My Business On Purpose

Over the course of meeting with hundreds of business owners about their coaching needs, we will be asked this question from time to time — What's the difference between a business coach vs. a business consultant? And do I need to hire one of each?

Coaching and consulting are different, and there is value in both.

What's the difference between a business coach vs. a business consultant

While these phrases are sometimes used interchangeably in everyday conversation, this is actually a misnomer.

A business coach's role (much like an athletic coach's role) is to constantly research and study the "game" of business, work to develop playbooks, roadmaps, and techniques that each business owner and key leader (players) can follow, and then show up enthusiastically and repetitiously on a predetermined schedule to create the necessary push and conditioning through accountability and implementation.

A coach will push the stagnate, temper the overenthusiastic, motivate the exhausted, learn from defeat, and celebrate growth.

A business coach works with the business owner and key leaders, both in season and out of season, and their outcomes are tied directly to the goals set out through long-term vision casting.

For a business coach, it is more important that they study and coach the foundation of business than it is that they have specific industry knowledge.

Business coaching by definition will be ingrained across all systems of the business. Of course, there are situations where a business coach may drill down into specific niches of the business, for instance, a marketing coach, or a sales coach.

Business coaching tends to focus more on the accountability and implementation of long-term systems and processes, and less on short-term strategies that could change quickly.

Coaching is a long-term relationship that runs through the broad scope of emotional seasons of a business.

The business consultant is typically a current or retired industry-professional with decades of experience within their given field. If you own an ice cream shop, then you would hire an ice cream shop consultant. If you own a steel rigging and erecting business, then you would hire a steel rigging and erecting consultant.

The business consultant tends to bring a portfolio of best practices from their industry into a specific area of your business (i.e. accounting, or operational efficiency) and then advises on how to integrate those best practices into your day to day process.

Both coaches and consultants analyze existing performance and trends, the consultant compiles findings with suggested solutions, the coach creates a game plan from studying the analytics and then creates a repetitious accountability schedule to push the owner towards results.

Business consulting tends to focus more on mapping out a strategy of ideas and advising on those strategies, and less on the accountability of execution.

Business consultants tend to work more on a "fly-in, fly-out" contractual agreement where they come in for a defined period of time, say 6 months or 12 months for example, and then their contract is fulfilled.

Business coach and a business consultant can work closely together, and both are invaluable to the growth and maturity of a business owner and their key leader(s).

We've found consultants to be more prevalent in larger companies (100 employees and above), and coaches to be more prevalent in small businesses (under 100 employees).

A third-party voice in your business is an irreplaceable resource that can provide you with clarity, lend you courage, and re-motivate you and your team back to the mission and vision that you once had.

Macroeconomics are complicated. Highly complex minds maneuver highly complex algorithms and data points to determine economic sea changes and tidal flows, the currents of which move entire societal habits.

When the news channels report a sweeping new change or movement about this or that in the market, we are immediately programmed to assume the news piece directly affects us.

At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, John Elderidge released an unknowingly timely book entitled Get Your Life Back. A key concept of his writing was the practice of "benevolent detachment".

Elderidge describes it this way on his blog, "Everybody has a junk drawer, that black hole for car keys, pens, paper clips, gum, all the small flotsam and jetsam that accumulates over time. Our souls accumulate stuff, too, pulling it in like a magnet. And so Augustine said we must empty ourselves of all that fills us, so that we may be filled with what we are empty of. Over time I've found no better practice to help clear out my cluttered soul than the practice of benevolent detachment. The ability to let it go, walk away—not so much physically, but emotionally, soulfully."

We are presuming that a recession for the global economy, or at least your national economy, means a recession for you.

You are wrong to assume that.

Some of our greatest small and large businesses were launched in the midst of recession. And because much of a business's exponential growth comes during its first years, it would be silly to blindly buy into the broad narrative that recession equals bad.

A recession does not mean no business by and large…instead, a recession equals less business - but not for everyone.

We have clients standing on the front step of a new year with realistic projections of already-contracted business for this year that yield growth - in a recession.

Following the wisdom of Augustine, "let us empty ourselves of all that fills us so we may be filled with all that we are empty of."

The pandemic years lulled many to sleep and turned many salespeople into order-takers (not all of course…but many) bellied up at the bar of new business deciding what they wanted and when they wanted it.

We have been emptied of hope and opportunity. We have been emptied of hustle and proactive, forward-leading customer engagement.

Instead, we have filled ourselves with the infinite scroll of reactionary firefighting responding to the latest, loudest fear-screamer believing that the end of business is near.

Value-added commerce, trade, and transactions have been operating for centuries throughout the litany of cultures and societies. We are microscopic players on a macroscopic world stage and it would do us well to walk outside and pay attention to the even more microscopic bird, Jesus the teacher reminded us it does not plant seeds, it does not harvest its food, it does not store its food and has all it needs.

A recession provides the needed jolt to sharpen our focus, to not take for granted the work we have been invited into and built for.

A recession is often the push we need to lean forward, take our mission to the right people (marketing), make a mutual commitment to serve those people (sales), and fulfill that service within the values that we have laid out (operations).

A recession is also a reminder that home runs are not a winning strategy. Base hits work and base hits require repetition, predictability, and meaning - all products of thoughtful action.

