Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Mike Faith is a serial entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of Headsets.com. Mike’s company is best known for their world-beating customer service. In fact, his company has been awarded the INC 500 Fastest Growing Business three times, and awarded the Best Place to Work in the Bay Area twice. Today, Bill focuses on Mike’s success story and how he used Scaling Up to grow his business. Mike and Bill have been friends for a long time. They both met at the Entrepreneurs Organization. Mike originally grew up in England, but felt as though the United States had a stronger business environment than the UK. When he moved here in the early 90’s, Mike had about $1,000 in his pocket. He took on a job at first, but started his own business in 1996. After making about $2-3 million a year, Mike noticed how poor the phone headset and mic quality was, and created a business opportunity selling headsets at a discount. Mike was about 3 years in the business when he decided to make a very important pivot. Instead of struggling to sell discounted headsets, Mike was going to focus on giving premium customer service. Overnight, he switched to a new business model and was disrupting his company in every sector, but it paid off! Headsets.com has been in business for 20 years.   Interview Links: Mikefaith.com Headsets.com 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).  

Cheryl Beth Kuchler is President of Ballantree Consulting Corp., and the Founder of CEO Think Tank®. She has over 25 years of experience with leading strategic change initiatives, coaching executives, and more. Today, Bill and Cheryl do a growth analysis between two companies; one that went through a typical growth trajectory, and another that was able to grow to $10 million in profits within a year. Cheryl discusses the difference between the two companies. One was a design company in the Manhattan area; they came on as her clients in the summer of 2014. The other company was an aerospace company that focused on helicopter maintenance and repair as well as leasing/flight services. They came on board October of 2014. Both companies were similar in size in terms of profit. Neither company had worked with a business coach before, but both were eager to grow and expand their businesses. Despite both companies being in a different industry, they each took similar paths that lead them to grow so successfully. Each company faced dynamic industry shifts; the design company facing a competitor like Amazon, and the aerospace company facing challenges from oil going through a significant recession. When companies are faced with such significant market dynamics, it’s imperative that leadership becomes a main focus. In this case Cheryl helped ensure the right people were in the right seats to level up the leadership team. Leadership plays such an important role within a company, but many people hire fast and fire slow. It can be difficult firing members of your leadership team, but you have to think about the health of the overall company. Cheryl had one company who stayed with their current, but unaligned, leadership team, and another who made the tough decision to fire and replace their leadership members. So, who grew quicker? You can probably guess, the one that was willing to make those tough firing decisions was able to see their profits increase by $10 million within the first year.   Interview Links: Ballantree.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).

Dave Fuller is a professional business coach who works with small companies. Located in Prince George, Canada, he has been a small business owner for 30 years and understands what it's like to be wildly profitable and wildly stressed. Today, Dave and Bill dive right into the surprising connection between profit and health. Dave witnessed a bear come into his camp and attack one of his friends. The aftereffects of stress and fatigue he experienced from the event reminded him of the time he tried to open a second location in his own business. During the first year he spent a couple hundred thousand dollars trying to get this location running, but nothing seemed to be working. When you’re under a severe amount of stress, your adrenals get overworked. Ever wake up at 2am with your mind racing? When you eventually fall back asleep and wake up in the morning, your body already feels fatigued from the lack of sleep from the night before. This starts a vicious cycle. Our bodies crave more energy under stress, so we end up eating around 30% more carbohydrates. What does this do? It drives our blood sugar up, so now our brains aren’t thinking straight! If you keep this up overtime, you’ll develop belly fat, which then brings your self-confidence down. Stress affects our health, and it doesn’t help us handle the stressful event that we’re going through, either. However, when we’re healthy, we can handle stressful events much better and with a clearer head. So, how can we get healthy so we can run our business better? The business and our work environment is just one part of our lives. If we don’t have clarity with where we’re going, then it becomes difficult to run a long-term business. It starts with setting clear goals on what you want out of life, and out of your business.   Interview Links: Profityourselfhealthy.com   More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up.   