Latest / We Built This Brand / You're the Bottleneck: Why Business Growth Starts With You
Transcript
- 0:00Brad: Most often the problem that the, the client would bring me is,
- 0:03"Brad, my, my team, you know, the, the team just isn't performing.
- 0:06They're not doing the things that I'm s- I want them to do.
- 0:08They, you know, they, they don't have the skills." The… And
- 0:11I listen to this whole litany, and then I think, "So the team
- 0:14that you hired and that you're training, and you're the one
- 0:19holding them accountable, that, that's the team that's broken?"
- 0:24Chris: Welcome to We Built This Brand, where we pull back
- 0:26the curtain on the people, the ideas, and the sometimes
- 0:29challenging processes of building something that matters.
- 0:32Today, I'm joined by Brad Farris at Anchor Advisors.
- 0:36He's an executive coach with a long history of working with entrepreneurs
- 0:39and startups, and quite frankly, this was a incredible conversation.
- 0:44Uh, we dive into the challenges of leadership and
- 0:47growing a business and entrepreneurship and everything
- 0:51in between that comes with building the business.
- 0:54And yes, we even talk a little bit of branding along the way.
- 0:57So don't worry, there's a little bit of branding and marketing in here, too.
- 1:00But I think you'll really like it, and I hope you do just as much as I did.
- 1:03So without further ado, here's my conversation
- 1:06with Brad Farris from Anchor Advisors.
- 1:13Well, Brad, welcome to We Built This Brand.
- 1:15Brad: Hey, thanks.
- 1:16I'm glad to be here.
- 1:17Chris: Yeah, glad to have you.
- 1:18Um, we talked a few weeks ago and, um, learned a little bit about what
- 1:22you did at Anchor Advisors, and would just love to dive into that today.
- 1:26But before we do, I always like to start with, how did you get here?
- 1:30Where did you get started?
- 1:31Brad: It's a long and winding road, Chris.
- 1:33I went to college to be an engineer, and, uh, I love engineering.
- 1:37I, I love s- solving problems and being creative and seeing how, you
- 1:42know, within a set of constraints we can, we can get something to work.
- 1:46And at some point in my engineering career, the marketing team kind
- 1:50of brought me a problem, and they're like, "Hey, can we do this?"
- 1:53I'm like, "Great, sure." We did it.
- 1:54We put it in the marketplace.
- 1:56It wasn't a success.
- 1:58And I was thinking, "Man, it's unfortunate that I'm gonna have
- 2:02to do the marketing job here, too, 'cause these people are
- 2:05obviously, you know, incompetent." This is how engineers think.
- 2:09And so I, I wanted to figure out what the marketing
- 2:11people did, so I went and hung out with them, and, and in
- 2:14order to talk marketing, I had to understand accounting.
- 2:17And so I ended up being, like, the nerd that spoke business, or the business
- 2:21guy that spoke nerd, depending on which side of that wall you're on.
- 2:25Around that time, the organization I was a part
- 2:28of, uh, kind of went on an acquisition spree.
- 2:31We were owned by a billionaire, and the problem with billionaire families is
- 2:35that the kids think they get to live at the same lifestyle as their parents.
- 2:40Mm-hmm.
- 2:40And so you need exponentially more cash every 25 years.
- 2:43Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 2:44Brad: So we were buying entrepreneurial businesses that we felt like could
- 2:47grow to, you know, put gas in the jets and feed the horses and all that stuff.
- 2:51Chris: Yeah, yeah.
- 2:52Brad: So they needed someone who spoke nerd, and so I went
- 2:55around f- for, for many years e- looking at entrepreneurial
- 2:59businesses and, and trying to decide whether they could grow
- 3:03and then buy them for the ones that, that we really liked.
- 3:06And that was just fascinating, because when you go to sell
- 3:10your business, people care about a lot different things
- 3:14than you care about when you're running your business.
- 3:17And so seeing how entrepreneurs looked at their business
- 3:20and then how investors looked at businesses was one thing.
- 3:25And then, you know, I was there f- for several times when
- 3:28we gave an entrepreneur a really big check, and, like,
- 3:31this is supposed to be the best day of his life, right?
- 3:33He worked his whole life to, to get this payday, and what I
- 3:37noticed is that most of them weren't super excited on that day.
- 3:42Like they had, they were letting go of something they really cared about.
- 3:45Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 3:46Brad: This was their life's work, and tomorrow they were
- 3:48gonna be in charge of the lawnmower and the dishwasher.
- 3:51You know, like it, it, it was, it was a,
- 3:53it was a mixed blessing for many of them.
- 3:55Uh, at s- at a certain point when the acquisition thing kind of played out,
- 3:59I switched sides of the table and started working with the, the business
- 4:03owners to help them to continue to grow their business instead of selling it.
- 4:09But most people sell their business 'cause it gets to a
- 4:12size where they just don't know what to do next, right?
- 4:14Like, like, "This is the biggest business I've been, ever been a part of,"
- 4:17or, "I just don't have the leadership capacity to lead this business."
- 4:20Chris: Mm.
- 4:21Brad: For the last 25 years, I've worked on the entrepreneur side, helping
- 4:25them to grow their, their leadership so that they can grow their business.
- 4:29Chris: That's quite the journey.
- 4:30Brad: I told you it was a long and winding road.
- 4:32Chris: A long and winding road.
- 4:33And I have so many questions about both sides of that, which I don't
- 4:37think are necessarily relevant to this conversation, but I love, I love
- 4:40hearing that story because it helps make sense of what you're doing now.
- 4:44So let's, let's talk about what you do at Anchor Advisors now.
- 4:48What, what exactly is Anchor Advisors?
- 4:50Brad: We're an executive leadership coaching, um, firm.
- 4:54I work primarily with owners of growing businesses, a lot of
- 4:58creative service businesses, so marketing, advertising, PR, web
- 5:03design, architecture, interior design, those types of businesses.
- 5:07The people who run those businesses largely- Are
- 5:11doing it because they love doing the thing, right?
- 5:14Like building the websites or, or designing houses or whatever it is.
- 5:18And the challenge is that if they keep doing
- 5:21the thing, they can't grow the business.
- 5:24And so helping them to make that transition from being the technical
- 5:30operator to being the CEO who's leading, who's, who's building
- 5:34a system so that a group of other people can get the thing done.