Recessions do not favor those bellied up at the bar taking orders at will all the while watching the breaking news merry-go-rounds fretting the what-ifs.

Recessions do favor those who are sober, proactive, and willing to hit the streets – those who realize that while the weather in some locations might look cloudy and rainy, the local weather is what really matters.

There might be less business overall, that might just mean more opportunity for you.

Their news is not your news unless you allow it to be.

If we could boil this entire morning down to one phrase, I think it would be captured in the phrase "intentionally engaging".

Intentional - done with purpose… deliberate.

Engaging - charming and attractive.

Patrice talked about the time, effort, and money spent in recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a new team member.

I had the opportunity to work with Pfizer and was told that the onboarding of a new team member cost the company around $200k.

Certainly compelling, but that is not the real reason that you don't want to lose team members.

The real reason we want a cohesive team that values longevity is for the same reason that we go back to the same restaurants, revisit the same destination, pull for the same sports team, and drive the same route to work.

We really do value stability, community, and "being known".

Every Tuesday at our house we are humbled and honored to host a group of young men that over time has become known as "Man Up"

Back in 2016, I began meeting a group of HS Freshman guys at Wendy's in Pritchardville.

We would compete in silly challenges like spitball competitions, squat relays, and light matches in the restaurant.

We would have some serious conversations about things they were dealing with and write some thoughts down.

Over the last six years, that small group of five has grown into a group of about 10 to 20 each week, and already a group of about 15 or so who graduated a couple of years ago.

That group is marked by intentional conversation, prom-dance-floor-destruction, their own vernacular and language, a plunger that serves as a sort of armour, and a flag that is made up of torn underwear from the years of wedgie initiations underneath the Lemon Island bridge in the dark. It's a group that discussed money, relationships, sex, music, career, college, parents, confusions, and life principles that are now a part of their toolbelt.

They have their own language, their own grunts, their own body sounds, and their own nuances. They have a culture that is not based on money, status, or how-can-I get-more.

That is what we all REALLY want. Stability, community, and "being known".

And yet, what are small businesses known for?

We can answer that by listening to what those same man-up guys think big businesses are known for = stability.

But is that true? Have you looked around to see all of the big business laying off thousands of people at a time? Does that feel stable?

Small businesses are known for instability and chaotic community.

How do we build a culture that is unleavable?

Pal's Sudden Service vs. Taco Bell

Elements of a powerful culture…

• Vision
• Mission
• Values
• Team Meetings (Agenda-Driven, Leader Led)
• Team Member Check Ins
• Every-other-monthly Vision Days
• Annual Team Days
• Clear Org Chart and Job Roles
• Clear Process (MPR)
• Remembering important days
• Repetition, sincerity
• All the little you-isms (unique to your biz), so long as they are consistent and thoughtful

I want you to use your Culture Calendar as the HUB of this next workshop time.

Think of your existing team, AND your new team members.

For the first 10 minutes, I want you to create as many intentional, thoughtful, whimsical, and creative ideas as you can about ways to build culture that will require more time than money.

For the second 10 minutes, I want you as a team to rank order those ideas from most impactful to least… and then bake them into your culture calendar with dates and frequencies, and the process by which who/how they will be done.

The last 50 years in world history have led to influential inventions, and yet still the top four inventions are the wheel, the nail, the compass, and Gutenberg's printing press.

Dutch Philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam lived in chronological proximity to the printing press and was able to expand the influence of his writing. Books were a non-negotiable for Erasmus, saying, "When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."

Indeed Erasmus was reported to have little money and so fought through hunger pains for the pleasure of reading.

Attributed to Mark Twain is a saying that should serve as an accountability nudge to leaders, "The (person) who does not read good books has no advantage over the (person) who can't read them."

Here are three books I have read that I would challenge you to consider reading in 2023 in order to grow in fortitude.

Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, Will Guidara

A friend and client Chris Kornman (Entablature Construction and Entablature Realty, New Orleans, La) recommended this book. Reading during a trip with my family I left a trail of dog-eared and underlined pages of thoughts and ideas.

Guidara walks through how he and a team took the famed Eleven Madison Park restaurant from a nice New York City establishment and transformed it into the number one restaurant in the world according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants, along with four stars from the New York Times, and a coveted three Michelin stars.

Guidara caps a simple thesis of the book with this statement, "whatever you choose to do, be in the hospitality business."

The ultimate quote for busy business owners jumps off of page 116, "you don't want to have 100 keys; you win when you end up with only one - the key to the front door."

From Strength To Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose In The Second Half of Life, Arthur C. Brooks

If you are in your mid to late thirties or above it is time to begin reading this book. In 1995, Bob Buford published a book entitled Halftime: Moving From Success To Significance. It was good and helpful. Arthur Brooks' manifesto is deep and meaningful.

Brooks confronts what he describes as the "striver's curse…a hidden source of anguish that wasn't just widespread but nearly universal among people who have done well in their careers."

Many successful business owners and key leaders build up capabilities and then feverishly work to avoid a decline in their capabilities.

Brooks delivers a needed blow, a thoughtful alarm, in order to wake up the leader who is heading off into their second half of life, "Here is the reality: in practically every high-skill profession, decline sets in sometime between one's late thirties and early fifties. Sorry, I know that stings."

