Latest / Unstoppable Success Podcast / 17 - Mentorship Matters: How Influential Leaders Shape Our Paths with CapForge's Matt Remuzzi

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17 - Mentorship Matters: How Influential Leaders Shape Our Paths with CapForge's Matt Remuzzi · Unstoppable Success Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight, influential leaders and their game-changing insights.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jacqueline Straubinger, CEO and founder of Leap to Your Success.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's LeapToYourSuccess.com.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: We help entrepreneurs, leaders, and CEOs grow their business, become unstoppable high achievers in their careers in life, giving a 1% edge.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We believe every professional has the power within them to leap to their greatest success that not only will impact their life, but the lives of the people they touch.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So stick around to the end of the show and we will share with you how you can be our next guest.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So stick around for those 15 to 20 minutes and let's be unstoppable.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everybody, and I am Jaclyn Strominger.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast, where we hear from influential leaders and their game-changing insights.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm Jacqueline Strominger, your host, and today I want to welcome our amazing guest, Rhett Matt.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I'm like saying guest with Matt.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Matt Ramuzzi.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Matt has an amazing history, and we're so grateful to have him as a guest.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: He started CapForge back in 2000 after being laid off from venture from a venture-backed firm as a part of the dot-com bust happening at the time.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And CapForge started out as a consulting business for small businesses and has never strayed from those roots.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But in 2012, he um he added bookkeeping and it became the focus with more accounting services added each year, including tax prep, payroll, coaching, advisory services, due diligence, and business exits, all becoming part of the services offered.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: He continues to work on growing the business while the team runs the day-to-day operations and continues to ensure that they're always providing five-star quality and service to their clients.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Matt has been a guest on a dozen of programs and always gets a great reception for being down to earth, a good storyteller, and a 20-year entrepreneur and small business advisor.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: He is going to have a great wealth of insights and information.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, Matt, welcome to the show and to the podcast.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, really grateful to have you here.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your having me on.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's always fun to uh connect with people, share stories, and hopefully drop some content wisdom out there.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The key party, that content wisdom, I think it's so important these days.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: As we were talking a little bit before the show, leadership is such an important topic.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if we can create some more great leaders, it's amazing what the world could do.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, Matt, tell us about your journey.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You shared in the bio that you left the corporate world, so to speak, and you went out on your own.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always curious, share a little bit about that story and what led you really to start your own and not go back into a corporate and start your leadership journey as a leader of a company.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had, I'm somebody who'd always known that I'd wanted to have my own business.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I always had that as a goal, as an internal drive, but I didn't ever know how to manifest that, what that would have looked like.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a particular business that I wanted to start or a specific skill that I thought would be useful.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't know how to make that into a reality.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So eventually I went to the MBA program at San Diego State and they had an entrepreneurship track.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, this will be great.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'll finally get it figured out.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I have two years to surround myself with other entrepreneurs.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'll finally get it figured out.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I graduated in May of 2000.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: I had not yet figured it out.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I took a job at this company, which was a venture-backed company, doing consulting for small businesses.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I got laid off a few months later in October.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, I thought I had some savings and I thought, okay, now I finally have a skill and I know I like working with small businesses.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe what I'll do is I'll see if I can do this consulting that I was doing under the company umbrella as a freelancer on my own.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give myself, it was October at that point, I'll give myself till the end of the year, if I can make this work, cool.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: If not, I guess I'll go back to looking for a job in January.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And fortunately, based on the experience I'd had and the connections I'd made in that entrepreneurship program and working at that consulting company, I was able to get a job, a consulting gig, and then another one and another one.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And pretty soon I figured out, okay, I think I can make this work.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just never looked back.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was on the route.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't, that wasn't my dream business or my dream entrepreneurial vision.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: But at least I knew I could sell myself, sell services that I could provide, charge a fair price for it, and support myself without having to go get a job.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, I bounced through about 14 other things.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then I finally ended up where I am now.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: But along the way, each, and they weren't all successes.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: I tried different things.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some worked, some didn't.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: But each time you do that, you build your mental confidence and you're you get a thicker skin about when you run into problems and you less and less think of going to get a job as a plan B.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let's all do this, but if that doesn't work, I'll do something else.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But none of those things are going to involve me getting a job again.