From Corporate to Coach: Ellen Tyler's Journey to Success

Send us a text

What happens when a business owner reaches their breaking point? In this raw, unfiltered conversation with business coach Ellen Tyler, we explore the reality behind those make-or-break moments that define entrepreneurial journeys.

The episode opens with host Chris Lalomia sharing his recent experience making the painful decision to let go of a 12-year employee after months of declining performance. This leads to a fascinating discussion about the fundamental difference between corporate management and small business ownership—when it's YOUR money on the line, tough decisions hit differently.

Ellen Tyler brings a refreshing perspective as a business coach who claims to "care less about your business" than about the person running it. Drawing from her successful career in financial services (a 95% male-dominated industry) and her experience coaching primarily women entrepreneurs, Ellen challenges conventional wisdom about what drives business success.

"It's never the money," Ellen explains, revealing how business owners often mistake revenue problems for deeper mindset issues. Her approach focuses on teaching clients to respond rather than react, start each day with intentional goal focus, and end with reflection on what went well. These simple yet powerful practices create the mental foundation for sustainable growth.

The conversation takes an illuminating turn when Ellen shares insights about women in business leadership, explaining why female entrepreneurs often "settle for less" and how they can overcome unique challenges in networking and scaling their companies. Her practical advice includes asking event sponsors to introduce you to "the three most interesting people in the room"—an ingenious way to overcome networking anxiety.

Whether you're struggling with difficult business decisions, seeking to improve your leadership approach, or simply looking for fresh perspectives on entrepreneurship, this episode delivers candid wisdom from two seasoned business owners and a coach who understands the human side of business success.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Ellen, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ellen, why don't you tell us a little bit about your
story?
All right, her bio.
Oh my God.
Another person that makes mewant to just shoot myself and
start over.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Well, let's get into Ellen's bio.
Ellen, tell us a little bitabout yourself, and then we'll
get back into it.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Oh yeah, don't you love the made up bios?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
No, you mean you really didn't go across Europe
and competitively ski downhilland skydive and everything else
that I saw that you did.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
No, all of that and probably more if I could.
We're here to have fun and sayyes to things which led to all
of that Like going to schoolacross to England not knowing
what the heck I was doing,coming back not knowing what I
wanted to work in, falling intosome work in the corporate world
on financial services, beingreally good in that world.

(00:50):
Then my husband let me finallyjump out of the airplane and do
all that fun stuff when the kidswere older and then the last
corporate role was like I'm justnot doing this anymore and I'd
rather go have fun and be my ownboss.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
So when her husband says, jump out of the airplane,
that's a good thing.
If your wife said jump out ofan airplane, chris?
I think that wouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
And she'd say and I packed your chute for you.
Hey, it sounds like it'sclinking, clanking.
Don't worry about those.
Those are not forks and knives.
The kids had to be old enoughthat if I splattered on the
ground I wasn't going to leavethem raising kids.
That's right.

(01:33):
He snorted.
I did too.
We made ourselves laugh,everybody, that's right.
Welcome to the Small BusinessSafari, where I help guide you
to avoid those traps, pitfallsand dangers that lurk when
navigating the wild world ofsmall business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggetsof information and invite guests
to help accelerate your ascentto that mountaintop of success.
It's a jungle out there and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get

(01:54):
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal
and professional goals.
So strap in adventure team andlet's take a ride through the
safari and get you to themountaintop.

(02:15):
Alan, it is time again to getback together with you.
But after 17 years in business,I'm about ready to take this
shirt off, throw it down and saythe Trusted Toolbox sucks.
I'm no longer with the TrustedToolbox.
I've had it.
It has been three days ofabsolute 1,000% hell.
How many times did you use the?
F word in the last three daysthe over under on that one.

(02:36):
You probably would be wrong ifyou were anything under 1,000.
Thank you, ellen.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Ellen, he kind of gave me one of the lines that he
said and I'm like I'm notreally even sure what the
sentence was.
I know what you intended,because it was just F, f, f, f,
f-ing, f, f.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
F and then break it off in U-F, f, f, f, f.
It's more often U-F F, f, f.
Yeah, we've had one of those,as I was telling Alan before.
You won't see this in my bookFrom the Zoo to the Wild, but
you will see.
This chapter says a well-placedF-bomb does work with the right
people.

(03:13):
But you won't see this in anyof John Maxwell's leadership
books.
You won't see this in TonyRobbins.
You won't see this in PeterDrucker.
You won't see this in any ofyour leading, definitely not
seven habits of highly effectivepeople books.
But I had to, unfortunately, dosome things because my business
was not running as well as itshould.
The results weren't where itwas at all and everything we had

(03:36):
tried over six months justwasn't working.
And I finally had to make adrastic change.
And you made some harddecisions.
I made I made a very harddecision to let somebody go with
who's been with me for over 12years.
Um, uh.
Then I kept the three peopleworking for him who I really
probably should have fired andlet them know exactly what I
thought of them and what Ithought of their performance and

(03:57):
why I did what I did.
Uh, then one of them decidednot to show up this morning for
our meeting, um or was runningquote unquote late, and I
decided to tell him exactlywhere I thought the rest of his
body parts were going to go andlet him know that that's not
acceptable.
And unfortunately, the entireoffice, even behind closed doors
, everybody heard it across all5000 square foot, maybe even

(04:20):
20000 square feet, of the officespace I'm in.
But yeah, you know, you know,alan had said it before.
Sometimes you've got to beBobby Knight and throw the chair
.
This was not calculated.
This was absolutely me lettingthem know that their jobs are on
the line.
The business performance wasnot where it was supposed to be.
I'm making it sound all verycorporate and nicey-nice now,
but no, we were into it and I'mgetting now daily updates on

(04:44):
exactly, not only just what theydid, I'm literally.
I told one of them I wanted toknow every time he took a
movement.
That's right, yep.
So there we go, guys.
17 years in business, I'm readyto take that shirt off, whip it
down.
And the joke there is thatthat's exactly what my son did
in kindergarten is that ateacher came up to him and said

(05:05):
we do not do that at this schooland he went to a school that
had a uniform.
So he took the uniform off inkindergarten, threw it down and
said I don't go here anymore,this place sucks, and walked out
.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
But it is the big difference between owning your
own business and corporateCorporate.
You're using other people'smoney and you can do a
disciplinary action without allthe F-bombs, but there's a whole
bunch of people in line whowant that job and you can
probably reload with bigger,better, faster, stronger.
When it's your own business,it's your freaking money and you

(05:34):
don't have that succession linebecause you just don't have
that sort of mass inertia withthe people and you know these
people like family and you knowthat they can do better and so
you're disappointed.
But they're costing you moneyand you can't fix it unless

(05:55):
every once in a while you chuckthe chair across the floor.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
As I told Alan, not only did I chuck the chair
across the floor, like BobbyKnight, I took it and then
chucked it up in the stadium andthen killed somebody through
that corpse on this on the court, went out there and tap danced
all around it in front of 30,000people.
So yes, as you said, how did Ido?
How'd I do?
So we do have a guest.
Ellen Tyler has joined us.