- 5:38Chris: I completely feel that so much right
- 5:41now- … just as a small business owner.
- 5:43Like, it's, it's hard to, to be in that place of like,
- 5:46I've gotta, I've gotta grow a business, I gotta keep,
- 5:49I gotta love my family, I gotta spend time with them.
- 5:51Brad: That's right.
- 5:52Chris: But I also have to get the work done
- 5:54so that I can do those other two things.
- 5:56Brad: That's right.
- 5:57Chris: And it's, it's a very challenging place to be, and knowing
- 6:01how to grow it, figuring it out, nobody gives you a manual on that.
- 6:03I mean, I, I would say I'm fortunate in that I got my undergrad degree in
- 6:08marketing and entrepreneurship, and I actually… It was not just how to start
- 6:13a coffee shop, it was how to actually, you know, a lot of it was learning
- 6:17basically what you would need to learn to be in a startup or to be, you know,
- 6:21in a small s- on the, on the early side of a, um, you know, a VC-funded company.
- 6:26And it was cool, it was helpful.
- 6:28Um, but even then, you come out of it and there's so many things.
- 6:31Like, they don't tell you about the, all the
- 6:32interpersonal skills you need to deal with people.
- 6:35And, and when you come out of college, like, you're not gonna be
- 6:38that leader unless, unless you're a Mark Zuckerberg or somebody,
- 6:41and I think that those days are probably gone for most people.
- 6:44But, you know, that, that whole, like, wunderkind, you know,
- 6:48type s- scenario where you come out just doesn't happen anymore.
- 6:51So, like, learning it as an adult, learning how to deal with
- 6:55all that, like, people are figuring this out for the first time.
- 6:58I, it's interesting, I, I've s- we've been a lot in tech, but I've also been
- 7:02in the craft beer is what really sprung to mind as you were talking about this.
- 7:07Um, because it's very much a bunch of engineers almo- If you look at a
- 7:12lot of the founders, they are engineer backgrounds, and they get out,
- 7:17craft beer's always been their passion, and if you, if you look at
- 7:19the basis behind, like, why craft beer is such a draw for engineers,
- 7:24like, it's a fascinating Venn diagram of how all that works together.
- 7:29But they get out, and then they get, you know, they're doing this in the
- 7:31later stage of their career, and then they sell their business and move on.
- 7:35So, like, I've heard this story that you're talking about time and
- 7:37time again is where I'm going with this, and it's, it's a challenge.
- 7:41So, how do you, how do you help someone in, in those early phases?
- 7:46Brad: Something that you said really resonated, which
- 7:48is, you know, there's one job that only I can do, which
- 7:52is to be a husband to my wife and parent to my children.
- 7:57After that, I spend, I have to split my time
- 8:00between all of these other roles that I have.
- 8:03But in the company, if I am doing client service, if I'm doing the thing
- 8:08that the company gets paid for, then no one is doing the CEO job, right?
- 8:13No one's gonna step into that role.
- 8:15That's, that's a job that they're gonna leave for me
- 8:17to do, and if I'm not doing it, then I've essentially
- 8:20abandoned the job that is making the company the most money.
- 8:25Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 8:25Brad: Seth Godin has a really interesting, um, distinction
- 8:29that he draws between, um, freelancers and entrepreneurs.
- 8:34And he, he says freelancers are people who sell their
- 8:37time, their creative services, their genius, for money.
- 8:42Entrepreneurs sell other people's time for money.
- 8:46And so if you are the person who's doing the thing, he's like, "It doesn't
- 8:50matter how big your company is, you're a freelancer 'cause you're not really
- 8:54doing the thing that generates the leverage that builds the business."
- 8:58And then to your point, the reason that people tend to do that is that
- 9:03being the CEO is this job that requires a lot of skills that I don't have.
- 9:06Like, I need to figure out how to manage people, and I, I
- 9:09need to figure out how to hire people, and then there's this
- 9:12whole financial piece that I don't really understand, right?
- 9:15And so those are very learnable skills.
- 9:18And so helping the, the, the entrepreneur to, to feel more
- 9:24comfortable in that CEO role, just like I learned that Creative
- 9:29problem-solving didn't just happen with circuits and gears, right?
- 9:33Th- th- there are creative problems to solve with people, too, and
- 9:36people actually are really fascinating, like infinitely fascinating.
- 9:40So the, the creative problem-solving to be done at the CEO level
- 9:45can be just as fulfilling, if not more fulfilling, than, you know,
- 9:49doing the drafting or writing the code or whatever the thing is.
- 9:52Chris: It becomes like a video game, I have found,
- 9:54and that's probably a terrible analogy, but like-
- 9:57Brad: No, it's real
- 9:58… Chris: yeah, for me being a nerd, like, you know, there's, there's a
- 10:01reason, and I had this early on in my business, I, I found myself…
- 10:05This is so nerdy.
- 10:06I found myself being drawn to what they call 4X strategy games, which are
- 10:10like the, the really big, broad, like Europa Universalis is a good example of
- 10:15it, and they're these big, like you're managing a whole country and deciding
- 10:19whether to go to war or whether to grow economically and all these things.
- 10:24And like, I found myself being drawn to that, in city-building games and things
- 10:27like that, and I'm like, "Why am I doing this?" And I realized, like, it's
- 10:31basically a ga- a business simulation, and it's one that g- gives me sometimes
- 10:37better instant gratification for what I want out of growing a business.
- 10:41Brad: Oh, way better.
- 10:42Absolutely.
- 10:42Chris: Yeah, so yeah, that's, that's me on the therapist couch there.
- 10:48Brad: But that, that executive decision-making, like, like that is one level.
- 10:52Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 10:53Brad: The reason that there's so much more, um,
- 10:55immediate feedback in the game is, is people, right?
- 10:59So like in the game, you have, you make a decision,
- 11:02and the m- machine does the thing that you decided.
- 11:06When you're a leader, you make a decision, and then people don't
- 11:09do it, and they have to go find out why aren't they doing it.
- 11:11And like, you know, "Hey, remember we said we were gonna do this?" "Oh, yeah.
- 11:15Yeah, yeah."
- 11:17Chris: Yeah.
