LEARN to ACEND in business | Elisabeth Galperin

Elisabeth Galperin is a speaker, productivity coach, and sought-after trainer who is passionate about helping professionals perform at their peak & reach their potential in all facets of life. A recovering perfectionist, she works collaboratively with clients to improve personal habits, define & implement business systems, increase productivity & consistently perform at their peak - while avoiding burn-out and overcoming overwhelm. Her mission is to help clients feel in control of their lives, so they can achieve maximum productivity, profitability, and, most importantly, peace of mind.
 
 As a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and executive business coach, Elisabeth empowers professionals at all levels of their career to define productivity for themselves and provides accountability & partnership to her clients.  Her relatability, accessibility and energy are unmatched. Through the use of her ASCEND™ model, Elisabeth teaches the fundamental, foundational systems and structures all professionals need for sustainable growth and success.   
 
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethgalperin/
Website:
https://peakproductivitycoaching.com/

Transcript

Josh Bolton: 0:01

Welcome to the Josh Bolton show. interesting and inspiring conversations. And now your host, Josh Bolton. But, uh, so in Cincinnati, like, where are you stationed at generally?

Unknown: 0:21

So I live north of the city, about 25 minutes, north, slightly East. And I grew up here. I lived in North Carolina for 12 years, kind of post college and before before kids, and moved back here about eight years ago. So yeah, I do a lot of work in Cincinnati. Dayton is a nearby city that I also do a lot of work in, and then a fair amount of virtual clients. So not everybody I work with is in this area. Yeah. What about you? Where are you?

Josh Bolton: 1:00

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

Unknown: 1:05

Okay. All right. Very good. Well, then you're still having warm summer weather. I'm guessing

Josh Bolton: 1:12

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

Unknown: 1:23

Yeah. Yeah. Did you grow up there, though? You said as long as they're okay. Yeah. All right.

Josh Bolton: 1:27

I grew up here. Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown: 1:29

I'll there's good and bad everywhere.

Josh Bolton: 1:33

It says, I've talked to different people, especially with the show, they're like, Yeah, because one of them lives out in Wyoming. I was like, Oh, I hear that's a great place. Like, he's like, yeah, for businesses for people. No. Yeah. I don't know. Mike, are we talking stereotypical like rednecks. He's like, he makes this alphas pretty simple compared to appear, and I'm like, Oh, we're talking northern Idaho. Bad. Got it?

Unknown: 1:57

Yep. Yeah, Wyoming is still like, the wild wild territory, I think.

Josh Bolton: 2:05

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

Unknown: 2:25

I would say it is more, it's probably about 60 to 70. Virtual. Even though a lot of my clients are in this area, the coaching piece, we do a lot of virtual, because it's just more convenient. Like, I don't necessarily need to be in the same room with my clients. The speaking that I do, locally is almost always now in person, obviously, during COVID, it was virtual. And that's starting to kind of spread beyond beyond this area and kind of move outside of the Greater Cincinnati region. So but yeah, once I you know, once I establish a relationship with a client, even if they, you know, I have a client who I could get to his office in 10 minutes, but most weeks, we meet virtually, because it's just more effective and efficient.

Josh Bolton: 3:19

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

Unknown: 3:32

you got it? Yeah, but it is great. I mean, when I do what you know, we do. I am intentional about if I can meet with you in person, we'll do it from time to time, just because it does really deepen the relationship. And yeah, you know, it's it just you can't replace being across the table from from someone.

Josh Bolton: 3:47

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

Unknown: 4:05

Right, right. But yeah, it's still there. It still feels like there's there's a barrier, right?

Josh Bolton: 4:11

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

Unknown: 4:17

So while I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years, I started out doing a lot of hands on Office organizing and working side by side with small business owners. For more of a let's get your information organized. Let's work on you know, calendar time management, let's document processes and procedures. And then in the last eight years, I've stepped much more into being coach and consultant. And so the ASCEND method, I've really been refining it honestly, for the last, you know, 10 years but kind of gave it its given its name and It's official title this year. But it's the it's the methodology that I've been refining and using with clients for, you know, for the past eight to 10 years.

Josh Bolton: 5:11

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

Unknown: 5:27

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I, it does, it starts with what's working well, what's not working? Well, what's missing? And then kind of prioritizing, alright, the parts that are not working on the parts that are missing, how do we want to get get this improved in in the workflow and the team and the, you know, execution of your business? And then yes, like, unlike a consultant, who will say, like, Okay, go do it, I have always continued to support clients and, and kind of be the accountability partner and the, you know, the, the mastermind partner, to help them with implementing the changes that we identify and, and, you know, improving the processes, and kind of being a being a partner, to them and for them. So most of my clients, you know, we I continue to work with them for many years, sometimes, you know, more than one year, just kind of being met in a in a sense, I had a client the other day, who said, you know, you're kind of like, my board of directors of one. So, you know, just a second brain to an outside perspective, right. You know, we can't always see our greatest faults, ourselves, we need an extra set of eyes to help identify

Josh Bolton: 6:49

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

Unknown: 6:59

So, um, you know, I, it has evolved over the years. And I typically work in 90 day increments with clients. I don't know if you are a fan of like, the 90 day year.