(06:17):
She could actually have somewords that might make me feel
better.
Ellen, if you had a client cometo you and give you that
download, what would you tellhim or her Because we know you
work mostly with women whatwould you tell them to do?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
I'd use my favorite phrase You're the problem and
you're the solution.
Good one.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
I agree, and that was me trying to work through my
solution.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, I think I definitely was the problem when
I looked at the books and lookedat this and I let this go on
for a long time.
I just kept telling myself it'sgoing to get better.
We made a change.
Oh, that's going to get better.
We made three changes.
Oh, it's definitely going towork better.
Hey, he's a really good managerand I know he knows his stuff
and he and he knows how to dothis stuff.
It's going to get better and itjust didn't.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
And literally when.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
I let it go he said but you know that this month was
going to be our best month ever.
And I said yeah, unfortunately,we said that in the fall, and
we said that in the spring, andhere we are in the summer and it
still ain't happening.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
And you know how I like to make fun of you and pick
on you and stuff like that, butI mean honestly, in your
defense you had made so manygood moves which are kind of
against your nature.
I mean you do like to be incontrol and yet you hired a
general manager.
I mean you were trying to letgo.
And then, when you let go, whatdid you get?

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, and so the general manager is still with me
.
It was the remodeling managerthat I let go.
He's newer but, yeah, he feltthe wrath of it too, and he
knows that it's now his butt onthe line.
Uh, and it's got to be a betterperformance, because now it's
going to be his performance onthat, which he was already tied
to it anyway.
You know, which is what'skilling me.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
He's next.
So, ellen, how are you doing?
I'm awesome, ellen, why don'tyou tell us a little bit about
your story?
Her bio oh my God, anotherperson that makes me want to
just shoot myself and start over.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Well, let's get into Ellen's bio.
Ellen, tell us a little bitabout yourself, and then we'll
get back into it.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Oh yeah, Don't we love the made up bios.
No, you mean you really didn'tgo across Europe and
competitively ski downhill andskydive and everything else that
I saw that you did, yeah, no,all of that and probably more if
I could.
We're here to have fun and sayyes to things which led to all
of that, like going to schoolacross to England not knowing

(08:32):
what the heck I was doing,coming back not knowing what I
wanted to work in, falling intosome work in the corporate world
on financial services, beingreally good in that world.
Then my husband let me finallyjump out of the airplane and do
all that fun stuff when the kidswere older.
And then the last corporaterole was like I'm just not doing

(08:54):
this anymore and I'd rather gohave fun and be my own boss.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
So when her husband says, jump out of the airplane,
that's a good thing.
If your wife said jump out ofan airplane, chris?
I think that wouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
And she'd say and I packed your chute for you.
Hey, it sounds like it'sclinking, clanking.
Don't worry about those.
Those are not forks and knives.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
The kids had to be old enough that if I splattered
on the ground I wasn't going toleave them raising kids.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
That's right.
You just sn raising kids,that's right.
I did too.
We made ourselves laugheverybody, that's right.
Ellen, how many times have youskydived?

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Just twice, I do it more, because she's got so many
other things going on.
It's just one thing afteranother.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
What else are we doing?
That's for fun.
I like the yes and the, theimprov.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Let's do it so I just like telling stories.
So when we went whitewaterrafting which I love because
it's not that far from here thefuture son-in-law came with us
and lied to his parents becausehe because they didn't let him
ride his bike on the street andtold him we were going tubing

(10:09):
okay, tubing um the very veryhigh class rapids you could be
in.
And then the one daughter whocame showed up in flip-flops not
understanding, like, uh, thisis serious so you were doing
class five uh-huh, where wasthis?

Speaker 3 (10:28):
were you on the echoey or the nandahilla?
I don't know if they have classfive in georgia.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Uh, natahalia, no, yeah, if you go up there, that's
where they train for theolympics, that's right, see that
.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I know that.
You know why?
Because we have the house upthere, buddy yeah, how many
times are you taking the rapids?
I did it exactly twice, everytime with a guide.
Oh, I would never whitewaterraft without a guide.
You know, I did try to talk myfamily into doing it.
I'm like you know, I've beendown this river enough.
Come on, let's do it.
No way, you're right, it ispretty serious, because I did
take my mom and dad years agothere and sure enough, my dad's

(11:06):
the one who fell out and he'snot a little man, uh, and thank
god I'm a bigger man, uh, thanhe is, so I could yank him and
pull him back in.
You must have felt really badfor a minute.
Oh, my god, it's because, bythe way, my dad doesn't know how
to swim.
It's even better.
Oh yeah, so you, that's uh,that is intense.
So yeah, nanda haley, that's.
It's a beautiful ride.
It starts out kind of like, ohhey, no big deal, and then you
hear the banjos buddy and it'sgoing on, man, and it gets

(11:27):
rocking and rolling.
That's right, they train upthere.
I was just driving up there acouple months ago and I saw some
guys doing the duck boats.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
You see ambulances, you see, you know.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, there's a lot more rocks.
So I grew up out west and Iwhitewater rafted quite a bit
and I've been on some big water.
And then the first time I didit here in Georgia, I'm like,
okay, the river is much smaller,but it's a lot more technical
and if you're not rowing in sync, I mean you're going to
broadside on that rock.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Somebody's going to fall yeah you're going to get
blasted.
Yeah, there are good businesslessons with that, especially
when you've got a bunch ofpeople in there.
You know, you've heard thisphrase, especially in business
we're all rowing in the samedirection.
Yeah well, if you're not rowingin the same direction, this one
buddy, you're taking a rock offthe side of your head.
Next thing, you know, you'reupside down in the water and you
can't figure out what side'sright, side up.
That's a great one.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
So, ellen, I got I got to give you a some props.
I was looking at your LinkedInprofile and, and I don't know
what possessed me, but I startedreading the recommendations
that people had written for you.
And I've looked at people'srecommendations before and
they're all like.
They all read like.
He asked me to make arecommendation, and so here's a
nice corporate recommendation.

(12:42):
These are full of exclamationpoints and words like
recommendation, and so here's anice corporate recommendation.
These are full of exclamationpoints and words like wow, and
there was one that really hit me.
It was something about youtaught this person that success
was measured in things otherthan money and, as a result,
she's now fluent in Spanish andknows how to blow glass.

