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Beyond the Personal Brand: Building a Practice That Grows Without You with Stephany Day · The Ambitious Coach Lab

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Ambitious Coaching Lab, number 99.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pam Lumby.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Each week we explore the real tough big tough conversations and breakthrough moments that drive coaching success.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's jump into today's episode.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, friends.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am so excited to welcome Stephanie Day with us.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: She's the founder of Duke Business Consulting Group.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: She's a good friend.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: We have developed a really fun relationship over the years.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she's also one of the best follows on LinkedIn.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for a good LinkedIn follow, Stephanie is a good choice.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the show, Stephanie.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to have you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Excited to be here.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Finally.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, why don't you?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time coming.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: We've been trying to get this on the schedule for a while.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad we're finally able to sit down and record.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: But why don't you, for those that maybe don't know you as well, why don't you kick it off a little bit and tell just a little bit of your entrepreneurial journey to starting Duke?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I founded Duke about five years ago and um in the midst of COVID.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but in Texas, we were, I guess, just, you know, thinking like, no, you could still do whatever you want.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you wear a mask, you kind of stay six feet away.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you want to start a business, like just go ahead and do it.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Go.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we uh, yeah, I mean, I back then I founded the organization really as I mean, first of all, it was an LLC.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's the name of my dog.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I literally did it for with the intention of just employing myself.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know, I want to do sort of consulting, but at the time, like the word fractional was kind of new.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to call it like Duke Fractional because like it didn't make sense.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I want people to like be able to understand kind of what we do.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And like consulting was like a good way in to explaining fractional.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um anyway, founded it by myself, thinking about just myself, named it after my dog.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that a lot of people kind of know that story.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, you know, a year ago, year and a half ago, um, or three, four years ago, I decided to start teaching others how to be fractional, how to go fractional.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I launched the Fractional Leap Academy, um, where I teach people how to be fractional and be great at fractional.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I realized nobody needs another lesson on how to create an LLC.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: They need lessons around how to distribute your time evenly, how to do that in a way that's, you know, helpful to the companies that you work with and that sort of thing.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's whenever I started to meet lots of other people in the industry and just hear from their stories.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I met Derek McLarty, who was a full-time integrator and had uh, you know, been laid off and was like, you know, I'm trying to look for another fract or another full-time role.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, Derek, why don't you come be fractional with me?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I kind of want to grow this thing.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I want to teach more people to do this, and I want them to be part of like this.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you're like a great person.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, no, no, no, I don't want to do that.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: That that's scary.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, it's scary.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh, it's not a full-time job.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, um, it's scary and I don't want to let anybody down.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And number three, it's like really scary.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So he was like really afraid of like going fractional.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you are the perfect subject for me to like force into the fractional field.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so he uh ultimately came on board.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we just celebrated his one-year anniversary of going fractional.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he and I have really solidified what it is to be a Duke fractional now.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, over the past year and a half, essentially, have really grown this thing now from a solopreneur sort of dream five years ago um that, you know, has transformed now into like a like an actual firm.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have 10 people um on our team, and um we have like marketing people now, and we have like uh uh uh finance people now, we have accountants and stuff like that.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, this is like a real business now.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like we are actually doing this thing.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is so cool.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, man, yeah, you're right.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like the fractional um term is new.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes I feel like it really over the last two, three years, it feels like it's been more broadly, at least in the circles that I run in, it's been more broadly accepted.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, that probably that is from a branding standpoint, that is interesting how you you kind of leaned into more of the consulting.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I agree with you, it is, it's probably the closest companion.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely different.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: But have you found that leaning into the fractional that companies are a little bit more maybe interested in the fractional versus the consultant relationship, if that makes sense?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, there's there's so much like beef, I would say, out there that's like uh it's one-sided beef from the fractional side about how like we are not consultants.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I mean, kind of, like, you know, and um, and I know so many people that are like, I would never describe myself as a consultant.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, well, a consultant really, like it, it has a lot of connotations of like being an advisor.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: But when I worked in corporate, like large, you know, oil and gas companies, large, you know, renewable energy companies, like we had consultants that were part of our team.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, that if so fractional, like it tries to like separate itself from consulting, but like real, I mean, large the the what is it, the big four consulting firms, like they have people that they deploy to organizations that become intrinsic to the team and do the work with the team and then and then leave.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So like consulting is really like a large spectrum of things that I think includes fractional.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like the um, what is it, like all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I like to think about it.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, and if you look at whenever I launched the fractional leap, I started doing research of like fractional, like what where did that term come from?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like who invented it?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Where, where did it like how did we even get here to this point where like now this is a big term it to your point in the circles that I run in?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually found out that there, the earliest um usage of this term in the way that we use it now is actually like 1990s.