Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Leadership Strategies During the Coronavirus Pandemic with Andrew Andrews-Ramirez

Transcript

Leadership Strategies During the Coronavirus Pandemic with Andrew Andrews-Ramirez · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
• 0:08
  Ending small business failure.
• 0:11
  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
• 0:17
  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:21
  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
• 0:25
  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
• 0:29
  Melinda Emerson.
• 0:31
  Hi.
• 0:31
  Good evening, everybody.
• 0:32
  This is Melinda Emerson.
• 0:34
  Small biz lady.
• 0:34
  America's number one small business expert, and I'm happy to welcome you to small biz chat Now
• 0:41
  smallbiz chat live is a peer to peer interview show that gives small business owners a way to
• 0:47
  get and share and valuable business advice.
• 0:51
  The mission of small business chat is to end small business failure.
• 0:55
  So with that, let me introduce my guest Andrew, Andrews Ramirez.
• 1:00
  Boy, that's a whole mouthful, Andrew.
• 1:02
  He is an if he was an infantry soldier who turned entrepreneur, and he is passionate about
• 1:09
  transforming businesses and business owners' lives.
• 1:12
  He works with leadership teams to help them figure out where they're going and how they're
• 1:17
  gonna get there and has a team that can support any project along the way.
• 1:22
  If you want more information about his company, You can head over to vargasandrews.com.
• 1:27
  Andrew, welcome to small biz chat.
• 1:29
  I'm so excited to have you here with me tonight Can you tell us a little bit about how you made
• 1:36
  your transition and journey from military to business ownership?
• 1:40
  Yeah.
• 1:40
  So when I left active duty, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be a career switcher,
• 1:45
  and I chose the avenue of going to business school at University of Chicago.
• 1:49
  There, I was able to do lots of internships in private equity during school, came out, went to
• 1:54
  Accenture, did a lot of strategy work before coming out here to LA, to work at a family
• 1:58
  office.
• 1:59
  And after that, I just saw all the value and things that I was creating for the 6 portfolio
• 2:04
  companies that I was in charge of.
• 2:06
  And it made sense to branch off and start my own business.
• 2:09
  Okay.
• 2:09
  And how long have you been in business?
• 2:11
  We just hit our 3 year anniversary last month.
• 2:14
  Okay.
• 2:14
  And tell us a little bit about what you guys do there.
• 2:17
  So we work with business owners, you know, to transform their businesses and their lives.
• 2:21
  And we do this through a lot of different methods, but 1st and foremost, using a
• 2:26
  foundational tool called the entrepreneurial operating system.
• 2:29
  Was created by an entrepreneur called Gino Wickman, and it really is an execution
• 2:33
  framework that works for any business, the matter its size, really gets everybody on the
• 2:37
  same page, understanding where they're going and how they're going to get there.
• 2:41
  And then beyond that, you know, through that journey, we find a level of transparency in a
• 2:45
  business.
• 2:46
  And as those issues fall out, we figure out ways to partner with our clients to help them
• 2:51
  knock down those issues.
• 2:52
  Got it.
• 2:53
  So you are a former veteran, and you are a veteran.
• 2:57
  So you were you were active duty.
• 2:58
  So have you found it to be an advantage in business to be a a renowned business?
• 3:03
  It definitely is.
• 3:04
  I would say that it depends.
• 3:05
  So if you are focused on more things like government contracting, of that nature, a lot
• 3:11
  of city, state, and federal government agencies have set asides that you get access to.
• 3:15
  So it's really great to build a business there.
• 3:18
  Beyond that, I would say that the credibility that you have from the leadership capability,
• 3:22
  you know, if people know that you've deployed and done service to this country, I would say
• 3:26
  that that gives another level of respect for people to take a chance on working with you.
• 3:31
  Okay.
• 3:32
  Okay.
• 3:32
  And now so let's talk about the, you know, the speed and scope of the coronavirus, right, and
• 3:39
  has really caused a crisis and extraordinary challenges for leaders of businesses large and
• 3:47
  small.
• 3:47
  Right?
• 3:47
  I mean, people need revenue, but they also have to be safe too.
• 3:52
  So what are you hearing from clients in terms of how people are struggling?
• 3:56
  You know, some places are ready to reopen.
• 3:58
  Now we're having this research, like, you know, we could all get shut down again, you know,
• 4:02
  tomorrow.
• 4:03
  What what feedback are you getting from people that you, you know, some of the businesses that
• 4:07
  you work with about how they're weathering the coronavirus?
