Episode 9: Employee Engagement and Profit Strategies with Robb Braun

From the studios of Fractal Recording, this is the Profit first podcast, Episode nine.

Yeah.

Die.

You really, like, feel full of sexy Knox. Nine. You really like nine?

That's all the German I know.

You should see your face right now.

It's all red.

You're like. You know these blood vessels popping out. Wow. Welcome, everyone, to the Profit first podcast.

I almost goose steps to your side of the desk.

That was intense, dude. Yeah. So this is a podcast, which you can find on itunes and stitcher. And my name is Chris Curran. I'm the founder of Fractal Recording.

I'm Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First. And, you know, we do in this episode, or we do in every episode, we talk about the bottom line. I call it the alpha, the mega business. You need to know how much money is coming into your pocket. And that's what we talk about.

That's right. It's the prophet. I love it.

I love it. You know, I got a buddy with me today.

Yes. Introduce him.

His name is Ron Saharian, lacrosse stud back at Boonton High School.

Really?

In the 80s? Yeah.

80S?

Yeah. You were 89. Oh, 91. Oh, God, he's. Yeah. Okay.

He wants you.

He was held. He was held back.

Skew it toward the 90s, please.

So you are older than me. I am. I am lacrosse. Studied Boonton High School, went on to Stockton State, one of New Jersey's most prestigious schools besides Princeton, and rocked it out there. And then he came on to Profit First Professionals after a less a very prestigious lacrosse career.

That's cool.

Yeah. So welcome, Ron. Thanks, guys.

So what have you been up to, Mike?

Dude, gas is 225A gallon.

Yeah, right. Come on. There's something fishy going on here.

Actually, I heard what's going on. There was a news report, and then. This is no bs opec. You know, the US Is increasing gas production and at such a volume now that OPEC feels threatened, so they're actually dropping price to push the US Back out of the. It's like an energy war. And the benefactor is the US Consumer for once. For once.

Yeah. Well, maybe not.

Yeah. So kind of interesting. Hey, guess what? What's up with you?

Yes, guess what?

Guess what. What's up with you?

Well, no, I got a new mixer the other day, a new audio mixer. So you see this one right here? Gonna have a new one soon, which is really awesome. But what I did was funny. I got it in the studio. I put my old one and my new one together, and I literally sat there for like two and a half hours. Envisioning all the ins and outs. Literally.

You drip engineer contemplation. I know. I mean, the audio quality is amazing. The feedback we got for this show, generally people think the show sucks, but the audio is freaking amazing. So.

Yeah, just check the comments. You'll see.

I want to say, do a quick shout out to our sponsors. I want to thank nextiva, our premier sponsor, Fundera and Tsheets. And I'll talk about them a little later on. Yeah, but thank you. They're awesome companies. Just check them out.

I just recommended nextiva.

Did you?

To one of my. One of my new clients.

Dude, we gotta call Ron. You know Jason Spencer, he heard one of the podcasts and said, dude, I gotta get a new phone system. Tell me more about nextiva. Awesome. I recommended T sheets to a customer as well, too. Oh, there you go. Yeah, they're cool companies. Well, and the fact they're paying us to do this is even cooler, right?

At least we're doing something.

We have an awesome guest today.

Yeah.

I mean, in addition to Ron Saharian, our out of studio guest is Rob Braun. You may or may not know Rob Braun, but he is an extremely accomplished public speaker. I've seen him. We haven't shared the stage yet, but that's coming soon. I suspect he's a corporate trainer. He's a leadership guy. I've known Ron for Ron. I've known Rob for almost as long as I've known Ron. We go back for quite a few years now and we have stories together that we cannot share publicly because we've had some crazy wild great times. But it's a real privilege because I think you're going to learn a different perspective about profit. You're going to learn it from working with the corporate side. You know, we talk about small business, corporate. You know, the corporate folks need to focus on profit, too. So with no further ado, Rob Braun.

Rob.

Oh, Mike. First of all, thank you for the intro. And I'd say this whole preamble is wonderfully energizing. This is cool. Very cool.

All right, so here's the big Debbie Downer part of it. We gotta put you back on mute because I totally forgot something.

We forgot again. We have a habit of introducing our guests with all this fanfare and, you know, napery and cutlery and everything. And then all of a sudden we have to say. Could you hold one second?

