Episode 158: Locating Your Employees' Sweet Spots with Darren Virassammy

I have nothing to talk about.

What?

You ever have that, like, you're, you're with a group people, and then, like, there's a lively conversation coming on, going on. It's just flowing, and all of a sudden it stops.

But can I tell you, like, I honestly, I try to not just fill in silence sometimes, because I feel like then you have that rote conversation that doesn't lead anywhere. And I like, sometimes when you let that silence flow, you get those natural conversations. But most people do not like that silence. It's too awkward.

It's uncomfortable.

Yeah.

Some people, you know, you're talking about the evolution of man or something, and then some d. Evolution or devolution. It was week after week, you pound that. My face. It's a word. It's a freaking word. So we talk about the devolution of men, and then there's silence, and someone's like, how about the jets? Like, it just.

Yeah.

You know, it just jumps. Oh. Talking about how I have the jets. I'm talking with Amber Duggar. She's a profit first professional driving back. She has a girl crush. Like a bro crush. Like a girl crush on Kelsey. She goes, I'm driving back. And I go, hey, do you listen to the show? She goes, I love my love. I'm like, oh, it's so great. I'm like, what's the favorite part that I, that I do? Right. Of course.

Of course.

She goes, kelsey. I'm like, no, no, no. What do you mean? She goes, kelsey's my favorite. I'm like, how come? What do you mean? She's like.

You're like, why?

Why?

It makes no sense. That doesn't compare. And she goes, no, like, like, she is. I, I, I love her laugh. I love how she is holistic and cares about the, the kind of the, the, the involvement of everyone and, and cares for their community and, and she cuts you down, Mike.

Yes, you are. You're pretty harsh on here.

Sorry.

Sometimes.

Awesome. It's awesome. So you make the show, and Amber Duggar says she is your soulmate and best friend.

Thank you. Amber Duggar. I feel similarly about you.

Yeah, I feel similar. Similarly.

I would be surprised if you did.

She's incredible.

So, yeah, when next time she comes up, you two should just, like, hang out.

Yeah. And just talk sh.

All right.

Welcome to the Profit first podcast.

This is the big one. Episode 158.

Yeah.

Oh. By myself.

Every time you got to think of.

A different, like, sound.

That's awesome.

So again, you are listening to the profit first Podcast. I'm your co host, Christina Bolduc.

And I'm the other guy here, Mike Picalis, the author of Profit First. You do have a copy of that book, don't you, by now, for gosh sake, get it. Check out the reviews and if you do have a copy of the book, post your own review.

Yeah.

Join studio with also Kelsey Ayres.

Hey, everybody.

I haven't done that one at all.

That's not how you say my name.

How do you say it?

Ayres.

Yeah, say it again. Z.

Like.

Like Snake Ayers.

You're the only guy here, by the way.

I am the one guy here. And you, my friends, you are listening to the Prophet first podcast. This episode where we explore every single element of profitability, every single angle. We talk to business owners. That's what we did last week. A business owner who's starting brand new and trying to turn a profit. Whoops. We talked with Larry Wingan, an expert in profit. And today we're talking to another expert. His name is Darren. And Darren's going to be talking about how to find your strengths, those innate strengths for yourself and your team, and how to turn that to your profitability advantage.

That's right. You can find us at profit first, podcast.com, of course, Google Play, Tunein radio, Stitcher, itunes, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.

That's absolutely right. And while we'll get into what we're gonna be talking about on the show in just a second, but first, I want to know the old routine. What have you all been up to?

I'm dying to go to the beach.

Yes.

We have not gone yet. And I don't know whether it's just. I'm like, oh, maybe the ocean's too cold or. But I just. I need to go. Like, that's my. My peace of mind.

Yeah. Where do you go? What beach?

I really like Ortley. It's right next to Seaside.

Okay.

So it's tiny and like, it's not that far to the ocean.

But it's mom's favorite summer growing up.

She always went, I love it. It's not too crowded. And it's. It's just. I don't know, I love something about the ocean and the cool breeze, you know?

Sweet.

Yeah.

What have you been up to? Air.

Nothing too exciting, but I will. We have a long weekend coming up and I will go to visit my friend in D.C. nice.

Oh, that's right. We're closed for July 3rd and July 4th. Or July 4th and July 3rd. Okay. She's going to D.C. where, where in D.C. is your friend?

So she's actually in Falls Church now.

Oh. So yeah, the Virginia on the beltway.

But then I have another one of my best friends is in Baltimore. So then we'll go in and see her.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, nice.

So while you're doing that, we're going to Long Beach Island.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

It's so exciting.

Love Long Beach Island. So my family, as I kid growing up, my parents used to take myself, my sister, to Long beach island ever since I was born. So there's never a year I don't have a recollection of visiting Long Beach Island. Except for the last four or five years, it's been shaky.

Yeah.

So a friend of mine said, you know, there's a certain point where the next generation has to take on the existing tradition.

Yeah.

And so I'm like, aha. Okay, it's our turn. So we rented a house and my sister and her family are coming down together and we're gonna, we're gonna pack in like rats. I mean, we have a. It's a three bedroom house where we're gonna have 12 people.

Oh my gosh.

So you know, four per bedroom. And I think it has like one bathroom, one half bath.

That's where the memories come from.

I was just gonna say those are the best times.

Those are the best times.

Yeah.

