Life's Storms and Strategic Playbooks with Chrissy Myers (part 1)

Discover the unwavering strength of Chrissy Myers, a beacon of resilience who not only stands as the CEO of AUI and Clarity HR but also bears the title of author with her work "Reluctantly Resilient." Our conversation with Chrissy is nothing short of transformative as she opens her heart about the trials that have defined her, from the profound sorrow of losing her husband to the daunting task of guiding her business in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. Experience the raw testament of a spirit that has braved life's fiercest storms, not by choice, but by necessity—fueling a journey that intertwines the essence of survival with the pursuit of corporate success and the power of community-driven philanthropy.

Join us as we weave through the fabric of a family's legacy, where the core values that cement personal bonds also serve as the compass for business ventures. This episode paints a vivid picture of how one family's dedication to crafting a purpose statement, motto, and core values not only anchors them through adversity but also elevates their business strategy. We share the insight behind their six-point decision framework that holds time as precious, balancing business risks with the rewards of life. From the significance of financial diversification and the 'money must move' mantra, to the 'repeat and expand' strategy for scaling success, we discuss how the pillars of a family's ethos serve as the foundation for a life richly lived and a business robustly grown.

Transcript

Pamela Cass: 0:06

In the grand theater of life. We all seek a comeback, a resurgence, a rekindling of our inner fire. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience. This is not just another podcast. This is a journey, a venture into the heart of human spirit, the power of resilience and the art of reigniting our passions.

Natalie Davis: 0:30

Welcome back to another episode of Reignite Resilience. I'm your co-host, natalie Davis, and I am so excited to be back with everyone. Pam, how are you doing today? I?

Pamela Cass: 0:39

am fabulous. Feels like forever, since I've seen you, aka 24 hours.

Natalie Davis: 0:45

I was like I just saw you. I literally just saw you. But that's okay, I understand. If you miss me already, I get it, I do, I do, oh, my goodness. Well, I am so excited we actually have a guest on today's show. So we've had a little bit of a variety the last couple of episodes with guests and no guests. So we have a guest that's joining us today and I do not want to waste any time because I feel that we have so many fabulous nuggets that we'll be able to take away. I'm already excited just with their energy that they've brought on, so I will dive in. Today we have the opportunity to visit with Chrissy Myers and we are so excited to have you, chrissy. Welcome.

Chrissy Myers: 1:25

How are you? Thank you, I am so excited to be here. Natalie and Pam, thank you for allowing me to join your audience today. Yes, we're excited to have you.

Natalie Davis: 1:33

Absolutely Well. And to give you guys a little bit of background, chrissy is an author of the book Reluctantly Resilient, so no surprise on why she's here. She's also the CEO of AUI and Clarity HR. She's a third generation business owner that's revolutionizing the complexities of benefits and HR for small and medium-sized businesses. She's also the chief cheerleader and she guides marketing efforts and steers both companies to disrupt established norms, which is huge in the corporate world and for small business owners. So looking at that from a small and medium-sized business, that is great. And then Chrissy's also going to bring with her today a little of her own personal story, because we know, as we've talked about in the past, when we're talking about adversities, they're not just one and done. When we get to experience this fabulous journey that we call life, we often have many adversities that we face, and sometimes simultaneously. So, chrissy, welcome.

Chrissy Myers: 2:33

Thank you very much, Natalie. I'm excited to share with your audience.

Natalie Davis: 2:37

Absolutely Well, I will give you the floor if you want to just give everyone, maybe, an overview of who you are and where you are in this year.

Chrissy Myers: 2:45

Yeah, so I am Chrissy. I am in Akron, Ohio, so a little further away from you all in Denver, but loving the heart shape of Ohio that it is. And I am reluctantly resilient, so wrote a book about it. But specifically talking about you know, sometimes we're resilient not necessarily because we always want to be, but sometimes because we have to be, and so I talk about a lot of things in the book.