• 4:10
  So a lot of them have really taken to technology using tools like Microsoft teams
• 4:15
  where they can have visibility in their business you know, rather than having to go
• 4:19
  around and see what Andrew's doing, what Lori's doing, you know, I can really go into that
• 4:24
  platform and self-service.
• 4:25
  And really see the projects that everybody's working on.
• 4:28
  You know, you don't have to have all these meetings.
• 4:30
  It also has that platform where you can do, you know, zoom type calls.
• 4:33
  And you can collaborate on documents all at the same time.
• 4:37
  So I would say that those that are extremely important that need to be there in person, keep
• 4:42
  it to a minimum, keep those people safe.
• 4:44
  You know, a lot of my clients are investing in getting, you know, the best medical PPE
• 4:49
  products so that their employees feel safe to be in the work environment are really adhering
• 4:54
  to the social distancing standards.
• 4:56
  But if you can do your job from home and you have the tools, it's great to be able to
• 5:00
  Sure.
• 5:00
  Sure.
• 5:01
  Now I know that leadership is key to progress in business, but what if how can you lead when
• 5:07
  you really don't know what to do.
• 5:09
  I mean, I I'm looking at a lot of the schools and the principals and heads of school people
• 5:14
  trying to figure out Do we bring kids back in September or not?
• 5:17
  Do we do we send kids to college?
• 5:18
  You know what I mean?
• 5:19
  I I think everybody's really concerned, and and people don't know what to do.
• 5:23
  So How do you lead when you when you're there?
• 5:26
  Like, when that's what your reality is?
• 5:28
  I would say, I mean, you need to come up with hypotheses and test them out and be able to
• 5:32
  fail fast.
• 5:33
  You know, I would say that a majority of my mentors that I would say are extremely
• 5:36
  successful are those that, you know, they come up with a couple hypotheses.
• 5:40
  They go out and test them.
• 5:41
  You know, they need to have facts to be able to back up whatever it is that they're doing.
• 5:45
  And if you can do that, you know, and you are failing fast, then you should have the ability
• 5:49
  to adapt and be agile.
• 5:51
  To really take you in a direction that's going to make sense.
• 5:54
  And if something's not working, you know, the the data and statistics that are coming out of
• 5:58
  it should be telling you that you need to do a course correction.
• 6:01
  Sure.
• 6:01
  Sure.
• 6:02
  But when you're talking about our kids, right?
• 6:04
  Mhmm.
• 6:05
  Are our kids the guinea pigs you fell fast with?
• 6:07
  I mean, Really?
• 6:08
  Definitely not.
• 6:09
  You know, we pulled our daughter out of Montessori school because we thought that they
• 6:13
  were being too aggressive because it was a private institution and wasn't, you know,
• 6:18
  managed by the state, you know, they really tried to get by by disguising themselves as
• 6:23
  more of a daycare service.
• 6:24
  You know, we really wanted to see how things played out.
• 6:27
  Obviously, keeping in tune with how other countries are doing it and having success with
• 6:31
  it.
• 6:32
  And once we see that people are putting plans in place that are backed with facts and things
• 6:37
  and procedures that are actually working, at that time, we will consider it safe to send our
• 6:41
  eldest child back to school.
• 6:42
  I I completely agree with you.
• 6:44
  I I have a fourteen year old in that, and I feel the same way.
• 6:46
  Like, that kid's not going to school.
• 6:48
  I think y'all better stream it y'all better figure it out.
• 6:51
  He's not getting on a bus.
• 6:52
  Forget it.
• 6:53
  You know?
• 6:54
  So that's just me and how I'm managing my household.
• 6:57
  But let's let's talk about some stuff.
• 6:59
  We see some other people doing because I feel like there's been a lot of failures in
• 7:03
  leadership in these room times.
• 7:05
  You know, you've got the NBA in Orlando, get ready to play games.
• 7:09
  You've got, you know, the NFLs half hearted apology.
• 7:12
  You know, I mean, you you've got some really crazy, you know, blunders out here that people
• 7:18
  are doing that that really aren't safe, but they're like trying to put the economy ahead
• 7:22
  of, you know, sort of like people's safety.
• 7:24
  And so I, yeah, I really kinda wanna know what your response is to some of that stuff you've
• 7:28
  seen.
• 7:29
  I mean, I think in today's world, given the fact that you have access to information, you
• 7:33
  can see, you know, anybody can turn on their cell phone camera.
