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Michael Agri with North Atlantic Consultants

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Houston Business Radio
Michael Agri with North Atlantic Consultants
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Michael -AgriMichael Agri is a seasoned Technology Advisor and founder of North Atlantic Consultants, a firm that specializes in helping businesses navigate the complex world of IT, telecom, cloud services, and cybersecurity.

With over 16 years of experience, Michael works as an independent agent—offering no-cost, unbiased guidance by connecting clients with hundreds of vetted technology providers. His mission: simplify tech, reduce costs, and help businesses thrive through smart, customer-first solutions.

In his conversation with Trisha, Michael shared how he entered the field after being inspired by a former boss and the freedom of entrepreneurship. He discussed his approach to helping clients select the right solutions—ranging from VoIP phone systems and internet connectivity to cloud platforms like AWS and security services—based not on commission but on customer satisfaction and performance.

Michael explained how his clients benefit from his insider knowledge and network of top providers. He also highlighted the community aspect of his business through events like Tech at the Park and his involvement with the Port Orange South Daytona Chamber of Commerce.

Based in Florida, Michael balances tech advisory with family life and a passion for supporting local businesses with tools that power sustainable growth and connection.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljagr
Website: https://northatlanticconsultants.com/

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Michael Agri, a seasoned technology advisor with North Atlantic Consultants. For more than a decade, Michael has been a trusted partner to organizations navigating the complex world of IT, telecom and cybersecurity. He helps businesses find the right solutions for VoIP voice over IP. For those of you who are not technology inclined, uh, for those phone systems, internet connectivity managed, IT support cloud services and security, all with unbiased advice and no cost to his clients. Michael is passionate about building community through networking and events like his annual tech at the park. And he’s here to share how smart tech choices can save time, money and stress. Michael, welcome to the show!

Michael Agri: What an awesome introduction. Thank you Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: You’re welcome. You know, I like to do this because we don’t do it ourselves. So it’s nice to hear all of these amazing things. Right, right. So excited to have you on the show today. And, you know, technology even before we got started, number one, it’s a bear. You probably hear that all the time. Where do I go? How do I do this? Before we dive into all of the technical stuff, Michael, tell us a little bit more about you and how you serve your clients.

Michael Agri: Yeah. So technology is a big word, right? When you hear the word technology advisor, you’re like, well, what aspect of technology? And, um, what we do is a is a trusted advisor is we’re experts that help businesses choose, implement and manage the right technology to help improve their operations and reduce costs. And um, I’m partnered with, um, a couple what’s called SDS, which stands for Technology Solutions Distributors. And what these folks do is they give people like myself access to hundreds of providers. And these are some of the biggest technology providers in the world Microsoft, Google, Amazon, uh, RingCentral, um, Vonage. Um, you could go on and on. Um, and, um, what we do as advisors is we’re independent and we judge these providers and rank these providers and score them based on, um, I would say the biggest, the biggest indicator would be, uh, customer satisfaction. We typically will bring clients to providers that exceed expectations, and providers that are very good at delivering what they say they can. Because I think we’ve all been there, uh, either as a business owner or if you’ve been in business, if you make the wrong technology decision, it can set you back years, can set you back financially. It can wreak havoc on, uh, on your time and resources. So we specialize in helping our business clients get that decision right the first time.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. So, Michael, how did you get into this technology space in the first place? What drew you here?

Michael Agri: There’s an old saying that I love. It’s, um, never be afraid to steal a good idea, and, um, I, I worked my my old boss right out of college, um, had started doing this on his own, and he had been doing it for 5 or 6 years, and, uh, was incredibly successful. And I wanted everything he had. You know, I was a top salesman for a local telecom company up in New England. And, um, but what he had was what I wanted, which was his own business. Um, no boss, no quota. Uh, nobody breathing down your neck, right? And, um, I wanted that type of freedom, and, um, I just called him up one day and said, look, I, I want to do what you’re doing. And, uh, I would love to take you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant and just ask you a bunch of questions and and bring my notebook and see if I can kind of replicate what you’ve done. And he was happy to help. And, um, that’s really kind of where I got started. And that was 16 years ago.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Amazing. Congratulations, number one, on making that decision. It can be very scary to move from a corporate paid position to being an entrepreneur. What do you find was the the biggest struggle for you over the last 16 years of working for yourself, which is what you were so passionate about.

Michael Agri: Well, in our industry, as technology advisors, it’s always that first 24 to 36 months. It’s a commission only job. You get paid by the providers only when you make a sale. And if you’re talking about, you know, a CRM system or a phone system or a network, um, these take months for the clients to review. And, you know, either do an RFP, um, compare, uh, in search and read, do the research. And then once they make a decision, it takes months for the IT to get implemented. And then you get paid after the first bill is paid. Well, now seven months has gone by. So, uh, it takes an incredibly long time to start getting to a point where you can pay your bills. And for me, that was took about three years. And, um, that’s always the biggest challenge in this industry is, is having that runway to, uh, to get to that point.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. So from, from a technology perspective, you gave us a summary of what a technology advisor is. What types of clients do you serve. Can you give us some examples there.

Michael Agri: Yeah. Um typically the two biggest for me is healthcare and banking. Um, there are two areas that are heavily regulated that require, um, specific they have specific needs. And um, and those are two areas that benefit enormously by having someone like myself. Um, so those are two areas. But really we can help any business, uh, regardless of size, regardless of geography. And, um, there’s a lot of people that do what I do. Uh, every year they estimate that there’s in between 5 to 10,000 new technology advisors just starting their practices.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. So we’re just going to have to take a deeper dive into this term. Technology advisor, you gave us an overview. I understand the clients that you want or do serve, but what exactly is it that you do? And by the way, I had no idea that there were thousands of technology advisors out there. So tell me more.

Michael Agri: Well, think of us like insurance agents. Okay. Um, some insurance agents are independent, and they can give you multiple quotes and they can say, well, travelers is a much better opportunity for you than Aflac, but Liberty Mutual, right. And here’s why. And, um, and that’s really what we do. Only we do that with technology. And our job is to help our clients find the best providers, the best technology and services for that fits their needs. And then the best price. And, um, we spend an incredible amount of time working with providers, uh, in subject matter experts to, to really kind of net out who are the best providers, what are the best technologies and, and how do we get the best price? Um, the providers themselves are what’s called cost neutral, which means if you were to call up Microsoft or you were to call up, uh, RingCentral on your own and do the research with a direct sales rep, that best price from that direct sales rep cannot be better than the best price for me. So there’s no advantage to or to going, uh, no disadvantage to going through us as opposed to direct. But the advantage of going through someone like a technology advisor is huge, because there’s no cost to you, but you’re getting an incredible amount of knowledge and you’re getting a lot of inside information as to what are the products and services that are out there that are really helping move the needle for, uh, for some of their competitors and, uh, a lot of other businesses out there.

Trisha Stetzel: So I want to throw this one at you, and I’m going to bring up AI, because all of us have been asked the same question, is AI going to take your job away? And I have my own answer about coaching. It’s not because you have to have a human help hold you accountable. Um, how do you see AI as a number one as a benefit for technology advisors? Um, and is there is there this thought in your space and your business that AI, some business owner can just use AI to figure out the information that you would be delivering as a technology advisor.

Michael Agri: Yeah. And, uh, you know, I think that’s a great question. And in my opinion, AI is is just a tool. Uh, and as humans, we’re tool makers. That’s what we do. And, um, and what AI does is it helps us become more efficient. It helps us become faster at answering questions and solving problems. And, um, businesses right now, one of their I mean, the conversations that I’m having is, you know, how can we use this technology to to get better at what we’re doing and, uh, to get better at helping our clients? And I’ll tell you what I mean. It’s it’s in its infancy, so we’re just getting started. But there are a lot of things right now that are happening that, that are giving, um, businesses, uh, an advantage and, um, trying to make sense of that. All is hard to do on your own. Uh, you could do some Google searching and you could definitely do some research, but, um, I have access to dozens of subject matter experts, including, um, some of the brightest minds in customer experience and, uh, AI in the industry, and can even bring them on the phone with these clients to share not just success stories, but but things that are really happen in real time that that might be able to help them.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that there’s no replacement. That’s the bottom line, right? At least not now. We’ve gotta have that human interaction. And gosh, you can tap into so many resources that you’ve built relationships with over the last 16 years, which is so important. Those relationships. Okay. We’re about halfway through our conversation. I know people are already interested in connecting with you, Michael, either to learn more about what you can help them with, or even just to learn more about what technology advisors do. What is the best way for them to connect with you?

Michael Agri: I’m very easy to find because I have a unique last name. My first name is Michael and my last name is spelled h g r I. There’s there’s only two of us alive in the United States. We’re both in Florida, amazingly. Um, but, um, you’ll easily find me, and I’m very active on LinkedIn, so make sure to, uh, if interested, make sure to connect.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you. Michael. And that’s how I found you was on LinkedIn. That’s how we connected originally. So I love to dive into business networking. I believe that it’s very important. And so do you, which is why we’re here today. Because we were networking and trying to expand our network. So what are the benefits of business networking, particularly when you’re an entrepreneur and you’re looking to grow your business?

Michael Agri: Oh, um, it really didn’t hit me until later in life. You know, I, I didn’t really start networking until, um, about seven years ago. And, um, what it was, was, um, I, um, we had we had moved from Boston to, to Florida, uh, the Boston area, to be exact, to the suburbs. And, um, when we did, it was nice, kind of not really knowing anyone, you know, and, and, uh, but but after a while, it got old, you know, and, um, it was, it was a little lonely, you know, I didn’t have any friends. And, uh, my wife said to me one day she said, you know, you you got to go out there and do something, you know, and, uh, so, so I did I went and, uh, I joined the local chamber of commerce, and I joined a local networking group called BNI. And, um, I just went into it with really? No, um, No expectations, right? I wasn’t the I wasn’t there to try to, like, go find business, right? I was just there to make friends and, um, and help in really any way I could. And, um, and in doing so, um, it took time. But within a couple of years, my business was really taking off, and, uh, and it really hit me that, God, you know, you had missed out for years on this. Uh, you could have been doing this a long time ago. Um, but, um, you know, the way I was kind of trained as a salesperson was all cold calling. It was all prospecting. It was no relationship building. And, um, but relationship building absolutely is the foundation of success. And, um, it works. Not only does it work, it works shockingly well, in my opinion. Um.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m a big fan of referral marketing on purpose. I spent 15 years in BNI across two businesses, and I had the same feeling when I first joined. Uh, it was because I didn’t have any community, and I had a business and I was working from home, and there were no other human beings besides my husband and my son in the house. And it really was about building relationships. And what I found is the same thing that you did. You can build a business through referral marketing, and you don’t have to cold call or hot knock right go knocking on doors to meet people. And I love that. Uh, it’s it served me very well in my first business as well as this one, uh, in the coaching space. So I want to know a little bit more about tech at the park. Can we talk about that?

Michael Agri: Yes, yes we can. Okay, so so go ahead. What’s your question?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Tell me more about it. I want to know everything about tech at the park when it is if it’s still happening, uh, this year, if it happens every year. What does that look like? And who goes.

Michael Agri: Yeah. So this is our first year, and, um, I, um. All right. So I had never thought about throwing a client appreciation event ever until February when, um, my, my spectrum business, um, channel manager, we met for breakfast and he said, you know, you have over 100 clients with us today in, in the county. Um, how about we throw. You know, this is just an idea, but how about we throw a client appreciation event and we sponsor it, and, uh, and, you know, I’d never thought about that, but it may it reminded me of 6 or 7 years ago. Um, I did a similar event at, uh, Top Golf in Orlando, and nobody showed up. It was like 2 or 3 people showed up. It was incredibly embarrassing. Um, and I swore to myself, I’m like, I’m never doing anything like this ever again. Um, but what had changed when he asked me that question was I had six years of experience, um, in event planning with the local chamber. Uh, so, so at this point, I had a lot of experience. And, um, I also have a couple hundred clients in the county. So I thought to myself, well, I think I can get people there for sure. And, uh, so I reached out to the local, uh, minor league ball club.

Michael Agri: It’s the Cincinnati Reds organization. It’s called the Daytona Tortugas. And, uh, and we set up a private event. They have just one private area and right on the right field corner that fits about 200 people. And, uh, we got about 150 of our clients and sales partners to come out for a night at the ballpark. And, uh, we gave out some really, really cool prizes. We gave out an iPad and, uh, one of those Yeti roller coolers. It’s like a, like a $500 cooler, which I would never spend that on for myself, but it was fun. There were a lot of kids that came, and honestly, the funnest part was we had special gift bags just for the kids. And, uh, the Daytona Tortugas actually gave us game jerseys and hats for the kids, which was which was incredible. And, uh, I mean, I had a lot of fun, and I think everyone else had a lot of fun. But the one complaint that I heard, it gets so dang hot here in Florida, it was like 94 degrees that day. Uh, luckily it was in the evening, so it got cooler. But I think next year we’re going to do it either earlier or later in the season.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. That’s amazing. So you guys keep your ears and your eyeballs open for a tech at the park in 2026 under Michael’s LinkedIn. I’m sure it will be all over. Tell me the benefit of for you and even for your clients if doing something like that, having a client appreciation event.

Michael Agri: Ooh, to me, I just feel like the luckiest person in the world to be able to do what I’m doing. It’s so much fun, and I just. I don’t know how to say it any other way. I’m just super appreciative and thankful of every single one of my clients. Um, because I wouldn’t be here without them. And it was. It was really my way of just saying thank you, you know? And, um, without you all, uh, I would have to go out there and get a real job, and. And I don’t want to do that. So, um, it was just my way of saying thank you. And, um. And the most important thing for me was to shake everyone’s hand that was there and personally thanked them for either their partnership or their business.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s beautiful. And I love that you’re giving back to your clients. So for the listeners, if you guys haven’t thought about doing something like this, you can do it on a really small scale or a very large scale to start working on it and show your appreciation to your clients in some way. Michael, do you think that you created a space for your clients to network with each other with this event?

Michael Agri: I think that was like the funnest part was, um, introducing some of my my clients to other clients and, um, seeing them make friendships, right. Um, it was and also introducing some of my business partners because these are all technology people within technology, right? Like, uh, one of my partners, uh, specializes in payment systems, and another one specializes in websites. And it was great to connect all of them because they can help each other as well. Uh, so, yeah, it is a little bit of community building in a sense, for sure.

Trisha Stetzel: Aha. You’re a giver. That’s why BNI is for you. It suits me, right? Uh, because the motto there is givers gain. And that’s really what it’s all about. Let’s give to the community, uh, particularly when we’re asking the community to support us as business owners. All right, Michael, I have one final question for you. As we get to the back end of our conversation, will you share an example of how the right technology solution transformed one of your client’s businesses or even their business operation?

Michael Agri: Yeah. Um, very interesting story. I got a call. It was really late at night. I just put my my kids to bed. It was, uh, it was almost 9 p.m., and it was on my work line. And, you know, I thought that was strange. It it went to voicemail. It was a CEO of a really large call center here in Florida. And, uh, for seven weeks, their call acceptance rate went from 24% to 0%. So nobody was answering their calls. And after asking him a few questions, we realized that what had happened was his his outgoing caller ID for their phone numbers was being labeled as spam. And when that happens to you, nobody answers the phone. And his salespeople went from making tens of thousands of dollars a month to zero. And he was at a point of desperation where the salespeople were getting ready to walk out the door and they were going to lose the company. And he so he said, what in the world can we do? And I amazingly, I just knew exactly what he needed. And he needed a caller ID reputation provider to help him fix that. And the very next morning, I had him on the phone with that provider and with his leadership team, and we had a plan in motion, and we had a contract within 24 hours. And, uh, and within just a few days that that issue was resolved.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. That’s amazing. What a difference a day makes. And and a Michael a day in a Michael. That’s awesome. Michael, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. You have so much information, um, stored somewhere. And I appreciate you bringing bringing it to my audience. And I know that they definitely want to connect with you and learn more or understand more. And even those of you referral marketers out there refer some connections to Michael. So, Michael, would you give your contact information one more time as we close today?

Michael Agri: Yeah, sure. You can reach me on LinkedIn. Uh, it’s Michael, last name, agri. Agri. My phone number is (386) 478-4993. And, um. Yeah. Trisha, thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so glad that you joined me today. You guys know that? I’ll put Michael’s contact information in the show notes. All you have to do is point and click. So long as you’re not driving and you’re sitting in front of your computer, if you’re driving, you can jot that information down later. Michael, thank you again. I really appreciate you being with me today.

Michael Agri: My pleasure.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you. That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that I had with Michael, please share it with fellow entrepreneurs, veterans or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. Your business, your leadership, and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

 

From Support Group to Global Network: The Evolution of IAIP

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Association Leadership Radio
From Support Group to Global Network: The Evolution of IAIP
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In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor is joined by Lisa Hardin, President of the International Association of Insurance Professionals (IAIP). Lisa discusses IAIP’s evolution from a women’s support group in 1938 to a diverse, global organization. The conversation covers IAIP’s focus on leadership development, professional education, and networking, as well as strategies for engaging a geographically dispersed membership. Lisa also highlights the association’s scholarship programs, community service initiatives, and efforts to promote the positive impact of insurance professionals.

IAIP-logo

Lisa-HardinLisa R Hardin graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1988 with a B.S. in Business Administration-Finance. After a brief stint as a retail customer service supervisor, she began her insurance career in 1990 at Sentry Insurance as a Commercial Lines Rater.

Lisa is currently a Claims Representative Specialist handling large exposure liability claims for Sentry’s National Accounts division. In this position, Lisa handles claims country-wide, maintains 15 adjuster licenses, attends mediations, and directs the strategy for litigated files.

Lisa has been involved with the International Association of Insurance Professionals (IAIP) since 1994, earning their International Claims Professional of the Year Award in 2004 and was named Region V Insurance Professional of the Year in 2021. She is currently serving as the IAIP International President.

In her spare time, Lisa enjoys spending time with her husband Jon. They love traveling, biking, and participating in martial arts together. Lisa is a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and Jon is a 2nd Degree Black Belt. Although since the pandemic, pickleball has replaced martial arts.

Jon and Lisa are also volunteer chefs for Lasagna Love, a national charity providing hot meals to families going through a tough spot who need a break from making dinner. They have 2 children Rachel (35) and Ryan (28) and two cats, Lola and Bianca.

Follow IAIP on Facebook.

Episode Highlights

  • History and evolution of the International Association of Insurance Professionals (IAIP)
  • Focus on leadership development and professional education within the insurance industry
  • Networking opportunities for insurance and risk management professionals
  • Diversity of membership, including individuals from large corporations and family-owned agencies
  • Challenges in meeting the educational needs of a varied membership
  • Engagement strategies for geographically dispersed members
  • Importance of virtual and in-person events for member connection
  • Support for education through scholarships and grants
  • Community involvement and charitable initiatives by IAIP
  • Promotion of positive perceptions of the insurance industry and its professionals

Transcript-iconThis 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 Lisa Hardin, who is the president of the International Association of Insurance Professionals. Welcome.

