Leadership in Action

Joining us this week on Leadership In Action is a marketing maven with over 20 years of strategy experience. She has been an EO member for 10 years, and is the outgoing president of EO Boston. Welcome to the show, President of SimplyDirect, Lisa Vitale! Lisa sits down with host Mark Stiles to share her experiences as chapter president and the ways EO has helped her. Lisa dives into the importance of setting business boundaries, the nuances of running a business with your spouse, and the misconceptions of business ownership. 

Takeaways:

• As an entrepreneur, it’s important to talk to others about the problems you are facing. However, if you’re only talking to your spouse, it can become very insular. Groups like EO provide entrepreneurs with a chance to learn from the experience of others. 
• When your spouse is also a business partner, it’s crucial to establish business boundaries. You need to allow creativity and collaboration while at the same time preventing yourselves from stepping on each other's toes. 
• As the president of EO, you gain some additional experiences and skills. For Lisa, it meant growing as a leader, learning how to run a non profit organization, and discovering how to coach other presidents and leaders. 
• EO provides a network of information, and creates a space where it is ok to ask tough questions. Forums, meetings, and presentations offer excellent opportunities to talk about the concerns you are facing in your business. 
• From the outside, running a business looks easy, as if all the pieces will automatically fall into place. In reality, as a business owner, you are responsible for figuring out all of the operations aspects of the business. 
• Networks like EO offer a valuable resource for referrals. If for example you need accounting services, you can ask for referrals from other EO members in your industry. This provides you with quality help that understands the nuances of your industry.

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimplyDIRECT_Co 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-vitale-a820b53/ 
• Website: https://simplydirect.com/ 
• Email: [email protected]

Quote of the Show

• “I needed to talk to other entrepreneurs because being an entrepreneur can be pretty lonely.” - Lisa Vitale

Shout Outs:

• Jeff Plakans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffplakans/ 

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action

Sharing his journey on this week’s episode of Leadership In Action is a local entrepreneur who takes pride in a job well done. With a knack for entrepreneurship, he started his first landscaping company in his early teens. Welcome to the show, Chief Executive Officer at The Difference Landscapes, Greg Cuoco! Host Mark Stiles interviews Greg to learn about how he got started as an entrepreneur, the importance of transparency with employees, and what the future of the landscaping industry holds. 

Takeaways:

• For Greg, starting a business meant the freedom to control the direction and growth in a way that he wanted to. When Greg was looking to make a switch, his background in landscaping made owning a landscaping company a promising venture. 
• Buying a company has advantages, but finding the right company is a full time job. To successfully find one to buy, you need to build strong relationships with business owners, so when it comes time to sell, you’re the first person on their mind. 
• Landscaping offers many benefits for potential business owners. With a contract based clientele, you build up a steady stream of recurring revenue. Landscaping is also recession resistant, as most residential clients will continue paying for services. 
• When starting or buying a business, it’s important to play to your strengths. If you’re great at sales, you want a team that can excel operationally. Establish a role that lets you utilize your skills, and enable your team to fill in your weak areas. 
• To build a strong roster of employees, you need to focus on building relationships and being transparent. Don’t sell dreams. It won’t take an employee long to realize it was a false bill of goods, and to start looking elsewhere for employment. 
• When looking for an industry to purchase a business in, trades based industries are rife with opportunities. There are many owners who are looking to retire, but few of their kids want to take over. Because of this dynamic, there are many trades businesses available. 
• AI is revolutionizing businesses, and landscaping is no exception. For landscaping, AI could calculate a quote, and send a potential customer a personalized outreach at the click of a button. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorycuoco/ 
• Website: https://thedifferencelandscapes.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “Ultimately what it comes down to is relationships.” - Greg Cuoco

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/MK-sbxwxlX8

Transcript:

Mark: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization local podcast. I am really excited today to talk about some forward thinking trades, especially the landscaping trade and where that is going in the future. Today's guest is a local entrepreneur. Who takes pride in a job well done.

He started his first landscaping company in his early teens. He's a leadership legend who knows how to motivate teams and drive effective results. He's the Chief Executive Officer at The Difference Landscapes. Please welcome Greg Cuoco. Welcome to the show. Greg.

Greg: Thank you. Appreciate the introduction.

Mark: Let's go right into it. Why did you start your business?

Greg: Yeah, so I've always had the, uh, entrepreneurial bl bug in me ever since I was a kid. Um, always looking for ways to, um, make money. Um, I started my first landscaping company just in my neighborhood. One of my, um, neighbors actually approached me. Uh, they needed some landscaping, uh, and some snow shoveling done.

So, uh, it just started from there. I did a great job. Word of mouth, got out, ended up doing my whole neighborhood. Uh, then I went to college and, you know, was on the track to go, you know, corporate. I was in corporate for a while, but, I was never a yes man. Um, I never kind of just went with the flow. I've, I've always wanted to have more.

Um, and I always was trying to, uh, strive for the best and make everything, um, The best it possibly could, and definitely ruffled some feathers with some of my input, uh, at some of those, uh, meetings that, that, that were done. And, you know, I just wasn't succeeding in the corporate life and I was, I was always kinda knocking my head against the wall of why it wasn't working out.

Um, and I actually got fired from every single job that I've had, uh, in corporate. And I kinda went back to the drawing board and figured out, you know, I don't think this is right for me. Um, and I didn't want to have, uh, something else in control of my destiny and my growth. And so I ended up looking for, um, a business to start and I said, Hey, you know what worked for the past of me?

And it was, it was landscaping. And so I was, you know, going around. I just, I would just talk to entrepreneurs and. Basically asked him what was the best way to go about this. And I ended up running into a family friend. He owns several bars in Boston. Um, and cuz that was another thing I wanted to do too, is potentially to open up a, a, a bar as well.

So like, talking to him and he was telling me, Hey, why, why would you wanna start something? Why don't you buy something? And a light bulb really went off in my head, you know, because the. Hardest thing is, is the time it takes to build something up. And a lot of people, they're, you know, a 10 night, a 10 year overnight success.

Uh, and, and it takes a lot of time to build that. And so that's the one thing, you know, we all have, is a limited amount of time. So I actually end up looking at buying a company. And so I just networked like crazy cuz a lot of these businesses aren't advertised for sale because they're scared they're gonna lose their customers, they're gonna lose their employees.

So it's all, you know, hard knock, knocking on doors. Um, cold calling, networking, uh, old fashioned grip, um, because they're not, a lot of these companies aren't advertised. So I went down that route, uh, ended up finding, um, uh, someone who's looking to get out of the business. Ended up talking to him and, you know, we had a, a connection, um, for, you know, our, our drive and determination and I ended up buying it from him.

And that's, that's been, uh, the story since.

Mark: So there's, there's your, there's your, um, buy process, overnight success. Tell us about the journey there. How many different. Companies that you talked to, how did you approach them and how did you find your way to this person willing to sell?