And you know what greases the wheels is a margarita. I mean you just got.

Yeah.

If you get some booze flowing, it's good times.

With only one and a half baths, it's great.

Yeah. No, a half bath. I was just saying no one showering for a week. The stench. You thought that fish I ate two weeks ago was a stench? Yeah. Come visit me in Long Beach Island.

Ah. Do you have any shout out recordings for me?

No. You know what we. Yeah, but.

Oh, okay. Well, I said I can read.

Oh, yeah, read it.

Yeah.

So this comes from Brian B of Double B Design. And he said that profit first is literally changing his life. He lives in Austin and his the house market is insane, he said. Ridiculous for new home buyers and expensive. That said, we are now in a position to pay 20% down on a home and buy our first home together this summer. The amount of joy, comfort, security and excitement moving forward is more than enough to want to even push the profit for first principles further to the max.

Nicely done.

That's awesome. I love hearing that.

Congratulations, Brian. Well deserved. Send us pictures of the new home. By the way, we move in and if you do want to invite Us down for a little open house?

We're nosy.

Yeah, yeah, we're. We're totally nosy.

Go to Austin.

Oh, yeah. Hello. Your new friends are here. Feed us drink. You know, give us drinks. But yeah. Everyone else, check out double B, as in boy, Double B Design. That's Brian's company. And congratulations again, Brian. All right. I want to thank our corporate partners.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, you do.

You know who I start with? One that you don't expect? It's American Express.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah. American Express teamed up with me. We did a new show called Turning Points.

All the episodes, right.

It won an Oscar and an Emmy. Is there a trifecta you can win an Oscar? Emmy? What's the other one?

The.

Or is that it? Maybe that's it.

No, there is a trifecta. There is a trifecta because there's the Broadway one, there's the TV show one, and then there's the movie one.

Yes.

So what's the EMMYs? Is the TV show. What's the Broadway one?

Tonys.

Tony's. So Turning Points is the first podcast ever to get the Emmys. The Tonys and the Oscars.

Oh, impressive.

Yeah. And the only common denominator was I hosted the show.

Oh, okay. Is this recorded? Can we see it?

Did you sing on the show? Is that how it got the Tony?

Did you not listen to it? There's a singing. There's a singing segment. There's an acting scene.

Oh, God.

It's very emotional. Yeah. Turning Points by American Express. What you can do is go to any podcatcher, so itunes, Stitcher, tune and radio, Google Play. Go there, type in Turning Points, download it and see why it's an Oscar winner. All right.

And a Tony and Emmy winner.

Tony and Emmy. You know, whatever. I don't even know where to put them on my mantle anymore. I have so many. I also want to thank Fundera, Nextiva, Fundbox and the receipt bank, all sponsors. We'll give you more details on them in a little bit. But first I want to interview our guests.

Okay.

His name is Darren Verasami and he is the founder, or co founder, I should say, and chief operating officer for 34 strong. His company focuses on providing solutions to the disengagement problem through talent development and building strengths based organizational culture. I always like to ask trivia questions. Three significant business accomplishments for 34 strong. They implemented in file profit first. Consistently. That's a bonus. They've learned to say no. To grow and unleashing the human potential through Their daily work, they're constantly helping people get in the right seats in the right bus. And the one unique thing that no one knows about Darren until now is. Is he's an electric bassist and still performs regularly.

Oh, nice.

Darren, welcome to the show.

Welcome, Darren.

Hey.

Thank you so much, everybody. Really happy to be here.

Joy to have you. What. What kind of bass do you throw around there? What kind of ax do you carry? That's.

What kind of ax do I carry? I. I perform. I have an Ibanez, but I also perform on a Marcus Miller jazz bass. And then I just recently got a mark bass amp rig which is. It's just incredible how much power you can pack into speakers these days. So being a strengths based company, I love having a strengths based amp. It's got a lot of power and it's just tiny as you can imagine. So it's. It's incredible. We do. We do a lot of shows around the Northern California, Sacramento region.

What kind of music do you perform?

You know, we perform a whole eclectic mix. The name of the band is Zarelli music and we play to give you a range to some context. We can play Frank Sinatra, Bob Marley and Sublime in the same set and a whole host of our own originals that include salsa, reggae, calypso. We have a. Yeah, so it's. It's a whole eclectic mix of. Of jazz. And. And we have a steel pan player. So that makes us kind of. Kind of unique as well.

Just so you know, my first people to the islands, my first guitar was an Ibanez. So I. I pay homage to the Ibanez family.

Is it homage or homage? One of those herb or herb things?

I think it's homage. Homage.

I think it's homage.

I think it's homage. That's two homage versus one homage. So. All right, let's get right into the strength finder. That's what we gotta figure out. Clearly, Kelsey needs help with the way she pronounces words.

Yes.

What. How. First of all, what's the advantage of doing a strength analysis or a strength finder specifically?

Yeah. Well, Mike, you've heard of other personality tests like Myers, Brigg and disc and those types of profiles. You familiar with those?

I'm very familiar with those.

So those are kind of personality profile tests. They're excellent at nailing us down with what our personality is. Right. Simply, are we an introvert? Are we an extrovert? But the fundamental differentiator from the strengths finder with taking the assessment is even though it's coined as a Personality test. That's not actually what it does. It actually measures talent in each of us. And when we define talent, what talent actually is, is our natural way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. So that's fundamentally what's different. And when we're actually drilling deeper into that, it's getting that awareness of how do we naturally show up every day and how are we naturally going to contribute our best in what we do every day on an individual level and then collectively in a team setting. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Yes. So what is the goal? Once I know people's talents, I know where they have strengths and can excel. So that's good. But what do I do with it?

