CVC Success Group coaches Jerry & Sheryl Isenhour & Brandi Biswell
Join us on this week’s episode of The Chimney & Fireplace Success Network as Brandi Biswell, Sheryl Isenhour and Jerry Isenhour discuss the huge hiring challenges everyone is facing in 2021. If you are currently trying to hire and just can’t seem to grab the attention of the people you are looking for, this is a great episode you don’t want to miss.
The Chimney and Fireplace Success Network is a weekly podcast brought to you by the CVC Success Group and hosted by industry expert, Jerry Isenhour. Each week you will find new presentations to assist business owners and managers in turning their business dreams into their business realities.
Video Transcript
Jerry Isenhour.: Well, good afternoon, glad you could join us for lunch today. Hope you’re enjoying your lunch? And today, we’ve got a really important show we’re going to put forth. This is actually our podcast that we record live, and it will be up as a replay on our podcast channel.
But today, we’re going to address what I call the great hiring challenge of 2021. It’s one of the biggest challenges that people have to go through this day and time. So here’s what I want you to do, stick around with us, we’re going to be right back.
And we’ll get rocking and rolling with two of the biggest experts in the chimney and venting industry, and hiring, recruitment, and onboarding. So do not go nowhere.
Jerry I.: So welcome back with us, just like I said today, I have got two members of our coaching team here that I consider two of the leading experts in how to hire, how to retain, how to train, how to onboard, how to assess and all those other things.
We’re entitling this the great hiring challenge of 2021. Because just like with a lot of goods that we’re seeing out there right now, this is a really big supply and demand situation we’re under. And it’s affecting products, it’s affecting the things you buy, it’s affecting the prices that you pay.
And it’s affecting your business and your personal life. And we want to give you some answers today and how to proceed forward. So Brandi, as we start this off, what are your thoughts about the great hiring challenge of 2021?
Brandi Biswell: Well, we always use that saying like what worked yesterday is not going to work today. And for decades now, we’ve all been using the same hiring methods. And now post-COVID we’ll call it, those methods no longer work.
So everybody, every company, we’re all having to look for unique ways to hire and to attract talent that we never had to do before.
Jerry I.: That’s it. So Sheryl, in your day-to-day work, one of the things that you do is, you are now running the hiring services for CVC success group.
And what that means is, you’re actually doing the advertising, the interviewing, the assessment of new prospects that are coming to the table. So what do you see as the challenge in this hiring issue that we’re all facing in 2021?
The main challenge is getting people to apply.
Sheryl Isenhour: Well, the main challenges, number one is getting people to apply, they are starting to, but they are starting slowly as the government closes some of their monies that they have out there. I think we’ll see more and more people.
But it’s the challenges of getting them there. And then finding the right person for the right seat, because there’s going to be an influx of people. So now hiring will switch from just trying to find a body, to finding people that are really qualified and that you want into the right position.
There are so many out there now, it’s unreal. And plus the age differences that we are used to hiring too, the younger people are getting out of school, as you know graduation just happened. Are you willing to hire a graduate? And train them in the way you want to? For me, I think that’s a remarkable thing if you can find those people.
Because in our area, we have no technical schools, none that would apply to the business that we do. Not sure about Brandi’s area, but there are no schools training them anymore.
So after, we are going to have to train them, but first, we’re going to have to find these people and that’s the challenge. Finding where which pond as you call it to fish into.
You have got to find the right person.
Jerry I.: That’s it. And you know that’s a big thing right there because if you find someone, you got to find the right person. Because our studies show that training a new hire can easily be a cost factor of $20,000.00 to $30,000 for the employer.
And a lot of times, we don’t fathom that in. Now Brandi something that your company Flues Brothers did that just rolled out this morning, was a hiring video. I would tell anybody to go to the Flues brothers Facebook page and look at this new video you guys just rolled out.
So what were the messages that you gave people, Brandi, because you’re going to hear us talk about something called the bait today? So Brandi, what did your video outline?
The biggest thing a video outlines is the culture.
Sheryl: Yes. I think that the biggest thing it outlined is our culture. That’s something that we always talk about here at Flues Brothers and something that’s unique as small business owners. So we really want to attract people that are going to fit in with our culture we like to celebrate around here.