Josh Bolton: 7:15

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

Unknown: 7:21

yeah, so yeah, so typically, you know, an engagement starts with either a three or a six month engagement based on how much support I know, they're going to need up front. And then when we get to that 90 or that 100, date, 80 day mark, then we'll determine okay, what progress have we made? What continues to be on the, you know, on the priority list? And are we going to continue working together? And, you know, and then, I mean, I have a lot of clients that, again, the ones that, you know, I've been working with for 1824 months, that, you know, it just, it just, it's rolling until they, if or when they they told me, they want to stop rolling. But yeah, we kind of look at things in a 90 day timeframe that feels really comfortable to the clients. It's nice and clean, and obviously, you know, matches up with how most people are running their business from a four quarter perspective. So that's, yeah, yeah, it's great.

Josh Bolton: 8:21

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

Unknown: 8:33

For sure. Yes. Yeah. I mean, if it's, if it's removing me from the day to day services with other clients, then yeah, that that price comes at a premium for sure. I mean, I don't I typically don't have to spend, you know, five or 10 business days with a with a client to really get an understanding of how things are working. But yes, if I, if I come out to their, to their place of business, and I'm on site, then you know, I kind of have sometimes I'll also, if a company already has like, hey, typically we have a travel stipend, and then, you know, consultant, budget, you know, kind of work with them on that. But kind of separate out the travel component from the services.

Josh Bolton: 9:22

Okay, cool. Yeah, that was that was just one of those a lot of a lot of entrepreneurs, but especially like, coaches and consultants, like you have told me they're like, yeah. How did the one man say it to me, he was like, I don't like going to clients businesses anymore. And he's like, because if we give them a whole headache, and my assistant just hates me for it, he's like, so I charged him like 50x. If they actually pick my 50x in my rate, then it's hard to argue.

Unknown: 9:50

Yeah, right. It would be it's worth the inconvenience, right? Yeah. He

Josh Bolton: 9:54

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

Unknown: 10:12

I sure can. So, so yeah, so my name is Elizabeth Galperin. And I have a productivity, business productivity coaching, and consulting company, kind of have several different ways that I work with clients. So one to one business coaching, and we're always working together through the lens of how can my client become a more productive individual? And How can their business become more productive, therefore profitable. I also do a lot of speaking, whether it's keynote speaking for a conference, or perhaps a organization that's having a convention, and sometimes come in and do a half day or a full day training for an organization. And then also working with a company long term, more from a personal professional development programming piece, where I am working with entire teams or all employees, and and typically engage with them in those 90 day cycles of time to train and then be supportive for implementation of new systems and strategies. And then also accountability. That's a really strong piece that makes the work that I do have a lasting impression. And a lasting impact is teaching, teaching my clients the value of accountability, the importance of accountability, and then being the accountability partner for them, either short term or long term. As humans, we tend to think we can hold ourselves accountable best. But in reality, we're our worst accountability partner.

Josh Bolton: 11:58

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

Unknown: 12:05

Right? Right, exactly. And nobody's watching, right? Nobody is necessarily going to be at home to give us a high five for working out. And no one's necessarily going to be at home judging us because we came home with the hamburger and fries. And so it's just, it's all in our head that we that we struggle. And yeah, as soon as we have somebody else that knows what our plan is, we have much more of a incentive to stick with the plan and commit to the actions.

Josh Bolton: 12:34

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

Unknown: 12:51

Yeah, that's great gamification, right. It's a great tool to use, either on a smell small scale like that, or even, you know, company wide. That's why a lot of companies do have, you know, rewards. I talk with a lot of my clients about when when you're building a habit, one of the pieces that we all need to include in that process is rewarding ourselves. Yes. And so the idea of, you know, only kids need, you know, the Gold Star need a prize. Adults, professionals, entrepreneurs, we all need that reward. It's just it just is you got to make sure that the reward reward is in alignment with the goal, right. Yeah. So, but yeah, using it with an accountability partner, or with a team. It's a great way to to get positive peer pressure to work to your advantage.