Greg: Yeah, it took me probably about two years to find, find the right company. Uh, I mean, I, buying a company is a full-time job in itself. You really gotta get upriver. There are sites such as bis, buy, sell, that you can go on. Uh, a lot of those deals have already been shopped around before and it's kind of the leftovers that are there.

Um, but what I did is I actually would cold call business brokers. Um, I would call, um, investment bankers and just I had my pitch of, Hey, you know, my name is Greg. Um, you know, I'm an entrepreneur. I've started other, uh, various businesses before. I had a, a background in software sales. Um, so I just would hit the phones.

I would go to networking events. I would go to business broker events and just try to establish myself and create those, um, relationships. Cause ultimately what it comes down to is relationships. Getting to know people so that when an opportunity comes across their desks, that you're the first one in mind when something comes across their desk.

So, um, that's what I did as I just reached out. I called everyone that I could. And then eventually, you know, I got approached with, Hey, I think I have the perfect, perfect deal for you. You should really check this out and look into it. And that's when I, um, ended up, you know, driving up to, uh, Portsmouth in the Portsmouth area.

Um, ended up meeting with, uh, the seller and it took about. Probably six to eight months to actually close a deal. Um, and it was, uh, uh, intense negotiations back and forth, but uh, we actually ended up, we ended up closing it and

Sharing his journey on this week’s episode of Leadership In Action is a local entrepreneur who takes pride in a job well done. With a knack for entrepreneurship, he started his first landscaping company in his early teens. Welcome to the show, Chief Executive Officer at The Difference Landscapes, Greg Cuoco! Host Mark Stiles interviews Greg to learn about how he got started as an entrepreneur, the importance of transparency with employees, and what the future of the landscaping industry holds. 

Takeaways:

• For Greg, starting a business meant the freedom to control the direction and growth in a way that he wanted to. When Greg was looking to make a switch, his background in landscaping made owning a landscaping company a promising venture. 
• Buying a company has advantages, but finding the right company is a full time job. To successfully find one to buy, you need to build strong relationships with business owners, so when it comes time to sell, you’re the first person on their mind. 
• Landscaping offers many benefits for potential business owners. With a contract based clientele, you build up a steady stream of recurring revenue. Landscaping is also recession resistant, as most residential clients will continue paying for services. 
• When starting or buying a business, it’s important to play to your strengths. If you’re great at sales, you want a team that can excel operationally. Establish a role that lets you utilize your skills, and enable your team to fill in your weak areas. 
• To build a strong roster of employees, you need to focus on building relationships and being transparent. Don’t sell dreams. It won’t take an employee long to realize it was a false bill of goods, and to start looking elsewhere for employment. 
• When looking for an industry to purchase a business in, trades based industries are rife with opportunities. There are many owners who are looking to retire, but few of their kids want to take over. Because of this dynamic, there are many trades businesses available. 
• AI is revolutionizing businesses, and landscaping is no exception. For landscaping, AI could calculate a quote, and send a potential customer a personalized outreach at the click of a button. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorycuoco/ 
• Website: https://thedifferencelandscapes.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “Ultimately what it comes down to is relationships.” - Greg Cuoco

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/MK-sbxwxlX8

Transcript:

Mark: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization local podcast. I am really excited today to talk about some forward thinking trades, especially the landscaping trade and where that is going in the future. Today's guest is a local entrepreneur. Who takes pride in a job well done.

He started his first landscaping company in his early teens. He's a leadership legend who knows how to motivate teams and drive effective results. He's the Chief Executive Officer at The Difference Landscapes. Please welcome Greg Cuoco. Welcome to the show. Greg.

Greg: Thank you. Appreciate the introduction.

Mark: Let's go right into it. Why did you start your business?

Greg: Yeah, so I've always had the, uh, entrepreneurial bl bug in me ever since I was a kid. Um, always looking for ways to, um, make money. Um, I started my first landscaping company just in my neighborhood. One of my, um, neighbors actually approached me. Uh, they needed some landscaping, uh, and some snow shoveling done.

So, uh, it just started from there. I did a great job. Word of mouth, got out, ended up doing my whole neighborhood. Uh, then I went to college and, you know, was on the track to go, you know, corporate. I was in corporate for a while, but, I was never a yes man. Um, I never kind of just went with the flow. I've, I've always wanted to have more.

Um, and I always was trying to, uh, strive for the best and make everything, um, The best it possibly could, and definitely ruffled some feathers with some of my input, uh, at some of those, uh, meetings that, that, that were done. And, you know, I just wasn't succeeding in the corporate life and I was, I was always kinda knocking my head against the wall of why it wasn't working out.

Um, and I actually got fired from every single job that I've had, uh, in corporate. And I kinda went back to the drawing board and figured out, you know, I don't think this is right for me. Um, and I didn't want to have, uh, something else in control of my destiny and my growth. And so I ended up looking for, um, a business to start and I said, Hey, you know what worked for the past of me?

And it was, it was landscaping. And so I was, you know, going around. I just, I would just talk to entrepreneurs and. Basically asked him what was the best way to go about this. And I ended up running into a family friend. He owns several bars in Boston. Um, and cuz that was another thing I wanted to do too, is potentially to open up a, a, a bar as well.

So like, talking to him and he was telling me, Hey, why, why would you wanna start something? Why don't you buy something? And a light bulb really went off in my head, you know, because the. Hardest thing is, is the time it takes to build something up. And a lot of people, they're, you know, a 10 night, a 10 year overnight success.

Uh, and, and it takes a lot of time to build that. And so that's the one thing, you know, we all have, is a limited amount of time. So I actually end up looking at buying a company. And so I just networked like crazy cuz a lot of these businesses aren't advertised for sale because they're scared they're gonna lose their customers, they're gonna lose their employees.

So it's all, you know, hard knock, knocking on doors. Um, cold calling, networking, uh, old fashioned grip, um, because they're not, a lot of these companies aren't advertised. So I went down that route, uh, ended up finding, um, uh, someone who's looking to get out of the business. Ended up talking to him and, you know, we had a, a connection, um, for, you know, our, our drive and determination and I ended up buying it from him.

And that's, that's been, uh, the story since.

Mark: So there's, there's your, there's your, um, buy process, overnight success. Tell us about the journey there. How many different. Companies that you talked to, how did you approach them and how did you find your way to this person willing to sell?

Greg: Yeah, it took me probably about two years to find, find the right company. Uh, I mean, I, buying a company is a full-time job in itself. You really gotta get upriver. There are sites such as bis, buy, sell, that you can go on. Uh, a lot of those deals have already been shopped around before and it's kind of the leftovers that are there.

Um, but what I did is I actually would cold call business brokers. Um, I would call, um, investment bankers and just I had my pitch of, Hey, you know, my name is Greg. Um, you know, I'm an entrepreneur. I've started other, uh, various businesses before. I had a, a background in software sales. Um, so I just would hit the phones.

I would go to networking events. I would go to business broker events and just try to establish myself and create those, um, relationships. Cause ultimately what it comes down to is relationships. Getting to know people so that when an opportunity comes across their desks, that you're the first one in mind when something comes across their desk.

