’s the application of those concepts in these books that’s turning point, right? And to dispel the myth of, Oh, well, if you’re good at this, you won’t fail at it, you won’t have to learn and improve your technique as soon as you realize.

Jerry Fu: If we’re going to have a falling out with someone, you’d rather go down swinging and have them know exactly why you’re upset with them as opposed to just flushing the friendship just because they didn’t secretly meet your expectations. So, yeah, part of it is am I willing to explore what other people have done about this? And so I came up with kind of like my own recipe, testing different comps, just figuring out what worked for me. And even then, I still have to continue to refine my process because I can always get better at this and even if I refined my process. The challenge is the stakes are going to get higher and higher every single time. And that’s the paradox of self development. As David Alan says in this great book, Getting things Done, the better you get, the better you better get.

Stone Payton: And this is a skill set that anyone who has the responsibility of generating results with and through other people. I mean, this is a vital skill set. This is not a nice to have, is it?

Jerry Fu: Oh, it’s a it’s not a luxury. It’s it’s an essential part of your leadership diet. And to use one metaphor. Right. Because whether you look for conflict or conflict finds you, you need to have a it’s best to have a system in place. Because I tell people all the time I am still conflict averse. I don’t like it. And I know that in order to compensate for that, I need to have a system in place so I don’t default into into bad and unproductive habits. So yeah, I tell people all the time, you know, I don’t want to just say, Oh, I know I, I’m a conflict coach for people pleasers because no one wants to say, well, I’m a people pleaser. Yeah, let me sign up for your services. You’ve got to say something nice to like conflict resolution for harmonizers or peacemakers, right? It’s in the same boat, but it’s people are more likely to resonate with that label as opposed to one that points out the flaws.

Stone Payton: All right. So let’s talk about the work itself, the mechanism. It’s individual coaching. It’s working with groups. Walk us through what the tell us what the work looks like.

Jerry Fu: Yeah, yeah. I think it mainly happens on two levels as you as you hinted at already. The first is individuals. So I can unpack a quick example. When I’m working with someone one on one, one of the one of the moments I really celebrated with one of my clients was when he had talked about how he had been promoted into a leadership role and they inherited a team about three months ago and he said, I have a situation where there’s a guy on my team has been with the company ten years, so this guy clearly has seniority with the company and he says, Well, this guy has been kind of frustrated because he’s wanted to be promoted into management. But the last two supervisors. We had basically told them, no, I gave up on him. So how do I get him to take my feedback seriously? Because I am in a position to help him, but I also need him to realize that unless he gets unless he’s willing to receive and apply tough feedback, like he’s not going to, he’s just going to end up with the same fate as the other two supervisors. Right. And so the framework I usually. Take people through that. That I give away on my website is involves five steps.

Jerry Fu: The first is to imagine that what does success sound like? What would a successful conversation be? And the second, once you have that possibility in mind. Is to initiate such things in motion. Right. 10 seconds of courage to say, Hey, man, when’s a good time to set up a conversation? To have to talk about what you want? Right. Whether you send the email or send the text, you want to set things in motion and then lock the gate behind you so you can’t backtrack because conflict averse people like myself, right? We want to rationalize, right? We want to say, oh, well, it’s not so bad. Maybe I don’t have to deal with it today and that this doesn’t help you. So, yeah, so you want to imagine, number one, is this possible? Number two? Well, if it is possible, what would it sound like then? You want to put something on the calendar. Third step is to script your critical phrases and you say, okay, well, what do I want to address? Let me put it on paper. Let me get these thoughts organized. Let me anticipate what kind of pushback I’m going to encounter and how I’m going to respond to that pushback. Then step four is to rehearse these things because you don’t want to just write these down.

Jerry Fu: You want to practice saying them out loud, check your tone, check your body language role, play with the friend. Right? Just to kind of iron out your phrasing and kind of get some muscle memory in there. So that step five where you follow through, you actually can think on your feet a little bit and make sure you remember that the cost of not engaging is always going to be worse than trying and and not getting the result that you initially intended. And so that’s on an individual level, on the group level. Yeah, it’s more of the same where people basically kind of throw their problems out in the open and kind of walk them through that framework. And now you have people, you know, bouncing ideas off each other on the things that they can say as the as the leadership maxim says, one of us is not as smart as all of us. And so when more people in the organization are committed to really making sure they have a culture where conflict is not only celebrated but encouraged because they understand they’d rather take a proactive approach to stamping out fires before they can even start, then that’s when I think you start to see real transformation.

Stone Payton: So you’ve been at this a while now. What are you finding the most rewarding about the work? What are you enjoying the most?

Jerry Fu: I think. I just like getting calls and emails from clients telling me how how relieved they are that they’ve been able to move past some of these situations. I’ll give you an example. The first one of the first thank you calls I ever got was from a friend who agreed to test me out as a client, and his situation was more of a personal one where he saw he asked that a girl in his church group. She said yes, gave him her number and then he tried calling or texting or a couple of times and was didn’t get a response. And then he does a little homework online and it turns out she already has a boyfriend. And so he was initially really upset and we talked through it. And I can’t believe she would lie to me and things like that. And I said, Well, hey, hang on a second. It’s easy to justify that story. It’s very easy conclusion to come to. But what if you just did a little detective work with her and to some extent with her just to say, hey, you know, there’s some things here that don’t add up and you help help shed some light on these. And it turns out she was the kind of girl who, even if she had a legitimate reason to say no, there was some guilt around saying no to guys when she wanted to kind of reward their courage for asking girl out. And so even once once he once he heard that and realized, oh, she was just being nice, even if she didn’t have to be, it still sucks that I didn’t. I got my hopes up and thought that I would go on a date or so, but I’m so happy that I found closure, even if it wasn’t the intended result I was looking for. I’m not trying to stick it to anybody. I’m just thankful to say, Hey, that hurt. And let’s talk about how you don’t have to do that. And so that can we can prevent this in the future. And I think that’s all anyone can ask for.

Stone Payton: Yeah. So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a guy like you, a practice like yours? How do you get the new clients?

Jerry Fu: Yeah, I’m still I’m still refining that process, so I’m not going to lie. I mean, part of it is, you know, I like the approach of warm traffic where I’m already working alongside other platforms with with programs like rare coaching or other things that I’ve already identified needs. And so one strategy is just to work for someone else who already has a platform, right? And it may or may not get you the value and compensation you’re looking for. But it’s a start because you can start to see where real needs are. The other is to network with other coaches and see, Hey, how can we partner with each other and match your skill set and complement complement it with mine. And the other is, yeah, just if you find an organization or find a niche that you know needs your help, hey, why not send them an email, get them on the phone if you can and say, Hey look, I would really love to work with you. Part of it is just having confidence in my own product and the value that it brings and being okay with the fact that not everyone’s going to need it. And you’d rather and then this is what I’m willing in the process, right? I’d rather test out, send the message and get a no or non response than to just kind of let them reject you from the start by never sending anything.

Stone Payton: So let’s talk root causes a minute, because it strikes me that some of the some of the genesis of a challenge with conflict could go all the way back to childhood or culture or environment. Have you learned anything on that front, like where it comes from?

Jerry Fu: Oh, yeah. It’s. It’s this survival mechanism, right? Like the fight or flight or freeze are typically right. The three actions that we. One term I thought was really funny. It was called lizard brain. Right. Because like, when you just get into a point where you’re just in a panic situation, you don’t know what to do. Are you going to do one of those three things? Right? So me growing up as a minority, whether I’m in Wisconsin or Tennessee, right, I was just an easy target. And so, you know, me being a smaller kid, I didn’t know enough kung fu to hold my ground in a real fight. And so. Right. So you try to run away or you just panic and hope that things would just blow over or you take the hit and you just kind of resent them and resent yourself for not being able to handle the situation with more confidence in a better and a better way. And so, yeah, between not wanting to deal with the conflict, when my parents were upset with me, if I questioned them in any way, and then other people making fun of my culture and you’re like, I don’t know how to fight back in a way that not that I’m trying to inflict pain, but just to kind of stand my ground and be more of an advocate for myself. Yeah, and just this need to even belong.