So, Rob, seriously. Sorry. Hold one second.

No worries.

Okay. Okay, we'll do this again. Hey, go ahead. Ron had the word of the day. What's the word of the day? Oregon Ducks. Oregon Ducks.

Whose word is it?

Yours. Okay, so just so our listeners know, this is the word that Chris has to sneak in. Oregon Ducks. But he has to use it as a verb at a very incongruent time, and we have to see if our guests can figure it out. Okay.

And by the way, all the previous episodes, because they weren't muted. No, Lisa, Robin Young told me. She's like, I could hear what.

You know, I know I got some call saying everyone knows the words, but I fixed that. Oh, good.

Thank you.

Okay, let's bring him back.

All right.

And with no further ado, Rob Braun. All right.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. No. Is the rest of the world hearing this twice?

Effectively. Effectively, yeah. Chris doesn't do any editing. I know you're accomplished in the corporate space and that you do some leadership stuff. Tell us exactly what you do just so our listeners can get a better sense of it.

Fair enough. And I got to tell you what, I dance in a couple different worlds with that. So the corporate side of it is the training and then working with the executive and the leadership team. So working, coming in and delivering training all the way from working with, again, the executive team, leadership management, staff development training, and then, I mean, working with the entire organization. And if you on the training side of it, communication skills, goal setting, how to resolve conflict, how to be good employees with each other and all that, and then work with the leaders, if you will, how to not only get the best out of their people, but be also very, very strategic in succeeding as an organization.

What's a common or typical scenario you walk into with these leadership teams? Like, the most common that comes to mind?

Well, most common is I'm coming in and they're certain that what I'm going to be able to do is go fix all their people, because their people are not engaged. They're not appreciating. They're a whole lot of things. And honestly, the challenge and the problem really is with the executive team, the leadership team.

So then how do you cross that chasm I call you in, Mr. CEO. My team stinks. They're not doing what I want them to do. The problem's me is what I hear you saying. How do you navigate that one?

Well, you know, like with any. When we're working with anyone, we're going to get to a place of getting real honest. I got to come in and build rapport and help them to understand that I'm on Everybody's side. I don't have a dog in the fight, so I'm not here to play sides, and I'm here to support everybody. And when I'm able to do that fairly quickly. Mike, you and I know, even when we first got together, there's a way that. And you're great at this. A way of being able to disarm people.

Yeah, it's called booze, by the way. I'm like, rob, Rob, here's some wine.

I don't think it just doesn't work at 7am no, it did not always.

That one time it is. Yeah.

So just disarm and get the arms unfolded and get the defenses down and set that all aside and reassure them I'm here for you. So everything we're gonna do moving forward is going to be on your behalf. And that allows me then very early on to start talking pretty honest with them and seeing things and calling things.

Yeah, but it's their money, right? So they're giving you a check and you're now telling them ultimately, even though they're disarmed, that the problem is them. I assume they still become defensive. It seems like human nature. No one wants to be the guilty party.

Defensiveness at this point shows a little differently. If I came in too hard too soon, they show me the doors. We made a huge ass mistake hiring you, obviously. And there's still that part of them that's wanting to help to justify why they're making the decisions that they're doing. Rob, I hear what you're saying, but if you had the people that we have or if you had the challenges in this market that we're having, so there's that part of them. And I listen to them. I listen to them, and I hold space for that, and I keep pressing.

So, Rob, some of the people you talk to might be really soft and gentle and that kind of thing and professional and all that, but some of the people in the executive team might be a little more crazy and loud and I mean, have you ever had to, like, grab somebody by the shoulders and just, you know, Oregon, duck them until they understand what you're talking about?

I haven't had to go to that. One of the most disarming approaches is to just to honor and validate right where they are. And I understand where you are. I understand why you're holding firm to why you believe you need to be doing this a certain way. I get that. So that's one of the big things right there. And even when I've Even literally had someone stand up in the middle in the first 30 minutes, point at me going, I don't know what the hell we brought you in here for. We were fine. And in that moment, trust me, in that moment, I got all kinds of feelings going on inside my body. But in that moment, my job is to validate wherever they are.