This book invites you to prepare for a "second curve" and a reminder that "what got you to this point won't work to get you into the future - that you need to build some new strengths and skills."

Brooks then devotes the rest of the book to uncovering those strengths and their rootedness in wisdom, and how those strengths will be diminished in the face of workaholism that keep you tied to the fleetingness of worldly rewards (that rust and evaporate), and your fear of decline.

From Strength to Strength is an important shot of interpersonal cold water with the complimentary encouragement of a loving grandfather.

A New Kind Of Diversity: Making the Different Generations on Your Team a Competitive Advantage, Dr. Tim Elmore

We have culturally assumed diversity as a cross-section of race and skin color and less about the generational differences that illuminate the modern workplace.

Elmore writes, "Millennials and Generation Z will make up 70 percent of the workforce by 2025. We'd better get to know them."

The older generations say things like, "nobody wants to work anymore" and "the younger generation has a bad work ethic." Elmore brings a teaspoon of humility reminding us "we're the ones who gave birth to them and raised them. If they (truly) were unready for the workforce, we must look in the mirror."

Owners and leaders can moan, complain, and gripe about the new workforce, or we can embrace A New Kind of Diversity.

Elmore's books are loaded with heaps of helpful and digestible research that he skillfully then summarizes into implementable takeaways.

A couple of weeks ago I heard of a new 23-year-old Director of Marketing at a large company. That same company has a 64-year-old Director of Estimating. That is an unprecedented span of four generations working together on one team.

It will be imperative that we all put in the work to understand generational tendencies, realities, nuances, and grow multi-lingual in speaking to others the way they wish to be spoken to as we all push towards a unified end.

Elmore recommends not just diversity training…but unity training.

Of the books mentioned above, Business On Purpose receives no compensation or recommendation.

Books are always a worthy investment of your time, attention, and leadership.

Test Prep Insight reported that 48.5% of adults did not read a book in 2022…let's change that and all become book nerds in 2023!

Part of our work at Business On Purpose is working with business owners and key leaders to hold them accountable to the things that will help liberate you from chaos so you can make time for the things that matter…like reading.

Go to mybusinessonpurpose.com/healthy to get a free assessment on the health of your business to get started.

"If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment," wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky, "all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning."

Peter Segars wrote the sequence to one of the great wisdom lyrics in the history of folk rock in the late 1950s that would be recorded by The Byrds in 1965 and popularized as the theme music in Forest Gump, The Simpsons, and The Wonder Years.

Some have called Turn, Turn, Turn a number one hit with the oldest lyrics. Segars adapted the majority of the lyrics from the wisdom literature of the Jewish King Solomon's writings in the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes.

The Segars rendition ends just shy of Solomon's powerful sequence that helps us understand the motive and the value of work.

John Mark Comer in his well-reflected book Garden City says of our modern (primarily Western culture), "The American dream - which started out as this brilliant idea that everybody should have a shot at a happy life - has devolved over the years into a narcissistic desire to make as much money as possible, in as little time as possible, with as little effort as possible, so that we can get off work and go do something else."

Kenny Chesney popularized a culturally Brazilian story about the fisherman and the businessman in his song The Life showing the contrast between a simple, humble fisherman's idea of success - catch enough to live that day - and the scale-at-all-costs ambition of a savvy businessman who has the roadmap to create a world-dominating fishing empire, all so we can entice his humble fisherman friend to… do exactly what he is doing today, except with far more effort and stress.

We have twisted work as something equivalent to a modern curse on our humanity, something that we can widdle down to maybe 4 hours per week so that we can get on with the true desire of our hearts…leisure.

Solomon, regarded as the wisest person to ever live, said this of work, "There is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in his labor - this is God's gift to man." (Ecclesiastes 3:13)

Have we walked astray from the original design for work? Is work really a gift?

Work is a gift. A gift is "a thing given willingly without payment", and also something to be enjoyed.

Imagine waking up in a position where you are simply unable to work, to move, to think, to respond, to react. We have some in our society who have not been given the capability to enjoy the gift of work.

Their days are spent in a relentless cycle of managing indifference, wondering why they have been stripped of the gift of working, and only dreaming of the contribution they could make through the gift of work.

We were created to work. Of the world's major monotheistic religions, there is a collective alignment that points back to an original woman and a man standing in their primitive office - a garden - tending, trimming, sowing, and harvesting…working.

The Jewish have a cultural phrase Tikkun Olam, "the repair of the world". Work is an active, productive, skill-leveraging way to be in a constant state of repairing our broken world.

Work builds relationships and brings value to ourselves and others.

The Anglican theologian John Stott says that work is "the expenditure of energy in the service of others, which brings fulfillment to the worker, benefit to the community, and glory to God."

New York City pastor Tim Keller describes work as "rearranging the raw materials of God's creation in such a way that it helps the world in general, and people in particular thrive and flourish."

There is a storied tale that was shared in middle eastern Jewish history of a shrewd manager who had just been sacked by his owner. The manager has one final task of employment; to go settle up any outstanding accounts on behalf of the owner.

The shrewd manager begins slashing payments as a way to win favor with the customers, and shoring up relationships…building bridges using discounts and favors.

At the end of the story, we are instructed, "use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends."

It is a wild story and one I thought would end with a rebuff of the manager.

