LEARN to ACEND in business | Elisabeth Galperin - The Josh Bolton Show

Episode Transcript
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Josh Bolton (00:01):
Welcome to the Josh Bolton show. interesting and
inspiring conversations. And nowyour host, Josh Bolton. But, uh,
so in Cincinnati, like, whereare you stationed at generally?

Unknown (00:21):
So I live north of the city, about 25 minutes, north,
slightly East. And I grew uphere. I lived in North Carolina
for 12 years, kind of postcollege and before before kids,
and moved back here about eightyears ago. So yeah, I do a lot

(00:43):
of work in Cincinnati. Dayton isa nearby city that I also do a
lot of work in, and then a fairamount of virtual clients. So
not everybody I work with is inthis area. Yeah. What about you?
Where are you?

I'm near La. Okay.
Um, about 30 minutes, like southof LA.

Unknown (01:05):
Okay. All right. Very good. Well, then you're still
having warm summer weather. I'mguessing

where it's cold this week. But the next week is
gonna jump right back to like,100 105. Okay, yeah, yeah. Third
times I see here and I'mthinking like, I should just
move out of state. It is way toohigh here.

Unknown (01:23):
Yeah. Yeah. Did you grow up there, though? You said
as long as they're okay. Yeah.
All right.

I grew up here.
Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown (01:29):
I'll there's good and bad everywhere.

It says, I've talked to different people,
especially with the show,they're like, Yeah, because one
of them lives out in Wyoming. Iwas like, Oh, I hear that's a
great place. Like, he's like,yeah, for businesses for people.
No. Yeah. I don't know. Mike,are we talking stereotypical
like rednecks. He's like, hemakes this alphas pretty simple

(01:53):
compared to appear, and I'mlike, Oh, we're talking northern
Idaho. Bad. Got it?

Unknown (01:57):
Yep. Yeah, Wyoming is still like, the wild wild
territory, I think.

Yeah. And he's, uh, yeah, he's like, but if you have
an LLC definitely form it here.
I'll just put it that way.
That's good to know. All right.
I was like, Okay. So I'm justcurious, generally, so you do
most of your stuff like 60% inperson and like 40% in line, or
what's the ratio,

Unknown (02:25):
I would say it is more, it's probably about 60 to 70.
Virtual. Even though a lot of myclients are in this area, the
coaching piece, we do a lot ofvirtual, because it's just more
convenient. Like, I don'tnecessarily need to be in the
same room with my clients. Thespeaking that I do, locally is

(02:51):
almost always now in person,obviously, during COVID, it was
virtual. And that's starting tokind of spread beyond beyond
this area and kind of moveoutside of the Greater
Cincinnati region. So but yeah,once I you know, once I
establish a relationship with aclient, even if they, you know,
I have a client who I could getto his office in 10 minutes, but

(03:15):
most weeks, we meet virtually,because it's just more effective
and efficient.

Yeah. I see, mostly business owners and managers,
I'm assuming that'spredominantly your clientele.
You got, we're ready, always infront of the computer. So we
just will just quickly click thelink in the calendar. Give it a
good,

Unknown (03:32):
you got it? Yeah, but it is great. I mean, when I do
what you know, we do. I amintentional about if I can meet
with you in person, we'll do itfrom time to time, just because
it does really deepen therelationship. And yeah, you
know, it's it just you can'treplace being across the table
from from someone.

Yeah. Especially the unseen on Metropol. Like,
just the energy, you can getsome like you can, it's silly to
say you can fake it on Zoom,because they can't feel it. But,
I mean, there's still certainnuances like your personality
that bleeds through if you don'twant it to.

Unknown (04:05):
Right, right. But yeah, it's still there. It still feels
like there's there's a barrier,right?

Yeah. So um, I'm just curious, how long have you
been a coach and like doing yoursin method? Yeah.

Unknown (04:17):
So while I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years, I
started out doing a lot of handson Office organizing and working
side by side with small businessowners. For more of a let's get
your information organized.
Let's work on you know, calendartime management, let's document
processes and procedures. Andthen in the last eight years,

(04:41):
I've stepped much more intobeing coach and consultant. And
so the ASCEND method, I'vereally been refining it
honestly, for the last, youknow, 10 years but kind of gave
it its given its name and It'sofficial title this year. But
it's the it's the methodologythat I've been refining and

(05:06):
using with clients for, youknow, for the past eight to 10
years.

That's awesome. So you, they were in beginning, um,
just from what the little guy,they were hiring you to help
them organize their schedule andmake procedures and all that.
Yes. Yeah. You mentioned likeyou come in, tell them
everything wrong with thebusiness, but then also say,
this is how you fix it.

Unknown (05:27):
Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I, it does, it starts with
what's working well, what's notworking? Well, what's missing?
And then kind of prioritizing,alright, the parts that are not
working on the parts that aremissing, how do we want to get
get this improved in in theworkflow and the team and the,
you know, execution of yourbusiness? And then yes, like,

(05:49):
unlike a consultant, who willsay, like, Okay, go do it, I
have always continued to supportclients and, and kind of be the
accountability partner and the,you know, the, the mastermind
partner, to help them withimplementing the changes that we
identify and, and, you know,improving the processes, and

(06:12):
kind of being a being a partner,to them and for them. So most of
my clients, you know, we Icontinue to work with them for
many years, sometimes, you know,more than one year, just kind of
being met in a in a sense, I hada client the other day, who
said, you know, you're kind oflike, my board of directors of

(06:32):
one. So, you know, just a secondbrain to an outside perspective,
right. You know, we can't alwayssee our greatest faults,
ourselves, we need an extra setof eyes to help identify

it. That's very true. It is. So I'm just
curious, then, when they retainyou that long, do they pay you
like a retainer fee? Or is itlike the one lump sum baked in
with that pricing?

Unknown (06:59):
So, um, you know, I, it has evolved over the years. And
I typically work in 90 dayincrements with clients. I don't
know if you are a fan of like,the 90 day year.