Jerry Fu: And you just said, Well, I want them to like me. And even though I feel like I’m compromising who I am or what’s important to me in order to gain their acceptance, I’m going to do it. Because right now that’s that’s the bigger priority, even if it’s unhealthy and such an unhealthy dynamic. So, yeah, I mean, it started from a young age, just approval addiction and looking for looking for a spot to belong. But later on in life, you compare it to realizing, hey, this is a self discovery process, and you realize, Oh, I don’t have the time or energy to get everyone to like me. I just need people who are willing to accept me more on my terms. And is there some level of adaptation? Sure. I mean, that’s what my website domain is based on, is to adapt to whatever situation doing it. But it’s never meant to compromise your identity or what’s important to you. And so that’s where the conflict resolution comes in. So when you realize, hey, you know what? Thank you for this disagreement. And because we know neither of us are going to budge, then this is we should we should move on, not despite each other, but it’s in our best interests that we can both focus more of our time and energy with people who are able to be more accepting of who we actually are.

Stone Payton: This topic, it seems to have implications and immediate application to something as important as if a leader is trying to navigate their way through and do a good job with diversity, equity and inclusion and that type of thing. I mean, they need to get good at this and they need to to create an environment that allows everyone to get better at this, don’t they?

Jerry Fu: Oh, absolutely. And I mean, I can tell you just from my work on one community in particular, we’re still ironing out a statement that is that self declares, Hey, we know that the statement in itself is not the goal, Right? And the statement the self declares, Hey, this is a continual process, this is a self correcting process. And this we know that this will evolve over time. And we are also, you know, we’re not just going to check a box just because every with every shiny thing that comes up when someone says, Hey, you didn’t count for this culture, you didn’t come for this holiday, like that is not a fair burden for any one person, any one committee to say, well, we were the ones that sorry, we didn’t know about every possible culture and minority and obscure holiday, that would be difficult for any one person to take inventory of. But we are going to create an environment, as you said, right, where if people want to take the initiative to say, hey, look, I want people to know about this because I think it’s overlooked. By all means, you have the freedom and the support to to share that content that you believe will edify and strengthen and educate other people, not for not to show yourself off, but so that the group as a collective can have more awareness and learn something and improve themselves for sure.

Stone Payton: It strikes me that you might be an excellent candidate for getting on the other side of the microphone, maybe having your own radio show, authoring a book. Any plans like that down the road, writing a book or doing a radio show or. I mean, you’re already doing the keynote work.

Jerry Fu: Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. So the nice thing is I there is I had the opportunity to contribute chapter to a leadership anthology. A consultant friend is is putting into motion. And initially it was supposed to self we were supposed to self publish back in October. But the great news is that Wiley actually picked it up because he already published two books before and I was just thankful that he wanted to include me in his his compilation. And so the. The book is called Secrets of Next Level Entrepreneurship, and that will come out in April of next year. So that much is set into motion and that’s I’m very excited about that. Happy to update you all when whenever that officially gets published. And then, yeah, I like the idea of hosting my own podcast. I know I’m only one person at this point, so I don’t have the bandwidth for it at the moment, but it is something that I’m sure will be on the horizon that I’ll revisit when I when I have a little more margin.

Stone Payton: All right. Well, I think it’ll last until the until that book comes out and your next one that you write completely by yourself and you do the the show, what’s on your nightstand or what do you think should be on our nightstand? What should we be reading, thinking about doing, practicing ourselves related to these topics? Let’s leave our listeners with a few pro tips before we before we wrap.

Jerry Fu: Yeah, yeah. Great, great invitation. And here are some ideas I’ll put on the table for people to explore and experiment with. You know, one is as simple as if you meet somebody with a culture not familiar with, well, just ask them, Hey, would you be willing to share some interesting things about your culture that you really celebrate, whether it’s food or traditions or other things like that? Just put yourself in a situation where you’re excited to learn something new, right? I always love travel for that reason, where you go to a country that you don’t know the language and you just you don’t like the struggle on one hand of the adjustment and the growth. But once you get used to the team, it’s really great. Another option, another idea is to read a book called Third Culture Kids. It was suggested to me by coach at Harvard in previous years, and it was a great book just showing how globalization leaves people with cultural perspectives, a combination of them that no one else would be able to identify with. Right? There is people that spent time in Argentina and and Singapore as a result of their parents job trajectory and things. And it just is just such a great book to explore these case studies and say, hey, how do people with these backgrounds still find a way to belong? And it’s a struggle to to resonate with with what their life story involves.

Jerry Fu: And then yeah, otherwise, yeah, there’s other other great books. I love Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, which is just a great book on Asian perspective on how to get a career path and be more of an advocate for yourself. But otherwise, yeah, just take take time. Take a 30 minute coffee meeting with. But the boss or someone from a different background just to say, Hey, you know what? I’d love to learn more about your story and see what kind of and end the conversation with How can I support you? How can I support the things that are important to you? And maybe, maybe that leads to some interesting time in community service or or seeing a part of the city that people don’t want to give attention to, whether it’s refugees or underserved populations. There’s just so many great that it just can lead you to so many different opportunities that you wouldn’t have discovered until you got a little curious.

Stone Payton: Well, I am really glad that I asked. Thank you for that. But what’s the best way for our listeners to get connected with you and tap into your work, man?

Jerry Fu: Yeah, Yeah. Let’s just. Let’s just have people start with checking out the free guide on my website. So if you go to w w w dot adapting leaders dot com slash guide you. I give away a free pdf download of the five step framework that will help people navigate difficult conversations and give them a higher chance of success. Because here’s the thing, guys like I have to practice what I preach or no one will hire me. And so this is the exact process that I have to use to not have to, but I get to use to kind of trick myself forward whenever I find myself lapsing into, Oh, I really don’t want to have to deal with this now. Right. Or I don’t want to have to resolve this issue or I’d rather be doing other things. But until I deal with the albatross in the room, like it’s not going to go away. So, yeah, check out the guide. Check out the case study that we walk you through and see what ideas that leads to. And from there, from the website. You can also you can book a complimentary 30 minute call. You can check out the free blog with useful summaries of leadership, literature and other life tips. But yeah, the meat of the value comes from the gut. So w w w adapting leaders dot com forward slash guide.

Stone Payton: Well, Gerri, it has been a real pleasure having you on the program this morning, man. Thanks for hanging out with us and sharing your insight and perspective. You’re doing important work, man. And we we sure appreciate you.

Jerry Fu: Thanks, Don. It’s hope. It pays dividends, graciousness for sure.

Stone Payton: All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Jerry Fu with adapting leaders and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jodi, House on a Sugar Hill

November 17, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jodi, House on a Sugar Hill

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LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jodi, House on a Sugar Hill (Organization Conversation, Episode 50)

Jodi, Owner of House on a Sugar Hill, joined host Richard Grove to talk about her DIY and decor work. When she and her husband bought a dirty, outdated house, she sat on the floor and cried. But then she got to work and started sharing the transformation on social media. Jodi shared about her recent divorce, working through challenging times, being a single mom, her favorite organizational tip, what she’s doing at HAVEN, and much more.

This show was originally broadcast live from the 2022 HAVEN Conference held at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.

Organization Conversation is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Jodi, Owner, House on a Sugar Hill

Welcome to House on a Sugar Hill! Jodi loves to share her passion for home, family, and travel.

You can expect to find lots of budget-friendly DIYs, and home decor inspiration. She is singlehandedly renovating her house with four kids.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

About Organization Conversation

Organization Conversation is hosted by Richard Grove and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

About Richard Grove

Richard Grove, Host, *Organization Conversation*

Richard Grove‘s background is in engineering but what he enjoys most is brand building through relationships and creative marketing. Richard began his career with the Department of Defense as an engineer on the C-5 Galaxy Engineering Team based out of Warner Robins. While Richard found this experience both rewarding and fulfilling, he always knew deep down that he wanted to return to the small family business that originally triggered his interest in engineering.