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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Tim Danley is the Founder of Resource Converting LLC. How do you get to $200 million dollars in projects, with only 3 people? Well, that’s the $200 million dollar question on this week’s episode. Tim touches on the radical change he made in business models, and how he leveraged outsourcing, on the interview. Let’s get started. Tim had been in the printing business for a little over 20 years, and during that time he made every mistake he could under the sun. He’s been an entrepreneur his whole life, but when he went through the Birthing of Giants program (now called Entrepreneurial Masters Program), things really, really began to click for him. Through the experience of going through the Birthing of Giants program, traveling the world, and getting more educated on the subject of entrepreneurship, Tim was ready to get out of the printing business. When he sold the printing business, he went to work looking for the next opportunity. In the BOG program, he learned about licensing and learned why this was a fantastic business model to adopt. An opportunity came his way and he and his business partner made a deal to buy the patent from the inventor and then redistribute commercially to interested buyers. Tim knew that once they acquired the patent, the next big step was to outsource the work to those who were already in the trenches, as it were, and that’s when business really excelled. Tim only had to hire on 3 employees; the rest was outsourced.   Interview Links: Resourceconverting.com Eonetwork.org   More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up. 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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Krystal Hulsey is the Marketing Coordinator at BALI Construction in Walnut Creek, CA. Today, Bill and Krystal discuss listening skills and how it can impact business performance when these skills are used correctly. Bill and Krystal will be going back and forth showcasing key examples of how to do these listening exercises. Krystal is a visual person, which means her ability to listen and retain information doesn’t always stick. She remembers best when she can physically see what’s in front of her. She often worries about verbal communications and not being able to remember the conversation for later. Now, visual learners shouldn’t beat themselves up. Many of us learn through visual stimulation. In fact, visuals are another form of language. There is also such a thing as physical forms of language too, like communicating through body language. In business, we deal a lot more with verbal language. According to the book, Three Laws of Performance, the actions people take in the world are directly matched to how the world seems to them. However, the way the world seems to people can be altered through the use of language. So, the language that leaders use can shape our view of the future. People often worry about what they have to say next. Bill believes that if you’re actively listening to the other person, then the conversation will naturally come. For example, Krystal worries that she’s too forgetful towards what her fiance says to her, and this causes a disconnect between each other. Bill showcases an exercise that she (and you!) can do to help improve, and retain, the words other people say to you.   Interview Links: Bali-construction.com Threelawsofperformance.com   More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up.   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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Joe Apfelbaum is the CEO of Ajax Union, a Digital Marketing Agency located in Brooklyn, New York. Ajax Union provides companies with expert Lead Generation, Ecommerce,  and Digital Awareness Campaigns. He’s the perfect guest for this week’s topic about keeping the passion and fire alive in your business. How does Joe set his goals and intentions? What keeps him inspired? Joe started Ajax Union about seven years ago, but he’s been on a personal development journey for the last three years. When Ajax Union was created, all Joe wanted was to be financially free, but once he started generating a sufficient income, he knew there was something more to life than just money. When he finally discovered that there was a better and more meaningful way to live his life, that’s when things began to change for him. Yes, everything happens for a reason, but Joe (and you), are personally able to choose the reason! Joe is  creates his own purpose in this world and when that creation is aligned with his own values something magical begins to happen. Joe is very conscious about how he ends and begins the day. But what happens when he wakes up uninspired? He goes through his routine to help him keep himself in check, to help him remind himself why he does what he does. That’s the importance of knowing your strengths, your values, your why, and how that ties into your BHAG.   Interview Links: Joeapfelbaum.com Ajaxunion.com   More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up.   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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Don Smith is the owner and founder of Elite Electronics, a company that takes traditional car mechanics to an entirely new level.  Don is the perfect guest for today’s show, because what he is doing in his own industry is completely unique! Don’s business did not happen overnight. He created his company ten years ago, and has been slowly building the company you see today. In this podcast we'll unpack this to a deeper level. What is Don great at? Despite being so wildly different, how does Don fit in into his industry? And how has this uniqueness gotten him into trouble? You definitely don’t want to miss out on this conversation with Don. We look at these questions both from a personal and professional level. Find out more by listening to the podcast!   