But a lot of people have told me that it's much
easier just to work in quarterlysections with people. So

Unknown (07:21):
yeah, so yeah, so typically, you know, an
engagement starts with either athree or a six month engagement
based on how much support Iknow, they're going to need up
front. And then when we get tothat 90 or that 100, date, 80
day mark, then we'll determineokay, what progress have we
made? What continues to be onthe, you know, on the priority

(07:42):
list? And are we going tocontinue working together? And,
you know, and then, I mean, Ihave a lot of clients that,
again, the ones that, you know,I've been working with for 1824
months, that, you know, it just,it just, it's rolling until
they, if or when they they toldme, they want to stop rolling.
But yeah, we kind of look atthings in a 90 day timeframe

(08:06):
that feels really comfortable tothe clients. It's nice and
clean, and obviously, you know,matches up with how most people
are running their business froma four quarter perspective. So
that's, yeah, yeah, it's great.

So I'm curious then. So like, the coaching
itself is probably one rate inzoom, but if they like, actually
want you to come to their place,and like, observe for a week or
two, I'm assuming the price goesway up for that?

Unknown (08:33):
For sure. Yes. Yeah. I mean, if it's, if it's removing
me from the day to day serviceswith other clients, then yeah,
that that price comes at apremium for sure. I mean, I
don't I typically don't have tospend, you know, five or 10
business days with a with aclient to really get an

(08:54):
understanding of how things areworking. But yes, if I, if I
come out to their, to theirplace of business, and I'm on
site, then you know, I kind ofhave sometimes I'll also, if a
company already has like, hey,typically we have a travel
stipend, and then, you know,consultant, budget, you know,

(09:15):
kind of work with them on that.
But kind of separate out thetravel component from the
services.

Okay, cool. Yeah, that was that was just one of
those a lot of a lot ofentrepreneurs, but especially
like, coaches and consultants,like you have told me they're
like, yeah. How did the one mansay it to me, he was like, I
don't like going to clientsbusinesses anymore. And he's
like, because if we give them awhole headache, and my assistant
just hates me for it, he's like,so I charged him like 50x. If

(09:46):
they actually pick my 50x in myrate, then it's hard to argue.

Unknown (09:50):
Yeah, right. It would be it's worth the inconvenience,
right? Yeah. He

was like, I'm scared to ask what your normal
rate is. He's like, he's a goodone to know. I'd like I do, but
I don't want it to say, right,right. But I want to say I'm
loving the energy. I'll cut upthe other stuff earlier. Can you
give us a little more properintroduction of yourself?

Unknown (10:12):
I sure can. So, so yeah, so my name is Elizabeth
Galperin. And I have aproductivity, business
productivity coaching, andconsulting company, kind of have
several different ways that Iwork with clients. So one to one
business coaching, and we'realways working together through
the lens of how can my clientbecome a more productive

(10:37):
individual? And How can theirbusiness become more productive,
therefore profitable. I also doa lot of speaking, whether it's
keynote speaking for aconference, or perhaps a
organization that's having aconvention, and sometimes come
in and do a half day or a fullday training for an
organization. And then alsoworking with a company long

(11:02):
term, more from a personalprofessional development
programming piece, where I amworking with entire teams or all
employees, and and typicallyengage with them in those 90 day
cycles of time to train and thenbe supportive for implementation

(11:24):
of new systems and strategies.
And then also accountability.
That's a really strong piecethat makes the work that I do
have a lasting impression. And alasting impact is teaching,
teaching my clients the value ofaccountability, the importance
of accountability, and thenbeing the accountability partner

(11:45):
for them, either short term orlong term. As humans, we tend to
think we can hold ourselvesaccountable best. But in
reality, we're our worstaccountability partner.

Yeah, I there's many times I'm like, Oh, I'm
gonna go hit the gym and I getto the gym. I'm like, you know,
Carl's Jr. Sounds better.

Unknown (12:05):
Right? Right, exactly.
And nobody's watching, right?
Nobody is necessarily going tobe at home to give us a high
five for working out. And noone's necessarily going to be at
home judging us because we camehome with the hamburger and
fries. And so it's just, it'sall in our head that we that we
struggle. And yeah, as soon aswe have somebody else that knows

(12:26):
what our plan is, we have muchmore of a incentive to stick
with the plan and commit to theactions.

Oh, 100%. Me and my one friend. I was having trouble
drinking water. And she was too.
So I'm like, Hey, how can wemake it a game? I'm a very
competitive person. I don't seemlike it. But I am. I'm like, if
whoever drinks X amount ofwater, by this time wins. The
loser owes that person fivebucks.

Unknown (12:51):
Yeah, that's great gamification, right. It's a
great tool to use, either on asmell small scale like that, or
even, you know, company wide.
That's why a lot of companies dohave, you know, rewards. I talk
with a lot of my clients aboutwhen when you're building a
habit, one of the pieces that weall need to include in that

(13:12):
process is rewarding ourselves.
Yes. And so the idea of, youknow, only kids need, you know,
the Gold Star need a prize.
Adults, professionals,entrepreneurs, we all need that
reward. It's just it just is yougot to make sure that the reward
reward is in alignment with thegoal, right. Yeah. So, but yeah,

(13:35):
using it with an accountabilitypartner, or with a team. It's a
great way to to get positivepeer pressure to work to your
advantage.

Yes. Yes. So I'm curious for you, what are some
of the situations that you youcome into and you start applying
your ascend methods with?