So, um, that's what I did as I just reached out. I called everyone that I could. And then eventually, you know, I got approached with, Hey, I think I have the perfect, perfect deal for you. You should really check this out and lo

Today’s guest on Leadership In Action is an experienced founder with a demonstrated history of working in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. She’s been on Shark Tank, was recently recognized as a Entreprenista 100 award winner, and had her business listed on the INC 5000 list for 2022. Joining us today is CEO and Founder of Tiny Tags, Melissa Clayton! Host Mark Stiles sits down with Melissa to dive deep into the background of who she is, and what motivated her to start Tiny Tags. In this episode we’ll cover why you don’t need to work 100 hours a week, the importance of being vulnerable, and what it takes to get on Shark Tank.

Takeaways:

• To be an entrepreneur, you do not need to work 100 hours a week. While starting a business is hard work, it is important to make sure you are not overworking, and that you still have time for friends, family, and hobbies. 
• Tiny Tags was founded to provide mothers with personalized jewelry. Their lineup features pieces with your children's names, birthdate, and birth time on them. These allow you to keep the things that matter most to you close. 
• If you want to connect with your customers, you need to be vulnerable, regardless of your business. For a brand like Tiny Tags whose business is celebrating motherhood, an inauthentic approach would turn customers away. 
• While Melissa grew up in an entrepreneurial household, her main driver for Tiny Tags were the connections she made with other moms. 
• As an entrepreneur, it’s ok to be protective of your brand. While outside influences or potential investors may want you to pivot or expand services, it’s ok to stay true to where your business currently lies. 
• While keeping prices low to appeal to customers may be your initial strategy, you need to be conscious of the business’ needs as well. Your product may be incredibly affordable, but without enough profit to cover costs, you won't have a successful business.  
• When running a business, you need to factor in how certain business decisions will affect your time. While growing to the next level means more business and better profits, it also means more work and less time at home. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-clayton-817b568/ 
• Website: https://tinytags.com/ 
• Website: https://www.thematte.com/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinytags/ 
• Email: [email protected] 

Quote of the Show

• “I'm not trying to be authentic. I'm just being me.” - Melissa 

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/WdodKPcCSeA

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization podcast today's. We are very excited to have with us. She is an entrepreneur, inventor, and leader in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. She comes from an accounting background.

She's included on a list of Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies this year. That's nationwide folks. She was a semi-finalist in the ERs and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. She is the founder of the, Matt has a patent and because of that was featured on NBC's Today Show and wait for it. Shark Tank in April of 2020.

She's the founder and c e o of Tiny Tags. You've probably heard of it. Meryl Streep wears it. Please welcome Melissa Clayton. Welcome to the show, Melissa. 

Melissa Clayton: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here. 

Mark Stiles: You ready to get right into it? Let's do it. All right. Like every episode, we start with the same question. What is a common misconception about leadership and or being an entrepreneur?

Melissa 

Melissa Clayton: for me, my experience is that the misconception is that you have to work a hundred hours a week being an entrepreneur. And I think for leadership that you can't be vulnerable. I think that has changed a lot. When I think of my days in corporate America, there was definitely like a wall between leadership, it felt, and the team, and I feel like that is no longer the case.

And that's definitely more my. 

style 

Mark Stiles: So on the Instagram where the in influencers are grind, grind, grind, you gotta work a hundred hours a week. You gotta go, go, go. That's not necessarily true all the time. 

Melissa Clayton: For me, and I think that speaks a lot to my value system. I think if you were to do a deep dive into my childhood and my father being an entrepreneur and working insane amount of hours, and I knew that was not the journey that I wanted.

So for me, and like everything, there's a give and take and there's a trade off. And for me that was, I wasn't gonna work a hundred hours of work, work a hundred hours a week because my value, I think, My time is more precious to me than anything else. 

Mark Stiles: I love that. I love that. Tell me, tell me more about vulnerability.

I'm very curious, your thoughts on vulnerability. 

Melissa Clayton: I think, you know, I've heard it's called the New Superpower. Umm a big fan of Brene Brown and. For me being vulnerable, you know, and it's also speaks to the business that I am in. Our whole entire business of Tiny Tags is centered around celebrating children.

Uh, every woman's unique journey of motherhood. And if you are not vulnerable there, you're just not gonna connect with your audience. And so much for tiny tags for me. And I think what has led to our. is my own personal journey. Very much what Tiny Tags is is a lot of my own personal story. And I think what me sharing that has allowed me to connect with our community and they're, you know, the word authentic is thrown around so much.

Um, and I'm authentic without trying to be, I'm not trying to be authentic. I'm just being me. And I think that's, Yeah. So I think that has, um, allowed me to connect with our audience and our community on a much deeper level. 

Mark Stiles: I love it. I'm not trying to be authentic. I am authentic. I'm being authentic. By being authentic.

I'm just being me, . I love it. I love it because it's, it's what people connect with. Tell us about Tiny Tags, because I'm not truly familiar with the concept and the mission and values and all of. 

Melissa Clayton: Sure. I'll give you the quick version cuz I've been around for a while. Um, as, as you said, I used to be a cpa. I was, um, I loved business.

I love accounting. I did not like crunching numbers all day. And I never thought I'd be a stay at-home mom. Never thought I'd quit my job. I grew up with my father. It was like, you don't depend on anyone, you take care of yourself. Um, and then I had our fir first son and I decided to quit my. and kind of always never being someone that sits still.

I wanted, I had my son and I really just was like this new mom beaming with pride and joy and wanting something to celebrate him and let everyone know that I was this new mom. So I had seen some moms wearing necklaces with their kids' names on it, and I was like, I can make those. So this is over 16 years ago.

Um, Google was not what it was, and I basically came up with this. I found a handset, started making them my own, and very organically for like five years I was ma I started making jewelry and there's a backstory I'll tell you later, but, um, so I started doing that. Then we were living on the west coast at the time, we moved back east.

Um, and lucky for me, Rhode Island and um, Southern Massachusetts has huge history of jewelry making and we started to outsource all our jewelry manufacturing and around probably seven years ago, after a series of listening to different books and what have you, and reading different books, really decided to focus on just.

So tiny tags we make now, um, absolutely gorgeous, fine, personalized jewelry just for moms, really focusing on moms wearing their kids' names. We can do back en raving with their birthdays, their birth times, um, and really talking about the gift of a child, um, you kno

Today’s guest on Leadership In Action is an experienced founder with a demonstrated history of working in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. She’s been on Shark Tank, was recently recognized as a Entreprenista 100 award winner, and had her business listed on the INC 5000 list for 2022. Joining us today is CEO and Founder of Tiny Tags, Melissa Clayton! Host Mark Stiles sits down with Melissa to dive deep into the background of who she is, and what motivated her to start Tiny Tags. In this episode we’ll cover why you don’t need to work 100 hours a week, the importance of being vulnerable, and what it takes to get on Shark Tank.