(13:03):
So that could be kind of aninteresting thing to discuss.
That is not your typicalbusiness coach.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
No, I always say I'm the business coach and I could
care less about your business.
Like, people think that theirbusinesses are unique and
special unto themselves and theyhave their own problems.
And it's it's.
They're all the same.
You sell a widget or a serviceand then you have to figure out
how to sell the widget orservice with all the other

(13:33):
operational stuff.
Sometimes, especially inbusiness, they think it's a
money issue.
So they'll come in the doorthinking I just need to increase
the revenue and net profit andI'm like well, you can come in
the door that way, but it'snever the money.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yeah, you know, it's a great point because that's
exactly one of the issues that Ihad was I always felt like the
and this issue that justhappened to us is that the
revenue would overcome the ills.
And it just never did, and ittruly didn't.
And then you started looking atuh as your friend I'm going to
say.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
This would have been a perfect time to let her finish
that sentence, especially afterthe week that you've had.
So it's not about the money,ellen.
What were you going to sayafter that?

Speaker 2 (14:19):
It's what the money does.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Well, I have fun with my money.
There's no doubt the big daddyspends his money.
Yeah, he needs more, yes, butyeah, it's what you do.
It's, you're right, it's thefun, but I mean it's for me.
You know, the back to the backto me, please, back to you
enough how about me?
well, that's why ellen's here.
She didn't know she's gonna begiving free coaching to
everybody on this podcastlistening guys, don't forget to

(14:44):
listen.
Go out there and tell everybodyabout this.
I just had somebody else pingus.
Love what we're doing.
Going to have somebody elsecome down and visit the mecca.
That is the trusted toolbox.
See how a well-oiled machineruns.
And I'm definitely going tohide part of that thing, or I
can throw some sawdust in thattransmission.
But back to Ellen.
So you've been coaching for howlong?
A little bit over six years,going into seventh.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Who have been your most fun clients, the ones that
do the work.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Right.
What does that mean I mean?
Because when I think I mean isthat you meet with them and then
you talk about the issues andthen you actually give them
homework or marching orders.
She's nodding her head.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah.
So a lot of people just wantthe magic.
They want the magic answer tohow does the revenue increase?
What marketing do I need to do?
And then I come across and tellthem it doesn't really matter,
because it's more what theythink about the marketing that

(15:50):
impacts it compared to theactual marketing, because all
marketing works, all sales work.
It's just finding the one foryou that fits.
And they all know.
So they actually have work todo every single day.
They know what they have towork on in the morning.

(16:11):
It's like how do you prep yourmind for the morning?
How do you prep your day?
Like, do you just wake up, rollout of beds, you know, scroll
and read your emails from work,start putting out fires, or do
you actually prepare so thatyou're better able to respond
and not react?

Speaker 3 (16:29):
yeah, respond, not react.
Let's talk about that easiersaid than done.
And that's back to putting inthe work to alan's question.
What are some, what are sometechniques on that, putting that
work in to, to start respondingand not reacting?

Speaker 1 (16:43):
that you could have used earlier this week is a oh
no there's no way.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Shut your mouth and be quiet for like 20 seconds and
30 seconds and breathe.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
He can do the breathing part.
I did breathe.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
But it really is in your head.
It's like do you even need toanswer at that point?
Or do you need to even saysomething, or do you just walk
away?

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, I think some of my best you know a lot of us
have said this, I've said thisin all my training too is that
the adult brain needs one sleepcycle to fully comprehend
something, and I never finishedthe rest, because most of my
guys again in the trades is thatthen you need to really reflect
and think about it for a minute.
But we all do our.
You know everybody jokes aboutthis you do your best thinking
on the toilet.
You do your best thinking inthe shower.

(17:26):
You do your best thinking whenyou're distracted and your mind
is willing to do its best.
And I'm not talking distractedwith social media, I'm talking
about distracted that allows youto really get into it.
And that's where I've had well,this is where I came up with
the idea.
I mean, this is where ithappened.
Is I, as I did all my analysis?
This didn't just happen onMonday, this wasn't some rash

(17:47):
reaction.
I've always said I will nevermake a big decision on a Monday,
and I did not make that bigdecision on Monday.
Unfortunately, I'd made it theWednesday before and so I
decided to execute on thedecision on Monday because I had
a good mentor of mine say whyare you waiting.
If you don't know you're goingto do it, just just do it and he
goes.
I can't believe you didn't doit on Friday.
Friday, by the way, is July 4th, our independence holiday, so I

(18:15):
wasn't going to do that.
So, but yeah, I mean, I thinkyour point's valid.
So responding versus reacting,getting in there taking that
breath, not doing that.
I tell you, when I'm at my best, I'm not looking at my phone
and scrolling through emails andtext messages right off the bat
.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yep, look anyone.
I have five kids all grown.
Anyone who has kids knows whatreactionary is Like hot buttons
all along.
They know how to pick arguments, they know who to pick it with
and they're the best ones topractice that skill on.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Boy if I would have had five.
I think I have one that equalsfive.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
I wouldn't disagree.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
I have two, but my oldest is a daughter, so how
many?

Speaker 1 (18:52):
It is a product of her parents.
I will tell you that.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Four girls, one boy.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, and she said I'll never forget.
In one of them we startedtalking, she said something like
no, and then, the next thing,you know, we got into it right
in front of her friend and herfriend looked at me and says
that's your boy, that's talkingabout my daughter.
I'm like damn it, because she'sjust like me.
But yeah, so that's awesome.
Though, you're right, thoughKids are great lessons for

(19:19):
anybody, but you learn from themand again, it's so personal,
especially with kids.
I mean hard to really distractand get away from that one.
All right, so that's yourmorning thoughts.
What do I do at lunch after Igot completely distracted and
I've reactionary all over theplace, and by 1030,?

Speaker 2 (19:42):
I've taken out half the office, so my question for
all my clients, then, is did youspend any time in the morning
thinking about the goal thatyou're working on for the
business?

Speaker 3 (19:53):
Because that's a great one.
Ooh, that's right there.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
We show up and we work, we just work.
We think that's what we'resupposed to do and no, you're
supposed to actually try andfigure out.
Did I think about the goal?
Because?
Did I get any answers Like isthis moving me closer to it or
is there a phone call I need tomake?
And what happens is they'll goall throughout the day and never

(20:18):
think about that, like, so whenare you supposed to get any new
ideas about how it's going tohappen?

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Can you talk for a minute about goals?
We haven't talked about goalsin a long time.
So, as you know, you'resomebody who's helping somebody
with their business.
You get the long-term goal,you've got the you know
intermediate goals, you've gotyour daily goals, I mean.
So where, where are you?
Where are you focused?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Or how do you help?