Unknown (14:00):
Yeah, so typically, when I have a individual
business owner, who is lookingfor a coach, and for some
support in becoming moreproductive, they are the number
one word I hear them use is I amoverwhelmed. I have so many

(14:21):
things to do, and not enoughtime to do it, right. I want to
hire help or bring in team, butI don't feel like I even know
how to handoverresponsibilities, or I'm
terrible at delegation, youknow, and I'm afraid that I'll
hire someone, and I'll still endup doing the work. So there's

(14:43):
overwhelm there's fear ofletting go of some of the tasks
and responsibilities. And youknow, oftentimes it's also a
professional who they are stillthe master of their craft. They
aren't necessarily I'm masterfulin business acumen. And so

(15:05):
they're trying to figure out,you know, I'm a great architect,
but how do I run an architectfirm? I'm a great massage
therapist, but how do I open upa, you know, studio where I'm
creating opportunity for five orsix massage therapists and you
know, we're serving more people.
So. So they're often looking forthe guidance and advice to
continue to be able to work intheir business, but to have a

(15:30):
better framework for how to workon the business. Because, you
know, again, anybody that hasbeen in business for more than a
couple of days realizes thatthat balance, it's so hard to
figure out,

it really is. Yeah.
So I'm just curious then,because you mentioned the
massage therapist, and that is,I actually know a friend that's
doing it, she just now isgetting them home massage
therapy. I told her to read theE Myth. And I said, look at as
looked at as more of like astructure, because he does it
more for like, storefronts andproduct, but like the same thing
can apply for you. Right? Andbut yeah, it was just one of

(16:08):
those. I'm curious. So that iswhat we're what some of the
clients, like, let's say themassage therapists or hair salon
think that they would call youand say, What am I supposed to
do?

Unknown (16:19):
So yeah, so I and most of my clients are more service
based. So lawyers, accountants,and CPAs, I have worked with a
handful of physical therapistsor athletic trainers. But again,
most of my most of my clientsare more in that service and not

(16:39):
so much the product. And, youknow, yeah, they're coming to me
saying, I know that I could bedoing things more effectively,
more efficiently. But I realizedthat I need an outside
perspective, I realized that Ican't do it on my own, or it's

(16:59):
going to take too long to do iton my own. And so you know, how
can you help me? And then that'swhere, you know, the first step
is I call it, I call it a deepdive session, and it's where we
do peel back the layers, youknow, and layer by layer, figure
out what's working well, what'snot working? Well. One is, you

(17:23):
know, what goals have you set?
And how have you eitheraccomplished them not
accomplishment them madeprogress, but not, you know, to
the level that you want. Soreally getting an understanding
of they, every entrepreneur orbusiness owner, they start with
a big vision, right? And, but,but that sometimes they get lost
in the day to day, and theyalmost lose sight of the vision.

(17:45):
So getting back to Okay, thatwas the original vision, is that
still the direction you're goingin? And then like, I have a
client that I work with now. Andone of the most poignant things
that we were able to accomplishin the first three months, was
really getting to his why, whyhe wants to have the accounting

(18:05):
business. And you know, thatit's, of course, it's about more
than just helping people withtheir taxes and doing it
ethically. Right, right. And so,you know, making sure if they
haven't yet connected the visionand the Y, with their day to day
operations, making sure thatthey see the connection, so that

(18:26):
on the days where you wake up,and you don't quite have the
immediate excitement, ormotivation, you can tap into
that. And remember that, yeah,some of the the day to day
tasks, they do feel a littleboring, or they do feel mundane,
or they don't feel like you'remaking a huge impact directly
through that task. But beingable to see the bigger picture,

(18:51):
and reminding them that yeah,the little things that I'm doing
day by day by day are getting mecloser to the goals for the
year, the big vision, and thatthey are in alignment with my
why.

That's the craziest part for me that I've come to
realize that then I joke when Imean in the best possible way
that a lot of entrepreneurs willneed people like you, because
they don't have the couple thekind sympathetic way of saying,
You're being an idiot, you'relooking here, we're supposed to
go here.

Unknown (19:27):
Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's easy. You can either
stay in that creative space,right? Like just staying at that
10,000 foot view, and not beingable to get down into the
details. Or you get buried inthe details and you forget to
see the forest for the trees.
And that's where, you know, justlike I use this analogy all the

(19:49):
time. You know, if you thinkabout athletes in the sports
world, nobody gets to the top ontheir own. They have Not so many
mentors, and they have guidancefrom coaches, and they have
specialized coaches, and theyhave teammates, and, you know,
so in the entrepreneurial worldand in the business worlds, you
know, oftentimes it's like, whyI just have to do this my on my

(20:12):
own. And that's, I mean, I thinkin a way, it's like the American
way, right. Like, it's tough,and it's hard and grind it out.
But that's not that is not thepath to success. It's not the
easy path or the straightestpath.

Yeah, well, what I tell people when they ask for
advice, and my goal, first year,just bootstrap because you can't
afford shit. So just Bootstrapand learn as much as you can.
But when you start getting cash,don't pay yourself just save
enough for your taxes, then paidsomeone else to figure it out.

Unknown (20:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. I mean, that if there's
anything that I could go backand do differently, it would
have been getting others tosupport me and help me sooner. I
definitely had in the earlyyears, that mindset of, well, I
might not know it, but I canlearn it. So I'll just put in
all the extra, you know, blood,sweat and tears and learn it

(21:08):
myself. And it would have been amuch it would have been a much
faster path to success. If I hadjust been willing to admit that
I don't have to be great ateverything. I get to be good at
my my area of skill set. And,and then I get to find people
who are experts that willsupport me.

Yeah, that's that's kind of where I've gotten with
people, because they're like,Oh, you talk to all these great
coaches in this nanawall? What Ijust told you earlier, right,
that's it. That's that's thesecret sauce that people are
willing to pay for. Yeah, kindof thing. But I'm just curious
for you a hypothetical. Have youworked with like warehouses or
big comp, like companies?

Unknown (21:53):
I have worked with the Office team of manufacturing
organizations.