Josh Bolton: 13:50

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

Unknown: 14:00

Yeah, so typically, when I have a individual business owner, who is looking for a coach, and for some support in becoming more productive, they are the number one word I hear them use is I am overwhelmed. I have so many things to do, and not enough time to do it, right. I want to hire help or bring in team, but I don't feel like I even know how to handover responsibilities, or I'm terrible at delegation, you know, and I'm afraid that I'll hire someone, and I'll still end up doing the work. So there's overwhelm there's fear of letting go of some of the tasks and responsibilities. And you know, oftentimes it's also a professional who they are still the master of their craft. They aren't necessarily I'm masterful in business acumen. And so they're trying to figure out, you know, I'm a great architect, but how do I run an architect firm? I'm a great massage therapist, but how do I open up a, you know, studio where I'm creating opportunity for five or six massage therapists and you know, we're serving more people. So. So they're often looking for the guidance and advice to continue to be able to work in their business, but to have a better framework for how to work on the business. Because, you know, again, anybody that has been in business for more than a couple of days realizes that that balance, it's so hard to figure out,

Josh Bolton: 15:44

it really is. Yeah. So I'm just curious then, because you mentioned the massage therapist, and that is, I actually know a friend that's doing it, she just now is getting them home massage therapy. I told her to read the E Myth. And I said, look at as looked at as more of like a structure, because he does it more for like, storefronts and product, but like the same thing can apply for you. Right? And but yeah, it was just one of those. I'm curious. So that is what we're what some of the clients, like, let's say the massage therapists or hair salon think that they would call you and say, What am I supposed to do?

Unknown: 16:19

So yeah, so I and most of my clients are more service based. So lawyers, accountants, and CPAs, I have worked with a handful of physical therapists or athletic trainers. But again, most of my most of my clients are more in that service and not so much the product. And, you know, yeah, they're coming to me saying, I know that I could be doing things more effectively, more efficiently. But I realized that I need an outside perspective, I realized that I can't do it on my own, or it's going to take too long to do it on my own. And so you know, how can you help me? And then that's where, you know, the first step is I call it, I call it a deep dive session, and it's where we do peel back the layers, you know, and layer by layer, figure out what's working well, what's not working? Well. One is, you know, what goals have you set? And how have you either accomplished them not accomplishment them made progress, but not, you know, to the level that you want. So really getting an understanding of they, every entrepreneur or business owner, they start with a big vision, right? And, but, but that sometimes they get lost in the day to day, and they almost lose sight of the vision. So getting back to Okay, that was the original vision, is that still the direction you're going in? And then like, I have a client that I work with now. And one of the most poignant things that we were able to accomplish in the first three months, was really getting to his why, why he wants to have the accounting business. And you know, that it's, of course, it's about more than just helping people with their taxes and doing it ethically. Right, right. And so, you know, making sure if they haven't yet connected the vision and the Y, with their day to day operations, making sure that they see the connection, so that on the days where you wake up, and you don't quite have the immediate excitement, or motivation, you can tap into that. And remember that, yeah, some of the the day to day tasks, they do feel a little boring, or they do feel mundane, or they don't feel like you're making a huge impact directly through that task. But being able to see the bigger picture, and reminding them that yeah, the little things that I'm doing day by day by day are getting me closer to the goals for the year, the big vision, and that they are in alignment with my why.

Josh Bolton: 19:07

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

Unknown: 19:27

Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's easy. You can either stay in that creative space, right? Like just staying at that 10,000 foot view, and not being able to get down into the details. Or you get buried in the details and you forget to see the forest for the trees. And that's where, you know, just like I use this analogy all the time. You know, if you think about athletes in the sports world, nobody gets to the top on their own. They have Not so many mentors, and they have guidance from coaches, and they have specialized coaches, and they have teammates, and, you know, so in the entrepreneurial world and in the business worlds, you know, oftentimes it's like, why I just have to do this my on my own. And that's, I mean, I think in a way, it's like the American way, right. Like, it's tough, and it's hard and grind it out. But that's not that is not the path to success. It's not the easy path or the straightest path.

Josh Bolton: 20:31

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

Unknown: 20:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. I mean, that if there's anything that I could go back and do differently, it would have been getting others to support me and help me sooner. I definitely had in the early years, that mindset of, well, I might not know it, but I can learn it. So I'll just put in all the extra, you know, blood, sweat and tears and learn it myself. And it would have been a much it would have been a much faster path to success. If I had just been willing to admit that I don't have to be great at everything. I get to be good at my my area of skill set. And, and then I get to find people who are experts that will support me.

Josh Bolton: 21:30

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

Unknown: 21:53

I have worked with the Office team of manufacturing organizations.

Josh Bolton: 22:02

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

Unknown: 22:05

the observation, a lot of manufacturing and warehouse, you know, they are very focused on the efficiencies on the floor, right? Whether it's, you know, there's so many different systems that have to do with, with warehouse and that vein, but when you look at how their their office is operating, they're not prioritizing productivity, automation, efficiency, nearly at the same level. And so that's been, I think, when I realized that I could use the language of what they're focusing on in the warehouse and bring it into, hey, if this is the values that you have, for your team out on the floor for safety, and certainly, you know, for efficiency, and for profitability. How do we use that same language up here in the office, even though we're talking about, you know, your computers and your paperwork and your bills, and you know, so, but I have never gotten to I've never tried to specialize in productivity from the sense of manufacturing and getting into that, that portion of it.

