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From Vision to Traction: Mark O’Donnell on Implementing EOS

October 6, 2025 by angishields

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High Velocity Radio
From Vision to Traction: Mark O’Donnell on Implementing EOS
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Certified EOS Implementer Mark P. O’Donnell shares how a career spanning the Air Force, engineering, pharma quality, and entrepreneurship shaped his people-first approach to building scalable companies, culminating in his work helping leadership teams run on EOS. He explains EOS’s six key components—Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction—and how practical tools like the Accountability Chart, leading indicators, IDS, quarterly Rocks, and quarterly conversations turn strategy into execution. Mark also discusses cultivating leaders, standardizing core processes for scale, and why continuous learning fuels long-term organizational health and results.

Mark-ODonnellFrom the U.S. Air Force to scaling businesses, Mark O’Donnell’s career has been defined by leadership and growth.

After leading multi-million-dollar projects and managing global teams in the corporate world, Mark shifted his focus to helping entrepreneurial organizations thrive.

As a Certified EOS Implementer and leadership trainer, Mark has helped companies grow by at least 60%, including scaling one from $8M to $16M in just 2.5 years.

His approach centers on creating a clear vision, aligning teams, and fostering accountability to drive success.

Connect with Mark
LinkedIn
Website

Episode Highlights

  • Mark’s journey: Air Force service, hands-on manufacturing and engineering, pharma quality leadership, and scaling a 70-person firm before focusing on consulting and EOS.
  • People-first leadership: early commitment to personal development, Dale Carnegie principles, and identifying “unique abilities” to delegate and elevate teams.
  • Discovering Traction: adopting Gino Wickman’s tools personally and in family businesses, contributing to growth and informing his EOS practice.
  • Six key components of EOS: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, Traction—what they are and how they integrate.
  • Vision made practical: eight questions covering core values, core focus, 10-year target, marketing strategy, 3-year picture, and 1-year plan.
  • Data discipline: shifting from lagging results to weekly leading indicators to predict problems earlier and adjust quickly.
  • Issues solving culture: trust-enabled healthy conflict, Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions, and the IDS method to get to root cause.
  • Process for scale: documenting core processes (HR, onboarding, operations, reviews) to ensure consistency and growth capacity.

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.

Debbie Longo with Life In Bloom NY

October 6, 2025 by angishields

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Houston Business Radio
Debbie Longo with Life In Bloom NY
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Debbie-LongoDebbie Longo is an executive behavioral coach, entrepreneur, and founder of Life In Bloom NY, a consulting firm that transforms leadership performance and workplace culture through strategic behavioral change. With over 20 years of experience in human resources, leadership development, and behavioral strategy, Debbie works with executives and business owners to identify and shift the behavioral patterns that hinder performance, profitability, and team dynamics.

Her coaching method combines principles of behavioral psychology with real-world business applications—focusing not just on surface-level solutions, but on the root behaviors that influence decision-making, communication, and leadership impact. Debbie believes that true growth comes from within, and that sustainable change is only possible when leaders transform how they think, act, and lead.

In her conversation with Trisha Stetzel, Debbie shared the origin story of Life In Bloom and her mission to help business leaders unlock their highest potential. She discussed her consulting approach, which includes free consultations, workplace culture assessments, and personalized behavior-based improvement plans. Her process often begins with leadership coaching before expanding to team-wide interventions—ensuring alignment from the top down. Debbie-Longo-logo

Debbie also emphasized her passion for helping entrepreneurs, especially in holistic health fields, overcome mindset blocks and workplace challenges such as burnout, compensation issues, and low morale. Her work focuses on moving leaders from reactive to proactive behavior, fostering environments where people can thrive.

As the host of two popular podcasts—Behavioral Profit and The Six-Figure Shift Show—Debbie shares insights, interviews with business leaders, and actionable strategies to help others build profitable, people-first organizations. Whether working one-on-one or speaking from the stage, Debbie’s goal is to help business owners and executives lead with clarity, empathy, and confidence.

Her mission is simple yet powerful: shift behavior, lead with impact, and create growth that lasts.

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny
Website: http://lifeinbloomny.net

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Debbie Longo, executive behavioral coach and founder of Life in Bloom, New York. With more than 20 years of experience in leadership development and behavioral strategy, Debbie helps executives and business owners identify and shift the patterns that hold back performance, profitability, and culture. She is also the host of two podcasts, Behavioral Profit and the six Figure Show, where she shares how subtle changes in behavior and mindset can create major business results. Debbie’s approach blends behavioral psychology with practical, real world tools, and her mission is simple help leaders shift behavior, lead with impact, and unlock growth that lasts. Debbie, welcome to the show.

Debbie Longo: Thank you very much for having me, I appreciate it.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m very excited to have you on the show today. So tell us a little bit more about Debbie. And then I want to dive into Life in Bloom.

Debbie Longo: Okay, so I’ve been in this business for about 25 years, and I had a spiritual teacher until 2021, until she died when she died of cancer. So I was. Now I’m on my own. But I was doing a lot of things with her, and so I was kind of doing some things independently also. So it kind of just was a flow, you know, just a natural flow that I could just turn around and start my own business because it was very sudden that she passed away. So that was exactly what I did.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Well, I’m sorry to hear of the passing, but it does sound like that’s part of your story and how you started this business that you’re in. So talk to me about behavioral psychological psychology and coaching, especially in this executive space. How do how do all these things come together Debbie, in your practice.

Debbie Longo: Thank you for that. So the reason why I call it behavioral is because I’m focusing on it’s almost natural to say that it has to do with psychology. Okay. But I’m focusing on the behaviors of the employees and the executives and the business owners, which based on what their behaviors are exactly right most of the time negative and how it’s negative, that’s decreasing sales and profits. So just by changing their behavior, I can increase sales and profits. Okay. So, um, people think that it has to do with psychology. What I do is actually the opposite of that. Okay. Because I don’t want it to sound like. And be traditional psychology. Okay. If you believe in that, that’s fine. But I’m just going to say that there are people, individual people, business owners, all kinds of people that have tried that and that does not work. But if it works for you, you know, then that’s fine. But I’m focusing on the people that it doesn’t work for that need help that have decreasing, um, sales and profits that are going out of business. Maybe they file bankruptcy, um, you know, recently or, you know, and then they really need to, uh, get back on their feet again. Maybe they can’t afford to put food on the table for their family. You know, maybe they can’t afford to put gas in the car. You know, these are real world things that happen, you know. All the time. Right. They’re happening now. Right as we’re speaking. So, you know, there’s a lot of things here and a lot of people need help, but if they’re going to seek the help, then they’re going to want to do it. They’re going to have to see that just a little bit even there’s something wrong, just even a tiny bit, you know, and that this will help them increase sales and profits 100%. Because I know because I’ve been doing it 25 years and I know exactly what’s going to happen. And I don’t have to be a psychic to know.

Trisha Stetzel: Because you’ve seen it over and over and over again. So I heard you say that this negative behavior, these negative behavioral patterns are what’s limiting growth and profitability. How do you help shift that mindset from negative to something that’s not negative.

Debbie Longo: Right. So there’s about a hundred different ways. So what I do is I give people a free consultation okay. And possibly two. So and then I fill out, you know, I have them fill out things a survey and you know, some questionnaires and different things. And then, um, I make a plan for them. I make a whole outline for them. Okay. And then I give it to them and I discuss it with them, and then it’s their decision, okay. Whether they want to go through that or not. Right. So that’s basically my process. But I can tell you that there’s, there’s, um, control in the workplace where the executives are trying to control the employees and also vice versa, okay, where the employees could come in and they could just do whatever they want, right? They don’t focus on job duties or, you know, they’re doing insubordination. You know, where the executives are telling them what to do, and they’re blatantly just not doing it. You know, there’s so many things, but a control is a very big thing. Because here’s the thing if a company starts doing good, then it’s natural that the, um, executive or business owner, their ego is going to start to grow. Okay. And when they do that, right, then they try to control more. But I teach it that there really is no control. You can make goals. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I think every every company should make goals. But we don’t know if you’re going to reach those goals or not. And that’s why it’s called the goal. And that’s why it’s called goals okay.

Debbie Longo: So. Right. And the the last thing that I want to say is, um. When I am doing something physical, okay. So the mind controls what I do physically, right? When I do something physical, right? I want to be able to produce results, like we said, like making goals and helping people. Okay. Speaking nice to people, respecting Thing, people, you know where it could be anybody in the company. Okay. And when I do things like that, those thoughts turn into physical things that I do. Okay. So I might, you know, throw papers around okay. Which these things are very common. They might sound like, you know, like people don’t do this, right. Like executives don’t do this. Right. But that’s what they do. This is all stuff that’s realistic. Okay. They might, you know, you know, just throw a pen, you know, or something at an employee, okay. Not even realizing it. So just expressing anger in all different ways, they don’t have to be yelling and screaming, you know, at the employee or something in order for them to, you know, to get the point across that they’re being angry. And that creates a lot of negative negativity. I want the employees to be excited to wake up and be excited to go to work every morning, that they have the best job on earth, and they love everybody in their workplace and they love their bosses, and they’re going to respect them and they’re really, really excited to go to work every day. That’s the workplace that should be happening.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. And I love that culture shift where everyone is happy to be in the workplace. So in your work, Debbie, are you working with just the leaders or are you working with the entire team?

Debbie Longo: Right. So I start off with the leaders, business owners and executives. Usually is what it is. And then if they have a problem, you know, a widespread problem, right, with the company, then as it grows with them. Okay. I would suggest to, you know, can can we do a team call where we have all the employees on. Can we do groups, small groups. Okay. Or can we do maybe one on one with the client and a few employees or one employee, different things like that. So that really depends on what the situation is. Okay. So everything that I do is tailor made to that client, right to that organization because there are so many different scenarios. You know, I can’t even, you know, I can’t even really give you really like an outline, you know, of what that would be. But the idea is to fix the whole workplace, right. So, you know, however I’m going, right, however I have to do that is how I’m going to do it. Okay. Providing that the business owner is willing to do that. So if they say, oh, I just want you to help, just me, you know, and that’s all the that’s all this. The problem is just me. And I know that’s not true. And then I say, okay. And then as we go along, I’m helping them, I’m helping them. And then he sees that it’s working.

Debbie Longo: And then he might say, oh, I have one employee that has this problem. Meanwhile, he’s got like 20 employees. I have one employee that has this problem. Okay. Can you help that one employee? Okay. So we’ll do that then he says I have another employee, you know. So so this is common. You know, that we start off gradually unless he really knows the problem. And then he says, you know, we gotta I know there’s a problem with everybody and, you know, everybody has to leave. I gotta fire everybody. Which is like, it’s a horrible way to do business, you know, because then he’s going to get more people. The problem is going to continue, right? Because he didn’t solve the problem to begin with. And then he’s going to fire everybody. And then the cycle is just going to keep going on. I have a store across the street from me that I buy vegetables from, and that’s what they do. That’s exactly what they do. And they just did it again, you know. So so this is the that’s why there’s so many different examples. And these are things that happen. It’s not you know, this is not like, you know, if you’ve never saw this before, you know, then if you’re listening to this podcast then you’ve just never seen it, you know. But I could tell you that it’s common.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Well. And oftentimes it’s the leader that needs the cultural shift. Right. And so probably why they continue to fire the entire team and hire a whole new team and have the same problem because they didn’t get to the root of it, which is in between their ears. I’m just guessing it happens, right? What? Um, so you described the negativity and how some of that may be seen physically in the workplace, maybe throwing a paper or throwing a pen. And so we see that negativity when you’re working with teams and you actually see that cultural shift from that negativity to positivity. What does that look like in the workplace and how does it impact performance and revenue in a business?

Debbie Longo: Well, if it a lot of times it happens pretty quickly. Okay. It’s unless it’s a serious, serious issue and it has to be done very gradually. But even though if I give them a plan and I say, oh, you know, it might take months and months and months, they’re going to most likely nine times out of ten, start to see results almost immediately, right within like maybe a week or a month or something like that. And that’s just because the way that I work, right? Because I know you know what’s going to happen, right? So when I see that, that’s why when I start to see that change. Right. The business owner, the client is seeing that also. Now it’s a lot of times somebody sees the the gifts that we get or the positivity somebody else sees it before we see it in ourselves. Okay. So you know that happens a lot okay. But again, there’s so many different situations. But it’s you can see it’s like literally a miracle coming true. Because if somebody knows that they cannot fix themselves. It cannot happen. It’s impossible. And I just sit there and I’m like, okay, you know? And I just listen because it’s only words. Because it’s not true what they’re saying, you know, because I know that I could fix whatever, whatever it is, it’s, you know, it it it doesn’t matter what it is, but they don’t see it that way because they don’t know. Okay. So, you know, there’s a lot of things here, but it’s a it’s a huge transition to go from negative to positive. There’s so many different, you know, ways that I could feel it. You know, that the business owner can identify it. It’s just hundreds of ways I do something negative and then I’m not doing that thing anymore. Right. So that’s positive. It’s the opposite.

Speaker4: That’s good.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well and you know the the things that we think about and practice the most do become our reality whether it’s negative or positive. Uh, and we push that into culture in our businesses. So we’re about halfway through, Debbie, and I’m sure that there are people who want to connect with you already. How what is the best way for them to get connected with you?

Debbie Longo: Sure. Well, I have a website, Life in Bloom, NY for New York, and, um, they can fill out a contact form and everything on there. They can also look on the website because I have a lot of information on there too. And I’m on LinkedIn. Okay. Um, they can just punch in my name, Debbie Longo, and it’ll come up. It comes up as a, um, revenue strategist on LinkedIn only because I’m doing audits right now, so but it’s part of the coaching thing. So if they if they, you know, you know, get in touch with me, I can you know, I can explain it. Um, so but it’s really the same thing. But so those are probably the two primary ways.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Fantastic. Debbie. So you guys, life in bloom NY dot net is where you want to go. Or you can look up Debbie Debbie Longo. Longo life and bloom bloom, NY on LinkedIn and connect with her there. That’s how she and I found each other is on LinkedIn. So, Debbie, let’s jump back into the conversation that we were having and I’d like to tie this into burnout. So we talked about moving from negative to positive, creating unlimited growth and profitability in these businesses. Can we talk about how burnout plays into the the negative side of things and can maybe carry over when they’re first building this growth and profitability? Profitability?

Debbie Longo: Sure. Well, there’s it produces negativity obviously. You know, which is the most the most important thing that we don’t want. Um, but if I’m burned out, the common sense part of it is that I get very tired. Right. And I get sick and tired of being like this, having this attitude, doing these things. Okay. And this could be anybody, an employee or a business owner or whatever. But a lot of times the thing is that the burnout comes from what does it come from? Overworked and underpaid. So if they if the boss says, and again, this is another common issue, the boss says, oh, the person works till five, right? I know a lot of people work online and people work different hours. Right. So I’m just giving an example. Okay. The person works till five and the boss says the boss comes and pats them on the back and says it’s like 430 and says, oh, can you just stay an extra hour to do this one thing for me? And then the person says, okay, the next day the boss does the same thing. The person says okay. The next day the boss does the same thing. Now the employee is annoyed, okay, because they have things to do, and maybe they have to pick up their kids from school. Okay, you know, they might have to cook dinner or whatever. And the employee doesn’t want to say no because the employee thinks that she’s going to get fired. Okay. And she says yes. And then the paycheck comes. The end of the week comes. She gets the paycheck. She didn’t get paid for any of those days, any of those hours. Okay. So it’s like 3 or 4 hours in one week, okay. That they would say, oh, excuse me. They would say, oh, just do a little bit of this work.

