Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Brett Barlow - Everee

Employees love payroll day. Can you imagine if everyday was payroll day?

Your employees would be jumping at the chance to work harder, perform better and keep your business moving.

Hopefully.

Listen as Brett Barlow, the CEO of Everee, the platform that helps you and your employees get daily payroll to be a thing in your business, explains how Everee works and if it can work for your business.

Enjoy!

Visit Brett at: https://www.everee.com/

[00:00:02]

You have found Authentic Business

[00:00:04]

Adventures, the business program that brings

you struggle stories and triumphant

[00:00:08]

successes of business

owners across the land.

[00:00:10]

Downloadable audio episodes can

be found on the podcast link

[00:00:13]

found at drawincustomers.com. We are locally

underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:17]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:19]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:23]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:25]

to learn from Brett Barlow,

the CEO of Everee.

[00:00:29]

And I'm excited because Everee, I guess

[00:00:31]

Brett, you'll tell us more,

but I was poking around your website,

[00:00:34]

and it sounds very intriguing,

especially to a guy that runs a business,

[00:00:37]

and I have to deal with

employees and employees

[00:00:40]

turns out want to get paid.

Yeah.

[00:00:43]

Strange.

[00:00:44]

So let's start with there.

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What is Everee? Okay, well, first of.

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All, James, thank you very much

for having me on your program.

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It's a pleasure.

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Sounds like the topics that you're

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covering are super helpful to business

owners from all different phases.

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So I'm really excited to be here.

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Everee was built on the premise of we want

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to pay workers the wages they've

earned as soon as they've earned it.

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So in many ways,

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the current payroll system is failing

Americans, and we see that because 68%

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of Americans are currently

living paycheck to paycheck.

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It's a pretty large number.

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So if you think about seven out of ten

of your workers are distracted in some way

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for financial kind of stress or strain

that they might be having in their life,

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and what happens there is there are

industries that are popping up that we

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consider to be somewhat predatory, that

are taking advantage of these people.

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Like another stat just to throw out there

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12 million Americans

are using payday loans.

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12 million Americans?

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12 million Americans,

with an average APR of 390%.

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Yeah, it's brutal.

Brutal.

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It's it's criminal, in my opinion.

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But then you also have credit cards

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that people lean on, and they have their

fees or bank overdraft fees and so forth.

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And so it's just a really

challenging time.

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So one we see paying people the money

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that they've earned is a kind of call

back to when we were younger.

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I remember when I would

mow my grandfather's lawn.

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At the end of the day, I'd go to the front

door, he'd give me a Coke and a $10 bill.

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All right, you got paid well by your Grandpa.

I did my work.

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I did when I was asked,

and I was compensated for that.

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All right.

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The way that we brought

that into the market is we build a payroll

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platform, which in itself,

payroll is I don't think I've ever heard

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somebody say, and I can't

wait to run payroll.

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It's really exciting.

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No. What we do differently is we build

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an application that is

Uber ask for payroll, I guess you'd say.

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It's mobile, friendly.

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You can process payments within a minute.

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It's quite simple,

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but it has all the functionality time

clock, scheduling, taxes, garnishments,

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those types of things that you would

expect from a payroll platform.

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In addition to that,

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what we are able to do, or where we

started was through same day ACH.

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The manager receives a text message,

they slide, they approve it,

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and that person is paid by 03:00 p.m. The

same day that they work.

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Or if it's submitted in the morning

by two or 03:00 p.m, in the afternoon,

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so same day.

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So when we founded this four years ago,

that was really fast. Incredibly fast for anything,

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still fast.

Yeah.

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And that was becoming kind of

not the expectation,

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but people were tuning into you,

why don't I have access to these earnings

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when I'm giving really

a labor free loan to these companies

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for two weeks and they're just

kind of holding on to my money?

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Well, now, with Zelle, Venmo, Stripe,

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all these things,

the new kind of age workers,

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it's more of an expectation

that they'll be paid faster.

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So some people have moved to weekly.

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We have just released

and released Instant Pay.

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So what we're able to do,

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in addition to our platform, is we

also integrate with other platforms.

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So vertical specific platforms that are

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say, providing services for say,

landscaping or lawn cutting or

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food delivery or last mile

delivery, things like that.

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Well, we're able to connect with them

or embed into their application.

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So once a worker completes their task,

their delivery, their

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requested job, we're able to pay them

within 30 minutes of that job being done.

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So, it's instant. Sometimes it's in honestly,

within less than five minutes.

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So it's very fast.

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We accomplished that through we have

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a card program where we can put the money

on the card in your pocket right now

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that you have, which allows us

to pay people 365 days a year.

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Wow.

Weekends, holidays, instant pay.

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It's vertically integrated or standalone.

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And I guess one of our secret sauce is

we're able so people, when they hear this,

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it sounds hard, sounds

really hard to them.

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How am I going to handle

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that with my accounting, my general ledger

books, processing payroll every day?

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Well, we have a credit facility,

and for our customers that are approved

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for that, we make the payments for them

on our credit, and then they just settle

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up with us at the end of their

regular payroll cycle.

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So actually nothing changes

for the company at all.

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We make the payment, the approved payments

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for them pay their employees

instantly and at a time.

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Post pandemic that we're in recruiting

and retaining is,

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as you and I were chatting about earlier,

is a real challenge for companies.

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You're not going into an office and you

have things like gym memberships or free

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lunches or some of the things

to entice workers to come in.

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There's something now tangible

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that an employer is able to offer to their

workers that we will pay you instantly.

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There's a dirty little secret actually out

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there in payroll where large,

traditional payroll companies.

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So if your payroll is due on the 15th

of a month, you typically have to submit

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your payroll on the 12th, something

like that, a couple of days early.

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Well, companies like ADP have interest

income, so they're making hundreds

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of millions of dollars by holding

on to people's payroll funds.

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So they're not really

incentivized to move quickly.

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Their businesses are built around it.

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It's five to 7% of ADP's revenue.

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Wow, I messed up.

[00:07:04]

I forgot about Martin Luther King Day

being a bank holiday.

[00:07:09]

Right.

So I submitted payroll.

[00:07:11]

It was due on the 15th.

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15th was a Sunday or something like that.

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So the crew should have been actually

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received their pay on Friday, but they

didn't end up receiving it until Tuesday.

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Tuesday, but the money was out of my

account on Wednesday like the previous.

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That's exactly what we're talking, five,

six days for the bank or payroll company

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to just camp on the money with no,

like, there's nothing that I can't get.

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There's no reason for them to innovate

because they're making that money.

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And it's kind of been kind of the four or

five standard companies that have done it.

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And now there are a lot of other companies

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like Everee that are focused on this

kind of new age of payroll and payment.

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So something that's unique to us is we're

able to handle 1099 and w two workers,

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and we're really focused

on contingent workforces.

[00:08:07]

So gig economy, businesses, delivery, door

to door type sales, hourly workforces.

[00:08:15]

Those are kind of,

I would say more vulnerable to pay

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discrepancies or not quite making it to a

pay cycle, to the end of the pay cycle.

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And they're coming to their

...

Fatou Ceesay - Cairasu Home Care

The senior care business is booming.  The challenge is aligning care for your clients with the reality of business and employees.  Fatou Ceesay started her senior care business, Cairasu Home Care, from scratch and has built it to an empire in the Madison, Wisconsin area.

Listen as Fatou explains how she started her senior care business and how she is navigating the challenges of business, and being successful in the process.

Enjoy!

Visit Fatou at: http://www.cairasucare.com/

[00:00:02.480]

You have found

Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04.760]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories

[00:00:07.210]

and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:10.600]

Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast

link, found at drawincustomers.com

[00:00:16.360]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:18.720]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:19.850]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:24.570]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:26.010]

to learn from Fatou Ceesay,

owner of Cairasu Home Care.

[00:00:31.080]

And I got to say I'm excited

[00:00:32.890]

because every time I meet

with Fatou and I've known you, oh,

[00:00:36.590]

my gosh, long time, but I never

really knew much about your business.

[00:00:40.760]

I guess I just knew you through

networking and stuff like that.

[00:00:43.410]

I didn't realize how big

and cool your business is.

[00:00:47.010]

All right.

[00:00:48.050]

Well, now you know.

[00:00:49.810]

Now I know and soon the world will know.

[00:00:53.090]

Let's just start with what

is Cairasu Home Care?

[00:00:57.720]

Cairasu, by the way,

thank you for having me and thank you

[00:01:00.990]

for all you do to get small

businesses out there.

[00:01:04.320]

Oh, I love it.

It's fun.

[00:01:06.080]

Yeah.

[00:01:06.310]

So Cairasu Home Care has been

10 years now since we started it.

[00:01:13.290]

It's an in home care services

for elderlies within Dane County.

[00:01:18.520]

Our main goal is to help our seniors stay

in their homes for as long as possible,

[00:01:24.130]

which we know majority

of seniors want to do.

[00:01:27.840]

So being there to help them with whether

[00:01:29.600]

it's their personal care needs,

their home chores, their medical

[00:01:35.650]

appointments,

making sure they're taking their

[00:01:38.730]

medications, things of that nature,

things that will keep them safe at home.

[00:01:43.490]

All right.

[00:01:45.240]

And I imagine you definitely have job or

[00:01:48.570]

business security, really, because

people keep coming to the Madison area or

[00:01:53.390]

just everywhere, and people keep getting

old, whether they like it or not.

[00:01:59.090]

We're all aging.

[00:02:00.690]

Here we are.

So it's interesting.

[00:02:03.830]

How did you end up in this industry?

[00:02:08.680]

It's interesting that you actually

[00:02:10.890]

ask that because this is not

an industry that is familiar to me growing up.

[00:02:16.944]

I'm from the Gambia,

that's in West Africa.

[00:02:20.120]

Okay.

[00:02:21.840]

And there is no such thing as

like in home care or nursing home where

[00:02:27.760]

people, professionals go into other

people's places and work with them.

[00:02:33.470]

So what we know there is

families caring for families.

[00:02:38.250]

Then I come here and a family

friend introduced me to home care.

[00:02:44.970]

The way it happened was more of, oh,

[00:02:50.030]

that's what she wanted to do

because she moved in here.

[00:02:54.290]

And she asked me and I'm like, hey,

I had no idea.

[00:02:57.830]

I didn't even know that such things exist.

[00:03:02.960]

Long story short, she find a job

herself, which was in home care.

[00:03:07.750]

She moved from a different state.

[00:03:10.770]

From the state that she was,

that's what she was doing.

[00:03:14.690]

Now when she got that job, she said, my

[00:03:19.120]

company is hiring and

you should apply there.

[00:03:23.670]

I'm like, no,

[00:03:26.840]

I don't know that I can

do this at the time.

[00:03:30.370]

At the time, I was actually working

in a department store.

[00:03:36.640]

That's what I was doing.

[00:03:38.430]

Very different thing.

[00:03:40.190]

Although the customer service thing

will follow you anywhere you go.

[00:03:44.430]

But other than that,

this one is health care.

[00:03:49.570]

Anyways, long story short, I

applied for that job, I got it.

[00:03:53.010]

That was my introduction to

working with elderly and I loved it.

[00:03:58.810]

Never gone back since.

All right.

[00:04:01.800]

Well, you touched on a few points here.

[00:04:03.210]

I want to touch on something that I guess

it never even dawned on me.