- 11:18It's, it's, it's not as fun when, when you can't just say, "Go
- 11:21th- go do this." And I was talking to another friend, um, about
- 11:25like how he's using AI in his business, and not to make this an AI
- 11:27conversation, but, but like we, w- I was trying, I was trying to
- 11:31just process with him, like why is this so addictive to founders?
- 11:35Like especially founders, and it's that same thing.
- 11:38It's that video game kind of thing.
- 11:40It's like everything I wanted, I don't have to wait for.
- 11:43I get instant gratification from getting an answer, getting a
- 11:46solution, getting a product built, and I think I have it, and it
- 11:51creates problems, but but it's, it's fascinating to see what it can
- 11:55come up with, and yeah, there's just that, that whole thing there.
- 11:58So, so you start working with people.
- 12:01You start helping them along this road.
- 12:03Um, what do you really like- How do, how do
- 12:07you really help people get to that next step?
- 12:09Like, what, what is kind of your approach to getting people to, um, to grow?
- 12:15Brad: The- there's sort, sort of two threads to that.
- 12:17One is the business provides the curriculum.
- 12:20You know?
- 12:21I- i- if, if they… If I say just, you know, "How's business?"
- 12:26They're gonna tell me what's going on, and there's plenty of us
- 12:28to work on just from whatever happens to be going on in their day.
- 12:32And that's, that's sort of one level of the game, which is if you think
- 12:37about it like a, a chess player, like, that's the tactics on the board.
- 12:42Do we move this piece?
- 12:43Do we move that piece, right?
- 12:45But the much more powerful level is, is
- 12:48what I call talking about the chess player.
- 12:50So you've got the moves on the board, but then
- 12:52also you have the person playing the chess.
- 12:55And what I've found is we can't build a
- 12:57business bigger than we've grown ourselves.
- 13:00Like, the, the first person that we need to lead is ourselves.
- 13:04And when we build that muscle of leading ourselves and s- and watching our
- 13:08decisions and watching how we're thinking and feeling about things, and that
- 13:14then helps us to make the, the moves on the board much more effortlessly.
- 13:19So, so a great example of that, I've been talking recently
- 13:22with a, an ar- a person who owns an architecture firm.
- 13:26And in her firm, she is the business development person, right?
- 13:31She's got a lot of people who can draft and do other things
- 13:33like that, but she's doing all the business development herself.
- 13:37And she has a belief that that's sort of her magic power.
- 13:41Like, she can… She's the one that creates this bond with the, the client.
- 13:47Well, if that's true, then this business can't grow, right?
- 13:50If you're the only one that can sell a project, and
- 13:53if you're the one creating that bond, then you have to
- 13:57stay involved as the project moves along, too, right?
- 14:00It's harder to pass it along.
- 14:02So we've been working on that belief that
- 14:04she has by just running some experiments.
- 14:07Like, what if we took two or three leads that are, you know, not a whole
- 14:11house redesign, but maybe a kitchen and bath project, and train one of
- 14:16your team members to go have that conversation and see what happens?
- 14:20So low stakes kind of things.
- 14:22Let's just try it out and see.
- 14:24And I don't have to convince her that she's wrong.
- 14:26I don't have to tell her that this is, you know, "You
- 14:28have to do this." She, she can do whatever she wants.
- 14:31It's her business.
- 14:32But we could try this experiment and see what happens.
- 14:34Chris: That whole process is, um, big for a lot of founders.
- 14:39People, people don't want to give up working in the business.
- 14:43They don't want to give up something they consider themselves integral to.
- 14:46I think for myself, with the business we've created, like, I, I feel like
- 14:50I'm in a good place where it's like, I'm not always in the best place with
- 14:53it, but it's, for the most part, like, I, I trust my team to do their work.
- 14:58Like, I can, I can say, "Okay, you guys go off and do this." And, and
- 15:02in fact, early on, I ma- forced myself to hire people, forced myself to
- 15:06bring people in so that margin was a part of my business, so I knew…
- 15:10So it didn't feel like I wasn't giving up part of
- 15:12myself or part of my livelihood to bring somebody in.
- 15:15And then as it grew, realizing, okay, this
- 15:18takes weight off my shoulders to continue.
- 15:21I mean, that's, that's huge.
- 15:22But a lot of founders, I mean, especially in the
- 15:24consulting or design industries, like yeah, it's hard.
- 15:26I mean, podcasting is hard, too.
- 15:28You want to make the best product for every client every time.
- 15:31And yeah, you got to trust your team to do that, too.
- 15:34So I, I totally get that.
- 15:35That's a big challenge.
- 15:36Brad: There's a math part of it, too, right?
- 15:38Like, when, when it's maybe you and an, an assistant or
- 15:41you and two people, when you go to hire that third person-
- 15:45You're increasing your, your, uh, payroll by 25%, right?
- 15:50It's a huge increase, huge increment.
- 15:52And now there's a huge amount of work that you need to
- 15:55move down to that person to, to, to pay for that leverage.
- 15:59So there's a step function in what you need to do to create your business.
- 16:02There's a step function in, in your change.
- 16:05When you're hiring your 20th person, it's a 5% increase in
- 16:08payroll they're probably not taking anything off of your plate.
- 16:12They're, y- things are just sort of sliding down the hill.
- 16:16And so the h- the first hires are the hardest.
- 16:19W- if you can get over those first few, each
- 16:22next hire gets easier and easier and easier.
- 16:25Chris: Yeah.
- 16:26I can, I can identify with that.
- 16:29I'll just leave it at that.
- 16:30Brad: The impression that most, uh, business owners have is, you know,
- 16:35they get to around a million five, maybe two million, and they're
- 16:38working really hard, and they're like, "I can't double this, Brad.
- 16:42I'm a, I'm… I can't work twice as hard." I'm like, "Exactly.
- 16:45Exactly." Yeah.
- 16:46"You're gonna work less hard at four or five
- 16:48million than you are right now at a million five."
- 16:51Chris: Yeah.
- 16:51Yeah, you, you wanna continue to distribute that, that work
- 16:56out and find ways to get it beyond yourself, and that's,
- 16:59that's, I think, the, the nut most people need to crack.
- 17:03So, yeah.
- 17:04Brad: It's a challenge.
- 17:05Chris: So let's talk a little bit about kinda starting…
- 17:08I mean, we've talked about getting into the business.
- 17:10We've kinda dove off the deep end.
