December 10, 2024 • 28 mins
In this insightful episode of Schmidt List, host Kurt Schmidt engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Brad Farris, a seasoned leadership and business growth coach, to explore transitioning from craftsperson to leader. Brad provides invaluable strategies and deep insights for agency founders navigating the challenges of scaling their businesses while stepping into effective leadership roles. Brad discusses the profound identity shift required as leaders move away from hands-on tasks and embrace the responsibilities of guiding a team. He sheds light on managing team dynamics, including bridging generational gaps between "old school" and "new class" employees, while emphasizing the importance of accountability and well-defined roles within an organization. The conversation also delves into the complexities of business partnerships, the importance of intentional leadership, and the lasting impact one's leadership style can have on their legacy and reputation. Brad introduces practical tools and resources, including a growth-phase assessment available on his website, designed to help agency founders identify their current stage and focus on the priorities critical for their continued growth. Whether you're an agency founder facing leadership hurdles, a partner navigating the dynamics of collaboration, or someone passionate about personal and professional development, this episode is packed with actionable advice and meaningful insights to help you elevate your leadership abilities. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from Brad's expertise and improve your leadership journey.
Key Takeaways:
Guest Links:
Check out https://www.kurtschmidt.me for more show info.
Visit Kurt’s coaching site at https://schmidtconsulting.group
Subscribe to The Road Map Newsletter and unlock the secrets to achieving a harmonious work-life balance as a leader. https://bit.ly/RoadMapNewsletter
New Book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2C61THR
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/schmidt-list-entrepreneurial-insights--2664825/support.
Key Takeaways:
- Navigating the shift from being a craftsperson to a leader.
- The role of identity and accountability in business growth.
- Understanding and managing team dynamics and cultural clashes.
- The importance of clear roles in partnerships and leadership.
- Practical tools and assessments for agency growth.
Guest Links:
- Website :Anchor Advisors
- Growth Phase Assessment t:Anchor Advisors Growth Phase
- LinkedIn: Brad Farris
Check out https://www.kurtschmidt.me for more show info.
Visit Kurt’s coaching site at https://schmidtconsulting.group
Subscribe to The Road Map Newsletter and unlock the secrets to achieving a harmonious work-life balance as a leader. https://bit.ly/RoadMapNewsletter
New Book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2C61THR
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/schmidt-list-entrepreneurial-insights--2664825/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to schmidlst Our. Guest today is Brad Ferris, a
renowned leadership and business growth coach. If you're facing the
challenges of scaling your business, you need to hear Brad's
expert insights. Get ready for game changing advice that will
help elevate your leadership and take your business to the
next level. Don't miss it. Tune in now.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And how are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
How are you? I'm doing great? So tell me a
little bit about the work you do and who you
work with.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm a leadership and business growth coach. I work primarily
with founders of growing agencies, and people come to me
when they feel like they need to level up their
leadership and so agencies go through some predictable stages of growth,
and when you're at one of those growth boundaries, the
job of the leader changes pretty significantly, and I'm really
(00:53):
helpful in getting people across those boundaries.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Great, I've got so much to learn from you today, Brad. Myself,
I went through this very early on in my career too,
where you're a crafts person and you're starting to get
work and you're like, you know what, maybe I can
turn this into a real thing, and I'm gonna I'm
gonna make it into a real thing. We're gonna do it.
And you start doing it, and you get employees, and
(01:16):
things are coming along pretty good. You're all having fun
getting along, and then all of a sudden it starts
to get weird. And then I'm not doing my work
is as much as I used to, and people are
asking me for things that I don't know how to provide,
and and I'm like, why are you asking me for
these things? You shouldn't worried about that stuff, And let's
(01:37):
worry about the clients and the work. And they're like, no,
let's worry about my benefits and my say And You're like,
what's going on? Why did I even get into this?
I'm sure that's a very unique situation, Brad. I'm sure
very unique. The only person in the world has ever
had that experience. So as that a thing, how do
you describe and coach people through that initial transferation? Because
(01:59):
I'm sure you work with people that are in quick
growing places. Yeah, one of your first things like, you're
not a lull, So how do you start your coaching
with these folks? So we're always starting where the person is,
and so the scenario from a couple of years ago,
that's a great place to start to say, Yes, I
(02:19):
see that all of a sudden, your job is not
what you used to do. You used to do coding
where you used to be a designer, or you used
to be a writer, and now all of a sudden,
you're leading all these people, and that's actually a different job.
Right when you were doing the thing, when you're the
crafts person, you knew at the end of the day
that you had a good day because you created things.
(02:41):
There are artifacts of your work that are out of there. Yes,
right when you're leading, other.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
People have artifacts of their work that's out in the world,
and your job is to make it possible for them
to do their job. And that feels super amorphous. Like
I get to the end of the day and I
had a bunch of meetings, and but I didn't do
anything right. There was nothing that I accomplished that I delivered.
And so there's a big shifting identity that needs to
(03:08):
take place when we get to that point where we're
starting to pull away from the work. And for a
lot of people, they fight it because it feels good
to do that thing that I used to be good
at and it feels really uncomfortable to be in that
leadership role, and so I want to go back to
being in the doing the work role. But then, just
as you experienced, your people are like, yeah, but that's
(03:31):
this is my job, that's your job. And so if
the leader job now, we've got a whole mess on
our hands.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It is because and also what happens I've seen is
the culture starts to split as the company grows. You've
got the old school people that have been there from
the beginning, or just a few maybe depending on your
turnover rate, but sometimes it's a good chunk of people.
And then you've got the new class, right, the new
class that's come in, and they have very different expectations
(03:58):
and they need to old school its because the old
school was like, yeah, I'll leave when the work is done,
and other people the new classes and the whistle blows
at five, I'm laptops down all this stuff. So just
an example, and you start to see people working different
and that class starts to happen. And I remember being
an owner and wondering, oh, which side is the right
(04:22):
side it? Which side is right? Here? Is it? The
new class just doesn't get it and they need to adapt,
or is it the old class needs to adapt? And
then I remember like thinking, Oh, it's probably me who
needs to So there's good things.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
In there that I see that are really common. One
is when we start a business, what's important is flexibility.