Takeaways:

• To be an entrepreneur, you do not need to work 100 hours a week. While starting a business is hard work, it is important to make sure you are not overworking, and that you still have time for friends, family, and hobbies. 
• Tiny Tags was founded to provide mothers with personalized jewelry. Their lineup features pieces with your children's names, birthdate, and birth time on them. These allow you to keep the things that matter most to you close. 
• If you want to connect with your customers, you need to be vulnerable, regardless of your business. For a brand like Tiny Tags whose business is celebrating motherhood, an inauthentic approach would turn customers away. 
• While Melissa grew up in an entrepreneurial household, her main driver for Tiny Tags were the connections she made with other moms. 
• As an entrepreneur, it’s ok to be protective of your brand. While outside influences or potential investors may want you to pivot or expand services, it’s ok to stay true to where your business currently lies. 
• While keeping prices low to appeal to customers may be your initial strategy, you need to be conscious of the business’ needs as well. Your product may be incredibly affordable, but without enough profit to cover costs, you won't have a successful business.  
• When running a business, you need to factor in how certain business decisions will affect your time. While growing to the next level means more business and better profits, it also means more work and less time at home. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-clayton-817b568/ 
• Website: https://tinytags.com/ 
• Website: https://www.thematte.com/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinytags/ 
• Email: [email protected] 

Quote of the Show

• “I'm not trying to be authentic. I'm just being me.” - Melissa 

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/WdodKPcCSeA

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization podcast today's. We are very excited to have with us. She is an entrepreneur, inventor, and leader in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. She comes from an accounting background.

She's included on a list of Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies this year. That's nationwide folks. She was a semi-finalist in the ERs and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. She is the founder of the, Matt has a patent and because of that was featured on NBC's Today Show and wait for it. Shark Tank in April of 2020.

She's the founder and c e o of Tiny Tags. You've probably heard of it. Meryl Streep wears it. Please welcome Melissa Clayton. Welcome to the show, Melissa. 

Melissa Clayton: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here. 

Mark Stiles: You ready to get right into it? Let's do it. All right. Like every episode, we start with the same question. What is a common misconception about leadership and or being an entrepreneur?

Melissa 

Melissa Clayton: for me, my experience is that the misconception is that you have to work a hundred hours a week being an entrepreneur. And I think for leadership that you can't be vulnerable. I think that has changed a lot. When I think of my days in corporate America, there was definitely like a wall between leadership, it felt, and the team, and I feel like that is no longer the case.

And that's definitely more my. 

style 

Mark Stiles: So on the Instagram where the in influencers are grind, grind, grind, you gotta work a hundred hours a week. You gotta go, go, go. That's not necessarily true all the time. 

Melissa Clayton: For me, and I think that speaks a lot to my value system. I think if you were to do a deep dive into my childhood and my father being an entrepreneur and working insane amount of hours, and I knew that was not the journey that I wanted.

So for me, and like everything, there's a give and take and there's a trade off. And for me that was, I wasn't gonna work a hundred hours of work, work a hundred hours a week because my value, I think, My time is more precious to me than anything else. 

Mark Stiles: I love that. I love that. Tell me, tell me more about vulnerability.

I'm very curious, your thoughts on vulnerability. 

Melissa Clayton: I think, you know, I've heard it's called the New Superpower. Umm a big fan of Brene Brown and. For me being vulnerable, you know, and it's also speaks to the business that I am in. Our whole entire business of Tiny Tags is centered around celebrating children.

Uh, every woman's unique journey of motherhood. And if you are not vulnerable there, you're just not gonna connect with your audience. And so much for tiny tags for me. And I think what has led to our. is my own personal journey. Very much what Tiny Tags is is a lot of my own personal story. And I think what me sharing that has allowed me to connect with our community and they're, you know, the word authentic is thrown around so much.

Um, and I'm authentic without trying to be, I'm not trying to be authentic. I'm just being me. And I think that's, Yeah. So I think that has, um, allowed me to connect with our audience and our community on a much deeper level. 

Mark Stiles: I love it. I'm not trying to be authentic. I am authentic. I'm being authentic. By being authentic.

I'm just being me, . I love it. I love it because it's, it's what people connect with. Tell us about Tiny Tags, because I'm not truly familiar with the concept and the mission and values and all of. 

Melissa Clayton: Sure. I'll give you the quick version cuz I've been around for a while. Um, as, as you said, I used to be a cpa. I was, um, I loved business.

I love accounting. I did not like crunching numbers all day. And I never thought I'd be a stay at-home mom. Never thought I'd quit my job. I grew up with my father. It was like, you don't depend on anyone, you take care of yourself. Um, and then I had our fir first son and I decided to quit my. and kind of always never being someone that sits still.

I wanted, I had my son and I really just was like this new mom beaming with pride and joy and wanting something to celebrate him and let everyone know that I was this new mom. So I had seen some moms wearing necklaces with their kids' names on it, and I was like, I can make those. So this is over 16 years ago.

Um, Google was not what it was, and I basically came up with this. I found a handset, started making them my own, and very organically for like five years I was ma I started making jewelry and there's a backstory I'll tell you later, but, um, so I started doing that. Then we were living on the west coast at the time, we moved back east.

Um, and lucky for me, Rhode Island and um, Southern Massachusetts has huge history of jewelry making and we started to outsource all our jewelry manufacturing and around probably seven years

Today's guest on Leadership In Action is an entrepreneur, innovator, and leader in his industry who fights for the game makers of the world. As a game developer, he created one of the first commercial Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Joining the show today is an EO Boston member of 5 years, CEO of Beamable, Jon Radoff. Jon joins host Mark Stiles to talk about what it takes to get a business started, the value of customer feedback, and what visiting Everest base camp is like.

Takeaways:

• You don’t need to be special to be an entrepreneur. All you need is an idea and the drive to take it and run with it. 
• It’s ok to pivot. Your original idea doesn’t need to be what your product looks like for the rest of the business. As you meet others, and bring on new perspectives, your idea will evolve and change.
• While those who criticize your new idea may seem demoralizing, their feedback can provide ways to improve. They might point out something technical that hasn’t been solved yet, or tell you about a customer type you weren't aware of.
• Entrepreneurship can be a perseverance game. Sometimes you will need to stick with your idea for a long time before the market is ready for it. While this will slow you down, it doesn’t mean game over. 
• Sometimes the business needs to be built before the idea. If you have grand ideas of how your product will fit into the future, you need to start by selling the thing consumers will buy now. 
• AI tools are something that every entrepreneur should keep an eye out for over the next few years. As new, more powerful tools emerge, they will empower you to try new ideas with lower costs and less risk.
• As AI becomes more prevalent, it will shift the types of skill sets that are needed to be successful. Instead of being a specialist on a given topic or process, establishing a well rounded skill set will line you up for success.

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonradoff/  
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jradoff  
• Company website: https://beamable.com/  
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Radoff  
• Medium: https://jradoff.medium.com/  

Quote of the Show

• “We're all in the business of serving customers.” - Jon Radoff

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/h4OCqARffMQ 

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership and Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization podcast.