Interview Links: Elite-dfw.com   More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up. 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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Elliot Luchansky is the CEO and Board Member of InsynQ, LLC., the industry’s leading cloud hosting provider that offers an extensive range of over 600 software solutions running on multiple data centers. On this week’s episode, Bill and Elliot discuss how to engage and help your team on a personal level, how leaders can have a balanced life, and the one-page personal planner. This conversation is being recorded live on video, which you can see on YouTube! So, let’s dive right into the one page personal planner. This is a really useful thing to do during Christmas and New Years, as things begin to wind down. Bill recommends you first use it personally and then share it with your spouse and then bring it to those who you work with. How does Bill like to use this? To begin this exercise, it’s useful to reflect on the last year. Usually, our thoughts revolve around a very narrow range, but by performing this exercise, we are able to look at things from a wider perspective. What has this past year been like for you? Flip through the calendar and consider those big, and small, events. Bill likes to pick a time range between 10-25 years of where he sees himself in the future. Younger team members might be better off picking a 10 year plan, and exploring 25 year plans as they get more comfortable with where they’d like to go in the future. For example, what will Elliot’s family look like in the next 10 years? How old will he and his spouse be? You want to really create a rich picture of your future.   Interview Links: Insynq.com More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up. 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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Mike Birdsall is the Co-founder of Birdsall Interactive, FanConneX, and DateBox Club. Mike and his wife, Maureen, are a husband/wife team who have been working together in business for the last 23 years, and married for the last 30 years. On this week’s episode Bill talks to Mike his business purpose, his life purpose, and how those two come together. When Mike’s sons were growing older and getting ready for college, Mike and his wife knew they were soon going to be empty-nesters. This notion of being completely alone in the house, scared both Mike and Maureen, so they started finding creative ways to re-date each other and to work on their relationship, since their children were no longer going to be the main focus. These creative dates allowed Mike and Maureen to reconnect with each other like they used to, back before they had kids. That’s how DateBox Club came to be, which is a subscription service where every month a super creative date night is delivered in the mail to their customers. The three goals of the service is for couples to interact, engage, and communicate. Mike’s service allows for him to find new and novel ways to engage his customers on a regular basis, and this keeps the business interesting. It isn’t always easy to find new ways to engage your customer, but Mike takes these challenges in stride. Mike is excited to get up in the morning because he realizes that DateBox Club is a wanted/needed service for couples who want to have creative ways to connect. An added plus to that, is that he can try out new things with his wife too!   Interview Links: Dateboxclub.com More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up.   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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).

Brad Giles is the Founder of Evolution Partners, and a certified Gazelles coach. Originally from Australia, Brad is a strategic advisor and coach to CEOs and executive teams across Australia and Asia. On this week’s show, we explore how to develop a powerful brand promise through the use of the Attribute Map. How has Brad applied the Attribute Map tool while working one-on-one with clients? Brad first used the tool while working on strategy development with a contracting company in Australia. As he used it he saw how closely this tool aligned with brand promise. Brad found out that his client and his client’s competitors, were all having the same problem: they were failing to deliver the finished work on time. In order to solve this and reduce their customer’s frustrations, Brad helped them map out their key service attributes in order to find ways to improve their reputation in the market. There’s nothing more frustrating than hiring a company who doesn’t deliver on time. With that in mind, they created the brand promise to be 'on time, the first time, every time.' By making this promise, it substantially changed the way this business operated and they were able to achieve their promise! The reason why Brad was able to get this company to do something none of their competitors were able to achieve was not only due to the use of the Attribute Map, but also setting clear, concise, and measurable goals. There’s nothing worse than having a one-page ‘bubble wrap’ business plan, which contains no depth and is filled with fluff. Interview Links: Evolutionpartners.com.au Brad's Vlog More Resources: ScalingUpBusiness.com:  Learn about how growth coaching can help you and and your business see big results. Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Bill on YouTube: Short videos to keep you Scaling Up.   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 and I'm a certified Gazelles business coach. 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).