We have a lot of unique benefits, so we highlighted those as well. We do have another hiring video that’s going to come out as well. It’s just anymore you have to have a hiring video. We know that people’s attention spans are so short nowadays.
They do not want to read through something, they want to watch a video and decide is this the right company for me or not?
Jerry I.: That’s it. And that’s the whole thing of what’s going on. And what we’re seeing here, and this is a really big source. And if you’re not using this folks, you really need to get on this avenue. Which is recruiting videos on your Facebook and social pages going out.
And it’s got to be something that jumps out at people, and that’s going to involve the colors and everything else. In a recent presenter that we had at our monthly call with our client base, his name was Austin Smith.
How to effectively market for new people.
And Austin is a social media, I am going to call him a tremendous brainpower from what he shared that night, about how to effectively market to new people involving the colors, the graphics, and everything else.
So Sheryl, one of the things, the words I’ve said is the bait, and you know that we have had a lot of clients that have come here, and spent a day in our dreaming room here, at the CVC campus this year. And we spend a lot of this time going over, putting together what the bait is.
And I want you to compare this to fishing because, in order to win in this tournament that you’re in for new people, you’ve got to present the bait out there the people correct. So what’s some of the bait that you see new hires are inquiring? What grabs their attention?
Sheryl: Well, money number one, they don’t come to work for their health. But they’re looking for a good culture, they’re looking for a company that lets them have a voice. They like an open-door policy.
Where they can be a part of a team.
They work so long in companies that were just almost a dictatorship, that they are looking for that, where they can do their input, where they can be part of a team, not just a number. And that’s one thing, that’s the one thing good in our industry, is that the companies are not as generally a rule to the point that the owners don’t know each employee personally.
And that’s what they’re looking for, they’re wanting to be a sense of community, I hear that a lot. And they want to be a person, not an employee. And that’s the easiest way to put it. Any kind of bait that you can use, that will cause them to be that way.
And then the employees that you do like, like to help with employment, they really do. So I’m suggesting people have referral bonuses. So if you’ve got a good employee, he’s usually hanging out with a good friend or maybe knows someone, and your referral bonuses are there. Sign-on bonuses, there’s so much out there that we never thought about years ago.
We just threw out the hook, and kind of grabbed whatever wanted to hold on. But they have opinions now, where years ago we looked for a job, a job to work at that made a pay. It was all we were really concerned then, it is not like that anymore.
Turn your existing workforce into a recruiting force.
Jerry I.: Right. And Brandi, one of the things that we talk about with our client base is turning your existing workforce into a recruiting force.
In other words, having cards there. You know, one of our clients has cards that they distributed has their company culture on the cards, those type of things. But do you feel that your present workforce is one that can be a recruiting force for the company?
We have done a referral bonus for as long as I can remember.
Brandi: Oh, absolutely. We’ve done a referral bonus for as long as I can remember. They say that you are the sum of your five friends that you hang out with. So to Sheryl’s point, you probably have four great friends.
And we’ve seen that work in our company where we’ve hired people that our employees have referred in, and they’re amazing. And you’re right, we have some clients now that have made up cards that they actually give out to their employees to pass out.
And I would even take that a step further and suggest that you give your employees some sort of a bonus, or have a drawing for example. If they share your hiring video on social media, tell their friends, hand out some of those cards.
If you end up hiring one of those people, or just for sharing their information. I would recommend giving them some sort of a, maybe have a monthly drawing for like five hundred dollars or just give them some sort of a, you know little prize. We do paid time off around here, for sharing that information. Because we must get creative.
Have your present employees speak on your recruitment video?
Jerry I.: Yes. And another thing here is the ways that these people can distribute this information about you, and things to tell. And when we go back to the hiring videos, one of the things that you need to do that I think is so effective is to have your present employees speak on that video about how great a company it is to work at.
And recently on one of my trips, I was meeting with the employee of the client, all the employees at a client location. And they told me something, they said you know Jerry, this is the least stressful job I’ve ever had in my life.
And if you get your people on, those are excellent things to show also. So, Sheryl, what is your thought processes on that?