Josh Bolton: 23:26

The only reason I asked is one of my old stories, I accidentally gave consultancy without knowing it was working security. Really long story short, essentially, this one guy had a tattoo on his neck of a gate with fire and demon spawn coming out of it. We'll call him Chuck. Chuck was saying he wanted to break his leg instead of working one day here. And he's like, I'd rather break my leg and be home for six months and work one day here. And I didn't realize it but I like the this one guy kind of beat up for Ranger would always come. His name is Kirk. And oh, he would he Blau How did Josh my howdy Kirk joking on Monday that see that badge of yours kind of thing? That was a security guard and he's all that's why we pay you a lot of money. Well, not me I get pennies. But I and that's where then after a while, a couple days later, he shows up and that's where I saw Chuck and he walks by and he's a hey, you know, you're a very observant security guard. Well, person in general. This warehouse and my baby is what got me where I am as a district manager, essentially the CEO of the region. And Amelia clicked about oh, wait, I just essentially made friends with the CEO the region. Aha, interesting. And he's like, he's like, why is my baby dying? Am I well, that that guy with the tattoo, he's uh, he had Chuck I'm like, Well, Chuck rather wish pain for six months then one day here. Am I so morale doesn't exist and that's sort of Mike have. How long have you been like the overseer? He's like, Oh, like 15 years and like, Dude, you totally forgot what it's like to be in the trenches.

Unknown: 24:59

Yes. Yeah, yeah, that's Yeah. But you see that a lot, right when you've got layers and layers of management, that they're not in touch with what's happening in real time. And yeah, that's definitely where the culture fails.

Josh Bolton: 25:17

And that's what this essentially I told him, I do human nature. We like it. That's why I brought up like gamification earlier. I'm like, Dude, we love games, even the most, the most non competitive person, if you put something instantly in front of them, they'll do it. Got it. And that's what I said, sucks. But WT workers 100 bucks is actually kind of game changing. Can you afford to put like 500 bucks aside a week company or your money, whatever that part, you can figure it out. And he's like, Well, yeah, that's like two steak dinners a mile and the words you go for two steak dinners, but I won't try this place you're paying though.

Unknown: 25:48

I'll give you the rest of this advice. If I get some steak dinner

Josh Bolton: 25:51

actually did at the end. It was funny. Great. Essentially, I told him like, Yeah, put like the first prize, the most safest and productive give him like 150 bucks. So like Amazon or whatever. And then like, just the tear down like the fifth prize is like 50 bucks. It's still good. But it's kind of like the I could have done better. Right? And a month and a half. He just did that. I said prior to our safety, and efficiency. I think we're getting injuries, like every four hours that was that bad. And they for math sake, they were producing like 200,000 units today. Total finished 24 hour span. Yeah, math sake. It's$1 each. After my like, just gamification. I said, get them taco guys, if they do a good job for the month like buy him a whole like feast as the amount of P friends you'll make with that alone? Yeah, they went for the laughingstock of the company to the highest producing company, warehouse. And then we're doing like 1,200,000 packages a day. Wow. That's

Unknown: 26:55

I mean, that's such a great example of it's just, it's about your people. Right? It wasn't like they bought new equipment, or they trained people on like more technical skills. It was let's start treating your people. Like people who are like people, and let's let's give them let's recognize them when they do something good. Yeah, it's, it can be that simple.

Josh Bolton: 27:21

It was and then it was just one of those. It was around Christmas time. So they their productivity went up and all that and he bought the taco guy and on the security guards. So I'm sitting at my gate. No one's around. So I'm just watching TV on the company computer when I shouldn't have but I'm like, it's Christmas. I don't want to be here. Get a thing. And one of the boss himself came over and he's like, Oh, Josh, why aren't you getting food? I'm like, Well, I'm not a warehouse worker. I'm just the guy making sure no trucks come in. He's like, No, you're the reason why we have all this. So come on. And all them waited for me to go get food. And I was like, Oh, thank you so much. Oh, and then I'm so like, the next day he comes over and he's like, Alright, so how much do I owe you? And I'm like, like joking about $10,000. That was like big at the time of like, 10 grand. Now they know all this stuff. In hindsight, I should. I should have charged them way more. Wow, it's really, he just like looked to me like, Okay, fine. Are your personal check, just take it.

Unknown: 28:23

Well, that's good. I'm glad he recognized that the idea came from you. And that was the catalyst.

Josh Bolton: 28:29

Right then. Through a series of events, later on this much later in Storyline. But essentially, I had to get called into the office because one of my supervisors tried to throw me under a literal truck. So he was interviewing me, and that's where he comes in with the steak dinner. As they're entering view me. And he's like, he says to play these. I'm pretty sure you're not coming back anytime soon after that. I'm like, No. He tried to kill me. I'm not coming back.

