April 4, 2025 • 39 mins
Success isn’t just about hard work—it’s about strategy. In this episode, Divya Parekh and business strategist Carl J. Cox reveal the frameworks that drive business growth and career success. Discover how strategic planning, alignment, and execution can help you take control of your path and achieve breakthrough results.
Beyond Confidence is broadcast live Tuesdays at 10AM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Beyond Confidence TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Beyond Confidence Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-confidence--1885197/support.
Beyond Confidence is broadcast live Tuesdays at 10AM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Beyond Confidence TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Beyond Confidence Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-confidence--1885197/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio it's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsement for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN Radio,
its employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should be
(00:21):
directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W
four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is Beyond Confidence with your host w Park. Do
you want to live a more fulfilling life? Do you
want to live your legacy and achieve your personal, professional,
and financial goals?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Coming up on dvparks Beyond Confidence, you will hear real
stories of leaders, entrepreneurs, and achievers who have stepped into discomfort,
shattered their status quo, and are living the life they want.
You will learn how relationships are the key to achieving
your aspirations and financial goals. Moving your career business forward
does not have to happen at the expense of your
personal or family life or vice versa. Learn more www
(01:01):
dot gwpark dot com and you can connect with vant
contact at dvpark dot com. This is beyond confidence and
now here's your host, w Park.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Good morning everyone. Of course, it is exciting to be
here with you because I'm with you all, so I
hope so that you're continuing the kind of circle that
we always have talked about. And I want to share
a story about one of our audiences who reached out.
(01:33):
The gentleman's name is John, and what John shed was
that they had unexpected snow. Usually he is in Georgia area,
so like just recently they had i snow. And then
he knew that an elderly couple lived next to him
(01:53):
and they had a couple of faults that year. So
what he did was he had already talked to them
ahead of time and said, anything that you need, let
me know, I'll get it for y'all. And even though
the couple had bought the groceries and everything needed, but
they needed something to be picked up and John went
(02:14):
aheadn't picked up and delivered to the door. And it's
so beautiful to do that because you're just giving that
time being kind to somebody else with no strings attached.
So do do that. And I want to thank each
and every one of you who have got a book,
(02:34):
because I'll share with you not just because I've written it,
but our readers have reached out to us that they
have changed their lives. And also part of the proceeds
go to keywod dot org. So if you have not
got a boox, do get a boox. I'm sure you're
seeing a couple of them in the background. Entrepreneurs got
in an expert to influencer do that and help us
(02:57):
help other entrepreneurs. Welcome our guest. Welcome Carl.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's wonderful to be here today.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Great to have you, so, Carl. Usually we start out
with a childhood or a youthe story. Is there a
moment or a person that left a positive mark on you.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
More than one for sure. You know, I grew up
I had a pretty tough actually upbringing, and so I
didn't actually get these from my mom and dad. There
was actually typically we're getting that positive resource from somebody
from the outside. And one of my good friend's dad
had you know, he had success in his life, and
(03:42):
he told me two things which really made a huge difference.
He said, one, as you're thinking about you know, this
is getting closer to graduating from high school and he said, Carl,
get a degree and people think they know what you know.
And that was like, really, are really insightful. And then
the second big thing he said, get a great first
(04:03):
job and meaning that you know, really try to go
somewhere where they're going to train you to be great
at what you do. And those two things were really
I actually share that with multiple other people I meet with,
and especially young people in their careers. And once again
when there's a lot of different ways to quote unquote
be successful, but that message to me was really impactful
(04:28):
for me and my future and being able to provide
for my family and to help others out as well.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Absolutely, it is so powerful because it's setting you for
success right from the get go. So tell us how
how did that teaching impact you and that did your life?
Johnny take you.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So I ended up going I attended the University of Washington,
and I actually had cam down three different ideas I
wanted to potentially do. I was like, one to be
a teacher, that was one of the ideas. Second thing
was going to engineering, and third on was the thing
was to go in a county. They all fit within
the concept of these three degrees or something that I
thought i'd get hired from, you know, if that makes sense.
(05:13):
I ended up through going through classes. I had this
really fun and enjoy who knew that anybody could love accounting?
And I found out there was a professor Sevzek at
the University of Washington was an amazing professor, and he
just this is going to sound interesting to be when
I found fell in love with numbers, and when I
(05:34):
found out everything wasn't black and white. It actually required
judgment in being rational and to think through different ideas
around it. And that's when I fell in love with
actually with the profession that because if it was just
black and white, I was like, well, a computer can
figure that out. But when you realize there's judgment in
(05:54):
making decisions, that's when it became very very interesting. So
that was that was really really impactful of me moving
forward going to the accounting profession. And then I ultimately
I you know, good news. I was like, Okay, well
you want to go hard. The good news with accounting
is they recruit you if you're doing well with grades,
(06:16):
and so I did pretty well with grades. To the process.
I did the process of meeting with other people, and
I was able to get one of the back then
Big six now Big four firms. It used to be
Cooper's Elaborate, now it's Price Waterhouse Coopers. So I was
able to be with one of the largest global accounting
firms in the world and one of the best things they.
You know, Universe Washington is one of the usually typically
(06:36):
top twenty twenty five business school accounting program, but you know,
the reality is in a hard term, you're taking fifteen credits,
right or maybe eighteen credits. That's literally fifteen eighteen hours
excluding study time. You know, when you go into public accounting,
you're probably working sixty five hours a week plus in
the busy season. So I learned more and that first
(06:59):
six months then I probably learned it in all of
my four years at the University Washington. And it was hard,
it was brutal, and I didn't like every minute of it, honestly,
you know, but it teaches you so quickly how to
be more effective at what you do. And that's once
again why I recommend people if they get that opportunity
to be at one of the best places up front,
(07:22):
you get trained by some of the smartest people in
the world. Who've already thought through how to train you
better than you could train be trained. And once again,
it just puts you ahead of the game, right head
of the curve in terms of people just start out
in a general job opportunity.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Absolutely, that is so powerful. And as you said that
you didn't like it, and I can share it you Like,
one of my initial jobs was very much the same,
and here's what I'll shared. Like, you know, especially if
you're working for a startup, you learn in dog years.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I heard.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
You end up learning so much that it's like, huh,
I've only worked for a year, and that sets the foundation.
So it is critical that you get into that first
rate job. So there's so many professionals right like, Okay,
you've got a good job. But then sometimes it is
(08:18):
keeping up with the joneses. It is, so we are
going to like, you know, let's look at it from
two different perspectives. One is from an organizational perspective, one
is from an individual perspective. So let's say we're talking
about a young employee. You know, they're they're in their
fantastic job and now they're working so many hours that
(08:40):
they don't even have time to strategize around their numbers.