Chrissy Myers: 3:07

But I suffered, in essence, a business hurricane and a personal hurricane at the same time. So we were going through a major change at AUI with the Affordable Care Act and kind of what that needed to look like, changing our industry. At the same time I had married my high school sweetheart, we had two beautiful children and he had an illness and I lost him to suicide 30 days before our major initiative with the Affordable Care Act was supposed to happen in our business. So within 30 days I had to deal with two major traumas and two major setbacks. And so I say that I'm reluctantly resilient, not always because I wanted to be, but because I had to be. So yeah, that's a little bit of the story, but I figure we're going to dive a little bit more into that, but I want to just give you a little bit, that's where we are, absolutely, absolutely.

Natalie Davis: 3:53

I think that's huge. And we actually had a past guest, mike Staver, that came on. We talked about resiliency and kind of that fine line that's between resilience and being stubborn and determined, kind of teetering between all three. So bringing a different, a fresh perspective, I think when you're reluctantly resilient, I am so excited to dive into that piece of it.

Pamela Cass: 4:17

It's interesting because when you say it in a situation like yours, you had two children, so in a situation like that, you didn't really have a choice. So that's what that reluctant resilience was. It's like I got to show up because I got two kids that I've got to take care of and so, yeah, it's a different dynamics when it's just you and then there's other people that are depending on you. So, wow, what a story Amazing.

Chrissy Myers: 4:41

Thank you, I was going to say. At that point in time, caleb was about 18 months old and Maddie was five, and so I mean Kathleen Sebelius, the head of health and human services, did not stop the Affordable Care Act rollout just for me because of all the things I was dealing with. So, on top of helping grieving children, continuing to care for them, all of a sudden being a single parent, I'm still shepherding and managing an organization, leading them towards a major transformational change in our industry.

Pamela Cass: 5:04

Okay, when did you start writing the book?

Chrissy Myers: 5:07

So the book started in 2020. It was one of those. I'm going to write a book about corporate philanthropy, so I believe that serving the community is just as important as doing business in the community. So when I started writing it, it was more about a roadmap to why we should be able to do more and how we can just do good and be good as organizations. So setting up the model for small business corporate philanthropy because I feel that small businesses are the most powerful vehicle for change within our world because they impact so many individuals not just customers, but also their employees and when we take care of those employees and then we take care of our customers and then, in addition, take care of the community, we change the world.

Chrissy Myers: 5:47

So I started writing it with this thought that I was just going to talk about corporate philanthropy and how important it is to do that in the small business space, and it turned into Chrissy, you really should start talking a little bit more about your story. I don't necessarily hide it from the world, but I haven't really talked about it a lot, how it shaped me, how it changed me. So it took about three years for me to really get brave and be honest in print, cause it's one thing to say it to someone in a conversation, it's another thing to put it in the book, talking about the power that therapy can have on your life when you're dealing with grief, when you're dealing with trauma, but then also just dealing with your daily life, how it can build you and help you be a better person, a better wife, a better mother, a better leader. So, talking about therapy, talking about transition and family business, dealing with the transition that my mom and I had while we were kind of walking through the purchase and the transition of AUI Anybody that tells you that family business transition is easy, they're lying to you, correct, it's not true, it's not and it's not for the faint of heart. So walking through that was another challenge and another piece of kind of navigating, becoming more resilient. So started talking more about that in the book, started talking about meeting Steve, who is co-captain.

Chrissy Myers: 7:01

We call ourselves Team Awesome Sauce. As a family, when you've got four people, three last names, a mom who builds businesses and a dad who played team sports, you get a team name, team logo, we get t-shirts, we have a talking stick, we have team meetings, we have our purpose statement, which is. We radiate awesome to the world. So talking about some of the things that we do, even as an entrepreneurial family, came into the book and kind of it's a series of lessons. I would say if we were having brunch. If someone asked me you know, how did you transition your family business? Like that's chapter four. How did you recover from the trauma of losing your husband and going to therapy and then realizing that you know, I didn't really like therapy, I didn't want to stay, so I exited as fast as I could and then going back and realizing how important it was to stay and really do the work that's like chapter six. And then we talk about corporate philanthropy as well.

Natalie Davis: 7:52

Yes, oh, you were still able to dial in. Oh, absolutely, I love that. I love that. Well, the level of vulnerability, I think, when you receive the tap on the shoulder and it's so interesting that you share this and I don't believe in accidents or synchronicities, I think there's a reason for it Recently, this is a place that I've found myself in is that I've continued to receive this tap of share your personal story. Share your personal story. I can talk about business strategy and planning all day, all day Personal story. I'll talk about it, but not from a platform.

