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Developing Your Leaders to Multiply Your Leaders

In this episode, Cord Sachs of Fireseeds sits down with me (in person!). Cord Sachs is a leader of leaders. He is someone who understands his calling in life and uses it to impact people and businesses everywhere. He took the time to sit down with me and share some very important information that will have a serious impact on the way you develop your business.

During this interview I was taking notes as furiously as I could. During the editing process I took even more notes. Cord gives us some amazing insight into one of the most fundamental elements of building a business that will have an impact in the community. A business that will not only make money, but that will impact the lives of those it has the privilege to serve.

Leader development. 

Cord gives us insight into how to create a “multiplying movement of multiplying leaders” in our own business. Cord shows us how developing leaders who develop leaders within our organization is how we can create a legacy in our business. We talk about how important it is for you, as the business owner, to understand your vision, mission, and values so you can teach it to your leaders. How developing an intentional process of developing leaders within your business is one of the essential building blocks of building a business that lasts into the third and fourth generation.

“Most companies don’t die from starvation, they die from indigestion.”

In this episode we discussed:

    • Creating a multiplying movement of multiplying leaders in your business
    • How to become a multiplying leader
    • Investing in other people to multiply yourself in leadership
    • How development of leaders should be holistic
    • The difference between training and development
    • Being intentional about the development of your team
    • Building a legacy in your business because of the impact of your intentional leadership is how to find your greatest satisfaction in business
    • Finding your passion in the market place
    • Creating a pipeline of dynamic leaders that buy in to the mission of your company
    • You can’t have a dynamic culture without great leaders
    • Starting from the beginning as a founder with a clear plan for developing your leaders
    • Impacting your people so you can impact your customers
    • If you aren’t developing the people in your business, your business won’t make it to the third or fourth generation
    • Focusing on building a system, process, and strategy to reproduce the culture of your business
      • If you don’t focus on a strategy for your leadership, you will not have leaders that can reproduce the culture that makes your company work
    • Culture makes everyone feel like they are moving in the same direction
    • Creating your own selection process for finding a mentor
    • A culture that attracts great leaders is a culture that is known as one who grows its people.
    • Great leaders are always hungry to develop and grow

“There is no impact without contact.”

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

If you are looking to learn more about the multiplying movement of multiplying leaders, make sure to check out the new Fireseeds Newsletter!

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Action Step

Cord tells us in this episode about how you, as a leader, always need to be growing and developing yourself. As a community of entrepreneurs, we should be helping one another sharpen our leadership skills and helping one another learn and grow. In an effort to spur one another on, let’s start by sharing our larger story. Let’s talk about our visions, missions, and values. If we all share with one another, who knows, we may find strong connections (or even potential mentors) in the comments.

“The quickest way to have a ceiling in your company is to stop developing yourself. You have to grow to continue to add value to those you are leading.” 

So, tell us about your larger story! How is our community changing the world around us. What legacy are we building? Let us know in the comments.

John Burdett on Practical Business Processes

In this episode, we learn about John Burdett’s story. John is the founder of Fast Slow Motion. John has quite a resume and he understands how to build business processes for bootstrapped startups all the way to venture backed ventures. John understands what it takes to make a business to run in all circumstances. John is good at working himself out of a job by building operational procedures and bridging the gap between the business side and the technical side of businesses. John works as the glue that brings it all together.

In this interview, we talk with John about how to get started developing the business processes that will help you be successful. No matter what the ultimate purpose you have for your business.

“A process is never static.”