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Go ahead, sorry.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
There's two different things.
Sometimes it's a 90-day goalbecause they really do just need
to either increase the revenuequickly or anything of that
iteration, because they don'thave a good practice with what
they need to really focus on.
So it's just how do wehyper-focus on what you need to
do?
Usually it's where do you wantto be in 12 or 18 months Past

(21:12):
that?
The three and five and 10-yeargoals make no difference,
because what happens along theway?
We also have to learn how topivot.
So what happens if they meetthe multi seven figure goals
sooner than five years?
They're just going to hover.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
So do you, do you use like a vision board technique,
or have you, or do you thinkthat's a good one, or she's
laughing, hit me.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
So there's all of them.
So here's what it comes down towhat we think about would
become all day long.
And you can interpret thatanyway, whether it's vision
boards or I'm going to pray orwhatever but it's the ability to
direct a focus, and the reasonpeople use vision boards is to

(22:04):
be able to picture yourself atthe goal.
So let's say, well, my visionboard is I want a copper LX
hybrid SUV.
So I have to see myself in thatcar when I'm driving my Toyota
RAV, then I'm driving the Lexus,whatever way, on the back of my

(22:27):
screensaver.
Here is Scotland, and the onebefore that was the house we're
sitting in, that we bought andsold and moved in 25 days and
we're going to Scotland in thefall.
It's just what we focus on,directs the attention with what
we're working on.
So vision boards are great, butI actually go a little bit
simpler.
Can you have one picture?

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, no, I've talked about this with a lot of people
.
They've talked with me about it.
How did I get to this point,which I'll still say, maybe I'm
successful, I don't know.
I always close my eyes andthought about if I'm walking out
of my office in that virtualreality world way back before
that was really a thing.
What am I walking around doing?

(23:08):
And, believe it or not, I'mwalking around in the thing that
I had 10, 15 years in my head,10 years ago in my head.
But you know, I like the visionboard because that does get you
away from the money and get youinto that lifestyle.
You know, what do you want todo?
Well, I like to travel.
I like to drink wine.

(23:29):
I like to hang out and drinkbourbon with my buddy Alan,
which is why I forced him to dothis podcast for the last three
and a half years.
We're all getting to hear whathas turned out to be our hobby,
um, but um, but has, uh, openedup a lot of avenues for both of
us.
But we love doing this, becauseI love talking about this stuff
.
I mean, I just people haveasked me all the time, man, is
this helping you with yourbusiness?

(23:49):
I'm like, well, you know what?
Four hours on the golf coursedoesn't help me with my business
either.
Yeah, I can do a job out thereor do a deal, but I'm still a
handyman.
Yeah, do I get?
But no, yeah, this helps me allthe time.
So back to your idea that it'snot all about the money.
It is a hundred percent that.
But it's just so hard to reallydissect that and get into it
and then put the work in, as yousaid earlier.
All right, so we're at lunch, Ithink.
Right.
So at lunchtime you said are weworking on our goal?

(24:11):
What am I doing at the end ofmy day?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Ask yourself the question how'd my day go In
relation to the goal, not howdid my day go?
What went well today?
What went well?
So in in the morning?
So gratitude in the morning.
What went well?
You bookend it, that's a goodone.
You're just it's.
You're telling I don't carewhat people believe, god,

(24:36):
universe, whatever is like.
Can I have some more of this?
What went well?
Because if we keep saying wordslike what went wrong, start to
pay attention how often thingsstart going wrong.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, I think what's the study said?
80% of our thoughts arenegative or 90% are negative,
and the good news is that werepeat our thoughts 60% of the
time.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, in Joe Dispenza's world.
Then you're just recreatingyour past over and over and over
again.
Like Groundhog Day.
We have 70,000 thoughts a day.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
That's right, that's a great one.
Yeah, you're right.
Guys, you got to be able to getthose positive thoughts in
there and, as I've told people,I said there's days when I said
the average is I think it's 80or 90.
I can't quote the exact stat,but I can tell you there are
days when my negative thoughtsare 99.999%.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
So on Wednesday, if you ended the day with what went
well today, it would be youdidn't fire everybody.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
I didn't fire everybody.
And I got a chance to hang outwith my buddy Alan, and my new
best friend Ellen, who's helpingme Thinking about going.
I'm going to raft over toScotland.
I think.
I think I might do that.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Or hang a light on.
Actually, I got to hang out.
I think I think I might do that.
It's that ability Cause I'lltell individuals sometimes I'm
like look the ability when likelike I'm not sitting with you
guys because the elbow is likenot working, it doesn't want to
drop.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
I know we're bummed, I you know.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
when I heard that, I said well, I, I, actually I uh
well, who wants to go to theemergency room on 4th of July?

Speaker 1 (26:06):
You know, not me.
Well, who wants to?

Speaker 3 (26:08):
go to the emergency room on 4th of July, you know,
not me.
Well, yeah, well not a lot ofpeople with not a lot of people
with eight fingers now, you know.
But you know I will give youanother one.
Even Cindy, the person whohelps me, my executive assistant
helps and who helps me withthese podcasts she came to me
and said Ellen can't make it.

(26:28):
I'm like, well, that, effingfigures.
I said, well, you know what?
Where does she live?
Maybe I'll just go pick her up.
She, she looked at me and saidthat's probably not a good idea.
I'm like, yeah, that's probablyright no, there is.
I want to be white knuckling allthe way back I did not know a
silverado could get that high inthe air.
Yes, it can ellen yeehaw.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Giddy up, let's go but I see this this is what I
said like what went well, it'slike we still had fun, so I had
a great time, like even theelbow.
People keep asking because Idid.
I put a post on linkedin.
I'm like you should be able tomake fun of stuff like it's just
how.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Did you hurt your elbow?
Yeah, come on, let's hear it.
I wish I knew they keep going.
Did you fall I?

Speaker 2 (27:05):
elbow.
Yeah, come on, let's hear it.
I wish I knew they keep going.
Did you fall I go?
No, my husband pushed me downthe stairs, Nice.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
So of course you go to the hospital.
When did you stop beating yourwife?
You can't answer that question.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
I love that question.
When did you stop beating yourwife?
Well, don't you love thequestion?
Do you feel safe at home?
I, I'm like he's standing righthere.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, kick you go like this Ice ice ice.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Have you noticed when you go to the doctor every
single time?
Now, though, they're asking youabout mental health questions.
Are you thinking about suicideand all that I'm like?