• 7:37
  You really need to be conscious of everything that you're doing.
• 7:39
  You know, it doesn't matter if you're in private or out in public.
• 7:41
  So I think from that perspective, you know, to be a true leader, you need to be able to make
• 7:46
  those tough decisions that might go against the grain.
• 7:49
  It might, you know, cost you profits in the short term, but if it's for the greater good of
• 7:53
  your community, and other people that you're supporting, you know, I think it's a decision
• 7:57
  that people will support you with.
• 7:58
  And if you can figure out a way, you know, to, to pivot and be able to, you know, find
• 8:03
  different ways to bring in revenue.
• 8:04
  An example, I guess, would be these restaurants.
• 8:06
  You know, they had loyal patrons and those that decided to make these meal kits, you know, to
• 8:12
  bring in some type of revenue, those are the ones that are gonna be here once all this stuff
• 8:16
  settles down.
• 8:17
  Sure.
• 8:17
  Sure.
• 8:17
  Sure.
• 8:18
  Sure.
• 8:18
  But, you know, when it comes to leadership and and we're trying to, you know, bring employees
• 8:22
  back or, you know, get restaurants open, you know, how important do you think it is you
• 8:28
  know, is honest communication when it when it comes to, you know, dealing with your staff or
• 8:33
  dealing with your landlords, even your creditors, because a lot of business owners you
• 8:37
  know, the PPP money's gone.
• 8:39
  They're not acting like they're about to come out with another solution.
• 8:42
  You know, now all the creditors that were really nice willing to give people 3 months
• 8:46
  forbearance on their mortgage.
• 8:48
  Now these people want their money.
• 8:49
  So so how can you manage that?
• 8:51
  Because that's so much stress, I think.
• 8:53
  Mean, I think it's very important to have that level of transparency.
• 8:56
  I think the worst thing is to keep secrets, those that are going to, you know, create
• 9:00
  situations that you're not going to be able to deal with.
• 9:03
  So I think from that perspective, having that level of transparency, if you're a business
• 9:07
  owner and you know that you can't make payroll and you're trying to figure out different ways
• 9:10
  to do that, know, you need to be honest and upfront with your employees to allow them to
• 9:14
  have that opportunity to figure out different ways that they're gonna pay their bills, pay
• 9:18
  their mortgage, etcetera.
• 9:19
  When it comes to landlords, you know, I think that, you know, we are gonna see that is gonna
• 9:23
  be the next thing that's gonna happen in the economy is for all these people that own this
• 9:28
  real estate are now going 3, 4, 5 months without collecting rent.
• 9:33
  You know, they're gonna have, you know, they're gonna be the ones finding themselves in mind of
• 9:37
  having to pay those bills.
• 9:38
  So I think that's gonna have to be a community thing where the creditors and the lenders and
• 9:44
  everybody that makes up this economy are just going to have to figure out creative ways of
• 9:49
  creating a new normal so that everybody can, you know, I mean, it's not like everybody can
• 9:53
  be homeless on the streets and all these banks are gonna own these empty houses.
• 9:57
  So we have to figure out a way to work together and know that this too shall pass and in the
• 10:02
  time being, hopefully, we can figure out a way that, you know, if there's some type of minimum
• 10:06
  payment that people can do just to show a good faith that people need to take that for what it
• 10:10
  is, understand that we're all human, and to get through this together.
• 10:13
  Mhmm.
• 10:14
  So what what do you think the what lessons have you learned from the military that have really
• 10:19
  helped you you know, sort of like figure out what we should be doing now or what you're
• 10:23
  doing now in your own business.
• 10:25
  For me, so in the military, you know, we always found ourselves in situations where we had the
• 10:30
  least amount of resources if possible.
• 10:33
  The missions got more and more intense in terms of what the expectations were that we produced.
• 10:37
  From a results perspective.
• 10:39
  So we always had to be extremely frugal.
• 10:41
  We had to figure out how to do more with less.
• 10:43
  So I think it's truly understanding, you know, what are the resources that are available to
• 10:48
  you?
• 10:48
  Mostly from a people perspective, you're only as good as your weakest link.
• 10:52
  So understanding how can you coach those people up how can you utilize the resources that you
• 10:56
  do have available to make sure that you're keeping people safe.
• 10:59
  You're moving towards accomplishing your mission.
• 11:02
  At the end of the day, you know, you're doing some good in the world.
• 11:05
  Hi.
• 11:06
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small business lady.
