The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
Small Business Owners Get the Shaft: How to Fix Your Company Culture | Skot Waldron
Skot Waldron shares how business leaders can transform their company culture by focusing on intentional leadership and internal brand development before external marketing. He explains that effective culture-building creates environments where people feel valued and motivated from within rather than being micromanaged.
• The distinction between managing people versus leading them—people want to be led, not managed
• How company culture is "the air you're breathing" and exists whether you're intentionally cultivating it or not
• Small businesses often "get the shaft" from marketing agencies selling superficial solutions without strategic foundations
• Replacing employees costs 1.5-2.5 times their salary, making culture investment financially sound
• The importance of intentional mentorship programs for retaining younger generations
• "Don't light fires under people, light them inside them" as a leadership philosophy
• Skot's book "Unlocked" provides a 52-week framework for developing intentional leadership
• Every interaction creates either a "brand deposit" or "brand withdrawal" with your team
• Leaders should consider how people will think and talk about them 20 years in the future
To learn more about Skot's speaking, coaching, and leadership development programs, visit his website or connect with him through his social media channels.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/skotwaldron
skotwaldron.com
We'll get to your stuff later, you know. So I guess the dam it dolls not a good thing to pull out when somebody's talking to you and they say something stupid and you start slamming the desk. No, that is actually good. So no, Scott, do not no, it is. Do not feed the beast. The dammit doll I was gonna say well noted in the company because they said we have got to save more trash cans. We need to get Chris something else. And next thing I know, I walk into the office on my desk is a damn doll. Well, you know what? He is the president of Neri. I'm just well there if you guys know this. Uh also published author. I'll just wrap it up real quick. And uh and I know John Maxwell's guy who worked for Atlanta at one point doing something for him, but I worked at a guy's house. So there you go.
SPEAKER_01:So we've we've got to give him something to cope, is all I'm saying, right? We need a lot of things. He's he's so important. We really need to make sure he's taken care of. That's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good one, though. Uh so damagel, not bad. Good, not bad. That's all I heard. Scott hates Chicago. Scott says small business owners get the shaft. Let's go, hoorah, let's go. Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls, and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari to get you to know. Hey everybody, podcast land. We're ready to rock and roll. Got this don't check sounds. Good. And I'm like, great. And we're not going to tell you what happened right before this, but yeah, Chris done. Fucked it up again, Alan. And I got the sound right because Scott was genius enough to say, hey guys, I think you don't have your mics working. And sure enough, we don't. Same stuff, different days. Here we go. Chris, you you master of technology. You'd hit the dump button so you could tell me to FO and he heard it. I know. I know. That was good. So we won't be playing that episode, everybody. So we're going to try this episode. So, hey, everybody, how's your week going? Well, it was going really good until I did all that. I'm going to promise you that one right now. But I do got to talk about uh one of the guys who called in uh off the podcast, Custom Integrated Solutions, man. I had these guys call in and say, Hey, uh, or you contact me through email, like you all can, Chris at the trusted toolbox.com. I'll give you 30 minutes. We'll talk. And he says, Hey, I listen to the podcast, love what you're saying. Can we uh jump on a call? And I'm like, Yeah, man. I said, I get on the call with him. I'm like, dude, I can't find your website. I'm like, what do you guys do? He goes, Oh, yeah, we haven't gotten around to doing that. And so I jump right into coach mode. Oh, you know, you don't have a website, man. I said, How long have you guys been at this? He goes, 30 years. I'm like, oh, yeah, coach. You were gonna get all mastermind group on him, and he just schooled you. He pulled it on your pants over. I am so jelly with these guys, man. They got an awesome business. What they do is they work with ultra wealthy clients in Southern California and put in integrated A V solutions in these people's homes. And all of their all of their uh work comes from referrals, not one advertising thing whatsoever. Uh I can see why you're jealous. I am so jealous. Are you gonna get into the uh trusted A B toolbox? I I can't. I want I want nothing but high-end people who just give me blank checks, like we're about to ask Scott for. Yeah, by the way, Scott, you will get to talk. No, but yeah, hold that. I don't need to, dude. I that's good.
unknown:It's good.
SPEAKER_00:So you're we gotta invitation precede you. That's right. Uh so we jumped on this one really quick because we've got Scott Walder and everybody. I'm feeling unlocked, unhinged. He unlocks everything around the world for your culture and your business. But Alan says, Man, I'm really looking forward to talking to this guy today. And yes, you guys, you'll all hear from him in a minute, but you got to hear how I met this dude. He was at the Nary cutting edge event, which I'm the president of Nary. What role do you play at Nary? I am the president. Yeah, I'm curious. Thank you. I'm glad you guys asked. Uh not only am I this is gonna be fun, Scott. I feel uh you know, kindred spirit of finally I will have two on one versus Chris. Oh no. All right, I'll take it. You know what? Because I could be extra. I don't know. You're a little extra. Yeah, it's extra. One of my sons, colleagues, the kid from school, said that uh, hey, my uncle has met your dad in Michigan. He goes, Yeah, he remembers him being a little extra, kind of an asshole, but kind of funny. I'm like, Yeah, I'll take it all up. So we get into this. I'm doing the Nary event, neary event's over. Uh Scott's walking out. Somebody says, Have you met Scott? I said I didn't. He was one of our speakers. Oh, thanks for doing that. And uh they say, Oh, he's got a book too. I'm like, Oh yeah, you got a book? Great. I got a podcast. I said, You got to come on my podcast. He goes, Great, I got a book, I'll come on your podcast. And the elevator doors close. Boom. And here we are today, open. Open the elevator doors' favorite networking event ever. Yeah, it was favorite shit. Three times speed, yeah. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Which which net which network which event was it?