Put more subtly, author Dan Miller says of the benefits of business and money, "I love having the opportunities that business provides, but I want to be a vehicle for being, for deep meaningful relationships, not just doing."

For many, the reason we don't feel a sense of success in our work is because our definition of success is elusive.

Solomon, a man who had far more than you or I will ever have, said this of confusing money with success, "Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder."

We have a success problem because we have allowed the eyes of accumulation to define the success of our life. Metrics have become our barometer while our relationships and connections starve.

You know what the fisherman does everyday after he fishes throughout the morning? The tale continues like this, "(I) play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night."

Even the fisherman had a schedule.

Annie Dillard, the American writer saw the value of a schedule in relation to a valuable life, "A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being;"

A schedule, then elevates work allowing it to exist more for relationships than for things. When things and money are prioritized over relationships, then our definition of success is upside down.

We have redefined the terms of success prioritizing the aimlessness of more; specifically more money and more things.

How should we define success in our work? We can start by asking this question, "who have I been created to be?" Each of us has been designed, created, and offered to the society around us as a creator. What have you been created to create?

Think through the filters of skill, temperament, personality, what gives you energy, and what depletes you of energy.

Dillard, a religious none (as detailed on her website) says wisely, "how we spend our days is how we spend our lives."

Work is a valuable way to spend our lives when that work positions us to do what New York Times columnist Arthur C. Brooks lays out with thoughtful simplicity…

Use things,

Love People,

Worship The Divine.

Start reordering the verbs and work becomes misery.

As you listen to this, how can you shift your mindset, and your success definition to create meaning in a work worth doing?

Will you work till you die? Or will you intentionally shift your mindset to begin working towards an end filled with usefulness and meaning that creates the "cabinet of fortitude" (Arthur Brooks) needed adding value to our collective society?

Thomas just talked about some amazing recruiting practices and you had time to put ideas on paper of how to recruit great talent.

Now What?

You have some resumes that look promising and you're excited that all your prayers might be answered with one of these resumes.

Now it's time to start interviewing.

This is the recruit's first impression of you and your organization. This sets the tone for everything from this point forward.

Are you professional?

Are you organized?

Are you intentional?

Are you mission-driven or chaos-driven?

If you are professional, well organized, and intentional, then the recruit knows you mean business. They will either get scared and run or they will show up and show off for you because they want the job.

Wouldn't you want to scare them off now, instead of 3 months from now when they have cost you over $10,000 to $25,000 in your time and resources, and then you have to do this recruiting, hiring and onboarding all over again?

So, How are you giving the first impression to recruits of your business?

You should be doing this with your 6-Step Hiring Process.

Step 1 Phone Interview

Do you have this mapped out with the specific questions you ask at your phone interview? Is this replicable so anyone in your organization can get on the phone and do a phone interview?

Step 2 1st Live Sit Down Interview

This is the time where you share vision/mission/values/culture to allow the candidate to determine if this is even the type of business they want to be a part of? Do you have this spelled out so you don't have to think when the candidate comes in for the interview.

Step 3 Due Diligence (My favorite)

This is where we are calling the candidate to tell them we want to move forward and we want to do personality profiling, call their references, and assign homework.

Have you decided on a Personality profiling tool to use?

How about calling on references? Do you have your questions written down on what questions you will ask when calling references?

What homework do you have for the candidate?

For a bookkeeper maybe reconcile a mock bank account, for an estimator, estimate an old job, for a marketing specialist design a logo.

Step 4 2nd Live Interview preferable with other team members

Here you are deep diving into the role and seeing how they act with the other team members.

Again, do you have this written out and documented so you cover everything from their ideal weekly schedule to going over your MPR?

Step 5 Spousal/Friend Dinner/Lunch, social

In his 2011 book "EntreLeadership," Dave Ramsey recommends that companies vet spouses to make sure their hire is not "married to crazy."

Dave says, "When hiring someone, you are employing more than just the person. You're taking on the whole family. And when they are married to someone who is domineering, unstable or simply full of drama, you'll end up with a team member who can't be creative, productive or excellent."

Go to lunch or dinner with your candidate and their spouse to find out if crazy lives at home.

Step 6 Phone call and email with Offer.

Some of you are saying "Patrice we got this, we have been interviewing & hiring for years" Great then how can you systemize it and make it better so anyone can take your hiring process and run with it.

Alright, your Hiring process is complete and the candidate accepted your offer

Yeah!! They start on Monday and all your problems are going to be solved.

Let me tell you a story, Becky. Becky sent her resume to XYZ realty as a marketing specialist. She had all the qualifications for the role and was hired. Her first day she was shown her desk, given her laptop, set up on email, and then voila! She started marketing and it was the best marketing ever done for XYZ realty.

I wish!! Becky isn't her real name because honestly, I don't remember it. XYC Realtry was the Miles and Smith Real Estate Group which I owned. Becky was my new recruit. She was going to change everything for our real estate group. We would start getting more leads now then ever with a part-time marketing specialist, right!

Within two weeks I was wondering what in the world she was doing. I saw a post or two on social media, but besides that….I had no clue what she was doing. I sat down with her to ask and she showed me a couple of things but nothing substantial. I asked where her marketing calendar was, where her content creator checklist was, how was she keeping track of analytics so we knew what was working and what wasn't, what about a newsletter or updating the website, I mean she is a marketing specialist she should know all these things.

