Picture a high school reunion, but instead of the awkward small talk, it's a powerhouse conversation about reinventing oneself in the modern professional world. That's what unfolded when Tony Evans, an old peer of mine from the corridors of high school and now a supply chain maestro, joined me on Follow the Brand. We didn't just reminisce; we dissected the ever-evolving world of personal branding and its profound impact on career development. Tony's story is a testament to how my Personal Brand Strategy Program can be a game-changer, transforming one's professional path and setting it ablaze with newfound recognition and opportunity.
Navigating the tempestuous seas of supply chain management requires more than a compass; it demands a crew that's fully engaged and empowered. As we delved into leadership strategies, the conversation shone a spotlight on the importance of treating team members not just as gears in the machine, but as critical players—akin to a football team where everyone's role is indispensable. The pandemic threw us some curveballs, but it also taught us valuable lessons in resilience. From kaizen events to vendor scorecards, we uncovered the strategies that kept businesses afloat when the waters got rough, emphasizing the necessity of strong communication and proactive measures to steady the ship.
We wrapped up with a candid reflection on the sheer potency of a well-crafted personal brand. In a world where your reputation can precede you, understanding and showcasing your unique value isn't just beneficial, it's essential. Through success stories, we highlighted how aligning personal attributes with professional aspirations isn't just fanciful thinking; it's a strategic move that can catapult careers into the stratosphere. If you're looking to craft a brand that resonates and stands out, then this conversation will provide you with the blueprint to do just that. It's not merely about being recognized—it's about being unforgettable.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
Picture a high school reunion, but instead of the awkward small talk, it's a powerhouse conversation about reinventing oneself in the modern professional world. That's what unfolded when Tony Evans, an old peer of mine from the corridors of high school and now a supply chain maestro, joined me on Follow the Brand. We didn't just reminisce; we dissected the ever-evolving world of personal branding and its profound impact on career development. Tony's story is a testament to how my Personal Brand Strategy Program can be a game-changer, transforming one's professional path and setting it ablaze with newfound recognition and opportunity.
Navigating the tempestuous seas of supply chain management requires more than a compass; it demands a crew that's fully engaged and empowered. As we delved into leadership strategies, the conversation shone a spotlight on the importance of treating team members not just as gears in the machine, but as critical players—akin to a football team where everyone's role is indispensable. The pandemic threw us some curveballs, but it also taught us valuable lessons in resilience. From kaizen events to vendor scorecards, we uncovered the strategies that kept businesses afloat when the waters got rough, emphasizing the necessity of strong communication and proactive measures to steady the ship.
We wrapped up with a candid reflection on the sheer potency of a well-crafted personal brand. In a world where your reputation can precede you, understanding and showcasing your unique value isn't just beneficial, it's essential. Through success stories, we highlighted how aligning personal attributes with professional aspirations isn't just fanciful thinking; it's a strategic move that can catapult careers into the stratosphere. If you're looking to craft a brand that resonates and stands out, then this conversation will provide you with the blueprint to do just that. It's not merely about being recognized—it's about being unforgettable.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
Welcome to another episode of Follow the Brand. I am your host, grant McGaughan, ceo of 5 Star BDM, a 5 Star personal branding and business development company. I want to take you on a journey that takes another deep dive into the world of personal branding and business development using compelling personal story, business conversations and tips development using compelling personal story, business conversations and tips to improve your personal brand. By listening to the Follow the Brand podcast series, you will be able to differentiate yourself from the competition and allow you to build trust with prospective clients and employers. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make it one that will set you apart, build trust and reflect who you are. Developing your five-star personal brand is a great way to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. If you have any questions from me or my guests, please email me. At grantmcgaw, spelled M-C-G-A-U-G-H at 5starbdm B for brand, d for development, m for masterscom. Now let's begin with our next five-star episode on Follow the Brand. Five-star episode on Follow the Brand. Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Follow the Brand podcast. We dive deep into the stories behind the brands and the remarkable people who build them. I am your host, grant McGaugh, coming to you live from Omaha, nebraska. Now you might not know this, but back in my high school days I was known as Steve McGull, and it's very funny how life comes full circle, because today's guest is someone from those very days, tony Evans. Tony was the high school jock, mr Football, the guy everyone admired. But he's not just a former athlete, he is a mastermind in the world of supply chain and logistics. And what's even more exciting is that Tony recently went through a journey with my personal brand strategy program Personal Brand Strategy Program and he is here to share not only his expertise in supply chain, but also how reinventing his personal brand has opened new doors and brought fresh perspectives to his career. In today's world, where supply chain issues are more relevant than ever, especially post-COVID, tony's insights are invaluable. From information technology to retail, we have all felt the impact of delayed products and supply chain hiccups. But behind every product there is a complex journey, a story that Tony knows all too well. So let's dive into the world behind the scenes of supply chain and logistics and discover how Tony Evans transformed his personal brand to become a leader in this crucial field this crucial field. So stay tuned for a journey where every box has a story and every brand has a strategy. On the Follow Brand Podcast, where we are building a five-star brand that you can follow. Hello everybody and welcome to the Follow Brand Podcast.