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's just going to be some different version of entrepreneur.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: But you, at least for me, I had to do it, and it took a while before I felt, okay, this is real and I'm I can do it.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But that was an accidental launch into entrepreneurship.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I wanted to do it, but I just didn't know the how or the what.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that experience gave me the what it was I was going to do and how I was going to do it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then that's when all the pieces came together.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I have lots of different questions I want to ask you, but and some of it has nothing to do with leadership, some of it has to do with selling yourself.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to ask you the on the leadership, when you were at the venture back to company and doing the consulting, was there anybody there that inspired you, or did you maintain any connections with any of those people that actually helped you launch yourself or that and also was a mentor or a someone that you wanted to follow or emulate?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Very much so.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was fortunate enough that my boss in that short tenure at that company was called a lead him, was a guy named Mark Devine.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look him up, Mark Devine is a former Navy SEAL, he's got some great books out on lead about the best mentor I could have asked for in that position.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was entrepreneurial himself.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: He had started uh a microbrewing company, he had some online ventures going at the time.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And really the best thing I learned from Mark was just the ability to continue to push through.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, that was part of his ethos as a Navy SEAL, right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, no problem stops us from the mission.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I wasn't operating in a Navy SEAL environment, but nevertheless, right?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Entrepreneurship, there people are constantly people are constantly throwing rocks at you, right?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's always one thing after another.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And if you let that bog you down, if you let that knock you off course or decide to give up, then of course, right, it you will not accomplish the mission.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he was not only a great inspiration from a business standpoint and as a leader, but also that just that mental toughness and the desire to set your focus on a goal and push through regardless.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I had some of that internal drive anyway, but it really just brought it to a forefront.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: How if you decide that you won't be stopped, you won't be stopped.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you can, it's one thing to say it, but it's another thing to see somebody demonstrate it and really put it into your that really is something you can do.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just words or a fancy bumper sticker, but it's really the reality.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was very fortunate to have worked with him for that period of time and we stayed friends after, and we continued to support each other.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I've helped him with some of his stuff and and vice versa.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, he was uh that was Providence saying, Boy, we're gonna give you just exactly what you need in this moment in time to get you on your way.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't have picked a better person had I had a whole yearbook to to pick from.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I think about people getting into the workforce, and that's one of the things, having a great leader that and it's not necessarily even a leader, but somebody that you could look up to and say, you know what, he's got qualities and skills that I really want to either emulate or take home or adopt, and not everybody gets that.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: You run a company and of your own.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's your leadership philosophy?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: We had a company retreat just a few weeks ago where I talked about this because I really believe that culture comes from the top down, and who I decided to hire and promote directly influences who they've decided to hire and promote, and the whole thing kind of runs from the top.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: There really is leadership from the top down, is a real thing, a culture from the top down.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And my philosophy, which I learned from another mentor who was even earlier in my career when I was a restaurant manager and I'd never managed anybody, he showed me the light on how to manage people.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: But the the basic philosophy is that if there was a problem, it must have been my fault.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason I think that's really important to adopt as a philosophy is because if I say these things just happened to me, there's nothing I could do.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: That person's a bad employee, that person made bad decisions or poor choices, and now we're all stuck with trying to clean up the mess.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at the world that way, then of course, yeah, you're the victim of your circumstance.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: But if you say, How what can I have done differently to prevent this?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: How is this?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I look at this as okay, this was my fault.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: What do I need to do then to fix it?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: And somebody like, how can everything be your fault?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: If the person, even if it's not my direct report, but a supportant of them, did I not give their manager enough training, enough clarity, enough clear expectations on how to hire and train their people, then I could have done a better job, right?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody's continually underperforming, what did I do that didn't give them the tools they need to do it properly?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it's just they're just not the right fit.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I have continued to let them be in a position that they shouldn't be in, right?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whether either changing their role or maybe they're just not a good fit for the business, and that decision needs to be made.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I think if you look at things at whatever level of management you're at, is what did I not do enough of or could have done better or failed to do that allowed this thing to happen?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you take control and own it, then you can fix it.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you externalize what happened and say, was nothing I could have done, that was not my fault, that came from out of the blue or whatever, then you're just saying whatever happens, that we're just gonna have to deal with it.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing we could have done.