Bobblehead Podcast

Today Tim and Davin kick off this new series with an episode on reflection. They'll talk about how to analyze the past year to use as a tool for the upcoming year. Enjoy!

Today Tim and Davin dive into the conversation of training in change management. Enjoy!

In this episode, Tim and Davin continue the conversation about change management. Davin gives some practical points of action in making changes. Enjoy!

In this episode, Tim and Davin dive deep into the conversation of change. They discuss when to change, and give some great tips on moving forward with that change. We hope you enjoy this new format!

Contract labor is a great way for entrepreneurs to get work done without having to hire full-time employees. It allows them the freedom of not being burdened with employment regulations, payroll taxes, and other costs associated with hiring permanent staff. While outsourcing allows organizations to focus on what they do best, there are some challenges that come along with this type of business model.

In today’s episode of the ACCESS Points Podcast, Tim and Davin discuss another great topic about leadership, scaling businesses, and finding the right people for the organization. They will also talk about the do’s and don'ts of using contractors to help scale up an organization and what ACCESS has learned from working with contract or consulting labor.

Their advice to entrepreneurs who are considering hiring contractors:

• Keep contract or consulting labor away from the execution

Enjoy!

In This Episode

1:01 - A sneak peek at Davin Marceau's weekend

6:31 - Tim Elliott's mindset about human resources at the beginning of ACCESS

8:20 - How ACCESS brought in their first hire

10:32 - Why getting a subject matter expert or a user of your product can do wonders for your business

14:30 - The boundaries that should be drawn when using contract labor or consulting staff

17:16 - Why leaving an open-ended statement of work is a bad idea

20:32 - One of the smartest things that entrepreneurs do when it comes to a good Statement of Work (SOW)

Favorite Quotes

"At the beginning, you're doing all those things yourself after six. You know, you get all the work done and then you actually start with the other work. And you know, you figure out pretty quickly that you need a little bit of help, even if it's just an hour or two a day to be able to do some things that you're just not good at. And that help isn't always bringing another body on as a human resource full time." - Tim Elliott

"I think when you're in a suburban environment, hiring people to come to do some of those tasks for you, it gives you a nice reflective point to decide if that's more important for you to do because you enjoy it or you want to sub it out to somebody." - Davin Marceau

"As an organization, as a business owner and entrepreneur, to understand the limitations of contractors or consultants is just as important as knowing the abilities they're going to bring to the organization." - Tim Elliott

“What becomes a very strong allure of hiring contractors is you're not paying any burden associated with it.” - Davin Marceau

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Every entrepreneur and business leader has to make decisions in their business, and decision-making can be difficult. It's not just about the decision itself, but also how you planned for it and what happens after.

Decisions may not be perfect the first time. Making an initial decision is sometimes all it takes to get you closer to your goal. Remember that there are no perfect decisions, only ways to improve upon them. You can always pivot when things don't work as planned.

Key strategies to making a successful decision:

• Find a mentor
• Be a part of an organization or network with people with whom you can bounce ideas off of
• Make a decision and then pivot if it doesn't work

In today’s episode of the ACCESS Points Podcast, Tim and Davin will talk about a topic that every entrepreneur and business owner takes - making big decisions. They will share insightful ideas about how to make it and how you should go about making a decision.

Enjoy!

In This Episode

2:01 - Why making decisions is one of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur

4:32 - How to find help when making difficult decisions

7:14 - The power of networking

10:51 - How to jumpstart your decision-making process

14:32 - How ACCESS leverages its leadership team in making decisions

Favorite Quotes

"Including other people, you know, like a stakeholder type meeting and just allowing them to bring their perspective and their subject matter expertise to the table to fire back against what you may think is the greatest idea in the world really helps an organization grow." - Davin Marceau

"When you need help, find somebody that even if they haven't been in your business before or business like yours, they've been doing this for a while. And more likely those people are really willing to help and they want to help." - Tim Elliott

