Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Evan Rudowski is the Founder and Managing Partner at Atlantic Leap, a company that helps digital startups achieve growth through international expansion. On today’s show, Evan shares some tips and tricks on how companies can successfully make the leap, expand beyond their borders, and enter into the European market. So, how did this all begin? Evan traveled to London from Silicon Valley for what was supposed to be a couple of months’ worth of work. 19 years later, he’s still in London, and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. When he first started, Evan did not have any international experience. He knew American English and that was about it. Evan discusses some of the clients he’s worked with, and how he was able to help them make their transition and break into the European market. It’s difficult to break into a different continent, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Junior members of your team lack the experience to successfully execute such a move and senior members often tend to be too busy to dedicate their full resources to the transition. This is where Evan comes in. When looking directly at the UK market, there is also a vast cultural difference that many Americans might not think about. Yes, both the British and Americans speak English, but from a cultural perspective, you’re dealing with two different worlds. So, how do you begin to make the leap and expand beyond your borders? You’ll have to tune in to this week’s episode to hear what Evan and Bill have to say on this very subject!   Interview Links: Atlanticleap.net Humanisteq Website Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, with Humanisteq Coaching, and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right, so that they can Scale Up successfully, and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

Jay Harman is a naturalist, author and award-winning entrepreneur and biomimetic inventor.  Born and raised in Australia, Jay started his career as a naturalist with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Australia and went on to found several multi-million dollar research and manufacturing companies. Today, Jay talks to us about his book The Shark's Paintbrush: Biomimicry and How Nature is Inspiring Innovation. How did Jay discover that nature has the solution to all of our problems? Well, it first started when he was in school. He had no interest in the teaching materials and would often daydream about going down to the beach to surf, fish, and scuba dive. You could always find him near the water when he wasn’t in school. However, the one subject Jay did pay attention to was physics. The strange thing was, physics worked in a slightly different way in nature than it did in the classroom. Jay first realized this when he saw seaweed, often fragile, keep its shape during the worst of storms. It would always form in a certain pattern and this pattern would help it keep it intact and survive the rough weather. In school, Jay was taught that the path of least resistance was in a straight line. Well, in nature, nothing moves in a straight line! It became very apparent to Jay, but not to Jay’s physics teacher, that the path of least resistance in nature was a spiral. So, Jay began applying these spiral shapes in a practical way and slowly ended up discovering that nature, really, had all the answers. However, how does all of this apply to the business world? Well, you’ll have to listen in for more great insights from Jay and how he slowly discovered that answer. Interview Links: Thesharkspaintbrush.com More Resources: Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops.   Did you enjoy today's episode? If so then head over to iTunes and leave a review. It helps other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. __ Scaling Up is the best-selling book, by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher with Humanisteq Coaching and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

Rob “Waldo” Waldman is a decorated former fighter pilot for the U.S. Air Force. He is also a professional leadership speaker, and the author of Never Fly Solo, a book on how to reach new heights in business through building trusting relationships. A lot of lessons can be learned through flying a plane. It requires focus, preparation, and even teamwork! When Bill and his team are training his clients’ teams on execution, they will normally show a picture of planes flying in formation. It’s a powerful image because there’s so much work that goes into it making look flawless. The same metaphor can be transferred over into business. Whatever you do in life, one thing remains certain, there will be uncertainty, there will be fear, and there will be doubt! There will be things out there that are outside of your control, and this is where true leadership will come into place. A good leader can navigate through the unknown and bring his people out onto the other side. Fear strikes us all at very different times. For example, Rob had to get over his fear of heights. One of the requirements to graduating in the academy was he had to jump off a 30ft diving board and it was the scariest thing ever! Bill can agree. He’s jumped out of planes as well as flew them and yet, the diving board is what got him. There’s no predicting where your fear is going to hit you at any moment. Fear strikes when you least expect it! The good news is, the opposite of fear is growth. If you’re able to break out of your comfort zone, you’re already on your way to creating new heights for you and your business.   Interview Links: yourwingman.cominfo@yourwingman.com Never Fly Solo Book       More Resources:Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing. Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Business Website   Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don't, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, with Humanisteq Coaching, and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right, so that they can Scale Up successfully, and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

