Business RadioX ®

  • Home
  • Business RadioX ® Communities
    • Southeast
      • Alabama
        • Birmingham
      • Florida
        • Orlando
        • Pensacola
        • South Florida
        • Tampa
        • Tallahassee
      • Georgia
        • Atlanta
        • Cherokee
        • Forsyth
        • Greater Perimeter
        • Gwinnett
        • North Fulton
        • North Georgia
        • Northeast Georgia
        • Rome
        • Savannah
      • Louisiana
        • New Orleans
      • North Carolina
        • Charlotte
        • Raleigh
      • Tennessee
        • Chattanooga
        • Nashville
      • Virginia
        • Richmond
    • South Central
      • Arkansas
        • Northwest Arkansas
    • Midwest
      • Illinois
        • Chicago
      • Michigan
        • Detroit
      • Minnesota
        • Minneapolis St. Paul
      • Missouri
        • St. Louis
      • Ohio
        • Cleveland
        • Columbus
        • Dayton
    • Southwest
      • Arizona
        • Phoenix
        • Tucson
        • Valley
      • Texas
        • Austin
        • Dallas
        • Houston
    • West
      • California
        • Bay Area
        • LA
        • Pasadena
      • Colorado
        • Denver
      • Hawaii
        • Oahu
  • FAQs
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Our Audience
    • Why It Works
    • What People Are Saying
    • BRX in the News
  • Resources
    • BRX Pro Tips
    • B2B Marketing: The 4Rs
    • High Velocity Selling Habits
    • Why Most B2B Media Strategies Fail
    • 9 Reasons To Sponsor A Business RadioX ® Show
  • Partner With Us
  • Veteran Business RadioX ®

Building Momentum: Leadership and Growth with Reese Gomez

February 5, 2026 by angishields

HVR-Reese-Gomez-Feature
High Velocity Radio
Building Momentum: Leadership and Growth with Reese Gomez
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

In this episode of High Velocity Radio, host Joshua Kornitsky sits down with Reese Gomez to discuss entrepreneurship, leadership, and building a high-impact business career. Reese shares lessons from his journey as a founder and operator, including how to scale a company, navigate growth challenges, and develop the mindset required for sustainable success. The conversation covers practical strategies for decision-making, leadership development, and creating momentum in fast-moving organizations.

Reese-GomezReese Gomez is the Founder and CEO of SalesSparx, LLC, a software and technology consultant, and serial entrepreneur.

His company, SalesSparx, LCC, is an international sales acceleration company that empowers high-potential companies to become market leaders by helping them sell more, faster. Merging his industrial engineering and performance improvement background with decades of high-growth sales experience, Reese applies a unique perspective to scale sales and revenue predictably.

Before founding SalesSparx, Reese served as Vice President of Service Sales for Eclipsys, taking responsibility for all service revenue and leading the team to grow the professional service business from $45M in 2003 to $120M in 2006.

Later, from his position as Executive Vice President of Solutions and Innovations at maxIT Healthcare, Reese oversaw sales, delivery, business development, packaging, and go-to-market planning. As part of the company’s executive leadership, he helped drive overall revenue growth from $50M in 2010 to $250M in 2012, and his management consulting team grew from $0 to $60M over the same three-year period. salessparxllclogo

In 2014, Reese and his team launched SalesSparx, which is founded on over 10,000 hours of sales best practice research to determine why some companies grow faster than others. They combined these learnings and their extensive market experience to develop their proprietary Sales FUSE™ (Focus, Unite, Sell, Expand) GTM Acceleration Process.

The team applies design thinking to ideate solutions in their proprietary Shared Vision Selling (SVS) Process, which empowers buyers to take ownership of their future. This unique, integrated set of offerings can increase sales at business-to-business companies from 10% to 100% in 6 to 12 months. Since 2014, SalesSparx has helped more than 100 healthcare software, service, and technology companies sell more, faster.

Reese has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Light Your Sales FUSE: For Explosive Customer Growth

Episode Highlights

  • Entrepreneurial Journey and Career Lessons: Reese shares key experiences from building and leading businesses, including pivotal moments that shaped his approach to leadership and growth.
  • Scaling with Intention: Insights on what it takes to grow a business strategically while maintaining focus, culture, and execution discipline.
  • Leadership and Decision-Making: Reese explains how leaders can make better decisions, adapt quickly, and keep teams aligned during periods of change.
  • Building Momentum and Impact: Practical advice for founders and executives on creating forward motion, staying resilient, and driving long-term success.

About Your Host

BRX-HS-JKJoshua Kornitsky is a fourth-generation entrepreneur with deep roots in technology and a track record of solving real business problems. Now, as a Professional EOS Implementer, he helps leadership teams align, create clarity, and build accountability.

He grew up in the world of small business, cut his teeth in technology and leadership, and built a path around solving complex problems with simple, effective tools. Joshua brings a practical approach to leadership, growth, and getting things done.

As a host on Cherokee Business Radio, Joshua brings his curiosity and coaching mindset to the mic, drawing out the stories, struggles, and strategies of local business leaders. It’s not just about interviews—it’s about helping the business community learn from each other, grow stronger together, and keep moving forward.

Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome back to High Velocity Radio. I’m your host, professional EOS implementer Joshua Kornitsky. And today I am joined by Reese Gomez. Reese is the CEO and founder of SalesSparx. He’s also the author of Light Your Sales Fuze, a book that provides a playbook using their proprietary approach to accelerate your company’s go to market maturity and sales. Reese is a recognized expert in the healthcare go to market space, and was part of a leadership team that took a company from 50 to $250 million in just three years. Welcome, Reese. It’s a pleasure to have you here.
Reese Gomez: Hey, Josh, great to be here as well. I really appreciate you taking the time. I’m excited about the opportunity to interact today.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, I really want to learn more about who sells sparks helps and how you help them. So let’s just jump right in and let me ask you when when companies come to you, what is it that they’re coming to you to to get help with what is what are the, um, the the items they’re struggling with?
Reese Gomez: Uh, it’s a it’s a great question. So the very, um, we only focus on companies that that are selling either, um, services, technology or software to health systems, health, um, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies. So we stay strictly in healthcare. We understand the decision makers, how they think, um, how they buy. Um, so that’s, that’s really our, our big focus. And when organizations come to us, there’s usually three areas that they have concerns in. Um, and some of them are more important than others depending on the, on the client. But the first thing is I’m not getting enough leads. So we call that top of funnel. So I’m just just not getting enough interest. Not enough people are aware. And then when you sort of think about the middle part is well I’m getting the leads, but I’m not closing as many of them as I should. Uh, or the third part is I’ve closed the deal and I’m not getting I’m not getting penetration, so I’m not getting adoption. So it’s it’s really important we call that revenue operations. So it’s not just about closing the deal. It’s actually turning into revenue. So we try to take a holistic look at it. So most of the time organizations that we’re working with of those three areas, they have one of those areas. That’s a common pain point for them. Um, and so I would say, uh, in general, I would say 50% of the organizations are more on the middle part, which is I’m getting leads in, but I’m not closing them. And I would say about 25% and 25% are on. I’m not getting enough leads. And then the other is I’m getting in, but I’m not doing a good job landing and expanding. And I’d like to do better, but it’s it’s one big cycle and that’s something that we always educate people on is that that has to you sort of have to have an integrated approach to marketing, sales and customer success and think about it as a process.
Joshua Kornitsky: So what are I mean, if that commonality excuse me, commonality exists across most healthcare firms, right. Uh, obviously you’re bringing a tailored solution. It’s not a one size fits all. But what are some of the keys to to helping them succeed? What is it you you need to help them better understand and operate on?
Reese Gomez: Well, I think a lot of the organizations that we work with, um, they’re well, they’ll range from 5 million to 500 million. And so, you know, depending on where they are in their lifecycle, they have different kinds of needs. But I would say a common theme is, um, what we call heroic selling. And so even I mean, we believe it or not, we’re working with a company that’s very large, $500 million, owned by brand name private equity firms. And most of their sales have been driven by 3 or 4 people.
Joshua Kornitsky: Really? That just seems shocking at that scale.
Reese Gomez: It’s it’s well, what it usually means when you have an organization that’s that successful with that kind of a sales model, it means they have a heck of a product. You know, it’s a it’s like basically if you think about a kid that likes ice cream, that’s how good their product is. You know, you know, it’s like good analogy. Yeah. So so that’s how you so that’s how we usually, um, you know, so what’s happened with these organizations is they’ve got, um, most of their sales are being driven by a small percentage of people, uh, and often they have high revenue concentration with 1 or 2 customers. So if you look at organizations, you know, more than 50%, it’s coming from one customer. And so what you’ve got to be able to do is to be able to take this heroic mindset and heroic capabilities because it’s amazing, right? I mean, people who know how to do that, they have all this amazing information in their head. How do you get it out of their head and put it into a system? And that’s fundamentally what we’re really good at, is helping organizations to understand how to put those systems together so they can replicate that founders success through a team and scale as a team, as opposed to being dependent on, you know, just a few founders to other founders to make rain for them.
Joshua Kornitsky: That’s incredible. Now, does that tie into your, your proprietary fuze, uh, approach?
Reese Gomez: Absolutely. So when we first started the company. So we started the company about ten years ago. And, um, my partners and I, when we decided to it was really on a big question. Right. Why do why do some companies scale? Uh, you know, so yeah, we look at two, two, two parts of the business life cycle. One is we call it the nail it phase, which is I’m finding product market fit. Somebody actually wants what I, what I, what I sell. Um, and then once you’ve nailed it, how do you scale it? And when you, when you think about the nail it phase almost there’s a lot of, of, um, work that’s been done. You know, the Lean Startup and there’s a bunch of a bunch of organizations that kind of help you go from 0 to 1 or a lot of content, but that going from 1 to 100, there’s not a lot of great, especially industry specific. There’s not a lot of, um, guidance on how to do that. So what we saw was there was a lot of variance. Once somebody made product market fit, we saw a lot of innovation in the healthcare market that wasn’t getting to market, because the founders didn’t know how to scale from that 0 to 1, from one to.
Reese Gomez: So how do we go from 5 million to 50, or how do we go from 10 to 100, or from 50 to 250 million? So what we did is we did about 10,000 hours of research to understand how organizations go from that nail it phase and successfully through the scale phase. And so what we what we did, what we did is we created a framework where within less than 30 days, we could actually diagnose what an organization is doing really well across those best practices and and what they need to do better. And then we help them develop a plan. So so sort of think about it. It’s not a one size. Even though our approach, our methodology is is very consistent, we apply it depending on where someone is. We we look at exactly where they are and where their points are of strength that they need to work on to be able to get to that point where they can successfully scale. And and then we work a lot with them, not just developing the plan, but actually being with them to actually execute, learn along the way and then help them scale to get to the next level.
Joshua Kornitsky: So even when it’s in motion, it requires. I don’t want to say course correction, but it requires monitoring. And and truthfully, all good systems do very, very few things in the universe. Do you build it once, set it free, and never have to look at it again? Um.
Reese Gomez: Exactly. Right. And and especially especially that’s probably the biggest, uh, area when you go to execute is we there’s a lot of excitement and enthusiasm at the end of the plan, right. Like, wow, we got a plan. We know exactly what we need to do. Uh, and then when you go to execute on it, you know, the, the, the day to day of what you’re trying to do now you’ve got that momentum and that those demands and now you’re trying to change. And so one of the things that we’ve learned a lot about is the change management process and how important that is. And uh, we follow, um, a methodology, it’s called prosci. But within that the easiest thing to talk about is what we call Adkar. So Adkar is an acronym. It says are you aware, do you have the desire? Do you have the knowledge? Do you have the aptitude? And you have reinforcement. And if all five of those areas have been addressed, then you’re going to have rapid change. If just 1 or 2 of the areas are being addressed and the rest are not being really like, for example, reinforcement is a common thing, right? You go in, you train everybody, everybody gets excited. And then 30 days later they don’t remember what they just learned. So you have to have the reinforcement to be able to go along with it. So that change management process, Josh is the most important thing and we can go in and develop a great plan. But if at the end of the day you don’t hit your outcomes, you know everyone’s wasting their time.
Joshua Kornitsky: And from my perspective with how I spend my days, I can tell you that change management is everything. And and the innate fear of tools, technology, concepts, and even training is probably one of the biggest impediments to the scaling of any organization at any size. But it’s human nature. So how do you help them get past that.
Reese Gomez: So, um, a lot of the, a lot of it is, uh, making sure that, you know, if you think about the acronym, is everyone aware? Did they even know? So the big thing there is why are we changing?
Joshua Kornitsky: Right.
Reese Gomez: Why. Right. That’s always the big thing is like why? Um, and so when we when like even in our sales process we call it shared vision selling. So fuze is our our framework and shared vision selling is the way that we sell within that framework. And it’s always about the three wise. Why change. Why now and then? Why your company. So when you’re when you’re developing a change management approach, you have to get everybody to understand and be aware of the why. But then you have to make sure that they have the desire. Does everyone want to be part of this? Right? And then do they have the knowledge or do they have the aptitude? They may have the they may have the desire, but if they don’t have the aptitude, it’s going to be really hard for them to be successful. And do you have the reinforcement you have to monitor to make sure that that that you’re along those points that you’ve that you’ve addressed each one of those points and the other. The other big component of this, Josh, is leveraging what we call an agile approach to project management. So we create scrums. And so what happens is you basically implement in sprints. So you say, hey, um, what are we going to get done over the next 2 to 4 weeks within the context of what has to happen over the next year. And then that way you get a lot of little wins along the way. Right? Oh, we got this. We got that done. Um, you know, as they say, you know, the the journey of a thousand miles begins in the first, you know, few with a few first steps. And that’s what we’re trying to do is get people the little wins along the way and start to see the benefits. And the quick wins are really important because that creates a lot of buy in up front.
Joshua Kornitsky: It does, and it creates the momentum that gets people excited. I have to imagine.
Reese Gomez: Well, you know, one of the big things that we do in these organizations, um, in especially when you when you move, when you’re working with founder based organizations that have had a lot of success, right? They’re like, okay, well, we’ve been really successful up to this point, and they they wouldn’t have us working with them if they hadn’t hit a ceiling that they could get through on their own. Right. So we’re trying to work with them to, to make to make, make a difference. One of the things you really want to look for is some really good examples of what good looks like. And even if you have to go back retrospectively. Oh, so tell me what your best deals were that you got. How did you get that done? And let’s learn from that. Let’s get that, um, uh, turned into a system and then you get a lot of buy in because. Oh yeah, XYZ client that went really well. We did everything right. And we call that moving from unconscious competence to conscious competence. Right. So you know what you need to do, right? If you’ve been successful up to this point, you just can’t necessarily explain it. It hasn’t been documented. Um, it hasn’t been put into a framework. And so and this isn’t just about kind of, um, you know, a documentation project. This is really about how do you really drive change? How do you put this in a framework that’s scalable?
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and that begs the question in my mind, you know, I know that every experience is going to be different, but what what is the time frame look like to affect this type of change?
Reese Gomez: Um, so, so a lot of it depends. Sometimes organizations, it depends on how aggressive they want to be in their in their goal setting. Um, most organizations that come to us want to achieve at least 20% growth. You know, they might have been achieving, uh, 5%, 10%. So they want to double that. So, um, you know, we’ve had organizations come to us. We have one now that we’re working with that wants to go from, um, you know, 24 million to 48 million. We have another one that wants to go from 20 million to 100 million. And obviously that’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen in, uh, in, uh, but but what you have to be able to do is you have to be able to understand what are the things you almost have to work from the goal backwards and say what things that we have to be doing now to be able to be prepared for that future.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, it sounds like engaging with sales parks is much more of a collaborative partnership than just a simple agreement to go from A to B.
Reese Gomez: Well, that that’s where we pride ourselves. We pride ourselves in that, in that collaboration. So when you think about, for example, our concept that we call shared vision selling, shared vision selling is all about understanding where the customer wants to go and then how do we collaborate through the process? We call it selling with the customer instead of selling to them, so that by the time you’re giving them a proposal, it’s as much their proposal is your proposal. And you can imagine. Exactly. So we see about 70% acceptance rate of proposals when that process is followed. Because you think about it, if you’re going to engage in the time to do that and you’re going to, um, uh, co-create that and refine that solution together. You’re going to probably be highly likely to take to take that investment and want to want to be able to move forward and working with somebody that you collaborated with to make it happen.
Joshua Kornitsky: And that concept of co-creation. I’ve literally been exposed to dozens of different forms of sales acceleration, and that’s the first time I’ve heard that term. But with a background myself in experiential learning, I know what an unbelievable difference that must make.
Reese Gomez: It would. It does. And the thing that I always try to, uh, be careful of is we’re not saying that every solution is custom. Right? So if you go in and, and you’ve got a particular, um, offering that helps in healthcare to say, reduce costs or improve revenue, we’re not saying that you have to, you know, develop every solution that’s custom. How does this solution fit in your environment? Right. Every every organization has a little different IT infrastructure. They have a different profile for size, maybe different types of customers. So how are we going to fit our solution into your environment in a way that’s going to create success. And um, and what you find is that you build trust and confidence through that interaction. And, and then what it does, uh, Josh, is when you do that, you sell a deal and then, um, because the expectations have been set appropriately, you then have a much higher likelihood that the customer is going to be delighted, they’re going to buy more from you. And, uh, and then they’re going to refer you. So you kind of start to get this flywheel going.
Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.
Reese Gomez: When, when you do it right.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and from the outside of the healthcare industry, which is where I find myself, right? I, I have always made the, the leap that doing business in such a tightly regulated space is is akin to juggling balls of fire while riding a unicycle through a hoop, right? So how much does your past healthcare experience come into play in kind of cutting through that red tape.
Reese Gomez: As a really great question. And that’s that’s why we focus on healthcare, because it really is. Um, it really is very different. And I’ll tell you why. There’s, there’s sort of three, three things that make healthcare different than anything else. Right? It’s there’s I was industrial engineer by training. Right. And when we went, one of the big things that we learned is reduce variance. Like the if you go into a situation and it’s always done differently, the chances of a quality outcome are much lower because you know you’re not doing it in a repeatable way. Well, healthcare is the most horrible place to control variance. In fact, when I was getting out of school, my professor said, don’t go into healthcare. You can’t control variance because you have you have variance at three levels. The patient. Right. So you and I have different genetic profiles. So how I might respond to a medication or a treatment because of our genetics is going to be could be much different. Right. So that’s one thing. So you got all the patient variants. You got physician and trainer variants where they got trained, what part of the world they came from, where they had different experiences that that allowed them to make the diet that, that that influence the way they diagnose and treat patients. You got a lot of variants there. And then, you know, you go into a hospital or a clinic and yeah, there’s some similar things about like where you check in where you check out, but most of them are very different, you know? So what ends up happening is you walk into a healthcare organization and yes, there’s some similarities, but they’re very different in the way that they the community that they treat their their culture. And so because there’s so much variance as opposed to a bank, right. If you walk in a Bank of America versus TD Bank or whatever, an ATM transaction is going to be handled the same across the world?
Joshua Kornitsky: Yeah.
Reese Gomez: Pretty much. But how you think about diagnosing and treating a patient, someone might have a surgical focus. One might have more of a medical focus. One might say, hey, I’m more of a pediatrics. One might say. So if you don’t understand those nuances when you’re bringing your solution in, it’s very difficult to hit the mark in terms of what the outcomes are. So you almost are our approach, even though it could be used across any industry where you sell complex solutions. We just do B2B complex solutions, healthcare. It’s more important than than any other industry that you know, that I’ve been exposed to.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and there is great truth to sticking to the area that you know well and do best in because, you know, if they don’t want you to paint their house offering to wash their cars, great as an ancillary service. But those are two very different skill sets. Stick with what you’re best at in order to succeed more deeply and more widely, for sure. Um, but you had mentioned something before and it put a light on for me. You were talking about technology. So, you know, these days I find myself in a lot of conversations where there’s this sort of elephant in the room, and the elephant is AI and and whether it’s from a perspective of productivity or interacting with customers or in a thousand other ways. How does AI impact what you do and how you help your clients?
Reese Gomez: Well, it’s been um, for us for as a company, we we tripled last year over the year before. And I credit a lot of it to AI. Um, what I’ve found with AI is that you you really there’s two words that I think are most important is context and nuance. Okay. Did you give enough context to the AI about the problem you’re trying to solve, or the question that you’re asking it so that it can actually give you something that’s relevant? So that means that you have to have a lot of experience. You have to have a lot of, um, knowledge. And so because I see a lot of people saying that, you know, AI is going to, um, replace certain kinds of, of thinking and certain types of jobs, and I think it will. But I do think that that is going to get offset by a whole nother set of opportunities. And so our view is that the first thing you have to do is you have to provide the context to the AI. And then when it gives you the answer, you have to be able to look at it with a lot of with a nuanced eye and understand how to take that and make it relevant and, and, and connect it to the problem that you’re trying to solve. And so there’s there’s two areas that we’ve seen AI, uh, impact for our customers. One is how do you make a salesperson more productive. And the second is how does it impact the way that we’re interacting with our customers? How can we create a better customer experience? And, um, there’s just a lot of a lot going on. And no matter what though within that with. So I’ll give you an example on the, on the sales side when I talk about context, you can you can have a you can have a meeting with a customer and download the transcript in the ChatGPT and say, hey, how could I have done better? And ChatGPT will give you some generic advice about, um, you know what? What you could have done differently, uh, based on its expertise in from a sales perspective.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right. But with no real context, just cold analysis of of words.
Reese Gomez: Exactly. So now picture the analysis of what you did, knowing whether it’s a new customer or existing customer, what solutions they are interested in, what are they aren’t what stage they are in the sales process. How many meetings you’ve had with them in the past. That’s where the and that’s why that’s why we see a lot of AI projects be disappointed. Uh, there’s a lot of disappointment right now and a lot of AI projects because the context is not there. So someone a seller, a sales leader, uh, buys a generic product, they download the transcript and they get generic advice.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right?
Reese Gomez: So what? You. So what this means is you’ve got to be able to set up a process that allows for the context, and then it has to come back to the seller, who then looks at it with an experienced eye and refines that. So think about it. Think about a sales process. Well, how can I use AI to prepare for the call? Well, it has the context. This is a new versus existing customer. These are the these are the meetings that we’ve had. Here’s how I should prepare. Right. And then it sits on the call and evaluates how you did and what you could have been done differently, what you did well. And then it does the follow up. Each one of those with the proper context and nuance can take us a seller. You know, they can improve their productivity by 50% or more.
Joshua Kornitsky: And is that something you help your clients with? Because that I think that’s a giant missing component out of the whole AI thing. Uh, because, you know, it’s the it’s the new magic pill, right? It solves all problems. But does it really? Because whether I have a headache or a backache or my leg is bleeding, one pill is not going to fix all three.
Reese Gomez: Exactly. It’s like, uh, it’s like you’re trying to take an Advil when you’re, uh, when you’ve got a bloody nose. It’s not going to help. You know? So, so so what? We, um. Yeah. So that’s that’s what we do. We help organizations, uh, leverage AI, but so, so, but the thing is, a lot of organizations aren’t ready for it. So what we do is we help them to understand the readiness. And one of the key components of readiness is, um, have you do can you provide the context to the AI? Are you using a disciplined sales process? Are your sellers, um, documenting or gathering information and putting it into the CRM? Right. So if all this information isn’t being collected and, and there’s a lot of ways to do it without harming, uh, productivity in the sales team, you can you can do a lot of these things. So it happens as a, as a passive, um, uh, uh, activity as a part of the sales process. Right. So if you, if you do it right, but if you don’t have the processes defined, you don’t have the right technology infrastructure, just lay an AI on top of your list isn’t going to solve any problems at all.
Joshua Kornitsky: You mean like the refrigerators that now come with AI to let you know you’re low on milk? Sure, it’s got AI, but is it really useful?
Reese Gomez: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, and I have to tell you, it amazes me, uh, how much it always seems to come back to sales process. Right? And, and, and in your case, you’re not directly speaking to it, but the absence thereof proves that we’re going to have failure down the road because we don’t. Going back to your first principles, we’re not executing consistently. And if we’re not executing consistently, that’s it falls apart pretty early in the process. It sounds like.
Reese Gomez: Yeah. You brought up a great point about sales process. And and that’s really an important distinction and a nuance because, um, there’s a difference between sales methodology and sales process. So you may have heard of um, there’s a lot of great tools out there. So you may have heard of challenger.
Joshua Kornitsky: Oh yeah, I’ve read it. Went through the training.
Reese Gomez: It’s a great it’s a great, um, methodology. Um, Miller. Heiman. Um, that was one of the first ones that came out. Blue sheets fill out fill out a blue sheet about an account and a sales opportunity. Uh, there’s another one called medic. It stands for medic, and it has a bunch of acronyms about the key things that you have to worry about in a sales process. Those are all in a sales situation. Those are all methodologies. But what happens is that they they they don’t get applied because there’s a big there’s a lot of work to go from that into. How does that apply, um, to what the seller does on a day to day basis? Right. And so what we did is when we did our research, we took the best of those methodologies and we put it into a sales process. So now, um, when a seller comes through our training, they’ve learned industry best practices. But then the next day they know how to apply it. And that’s what’s really exciting about what we do is when someone goes through our training, like, in fact, we just recently did one, we we did an on site role play, and they had just gone through our training and they were now, you know, they had gone through and seen how to apply it. And so one of the sellers came and said, wow, this is amazing. What we talked about this morning, I just applied it, um, in a call this afternoon. And so what they were able to do was connect all the dots between all of these things that you should do that are really best practice. And what I have to do as I progress through the sales cycle with a, with a customer. So that’s what we’ve done is we’ve defined that sales process and infused it with best practice around how you actually interact with a client and how you, um, you know, leverage, uh, areas like challenger and some of the others that exist out there.
Joshua Kornitsky: I mean, it sounds like it’s a pretty solid solution because you’re able to work with those different methodologies and still get the effectiveness.
Reese Gomez: Well, it’s a it’s a great point because people will come to us and say, hey, well, you know, I’ve already I don’t really need to look at what you guys are doing. I’ve already implemented the challenger medic. And I say, hey, that’s great. In fact, that’s a great foundation for us to build on this. This isn’t, um, it’s not mutually exclusive. What we would do is build on top of that.
Joshua Kornitsky: And I think that that’s a fantastic recipe that clearly is paying dividends, because from that perspective, it it it’s the landed cost fallacy. I’ve already invested in X. I don’t want to invest in Y, because then I’ll lose my investment in X. And and you’re able to stand there and say no, no, no, X is great. Let’s let’s apply Y to it and bring it to the next level, which is really a great amplification. Or some might even say sales acceleration. So reset it. It sounds like what you’re able to offer really goes a long way to to that concept of collaboration. You really you meet your your customers where they’re at. You amplify a lot of the work that they’ve already put in, in the investment that they’ve made, and you help them overcome what sounds to me to be a fairly common but ornery concept of getting the real return on all of those investments.
Reese Gomez: Well, you know, we we really try. It’s a great it’s a great summary. And we really try to really focus on some key key, some key performance indicators that really, um, allow everyone to sort of like what’s, what’s my dashboard here that I really have to measure against? And how am I going to make sure that I’m making progress? And so we try to look at it from a leading indicators perspective as well as trailing. So now you always have a good dashboard of things that you need to really stay on top of to ensure that you’re making. You know that you’re performing.
Joshua Kornitsky: That sounds like great guidance. Well, let me ask you, what’s the best way for people to get Ahold of you and and or SalesSparx?
Reese Gomez: Well, um, our, um, our our website is w w. E as two S’s in the middle. So SSP comm, um, and just I would say just get onto the website and, uh, you know, peruse through there and then you can contact us. There’s any number of ways to contact us through through the website.
Joshua Kornitsky: Wonderful. And when we publish the interview, we’ll publish it with that link so everybody will know how to get Ahold of you. Um, great. My guest today has been Reese Gomez, CEO and founder of SalesSparx, also author of Light Your Sales views, which will help provide a playbook for how to take their proprietary approach and accelerate your company’s go to market maturity in sales. Reis is a recognized expert in the healthcare go to market space, and he was part of a leadership team that took a company from 50 to $250 million in three years. And his book, Light Your Sales Views, is available on Amazon to order now. Thank you again, Reis. I appreciate you being here.
Reese Gomez: It was great. Great to talk with you, Josh. Great questions and I really enjoyed the interaction. Thanks for your time.
Joshua Kornitsky: My pleasure. So I am your host professional EOS implementer Joshua Kornitsky and this has been another exciting episode of High Velocity Radio. Please join us again next time.