That's interesting.
Okay. Yes. So here's

Unknown (22:05):
the observation, a lot of manufacturing and warehouse,
you know, they are very focusedon the efficiencies on the
floor, right? Whether it's, youknow, there's so many different
systems that have to do with,with warehouse and that vein,

(22:26):
but when you look at how theirtheir office is operating,
they're not prioritizingproductivity, automation,
efficiency, nearly at the samelevel. And so that's been, I
think, when I realized that Icould use the language of what

(22:48):
they're focusing on in thewarehouse and bring it into,
hey, if this is the values thatyou have, for your team out on
the floor for safety, andcertainly, you know, for
efficiency, and forprofitability. How do we use
that same language up here inthe office, even though we're
talking about, you know, yourcomputers and your paperwork and

(23:11):
your bills, and you know, so,but I have never gotten to I've
never tried to specialize inproductivity from the sense of
manufacturing and getting intothat, that portion of it.

The only reason I asked is one of my old stories,
I accidentally gave consultancywithout knowing it was working
security. Really long storyshort, essentially, this one guy
had a tattoo on his neck of agate with fire and demon spawn
coming out of it. We'll call himChuck. Chuck was saying he
wanted to break his leg insteadof working one day here. And
he's like, I'd rather break myleg and be home for six months

(23:49):
and work one day here. And Ididn't realize it but I like the
this one guy kind of beat up forRanger would always come. His
name is Kirk. And oh, he wouldhe Blau How did Josh my howdy
Kirk joking on Monday that seethat badge of yours kind of
thing? That was a security guardand he's all that's why we pay
you a lot of money. Well, not meI get pennies. But I and that's

(24:14):
where then after a while, acouple days later, he shows up
and that's where I saw Chuck andhe walks by and he's a hey, you
know, you're a very observantsecurity guard. Well, person in
general. This warehouse and mybaby is what got me where I am
as a district manager,essentially the CEO of the
region. And Amelia clicked aboutoh, wait, I just essentially

(24:35):
made friends with the CEO theregion. Aha, interesting. And
he's like, he's like, why is mybaby dying? Am I well, that that
guy with the tattoo, he's uh, hehad Chuck I'm like, Well, Chuck
rather wish pain for six monthsthen one day here. Am I so
morale doesn't exist and that'ssort of Mike have. How long have
you been like the overseer? He'slike, Oh, like 15 years and

(24:56):
like, Dude, you totally forgotwhat it's like to be in the
trenches.

Unknown (24:59):
Yes. Yeah, yeah, that's Yeah. But you see that a lot,
right when you've got layers andlayers of management, that
they're not in touch with what'shappening in real time. And
yeah, that's definitely wherethe culture fails.

And that's what this essentially I told him, I
do human nature. We like it.
That's why I brought up likegamification earlier. I'm like,
Dude, we love games, even themost, the most non competitive
person, if you put somethinginstantly in front of them,
they'll do it. Got it. Andthat's what I said, sucks. But
WT workers 100 bucks is actuallykind of game changing. Can you
afford to put like 500 bucksaside a week company or your

(25:37):
money, whatever that part, youcan figure it out. And he's
like, Well, yeah, that's liketwo steak dinners a mile and the
words you go for two steakdinners, but I won't try this
place you're paying though.

Unknown (25:48):
I'll give you the rest of this advice. If I get some
steak dinner

actually did at the end. It was funny. Great.
Essentially, I told him like,Yeah, put like the first prize,
the most safest and productivegive him like 150 bucks. So like
Amazon or whatever. And thenlike, just the tear down like
the fifth prize is like 50bucks. It's still good. But it's
kind of like the I could havedone better. Right? And a month
and a half. He just did that. Isaid prior to our safety, and

(26:14):
efficiency. I think we'regetting injuries, like every
four hours that was that bad.
And they for math sake, theywere producing like 200,000
units today. Total finished 24hour span. Yeah, math sake. It's
$1 each. After my like, justgamification. I said, get them
taco guys, if they do a good jobfor the month like buy him a

(26:35):
whole like feast as the amountof P friends you'll make with
that alone? Yeah, they went forthe laughingstock of the company
to the highest producingcompany, warehouse. And then
we're doing like 1,200,000packages a day. Wow. That's

Unknown (26:55):
I mean, that's such a great example of it's just, it's
about your people. Right? Itwasn't like they bought new
equipment, or they trainedpeople on like more technical
skills. It was let's starttreating your people. Like
people who are like people, andlet's let's give them let's
recognize them when they dosomething good. Yeah, it's, it

(27:20):
can be that simple.

It was and then it was just one of those. It was
around Christmas time. So theytheir productivity went up and
all that and he bought the tacoguy and on the security guards.
So I'm sitting at my gate. Noone's around. So I'm just
watching TV on the companycomputer when I shouldn't have
but I'm like, it's Christmas. Idon't want to be here. Get a
thing. And one of the bosshimself came over and he's like,

(27:41):
Oh, Josh, why aren't you gettingfood? I'm like, Well, I'm not a
warehouse worker. I'm just theguy making sure no trucks come
in. He's like, No, you're thereason why we have all this. So
come on. And all them waited forme to go get food. And I was
like, Oh, thank you so much. Oh,and then I'm so like, the next
day he comes over and he's like,Alright, so how much do I owe
you? And I'm like, like jokingabout $10,000. That was like big

(28:06):
at the time of like, 10 grand.
Now they know all this stuff. Inhindsight, I should. I should
have charged them way more. Wow,it's really, he just like looked
to me like, Okay, fine. Are yourpersonal check, just take it.

Unknown (28:23):
Well, that's good. I'm glad he recognized that the idea
came from you. And that was thecatalyst.

Right then. Through a series of events, later on
this much later in Storyline.
But essentially, I had to getcalled into the office because
one of my supervisors tried tothrow me under a literal truck.
So he was interviewing me, andthat's where he comes in with
the steak dinner. As they'reentering view me. And he's like,

(28:50):
he says to play these. I'mpretty sure you're not coming
back anytime soon after that.
I'm like, No. He tried to killme. I'm not coming back.