Speaker 3 (27:36):
well, because Well, again, with my daughter, now a
PA, who is now, you know, aburgeoning expert in the entire
field of everything, that is,her father and his health, or
lack of it.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I bet she's got some advice for you.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
She already has.
But, yeah, mental health hasbeen the preeminent thing.
That, the medical health.
All the new articles that comeout are all about that.
Very interesting.
It's annoying, as can be it is,and I think it's getting,
unfortunately, I think it'sgetting oversaturated, but it's
something that, as you know,alan, I totally believe in it.

(28:11):
And for men, we got to seekhelp.
And, guys, if you haven'tlistened to a lot of the
podcasts, yes, I've gone totherapy and I'll admit it, and
you know I'm a Catholic guy.
I go to the church and itwasn't a church thing, it was.
I had to go to a therapist.
I had work to do.
Unfortunately, it was aboutanger management.
Did you pass?

(28:32):
It took me, I mean.
Well, no, I mean it continues.
It's just a work in progress.
So it is hard, you know, but westill so.
Ellen just said I don't know howI hurt my elbow.
Isn't that the worst?
As you get older, older youwake up and you go.
Why is it taking me 10 minutesto get out of bed?
You're like, oh, it was thoselife choices I made in my 20s.

(28:54):
Yeah, you know, maybe footballwasn't the best idea.
Uh, maybe maybe never playing,uh, with any, any protection
other than a helmet was a goodidea, and even then was that
kind of iffy.
Um yeah, so all right, so youdon't know how you did it and it
wasn't.
It was not fireworks related.

(29:14):
Nope, not rafting, not skydivingnope, nothing okay yeah, we're
like okay fine, all right,everybody go on the record.
If you want to find out howellen really did it, you can
email me, chris, atthetrustedtoolboxcom, and we'll
give you the salacious details.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Maybe people could make guesses in the comments and
then whoever gets it right,then they get a prize.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
You send me an email, chris, at the Trusted Toolbox,
with your best guess closestguess Closest guess gets, we
should have a couple prizesprizes most entertaining guests
and then the closest guests.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
All right, let's go.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Most entertaining guests?
Or how about the guests youmost likely think is not?
That would be my one, theguests you most likely think
it's not.
And if you respond, chris atthetrustedtoolboxcom, and we
will reward you, you send me anemail.
We reward you with somethingspecial.
It may be bourbon-related, itmay be bourbon related, it may
be liquor related.
If you're here in the Atlantaarea, it may even be the trusted

(30:09):
toolbox related.
Maybe even throw you a littleshout out there.
Or Chris will probably take yougolfing on the course that he
never has taken me, butsomething like that you know
what, and Alan said he'd caddyfor you, but we're not going to
let him play on it, but he can.
He can, alan is that I live ona golf course and Alan and I
have never played a round ofgolf on my golf course, which

(30:32):
reminds me I did play golf onSunday.
Before this, I played the worstround of golf I played in
probably I'm going to go, macman, probably about five years,
and I would say I knew exactlywhy Because you're a little
distracted.
I was so distracted it wasn'teven funny, yep.
And this guy was trying to giveme advice and at one point I
muttered in my breath leave mealone.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
I was going to say.
Advice on the golf course isnot necessarily.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
No, he was.
He actually.
Everything he said was right,but I could not get my shit
straight.
I'll give you a crazy thingreal quick about all this.
When I did this at 3 o'clock onMonday afternoon, my dad and I
talk occasionally once a weekusually, but it's never a set
time my dad called me out of theblue.
He goes hey, what are you doing?

(31:16):
I said I don't know.
He goes.
You having a good day?
I said yeah, he goes.
Are you really?
I said, did I talk to you aboutthis already?
He goes, no, something justtold me I needed to call you.
Oh my God.
Next thing I know he's crying,I'm crying the whole thing's out
.
He goes.
Something just told me to callyou.
Sam's such a good man.
That's my dad.

(31:36):
Yep, helped me get into businessas a corporate guy all his life
.
You know what you need thatevery once in a while too, you
know.
But that's I mean.
I am a God guy, so I think thatwas a God thing.
Yeah, that was pretty big.
So not to do that.
Let's go back to Ellen, shallwe?

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Please, let's squeeze her in just a little bit before
we get back to you.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Well, you know, but she hurt her elbow so I figured
she's working.
She's our one wing dove.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
You had a great career in financial services.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
How did that prepare you for being the successful
coach that you are?

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Financial services is 95% men and if you can figure
that out, you can work any placeand be successful any place.
And when I was growing up, mydad owned a hunting and fishing
store so I'm from Illinoisoriginally and all of his
clients were the owners ofmanufacturing plants who are

(32:35):
multi-millionaires and wouldcome into a store with flannel
shirts and jeans on and he justsaid, like they're the same as
everybody else.
So I learned that people withmoney aren't any different.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
All right, let's talk about this.
You brought it up, so let's getinto the gender thing a little
bit.
You were a woman who wassuccessful in business.
I have been, in fact, my bestboss ever, and I didn't have any
good bosses, but she was mybest Both of us.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Our best bosses ever were women yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
And we talk about that a lot, and the reason why
is you know, I have a lot ofreasons why for her, but why do
you think women are successfulin the corporate world?
And what makes women successfulin a male?
And again, let's call it a maledominated world of business,
not male dominated world, andrest, I know that I'm talking to

(33:26):
.
I'm talking to my malelisteners, who probably don't
because we're all so dumb.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
I actually am going to.
It's more of how they grew up.
I was a tomboy, I played sports, I went shooting.
I didn't go kill Bambi becauseby the time he asked me to go
hunting and fishing I was like,no, I don't want to go do that.
But it was also.

(33:53):
It taught me how to rely onmyself and I think when somebody
has those characteristics alongthe way, coupled with I'm going
to say, women, listen a littlebit more, we just listen and
that's it.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
No, that's a good point on the diversity.
You said it.
They listen more, they are moreempathetic, they think about
the holistic picture, I think alot better than men do, from my
perspective.
I'm glad to hear that you shotBambi.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
I did not shoot Bambi .

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Oh, you did not.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
You chose not to shoot Bambi.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
I wanted to go shoot Bambi and when my mom told my
dad that I really did want to goshoot Bambi, he told me I
couldn't go because it was amen's hunting camp.
And then, when he decided Icould, it was like I'm like you
lost your window, like now Ican't do it.
So why did you choose to focuson women clients?