BRX Pro Tip: Be Careful Who You Spend Time With

February 5, 2026 by angishields

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Be Careful Who You Spend Time With
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Be Careful Who You Spend Time With

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, what’s your take, perspective on this idea that you’re the average of the five people you hang out with?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that’s something Jim Rohn said a long, long time ago. I think it still holds weight, and it’s one of those things where you don’t – I guess you take for granted the people you’re around the most, and you don’t kind of recognize the fact that you are the average of those five people or so that you spend the most time with.

Lee Kantor: And what you have to do if you believe this is kind of level up your five people. I mean, first, audit your five people. Just list who are the people you’re spending the most time with, and ask yourself, are they kind of building me up or are they supporting my success? Or are they helping me get to a new level? Or are they kind of affecting me negatively? Are they kind of sabotaging me, or are they doing things that are not helping me become the best me I can be? Am I growing or am I kind of coasting? Am I plateauing here? Do I have to kind of uplevel the five people around me?

Lee Kantor: You have to kind of be honest about who it is you’re around, because sometimes you have one or two people in that group that are just pulling your standards down, and they’re keeping you from being the best you you can be.

Lee Kantor: And, you know, go out there and meet more people and add some people that you intentionally spend more time with that can help you kind of get ahead a little bit in terms of your character, your health, your relationship, your business. You can find these people; they’re around you. You’re just not spending time with them.

Lee Kantor: And you have to really kind of create distance around the people that are negatively impacting you. You don’t have to kind of cut them off dramatically, but you can just slowly reduce the amount of time you’re spending with them because you need people.

Lee Kantor: Life is hard enough. If you have saboteurs around you, you’re making your life harder. You need to surround yourself with people that are supporting and celebrating your work, and helping you become a better person.

Lee Kantor: You can’t do this alone. You have to replace the people that are holding you back, and you have to find people that are going to push you forward.

Lee Kantor: So, invest time in auditing who those five people are and finding people that are going to match your ambitions and help you get to where you want to go.

Change That Actually Sticks: Bridging Technology, Process, and People with Anne Kimsey

February 4, 2026 by angishields

CBR-Anne-Kimsey-Feature
Cherokee Business Radio
Change That Actually Sticks: Bridging Technology, Process, and People with Anne Kimsey
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

CherokeeSponsorImageDieselDavidMSW

In this episode of Cherokee Business Radio, host Joshua Kornitsky sits down with Anne Kimsey, Founder and CEO of New Path Points, to explore why organizational change often fails—and what leaders can do to make it succeed. Anne shares insights from her career across finance, Six Sigma, consulting, and product management, explaining how real change happens when people—not just technology and processes—are prioritized. They discuss common pitfalls in large-scale transformations, the cost of ignoring change management, and practical strategies leaders can use to drive adoption and reduce wasted investment.

NPPFullLogo

AKHeadshotAnne Kimsey is the founder of New Path Points, a consulting firm that helps companies navigate complex transitions, specifically system rollouts and post-M&A integrations.

Anne specializes in change management at the intersection of people, process, and technology. She’s the person organizations call when Go Live is around the corner and things aren’t ready. With a background in change and product management, Six Sigma, customer experience, and operations, Anne brings clarity, structure, and execution discipline to projects that are stuck, stalled, or spiraling.

From rescuing $2M rollouts to achieving 90% adoption in 60 days, she brings practical calm to high-stakes moments.

Connect with Anne on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

  • People Over Process: Anne explains why even the best technology and processes fail if employees don’t adopt them, and why an “okay plan with buy-in” outperforms a perfect plan nobody uses.
  • The Hidden Cost of Poor Change Management: Organizations can waste 40–60% of transformation budgets when they ignore the human side of change and focus only on technology and timelines.
  • Why Change Fails (and How to Fix It): Anne outlines key red flags—leadership misalignment, unrealistic deadlines, and “we’ll figure it out” planning—that signal a change initiative is headed for trouble.
  • Building Trust During Transformation: She shares real-world examples of how listening to frontline employees and acting quickly on feedback builds trust, increases engagement, and improves implementation success.

