LeaderImpact Podcast
LeaderImpact Podcast
Ep. 90 - Nick Uzoni - Authentic Leadership Matters
What happens when you leave the security of corporate America to build something of your own? For Nick Uzzoni, this journey began with a leap of faith—moving from Michigan to Dallas with no job leads, sleeping on a stranger's floor, and slowly building a life from scratch. That early resilience now powers his work as a small business owner specializing in web design and digital marketing.
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Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world, dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional and spiritual lives to have impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions, comments or suggestions to make this show even better, please let us know. I'm your host, lisa Peters, and our guest today is Nick Uzzoni. Nick has thrived in situations where he can directly provide value. From working in various capacities in corporate America to taking the great leap into small business ownership, nick has always tried to put himself in a position to serve others. Putting faith at the forefront of business leadership is not easy, but Nick considers this necessary to living out an authentic life both at and away from his desk. Welcome to the show, nick.
Speaker 1:Lisa, thanks for having me, I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun.
Speaker 2:Well, you didn't say a lot in your bio and so I looked you up so I'm excited to hear a little bit more about you, sort of your professional journey. But what we really love hearing, because we want to hear about that is a pivotal moment that maybe moved you along your journey, so share with us.
Speaker 1:Pivotal moment. I grew up just outside of Detroit, michigan. I lived there. I was born in 88. So I'm dating myself a bit.
Speaker 1:I decided to leave home, take the big, scary leap, not only leave mommy and daddy's nest, but also just say, hey, I'm taking the big leap and moving to Dallas, texas, where I am now just about 50 miles north of Dallas. I came down here with zero leads on a job. My youngest brother was going to university. He was a freshman in university at that time so I couldn't really crash on his dorm room couch. I don't think he really wanted me to do that. Anyway, I got in contact with an individual who was referred over to me by somebody else to say like hey, I don't know you, you don't know me, I'm just kind of looking for a place to crash for a couple of months.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty pragmatic. I knew how much money I had in my bank account, my savings account, and if I was pragmatic enough and budgeted enough, I knew how long I could survive and eat and pay a little bit of rent. So off I went, hit the road, arrived in Dallas, ended up staying with this guy, who's super gracious, he had a room to spare. I think it was 400 bucks a month or something. I paid for a few months. First couple of nights slept on the floor. I didn't have a mattress, didn't have anything, literally, you know. Eventually got my mattress and, you know, started building my life here.
Speaker 1:But it was great. I mean, it was a huge. My parents afforded me so many wonderful opportunities which allowed me to kind of take a big leap. But it was good for me in my early twenties to get out from under that safety umbrella to say, okay, here I go, let me get out of here and I don't know anybody and I've got to make something for myself. And one thing after another, after another, after another, month, day after day, month after month, year after year. Now you know, here I am definitely haven't made it. I never look at anything as you've made it, you can stop working. But this is where I am now. But it was a little bit scary of a leap. I look back now at like, oh my god, what were you thinking? That was great. Here we are.
Speaker 2:So before I ask you, what do you do so you can tell our viewers? I'm just going to make the comment that you were born in 88. I'd already graduated high school, so let's date myself there, and I really love that. You, you know, you picked up and moved from Michigan to Dallas with zero leads. I'm just going to acknowledge how scary that is. And when you're young, I, because I'm clearly older, it's clearly older it gets so hard to change and I'm doing a study right now on change because as I get older I have to learn to maintain that ability. And in your bio you talk about an insatiable drive to succeed and I could just see that. I mean you were young and you just moved with a passion to move. So the question I want to ask you is what do you do in Dallas now?
Speaker 1:Sure, quite a few things, which is fun, kind of my two primary things that I do. I'm a business owner small business owner. I started my business in we'll kind of call it the wake of the 2020 COVID pandemic. I kept my corporate America job, but I was working from home, didn't have to commute anymore, so it was up early in the morning, 4.30 AM at the desk before starting my nine to five starting my job, which is all web design, website design, digital marketing targeting small businesses. I'm a small business owner. I know a lot of other small business owners. My parents were small business owners.
Speaker 1:So, for me. That's, whether I like it or not. It's kind of inbred or embed inside of me. It's in my blood, so to speak. So I love partnering with the small business owner on the digital front Because, again, a lot of these business owners out there they're running a business.
Speaker 1:They don't have time to worry about things, website, digital marketing. They're like yo man, I'm a dumpster rental company or I'm a restaurant or I've got my own personal brand or I'm a coffee shop. I don't have time to worry about all this other business. I have my business, my goals I'm trying to accomplish. So that's what I do. That is the primary for me. I love it. It is fantastic.