Today's guest. Is an entrepreneur or innovator and leader in his industry. He fights for the game makers of the world and is responsible for creating one of the first M O RPGs, massively multiplayer online role playing games is what that stands for. He's been an EO member for five years. He also publishes a blog called Building the Metaverse, c e O of Beam Able.

John Rador. 

Jon Radoff: Welcome to the show. Hey Mark. How are you? Thanks for having me doing 

Mark Stiles: well. Question number one, what is the common misconception about leadership running a business and or being an entrepreneur? 

Jon Radoff: Go. To me, it's the idea that you have to be some kind of special person to be an entrepreneur. Let me zoom back the camera lens though, my purpose in life as far as business is concerned is just multiplying creativity through the world.

That's what I've done through some of the game businesses I've made, through the technology company I have through the website creation tech company that I started years ago. Everything was about just allowing people to be more creative and just get online, make stuff, express themselves, because I think that's just.

such At the core of what it is to be human entrepreneurship is creativity. It's about how to come up with ideas and business models and marketing methods and channels and just put it, together, try things and, make something new, right? Like entrepreneurship is fundamentally to me about like making something new, harnessing business and organizations of people to do that.

So, you know, I was very lucky in. Respect as a kid that I would have all these crazy ideas when I was like a teenager and I'd tell my parents what I want to do. Both my parents always encouraged me. They never said, oh, you can't do that. Like, bad idea. Go, go focus on like your math problem so you can end up, uh, getting into a decent college.

I did get into a decent college, which I've then subsequently dropped out of. But um, they always encouraged me just to, to go run with my ideas. So if you didn't hear that in your life so far, I guess my message to you is, You know, run with the idea. You can do it. Like if you want to try making a business, it doesn't require anything special beyond the idea that you've identified a problem that has to be solved in the world.

And if you can go help people solve that problem. , apply your creativity to it. It, it's a, it's a great life. 

Mark Stiles: You know, so many thoughts are firing through my head right now with what you're saying there. Uh, with respect to, you know, who can be and who thinks they can be. But talking about your parents, I think is such a vital, vital component to it because how many people in that creative stage of their life get muzzled down and they say, no, no, no.

get into a good school, get a good job, get a pension, retire and die . 

Jon Radoff: Wow. This, this talk just took a, a damn path. But, um,

yeah, I, I think everybody needs, uh, set of cheerleaders in your life. Yeah. So for me growing up, it was my parents, um, . I had a circle of friends that were really into what I was doing, so they were too. And then I did stuff that was completely insane. I dropped outta college, I started an online games business.

Like talk about something that, like in the nineties must have sounded like completely absurd idea, but I knew. that there was a group of people who would really be into what I was gonna make and they weren't happy with the kinds of alternatives that they could play, and I knew that I was capable of doing it.

So there was, that said a huge number of things. I didn't know I was 19 when I did this. I didn't know. A lot about the world, about people, about business, but you know, bus business is something where you can learn as you go too, especially when you're an entrepreneur. So I would just say go for it. Like it.

The key thing is knowing what you want to do, knowing that there's some problem that you're gonna go try to solve. That's within the scope of the kinds of problems that you can solve, and then you can build a business around it. But, but 

isn't 

Mark Stiles: it interesting where you saw the problem, like, this was a problem for you, therefore it must be a problem for other people and I'm gonna solve it for everybody.

Jon Radoff: Well, so here's, here's the, even the other story around how this business was created. So I met my future wife in an online game, so Oh, cool. We were playing this game together while I was. Actually the summer before I even went to college, and then I was in college, so I met her. We were playing it together and we came up with a lot of ideas just playing that game.

Having played it together and played with other people, Hey, we could build a better version of the thing that we're playing, and we knew everyone was playing the game. We knew what a better game would look like. So then we had this crazy idea that I'd drop outta college, we'd move in together, we'd start working on this thing, and six months later we had a game.

Then people started playing it. What was the game? It was called Legends of Future Past, and Imagine taking. Like a Renaissance fair and transporting it to a magical planet far away where it's a Renaissance fair because everybody gets to kind of act in, act out a role, and stories are emerging around you and there's always people to participate with.

And we would have live what we call game masters, who would

Today's guest on Leadership In Action is an entrepreneur, innovator, and leader in his industry who fights for the game makers of the world. As a game developer, he created one of the first commercial Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Joining the show today is an EO Boston member of 5 years, CEO of Beamable, Jon Radoff. Jon joins host Mark Stiles to talk about what it takes to get a business started, the value of customer feedback, and what visiting Everest base camp is like.

Takeaways:

• You don’t need to be special to be an entrepreneur. All you need is an idea and the drive to take it and run with it. 
• It’s ok to pivot. Your original idea doesn’t need to be what your product looks like for the rest of the business. As you meet others, and bring on new perspectives, your idea will evolve and change.
• While those who criticize your new idea may seem demoralizing, their feedback can provide ways to improve. They might point out something technical that hasn’t been solved yet, or tell you about a customer type you weren't aware of.
• Entrepreneurship can be a perseverance game. Sometimes you will need to stick with your idea for a long time before the market is ready for it. While this will slow you down, it doesn’t mean game over. 
• Sometimes the business needs to be built before the idea. If you have grand ideas of how your product will fit into the future, you need to start by selling the thing consumers will buy now. 
• AI tools are something that every entrepreneur should keep an eye out for over the next few years. As new, more powerful tools emerge, they will empower you to try new ideas with lower costs and less risk.
• As AI becomes more prevalent, it will shift the types of skill sets that are needed to be successful. Instead of being a specialist on a given topic or process, establishing a well rounded skill set will line you up for success.

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonradoff/  
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jradoff  
• Company website: https://beamable.com/  
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Radoff  
• Medium: https://jradoff.medium.com/  

Quote of the Show

• “We're all in the business of serving customers.” - Jon Radoff

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/h4OCqARffMQ 

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership and Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization podcast.

Today's guest. Is an entrepreneur or innovator and leader in his industry. He fights for the game makers of the world and is responsible for creating one of the first M O RPGs, massively multiplayer online role playing games is what that stands for. He's been an EO member for five years. He also publishes a blog called Building the Metaverse, c e O of Beam Able.

John Rador. 

Jon Radoff: Welcome to the show. Hey Mark. How are you? Thanks for having me doing 

Mark Stiles: well. Question number one, what is the common misconception about leadership running a business and or being an entrepreneur? 

Jon Radoff: Go. To me, it's the idea that you have to be some kind of special person to be an entrepreneur. Let me zoom back the camera lens though, my purpose in life as far as business is concerned is just multiplying creativity through the world.

That's what I've done through some of the game businesses I've made, through the technology company I have through the website creation tech company that I started years ago. Everything was about just allowing people to be more creative and just get online, make stuff, express themselves, because I think that's just.

such At the core of what it is to be human entrepreneurship is creativity. It's about how to come up with ideas and business models and marketing methods and channels and just put it, together, try things and, make something new, right? Like entrepreneurship is fundamentally to me about like making something new, harnessing business and organizations of people to do that.