Pamela Cass: 8:25

So there's a huge level of vulnerability that you have in putting it in writing to author that there's a vulnerability, but I also feel like it's like this instant relatability and trust that you gain with the audience, because most people think that they're the only ones that have stuff going on, but when they hear a story about, oh my gosh, she has this, this and this going on. Holy cow, if she can do it, I can do it.

Chrissy Myers: 8:54

And.

Pamela Cass: 8:54

I think it's such a powerful message.

Chrissy Myers: 8:57

I agree. It's that you know the iceberg photo, that sometimes you see like everyone sees the top, they don't see the underneath. I think it's really easy, especially as women in business. They go oh, you've got it all together, your kids are doing great, your husband's doing great, your businesses are thriving, and it's like, yes, you see me now, but you don't see where I was and all of the work that I continue to do, to stay there and continue to grow. I think that's something that we don't always talk about and I think we should.

Pamela Cass: 9:25

I think of the visual of the duck, calm on the top and then just like battling away, just trying to keep above the water. I think a lot of women probably feel that on a daily basis, and especially when you're in the corporate world, around men I'll just put it out there around men, there's this expectation of us to put on this armor and not be vulnerable in the workspace, because, oh, she's the woman that makes her weak. And yet to me, I think that's far stronger being able to be vulnerable in the workspace than it is to not then to just show up and just pretend like I'm invincible. Nothing happens to me.

Chrissy Myers: 10:10

Yes, pam, I totally agree, and I think that if you have team members, being vulnerable enables them to see you not just as their leader but also as human, and I think that it makes you more approachable. Leader but also is human, and I think that it makes you more approachable and it makes the ability, when you're dealing with difficult things at work as a team. I feel it knits you together and makes you stronger?

Pamela Cass: 10:29

Yeah, absolutely. There's an incredible book called the Speed of Trust by is it? Stephen Covey?

Natalie Davis: 10:36

We'll drop it in the notes or we'll do a quiz?

Pamela Cass: 10:40

I think it is, and I get confused because, like all of his kids' names are Stephen.

Natalie Davis: 10:44

Yes, it's Stephen M R Covey.

Pamela Cass: 10:46

Just yes, it's like it's one of the Stephen, one of the Stephen Covey. I just remember reading that book and they said if you want to get things done fast, you first have to build the trust. And if you build that trust and start, part of that building the trust is, you know, do what you say you're going to do, but also be vulnerable. You can get way more done with people if they're walking alongside you because they're like no, I believe in this mission and I know what Chrissy has gone through and she's got my loyalty, so it makes it so powerful. I love it. Okay, I want to hear more about Team Awesome Sauce.

Chrissy Myers: 11:22

Oh so.

Pamela Cass: 11:22

Team Awesome Sauce.

Chrissy Myers: 11:23

So it is Chrissy, steve, who's my husband, maddie, who is 16, and Caleb, who is 12. And then we have two lovely doggos, Ziva, who is our little pit rescue mix, and Rocco, who is a failed therapy dog. He was not, yes, he was too distracted to lead the blind, so now he just lives in our family. Okay, yes, that's team awesome sauce. And so we have, as a family, we have our purpose statement, we have our motto, which is put more awesome in the sauce. So, look, referring to awesome is like how we live our lives. What can we do, how can we have fun, how can we serve? And then we have core values that spell out team awesome sauce.

Chrissy Myers: 12:01

So at one point in time, someone said to me you run your family like a business, and I went no, we run our businesses like families. So it's the reverse. Having that intention is so important, and we even have a decision tree and a framework of six things that we do when we start making, even whether it's a business decision or a family decision. So I mean, I think that building that framework together was really important, especially coming into a blended family where we dealt with the trauma of loss. It was really important. And so and another fun fact is that both kids were legally adopted by Steve in 2020. We were Summit County's first legal virtual adoption during COVID, so I mean it's super fun at this point in time.