- 17:11I, I have a bad habit of doing that, but-
- 17:13Brad: It's good habit.
- 17:14There's nothing bad about that
- 17:15… Chris: but love diving off the deep end.
- 17:17But when we, when we talk about getting this business
- 17:19started, what made you make that leap to the other side?
- 17:23Brad: I was invited to find employment somewhere else.
- 17:26Chris: Been there.
- 17:27Brad: The dot bomb happened, right?
- 17:29Valuations, uh, got really squirrely, and interest rates got
- 17:33high, and we just weren't gonna do any more deals, and I had been
- 17:37running one of the deal, one of the businesses that we'd bought.
- 17:41And, uh, it got to the point where we just needed to hire a CEO that
- 17:46was from the industry, and, and there just wasn't a next step for me.
- 17:49And at the same time, I kinda had an itch to do something differently.
- 17:54I imagined there must be other entrepreneurs out there that, that needed
- 17:58the kind of help that I was offering, you know, working for the billionaire.
- 18:01And so it was a pretty natural step to, to
- 18:06just kind of go out and get something started.
- 18:08Chris: Sometimes those thing, those opportunities present themselves, and-
- 18:10Brad: Indeed.
- 18:12Chris: It's good to, good to take advantage.
- 18:14Yeah.
- 18:14So, so clearly, I mean, you had a passion for this
- 18:16industry, passion for these people as you came into it.
- 18:19Um, when, when it started to grow, like, when was that moment when you realized,
- 18:24"Okay, this isn't just an in-between thing that I'm using to fill up my…"
- 18:28You know, people do that, like, fill up
- 18:29their resume until they find something else.
- 18:31Like, what was that moment of validation for you like?
- 18:34Brad: So when I started, I had, I had two
- 18:37kind of tracks that I was running down.
- 18:38One was I was gonna do this consulting thing, kinda see how it goes, kind of in
- 18:43the back of my mind thinking that one of these people would just hire me, right?
- 18:47And then the other option was maybe I'll find one of these
- 18:50businesses, and I'll just buy it 'cause, 'cause I had done a bunch of
- 18:53acquisitions, and it, it would be really fun to run a business again.
- 18:57And I remember there was a certain day when I was like, "You know, I
- 19:01haven't looked at a business brokerage site in, I don't know, six months."
- 19:07And I stopped looking at job sites, you know?
- 19:11And so there was just a place where it wasn't like a turning
- 19:13point, it was just a moment where I realized, "No, I think
- 19:16this is the thing I'm doing." And it took a long time.
- 19:20It probably took three or four years to where I, I was
- 19:23like, "No, this is the thing." And, and interestingly,
- 19:27about that time is when I started hiring other people, too.
- 19:30Like, once I decided that this was the thing I was gonna keep
- 19:33doing, I realized that I couldn't do it by myself anymore.
- 19:36Chris: So for you, having gone through it on that side, too, 'cause I know a lot
- 19:39of folks in your type of business, a lot of times it is just a solo practice.
- 19:43But when, when did you get to that threshold for yourself?
- 19:48Brad: I actually worked with a coach around that time, because
- 19:51I felt like my business was kind of stuck against a plateau.
- 19:55And so the, the coach that I brought in, she suggested hiring some people.
- 20:00And, you know, I had a, some arguments with her about how would that
- 20:04work, and all the same conversations that I have with clients now, right?
- 20:08And she convinced me to give it a try, and I actually started
- 20:12off hiring two people right away, 'cause I figured it's
- 20:14easier to train two people, and that way when one of them's
- 20:18terrible, I can fire that person and then still have some help.
- 20:20You know?
- 20:21We set up a rhythm where I just wouldn't go anywhere by myself.
- 20:25If I was going to see a client, whether it was a prospect or,
- 20:28or a client we were working with, I would bring someone with me.
- 20:32They would be there to hear the conversation that we're having,
- 20:34and they'd contribute, too, and then they would go do the homework,
- 20:39whatever the homework was, and I would go to the next meeting.
- 20:42And so, uh, that was kind of the, the initial way that the business ran.
- 20:48Chris: Yeah, and that's, that's good, because they're, they're seeing how you
- 20:51talk, how you do things, and they're, they're able to, to pick up on that.
- 20:55Brad: Right.
- 20:56Chris: I, I always hear people say, "Oh, you gotta hire an assistant first." Did
- 20:59you, did you go that route, or did you find, find somebody at a higher level?
- 21:03Brad: It's interesting that you say that.
- 21:04I did hire an assistant first.
- 21:06Um, mostly because, again, my, my coach at the time was like, "Well, track your
- 21:11time, Brad. Figure out where you're spending your time." And what we saw is
- 21:14that 20% of my time went into scheduling client meetings and prospect meetings.
- 21:19Like, it was just a lot of, like, Tetris on the calendar,
- 21:23and at that time I was driving to meet people in their
- 21:26office, so that, you know, it was j- it was kind of a mess.
- 21:28I was like, 20% of my time, I can get a day a week back for 500 bucks a month?
- 21:32Like, in.
- 21:34I am totally in.
- 21:35So I hired a VA and gave up my calendar, and that was phenomenal.
- 21:40That was huge.
- 21:41Chris: Yeah, I mean, tho- tho- those folks
- 21:43can make a big difference in what you're doing
- 21:45Brad: It was great.
- 21:46Chris: So then you moved on from there.
- 21:47What, what about the name, Anchor Advisors?
- 21:50I like to say, you know, names are intrinsic to branding.
- 21:53This is… We built this brand.
- 21:54Um, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask a good branding question.
- 21:57So why the name?
- 21:58Brad: So when I initially started the business, the business plan was, you
- 22:03know, remember, I had been buying businesses from entrepreneurs, and so the
- 22:07offer I was making to the marketplace was, "Hey, you're thinking about selling.
- 22:11Let's work together for a year.
- 22:13I'll help you to get a better valuation 'cause we
- 22:15can clean up some of the stuff on your balance sheet.
- 22:18We can get rid of Uncle Eddie and, you know, all the things
- 22:21that you don't wanna do but are gonna get, make you more money.
- 22:25And then when you sell it, I'll just take a piece of the upside."
- 22:29And, um, so the anchor in Anchor Advisors
- 22:32was, like, the anchor leg of the relay.
