Latest / The Operator’s Seat Podcast / The Reality Of Leading People | The Operators Seat E5

Transcript

The Reality Of Leading People | The Operators Seat E5 · The Operator’s Seat Podcast

• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Happy Thursday and welcome to the OP Seat.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Landon.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Sabrina, your co-host.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're so excited.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can't believe we're already on uh episode six.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Episode six.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's just flying by, you know, what once was a dream, now a reality.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And y'all have been so great.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for participating.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, we keep forgetting actually to tell you guys to send questions.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't even honestly done that in like probably like three or four episodes.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oops.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: But y'all have been sending them in, so we really appreciate it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: I guess we just haven't had to, but we should we should start reminding everyone that you can.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you're new to listening, please send us questions related to anything that you would want us to discuss or talk about.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um it could be operations, it could be leadership, it could be processes, um, really anything.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Anything that your heart desires, and we will try to answer it to the best of our ability.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'd love a story too that we can kind of give our thoughts and perceptions about.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't had any stories.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've had a lot of questions, but no stories.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: So please share your stories with us.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Keep it anonymous.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we can keep it anon anonymous.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I'm so tired.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can't even talk.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then yeah, we'll share it and then we'll give you our thoughts or maybe like what we would have done in that situation if it's like a crazy, you know, crazy story.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we get one.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hopefully.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, should we read the question that we're going to talk about today?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I figured we had quite a few about just like operational leadership in general.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this one specifically was what are common struggles that you have as an operations person in your field.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that is pretty broad.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I figured today we could just kind of go back and forth and talk about all of our woes.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty to talk about for sure.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh operations.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: It never brings a struggle, does it?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: What are your biggest struggles, Landon?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's so many for me.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yes.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, I hear you.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I think, you know, like you were asking questions about leadership, it's it's just all that struggles with leadership, struggles with processes, struggles with, you know, just making sure that the vision's carried through the culture.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but and that all rides on us, you know, as operational leaders.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um something that I struggle with uh that just comes to mind is, you know, keeping the culture and the team balanced with the business.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that is yeah, it it's it's it it's broad and it's it's uh I don't even know because there's just so many things that pop into my mind when I think about that, but it it's a daily struggle of mine, you know, keeping everything we do has to be for the business and for the good of the business.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, um, because without the business, none of us have a job.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: But you also want to make sure that the team is, you know, thriving, they're succeeding, and you know, I'm I'm definitely speaking as a as a two.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can be a little too uh too helpful.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just that's something that I struggle with majorly.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, I always any time that I'm going through and I'm I'm having to think about okay, how am I gonna talk to this team member?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think about, you know, how is this affecting the business?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately those are the decisions that we have to make and they're not always the fun decisions.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I would say that's a big struggle for mine.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then um something that you and I talk about all the time is the growth, you know.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um how do you how do you um change a process or update a process, add a nude process when um the team is growing?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because you know, I said on the last episode, what works for 10 doesn't work for 15.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, yeah, the we've seen that.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, for sure.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So what do you think?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance culture and accountability?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good question.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I I think for me it's continuing to learn and to show my team that I'll show up and continue to learn and that my expectations for them don't waver.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, they they can expect the same thing from me um as I expected them.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I think you know that helps with the culture because you we've talked in previous episodes, you mentioned that you know, culture isn't just about the fun and the games and you know the free pizza and you know whatever else we do for our teams.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's also showing up for the brand and you know, showing up for the business.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's harder to uh acknowledge, especially you know, as a teammate, when you don't always know the why behind the decisions.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or you don't always know what's going on behind the scenes.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been there in my career where I was on the team.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know when I started out in wealth management, I was in the new business team.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know the decisions that were being made.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to have that perspective if you've never lived it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um I think back to uh my I know I talk about Disney all the time, but that's really where my leadership began.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think about when I was interviewing for the lead um they had internships for leaders called management internships.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was interviewing for them, that was what I was lacking was like the business thought.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I had started with businesses.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we've talked I know we've talked about it, but I don't know if we've talked about it on here, but I had a business when I was like 10 years old.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um the book fair came to town, and uh it was they had something called Kid Biz, and it was on a CD-ROM.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, for all you kids out there that don't know what a CD-ROM is, we actually put CDs into our computers with games on them once upon a time.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, wait, what is a CD ROM?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so long.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're like the same age.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, what is this?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: It has been a long time.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like are you talking about a CD player?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, CD-ROM for the gateway computer we had.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, LimeWire.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: The lime oh, lime wire.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: What a great time to be alive.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And MySpace and AOL.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're showing your age, Sabrina.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, oh my gosh, I bet some of y'all don't even know what that is.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, a lot of them probably don't.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: But they I had this thing called KidBiz, and it was like a spreadsheet for kids.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So cute.