He just recounted every date I've had with my wife. I don't know why I brought you here. Get out. Well, let me ask you this, Rob. When it comes to the numbers, I presume, you know, the corporate feel is a little bit cold and callous. I presume it all boils down to if Rob comes in here and you walk out and they make more money, they're happy. Is that the reality? Is it all about the numbers at the end of the day?

You know what, it all translates into the numbers eventually. I love using companies that are doing it right and successful out there. Just one great company we've all heard about is Zappos Shoes. They focus their attention on their employees and their customers, Constant employees and customers. So when we're able to help, if you will, increase employee engagement and there's ways to be able to measure that, that what ends up happening is there is less call offs, there is more cooperation. There are people willing now to see value in cross training and developing themselves and increasing their skill levels and they're engaging more. And when there's an environment also that allows for more permission for us to have conversations and ask questions and bring ideas and not shut them down right away, ultimately that is all going translate into bottom line dollars.

Can you give hard numbers around that? If I can better engage my employees, actually, I don't even know what that means to better engage my employees. What does that mean? Part one, Part two is if I can achieve that, how do you know that translates to more profit?

Okay, fair enough. So you're right. It's kind of a buzz word out there. It's a very popular word out there. This whole employee engagement. Employee engagement is. And there was a Gallup study done that spanned nearly 30 years. But look at just the results from 2000 through 2012. The numbers didn't vary, but maybe 1%, maybe 2% in some cases in organizations flat out, there are 3 out of 10 people are full on board engaged, meaning they're aware of the mission, they're aware of why we're here. They're in, they're sold, they've drank the Kool Aid, they're in. And all their efforts and energy are toward that movement. Five out of 10 they say are sleepwalking. They haven't decided yet. They're still just showing up, Just showing up. They don't know why they're showing up.

They're.

They're just showing up and doing their jobs. And then there's 2 out of 10 that are actually working against forward moves.

That's what I heard, right? Yeah. Yeah. You ever hear this analogy? I heard if there's. If you field a soccer team, there's 11 players in the soccer team. The corporate equivalent would be three players are going for the goal. Excuse me, Five players don't know where the goal is. And three guys are actually trying to play for the other team.

Yeah. And that's what's happening.

Yeah. And pretty good analogy with me clearing my throat simultaneously. I just want to point that out.

Remarkable.

Remarkable.

So when we're talking about engagement, engagement really means that they know why they're doing what they're doing. In other words, their job title, whatever that is. If my job is to take the trash out, my job is not take the trash out. I'm not taking the trash out. So the trash can is empty. If that's all it is, I'm not real inspired or motivated. But if I know why it's empty, what it's going to be able to do for us to be able to be more productive, more efficient, Create this wonderful image, have people have a nice experience of us, increase our reputation, all those things that taking that trash out is attached to. Now I've got an engaged employee. Otherwise he or she is just coasting along and doing what they can do to get their job done, get their paycheck and avoid. And you use this when you talk about profit, first you talk about how we are pain averse. Right. So people will do just enough just not to feel the pain of getting yelled at or the consequences. And that's it. So what we're doing then, so that's the employee engagement. So we're looking to have people feel cared about and be clear about why they're doing what they're doing. And when that happens, the reality is people work longer hours. When they are working, they're not pulling that stunt like we saw in the movie Office Space where they're sitting there zoning out, just hoping that caught. Best movie ever. And he says at the end, so on a given week, I really put in about one hour of work. Right? That's what he says. So what we're trying to do is get people that want to come in and give eight hours of themselves to our movement. Because I'm a part of this thing. And when that happens, it shows up in customer service. It shows up in response time. It shows up in getting the orders right. If it's. We're manufacturing and we're pulling orders out of the warehouse and we're getting it ready for shipment so we have fewer errors, we're far more efficient, we're meeting timelines, we're getting feedback from our customers that you guys hit the mark for us. We want to keep doing more business with you. Those kinds of things.

You know, Chris, it took us nine episodes to get the most profound tip yet. It's the why. If people know why they're doing what the freak they're doing, they're more engaged, means more profit.

They are more engaged. And Mike, that along with they know that leadership cares about them as a human being. You put those two together. Bam.