How many times as business owners have we said "They should know this, they did bookkeeping before, they did project management before….They should know what to do, why do I have to tell them everything?

Because what is common to you is not common to them. What is common to you is not common to me. What is common to you is not ever common to your spouse or your best friend who knows you inside and out. You have to train, set expectations and hold people accountable so what is common to you can become common to them.

To do this you need an Onboarding Process, Checklist and Training Schedule

Your Onboarding Process will set the tone for the future accountability and performance of your new employee.

Is your Onboarding Process clearly defined?

Your onboarding checklist allows you to list everything you want to go over during the training and who in your organization is going to do the training. Do you have an onboarding checklist with all the Admin/Tech/Projects/Software/Processes and General Company policy and procedures that you want to go over with your new employee during their training time.

Your onboarding weekly training schedule will map out in timeblocks what they are going to be trained on from your checklist. Do you have a weekly training schedule spelled out for at least the 1st week.

So what part of Onboarding do you need to create or perfect?

Breakout.

1. First 10 minutes spend on your Hiring Process.
   • Every step of the hiring process is crucial. If you don't have a hiring process, then start creating one. If you already have a hiring process….What are you short cutting on in your hiring process?

2. Second 10 minutes spend on your Onboarding.

• What do you need to create or perfect? Your Onboarding Process, Checklist, and or Training Schedule.

3. Talk to your team and collaborate on best practices and be prepared to share a few ideas to the group when we come back.

It's an interesting time to hire right now, right? It's changed in so many ways because the people we are trying to hire have changed!

So let's throw out a few fun facts about Gen Z, the group of people entering the workforce. Were born between the late '90s and about 2008

1. They are shrewd consumers that value their identity and how that is shown to the world. Whether that is through their purchases, social media, or their lifestyle choices (IE, where they work), they are carefully curated in how they present themselves
2. Pragmatic and financially minded
   • This is a generation that has watched their families be affected by the recessions of 08/09 and watched them take those hits. Truly driven by financial pragmatism and security. They are shaped by the financial stresses their families and communities faced during those recessions

3. Value Spectacle over substance

• They want a show. They want to be entertained and feel the excitement

This past year, the university of Louisville got more 4 and 5-star recruits on campus than ever before because of this…

They asked their high-income donors to bring sports cars, drive them onto the field and let recruits come take pictures in them and sit in them. They flew in on private jets and let the recruits climb all over them taking pictures. And it worked. They got talent on campus and were able to pitch to them on their football program.

But here was the problem, they had the spectacle, but not a ton of substance. It was a flash in a pan with no championship culture to back it up.

The University of Georgia spent 3.6 Million dollars on recruiting in 2021. And that's not even including the Name, Image, and Likeness money that was promised. That's just on attracting, recruiting, entertaining, and marketing to high school student-athletes and convincing them to come to play football at Georgia.

Let's break that down a bit further, the average recruiting class is around 25 ppl, so you do the math…that comes out to spending $144,000 per student-athlete that signs to play at UGA. That is OUTRAGEOUS.

It is an insane spectacle…but for them and schools like Alabama, there's also substance behind it. You walk the halls of their recruiting centers and there are massive pictures of their athletes that have gone on to play in the pros, there are trophy cases full of conference championships and national championships. There are detailed meetings with recruits of how they would be used on offense or defense and the plan for them when they come.

Here's what they don't say. Just sign on and we got it. Just trust us, here's what we think we'll have you doing.

And yet isn't that what we do? Most of our hiring and prospecting looks like this. We put out a half-hearted ad on Facebook or indeed, that's vague at best. And we cross our fingers and hope!

Maybe we have an interview process, but not a recruiting process. There's very little spectacle and if that's what Gen Z is looking for, we are simply missing the boat. And if we're missing the boat, then we're missing the talent that could be added to our teams.

Here's where I've seen that recently. With Ward Edwards engineering. They dared to ask, "What is something we could add to a new engineering grad, that no one else is doing?"

We sat down and talked it through, even went to some of their staff and asked them what some of their frustrations were upon graduation and they came up with this. There's no plan for an engineer that's hired. It's just come on board and do engineering and we'll eventually get you where you need to be.

And here's where Allen and Greg and their team took this. They built out a plan to go from Designer, kind of the entry-level position to Professional engineer in 4 years. To actually getting your certification and being ready to be a project manager in 4 years. Now to some of you that sound like eternity, but to an engineer that is unheard of. To look a grad in the eyes and show them the plan and how you're going to get there, puts substance behind the spectacle.

For us, it was knowing that we want to hire 8 new coaches in the next 3 years. So we have to have a training plan in place. SO it was recording almost 50 videos of how to coach and our mindset and practical tips on working through our roadmap and coaching clients and prospecting and selling. All of it! And then beyond that scheduling out a mentor coach to work with them and putting times on the calendar to get them going and offer support.

It's not all fluff! There's substance and intentionality every step of the way.

So here's what I want you to hear. People no longer show up just to receive a paycheck. The game has changed. How can we start thinking about recruiting like a D1 College football team as they chase after new talent?