• 11:08
  I know you might be thinking about quitting your business and going back into corporate
• 11:11
  America, but wait.
• 11:12
  Before you give up, my new book fix your business could give you a whole new lease on
• 11:17
  life.
• 11:17
  My twelve piece of running a successful business will walk you through step by step how
• 11:22
  to grow your business revenue, how to hire great people, and streamline your processes,
• 11:27
  and so much more.
• 11:29
  Grab a copy today, affix your business and get your life back.
• 11:35
  Hi, everybody.
• 11:35
  Welcome back to Small Bishop Live.
• 11:37
  I'm with my guest, Andrew Andrews Ramirez, And we're just talking about leadership and
• 11:43
  business, and he's a veteran and an entrepreneur.
• 11:46
  And so I wanted to take this opportunity to ask him Andrew, what are some of the best
• 11:51
  organizations for veteran entrepreneurs?
• 11:54
  So 3 organizations, I constantly go to one of them being Bunker Labs.
• 11:58
  So they've got 3 types of educational resources.
• 12:01
  1 is a distance learning if you have an idea, and they're trying to figure out if it's a
• 12:05
  viable business.
• 12:06
  I mean, it's a great program that free and available to all veterans or spouses of
• 12:09
  veterans.
• 12:10
  Their second form of education is something called the Veterans And Residence Program,
• 12:14
  which is a national partnership with WeWork and in 21 cities, they host 10 people give them
• 12:19
  full WeWork rights and treat it as an incubator to help them launch and grow their business.
• 12:24
  The last being CEO circle, these are people that have significant revenue are looking to
• 12:29
  grow and scale, and it's a great peer group for them to get together on a monthly basis.
• 12:33
  To solve issues and and really figure out better ways to make their businesses better.
• 12:36
  The second resource is something called Patriot Boot Camp.
• 12:39
  This was formed after kind of a tech Star's Accelerator type program.
• 12:43
  1 of their main programs that they offer is a 3 day intensive technology focused type program
• 12:49
  where you can bring your idea there and really learn how to launch an app, watch some type of
• 12:55
  technology business, software as a service type product.
• 12:58
  The last part being the Small Business Association, and this is they've got their own
• 13:02
  office dedicated specifically to veterans.
• 13:05
  And what's great about that is they figure out creative ways to help you get the funding that
• 13:09
  you need to start a business or grow a business.
• 13:11
  Good stuff.
• 13:12
  Good stuff.
• 13:13
  Alright.
• 13:13
  So Are there training programs that are that are for that are specific to veteran
• 13:19
  entrepreneurs?
• 13:20
  I know those are support organizations, but Are you aware of program specific for a veteran?
• 13:25
  Yeah.
• 13:26
  So three come to mind.
• 13:27
  1 is tuck's next step program.
• 13:29
  This is a program for veterans and athletes.
• 13:32
  And it's a combination of distance learning plus a 10 day in person session where you
• 13:38
  really learn, you know, all the tidbits that you would need to know to start a successful
• 13:41
  business.
• 13:42
  Really teaches you the basics in a boot camp type format to really go out there and hit the
• 13:47
  ground running when you take that idea and make it into a business.
• 13:50
  And that's at Dartmouth College?
• 13:51
  At Dartmouth.
• 13:52
  Yeah.
• 13:52
  So it's through the top there.
• 13:54
  They're business school.
• 13:55
  Okay.
• 13:55
  The second one is Stanford Ignite.
• 13:57
  This is for post 9 11 veterans.
• 14:00
  The great part here is that Stanford has such a rich alumni community that they open up, you
• 14:05
  know, the floodgates to everything.
• 14:06
  So you get to go and visit VCs.
• 14:08
  You get to go visit, you know, some of the best tech companies, you know, that are the next
• 14:12
  unicorns.
• 14:13
  It really gives you access to this mentorship and apprenticeship type program near surrounded
• 14:18
  with like minded people that are looking to do great things to be innovators and entrepreneurs
• 14:23
  in their communities.
• 14:25
  The last one would be the Syracuse IVMF Entrepreneurship boot camp for veterans.
• 14:31
  Also, a 3 stage process, 2 of those stages are distance learning, and the 3rd part is in
• 14:37
  person.
• 14:37
  Same similar type program, you know, really connects you with a lot of great resources to
• 14:43
  get you the funding that you need, how to do a business plan, how to go out there, you know,
• 14:47
  and be successful in whatever you're passionate about.
• 14:49
  And I actually worked with the program at Syracuse.
