Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Build a Legacy by Design with Garrick C. Francis

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How to Build a Legacy by Design with Garrick C. Francis · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Rift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the Small Biz Chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Biz Chat podcast today.
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  Alright, you guys.
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  Welcome back to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, your host, and I have to let you know that the Small Bitch Chat podcast
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  is the go to destination for entrepreneurs who wanna build profitable businesses that create
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  freedom, wealth, and lasting impact.
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  Now, our mission is simple, and it is to end small business failure, and we're giving you
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  strategies, systems and confidence so that you can succeed as your own boss.
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  Now every week you're gonna hear inspiring conversations with today's top business
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  experts, successful entrepreneurs and industry leaders who share practical, real world advice
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  that you can put into action immediately.
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  If you're ready to grow, you are in the right place.
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  Now today we're gonna be exploring a topic that every small business owner should be thinking
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  about long before retirement and that is how to build a legacy by design.
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  Now before we get started, if you are a fan of the Small Biz Chat podcast, please take a
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  moment and leave us a helpful review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to
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  your favorite podcast.
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  As always, please, no hate mail.
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  If you love our podcast, please let everyone know.
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  We wanna make sure that other people can discover us and get all of this great
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  information.
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  Now, help me welcome Mr.
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  Garik C.
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  Francis.
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  He is the founder of the Francis Legacy Bridge Partners.
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  He's the host of the Inheritance to Income podcast.
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  Gerrick helps founders, business owners, and families create that...
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  And what we call second chapter leaders move from legacy by default to legacy by design,
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  preparing people, not just assets.
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  On the next chapter of leadership, ownership, and stewardship, So if you ever wonder what
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  you'll leave behind beyond your business, this conversation is gonna challenge you to think
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  about it differently about success, significance, and the future of creating.
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  Derek, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Oh, thank you, Glenna.
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  Glad be here.
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  All right, so talk to us about your background and how you came to really feel like this is
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  such an important issue for people because I think a lot of people measure success in
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  dollars and cents, right?
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  So help me understand, know, how you came, like why this is such an issue that you think people
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  need to be thinking about now.
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  I grew up in a small business Irving Swain Press that lasted for almost sixty years, but I
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  spent twenty five years in corporate America.
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  And so I saw how small businesses deal with succession differently than corporate does.
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  I saw how small businesses kind of lost the edge and they drifted into a place where the
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  legacy wasn't guaranteed.
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  And at the same time I saw in the corporate world how succession really was for the company
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  and not for the person.
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  And so when you left that door, when you rolled out of that door with that watch and that
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  plaque, what next?
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  And so that's why I come to this kind of with that combined small business view and corporate
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  view of what legacy by design really means.
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  So you say a lot of entrepreneurs spend decades climbing what David Brooks called their first
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  mountain of success.
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  How do you define the shift from pursuing success to pursuing significance?
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  I think when you look at it in your first mountain, as I mentioned, on your first trip on
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  the sun, they say, you really are going after those things that the world says are important,
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  salary and titles and benefits and not different things.
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  But then you get to a point in your life where you really kind of think about your purpose and
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  your meaning and what was made better because I was here.
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  And so Legacy by Design really focuses on the people and the founder's next chapter and what
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  lasts beyond both the business, your time there, and even beyond your life.
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  What is there for the next generation and the generation after?
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  When you say, what do you feel like people's biggest misconceptions are about legacy?
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  Right, we hear this word a lot, my legacy.
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  You know, some people say you you measure a man by that of his children, right?
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  You know, so like when you say legacy, how do you believe people, you know, is it leaving
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  something behind or is it something we should be thinking about every day?
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  Legacy is about preparing the people in the systems around you to continue beyond you.
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  So, is, I want people to think about legacy not as when I'm gone, but I want them to deploy
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  their legacy while they're still here.
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  You've accumulated skills and wealth and you've got business.
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  How can you deploy that legacy?
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  How can you prepare the people around you to carry that legacy, their roles, their
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  responsibilities, the clarity?
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  If you have a family business and you have siblings who are gonna be running it, what
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  roles do they play?