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my philosophy is there's always things we can improve, there's always ways we can make it better, there's always ways you can take responsibility, own the problem, and then fix the problem.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's your attitude, then there is no problem that we can't overcome and make better and fix.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I've tried to instill in everybody in the team here that you try to own the problem, figure out how you could have done it better, even if it doesn't directly seem like it was your doing.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's probably a connection, there's a way you could influence making that problem go away or get solved or get better or whatever the case.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my philosophy.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: It comes from the top down and responsibility goes up, right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: The buck stops all the way at the top.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then if each person has that attitude, then you know nobody's ever going to be pointing fingers and playing the blame game.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: You just it comes back to yourself.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's truly that's such a great insight.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, listeners, take it, take note of that, like own it, like really own it.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say from what you're saying too, it also starts with obviously it starts at the top, but being able to know I call it your achievement code and those values that not only that you want, but you want your company to have.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then sharing that mission and making sure that everybody from the top down knows it and that it works.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: You you operate as a team under that environment because you can't a team is a team that works together.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can't point a finger at one person if a team is gonna work together.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Unless you're talking about golf, businesses like sports and whatnot, it's a team effort.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: As long as you operate as a team, you either rise together or you fall together.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: This style and being able to own it.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: So in this same vein, how do you feel that this parlays into creating and cultivating a culture of high performance in your organization?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And are there strategies that you put in place to ensure that success?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think if everybody takes ownership, then it's much more of let's get this solved, let me figure out how to instead of passing it on.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because what in a lot of businesses, a lot of companies is it wasn't us, it was the sales department.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: They overpromised.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the sales department says, Well, it was the marketing, they set these expectations that we're never going to be able to meet, and then they it was customer service, they failed to, but and nobody's taking responsibility, nobody's changing the way other people to fix the problem, and then of course nobody ever fixes it.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we try to just turn that around and say solution.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if each person's thinking that way and collaborating on it, then no problem should really survive very long, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: When a bunch of people are pouncing on it to figure out how to fix it collectively.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it requires people to work together and to take that ownership.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens then is when somebody doesn't fit that mold, right?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: When their was their fault or I didn't do it or I couldn't have known, it really sticks out, right?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone else, that's not how we really do stuff here.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how we don't assign blame, we try to solve problems.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: So people that are prone to underperformance or blame shifting or whatever, they just either they go, oh, okay, I guess that's not how things happen here.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let me figure out how to do it the way things happen here, or they don't last, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: It turns out we made a poor hiring decision, you're just not a good fit.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't the place for you.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: One way or the other, it tends to weed out those people who would otherwise be B or C level performers because it's so obvious when everyone else is an A.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's how you can grow a company, but keep those levels of standards as high as possible because A people want to work with other A people.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as you get a B person in, they're more likely to hire a B or a C person.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: And now pretty soon it's dragging everything down.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the good people, if you get too many of the B and C kind of level people, the A people leave.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't want to, I don't want to work in an environment where I'm doing three people's jobs and yeah, I still get all the blame and nobody wants to work with me to help solve stuff.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to be, I think, very cognizant of that and very careful to not let that creep into your organization.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: And when it does, identify it and fix it or carve it out.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, it festers and it just continues to rot from the inside out, kind of thing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, and that's so true because that if you've got somebody in there who is whether they're a negative person or maybe they're not fit for the right team, they're not on the right team, but maybe there's a better place for them, you can decide that and figure that out by knowing who they are.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if there is somebody in there who is bringing the rest of the ship down because of their attitude or how they're operating, as you said, it festers and we it's something that we don't want to negativity can spread, and we don't want that to happen.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people talk about an emotional intelligence, and as you're talking, I can see that this is actually something that is uh part of what you probably are aware of and bring into your organization.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the impact it has on leadership?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's really huge.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's in order to motivate people, and this was something that one of like I mentioned, one of my first the management folks who showed me and taught me how to manage people, one of the first things he pointed out was might be motivated by having very clear direction, right?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's they don't need a lot of great job, but they really want you to tell them exactly how you want something done.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So then they feel good about how they've done it because they've met your expectations and so on.