- 22:34It was like, "This is your last lap.
- 22:36Let's do this together." I signed a couple of those deals, worked,
- 22:41straightened out the business, was like, "All right, great.
- 22:43Now it's time.
- 22:43Let's put it on the market." And they're like- Why would I wanna sell it?
- 22:47This is a great business.
- 22:48Like, you fixed all the problems.
- 22:52It was like, so that was how I was getting paid?
- 22:55Never mind.
- 22:58We're just gonna do this differently from now on.
- 23:02Chris: You, you live and learn, right?
- 23:03You live and learn.
- 23:03Brad: Right.
- 23:04Exactly.
- 23:06Maybe I should have foreseen that, but whatever.
- 23:10Chris: Some- sometimes you can't predict it.
- 23:11We, um, you know, we do podcast production, and we've… You know, we, we
- 23:15used to sell, like, se- a series up front, and I stopped doing that because
- 23:20I realized people were buying it, and then the company would sit on it.
- 23:24And then, like, five years later they'd come back and be
- 23:27like, "Hey, we still have those 10 episodes with you, right?"
- 23:31So not quite the same thing, but a similar, similar scenario of like, oh,
- 23:35if I don't do something to structure this better, I'm gonna be in trouble.
- 23:39Brad: Yeah.
- 23:39Chris: Yeah.
- 23:40Yeah.
- 23:40So, so then what, what was the pivot after that then?
- 23:42Brad: Uh, so I just started helping people
- 23:44to, to improve their businesses and grow them.
- 23:46Like, that's what they wanted anyway, right?
- 23:48And it, it was easy.
- 23:49Like, looking for people who were getting ready to sell narrowed my market.
- 23:53This just made it, opened up the number of people that I could talk to.
- 23:56And so e- one of my clients was a marketing firm, and I said, "Listen,
- 24:01we gotta…" Because the logo was, like, handing off the baton.
- 24:04Like, everything didn't fit, right?
- 24:06And so they redid the logo with this nautical theme, and
- 24:10it's still, um, the tagline is, "Own your course." So it's,
- 24:14it's about getting more agency, which is what I'm all about.
- 24:18And so, like, it fit.
- 24:19It's fine.
- 24:19And, and trust is the, the underlying thing of the brand.
- 24:24It's, it's this green and black, it's kind of a
- 24:26high, um, higher-end look but, but built along trust.
- 24:32And so the, the name kept, the name still worked.
- 24:35There was no reason to change it.
- 24:37We just kind of pivoted it around to a different logo.
- 24:40Chris: Yeah.
- 24:41I mean, I think it, it fits more the, the name itself,
- 24:44and the, the everything about that makes a lot more sense.
- 24:48Do you… I'm just curious, do you have any
- 24:50experience with sailing or nautical-themed things?
- 24:54Like, is that a passion or…?
- 24:55Brad: I mean, around that time I was reading Patrick O'Brian.
- 24:58I don't know if you know
- 24:59Chris: his- Yes, yes.
- 25:00Brad: So that, that's as, as much sailing as I've done, but it-
- 25:04Chris: It's a good book.
- 25:05Good books.
- 25:06Brad: Yeah, fantastic.
- 25:09Chris: To me, that's a deep cut from, like, my past.
- 25:11So I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, I haven't heard that name in a while."
- 25:14Brad: I know.
- 25:15Chris: So then where, where are things for you now?
- 25:18Where are you hoping things to go in the future?
- 25:21Brad: Want to launch a podcast without the hassle?
- 25:23HumblePod makes podcasting
- 25:25Chris: easy.
- 25:25From concept to launch, we'll help you create a professional, engaging show.
- 25:30Already have a podcast?
- 25:32We handle editing, show notes, transcriptions, and even
- 25:34video production, so you can focus on your content.
- 25:38With our tailored services, you get high-quality production,
- 25:41seamless publishing, and expert support at every step.
- 25:45Whether you're starting fresh or leveling up, HumblePod ensures
- 25:48your podcast sounds amazing and reaches the right audience.
- 25:52Visit humblepod.com to get started today
- 26:02Brad: So in 2019, I pivoted out of consulting and into coaching.
- 26:07And what happened there, I, I, I enjoy consulting,
- 26:11I enjoy the hands-on and solving problems.
- 26:14Um, but sort of i- in the same way the, what you were talking about at your
- 26:19business, the thing about consulting is the, the implied deal is that the client
- 26:26says, "I have this problem," and you say, "Well, I'm gonna fix it," right?
- 26:30Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 26:31Brad: But most often the problem that the, the client would bring me
- 26:34is, "Brad, my, my team, you know, the, the team just isn't performing.
- 26:38They're not doing the things that I'm s- I want them to do.
- 26:40They, you know, they, they don't have the skills." The, and
- 26:42I listen to this whole litany and then I think, "So the team
- 26:46that you hired and that you're training, and you're the one
- 26:51holding them accountable, that, that's the team that's broken?"
- 26:54Chris: Yeah.
- 26:55Touché.
- 26:57Brad: And so, uh, again, I ha- and this was another point in which I was
- 27:01working with a coach and, and I went to her and I said, "I, I just don't
- 27:05wanna have this conversation anymore." She said, "Well, that's coaching.
- 27:08Coaching is saying the first thing to fix is you,
- 27:11and when you fix you, everything around you changes."
- 27:14And I was like, "Yes, I know.
- 27:15That's exactly how it works." And she says, "Well, then maybe that's
- 27:18what you should sell." So I, I pivoted out of consulting into coaching.
- 27:23It's really helped me to sharpen the message that I'm giving to the world.
- 27:27And like now if you go to my homepage, it basically says, "When
- 27:32you come to the point where you realize that you are the reason
- 27:34that your business isn't growing, you should give me a call."
- 27:38And that's, that means I don't have to have that conversation anymore.
- 27:41People that are coming to me knowing that, that they're the first client.
- 27:46And now, um, you know, a significant portion of my clients, I'm
- 27:51working with the CEO, but I'm also working with their management team.
- 27:55So now we're fixing both problems together.
- 27:57So the CEO is changing her behavior, and then we're
- 28:01talking to the management team about where their gaps are.
- 28:05And so that is, like, now it's come full circle to where
- 28:09we're, we're working both with the CEO and with the
- 28:12team to close the gaps and move the business forward.