In this episode we discussed:

  • How you can’t build the perfect product and you can’t just sell anything, but you need to meet somewhere in the middle.
  • Building business processes to make you successful.
  • How dangerous it is to scale without business processes in place.
  • Simply purchasing technology can’t solve the underlying problem of a bad processes.
  • Building practical  business processes. You can’t have a perfect process, but you need to have one that works.
  • Understanding what is good enough to take it to the next level.
  • How to get started building business processes. Starting with your sales process.
  • Understanding your process and being consistent in implementing them.
  • Understanding the core metrics you need out of your process.
  • Using process to counteract the weaknesses of the founders. How to use those metrics to make important business decisions.
  • How important it is to get a minimum viable product in front of the customer to get real feedback on your product.
  • It is okay to fail. It is just important to learn why you failed as it is to know why you succeed. If you don’t know why, you can’t repeat it.
  • Fail fast. Test. Then Correct the problems. That is how you scale.
  • Building process matters whether you are you are looking to scale and exit.
  • Process is just as important if you are looking to build a family legacy. Without processes, you can’t pass your business on and you can’t go on vacation.
  • If you don’t build processes and your business depends solely on you, you have “built your own prison”.
  • Planning for how you will get out of your business. Whether it is exiting, selling, or retiring every business needs to be built to sell or pass along.
  • Building your processes with the end goal in mind. Know how you want to use your business and how you need to protect it.

“Put a process in place, so you can adapt it and learn from it and not make the same mistake twice.”

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

John’s Action Step:

Start early. Put a process in place. Do it early and you can prevent problems. Start with your sales process. Create a process that lets you know why you were successful and why you were not, so you can repeat it. In the episode, I start by laying out the process I am focused on in my business, and encourage everyone to leave a comment to discuss the processes we are building. Let’s help each other build something great and talk about it in the comments!

Jim Cavale on Developing Your Business Purpose

In this episode we learn more about Jim Cavale’s journey as an entrepreneur. Jim is the Chief Operating Officer of Iron Tribe Fitness.

We talk about building teams and building businesses to further your business purpose. Jim tells us how, as an entrepreneur, you need to put systems in place. Your first goal should not be to do everything yourself to keep all of the money. If you do that, you will still be trading time for money. Instead, invest in people. To do that, you need:

  • A process to attract the right people for your business purpose.
  • A process to teach them the processes for the brand, so the brand can fulfill the client experience even when you are not there.

In this Episode We Discussed:

  • What your business really sells. Jim says Iron Tribe doesn’t sell fitness, they sell transformation.
  • Aligning your business purpose with your success.
  • Finding people who exude your values so you don’t have to put them on your t-shirt
  • Mapping out all the systems to build your business. That way, if you fell off the face of the earth, people could still execute your system and change lives with your vision, mission, and purpose.
  • Direct Response Marketing. Give more information about your brand to help people know more about who you are and what you can do to help them. This helps to share your vision, mission, and values. It sells what you are really selling. Help people take the next step to learn more about your brand. People do not simply make a buying decision the first time they see you. They want to look at their options 7-10 times before they buy. So, create the materials and help people make the decision to work with you.
  • Experimenting with your marketing strategy. Know what works and what doesn’t.
  • Writing out your organizational structure. Just because you love to do something, doesn’t mean you should have a business doing it. You need to think intentionally, with a plan, to make sure your business idea can work.

 “If you aren’t willing to read, you probably shouldn’t start a business.”

 Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

“If we don’t achieve our purpose, we won’t achieve our bottom line financially”

Converting an LLC to a Corporation with Tony Summerville

Tony Summerville joins us to talk about when it is time to convert your bootstrapped LLC to a corporation. Tony is the founder and CEO of Fleetio. Tony has been working in technology for quite some time before taking the plunge to start his own company. Tony has really thought through why he made the decision to convert his LLC to a corporation. The LLC has so much flexibility and gives companies the ability to make changes when it is time and it makes sense for your business. As we talk, Tony gives us a behind-the-scenes view of how and why he made the decision to convert the LLC he formed when he started Fleetio to a corporation in an effort to give his employees a stake in the business.