Lisa Hardin: Thank you Lee.

Lee Kantor: So excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, do you mind sharing a little bit about the association? How you serving folks?

Lisa Hardin: I would love to. So International Association of Insurance Professionals,IAIP or the easy way insurance professionals, is an organization obviously serving insurance professionals from our name. We actually go back to 1938. We had a group of forward thinking ladies out in Colorado in the 1940s that decided, hey, you know, we need to get together to support each other, to help each other as far as networking and leadership skills and education, kind of a response to the good old boys network, so to speak. And so in they started this organization, they had a couple hurdles getting people to join, and then at that time, convincing employers that this is not a union, this is just a support group. We just want to support each other and learn and and promote people within the insurance industry. So in 1940, 187 women met and formed the National Association of Insurance Women and in 2000, in 1967, an international was added to the name to recognize the fact that we had members in Canada and other countries. And in 2011 we updated our name to be International Association of Insurance Professionals to reflect the diversity of our membership. So our membership has always been open to anyone in the insurance and risk management industry. So we wanted our name to reflect that, and we provide professional education and an environment to build business alliances and the opportunity to make connections with people of differing career paths and experience within the insurance industry. So we have anyone, you know, CEOs, agency owners to people starting in entry level jobs.

Lee Kantor: So the membership could be an entrepreneur that has their own kind of brick and mortar store, and it could be somebody that works for a large corporation insurance. It’s for everybody in the industry, everybody.

Lisa Hardin: That has a connection to insurance or risk management. So if you work for an insurance company, if you work for an agency, if you’re a broker, that type of thing, or if you work in an industry that serves the insurance industry like your Proclean and Dura clean. And you know, the the companies that come in and clean up the mess when there’s a fire or have to, you know, independent adjusting firms, glass companies like Safelite. Paul Davis restoration is one of our big partners.

Lee Kantor: Uh, so so it’s evolved then from support group for a handful of people to now a pretty sounds like a pretty diverse membership.

Lisa Hardin: Oh, definitely.

Lee Kantor: And then how do you go about what are some of the challenges when you’re serving that diverse of a membership?

Lisa Hardin: It’s it’s everybody’s always, you know, looking for CE and looking for the next big education opportunity. So in the last few years we have focused on developing leadership skills. So we want to be the premier, um, association to provide leadership skills, not only training, but also the opportunity to put those leadership skills to the test, to, um, practice. But your job is not on the line, so it’s a safe place to to, you know, take on a leadership role that you may not be, um. Comfortable with and kind of stretch your legs a little bit before you, you know, put your, your career and your livelihood on the line. And then the next time you go in for a promotion, you can say, hey, well, I took this leadership course. I have this designation, a certified professional leader. But then I’ve also done, uh, I led a task force for a year, and I had to do the scheduling, and I had to do, you know, run a meeting and do an agenda and do all this stuff so that you can say that in your next interview and hopefully, you know, that’ll set you aside and you can get the next promotion.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have chapters around the country or around the world, or is it kind of one central and everything’s done virtually?

Lisa Hardin: Um, it’s a little bit of both. So, um, the original organization really started out as a grassroots organization with local associations. We do have a few local associations still, um, around. So it’s one of those things that you just kind of have to be in the right place at the right time. Um, as with a lot of associations, that local membership has been difficult to maintain with people’s schedules and a lot of things happening virtually. But then we also have the international organization, and we say that you’re a member of Insurance Professionals first. A member is a member. And then if you’re lucky enough to have a local association and have that support, that’s an extra bonus.

Lee Kantor: So the main way you get together, you have an annual or regular kind of conferences.

Lisa Hardin: Uh, yes. So we have um, we have weekly or not weekly. We have monthly webinars through our website that address different topics such as education or leadership or, you know, what’s the what is the next big thing that we’re going to be doing? We, uh, also have we’re divided into regions. So the regions are typically, you know, a group of states. So there’s, there’s one that’s, uh, in, you know, like northeast, uh, the United States and then southeast United. It’s kind of the Midwest and then the West Coast. And so each of those regions has, um, their own separate conference. And then we have an international conference. So, um, we’ve got, uh, opportunities to attend things virtually, uh, every month, whether it’s, uh, a virtual town hall meeting or if it’s one of our, uh, local associations teaching one of our designation classes. And then at the regionals, those are typically in-person meetings. So we have a little bit of both.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your membership, you a portion of the members are kind of part of enterprise organizations, and some are kind of part of mom and pop entrepreneurial organizations. Can you share a little bit about the makeup, like what portion is kind of working for a large organization and what portion is working for kind of an entrepreneurial organization?

Lisa Hardin: Um, it’s a pretty good mix. Uh, we have it’s so we have a lot of people that are working for your, your insurance companies, your Vermont mutuals, your Liberty Mutual’s, your Nationwide’s, um, that type of thing. But then, like you said, on the other side, we have, you know, family owned insurance agencies that have, you know, they’re on the second or third generation owner. So you’ve got that kind of legacy as well. And, you know, the mix. I don’t really have, you know, percentages, but it’s it’s pretty close, probably a little bit more on the agency side versus the company side right now. You know, employer support is another one of those things that, you know, we have to start drumming up again. It’s like, okay, yes, this is what we can provide you. And we do that with our corporate partnerships as well. So the Certified Professional leadership designation that I mentioned is um, of course there’s 17 courses and we offer it to, uh, our corporate members where they can sign up, you know, 10 or 15 people that they would like to go have them go through this membership course, and then they become members of the insurance professional while they’re taking those courses. And that kind of gives the company a way to do those soft skills, because a lot of companies have their training internally on, you know, insurance topics, you know, how to be underwriting, doing claims, all their systems, all that kind of stuff. But it’s the soft skills. And then some of those agencies as well, you know, they’re smaller and they don’t have that internal training. So then we can help provide that leadership training for them.

Lee Kantor: And do you have any advice for other, um, association leaders when it comes to engaging, uh, a national group like this where there isn’t as much kind of chapter in person, regular, you know, face to face contact, but you’re having to engage a membership that is all over the place.

Lisa Hardin: Right? Um, it’s it’s basically repetition. Um, they say you have to see something three times to, to make it stick. So use all of your resources. Uh, you if you have like, we happen to have what we call a blast email system where we can, you know, send out an email to all the members. They all get the same information. Posting on social media, posting on LinkedIn. Uh, we have a YouTube channel where we have recordings of our town halls. So if you missed that town hall, you can go back to the YouTube channel and, uh, watch it. We, our members are very good at sharing, at sharing and reposting. So each each individual region has a Facebook page. And then, um, a lot of those local associations also have a Facebook page. So again it’s just reposting and you just keep sharing it. You may think you’re overdoing it but you’re not.

Lee Kantor: Yeah I think that’s a mistake that a lot of people make is they think that they’re oversharing, when in reality most people are so busy they don’t see things as often as you think they do. They don’t feel like they’re being bombarded. They miss most of the stuff that most people send out.

Lisa Hardin: Right. And we thought we apparently there’s a survey that says emails are opened more likely on a Wednesday. So we’ve we’ve actually used that. And um, we have two newsletters that goes out. One is for our, um, uh, the organization itself. It’s our connections newsletter. And then the other one is for our NCW Legacy Foundation, which is our uh, 501 C chapter, uh, scholarship organization. So that Legacy Foundation provides scholarships for our members that they can apply for. So if they’re, you know, taking a college course or taking a designation course that their employer is not going to reimburse them for, they can apply for a scholarship to get money towards that, um, additional education, or they can apply for a scholarship to attend the international conference for that registration. And then we also do grants for, uh, the either a local association or a regional. So if they’re trying to get a keynote speaker, uh, they can apply for a grant through the foundation to help assist with that keynote speaker. If they want to put a class on it, their conference, they can do a grant for that. And we also have a couple of, um, it’s called the Norm Ziegler Scholarship. And it is. We did it for $1,000. Scholarships for, uh, college aged. Well, you know somebody who’s in college in a risk management or insurance program. So that is a big part of our, uh, organization as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, how about some advice around I think it’s an advantage of having regional, uh, kind of the way that you have it delineated in, in regions. Are you able to do you have any systems that enable, uh, when something’s happening in a regional level or even in a local level that you’re able to kind of bubble up that best practice and then share it with everybody because you’re getting a lot of intelligence from boots on the ground all over the place. And if you have the right systems, you can kind of affect quickly and effectively share something that someone’s learned, uh, with everybody.

Lisa Hardin: Right. So each region has what we call a regional vice president. So there are seven regions, seven regional vice presidents. They make up our board of directors. In addition to the executive officers, each of those regional vice presidents has um a, a director. So there’s a membership director, there’s a marketing director, there is an education director. And then there is what we call a member at large director. Those are the people that don’t happen to have a local association near them, or wish not to be part of a local association, so that that director team and the regional vice president, their jobs then are to do that, delineate the the information and, you know, keep in touch with the members, keep in touch with the local associations, find out what everybody’s doing. They do a quarterly newsletter where they promote, you know, oh so and so got a designation or so and so was recognized for this or this local association did this fundraiser. So there’s a lot of, um, you know, self-promotion. And it’s one of those things that we do need to get better at.

Lee Kantor: Right? Because there’s so much intelligence that’s happening that, um, you might be able to miss it, but by you having so many people out there paying attention to stuff, I would imagine that a lot of good stuff can bubble up and be shared. And, uh, and it can improve kind of the lot for a lot of folks. Can you talk a little bit about, um, I know that, um, kind of giving back is an important part of your, your life, but also how how you, uh, you choose kind of which charities to support. And you mentioned the scholarships, which is super generous. And that seems like it’s helping a lot of people in the industry. But do you how do you kind of choose which charities to get involved with as an association?

Lisa Hardin: So typically what we do is, um, when we host our international convention, which next year in June 2026, will be in Norfolk, Virginia. The president kind of, you know, chooses a charity. So we kind of look to that particular area to see, you know, where need might be. So last year we were in Oklahoma City and we chose Toby Keith’s Kids Corral. So he raised money for them. We had people that brought books and toothpaste and, you know, essentials and stuff like that. So the specific charity is kind of, you know, a perk of being president, I guess you could say. Um, so we kind of look to, to do something in the community that we are holding our convention in.

Lee Kantor: And then for the upcoming convention, what’s the charity?

Lisa Hardin: So for the upcoming convention, I was really excited because, uh, Norfolk, Virginia has a, uh, local chapter or a local, um, uh, coordinator for a group called lasagna. Love that I’ve been involved with for almost four years now.

Lee Kantor: And for folks who aren’t familiar, do you mind sharing a little bit about lasagna love?

Lisa Hardin: I would love to. So, um, but like I said, about four years ago, Lasagna Love popped up on my Facebook page, and I looked at it and I’m like, oh, this is this is really a neat organization. They were looking for lasagna chefs and I’m like, oh, I could make lasagna. That’s no big deal. You know, lasagna is lasagna. And what it is, is it’s an organization where, uh, you’ve got the people, the lasagna chefs and the people that support the organization that make lasagna. And you’ve got the people on the other side who are receiving lasagna. And it’s not it’s not a financially based system. Yes. There are people that are requesting lasagna that are, you know, I’m elderly, I’m on a fixed income, I’m a single mom. But it can also be, you know, somebody’s going through cancer treatments who just doesn’t have the energy to make a dinner or a new mom. Again, same thing. I don’t have the energy to make a dinner or somebody again. It’s just, hey, you know, I could use a good hot, fresh meal type thing. So that’s the the the most exciting thing about it is even myself. If, you know, if I find myself in a situation where, you know, I’ll all of a sudden I’m overwhelmed, I could go and and request a lasagna. And so we’ve been doing that for about four years. My husband is a chef, so he took over the cooking of lasagna. And I’m the admin person that makes the contact with the recipient and schedules when we’re going to deliver it and whether they want it hot or cold or whatever. So yes, I was very excited that lasagna love has a connection in Norfolk. So that will be our charity.

Lee Kantor: And, um, and you don’t have to be a professional chef to, to participate, right. Like, like if, you know, it’s just I mean, lasagna is one of those meals that it’s not that complicated of a recipe and it’s not and, uh, and, and pretty much anybody could do it, if you’re so inclined. And then, um, and there are lasagna love. I don’t know what they call it, but coordinators all over the country, it’s a pretty substantial organization. It’s grown organically, um, over the years. But I think it’s in a lot of places. It’s not just in a handful of places.

Lisa Hardin: Yes, it’s nationwide, it’s everywhere. And they definitely, you know, I know in our area we’ve got a backlog. So, uh, you know, look it up and, you know, it’s like you said, it’s easy to, you know, just make a lasagna and you go out and help somebody. And the the responses that we get back when we deliver it, people are so appreciative. They’re excited. They’re like, thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, because my husband is a chef, he doesn’t understand portion sizes. So the people that are lucky enough to get us to make them lasagna definitely have leftovers.

Lee Kantor: So and you can just go to lasagna love, To find one near you. Whether you want a lasagna or you want to make a lasagna.

Lisa Hardin: Make a lasagna, or if you just want to make a monthly donation that goes, you know, for ingredients, you can do that too.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s a great organization, and it’s such a generous, clever way, uh, to allow people to help the other people in their community. I mean, it’s it’s just a wonderful organization. And kudos to you for really, um, making me aware of it and also letting our listeners know about such a wonderful group and and your association. I mean, it kind of goes hand in hand about insurance. I mean, there’s a lot of generosity and kindness in the insurance industry. I mean, you’re valued members of all the communities you’re in.

Lisa Hardin: Well, yes, it’s it’s it goes to, you know, we gotta we gotta boost our image as insurance people. You see the, you know, especially when you see the attorney commercials. Oh, don’t trust the insurance company. They’re out to get you. But, um, you know, we like to be the the positive force of insurance. And we’re out there. We’re serving community. We are professional. We are there to you know, I’m in claims. So I meet I meet people on their worst days because they’ve been in an accident or, you know, something happened and they don’t know what to do. And so part of my job is to, uh, guide them through that process and, you know, take away the stigma of, you know, I’m just out to get you, and I’m going to sell your claim for as little as I can. So the whole organization is working to put a positive spin on the insurance industry as well.

Lee Kantor: Right. And I think that everybody understands that an insurance person should be part of your trusted advisor team. I mean, it’s definitely it’s not something that you cannot have and just hope, like insurance is just part of the deal, you know, as you kind of go through life and in your career, you have to have insurance and you have to have a trusted insurance person and a trusted insurance organization in order to kind of have a successful life. So, um, you know, I’m sorry that you’re having to deal with the stigma issue, but, I mean, the facts are the facts. I mean, insurance is important, and you better have somebody you trust watching your back because that’s their job. Mhm. So, um, if somebody wants to learn more about your association um, where should they go.

Lisa Hardin: Um you can certainly go to our website if you go, um, the easiest way to do it is to do IAP in your Google search. And we typically come up first. We’re International Association of Insurance Professionals. And uh, that’s the easiest way to find us.

Lee Kantor: And then if you’re in the insurance business, you should be a member. Right. Like this. This this sounds.

Lisa Hardin: Like.

Lee Kantor: This is a kind of an association that is, uh, should be a priority if you’re in the insurance business.

Lisa Hardin: Yes, we we, like I said, we promote the education of our members, the leadership development of our members, networking, working with corporate partners. And, like I said, giving our members that safe place to expand their skill base so that when they go for that next promotion, they have something that sets them apart.

Lee Kantor: Right. And everybody needs that. So. Well, Lisa, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work in so many areas and we really appreciate you.

Lisa Hardin: Well, I appreciate you having me. Thank you very much.

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

 

How To Build a Legacy Business Through Franchising

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FMR-Colt-Florence-Feature
Franchise Marketing Radio
How To Build a Legacy Business Through Franchising
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In this episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Colt Florence, Senior VP of Franchise Development at Five Star Franchising. Colt shares insights into Five Star’s strategy for building a portfolio of home service brands, their approach to franchisee recruitment, and how franchisee expectations have evolved. He discusses the impact of economic trends on franchising, funding options, and the importance of ambition and problem-solving in franchise success. The episode also highlights cross-brand collaboration, franchisee growth strategies, and inspiring stories of franchisees building legacy businesses through Five Star’s supportive systems.

Five-Star-Franchising

Colt-FlorenceColt Florence is Senior Vice President of Franchise Development for Five Star Franchising, an innovative, growing platform of home service brands, including Five Star Bath Solutions, Gotcha Covered, Bio-One, 1-800-Packouts, Card My Yard, and Mosquito Shield.

He has more than a decade of experience in franchise development and sales, including leadership positions with successful franchise brand platforms.

Connect with Colt on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

  • Five Star Franchising’s approach to building and growing a portfolio of home service brands.
  • Strategies for franchise development and recruitment of franchisees.
  • The evolving profile and expectations of franchisees in recent years.
  • The balance between creating new brands and acquiring existing ones.
  • Market definition and targeted selection process for franchisees.
  • The role of third-party brokers and online platforms in franchisee recruitment.
  • Challenges in identifying potential franchisees and their readiness for ownership.
  • The importance of franchisee focus and support in achieving business success.
  • Trends in funding options for franchisees, including SBA loans and 401(k) rollovers.
  • The significance of ambition and problem-solving skills for franchisee success.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Colt Florence, who is the senior VP of Franchise Development with Five Star franchising. Welcome.

Colt Florence: Thank you Lee. I’m super excited to be here. Anytime I get to talk about franchising I love it.

Lee Kantor: All right. Well let’s start with Five Star Franchising. How you serving folks?

Colt Florence: Yeah yeah great question. So just a quick background on Five Star Franchising. You know, we are an umbrella company of six different home service brands. We specialize in focus in the home service industry. And we’ve really taken the approach of saying what industries are out there that are unique and special, and how can we become the industry leaders within those different industries. And so we serve just by offering home services in spaces where a lot of people wouldn’t guess, needless to say.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you start out with kind of trying to build out this cluster of home services as a niche, or was that something that kind of just organically happened over time?

Colt Florence: Yeah, it’s a great question. So our our CEO Scott Abbott and our CEO Chad Jones are the founders of Five Star Franchising. And years and years and years ago they founded a company called Five Star Painting. And they grew that to be one of the largest residential painting franchises in North America. And during that time, I think it took a very natural progression as they learned what systems were working, how to support people from a sales aspect, how to support from a marketing aspect. They then said, well, why don’t we continue to replicate this into other concepts? And so then we naturally added in another concept with five star based solutions, and then another concept and another concept. So I think it was a very natural progression as we realized we were really good at supporting home services and offering a very unique experience for customers.