Debbie Longo: Right. Sorry. And when they know that that work is going to take an hour, and that boss knows that that work is going to take an hour, and then he says, oh, can you just do a little bit of this? It’s not going to take that long. And then they’re there. You know what I mean? They’re there for an hour. So this is the thing. So that is a huge thing that bosses do. And then they feel that because the employee said that they would do it, that the boss doesn’t have to pay them. Now they get resentments. The employee gets a resentment, the boss, they have an argument about something, and then they get very angry. And then the employee now doesn’t care, right? Because of all this, that’s happening because she’s not getting paid. And then the boss says, we are going to have to come to an agreement that either you’re going to leave or you’re going to get fired. Okay. And now the employee loses her job when none of this had to happen at all. Okay. If the boss would just pay if you asked somebody if the, the the job duty and the contract that you signed with that company is 9 to 5. If you ask one employee or anybody to work 5:01. That is the the the manager’s or the executive’s duty. Okay. Ethically and morally and legally to to pay that employee. That’s what the employee is there for to get a paycheck and to, you know, be, you know, like what they’re doing or whatever. Right. But this is the thing. So there are a lot of examples of this, right? But to me this is like the most common sense thing. And it’s also the most common.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Um, can we talk a little bit about six Figure Shift Show, which is one of your podcasts? I’d love to hear a little bit about the show. And if it’s I don’t is it a solo podcast? Are you inviting guests and what that looks like?

Debbie Longo: Right. So I have two podcasts, Behavioral Profit and six figure shift show. But what happened was people were because I have a forum for people to fill out, right. And I have a lot of episodes. I have like 25 episodes in like three months. Okay. So what people would I know what people were doing was they were filling out. They were starting to fill out the application for the behavioral profit, and then they realized they didn’t qualify because they couldn’t answer the questions. So they called me or, you know, on email or whatever, got in touch with me and said, I don’t qualify for this. And I said, why? And then they said, well, you know, this is my business. I do this and that, this and that. So I made a show. It all started with one person. Okay. So I made a show just for I know it’s like, you know, this is what I do, right? I’ll do it. You know, anything for anybody. It’s like weird. So I made a show just for somebody. Then somebody else came along, the same thing happened, and then somebody else came. The same thing happened, right? And so now I have the show, but the whole thing is on behavioral profit. Okay.

Debbie Longo: But it indicates it, right? It tells you in the beginning, you know, even in the title. Right? It’ll say six figure shift show, but it’s all on behavioral profit. But eventually I’m going to separate it. Okay. And the behavioral profit is exactly what I talked about in the beginning of this podcast in my introduction. It’s the opposite of psychology. I don’t do psychology. Okay. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not a therapist. I’m not certified. Okay. In that field, not only would it be illegal for me to do right, but this is what I’m trying to not to do, okay? Because so many people, for so many people, it just doesn’t work. Right. And I’m the type of person that even if it’s virtual, right? I’m not sitting at a desk, okay? They’re showing me, you know, their office through the camera, you know, through video conferencing or whatever. It’s a very on, hands on thing. Believe it or not, even though I’m not really there. Right. So there’s all, you know, there’s all different things. You know, I have them sometimes I have them put up posters like in their office, like think positive, different things like that. It’s called visual manifestation. That’s what it’s called. But that’s another whole story.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s another podcast I think. Daddy, don’t start another one.

Speaker4: Right. Exactly. Don’t start another one.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, tell me who your who are your best clients? I know that they need to want and, uh. And they need to want change. They, they need to want to get from negativity to positivity. But who are your typical clients that you work with.

Debbie Longo: Right. So believe it or not, okay, like any business or anything, the people who are familiar with your business are most likely going to be your best clients. Okay, from down from the fast food store, you know, restaurant all the way up to, you know, stockbroker, you know, financial company, okay. Because they’re going to understand really what you’re doing, okay. And they’re going to 100% believe in it rather than trying to convince somebody to believe in it. Okay. So the people that really understand and anybody I can help anybody, they don’t have to be in this specific field, okay. But I’m just doing it for the purposes of answering your question and just making sure that, you know, this is clear, which is fine. The question is fine. Okay. So. People who are in the health field, in the mental field, natural health, chiropractors are okay. Astrologer I had an astrologer on my show once. Um.

Speaker4: Okay.

Debbie Longo: Maybe medical doctor, because a lot of times they medical doctors now they teach about health and holistic different things like that. Okay. But most of the time a massage therapist. Okay. I had another guest, too. That was a massage therapist. I had one that was a psychotherapist. Also. I had another guest too, but she was a coach and she did other things too. She just didn’t do, you know, she just didn’t do your typical talk therapy. She did other things also. So people who are in the holistic field, okay, and who understand mental health and who go beyond giving medication, you know, what we teach in the Western world, okay, take a pill and that’ll solve your problem. You have anger. Okay. I’m going to prescribe you some medication. Just take a pill, okay? If you’re in a depression because of why, you know, there’s a lot of.

Speaker4: Reasons why, right?

Debbie Longo: I’m going to give you a pill. Take this. Right. And then you’ll get out of the depression. It works. And then this is just my experience. If you’re taking the pills and it’s fine, that’s great. But a lot of people, it works. And then it doesn’t work anymore. And then they come back to it because they haven’t solved the problem in the first place.

Speaker4: Right.

Trisha Stetzel: And one pill leads to the next pill to the next pill. And by then we’re just masking side effects of all of the things right that we’re putting into our bodies. So I love that you, um, have a lot of clients that are in the holistic space. Uh, I love, uh, that we take care of people holistically from, you know, business all the way to personal and sleep and all of the things that we should be doing. But I also understand that you can help anybody out there who’s looking to move from this negative space to this positive space. So as we wrap up today, I have one more question for you. Your company is called Life in Bloom. So if you could leave our listeners with one piece of advice about how leaders can truly bloom in both business and life, what would it be?

Debbie Longo: Think about what we talked about today on this podcast. Everything that we spoke about and think if you can relate to anything. If you can relate to one single teeny drop of one part of any sentence that we talked about in this podcast, then think about if you might need help in any way, shape or form. And also you can do an inventory yourself. You know your workday. You know your workplace. Okay. Take a piece of paper. Say this is the start of my workday. And as things go on, do write it down. This one was angry at me. I was angry at that one. And then do an inventory. And then by the end of the day, look at that. Okay. And that will tell you most likely. Okay. What your problem is. Right. So these are things that people can do on their own. But that’s not going to solve the problem. That’s going to tell you what the problem is. That’s it.

Speaker4: Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. And then you’re going to help them get to the core and actually make the shift.

Speaker4: Right. That’s the point. Right. Exactly right. Exactly.

Trisha Stetzel: Debbie this has been such a great conversation. Thank you for coming on with me today.

Debbie Longo: Thank you for having me I really appreciate it. It was fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So you guys, if you want to connect with Debbie, of course all of this will be in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer you can just point and click. Otherwise, when you get home from listening to this in your car, you can visit Life in Bloom, NY for New York dot net, or you can connect with Debbie on LinkedIn. Debbie I l o n g o and it will also say life in bloom and why there? Debbie, again, it has been such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Debbie Longo: Thank you very much. I really appreciate you having me. Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found this conversation that I had with Debbie today. Of value or even of greater value than you could have ever imagined, then please share it. Share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston business leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

 

Nathan Turner with Earnest Investing

October 6, 2025 by angishields

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Nathan-TurnerNathan Turner is a seasoned mortgage note investor and the visionary behind Earnest Investing, a firm dedicated to helping individuals achieve passive income through note investing. With a strong foundation in real estate, Nathan made the strategic pivot from traditional property ownership to mortgage notes—an asset class that allows investors to diversify their portfolios while generating reliable, secured cash flow.

Through Earnest Investing, Nathan guides investors in understanding and entering the world of note investing with a focus on sustainability, ethical loan structuring, and long-term wealth building. His approach is rooted in years of hands-on experience and a commitment to education, transparency, and trust.

In his conversation with Trisha, Nathan detailed his journey into note investing and the motivations behind launching the Diversified Mortgage Expo, an annual event that brings together thought leaders and practitioners from across the note investing and seller-financing sectors. He emphasized the power of seller-financed notes—particularly in Texas—and how they can serve as a powerful tool for both buyers and investors. Earnest-Investing-logo

Nathan also previewed his upcoming book, “Passive Secured Unique”, where he shares strategies for building a retirement portfolio through mortgage notes. Throughout the conversation, he underlined the importance of investor education and ethical practices as key drivers of long-term success in the note space.

Whether you’re new to note investing or a seasoned investor looking to expand your portfolio, Nathan Turner offers the tools, experience, and community to help you earn passively, securely, and intelligently.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-turner-a9a1b510
Website: https://earnestinvesting.com/

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Nathan Turner, founder of Earnest Investing and a seasoned mortgage note investor. We’re going to talk a little bit more about that later. After years in traditional real estate, Nathan transitioned into specializing in mortgage notes, helping investors diversify their portfolios and generate steady passive income. He also runs the Diversified Mortgage Expo, an annual event that brings together experts in note investing and seller financing. Nathan’s mission is to build lasting relationships and educate investors at every level, and he’s here to share why? Note investing is a powerful alternative to traditional real estate. Nathan, welcome to the show.

Nathan Turner: I’m so glad to be here. Thank you so much.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m very excited to have you today. So tell us a little bit more about Nathan and then let’s dive into earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. Sounds good. So I’m Nathan Turner. I have been in note investing for about 15 years. But outside of that, probably the most unique thing is I live in Canada, so I live just outside of Calgary, Alberta. Uh, which, if you don’t know, that’s fine. There’s the Calgary Stampede. If you’re in the rodeo business, you maybe have heard of that. If not, I’m about an hour outside of Banff and I think everyone’s heard of that one. And it’s it is as pretty as all the pictures. It’s as pretty as everybody says. So if you haven’t visited yet, it’s definitely worth it. Um, I, uh, I’d like to just be outside as much as I can. I’d like to go and visit all the mountains. I like to go and hike. I like snowboarding, I like doing all those fun things and got my three kids, and we tried to go on as many adventures as we can. And, uh, my wife, of course, is always by my side and she’s the best.

Trisha Stetzel: And we had to put that in there. Uh, she didn’t pay us. I’m just kidding.

Nathan Turner: No.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, we. And we have something else in common. We love snowboarding, too, so we’ll have to have a.

Nathan Turner: Fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Nathan. Excellent. Uh, okay, so let’s talk a little bit more about your business. So tell me more about earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. So earnest investing is a is actually a fund that we put together a little over a year ago. Um, and it is based on, you know, investors put money into the fund, and then I go out and buy mortgage notes. And in Texas there are deeds of trust. But same thing. Uh, not the same thing, but For our purposes, the same thing. It’s. It’s a loan against a property. Uh, so somebody, you know, they want to go and buy a house. Great. So you typically we go to the bank, uh, we get a loan from the bank. They set it up as either a mortgage or deed of trust, depending on the state. At some point in the future, uh, the bank or the lender, whoever it is that gave you that loan says, you know what? I would rather recapitalize, get my cash back and move on and do something else with that capital. So then they contact somebody like me and I say, well, I will do that. I will buy whatever that loan is that you’ve got. Outstanding. Uh, and I step into the role of the lender. So I don’t actually lend out the money, but I do. I technically am a lender. I step into that role and I become the bank for whoever’s living in the house.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Very interesting. So you started in traditional real estate, uh, before you transitioned into mortgage notes. So number one, what made you shift and what advantages denotes offer that people often overlook?

Nathan Turner: So why did I shift? That’s a great question. So I really like let’s just, you know, get it straight. I love real estate. I’m a big, big fan. Um, I was doing fix and flip back when it was really easy to do that 2005 and six, where the market was just really conducive to fix and flip. It was very easy to do. Um, as the market turned, I got stuck with actually just one property that I ended up becoming a landlord. I liked that much less, uh, being a landlord was a lot more work and, uh, just yeah, a lot more to do, more headaches and things to deal with. Uh, but I did like that monthly income, and that was an attractive part of it for me. So I didn’t like the landlording thing I did. I do like real estate. I like that there’s a hard asset there. I was introduced into this world of of note investing, uh, about late 2008 and 2009, where, um, you can buy just the loan instead of taking over the property as the bank. We don’t actually take ownership of the house. So whoever’s living in the house, they still retain ownership, but the loan itself transfers over to me. So what that means for me is I get all of that monthly income, the part that I did like without having to take care of the property, the part that I didn’t like. So to me, it was just like the perfect marriage of of how this all comes together and best of both worlds in my mind.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So my next question was going to be, how does the investor actually make money from buying the loan? So do you want to take that a little bit deeper for us?

Nathan Turner: Sure. Yeah. So um, when I’m looking at buying any kind of a loan, Let’s put some numbers behind it just to make it a little easier to visualize. So we’ll use easy numbers. These are maybe not realistic, but just stay with me. So let’s say the balance of the loan is $100,000. The house is worth 150. Um, I would come along and there’s a lot of factors that go into it. What’s the interest rate? You know, how long is the term, uh, where is it located? When what’s the payment history? All those kind of things go into it. But for super simple discussion we say, okay, so if the balance is $100,000, um, I’m willing to pay out the bank and become that the new bank and step into that role. I anytime that I’m going to do that, I am taking on a little bit of a risk. Uh, you know, I haven’t formed this relationship with the borrower. I this is stepping into a different situation. So it’s always done at a discount. So if it’s $100,000 balance, I’m probably not going to pay more than, let’s say, 80,000. And again, like I said, there’s lots of factors and there’s lots of things that go behind that. But in any case, I’m going to buy it at some kind of a discount. So because I’ve bought it at a discount, whatever that posted rate is, let’s say the rate today is 7% because I bought it at a discount. My return would actually jump up to nine, ten, 11 somewhere in there depending on on all those other factors. So automatically I end up stepping into a higher return. Plus I’ve got an additional equity position in there. So it just increases my safety, helps me feel a little bit better about the whole investment as a whole.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So I’m guessing I’m not the only one. Some of the listeners have probably never heard of this before.

Nathan Turner: Most likely.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So I’m curious because you’ve been doing this, it sounds like since around 2008, 2009. Um, are you seeing trends in your industry where more people are doing node investing? Or is it still like this big secret?

Nathan Turner: It’s mostly secret still, which is it’s fascinating to me because it’s actually been around a very long time. And especially in Texas, seller financing is done more in Texas than anywhere else in the country combined. In fact, there’s a higher rate of seller financed loans being created than anywhere else. Even if you combine all the other states together, they don’t add up to what Texas does. So I’m actually a big fan of Texas loans. They’re fantastic. But because of that, uh, I forgot where I was going on that.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. No worries. It was. I was asking if it’s still secret or are you seeing.

Speaker4: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: That way.

