Greg Plum: The Cloud | The Business Blast Podcast #54

Alright everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast podcast. This is your host Tyler Wagner, and today I'm here with Greg Plum. He's the founder of Plum Unified Communications. So welcome to the podcast, Greg.

Thanks, Tyler, appreciate it.

Awesome. We'll dive right in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

So, you know, there's actually, with me, lightning struck twice. I discovered at some point along the way that there's— I get a 10-year itch, which probably sounds like a lifetime with your audience. You know, many get the itch after like 6 or 12 or 2 years. But 10 years into it, I came across in my career twice where everything looked great. Everything was, was moving along smoothly and a really good, very comfortable in my role. But I was almost to a point where I was almost too comfortable. And then I did the unthinkable and I really upset the apple cart. In both cases, I left my, my cushy role, one that I was very comfortable with, well compensated for, knew very well, to jump out of the boat into some waters that really took me out of my comfort zone. And it really taught me that's when I get most excited and most motivated, when I, when I stepped out of where I was really comfortable both financially and from a, just from a job knowledge perspective, into those waters that were just a little bit treacherous. And I, at the end of the day, I would do it again, but it's, it's, it's definitely not for the faint of heart. But from those, it just taught me to never get too comfortable, never get complacent. That's what's really the spice of any career.

And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Yeah, so I'm mostly in the cloud technology space. And what I think is most motivating or important to people of all areas of business, from entrepreneurs on up to people that work for larger companies, is the cloud is really— I view it, I call it like the ultimate democratizer for business, because what it does is it puts these tools in the hands of, you know, mom-and-pop shops, the same tools that are in the hands of Fortune 100 companies. You're able to get access because of the cloud to these marketing systems, these CRMs and ERP, all these different systems that you would use to run a large business. You can actually now access and you usually get that for a low monthly subscription. So I'd say absolutely take a look at what's available, find out what your needs are from a business perspective and figure out how the cloud is going to help you help get you there. You'll find A barrier to entry is non-existent and the monthly cost is more than palatable.

And it might tie in with the next question, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily like industry-specific.

Ah, so, you know, my mom always said, and I've heard this throughout the years, uh, it's funny, it always comes back, comes back, the advice your mom gave you. It's not what you know, it's who you know. And I tell you what, You know, I've always thought of those words, but they've never really rung more true to me than in the last 5 years. I've had some career changes and realized that, you know, I had some choices. I could go out and I could spend my time on career job boards, or I could go back to the well, to the people that know me, that know what I'm about, and let them know what was going on in my life and what I was looking for for my next move. That is— that to me is where people in any industry, any level from entry-level on up to senior executive to CEO, work your network. Go back to the people that know you. They're the ones that will be your champions and find you your next job. Think about it this way. The job you're in right now, how did you find it? My guess is you probably found it from a referral, a colleague, a relative, you know, from somebody in your network, probably not from a job board. So use that going forward when you go to make that next change. That's where you're going to probably most likely find your greatest success and your next move.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think so you would go along with the quote, your network is your net worth, I'm assuming.

Absolutely.

100%. The next question I have is, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Well, much to my chagrin, I really would have never thought this, but I love being on stage. I love— and I don't I mean on the corporate stage. I love being in front of technology partners, in front of end users to show them how to put technology to use. So, you know, recognizing that there are whole careers that could be built around that. It took me a long time. It took me decades to figure out that's what really motivates me. And that to me is what feels like not working when I am working. And that is what I had. I known that, you know, 30 years ago, That's what I would have started focusing on way back when, and God knows where I'd be now. But it's okay, I'm not complaining with where I am right now.

And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

Ah, the key to happiness is find out what makes you most content. And I mean, I feel like people are content when they don't feel a need to post it to Facebook. When you're doing something that is so good and you're just so at peace and just so motivated and excited and just happy where you are, you don't feel like you have to pick up your phone and post it to everybody and say, hey, look how great my life is right this minute. Which people— I'm guilty of it. We all do it. But when I'm happiest, I have no desire to do that. So the key is to find out what those situations are. When are you that happy that you are content without having to tell the whole world that you're happy. And figure out a way, if you can't do that for a living, that's okay, most people can't. Figure out a way to, on a regular basis, incorporate that into your life. It might be through a volunteer activity, it might be through a hobby, whatever that is. There might just be a spot where you go to quote unquote find your happy place. But once you figure out when you're truly content and really happy, Make sure you incorporate that into your life. So you can, if you can't do it for a living, if you can, God bless you, because you're certainly part of a minority, which it sounds to me like Tyler, you're on your way to that, which is awesome. Podcast, good for you, man. But if you can't, figure out a way to incorporate that into your everyday life to recharge you so you can go and attack your career with as much gusto as possible.

And the next question is, what's the best book you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from it?

So I've read a lot of really good business books, other books as well, but from a business perspective, I gotta go back to kind of one of the holy grails, and it's How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Truly just a landmark piece. And from that, I really, without even thinking about it, it's become a part of how I work with people, I interact with people on an everyday basis. And essentially allowing them to speak, when I meet people, I'm much more apt to ask questions than I am to tell people what I'm doing. As a matter of fact, I'm usually more uncomfortable when people say, well, tell me what you do. I'd much rather hear what they're doing because quite frankly, that's when I'm learning. If my lips are moving, I'm not learning. So I love to get in those situations and just start asking questions and people completely open up and they're gonna walk away from that exchange thinking, man, that guy was a pretty good conversationalist, when in fact I said nothing. But that's one of the main things I got from that book, and I use it every single day.

That's one of my top ones as well. Next one is, what's your favorite quote and why?

So this one I will bet no one's heard of before because the source is pretty obscure, unless you're in Philadelphia. Chase Utley, he was a former Philly— I guess he's with Dodgers now, but he's a former Philly— said doesn't matter. But at the time when he was in Philly, he, he was written up in one of the local publications and said that his father used to tell him, if you're really good at something, you won't have to tell people, they will tell you. So that hit me hard and really resonated because how often do people feel the need to say, well, I did this and I did that, you know, New York, I think there was a survey done by New York the phone company, you know, decades, decades, maybe 100 years ago. And the most used word in the telephone conversations was I. And people are so— and again, I'm just as guilty— so motivated to share, you know, what they've done, what they've accomplished. I think this quote says it all. If you really just go out, just do your work. And Chase Utley was known for that. He is a workhorse. You never saw him in interviews. He was just out there doing this thing day in, day out. And he continues to do that. Just do your thing and do it to the best of your ability. You won't have to tell people that you're good at it because they're gonna come back to you and tell you that you're good at it.

And being from Philadelphia myself, I love that.

Isn't that awesome?

Well, thank you for coming on. The last question I have for you is where's the best place for people to find you online?

Yeah, so the easiest is just go to my name, gregplum.com. That will take you over to my LinkedIn profile and it's got all my other statistics or coordinates at how you can track me down. Would love to connect with people and please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I love meeting new people online.

Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, Greg.

All right, Tyler. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

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