We don't have enough people that we have people to
do all the jobs, so everyone's wearing multiple hats and
we're juggling multiple balls, and so we value the flexibility
that those first few employees brings. The business grows, we're
(05:01):
going to start to hire specialists.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So we hire an.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Account person, and the account person's job is to take
care of the clients and bring in new business and
price things and make sure things are done on time right.
Or we hire a creative director whose job is to
make sure that the creative team is doing well. And
those people want to be able to say I'm doing
my job well. That requires accountability. So we need to
have more accountability as we start to hire those professionals.
(05:28):
But the people that love the flexibility, they only like
the accountability, right, and so they start to say, yeah,
but I'm here all the time, and I do all
this extra stuff and doing all that extra stuff was
really valuable, but it's not really valuable as that it
starts to grow because the accountability is what allows.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Us to grow the business growth. Yeah, and the company
is changing, right, and unless you had experience ahead of time,
it's really hard to guide and set expectations with the
staff as the company grows. Because if I was starting
an agency today and I was hiring people, I would
let them know, Oh, this is the roadmap over the
next year or two, and this is how I see
(06:04):
your role changing and adapting to that. This is how
I see the company's policies changing in adaptat to the
work and things that we're doing and allowing that transparency.
But if you've never been through that before, you are
on the bleeding edge of change every single day, and
that could take a toll on you. Because I've seen
(06:25):
founders and I've had partners before in the past where
they really struggle with the change of being an implementer
to a leader. It's hard to let go of that,
just like you said, because they provided so much value
and now all the value is just airror and conversations
Brad like, how is that valuable?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
And that disconnect that you're feeling of Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Are they wrong? What's going on here?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
A lot of people will come to me at that
point and they'll say, rather' some loan with my staff.
They're just not doing the things that I told them
to do, and I have to have a hard conversation
with them there that says, oh, so there's something wrong
with the staff that you hired and that you trained
and that you're holding accountable.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes, yes, that's exactly right. Right, Yes, there is something
wrong with all of it's to say I used to
have up good partners. Call it the bad roommate syndrome, which,
like I've always had bad roommates through my entire life.
I don't know why, what's wrong with all these roommates.
And so we get to that point, like you.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Say that I'm now leading the biggest organization that I've
ever been a part of.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, and it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
But I'm the boss, so I'm not allowed to have
a problem. I'm not allowed to be the one that's uncomfortable.
But that's where it's really great to have someone who
come alongside you and say, Okay, here's where this goes.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I've been down this road before, and as you and
I were talking before we got on. I've made all
these mistakes.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's so valuable to have a support group
around you. And I know that a lot of people,
well at least locally here where I'm at there, So
there's lots of leadership cohorts and things like that I
think are important. But I early on I joined one
of these, and I really struggled because all of these
people had more traditional businesses, not an agency business, not
(08:15):
a service based business, and there is just a different
pay and attitude and mentality that you take towards this work,
and especially because you add on like it's a service
based business. So yeah, I could talk to somebody who
runs a plumbing company, right, but it's not as creative
(08:35):
as what I'm dealing with, a nebulous right where you've
got dozens of revisions to copy and things and setting
expectations around those things both internally and externally. Whereas there
this is how you put a sync together. This is
and if you don't put it together like this, you're dumb.
You can't do that in an agency and a creative
and a digital agency. So talk to me, Brad about
(08:58):
what you usually suggest. Maybe they're not quite ready to
join in with the brad. But what are some other
things that you tell people to do as they're exploring
the leadership journey. What's some tips and tricks that you
would suggest.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So one kind of practical thing if you go to
my website and go to Anchor Advisors dot com slash
growth dash phase, and I'm sure it'll put that in
the show notes, there's an assessment there that helps you
to see where you are on the growth journey of
an agency. And oftentimes we're getting advice when we're in
the startup phase or we're in the growth phase that
(09:32):
are really more appropriate for later stages of business, and
so really focusing on where am I right now in
growing my business and what are the few things that
matter in this phase. And so if you take the assessment,
it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Require an email or anything.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It'll give you a map of the next three things
you need to pay attention to. And one of them
that is very common is we have descriptions for everyone
in the company, but we don't have a job description
for the CEO. And knowing what your job is and
figuring out out a way to measure your performance is
(10:11):
super helpful.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, That's an incredibly good idea because I've had that before.
Where as you grow, I had people saying, so, what
do you do here? The old office space thing? Yeah,
it was a new year, and I was like, oh
my god, I couldn't list it out. But then I did.
I was like, all right, I'm gonna list it all out.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And then I put together a presentation for the team
and I walked everybody through what is like a week
in Kurt's life that look like. And it wasn't that
impactful for them. I think they were Okay, yeah, you
do stuff. But for me, it was really really helpful.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And the second part that you mentioned there is something
that I do a lot with clients, is Okay, once
I decide what my job is, how do I make
sure I have a time. I usually do two week
blocks in some time. In each two week block that
I'm doing each of those jobs, right, I'm looking at
the finances once every couple of weeks, I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Some business development.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Every week, I'm working with the team and seeing where
the weaknesses and strengths are and where the holes are
in the team. Probably every week or at least every
other week, right, And so there are these roles that
we have to play and unless we have time on
our calendar to do them, it's real easy to fill
the calendar with.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Buyers, I mean calling client stuff like that. Yeah, not
being intentional with your time is a huge part of
it and taking ownership of it. I want to talk
to you about traditional frameworks and things too. As a coach,
I've had some people come in and pitch us in
our agency at the time on different things. Right, and
during my tenure I was at I was helping a
(11:48):
very large agency. We were five hundred some people, and
we were doing all the things we were doing. Strengths Finder,
Myers Briggs disc there's a ton of them into what's
your take on those sorts of approaches when it comes
to leadership development? How the impactful of those things been
in your experience and are there is it a certain
(12:09):
type of person that it works for? Is it all
just voodoo? Tell me what do you think.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Some of those are GOODU I heard someone describe Myers
Brakes as like horoscopes for people with PhDs.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh yeah, ooh, that's a good one. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I do have a personality typing tool that I use
and I start every coaching engagement by looking at that
personality typing tool. And mostly what I'm looking for there
is how do I position this person to play to
their strengths. If you think about the job of a
football coach or a sports coach is to get people
to do into roles where they can be successful. You
(12:48):
as the CEO, want to get your team into roles
where they.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Can be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, Outstanding where people's natural tendencies are can help us
to do that. The other thing is, and this is
going to come a huge shock to you, not everyone
sees the world the same way that you do.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Well, well, okay, wait a second, now'll communicate differently from you.