SPEAKER_00:This is the Nary cutting edge event, I believe. Oh, aren't you are you do you are you doing something with that? Did you did I mention did I mention that uh not only am I the president of Larry Nary Atlanta, but I'm on the national board. Oh high-end remodelers who do great work, Scotty. Thanks so much. Is it president a big deal? I I don't I don't know. Or did there other titles? Well, funny enough, I actually lobbied to move it to SAR, and they said no. Supreme leader, and I said, Do I get do I get to have a crown and a scepter? And they said no. Emperor is a cool title. I am Emperor of Neri. Can I do that? Please kiss the ring. The Emperor's now start of the room. Thank you. All right. Throw him up.
SPEAKER_01:Is that what you were doing? Because I did see the throne in there. I didn't know if that was gonna be like used by you or if like what was going on with that.
SPEAKER_00:I I thought the security guards were gonna keep you away from me, but no. I you know, I'm like, where'd they go? I I'm I'm I'm empty, I could get shot here. I mean, I could be John Lennon, I could go down, somebody protect the king.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you had to fire those guys, they did not do a good job.
SPEAKER_00:Scott, all right, Scott Waldron's here, guys. We have got to get into this. Scott, you should let him talk because he's kind of a big deal. He actually is a way bigger deal, I know. And guys, go check this out. We're gonna give you all the stuff and the details here. Um, he's a speaker, he's an author, he's got his own podcast. He actually is a business owner, so he knows what you're going through and what you're dealing with. And we're excited to have Scott Waldron on here, a fellow Atlantin, but had decided not to come in here in person. And he missed out on the bourbon smashes or just I did, but I do have a bottle of water. Yeah, that's close to cool stuff. So, Scott, welcome to the show. Before we get into it, I really got to know how did you get to this position? Because I looked at your your LinkedIn profile. It's some pretty interesting stuff you did early on. And uh, and to get to this, uh talk about your arc and your career.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was the uh the artsy fartsy kid in high school, right? So I loved music, I loved, I played music, I was in lots of bands growing up, and and I loved skateboarding, I loved the art scene, I did a lot of photography growing up, and I don't know, I was that kid, right? So I did a lot of that. Um it's the girls that way. Well, yeah, I did.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, and so modest. He was trying to go, uh uh yeah. No, you gotta see that look on YouTube, folks.
SPEAKER_01:It did happen. So the uh I I just I went to Georgia State. I went there for music industry because I wanted to actually make money doing the art thing because it was like a practical too, right? I wasn't getting good enough to be like a musician that was gonna crush it. So I go to do music industry and I said, Wow, this is not my jam. This takes all the love out of music for me. It's all kind of dirty and kind of backstabbing and whatever. So I was like, uh, I'm not doing that. So then I actually went to Switzerland for a couple of years. I lived there and I talked to a lot of people and I learned Swiss German, and I did. So if any of you guys know Swiss German, we can talk whatever afterwards.
SPEAKER_00:Between German and Swiss German. I mean, um, probably the biggest question. Great, quick question.
SPEAKER_01:Do you want to hear? Do you want to hear the difference?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, this is my perfect example. I'm gonna say I left the wheelbarrow outside. Okay. Regular German, please correct me, Germans, if I'm wrong. Each habit is Schubladen Draussenglassen. Okay, each habited uh Schubladen Drausseglassen. Swiss will say e called Golret Druseglossa. Oh, good lord, that's very different. Oh my god, that's way different. It's a little bit like Swedish chef, kind of, you know? It's like hurdy, hurtdy, hurry, hurt, so yeah, so that's it was different. It's different, and it's not written, it's not a written language. So the Swiss love it was because the Germans don't really understand them, but they understand the Germans, and it's it's a whole thing. Anyway, I went there, came back, and I said, uh, I'm gonna try the art thing, but I still want to make money. So get a theme here. Music want to make money, art now. I want to make money. I was like, I'm gonna not connect. No, they well, yeah, they do graphic design. I was like, ah, I'm gonna do that. I had a friend in advertising, another friend that was doing some web stuff, and he's like, You gotta go to this art school. So in Buckhead, there's a a school there, it was the portfolio center of the time, Miami Ad School now. And I went there for two years and um got recruited for an uh during my eighth quarter. It's a two-year program to go to Chicago and work at an agency, global agency up there. So worked up there for seven years, was cold.
SPEAKER_00:That was yeah, he actually finished in two years. That was eight quarters. Thank God it wasn't a three-year program because you were out of fingers.
SPEAKER_01:I just no you are you. I saw you counting, man. I saw you counting. Um, so went up there, cold, poor. Um, it's by the way, Illinois' kind of ugly, y'all. I'm just saying. Okay. Just say it. As a guy, I'm just saying banana. Chicago is one of the coolest cities on this I've ever been to. And it's one of my favorite cities ever. It's just born in the it was just it's just built in one of the crappiest places in the country. So I'm just gonna say that. People are gonna argue with me all day, whatever. So we said we're Walgreens. What's that's the only quote you're gonna put on this, aren't you? That's it.
