The Agency Owner Grind: Work In vs On Your Business

If you’re stuck working in the business while trying to scale it, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, I sit down with Bill Reynolds, founder of Element 502, a creative agency helping businesses find their authentic voice and connect meaningfully with their audiences. Bill has led through acquisition, financial pressure, operational chaos, and the daily reality of the Agency Owner Grind.

We unpack the tension between working in vs on your business, real-time team feedback, agency positioning strategy, and why constant grind culture is a warning sign, not a badge of honor. Bill shares the story behind buying a struggling marketing company, rebuilding it, and redefining value vs price in a crowded market.

If you’re scaling past seven figures and navigating systems, team handoffs, margin pressure, and strategic clarity, this episode will sharpen how you lead, decide, and position your agency for sustainable growth.

Books Mentioned
- The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard
- The Grind by Michael McFall

If you want to learn more about Bill and his team, visit element502.com. You can also explore his positioning framework at 599haircut.com, where you can download the free worksheet and even book time directly on his calendar to talk through your marketing strategy.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

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Transcript

Welcome & Bill’s Background

Dr. William Attaway 0:00

It's an honor today to have Bill Reynolds on the podcast. Bill is a seasoned marketing and branding professional based in Louisville, Kentucky, and the founder of Element 502, a creative agency helping businesses find their authentic voice and connect meaningfully with their audiences. Bill has extensive experience in marketing, branding, corporate communication, and team leadership. He's passionate about helping organizations develop a strong, consistent voice that builds trust and drives engagement. Bill, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Bill Reynolds 0:35

I'm glad to be with you, William.

Intro 0:37

Good to be here. Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host, author, and leadership and executive coach, Dr. William Attaway.

Boy Scouts Lesson On Hard Choices

Dr. William Attaway 0:58

I would love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

First Steps Into Data-Driven Marketing

Bill Reynolds 1:09

You know, my earliest, earliest memory I can remember that directly deals with leaderships is actually back when I was a young man in Boy Scouts. Um I don't know if you're familiar with, yeah, it goes back. So I was 16 years old. Um in case somebody's not familiar with the way Boy Scouts used to work back then, just as kind of hierarchy. So you had a you had a a patrol, you had a scout master. He was the guy who was in charge of the whole troop, the whole group of boys. Well, the first boy uh under 18-year-old that reported to the scoutmaster, that was the senior patrol leader. And then under and the senior patrol leader had an assistant senior patrol leader. So that's your top governance of the whole thing. And then underneath of those, they had patrols, and then patrols had a patrol leader, and you had a group of eight to ten boys in each patrol. So you can kind of imagine the hierarchy of these little groups of eight to ten get boys that are together that have a leadership team that reports to a senior patrol leader that then reports all the way up. And I remember I was senior patrol leader of our troop, and we were staying overnight in a in a um, it was a National Guard armory. Uh, we had a lot of our a lot of our adult leaders had ties to the military, either active duty or retired. And so they had gotten us a place to stay there while we were out of town going on a trip. And so we were sleeping in the gym, you know, in sleeping bags, that kind of stuff. It wasn't like a really rugged thing, but a couple of the cages of military equipment had been left open. And so some of the guys got in and started messing around and looking at stuff, and it was radios and uniforms and just, you know, cool stuff. And then, but on top of that, you got a bunch of young men and you got all this cool army stuff. Well, things started getting played with, and then unfortunately, a couple of the guys made a really, really dumb choice of taking some of that equipment. And I got wind of it. And so as an as a leader, but these are also my peers, I it was presented with the with a pretty hard conundrum of if I go and say, hey, here's some, because I tried to talk to them, and of course they're like, We're not doing, we're not putting anything back, we're not doing this. And so I have to escalate this or ignore it. And I was really concerned that if we ignored it, I don't know what the legal and all those kinds of things are because we're, you know, it's theft. And then also, you know, we're supposed to be Boy Scouts, we're supposed to carry ourselves by a code, and this was definitely not that code. And so I remember I went and talked to one of the adult leaders that was there, and I pulled him to the side and I sat down and I talked to him. And I remember him just staring at me. We got done. He said, Okay, there's a couple things going on here. He said, Number one, how easy was it to come in here and talk to me about this? I said, Oh, it was gut-wrenching, awful. He goes, That's step one of manhood. That's and this is what it's like to be a leader. That's not always you're not always going to be popular and they're not always easy decisions. He said, Why did you come here and do that? I said, Well, because of the code, our stout, you know, our scout code, our scout loss. And I said, and also it just it was what was right. You know, we had to do what was right. He said, That's the next part about being a leader is doing what's right even whenever it's it's not the easiest path. And I remember that story. I I always told people about Boy Scouts. It was a very formative time for me. And of course, the I wish I could tell you the rest of the story was and everybody was so happy. No, oh, it was bad. People were mad because I I was the rat and I'm ostracized for a while. It took a while to take some licks to get back in in good graces. But that was one of those times where it was just it it really was enforced, doing what's right even whenever no one would know, or or just even when it's tough. And from then, really working on trying to just you know build that in to where you don't have those situations where people kind of all row in the same direction and those things wouldn't even come up. But when they do, being able to take charge, be able to kind of take your licks and your punches, but still to go through. So that's probably my that's that's the one I point back to that I that I really remember is being one of those, okay, thanks for the warning. And now 40 years later, yep, it still holds true that it's not always easy to do what's right. And it doesn't always make you the most popular person in your group whenever you do that either.