They're focused on their career. What would you tell.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
THEMM, well, this is interesting. It's it's so interesting that
I literally am dealing with this. I got four kids
and two of them are officially in the workforce now,
and and you know they're they're doing great job at
what they do. But they complain sometimes right of like
this is hard, right, this is hard, and you know
(09:10):
the reality is this is really do great things come
from things not being hard? Now, I think there's a
long term perspective you have to recognize, is this is
something I want to do forever? You know, what is
the minimum expectation of a certain threshold I should be
learning before I consider leaving. Like I marry my high
(09:34):
school sweetheart, so I had a different perspective than a
lot of young people who didn't who aren't married, because
I had somebody else to think about. And one of
the problems is that the Ferma is at a lot
of people didn't have their rings left on their fingers,
and for me having a hope of having a long
term marriage, I was like, this is really fun, this
(09:55):
is really interesting, but I'm not sure if this is
the best long term place for me to be at.
And so when a recruiting opportunity came about and after
I'd earned my CPA, I was open to it because
I recognized the place I was at was it doesn't
mean you can't, It doesn't mean people haven't had successful
marriages going through public accounting and going through that process.
(10:17):
It's just I saw so many people had lost it
because of all their life and focus was in the
sixty five hour weeks of working at a large firm, right,
And so I made that decision to leave, And it
was one of the best decisions, but hardest decisions, because
there's so much pressure when you're working so hard and
(10:38):
you don't have time to think. And this is where
I think it comes down to is when you have
those periods going to your question, when do you stop
and think, well, you can't do it. When you're working
sixty five seventy hours a week, you can't. You can't
think you know it, just you're just surviving. But when
you do have that break, it's super important to think
(10:58):
about where do I want to five years from now,
Where do I want to be three years from now,
And so you start thinking about making those decisions of switching.
You know, or staying or going even deeper because you
really love what you do. And I think that that
decision making is super important in any person in their
young career. Once again, and think what is the goal?
(11:19):
Where is the end? Where? And you have to be
at some point you have to enjoy the process even
when it's hard. Yeah, right, Because sometimes we get to
our destination and we're not happy. Right, We've got there,
we've arrived, and it's like, well, what happened the past two, three, four,
(11:39):
five years? And so but I get concerned when I
am a little bit different. I'm not a big, huge
believer in what I call work life balance. Well, let
them explain that for a moment. I think people believe
that things have to be equal. That's not how life works, right,
(12:03):
Life is not equal. I mean even the reality is
if you work a typical forty hour week job, a
typical quote unquote corporate forty hour week job, that's way
more time than I'm spending at home by definition, right,
and so at least waking hours.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And so this concetant of balance I think is wrong.
I think what's important is you determined where you want
to be great at and when you start getting a
place where you could become wonderful and great at a
position or a role. I think that's when joy starts
coming in, right, when you actually find success in how
(12:43):
you do things. And that's for me, is when you
get to that, it's it's very rewarding because like, wow,
I'm when you start becoming once again an next what
I call quote unquote an expert something right, But the
problem is, you can't become an expert on day one.
It takes time an effort to get there. So that's
the hard thing, right is That's why I go back
(13:03):
to where do I want to be three to five
years from now? And then being willing to put in
the hard work and what you hopefully can measure success
along the way, how you're getting closer to that arrived
destination where you're joining the journey, but you're really trying
to get this outcome of expertise success where you feel
(13:24):
like you quote unquote or where closer where you want
to be.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
So what I'm hearing is having that vision like Okay,
what am I working towards? What is my north star?
And when you're clear about that, then you can it's
very easy. Well, it's not. It might sound simple, but
it's not that easy. And yet if you have the roadmap,
you're able to create a roadmap where you begin with
(13:50):
the end and then that can be your financial your
personal health. And I absolutely agree with you and that
that you cannot balance sit out always. Like when I'm
talking with my clients saying that find that work life harmony,
it might be that, especially as you mentioned in accounting,
you know, there may be seasons, like especially during the
(14:13):
tech seasons, you're going to be very busy, but then
during the summertime you can harmonize by like you know,
taking more downtime during when there is a seasonal downtime.
And so from that perspective, let's say, so you've talked
about the work perspective, what about the financial perspective. What
kind of strategies those young ones can have.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well, I think just like your your life of where
you want to be from a career perspective, that should
come in line with where you want to be from
a financial perspective. And this is once again they have
the data. I don't know we're exactly at VI with
inflation and everything, but I think it's around eighty five
(14:58):
thousand or something like that effort or sixty five to
eighty five thousand is where once you could pay for
your basic expenses. Getting beyond that, you're not any happier. Okay,
now this isn't always you know. Once again people argue
with me, what do you mean by that? What I think,
(15:20):
what I've appreciated is when I've developed what I really
love is having freedom, and when I've recognized when I
get really good at a job and I'm really getting
things done, it actually creates more freedom because people can
trust that I'm going to do the work that they do.
(15:41):
So I do recommend that people have quote unquote, whatever
their financials or goals are going to be. I'm also
a believer people should set some stretch goals because it's
amazing you could push us sometimes harder, five or ten
percent more. It gets so much more out of that outcome, right,
(16:02):
just by spending a little bit more time, not a
lot more time. It's a little bit more time, one
more call, right, staying five or ten minutes later to
make sure you finish the project, as opposed to it
hanging through the entire weekend, right, but to ultimately get
to this whatever your financial result should be I think
it's absolutely critical to once again get to where you
(16:24):
try and rive at. And we also I grew up
on financial assistance, government financial assistance. As mentioned, I did
not have the best upbringing. But we've raised all of
our kids that our goal for them is to contribute
more to society than they take away from it. And
(16:47):
since I've graduated from college, I have not taken any
financial assistance, and I never planned to take any financial
assistance from the government. And my hope is once again
is to quote unquote give more than take away from it.
And that for me is one of those goals I
think we should be having as people is don't rely
on the government to save you, so to speak. It
(17:08):
should be so you should be able to be self reliant.
And more importantly, if you had the means, the capability,
you should have being helple to provide for others. And
that to me is whatever that threshold is for you. Now,
one more thing, an important aspect is you shouldn't feel
bad making a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Agreed, because here's the thing, as you mentioned that, and
what a noble goal and noble values to pass on
to your children. That I was in a very similar situation.
You said, don't feel bad about making more money. So initially,
like you know, when I transitioned from the corporate job
into my coaching, I would feel bad, like, oh, this
(17:48):
is something I should be helping people. And one of
my coaches told me something very powerful, that you've got
to keep the lights on in your home. And think
about it. If you know that you can keep your
lights on for like next ten years, then you can
go and help out a whole lot more people than
not because now you have the freedom and not the
(18:11):
worries to worry about what's my next day going to
look like?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's right, That's right. Yeah, I think that's great advice.
And and and the other part, which is, you know,
one of our goals here at forty Strategy and with
forty Counting is you know, we want to give over
a million dollars to charity and through the companies, and
we're in progress of doing that, and well, we can't
do that without making a lot of money, right, and
(18:40):
we try to give you know, percentage of our revenues
to not just the bottom line, but part of our
revenue to charity. And so that is what drives me
to earn more to make to make more is to give.