See, now you're. You just mentioned that. And it's funny. It feeds right into my next question. You. You mentioned at the beginning that a lot of the. Sometimes the executive team expects you to walk in and fix all their people, and they don't want to hear that the problem is really with them, the executive team. So how do you. What does the executive team need to do? Or in the case of small business, business owner, what do they need to take responsibility of to create this engagement and this efficiency that you're talking about?

Fair enough. And I love you said, it doesn't matter If I have 1,000 employees or I have five employees. It is the same thing. And by the way, the fact that this executive team or these are in the room, that tells me right there that they're willing to take a look at, because most of them wouldn't even bother to show up if they really thought this had anything to do, if it was anything beyond just the employees needing to be fixed. So what I do, if you will, is put all the responsibility on them. And what I say is, if you have people out there that are not motivated, what's your part in not finding out what motivates them? If you have people who feel uncared for people, how is it that you're not communicating that? Why are they not getting that message in that our employee performance is on us, and we have to take a look at how it is that we have not found out what they love doing, what they aspire to, what excites them, even something about them that demonstrates that I care about them as human beings, what motivates Them. The running joke in my home. My wife's a banker and our running joke is she gets these Starbucks gift cards every time she has a good interaction with a customer, saves a sale, makes a little thing, and they have different denominations. And she comes home and goes, honey, I got you another Starbucks gift card because she doesn't drink coffee.

It's funny. My wife also gets Starbucks gift cards. By spending $1,000 at Starbucks, you get a gift card. It's another alternative way.

Wow.

Hey, Rob, I know this is on your mind. You're like, why is Ron Saharian here? He's so quiet. Well, I want to tell you something. We have a little interlude. We do. At the 18 minute mark where we are now. He's gonna play a sound over the speaker, and you gotta guess what this is. We're testing your references to. Listen to that. Okay, that's a 1980s reference. Do you know what that is?

Give him the other sound. It'll help.

Hold on, wait. Do you have any idea what that is, Rob?

Okay, I mean, it sounds like a siren vehicle, emergency vehicle of some kind, but it is a 1980s reference.

Give them the next one. 70s are 80 reference. Cover. This will give it away. Hold on. We're struggling with a. Do you know what that is? Do you recognize that?

I'm trying to catch my breath.

You're like, where'd I step into?

Yeah, why?

Why?

Because we have interludes.

It's our commercial break. Yeah.

You know, it would come up with. Would be inappropriate. I don't know exactly what it is.

All right.

I.

Great.

I don't. Okay. Is there any other hint we can give them?

We'll do both simultaneously here. Anyone?

Video game. Video game. That's the only.

Mr. And Mrs. Oh, Mr. And Mrs. Yes.

Cha chinga. There you go. And we're off to the second half. All right, man. That's how we get the energy back up.

Okay, Right on. And I'm about a half a generation behind you still, so I'm still. Our thing was the pinball machines Joy there. Yes.

Okay.

Oh, yeah. You just put damper on everything.

I thought he's making fun of you, but he's saying he's older.

Yeah, he's saying he's older.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely old.

Okay, now we got other sounds going off that I don't recognize. Okay, so going back to what? We totally distracted you from the important stuff when it comes to the people you're talking about, you know, enable them, empower them. Give them a. Why? What about Telling them the numbers. Do you encourage leadership to tell the rank and file what the numbers look like in the business?

Hell yes.

Really?

That is. Hell, yes. That is one of the number one complaints from employees, and it's framed in little different ways, is they don't get enough information about where we are and where we're going.

Okay?

And that does not mean that I need to share our debts where we are in trouble, here or there. It is important, though, to let them know where we stand as a, as a, as an organization. Because the question I ask all the time, why are we in business? And the answer is, and some people are afraid to say it, we're in business to make money. That's what we're in business for now, hopefully we offer a wonderful product, service, thing out there that people, that'll make lives, people's lives enjoyable and add to humanity. And we're in business to make money. Because if we don't make money, we can't keep doing what we're doing and provide that wonderful product or service out there. So, yes, let's start letting people know that we, last year we were a $17 million company, and this year we're going for $25 million.

Why is there a shame. Why is there a shame associated with we're out to make money? Because I see that it seems systemic that people say, ah, we're out to save the world and, you know, if we make some money, it's okay. But no, like you said, money's critical. Do you experience that with your leaders? Why is that what happens?