Chrissy Myers: 12:43

We love traveling as Team Awesome Sauce you can find us on the hashtag Team Awesome Sauce and I think that families, especially entrepreneurial families, can really gain from building that brand together and kind of really honing in on your core values and who you are, because as business leaders, whether we're moms or dads, we deal with a lot of stuff and some of those things you don't necessarily always want to take home. So you know, what can you do in balance? What can you do in your core values as a family to make sure that you are living in a way that your children do not resent you for being a business owner and they don't resent you for being a business leader and they understand that there are boundaries between the organization and yourself, as well as being a third generation family business owner, if you want to transition that business later on in life. If you don't have a good relationship with your kids because of your business, they're never going to want to do what you do. Oh my gosh, yeah.

Pamela Cass: 13:33

So what chapter in the book is this on? Does it tell you how to do this? Because I have so many questions about that, because that alone, I think, could be its own book. The fact that you have blended your family in the business together in such a beautiful way, where most people don't. I mean the fact that you have a decision tree, which I want to hear more about that, and the fact that you have core values and that you have a purpose statement. I mean all of those things. What an amazing way to run a family. And I'm assuming you didn't just meet Steve and say, oh, by the way, we're going to do a purpose statement, decision tree, like no, no.

Chrissy Myers: 14:11

I did not, in fact, with Steve. It was interesting. He was the one that said, hey, we need to have core values as a family I mean, I'm the one that's running a business and he said this is really important. What is our mission statement going to be? Around raising the kids together. How are we going to do this? And so we really worked on it before we got married. It was something that he and I did, and then, once the kids got a little bit older, we involved them in that process and we redid our purpose and our core values. They're now in the book in one of the chapters, and we spell out team awesome sauce. We're a little bit more intentional, because I also take that marketing side. So it's like you know, how can we encompass all of these things? But, like a good one is, we're creators, not consumers. We stay hungry and humble, like different things about. You know certain phrases that you can say to your kids, cause I think having a whole bunch of core values as a parent is really important, or a whole bunch of different things that you can kind of pull from. It's better than just four. I feel like four is great for a company, but as parents. We need more things, especially when they're like I want to go drive here, I want to do this, and it's like, okay, let's have our talk about what things are. And as far as our decision framework, that was as we started to think about. You know, we bought AUI, we launched Clarity HR a month after we purchased AUI from my mom, and then we've walked into some other investments, doing some things with real estate, looking at different franchises. Currently, I'm working with a company turning it around. It's currently in receivership. It's in the Permian Basin at Texas. So I'm in the oil and gas sector doing some of that work as well, on top of writing the book and doing all the other CEO things. So we make decisions on what to walk into and not. I'm going to turn for a second and I'm going to read.

Chrissy Myers: 15:44

So we have six things that we talk about specifically when we're making decisions, and the first is that time is precious. So the amount of time that we take away from our family has to be in balance. So time is precious. We only have a set number of days with our kids where they're going to live under the same roof as us. We only have a set number of weekends. My husband keeps a countdown calendar for our daughter as to like when she turns 18 and when she graduates from high school, and we have less than a hundred weekends with her before she's out of our house. It's really important that we kind of make sure that we understand that time is precious. And also, you know, pam and Natalie, after losing my first spouse, after losing Michael, I know that time is so important because there are certain things that I can't get back and there are certain things that I won't have because we're not going to have that time together. So time is precious is our first one.

Chrissy Myers: 16:32

The next one is called reward over risk. So when we take risks in business or in investment or in the decision to join a different board of directors or serve in the community, the reward has to outweigh the risk. I grew up in the insurance industry. We're pretty risk averse. Steve grew up in some different industries, so he's not as risk averse. So this has been something that we've had to kind of work together on, but that was something that was really important. You know, we're not going to risk everything for one big payday. We're going to make sure that we diversify and we make good decisions. So time is important. Then, reward over risk.

Chrissy Myers: 17:07

The next one is that money must move. So when it comes in, we continue to reinvest. So what can we do? Whether it's reinvesting in our businesses, looking at another business, looking at different types of real estate or stock or Bitcoin, all the different things around diversification, but knowing that your money needs to make money for you. So to do that, it can't just sit and be quiet, it's got to keep moving. So that was one that was really important as we make those financial and business decisions.