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 to Cherokee Business Radio. I am Joshua Kornitsky professional implementer of the entrepreneurial operating system known as EOS. And your host here today, I am excited to share with you that in this week of time between Christmas and New Year’s, I managed to secure myself a really incredible guest and I can’t wait to introduce everybody to her. But first, I want to remind everybody that today’s episode is 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, please go to Main Street Warriors 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. Well, as I said, I was really, really thrilled to be able to get such an incredible guest. I am joined in studio today by Anne Kimsey. Anne is the founder and CEO of New Path Points, and what she does is she works with organizations that are navigating meaningful change, particularly where technology process and people intersect. Her work focuses really on helping leaders think through what change actually looks like once it reaches the people doing the work. And we’re going to explore how organizations prepare for change in ways that create clarity instead of disruption.
Anne Kimsey: Sounds great.
Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome, Anne. I’m so happy to have you here. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule for me today.
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely happy to be here.
Joshua Kornitsky: It’s wonderful to have you. So if you would, Let’s begin at the beginning. Tell us your origin story. Tell us how how you came to be someone who’s focused on change management.
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely. So my background is absolutely varied, which I come to find. That’s how people land in change management for the most part. So I’m not your you know, I’ve been sitting here for three decades in change management. I started off as actually a staff accountant. Okay. Then I went into finance and then I went into sales compensation. So, you know, it’s your journey always is interesting where it starts out. Right. And, um, so with that then I moved actually where I really see a lot of the change came in at is I had an opportunity through I have three kids. And so I after my third kid, I was like, hey, I’m ready for a change. Like put me somewhere else in the organization. And I got the opportunity when I was at McKesson to join Six Sigma.
Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.
Anne Kimsey: And so being and I became a Six Sigma black belt and little work. Little work. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. There was. That test was hard.
Joshua Kornitsky: I can’t even imagine.
Anne Kimsey: We, um. So there we were, as we were, you know, focused on projects. One of the things we did was change management, because you can’t just roll out, you can’t roll out these new processes and whatnot without change. So I really got into change there, but not full time. So even after that, I went on and I went did sales enablement, sales operations, customer experience. So I was focused on customer implementations, customer support. Then I actually ventured over into product management.
Joshua Kornitsky: So because you were bored?
Anne Kimsey: Because absolutely, I was like, hey, there’s a there’s a challenge, let’s go do it. And with that customer implementation and customer support and product management, there is so much change management that’s needed there because you’re trying to drive adoption.
Joshua Kornitsky: You’re you’re touching on areas that I’ve had mild experience in and some deep experience. I just one of those is a full time, uh, mindset. So I can’t imagine you must have a very holistic view.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. And so I think that’s what helps me. So as I as I went on from product management, then I was fortunate. I got into a consulting company that I worked at for a few years, and we ended up with some cool change management gigs that I was able to get in and lead. And when I got in there, it was like, wow, I’m home. This is like what I really enjoy.
Joshua Kornitsky: That’s awesome.
Anne Kimsey: I think the reason I really enjoy it so much is because I love relationships. I thrive off of relationships. Um, it’s it’s my superpower. And so when I, when we when I go in and when I started that with change management, I was like, this is fantastic. This is what I want to do. This is where I want to be. And so that’s that’s how I landed here.
Joshua Kornitsky: It’s a great story. And as you mentioned, uh, pretty big firms that you were working with. Not not small fries. Yes. Um, how do you really describe the role that you try to fill for your clients? Because you talked about technology, you talked about relationships, you talked about people. Are you bridging those? How does that work exactly?
Anne Kimsey: So definitely bridging that gap. And so even I saw that back in the days when I was doing Six Sigma and, and all those other roles that I’ve done, I was always recognizing that there was a gap there between what the the tech team was doing versus the business side of the equation versus getting it out. I mean, ultimately, in any business, we have an end user, we have a customer that we have to get to. And it was bridging all those pieces together. And one of the things that we would talk about in Six Sigma is you could have the best plan, the best process, the best everything. But if the people do not change with it, then your plan is not good. So we would talk about we would be like, hey, I’d rather have a okay plan, right? With people adoption, I will have a much higher success rate than a super duper awesome plan and very little people adoption.
Joshua Kornitsky: In the universe that I live in. As an EOS implementer, that’s the difference between success and failure. Absolutely right. If the leadership teams all in, but nobody outside of the leadership team knows there’s been a change. Nothing actually changes.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: We’re using new terms. We’re calling it something different. Yeah, but at the end of the day, it makes very little of the impact. And and it sounds like not just a bridge, but it sounds like there’s that you’re assisting at a strategic level.
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely.
Joshua Kornitsky: Because it’s one thing to talk about change management down on the ground. We are moving from system A to system B, but I know from my own experience and you know much better than I do, you know, back it up when when we’re changing from this ERP or CRM to to this one. When does that when should that planning start?
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely. Yeah. So I mean that that’s one of those things I will say most of the time I get brought in when they’re about to go live. We’ve gotten brought in before. We’re like, hey, we’re going live next week. We need a change management plan. We’re like, sure, you know, yeah, um, can we move that off a little bit? Sure. Or a lot of times I get brought in after it doesn’t go well. So we’ve implemented it. No one’s using it. Don’t know why. Um, I’ve been lucky a couple of times where they’ve actually brought us in early and they said, hey, we’re thinking about it, we’re doing it. We’re going to be there. It’s about a few months off that is perfect, where we can actually plan way ahead of time and talk through those strategies and talk through everything that’s needed.
Joshua Kornitsky: And is part of that planning process. When when you are in the have the opportunity to be involved Strategically before the ship is already hitting the water, so to say. Um, you know, does that involve budgetary planning as well?
Anne Kimsey: Yes, absolutely. And so from a budget perspective, I’ll say, just in general, we talk about or I talk about that folks will spend millions of dollars. I mean, if you’re a small.
Joshua Kornitsky: Yeah, you’re a small.
Anne Kimsey: Fry. Maybe, maybe not millions of dollars, but the experiences I’ve been in millions of dollars, they should take at least 10% of that. I would even say 5% of that to focus on change management, to focus on that people side.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and what have you seen when it even when you weren’t involved at the strategic level, what happens to those budgets?
Anne Kimsey: Oh yeah. From that perspective. Well, what do you mean from those budgets? You mean like if they don’t do it or which part?
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so in my experience and with what I’ve seen, um, all the best laid plans without having expert consultation, there tends to be a lot of waste. And that’s what I’m really asking. Because if, if, whether it’s $50,000 being allocated for the transition or $15 million being advocated for the transition, if you don’t have a plan, isn’t waste almost built in?
Anne Kimsey: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So yeah, I’ve talked about this before is that you’ll see you can see 4,060% of the budget wasted.
Joshua Kornitsky: How do you prevent that? That’s crazy.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. And so that prevention is is making sure that we focus on the people side of change, that human side of change. Because like we were just talking about is you can have all the best laid plans. You can have the best tech in the world, right? And if people don’t adopt it, they don’t take it, they don’t use it. You’re gonna have waste. What’s crazy to me, though, is that that’s not that number. That 40 to 60% is not a new number. I mean, there’s 75% failures, AI, there’s 90% failures. These stats have been around for decades. If you go look, you go look in the 80s, the 90s, you see these same stats and I’m like, we are in 2025 and 2026 and here we are. We’re still talking about failure. It’s like why are we not focusing there? One of the things I’ve seen in my personal, in my personal space where I’ve been at is a lot of the change is driven by leadership and is driven by a date. We need to get.
Joshua Kornitsky: By this.
Anne Kimsey: By June 1st. No, no holds barred. Just gotta go. Don’t care. You people go make it happen. And then and then middle management is sitting there going, oh, I got to make this happen. How do I make this happen? And then it ends up just being like that, that waterfall kind of thing of like it all goes down. And that’s another area where I see a gap between leadership and, and management and the front line of getting there.
Joshua Kornitsky: So when when that happens, things go sideways.
Anne Kimsey: Yes.
Joshua Kornitsky: And, and can you share a story in your experience where, where something like that happened and you were able to make an impact.
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely. Um, well, I definitely have a few stories. So it’s like.
Joshua Kornitsky: Picking your choice of of the one that will resonate the most because, um, you know, I’m sure particularly at some of the dollar amounts you’re talking about, some of these organizations are whatever comes after massive. But just to put it in context, give us give us some idea without obviously giving away information that we can’t share.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. Yeah. So I think there’s um, like like I said before, a few times where I’ve been in is where they’ve tried to roll it out a few times. Right.
Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, multiple false starts.
Anne Kimsey: Multiple false.
Joshua Kornitsky: Starts. Okay.
Anne Kimsey: Type of thing of where I’ve seen those things happen. And so where when I go in, I step in and I’m like, hey, what’s happening? What’s going on? Why did it why why did we have a false start? Why did we not get where we were going? What is what is going on? Um, and so do that root cause discovery. Get in there. Understand that 99% of the time it’s people. It’s people related.
Joshua Kornitsky: And so I’m only laughing because it’s true.
Anne Kimsey: You know it’s true. And so they’ll sit there and go, hey, we you know, again, SAP, Salesforce, NetSuite, HubSpot, all those kind of things. They’ll go in and they’ll say, but, but they have to use it. So they have to use the tool. So there is no change management that needs to happen because they have to adopt it. I was like, people don’t have to really do anything right. People find workarounds, they find this. So that’s what what I find is like, is change being done to me or is change being done for me?
Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a great mindset because that’s the difference.
Anne Kimsey: It is. And so that’s where I’ve gone in. And so in this case where they’ve had some false starts and missteps, whatever I go in and I’m like, hey, people feel like it’s being done to them. How can it be that they’re it’s done for them? Or they’re like, hey, we rolled this out and they’re doing this, but this process, this feature, this whatever doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t do the job. So that’s why I’m having to do a workaround. I’m not. And so people take it the wrong way and that oh, they’re just resisting. And so they created a workaround. They created a workaround because it literally does not make sense for them. So that so and again that’s where that root cause discovery goes. And then we’re going into that next piece of like hey how can we drive. How can we drive this so that folks understand it. So how can we get that alignment and buy in. So then I uncover those. Go back to senior leadership, because I mentioned earlier is that there’s a gap between senior leadership in the front line. So how do we get that buy in then next we’re driving execution. So we’re saying hey how do we take all this and align it with what they need? Talking to the tech teams, talking to the frontline teams, talking to the managers and pulling this all together that it actually makes sense.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, in in between the lines, something that you you both didn’t say but you also said without saying is with you in in that role where you’re able to bridge that gap. Let’s be direct. Often if you are 3 or 4 tiers down in the leadership team and you are tasked with this responsibility, you’re going to say whatever needs to be said, you’re going to find an explanation as retrospectively as as to why something was wrong that you signed off on as right. You sort of eliminate all of that buffer because you’re not trying to see why your a, you are being transparent because this is what it takes to get it done. Absolutely. And I know that that sounds silly, but we’ve both seen that where somewhere in the management stack somebody is the roadblock because either they don’t get it and they’re embarrassed, or they do get it and they’re threatened and self-preservation, it’s that fight or flight that that comes in where they’re like, well, gosh, if if I tell leadership, I don’t get it. Now, six months in after I’ve signed 11 things saying yes, you know, having you in that mix takes that worry out of it because you’re not trying to make yourself look good. You’re trying to get the job accomplished.
Anne Kimsey: It’s amazing what people will open up when when I walk in the door, or me and my team walk in the door, that they’ll actually tell us a lot of stuff. And when we go share it back with leadership, they’re like.
Joshua Kornitsky: No one told us. Absolutely, I, I was invisible for 15 years of my career when I was early stage in technology, where I was under desks fixing things in it, and it turns out it is invisible. So people say and do things in front of you, and you hear and observe, and you have the intelligence of when you open your mouth and you don’t. But it’s incredible what people will share when you just ask them.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. When you ask them and you’re.
Joshua Kornitsky: And they’re not threatened.
Anne Kimsey: And they’re not threatened. That’s what I was about to say. When you have that very human element I am here, I am here to help.
Joshua Kornitsky: And coming from the outside, it has to let them breathe a little bit. Because you’re not the division manager, you’re not the regional VP. You’re just here to get this done.
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. And they want to be valued and heard. And so a piece to that of what you just said was good, because that goes into another piece that we found in another engagement that I was in. It was.
Joshua Kornitsky: Please.
Anne Kimsey: We, we walked in and you know, again, it was like, hey, we’re trying to we’re trying actually it was an acquisition.
Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.
Anne Kimsey: And so it was for a plant. And they were moving them from a old ERP paper, pencil kind of thing to SAP. And it was one of those.
Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a massive shift.
Anne Kimsey: Massive. And they were like, they just have to do it. I was like, whoa, whoa, hold up a second. And so, you know, as a leader was like, we don’t need no change management. And we got brought in by other folks. That said, I think you do need it. But anyway, so we get there and we’re talking to everybody and they’re like, you know, we’ve been through this three times already. We’re like, I’m sorry. What? We’ve been through it three times. What do you mean you’ve been through it three times already. They’re like, oh, we’ve been acquired three times. Oh shoot, this is this or this is our third time. And we were also trying to move to SAP before and we’re like, no one told us this brand new information. We’re like, wow, there’s a lot in there for these folks so that they’ve gone through it.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right.
Anne Kimsey: And a lot of these folks have worked at this plant since it started for I think it was like 25 years. And so there’s, you know, they were connected to it because they were like, hey.
Joshua Kornitsky: They’re personally invested.
Anne Kimsey: Personally.
Joshua Kornitsky: I opened the doors.
Anne Kimsey: So we got in there and we started hearing all kinds of stuff, like we talked to everybody and how upset they were and how they felt like it was just getting jammed down their throat. And no one was listening. No one was hearing them and everything. So we were like, okay, but so that’s the one piece of, hey, let me listen to you. But we got to act on it. So that’s a piece too, is you got to look at all what you heard and say. What can we act on quickly to make a difference? So these folks that spent an hour or two hours, whatever it is of their time, right with you to tell you all these things, all these things that they were probably maybe like, oh, I hope there’s no repercussions for can we act on it? And we did. We went back to leadership and we said, here, look at all these different things that they’re saying that there’s they’re little things like, let’s have a town hall, let’s address these issues. Let’s do some nice things for for you guys. That right there, we did that like one week after we had all those stakeholder meetings.
Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.
Anne Kimsey: Huge difference. Because then what that did is they went hey wow. They made a change.
Joshua Kornitsky: They see the buy in from leadership or ownership or management reflecting their concerns.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. And then what that did is it made them open up to us even more. Right. So then when we went in to do process mapping to talk about the system changes, to talk about their jobs, to talk about what they were doing, they opened up even more. Oh, you need to know this, and you need to know that. And let me tell you about Joe Bob over there. And let me tell you about Sally over here. And let me tell you about all these things. We were able to find out so much information because we created so much trust with just in a week or two of being on site.
Joshua Kornitsky: It’s amazing. And it’s one of the core values I live by, of just simply doing what you say, right? That that you collect that feedback and you actually act on it shows a level of credibility because, you know, the the suggestion box, like you would see in an old editorial cartoon, usually drops down to a trash can, because while we want your feedback, we don’t really care. And I’m not saying that’s a universal, but it is a trope that exists for a reason. Um, because people typically aren’t as open and I see this daily aren’t as open to constructive feedback as they are to positive feedback.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, and I, I have a next step question that I want to ask, but I have to ask this because of the organizational state of my own brain.
Anne Kimsey: Mhm.
Joshua Kornitsky: In an ideal engagement, would those interviews and those stakeholder meetings happen prior to implementation.
Anne Kimsey: Oh gosh.
Joshua Kornitsky: Yes. Okay. I had to ask because because that’s the difference that, that uh, I find myself saying this a lot these days, that when you don’t know what you don’t know that right? There is an enormous differentiator in how success will will arrive or if success will arrive, if you take the time to talk to the people being impacted ahead of time.
Anne Kimsey: Mhm.
Joshua Kornitsky: Imagine having a heads up.
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. And we had a project. It’s not a long story. No, please. Well, we were in the company, and we were actually doing 4 or 5 projects where we’re. Four of them were after the fact. One of them was like way before the fact. It’s like we’re thinking about this, right? And when we told the team, we’re like, hey, we need to get out to those impacted and talk to them about this or like, but we don’t have a full fledged plan yet. We’re like, exactly right. This is perfect. We get out there and we build the plan with them and they’ll feel so much more, you know, collaborated with and involved and invested. We had a lot of pushback on that, but we were able to push through it and get and them go, okay, fine, fine. We’ll talk to these folks. We did. And the buy in we got was huge. That’s don’t get me wrong, we had a ton of issues because they were like, what are y’all thinking? Why are you doing this? Holy cow. This is going to be huge. This is going to be horrible. This is the worst idea ever. I mean, that’s where we started with, right? But we’re like, well, let’s work with you. How can we make it a better idea? How can we go from worse to better? Not not great. But how can.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right? Well, then I’m all about the incremental step. Because if you’re not familiar with. I will get you a copy of the book The Gap and the gain. Aha. It’s it’s about those baby steps. That’s that’s how you cross the whole planet.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so this begs me to ask this question of of what are some of the red flags? How do you know when something is, uh, you know, you’ve got red yellow or red yellow green. Right. And when we transition from green to yellow, it’s most people are speeding up. But when we get to red, you know, when, when things are flashing and blinking and you’re smelling smoke, what are some of the things people can look for ahead of time to say, hey, pump the brakes for a minute.
Anne Kimsey: Absolutely. So I want to like the first thing that came to my mind was like, when it’s focused on a date, only a date, but sometimes you can’t get past that. I mean, and I think that’s I think one of the things, as I would say, and I’ll get into the other things that I see as red flags is don’t try to push too, too much back on the date, unless you have real concrete reason that you can go to senior leadership with why to move the date. Otherwise than that, figure it out, right? Figure out how you’re going to get to that date. But with that, one of the big, big things I see is, um, leadership is the leadership piece. They look aligned in meetings. So we do these fancy presentations, and we get there and we talk and we go to the meetings and we have all this good conversation, and then we all leave. And within a few days or a week, we start seeing action that wasn’t really reflective of what we talked about in the meeting. Right. And we’re like, oh, whoa, wait a minute. What happened? Because this leader went this way, this leader went this way. And those teams and then how it went down to those teams went differently. Sure. So it’s like we’re we seem aligned here, but we’re really not aligned. You got to bring that back. You gotta bring that back.
Joshua Kornitsky: Same page, same language. Gotta be.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. And then, um, obviously when teams say they’re too busy. That’s another big, big red flag. And then what I’ve seen too is when I walk in, they’re like, these teams are so busy, you really can’t take much of their time. That’s a red flag for me as a change manager going in to go, okay, you want me to come help you? But I can’t spend time with the team.
Joshua Kornitsky: But we’re so busy, we can’t have help.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: This is. This is the most common defense I have when I tell people I’m an EOS implementer. Oh, man, we’d love to do is we just don’t have the time, like, oh, when do you think that’s going to improve? Yeah. When your business turns down.
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. And so that’s where it’s like getting in and start, you know, helping them and seeing it. But um, the other thing is this is this is actually near and dear to my heart because it’s most recent is the plans phase. And it’s like, we’ll figure it out.
Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, sure. Seat of the pants.
Anne Kimsey: Oh, my. Let’s let’s not figure it out. Let’s not do that because it’s like, hey, we’re going to roll it out to 200 people, a hundred different sites. It’s fine. We will. It’ll happen. These guys are used to doing this stuff all the time. I know, but this is different. This isn’t, like, the same as that other thing. So let’s just. How about we not figure it out? But a thing I want to talk about in that situation is the let’s figure it out. Because I had a I’ve or I’ve had, but I’ve had a situation recently where I pushed and I pushed and I said, no, you can’t just figure it out. No, we need a plan. We got to think about this. And they looked at me and they said, and you’re just you’re thinking about this too much. It’s really not going to be that hard. And I said, okay, you know what? I’m just doing harm here. And I don’t want them just to like, give me the straight arm and say, go away. So I said, okay, fine. Can we at least do this? Can we do this level at least have a plan at this level.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right.
Anne Kimsey: And be able to get it out there and go from there. They’re like, yes, that’s okay. Luckily it was a migrated implementation. So they were going to do, you know, like a few sites one month if he writes another month. And I said, let’s see how it goes the first month.
Joshua Kornitsky: And how did it go? The first month.
Anne Kimsey: A lot of issues.
Joshua Kornitsky: But we were going to just figure that out. And that doesn’t equate to any money loss does it?
Anne Kimsey: So I was like, okay, let’s do that. And then after, you know, it came through, I was like, oh, can we actually talk about a more detailed plan for the next months? And they were like, yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Yeah.
Joshua Kornitsky: I’m at a different time in my life when when technology was the core of everything that I did. Uh, I will simply say that computer downtime has actual tangible cost. And whether it’s a small business and it’s a point of sale system, or in the case that I was working at a fortune 500 company and we knocked, uh, with a loss of power, we had knocked a quarter of the country out. You know, that was roughly a half million dollars an hour, and that’s not easily Recoverable, and it does an awful lot of damage to your customers because while they are empathetic. Oh, there’s a storm. Oh, there’s an outage. They still want their thing.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: You know, whatever it is they were waiting on, they they still have the expectation that that’s not their problem. That’s your problem.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: And and I think that that that that leads me to, to want to talk about the idea of, of, well, I guess who who reaches out to you because anybody that’s hearing this, anybody that we share this with, um, and I say this with full respect to every level in, in the organization, there are plenty of people who have no authority that understand what you’re sharing. Um, and there are people with Ivy League degrees who believe they will figure it out. So who typically reaches out to you?
Anne Kimsey: So who typically reaches out to me versus who should reach out to me? Right.
Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. I’ll let you interpret that.
Anne Kimsey: So who should reach out to me? I would love if if the if the technology people would reach out. Right. Your CTO, your VP of it, that type of stuff. Because they’re the ones in the case of implementations. Right? They’re the ones that are leading that charge. They’re the ones that are over it. However, tech people don’t necessarily. And there are some out there get me wrong, I’ve got some good a good allies, but there are many of them are like, no, we don’t need change management. We’re just rolling out a system, right? So who typically ends up reaching out is more of my ops folks. So my.
Joshua Kornitsky: The impact we’re we’re we’re the thud lands.
Anne Kimsey: The transformation leader. Those kind of those kind of folks are the ones that actually reach out. And again, it’s either they see it coming or it’s happened and they’re like, we need to we need to right the train kind of thing and and get that on track. Um, so but definitely I mean, I want people to reach out, like you mentioned earlier before, you actually do orientation or and definitely a week not not a, not a week before, but months before that’s going to happen. Like let’s talk and have some to your point strategy discussion. Because this is this is not just pure execution. There’s strategy here that we need to think about of how we’re going to do this.
Joshua Kornitsky: I had the opportunity to be involved earlier in my career in the construction of of four new buildings for an organization that had multiple. And when I tell you that the architects and the planners were involved before a shovel went in the dirt by about two years and and because when you’re building several hundred square feet, 100,000ft² of a facility, you know, you can’t just figure it out. The roof has to be level, the walls have to be the same height. And that’s what it draws in my mind. A comparison to you’re an architect in in a lot of ways, and helping people understand the impact earlier will make an enormous impact on the outcome.
Anne Kimsey: It will. It will.
Joshua Kornitsky: For sure. So something you mentioned earlier that I wanted to swing back around on, and in the example you gave, you were talking about, oh, this is the the third or fourth time we’ve done this right. People get tired of it.
Anne Kimsey: They do.
Joshua Kornitsky: And I don’t know what you call that. I just call that tired. Yes. And and even in the world of of what I do, you know everyone. Oh, it’s the leadership flavor of the month. You know, um, what you’re doing is stuff that’s that impacts in a very, very different way. But don’t people get that change fatigue?
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. That’s what I was going to say.
Joshua Kornitsky: And well you had told it to me earlier, so, uh, so, so how do you deal with that.
Anne Kimsey: So with that change fatigue, we, you know, and part of it is, is like, is it? I mean, it can be changed fatigue, but it’s also like, to your point, the flavor of the month. We’ve done this three times before. This is spelled. Why is it going to work this time? Um, I think one of the things is, is actually recognizing the company you’re going into. So I’ve had where I’ve walked in and I’ve walked into companies, like I mentioned, where they’ve been there 20 years. Right. They’ve seen it. They felt it, they’ve done it. They’ve seen the failures they go through. You have to manage that type of change. Fatigue one way versus I go into a company and the average ten years is 3 to 5 years, right. So that they they still feel it because they’re like, oh.
Joshua Kornitsky: But it’s a different thing.
Anne Kimsey: It’s a different thing because their their change fatigue is like I’ve been at other companies where they’ve tried to do it. I don’t know if you’re going to be successful here, whereas the first one, they’ve been there for 20 years, they’re like, I’ve seen this. I’ve seen it happen. Like, how are you going to do it differently? So you really have to recognize the environment you’re going into, the tenure of the employees you’re going into. Have they been successful doing what they’re doing? Because I’ve walked into that too. Like we’re making money hand over foot. Why are you even coming in? Like, what we’re doing is working. Why would you change that? That’s one thing versus going into, wow, we need some change, but I don’t know how you’re going to make it happen.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, in visionary, leadership requires somebody to be looking two years down the road that says, hey, you know, our systems are great now, but if we hit our goal of X million, you know, this CRM, this ERP won’t do it. And to scale ahead of time because even in my own experience, scaling after the fact, you’re trying to build the airplane while you’re flying and it’s and when you can you don’t want to be in that position. Yeah.
Anne Kimsey: But going back to what you were saying is like, how do you do it? I think there’s there’s two angles to it. Okay. One angle is, is you got to be transparent. You got to be authentic. You got to be like, you’re right. This is why these things didn’t go well. And as a as a change management person walking in, I need to do my due diligence and finding out why they didn’t work, because I need to be able to address that with the folks of. It didn’t work because of these reasons. And we’re not going to repeat those same mistakes, right? That’s one piece. And to talk.
Joshua Kornitsky: That’s huge.
Anne Kimsey: You know how we’re going to do things differently. What that plan is going to look like. The other piece that and I say this to people all the time, I was like, it’s it, it probably isn’t going to go great. So don’t just assume that we’re here. We are gonna have problems, right? It’s how we respond to those problems that’s important. And a story that I tell folks is a few years and Fortnite. Fortnite is the game, right? My kids, I have boys and big gamers, and I guess it was probably a few years ago at this point where they were really big into playing Fortnite, but I it went down often because I would walk in and I’d be like, what’s going on? Oh, the game’s down. I was like, and that product management person that I have in my heart, I was like, wow, that’s that’s really bad.
Joshua Kornitsky: World’s most popular game can’t stay running.
Anne Kimsey: And he and my kid was like, oh no, it’s not a big deal. I was like, it’s not a big deal. The game went down. He’s like, oh, they’ll have it back up five minutes, ten minutes, 30 minutes. At the most. They were like, yeah, it goes down, but it comes back up. And I was like, I like how that hit me was a wow. They created this following this loyalty, this this trust, this credibility that, hey, we’re going to have glitches, we’re going to have issues, but we’re going to respond to it and we’re going to get it working again.
Joshua Kornitsky: Clear expectations.
Anne Kimsey: That’s what I tell the people when I go in, especially as I’m like, hey, I get it. Guess what? When we go live on this new technology, we’re going to have issues, right? We’re going to have performance issues, something we’re going to miss, something we’re going to forget about something, something something’s going to happen. And that’s okay. It’s how we respond to it that’s important. I said, so don’t think this is going to be all great. And unicorns and rainbows. We’re going to have problems, but we’re going to make it better.
Joshua Kornitsky: And even if it’s something that you or the organization has done a dozen times before, write a migration across the country three a month that doesn’t take into account an AWS failure or a Google Cloud failure, or CrowdStrike issue where or Cloudflare where these. Now this infrastructure exists that is invisible to everybody except technology. And you know, when AWS goes down, we learn just how many eggs are in the basket, even though it’s just one region. Yeah. Um, and those are things that, that you can have a contingency for. But, you know, you can also have a contingency where you wear belt, suspenders and a and a strap. At a certain point, you can’t plan for everything. And, and accepting and acknowledging on the front end that transparency you mentioned of saying, hey, there’s going to be glitches, there’s going to be Gonna be problems. That’s what we’ll figure out. Not the plan. The plan isn’t to be figured out. It’s the workaround. When. When the nightmare shows up on the doorstep.
Anne Kimsey: I’m a risk mitigation person. I’m a I’m a plan a b c I.
Joshua Kornitsky: I worked with with a guy a long time ago who used to say it’s the difference between risk and risky. Yeah, there’s risk behavior. There’s risky behavior. Risky behavior is not something we want to get involved with.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly, I love it.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so what’s next? We’re we’re. Where do we go from here as far as, uh, new path points. What are you hoping to to, um, make available? How are you going to educate or teach or train? How what do you have going on?
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. So from that perspective, um, like I’ve mentioned, I have worked with a lot of very large, um, large clients. Right? Big SAP migrations, Salesforce migrations. I really love working with, like, the middle ground folks, you know, people that have 50 to 500 employees.
Joshua Kornitsky: Because I know that space.
Anne Kimsey: I look at that and say, like when I’ve been at the the mckesson’s of the world and, you know, looking at my past, I would always be like, wow, if I could get with some smaller companies and really help them, like at the ground up, so that they can avoid all these mistakes that I see at a large company, that would be fantastic. So that 50 to 500 person kind of company is where I would love to be, because I love working at that level and helping them meet their strategic goals and get their, um, to do that. Things I like to do is workshops. Okay. So, you know, so as leadership is looking at that, they’re like, hey, we’ve got a lot to change company coming. We need to either implement something, we roll out something, think about something. And it doesn’t have to be just systems. It can be processes too, right? We’ve done things just on just processes rolling out and looking at that. So that would be a place of doing workshops, going in with the leadership team or, you know, with a contact.
Joshua Kornitsky: So. So if an organization’s interested and we’ll share all of your contact info, um, they can reach out to you and you can come in and I’m going to use a word that may make you cringe, but even generically to discuss either change management or process planning or mapping so that you’re able to help them at a very high level to understand it. And then if they’re interested, I’m sure you can work more detailed delivery.
Anne Kimsey: We can do that. The other thing is like that diagnostic kind of going into their scoping that on understanding those diagnostics to say, I, I want to everybody likes to charge for everything like every hour of time. I’m kind of the person of like, I really want to come in and help you. And I really want to understand is like, is it a right relationship between the two of us? So if it means spending lots of hours together to figure it out, I am okay with doing that because I want to make sure it’s a right fit for both of us. And if it makes sense.
Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and it certainly sounds like you’re going to tailor whatever you’re going to do to what their needs are, not a one size fits all. But but the other piece that because you’re talking about a size wise this this 50 to 500 a group that I spend a lot of time with, um, I want to remind anybody here in this that that we that there was old but established understanding that an shared of 40 to 60% of the transformational budgets get wasted. If a portion of that went into preplanning the transition, you would still come out ahead based on the average loss for the transition. And I want to share that ahead of time, because I, I wouldn’t ask you what you charge because it’s going to be deeply, deeply differing depending on the organization. But if you’re wondering how anyone hearing this is wondering how they would pay for it, it’s built in, right, that the the savings alone is going to more than cover whatever the cost is, and they’re still going to come out ahead in all likelihood.
Anne Kimsey: Yeah.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, I can’t think of a reason that it wouldn’t make sense, other than. We’ll figure it out.
Anne Kimsey: Exactly.
Joshua Kornitsky: And and if that’s your mindset, you know, the the reality is, as a business owner, that will work for you to a point. The question is, is can you afford for it not to work for you when it’s the most critical processes or systems in your business?
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. Yeah. Let’s avoid those migraine headaches.
Joshua Kornitsky: Right. And and and would you rather be right or would you rather have the transition work?
Anne Kimsey: Exactly. So I appreciate that.
Joshua Kornitsky: Um, what’s the best way for people to get in touch with you? As I said, we’ll publish all your links, but a website, phone, mail, phone or email that you share.
Anne Kimsey: Yeah. So email is an at newpath. Com obviously you can find me on LinkedIn. So Anne Kimsey out there and message me there. Um, are the best ways to get in touch with me.
Joshua Kornitsky: And it certainly sounds like you’re willing to chat with folks to, to help them better understand their needs.
Anne Kimsey: I love it. I think gets me more excited.
Joshua Kornitsky: I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this, because I can see a place with some of the folks I work with, uh, that that perhaps they can get on board with you early. Yeah. Uh, and, and I also can, can say that to any businesses that are listening to this, that the phone call is not going to hurt you. Um, really, all you’re going to do is gain. Yeah. So at the very least, you’re going to gain knowledge, because I can tell you, I wrote three things down I’m going to ask him about.
Anne Kimsey: So thank.
Joshua Kornitsky: You. Um, thank you again for joining us. My guest today is Ann Kinsey. Kinsey. Pardon me. I got a screw up at least one name a week. And Kimsey, founder and CEO of Newpath points and works with organizations navigating meaningful change, particularly where technology process and people intersect. Her work focuses on helping leaders think through what change actually looks like once it reaches the people doing the work. It’s been really interesting, really insightful. I appreciate your time today.
Anne Kimsey: Thank you so much. Thanks for.
Joshua Kornitsky: Having me. My pleasure. And I do want to remind everybody that today’s episode is 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, please go to Mainstreet Warriors. And a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors. Diesel. David. Ink. Please go check them out at diesel. David. Comm. Well, we’ve reached the end of another wonderful episode. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am your host. As well as being a professional implementer of the iOS operating system, and it’s been a joy to have you. We look forward to seeing you next time.