There's no doubt about it. And I think it's such a. It's a real deep issue, Mike. I think it's what happens in our culture, period, that money is demonized. That it is. In fact, I just watched the movie Last Jobs, which is a fantastic film, by the way. Ashton Kutcher, it's fantastic. We want to demonize. We want to demonize Microsoft, we want to demonize oil companies, we want to demonize Apple and the company that profit on this coffee cup that I'm making right here. And I think that's part of what it is. And we've got these relationships and I've shared with you, when I was growing up, if I would ask for something, my dad would. Dad would say, who do you think we are? Rockefellers?

Yeah.

And then if there were people out there that were making money, my dad used to remind us all the time, they must have cheated the working man to get there.

I think, I think people talking about, oh, we're in this for the cause. We want to do good. I think that's like an outward expression. I think inwardly, most people do know, hey, we got to make the money. It's almost like a PR campaign or shame around it.

Like, people are like, dude, like money. We're really not about money. I think it's like Rob's point, mission critical. It's mandatory. You can't survive without it.

It is. And Ron and Mike, the other thing also is it also gives them an out for when they have to close the doors because we were not about the money.

That's a good point, actually.

Hell, yeah.

Right.

And then if we say we're not about money, and then somehow it didn't happen, you know, we get to go back on that, you know, with this. We fought the good fight, and, you know, at least we. You know, we. We shook a few of those people on Mount Shasta, but, you know, good effort. So Mount Shasta being the word of the day. Yeah.

Yeah.

Our guests are throwing in their own words of the day now.

Mount Shasta. I thought Shasta was a soda. Isn't there a Shasta soda? It was a movie when I was a kid.

When I was a kid, it was Shasta and Craigmont. Those were our sodas when we were kids.

Okay. So, see, hey, we're in the same. So what is Mount Shasta? Is that like a literal mountain?

Yeah, California.

It's a literal mountain, and it's one of those places where people go to reconnect with their souls, their spirits, and sit there and, oh, wow. Nothing wrong with that. And it's okay if you go up there with a Versace bag on your shelf. It really is.

That sounds so California. You know, you made a good point. When. When a business says, when a business fails, they can say, well, we weren't about the money in the first place. It's such an easy out. When you bring money to the forefront and say, we're all about the money, does that change that excuse? Does it make them more likely to push ahead and not accept failure?

Well, it makes it more real. A good friend of mine, Grant Cardone, he's a guy that teaches people how to sell out there. And I remember when Grant and I used to sit down, he used to say, rob, we're about to talk about money. What we're going to do is we're going to shift our energies right here. Our relationship, who we are, our past, all that. We're going to set that aside for a moment. So we can talk about money because money is important. And if we're talking business, we're talking about money. And we're not going to demonize it, but we're going to give it its due. It's important. We need to talk about it. And, Mike, as your movement beautifully illustrates, it's not just the money.

That was the most filthy thing I've heard in my life. Rephrase that. Rob, did you hang up?

Come on. Didn't you read the book Tribes by Seth Godin?

I did. I did. All right, so now you didn't understand my filthy logic there.

Yeah, your philosophy. No, I got it. I understood it. So your philosophy around. It's about the profits, it's about how much we're able to build a keep. And it's important to talk about it. It's important to talk about it in an organization. Let that be an understanding that this is how we measure how we're doing as a business.

Yeah.

And you know, and one of the things. I loved that one of the things that the movie points out that jobs and you know, how much of it's fictional, how much of it really happened. He points out that we're not trying to be like others or do what others are doing better. We're trying to be different. And you emphasize differentiator so much. How do we become different? How do we. To steal another term, how do we become our own blue ocean and profit from that place right there?

Different is better. Rob, my final question for you, and we've been talking about how you serve corporate, but what about for your own business as you reflect back upon building your. I mean, freaking awesome practice? And we'll give you some details if anyone wants to check out what Rob's doing. As you've built your practice, looking back, is there anything you have done differently around profit?