Richard came to work for the family business, Dekalb Tool & Die, in 2008 as a Mechanical Engineer. At the time Wall Control was little more than a small ‘side hustle’ for Dekalb Tool & Die to try to produce some incremental income. There were no “Wall Control” employees, just a small warehouse with a single tool and die maker that would double as an “order fulfillment associate” on the occasion that the original WallControl.com website, which Richard’s grandmother built, pulled in an order.

In 2008, it became apparent that for the family business to survive they were going to have to produce their own branded product at scale to ensure jobs remained in-house and for the business to continue to move forward. Richard then turned his attention from tool and die to Wall Control to attempt this necessary pivot and his story with Wall Control began. Since that time, Richard has led Wall Control to significant growth while navigating two recessions.

Outside of Richard’s work at Wall Control he enjoys helping other business owners, operators, and entrepreneurs along their own paths to success by offering personal business coaching and advising through his website ConsultantSmallBusiness.com. Richard has developed an expansive and unique skillset growing and scaling Wall Control through a multitude of challenges to the successful brand and company it is today. Richard is happy to share his knowledge and experience with others who are looking to do the same within their own businesses.

Connect with Richard:

Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Richard’s Website

About Wall Control

The Wall Control story began in 1968 in a small tool & die shop just outside Atlanta, Georgia. The first of three generations began their work in building a family-based US manufacturer with little more than hard work and the American Dream.

Over the past 50+ years, this family business has continued to grow and expand from what was once a small tool & die shop into an award-winning US manufacturer of products ranging from automobile components to satellite panels and now, the best wall-mounted tool storage system available today, Wall Control.

The Wall Control brand launched in 2003 and is a family-owned and operated business that not only produces a high-quality American Made product but sees the entire design, production, and distribution process happen under their own roof in Tucker, Georgia. Under that same roof, three generations of American Manufacturing are still hard at work creating the best tool storage products available today.

Connect with Wall Control:

Company website | Facebook | Instagram

The Messiness (and Power) of the Human Body E9

November 14, 2022 by Karen

E9-The-Messiness-and-Power-of-the-Human-Body-feature

Phoenix Business Radio

The Messiness (and Power) of the Human Body E9

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The Messiness (and Power) of the Human Body E9

On this episode of The Messy Middle, we discuss the messiness and the miracle of the human body. Dr. Todd Beck and Dr. Carson Wilde walk us through the misconceptions and the power of chiropractic care. They share their passion for their profession and for helping others regulate their nervous system. Dr. Todd & Dr. Carson give us a behind-the-scenes tour of what it is like to open a new practice and share why they selected Arizona as their new home.

If you are a parent, this is a must-listen! Dr. Todd & Dr. Carson do a fantastic job of explaining why chiropractic care for our kiddos is so critical and the transformation they have seen in numerous kids. Did you know a fussy baby is not normal?! Common, but not normal. The doctors share how they can non-invasively identify what is contributing to the fussiness and use that information to focus their adjustments allowing the body to heal itself.

They both do an incredible job of reminding us how powerful the body can be if we provide the right support to allow it to heal from within. For the entrepreneurs in the crowd, Dr. Carson and Dr. Todd open up to us about their partnership and what it’s like to build a business with a friend. If you are in business with a friend, partner, or family member, you won’t want to miss their advice either!

Edified Chiropractic is a neurologically-based chiropractic office in NW Gilbert focused on helping families in their community to become educated, empowered, and edified in the restoration of health naturally.

Dr. Todd Beck, a native of southeastern Idaho, attended Brigham Young University-Idaho where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology.

Upon graduating, he moved to Dallas, Texas where he concurrently completed a Masters degree of Functional Nutrition and Doctorate of Chiropractic from Parker University.

Dr. Carson Wilde, a native of Pleasant Grove, Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science.

He traveled to Dallas, TX to pursue his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Parker University. After graduation, Dr. Carson worked at one of largest, family-focused chiropractic offices in North Texas.

Both doctors have achieved additional certifications with their chiropractic techniques utilized in their office.

These certifications include Advanced Proficiency in the Torque Release Technique, Webster Technique, and additional pediatric training through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association and The Pediatric Experience.

Follow Edified Chiropractic on Facebook and Instagram.

About The Messy Middle Podcast & Radio Show

“Beginnings are usually scary, and endings are usually sad but it’s the middle that counts the most.”- Hope Floats

We often talk about the beginnings and endings of things. We celebrate our firsts and mourn our lasts. We often ignore the in between, or what we like to call the messy middle. In this nebulous space, often there are no awards or recognition.

It is frequently characterized by the long days, hard work, uncertainty, self-doubt, small wins, setbacks, persistence, and sheer determination to simply keep moving forward. And, yet, it is also where the magic happens. The middle part of our journey is what shapes us, prepares us and fills our lives with meaning.

Welcome to the Messy Middle Podcast & Radio show! Each month we invite guests to share their own version of the Messy Middle and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Whether you’re in the messiness of growing a business, healing from trauma, or navigating the wild world of parenting; this show is for you! We’re so excited to celebrate the messiness of life and business with you!

About Mother & Founder Co

Mother & Founder Co was created to help people who are experiencing change and are looking for growth, healing & transformation. The only thing that is constant is change…and change is really difficult for most people. When remaining where you are is more painful than the unknown, change happens.

*And*

Mother & Founder is there to help you create, maintain, and navigate the changes you wish to make.

In addition to the amazing community of women, we provide trauma healing sessions, clarity courses designed to re-imagine what’s possible, individual coaching and small business strategy masterminds.

About Jen Burwell

Jen is the Founder of Mother & Founder Co. and Co-Founder of Jens LIGHT Events.

She is a recognized public speaker and enjoys working with audiences of all sizes. She is a fierce advocate of self-development and believes a kinder world begins from within.

Her goal is to help as many leaders heal themselves as possible. A healed world is a better world for all of us. In 2020, she received the prestigious honor of Business Woman of the Year by the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

She loves being right in the messy middle of growing business(es), mothering 3 young kiddos (2 on the Autism Spectrum) and navigating a healthy and happy marriage amid it all.

In her spare time, she enjoys morning solo runs accompanied by her AirPods and her latest Audible book. Her other joys include spa days, being near the ocean, travel and learning something new.

Follow Mother & Founder Co on Facebook and Instagram.

High Performance Coach Eva Medilek

November 14, 2022 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

High Performance Coach Eva Medilek

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Eva Medilek specializes in helping busy professionals have more money, time, and success without sacrificing health, well-being and relationships in the process.

As a keynote speaker, Eva shows you how to generate the energy needed to reverse the burnout we experience from trying to do it all.

Most recently, Eva is a radio talk show host on Voice America’s Influencer Channel. Her show, What’s Important Now; Making Time for What Matters Most brings to light hot topics and guests that focus on important matters facing us today.

She uses her personal experiences along with her leadership, relationship, and high-performance training to teach you how to have it all without sacrificing it all.

Connect with Eva on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This 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.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast Certified High Performance Coach, International speaker, bestselling author and cultural inclusivity Trainer. Ms.. Eva Medilek. How are you?

Eva Medilek: Oh, I’m doing fantastic. Stone How are you?

Stone Payton: I am doing well and really been looking forward to this conversation right there in the intro. We talk about being a high performance coach. Maybe a good place to start would be to get your perspective on what it really means to to be a high performer.

Eva Medilek: Oh, yeah, I get that all the time because most people think that because you’re a high achiever, you are a high performer, and that’s not necessarily true. So when you are a high performer, you are able to advance your career without sacrificing some other things that are important to you, like your health, your well being and your relationships in order to be successful and have it all. And most high achievers get the achieving part right, but they don’t get that special type of unique balance to where it’s not costing them and some other important areas of their lives. So it really is, you know, performing at your best and on your A-game without it costing you and some other important areas of your life.

Stone Payton: So my observation has been and I think I want to make sure I’m using the right term here, but the people that we would would say are high achievers. I mean, sometimes they just they wear themselves out, don’t they? They get exhausted.