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was so cute, and I was so excited to have it.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: You made your own business cards and everything.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I've always had the business mentality.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a car washing business in the neighborhood.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was called Wheel Clean.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wheel Clean.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like wheel.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like wheel clean.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: We will and then wheel.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like Wheel on the car wash.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So cute.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Did you come up with that?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I did all by myself.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: You have you are like the best with branding.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Branding's my favorite.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much fun.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, there's so many like ways to do that.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I just think about that.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think, you know, giving my parents money for uh for like the soap and the water bill and all that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I had to pay out my neighbors and everything for helping out.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course I kept some for the house because, you know, who's my business?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to make money as a business owner.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but like, and then as I further gotten into it, I was interviewing for the Disney College or um excuse me management internship, and that really wasn't part of my interview.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I had really not thought out when I was interviewing, I was really nervous.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I just didn't talk about the business skills.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it was because I had not been in it.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I you know, I was working as a CNA or I was at Chick-fil-A once upon a time, and you know, I really didn't have to have those business thoughts.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's all great experience service-wise.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: But the it's hard to explain even the I mean, because to some extent we can't even talk about some of the decisions that we have to make because they're so confidential.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: But it's hard to explain the weight that comes with leadership and especially, you know, leadership when you're kind of leading a team.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that I agree.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a big struggle.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: I had somebody tell me that leadership is a lonely place to be.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely is.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it definitely is, yes.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to tell the why, you want to bring people you know, everyone along, but you just you can't always.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times you're vilified.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you know me, I've had a week.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I've had a week in my feelings, and that's not like me, because I usually steer clear of my feelings, but it sucks sometimes, even coming from somebody that's super like type A, I don't care if I if you think that I'm a villain, like I'm doing what's best for the company and for you, even if you don't understand it.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's hard, it's really hard to um kind of be vilified by your team in some regard a little bit.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's always someone to blame for things.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so if they don't have the full story or the full perspective, it's very easy um for any team to kind of, you know, blame one person or a few people for decisions that are made.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, sometimes you make the decisions and there's a reason that you can't speak of, and sometimes you actually don't even make the decision.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And but you carry it out and you have to act like you're aligned with it.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's it's very hard.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the hardest part for me is that um well this week anyway.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: It changes for me.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it definitely uh it's not an easy road to walk um or to sometimes run.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you do just, you know, scathe your way through like climbing.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: It sometimes it does feel like a never-ending uh rock climb.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I I think once the why is able to come out, people really understand that, you know, good good leadership, you have to make the hard decision sometimes.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, sometimes people don't understand either.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, sometimes it can be seen as selfish or um it can be seen as the wrong decision, but most of the time you can say, you know, hey, I made the decision with the best intentions.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you decide wrong too, and then you feel like you failed your team.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've done that so many times where I've, you know, I'm a big listener of my gut, and sometimes my gut is wrong.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll make decisions that I know will impact a lot of people.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that they are, you know, one of our core values that we've recently implemented is assume good intention.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we're big proponents, and we always tell the team, or we're starting to tell the team, like, hey, assume good intention from your team members or your leaders or other people um that you interact with, even clients, um even if you don't understand where they're coming from or a decision that's made or a way that somebody interacts with you.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's huge.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: That makes your job a little easier too.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because if even if you're not wanting to do the task you're having to do, if you assume that, you know, the client was acting in good intentions and you know there's a reason behind the task that you're doing, yeah, it makes it a little easier to do.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: What other struggles?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: What was your second one?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the other one was um the process change.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So when you have a growing team, we've both faced this before.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so, you know, and you learn the hard way being a new leader.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: You uh because you know, you establish these processes and you're so proud and you're like, I did it.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then you add four more people to the team, and you're like, what happened to my process?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing works anymore.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, just constantly adapting and being flexible, you know, flexible.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, last episode we talked about interviewing and um, you know, and how important it is to have somebody who um demonstrates flexibility, yeah, especially for a growing firm, um, you know, or anybody who wants to grow.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, whether, you know, you have a thousand employees or two employees, you know, everybody wants to continue to grow and without having flexible teammates, uh, that's not really possible.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, having having individuals on the team that will understand and speak up, yeah.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, this isn't working anymore because you know, I came on the team and my big thing is you don't know what you don't know.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so as leaders, if we're not being told that, hey, this isn't working anymore, we're not in it day and day anymore.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do I mind hopping into it when you need help?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if a process isn't working because we've added three people, yeah, we need to know.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I think we're not mind readers, right?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I wish.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's relying and trusting the team to tell us when things are broken if we don't, you know, decipher it ourselves as we're moving along.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think it's that's probably where I struggled the most as we grew the business was we started with a team, you know, of about five or six, and we were all so connected without having to really have true um, you know, workflows or true processes written out because it was just five or six of us.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: We could just, you know, I could literally go right next door to somebody on the team and say, Oh, hey, this just happened.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the next step, here you go.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: But now had it appeared.