- 28:15Chris: I really like your approach when I was looking through
- 28:16the website, just how you're, you're, you're very approachable.
- 28:20Like, I feel like a lot of these coaches and, and folks that I
- 28:23see, sometimes it can feel a little intimidating to reach out or,
- 28:27or like, "How am I gonna talk to this guy?" And you seem like,
- 28:29"Hey, let's just have a conversation and see where this goes.
- 28:32Like, I'm not gonna pressure you into anything.
- 28:34Like, let's just see if I can help.
- 28:35Let's see if we can do some things." And like, it, for my personality and a lot
- 28:39of other entrepreneurs, I think that's really helpful to know that they can test
- 28:42the waters versus having to commit to, you know, a, you know, $100,000-a-year
- 28:48training course that's gonna meet in a cohort every Friday at 6:00 AM.
- 28:53You know?
- 28:53Like, that can be difficult for some people, and that, that's a lot
- 28:56of commitment up front versus, "Hey, let's just see how it goes."
- 28:59Brad: One of the things that I'm sort of, uh, known for fr- by my
- 29:04clients is that I, I say that all sales come in conversations, right?
- 29:09You don't sell anything to anybody you're not having a
- 29:11conversation with, especially in, in professional services.
- 29:14And so whatever marketing we're doing, the goal
- 29:19of that marketing is to start a conversation.
- 29:23And this is one of the things I, I love about email marketing,
- 29:26is that I can send an email out to thousands of people, and
- 29:29when they hit reply, we're in a one-to-one conversation.
- 29:33And so the end of every one of my emails is a question, and a
- 29:38surprising number of people hit reply and answer that question.
- 29:42And now we're in a conversation, right?
- 29:44And that conversation might be, "You know, that's a really great an- let's get
- 29:48on the phone and talk about that," and now we're in a, in a sales conversation.
- 29:53But, but whatever it is that I'm doing, the goal
- 29:56of that is to start conversations with people.
- 29:59Chris: I think that's a great position on it too, 'cause that's, that's
- 30:02all you really can do, um, is just try to get that conversation, try to
- 30:06have that first talk, and a lot of times things naturally flow from there.
- 30:10Whether they become a client or not, you at least have the conversation.
- 30:13Brad: M- my current coach, one of the things that she says all the time
- 30:16is, uh, "I talk to people all day long. Some people pay me, some people
- 30:20don't." It, it's hard to know wha- wha- whether from the first conversation
- 30:25or the second conversation if it makes sense for us to work together.
- 30:29So just having more conversations leads to more clients.
- 30:32That's kinda the way it works.
- 30:35Chris: Do you have a, a specific strategy around trying to
- 30:39get these conversations, or is it just, "Hey, if I put myself
- 30:41out there, the business comes in and we do it that way"?
- 30:45Brad: Pre-pandemic I met a lot of people out at events and things like that.
- 30:51Uh, and would, would create my own events where I would invite people
- 30:55to, and, and whether that was just a lunch with four or five people that
- 30:58I think should know each other or, you know, a workshop of some kind.
- 31:02Uh, and then obviously the pandemic changed that, and so there were a
- 31:06lot of online places where I would meet people and have those same kind
- 31:09of conversations, whether it's a, you know, a, a Slack that's full of,
- 31:13of agency owners or some kind of forum or, or, uh, online discussion
- 31:19that has people in it that are asking these kinds of questions.
- 31:22Now that I, I'm, you know, whatever this is, year
- 31:25of our Lord 2026, I'm going back to meeting people.
- 31:29Like, I really enjoy meeting people face-to-face, and finding some venues
- 31:34where people are just having the kinds of conversations that I want to be in.
- 31:38And so, uh, going out and meeting people and getting to know
- 31:43them is fun for me, and so I'll just do that as much as I can.
- 31:47Chris: That's a great way to do it.
- 31:48I'm finding that to be useful these days.
- 31:51Um, and it, it's weird because we, we did, like, I
- 31:53think there's this hesitancy 'cause I, I m- I help run a
- 31:57American Marketing Association chapter here in Knoxville.
- 32:00I won't go into all the details, but it's a
- 32:01challenge to get people to come out to things still.
- 32:04And so, like, you, you start to think, oh, well, nobody's gonna
- 32:07wanna do things, but then if it's the right thing, everybody's there.
- 32:11You know, um, down the street from a great bar, and everybody… Like, you,
- 32:15you go there during the World Cup right now, it is packed during games.
- 32:19So, like, people are getting out and doing things,
- 32:21it's just are they doing the things that you wanna do?
- 32:23And I think people's priorities have shifted because they realize
- 32:27that all those luncheons they were going to for weeks on end
- 32:30or months on end, you know, just to, just to do to get out of
- 32:33work- Mm … um, don't really add any value to their lives.
- 32:37Um, or, you know, they might want to stay in their yoga pants at home.
- 32:40I, I totally get that, you know?
- 32:42Like, it's, it's tough to get, you know, to get dressed up
- 32:46nice and come out, um, when you could be at home doing the work
- 32:49and, you know, nobody has to see you dressed the way you are.
- 32:53Brad: It's also though, I think it's an interesting filter.
- 32:56Chris: Mm-hmm.
- 32:57Brad: Because the people that have taken the eff- or to get
- 33:00dressed and get out and, and meet some other people, those are
- 33:04more often the type of people that w- want to work with me.
- 33:07They're, they're… You know, what I always say is I would, I can
- 33:11help people- Who are gonna be successful whether they work with
- 33:14me or not, much more than people who are n- you know, maybe on a
- 33:18not so successful trajectory and we need to turn things around.
- 33:21So I'm looking to meet people that are already out on the way to their success,
- 33:27and, and the people that are showing up to those events are often those people.
- 33:31Chris: So what does the future look like?
- 33:33N- not broadly speaking, of course.
- 33:36Brad: It's a tricky question in 2026, isn't it?
- 33:39Chris: Yeah, I know.
- 33:40Brad: No, I think that coaching, like, th- the thing that's interesting
- 33:43to me about coaching is that it's an intensely human experience.
- 33:47Listening to someone, uh, is for many people indiscernible
- 33:52from love And so I, I just wanna do more of it.