Lee Kantor: Now, was the growth kind of by creating your own brands or were you acquiring existing brands?

Colt Florence: Yeah, it’s been about half, half. So we’ve created our own brands and grown them from scratch. And then we’ve gone out and identified other existing brands that exist within certain spaces we were interested in, and then we’ve acquired those. So I’d say 50% on both sides.

Lee Kantor: Now you’re the VP of Franchise development. What’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in franchising?

Colt Florence: I, I wouldn’t say always. You know, I’ve been in franchising for about eight years now. I’ve been in sales my entire career and fell into franchising just by chance. I, you know, a gentleman reached out to me on LinkedIn and said, hey, I really like the things you’re posting and the videos that you’re doing and the way you approach a sales cycle. Come take a look at entering into franchising world. And so about eight years ago, I sat down and had lunch with him, jumped into franchising, and ever since then I’ve been in love not only with the franchising business model, franchise development and helping people become business owners, but then also in love with the home service space. Just given the, I think, the the strength associated with it. And given where I think it’s going to go in the future.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your role, are you the one that is trying to find franchisees for the various five star brands?

Colt Florence: Yeah, yeah. So that’s exactly it. We have the six brands. I oversee all of them from a development standpoint. So me and my team, our job is to go out and identify franchisees and markets where we would like to grow and open up new locations and identify franchisees that we feel would be a good fit, not only for the business model model, but also a good fit for the culture of what we’re trying to build and helping them be successful. So that’s what I do all day, every day, is seeing what other markets we could grow into, and then helping find people who want to own a business and finding the right fit for them within those markets.

Lee Kantor: So that is that the order of things. You decide on an area first and then you, uh, find the people in those in those areas rather than just kind of doing a nationwide search and then building out wherever somebody expresses an interest.

Speaker4: Yeah, I think it’s definitely a mix.

Colt Florence: We definitely have the areas we want to go after just because we have this historic trends and, uh, the data to support the viability. And what we believe that a viability exists within that area. So we’d love to get somebody there. But then there’s also the natural progression that happens where somebody in a market that we haven’t yet targeted or thought about reaches out and says, hey, I think there’d be quite a demand and quite a bit of demand in this area for, for one of your businesses. I’d love to open one. So majority of the time we’re really targeted, but there are instances where somebody reaches out and has interest and we take a look at that market at that point with them.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you define market? Is it a region? Is it a city? Is it a neighborhood?

Colt Florence: Yeah, yeah, it’s a really good question. It depends on the brand. So that’s one of the reasons why I’ve really fallen in love with the home service industry as a whole. Because. Enfranchising, you know, you could define a market as saying, well, a city, we’re only going to put five McDonald’s in this city and we’ll find the best areas to put them where within the home service space, you could actually define markets based off of who the ideal target customer is. And so, for example, one of our mosquito shields or one of our brands Mosquito shield, we define a market based off of 50,000 single family households that make over $100,000 a year, because we know that is going to be the target customer that our franchisees are going to go after. And we know that is big enough to be able to support a viable mosquito shield business. So long way of answering that. Every one of our brands are different depending on their target customer base, and then we build based off of that to ensure viability.

Lee Kantor: So once you’ve identified that market, what’s the next step? How do you kind of go and identify now a person in that market that might be the appropriate franchisee?

Colt Florence: Yeah, there’s a mix of it. So there’s a lot of different marketing sources that we use from an online standpoint. You know, there’s portals that are constantly marketing. We take a very strategic approach of knowing historically this type of background, this type of skill set makes for some of the best franchisees. And so we target those people on things like LinkedIn and other platforms. But then also, we work really closely with consultants who are in the space constantly within those markets attending, you know, their their Chamber of commerce, BNI groups who could help us identify those people and pass them to us. So we take, I’d say, a pretty wide approach in a very narrow, narrow, targeted effort to get us the right person in the right place.

Lee Kantor: But it sounds like you’re using a lot of kind of I don’t want to call them third party people, but people that are outside the, um, five star brand, uh, that like you’re using franchise brokers or portals that are those are independent businesses that are probably, you know, other franchises that aren’t five star showing up in their world.

Speaker4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Colt Florence: No, that’s exactly right. I mean, those, those third parties, like a portal, they tend to dominate the online space just because they have so many different listings. They have so much brand awareness with the brands. And so it creates a really good opportunity for us because if somebody in San Antonio who we’re targeting gets onto one of the portals, they find our brand, they’re interested, it works really well. And a broker, they’re boots on the ground. You know, we we don’t have the ability to be boots on the ground in the different target areas that we’re going after and being part of referral, you know, networks or groups or chamber of commerce. And so they do a really good job of being the boots on the ground, identifying key people and helping us place franchises to people who want to be business owners in those targets.

Lee Kantor: Because it seems to me that a franchisee is is kind of a needle in a haystack. Like you don’t know when someone is approaching that, um, you know, where in the buyer’s journey they are and when they’re approaching that desire to either, you know, I want to own my own business, or I want to own a franchise like there. It must be difficult to identify them early on, and you need those kind of other people who, like you say, are boots on the ground or meeting people and then could at least kind of pique their interest in, in this being a path.

Colt Florence: That’s exactly. I mean, it’s it’s honestly finding the person at the perfect time, given the things that they’re experiencing within their life, to want to consider business ownership, wanting to consider one of the franchises we have available, and catching those people at that perfect moment in their life in the perfect markets, is very difficult to do so without the boots on the ground efforts and the other parties associated with it, it almost becomes impossible to do it. We’re having those people there. They are there 24 over seven, and can capture the moments perfectly when somebody is ready to consider something like franchise ownership and then make an introduction from there.

Lee Kantor: And at that point they could be repping, you know, 100 franchises, right. That a broker like it’s not just yours. So it’s just within that. Now you have to be the one that the person chooses out of that broker’s portfolio.

Speaker4: Yeah, that’s exactly it.

Colt Florence: I mean, it’s a mix of showing that the consultant that we’re really good at what we do and and showing them that we are a brand that supports franchisees and make them successful within business ownership. But then also on top of it, once the consultant believes that and and wants to pass somebody over to us in that market, it is now showing that person who is considering business ownership and maybe looking at us in five other business concepts, what we do and why it’s a better investment for them, specifically in the circumstances they are facing to move in a direction with our business. And you know, what I love about franchising is, you know, me and my team, we’re probably told no more than we’re told yes. And we actually probably tell people no more than we tell them yes, because it does have to be that that correct fit. It has to be the person with the right background, right headspace mindset stepping into it to be successful within the business. And so a lot of times we’re actually not competing against others. We’re actually competing against ourselves to see whether or not this could be the right fit for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, because you have multiple brands within kind of a niche, um, is it common that a person buys one and then kind of buys a sister brand?

Colt Florence: Um, I would say no. And actually, you know, over the years we’ve almost kind of discouraged it. So we’ve done a lot of research of people who diversify within their businesses. And typically what ends up happening is they will run a couple of good businesses or a couple of mediocre businesses. And the reason being they’re just in different segments being pulled in so many different directions, trying to learn different skill sets. And so we’ve actually taken a different approach of rather than saying diversification, you know, let’s help you purchase more of our businesses within our portfolio. We actually say, how can we help you grow your current business substantially more with the capital you were planning on investing anyway because you’re already good at it. You’re an expert within the space. You can almost guarantee, based off of your historical data, every dollar you funnel in will have a certain amount of ROI. So we’ve actually taken a unique approach of helping our franchisees double down within their own businesses and growing those substantially more. So they have one excellent business rather than two mediocre businesses.

Lee Kantor: So so then you would sell them more territories and expand that way.

Colt Florence: That’s exactly it. Yep. So rather than buying a new business in another territory, why don’t you just buy more territories and repeat the system? That is all working extremely well for you within the current business.

Lee Kantor: So because you have so many brands that have, I would think, a similar client amongst them all, is there a way to share that client with the sister brands?

Colt Florence: There is. Yeah. So what the number one thing that we encourage is because we have right now, I think our, our most current count is we’re over 1100 franchisees in North America, over 1700 locations open. Inevitably, a lot of our franchisees are going to be neighbors to each other within the current business and with also the sister brands. And so we encourage that cross-pollination between franchisees to pass leads back and forth, because somebody who is wanting to redo their bathroom could also be looking to redo all the the blinds and window shades within their house, which we have concepts to service both of those. And so franchisees work a lot together with referrals in between. And then from a future standpoint, we will be pushing towards Cross-pollinating marketing, where marketing efforts for franchisees actually represent multiple brands. So then everybody within an area can capitalize off of it.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you seeing the typical franchisee change over the years you’ve been in this business?

Colt Florence: Ah, I would say we’ve definitely seen the typical candidate change substantially over the past 2 to 3 years. I think our franchisees have stayed pretty close to the same. And what I mean by that is it’s, you know, we know what type of franchisee works within the business models. We have, for example, five Star Bass Solutions, which is a bathroom renovation company that’s under our portfolio. We need somebody that is very sales and marketing oriented to step in and own a bass solutions, because majority of what they’re doing is marketing, getting customers and selling to those customers. And so when we’re taking a look at bringing in new franchisees, those are some of the main qualities that we look at is can you sell and can you market. And so that’s something that hasn’t changed at all for us over the past ten years. What has been really fascinating, though, is I think people’s approach to business ownership has changed. So the candidates that we’re seeing coming in have changed substantially from somebody saying, hey, I actually want to do this full time. I’m ready to jump in. I want to be a business owner to now somebody saying, well, no, I’m planning on keeping my job. I’m going to keep my job and try and do this on the side. And I’d like to run a business. I think I have the capabilities and the bandwidth of doing it. So the candidate has changed for us in terms of their expectations going into business ownership, but our expectations of who makes a successful franchisee is actually stayed pretty consistent.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding, um, maybe parents buying a franchise for their child to run or where they’re become more family affairs rather than kind of entrepreneur driven?

Colt Florence: Uh, yes and no. I would say, actually, what is more common that we’re seeing right now is actually parents coming in saying, I want to be a business owner, I want to purchase this and go full time into it. And then hopefully within the next 3 to 5 years, I could build something that incorporates my family in and I could pass it on to a child. And so, you know, every so often we do get a parent saying, I will invest into it. And, you know, my son’s gonna run it. And let’s let’s see how well he does or my daughter feels that she could do it. But what’s becoming more and more common in people who are wanting to build almost a legacy wealth associated with their business, so they have something that they could pass down and incorporate children into and continue to support those children financially for years to come.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, in today’s climate with like, interest rates higher, is that impacted, uh, kind of the growth of the franchising world or, you know, buying new businesses, is that impacted that at all?

Colt Florence: Yeah, I think it impacts it from the standpoint of if you are somebody who is looking to purchase or open a business and you’re planning on utilizing capital from a lending company to be able to do it, you know, an increased interest rate incorporates or comes back in terms of an increased payment on a monthly basis, which means you have to make more money to cover expenses and and get to the point of profitability that you want. And so it makes people nervous, right? Because a larger loan payment should always make somebody nervous when they’re looking at buying anything, whether it be a business, a car, a house, but within the business environment. What is interesting is because the interest has gone up and because lending, you know, banks and things like that are charging more for loans. That’s actually a direct representation of how the economy is doing as a whole as well. And so that means more people are employed, more people are making money. And so a lot of times our franchisees, even though upfront they are nervous about interest rates being higher, we’re also charging more on the back end when it comes to overall jobs for our end consumer, because the economy is doing better and people can afford to pay more for the services being provided. So it’s almost all a circle of life thing. Interest rates, higher expenses, higher generates, you know, larger tickets and larger jobs and more revenue coming in where interest rates lower expenses a little bit lower labor easier to get. Could be jobs a little bit lower because you don’t need the profitability or the same revenue coming in to cover the expenses you have. So I guess that’s a long way of answering. It scares people up front until they realize everything impacts each other in the same way, whether we’re going up or down.

Lee Kantor: Now, do most people when they do a franchise or one of your franchises, is it something they do get a loan like an SBA loan of some kind, or do they just pull it out of their own funds?

Colt Florence: Yeah, I would say the two most common things that that we have seen over the years is going to be an SBA and US, which is great because SBA, a lot of times pretty easy process in terms of what they expect us Enfranchising you know, we have our initial investment that we disclose, and so SBA already knows exactly what it’s going to cost and how much money somebody is going to need. But what has become more and more popular over the past couple of years, our 401 K rollovers. And so, you know, these these lending institutions have found a very unique way to help people utilize their 401 to fund business ventures without necessarily pulling cash out of your 401 K, taking the tax hit associated with it, and then investing somewhere else. And so a lot of people have strategically used their 401 s to invest into the business that they’re starting. And then using that to not only hopefully increase the value of a 401 K, but start a business. So I’d say those two are the most common. It’s it’s actually probably becoming a little bit more rarer. People just doing cash funding. They’re looking to use either an institution or maybe stagnant money. They have sitting in an account like a 401 K and maximizing the value off of that 401 K with businesses.

Lee Kantor: So when you’re talking to a potential franchisee and you’re each vetting each other to see if they’re the right fit, um, are they asking you different questions today than they were when you first started?

Colt Florence: Yes, definitely. I think due to the market and the strength of the market and the economy we’re facing right now, the questions have definitely, uh, begin to revolve more around like, well, what are you guys going to do for me? Or how do you support me in ways if I’m going to keep a job or if I don’t have the time to put into the business? They’re almost looking more for something that is a side income or a passive income. Which man? I’ll tell you what, if somebody finds just complete passive income that they don’t have to do much in and could throw money behind? I’ll be the first one on board for it. And so those questions have changed where historically, when we’re going through times of maybe some economic difficulty, people losing jobs, their biggest question is I’m ready to go full time. I just want to make sure you’re going to be able to support me. If I put in the work and the energy and the effort to make this business successful. So I think a lot of the shift we have seen in the process has been, well, what have you guys done to automate? So I don’t have to put as much energy and effort into it. Where historically it was actually I’ll put in all the energy and effort. I just want to make sure you guys have my back.

Lee Kantor: So. So how do you define support? Like like where are the lines when it comes to that? Like you can’t get the client for them in the logo. Like at some point somebody’s got to sell somebody something like you. You don’t have a magic system in that regard, do you? And maybe you do.

Colt Florence: Yeah. Some of our brands, you know, we try and take as much off the plate of our franchisees as possible to help them generate as much revenue as possible. But the best analogy that I’ve ever found is, you know, if I decide today that I want to get into really good shape and so I go out and I think the best path for me is going to be to hire a personal trainer. So I hire a personal trainer. They come in, they design a diet for me, they design a workout regimen for me. They’re there anytime I have a call or need a question answered and they’re trying to hold me accountable, all of that is fantastic, but it still requires me to get my butt off the couch, go to the gym, and follow the workout regimen, to follow the diet, to make it to the grocery store and purchase the right things. And so I think that’s how we define support within our franchise models, is we will give you everything you need to be successful within this business, whether it’s the sales support, the marketing support, the operational support. We have the playbook and we have the team members ready to support you, to help you be successful. It still requires you to get your butt off the couch and go implement and push for the business. We’re here getting your back every single time you run into a hurdle or an obstacle or something that you feel that you just can’t overcome.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that something? I mean, I’m sure you hammer it relentlessly, but is it something that the franchisee sometimes doesn’t quite hear that you know, you’re defining support as playbooks, templates, training. But ultimately, like you said, they got to get off the couch and they have to do the work and they have to return the call and they have to follow up and they have to, you know, kind of do the blocking and tackling, uh, every day or, or do franchisees in your system kind of get that?

Speaker5: Yeah, I’d say it’s a mix for sure.

Colt Florence: You know, I years ago I decided to audit and take a look back at every transaction that I’d been a part of and, and thought to myself, okay, which ones did I think were going to be the most successful franchisees in the system? And which ones do I think were going to be kind of average performing franchisees in the system? And what was really fascinating is it that the people that I thought were going to be average just due to how they were approaching it and their mindset ended up being top performers and the people that were top performers that I thought were going to be top performers ended up being average. And so I say that because it’s really hard to to to dictate how somebody is going to approach the business and their mindset going into it and the expectations they’ve set for themselves. We can continue to reinforce it in the process, but whether or not they’re ready for it or whether or not they’re ready to implement is a completely different story. And in the franchising space, I think it makes it even more difficult because we do have increased probability of success just due to the business model and the historic value that we bring compared to somebody trying to start their business for themselves. However, because it is an increased probability of success, it doesn’t mean that it requires any less work or effort from the business owner to make it successful. And so that is what we try and hammer in, whether or not the person is prepared for it or whether or not they fully understand what to expect, I think completely relies on them, but we definitely message to make sure we’re doing our part. So they’re going in eyes wide open.

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

Colt Florence: Yeah, I think more of we just need hustlers and I think we’re going to continue to see it. You know, honestly, I think we’re going to have some form of, of economic dip which will result in people realizing their future isn’t in their controls within their, um, their current job or their W2 that they have. And so those type of people are saying, no, I’m I’m ready to take control back into my life. I’m ready to do what it is going to take to be successful and to, you know, provide my family with a better future, provide myself with better financial standing. And so it is those type of things that we’re looking for, our systems in place, I would consider world class. I don’t think there’s anybody in the franchising space that is offering anything more unique or a support system that is better. We just need more people that are willing to come in and put in the work, because that’s what business ownership is, and people that are excited to put in the work due to the potential that it’s going to provide to them in the future.

Lee Kantor: So is that kind of that point of inflection where people are feeling some sort of fear and then they want to take back control of their financial future? Is that the thing that really tips them into, okay, I’m going to pursue something like this.

Colt Florence: Yeah. Yeah. No, it’s it’s it’s interesting. A lot of times one of two things will happen. Somebody is able to build themselves up into a financial position where they have very little risk to jump into a business venture, but they realize jumping into a business venture is the number one way to build wealth for themselves and their family. And so they say, I’m ready to step away from being in a W-2 position myself, because I feel like I’m in a position to do so, and I’m going to go push and try and provide a better future. Majority of the times, it’s actually somebody who was just laid off and they realized, oh my gosh, I was making $200,000 a year as an executive. I was just laid off within my company. I’ve had 50 interviews and no other company is willing to pay me the same amount or replace my position just due to the the economic position that we’re in right now. The only way that I can replace my income is by taking it back into my hands and building a business. And so a lot of times, it takes an eye opening experience for somebody to realize, even though you feel like you’re in control every single day, you’re really not as long as you are working for somebody else. And that eye opening experience to push them to business ownership, to say, I’m not going to, I don’t want to feel that that way ever again. And so I’m going to take control back.

Lee Kantor: But don’t I would think that. I mean, maybe, maybe you have the stats on this that their first move would be like, oh, I was, you know, a VP in ABC company. I’m going to do be a consultant in that same niche, because I’m already, you know, that I have deep knowledge within that, uh, niche. And I’m, I was a high level executive, so I should certainly be able to transfer that into some sort of a consulting gig. Is that do a I’m sure a portion do that, but maybe they get frustrated in a short time and then kind of go explore the franchising path.