Unknown (29:00):
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. The story is there, Josh. Oh,

that job alone, Josh. I have a lot of stories.
But that's what sparked me onthe whole path. I'm like, Oh,
wait, that was the easiest$10,000 I ever made. But I'm
like, but there was simpleobservation. That's part of the
subtle thing of starting tospam. I talk to successful
people who do this. Why was thatso good? Yeah,

Unknown (29:25):
well, I think what what I take away from that, too, is
it's not that, you know, coachesand consultants. It's not that
we have this. This you know,immeasurable. No one's ever
thought of this before. Advice.
It's that we are that outsideperspective looking in and it

(29:49):
can be a simple suggestion. Butit's it's giving it at the right
time. It's making sure that it'sbeing received in the right way.
Like he could have been equallyoffended if you had delivered
the suggestion in a differentway. Right? And I'm never going
to do that. So it's knowing youknow what information to put in

(30:12):
front of your client at theright time and how to deliver
it. And then when possible,helping to see it through with
them. Right. So it isn't, youknow, I often joke at a training
like this isn't brain science. Alot of ideas. Yeah, a lot of the
ideas that I share are they'vebeen around for a long time. But

(30:35):
how do we apply it to yoursituation? Do your people and
make it applicable to yourworld? Right?

100%? So I'm just curious, let's hypothetical
here. Let's say I have a verygood successful law firm, but
just everything's falling aparton the back end, like the
billing this the customerservice. And let's say I give
you a call, what would be thefirst few steps you would do to

(31:07):
help me figure this out?

Unknown (31:09):
Yeah. So I would talk a little bit about tell me when it
was working, you know, when itwas successful, what was what
was happening? Who wasresponsible? What was your size,
and kind of figure out what wasthe breaking point where it went
from good to bad. Sometimes thatis, oh, we grew too fast, or we

(31:33):
lost a critical person. And theyleft with all this knowledge.
And the person that took over,you know, never never gained the
knowledge that was needed. So Iwould you know, and sometimes
it's a matter of interviewingmultiple people, right? That's
the thing is that, you know,you've got he said, and she
said, and then you got to figureout what's the actual truth. So

(31:56):
getting some differentperspectives talking to, you
know, talking to some of theattorneys and finding out from
their perspective, they mightstill, they might think things
are working just fine, theymight have no idea that there's
a problem talking to you know,the folks that are in in the
billing department, maybe theyhave some complaints about the
actual software. So is it apeople problem? Is it a

(32:20):
technology problem? Is it asystems problem, maybe the
informations not getting relayedthe way it should, from the
attorneys who are doing the workto the, you know, data entry,
team member who's putting thehours into the software to, you
know, the bills being issued tothe clients, so people problem

(32:41):
systems problem, technologyproblem and kind of figure out
maybe it's a little bit ofeverything? Go ahead,

oh, I was just gonna add on, like, as if I was
the client, I'm like, well,everything was working fine. Was
the whole if it was working?
When was it working? Like? Well,it was kind of always been a
dog's breakfast. But like,that's business, though, kind of
thing.

Unknown (33:03):
So if, if I have the response of, well, it's always
been that way. Why are you doingit this way? Well, because we've
always done it this way, thenmy, my first job is helping them
to see that to get differentresults, we've got to do it
differently. Right? So helpingthem to see that, well, it's

(33:23):
always been a problem. And nowit's just more of a problem.
What happens if we let it keepbeing a problem? What happens if
we fix the problem? How doesthat not only improve your
bottom line, but what would bethe positive domino effect, your
people would start beinghappier, the camaraderie the
culture would start being morepositive, your reputation might

(33:46):
improve? So kind of help paintthe picture, right? Of Okay.
Let's, if we make some somechanges, how is that going to
improve this one department? Andthen how might it improve
outside of that? Helping them gofrom hopeless to hopeful, right?

(34:07):
And then finding out okay, whoneeds to be a part of solving
the problem? Because that'sanother piece too, is making
sure that if my client is thelaw firm, then I need to make
sure that I have buy in from theright people, it can't just be
one person who is going to carrythe weight of working with me to

(34:31):
try to find a solution. So youknow, some of the the decision
makers need to be a part of thesolution. And and there's
typically you know, a number ofpeople that we'll be able to
give insight to contribute to,alright, now we've got a new
plan to put into place, who'sgoing to lead that plan, who's

(34:55):
going to be a part of that plan?
And then who's going to helpsustain that new plan. So making
sure that we've got a teamapproach to solving things and
that we've got team buy

in. That's awesome.
Yeah, that's very important. Thethe person that might be calling
you is the person that realizesthe problem. But they have no
pole in the company. Yes,

Unknown (35:18):
yes. Yeah. And I mean, that happens sometimes, you
know, sometimes when I'm outnetworking, you know, I'll talk
to somebody, in fact, younglawyers, oftentimes they'll say,
you know, the partner that runsour our law practice would could
100% Use your help, but I'venever seen them be open to

(35:42):
outside support. Or, you know,so So oftentimes, yeah, there's,
you know, the, the neweremployees or the more of the
doers, they see the problems,but they don't always have the
decision making power to to helpsolve the problems.

So I'm just hypothetical side tangent. And
you're in that circumstance forthat lawyer. And he says, I see
your use for you, but I have nopole. Would you pursue the head
guy? And like, talk to him andnetwork? Or was it because he's
like, he has, like, after a callor two, even you're like, oh,
wait, this is not gonna work? Ordo you care? I'm asking like,

(36:22):
three questions at once. So thefirst one, would you actually
pursue that? See where it goes?

