Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Ep 44: Building a People-First Business with Rich Diaz, CEO of Advanced Resources

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Elevate Ep 44: Building a People-First Business with Rich Diaz, CEO of Advanced Resources · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

• 0:09
  [music]
• 0:10
  Welcome to the Elevate podcast powered
• 0:13
  by Braden. This is your front row seat
• 0:15
  to the stories of local leaders, both
• 0:18
  nonprofit and for-profit who are shaping
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  our communities. Every episode brings
• 0:23
  you leadership insights, lessons from
• 0:26
  challenges, and practical strategies you
• 0:28
  can use today.
• 0:29
  >> [music]
• 0:29
  >> And yes, we'll keep it real and have
• 0:31
  some fun along the way. If you're ready
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  to elevate your leadership, hit
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  subscribe and follow us on LinkedIn for
• 0:37
  updates and behind the scenes content.
• 0:39
  [music]
• 0:40
  Now, let's dive in. Hey everybody, Jason
• 0:43
  here with another episode of the Elevate
• 0:45
  Powered by Braden podcast. And as you
• 0:47
  can see, we're doing something a little
• 0:48
  bit different. The the chair next to me
• 0:51
  is empty. The screen's got a name on it,
• 0:53
  but somebody's actually sitting on the
• 0:54
  screen with me, and it's my friend Rich.
• 0:56
  And Rich, welcome to the show.
• 0:58
  appreciate you being on.
• 1:00
  >> Yeah. How you doing? Great. Great to be
• 1:01
  here, Jason.
• 1:03
  >> Good to see you, my friend. And before
• 1:05
  we get started at the beginning of your
• 1:07
  story, tell people where are you working
• 1:08
  today?
• 1:11
  >> Yeah, so um so I'm the CEO owner of
• 1:13
  Advanced Resources. We're based out of
• 1:15
  Chicago. Um and Jason, you and I met not
• 1:18
  that long ago and really enjoyed your
• 1:21
  story. So happy to kind of share a
• 1:23
  little bit today.
• 1:24
  >> Yeah, looking forward to it, my friend.
• 1:26
  So, we know you're at Advanced Resources
• 1:28
  today, but let's go back to the
• 1:30
  beginning. Where are you from
• 1:30
  originally?
• 1:33
  >> So, I'm um and don't hold this against
• 1:35
  me, but I'm from Kansas City. So, I am a
• 1:37
  diehard Cheese fan. Um you know, born
• 1:39
  and raised and uh you know, I am the son
• 1:43
  of an immigrant. So, my father came to
• 1:45
  Kansas City to work in the steel
• 1:47
  business. Um you know, and then we kind
• 1:49
  of uh I don't know, uh made roots in
• 1:53
  Kansas City. He met my mom. You know, I
• 1:56
  have a sister. We got a lot of family
• 1:58
  there. And I actually started my career
• 1:59
  in Kansas City. Um, ironically, uh, I
• 2:03
  met my wife in Chicago where I live now.
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  She's from Kansas City, so we have kind
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  of that connection together. So,
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  >> yeah. Gotcha. Now, I don't hold anything
• 2:12
  against Kansas City. I like it over
• 2:13
  there. My wife and I have gone to a
• 2:15
  couple of concerts and and football
• 2:17
  games, and she's a Swifty, right? And
• 2:20
  so, at the end of the day, Kansas City
• 2:21
  holds a nice place in our hearts. We
• 2:23
  won't hold that against you. So, growing
• 2:25
  up over there, going to high school in
• 2:27
  Kansas City.
• 2:29
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um you know, kind
• 2:32
  of grew up in a traditional bluecollar
• 2:34
  town, you know, uh part of town, high
• 2:37
  school, still have some of the friends
• 2:38
  from, you know, childhood baseball and
• 2:40
  that type of thing. Uh we keep in touch
• 2:42
  and we still get back, you know, quite a
• 2:45
  bit. Uh not as much as we used to, but
• 2:47
  uh you know, it's a nice community. But
• 2:49
  business brought me to Chicago in 2005
• 2:53
  and really fell in love with the city.
• 2:54
  There's so much opportunity, culture,
• 2:57
  just there's there's a lot here. And um
• 3:00
  all these towns in the Midwest, I think
• 3:02
  they got kind of that same vibe, you
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  know, just good people uh wanting to do
• 3:06
  good work and and so Chicago's been home
• 3:08
  for the last 20 plus years.
• 3:10
  >> Gotcha. Gotcha. So when you finished up
• 3:12
  high school in KC, were you going to go
• 3:15
  to college afterwards? what were you
• 3:16
  thinking was going to be next for you in
• 3:18
  that journey?
• 3:20
  >> Yeah. Well, you know, it's an
• 3:21
  interesting story because uh again, I I
• 3:25
  say it um very humbly, but you know, we
• 3:28
  lived in a lower middle-ass neighborhood
• 3:30
  and and most the kids if you got through
• 3:32
  high school, uh few went to college,
• 3:35
  most went to the military, and a few
• 3:37
  went to jail. So, [laughter]
• 3:39
  you know, I mean, that's that's just the
• 3:40
  neighborhood you grow up in, right? Um
• 3:42
  so, college I thought was going to be a
• 3:44
  community college have experience. No
• 3:46
  one had ever been to college. Uh, you
• 3:48
  know, again, workingass parents, you
• 3:50
  know, where were we going to find the
• 3:51
  money? Um, kind of last minute, I had a
• 3:54
  friend that was going to a small school,
• 3:56
  Northwest Missouri State in in Missouri,
• 3:58
  and he said, "You want to go up with
• 4:00
  me?" I thought, "Sure, why not?" You
• 4:02
  know, uh, let's check this out. I I
• 4:04
  think it's just going to be a fun day
• 4:05
  trip, you know, because I'm I'm going to
• 4:07
  have to go to the local community
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  college, pay for it, and work, all that
• 4:10
  stuff. And um, my dad said, "You want to
• 4:13
  go?" And I said, "Yeah." And this is
• 4:14
  like August, no joke, August 1st and
• 4:17
  then classes started like 15th. And uh
• 4:20
  somehow they got enough money to get me
• 4:22
  started and you know college was this
• 4:24
  like wonderful experience um because it
• 4:27
  really open I think education which
• 4:29
  you'll see this kind of through my story
• 4:31
  but I think education really opens doors
• 4:34
  and opportunity for a lot of people and
• 4:35
  even later in life you know I'm trying
• 4:37
  to open those doors for others. Um but
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  it was it was a lifechanging event and
• 4:41
  wonderful experience. probably had a
• 4:43
  little too much fun at times, that's for
• 4:45
  sure. But um you know, great community
• 4:49
  um of professors.
• 4:51
  I was able to do like grant-f funded
• 4:54
  research as an undergrad in psychology.
• 4:55
  I'm a kind of a math nerd, people
• 4:58
  person, and um was going to go to grad
• 5:00
  school, but got into this, which I know
• 5:02
  we'll get to, but again, I can't say
• 5:04
  enough about the college experience. It
• 5:06
  was it was a blast.
• 5:07
  >> Yeah, that's awesome. And that that's
• 5:09
  terrific. think you got an opportunity
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  to go and so again what were you
• 5:12
  studying there?