Speaker 1:A lot of people ask me where I am from. I am from Omaha, nebraska. Like Omaha, nebraska. Where is that? Yes, it is in the Midwest.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't grow up around a bunch of cornfields. I live in a very urban area and one of those people that I grew up with that I remember from way back and the only person who has called me Steve yes, steve was my name in high school. He reminded me of this and I was like, who is Steve? Yes, I'm Graham McGaugh, but I was Steve McGaugh back in high school and Tony Evans, who we're going to talk to right now. Now, tony Evans was like, everybody remembers a guy like this. He was the high school job right, he's the Mr Football. He's going around with the varsity jacket and he just looked like he's got the world on his shoulders and that was my guy, tony Evans. I looked up to my guy. I love me some.
Speaker 1:Tony Evans, I've known him for a long time. We're talking 40 years in. He Tony Evans, I've known him for a long time. We're talking 40 years in. He is now in Las Vegas, he's gone through my personal brand strategy program and he wanted to talk to me about what he does from a supply chain and logistics leadership position. I thought this was a good discussion to have on the podcast because a lot of people came through COVID and they understood they couldn't get product. I was in that world. I was in IT, information technology. We couldn't get anything from a server to a chip to just about anything. Everything was shut down or very much delayed and it brought a lot of focus to what really happens behind the scenes in the supply chain, logistics and distribution world. So I want to introduce you to Tony Evans and allow him to kind of step us through some of these things. You want to welcome yourself, tony.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone. My name is Tony Evans, as Graham mentioned. I also am originally from Omaha, nebraska, now living in Las Vegas, nevada. I've been here for about 15, 16 years and my claim to fame is you know warehousing, you know supply chain, distribution, inventory, management. It's kind of my specialty in transforming processes or challenges into efficiencies or excellence, or challenges into efficiencies or excellence. So you know, it was a great opportunity to talk with Steve or Grant. I still use that because, again, you know we go way back and that's kind of how I know him as.
Speaker 1:So I can get away with that because I knew him back when that is so true and I respect that because it brought back so many different memories of that time frame of growing up and I really enjoyed my childhood. I thought it was very, very, very good and it was good for us to reconnect and you really educated me by behind the scenes, like talking to my kids about this. We think things just show up, you know, you go to Amazon, you click on them, but you know what I like this particular product and I want it on my door in two hours maybe, or a day or two days. We're just so used to this instantaneous way of getting things, not knowing behind the scenes there's a very intricate process of logistics and procurement, and so they call it supply chain and distribution. Help us understand how things really arrive at our doorstep.
Speaker 2:Well, you know again. You know it's forecasting, of course understanding what your products are, what the time span is between what. When you order something, how long is it actually going to take you to get it? Where is it actually coming from? Is it going to be from domestically, here, or is it going to be internationally? So that's kind of the big scheme of things, is actually getting the order stuff in, kind of. What I really want to talk about is when it actually hits the door. Why is that so important?
Speaker 2:And a lot of people, a lot of executives, they don't really care. You know, it's like a movie. Most people, all they want to do is watch the movie. They don't care how many outtakes there are, you know how many times you have to rerun the scene. All they want to do is sit down and watch the movie. And me I like to get behind the scenes and make sure that. You know this is all the work that goes into making the movie and this is all the work that goes into making sure that that end customer gets their product on time every time.
Speaker 2:And a lot of that again, once it hits the door, is being able to receive it in on a timely manner. Once you receive it into a specific location, it's making sure that it's in that location. There's so many times when an individual will go to a location the product is supposed to be there and it's not there. So inventory accuracy is extremely important. How you slot your inventory is extremely important. How you pick pack your inventory is extremely important. And you pick pack your inventory is extremely important and a lot of people they don't want to get into the roots of how that is done and there are a lot of ways of doing that. I believe that one of the most efficient ways of doing that again is having expectations, having the product where it's supposed to be, having the people you know, understanding that. You know these are the things that we need that we can control and have them control those things also and stuff. A lot of this is coming upon your ERP system. Some people are still believe it or not, in 2024 paper base, which kind of blows my mind. You know, at one point when I was with the company and the gaming company we started with, you know, a paper-based our inventory accuracy was only 24% inventory accuracy. So you go to that shelf expecting something. Wasn't there. So you know, incorporating daily cycle counts, incorporating technology that will drive you specifically to a location where, anytime you move something, there's some type of transaction. So it's not just picking something off the shelf and saying here you are and stuff. It's all about, again, making sure that there's a transaction which tracks that product from the shelf to the end customer. So you know, and there's a lot of methodologies that go into that you know, we do a lot of Kaizen events, which are process improvement events, and basically the fundamental principle behind the Kaizen is just to eliminate the waste.