Speaker5: Yeah. And I think it’s difficult.

Colt Florence: Taking a path like that. So you’re stepping into business ownership which requires you to market, requires you to sell, requires you to network, which a lot of us past positions probably don’t prepare people to do that. And so that’s why consultants make a ton of money. But there’s only a few of them that do, because most people that step into it, they don’t realize that the hardest part of their job is actually securing customers. The easiest part of their job is actually consulting. Once the customer has come in and they’re paying them. But then also when you know, any form of economic difficulty takes place and they lay off a VP of marketing, or they lay off a executive vice president, whatever it may be, the company isn’t necessarily looking to replace that expense, that they just took off their PNL with another expense within a consultant. And so a lot of people step in and say, well, I could go provide value to other companies, but the reality is, within that space, within that industry, within that specific position, companies are actually taking a look at decreasing the expense. And so they come to the realization pretty quick. Even though I’m an expert in that area, I’m not going to be a consultant. Can I take that same expertise and build my own business within a franchise? You know, I was a VP of marketing. Can I take my expertise within marketing and go in and work with a mosquito shield and use my marketing skills to open up my own mosquito shield and acquire new customers? And majority of the time they’re substantially more successful? The venture like that than trying to go out and do any form of consultancy.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you could share or maybe don’t name the name of the person, but maybe, uh, what has come to you in terms of they came to you with a challenge or they were on the fence, and then now they have this legacy business that they’re able that has grown. And, you know, uh, you know, it kind of was bigger than they even imagined.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Colt Florence: Yeah, I countless stories there. There’s one actually that comes to a couple of them that comes to mind, but one from a past company where they as a young kid, they stepped into an electrical business and they went and got their certification to be an electrician, and they realized that they had capped out pretty quick in terms of being electrician at their $30 or $35 an hour rate that they had. And so they went out and said, well, I wonder if I could go purchase a company or start my own company and build it up and capitalize even more based off of not only skill sets I have in place right now and the licenses I have in place, but then also the ambition that I have. And so they went out and started their own electric franchise. They purchased electric franchise and within, I believe it was eight years, uh, they build it up and they sold it for over $100 million to a private equity group. And so it’s those type of things that I take a look at where people don’t realize what they’re capable of until they try and they don’t realize the skill sets that they have in place that they can utilize. And so when when you’re stuck in a tough position or when life is just getting at you, my guarantee is most of the time you have skill sets that are very useful to a franchise system and very useful in business ownership. And so combine the increased probability of success with your skill set and go and build a legacy business with it.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s the quality like? If you were to list the 2 or 3 must have qualities to become successful in the five star franchising, uh, ecosystem. What would they be?

Colt Florence: Yeah, I’d say one. You got to put in the work. The quality has to be ambition. If you’re going into business ownership, the goal should be I’m going into this because I want financial freedom and I want to provide a better life for myself or my family or anybody associated with me employees, customers. And so having that drive on a daily basis, which is actually our core value here at Five Star, Having the drive to be successful is the number one quality we look for because we believe if somebody is coming in ambitious with the drive, we have the tools to make them successful, but they need that drive first. The second one is we want people who are going to come in and be problem solvers. You know, franchising, even though we have a proven system, we have a proven business model. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories and experiences that each one of our franchisees can capitalize off of. You still need to be able to figure out some of the situations you’re running into, obstacles you’re running into something as simple as an employee didn’t show up today to work, how do I handle this? Or what do I do? And so one of our things that we look at is if you’re coming in driven and you’re able to problem solve, we have the back end systems to make you successful in business ownership.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Colt Florence: Yeah, I’d say five star franchising.com is the best way of going about it. We have a quiz on our website where you could actually take a look at it and fill it out, and we’ll actually suggest a brand to you as to what we feel is the best fit, based off of what you’re looking to do and your background. And then from there, my different team members who represent the different brands will be in contact. But we are here. We’re here to answer any questions not only about franchising, but also the brands within ours. We consider it a win if we help somebody not only get into business ownership, but get into franchising through their business ownership that they’re trying to do.

Lee Kantor: Well, Cole, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Colt Florence: Yeah. Thank you Lee. I love this industry. I love what I get to do on a daily basis and I’m very passionate. So I appreciate you having me on.

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

 

BRX Pro Tip: Why Customers Leave

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BRX Pro Tip: Why Customers Leave
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BRX Pro Tip: Why Customers Leave

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, what is the – I don’t know, I guess, the right word is psychology. What’s happening? What’s behind customers leaving, you think?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. There is just – businesses are so focused, especially in retail, about kind of how to solve this problem where customers are just not sticking around as long as they would like, and you’re always having to get new clients. And it’s something that is just happening more and more as there’s so much more competition and the customer is so much more fickle.

Lee Kantor: So things to understand about this trend is it’s not always about price. Most customers leave because they feel undervalued or ignored, not because somebody is selling, well, what you’re selling a dollar cheaper. And because of that, you want to be focusing on creating some sort of an emotional connection and not just kind of a bottom-line, I sell it cheaper kind of approach. So you want to give your customer reasons to buy from you that go beyond kind of what it is you’re selling. You got to give them a why, why they should be sticking around.

Lee Kantor: And then you got to remember that when a customer leaves, they’re not going to be telling you why, that they’re going to leave. They’re just going to quietly leave. So if they’ve been, you know, building resentment over time or doubting that you can deliver on what you’re promising, they’re just going to go.

Lee Kantor: So it’s important to stay proactive and have regular kinds of check-ins that aren’t just about, you know, superficial stuff. You want to really understand what they’re doing, what has changed in their business, and what you can be doing to improve so that you can wow them the next time.

Lee Kantor: Because ultimately, you want to create advocates. You don’t want to just create clients. So the more engaged the client is, that’s a better retention tool for you. And it’ll keep them around longer. It’ll make you more sticky.

Lee Kantor: So create some sort of feedback loops and spotlight their success stories. Turn them into advocates who are enthusiastic about the relationship. You don’t want to be kind of taken for granted by your clients. You want your clients to not only just stay, but you want them to bring their friends along and refer more business to you.

Lee Kantor: So in order to reduce kind of the customer churn, you have to understand your clients better. You have to understand their mindset at a deeper level. You want to create meaningful bonds, and you want to get ahead of issues before they snowball into problems.

BRX Pro Tip: You vs Your Calendar

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BRX Pro Tip: You vs Your Calendar

Stone Payton : And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I feel like you created this pro tip with a Stone intervention in mind: you versus your calendar.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think an interesting exercise for people to do, especially leaders, is to see how well you’re keeping up with your calendar, you know, how honest is your calendar. So a way to do that – a simple way to do that is this exercise, and you can try it this week. Just track the real story. For one week, just keep a simple log next to your calendar and note when things run over or got bumped, or you’ve wandered off tests. This isn’t about embarrassing yourself or making you feel bad. You want to see the truth. You know, you want to see what the actual story is and where the holes are because you need your calendar to be telling you the truth. You need your schedule to be accurate.

Lee Kantor: This was going to help you identify kind of those time thieves, the things that you put in your calendar that you thought would take 30 minutes, but they take 45 minutes or they take an hour. You want to be able to adjust that moving forward. You have to be able to be clear on what is a realistic block of time when you’ve kind of scheduled a task. So what does it really look like? So then, in the future, you can update the calendar so that the blocks are actually closer to reality.

Lee Kantor: You’ve got to remember, your calendar is a tool for you. The more honest you are about your time, the smarter you get at managing it. So you want to be bridging that gap between what the plan is and what reality is, because that means you’re going to be less frustrated, you’re going to be more productive, and then you’re going to get – you’re going to have more time for the things that matter.

Lee Kantor: So don’t be afraid of the truth and adjust the schedule as necessary. Remember that your calendar is working for you, and in order for it to work for you, it has to know the truth.

BRX Pro Tip: Building Mini Communities

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BRX Pro Tip: Building Mini Communities
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BRX Pro Tip: Building Mini Communities

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, there’s a great deal of emphasis in our world on building community, but there’s also some wisdom in thinking about creating these mini community.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I mean, creating communities and creating mini communities is at the heart of what we do every day at Business RadioX. At Business RadioX, we show our partners how to build community, doing the thing we do at our Business RadioX studios, and using the studios as a hub for these kind of communities. And then, within those communities, you can create even more kind of smaller communities.

Lee Kantor: But creating communities with communities is a great way that helps you with retention, and it helps you kind of innovate. Some way to try this and some things to try in your community is you want to create some sort of peer recognition.

Lee Kantor: Easy ways to do that are start by celebrating milestones, recognizing member achievement, anniversaries, any type of contribution to the community. And then, the next level way to do that is have them be peer nominated. Allow the members of the community to nominate each other for these kind of community rock star or mega connector awards.

Lee Kantor: And when you create these kind of mini communities inside your business, this creates a multiplier effect for loyalty, for stickiness, for innovation, and for word of mouth growth, which is so critical for most people in professional services. If you can transform your clients, your partners, your employees into thriving advocates and collaborators, your business will grow and you will have a healthy community.

BRX Pro Tip: Everyday Rapid Experimentation

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BRX Pro Tip: Everyday Rapid Experimentation
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BRX Pro Tip: Everyday Rapid Experimentation

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, one of my favorite topics, and I’d like to dive into it a little bit, experimentation.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that this is critical for any business, especially a small business kind of having a culture of everyday, rapid experimentation. You want to be quickly prototyping and you want to be failing in the open. That should be the norm. I wish we were doing it more in our business. I wish there was more of this type of experimentation at a faster pace, but it’s something that we’re building on and we’re trying to get better at.

Lee Kantor: But if you make experimentation just part of the daily business DNA, rather than waiting for perfection or big launches and you just develop these kind of small, practical prototypes, test, learn, adapt, test, learn, adapt over and over, over and over, you are going to find the things that are going to be the levers that make your business grow.

Lee Kantor: So, some ways to kind of institute some of these kind of culture, maybe try every afternoon, spend 20 minutes just visualizing a solution to a challenge, you know, just sketch it out or with sticky notes, or something where you’re just kind of brainstorming, and then just share it for feedback, and then see if there’s a way to kind of take some of those thoughts and turn them into experiments. What is testable?

Lee Kantor: And then, you take those initiatives, you know, define a clear hypothesis. If we try X, we believe Y will happen because of Z. You know, that’s it, just something short and simple and clear. And then, you define what success looks like. You know, whether that’s in business, whether it’s sign ups or shares, or whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Then, implement it and review the results a day or two later, not a week or a month later.

Lee Kantor: So, the key is taking action today. Pick one kind of nagging workflow challenge, sketch out a new approach, test it, get some feedback, and then just kind of decide your next move based on what you’ve just learned. If you can do that every day, every week, you are going to get a lot of momentum and you’re going to get a lot more growth.

The Impact Factor: Driving Change in Business, Health, and Wealth

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The Impact Factor: Driving Change in Business, Health, and Wealth
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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

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In this episode of Cherokee Business Radio, Joshua Kornitsky interviews Maggie Ishak with Focal Point Business Coaching, Chris Gardner with Arkos Global Advisors, and Caitlin Quraishi and Olivia Cook with Cultivate Health. The discussion highlights the difference between coaching and consulting, the importance of mindset, and practical strategies for overcoming overwhelm. Together, the guests explore how thoughtful questioning and self-discovery empower leaders to gain clarity, focus on what matters, and build resilient, high-performing businesses.

Maggie-IshakMaggie Ishak is a Certified Focal Point Business and Executive Coach, Certified Trust Edge Partner, Licensed Navigational Conversations Facilitator, and DISC Practitioner Maggie regularly works with leadership teams to improve performance, engagement, and alignment.

She is passionate about empowering her clients to meet their professional and personal goals, grow their businesses, engage their teams, control their time, and maintain a healthy work/life balance. Focal-Point-logo

Prior to her establishing her business coaching practice, Maggie was a VP of Supply Chain, VP of Operations and Director of Customer Experience at Michelin North America, where she spent 28 years growing her career from manufacturing to supply chain, distribution and operations.

She not only had a strong impact on the business results but also on the teams she managed and the customers she served.

Maggie has a BS Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Wake Forest University. Maggie lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and three teenage sons.

Connect with Maggie on LinkedIn.

Caitlin-Quraishi-bwDr. Caitlin Quraishi, with Cultivate Health, also known as Dr.Q, was born and raised in Tampa, Florida.

She went to St. Leo University for her undergraduate studies where she acquired her Bachelor’s of Biology degree. She then moved to Georgia to attend Life University where she fell in love with the chiropractic principles and philosophy.

She practiced in Seattle, Washington for 6 years while she explored the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She served on the chiropractic state board and was a chiropractic co-leader for the largest free medical clinic in Washington state.

She now resides in Dallas, Georgia where she calls home with her husband Curtis and two fur babies; Chubbs and Storm.

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Olivia-Cook-bwOlivia Cook loves being one of the first smiling faces you see when you walk into Cultivate Health. She started under regular chiropractor care right here in our office during her pregnancy journey. She is a wife and mom to a precious little boy.

She has been a Bartow County resident since 2022 after marrying her husband, Cole, and starting their family.

Olivia is a Lee University graduate and received a Business Administration degree. When she’s not in the office, she is busy helping her husband on the poultry farm. She loves spending most of her time outdoors, making sourdough bread, and canning.​

Her favorite part about belonging to the Cultivate Health family is helping other families connect and learn how to cultivate health from the start.

Follow Cultivate Health on Facebook.

Chris-Gardner-bwChris Gardner helps high-capacity business owners turn complexity into clarity.

As a seasoned Wealth Advisor, he works with business owners who’ve are building or have built substantial wealth, he loves helping them answer the question, “What’s next?” Chris helps answer that question with a holistic approach that aligns financial strategy with personal values, family priorities, and legacy goals.

Chris applies a “COO of the balance sheet” mindset, overseeing not just investments, but the entire financial ecosystem: business value, estate planning, tax strategy, charitable giving, and family. He conducts deep-dive gap analyses across seven key areas—bringing every advisor on the client’s team into alignment around a common mission: theirs.

Clients value Chris not just for his technical expertise, but for his ability to listen, ask the right questions, and guide big decisions with uncommon clarity. He’s especially passionate about helping clients structure both current generosity and long-term impact, building wealth that outlives them. Arkos-Global-Advisors-logo

Before advising, Chris spent 25 years as a pastor and missionary in South America. That experience gave him a global perspective, deep empathy, and a conviction that wealth should serve a greater purpose.

Chris is the author of Check What You’re Chasing and a frequent speaker on the intersection of money, meaning, and legacy. He and his wife, Andria, live in Georgia and have four children. He’s also fluent in Spanish, a guitar enthusiast, and an advocate for living generously in every season of life.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Episode Highlights

  • The distinction between coaching and consulting.
  • The importance of asking the right questions in coaching.
  • Developing frameworks and tools for business owners to solve challenges.
  • The role of mindset and perspective in effective leadership.
  • Insights on building high-performing teams and fostering collaboration.
  • Approaches to navigating organizational change and uncertainty.
  • The value of mentorship and peer support in career development.
  • Lessons learned from scaling businesses and managing growth.
  • Experiences with implementing innovative solutions in traditional industries.
  • Advice for balancing work, life, and personal well-being as a leader.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome back. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am a professional implementer of the EOS system and your host here on Cherokee Business Radio. We’ve got a great show today. Uh, have a whole bunch of wonderful folks here with me. But before we get started, I just want to mention that today’s episode is brought to you in part by the Community Partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors. Defending capitalism, promoting self small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Mainstreet warriors.com. And a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors, Diesel David, Inc.. Please go check them out at diesel.david.com. Well, as I said, I’m really excited about today. We’ve got a bunch of wonderful folks here in, in, in the studio with us. And I want to start by introducing Maggie Ishak, a business coach with, uh, Focal Point Business Coaching. She’s got a deep background in engineering, supply chain and operations leadership. And after nearly three decades in the corporate world, she now dedicates her work to helping leaders and teams simplify complexity, untangle challenges, and focus on what matters most. Maggie uses clear, practical frameworks to guide business owners and organizations in building trust, collaboration, and strategies that move the needle. Welcome, Maggie. I’m so happy to have you here.

Maggie Ishak: Thank you. I’m glad to be here.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m just thrilled to learn more about it. So tell us a little bit about your background, because supply chain operations, leadership and engineering is quite a path to get to coaching.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah, so I started my career as an engineer. Um, and I, I call myself a 28 year corporate refugee turned business coach.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Maggie Ishak: So, um, I had what many would call a a very successful career, growing my career out of manufacturing and engineering into supply chain and operations, and kind of growing my way up into the leadership ranks of the supply chain organization.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, okay.

Maggie Ishak: Which I was a part. Um, I got to the point where I really wanted to use my skills in a different way. Um, and I really enjoyed managing people, managing teams, developing people, helping them kind of find their career path or helping them get projects over the finish line. And so as a coach, that’s what I get to do, right? Um, working with lots of business owners and leaders across a number of different industries. Um, I’ve learned a lot about lots of different businesses as well, uh, in the course of that. But but really leveraging my background to help those business owners and leaders.

Joshua Kornitsky: It makes perfect sense because that amount of time inside of that corporate tank, so to speak, puts you in the unique position of sort of understanding how how the machinery operates.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So from that time, what are some of the things that you’ve brought forward into your coaching and how are how are you able to leverage that to help folks better understand what they need to understand?

Maggie Ishak: Yep. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give you maybe two different lenses on that. One is the focus on people. I mean, I spent the majority of my career managing teams. And so seeing how those teams operate together and helping each member of those teams grow their careers. Um, I realized in hindsight, a lot of what I did was ask questions. And that’s what coaching is, is asking really, really good questions. Um, but asking them questions to help them realize maybe where they’re stuck, where they need to think differently. Maybe there’s a blind spot that they’ve, um, that they’ve got that they need to move past. And so again, that’s what I do in, in my coaching practice. But that’s a lot of what I did when I was managing teams. Um, the second thing is I’m going to call it just around the daily operations of of running a business. Being in the corporate world, we had such heavy, um, you know, maybe bureaucracy is one way of looking at it. But also we had a lot of structure. And so it’s taking the best pieces of that structure and using that to help business owners. So a really, really simple example is something like metrics. Um, many large businesses have hundreds of metrics by which they run their business. No small business owner needs that. But most of the time, many small business owners don’t have any metrics by which they run their business.

Joshua Kornitsky: And so how is that possible?