That's insane. It is insane.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And so when we can see what other people's personalities
are every time I do this.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I'm doing this right now with.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
A team of fifteen people, where we're putting everybody's personalities
up and talking about and I know when we do that,
there's gonna be some that people are like, oh, yeah,
I knew about that about this person, and there are
gonna be others a bit oh I did not know
that about that person. But that explains a lot, right,
exactly right. This is why we keep having this fight
over over.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
And so well, it's like the love languages kind of thing,
and how powerful that was back when it first came out,
because that's something that I spent time with my partners
really trying to understand, because I had one partner that
was very high energy, high anxiety and the other was
ere just just disrolled with whatever and was like, oh, yeah,
(13:57):
it's on fire again. It just looks it. Both great individuals.
I learned a lot from working with them, but being
the person in the middle, the kind of mid anxiety
you are that I am worked out great to split
the difference. But that's the thing that I wonder about, Brad. Yeah,
when you're in I'm sure you've worked with partnerships, yes, before,
(14:17):
and those bring a whole new level of challenges compared
to being just top boss. Right, Obviously they there's not
one that's easier than the other. But I do know
a lot of solo people that are like, oh, what
I need is to get a partner, And I'm like,
do you because does that fix the things? Really? I don't.
I want somebody to share the responsibility with And I'm like, again,
(14:40):
do you richly want somebody to share the responses. Think
about this, think about what it's like five years from now,
not next week, because you don't want to do all
these meetings by yourself. That's right. Talk to me about
the differences in the dynamics with how the leaders are
when you're working with them in a partnership, and what
are the things that you coach those people theal on
(15:01):
what to be aware of.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
If I'm going to say good things about partnerships, there
are definitely times where partners have different strengths and different
skills one hundred percent yes, and divide and conquer the work.
And I will say that partnerships early on tend to
grow a little bit faster because you have more of
those diverse skills, and so getting a business off the
(15:24):
ground is often easier with partners as you were saying,
As the business grows, you can hire a lot of
those diverse skills, right, And so the roles for those
two partners start to get really ambiguous. And so one
of the things that I'm doing a lot when I'm
working with partners is establishing clear roles for each of
(15:45):
the partners with measurements, so that one of the most
toxic conversations for partners is I'm doing more than she's doing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, because of that, Because I mean it happens in
any work environment, and the work ethic people have is different,
and it's some are different in good ways and some
are different in negative ways. And when it's a partnership,
it really pronounced versus. This is just your partner on
(16:17):
this project, because this project can to end at some
point and you'll probably move on to a different thing
with somebody else or whatever. So you just put up
with it. You knew that Steve acts this way, and
you can just get around it. Right. But when a partnership,
you are married. Yeah, and that's it, like you can't escape.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
And the thing that is interesting, because I've been doing
this for a while, is that if you see partners
and at the very beginning, they're like ninety eight percent aligne,
but they're two percent is not aligned. Ten years later,
that two percent is now a big mis alignment.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah. And they don't plan for that to happen either, right,
They don't see that it's all flowers and daisies in
the beginning, right, And because you're grinding to it's the
same goals. But people change and people grow and that's
the bottom mind. So to your point, that's one of
the first things that I usually talk to people about
(17:10):
when they asked me about the about partnerships or these things,
is that you just got to realize that you're not
going to be the same person five years from now
that you are now. You're just not going to be
And even though you might argue and say I am
the same person I was five years this business is
going to change you. It just is. And it's not
a job. It's a new lifestyle for us, right, And
(17:32):
that changes people.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And even if it's just life circumstances, like I worked
with one pair of partners where they were roughly the
same age, but one of them married young and the
other one married late. And so the one that Barry
had kids young and by the time fifteen years went by,
partner won his partner, his kids were graduating. He's thinking
about riding off into the sunset. Sure, kids are young,
(17:56):
he still needs to send them to college, right, And
so even if professionally they're super aligned, personally their needs
are really different.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah. Yeah, And it's something to really discuss and be
intentional about. And that's why I think having an outside
third party, like someone like yourself coming in to coach
in these areas is so powerful and so important. And
early on in my career like I was like, ah,
I don't nobody understands me and what I'm dealing with,
and uh, the only person who can fix my problems
(18:27):
is this guy, right he or me? And that just
as I got older and more mature and saw other
people having success with outside people, then I was like,
oh crap, like I missed the boat there and I
need to bring in those people. I was also lucky
because I didn't have a scarcity mindset. I had an
abundant mindsets. I was able to connect and reach and
(18:49):
talk to other agency founders and owners and have coffee
with them once in a while, and if lack of anything,
I got a chance to vent to somebody who understood
what was happening. And that was really powerful for me
because I was reading all the books, right, I was
reading all the leadership books. And if you go to
the Amazon, I think it's what is it, five hundred
(19:10):
and fifty thousand titles with just the word leadership. Yes,
there's like over a half a million books in Amazon
with just the title leadership in somewhere in the title,
and I read tons of and I would have people
recommend books and I'd read them, and then it still
just didn't have the same impact as working with someone
m HM to get me to that next level, having
(19:34):
that coach to get me to the level that I
really wanted to be, or realize that maybe my job
was just to start things but not to run. You
ever run into that, Yes, I.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Think that for many people who tell me that my
job is to start things and not to run things. Yeah,
the identity shift of going from the craftsman to the
leader is just something that they're not.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Willing to make, which is fine. I like that you
put it. They're not It's not that they're unable to make.