Dr. William Attaway 5:20

Boy, isn't that true? That's that rings so true with my experience and and so many others that I've talked with. You know, I think that people who see leadership as like, oh, it's just the easy road. You just sit back and let everybody take care of stuff and you're just kind of conducting. They obviously haven't been in leadership very long, if at all.

Bill Reynolds 5:41

I haven't found that one. If you find that job and they tell you where it is, William, please tell me. We'll both share.

Dr. William Attaway 5:46

We'll share. That's right. That has not been my experience. So, how did you get to marketing?

Bill Reynolds 5:52

So I was actually I was a contract programmer, and so I was doing some doing some programming work, and I was working, and then uh that that gig ended. I ended up having to get a full-time job. I call it my first real job because I was a consultant, so freelancer. And then I was able to, I got a job at a company. It was a marketing company. And so we started uh doing, and I was there just doing programming, IT stuff. Uh this is old IVR interactive voice response. You know, press one for this, press two for this. You know, you would get you would get mail pieces in the mail, William, you could have won. Dial this number, enter this special code, and then it says, hey, William, thanks. Like it addresses you, all that. There's technology, there's all that that goes behind those. And so this was early 2000s, and I started, I developed all the software that ran this marketing company that that did this, and it really was it was cutting edge at the time, the stuff that we could do at the sides we were. And then the other part we did is I told you it was a direct mail company, and so they would send out mailings to people, and then the whole goal was to get you to call in and then to interact with this system so that they could say, oh, here's somebody that's interested, and then start a follow-up process and hopefully a sales cycle kind of thing. And then as we were doing that, I've getting I'm getting data. I'm getting tons and tons and tons of data. Yeah. And so I started doing the data analysis, started doing that because I'm the IT guy, I'm the back-end guy. And so we were able to start doing data and big data work to be able to start to see what are some commonalities of demographics, different things, just to make our company even better. I and so I I had a team, I was in the operations and the and the ad side. So I had a team of graphic designers, people that made the pretty stuff, put the get things together, copywriters, all that. But I was the data on the back. And so my job was to figure out what we can measure effectively rather than just like your gut, like, oh, I like the way that looks, or just whatever your opinion was. How do we how do we quantify those things? And that's how I got into it. I was just doing data work and was doing programming work. I saw that I could model and measure and to and to get us ahead and then understand the technology because I was a programmer of new and emerging technologies, different things that are in there. And so off we went. And so that was my first foray really into marketing of working with a creative team as well as being responsible for results that came out the other end.

Dr. William Attaway 8:10

I love that. So, at what point did you decide, you know, this working for somebody else thing? What if I tried something different?