• 14:51
  unknown: Yeah.
• 14:51
  unknown: Yeah.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so building out those processes, um as we hit 10 people was a challenge.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then for sure 15.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think 15 was like a breaking point where it was like, oh my gosh.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Something's gotta change.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like we have too many people to be just running around with you know, like chickens with our heads cut off.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's gotta be something done.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, you know, getting people to be adaptable and to understand that we can't just because we've done it like that for five years, doesn't mean we can continue to do it that way.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, something will break for sure.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, and you know, having those individuals who understand that.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'd say we're pretty blessed because we have a team who will speak up.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And they'll say, hey, this is broken.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's our culture.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's our culture, maybe direct feedback.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: We have the best at it.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I was just thinking earlier today I had an individual who was, you know, having a lot of your favorite word, forethought.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And forethought.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: She came to me and she was like, Hey, I've noticed this happen a few times.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's not been a bad situation yet, but I don't want it to be a bad situation.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew you would have been so proud of her.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have to tell me who this is.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely will.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, she came to me and she said, she not only said, Hey, here's the problem, but she said, here's my solution.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: The solution.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that 1080 10.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was absolutely wonderful.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And to know that, you know you've established a team here, and you know, I get to be a part of a team here now that has individuals like that, that helps the struggles that we face every day be a little bit easier.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, now we don't have to worry about that process because our team is having forethought.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: They're being thought leaders.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: They are coming to us and saying, Hey, this is broken.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I think we need to do.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: I said, perfect.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let me go add that task, that process real quick.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's fixed before the client even, you know, a bad situation happens.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if you build a culture like that, like you have, and that we're going to continue to build, then you have an individuals that feel one secure enough to be able to say, hey, this is broken.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, confident enough to say, you know, we need to fix this before our clients are affected.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it was just a moment that I was really proud as a leader at Reliance.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it was really cool to see, and it really helped the struggles that, you know, you face every day in operations.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And anybody who works in operations, whether you're in leadership or you're, you know, you you're in the new business team in the day-to-day um frontline, as I like to call it.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it it it's it's really cool to see and you know the struggles.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So yes.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the most rewarding part of being in a leadership position, is just seeing, like we're talking about our struggles, but also the struggles that you have are for a reason and for a good cause, and to see them kind of come to fruition where it's like, you know, I talked a a long time ago about hey, if you're gonna bring me a problem, bring me a solution so we can talk through it.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you don't necessarily think it's the best solution, bring something to the table so that we can start to work on your skills and thinking ahead, and I can understand your logic and your way of thinking, and then you can understand mine.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how you grow as a person and as a leader.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so to see that pay off uh with your team is is why we go through all the hard stuff that we do.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that leadership is the hardest job I've ever had, but it's also the most rewarding.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just so much fun to see a team come together.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that light bulb clicks.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's it's rewarding.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it makes, like you said, all the struggles and all the storms absolutely worth it.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you're in the midst of struggle, it's okay to not be okay.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember I haven't, luckily, since you've arrived, Landon, but I remember for a while, and this is just part of business.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: It it doesn't mean anything was like completely wrong.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: It just meant that we were growing.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember I would I have like an hour-long drive home.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's some days that I would drive home in silence because I just needed to be alone with my thoughts.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's some days that I drove home crying the whole way.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's just so many different roller coasters of emotion that happen as you're growing a company.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's okay to not have it all together all the time.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm a big believer in presenting to the team that kind of steady presence, even in storms.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, if I needed to cry it out for an hour on my way home, I did.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you're not alone if if you're going through struggles for sure.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of the most important and vulnerable moments that you can have with your team is to say, hey, we're facing a storm right now, but how are we going to navigate through it together?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I feel like the strongest teams are the ones who are able to have that communication with one another.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh, if you're anything like us, we spend eight plus hours together in this office.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so you function as a family, whether, you know, I know people don't like to call it a family, and you don't have to treat each other like family.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, like you spend a lot of time together, and so you're gonna have you know the struggles that you do at home, you're gonna have the um different personality types.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: And like last night when Landon was yelling at me.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oof, I was a bit of an Enneagram eight.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: He got pissed at me.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have to tell you after this conversation.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, we all face struggles.