Nathan Turner: Right. So yeah, it’s still relatively unknown, which is kind of interesting and I, I honestly don’t exactly know why. Um, it’s a great business and there’s not a ton of barriers to entry there. There’s certainly some education that you need to get because we’re dealing with the finance, not the property. Uh, which takes a little while to get your head around, but, uh, but because of that fact, maybe that’s what it is, but I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not as well known as I think it should be. But anyway, I don’t mind it being a secret either, so I guess I’m okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, it’s not a secret anymore, because everyone’s listening.

Nathan Turner: Nathan, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Um, so we’re about halfway through, and I’m sure people are already interested in having a conversation. Especially my Texas friends may want to learn more or even have a conversation with you. What is the best way to connect with you?

Nathan Turner: Nathan I think probably the best way is to just go to the website, uh, which is Ernest Investing.com, and that’s e a r. So Ernest Investing.com is, uh, place where you can learn a little bit more about notes. There’s a link there to the Diversified Mortgage Expo. And then of course, there’s a couple of different places on there where you can create an appointment with me and we can have a conversation.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. And you guys, as always, I’ll have that in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer, you can just point and click to find out more about Nathan, his business, as well as a few other things. So, Nathan, I heard through the grapevine that you have a book coming out. Can we talk about that?

Nathan Turner: Sure. Well, I’m just putting the finishing touches on it, so it should be ready here very shortly. I think it’ll be ready by the time this airs.

Speaker4: But yes, it is.

Trisha Stetzel: Tell us more.

Nathan Turner: I’m really excited about this because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I think part of me thought, you know what? I think I need enough experience to be able to have the right to write a book. Uh, and I feel like I’m there now. So the book is really all about, um, my journey and notes in general and what that’s all about. And I’ll turns out it just kind of in the writing of it. It really kind of focused on the community of note investing and what a big deal that is and how important that is to just get into this world where generally we pretty much all know each other and I love it. I love that we get to just be this, you know, little secret society almost. We’re doing this business. It’s great.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. Okay. So have you titled the book yet?

Nathan Turner: Yes, it’s called Passive Secured Unique, which is the tagline for my business.

Speaker4: Okay.

Nathan Turner: And yeah, so it’s just talking about this really cool business which is passive and secured by real estate. And it’s really unique. Not a lot of people know about it.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, that’s fantastic. So where can folks find it, since we know that it’s going to be out and ready for purchase?

Nathan Turner: Yeah. Uh, at the very least on the website, we’ll we’ll have links there to be able to acquire it. However that’s going to go out. We’re not exactly sure yet. But, uh, but definitely on the website. That’ll be the place to start.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Congratulations. That is an amazing accomplishment. And yes, you’ve been doing this business absolutely long enough to write about it. So you guys go to Ernest Investing.com e a n e investing.com to check out that information around the book. All right, Nathan, I want to know a little bit more about the Diversified Mortgage Expo. What time of year does that happen? Tell me who should come to it where it happens?

Speaker4: Yeah.

Nathan Turner: Diversified Mortgage Expo is so much fun. We we took this over. My wife and I, we, uh, took this over about three years ago. Uh, we run it at the beginning of May, typically that first weekend in May in Nashville, Tennessee. And it’s just a place for everybody to come together and everybody is anybody who’s brand new to the business, and they’ve just barely heard about this all the way to people who have multi-million dollar funds. And it just it it makes me so happy to see all these people coming together. And node investors are some of the friendliest people out there and so open and so sharing with everything. So somebody who’s brand new can show up and go and sit at the same table as somebody who’s very seasoned and, you know, has all these assets under management and everything else, and they can have a really great conversation and there’s no judgment. There’s no like, oh, well, talk to me when you’ve done this a while and there’s nothing like that. It’s very inviting. It’s very open. We come together the night before we start the conference. We do an ax throwing tournament, uh, just to help break the ice and have some fun. And then it’s a no sales, you know, purely in informational, educational, so that you can learn more about this. And, and really the idea is that you can meet other people that are in the business so that you can start making some connections and get some business done.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Okay, so Nathan’s giving us some information about the secret society of node investing and this expo. So you guys if you want, if you’re interested in node investing and you want to learn more about the expo, please reach out to Nathan. I am sure he’s happy to share the information about both with you guys. All right. I want to jump back if it’s okay. So that was fun, but I want to jump back over to node investing. What are some of the biggest challenges that you see in that space, and how do you coach others or even yourself, uh, to overcome those challenges?

Nathan Turner: So there’s a few things. Um, regulation is a big one. And just learning the ropes. And part of what makes that challenging is. Yes, there are some national standards, but then there are also some state specific standards. And so learning what’s okay in Texas versus Florida versus Ohio, uh, and they’re very different. And they’re depending on what happens and how it’s set up, how you deal with a non-performer if they start, if they default, what happens there? Each state has their own way of dealing with it. So getting that education up front is really important. And again, that’s not a pitch because I don’t teach. But I can certainly introduce you to some people who do. So understanding how it works to begin with, that’s a that’s a major challenge. And that’s something that you really need to focus on before you decide you want to jump into this. On the back end of that, let’s say you do end up getting a defaulted note. Let’s say, you know, somebody’s paying. Something happens. Uh, there’s some life challenge that comes their way and they’re not able to make payments. Almost always, I’ll just preface that almost always, if we do end up going to a foreclosure, it’s usually because the house is vacant.

Nathan Turner: Uh, and maybe they’ve passed away or they’ve abandoned the property. That’s usually when foreclosure happens. It’s very rare that we actually foreclose on a person. It’s usually just on an empty house. That being said, once we take back that property, that’s the next big risk is we’re getting into a property where because we’ve only bought the note, uh, we don’t actually have the right to go inside that house. Unlike traditional real estate. So as much as we have seen it from the outside, we’ve sent somebody out there to go and look at it and observe and everything else. It has happened for sure. Where we take back that property, we get inside and. Oh no. And it’s certainly not what we thought it was going to be. So that’s the it taking back that house. And then, you know, maybe we start doing renovations and we open up a wall and we go, oh, shoot, there’s that. Uh, and that’s the risk where we end up, um, having most of our challenges is when we actually start dealing with the property itself.

Speaker4: Wow.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, that sounds a little scary.

Speaker4: Uh, so they’re a little bit risky.

Trisha Stetzel: A little risk involved, right? Uh, it’s not all, um, roses, right? Uh, and I think with any, any kind of investing, there’s a bit of risk or calculated risk.

Speaker4: Um, when.

Nathan Turner: Absolutely. And it’s something you need to be aware of and, and to take into account, like you say, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I wish it was. That would make my life so much easier. But no, it it’s a real business. There are real challenges. Uh, so you just need to be prepared for that.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so, Nathan, um, we know there’s a book coming out. It’s probably already out. Uh, for those of you who are listening today. So go and take a look for the book on Ernest Investing.com. What’s next for you, Nathan? And for earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: I. I am in the midst of, um, preparing my long term play. So as I’m running this fund, part of that, you know, my income is, of course, mixed in with that. Um, and then a big focus for me is building up my own portfolio. And for me, this is my retirement. Um, the plan is, you know, get a whole bunch of notes, uh, that are making monthly payments. And then there’s some management involved with that, of course. Uh, but more or less, I’m, you know, quote unquote, retired where my wife and I can go and travel. My, our kids are just about all gone. Uh, we’ve got one left in high school for another couple of years, and then he’ll move out. And then I don’t know, you know, whether that’s going visiting kids or whether that’s going and doing whatever, uh, different service around the world or who knows what. But, uh, but we’ll be set up to where we can make that choice, and we can have the freedom to be able to go and do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it. So that’s the long term play.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that when you first got into real estate, did you think this was going to be the legacy? Uh, the long term plan for you was real estate.

Nathan Turner: Um, I was hoping it would be I. But at the same time, when I very first got involved, it was fix and flip. And so that’s very physically taxing. And so I recognize that, um, you know, I can only last so long doing that kind of thing. Uh, so that was part of the question is like, how do we make this work long term? And, you know, you can hire crews and all those kind of things. Uh, and definitely that works. But the market’s not always really good for flipping. So. Okay. What about renting. Well same thing then you now you’re dealing with tenants and there’s turnover and again repairs to the property those kinds of things. So surely there’s something else, a different way that this can work. So that’s why I think notes is such a great fit for me.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So you talked a little bit about or you just said you were introduced to note investing around 2000, 2008. Can you tell me a little bit more about that experience? So you’re in traditional real estate. You’ve done all the hard work, the labor behind fix and Flip. Uh, and you were introduced to note investing. So how did that even happen?

Nathan Turner: Yeah. You know, it’s another one of those cases of right place, right time, uh, where I, a colleague of mine, he called me up and said, hey, I’ve got this opportunity. Are you interested? We had, uh, been given charge over about 60 properties, mostly centered in the Midwest. Uh, a couple kind of spread out here and there. But it was a deal where these investors had bought this portfolio of properties. They’re supposed to flip it out to another group. Of course, this was back in 2007, when everything seemed like it was never going to end. Uh, the deal went south, and now they’re stuck with all these properties. So they’d contacted us and said, okay, so can you guys do something? Uh, they had their own, you know, full time jobs. Whatever. Can you guys figure this out? So we we thought we’d come up with the whole concept of seller finance. We thought we were pretty smart there, uh, because, again, we’d never heard of it. It’s still not that common. So we started selling these houses on terms. So basically seller financing, uh, we would take a down payment and then structure a monthly payment plan that included principal and interest payment.

Nathan Turner: And again, we thought we’d invented seller finance. So it was in the in the time where we had created some of these notes and I was looking for, okay, so what’s our back end like? We I don’t know that we want to hang on to these long terms. So surely, you know, you can sell a turnkey rental. So to me this is even better. We don’t even have to take care of the property. So, doing some internet research, I went and took a class down in Houston. In fact, uh, where it was all about this guy that was teaching about, uh, buying the kind of notes that I was creating. So I thought, oh, this is perfect. What a great fit. And then in the course of that, um, class, he said, well, there’s a conference coming up in fall of 2009, in New Orleans. You should come and check that out. And I go into this room and there’s like 200 investors in there that have been doing this for 30 years. And I’m like, this, this is a thing. People do this. No way. And so to me, that was it. Like I was hooked right away.

Speaker4: Yeah. That was really the introduction.

Nathan Turner: Right place, right time.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. Uh, maybe you should come to Texas and buy the billion dollar lottery ticket, and I’ll. I’ll be your best friend. I’m kidding.

Speaker4: There you go.

Trisha Stetzel: Right place at the right time.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, okay, I’ve got one more question for you as we wrap up, Nathan. Looking ahead. Um, what do you see as the future of node investing? And how do you think it’s going to open up new opportunities for everyday investors who have maybe never considered it, like you so many years ago?

Nathan Turner: Yeah, that’s a great question because, um, I think partially, you know, to understand the future, we got to look at the past. So as I was getting into this business, I thought, so how long is this going to last? You know, what’s the opportunity here is kind of trying to plan for the future, to see exactly this, you know, how long could I do this? And, uh, in the middle of doing that, I’m like, okay, well, these guys have been doing it for 30 years, you know, since the 80s. Whatever has been around longer than that. And then it was watching a movie with my wife about somebody in the 1800s where this guy had bought this woman’s debts, and he was kind of holding it over her. And now I own your debts. And I was like, wait, wait, that’s what I do. I buy other people’s debts. I’m like, okay, so it’s been around at least that long. And then later we’re, you know, in Sunday school and church and and talking about buying debts in the Bible, I’m like, wait a second. So it’s been around really pretty much forever. Uh, going forward, I think that seller finance is going to be I think it’s going to become more and more common.

Nathan Turner: Uh, dealing with banks is increasingly more difficult. And there’s a better way that within reason, of course, like we we have to set up these loans that are ethical and proper. We never want to be taking advantage of anybody. Um, but there are many situations where banks really don’t know how to deal with somebody who’s self-employed, for example. Um, and we’re seeing a rise in that, and people are starting to work for themselves more. Well, if banks can’t figure that out, that’s where we come in. And then we’ve got these seller finance, uh, type of offers that we can come up with. And then that creates a secondary market where somebody says, well, I’ve created this note now I’d like to cash out of it. So they come in, contact somebody like me. I think that that’s going to be a bigger portion of what we’re buying going forward. Uh, barring something happening in the world that that creates another opportunity. But there’s always going to be something out there for sure.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been so much fun, Nathan. I learned something that I had no idea. I’m so glad that we, uh, had the opportunity to have this conversation today and appreciate you sharing so much information about the secret society. There might be people who are interested in joining. I’m just saying.

Speaker4: Absolutely, absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Nathan, one more time. Share your contact information with the audience, please.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. So the website is Ernest Investing.com. Uh, and that’s e n e s t, and, uh, that’s the place to go for whatever you want to learn some more about it. If you want to connect to the Diversified Mortgage Expo or if you wanted to set an appointment and come and talk to me, and I’m happy to chat and just see what we can do together.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, or by or by Nathan’s book or by.

Speaker4: Or find the book there too. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: I love this. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time today, Nathan.

Speaker4: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation I had with Nathan today, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours 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.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Generating Referrals Without Making It Weird

October 6, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Generating Referrals Without Making It Weird

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton, here with you. Lee, I want to chat a little bit about generating referrals, and maybe it’s just me, but I doubt it. I always feel a little bit sheepish, a little bit weird, I don’t know. Sometimes I’m a little reluctant to jump in and try to get referrals. Any ideas on that?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think it’s so important. Especially in professional services and with all the business coaches we work with, it’s important to have some sort of referral strategy that you can execute without making it weird. So many coaches and professional service advisors rely on word of mouth and referrals to grow their business. So you have to get this right.

Lee Kantor: Here are some tactics for authentic referral requests without sounding desperate. Number one, deliver value before the ask. Before you even think about asking for a referral, make sure you’ve genuinely helped your client or contact achieve some sort of real result or solved an actual pain point for them. So show up. Add value. Prove your worth. Then a referral just feels like a natural next step.

Lee Kantor: Number two, be specific. Don’t ask, “Hey, do you know anyone who could use my help?” That’s too vague, and that puts pressure on the other person to think about it. And you don’t want them to be doing too much work.

Lee Kantor: At Business RadioX, we asked for business coaches. That’s our avatar right now. And we make it simple for them to say, “Oh, I do know someone like that.” So make sure you make it easy for them.

Lee Kantor: So in order to make it easy, I would recommend drafting some sort of an intro email that they can just copy and paste. Offer to connect directly, or even record an audio or video that they can forward. You want to make it as easy as possible, as seamless as possible. So the less work they have to do, the more likely they’ll actually refer you, and you’ll be keeping it all feeling effortless and not awkward.

Lee Kantor: This is something that I highly recommend anybody in professional services or a business coach to try. You want to have kind of a machine in place that makes this type of referral generation easy without making it weird.

Building Trust and Financial Success: Will Bearden with PSA Wealth

October 6, 2025 by angishields

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Joshua Kornitsky interviews Will Bearden, Co-Owner of PSA Wealth. Drawing from his background as a former West Georgia quarterback and coach, Will shares insights on the importance of trust in financial planning, especially for high-net-worth business owners. The conversation covers how PSA Wealth tailors its fee-based financial planning services to meet the unique needs of each business owner, dispelling the myth of “one size fits all” in wealth management. Will emphasizes the value of building authentic, long-term client relationships, proactive planning, and serving as a “personal CFO” for clients. He discusses the challenges business owners face—from cash flow and tax planning to succession strategies—and relates them to leadership lessons from football and coaching. 