SPEAKER_00:Chicago is the worst city ever, as a guy from Detroit. Yes, of course I am.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there you go. There you go. Um, so anyway, that says Chicago sucks. She got endorsed, right, by me. There is a um, so we got pregnant and we're like, you know what, we're gonna move back to Atlanta where we're from, our family's here, we don't want to raise our kids here. So we moved back to Atlanta, became managing partner of that firm. I started our Atlanta office and built that up to a small agency size, about eight people, and was like, you know, I don't like all this payroll. And so I said, This is a lot of pressure, this is a lot of whatever, right? And that was just eight people. Some of you out there have 30, 40, 50, 100. I don't know how many people you have, but it's a lot of pressure. And I was just like, I don't know, like, I don't know if I really want to carry this on. So did that, built it up. Meanwhile, I'm doing a lot of speaking. I'm starting my speaking career. Um, I'm getting out there and doing some promotion for the company for the company. Also, I'm also talking a lot about brand strategy, talking about social media strategy. I'm talking about developing your personas and doing all the things that represent your brand and your company. Um here was my little aha moment, right? Small businesses, I think they get the shaft when it comes to marketing agencies. Okay. I was like, this, I because I was talking to a lot of smaller businesses at chambers and and local events, and I said, What are you all doing for like your brand strategy work? And they're like, Oh, I don't know what that is. I just need a logo, a Facebook page, and a website, and I'm just good. And I'm like, No, not really. That marketing agency just wants you to do that, and they're just gonna crap something out for you so that then they can charge you some kind of ridiculous retainer for things you don't know what you're paying for. Like it's called SEO or whatever you want to call it, and um it's and they're probably doing garbage work for you, but you don't know, so you just kind of keep paying them this retainer fee.
SPEAKER_00:You're a hundred percent right about that.
SPEAKER_01:You am I?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, oh yeah. Do y'all feel my pain? You know you are. I say it's 98%, right? You know, I'm not kicking them all 100, but yeah, no, I'm pretty thank you. And yeah, the keep me humble, man.
SPEAKER_01:I'm a German critic in keep me humble, Chris. Yeah, so I I started with German critic, I'm the German critic. That's right. I started, I started to be a little bit. I'm trying to like fight for the I'm fighting for the for that that entrepreneur, that startup guy, that that person that's like building his companies, he is mortgaging everything he has to start this company and go out on a limb. He's leaving his corporate life to start this company. And I'm like, gosh, you guys, like there's so much more out there. So, anyway, there's so I'm starting to consult them more and coach them more. And I was like, this coaching thing is awesome. I ran into another um now colleague of mine who was speaking at the same event. He was doing more leadership kind of coaching and speaking, and I was doing some brand strategy work there. And he goes, Hey, you want to trade me? You can bring join one of my leadership cohorts, but I need some brand strategy work for my stuff. And I was like, Okay, that's cool. I know about this leadership stuff. I worked with John Maxwell for a number of years and branding a lot of his products and that there, but that's a great name.
SPEAKER_00:He just slid it in. Is that how you do that? Is that what he did? Yeah, you didn't think Chris, you need to take a note on that. I know when you say I'm president of Neri, you normally pause for the applause, for the applause. He just he just kind of rolls and just drops John Maxwell in the fast.
SPEAKER_01:Like say it really fast.
SPEAKER_00:So he's doing some work for John Maxwell, and then that's right. Oh I know I like how he did that. But but by the way, isn't John Maxwell was I mean, it was when he was here in Atlanta, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, he he still kind of is he's he's in Florida, he's in Florida. That's he has that house in Florida, but I mean it's um, but he he's up here sometimes, but he doesn't do as much. Mark Cold does a lot with the John Maxwell company and running a lot of that stuff now.
SPEAKER_00:And when I first started the business, though, one of John Maxwell's uh one of his employees lived here in Atlanta. We worked for him. Yeah, I thought John was uh located here in Atlanta, I guess. So are you trying to drop John Maxwell? Because you know you did something. I'm just doing six degree separation dry wall for John Maxwell. So I'm telling Scott that we have common people in common. We do. I feel so much John Maxwell's guy who worked for him in Atlanta.
SPEAKER_01:I am so I feel so connected to you, Chris, right now. Like, dude, elevator, John Maxwell. What else can we say here?
SPEAKER_00:It all comes to the case. We're gonna find all we're gonna find. Oh, it goes in, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but I was like, I I know about this leadership. I'm a creative agency guy. I don't really need that. My people love me, it's all good. Well, I joined this cohort two months later. I said, I am probably one of the worst communicators, like when it comes to like interpersonal stuff. Like, I think I'm like my people really like me and I like them and chummy chummy, and my clients like me a lot, but I figured I found out that I'm not great at communicating. I was helping companies communicate, but I personally, as a leader, wasn't great at it. So changed my life, my whole perspective. So I started shifting a lot of what I did to what I call internal brand development. External brand development is sales marketing, whatever you do outside. And I said, clients, if you want me to do your external brand stuff, I have to first do the internal brand stuff. I'm gonna work with your leaders, I'm gonna work with your teams, I'm gonna work with cohesiveness in time internally, because you can't be healthy on the outside if you're unhealthy on the inside, right? We learn that through health and all kinds of other things, right? And we can fake it for a while, but it's eventually going to bring us down. So college football is what went through my mind.
SPEAKER_00:You gotta get a recruit your own team. I mean, oh you know, I thought about when you had it when when things aren't going right, college football. I'm like, yeah, I'm with Saturdays, I'm running Sundays. I mean, everyone's well, you got to continually recruit your own team. You know, it used to be you had your you had your players, you had them for four years, and now you got your players, and you're hoping to keep them for one. That's a great point. Yeah, that's yeah, yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_01:That is interesting. I never thought about that. That's really smart. All right.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? I often take Alan's ideas and make them my own and tell him about them back. I'm like, Alan, I got a great idea.
SPEAKER_01:He goes, You should just here's what you should do. You should mic, you should mute Alan's mic when he says something, just repeat it back like you're active listening, and then you're saying it into the mic, and nobody can really hear what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00:So you know, uh, you know, Alan Facts had something going here. Well, Alan, he because he listens to all of our podcasts, everybody. Alan does the check. So I can't uh pull one over on him, but I I guarantee you the reason he's doing that is because he's trusting but verifying that I didn't just like take him out of the entire episode.
SPEAKER_01:I I love it, I love it. Those are the high levels of trust here.