And so that's the way how I approach it. Once again,
other people, I have no problem once again with people
who don't. If they choose not to give, that's that's
(19:01):
These are personal decisions for people. But for me, I know,
I feel better, you know, when I can to do that.
Some people have the gift of doing the things that
I wish I had the compassion and the empathy for
which I don't. I'm one of my gifts is to
be able to create businesses, add value in businesses, and
to help create wealth and and so that's what I
(19:23):
love to do. And then I get to then share
pass along those profits and gifts to others for them
to do what they're great at, right for the things
that I'm not best in the world at, if that
makes sense. And and so that's that's that's where once again,
that's what rewarding me. And then I also try to
create a connection with these organizations where it matters right
(19:45):
where what they're doing, what we're trying to So it's
not just blind money so to speak, it's like engaged
relationships right with with the people and connections that what
we're helping provide for it, and that's for me is
what helps bring a lot joy.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Absolutely, and you bring back to the point, like you know,
you were talking about sixty five eighty five thousand, after that,
it doesn't bring your joy. At the same time, let's
say it's not about the money, it's about giving back.
It's about the impact. And when you are creating impact,
it automatically brings joys. So everything that you have shared
(20:22):
does apply to anybody, regardless you know, whether people are
getting ready to retire or they're in the mid season.
It's about setting that vision and working towards it and
narrowing down your values. You know, what is going to
be the charter for your life. So I've looked at
from individual's perspective, what about from organizational perspectives? What strategies
(20:43):
that they can have because I'll tell you one thing,
when people are laid off. I've been very fortunate. I
wasn't laid off. I made the choice to transition, but
I get so many clients who were earning multiple six
figures and all of a sudden, you know, they are
(21:04):
let go. So what strategies can organization put into place
that people are on the first cut?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Oh, Wow, that's a great question, and and you know,
I it's it's an interesting question behind that of like
what you know from an organization protective. Does the owner
have a duty right for their employees right? And this
(21:37):
is the weird part. When an employee gets an opportunity
to go somewhere else, there seems to be no problem
with that true right, So an employee gets an opportunity
to go and take somewhere else. There's a difference I
think between smaller and larger larger companies. But at its core,
(21:59):
you know, organizations have to successfully generate profits, right otherwise
they are not for profit and they can actually perform
and grow and do the things they need to do
from the employee side behind things, and of course this
depends on the different type of organizations that there are.
(22:21):
I do think there's somewhat of a responsibility on the
employer side that they should be developing and they should
ideally have an organization where they're trying to develop people
and to help grow them, but also recognizing that not
everybody's going to stay through the process, meaning we have
a duty I think to help grow people and give
(22:42):
them the best opportunities to help them move through for
where they're going to accomplish on the flip side is
the employees have to return that favor. Right, and this
is going to sound bad, Well that's the truth, right,
Gallup says about what gosh, I haven't seen. The latest
(23:03):
data is a thirty percent roughly let's just say, you know,
roughly thirty percent of employees are engaged, fully engaged your work,
all right, Right, So does an employer have a duty
to maintain the seventy percent of unengaged non engaged employees?
Speaker 4 (23:21):
That is a really good question, and that kind of
comes back to, yeah, forming that symbiotic relationship. So it's
not just the owner's responsibility. The way I see it
is that it's it's a handshake, just like a hug.
Any of that, you know, both the parties need to
be involved and be engaged and be committed to each other.
(23:46):
So when I ask you the question, what strategies they
can put in places that it's not about not letting
go if people are not working in because as we know,
companies are for profit, they're not nonprofit organization. And even
in nonprofit organization, their operating costs are so high that
(24:09):
the actual money that reaches to people is quite less
if you want to look at it. In the big
scheme of things, it is about those employees who are
engaged and who are committed, who are not hopping, and
then it could even be that they're not expecting that curveball.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
It's it's one of the I think toughest things that happens,
especially in larger corporations, is when corporations will use a
reduction in force to get rid of highly effective but
highly paid employees, right. And I think that's when it's
the hardest hit. Is when somebody is doing all the
(24:53):
right things, but they've grown up in the path the
chain and they're just making too much money for the
employee right in terms of things, And that's tough. I mean,
I have had multiple relatives and people that I know
closely have gone through that. It is it's like a divorce,
(25:13):
so must right when you get laid off for the
first time. It's this very personal rejection right of who
you are, if you'res.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And so many people identify themselves with their jobs. And
as you mentioned that, you know thirty percent of people
are moving from one job to another, and yet people
do take pride as you mentioned, if people are growing.
So in that kind of a situation, I would say that,
you know, provide resources or have some form of of course,
(25:44):
you know, employers cannot say you're making too much money
so you're going to lay off because.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That they never say no.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Then that employe is going to come in sue them.
But the key is like, you know, educating people like
you know, what are the here? So that way it
is kind of understood, like you know, and then the
employee also then this goes back to both sides. You
said what is the responsibility of an employee, so also
employee kind of being aware of like you know, what
(26:13):
is my limit over here? Like you know, yes, I
want to grow because millennials and Gen Z they want
to grow really fast every year every two years, Like
I want to get promotion, which can lead to empty
food syndrome. But the key is like you know, both
sides being aware like okay, am I reaching to a level?
So does that mean that I need to be on
(26:33):
the lookout? So that's that's the whole where the key
is because you dance in strategy. So having that strategy
both for organizations and the professionals.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah, it's you know, it's interesting look from the employer side, right,
there's value in keeping great people as long as you can,
you know, to have what I call, you know, the
appropriate when you can keep highly engaged employees to low
(27:09):
turnover because you're because there once again is that truly
symbiotic relationship which things are win win right for each
of them respectively. That's what all companies should be moving for.
I mean, the goal from an employer standpoint is they're
increasing that engagement right to the people that they have
the organization right so they are engaged. This is where
(27:29):
once again I think companies make a mistake is they
don't try to make sure engagement at all levels, not
just at levels that are the senior most positions, like
why not having opportunities On the other side, and then,
as I'm saying this, truly if we can't continue to
(27:50):
grows somebody, as I said, it's part of our duty
as an employer to help share with them, Hey, have
you have great opportunity? Have you consider education? Have you
considered these other opportunities? How do we help make you
be successful? Now, sometimes we have to go from an
employer perspective really look at what's what are they what's
(28:12):
in it for them? And I think most employers don't
do this, So this is where I think they could
get really deep engagement. And it's something that one of
my friends, Scott Valor, talked about. There's some great books
out there that talks about this concept. But when And
let me give a quick example. So I had a
friend name Scott. He grew a company from his countertop
(28:37):
with like twenty bucks and grew it into an agency
that had over four thousand insurance agents across the United
States over like a twenty year period actually I don't
know exact period, ten to fifteen year period. And one
of his most important people, his supervisor for the call center,
was getting ready to leave, and the person said, and
(28:59):
for Scott, this was awful because he's like, I can't
lose you. You're one of the most important people that
I have in the company. And the person trying I said,
you don't even know why I'm here. And Scott said,
what do you mean. You know, you said, do such
a good job and you leave the team and this
is a renewal time. I can't afford to lose you.