BRX Pro Tip: Big vs Trusted Network

February 4, 2026 by angishields

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Big vs Trusted Network
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Big vs Trusted Network

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, some approaches, some thinking around building that big network.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think a lot of people think it’s just a matter of I got to get the biggest network possible, and I’m just going to collect business cards. I’m just collecting, you know, followers on social media or LinkedIn and connections on LinkedIn. And that’s fine.

Lee Kantor: But what you really need, especially if you’re in professional services at any level, you need a trusted network. You don’t need the biggest network. You need a network of people that trust you and you trust them – a small circle of people who you know, who believe in your work, who will say your name in the right rooms. That’s going to outperform a giant list of kind of superficial contacts every single time.

Lee Kantor: Measure your network by depth, not with who will answer your call. Who’s going to give you honest feedback? Who’s going to make that thoughtful introduction when it matters most?

Lee Kantor: You know, try this with the network you have. Go deep with a short list. Go through your network and pick a small subset of people and invest heavily in them. Lead with value. Don’t lead with an ask.

Lee Kantor: Trust is going to accelerate when you’re useful, before you are needy. And then follow up like a professional. Most people drop the ball after the first meeting. Trust grows in the follow-up, so just kind of make sure you follow up relentlessly and let people know that you’re available. Provide value and serve before asking.

Lee Kantor: And just try it as an experiment. Just go through your network, find that short list of people, and double down on a handful of them and see where that goes.

From Networking Anxiety to Relationship Mastery: Transforming Your Business Approach

February 4, 2026 by angishields

SIP-Mike-Brunnick-Feature
Scaling in Public
From Networking Anxiety to Relationship Mastery: Transforming Your Business Approach
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

In this episode of Scaling in Public, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton are joined by coach Mike Brunnick to discuss strategies for scaling Business RadioX® by partnering with coaching organizations and certifying agencies. They emphasize refining their ideal client profile—service-oriented coaches, consultants, and executives seeking authority and meaningful connections. The conversation explores overcoming traditional networking challenges, leveraging in-studio experiences, and experimenting with hybrid and roadshow models for expansion. The episode highlights the importance of clear messaging, authentic relationship-building, and value alignment in growing a business network.

Mike-BrunnickWith over 35 years of leadership experience, Mike Brunnick has led teams in the military, government, nonprofit, and private sectors. In his 25 years in the B2B technology space, Mike led global teams in the fields of training, services, products, sales, and customer success.

As such, he has a unique perspective on how the parts of a go-to-market (GTM) team work together, and how they impact the customer experience.

As a sales trainer and Focal Point certified business coach, Mike helps his clients get themselves, their businesses, and their revenue “unstuck”. He specializes in teaching leaders how to set and achieve goals.

Mike has a BS from Holy Cross and has earned a Bronze Star with Combat “V” for valor as a Platoon Leader in the Marines during Operation Desert Storm.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

  • Strategies for scaling Business RadioX® networks
  • Building relationships with coaching organizations and certifying agencies
  • Defining and refining the ideal client profile
  • Importance of value alignment with clients
  • Tactical steps for business growth and relationship building
  • Challenges of traditional networking versus creating a platform for engagement
  • The significance of emotional connection in business interactions
  • Exploring hybrid approaches to replicate in-person experiences virtually
  • Articulating customer problems effectively to attract ideal clients
  • Continuous learning and collaboration in business growth strategies

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from our flagship studio in Atlanta, Georgia. This is scaling in public. The next 100 Business RadioX markets, featuring founders Lee Kantor and Stone Payton, along with some of America’s top coaches, helping them grow the network with real strategy, real lessons, and real accountability all shared in public. To learn more about the proven system that turns podcast interviews into a perpetual prospecting pipeline through generosity, not gimmicks, go to Burks Intercom and download the free Business RadioX playbook. Now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Scaling in Public. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast this session’s coach, Mike Brunnick. Good afternoon sir.

Mike Brunnick: Hi Stone. Good afternoon to you. Hi, Lee.

Lee Kantor: Hey. Excited to be talking to you.

Mike Brunnick: I am delighted to be here today. Thank you all for inviting me to participate in this, uh, this exercise that we’re doing. This is, uh, this is going to be fun. All right, you want to just jump right in?

Stone Payton: Absolutely.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, absolutely. I got the ball here. Um, so, uh, I know that you had a great session with my dear friend Maggie last week, and I think there was a couple of things that you committed to do. One action each, uh, that you were going to take as a result of, uh, of your time with Maggie last week. And I’ll start with you, Stone. Do you remember what it was that you, uh, committed to do after last week’s session?

Stone Payton: Well, I feel like Lee and I both walked away with this idea that we’re going to scale much more powerfully, much more efficiently. If we can work with systems organizations that have our ideal client profile there within their domain, that we can serve with this thing of ours. And so the overarching walk away, um, activity set of actions is around getting very, um, tactical around how do we build those relationships with those systems ourselves? You know, eat a little bit of our own cooking and, and, and then what can we do to persuade them and sent them to take a swing at this thing and team up with us so that we can help them help their people. And so as a as a tactical subset of that, one of the things I’ve been putting a great deal of thought into is what can we do to to lower the perceived risk or fear or whatever the right word is so that they really do want to, you know, they want to take a shot with us. So that’s that’s where my head has, has been. Uh, what about you, Lee?

Lee Kantor: Uh, the main insight I took from the conversation with Maggie was how to to to have Business RadioX be a recommended add on, um, for any new coach in a system, uh, like when they join, like, similar. I think we discussed that on how SiriusXM is included into a purchase of a new car, how they can experience the value that Business RadioX delivers during their launch. Um, you know, when they get started, uh, at a new whatever coaching group they’re with or if it’s a certifying agency, if if it’s one of those platforms, whatever it is, if we can include they get, uh, some Business RadioX at the start as they launch. She said I think the quote she said is, I wish that I knew about this when I started, and that really resonated with us. And we said, okay, how do we make that happen? And I think that to your point, that’s what we’ve been really trying to, um, kind of put into play, like how can we persuade a coaching organization to embed Business RadioX as just part of their launch?

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, that’s that’s great. And so it sounded like you, uh, you left, uh, last session with Maggie with some great things to to think about. Uh, were there any actions that you guys, uh, committed to take or that you feel like you should take? Um, obviously thinking about something is is really important, but, uh, what what comes after that? What’s the what’s do you think the the action is that, uh, manifest that into the world.

Lee Kantor: Um, an action that I took upon leaving that conversation was to put together kind of a strategic action plan in order to execute, to your point. And, um, I gave it a lot of thought and, uh, and Stone and I talked about this a lot on how. Okay, so now what do we have to do to make that happen? So we can identify different coaching organizations? And what our superpower is, is that we, um, have this tool at our disposal that allows us to meet and build relationships with coaches. So we felt that we should deploy that. And then, um, our strategy moving forward is going to be okay. Let’s identify some coaches in organizations and see if we can build a relationship with them. That’s strong enough that they can champion our offering to the coaching organization that they are aligned with. And if we can do that, that we feel gives us the best chance to get buy in from the organization because one of their people that is trusted will have experienced it and got a positive result, and then they would they would be that much more inclined to at least pilot the program. So the action that has been taken so far is to kind of go through that process and identify different organizations, and then we have a plan to start meeting some of the coaches within them, so we can find that champion so that we can move forward and get a pilot going. But we have not done that part yet, but we have the steps leading up to it. Stone.

Stone Payton: Uh, yeah. Except we have sort of kind of done that part. I’m a sales guy, Mike. So the first thing I did was, uh, get on the phone with Maggie and say, let’s talk this through some. You suggested that you wish you had had this when you began. We may have a unique opportunity here in your market to kind of help you get a jump start on exactly what we’re talking about. So the most tactical, practical thing I did before I shot off across the pond for a couple of weeks to play was set up that call. So, so so I made it real real for me.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. That’s great. Um, and we can make some progress on that today. Um, you know, one of the, uh, one of the first things we do after identifying the ideal customer profile, uh, is sit down and do a brainstorming session on, uh, so now that we know what that person looks like, uh, where do I find them? Uh, if you’re, uh, if you’re looking for something, you’re looking for the, I don’t know, the elusive booby bird or whatever it is you got to say. Where do they go? Well, they live in banana trees. I’m going to go find a banana tree. So, um, you guys worked with Todd a couple of sessions ago to define your ideal customer profile. You started some some work last week with Maggie talking about some different ways that you could meet people that match that profile. Uh, what are some other places or what are some of the organizations that you guys were just talking about, that idea of getting into an organization. What are some of those organizations that you could go to and, uh, try to have it included, like SiriusXM?

Lee Kantor: Um, well, some of them are obviously the coaching organizations, the different coaching franchises that are out there. The others are the certifying agencies that certify coaches in a in a variety of specialties. So those were kind of the low hanging fruit for us was, um, existing coaching organizations that are are already have a pile of coaches within them and certifying agencies that, uh, work on certifying coaches in a variety of specialties.

Mike Brunnick: Right on. What else? What else? Stone. What are some other places we could get to your ideal client? Where do they? Where’s their banana tree? Where do they hang out?

Stone Payton: Well, that is something I really haven’t thought about. As much as it sounds to me like I should have, I think. I think we may have a more expanded, uh, definition of coaches in that anyone who is providing specialized expertise and knowledge in a specific domain. So to me that extends to the, uh, the, the, the outfits that certify and educate the, um, the, the, uh, the fractional exec, the fractional CFO, the fractional VP of sales, the people who certify and educate the, um, what was what was the the other group lead? The, um, well, I’m drawing a blank right now, but the anyone who is actually doing some sort of consulting coaching, maybe in the financial services arena, if they’re if they’re bringing specialized expertise and experience to a specific domain and they feel like they need to get credentialed, or they do need to get credentialed to be successful in the marketplace, we’d like to work with those credentialing organizations so that the challenge so many of those people have, as as I’m sure you can imagine, is just, um, is is access.

Stone Payton: You know, the more we refine our ideal client, I don’t think it’s that person that’s looking for the next, you know, Jim Jamie lead generator thingy or even the next, uh, coffee conversation. I think what they’re looking for is access and authority with, uh, people that are next at the next level, you know, they’re looking to punch a little bit above their weight or, or to at least get to, to fight in a class that they feel like they belong, you know, so a little more of a strategic I think we’re refining our, our picture of this person as someone who’s who has a more strategic yearning, and they don’t want to play down here at this level anymore, and they don’t know how. They can’t get the lunch. They can’t get the meeting. They can’t get the coffee. They can’t get that immediate, that initial substantive conversation with the person that they really want to work with. And so they’re going to networking meetings and all, you know, they’re doing all that jazz. Is that accurate, do you think?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that, um, as we go through these different coaching sessions, it’s really helped us refine who that person is. Maybe, um, you know, a few weeks ago, we would have thought that ideal person is someone that just wants a more elegant way to network. And now I think that if we if push came to shove, if we had to choose between somebody who wants an easier time networking versus somebody who wants to, um, get get a meeting with somebody who isn’t returning their call, that person is a better fit for us, rather than just somebody who’s looking for a more transactional. Oh, this is the latest, easiest way to network or, um, you know it. I think that person is looks at what we do to Transactionally and the person who, like Stone says, wants to punch at a higher weight class. They view our solution as more strategic and that is a better fit for us.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, that and that’s fantastic progress. Uh, and I hope you’ll take a moment and celebrate, uh, that progress, because it really is um, I’ve had the opportunity to, to lead sales organizations, uh, at about six different spots. Uh, in my, in my life, I’ve got experience in government and nonprofit and startups and big companies like Hewlett Packard. And, uh, I’ve been around a little bit, um, and I don’t think I’ve ever been at a place where they felt like they spent too much time thinking about their ideal client. Uh, it is a valuable exercise that when people get done with they say, well, that was worth it. Well, we should have done that earlier. Maybe, but but I don’t I don’t regret how much time I spent on it. So so kudos to you both for, for doing all of that sort of mental work. Um, and there’s always refinement to be done. Uh, and, and I’d love for you to be able to articulate pretty quickly what those, uh, those elements are that really make up your ideal client. You’ve got sort of a, an occupational, uh, set of criteria. Right? Somebody that’s in professional services, they’re a coach or a fractional exec or all those things. It sounded from your conversation with Maggie that you also had a set of, uh, what I’ll call value based criteria. Uh, the people that you want to do business with are the people who think like you do, people who approach the world in a certain way. Uh, did I did I hear that right?