Maggie Ishak: Well, I think it’s just people start their business based on what they love doing, and they don’t take the time to step back and think about what do I need to track and measure. And when they are tracking and measuring things, they’re typically tracking results, not necessarily the actions that drive those results. And so again, I’m using what I learned in my corporate days, spending a lot of time with lots of data, right? But helping them unpack not only what’s the result they need to track, but what are the things upstream from that that actually are the levers, what moves the needle on driving those results? And so it’s those really small things. They can have a really, really big impact on a business owner.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. And that makes complete sense to me from from the lens that I used to see things out of better understanding the approach to coaching. You know, it sounds much more like you are using, um, inductive reasoning to, to try to get to the, the conclusions rather than just saying, here’s what you need to do.

Maggie Ishak: Ah, so, Joshua, that’s a great, uh, great segue, because a lot of times people have a misconception that coaching is the same as consulting. Consulting.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah, that’s consulting. And that’s what many business owners actually want. And I’ve had many of my clients look at me almost with a look of desperation and just say, just tell me what to do. Now that that’s almost like somebody giving getting a prescription pill for something versus getting a workout plan to help them figure out how to get there, get there themselves. So coaching helps them figure out not only how to solve the one problem at hand, but the next ten that come their way. It gives them a framework, a methodology, a toolkit so they can unpack it themselves and not keep running back to me every time and saying, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Um, best example I can give you. I worked with a client for about eight months, and she actually, I could tell she was getting to this point, but she got she literally told me she’s like, Maggie, I don’t need you anymore. And it’s because, yeah, it’s great because I had given her the frameworks and the tools, and she was actually able week to week to implement it herself. And she had the discipline to be able to hold herself accountable.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that is like anything else in the world. And you’ll find because I’ve had great conversations with everybody here prior to today, you’ll find that really aligns with everybody else in the room.

Maggie Ishak: Awesome.

Joshua Kornitsky: Looking forward to that. There is. It turns out there is not an express lane to accomplish the things we want to accomplish. And even if you were to go in and tell them what to do, it’s kind of like if you have kids, telling your kids what to do doesn’t make them learn.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So how do you help prioritize? Because everything’s urgent. I imagine when you arrive on the scene, you’re I don’t want to call it a train wreck because it isn’t. You’re showing up at a functional business that recognizes it needs help.

Maggie Ishak: Yes. So I call it untangling the bowl of spaghetti. So typically a business owner is just going to come and do this big dump on the table of here’s everything that’s going on. So what we do is we take a step back and ask what is your ultimate goal? Where do you want to get to? And I ask them to pick some point of time in the future. It might be six months, it might be a year, it might be five years. And ask them, where is it that you want to get to? And typically they have an idea of what that is. Okay. It might be I want to sell my business. It might be I want to retire. It might be I want to make this income threshold. And I pull that back and figure out why, what’s what’s behind that, what’s motivating them. So we know kind of what the Polar star is and then what we’re going to.

Joshua Kornitsky: So so I’m so it can be qualitative as well as quantitative. It can be.

Maggie Ishak: Qualitative or quantitative. Um the more quantitative the better. But sometimes they don’t know how to quantify it yet. And that’s okay. But the goal is just trying to figure out what direction we want to go in. I also do an exercise with them to figure out what their values are. And then what we do is as we start to untangle that bowl of spaghetti, as I like to call it, is what’s aligned with that end goal and what’s aligned with your values. And that typically helps them shed some of the noise, some of the things that aren’t lined up. And I can give you a really quick example. Um, one of my clients, she was trying to grow her business and she was doing a hundred different things, um, to try to grow. And when we peeled it all back, we realized that all of that time she was spending on social media wasn’t really driving any results for her and what she also came to realize was because she’s really good. One on one, she realized that she just needed to go to in-person networking events more and have those one on one conversations. And almost every event she goes to, she gets at least one prospect out of it.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s awesome.

Maggie Ishak: And so all it did was, was give her that clarity to say, you know what? Instead of doing all these different things, I’m just going to focus here. And so that’s a lot of what coaching does is help shine the lens on what matters, what’s moving the needle. But it really usually takes somebody from the outside asking those questions to make you realize where that blind spot is or where you might be missing something.

Joshua Kornitsky: I should note that everybody in the studio keeps nodding their head. Okay. I’m sorry. As Maggie’s talking, they’re all like, yes, yes, that makes complete sense, but nobody can see that. So I just wanted to let everybody that’s listening know we’re all in agreement here, because what you’re saying really does make sense. Um, so I want to talk a little bit more about the bowl of spaghetti. Yeah. Right. And it’s not because I’m hungry. It’s because the bowl of spaghetti probably has a lot of components in it, and I’m assuming a lot of those components are are myths or assumptions.

Maggie Ishak: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So when when you even just have a dialog with someone who is interested in understanding more, what are some of the the assumptions that you have to overcome or the myths that they come in believing?

Maggie Ishak: Yep. So I’ll give you a couple. I mean, one one big misconception is that coaching is only for failing businesses, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. Um, in fact, you get better results with business that’s already doing well. Sure. Um, no one ever questions why an Olympic athlete has six different coaches, and they do. They might have, you know, a coach and an exercise coach and a this I mean they’ve got no one ever questions that. No one ever questions why anybody in athletics has multiple coaches. But for a business owner. Oh why. Well and so this idea that, um, it’s only for failing businesses is completely not true. Um, my best clients are the ones that are already high performers, and they. They understand that having somebody from the outside with a different lens, asking them some questions, is going to help them take their business to the next level. Um, so that’s probably misconception number one.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’ve got to be open. You’ve got to be willing to take.

Maggie Ishak: You’ve got to be open to it and not think that, oh my gosh, I’m failing. Therefore I need a coach. That is that is not at all the truth. Again, think of athletes as an example to really kind of dispel that. Um, the other one is that it’s it’s time consuming or expensive. And one of the models that I use to, um, work with business owners, typically at the beginning, um, is looking at what’s their hourly rate worth and what are they willing to pay somebody to do. And so I’ve got a model that I use. Um, if it’s okay, I’ll give.

Joshua Kornitsky: You.

Maggie Ishak: The details of it. It’s called the three I’s of the Business owner. And it’s this idea that you can look at your business with three different lenses or eyes. Ones the technician. I that’s like the day to day kind of the grind. Every business has that. Um, you know, think of a restaurant. It’s the line cook. It’s the servers. Um, the second layer is the managerial I. This is looking backwards. How did I do yesterday, last week, last month and then making decisions. It’s typically very short term focused and very tactical. Um, and then the third in a, in a restaurant example that might be the supervisor or the manager.

Joshua Kornitsky: Making sure that we have coverage but not really planning down the.

Maggie Ishak: Road exactly. Or making sure that we’ve just got enough food in the freezer or the fridge to cover, you know, the next couple of days worth of, of meals. Um, you know, the third lens is the entrepreneurial I this is the person that owns the restaurant that may be thinking about we might need a bigger space or we might need a second location. Um, or we may need a different location. And most business owners spend about 85% of their time in that technician eye. And so what really helps get their attention is I use this restaurant analogy and I say, would a restaurant owner pay somebody $100 an hour to wash dishes? And of course it’s no right. Or as a business owner that I was working with recently, I literally asked him, would I, would you be willing to pay somebody $200 an hour to sort through that shoebox of receipts? And he looked at me and said, absolutely not. Well, that’s what he was doing.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Maggie Ishak: And so sometimes putting it.

Joshua Kornitsky: That hits home, because I see that all the time.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah. And so putting it in terms of hourly rate, where are you spending your time is almost like a wake up call to say, oh my gosh, I need to be spending my time doing something differently. And so if one hour of coaching can help unlock you spending five hours a week doing something much lower in the value chain, Coaching’s paid for itself multiple times over. And so therefore it’s not expensive. It’s looking at what’s the ROI of that time and money that I’m investing, and what’s the benefit that I’m getting to my business and to my, my, my own wellbeing.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so that leads me to ask what I think is the next question is, is Maggie, what size organizations do you typically help who you know, is it, uh, is there a size that you are best suited for or please share with us rather than me proposing?

Maggie Ishak: Yeah, so I’ve worked with anybody that’s a solopreneur on up. Okay. Um, I have several clients that are solopreneurs. I have some that have I’m going to call it a smaller business, maybe with ten or so employees. That’s a great size because you can see really big changes in a short amount of time. And you can you can really pull the levers and see an impact. And then I’ve also worked with a number of corporate clients where I’ve worked with teams that are embedded inside of those organizations. So, so the the models that I use really apply across the board.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you can work with the leadership or the teams themselves.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: And build skills that align.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely. So either work with a leader or the business owner themselves and or their teams, um, and still have great progress.

Joshua Kornitsky: So if I’m a business owner, hearing this right now and thinking, okay, well, well, this sort of makes sense to me, what’s the next thing I’m going to say to myself as to why I shouldn’t pick up the phone of why, you know. Meaning what? How do they talk themselves out of it? Because that’s the piece that I want to uncover. Because we both work with entrepreneurial organizations. And and these are people who, broadly speaking, solve their own problems. And and that’s admirable. And there’s nothing but positive things to say about people that solve their own problems. But there’s a point where, you know, you have to call a mechanic because you can’t fix the car. You have to bring in that outside eye that that you represent. But they often talk themselves out of it.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah. So I’ll give you one litmus test. Perfect. Does it feel like Groundhog Year?

Joshua Kornitsky: Great question. That’s fantastic.

Maggie Ishak: If it feels like Groundhog Year, call somebody. Doesn’t have to be me. Just call somebody. It could honestly just be another business owner.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Maggie Ishak: Um, that’s part of a peer group. And just asking and just saying, hey, this is what I’m seeing. This is what I’m feeling. What do you think? It’s just this idea of getting another lens, another perspective to make you think differently. That’s really what it’s about.

Joshua Kornitsky: So. Last question in this vein, what does success look like for your clients?

Maggie Ishak: What does success look like? Is not needing me anymore honestly.

Joshua Kornitsky: Or getting yourself out of a job?

Maggie Ishak: Working myself out of a job. But it’s also seeing the smile on their face, the sigh of relief. The light bulb go off where now they know where to go and how to get there and it’s within reach.

Joshua Kornitsky: I mean, it certainly sounds like something that every business owner I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with would would be trying to accomplish. Because you’re not making a pie in the sky promise of, you know, I’ll lead you to the path of $1 trillion and and, you know, 11 locations. It’s just, hey, how would you like to be able to sleep at night and breathe?

Maggie Ishak: That’s exactly right. And and honestly, there’s, there’s a bit of, of input equals output. So just because even somebody hires a business coach and sits through the meetings. Doesn’t guarantee results. And Joshua, I’m sure you see that in your practice as well. They’ve got to do the work.

Joshua Kornitsky: Absolutely. You cannot phone it in. Yeah, and you can. While we both teach delegation, you cannot delegate the hard work to somebody else and expect the results to align with what your goals are 100%.

Maggie Ishak: You’ve got to make tough decisions. You’ve got to make choices. And, you know, if somebody comes to me and says, I don’t have enough hours in the day, the first question I’m going to ask them is, what’s draining you of energy? And let’s figure out how to get that task off the plate, or what’s the low value added technician task. And let’s get it off your plate. And if they’re unwilling to make a change or, you know, the other thing that I see that that maybe where people don’t get the best results is they fall into that victim mentality.

Joshua Kornitsky: Whatever do you mean?

Maggie Ishak: I’m sure you’ve never seen that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Never once.

Maggie Ishak: Um, you know, this victim mentality of, oh, it’s happening to me. I’m the only one. You know.

Joshua Kornitsky: No one can do this but me.

Maggie Ishak: Right? That no one can do this but me. Or I’m the only one that knows this. They’ve got to rise beyond that and be willing to make a change and do things differently. I mean, you know, I’ll use an example. No one ever lost weight by doing nothing. You know, you’ve got you’ve got to get through some pain to get the gain. Um, no one’s ever built a business just by waving a magic wand. I mean, there’s got to be some work. You’ve got to put the work into it to, um, to get the results.

Joshua Kornitsky: And on the flip side of that, if you put the work in, the reward is pretty substantial. And I don’t even mean dollars. I just mean an accomplishment.

Maggie Ishak: Time, energy. Um, again, a lot of my clients, when they breathe a sigh of relief, that’s when I know I’ve. I’ve made an impact.

Joshua Kornitsky: There’s there’s a great book written by Daniel Pink called drive and in drive, while. Well, because of Covid, some of it might be a little bit dated. The overall message is essentially intrinsic value beats all other drivers. Something that you take pleasure out of or that you find rewarding will motivate you far better than a than a characteristic.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and I really appreciate you sharing what you’ve shared with me. And I can tell you that it’s something that I think would resonate with a lot of the people that are hearing this, whether they’re business owners or not, because it helps them understand how to prioritize and how to think about things. And it turns out it’s it all starts with one foot in front of the other.

Maggie Ishak: It starts with one foot in front of the other. And I’ll I’ll throw out a couple of things before we wrap up here. Um, when somebody introduced to me, my first conversation with them is typically 15 minutes on the phone, kind of no strings attached. Um, if they want to have another conversation, then we do what’s called a strategic business review. Again, no strings attached. Takes about 45 minutes. Um, ask a few questions. And my goal in that 45 minutes is to give them some value, even if they never work with me. At least they walked away with something. I literally had one of these conversations last week, um, with a a business owner, and I asked her, this is kind of funny. I want to share it. Please. I asked her what’s draining you? She’s like, I just don’t have enough time today. I can’t prioritize, and I asked her, what’s draining you of energy? She said, my garden. I said, your garden. She said, yeah. And she gave me the size of it. Apparently it’s like a 30 by 30 foot garden and she’s growing all kinds of vegetables. But the maintenance of it is, is really.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a farm.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah. Do you know what she decided? At the end of our call, she said, I’m going to go bulldoze my garden. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. And she’s like, she’s like, no, I need to do it. She’s like, I’ve been thinking about this now for a long time. It’s just taken too much of my energy and I’m not getting enough joy from it. And I don’t know if she’s actually done it or not. Sure, but at least it prompted her to think a little differently around where she was spending her time and what choices she could make. She could have more of her time for her business or for her clients.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and that’s all we can ever hope to do, is make that make that light go on. For someone to realize that it doesn’t have to always be the way they are accustomed to it being.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Maggie, what’s the best way for people to reach you?

Maggie Ishak: So probably the easiest way is on LinkedIn, because it’s the least amount of characters that I can call out.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, well, and we will post links to reach you. Okay.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s please share with us.

Maggie Ishak: Yeah. So my name is Maggie. Ishak. Maggie. Last name is not spelled like it sounds. I s h a k. So that’s probably the easiest, fastest way to find me. Okay, send me a DM or a connection request. Tell me you heard about me on Business RadioX. Um, or, um, as Joshua mentioned, my contact information will be, uh, in the show notes. So looking forward to receiving an email. Um, or any other any other contact. So.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, thank you again. I really appreciate it. Hope you can hang out while we while we talk with our other.

Maggie Ishak: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, Maggie Ishak, business coach with Focalpoint business coaching background in engineering and supply chain operations leadership and clearly knows how to untangle a bowl of spaghetti, or at the very least, empower you to untangle your own.

Maggie Ishak: That’s my goal.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes. There you go. Well, thank you so much.

Maggie Ishak: Thank you for having me.

Joshua Kornitsky: So next we have here with us in the studio, um, someone who is near and dear to my heart. And I’ll tell that story later. But I have Doctor Caitlin Quraishi and I have Olivia Cook with her from Cultivate Health in Cartersville, Georgia. Did I get the name right? Because I have a long history of screwing up names. As long as I’ve been doing this, I get one wrong a week. But let me let me tell you that that Dr. Q, as she’s allowed me to call her, uh, she’s a family chiropractor specializing in pediatrics and pregnancy, and she’s the owner of Cultivate Health, as I said, in Cartersville, Georgia. She was recently recognized as a Cartersville-bartow Chamber Impact Award recipient. And Olivia Cook is a chiropractic assistant with her at Cultivate Health. She’s a mother of a one year old and also manages a commercial chicken farm. Together, they are the leaders for the Climb Team Cartersville advocating for pardon me, that’s a tongue twister there. Maternal mental health and supporting families in their community. Welcome to you both.

Caitlin Quraishi: Good morning.

Olivia Cook: Good morning.

Joshua Kornitsky: Good morning. I’m so glad to have you here. So let me first ask a little bit of both of your background. So, doctor Q if I could start with you.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. So, um, like you said, I’m a family chiropractor. I specialize in pediatrics in pregnancy, and we are approaching our third year in the office, um, which is really exciting. And, um, I’m in Cartersville and just have a passion for serving families. And, um, we have this really exciting project that we’re working on that is going to be at the end of the month, the Climb Team Cartersville. Um, and yeah, I’m just excited to be here and share all about this big, big event that we’re hosting.

Joshua Kornitsky: All right. Well, I’ll ask you about that in just a minute. But, Olivia, tell us a little bit about your background.

Olivia Cook: Um, I’m Olivia.

Joshua Kornitsky: And about the chicken farm.

Olivia Cook: Yeah, I got some some weird faces with that one.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, it’s a conversation getter.

Olivia Cook: Yes. For sure, for sure. Um, I could yeah, it goes on and on, But, um, so actually, um, in a Lee University alumni, I, um, quickly graduating, I joined Caitlin’s team. I was a, a practice member of hers that came, um, when I was 17 weeks pregnant, and I was like, you are my lifesaver. But, um, I actually have a business administration degree. So we chatted, um, all throughout my time getting adjusted with her, and she was like, hey, is this something you would want to do? And I was like, absolutely. I’m on like on board. Um, and actually a year ago today, uh, yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: Happy anniversary.

Olivia Cook: Um, so that’s been amazing. I couldn’t like, I’ve never loved a job more in my life. So I love being with her and spending time with all the kiddos. Like I was telling y’all glorified babysitter sometimes, but that’s what I love. Um, and then on my off time, I am a commercial chicken farmer with my husband. We he actually manages a farm, a six house farm. And then we own together a three house chicken farm, a poultry farm. We grow for pilgrims. Um, so all your chicken from Zaxby’s and anything labeled Pilgrim in this area? Maybe not. Um, because we grow for a canton. Um, maybe. Well, yeah, that’s close actually. Yes, ma’am. Off my map here. But, um. Yeah. So that’s us. We contribute to that. But you ask, what takes a lot of your time and energy? That’s it for me.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, I’m not going to tell you to bulldoze the chicken farm, but I will say you do delicious work.

Olivia Cook: No. Absolutely not. But, um, my husband has a heavy load with with all he does, so I do help out a lot. And then my one year old also takes a lot of my energy. So, um. Yeah, but that’s I’m I’m with her part time because I do want to balance being a mom and and working and having a career as well. But my time with my son is very important to me. While I can have it, I’m very blessed to be able to do both, to have my space that I enjoy putting my energy to, but also raising him. And that’s the season I’m in. And that’s also what led me to to wanting to pour my time into the climb event. Um, because I am freshly postpartum. And that’s what it’s all about postpartum families and reaching them, providing them resources, um, within the Cartersville community.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, that’s a perfect segue. So tell us about the climb. And I think I said it wrong, but it’s the climb Team Cartersville, right?