(34:54):
Because, in light of what yousaid, they actually there's more
women that are unsuccessful.
If you look at the number ofwomen who make it to the seven
figures in their own business,it's less.
So they'll be successful, butthey also settle for less and
not all of them understand whatit takes to run a business.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Interesting Elaborate on that one.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
So, depending on the profession, a lot of females
choose to work because it eithergives them purpose or adds
value and they want to helppeople.
We like to help people.
That doesn't cause a person tounderstand, but it's a business,
and to run a business and toshow up better and to serve the

(35:43):
people, you have to make sometough decisions in business and
show up and do things that isn'tyour normal nature.
And so in any of them, if youpick let's pick financial
services they decide to go offon their own and be an
independent.
A female will convince herselfthat she's fine at this size,

(36:07):
this small size business,because it's a lifestyle and
she's serving people andconvince herself.
And my answer to that is if youwere put here to serve people,
if God put you here to servepeople, then why are you playing
small?

Speaker 3 (36:23):
Come on, that's challenging and hard.
Actually, that's challengingand hard for anybody.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
It is.
I had somebody yesterday tellme I hurt her feelings.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
How does that make you feel?
So, ellen, you're starting toshow your age, are a little bit
there right, the elbow hurts alittle bit.
And how does that make you feellike, hey, suck it up, sister.
Pretty much, that's pretty muchwhat it is, yeah, I think.
What do you think makes a great, successful entrepreneur?

(36:57):
Who's a woman?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
The ability to take chances of doing something they
don't know how to do.
Ooh, that's a tough one yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Yeah, that's a tough one yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, that's a good one.
So are you saying that's notinstinctive then?
And so that's what you'retrying to do is help people get
outside of their comfort zones.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Pretty much, and that's for anyone To move
towards any goal.
It doesn't matter is that youhave to do things that are
uncomfortable.
So I'll put it in this way whenanyone sits today in comparison
to the goal that they want tobe, and that's what choose,
whatever it is.
Let's go on the business sideof multi-seven figures.

(37:42):
They can't be the same personwho's doing the same things.
They can't be the same personwho's doing the same things when
you're running a business 30,60, 100 times more than what it
is now.
You're not running it like youare today.
So you have to make thedecision of what do I have to
step out and start doing in thevery beginning?

(38:06):
For women, it's like you've gotto go network and actually talk
to people who you don't knowthey know.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
And you're saying if for you know, this is a broad
stroke, but for women that's notnormal.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
No.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Interesting.
I uh, so you you say that's notnormal for women to go out
there and realize that,especially in a male-dominated
world.
If you're in a networking eventand you see a woman we want to
talk to you.
I mean, ellen and I met at anetworking event.
I was gravitated towards her no, I'm kidding, but we were set
at the same table.
But I enjoyed my conversationwith her a ton.

(38:44):
But you're saying that mostwomen are not willing to have
that conversation with other menor go out there and open up.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
No, I'll give you a good example.
So when I was in financialservices I had I love her dearly
, she was an assistant and thenshe moved into the same role but
we were, we were sending herout to go do some sales calls
and I said, could you just readthe sports section, like,
because you have to havesomething to talk about?
And so if we think we don'thave anything in common, then

(39:16):
how are we going to have aconversation?
Because otherwise thoseconversations are always about
business or just in general.
And you know we do businesswith people we know, like and
trust, not just because theywant to talk about your business
.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Yeah, that's a great point, because what are men
taught?
Hey, get in there, understandtheir business.
No, uh-uh, stop.
Because go back to it, becauseyou've already got that know
like and trust part of it,because you found some other
common bond or bonding orrapport that know like and trust
part of it, because you foundsome other common bond or
bonding and rapport.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
But for women it's harder, because you go in there
and talk to a man and youimmediately think you like
sports, which no.
You walk into an executiveoffice and you look for the golf
clubs, or you look for thehunting pictures, or you just
look for whatever, and then oddsare you've probably got some
sort of common background thatyou can focus on.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Easy as a man to do, but as a woman you don't walk in
there.
What is your common bond?
Maybe, I don't know?

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yeah, that's interesting, I'm thinking about
this a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Family pictures?
Yeah, I guess.
So I think you got to go for Idon't know what do you go?
I would go for college.
Then you know, hey, where areyou from?
As soon as Ellen as alan says,hey, I'm from illinois, I'm like
I knew, I liked her, she'smidwest, I just been westerners
stick together.
And alan alan doesn't like toadmit he's from the midwest
because he went to college there, uh, in michigan, which is

(40:38):
god's country, um.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
But he says, oh, I'm from oregon and whatever you
know, he's midwesterner my, uh,my sister-in-law actually have
held for a couple of decades theBig Ten record for blocks at
the University of Illinois.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
There you go.
So there's that common bondthat you and I know how to do,
but Ellen's saying that as awoman, you don't know how to do
that and get that going with theguys.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Not natural for them.
They have to figure it out.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
That is so awkward.
You know that's interesting.
I'm actually the nextnetworking event I'm going to.
Actually, I'm going to try thatout because it's not a creepy
old man way, trust me.
How's that going to go?

Speaker 1 (41:21):
I'm looking forward to this.
Invite me to the nextnetworking event you go to, so I
can just laugh.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
But you know what, getting back to diversity, and
that's the biggest thing I wasabout is that you know, right
now, being the president ofNarian, which is remodeling in
some male-dominated society,right, or male-dominated
industry, and are you working tokeep it that way, chris?
I'm squeezing out every woman Ican.
You're gone, girl, you're gone,you out, you no, actually, look
at our board.
Our board is made up of almostevery ethnicity that we have in

(41:49):
the US.
I mean it's pretty, it's prettyawesome and I love that
diversity it's men, it's women,it's black, it's white, it's
Hispanic, it's Eastern Bloc.
I mean we've got a good job ofthat and I love because you make
better decisions with diversity.
But you're saying that womenare afraid to embrace that and
talk to men about that.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
It's really just being curious about learning
about people.
Really, if you have a curiosityand you just want to learn, so
from Illinois I have.
Of the five kids, three areadopted.
So we brought them up toIllinois because they had never
lived there and the youngest atthat point was, I don't know, 13
, 14.
And we're on Michigan Avenue inthe elevators and we get off.
And here's what she said to meDo you have to talk to everyone?

Speaker 3 (42:37):
So, ellen, obviously.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
I do, yeah, I love that.
Oh, that's so fun.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
So you're the extrovert.
I'm an introvert.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Oh, you're a learned extrovert.
All right, let's talk aboutthis, because I got another one
next to me.
Yes, you do, mr Podcast guest.
Here is a gregarious introvert.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Introvert doesn't mean we don't like to talk.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
We just don't like you.
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Introvert means at some point I have to not talk to
anyone and have quiet and goplug it in, get more energy.
That's all it means.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
When I'm left to myself, I lose energy, like
during COVID.
Alan said Freaking loved it.
Yeah, I know, I actuallywithered like a flower and all I
could do was hide in a bottle.
I drank so much wine.
I miss it so bad.
I I actually um well, cause inour business, um, I was deemed
an essentials uh business herein Georgia, so I use that to my

(43:37):
full advantage.
I ran every estimate we couldjust so I could get out there
and talk to her, even with thefricking mask on my face or
outside yelling through a windowtelling them what I see.
I had to have that and I cameout of the way from there going.
But I went a day without metalking to anybody and sitting
in my house.
Oh my God, I just like.
Oh my God, I'm bouncing off thewalls.