Sheryl: Well, the thing is you have your hands on the most important people to you. They make the money that keeps your company rolling. It makes no difference how many owners we have, or how many people we have.
If we don’t have gentlemen or ladies that literally go in the field and bring in the money, then we have a problem. And if they are comfortable, and they spread it around. In fact, I interviewed a gentleman yesterday actually, that was a referral.
An extremely intelligent guy, and probably one that would not have hit on indeed had one of the people at the company not mentioned his name.
Jerry I.: You got it. And you’ve also got to make this seamless, a lot of times we make it very difficult to actually interview with the job. Now, something I want to address in this, that discourages a lot of people that are hiring.
What is your reaction to ghosting?
And Sheryl, you and Brandi have both heard this. And this is a term that we call ghosted. So, Brandi, do you ever get ghosted and what is your reaction to ghosting?
Brandi: I do get ghosted; I think everyone gets ghosted. If they tell you they don’t, they’re lying. We have measures in place to try to reduce the ghosting, but I think everybody gets ghosted. And to your point about making it easy to apply, that’s something that’s really big right now.
Nobody wants to fill out a six-page application. If I’ve got the choice to apply between two similar jobs, and this one’s really easy to apply to, and this one I’ve got to jump through a thousand hoops.
Of course, I’m going to apply to this one and probably leave this one on the wayside. So, we also must look for ways to make it easy for the potential candidates.
Jerry I.: Okay. So Sheryl, same question to you, an average day, you may do 6, 12, 15 interviews in a day. So naturally, you get ghosted. What is your advice to a person that says nobody shows up for an interview, what would you tell that person?
Sheryl: I would tell them it happens to everybody that is interviewing somebody, there is nobody that is exempt from this.
Especially when hiring is down like it’s been over the last year, people were coming in, and then they changed their mind, and then they wish they hadn’t. So you get it where it happens. I had one this morning ghost me.
But the thing is, I reach back out to them, to make sure I wasn’t ghosted or there was a problem. And if they don’t answer that, then I assume they just didn’t want to go any farther with it. But yes, everybody does.
And even though they get through my interview, every now and then sometimes they won’t show up at the business. I don’t know why, I wish I honestly had the answer.
Brandi’s laughing, we are not that tight people, we would go even if we decided we did not want the job probably, or at least we would contact the person. And when we are saying ghosting, we are talking about people that do not even contact you and cancel their interview.
There is a big shortage right now of work trucks!
Jerry I.: Right. And see one of the fears when you’re in a supply and demand economy like we are in right now. There’s a great big shortage right now of work trucks and vehicles. And you know kind of when you’re in that situation, and you get into desperation buying.
And what I want to caution people against is desperation hiring. Because even in this environment, where it’s really tough. Brandi, do we lighten up on our interview process? Do we accept substandard people because it is all we can find?
They will always come back to haunt you.
Brandi: Not, that will always come back to haunt you. And we see this over and over again, where people are just desperate, they’re facing down the busy season of their business, and so they’re like well, this person will do.
Maybe they’ve been ghosted that week, and this is the only person that showed up. That is always the wrong answer. What I actually recommend is hiring year-round, keeping your ad up year-round, and over-hiring.
Because what we know is the employee that’s been with us for three, four years and is great, his girlfriend may up and take a job somewhere else, and he’s going to move, and then we’re going to need to fill that position.
So I recommend over-hiring by a couple of people so that you’re never in that situation of desperation hiring. You are always where you can be very picky.
Jerry I.: Okay. So Sheryl, the same thing about year-round hiring, because that’s some of the processes that you’re going through right now with the clients you work for. Which is we have to keep hiring even if we’re not looking right now, that excellent person could come along.
And the bad thing is we never know when someone’s going to get, and I’m going to say it, like a real estate agent you tell us, somebody gets hit by the bus. Because one of the things we have to face is career employees, careers are much shorter than they used to be. Really good friend of all of ours, Bart Othman shared with me some years ago.
I have got to develop a fantastic training system.
He said Jerry, I have got to develop a fantastic training system, because I figured out that, but we are going to see people are going to leave after three to four years. And I think we’re seeing that out there, where we’re going through this constant change in the workforce out there.