Great question. Right, so what now what. So fundamentally what we do, what 34 strong does as a company is we go in to try and break that deficit mindset. So it's identifying that. That's our starting point, to identify where talent naturally resides within us. And then we think of how do we actually align that on the team? How do we use those talents intentionally and purposefully? And, Mike, here's an interesting thing about our talents. They're our greatest opportunity to be our absolute best of self, and they're our greatest opportunity to be our absolute worst of self also. So they just tell us the talents on their own just are, but how we actually learn to use them, and it can completely impact our outcomes and our results that we're going towards there. So that's what it's about. We work on aligning people on teams and within organizations towards actual outcomes and driving employee engagement.

So I took your test. It was fascinating. You even gave me an analysis of myself. But that's just a test of one person and a company of now 10 people here, is there an advantage to knowing the strengths of one individual? Or. Or do you really need to do a full team assessment to understand how to get the most profit potential out of your business?

Oh, it's all about the team. Right. So the core of what we do can be anchored in this African proverb, which is, if you want to go fast, go by yourself, but if you want to go far, go with others, the areas where you excel. And, Mike, because I'm a strengths geek, I just happen to have your results in front of me. Right. Your top five and my top five are actually different from each other. And. Yeah. And, you know, interestingly enough, the likelihood of somebody having the same sequence, so the same top five in the same order is one in 33 and a half million. So when we understand on the team, how we actually are as a team and as a unit, we can understand who excels in certain areas and who on our team maybe covers our blind spots. Right. So it's instead of trying to be everything to everybody, which can be the mindset that we can adapt. Where we're trying to develop organizationally from the weakness perspective and deficit fixation, we're able to actually move to one of focusing on people's strengths and building the team around that. And that effectively is how you manage around weakness. It's through others strengths. Where they're strong, we might be weak and vice versa. And we can actually fill in the gaps and achieve a lot more together.

Okay, so let's set up the scenario. A small business, I have say a handful of employees. Maybe they're not even full time, they're part time, they're virtual employees. I want to make my business as profitable as possible. Does a strength finding analysis provide benefit in that arena? And assuming it does, how do I go about this to make my business as profitable as possible?

Well, the first thing you start off doing, obviously is you got to take the assessment and working through the assessment on its own, like you said, it just gives you the self awareness. One of the things that we do, a tool that we use, is we actually develop a team talent map that shows where everybody's talents are. And then we work with the team to actually identify where people will shine and where they're going to excel. Let me give you an example here maybe of a story, a little bit of an analogy that can make things make sense. So imagine, Mike, that you are a dolphin and I'm an eagle.

Hold on. I want to be the eagle. Isn't ready the first test.

You're the eagle and I'm the dolphin. Okay, I'll be the dolphin. I want to be both.

I want to be the deagle half dolphin. I want all the strength.

Right, the ilfin. Yes, no problem. So imagine that for a moment and you can be the eagle. Do we both know, do we both know how to hunt, Mike? Are we both capable of hunting fish?

Yes, we are.

Right, but do we catch fish the same way?

No, we do not.

So imagine we have a leader that then comes in, right. And spots are incredible fishing talents. And then decides to say, you know what, what I want you two to do is I want you to cross train, right? So you're an eagle and you're going to train me as a dolphin how to catch fish like an eagle.

Right.

What kind of results? Imagine how we would Both be feeling. Are we being set up for success in that process?

Could you get the microphone in your face for once? I'm sorry, Darren.

Keep going. No problem. And how will these two animals actually end up if we went like that? I mean, obviously they would both die, right? Because an eagle doesn't swim and a dolphin. Well, a dolphin's a fish.

We all know that. I'm kidding. Eagles are not smart.

So the whole point is here, Mike, what we're getting at through this analogy is on a team, when we're thinking about that if you have great dolphins and you have great eagles, they're not going to hunt the same way. But what if they were able to align and work together? So using the strengths finder, what it actually does in organizations, it gives us a common language in which how we can actually think about talent intentionally and purposefully through the lens of application towards outcomes. What are the overarching goals and how do we look at the talent that's needed to get to that goal? And how do we align the team respectively through that? So we can understand why people do what they do and why some people naturally will have a task orientation towards what are the tasks at hand, where's the finish line? And others will have more of an interpersonal connection like how does this actually impact the people? And it's just their natural starting place through the filter of their talents. So we can align towards that. And, and, and that's where it goes.

I love that analogy. It's actually really good, really visual. So with that analogy, trying to play it out a little further. An eagle and a dolphin can both fish, but then maybe you have a snake or something, someone that doesn't go after fish at all. They're a land creature. What. What if the job is to hunt for fish? Will there be people you find when you do a strength assessment? They don't have that capability at all. They can't hunt for fish. They. They hunt for vegetation or I guess you wouldn't hunt for. Collect vegetation. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Forage for it.

For they Forage. Thank you. Thanks for being there.

Forage. Yes. Forage and homage. Those are the two words today. Yeah.

Forge and oligarchy. Gorky. Whatever. Oligarchy. There it is. All right, so what do we do if you don't have some of that fish? Hunt for fish.