Speaker 2:Principle behind a Kaizen is just to eliminate the waste, because it's not only important how you store your inventory, it's where you store your inventory. As an example, so just imagine this. In one of the Kaizen events we did so. Just imagine a supermarket, okay, and you're just looking at two aisles. One aisle is aisle one, one aisle is aisle two and you know what the distance is.
Speaker 2:So your most popular items, so your workers.
Speaker 2:They're walking up and down the aisle constantly and they're picking products.
Speaker 2:And in one of our Kaizen events it was like we actually tried one guy picking something. He actually walked almost a mile and a half just picking about 10 different items A mile and a half, picking 10 different items up and down the aisle, going back and forth, back and forth. So on a very high level, if you slot that inventory where all your high volume items are at the front instead of way in the back of the aisle, then just imagine you don't have to walk back to that aisle 10 different times. Everything's up front. You pick it, you pack it and then you ship it. So and that's eliminating waste, that's called eliminating travel time. You know reducing the travel time that a person spends. You know having to go back and forth and everything. So that's just one really high-level example of how you reduce waste, how you slot your inventory and making sure that again you're making it most efficient for the guys who are actually picking the product and then shipping the product in the same area as well.
Speaker 1:I like that. There's a process and a methodology behind everything and understanding. Now there is some new technology that's afoot and I saw this recently I think it was during last holiday season and they show like an Amazon warehouse where they've got robots actually going and picking the products, actually going and picking the products. And not only that, they were showing ways where you would think certain items would be placed and then these items are in different locations in the warehouse and because that maybe, to your point, that ties in how they would pick certain things and make sure certain things are available. So if you're on like a Walmart floor or a Kmart floor or something like that, it's easier to make things happen. But I want to really focus on do you think yourself robotics would be a benefit for certain warehouses or a detriment over time?
Speaker 2:benefit for certain warehouses or a detriment over time. Well, again, I think it's a benefit depending on your type of warehouse. There's different types of warehouses. Some people are very manual in their process and they haven't adapted to a lot of the new robotics, the AI information. A lot of their ERP systems are homegrown, so they don't have all the functionalities that one would like.
Speaker 2:The one ERP system that I'm very much accustomed to is Manhattan's warehouse management system, where it's more or less like the Cadillac of all ERP systems. So that's the one that I'm most familiar with. But you have Oracle, you have ShipHawk. There's a lot of different things that are the one that I'm most familiar with, you know. But you have Oracle, you have ShipHawk, you have a lot of. There's a lot of different things that are out there that are very good.
Speaker 2:So it really kind of adapts to what your business is and what your volume is, because volume plays a significant um, uh, important on the type of ERP system you have. If you're really high, high volume and you're putting out thousands and thousands of orders a day that you have to pick, then you know robotics is very important stuff, but if your volume is probably less than a thousand. You probably don't need to go that high end in terms of you know what your methodology is or what your picking process is. You don't probably need robotics. Amazon, you know they send out thousands and thousands of orders a day, so they have to be really, really efficient. They got conveyor systems, they got checkpoints. They have all kinds of things that are there. Some of the smaller processes or some of the smaller companies they're not at that level. These things are very costly. Also, you're going to have to gauge where you are within your process, what your volume is, what your forecast is, and then you have to scale your process to what that is.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about people. You are a people person. We are going through the process of developing your brand, which is phenomenal. I was very impressed with your background and you kept stating this over and over again. Like Grant, I am about people. It's about the people that actually do the processes to make things work more orderly, and I need to understand the people and what they're about and what's happening, because you know it can be in a stressful situation. You never know what's going on with you. Know life, as they say, life be life. Things happen with living things and help us understand, from a leadership perspective, how that you approach your department.
Speaker 2:Well. So my leadership is more of a servant leadership attitude. You know, I believe I'm there to serve the people. I am there to move the obstacles out of their way, making sure that they have the right tools in their toolbox so they can do their job. But along with that comes expectations as well. So it's making sure number one everyone understands what their role, what their responsibilities are, what our obligation to the customer is, from shipping out on time every time. So it's also about making sure that they have ownership of their process too.