That's right, they're not willing to make. That's a big difference,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, Because I have seen people that say that to me,
and if we sit down and talk about what it
really means. One of the ways that I talk to
them about it is, remember, when you've got so much
joy from creating the thing, the piece of software, the design,
whatever it is, what if you could get that.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Same joy from creating the system.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
The people aspect of the business like putting the people
in place and making if that is your creative act,
and start to see it that way, that's a big
unlock for people. Now, there are some people that just
don't care about people. They care about things, and they
should go and work with the things.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
But the challenge to and this is my own personal bias,
I'm going to put that out there. I think the
challenge of creating the solving the people problems is so
much more interesting than solving the thing problems.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I would one hundred percent agree, And I didn't think
that early on in my career either. I fought against
it too, But as I saw the impact that my
leadership had on other people, it was so much more
satisfying than any artifact I could ever ever make, And
it was so much more validating to all the crap
(21:26):
that I had been through my career and everything. It
just it was hugely impactful for me. So I could
totally see the people that embrace it really can be
life changing for them, Because I say it all the time.
People forget projects, people forget jobs, but they never forget
their bosses, or their managers or or the co whoever.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yeah, I agree one hundred percent. When we get to
that point in life that we start thinking about legacy
and what we want to be remembered for, it's definitely
our impact on the people on our team. That's the
thing that are going to remember. And so getting good
at making a positive impact there is really impacting your legacy.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
And if you've got the point where you're at in life,
legacy is behind you, but reputation is ahead of you,
and they both write are really important to take care of.
Right So if you're not necessary, maybe your legacy meter
is much shorter, but your reputation bar is really high
because you're maybe in your thirties. If you're not taking
(22:27):
care of these people that are working with these people,
they're going to go and get jobs other places, and
they are going to carry whatever baggage you handed them
at the door with them and they will share that
baggage with everybody and anybody for the next.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Pack war years. And you just unlocked something for me
that I never really thought about before, is that investing
in your leadership actually makes you the rest of your
life so much easier because if you have that reputation
of being a great leader and making a plosive impact
on the.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
People around you. You're gonna attract better talilent. When you
attract better talent, it's so much easier to run your business,
make some more money. Like it's like having a tailwind, right,
It's yeah, and better siculative because better talent will attract
better clients or retain clients longer, and then it just
(23:21):
all works together. So if to your point, if you're
not focused on the leadership side of things, you're dismantling
a key link in the chain of making your business successful.
And if you're not interested in making your business successful,
then I suggest go get a job like you're gonna
(23:43):
be much happier. Don't do this or better.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So you're like, you can have a solo good, that's fine,
there's nothing wrong with that. I haven't a centially a
solo gig. You have a centuay a solo game. There's
nothing road with.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
That than wrong with that. And but again, don't fool people,
because if you already worked and built this age and
see and I know people who really essentially just want
lifestyle agencies and that's okay, but those have the same
challenges that you would if you were in a growth mode.
(24:15):
They just are they're just peanut buttered out more. It's
just over time.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
One of the conversations that I have with clients, that's Brad,
I love this business of this size. I just want
to keep this size.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Well, that's great, certainly you want that? Does your team
want that? Do they want more opportunities? Are they expecting
to get raises? Gain me a responsibility? Because if so,
and you don't want to grow the business, they're going
somewhace else.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, you got to plan for turnover, right, Yeah, I
mean that's just now what's coming with that choice? Right?
And usually what people are like, yeah, that's not so good.
I'm like, okay, yeah. I remember with this agency I
was at. We were fast growing. We were adding one
hundred people a year, and I remember and all staff. One
employee got up and I think we were like two
(25:03):
hundred people on our way to five hundred very quickly,
and they said why do we keep why do we
keep growing? And I remember the CFO just was like,
or know. The employee said, why don't we stop growing?
When don't we just stopped? And the CFO just looked
back at him. He was up in front with all
the other executives doing a Q and A, and he's
why don't you stop growing? He's if you stop growing,
(25:25):
we can stop growing. That's right. The problem is that
you're not going to stop growing, right, and so the
business has to grow in order to keep you here
and employed and doing the work and providing you the
opportunities you're looking for. And I remember that person just
being floored. Oh okay, I get it, Like they just
(25:45):
they had just unlocked why businesses grow in the first
It wasn't just because of because you watch the news
and you're like stocks and stockholders and shareholder value all
this stuff. But when you're in a small to medium
sized business, people don't have that mentality of growth equals opportunity.
For me. That's for Tesla's in the Navidias of the world,
to not our little agency here in Oklahoma or something.
(26:09):
And that's it's.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Growth is a beautiful thing, like human our desire for
growth and our desire to learn more and have more opportunity.
That has created almost all the good things that we
have in the world. And to try to stifle that
is you're working against nature. That's not how the world works.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, we don't want to work against nature. We see
what happens in that. Holy dude, you think you got
a better idea? Guess what? Guess what Nature's got better ideas.
It's definitely a force that I don't want to fight against. No,
all right, speaking of forces I don't want to fight against.
I gotta we gotta cut it short here, But I Brad,
I'd love on the show. Thank you so much for
joining me. We got to have you back on. If
(26:50):
I want to get in touch with you, if I
want to learn about your services, if I want to
take that survey that you mentioned, and I want to
learn more, where do I go? How do I find
out more?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Advisors dot com A n C H O R A
d V I O R. Yes, dot com is my website.