Will-BeardenWill Bearden is a Co-Owner of PSA Wealth.

With a strong focus on financial planning for business owners, Will combines deep expertise with a client-centered approach to help individuals and families achieve their financial dreams.

Will’s philosophy centers on understanding each client’s unique goals and crafting tailored financial plans to match. Known for building enduring relationships, he leverages his extensive knowledge of financial strategies, market insights, and personalized solutions to secure his clients’ futures—whether they’re planning for retirement, protecting assets, or growing their wealth.

A Georgia native, Will’s roots run deep in his community, where he embodies the values of hard work, integrity, and family. These principles shape his approach, emphasizing stability and long-term success for his clients, from entrepreneurs to multigenerational families.

Beyond the office, Will is a devoted husband and father, cherishing time with his wife, daughter, and two golden retrievers. An active community member, he coaches high school football and supports local organizations, reflecting his commitment to giving back.

PSA Wealth provides holistic financial advice and planning to their clients through a team approach that is comprehensive, deeply personal, and highly professional.

Our team of experienced advisors have detailed knowledge in:

– Business Continuity & Succession Planning
– Investment & Asset Management
– Insurance Services
– Executive Compensation
– Estate & Legacy Planning

www.psawealth.com
Email – will@psawealth.com
Phone – 404-432-8362
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/willbearden/
CRN202809-9460546

Episode Highlights

  • The core role of trust in financial planning and how PSA Wealth builds authentic relationships with clients through personalized service and education
  • Parallels between Will’s experience as a quarterback and coach to leading business owners, emphasizing teamwork, strategic vision, and adaptability in financial success
  • The importance of building a reliable advisory team and suggests that business owners seek guidance when growing complexity, ensuring long-term stability and sound decision-making

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 another exciting episode of High Velocity Radio. I am Joshua Kornitsky professional EOS implementer and your host. And our guest today is Will Bearden. Will is the founder and CEO of PSA Wealth. He’s a former West Georgia quarterback who later moved into coaching, but Will describes himself as being in the trust business. He’s focused on building authentic relationships and really helping people succeed through sound decisions and real connections. So Will, tell us about yourself.

Will Beardon: Yeah. Joshua, thanks. Thanks so much for for having me on. Um, like you said, I own a company called PSA wealth. We do fee based financial planning, uh, Specifically for high net worth business owners. Um, you know, starting off in the, you know, my sports background, playing football my whole life moved into coaching. Um, always had kind of an entrepreneurial spirit. I got a business degree, an MBA, and always knew I wanted to to start my own thing. Long story short, got an opportunity with a good, good friend of mine to, um, to get in the financial services space. So, um, for the first couple years, figuring things out. Found our found our niche, which is is serving business owners. Right. And so we’ve kind of built a firm around, um, you know, supporting high net worth business owners who have a growing business that have more problems than they’ve they’ve had in the past, tax problems, cash problems, um, you know, managing risk, figuring out how to grow and exit eventually. So that’s a that’s a 32nd intro if you want to.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so I want to jump on something that came from, from our initial dialog, which was, which was around this very, very important concept of trust. Right? And with you being in the trust business, help us understand what that really means, particularly for the types of folks that you deal with. Because if you’re dealing with high net worth individuals, my assumption is, uh, trust is not easily earned and is deeply, deeply guarded.

Will Beardon: Yeah, 100%. So the way, the way we think about this is there’s a lot of information out there today. Like, if you could say anything about today’s world, there’s no lack of access to information.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s for.

Will Beardon: Sure. Especially now with with AI. And at any moment anybody can have a piece of information at their fingertips. Right. Um, but the next question typically is like, how do I trust this information I’m getting right? And so, um, with, with our clients, there’s really kind of two things we talk about. One is I don’t want to have thousands of clients, okay? I want I want to be able to pick up the phone when you, when you call, uh, we want to be accessible. We’re never going to be the cheapest, but we want to provide authentic, real, quality advice that our clients can trust and know that we can work through solutions and problems with them. Right. Um, and the second thing is like, how do we do that? The first way is just through education. Uh, we tell our clients, we don’t. You know, I’m not just going to, like, give you a list of things to do and say, hey, good luck. Go do it. Here’s what you here’s your recommendations. Have fun. Right. It’s just educating them to to make their own decisions. Right. My job is to put all the information in front of you, let you make empowered decisions on your own. Right? And then the beauty of of what we do is comes at the last part, which is just execution, right? I can tell you all the the quote unquote perfect advice in the world, but if it doesn’t actually get done, it doesn’t get implemented, it doesn’t matter. Right? So I think all of that together, you know, is is tailored around Trust. And, you know, I could, you know, have a really wide, uh, spread and go for every single person that ever existed and provide financial advice to everybody or.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Will Beardon: Yeah. Target one specific group and go in really deep within that group. And that’s kind of what we’re building here. Um, so that they, they do trust what we’re saying. They do trust that we can actually get things done for them.

Joshua Kornitsky: So is it one size fits all, or do you get to know your clients so that you know their priorities are.

Will Beardon: Yeah, I would say it’s anything but one size fits all. Of course there’s commonalities, right? But every client that walks through the door, we don’t put them into our process, into our system. It’s like, no, let’s break all the walls down and let’s go to them. Because, as you know, a business owner, there’s no two business owners that are alike, right? So everybody’s got a different business. Everybody’s got a different personal Financial. Um, you know, situation to where we we go to them. There’s pillars we talk through, obviously. Um, but we try to build a custom design model, both on the service side and the advice side to where we can meet them, where they’re at, and then just help be a partner. We like to say like, hey, I want to be your personal CFO, right? So it’s more so that than just, hey, here’s a bunch of recommendations, trust me, and I’ll see you next year.

Joshua Kornitsky: So, so it’s really it’s tailored to the individual, to their needs, to the things that matter to them.

Will Beardon: 100%.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s got to make a big difference. And and I guess that’s really the, the foundation of where that trust comes from. Because you’re not just saying, hey, here’s the portfolio, put your money in it and just trust that it’ll grow.

Will Beardon: Right. You know, I related a lot to, um, like, uh, exercise and nutrition, right? Everyone knows how you get fit. Is is exercise and eat, right? Like, everyone knows the answer. Everyone knows the the cheat code, right? It’s like, why isn’t everybody successful at that? Well, it’s like it’s hard to be consistent and do that over time, right? That’s why you hire a personal trainer. Our industry is no different. Like, hey, hey, guys, this revolutionary just, uh, spend less than you make and then save a bunch of money and whatever you have.

Joshua Kornitsky: Low sell high.

Will Beardon: Yeah, well, you know, it’s like there’s there’s. I didn’t invent anything. We do. Right? But it’s keeping our clients accountable, making sure we’re staying on top and proactively planning throughout the year, not just once a year. Um, so. Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so let me ask you on that. Right. You’ve you’ve narrowed your focus, which is certainly something I can appreciate. And you know exactly who it is that you’re serving best. What are some of the misconceptions that that those clients that that you know, you aligned well with? What are some of the misconceptions that they show up with that you have to help them better understand because to your earlier point, the world is full of information. There’s also a lot of bad information.

Will Beardon: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think the biggest one in our industry in general, they think, hey, I’m going to go if I’m going to go hire a financial advisor, right? I’m just going to give my money to some random person. I’m going to see them once a year. We’re going to look at a spreadsheet that has a return like a, you know, a internal rate of return on it. And then if the market’s down, you’re going to call and you’re going to complain the market’s up, you’re not going to hear from anybody. So like that I think is you know the the stereotype in our industry. Right. And certainly that is out there. Um, and that is maybe good for some people. However like what we do, we try to really hone in on on the term financial planning. And in my eyes, it’s so different than just traditional wealth management. We do wealth management. And I feel like we do a really, really good job at that. But it’s about 20% of what we do, right? There’s such a, you know, a big, broad world of financial planning that needs to go into somebody’s, you know, personal like financial plan. Right. Um, for them to get the most out of it. So a common misconception is that, like, hey, this is just one singular focus and that’s helping you invest money in most business owners, they think, and they’re probably right. I can do a better job investing in my business, you know? But it’s like, hey, what about all the other pieces of the puzzle that you have not addressed in your financial plan? So I think that’s something I have to get our clients over. The hurdle of when we first meet.

Joshua Kornitsky: Makes sense to me. And I know based on my own experience of particularly working with folks who have a very entrepreneurial mindset, they typically approach problems from a I know how to solve this perspective because they have historically gone, ready, fire, aim and figured it out as they went. But when you’re talking about any kind of financial planning or services. You’re welcome to do that. But my presumption is it can be awfully expensive if you take that approach.

Will Beardon: Yeah, 100%, I say in my, um, as you’ll learn, Josh, I have a lot of, like, slogans, right? And all of them I’ve stolen from other people. But I got this one from Alex, from Ozy. But he says.

Joshua Kornitsky: Taking inspiration from.

Will Beardon: Yeah. That’s right, that’s right. Um, he says the the biggest tax we all pay every year is our ignorance tax. Right? And so when you kind of look at your business and your, your personal financials through that lens, like it’s really easy to start adding up some numbers, right. Um, because specifically with our business owners, right. We’re talking about developing their personal financial plan. We’re talking about growing the enterprise value of their business and understanding what what moves that needle for people, how to manage their cash and their cash flow in the business, how to mitigate some taxes, whether it be capital gains, income tax Estate tax. Right. Mitigating risk in their business and in their personal world. And then how are we going to, you know, create an exit succession plan for our business one day? Right. So when you. Yeah. Like that just in that what I just mentioned, like you’re talking about, you know, tons and tons of value that not like we’re not the ones solving every problem by ourselves, but it’s like, who’s the advisory team that we can build around you. We can help play quarterback a little bit, but but we’re going to build an advisory team to help check these boxes to where you can go run your business. And hey, the the random tax question that comes up or the random legal question or the estate question or whatever it may be, it’s like, I’m just going to go bring this to my team and I have confidence they’re going to solve that problem.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you brought it up. So I’ve got to ask, right. You you’ve been the literal quarterback of a team. You’ve also been a coach of a team. Presumably you’ve done many roles within both both coaching and as a player. It sounds to me like at a high level, a lot of your perspective comes from that strategic vision that you’ve got to bring into a game, right? How how does your background as a quarterback and as a coach factor into how you advise?

Will Beardon: Yeah, that’s a great, great question. Um, I think I think coaching football, playing football, there’s so many similarities to what we do and to business just in general. And I often think like if a business owner is struggling, I’m sure you see this all the time, right, in your business. But if a business owner is struggling, they could probably look to a college football coach and get some advice right about managing their team, helping, you know, be consistent year after year having systems and processes. Like there’s so like we could talk for three hours about that. Right. But um, I do think um, just from a financial planning perspective and what we do for clients, it is kind of like being, you know, a quarterback. It sounds cheesy. Whatever. Quarterbacks got to know what what every position is doing. They’ve got to know what everything’s going on on the field, not only on offense but also on defense. Right. Um, they’ve they’ve got to stay ahead of everything. They’ve got to know where the first down marker is and they’ve got to, you know, communicate with everybody effectively. And that’s what I feel like we do. Right. Uh, in order for our clients to get where they want to go and achieve and win the game, we got to communicate. We got to make sure everybody’s lined up doing their job effectively so we can just move the chains and get down the field. Right. So that is kind of where that analogy comes from a little bit.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, it makes sense.

Will Beardon: Yeah for sure. And in coaching too, I feel like that’s very, very similar to like running a business. Right. Hey, build the system, make it really simple, put your players in good position to go win and then stay the heck out of the way, right? That’s at the end of the day. Like that is coaching.

Joshua Kornitsky: If you’ve got the right people in the right positions executing on a clear plan, which it sounds like are are all of the things that you’re encouraging your, your clients to do, you certainly stand a much better chance of success. Nobody can predict the the large financial movements, but if you have everybody on the same page going in the same direction, knowing what the plan is, you’re probably in a lot better of a position.

Will Beardon: Right? And you’ve all you’ve seen the both on the player and the coach side, right. The player who tries to do everything by himself. Right? Or the coach, the head coach who micromanages and does everybody’s job for them. Right. Well, it’s like, hey, if you’ve got good people and good players, let them. Let them do their job. Right, right. And so again, that’s kind of where we come into play. Like this is all I do every day. And this is my absolute dream to get to look under the hood of successful businesses and their owners to to just pull out like, hey, this is what’s working. This is what isn’t. Here’s quality sound advice, you know, let us help be a partner to get you through these uncertain, you know, things that are happening in your life.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and and like, uh, again to to step away. But the last tie into the football analogy, like any plan that a coach and the quarterback decide before they go into the game, you have to adapt as you play because the landscape changes.

Will Beardon: Right.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it sounds to me like you do a pretty good job of of trying to forecast within the the confines of what’s visible to you, of how to guide, but you’ve got to be flexible enough to help guide them through challenges they weren’t expecting.

Will Beardon: Right. And I think our business model is kind of adapted out of necessity. Right. So business owners their world changes weekly, if not daily. You know, there’s new opportunities that come up all the time new complexities, new business, you know, other ideas, etc. that they need to run by their team. And every, every quarter there’s new things to talk about, right? It’s tax time. We got to talk about taxes right. You know end of the year we got to reallocate funds to invest back in the business. So there’s there’s so much happening that we had to change our model and go I can’t just meet with the business owner once a year because they’re constantly changing.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Will Beardon: By that time they’re moved on. They’ve talked to a million people. They have no idea what we did last year. And so it’s like, hey, why don’t we talk to him monthly? It sounds like a crazy idea, but if we’re constantly in front of them providing value, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, it’s it’s going to be a lot more, you know, cohesive relationship and we’re all going to get more value.

Joshua Kornitsky: You can’t take the pulse of a patient once a year and expect the patient to stay healthy.

Will Beardon: 100%, yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so can you think of in understanding the confidential nature of of who you interact with, not asking for any names or things like that. If you think back in the clients you’ve advised and the work that you’ve done, um, can you give us maybe a story or an example of of where you helped? I don’t want to say, right, the ship. It’s the wrong analogy where you helped either work towards their goal in a way that maybe they didn’t anticipate or work away from a danger that they thought, you know, I have no opinion on investment vehicles, but the easy thing to point out is cryptocurrency, which depending on where you fall on it, and I have no opinion, is either the greatest thing ever, the worst thing you could possibly imagine, or somewhere in between. Right. And I’m not teeing you up with crypto, just as an example. Is anything like that that you can share?

Will Beardon: No. For sure. I definitely don’t shy away from that conversation. And the answer is it depends, right? Like there are.

Joshua Kornitsky: 99% of the other questions.

Will Beardon: Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know, there are some things that are good for some people and some things that aren’t. Right. That’s that’s the, you know, cop out answer. But but to answer your other question is, um, uh, I can maybe talk through specifically one, one situation. Um, but to preface our our greatest value comes from just making complex problems seem simple. Okay. And the world we live in can get as complex as you want it to be, right? And it does nobody any good for me to talk super high over their head and try to solve their problems. Right, without them understanding. I take very, very pride. So when I, when I taught, um, after I got done coaching college football, I taught in high school for a couple years.

Joshua Kornitsky: You are brave.

