Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Transforming Medical Practice Recruiting Through Personal Connection, with Chris Germond of Nextaff | Staffing Series

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Transforming Medical Practice Recruiting Through Personal Connection, with Chris Germond of Nextaff | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:20
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspoti and today's guest is Chris Germont,
0:30
owner, healthcare recruiter, staffing swami and guy who
0:33
cleans the office at Next Staff of Sarasota.
0:37
Building on a 25 year leadership career, he brings considerable
0:40
variety and depth of experience to the Next Staff brand as his
0:44
father was an executive search consultant for over 40 years.
0:48
Chris literally grew up in the world of recruiting and made his
0:51
first professional executive assignment when he was 17 years
0:56
old. Now he uses his experience to
1:00
help medical practices throughout Southwest Florida to
1:03
expand their hiring by assisting them with sourcing, recruiting
1:06
and screening high quality clinical and non clinical
1:09
healthcare talent. They specialize in filling
1:11
critical roles in nursing, allied health, medical,
1:15
administrative and practice leadership.
1:17
They offer temporary contract to hire and direct to hire services
1:21
and they do all of this through their proprietary process called
1:25
X Factor. Now before we get into all that
1:28
good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:30
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1:34
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To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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Add Back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
1:57
owner of Next Staff Sarasota, Chris Germond.
2:00
I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
2:03
Yeah. Thanks, Anthony.
2:04
I appreciate it. So, Chris, tell us a little bit
2:06
about the path that led you into the staffing industry.
2:09
It sounds like you grew up in that world.
2:11
Did you know this is always what you wanted to do?
2:15
I'm not sure if it's what I wanted to do.
2:16
What I really want to do is be a race car driver.
2:19
That didn't work out, but my dad was actually a headhunter for 40
2:26
plus years, had his own company so I think I may have gotten the
2:30
entrepreneurial. Bug.
2:32
From him a little bit and I started working with him when I
2:36
was even before I was a teenager.
2:40
I helped around the office help clean their office, help to
2:43
research through. This is before.
2:45
They had computers. I'm dating myself.
2:48
So we had to do research through industry manuals and journals
2:54
and things like that for the recruiters in his office.
2:57
And when when my voice changed, he got me on the phone.
3:02
And that's where I learned to be a recruiter.
3:04
And I literally did make my first placement when I was 17.
3:08
It may have been 16 just before I turned 17, but it was pretty
3:12
darn early. So that's how I got into
3:15
recruiting. Working for your dad is hard, as
3:19
many people have done that will know, and working with family is
3:23
tough. So I went off after that and
3:26
started my own career in operations leadership in retail
3:30
and spent years doing that. So I was always a hiring manager
3:36
or recruiter during my entire career when the retail company I
3:43
worked for went went bankrupt. I had to.
3:48
Figure out what to do again and got connected back into
3:54
recruiting and started working with an executive search office
3:59
here in Sarasota, FL doing a what they call a 360 desk.
4:04
So I was doing the sourcing, the recruiting, but also had to find
4:07
my own clients. Too.
4:10
And starting to kind of get the itch that maybe I wanted to do
4:15
something myself again. Spent a little bit of time with
4:19
a home care agency here in Florida doing recruiting and
4:23
helping them revamp their their ATS, their applicant tracking
4:30
system and sort of bring that into the 21st century.
4:33
And that's when I. First got approached by next
4:36
staff. Oh, they came to you.
4:38
Yeah, I was approached by them to gauge my interest in joining
4:43
a a partnership group that owns the franchise rights here in
4:48
Southwest Florida. They wanted to open up a
4:50
healthcare staffing office. Well, I had the obviously the
4:54
recruiting background, I had the operational background,
4:58
everything from, you know, site selection for an office to
5:02
running a business to running AP and L and seemed to click so.
5:10
I. I got involved with that that
5:12
partnership group and we opened the office in October 2021, kind
5:16
of at the height of the COVID pandemic.
5:20
And what were you focusing on at that time?
5:23
Any particular industries? Yeah.
5:26
And when you say healthcare, it's a wide umbrella, right?
5:29
There's there's a lot of things you can do in healthcare.
5:31
We were pretty narrowly focused when we opened the business
5:35
doing what we call PRN staffing or filling shifts with clients
5:40
in the long term care and assisted living industry.
5:47
And they had such a need during during COVID that it was, it
5:54
wasn't hard to come out-of-the-box, really.
5:57
Strong if you could find people to fill those open positions
6:03
then. You certainly had clients for it
6:06
that they didn't. They didn't care how much they
6:09
didn't care how many. They just needed people.
6:13
So from a business development standpoint, it was, it was
6:18
pretty easy from you know to go out and get clients at that at
6:22
that time. And so have you continued to
6:26
focus on those same niches within healthcare?
6:31
You know, about 16 months ago, we noticed as we came out of
6:35
COVID that that business, at least here in Florida, was
6:40
changing quite a bit. They were really starting to
6:44
pare back not only outside staffing of which we were part
6:48
of, but even internal staffing. They were starting to call a
6:52
little bit their internal teams. And you know, because it's
6:55
simply not sustainable to bring in outside staffing in that
6:59
business for a long period of time.
7:01
And we knew that. So as we started to see that
7:04
business. Drop.
7:07
I started to look. Around and say, hey, what else
7:10
can we do in healthcare? It's such a, it's such a wide
7:13
playing field and actually got a client, you know, we came across
7:20
a client that was a, a medical practice.
7:24
They were a rather rather large one with about 13 plus offices
7:30
in the area, both primary care and specialty and they were
7:35
really struggling with a a lot of their offices hiring and I
7:41
just and I was comparing and contrasting working with them
7:45
with working in the long term care assisted.
7:47
Living. Field where outside staffing is
7:50
thought of a taboo. Those administrators, those
7:54
facilities actually get sanctioned by their by their
7:58
parent. Companies that they have to use
7:59
outside. Staffing, or too much of it.
8:01
Really. And you and we get treated like
8:04
that and the employees they bring in from us don't get
8:07
treated. Great.
8:09
Either so I found it to be very transactional.
8:13
Working with them. And I never opened a business to
8:15
want to do that. I don't like doing business in a
8:18
transactional way. It's not fun for me.
8:20
And quite honestly, I'm at the point in my career where I want
8:23
to have fun in what I do and I want to enjoy the clients I work
8:27
with and I want to bring some value to them and help them do
8:30
something that they may be struggling with.