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was started, it was started in the 1990s by fractional CFOs.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: CFOs were on the cutting edge of what fractional means, and particularly on the West Coast with a lot of um the Silicon Valley and like tech startups that were um happening because they needed that sort of support.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then it slowly, very, very, very slowly started to gain a little bit of popularity um throughout the United States and to to the point where now, if you look at the records of like how people Googled fractional since uh the early 2000s to now, um it it is it is exponentially like the hockey stick is definitely there, it's been exponentially grown.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it, I mean, it's not a new term, but it's like definitely more popular now.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Fun fact.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: That checks out though, because I would I would have argued that it seems that fractional CFOs are the most common that were around.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot more of those firms.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that checks out if they were kind of the pioneers of it, that they would have kind of the most, because it seems, you know, I mean, I could name probably half a dozen firms right now that are pretty big versus, you know, a lot of fractional integrator firms and and COO firms and those have started in the last probably like five, 10 to five to 10 years.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: It would check out that and like shout out to like fractional CFOs, because like to your point, like they're the pioneers.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're the ones that are probably that probably do have like the ease, the ease of working with different companies where like they're not and like they're not gonna affect the culture nearly as much as like a fractional, you know, CTO for like tech companies, right?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like SaaS companies, like uh like a CTO would be a large component of what they do.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: So they can't really just do fractional.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and COOs, fractional COOs, it's really tough for us to be fractional in, you know, in a space where we're affecting the culture and we're we're affecting the entire organization versus like our CFO, who the the big thing is like get us our budget and you know, make sure that our books are clean and tell us where we should go and where we should uh spend.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And they might not interact as much with like someone on the floor at a warehouse as much as like I would as a fractional.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's that's an interesting dynamic because I had never thought about that from the cultural side of things, because it probably is a little bit easier to scale a CFO type practice because there may be certain times, you know, month end where we're kind of collecting, and then whereas with more of an operational, I mean, there's a lot of leadership.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, EOS would call it LMA, those kinds of things.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, that's fascinating.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I had never thought about that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: We could spend the whole episode diving into that.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I want to talk about how you have grown, Duke, because I mean, it has been awesome to watch.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've been connected since I think we crossed paths when I was at 90 and you know, have have hit it off since then.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that was, I mean, it wouldn't have meant early on, but I mean you would have been, I think you were still by yourself at that point.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it feels like it has just exploded.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, hearing that you have, you know, over so I think you said over 10 people.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's crazy.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk a little bit about kind of what I mentioned in the intro.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you are a prolific LinkedIn uh like myself.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: We we all flock together.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we're good friends.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's talk about how you've leveraged that platform because I want to hear if that's been a part of your strategy that's led to results for your business, or if it's more of a distraction.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to kind of hear your framing of how you think about LinkedIn.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I will say this: like LinkedIn for me, um, in the beginning was more of a, like if I continue to update my LinkedIn, I didn't think I was gonna get in front of the right people as much as I thought when someone looks me up, that my opinions are very clearly, you know, um visible, that if they look me up, they can see, you know, the sort of um, you know, uh experience that I have, that they can see that I'm like active in the, you know, just in the space, right?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so the way that I saw it was I'm not gonna get in front of the right people through LinkedIn, but it'd be good if they look me up that all of my stuff is up to date and I'm con constantly and consistently posting, um, and it's stuff that's relevant to the work that I do.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that was how I started.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then I realized this was getting me in front of like the right people.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was suddenly like connecting me with, you know, fractional CFOs who were like, hey, I see the stuff that you post and like it's really relevant to some work that I'm doing.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: This company could really use your help.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I'd love to like get you in touch with the CEO.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it opened, it just like it opened up my eyes to the possibilities when that started happening because when it started happening, it was a snowball effect.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was definitely like now CEOs were getting in touch with me and saying, I have this issue, and like you posted about this, and like tell me more about how you fix it.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes they wouldn't become a client right away.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: They might just ask me a question and like start to follow me and like start to get to know me that way.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and when I started growing my team, LinkedIn, I thought was like the way to like continue to like get these clients.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I had like a really weird like epiphany whenever I added Derek because we were still having sales calls.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you know this, but at our firm, we cap everybody at three clients, and you can't have more than three clients at Duke BCG.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because we want to be able to like focus and spend as much time as we can with our clients to do the things that we need to do.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, you know, Derek, like, we're gonna get you some clients, it's gonna be great.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I had a full plate of clients, and I was now doing sales for Duke BCG, and I start having these conversations, and owners are like, Well, I mean, I want to work with you.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Well, I don't have time.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that I have Derek though, and I've taught Derek everything, and he's also an integrator that has experience as an integrator, and he's done the integrator mastery forum, and they're like, Yeah, but we don't like Derek.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: He would be on the call too, and they'd be like, Yeah, I mean, he's nice, but like we don't want to work with him.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, it was so I had to like back up then and think through my strategy of like, how do I do this?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: How do you do marketing and sales very differently whenever it's just for yourself, versus now I have a firm and I have people that I have to like, you know, um uh get get employed.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was like a big shift um in like the way that my content worked, but I've I've figured it out, I would think.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the other thing that was interesting was that LinkedIn became a major way for me to get in front of the right clients um for like I would say a third of the time that I was meeting with clients.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: The other two sources of clients for me were referrals from clients that I'd worked with already.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd worked with a client for two years.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: They absolutely love me.