- 33:57And, and I don't really see a lot changing about it,
- 34:00uh, other than, you know, the sizes of the companies
- 34:03that I'm working with are getting a little bit bigger.
- 34:05There's definitely, the CEOs that I'm working with have different pressures,
- 34:09whether it's private equity pressures or, or other types of investor pressures.
- 34:13That kind of stuff is changing.
- 34:14But, um, but that's not a lot different from
- 34:17the acquisition work that I did 20 years ago.
- 34:20And so, yeah, I, I think some of the problems are shifting,
- 34:24but the actual work to be done is pretty much the same.
- 34:27Chris: And again, I don't, I don't wanna dive into AI too much, but
- 34:32there, there is this, this pattern that I have noticed, um, 'cause as a
- 34:36kid, my dad worked for AT&T, um, or Bell South back in the day, actually.
- 34:40D- deep cut there, too.
- 34:42Um, but he worked for Bell South, and I remember g-
- 34:44as a kid, going into his office and seeing a computer.
- 34:48And, you know, as I got older and, and learned more
- 34:50about the history of all that, like, there was a lot of
- 34:52panic around, oh, we're gonna have desktop computers?
- 34:55Oh, we're gonna have laptops?
- 34:56Eh, you know, productivity's gonna explode,
- 34:59and we're not gonna have to work as much.
- 35:00And I'm like, I'm sitting here now going, "I've
- 35:03heard this story before. It's the same old song."
- 35:07Brad: It's the same story.
- 35:09And some things did change.
- 35:10You know, in the '80s, we had 15 secretaries in our company.
- 35:15That, that, that company doesn't have any secretaries now, right?
- 35:17Like, so there are things that are gonna change, but
- 35:20yeah, w- uh, the infinite leisure thing is bananas.
- 35:24I mean, the people that are selling that are
- 35:25selling you that because they want you to use AI.
- 35:27I mean, that's, it's in their interest for us to believe that.
- 35:30But that seems very unlikely to me.
- 35:32Chris: But when you talk about some of the same challenges and things,
- 35:34like, it does feel like it's a different song, but it's the same melody.
- 35:38Brad: Yeah.
- 35:39Chris: It's kinda like the same thing going on,
- 35:40so that makes total sense for where you're at.
- 35:43Brad: The reason we keep talking about it even though we say we're
- 35:45not gonna talk about it is that it is changing a lot of things.
- 35:49Like, it, I spend a lot of time with clients talking about how AI is changing
- 35:55not just the work that's being done, but their relationship with the workers.
- 35:58Because to your point, they're chatting with AI about problems,
- 36:02and so there, some of the problems that would have bubbled up in
- 36:06the past, people are, are using AI to try to solve that problem.
- 36:10And I mean, great, there's some efficiency in that, but when I
- 36:14don't hear about the problems that are happening in the field
- 36:17or learning is happening in these little s- uh, bubbles all
- 36:21over the place, that's not necessarily great for the company.
- 36:24So finding a way to, to aggregate that learning and share it around and
- 36:29validate it to make sure it's legal and, you know, ethical and doing the thing
- 36:33that we want it to do That is a different challenge that's arising with it
- 36:38Chris: Absolutely.
- 36:39And, I mean, to that point, I mean, I, I can point to, um, I think it's the
- 36:43owner of Tencent who, um, I think that's the name of the guy, who, who had this
- 36:48big bout with this software developer, um, who's making the game Subnautica
- 36:52Two, and he put, he put all these, he put all these benchmarks for them
- 36:56thinking, "Oh, they're never gonna hit this," and they blew it out of the water.
- 36:59Pun intended, if you know Subnautica.
- 37:01Brad: Yeah, yeah.
- 37:02Chris: He blew it out of the water, and it's a great game.
- 37:04And, um, you know, everybody's excited about it, and, you know, the, he,
- 37:09he was like, "Oh, crap, I've gotta pay these guys something silly like
- 37:13250 million a piece." And he's like, "How do I get out of this?" And
- 37:16he goes to AI, and he chats about it, and he never consults a lawyer.
- 37:19Brad: Yes, I remember.
- 37:20I did see this.
- 37:22Chris: It's wild.
- 37:23Brad: I can't remember his name, but the, he was one
- 37:25of the founders of Uber, was chatting with ChatGPT and,
- 37:29and decided that he invented a new branch of physics.
- 37:31You know, like-
- 37:33… Chris: a
- 37:33Brad: lot of crazy things can happen if you're stuck in that bubble.
- 37:37Chris: There's a great YouTuber that I followed named Eddy Burback,
- 37:40and he did a video where he let AI lead him into ps- psychosis.
- 37:44Not really, but, like, he just followed everything it suggested for,
- 37:47like, a month, and he goes down an insane rabbit hole with that.
- 37:51Um, and it's just hilarious, and it's like, it's, it's funny, but
- 37:54at the same time, there are people that are doing that right now.
- 37:57Brad: 100%.
- 37:58And it's not… Before AI, people did it with, you know, library books or,
- 38:03or social media or, I mean, it, it's, this is just a thing that people do.
- 38:08But we can do it much more efficiently now.
- 38:10Chris: Golly, I'm really doing a deep cut today.
- 38:13A podcast I love, um, called Hardcore History with Dan Carlin.
- 38:17Um, he has an episode, I, I even went back
- 38:20and bought it because I loved it so much.
- 38:21Four hours long, and it's, it's called, um, it's called The
- 38:25Prophets of Doom, and it's about the town of Munster and the Sie-
- 38:29I think they call it, like, the Siege of Munster or something.
- 38:32And it was, like, right after the Protestant Reformation when
- 38:35everybody was like, "Oh, I can read the Bible and make my own
- 38:37decisions on the Bible now." I mean, it's kind of the same thing, not-
- 38:42Brad: I did my own research
- 38:43… Chris: I did my own research, and I came to the conclusion
- 38:45the world's ending, so we're gonna take over this town.
- 38:49So yeah, it's, it's wild.
- 38:51It's, it's a wild place, and, and I, and I bring all that up, and I'm,
- 38:53I'm referencing all this not just to digress but because, like, when
- 38:56you're a leader, that stuff, like, that can make or break your business.
- 39:01So, like, I'm sure you're having conversations
- 39:03about, okay, let's talk you off the ledge here.