SPEAKER_00:Developing our team, I love that idea. You take your outward because that's I mean, you do you got an internal market. I mean, this is um this is good stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Let's yeah, I mean, your your external brand, people focus so much on recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. And then once we get in, we underestimate the impact of how much our culture will destroy or enhance that relationship. We kind of like to got them in, get them onboarded, give them the the handbook, you know, the PDF, whatever, let them read through it, you know, train them for a day, and then we're like, people aren't loyal anymore. Then then like we wonder what's going on, right?
SPEAKER_00:Um, you are so right. I I don't understand why people put such a good foot forward when they're recruiting, and then the second the person's in, then they then they become the Medusa that they are. You know, it just drives me crazy. You're talking about the leader of the company, just the even the culture. Yeah, let's let's uh I mean that's one of the big things Scott talks about. Let's talk about culture and what it is. I think a lot of people we talk about it, we talk around it a lot. I don't know if a lot of people can have concrete what that means because I've said this before. You have a culture in your company, whether you know it or not, and whether you're cultivating it or not, your culture is sitting there, so you better understand what it is. Yeah, and there's no one definition of culture. So, Scott, how how do we do this? How do we define our culture? How do we how do we make it good?
SPEAKER_01:And what do you do I'm I'm gonna say right now, it's um company culture is it's the air you're breathing, right? It people don't necessarily pay attention to it because it's just always there and you have it, whether you know it or not, and whether you're working on it or not. It's it's how work like feels on the inside, uh, unwritten rules, shared behaviors, things we allow versus disallow, values we set, not the five that are on your break room poster of an eagle. Like it's like mindset. It's like it's how people show up, how they interact, how they make decisions, and it's all of that stuff that we kind of say that's the soft stuff. We don't we don't we don't do much with the snow. I mean, the soft stuff is the soft stuff. We gotta do the hard stuff, right? Well, the soft stuff is the hard stuff because that is the stuff that causes people to leave the companies that they work for. Um, and then we just chalk it up to well, we don't have time for that because that's kind of a longer term investment, and we really just want immediate results, like whatever. Anyway, you got to work on this proposal right now. So we'll get to your stuff later, you know.
SPEAKER_00:So I guess the dam it doll is not a good thing to pull out when somebody's talking to you and they say something stupid and you start slamming the desk. No, that is actually good. So no, Scott, do not know it is do not be the beast. The damn it doll I was gonna say outloaded in the company because they said we have got to save more trash cans, we need to get Chris something else. And next thing I know I walk into the office on my desk is a damn it doll.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know what? He is the president of Neri. I'm just well I don't know if you guys know this. Uh also published author, I'll just wrap it up real quick.
SPEAKER_00:And uh and I know John Maxwell's guy who worked for Atlanta at one point doing something for him, but I worked at a guy's house. So there you go.
SPEAKER_01:So we've we've got to give him something to cope, is all I'm saying, right? We meet a lot of things. He's he's so important. We really need to make sure he's taken care of. That's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good one, though. Uh, so damn it all, not bad. Good, not bad. That's all I heard. Scott hates Chicago. Scott says, small business owners get the shaft. Let's go, hurrah. Let's go. And damn it dolls are good. Damn it. Damn dolls are good. I think that's our podcast title. I think we got it. All right. Scott says best podcast title ever. Wow. Oh my god. I think I think I'm gonna take this. I'm gonna take this speaking engagement. I think people are gonna die for me to come speak about this.
SPEAKER_01:That's about that.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't good.
SPEAKER_01:I wonder if I can make that one of my speaking engagement.
SPEAKER_00:I challenge you right on the air. I challenge you, and we're in a lot of continents like Australia, so uh in the galaxies. So I'm gonna challenge you to have one of your um speaking um session titles, Dammit Dolls Are Good. Okay, here goes back. I'm writing it down. I'm coming in. I I'll promote the shit out of that. Do it in Vegas, and Chris will be there as he'll do a cameo, especially around uh NFL Pro Football playoffs.
SPEAKER_01:Do you, when you go to Vegas, do you wear any of those outfits that the girls wear that have angel wings and that want your picture taken with them?
SPEAKER_00:So that's why I do a podcast and a radio show. Did I mention that too? Uh, is that uh this face is built for radio. I guess that it's I'm a little off on that one. All right, I was just checking. I'm just checking. Good cut, good, yeah. I think that's a good question. Good visual. Actually, I'm thinking about doing a residency at the sphere. I can't even say it because I'll laugh it too hard. I think I'm gonna do the residency at the sphere uh when they ask. Say it one more time. I can't because it's so bad. And Cindy, I know you're laughing your ass off. Just cut some of that. No, don't give me a little saying about it. Cindy just a list. She does. She listens, she comes in, she goes, Remember how many times you go and said Ed. Go back three seconds. I don't I've got to. And then it would just go out in the air. I know. It's it's he literally sits at the office next to me. Cindy sits in the office now next to me. Yeah, all right, let's go back to scratch, shall we? That's like, oh god, what I know, but what if I know why I joined this thing? I'm wasting.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, wait, are we recording right now?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, there we go. That's a really good question because I'm not sure. Cindy, roll it. No, I'm kidding. But let's do it. Let's do it. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:All right.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I I think culture building.
SPEAKER_01:I think that one of the I, you know, I get that there's business pressures. I get that we have to make money. And sometimes the culture stuff is kind of like the, you know what, is this is there a direct ROI of this like culture training stuff that we're doing right now and investing in our leaders? And like, what's the direct ROI of this? Well, I will tell you right now the direct ROI is your people not leaving. That um, you know, one and a half times salary is what it takes to replace somebody. Um, you know, there's all kinds of debate on what the real number is, but if you just well, let's just throw one and a half times out because it sounds good.
