175 - The Art of Listening: How It Propelled a CEO to New Heights with Level 9 Virtual Joe Rare

15 Apr 2024 · 32 min
Listening With Leaders

15 Apr 2024 · 32 min

0:00

In this episode of Listening with Leaders, host Doug Noll interviews Bill Rare, CEO of Level 9 Virtual and serial entrepreneur. Bill recounts his upbringing in Northern California, early inspiration from Rich Dad Poor Dad, and his first venture selling door‑to‑door knickknacks, which taught him relentless sales skills. He describes how a single virtual assistant hired in 2008 sparked the creation of Level 9 Virtual, a company that builds and runs digital businesses entirely with remote virtual assistants (VAs). Bill explains the core philosophy: design repeatable processes so VAs can operate the business, allowing him to focus on vision and strategy. He outlines his diversified portfolio – a wedding‑venue marketing agency and SaaS platform, a campground digital marketing firm, a freight‑dispatch service run by VAs with a flat‑rate pricing model, and an identity‑resolution data product that matches anonymous website visitors to detailed profiles using bulk‑purchased data. Bill emphasizes the social impact of employing hundreds of Filipino VAs, noting the multigenerational economic ripple effects in their communities. He discusses how low‑cost, high‑skill VA labor enables other entrepreneurs to scale without raising equity. Bill also shares his real‑estate investment approach, aiming to build a legacy of rental properties for his children. The conversation turns to the importance of listening: Bill cites the book Who Not How, stresses that solving problems is about finding the right person, and describes his personal practice of improving listening by asking more questions, even with his children, and launching his own podcast to become a better interviewer. Doug briefly outlines his own listening technique (UCM) used in mediation. The episode closes with Bill’s self‑description as a perpetual learner driven by curiosity.

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