Lee Kantor: Well, it good, sir.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s accurate for me. Maybe even more accurate is that they feel like I do. And maybe the ideal combination is they they feel like I do in terms of they want to genuinely serve. They want to support and celebrate other people doing great work. I would actually enjoy if they think a little differently, like if they feel that way, but they think about it differently and come at it through a different lens. But yeah, this, uh, this looking for people with, uh, what I would consider, what I would characterize as a consistent a value system that is consistent with ours. Absolutely. That that also is an eye opening exercise and realization for me in our time with Maggie.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I heard that your system, uh, really works, and you guys truly believe the passion just bleeds through when you guys talk about your system. Um, but you’re also really clear that it has to be somebody who’s not transactional, Somebody who’s not saying, hey, you know, I want to interview so that you can become a client of mine, right? I think, um, I think you said last week, Stone that, uh, it, uh, this this process lets you be nice, I think, is the way you described it. Yeah. Um, and, Lee, you talked about somebody with a with a heart of service, um, which is really, uh, just beautiful to say. Um, so when we talk about where do these people hang out, how do I find them? It’s not just a place, right? You could go to a a conference with a bunch of coaches that got certified by the same agency or an industry event, and you could meet 20 of these people. Um, but if you’ve got a clear idea in your mind, not just their occupational situation, but how do I suss out the value? How do I know that these people are truly going to be successful, uh, if they became a Business RadioX partner. So what are some of the ways you think you could suss out whether or not this is going to work for them? Not just because it’s important to you, but because they really need that heart of service to work.

Lee Kantor: Stone, you want to take this?

Stone Payton: Uh, yeah. And I am shooting in the dark a little bit, so this is incredibly valuable for me.

Mike Brunnick: So it’s a hard question.

Stone Payton: Uh, it is a hard question, but it does have my wheels turning a little bit. And I think maybe one of the things to look for. I don’t quite know how to pull it off, but if we could identify people in a community that are already walking, talking, thinking a little bit like what we’re talking like, you can see that. And maybe they’re not the most popular person or in the in the community or the or the most widely recognized, but maybe they are the ones that are clearly over and over investing in other people. Um, first and foremost, working on other people’s problems. Um, if we can find that person and like you. To your point, I guess they could be in any organization just about. If they’re. But if we can see evidence of them leaning in and supporting other people, that’s the right mindset, that’s the right value system. And then and then if you if you layer that on top of and oh, by the way, I’ve got this business and I need to be playing at a higher level.

Lee Kantor: Um, yeah, I think, I mean, we used to call it the, the social mayor of the community, the person who, you know, um, they, they know everybody, but it’s really the person who aspires to be the social mayor. Like, we help a person become the person everybody wants to know, instead of the person who’s out there trying to meet everybody. You know, there’s a difference there. Yeah, yeah. When our when our person goes into, um, a networking or any type of group, they’re not saying, hey, uh, this is what I do. What do you do? They’re saying, hey, I host this show. Do you know anybody that’s interesting I should interview. And when they go and approach those kind of relationships with that kind of statement, people are just more open to wanting to talk to them and to give them names of people and to introduce them to people, because it’s it comes with that heart of service. They’re trying to help promote someone else. They’re not even mentioning what they do.

Mike Brunnick: And I think that’s I think that’s a pretty a pretty solid answer right there. Um, you know, Maggie’s idea of getting with some of these networks or these organizations is a beautiful idea. Um, and now you’ve got to decide. All right, what do I do once I get in the door? Um, who is it I’m looking for and how do I find them. So that’s a that’s an important piece of it that you just named. I also heard something last week, and I was listening to the recording of your session with Maggie, and I wanted to read it back to you and see if you heard it and if I, if I’m perceiving that rightly. Um, but, Lee, you said that, you know, you got into this, this business that you’re in this, this, uh, thing that you do, uh, because you’re an introvert, uh, and because you didn’t want to be out trying to sell, uh, you liked the idea of people coming in in an intimate setting, having a conversation that felt really personal. Uh, and then seeing if that was a good way to to have business develop from there. Did I did I hear that right, that that you sort of got into this because it matched the way that you wanted to approach your business?

Lee Kantor: Right. So I, I did all the stuff that most people do. I joined, like, um, in Atlanta, there was a group called Power Corps that was, um, formed by somebody who was a former BNI person. So they spun off their own BNI type, you know, closed networking. And I was with them for many years, and I worked my way up. I up to a leadership position. I was a coach. I was doing all the stuff that you do when you’re a member of those groups. But as an introvert, I would create a lot of anxiety for me. And it was a lot of stress. You know, doing a seven minute presentation was stressful for me, and I was always like, there has to be another way to do this that is just more suited for the way that I like to do things. So when I created Business RadioX, that allowed me to change my positioning as I was there at the time, I was a copywriter, so I was writing advertising copy. So then I became the host of Atlanta Business Radio And then I partnered with somebody that was more of an extrovert who liked to network, and I convinced her to go to all these things.

Lee Kantor: But instead of saying that she’s Amy with Aflac, she was Amy, the co-host of Atlanta Business Radio. So she would bring in a bunch of people into the studio every week. Three people have three different businesses. Um, and then we would interview them. And at the end, a lot of these business people were like, wow, that was fantastic. How do I get a show like Amy? And then they’d ask me, and then I would sell them a show. And I liked that a lot better because now these people were coming to me. I wasn’t asking anybody for anything. I was just being the producer and co-host of the show. Amy was building her network and meeting people for her that was helping her grow her, um, Aflac business. So it was a win for her. And then some of those people ended up being hosts of shows. I mean, that’s how I met Stone. Stone was a guest because Amy invited her. Him because he had just written a book. I mean, everybody I knew came through the studio. I didn’t have to leave the studio. And I was meeting hundreds of people a year just by doing what I was doing.

Mike Brunnick: So what I love about that is that you found, if I can say it, a solution to a problem. The problem was, was that you knew that you needed to to network. You knew that you needed to meet people. But the traditional way of networking didn’t work for you, didn’t make you happy, or you weren’t successful at it because, uh, you know, you know, just weren’t in the right place. Um, and go ahead, please.

Stone Payton: I’m just going to say, clearly, I’m not an introvert at all. What I discovered, uh, which the interview that I did around the book with Lee and Amy was so different from all the other interview experiences I had. I saw something there, and what I’ve come to realize now is what I what I saw. There was a way to replicate a luxury that I had had almost my entire career leading up to that. I was in the training and consulting arena, but I stepped in at 26 years old into my uncle’s company, and I already had the access and the authority that they had spent the previous 20 years building. So I was already playing in the big leagues without having to do all that other, you know, that networking BNI type stuff. And so I when I met Lee and saw, I couldn’t figure out how he was making money at first, but once he described how he’s helping people and making money, I said, this is it. This is this is how I can, um, enjoy the, the, the same sense and authority and, um, and, um, and the positioning that I want in the marketing place by being the guy who has the show or ultimately the the studio I can serve, I can build those relationships. I can have those substantive conversations far more quickly. And so it’s interesting to me that a that almost an extreme introvert and fairly extroverted guy, uh, found a way both of us to capitalize on this platform and this methodology.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. And that’s, that’s a that’s a great origin story. And as I said, what’s fun about it is it was the solution to a problem.

Stone Payton: Amen.

Mike Brunnick: So one of the building blocks, uh, and stone, you’ve done sales for a long time. Um, but one of the building blocks for a good sales program or good sales and marketing process is, as you’ve done already, define your ideal customer and then decide where those people hang out. And as Maggie worked with you on, can you articulate the The value of your solution. Uh, but one of the other key building blocks is can you articulate the problem that your product solves? Right. You’re selling calamine lotion, and it says right on the outside of it that it’s good for poison ivy and poison oak and poison sumac, but it’s not for sunburn, right? It it tells you what problem it solves. Uh, if you’re designing, uh, a utility truck, you have an idea that you got people that want to be able to move, you know, trash cans, but not lumber. Uh, they want to be able to move, uh, you know, eight kids home from a soccer practice, but not 15, right? So you’re deciding what problems your product solves. Uh, and so I would love to see if y’all can articulate what problems you’d be solving for someone who we talked about the ideal customer who’s in the right sort of occupation. They had the right aspirations and they had the right values. So I got that person. Now, what problems is that person having? Stone, you want to try that first?

Stone Payton: Yeah. And I’m going to go from what I saw when I was fired from that first dream job in the consulting arena. I share it with you, and rightly so, by the way. Uh, and when I went out on my old on my own, it was a little chilly out there, but I still had the benefit of some of that background and experience. Uh, and then that kind of got into the business of helping other people who were selling training and consulting. And what I found there, they by default or by necessity, they were playing what I call small ball like they were. They were getting like small training, consulting gigs, low fees, speaking engagements, all of that. And um, and they weren’t, they weren’t even they weren’t in the room. They weren’t at the table with people and organizations that could really use their services and could pay them handsomely and would happily do so over and over again. They weren’t even getting to they weren’t getting to swim at that end of the pool. Uh, and just a few of the things that I shared with them back in those days from my days in the big leagues, were was helpful enough that I could make a comfortable living. Uh, so some so more directly, those problems, I think a lot of people who have a great deal to offer in the professional services arena are not having genuinely substantive conversations and real relationships, predictably and fast enough with the vice president of blah, blah blah, or the senior director of the people who can make that decision and who feel a lot of the pain and bear a lot of the responsibility, uh, for for failure to meet objectives in that domain in their organizations.

Stone Payton: They’re never getting they’re never getting the chance. They’re not even getting an at bat. You know, they’re down here in the lower levels. And there are a few things that I was able to share with people years and years ago. But, um, that’s a problem. If that’s a problem, and I believe that it is, without a doubt, 100% incontrovertibly, I will tell you this thing will solve it. Um, so I if I’m right about the problem, this is the solution. Um, I just got to get a lot better at succinctly articulating that problem. But I’ve seen that is a rampant virus in the in the more common core ranks of trainers, consultants, speakers, fractional execs, consultants that most of them are living, you know, a $35,000 a year, just $70,000 a year income work their butt off nightmare thinking that, you know, trying to achieve some escape velocity and getting to, you know, they’re looking for their break, if you will. Yeah, I think maybe still.

Mike Brunnick: I think that’s great. So that’s sort of a problem. Set number one. Um, and in some respects it echoes a little bit of what you the problem you solved, uh, you met with Lee and his, uh, his partner, and you thought, wait a minute. This might be able to solve my problem.

Stone Payton: Yes, yes.

Mike Brunnick: But, Lee. Lee, I’ll turn to you because you started this to solve your problem. Um, can you, um, can you think of your problem in respect to now your ideal client profile?

Lee Kantor: Right. So I was I was trying, um, to meet people. I wanted people to meet me. Let’s put it that way. I didn’t want to meet people. And and that’s a I mean, that’s I don’t know. Maybe it’s obnoxious, but that’s how I felt that, um, I’m worth meeting. And, um, how do I get people to come to me instead of me going to them? And so that’s how I was looking at it. So how do I build a machine that has people entering my office sit around my table thanking me to allow them to come here and talk to me? And that’s what I built. And that and that’s Stone alluded to it earlier. People are fighting for a seat at the table. That’s I mean, in their head. They think that’s all they need. If they can unlock a seat at a table, then it’s game on. Now I’m going to take over the world. In my mind, I’m like, I want to own the table and invite people to it. And I prefer that positioning and I prefer doing it that way. You know, I don’t I want to be the place I’m going to solve the problem. For the person that is frustrated that no one’s returning their call, but they’ll show up on your show. They might not return your call they don’t want. They’re not really right now. Interested in a demo or have a coffee or have lunch. But if you invite them on a show to tell their story, what what makes them special, they’ll come to you and they’ll sit there for half an hour and you’ll talk to them. You’ll meet them, you’ll build a rapport with them. You’ll build a relationship with them. Then I believe if you do that 100 times a year, a bunch of them are going to then have maybe listen to your demo, and then they’ll have coffee with you or lunch or beer with you. So if you do it in my order, I find you. You’re going to have a better success to get to the conversation you wanted to have, but you’re doing it prematurely.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. So that that’s exactly problem set number two. Right. So what problem might your ideal customer be having? Stone, you’ve talked about the fact that they want to play at a higher level. They want to reach that escape velocity. Uh, Lee, I think, you know, we can get to a place where you can articulate the problem that you solved for yourself is exactly the problem that this, uh, this model that you’re offering to people solves for them. You’re looking in a room of, uh, coaches or consultants and saying, oh, about 75% of these guys love going out and putting their plaid jacket on and slapping people on the back and shaking hands and being the president of their local BNI. But there’s another group of them in here that, uh, want to develop their business. They want to be successful, they want to have great conversations. They want to serve people, but they’re not comfortable trying to get people to call them back. They’re not comfortable doing all this networking. And so your solution may well be solving a problem for them that is identical to the problem that it solved for you. Uh, it would be attractive for them for all the reasons that it was attractive for you. Does that make sense?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, absolutely.

Stone Payton: It does to me. And it makes sense to me that it would be attractive for the organization that sold them the franchise or trained them or credentialed them if they if if they were somehow involved in them accessing this solution to me, that that mothership organization, everybody in the equation wins. It seems like to me, if we can pull this off.

Mike Brunnick: Well, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. So, um, uh, when I used to teach sales training classes, uh, and sometimes now when I teach new, new coaches, how to go through the sales process? Um, I, I try to simplify it as much as I can by saying, look, you’ve got two jobs in a sales cycle. The first one is to get the person to tell you their problem, do good discovery, ask good questions, find out what it is they want. Where are they? Where would they like to be? Uh, so you’re identifying problems, and then your next job is to describe the solution. I sell a widget, and the widget fits into this shape hole. Uh, I sell a roof rack that goes on top of a car. So I’m looking for people that don’t have enough space inside the car. Uh, so you describe your solution, and then you and that other person get to decide, is there a match between the problem you’re having and the the solution that, uh, that you’ve got. Right. So they’ve got a problem, you’ve got a solution. And if they match, Uh, it’s a pretty easy conversation. You’re not selling anything. Uh, and if it doesn’t match.

Lee Kantor: That’s that’s exactly how we see things also. And the first part that you described, part one that just happens during the interview.

Mike Brunnick: Right.

Lee Kantor: That what our system is different than what you’re saying is that this isn’t one long, continuous conversation. We’re just breaking it up into chunks. Your part one happens during the interview. Part two might happen a few days later. Later after, you know, immediately after the interview, a week later, whatever. But it’s going to happen again because they’re going to be open to hearing that instead of somebody just forcing all all three of those aspects in one conversation.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. And I think that’s exactly right. Um, if you think about trying to find your next 90 studio partners, Uh, you know, one of the ways to get there is to get some number of folks in as guests on the platform. Uh, and in addition to that, uh, I guess the question is we talked about going out to some of these groups when you go out to those groups. Uh, are you ready to succinctly articulate the business problem? Um, and it sounds like you are. You guys have described it to me, uh, maybe a bit longer than you’d want to, uh, in, uh, in something that you’ve got a background in, uh, in copywriting. So, you know that, uh, you sit down to write a, an advertising tagline or a slogan or a, you know, is the IRS chasing you for your debt? You know, call me. You know, you got to tell people what problem you’re solving and, uh, and tell them how you can help them. Uh, so, um, does that, does that feel like, um, uh, a worthy exercise to, to really sit down and say, can I say that clearer? Can I say that shorter? Can I say that in a way that everybody I meet knows exactly what problems I solve? Does that sound like a worthy exercise? Does it sound?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, absolutely.

Mike Brunnick: I mean.

Lee Kantor: We have to get our language better and more clear. Number one, that’s so important. We really have to make sure that we’re coming up with something compelling that is going to get a person to say, you know, where have you been all my life? Um, that we have to get better at that. And also I would love because, I mean, we do. Owning a network like this gives us a lot of opportunity to we can interview whoever we want. Like tomorrow, like you mentioned. Like, if we wanted to meet firemen, we can make a firemen show tomorrow and start inviting firemen on the show.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: And in a short period of time, we would meet dozens of firemen. That that has never been a challenge for us. The challenge has been in our specific situation is how do we turn those people into a sales conversation? So we have to do a better job of once we meet them. Because, I mean, we’ve interviewed coaches for years and we have a database of thousands of coaches. So how do we move some of those coaches and open their mind to the possibility of how they might benefit from our offering? So how do we how do we meet a coach and then, um, incent them to either want to learn more about us specifically and or in, um, introduce us to somebody they might be coaching that might benefit from, from what we offer, you know, how do we make every coaching conversation and a business opportunity for us? We have not done a great job from from that standpoint.

Mike Brunnick: Got it. Stone.

Stone Payton: Amen. We have not we have absolutely not done done a good job with that. It’s um, it’s it’s a little bit of, um, we’re a little bit spoiled because in any given local market, I can sort of like here I have there’s a studio a mile down the road. I’m at the house right now with this fake background thing, but a mile down the road is a real studio, and I can invite people around the community, and I can cast a wide net and have the mayor and the fire chief, but also the fractional exec and the consultant and the coach and everybody. And I can just sort of cherry pick the ones I really want to have a substantive conversation with and then build out that studio to be incredibly successful. We have not, to date translated that well baked, extremely efficient thing that works. It always works. It never doesn’t work in any given local market. Lee and I haven’t translated that into the machine that works as a mothership, trying to get more people to consider doing that around the country that we have. There’s a gap there for sure.

Mike Brunnick: Right? Uh, so does it feel, uh, natural? Right. Because you want this to be part of a natural conversation. You said on a couple of occasions you don’t want this to feel transactional. Um, so I’m genuinely asking if it feels natural within your, your value set and the mood you’re trying to set to ask guests, past guests, current guests, uh, who do you know that is trying to take their business to the next level, but would rather people come to them than having to go out into the world and go to them? Do you know anybody that finds that that is in that situation, that is trying to grow their business or trying to get to the next level, but doesn’t want to spend all of their days out, you know, shaking hands and asking people for business. Uh, would rather have a platform that would come to them. Does that feel like a natural question to ask? Uh, your current and potentially past guests that you have.

Stone Payton: It does to me because, again, all of those people we’ve had some interaction with, they are the people who will take our call if if we got a divorce and I sold office furniture tomorrow, they would all take my call and have a conversation with me about selling office furniture. And even if the ones that couldn’t buy the office furniture because they’re their in-law sells office furniture, they’d still try to help me sell office furniture. So yeah, it feels perfectly organic and natural. It’s one of the luxuries of being in this, in this business I absolutely feels natural.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. Lee. You agree?

Lee Kantor: Uh, for me, it doesn’t feel as natural. It feels the person that the challenge that I see, especially if we do this virtually in other markets when it happens in the studio. To me, why it works in a studio is it’s a visceral experience where face to face, we’re shaking hands, you know, at the end we take a picture, we’re all together. We have this shared emotional experience when it’s virtual, just the separation, uh, being on camera, it’s easy for the person to just be ready to move on to their next thing. Uh, you know, where they’re there. We don’t have their undivided attention. Right in the studio. We have their undivided attention. Um, so virtually, it’s harder for them to get the feeling that you feel in the studio. It’s hard to replicate that virtually. We haven’t figured out how to replicate that virtually. Um, and because of that, they’re coming in onto onto a zoom call with the expectation of, I’m going to be interviewed and I’m going to be gone. They’re not under the expectation of, oh, this might be an opportunity for me to learn about a business that might help me, like they’re there to do a thing that they’ve been prepared to do, because they do this multiple times a week. Um, so they’re it’s a different emotionally. They’re in a different place, and mentally they’re in a different place. So for me, it’s more clunky to move them from that to, oh, by the way, we have this thing that you might benefit from learning more about.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. Um, but but you feel it would be more natural to have that conversation if they were, in fact, in the studio.