SPEAKER_00:That's low. I think that's low. You think it's higher? I think it's way higher, like way higher. Let's say two and a half. Two? Two and a half. Oh, oh, oh, you want me to commit to a number? I know it's way higher.
SPEAKER_01:I do, I do. Alan, I I do.
SPEAKER_00:I'll do the math I'll give you. I agree. It is higher. No, you're right. I mean, you guys are 100% right. It depends on what business you're in. But if you've got like, you know, client base and whatever that you think you're risking, I mean, yeah, it's a lot.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's it's it's a lot, and um, you know, people don't people don't think about it until it happens, and then they're like, uh, where's my damage doll? Because I really need and I'm very frustrated right now. So they instead of doing we're too reactive, man. We are way too reactive in our world. Alan's way too reactive. Reactive. We need to be more proactive, and that is called intentionality, which is why my book premeditation is what the word I mean. Is that what it's called?
SPEAKER_00:Uh that's that what you tell the judge. I was just being proactive. It's so funny. I uh just in a couple weeks, that's exactly what I'm gonna say. If if this was not premeditated, I was being proactive. I was being pro my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Oh gosh. Okay. Well, yes. I did. You know what? We're gonna couple that with the the name of my book, right? We're gonna put those together so you can use this in the same thing. So legally could legally I get in trouble. So this is great. Unlocked a 52 week guide for the intentional leader. The reason why I wanted to be intentional, right? Did y'all oh, by the way, I just happen to have a copy right here. Did y'all submit?
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, there's a book. Is he an author? Hey, where's your book? I don't have a book because I booked far behind. I book it smaller than him. I just have a little one. A tiny book, but that's fantastic. It's mostly pictures, and you know what's already not. All right, so let's talk about this book a little bit. Uh yeah. What when did you have the idea to do it? And then like like 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_01:And then when did you finally publish it? Like two years, two a year and a half, yeah, year and a half ago. So we so you're being you're a big intentional of sell us together. Yeah, I'd be, I was just really thinking hard about it, you know. No, here's what it was. Um, I was completely paralyzed, and I read all these other books and I had imposter syndrome. I've never written a book before. Yeah, and I was like, huh. I'm gonna Adam Grant and Simon Sinek, and I read all these people, and I'm going, there's no way I can write a book, like, nor do I want to write a 300-page science-based, research-based book on all this stuff. I'm like, that sounds ridiculous, and I can't do that, and I'm not gonna do that. So one day I'm sitting there and also I had my podcast. So what I did is I lived vicariously through all of the authors that came on my show. So I never had to write a book because I just, you know, said, Well, I interview authors, so I don't need to be one. Well, they all kept asking me when you're gonna write your book, when you're gonna write your book. I was doing speaking gigs all over the country. People were like, Hey, do you ever book out? Hey, my audience wants your book. And I'm just like, you know, rubbing it in my face that he didn't have a book.
SPEAKER_00:So did you write it out of spite then, just to shut them up? A little bit. Okay. It was a little, and that's how I launched it. I said, Love that question, take that. In spite, I'm unlocked. That's right. That's it. That's it.
SPEAKER_01:And so um sold one copy after I launched that.
SPEAKER_00:It was great. The advertising help on the book. I think we got you covered. All right, yeah, we got this. That's it.
SPEAKER_01:That's it. There, um, and then one day, and I'm this is a little plug for Chat GBT, my sponsor. Is that I went, I'm just kidding. There now is my sponsor. And what's this Chat GBT thing came out?
SPEAKER_00:How did that go? I would have said, Oh my god, I think he's really sponsored by Chat GBT.
SPEAKER_01:I should everything's got I know I do too. I should have said, now you're not gonna believe anything I say because I just said anyway. I um I started plugging some stuff in. I was like, hey, what if I talked about this? What would that look like? Give me 10 chapters. It gave me 10 chapters. I was like, what is this beast? Joking? No, I said that's interesting. So I had these 10 chapters and I didn't use them, but it was it. I'm a riffer, man. So I like to riff. I like to like throw stuff out there, see what comes back. And and I said, Well, write an intro for me for this thing. What would that look like? It wrote it and I was like, Oh, that's pretty good. It's not exactly what I would say, but I was like, this is pretty good. This gets so it got me rolling. Then I've collected quotes from like, I don't know, from people for like seven, 10, 12 years, and I had this bank of quotes. And so I was like, What am I why am I making this hard? I've already got content, I've got these quotes, I already write short form content, and I love this idea of transformation. So inspiration, application, transformation. The book is formatted in 52 week chunks, so I didn't have to write a ton. I have inspiration, which is one of these quotes that I've already collected, I already have it. And then I riff off that, so it's like a page maybe of me, my thoughts about that quote and how it applies to you as a leader. And then there's application, which is what are you gonna do about it? Every week I want you to do something, take action. After 52 weeks of doing that, you will be a reinvented human being. So, Chris, there's hell. I need it.
SPEAKER_00:I skipped right to uh uh week 36, and I just read one week 36 and week 37. So I need to go back because if you go to his website and see this, this is the chapter I wanted to read. Like, yeah, I'm not gonna be able to quote it. But it basically is it's okay to start with anger, but it's not okay to end with anger. I'm like, um kind of you're halfway there. Anger's a great starter, but a horrible finisher. Horrible finisher, yeah. I was like, well, yeah. So I read it and I was like, oh dude, yeah, no, he's right. So it's show notes, so it's the show notes so far. Right. Chicago, I hate Chicago, damn it dolls are good, and Chat GPT wrote my book. Uh is that what you wrote my book? Go read my book written by ChatGBT. Oh my gosh. Or I I like small businesses get the shaft. I so love that one. That is good. Yeah, man, there's so much to hang on here.