So Sheryl, from your aspect, where you’re dealing with hiring every day. What are you feeling on this year-round hiring that we do not just hire when we are in need?
Sheryl: The big majority of my clients have gone to year-round hiring. And the reason is because when you’re looking that goal nugget as you call it may not be searching. So you’ve got a chance of snagging a gold nugget at that time.
And you find a place for him to work and make it happen. So that you’re able to have that person, or you can get rid of your low-hanging fruit. I think every company has somebody that’s not performing at 100 percent. And if you can find that golden child, that is a 100% producer, I see searching for them it’s not that expensive like it used to be.
And I mean, you remember we did paper ads and stuff like that, were newspapers, phone books, whatever. And now you actually have access to people like you say year around. You don’t have to maybe keep your indeed up the whole time.
I suggest doing that, but you don’t have to. But you still need to be hiring. On your Facebook, in person, you need to have a sign out, it doesn’t have to be large. But a sign out that says you’re hiring, that’s a sign that I’d never takedown.
Have you over-hired?
Jerry I.: Okay. So, Brandi, I’m going to refer the question that Dave Levitt just asked to you. And the question is, what if you have over-hired and keep those two extra guys working? What would be your answer today?
Brandi: So, Dave, this is a common question that I get, and it comes out of a place of fear I think from the business owner. I’ve yet to see anybody hire those extra people and not find a way to keep them busy. Keep in mind when you hire, especially in the chimney and fireplace industry, they’ve got a lot of training ahead of them.
And again, chances are by the time they get through training, somebody else may decide it’s time to move on. But you can always get creative, I have seen companies in the summer when they slowdown, which hardly happens anymore in our industry.
They add on gutter cleaning or different things. There’s always work to be done around the shop. I’ve just yet to see anybody that said hey, I over-hired and I can’t keep these people busy. I know we’ve been in business for 21 years-ish, and we have knock on wood, yet to lay anybody off.
It doesn’t matter how many people we bring on, we seem to be able to fill it. And especially in our industry we know come busy season October, November, December. A lot of companies brag that they’re booked out six weeks, three months, that’s really not something to brag about.
You’re actually losing a lot of business. And so if you have those extra guys, that can then run those jobs. I really do not think that you are going to have a problem with keeping them busy.
Jerry I.: And you know Brandi when you say that. I want to reinforce this really hard, because a lot of times you may have a prospective customer that calls you, and they find out you’re four, six weeks behind. And this could be a person that has a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit.
This could be a person that’s been looking for something, and when you look at it, this gives them says you know, if those guys are four weeks behind or six weeks behind, here in the month of June, maybe I need to look at going into that business.
Because, and Sheryl will tell you, I’m a consumer that I want it now, I’m sorry. Whenever somebody tells me I can’t get it done for six weeks, eight weeks, twelve weeks I’m not waiting, that’s just my personality. Sheryl, what do you like on the waiting and what Brandi just shared?
Sheryl: Probably a little less time than you are. Amazon, my favorite friend, lately because I can get it right now. Their same-day deliveries right where I need it to be. But the thing about is, it’s like we’re getting ready to put down some new flooring in the Florida road.
They’re like eight weeks out, well I’m going to see if I can find somebody else to start ripping it up and put it down. And I’m sorry, it’s one of the gentlemen that was in my BNI group. But I’m not willing to wait eight weeks if I have to put it down myself.
Jerry I.: And you know there is nothing wrong with the carpet in that room, is there Sheryl?
Sheryl: It is aged, it is right at the door where we use quite a bit, and no I am not going any farther than that, Jerry. And pinpoint the fact that you have smoked in there and burnt a couple of holes in the carpet, we’re not going to say that.
But up and above that, it’s more for me. I can live with it, but I also need to neaten that room up. That used to be your office, now I have plants in there and I tend to run water over.
There are things I do with plants that are unreal. So a lot of it’s mainly just because I want to have it done. I do not do many things just because I want to have it done, but this is one.
Jerry I.: So that is all about removing my traces from that room which includes getting rid of the carpet, I understand. But the point I was trying to make was as a consumer that’s what you want. And around here, what you want, you pretty well get, right?