In this episode, we discussed:

  • Why you would convert an LLC to a Corporation
  • Using equity to attract talent when you don’t pay top dollar
  • Seeking advice from counsel (entrepreneurs, accountants, and lawyers)
  • Why a C-Corporation may make sense for your business
  • Some ways accounting affects the decision of conversion
  • Double Taxation versus Flow Through Taxation
  • Vesting schedules
  • Classes of Equity
  • Protections for a majority Shareholder
  • Using company stock as a way of rewarding employees
  • Choosing flexibility in your entity early on

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Tony sent me these links as the ones he used when researching for his decision. (Linking to these posts is not an endorsement. These articles are not created by attorneys, but do come from those who have experience with the decision to convert your LLC to a Corporation and how to give stock to your employees).

 “Stock becomes a sort of currency that you can use to motivate employees or keep them around for a longer term.”

Henry Glover on Keeping up with Contracts

Henry Glover joins us to talk about keeping up with your contracts. Henry is the principal of Red Rock Insurance Group, LLC. Henry started selling life insurance door-to-door in college. Then he went in to banking. While he was banking, he knew that the corporate environment wasn’t for him. He tells us that it didn’t matter what he started, but he knew he needed to start something. He started with what he knew and branched out from there.

LINKS!

We talked about a few sites today. If you are just trying to grab the links, you can look here:

Henry started Red Rock himself by networking and getting to know wholesalers of his product. He says he needed strong relationships, good timing, and an excellent business model to get started.

“I really didn’t care if I started a soap factory or started an insurance brokerage. I knew insurance, I didn’t know soap. I just wanted something I could call my own”

Henry has focused his business model on working with individuals and small businesses. He says it is underserved by independent agents.
Being in insurance, Henry has a lot of contracts he has to read and maintain. In the episode, we talked about several things that can help you in your business as you read contracts.

Term of Contracts

Henry says you need to know how long a contract lasts. Make sure you know when it is over. This is called the “term” of the contract. Henry says, he uses Asana to remind him to review contracts and remind him when he is supposed to send renewals or cancellations for contracts when the time comes up. It is also important to pay attention to the length of the contract term, so you know you need to renegotiate for a new contract before the term is up.

Renewal of Contracts

It is easy to miss how a contract is renewed. The scariest contract renewal clause is one that renews automatically. Henry says it can be helpful because you know the contract will continue. That is unless you forgot you even signed the contract! It is bad when you receive an invoice twelve months after signing a contract you didn’t even use after you started. Make sure to pay attention to the renewal clause in every contract you sign. This could have a huge impact on the bottom line of your business.

Termination of Contracts

Henry talks about the “cost” associated with a contract. Many times, there is a fee to terminate a contract early. When you are trying to plan your business finances, you need to know you are getting the best price in your contract. Make sure, though, if you are looking to go with a  different company that offers a lower price, you know how much it will cost you to change companies. Often, you will have some type of early termination fee. Before you try to move to another contract, you need to know what that fee is, it may change your planning because the lower cost may not be worth it when considered with the early termination fee.

You also need to pay attention to how termination is defined in each contract you sign. Henry uses a credit card merchant company as an example. How is termination defined? Is it canceling the contract? Signing a new contract? Is there a fee if you terminate? Make sure you don’t cost yourself extra money by accidentally terminating a contract by an action you don’t even know is termination. Make sure you know how the contract is terminated.

“Regularly review your contracts. You may find something you missed before.”

Always Study Contracts

No matter how many contracts you have read, each new contract should be read by itself. You must read every contract you sign. You never know if something has changed or what matters in your business now that didn’t matter the last time you read a contract similar to this.

Henry tells us that he keeps a folder of all of the contracts that are signed on his computer. He makes sure to keep track of the amendments and other signed documents for each individual or business with whom he has contracts. He also uses Asana to remind him to review those contracts before the term is up.

Henry also tells us how reviewing contracts often helps him understand the revenue model in the contract or to understand clauses he never thought of before because they matter to him at the time he is reviewing the contract.

If you are an entrepreneur, you must be a student of contracts. They affect every part of your business, so make sure you understand them.