So if you have that and they're on your team, there might be within that particular role, they might not be the right alignment for that particular role, but they might have a Different way that they're actually contributing. So maybe they're not the one that's actually going out hunting for the fish, but maybe they're able to be part of the team that's on land where the fish are coming back into, whatever that can be. The strengths finder gives us a way and a lens to understand the unique value that each person individually brings to a team and then collectively how that team can actually have value. So if they don't, you know, let's say like you said, if they're, they're foraging, if that's what they do, that might be beneficial for when the fish come in. There's, maybe they're the ones that, hey, I can't go out and I can't catch fish, but I can set up the table as to where we're going to be selling the fish, whatever that might be.

They catch humans from eating all the fish. Yeah, taking all the fish.

That's true.

Dolphins.

And just to be fair, I did not say they were foraging. That was Kelsey. I said they were hunting for vegetables. Let's be very clear. They're hunting for vegetables.

Vegetable hunters.

Vegetable hunters.

We can do that. There we go.

Okay, so this turns me on, ironically or not so much to communication. Communication is absolutely critical. And I assume a dolphin can communicate with a dolphin, an eagle can communicate with an eagle, but an eagle can't really naturally communicate with a dolphin. So when you disparate people, communication often, I found, falls by the wayside. Does a strength finding analysis help us kind of learn how to communicate with the other type of animals in our business?

Yes, it completely does. And you know why that is the case, Mike? Is because it gives us a common language on how we can connect to each other. Let me give you a little story, right? So imagine that you are in a work situation and you have somebody that operates in a place where they like to talk out ideas. Do any of you know anybody like that? Or Mike, are you like that? Do you enjoy just kind of talking ideas out?

I'm a talker.

You like talking the ideas out. So my business partner, Brandon Miller, he is a. He loves to verbally process. He loves to talk his ideas out. And for him, that's literally his thinking process. For me, I have a lot of talents in the idea catching realm. So I have these executing talents. So when I'm talking about ideas or people are discussing ideas with me, my natural orientation is to catch those ideas, Mike. And then go to task with it. Well, guess what? That doesn't always work. Out if those two are talking to each other. Our first meetings that we had when we first started in business together, you know, we'd get together, we'd have a meeting. Brandon would be talking through a bunch of ideas and what am I doing, guys? I'm catching, catching, catching, catching. Going to task. Two days later, we'd get on a phone call or we'd meet and I'd say, hey, Brandon, you know what? I got X, Y and Z done. And his response, yeah, I don't think we should do that. And I'm sitting there wanting to pull my hairs out like, what are you talking about, dude, we talked about this, right? And the whole point is we were missing each other. And it's not because I'm a bad person or he's a bad person. It's because our strengths weren't seeing the value of what the other person was doing. Brandon's hand down. One of the best business partners I could ask for in this day and age. And what's happened now is we get that about each other. I get when he's talking, I'm literally watching him flesh out an idea. And he can trigger me now so we can communicate much better. He can say, darren, I just have to verbally process. Or I can tell him, brandon, I'm in high execution mode. I'm getting a lot of stuff that's done for the team right now. I can't go into verbal process mode. And we can appreciate that. Not through, hey, you and me are battling. We can appreciate that through. You're really being valued for being valuable and the contributions that you're making to this organization and to each other collectively.

I think maybe it's obvious.

Does that answer your question?

It does. Maybe it's obvious how this drives profitability, but I want to hear from the horse's mouth. Another species there. Kelsey, I want to hear from you, Darren. How does this drive profitability in the business?

The most important question first is, is the horse a vegetable hunter?

Oh, my God, that's good. I wish I had the media board up. I do. There we go. A little bit late. That was funny.

Delayed reaction.

Yeah.

Yeah. So when we think about the U.S. workforce, nearly 70% of our workforce in the United States is disengaged. That means we've got people showing up to work and they're just kind of going through the motions. You're not going to find them on the extra mile. And of that 70%, over 15% of them are actively disengaged. Misery loves company, folks. They're actually going recruiting for others to be miserable with them. And when we think about this complete problem, that's an overarching issue in our workforce. What is it? People are showing up at work, they don't feel like they're valued for being valuable. They don't feel like they can contribute. And what happens from that? Well, we have higher levels of turnover, we have higher safety incidents, right. I'm checked out of my job. I don't care if I get injured at work. In fact, I kind of hope that I do. They're more absent, right? And as a result of that, people aren't really showing up as the best version of themselves. And as a result, those teams aren't showing up as the best version of themselves. So what Gallup's research has found in their extensive work on this over the past couple of decades is that when we take a strengths based approach, it reduces those areas, it increases employee engagement, and it improves profitability and productivity. And they have troves of data on this. They actually released a report called the State of the American Workplace back in February that highlights this at many, many different levels. It's about 215 pages and we've actually gone and chunked it down into small bite sized pieces for readers. But getting at some of these exact points because, you know, you realize that you have higher safety issues, you have extensive turnover. The cost of hiring is astronomical. Active disengagement alone costs the American workforce somewhere in the range of 300 to $350 billion per year. And that's in lost wages, injuries, theft, people are stealing from work, all those sorts of things. So it hits your bottom line as people want to show up for work and believe that they're actually valued for being valuable, they can make a contribution.