[00:04:07.530]

Were you in Africa,

they don't have something like that,

[00:04:10.550]

I imagine, because extended

family is just taking care of everyone.

[00:04:15.610]

It's just a cultural norm.

[00:04:17.190]

It's a cultural norm that families

take care of families.

[00:04:20.280]

In fact, in a very,

[00:04:22.360]

I don't want to say secretive way,

but it's protecting somebody's dignity

[00:04:29.130]

in a way that you don't want everybody

coming to see all that is happening.

[00:04:35.210]

I think aging folks have challenges.

[00:04:40.720]

For instance, let's use personal care,

[00:04:44.010]

bathing, or taking

someone to the bathroom.

[00:04:47.840]

A lot of families would not want

[00:04:50.250]

someone outside of their family

to do that with their parents.

[00:04:54.330]

Got it.

Okay.

[00:04:55.880]

Yeah.

[00:04:56.270]

So in a way of protecting their

dignity, that's what that is.

[00:05:01.920]

All right.

[00:05:03.070]

It's interesting you say that because my

[00:05:05.280]

dad, I don't know, this is

probably a year ago now.

[00:05:08.770]

He was in the hospital for...

[00:05:10.470]

He had a stroke.

It was interesting.

[00:05:12.910]

He gets out and he's still going through

the physical therapy and stuff like that.

[00:05:17.010]

And he told me

[00:05:18.770]

when you end up in the hospital,

dignity is gone because he had to...

[00:05:24.750]

I mean, he just couldn't move

the majority of his body.

[00:05:28.150]

So it's interesting how

[00:05:30.040]

we try to go through life,

taking care of ourselves, being

[00:05:34.090]

independent, helping other

people where we can.

[00:05:37.000]

You're worried about looks

and stuff like that.

[00:05:39.160]

And then something like that happens.

[00:05:41.757]

And then all of a sudden,

what was important to you

[00:05:45.570]

minutes ago.

[00:05:48.320]

Is not even on the radar.

No.

[00:05:50.360]

It's interesting how life

changes so quickly like that.

[00:05:53.910]

That is true.

[00:05:55.800]

So it had to be an interesting

paradigm shift.

[00:05:57.420]

And I guess I never even

thought about it I guess when

[00:06:01.770]

it comes to different cultures,

the way that they treat or care for

[00:06:05.920]

elderly, because there's

elderly people everywhere.

[00:06:08.800]

I guess that makes sense that it's different.

Yeah.

[00:06:13.570]

For our culture, it's more of more

like, this is what we should do.

[00:06:21.000]

This is what we will do.

[00:06:22.170]

It's a cycle of life.

[00:06:25.730]

Come in and somebody is taking care of you

and you get to a certain stage,

[00:06:29.630]

you're independent

and you move on to your life,

[00:06:33.230]

do everything, you get to a certain

point and you can do things.

[00:06:37.450]

The ones that you cared for

[00:06:40.360]

previously and those people are coming

back to your life to care for you.

[00:06:45.670]

I think that interdependence of family

[00:06:51.360]

units, that's just the way it

has been and still is.

[00:06:57.410]

In my country, that didn't change.

[00:07:02.800]

Because to this day, there is no like, oh,

this is the senior care living facility.

[00:07:09.200]

No.

They don't have that?

[00:07:12.040]

No, we don't have that.

[00:07:13.750]

Which means everybody ages in place,

[00:07:17.190]

ages at home and their

families take care of them.

[00:07:21.160]

Wow.

All right.

[00:07:23.280]

Interesting.

So you come here to the States,

[00:07:25.880]

your friend says, hey, do this thing that

essentially you've never heard of or.

[00:07:29.730]

Wonder why.

[00:07:30.530]

And

what was the driving force for you to say,

[00:07:35.080]

sure, I'll leave the department

store and do this?

[00:07:37.030]

Was it curiosity?

[00:07:39.010]

Was it taking care of people?

[00:07:41.720]

Tell me, what was the initial attraction?

[00:07:43.650]

Well, when.

[00:07:45.010]

She explained it, she explained to me what

they do and she think that I would do it.

[00:07:52.570]

I was like, okay, I'll give it a try.

[00:07:55.290]

It's just a matter of wanting

to try if I can do it.

[00:07:58.750]

But also it's more of being able

to help someone in that face of life.

[00:08:08.170]

I grew up with my grandparents around me.

[00:08:11.510]

I feel like, Okay,

let's give it a try and see.

[00:08:15.300]

But like I said, I just

completely loved it.

[00:08:18.880]

I just completely love it.

[00:08:20.070]

Then

from there working for different agencies,

[00:08:28.240]

different health care facilities,

then I decided that, well,

[00:08:33.060]

if this is what I'm going to be doing,

I might as well get my own business.

...

Dan Guerra - SDMCentral

Most entrepreneurs share a few common traits.  They strive for success, growth and always pursue what is next.  They also have a million ideas for other businesses and need to quell that urge to start the next big thing.

That last part is a blessing and a curse.  It makes it easy, well, easier to pivot.  It also can be a distraction.

Listen as Dan Guerra shares his entrepreneurial journey from the business of computer repair to website creation to software in the health care field, he has a diverse background of business experience.

Dan shares the good, bad and less than great about his business journey.

Enjoy!

Visit Dan at: AltusCampus.com

[00:00:02]

You have found

Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories and triumphant

[00:00:08]

successes of business

owners across the land.

[00:00:10]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:12]

Downloadable audio episodes can

be found on the podcast link at

[00:00:16]

drawincustomers.com.

[00:00:19]

Today we are welcoming/preparing to learn

from Dan Guerra, the CEO of SDM Central.

[00:00:26]

So, Dan, how are things going today?

[00:00:30]

Hey, every day is a great day.

[00:00:33]

Every day is a great day.

[00:00:35]

That's the mindset I hear of a lot

[00:00:37]

of entrepreneurs are just like, it's

awesome, everything's great.

[00:00:43]

You always get that when you talk

to somebody who's a real estate agent.

[00:00:47]

You ask them, how's the market?

Best market ever.

[00:00:49]

You couldn't ask for a better market.

[00:00:51]

I'm like, did we wake

up in the same space?

[00:00:54]

No.

[00:00:56]

2008.

Everything's on fire.

[00:00:58]

It's great.

[00:00:59]

Like networking events and happy hours.

[00:01:02]

How's real estate?

[00:01:04]

Best market ever.

[00:01:05]

Good guy, man, flying off the shelf.

[00:01:07]

Can't keep up with the underwriting.

[00:01:10]

I just heard about a financial crisis, man

[00:01:14]

Isn't the world on fire?

[00:01:15]

Yeah.

[00:01:17]

So to your point yes.

[00:01:18]

I think entrepreneurs are

default optimistic people.

[00:01:23]

If you weren't, it'd be really hard to get

out of bed after getting

[00:01:28]

life pummeled out of you the day before

because you had a series of failures.

[00:01:32]

Yeah.

Or you'd have murdered employees.

[00:01:35]

Yeah.

I mean, I would never say that, but

[00:01:40]

I think that you bring up a really

important thing, which is resilience.

[00:01:45]

And

I think that's something that you and I

[00:01:49]

share as entrepreneurs,

as being generally resilient people where

[00:01:53]

we get a lot of no's and we

get more no's than we do

[00:01:57]

yes's.

[00:01:58]

Except our yes when we get there are

[00:02:00]

really big and it allows us

to move the agenda forward.

[00:02:03]

And not just for us, but to your point,

the people that work with us,

[00:02:07]

our employers, our contractors,

our customers.

[00:02:10]

And so those yes's are huge

yes's.

[00:02:13]

One of the things that super inspires me

[00:02:15]

is they were just like this Michael Jordan

like,

[00:02:18]

quote on numbers, and I'm going to screw

it up, so I'm going to try the numbers.

[00:02:21]

But they say for all his awesome shots,

he had 9000 misses.

[00:02:26]

And so if he hadn't had all those misses,

he wouldn't have had all the successes.

[00:02:29]

And I think that just kind

of inspires us as entrepreneurs.

[00:02:32]

Like, we got to get in the game

and we can't be afraid of the no.

[00:02:35]

And the yeses that we have are going to be

[00:02:38]

hugely beneficial, not just for us,

but the people then around us.

[00:02:41]

Yeah.

[00:02:42]

Babe Ruth, I think, had the most

strikeouts of any player for a long time.

[00:02:47]

Babe Ruth.

The baseball game.

[00:02:49]

But we don't talk about that.

[00:02:50]

Right.

[00:02:51]

Talk about home runs and hot dogs.

[00:02:53]

It's all good.

[00:02:54]

So, interesting thing.

[00:02:55]

I guess I should let the crowd know

that I've known you for a long time.

[00:03:00]

Years.

Right?

[00:03:01]

Yes.

[00:03:02]

So I'm trying to think when I knew you had

an office downtown Madison,

[00:03:08]

and I remember visiting you

at that office across the street.

[00:03:11]

People were protesting something.

[00:03:14]

I remember I asked you,

what are the protesting?

[00:03:17]

And you're like, oh, every Thursday,

they protest about something.

[00:03:21]

And it was funny because

I'm like, seriously?

[00:03:24]

And you're totally serious.

[00:03:27]

Every week, something's wrong.

[00:03:29]

We love it when people exercise democracy.

[00:03:32]

Yeah, it's weird.

[00:03:35]

I mean, I get it.

[00:03:36]

Fantastic going protest.

[00:03:38]

That was a long time ago.

[00:03:39]

I remember that.

[00:03:40]

It was just a weird yeah,

we were having a meeting.

[00:03:42]

It was on the corner right there, and I'm

just like, this crowd is kind of noisy.

[00:03:47]

Yeah, it was one of those, every week,

[00:03:50]

really?

[00:03:52]

At one point, couldn't you

just be like, you know what?

[00:03:55]

We're good?

Well, after they had the riots in 2011,

[00:04:01]

they protest on Thursday

and they'd sing on Fridays.

[00:04:06]

Yeah.

And it was great to come together.

[00:04:09]

It's hard to get work done, but nice.

[00:04:11]

I imagine one of those just like,

do any of you need a job?

[00:04:16]

We could hire a couple of you.

[00:04:18]

But on the flip side,

if they're protesting something that I

[00:04:21]

want to be protested,

then have at her, man.

[00:04:24]

Hey, you know

[00:04:26]

I think is like, put your time

into everywhere you find it.

[00:04:27]

If you find some happiness, do it.

Do it.

[00:04:30]

Sure.

[00:04:30]

Keep in mind, I'm trying to make happiness

and other stuff for other people.

[00:04:35]

Yeah.

Within the legal and ethical confines of

[00:04:38]

choices. It turns out

cannabis is almost legal now.

[00:04:42]

You know what?

Didn't we have something that we voted

[00:04:44]

for a little while ago that we're

just like, yeah, make this happen?

[00:04:47]

I think that was an advisory referendum.

[00:04:49]

All right.

[00:04:51]

That was the one that I think I

always thought was kind of fun.

[00:04:54]

Like, everybody comes out

for cannabis legalization.

[00:04:59]

All right, it's all good.

[00:05:00]

So let's go back,

[00:05:02]

way back in the protesting people outside

your window for something. Not you.

[00:05:06]

They were not protesting us.