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Different people respond to different things, and a good leader is going to understand how to motivate and inspire different people differently and speak to what speaks to them.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're doing that, then hopefully the whole team is really operating at full capacity and and full productivity.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: When you have a one size fits all leadership style, or you're tone-deaf to the way that people are reacting to the message you're giving them, I think it's much harder to have good outcomes because you might be saying, okay, everyone needs to pull together and really work on this project.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to work overtime, work on the weekend.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you miss the fact that they were telling you for months, hey, this thing is gonna go over budget.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: We need more people, we don't have enough resources.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're gonna resent the fact that you're asking them to give even more when they've been trying to tell you all along that these things were happening or whatever.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I think being a good leader is absolutely being a good listener and hearing what people are telling you, being open to feedback and input, and then working with people on the level that motivates them the most.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not a one size fits all situation.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you can do those two things, I think you get 2x, 3x, 4x, the productivity and performance out of people.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And they aren't doing it just because of a paycheck, right?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you're only motivating people by a pay, I feel like you've lost the battle.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Ideally, you want people who want to work hard for you, for the team, for the business, because of internal motivation, because they're inspired to do a good job and they love what they do and they want to see good outcomes.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then, yes, the pay is nice also, but it's not like I'm just here for a paycheck.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: The people who are, I'm just here for the paycheck, you want them out as quick as you can.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're not, they're only giving you exactly as much as they feel like you've paid them to give and nothing more.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And they're the people who will sit in one room while the room next door is on fire and go, Oh, it's not my room.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I think I I wandered a bit from the point, but no, but emotional intelligence is very helpful in being a good leader for sure.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, but it plays a significant role in that because you get to know to me, you get to know the people for who they are, and the and it's and you get to look at people for people and the people on your team, they're your team members, not to look at your employees as oh, Matt's employee number five.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Put him like and when I see him, he's five.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's Matt.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Matt has kids, and Matt's gonna need to go home at five o'clock to you know be part of his kids' sports programs or dance classes or whatever it is, and it's recognizing those things.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I think is so you know, um in being a leader, like to realize that your your people are human.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as you start to see people as interchangeable parts, you've lost the thread of what's gonna work for you and what's gonna be good leadership.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, as the organization gets larger and larger, you're not gonna be able to have that intimate knowledge of each person in the organization, which means it's even more critical than that when the managers you hire or promote bring in, they're gonna be the same kind of people who recognize that it's not just a five-person team, it's Sally and Joe and Steve and Frank and Betty and what each of those people brings to the table and how, again, they like to be communicated with and what works for them.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as I've done a good job, hiring the management team, then they will in turn manage the same way and so on.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: But and as soon as you lose that and you hire somebody who's just looking at people, well, I just have a team of five, and you know, I don't really they're all the same to me, you're gonna you're gonna start to see the impact of that pretty quickly.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's it's I think that's you're speaking my language because I think it's really important to to share that that as companies get bigger, the it's almost like instead of thinking them as managed management or as in units, I look at them as like mini companies within the company.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that and I I don't like the word manager, but the leader of those teams are all running their own little companies and they work up together.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: One big it all have all the moving parts as part of that spoke of the wheel.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're on the top, you're in the center, and those the other pizza pieces are all going around, and they have to all work together to go around, otherwise you're rickety.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it also tri creates that management and that leadership is going to capture your essence of how you're how you lead so it trickles down.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's so important.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: So as you're bringing people up within your company and giving advice to emerging leaders, what what do you do?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: actually or what is the key piece of advice that you like to sprinkle into people as they're becoming or growing into that leadership role.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the key pieces that a lot of people don't understand or recognize in their early days of of trying to manage is just how critical it is to provide clear expectations and clear desired outcomes.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I see this with all kinds of people, right?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I and they expect somehow people are going to read their mind and then they're going to do things exactly the way they would have done it.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I try to remind them that one, if you want a specific outcome, then you've got to give directions to allow somebody to be able to get to that specific outcome.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: They're not doing it a different way to piss you off.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: They're doing it the way they figured was the best way to do it because you gave them very vague information and directions on how you wanted it done.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other part of it is if the at the end they got done what you asked them to get done, even if they did do it a different way, then you have to ask yourself does that does the outcome matter or does the method matter?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because if the method matters then you have to give them direction on the method.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: If the outcome is really all you care about, then that's okay that they did it differently.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: They came to a different way of doing it.