Do you find people are resistant to taking a analysis like this? Like if, say I'm hiring someone new? Part of our protocol is you have to do a strengths finder. Are people like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't want you doing this with me. Do you find that to be true or is that just a figment of my imagination of my whole spree?

We've had that and it's used a lot of times when we're working with organizations, Mike, it's we're coming in, we're working with a team that's intact or one that's being put together to get them aligned and basically give them this foundation. And we work on this long term. Many of our clients, it gets into the long term. How do these leaders actually Develop their people from a filter of strength. So to answer your question, you get a little bit of that. But usually when we can explain to them the context of this is a common language within this organization, then they can start seeing that. And a lot of times what we've seen with some of our longer standing clients is when they're hiring new people, they'll see the strengths stuff all over. They'll see people's offices, they've got their strengths posted and people are talking about it. They're like, I want to learn mine, I want to know what mine are and figure out how that contributes. So it actually creates a little mystique in that.

So you know, I did my strength finder analysis, I went through the whole thing. I mean it's, it's a booklet basically that it creates. It does, yeah. And so for me it's interesting because it's about me and I assume anyone that does it for themselves is interesting. But for the manager or the person responsible for making the team work together, do they have to understand all these booklets or is there kind of a shorter conciser way to make sure people are in the right seats doing the right things?

You know, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but you still got to travel a thousand miles. And the strengths based approach, completely what it is, is the actual, the journey is actually the destination, Mike. So when we kind of go through this process in building the culture, it's. It does not happen overnight. It's kind of like profit first in the sense of you can set up a lot of the triggers and have that self awareness of where you're actually at when you talk about that in chapter one. But then you still have to go through the techniques and the steps to kind of build that. And that comes on building the knowledge base. So there is no just booklet prescription that takes place. A big part of that development comes from the education side, but it's going to come from the practical piece of having continued conversations about it. This folds in successfully when organizations and leaders are actually talking to their people through the filter of their strengths. Saying, Mike, you know, I see your strategic and your futuristic and your maximizer and I'd love to understand what those actually see in this particular situation that we're facing. What does your futuristic see in the context of this? And that's where you're able to actually trigger that and develop that. That happens over time, that happens through ongoing coaching, that happens through ongoing development. It's not just an off the shelf piece that you can just get to really develop that. You know, a lot of people start with that awareness.

A lot of people that listen to this show, Darren, are micro business meaning they have under five employees. Maybe there's a solo practitioner they bring on their first employee. And if you think about it, you're basically doubling your workforce, right? If it's just me, I'm making my first hire, I've doubled my workforce. If it's two people and I bring on a third, you know that's 33% increase in workforce. So that first hire to are absolutely critical. Your company's doubled in its size. If you make the wrong decision, half your company ain't working out. Do I when I do this analysis, should I analyze myself first as that owner of the business and when I make that first hire, make sure this person is most complimentary to me or am I approaching it in a different way?

No self awareness. You hit the nail on the head to get to strong teams, right? So when we put on the where we're trying to go, the outcome of we want to build a strong team, we want to build a strong organization, we can't get there if we don't start with understanding our own strengths as a leader and our natural leanings. When we understand that, then we can build into well, what do I need to complement me? I don't need somebody that's identically like me. I need somebody that complements me, that kind of fills in my gaps. A great story I can share with you locally here in California, one of a company that we've done some work with for years in the past, a company named Twin Termite. These guys, the owner, Kyle, he talked about how when he was making his hire for his assistant, he's highly strategic thinking. So he gets in and he's talking about ideas and he loves to connect with people and go through that talks about ideas. But he sometimes struggles with the catch that idea go to task. So he ended up hiring an assistant and he looked at her talents. When he first took the strengths finder had her take it and she had similar strengths to him. So they'd have all these meetings, right? And they'd come up with these just insane ideas of all the things they would do. Then weeks would go by and they'd realize nothing's getting done. And he realized I hired myself and that's not a benefit to the business. So he was able to realign her position, get her into a different role that she could better serve in another section of the organization and grow that, but that's some of the insight why we have to start with self.

And so my fear for a smaller business is in that scenario, you said this person found their mirror image, or they're not even their mirror image, they're exact image.

Yeah.

And they got it. You could, they could reposition them. In small business, if I make that higher and it's my clone, the business isn't going to move forward. Well, I can't reposition them either. Right. I mean, what am I doing now? I. I guess that's time. I have to face the truth and say this isn't going to work. And I know the owner made the mistake that.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. That's. That's part of. Part of what happens. And this is where it can. It can play into helping guide the decision on the hiring process. Gallup actually does not endorse it as a hiring tool, but it is used in that capacity. Many micro businesses are using it in that capacity and kind of going along that way.

What are the mistakes people make talking about how they use it? They use it for hiring capacity. But what are the common mistakes? You see, when people do an online analysis, be it Myers Briggs, be it one of these million other programs out there, beat Strengths Finder, what are the mistakes they're making?

The mistake that's made particularly with the Strengths Finder is it's the soup of the day. We've checked it off, we've done that, and then we move on. And you have the knowledge, but you haven't actually learned the tangible how to actually apply this intentionally and purposefully in my life. And that's where the big hits come. This can play out, Mike, for you in the business world, and this can play out on the personal level. I'll give you an example with the Strengths Finder. It identifies these 34 buckets of talent that naturally exists within us. That's what Dr. Donald Clifton and the Gallup Organization found, as they did their studies of nearly 2 million people, that there's these 34 themes that exist naturally within all of us in a ranked order of intensity. So each of us gets our top five results. Now, it starts off there because people's natural propensity is to go to the bottom. So they used to give out the full 34, and people would go to that deficit. Oh, these are my weak areas. I'm going to focus on that. But that's a little bit of an aside. The reason I tell you this is to highlight a story so My wife three.

