Episode 249: Winning at Business and Life with Wayne Gill

This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1, in a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.

Great. First of all, thanks for having me, Professor Pete Alexander. Great being on your show. My name is Wayne Gill, and I am a business strategist and a consultant. Uh, we— I work with Sharon Gill International. Sharon Gill is my partner in life and in business, and we help entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs either launch or scale their business, uh, their businesses with intelligence.

Wayne, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: what is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?

Yeah, I think the best part of working in our industry is when we see the transformation, the aha moment where someone has probably not had clarity, but all of a sudden the fog lifts or that path in the forest is made and they can see ahead and they see light and they say, "Yes, that's it." And they can go for it. And so that's the big, that's the thing that makes me smile the most, seeing people receive that transformation.

Mm-hmm. It makes me feel like you're making that difference, I assume.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's just great to be a part of that, you know, to help someone to achieve a goal or to achieve a dream or to become a better version of themselves. I mean, I really can't think of anything that's much better than that, you know, a better feeling.

Absolutely. I love it. And I could hear that passion in your voice. It's great. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?

Well, first of all, I want a copy of that. I want to put that in my library. Um, but the chapter that I think that, uh, most companies should read is a chapter called People Over Profits, right? I think as business owners, uh, people who are creating things, uh, building businesses, uh, changing the environment, we're, we're movers and shakers. And many times we're the so-called A-type personalities, and what happens with that is you can begin to look at people transactionally. And it could be whether the business is doing well or whether you're booming. I mean, if their business is doing poorly or whether you're booming. So in the times when your business is doing poorly, you know, you can look at your people as just being purely transactional, like, what did you do?

What are you doing?

Did you drop the ball? Did you uphold your part of— of your responsibility, et cetera. And even in times when the business is doing really well, you could think like, well, okay, the people are there as a means to that end, right? They're a bridge to your prosperity more so than stepping back and looking at your people as being people, as being humans who you care about, who you love and appreciate, and who are making an investment in your company or in your business, but you're also making an investment in them and in their lives. And in their families. And so that would be the chapter that I would write because I think as business owners at whatever level, it's easy to become focused on the outward things and on the circumstances and on the growth of the business or the falling back of the business or whatever it is. But we really need to focus on the people because the people are our greatest asset.

They really are. And I think that that is so insightful because so many companies forget about that. And then they realize after the people have walked out the door— Yeah. It's like, okay, how do we replace them? And sometimes you can't, right?

Or it's so expensive to do so. I mean, it's like 10 times, uh, the value of just nurturing that person that you had, um, in your fold to begin with.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Great insight. Question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?

Yeah, I would say business leaders leverage the power of partnerships. That's something that I've done at every stage of my business career. That's how I started out. I partnered with another corporation and I lent them services. They lent me office space. They lent me a start. They lent me new clients. They enabled me to build and I in turn help them deal with problems they were facing. As I grew, when I went to the next level, I did it again. I partnered with some other people in my industry. We built a bigger mousetrap together and brought in more clients, was able to do more good, was able to spread the love around. And just in every single area that I've grown, it's been through the power of partnership. I've looked for people in my industry or even people outside of my industry who are going in the same direction. Where we could get rid of the competition, right? Typical, oh, I want to do better than that person, or I want to be better or get ahead of or whatever. But where that was not a factor, we eliminated that factor, we found ground that we could all work together on. And in so doing, we're able to multiply our impact, multiply our results, multiply our effectiveness. And I just think it's so simple, Pete, it's so obvious, that a lot of business owners just overlook it. You just don't think, you know. And from what we hear in our industry and from our clients and people who would be clients, a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners are isolated or feeling isolated, right, particularly in this time we're in and the pandemic and everything going on. Everyone's at home and you can't congregate. So there's this huge feeling of isolation. And I'm just saying, don't succumb to that. Get partnered up, find some affinity groups, do some research. But I just think through the power of partnership and collaboration, you can multiply yourselves. It's not just tenfold, it's a hundredfold. You know, it's infinite how much good you can do when you leverage that power.

And I totally support that 100% because that's been my experience as well. You're absolutely right. I mean, it— not only do you— can you really expand your offerings, but then it's also a place where, you know, when you have these partnerships, where you can run ideas to each other. And it's really, it's truly like a mastermind kind of environment.

Precisely.

Yeah.

Even in this podcast right now, Professor Pete, that's pretty much what you're doing. Like, you and I are here together. We met on LinkedIn, right, which is a platform which brings people together. And so we connected. Now we're doing this. Now when this episode is over, I'll share it with my group. And maybe, you know, some of my friends will come over and check you and so forth and so on. And so just That's just such a powerful, but maybe it's just too obvious at times. But just because it's obvious or it's simple doesn't mean it isn't powerful.

Mm-hmm. Oh, that's a powerful statement right there. It's so true, Wayne. Thank you. Yeah. Question number 5. What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?

I'd like to shout out Shané Moret, who is well known on LinkedIn. And just as a young entrepreneur who I really respect because she's got a great story, I won't blow up her story here because I hope she'll come on your podcast and tell it yourself, but just someone coming from very humble means and through grit, hard work, building a community has really just skyrocketed. And I know she's got a lot more runway ahead. And so I would just like to shout out Shané, and I think she'd be a great guest because one of the things she does is she shares her wisdom and her knowledge and what's going on with her audience. And so, I think your audience would really pick up some great nuggets from her.

Absolutely. I agree with you. So, I look forward to inviting her to be on there. I appreciate that referral. Sure. Absolutely. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job. Haha.

Yeah. My first job was as a paperboy. And I was a paperboy for the Hartford Courant, which is a newspaper in Hartford, Connecticut. Which is a part of where I grew up. I grew up in New York and Connecticut, but that was my very first paycheck. I mean, before that, you know, I do yard work and, you know, someone throw me $5 or whatever, but there I was working for a company, I was getting a paycheck, and that was such an amazing experience because it gave me such a sense of independence even as a 12-year-old, you know. It was just, wow, I'm earning my own money and I could buy stuff for myself. And there was this one little, uh, bakery that was on the way home from wherever I delivered my papers, and I'd be riding home on my bike, and I'd be out early, uh, Saturday mornings delivering the paper, and I'd have the opportunity to stop in at the bakery and, you know, buy whether it was a dozen donuts or some pastries or whatever, get home early before everyone else was up, and actually provide that for my family. And I gotta tell you, as a kid That meant so much to me that, wow, through my efforts, through my work, I could actually bring a blessing back to my family. And so that's my first work experience. I think it helped really shape me as a person.

I love that story. And it actually was my first job as well with the Oakland Tribune. And I remember the same thing, you know, riding home on my bike after delivering the newspapers and stuff. And, you know, you have to get up so early. And if those papers weren't delivered, at least with the Tribune, I remember you would get pinged to say, Oh, the newspaper wasn't delivered, the customer didn't say. And, and to me it was like, oh, I didn't do my job right. So, um, it really kept me in line, and, and I learned a lot too. So, you know, I appreciate what you're saying there, and I really like the fact about the donuts too. That's, that's so sweet. It shows what kind of a person you are. So, so, Wayne, thanks so much for being on the show. How could people find you?

Yeah, thank you for having me on your show, and it's easy. You could go to, uh, sharon gill.com, which is the, uh, the URL for our consultancy.

So perfect.

S-H-A-R-O-N-G-I-L-L.com.

Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.