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Landon's yelling at me.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: We were feeling a little bit of an unhealthy eight last night.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think I was like, I love your opinions.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I you're passionate about your team.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I definitely do get passionate.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when I do get passionate, I can uh I think it's a little southern in me.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: It'll come out a little feisty.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I love about our dynam dynamic, and I feel like that's everyone's dream is to have a dynamic where we can passionately disagree about something.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then come back together and be like, okay, well, all right, Landon yelled at me.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it is what it is.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: First time for everything, but you know, ha feeling comfortable because I've not always had that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've not always been able to, you know, have that conversation with, you know, eve the founders of the firm and to be able to speak up and say my opinion and feel like it matters.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's it's important for, you know, not only me and my role, but you know, as the team too.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, like you said, you you want to have the team be able to have that thought process.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're not allowing your team to have that opportunity to speak up, whether my decision or not is, you know, we go with it, that's that doesn't matter.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's the feeling of like, hey, somebody listened and somebody cared enough to listen.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't always have to, you know, you don't have to always have the right opinion.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: But just to feel heard is huge.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: To feel like your opinion mattered enough to be asked.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's huge.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I try to I try to do that often.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no matter what it is.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean you you probably think I'm a psycho, which I am.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I ask your opinion all the time, and then I'm like, oh well, I don't like it.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, that's that I don't like your opinion.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I've learned to give my opinion and you know what I know.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and sometimes you take it and sometimes you're like, nope, we're going another way.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, but you know, that's that's the dynamic and that's what makes it work beautifully.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think now, I mean, I think we're blessed because we have each other.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of, you know, we know what it's like to be in operations by ourselves.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it is not nearly as um, I think it feels a little lighter because we have each other now.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember it being, especially as we were growing, just uh feeling like the whole world was on my shoulders and like I had a never-ending to-do list.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, that still is there.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think operations never end.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's so weird how we've, you know, we've doubled the department by adding one person, but our our work just keeps coming.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Piling up.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which I love.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think for sure it's, you know, if you feel alone, just find somebody, even if it's not somebody, I mean, it can't be necessarily anybody um that you work with unless it's your founder or somebody, you know, that you can talk with in confidential terms.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: But um, find a coach, find a mentor, you know, chat with us.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're whatever you need to have an outlet, but you have to have somebody, at least one person that you can go to, um, even if it's just to kind of vent and get it out of your system.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so important in this role.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you, you know, you internalize it all.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like you said, you if you we're blessed, we know that.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are carrying it on your shoulders, you know, there are there's so much that will build up and then I who knows what happens.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and you don't want to, you know, you don't want to have to take it out on your team or yourself or you know, whoever receives that.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so to have that outlet, you know, and and I've been blessed with friends from Florida, you know, you.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've talked about Michelle Short on here.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: She has helped me talk through so much before.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, especially we've faced rapidly growing teams.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we uh I went from 15 to 30 in like a blink of an eye, it felt like.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so just everything was just so quick pace.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: We were constantly having, you know, our business book of business was growing, and you know, just to continue to have that, it's exciting.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But it was like, oh my gosh, when are we going to take a breath?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because everything feels like it's falling apart.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have like super opinionated people on your team that think that, you know, their perspective is, you know, what we should do.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you have different perspectives and everyone's opinions and lots of feedback.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I love all of that, but it can be and it can feel overwhelming at times.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, especially when people look to you for all the answers.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's a heavy weight to carry is being the one that people go to for all the answers and and enabling your team to find solutions without you is super important.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that starts from as early as possible.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're a team of, you know, five or six, start that now versus later.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just to to build that culture.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think also, you know, one of the struggles we face is, you know, we we talked about hiring the right individual, but like what position is next?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: What department needs next?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you and I, we love to whiteboard.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, we map out everything.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think that's you know, helped us with that struggle is okay, and also listening to our teams.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, taking in all the feedback, taking in our founders' feedback, the advisor's feedback, um, it really helps us decide where is the missing link right now.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we're able to really map out, okay, you know, and even with the operation process breaking, that kind of helps you find that missing link sometimes.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, whether it's an advisor, whether it's an operations person, um, or you know, even earlier this year, um, we found, okay, as we continue to grow, our structure needs to change a little bit.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our depart we need different departments.