[00:05:07]

No,

[00:05:09]

I think it was like, puppies should have

more fur or something along those lines.

[00:05:15]

Puppies should shed less.

[00:05:16]

Maybe I might attend that one.

[00:05:18]

Anyways.

[00:05:19]

You had Argus Ventures,

if I recall correctly.

[00:05:22]

Yeah.

[00:05:23]

So let's go down the road.

[00:05:25]

When did you first start your first

what you would consider to be your first

[00:05:29]

real small business or real

business, maybe, as big?

[00:05:32]

I started my first business,

actually, before August in 2001.

[00:05:39]

All right.

Before I graduated high school.

[00:05:42]

Wow.

Real one.

[00:05:43]

We're not talking

to paper out or anything.

[00:05:45]

It's a real one.

All right.

[00:05:46]

I did it with two other friends of mine

in high school because we were going to be

[00:05:50]

big computer service and repair

moguls at the time, and.

[00:05:53]

In 2001, that was a big deal.

Yeah.

[00:05:56]

Wow.

You know what?

[00:05:57]

You just make me really I'm approaching 22

[00:06:00]

years of doing this until you're here,

and I'm still here.

[00:06:08]

Thank you.

[00:06:11]

And actually, on a serious note,

[00:06:13]

thanks to all the people that I've had

to work with over the last 20 years.

[00:06:18]

But I did consulting before

I graduated high school.

[00:06:21]

I never really had a real job.

[00:06:26]

Never flipped burgers or whatever,

served a beer, I don't know, whatever.

[00:06:30]

Not qualified to serve

burgers or flip beer.

[00:06:33]

All right, well, that's okay.

[00:06:35]

I didn't get a job at RB when I applied

[00:06:36]

for it a way long time ago, and that kind

of broke my heart a little bit.

[00:06:40]

That's where I'm at in my life.

[00:06:42]

I'm sad that I didn't get hired at RB.

[00:06:44]

Ironically, at some point, I must

have worked for the school district.

[00:06:47]

I think I might have been doing

some technology consulting.

[00:06:50]

So my brother now works

for the school district, all right?

[00:06:53]

He goes, when did you work

for the school district?

[00:06:55]

And I'm like, I have no idea.

[00:06:58]

He goes, you know, you're in here, right?

[00:07:00]

I'm like, You've got money in the ETF.

[00:07:03]

I'm like, I have no godly idea

what you're talking about.

[00:07:06]

He's like, yeah, you were employed.

[00:07:08]

I'm like,

Maybe that was the summer after I

[00:07:13]

graduated or before I

graduated or something.

[00:07:15]

You got pension checks headed your way.

[00:07:17]

And you didn't even know?

[00:07:19]

And he goes, I know it was a long time ago

[00:07:21]

because your number is

really low in the system.

[00:07:25]

I have been graduated for 20 years.

[00:07:30]

Anyways, you got these partners and are

[00:07:32]

you fixing computers, or is it more

server stuff or what are you doing?

...

Lori and Gordon - Sprinkman Real Estate

Buying real estate can be a challenge.  Helping people find and buy real estate can be a challenge as well.

Lori Schilling's story in business is a phenomenal story of success, challenges, pivots and growth.  She started a spa business years ago, built it into a successful empire and sold it.  She is now the Lori of Lori and Gordon real estate, using her magnetic personality and savvy business sense to help her clients with their real estate deals.

Gordon started his real estate career by flipping houses.  From this experience, he has joined forces with Lori to help their clients get all the necessary perspectives to evaluate a property.

Listen as Lori and Gordon share their business journey to becoming successful real estate agents, along with the challenges they overcame along the way.

Enjoy!

Visit Lori and Gordon here: https://www.sprinkmanrealestate.com/agent/lori-and-gordon/

[00:00:02]

You have found Authentic

Business Adventures,

[00:00:03]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories

[00:00:06]

and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:09]

We're locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:11]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:13]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:17]

And today, we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:19]

to learn from Lori and Gordon

of Lori and Gordon Real Estate.

[00:00:23]

So Lori and Gordon, how are you guys.

Doing today?

[00:00:25]

We are awesome.

Thanks, James, for having us.

[00:00:27]

Fantastic.

[00:00:27]

I'm excited because Lori,

I've known you for a long time.

[00:00:32]

And when we first met, you were

not in the real estate business.

[00:00:35]

Gordon, I met you today.

Five minutes ago.

[00:00:37]

Five minutes.

[00:00:38]

You were not in the real estate business

[00:00:40]

when you got into the

whole business world.

[00:00:42]

Correct.

Yeah.

[00:00:43]

It's been a while.

[00:00:44]

But here we are in this amazing office

here, downtown Madison, I would say.

[00:00:49]

Thank you.

[00:00:51]

Let's start with you, Lori

[00:00:52]

when you first got started on

entrepreneurial journey.

[00:00:56]

Let's just take it back, way back

to when you first started.

[00:00:59]

Your business.

[00:00:59]

James, remember, we met

when we were six years old.

[00:01:02]

Six years, right.

[00:01:05]

It was little blocks.

[00:01:08]

Yeah.

Well, thanks for having us today.

[00:01:09]

It's exciting to be here and

thank you for tuning in and watching us.

[00:01:14]

Gordon and I have been working together

[00:01:17]

for the last almost four years,

but our goal is to share with you a little

[00:01:22]

bit about the journey

of what we did prior to meeting each other

[00:01:26]

and then what we've done

over the last few years.

[00:01:28]

It's been interesting.

Lots of different curveballs and COVID and

[00:01:31]

all the random things that get

thrown at business owners.

[00:01:34]

Real estate in the past four years, I can

imagine, was super feast or super famine.

[00:01:39]

Yes, it has been exciting is the word.

[00:01:41]

Sure.

Nice.

[00:01:44]

Exciting.

Yeah.

[00:01:46]

I went to University of Madison.

[00:01:49]

I'm pretty much born and raised here.

[00:01:51]

We moved here as a family when I was

six or seven years old.

[00:01:54]

I definitely eat, live, and sleep,

and breathe, Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:02:01]

After school, I had visions and dreams of

[00:02:07]

being a high powered suit wearing

female in the marketing world.

[00:02:11]

Oh, really?

That's what you went to school for?

[00:02:12]

That's what I went to school for.

Oh, interesting.

[00:02:14]

I never knew this.

Okay.

[00:02:15]

Turns out the only place

that was hiring was Valpack.

[00:02:18]

Do you remember Valpack?

[00:02:19]

Oh, my gosh, the blue envelope.

[00:02:21]

They're still around.

[00:02:22]

They're still around.

[00:02:24]

They're still around.

[00:02:25]

But I didn't get a cool office.

[00:02:28]

I didn't have to wear a power suit.

[00:02:30]

I was going to have to go door knocking

and get people to sign up for coupons.

[00:02:33]

And it just really wasn't my vision.

[00:02:36]

And I had coffee with a doctor

one day that I was friends with.

[00:02:43]

And I said, if I could find a career

[00:02:45]

that people liked me, they came

back because they wanted to.

[00:02:49]

They paid me more than I was worth,

[00:02:51]

and they showed gratitude,

I would do that job.

[00:02:54]

And guess what that job was?

I don't know.

[00:02:57]

Massage therapy.

Massage.

[00:02:59]

So the doctor's like, massage.

[00:03:00]

She was like, I got a massage today.

[00:03:02]

I paid that woman $50 for the hour.

[00:03:04]

She's like, and I gave

her a $10 tip and a hug.

[00:03:06]

And I told her I loved her.

Wow.

[00:03:08]

And I was like, Well, that's the job.

I should do.

[00:03:10]

That's pretty.

Dramatic, right?

[00:03:11]

It was extremely dramatic.

[00:03:12]

But that was a life changing

conversation for me.

[00:03:15]

I guess.

Because I immediately looked up schooling,

[00:03:18]

went back to school, got my cosmetology

license, and off I went.

[00:03:27]

The funny thing is

[00:03:29]

after I got done with the massage

school, I went out to do what?

[00:03:32]

Get a job, right?

[00:03:33]

I interviewed at really in 1996,

there's only two places

[00:03:37]

that did massage here in Madison at

that point in time, so a long time ago.

[00:03:42]

Both of them said,

I'm sorry, we're not hiring.

[00:03:45]

I did what every logical 21

year old entrepreneur would do.

[00:03:48]

I said, well I better start my own business?

[00:03:50]

And that's how we started.

[00:03:53]

1996, small little spot on O'Dana Road.

[00:03:57]

Hundreds of people have been there

and supported me over the years.

[00:04:00]

It was pretty incredible.

[00:04:02]

And then in 2014, I'm sorry, in 2007,

[00:04:07]

we got an opportunity to move

into the Princeton Club.

[00:04:10]

A big gym on...

Huge place.

[00:04:12]

Huge place.

[00:04:13]

That was a really awesome

opportunity for me.

[00:04:17]

We took the dive.

[00:04:18]

Hundreds of thousands of dollars

[00:04:21]

of remodeling, building

the suite, 27 employees.

[00:04:25]

Holy cow.

Full on spa.

[00:04:26]

Now I was big deal.

[00:04:29]

We really did well.

[00:04:33]

In 2014, I was walking down the hallway.

[00:04:37]

I had literally worked

every single weekend of my life.

[00:04:40]

We were open seven days a week.

[00:04:42]

I had 27 employees.

[00:04:44]

At this time, my now husband

was working with me.

[00:04:46]

There was a lot going on there.

[00:04:48]

One of the team members said to me,

Lori, you're not happy anymore.

[00:04:54]

One of your employees said that?

Wow.

[00:04:57]

Was she right?

She was right.

[00:04:59]

I think I just had a resting.

[00:05:02]

Oh, you did get the face.

I had the face.

[00:05:04]

I just was walking around angry.

[00:05:06]

I came home that day and I decided

to take a drastic change in my life.

[00:05:13]

I put my business for sale on Craigslist.

[00:05:16]

On Craigslist?

[00:05:17]

I just was like, spot for sale.

[00:05:19]

Here's how much you can make.

Take it.

[00:05:21]

Just to reiterate here,

because I've seen businesses

[00:05:24]

for sale on Craigslist, but it's usually

like, hey, I got a dump truck and me.

[00:05:30]

It's got a flat tire, it's for sale kinda thing.

[00:05:32]

You don't see businesses

that are actually making money

[00:05:34]

with multiple employees,

27 employees in a huge club.

[00:05:39]

You don't see that.

[00:05:40]

It'd be cool if you did.

[00:05:42]

Well, you did for a day.

[00:05:44]

You could have seen it, James.

[00:05:46]

It could have been yours.

Dodge the bullet.

[00:05:50]

Somebody reached out.

[00:05:51]

It turned out that they were our buyer.

[00:05:53]

Within a day.

That's amazing.

[00:05:57]

So you know my husband, nick.

[00:05:58]

He was like, This is a scam board.

[00:06:00]

Don't respond to these people.

[00:06:01]

Craigslist is full of scammersers.

[00:06:03]

The first week when you put anything

[00:06:04]

on Craigslist or wherever,

you're just expecting the jump, right?

[00:06:08]

All the.

Tire kickers.

[00:06:09]

It worked out.

It did take a year.

[00:06:11]

It was not just a poof,

here's the check, and move on.

[00:06:14]

There was a lot of drama along the way.