John Ruhlin is the author of GIFTOLOGY: The Art & Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through The Noise & Drive Referrals and founder of the Ruhlin Group.  There’s an art and science to using gifts to cut through the noise, and drive real referrals to your business. In this episode, John discusses how to use gifts to scale your business and increase referrals. John was a young, broke college kid who took a job at Cutco to hopefully pay his way through college. Fortunately at the time, John knew a lawyer outside of work who had the ‘secrets of business’ figured out, and, with his help and philosophy, John invented the first corporate gifting program for Cutco. The lawyer taught him this: If you can take care of your client’s family, everything else in business seems to work itself out. However, just gifting out a basket of fruit during Christmas is not going to help you cut through the noise. There’s a method to how and when you should gift. Want to know what’s considered a bad gift? Anything involving food. It doesn’t stand out! Gifting alcohol is not far up there, either. If you want to quickly offend somebody, give them food and alcohol. When people gift, they’re not looking at it as an ROI. They really should. When you spend money, you should get money back. In old biblical times, gifting represented the value of the relationship. It’s more than just a ‘thank you’, it’s a communication tool.   Interview Links: Giftologybook.comRuhlingroup.com More Resources:Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing. Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Business Website   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so then head over to iTunes and leave a review. It helps other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. __ Scaling Up is the best-selling book, by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher with Humanisteq Coaching and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Heather Patterson is the Founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Happier Talent Development. Heather uses her expertise to develop happier, and more fulfilling, workplaces. So, what’s the secret sauce to employee happiness? Find out on this week’s show! Although Heather currently lives in Hawaii, which may bum some of our listeners out, the truth is, you can be happy in an office during a blizzard storm too. No matter where you are, there will always be moments of happiness and frustration in the workplace. Despite the fact that Heather sees palm trees everyday, she still faces the same work-related problems anybody in the rest of the U.S. might experience. It’s important to keep in mind that the palm trees don’t make the problems go away. So, how can you optimize your workforce through a positive environment? Heather shares an important example of how she turned a skeptical, arms crossed, eyes rolled, CEO into an avid supporter. This CEO now has a much, much happier team because of Heather’s work. It comes down to not telling what the CEO should do to create a happier team, but opening up a strong dialog between the team and the leader; that way the leader can deliver and meet the needs of his or her staff. Interview Links: HappiertdHeather on LinkedIn More Resources:Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing.Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Business Website Did you enjoy today's episode? If so then head over to iTunes and leave a review. It helps other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. __ Scaling Up is the best-selling book, by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher with Humanisteq Coaching and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

Roland Siebelink has 24 years of tech experience in product management, product marketing, customer success, and strategy. Originally from the Netherlands, Roland came to Silicon Valley in 2016. Today, Roland and Bill share some thoughts and lessons about keeping the balance on both innovation and scale. Roland has seen three small startup companies grow into large-scale organizations from both sides of the world (Europe and the U.S.). Roland believes the effects of good leadership, or bad leadership, usually take between 7-10 years to show up in traditional companies. However, in tech, the growth is so accelerated that it can become quite obvious when there’s good or bad management leading the team. The founder’s personality, habits, and values automatically show up in the people he/she hires. It’s difficult to have structure when developing a fast-growing company. However, in startups, there are often no plans written down, or goals set, and this can add further chaos to a company’s growth. This often means that in the very beginning, the team has to continuously try to figure out what the founder wants today, and not develop anything meaningful for tomorrow. There’s nothing wrong with hiring on a good operational partner to help build structure in the company. Roland knows there are many different ways to approach how to run a startup, and he’s not advocating one, and only one way, but it’s important to make clear management decisions early on, to really help set the tone of the company.   Interview Links: Roland on LinkedIn     More Resources:Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing.Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Business Website Did you enjoy today's episode? If so then head over to iTunes and leave a review. It helps other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. __ Scaling Up is the best-selling book, by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher with Humanisteq Coaching and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).      