So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to workshop some stuff with your team. If you're one of the younger ones on the team, here's where we will lean on your wisdom…YES your wisdom. Dr. Tim Elmore calls it "reverse-mentoring".

We are going to let you build out a recruiting system in two parts, ideation, and process. The first 10 min will be throwing ideas out there. How do you attract the right people? How can you add some spectacle to how you recruit people? And then process, what does that look like year round?

Because here's the thing, it's not an IF you are going to hire it's a WHEN are you going to hire. And the economic impact for waiting on the need is staggering. Thousands in lost revenue and wasted time being behind the 8 ball.

You know the ABCs of selling? Always be closing? Right? Well, what if we changed that to ABI, Always be interviewing. Recruiting is a year-round job that someone needs to have in your business. So, let's figure out what that needs to look like for you!

You have 10 min to throw out ideas and then we will build out the process for the second 10 min.

Workshop Action: Custom-build the elements of a SPECTACULAR recruiting system. Two sections: Ideate (set timer), then document process (set timer)

WORKSHOP:"ONE Thing" Around The Room: What was your one big idea whether you implement or not

Remember the days where windows showed up like clockwork in 3 days? Chemical arrived the next day? Subcontractors called you back? Schedules held true? Material budgeting was straightforward? Clients had empathy, patience, and treated you as the expert?

Remember the days when your biggest headache was, "how do we find new business?"

The British playwright Michael McMillan said, "You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one."

As you come into this final 12-Week Plan LIVE event of 2022…this final opportunity to think deeply through the new challenges you will confront, the new mountains you will climb, the new opportunities you will pursue… you have a choice.

Let me rephrase, you have to make a choice.

Will you gripe, moan and mope about those mean clients, those non-committal subs or vendors, those irritating shipping delays, or those increased prices?

Or will you cut the strings of excuses, limitations, and barriers, and be free from the sludge and the mud of what Zig Ziglar calls "stinkin' thinkin'".

We are in a cesspool of negativity right now. I hate my job, I hate my town, I hate the people I work with, I hate the government, this head coach, that team, this policy, that country and on and on. It reminds me of George Strait's song "I hate everything".

We are not called to falter and we are not called to fade…we have been called and built to FLOURISH! To flourish, we must intentionally control our mindset.

And in order to flourish in 2023 we are going to have to rid ourselves of stinkin' thinkin' and embrace a new attitude of Fortitude: the ability to display courage in pain, to go into new opportunities with a mindset of strength, believing we CAN do something rather than swimming in the cesspool of "can't".

Mrs. Jones is being an email bully? We CAN learn to speak to her with truth and thoughtfulness.

Your partner, sub, or vendor is not pulling their weight? We CAN influence and bring value to their operation in a way that serves everyone around.

Tough conversation needs to be had with team members? We CAN plan conversation in an appropriate way that brings value to everyone…a Win/Win mindset.

Hard-pressed to find new team members? We CAN build a thoughtful, powerful, spectacular recruiting, hiring, and onboarding process that WOW's recruits and supplies them with a substantive opportunity.

We CAN do those things…but not with our current attitudes.

Never in the history of the American workforce have four separate generations worked so closely and communicated so seamlessly than what is happening right now.

You have Boomers who are remaining in the workforce longer, and Gen Z'ers who are entering into higher-level roles earlier. The Boomers, X'ers, Millennials, and Z'ers are interacting everyday.

It's like a cocktail of Dockers pleats, meets peglegs, meets skinny pants, and now everyone is confused.

You can throw your hands up and protect your generational brand…OR you can make a decision to ignore the stinkin' thinkin' and embrace the generational diversity, and the value that comes with.

The values of new generations are in the questions they ask of our institutions, our methods, our systems, our policies, our norms and nuances.

The value of older generations are in the standards they hold for their work product.

There is exponential value in merging those two schools of thought.

Stinkin' Thinkin' creeps in and will corrupt all of it so that very little of the cross-generational value is pulled out and instead we spend our days griping, moaning, and moping.

We grumble about the Karen's, and take pot shots at the bro's.

There is a better way! A more HUMAN way.

We live in a world where some, seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time

1. Acknowledging Mental Health realities AND Leading with Perseverance
2. Flexibility AND Budget LImitations
3. Owners can Listen AND Steward the business
4. Key Leaders can Listen AND Steward the role
5. Grace AND Truth AND Past AND Present AND Future
6. Now AND Later

Each of us comes into this room with convictions, norms, and beliefs.

I challenge you to question your convictions. If your convictions are too weak to withstand questioning…then your convictions are not foundations by which you have confidence to stand.

Let's build and reinforce a new belief, a new conviction…a belief that hard things CAN be done, rocky decisions CAN be navigated, and they will lead to powerful outcomes that will bring the satisfaction we desire.

The generational realities in our modern workplace will challenge us and will be a massive growth opportunity for all of us to retire our stinkin' thinkin'.

What are some of the ingredients for this needed mindset?

1. Generational Nuance is real…your language must shift
2. The new world wants a show, embrace it…we are no longer analogue and text…we are iconic (Workshop 1)
3. The substance of Process Clarity and Repetition will be the winning currency…write it down and plan for it (Workshop 2)
4. Consume a steady diet of "Implement, Evolve, Rinse, Repeat" (Workshop 3)
5. Life and Business are merging…don't gripe about it, embrace it. We've been living in a world in the 2000's that have tried to force our hand into choosing Right OR Left, Loud or Quiet, Clemson OR Carolina…could the answer be both, neither, or a healthy mix of the two?