[00:06:16]

However, it did finally sell in 2014.

[00:06:22]

It was the hardest

and the best day of my life.

[00:06:25]

It was super emotional to say goodbye

[00:06:27]

to all those clients that I had built

relationships

[00:06:29]

with, to all of the team that had been

with me, some of them, eight or 10 years.

[00:06:35]

My identity,

[00:06:37]

everybody in Madison was like, Well,

that's Lori from the Oasis Dace.

[00:06:41]

When people are like, What do you do?

[00:06:43]

I was like, Are you

still in the Oasis Dace?

[00:06:44]

I used to own the Oasis Stay,

so I didn't even know how to communicate.

[00:06:47]

Interesting.

It was a very, very difficult time for me.

[00:06:51]

But I was ready, and I also

thought I was retired.

[00:06:58]

I thought for sure I made enough money

here to live on for the rest of my life.

[00:07:02]

We took year off,

[00:07:06]

went to Mexico for a month,

and I volunteered, and I worked out.

[00:07:12]

...

Jeanne Kolker - Insight Counseling and Wellness

The Covid pandemic has pretty much passed, but the fallout is far from over.  During the pandemic it has been reported that depression increased from 11% to close to 40%, from April 2020 - April 2021.  Statistics like that are mind boggling, though they also offer an opportunity to help people.

Jeanne Kolker is the owner of Insight Counseling and Wellness. She has been in business doing well for years.  Once the pandemic hit, the hockey stick of business growth came out.  This happened despite the challenges her business faced, including offering help suddenly over a screen and camera vs. in-person, the challenging rule changes from insurance companies, the concerns of her clients as they each adapted differently to something we were all trying to navigate.  The ever calm Jeanne took it in stride, helping all of those that her and her team were able to.

Listen as Jeanne shares with us some of her wisdom about how she and her team are helping people work through some emotional challenges and what she sees for the future of this necessary industry.

Enjoy!

Visit Jeanne at: https://insightmadison.com/

[00:00:02.257]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04.440]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories and triumphant

[00:00:07.470]

successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:10.600]

We are locally underwritten by the Bank

[00:00:11.950]

of Sun Prairie. My name is James Kademan,

entrepreneur, author,

[00:00:15.499]

speaker, and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:19.040]

And today we are welcoming/preparing

[00:00:20.400]

to learn from

Jeanne Kolker, the owner,

[00:00:24.760]

founder, super awesome person, I suppose,

at Insight Counseling and Wellness.

[00:00:29.320]

And today we're talking specifically

[00:00:31.010]

to Jeanne about business as well as all

the changes that have happened

[00:00:35.130]

in her industry

over the course of that crazy pandemic.

[00:00:38.750]

So, Jeanne, how are you doing today?

[00:00:41.930]

Well, I'm doing pretty well.

[00:00:43.430]

Thanks, James, and thanks for having me.

[00:00:47.280]

It's great to talk about this stuff.

[00:00:48.830]

Anytime I can have a platform to talk

[00:00:51.090]

about and to normalize mental

health care, I am all over it.

[00:00:56.090]

Nice.

[00:00:57.290]

So let's start Insight

Counseling and Wellness.

[00:00:59.810]

Let's say January

[00:01:03.010]

2020, just to give people foundation,

how many therapists did you have?

[00:01:09.080]

That's a great question.

[00:01:11.800]

Just ball-park.

Yeah.

[00:01:14.000]

So I would say we were probably

[00:01:15.370]

in the teens at that point,

probably somewhere in the 12 to 15 range.

[00:01:21.440]

Okay.

And now today we're talking January 23.

[00:01:26.240]

Yes, a lot more.

[00:01:27.550]

So in the 20s for sure.

[00:01:29.410]

So our business

is unique in the mental health

[00:01:33.130]

clinic world that we have a couple

of different parts of our business.

[00:01:39.080]

We have our mental health therapists.

[00:01:40.870]

We also have case managers who work for a

county program and then we also have

[00:01:47.520]

more of a holistic wellness side with

yoga therapists and body centered folks.

[00:01:54.150]

So as a whole, Insight has grown from

2020, and I didn't even look this up,

[00:02:02.090]

but it was probably maxed at 20 people,

and now we're double that.

[00:02:05.830]

So we have doubled in the last.

Couple of years.

[00:02:09.160]

Over the course of a couple of years.

[00:02:10.730]

And was that the trajectory that you were

on? Let's say 2018 to 2020?

[00:02:17.570]

No, I had no idea

that this was going to happen.

[00:02:20.970]

I started Insight, just me

just trying to figure it out.

[00:02:26.950]

And a couple of other therapists that I

coaxed along and

[00:02:34.240]

brought them on because it's a really

hard thing to do on your own.

[00:02:37.680]

To just...

Oh, I bet.

[00:02:39.520]

To provide mental health care is a very

[00:02:41.890]

challenging, fatiguing,

high burnout field.

[00:02:44.880]

And then to try to do it yourself

[00:02:46.050]

and figure it out just out of my

master's program, I needed help.

[00:02:52.680]

So I had a few people and there was

[00:02:54.450]

probably five of us, a group

of five that really started it.

[00:02:57.600]

Just

in one room, just trying to figure it out.

[00:03:00.390]

And this was in the days when

[00:03:01.920]

if you're going to do therapy,

you had to have a room.

[00:03:04.120]

Sure.

Back in the day.

[00:03:07.030]

Back in the day, actually had

to have real estate for people.

[00:03:10.110]

So we were sharing and then

[00:03:11.850]

we'd add a room the next year, we'd expand

our lease the next year, that sort of stuff.

[00:03:18.600]

And when the pandemic hit, we were

planning a new building to move into.

[00:03:24.410]

And at that point, there was only so many

[00:03:26.710]

people that I could

hire that we could have providing

[00:03:30.370]

services because

we needed to have a room with a door

[00:03:33.330]

that would close where you could

do psychotherapy.

[00:03:37.090]

We had planned this

[00:03:38.530]

new building that we were working with

a landlord and an architect on.

[00:03:44.050]

It had, there was a threshold.

[00:03:47.190]

We could only have so many people

[00:03:49.010]

because there's only so many

rooms with doors in a clinic.

[00:03:54.330]

Then January 2020, February,

March, the world changed.

[00:03:58.370]

A little bit.

[00:04:00.090]

Yeah, a little bit.

[00:04:02.450]

One of the only bright sides is that

[00:04:06.480]

there's less need now for all those

rooms with doors to do therapy.

[00:04:12.090]

Not because the volume of clients is going

[00:04:14.450]

down, but because

telehealth is now a thing.

[00:04:17.250]

Yes.

So

[00:04:19.880]

if we get in our time machine and go back

to March 2020, I have a lot of emails that

[00:04:26.080]

I can go back and read

and get re-triggered.

[00:04:27.840]

But it was very uncertain.

[00:04:30.890]

Telehealth had existed.

[00:04:32.480]

Telemedicine doctors had been doing this,

[00:04:35.030]

but it was definitely the exception

rather than the rule.

[00:04:38.400]

And insurance

companies were not forthcoming about what

[00:04:41.000]

they would pay, whether they would

pay for it, if they would cover it.

[00:04:43.690]

And we're looking And we take Medicaid.

[00:04:46.630]

We're a DHS certified clinic through

the state government.

[00:04:52.840]

We get Medicaid money from the federal,

the state, the county level.

[00:04:57.650]

You know how it is to try to in to figure

out what government is going to do next.

[00:05:03.240]

Right.

So it was just like...

[00:05:04.120]

And they don't know.

No, they didn't.

[00:05:06.770]

And it was just a lot of pivoting,

like, can we do this?

[00:05:09.570]

Obviously, our clients come first.

[00:05:12.190]

So for those first couple of weeks when I

[00:05:15.420]

was telling people to stay

home, triage, see if...

[00:05:19.240]

Do you need to call your clients?

[00:05:20.400]

Do you need to do phone sessions?

[00:05:21.560]

We might not get paid for them.

Who cares?

[00:05:23.160]

Make sure everybody's okay.

All right.

[00:05:24.970]

Solve the problem.

[00:05:26.770]

Yes, exactly.

[00:05:27.840]

Make sure they know we're

still here for them.

[00:05:29.970]

We're going through this, too.

[00:05:32.920]

But it's so interesting, the timing.

[00:05:35.100]

The universe was really on our side

with this because in January of 2020,

[00:05:39.980]

we finally modernized and moved

to electronic health records.

[00:05:43.860]

Before that, we were just pen and paper.

We just had our medical paper.

[00:05:46.890]

January of 2020?

Yeah.

[00:05:49.480]

Wow.

That was lucky.

[00:05:51.330]

It was lucky.

[00:05:52.100]

We moved everybody into electronic health

records, did all the training,

[00:05:56.950]

and my staff was amazing in learning

and teaching and how to to do that.

[00:06:01.200]

And we got everybody on board in February.

[00:06:03.210]

So we had a big learning curve.

[00:06:06.280]

We're just figuring this out.

[00:06:07.320]

And then all of a sudden, we have

to learn how to do telehealth, too.

[00:06:10.670]

Not knowing if we're going to get paid,

not knowing how to do it.

[00:06:14.410]

But again, we have to think about what

do our clients need?

[00:06:19.770]

So we figured it out.

[00:06:21.540]

It was an interesting transition

to go from in person to telehealth.

[00:06:28.600]

I bet.

[00:06:30.480]

It's interesting.

[00:06:31.880]

I guess there's a million

different facets, right?

[00:06:33.790]

But there's the technological,

[00:06:35.800]

what do we use as software

or platform for telehealth?

[00:06:39.400]

There's also the, hey,

I can see you from the neck up now,

[00:06:42.160]

where before I used to see

your whole body language.

[00:06:44.150]

A lot of the small talk instead of,

hey, how's your day going?

[00:06:49.150]

It's like, Oh, is your mic on?

[00:06:51.640]

The

[00:06:54.400]

user,

I guess the client, you have to make sure

[00:06:56.910]

that they have equipment,

laptop, tablet, phone, whatever.

[00:07:01.840]

And I imagine you have to make sure...

[00:07:03.200]

I don't know if you ever had to deal

with black screens instead of.

[00:07:05.480]

Just like, Oh, absolutely.

[00:07:06.600]

Yeah.

[00:07:08....

Keri Childers - Thought Leader Connection

One of the great things about being in business and meeting other entrepreneurs in business is a common feeling of striving for growth.  Of working on yourself and your business to contribute to the betterment of your business, society, you as a person, your employees, your clients and a huge push that there is always more than what you believe you can do.

I was reminded of this while chatting with Keri Childers.  Keri started the Thought Leader Connection, to help authors and public speakers with topics around the leadership and business world to spread their knowledge and do a little something to make the world a better place.

Listen as Keri explains the process for authors and public speakers and the little nuggets of wisdom that she has gained from working with some brilliant minds alongside her own brilliant mind.

Enjoy!

Visit Keri at: https://kerichilders.com/

[00:00:02]

You have found

Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04]

the business program that brings you

the struggle

[00:00:06]

stories and triumphs and successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:10]

Audio podcast episodes can be found

at the podcast link at drawincusmers.com. Of

[00:00:16]

course, you can download those for free,

and free is a good price, right?

[00:00:20]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:22]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:24]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:28]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

to learn from Keri Childers,

[00:00:32]

the founder and owner of I love this name,

Thought Leader Connection.