Eva Medilek: Yeah, exactly. You know, if you’re a high achiever, most likely you’re white knuckling through burnout and exhaustion because you don’t want to quit. You don’t want to stop. There are too many things that you want to do and achieve right now. So it’s not the time to slow down right now and it’s really is costing them and how their relationships are affected, how their their mood is affected, how their health is affected. And it really it’s not attractive a lot of times, if you will, to be a high achiever if you’re not showing up in a good I like to say, in a good mood. If you’re a little Mr. and Mrs. Cranky Pants, then maybe you should look at what high performance coaching can do for you.

Stone Payton: So I got to know the back story. How in the world did you get into this line of work? What was the path?

Eva Medilek: The path was being a high achiever. I have to tell you, when I was preparing for my 50th birthday, which was about 12 years ago, I got downsized from my job as a dental hygienist. And it was that spark that prompted me to become an entrepreneur. So I started a real estate investing company, and at the time I had gotten more employment as a hygienist and I was working hard to just work full time. I was doing my business, but I was also doing all of the cooking, all of the shopping, the laundry, like all of it. I was Superwoman and some people listening might remember this commercial from the I guess it was 1980s or so where it depicted this this successful, super successful woman and she comes out singing, I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget your man because I’m a woman. Well, that was me. And so basically the tagline for that was Angele, the eight hour perfume for the 24 hour Woman So basically you could work yourself to death 24 hours a day, but at least she’ll smell good in the process.

Eva Medilek: But, you know, in all honesty, I was really working myself into the ground and my health was affected my well being. You know, I was just always a tired and complaining about being tired. And then eventually my relationship with my husband became affected. We were cranky with each other and snapping at each other. And I don’t know if you ever had as as soon as disease, but I always thought as a as a busy person, as soon as the business gets to a certain level, as soon as we make a certain amount of money, as soon as I own a certain amount of units, then we can take the time to work on our relationship. And as soon as it came for me, when I discovered my husband was having an affair and that was the wake up call that I needed to realize that my current habits were contributing to my stress and breakdown in my health and my relationship. And high performance living actually resonated with me because I knew I needed to take responsibility for who I was being as I was building.

Stone Payton: So let’s talk about habits a little bit. Are there habits that we can engage in that can kind of help us navigate this this gap between busy and effective? I mean.

Eva Medilek: You know, I call them, if you will, pit stops. You know, we’ve all seen NASCAR race, right, or the Indy 500. And those cars are racing really fast, dangerously high speeds, trying to make it to the the finish line and hopefully win the race without crashing and burning. And I remember I used to think when I saw the lead car get off and stop for a pit stop, I would think that was stupid. Right? Aren’t they going to fall behind and lose the race? Aren’t other people going to pass them up? And so those drivers realize that taking pit stop is necessary to continue to race at peak or high performance without breaking down. And most of us are running our lives and business at high speeds. We’re racing around the track because we’re afraid if we slow down, we’re going to fall behind and lose. And so when you look at high performance habits, those are strategic pit stops throughout the day so that you have that energy that you need to finish the day as strong as you started it without breaking down. And so, for example, most of us eat when we get hungry. Right. If you were a high performer, you would eat to fuel yourself for performance. Just like that car at the pit stop gets gas before it’s on empty.

Stone Payton: What a great analogy. What a great frame to to view that from. So you’ve been at this a while. I can tell that you find the work incredibly rewarding. What are you enjoying the most at this point in your career? At this point in your practice? What’s the most fun?

Eva Medilek: The most fun for me is when my clients have their breakthroughs about how they are, about what they can do to show up better for themselves, their own happiness. They’re all getting clear on what they want and what makes them happy and prioritizing what’s important to them so that they can set boundaries that actually support their values and priorities and what’s important to them and when they realize that. You know, most of us are talking about how we’re working this hard and hustling and grinding for our spouse, our kids, our families and our future. But yet we’re spending very little time with the people that we claim to be working so hard for. When they get that realization that what’s important to them is not really what they’re spending their time on. That’s really fun for me.

Stone Payton: So you’re out there coaching, but you’re also a speaker. What is that world like and what is it like to get in front of a bunch of people and try to share some of these ideas?

Eva Medilek: I actually love it. I mean, because we are connecting in person and and most people can really relate to what it feels like to be hustling and grinding to get ahead and create success in your life and business. And just really seeing some of these realizations and how high performance habits can help you generate the energy that you need so that you’re not burnt out, exhausted and overwhelmed. Is is fantastic. And I just love connecting with people in person because most people on Zoom can multitask or tune out. But when you’ve at least got them in a room with you, they’re kind of a captive audience. And there’s an exercise that I do with audiences. When I do have the time to speak where I have them take out three blank sheets of paper. And I learned this from one of my coaches, Larry Winget, who calls himself the pitbull of personal development. So I want to give credit where credit is due here. But on the first piece of paper for you to write down the State of the Union of your life, how everything is in your life and your business, and on the second sheet of paper to write down how you want it to be in your life, in business and your relationships. So you’ve got the current state of affairs and the dream life, and then on the third blank sheet, write down what you’re willing to give up. To get from the first sheet of paper to the second sheet of paper, because most of us think that we need to keep adding more and more and more. And it’s not about adding more. It’s about getting rid of things like you don’t get fit and healthy. You give up. What’s keeping you from getting fit and healthy, right? You don’t get skinny. You give up what’s making you fat, You don’t get healthy, you give up what’s making you unhealthy. Right? And so most of us think that we have to add more things as high achievers, right? But the magic is learning what to let go of.

Stone Payton: How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a person like you, a practice like yours? Are you at a point where it just sort of comes in over the transom, or do you find yourself needing to engage in some sort of structured sales and marketing process to get the speaking gigs, to get the opportunities to coach people?

Eva Medilek: Yes. Yes, I do. I do. I need to put myself out there and be seen. And and I usually invite people to a a session with me so that they can see the value of high performance coaching and explain that in more detail. And for them to really see the cost, if you will, of not being a high performer and just being a high achiever. I know what it nearly cost me. So I am speaking from experience. I nearly lost everything and just to to not leave the audience hanging. My husband and I are still together. That infidelity actually saved our marriage because it was the punch in the gut that I needed or the two by four to the head or whatever you want to call it. That made me realize who I was. Being as I was building was actually pushing the people I cared the most about away. And so, yes, I still mark it. I still speak I still out there on social media sharing and always inviting people to connect with me.

Stone Payton: And you’ve committed some ideas to paper. You’ve written a bestselling book. Tell us about being an author. Tell us what that experience is like.

Eva Medilek: I’ve actually it was in a compilation book with Les Brown. Some of you may have heard of Les Brown, who is a motivational speaker as well. I was in a compilation book with him and Dr. Cheryl Wood, and that made it to the bestseller list. And I also wrote a solo book to highlight some of the the diversity, equity and inclusion work that I started doing as a result of the the racial events of 2020. And that book was called The Intimacy of Race How to Move from Subconscious Racism to Active Allyship for People of Privilege. And that’s really a simple, a simple book to get you started on how to how to communicate and how to be aware of some certain things to help you be better allies for underserved communities. And what we can do as mere individuals to make a difference for people.

Stone Payton: When you were writing the book, did you find that some chapter, some parts of it came together fairly easily and others were were a real struggle for you? What was that like?

Eva Medilek: Well, what happened? It was a struggle for me to get started because I just didn’t feel worthy. But once I started, I did get an accountability partner to help me keep going. But this book was based on a live event that I produced called the Allyship Awareness Forum, and I basically took everything that was discussed in that forum. We had six amazing, powerful women of color in the leadership position. We all got together and I produced this event. I think there was 700 people on it. And we we each had a section where we talked about some myths about racism, how to communicate, what bypassing was, all of these different things. And I really took that and compiled it into a book called The Intimacy of Race. So it was pretty much lined out for me, just really getting it from kind of a listen and learn event to something on as a paper resource for people was challenging, to say the least, but just to be motivated to think that I could do it. For me, it was that personal part of, you know, I’m not a trained and I expert, although I do coach in that space for some corporations. And it was just something I felt I needed to do to to contribute and make a difference during that very difficult period in America’s history so that I could make a difference.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m asking some of these questions because I know many of our listeners are entrepreneurs. Some are coaches, consultants. You know, they have a book in them. And I think sometimes maybe they could use a little bit of inspiration or a little bit of a nudge to get going and get started on it. But again, on this book, when you got it together, was it a little bit scary to sort of put it out in the world and then like, wait and see how it was received?