That's the easiest place to find me. I'm also on
LinkedIn if you search Brad Ferris. Aren't very many of
us Ferris with an A. But yeah, come on to
anchored visors dot com. The assessment, like I said, is
anchor advisors dot com slash growth dash phase ten questions,
(27:24):
takes you five minutes. It's going to really give you
some help about what to focus on next.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's great. I love those I love those surveys. They
give you some really great instant feedback, especially when they're
put together by such a smart and talented person like
Brad here. I highly recommend people go and check it out. Brad,
thank you so much for taking the time out of
your busy day to join me. I appreciate it. It was
super fun. It's always interesting to talk with you. We
appreciate you taking the time to listen to this episode
(27:50):
of schmidt List.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The stories shared by our guests are genuinely inspiring and
offer insightful knowledge.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
It's important to remember that success doesn't happen overnight and
requires collaboration, learning, and perseverance.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
If you want to broaden your professional connections, check out
Kurt's book The Little Book of Networking, How to Build
your Career one Conversation at a Time on Amazon. Please
stay connected with all things schmidt List on social media,
leave a review for the podcast and join our community
of like minded entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Thank you for being part of Schmidtlist.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Keep innovating, collaborating, and chasing your entrepreneurial dreams.
Welcome to schmidlst Our. Guest today is Brad Ferris, a
renowned leadership and business growth coach. If you're facing the
challenges of scaling your business, you need to hear Brad's
expert insights. Get ready for game changing advice that will
help elevate your leadership and take your business to the
next level. Don't miss it. Tune in now.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And how are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
How are you? I'm doing great? So tell me a
little bit about the work you do and who you
work with.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm a leadership and business growth coach. I work primarily
with founders of growing agencies, and people come to me
when they feel like they need to level up their
leadership and so agencies go through some predictable stages of growth,
and when you're at one of those growth boundaries, the
job of the leader changes pretty significantly, and I'm really
(00:53):
helpful in getting people across those boundaries.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Great, I've got so much to learn from you today, Brad. Myself,
I went through this very early on in my career too,
where you're a crafts person and you're starting to get
work and you're like, you know what, maybe I can
turn this into a real thing, and I'm gonna I'm
gonna make it into a real thing. We're gonna do it.
And you start doing it, and you get employees, and
(01:16):
things are coming along pretty good. You're all having fun
getting along, and then all of a sudden it starts
to get weird. And then I'm not doing my work
is as much as I used to, and people are
asking me for things that I don't know how to provide,
and and I'm like, why are you asking me for
these things? You shouldn't worried about that stuff, And let's
(01:37):
worry about the clients and the work. And they're like, no,
let's worry about my benefits and my say And You're like,
what's going on? Why did I even get into this?
I'm sure that's a very unique situation, Brad. I'm sure
very unique. The only person in the world has ever
had that experience. So as that a thing, how do
you describe and coach people through that initial transferation? Because
(01:59):
I'm sure you work with people that are in quick
growing places. Yeah, one of your first things like, you're
not a lull, So how do you start your coaching
with these folks? So we're always starting where the person is,
and so the scenario from a couple of years ago,
that's a great place to start to say, Yes, I
(02:19):
see that all of a sudden, your job is not
what you used to do. You used to do coding
where you used to be a designer, or you used
to be a writer, and now all of a sudden,
you're leading all these people, and that's actually a different job.
Right when you were doing the thing, when you're the
crafts person, you knew at the end of the day
that you had a good day because you created things.
(02:41):
There are artifacts of your work that are out of there. Yes,
right when you're leading, other.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
People have artifacts of their work that's out in the world,
and your job is to make it possible for them
to do their job. And that feels super amorphous. Like
I get to the end of the day and I
had a bunch of meetings, and but I didn't do
anything right. There was nothing that I accomplished that I delivered.
And so there's a big shifting identity that needs to
(03:08):
take place when we get to that point where we're
starting to pull away from the work. And for a
lot of people, they fight it because it feels good
to do that thing that I used to be good
at and it feels really uncomfortable to be in that
leadership role, and so I want to go back to
being in the doing the work role. But then, just
as you experienced, your people are like, yeah, but that's
(03:31):
this is my job, that's your job. And so if
the leader job now, we've got a whole mess on
our hands.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It is because and also what happens I've seen is
the culture starts to split as the company grows. You've
got the old school people that have been there from
the beginning, or just a few maybe depending on your
turnover rate, but sometimes it's a good chunk of people.
And then you've got the new class, right, the new
class that's come in, and they have very different expectations
(03:58):
and they need to old school its because the old
school was like, yeah, I'll leave when the work is done,
and other people the new classes and the whistle blows
at five, I'm laptops down all this stuff. So just
an example, and you start to see people working different
and that class starts to happen. And I remember being
an owner and wondering, oh, which side is the right
(04:22):
side it? Which side is right? Here? Is it? The
new class just doesn't get it and they need to adapt,
or is it the old class needs to adapt? And
then I remember like thinking, Oh, it's probably me who
needs to So there's good things.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
In there that I see that are really common. One
is when we start a business, what's important is flexibility.
We don't have enough people that we have people to
do all the jobs, so everyone's wearing multiple hats and
we're juggling multiple balls, and so we value the flexibility
that those first few employees brings. The business grows, we're
(05:01):
going to start to hire specialists.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So we hire an.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Account person, and the account person's job is to take
care of the clients and bring in new business and
price things and make sure things are done on time right.
Or we hire a creative director whose job is to
make sure that the creative team is doing well. And
those people want to be able to say I'm doing
my job well. That requires accountability. So we need to
have more accountability as we start to hire those professionals.
(05:28):
But the people that love the flexibility, they only like
the accountability, right, and so they start to say, yeah,
but I'm here all the time, and I do all
this extra stuff and doing all that extra stuff was
really valuable, but it's not really valuable as that it
starts to grow because the accountability is what allows.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Us to grow the business growth. Yeah, and the company
is changing, right, and unless you had experience ahead of time,
it's really hard to guide and set expectations with the
staff as the company grows. Because if I was starting
an agency today and I was hiring people, I would
let them know, Oh, this is the roadmap over the
next year or two, and this is how I see
(06:04):
your role changing and adapting to that. This is how
I see the company's policies changing in adaptat to the
work and things that we're doing and allowing that transparency.