So, you know, I was very lucky in. Respect as a kid that I would have all these crazy ideas when I was like a teenager and I'd tell my parents what I want to do. Both my parents always encouraged me. They never said, oh, you can't do that. Like, bad idea. Go, go focus on like your math problem so you can end up, uh, getting into a decent college.

I did get into a decent college, which I've then subsequently dropped out of. But um, they always encouraged me just to, to go run with my ideas. So if you didn't hear that in your life so far, I guess my message to you is, You know, run with the idea. You can do it. Like if you want to try making a business, it doesn't require anything special beyond the idea that you've identified a problem that has to be solved in the world.

And if you can go help people solve that problem. , apply your creativity to it. It, it's a, it's a great life. 

Mark Stiles: You know, so many thoughts are firing through my head right now with what you're saying there. Uh, with respect to, you know, who can be and who thinks they can be. But talking about your parents, I think is such a vital, vital component to it because how many people in that creative stage of their life get muzzled down and they say, no, no, no.

get into a good school, get a good job, get a pension, retire and die . 

Jon Radoff: Wow. This, this talk just took a, a damn path. But, um,

yeah, I, I think everybody needs, uh, set of cheerleaders in your life. Yeah. So for me growing up, it was my parents, um, . I had a circle of friends that were really into what I was doing, so they were too. And then I did stuff that was completely insane. I dropped outta college, I started an online games business.

Like talk about something that, like in the nineties must have sounded like completely absurd idea, but I knew. that there was a group of people who would really be into what I was gonna make and they weren't happy with the kinds of alternatives that they could play, and I knew that I was capable of doing it.

So there was, that said a huge number of things. I didn't know I was 19 when I did this. I didn't know. A lot about the world, about people, about business, but you know, bus business is something where you can learn as you go too, especially when you're an entrepreneur. So I would just say go for it. Like it.

The key thing is knowing what you want to do, knowing that there's some problem that you're gonna go try to solve. That's within the scope of the kinds of problems that you can solve, and then you can build a business around it. But, but 

isn't 

Mark Stiles: it interesting where you saw the problem, like, this was a problem for you, therefore it must be a problem for other people and I'm gonna solve it for everybody.

Jon Radoff: Well, so here's, here's the, even the other story around how this business was created. So I met my future wife in an online game, so Oh, cool. We were playing this game together while I was. Actually the summer before I even went to college, and then I was in college, so I met her. We were playing it together and we came up with a lot of ideas just playing that game.

Having played it together and played with other people, Hey, we could build a better version of the thing that we're playing, and we knew everyone was playing the game. We knew what a better game would look like. So then we had this crazy idea that I'd drop outta college, we'd move in together, we'd start working on this thing, and six months later

On this episode of Leadership in Action, we are joined by a financial mastermind and member of almost 10 years. He has 25 years of experience as an investment fiduciary and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, and more. Starring on the show this week is Partner, Chief Investment Officer at Antaeus Wealth Advisors, LLC, Evan Welch. Mark and Evan take this opportunity to discuss what it means to be an effective leader, some of the challenges of being a wealth advisor, and how to get started coaching youth hockey. 

Takeaways:

• A common misconception about entrepreneurs is that they are selfish. A good leader puts their team and employees first. 
• Making your employees feel appreciated is a key component of retaining your employees. Sustainable employee practices establish long term employee retention. 
• How you treat your employees affects how customers enjoy the experience at your business. Your customers can often subconsciously pick up on if your employees are enjoying their job, and that association will affect your customers enjoyment. 
• Many investment professionals have moved into the RIA space. RIA’s don’t work on commission, and are held to a legal liability. The combination of those factors make your clients feel more comfortable. 
• Technical skills are not enough to run a business alone. Joining a network like EO can help teach you business skills to augment your current knowledge. 
• A good leader needs to help their employees understand the why behind the business. Knowing the why will motivate your employees, and provide them with a better sense of direction. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanpwelch1/ 
• Website: http://www.antaeuswealth.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “An entrepreneur can not do a good job if they don't have a good team behind them because you can't build a business all by yourself.” - Evan Welch

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/MUtQY_l1aL4 

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston chapter of EOS podcast. Today's guest, a financial mastermind. He has 25 years experience as an investment fiduciary. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal Investors Business Daily and Bloomberg, just to name a. Partner, chief Investment Officer at NTAs Wealth Advisors L L C.

Please meet Evan Welch. 

Evan Welch: Hi everybody. How you Ben? I'm great. I'm great. Well, I'm excited for 2023. 

Mark Stiles: Awesome. You ready for the question? I'm ready. What is a common misconception about leadership running a business and or being an entrepreneur? Go 

Evan Welch: so. I think a common misconception about leadership and business owners and entrepreneurs is that they are selfish.

Um, particularly among those who are not business owners or entrepreneurs. Um, I think that, you know, a good leader puts their team first, puts their employees first, and those are the firms that that really thrive because frankly, a good leader and a good business owner and an entrepreneur, Do a good job if they don't have a, a, a good team behind them because you can't build a business all by yourself.

It's pretty hard. And, you know, I think a good leader is curious and they help their employees understand the why behind the business. I know we've all heard about that with Apple and some other companies, not just, you know, here's what we do, but, you know, why do we do this? Like, what's the, what's the North Star?

Uh, and, and I think frankly, you know, the. The media is easy to beat up, but when you look at the larger companies out there, maybe you know, entrepreneur 2.0, you know, a lot of CEOs, right, are, are put in, are seen in the media as selfish, you know, stock options, their stock, their compensation as opposed to the company.

And you know, obviously a hundred thousand employee companies. A little bit different than most entrepreneurial businesses, but I think that that is a common misconception. Um, a lot of rank and file. Um, Feel or or believe, and I think it's, it's often incorrect. 

Mark Stiles: Often incorrect, but it is correct in a lot of situations still here in the 2023.

Evan Welch: Yes. I mean, but I think there are, I think there are selfish people of all jobs. Right? Right. And, and there are certainly, you know, most entrepreneurs. Pretty motivated people or else they wouldn't take the risk. Um, they're, you know, they're going to be pretty self-motivated typically, and, and maybe a little bit self-focused.

Um, but the entrepreneurs that I've met through many, many years who are successful, are in amazing people. And, and, you know, yes, they're leaders and go get it. And, you know, they, they're, they're self-starters, if you will, but they're not selfish. 

Mark Stiles: It, it's a really interesting conversation cuz it gets so deep.

Right? So, you know, we can go down the path of culture and the evolution of business and where people were in the 1980s and nineties. Where, where, what, what was the motivation? You know, what was the perception? What were you striving for as a business owner, right? Like there was a certain perception that you had to carry with.

the suit, the really expensive suit and shoes and expensive watch and you know, that perception was part of the job. It's, it's interesting when you see that gap kind of closing in a little bit too, right? Between ownership and contributors. Somebody on this podcast actually referred to as contributors and I was, I loved it.