If you're an entrepreneur, you probably have surrounded yourself to some degree with people who have been down your path before. They've likely made similar mistakes that you're about to make if you don't listen." - Davin Marceau

"No one's going to make the decision for you. But they're going to give you some things that they've done in the past that give you the ability to think through and help you understand the steps to take in order to make some initial decisions." - Tim Elliott

"As entrepreneurs, we always think of networking as leads. So I would say as an entrepreneur, just as important as those leads are, is to network and get into an organization or a group of people that are also entrepreneurs or that have been entrepreneurs." - Tim Elliott

"The people you shared those ideas with, if they ask for feedback, give it to them because they're trying to learn from your either success or mistakes. But don't announce to the world that this is what I've done and this is the best idea ever. Because more than likely, it won't go exactly what you thought and what will happen is you let your ego drag you down that path to stay in an area where you don't pivot." - Tim Elliott

"Have the courage to believe that you may not have the best idea. Include the people inside of your company who know and who have the courage to push back." - Davin Marceau

"You have to make a decision and be bold about the decision. But do not have the ego to stick with it when it's not working right." - Tim Elliott

Visit ACCESS EFM:

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Effective leaders in the workplace use the same leadership skills as great parents at home. Though mistakes tend to be viewed as negative, allowing our children to fail will give them the valuable life experience they need to become successful adults.

The parallels between great parenting and effective leadership

• Allow your people or your kids to make mistakes
• Allow them the grace to approach you in the aftermath of that mistake
• Listen to their side of the story and then help them grow from it
• Let them know that the mistakes they made don't define them

Today on the ACCESS Points Podcast, Tim Elliott and Davin Marceau will talk about the lessons and mistakes that we make as parents that make us better leaders and better business people. They will share their own experience in raising their children, their parenting styles, and how their mistakes have made them a better parent and a better leader.

Enjoy!

In This Episode

6:23 - Tim's parenting style

10:39 - The common ground between a parent and a business leader

16:03 - Why it's important to coach your kids or employees

18:31 - How mistakes can help parents and businesses alike

24:18 - Why parenting is the hardest job in the world

Favorite Quotes

"By our kids making those mistakes, they're leading us. They're helping guide us. They're helping turn us into the parent, into the leader, into the entrepreneur that we need to be in the same way that we're trying to turn them into the kid-parent-adult employee that they need to be. Learn from every mistake whether it's someone else's or yours." Tim Elliott and Davin Marceau

"When kids do things that aren't always the smartest thing, as a parent, you think of what could have happened. What angered you most was not just the stupidity of what he did, but it's the release of everything that could have happened to him in your mind." - Tim Elliott

"I think one of those reflective moments that we have to have as parents and I think as business leaders at that moment is what kind of environment and what kind of relationship are we fostering." - Davin Marceau

"When something goes down, my number one task is to get to the bottom of what happened. I can't fix something, I can't change something, I can't learn from something until I have all the facts." - Tim Elliott

"Understanding the balance of a parent is allowing them to make mistakes and not think that it defines them." - Davin Marceau

"Learning from mistakes is what builds wisdom. The difference between knowledge and wisdom is experience." - Tim Elliott

"As leaders, we learn through experience. We gain wisdom the same way that we gain wisdom as a parent. The same way our children gain wisdom." - Davin Marceau

"The real lesson in the relationship with your child and how they become a man or a woman is really determined by what you're about to do and say." - Tim Elliott

"I don't know if there's anything harder in the world than being a parent." - Davin Marceau

Visit ACCESS EFM:

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When feeling threatened by something that goes wrong, the easiest way out is to shift the blame elsewhere. While successful people choose not to play the blame game, this doesn’t mean that they let things slide. It's about taking care of the issue first, and then on the tail end, review and reflect.

The key to winning the "blame game" in an organization:

• Make the most important thing the most important thing.
• Leaders ultimately determine what happens inside an organization.
• Fix the problem, not the fault.
• Make sure your people are aligned with your goal of providing value to customers.
• Foster a culture that is supportive and isn't worried about pointing a finger at who's to blame.