Chrissy Myers: 17:33

The next one is repeat and expand. So once we've done it, once we look at should we do it again? And if we do it again, how can we make it bigger? How can we continue with our money moving, with making sure that we're being diligent of our time, that we're taking the right types of risks, how do we continue to move forward? So, making sure that we repeat things and we expand things.

Chrissy Myers: 17:54

And the fifth one is a legacy of awesome, and so it comes with that whole serving the communities, just as important as doing business in the community. But also, you know, as we make decisions, how we spend our time, how we give of our money, how we invest in different businesses, how are we going to make sure that we're making the world a better place? So it's not just the legacy of awesome for making good ripples in the world, it's also a legacy of awesome for team awesome sauce. So what does it look like when we're talking about family funds? So we have, as part of our legacy, planning a family fund that we contribute to as part of our philanthropy, and the community foundation called us and they're like are you serious? This is the name of your fund, because it is the Team Awesome Sauce family fund. And they're like really, you're Team Awesome Sauce. We're like, yes, we're Team.

Natalie Davis: 18:42

Awesome Sauce. Do you want our money?

Chrissy Myers: 18:44

or do you not? Because we're going to go by Team Awesome Sauce and we sent you a t-shirt, exactly. So legacy of awesome is really important. And then the last one is that we take 10% and we give, and we take 10% and we enjoy. So it's important to give always, and I think we give probably more than 10%, especially when we're talking about time, talent and treasure combined.

Chrissy Myers: 19:06

But the other thing that oftentimes I have forgotten to do and I think Steve has forgotten to do because we're just moving so much is we forget to enjoy it. So that intention of yes, we're going to give, but we also have to enjoy, is really important, especially for our kids, because they're seeing the fruits of our labor, all the things that we do to provide for our family. It's not enough if all we do is reinvest it and they never see it, so they get to enjoy it as well. So that's how we make decisions. We make sure that we have all of those different things. Time is precious. Reward over risk. Money has to move. We repeat and expand. We have a legacy of awesome, and then we take 10% and we give, and 10% and enjoy.

Pamela Cass: 19:46

Okay, I love that. So now your husband. You said he was in sports.

Chrissy Myers: 19:51

He's done sports, so he played team sports. He was a football player high school college. Now he plays like, I think, a lot of middle-aged men a ton of basketball. So chiropractors and ER doctors are all super excited because Steve plays basketball. I love it.

Natalie Davis: 20:06

I was expecting pickleball, no pickleball.

Chrissy Myers: 20:13

It's just basketball now. Okay, natalie, do not introduce something new to him. No, no, because he plays basketball like he played football and I'm like it is not a contact sport. So, oh, yes.

Natalie Davis: 20:18

But he does all sorts of other things too.

Chrissy Myers: 20:20

He does real estate. He does a lot of things in managing our family finances. He is pretty amazing and when COVID happened he was the stay at home homeschool dad.

Chrissy Myers: 20:30

He did a fantastic job of like making sure that our kids were educated, and not only so they came home. In February of 2020, he left a position that he was in so that we could spend more time as a family together, because I was running both businesses, and so he had no idea that, like two weeks later, he's like I'm going to get up in the morning, I'm going to day trade, I'm going to play basketball, I'm going to do these things. The governor sent all of our kids home and then they never left for almost three years because we decided to keep our kids home for a little bit longer and kind of do some additional homeschooling. We liked homeschooling as a family, so he was responsible for all of those things. The man that said he was never going to have kids and never get married Now he has two kids and he's homeschooling them.

Pamela Cass: 21:07

So, exactly, and kudos to him. I'm assuming with him having played sports. When you guys got in the relationship together he's like okay, we have to have family values. Did that come from a coach or did his family do this? Or?

Chrissy Myers: 21:21

was this? No, so his family did not. He grew up in foster care. So I think, because of the lack of family dynamics that he had, it gave him that intention of you know, we're going to do this and we have to have purpose around it. So when he does anything, Pam, he is like 110%. He is all in all the time full speed ahead, and so I think when he was looking at this, maybe looking at some of the core values he'd had from coaching and being in team sports but I think a lot of it came from the growth of I didn't have this growing up and I want to make sure that I provide it for the kids that I'm going to love forever.