8:34
So it got to the point where, yeah, I just didn't want to do
8:38
business in that vertical any longer.
8:40
So that's how I got hooked up with into the medical practices.
8:44
And I, what I found is that they, they saw more value in
8:48
what I was bringing to them by helping them to, to expand their
8:52
recruiting bandwidth. A lot of medical practices are
8:58
smaller. Maybe they only have one office
9:00
or they have maybe have multiple, but they don't have
9:03
their own town acquisition department for the most part.
9:07
Or if they do, it also double s as their HR department and also
9:11
double s as their business office.
9:13
So when they have a big hiring need, I was finding that their
9:18
lives were thrown into an uproar, their professional
9:21
lives. The office manager not only had
9:24
to manage the office, help their providers, the doctors, deal
9:28
with the patients, but now they had to go hire people.
9:31
That's a full time job in and of itself.
9:33
So I think we've carved out a niche working with medical
9:38
practices throughout the area and that's.
9:40
That that's the. The road I've taken to that
9:43
where I want to expand the business and focus on is, you
9:46
know, try to bring something to their practices that is tough.
9:51
For them to do under normal circumstances.
9:54
They don't have the time, the expertise or the platforms that
9:57
we have to help them out. So I've enjoyed that a lot more
10:02
and I think they've definitely seen more value in it as well.
10:05
It's not just a, it's not just, hey, send me a warm body.
10:09
Have you seen your peers, the other franchisees in next staff
10:14
make a similar transition? Yeah, we've seen them start.
10:18
Yeah, we've definitely seen them start.
10:20
So they're opening kind of their eyes and seeing what else is out
10:24
there. I have a colleague up in the
10:27
Orlando area where he's really working on getting into the
10:30
behavioral health area, kind of for the same reason that they.
10:35
Seem to be. Much more welcoming and see the
10:38
value in what we can bring to them and it just turns out to be
10:41
more fun for both parties so. So let's talk a little bit about
10:46
next staff. Like obviously they approached
10:48
you, they saw something in you that they saw a lot of value in,
10:52
but let me turn that around. And so from your viewpoint, that
10:57
had to be flattering, but what did next staff bring to the
11:00
table that you couldn't just go and do on your own with all the
11:04
years of experience that you had?
11:06
Sure. So when I first got into it
11:08
within a partnership group at the time, the ability to and,
11:13
and capital, you know, they came with capital and tools to get
11:17
the business started. While I've been doing some
11:20
healthcare recruiting, I was by no means what I consider an
11:26
expert in it as of yet. I think over the past few years
11:29
I've definitely developed that, but you know, you need to know,
11:35
you need to know and understand a vertical in order to be that
11:37
kind of effective. Recruiter in it.
11:40
What they did bring, besides the capitals, they brought some
11:43
really good systems, everything from their their ATS and HCM
11:50
system, which kind of double s is that they brought expertise
11:55
in kind of setting up that staffing business that I thought
12:00
was I thought was valuable. And also the ability to do
12:06
contract to hire or that to actually have that workforce.
12:13
OK. So they actually fund that and,
12:16
and you know, and actually pay that.
12:18
And then so that they're acting as your your bank basically
12:22
while you're doing it. And another thing that I really
12:26
liked was the the founders of the company I thought were very
12:31
authentic, Kerry and James, that it was still a small enough
12:38
organization and growing where you could contribute to
12:43
operations and if you had an idea you'd get listened to.
12:47
I think there's lots of great franchises out there that are
12:50
very large and they have that replicatable system, but they
12:55
just say, hey, you do this, don't question anything.
12:58
Where I did have a lot of operational and recruiting
13:01
background. So you know, I could bring a lot
13:04
to that table. So that was kind of interesting
13:05
to me as well. How would you describe the size
13:09
of next staff now? I don't know either how many
13:11
recruiters they have or how many locations that they're in across
13:14
the country. Yeah.
13:16
Overall, I think they're over. I think they're over 50
13:20
locations now throughout the country and they do other types
13:23
of staffing besides healthcare. They do commercial, they do IT.
13:28
So they're pretty broad. So you know, if someone's
13:32
looking at that. Type of opportunity.
13:34
Depends on what other the passengers for and sometimes
13:37
it's what area you're in as well.
13:39
Like for example, I wouldn't I probably wouldn't do commercial
13:42
staffing in the area I'm in. It's not a huge warehousing
13:46
area, right? Or it's not a, it's not a huge
13:49
light and death grill area. But healthcare in Southwest
13:52
Florida, we're not going to run out of doctor's offices here
13:55
anytime soon, so. There's a lot of opportunity
13:58
for. Potential clients as well as
14:01
potential employees. Do you ever consider moving
14:05
outside of the healthcare space to support other industries?
14:09
Like yet light industrial warehousing is not really a
14:12
thing there, but would there be others that would be interesting
14:15
to you? Yeah, it's, it's always
14:18
possible. We, we have had discussions of
14:21
actually not so much different types of industries, but in
14:24
healthcare there are different types of staffing and the idea
14:28
of what they call locums staffing is attractive.
14:32
And that's where you're, you're filling temporary roles for
14:35
normally 13 week contracts all over the country and very
14:40
specific types of healthcare providers, whether that be
14:45
allied health like physical therapist, occupational
14:47
etcetera. So they've had discussions
14:50
around that. I don't think we're quite there
14:52
yet, but it's something exploratory.
14:54
I think one of the cool things about recruiting in general is
14:58
that you can become an expert in a vertical that we don't really
15:04
know a lot about. I've done it three Times Now.
15:09
When I was young, I did it with my dad's company and he was a an
15:16
expert in recruiting in microwave technology.
15:20
I'm not talking about microwave ovens.
15:22
That's a very specific niche. Microwave communications
15:25
technology where many of his clients.
15:28
Were. Defense contractors or
15:31
subcontractors, which that's that's pretty cool thing to be
15:36
in. When I got back in the
15:40
recruiting and worked for an executive search firm in town
15:44
here, they kind of gave me free reign to develop my own
15:47
vertical. They said, you know, we'd like
15:49
to do something retail related. You've got a deep retail
15:53
background. Tell us what you think it should
15:55
be in and the more research I did, the more I found that
15:59
supply chain technology, specifically as it relates to
16:02
e-commerce, basically the big distribution centers that feed
16:06
us all our stuff now, whether it be from Amazon or Walmart,
16:11
whatever the technologies that run those buildings, the
16:15
software and the hardware was really interesting to me.