- 39:05Claude said to do that, but is Claude a
- 39:06real person, or is Claude a word predictor?
- 39:09Brad: Does it have your best interest in mind?
- 39:12Does it know you have children?
- 39:13Chris: Absolutely.
- 39:15I can help you with 20 things today.
- 39:16Brad: Exactly.
- 39:19Yeah, it's an interesting time, uh, to be alive, and, but I think
- 39:23it's a really fun time to be a coach because what I'm seeing is
- 39:27that some of the overhang from the pandemic and the years, you know,
- 39:31the, the disaster years that kind of followed- People are, have
- 39:35capitulated, and it's like we're not waiting for things to get better.
- 39:38We're just gonna make our lives better as, in the world that we are living in.
- 39:42And so my job as a coach is to stand in the, in the
- 39:46land of possibility and invite my clients to be there.
- 39:49And I just see people are in that mode right now where
- 39:53that's what they're looking for, that's the thing that
- 39:55they want, is to create more possibility for themselves.
- 39:58And, you know, that's, that's like being a kid in a candy store for me.
- 40:02Chris: It's a cool place to be.
- 40:04Um, I think that, you know, another thing that's probably helped,
- 40:07helped your industry, or the side of what you do to a degree too,
- 40:10is that people are really more open and honest about their own
- 40:13mental health and about the, the help that they need and things.
- 40:16Um, I know I'm as, as I've grown older, it's become more
- 40:19prevalent to be like, "Oh, I need to go seek a counselor
- 40:22for that," or, "I, I need to go get therapy," you know?
- 40:24Like, it's not the taboo that it used to be.
- 40:27Brad: That's helpful for me, because with clients, like I, I am not a therapist.
- 40:31I'm not trained in that.
- 40:32I don't have the insurance, right?
- 40:34And so, uh, I have one client, I see her at 10:00, and
- 40:38then she sees her tw- her therapist at noon, and we-
- 40:41we're very clear, like that's a 12:00 problem, you know?
- 40:44Like-
- 40:44Chris: That's a good point.
- 40:45Brad: And so h- having a way to like separate that out and, and know what-
- 40:50what's for this hour and what's for that next hour is really helpful.
- 40:53Chris: Well, Brad, as we wrap up, always love to ask this question.
- 40:57I know, um, you know, it's, it's a branding question, and,
- 41:01and you may, you may be prepared for it, you may not be.
- 41:03But always like to ask this one, which is
- 41:06what brand do you admire the most right now?
- 41:08Brad: Hmm.
- 41:09That's a really good question.
- 41:10For many years, Apple would've been like the snap answer, right?
- 41:15Mm-hmm.
- 41:15You know, everyone believes that they're way
- 41:17behind on AI, and certainly Siri is terrible.
- 41:19But the thing that I love about Apple is that they're kind of playing the long
- 41:24game, and they've built this hardware where you can run local AI, and it, this
- 41:29whole thing may come around to being that they were ahead of the game all along.
- 41:33So maybe, maybe that's the, the brand that I admire.
- 41:36But in the, in the professional services space, boy, that's tricky.
- 41:41The, again, the, the, the leader in the clubhouse was always Goldman
- 41:45Sachs, 'cause they had this incredible values culture that they led from.
- 41:50Um, but one of the challenges when, when a lot of the
- 41:54professional services firms went from being partnerships to
- 41:57being publicly held is that those values kind of dissipated.
- 42:02And, um, so I don't have a good- icon in professional services right now
- 42:08Chris: That's okay.
- 42:08I, I think Apple's a, a really good example of, you know, where, where
- 42:14branding is, you know, really key to what they do, and it's, it's everything.
- 42:19And they, I think they… I, I kind of wonder if one day we'll
- 42:22learn that the internals of that, that, that AI conversation
- 42:25was like, "If we put this out here, we're gonna look terrible.
- 42:28Like, we- we've already, we've already been dumb enough
- 42:30to put this out, but oh my gosh." And yeah, I don't know.
- 42:34Like, it's, it's either that or they, yeah, like
- 42:35you said, I think they are playing the long game.
- 42:37Um, so it'll be interesting to see what comes of that.
- 42:40I kind of wonder if it's kind of like the, you know, I, I don't think
- 42:43it's gonna be a lasting part of Tim Cook's legacy with the company, but
- 42:47it is kind of the last bit of what he's doing, and if you look at what's
- 42:50coming up, like I'm really excited for what I- where Apple's headed.
- 42:53Brad: Apple's a black box, so we can cast
- 42:56whatever story we want onto them, right?
- 42:58But one of their values is privacy.
- 43:01Like, that's one of their differentiators.
- 43:03And the frontier models and the cl- the way that they're, the
- 43:07data all ends up in the cloud isn't very privacy friendly.
- 43:11And you know, again, talk about a story we've been through before,
- 43:16Facebook, um, I don't think we all want our data to end up in a cloud.
- 43:20And so waiting until they had a way to do things with privacy
- 43:25in mind, like I said, it might, it might all come around.
- 43:28Chris: Well, Brad, thank you so much.
- 43:30This has been awesome chatting with you.
- 43:32Where can people find out more about you,
- 43:35connect with you, um, and all those good things?
- 43:38Brad: I mean, the best place to go is to anchoradvisors.com.
- 43:41All of my writing is there.
- 43:43You, you can sign up for a newsletter.
- 43:45If you go to anchoradvisors.com/self-leadership-assessment, and I'm sure that
- 43:51Chris will throw that in the show notes for you, there's a little 10 question
- 43:55assessment that helps you to determine where your self-leadership could use
- 44:00a, you know, where it's strong and maybe where it could use some development.
- 44:03And, uh, that might be a great place to start if, if this
- 44:07is the first time you're encountering this information.
- 44:10Chris: Great.
- 44:10Well, Brad, thank you so much for coming on We Built This Brand.
- 44:13Brad: Yeah.
- 44:14It's fun to be here.
- 44:14Thanks.
- 44:15Chris: Absolutely.
- 44:16You're welcome.
- 44:17Thank you for checking out this episode of We Built This Brand.
- 44:20Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe on your player of choice.
- 44:24You can keep up with the podcast on our website, webuiltthisbrand.com.
- 44:28If you liked this episode, please give the podcast a five star review and make
- 44:32sure to tell all your friends about it so we can continue to build this brand.