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, you've transformed my company, everything's amazing.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we wish we could just keep you forever.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've gotten several job offers of like just come work with us full time.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And these people, and I would say no, of course.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they would say, you know, I hate to like introduce my friends to you because I don't want to lose you.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: But now that you're leaving anyway, um have you met so-and-so, you know, or have you met this other person?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I would get referrals that way, um, referrals from implementers who had seen me in the room and said, it felt like you were a full-time integrator, like the way that you were typing up the notes and you were you were taking to-dos and you were assigning to-dos and you were commenting on on major issues that like it felt like you were full-time.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: So they would refer clients my way.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then the the last place, which slightly unexpected, is like the EOS conference and conferences.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: I would meet with people and I we would talk about our process.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: We would showcase, you know, some of the things that we're doing with other clients, and they would say, you know, I know someone that could really use that.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so LinkedIn is still like a major part of our growth and and and growth and sales strategy, but I would say like it's about a third.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other third comes from people that have worked with us directly, and then people who know about our work indirectly, like, you know, that just happen to know what we do.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's been a really healthy, I think, split for our company.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, with LinkedIn being, you know, one of the reasons that lots of people know me in the industry.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's fascinating on the dynamic between the I would argue, like the personal brand that you had developed, that then when you have a firm, because when you build a personal brand, it is, I'm sure people do want you because that's I mean, you're the brand, right?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's interesting how, and I've noticed because you know, I'm connected to a, you know, I mean, I'm a I'm a big fan of Duke and you and Derek and everybody and Faustina, like, and so I, you know, but I've noticed that they've upped their game, like Derek, especially, like the algorithm, you know, gods, whatever, bless me with your content and Derek's content.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every time it comes up, I'm seeing it.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not complaining at all.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, but I think I've noticed you your influence has kind of stretched out to Derek.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I've noticed I've watched his engagement.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: It started to like go up as he's done it consistently, which is so cool.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: But is that also kind of a not reaction, but to just trying to get out of the personal brand where it's like, okay, hey, Duke is actually bigger than just Stephanie Day.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I that's such a good question because even like this week, I said on our um all y'all on Duke, um, I said something along the lines of like, guys, I'm just so proud of all of you and I'm so thankful and I'm so like appreciative of the way that you showed up because our marketing um uh social media manager, she was like, Hey guys, can everyone send a quick video of like what makes Duke BCG special?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, man, I don't think everyone in the company is gonna feel like good about like recording a quick tech 10 second video.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Within like 24 hours, we had everyone's videos in.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone was like in like good lighting.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: They were, you know, they said they and they they said different answers and they said it perfectly.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm just so proud because I never like I've never like I really have never gone to like the the Duke BCG uh Slack channel and said, hey everyone, like you need to up your game for marketing.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I have said, guys, like, you know what's really helpful for me whenever I'm trying to post a story for LinkedIn?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have this thing that I call the Duke BCG story hunter.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I created this like app to help me come up, like, like come up with my posts because it yeah, it's a process, right?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a writing process.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And this is no secret.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: I tell everyone this.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: I like to have a glass of wine and write my post for the week.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: I spend about an hour or two just writing.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it it's really it's this Duke BCG story hunter that I like go through and it's got several choices of topics and things.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then you think about ideas and then you write them down and all that jazz.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, hey guys, like, you know, just that's out there.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, you know what's funny is like I used to like never have pictures for things.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I started asking my husband to take pictures of me, and I started to just like just take pictures all the time and just have them ready to go.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone just said, like, oh, okay.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like very, it's been a slow moving process, but I can tell, like, it's night and day from when I met Derek, Faustina, anyone else on my team to now, the way that they've up their content game and also the way that they're willing to participate on the marketing because they realize, like, this is what's gonna showcase what we do to the world.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: So big, big kudos to my team for like just doing that on their own without me having to ask and back.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's gotta be cool as the founder to see people capture the vision and see the benefits that it comes.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, so that's that's really cool.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and shout out to you for being able to point that out because that goes, that's under uh underestimated the value of that when people, you know, people need to hear that.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I one of the things that always strikes me about your approach, because I see this.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're like me, probably.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're connected to lots and lots and lots of business coaches, consultants, fractional executives, advisors, all of the above, right?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've got big networks in that.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so we see a lot of that content.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I think strikes me about you, you and your team is how authentic and genuine it is.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's based in real things, right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: You you may have an app that helps pull that out, but it's things that I mean, I think Derek put up something about, I think he was like in a race or running or something, and like talked about that.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very like almost somewhat vulnerable.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that stuff tends to resonate so well because it shows the humanity, which I think is ultimately what people want in a coach or consultant or fractional executive.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: They want to understand the human behind that.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I see so many coaches miss this because they just take the templated posts that whatever their framework puts out, they copy and paste it, and it's lifeless.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And people are like, meh, you know, they see it and they pass by it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's no heart behind it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, have you found that are there certain types of posts that tend to do well?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because I would argue for me, it's always the personal ones that tend to blow up.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, what is this?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I would say no.