Allow yourself the freedom to have your mind challenged. Some of my greatest learning as a man, living in the south, who identifies as an apprentice and student of Jesus…some of my greatest learning has come from friends outside of that tribe.

As soon as we wrapped up the September Live Event, our team sat down to a delicious taco lunch at the La Poblanita food truck and we knew exactly what our agenda was going to be for this entire morning.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive for the workshops we had, and yet still some wanted more deep dive time for workshops. We are moving from 4 workshops down to three, and you as a business team are going to walk out of here with a map…a plan on how to recruit, hire, and onboard new team members that takes into account the generational realities, and also the process you are inviting them into.

Thomas will lead our first workshop: Creating The Spectacle: Employees Want To SEE Something Special

Patrice will lead our second workshop: Stirring In The Substance: Backing Up The Spectacle With Your Process

I will lead our third workshop: Bellied Up For The Long Haul: Building an "Unleavable" Experience

During each workshop, we will have some opening thoughts, and then we will guide you through a two-part discussion with your own team.

Part One will be devoted to generating as many ideas as possible.

Part Two will be to the mapping and implementation of the best of those ideas.

Some of you already have existing elements of one or all three of the pieces: recruiting, hiring, and/or onboarding.

This is to go back to the garage and take time to refresh your process, and ask yourself, "what if we changed this up to meet new demands?"

Also, allow your minds to go places that are uncomfortable and a bit squirrely. This is a safe place to dream, to wonder, to invent, and to create. Some of you will be uncomfortable there…get over it…come into the dreams world if only for a few minutes.

Let's get started.

We are 6 weeks from the end of the year. What does your team need to hear from you as you finish it out? Well, let's talk about that today.

Happy Monday y'all, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.

We spent hours last week running what we call Prep Week with every one of our clients. Making sure they were focused on the things that matter heading into 2023!

We got all kinds of feedback, from "Yes, we needed that." to "It's so crazy, it's already time for these discussions," to even "Man, I'm really excited for next year!" And all of those statements are true. What we've realized is if we don't plan intentional time in the year for some of these conversations, they sneak up on us and they get rushed or worse, never happen.

The same can be said for your Annual letter. Many times, we realize we're two weeks out from the end of the year, so we rush it and lose much of its impact. We write down a few thoughts that have little meaning, print it out, sign our name at the bottom and send it out.

But that's such a miss! It falls far, far short of what your Annual letter could be. So, I want to walk you through 3 reasons to write a killer year-end or annual letter to your team and maybe offer a few tips for how to make it have an impact.

1. Your team needs to hear from you

It's simple. Your team AND YOU work too hard to not know whether the year was a success or not. They need to hear what you thought of the year and hear it in your voice! Not some quick, thrown together thing, but a well thought out analysis of how much we accomplished this year.

It's powerful when you read it aloud to them and can celebrate together. If there's one thing I think we don't do enough of, it's collective celebration. Pausing to focus on the gain we have made and all the hard work that was put in to that. Thanking them for all they did to accomplish it and maybe even acknowledging the major hurdles y'all had to overcome. This helps build a team that craves growth because they know it will be celebrated and not just accepted.

Which brings me to my second reason why:

2. Your team needs to know you see the hard work they put in

Use this as an excuse to brag on each person individually. Have 17 people on your team? Tough! That's why you're starting this now. Take a sentence or two to acknowledge each of their individual efforts, brag on them a bit, and make sure you are specific. They work hard all year long, now is the time you get to show them that you saw them. That you saw their contribution and are grateful for it. If you have 5 people, spend a paragraph on them!

This is such a crucial part of building a culture of recognition and accountability. Because if people are never going to get recognized, I don't care how motivated they start out, they will naturally wane in enthusiasm if it's never recognized. But what better way to encourage your team at the end of the year than to brag on them in front of everyone?

And if you have that one employee that this is REALLY tough to find something to brag on them about. Do it anyway. They still deserve it. Take your time and be genuine and show encouragement. I promise it will build loyalty and a positive culture.

3. It becomes an amazing Chronicle of your business journey

It's so fun going back and reading annual letters from years past. You can tell where you've been and it's so fun to see the dreams you had, the dreams you accomplished, the battles you were fighting and are no longer fighting, the growth, and the journey. It's amazing to see it and you get to be the one who shares it with your team! Don't skip it.

So, if you're one who wants to write a quick email to the team thanking them for the year I would REALLY push back. Spend an hour, shoot or more, writing this thing and making it really impactful for your business. Then let it sit for a week, come back and read it and see if it's missing anything.

Then print it out, write a small handwritten piece to each employee and then read it aloud at a team meeting or Christmas party. This is a powerful tool if you will take the time to use it and take the time to put some thought into it.

If you need a few examples, please reach out! I'd be happy to send you some examples.

And the last thing I'll say is this. If you're a podcast lurker…just listens and knows you need to take action on some of this or begin working with a coach, now is the time. Nothing changed between last Thanksgiving and this one, and unfortunately, you know it! There's no shame! But there is a different way to do it.