You know, cuz I al I always hate that, you know, when someone's like, oh, he is my boss, or I work for, it's like, no, no, no. , we're in this together. You, we work with right. We work together for a common purpose and goal. But, um, but it wasn't that long ago that that was something that was almost being taught.

Right. 

Evan Welch: Absolutely. Um, and, and, and I think, you know, part of that is probably the pandemic. You know, that's part of it. And, and as you mentioned, I mean, things seem to be. Slightly less formal, I guess. Um, and you know, I think, I think with what's happened also in the last couple years with the pandemic, I think a lot of business owners have realized how key their employees are.

Mm-hmm. not just having them on, you know, as a part of the team and, and, and participating and engaged, but, but actually having them. , right? When, when, obviously a lot of businesses are run predominantly virtual and online. Um, but I also think it's, it's, it's rec, it's helped people understand how important those interactions are with their team and how much their team really brings to the table.

Um, and of course then we have the, you know, the, the more. I guess global, national changes that we've seen with, you know, labor getting more involved and more active and, um, all of that as well. And, you know, I I, one of the things I heard that was great when we were, you know, I was talking, this was, this is totally from a financial background, I think I was talking to some of one of the big investment houses or BIT or banks and they said, well, COVID was a, was a turning point where the minimum wage worker who was doing 70 hours a week at Applebee's or.

you know, job like that said, I'm not doing this anymore. It's just not worth 

Mark Stiles: it. It's not worth it and I'm not being appreciated enough. I went into a coffee shop, um, right around the holidays and, you know, everybody's in that spirit of giving and, and, and this, this coffee shop, for some reason you had to actually tell them you were gonna tip them before you ordered so they, the system wasn't updated.

I'm like, can you please get your ownership to update this

On this episode of Leadership in Action, we are joined by a financial mastermind and member of almost 10 years. He has 25 years of experience as an investment fiduciary and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, and more. Starring on the show this week is Partner, Chief Investment Officer at Antaeus Wealth Advisors, LLC, Evan Welch. Mark and Evan take this opportunity to discuss what it means to be an effective leader, some of the challenges of being a wealth advisor, and how to get started coaching youth hockey. 

Takeaways:

• A common misconception about entrepreneurs is that they are selfish. A good leader puts their team and employees first. 
• Making your employees feel appreciated is a key component of retaining your employees. Sustainable employee practices establish long term employee retention. 
• How you treat your employees affects how customers enjoy the experience at your business. Your customers can often subconsciously pick up on if your employees are enjoying their job, and that association will affect your customers enjoyment. 
• Many investment professionals have moved into the RIA space. RIA’s don’t work on commission, and are held to a legal liability. The combination of those factors make your clients feel more comfortable. 
• Technical skills are not enough to run a business alone. Joining a network like EO can help teach you business skills to augment your current knowledge. 
• A good leader needs to help their employees understand the why behind the business. Knowing the why will motivate your employees, and provide them with a better sense of direction. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanpwelch1/ 
• Website: http://www.antaeuswealth.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “An entrepreneur can not do a good job if they don't have a good team behind them because you can't build a business all by yourself.” - Evan Welch

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/MUtQY_l1aL4 

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: Hey folks. Welcome back to Leadership In Action, your Boston chapter of EOS podcast. Today's guest, a financial mastermind. He has 25 years experience as an investment fiduciary. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal Investors Business Daily and Bloomberg, just to name a. Partner, chief Investment Officer at NTAs Wealth Advisors L L C.

Please meet Evan Welch. 

Evan Welch: Hi everybody. How you Ben? I'm great. I'm great. Well, I'm excited for 2023. 

Mark Stiles: Awesome. You ready for the question? I'm ready. What is a common misconception about leadership running a business and or being an entrepreneur? Go 

Evan Welch: so. I think a common misconception about leadership and business owners and entrepreneurs is that they are selfish.

Um, particularly among those who are not business owners or entrepreneurs. Um, I think that, you know, a good leader puts their team first, puts their employees first, and those are the firms that that really thrive because frankly, a good leader and a good business owner and an entrepreneur, Do a good job if they don't have a, a, a good team behind them because you can't build a business all by yourself.

It's pretty hard. And, you know, I think a good leader is curious and they help their employees understand the why behind the business. I know we've all heard about that with Apple and some other companies, not just, you know, here's what we do, but, you know, why do we do this? Like, what's the, what's the North Star?

Uh, and, and I think frankly, you know, the. The media is easy to beat up, but when you look at the larger companies out there, maybe you know, entrepreneur 2.0, you know, a lot of CEOs, right, are, are put in, are seen in the media as selfish, you know, stock options, their stock, their compensation as opposed to the company.

And you know, obviously a hundred thousand employee companies. A little bit different than most entrepreneurial businesses, but I think that that is a common misconception. Um, a lot of rank and file. Um, Feel or or believe, and I think it's, it's often incorrect. 

Mark Stiles: Often incorrect, but it is correct in a lot of situations still here in the 2023.

Evan Welch: Yes. I mean, but I think there are, I think there are selfish people of all jobs. Right? Right. And, and there are certainly, you know, most entrepreneurs. Pretty motivated people or else they wouldn't take the risk. Um, they're, you know, they're going to be pretty self-motivated typically, and, and maybe a little bit self-focused.

Um, but the entrepreneurs that I've met through many, many years who are successful, are in amazing people. And, and, you know, yes, they're leaders and go get it. And, you know, they, they're, they're self-starters, if you will, but they're not selfish. 

Mark Stiles: It, it's a really interesting conversation cuz it gets so deep.

Right? So, you know, we can go down the path of culture and the evolution of business and where people were in the 1980s and nineties. Where, where, what, what was the motivation? You know, what was the perception? What were you striving for as a business owner, right? Like there was a certain perception that you had to carry with.

the suit, the really expensive suit and shoes and expensive watch and you know, that perception was part of the job. It's, it's interesting when you see that gap kind of closing in a little bit too, right? Between ownership and contributors. Somebody on this podcast actually referred to as contributors and I was, I loved it.

You know, cuz I al I always hate that, you know, when someone's like, oh, he is my boss, or I work for, it's like, no, no, no. , we're in this together. You, we work with right. We work together for a common purpose and goal. But, um, but it wasn't that long ago that that was something that was almost being taught.

Right. 

Evan Welch: Absolutely. Um, and, and, and I think, you know, part of that is probably the pandemic. You know, that's part of it. And, and as you mentioned, I mean, things seem to be. Slightly less formal, I guess. Um, and you know, I think, I think with what's happened also in the last couple years with the pandemic, I think a lot of business owners have realized how key their employees are.

Mm-hmm. not just having them on, you know, as a part of the team and, and, and participating and engaged, but, but actually having them. , right? When, when, obviously a lot of businesses are run predominantly virtual and online. Um, but I also think it's, it's, it's rec, it's helped people understand how important those interactions are with their team and how much their team really brings to the table.