But if you've never been through that before, you are
on the bleeding edge of change every single day, and
that could take a toll on you. Because I've seen
(06:25):
founders and I've had partners before in the past where
they really struggle with the change of being an implementer
to a leader. It's hard to let go of that,
just like you said, because they provided so much value
and now all the value is just airror and conversations
Brad like, how is that valuable?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
And that disconnect that you're feeling of Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Are they wrong? What's going on here?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
A lot of people will come to me at that
point and they'll say, rather' some loan with my staff.
They're just not doing the things that I told them
to do, and I have to have a hard conversation
with them there that says, oh, so there's something wrong
with the staff that you hired and that you trained
and that you're holding accountable.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes, yes, that's exactly right. Right, Yes, there is something
wrong with all of it's to say I used to
have up good partners. Call it the bad roommate syndrome, which,
like I've always had bad roommates through my entire life.
I don't know why, what's wrong with all these roommates.
And so we get to that point, like you.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Say that I'm now leading the biggest organization that I've
ever been a part of.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, and it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
But I'm the boss, so I'm not allowed to have
a problem. I'm not allowed to be the one that's uncomfortable.
But that's where it's really great to have someone who
come alongside you and say, Okay, here's where this goes.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I've been down this road before, and as you and
I were talking before we got on. I've made all
these mistakes.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's so valuable to have a support group
around you. And I know that a lot of people,
well at least locally here where I'm at there, So
there's lots of leadership cohorts and things like that I
think are important. But I early on I joined one
of these, and I really struggled because all of these
people had more traditional businesses, not an agency business, not
(08:15):
a service based business, and there is just a different
pay and attitude and mentality that you take towards this work,
and especially because you add on like it's a service
based business. So yeah, I could talk to somebody who
runs a plumbing company, right, but it's not as creative
(08:35):
as what I'm dealing with, a nebulous right where you've
got dozens of revisions to copy and things and setting
expectations around those things both internally and externally. Whereas there
this is how you put a sync together. This is
and if you don't put it together like this, you're dumb.
You can't do that in an agency and a creative
and a digital agency. So talk to me, Brad about
(08:58):
what you usually suggest. Maybe they're not quite ready to
join in with the brad. But what are some other
things that you tell people to do as they're exploring
the leadership journey. What's some tips and tricks that you
would suggest.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So one kind of practical thing if you go to
my website and go to Anchor Advisors dot com slash
growth dash phase, and I'm sure it'll put that in
the show notes, there's an assessment there that helps you
to see where you are on the growth journey of
an agency. And oftentimes we're getting advice when we're in
the startup phase or we're in the growth phase that
(09:32):
are really more appropriate for later stages of business, and
so really focusing on where am I right now in
growing my business and what are the few things that
matter in this phase. And so if you take the assessment,
it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Require an email or anything.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It'll give you a map of the next three things
you need to pay attention to. And one of them
that is very common is we have descriptions for everyone
in the company, but we don't have a job description
for the CEO. And knowing what your job is and
figuring out out a way to measure your performance is
(10:11):
super helpful.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, That's an incredibly good idea because I've had that before.
Where as you grow, I had people saying, so, what
do you do here? The old office space thing? Yeah,
it was a new year, and I was like, oh
my god, I couldn't list it out. But then I did.
I was like, all right, I'm gonna list it all out.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And then I put together a presentation for the team
and I walked everybody through what is like a week
in Kurt's life that look like. And it wasn't that
impactful for them. I think they were Okay, yeah, you
do stuff. But for me, it was really really helpful.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And the second part that you mentioned there is something
that I do a lot with clients, is Okay, once
I decide what my job is, how do I make
sure I have a time. I usually do two week
blocks in some time. In each two week block that
I'm doing each of those jobs, right, I'm looking at
the finances once every couple of weeks, I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Some business development.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Every week, I'm working with the team and seeing where
the weaknesses and strengths are and where the holes are
in the team. Probably every week or at least every
other week, right, And so there are these roles that
we have to play and unless we have time on
our calendar to do them, it's real easy to fill
the calendar with.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Buyers, I mean calling client stuff like that. Yeah, not
being intentional with your time is a huge part of
it and taking ownership of it. I want to talk
to you about traditional frameworks and things too. As a coach,
I've had some people come in and pitch us in
our agency at the time on different things. Right, and
during my tenure I was at I was helping a
(11:48):
very large agency. We were five hundred some people, and
we were doing all the things we were doing. Strengths Finder,
Myers Briggs disc there's a ton of them into what's
your take on those sorts of approaches when it comes
to leadership development? How the impactful of those things been
in your experience and are there is it a certain
(12:09):
type of person that it works for? Is it all
just voodoo? Tell me what do you think.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Some of those are GOODU I heard someone describe Myers
Brakes as like horoscopes for people with PhDs.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh yeah, ooh, that's a good one. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I do have a personality typing tool that I use
and I start every coaching engagement by looking at that
personality typing tool. And mostly what I'm looking for there
is how do I position this person to play to
their strengths. If you think about the job of a
football coach or a sports coach is to get people
to do into roles where they can be successful. You
(12:48):
as the CEO, want to get your team into roles
where they.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Can be successful.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, Outstanding where people's natural tendencies are can help us
to do that. The other thing is, and this is
going to come a huge shock to you, not everyone
sees the world the same way that you do.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Well, well, okay, wait a second, now'll communicate differently from you.