16:19
So I developed the a a desk focusing in that area and I got
16:24
to be an expert in specifically supply chain software and the
16:31
implementation of it and people who do that.
16:34
I didn't know a thing about it before I started researching it,
16:38
but. But you get to know the lingo,
16:39
you get to know what kind of skills are needed to run this
16:42
software to set it up. Once I learned the verbiage and
16:46
the buzzwords and the players in the industry, which is all
16:51
pretty easy to research, it really starts to come together.
16:55
So I was. Able to build a pretty
16:57
successful desk you, you know, doing that.
17:01
So I think that the same thing is possible in healthcare or any
17:04
other any other vertical with I, I credit that I credit to
17:10
knowing that to my willingness to look outside what I was doing
17:14
when we started this office and we were pretty narrowly focused
17:18
in the assisted living and long term care space.
17:21
And as that business changed and I discovered that I'm not a real
17:26
fan of working in that vertical find another one and develop it.
17:31
So that's I think that's a really cool thing about
17:33
recruiting is that you can choose different verticals and
17:36
become experts in it. So could I do something else?
17:39
Sure. Am I ready to?
17:42
I'm probably more focused on expanding this vertical.
17:46
And my SO lots of. Opportunity where you are in
17:49
this absolute. Vertical just just just on the
17:52
West Coast of Florida here from Tampa, Saint Petersburg S
17:56
there's so much opportunity. So I I'm probably more focusing
18:01
my energy in that that respect right now.
18:04
And how do you, how do you continue to grow like what are
18:07
the mechanisms for you finding new clients or new clients
18:10
finding you? Yeah.
18:12
So I use, we do a couple different things.
18:16
My main, my main vehicle is just a lead generation system that I
18:22
I partnered with a company on and they help me target the
18:26
types of medical practices that would be kind of in my myth, the
18:31
both the size and the location. And we introduce ourselves to
18:35
them through, through e-mail, through phone calls, through
18:38
visits. So that's the main growth
18:43
vehicle I'm, I'm during the other side of that is when we do
18:47
have a new client, we've got to be able to find people for them.
18:51
So being kind of innovative when it comes to recruiting and
18:55
that's one of the nice things about Next staff is they bring
18:57
some pretty cool platforms that I think they're a part of our
19:02
value statement to a potential client that our normal client
19:07
either doesn't have the time or resources to use so.
19:16
Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about
19:17
that, that system, the processes, the platforms that
19:20
set you guys apart. So the the first thing that we
19:23
talked to them about is our X Factor process and that's
19:27
really, that's really kind of the soup we use to not only
19:32
identify but screen potential candidates.
19:35
And that's the, you know, doing everything from, you know,
19:38
behavioral type interviews with them to utilizing some
19:41
assessments that we have available to us that again, one
19:45
of our clients could go use, but they're going to have to pay a
19:48
lot more, lot more for them than we do.
19:52
We've also got some proprietary technological platforms that are
19:55
pretty neat. We have our own mobile app where
19:59
when we have a, let's say we have a temporary assignment, I
20:03
need a medical assistant who can work a 13 week contract here in
20:06
Sarasota. Well, it's easy for me to
20:09
basically send that out to all our medical assistants in our
20:12
database who've worked with us prior, and it will they'll get a
20:17
notification on their app. OK.
20:20
So and then we've also got our own referral platform, our
20:23
talent referral platform that we can, we have ambassadors.
20:29
They don't have to work for us. They can be anyone.
20:32
You could be an ambassador for us and you refer someone to us.
20:36
If they refer a nurse to us and it's all electronic through your
20:41
own dashboard, you refer the nurse to us.
20:43
You know who you refer to us, You can track their progress.
20:46
If they get hired by us and go to work, not only not only them,
20:51
but you're going to get a referral fee.
20:54
So we, we've got one person that has, you know, made hundreds of
20:58
dollars through us in getting gift cards just by referring
21:03
people to us, you know, so we have our own database of
21:08
potential talent, people that we grow using our referral data or
21:12
referral platform. We also have our own job posting
21:16
platform where everyone knows probably the most popular job
21:22
board out there is Indeed. It's one of the most used one,
21:26
but believe it or not, Indeed I think only has about 25 or 30%
21:30
of the market share. I wouldn't have guessed that.
21:34
When you factor in LinkedIn and all the other, you know, even
21:37
like Monster, they're still around.
21:38
We knew they were still around. So there's lots of specialty job
21:42
boards out there. So we've got a platform that we
21:46
can. Utilize to get our jobs in front
21:49
of people, not only on Indeed, but on other on other platforms
21:54
and we're sponsoring the job. So it's not just being picked up
21:58
by an aggregator, but we're actually able to get prime,
22:02
prime position on that platform and the candidate comes in.
22:06
Directly through our. ATS system so they come directly
22:10
to us. They're not necessarily having
22:11
to apply through Indeed, for example, these are all things
22:16
that one of our clients who is we have a a dermatology practice
22:22
very busy as you might imagine in Florida about the sun and sun
22:26
related issues. They don't have the time that
22:29
the wherewithal to invest in that stuff, nor should they.
22:32
They don't hire enough to do that.
22:34
But when they need people a few times a year, they come to us
22:37
because we can tap all these things.
22:38
So these are those systems that I think next app brings that are
22:42
that are they're pretty cool and they give us things that you
22:45
don't find everywhere. Yeah.
22:48
You know, with the type of work that you do, you have an
22:51
interesting, I'll call it challenge is that you're not
22:55
just trying to get the client, which you know, call like the
22:58
the medical facility, but you also have to make sure that
23:01
you've got the staff to to match with them.
23:05
And and it's how do you think about that chicken and egg
23:08
equation? Are you trying to find the
23:09
client first and then like OK, pause, let me see if I can find
23:15
somebody to that fits your needs.
23:18
Yes, both sides, both ways. So when we started the, when we
23:22
started the business, yeah, we really went out and recruited
23:30
everybody we could to come on board and they understood we
23:34
were new, we would have clients soon and it wasn't long before
23:36
we had clients. But I've noticed that it's
23:39
always a chicken. It's always a chicken to the egg
23:42
thing. There's never, there's never a
23:44
right answer to that or one to the other.