Eva Medilek: You know, I actually got really excited once I finished it because it was such a huge accomplishment to get me out of procrastination because of the fear. And once I finished it and got the book cover design and everything, I was real excited actually to get it out in the world and have people have it as a as a resource that they could always refer to. But yeah, all of the feelings were there of fear. It was just something I felt out of my own satisfaction that I, I accomplished it and, and I got help. Here’s the kicker. I got help to be able to accomplish it. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs try to do so many things on their own. And success is really, really lonely. And we work a lot in isolation. And when that happens, a lot of times it really slows us down. And I had to get someone to really hold me accountable to to the milestones and the benchmarks that I set for myself to get the book written. And once I did that, I actually came in ahead of my deadline. So it was pretty cool.

Stone Payton: Oh, so on these topics, diversity, equity, inclusion, I came across a term in your write up as I was preparing to to have this conversation inclusive intelligence. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Eva Medilek: You know, I can because it really is a level of awareness and intelligence on how to be inclusive. And what I mean by that is it’s a skill. It’s a skill. It’s something that’s learned. It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to us in how to formulate conversations, if you will, that creates safety and inclusivity. There’s a certain level of intelligence. We have emotional intelligence, right? We’ve got personal intelligence. We hear all of the X and peaks, but how do we create a level of intelligence that gives that supports inclusivity? How I want to say that it supports people of different backgrounds, different upbringings, different education to feel included. In the space to feel seen, heard and acknowledged in the space. And that’s the level of intelligence.

Stone Payton: So as if you didn’t already have enough irons in the fire, as my daddy would say. You also host your own radio show. Talk about that a little bit. Tell us about the format of the show and what you’re trying to accomplish with that.

Eva Medilek: You know, my show is called What’s Important Now? Making Time for what matters most and the intention of the show is to really support people in getting clear on what really matters to them, what the priorities in our lives are. Because when we’re chasing so many shiny objects, if you will, which leads to burnout and overwhelm, we actually lose sight of what’s really important to us. So I bring on guests and experts, a lot of authors who help us prioritize our health, prioritize our mental health, our emotional health, our physical health, prioritize some of the dreams and goals that we have. Prioritize and get clear on what matters most to us in all areas of our lives. And this show is on the Voice of America Influencers channel right now. It airs live Tuesdays at 1 p.m. Pacific Time, and it’s been really fun speaking to people from all walks of life and leadership and who have been through some challenges on their own and really share how they’ve overcome those challenges and hopefully will help some of the listeners get clear on what matters most to them.

Stone Payton: Well, I’ll tell you, my experience has been as a ton of fun and I feel like I learned so much and have built, I mean, lifelong relationships that have sort of launched from having a conversation with someone on air. I got to tell you again, if you if you enjoy building relationships with people and you’re a life learner, get yourself a radio show. Don’t you agree? Oh, man, it is so much fun. Before we wrap, I’d love to circle back to this this idea, this topic of of burnout. And maybe if you could share, I don’t know, maybe a handful of pro tips things that we can be thinking about, reading, doing, not doing, just to make a little bit of headway against this, this thing called burnout.

Eva Medilek: Well, you know, I actually have a PDF called Five Ways to Reverse Burnout that if anybody’s, you know, even metallic dot com forward slash reverse burnout. But basically it really is being proactive to set yourself up to win and to create the energy that you need so that you don’t burn out. And so I would say the number one thing is to establish routines and especially a morning routine. A morning routine has been proven to wipe out 20% of stress and brings you preparedness for the day and again, reset like a pit stop. Don’t work on any one task, if you will, for more than an hour before you get up and take a break, move, have water, have an energy generating snack or whatever. But just give yourself that that break that those little breaks, strategic breaks in the day. I never schedule my meetings back to back. I always give a 15 minute buffer so that I can reset and recharge myself. And I think one of the number one things to preventing burnout or creating energy is to really make sure you get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep to optimize your performance per night. So those are three things you can start to do right now to just start generating more energy for your performance during the day.

Stone Payton: I am so glad that I asked. That sounds like marvelous counsel and I think the number one pro tip for those of you out there listening is reach out, have a conversation with Eva or someone on her team. Tap into this radio show of hers. Read the book. Attend to attend a class. Let’s make it easy for our listeners to connect with you and tap into your work. I want them to have access to this book. I want them to be able to get to the show. So whatever you feel like is appropriate website, LinkedIn, email. But let’s leave them with a with a way to connect with you.

Eva Medilek: Eva Oh, absolutely. My website is Eva Metallica, and you can actually download a free gift on there. You can read about the book and the form that I put on and you can have a link to listen to some of the past episodes of the radio show on there as well.

Stone Payton: Well, Eva, it has been an absolute delight having you on the program this afternoon. Thank you for sharing your insight, your perspective, your energy. This has been an inspiring, informative conversation and the work you’re doing is so important and it has such tremendous impact. I’m sure not only with the individuals and the teams you’re working with, but then in turn the people that they are leading with and and through. Thank you so much.

Eva Medilek: Well, I appreciate the opportunity to be on your show. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Eva Metalik and everyone here at the Business Radio X family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Cheri’ Benjamin with Village Premier Collection

November 14, 2022 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Cheri' Benjamin with Village Premier Collection

00:00 /

Cheri’ Benjamin is the CEO of The Benjamin Group, Village Premier Collection (VPC), and Weinsure Jag companies. She began her journey in Real Estate as a Loan Officer in 2000 and became a real estate agent in 2006.

Since then, Cheri’ has worked diligently to have VPC recognized as one of the top 5 commercial real estate brokerages in Metro Atlanta and ranked #676 on INC 5000. VPC is also the largest minority veteran and female-owned real estate brokerage in Georgia with over 470+ agents and 22 loan officers.

Cheri’ has been featured in several national and local publications including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Business Chronicle. She is regularly invited to share her expert real estate insight on Atlanta’s 11 Alive News, as well as a host of other Podcasts, radio, in-person speaking engagements and online interviews.

As a national real estate coach, she remains passionate about helping others flourish and is currently mentoring five brokers from around the U.S. Her vibrant personality and drive to get things done well makes for a pleasant, and always professional, real estate experience.

Cheri’ is also a proud US AIR FORCE Veteran, values being active in her local community and is a family-oriented individual. She and her husband have 5 sons.

Follow Village Premier Collection on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Growing a business from fewer than 50 agents to a multi-million dollar company in 10 states and several markets
Slow to hire, quick to fire
Character traits that have helped become successful in business

This 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.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. This is going to be a fantastic conversation and it’s part of our real estate series. Please join me in welcoming to the show CEO with the Benjamin Group, Village Premier Collection and Weinsure JAG companies. Ms.. Cheri’ Benjamin, how are you?

Cheri’ Benjamin: How are you? Stone Thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m well, but I’m feeling a little less than accomplished as I rattle off three different companies. My goodness. Tell us a little bit about mission Purpose. What are you in in your teams out there really trying to do for folks?

Cheri’ Benjamin: When a person really gets to understand who I am, you understand what drives me. It’s just a lot of what I’ve seen that wasn’t out there. A lot of leading with a lot more compassion and empathy and all of that. And I’ve just been in this for a while and there’s just a lot of things I saw. And, you know, whenever we have our opportunity to make a change and be a part of that change, I think we should just go and jump ten toes into it.