Sheryl: I will find some way to do it, I really do. As you know I grew up, if you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it. So I just work harder if I need more.
This rolls down to a challenge.
Jerry I.: Right. So all this rolls down to a challenge, and business is full of challenges. Like I said, when you look at it, the prices of goods that you pay is so unstable. And as you look into this, there’s not going to be quick fixes it’s like this present vehicle shortage.
And what you’re finding out now is, if you’ve got a used vehicle about in the last couple of years, your dealership may be willing to pay you just as much as you paid for it to get that thing back. It reminds me back when Harley Davidson back in the 90s when you had to pay much more for used Harley Davidson than you did for a new Harley Davidson.
So this is the challenge of being a business manager in the United States in the year 2021. We can blame all kinds of things. So, Brandi, I’m going to throw one of the blames that a lot of people say at you, and you tell me what your thought process is. When you hear somebody say, well, there’s nobody wants to work anymore. When you hear that, what is going through Brandi’s mind at that point?
Brandi: Well, first of all, I hate when anybody like stereotypes an entire population. The people that are out there they do want to work. I will tell you that many of them are currently working, but they are looking for other jobs.
And so they’re out there searching while they have their current jobs. And so that’s where we can really attract them. But there are definitely a lot of people out there that want to work, that want to work hard. Again, it’s just we’re so competitive now with hiring.
And what I mean by that is we used to all could do the same thing, and we all had this huge talent pool and it was easy, peasy. Now we’re all competing for just a fewer percentage it seems like of people. And so you see companies posting billboards, I recommend virtual career fairs. We have to get very creative to find those people.
You have got to step outside of that comfort zone.
Jerry I.: That’s what you got to do. You got to step outside of that comfort zone. And just like I’ll show you an example. I have got two ladies on here that for them to start live broadcasting, Brandi did you have to come out of your comfort zone to go on live on social media like we’re doing right now?
Brandi: I hate live TV, I hate recording period, but especially live.
Jerry I.: Right. Sheryl, how did you feel whenever I said we need to start doing live broadcasting, was that coming out of your comfort zone?
Sheryl: Not so much out of my comfort zone, it was like you know me I am kind of a control freak. I don’t like to screw up things, and say things I shouldn’t and then have to take them back online. So I was like Brandi I’m much better if I can record it and dub it.
But I’ve got to the point that now it’s mainly, you’re talking to people. I mean I can see you, two guys, now. And I can only imagine the other people out there. So it really doesn’t bother me anymore. But yes, was it a change?
At my first one that we videoed and stood in front of a monitor, and he was actually having me read the call screen? It was like hey, this is not going to go anywhere. But yes, I feel pretty good with it now, it’s just another way of talking to my peers.
Jerry I.: Right. So it’s the challenges that you face in business every single day. So along with what we’re telling you about today, which is how to face this hiring challenge. Brandi is a business owner, is there times that you and Jeremy just need to get mentorship or help from other people?
No matter how high up the food chain you are, you need a mentor.
Brandi: Absolutely. Every single person in the world no matter what business you are in, no matter how high up on the food chain you are, you need a mentor.
Jerry I.: Correct. And Sheryl, you know you’ve got some great mentors when I look at this. You have the Zig Ziglar family, and those are some pretty remarkable people. And you actually could call Tom Ziglar right now and have a conversation with him, am I correct?
Sheryl: I talked to him yesterday.
Jerry I.: Right. So is that a thing that helps you by having the availability of mentors, and a networking group that understands? It’s like last night, I was on a group call at 8 o’clock last night with one of the coaching groups that I’m in. And listening to other ideas. Does that help you to find the answers that you need in your business?
Sheryl: It does. Because a business is a business. We all have basically the same challenges, just different pages of the same challenge. And to hear people like the Ziglar’s having challenges, and our coaches having challenges, it makes it much easier to accept your own.
And also, they can give you a point of view that you might not have thought of yet. I mean they’re out there when you get a group of people, the three of us when we get together and start talking. We by far do not agree on everything. But we can work a problem out between the three of us that we could not have done alone.
Jerry I.: Correct. And that’s what I’m talking about, like Sheryl I’m going to go back to you with this question.