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  >> So I was psych criminal justice and um
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  you know I'm glad I shared a little bit
• 5:19
  about the neighborhood cuz I wondered
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  like why why are certain folks violent?
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  Why what is what makes us tick? You know
• 5:26
  that type of thing and so pretty early
• 5:27
  on I started studying the physiological
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  effects of viewed aggression on your
• 5:32
  body specifically your sympathetic
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  nervous system. sounds really nerdy, but
• 5:37
  um what it was was, you got to keep in
• 5:39
  mind I went to school in the in the
• 5:41
  early 90s. They weren't rating games yet
• 5:44
  then. And so uh one of the uh
• 5:47
  experiments that I got grant funded for
• 5:50
  was I got to show extreme violence to to
• 5:52
  teenage kids, you know, college kids and
• 5:55
  see what it does to their body, you
• 5:56
  know. And so it was really interesting
• 5:58
  though, Jason. I mean I I thought you
• 6:00
  know you'll be desensitized but what we
• 6:02
  found is you were actually excited a
• 6:04
  little bit and which was if you if you
• 6:06
  surveyed them they said no no no effect
• 6:08
  but what their body said is they were
• 6:11
  they were excited and so that leads to
• 6:13
  other studies and uh you know that's
• 6:15
  hard when the president of my fraternity
• 6:18
  you know heavily involved in the Greek
• 6:19
  community doing uh charitable things all
• 6:22
  in college keeping up good grades trying
• 6:24
  to think about this research and um you
• 6:27
  know when [clears throat] I got to
• 6:28
  graduation
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  I was like, "Man, I just need a break."
• 6:31
  And uh I turned down the um opportunity
• 6:34
  to go get my PhD in masters in psych.
• 6:37
  And uh my father, immigrant again,
• 6:40
  welder,
• 6:41
  >> going to kill me. He said, "Why? You can
• 6:42
  have this wonderful job and just sit on
• 6:44
  the couch and listen to problems." And
• 6:46
  uh said, "You know, I I don't I like the
• 6:49
  math, but I don't I don't know that I
• 6:50
  could do this for a career." So I
• 6:52
  >> Yeah, sure.
• 6:53
  >> definitely appreciate people that can do
• 6:54
  that. So
• 6:55
  >> yeah. No, it's interesting. So coming
• 6:57
  out of school, what were you thinking
• 6:59
  was going to be next? What was that job?
• 7:01
  What what career were you going to go
• 7:02
  after?
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  >> Well, ironically, um technology was big,
• 7:07
  you know, um you got to think about that
• 7:09
  time. And so for if you have any younger
• 7:11
  listeners, but you know, the internet,
• 7:13
  um was a thing, but it wasn't what it is
• 7:15
  today, right? Like that's part of
• 7:17
  Northwest Missouri. They um they had
• 7:20
  internet and you had a computer in every
• 7:21
  room. It was they were a little ahead of
• 7:23
  their time there and it was free. And um
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  and so I thought tech was an option. But
• 7:28
  when I did my psych kind of internship,
• 7:31
  I did a rotation and again I appreciate
• 7:33
  all the counselors and therapists out
• 7:35
  there cuz that is that takes a special
• 7:37
  person to do that. But when I went
• 7:39
  through the rotation, I really enjoyed
• 7:40
  the business office because it just
• 7:42
  clicks. You know, business just seems
• 7:44
  very natural. And when you really think
• 7:47
  about it, um you'll see this common
• 7:50
  theme for me is if I'm helping one
• 7:52
  person that that that's a great thing,
• 7:55
  but if I can help it scale, that's an
• 7:57
  even better thing.
• 7:58
  >> And it may not be as intimate, you know,
• 8:00
  onetoone, but I thought for a moment,
• 8:02
  well, maybe I open clinics, maybe I run
• 8:04
  clinics, maybe I run, you know, be an
• 8:07
  administrator.
• 8:08
  >> And I stumbled upon this HR type job in
• 8:12
  96. So coming out of school, working for
• 8:15
  a friend of a friend of a friend type of
• 8:17
  thing and just fell in love with this
• 8:19
  business that I'm in today and I thought
• 8:20
  I'd always go back and get my masters,
• 8:22
  PhD, something like that, but this has
• 8:24
  just been a fun ride and haven't looked
• 8:28
  back. So
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  >> Oh, no kidding. So how long, you know,
• 8:31
  coming out of college, getting that
• 8:33
  first role in HR, how long did it take
• 8:35
  you before you decided you wanted to go
• 8:37
  throw your hat in the ring and start
• 8:39
  your own business?
• 8:41
  Well, this is what's crazy because I
• 8:43
  tell young people this. I tell veterans
• 8:46
  this that, you know, if someone gives
• 8:48
  you a formula and it works, just do it.
• 8:51
  And so, Jason, I didn't I didn't really
• 8:53
  know what I was doing, but my boss, very
• 8:56
  intense, I still quote him to this day.
• 8:58
  Um, he was founder of a business and he
• 9:00
  said, "Rich, you do A, B, C, D, E. You
• 9:02
  do these things, you'll be successful."
• 9:05
  It's kind of like diet and exercise. we
• 9:06
  know what to do, but having the
• 9:08
  discipline to do it is another thing.
• 9:10
  And so, uh, within a year, I was the
• 9:13
  number one producer. Um, they gave me,
• 9:16
  they put me in management, crazy, right?
• 9:19
  By the time I was 24, I think I had 12
• 9:22
  offices. So, I was working for someone.
• 9:24
  But what I learned is we were scaling
• 9:26
  extremely fast. The the economy was very
• 9:28
  good because of the internet and
• 9:30
  everything else. And um, and it was bad,
• 9:33
  you know, in the early 90s. But then
• 9:35
  what that provided as a leadership
• 9:37
  opportunity for me right away. Now I had
• 9:40
  taken on leadership, you know, in
• 9:41
  college and that type of thing, but it's
• 9:43
  different when you're their boss because
• 9:46
  at first,
• 9:47
  >> you know, you you do get frustrated, you
• 9:50
  know, and you think I'm paying you to do
• 9:51
  something, but what you realize is if
• 9:53
  you can motivate people and pull them
• 9:55
  along and inspire them and help them
• 9:57
  reach their best, boy, anything's
• 9:59
  possible. and and we were able to just,
• 10:01
  you know, grow one market after another
• 10:03
  after another. We did eventually sell
• 10:05
  the company and that taught me
• 10:07
  something. Um,
• 10:09
  >> and so I went and did it again and did
• 10:11
  it again and did it again and just
• 10:13
  really had a lot of fun scaling things,
• 10:15
  building teams. I get a real like
• 10:18
  passion for helping others and you know
• 10:20
  this in your business. Um, you know,
• 10:23
  it's part of our core values today, but
• 10:26
  it's all about like helping people
• 10:27
  thrive and making a positive impact. So
• 10:29
  thrive is actually our core values. Each
• 10:31
  letter stands for something. But um what
• 10:34
  we looked back is we don't I have really
• 10:37
  enjoyed changing the trajectory of
• 10:39
  people's lives. Just like people helped
• 10:41
  me once upon a time, I'm here to help
• 10:44
  others reach their best, whatever that
• 10:46
  is. You know, like going back to my dad,
• 10:48
  if you're just the best welder in the
• 10:50
  shop, that's great. Be proud of what
• 10:52
  you're doing, right? You're making some
• 10:53
  really cool things. um if if you're in
• 10:57
  technology, if you're in my business, if
• 10:58
  you're in accounting, I mean, just be
• 11:00
  your best. And so really have had a
• 11:02
  blast with that. So yeah, got into
• 11:03
  leadership. Uh always worked for other
• 11:06
  people helping scale our companies.