Speaker 2:In a lot of cases, a lot of individuals or a lot of companies kind of look at people as just disposable assets, and I value people, so I don't look at them as that. My job is to you know again provide the tools necessary for them from a personal standpoint and also from a professional standpoint, getting them involved in a process, getting their buy-off on certain things. It's not just my way or the highway. You know it's like. You know what is your perspective on these particular things, and I know that you know a lot of companies. You know they don't feel that way. They just feel like you know this is the direction that we're going and you know you're going to do it my way and I just found that that is not necessarily the most productive and the most efficient way of getting the most out of individuals and stuff. I believe that, again, getting them involved, getting their buy-in uh, when we have these kaizen events you know they are very much a part of the process of changing it helps motivate them knowing that you know, when there's a cost savings or there's ways that they improve the process, that they were very much a part of that, that it was their ideal or their concept or they contributed to that concept. So to me, again, it's making sure that you have people who are engaged, and not just engaged, but also you have to make sure that they are in the right position.
Speaker 2:You know, I kind of attribute that to you. Know I coach a lot of little league football and you know everybody wanted to be the running back, everybody wanted to be the quarterback and you have to be realistic with them and say look, son, you're not quarterback material, you're more of a wide receiver, you're more of a running back. And even if you're not running back, it's like you need to understand what kind of running back you are. You're a slasher, you are just drive up the middle and stuff. So don't be out there trying to dance and everything. I need you to hit the hole. I need you to go. So it's putting people in the right positions to make them successful also, and being able to identify that and again help them build upon that. To me, that's very important.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent, tony. I wanted to be one of that, but they didn't put me in.
Speaker 2:You contributed in other ways.
Speaker 1:I got to be into the stands, I was out there, I was watching. Well, that was great. That was great. I want to talk about when you're in a room and you're talking to the other department head, and I know this happened during covid, where supply chain was the problem. The supply chain was fundamentally broken around the world. People just could not get product at all. Forget about on time. It just wasn't available during the covid time freeze, but I think it is. It spotlighted a lot of people and especially in your position, you had to have those hard discussions, either internally or even externally, with clients, letting them know when it's going to arrive. And here's the reason why how do you have those discussions, those hard-to fathom discussions, when people are very atypical and I want it now, I'm used to having it now then it's not going to be enough.
Speaker 2:Well, you know those were some very difficult times but during those times, you know, you still had your SLAs and, to be honest with you, the people really didn't care about what your reasons were. They didn't really care about the fact that, you know, stuff was stuck on boats out at sea or in the ports. They didn't really care about that. They wanted their stuff. And so, from a leadership standpoint, you know you had to be proactive, knowing that what was coming down the line so, if you're only looking six months out, and everyone knew that COVID was, you know this big, nasty thing that was coming and no one knew how long it was going to be. You had to have, you know, your main source and your secondary source, and what complicated that is. Everybody had to have that. And so, you know, everybody was at the peril of, you know, waiting for shipments to come in from, you know from wherever they were coming from. But you did your best in terms of, again, the orders that were coming in, was communicating that. You know we're still going to get these orders out. You know whether you had a six week or eight week lead time, you know, and that was from the gaming industry, you know. You know, it took us about six weeks to actually when the order came in for us to push an order out from the supplement industry, it was, you know, same day. So you had to make sure that you had the products on hand and stuff. And then you know, our, our, our procurement team did an excellent job of just, you know, in advance, procuring more than enough that what we actually needed. So we didn't really run into that particular type of issue because we had the foresight to know that again, a lot of our stuff was coming from overseas. So we again prepared for that. We overstocked a lot of it, which caused other problems in terms of how we're going to store it and where we're going to store it, but it was a good problem to have, in that particular circumstance, other companies.
Speaker 2:Again, you know, it's just. You know, one of the main things that most companies kind of fail or have issues with is forecasting. They don't forecast very well and I would say that's probably one of the main weak points in the supply chain is people don't necessarily forecast very well or they don't anticipate you know if there's going to be some kind of different sale that's coming on, or you know some new product introduction, or again, you know things like COVID can happen and stuff. So it's being able to look out. You know out far enough that you have the opportunity to recover. You have secondary and sometimes traditionary sources available to you, so you're always prepared and to me that's the key, is being always prepared, always looking, not looking behind you but looking in front of you and looking beyond that as well and stuff, other things that can come and you know, bite you.
Speaker 1:Man, I think this is so important and I understand, like we're going back to that technology discussion. There's things that are happening now and I don't know if you've been exposed to it or not, but you can speak to it just where you're at in your experience. I don't know if you've been exposed to it or not, but you can speak to it just where you're at in your experience. When you have things that are coming down like IoT, internet of Things, that you can track things more efficiently.