Every couple weeks, you, I, and Scott McKain have a conversation. Because Scott is one of the people that we use as a coach in our businesses and to help us. So what’s it like when you’re able to have this a half minute or an hour phone call with Scott, how do you come out of that meeting?
Sheryl: I always come out with answers, because even if he doesn’t, if I ask a question and he doesn’t have the exact answer, we can, I call it ping-ponging back and forwards. And we can work it out. It’s nice to know that somebody that’s not sitting right in front of you, literally at your desk, trying to talk to you, is willing to help you.
It’s a super feeling, and you learn so much. And again, the more people that is involved in that situation, it is great when it is just Scott. But when it is me, you, and Scott, and maybe a couple of others, you have got a whole lot of perspectives that you will not get just doing it on your own.
Jerry I.: Right. So anyway with this in mind, several months ago, Brandi sent us a note one day. She had this great idea and wanted to know if we agreed with them, we did. And it was all about she wanted us to start offering group coaching, and we bought into this.
Our second group is filling up!
And so, you will know, we have already filled up our first group, it is in operation, and our second group is filling up, and we are planning on ending any new members after next Friday, or when we hit the maximum number which is 20 companies.
So, Brandi, while we are on today, can you kind of tell people what is involved with group coaching, and what is the benefit to them as a manager?
Brandi: Absolutely. And just a little back story, one of the reasons why I wanted to offer this, is we coach clients one-on-one. And that is absolutely wonderful, it’s honestly probably one of my favorite things to do.
But it’s not affordable to everyone, and it’s not accessible to everyone. And so with group coaching, it’s extremely affordable, and back to Sheryl’s point, you’re getting the perspective of not just us, but 19 other companies, which is huge.
Because I guarantee you if you have a problem, one of those other 19 companies has had that problem and has a solution for you. And they’ll look to you to help solve their issues and their problems. So with the group coaching, we meet once a month. It meets for 12 months. I believe it is $172 dollars, is that right, Sheryl?
Sheryl: Yes.
Brandi: $172 a month or you can pay for the year, and get a little bit of a discount. And with that also everybody is invited to, Jerry, I’ve just made up my own name for it, your fourth Wednesdays. But your monthly call, where you bring in an expert from outside of the industry, and to me that’s one of the biggest benefits. I get so much out of those calls.
And that lesson, and the teaching that they do for us. And then you also get 9-1-1 calls. I had somebody this week from our very first group coaching group, that reached out and said Hey, can we have a meeting?
And so she reached out and used one of those calls, and we had a great discussion about an issue that she’s facing in her business, and made a plan for how she was going to handle it this week. So it’s such a benefit. We call it like a modern-day mix group, but you do not have to travel, you can do it right here at your computer.
When we are working one on one with our clients.
It is not a big-time commitment either. When we’re working one-on-one with our clients, at least for me, I give them a lot of homework. And so it is a big-time commitment. Whereas with this, we come together twice a month technically, between the meeting with your group and then meeting with the subject matter expert that you have, Jerry.
And so you’re not investing hours upon hours a day on it. You can really give as many hours as you want working on what is discussed in the group, as you want or as few as you want.
We are running a numbers survey.
Jerry I.: Got you. So when you look at this like I said there’s a lot of benefits. Another thing that we’re doing right now, we are actually running a numbers survey. And this number survey, in fact, Jeremy at your company participated in this Brandi.
What we’re doing is we’re trying to accumulate data from a widespread range of companies, to come up what is a benchmark to be looking for in profits and sales for opportunity. And the list goes on, what’s the ratios between office and field staff?
What is the average closing? What is the numbers throughout the business? So this is giving us a lot of data that will be sharing this information with the people that participate in the survey. In other words, you got to inject your numbers in order so we can balance these out.
This is kept completely confidential. In fact, Brandi and Sheryl do not see these, these come to me and they go to the CFO Steve Hall. And now we’re running these numbers, to try to come up with what we call an industry average.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to balance yourself against what is an industry average and closure rates, profit margins, all these other things? So that’s another thing that we’re doing. Sheryl, what do you see is a benefit per person to join in our coaching group?