SPEAKER_01:Oh god, this is so good. Clarification, Alan. I've got it. Chat GPT did not write me a book. It helped me write my book, though. It totally did. And I think any of you out there who have shame about that should not feel it.
SPEAKER_00:Um, no, our listeners are very intelligent, they they understand humans.
SPEAKER_01:I did write my own book, um, but man, ChatGPT is a tool that you should use for watching.
SPEAKER_00:Uh stay tuned. Uh next couple episodes. Uh, we're bringing on an AI champion, and I'm going to tell you that I'm going to be able to talk about how I've actually implemented it in my own business. And it has been absolutely 1000% gonna scare the shit out of the early nervous about that already. Yeah. So let's just watch Terminator. It's coming true. It is.
SPEAKER_01:So did you watch uh what's it called? Transcendence?
SPEAKER_00:No, my son and I watched Terminator together for the first time last night, which was really fun. Yeah, just kind of old school movie. That was Arnory first uh big deal, James Cameron, you know, and right so that but it's coming true. Well, what's chat GBT? Oh, it totally is. But what's transcendent? Is that the other? Well, I want to know the other one because I'm Transcendence.
SPEAKER_01:Um that that was the one with Johnny Depp, um, where uh he at the very beginning of the movie, spoiler alert, um, he gets shot. He's this real like brainiac dude that's bringing AI to the world really fast. They've learned how to take human conscience and put it into the thing. And he gets shot by someone who's really scared of AI, aka Allen, and somebody shoots him, he's gonna die. But his wife, who's his business partner, says, We can upload his conscience into the AI thing and keep him alive. So they upload his conscience in there and he starts like taking over the world. And she has this real big dilemma about whether it's really him or not. It's his conscience, and then he like is is talking like him, he acts like him, and like everything's happened. So I'm just saying it's pretty pretty freaky to think about um that that could be happening.
SPEAKER_00:But let's go back to this book because you can when when you read, I did I I've read, I wouldn't say all of them, I've read a couple of chapters. It is very easy to to digest for somebody like me who's a hummingbird who doesn't like to read. I think you use the word read read liberally. I skimmed quickly. No, I can't. No, I did read it. No, it was good. Like I said, yeah, I all you have to do is skim it. It's you're not supposed to like super duper read it. But you know what? I I thought, and I actually sat there and thought for five or ten minutes. And isn't that what reading's supposed to be? What's the last book you've super duper read? The last book is super duper duper. I've never read that one, by the way. Uh that would kill you. Oh my god, there's no way it'd kill me. Right? Uh, last book I super duper read. Oh, uh read or audio book. No, I'm I'm like, you were skimming it to get the highlights, and all of a sudden you're like, you know what? I need to slow down. I've done so many audiobooks. Uh but the Elon Musk book, the last one, uh, I I I would tell you that that's one where I actually would listen to a chapter, pause it, and think for a minute. I'm like, wow, this guy's cool. Crazy. I mean, this guy is an asshole genius. I mean, he is just genius, but he's still an asshole first. I'm like, wow, so you're a little extra. You're a little extra. Extra. Which I'm thinking we get along really well. Yeah, 50% there too. He would hate me. But he goes in that surge mode, and I'm sitting there, I was I mean, I was like driving. I almost ran everybody off the road. Um, in fact, I was on uh I was on Atlanta News, I think, about that. But that doesn't matter. All right, the chopper. But he won't stop. He just keeps driving. He's a white Bronco. I don't know what's going on. All right, so Scott, back to the book. Uh, so you use the book to get your thoughts out there. Um, but I real real question. Why did you write it? Did you write it to help the lead end, or did you write it? You wrote it to say a few to the people that were that's right that you write a book.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, no, no, no. So I'm a few different reasons. I know what you heard. It is it is another kind of feather in my personal cap of I'm a published author, I have done this thing. Okay. Um, we I think we need those in life to kind of say, you know, I am an author. Weird to me for to for me to ever even say that. Okay. I am a leader, I am a dad. I am a when we I when we personally give ourselves labels, they are really important, okay. Um, positive ones, I would say they're helpful. Um that we can Alan's thinking, what can I say right now? I can see him. I could see him.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and he just snorted. You get Alan to snort. That's a good one. That's oh gosh, so Alan just snorted off of Scott Job. That's good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's it. That's it. Um, but there was a personal reason for that. Um, but I do feel this is something supplemental to my coaching. So a lot of my coaching clients will get a copy of my book. I had one client that I'm coaching out in Denver, CEO there, who said, Hey, can I get the I can I get 20 more copies? I want my leadership team to also be doing this. So we're gonna every week we're gonna read a chapter together and then we're gonna process, and then that next week we're gonna come back and kind of talk about it. So a lot of companies are doing that. Um, ACEC uh in Georgia, um, they're doing it there. If you all know the ACEC crew, um, but they're they're doing it AG, uh AGC, uh, if you know the Association General Contractors. Um yeah. Some of them have been doing it.