• 11:08
  Didn't actually uh become my own boss
• 11:11
  until three years ago and that was after
• 11:13
  scaling a lot of companies for folks. So
• 11:16
  >> you know what what a great story. I I
• 11:18
  like the beginning of that saying that
• 11:20
  if somebody gives you a formula and it
• 11:22
  works, keep doing it. Great advice, by
• 11:25
  the way.
• 11:26
  >> But I'm I'm a little bit curious. So,
• 11:28
  you're 24 years old. You're in this
• 11:29
  first role and you're you're now
• 11:32
  managing people. And you said you taken
• 11:34
  on some management leadership in
• 11:36
  college, but where did some of your
• 11:39
  thoughts come about motivation and
• 11:42
  getting people uh to to do their best?
• 11:45
  Where did that come from? What was the
• 11:46
  genesis of that?
• 11:48
  >> You know, I think um [clears throat] I
• 11:51
  think you know, I still don't know the
• 11:52
  answer to this. um nature versus
• 11:54
  nurtures type thing, but I think I was a
• 11:57
  silent leader, you know, naturally, but
• 11:59
  when it comes to business, um I had uh
• 12:03
  not to get too personal and we don't
• 12:04
  need to go down that path, but I lost a
• 12:06
  couple friends in high school, which
• 12:08
  really um was hard, you know, to to
• 12:10
  suicide. And a couple uh professor, I
• 12:14
  was a little lost, right? But a couple
• 12:16
  professors, teachers, I would call them
• 12:18
  professors. They really went out of
• 12:20
  their way to really invest in me and my
• 12:23
  friend group. And one of those was Coach
• 12:26
  Cornell. And I will say he get in
• 12:28
  trouble for this today, but like if you
• 12:29
  were talking to his class, he'd end up
• 12:31
  doing push-ups, you know, instead of
• 12:32
  detention. But like, so it was like this
• 12:34
  fun balance of like banter, but um his
• 12:38
  business class was just natural for me.
• 12:40
  Um I set the curve. I didn't even study,
• 12:42
  you know what I mean? But it was uh a
• 12:45
  book that I go back to is uh it's an old
• 12:47
  one but uh Dale Carnegie you know how to
• 12:49
  win friends and influence people and so
• 12:52
  you know just genuinely listening to
• 12:54
  folks um it and and investing in them
• 12:59
  you know one they'll do a lot for you
• 13:00
  but you also learn a lot so so take that
• 13:03
  and zoom forward to 24 years when you're
• 13:05
  24 year old I um I get the worst office
• 13:09
  uh you know because that they're not
• 13:10
  going to give the best office to the
• 13:12
  young kid. Right.
• 13:12
  >> Right. Yeah. And uh there was a terrible
• 13:14
  accident that happened. The pavestone,
• 13:16
  the bricks people.
• 13:18
  >> Yeah.
• 13:18
  >> Um there was a college kid that was
• 13:20
  working there and he had his legs
• 13:21
  crushed in a machine.
• 13:23
  >> So they were under lawsuits and
• 13:24
  everything and they were like, "Rich,
• 13:26
  great. We want you to be our new leader
• 13:28
  and you get to take over this office."
• 13:30
  Okay. And so um I've got a couple bitter
• 13:34
  uh middle-aged women working for me and
• 13:36
  I'm like, "How do I turn this thing
• 13:38
  around?" And so through reading um books
• 13:42
  like one minute manager and all these
• 13:43
  things I forget all these things but
• 13:45
  truly like seeing what motivates them
• 13:47
  what are they trying to accomplish in
• 13:49
  life it really they they like sideeyed
• 13:52
  me for at least a year but when we
• 13:54
  became the number one office in the
• 13:56
  company um they [clears throat] realized
• 13:58
  like hey I I want you to win too and
• 14:00
  then you know senior leadership sees
• 14:02
  that and before you know it they say hey
• 14:03
  go sprinkle your magic dust everywhere
• 14:05
  and we were all over the place and just
• 14:08
  again doing the simple things but doing
• 14:09
  them really well and intentional. So
• 14:12
  >> yeah, by the way, yeah, I don't want
• 14:14
  people to miss that either. Doing the
• 14:16
  simple things. I kind of call them the
• 14:18
  old things, right? You know, show up on
• 14:20
  time, do what you say you're going to
• 14:22
  do, right? Be honest, respectful, all
• 14:25
  that type of stuff. Do some of those old
• 14:26
  things well, but do them to the best of
• 14:29
  your ability.
• 14:30
  >> And uh it's a great opportunity to stand
• 14:32
  out, especially in today's crowd. All
• 14:34
  right. So, you you scale a number of
• 14:36
  businesses, go through, you learn a lot.
• 14:39
  Three years ago, you decide to to start
• 14:42
  your own organization.
• 14:44
  What what was the thought there and and
• 14:46
  kind of walk me through that story of
• 14:48
  getting started? And then tell me a
• 14:49
  little bit about Advanced Resources.
• 14:52
  >> Yeah. No, I I'll say this. Um,
• 14:56
  you know, you can scale a company a
• 14:58
  number of different ways. Um, that's for
• 15:00
  sure. Um, and I, you know, my father was
• 15:04
  like a union worker, and I think there's
• 15:07
  a great place for unions, but I think if
• 15:09
  employers are just actually really good
• 15:11
  employers, there's no need for any of
• 15:13
  that. But, you know, sometimes, you
• 15:15
  know, you need that. Not to go down that
• 15:17
  path, but what what I would like to
• 15:20
  share is that you can scale a company in
• 15:23
  a number of different ways. You can go
• 15:24
  for financial results, you can go for
• 15:26
  long-term, you name it. And I had done
• 15:28
  that for other people or had multiple
• 15:30
  partners in the mix over the years. And
• 15:32
  so it was, you could say it had my my
• 15:35
  fingerprint on every business I built,
• 15:38
  but it wasn't mine, right?
• 15:40
  >> Um, I executed the strategy. I might
• 15:42
  have developed the strategy and executed
• 15:43
  it, but
• 15:44
  >> Advanced Resources, just really quick,
• 15:46
  it had been around for almost 20 years
• 15:48
  before I came into the picture. Started
• 15:51
  in 88. I took over in 2009, and it was
• 15:54
  in shambles, Jason. And I'm sure the
• 15:56
  founder and the team, you know, they'll
• 15:57
  be like, "Wow." And I remember thinking
• 15:59
  to myself like,
• 16:00
  >> "What have you guys been doing for 20
• 16:02
  years?" You know, like like, but they
• 16:04
  were so proud. It was like this proud
• 16:06
  little like uh uh bad news bears type of
• 16:08
  team, right? But there was also the
• 16:10
  financial crisis, you know? I I came on
• 16:13
  board with all good faith. Noticed how
• 16:16
  bad the company was. The they were in
• 16:19
  bad shape. I I personally took a pay
• 16:21
  cut. We did furls, all that stuff. And
• 16:23
  we said, "Look, if you'll just if you'll
• 16:25
  bear with me, we're going to go build
• 16:26
  something special." And we did. And uh
• 16:29
  we gave everybody their like pay
• 16:32
  reduction and furlows back and then
• 16:34
  some. We changed the comp design. We
• 16:36
  immediately changed the vision, mission,
• 16:38
  and values, which a little this goes
• 16:40
  back to the psychology. You'll see this
• 16:41
  thread and math is math doesn't lie.