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. Um, so Postpartum Support International is the nonprofit that this is through, and it’s actually worldwide. But you can anyone can go on and host a climb in their own city. Um, a lot of people ask us like why it’s called The Climb, and they think that they’re coming in, like doing some type of hike or climb and we’re like, no.

Joshua Kornitsky: That would be my assumption. So so help us understand what it is.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yeah. So, um, it used to be called climb out of the darkness for postpartum depression and anxiety, and they switched it to just the climb. Um, so we are we signed up to host it in, in Cartersville, and it is Saturday, September 27th at Dellinger Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and it’s really just bringing awareness to postpartum depression, anxiety, OCD, and for both moms and dads, because a lot of people don’t realize it’s the whole family unit, not just one mom. Yeah, not just mom. Um. It’s everyone. It’s making an impact on that whole family and that that changes our communities. So we wanted to just start talking about this more. Um, one of the sayings is like breaking the stigma or ending the stigma of mental health and just not not allowing people to not letting people feel like they’re alone out there, that they have a community to depend on.

Joshua Kornitsky: So if you would share with us, tell us a little bit about what would actually happen. So if we go to the event, if someone’s there, what what are they going to have around them? What are they going to experience?

Caitlin Quraishi: So we like.

Olivia Cook: To call it a community fun day. Um, that’s basically what it is. So we’re trying to gather everybody that’s in the same walk of life, the same season, um, and just have a day that they don’t have to, to be in that cycle, that mental cycle, you know, like, this is a place it’s called the climb. And we’re taking what’s called a hope walk, um, around the duck pond at Dellinger Park. So every climb event, um, will have some representation of the climb or a walk, but, um, ours is just a short walk. So anybody is able to do it, you’re able to do it with strollers. I tested that, I mean, my my one year old went right, chugged along. But, um, yeah, it’s a super easy walk, like anybody would be able to do it. But a representation of like, you’re not alone in this season. Um, we have anything from resource tables. We have ten resource tables of different providers. Um, to build your dream team, we like to say your postpartum dream team, anybody that you might not know was out there, like I didn’t even know was out there until we started this, um, to get you connected with them to also events for the kiddos. So there’s, um, face painting, a tattoo station there. We’re having a mini kindermusik class, a storytime, um, little session. There’s going to be touch-a-truck sensory play, like all kinds of different things for kids. Like it’s a day you would want to be there.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’s very interactive.

Olivia Cook: Yes, yes. And there’s plenty for kids to do, plenty for adults to do.

Caitlin Quraishi: So we’ve also been working really hard to make it a free event. So, um, it’s it is free. We have, um, anyone that comes out, they can just come join, have fun. Um, some, you know, some families out there don’t have a lot to work with.

Joshua Kornitsky: So we this removes that barrier.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. And we wanted people to just come out and have a great day together and meet people and find other people in the community, other moms, other families that they could go and have dinner with after this or go to the park, you know, in the future with and so we we’ve been working really hard to make this free. And we’re really thankful that a lot of, um, businesses have been helping us do that.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s great. And, you know, it’s funny, Maggie mentioned earlier about, uh, in the business context about the value of having peer connection. It’s equally true with families to have other families around you that are using Olivia’s term in that same season with you, because often, you know, we have a lot of folks that move into the area that may not have any connection to people and just meeting other folks that are in or around where you are in your stage of life makes a huge difference.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So that’s a great opportunity. Is is there, um, is there a compelling reason why you are involved with the organization? Is there something that drove you to it?

Caitlin Quraishi: I think just seeing the families in, in, you know, my practice and, um, we do serve the, the perinatal period in the office. And, um, a lot of people will this is what I see in which I would I would love for more families to help understand that so many people prep for birth, right? They put so much work into birth, and they don’t realize like that the fourth trimester postpartum is usually the hardest. And so if you could really just put as much work as you are into the birth or the baby shower as you are in that, that fourth trimester like that would really help help our families. And so we’ve just seen, you know, we see families every day that come in and are are in the office and they need support. Um, we had a family earlier this year that it was a really big struggle for me to find. Um, to find a therapist that would accept her insurance. And so, um, I’ve done a training. I actually, I’m trying to remember when this was I actually received a scholarship through Georgia for Postpartum Support International to take a provider training.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and I want to ask you, because you brought it up, and obviously, this is where I’ll tell my very quick story. As an EOS implementer, Caitlin was one of my very first clients. Yes. And we got a chance to know each other as as her business was getting started and my business was getting started. So I’m glad you brought up the perinatal care, because when it comes to chiropractic, I feel like that’s virtually unknown. Unless unless you’re already aware of it and you’re looking for it. So would you share with folks what that is? Because I think for a lot of people, they don’t know it exists.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yeah. I think, um, our social media does maybe not a great job of showing like the full the full view of what chiropractic is. Um, in our office. We are nervous system based, so we’re really looking at how the brain and body are communicating through that nervous system and just overall function of the body, not just pain. So a lot of people are, you know, often confused on why we’re seeing babies in the office, brand new newborns, um, why we’re taking care of pregnant moms. But it’s all about if we can make sure that their nervous system is communicating and and functioning optimally, then they are living their life at a totally different level. And so, um, we we see a lot of families. I, I think in the beginning when we were working together, you know, we had a lot of conversations about, well, should it only be, you know, pregnancy and pediatrics. And when I was in practice and started seeing people, you know, families were coming in and saying, like, I want my husband here too, right? And so we really had to expand that, that vision into a whole family practice because they, you know, people were under care and they wanted their other family members to be receiving that same type of care in the office so that, you know, expanded to husbands and grandparents and.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s fantastic. And that’s really what I wanted to try to bring it back around to, is that while you do have this unique specialty, and if I recall, you’re one of very few that does in the state of Georgia.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. Um, I want to say I might be wrong, but I want to say there’s 12 of us in the state of Georgia with the Kocp designation, which is, um, for pregnancy and pediatrics.

Joshua Kornitsky: So that in and of itself is is worth drawing folks attention to. But the fact that you’re also family practice, that you’re also, uh, helping those the, the dads, the husbands, the brothers, the sons and the daughters that are not in that season of life.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s wonderful stuff. So I’m going to ask you the hard question now. What are some of the misconceptions all the way around that people have about chiropractic care? Because like not drawing it back to Maggie again. Right. But Maggie did say everybody’s looking for the magic pill. And clearly you have the magic pill, right? I go get adjusted. I’m all better forever.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: One time. That’s it. Yes.

Caitlin Quraishi: Misconceptions.

Olivia Cook: I would say for sure. Um, like, what I see the most is like, I guess this is where social media comes in with the misconception, like, oh, I’m going to go to her when I’m hurt, right?

Joshua Kornitsky: The one and done.

Olivia Cook: Yes. Um, even my husband was that way. And I’m like, look, we’ve got to get on this. Um, so like she said, it’s a nervous system, um, base. So it’s all around how your body communicates with itself. It has the ability to heal itself. Um, and so how to make that happen with proper alignment? Her biggest thing is you don’t go to the mechanic just when your car’s broke down, like you have to do regular maintenance. You can.

Joshua Kornitsky: But that guy’s not going to last you as.

Olivia Cook: Long. You have to keep regular maintenance, you know, like you have to change the oil. You have to put gas in it. You have to do those things regularly. That’s like her number one way of like communicating that to people. And she even Maggie even used the car analogy like it’s always something that you should put your body is something that shouldn’t be worn down and never, like, rejuvenated. Never, never poured back into so.

Joshua Kornitsky: So people make a lot of assumptions that it is that one and done. I’ll go get adjusted. I’ll be fine.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. Or there’s the opposite. There’s a lot of people that are afraid. Oh, once I start going, I’ll never be able to stop. Um, that I’ll have to go forever. And I think as chiropractors, we like to use that analogy with dentists. You know, like you brush your teeth every single day and you go and get your yearly checkups, you know, or twice a year, every six months, you’re going to get checkups, um, at your dentist office. Anyone can live without chiropractic. But when they start to see the benefits of how their body is functioning at a different level than they’re like, I don’t want to stop this, why would I not want to get my nervous system checked to make sure that my brain is functioning the way that it should be? And that’s something that just becomes a lifestyle that they they want to to have that that check.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that makes sense to me because when people get to experience it and understand the difference, that’s you, as the expression goes, that applies to everybody in this room. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So everybody always, uh, makes helpful leaps to helpful conclusions with no information whatsoever. Because I don’t know if you know this, but the internet said it’s fine. And someday we’re going to find the great big box with the red button on the front labeled the internet, and we’re going to have a word with it.

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: But, um, well, so I want to I want to bring it back before we close out and ask again. Uh, regarding the climb, um, is there anything that people that are interested in it can can do? How can they learn more? Are you looking for volunteers? Donations?

Caitlin Quraishi: Yes. Oh my goodness. So we have um, this is actually our, our last week of our fundraisers that we’re having. We have a, um on Thursday in Cartersville at Texas Roadhouse, a dine to donate where you can order to go or in the restaurant. And if you mention the climb, then 10% of your check goes towards our fundraiser on Saturday. Um, at Cultivate Health at my office, we’re having a chill with the climb, so it’s a breathwork and a cold plunge with Cohen, um, Andrews. And, um, he is graciously donating that to to our fundraiser as well. And we have, um, anyone that wants to come and volunteer or wants to just attend the event, you can show up the day of. And then all of our stuff is on social media, on our website, which will.

Joshua Kornitsky: And we’ll have all of that on our site. But what’s the let me go ahead and ask you, what’s the best way for people to find you or to find out events, uh, related to the climb?

Caitlin Quraishi: What do you say, our website or our Facebook?

Olivia Cook: Either way, easy to access. Um.

Caitlin Quraishi: Well, I would say Facebook or our website.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. We’ll have those links for everybody. And, and if people are interested in not just the climb, but learning more about the types of care you offer or provide, also website.

Caitlin Quraishi: Also the website. Yeah. Our website has all the information, um, just about our practice. But then also there’s a like workshop and events tab. And so we’re always putting all the different things that are upcoming. They’re listed there.

Joshua Kornitsky: So that’s good to know. So so it’s not just if you’ll pardon the expression one and done. There’s always things going on. Yes yes that’s fantastic.

Olivia Cook: I would also like to add um so postpartum support international their whole project that they work towards um they are an international nonprofit, but their biggest thing is to provide therapy, resources, support for people in the postnatal period. Um, so certain states, if they opt into it, have a chapter, like if they have a board that will represent that state. So the state of Georgia has a chapter, a psi Georgia chapter. Um, so all the funds that we’re donating go straight into the Georgia chapter.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So it stays.

Olivia Cook: Local. Yes. And it also, um, provides those moms with the therapy that she was like she was talking about earlier this year. We were unable to fund a family, any support. Um, so they have a certain amount of allotted funds, and when those funds are used up, it’s closed and there’s nothing else they can do. So, um, that closed, open and closed within two days this year, um, for Georgia. And so it was hot and they opened it back up as, as they received funds. Um, it’s it’s actually opening back this week I just saw. Yes. Um, I’m actually receiving therapy through that program right now. Um, and it’s been an astronomical difference for me. Like, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. A provider.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s great.

Olivia Cook: To hear. Yes. And so that’s something it’s it’s more personal to me a little bit. Um, because I’m actually in that journey. I’m one of those recipients. I’m, I’m in that period. I’ve seen the people and I’ve seen the false reality of what what we experienced. Like she said, you you plan for birth, you don’t plan for postpartum, and it wrecks you when that happens. So, um, actually, she’s my therapist, is working with me, and my husband and I had a very traumatic birth, and he experienced the trauma just as well. So, um, that’s everything that we receive, donations wise. Um, go straight to that. There is a link on our any of our social media or our websites called the Classy Link. If you’re looking for it, you can donate straight to there. Um, or we are still looking for a few more sponsorships for certain items to make this event free. Um.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that too is on the website.

Olivia Cook: Yes, everything’s posted for what we’re looking for, but I just wanted to add that in because I’m really.

Joshua Kornitsky: Glad you didn’t.

Olivia Cook: That’s the goal. You know, that’s that’s the what we’re pushing towards.

Joshua Kornitsky: So thank you for sharing the personal side of that, because that helps people connect as well and understand that they’re not alone. And so much of this is what that’s about.

Olivia Cook: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: They’re not alone. So, uh, Dr. Caitlin Quraishi, Olivia Cook, both from Cultivate Health in Cartersville, um, here today to talk more about the climb and Team Cartersville. But we’ll have you back again just to talk about cultivate health from the practice. So thank you both. Thank you for the work you’re doing and for all that you’re doing to to help draw attention to something that clearly needs a lot of attention.

Caitlin Quraishi: So thank you so much.

Joshua Kornitsky: So I have one more guest in the studio, and I have to tell you, in, in all of my time doing this, so far, I’ve not quite met anybody like him. And I mean that in a really nice way. So I’ll it’ll make sense. As we begin to talk, let me introduce, uh, my next guest, Chris Gardner. He’s he’s a wealth and philanthropic strategist with Arkos Global Advisors. Chris works with business owners and sales executives to align their financial strategies with generosity at the core. And that’s kind of the piece that was really different and caught my attention. Rather than focused solely on accumulation, his approach challenges clients to consider how their resources can create impact today, emphasizing values, relationships, and legacy alongside of money management, his work invites people to rethink wealth, not just as numbers on a page, but also as tools for lasting influence in meaningless, meaningful. Pardon me. That was a terrible mistake. Meaningful contribution. Hey, we’re all human. We all make mistakes, Chris. Welcome. And thank you for pre-forgiving me.

Chris Gardner: Oh, you’re a good man. Thank you so much for having me today.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m just thrilled to have you here. Well, before we dig into this concept, which I love, uh, from a core values perspective, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you arrived where you are today.

Chris Gardner: Yeah, that’s a long story. When people ask most people, where are you from? They go the name of a city and a state. Or if they’re a military kid, they’re like, I lived a little bit. Mine’s a lot different. I was born in Rome, Georgia, grew up in Cartersville, Georgia, and at the age of 12, my dad walked into the house and said, uh, hey, guys, my dad was a pastor. He said, hey, God’s calling us to the mission field. I was like, well, I didn’t get that phone call, but okay. Um, and so he’s he’s I’m 12 years old, as you can imagine. 12. There’s a lot going on in a young man at that age and, you know, changes in your, you know, like peach fuzz coming out. Yeah. So we’re sitting there and he says, God’s calling us to the mission field. So I ended up moving to Queretaro, Mexico. We lived there for one year to learn Spanish. And then we moved out to Peru, where we were missionaries for, um, until the age of 18. I was a missionary kid with my dad, and then at the age of 18, I became a missionary on my own. Came back to the States, raised my support to be doing mission work in Peru, and lived down there for about 20 years. Oh, wow. Um, came back to the States. My son was born with a cleft lip and palate, and so most people don’t really understand what a cleft lip and palate is. But a cleft lip is a that’s a that’s a pretty surgery. You just make it look pretty and you’re okay. The palate means he had no roof of his mouth. And so the way I like to explain it to people is because people are like, why’d you leave Peru for that? Well, he’s 15 years old. He’s had 26 surgeries when he was born. You could stick your finger in his mouth and touch his brain. And so just think about that.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s pretty staggering.

Chris Gardner: Yeah, that’s not a normal that’s not a normal, normal problem. So every time they’ve done a surgery he’s growing. It stretches, it rips, you know, just all kinds of stuff. So he’s had 26 surgeries. Coolest kid ever. Moved back to the States and got into wealth management at that point working with people. So yeah, just a really different lifestyle than most.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s quite a jump, though, from mission work to financial management. What what can you describe that bridge a little.

Chris Gardner: Yeah. So so in Peru, what I found out was that money was the governor of what could happen.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Chris Gardner: Like, we we we had a we started dozens of churches. We started a college, a TV station, a radio station, an orphanage. Like we had a very large ministry. But the number one governor was the donations. The same thing that Doctor Hughes talking about for the, for, for, for their event, we we the we have an ongoing event 365 days a year, and it never ends. And so I knew that money had a very important purpose. And so in wealth management, money is viewed as a trophy, not as a tool. Okay. That’s the biggest difference is the way that the way I so I look at it and I’m like, this is a tool to be able to do cooler stuff, bigger stuff. You don’t have to be involved in missions in Peru. But I want to know what you think and what you want. So one of the first questions I ask my people is, what dent do you want to leave in the world? And they’ll say, I have an adopted daughter. My daughter is my daughter because her mother, uh, had postpartum depression and she committed suicide. And I, uh, I adopted my daughter because of that. So that’s near and dear to my heart. So it might be somebody that says postpartum depression. That’s what the dent I want to make in the world. I really want to help that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Chris Gardner: And I go, man, that’s great. Now let’s talk about how to make that happen. And so, um, yeah. So what do you want to leave in the world? Do you want to leave in the world? What legacy do you want to do? You want to leave? So that’s kind of a where we start everything and then not a trophy. It’s a tool. And so what does that mean for our day to day life and for our retirement and everything else. So it’s kind of a different voice I believe in the financial advising space.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’ve, I’ve talked to a lot of financial folks and never encountered anybody with that particular perspective. So my my next question, which, which to me is the logical is, is how do you shift, uh, dies with the most wins mindset into thinking about the impact they’re going to make. And, and is everyone that you talk to open to that?

Chris Gardner: No, not everyone’s open to that. But I would say the vast majority do not get into business to just make a ton of money. Right? They don’t sit down and go, you know what, I want to have a faster car. Let me start a business. That’s not the way most people do that. People that start businesses, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs. They absolutely love what they do and they love the impact that they can make. They love the change that they can make in society. So when you build off of that, everyone wants to make a difference. Everyone wants to make a dent. Everyone wants to make an impact. And so at that point I asked them, you know, I have a young son, he’s 18 years old and doing phenomenally well in business. He’s doing better than many business owners. I know. At the age of 18, he senior year of high school and had employees in his own business and doing six figures a year. At 18, he’s doing great, phenomenal. But we have conversations all the time of you do realize if you’re not careful, you’re going to die. And you you rode the loudest motorcycle in the neighborhood.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right?

Chris Gardner: And that’s all you’re going to be remembered by.

Joshua Kornitsky: What a legacy you remember that guy used to live here, had a loud bike?

Chris Gardner: Yep. Everybody’s like, we’re glad he’s not here anymore, you know, because. But I said, so.

Joshua Kornitsky: That bike was.

Chris Gardner: Loud. Yeah, exactly. Because of.

Joshua Kornitsky: The bike. Yeah.