Speaker 1:Now with these QR codes, rfid trackers, there are new blockchain technologies to make sure that things can be traced so you kind of know where they're at, specifically in transit, these geospatial gps type systems, because you're dealing seriously with trains, planes, automobiles, because everybody where's my stuff, you know, so you gotta kind of know where it is, especially if it's coming from a foreign country, and where is it located. Sometimes a lot of people now they do have these systems. You kind of see where your, your things, are in transit. How is that changing the industry and how are you taking advantage of that?
Speaker 2:well, no, that's a very good question. So, um, it's having good partners, supply chain partners, partners, you know, trucking company partners, things of that nature and stuff. Because, again, the information is out there and it's all what you put into it and all what you expect and all what you demand. Because right now, you know some of the trucking companies that we work with, we have weekly and monthly meetings, we have shipments that we're expecting and if there's something wrong with those shipments we get automatic emails saying, hey, there's a storm, it's going to be delayed for X amount of days and stuff. So I get automatic updates all the time.
Speaker 2:So nothing is ever a surprise to me or anyone else that, hey, what happened to this? We were expected in on this particular day and if something is late, then we can make the adjustments and communicate up front that you know this may cause some issues, but you know we have some other stuff in reserve, kind of, you know, pushes you up to the edge and stuff. But again, it's information that's available. I think everybody should be using that type of information. If it's not in your supply chain, you should get in your supply chain because, again, you want to know every step of the way where your inventory is, if it's going to be delayed and the reasons for it's going to be delayed. You know, particularly during the winter months, particularly. You know, when you even look out, you know.
Speaker 1:Ready to elevate your brand with five star impact? Welcome to the Firebrand Podcast, your gateway to exceptional personal growth and innovative business strategies. Join me as I unveil the insider strategies of industry pioneers and branding experts. Discover how to supercharge your business development. Harness the power of AI for growth and sculpt a personal brand that stands out in the crowd. Transform ambition into achievement. Explore more at FirestarBDMcom for a wealth of resources. Ignite your journey with our brave brand blueprint and begin crafting your standout Firestar teacher today. We didn't have such a bad winter this year. Back out. Back your journey with our brave brand blueprint and begin crafting your standout five-star feature today you didn't have such a bad winter this year back out east and stuff.
Speaker 2:But I remember in days past when, you know, you had a lot of trucks coming from back east, you know, and they were stuck in the snow and stuff. So it was good to know that. You know the, the reasons why, when to expect it, so you can, you know, again, communicate that, moving forward to the necessary individuals and stuff. So everybody was, you know, on the same page, and that's what's very critical is just being on the same page In logistics and supply chain communication. Communication and over-communication is the key to success.
Speaker 1:Ah, so you've heard it from Tony. Now we're going to see. Now that's kind of like when you're playing a game we both love football right, you have a game plan. This is the plan. Everybody knows the plan. Every play you draw up goes for a touchdown. You play a little touchdown Because they're not saying you know what. There's this other thing on the field, that other team. There's always some resistance. There's always something that's going to upset the playbook of what's going to happen. I want you to help us Tell us a story and what you had. There were unseen challenges. They came on the scene that you had to do, something that was above and beyond, and you were able to have a successful outcome.
Speaker 2:So, for example, when I started working for this company called Designs for Health and it was a supplement company one of the things that we had issues with was we had an enormous amount of overtime, even though we were getting product out on time. It was a strain on everybody, particularly on Mondays and Tuesdays, because we worked Monday through Friday schedule, so when they would come in and we were a mid-sized company and so when we would come in, they would come in to you know, 700, 800 orders a day on Monday and Tuesday and then as the week went on, it kind of just trailed off into you know, maybe 300, 400 orders a day and stuff, and that was just that one location. We had multiple locations. So the problem was, again, we were more of an e-commerce company and those orders came in on the weekends also, but we were only working Monday through Friday. So one of the things that we were that I did was just change the schedule and you know, of course there was consternation when I when that happened because we went through a seven day work week.
Speaker 2:But the beauty of that was is that some people got to work a four day, a four, four-day, you know, four-day, 10-hour workday. So you had a Sunday through Wednesday, a Wednesday through Saturday and then you had the Monday through Friday and so basically you had coverage the entire week, so being able to do that and no one thought it was going to work. And again there was a lot of rumbles and grumbles and things of that nature and stuff. But they found out that number one when they came in on Mondays and Tuesdays it was just another day Because they didn't come in to 800, 900 orders and stuff. They came in to standard orders, you know, 400 or 500 orders all week long and everything. So that was a comfort to them that they didn't dread that.