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  Part of your legacy is your values and the systems you set up so that something can last
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  beyond you for forty five days and forty five years.
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  Now, looking back over your work with leaders and entrepreneurs, what experiences most often
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  cause people to think differently about their purpose and impact?
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  A lot of times people get hit by what I call some of the gaps, right?
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  Whether it's a sudden loss, whether it's a business partner or a spouse or a parent,
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  things change in your life.
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  Your perspective tends to change and you can tend to drift away from what is just what I
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  call a business plan.
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  And you wanna try and figure out, well, what is gonna be made better because I was here?
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  Because I established this business.
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  Who do we serve and how do we serve them for the long term?
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  And so I think in those situations, people begin to look at their legacy as not just
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  dollars and cents and not just assets, but what are the values that can be attributed to me
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  while I was here?
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  How I pass those values on so that they continue in my business and in my family, or
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  even just in my organizational culture?
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  How do we pass those things on?
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  And those take unaccustomed conversations to sit down and have those conversations on a
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  regular basis so that you're creating procedures to hand those things down just as
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  you would a hard asset.
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  Now, I know a lot of entrepreneurs and I'm gonna raise my hand.
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  I am the small business lady, right?
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  You know, I am the business, you know, so how does one begin to start separating themselves
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  and their identity from their business so that because I do feel like as the small biz lady, I
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  have a legacy of, you know, intellectual property books, things I teach people.
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  I have other people that I've certified as small business lady coaches.
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  So that's how I've started to make sure that my business quote unquote doesn't die with me.
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  But is that enough?
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  What other things should I be doing or should I be thinking about so that I can separate my
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  identity from my business so that, you know, my business, what I tried to do here lives beyond
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  me?
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  Yeah, I think you said it there, I think your earlier, one of your guests I was listening to
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  said, a lot of business owners tie up their identity in their business.
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  They become intertwined and I call it founder gravity, that when everything revolves around
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  the business owner, in the beginning, that's really good because everything gets done.
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  But as the business grows, it becomes an impediment to people evolving, to people
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  innovating, to people taking off and getting released from that gravity.
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  So I think first thing you have to do is you have to really think about, okay, what in the
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  business only depends on me?
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  And your guest mentioned that earlier.
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  But then how do you take time to delegate some roles and responsibilities?
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  How do you start with a ninety day test of I'm going to assign these roles and
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  responsibilities to someone else so that I can focus on the next step?
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  How do I begin to release those things that I shouldn't be doing and that I shouldn't be
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  focused on?
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  So that, but that's the key part.
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  There's a so that.
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  There's a what's the next step.
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  A lot of business owners, they will release a little bit, but there's no so that.
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  I can step into something else.
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  What is it I am gonna now deploy my skills into so that I don't, you were talking to Saul, so
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  that I don't wanna jump right back in and take over again when they come to me?
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  Well, legacy isn't just about wealth, right?
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  It's about relationships.
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  It's about mentorship.
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  It's also really about service, right?
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  Because those things become part of your legacy portfolio as well.
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  Very much, very much.
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  Service is key because there's an old saying, well, not so old because I was born in the
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  sixties and the saying came up in the sixties, that every time an elder dies, a library brings
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  to the ground.
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  And so you have wisdom within you that needs to be planted on your service, whether it's an
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  academia or whether it's an association, a nonprofit or in a church, whether it is helping
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  to carry your wisdom down to a next generation of leader in your business, in your industry,
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  in your community, it's very important, I think, to legacy design.
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  How do you give, live and steward?
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  How do I give up my time and my talents?
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  How do I live the next best life that I want to live?
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  And how do I steward what I have developed for the next generation is framework that I use to
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  kind of help people identify what comes next.
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  Well, let's talk about that.
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  So, you know, you've worked with leaders for a long time who want their work to matter to
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  generations.
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  So what would you say are the disciplines or habits that distinguish people who wanna be
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  intentional about their lasting legacy?
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  I think mentorship is very important.
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  Who are you mentoring?
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  Who are you working with in your business, in your industry, in your community?