• 16:44
  It's not biased. But if you take an
• 16:46
  employee engagement score and you just
• 16:47
  reverse engineer it, people want a
• 16:49
  voice. They want an opportunity. They
• 16:51
  want transparency. you know, they want
• 16:52
  to make an impact. And so we
• 16:55
  operationalized all those things in that
• 16:57
  strategy and just scaled like crazy. And
• 16:59
  I remember
• 17:01
  >> going to some people and I won't say
• 17:02
  their names, they know who they are. But
• 17:03
  I said, you know, we need to become a
• 17:05
  top workplace. And they said, why? Just
• 17:07
  so we can put a plaque on the wall. And
• 17:08
  I said, no, because what that does is
• 17:11
  that validates the work we're doing for
• 17:13
  our team to say, look, we are a good
• 17:16
  place to work. And so our um our mission
• 17:19
  every day is to make an impact, a
• 17:21
  positive impact for our team first. Um
• 17:24
  if they're happy, then everyone's happy,
• 17:26
  right? Um on our clients and our
• 17:29
  community. And our community includes
• 17:31
  the consultants that work for us from
• 17:32
  time to time and the communities we live
• 17:34
  in. And we said, well, how do we
• 17:36
  validate this? And so there was a third
• 17:38
  party um group out there that does a net
• 17:41
  promoter score. And um and we've won
• 17:45
  every single year. not only one, like we
• 17:47
  set the bar in this thing. So, they
• 17:48
  survey our customers. They survey um our
• 17:51
  consultants. We have an 85.7%
• 17:54
  net promoter score, which is like
• 17:55
  unheard of. It just gets better every
• 17:57
  year. And we're we're one of I think we
• 17:59
  might be the only firm in Chicago. I
• 18:00
  think we're only one of three that has
• 18:02
  won every year in the in the country,
• 18:04
  right? And what that is is that's real
• 18:06
  intentional to say the work we do has to
• 18:09
  matter. And back to what you highlighted
• 18:11
  is the little things matter. And so we
• 18:12
  have a tagline and it's more than a
• 18:14
  tagline but it's at advanced it's
• 18:17
  personal because it isn't business. It's
• 18:19
  it's personal. I'm I'm dealing with your
• 18:21
  job, your career, your profession or I'm
• 18:24
  working with a CFO or a private equity
• 18:25
  group to say hey we put we put all the
• 18:28
  chips on the table. We need this to work
• 18:30
  you know and so you know our customers
• 18:33
  are bringing us in to help them you know
• 18:35
  look good. And so what happened three
• 18:38
  years ago is we had scaled from about
• 18:40
  $70 million to about um $90 million all
• 18:44
  organic. A lot of fun. We went from
• 18:46
  about 20 employees to 1,200 and
• 18:48
  something employees. It just having a
• 18:50
  blast, right?
• 18:52
  >> And I thought the problem is I wasn't
• 18:55
  the primary shareholder. And so while
• 18:57
  they wanted to do some other ventures
• 18:59
  and and that type of thing, they didn't
• 19:01
  check my bucket and I wasn't done making
• 19:04
  an impact in the community here in
• 19:05
  Chicago. We live in a wonderful city
• 19:08
  regardless of what you hear on the news.
• 19:09
  Like I mean I love my neighbors. I coach
• 19:12
  flag football. All this other stuff like
• 19:14
  there's some really special people here.
• 19:15
  And I thought you know what sometimes
• 19:17
  less is more. And so um we specifically
• 19:20
  uh I specifically acquired the
• 19:22
  accounting and finance business and the
• 19:24
  HR practice.
• 19:25
  >> Um that's since evolved to really we we
• 19:29
  do executive search. We do some interrum
• 19:31
  staffing but really it's solutions and
• 19:33
  and this will all kind of tie together
• 19:35
  for you. But when we talk about
• 19:37
  solutions
• 19:38
  like staffing companies will often find
• 19:41
  you a person to do work but they don't
• 19:44
  necessarily are tied to an outcome.
• 19:46
  Right? A lot of large advisory firms um
• 19:49
  will tell you what you already know and
• 19:51
  charge you a lot of money, but they're
• 19:53
  not there to execute with you. Okay? So,
• 19:55
  you know, so we love this uh
• 19:57
  >> middle market space. I think you know
• 19:59
  this advanced resources 2.0 under my
• 20:02
  ownership. We've been really intentional
• 20:04
  about filling that void between
• 20:05
  traditional staffing and advisory firms.
• 20:08
  And we go in, we roll up our sleeves,
• 20:11
  and for a fraction of the cost, our
• 20:14
  customers get people to actually do the
• 20:16
  work that they need done to transform
• 20:18
  their organizations. And I can go into
• 20:20
  examples, but that's not what this is
• 20:21
  about.
• 20:22
  >> But, um, we find there's a lot of value
• 20:24
  there. It's not we're cheaper. We have a
• 20:26
  leaner operating model. That's what you
• 20:28
  get with being old, Jason. 30 years in
• 20:30
  this business, we, you know, either got
• 20:32
  to grow revenue or cut cost. Well, we've
• 20:34
  been able to do both at the same time.
• 20:36
  And the only thing I'll say as kind of a
• 20:39
  a highlight is when you do the right
• 20:41
  stuff, it works. So over all those years
• 20:43
  we grew, the third year into this
• 20:45
  transformation, um we're up 45%
• 20:48
  year-over-year and on track to probably
• 20:51
  hit 65% this year. So when you do right
• 20:54
  by people, they refer you to other
• 20:56
  people and they want you to do more work
• 20:58
  because you're doing it right. So
• 21:00
  >> wow. 45% up to maybe 65% before the
• 21:04
  close of the year. First, congrats.
• 21:05
  Let's just make sure we say those stats
• 21:07
  again.
• 21:07
  >> Oh, thank you.
• 21:08
  >> Second, it's terrific to hear you talk
• 21:10
  about the formulas and just those types
• 21:13
  of things. And I really like what you
• 21:15
  said about going out and getting
• 21:17
  validated as a best place to work. At
• 21:20
  the end of the day, you you need
• 21:22
  somebody. You said there was an outside
• 21:24
  group that came in, kind of did an audit
• 21:26
  of your clients, did an audit of your
• 21:27
  team. That's somebody else validating
• 21:29
  your work. That's not you saying this
• 21:31
  stuff works. That's somebody else
• 21:32
  saying, "Hey, this is working." So great
• 21:35
  advice there. You know, going out on
• 21:37
  your own. I always think there's a
• 21:40
  couple of different camps of people.