23:46
So we're trying to juggle both at all times.
23:49
I focus most of my my energies on finding new clients and also
23:56
doing some higher level direct higher searches that I have
24:00
experienced doing. My staffing coordinators will
24:03
focus. More on the contract to hire
24:05
roles, the temp roles, and the administrative parts of the
24:09
business like running payroll, things like that.
24:13
Because ultimately as a franchise you are responsible
24:18
for both sides of that equation. In actual geography, you're the
24:22
employer of record for any temp folks that you may place.
24:27
And so you've got to handle all the the payroll and the
24:29
insurance and all that stuff on the back end.
24:31
And so yeah, you, you you've got it is your own business.
24:36
It's it's your own ecosphere that you've got to maintain all
24:38
sides of. It is.
24:40
And that gets back to, you know, what you asked about, you know,
24:42
what did we see in next staff? That's that that's one of the
24:46
things they bring is the expertise to show us how to do
24:48
that and the ability to do that right.
24:51
So a nice thing that we can offer our our talent that comes
24:56
on board with us and they're working temp assignments or even
24:59
shifts. Because we still do do.
25:01
Some PRN staffing, not, not a lot anymore, but some.
25:04
We have a couple choice clients that still come to us and we've
25:07
got a good relationship with them.
25:09
Is we actually have health? Benefits.
25:12
For our. Our employees in the field
25:15
that's not frequent in a temp staffing agency.
25:21
In fact, a lot of temp staffing. Agencies still use the.
25:24
The 1099 contractor model, that's something unique about
25:29
us. We do not all of our all of our
25:31
town are W2 employees. So we handle you know, doing the
25:36
payroll withholding, they can get benefits through us.
25:38
They work under our workers comp, our liability insurance
25:43
and that's and that that's a competitive advantage too when
25:47
it comes to temp staffing because there is some, there's
25:50
definitely you're hearing more and more pitfalls about
25:53
particularly in healthcare and nursing staffing about temporary
25:58
contractors, the 1099 model. That they really.
26:02
Don't fit that model from a legal standpoint, and many
26:05
states are starting to crack down upon that.
26:08
So we've always been the W2 model.
26:11
Well, I think it's better for both the employee as well as
26:14
your client, right? The when with them being AW2
26:18
employee again, you're taking care of all the payroll, all the
26:22
withholdings, all the stuff that you know the the average person
26:25
doesn't know how to and doesn't want to deal with.
26:29
And at the same time for your client, it's a nice value add
26:32
because you're making sure that this person has the right
26:34
certifications. You've got the insurance, like
26:36
you said, the workers comp like all that stuff is taken care of,
26:40
buttoned up. Nobody has to worry.
26:42
Nobody else has to worry because you do the worrying.
26:45
Right, right. It falls on it falls on us, but
26:48
I'll I'll tell you it's, it's so you felt bad for some of the
26:52
people that came to work for us. And most of the staffing in this
26:55
area did follow the 1099 route. And they all had very sad
27:01
stories that there's, there's no better introduction to the IRS
27:06
than realizing you haven't paid your taxes.
27:09
And I say that in jest. And that's what a lot of these
27:12
people were exposed to. They weren't having withholding
27:14
taxes taken out and then. They didn't know, they didn't
27:19
know what the rules were. They didn't understand that they
27:21
needed to report that that income on their own.
27:23
And they owe $1000 in taxes and, and it's a shock.
27:27
So that's one of the things we always make sure to tell people
27:29
that come to work with us that no, we take care of that for
27:32
you. No, that's good.
27:34
And I'm curious, you know, you've had such extensive
27:36
experience with hiring folks and then, you know, either on your
27:41
side, trying to retain them or trying to coach your clients on
27:43
how to retain those, those direct hires or those contract
27:47
hires. I'm, I'm curious what you've
27:49
seen, because it continues to be a pretty tight labor market.
27:53
What are some good ways to both recruit and then once you find
27:59
the good people to retain them, What are some suggestions that
28:02
you can give in those areas? Sure.
28:08
I think the biggest thing in my, in my experience, and you're
28:12
right, we're in a still in a competitive job market, though I
28:15
would say it has shifted towards a more employer driven market.
28:20
Again, not much, but it's, it's definitely there.
28:27
I think, you know, sharing that vision and I do this whether I'm
28:31
recruiting, because I think that helps you find the right
28:35
candidates or the for the employees, sharing the vision of
28:40
what you're trying to do and making sure they understand how
28:43
it affects them, how they benefit from it, whether it's
28:47
how they monetarily benefit from it, how their career can benefit
28:50
from it. I find so, so few clients doing
28:56
that. And it was rampant in the, the
28:59
long term care and assisted living world.
29:03
It was just a lot of dissatisfied people working in
29:06
that world. And the scary thing is that
29:10
those people are taking care of our grandparents and our moms
29:12
and dads. It it's, it was enough to keep
29:14
me up at night. So really making sure they
29:19
understand how they can, how they can grow from it.
29:22
And I think knowing the employees goals and how you can
29:26
help them reach it. You know, whether that be a
29:30
certified nursing assistant who wants to be a nurse, you know,
29:34
how can you help them get into school?
29:36
How can you write them a letter of recommendation, whatever that
29:39
takes. I really think it's just people
29:43
taking interest in their employees or their candidates
29:47
when they're recruiting. And I think we get so caught up
29:53
in technology and all the new things that are coming out, how
29:58
AI is going to affect recruiting.
30:01
I think we forget that at the end of the day that it's still
30:03
about talking to people. And no matter how fancy the
30:07
technology is or the search engines are and whatever, you
30:12
still have to connect with people.
30:13
And I think we're losing a little bit of that.
30:16
And that's a big. Part of what what you guys are
30:18
still able to offer? Yeah, absolutely.
30:21
And I think that's one of the things that differentiates,
30:24
differentiates us. Yes, we have platforms that.
30:27
Are easy to use. That, you know, are kind of the
30:31
cutting edge. But you, you still.
30:33
Have to connect with people on a human level.
30:36
And you know what's the most common complaint you hear from
30:40
people who have applied for jobs today?
30:45
They never heard back. Right.
30:47
They never got you go into the Internet black hole and you
30:50
never hear anything back and that continues to be a problem
30:55
and it continues to be a make for hunting for a job, a really
30:59
rough experience. So let's talk about AI.