Unknown: 29:00

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. The story is there, Josh. Oh,

Josh Bolton: 29:04

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

Unknown: 29:25

well, I think what what I take away from that, too, is it's not that, you know, coaches and consultants. It's not that we have this. This you know, immeasurable. No one's ever thought of this before. Advice. It's that we are that outside perspective looking in and it can be a simple suggestion. But it's it's giving it at the right time. It's making sure that it's being received in the right way. Like he could have been equally offended if you had delivered the suggestion in a different way. Right? And I'm never going to do that. So it's knowing you know what information to put in front of your client at the right time and how to deliver it. And then when possible, helping to see it through with them. Right. So it isn't, you know, I often joke at a training like this isn't brain science. A lot of ideas. Yeah, a lot of the ideas that I share are they've been around for a long time. But how do we apply it to your situation? Do your people and make it applicable to your world? Right?

Josh Bolton: 30:45

100%? So I'm just curious, let's hypothetical here. Let's say I have a very good successful law firm, but just everything's falling apart on the back end, like the billing this the customer service. And let's say I give you a call, what would be the first few steps you would do to help me figure this out?

Unknown: 31:09

Yeah. So I would talk a little bit about tell me when it was working, you know, when it was successful, what was what was happening? Who was responsible? What was your size, and kind of figure out what was the breaking point where it went from good to bad. Sometimes that is, oh, we grew too fast, or we lost a critical person. And they left with all this knowledge. And the person that took over, you know, never never gained the knowledge that was needed. So I would you know, and sometimes it's a matter of interviewing multiple people, right? That's the thing is that, you know, you've got he said, and she said, and then you got to figure out what's the actual truth. So getting some different perspectives talking to, you know, talking to some of the attorneys and finding out from their perspective, they might still, they might think things are working just fine, they might have no idea that there's a problem talking to you know, the folks that are in in the billing department, maybe they have some complaints about the actual software. So is it a people problem? Is it a technology problem? Is it a systems problem, maybe the informations not getting relayed the way it should, from the attorneys who are doing the work to the, you know, data entry, team member who's putting the hours into the software to, you know, the bills being issued to the clients, so people problem systems problem, technology problem and kind of figure out maybe it's a little bit of everything? Go ahead,

Josh Bolton: 32:48

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

Unknown: 33:03

So if, if I have the response of, well, it's always been that way. Why are you doing it this way? Well, because we've always done it this way, then my, my first job is helping them to see that to get different results, we've got to do it differently. Right? So helping them to see that, well, it's always been a problem. And now it's just more of a problem. What happens if we let it keep being a problem? What happens if we fix the problem? How does that not only improve your bottom line, but what would be the positive domino effect, your people would start being happier, the camaraderie the culture would start being more positive, your reputation might improve? So kind of help paint the picture, right? Of Okay. Let's, if we make some some changes, how is that going to improve this one department? And then how might it improve outside of that? Helping them go from hopeless to hopeful, right? And then finding out okay, who needs to be a part of solving the problem? Because that's another piece too, is making sure that if my client is the law firm, then I need to make sure that I have buy in from the right people, it can't just be one person who is going to carry the weight of working with me to try to find a solution. So you know, some of the the decision makers need to be a part of the solution. And and there's typically you know, a number of people that we'll be able to give insight to contribute to, alright, now we've got a new plan to put into place, who's going to lead that plan, who's going to be a part of that plan? And then who's going to help sustain that new plan. So making sure that we've got a team approach to solving things and that we've got team buy

Josh Bolton: 35:08

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

Unknown: 35:18

yes. Yeah. And I mean, that happens sometimes, you know, sometimes when I'm out networking, you know, I'll talk to somebody, in fact, young lawyers, oftentimes they'll say, you know, the partner that runs our our law practice would could 100% Use your help, but I've never seen them be open to outside support. Or, you know, so So oftentimes, yeah, there's, you know, the, the newer employees or the more of the doers, they see the problems, but they don't always have the decision making power to to help solve the problems.

Josh Bolton: 35:58

So I'm just hypothetical side tangent. And you're in that circumstance for that lawyer. And he says, I see your use for you, but I have no pole. Would you pursue the head guy? And like, talk to him and network? Or was it because he's like, he has, like, after a call or two, even you're like, oh, wait, this is not gonna work? Or do you care? I'm asking like, three questions at once. So the first one, would you actually pursue that? See where it goes?