Stone Payton: Are we talking residential real estate? What is the focus here?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Yeah, so it is in reference to real estate. So Village Premier Collection is founded in the heart of Atlanta, right in the middle of Atlanta. We are at the intersection of Linux and Piedmont. We sit in that Atlanta tech village. The owner of that building is actually who our founder is, and I purchased it from him and we used to be called Village Realty, but I bought that back in 2019. It’s really funny how that happened. I was his very first agent that he hired ever. So seeing the growth of what that company did over the five years that I was there prior to owning it was a was a good accomplishment for him. For him, it’s just that he got involved in a lot of different tech startups where, you know, ATV is the fourth largest tech hub in the US, so he has his hands in a lot of different things. And then we had this little itty bitty old baby brokerage that I said, You know what? I think I’ve got a couple of ideas of what I can do with this. So I’ve just taken that and we’ve had a great amount of growth over the last now three years, even through the course of the pandemic. So yeah, it’s been a fun ride. And so all of them kind of feed into that. The Benjamin Group is a team and then you’ve got we Insure is a property and casualty company also.

Stone Payton: All right. So if you don’t mind, let’s go back a little bit further. How did you get into this line of work, into the real estate arena? Were you in a different profession prior to that?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Oh, I was. And from when I was a little gal that was very young, I was always encouraged to just, you know, it was hard work and make sure you’re true to who you are. I went to school. I’m originally from Maryland, but then we migrated on down to Atlanta to help my parents help start up the Georgia Lottery back in 94. You know, when you say that time, I feel like it’s only like 20 years ago. But it’s not 20 years ago. But it’s okay. But in my mind, I’m like, oh, no, that was like just 20 years. No, it was like almost 30. Okay. But that’s when we went down there. I went, I actually graduated from Lithia Springs High School out in Lithia Springs, Georgia, when I was 16 with a 4.0. And I got a bunch of scholarships, I’ll tell you that. But then I really it just wasn’t school wasn’t challenging enough to me for some odd reason. So I decided to go into the Air Force where I could kind of grow and test my limits and in different ways that traditional academics couldn’t do. I rose through our ranks, got a top secret clearance. It’s I had a nice, tough job. I, I always tell people, I say I carried a nine work every day.

Cheri’ Benjamin: I worked underground. Then you had to go through a cage. Then you had to take an elevator to go a little bit further underground, where I sat side by side with the with the general of our base on these decisions. So a lot of B lines and IAMS and all of that fun stuff you see in movies. Yeah, that was I was one of those people, but I actually got out of the military, I want to say back in 90 now, 99, I got out of the Air Force, My ex husband and I moved to Colorado, try to get a fresh start. He was still in the Army at the time. I tried to become a stay at home mom. And let me tell you, kudos to every stay at home mama that’s out there because there’s no way I could do that. That just was not my thing. And I stumbled across this ad one day for a loan officer position and I answered the ad, and I don’t know what was wrong with those people, but I actually got hired, but once again rose through those ranks. I ended up closing the most amount of transactions, and I think my record still stands from the last I was told in that company, and it only took me three months to do that.

Cheri’ Benjamin: But as Baby number three started making its way on, we decided to move out of Colorado and move back. You closer to Atlanta, where my family was a few years after that, we got divorced, and that’s kind of where my real estate side of my career took off. And then, yeah, so let me think. 2016, I joined a company, coaching company, stayed with them for a while and then rose through those ranks to becoming one of their national coaches, where I helped a lot of agents go from 200,000. My personal achievement was helping them go from 200,000 to over 2 million in profit in 12 months of their their 12 month profit worth. And then, like I said, in 2019, I bought Village in. When I purchased it, we had 118 agents, 51 of them left immediately. So the acquisition happened. So that was rough. And then a pandemic hit, which made it even harder. But, you know, today we are just shy of 500 agents. So we’ve had a massive amount of growth in the last three years. And we’ve also added on 22 loan officers. So it’s been it’s been a ride stone, I tell you. But that’s kind of how the start really happened and how we got here.

Stone Payton: Well, other than your obvious charm and your contagious enthusiasm, what do you attribute the growth and the success to? How did you crack the code on this growth?

Cheri’ Benjamin: You know, I it’s really hard to say exactly one thing, but I there’s core values. You know, when you serve, there are certain things that stick with you forever. I believe that at least it’s stuck with me forever. Honesty service before self integrity in everything that you do. So I’m really big on core values, living them out, holding myself, holding others accountable, putting those blinders on, and just staying fully focused on your commitments. Some people say goals. I use the word commitments because I think that when you commit to doing something, you do it rather than a goal that you can keep on pushing out and pushing out and pushing out a little bit further. So, you know, being a veteran and at the time, I think a big part of my shift and a little bit of who I am really came from when September the 11th happened. And, you know, I look at my younger children right now who don’t understand the impact that it had in our country. My ex was stationed down at Fort Carson. I was pregnant with our with my third. I’ve got five boys. So I had to figure out which kid it was with a third son. His birthday is actually September the 15th of 2001, so he came out four days after that.

Cheri’ Benjamin: But one of the things, you know, I remember being pregnant and watching those burning buildings, tearing down and tears coming down my face and everything. It was just it was so life altering. And I think that those of us that were blessed to be alive during those times and that we’re still alive now, we the one thing we remember the most is September the 11th. But the number one thing that stands true to me is not September the 11th. It’s September the 12th, because on September the 12th is when we fell back in love with our countries. September the 12th is when we all became brothers and sisters. The the the things that we see on social media and all that stuff that happens in our our country right now was not happening on September the 12th. We were one nation, one cause. And for me, from that day forward, especially being a spouse of someone who later went to war, and I lost a lot of a lot of people and I have a lot of friends who were left without their spouse and children, who were left without their parents or one of their parents from that that it’s it’s made it to where I’m just so determined that I’m going to leave my mark and my mark is going to be a positive one.

Cheri’ Benjamin: It’s the love, the the dedication that I believe that I’m instilling in my organization. And that’s just true to the gut of who I am. There’s a proverb. It’s called a mutu, and it’s an African proverb. And it means that I am because you are, which is very hard for people to understand. We don’t get anywhere in life without the assistance and the help of others. So outside of just I am because you are. That’s a hard thing for someone to understand. I’m going to poor and I’m going to invest into you for the greater good of you without looking for an indirect return for me. And I just understand that if I put great out, then good always comes back to me. And that’s really just the core of it. And I think that operation Out of Love first, putting your agents first, going deeper than what you’re comfortable going deep with to understand who they are and taking yourself out of the equation is really how you can create a shift. And I believe that’s what I believe, that that’s probably the magic a part of the businesses that I’ve been able to grow. It’s about the people and it’s about hearing them and understanding them and really just putting them first.

Stone Payton: Well, you make such a marvelous point. And no doubt with with what you’ve accomplished and the teams that you have built, you certainly have have landed on some some discipline, some some things that you are just going to live by when it comes to recruiting, developing, retaining folks. I bet you have a good little list of do’s and don’ts and principles that you live by in this regard, don’t you?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Oh, yeah. There are standards and you’ve got to meet those every day. I mean, there are you have to have discipline. I mean, discipline is laser focus, right? And I always tell people I said, you think about a racehorse and there’s a reason why they wear blinders because they’re not looking to the left or the right. Right. It’s that beauty. It’s that. And when you think about how powerful they are, that focus is that discipline. But the constant pursuit is your diligence and you must have the diligence there. You leaders as leaders, we have these commitments and we need to keep those commitments. And so I wholeheartedly believe in showing up. I believe in doing what you say you’re going to do every single time. I live in Las Vegas, I lived in Las Vegas since I’ve purchased this company. I lived in Las Vegas before I even bought the company. It takes discipline. It takes diligence to operate 2000 miles away from your entire team. And remember, Stone, I said we entered into a pandemic right after I bought it. Six months, actually six months, almost six months after it, our world started to shut down. And so there wasn’t any traveling for me to go back and forth and go into Atlanta, to touch and to love on them and to help them and all of those things.