Chris Gardner: So so the the the we always need to ask ourselves what is the legacy? But and I believe we messed that word up all the time. When we say the word legacy, we talk about legacy as something you leave and yes, you leave a legacy. But the only way to leave a legacy is to leave a legacy. So it’s day to day living a legacy. So how do you leave a legacy? What in the world do you do? What do you want to be known for? So one of the first things I gave you a copy of my book. Thank you. Um. And my book. I have my eulogy, and I ask every single one of my clients to write their own eulogy out, and then they give me the eulogy, and I read it, and I’m like, I want you to give me the absolute best eulogy that you think that you would be amazed if your people, it said at your funeral, and they’ll come back with some phenomenal things. And I love reading it to them or having them read it to me. I had to be careful with that because it’s usually them crying while they’re reading it. And uh, I say, okay, now let’s take out your calendar, right. And let’s take out your checkbook and let’s see if that’s going to build the legacy that you’re wanting to live.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and I want to draw a really important distinction here. You’re not asking them to give you money. No. You’re asking them to put that money to the causes that matter to them. Correct. Just I feel like that’s an important distinction because somebody you and I had a much longer conversation prior to today, and I wouldn’t want someone to think that this is because you’ve done mission work, that you’re suggesting that they should put it in Peru or anywhere else. It’s what matters to them. Sure. Is the destination for the giving you’re encouraging?

Chris Gardner: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: And thank you. That’s just the I’m a cynical dude, and I think some people may hear that and misunderstand the intent.

Chris Gardner: Sure. So one of my clients is my father. Um, he has been the only person that has given money to Peru yet.

Joshua Kornitsky: I understand.

Chris Gardner: So if that that if I were pushing in that direction, you can imagine. That is my heartbeat. Sure. I’ve have given. My father has given. But besides that, it’s all about the dent you want to leave in the world. So is it postpartum depression? Let’s talk about what that looks like. What you just said. What a powerful thought that they opened up and they were only able to give two days worth of services.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right?

Chris Gardner: Somebody needs to take that dent on and make that part of their purpose and their reason. And that’s not if we’re not careful. You go to the other extreme. I’m not asking you to live like Mother Teresa to do that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Chris Gardner: But what I have found is this when you teach people to think outside of their own circle, their business is grow their giving as they give. It’s amazing. Their businesses outgrow their giving all the time. That’s what happens every single time. They’re like, hey man, I decided to start giving $5,000 a year to help with this, this, this person over here or this, this this cause, man, congratulations. High five. And, uh, and then they’ll be like, um, I just looked at your numbers and you’re up $45,000 last year. Right. Um, so explain that to me. And they go, yeah, we’re going to give ten this year. I have clients that give six figures a year. Every year they’re giving six figures. I have I have clients that give over a million to different entities. But it’s all about making sure that people want to leave a dent in the world. And so, um, I believe that if someone doesn’t want to leave the dent in the world, they’ve lost their purpose for living. And what will end up happening is over time they start recovering that as they start hearing of other people doing the same.

Joshua Kornitsky: I think that it has to be modeled for people often, because if all we see is a culture of greed, yes, then it’s self-reinforcing. But people have to break that mold and share that perspective. And I think you’re living proof that there’s many people that once they were aware of this as an option. Yeah. Uh, clearly embrace it, because otherwise you wouldn’t have any clients. And I know you have a few.

Chris Gardner: Yes, I do.

Joshua Kornitsky: So I want to ask you about something you shared with me. Tell us about the five capitals.

Chris Gardner: Um, okay. So I believe that most, um, I believe that most financial advisors in our industry, they only think of one capital. Um, and that is money. That’s the dollar signs. And so when you have conversations, it’s always about the dollar signs. We teach people that there are five capitals. One of the things I love to do, I put a piece of paper in front of my clients for them to look at, and I show them the five capitals. The five capitals are spiritual capital, relational capital, intellectual capital, character capital, and financial capital. And I look at them and I say, okay, you have a choice. You get to bankrupt one of those. There’s one that you have to bankrupt. You’re going to hand all of this down to your children except for one. There’s a one thing on this paper. You got to decide which one you take out of there. Hundreds of times that I’ve asked that question, I’ve never gotten but one answer. Everyone says I would bankrupt the financial capital because the spiritual capital matters too much. Sure, I’m not saying you have to be a Judeo-Christian to believe that, but your spiritual capital matters. So the spiritual capital, the relational capital, the relationships, because we all know we can make money again, money is there to be made. So spiritual, relational, intellectual character. Those are the ones that nobody want to bankrupt. But we spend 90% of our time focused on the one capital that would be we would be willing to bankrupt.

Joshua Kornitsky: That says a lot. And that’s why I wanted to ask you about it, because I think people much of what what actually everybody in this room does is about reframing perspective. Yeah. Right. And and that’s a perspective that, uh, like most of the most impactful ones, is directly in front of people’s faces, but they don’t see it. They don’t see the forest for the trees. Yes. Uh, and, you know, there’s been a million studies and a million, uh, even social media posts about no one passes away thinking, if only I’d had one more meeting. If only I’d made it to the office that last time. Yeah. And and I kind of tie this to that because, uh, until people know who they are and really understand it and really have to confront it, it’s very easy to just stay on the hamster wheel. Yes. Uh, and it sounds like you’re you’re not forcing them. You’re simply holding the mirror up for them to decide what matters least out of. Yeah. Out of these five choices, which is the one you’re willing to walk away from?

Chris Gardner: Yeah. And what’s funny is this when people take their eye off of only financial, when people take their eye off of only financial, what they’ll find is their spiritual capital grows, their relational capital grows, their intellectual capital grows, their character capital grows. And guess what happens as a byproduct of doing that? Not even trying to do it. We’re just doing the right thing. And Maggie was saying this stuff. She’s like, hey, no, are you willing to pay somebody $200 to do that? What we’re saying is, listen, go for what you know is the right thing to do. And all of a sudden you’re like, man, look at how things have grown and look at where things are at. So that’s kind of that’s kind of that’s kind of my thing. I’m, um, I love what I do work with the coolest people in the world. Um, and I, you know, I just get to sit down and talk to the smartest people in the world. I literally get to sit down and people talk to me. They’re like, Chris, you’re smart. I’m like, no, I’m just surrounded by smart people, that’s all. I am just surrounded by smart people that I get to talk to.

Joshua Kornitsky: So all of this has been really, really impactful. I’ve thought about our initial conversation a lot since that time, but I want to ask you, because we also want to be practical and have to pay the bills today, right? Who do you work with? What is what is a good fit for you? For anybody that’s listening that says, wow, you know, this resonates. It’s not that I’m asking you. Who? You. Who will you talk to? Because I believe you’ll talk to everybody. But what’s typically a good fit?

Chris Gardner: Well, I would say that my wife makes fun of me. I’ve been married 30 years, in June of next year. So 29 years this year. And she makes fun of me. You said I’ll talk to anyone. And she says, Chris, you just got off the elevator. Who’s your new best friend? And so that’s me. I love people and I love listening to people’s stories and helping them go along. But I truly what I specialize in is helping business owners, because business owners, the only way to really have substantial wealth in 2025 is to be a business owner. And I want that wealth to be able to manage, not for assets under management. In our business, we call it AUM. I want to help them with the gum giving under management I want to. So that’s that’s that’s what I want to help them with because here what most people don’t understand is this we have the privilege of working with very wealthy individuals. Do you know the difference in lifestyle between a person who has a $20 million net worth and $200 million?

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m afraid I don’t.

Chris Gardner: Yeah, well, the difference is the zero that you put at the end of it. There’s no difference at all. So if there’s no difference, why are we sitting there looking for a trophy of growing our business and growing our net worth and leaving a headache for our children? Why don’t we start deploying that money to do some really cool stuff? So I work with business owners and sales execs. Those are the two people that I work with, and I try and help them and try and help them refocus and just get an idea of where they’re going. And if you’re a normal guy, I’m not going to start off by going, hey, let’s start giving a lot of money. I’m just going to start managing your money. But guess what? We become good friends. My clients are my best friends.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s awesome.

Chris Gardner: And I call them and I’ll be they’ll when I start telling them stories, they’re like, really? So I just had a person that’s in another state call me and they go, I’ve never thought about this before, but I have. After talking to you for the last two years, I’ve never mentioned anything, but I just. Yeah, I was just talking to a client. We just did this. We helped this pregnancy center. We helped, you know, as I did that, she goes, I’ve been after talking to you for two years. She said, I know I’m slow. She’s a a lady business owner and just phenomenal. And she goes, you know, my number one desire now is to impact the community that I’m in.

Joshua Kornitsky: There you go.

Chris Gardner: And I said, be careful. Brace for impact. You can’t say that to me. I said, if you say that to me, we’re going to start actually seeing what that looks like. And so that’s my that’s kind of what I love doing.

Joshua Kornitsky: I love it so so I want to ask one last question.

Chris Gardner: Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky: My last question is what’s something that anybody that’s here in the studio, anybody at home what’s what’s a simple step anybody can take that might help them move more towards the path of simply, I’ll use a broad bucket and say helping others.

Chris Gardner: Yeah. Well and I would say generosity. I think that that word has been misused. Okay. And what I mean by that is generosity is not about money. Generosity is not an amount. It’s a mindset.

Joshua Kornitsky: I would agree with that.

Chris Gardner: I did.

Joshua Kornitsky: It. Everybody’s nodding.

Chris Gardner: Yeah. And I did I did a I did a TEDx talk in Wales. And in that TEDx talk it’s called The Myth of Scarcity. And I told him, I said, I’d like for you to close your eyes, and I’d like to for you to think of the two people who have most impacted your life in the most meaningful way. And I paused, and they were looking at me. I was like, no, I really mean it. They closed their eyes. And then I was talking at the end of the thing. I said, now can I tell you, I can guarantee you one thing. I’ve asked that question in 38 countries and 49 states and all over the world, and with all kinds of people, with all kinds of, you know, abilities financially, people who make $100 a month in Peru, South America, and people that make $100,000 a week here in America. I’ve asked that question repeatedly. And did you know that I have never received a single person? That money was the reason that those people meant the most to them. But generosity always was. Generosity is not an amount. It’s a mindset. So you say, well, Chris, what everybody loves to say is this if I had $20 million, I would. And what I love to ask. And it always easy spending somebody else’s money.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, particularly when it’s when it’s your own pretend 20 million. Exactly.

Chris Gardner: And you watch the videos. Well, if Jeff Bezos were to do this, he would eradicate world hunger. Yeah, for two days, and then it’s back. There’s not any. But so generosity is not about an amount. Generosity is about a mindset. Now here’s what I mean by that. There’s a contact that, you know, that would help somebody else. That if you would just take the time to introduce them and do it meaningfully, it would change the future of their business. It would change the future of their life. And you know, that you could really help them out. You have time. You’re in the hospital and nobody else is there at the hospital. You’re there caring. That’s generosity. Were generous. Not only with our money. It’s not just a checkbook. It’s not just a balance sheet. It’s being generous with the core of our being, making sure that we are there to help others that surround us, and that would change the world that we live in.

Joshua Kornitsky: Chris, I can’t thank you enough. I think everybody here got something out of every conversation today. I really appreciate it. So, uh, what’s the best way for people to get Ahold of you? And I do want to mention Chris’s book, which is check what you’re chasing. We’ll have a link to that on our site. But what’s the best way for folks to get in touch with you, Chris, if they’re interested in learning more?

Chris Gardner: Yeah. Okay. So the title of the book, Check What You’re chasing, the subtitle, I want that read just so that you can hear it. How the pursuit of health, wealth and self will never fulfill. So check what you’re chasing. The pursuit of health, wealth and self on never fulfilled. Best way to contact me. I would love for you to contact me at Chris Gardner at arkose global.com. You can go to my LinkedIn. I’m all over LinkedIn so you can look at me there or my cell phone number. If you want to know if I’ll talk to people. (678) 646-4692. And, uh, you better text before you call, because I literally spend, um, probably 6 to 8 hours a day on the phone. But just so give me a call, and I’d love to see how I can help you and what I can do to be a to be a to be generous to you. Well.

Joshua Kornitsky: I can’t thank you enough. We again, we will have all of your phone numbers, your LinkedIn, your website, all of that on our site when we publish the broadcast. Thank you again. Chris Gardner, wealth and philanthropic strategist with Arcos Global Advisors. I really appreciate you coming in and sharing your perspective, because I truly believe it’s a unique thought and a unique approach, and I think we’d be a better world for the more it’s embraced.

Chris Gardner: I appreciate it, my friend. I’ve had a great time and you had other great guests. Thank you.

Joshua Kornitsky: And I want to thank again, Doctor Caitlin, Chris and Olivia Cooke for coming in from, uh, Cultivate Health in Cartersville. We want to make sure that everybody pays attention to the climb and Team Cartersville, and that is happening on September 27th, from 10 to 1 at.

Caitlin Quraishi: Dellinger.

Joshua Kornitsky: Park. Dellinger Park in Cartersville, Georgia. And my first and last in the thank yous, but first in in the series. Uh, Maggie. Ishak, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed learning your perspective on how you can help clients help themselves. And I think today was unintentionally a help yourself kind of day. We didn’t realize that at the beginning, but Maggie Ishak’s, uh, focal point, business coaching. We will have all of the, uh, the links and all of the phone numbers when we publish and go live. What a fantastic show. I can’t thank you all enough for being here today. And I guess I’ll take the the last word, because that’s that’s the only privilege I get here is, is to simply thank everybody for listening. I’m a professional EOS OS implementer. My name is Joshua Kornitsky and I’m the host of this episode of Cherokee Business Radio. And I want to again take just a second to tell you that today’s episode was brought to you in part by the Community Partner Program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Mainstreet Warriors and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Mainstreet Warriors Diesel David, Inc. please go check them out@diesel.com. And if you have an interest in learning more about how to become a Mainstreet Warrior or a community partner or sponsor, please reach out to me, your host Joshua Kornitsky. Thank you again for joining us and we look forward to seeing you next time.

 

Pardeep Singh with T3RA Logistics

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BTU-Pardeep-Singh-Feature
Beyond the Uniform
Pardeep Singh with T3RA Logistics
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Pardeep-SinghPardeep Singh is a U.S. military veteran and the co-founder of T3RA Logistics, a veteran-owned logistics firm dedicated to delivering precision-driven, technology-powered freight solutions.

Founded in 2021, T3RA was built on the values of service, discipline, and adaptability—traits deeply rooted in Pardeep’s military background and translated into a thriving entrepreneurial journey.

In his conversation with Trisha, Pardeep shared his transition from military service to business leadership, emphasizing the power of leveraging military-acquired skills in the civilian world.

He detailed his experience as a serial entrepreneur and seed investor, and how those ventures paved the way for the founding of T3RA Logistics. The company now serves as a key freight brokerage with a global footprint, focused on delivering seamless logistics solutions for businesses while actively hiring and uplifting fellow veterans.

Pardeep also spoke about his commitment to supporting transitioning service members, encouraging them to take advantage of veteran-focused career programs.

He highlighted T3RA’s efforts not only in business expansion but also in building community through mentorship, advocacy, and veteran hiring initiatives—cementing the company’s mission to make logistics smarter, more accountable, and more human.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pardeep84/
Website: https://t3ralogistics.com/

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Beyond the uniform series, today’s guest brings discipline, precision, and leadership to the logistics world. I’m excited to welcome Pardeep Singh, founder of T3RA Logistics, a veteran owned company delivering cutting edge logistics solutions that help businesses operate smoothly and close sales more efficiently. Pardeep and his team know that logistics isn’t just about moving products, it’s about powering success behind the scenes. With a background rooted in service and commitment to innovation, Said he’s built a company that understands the mission critical role logistics play in today’s fast moving business world. I can’t wait for you to hear how T3 is redefining what great logistics partnerships look like pretty well. Welcome to the show.

Pardeep Singh: Thank you, Trish, for having me on the show. Looking forward to this.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I am too. And thank you for your service my fellow veteran.

Pardeep Singh: Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for yours as well too. I’m, uh. I’m so glad to be serving, uh, one weekend a month. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But, uh. Hey, glad to be wearing my uniform.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s talk a little bit more about you. Um, and then let’s dive into your business and how you’re helping other veterans as well.

Pardeep Singh: Yeah. Thank you for that. Um, a little bit about me. I, you know, I someone 20 years ago had woke me up or, or said, hey, you know, one day you’re going to be doing this whole entrepreneurship and running a business that would have looked at him and said, no, you’re out of you’re out of your mind. I don’t think anybody wakes up and says, yeah, this is maybe some people do, right? I don’t think most of us do. We end up in I’m a firm believer life happens for you, not to you. Right. That’s kind of stuck by that quote. I spent four years active duty military, a United States Air Force. I mostly did calm. I was a beautiful. Was stationed at Kadena and Herbert. And then the best thing I’ve ever done is I joined the Air Force Reserves. I tell anybody who’s getting out after four years, six years, I’d say, look, stay committed. Uh, do the reserves thing. Do it for a year, two years. It’s one of the best choices I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing it for 15 years. So total 19 years. I’m a I’m a first sergeant. If you could tell in the back. Very proud of that. It’s the best rank I’ve ever worn. And, uh, a lot of people who know me, they will very quickly know I’m proud of it. Proud I am to serve. So that’s a little bit about the Air Force. And when I got out and one of the beauty about the Air Force or any, any I’ll keep saying Air Force. But I think to the listeners know I’m talking about the broader DoD, right. The entire spectrum Navy, Army, um, Marines and Air Force. I think when you’re getting out, what we don’t realize, we’re very much armed with a lot of skills that we just don’t know how to translate into the civilian world. I think that’s a that’s a key thing. A lot of veterans, uh, miss. So thankfully, I was able to join a company. Cisco. Everybody knows Cisco. And I’ll say Cisco dot Cisco. I always have to spell that out. Meeting logistics now. Right.

Trisha Stetzel: So we know.

Pardeep Singh: Yes. I’ll go Cisco. I spent 16 years of my life doing that and learned all kinds of different sales, engineering skills and whatnot, and actually amplified what I had already learned in the military. And the beauty about it is I was able to get back to the reserves, because in reserves we were using a lot of technology by Cisco, so it worked out great. Uh, but, yeah, that’s a little bit about me. Uh, military and civilian. How I ended up in the business will save that. Uh. Um, but, uh. Yep.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So you talked a little bit about, um. Asking others or encouraging others to stay in and be in the reserve. So what? What really motivates you to continue to serve in the reserves?