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, from my stance, I use Taplio.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I've been pretty open about it.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I like to schedule my posts and I like to see my analytics.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: And pretty recently I went through and looked at like my top posts to see like what have I been like, because I think someone asked me, like, what's been the most impressions you've ever gotten on a post?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I think it's a half a million.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, no way.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, no, yeah, I think that's right.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then I went and looked, and it was half a million impressions on a post.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I mean, yeah, that was like a solid post.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: That post was about like the um like the the CEO dynamic within like the company culture or something like that.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was very like, here's like something that happened.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I noticed this, you know, and and this is what happens when, you know, a CEO acts this way.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then my second one was also like CEO archetypes that, you know, like people that are.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I do think like some of my framework ones or like that sort of thing, like they do get a ton of traction.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think there are some that are just personal, some that are just funny.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just spent, I spent like 30 seconds the other day because I was just like, oh man, I haven't like really been good at posting this week.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's been tough because of Jackson having his tonsolectomy.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was sleeping on the floor, all that.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I'm gonna write about this.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it did terrible.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, I got like a hundred views or something like that.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, well, nobody cares about, you know, any of that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had another post that the within the same week that was about um like I've ruined so many good meetings.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember seeing that.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've ruined so many good meetings, and you know, um something along the line.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very funny.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Just like I was just like feeling silly.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna write this.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think I was.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sitting on the couch while I was writing it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I clicked schedule and I walked away.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then the next day it's blown up.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's got like 200 likes or whatever.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, great.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now like this is this is no rhyme or reason.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is what the LinkedIn algo pick.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: So so I do think, but to your point, I do think like the one thing that sets my really good ones versus like things that don't do well at all is exactly what you said, where it's my opinion, it's my experience, it's my it's a story of something that's happened.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then versus like things that are definitely just like, I don't know, common that everybody agrees on, or that are just, you know, like basic, you know, basic things.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I would say like basic doesn't do well on on LinkedIn.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um so definitely dig for those stories of things that are happening or real opinions that you actually have.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's I mean, it's just you you become so much more interesting.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it is if if I can get coaches to catch us, you know, one thing out of that, it's you I go back to what you said earlier.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've had consistency and you've really boiled down to what do I want my, you know, platform to be talked about, right?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so you've leaned into that.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I would argue that's probably why the algorithm, the algorithm knows you talk about those things.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so it rewards that your audience has been built around that.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's something that I just see so many coaches, they're so inconsistent, and then they're like, well, LinkedIn doesn't work.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, sure, but yeah, you post like once a month, dude.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you expect?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's send old messages to people.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Have you exactly I was gonna say, have you ever leaned into that strategy?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: You're not really not at all.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: And like the commenting has been so crazy lately with like everyone and their mom found out about that strategy from someone out there from some LinkedIn guru where it's like, comment on 10 things per day.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I am just, I mean, I'm like, I mean, do your thing, I guess.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: But like I only comment on things whenever I'm again sitting somewhere where I'm like, I'm gonna browse LinkedIn for 10 minutes or whatever.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll set my timer, I'll scroll, and I'll see something that like I'm interested in, and then I and I I'll post a comment.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And like now I see all these people that put like have like the uh AI commenter things and they they're posting on a hundred things.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's not good for you because like we can tell, we're not idiots.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: We can tell whenever it's an AI comment.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: No matter how good you think it is, we can tell it's an AI comment.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: And two, like it doesn't, it does, it doesn't sound like you, it's not how you are.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so what ends up happening is like people don't actually know you, and all they know about you is that you use some kind of AI automated thing to like comment on their stuff and like it doesn't help.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so like, yeah, cold outreach and a like the AI commenting thing, like I would stay away from it.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: I would rather like set a timer for 10 minutes to scroll LinkedIn on a random day throughout the week and comment on the things that actually speak to you versus setting up some kind of like AI commenter thing and then cold outreach, terrible for sure.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: It hurts the credibility.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I and that is as a as an advisor coach, I mean, your credibility is everything.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're already hurting your credibility just by your social media strategy, I mean, come on, like we gotta do better than that.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I agree.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing is more frustrating.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I this is a funny story.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've told it on spot guys before.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I there was a guy that um was in my town, and he we had been, we tried to get together a couple times and it just didn't work out schedule-wise, right?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just grabbed lunch, you know, we're in the same town, and um, he's a consultant guy.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm you know, in the same field, you know, just trying to find.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I had reached out to him and he had gotten back and like, okay, here, you know, send some times that work for you.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, did it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I did all that.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the midst of that, he got one of those AI things.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so he got one of the commenters and one of the automated messaging things that he had put out.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had sent him the times that work for me to meet in person, mind you, which is the lifeblood of any kind of advisor.