• 14:52
  I've actually been one of their trainers for their V wise program for women veterans.
• 14:57
  So I'm actually very familiar with the work that they do at Syracuse.
• 15:00
  So that's really cool.
• 15:01
  Well, thank you so much, Andrew, for with us and giving us those tidbits I always wanna be
• 15:07
  able to support, you know, minority, women, veteran, minority, and women business owners,
• 15:11
  and certainly veteran business owners as well.
• 15:13
  So Thank you so much for enlightening me about some organizations I wasn't even aware of.
• 15:19
  Tell us what is your favorite podcast?
• 15:22
  That's what I wanna know.
• 15:23
  So I've been doing a lot of research on podcasts and just really trying to find those
• 15:27
  that reach people, especially at small business community.
• 15:31
  And not to sound like I'm tooting your own horn, but your podcast has in terms of the
• 15:36
  followers and the type of material that's coming to people, I would say that, you know, I
• 15:40
  found it to be extremely beneficial, not only for myself, but I've started to point a lot of
• 15:45
  other people in your direction just to start to think about you know, what are the important
• 15:49
  things to consider as a small business owner?
• 15:51
  Oh, wow.
• 15:52
  Thank you so much.
• 15:53
  You like the small bit shit podcast?
• 15:54
  That's awesome.
• 15:55
  Well, you're now gonna be on it, Andrew.
• 15:57
  What's your favorite app?
• 15:59
  For me, it's Microsoft Teams just because Microsoft has done a very good job of getting
• 16:04
  all the functionality you would need out of many apps, and they combined it all into 1.
• 16:08
  So you can do your video calls.
• 16:10
  You can collaborate.
• 16:11
  You can document share.
• 16:13
  You know, anything that you would need, you get notifications direct to your phone and see when
• 16:18
  people are commenting, when people are adding value to different projects.
• 16:22
  All of it's at your fingertips, whether you're in front of your computer or on your phone.
• 16:25
  Alright.
• 16:26
  Good stuff.
• 16:27
  And what?
• 16:28
  How how do you stay motivated?
• 16:30
  For me, I call it my appreciation to her.
• 16:32
  And for me, whenever I'm questioning myself, I think back to my time in Afghanistan.
• 16:37
  So being along the Pakistani border, know, spending time in a valley that was nicknamed
• 16:41
  the valley of death, that really grounds me, really makes me understand that no matter what
• 16:45
  issue I face today, no matter what issue a client brings me.
• 16:49
  No one's gonna be shooting at me.
• 16:50
  No one's gonna be trying to kill me.
• 16:52
  And at the end of the day, the world's gonna keep spinning and we can figure out a way to
• 16:56
  solve it.
• 16:56
  If it's not today, it's gonna be tomorrow.
• 16:58
  Well, I think you win a gold prize on that.
• 17:01
  Alright.
• 17:01
  Last question.
• 17:02
  What is the best business book you have ever read?
• 17:06
  Go.
• 17:07
  For me, it's traction by Gino Wickman.
• 17:09
  Anybody that I meet that's a business owner I hand them that book.
• 17:12
  It might be before they get on a plane.
• 17:15
  By the time that they land, majority of the time they've read that book, and it changes
• 17:18
  their lives.
• 17:19
  It gives you a great template of how to execute.
• 17:22
  I would say that most business owners do not focus on the execution framework and everything
• 17:27
  that Lori talked about about you know, grounding yourself in your core values, your
• 17:31
  vision.
• 17:31
  It covers everything, and it lets you know that you can figure out any issue that comes your
• 17:36
  way.
• 17:36
  You can put it in any of the six key components.
• 17:39
  And at the end of the day, your business would be better than it was yesterday.
• 17:42
  Well, I don't know if he could ever have a better testimonial than that.
• 17:46
  Goodness.
• 17:47
  And with that, I want to thank my awesome guests.
• 17:49
  Thank you all so much for joining me tonight.
• 17:52
  Please head over to succeed as your own boss.com, and you get more information.
• 17:56
  About my 3 guests.
• 17:58
  And I wanna leave you with this.
• 18:00
  Thank you so much for watching small business chat live.
• 18:03
  The mission of small business chat live is to and small business failure.
• 18:07
  And I wanna leave you with this.
• 18:09
  You never lose in business.
• 18:10
  Either you win or you learn.
• 18:11
  Thank you, everybody.
• 18:12
  Good night.
• 18:15
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 18:20
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 18:27
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcast and join us next Wednesday.