Will Beardon: And I taught I taught high school geometry. So I tell people, if I can teach ninth graders geometry, I can teach anybody anything. Okay, so, um, I try to make complex problems simple so they can understand it, digest it, and then we can, you know, put it to action. So, um, we had a situation, uh, an unfortunate situation where one of our clients, um, parents had passed away and the family had was left with 50% of a pretty sizable business. And so we were we were tasked with the other partners in the relationship to create a create a plan to get the shares to the sun, to where you could step in and and run the company. Right. And so, um, taking, you know, taking about six months of meeting with the attorneys, meeting with the CPA, like it was a new relationship for us. Um, we had to step in and figure out, like, what’s the best situation for for both sides, the, the mom and the son trying to just figure out, hey, this is a family business. We gotta keep this thing running. But also, like, we want to make sure everybody’s taken care of right? In this situation, there’s another business partner. So like there’s there’s tons of complexity. Whereas like traditional financial planning lens is all just about like, hey, how much money are you investing? Right. What are we doing? But it’s like, no, how do we solve this problem in this business? And so it took about six months, but we created a really good plan for, for the son to, to purchase, um, shares of the business from mom.

Will Beardon: Mom’s taken care of, and she can kind of retire and do the things that she wants to do. And the son can take over and eventually own 50% and the rest of the business. Um, but it was six months of hard work coordinating with the attorney, the CPAs, making sure things were filed and done the right way. And and there’s also a big tax component of like, hey, how do we how do we not pay buckets of, of taxes while we’re trying to to fund this buyout? So it becomes a cash flow problem as well, right. All of this was going on while he’s just trying to keep the business alive and keep it. Keep it going. And so it’s a just a really quick and obviously vague example of it goes beyond just like X’s and O’s of financial planning. It’s like, hey, this is a situation our clients are going through. That’s why they’re they’re paying us to be able to be the glue and put a plan in place to where we can work with an advisory team. In that situation, we had to get some new partners in in the situation as well to help bring value from their perspective. But, um, you know, that’s just one a lot of times every year we do renewals with clients, right? So we sit down and it’s not it’s never dollar figures right on a sheet that says, hey, here’s what we’re worth. It’s here’s the things we got done. Like here’s what we actually did. Like that’s the stuff that matters. It’s more about the relationship than anything.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. And and that’s, uh, Dan Sullivan from Strategic Approach will tell you that measuring the progress you’ve made from start is, is a much healthier gauge of success than setting a distant goal and aiming the ship towards it. I think that’s a.

Will Beardon: I love Dan Sullivan. He is awesome.

Joshua Kornitsky: As do I. Um, so let me ask this then. So you’ve explained at a high level how you help, how you steer, what your philosophy is. Do people always know when they need your guidance? Because there are plenty of successful businesses that I’ve encountered. That and I say this with deference to what they build, that oftentimes haven’t taken the long term view of how do we plan for the future for the business, which typically means they haven’t taken a view of how do we plan for ourselves? When’s the right time for someone to to seek help from a wealth advisor?

Will Beardon: Yeah, I think that’s a great question. And and everybody’s in a different phase. Right. Um, and need different you know, obviously support behind them. I think it’s never a bad idea to just seek guidance and ask for help, right? In our industry, the great thing is every year I’ve got to justify the money we make. So if there’s no value to be provided, then I can’t charge fees for advice. You know what I mean? And so with a lot of our clients so our, our ideal is typically 25 to 45 year olds with growing businesses. I meet some younger business owners where I tell them, you just need to put your head down and work a little bit, right? You don’t have good problems to solve yet, you’re just not there. Like, hey, you’re in the first year of business. You need to get this thing going. You need to, like, you know, some basic stuff. You don’t need us today, right? However, when you get going and. And we have more money than we’ve ever made before. You have a surplus. We have some tax issues. You have a family. There’s some complexity added to your situation. I think everybody should start to build their version of what’s what I call the advisory team, right. So obviously your family, your internal, you know, CFOs, C-suite people, CPA, tax seat, um, legal, all your attorneys, um, your wealth person, all of your insurance people bringing those people to the table and going, hey, y’all are all here to work for me, right? That’s that’s typically what I would say.

Joshua Kornitsky: The fact that you’re willing to say no to business, to me, speaks very highly of your integrity, because sometimes it is too soon. And I see myself where I appreciate the fact that they are, that they have the forethought to think, gee, it’d be great to get help in this area, but sometimes help that comes too soon isn’t the help they think it is 100%.

Will Beardon: It’s like sometimes you don’t need to solve problems that aren’t there yet.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right, right. We’re we’re looking for headaches we don’t currently have.

Will Beardon: Correct. Correct.

Joshua Kornitsky: That makes a lot of sense. Um, well. Well, what what’s the best way for people to get Ahold of you or to learn more about PSA wealth?

Will Beardon: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So our website, um, does a really good job of explaining some things we do. So that’s PSA wealth. Com um, there should be a little tab at the top right that says get in touch with us. Um to schedule a call with our team, um, as well as social media. Typically LinkedIn’s the best place for me. So that’s just Will Bearden at LinkedIn or PSA wealth on LinkedIn as well.

Joshua Kornitsky: And we’ll share all those links as well. When we when we publish the interview, um, you know, we’ll I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the clarity that you bring. And it must be from having stood at the back and directed the field as a quarterback. Um, we I understand now where and how you help and and it seems to me that you step onto that field knowing what the goal is, understanding your client’s needs and helping get them there. I, I, I appreciate your time. I think you brought a lot of insight. Uh, and your voice was welcome. Thank you. Uh, will Bearden, founder and CEO of PSA wealth. We’ll have all of his information on the website. Anything to add before we close out?

Will Beardon: I think that’s it. Thanks so much for for having me on. I really enjoyed it.

Joshua Kornitsky: My absolute pleasure. So again, this is High Velocity Radio. I am your host Joshua Kornitsky professional EOS implementer. Thank you for joining us and we’ll see you next time.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Less Thinking, More Doing

October 3, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Less Thinking, More Doing
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BRX Pro Tip: Less Thinking, More Doing

Stone Payton : And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton, here with you. Lee, I have learned so much with and from you over the years. I think perhaps one of my favorite Lee mantras is less thinking, more doing.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think it’s so important to get stuff out of your head and get them into the real world so you can learn something. Spending all day or all week plotting that perfect next move is just, you’re going to be in the same spot tomorrow, so just stop doing it. You just don’t want to be spending time on a whiteboard hypothesizing.

Lee Kantor: In sales and in life, results come from taking action, not from overthinking every scenario. There is a phrase for this: analysis paralysis. That’s not how we do things at Business RadioX. And here’s some tips to break that cycle and get you moving. Try this.

Lee Kantor: Number one, set micro deadlines for decisions. Think minutes. Not hours, not days. Number two, pick one thing and just do it. Just get it done. Publish it. Send it out there. Get some feedback from the real world about what you’re thinking.

Lee Kantor: And number three, have a mindset of experimentation. Do the thing. Take the shot. Review the outcome. Tweak your approach. Do that relentlessly over and over, and you’re going to make progress. Progress beats perfection every single time.

Lee Kantor: And number four, find an accountability partner to hold you accountable and make sure things are actually getting done and not just talked about. Thinking has its place, but doing is where the wins happen. So get out of your head, start moving, and let the results, not the ideas, stack up.

BRX Pro Tip: Sales is Results Driven Communication

October 2, 2025 by angishields

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Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor, here with you. Lee, talk a little bit about the relationship between communication or the role of communication in sales from your perspective?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think this is a mistake that a lot of folks make. Sales to me is results-driven. It’s binary. You have to have a result. It’s a yes or a no. And silence is not a result. And I think a lot of salespeople take silence as a no. And I don’t think that that’s the truth at all.

Lee Kantor: Silence to me is a not now at worst. So I think that if there’s one thing that kills more deals than a dozen no’s, it’s when your prospect goes radio silent.

Lee Kantor: In sales, the goal isn’t an endless conversation. It’s making things happen. It’s about driving the conversation to a clear outcome and not letting indecision drag on forever.

Lee Kantor: Silence is the worst kind of maybe. And at Business RadioX, thanks to you, we don’t do maybe. That’s why Stone has kind of leaned in on, and you can talk more about it if you’d like, but we coach around having a confirm and release date built into every recommendation. And the way we do it is very proactively.

Lee Kantor: The first thing in the morning on that date of that confirmed release date, we encourage our coaches and the people we work with, our partners, to send a note to their prospect that, an elegant “sorry, it didn’t work out,” and then we move on.

Lee Kantor: We will not lose any deals this way because if they’re truly interested, you’re going to get a quick call from them asking to give you more time.  So being clear and transparent up front makes this work. Push for clarity. Move with confidence. And remember, in sales, action is always better than inaction.

Building a Performer Environment: Transforming Professional Practices for Lasting Success

October 1, 2025 by angishields

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Cherokee Business Radio
Building a Performer Environment: Transforming Professional Practices for Lasting Success
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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

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In this episode of Cherokee Business Radio, host Joshua Kornitsky welcomes guests Robert Lee, founder of The Lesix Agency, Tiana Neal, CEO of Transcenders Consulting Group, and Farrell Middleton, Owner of The Bell Curve of Life. The conversation explores each guest’s unique journey and insights into business growth and professional development. Robert shares how personal loss and business setbacks inspired him to help real estate professionals improve their operations and quality of life, highlighting the industry’s lack of business education, the importance of mindset shifts, and the benefits of AI-powered tools. Tiana Neal discusses her approach to building strong client relationships and fostering resilience in the face of challenges, while Farrell Middleton offers strategies for navigating market changes and sustaining long-term success. 

Lesix-Agency-logo

Robert-Lee-bwRobert (Rob) Lee lives in Dallas, GA with his wife, girls, and pets. He’s an AI Branding Academy Partner, AI Persona Method Certified, REEA Gold Standard Instructor, and member of the Paulding Board of Realtors.

His marketing agency, The Lesix Agency, helps Real People make Real Money in Real Estate with AI Employees.

Follow The Lesix Agency on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Tiana-Neal-bwTiana Neal is the Founder and CEO of Transcenders Consulting Group, a firm specializing in Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions and the host of The Human Roll where she explores key topics in HR and payroll spotlighting emerging businesses in the HCM space all while sharing insights in leadership, trends and best practices.

With over 15 years of experience in the professional services industry, Tiana has a proven track record of optimizing processes, ensuring compliance, and driving seamless implementations to help businesses achieve operational excellence. Transcenders-logo

Her passion lies in empowering organizations to transcend traditional boundaries and unlock the full potential of their workforce through innovative and tailored HCM solutions.

Connect with Tiana on LinkedIn.

Farrell-Middleton-bwFarrell Middleton founded The Bell Curve of Life in 2022 to inspire positive change for individuals and organizations. His mission is to help people become A-level performers and support leaders in creating A-level environments.

Since launching the program, Farrell has connected with hundreds of people through one-on-one sessions, small groups, company presentations, contractor accreditation classes, and public speaking engagements.

After a successful 36-year career in residential land development and homebuilding, Farrell transitioned to his long-anticipated second career as a teacher, speaker, and author. This shift, made at age 57, has allowed him to share his passion for growth and leadership while engaging with people in meaningful ways.

In 2025, Farrell became a published author with the release of his first book, A Performer/A Environment. The book presents a practical framework for personal and professional growth and serves as the cornerstone of The Bell Curve of Life program.

Farrell’s programs draw on his extensive personal and professional experiences. A Georgia Tech honors graduate, he held senior leadership roles with both private and public organizations in the thriving Atlanta housing market. Over his career, he managed hundreds of employees, directed diverse teams, and navigated complex group dynamics. The-Bell-Curve-of-Life-logo

A Savannah native and the youngest of four, Farrell met his wife Kathy in high school. Married since 1986, they’ve raised two daughters, Pfeiffer and Collier, who now reside in the Atlanta area.

Follow The Bell Curve of Life on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

  • Personal and professional challenges faced by entrepreneurs and professionals across various industries, including navigating significant life events and setbacks.
  • The impact of adversity on business operations and the potential consequences, such as financial strain, burnout, or even bankruptcy.
  • The founding and mission of organizations dedicated to supporting professionals in enhancing their business operations and overall quality of life.
  • Unique challenges within different industries, such as the lack of formal business education and common misconceptions about professional roles and responsibilities.
  • The importance of mindset shifts and clear goal-setting for achieving success, regardless of industry.
  • The role of AI-powered tools in establishing efficient, repeatable processes that boost productivity and reduce stress for professionals.
  • The necessity for individuals to adopt a strategic, proactive approach to their work rather than reacting to daily demands.
  • The significance of building community and support networks within professional environments.
  • The value of engaging with clients or stakeholders through discovery sessions to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
  • The philosophy of simplifying complex business concepts into actionable principles to drive high performance in any professional setting.

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’m your host and professional EOS implementer, Joshua Kornitsky. And we’ve got a full studio today. Uh, three wonderful guests that I’m excited to get to. Before we get started, I just want to remind everybody that today’s episode is brought to you in part by our community partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors. Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Mainstreet Warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors, Diesel David Inc. Please go check them out at diesel.david.com. Well, as I said, we’ve got a full studio today and I’m really excited to introduce my first guest, uh, Robert Lee. Robert, before I go any further, I’m going to screw up the name of your company. So please tell me the name of your company.

Robert Lee: Lesix Agency

Joshua Kornitsky: Lesix Agency. It’s a marketing consultancy focused on real estate professionals. Uh, your background is in engineering and Lean Six Sigma principles. You hope your clients streamline operations and adopt AI powered tools to elevate their impact. Would you say that? That’s about right.

Robert Lee: I would say the only thing that’s missing is we use a lot of theory of Constraints as well. So Lean Six Sigma, that’s where the name Lesix Agency comes from. But TOC is a very critical part of that as well.

Joshua Kornitsky: So let’s begin at the beginning. Tell us how we got here.

Robert Lee: Oh my gosh. Okay. So if everybody has a day and a half to hear my sob story, let’s.

Joshua Kornitsky: Reduce the beginning. No, please.

Robert Lee: That’s. That’s fair enough. In short, two years ago, two and a half years ago, I had a very successful direct mail business based out of Marietta and operated my consulting on the side. And in August of 2022, my wife and I lost her third child. She was about seven months pregnant. That sent me down a little bit of a hole. And while I was out, I don’t know if I was grieving or just kind of lost. But while I was out, the business continued to run. But I had a staff member that authorized some expenditures that were not exactly in the business’s best interest. So I got back in and wasn’t fully through that grieving process yet. I know nobody ever is. Uh, but got back in, made some changes, got everything aligned. And in February of 2023, my old man, the guy that raised us, my parents split when I was young. My dad taught me everything I know about how to treat people, how to show respect. I just get a phone call that he had a heart attack and a doctor’s chair. Wow. And so I have these three instances of where life and business were colliding. And so I went through to write the book on how to destroy a $2 million business in four months. Right.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s rough.