Speaker 2:You know they didn't dread that because, because again we had people working the weekends, we leveled out the workload, we streamlined you know again do a lot of other different Kaizen's. We made it a lot more efficient or more sustainable and you know everybody was happy about it. You know some people were working there, you know again, only four days a week, even though it was 10 hours a day to them. That was a payoff for them to have that extra day off.
Speaker 2:And some people just like to work in the Monday through Friday, so they maintain their you know their five day work week, eight hours a day, the overtime actually disappear and you know, we were a lot more profitable, we were a lot more. The people were a lot more happy, just from again, just making a change, that sometimes people are against change, but change is for the good and I would always encourage everybody to embrace change. Don't be scared of change because, again, that is one of the things that you know can drive success and you know, in doing so, bring the people along. Let them communicate to them what's happening and why it's happening and how it's going to benefit them in the long run.
Speaker 1:That's a great story, and you had to talk to your senior management, so there's a lot at stake there. When you're moving things around, it's your resource. You had to get in there, talk through all of that. Now, were you doing financial projections? I mean, how did you sell that to the company to get them to buy?
Speaker 2:it. Well, they've been looking for something because again, they knew that they were struggling also and they didn't know how or why it couldn't happen. They didn't know how to do it or no one came up with a solution of how to do that. So again, when I came in, you know, just basically, again I think one of the things that one of my superpowers is being able to look at a process, identify what the problem is and then fix the problem. So it wasn't so much that it had to be sold to anybody, it was just like, hey, we're glad that somebody has at least an ideal that we can at least try and attempt and everything. And along with that again the projections of reduced overtime, the cost savings of that, and actually we were able to do more with less as well. Man, yeah, and then we'll allocate those other resources to other aspects of the business where we didn't necessarily have to hire anybody. We just filled them with, again, reallocating resources. So it was a win-win across the company big time.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a big feather in your cap. But you saw the company big time. Well, that's a big feather in your cap. But you saw the company dilemma and you came in and did what you needed to do. You saw the problem, you saw how you could solve it and you try, you roll the dice and look, we can do this standard schedule, we get people on board. But you had to have buy-in. You can't just do it all by yourself. Everybody's got to buy-in on this and then execute on the idea and at the end of the day you see better employees, better drop to the bottom line and it seems like a happier workplace to be in. So I think that's great.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know, when a day becomes just another day, that's a beautiful day. Simple as that.
Speaker 1:There you go. You said it In the supply chain world you don't like to have those upsets when things go differently, but I understand things happen. You power locations. Now you said something I want our audience to understand You're managing not just one location. A lot of times you've got locations in other parts of the country, possibly in another country of itself. How do you, as the department head, understand? Because you have different situations in different locations and you have to solve them in different ways. How does that work?
Speaker 2:Well, so, yeah, so you know, I've been responsible for multiple warehouses in multiple locations, domestically and internationally. And again it's the communication, it's making sure that everybody understands what the message is, what the singular message is, what the expectation is, and then making sure that, again, everybody's on board with that, and then you're holding people accountable for that, and I think that accountability is the core to success as well. You have to set the standard, you have to, you know, try to, you know, exceed the standard also.
Speaker 1:But again, it's making sure that everybody understands what that is.
Speaker 2:And then you know, you have your daily, weekly, monthly meetings with everybody.
Speaker 2:You establish what your metrics are, which is extremely important because that's going to tell you how healthy your business is. If you don't have metrics, you need to develop metrics your on-time metrics, your inventory, accuracy metrics there's all kinds of metrics that are out there and stuff that a company should governor itself by. So you know exactly and you share that not just with yourself, but you share that with them also. You know you put boards out portable boards out there, so it's rarely available, so everybody can see how well that they're doing. You know, in the past a lot of companies wanted to keep a lot of that information to themselves, but to me it's important for the people to understand exactly how they're doing, how they're being measured and being able to see on a daily basis, on an hourly basis if I'm going to have to do overtime are we hitting our goals, are we not hitting our goals? And they take ownership of that and they take pride in it to make sure again that they're hitting those daily metrics also.
Speaker 1:Let me ask some of my supply chain people. They're going to want me to ask because other departments affect. Supply chain meaning like procurement, and what I mean by that is that let's say you had a certain product that you had been sourcing for a long time and it's been working great. You knew the scheduling and you had a relationship with the vendor of choice. And then all of a sudden you find out that someone else is now choosing a different vendor. We're going to go a different way. You may or may not know about that particular choice, so it's a whole new package and you got to start all over. And all of a sudden now you realize they dropped the ball. I mean they they're not very good in their communication, they're not look very good on on their shipments. They're they, they're just very unreliable. How do you now have those hard discussions to let people know what the situation is?