Um, and of course then we have the, you know, the, the more. I guess global, national changes that we've seen with, you know, labor getting more involved and more active and, um, all of that as well. And, you know, I I, one of the things I heard that was great when we were, you know, I was talking, this was, this is totally from a financial background, I think I was talking to some of one of the big investment houses or BIT or banks and they said, well, COVID was a, was a turning point where the minimum wage worker who was doing 70 hours a week at Applebee's or.

you know, job like that said, I'm not doing this anymore. It's just not worth 

Mark Stiles: it. It's not worth it and I'm not being appreciated enough. I went into a coffee shop, um, right around the holidays and, you know, everybody's in that spirit of giving and, and, and this, this coffee shop, for some reason you had to actually tell them you were gonna tip them before you ordered so they, the system wasn't updated.

I'm like, can you please get your ownership to update this so that we can. Appreciate what you're doing. I walked in there on December 23rd and there was a sign on there that said, we are open December 24th, 6:00 AM to two, December 25th, 6:00 AM to two, December 31st, 6:00 AM to two, January 1st, 6:00 AM and they were proud of that.

But then I see how they're treating their people

On this episode of Leadership In Action, we are joined by a franchising force to be reckoned with. He’s a new EO member who leverages his  experience and knowledge of franchising, real estate, fitness, and business to create game changing businesses. Welcome to the show, CEO of The DRIPBaR Ben Crosbie. Host extraordinaire Mark Stiles sits down with Ben to learn about his experience as an entrepreneur, the future of franchising, and how Ben is taking The DRIPBaR to the next level. 

Takeaways:

• One of the biggest misconceptions about being an entrepreneur is that it is inherently easy, and that you can become an overnight success.
• While success doesn’t happen overnight, franchising is a great way to increase the speed and scale of a business much faster than you normally would. 
• As a franchisor, identifying personal overlap with non competing franchises can provide insight into areas for potential markets. Areas with a high concentration of those franchises likely have a high concentration of your target demographic.
• Dripbar has taken a “semi-absentee” approach rather than a traditional owner operator approach. While you will still need to spend a few hours a week at a drip bar, much of the work is set up to be done remotely for owners. 
• A franchise doesn’t need to be a stand alone physical location. In Dripbar’s case, they have found success inside or adjacent to a health and fitness club, physical therapy office, or multi unit developments.
• One challenge with franchising is the different legislation of different areas. International markets, and even different states can have different legal requirements of your franchise. With multiple locations, it is important to dot your i’s and cross your t’s
• The use of AI and automation has allowed Dripbar to revamp their franchisee lead process. By automating the early touch points they are able to filter through potential clients more easily, and reduce needed person hours. 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-crosbie-85a59a7/ 
• Website: https://www.thedripbar.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “Replication is key” - Ben Crosbie

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/UW7fsOqOOO0

Transcript:

Mark Stiles: folks. Welcome back to another episode of Leadership in Action, your Boston Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization podcast. Today's guest is an entrepreneurial powerhouse, a franchise veteran, an entrepreneur who leverages his experience and knowledge of franchising real estate, fitness, and business to create game changing businesses.

He's a brand new member of EO Boston Chapter. And he is the c e o of Drip bar. Please meet Ben Crosby. Welcome to the show, Ben. 

Ben Crosbie: Perfect. Thank you very much. Mark, 

Mark Stiles: you ready to be here? Here comes question number one. All right. What is the common misconception about leadership running a business and or being an entrepreneur?

Go? 

Ben Crosbie: Sure. That's a great question. Um, really to me, the, biggest misconception is that, you're an overnight success in that. It's easy. very few people can, truly recognize, unless you're an entrepreneur and you've done it, how much time and energy it takes for you to, just make your first dollar and then continue to grow the business until it becomes, what everybody hopes that it becomes profitable and successful.

So the overnight success, the, long hours, the focus, the unrecognition Along the way, the path and the journey. A lot of times it's the best part of it, most stressful part of it, and least recognized I'd say. 

Mark Stiles: Rolling up your sleeves for 10 years and, uh, disappearing from the entire world and then showing up as a success.

That's not overnight. , 

Ben Crosbie: that was the some of the first advice that I got from my first C F O who said, you know, in five years from now, don't be upset. When somebody asks you how you became an overnight success, you'll become the most obnoxious question you'll ever be asked. And, uh, he was right. He was 100%.

Mark Stiles: Well, how do you fast track that success? So, I mean, it's obviously not gonna be overnight, but is there other ways of fast tracking it? 

Ben Crosbie: Uh, once you start getting experience or being part of a group and getting mentors to really, uh, get over the initial hurdles? Um, it's just dedication, really understanding your business, uh, if you're bootstrapping and doing it on your own.

I mean, it could take a little longer, but being able to, to have capital, hiring the right people, getting the staff in place. Um, but one thing that I've found is franchising is a great way to, uh, Increased speed and scale of a business, uh, a lot sooner than you normally would. Sometimes you could franchise businesses when there's just one location, short proof of concept.

It's really developing the, the, the business opportunity to be able to bring it to market. 

Mark Stiles: Well, let's dig into that a little bit, you know, cuz I was hoping that we would go there with this and I was kind of leading you that way with the fast track, right? But, . So one concept that works, why recreate the wheel?

Right? Why go back and try to figure out what that person did? Why not collaborate with that person? Right? Yeah, 

Ben Crosbie: absolutely. If, if the person, the operating partner, typically spent a lot of time in energy really developing the, the standards, uh, the operational manuals, the speed to market. The tech, the technique of franchising, it can bring in a whole level of experience, uh, and, and systems.

That can simply be replicated in order to bring the business to scale that much faster. Replication is key. Replication just through education, finding the right franchisees, uh, giving them the playbook to execute on it, but then having a franchisor that's constantly looking on ways to improve from a wider.

A lot of times franchisees are in the mud, they're in their location. They're really, really hyper-focused on the performance of their one location. The benefit of having a franchisor is somebody that's taken a step back and being able to look ahead at whatever might be coming down the pipe. It might be legal, it might be rules, regulations in an industry.

Uh, it could be, uh, new marketing advertising strategies. Uh, A bunch of new technologies that could create a more efficient process. Uh, so really this, that, that's the best way, in my opinion, to really efficiently grow a business and hit success earlier. . 

Mark Stiles: Well, there you go. Right. So overnight success, a lot of people may never find success because they have these, these, uh, blind spots, right?

Maybe it's marketing. Mm-hmm. , maybe it's process, maybe it's customer service. Help me understand. Alright, so let's talk about Drip bar for an example. So, sure. How does, how does that, 

Ben Crosbie: How does Drip bar work? So, drip Bar is a brick and mortar location. It's a thousand to 1500 square feet. That's our traditional, uh, box.

They're in markets wherever you see a Starbucks Massage Envy, orange Theory. Uh, we do IV supplements, IV nutrition. Uh, people look at it as an emerging brand. An emerging industry. However, the industry has been around for 25 plus years. Just been very highly fragmented, full of mom and pop shops. Overnight success.

Overnight success. Exactly, exactly. So I've been able to take a lot of that, um, historical data that's available to, to, uh, Really learn the industry and ident