[00:00:37]

So how cool is that?

[00:00:38]

Keri, how are you doing today?

Great.

[00:00:40]

How are you?

I'm doing very well.

[00:00:42]

I'm excited,

[00:00:43]

if for no other reason than

Thought Leader Connection is just about

[00:00:46]

the coolest name of a business

I've ever heard.

[00:00:49]

Also TLC, tender loving care.

[00:00:52]

Was that intentional or

did that just happen?

[00:00:55]

After we did that, somebody pointed it out

to me and I was like, wow,

[00:00:59]

because that totally is how I intend

to do business, with tender love and care.

[00:01:03]

So it kind of worked.

[00:01:04]

All right, so what is

the Thought Leader Connection?

[00:01:07]

Sure.

I work with authors and speakers.

[00:01:10]

I help them with their book launch

campaigns and to formulate what they

[00:01:14]

exactly talk about so that we can

communicate clearly to meeting planners

[00:01:18]

what they're going to come

in and talk about.

[00:01:20]

I do a lot of niche conversations,

so if there's a meeting planner that's not

[00:01:25]

looking for a broad topic that everybody

speaks to, but something more niche

[00:01:29]

for their audience, I'm a person that can

usually find that content for them.

[00:01:33]

All right.

[00:01:34]

So I take care of the speakers, and I take

care of the meeting planners on both sides.

[00:01:38]

Interesting.

[00:01:38]

All right,

tell me about the speakers because

[00:01:42]

I guess that's a journey that I started

to go down, but then I had a kid.

[00:01:46]

So that just changes

your speaking schedule.

[00:01:50]

Yes.

It's a hard job if you've got little ones

[00:01:52]

at home because you're on the road

if you're going to be successful.

[00:01:56]

Yeah, I tried. I started to go down that road.

I always thought it'd be cool to be

[00:02:00]

a stand up comic as well,

but I'm probably not that funny.

[00:02:03]

I work with a stand up comedian also so. Do you really?

[00:02:06]

I do. Paul Ollinger is his name.

[00:02:09]

Trying to get him gigs or

how do you work with him?

[00:02:12]

I only help him on the booking back end

[00:02:14]

side, so I don't do any prospect

for him, but just help him.

[00:02:18]

But he also does an incredibly niche

[00:02:20]

keynote for his podcast is

called Crazy Money Podcast.

[00:02:24]

I don't know if you've heard of it.

[00:02:25]

He has some niche content for people who,

[00:02:28]

when they get to I don't want to say

the end of their careers,

[00:02:31]

but potentially at a point where they want

to bot sell out and leave what they're

[00:02:36]

doing and capitalize on their

part ownership or what have you.

[00:02:39]

Then how do you live a fulfilling life

[00:02:41]

with all of the money that you've

just all of a sudden gotten?

[00:02:45]

And how do you live a fulfilling life

when you're no longer going to work?

[00:02:48]

Because we all want to live with purpose.

[00:02:50]

We all enjoy working and providing

us give back to the community.

[00:02:54]

So he talks to people about finding true

[00:02:56]

happiness, which we all know

can't be found in money.

[00:02:59]

And how do you do that on the other side

of a career once you've cashed out.

[00:03:05]

Again, niche content.

Yeah.

[00:03:07]

Niche content. This is from a comedian?

[00:03:08]

And he also does comedy.

Yes.

[00:03:10]

All right.

[00:03:11]

So he incorporates that into his keynotes

and makes it just a lot of fun to hear.

[00:03:15]

Oh, very cool.

[00:03:16]

So how did you get in this business?

[00:03:18]

Was this something that you just were

in the industry for a while and said,

[00:03:21]

Screw this, so I can do

a better job or something?

[00:03:25]

Just tell me your story.

[00:03:26]

How do you get started here?

[00:03:28]

So my husband made me do it,

[00:03:30]

and I love to tell that story, but I

started back in 1999 with John Maxwell.

[00:03:35]

I'm not sure if you're familiar

but he's a big speaker now.

[00:03:39]

So worked with him with speaking

and book launch campaigns.

[00:03:42]

And then, like you,

[00:03:43]

I had some children and stepped

out of the career for a while.

[00:03:47]

I came back when my youngest was three

[00:03:49]

and was working underneath

a great friend of mine.

[00:03:52]

We did a lot of New York Times bestseller

campaigns and had a lot of fun doing that.

[00:03:57]

And then I had a little detour, actually,

and went to work at my kids school

[00:04:01]

for seven years, which was

fantastic because as a mom.

[00:04:04]

Yeah.

[00:04:05]

Getting the break for Christmas

and Thanksgiving.

[00:04:07]

That's a hard left out of what

you were doing, right?

[00:04:09]

Yes, yes.

But, you know,

[00:04:11]

I wanted to be with the kids,

and the book launch campaigns are a blast,

[00:04:15]

but it was a good 50,

60 hours work week, for sure.

[00:04:18]

All right, so the school schedule

was a lot better for a mom.

[00:04:22]

And then we, five years ago,

moved to Midlothian, Virginia,

[00:04:26]

and I was trying to think,

what am I going to do here?

[00:04:28]

I didn't want to start all

the way over in a career.

[00:04:30]

I was 43 at the time, and my husband said,

[00:04:33]

go do the book launch campaigns

and work with the speakers.

[00:04:36]

Just do it on your own.

[00:04:37]

And I was scared to death

to start a business on my own.

[00:04:42]

Definitely shaking in my boots.

[00:04:44]

My kids got to see me crying one night,

[00:04:46]

rejoicing the next night,

the whole journey of the entrepreneur.

[00:04:49]

But it has been a blast,

[00:04:52]

and I feel so thankful to work with these

just incredibly top shelf clients.

[00:04:56]

I'm around leadership constantly,

so all of the folks I work with are always

[00:05:01]

working to improve themselves,

help other people serve the community.

[00:05:04]

So it's been a real joy,

[00:05:06]

but definitely ups and downs, getting

the business up and off the ground.

[00:05:11]

Nice.

You know, it's interesting you worked

[00:05:13]

for John Maxwell because his name came up

a few times with some different guests.

[00:05:18]

But I remember.

I wrote my book.

[00:05:20]

The Bold Business Book.

[00:05:22]

I think it was published in 2017.

[00:05:24]

I remember going to a bookstore,

[00:05:26]

looking in the business section just

to see what my competition was,

[00:05:29]

and I'm pretty sure John Maxwell

had half that area.

[00:05:33]

Absolutely.

Yeah.

[00:05:34]

There you go.

Hundreds of books.

[00:05:36]

It seemed like I don't know a lot.

Yeah.

[00:05:40]

So he was doing that before

I got there in 1999.

[00:05:43]

So the years and years of author.

[00:05:46]

Nice.

Yeah.

[00:05:48]

So you hung your shingle out and you're

[00:05:50]

like, hey, I'm going

to help these authors.

[00:05:52]

How do you get found by the authors?

[00:05:54]

Because there's probably.

[00:05:57]

Yeah, it's very interesting

because I do no marketing.

[00:06:02]

So, again, I know it's crazy.

[00:06:04]

Back to the TLC.

[00:06:06]

My heart is that anytime I sit in front

of somebody, I'm going to do everything

[00:06:09]

in my power to serve them

to the best of my abilities.

[00:06:12]

I don't think about the money to be made.

[00:06:14]

I think about what is the audience need

and who can I best connect them to,

[00:06:18]

what is the author need

and how do I best serve them?

[00:06:21]

And quite frankly,

[00:06:22]

I feel like that business model has

just produced a long waiting list.

[00:06:26]

I've never not had a waiting

list of people to work with.

[00:06:29]

Why?

I do zero marketing.

[00:06:31]

So it's all relationship based,

[00:06:33]

trust based, and word of mouth, which has

been an incredible blessing, for sure.

[00:06:38]

Yeah.

That's really incredible.

[00:06:40]

No marketing at all.

...

Art Fish - Prairie Jewelers

When it comes to value, the name of the game is trust.  This is especially true with a jewelry business.  Knowing that the proprietor of the jewelry store knows what is available, what the different items are worth and how to choose just the right piece of jewelry to accomplish your goals all comes down to trust.

This was an interesting interview since my knowledge of jewelry is limited.  Luckily, Art Fish, the new-ish owner of Prairie Jewelers was able to answer all of my questions, and then some.

Listen as Art explains his journey in the jewelry business, from employee on the bottom rung to owner, after purchasing a long standing jewelry store in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Art has an incredible wealth of knowledge and an incredible entrepreneurial journey to share with you.

Enjoy!

Visit Art at: https://www.sunprairiejewelers.com/

[00:00:01.680]

You have found the Authentic Business

Adventures,

[00:00:03.600]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories and triumphant

[00:00:06.510]

successes of business

owners across the land.

[00:00:09.520]

We're locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:11.600]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

author, speaker, and helpful coach

[00:00:15.240]

to small business owners

across the country.

[00:00:17.210]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:18.790]

to learn from Art,

the new owner of Prairie Jewelers.

[00:00:22.840]

So, Art, how are you doing today?

Good.

[00:00:24.740]

Doing good.

I'm excited to be here.

[00:00:26.900]

Well, I should say more importantly,

my wife is excited that I'm

[00:00:30.370]

here I guess. So tell us, you bought

Prairie Jewelers recently.

[00:00:34.760]

Yeah.

How recently are we talking?

[00:00:36.430]

Two years ago.

I bought it.

[00:00:37.520]

Two years ago.

Okay, so you've been around a little bit.

[00:00:40.080]

Yeah.

So did you own a jewelry store before?

[00:00:42.930]

No, I've never owned a jewelry store.

[00:00:45.070]

I've been in the jewelry business,

though, for 33 years.

[00:00:48.560]

All right, well, that's a while.

That's a while.

[00:00:50.400]

So you know your fancy rocks.

Yeah.

[00:00:52.180]

So what made you buy this?

[00:00:54.800]

Did it just come across your plate?

Did somebody reach out to you?

[00:00:57.090]

Did you knock on the door and say,

Hey, I got a bag of money?

[00:01:00.760]

Pretty much all three of those things.

Oh, really?

[00:01:02.640]

Okay.

[00:01:03.880]

All right.

[00:01:05.130]

Yeah.

[00:01:06.600]

So take you back into the March, right

at the beginning of the pandemic.

[00:01:11.880]

So 2020.

2020.

[00:01:13.290]

Oh, perfect time.

Yeah, everybody loved it.

[00:01:15.230]

Everybody loved it.

[00:01:16.360]

Yeah, see it in two weeks

and we'll save the world.

[00:01:18.520]

Yeah, right.

[00:01:19.210]

I was on my two week hiatus and I thought,

I wonder what Mike's doing.

[00:01:26.410]

Mike Durant, the previous

owner of the store.

[00:01:29.290]

And I came down and saw Mike

and asked him, so how's it going?

[00:01:35.070]

And he goes, you want

to buy a jewelry store?

[00:01:38.600]

So what are we talking about here?

[00:01:40.070]

And so

I knew he was serious because he had been

[00:01:44.230]

talking about retiring

for the last four years or so.

[00:01:46.880]

And so we got down on the nitty

gritty of it all and it felt right.

[00:01:52.830]

My wife was positive.