Speaker 2:Well, you know they can be hard, but they don't have to be hard. So, again, when you're establishing you know vendor relations, you know there should be a scorecard and as long as you're, you know holding them accountable to the scorecard, there's not much to say. If they're not, you know measuring up, you just say this is a scorecard. You know they're not giving me my stuff on time. You know they've fallen below this threshold. We need to do something about this. So the results speak for themselves. So it's not something that you have to get and you have to, you know, start banging hands with anybody.
Speaker 2:It's a matter of, again, this is the company, this is the company objective, these are the goals that we set for our vendors, these are our expectations. Are they meeting them or are they not meeting them? And if they're not meeting them, then again the results speak for themselves. And then you have to make the necessary adjustments and have that conversation with the vendor and saying, look, you know, this is what our contract says. You're not living up to the contract. So you know, this is what we're going to do. Either put them on probation, start sourcing from somebody else and generally, again, when you have that vendor, a customer vendor relationship and they understand that you know things. Or customer vendor relationship and they understand that things usually work out well and stuff. So it reduces any confrontation that one might perceive. That's necessary because, again, communication, understanding what the expectations are, and everyone is on the same page.
Speaker 1:I like that you set the expectations early Now. If you're going to do business with us, here is the criteria, here's the process, here's our scoring arrangement. This is what we're looking at and if you don't meet these metrics, these are the steps that could be taken. So you know all this up front, the steps that could be taken. So you know all this up front. So there should not be any angst around communication, because it speaks for itself. I've heard you say a couple of different things tonight, as we have spoken around leadership, around measurement and around accountability. I like those things and it shows that you look at things from a whole holistic view and that you can now manage from a very secure point because you know exactly where, from the beginning to the end. This is how we started the discussion. You're writing a book. I want the audience to know that. Tell us just a little bit, first of all, about that book and why it was important for you to write it.
Speaker 2:So the book is called I'm glad you brought that up the book is called If this Box Could Talk, and it's kind of centered around some of the conversations that we're having now, whereas, again, people don't understand or appreciate how a box actually gets to them. They don't care about the movie. I mean, yeah, they don't care about what it takes to make a movie, they just want to sit down and watch the movie. So it's the same thing if this box could talk. What are the intricacies of how do we get this box to the customer on time every time? How do we pick it? How do we pack it? Get this box to the customer on time every time, how do we pick it? How do we pack it? How do we make sure that you know we're using the most efficient way of shipping it to the customer? So the book just kind of goes into the details of how that process is from.
Speaker 2:You know, again, if you have a traditional warehouse or if you have a manual warehouse. Or if you have a manual warehouse, well, if you have a very automated warehouse, you know using dashboards. You know using. You know going paperless.
Speaker 2:You know using handhelds that will, basically all you need to do is to scan and it's going to tell you, it's going to take you to each location in an orderly fashion and stuff making sure that your inventory is slotted in a manner that you know I'm not having to go up and down the aisle five or six times because you know my top one or 200 items are, you know, right here in front of me and all I have to do is just pick it, turn around and you know, give it to the guy to ship it out the door. So you know those are the things that are very important and stuff and that's kind of what the book is about is, again, how do we be as efficient as possible, how do we make sure that it's sustainable? And then again, you know it's not just living and resting on today's roles, but how do we get better tomorrow, and stuff also.
Speaker 1:That's very important. I like that. We're going to definitely have you and I think you'll probably be out next year. We'll get the audience to take a look at that. I'm sure it'll be available on Burns and Noble and things of that nature.
Speaker 2:Y'all can look up Tony C Evans, the Tony Evans way, the Tony C Evans way.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:I like that. Transforming challenges into excellence, that's it.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to go back to. You went through this process. I want you to tell the audience what you feel you gained out of working with me over these last four weeks for personal brand development, and kind of what you were thinking before you started a program and how the outcome came on the other side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, again we go way back and know, um, I was, you know, seeing you on on linkedin and I said, you know, I'm just gonna reach out to grant and uh, you know, just see what he's all about and everything. And you know, I was kind of unsure because, you know, you got a lot of people that are out there, you know, kind of selling their services and things of that nature and stuff. So you know, some are just in it for the dollars, some offer a good product, some may not offer it as a good product. So when I started talking to you number one, I trust you, so because you go out again, we go way back and as the process began and everything, it was a very, it was very intuitive, you know, it was very, it was very detailed. You know, I thought that you offered something that you know. Number one, you wanted to get to know me, uh, what was important to me? You know what I felt was, or how I felt about, uh, you know, the business. I thought about myself, how I felt about my career, where it was going.