Oh, my God. Are you sure you want to go there? Story should never start with my wife.

My wife, three of her top five are in my bottom five. And things that we would disconnect on made so much more sense for our relationship after we took the strengths finder and we were able to see, oh, my gosh, that's how you are naturally orienting and how you're approaching things. She has this talent called restorative, and it naturally, very quickly, in situations, split problems, wants to fix them and solve them. So what would happen? For instance, she'd make dinner one night. We both cook, and one night she might make dinner. We'd sit down, we'd be having dinner, and what my wife do, she'd start telling the story of, oh, geez, this could have more garlic or it could have more pepper in it. And all she was doing naturally, what she was seeing that was as a positive, and she was seeing that as she was fixing that for the next time. Restorative, which is in her top five, is number 34. For me, I was hearing that as you're being really negative about this meal, and I'm just trying to enjoy it. I think it's a really tasty meal. Why are we. Why are we fixing it? And for her, she was operating from a place of talent, and that it's just a little area that in understanding that instead of seeing, okay, Lisa, you're being negative nelly right now. I was able to see it through the lens of the. You're solving things, and we can actually appreciate that and validate that within each other. And as fate would have it, three of my team members now have those same three talents that are in my bottom five. So my wife has been conditioning me all these years to better interact with my team, and they cover my blind spots really, really well. It's huge.

I suspect you never share a meal with your team. You're never going to lunch with them.

No, we've been able to. We've been able to. That wasn't the area that those talents were showing up. So as long as they're not cooking it, I guess.

Yeah. So I assume it allows you to empathize or at least logically maybe understand what the other side is experiencing, but you don't really connect with it because it's not who you are. So it's really just. It sounds like it's a bridge of understanding.

It's a bridge of understanding. You do connect with it, and you're not going to become that person. But as A leader, you can understand how that person is motivated and developed very differently through the lens of what your natural orientation might be. So your natural orientation as a leader, your own talent filters are amazing because they can lead to your contributions, but they can also be your biases. Hey, doesn't everybody like to be publicly rewarded or different things like that? And the answer to that question might be no. Some might be more private. Can't everybody just jump on the spot and share their ideas and open up and talk about things? And the answer to that question is no. Some people, naturally, on that particular example, might operate from a place where they need some time to really think and process and give them a day or two, and you'll be floored as to what they come back with. So it's understanding what makes your people tick that gives you, as a leader in your business, a much better opportunity to better align your team and to develop your people so they can really shine and be the best for your organization. Some leaders get to the place of where they're feeling like they have to do everything, and that's just not the case.

You know, one thing that drives profitability is retention. The biggest cost for many businesses is turnover. You get someone up to speed, you train them, and then they leave. If you put people in the right positions to leverage their strengths, I presume it does. But does that support retention?

Yeah, it can totally support retention. Imagine this if you get to go to work every day feeling completely energized by what you do, knowing that your contributions count and that you're valued. I mean, do people really shy away from those types of positions? No. What's the reason that people actually quit organizations? They don't quit the organizations. They quit their bosses. They don't leave the organizations. It's their bosses that they're leaving. So when we're in a place where those people are feeling like they are making that impact and their leader understands that about them, it's going to open up the door to keep them on board because they can see the path as to how they're making that impact. And they'll want to give more and more and more, and it gives you as a leader, it becomes this kind of spiral in a good and upward spiral with understanding how you can better connect and develop your people and leverage their talents.

I love it. I mean, it's such a powerful communication tool. Kelsey actually called your wife yesterday, and we just asked her about the meal situation. And when you cook a meal, you know, does she like it? Here's her Response.

Oh, hell no.

So just so you know, we. We caught it on tape.

It really surprised me.

Yeah, it really surprised all of us, quite frankly. We thought you were pretty good cook.

Oh, geez. I was gonna make dinner tonight too, but I had to go buy burst my balloon.

Well, we asked your wife, we said, hey, do you want Darren preparing the meal tonight? And here's her response.

Oh, hell no.

So interesting. Interesting. That's. We did a little strength finder for you. Yeah, interesting. Really amazing.

My strengths have been found. Oh, hell no.

Darren, this has been awesome. Definitely you've helped us drive profitability in what we do here. Where can people learn more about strengthsfinder and you yourself?

Yeah, they can Visit us@34strong.com. There's a treasure trove of information that's there and they can find us on Facebook at as well. The name 34 strong comes from the fact that there's 34 themes that are out there of talent, and they're all created equally within all of us. So they can. Those are the areas to find out about us.

Okay, so it's 34strong.com. He's also on Facebook at 34strong. We'll have it in the show notes. Darren, thanks for joining us today. Thank you.

My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, you're. You're welcome. All right, punch me. You know who's in the studio just walked in. Get real close to that microphone, who is none other than the Hawaiian lumberjack.

Hello.