Lynne Twist is the author of The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life. Money, and the lack of it, is a very important subject for entrepreneurs, but Lynne is here to tell you that your limited beliefs on money are actually hurting you, not helping you. Today, Lynne discusses how you can become liberated from money, instead of being chained by it. From Bucky Fully to Mother Teresa, these are just some of the inspirational people and mentors Lynne was able to work shoulder to shoulder with. When Lynne was younger, she used to call people who were financially lacking, ‘poor,’ but now that she’s seen the world, she would never use that title to describe them. What’s poor is just their circumstances, not the people themselves. The most underprivileged and underserved have show Lynne pillars of strength, courage, and resilience. On the flip side, while working on The Hunger Project and raising money from the rich, Lynne noticed that the rich, too, have their problems. Everything from addiction, to abandonment issues. The ‘rich,’ something Lynne no longer calls them, are human too. Too much money can cause us to lose our identity. So, by working with these two very different contrasts, Lynne discovered something important: On top of needing to feed ourselves, we also have a hunger for meaning. Both groups have distorted images of money, and its worth.   Interview Links: Soulofmoney.org THP.org Humanisteq Website Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube     Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the est Don't, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, with Humanisteq Coaching, and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right, so that they can Scale Up successfully, and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Dean Jones is the Talent Development Architect at Gallup. Dean’s primary expertise lies in developing strategic solutions to address key business issues, including organizational development, performance management, learning and development, productivity, and workforce effectiveness. He has acted as a mentor for Bill over the years. Today he talks to Bill about how to lead with your strengths. Dean has been at Gallup now for 11 years. Prior to Gallup, Dean believed he was going to be in sales all of his life, until he stumbled upon self-development and adult learning. When he first joined Gallup, it was a life-changing experience. For the first time in his adult life, he understood why people did what they did. He’s been passionate about it, ever since. The ‘why’ you do what you do is a very important factor to both your work and personal life. When people first begin to really understand their own talents, something magical happens. They begin to ask, “What am I built for?” The more you can unlock your own talent, the more you can unlock your own greatness. As you understand what you’re built for and, what you aren’t built for, that’s when you begin to understand who you are.   Interview Links: Gallup Strengths Center Dean on LinkedIn   More Resources: Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Humanisteq Website Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website   Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don't, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, with Humanisteq Coaching, and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right, so that they can Scale Up successfully, and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

Ari Weinzweig is the co-founder of Zingerman’s Community, a chain of delis with purpose. Ari and his business partner, Paul Saginaw, opened their first deli in 1982 with a $20,000 bank loan. Today, Ari and Paul have over 700 employees and their business grosses around $60 million in annual sales. Named one of the world’s top ten CEOs by Inc. Magazine, Ari has a world of knowledge on how to lead a purposeful business no matter what industry you’re in. Ari had no dreams or desires of owning a business. In fact, he had pretty negative beliefs about business, growing up. After he graduated college, he got a job as a dishwasher to try and ‘figure things out.’ This is where Ari met his now business partner,  Paul Saginaw, who was the general manager at the restaurant. After 40 years later, Ari says that they — still — like each other and are good friends. An important lesson Ari learned from Paul was that business is merely a tool. It’s not the tool itself that’s the issue, it’s how it’s used. This concept completely changed Ari’s belief about business. It sounds odd, but Ari never really thought about the impact of beliefs in business on a fundamental level until about 5 years ago, despite already incorporating (almost subconsciously) strong beliefs into his businesses. Everything people ever do is based on beliefs. Every action they take is based on their set of beliefs. So, it makes sense why also bringing beliefs into a business, and making them clear, helps the business thrive on new levels.   Interview Links: Zingermanscommunity.com Zingermanstraining.com The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life, by Lynne Twist Transformed!: The Science of Spectacular Living, by Bob Wright and Judith Wright Humanisteq Website Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

Gleb Budman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Backblaze B2, which offers the low-cost cloud storage and backup. Gleb and Bill share similar circles and because it’s a small world, Bill helped Gleb meet his wife. Today’s conversation focuses on Gleb’s business, and how he got a leg up from his competition by trying to solve a major problem with big constraints. How many of our friends, family, and co-workers are not backing up their data? Over the last ten years, everything work-wise has been converted digitally. Despite there being backup solutions out there, for whatever reason, people just aren’t doing them. This discussion of ‘why’ people are not backing up their data propelled Gleb, Brian Wilson, the other Co-Founder of Backblaze, and three other people to quit their jobs and look for a solution. With a minimal budget, Gleb and Brian were able to come up with a solution that was comparable to some of the biggest cloud companies out there. After asking customers how much they’d pay for their data to be backed up in a no-brainer way, they said they’d pay around $5 a month. So, another problem occurred, how do you back up so much data for so little money? The short answer is to build it from the ground up.  With little financial backing, and a drive to solve this problem, Gleb and his team used their financial constraints to come up with a creative solution to their problem. Interview Links:Backblaze.comGleb Budman   More Resources:Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you growing.Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops.Humanisteq Website   Did you enjoy today's episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It....And Why the Rest Don't, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, with Humanisteq Coaching, and I’m one of the Gazelles business coaches. We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right, so that they can Scale Up successfully, and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).