(43:58):
I got to go.
I got to go.
I have no energy.
I got to go.
I need something.
It's like you're giving me.
I need the sun, baby, I needthe sun.
You gotta talk to somebody.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
You two you guys need to go back in, get get all
charged back up.
I'm like that, let's go prettymuch when I come from a business
trip, because you get alltalked out when you're traveling
for business and I just look atthe family, I go, do not talk
to me until tomorrow like don't,don't.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
it's like a little kid that's overstimulated and
you just shut down.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Yes, but, but again, you guys have learned that
talking to people, finding thatconnection, bonding and rapport
and finding a common connection,but you're saying for women
it's a lot harder.
It's so interesting for me, I'mreally.
I'm really.
When I see a woman in anetworking event, I do.
I feel more like what Alan saidis that I'm not going to go up
and talk to her because I willlook a little too forward and a

(44:50):
little too and I don't want todo that because that's not.
I'm not any of that.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
When I think of men and women in general, it's like
I feel like women are chattierthan men and men grunt.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
But there's two.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Chattier with who.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
I guess with other women.
See, she just gave us a littleknowing she said yes, everybody
alright.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
So alright, let's do it.
Men, come on, say it like youwant to.
So that means I gotta learn howto crochet and knit.
I mean, ellen, what do I gottado?

Speaker 2 (45:28):
be curious.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
I think that's important for all people in sale
.
You got to be curious.
I mean genuinely curious.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I think it's key you know, we, uh, we use that line
in our sales process a lot isthat you don't know what you
don't know, and, um, for me,especially doing the home
services now for 18 years 17, uhand being in all the houses
I've been in I know a lot abouthouses.
But you don't want to hear thatfrom me.
I don't know what your painpoint is, and so that's what I

(45:57):
train my sales guys on all thetime is keep asking questions
why, why, well, why does thatmake?
Why are we doing this now?
Why are we doing this today?
Oh my gosh.
Why are we doing this today?
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know not how it makesyou feel that your wood's
rotted outside your house or whyyour deck's falling off.
But why is this important?
Well, I have grandkids Like, oh, we just found the hot button.
My friends, let's go.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Yeah.
So, alan, when you're workingwith people who are
uncomfortable doing that kind ofnetworking whether it's women
or men it's not just as simpleas saying hey, you need to talk
to people.
I mean, do you have a programthat you or a book that you
recommend?
I mean, how do you help themget out of that?

Speaker 2 (46:38):
This is the best advice I've ever gotten.
When you go to a networkingevent it doesn't matter who,
because sometimes it justdepends.
They're uncomfortable go up towho's the sponsor and you ask
them who are the three mostinteresting people that I need
to meet here.
That's true, I like that.
You ask them to take them upand introduce you, so now you

(47:00):
don't have to come up withanything to break the ice.
It's like I understand you'reone of the most interesting
people here that I'm supposed tomeet.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
That might be the gold nugget of the year.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
That is the ultimate gold nugget.
We're stopping right here andI'm going to say only one thing
I, my feelings are hurt becausethey did not introduce me to
Ellen the jerks.
I'm talking to you, Michael.
You know who I'm talking to,Robert.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Actually, Robert doesn't listen to this one but
no, if you're wondering who themost interesting people in the
room are, it's not you.
Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I'm going back to him going I can't believe that
ellen was not introduced to meand I just had to meet her at a
table.
Ellen, this has been aphenomenal episode.
You are amazing.
Uh.
By the way, uh, kudos to you.
Uh, adopting three children isnot an easy feat.
Adopting one child, I one childI mean that is amazing.
God bless you for doing that,because that is absolutely why

(47:54):
you do what you do.
Like you said you do what youlove and you got the money that
you could do, but you said Iwanted to have a big family that
could do all this stuff andhave some fun with it, or
whatever your choice was.
Thank you for doing what youdid.
That can do all this stuff andhave some fun with it, or
whatever your choice was.
Thank you for doing what youdid.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
I got one question I got to ask before our final four
, which is all these cool thingsthat you can see on your bio
that you've done.
Just amazing.
You obviously say yes toeverything.
What's what's on the bucketlist?

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Ooh, oh, gosh Um she's she might be a question.
I'm getting nervous.
Yeah, I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Oh gosh, she might be a good question.
I'm getting nervous.
I can't wait.
Thank you, Machu Picchu.
See, that's kind of on mybucket.
What about the running of thebulls?
Would you do that?

Speaker 2 (48:36):
No, I'd run a marathon, run a half marathon.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
You don't need to run from animals.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
No.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
I don't need to run ever again, unless it's to go
grab a beer.
Yeah, I'm done with that.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Running is.
I like that I don't ever goback to a country I've been to
already, so I don't understandwhy people keep going back to
the same place, because mybucket list would be is like I'm
just going to new places.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
All right.
So one of my favorite questionsare is every time one of my
friends takes a trip, name theone place you would go back to,
because a lot of us have thatsame philosophy.
So what is the one place?
If I said, ellen, I'm sorry, I,I'm going to fund this, but you
have to go back to one placethat you've been to before,
where would you go?
Spain?
Where in Spain?

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Um Munda down by the coast.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Which?
Well, I've been there a lot, sowhich which coast?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Um, the South coast, oh yeah, not North.
So we went Madrid South andMunda is down by the coast and
we stayed in a castle.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Okay, yeah.
So my, my son did a summerabroad in Cadiz.
Uh, I got to spend a week inBarcelona when I was a kid, and
then we got to go back when myson had finished.
I've never been to madrid I'vebeen all over spain except
madrid.
Um, I love that city, I lovethat country too, and, uh, I've
got a, a friend, who lives there.
Um, yep, that's a great one,all right, but I know you're not

(50:04):
going back there now, so that'soff the list, except we can go
madrid, as we did, madrid south,and then oh, oh, so you're oh
going back there now.
So that's off the list, exceptwe can go as we did Madrid South
, oh so you, oh, so now, oh soyou've opened it up, so you're
going to go back to Barcelona.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
She's pretty she's pretty literal.
I noticed that.
Good job, thank you.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
That's my, that's my Castellan.
All right, let's get to.
Oh my gosh, we still need to dothe paella with those guys.
I know we actually havethreatened and they're ready to
do it.
We're actually going to do oneof our shows.
It's going to be cooking paellawith our friends in Barcelona
on a Zoom call as a specialpodcast, because they want to do
it.