• 21:42
  There are one entrepreneurs, people who
• 21:44
  want to go out and and have their own
• 21:46
  business and then there end up being
• 21:48
  entrepreneurs, right? And so at that
• 21:50
  point three years ago where you you
• 21:52
  carve off this piece of the business and
• 21:53
  you decide to buy that and you're now
• 21:55
  going to run this, you know, that
• 21:58
  decision. Uh talk to me a little bit
• 22:00
  about what went into that
• 22:01
  decision-making process. were their
• 22:04
  mentors did uh you know what did family
• 22:07
  think for example I know there's been
• 22:09
  some folks I've talked to in the past
• 22:11
  when they have that decision there's
• 22:13
  people that are like man you're crazy or
• 22:15
  hey this is terrific you should go this
• 22:16
  way but were were there folks you were
• 22:18
  talking to and what did that decision
• 22:20
  look like?
• 22:22
  Yeah, I think you know if I were talking
• 22:23
  to entrepreneurs um you know I'd say you
• 22:27
  know it's cliche but bet on yourself.
• 22:29
  You know that that bar um Jason kept
• 22:32
  moving up. If I only have this much I'll
• 22:34
  go do it on my own. If I only have this
• 22:36
  much I will also say the founders and
• 22:38
  partners and private equity groups that
• 22:39
  I work for, they're also smart to keep
• 22:41
  dangling carrots to keep going. Um and
• 22:43
  you know I I will say I've always I'm
• 22:46
  way more fortunate than um I ever
• 22:49
  thought I would be in my life. And so
• 22:51
  I'm very grateful. And so it's never
• 22:53
  been about chasing the money. The money
• 22:55
  and all that stuff comes, right?
• 22:57
  >> Um but what I will say is it was it was
• 22:59
  extremely scary. I mean, you got to
• 23:00
  think um
• 23:02
  >> I have a a father who was a welder,
• 23:05
  right? Very hourly, you know, uh middle
• 23:09
  class. My mother um was essentially a
• 23:12
  secretary, you know what I mean? And so
• 23:14
  like play it safe, Rich. You know,
• 23:16
  that's what you know, my mom kept
• 23:17
  saying, "You sure you want to do this?
• 23:18
  You got it pretty good." And I think my
• 23:21
  peer group would say, "Why didn't you do
• 23:24
  this sooner?" You know what I mean?
• 23:25
  You're doing this for other people, but
• 23:27
  I enjoyed what I built and I again, I
• 23:29
  wasn't chasing the money, but when it
• 23:31
  comes down to specifically um
• 23:33
  entrepreneurs, it's it's scary, right?
• 23:35
  like managing cash and placing those
• 23:37
  bets when it's your money. Even though
• 23:39
  you've done it over and over again, you
• 23:40
  have the systems and the discipline and
• 23:42
  the people and the strategy. Um, you
• 23:46
  know, you can do it, but it's tough to
• 23:48
  get cash. It is. It's tough to get
• 23:50
  capital. Um, it's tough to scale. I
• 23:53
  mean, we're scaling so fast that we're
• 23:56
  burning through cash, which is a good
• 23:57
  thing, right? You want to grow, but yet
• 23:59
  you it takes a lot of cash to grow. And
• 24:01
  so, that's right. It's very scary. And I
• 24:03
  I would be lying if um I didn't say
• 24:07
  multiple points along the line. I
• 24:08
  thought, is this worth it? You know,
• 24:10
  when you're waking up in the middle of
• 24:11
  the night in a panic and um you're
• 24:15
  wondering about stuff, but I do think
• 24:17
  entrepreneurs, it's not as easy as it
• 24:20
  looks. We're not like Instagram
• 24:22
  influencers that just are, you know, not
• 24:24
  to say that that's not easy or whatever,
• 24:27
  but it sure looks easy. But but like
• 24:30
  there we have we have a lot of mouths to
• 24:32
  feed and a lot of responsibility and uh
• 24:36
  I I would say good business owners don't
• 24:38
  take that responsibility lightly. You
• 24:40
  know, I I'm here to not only change my
• 24:43
  family's life, but I got a lot of people
• 24:45
  to take care of and that's a that's a
• 24:47
  burden that um I don't I don't know if
• 24:50
  it's for everyone and and that's okay.
• 24:52
  That's okay.
• 24:53
  >> Yeah. Yeah. That's great. It's great
• 24:54
  advice, but it's good things to think
• 24:56
  about for those out there that maybe
• 24:57
  think they want to do this. There's lots
• 24:59
  of different uh things that people think
• 25:02
  being an entrepreneur means, you know,
• 25:04
  setting your own schedule and doing
• 25:06
  these different things. They don't
• 25:07
  realize you wake up at night that you
• 25:08
  have responsibility for 1,200 people and
• 25:11
  those things weigh heavy on you. And so,
• 25:13
  there's a lot of things that should be
• 25:14
  thought about before they go do this.
• 25:17
  You know, Rich, before we go on and talk
• 25:18
  a little bit about technology and the
• 25:20
  evolution of technology in your business
• 25:22
  over the last 30 years, I'm curious with
• 25:25
  Advanced Resources,
• 25:27
  give me your your elevator pitch, right?
• 25:29
  Who who are you serving, right? So, what
• 25:31
  are what do those clients maybe look
• 25:33
  like out there? Are they national?
• 25:35
  >> Um, and then a little bit more maybe
• 25:37
  just about the practices you guys you
• 25:39
  guys have in the business.
• 25:42
  >> Yeah. No, I I can um cuz again
• 25:45
  everything's pretty intentional about
• 25:47
  where can we make the biggest impact. Um
• 25:50
  and I do want to come back to technology
• 25:51
  cuz technology has always been at the
• 25:53
  core of every good business. And I mean
• 25:57
  even on old black screens, Unix space
• 25:59
  systems and stuff like that. I mean it's
• 26:01
  always been there. Um but I'll come back
• 26:03
  to that. So so what we do is we have we
• 26:06
  have three practices. Okay. So we we do
• 26:09
  executive search. to think of placing
• 26:11
  the top head of finance, head of
• 26:13
  accounting or head of HR. The search
• 26:16
  business is only about 20% of what we
• 26:18
  do, but it's what a lot of people like
• 26:20
  engage with us on because they're
• 26:22
  curious about the job market. Right?
• 26:23
  Over the years, we've we've deployed and
• 26:26
  executed just during my tenure um at
• 26:29
  least what we could find in our BI at
• 26:30
  least 40,000 projects.
• 26:32
  >> We have tentacles all over the place.
• 26:35
  And you make a lot of friends when you
• 26:36
  get them a good job, you know, and you
• 26:38
  increase their pay by 40 50%. You know,
• 26:41
  doesn't happen. Don't always believe
• 26:42
  what people tell you they make, but but
• 26:44
  we get to see the exhaust data, right?
• 26:46
  Like [laughter] companies say they pay
• 26:48
  X, candidates 1X, and then we see what
• 26:50
  they actually accept. So that's that's
• 26:51
  20% of our business. Um solutions. Well,
• 26:54
  I'll go to intram staffing. Intram
• 26:56
  staffing is it's a great place. Um this
• 26:59
  isn't for people that are unemployable.
• 27:01
  These are people that are in transition
• 27:04
  maybe um are are building their skill
• 27:07
  set or have flexibility. I remember um
• 27:11
  this guy Marty worked for me for years.