Unknown: 36:28

Yeah. So I would, I would, a lot of times, I'll start with what do you think that does? Your your firm? In this case? Does your firm ever do lunch and learns, that's a great way for me to come in and say like, Hey, I'll do a 60 minute training on improving personal productivity as a lawyer or you know, something specific to their industry, to potentially open, you know, open the door a little crack, and start with something that is more of a general support to the firm, right? Sometimes that's a great way to get the decision maker to start to know me, maybe start to like me, eventually, the goal, right, is that they trust me enough to say, Okay, I do see how you can help. So sometimes I'll suggest that or yeah, I'll say, Well, do you think that you're, you know, do you think that the partner would be interested in meeting me simply to learn more about what I do, you know, and so I kind of have to gauge the relationship between the, the employee and the decision maker, of course, you know, if they're not comfortable making the introduction, I don't pursue that. And, and, you know, the reality of business for most of us, especially, that are more service based, as much as we want our clients to come to us from a more proactive perspective, they're almost always coming when the pain has gotten to the point that they can't handle it any longer, right. And so sometimes it's just a matter of, well, hey, keep my name around. And if it gets to the point where you do see your boss, or your colleagues saying, I think I need some help, there's your opportunity to let them know that, hey, I know somebody who can help. And, you know, there's, I learned a lot about buyers, right? You've got now buyers, and you've got later buyers. And typically, the percentage of now buyers is much smaller than your later buyers. So just staying, staying present, staying visible, being a resource, you know, I might say, Well, hey, do you think they'd want to be on my newsletter, or you know, something casual like that, hey, maybe I'll connect with them on LinkedIn, and just say, Hey, I know your associate, Tom would love to be connected with you on LinkedIn, and then all of a sudden, they start to see some of my content. My marketing approach is always to educate and provide valuable information. And so that's, you know, one way to get on someone's radar. But it's, you know, I, in the 15 years that I've been running business, I've learned that what I talk about and how I market and who I meet now are the people that may become my clients months or years later. And so it's a long game.

Josh Bolton: 39:36

Oh, yeah. This especially in the service industry, man. Yeah. Yeah, the some of the stuff, much the horror stories, I've seen one person who was like, Oh, I'm gonna quit and go full time coach, and I was like, Okay, I'm not gonna try to shoot you down. But do you have anyone lined up? And he's like, No, they just come into being like maybe one or two You customers in the scheme of whatever. But that's not gonna be everything.

Unknown: 40:06

Yeah, yeah, it's a long runway, for sure. Particularly in the coaching and consulting, you know, you're, you're asking someone to invest a lot of time a lot of money and to get vulnerable with you. Right. Right. You're you're seeing behind the scenes. And so that's not a quick decision that people will make. Nor should it be, right.

Josh Bolton: 40:31

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

Unknown: 40:53

Yep. Yeah, that's where I like to use the sports analogies. Because I think sometimes that helps people see, like, Oh, you're right. You know, Elon Musk surrounds himself with brilliant people. He's not the only brilliant mind, right? The reason that, you know, Bill Gates got to where he is, is he didn't climb that ladder himself. And you know, LeBron James is not one of the greatest of all time, because he coached himself throughout his career, he would never be where he is, without the support that he put into place. So you know, why? Why would you be any different as an entrepreneur as a business owner?

Josh Bolton: 41:32

Right? Yeah, it was one of the analogies that gave someone because they were asking how it was a coach trying to get clients. And I was like, you know, I said, kind of like you when you first started this, like, do you have an avatar? Can you say this person without ever saying their name? And I can really be like, that Jenny kind of thing? And she's like, No, it's just I want to help everyone and like, not right now. You want to help a very, very, very specific group of people. Once you establish that and conquer as much as you can. Kind of like warfare. You got to expand a little test and then expand a little. Yeah, so that's where she was actually one of my guests. And we were just doing strategy calls. And I she finally broke it down and just said, Josh, oh, like, can you just draw me up? On avatar mode? Sure. Give me a week, because that's, like, to be honest, I actually don't know what my avatar is. So I have to figure out mine. modify it for yours. Yeah.

Unknown: 42:29

Well, it's, it's ever changing, too. I mean, it's funny, you bring that up, because I'm getting ready to start working with someone who's going to help me with content strategy. And just this morning, I was going through her pre work. And one of the, you know, one of the questions is, you know, who Who do you specifically work with? Or who are your customers? And, you know, it's, I'm much more clear now than I was two years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, but it gives me pause to say, All right, it's a good time to ask myself this question. And to make sure that I'm not just giving a default answer that was me 24 months ago, but that isn't the business now. So I think those are questions that you want to always be maybe not always but you know, you're on a regular basis. They are revisiting. Who has my avatar been? And is that still my avatar? Or am I adding some characteristics? Am I changing some characteristics? Because ideally, your business is ever evolving you as a leader are evolving and so who you serve best is going to evolve Right?