SPEAKER_00:So uh what you just talked about with that that's actually where I was gonna go with this, is that this book really lends itself well to a book club mentality. And uh we do book club at my company with my sales guys and my project managers, um, where they come in and talk about one topic once a week uh for educational. So they'll read one chapter of a book, it's 100 days of selling and home selling, and then they'll talk about it, they'll reflect you know, they'll they'll all give their thoughts and we go around the room and everybody has to have one. And I think this book lends itself so well to that, talking about being actionable. And we didn't really answer the question. My my big answer on culture is it starts from the training and starts from the foundation. And if you're not staying in front of people and doing things and showing them what it's like to be somebody who's in this company doing things right and then rewarding people who do good things, and then telling people when they screw up, hey, you screwed up. And uh, I'm really good at that. Is that the way you say it? Hey, you screwed up. Oh no, a hundred percent. No, no, that did not happen. Lead with anger. Uh, I think it's start with anger. I I'm thinking of the basic training scene. I think full metal jacket. That's probably close. Yeah. Actually, uh we we've already talked about uh I've had to make a big uh I wanna I want to say it's really cool things with Scott here, but culture change. No, I flip I was flipping tables, bro. I uh flipped them over, I was letting them have it, and uh I said something and I let this guy have it. I said a lot of stuff that cannot be repeated on the podcast. Can't be taken back either. Oh, I definitely didn't get taken back. And the general manager after the guy left it, my general manager looked at me and says, I'm not sure what you said, but it definitely sunk in. I'd like wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's so there's there's certain aspects of this is where my um what makes me a little bit different as a uh tech typical executive coach or um team culture guy is that I come from the brand strategy world. So when I sit there and I listen to things like that, um I say, how is every interaction you have is either uh brand deposit or brand withdrawal from from your account, right?
SPEAKER_00:So uh are you I I took a big one out, kind of like Scott's uh hourly coaching uh calls. So you made a deposit, there's no doubt about that. So I took it in print with into yeah, no, that was a big withdrawal. The rest of the office unfortunately heard it all. They might have got a deposit.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it depends, right? And I and I sit there and I look at things and I say, um, you know, there are people in your in your mind right now that you remember from 20 years ago in your career, whatever, either people on your team or leaders that you had, mentors you had, that built you up or they tore you down. That is your that is a brand impression in there in your brain forever for that person. 100%. That's how they're gonna be, that's how they're remembered. And then I always ask people, how are people gonna think and talk about you in 20 years? Shut up, Alan. Alan is glad, he's ready.
SPEAKER_00:I I'm gonna mute his microphone. He's ready. I may I may get the double bird today. Does that only come out every now and then? Every now and then, you know what? But we are on we are on course for it today. We are close.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. We are my goal is to get it in there somehow.
SPEAKER_00:I can yeah, I think you're doing a good job of peeling uh Chris's scalp back and getting inside that head. Well, we're that's what we're here to do today is fix Chris.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just let's fix everything.
SPEAKER_00:I want to hear Scott. So, Scott, I watched your uh promotional video on your website. Excellent. You're doing essentially a TED talk with uh the beluga whales, and I was thinking about Chris with the clicks and everything and the chirps and the clicks and the whistles and the clicks, and it's like, you know, that that might have been a good one for Chris to listen to because I I think Chris is just chirping and clicking, and maybe they're not hearing it in their language. This is why communication is so important. I will go listen to it. No, no, no, no, no, it's Scott's turn.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, Scott. Good. No, I'm I'm no, please. No, you hold the you get the talking pen, you get to talk. Talk the talking pen. That's it. We'll virtually pass it back and forth. This I think that's really important to understand that you know that's why communication is a thing. That yeah, beluga whales, they have these chirps, clicks, and whistles, and they can talk and communicate effectively with each other in a way that they understand. And um, but sometimes, like, we think we're communicating effectively, but we're not, and then our brand is diminished and our influence is therefore diminished, and then people wonder leaders like, why does anybody follow me? Why do I have to convince these people? Nobody's motivated anymore. I don't know what the problem is. I gotta light a fire under that guy. Like, how many times do you say that? And it's like, why do you are you hiring people or creating a culture where you're constantly lighting fires under people? Like, that's a culture problem. That's not a that's not a them problem, that's a culture problem for the most part. If you're either hiring the wrong people or you're training in the wrong way, or you're keeping the wrong people. Um so I want you to understand like let's not light fires under people, let's light them inside them. So my job as a leader.
SPEAKER_00:What a quote. What a golden nugget. I gotta all right. That's the one. All right, I think is that it's that wall. That was amazing. Light fires within them. Oh my god. That's the quote. That's the one, guys. Sorry to demail you, Scott, but that was so freaking cool I hadn't pointed out. Yeah, that's gonna be good. That's well, but you know, but but can you keep going? No, the Chicago quote was really good, though. Not for nothing as a Detroit guy. I'm thinking so.
SPEAKER_01:You know what I'm saying? I know. I feel you. Thank you. Um, that's the problem, though, I think is that we are we exhaust ourselves as leaders trying to manage our people too much. Um, instead of giving them the autonomy that they would feel empowered to do, finding what really motivates them, putting the effort into leading them as opposed to managing them. Um, people don't want to be managed. I don't want to be like, hey, I'm like, you know, 45 in my career, I've been doing this a long time, but I need you to manage me, said nobody ever. Um exactly, but they like to be led. They like to be led, they want to be inspired, they want to be guided, they want and I will say the younger generations, all of you listening right now, if you do not have an intentional mentorship or coaching program or some way to invest in those younger generations, they're gonna leave. Okay. Oh, yeah, because they want it, they want it. And if you're not gonna give it to them, they're gonna go somewhere else and get it. So figure that out. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:Figure that out. I think we had another book coming up. I think we need to figure that out like every every month or every other month. He said he would. So for and uh I'm just gonna chat GBT to write it. Take that, Alan. He could be AI right now. And before we get on the podcast, uh Alan says, Hey, um, what's your hourly rate? He goes, for Chris, 4.2 million for everybody else, it's reasonable. I said, Do you take checks? He goes, 100% never from you. I'm like, oh, this guy knows 4.2 million, not reasonable. Is that what you're saying? Is that what I just heard from you? No, no. That yeah, I th well, maybe it would be for me. Although I'm a little short on. Are we on YouTube? Oh, we are. I just poured a drink all over my face because the freaking peaches just dumped out of the glass. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01:I didn't see it because I'm so focused on Chris, Ryan. You just you you you you basically you disappear into the shadows when Chris is around. I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm just a small moon in his universe. I just found out a way to uh block him out on YouTube. But look, guys, go to the YouTube, you'll see my hangover. All right, Scott. So obviously, you do the speaking gigs, you do coaching. Um, how can people find you? Who are you looking for? Uh talk to us a little bit about how we can go find you.