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've seen people over stupid stuff, right?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Used to have a a guy that would wanted the floors swept us in a specific row right he had it you sweep this room then you sweep that.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah does that really matter or is it just as long as they get all the floors swept in the half an hour that you've allotted for floor sweeping can we call that good come on.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right right right if the alchemism yeah and it's funny because sometimes people get so caught up in oh no you've got to follow it my way and that becomes closed minded thinking that means that you can't see the forest through the trees and sometimes you might be really surprised that somebody's going to get to an outcome in less steps because they did it a different way.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's celebrate it right you're giving people the autonomy to think and be on their own and use their brains exactly I think a lot of small business owners get stuck in that stage where they maybe have three four five employees but they haven't been able to let go of anything actually important.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so and then they feel I'm not going to work 60 hours a week I'm burned out as it is.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to do more but I can't find any good help.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I can't find anyone that'll that's because you won't let go and unclench you won't delegate properly you won't set clear you know expectations and then let people go out and do it.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, they might not get it right the first time but that's okay.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: You did most of these things here's the few things fix this and do this differently and then allow them to do it with their own autonomy as long as the outcome is correct.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can grow the business then you can have 10 people 20 people through but if you are you know unwilling to let go to delegate and to lead instead you just have a bunch of extra pairs of hands that you're directing and micromanaging at that level yes you're going to get stuck you're going to get burned out and ultimately you're holding everyone back right because if the business could grow from five to 10 people you've given the first five people a path to be promoted and grow in the business right if you are stuck you're only ever going to be five people big in your business you basically capped the growth of everybody that works there.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually the the ambitious ones that are smart and capable and could do more are going to go find work somewhere else.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to be end up with the people who never want to do more aren't ambitious aren't interested in learning anything else and they're going to be the ones that are happy having the same job for the next 30 years.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you really by not learning how to be a leader and not learning how to lead well I think you're really holding yourself back.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're holding your business back.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're holding the opportunity for growth back by a lot.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no it is it's it that's incredibly powerful.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the key things that you know as as leading someone it's like that quick reminder is that whether you're the CEO or you're the VP or the leader of the team you want to work more on it versus in it.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: You need to lead by example and if there is a time of struggle you want to get in there and roll up your sleeves with them and be part of the team because you are but you got to delegate and you'll be able to let go and let people think one question I always like to ask we've all had crazy things happen highs, lows what is what was one time in your journey that and I don't like the word failure but where you hit a flop or something that made you that really influenced your leadership and how you run your business.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's one example from back in the early days when one of the businesses that I ended up acquiring as during the consulting and before I got into accounting I actually bought a catering business because I had had prior experience in the restaurants and I thought for various reasons that catering a catering business would get back into that industry but with some of the benefits of that without some of the downsides of that.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: And anyway we as a catering business we had a very busy December right that's when there's all kinds of holiday parties and things going on and one particular Saturday in the middle of December it was about 10 o'clock in the morning we had about eight trucks lined up waiting to get loaded up with food and go out to parties and in the middle of all this chaos and hecticness and 30 people running around and everything a fire broke out in the kitchen.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And there is no worse place to have a fire than in a kitchen where you only in a restaurant kitchen you only have a matter of seconds before the sprinklers go off and douse the entire kitchen with fire retardant and you know effectively ruin eight different holiday company parties that were about to happen in the next so that was an extremely stressful situation and luckily I was able to work through it and and get everything back on track, get things get the fire put out enough that the system didn't go off actually manually turned the system off so it couldn't go off and then continued to fight the fire with a couple of the cooks and and a couple of the wait staff there and saved everything.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: But it was one of those things where it would have been easy to just say oh forget it this is it's ruined people are going to be mad people are going to be calling for refunds all these employees that are here are going to how am I going to pay them and you just walk out the door and say that's too much to deal with but you can say uncle right I just forget it.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is more this is beyond what anyone should have to deal with in any situation.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: But it was interesting because everybody turned to look at me right the cooks came running in hey there's a fire the cooks are looking at me the wait staffs look everybody's looking at me again sort of going back we're not going to accept defeat.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: All right we'll just go through one thing at a time fix this turn this off get this you know move this out of the way so if it goes off we can save it what are we going to do if we had to and I just went into emergency problem solving mode.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the interesting thing was when people saw me doing that they were like okay yeah and then I would okay do this and do that.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they were everybody stayed relatively calm and we got through it.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: But it could have been literally the revenue from December was like 25% of the revenue for the whole year and about 50% of the profits for the whole year.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a loan that would you know I used to buy the business.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: So if that whole weekend had gone up in flames literally it could have been bankruptcy like it could have been the end of my entrepreneurial journey and go get a job after that.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: So of course in the moment you don't think through all the possible repercussions you just try to head down and deal with it.