Unknown (36:28):
Yeah. So I would, I would, a lot of times, I'll
start with what do you thinkthat does? Your your firm? In
this case? Does your firm everdo lunch and learns, that's a
great way for me to come in andsay like, Hey, I'll do a 60
minute training on improvingpersonal productivity as a
lawyer or you know, somethingspecific to their industry, to

(36:51):
potentially open, you know, openthe door a little crack, and
start with something that ismore of a general support to the
firm, right? Sometimes that's agreat way to get the decision
maker to start to know me, maybestart to like me, eventually,

(37:13):
the goal, right, is that theytrust me enough to say, Okay, I
do see how you can help. Sosometimes I'll suggest that or
yeah, I'll say, Well, do youthink that you're, you know, do
you think that the partner wouldbe interested in meeting me
simply to learn more about whatI do, you know, and so I kind of

(37:33):
have to gauge the relationshipbetween the, the employee and
the decision maker, of course,you know, if they're not
comfortable making theintroduction, I don't pursue
that. And, and, you know, thereality of business for most of

(37:54):
us, especially, that are moreservice based, as much as we
want our clients to come to usfrom a more proactive
perspective, they're almostalways coming when the pain has
gotten to the point that theycan't handle it any longer,
right. And so sometimes it'sjust a matter of, well, hey,
keep my name around. And if itgets to the point where you do

(38:18):
see your boss, or yourcolleagues saying, I think I
need some help, there's youropportunity to let them know
that, hey, I know somebody whocan help. And, you know,
there's, I learned a lot aboutbuyers, right? You've got now
buyers, and you've got laterbuyers. And typically, the

(38:40):
percentage of now buyers is muchsmaller than your later buyers.
So just staying, stayingpresent, staying visible, being
a resource, you know, I mightsay, Well, hey, do you think
they'd want to be on mynewsletter, or you know,
something casual like that, hey,maybe I'll connect with them on
LinkedIn, and just say, Hey, Iknow your associate, Tom would

(39:01):
love to be connected with you onLinkedIn, and then all of a
sudden, they start to see someof my content. My marketing
approach is always to educateand provide valuable
information. And so that's, youknow, one way to get on
someone's radar. But it's, youknow, I, in the 15 years that

(39:21):
I've been running business, I'velearned that what I talk about
and how I market and who I meetnow are the people that may
become my clients months oryears later. And so it's a long
game.

Oh, yeah. This especially in the service
industry, man. Yeah. Yeah, thesome of the stuff, much the
horror stories, I've seen oneperson who was like, Oh, I'm
gonna quit and go full timecoach, and I was like, Okay, I'm
not gonna try to shoot you down.
But do you have anyone lined up?
And he's like, No, they justcome into being like maybe one

(39:59):
or two You customers in thescheme of whatever. But that's
not gonna be everything.

Unknown (40:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's a long runway, for sure. Particularly
in the coaching and consulting,you know, you're, you're asking
someone to invest a lot of timea lot of money and to get
vulnerable with you. Right.
Right. You're you're seeingbehind the scenes. And so that's
not a quick decision that peoplewill make. Nor should it be,

(40:27):
right.

It is. It's a, you know, because there's, there's
so many complexities becauseyou're dealing with the ego, the
psyche, this, maybe in a meetingthat they need help they feel
inferior. And the thing is thatold mindset of I ask for help,
Mama, I'm a weak person kind ofthing. Right? And so you have to
like, coax him like, No, thisactually shows that you're

(40:51):
stronger kind of thing, right?

Unknown (40:53):
Yep. Yeah, that's where I like to use the sports
analogies. Because I thinksometimes that helps people see,
like, Oh, you're right. Youknow, Elon Musk surrounds
himself with brilliant people.
He's not the only brilliantmind, right? The reason that,
you know, Bill Gates got towhere he is, is he didn't climb
that ladder himself. And youknow, LeBron James is not one of

(41:15):
the greatest of all time,because he coached himself
throughout his career, he wouldnever be where he is, without
the support that he put intoplace. So you know, why? Why
would you be any different as anentrepreneur as a business
owner?

Right? Yeah, it was one of the analogies that gave
someone because they were askinghow it was a coach trying to get
clients. And I was like, youknow, I said, kind of like you
when you first started this,like, do you have an avatar? Can
you say this person without eversaying their name? And I can
really be like, that Jenny kindof thing? And she's like, No,

(41:53):
it's just I want to helpeveryone and like, not right
now. You want to help a very,very, very specific group of
people. Once you establish thatand conquer as much as you can.
Kind of like warfare. You got toexpand a little test and then
expand a little. Yeah, so that'swhere she was actually one of my
guests. And we were just doingstrategy calls. And I she

(42:15):
finally broke it down and justsaid, Josh, oh, like, can you
just draw me up? On avatar mode?
Sure. Give me a week, becausethat's, like, to be honest, I
actually don't know what myavatar is. So I have to figure
out mine. modify it for yours.
Yeah.

Unknown (42:29):
Well, it's, it's ever changing, too. I mean, it's
funny, you bring that up,because I'm getting ready to
start working with someone who'sgoing to help me with content
strategy. And just this morning,I was going through her pre
work. And one of the, you know,one of the questions is, you
know, who Who do youspecifically work with? Or who

(42:51):
are your customers? And, youknow, it's, I'm much more clear
now than I was two years ago,five years ago, 10 years ago,
but it gives me pause to say,All right, it's a good time to
ask myself this question. And tomake sure that I'm not just
giving a default answer that wasme 24 months ago, but that isn't

(43:15):
the business now. So I thinkthose are questions that you
want to always be maybe notalways but you know, you're on a
regular basis. They arerevisiting. Who has my avatar
been? And is that still myavatar? Or am I adding some
characteristics? Am I changingsome characteristics? Because

(43:36):
ideally, your business is everevolving you as a leader are
evolving and so who you servebest is going to evolve Right?