In today’s episode of the ACCESS Points Podcast, Tim Elliott and Davin Marceau are going to have an interesting conversation revolving around the story of Aesop's fable about a drowning boy, The Boy Bathing. Their focus is how this story relates to their leadership style at ACCESS and why finding fault or pointing fingers is one of the worst things that can happen in an organization.

Enjoy!

In This Episode

00:56 - The fable that left a lasting impact on the life of Tim Elliott

2:43 - How he applied the moral of the story to his leadership style at ACCESS EFM

5:30 - The challenge of scaling an organization

9:47 - How some people in the organization metaphorically throw the boy into the water

11:54 - Davin's takeaways from being with ACCESS EFM for three years

16:54 - Why failure in the organization starts at the leadership level

Favorite Quotes

"If a customer goes down, is the first question out of your mouth 'Who's to blame?' or is the first question out of your mouth 'What's the fix?' And I think all too often and I'm guilty of this as well over the years too, is wanting to have a scapegoat, wanting to have somebody to point the finger at." - Davin Marceau

"It’s crazy how human nature is when something bad happens, people get defensive and they begin to point fingers at each other." - Tim Elliott

"It's not always about finding blame or pointing fingers. It's about coaching or finding out what happened." - Tim Elliott

"There's nothing worse as the business owner, as the entrepreneur, as the leader, as to see your mission not happening in your people over here arguing about why that's the problem and why it's down, and who's to blame for this and start positioning themselves politically so that they don't take a fall." - Tim Elliott

"People get super concerned about the hierarchy of needs kind of thing. They become super worried about self-preservation. And the fix of the issue becomes secondary to making sure that the boss knows that 'It's not my fault.' And all the while the one that's suffering is the customer." - Davin Marceau

"The three hardest words for people to mutter is oftentimes 'I don't know.' And it ends up affecting the customer, unfortunately, more than does anybody else." - Davin Marceau

"Failure starts at the leadership level. A hundred percent of the time, the company becomes the reflection of the leadership. And if we lead into an issue with wondering who's to blame, then we can't be upset with the people that are protecting their own butts and not wanting to save the drowning boy." - Davin Marceau

"Successful people are willing to do what the unsuccessful people are not willing to do." Tim Elliott

Visit ACCESS EFM:

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It is no secret that taking time off can positively impact a person's productivity and overall well-being. While having a work/life balance can be a struggle for many people, taking the time to step back and reflect on other things than work can restore your energy, give you the opportunities to create memories with your loved ones, and remind you that life isn't always about work.

Tim and Davin’s advice for making the most of your time away

• Be all in
• Find balance
• Make it happen

Today on the ACCESS Points Podcast, Tim Elliott and Davin Marceau will talk about the importance of spending time away. They will highlight the value of taking a vacation, how to make the most of it, and why it is beneficial to both business and personal life.

In This Episode

00:52 - Tim's upcoming fly fishing adventure

5:08 - Why Tim needs some time away

9:45 - The most important thing to do when taking a vacation

12:23 - Why taking time off is an investment

14:11 - Tim's advice for whatever you are doing

Favorite Quotes

"When you take time off, be all in to that moment. Be all in to where you are. The memories are going to come from you being all in. They're not going to come from you checking your email or taking the phone calls. You won't remember those things. We're going to remember the people we're at and the funny stories that happened. So whatever that is, make some good memories and be all in." - Tim Elliott

"Getting away allows me to think about things in a different way and work away from the problem." - Tim Elliott

"The beauty of taking time away is you step away from the problem. You get that distance and you have the ability to put things in perspective and oftentimes come up with a solution to a problem that you haven't been able to figure out." - Davin Marceau

"I think that time away helps you get perspective and really truly assess why it is that you do what you do and who it is that you do it for. If you do it for the people that you're on vacation with or the people that you love, then you're doing the right thing." - Davin Marceau

Visit ACCESS EFM:

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