Maybe start by taking our healthy business owner's assessment to see where you stack up. Go right now to boproadmap.com/healthy and take 5-6 min to take it. And reach out! We wake up every morning to liberate business owners from chaos and we want to work with you.

Alright, that's it for today! Have a great Thanksgiving!

You don't have to be a college football fan to understand this story, and yet it would help to understand that college football in the southeastern United States is akin to cricket in India, premier football in England, Formula 1 in Italy, and the carnival in Brazil.

We barter, bet, scream, yell, curse, fret, cheer, cry, and hug strangers all in the course of a four-hour window on any given Saturday in the fall.

Betting college sports, television rights, and now the newly minted Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules have driven revenue in college sports to levels unthinkable just ten years ago.

I was able to play football at the University of South Carolina back in the 1990s when assistant coaches barely scratched a living, and graduate assistants took a joyful vow of poverty. All this sacrifice for the privilege of sleeping on cots at the stadium due to the hours required in hopes for a winning season and a chance to continue playing at one of a very few bowl games around the country.

It is not the same game.

Money has skyrocketed, bowls are ubiquitous. The collective tolerance for losing has an inhumanely short attention span.

Our school has compensated its last coach a reported lump sum payout of $12.9 million to not coach.

"Who?" was the first question for many South Carolina Gamecock fans when the list of top head coaching contenders emerged in late 2020.

Coach Shane Beamer emerged as the victor.

A unique, quirky assistant coach at Oklahoma who had never been a coordinator, won the job and the hearts of the South Carolina Gamecock fans.

How?

Beamer's strategy for leadership can thoughtfully be described in four words that you see and hear around the program and the fan base: love, joy, family, and home.

For years, college football was dominated by gruff, macho, bull-headed tough guys who were famous for intentionally making things tougher than they needed to be in order to mentally fire up their players to perform over their skis and bring home a win.

During my tenure at South Carolina, we played the Bulldogs of Mississippi State University each year. Jackie Sherrell was their head coach who in 1992, in an effort to "educate and motivate" his team before playing the Texas Longhorns, had a bull castrated live in front of his team.

That ship of that leadership style has sailed and a new form, and dare I say a more humane method, of leadership is emerging.

The old guard might think this new leadership is "soft" or "weak". Instead, this counter-intuitive leadership is thoughtful, intentional, human, and engaging.

Beamer has displayed three themes and manifestations of this leadership style that connects with generation Z and motivates them to play on the biggest stages.

Intentionality

After each game coach Shane Beamer is ushered to a press conference where, like every other coach in college football, he is questioned and pushed.

If you listen carefully, you will hear coach Beamer call many of the reporters by their first name, and share some inside bit of information that clearly communicates, "I have a relationship with you beyond your general questioning here."

It is subtle, it is intentional, and it breaks down tension.

The most powerful word on the planet to each person is the sound of their own name; not a soundbite, not a zinging one-liner…just Steve, or Hannah, or Clare.

Emotional Communication

Attend a South Carolina football game at night and you will be treated to a four-hour spectacle of intentionality, targeted communication, and repetition.

It is a four-hour sandstorm that is part dance party, community-involved recruiting video, campaign messaging, and football.

The communication is emotionally charged, but not unbelievable. It is messaged in a way where "welcome home" means "I see you, I am grateful for you, you matter, and you can be anywhere else, but you came here…so we're going to make you feel special, win or lose."

You will not have to look deep in the archives of Gamecock Football media to find a clip of Coach Beamer choking up words in reference to his family, players, fans, or any topic that he is able to find meaning in.

Beamer allows himself to show frustration (especially to poorly called penalties), and to display breakdown emotion. When they play poorly he does not hide it. When they play well, even in the midst of playing poorly, he does not hide it.

He displays joy and pain, in full measure. Hiding emotion is no longer a sign of strength to a younger generation and instead leads to confusion and higher levels of anxiety.

Human vulnerability is a powerful relationship currency.

We have mastered the art of hiding wounds, pains, and cuts leading us to massive storage reserves of unreleased anxiety and mental health challenges. College football players and coaches standing on a brightly lit stage are no different. Stardom and money rank among the worst prescriptions for an anxious mind.

Repetition

For much of the 2022 season, the offensive staff and players have been forced to listen to an off-tuned chorus of frustrated fans regarding their sporadic play.

Beamer is unmoved, at least publicly. It is clear that he is holding to a mission of positivity and joy, love, family, and home. Rinse and repeat.

Of course, there is work to be done…leadership always be refinement.

For many coaches (and leaders) crotchety frustration was the curriculum of their leadership youth.

After a game Beamers' staff and his players are allowed to go back to work in preparation for the next game, not having to take the initial stings of a short-sighted and emotional blows. Of course they hear and see the venom or the adulation, but they have a cup-bearer willing to take the first sip of any feedback, look them back in the eye and say, "in love, I'll take the heat, you go back to work and do what we believe you are capable of doing."

Beamer is not perfect, and that is the point.

He has embraced imperfection and allowed himself the freedom of a different boundary of intentionality, emotional communication, and repetition…all motivated by love.

A far cry from castrated bulls, angry grimaces, and childish vulgarities.

The emerging generation is longing to be recruited, to be invited into an ethos of love, family, and joy, especially when things are hard.

Welcome home to a new kind of leadership.