Right. And then that's kind of what I was
telling her and you did a muchmore elegant way I was just kind
of like especially in theservice industry it is brutal is
a winner take all situation inmost cases and unlike some of
the search older Mike I wouldrecommend for you because she's
a very logical and nothing badit was just like how she

(44:05):
approaches very illogical Yeah,I felt like I said something
else. But and I told her I saidyou want someone that is I said
hypothetically just throwing itout there you want someone
that's athletic background hasusually a family because that
means they got to knuckle downmakes at least anywhere from 90
to 120k years so they can affordpaying you this six to $800 a

(44:28):
month and then we'll break themI said for the parenting side
you want like a said you can addreligion if you want it doesn't
really change anything a churchgoing family kids. I said my
little my joke is two dogs. Twofish and half a lizard

Unknown (44:47):
right like two and a half children

that's all that I said about did anyone I
explained that. Did anyone inyour life just pop up? She's
like, Yeah, John, so and so.
Yeah. Over the way, and she'slike, Wait, what did you just
do? I'm like that is

Unknown (45:04):
it works. You prove that it works.

Yeah. As older I'd like I never said, John, you
figure that one out. Right?

Unknown (45:11):
Yeah, yeah, I'm in a networking group. And one of the
things that we do every week iswe have a specific ask. And, you
know, we will you don't get introuble. But you get reminded,
if you say, you know, my askthis week is anyone who, anyone
who owns a business and mightneed some support planning their
goals? Well, nobody thinks ofanyone if I say that, but if I

(45:35):
said, my ask is a lawyer, who isa partner at a firm in downtown
Cincinnati, who has a team of 10or fewer lawyers like, right,
the more specific I get, thenthe more immediately someone
will say, Oh, yeah, John, he'smy neighbor, and he just became
partner at such and such lawfirm. I can introduce you to

(45:58):
him. I never thought ofintroducing you to him before,
but that makes perfect sense. Soit is the the niches or the
riches are in the niches right?

And that's where like, I'm trying to learn, like
YouTube and revamp my show. Sowe're gonna do interviews, but
that's the biggest one. I jokethe joke of a lot of my co
workers. Like, I've been buyingso many Udemy classes about
YouTube, and this and that. Andthey're like, what, like, oh,
sorry, yeah, you don't guys careabout business? Nevermind.

Unknown (46:29):
They're not if they don't share that same passion is
you? Huh?

Yeah. That's what it looks like. How is Udemy?
Good. And like, actually, it'snot bad. I said, I always wait
for everything's on sale. So the$200 course I pick up for like
16 bucks.

Unknown (46:43):
Right, right. Yeah. But gosh, there's so many things.
Anything you want to learn?

It's there. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, that was just one ofthose episodes, tying back that
the course is to the one lady. Isaid, Yeah, I would say because
she's, I'm actually asked you ina different way. So the client I
was working with and helping, Icould not adjust her marketing.
Okay. So she's spending anywherefrom 600 to $800 a month,

(47:12):
generating no leads whatsoever.
And I was asking her, I waslike, Do you have it set to your
followers on Facebook? Or do youhave a set to like someone like
Tony Robbins? Check, you can dothat. And like, you have it set
to your followers. Because ifit's automatic, it's your
followers. I'm like, You need tocut all that money now like,

(47:35):
quick, because yeah. And

Unknown (47:38):
she wandered into the wrong pot.

And she wouldn't listen to me. Sure. You don't
know anything about ads? Andlike, I do enough to realize
that you're doing the wrong one.

Unknown (47:46):
Yeah, yeah. Did you tell her to go watch a Udemy?

Watch a Udemy course. If you're gonna spend
$500 Go get a $25 course onFacebook ads.

Unknown (47:57):
Right. She can talk about an area where you should
outsource to an expert. Yeah,that's where I was like, I know
they Yeah. informed on that iswhen I

told her I'm like the problem with Facebook. Like
it's always changing. Do youthink maybe this week oh, it's
gonna work next week? And thenyeah, that's Facebook just has a
weird tantrum. And then thatdoesn't work.

Unknown (48:22):
Yeah, yep. Yep. I don't play in the game of Facebook
ads. Luckily, I haven't haven'tneeded to.

So the whole most of it's your word of mouth
referrals.

Unknown (48:34):
It is. Yeah, yeah. And LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great
place. For me. Again, I don't docold connecting on LinkedIn.

Now like Gary Vee, we're message 100 people every
day, like LinkedIn.

Unknown (48:49):
Nope. But But yeah, I mean, I've certainly gotten a
couple of, Hey, I saw you know,my contact. Angela shared your
post. I haven't talked to herabout you yet. But I'm
interested, you know, so it's,it's still kind of who you know,
but a little bit less direct ofword of mouth. But But I find

(49:10):
that LinkedIn is a great placethat I can organically spread
my, my reach, or expand myreach.

Most people on LinkedIn are very business
minded or professionally goingin. It's not like Instagram or
YouTube, where you're going tojust entertainment kind of thing
unless you write Yeah, I don'tknow. It's like, I don't want to
think I just want to laughs kindof thing. Yes, that's the
biggest one. I've noticed withLinkedIn. It's like people that
actually are on it to like,okay, like, this is business. I

(49:41):
gotta be on still. And then onceI'm off, I can I can slow down.
Yeah, I'm still trying to figureout the link to thing because
I'm like, I post I have allthese powerful connections, but
I'm like, I'm just like, a nightshift gender guy with podcasts.
Like, I don't want to doanything interesting.

Unknown (50:00):
Have you do you do podcasts? That's there's a lot
of people in the world that havethe idea and haven't done it.
Yeah. How that elevates you? Oh,for sure.

Yeah. I don't want to hold you up too long. Is
there anything specific that Imight have missed that you want
to go over?