(50:40):
Actually, a couple of themactually listened to the podcast
, believe it or not.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
I think that's awesome.
It is yeah, hey to Spain.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
We love you.
All right, ellen, before we getto our final four, how does
everybody find you?
Because if you're interesting,you're Ellen.
You want to talk to Ellen.
If you're not interesting, youstill want to talk to Ellen
because you want to figure outhow you want to.
Ellen's one of the three mostinteresting people in the room
with tackler ellen.
Please pick me.

(51:07):
Please pick me, make me telleverybody I'm the throb.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Very interesting, damn it all right how do we find
you?

Speaker 2 (51:17):
linkedin pretty easy ellen tyler, ellen tyler
coaching and same email ellen atellen tyler coachingcom
r-e-l-l-e-n-t-y-l-e-rcom.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
We'll put that in the show notes.
Everybody, let's get to thatfinal four, shall we?
Let's go?
What's the favorite book youwould refer to our audience?

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Genevieve, burand, your Invisible Power.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Ooh, tell us about that.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
I bet nobody's ever said that right.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
No, no, that's a unicorn.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Was it the eyeballs coming out of my head going?
I don't even know what she justsaid.
I mean, seriously, it soundedFrench and mysterious to me.
It's like I don't speak French.
I don't speak a lot oflanguages.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
I'll preface it.
I love old books becausethere's nothing new.
No-transcript.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
Oh my God, and when was it written?
1910.
All right, all right, cindy,before you order this one, check
with me first.
I got to make sure I understandhow to read it.
Cindy, just order it in English.
I did this once.
Somebody told me to read theTeddy Roosevelt biography, so I
bought the original one.
Dude, his English was so fargone from where I could read.
I was like, dude, this is likeShakespeare.
I'm like, no, I'm done, I'm anengineer, I'm done.
I had to go buy the updatedversion, Like, hey, this is what

(52:49):
he really was about.
I'm like, yeah, that's what Ithought.
Oh my God, cultured Alan, I'mgoing to do with you, I'm so
uncultured.
All right, let's get after it.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
What's the favorite feature of your house?

Speaker 3 (53:05):
That it's smaller than the bigger one.
We sold Less to maintain, Ithought you'd say, when it's
full of my grandkids.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Well, that's true, but then they go home and that's
good.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Oh, even more fun, right?
Oh, my God, yes, god bless youAll.
Right, let's go.
So we are, admittedly, customerservice freaks.
Absolutely crazy about it.
What's a customer service petpeeve of yours when you're out
there and you're the customer?

Speaker 2 (53:31):
That they don't actually answer the phone.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Ever, isn't that just mind-blowing.
Alright, guys, I'm telling youwhat this is 2025.
I think by 2027, when we'rewith SmartList, probably on
stage with them, or probablythey're our opening act or
Rogan's actually in yourbasement rogan's down here.
Yeah, in 2027.
I think what people are goingto say is, when the ai guy
answers or the ai gal answersand I don't know if it's an ai

(53:58):
or if it's real person, you knowthey have.
They have right now.
I literally listened to one.
The ai person, ai.
Whatever the person says, areyou an AI?
They went oh no, that's funny,no, absolutely not.
The AI said that oh my God, ohno, that's funny, absolutely not

(54:19):
.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
The AI lies.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
The one I listened to did I don't know, but I think a
lot of that legislation willcome out eventually.
That freaking scares me.
Hey dude, I'm telling you it'scoming, and so you're right.
When people don't answer thephones, we're talking about that
even in my own business.
I would rather have somebody AIanswer now than a call center.
So call centers will be gonesoon, unfortunately.
That's going to be horrible.

(54:44):
You know, I have two ladies inthe office who answered the
phone for me and they said is myjob in jeopardy?
I said no, it's the next two.
I would have hired their job'sin jeopardy.
But I said but you guys, Ialways have to have somebody in
our business to understand andbelieve and love our customers
more than anybody else can, andso their rider dies with us too.

(55:06):
So that's great, all right,here we go.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
She's going to have a good one, I'm predicting, you
know what she's hands on.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
I want a DIY nightmare story.
Ellen, I have put nails throughmy foot.
I have put nails through myhands.
I have almost cut off fingers.
I have set almost a kitchen onfire.
I want a DIY nightmare story.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
When we decided to tile our whole floor in the
house in Chicago and then findout that I got transferred here
to Georgia and I'm talking thewhole floor and we had to finish
it.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
It was a nightmare because you got into a project
that suddenly didn't matter andyou needed to get it done.
It's a different nightmareBecause you got into a project
that suddenly didn't matter andyou needed to get it done, all
right.
All right, it's a differentnightmare, all right.

Speaker 3 (55:52):
I want to know who was on the cut station and who
was laying it.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
I did not cut it, I can lay it.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
So you were on your hands and knees the entire time.
Thin set drop.
Thin set drop.
Gap Tile.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Which was be better than the Italian plaster.
I had to do with mygrandparents' house in Illinois
and learn how to do the swirlythings.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
You did the swirly things.
Oh, we're kindred spirits.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
The only person in my entire company Is that the
technical word Swirly things.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
That's exactly what you have to do.
It is I'm the only one in myentire family, entire company
knows how to plaster, because Igrew up in a house that I had to
plaster.
Yeah, and trust me, I willnever do it again.
Not with all the drywall.
Now I say, just take it out.
We'd never do it again.
Get rid of it.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
No.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Awesome.
Yeah, ellen Tyler, this hasbeen amazing.
You are a Renaissance woman.
She is Renaissance.
I love it.
Hey guys, if you learnedsomething, man, that's on you.
Hope you guys had a great time.
Don't forget to go out there.
Check us all out.
Hey, don't forget.
Also, we got a new sponsorQualified Applicants.
These guys are great forrecruiting.

(57:01):
I just talked with Tina theother night.
She's helping me out withanother hire after my rant and a
rave and I got to go findsomebody else.
Tina puts up with you.
She does put up with me.
Tina and Megan are great.
They're actually nationwiderecruiting for everybody.
So if you're in the US andyou're looking for somebody in
the home services space, you gotto figure them out.
That's general manager, sales,even technicians.

(57:21):
These guys know how to talkyour language.
Get out there, make it happen.
Let's get up that mountaintopand go get successful and let's
freaking make it happen.
Cheers everybody.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the small business
safari.
Remember, your positiveattitude will help you achieve
that higher altitude.
You're looking for a wild world, small business ownership and

(57:41):
until next time, make it a greatday.
You.