• 27:13
  He was former deoid guy. He did well for
• 27:16
  himself. He just wanted to work projects
• 27:18
  over and over again and he didn't want
• 27:20
  like scoped out projects. He just wanted
• 27:21
  to go do interrum controllership roles,
• 27:23
  that type of thing.
• 27:25
  Excuse me. So intram's a great business.
• 27:28
  So when a company doesn't have work
• 27:29
  scoped out but they need additional
• 27:31
  people on the team that works and then
• 27:34
  solutions is our core business and that
• 27:36
  is where a customer has a very specific
• 27:39
  challenge and they need either expertise
• 27:42
  additional um bandwidth or they may need
• 27:46
  project support to manage that. So there
• 27:48
  is usually a beginning middle and end
• 27:50
  right and we are not like McKenzie and
• 27:53
  some of the others where we want to be
• 27:54
  embedded forever. We're not an assurance
• 27:57
  firm like the Lloyd or the big four. So
• 27:59
  we come in and tackle one project at a
• 28:01
  time and those projects range from um
• 28:04
  say in the human capital practice a lot
• 28:06
  of change management talent maturity
• 28:08
  models you know how are you engaging
• 28:10
  your talent from end to end and then
• 28:12
  over in the accounting and finance side
• 28:15
  um there's financial reporting obviously
• 28:17
  a lot of um like diligence around M&A
• 28:20
  transactions
• 28:21
  >> because I'll get to that but
• 28:24
  >> and also AI and accounting automation
• 28:26
  because
• 28:27
  >> the days of you know uh the abacus and
• 28:30
  likes you know handwritten spreadsheets
• 28:32
  even Excel for that matter I mean claw
• 28:34
  can do what most analysts do so so that
• 28:37
  world is evolving and how do we automate
• 28:39
  and streamline and um so that's that's
• 28:42
  really where we help in our three
• 28:44
  customer sets um since you asked is like
• 28:46
  large enterprise customers think of um
• 28:49
  >> very brand name Fortune 1000 companies
• 28:52
  that's where we go do a lot of lot of
• 28:55
  work but then probably our busiest
• 28:57
  segment is private equity and private
• 28:58
  equity assets. Um, those private equity
• 29:01
  assets, I thought once upon a time that
• 29:05
  private equity was the devil, okay?
• 29:07
  [laughter] And I still think some of
• 29:09
  them are, okay? And they know who they
• 29:11
  are. But if you look at like your mom
• 29:13
  and dad's 401k and pension funds, a lot
• 29:16
  of those funds are investing in private
• 29:18
  equity to then grow their cash. And so
• 29:21
  if we find good private equity partners
• 29:24
  and good assets out there, it aligns
• 29:26
  with our values. Yeah.
• 29:28
  >> Um truly if someone's a jerk, if they're
• 29:29
  going to go in there and fire, you know,
• 29:31
  um
• 29:33
  >> folks, that's that's not for us. But
• 29:35
  companies that really want to grow, they
• 29:36
  have a good product. We have thoroughly
• 29:38
  enjoyed helping either pre-deal for the
• 29:42
  platform company. I I mean, I have
• 29:43
  managing partners that'll text me in the
• 29:45
  middle of diligence, say, "Rich, I'm
• 29:46
  going to need your help, you know, can
• 29:48
  your team uh to even um bolt-on assets
• 29:51
  and acquisitions down the road." And as
• 29:53
  you know um from a technology
• 29:55
  perspective we don't touch tech other
• 29:58
  than if it's functional to HR or
• 30:01
  accounting and finance
• 30:03
  >> core tech is a beast
• 30:05
  >> and um and that's that just helps
• 30:07
  companies move faster better more
• 30:09
  visibility and without visibility you
• 30:12
  can't make you know good decisions fast
• 30:14
  enough. So anyway I know that's a lot
• 30:15
  but that that's what we're doing and
• 30:18
  we're having a lot of fun doing it. So
• 30:19
  >> yeah that's awesome. So you wo a little
• 30:21
  tech in there. So I'm curious
• 30:24
  technology, right? You you've now been
• 30:26
  in the space 25 30 years. How's tech
• 30:29
  evolved and and maybe where do you think
• 30:31
  it going here in the near future for
• 30:32
  you?
• 30:34
  >> Yeah, we've always been um forward
• 30:36
  leaning. I wouldn't say we're like
• 30:37
  cutting edge. Um but then if you ask
• 30:40
  other people, we might scare them. But I
• 30:42
  mean we we embedded AI into what we do.
• 30:45
  Uh you know, we've got employees all
• 30:46
  over the place. um everything from any
• 30:50
  workflow automation. I mean we have a AI
• 30:52
  road map internally where we'd like to
• 30:54
  get up to about 700 automations and I
• 30:57
  want to be really clear when we talk
• 30:59
  about automation versus generative AI
• 31:03
  there's a spectrum right I learned from
• 31:05
  a really smart professor out of Stanford
• 31:07
  but I think in most cases where you're
• 31:09
  working with uh large amounts of data
• 31:11
  but low risk automation's a piece of
• 31:13
  cake right or everyone should be doing
• 31:16
  that and the simplest like consumer
• 31:18
  brand I would think of is like your Yelp
• 31:20
  view or or open table, right? You're,
• 31:23
  you know, Amazon, if you bought this
• 31:25
  maybe like that, it's pretty low risk if
• 31:27
  you get it wrong. Whereas like I don't
• 31:30
  think someone's going to have a heart
• 31:30
  attack and call 911 AI, you know, but in
• 31:35
  that upper quadrant, right, we hope that
• 31:37
  our doctors are using AI to sift through
• 31:39
  all the research. So, I think AI's got a
• 31:41
  long road. But even just coming back to
• 31:44
  the core um technology roots, I mean
• 31:46
  cyber security, data, um clean data, all
• 31:50
  those things are critical like we we
• 31:52
  outsource all of our technology, our
• 31:55
  core technology for our infrastructure
• 31:57
  because we want experts like you guys to
• 32:01
  do stuff like that, right? Like you're
• 32:03
  the best at that. I'm I'm better at
• 32:05
  other things. Um, I'm really we're
• 32:07
  really good at like AI automation for
• 32:10
  accounting and finance, but that's
• 32:11
  different than everything else. And so
• 32:14
  we believe in doing what we do really
• 32:15
  well. Um, but yeah, tech has always been
• 32:18
  there. And what I would say is whether
• 32:20
  it's true or not, but if AI and
• 32:23
  technology help people go faster, why
• 32:26
  wouldn't you have more people versus
• 32:29
  replacing people, you know? But I do
• 32:31
  think if people don't embrace
• 32:33
  technology, they're going to get beat by
• 32:35
  the people who do embrace technology.
• 32:36
  And that's just a fact of life. So
• 32:39
  >> yeah. Yeah, I agree 100%. And I like the
• 32:41
  way you stated that and I've said that
• 32:42
  many times also. I I don't think that my
• 32:45
  job's going to be replaced by AI, but I
• 32:47
  do think somebody doing my job
• 32:49
  leveraging AI will be more powerful than
• 32:52
  I am if I'm not embracing it. And so
• 32:55
  certainly I I love the idea that you
• 32:57
  guys are putting it in and doing all
• 32:58
  those automations and and what you guys
• 33:00
  are doing for clients. And like you
• 33:02
  said, you you feel like you guys are
• 33:04
  doing pretty well. Maybe scare some
• 33:06
  other folks out there when they hear how
• 33:07
  far you guys are, but it's terrific to
• 33:10
  hear how you've embraced, you know,
• 33:11
  technology over the years. As we
• 33:14
  transition, I'm curious. We we talk a
• 33:16
  little bit about community on this show.