Speaker 1:I love sticking close to the business owner. I love working directly with them. I don't win your business and then throw you into a black box somewhere and you never talk to me and I've outsourced your project. You're going to get me when you work with me. I love, I just love it. I love seeing the impact that can be made and kind of again going with the successes and the failures with the small business owner, which is super fantastic. And then as well, I'm also part owner of a software development company. Got involved with that as well. Back, we'll call it like late 2020. Work with a couple different clients out on that side just developing mobile apps, software solutions, and that's the company I'm part owner of as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that you still had to work corporate America, cause I remember transitioning to when I became a small business owner, I still had to work like, and it was work all day and then come home and work at night on the dream right, until you can sort of make that transition to to being small business owner a hundred percent. Uh, I appreciate that. And what a great your family like your family small business owners to see them succeed. And then you know, you know what it takes.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:So awesome. So we want to talk about your best principle of success and if you have a story to illustrate that.
Speaker 1:You mentioned it at the beginning authenticity. To me, being authentic with people, is like a pillar in my life. Again, small business owner. Small business owner, I want you to see exactly who I am as a person, who I am as a business owner, and I don't want you to look at that in two different lights, because integrity is super important to me serving the customer, serving the client and delivering everything that I do with excellence.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing pretty much everything in my life, and that also means that if you and I have, let's say, a problem in business or even a personal problem, we'll kind of flip it the other way.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean that it should affect both.
Speaker 1:So I feel that if I have any strength that I'm good at, it's kind of removing a lot of that outside noise, just to be able to get to the core, the root of the problem from the business point of view, to say, hey, listen, whatever we're navigating through right now, you've got problems in your business, or we've got problems in our working relationship together, whatever that looks like, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Let's put all that aside, let's identify the issue that we're trying to overcome and let's go with that full steam. That's, to me like the most authentic way that I can approach somebody, whether it be in a personal relationship or, like we're talking about today, in a business relationship. I don't want you to shake my hand and we do a deal together and then you're driving home thinking like, okay, who am I getting with this person? Is this going to flip overnight? It's kind of like a what you see is what you get with me. I try to make that all good. I'm not perfect, so there are some things you'll find out about me. Maybe you don't like, but I'd like to be super upfront with that and give people that authentic experience when they work with me.
Speaker 2:Well, what I definitely hear is just communication skills. You know, we have to be willing to ask the hard question of both sides. Like you know what the problem is, to ask the hard question of of both sides. Like you know, uh, what the problem is, because it could be with you, it could be with them, but just opening that door to have that conversation, um, makes a, you know, a good leader. Uh, and it's hard, and it's you that have made the mistake, you know, sure I'm a data driven.
Speaker 1:I kind of cut my teeth as a corporate America professional in data analytics and as a business analyst and I guess more information to me is always good and that's not just spreadsheet information, that's people to people information. The more data, the more information you give to me, the more we can solve the problem, whatever that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good, all right. Well, I'm excited to hear a little bit about failures. I think we all know, because you're a small business owner, where you have come from your journey. We learn more sadly from our failures and mistakes than our own successes and not sadly, it's just it's hard when you're in them. So I'm wondering if you have a failing or mistake that you can share with us and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure, Taking on too much and thinking that I can do it all. I pretty much just tell my wife this. Now I'm not fully transparent about this with everybody, but I guess I'm being now. Just, I don't know. I've always had this very uncomfortable feeling, not looking knowledgeable in a room or in a group of people and I don't know for me. Sometimes it makes me feel that I'm stupid or inferior to somebody. If I don't know and I don't again, I'm never trying to fake an answer you know to kind of you know BS my way through it. I don't do that. So it kind of puts me in this weird spot of like okay, I'm not going to just fumble my way through an answer to make it look like I know something, but I'm also feeling very stupid at this point.
Speaker 1:So that was probably my biggest thing and it did affect a couple of clients of mine of going all in on something Again, wanting to serve the client 100%. That was my goal here. I had no ulterior motive. But getting to that point of thinking like man knowing inside I need some help, I need to bring somebody else on board to help me do this right. But refusing to do that and refusing to engage in that way with the client, to be like, hey, you know what, like I'm not the sole expert and you wanted me to be the sole expert on this, but I've got somebody else who I can bring a teammate or team member, whatever I want you know to bring alongside to kind of help get over this hurdle we're having right now. And I didn't do that.