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And do you think I ever heard a response from him?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: I got him promoting his little workshop, like webinar thing, and it was just automated message after automated message.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I called him out on it and I was like, dude, I'm trying to set up a meeting with you.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: For all you know, I could be a prospect that's literally trying to set a meeting with you, and you're sending me automated messages and you never responded to me.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I called him out on it, and then he ended up unfriending me and like, and I was just like, I don't know if he just was so embarrassed, but it was just it was the wildest situation.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, dude, that's tough.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry you, you know, but I think you can get where you think quantity is going to help you, and it doesn't.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: It never does.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you can, I would much, oh my gosh, I would much rather spend 10 minutes, like you said, find things of people like comment on your post or you know, Derek's post, or people that I know that I can support and add value to that, that that is ultimately a much better strategy than sending a hundred cold messages to somebody that is already trying to mess it, you know, meet with you.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, it's, it's crazy the world that we've gotten to.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I want to transition um kind of in the second half here into mastery.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: One of the competencies that we talk a lot about here on the podcast is mastery.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I have always been a uh of just in awe of how much you lean into that.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: We, I don't even know if you remember this, but when we first talked about this a long time ago about this, we you had mentioned something where you were like, hey, I don't care what framework you are running in your business.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I will go read the book, I will figure it out.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that stuck with me because I see that.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I I have that tendency too where I just love learning.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'll get on these like YouTube, I'm like learning everything I possibly can.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably my ADHD where I'm like hyper focused on something.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: But how is that, you know, kind of where did that mindset come from for you?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Have you always been that way?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that something that was kind of developed out of necessity?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like just talk a little bit about that.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I had tons of people always um mention, you know, like how did you get to this point where you're doing like COO work at, you know, at 25, right?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Just kidding.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but like how young you are, like wow, like you've really, yeah, like you've really like, like, how did you get to that point?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: And like you, you kind of hit the nail on the head.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: When a CEO or a leader of any sort brought me an idea and said, like, this is something that I think we should do.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, I was really great at saying no to things that I was like, that sounds terrible.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why would we do that?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very great at like speaking up.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that thing, I think that's just like my personality type.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an ENTJ, I'm an Enneagram eight.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very good at like just calling it how I see it.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, to your point.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever you said like you, you told that guy that, like, hey, this is terrible, you shouldn't do this.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's me.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's me to a T.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: I will just tell you this is a terrible.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: But two, if I thought, like, man, this is a really good idea, I would say, yeah, yeah, let me let me tackle that.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let me take, let me, let me go read that book.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I will read a book in a weekend if like a CEO tells me, like, I really want to do this um thing, and like this is the book that I got it from.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: I would have the book by Friday.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'd read it over the weekend.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: By Monday, I'd be like, great, this is how we can tackle it.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm I'm hiring fractionals within Duke BCG for that, like for that skill.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want people that are great at memorizing traction and memorizing, you know, EOS concepts or gold rat or scaling, um, you know, the science of scaling.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love all of those.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they're all great programs, all great systems.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: But what I'm really hiring fractionals for is for that specific, like we call it grit internally, like it's just that internal drive of like, I want to know that, I want to get that done.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I hire for grit and growth.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Those are like our two main words.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then we talk about clarity a lot.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like clarity being like, you are yourself, you're clear about it, you're open about it, you're you're big about like your you're, I think uh uh Rob Dubai and Geno Wickman do a great job at calling it.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like you let your freak flag fry fly.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're just who you are.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: I want those sort of people.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want people that are like, this is who I am, and I am not afraid to tell the world.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, people that are really willing to read the book whenever a client says, I want to learn about you know the goal and I want my company to run on the goal.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's read it, let's get on it, let's like run with it.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: And people that are big about grit, like I am not going to bed until this is done because like I because this is my internal drive, right?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so we talked about like grit, meaning like uh you don't want to let people down.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I've told people, I'm like, no, to me, it's internally at Duke BCG, grit is not I don't want to let people down.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's I don't want to let myself down.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's I don't want to, I don't personally, like I would be afraid of letting myself down, of saying that I'm gonna do something and then not being able to achieve it because then that's letting me down, not other people.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's grit to me.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's your question.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's yeah, that's that's brilliant.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one thing when you were saying that, I my brain, you said something where it was basically like, hey, I'm able to kind of say the thing where, hey, if this feels, I'm just gonna call it a shiny object, right?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how have you developed that skill?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like your personality is kind of hardwiredwired for already doing that, but obviously there's the soft art of how you frame that.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how have you learned over time to work with visionaries who have lots of ideas?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am one of them.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am so sorry, because I will come with 20 ideas and I think they're all brilliant that will transform all of you know our entire business.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but how do you navigate that?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And how have you learned to kind of address that with visionaries?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean that, you know, those are special to them, right?