Robert Lee: I mean, I look at it and I say, I could have self-destructed through drugs and alcohol, like a lot of people do. Or. But but thankfully, I didn’t. I just destroyed a business. And my wife and I have everything separated in terms of business structure. So I had to go through the bankruptcy process. And as I’m fat man crying in my room while my girls are daycare and my wife is at work, I just I get a lot of sleep, which I hadn’t had in years. Right. And I started to get some clarity by asking the question, Why was I not set up to grieve the right way? Why was I not set up to understand how business impacted life and how life impacted business? And and that was the beginning of the process of really launching the Lee6 agency as my core business. And through that process, found that there’s a lot of real estate professionals out there that suffer through those same questions, and there was a great way for us to make money together, make memories together, go out there and just make the world a better place.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s an absolutely incredible story to to go from the lowest point I imagine you’ve been, and then to lose your dad and then to to rebuild on top of it. So thank you for sharing that. Um, if you would share with us a little bit more about who and how you help with Lee6.

Robert Lee: Again, real estate professionals, Brokers, individual agents. There’s realtor associations that are really having a tough time right now with a lot of the industry changes around Nar and real estate schools, like, believe it or not, there’s a huge cottage industry of real estate educators.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Robert Lee: That that have to provide the educational services to this professionally regulated industry here in Georgia, 36 hours of continuous education every four ish years, as you renew your license, you have to go through 75 hours of pre-license. You have to go through 24 or 36, I don’t know, education is miserable.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. Well, and it’s a necessity of a lot of industries. Right.

Robert Lee: Exactly.

Joshua Kornitsky: But it also keeps them current on things. So so with that being out there, how are you assisting.

Robert Lee: Yeah. And and to, to basically I outline all of that to say that the thing that each of those have in common, they’re very different from one another. They’re sets of experiences are very different. They’re very unique. But what they all have in common is they operate in an industry that doesn’t have a lot of business. Common sense. There are common practices that have been done in the industry for years, and it’s very reactive. It’s very shoot from the hip. I mean, there’s this thing that real estate agents are told you’re always on as a real estate agent 24 over seven. And I hear stories of people taking phone calls during kids recitals. And I mean, that just sucks, man.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just no quality of life.

Robert Lee: That’s not that’s not.

Joshua Kornitsky: And you had even shared with me kind of this perspective that you that you have, uh, that a lot of the real estate professionals don’t see themselves as business owners.

Robert Lee: And that’s it, right? They’re taught to be reactive to everything, because in many cases, these people are making a transition into the industry from another one. A lot of veterans choose real estate. But think about it. You go from being a very in a very structured environment.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Robert Lee: Where you’re told what to do. You respect a chain of command into an industry where you’re not an employee of anybody. Most agents come into the industry not understanding that they are a business of one.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Robert Lee: They don’t work for their brokerage. They’re not employees. They have to pay all of their taxes. They have to handle all of their HR issues, hire their vendors, all of that. Now, a brokerage will help out with that, but they don’t get that experience of business education while they’re getting their license. They’re taught in these real estate schools from the start how to pass a test. And so what happens is you have this vicious cycle where brokers who should be providing that business education never got it themselves. So it’s just this continuous years long re-investment in the idea that you have to go out and just do it as opposed to, again, common sense and common practice are not the same thing in this industry. And that’s not anybody’s fault. It just means that the industry has to be approached differently. You have to start asking the questions of why is it so miserable to take calls at 10 a.m. or not 10 a.m. it’s not miserable to take a call at 10 a.m. 10 p.m..

Joshua Kornitsky: Less so.

Robert Lee: Because you have a client that’s freaking out as opposed to approaching it from the perspective of how can I set up my business to prevent 10 p.m. calls? How can I set up my business to prevent these problems that we know are going to exist from ever happening?

Joshua Kornitsky: So at a high level, explain to us, how do you do that? How do you help them shift their mindset and their understanding? So what types of tools are you able to introduce? What type of approaches do you share in order to make that quality of life difference.

Robert Lee: Pretty simple. First thing we do, we start introducing clarity and clear thinking into their business. Start asking by questions. What’s the goal? What are the necessary requirements? What assumptions are you making about how to meet that goal? And then start teaching them from that foundational question. What’s the goal on how to align everything they’re doing with their particular business and personal goal, and teaching them that it is okay to not do things that do not help you meet the goal, that do not fall within the parameters of that necessary, those sets of necessary requirements. Because honestly, like 6,070% of the crap that people do in real estate don’t align with a well-defined goal. And imagine just being able to just kind of let it go like a that the rock and curling, right? You watch curling and you see these guys just slide across the ice and they just let go of the rock and it just goes. You just want them to let go of those things that are doing that don’t align with the goals. So once you introduce that clarity of thinking, that clear thinking process, get them used to saying, I’m not doing that and I am doing this and educate them on that, then we can start to use AI and the strengths of AI to actually create AI employees repeatable, predictable, consistent processes that the real estate professional, in whatever context they’re in, can pull off the shelf and use when they need it and put it back when they don’t.

Joshua Kornitsky: So thank you. Now I think we’re in is that I think the the term is agentic AI is that the.

Robert Lee: And this is part of the conversation that we have with folks is that Agentic AI there’s a lot there’s a lot of confusion about what that term really means. Most people begin with the question how can we use AI as opposed to how do we understand our business? Now, when you get to the question of understanding your business, then you can start to view AI in a variety of different ways. And we kind of look at it in three different levels. Okay, AI employees are documented processes that don’t run on their own unless you tell it to start. And you can do that in ChatGPT. We use a lot of cloud, but basically these processes don’t execute themselves. You have to start it. And it has a very well defined set of training and parameters.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do a do be do c stop.

Robert Lee: Correct. Right. Underneath that is automation which is not artificial intelligence. But it’s kind of the basis. Right. I mean it’s if A happens then B follows. If B follows then c, D and e follows. So on and so forth. Your automations can be defined by your AI employees. Okay. Right. And then you have agentic AI which is more autonomous. And these are things like Manus and these automated phone call systems that answer phone calls. You can actually use your AI employees to train your agentic AI to answer the phone in a certain way, collect certain information. Because if that agentic AI, that autonomous semi-autonomous AI isn’t trained well, it’s not going to do its job well. Just like a person.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just like real people.

Robert Lee: Just like real people. And so we always begin with the clear thinking about your business, because if you don’t have that right, you’re never going to use AI, right? And then it doesn’t. Then the definition of what agentic AI is and what an AI employee is, it doesn’t really matter.

Joshua Kornitsky: No. And I think you’re I know and you know, you’re 100% right on that. I do know that people don’t care what it’s called, if it does what they would like it to do. Exactly. But the fact that you’re introducing clarity on the front end, um, Probably has. Well, let me ask rather than than assume. Does that lessen that fear of adoption? Because you’ve you’ve taken the big scary unknown of AI, which, I mean, at this point, I think my refrigerator and my toaster have AI. Not for any reason I can think of, but I guess it’s just a great way to harvest more data from me. That’s, of course, how I like my toast is relevant to somebody. Um, what does that do for for your, um, clients from from an adoption approach? Once that that fear is diminished.

Robert Lee: Well, one, it gets them to slow down, which is the nice thing. It actually forces them to sit there and think through what it is they’re using AI for. And then second of all, it makes it less scary because it shows people that AI is not really intelligent. It’s a logical prediction engine, which is just a fancy way of saying it takes a bunch of data about how you like your toast, and about how you two here that are also guests might like whatever it is you like, and then creates the logical prediction of what the right output is. So when we talk about real estate, many people don’t know how to write a listing description. That doesn’t suck. And what I mean by that is this beautiful four bedroom, three bathroom house with 3500ft² in an idyllic neighborhood is a house of your dreams. Well, every damn house is the house of my dreams if it’s described that way, sure. But by understanding how to connect with their clients and understanding how you build profiles for marketing, they then can create AI employees to help them create those profiles, help help them create their marketing strategies that help them write those listing descriptions that are completely aligned to the goal inside of their business. And if that goal is to sell single mothers with children homes, right. You can still do that without running afoul of the regulations and the legal requirements of of how you you practice real estate.

Joshua Kornitsky: So please.

Robert Lee: Know. And at the end of the day, this is just a lot of different ways of saying no your business then use AI. And if you know your business, your AI use will be simple and easy to implement.

Joshua Kornitsky: That makes sense. So so do you. It sounds like there’s certainly uh customizable tools. Mhm. Um, but it also sounds like there’s a level of guidance or coaching involved here because it starts with mindset. And if you’re starting with mindset, what does the engagement look like? If someone wants to work with you and understand and benefit both from the mindset approach, from the quality of life approach, but also from the technical, uh, facilitation to make their life easier. Mhm. What does that look like?

Robert Lee: Yeah. Pretty simple. So our business we’ll just call it our business development process. We essentially walk up to people all the time and say, hey, how’s life going? What’s going on in real estate from your perspective? And then they start to find, I hear, a little hint of a complaint. They may try to to paint it over as being something amazing and wonderful and perfect in every way. But there will be a little hint of complaint in there, like, this really isn’t working. And then I just simply say, well, hey, I have this great process. It’s a TOC. It’s it’s basically the TOC tool thinking tools, right. The current reality tree and the future reality tree and the evaporating cloud and all of these things. I’m throwing those terms out there. If you’re listening, go read the goal. Go read. It’s not luck. Go look up everything by Eli Goldratt and you’ll know what those terms mean okay. But at the end of the day they’re they’re processes. They’re thinking processes. And so I just tell folks, hey, you have an hour a time I can actually help you change your business strategy. It’s not even I don’t offer it free of charge. We don’t even talk about money at that point. It’s just like, do you have an hour of time? And you’ll get a business strategy out of it. It’s up to you on how you implement that. Sure. But you give an hour of time. I’ll give you an hour of time. We will have a conversation. And then I introduce the AI employee that we use. Explain to them that our conversation will be used as basically data to help us use this process more effectively. By the end of it, we get into the discussion of how we might be able to help.

Joshua Kornitsky: So then let me ask the the most important question of all in this context, who are you best suited to help if someone’s listening right now? Uh, what are what are the right size organizations, the right type of people, the right type of roles within real estate profession that that are a good fit for what you offer and for being able to make the biggest impact for them.

Robert Lee: From a brokerage perspective, mid-size brokers that are looking to recruit producing agents that can produce more. So in other words, you might have 150 200 agents on your brokerage roster, and maybe ten of them are actually producing on a consistent basis. You know, at least 20 of them have the potential to produce better. And you know that there are thousands of agents out there that are unhappy paying their brokerage whatever they’re paying their brokerage. But you don’t have a way to necessarily recruit and retain and mobilize those agents. From a brokerage perspective, that’s who we’d like to work with. Individual agents. You’re doing 4 or 5 transactions a year. You want to get to 10 or 15. That’s a difference of six figures at least.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right?

Robert Lee: Those are the types of agents that we want to talk to from a business perspective. Sure. Real estate schools. I mean, really any size real estate school who is mentally ready to turn it into a business? And then any realtor association of any size, you want to build a business model that actually helps you grow in very difficult times. Those are the types of folks we want to to speak with from a business perspective. Now, from a personal perspective, my personal goal is that I have to be a happy, present father in the lives of my wife and children. I have two necessary requirements for that. I have to be home, pick up my girl off the bus, get dragged to Disney World four times a year because my wife and girls love it.

Joshua Kornitsky: I was there last week.

Robert Lee: Oh, I was there last week too. You know how it was like walking in to the sun with humidity of 100%? It was miserable.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Robert Lee: But that means being a happy. That means being a present father, which I didn’t have the opportunity to do beforehand. The other necessary requirement to be happy. I’m an extrovert. I love to talk. I love to problem solve, which means I have to be around people. So from a personal goal perspective that aligns with business, I’ll talk to anybody involved in any size organization that really meets some standard of they want to grow their business, they want to improve processes, and they want to make more money in less time. I will have a conversation with any of those businesses. For some reason, I got hooked up with non-profits lately that are wondering how to write better grant proposals. I can’t tell you how to do it, other than the fact that I had a. I had breakfast with a long time friend who was involved in a nonprofit. Uh, I’ve been dealing with roofing companies the past couple of years. Right. I mean.

Joshua Kornitsky: So across the spectrum.

Robert Lee: It is. Right. Because good business, common sense and common practice are not often the same thing in small businesses.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fair enough. So what’s the best way for people to reach you?

Robert Lee: Rob. Dot. Dot com will give you access to my personal socials, which you’ll see all kinds of sage advice and wisdom on. Uh, it will give you access to the six agency socials and website, which has all kinds of sage advice about real estate. Specifically has a way to download our Ultimate Guide to AI employees, which is basically a Google Doc and an eBook that is designed to give you access to the core of our knowledge about how we build processes from an AI perspective, and a way to just schedule some time with me.

Joshua Kornitsky: Perfect. And we will also share that link or links. Uh, when we publish and go live. Uh, I hope you have time to hang out. Robert. I’ve got a few more folks here to talk to. I can’t wait to introduce you to 100%. Uh, thank you again. Robert Lee, founder of Lee six agency. Uh, we’ll come back to you real fast when we close out, but I appreciate your time. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and your wisdom.

Robert Lee: Look, it is a privilege because it is part of my goal to spend time around people that love to talk and love to listen. So, really, I owe you the thanks here because you’re making my day awesome.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’s our pleasure.

Robert Lee: I appreciate it.

Joshua Kornitsky: So my next guest is someone that I met recently, but we have just hit it off in a great professional sense. I’d like to introduce Tiana Neal. She’s the founder of Transcenders Consulting Group, a consulting firm specializing in human capital management with an expertise across payroll tax, HR benefits, o HR, comp benefits, project management, and system implementation. Tiana is an HR leader, also a podcast host who probably doesn’t get company names wrong like I do. Uh, and a connector with really a strong passion for rehumanizing the workplace conversations. She bridges the strategy and empathy, helping organizations see people beyond the policies. Welcome to the show, Tiana.

Tiana Neal: Thank you. Thank you. Josh, really excited to be here.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m really happy to have you here. You and I had some great conversations when we first met, sort of about the HR universe. And I really thought you had a refreshing perspective on it. So let’s let’s let me start by asking what kind of brought you into the world of HR.

Tiana Neal: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I initially got started in the payroll space. Payroll and taxation was my thing. And then I got into the role of air operations, where I handled more benefits and heavy implementations. And from there, that got me really close to the people side of the business, which is where I really found my niche. I would say, I think just, you know, listening to people, um, bringing that human back to HR. It was really important for a lot of populations that I worked for. Um, sometimes when you get into the day to day, companies can miss that. They can miss that, like your people are the most important. And so once I became more personable and built proper relationships with, you know, my employees around the office, that was really where I realized I was a great fit and could add, um, really good value. And then not to mention, I had really good system experience on the HR tech side, and I loved to untangle the web of a lot of things. So there I was, just found my match.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and I’m going to ask you about your spaghetti, your spaghetti bowl concept here in just a minute. But one of the things that I remember, uh, from our initial discussion was around sort of how HR has changed over time. And, and as you just mentioned, you know, through your own evolution, your perception of it changed over time. Just looking at the last few years, how are things different? And to Robert’s point about AI, I imagine AI in the workplace has changed a great number of things.