• 33:19
  Your community starts right in Kansas
• 33:21
  City and then you've talked about
• 33:22
  Chicago and loving your neighbors and
• 33:24
  coaching and doing all those types of
• 33:25
  things. Rich, when you think about
• 33:27
  community, what what's community mean to
• 33:29
  you?
• 33:32
  >> Yeah. Um I have so much on community,
• 33:34
  but really quick I will say tech I got
• 33:36
  to say this about technology. We were in
• 33:38
  front of a great customer yesterday
• 33:40
  >> and they said, you know, can you give us
• 33:42
  more examples of where you've done this
• 33:43
  work? And I said, "Sure." But my brain
• 33:46
  isn't as sharp as it used to be, and
• 33:48
  there's a lot in there. So, literally,
• 33:50
  we have uh Claude Enterprise, right? And
• 33:53
  >> I asked Claude, and we've said this, and
• 33:55
  a good tech partner will, you know, help
• 33:58
  any customer with this, but
• 34:00
  >> I said, "Where have we done this work?"
• 34:01
  And the AI remembers stuff that I should
• 34:04
  know like this customer, this customer,
• 34:07
  this customer. So, like the tech is
• 34:09
  there for a reason. So anyway, I just
• 34:10
  wanted to say that because even
• 34:12
  something that like like that this
• 34:13
  morning we were on with the senior
• 34:14
  leadership team. We were like which case
• 34:16
  studies are we going to share with that
• 34:17
  customer
• 34:18
  >> and AI said well don't forget about all
• 34:20
  these other ones you know and so it's
• 34:22
  kind of exciting you know but anyway um
• 34:25
  >> yeah I I want to touch on that
• 34:26
  [clears throat] riff on that just for a
• 34:27
  minute before we go to community. Sure.
• 34:29
  So when you think about that right it it
• 34:30
  brings up 10 use cases and somebody says
• 34:33
  well yeah but one of these isn't gerine.
• 34:35
  Yeah, but the other nine are. And as a
• 34:37
  human, I have a chance to review those.
• 34:39
  I didn't remember these 10. And now I've
• 34:42
  got 10 nine more use cases that
• 34:44
  certainly are gerine to the conversation
• 34:46
  that I could leverage. And so, is it
• 34:49
  perfect? No. But does it have a better
• 34:51
  filing system than what I have? I'm
• 34:53
  getting old, right? At the end of the
• 34:54
  day, I've done a lot of stuff. I don't
• 34:56
  remember everything. And then somebody
• 34:58
  brings it back. I'm like, "Oh, yeah,
• 34:59
  that's cool. We did this. We solved this
• 35:02
  problem. We did something." Well, AI has
• 35:04
  the knowledge. Let it bring it back.
• 35:06
  Spark it. Then I'll go speak it into
• 35:07
  life. And so I I appreciate you bringing
• 35:10
  that back around as as a quick little
• 35:11
  use case. That's cool.
• 35:13
  >> Well, I mean I mean it's just so true
• 35:15
  and I think it's going to really be
• 35:16
  important with knowledge transfer as the
• 35:19
  boomers continue to retire. We've been
• 35:20
  hearing this for 15 years, right? But
• 35:22
  but like just because I've been helping
• 35:25
  so many customers say just here in
• 35:27
  advance for the last 17 years, right? A
• 35:29
  lot of that knowledge is in my head. I
• 35:31
  can't even remember them. like we've
• 35:32
  helped 40,000 projects. That's a lot of
• 35:34
  projects, right? And so, but it's
• 35:36
  documented and that it can just go
• 35:39
  through again. It's math. I keep coming
• 35:41
  study math, right? But anyway, my point
• 35:43
  is um you know, it can find all the
• 35:46
  stuff that I forget about. And it's not
• 35:48
  because a customer wasn't important or
• 35:50
  anything else. It's just I can transfer
• 35:52
  that knowledge. My team can now search
• 35:54
  what does Rich know, you know what I
• 35:56
  mean? Because we've shared all of our
• 35:57
  files and it like that's how we operate
• 35:59
  in today's society. It's not the keeper
• 36:01
  of the information is more powerful.
• 36:03
  It's like the power is in sharing that
• 36:05
  information and leveraging it the right
• 36:06
  way. So yeah.
• 36:07
  >> Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome.
• 36:09
  And so great. I love the idea of kind of
• 36:11
  that second part on tech. Good good ads
• 36:13
  there. And so community back to
• 36:15
  community. What's it mean to you?
• 36:18
  >> Yeah. You know, it means so much. And um
• 36:20
  you know, I always thought so I'm 51,
• 36:23
  Jason, but I always thought, man, by the
• 36:25
  time I'm I'm 50 um I want to have my own
• 36:29
  company. I want to be giving back. I
• 36:30
  want to be helping at risk youth, you
• 36:32
  know, all these things, you know, that
• 36:33
  kind of help I think um help me kind of
• 36:37
  realize the American dream. And so I've
• 36:40
  I've searched for this, right? And I've
• 36:42
  read, you know, um the books on purpose
• 36:44
  and that type of thing. And um and so if
• 36:47
  you go back quite a ways here in
• 36:49
  Chicago, you know, again, you can hear
• 36:50
  about the news, you can hear all this
• 36:52
  stuff. Is Chicago perfect? No. But
• 36:54
  there's a lot of really special things
• 36:56
  here. And so going back almost 17 years,
• 36:59
  um I think it's 16 um we started helping
• 37:02
  the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
• 37:05
  And what [clears throat] this is is they
• 37:07
  have are grant funded and all these
• 37:09
  things through private donors. And so um
• 37:11
  there have been times where we have a
• 37:13
  teacher in every library helping kids
• 37:15
  with after school homework. Uh helping
• 37:17
  give, you know, folks access to the
• 37:18
  internet and technology, 3D printers. um
• 37:22
  they can go into the makers lab, they
• 37:24
  can record music, they can get access to
• 37:26
  the arts. And so we do that and have
• 37:28
  done it all these years for essentially
• 37:30
  free. We have a very good partnership.
• 37:33
  Um we do it at cost with them. But it's
• 37:35
  like how can I help, right? How can we
• 37:37
  help?