[00:01:55.080]

She said, you're never going

to get a shot like this.

[00:01:57.510]

Go for it.

[00:01:58.550]

And with the pandemic and COVID, it was

a crazy time, but it just felt right.

[00:02:05.590]

So you knew Mike for a while before?

[00:02:08.070]

Well, a little bit.

[00:02:09.530]

A little bit.

Yeah.

[00:02:11.680]

All right.

[00:02:12.150]

And were you looking to purchase

a business necessarily?

[00:02:15.840]

No.

No?

[00:02:16.520]

Okay.

I wasn't.

[00:02:17.910]

But I think

[00:02:21.240]

all people have that dream to be their

own business owner and to take that leap.

[00:02:29.730]

But there's a lot of fear

that goes along with it of course, too.

[00:02:33.072]

Huge. Yeah.

[00:02:34.120]

Yeah.

It depends which one wins, right?

[00:02:35.600]

Right.

[00:02:35.990]

You're just going to stay

hidden or you're going

[00:02:39.680]

to go for it. Right.

[00:02:41.480]

We talked a little bit more throughout

[00:02:43.890]

the summer, and then I decided,

yeah, I'm going to do it.

[00:02:48.680]

All right.

[00:02:49.530]

Took about five months or so

to pull the trigger on that.

[00:02:52.490]

You know, that's pretty short.

[00:02:53.986]

I guess I've sold

[00:02:57.680]

one of my businesses and I've helped

a few people sell their businesses.

[00:03:01.030]

I always, in the back of my head,

I'm just like, a week.

[00:03:05.600]

We'll get a couple of attorneys,

accountants go through the books.

[00:03:08.680]

We could just bang this out, no problem.

[00:03:10.290]

But there's emotion, and I suppose anytime

[00:03:13.570]

you involve attorneys, it takes longer

just because $250 an hour they want it.

[00:03:21.040]

So.

It's interesting just the process.

[00:03:25.120]

I guess it's not like going to pick up

a cup of coffee or something like that.

[00:03:28.950]

It's more there's more to it, a lot of

moving parts.

[00:03:31.850]

Yeah, it had a structure of business.

[00:03:33.790]

I believe Mike was sole

proprietor and I have an LLC.

[00:03:39.810]

So how do you do it and what's the right

way to do it and what do you name it?

[00:03:46.370]

Change the name.

Do you do that or do you do business ads?

[00:03:50.630]

Have a name and do business ads.

[00:03:52.430]

That was all the thought process.

[00:03:56.930]

So a lot of times when people sell a

business, the new owner wants them to stay

[00:04:00.920]

on a little bit to show them how

stuff was run and all that jazz.

[00:04:03.830]

So how did you guys figure that out?

[00:04:05.890]

I'm blessed in that way.

[00:04:07.750]

Mike is my Goldsmith still.

Oh, really?

[00:04:12.840]

Okay.

Yeah.

[00:04:13.450]

So he sold me the store,

[00:04:17.010]

but with the intention of me keeping

him on as being the Goldsmith.

[00:04:20.680]

So basically, Mike can come in and do his

[00:04:22.570]

Goldsmith work, but he doesn't

have to stay till five or six.

[00:04:26.920]

He can dip in here in the morning,

get his work done, and leave.

[00:04:31.090]

So he can write his

own schedule.

[00:04:33.520]

Got you.

So he's not chained to the store.

[00:04:35.080]

You get to be chained to the store.

[00:04:36.160]

I have to be chained to the store.

[00:04:37.630]

But it's nice because his older customers

[00:04:39.770]

that have come in and have gotten to know

him over the last 40 years, they see

[00:04:45.720]

a friendly face in Mike and they know that

they're in good hands with me.

[00:04:51.800]

All right.

[00:04:52.720]

You touched on a good

point because I imagine...

[00:04:55.650]

Well, first, I don't know much about

jewelry stores,

[00:04:58.840]

but I imagine trust is a huge factor

because you're essentially trusting

[00:05:02.360]

the proprietor the salesperson to tell

you this is worth a lot of money

[00:05:07.210]

to a person like me who's like,

I have no idea what that

[00:05:10.910]

is worth.

Yeah, it's all about trust.

[00:05:13.520]

If you don't have trust in this business,

you don't have a business.

[00:05:16.640]

All right.

Got it.

[00:05:18.360]

So are there any other

employees besides yourself.

[00:05:20.890]

And Mike?

No, just me.

[00:05:22.300]

Just you?

All right.

[00:05:23.410]

So you're here all the time.

Yeah.

[00:05:26.780]

I do have a note.

[00:05:31.010]

Be back in five minutes if

I have to run to the bank or something.

[00:05:34.800]

Like that.

Sure.

[00:05:36.200]

Yeah.

All right.

[00:05:37.330]

So since you bought the business

[00:05:39.130]

and pandemic has subsided,

has business gone up?

[00:05:43.360]

Plateaued? Is it down? How

has the jewelry been?

[00:05:46.070]

Interesting question.

[00:05:50.280]

Our store did very flat numbers during,

[00:05:56.040]

I guess, the last two years,

except for some peaks and valleys.

[00:06:03.040]

This year, it's supposed to be down,

[00:06:06.670]

but I have gotten so much

traffic in the last three weeks.

[00:06:10.640]

All right.

[00:06:11.290]

So I think it's on the up

swing for me, at least.

[00:06:14.120]

Sure.

Well, now I don't know why, but it has.

[00:06:19.520]

Over the country, many jewelry stores have

[00:06:22.100]

exceeded expectations

in the last two years because of all

[00:06:25.150]

the influx of money

and people weren't able to travel.

[00:06:28.920]

And so they did a little retail

therapy on the higher end.

[00:06:31.800]

Oh, sure.

Okay.

[00:06:32.630]

So a lot of ladies, I think,

[00:06:34.200]

were able to trade up on their engagement

rings and such in those last two years.

[00:06:37.670]

Got it.

All right.

[00:06:38.750]

Well, those guys are complaining now

because those numbers aren't there.

[00:06:43.480]

Oh, okay.

They felt that they could maintain it.

[00:06:44.680]

They thought they could maintain it.

Yeah.

[00:06:46.080]

All right.

Yeah.

[00:06:47.040]

Interesting.

Yeah.

[00:06:48.640]

So you in the store, I see a lot of stuff.

[00:06:50.470]

I see necklaces, I see watches, rings.

[00:06:53.480]

I mean, we got a whole plethora

of stuff going on here.

[00:06:56.530]

When you purchase the business,

...

Jenna Piche - First Light Health

Juggling it all is tough.  With a family, kids, business and/or a job, mixed in with a little sleep, less than a moment to chill and a barrage of problems that interfere with your already challenging schedule.

You try to do it all and eventually, something has to give.  Often that something is your health.

Jenna Piche knows first hand what this is like.  So she not only did something about it, she is helping guide other women to get out of the path to self destruction and into the journey of self fulfillment.

Listen as Jenna explains her story and some steps that she suggests to help you do your best and enjoy life in the process.

Enjoy!

Visit Jenna on Instagram at First Light Health.

[00:00:02]

You have found

[00:00:03]

Authentic Business Adventures program

that brings you the struggle stories

[00:00:06]

and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:11]

Downloadable audio episodes of the podcast

can be found on the podcast link.

[00:00:14]

Found at drawincustomers.com. We are

[00:00:17]

locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:20]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:24]

And to today, we're welcoming,

[00:00:26]

preparing to learn from Jenna Piche, the

owner superhero of First Light Health.

[00:00:33]

So, Jenna, how are you doing today?

[00:00:34]

I'm doing great, James.

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:36]

Thanks for being on the show.

[00:00:37]

This is great because let's see here.

[00:00:39]

I've known you for a long time.

A long time.

[00:00:42]

But it wasn't through.

First Light Health.

[00:00:44]

It was through, was it Midwest Family?

[00:00:46]

It was through Midwest family.

[00:00:47]

We were both in marketing land trying

to run our businesses. Hustling. Hustling,

[00:00:52]

networking out there

with the best of them.

[00:00:54]

Yeah.

[00:00:55]

So tell us before we really dive in here,

what is First Light Health?

[00:00:59]

So First Light Health is a women's

health and focus coaching company.

[00:01:03]

All right.

Yeah, very nice.

[00:01:04]

So women's health and then

focus, you mentioned.

[00:01:07]

Yes.

So focus.

[00:01:08]

Ultimately, what I found is I'll talk

a little bit more about them later

[00:01:11]

today is as I'm talking to working

women who have kids at home.

[00:01:15]

One of the biggest struggles we have is

[00:01:17]

getting the things done we need to at work

so we can shut off work and show up

[00:01:20]

for our families and make

space for our self care.

[00:01:24]

All right.

[00:01:24]

So to do that,

I help with health coaching,

[00:01:26]

but also with the focus piece so they can

get done what they need to the right

[00:01:30]

things at work and shut it

off to show up at home.

[00:01:32]

All right, so you imagine this was

[00:01:35]

a solution to a problem

that you've seen yes.

[00:01:37]

Maybe personally? Experienced.

Yeah.

[00:01:40]

So I've always wanted

to be an entrepreneur.

[00:01:43]

My dad was a contractor growing up,

so I had always seen the freedom that he

[00:01:46]

had had, but I just hadn't

found the right opportunity.

[00:01:49]

And it's funny how life gives you this

[00:01:51]

past, and looking back, you can see it,

but not necessarily as you're living it.

[00:01:56]

Right.

So about a year ago,

[00:01:58]

I went back to a marketing firm I

used to work for to manage a team.

[00:02:03]

And as I dove in, I was about a week in,

[00:02:06]

we had someone quit,

I had to fire somebody.

[00:02:08]

And then the next week, unfortunately,

someone had a health crisis.

[00:02:11]

So I went from a team of six to three

and found myself, as I was trying to start

[00:02:17]

a business on the side,

trying to pick up the slack of those other

[00:02:20]

three people and was

just burning myself out.

[00:02:22]

Sure.

So one night I'm trudging up the stairs

[00:02:25]

at 09:00 after I put the kids to bed, and

I was falling asleep trying to read Dr.

[00:02:30]

Seuss something.

[00:02:31]

And I sit down at my computer,

[00:02:33]

I'm reading all these emails and making

my to do list and thinking I'm going to be

[00:02:36]

up until two and then the kids

are going to wake me up at six.

[00:02:39]

And we're just going to keep doing this.

[00:02:41]

And I thought, this is not sustainable.

[00:02:43]

So I knew something had to change.

[00:02:47]

And I had already taken a health

coaching certification.

[00:02:50]

I had had some health issues after

having my second kiddo, who's now three.

[00:02:53]

Oh, wow.

[00:02:53]

But then I decided, gosh, I really

need to find a better way to focus.

[00:02:59]

So I went and got a certification

for productivity.

[00:03:02]

It's called Full Focus.

That's a thing.

[00:03:05]

Yes.

[00:03:06]

There's a company, Full Focus,

who actually does it.

[00:03:09]

They have a planner.

And so through that system,

[00:03:11]

I now am able to coach folks on getting

the right things done at work,

[00:03:15]

how to plan their ideal week,

and really how to work self care in so

[00:03:20]

they can focus on all of the aspects of

their life, not just their work identity.

[00:03:24]

All right.

Yeah.

[00:03:25]

Wow.

So you touched on a lot of stuff there.