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so how do you help them think through that?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk a little bit through that?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I and I will say, like you pointed out something very great in the beginning of your question.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hardwired to say no.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Derek, Faustina, Stephanie on my team, Fez, like other people on my team are not the exact same uh, you know, profile.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't live the same childhoods, uh childhoods that I did.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't live through the same, you know, version of life that I did.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so for them, it's different.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's really important to say like every integrator is gonna have a different way of approaching how to say no.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And every one of them is gonna have a different psychological maze that they have to go through to be able to say no to like to uh you know to a visionary.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I'll say from my perspective, when I've had CEOs that come with like a million ideas, number one is I don't want to cap their ideas.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to tell them like, you're crazy.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: And like I never want to be like, you're like, I can't believe you came with more ideas.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's what we want from our visionaries.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: You want a visionary that has lots of ideas.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: I love working with visionaries that are like going a thousand miles an hour.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: I have someone in uh in New York right now that tells me, like, we're a t we're going 200 miles an hour, take no prisoners.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's who we are as a company.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I love it.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to go 200 miles an hour.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to take no prisoners, whatever that means.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, when you're bringing these ideas, I'm putting them through a filter.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: For companies that run on EOS, the filter is the VTO.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: When we came up with the VTO with an implementer in the room, with the leadership team in the room, you told me, you told us as a team that you want us to get to 25 million by next year.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: And in order to do that, we needed to implement an AI intake for our clients, or we needed to buy 13 new trucks, uh, we needed to get better insurance terms for whatever.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: If we decide to do whatever idea, like insert idea the CEO came with, if we decide to do that, then I cannot promise you that we're gonna do all these other things.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I cannot promise you that we're gonna get 25 million because that's a shiny new idea.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna take resources, it's gonna take time, it's gonna take money.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: And now suddenly this plan is out the window.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: So which one do you want to do?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my way.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: My way is like use the filter.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I also sometimes do say, no, absolutely not.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're not doing that.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just like shout it across the table.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever they're like, we should create like a text texting like feature on our website to let people know of like our new brand.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, ah, stop, stop.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're not a tech company, we're not doing that.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: We sell dog food, right?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it's just a hard no because I can tell they're going like way.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the idea sounds really good.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to be with you, but I have to say, like, let's let's talk through the VTO or through the business plan.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: And if the business plan doesn't say that that can happen in the next three to four quarters, let's write it down.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: I still think it's a good idea.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's come back to it during our annual planning, and maybe it's something that happens in 2027 and not just right now.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that newer fractionals or maybe not as confident fractionals struggle with?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because I love the way that you frame that.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, hey, if we go down this path, this is not an option.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or we need to stab, or what, you know, whatever.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the with the current state of where we're at, that's not an option unless we choose not to go after this.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that those less experienced or newer fractionals often maybe overpromise where they're like, oh my gosh, yes, we'll like, okay, great, great idea.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's go in and do this.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then they have an operational mess on their hands because they're like, shoot, we have all these three things.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then we added two more things halfway through the quarter, and it's like, oh no, there's no way.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that to be a normal experience?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, with like the fractional leap, I've I've worked with um, I'd say about a hundred fractionals now that, you know, helping them through the process of going fractional.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that has come up with conversations after they've gotten fractional and they've gotten that first client, second client is like, I'm just overwhelmed.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's so much work.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do I?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to like constantly remind them.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And even like the people that work with me, like I check in on every contract.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: We have we have clinical note Fridays, which on Fridays I expect that everyone in the company has their clinical notes for their clients in the CRM for us.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and our practice manager actually goes through and makes sure that everything's in.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And if we don't have it, she'll ping us and just say, hey, just a quick reminder.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: We need your notes for this client.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when I see something where we're overpromising, I like to step in and just like as a quick reminder, hey, remember you're a fractional.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're spending about a third of your week.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you have about 40 to 45 hours in a week that you're gonna spend working, right?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Every single person in my company has kids.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um all of us have kids in a stage where they need us and they want us.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: And like, you know, and and we have spouses that we love that we want to spend time with.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you have 40 to 45 hours a week.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're spending about a third of your time with this client.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: For some of our clients, they, you know, they they have double engagement, what we call double engagement.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're spending two-thirds of your time with that client.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's gonna be possible, right?