Hey, get that a little closer. Right. There you go. Yeah, you want about 2 inches. Hey, let me ask you. I saw you peek in. You gave the Hawaiian lumberjack look. You only do that when there's good news to report. So I presume something happened.

I just want to give a shout out to. To Virginia McCuspick.

Okay. Yes.

She's a member of. Been working with her for about two weeks now, and in two weeks she's on episode like 75 now of the.

Podcast, of which one, GMapp or Profit First Podcast.

Profit first, of course.

Nice.

She listens every day, 5am while running.

Yes.

So shout out to you, Virginia. And for those who aren't listening to Profit First Podcast, you don't have any excuses because.

Well, they have one excuse.

They're not listening.

Yeah, they're not listening you. Totally.

They could just hear you.

Yeah, they couldn't hear that.

They should.

Yeah, that's a good point. How are we gonna get past that one? What's your Hawaiian lumber track?

Yeah, think about that one.

If a tree Falls in the woods and no one's around to hear it. Does it make a sound?

That's a good. That's a good point. That's a good point. Do you have. By the way, I said never come in this room without a Hawaiian lumberjack technique? Uh. Oh, yeah. Do you have anything you can share? A lumberjacking technique?

Last time you said change the flapjack one again.

Yes.

Okay.

That was my favorite.

Okay.

I shot myself in the foot, so hatcheted myself in the foot. So what's a lumberjack's favorite type of saw?

Oh, this is a good one. Favorite type of saw. I would assume a hand saw.

No, it's a chainsaw.

Oh, nicely done.

Because it does the work for you.

Okay, that one's well done. Well, Hawaiian lumberjack, thank you so much for joining us.

Spectacular to be on.

Yeah. Lumberjack. He's a guide. He's awesome. He's actually onboarding new folks with some. We call them hugging family members. We had a couple hugs come on board. And I got some cool surprises that happened while we're recording this, so I'll share it in just a minute. First, I want to thank our corporate partners. Second, I want to do a recap.

Yeah.

And third, I want to punch one more time. Oh, it was a weird before I did that. All right, first, our corporate partners. Of course I want to thank Nextiva. Please bottom my heart. Just love that company. Yaniv, if you're listening, he's one of the owners. The final tennis score was 6 3, 6 4. He beat me 6,364.

And wait, wait, let me guess. There was something wrong with your shoes or your shorts or giving you a wedgie.

No.

There was a hole in his racket.

No, I was late for an airplane. I really was. And I rushed through. My plan was to come back in the third season set and beat him, you know, 6 5, and then beat him against 6 5. And then beat him 6 0.

Of course.

But that was my challenge. My shoes were fine. Last time, it was my shoes. Next time it's me. My back. Yeah, I've already hurt my back for the game.

Oh, man. Setting the stage right now.

Of course.

I know. Oh, can we send him a trophy? A massive one. We have to send him. So last time when he beat me, we sent him a trophy that was as tall as the door. So he could. He had to bend it over to get the door. Now I want one that's taller than the ceiling. It's got to be over 10ft.

We'll do like what we did for Lorraine Bellow. We'll do like what we did for Lorraine Bellow.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'll give you the info.

Yeah, well, we did that. That's what I think we did. Something like that.

Yeah.

Yeah. I want a massive, massive trophy and 6364. He won.

Okay.

But they're a voiceover IP phone system, by the way. All right. Receipt Bank. Yeah, Damien Grayhead. I was hanging out with him at. What was it?

Scaling new heights.

Was getting new heights. Yeah, it was awesome. His booth was jammed with people. There was more interest in Receipt bank than all the other vendors combined. I swear, we actually have photographic evidence of it. And there's a line of people and someone says, is that Robert Kiyosaki in line? He's a very famous speaker. No, it was not Robert Kiyosaki. Just the lookalike. Yeah. It's just funny.

I totally know what picture you're talking about.

He's, like, sitting there reading my book, too. The guy's so bored at the Receipt bank booth because he's like, 50 back in line to talk with Receipt bank that they started handing out my book. And he's just sitting there kind of leafing through it. And people think it's Robert Kiyosaki because.

They weren't in line to get the book signed or anything.

I don't know what you're talking about. Fundera. Do you know Fundera?

I love Fundera.

You love Fundera?

Meredith Wood.

Meredith Wood. They have tons of other people there. We haven't seen Meredith in a while. She got married recently.

She did get married. She's busy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Fundera is the one stop shop for loan sourcing. They don't write the loan for you, they shop around for you, come back with the best options and so forth. Great for any small business. If you need a loan, call Fundera, our own Podfly, the company that produces this show. They used Fundera, I think, to raise $50,000 and got in 24 hours. So it's a quick turnaround. And then the last company is called Fundbox. Why do I think we're missing one? I know one dropped off. We used to have five.

Yeah, yeah, we're good.

Okay, so Fundbox is a cash flow accelerator. When you have an invoice due to you. How are you doing on your jewelry company?

Good.

Anyone owe you money?

No. Oh, actually, that's not true. I do have an outstanding invoice right now.

How much? A lot of money.

I think it's like$400.400.

You can get the cash today. I'll give it to you. Just pay me 800 tomorrow. And if you don't pay it back, I'll break your legs. But you could use Fundera. I mean, Fundbox, they don't send someone to break your legs.

Yeah, and that's good.

It's better. It's better.

That's integrity right there.

That's integrity. That's classy. So that's who you can use. Okay, what did you learn today? Hold on.