Pamela Cass: 21:54

Yeah, wow, I feel like he needs to be a guest on our podcast too.

Chrissy Myers: 21:57

Agreed, oh, he'd be amazing.

Pamela Cass: 21:59

Okay, well, growing up in foster care and you know it can go one way or the other, he went the ultimate way, which is build something amazing with his wife and for his kids.

Natalie Davis: 22:12

That he said absolutely that is so wow, I love that well, christy, and when you're looking at this, like the values, the purpose statement, having the mission, I'm assuming that this is a living, breathing piece that is constantly evolving and changing. But initially did this start as like we're having a family meeting or a family retreat and here's what we would ideally like to accomplish, and that would have been with a preteen, I'm assuming, and then a non-preteen, but probably an active boy as well.

Chrissy Myers: 22:40

Yes, yes. So when we did this initially, maddie was in second grade and Caleb was in preschool, so I mean like running around. So we did a lot of the work ourselves and said, look, we're going to call ourselves Team Awesome Sauce. And so they were all in about Team Awesome Sauce, all about it. Here's our core values. They're going to be on our fridge and occasionally we're going to talk about them.

Chrissy Myers: 23:01

Now, as a family, we have structure, so we have a quarterly meeting, all of us together, where you know, is there anything that we need to talk about? Is there anything in our values we need to talk about? Let's talk about the calendar, let's talk about all the other things. We have a regular family meeting too. Anyone has the ability to call a family meeting. Caleb, our youngest, tends to be the one that calls them most frequently because he loves to use like hey, things are a little spicy in our house, let's come back and let's all talk together. Let's use the talking stick, let's all get back on track. Let's make sure we say team sauce on five, love it. So it's really important. But then also, once a year, usually in between Christmas and New Year's, we have a coming together of the family, the four of us, where we either will go to dinner, we'll do an activity, and then we'll sit down and really talk about our values. You know, these are everything that they are. Let's talk about them. Is there anything that should change?

Chrissy Myers: 23:50

And one that we did have change, probably about three, four years ago, was we realized that we didn't have one on forgiveness, and so it seemed really important at that point in time that we needed to add it. So we added extend forgiveness and expect growth. So that was one that we added a couple of years ago because it was like, wait a second, we don't have anything around forgiveness. We have a lot on understanding, a lot on communication, but we forgot forgiveness. So how do we put that in? So we had that conversation, added it in and then at the end of the year beginning of the year, depending on when we have the meeting we choose a word for the year. So a couple of years ago it was expansion. It's been playful. This year our word is understanding.

Chrissy Myers: 24:31

Especially having a 16-year-old and a 12-year-old, we're dealing with a lot of hormones in our house in all sorts of different ways and understanding is really important, especially with Steve and I working on this project in Texas that is in receivership, continuing to grow our other businesses, launching this book, kind of talking about what it means to be an entrepreneurial family. There's a lot of things going on, and so making sure that we can build understanding between ourselves as a couple, but then also between Maddie and Caleb and all of us all of those dynamics are so important.

Pamela Cass: 25:04

I love it and I love that it's a word for the family. Yes, I mean we do a lot of. Everybody picks our individual word of the year. I love the idea of a family word of the year.

Chrissy Myers: 25:18

Yes, we do the same thing. I love picking words for the year so you can be focused, but then as a family, it really enables us to kind of you know, talk about you know how do we build the right type of culture within our family. It's important, but the understanding piece this year has been so helpful. Oh my gosh.

Natalie Davis: 25:29

I love it. We hope that you've enjoyed part one of our two-part interview with Chrissy Myers. What an inspiring story. The amount of adversity that Chrissy has overcome over the last 10 to 15 years is truly remarkable. Make sure that you come back and join us for part two of this interview as we continue to learn more about Team Awesome Sauce and what's on the horizon for Chrissy moving forward. We'll see you soon. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Reignite Resilience. We hope that you had amazing ahas and takeaways. Remember to subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like it and download the upcoming episodes, and if you know anyone in your life that is looking to continue to ignite their resilience, share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on our future episodes and, until then, continue to reignite that fire within your hearts.