Speaker 1:Ultimately that's that lost me that customer which could have been a good long-term client of mine, and I was disappointed about that. But it was a good realization and maybe the slap in the face that I needed was like, listen, you're getting into a world where you don't know everything and if you're going to approach small business in a way to where you think you know everything, it's going to be a horrible realization that you don't. So that's. I always lean on that when I gear more toward like no, no, no, I can do it, I can do it. I have to remind myself you can't do it all, so surround yourself with at least one or two people who can do it with you. And I've done a much better job with that as of late, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think listeners can resonate with that comment. I know I can. There has been many nights where I can do it all and I'm up late and I'm up, I am doing it all and at one point you know and I'm like even website design, oh, I can do it. You know, there's easy. It's like but should I Just letting go of? I'm the client? In that case, I'm my own client and learning to let go. But when you lose a client, that always hurts and yeah, did anyone ever? So I know that you're recognizing it like oh, I need help. Did anyone ever tell it? Did anyone say it to you? Did anyone ever recognize? I know that you're recognizing it like oh, I need help. Did anyone ever tell it? Did anyone say it? Say it to you, did anyone ever?
Speaker 1:recognize it and say, hey, you know maybe never directly, because I never give, I never liked to give that that oh yeah, that perception that like no, I can't do it. You know, for maybe, maybe that is like one part of my life that I become a little inauthentic. To where? Because I always approach it like, hey, if I don't know how to do it, like, I'll learn about it, I got you, I'm a hard worker, don't worry about it, I'm going to take care of it.
Speaker 1:Then you fumble your way 50 yards down the field and you think like, oh my God, like I should have gotten help 50 yards ago, you know, so nobody really directly has ever said that I'm big. You know, big on podcast and consuming content, on a leadership standpoint. And maybe in that season or point in my life that seemed to be, all the information that was resonating with me is like hey, like, if you want to be successful in something, sometimes you do need a teammate or you need a team of people who are going to help you. And so never directly, more so indirectly, because maybe my brain was telling me hey, listen to this, you have a big problem coming here if you don't listen to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can get that. I never wanted to look bad and you know I just oh, yeah, I got you, I got it, I'm good. Oh, I think I feel myself sweating just thinking of those times where I just should have asked for help, but yeah, you too, because I've started just kind of replaying it in my mind like this is uncomfortable to talk about again. And I love your shirt says no bull.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, that wasn't intentional.
Speaker 2:Just when I grabbed the sporting oh God made it intentional, All right. Well, at Leader Impact we want to grow personally, professionally and spiritually, so to increase impact. So we're wondering if you're willing to share an example of how the spiritual makes a practical difference in your life as a leader.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure it was interesting. I worked a couple of jobs here in the Dallas area and then I picked up a great opportunity with a fantastic company. The company I actually left to go out on my own and that was a difficult decision. That was a fantastic company, global company, kind of had a nice path for me, you know, nice developmental path. It was great, I loved it. It was difficult, it was a big, difficult decision to leave. But when I first got started there and this is before I was in any sort of leadership position I was just an individual contributor getting started at this company in my mid-20s I guess in 2015.
Speaker 1:My desk isn't so clean now, I've got so much going on. But then my desk at my office there just a cubicle space, pretty clean, pretty sleek. I had a nice picture of my wife and I and then I have this little Bible I have sitting out. I had it sitting there on the desk, just put it there and thought you never know, you get into a bad day and you might need to go back to some of your foundational roots from a spiritual point of view. And I just had it sitting there and I was probably like two and a half to three weeks into me working there, meeting some people developing some good relationships, which was nice and a guy who worked on the same team as me came up to me and he said, hey, I'll never forget this. He said, hey, you having your Bible on that desk is super impressive to me.
Speaker 1:And I asked him I'm like well, why he goes. Well, and he's probably about 10 years older than me. He said as you get older, you'll come to find that it becomes more and more difficult to be more public about your Christian faith in your life, especially in the workplace. And he says and I'm just watching you and I watch how you live and I watch how you talk and I watch what the things you do and how you talk I didn't have children at that time.
Speaker 1:You talk about your wife and I see your Bible there and that shows me the person you are. And that was you kind of hear that thing in church growing up. You know, be careful, you know people are watching. That was my first big encounter of realizing like whoa, like somebody I had no idea was watching me, who's also a Christian as well, was watching me and watching my faith, just over two and a half three weeks time and noticed one little thing he puts a Bible on his desk. What does that mean? Is that just something that he's putting there, or is he going to live this out in his life?
Speaker 1:So that's the foundation for me in the professional space and how that's evolved over time Now leading people, now working directly with clients, to help people understand that authentic self that you get with me.
Speaker 1:One of those principles is not perfection, but it is a foundation in my Christian faith and that's come to be more and more needing to be more and more evident and practiced, even with some of my clients.