Mike, I would have embraced some of your teachings sooner in life. Yeah, I just would have. I would have. There was. There was this part of me that was operating under this idea that I didn't want the restrictions of knowing how much was here and there. And I. And this idea of planning and strategizing, and somehow I had this framework that it was constrictive and it was going to. It was going to kill my spirit. And, you know, my wife. For years, Mike, practiced exactly what you teach, which is why we were able to go on vacations every year and get another car or do all the things that we did. And I had no idea what the hell she was doing. I just knew I didn't want to talk to her about it because she would kill my. Does it have to be that rigid? And can we just, like, just trust the universe will provide? That's such bullshit. I get that it's important that we be positive thinking and trust, but having a legitimate strategy around profit has freed me up in so many ways. I can't even express how much it's freed me up. I was my own worst enemy, and I was constantly seeing that. If a check came in from a client for 3,000 or 15,000, I go, great, now I can do this and do that. And I thought all this was income, but I didn't look at what it cost me to bring it in, what my expenses really were. I suddenly felt rich, and I would go buy another product or service or a desk or whatever the hell it is. I wasn't operating from a place of knowing. So not knowing sucks and hurts business. Knowing is power. So much power.

And Chris, I gotta tell you, one thing about Rob is he takes vacations in Hawaii, which are freaking awesome, but he consistently does it. He also does what I call the time first principle. He gets the profit component, but he also allocates personal time. He's one of the few people that doesn't compromise his personal life just to squeeze out another penny. And ironically, he's more profitable because of it.

Wow.

He's the guy. That's awesome. Rob, if people want to learn more about you and listen people, if you're a people listening, you better learn more about Rob. Rob, where can they find out more about you?

They can obviously search my name on the social media and all that. I'd love for them to go to my website, robbraun.com, just get those three Bs in there. And the best way to connect and just be a part of my world right now is to click on that little button that says Robisms. It's a weekly kick you in the butt, get your mind, your spirit, your way, right to be able to move forward. And that's a great place right there. And then my site, the Leadership Source, that's more the corporate side, the training, seeing what we're doing for our organization. So both the two sites right there, just give a good look at what the heck I'm doing and why we're doing what we're doing.

We'll have all of Rob's notes in our show. Notes, all the links.

Yup. Rob, did you catch the code word or the phrase that we used, surprisingly?

Was I supposed to know this ahead of Time.

No, that's why we put you on mute so you couldn't hear it. We threw in a secret word or phrase inappropriately. I shouldn't say everything's inappropriate. Unexpectedly. Did you know what it was?

No, I don't.

Okay, he did guess Pac Man. So he gets 50%.

Yes.

Okay, well, hold on.

Was it. It was a word that you all used.

Yes, Chris used it.

My first question.

When you have to.

Grab someone by the shoulders and shake them.

Oh, slam em like a duck.

Oh, there you go.

Like an Oregon D. Wow. That was a shout out from one of our PAC 10 conference fans listening in. That's for you, Connie.

It's PAC 12 now.

Oh, is it pack 12 now he's on Even know. Yeah. So as a pack 12 shout out, Chris wanted to do the Crimson Tide or, or, or the Buckeyes. And he's like, now Rob will catch Oregon Ducks. So it was in your honor.

So.

Okay.

Which I think ironically Florida State's taken at all. That's unexpected. Florida State takes it off. And by the time this broadcast, we'll have the proof because it's gonna. I think this will broadcast the same time that Florida State takes it all. Or doesn't.

Fantastic. I would love for them to do it just to silence everybody up.

Well, that's why I think they're gonna take it because the other three teams are so superior. But hey, listen, that's another show. Rob, an honor to have you on board. We'll catch you later, brother.

Thank you, Rob.

Thank you so much. It was my pleasure as well later on.

All right, dude, what'd you learn, Chris?

You know, geez, this was. My head is spinning over here.

Can I start then?

Go ahead, please. Go ahead.

While you put your.

Yeah, I'm thinking that.

What was that movie? An Exorcist. Like your head spinning. All of a sudden you start jamming a cross into your.

Yeah.

Or Beetlejuice. Either one.

Or Beetlejuice. I met Garrett Boone. Garrett Boone is the co founder of Container Store and he was at a conference sit down for lunch. I sit down right with him. He pulls eyes talk to him. And, and, and the big thing about Container Store is they've pulled on amazing employee after amazing employee, kind of what Rob was talking about. I said, what's the secret? He grabs a napkin, blows his nose, grabs another napkin and he writes on it. 1A equals 3B. 1B equals 3C. And he points and he says, One a performing employee can perform at the level of 3B players. One B player can perform at the level of 3C players. He goes, only hire a players because you're getting three for one. And he goes, yeah, you'll pay him more, but you're not going to pay him three times. You may pay him one and a half times what everyone else dictates, but you're getting the quality of three people. He says, we spend a disproportionate amount of time finding a players and it's changed our business radically. And I encourage you, Chris, go to Container Store just for the shopping experience. It'll blow your mind. What a players are like truly in a retail outlet. And that's his formula.