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, really mapping that out helps out, drawing it out on a whiteboard.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm sure it's a struggle many of our listeners face.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: So well, and I think that was a big mistake that we made or that I made along the way.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when we started growing, there was just so many opinions on how we needed to structure the company from other people in our industry.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And while yes, they had great ideas and great opinions, it wasn't necessarily what we needed in the moment based on our specific scenario in our specific business.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so I always I was just talking to somebody the other day.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they were asking me, you know, what do I do next?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who do I hire?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do you follow the same model as so-and-so?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Blah, blah, blah.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, we're all following, um, we all have mentors and people that we look up to and people that we go to and ask questions, like Michelle Short and, you know, other people in our industry.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, you have to learn from them while also keeping in mind that your business is different than theirs.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you maybe you serve different clients.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have different, you know, assets under management.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe your clientele looks differently.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there's all sorts of different variables.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so it really is assessing where you're at now, where you want to be in a year from now, and then where you want to be in three years from now versus five versus ten and kind of building that out and revising it along the way.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just because you built out a structure of where you want to be in two years from now doesn't mean in two years you're gonna be there.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: It just gives you kind of a roadmap.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, every time you go to hire somebody, you assess the need and the priority.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: So like we um we tend to keep it to top three priorities for hiring.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: So what positions are number one, number two, and number three?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm a big believer in, okay, well, we're gonna start looking for all three of those.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, whoever we find, you know, whether it's hey, this was our third priority, but this is the perfect person, we're gonna hire them.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um obviously we always prioritize number one.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but if the right person comes along, we're not gonna pass them up.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, but also to that, like sometimes and we've found out that okay, we want to hire for this position, but we may not find the perfect individual.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so we kind of navigate to okay, well, do we want to do this instead?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because we have found the perfect individual for this role.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so, you know, just assessing not only, you know, what we need operationally, but you know, culturally, what does it make sense to?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, as you're as you were talking, your clientele might be different, your um assets under management might be different, but also your team is different.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And your skill set's different.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, do you have the means to go and hire um somebody highly credentialed?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, yeah, whatever that may look like, what are you what's your team specialty?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, something that, you know, another struggle, um, finding the right seat on the bus.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we all have an individual role.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um you were talking earlier about, you know, a team of five, and you were all specialist at that point.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or excuse me, generalist, that's not right.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Generalist.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then as you continue to grow, did everything.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then you continue to grow and you become specialist.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so the processes change because we're handing off hats to one another, and you know, your new business team is, you know, separated from your service team.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so your new business team isn't doing service work even anymore, even though, you know, at one point in time they were all doing it together.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I think that's not only um as an operation leader struggle, that's operations in general, is you know, navigating your team through that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, especially with financial advisors for us, um, they are sometimes a creature of habit.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so coaching them and helping them get used to new operational processes as your team grows.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, that doesn't go there anymore.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna create a bottleneck like this goes to this individual now.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so not only, you know, assessing the processes, but assessing the people and making sure that they're set up for success and on the right place on the bus.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I like that you bring that up because another part of that is assessing the skill level of your current team, you know, to know exactly what individual you're going to hire next and what their skill level would have to be.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: So do I have somebody really qualified on my team in this department that, you know, we could find somebody maybe that doesn't have as much experience to come in and learn from another person, or vice versa.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Do I have some, you know, more inexperienced individuals on our team technically that, you know, could use somebody that has a lot more experience coming in that can help, you know, grow them and and help them with skill development and all of that.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it really is learning your team and what they need as well.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just having that in consideration when you're hiring people, you know, what skill level will not just benefit, you know, our clients and me, but what will benefit our team and what they need to be successful?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I'm a firm believer.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: If uh I always said as the operations leader in the second seat, you know, um, the team is my client.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you've said that on here before, but you know, I I truly believe that, you know, if I treat the team as my client and I treat them well, then they're gonna treat the company's clients well.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if they feel taken care of, then they're gonna map that over to the client.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so um putting them in a position that, you know, they're gonna succeed in, and you know, that doesn't always map over really well in the beginning because they can't see the why and they can't see, you know, that uh some people, and you know, I was guilty when I was in the front line, you know, you can't always see the vision uh five years down the road.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I feel like that's what's helped me get into a leadership position is really understanding, um, okay, this is where this person is now.