Speaker 1:A couple of weeks ago I was speaking with a client and she was yeah, I had noticed, you know, just wasn't herself, and I'd asked her I'm like hey, like just wondering, like you doing all right, and she goes no, actually I'm not. My mother was just diagnosed, you know, had a pretty bad medical diagnosis which is scary to hear, and she's like you know, if you don't mind, you know, do you mind remembering my mother in prayer or anything, absolutely for sure? You know I could say that and be like sure, you know, I'm praying for you, kind of a deal, but then rather being reminding her, letting her know like, hey, I'm remembering your mother because I know that she's sick and I know this is scary and I know that you value her in her life and I want to show you that I value as a client, for sure, but as a person, on a person to person basis, like you're valuable and you're important as well.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of going to that first instance all the way to now and being like, hey, like it's gotta be something that I put into practice every day, Cause it's who I am as an individual.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can say that I've never had a Bible on my desk at work, um, but I I know that I have had um uh quotes or or scripture.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And, and I, I think I do it because I'm trying. I'm trying to be that person and I know that I am not perfect. And so I, when people see that I, I, I want people to know I'm trying to be perfect and I never will be. But that Bible's there Sometimes. I think it's there for me to look at it every day and go, okay, I have to be that person. I have to work hard to be that, to be a better person, to be some, you to be that, to be a better person, to be some you know, to serve people. Yes, those values, and I even think when I wear a cross and I just look in the mirror and I go, I need to be that person.
Speaker 2:Remember Lisa, put that judgment aside, put you know. So I appreciate that. That's a good story. Thank you for sharing. At Leader Impact, we are dedicated to leaders making a lasting impact. So you're quite young, but as you continue to move through this journey of life, of work, of everything, have you considered what you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?
Speaker 1:First, my birthday is on Sunday, I think. Yes, I'll be 37. So I'm getting close to 40. Not there yet, but yes, the faith legacy. My wife and I talk about the legacy word all the time because I feel it's used so much it's like loses its importance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the big. What's most important to me is that when you talk about kind of leaving a legacy as a whole and then you kind of compartmentalize it and you look at the portion of that like okay, like what's your faith legacy, is that somebody that from a business point of view if I'm just talking about like in the business world and tying in my faith and working with people, that you, anytime you worked with me as a partner or you were a client of mine or some sort of collaboration, whatever you want to call it that when we worked together, that you, that you, that you saw Christ through the work, that the work that we did together. And I try to make that principle be evident in everything in my life. And again, we've identified it a few times I'm the furthest thing from perfection here. It is just not always going to be the best perfection day for me and I try to start my day with this prayer is that, anybody who I come in contact with, that they see Christ through me, whether it be in small things, how I respond to you, how we deal with a major problem together, how we deal with a small problem together, whether it's in the workplace or at my kid's school.
Speaker 1:I'm a recreational soccer coach as well, so whether I'm coaching your kids, no matter where it is, that that's what people see. That when they see Nick, they see somebody that, yes, loves his family, he works hard, he will do whatever he can for the client, but, most importantly, that they look and they see something that's different in me and that if they start to pry into that or look deeper into that, that, they find the foundation at the core of that is Christ. It's not just good morals, it's not just a solid, strong upbringing or foundation those are all great, but that it's a foundation and a basis in my life that's built around Christ and that has to be the driver and fuel for everything that I do, whether we do business or personal life or sport or anything else together. That that's the driver and fuel here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just reading a book about leadership and what I get from you is that just the deep love for your family, your wife, your children, and leadership starts at home. If you are treating your family and your wife with disrespect, you probably might be taking that to work, or opposite. You know. So, hearing you talk about your family, knowing that you love your clients too, you know it is a legacy to take on. Thanks for sharing. My last question for you is what brings you the greatest joy?
Speaker 1:Knowing that it sounds a little cliche, knowing that I was able to make a positive impact in whatever that a true, tangible positive impact and before, just you know, giving the cliche line and being like, oh great, I've heard this 50 times. It kind of it goes again across the board with things I'm working on. Like I said I do, I'm a recreational soccer coach. Like seeing seeing those families being like, hey, like my kid wants to come back. Not because Nick's the best soccer coach in the world I think I'm okay, I'm not as great as I probably think I am but they come back because they say like, hey, the, the life lessons that you've instilled in my kid, he, he's at a young age, he's attaching onto those and he wants to come back and keep, you know, kind of keep doing the soccer thing with you. For him he doesn't see it as anything else. But you know, seeing like that positive impact over time on the professional front it's I have. I've been fortunate enough to have clients that have stuck with me for a number of years now, since the start, who took a chance on me and said, you know, this guy, nick, reached out to me to build this website and he says he's maybe built one other website in the past. And OK, I'm going to start with this dude who's just starting his business in 2020, in the midst of everything else going on, being able to work with those people and hearing them say like, hey, man, you've played a significant part in my business and that's helped grow my business and help grow the things that I want to do. And then, of course, on the family side, which is, for me, unashamedly the most important thing to me I'm still seeing this play out. I haven't kind of seen it be realized yet in my life is ultimately that I want to be able to see.