Cheri’ Benjamin: So I had to do the things that I knew I could do. Thank goodness for Zoom, thank goodness for modern technology. But part of that is also, you know, I had agents that told me, you know what, Sheree? I have a lot of things I have to do. I need to start getting up earlier. So I cannot that out. I’m committed to waking up at 4 a.m.. And I’ll tell you this. Stone they told me that they were committed to waking up at 4 a.m.. I set my alarm for 1 a.m. and at 1 a.m. I woke up and I texted them, Are you up yet? Wow. Making sure you’re awake because that’s what they told me they wanted to do. I’m not holding anyone accountable to something that I believe that they should do. It’s them about them. It’s their legacy. It’s their commitment. It’s what they’re driving and striving in order to achieve. I’m going to stand there and I’m going to say that I’m willing to go through this with you supporters. You know, the word support is a verb to me.

Stone Payton: Did it take a while to to get good at this? Was there some scar tissue along the way? Did you fall and skinned your knee when it came to hiring and firing?

Cheri’ Benjamin: And of course, we don’t go through anything. But you know what? I believe it takes dirt in order to grow. You know, you think about a plant, you think about a tree, you think about something solid. It takes dirt in order to grow. And so there’s not a such thing as a failure. Do we all have the wrong hires at time? Absolutely. But I do thank them for the time that they were willing to commit. I do appreciate the effort that they gave, whether or not it was the right fit for that position. I do at least show enough gratitude for them showing up every day and making that attempt. Now we have to make a lot of adjustments. There’s tons of pitfalls that happen on a daily basis and trying to grow to where you’re where we’re ultimately trying to get to. And I don’t put a ceiling on any parts of that. You know, there’s a lot of different things that in decisions that come my way all day long, and it’s just about what’s best for everyone as a whole, not necessarily what’s best for Shari, you know, And that’s how I’ve just chosen to lead, is to take my person, my personal self out of it and look at everyone else and where are we collectively getting to and can we collectively get there faster based upon whatever this decision is? And how does that help us as a whole?

Stone Payton: Well, you are clearly finding the work incredibly rewarding. What are you enjoying the most at this point in your career? What’s the most fun about it?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Oh, boy. The most fun is when I see them reach a new level. It’s almost like you know us as parents. When we see our kids hitting certain milestones, it’s that proud feeling. Sometimes it’s a little bit overwhelming, that proud feeling that comes. But that’s the thing that I’ll be honest with you. It keeps me going. I had an agent one time tell me, you know, I say I am because you are. And she had hit a huge milestone in her career and she was so excited. And she messaged me and she said, you know, I know you say I am because you are. And she said to me, I am because you had the courage to be. And Stone, I tell you, when all the waterworks came, she sent me that message. I was in the middle of a meeting and I looked down and I said, Oh my goodness. And I couldn’t contain it. I couldn’t hold it back because. It’s. It’s as if they get it. They understand. And the job is not easy, but the job is a service. And I just believe that servant hood just goes so much further than trying to just get everything for yourself. And when you see that people understand, it’s just like when your kids finally become adults and I have adult kids and I’ve got a little one. So these five boys, they go from 23 down to six. And when the older ones come and say, You know what, Mom, I know that this one time was hard for you and I know what you did. And thank you so much for not giving up on me or thank you so much for sacrificing for me. It’s it’s kind of that same exact feeling. And that feeling is really what keeps me grinding and it keeps me going, you know, every day.

Stone Payton: Okay, let’s get a little bit of a state of the industry, state of the climate, if you will. What’s happening in real estate at this point in time? What’s happening now?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Whoa, boy, I tell you, Turn off the news, everyone, now. We service a lot of states, so I do have a little bit of a different perspective. We are in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Nevada, and Washington. So I’m just going to give you a little perspective from that. Actually, I think it was a Bloomberg I saw a quote the other day that said 37% of real estate agents couldn’t pay their rent in October, which was actually up 10% from September. So these rising interest rates are affecting not just the consumers, but they’re also affecting your real estate agents, your loan officers, mortgage companies. It’s impacting all service industries, your painters, your electricians, your flooring, your FAC, your remodeling contractors, people who install appliances, people who want you to come purchase these new appliances. It really affects so many different people outside of just what the general public thinks. Real estate agents, loan officers. That’s what the general public thinks. It has a far greater reach than that. Inflation is making everyone hold on to their money, like when we were hoarding toilet paper back during the pandemic. Know interest rates have been creeping up closer to 8% and everybody is really worried about buying. But I’ll tell you, you know, when I started back in 99, we were at 8%. I remember that if I offered a 7.875 interest rate, seven and 3/8, people were like, Oh my goodness, it’s a steal. Take it. You know? And so I kind of I really do get it. I get why we had a raise in the interest rates. I think that the rates are probably going to end up settling coming down to about five and one half to six and one half percent.

Cheri’ Benjamin: I think that’s probably where we’re going to be at. We see it tether a little bit up and down from there, but I think somewhere in that 1% range of that five and one half to six and one half percent, if I was a betting woman, that’s kind of where I think we’ll end up landing. Home prices are starting to level out because the government’s trying their best to stabilize our economy, and that’s really why we’re seeing these rate hikes. The good thing is that we don’t have as many people that are panic buying like we did back in this time last year. You know, we saw a lot of that where people were going in and offering 50, 100 grand over on the price of what the sellers were even asking for that house, you know. So we don’t have a lot of that right now. Instead, they are a lot of the buyers have been pulling back because they’re afraid to buy. And here’s one thing that I think the buyers really need to know and understand is that sellers are doing negotiations again. And the sellers that we’re seeing that are coming on the market are not sellers or they’re just coming on to throw it against the wall to see what sticks they’re actually selling because they truly want out of their home. That means that they’re really willing to negotiate and to listen to what the buyers requests are. You know, I have a we have some few listings now that are we’re starting to see sellers are paying closing costs against sellers or know, getting a little bit less for their home or if they’re getting more for their homes or getting right at the asking price is because the buyers are now getting those closing costs paid back again as if it was pre pandemic.

Cheri’ Benjamin: And that’s really what we’re shifting back towards. You know, home equity is still going to continue to rise. It might not be at this 15 to 20% that we saw in the last two years. Typically, year over year, the increase is about 4 to 6%. And that’s kind of what we believe that we’re starting to see and where we’re going to level out at. Again, I’m one of the believers that what the pandemic did was actually re correct where we should have been. If you remember back in 2008, our tale of 2007 going into 2008, so right around 2013 or 14, that deep that that real recession that we were in and how the housing prices just plummeted down and everyone was upside down in their homes. If you just go back to that phase, go back to zero eight and just calculate a 4 to 6% increase year over year on that one home from when they bought it. Right. So they bought it pre the recession. Kidding. And you just did the 4 to 6% year over year. Each year you would land right on where home prices are today. So that’s why I kind of believe that what we went through in the recession just kind of are not the recession. I’m sorry. The pandemic shifted us right back to where what you would have been paying for the homes had that not have happened.

Stone Payton: Real estate strikes me as such a competitive arena. I got to ask, how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for an organization like yours, work for you, work for your agents? How do you go to market and differentiate yourself and get that new business, get the listings and that kind of thing?

Cheri’ Benjamin: I think it’s just very different. So the power of social media has shifted a lot of things now. So you’re seeing a lot of agents go to where their clients are. We all have phones nowadays. We typically have them in our hands and our pockets and our purse or wherever that might be. But our phones are generally with us and just about everyone is on some sort of a social platform. And that’s what you’re seeing real estate agents do now is going to where their clients are there not as many that are doing the radio or the the traditional radio, let’s say that, or the TV ads. They are shifting a lot more into the social media. A lot of the when you think about it, there’s a lot of people that are doing a lot more connected TV. So we’re seeing real estate agents shift over into connected TV rather than doing your traditional channel. Three’s Channel fives, those type of stations. They’re going to the Hulu’s and they’re going to those types of connected TVs now because that’s where most people are shifting to. I know for myself, I being honest, I don’t watch the news at all. I don’t watch any of them because I just I I’d rather have my own thoughts. I think if you’re of one opinion, you watch one station, if you’re another paying, you watch another station, and they all appeal to who their listeners and who their audience is.