Josh Bolton: 43:44

Right. And then that's kind of what I was telling her and you did a much more elegant way I was just kind of like especially in the service industry it is brutal is a winner take all situation in most cases and unlike some of the search older Mike I would recommend for you because she's a very logical and nothing bad it was just like how she approaches very illogical Yeah, I felt like I said something else. But and I told her I said you want someone that is I said hypothetically just throwing it out there you want someone that's athletic background has usually a family because that means they got to knuckle down makes at least anywhere from 90 to 120k years so they can afford paying you this six to $800 a month and then we'll break them I said for the parenting side you want like a said you can add religion if you want it doesn't really change anything a church going family kids. I said my little my joke is two dogs. Two fish and half a lizard

Unknown: 44:47

right like two and a half children

Josh Bolton: 44:52

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

Unknown: 45:04

it works. You prove that it works.

Josh Bolton: 45:07

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

Unknown: 45:11

Yeah, yeah, I'm in a networking group. And one of the things that we do every week is we have a specific ask. And, you know, we will you don't get in trouble. But you get reminded, if you say, you know, my ask this week is anyone who, anyone who owns a business and might need some support planning their goals? Well, nobody thinks of anyone if I say that, but if I said, my ask is a lawyer, who is a partner at a firm in downtown Cincinnati, who has a team of 10 or fewer lawyers like, right, the more specific I get, then the more immediately someone will say, Oh, yeah, John, he's my neighbor, and he just became partner at such and such law firm. I can introduce you to him. I never thought of introducing you to him before, but that makes perfect sense. So it is the the niches or the riches are in the niches right?

Josh Bolton: 46:08

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

Unknown: 46:29

They're not if they don't share that same passion is you? Huh?

Josh Bolton: 46:32

Yeah. That's what it looks like. How is Udemy? Good. And like, actually, it's not bad. I said, I always wait for everything's on sale. So the$200 course I pick up for like 16 bucks.

Unknown: 46:43

Right, right. Yeah. But gosh, there's so many things. Anything you want to learn?

Josh Bolton: 46:47

It's there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was just one of those episodes, tying back that the course is to the one lady. I said, Yeah, I would say because she's, I'm actually asked you in a different way. So the client I was working with and helping, I could not adjust her marketing. Okay. So she's spending anywhere from 600 to $800 a month, generating no leads whatsoever. And I was asking her, I was like, Do you have it set to your followers on Facebook? Or do you have a set to like someone like Tony Robbins? Check, you can do that. And like, you have it set to your followers. Because if it's automatic, it's your followers. I'm like, You need to cut all that money now like, quick, because yeah. And

Unknown: 47:38

she wandered into the wrong pot.

Josh Bolton: 47:40

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

Unknown: 47:46

Yeah, yeah. Did you tell her to go watch a Udemy?

Josh Bolton: 47:51

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

Unknown: 47:57

Right. She can talk about an area where you should outsource to an expert. Yeah, that's where I was like, I know they Yeah. informed on that is when I

Josh Bolton: 48:09

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

Unknown: 48:22

Yeah, yep. Yep. I don't play in the game of Facebook ads. Luckily, I haven't haven't needed to.

Josh Bolton: 48:30

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

Unknown: 48:34

It is. Yeah, yeah. And LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great place. For me. Again, I don't do cold connecting on LinkedIn.

Josh Bolton: 48:45

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

Unknown: 48:49

Nope. But But yeah, I mean, I've certainly gotten a couple of, Hey, I saw you know, my contact. Angela shared your post. I haven't talked to her about you yet. But I'm interested, you know, so it's, it's still kind of who you know, but a little bit less direct of word of mouth. But But I find that LinkedIn is a great place that I can organically spread my, my reach, or expand my reach.

Josh Bolton: 49:19

Most people on LinkedIn are very business minded or professionally going in. It's not like Instagram or YouTube, where you're going to just entertainment kind of thing unless you write Yeah, I don't know. It's like, I don't want to think I just want to laughs kind of thing. Yes, that's the biggest one. I've noticed with LinkedIn. It's like people that actually are on it to like, okay, like, this is business. I gotta be on still. And then once I'm off, I can I can slow down. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out the link to thing because I'm like, I post I have all these powerful connections, but I'm like, I'm just like, a night shift gender guy with podcasts. Like, I don't want to do anything interesting.

Unknown: 50:00

Have you do you do podcasts? That's there's a lot of people in the world that have the idea and haven't done it. Yeah. How that elevates you? Oh, for sure.