He says, well, you don't know why I'm here. He
(29:20):
said again. So Scott's finally said, hey, look, I'll do
whatever it takes to keep you and he repeating, what
you know, why why am I here? And he finally said,
he broke down. He said, the reason why I'm here
is I'm trying to provide enough money to pay for
my daughter's braces so she could have straight teeth. That
(29:43):
was his why. His why had nothing to do with
his own personal growth. It had nothing to do with
his management techniques. It had nothing, No, it had to
do with him having enough money to help provide for
his daughter's braces. And I I think as employers, when
we understand what's really the why behind the why. Look,
(30:04):
everybody's not going to be a CEO, right and not
everybody's going to be an entrepreneur. But when we can
connect with what people's real why is and provide opportunities
so they can get to that outcome to help provide
for their real why, that's one I think this whole
different level of experience and expectation takes place. But you
(30:24):
have to be willing to go down a path that
most employers and most employees aren't willing to do because
they don't fully trust each other right. And so when
you get past that trust to get to there and
use it for good and not for evil. Right, when
we go through this process, that's not I think when
companies are different, when they create different opportunities and create
(30:46):
different relationships, that are really a win win for the
long run. Are those are the companies that have crazy
high engagement, right, and have really good customer relationship scores
and have a place where people ever want to leave, right.
That's what's awesome is when people create that type of
company and that type of organization.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Absolutely. So you have mentioned that you know your company
wants to give one million dollars in charity, and that
is phenomenal. So tell us, I'm assuming that you have
your team members. How are you nurturing them and cultivating
them and what's your strategy?
Speaker 3 (31:30):
First of all, I guess I'm not perfect at this,
even you know, from my own perspective, and so let's
let's say I'm not throwing rocks out of a glasshouse.
I think developing employees is challenging, right, and so but
what I have found is one of the mistakes I've
made in the past is sometimes out how to hire people.
(31:54):
Two just kind of get is done and without a
whole lot of guidance, and especially when I'm busy, like
I might be traveling around meeting with other clients and
doing other things, and I will say, oh, just take
care of it. And what's interesting is I won't have
(32:16):
as much engagement in what they're working on and doing.
And for me, what I'm learning is for me to
care more about what they're doing, even though I'm not
directly responsible for it, from that aspect of where I
can help engage them, critique them, learn and help make
sure it's doing better. And that's something I said I'm
(32:39):
still working on myself. I don't want to use this
as a I've perfected this process behind it, but when
I have had relationships where I like to have people
have autonomy in their jobs, so I just to clarify,
and what I'm saying is I'm not talking about checking
everything they're doing and watching over their shoulder, but to
(33:00):
follow along and care about the quality of the work
that they're doing. I think that does matter. And that's
the side of us that I'm literally had made a
change even this year where I'm actively working in our
CPA business more deeply rather than being quote unquote just
working on the business, but working in the business directly
(33:22):
more because I want to make sure the company is
set up and growing in the way that I think
is going to best serve our clients. And to do
that separated, do it away is not going to be
as helpful for me or nor for our clients, nor
for our employees. So that has been honestly a little
aha moment. I even had myself over the past couple
(33:43):
of months, and it's like, Okay, I'm going to be
more engaged and I do these things and not just
quote unquote delegate it, but to be more engaged with
what's taking place.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
What would you say, if I'm bringing your advice to you,
is your vision for yourself, like for the next three
years and for your company?
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, so actually we're working. That's really funny, you said,
this book, a very well known book. It's interesting, you know,
because my life is doing strategic planning and execution and
then I have a CPA firm as my two things
that I do, and so you'd think, oh, I'm really
great at this, and it's amazing how hard it is,
like anything, doing it on your own right versus working
(34:31):
with somebody else. Is why I've hired so many coaches
throughout my career is to help give me independent feedback.
But just for multiple different reasons, that classic book Think
and Grow Rich had come across my path, and there's
this actually on YouTube, there's this great little twenty minute
summary of it. And I am super excited because I'm
(34:58):
developing a big hair inadacious goal again for my business.
So we've had a great first five years with the
current current businesses, but my goal is to make sure
I get this right. But to three x I mean
just being three x my personal wealth in the next
(35:22):
four years fantastic. And so that's the big, hairy inadacious
goal that I have. And then beyond that too is
to also give my goal that million dollars to substantially
exceed that as well. And and so that's that's where
I'm heading towards. And it's I've never been more fired
(35:45):
up I So I'm super excited. We have two business
As a matter of fact, we're I'm developing a whole
concept of this forty strategy of forty brand where we
can help provide and bring in services that fall underneath brand,
where we can help small businesses with and provide them
to help create value. And it's super motivating for me
(36:09):
and I'm excited how we're helping out clients with So
so there you go. That's our big hair inadacious goal,
and we're developing the plan. I mean, the plans are
not fully in place. I'm developing as we speak. And
you know, if we had this conversation in about two
(36:30):
weeks three weeks from now, the plan will be fully
baked out. But I do have the general direction where
we're heading. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Well, I'm very excited for you and for your company.
So if anybody from our audience wants to connect with you,
learn more about you, where can they connect?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
They can connect a couple different ways. First, first of once,
gets Carl Jacox anyone who's listening, that's the best way
to search from that perspective, c ARLJ. C Ox. You
could course do a Google search, but we have a
website forty strategy dot com as well as forty Accounting
dot com. Feel free to go look at that information,
and of course you can find us on LinkedIn. That's
(37:09):
where we tend to do a lot of information. If
you want to find that, you could also send me
an email at Carljcox at forty strategy dot com. If
you want a free copy of my book, let me know.
I'll be happy to do that. Lost at CEO An
Entrepreneur's Guide to Strategy. Feel free to send me an
email at Carljcox at forty strategy dot com. Will be
(37:29):
happy to send you a book.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
All fantastic and thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
Any last words that you'd like to share.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
First of all, thank you, thank you for the opportunity
to be here. If you asked great questions. I love
your insights and I love it how you asked back.
You know, one of the hardest things that consultant rights
that go back and it might walk in my talk
right if that makes sense that I appreciated you to
ask those questions throughout it. So thank you so much.
It's been really fortunate to you to be on your
(38:00):
podcast today.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Well, it was such a pleasure having you on our
show on our podcast, Carl, thank you for taking the
time and sharing a wisdom a test, and thank you,
dear audience for being part of our family because without you,
the show would not be possible. You are the soul
of our show reach out. Let us know how can
we serve and support you so that you can live
(38:23):
the best life you can and thank you on for
making the show technically possible. Be well and take care
until next time.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Thank you for being part of Beyond Confidence. With your
host d V Park, we hope you have learned more
about how to start living the life you want. Each
week on Beyond Confidence, you hear stories of real people
who've experienced growth by overcoming their fears and building meaningful relationships.