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  I think documentation is important.
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  Document the things that you are doing to help someone.
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  I tell people a lot of times we use the phone to record something other than social media.
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  Use it to record what I call family or documentation media so that you're actually
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  putting down the things that are important to you as a business owner, as a community leader,
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  leaving voice messages and memos for future generations.
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  It's very important.
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  The other thing too is beginning to identify how you want to deploy all that you've
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  accumulated.
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  What are the things you think you want to pursue and how do you wanna do it?
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  And that's gonna take you some time to determine those things.
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  You may stop and start a few times, but that's okay.
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  Now, if someone listening to this conversation feels like perhaps they have been following,
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  chasing the wrong goals, what would you say, like what would your advice be to help them
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  sort of like build their second mountain as you say, like how could they right the ship if
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  they've been so self focused, revenue focused?
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  I do remember for myself, I had this number, right?
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  And I remember when I made my number and I successful and I was also personally miserable
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  and I remember when it happened because I remember how I thought I was gonna feel when I
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  made that number, when I got to the point where I could buy whatever shoes I wanted to buy, I
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  could go on whatever trip I wanted to go on, I experienced that and what I realized was you
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  can't be a baller if your life is busted, right?
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  Know, so it's like, I think there's a whole lot of really successful miserable people out here
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  in these streets and so I know there's a whole bunch of miserable poor people too so I'm not
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  advocating poverty, that's not what I'm saying, but what I'm asking you specifically is how can
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  somebody if you've been focused on the wrong thing or if success for you has changed, what
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  do you do with that?
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  Like what do you, versus feeling a bunch of guilt, start writing a bunch of checks and
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  charity.
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  Mean, because that's what we do, right?
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  Oh, let me find a organization check to so can feel better.
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  No, I'm talking about the inside work.
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  How can I be doing this thing different so that I'm not Scrooge McDuck, bathing in my money in
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  the bathtub?
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  Like, don't think that's helpful, but I think that's a lot of people's reality.
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  It is, but I would encourage people to first define success.
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  As you said, success can change over time, but what is that moment that you achieved success
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  and how did it make you feel?
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  Right?
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  Did it solve and resolve all the issues you were thinking about and dealing with?
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  Okay, yes and no.
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  If the answer is no, then ask yourself, kind of do what I call a legacy deployment reflection.
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  Take time to step back and say, okay, what are the things that now that I've achieved this
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  success?
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  Because you have different successes in life.
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  So, now that I've celebrated this success, what is the next thing that's still gnawing at me?
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  What am I still carrying?
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  What am I called to do?
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  And how do I now use all the wisdom and skills to move in that direction?
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  And the question is, what do I have to let go?
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  What do I have to let go to be able to go there?
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  Who do I have to locate?
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  Who do I have to prepare?
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  Who do I have to start to hand this legacy over to so that I can then pursue this next piece of
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  my calling and I can pursue this next opportunity to give, to live and to steward?
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  And once you've done that legacy deployment reflection, you'll have a better understanding.
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  I've even advocated for people to take what I call is a legacy deployment gap.
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  Kids take a gap year between high school and college.
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  You can take a gap year once you retire before you decide, okay, I'm going to deploy into this
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  next thing and take an opportunity to try some things during that gap year and then you can
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  deploy.
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  I love that, I love that.
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  This has been such an important conversation.
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  Gerrick, tell me what is the best business advice you've ever received?
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  I think the best business advice I ever received was on time is late, early is on time
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  and late is fired.
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  Because my boss said to me that, you know, I worked in the railroad business and he said,
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  The train's supposed to run on time.
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  So, you know, you won't try and show up before you're supposed to be there and you wanna stay
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  as long as you need to stay to get the job done because you're serving people.
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  You're always serving people is the way you should look at your business or your job or
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  your legacy.
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  Love it.
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  Love it.
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  Thank you so much, Garrett, for being a guest on the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  Again, he is legacy by design.
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  That's what he wants us to think about.
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  So I love that.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 17:46
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
• 17:51
  more fantastic information and interviews.
• 17:54
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 17:59
  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.