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where are they gonna be five years down the road?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if I give them this opportunity, do I think one, they're gonna take it and you know, they're gonna succeed at it, or um, you know, is this just not the right role for them and they need to be in a different role?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think, you know, analyzing that is a a struggle sometimes.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, a bigger part of that struggle is, you know, making sure that the team is happy too, because they're not always happy with uh decisions that, you know, mm putting people in the right seat because you know, you may want to do something, but you may not be on the right seat.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's in any industry and any team um you're gonna face those struggles.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just um balancing your team with you know different le different uh strengths.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, for instance, you and I, we're maybe on the same team, but we have different strengths and different weaknesses.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that about us.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want somebody on my team that is exactly like me.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is a mistake that a lot of people struggle with is they and I've struggled with this too, is like, you know, I want somebody like me that's fast and efficient and all these things.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, but if everyone was like that, we wouldn't, you know, we wouldn't have the other perspective of, you know, hey, let's slow down, let's think about this a little bit more.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: What if this happens?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so having, you know, knowing whatever department that you're filling, who's on the team now and what what perspectives could benefit them.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's not a perfect science, you're not gonna find the perfect person.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it just gives you some meat to go out and look for specific things.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: A good foundation for sure.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's what really operations is all about, in my opinion, is the foundation.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: If uh you can really build a good foundation, then when it's time to level up, then it's so much easier.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm so thankful for the foundation that you and the founders built because you know, that that has really laid the ground line to help us, you know, go running and really explode.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um if if you know you're just starting out in a firm, that's probably one of my biggest um pieces of advice is really start that foundation, you know, write the processes for you as the individual, because then you won't be writing it out for 10 different people and figuring out who takes it.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you have 17 different tasks to accomplish for those 10 people.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and your leader, if you're you know, the first person in a department, your leader will take note of that.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, for sure.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: If if you're writing out processes for your own, you know, yourself.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what a dream.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I I feel like that's uh kind of what helped me get into the leadership role is when I was in new business, that's exactly what I was talking about.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um initiative, what a great word.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: Initiative.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love that word.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um it is, it should be.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be hooked on that one now.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, two they they coincide together.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, if you do take the initiative, because that's the that's the way of being a leader on the team, um, taking the initiative just you know, like the individual did today.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: She saw an issue and she took initiative to, you know, make me aware and um really stood out to us.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: And hey, we're not just for operations or leader, you know, official leaders, we're for everybody.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like every single individual on a team has the potential and is, should be held accountable to be a leader.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so yeah, the you know, if you can start setting yourself apart like that as well, you're going to, you know, the sky's the the limit in growing firms.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: You really set yourself and your team up for success because if you all have individuals who are taking the initiative um and are being thought leaders in their position, then uh it's it's nothing but blue sky, like you said.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's that's the reason we wanted to start this podcast was to, you know, really help individuals and you know, with the struggles that they're having, um whether that's you know, process struggles or team struggles, or you know, even if if you're struggling to get into a leadership position and you're you're wondering, okay, what can I do to grow into a leadership position?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that and just to educate um those operations, those who sit in the second seat.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's not always talked about.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's such an important job.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, for sure.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we may be a little biased.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, but we are very important.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be real.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Very true.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: Without operations, you know, there is really no business that runs efficiently anyway.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: You just sell a product and then what yeah.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's a big deal.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, um, yeah, I think just growing a team, like I said, it can be a lonely place to be, but it's I with our podcast, hopefully, if you don't have anybody, it's a spot that you can come and not feel alone because I'm super unfiltered and I know you're super unfiltered.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we will talk about all the nitty-gritty that you want.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: Most definitely.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have, please send us questions if you have more.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: And send us stories or ask us anything that you want.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to hear some venting sessions and you know, we'll talk about it and might vent a little ourselves and our experiences.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you can uh catch us on YouTube and TikTok, Facebook, Instagram.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely subscribe, follow everything that uh everybody does nowadays on comment on our video if you are watching on YouTube because I'm told that helps.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how, but I'm told that it helps.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: We'll reply.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we will.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I'd say we're doing better.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our lights are staying on completely now.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: They are staying on.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, yeah, we're uh we're gonna become professionals sooner.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's we'll go.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for listening, and uh, we'll catch you next Thursday.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.