• 37:38
  >> And um so we've been doing that. We do a
• 37:41
  lot in the community with folks. We've
• 37:43
  done a lot of like charitable giving. I
• 37:44
  remember at our 25th year anniversary,
• 37:47
  um, we ran a contest and the team that
• 37:50
  did the best saleswise, we would donate
• 37:53
  25 grand to their charity and it was
• 37:56
  really great. And I can say that I
• 37:58
  wasn't the only person involved in this,
• 37:59
  but um, five teams did really well. And
• 38:02
  so we donated 25 grand to five different
• 38:05
  charities and like giving back is is
• 38:09
  big. Um, you know, that that wasn't my
• 38:12
  money necessarily, but Um, you know, I
• 38:15
  think it's big because while you're
• 38:16
  scaling and doing really really well,
• 38:19
  um, you got to remember, man, we're not
• 38:20
  doing this in a vacuum, right? We pay
• 38:22
  our taxes to have good roads to have
• 38:25
  good education for our our kids and that
• 38:27
  type of thing. And so everything from
• 38:29
  the whole nonprofit world, associations,
• 38:32
  I'm on the board for uh, Chicago United,
• 38:34
  which uh, you know, good business
• 38:36
  includes everyone. Um, but even to, you
• 38:39
  know, coaching my flag football team, we
• 38:41
  have playoffs this weekend. Pretty
• 38:42
  excited. Uh but uh you know it's fun to
• 38:45
  just know that you're making a
• 38:47
  difference even in those little
• 38:49
  interactions because you know whatever
• 38:52
  you think about sports, sports is a good
• 38:54
  way to teach folks how to you know work
• 38:56
  together, take on leadership
• 38:58
  responsibilities, get your heart broken,
• 39:00
  all those things um and work hard. So um
• 39:03
  yeah, it it's just woven into everything
• 39:05
  we do.
• 39:06
  >> Yeah, it's awesome. You know, sports, by
• 39:07
  the way, good luck on the uh flag
• 39:09
  football this weekend, but sports is a
• 39:12
  great opportunity to learn how to win,
• 39:13
  to learn how to lose, to learn how to
• 39:15
  work with a team, uh to learn how to be
• 39:17
  coached, right? And how to how to accept
• 39:20
  that coaching and those types of things.
• 39:22
  >> You know, Rich, as I as I think back of
• 39:24
  our story, and we've talked through
• 39:25
  here, you know, coming from Kansas City
• 39:27
  and getting into to school and being in
• 39:30
  August and your dad saying, "Hey, do you
• 39:32
  want to go?" And you're like two weeks
• 39:34
  from class start and you say, "Sure."
• 39:36
  They have a great experience there and
• 39:38
  you know working through college getting
• 39:39
  an opportunity to be a young leader you
• 39:43
  know in this space and then uh finding a
• 39:46
  formula and working that formula over
• 39:48
  and over and over again and then
• 39:50
  eventually a few years ago you know
• 39:51
  doing that and and now doing it
• 39:53
  underneath the advanced resources brand
• 39:55
  and and with you as the owner and the
• 39:57
  CEO. you know, the the story is
• 39:59
  terrific, but interlaced in there were
• 40:02
  so many different pieces of advice um
• 40:05
  that go back to what what you you kind
• 40:07
  of called the like the simple things or
• 40:09
  the older things and following those
• 40:11
  formulas and just keep doing them over
• 40:13
  and over and over again, putting your
• 40:15
  people in a position to be successful,
• 40:18
  putting your clients in a position to be
• 40:20
  successful. It's no wonder you're up 45%
• 40:22
  with an opportunity to be up 65% by the
• 40:25
  close of the year. Congrats, my friend.
• 40:28
  and uh your story is amazing. You know,
• 40:29
  this is this is the first time we've
• 40:31
  done an episode like this where we've
• 40:34
  leveraged a piece of software and I'm so
• 40:36
  glad you were the first one to do this
• 40:38
  with us because the story is terrific
• 40:40
  and obviously I know we could talk
• 40:42
  forever and ever because there's a lot
• 40:43
  of good stuff in there. But before we
• 40:46
  end, Rich, I'm curious if you're not
• 40:48
  working, if you're coaching flag
• 40:50
  football, what what are you doing
• 40:52
  outside of work for fun? What's fun look
• 40:53
  like for you?
• 40:56
  You know, I I think you got to have fun
• 40:58
  doing everything. Why do it, right?
• 40:59
  Like, if you're not filling your bucket.
• 41:01
  Uh but no, I mean, um you know, we
• 41:03
  talked a little bit. I have five kids.
• 41:05
  Um which I'm blessed. Um I have three
• 41:09
  adopted children um from Guatemala. I
• 41:11
  have two biological children, so three
• 41:13
  girls, two boys. Um they like me most
• 41:16
  days. Um you know, but but you know, uh
• 41:20
  so goes life, right? So no, they're
• 41:22
  wonderful kids. Um wonderful kids. So
• 41:24
  they they keep us very busy. Um, you
• 41:27
  know, my wife's great. She she and I met
• 41:30
  in this business. So she works in the
• 41:32
  business. And so I I got to say it just
• 41:35
  all
• 41:36
  [clears throat] excuse me, all comes
• 41:38
  together because the days of like going
• 41:40
  to work, having work, having personal I
• 41:43
  am definitely a hardcore Xer. I work to
• 41:45
  have my personal life, but it's all
• 41:47
  interwoven now. I mean, our friends on
• 41:49
  the weekends, um, it it's just it's
• 41:52
  wonderful. And I think, you know, you
• 41:53
  just want to embrace life. Um, you know,
• 41:55
  tomorrow is not promised to us. And, uh,
• 41:59
  having five kids, I think, is very
• 42:01
  humbling. Um, I'm not suggesting
• 42:03
  everybody do it, but, you know, when you
• 42:04
  look through that lens of, you know,
• 42:06
  what kind of employer do you want your
• 42:08
  kids to work for? You know, um, how do
• 42:11
  you want to engage with people? Have I
• 42:12
  been perfect along the way? No. [cough]
• 42:15
  Excuse me. I've made a lot of mistakes,
• 42:17
  but I hope that, you know, we're making
• 42:19
  a difference both in our community
• 42:21
  personally and and family. And it's okay
• 42:25
  if they're not all balanced at times.
• 42:26
  You know, they it comes and goes. So,
• 42:29
  no, I think just spending time with
• 42:30
  people and being intentional. I mean,
• 42:32
  that that fills my bucket for sure. So,
• 42:34
  >> yeah, great advice. I you know, we were
• 42:36
  kindred spirits the first time we
• 42:37
  chatted because I'm a dad of five as
• 42:39
  well, as you know, with the inverse.
• 42:41
  I've got three biological and two
• 42:42
  adopted, right? So, 10 kids between us
• 42:45
  and uh like I think I'll echo I think
• 42:47
  they like me most days.
• 42:48
  >> Uh some days maybe a little bit of a
• 42:50
  challenge and [clears throat] uh but for
• 42:52
  sure a blessed life. And and the last
• 42:55
  piece that I'll I'll kind of close on
• 42:56
  for us with is I like what you said is
• 42:58
  that you know tomorrow's not promised.
• 43:01
  >> And I I tell my kids just be where your
• 43:03
  feet are, right? Wherever your feet are,
• 43:04
  be there. Be with those people. That
• 43:06
  experience is going to be temporary.
• 43:08
  It's going to fade, but that memory
• 43:10
  could be there forever if you make it
• 43:11
  last. And so, uh, terrific, you know,
• 43:14
  hearing some of your story, Rich. I
• 43:16
  certainly appreciate you and thanks for
• 43:18
  being a guest on our show.
• 43:20
  >> Oh, you bet. Thanks for having me and I
• 43:22
  I look forward to continuing the
• 43:24
  conversation.
• 43:25
  >> You got it, buddy. Thicker.