That's insane. It is insane.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And so when we can see what other people's personalities
are every time I do this.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I'm doing this right now with.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
A team of fifteen people, where we're putting everybody's personalities
up and talking about and I know when we do that,
there's gonna be some that people are like, oh, yeah,
I knew about that about this person, and there are
gonna be others a bit oh I did not know
that about that person. But that explains a lot, right,
exactly right. This is why we keep having this fight
over over.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
And so well, it's like the love languages kind of thing,
and how powerful that was back when it first came out,
because that's something that I spent time with my partners
really trying to understand, because I had one partner that
was very high energy, high anxiety and the other was
ere just just disrolled with whatever and was like, oh, yeah,
(13:57):
it's on fire again. It just looks it. Both great individuals.
I learned a lot from working with them, but being
the person in the middle, the kind of mid anxiety
you are that I am worked out great to split
the difference. But that's the thing that I wonder about, Brad. Yeah,
when you're in I'm sure you've worked with partnerships, yes, before,
(14:17):
and those bring a whole new level of challenges compared
to being just top boss. Right, Obviously they there's not
one that's easier than the other. But I do know
a lot of solo people that are like, oh, what
I need is to get a partner, And I'm like,
do you because does that fix the things? Really? I don't.
I want somebody to share the responsibility with And I'm like, again,
(14:40):
do you richly want somebody to share the responses. Think
about this, think about what it's like five years from now,
not next week, because you don't want to do all
these meetings by yourself. That's right. Talk to me about
the differences in the dynamics with how the leaders are
when you're working with them in a partnership, and what
are the things that you coach those people theal on
(15:01):
what to be aware of.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
If I'm going to say good things about partnerships, there
are definitely times where partners have different strengths and different
skills one hundred percent yes, and divide and conquer the work.
And I will say that partnerships early on tend to
grow a little bit faster because you have more of
those diverse skills, and so getting a business off the
(15:24):
ground is often easier with partners as you were saying,
As the business grows, you can hire a lot of
those diverse skills, right, And so the roles for those
two partners start to get really ambiguous. And so one
of the things that I'm doing a lot when I'm
working with partners is establishing clear roles for each of
(15:45):
the partners with measurements, so that one of the most
toxic conversations for partners is I'm doing more than she's doing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, because of that, Because I mean it happens in
any work environment, and the work ethic people have is different,
and it's some are different in good ways and some
are different in negative ways. And when it's a partnership,
it really pronounced versus. This is just your partner on
(16:17):
this project, because this project can to end at some
point and you'll probably move on to a different thing
with somebody else or whatever. So you just put up
with it. You knew that Steve acts this way, and
you can just get around it. Right. But when a partnership,
you are married. Yeah, and that's it, like you can't escape.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
And the thing that is interesting, because I've been doing
this for a while, is that if you see partners
and at the very beginning, they're like ninety eight percent aligne,
but they're two percent is not aligned. Ten years later,
that two percent is now a big mis alignment.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah. And they don't plan for that to happen either, right,
They don't see that it's all flowers and daisies in
the beginning, right, And because you're grinding to it's the
same goals. But people change and people grow and that's
the bottom mind. So to your point, that's one of
the first things that I usually talk to people about
(17:10):
when they asked me about the about partnerships or these things,
is that you just got to realize that you're not
going to be the same person five years from now
that you are now. You're just not going to be
And even though you might argue and say I am
the same person I was five years this business is
going to change you. It just is. And it's not
a job. It's a new lifestyle for us, right, And
(17:32):
that changes people.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And even if it's just life circumstances, like I worked
with one pair of partners where they were roughly the
same age, but one of them married young and the
other one married late. And so the one that Barry
had kids young and by the time fifteen years went by,
partner won his partner, his kids were graduating. He's thinking
about riding off into the sunset. Sure, kids are young,
(17:56):
he still needs to send them to college, right, And
so even if professionally they're super aligned, personally their needs
are really different.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah. Yeah, And it's something to really discuss and be
intentional about. And that's why I think having an outside
third party, like someone like yourself coming in to coach
in these areas is so powerful and so important. And
early on in my career like I was like, ah,
I don't nobody understands me and what I'm dealing with,
and uh, the only person who can fix my problems
(18:27):
is this guy, right he or me? And that just
as I got older and more mature and saw other
people having success with outside people, then I was like,
oh crap, like I missed the boat there and I
need to bring in those people. I was also lucky
because I didn't have a scarcity mindset. I had an
abundant mindsets. I was able to connect and reach and
(18:49):
talk to other agency founders and owners and have coffee
with them once in a while, and if lack of anything,
I got a chance to vent to somebody who understood
what was happening. And that was really powerful for me
because I was reading all the books, right, I was
reading all the leadership books. And if you go to
the Amazon, I think it's what is it, five hundred
(19:10):
and fifty thousand titles with just the word leadership. Yes,
there's like over a half a million books in Amazon
with just the title leadership in somewhere in the title,
and I read tons of and I would have people
recommend books and I'd read them, and then it still
just didn't have the same impact as working with someone
m HM to get me to that next level, having
(19:34):
that coach to get me to the level that I
really wanted to be, or realize that maybe my job
was just to start things but not to run. You
ever run into that, Yes, I.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Think that for many people who tell me that my
job is to start things and not to run things. Yeah,
the identity shift of going from the craftsman to the
leader is just something that they're not.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Willing to make, which is fine. I like that you
put it. They're not It's not that they're unable to make.
That's right, they're not willing to make. That's a big difference,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, Because I have seen people that say that to me,
and if we sit down and talk about what it
really means. One of the ways that I talk to
them about it is, remember, when you've got so much
joy from creating the thing, the piece of software, the design,
whatever it is, what if you could get that.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Same joy from creating the system.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
The people aspect of the business like putting the people
in place and making if that is your creative act,
and start to see it that way, that's a big
unlock for people. Now, there are some people that just
don't care about people. They care about things, and they
should go and work with the things.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
But the challenge to and this is my own personal bias,
I'm going to put that out there. I think the
challenge of creating the solving the people problems is so
much more interesting than solving the thing problems.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I would one hundred percent agree, And I didn't think
that early on in my career either. I fought against
it too, But as I saw the impact that my
leadership had on other people, it was so much more
satisfying than any artifact I could ever ever make, And
it was so much more validating to all the crap
(21:26):
that I had been through my career and everything. It
just it was hugely impactful for me. So I could
totally see the people that embrace it really can be
life changing for them, Because I say it all the time.