Calling To Ministry And Pay Cut

Church Closure And Wilderness Year

Buying A Struggling Agency

Bill Reynolds 8:18

Well, that's a that's a very loaded story. Same marketing company I was working at. We're I'd been there for several, several years. It was really growing. The company was growing a lot. It wasn't my company, I was working for somebody else as you picked up on. Company was growing great. Uh, but I really felt that God was calling me to do something different. And so I was leaning into that, trying to figure out, well, what does that mean? And I remember the conversation saying, Well, God, I've I've I work a lot, so there's a lot of hours there. I I'm already going to church and I lead some Bible studies and stuff, and so there's a lot there, and then I have my family with a with new child and you know, my wife, and I need to be spending time there. So I don't really know where I'm gonna get more time from. And God was like, Well, maybe we need to change this job thing. And so we had some wrestling of prayer and some other things between me and God. I I think there was a lot of me yelling and him laughing, I think is honestly what that conversation really was. It sounds like my conversations with him. See, exactly. Because the the final thing I got to is like, I will come work for you, but I'm not going back to school because I hate school, I hate college, I'm not going to a seminary, I'm not doing this kind of thing. And just like your laugh was pretty much what it felt like I got back, was like, seriously, like this is your is this what you're bringing? And so I uh actually got offered a job to come on staff for a church that we were attending as their associate pastor and stepped into that role. I stepped out of marketing, stepped into that one. Fun story was that uh it was coming up on my annual review with my boss at my mark at the marketing company. And so he's telling me about just all the great things that are happening and you know the things that are moved forward, and we're really and he's he's looking at possibly selling, and maybe I'll get a some kind of nice thank you for helping us get to this point, and and of course, and continued employment because new owner would want to keep me on, but my boss would get a nice payout, he would give me a little something nice with that, and I said, Hold on, you gotta stop right there. I'd really need to put in my notice. And it's it's it was so funny, William. He said, he sits back in his chair, he looks at me, he goes, That's the coolest thing I've ever heard. I said, What? Well, he's one of these high like D personalities, you know, type A ultra, you know, the kill and the hunt are where the fun is. The building and the fact you won, that doesn't matter. He's going for the thrill of the hunt. It's not even the thrill of the win. So he was, so he he's like, This. I've never had anybody do this. He goes, So what's the offer? And I was like, excuse me. He goes, No, what's the offer? Someone's gonna hire you, tell me what the offer is. Let's let's go. Because he's ready to negotiate. He's thinking this is like, I mean, he's a dog on a bone. Well, I'm going to work for a church, right? So I tell him, I said, Well, it's more than a 50% pay cut. There's no benefits package and no retirement plan, and I don't even know about how vacation works. And he laughed like you did. He goes, Well, I'll match that. And so we talked, and uh, he was gracious. He was very good. So we so I went to work for that church. Unfortunately, that church closed uh several years later. I no one I always tell people, no one did anything wrong, no one stole anything. It just was shrinking. And we, as an elders and pastors, we really decided that God was telling us that we had done what we needed to do, we had done a good work, but now it was time to scatter seeds throughout throughout our community here in Louisville. And so we were able to donate a bunch of equipment as well as just really fantastic families that had grown up and had raised their kids, so lots of good marriage and kids and just financial and just really good, strong people that were really willing to roll up sleeves and serve. And so that situation ended up. I I got to close the church, which is a weird thing. I was the last one out, close the doors, actually take it through the end of the financial year so we could unwind and do all that stuff. And then I went to go look for my next ministry job. And I thought time after time, this is for me, this is the one. And just weirdness, doors closed. I couldn't get anything to open. And then I'm towards the end of the, that was in 2013, was when the church closed. 2014 is my my my path of wandering. And then we're getting about halfway through 2014. I still don't have a job yet. And that's a long time to go without a job. Our church was very kind. They had given a given both myself and the senior pastor a severance package that gave us some money to be able to kind of figure out what that next thing was going to be. Uh and so we it's uh I'm getting into that. I'm digging into it pretty deep. And um, I can't find a ministry job. They just, they're not landing, they're not going. I'm really trying to figure out what's going on. I met a man that was working on teaching people how to be how to use Christian principles in your business as a business owner and making it applicable not just on a Sunday, not just in a small group within your home, not just with your family, but a totality