During Beyond Confidence, Diva Park shares what happened to her
when she stepped out of her comfort zone to work
(38:54):
directly with people across the globe. She not only coaches
people how to form herd connections, but also try transform
relationships to mutually beneficial partnerships as they strive to live
the life they want. If you are ready to live
the life you want and leverage your strengths, learn more
at www Dotwpark dot com and you can connect with
vats contact at dvpark dot com. We look forward to
(39:18):
you joining us next week.
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio it's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsement for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN Radio,
its employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should be
(00:21):
directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W
four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is Beyond Confidence with your host w Park. Do
you want to live a more fulfilling life? Do you
want to live your legacy and achieve your personal, professional,
and financial goals?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Coming up on dvparks Beyond Confidence, you will hear real
stories of leaders, entrepreneurs, and achievers who have stepped into discomfort,
shattered their status quo, and are living the life they want.
You will learn how relationships are the key to achieving
your aspirations and financial goals. Moving your career business forward
does not have to happen at the expense of your
personal or family life or vice versa. Learn more www
(01:01):
dot gwpark dot com and you can connect with vant
contact at dvpark dot com. This is beyond confidence and
now here's your host, w Park.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Good morning everyone. Of course, it is exciting to be
here with you because I'm with you all, so I
hope so that you're continuing the kind of circle that
we always have talked about. And I want to share
a story about one of our audiences who reached out.
(01:33):
The gentleman's name is John, and what John shed was
that they had unexpected snow. Usually he is in Georgia area,
so like just recently they had i snow. And then
he knew that an elderly couple lived next to him
(01:53):
and they had a couple of faults that year. So
what he did was he had already talked to them
ahead of time and said, anything that you need, let
me know, I'll get it for y'all. And even though
the couple had bought the groceries and everything needed, but
they needed something to be picked up and John went
(02:14):
aheadn't picked up and delivered to the door. And it's
so beautiful to do that because you're just giving that
time being kind to somebody else with no strings attached.
So do do that. And I want to thank each
and every one of you who have got a book,
(02:34):
because I'll share with you not just because I've written it,
but our readers have reached out to us that they
have changed their lives. And also part of the proceeds
go to keywod dot org. So if you have not
got a boox, do get a boox. I'm sure you're
seeing a couple of them in the background. Entrepreneurs got
in an expert to influencer do that and help us
(02:57):
help other entrepreneurs. Welcome our guest. Welcome Carl.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's wonderful to be here today.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Great to have you, so, Carl. Usually we start out
with a childhood or a youthe story. Is there a
moment or a person that left a positive mark on you.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
More than one for sure. You know, I grew up
I had a pretty tough actually upbringing, and so I
didn't actually get these from my mom and dad. There
was actually typically we're getting that positive resource from somebody
from the outside. And one of my good friend's dad
had you know, he had success in his life, and
(03:42):
he told me two things which really made a huge difference.
He said, one, as you're thinking about you know, this
is getting closer to graduating from high school and he said, Carl,
get a degree and people think they know what you know.
And that was like, really, are really insightful. And then
the second big thing he said, get a great first
(04:03):
job and meaning that you know, really try to go
somewhere where they're going to train you to be great
at what you do. And those two things were really
I actually share that with multiple other people I meet with,
and especially young people in their careers. And once again
when there's a lot of different ways to quote unquote
be successful, but that message to me was really impactful
(04:28):
for me and my future and being able to provide
for my family and to help others out as well.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Absolutely, it is so powerful because it's setting you for
success right from the get go. So tell us how
how did that teaching impact you and that did your life?
Johnny take you.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So I ended up going I attended the University of Washington,
and I actually had cam down three different ideas I
wanted to potentially do. I was like, one to be
a teacher, that was one of the ideas. Second thing
was going to engineering, and third on was the thing
was to go in a county. They all fit within
the concept of these three degrees or something that I
thought i'd get hired from, you know, if that makes sense.
(05:13):
I ended up through going through classes. I had this
really fun and enjoy who knew that anybody could love accounting?
And I found out there was a professor Sevzek at
the University of Washington was an amazing professor, and he
just this is going to sound interesting to be when
I found fell in love with numbers, and when I
(05:34):
found out everything wasn't black and white. It actually required
judgment in being rational and to think through different ideas
around it. And that's when I fell in love with
actually with the profession that because if it was just
black and white, I was like, well, a computer can
figure that out. But when you realize there's judgment in
(05:54):
making decisions, that's when it became very very interesting. So
that was that was really really impactful of me moving
forward going to the accounting profession. And then I ultimately
I you know, good news. I was like, Okay, well
you want to go hard. The good news with accounting
is they recruit you if you're doing well with grades,
(06:16):
and so I did pretty well with grades. To the process.
I did the process of meeting with other people, and
I was able to get one of the back then
Big six now Big four firms. It used to be
Cooper's Elaborate, now it's Price Waterhouse Coopers. So I was
able to be with one of the largest global accounting
firms in the world and one of the best things they.
You know, Universe Washington is one of the usually typically
(06:36):
top twenty twenty five business school accounting program, but you know,
the reality is in a hard term, you're taking fifteen credits,
right or maybe eighteen credits. That's literally fifteen eighteen hours
excluding study time. You know, when you go into public accounting,
you're probably working sixty five hours a week plus in
the busy season. So I learned more and that first
(06:59):
six months then I probably learned it in all of
my four years at the University Washington. And it was hard,
it was brutal, and I didn't like every minute of it, honestly,
you know, but it teaches you so quickly how to
be more effective at what you do. And that's once
again why I recommend people if they get that opportunity
to be at one of the best places up front,
(07:22):
you get trained by some of the smartest people in
the world. Who've already thought through how to train you
better than you could train be trained. And once again,
it just puts you ahead of the game, right head
of the curve in terms of people just start out
in a general job opportunity.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Absolutely, that is so powerful. And as you said that
you didn't like it, and I can share it you Like,
one of my initial jobs was very much the same,
and here's what I'll shared. Like, you know, especially if
you're working for a startup, you learn in dog years.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I heard.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
You end up learning so much that it's like, huh,
I've only worked for a year, and that sets the foundation.
So it is critical that you get into that first
rate job. So there's so many professionals right like, Okay,
you've got a good job. But then sometimes it is
(08:18):
keeping up with the joneses. It is, so we are
going to like, you know, let's look at it from
two different perspectives. One is from an organizational perspective, one
is from an individual perspective. So let's say we're talking
about a young employee. You know, they're they're in their
fantastic job and now they're working so many hours that
(08:40):
they don't even have time to strategize around their numbers.
They're focused on their career. What would you tell.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
THEMM, well, this is interesting. It's it's so interesting that
I literally am dealing with this. I got four kids
and two of them are officially in the workforce now,
and and you know they're they're doing great job at
what they do. But they complain sometimes right of like
this is hard, right, this is hard, and you know
(09:10):
the reality is this is really do great things come
from things not being hard? Now, I think there's a
long term perspective you have to recognize, is this is
something I want to do forever? You know, what is
the minimum expectation of a certain threshold I should be
learning before I consider leaving. Like I marry my high
(09:34):
school sweetheart, so I had a different perspective than a
lot of young people who didn't who aren't married, because
I had somebody else to think about. And one of
the problems is that the Ferma is at a lot
of people didn't have their rings left on their fingers,
and for me having a hope of having a long
term marriage, I was like, this is really fun, this
(09:55):
is really interesting, but I'm not sure if this is
the best long term place for me to be at.