And again folks if you’re listening, we’re going to close the membership on our second group on Friday, and we are over half full. So there’s not a lot of seats left in this. We have a maximum of 20 companies. So Sheryl, what do you see as a benefit?
The biggest benefit is having the voices of many people.
Sheryl: Brandi covered a lot of them. But to me, the biggest benefit is having the voices of many people, as opposed to us. Between the three of us, we can come up with a lot. But it’s amazing, actually for me what I learned during those meetings.
So it’s not just the people that we’re coaching, it’s the people that we’re hearing. And to me, that’s the biggest benefit for me personally. Because I can then pass those ways on to other people. But I see people grow when they’re in group coaching.
You can actually see their businesses grow, you can see them become a part of, as we said before, the community that they’re in.
They have a Facebook page that circulates just between them. So if something very quick comes up, they can pop it on the Facebook page. And a lot of people can respond to it. Along with the 911s, if they want one of us.
There’s just so much benefit, I would have given anything when I started my business, or even after I’d been in it for quite a few years. To have had something like this, we just did not do it.
One of the big advantages is they do not have just one facilitator.
Jerry I.: Correct. And I think one of the big advantages are they don’t just have one facilitator, one coach. All three of us are working this jointly. And if you know Brandi Biswell and Sheryl Isenhour, and myself you’re going to get three different opinions.
It doesn’t mean that Brandi is wrong, or Sheryl’s wrong, or Jerry’s right, or none of that. What it gives you is three distinctive points of view into how you can accomplish where you’re going to. And that’s what our goal is in this.
So if you’re watching this right now, you can see our email addresses up on the screen. I would encourage you to reach out to whichever of us you feel the most comfortable. Ask the direct questions of what is in it for me to join this.
We want it to benefit you!
We want you to be a participant, we want it to benefit you. And I think it is an extremely good thing that if you’re wanting to take your business closer to what your dreams are, that’s what our role is. We are not out to tell you where your business needs to go, that’s your decision.
And your decision is sacred to us. What we want to do is help you build a strategy to where it becomes your reality. But going back to today’s, I want to leave you with the one last thought. If you’re going to live the dream, you’re going to have to build the team.
If you don’t have the team to help you get there, you’re never going to get to that dream. And that doesn’t mean that your team has to be 15-20 trucks, it can be one truck, it can be three, it can be whatever. It’s whatever you feel round is for you.
A lot of people are going to talk to you, and they’re going to talk about scaling your business. Well, this is my advice on scaling. You scale the business to what you feel comfortable with, with that business. You never want to build a business, becomes a monster or what they call a tiger by the tail, that you end up losing sleep and hating what you started. It’s not a good place to be, it’s not going to help you in your personal life or in your professional life. So Brandi, anything you want to say before we end this today?
Brandi: I would just say you know like if I’m wanting to get in shape, I hire a trainer to help hold me accountable. I may hire a nutritionist to help me with the diet part and hold me accountable, and that is what group coaching is.
These other companies holding you accountable.
You have got these other companies holding you accountable to make sure that you meet your goals, and you succeed? So back to your point Jerry, whether you’re a one-man company, or you’re a 16-20 truck company. I would really encourage you to sign up for this. I do not think you are going to regret it.
Jerry I.: No. Sheryl, what is your thought processes before we end this today?
Sheryl: Before we end it, I want to say one thing that we did not say earlier. That we do not put a competitor of yours into the group. If you’re first in there, and a competitor tries to come in, they will have to wait till the next group, because we will not put anybody on top of anyone.
But I think this is one of the best things that we have ever offered in this coaching business.
Jerry I.: Okay. So there you go folks, what we’ve tried to do today is share with you some ideas some processes. And to be honest with you, a lot of things that we shared today. Brandi, did we learn a lot of this from Austin Smith who was our guest on our monthly call just a few weeks ago?
Brandi: We did, and I am so excited for this month’s guest. I am not going to give it away, but I am super excited.
Jerry I.: Well, you can give it away. This week we have a gentleman, our next call is Wednesday night. And I’ll tell you exactly who his is, and you may not recognize his name, but I will guarantee you if you come on here, he is a coach of actors.