of what it's like to be a Christian. And so I was talking with him. He had owned, he had bought a marketing company and had bought a couple of other companies to to show people as kind of like his live demo that yes, you really can do this. And so he had a marketing company that just was a graphic design company, technically. He bought a content development company. This is in 2014, so he had bought a content development company, and then he also had bought a web design company. Uh the con the graphic design company, he was the leader, content marketing company and the web design company. He bought both of those companies and kept the principles on. So these were all entrepreneurs. So now suddenly you got two entrepreneurs and this guy all in the same room, and then trying to just get along, make processes, procedures, all that. It just wasn't gelling. It wasn't working. And my background from old programming days was process and operations. And so he and I were friends. He's like, hey, do you think you could come in and fix this for me? I said, Well, yeah, I could. It's gonna take a couple of months. Here's what it would take, and and what a what a good fair salary would be. He's like, Okay, sure, do that. So that's why I did at the end of 2014, got paid out at 2015 January. He's like, You did a great job with this. And everybody's like, they're they don't all like each other, but they respect each other enough to work together and we've got something going. He said, Do you want to be the president? I was like, Okay. So I got seated as the president. And then a couple of months later he came to me and said, We got a problem. I said, Well, what's the problem? He said, We're out of money. I was like, How are you out of money? The the sheets, you know, the the financials look like they're okay. Well, I didn't realize he had been putting his own money in behind it to backstop. And he and I asked him and he said, Well, you know, you're the president, I'm the owner. This is kind of our prerogative. I was like, Well, that's true. Um, but part of me was also like, it would have been really nice to have known this before. I took a job. And so he's so he said, you know, how are we gonna how are we gonna do this? Do we sell it? Do we do this? I said, Well, you got some projects that are already started, so you can't really sell it to anybody because the the new company is they don't have any of the money. You're out of money, so you can't give them like here's the half of the money that William paid us to start his project, and so now you need to finish it. It's also they did that new company wouldn't have bid on network, so how is it even fairly priced or profitable for them? Who knows? So and if you just close the doors, they're gonna all sow up and sue you, and we don't want to do that because that goes against our whole we're living and doing this by Christian principles, and we don't have these kind of options. He goes, Well, so what do we do? I was like, I don't know, give me a couple days and let me let me try to think of some stuff and pray about it. And so I went home and told my wife the whole thing, and she's like, Oh my gosh. Said, I know, let's go pray. So she comes to me a couple days later, she said, I got bad news. What's bad news? She goes, Well, we've been I've been praying about this. She said, I really think God wants us to buy this thing. I was like, Oh, and we got worse news. She goes, What's that? I was like, I've been hearing the same thing. So we uh so I we we got the real financials, I got some great friends to help uh look at it, make sure I was on the right track with money, got some investors to come into the company in May of 2015. We bought a struggling marketing company, got it at rebranded, turned it into Element 502, and so now I'm working for myself. Uh I've got two partners that I have to that I also have to answer to. We're a partnership, so I'm the operational partner. The other two are are are arm's length at best. Uh, they offer some advice and just some oversight kind of stuff. And May 2015, that's where we've that's that's what we're doing. It's it's not a straight road from there. It's doesn't hockey stick up and we're all, you know, fine as wine and finances are all good. It's there's a lot of bumps and ups and downs, and you know, even right now it's still rocky and bumpy. You know, the little engine that could, we just keep pushing and and God is faithful. That's so it I didn't really decide to go into business for myself. It's a very long answer to your question, I realize, but it was really just following the leading along the way. And then what are we going to do now that we have this? And so trying to figure out, you know, how do we be good stewards of this and what are the resources or the things that we have? Uh, because if you think, you know, if you think through the Bible, if you think like through New Testament, you think Philemon and some of these stories, these are wealthy business people that God was able to use to help grow his kingdom because they had resources. And God continued to give them resources to do different things. That was what his request was. And so we view our marketing company very similar, that we do good work, we do fair work at a fair, we do good work at a fair price. We never try to take advantage of people, we treat people the way that you are supposed to. And then we get to use our resources to bless others. And so that's that's us. We're here today.