And so when a recruiting opportunity came about and after
I'd earned my CPA, I was open to it because
I recognized the place I was at was it doesn't
mean you can't, It doesn't mean people haven't had successful
marriages going through public accounting and going through that process.
(10:17):
It's just I saw so many people had lost it
because of all their life and focus was in the
sixty five hour weeks of working at a large firm, right,
And so I made that decision to leave, And it
was one of the best decisions, but hardest decisions, because
there's so much pressure when you're working so hard and
(10:38):
you don't have time to think. And this is where
I think it comes down to is when you have
those periods going to your question, when do you stop
and think, well, you can't do it. When you're working
sixty five seventy hours a week, you can't. You can't
think you know it, just you're just surviving. But when
you do have that break, it's super important to think
(10:58):
about where do I want to five years from now,
Where do I want to be three years from now,
And so you start thinking about making those decisions of switching.
You know, or staying or going even deeper because you
really love what you do. And I think that that
decision making is super important in any person in their
young career. Once again, and think what is the goal?
(11:19):
Where is the end? Where? And you have to be
at some point you have to enjoy the process even
when it's hard. Yeah, right, Because sometimes we get to
our destination and we're not happy. Right, We've got there,
we've arrived, and it's like, well, what happened the past two, three, four,
(11:39):
five years? And so but I get concerned when I
am a little bit different. I'm not a big, huge
believer in what I call work life balance. Well, let
them explain that for a moment. I think people believe
that things have to be equal. That's not how life works, right,
(12:03):
Life is not equal. I mean even the reality is
if you work a typical forty hour week job, a
typical quote unquote corporate forty hour week job, that's way
more time than I'm spending at home by definition, right,
and so at least waking hours.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And so this concetant of balance I think is wrong.
I think what's important is you determined where you want
to be great at and when you start getting a
place where you could become wonderful and great at a
position or a role. I think that's when joy starts
coming in, right, when you actually find success in how
(12:43):
you do things. And that's for me, is when you
get to that, it's it's very rewarding because like, wow,
I'm when you start becoming once again an next what
I call quote unquote an expert something right, But the
problem is, you can't become an expert on day one.
It takes time an effort to get there. So that's
the hard thing, right is That's why I go back
(13:03):
to where do I want to be three to five
years from now? And then being willing to put in
the hard work and what you hopefully can measure success
along the way, how you're getting closer to that arrived
destination where you're joining the journey, but you're really trying
to get this outcome of expertise success where you feel
(13:24):
like you quote unquote or where closer where you want
to be.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
So what I'm hearing is having that vision like Okay,
what am I working towards? What is my north star?
And when you're clear about that, then you can it's
very easy. Well, it's not. It might sound simple, but
it's not that easy. And yet if you have the roadmap,
you're able to create a roadmap where you begin with
(13:50):
the end and then that can be your financial your
personal health. And I absolutely agree with you and that
that you cannot balance sit out always. Like when I'm
talking with my clients saying that find that work life harmony,
it might be that, especially as you mentioned in accounting,
you know, there may be seasons, like especially during the
(14:13):
tech seasons, you're going to be very busy, but then
during the summertime you can harmonize by like you know,
taking more downtime during when there is a seasonal downtime.
And so from that perspective, let's say, so you've talked
about the work perspective, what about the financial perspective. What
kind of strategies those young ones can have.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well, I think just like your your life of where
you want to be from a career perspective, that should
come in line with where you want to be from
a financial perspective. And this is once again they have
the data. I don't know we're exactly at VI with
inflation and everything, but I think it's around eighty five
(14:58):
thousand or something like that effort or sixty five to
eighty five thousand is where once you could pay for
your basic expenses. Getting beyond that, you're not any happier. Okay,
now this isn't always you know. Once again people argue
with me, what do you mean by that? What I think,
(15:20):
what I've appreciated is when I've developed what I really
love is having freedom, and when I've recognized when I
get really good at a job and I'm really getting
things done, it actually creates more freedom because people can
trust that I'm going to do the work that they do.
(15:41):
So I do recommend that people have quote unquote, whatever
their financials or goals are going to be. I'm also
a believer people should set some stretch goals because it's
amazing you could push us sometimes harder, five or ten
percent more. It gets so much more out of that outcome, right,
(16:02):
just by spending a little bit more time, not a
lot more time. It's a little bit more time, one
more call, right, staying five or ten minutes later to
make sure you finish the project, as opposed to it
hanging through the entire weekend, right, but to ultimately get
to this whatever your financial result should be I think
it's absolutely critical to once again get to where you
(16:24):
try and rive at. And we also I grew up
on financial assistance, government financial assistance. As mentioned, I did
not have the best upbringing. But we've raised all of
our kids that our goal for them is to contribute
more to society than they take away from it. And
(16:47):
since I've graduated from college, I have not taken any
financial assistance, and I never planned to take any financial
assistance from the government. And my hope is once again
is to quote unquote give more than take away from it.
And that for me is one of those goals I
think we should be having as people is don't rely
on the government to save you, so to speak. It
(17:08):
should be so you should be able to be self reliant.
And more importantly, if you had the means, the capability,
you should have being helple to provide for others. And
that to me is whatever that threshold is for you. Now,
one more thing, an important aspect is you shouldn't feel
bad making a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Agreed, because here's the thing, as you mentioned that, and
what a noble goal and noble values to pass on
to your children. That I was in a very similar situation.
You said, don't feel bad about making more money. So initially,
like you know, when I transitioned from the corporate job
into my coaching, I would feel bad, like, oh, this
(17:48):
is something I should be helping people. And one of
my coaches told me something very powerful, that you've got
to keep the lights on in your home. And think
about it. If you know that you can keep your
lights on for like next ten years, then you can
go and help out a whole lot more people than
not because now you have the freedom and not the
(18:11):
worries to worry about what's my next day going to
look like?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's right, That's right. Yeah, I think that's great advice.
And and and the other part, which is, you know,
one of our goals here at forty Strategy and with
forty Counting is you know, we want to give over
a million dollars to charity and through the companies, and
we're in progress of doing that, and well, we can't
do that without making a lot of money, right, and
(18:40):
we try to give you know, percentage of our revenues
to not just the bottom line, but part of our
revenue to charity. And so that is what drives me
to earn more to make to make more is to give.
And so that's the way how I approach it. Once again,
other people, I have no problem once again with people
who don't. If they choose not to give, that's that's
(19:01):
These are personal decisions for people. But for me, I know,
I feel better, you know, when I can to do that.