Speaker 2:Um, and you know, and again talking to you, I guess I didn't really have a brand. I had an ideal but I didn't really have a brand and you know, going through your process and everything and answering a lot of very intuitive questions and stuff, and then letting your team do what they do, uh, we put out a product that was, you know, I was kind of blown away. Uh, you know, you asked me to write a story about myself and I thought it was pretty good. But then when you came back and you kind of, you know, kind of listen to what I said, kind of read what I did, when you read it back to me, your version of it, you know, I was blown away. You know, my wife was in the background. She said who are you talking about? My wife was in the background. She said who are you talking about? You know.
Speaker 2:So you know, it was very, it was very, again, very intuitive, it was very accurate and I'm very, you know, happy that I went through this process and everything, because I think that you and your team did an outstanding job. I would recommend it to anybody and everybody who's out there listening and stuff that you know, when you look at again the product that you give, you know the profile, I think a lot of people will be amazed of. You know, number one how marketable they are using your system, your process, your intelligence, your knowledge of you, know what you've been doing for you know quite some time and everything, and you know, I am 100% confident, that they will be thrilled that they chose you as well.
Speaker 1:I 100% agree with that, of course, but I'm a little biased. The thing I like about working with you and I've seen this in other clients or potential clients just people in general, they don't know their value in the marketplace. They might have a certain idea like an employer is going to pay you what they can afford to pay. That doesn't necessarily mean that's your value. And when you work with me, I'm going to look at your value on a national scale. What is your value on a national scale with the skills that you have?
Speaker 1:Remember, the first thing we went through was a skills gap analysis. Let's look at who you are in your tenure, your skill set, what you're able to do, and then pair you up with others in your field you may or may not know in the nation and see how you scale up, whether you're going to be someone that's at the same level as you, someone's a level down or someone a level up or two levels up. And then what do you need to do to scale up? And you, when you saw that, I could see that like yeah, okay, I was thinking that, yep, you know what you validated some of those things.
Speaker 1:Yep, you know what I need to showcase some of these other things and I didn't, wasn't doing it. You know what. You had your resume, you had your cv and some other things. But now you're bringing it all together because now you understand what it looks like at a competitive level on a national scope, and then you see where you rest and some people realize I just didn't realize I was that valuable to another organization that doesn't have the experience Like well you kind of alluded to. You came into that one organization and you were able to solve their problem because you understood it right off the bat.
Speaker 2:So for the right fit, right organization you're ideal and when you understand that you can go a long way, absolutely, and I think what a lot of people will gauge from this also is, you know, you have a lot of people who are very intelligent out there and they do a lot of business and they understand the business and you know, like me, you know we do SWOT analysis and things of that nature from a business perspective, but I never thought about doing it for myself and that's one of the things that you did. But I never thought about doing it for myself and that's one of the things that you did, and I was, like you know, I never really equated doing a business analysis to a personal analysis. And you brought all that together and everything. And I thought that that was really dynamic because it exposed a lot of my characteristics that, again, that were more or less hidden or I wasn't using to its fullest potential, and you brought a lot of that potential out.
Speaker 1:I like that. And then you got to colors and remember we went through the brand archetype.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:You get the many phases of Tony. I encourage anybody that's interested in the personal brand I call it the Brave Brand Blueprint Strategy, especially for personal branding I do it for businesses as well is that you will get a good in-depth study. You're going to get a step-by-step process in which you can elevate your brand over the next however you want to institute. I always say the biggest problem I had with clients they don't implement. You've got to do the work and you know that, as coach happens. Like you know, the football ain't going to move itself.
Speaker 2:No, that's true that you know there's. You know a lot of people want to be able to. You know things handed to them and the roadmap is handed to you. You just have to follow the roadmap and do the work also and stuff. So there's still some work that I need to do, so but I'm definitely further along than I would have been without you. So I definitely appreciate your efforts, you and your team. I think you've done an outstanding job. It's a fantastic product and again, I would recommend you to everybody that sees this and listens and stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, I thank you, tony and the audience. How do they get in touch with you, especially the people out there that have supply chain issues Like I need Tony Evans on my team. How do they? Get in touch with you.
Speaker 2:Uh, so again, you can follow me on my LinkedIn. Just look up Tony C Evans and stuff on LinkedIn and stuff. Or you know my email address, tcevans at 912 at yahoocom. So those are the best ways to reach out to me.
Speaker 1:Excellent, excellent, and your audience can reach out to me at 5 Star BDM, that is, the number 5 at Star S-T-A-R B for brand D, for development and for masterscom. This has been wonderful, tony. Can't wait to see you again, hopefully in Omaha, nebraska.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Omaha day, omaha day.
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