Dr. William Attaway 17:47

What a great, great story. You know, as a person of faith, it is so encouraging to hear somebody who talks about the how you are integrating your faith into your business and into your life, that it's not this thing that's compartmentalized over here, you know, just on Sundays at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock or whatever. You know, but it's but it's a flow that you are in every day. And I think that's so, so important and it's so rarely discussed. So thank you for being so transparent with that.

Bill Reynolds 18:16

Well, it's one of the fun things that I enjoy because from employees and even from customers, there's just something's different about you guys. Something's different about this agency. And it's not everyone that's in the agency is, you know, is a dyed-in-the-wolf professing Christian. And it's there's no judgment in that. It's just they just haven't come along yet. But we keep wanting modeling, keep witnessing, and then as an agency and just the way that we treat each other and the way that we work, because I always tell people I'm a Christian that owns a business, I'm not a Christian business. And there's a really big difference in the in that. And so you just keep treating people that way. It doesn't always work in your favor. You know, there are people who are going to take advantage, and there, you know, bad stuff still happens. I mean, that's just the the some of those mysteries we'll figure out someday, but still just being faithful and and a good steward. And as long as we still keep doing that, then I know I can answer faithfully.

Dr. William Attaway 19:04

Yeah, I want to I want to talk about your leadership journey for a second. You know, you've you've had a a wild ride, you know, really, uh so many different stops along the way. But I believe there's no such thing as a wasted experience. You know, every one of those has made you into the leader that you are today. Let me ask you this. How do you stay on top of your game? You know, your business, your team needs you to lead at a higher level today than it did five years ago. The same thing's going to be true five years from now. How do you level up with the new leadership skills that your team and your clients, your business are going to need you to have in the years ahead?

Faith At Work, Not A Label

Bill Reynolds 19:40

Um, I think part of that is gifting. I seem to be able to absorb information and make good decisions or or at least lean into decisions kind of quickly. They're they're they're not necessarily always the best decision, but I can do in that. And um, as the other part that you were talking about of being that distance, you know, being in leadership means you just get to kind of orchestrate or whatever. I am in the trenches in the dirt all the time. So I am a key part of our agency with the work that I do, stuff that's in my responsibility and things that I have to be working on. Uh, and I'm in the middle of operations and production. So uh being in the middle of it keeps my keeps my my sword sharp, but also my eyes focused to see where things are. And so I looking for emerging trends that are in the marketplace around us, talking with other business leaders or just networking from sales or from other things, as well as being in the work, makes sure that as things are changing, we're needing to adopt or adapt uh to be able to stay in that. So I think being that shoulder to shoulder working in the trenches, it's probably the the biggest thing I can contribute to that because I'm never, it's never so far away that I'm I'm caught off guard by any of those things. And so we can make smaller adjustments more quickly instead of big adjustments every so often, you know, like on a 30, 60, 90 day plan kind of thing. Um it's just like I tell people when they come to work for us, we don't do annual reviews, we do up-to-the-minute reviews. You'll know pretty quickly how things are going. It's either going good or going bad. If they're going bad, then I'm we're gonna talk about it. If they keep going bad, then we're gonna have more, it's gonna be rougher conversations. If they're going good, you're gonna get attaboys and people are talking. But it's real-time feedback. And so doing that kind of thing, I think, really helps uh because you're because it's the immediacy, not the not the tyranny of the urgent to where suddenly it's a distraction all the time, but really just making these things a priority really helps helps with that.

Dr. William Attaway 21:34

So let me ask you this as an owner, this tension that you walk between the time that you have to put into the strategic thinking and planning, thinking about working on the business, so to speak, versus the operations of being in fulfillment and production and having to work in the business. How do you balance those two things as a leader?