Tiana Neal: Yes, as Robert was talking about, AI in my head was spinning because there is a very unknown. It’s very unknown in our industry, and I’m involved in a lot of webinars that I, you know, tuned into every week. The HR tech side is changing and will continue to change drastically from, you know, within our world. And so it is very critical that most people in our industry start to learn AI and not push it away. I can admit that some years ago when AI was coming, you know, to becoming a big topic, I was just like, this is not taking my job. It’s not taking payroll. This is ridiculous. Until I started going to my annual conferences, you know, adp’s, the workday’s HR techs. And as soon as you walk into the room, AI is on the screen. And so I was like, oh, okay. So this is really happening. Um, and so from there, I started playing around with it and realizing that it was here. Right? And I just you can’t ignore it. And so being a systems person, I started jumping right in. Um, and that has, you know, really helped because a lot of times if I’m interviewing with clients, they will have a question now involved where it entails AI, because a lot of if you’re a true, true HR person, I would say most HR people don’t necessarily like to get involved with the system aspect.

Tiana Neal: You know that there’s a different you know, obviously the HR role that typically heavily handles systems. But true HR people from R and usually like to deal with employee relations and, you know, hiring, firing, recruiting. But getting in that back end system is not a lot of people’s things. And now it’s almost going to become a must. I think for the most part, you’ve got to start understanding what AI is doing, um, and not get too far behind just because the younger generation that is now in the workforce. They are heavy, demanding. And so, um, you know, they’re used to using these phones and these platforms and they do not care about pizza like that. To have a pizza day, you really have to show them the growth and show them that, you know, you’re in the know of tech because that is truly going to be, you know, a long term thing on the tech side.

Joshua Kornitsky: That makes sense to me and kind of opens the door for me to ask, you know, how when. So when you are engaging with the organizations you work with, I presume oftentimes these are relatively new avenues for them that you’ve got experience with. Are you able to help shepherd them through the the embrace and transition into these types of systems?

Tiana Neal: Yeah. So surprisingly, though, a lot of times I’m having to just go back to start with the basics. Um, and even though that seems kind of odd, a lot of companies, just from the basics, need to get the right people, not only on the bus, but also in the right role. Right. So it could be a perfect person for your company, but if they’re in the wrong role, it’s not going to be good for your population. And a lot of times executives will typically overlook HR, especially payroll. Starting off in payroll, I always say payroll is like the red headed stepchild, which is very odd because, you know, we process the bacon for everybody, right? And so from an HR stance, you have to have the right people in the seat that care about the company that are loyal. And you know the CEOs need to also treat HR properly. Right. And then from there the rest of your population will typically go smoothly. So we need to have like right training for our people. Make sure there’s the right, you know, vision and mission and that everyone is abiding by it.

Tiana Neal: So from the top of the chain of HR down to your supervisors, directors, managers, everyone has to, you know, show well with that stance and be a good example for your employee population, and a lot of times that gets lost in transition naturally, I think. And so I think even before jumping to the high AI system part, people really just have to get to the basics, understand foundationally where the company is going, start getting your employee population to begin to trust HR. We are a partner, but here, if I had a dollar for every time I heard HR is just for the company, not the employee, it’s like, okay, we’ve got to change that narrative. A lot of times people don’t see what’s happening behind the scenes. And then from there, once the foundation is set, then we can start adding in new systems and start implementing AI and be transparent with it so that people don’t think that they’re going to lose their job and then, you know, run away from there.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and so you touched on this briefly, but it really was the foundation of what you were sharing, that there’s a lot of misconceptions, particularly at not just employees thinking that that HR is just protecting the company, but backing it up to the higher level at the leadership team level. There are often um, we’ll just go with misconceptions. And, you know, I guess it comes down to and I’ve, I’ve got sort of a linear mind. Is it that do they view HR as an expense or do they view it as an investment, or do they view it as a necessity?

Tiana Neal: Probably one of the first two initially until there is no HR and then they start to see how needed it is. I will say I have worked for and have seen companies just not pay attention to HR or go without having an HR.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’ve seen that too, but that’s scary.

Tiana Neal: Yes, it’s very scary and that’s when you get into heavy compliance issues. I mean, the legal side of things, I mean, the lawsuits that come through are just sometimes insane. Lots of times. Obviously, companies are settling behind the scenes, but there’s a lot of companies that I’ve just had to step away from because of just when you’re on the side of the house of HR, obviously you see a lot of unfortunate things that happen and you hear a lot of things. And so the leadership from the higher up, not every CEO or CEO or C-suite executive of a company is this way. But I ran into more than a few born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and are just so used to having certain things that they don’t necessarily pay attention to the bottom end of the population that is actually doing the work. And so having a very strong HR team that gets to know the population has those conversations and understands what people are going through in life is very helpful because sometimes employees may act out, but it might just they might be dealing with a breakup, going through a divorce, you know, they may have had a miscarriage, you know, just something of that nature may have happened and they just need to step away. And so, you know, giving them some time off or some leave. I’ve seen that work wonders for people. But if people don’t trust HR or don’t know HR or don’t feel like they can come to HR, then you essentially lose out on a really great asset in an employee if you’re not paying attention. So a lot of times, um, it sometimes it’s unfortunate a little too late for a CEO to, to realize the necessity of HR, but it is very critical. And the companies that recognize that early on, um, I see do very well when they, you know, when they put, um, money towards HR to ensure there’s proper training, they have the proper people that helps the population accordingly.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and you you bring up an interesting point, right. Because if you’ve got legal compliance issues, and I know Farrell will speak a little bit to this, and I know Robert sort of implied that in real estate as an example. Right. There’s there’s legal compliance stuff that’s a mandatory but that’s, uh, often more a function of just training than actual understanding, you know, to check in a box that we did this training, we did this training. But understanding how to how to not only protect the organization, but to protect the individuals within the organization. That takes a lot more planning and that takes a lot more work, I imagine.

Tiana Neal: Yes. Um, planning for your employees. I think one thing that I did want to touch on is there are a lot of back in executive conversations that obviously the employee population isn’t privy to. And there are a lot of HR teams that have fought for heavily, right, for, for for the executive C-suite executives to understand certain things. Sometimes you win those battles, sometimes you don’t. Um, but yes, I would say just ensuring that your focus on your employees and knowing that having them know that they are supported is top key priority and brings in a lot of loyalty, right? Makes employees stay there. So your tenure is top heavy. There’s reports, you know, EEOC reports that are filed every year to show different races and genders and tenures. Now, um, you know, pay transparency is a really big thing, right? So years ago, when I started in the industry, it was very disheartening doing payroll and seeing the difference in pay. And so the fact that, you know, many people fought to kind of get that transparency out there is really critical and definitely helps ensure that companies are having to be mindful of that. Right. You can no longer get away from having, you know, someone in the same seat doing the same role. One making 100,000, one making 50,000. Right. Like you got to stay within range. So all of that is very critical.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and I think that the the fact that you’re helping clients understand that and again it’s not and I choose my words carefully. It’s ultimately about protecting the organization from harm Because ethically, morally, I’m not even touching those arguments. You are legally at risk if I am playing employee A this amount, and employee B regardless of the difference, less than this amount, though, they have the same education and experience. I put the company at risk, and ultimately the c-suites role is to keep the company safe and profitable.

Tiana Neal: Correct. Um, and I would also say this, I mean, there’s many companies still skating by. I mean, there are some, um, even a recent, you know, client of mine that is in some heavy taxation issues. Their VP stepped in to hold the project. Sometimes they just don’t see the risk too much, you know? Sure. I mean, the entire HR team was fighting to get things pushed through myself. And, you know, my consultants were ready to get things pushed through. And, um, sometimes when you’re dealing with those executives, you can only explain to them what the compliance is. They, you know, call us when you’re when you’re ready, but this is what you’re about to get into. You know, we can help. So there’s some times where you just aren’t going to win that battle where they’re, you know, they just don’t understand a lot of times when they’ve had so much large money for so long, they would prefer to go with the risk.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, sure. Versus sue us and we’ll.

Tiana Neal: Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’ll cost me less for the lawsuit than it would to pay for HR.

Tiana Neal: Exactly. What are my chances of someone actually reporting until someone does report and then you have a class action? So, um, unfortunately, at this level and stage in my career, I’m brought in when things. It’s a little too late. You know, they should have brought me in six months or a year before. And so I’m doing a lot of cleanup, and I see a lot of things and things are always fixable. But there is a cost to that. And right now states are struggling. I mean, when I first started over 15 years ago in this industry, it would take states and the IRS years before they sent you a notice. You’d get a you know, you’d get a notice from something that happened 3 or 4 years ago. Right. But over the last few years, you were getting.

Joshua Kornitsky: Notices that automation in AI right there.

Tiana Neal: You were getting notices within like 1 or 2 quarters, 3 to 6 months. And it was like, oh, they are not playing around here. And a lot of times, even when employees were catching on, they may file an employment even though they left a company. If you don’t respond in enough time, they would win that claim. I mean, it was just it’s especially since Covid, it’s just been a battlefield. Osha has been, I think one company I was working for, OSHA, had showed up so many times. Right, because they were just looking for ways to find companies. And so you do have to be mindful of it now. But yeah, unfortunately some some executives still try to um, they might be gamblers, they might like to roll the dice.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s their privilege, right? It seems to me like they’re taking unnecessary risks, but that’s up to them. Very true. So I do want to touch on your the last superpower that we discussed of yours, which we touched on. You touched on briefly and gave me the term, and I’m coming back to it. Let’s talk about that bowl of spaghetti.

Tiana Neal: Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, because I thought coming from a technical background myself, I knew exactly what you were referring to once you spelled it out. But. But share with me, if you would, and share with those listening. What is this superpower you have as it relates to spaghetti?

Tiana Neal: Yeah. So I just like to untangle, um, untangle every single noodle, every single web spider web there is. Um, I have a really good sense of discernment now where I can identify when I’m having an HR conversation with someone if they’re, you know, feeding me nonsense. I’ll say, sure. I won’t say the other bad word, but if they’re feeding me nonsense.

Joshua Kornitsky: I.

Tiana Neal: Will. Okay. Um. And I can also tell when someone hasn’t been supportive. I mean, or if someone just is very green in their seat and just needs a little bit more training or coaching or if it’s like, no, um, got to get them on the bus because they’re not just the company or team player in general and ripping that band aid off, you know, earlier instead of later, because a lot of times keeping the wrong person in the seat, naturally your good employees will step away. So from there, getting back to the people aspect, setting the foundation. But then when you’re digging into the system aspect, once you have the right people in place, cleaning up, going through automation, I mean, we’re about to approach 2026, right? So it’s literally unfathomable to me how many companies are still doing things manual on manual paperwork and just getting that to be automated to make the hiring process more seamless for employees, and making sure that everyone is trained, but also accommodating your employees who aren’t used to using technology. I mean, that’s still a big thing in the workforce now, and just making sure that outside of sending one pagers or, you know, a PowerPoint or having one, you know, basic quick training call. Really make sure you are hand-holding those employees that need that support so that they feel comfortable and allowing them to reach out to you whenever they need something, and then from there, just sticking to the process.

Tiana Neal: Um, there’s very rarely naturally where you might have to accommodate a higher end C-suite executive. Sometimes that happens, but, um, you know, you got to at least have 95% of the process on board and have everybody participate in it just to make sure things are flowing smoothly. And then your HR payroll process can go really smooth. You know, of course, there’s those day to day fires that come up that are unexpected. Um, but sometimes it just doesn’t have to be that hard. And a lot of times with AI coming in place, too, there’s so many laws, especially if you’re a multi-state, there’s so many different laws that are changing from not only the federal state, but then also the locals of certain states, um, minimum wage requirements. And you just constantly have to keep up with those day to day. So a lot of times, instead of having to deal with just basic cleanup, once your system is running smoothly, then you can really focus on the legal aspects of things and just making sure the company is staying on top of compliance. And then from there, um, yeah, you can look at a look like a scholar in your job.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and all of that to say, uh, as you started with, right, that there’s these disparate systems, there’s these disparate processes. And I think the fact that that you’re willing to unwind that bowl of spaghetti and have the skills and the experience to do so, really speaks to the fact that I know from the other side and the types of clients that I work with often they don’t know a resource like you exists, right? They they think that, well, you know, we created this mess. We’ll we’ll just have to spend a bunch of time and money to, to sort it out. But now knowing that there’s someone that they can reach to, that not only will help keep them current, but also help them untangle and make sense of the mess. Seems like that’s a pretty valuable thing to put out there.

Tiana Neal: Yes. Very good. And I will say unpopular opinion. I like my spaghetti with a little bit of sugar on it. So. So I think from my end, even in my work, um, work function to from consulting, I’m strong and majestic as well. So I think, you know, at this point I’m knowledgeable, but I think just bringing the true authentic and realness and not, you know, not coming across, um, condescending in a way, when you’re coaching people goes a long way. So I like to, you know, follow suit with that as well. And just continuing to get myself out there so people know that I do exist. I think, you know, how Joss and I met was at a networking event, and I’m typically a behind the scenes systems person. But since I’ve started my business, I’ve been doing podcasting. It’s been very helpful that people know that I am there and that I can provide support, and sometimes I just take a call and do some advisory one off without charging. Naturally. Um, you know, and sometimes that leads into business. But I think just even if it doesn’t, just helping people in general, um, what Rob was kind of alluding to earlier is just being an added asset to people so that, you know, they can always remember your name. I think in general, outside of whether or not that turns into business. People still remember you and know you and will continue to follow you and look to you as an inspiration. And that’s what I’m mostly getting out of my experience now, which has been very helpful. And um, yeah, very welcoming for me to kind of just keep going.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s fantastic. Well, if people want to get their spaghetti untangled or get help with some process or get a better understanding of why HR really is the difference maker and really in in not just the organization, but in the culture of the organization. Sure. What’s the best way for folks to get Ahold of you?

Tiana Neal: Yeah. So, um, so my LinkedIn page is, um, I’d say first off, I’m Tiana. Tiana, and last name is Neal N as in Nancy E. Um, but then my direct email is first name Tiana t I a n a and then it’s at transcend. Com t r a n s e n d e r s.com. Um, yeah. And if you send me an email or send me a LinkedIn connection with message, I’m happy to, um, to reach out and set up, you know, a call or if anyone out there is into HR and payroll or just leadership in general and or starting a business and wanting to get, you know, your name out there, I’m more than happy to schedule a podcast taping also.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fantastic. Well, Tiana Neal, founder of Transcendence Consulting Group, it’s been a pleasure. I really appreciate it. I hope you can stay with me while we talk with my certainly not least, but my last guest, Carol Middleton. Uh, and thank you for sharing the information that you shared with us and to know that there are solutions for problems that most people probably give up on.

Tiana Neal: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Josh, so much for having me.

Joshua Kornitsky: My pleasure. Well, my my last guest of today is someone that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing now for about three years. Uh, we kind of went into our own perspective lanes about the same time and met around the same time. I guess that’s about right. Yes. I’d like to introduce Farrell Middleton. He’s the founder of The Bell Curve of Life. It’s it’s really a unique teaching program. He’s also written a book, a performer, a environment. It’s a roadmap to enhance your performance and upgrade your environment. After 30, after a successful 36 year career in residential land development and home building, Farrell transitioned into his second career as a teacher, a speaker, and an author in 2022. His mission and focus are to cultivate a level performers and a level environments to drive personal growth and business health. If both can be achieved, success will follow and failure will be rare. Now, Farrell, I know you’re a Georgia Tech graduate with honors, and I know that you have decades of leadership experience, um, in really every session of your life. Tell us how you got here.