Lee Kantor: Right. But the thing is, that’s not helping me get somebody in another state to do this. So that’s why we have a, you know, ten people around the studio in different markets, in different suburbs of Atlanta, because they all came through a studio at some point, and they got to experience that firsthand. And that’s why they said, hey, that works in Atlanta. Maybe it’ll work out here in my suburb because they felt it. They they lived it in person. Um, it’s just more difficult to get somebody that is we meet virtually that never really kind of gets that, that feeling that you get, um, when you get the feeling in person, they connect the dots a lot faster. They’re like, wow, if I had this and I can bring people here, that’s I can see how that would be helpful. Where if we’re all virtual, it’s like, what’s that thing you say, Stone? It’s like you’re going out on a rowboat trying to sell outboard motors, you know, like, you know, trust me, this will be better. Um, but I’m not gonna. We’re not doing the thing that I’m telling you that you should do.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah. That’s, um. That’s. First of all, that’s a great analogy. Um, and I’m a I’m a big fan of analogies. Um, but, um, but, uh, second of all, I understand so is is one of the right questions to ask. And I know we’re getting a little long on time here, so maybe as a homework question is one of the right questions to ask. Um, sort of part A, is there a way to replicate that emotional, visceral experience, uh, remotely? Um, is it something that can only happen in person? So that’s sort of point A or question part A, question part B would be if the answer to part A is no, what are the ways that we could Go places and do an in-studio experience. Set up shop in a city and get folks to come in locally. Get them to feel that so that they would say, hey, you guys are only here for, you know, a couple of weeks doing a couple of radio shows in Cincinnati or north of Boston where I live. Um, and you guys are going to pack up your tent and get on the road again after that. Maybe I could, um, I could take over as the satellite here when you guys are gone. Um, so that’s sort of two questions. If there is no way I don’t know the answer. If there’s no way to replicate the emotional, visceral attachment that grows from an in-studio experience. Um, but but give that some thought. Uh, if there is no way, then part B is is there a way to then take that emotional experience on the road?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, we we’ve kind of struggled with this. So, um, we’ve done kind of road shows in, uh, where we showed up and we call it Radio Day, and we’ll, we’ll partner with, like, a chamber of commerce and they’ll invite ten, you know, business people, and we’ll sit there and just bang out a bunch of interviews. Um, so we’ve done that. We the hard part, for me at least, is that the person we’re looking to partner with is kind of a needle in a haystack, and it just that’s who we’re trying to identify. Um, so it just takes kind of it’s a numbers game, you know, you got to find the right person. And, you know, if we do, uh, one of these road shows and go to a city in another market that’s nearby and we show up and do ten interviews, we’re having to hope that one of those ten are going to be somebody that either is the right person or knows the right person, and we just haven’t had a lot of luck, um, in finding that. Um, but to your point of like, say, somebody like you, if we said, okay, Mike, um, let’s we’ll show you how to do this, you try it for a little bit that, I mean, that probably has a higher probability of success for us.

Mike Brunnick: Okay.

Lee Kantor: Um, I don’t know, Stone. What do you think?

Stone Payton: I don’t either, but I think we’re asking the right questions. Um, because doing the. I mean, if we got the math down and we knew that every time we did radio Day, we’d find somebody or every other time we did Radio Day or Radio Week or whatever.

Lee Kantor: We would travel, that would be a no brainer. We’d be.

Stone Payton: It would be a no brainer, especially at this point in our careers, because we can travel and stuff. Um, so that actually could be fun. So and it may not even be an either or, but also what you’re touching on Lee is if we can get the conversation to a certain point with someone who meets that profile and make it where you know they’re going to win no matter what. Right. If they are kind of coordinating, organizing, largely running Radio Day, you know, under the Business RadioX banner in a Boston, in a San Diego. And then we’re we’re supporting that with all of our technology and methodology and infrastructure and all brand equity and all that. Um, then, you know, maybe we don’t have to, you know, maybe we don’t have to bet on one day, you know, it might be three days. You know, like what? You may have a higher, uh, return, uh, opportunity for return. That’s an interesting.

Lee Kantor: Concept. I mean, we’re up for experimentation, so I mean this to me. I love that you’re doing this, and you’re really challenging us. And then, um, and these are important questions that we have to figure out in order to scale. I mean, these are the things that we have to be doing experiments in the areas that you’ve described. So thank you, um, for kind of pushing us in this direction. Thank you.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, yeah, I’m happy to. I, um, I love what you guys are doing. I love the model. Um, I love the, the the the values behind it. Um, it’s, uh, it’s really exciting, and I, I, um, I’m I’m dying to help you, uh, succeed here. Um, so, um. Yeah, I was I was pushing in part because, um, the way my brain works as a, as a former, uh, sales guy and sales leader, every time I hear somebody say, got a thing that they’re trying to get more people to take advantage of, especially if it’s a a thing I believe in, like I do with you. Um, my mind’s immediately thinking, ah, how do we solve this problem? Um, or how do I help you guys solve this problem? So I’m excited to have been here today to be, uh, you know, my little part in this, uh, this bucket brigade, um, you know, sales is a big topic, and it goes all the way from, you know, messaging to to marketing to, uh, you know, a numbers game to how do I handle objections and how do I build rapport and how do I ask good questions and all of the things that come along with it? It’s a it’s a big topic. So today we just got a chance to talk about some of those, those building blocks. Um, and the new one today was articulation of the customer’s business problem. So, uh, given all of that, um, you know, Stone, is there anything from today that you’re taking away that you think, ah, here’s my, uh, here’s my action item, here’s what I’m going to commit to do or think about. Uh, as a result of today’s session.

Stone Payton: So about three pages of chicken scratch here. I underlined and circled and starred this this word succinctly under succinctly articulate. I think we’ve got something to chew on, right? Uh, in terms of articulating the problem, that’s a that’s a different lens of view for me is getting really, uh, talking a lot more about the problem at this stage than the, than the solution. And so that was very helpful to me. And then more recently in the conversation, this idea of solving this, you know, rowboat motorboat challenge that we seem to have or that we perceive that that we have. And seeing if we can’t find that, um, that that alternative to just make that a simple, easy, organic. Well, yeah. Here’s how we go about developing a new market. We find we find a person, we give them the infrastructure, we give them the tools, we coach them on what to do. We’re right there with them. And in doing so, either they or someone they they connect us with, uh, or more than one someone is a viable candidate to have a more, um, a more substantive conversation with going forward. So incredibly valuable. So yes, lots of notes.

Mike Brunnick: Great. And Lee, how about you?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I’m with Stone on this. I think that we have to get better and tighten our messaging around the problem and the solution and the value. All of those things need to be super self-explanatory, and that the right person you know does respond with where you’ve been all my life. Um, and it’s less we they just have to kind of understand what we do because it’s not obvious. You know, when you look at what we do and, and how you experience it, it isn’t obvious how you can benefit from it. And maybe we have to make it more obvious, or at least kind of give them a quick way to understand why it could work for them. So that was a big takeaway for me. And to Stone’s point, you know, we just have to get better at giving people in different markets, the tools to do this and give them a way to taste it, you know. Uh, so they can try it on before they commit to anything. And this creates some win win way of making that happen, I think could, um, speed up our growth. But before we wrap up, I want to make sure that people know how to get Ahold of you. Can you share your website or the best way to connect with you?

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so, uh, my website is, is awfully easy because it’s, uh, it just starts with my name. Um, so I am, uh, Mike Brunnock, but my website is Mike brunnock.com. Uh, so, uh, if they’re looking for me, they can find me again at Mike Brunnock. That’s br unique.

Stone Payton: Well, Mike, it has been an absolute delight having you join us, giving us some, some counsel, some things that we are definitely going to take to heart and put some real time and energy in. Thank you so much for joining us, man.

Mike Brunnick: Yeah, it was it was my pleasure. And, uh, I really look forward to to seeing where you guys go next because I’m, uh, I’m now emotionally invested in the journey. So this was this was my pleasure. Pleasure, guys.

Stone Payton: Thank you man.

Speaker1: Thanks for listening to Scaling in Public the next Business RadioX 100 markets. Are you ready to enjoy a steady stream of discovery calls? And finally, stop being a best kept secret? It’s time to step out of the shadows and watch your coaching business grow. Let’s fill your calendar ten discovery calls in a month, guaranteed. Go to Birr to download the free Business RadioX playbook.

 

Navigating Career Transitions: How Franchise Coaching Can Change Your Life

February 3, 2026 by angishields

FMR-Jennifer-Jaciw-Feature
Franchise Marketing Radio
Navigating Career Transitions: How Franchise Coaching Can Change Your Life
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

In this episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, Stone Payton interviews Jennifer Jaciw, franchise coach at The Entrepreneur’s Source. Jennifer shares her personal journey through career transitions and explains how her organization helps professionals explore franchise ownership as a new path. She details their complimentary coaching process, which uses assessments to match clients with business opportunities that fit their goals and strengths. Jennifer emphasizes a supportive, non-sales approach, current trends in franchising, and the importance of lifestyle alignment.

Entrepreneurs-Source-logo

Jennifer-JaciwJen Jaciw (sounds like “Jasseff”) is a Career Ownership Coach, Consultant, Connector, and Speaker, dedicated to helping professionals take control of their futures.

With over 25 years of business management experience spanning Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Entrepreneurship, including owning a successful Silicon Valley transportation company — she empowers individuals to transition from traditional careers to fulfilling business ownership.

Beyond coaching, she’s spent the past 10 years mentoring small business owners, leading networking organizations, and advocating for domestic violence resources.

As a speaker, she brings authenticity, insight, and actionable strategies to topics like goal setting, career transitions, branding and marketing, and entrepreneurial success.

Website: https://jjaciw.esourcecoach.com/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjaciw/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaciwconsulting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjaciw/

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The role of The Entrepreneur’s Source in supporting career transitions.
  • Jennifer’s personal journey and experiences leading to her role as a franchise coach.
  • The complimentary coaching program offered by The Entrepreneur’s Source, including assessments to identify client strengths and goals.
  • The misconception of franchising as merely buying a job versus building a scalable business.
  • The ideal client profile for franchise coaching, focusing on corporate executives and senior professionals.
  • The importance of identifying transferable skills and aligning them with business opportunities.
  • The coaching process that allows clients to explore different business models without pressure.
  • Risk mitigation in franchising through established systems and branding.
  • Current trends in franchising, including recession-resilient business models and the integration of technology.
  • The emphasis on time freedom, flexibility, and sustainability in choosing a business model.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Franchise Marketing Radio Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with the entrepreneur source, Jennifer Jaciw. How are you?

Jennifer Jaciw: Well, thank you so much for having me back and for pronouncing my last name correctly.

Stone Payton: Well, uh, we are fortunate that we are welcoming you back to the Business RadioX microphone. And I think largely due to that and a little bit of background work, we, uh, we made sure that we pronounced it properly. We are so delighted to have you back with us. Um, but, you know, we we, uh, we had more questions, Jennifer. And and you did such a great job with us. Uh, last time, uh, before we dive into some of those, though, maybe, uh, it would be a good idea to to provide our, our audience with a little bit of an overview, some context. The entrepreneur source. Jennifer, how would you articulate mission purpose? What do you what do you guys out there trying to do for folks?

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah, that’s a great question. To start with, the entrepreneur Source is an organization that’s actually been around for 40 years, and not a whole lot of people have heard of us. Um, I think we’re gaining some notoriety through things, opportunities like this. But, uh, we have been helping people for a long time, and our mission is to help folks that are in some kind of transition, whether that be something they’re contemplating in the midst of, or have been forced into a career change of some sort, some kind of transition is going on in their lives and their professional lives. And so I work with corporate executives and professionals that have had successful careers, but they’re just not, um, satisfied doing what they’re doing anymore. They want more. And it could be like I said, something that they’ve chosen or something that it’s, you know, there’s a lot of layoffs going on. So that’s kind of how I ended up with the entrepreneur sources. I had experienced a couple layoffs myself.

Stone Payton: Well, yeah. Say more about that, if you would. Your backstory, how you landed here, because I’m operating under the impression that’s probably as much as anything else, really equipped you to truly identify with, empathize with, and be in a position to serve others when they’re in transition, like you describe?

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah, I think so. I think because I’ve lived it, um, you know, it’s easier for me to coach about it. I mean, I certainly went through a lot of training and continued to do so with this organization. One of the things that I love about them is they’re always innovating and they’re always providing continuing education for us. But, you know, I had owned my own business originally in Silicon Valley, California. I had it for 15 years, but it was something that I built from scratch with my husband. And, you know, that was a totally different experience. So and it was all I knew for business ownership was starting something from scratch and working out the bugs. And, you know, it took a long time for us to figure things out. So when I did reenter the workforce, when I moved from California to New Mexico, I took a year off and I said, okay, what next? I had made enough money in the sale to buy our home and take some time off with my husband, but I knew that I wasn’t ready to stop working. So I reentered the workforce. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be here in New Mexico. There just aren’t a lot of, um, upper management type opportunities here. And I came in very confident, you know, running my own business for 15 years and selling it to a national organization.

Jennifer Jaciw: But it didn’t matter. You know, it’s just that’s I live in a poor economy here. So I landed in a different industry, and I was laid off twice in two years. And I said, never again. So I looked at what else I could do with my transferable skills, and somebody approached me about introducing me to an entrepreneur source coach. And I said, well, I don’t know anything about them, but I’m open. You know, I didn’t really know what I wanted for my next chapter. It was a rather stressful time, as it is for anyone that’s been in that situation where they’ve been laid off. I met with my coach and I absolutely loved the process. I thought, um, you know, when she started mentioning franchises. I said the only thing I ever equated franchising to was French fries, and I knew that I didn’t want to own a McDonald’s. I didn’t, you know, I didn’t really know that there are lots of businesses that we see on our streets that are franchises, and I just didn’t know that. You don’t know what you don’t know. So she took me on this journey and she identified, you know, what kind of skills and strengths I could move into a different type of business and different business models that were available. And that’s kind of how I fell in love with this whole concept and this whole process, this coaching program that we offer.

Jennifer Jaciw: I asked her if she would present this business as an opportunity to me, and she did, along with two other businesses that were not related to coaching. And, you know, I got to meet with all three businesses as part of this experience. And one of the things I love about this coaching program is we create a safe space for people to do that, you know, to try on some new hats and see if something fits them a little bit better than what they’ve been wearing. And so I did I went through this process, and this really was the business that spoke to me the loudest. There were two driving forces that I discovered in my assessment work with her, and one of them was that I truly want to help others. I was put on this planet to help others in some regard, and this really gives me the opportunity to impact people’s lives every day in the work that I do. And the other was, I really needed a flexible business. You know, my folks are still in California. They’re both still alive, thankfully, but they’re both, uh, facing some pretty significant health challenges at this point. So I need to be able to get back and forth whenever it’s needed. And I’m able to do that with this business. So it really fulfilled the two things that I was most, uh, driven by.

Jennifer Jaciw: I am really grateful for that.

Stone Payton: You know, I’ve heard people over the years, uh, in one fashion or another, almost equate buying a franchise to, uh, to buying a job. But I don’t hear that in your tone. I don’t hear that in your description. That’s not the frame you put around it at all, is it?

Jennifer Jaciw: No, it’s not. And there are certainly franchises out there that can be replacing a job. You know, you’re you’re going to work the 9 to 5. You’re going to wear all the hats. Um, but I don’t look at it that way. I wanted something that I could build, I could scale with. While my clients don’t necessarily see it, I have a whole team behind me, not only on, uh, the virtual side. I have a virtual team of people that help me fill my calendar. So they reach out to folks through different platforms like LinkedIn and CareerBuilder and things like that. Um, but I also have a marketing team, and I have a technology team. I have a whole host of people. So I have scaled the business, and I love what I do, and I love that it’s not a job. You know, for me, I it’s really work that I’m truly interested in and I love participating in. But I get the time because I have all these other people in place to work on my business, not just in my business.

Stone Payton: You know, you touched on it earlier in the conversation, but I’d like to dive a little deeper if we could. On on the who. Right. Who is that person that really ought to have a conversation with with you? And who are you finding are, you know, these are the people I know that I can that I can really help that that the marketing people call it like ideal client, I guess, or candidate or something like that. Who is this person?

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah, I would say the bulk of my clients are corporate executives that have had really successful careers. They have those, uh, skills, you know, that can certainly transfer from running a business, you know, an organization where they’ve been in some kind of senior leadership role and have made those decisions. They’ve just been making them for other people. So those leaders that really shine, those professionals that are smart and capable and driven, but they want more control over their time or their income or their future or all of the above. You know, sometimes, like I said, they’ve been laid off and they’re just trying to figure things out. Um, a lot of people underestimate their transferable skills. They forget that leadership and problem solving and decision making are way more important than industry experience. In a lot of cases. Um, they also can over romanticize passion. A lot of people say they want to leave the corporate world and work on something that they’re super passionate about. Passion matters, but I think profitability systems and scalability matter more. So I think that’s really important. And, you know, thinking that they may have to do this all alone, uh, it can be very daunting. It was for my husband and I in that first business. We had a limo company, and we figured things out, you know, but it took longer. It took a lot longer to get things up and running and cash flow positive, because every dollar we made went back into reinvesting in the business. In the franchise world, you’ve already got a lot of systems in place, so you know you’re going to have that support, that built in support and community that you don’t have from a startup.

Stone Payton: It’s an interesting insight that you are bringing to light for me, and this idea that a great many of us and I’m sure I fall into this same trap, you know, sometimes we we actually underestimate what we could bring to the table, especially in a little different environment, or approaching an environment or situation in a little different way. But now that you say that, it occurs to me that could be a, you know, maybe even the bulk of your work in trying to and trying to serve someone like a stone, really help them identify those strengths and then find the the best place to put them to work. Yeah.

Jennifer Jaciw: That’s exactly what we do in the coaching program. So that’s that’s a great lead in to what that looks like. You know, the coaching program I offer is actually complimentary to the client. So, uh, and we start with a lot of assessment work, some really good deep conversations on what you want this next year to look like. What does that look like for you really take some time to think about that. What are the goals that you want to focus on? You know, is it financial? Is it lifestyle? Is it a is it a blend of both? You know, and what kind of industries interests you? What have you thought about? What do you dream about? So we’re going to talk about that. And we also do a very comprehensive assessment, behavioral assessment that not only pulls your strengths, which most of them do, it also drives into or digs deep into your driving forces, which is what I was talking about earlier with me. My driving forces, you know, we’re really important. Impact was important for me. Flexibility was important for me. So we’re going to talk about that. You know, we’re going to identify what those things are, what motivates somebody like Stone to get out of bed in the morning. You know, what do you want in your day? You know, what do you want more of less of? We’re going to talk about all those things. And as I get to know my client more and, um, to a point where I feel like I have enough information, enough pieces of the puzzle to put together, then I will go to my portfolio of businesses and try to find something that I think will at least interest them to learn more about. And, you know, we’ll have some really good conversations around that too. You know, I want to hear from them why they think I picked that business for them to explore, you know, and that can lead to some really good conversation.

Stone Payton: To have a truly invested yet objective pair of eyes and ears working on on my behalf. I was just thinking as you were talking, I love archery, everything about it. And, uh, I’m probably the last person in the world that should be what we call a bowyer. Someone who runs a bow shop that. Yeah, I’m the. And I’m an entrepreneur, right? I love archery, yeah. And I’m an entrepreneur. I am probably the last guy in the world that needs a retail bow shop where I got to be there. That’s hilarious.

Jennifer Jaciw: And so and and that’s true. And some people think that that’s what it’s about, right? Finding that thing or buying that business or, you know, starting a business on something that you absolutely love. For a lot of people, like I talked to a lot of men, actually, that love to cook, but they have no desire to open a restaurant because they won’t enJaciw it anymore. You know, they that’s you don’t want to take that away. You know, you want to make that something that you actually truly enJaciw. We definitely want to do something that interests you, you know, find something that interests you, but not necessarily replace, you know, your hobby with something that’s going to turn it into something you don’t enJaciw anymore.

Stone Payton: And you’re right that those a lot of those people you’re describing would not enJaciw it, but I’m not sure they would see that initially without the benefit of you in there really challenging their thinking, helping them think it through. And I love, uh, what I think I’m beginning to see as the business model for the entrepreneurs source. It’s not like you’re just coming to market with, you know, the show book, right? Like with this. Okay. You want to buy a business? Great, right? Uh, here’s your list.