SPEAKER_01:I am looking for people that really want to either level up, they're at kind of this tipping point in their career, whether they need to, you know, they are those mid-40s um levels, maybe in their 50s and low 50s, and they're like, I need to finish out and I need to climb. Like right now, I'm stagnant. I need to, what is that next level for me? And I need to really step it up. So a lot of imposter syndrome seeps in because now we're getting into executive levels, um, ownership of companies, maybe it's being passed down because the boomers are finally leaving um thank you, boomers. Like, we don't we don't need you all the time to hold our hands forever. Like you can retire, you're allowed to retire boomers. So letting the boomers hand pass the baton, but they don't trust anybody below them. So I think that if we're really looking on investing in that leadership that is up and coming, whether it's those millennials who take up, you know, over a third of our workforce right now, and investing in them and the Gen Xers who are going to be taking over all these companies that already are actually, that's what we need to do. Okay. Investing in those young leaders that are hungry for it, that's who I go after. Okay. I'm not here to fix people. Sorry, Chris. I know I said that earlier, but people come in and they're like, hey, Scott, yeah, man, I need you to like fix this guy. And I'm like, that's not what I do. I don't, I don't fix people. I'm not listening anymore. I got my doll. I know. The um I I show I give people tools, I give them, I am the guide. I am the one who will empower you to make the decisions and do the thing you're so I bet. You're the only one that can get that can do it. All right. Speaking, coaching, what do you think you like better?
SPEAKER_00:You like speaking better.
SPEAKER_01:I love speaking, man. I love it. It is my it is my jam. So speaking to associations, speaking at company retreats, um, facilitating strategic planning sessions, um, facilitation workshops are my jam, my bread and butter. I love riffing, as you can tell on the show. I love just hanging out with people and really getting to know them well. So if any of you have trainings that you're wanting to conduct um off sites or whatever you're doing, let me know. Um, if you have speaking events, your association, you're you're doing something, that's where I met you, Chris. Um so if y'all are down with that, I love doing that as well. The coaching piece is like the long-term transformation stuff I get to experience. That's like the slow burn where I really love to like get involved and get to know people. The speaking stuff is like the quick dopamine hit of like everybody gets to like has to sit there and stare at me and listen to me talk for an hour sometimes, which is really like you know, but I bet you you just freaking murder it in a training seminar where it's an interaction, but it's still like maybe a weekend.
SPEAKER_00:I'll bet you're just freaking dynamite. I don't suck, Alan. I'm just gonna say there we go. There's another one. So we say every time we get on the radio, right before you get started. Yeah, it's Chicago, but I don't I no, honestly, like he wrote my book. Damn it.
SPEAKER_01:Humble brag, I've got over 1700 reviews on my public uh speaking profile that you know, 98% of my people want to hear me speak again. So it's awesome, it's uh those two percent we don't care about them, and it also makes it look legit.
SPEAKER_00:So all right, I love it. All right, let's go back to the beginning because you started out with uh Swedish German and German. Um so you guys want to find Scott Waldron. He has one of the most unique spellings of Scott I have seen. So that's S-K-O-T. There aren't a whole lot of choices, uh but this one's unique. I think so. Yeah, I've never seen it before. Have you? No. Oh, okay. Did you did you change it when you became famous to a case?
SPEAKER_01:I yes, in sixth grade, I was famous. I um no, like I was in Scott Woodruff and Scott Wilson's class every year in elementary school, so I had to put my last name on it. I couldn't put Scott W. I had to put Scott Waldron on every paper, and it really pissed me off. So sixth grade, who's in my class? Scott Wilson, Scott Woodruff. I said, This is so stupid. So I changed it to SKOT, and I never had to put my last name on anything ever again. Call it lazy. No, I call it innovative.
SPEAKER_00:Genius, premeditated, premeditated, premeditated genius, Scott Walton.
SPEAKER_01:Think of how much I always say, think about how much time I've saved, not putting a fifth letter. That's only four letters. And you know, I stylize it a little bit with the K. It's kind of like Prince. I'm gonna go to a symbol next. How many times have people mispronounced it? Um, every now and then I'll have somebody go, is it Scott? And I'm like, is there an E on the end? They think you're European, like from well, they think I'm Scandinavian. They're like, is it from like Norway or something? I'm like, no, it's from my sixth grade brain that got really annoyed with Scott Woodrow for Scott Wilson. And so what um, so actually, if you go to my website, I'll say, No, I'm not Scandinavian and kind of tell you my story about how how I did that. So that's it, man.
SPEAKER_00:Guys, this is awesome. Great episode. Thank you, Scott, for coming on. I'm so glad I got to grab your book and beg you to come on my podcast. You've been awesome and a gracious guest as we've had a little fun. We got around it. But you know what? I'll say it again. If you didn't learn something, the man, that's on you because there is a lot to learn, and not just about Chicago. Again, nice city, but not endorsed by Scott. It may be this summer.
SPEAKER_01:I say let me clarify. Chicago is one of the brilliant, my favorite city on the planet. It's Illinois. Illinois kind of sucks. I'm just gonna say the rest of the state.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. All right, get out of here, go make some money, go make something happen. You know what? Do something good in somebody's life. Go do something good in somebody else's life that's not yours, Alan. Let's go make it all happen. Let's get happen. Let's make it go. Let's get up that mountain. Gotta get out of here. Cheers, everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Department. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world small business understanding. Until next time, make it a great day.
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