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: But that was definitely in hindsight a moment where I was truly put to the test of saving the business demonstrating level headed leadership and problem solving in the moment and I feel lucky that I rose to the occasion because I was borderline for a second going I'm just going to run over to 7-Eleven again.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be back in 15 minutes tell me what happens it just seems so such an overwhelming level of problem to deal with that it's one thing if somebody says okay in 30 minutes really bad stuff's going to happen.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Get ready you're going to have to deal with it and you but it was literally I'm I was on the on a phone and the guy comes in from the kitchen and says there's a fire and I guess I'm calling you back and you were not I was not expecting in that second right to deal with a potential existential event.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a lot but I think that you know what I'd learned from Mark Devine and what I've been practicing for the five years before between starting as an entrepreneur and that moment in time was just that okay no matter what problem comes head down work on solutions stay calm do one thing at a time just fix it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then when it's all done and the problem solved and you're then you can sit down and go oh my God some serious and then you can say I'm pretty damn badass right yes and so that's but so such a great lesson and the key thing is staying calm because I think that is one of the things that a great leader does.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you're a great leader.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Matt, you're an amazing leader because if you if because seriously think about it something can go wrong and you see it all the time right you see it I'll just give the example at the airport right your bag gets lost right the person behind the counter it's not their fault but you see some people scream whatever it's not gonna help your bag get there any faster and it doesn't make the other person feel in feel great.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: They can't do anything about it.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're better off in all circumstances you're better off just bringing it down a notch and being calm so that you don't because if you could have if you started yes you may have been screaming but there's a calmness and if then because it could either make people want to work for you and with you or it would make them run because there's a fire and they're like oh my God and Matt's on fire too.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes and I think a lot of people their leadership style is to react to chaos with chaos and they're spinning around and they're throwing off directions and then 10 seconds later they give you the opposite direction and I think most people don't want to work in that under that style of leadership where it's chaos where it's constant firefighting and constant upheaval.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think they want to work with and for someone who keeps a level head works through things doesn't get overly excited doesn't get overly emotional about things and is a steady hand.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: If I was in if I was the bystander of an emergency I'd be much more calmed and inspired by somebody who said okay no problem we're going to take care of this and go rather than somebody who runs around oh my gosh you're like that kind of person obviously thinks this is pretty bad.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe now I should panic.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so tell us how can people find you how can people connect with you because if you're a business no matter what you're going through Matt's company and Matt is a great person to connect with so how can people find you yeah the best way to find us really is via our website capforge.com.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's got information about myself and the team and the services we provide and the way we work with business owners to help and I think that is something that differentiates us as an accounting firm what I think most people expect from their accountant is well here's how much you owe in tax at the end of the year and here's your financial statements.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I try to bring to all of the our client relationships the growing a business from the spare bedroom in 2012 to 85 and clients across the country and even internationally now what I've done to get there.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people seem to be interested in the story and the steps and I'm happy to share that with people because I don't just want to help you get your taxes filed and help you get your financial statements.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to be able to understand the numbers behind your business and how you can use the numbers and what your business does and what makes your business unique and your own ambition and ideas for growth.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: I want to help you with all of that, right?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's the coaching and advisory part of what we do to help you take it from here's the numbers on the page to let's turn that into the realization of your goals, your aspirations, your dreams and really share with you all the different ways we can help you figure out how to get there from here, whether it's you're a one man now or you're 10 people and you want to grow to 50 or you're 50 people and you want to get to 100, whatever it is, that's the value add that I think we bring to the table that your typical CPA accountant is not they haven't done it themselves.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: They haven't you know been around as many people doing it and that's not their passion to talk about.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm an entrepreneur who happens to own an accounting business versus an accountant who owns an accounting business.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say so I think that's really huge because I will say the one thing that here and from what you're saying and what seems to be how you would operate and why if you're a business owner connect with Matt listen listeners chime in connect with him because one of the biggest things that you want in your business is you want to have the accounting firm that is your partner that knows about your business and knows how you operate and not just the CPA as you just said who has an accounting business.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: You want the person to be your partner because you're going to be able to find savings things in that you may not even realize because you've been through it and you do it and you're living it.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna find you at your website catforge.com and then you're also on LinkedIn so connect with you there and Matt I appreciate you being a guest on the show this is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in um every week hit the subscribe button so that you can get notified of any updates that we have and we come out every single week and I look forward to connecting more with you and and listeners connect with me as well I'm Jacqueline Strawinger your high performance coach helping you get more shit done and lead I'm Jaclyn Strominger and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight Influential Leaders and their game changing insights podcast.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a successful CEO entrepreneur or leader in your industry and you have insights you would like to share we want you to be a guest on this program.
• 37:47
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• 38:05
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• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love seeing your posts and your guest suggestions.
• 38:22
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• 38:26
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