People forget projects, people forget jobs, but they never forget
their bosses, or their managers or or the co whoever.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yeah, I agree one hundred percent. When we get to
that point in life that we start thinking about legacy
and what we want to be remembered for, it's definitely
our impact on the people on our team. That's the
thing that are going to remember. And so getting good
at making a positive impact there is really impacting your legacy.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
And if you've got the point where you're at in life,
legacy is behind you, but reputation is ahead of you,
and they both write are really important to take care of.
Right So if you're not necessary, maybe your legacy meter
is much shorter, but your reputation bar is really high
because you're maybe in your thirties. If you're not taking
(22:27):
care of these people that are working with these people,
they're going to go and get jobs other places, and
they are going to carry whatever baggage you handed them
at the door with them and they will share that
baggage with everybody and anybody for the next.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Pack war years. And you just unlocked something for me
that I never really thought about before, is that investing
in your leadership actually makes you the rest of your
life so much easier because if you have that reputation
of being a great leader and making a plosive impact
on the.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
People around you. You're gonna attract better talilent. When you
attract better talent, it's so much easier to run your business,
make some more money. Like it's like having a tailwind, right,
It's yeah, and better siculative because better talent will attract
better clients or retain clients longer, and then it just
(23:21):
all works together. So if to your point, if you're
not focused on the leadership side of things, you're dismantling
a key link in the chain of making your business successful.
And if you're not interested in making your business successful,
then I suggest go get a job like you're gonna
(23:43):
be much happier. Don't do this or better.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So you're like, you can have a solo good, that's fine,
there's nothing wrong with that. I haven't a centially a
solo gig. You have a centuay a solo game. There's
nothing road with.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
That than wrong with that. And but again, don't fool people,
because if you already worked and built this age and
see and I know people who really essentially just want
lifestyle agencies and that's okay, but those have the same
challenges that you would if you were in a growth mode.
(24:15):
They just are they're just peanut buttered out more. It's
just over time.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
One of the conversations that I have with clients, that's Brad,
I love this business of this size. I just want
to keep this size.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Well, that's great, certainly you want that? Does your team
want that? Do they want more opportunities? Are they expecting
to get raises? Gain me a responsibility? Because if so,
and you don't want to grow the business, they're going
somewhace else.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, you got to plan for turnover, right, Yeah, I
mean that's just now what's coming with that choice? Right?
And usually what people are like, yeah, that's not so good.
I'm like, okay, yeah. I remember with this agency I
was at. We were fast growing. We were adding one
hundred people a year, and I remember and all staff. One
employee got up and I think we were like two
(25:03):
hundred people on our way to five hundred very quickly,
and they said why do we keep why do we
keep growing? And I remember the CFO just was like,
or know. The employee said, why don't we stop growing?
When don't we just stopped? And the CFO just looked
back at him. He was up in front with all
the other executives doing a Q and A, and he's
why don't you stop growing? He's if you stop growing,
(25:25):
we can stop growing. That's right. The problem is that
you're not going to stop growing, right, and so the
business has to grow in order to keep you here
and employed and doing the work and providing you the
opportunities you're looking for. And I remember that person just
being floored. Oh okay, I get it, Like they just
(25:45):
they had just unlocked why businesses grow in the first
It wasn't just because of because you watch the news
and you're like stocks and stockholders and shareholder value all
this stuff. But when you're in a small to medium
sized business, people don't have that mentality of growth equals opportunity.
For me. That's for Tesla's in the Navidias of the world,
to not our little agency here in Oklahoma or something.
(26:09):
And that's it's.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Growth is a beautiful thing, like human our desire for
growth and our desire to learn more and have more opportunity.
That has created almost all the good things that we
have in the world. And to try to stifle that
is you're working against nature. That's not how the world works.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, we don't want to work against nature. We see
what happens in that. Holy dude, you think you got
a better idea? Guess what? Guess what Nature's got better ideas.
It's definitely a force that I don't want to fight against. No,
all right, speaking of forces I don't want to fight against.
I gotta we gotta cut it short here, But I Brad,
I'd love on the show. Thank you so much for
joining me. We got to have you back on. If
(26:50):
I want to get in touch with you, if I
want to learn about your services, if I want to
take that survey that you mentioned, and I want to
learn more, where do I go? How do I find
out more?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Advisors dot com A n C H O R A
d V I O R. Yes, dot com is my website.
That's the easiest place to find me. I'm also on
LinkedIn if you search Brad Ferris. Aren't very many of
us Ferris with an A. But yeah, come on to
anchored visors dot com. The assessment, like I said, is
anchor advisors dot com slash growth dash phase ten questions,
(27:24):
takes you five minutes. It's going to really give you
some help about what to focus on next.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's great. I love those I love those surveys. They
give you some really great instant feedback, especially when they're
put together by such a smart and talented person like
Brad here. I highly recommend people go and check it out. Brad,
thank you so much for taking the time out of
your busy day to join me. I appreciate it. It was
super fun. It's always interesting to talk with you. We
appreciate you taking the time to listen to this episode
(27:50):
of schmidt List.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The stories shared by our guests are genuinely inspiring and
offer insightful knowledge.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
It's important to remember that success doesn't happen overnight and
requires collaboration, learning, and perseverance.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
If you want to broaden your professional connections, check out
Kurt's book The Little Book of Networking, How to Build
your Career one Conversation at a Time on Amazon. Please
stay connected with all things schmidt List on social media,
leave a review for the podcast and join our community
of like minded entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Thank you for being part of Schmidtlist.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Keep innovating, collaborating, and chasing your entrepreneurial dreams.
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