Speaker5: All right, well, first of all, thank you very much for having me. And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my other guests here today. I’ve learned a lot so far. So thank you very much. So, uh, with me, I’m a lifelong Georgian. I grew up in Savannah, moved to Atlanta in 1982, went to Georgia Tech. Uh, as you mentioned, I graduated from honors degree in building construction. Married my high school sweetheart. Her name is Kathy. We married in 1986 and we have two adult daughters. They live here in the Atlanta area and we are a first time grandparents.

Joshua Kornitsky: Congratulations.

Speaker5: Wonderful stage of life. It’s everything everybody said it would be. So, uh, very glad for that. My professional career started in 1986, and I got into land development and homebuilding immediately. Got a degree in building construction from Georgia Tech, so I’m one of those that use my degree. Day one of my career. Wow. And I spent 36 years I was a manager of other people at the age of 22, and I held high level positions for most of my career. And I have touched about 10,000 houses in some form or fashion in my professional career. I was a high volume guy. That’s lots of numbers. Yeah, a lot of numbers.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow. So? So 36 years? Yes. 30 in the industry? Yes. What on earth made you want? When? When you were done. When? When you said that’s it. That’s house number 10,000, I am done. What on earth made you want to continue on in this capacity? And I want to. I want to give you particular props because I’m a teacher and facilitator of iOS. I didn’t create iOS. I just know it and have lived it. You created your own coaching program that is exponentially harder.

Speaker5: It was a bit of a challenge. Yes, yes. So to answer your question, I’m 61 years old. I’ve got a lot of years left. Professionally, I just decided I wanted to provide a different type of service to society from a way to say it, and I’ve always wanted to be a teacher of sorts in my second career. It’s been a lifelong desire. I assumed it would be at the university level or college level teaching construction management, which I’m highly qualified to do. But I took a different path about ten years ago, and I started working on this program, and it’s called The Bell Curve of Life. And what this relates to is the old 20 over 20 principle that we all remember from middle school. 20% are in the upper category, 60% in the middle, and 20% are in the lower category. And for my program and material that relates to behavior, skills, performance and results, okay. And my program is I’m in the people business is about professional growth and development. That’s what my main focus is. And I want to help people get into and stay in that top 20% in areas of life that matter to them. They have to decide what it is they want to do. I want to help them get in that top 20%, and I can especially move the needle with those folks that are in that middle 60 and that lower 20%. But they have to be willing participants in this. They they have to want to grow and learn. I can help them with all kinds of material, but they have to come to me with a good attitude.

Joshua Kornitsky: We have a saying in my world, if you drag them in, you got to drag them around.

Speaker5: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: If they don’t want to be there, there’s there’s no helping someone who doesn’t want to learn. That’s right. But let me back up and ask, are you only focused on on the home building industry? Who who are the folks that that bell curve of life helps?

Speaker5: Uh, no. Uh, the majority of my clients are in the homebuilding industry. Uh, and that includes builders, um, trade partners, suppliers, subcontractors, those types of companies. But I’ve also done work with, uh, other companies outside the industry. I’ve done some work with some financial services companies. I did a little work with the Georgia State Golf Association. Uh, I’ve got a new client starting this week. It’s a regional furniture distribution company. Okay, that I’m starting. So my principles in both a performer and a environment get above what I will call hard skills, or specific products or services being delivered to the marketplace. Mine are in that softer, higher level stuff and my principals can relate to, you know, all individuals and all types of businesses. So I guess the the word for it is agnostic. That just sounds like such a negative word, but that’s the word to use for it.

Joshua Kornitsky: But well, it means you’re well here. You’re a vertical independent. I like that.

Speaker5: Yeah. There we go. There we go.

Joshua Kornitsky: So, uh, so can you and I. I freely, freely admit I haven’t received your book, but have not yet finished it.

Speaker5: Fair enough.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um. Share some if you would share 1 or 2 of the the main guiding principles so that people understand what exactly it is you’re trying to help folks move the needle on.

Speaker5: Okay. Excellent. We’ll start with a performer. I’ve got 11 chapters on a performer, and the first chapter in the book is on attitude. And attitude is the aspect or facet in life that has the most influence over your success and happiness. Other people and circumstances can influence it. They can never control it. That’s up to the individual. And positive attitudes are contagious, as are negative attitudes. So which one do you want to be? So attitude is a huge part of my program. In my A environment material, I’ve got seven main components of an A environment. I’ve got 12 chapters overall. I get into some secondary type things, but my number one component of an A environment is vision. And this can be vision, mission, purpose, slogan, that type of thing. And I like to start with this without vision, leadership and direction, you will end up somewhere, but you don’t know where it will be and you won’t know when you get there. And so what I advise my clients to do is when we do talk about this is the number one topic when I engage with them is I like them to develop a 12 to 15 word vision or mission statement that can just roll off their tongue. For example, mine is to cultivate a level performers and a level environments to drive personal growth and organizational health.

Joshua Kornitsky: We’re in clear and concise.

Speaker5: Clear, concise. And what you want that to do is you want that to whoever your audience is, you know, of one person or a few or whatever, maybe a network group or whatever. You want that initial statement to get their curiosity going for them to say, hey, that sounds kind of interesting. How do you do that? And I’ve seen a lot of vision mission statements that are very, very good. But there are multiple sentences, a couple of paragraphs, people lose them. And what you want to do is you want to make sure that you share this very clear, crisp and short vision with your internal associates and your external partners. They will help you attain it. They will. But it’s got to be clear, crisp and concise that rolls off people’s tongues. They’ll help you get it if you share it with them and if you’re committed to it.

Joshua Kornitsky: So clarifying question I work for you at company X, and company X has its own vision. Are you saying that I need my own vision as well.

Speaker5: Oh, inside the company from.

Joshua Kornitsky: No. Just for me. From my own success. To become an A player. The a environment I may not be able to control how they run their company. But if I want to be an A player.

Speaker5: Mhm.

Joshua Kornitsky: How is that one of the steps to understand my own needs.

Speaker5: It is. You know what. I have not looked at it that way before. So you’ve given me something good to think about today. But the answer is yes. Uh basically.

Joshua Kornitsky: But it’s already there.

Speaker5: It’s already there. Yeah. You just rephrased it for me. Uh, but, uh, no, uh, the whole thing is, is that what you want to do? Is frame yourself, set yourself up, uh, you know, back to a little bit of what the other guests have talked about today is how do you fit into your professional role? Right. And that is what I help people do. And actually, a little tangent off of your question a minute ago, what I like to do as well inside a larger company, let’s say a company that’s a home building company, which of course is my background, but you’ve got several internal departments, you’ve got production and you’ve got sales and marketing, finance and accounting and, you know, a land development, that kind of thing. Each of those departments can have their own internal vision with what they want to do, to provide internal customer service to their coworkers, into the organization. They all need to roll up and support the overall mission and vision of the overall company. But departments can have their own vision as well, and that helps them produce what they need to do again, to get that product or service to the marketplace as effectively as possible. That’s what that’s what internal customer service is all about.

Joshua Kornitsky: It makes sense. So let’s talk a little bit about the book a performer, a environment. And it’s really it from its own title. It’s it’s a roadmap to enhance your performance and to upgrade your environment. I’m looking at the title. There you go.

Speaker5: That’s right there.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yeah. So did you. Which came first, the training or the book?

Speaker5: Uh, actually, this was just one of the topics in my program that I started about three years ago, and I’ve got about 25 main topics that I talk about. And this relates to personal circumstances and other types of business things. I’ve got some management and leadership material as well, but over the course of the last two years, this material just kept kind of surfacing to the top right. It just became very important, very valuable. I was getting great feedback on it from my clients, and I just started to really gel around this. And I am a professional speaker as well. Now I’m an author, and in that world there is what is called signature material.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay?

Speaker5: And this has become my signature material. And basically the whole premise here again is I want to help individuals become a level performers. And again, this all relates to our historical educational grading scale of A, B, C, D, and F and create a level environments. And my main lead in with this is if you put a C performer in an A environment, they can become an A performer. If you put an A performer in a C environment. They will drift towards C performance and they will probably leave the key to success in our economic society because we choose who we do business with. You know, we have guardrails in place, of course, with laws and, you know, finance, you know, constraint, all that stuff that has to happen. We’ve talked a little bit about that with, you know, regulations, but we can do business with whom we choose. And so if a business owner or leader wants to attain a performance from their internal associates and external partners, those companies that support them on a routine basis every day, then they need to create an environment. And I’ve got the blueprint for the A environment, and I’ve identified the main traits of a performers. And if you can get that combination going, then that is a clear direction for success. Without a doubt.

Joshua Kornitsky: It sounds like it’s a pretty clear plan. And as we’ve talked about twice already today, if you’ve got a clear plan, you stand a much better chance of of getting where you’re going. Yeah.

Speaker5: Um, so one thing real quick, uh, basically my concepts. I haven’t created anything new, okay? I’ve just assembled it in a really good format, and the book reads well, I present well, uh, yeah, that type of stuff. It’s easy for people to understand. There’s simple concepts, but I read something years ago. I wish I could take credit for this, but simple rules guide complex behavior.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s great.

Speaker5: I lived a complicated life. Uh, with my career, I’m in the simple world now. My concepts are simple and easy for people to grasp and understand and improve their lives.

Joshua Kornitsky: There are natural, complex fires in the world, and there are natural simplifiers. And some days we sit in one chair, some days we sit in the other. But. But the simplifying chair is a much easier chair to deal with.

Speaker5: It is it just you can communicate well with people, they understand the concepts and yeah, that kind of thing. It’s a it’s a comfortable place to be. Let me be very clear.

Joshua Kornitsky: Absolutely. And like I said earlier, you never want to come across as condescending just because you’re trying to explain a concept that’s that’s complicated. And I think it was Albert Einstein that said, if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Right.

Speaker5: I like that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, he’s a lot smarter than I am.

Speaker5: Me, too.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, but I want to ask you. How so? I know you’re a speaker. Obviously you’re you’re an author. We were just talking about the book, and and you offer your services directly. But how else do you get your message out? How else do you help, folks?

Speaker5: Uh, what? I’ve got, uh, again, keynote speaking engagements, which I do. I love doing those. Uh, but I will do small group sessions with private companies, like about ten people in a room. And mainly I like to start with a leadership team to, uh, review a environment. And it takes 90 minutes to go through my seven components. And it’s a discovery session. I’ve moved beyond training and coaching with this particular material. We discover what’s working well and why and what’s not working well and why. And gee whiz, let’s focus on the stuff that’s not working well and why once we discover it. So that would be the next stage of this. And so that’s how I like to engage, uh, to start with and then with my A performer. This material can relate to any level of authority or management or activity, whatever the case may be. These principles relate to everybody. And so a key here is engaging with the clients and customers to expose them to these concepts. Again in a discovery method. And the great the beauty of this is every company and every individual will have different takeaways from the material because they are their own, uh, you know, their own people at that point in time. This is a snapshot of where you are at this point in time. And my goal and desire is to help people discover areas that can move the needle for them. And engaging with me in these sessions is everybody will walk away with something they can do better that day.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s awesome. That day. And that’s that’s a surprisingly short window, because most of the things that that we teach just in general, take time and application. So just if, if you’d be willing to share without names. Uh, can you share a success, someone or an organization that you’ve worked with that you. You saw the light. Go on.

Speaker5: Oh, absolutely. Uh, there’s one, uh, young man that I work for. He is a, uh, building material supply salesman. Okay. Uh, a good friend of mine, and he just, uh, got into managing other people. So we went through my management material, and he’s in his mid 30s. He’s never managed other people before, and he’s, uh, he’s done that. So we sent him my management material, and then we did a performer a environment with his six person team. And the light bulbs were just going off around the table. That’s awesome. With what we did. So started with him individually, uh, to get him ready and prepared to manage these folks. And then we brought the other folks in as well and had a great group session. And they have made tremendous strides in their, uh, their work as a group. So very, very, very satisfying.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s and the best part is, is that they get to feel and see that it’s not just you being able to appreciate it, but they get to see it. Absolutely, yes.

Speaker5: So they saw them, saw the results.

Joshua Kornitsky: So a couple of questions. Yes. Number one, if I want to get Ahold of the book, how do I get the book?

Speaker5: Uh, the book is in all the places it should be. Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky: So we’ll have the Amazon link.

Speaker5: Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Uh, it’s on Kindle, of course, and the audio version is on audible. And, yes, I narrated the book. Uh, so it’s out there as well. So it’s in all the right places.

Joshua Kornitsky: You’ve got pleasing dulcet tones.

Speaker5: I’ve been told that.

Joshua Kornitsky: There you go.

Speaker5: And I’ve got a career in radio. Somebody told me that. But I’m 61. I better hurry up.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so. So that’s actually my next question is, is, which has been more fun all those years in home building or or sharing the knowledge?

Speaker5: Well, uh, let’s say I had a very good career. Let me let me put it that way. Very 36 years.

Joshua Kornitsky: I didn’t say which was good. I said, which is more fun?

Speaker5: Yeah. Oh, this is a whole lot more fun. Are you kidding? This is a lot more fun. But I did have fun building houses every once in a while. But, uh, it’s, uh, you know, it’s got its challenges. But no, this has been, uh, been a lot of fun for me, but I actually the the really good joy is that I know that I’m helping people live a better life. It’s really that simple.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and again, having known you for a few years, it comes through, right when when people talk to you, when you talk about a performer, a environment, when you talk about bell curve, you just radiate that light of somebody who knows that they’re helping people and it really comes through. So how do people get Ahold of you?

Speaker5: Uh, very simple. Um, my website is The Bell Curve of Life.com. Very easy. I’m on LinkedIn as well under Farrell Middleton and the bell curve of life got a good LinkedIn presence. And, uh, my cell phone number, I gave it to my homeowners. (678) 618-2024 is my cell phone number. And yeah, so that’s how people can get in touch with me. I’m here in the Atlanta area. Uh, but again, my stuff, I can do virtual sessions and things of that nature. So, uh, doesn’t have to be here locally in Atlanta, but I do. I like in-person, but virtual. The world works in different ways these days.

Joshua Kornitsky: It does, it does. And the fact that you’re willing to embrace that in and of itself is is knowledge and acceptance of the fact that that the universe keeps rolling, whether whether we’re in it or not.

Speaker5: That’s right. Like I said, I’m 61 years old and I’ve got a I’ve got to conform to the world as well. So.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, I just got an error that popped up on my screen there, but I’m not going to worry about that. I want to say thank you, Carole Middleton, for sharing your journey. Uh, from successful home builder into speaker, author, teacher, coach, I want to say thank you to Tiana Neil, who’s bowl of spaghetti will stay with me forever. But reality being is knowing that there are people that can help, um, organizations untangle the messes that they kind of grew into is a huge, huge thing. And then, uh, first but not last. Robert Lee, I think that you’ve shed a very different perspective on why people don’t need to be necessarily fearful of AI, that it’s a tool to serve. But it starts with getting your yourself organized and understood to what your goals are. So, uh, thank you all for being here today on Cherokee Business Radio. Uh, I just want to quickly remind everybody that today’s episode was brought to you in part by our community partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending capitalism, promoting small business, and supplying, excuse me and supporting our local community. For more information, 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. Ink. Please go check them out at diesel. David comm. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I’m a professional implementer of the entrepreneurial Operating system and your host here on Cherokee Business Radio.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Should Your Goalposts Shift Over Time?

October 1, 2025 by angishields

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