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: You committed to four different rocks for the quarter.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: One of them is a company rock, and three of them are individual rocks.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just throwing it out there, right?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so it and with people that you know that that w that that come to me saying, like, hey, I think my scope's gotten out of hand, like, how do I hand I I just always like to go back to kind of what I said a second ago with like the VTO.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: If we have a client where it's like they keep adding on, adding on, adding on, I like to remind them, like, look, you're paying a fraction of the cost, you're getting a fraction of the time.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you want me to come full time and pay me the full-time price, right?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: You want to pay 300 to 400K a year, and someone will actually do all of those things, great, awesome.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Things will move a lot faster.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: But right now you're paying a fraction of the cost to move at the fraction of the speed because that's what you you can afford and that's what you want to do.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and I'm not saying that that's like a bad thing, but for some companies, that is exactly what they need.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I I'm the first to call out like, look, you're ready for someone full-time, but your company's at$150 million a year.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: You've got 200 employees, you've got a lot of moving pieces.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Fractional is probably not the right thing for you.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're at 20 million, you've got about 100 employees, but 20 million.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: The complexity level comes down quite a bit.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're setting up a foundation to make things easier.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're gonna bring in someone really expensive to really get you to the next level.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's the perfect space to be in.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I I tell fractionals constantly, I'm like, don't say yes to a to a client just because you're like, oh, I need this and I have to take this on.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's better to take on a client that you know you're gonna really succeed with than to take on a client that is just gonna pay the bills and you're gonna fail and then it's gonna tarnish your name forever.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, be be good at saying no.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have an exit strategy that's put in place ahead of time?
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you set expectations of like, hey, this is gonna be a year and a half or whatever it is, the engagement.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Our contracts are 12 months long with a six-month renewal, automatic renewal if they want it.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, most of our clients will stay on between that 12 to 18 months.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: And those last three months are when we call in the big guns, which is like some of our um recruiter friends that you and I were talking about before we left on, that I love and they do such a phenomenal job at finding like the best integrator for that company.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like a great cost and it's a great interaction with those people.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: But the bigger part is we onboard that person, we train them, Duke BCG, we train them, we we give them the COO playbook.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: We say, This is what I've done over the last year.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's why it's so important for us to add all of our notes.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because then we say, Here's what I've done in the past year.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is what you're dealing with, this is the transition.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Over the next 30 days, I'm gonna show you the ropes, and then I'm out of here.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on to my next clients because like that is the point of a fractional, right?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're not here forever.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, that's what we do is literally come in 12 to 18 months, fix the things that need to be fixed, help the team become so great at what they do that whenever you start paying someone$300,000,$400,000 a year, they're coming into a clean house.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're not having to clean up.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then do you on the front end, do you have any kind of check boxes, if you will, of all right, hey, this is gonna be a right fit client for Duke, or we're getting some orange, we're getting some red flags, like what do you have kind of a criteria for that?
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: We've gotten really good at that now.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like you would think, like, I would I'll tell you this, I'll I'll say this.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: And if any of my past clients are listening to this, they're gonna say, yep.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when it was me on my own, and when I, you know, worked with any client to my point earlier where I would say yes to anything, I had to kiss a couple frogs.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was, I said yes to certain clients that I like looking back, I'm like, I should have said no to that.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so now, um, and I we talk about this really openly at Duke during our collective call.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: We have a weekly collective call.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um, there are clients where I'm like, I can tell that number one, they don't see the value in a COO, and we're having to convince them of the value of a COO.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's the right fit for us.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it's like, yeah, like the size and complexity.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: We have a couple of enterprise clients that are in the$200 million range, and they're great clients either way.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: But they number one, they understand the value of a COO or the value of an integrator, depending on if they run on EOS.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they understand that we're fractional, that we're only gonna get certain things done, that this is not a full-time forever fix.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, like that if you have to have a lot of like that, I call it mutual admiration.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: As COOs, as integrators, we have to admire and love the way that a visionary, an owner, a CEO, how their brain works, and we have to appreciate it and love it.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: But they have to appreciate and love the way that our brain works and the way that we're gonna say no sometimes, the way that we're gonna slow them down a little bit, the way that we're gonna, you know, change the dynamic of their team.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all of those things are really important.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: And now, whenever I speak to an owner and I can tell that it's not right, I'm very good at being like, you know, I think we should like introduce you to a couple other people and, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: Someone told me, he's like, you sell like you're selling Bentley's.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can't afford what you're doing, or I shouldn't be driving.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Driving the car that you're selling.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't mean it in any way like a negative thing.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we kind of are like a Bentley or like a like a whatever kind of car you want to call it.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's a very specific car.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that car is not going to be right for everyone, right?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Not everyone wants to drive a Tesla.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not everyone wants to drive a big monster truck that's lifted with, you know, like the exhaust roaring down the road.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: We are very specific for certain people.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And those people are gonna know when they meet us whether or not we're right for them.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be the same way for the other way around.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's good.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I love that.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this has been awesome.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I appreciate you taking the time.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have I've learned a ton, even as I'm building my own fractional practice.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like there are ways that you think about things that has challenged the way that I so I appreciate you sharing it.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this is applicable for fractional executives, coaches, consultants, we'll lump consultants, we'll agree that it's like it's an all-encompassing, but I agree, fractionals should carve their own way.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's a little rebels over there.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I always like to ask guests two questions kind of on the tail end.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you could go back to rookie Stephanie five, six years ago, just starting out on this initiative, but you have all of the knowledge and experience that you have now, what advice would you give yourself?