But he’s been a character actor since 1979. And whenever I said his name, Brandi just jumped up down with joy, because he’s presently starring in the resident. He’s been in all kinds of shows on television. He’s been in the transformers, he’s been in the movie under siege.
In fact, Sheryl and I were watching the movie a couple of weeks ago, and she said hey, that’s that guy, I said yes, that’s Glenn right there, and that was back in the 80s when Glenn had hair and it was redheaded.
So Sheryl, what will that call be like on Wednesday night? What do you think Glenn’s going to bring to the table on Wednesday for us?
Sheryl: He brings the full feast. I have listened to a lot of people, and he is one of my favorite. Because of his acting career, he basically transforms himself.
He speaks with such authority and compassion.
And he speaks with such authority, and with compassion. It is kind of hard to combine those two, but he is one of the best people I have ever sit and listen to.
Jerry I.: Right. And you’re talking, and when we say this, and the same goes for me. I spent after three days with Dr. John Maxwell going through certification. And to be honest with you when I heard Glenn speak the first time, it’s like lord of mercy.
This was better than going through a John Maxwell certification classes like I did. So this is the whole thing and this is why you want to move on it. That’s on Wednesday night of this coming week. So if you get signed into our program prior to Wednesday, you’re going to get your invitation to attend this evening with Glenn as I call it.
Which I will guarantee you is going to be a life-changing experience whenever Glenn shares his thought processes and his way of thinking. It was something Glenn said, Glenn was actually appearing on a Scott McCain broadcast that we were listening to. It was in Scott’s seminar that he was giving, and he said something I never thought about.
And it was that actors are always looking for a job, and you never think about that. Acting is usually not a career on one show. Yes, you may find somebody like captain kangaroo when I was a kid that went on for many years.
And you may find the captain green jeans, and you may find an Andy Griffith that just lives on and on. But it’s a rule, but Glenn keep ideas in there of what he had to do, in order to move into the next position. And how he had to morph into that character.
In fact, he shocked me one night, we were on a meeting, and Glenn went in and had my accent. He started talking, and I would have sworn Brandi that that was me speaking. He was that close to simulating my speech that night on the southern, and he is not from North Carolina, okay.
Brandi: Not another Jerry.
Jerry I.: Yes, not another Jerry. So anyway, that’s just some ideas for you. So you’re seeing our email addresses on the screen. And again, if you’d like to get in, remember we are closing our membership as of next Friday at midnight, or when we get 20 members.
20 member companies. And what that means is if it is you as the owner, and you have a manager, that’s one member. We encourage the leadership team. And I think it’s been amazing, Sheryl.
What do you think, we’re seeing that some of our regular one-on-one clients have actually enrolled their general managers into this program. We have several general managers that’s joined. What are your thoughts on that, Sheryl?
Sheryl: I think that is super because the general manager is the person that is basically handling your business when you are not. So you need him to be as good as you are. And if we can help make your basis or your skeleton better, your business will always be better.
Jerry I.: Right. And Brandi, I think it was really interesting because I asked you a question the other day, which is Tyler’s name who is your operations manager, showed up on the membership list, which is great and I asked the question. So, what is the advantage you see for Tyler to be on these calls?
Brandi: Well, I mean I want him to learn from these other 19 companies as well. I mean these people bring great ideas to the table.
And I also want him to see that we aren’t unique. Because being in an upper management position is lonely, and it can be very frustrating, and I see him get frustrated some days. And so, it is a good reminder that everybody across the country has the same problems, it is just a matter of how we solve them.
Jerry I.: That’s it. So we appreciate you joining us, appreciate you having lunch with us here on a Friday afternoon with Brandi, Sheryl, and Jerry. Where our hope is that you have a great weekend, and you can reach the dreams that you want in life.
And if we can help you in any way, feel free to reach out to any one of us. We’ll be glad to have an initial phone call with you, there’s no charge whatsoever. If you think that we can provide the answers for you.
So with that, we’re going to end our podcast today, and Julie Dent, you’re thanking us, but I’m going to thank you. Because Julie is a person, she’s in one of our groups, and I’m sure that she would be telling you that of the benefits of being in this group coaching program.
So appreciate everybody being here, and we will see you next time on the next episode of the chimney and fireplace success network.