[00:03:28]

First, I just want to just point out,

[00:03:31]

you're with this company for a week

and you got to fire someone.

[00:03:35]

Yeah.

[00:03:36]

Welcome, Jenna.

That's the guy.

[00:03:38]

That's the first thing

we need to get rid of.

[00:03:40]

It's always so interesting because I think

[00:03:42]

when you come into a team that you didn't

hire,

[00:03:46]

you probably learn a little bit through

the hiring process about the team.

[00:03:50]

But I never want to take

on someone else's opinions.

[00:03:53]

I want to be able to form my own.

[00:03:55]

Sure, it's fair,

but when you come in and you see someone's

[00:03:59]

attitude, I have a lot of capacity

for being able to help someone reach their

[00:04:04]

potential and train them

and coach them up right.

[00:04:06]

If they have the right attitude.

[00:04:07]

But attitude is just something I feel like

if you can't fix it,

[00:04:10]

I can't have you poisoning

everyone else in the department.

[00:04:14]

It really just became one of those things

where the writing was on the wall.

[00:04:17]

And as a human, I felt for him because

[00:04:21]

he really had some stuff going on in his

life, so I tried to give him some grace,

[00:04:25]

but we also had clients to serve

who were paying us money.

[00:04:29]

It just becomes a point.

Right.

[00:04:31]

So you can wish them luck.

[00:04:32]

And also, I think as managers, we forget,

too, that we're releasing them to a better

[00:04:37]

opportunity, even though it's

hard to see that in the moment.

[00:04:41]

Yeah, it's interesting.

[00:04:42]

I can think of, well,

I got to let go of a company.

[00:04:46]

Oh, man.

Forever ago.

[00:04:49]

I don't know, let's call it 1520

years ago or something like that.

[00:04:53]

And I remember being so upset

because I was making them money.

[00:04:56]

I did the math before and I was making

them cash, and I got fired for attitude,

[00:05:03]

which it was totally a justifiable fire

because it was attitude

[00:05:09]

I felt like I wasn't getting in return

all that I was doing.

[00:05:13]

And let me back up another story.

[00:05:17]

I was working as a mechanic

way previous life, and one of the guys I

[00:05:23]

was working with had a conversation

with the manager saying, hey,

[00:05:26]

I need a raise because if you give

me more money, I'll do better work.

[00:05:29]

And the manager said,

you got that backwards.

[00:05:32]

You do better work, we'll get you a raise.

Spot on.

[00:05:35]

So it was interesting because

I had that in my head.

[00:05:38]

And so as I'm working at this place,

[00:05:40]

I'm like, I'm doing better work,

but I'm not getting compensated for it.

[00:05:44]

And then you just get angry.

Right.

[00:05:48]

And then that I was still taking care

of the customers, but at the office

[00:05:53]

I was probably a train wreck

or just maybe train wrecks.

[00:05:56]

Wrong word.

[00:05:57]

I'm sure you were never

a train wreck, James.

[00:05:59]

It's just one of those I was like,

you're lucky to have me.

[00:06:03]

You're lucky to have me.

[00:06:05]

And I knew that the customers were happy,

[00:06:07]

but I took for granted the culture

of the actual business.

[00:06:11]

I didn't even know that was the thing.

[00:06:13]

So then they let me go and I'm like,

Why would you do that?

[00:06:16]

I'm making you crazy money.

[00:06:18]

What's so interesting I think about that,

[00:06:20]

though, is that it's

a total mindset thing.

[00:06:22]

Totally.

And we don't realize that.

[00:06:24]

I feel like early in our careers,

[00:06:26]

because we're hustling so much

to prove ourselves, right?

[00:06:28]

And then we feel like when we're proving

[00:06:30]

ourselves, well, hey,

they should be paying us more.

[00:06:32]

And I think that's the seed that a lot

of entrepreneurs end up with.

[00:06:35]

Right.

[00:06:35]

I'm working my butt off

and I'm making you more cash.

[00:06:38]

So that's probably why we all end up

[00:06:41]

in business for ourselves anyway

when we have that experience.

[00:06:43]

Exactly.

[00:06:45]

But I think the mindset thing is a really

...

Kaitlin Rohowetz- A Better Body Massage Therapy

Every business can cause you a bit of stress.  A great massage is a relaxing way to relieve that stress, or at least settle it down for an hour or so.

But what about starting, running and operating a massage business?  What are the challenges and rewards for getting into the relaxing business of massage therapy?

Listen as Kaitlin Rohowetz discusses her journey as an entrepreneur in the business of massage therapy.  Her business is thriving and has navigated a few challenges in the past few years, as just about every business has.

Kaitlin is an exceptional business person and has a lot to share in this engaging podcast.

Enjoy!

Visit Kaitlin at: http://www.madisonbetterbody.com/

[00:00:02.440]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04.080]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories

[00:00:06.520]

and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:09.640]

We're locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:12.160]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:13.790]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:17.880]

And today, we are welcoming/preparing

to learn from Kaitlin Rohowetz.

[00:00:21.840]

I hope I nailed that.

Yeah, you did.

[00:00:23.310]

Good job.

[00:00:23.880]

The owner of a Better Body Massage

in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:00:26.370]

So, Kaitlin, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great.

[00:00:29.510]

Busy day in the life of entrepreneurs.

Yeah, right.

[00:00:33.120]

Hey, it's Monday.

Yeah, exactly.

[00:00:33.950]

How's it going to go.

[00:00:35.120]

The long list of things to do on Mondays.

Yeah.

[00:00:37.560]

Overall, good.

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:39.090]

Thanks for being on here.

[00:00:40.560]

You, I'm sure, have a good story.

[00:00:42.150]

I'm trying to think, I

[00:00:44.040]

guess, so that people know

you're also a client of Calls on Call.

[00:00:47.029]

Yes, that works really

well for our business.

[00:00:49.710]

Full disclosure, right?

Yeah.

[00:00:52.050]

How long have you had

a Better Body Massage?

[00:00:54.280]

Well, I'm still saying this year because

[00:00:56.270]

it's January, but last year,

2022, we celebrated 10 years.

[00:00:59.120]

Did you really?

Yeah.

[00:00:59.760]

Well, congrats.

Thank you.

[00:01:01.130]

Yeah, it's pretty huge accomplishment.

Nice.

[00:01:04.440]

Yeah, I'm excited.

[00:01:04.830]

So what made you decide to start

a massage therapy business?

[00:01:07.800]

Oh, that's always a funny question.

[00:01:09.390]

I started doing massage

on a whim, to be honest.

[00:01:12.390]

I always knew I wanted to do something

[00:01:14.760]

healthcare, somewhat related,

but I thought that would be nursing

[00:01:17.480]

or something, occupational

therapist, something like that.

[00:01:20.110]

And at the time, everything had nursing

[00:01:23.810]

shortages and everything

was a three year waiting list.

[00:01:27.000]

So I was like, well, I don't want to wait

three years to go back to school.

[00:01:29.430]

And I ended up taking the massage therapy

[00:01:32.240]

program at Madison College because

I could get in right away.

[00:01:35.350]

And it had a lot of the same prereqs as

nursing.

[00:01:38.880]

And then I loved it.

[00:01:39.700]

I had never had a massage before

before I went to massage school.

[00:01:42.920]

Really?

Yeah, ever.

[00:01:44.160]

Oh, wow.

So I was just like, this sounds fun.

[00:01:46.760]

And then I did really end up loving

it because it's still helping people.

[00:01:50.280]

You're helping people with pain, tension,

[00:01:52.120]

stress, but it's like night and day

difference the type of environment you're

[00:01:55.750]

doing it in, like a hospital or a clinic

compared to a nice, relaxing spot.

[00:02:00.040]

Oh, sure.

Cold and prison like versus

[00:02:02.158]

Warm and welcoming.

Yeah.

[00:02:04.130]

Interesting.

Yeah.

[00:02:05.110]

And then just obviously

[00:02:06.760]

snowballed from there and turned into

celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

[00:02:11.560]

Nice.

So when did you first get your massage?

[00:02:14.890]

Your first massage?

[00:02:16.250]

We had a project in school

to go receive a professional massage,

[00:02:21.270]

and we had to do a report

on it about how we liked it.

[00:02:24.520]

Holy cow.

Yeah.

[00:02:25.520]

So I was like, well,

that's not a bad homework assignment.

[00:02:27.390]

I need homework like that.

[00:02:28.830]

That's crazy.

[00:02:30.010]

But then part of massage

school is practicing hands on.

[00:02:33.690]

So I was giving and getting massages three

days a week for almost a year straight.

[00:02:37.840]

Wow.

Yeah, I miss that.

[00:02:41.810]

The giving, I mentioned, just the wrist.

Or the hands.

[00:02:45.120]

Yeah, it is some wrist and hand strength,

but you build it up fairly quickly.

[00:02:48.630]

I don't know.

It doesn't take long.

[00:02:51.040]

And then in school,

[00:02:51.910]

you learn how to use your body so

that you're not using only hand strength.

[00:02:57.240]

You'll see the smallest,

[00:02:58.270]

most petite person, and they could

just give a ton of pressure.

[00:03:01.880]

And it's just because we learn how to use

[00:03:03.290]

our core and our legs,

and it's not just about...

[00:03:05.760]

Strong hands are important,

don't get me wrong.

[00:03:07.560]

Right.

All right.

[00:03:08.520]

So when you go to school,

[00:03:11.040]

at Madison College,

how long program are we talking?

[00:03:13.130]

It was, I think, 10 months at the time,

it was like a certificate.

[00:03:16.480]

That was part of the reason I did it

because I was like, it'll be short

[00:03:19.770]

and then I'll go back to school

for nursing, and I never did.

[00:03:23.160]

Did you start your business right.

After you got out of school?

[00:03:25.270]

Not right away.

[00:03:26.450]

I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I

went to Massage Envy, corporate chain.

[00:03:32.510]

It was a great place to get my foot

[00:03:34.970]

in the door when I had no

idea what I wanted to do.

[00:03:39.200]

Then I was going to actually bring this up

because I was like, this is kind of a fun story.

[00:03:43.250]

I ended up starting my business because

I was having a garage sale and

[00:03:49.640]

some person comes and she goes,

see something in the back of my garage.

[00:03:52.400]

It wasn't for sale.

She goes, is that a massage table?

[00:03:54.720]

I was like, yeah.

She goes, you're a massage therapist?

[00:03:57.120]

I go, yeah.

She goes, me too.

[00:03:58.520]

She goes, I'm actually looking to

[00:04:00.040]

rent my own place right now and looking

for someone to rent one with.

[00:04:02.750]

So I met this random person

at a garage sale.

[00:04:06.110]

She seemed nice and we decided to rent

a space together and start a business.

[00:04:11.280]

So you got a business partnership

[00:04:12.680]

just from a random person that you

met at your own garage sale?

[00:04:15.010]

Basically, yeah.

And it ended up being...

[00:04:17.420]

I mean, I don't necessarily

recommend that as a strategy.

[00:04:20.880]

How to start a business,

open a garage sale.

[00:04:22.440]

Find some nice person at a garage sale.

[00:04:24.650]

No.

So, yeah, it ended up being great.

[00:04:26.980]

We rented space together,

but it was basically

[00:04:30.250]

her first starting her business and me,

I didn't really know anything about

[00:04:33.960]

starting a business, but I was like,

Let's give it a try.