Wow.

Yeah. What'd you learn?

I liked when you asked him what he would do differently. He would have more strategy and systems around profit and. Yeah, I mean, again, common sense. It doesn't sound like a revelation, but my God, how? How? Everyone says how much a difference that makes in their business.

Totally. And I swear to God, I'm not like telling people talk about profit first or promote it. I mean, listen, I'd send them a check for a couple hundred dollars if they happen to drop it in, but a lot of these people are my buddies, like, you know, as you can tell. So, yeah, it feels a little uncomfortable when people say stuff, but I'm getting kind of more used to it now.

Yeah. And he said five out of 10 people, employees are sleepwalking in your business.

Isn't that funny? And some are your enemies. I'm not sleepwalking, Mike.

Ron.

Yeah, there he is. His two words of the day. I mean, Ron did crush it with the Pac Man.

Oh, killed it.

Killed it. Thank you guys. Are you gonna come back for our next next episode? Maybe. Sounds like Silent Bob over there, right? Hey, I want to talk about our sponsors real quick before we do the final wrap up here. Yeah, nextiva, that's our primary sponsor. They do voice over IP phones. Literally. We use them at our office. We love the value, we love what it does, we love the functionality. It's a great phone system. After I use them for a few years, I finally convinced them, hey, could you guys come on board and sponsor us? Fundera is an online fund sourcing site. So if you need money to build your business, maybe you gotta buy some more equipment around here. Maybe for God's sake, you could get some art, put it on the wall or something. Well, if you need the funding, go to Fundera. They outsource it. They find the best funder or lender and the best rates and you can get funding from them. And tsheets, a really cool, edgy software.

T sheets.

T sheets.

I still have the recordings of Lisa singing all our sponsor names too.

I know. She was awesome, wasn't she?

Yeah.

So tsheets is a time tracking system. So if you have employees, part time employees, or employees are tracking hourly, use T sheets. Or if you have job costing or any of that type of stuff. T sheets is awesome. The final thing for the day.

Good one. Yeah. What do you got?

Nothing. I have absolutely nothing. The only reason I said there's a final thing for the day, so people listen to the sponsor part. So if you're listening, I apologize.

Well, no, the final thing is. Look, you know one thing. With podcasts, you can find our show on itunes and Stitcher. And it really helps if you rate and review the show in itunes.

Please do.

Yeah, that really helps a lot. Because if you're liking this show and you're finding some value in it, there's other people like you who might want to find some value. So.

And we're changing the format around. We got feedback saying, Mike, put the sponsors at the end after six minutes, listen, you blab on about sponsors. I don't want to listen to the show. So we're making some adjustments.

Did our. Did our sharpest critic get back to us after we spotlighted him on Harry Glasscock?

Was that his name? No. I'm serious.

Yeah, yeah, actually it was Harry. No.

Was it Glasscock?

Yes.

Yeah. No, I have not heard from Glasscock. I.

It's not a joke.

No, no, no. He was pissed. Yeah, he was.

Go. Look, it's episode one on the website and it's the first comment.

Yeah, yeah, the first comment. I got. I got slammed. And honestly, I'm not a. We're not. I'm not a fit for everybody. And I totally respect him for. For saying that we're talking about profit in a different way. We like to joke around and have some fun, and we know it's a successful episode. If you learned at least one thing and you laughed at least twice, that's it.

On that note, who's this new music? No.

Oh, this is the guitar solo. Here it comes. Here comes nine.

Yeah. Nine. Well, thanks for listening.

Episode nine.

What are you gonna do on ten? What's the German word for ten? Oh, that's had to count all the way. It's not as brutal.

Insane.

Thanks, everybody. Profit First. Podcast.com is the website, really. We appreciate you listening. Thanks.

Neutered and spaded.

All right, thank you, guys.