So what did you learn today?

Okay. I love this. I am a big proponent for community in general and the unique beauty of people and how we can support each other. And so I love that this language is being utilized in the business space and the idea of, I guess, helping people to live their authentic selves in all aspects of their lives. So you're really helping people find what they're good at and letting them do it every day. And it's feeding the company in return.

I wonder if we can get Darren for a barter or something.

Yeah.

To do a strengths finder for entire company.

I was just going to suggest that, like.

Yeah, I don't know if you'd be willing to do that, but we should try it.

Communication is so important in the business, and especially because everybody is different and we all have different unique qualities and sometimes things get lost in translation. And I would love to see an assessment, even if we all took one here just to kind of help us communicate more.

Yeah.

I had. I mean, I had so many questions, but I literally couldn't get any out of my mouth because I'm just absorbing.

Everything that he said. I was talking to him.

No, no. I was just like, wow. And I. It's just so unbelievable that there's 70% of the workforce that is that disengaged because they're simply just not.

I totally believe they aren't recognized. It makes me think. Sad.

It makes me so sad. And I've been there. I've been there in other companies and it's just. You feel like you're just, you know, another chair at a desk instead of actually having purpose. And that's so important in life.

Yeah, agree. And I like the point he made about, it's, you know, people don't quit companies, they quit their boss.

Yeah. Yeah.

Because I. I've worked for a business large enough where it was a good company, bad boss. And I was like, I don't like it here. So I totally get that. I always like the team talent map. This is a cool sounding term. Instead of an org chart, have a team talent map. I wrote that. 70% disengagement. I like the African proverb. Fast by yourself, far with others. Right. If you want to move fast. And I love, love vegetable hunter.

That's the best part.

That is awesome.

What is that?

A genius.

Did you.

You always cut me down. You really do. Oh. Do you want to hear the good news?

Yeah, I do.

First of all, it's official. We are in Japanese now. As we're sitting here, Penguin books wrote out and said congratulations. Profit first is being translated into Japanese.

That's awesome.

The second news is I want to welcome Renee Inman just joined profit first professional. So that's what happens. Like she is now a. Oops. Oh, yeah. I thought another deal came in. They're talking more about the Japanese deal, but Renee just joined us. So we now we have 151.

Welcome, Renee. We're happy to have you.

And just so people know this, they hear us a week later. Last week we said we had 150. This is 10 minutes later or an hour later. So it's not like, you know, it's a year later. So welcome to the family. We're thrilled to have you. And you, my dear friends, I want to show you how to get access to the family too. But first, Christina has a little something to say to you.

I do. I want to hear what you think. I want to hear how you feel, what your takeaway is from every episode. Go to profitfirstpodcast.com of course, that's probably the quickest way. But we're also there on itunes, Stitcher, any podcaster, please seriously leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you. We want to know what's going on in your head.

Now here's another thing you do. You can just go on Google right now and type in Renee Inman, craft first professional. She's coming up to speed right now when this broadcast. She's already beginning under training with the now infamous haloj. The infamous Halluc. Give us a thing you should share with us. Well, here's my idea. Says halluc. I think everyone not listening should listen more.

You have no excuse.

You have no excuse. I mean, listen closely. All of you who are not listening, listen to me. But he's really good at practicing Profit first.

Yes, he's a darling human being.

Yeah, he's awesome. No, he's actually extraordinary. He's a wonderful man and he trains wonderful people like Renee Inman on the intricacies of profit first, everyone knows the basics. It's in the book. But the intricacies are what kind of trip people up. And if you want to start working at the gym. I know both you all go to the gym. If you really, really want to ramp it up, you get a trainer, right? Yeah. First of all, you're. You're paying them some money, so you have to. To show up. Secondly, they show you the processes and techniques and maneuvers so you don't injure your back or other parts of your body.

Or rip your shoe.

Rip your shoe up. Yeah, exactly. The old shoe rippage. Oh, my God. The whole shoe thing. This or this morning with hij The.

Oh, don't even go.

I won't even go there. I'm just saying.

Toenail thing.

I know. And then, yeah, the toenail thing. And Christina's book was used to cover things up. It was hard.

I have to burn it now.

But I digress. Here's what you need to do. Join us for the fun. And let's join us to grow profitability. Just like a trainer would push your business, your. Your physical health forward, they will push your fiscal health forward. Go to profitfirstprofessionals.com, click on the find button, fill out the form, and we're off to races, baby. We'll hook you up with the profit. First professional, you evaluate them, you see if they're a fit for you. If you think they're a fit, then it's go time, baby. Time to grow your business. All right, that's all I got for you. Just do that now.

Wait.

Yeah.

Is there somebody who can say, do it?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, do we know a guy?

I don't know if I've ever heard anything like that.

Do it.

Yes.

Just do it. Do what?

Do it.

Do what?

Do it.

Do what?

Do it.

When should I do it?

Do it.

Just do it. Yesterday you said, yes, world. Yes. So just do it. Make your dreams come true.

Nothing is impossible.

No.

What are you waiting for?

Do it. Just do it. Yes, you can. I love that guy.

He's great. He gets me all.

I love that guy. I. The picture is like I could see myself in bed and just waking up at 5 o' clock in the morning, this guy's in my face. Do it.

Just do it. Wake up.

I know. Like, I love it. All right, later, guys.

Bye, Sam.