[00:04:36.420]

All right.

[00:04:37.520]

So how long did you work at Massage Envy

before you got together with this garage sale?

[00:04:40.780]

Like a year.

It wasn't very long.

[00:04:42.830]

So I

started my business about a year after

[00:04:47.200]

working at Massage Envy,

and then I was only doing both for about

[00:04:50.200]

three months because I figured

I wanted to have a safety net.

[00:04:52.520]

I wasn't going to be like, Oh,

I'll just start my own business and hope

[00:04:55.280]

everything goes well,

even though that's kind of what I did.

[00:04:57.540]

But I had that safety net in case.

All right.

[00:05:00.320]

Things didn't.

And at the time, rent was so affordable

[00:05:03.720]

compared to now at least that I did

the math and I was like, Well,

[00:05:07.120]

worst case scenario, it's not like

I'm going to lose that much money.

[00:05:09.320]

I'd have to I think I equated it to like,

[00:05:11.320]

If I do 12 massages in a month,

I'll break even or something like that,

[00:05:14.520]

whatever the math. Wow. Okay,

I'm glad I'm glad.

[00:05:16.720]

We were over at the clock Tower buildings.

On Indiana.

[00:05:19.220]

Oh, nice.

That's not too far from here.

[00:05:21.520]

Yeah.

So funny.

[00:05:22.970]

Yeah, cheap rent.

All right.

[00:05:24.950]

Not super involved, but yeah.

[00:05:26.890]

You shared a room or not shared,

but I mean, she did her massage.

[00:05:30.720]

Is that in the.

Same space?

[00:05:31.760]

Yeah.

[00:05:31.840]

So she just had her own separate

business in her own room.

[00:05:34.440]

Then I had mine was still my own separate

[00:05:36.100]

business, and I had my own room,

and we each had our own clients networked

[00:05:39.790]

and did whatever we wanted

to do to get clients.

[00:05:42.830]

I had no idea what I was doing,

but I just had a lot of ambition.

[00:05:47.210]

Well, I imagine working for massage Envy.

[00:05:49.720]

I mean,...

Nancy Giere - Course Creation

If you want to teach the world, either you need to spend a lot of time teaching, or a little bit of time creating courses for your students and clients to watch at their, and your, leisure.

Listen as Nancy Giere teaches us how to create incredible courses (Read: Not Boring) that your students will actually follow through on.

Enjoy!

Visit Nancy at: https://nancygiere.com/

[00:00:01.743]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:03.640]

the business program that brings you

the struggle stories and triumphant

[00:00:06.510]

successes of business

owners across the land.

[00:00:09.240]

Downloadable audio episodes

of the Authentic Business Adventures

[00:00:11.640]

program can be found in the podcast

link, found at drawincustomers.com.

[00:00:14.800]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:17.560]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:19.480]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:23.320]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:24.650]

to learn from Nancy Giere

of Nancy Giere Associates.

[00:00:29.030]

So more than just a lucky name there.

[00:00:31.370]

Nancy, how are you doing there?

I'm good.

[00:00:33.720]

How are you doing today?

I'm doing very well.

[00:00:35.720]

Why don't we just start out with the base,

the foundation here.

[00:00:38.310]

What is Nancy Giere Associates?

[00:00:40.640]

I'm probably destroying your last name.

[00:00:42.610]

Okay, well, it's Giere, but that's okay.

[00:00:44.710]

How do you pronounce it? I'm sorry.

[00:00:46.810]

It's pronounced Giere. Giere.

I should have kept my maiden name I guess.

[00:00:49.230]

I should have known that.

I'm so sorry.

[00:00:50.490]

That's okay.

[00:00:51.440]

All right, well, let's

talk about what it is.

[00:00:53.430]

Anyway, so what is it?

[00:00:54.790]

So my business is all about helping people

create courses, whether it's

[00:01:00.010]

an online evergreen course or something

they're going to deliver via Zoom.

[00:01:05.280]

Now that we can leave the house again,

[00:01:06.750]

I'm back to actually helping people

with in person events as well.

[00:01:11.320]

Really, it's about me helping them

[00:01:14.650]

turn their expertise

into a profitable program.

[00:01:18.800]

And last year, I put together a flagship

[00:01:20.520]

program for entrepreneurs that I'm

calling Bundle Your Brilliance.

[00:01:24.080]

Bundle Your Brilliance.

I love it.

[00:01:25.730]

Bundle Your Brilliance, baby.

So how did you get into that?

[00:01:29.070]

I don't have baby at the end.

[00:01:31.400]

Well, I've been in the business of

course creation for a long, long time.

[00:01:37.730]

And during the pandemic, everybody

[00:01:39.930]

rushed to put stuff online

because it's like, Oh, my God.

[00:01:43.870]

What do I do?

[00:01:44.930]

My business is I've got to earn a living.

[00:01:47.270]

How am I going to make this happen?

[00:01:50.160]

And what I observed in the market

is just a lot of mediocrity.

[00:01:55.800]

And.

[00:01:57.640]

Most people felt that, well,

[00:01:59.550]

I just have my webinar recording and I'll

put an opener and a closer on it.

[00:02:03.520]

Now I have an online course.

[00:02:05.600]

Actually, no, you have a recording.

[00:02:08.330]

There's a bit more involved in creating

a course in that you have to think about

[00:02:13.320]

what do you want people to be

able to do when they're done?

[00:02:15.970]

What type of exercises or interactive

activities are you going to put in?

[00:02:20.790]

What are you going to do

to make it engaging?

[00:02:23.120]

How are you going to get them to not only

want to buy it, but actually finish it?

[00:02:26.510]

How about that?

[00:02:29.240]

That's a big one.

Yeah.

[00:02:31.290]

Because people get in and

[00:02:33.130]

there can often be a fade, and there's all

kinds of reasons why people don't finish.

[00:02:39.690]

It's not always the person

who built the course's fault.

[00:02:42.550]

Sometimes it's just people get busy

and they move on to something else.

[00:02:47.280]

It has nothing to do

with. The next shiny thing, right?

[00:02:48.870]

The next shiny thing is

I'm going to try this.

[00:02:52.410]

Fair.

All right.

[00:02:54.040]

Nice.

So with course creation,

[00:02:55.910]

when you're saying a long time ago,

how long are we talking?

[00:02:58.910]

We're talking years, decades?

[00:03:01.010]

Decades back when Al Gore

invented the Internet.

[00:03:04.050]

All right.

So pre, before courses were even really

[00:03:07.730]

a thing online.

[00:03:09.170]

Before, it was really cool.

[00:03:10.670]

I worked in the corporate sector

early in my career.

[00:03:14.400]

Alright.

[00:03:14.670]

And at that time, you've got

to distribute learning to employees.

[00:03:20.130]

And so we did it using these things.

[00:03:22.070]

They're antiques now for the kids in the

[00:03:24.450]

audience, three and a half or

five and a quarter inch disks.

[00:03:28.570]

Five and a quarter? I.

[00:03:30.850]

Know, yeah, that's how old I am.

[00:03:33.270]

I look good, though.

[00:03:34.770]

So you'd have to package up the

[00:03:37.690]

disks and then some a printed

workbook and get them out to everybody.

[00:03:42.050]

And then you'd have a new version,

[00:03:44.370]

and then you'd have to call all

of that back and send out updates.

[00:03:48.730]

So keeping things current was a challenge.

[00:03:51.850]

However, we didn't

update things as rapidly as we do today.

[00:03:56.370]

Now, in the age of all these SaaS

[00:03:58.560]

companies, every day it seems like,

hey, there's a new feature.

[00:04:01.570]

At that time, things

[00:04:02.850]

were done on a more timed

release basis because just the cost

[00:04:07.930]

of having to get

all of the new materials out to people,

[00:04:11.830]

whether it was paper or plastic,

did take quite some time.

[00:04:15.270]

I've been in the business of training

[00:04:18.160]

my whole professional life,

which goes back about 30 years.

[00:04:22.070]

A while.

All right.

[00:04:23.650]

Just

touch on the technicality here

[00:04:29.480]

or the technical aspect of this,

a one and a quarter...

[00:04:32.720]

No, I'm sorry, five and a quarter inch

[00:04:34.280]

floppy, if I recall,

is neighborhood of a mega and a half.

[00:04:38.130]

Something like that as far

as space that it can hold?

[00:04:42.120]

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

[00:04:44.280]

Putting the whole course on there.

[00:04:46.100]

These had to be just...

[00:04:47.570]

They were multiple.

[00:04:48.840]

They were chapters.

[00:04:51.130]

You would send out multiple

disks for a program.

[00:04:53.970]

Strictly words? Just words?

[00:04:55.100]

They were words.

[00:04:57.760]

They were images.

[00:04:59.330]

They're called authoring tools.

[00:05:01.770]

We had tools where you could create things

with some degree of interaction,

[00:05:06.450]

some graphics, but nowhere near

what you can do today.

[00:05:10.660]

What I find interesting is

even though there's lots of opportunity

[00:05:16.890]

to create engagement, oftentimes

engagement is pressed next to continue.

[00:05:21.120]

Somebody will get something on the screen,

[00:05:23.160]

they'll read it, and then

they'll hit the next button.

[00:05:24.880]

Well, you might as well

just give me a book.

[00:05:26.210]

I do that on my kindle. I

f you wanted to do things that had more

[00:05:35.770]

complexity, let's say,

the term is a branching scenario

[00:05:40.330]

where you go in, you answer a question,

and depending on your answer,

[00:05:44.320]

it takes you down a particular path,

a choose your own adventure thing.

[00:05:47.640]

Choose your own adventure for learning.

[00:05:49.330]

So you needed programmers.

[00:05:52.080]

To.

[00:05:53.560]

Do that type of heavy lifting

in the background to make that happen.

[00:05:57.530]

You needed videography

physographers, you needed technical

[00:06:01.920]

writers, you needed

instructional designers.

[00:06:03.910]

You needed really a whole team of people

to make a fairly basic course.

[00:06:15.170]

Now, with the tools that are available to

us, really anybody can create a course.

[00:06:20.920]

You need to think about things like,

do I have a decent microphone?

[00:06:23.980]

Do I have good lighting?

[00:06:27.210]

My slides and graphics well put together.

[00:06:31.170]

So you can create it.

[00:06:32.790]

Now, having said that,

if you want to get to another level

[00:06:35.750]

of sophistication, you still might need

somebody to do video work for you.

[00:06:41.230]

It all depends on the level that you

want to get the program to.

[00:06:48.250]

It also depends

on do you want to do the work yourself or

[00:06:51.600]

would you rather have

somebody just do it for you?

[00:06:53.540]

I work with people in both ways.

[00:06:55.230]

I have a done with you and a done for you

type of a service, so it depends on.

[00:07:01.330]

Is it a skill that you want to learn?

Sure.

[00:07:05.790]

Best use of time.

[00:07:07.210]

Yes, time and interest

and what's the end product?

[00:07:11.190]

Will it ever get done?

[00:07:12.600]

Probably the best question, I suppose.

I'd love to learn it.

[00:07:16.230]

I'll just never do it.

[00:07:18.040]

It's interesting because I

paid somebody...

[00:07:21.840]

This is part of the reason I wanted you on

the show just to get your take on this.

...