Josh Bolton: 50:11

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

Unknown: 50:18

Um, do you want me to give you the top level view of the ASCEND method? Yes. Okay. All right. So the Ascended method is I call it the six fundamentals are the foundational like skills and strategies that help a any individual, but largely professionals and business owners and business leaders, to really hone in on the fastest way to achieve greater productivity. So it's an acronym. So I'll go through the six components. So the A represents advocate for self. And that's really about how are you carving out time for yourself and taking care of yourself mentally, physically, you know, Mind Body Spirit, making sure, particularly for those who are in then entrepreneurial, are in that bootstrapping stage, that you are not compromising your own needs, your sleep, your nutrition, for the business, because that will lead to burnout, which will therefore lead to your business not making it. So advocating for yourself taking care of yourself, making sure that you know, you put your oxygen mask on you first before anyone else in the cabin. The S is about simplifying your focus, not trying to multitask all day long, not trying to have 100 irons in the fire at once. It is proven that when we can unite task that we will get things done more quickly, more accurately, more thoroughly. And unfortunately, we live in a world right now where it's so easy to multitask, because we're bombarded with information and people's needs and distractions. And so that's a muscle that has atrophied for a lot of individuals. So learning to singular focus, the C is about communicating boundaries, being empowered enough to tell individuals what you need, when you're available, you know, making sure that as you're starting a business, or if you're customer service based that that does not mean that you're available at any time to anyone that you're holding boundaries, and that you're making it clear how you can best serve the client, how you're going to communicate with your client, or if it's in a team situation, how you're going to support team, but not do the work for team. So making sure that you've got good boundaries in place that are healthy for both for all parties involved, right. But where am I a s c e V E is eliminating distractions and interruptions. This is as easy as turning off all of those pop up notifications, closing out your inbox, you know, working offline, not having the TV or the radio or podcasts on all the time. We spend so much time in input mode where we're listening and we're learning and we're consuming. And and we allow that to pull us in so many different directions, and not necessarily take the time to say what is most important to me, how can I close out some of the outside world so that I can move forward of my priorities so that I can complete you know, my project, and so that I don't have to jump every time I hear a sound a buzz or a you know, ping on our on our software. So eliminate those distractions and interruptions that you have control over. The end is about has it stands for navigating your priorities. This is about being proactive. You have to take time to plan your work. And then you go work the plan, right. We need to start each day knowing what's critical for us to spend our time on and what's maybe you know, nice to accomplish. If time allows making sure that at the beginning of the week or the beginning of the month, it's really clear what activities are going to have your greatest return on investment of time and energy. So making sure that you're not starting each day reactive, wondering, you know, what fires? Do I have to put out? What emails do I have to respond to starting out with a plan in place. And then the D is developing systems. So once you've got these personal habits and routines in place, then how do you start putting systems into place for your business systems are you know about being able to do things the same way, repeatedly, so that it starts to take less time you start doing it better, you're consistent from a customer perspective or a vendor perspective. It's predictable for those that you work with. And it helps to establish your brand. So developing systems that support the team, they support you, and ultimately, they support the business and the consumers of your product or service. So that is the ASCEND method. And that's what I walk my clients through on a personal level and then into their business.

Josh Bolton: 56:08

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

Unknown: 56:19

The statistic right now i have i Do you know, I every couple of months, I go through statistics that I use in my trainings and make sure that they're current and accurate. And the statistic used to be that the average American worker gets distracted or interrupted every 11 minutes. It is now every three minutes. If you think about an eight hour a day, and getting distracted about even if we said every five minutes, you know think that's like start, stop, start, stop, start, stop. It's exhausting. It's exhausting. It's exhausting for your body. And nobody can get quality work done in three to five minutes. Sparks, right. And a lot of that is our own doing, you know, just put the phone away, flip it up, you know, upside down Z, you can't see the screen,

Josh Bolton: 57:13

right? Like, obviously, like set your notifications, like if mom or sister calls. There's a priority. Yeah, but you don't need all the others. Yeah, they get the notification, everyone else has made a muted kind of thing.

Unknown: 57:25

Yeah, or, you know, like right now, like, I close my inbox, you know, I don't need to see. And if an email comes in for an hour that I'm in an important conversation, I'll go and respond to that later today. I'm not, you know, no one's life is hanging in the in the threads. I'm not on my inbox. So that's a really, that's a really, that's a big game changer. Most people don't realize how often it's happening until you start observing it. So that's a good, that's a good challenge to the listeners. Just as you know, throughout the rest of your day, pay attention to how many times you either your mind wanders, and that's kind of an internal distraction, or there's something in your environment that externally interrupts you and just start to pay attention to who can I can I minimize that one? Can I eliminate that one? If I go to a different part of the house or a different part of the office? Can I you know, get some more uninterrupted time? There's a lot that we can manipulate and reduce the the number of distractions and interruptions for sure.

Josh Bolton: 58:26

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

Unknown: 58:29

That's right. You can thank me later, or email,

Josh Bolton: 58:33

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

Unknown: 58:40

Great, I enjoyed our conversation. And I hope that I'm hope that there's some good golden nuggets in there that will help people be able to make some small changes for how they're running. They're running their day and run their life and finding a next level of productivity, because

Josh Bolton: 58:58

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

Unknown: 59:05

Well, personally, I'm gonna get interrupted by my children in about 10 minutes. So yeah,

Josh Bolton: 59:10

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

Unknown: 59:13

a seat. Thank you. Yeah, well, you sent me an email when the podcast is