Staying Sharp In The Trenches

Bill Reynolds 21:54

Not very well at all. I do not do that well. It was funny, I can't remember where I read it. Read this very recently. It was like a narrative of this guy's day. It was a business or it was a it was a leadership idea, but it was talking about you know, he set his alarm clock and wakes up six and a half, seven hours later, because it used to be eight to nine hours later, but you know, you have to start figuring out how to get more hours in the day somewhere. So you start cutting them here and you start cutting them there. And I am a I am unfortunately a victim of that. So I don't do it well, if I'm gonna be honest with you, William. I don't do it, but it's it's time slicing, and I and I give it enough to make sure that we keep the wheels moving. Sometimes you it's sometimes it's to my degradation because usually it's gonna hit me, right? It's because I I'm I'm either staying, I'm starting really early to get something done so that I have enough time in the day whenever everybody else is working, or staying late to get some stuff done. Maybe you know, on vacations, I'm usually up well before my family and I'm working by those first couple hours just to make sure I have time for them. Uh and I'm not saying any of those are good plans. Don't don't hear me say that. But it's just uh, as the saying goes, Robin Peter to PayPal kind of stuff to make those through, which is not really a good leadership plan or skill, but it's just the it is the is the world that we're in today uh to be able to do. And so just using time management, I think, would probably be the easiest way of just making sure that I I either get some time for myself to be able to do the things that I need to do with less distraction so I can work more efficiently, so I'm open for help or open for interruptions or help during the normal business hour day, or I'm looking through that. So still something I'm working on. I'm a work in progress. I keep thinking that one day, but I don't know when one day is.

Dr. William Attaway 23:37

Well, I'll tell you what I tell my clients. You get to choose.

Bill Reynolds 23:40

That's true. Yeah, I'm not I'm not a victim here, right? That's what I told you. I'm not a victim. It's all self- self-imped.

Dr. William Attaway 23:47

That's it. But I appreciate the authenticity there. I think that a lot of our listeners are going to resonate with that. That's the reality for so many people, that tension. And, you know, we we can push that off and say, you know, one day. You know, right. Uh I love to to really challenge, and I'll challenge our listeners too, you know, like today could be that day. You know, it's so critical, I think, for us to lead the way in this for the people that we're leading, because they're gonna follow where we lead. You know, and that had that has good connotations and you know, the other kind too.

Bill Reynolds 24:23

Yes.

Dr. William Attaway 24:24

In that in that vein of continually learning, that's one thing I've heard from you in our conversations, you know, that you are a continual learner. That you are constantly trying to keep abreast of what's going on, not just in the field, but beyond. Is there a book that you would recommend that has made a big difference in your journey that you'd recommend to the leaders who are listening?

Balancing Strategy And Operations

Bill Reynolds 24:43

You know, uh, One Minute Manager probably was the first Kim Blanchard, if you get a chance to read that one, it's an oldie but a goodie. Um it really just puts responsibility where it needs to be. It kind of makes it very simple uh to walk through uh just what the process needs to be to lead well. And then also just hold yourself at that same kind of accountability. Um I would recommend that one. Uh there was another book, um, it's called The Grind. It's a little edgier, uh, but it always just talks about that like, hey, if you want the easy life, then this isn't for you. And it's the grind. And it just talks about just that sometimes that you've got to be willing to go through the grind, but you also have to be smart enough to realize that when the grind is the normal, then you're you're on the wrong path. Something's wrong. Grinding is something we have to do every now and then. You have to do hard things. You have to do something that you don't want. Clean this, pick this up, move this, work around this. So sometimes those things come up. But if it's all the time, that becomes your normal your normalcy, then it's then you're in the wrong spot. And that's the grind. I just really appreciated just the I'm a hard knocks kind of guy. You know, just if you fall down, rub some dirt on it, get up, you know, just kind of brush yourself off and go. I I appreciate being taught that way as well. It's not just I don't just dish it. I I appreciate learning that way. I don't need a whole lot of fluffiness and rainbows and puppies. You can just call me, you can call me out. It's pretty good. I'll take it. I love that. And so that's the grind is uh is that kind of book of just it's gonna st it's gonna stink, it's gonna be rough. One of my friends that was it's ex-military, he always he would always quote them, you know, embrace the suck.

Dr. William Attaway 26:18

That's right.