31:03
How do you see it impacting so far?
31:07
How do you guys use it or how do you stay away from it?
31:09
How is it affecting your ability to find candidates?
31:13
You know, people are using AI tools to blast their resumes to,
31:16
you know, 1000 places at once. Kind of curious to hear what
31:19
it's like on your side. Sure.
31:22
So. You know.
31:24
AI is starting to show up in some of the platforms we use to
31:26
make them a little bit more efficient.
31:29
I think from like for example, I can I can reach everyone on our
31:37
referral platform if I have an immediate need or an immediate
31:41
opening we need to fill fast. Great example I I've got a short
31:46
term. Temp position for a licensed
31:48
practical nerve or an RN coming up at the beginning of November
31:54
and I need to reach those people fast so I used to have to.
31:59
Choose all the people. To send that to now, the AI is
32:03
doing that for me, so it saves me time on that end.
32:06
So I think AI is going to help a lot when it comes to sourcing
32:10
and identifying candidates. I think it's going to make it
32:14
easier to do that. I have a fear that it's going to
32:18
continue to take away the human side of it.
32:23
Maybe it'll get better, right? Maybe you'll learn to say things
32:26
better, but a chat bot, still a chat bot.
32:28
And we can easily tell when we're talking to a chat bot,
32:31
right? It's, it's pretty evident, but
32:34
I, I definitely think that it's going to affect the sourcing
32:36
side quite a bit. Do you see this as yay another
32:42
helpful tool or Oh my gosh, I'm really nervous about this
32:46
replacing me and my my team? I don't have any nervousness yet
32:52
about it replacing the need for, for us.
33:00
I, I have a nervousness about it being relied upon too much.
33:04
As you know, I think we, I think we tend to swing back, swing
33:07
back and forth with a new technology.
33:09
We go too far one way, right? So I've got a nervousness about
33:13
that on the sourcing side. Anything that can help me reach
33:20
can't identify and reach candidates more efficiently and
33:26
so they'll you'll see us. I think so positive.
33:30
Yeah. You know, the problem is, is
33:32
when you get hundreds upon hundreds and hundreds of
33:35
recruiters, OK, reaching out to you, and anyone who's on
33:39
LinkedIn knows this. How many emails do you get a
33:42
week from recruiters about jobs? I get several a week and I'm a
33:48
business owner. They don't care.
33:50
That just helps you then read my profile.
33:53
But there's a danger of saturation too, so maybe AI will
33:59
help filter that out. I I'm not smart enough to know
34:01
that yet, but I'm smart enough to know that.
34:04
I think it's going to make the sourcing part of this easier
34:07
eventually, but I'm nervous about the other side of it.
34:11
Well, here's something I know that you're smart enough to
34:12
answer, and that is what would you consider to be the number
34:17
one mistake that companies make when hiring?
34:27
They hire reactively and I'll give you an example.
34:41
They don't think about what they're going to need next week
34:44
or next month or several months down the road, or they don't
34:48
play the what if game. One of my mentors was a if.
34:55
If he heard me calling him a mentor, he'd probably slapped me
34:58
upside the head. But he was a peer of mine.
35:00
We worked together for years. And you know, he, he, he, he
35:07
always said that you got to play what if and organizations don't
35:12
play what if, especially the larger the organization, the
35:16
less they do they, they, what, what happens if, you know, if
35:22
Joey leaves tomorrow, What, what's the plan to replace him?
35:25
What's the plan to get the work done when he's not there?
35:29
What happens if Sally leaves next week or gives her notice?
35:33
What, what do we do? So I think companies hire very
35:36
reactively. They don't leaders don't put
35:39
thought process into succession planning and planning.
35:41
What if? That's a pretty high level
35:45
problem. Obviously you can't, you can't
35:48
go build a bench of people if you don't have spots for them.
35:53
But it goes back to what I said about, you know, how do you keep
35:56
employees knowing what they want to do?
35:59
What are their goals? You know, your plan to replace
36:03
Sally may be right next to you and you don't even know it.
36:07
You know, I think good managers and leaders do that.
36:09
I think they and if they don't do it, they do it to their own,
36:13
you know, their own peril. How would you describe for where
36:18
your firm is right now, how would you describe the ideal
36:22
client fit? Obviously geography is Southwest
36:26
Florida industry. Let's hit the specific
36:32
healthcare verticals and then maybe size as well.
36:35
Sure. So yeah, definitely I'd say
36:37
Southwest Florida, Tampa and Naples in that in that area
36:44
industry wise would be medical practice slash physicians group
36:50
or A and that could be any type of medical practice.
36:56
It could be a primary care practice right where you go to
37:00
your get your yearly physical. It could be an MRI or imaging
37:05
center right where you think that's where they send you to
37:09
get your CAT scans or your Mris. It could be a dialysis center.
37:13
It could be an ambulatory surgery, surgical number,
37:15
surgical center, outpatient surgical center.
37:19
I think any facility or, or practice like that would be
37:22
ideal. Is kind of my sweet spot size.
37:27
I'm I'm and I'm going to, I'll qualify size by number of
37:32
providers. So the number of physicians or
37:36
healthcare providers, I'd say a minimum of two, maybe three.
37:44
I think if you get smaller than that, if you get, you know,
37:47
Doctor Smith just doing his thing and you know, the, his,
37:52
his spouse runs the office and they've got a nurse or one
37:56
medical assistant, not a lot of. Opportunities for you to be
38:00
helpful there. Well, the a the final
38:03
opportunity they and they probably can't afford it, right,
38:06
because it's just a very small practice.
38:08
But I think if you get to that mid size practice, that's
38:12
probably the that's probably the niche with the least three
38:14
providers that could have multiple offices.
38:18
I think when you get to some of the larger, I think when you get
38:23
to some of the larger groups or practices.
38:27
Maybe that are? Corporately owned that may or
38:30
may not be a good client and I say may or may not because one
38:35
of my top clients right now is a, is a, a large practice that's
38:40
owned by a very large healthcare company that owns hospitals and
38:45
practices throughout the country.
38:48
But their, their physicians group here is very independent,
38:53
right? They have their.
38:54
Own internal talent. Team talent acquisition team.
38:57
So they have internal recruiters, but those internal
38:59
recruiters are also covering the parent company's hospital
39:03
business and lots of other businesses.
39:06
So the local practice gets a little bit not ignored.