Jennifer Jaciw: You know exactly that is. That is so not what we are. Because we are not licensed brokers. I’m not here to sell anything. I make that very clear on our introductory call with any client. I’m not here to sell anything. I am helping you find clarity in what you want to do next. And if I can give you some business ideas that you never would have thought of for yourself, then I’m doing my job, you know, because I want you to start thinking outside the box. And that’s exactly what this does. This program does. And, you know, if nothing, people will always learn something about themselves, something new about themselves, and they’ll learn about some other businesses, like I said, that they probably never would have considered for themselves.

Stone Payton: And you know, I am, you know, red blooded entrepreneur, been one for, you know, 30 plus years. Um, but I wonder, do you do you run into some folks that do want to explore some type of transition, but in their mind, they’re not an entrepreneur or not suited to be an entrepreneur, but through exploration and through serving them, you discover, yes, in a certain way, we really can be an entrepreneur. Do you ever do you have clients that make that mental shift over time in working with you?

Jennifer Jaciw: Oh, absolutely. A lot of people do. You know, some people come into the experience knowing that they want to be a business owner. They just don’t know how or what, you know, makes sense for them. And so those are really fun because they’re curious already, you know, they already have some interest. But I have a lot of clients that say, you know, I’ve never considered business ownership, but this might be a great opportunity for me to explore that in a safe space. Um, because I create a safe space for people. I don’t want anybody to feel pressured to do anything. I do want people to come into this experience and be open and curious and ask questions, and I can help with that, too. You know, if you’re afraid to talk to a business because you don’t know where to get the conversation started, I can help with that. I can, you know, give you some examples of questions that you might want to start with. And once you get the conversation going, it’s going to be a lot easier for you. But, um, I just think it’s, it’s it’s a really cool experience for people that, you know, are just, like I said, the best ones, the most, the ones that get the most value out of it are the ones that are curious and open.

Stone Payton: And going back to this, we’ll take both sides of the coin risk and reward or opportunity. So many of these opportunities that you might be able to help them, not just be aware of, but really dive into and explore some depth. Uh, there’s, there’s repeatable processes and and and and transferable tasks. There’s there’s all this there’s infrastructure and history and brand equity. It really I mean, so much of that can can really shrink the timeline and remove the, the friction and lower that risk profile on, on these things. Can it.

Jennifer Jaciw: Absolutely. And we talk about risk you know, in the coaching program because a lot of people you know it’s it’s it could be that it’s a husband in the program. And he’s maybe more risk averse. The wife or spouse might be more risk, um, you know, open to risk or risk taker. So I work with a lot of couples, actually, um, uh, one of the, you know, I’ll start with one partner. And as they get deeper into the conversation with me, the other partner, the other significant other will get curious. They’re on their own and say, okay, what is this person doing with you? And why are you so excited about this? And and so I welcome them to join the call, because I want them both to be on board with any kind of risk. But yes, you are right when it comes to franchising or any kind of resale opportunity, you know, there is a lot of risk mitigation in that because it can be managed a lot easier for first time business owners, especially because you are stepping into a proven model. These are things that have been replicated.

Jennifer Jaciw: You know, there was one business owner that started it years and years ago typically, and they’ve replicated over and over and over again and they chose to franchise it. So these are validated systems, established branding, known economics and training that shortens your learning curve. So I know that that was a huge difference for me Personally. You know, like I said, it took probably three years before we were cash flow positive in the limo company because we were figuring things out. And when I stepped into this business, it was like a three month ramp up, you know, because there were so many symptom systems already in place. Um, it just made it so much easier. The training, the systems, the community, all of it, you know, and you also have historical financials, uh, with a resale opportunity, you know, you’re going to have the financials already there. Existing customers, often many, uh, positive Google reviews and a trained team already in place. So a resale opportunity can be even less risky feeling, you know, if they have those things already in place for somebody that’s never done this before.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m glad you mentioned that because I didn’t think about resale on the how does the whole because you’re running a business too. You’re helping other people find businesses. But you got to run a business too, to have that opportunity. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for, for you for, for a for a practice like, like yours, how do you how do you get to have those conversations?

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah. So resales are part of our portfolio as well. And a lot of people ask me, well, how do you get paid if this is a complimentary program? And it is as simple as this, if I do introduce my client to a, either a, a brand new franchise or a resale opportunity, and they fall in love with it, they’ve done their due diligence. They decide they are going to invest. Then that business will pay me for my services. So I do not get paid with every client that I work with, because not everybody’s ready for business ownership. But I want them to know, you know, up front that, you know, I’m not going to ever ask you for a dollar for my services, because I will be taking care of in enough circumstances that I make a decent living. You know, I wouldn’t do this otherwise, you know, if I couldn’t support myself. But that, you know, again, that goes back to me not being a salesperson. So even though that is the way that I get paid, I’m perfectly fine with giving people the time that they need, the time and the space that they need to make a confident decision. I don’t want anybody to go into business ownership without being fully prepared as much as they can be, and have that understanding that they’re going to have support and systems throughout, you know, the term that they have their business and most, most licenses are about ten years. Some are five, some are 20, but most the average is ten.

Stone Payton: Well, if that’s your mindset and your value system, and I am coming to believe that that it is. It strikes me that if I would err on the side, I think of reaching out to you and wanting to have a conversation with you. I’d rather err on being early than late, right? Like, don’t, don’t wait till I’ve necessarily got to pull the trigger tomorrow. And I got all my funding and everything I want to reach out and and talk to to Jennifer early. Is that is that accurate? Does that make sense?
Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah. That that’s a great I mean, if people already have an idea on the type of business that they want and they have their funding in place, then it makes more sense for them to go directly to a broker, you know, because that is a transaction. They don’t need all the other work. Maybe they’ve done that work on their own. Um, but for somebody who’s never, you know, been through this experience before, they don’t know what type of business they want. They don’t know what they would be good at. I can help with that. You know, that’s what this experience was created for, for those types of people that know they want something more than what they’re doing. They want something different than what they’ve been doing, but they just don’t know the how or where. Or you know, what type of business you know. Do they want something, uh, full time, you know, owner, operator where they’re hands on. Do they want something more semi absentee, where they’re working behind the scenes and not having to be part of the day to day? And we have a few investment only opportunities where they really don’t need to be involved with the business.

Stone Payton: Before we wrap let’s if we could let’s leave our listeners with a a pro tip or two, something to be reading, thinking about, asking themselves, asking other people just uh, and look gang, the number one pro tip is if this conversation is striking a chord with you at all, reach out and have conversation with Jennifer. But to to satiate them between now and then. Jennifer, let’s leave him with an idea or two to to be noodling on.

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah, I think that, um, I’d like to mention just a couple trends that are going on in franchising because a lot of people like, like me only thought of it in the restaurant world. But what we’re seeing now is a lot of people are looking for a recession resilient business models, you know, because with the economy being what it is up and down, um, you know, it’s not feeling quite as stable as it was, you know, before the pandemic. So a lot of people are looking at recession resilient type brands and those are service based. Typically it could be home services, it could be senior care, health and wellness. It could be children. Those are the types of, um, businesses that are always going to be around. They’re always going to be necessary and people will always spend money on those things. So that’s something to consider. Um, I also think that people the franchises that I work with a lot, most of them, I would say are more set up as a CEO style business where they’re manager led models so that they can, you know, operate as a CEO like they have been in the past, where they’re not doing the day to day functions. It could be something that they scale with their leadership skills, not, you know, that exhaustion from being burnt out.

Jennifer Jaciw: Um, I also think that AI and tech platforms are just, uh, totally. I mean, I can’t believe some of the things that people are creating within the franchise system for their franchisees these days, including mine. Um, we just had an AR AI education call this week, and they have created so many new innovations within our CRM that are going to make our job so much easier, and a lot of franchises are going that direction to make things easier for franchisees, even easier than they already were. Um, and you know what I’ve seen over and over and over again, especially since the pandemic, is people are more focused on time, freedom, flexibility and sustainability than anything else. They want that alignment with their lifestyle. So really, those are the things that I would like people to think about if they don’t have that in their own life. You know, whether they be working or unemployed, how can we do something to help you with that? Make that, you know, we we want to design a life that you love to live. And that’s my whole mission in this work is to help you get there.

Stone Payton: I am so glad I asked. That sounds like marvelous counsel. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect with you, maybe have a more substantive conversation and and really seriously consider engaging in, uh, in this kind of activity. What’s what’s let’s get some coordinates.

Jennifer Jaciw: Yeah, probably through my website. I would love for people to just check me out, you know, learn a little bit more about me and the process. So my website is JJ, I dot. Com and on the top right there will be a section there that says schedule a call. So that introductory call is typically 30 minutes. You can find a time on my calendar and we’ll just see if we’re a good fit for each other. It doesn’t cost anything. So, you know, accept some time. And that’s really the only obligation you make in this process with me is scheduling the time and keeping your appointment. That’s really it.

Stone Payton: Well, Jennifer, it has been an absolute delight having you on the program. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, and thank you for the work that you’re doing. Please keep up the good work and we sure appreciate you.

Jennifer Jaciw: Well thank you, Stone, I really appreciate being asked to come back. I, I love, you know, what I do and love to share it with others. And Business RadioX has been a great place for me to be able to do that. I really respect the work that you guys do as well.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m delighted to hear it and it is absolutely my pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Jennifer Joseph with the Entrepreneur Source and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: Celebration is Important

February 3, 2026 by angishields

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Celebration is Important
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Celebration is Important

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I think sometimes, I don’t know, I neglect investing the time and energy in celebrating things that have happened for me positively, things that people around me have achieved. But there’s really quite a bit of value in taking a moment and genuinely celebrating.

Lee Kantor: Absolutely. I think this is a hole in my swing, and I really have to be mindful about it, especially in my family. But definitely in business, celebrations are an important part of building community.

Lee Kantor: Celebrations can be a powerful part of building community because they create those shared moments of joy. It deepens connections, it deepens relationships, and it fosters that sense of belonging and team that you’re trying to achieve within your business.

Lee Kantor: So, whether it’s recognizing a team’s milestone or a cultural tradition or any type of collective achievement, celebrations can build trust and reinforce that positive community culture that every business is striving for. So, whether it’s in business or community settings, use celebrations to recognize progress, big or small, which motivates people and keeps teams together and keeps them bonded.

Lee Kantor: So, celebrate inclusively to bring diverse people together, strengthening social bonds and collaboration. Make celebrations authentic to your community and to your team by focusing on what the community or the team values and what they feel proud of. These types of regular, meaningful celebrations create an environment where people feel seen, appreciated, and part of something bigger, and that’s going to drive ongoing engagement, and it’s going to drive ongoing collective success.

Transform Your Workspace: From Drab to Fab with Jacqui Sabo

February 2, 2026 by angishields

WIM-Jacqui-Sabo-Feature
Women in Motion
Transform Your Workspace: From Drab to Fab with Jacqui Sabo
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

In this episode of Women in Motion, hosts Lee Kantor and Renita Manley interview Jacqui Sabo, founder of Arizona Interior Resource (AIR). Jacqui shares her expertise in workplace strategy and design, emphasizing how thoughtful office environments—whether at home or in corporate settings—can boost productivity, well-being, and talent retention. She discusses balancing individual energy needs with organizational goals, overcoming design challenges, and aligning workspaces with brand values. Jacqui also offers practical tips for remote workers and highlights the value of WBEC-West certification in growing her business and serving diverse clients.

Jacqui-Sabo-HeadshotJacqui Sabo is the founder and owner of Arizona Interior Resource LLC. Established in 2019, Ms. Sabo has worked in commercial real estate, design, construction, and office furniture for 30+ years. AIR services commercial clients throughout the US and Canada, and specializes in Office, Industrial & Medical.

Previously, Ms. Sabo worked as Vice President of Sales for Goodmans Interior Structures, a Herman Miller Authorized Dealer, and responsible for offices in Phoenix, Tucson, and Albuquerque. She was with Goodmans from 2007 to 2016 and was promoted from Sales Manager to VP in 2010.

She earned her MBA from Wilkes University and her B.S. in Business Management from University of Phoenix as well as an A.A.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University, before eventually becoming a commercial real estate broker and property manager in Phoenix for various firms from 1982-1994. After her twelve-year career as an office specialist and earning a real estate broker’s license and an RPA from Building Owners and Managers International, Jacqui continued to work in Phoenix and then in Dallas, where she worked in B2B sales, sales management, and general management in the contract office furniture industry.

In addition to sales management, Ms. Sabo is a certified sales trainer for AchieveGlobal Professional Selling Skills and CEB Challenger Sales and has delivered numerous sales training workshops to sales professionals and management.

Currently, she is a member of Trustegrity, a professional community of trusted advisors, connecting, confiding, and collaborating. AIR is a certified Women Owned Business (WBENC) and her affiliations include Director for International Interior Designers Association Southwest Chapter, Advisory Board Member for the Women’s Business Center and past Board responsibilities for the Arizona Association of Economic Development working with municipalities, industry partners and tribal communities in economic development, as well as on the Actors Theatre Board for four years from 2008-2012.

Since 2013, Ms. Sabo has served as a docent and museum guide and guide facilitator for the Musical Instrument Museum. She currently resides in Phoenix with her husband Thomas. She can be contacted at jacqui@airinaz.com.

Episode Highlights

  • Workplace strategy and design
  • Office furniture solutions
  • Enhancing quality of life and productivity in various work environments
  • Balancing individual energy needs with organizational goals
  • Challenges in attracting and retaining talent
  • Importance of operational efficiency in workspace design
  • Creating environments that reflect brand and purpose
  • Addressing neurodiversity and generational differences in workspace design
  • Strategies for remote and hybrid workspaces
  • The role of thoughtful design in employee satisfaction and retention

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

 

Amos Schwartzfarb: The Startup Operator Who Built a Playbook for Winning

February 2, 2026 by angishields

HBR-Retro-Cause-Feature
Houston Business Radio
Amos Schwartzfarb: The Startup Operator Who Built a Playbook for Winning
Loading
00:00 /
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed

Download file

Amos-SchwartzfarbAmos Schwartzfarb—one of the most influential figures in the startup ecosystem, known for his decades of hands-on operating experience, investing expertise, and founder-first mindset.

Amos’s career began unexpectedly in the early days of e-commerce, packing boxes at Shoreline Mountain Project—an experience that led him into a 25+ year journey through seven startups, multiple acquisitions, and some of the most iconic early-stage companies in the U.S., including HotJobs (Yahoo), Work.com, Business.com, and Black Locust (Home Depot).

In 2015, he shifted into investing as Managing Director of Techstars Austin, where he backed more than 70 seed-stage companies and became a central pillar in Texas’s startup growth. He is also the bestselling author of Sell More Faster and Levers, two of the most practical frameworks ever written for founders who want clarity, traction, and repeatable scale.

Now, as CEO and advisor at Retro Cause, Amos continues helping early-stage companies build momentum by combining metrics, mindset, and operational discipline. When he’s not advising founders, you’ll find him outdoors—mountain biking, climbing, or cooking with his family.

Connect with Amos on LinkedIn.

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. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to my guest today, Amos Schwartzfarb, a legendary startup author, operator, author, investor, athlete, and advisor whose career has shaped some of the most successful early stage companies in the country. Amos started his journey packing boxes at Shoreline Mountain Project, helping convert it into one of the earliest e-commerce companies, kicking off a 25 plus year career across seven startups including Hotjobs, acquired by Yahoo! Work.com. Business.com. Black Locust acquired by Home Depot and even more. In 2015, he shifted to the investor side as managing director of Techstars Austin, where he invested in more than 70 seed stage startups across Texas and became one of the region’s most respected early stage investors. He is also the best selling author of Sell More, Faster and Lovers, which we’re going to talk about. Known for giving founders the frameworks, metrics and mindset to build repeatable, scalable businesses. Today, as CEO and advisor at Retro Cause, he continues advising founders while spending his free time mountain biking, rock climbing, and cooking with his family. Amos, welcome to the show.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Thank you so much for having me, Tricia, and what a fantastic introduction.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, I’m so glad that you said that I spend time on this Because, Amos, the truth is, we don’t do that for ourselves. So I like to give that as my gift to you.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Oh my gosh, it’s so true. If you would have asked me to do that, I would have glossed over all of it and just said, yeah, I worked with startups a couple of times and we did some cool stuff.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so I avoided a word and we’re going to talk about it before we even talk about you. Okay. Consiglieri as I as I think it’s pronounced.

Amos Schwartzfarb: So yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Tell us what in the world that word means. Amos, before we get into talking.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. So maybe maybe the way that I’ll describe, I’m not sure it’s the right word to use. It’s where it comes from. Is actually, I don’t know, maybe all over the world, but at least I’m from North Jersey, from the North Jersey Mafia. And but the reason I use that word is because what I do with my clients, I’m not really a CEO coach. I think when people think of a CEO coach, they think of someone who’s going to help with organizational skills or some soft skills. And that’s not really what I do, and I haven’t figured out the right way to talk about it, even though I’ve been doing this for so many years. So what I do with my clients is I’m really I work directly with CEOs and I am the the person that they come to and talk to and trust more than anyone, more than their co-founder, more than their board. And we and we do everything. I am their trusted source. Whether it’s, um, a problem with an executive managing the board, fundraising, building out an executive team, figuring out the right people, whether it’s problems at home because it affects their business. It’s literally everything. And so I use that word because that is essentially what it is to the Mafia boss. Um, so I hope I’m not insulting anyone out there, but that really is the role that I play with my clients.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. And I’m I’m glad that we started there because advisor doesn’t do what you that word doesn’t do what you do for your clients justice. And I appreciate that. You have a complicated word.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. It’s. If nothing else, it sparks a good conversation.

Trisha Stetzel: It does? Yeah, absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so tell us a little bit more about Amos.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Oh, gosh. Uh, here, I’ll do this. I, I have been noodling on this thought for a long time, but a lot lately. And I actually wrote something down yesterday, and I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet. Um. Which is, I don’t know. I think this goes for all people, but I’m going to just speak of it as if I’m the only person with this challenge in the world, even though I know that I’m not. I don’t know how to speak about just Amos, because there’s the just Amos, the expectation of what have I done professionally? And that’s probably what most people want to talk about here. There’s the Amos that was, um, I mean, I’ll pat myself on the back. An elite athlete for many, many years in multiple sports. There’s the Amos that’s an author. There’s Amos that is a musician and is in the middle of dropping an album and has a new band. There’s the Amos that is a dad, and it is really the thing that is most important to me in the world. Um, there’s the Amos that’s from new Jersey and the people that I grew up with that know me one way. And then there’s the folks here in Austin that have no idea who that dude is. Um, so I don’t know, like, that’s me and a little bit more.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. No, I love it because it really gives us some insight into the things that make you tick. Yeah, right. It really does. Yeah. Okay.

Amos Schwartzfarb: You know, here’s what I might say as you think. Like, here’s the here’s the Amos. Rather than trying to identify myself in a in a box or several boxes. I think who I am is a person that has been really fortunate that I had an upbringing, that that gave me the opportunity to keep a really open mind and do a lot of cool stuff. And and not that I haven’t been afraid a lot in my life. I’ve been afraid a lot in my life. But fear has never stopped me from doing anything. At a young age till now. And so the Amos that I like to think about is the person who brings to the world, um, hopefully inspiration for other people to do the same, to not let the fears get in the way of their dreams.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Well I love that. That is fantastic.