Unknown (50:18):
Um, do you want me to give you the top level view of
the ASCEND method? Yes. Okay.
All right. So the Ascendedmethod is I call it the six
fundamentals are thefoundational like skills and
strategies that help a anyindividual, but largely
professionals and businessowners and business leaders, to

(50:39):
really hone in on the fastestway to achieve greater
productivity. So it's anacronym. So I'll go through the
six components. So the Arepresents advocate for self.
And that's really about how areyou carving out time for

(51:02):
yourself and taking care ofyourself mentally, physically,
you know, Mind Body Spirit,making sure, particularly for
those who are in thenentrepreneurial, are in that
bootstrapping stage, that youare not compromising your own
needs, your sleep, yournutrition, for the business,

(51:22):
because that will lead toburnout, which will therefore
lead to your business not makingit. So advocating for yourself
taking care of yourself, makingsure that you know, you put your
oxygen mask on you first beforeanyone else in the cabin. The S
is about simplifying your focus,not trying to multitask all day

(51:45):
long, not trying to have 100irons in the fire at once. It is
proven that when we can unitetask that we will get things
done more quickly, moreaccurately, more thoroughly. And
unfortunately, we live in aworld right now where it's so
easy to multitask, because we'rebombarded with information and

(52:09):
people's needs and distractions.
And so that's a muscle that hasatrophied for a lot of
individuals. So learning tosingular focus, the C is about
communicating boundaries, beingempowered enough to tell

(52:29):
individuals what you need, whenyou're available, you know,
making sure that as you'restarting a business, or if
you're customer service basedthat that does not mean that
you're available at any time toanyone that you're holding
boundaries, and that you'remaking it clear how you can best

(52:51):
serve the client, how you'regoing to communicate with your
client, or if it's in a teamsituation, how you're going to
support team, but not do thework for team. So making sure
that you've got good boundariesin place that are healthy for
both for all parties involved,right. But where am I a s c e V

(53:15):
E is eliminating distractionsand interruptions. This is as
easy as turning off all of thosepop up notifications, closing
out your inbox, you know,working offline, not having the
TV or the radio or podcasts onall the time. We spend so much

(53:37):
time in input mode where we'relistening and we're learning and
we're consuming. And and weallow that to pull us in so many
different directions, and notnecessarily take the time to say
what is most important to me,how can I close out some of the

(53:59):
outside world so that I can moveforward of my priorities so that
I can complete you know, myproject, and so that I don't
have to jump every time I hear asound a buzz or a you know, ping
on our on our software. Soeliminate those distractions and

(54:20):
interruptions that you havecontrol over. The end is about
has it stands for navigatingyour priorities. This is about
being proactive. You have totake time to plan your work. And
then you go work the plan,right. We need to start each day

(54:42):
knowing what's critical for usto spend our time on and what's
maybe you know, nice toaccomplish. If time allows
making sure that at thebeginning of the week or the
beginning of the month, it'sreally clear what activities are
going to have your greatestreturn on investment of time and
energy. So making sure thatyou're not starting each day

(55:05):
reactive, wondering, you know,what fires? Do I have to put
out? What emails do I have torespond to starting out with a
plan in place. And then the D isdeveloping systems. So once
you've got these personal habitsand routines in place, then how
do you start putting systemsinto place for your business

(55:25):
systems are you know about beingable to do things the same way,
repeatedly, so that it starts totake less time you start doing
it better, you're consistentfrom a customer perspective or a
vendor perspective. It'spredictable for those that you
work with. And it helps toestablish your brand. So

(55:48):
developing systems that supportthe team, they support you, and
ultimately, they support thebusiness and the consumers of
your product or service. So thatis the ASCEND method. And that's
what I walk my clients throughon a personal level and then
into their business.

That's awesome. I really like to eliminate
distractions part. Yeah, that isthe biggest one I've come
across. Well, just even normalpeople that are so distracted.

Unknown (56:19):
The statistic right now i have i Do you know, I every
couple of months, I go throughstatistics that I use in my
trainings and make sure thatthey're current and accurate.
And the statistic used to bethat the average American worker
gets distracted or interruptedevery 11 minutes. It is now
every three minutes. If youthink about an eight hour a day,

(56:44):
and getting distracted abouteven if we said every five
minutes, you know think that'slike start, stop, start, stop,
start, stop. It's exhausting.
It's exhausting. It's exhaustingfor your body. And nobody can
get quality work done in threeto five minutes. Sparks, right.
And a lot of that is our owndoing, you know, just put the

(57:06):
phone away, flip it up, youknow, upside down Z, you can't
see the screen,

right? Like, obviously, like set your
notifications, like if mom orsister calls. There's a
priority. Yeah, but you don'tneed all the others. Yeah, they
get the notification, everyoneelse has made a muted kind of
thing.

Unknown (57:25):
Yeah, or, you know, like right now, like, I close my
inbox, you know, I don't need tosee. And if an email comes in
for an hour that I'm in animportant conversation, I'll go
and respond to that later today.
I'm not, you know, no one's lifeis hanging in the in the
threads. I'm not on my inbox. Sothat's a really, that's a
really, that's a big gamechanger. Most people don't

(57:46):
realize how often it's happeninguntil you start observing it. So
that's a good, that's a goodchallenge to the listeners. Just
as you know, throughout the restof your day, pay attention to
how many times you either yourmind wanders, and that's kind of
an internal distraction, orthere's something in your
environment that externallyinterrupts you and just start to

(58:06):
pay attention to who can I can Iminimize that one? Can I
eliminate that one? If I go to adifferent part of the house or a
different part of the office?
Can I you know, get some moreuninterrupted time? There's a
lot that we can manipulate andreduce the the number of
distractions and interruptionsfor sure.

Well, you heard the lady stomach getting distracted,
everyone.

Unknown (58:29):
That's right. You can thank me later, or email,

which if she's not on the podcast, apps, absolute
honor and a pleasure to have youon.

Unknown (58:40):
Great, I enjoyed our conversation. And I hope that
I'm hope that there's some goodgolden nuggets in there that
will help people be able to makesome small changes for how
they're running. They're runningtheir day and run their life and
finding a next level ofproductivity, because

there was so many nuggets of value in there. It's
like good. We could go throughan hour just explain.

Unknown (59:05):
Well, personally, I'm gonna get interrupted by my
children in about 10 minutes. Soyeah,

soccer, so we gotta go. That's right. All right.
Have

Unknown (59:13):
a seat. Thank you.
Yeah, well, you sent me an emailwhen the podcast is

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