Pardeep Singh: You know, and if you’ve been in for four years or six years, I think one should really reflect back at the change that you’ve, uh, the military has had on you from the time you’ve joined till the time 4 or 6 years has happened. If you take a piece of paper and you start writing, I promise you you’re going to need multiple sheets of paper. It’s a lot of people think, well, I’m more disciplined or, you know, I wake up on time or I’m PT and this and that. Military is a lot more than that. Look at your interpersonal skills. Look at the leadership. Leadership is distilled very early on E1, E2 and obviously I’m listed being a first sergeant. These are the skills that in the civilian world they just don’t exist. Military is a well oiled machine, right? We know that from boot camp onward. They have their system figured out for years and years. So they. And if you could, if military could do that for you for four years or six years, even if you could have a small piece of that and you could carry on. And if that sheet was filled out when you started writing for entire piece, imagine if you could continue writing to that sheet. Now, looking back, I can think about that, right? Honestly, if you’re active duty, not every day might be the day you want to wake up and you want to put your uniform on.

Pardeep Singh: But I’ll tell you what. When I left active duty, there was a part of me that was stolen. There was a part of me. I didn’t even know how to translate myself back into the civilian world. I moved in with my parents. So there was a lot of talk about PTSD That really kicked in. And I’ll never forget the first weekend I had to go back to reserves. Man, I stood in front of the mirror. I put my uniform on. I know this sounds very cliché, but I had me again. I had me again. That was somebody. Man, I almost teared up saying that because when I looked at myself, I remembered me. And I had my identity back in again. And that’s when that one week in the month will do for you. And you find the right unit. You’ll fit right back in and you’ll be back in your place. And that will give you confidence to start excelling further and further. And I’m talking to my folks. They’re only been in for four years or six years. And they said, look, active duty is not for me or even the guys that been in ten years. I know a lot of guys have done ten years and they moved on to reserves. So I don’t know if I really answered your question.

Trisha Stetzel: No, you did. Absolutely. And I love that you’re so emotional about this space of the identity that you had, because so many of us have that. And I think, you know, whether it’s in the reserves or for people who don’t have that opportunity, there are other organizations out there where you can get involved with other veterans who are excelling at what they do. Find a chamber or an organization where entrepreneurship is, um, uh, something that these organizations support or even leadership as a veteran. Because, you know what? In the end, we all speak the same language. We know exactly. We tell bad jokes. We make fun of each other. We make fun of the services that we’re in. Right. But we all it is. When I found the chamber, for me, it was finding home again, just like what you talked about when you put your uniform and stood in front of the mirror. I think that’s amazing. So thank you for sharing that. How do our skills, uh, being in the military, the things that you learn in the military translate to entrepreneurship and even leadership in the business world.

Pardeep Singh: Uh, that’s a great question. So, uh, leadership 360 is a book that I’ve had a chance to read multiple times, and it talks about leading up and leading down. So when you put on that E1 or E2 or it doesn’t matter what rank you are, there’s always someone that you’re going to be able to lead down and lead up. And obviously and you know, the listeners, if you get a chance, take a look at that book, especially if you’re a veteran. Leadership 360. Phenomenal book. Um, so I remember very early on and I had whether you’re again, I go back to E1, E2, you had responsibilities that necessarily you were not an NCO, you were not necessarily a supervisor person, but you were training someone. But you also have responsibility to ensure that the the NCO or senior NCO that’s preparing a slide, you had something to do with that slide. So now you’re leading up all of those little, little skills that you’re learning. I don’t care if you’re a CEO. I don’t care what you make. Right. We’re a small company. Uh, we’re a company that averages $50 million a year. But I always have an opportunity where sometimes I could do not. I feel like I am the janitor. Right. And. And so those little skills, when you’re younger and you’re thinking about e2’s, how did you work with the e-1s? Because now you might have someone coming into the organization that’s a little bit lost.

Pardeep Singh: Maybe they’re they’re not quite ready. Those skills that you learn at that time, they’re going to come and help you. Now, how did you lead up every person I don’t care what your founder, by the way. I’m a co-founder, so I have an amazing co-founder, Mukesh, with me as well too. He goes by Mac. I always like to put that out there. I don’t I you know, I that partnership is a big deal to me. So if you’re listening to me, we’re together in this now. I didn’t start this by myself. So, uh, it, you know, and, and, uh, and that’s another thing. You know, since I’m talking about partnerships, I feel like a partnership. And most of you guys, when you guys are looking at a business venture, will we’ll look at somebody and say, hey, look, I think this is a great business partner. I think partnerships are one of the hardest things in the business, the hardest things. But thank God to the military that they train you how to work with people, because every three years or every two years you’re going into a new base. You got to learn how to work with new people. And if you remember those skills, there’s times when you got to put your guard down. There’s times when you gotta you’re going to have a confrontation. So again, I wish I could go on and on about these skills, but one of the biggest things is military trains us.

Pardeep Singh: It makes us a subject matter expert on that one thing. So the listeners, I’ll tell you this, if you know you’re going to go into it and that’s where your heart desires will find a job in the military that’s focused on it or civil engineering, whatever you are, your heart desires to. And if you have that type of, uh, you know, if you have an outlook in your life and, you know, you could do a forward look in 5 to 6 years, they say, I’m going to do four years, I’m gonna do six years. And this is what I want to do. Make sure you go into that job because you’re going to train you quite well. And then before you even get out, use the commerce, use DoD skill bridge, use hiring our heroes. Use programs. There’s so many programs available to us who can teach you how to translate your skills. And because that’s the hardest thing most veterans don’t know how to do, they write resumes. You know, I spent this much time doing this, this and that. They don’t write resumes to cartel. To what? The civilian worlds. I think we’re getting better at that, obviously, with the AI era, but that’s, uh, and one thing, Trisha, about me is I will take off and start talking about other things again, because I’m one. I’m excited. And from bottom of my heart, I love just helping veterans. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And we’re going to dig into that, especially in your business in this space that, um, that you’re playing in Then and particularly T3, RA logistics. But first, we’re about halfway through our conversation, and I know that there are some listeners that want to connect with you. Would you share the best way for them to get connected with you or ask questions? Want to get to know you better?

Pardeep Singh: Um, I’ll make myself extremely vulnerable here. 20964875672096487567. If you’re listener, you want to connect with me. That’s my direct cell. Uh, deep spelled Delta. Edward, Edward, Papa at tango 3RA so tango three Romeo Alpha logistics.com. So deep at T3R logistics.com. Drop me an email or find me on LinkedIn.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing. And by the way, you guys just tell him that you heard him on the show so that he knows where you’re coming from when you reach out to connect with him. Awesome. Thank you Pardeep, I’d love to dive into To how T3 RA logistics got started. A little bit about your partner and what you’re doing in that business, who you serve and why you’re so passionate about hiring veterans in that space.

Pardeep Singh: Perfect. So waiting for this this question actually. So I, I have an opportunity to go and speak at seminars or events that generally is mostly transitioning veterans. And I always tell them, hey, most of you guys are uh, and this will answer the question, most of you guys are going to get out of the military. You guys are going to have six figure jobs very quickly because we just we have those type of skills, right. And a lot of civilians want that. And today’s era, people can’t find discipline. They can’t find loyalty. And I, I witnessed that all the time in the business. So when they hire you, you’re excelling. You make your positions and you start making your, uh, your money. Don’t grow your lifestyle with the money that you’re growing into. So I’ll say it again. Don’t don’t start living. Don’t start buying the houses and cars and whatnot. Because we in the military are very used to living at a certain standard, especially we’re enlisted folks, right? We’re not paid a lot of money, so we know how to penny pinch. We know how to live there. So once you start making that big dollars, don’t go out and start blowing it. Learn the principles of putting your eggs in multiple baskets, whether stock trading, whether it’s trading in general, whether it’s real estate, whether it’s bonds or something else. So I started learning that quite early on. And this will again, this will answer you, tell you why I ended up where I am. So when I spent, uh, 16 years at Cisco, I was doing extremely well and spent a lot of time in real estate, acquired quite a bit of real estate.

Pardeep Singh: But one of the things that I was always interested in is looking at being a startup, or being a seed investor, or being an investor of some type into a business. So I invested into a logistics company that Mack, my current business partner, was co-founder of, so I didn’t even know at that time that I was what was called a seed investor. So I spent some money and got a little equity into the company, and they gave me a board seat. And that’s when I started to take a technologist and you put them in logistics. And I was always thinking, hey, how can I add value and whatnot? I think that’s one of the reasons they asked me to invest, and I sort of started learning how lucrative logistics was. And sure enough, me and Matt clicked together. We became really close friends and, uh, and the rest is history. We started T3 in 2021 and, uh, you know, no one has a book that says, hey, here’s a entrepreneur 101. Here’s how you start a business. Uh, we we struggled at it. We were bleeding quite heavily. But one of the things we did is we put enough pressure on us right out of the gate. And that’s something military teaches you as well, too. We leased a building, so we had, uh, money pouring out of the bank. So it was one of those, uh, you know, uh, sink or swim, but we we did some backflips.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s amazing. Well, and I it sounds like it was just meant to be, right? It was one of those spaces that you you were attracted to, the energy that was put out there. And then you and Mac became great partners. Tell me more about what, uh, T3 ra does.

Pardeep Singh: So T3 ra, uh, we’re a freight brokerage. Freight brokerage is essentially a middle person that works with companies that manufacture or anybody that’s looking to move freight. Moving freight owning trucks is a huge liability to anybody who’s manufacturing. So they rely on folks that either have their own trucks, or they rely on freight brokers like us to find them trucks. And generally when I say find them trucks, we’re not like it’s not like the Uber of the world where you get random, this guy shows up. We work with, you know, 40,000 plus carriers. When I say carriers, these are the guys that own trucks. And so we have a regular lanes we call lanes we’re talking about from Houston to California. We call that a lane, right. Somebody’s somebody manufacturing in Houston that needs to send a truck over to California every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We’re sending in the same trucker and we’re the middleman. And when that trucker doesn’t show up, we’re finding another one we call recovery. It’s a very simple business. But the problem in logistics, there’s no ethics. There’s no discipline. Those are the things you’re missing in trucking. And so I think one thing that thrives on T3, RA and that’s what we always harp that were veteran owned and operated. I’m always hiring veterans first. Right. And whether they’re retiring, whether through DoD Skillbridge, whether through companies like Allegiant Vets or hiring our heroes because we want to provide that. We want to be the company, the logistics company that is, you know, we we are exposing, hey, we lost a truck. We’re very much, uh, sorry, I’m missing a word here. We’re we’re we don’t BS our way around stuff, and that’s what customers want. And I always think that logistics completes a sales cycle because somebody who’s in manufacturing and tell their product is on a shelf and in front of a customer at Costco or whatnot, you’re not making money. And logistics is the entity that makes and takes your product to that Costco or wherever it might be. And I’m using some live examples, right.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s fantastic. I love this model that you have. And also I think you called it recovery where if the the truck doesn’t show up to pick up the goods to be delivered, that your team will take care of that. Right, and find another truck.

Pardeep Singh: Yeah, 100%. And we’re 24 over seven. So we have an office in India as well too. So, um, so my parents came to us, uh, when I was an infant, but Mac is, uh, rooted from India. And so thanks to, I mean, I’m going to give the credit where it’s due. I’m so glad he’s, uh, he’s got strong roots in India. We were able to stand up an office that works 24 over seven. So we have a pretty decent sized team here in the in the US, but a lot of our back end work happens in India as well too. Um, and I was looking for the word earlier transparent. We’re extremely transparent with our customers.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And I could see that about you just in the conversations that we’ve had, um, prior to this. I’d love to hear why you’re so passionate about hiring veterans in your business or doing business with other veterans.

Speaker4: Um, all right, so let’s go down this rabbit hole.

Pardeep Singh: I would say, actually, no, I take it back. I won’t say rabbit hole. So imagine leaving Florida. You pack up all your stuff in a U-Haul. You were very proud. You were like the, you know, airman of the quarter, airman of the year, and military was everything you wanted to do. Sadly, back in those days, there was a thing called CGR Courier Reservation, something. So basically you couldn’t stay in your same job in the Air Force. So I decided to decided, hey, four years were enough. So I packed up my stuff in Florida, put it in a U-Haul. My parents lived in this little place called Turlock. So imagine being about an hour away from your parents house. I slept in the U-Haul. I purposely didn’t come home, and I slept at a truck stop because I think I did not know what was going to happen to me. I had no idea where I was going to work, how I was going to make ends meet. I just knew that I was going to become that 16 year old kid for my parents that I was, but I wasn’t 16 anymore. That lives with me.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm.

Pardeep Singh: So if I could help just a few more veterans not feel that. So we recently hired somebody that retired 20 or 22 years senior math sergeant from the Air Force. Even he felt the same pain, but thankfully we were able to grab him through a DoD Skillbridge program. We have our own DoD Skillbridge program, and we partner with other companies to, uh, to work with veterans, as I mentioned, hiring our heroes and Allegiant vets. Um, so we picked him up. Or when I say picked him up, he did his internship with T3 and today he’s thriving. He’s one of the best we got. And you know what? That fulfills the part that was 21 at that time. That fulfills him deeper than just a PNL, deeper than anything else. So I always tell people that my, the people who I report to are the the wives and the kids, the husbands of the ladies that come to work. That’s who I report to. And then I also report to the veterans that are looking for a job, especially if they could fit into T3 RA. So it fulfills me at a deeper level. Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that it’s like the pebble on the pond. It’s that ripple effect. When you can help one person, it helps their families, the people they’re connected to the community, the state, the country. Yeah. Uh, which is amazing. I love that.

Pardeep Singh: And one last thing I was going to mention is being reserves and and running a business. You, uh. The best way I describe running a business, at least a medium sized company or small sized company is walking into a boxing. A boxing, um, uh, you know, boxing ring, and you don’t know where the punch is going to come from. You don’t know which one’s going to land on you and which one’s going to which one you’re going to land on. And I always I’m very, as you could tell, I’m an open book. And whenever I go to my, uh, military, uh, you know, one weekend a month, Friday or Saturday, Sunday. And I will expose those things and I’ll say, look, if you start trying to start a business, here’s some things. You know, you want to have a good CPA, you want to have a good this and that. I make myself vulnerable. So I’m still actively helping those veterans because that’s part of us serving. Right. You’re serving our other fellow veterans as well too.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s right. What was the hardest part about starting your business or getting involved in or just being an entrepreneur.

Pardeep Singh: Hardest part about starting a business is, uh, is just the uncertainty that the business in itself presents versus what jobs do. Just just the uncertainty. Uncertainty of coming home and not knowing what the day to is going to look like. I don’t care how much you plan. And you you have a, you know, business plan and what all those things have their place. But uncertainty for me was the biggest. And maybe Trisha, that could be because I spent so much time at corporate America. I spent so much time at Cisco. And this was, you know, I’m older in age and, uh, at that time and, and I just didn’t know if this is going to work or not. I’m being honest with you. And every month we had 30, $40,000. And that was a bigger contributor, contributor of that money. Uh, that’s hard, that’s hard. You could only phantom that for so long. So I would say if I could go back in time, I would probably work a little bit more on a financial aspect of the company.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay.

Pardeep Singh: You know, um, is, is whether a startup fund or a loan or something like that, we just went nilly, Billy, into it. We just said, hey, look, we’re going to do this and we’re going to put our money together and let’s go.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Yeah. That’s scary. And by the way, you’re not alone. Uh, so for the listeners out there, you’re not alone. Often we’ll go into this, you know, new role of being an entrepreneur, and we just pour our own personal money into it. And had we had conversations with people who had come before us, we might have different knowledge when we get started. Right?

Pardeep Singh: I mean, there’s pitch contests. There’s other things. They’re out there, they’re available to you where you can go and raise seed funds. We could raise other people money. You can get loans, you can get SBA loans. There’s so many things out there. But but it’s it’s a it’s a double edged sword too, because when you’re using other people money, do you still have the same steam as if it’s your own money on the line?

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Yeah. It’s it’s different skin in the game. Right. When you’re using someone else’s money. Absolutely. So as we get to the back end of our conversation I have one last question for you. And, uh, it I’d like to know from your perspective how your military experience and ongoing military experience has set you up for success in the role that you play in your business today?

Pardeep Singh: Um, I think number one, it starts with every one of the company has a huge, uh, loyalty trust, uh, with me. And that is very much heartfelt all the time. I know I got a team that has my back, and they know they got a leader that has their back. And I think it has to do with the fact they recognize that I’m still serving. That means a lot to them while they take their weekends off, I will be wearing my uniform. I often send them pictures they love that they’re very passionate about, especially the veteran folks. It starts with that. Then it starts with our customers, our trucking companies. I’m always involving my customers. Uh, recently we just took, uh, two pallets of. Now, when I say two pallets, we’re talking massive two pallets of ice creams where one of my customers was able to work with Dreyer’s Ice cream. So I’m giving a shout out to those guys, and we were able to acquire two free pallets of ice cream. And one of our trucks took that over to Beale Air Force Base. While the airmen were going to work four days in 100 degree temperature around the clock. We can always I’m always thinking of ways to being able to get back. And how do you think my customers feel about that? What about the guy that drove the truck? He was very proud because he had an opportunity to go do something for the veterans. What about, uh, the airmen? How did they feel that somebody in a civilian company is looking out for them? Right.

Pardeep Singh: Somebody recognizes that they’re working in the heat. I think when you do these initiatives right, and I don’t really plan for those type of things, they just naturally life happens for you, not to you. Right. They come and we have done stuff, uh, when the LA fires happened. Right. Everybody in NorCal or other places, they sat back and. Ah, it’s too sad, you know. Oh, my God, everybody’s burning up. I landed in Irvine and my first thought was, what can we do? We sent six trucks, worked with our customers, six trucks of food, and we donated the trucks, paid for the transportation, and we sent them to various centers. We didn’t just sit back and say, oh, too bad, too sad. We did something. And that’s what military has distilled in us. Not just me, my business partner, and every single person that’s at the company. We’re always thinking people first. What can we do differently? And that echoes just like, you know, just like you got the lines on the back of the TV, right? That radiates Forward, and that has allowed us to gain more customers, gain trust with our customers. And that’s what made T3 where we are today. I mean, think about it. And starting in 21, we’re almost touching. We’re going to be passing over $50 million, uh, top line revenue. And I’m very proud of that. But it’s because our customers are able to back us up. They trust us.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s huge. Oh my goodness. So I’ve had goosebumps like five times during our conversation today. All of the work that you’re doing is so meaningful, and you’re building a business and you have a great partner and you’re bringing in great clients and you have a partnership with them. And I know that that’s so important. I appreciate your time today. Would you one more time just tell people how they can connect with you so they can learn more about your business, or maybe even become a partner or a client of yours?

Pardeep Singh: We would definitely love that. If you could use a veteran team that has your six contact T3 logistics. Uh, so deep. It’s d e e p at t three logistics comm or (209) 648-7567 or look me up on LinkedIn and we’re ready to serve.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you so much for being with me. This has been a wonderful conversation.

Pardeep Singh: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

 

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