Some people have the gift of doing the things that
I wish I had the compassion and the empathy for
which I don't. I'm one of my gifts is to
be able to create businesses, add value in businesses, and
to help create wealth and and so that's what I
(19:23):
love to do. And then I get to then share
pass along those profits and gifts to others for them
to do what they're great at, right for the things
that I'm not best in the world at, if that
makes sense. And and so that's that's that's where once again,
that's what rewarding me. And then I also try to
create a connection with these organizations where it matters right
(19:45):
where what they're doing, what we're trying to So it's
not just blind money so to speak, it's like engaged
relationships right with with the people and connections that what
we're helping provide for it, and that's for me is
what helps bring a lot joy.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Absolutely, and you bring back to the point, like you know,
you were talking about sixty five eighty five thousand, after that,
it doesn't bring your joy. At the same time, let's
say it's not about the money, it's about giving back.
It's about the impact. And when you are creating impact,
it automatically brings joys. So everything that you have shared
(20:22):
does apply to anybody, regardless you know, whether people are
getting ready to retire or they're in the mid season.
It's about setting that vision and working towards it and
narrowing down your values. You know, what is going to
be the charter for your life. So I've looked at
from individual's perspective, what about from organizational perspectives? What strategies
(20:43):
that they can have because I'll tell you one thing,
when people are laid off. I've been very fortunate. I
wasn't laid off. I made the choice to transition, but
I get so many clients who were earning multiple six
figures and all of a sudden, you know, they are
(21:04):
let go. So what strategies can organization put into place
that people are on the first cut?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Oh, Wow, that's a great question, and and you know,
I it's it's an interesting question behind that of like
what you know from an organization protective. Does the owner
have a duty right for their employees right? And this
(21:37):
is the weird part. When an employee gets an opportunity
to go somewhere else, there seems to be no problem
with that true right, So an employee gets an opportunity
to go and take somewhere else. There's a difference I
think between smaller and larger larger companies. But at its core,
(21:59):
you know, organizations have to successfully generate profits, right otherwise
they are not for profit and they can actually perform
and grow and do the things they need to do
from the employee side behind things, and of course this
depends on the different type of organizations that there are.
(22:21):
I do think there's somewhat of a responsibility on the
employer side that they should be developing and they should
ideally have an organization where they're trying to develop people
and to help grow them, but also recognizing that not
everybody's going to stay through the process, meaning we have
a duty I think to help grow people and give
(22:42):
them the best opportunities to help them move through for
where they're going to accomplish on the flip side is
the employees have to return that favor. Right, and this
is going to sound bad, Well that's the truth, right,
Gallup says about what gosh, I haven't seen. The latest
(23:03):
data is a thirty percent roughly let's just say, you know,
roughly thirty percent of employees are engaged, fully engaged your work,
all right, Right, So does an employer have a duty
to maintain the seventy percent of unengaged non engaged employees?
Speaker 4 (23:21):
That is a really good question, and that kind of
comes back to, yeah, forming that symbiotic relationship. So it's
not just the owner's responsibility. The way I see it
is that it's it's a handshake, just like a hug.
Any of that, you know, both the parties need to
be involved and be engaged and be committed to each other.
(23:46):
So when I ask you the question, what strategies they
can put in places that it's not about not letting
go if people are not working in because as we know,
companies are for profit, they're not nonprofit organization. And even
in nonprofit organization, their operating costs are so high that
(24:09):
the actual money that reaches to people is quite less
if you want to look at it. In the big
scheme of things, it is about those employees who are
engaged and who are committed, who are not hopping, and
then it could even be that they're not expecting that curveball.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
It's it's one of the I think toughest things that happens,
especially in larger corporations, is when corporations will use a
reduction in force to get rid of highly effective but
highly paid employees, right. And I think that's when it's
the hardest hit. Is when somebody is doing all the
(24:53):
right things, but they've grown up in the path the
chain and they're just making too much money for the
employee right in terms of things, And that's tough. I mean,
I have had multiple relatives and people that I know
closely have gone through that. It is it's like a divorce,
(25:13):
so must right when you get laid off for the
first time. It's this very personal rejection right of who
you are, if you'res.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And so many people identify themselves with their jobs. And
as you mentioned that, you know thirty percent of people
are moving from one job to another, and yet people
do take pride as you mentioned, if people are growing.
So in that kind of a situation, I would say that,
you know, provide resources or have some form of of course,
(25:44):
you know, employers cannot say you're making too much money
so you're going to lay off because.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That they never say no.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Then that employe is going to come in sue them.
But the key is like, you know, educating people like
you know, what are the here? So that way it
is kind of understood, like you know, and then the
employee also then this goes back to both sides. You
said what is the responsibility of an employee, so also
employee kind of being aware of like you know, what
(26:13):
is my limit over here? Like you know, yes, I
want to grow because millennials and Gen Z they want
to grow really fast every year every two years, Like
I want to get promotion, which can lead to empty
food syndrome. But the key is like you know, both
sides being aware like okay, am I reaching to a level?
So does that mean that I need to be on
(26:33):
the lookout? So that's that's the whole where the key
is because you dance in strategy. So having that strategy
both for organizations and the professionals.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah, it's you know, it's interesting look from the employer side, right,
there's value in keeping great people as long as you can,
you know, to have what I call, you know, the
appropriate when you can keep highly engaged employees to low
(27:09):
turnover because you're because there once again is that truly
symbiotic relationship which things are win win right for each
of them respectively. That's what all companies should be moving for.
I mean, the goal from an employer standpoint is they're
increasing that engagement right to the people that they have
the organization right so they are engaged. This is where
(27:29):
once again I think companies make a mistake is they
don't try to make sure engagement at all levels, not
just at levels that are the senior most positions, like
why not having opportunities On the other side, and then,
as I'm saying this, truly if we can't continue to
(27:50):
grows somebody, as I said, it's part of our duty
as an employer to help share with them, Hey, have
you have great opportunity? Have you consider education? Have you
considered these other opportunities? How do we help make you
be successful? Now, sometimes we have to go from an
employer perspective really look at what's what are they what's
(28:12):
in it for them? And I think most employers don't
do this, So this is where I think they could
get really deep engagement. And it's something that one of
my friends, Scott Valor, talked about. There's some great books
out there that talks about this concept. But when And
let me give a quick example. So I had a
friend name Scott. He grew a company from his countertop
(28:37):
with like twenty bucks and grew it into an agency
that had over four thousand insurance agents across the United
States over like a twenty year period actually I don't
know exact period, ten to fifteen year period. And one
of his most important people, his supervisor for the call center,
was getting ready to leave, and the person said, and
(28:59):
for Scott, this was awful because he's like, I can't
lose you. You're one of the most important people that
I have in the company. And the person trying I said,
you don't even know why I'm here. And Scott said,
what do you mean. You know, you said, do such
a good job and you leave the team and this
is a renewal time. I can't afford to lose you.