39:11
Their internal recruiters just don't have the bandwidth.
39:15
It's going to be one of my questions for you, Chris, is,
39:17
you know, some of the organizations you work with are
39:19
sizable enough that they have their own internal teams.
39:22
You know, why, why do they pay money to to use an outside firm
39:26
like yours? And one of the reasons I'm
39:28
hearing you say is lack of bandwidth.
39:30
Are there others? Absolutely.
39:32
And, and in fact, you could apply that question to any
39:35
executive search or external recruiter anywhere, not just me
39:38
or healthcare, because when I was doing the executive search,
39:42
every client I used had their own internal talent acquisition
39:46
team and they were very good. However, either they didn't have
39:50
the bandwidth or they didn't have the specialty knowledge or
39:55
access to candidates that we could provide.
39:58
I'd like to, I'd like to say we're more of a scalpel than a
40:01
sledgehammer. Their internal talent teams will
40:05
be the sledgehammer, but they've got a lot of stuff they're
40:07
playing whack a mole with. They have a few critical needs
40:12
that they'll come to us for. We can focus on those a lot more
40:18
than their internal gene can. You're way more efficient at it
40:21
because you know the lingo, you know where these people are
40:23
hanging out for these specialty roles.
40:25
We have our own database that we go right to right away, and you
40:29
know, that's what we do every day.
40:31
There's a reason I'm not a doctor.
40:34
There's a reason I don't do surgery, don't really know what
40:37
I'm doing even if I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express last
40:39
night. So, but I do recruit every day.
40:42
I do know the talent market inside the Florida and
40:45
healthcare pretty intimately has to be my coordinator.
40:49
So that's something we can offer a client when they have periodic
40:53
needs so they don't take their eye off the ball of their
40:56
patients and their practice. That's great.
41:01
Shifting gears a little bit, Chris, I'm curious to hear about
41:04
maybe a particular challenge either personally or
41:06
professionally that you have gone through what it was like.
41:10
To. Get through it and then maybe
41:12
some of the lessons that you learned coming through the other
41:14
side. Sure.
41:17
I, I, I can give you, I can give you one with this business.
41:22
And it actually led to me owning the business outright just about
41:27
a year ago. In fact, it's almost a year to
41:30
the week. I was in a partnership group.
41:33
I was managing partner of the business and 49% of the business
41:36
and my other partners who were out in Colorado owned 51%.
41:42
Well, one of my partners passed away unexpectedly and threw
41:47
everyone for a loop and there wasn't a lot of planning in
41:51
place to pay. What would happen if that
41:54
happened? Well, one day we're, you know,
41:59
I'm running and operating a business with an ownership
42:02
interest. The next day I have a choice to
42:04
make. Either I walk away from the
42:06
business and when I've invested in it, or I buy it outright.
42:14
And I had not been thinking about that.
42:18
I hadn't been playing. What if I didn't follow my own
42:20
advice? So after some conversations with
42:24
with my wife, and thank God she's smarter than I am, yeah,
42:29
we made the decision to, hey, we bet on ourselves before, not the
42:32
first time I've owned my own business.
42:36
Why don't we do it again and made the decision to go ahead
42:41
and, you know, buy the business outright.
42:45
And so far it's been a good decision.
42:50
You know, what did I learn from it?
42:54
The value of planning and for the things that you never think
43:02
will happen and you don't talk about happening, but they happen
43:07
and the that and the value of making sure that plan is in
43:10
place. I learned a very hard lesson
43:12
with that, you know, because you you go one day from being in an
43:19
part of an organization and you're able to make a living
43:23
from that to a phone call saying, yeah, that all ends
43:26
today. Oh, and by the way.
43:28
You can either. Buy the business or walk away
43:31
from it. It was a shock.
43:35
So I, I, I think planning for eventualities and thinking about
43:40
things that better, better not thought about have value.
43:46
So I, I think that I think that was, that was a tough, that was
43:52
definitely a tough situation. And it's actually turned out, I
43:56
think more positive than it would have been staying in it
43:58
because I'd already made the decision to switch the type of
44:02
clients I was, I was going to seek out just because of what I
44:06
was finding and what we were doing.
44:08
It it, it was, it was definitely drying up.
44:12
I didn't like playing in that space and I had an idea that
44:17
this, the targeting physicians, groups and practices could work.
44:22
Were you, had you presented that to your partner who had
44:26
previously to to them passing away and there was some
44:29
resistance or were you still just kind of formulating the
44:31
idea? Really just formulating it I had
44:33
I had sort of tripped into having the client in the 1st
44:36
place. It was AI got referred to them
44:39
by a former or person who had been a former client and she
44:44
went to work there and put me in touch with the people and it
44:49
turned in from 1 opening to many.
44:52
And we're still still working with them today and even doing
44:56
some, you know, some different things with them like assisting
45:01
them with their own hiring and onboarding by helping them get
45:05
people to work quicker. So even with their own internal
45:08
hires, we're assisting them, getting them on board and
45:14
working through us until they can get their much more, I'd say
45:21
cumbersome and long term orientation done.
45:23
It took weeks, took three to six weeks for them to get someone
45:27
started working for them. But with me, I can do it in five
45:30
days. Wow.
45:31
So basically just get them doing their the screening, doing their
45:35
payroll and helping them short term.
45:38
So that's grown into a revenue stream I didn't even anticipate,
45:44
you know, So I, I actually think that it, it's worked out for the
45:49
best. Those first hours and days,
45:54
though, after you first got the news about your partner passing,
45:57
I have to imagine those were among the most stressful because
46:02
there's all of this uncertainty about I don't know what I'm
46:06
going to do. I don't know what the best
46:08
decision here is. Am I right?
46:10
Is that how you found it to be? Yeah, I got some work right here
46:14
from that for sure. Didn't know where the next
46:18
paycheck was coming from, right. You know, I didn't know, jeez,
46:23
am I going to be able to pay the rent on the office?
46:26
You know, it's it just wasn't expected.
46:31
Wasn't the reason I didn't get, I didn't get into the
46:34
partnership in the business with the idea that, Oh yeah, I'm
46:37
going to own it outright in a year.
46:40
It, it, it, it's, it was a good organization and I think team
46:45
who had a good plan to be able to build something with and
46:50
maybe open more offices down the road.
46:52
It didn't expect it to all come on my shoulders.