Bill Reynolds 26:19

It's not a if it's not a when, it's a if. It's going to happen. We know it's we know it's going to be. And so when it does, just embrace it and push through instead of just sitting down and crying. Good. That's so good. That's the grind.

Dr. William Attaway 26:31

I have not read that one, and uh that's going on not to read list. So thank you for that. Yeah, yeah.

Bill Reynolds 26:36

Well, it has been a while, so it could be like you know, some of the 80s movies I remember, and there's all this stuff in it. When you watch it, you're like, why word? I can't believe I and I'm there with my kids or whatever. So exactly. So I put it with a big asterisk. In my mind, it's a really great book. So we'll see if it we'll see if it holds up, William. We'll see if it holds up. There you go.

Dr. William Attaway 26:55

Bill, I've so enjoyed our conversation. I could go for another hour talking to you. I know our listeners are gonna want to continue to learn from you and learn more about you and what you're doing. What's the best way for them to do that?

Books: One Minute Manager & The Grind

Bill Reynolds 27:05

So um our agents agency's element 502, element 502, uh, just in case you're not around here. So it's three numbers, 502. Uh, you can go to element502.com. If you want to see some fun learning stories and those kinds of things, though, go to our other page. It's 599 haircut, 599haircut.com. There's a there's a button there. You can download the the worksheet and the book. It's completely ungated. It's not doing cookie tracking, it's not doing any kind of email harvesting, it's not doing anything. It's just if you want to read about this and you want to hear some stuff about positioning and storing and doing marketing a different way, download the free PDF. If you want to dig in a little bit more, there is a lead, there's a there's further down in there. It's gonna ask you for an email. No surprise, I'm gonna email you back if you give me your email and start a conversation. But in both of those, the gift that we give back is that in the free one, there's a there's a link in there for a 15-minute meeting direct on my calendar. If there's something that you're struggling with or working through in marketing you want us to review or talk through, I'm happy to do that. It's 15 minutes of my time on my calendar. Sign up for it. I'm happy to just listen, talk, whatever. However, I can be of help, because I figure if you're if you're wanting to learn, the first thing you need to do is actually have someone empower you and to give you the attaboy on that. And so I'm happy to help you on that journey to get through there. The if you actually give me your email and download the kind of the deeper dive one, you get a half hour with us to talk through because that's value versus price discussion, some other fun things that are in there. Because the 599 haircut story, I'll give you just quick 30 seconds because I know we're at the bottom of your time here. And I went to go get a haircut at a chain. They were advertising 599 haircuts. I went in, they had an hour and a half wait. I needed a haircut for an event the next day. Hour and a half was not on my schedule. Went to a local barber shop. Their haircut's $15. So I sit down and I'm talking with the barber and I told him, I'm like, I just have a question for you. I said, you know, what's the difference between this $599 haircut down the street and your $15 haircut? It was the coolest thing you've ever seen. He just smiles and he's combing and cutting. He goes, Bill, that's simple. He said, I fixed $599 haircuts. Oh, that's so good. Oh I've never forgotten it, never forgotten it.

Dr. William Attaway 29:22

That's so good.

Bill Reynolds 29:23

One thing I will tell you that after I wrote this down and put all this together, my wife said, You know, that used to be a commercial too. I'm like, Well, I never had seen the commercial. It's my story. I can tell you the man that said it. I can show you where the barbershop is. It's a real story, it's mine. But it's a it's just a cool story about how do you position yourself in the marketplace and go through and and going through that process of how do you do that with your own marketing to go in. So either of those, element502 or 599haircut.com. You can find out more about us. We're happy to help. We've got a we've got a great team. We've got great people here. And yeah, it's uh book some time on my calendar. I'd love to talk to any of your listeners or anybody that gets a hold of it and just dig dig into what's making their message go out and and help the best we can.

Dr. William Attaway 30:07

We'll have those links in the show notes.

Bill Reynolds 30:10

Thank you.

Dr. William Attaway 30:11

Thank you for your generosity today and your your integrity that you lead with and that you have shared with us so freely. So grateful for you, man.

Bill Reynolds 30:19

Thanks for your platform. I appreciate it.