He says, well, you don't know why I'm here. He
(29:20):
said again. So Scott's finally said, hey, look, I'll do
whatever it takes to keep you and he repeating, what
you know, why why am I here? And he finally said,
he broke down. He said, the reason why I'm here
is I'm trying to provide enough money to pay for
my daughter's braces so she could have straight teeth. That
(29:43):
was his why. His why had nothing to do with
his own personal growth. It had nothing to do with
his management techniques. It had nothing, No, it had to
do with him having enough money to help provide for
his daughter's braces. And I I think as employers, when
we understand what's really the why behind the why. Look,
(30:04):
everybody's not going to be a CEO, right and not
everybody's going to be an entrepreneur. But when we can
connect with what people's real why is and provide opportunities
so they can get to that outcome to help provide
for their real why, that's one I think this whole
different level of experience and expectation takes place. But you
(30:24):
have to be willing to go down a path that
most employers and most employees aren't willing to do because
they don't fully trust each other right. And so when
you get past that trust to get to there and
use it for good and not for evil. Right, when
we go through this process, that's not I think when
companies are different, when they create different opportunities and create
(30:46):
different relationships, that are really a win win for the
long run. Are those are the companies that have crazy
high engagement, right, and have really good customer relationship scores
and have a place where people ever want to leave, right.
That's what's awesome is when people create that type of
company and that type of organization.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Absolutely. So you have mentioned that you know your company
wants to give one million dollars in charity, and that
is phenomenal. So tell us, I'm assuming that you have
your team members. How are you nurturing them and cultivating
them and what's your strategy?
Speaker 3 (31:30):
First of all, I guess I'm not perfect at this,
even you know, from my own perspective, and so let's
let's say I'm not throwing rocks out of a glasshouse.
I think developing employees is challenging, right, and so but
what I have found is one of the mistakes I've
made in the past is sometimes out how to hire people.
(31:54):
Two just kind of get is done and without a
whole lot of guidance, and especially when I'm busy, like
I might be traveling around meeting with other clients and
doing other things, and I will say, oh, just take
care of it. And what's interesting is I won't have
(32:16):
as much engagement in what they're working on and doing.
And for me, what I'm learning is for me to
care more about what they're doing, even though I'm not
directly responsible for it, from that aspect of where I
can help engage them, critique them, learn and help make
sure it's doing better. And that's something I said I'm
(32:39):
still working on myself. I don't want to use this
as a I've perfected this process behind it, but when
I have had relationships where I like to have people
have autonomy in their jobs, so I just to clarify,
and what I'm saying is I'm not talking about checking
everything they're doing and watching over their shoulder, but to
(33:00):
follow along and care about the quality of the work
that they're doing. I think that does matter. And that's
the side of us that I'm literally had made a
change even this year where I'm actively working in our
CPA business more deeply rather than being quote unquote just
working on the business, but working in the business directly
(33:22):
more because I want to make sure the company is
set up and growing in the way that I think
is going to best serve our clients. And to do
that separated, do it away is not going to be
as helpful for me or nor for our clients, nor
for our employees. So that has been honestly a little
aha moment. I even had myself over the past couple
(33:43):
of months, and it's like, Okay, I'm going to be
more engaged and I do these things and not just
quote unquote delegate it, but to be more engaged with
what's taking place.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
What would you say, if I'm bringing your advice to you,
is your vision for yourself, like for the next three
years and for your company?
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, so actually we're working. That's really funny, you said,
this book, a very well known book. It's interesting, you know,
because my life is doing strategic planning and execution and
then I have a CPA firm as my two things
that I do, and so you'd think, oh, I'm really
great at this, and it's amazing how hard it is,
like anything, doing it on your own right versus working
(34:31):
with somebody else. Is why I've hired so many coaches
throughout my career is to help give me independent feedback.
But just for multiple different reasons, that classic book Think
and Grow Rich had come across my path, and there's
this actually on YouTube, there's this great little twenty minute
summary of it. And I am super excited because I'm
(34:58):
developing a big hair inadacious goal again for my business.
So we've had a great first five years with the
current current businesses, but my goal is to make sure
I get this right. But to three x I mean
just being three x my personal wealth in the next
(35:22):
four years fantastic. And so that's the big, hairy inadacious
goal that I have. And then beyond that too is
to also give my goal that million dollars to substantially
exceed that as well. And and so that's that's where
I'm heading towards. And it's I've never been more fired
(35:45):
up I So I'm super excited. We have two business
As a matter of fact, we're I'm developing a whole
concept of this forty strategy of forty brand where we
can help provide and bring in services that fall underneath brand,
where we can help small businesses with and provide them
to help create value. And it's super motivating for me
(36:09):
and I'm excited how we're helping out clients with So
so there you go. That's our big hair inadacious goal,
and we're developing the plan. I mean, the plans are
not fully in place. I'm developing as we speak. And
you know, if we had this conversation in about two
(36:30):
weeks three weeks from now, the plan will be fully
baked out. But I do have the general direction where
we're heading. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Well, I'm very excited for you and for your company.
So if anybody from our audience wants to connect with you,
learn more about you, where can they connect?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
They can connect a couple different ways. First, first of once,
gets Carl Jacox anyone who's listening, that's the best way
to search from that perspective, c ARLJ. C Ox. You
could course do a Google search, but we have a
website forty strategy dot com as well as forty Accounting
dot com. Feel free to go look at that information,
and of course you can find us on LinkedIn. That's
(37:09):
where we tend to do a lot of information. If
you want to find that, you could also send me
an email at Carljcox at forty strategy dot com. If
you want a free copy of my book, let me know.
I'll be happy to do that. Lost at CEO An
Entrepreneur's Guide to Strategy. Feel free to send me an
email at Carljcox at forty strategy dot com. Will be
(37:29):
happy to send you a book.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
All fantastic and thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
Any last words that you'd like to share.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
First of all, thank you, thank you for the opportunity
to be here. If you asked great questions. I love
your insights and I love it how you asked back.
You know, one of the hardest things that consultant rights
that go back and it might walk in my talk
right if that makes sense that I appreciated you to
ask those questions throughout it. So thank you so much.
It's been really fortunate to you to be on your
(38:00):
podcast today.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Well, it was such a pleasure having you on our
show on our podcast, Carl, thank you for taking the
time and sharing a wisdom a test, and thank you,
dear audience for being part of our family because without you,
the show would not be possible. You are the soul
of our show reach out. Let us know how can
we serve and support you so that you can live
(38:23):
the best life you can and thank you on for
making the show technically possible. Be well and take care
until next time.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Thank you for being part of Beyond Confidence. With your
host d V Park, we hope you have learned more
about how to start living the life you want. Each
week on Beyond Confidence, you hear stories of real people
who've experienced growth by overcoming their fears and building meaningful relationships.
During Beyond Confidence, Diva Park shares what happened to her
when she stepped out of her comfort zone to work
(38:54):
directly with people across the globe. She not only coaches
people how to form herd connections, but also try transform
relationships to mutually beneficial partnerships as they strive to live
the life they want. If you are ready to live
the life you want and leverage your strengths, learn more
at www Dotwpark dot com and you can connect with
vats contact at dvpark dot com. We look forward to
(39:18):
you joining us next week.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!