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think like for me, it's like just be grateful of um of the of the different characters and the people that you will meet.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the ups and the downs.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because of like my sort of personality, when I care a lot about people and they don't reciprocate that care, my feelings get really hurt.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I become so just like, I can't believe and I become like torn.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I can't trust someone again.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's taken me years to come to the realization that because I have this sort of personality, I'm gonna care deeply about people.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes they're not gonna care deeply back.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if I could just go tell Ricky Stephanie, like, don't get torn up about like the the relationships that don't work out in business, because at the end of the day, like it's just business for certain people.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you need to be you know, you need to be open to the idea that some people are not gonna care deeply about you as well, and that's okay.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna, it's not gonna end your world and it's not gonna like ruin your life.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's sometimes relationships are not gonna work, and that's okay.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good word.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's you know, you're you're so attached from a personal brand standpoint because you're selling yourself, right?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so when that's rejected, it is sometimes can be that personal, like, oh man.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like your heart.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but that's a really good mindset.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate sharing.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: And be okay with getting hurt again.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: Go back, put yourself out there.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna like have relationships that are not gonna work all the time.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, like last month, two months.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just gonna go on forever.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: And don't be afraid of it.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, be don't be afraid of the hurt.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: The hurt's okay.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, lean into it.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Don't move slower just because you got hurt or something stung.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like keep going.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a marathon, right?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's good.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good word.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then, so if that's more reflection, what's a lesson that you're in the middle of learning in this current moment?
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly, I was I'm part of a founder mastermind um group with like these huge founders.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like the the founder of like Poppy is part of like this group.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like see these huge names and I I belittle myself a little bit.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm not as big, I'm not as great, I'm not doing and so I'm in the midst of right now, like journaling and praying a lot around that because I don't I I keep thinking about it this way.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if this was my friend, if this was Cam Lawson coming to me and saying, I'm not good enough, like look at all these other people that are doing, I'd be like, Cam, shut up.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're amazing.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you talking about?
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't get in your head about that, man.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you're doing amazing, you're doing a great job.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so whenever I hear myself, I find myself thinking that way, I have to like stop, write it down, and be like, would I be okay with like my friend thinking that way about himself, right?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Would I be okay with um, you know, my husband speaking to himself that way?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, I wouldn't.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, why are you thinking that way?
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: And like, really, again, leaning into God, leaning into like my own reflection on why I'm speaking that way to myself.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think I'm I'm I think I'm almost through it, but it's definitely like something that I'm going through right now that's that's that's like interesting.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: That I I hope five years from now I'll be able to look back and be like, man, if I could talk to myself five years ago, I would make sure I wasn't doing that to myself.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's that's really good.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot of us that, I mean, we we're a harshest critic, right?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a that's a reality, but uh I will be the friend to you that the thing that you have built with Duke is incredible and it has been fun to watch it um from afar, but also being a little bit closer and knowing the um decisions that you've made and the the people that you've brought on.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: You've really built something really special.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope you know that and I hope you know that you do belong in the room.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I will be that friend to you.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but well, thank you for coming on and sharing.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: If if somebody wants to get in touch with you, what is the best place to pick your brain?
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Learn more about Duke, learn more about you, follow you on LinkedIn, all the things.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can uh you can go to DukeBCG.com and find out more about us there.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you can also just connect with me on LinkedIn, Stephanie Day.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: My name is spelled with a Y, Stephanie um with a Y at the end, Day with a Y at the end.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, look me up on LinkedIn and connect with me there.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm always up for coffee or conversation via Zoom.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, I'm happy to help, especially other consultants, other coaches, other fractionals.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm an open book.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've had so many conversations with people each year that have, you know, wanted to go fractional.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: I always connect them with new clients.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: I always connect them with, you know, um uh ideas and resources.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I plan to continue that.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't, I don't care if you buy my course or not, like just reach out to me.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm an open book.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll link out to to some of that to make it easy for people, but please tick up Stephanie on that because I know she will.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: We've had many conversations and I always leave encouraged and challenged, just like I did in this conversation.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again for coming on.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's been been fun.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: This went by fast.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I figured it would.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, my friend.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for tuning in.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, we've got plenty more where that came from.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you on the next one.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for today's episode of the Ambitious Coach Lab.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: My hope is that something here helps you sharpen your craft and keep building a coaching practice you're proud of.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Before we wrap, a quick thank you to our sponsor, 90.
• 51:10
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• 51:16
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• 51:27
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• 51:34
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• 51:38
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• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for hanging out with me today.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Cam.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Cheering on as you grow your ambitious coaching practice.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.