Cheri’ Benjamin: I just could just take the bullet points and that’s it. And I can make my own decisions based upon that, you know? And so with that being said, though, there is some strength still in certain radio. There’s strength in podcasts, there’s strength in your series, your XM radio’s your iHeart stations, and that’s where I’m seeing real estate agents shift to. What I do believe is that. Buyers and sellers. All of us are looking for more of a sense of community. You know, we had two years of not being able to be around each other in the fashion that we chose to. Let me say that to where now more agents are starting to develop that. It’s more of a sense of community. It’s not this old, you know, get an Internet lead and let me go close it right now, know, build relationships with people. This is a relationship business. And, you know, it actually makes me smell that we are shifting more to going back to that. And the agents that I believe are having more success are those that believe in building relationships with their clients, not just treating their clients like another transaction.

Stone Payton: I’m so glad that I asked, and I think that’s incredibly wise, Counsel. I’d like to go back to this character conversation for a moment if if we could, because I sense that there’s so much more you could you have to share with us. Aren’t there some some aspects of your personal character that that you’ve identified or you reflect back on and say, okay, you know, that’s maybe part of why I’ve made a go of this thing. Character traits that not only we should maybe try to identify in ourselves, but maybe be looking for as we’re trying to grow our own teams.

Cheri’ Benjamin: Yeah, you know, I, I, I think that I kind of command attention.

Stone Payton: Yes, you do. That box is checked.

Cheri’ Benjamin: Okay. I speak with a little bit of authority when I’m talking business. I trust myself, and I just don’t compromise on that. I’m very analytical, though, and so I tend to see holes in business strategies and scale until I have the tools to overcome any roadblocks, you know, just kind of slowly growing my growth. When I purchased Village, I looked at the budget and I immediately changed that overhead, which was way beyond its growth trajectory. And I think that’s where a lot of business owners and when we’re speaking about real estate agents, I truly believe that real estate agents are a little different. Real estate agents are 1099. You know, they hang their license at their companies. And so therefore, they are really all business owners and they are the CEO of their business and they should treat their businesses as such. And that’s that’s a really core thing for me. You know, the staff of originally of 118 agents when I acquired it is that I had then is actually equivalent to the staff that we have right now that supporting almost 500 people. You know, I have the ability to kind of adapt to any situation or group of people, and I try my best to be a really good listener. I was encouraged to explore many different cultures growing up so that I can kind of adjust to any scenario or situation that I’m in.

Cheri’ Benjamin: A technique that I think that really helps is I’ve learned how to mirror the way the person speaks to me and by mirroring and matching their body language, their vocal cadence, it creates a level of trust and a feeling of comfort and ease, and that causes people to open up about their wants in their needs. This approach really helps me, especially when I’m coaching an agent, because as soon as I see a little bit of a glimmer of light, I kind of like to pour kerosene on it and help them turn that down all the way up on whatever their hopes and what their dreams are, you know? And then this also benefits the clients because I can decipher what they’re truly looking at, desiring and help them come up with a strategy in order to make that happen. And as I said before, you know, it’s like it’s my purpose is really to help amplify what people want and gain faith in their own abilities. So I just believe that that’s probably some of those characteristics of myself that has just poured over into business that is really helped me.

Stone Payton: Yeah. I am not at all convinced that you’re qualified to answer this next question, but I like to ask it of many of my guests, and I’m going to take a swing at it anyway if it ever occurs. How do you choose to address the the fear of failure?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Uh, yeah. I believe that failure is when you quit. The reality is, if you’re persevering, then you’re not failing. You’re learning a lesson. If you’re shifting to understanding something new or different, once you embrace that reality, it changes the way you think all the way around. Remember I said it takes dirt in order to grow. Right. For progress is how we stay in alignment with our purpose. If you don’t understand what your purpose is, you know that’s okay. Because as it comes to you, as long as you just keep on moving forward, you know, release some of that pressure that we put on ourselves for you to get to whatever that outcome is and that fear of failure. I just believe you have to. We give Grace out so much and we don’t give grace to ourselves. And we really have to when we’re learning something, when we’re growing through things, we have to have grace with ourselves and just understand that what you’re doing, you’re not failing your learning and you just say it as many times as you need to. I’m not failing. I’m learning, right? And then ask yourself, what am I learning? And then be sure to look back and evaluate your process and your progress. Right? Athletes, I love sports, so I do do a lot of sports.

Cheri’ Benjamin: When I talk to people, I relate things into sports a lot. I love sports. It’s all it’s typically like a team effort that goes behind a lot of it. There’s different layers. You know, you have coaches, you have the people that are grinding, you have the people that are that are sitting there calculating the Xs and the O’s. Wow. The live action is happening. Everything that has to do with it. I really love sports. And when you look at it, think about an athlete and think about the coaches and think about the people who go over the game plan. What do they do once they’re done? They look at game film. Why? Because they’re looking to gain a closer look into every era that could possibly be there to help them further improvement. If a lineman, for example, steps back on the wrong foot, he might not protect his quarterback the right way. And sometimes you don’t see that until you watch your game film. So one of the things that I’ve always told people is that you have to look at your game film. Do not be afraid of that. It’s it’s going to help propel you forward. Looking at your game, film and studying those things and honing in on those skills and that skill set that you need.

Cheri’ Benjamin: I definitely believe that sometimes you have to slow down the process in order to speed up the results. And a lot of times people have a fear of even doing that because they have a fear of failing. And what they don’t understand is that when you slow down the process sometimes and you give yourself the grace and you understand that you’re learning and you take a look back and you look at your game film, you see where your errors were, you then go into correcting. What you do is you almost put yourself in a slingshot so that when it’s time you catapult past anyone that might have been just keep on trucking along and not taking a look at it. So that’s kind of how I’ve always been able to address my personal fear of failure. I just take it and throw it out the window. I look at my game film, I give myself grace. I understand that I’m just learning. And then I always watch what is going on in between the ears because we talk to ourselves more than what others talk to us, and we are the person that we really need to listen to. And that’s really the tongue that we need to watch.

Stone Payton: If we could adopt the disciplines and engage in the habits that you’re describing, I have to believe that it would not only have a significant impact on our on our professional lives, but that’s got to bleed over into our personal lives, make us better husbands, spouses, fathers. All of that, right?

Cheri’ Benjamin: Yeah, it improved to me. I think it improves every aspect of your life and improves your parenting skills because you’re able to relate to your children when they’re frustrated or they’re feeling defeated. And you can really encourage their growth. It makes you a better spouse, a better partner, because you can offer support when they feel like giving up. And you can be that rock in business, you can redirect those you lead to show them what they’re learning rather than them seeing that they’re failing. You become the rock for others. When they think they’ve lost, you’re able to show them the opportunity and those lessons. It’s so powerful to see them become re-energized and go back into the world. And just knowing that you played a little bit of a role in that or a great role in that is so self fulfilling that it just it to me, I know for myself, it just keeps me doing it even more.

Stone Payton: I do not want to end this conversation, and I’m going to because I have to let you get back to running all your companies and leading your people. But oh my goodness, what a delight this has been. Thank you so much for investing the time and energy to share your perspective. I have found this this conversation inspiring, informative. I know our listeners have as well. Let’s make sure that they have an easy path to connect with you or someone on your team about real estate or, I don’t know, maybe even about some of these other topics. Whatever you feel like is appropriate website, you know, whatever. But I want I want folks to be able to tap into your work. This is fantastic.

Cheri’ Benjamin: Oh, thank you so much. Stone So, yeah, so my our website, our main site is just village premier, No E on the intercom and then anyone can reach me. My name is Sherry and it’s spelled c h e r i. So if you have friends, you might say Sherry, but it’s Sherry at Village Premier dot com and if anyone wants to give us a call, it’s especially for the Atlanta listeners it’s 40496543 80 and I am more than happy to schedule a time to talk with any one of your listeners.

Stone Payton: Well, Sherry, thank you. Again, this has been marvelous and what a terrific way to end to invest a Thursday afternoon. Thank you so much.

Cheri’ Benjamin: Thank you. Stone And thanks for all your listeners for taking the time out.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Sherry Benjamin and everyone here at the Business Radio X family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.