Amos Schwartzfarb: I stole that, I stole that from the no company no fear. They’re probably out of business 20 years but I. But I did love it.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay I’m glad we noodled around on this because something really profound came out. Thank you for sharing that. Uh, can we talk about mindset, uh, a little bit in the, in the, in the business place. So I think I’ve heard you say business is math mindset is the multiplier. So what do founders get wrong when we’re looking at that equation?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Um, maybe a little context here on the business is math part. And this is this is me projecting. I, um, I will start with I’ve always been good at math, and I stopped taking math in 10th grade because I never thought it was important. I think differently now, much differently now. Um, and I was always I’ve always been really creative. I’ve always been a writer. I was a creative writing major in college. Um, and when I, and I was in my early, early years of business, I operated largely on intuition and, and really didn’t put a lot of stock or faith into the importance of understanding metrics and the math of business. And, um, fortunately, I had some good intuition along the way. And also, fortunately, I had a phenomenal mentor and boss at, uh, at a company that, um, Business.com which was acquired, I was acquired into. And then I was an executive there. Um, Who? That not just the CEO, but the CEO and the CEO were so metrics driven. They to me, they are the poster children for what it means to run a really good business. And I and they I will say they beat it out of me to it’s okay to have your intuition, but then how do you back it up with math and that that was back in, you know, almost 20 years ago now.

Amos Schwartzfarb: So I 17, 18 years ago. And so the journey since then, um, and, and maybe the lessons over and over and over again is that. Yeah. Intuition is, is a really important thing to help, like pick up and say what direction should I look at? But knowing whether or not you’re actually heading in that direction is math. And at the end of the day, and as much as like a visionary founder who doesn’t have a financial background does not want to hear this, I being one of them at one point in my life. Um, your business is really nothing more than a than a calculus equation. And and it’s our responsibility as leaders of that organization to figure out, um, what how to make the math work so that your business can work so that you can actually achieve, achieve your vision, and so that, you know, you can step away from the math and change the world in the way that you want, want to change the world.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. So this makes me like, want to talk about mindset because you have experience with more than 70 seed stage startups and probably lots more than, uh, that’s just what I know. Um, people who start businesses, true entrepreneurs want to go open a business doing something that they love. And most of them, at least the ones that I work with, are afraid of the numbers. So how do we shift besides the words that you used, which is your business, is basically a calculus equation. How do we get people to shift the way they think about their businesses from I love underwater basket weaving. I’m afraid of the numbers to this is a business and I need to care about the numbers.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Um, I, I feel like there’s a couple of different ways. Like a couple. I have a few different opinions, and some of them are sort of, like, very surfacey like, hey, we can talk about how to, you know, how to look at math as a positive thing versus a negative thing. And, but I actually think it’s it’s much, much, much deeper and probably even outside of my, my, my depth of, uh, teaching, but not outside of my depth of exploring, which is why are you afraid of the numbers? What is it about looking at it as math? Do you feel like you’re going to lose the passion? Do you feel like you don’t understand what the math is supposed to be? And so I think maybe there’s two like like sort of core level things I would think about, which is like under try to understand what it is about the math that you’re reluctant to leaning into, and maybe it’s okay that you don’t lean into it, but understand what that is so you can find someone that can help you do it. Um, and, uh, you know, I think the other thing is which which is this is something that I have, um, I’ve been practicing for the last couple of years with, like, in such intensity.

Amos Schwartzfarb: And it’s it’s it’s amazing. I don’t even know how to explain it to somebody. And it sounds crazy. It will sound crazy to someone who doesn’t believe this. Um, but just the the the there’s an art, I think, to looking at everything and having a different perception. So instead of saying to yourself, the math scares me, or I don’t believe it, or I don’t want to do the math, what if you say, gosh, this math is really fun? And yeah, you’re not going to believe it at first, and you might not believe it for a long time. And not that you’re trying to hypnotize yourself, but you. There’s an opportunity to literally change your perception by trying to find the things in it that could be fun, because guess what? What if you love basket weaving and you love selling baskets, and you get to sell 100,000 baskets instead of 100 baskets because you not only have figured out the greatest basket, but the people who want the greatest basket. And you’re you’re making their lives better. How much more awesome are you going to feel about selling baskets?

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, and and you’re right. You know, the the thoughts that we have, the language that we use eventually become our thoughts and our beliefs. And if we can shift the things that we’re saying to ourselves and we can actually shift the outcome eventually. Yeah, I love that.

Amos Schwartzfarb: I mean, you’re going somewhere like, we can we can take a real left turn here if we want. But like that whole thing of like what we say to ourselves is so important because I do a lot of like mindset work and spiritual work recently too. And the thing that I have come to believe, and this is not my original thought by any stretch, but but I believe this is those thoughts are not actually us. They’re just thoughts. And so when we can learn to detach ourselves from those thoughts and realize, like we can say anything to ourselves, it kind of doesn’t matter. So if we’re going to say something, let’s say the positive thing. Let’s say the thing that gets us what we want, not the thing that doesn’t get us what we want.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so I’m going to reel it back in because I don’t know about detached thoughts for the rest of the conversation, but it’s it’s it’s very interesting. And I would love to have you come back because I would like to talk about that. I’m very interested in hearing more, but I want to roll us back to the numbers. Um, metrics. Numbers actually matter when and and a lot of companies may not see that those particularly matter with a product market fit. So what are your thoughts around those metrics early in a business?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah, I love the question. And it is one of the things we talk about in the book lovers a lot. And um, you know, maybe like the quick step backwards is a big reason that, um, Trevor and I decided to write the book lovers was because of exactly the thing we’re talking about, the fear of trying to figure out what are the right numbers. And so the thing we talk about a lot is get them wrong, but get but start doing something. Because as soon as you get that, as soon as you start doing something and you see that they’re wrong, you will want to as a problem solver, as an entrepreneur, inherently in your DNA, you will want to figure out what is right and you’ll get there. And sometimes that there might take a month, and sometimes that there might take ten years. And I’m not exaggerating it. Sometimes it takes a really, really long time. It’s that journey and going back to the mindset like, enjoy the journey. That’s why you’re doing this, right? Yes. You want the end result. You know, one gets the end result without the journey. So let’s let’s figure out the math along the way so that that’s that’s what we profess in the book over and over again, which is like, here are some frameworks to help you start to figure out what the math is. And you’re going to get it wrong, period. Just own it and then we’ll figure it out. Start with something.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, I love that. Take action. Start with something. Okay, uh, before we take a little bit deeper, dive into levers, tell people how they can connect with you because I know they’re already interested in picking your brain.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Uh, absolutely. Um, the probably the two best ways you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. Um, I do respond to every single message? Um, even maybe not all the ones that are clearly spam, but everyone that is personal I respond to, um, not always super fast. And then my email, which I’m actually probably slower than LinkedIn, I’m embarrassed to say is Amos at Retro Coscom. So it’s almos at retro cause are are you?

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. And I know they’re guessing how to spell your last name, so I’ll do it for you. Let me try. Okay. S c h w a r t z f a r b. How about that? Yeah. Okay.

Amos Schwartzfarb: So it took me like 16 years so that was great.

Trisha Stetzel: There’s not enough room. There’s not enough room for that. I’m just saying especially as a professional athlete, if you ever wore a jersey with your name on the back of it, it was a problem.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. My my daughter’s jersey. I think it like, curves around and goes.

Trisha Stetzel: It goes down one sleeve. Who knew? Okay, so back to levers. I would love to, if you don’t mind sharing, uh, share a little bit more about the framework that you talked about and something that might really stand out and a reason why people should go and grab your book.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Um, I think what I can do and stop me if this is too much, but I think in a minute to a minute and a half, I can describe the whole book. Yeah. Um, so firstly, it’s a book you do, not a book you read. So if you’re interested in checking it out, you’ll read through it. You’ll read through it really fast, but really quickly you’ll figure out like, oh, I need to actually do work. It’s not like, this isn’t, not like, oh, I’m going to philosophize about cool stuff. And you’re like, yeah, it’s a great philosophy. No, we’re actually giving you tangible things to do. So the book has five chapters. There’s actually six frameworks. The sixth one is in the appendix, where when we do a second edition, we’re actually going to move it up front. And it’s really what everything starts with, which is you have to have a vision and a mission. It doesn’t really matter what it is, and it doesn’t have to be articulated well, but you have to know where you’re going. So I want to make baskets. Great, I want to I want to bring baskets to the world. Cool. But you have to have that to start. Um, and then it’s a series of five frameworks that are actually all data oriented. The first one is a framework to help you start to identify not just who you think your customer is or will be or should be, but who your customer actually actually is.

Amos Schwartzfarb: How do you figure out who it actually is, not just who you think it is with data. So the first framework helps you do that. The second framework helps you figure out your business model. So it’s, you know, you have an idea of how you’re going to make money. That’s great. And literally we have you write that out as a math equation. This is how I think I’m going to make money. The important work for this framework is what comes down. And I say underneath, and it’s a visual thing for me. What is all the work that has to go in to prove that your math equation is right? And that could be anything from your your marketing, but like getting very, very granular to your sales, to your finance team to anyone who you might be hiring. What are all the things that have to happen? What do you have to build? What do you have to buy? Do you need money? Can you do it with a pickax? Doesn’t matter. What are all the things? And then the that takes us to the third framework. So if you think about the first two frameworks, we’re basically creating a massive list of things to do and things we need to learn.

Amos Schwartzfarb: The third framework, which is we call validating assumptions. It actually helps you take all of that and anything you may have missed and prioritize it. And what we like to say is you can never do more than 2 or 3 things well at a time. So we the framework gives you ultimately a matrix at the end, which is things that are high priority, low priority, low priority. We don’t even talk about until it becomes high priority someday in the future. And then high priority breaks out into validated and unvalidated validated. You’re going, you’re building. You’re doing it Unvalidated you don’t get the you don’t earn the right to go do it until you learn whether or not you’ve earned the right to do it. So what do you have to learn in order to move it and make it validated so that you can go do it? The fourth framework this gets into like the metrics part of it, which is okay, now that we’re doing things, how do we measure what we’re doing and whether or not we’re heading in the right direction or not. And an important point here is doesn’t matter if you’re going in the right direction or not, it’s a failure if you don’t know why it’s a success. If you do know why you cannot hit your numbers, but you know why you have succeeded. Because now, if you know why, you know what you can do.

Amos Schwartzfarb: If you don’t know why you’re. If you don’t know why you’re crushing your numbers, then when your numbers start to worsen, you won’t know why. So it’s a framework tied into all this. How do I measure what I’m what I’m actually doing and what matters? And then the final framework and this is really like it’s scary for some people. And to me it’s the most exciting has become the most exciting part, which is how do you take all this and how do you build a financial model. And I’ll use a different word and I use these interchangeably. How do you create a plan that’s based off of all the data you have, that tells you what you’re supposed to do on a day to day, week to week, and month to month basis? That is something that you can measure what you’re doing and how you’re doing against it. So if you say, hey, I’m going to do these ten things and it should result in X, Y, and Z. Well, I only did eight of those ten things and it resulted in x and y. I didn’t do the last two things because of time, money, resource, whatever. I learned something cool. I didn’t hit all my goals. I think I understand why, how do I keep going forward? That’s it. That’s the book.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s it. That’s the whole book. Okay. But we still but people still want to buy it. I’m just saying. All right, uh, all the usual places they can find.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah, yeah. Uh, any place. Yeah. I don’t think you can get it in bookstores anymore. Maybe some random ones have it, but. Amazon. Yeah. Amazon. And we’ve done something. This is very intentional. And I like to say this. It may maybe it’s self-soothing, but, um, we’re not trying to make money on this, but you don’t make money on a business book anyway. But if you want the audible copy, it’s like a $0.99 or $1.99, like it was the least that we can charge. And the book is like, again, the paper copy is the least that we were able to charge just to recoup some costs. But like we have kept it super, super inexpensive. Our goal is to just empower as many entrepreneurs as possible to control their own destiny.

Trisha Stetzel: So it sounds like you might be using this tool with the businesses that you decide to maybe invest in or be a part of.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Absolutely.
Trisha Stetzel: Which is amazing. It’s such a great start. Right? Uh, do you know where you’re at? Do you know where you want to go? And how are you going to, you know, get through the, the, uh, the gaps or what are the consequences of not getting where you want to go? So, um, I’m curious because you’ve done this so many times and you’ve built a tool for people who want to start a business. Um, what patterns do you consistently see with founders who win?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Um. The probably the number one pattern I see is that they know their metrics inside and out, period.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Comes back to the.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Numbers and the and the and the thing is an interesting thing about win though, because win comes in a lot of forms like you can you might be able to create like a relatively successful business but have no idea what’s going on. So you’re stressed out all the time. Someone might call that a win. I would not, because I don’t want to be stressed out. I I’m doing this because I love it. It should bring me joy, not stress. And I do think that the command of your numbers will allow you to live a less stressful existence.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so I’m going to go to the whole I don’t even I hate calling it work life balance. Can we just call it integration or whatever language you want to use around that? So not being stressed out in your business and being able to spend time with your family or go rock climbing or cook or whatever it is that you want to do, how do you get there? How do you get to have that work life balance or integration?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Um, gosh, if I knew how to really, really answer this, I think I’d probably solve a lot of the world’s problems. It’s something that I continue to work on. I think that it’s driven people and, you know, and entrepreneurs, by definition, are driven people. Um, and, and most really, you know, true entrepreneurs that I know also, they have their own version of focus or tunnel vision or whatever you want to call it. You find yourself in something. Um, it’s really, really hard. And, and so there’s like, you know, sort of like basic things you can do on the surface, like, how do I what how do I identify what my boundaries are and how do I stick to my boundaries. Like, yeah, those are all important tactical things to do. I think there’s a almost always a much deeper root cause of why we are driving ourselves in this way. And this is the work that I like, the exploration I’m doing on myself. Like what allows me to say, how do I define what’s most important to me? 2 or 3 things, right? This is. I’m not talking about me and my life. What are the 2 or 3 most important things in my life? And I can tell you what they are. And any time that I start to feel myself get stressed or tensed up because it will happen, because I’m driven and I find myself focused and in tunnel vision, I step back and say, what am I doing that doesn’t support those three things? What can I take off my plate or what? Or is there an imbalance in how this is happening? And how can I look at that over a longer period of time? And how can I create something that is going to intuitively feel more balanced?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So we often talk about this idea of moving somewhat away from the business so that we can do the things that we love in life. But what if we flipped it and we talked about the things that we do in life that actually have shaped your leadership style? So you’re really into, um, Sports, adventure racing, rock climbing, probably a few other things that I don’t even know about. How have those extreme sports shaped your leadership style?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Um, I think it’s done a couple of things. One, particularly at times when I’m doing more than one thing that requires a tremendous amount of focus and attention. It has. It has taught me how to really, like, say no. How to not do the things that don’t support those things and and lead by example. Right. So being comfortable when you have an employee who is prioritizing the most important things and and and modeling for them, let’s focus on the most important things. Don’t just do busywork. Don’t just keep yourself reading emails because you’ve got a full inbox. Like, if that’s not serving what you’re actually supposed to do to move your business forward, let’s find our time to do that. So I think the modeling of that behavior is that of understanding where to focus and where to not spend your time is one. Um, and I think, uh, you know, I think it probably goes back to modeling also, which is, um, making sure that, um, how do I say this? Like. I think that I’ll say it like this. I don’t agree anymore. And there was a time that I fell into this culture, but I do not agree with the culture that we should be working 15 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week to run our business. I don’t think if you look at any other system in the world, engines like it doesn’t matter. You will see that everything has a point where it will max out and break because everything has a a shelf life of some amount. And so if I think about what it takes to build a business, and maybe this is like a thing that as a society we’ve kind of ruined a little bit, it really takes ten plus years to build a meaningful business.

Amos Schwartzfarb: And I believe lots of people think that, um, well, if I’m not, if this isn’t up and running in 18 months or two years, like I’m a failure or like I can’t, I can’t make it work because I don’t have the the, you know, the money or the resources or whatever it might be. Maybe that’s true. Um, but I think that the idea that something meaningful takes a long time. And if I want to be able to stay excited about it for a long time, I have to find the right. I’ll use the word balance, the right balance, the right amount of effort. Like think of it like a marathon runner or ultramarathon runner. They’re not running a five minute mile pace, right? And like, this is a cliche, but they’re finding the pace right below their threshold, their heart rate threshold where they can go for the longest amount of time. And I think that’s what it takes to build a business. And, and and it’s okay if you redline a little bit like and actually I would say I learned that way. Like I have to cross a barrier and then say, oops, that was too much and pull back so I know where the barrier is. That’s okay. Like it’s going to happen for all of us, but like but but but recognize that you can’t actually nobody no matter how you might be able to go for 2 or 3 years really really hard. Everyone is going to burn out at some point if they don’t have the right support around them, and they’re throttling too high.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so we’re at the back end of our time. And I have one last question and it has to do with support. Thanks for bringing that up. How important is it to surround yourself with the right people as you’re going through this journey?

Amos Schwartzfarb: Oh it’s everything. It’s absolutely everything. I, I have known a very, very small amount of entrepreneurs. And when I and when I say this, I don’t mean tech entrepreneurs. I mean people that, you know, they own a store on Main Street or something that have done it themselves and had a bunch of people that they tell what to do versus. Help them be better. And my judgment of them is always the same. You’re not seeing your potential because you can’t get out of your own way. So I am making a judgment there, but it’s just the pattern recognition that I’ve seen over and over again. I think having the right people around you is is the most important thing. And you know what I tell all the CEOs that I work with. So, so the work that I do with my CEOs, one of the things that I do with all of them is I help them mature alongside their businesses. So if they if I come in when they’re in a stage company and they’re, you know, three, four years later, they’re, you know, seed stage company and they’re making, you know, tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, like the business changes and their role changes. When you start a business, you are doing everything, and little by little you’re doing less and less. The, the, the CEO’s job is not to actually do the work anymore. It’s to understand the work and have people that are way better than you, helping you strategize and helping you execute and helping guide you. Right? So I think like finding the right people around you to help guide you is so, so and I don’t none of the most successful people that I know in the world, every one of them and myself included, have coaches, all of them. And this whole stigma that you have to do it alone. I mean, from, you know, I’m a Gen Xer, so I like I get it, I was there at one point like, yeah, like get a coach, get great people around you. Um, yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. This has been so much fun. I definitely you definitely have to come back because there’s so many other things that I want to dig deeper on. This was absolutely amazing. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Amos. So tell us one more time how folks can connect with you.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Yeah. Um, so LinkedIn, Amos Schwartz but LinkedIn, or you can email me at Amos at com at C a.com.

Trisha Stetzel: Perfect. Uh, as always, you guys, I will put those links in the show notes. So if you happen to be sitting in front of your computer and you just want to point and click, you can do that. Please do not do that from your car. I beg of you, Amos. Thank you again. I appreciate your time today. I look forward to our next conversation.

Amos Schwartzfarb: Likewise. Me too. Thanks for having me.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Amos and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or a Houston leader ready to grow. And be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. Of course, 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.

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • …
  • 1329
  • Next Page »

Business RadioX ® Network


 

Our Most Recent Episode

CONNECT WITH US

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Our Mission

We help local business leaders get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession.

We support and celebrate business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignores. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

Sponsor a Show

Build Relationships and Grow Your Business. Click here for more details.

Partner With Us

Discover More Here

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy

Connect with us

Want to keep up with the latest in pro-business news across the network? Follow us on social media for the latest stories!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Business RadioX® Headquarters
1000 Abernathy Rd. NE
Building 400, Suite L-10
Sandy Springs, GA 30328

© 2026 Business RadioX ® · Rainmaker Platform

BRXStudioCoversLA

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of LA Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversDENVER

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Denver Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversPENSACOLA

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Pensacola Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversBIRMINGHAM

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Birmingham Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversTALLAHASSEE

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Tallahassee Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversRALEIGH

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Raleigh Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversRICHMONDNoWhite

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Richmond Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversNASHVILLENoWhite

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Nashville Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversDETROIT

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Detroit Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversSTLOUIS

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of St. Louis Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversCOLUMBUS-small

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Columbus Business Radio

Coachthecoach-08-08

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Coach the Coach

BRXStudioCoversBAYAREA

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Bay Area Business Radio

BRXStudioCoversCHICAGO

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Chicago Business Radio

Wait! Don’t Miss an Episode of Atlanta Business Radio