Speaker 1:I've got three boys and I make it a point I never called them little boys. I always call them young men or little men. I tell them, I said when you turn two in my house, you're no longer a baby, you're immediately a young man, and some people are like that. You know why do you do that? Because I want my boys to grow up and see themselves as young men and young men of integrity and young men of a strong Christian foundation as well. To know that when they leave my house, that they're doing life even way better than I did, that they're treating the people they work well, that they work with. They treat them well. If they have employees, they have a business, that they treat those people well. They have families, wives and children. They have to treat them well. And that anybody that they come in contact with that they are showing Christ through them, because maybe at one point in their life they saw their dad do it.
Speaker 1:Maybe I hope they see it more than one time, but that's what I'm hoping. If I look as almost like a chain effect in my life, that's to me what defines a true, valuable legacy is that it's not just measured over five or 10 years, that as an old man my goal is to live, to be 100. We'll see that as a 100-year-old man on my deathbed I can look and see any accomplishments I had and assumedly my family would be around me at that time as an old, dying man, but I could look and be like, okay, the work I did here was good and it was worth it, and it was tiresome but it was worth it because I see the positive fruits of my labor being, you know, kind of manifesting themselves generations down the line. That's super important to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great legacy and great joy it brings you. I am at the other end. So my kids have moved out, so I'm an empty nester and I never called mine little men or little women, I don't remember. But they watched us as parents, you know, and now they are great humans. So to you, nick, raise your little men. They're going to be awesome young men one day, just listening to you and just listening to you. I'll end it there. I'm watching my own children and it is a joy, a joy to see them grow. Yeah, and it wasn't as hard when they left because they were so happy to move on with their lives, right, I mean, you left at a young age. You have picked up from Michigan and went to Dallas. I'm sure it is apparent it's very hard. We got FaceTime, we got messaging. I'm talking to them all the time, so right.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, every day. You know, there's always an interaction with my parents and, like you said, my parents were sad to see me go. But they saw like, okay, he's grounded, he has a good foundation. We got to let him go. Yes, kind of a deal. I haven't done that yet. As a parent, I know that'll be difficult, but that's what I want for my kids to look. As they're ready to go, I tell them. I said mom and dad want you always to live here close to us, but if you find an opportunity and you've made good decisions in your life they're young now. I can talk to them only so much about it. I said well, we'll never hold you back. Take off and fly and do what you need to do and we'll be there to support you and you can always come back if you need to as well. But we're trying to prepare ourselves already for it and we know it'll be here soon, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we'll talk in 10, 15 years.
Speaker 1:We'll see how you All right yes, we'll put it on the calendar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you'll be great, Nick. I just want to thank you for the past half hour. It is a pleasure to talk to you. Listen, learn more about you. If anyone wants to connect with you, either as a web designer or a leadership in consulting, how can they find you or connect with you?
Speaker 1:I try to keep it easy. I tell everyone to email at me just M-E like me at nicholasuzonicom, and is that N-I-C-H, n-i-c-h-o-l-a-s-u-z-o-n-icom? Me at nicholasuzonicom? Or if you go to my website, nicholasuzonicom, try to keep it easy. You probably have never met another Nicholas Uzzoni in the world. If you do reach out just to let me know, I'd love to connect with him. If you have no interest in doing business with me, but yeah me at nicholasyuzonicom or you can just find my website at nicholasyuzonicom.
Speaker 2:Perfect. Thank you, nick, for joining us and uh uh, just yeah it, it has been a pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 1:Most certainly Pleasure's all mine. Thanks, Lisa All right?
Speaker 2:Well, if you're part of Leader Impact, you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you're not yet part of Leader Impact and would like to find out more and grow your leadership, find our podcast page on our website at leaderimpactca and check out our free leadership assessment. You can also check out groups available in Canada at leaderimpactca or, if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out leaderimpactcom or get in touch with us by email info at leaderimpactca and we will connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating or review. This will help other global leaders find our podcast. Thank you for engaging with us and remember impact starts with you.