46:58
But as I mentioned, you and my wife said, hey, we've, we've
47:01
done this before. It worked out.
47:04
We can do it again. You bet on yourself before bet
47:07
on yourself again. Yeah.
47:09
And it so yeah, do it again. And I'm probably getting to the
47:12
age where I probably can't work for anyone anymore.
47:16
You know, I'm just, I sometimes I get, I get too, too cynical or
47:19
too set my ways a little bit, but overall it's been a
47:24
positive. Yeah, I hear that about a lot of
47:26
entrepreneurs, that they're unhirable.
47:29
I just I, you know, if you ever heard the joke, just the right
47:33
way, the wrong way and my way. And if my staff, one of my
47:37
staffing for anger here and I, she'd be throwing something to
47:39
me in the office soft, but it'd be coming at my head, you know,
47:44
But no, it's it's worked out all right.
47:46
Overall, I've been happy. I've been not happy how it came
47:50
about, but happy in retrospect that OK, I think I made the
47:54
right decision. Knock on wood so far.
47:57
Is there still a thought to open more offices down the road, or
48:00
are you pretty laser focused on where you are and what you're
48:04
doing? I, I, I, I, I want to grow this
48:07
one more. However, I think the geography
48:14
would could lend to an office both in the Fort Myers area as
48:20
well as Tampa safety Clearwater. That's such a large metro area
48:25
where we are in Sarasota, Bradenton area here we're kind
48:28
of sandwiched between two larger areas population wise and we're
48:34
part of the Tampa Bay metro market.
48:36
But a lot of things are separate here.
48:41
So I think we could definitely, we could definitely look to
48:47
expand office wise both North and South.
48:49
Do you feel like you need to have a physical presence in an
48:52
area that you're serving? You know what I used to, I'm not
48:57
sure anymore because I think you have to have the physical
49:02
presence when it comes to meeting clients and but I'm not
49:09
a lot of and I think maybe COVID taught assist with the with the
49:14
push to remote, I think a lot of at least internal things can be
49:18
done remotely. So I'm not as convinced that we
49:23
need large offices anymore. I think we can do with probably
49:29
smaller offices more in the field.
49:32
I like being in the field. Being in the office too long
49:36
gets me antsy. And I was a field leader for so
49:39
many years in retail that I liked getting out there.
49:44
So I I'm not sure how much anymore that you really need a
49:51
physical presence, but I do know you need one to develop a
49:55
relationship with people. You have to be there in front of
49:58
them in order to win their business in the first place.
50:01
Absolutely. What?
50:02
What? When we started this, I was down
50:04
in the Port Charlotte area South of the year and I went down to
50:07
visit a a a large facility that was both assisted living,
50:12
independent living and a long term care skilled nursing
50:14
facility and sat down with the administrator.
50:18
You gave me a tour and you know, he was very excited about
50:22
starting to work together and he said, you know, I got to tell
50:25
you, he actually walked me out to my car.
50:27
He goes, I got to tell you, I we've worked with several
50:30
staffing firms. I've never met anyone from no
50:33
kidding. And I looked at him.
50:34
I was like, I don't I don't understand what what do you
50:36
mean? They've never they didn't come
50:39
to meet you and they've never come to meet you.
50:42
Now he goes, he goes, I got to tell you, the only reason that
50:45
contract's getting signed right now is because you came here
50:47
today. Wow.
50:48
I'm like, OK, that that just, it goes to prove that there's still
50:53
value in making that human connection.
50:55
And you know, we got to be careful with technology, AI,
50:59
whatever, that it doesn't take that away.
51:03
Because I think. People still thrive on that,
51:05
both both employees and clients. A. 100% yeah.
51:09
I couldn't agree more, Chris. I'm curious to hear what's a fun
51:12
or interesting fact that most people would know about you.
51:19
Well, I'm a big auto racing fan. The reason I'm a big auto racing
51:24
fan is when it goes back to why I went to work for my dad.
51:29
I had a real expensive habit. When I was 16 I started racing
51:34
go karts nationally and that grew into racing open wheel
51:40
formula cars. I had to help pay for that.
51:44
Dad's pockets only went so far. So he said, well, you're going
51:47
to work. So I had to help pay to go
51:49
racing. And to this day I, I, you know,
51:54
the, the, the days for competitive driving, that
51:57
window's probably closed, though I do like to get in the go Kart
52:00
track here once in a while to have fun.
52:03
I remain a pretty rapid race fan to this day.
52:05
And I follow IndyCar, Formula One sports cars pretty closely
52:09
and several times a year, always going to races.
52:12
I have a good friend of mine, we always go to races together.
52:15
So that's. It that that sounds like what
52:20
used to be a fun hobby. Well, still a hobby, just a a
52:23
little less active in the the more dangerous parts of it.
52:26
I I still have my driver's suit can't fit into it anymore.
52:29
I still have it. But I, I said at the beginning
52:32
of this, if you know, you said, do I always want to do this?
52:34
No, I really did want to be a race car driver.
52:37
I wasn't a lie. That's what I wanted to do but
52:39
didn't quite work out so. Well, not, not only did you want
52:43
it, 'cause I'm, I'm sure at some point when I was a little kid, I
52:45
wanted to be a race car driver, right?
52:47
But I didn't. I didn't take the steps that you
52:49
did like you were actively engaged in the pursuit of it.
52:53
Yeah, we actually got involved in it and had had a lot of fun
52:56
and I guess that's still enjoy it to this day.
52:58
And and people saw the outfit and asking, hey, what would you
53:01
do if you won the lottery? I know what I'd do.
53:04
Going to buy a race bar. But yeah, so I'm still I, I love
53:10
to be involved with to this day. Chris, any specific books or
53:15
mentors or masterminds, other experiences that you want to
53:19
give credit to for kind of helping you in your path?
53:22
Sure. Yeah, books.
53:26
There's a few definitely, that I I still read to this day every
53:32
once in a while. I think one of the better ones
53:34
I've ever read. I used to love leadership.
53:37
I still do, but the book titled It's Your Ship Management
53:42
Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.
53:45
And it's written by Captain Mike Avershop and it tells his story
53:51
of becoming the CEO of literally the worst ship in the United
53:57
States Navy and how he turned it around to be and it became the
54:02
best ship. And it's his story of how he did
54:04
that. And I learned a lot about
54:09
leadership and how you, you know, lead people and empower
54:13
them. And it's a, it's just a great
54:16
story. I actually had the good fortune
54:18
to meet him on several occasions.
54:22
Any and other books, anything by John Maxwell.
54:25
You're not going to go wrong when it comes to leadership and
54:28
working with people, for sure. Mentors.
54:33
Yeah, I've had several, I would say my first real boss who
54:39
wasn't my father and who is still a a friend to this day.
54:44
He, I I became a manager under in his company.
54:49
This is a he owned a chain of video stores.
54:52
You remember video stores, right, Buster?
54:53
Yeah. So I became a manager at a very
54:57
young age of one of his stores. And what was his name?
55:04
His name is Ed Gorkis. And Ed told me one time in his
55:07
office after he gave me the keys to the store.
55:10
He said when you when you place in command, take charge and when
55:17
in doubt, just do the right thing.
55:18
It's the only advice he gave me and it still holds to this day.
55:24
That's good. Probably another one, Jeff
55:28
Stubbs who was my supervisor at Movie Gallery where I worked for
55:33
I guess 15 years and learned a lot, learned a lot from Jeff,
55:39
but one lesson step kind of stays in my mind.
55:46
I was a multi unit manager overseeing, well, I don't know,
55:51
probably APNL of about $50 million.
55:56
Multiple. Locations throughout the US and
55:59
I was planning some store visits and I walked into his office I,
56:02
I was a little bit I didn't want to spend that much on the plane
56:06
ticket. Walked into his office and said,
56:08
Jeff, you, you OK with me doing this?
56:10
And he looked at me close the door he said, listen, you run a
56:14
$50 million PML, do the right thing.
56:17
I don't care what you spend on it.
56:19
If you need to get there, get there and accomplish what you
56:21
need to accomplish. So it's one of those lessons
56:25
that just sticks to you, sticks in my head.
56:28
Do the right thing. Yeah, you get back to that,
56:30
doing the right thing. So he's a great leader, great
56:34
friend. I think those are the two that
56:37
really had a lot of weight on me other than my 7th grade science
56:45
teacher. OK, you're scared.
56:47
You're scared. God, you're scared of that guy,
56:50
Mr. Barbieri. But and he was a tough teacher,
56:53
but boy did I learn attention to detail, how to work hard from
56:58
him. So I always wanted to always
57:01
wanted to see him again and tell him that.
57:04
And he was it was the type of class where you literally sat
57:07
like this and you didn't move and you just, he was very
57:11
strict. But there was method to the
57:13
madness that I don't think you appreciate till you're a little
57:15
bit older. Fair enough.
57:18
So I think that, yeah, those are the three that really have had
57:22
an effect on me. Chris, I just have one more
57:25
question for you, but before I ask it, I want to do 2 things
57:28
for those listening today. If you like today's content,
57:30
please hit the like, share or Subscribe button on your
57:33
favorite podcast app. Chris, I also want to let people
57:36
know the best way to get in touch with you.
57:37
What would that be? Sure, Best way is probably going
57:43
to our website at next app.com. Easy way to get in touch with
57:47
us. You can search on locations and
57:49
find our location here in Sarasota or simply e-mail me
57:54
c.germond@nextstaff.com or go to go to my LinkedIn page.
57:59
All my contact info is on there as well as phone numbers and
58:02
everything else. And for those listening who
58:05
aren't able to see the show notes, where we'll include all
58:07
of this information next app is a little bit of an unusual
58:09
spelling. It's Nex Taff, so there's no S
58:14
in the middle there like you might expect.
58:15
So NEXTA ff.com, it's a great place to find Chris and the the
58:22
whole next half team. So last question for you, Chris,
58:26
I'm curious, what do you see as being the big changes that are
58:31
coming to your industry in the next few years?
58:35
So I was thinking about that and I, I think that something that's
58:43
not going to change is the need for healthcare talent.
58:47
I don't think that's going to get outsourced necessarily.
58:53
I think there's some functions that might, you know, definitely
58:57
via telehealth and things like that.
59:00
But you know, Healthcare is going to continue to be a huge
59:04
need and it's going to become the talent is going to the the
59:09
battle for the best talent is going to become even more
59:12
competitive because they're simply there simply aren't
59:16
enough people getting into it, right?
59:18
There aren't enough nurses out there.
59:20
There aren't enough physical therapists, whatever, pick your
59:25
pick your poison. And a lot of that has to do with
59:28
there simply aren't enough schools or spots in the schools
59:33
to produce enough people to catch up with the demand.
59:37
OK, Forget the growth in the need that's going to come from,
59:41
you know, the boomer generation getting older, right?
59:45
We can't replace the people that are leaving either due to
59:47
retirement or even many even believe how many nurses left as
59:51
COVID wound down. They were done with it.
59:53
They're just done with the the working conditions, etcetera.
59:56
So just to replace the ones who leave, we don't have enough
1:00:00
forget about growth. So there's going to be a need
1:00:04
for that. I think the, I think the big
1:00:08
thing with AI as we discussed, I think identifying and being able
1:00:13
to source and reach talent, that's going to be the biggest
1:00:16
help. I think that'll come from it.
1:00:19
But I, I think I think the biggest change may not be a
1:00:24
positive one. I think the biggest change might
1:00:27
be losing that personal connection in recruiting and
1:00:31
hiring that you still have to make with people because, you
1:00:40
know, people need to trust you. And I don't think that happens
1:00:42
without that connection. And, and, and I would make that
1:00:45
argument with with with clients too, finding new clients.
1:00:50
You know, I've got a lead generation program I use and I
1:00:53
think it's great, but being able to talk to and meet those
1:00:57
clients is still the most important.
1:01:00
You know, I. It got told to me one time, you
1:01:04
know? People do business with people
1:01:05
they like. I don't think that's going to
1:01:08
change green, you know, so I think making that connection and
1:01:13
being able to talk about the value confirming is still going
1:01:16
to be important. So I I worry about what AI will
1:01:21
do to that. It'll be interesting to follow
1:01:24
for sure. It it, it will.
1:01:26
I think the Chinese say we live in interesting times.
1:01:29
May be good or bad, but they will be interesting.
1:01:32
For sure. Well, Chris, I want to be the
1:01:34
first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story
1:01:36
with us today. I really appreciate it.
1:01:38
I. Appreciate the chance.
1:01:39
Thanks, Anthony. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:01:42
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:01:44
Thanks for learning. With us today.