Entrepreneur Intel

Wesley J. Mathews: I'm super excited today's guest. Uh, he is an entrepreneur who helps businesses harness the power of their vibe to produce seismic results through his business advising. He has helped companies achieve six X growth, and I'm sure more, and we're going to learn all about that. He is a sales expert, having led teams that drive over a hundred million in annual revenue.

Uh, he is the founder and principal at Affect Advisors. Welcome Bill Green.

Bill Green: Thanks Wes, appreciate you being, uh, having me here.

Wesley J. Mathews: Happy to have you here. Uh, but I got to start, I ask everybody the same question. I got to ask you the question. So you've got a really unique story from an entrepreneur perspective. So you've been an entrepreneur for nine years. Uh, what's the most important lesson you've learned thus far as an entrepreneur?

Bill Green: Yeah, that's a great question. I think the most important thing I've learned over the last nine years is that you are truly living a free life. Freedom comes from thriving authentically. Being able to really be who you are, showing up in your own unique ability, and delivering value that makes you happy so that you can help make other people happy.

So, living authentically is the biggest lesson I've learned.

Wesley J. Mathews: So I'm really excited to unpack your story and all your nuggets, because. You flipped to the dark side. You're an entrepreneur now, but, uh, you know, going back, back, back, like you, you kind of went the, I don't know if I call it the nine to five route or you, you went to an enterprise, an organization and talk a little bit about that, like you, you were at that company.

How long were you at your first company

Bill Green: Yeah, 23 years I spent in the corporate healthcare space, medical sales. And I always had an entrepreneurial bug, but just, you know, based on my upbringing and, and kind of going to college and at the time, you know, our generation, we, you know, go to college, learn some things, get a great job and kind of just, you know, 30 years in a gold watch was sort of the mindset coming out of the nineties into the nineties, but ultimately realized in that process that there were a lot of things I'd like to do that I was able to do for a lot of years.

Uh, and then some things that maybe, uh, I started to realize I needed to figure out my own path if I was going to be able to do them authentically and have that freedom that I wanted.

Wesley J. Mathews: So at what point, so you 22 years, um, at what point. Do you start to think, I mean, did you just get so much experience in your company? Cause I want to talk a little bit about what Affect Advisors does. Cause I'm assuming it's a little bit different than healthcare. but at what point in that, in your corporate career where you're like, huh, like, I, I think I, I want to go down the entrepreneurial path.

Bill Green: you know, it's funny. You make the question sound a lot more complicated than it was for me. Um, I can almost remember the day, maybe not the exact day, but I remember the moment I was about 43 years old. So it was about 11 years ago. And the core element of my job was to spend time out in the field with my sales representatives and seeing customers and coaching them on selling and listening and understanding how to deliver value and things like that.

And it was that moment about 11 years ago when I was coaching a rep who was having trouble. Connecting with the customer and doing her job in a way that we both know she was capable of. And it dawned on me at that moment, it really had nothing to do with healthcare, had nothing to do with sales. It was really just all about understanding what she really wanted for herself.

And I found in the moment I pulled aside, we went ahead, a cup of coffee. And I said, what's going on? What, what do you want out of this job? And she started explaining to me that her dog had died earlier that week and her and her husband were having a hard time dealing with it. There were a whole lot of personal issues that had entered the fray that were affecting her job performance.

And at that moment, we had a nice conversation. You should tears were shed. I'll be honest on both sides. And I realized at that moment that it wasn't about sales or healthcare or anything like that. It was about people and recognizing that this person who had the capability and the potential to be very good at her job, in fact, had demonstrated that capacity previously.

Wasn't actually doing so at the moment because. She wasn't able to be herself for whatever reason. And upon further inspection on that, that moment, it just became a situation where she felt she was trying to please someone other than herself. And I drove away from that day with that rep in the field and thought to myself.

I'm doing the wrong thing. I'm not in the right place in my life. And I had a lot of obligations financially at the time into my family that didn't give me the opportunity to kind of just jump in headfirst to the entrepreneurial world. But at 43, I'd made up my mind to say, when I turned 50, I want to be in a position where I can do what I did in that moment, coach that person to connect to what she really wanted and find her true potential to be who she really is and perform at a level that she's capable of for, for businesses, uh, all over the place.

And so that's what I did. It ultimately kind of took the next seven years to invest in myself and learn and grow. And when I turned 50, that's when I started, uh, Working on what I'm doing now full time.

Wesley J. Mathews: So what is Affect Advisors at the core? segueing right from that story to what is it?

Bill Green: Yeah. So there's two, the two words effect. I specifically chose that word instead of effect because I wanted it to be about ultimately what influence we can have on others, uh, how we show up both as a verb influencing and changing effect. And also as a noun, what is your effect? How do you show up? How do you present yourself?

So my choice in, in words were very deliberate. And then advisors. I really look at it while I'm a one man show, a solopreneur, if you will. There are a lot of people I count on, uh, in my network to help my clients, um, get to where they need to go. Sometimes I can help them based on my skills and experience.

Other times I need to plug in to people who have experience in areas that I don't. So the advisors, plural, is the people I trust and refer to my clients. So Effect Advisors is about helping people show up as their authentic selves. And change and influence the outcome that they're getting into a bigger future that they may not be getting at the moment.

And then relying on myself and others to help them get there. So team of people to kind of make, uh, the present better by making the future bigger.

Wesley J. Mathews: Well, I love your path. One, because I'm about to be 43, and I think I kind of turned my back on corporate at like 24, 25, I don't remember. But it's just, it's always so interesting to me. Like people's like something, something happens and they're like, I'm going this way, or, you know, you learn things. Like I learned in the corporate world, like this is what I don't want to do.

I gotta be something different. Um, so as an entrepreneur, I think it's important to think about like, how do you jump in? Right. I have this vision in my mind of like two little kids with jump rope. Right. And like, when do you jump into the jump rope so you don't get hit and blow up the game?

Bill Green: right.

Wesley J. Mathews: So if I'm assuming correctly, like you.

You, you were here at the corporate organization, you had this aha moment, and do you sort of start this off as like a side hustle or like you kind of ease into it as you're doing that? Because I think that's interesting for a lot of people. Right. And I want to get your take on that. Like what went well, what didn't go well?

Would you do that again or would you go all in, you know,

Bill Green: Yeah, I think the short answer is I would go all in if I could financially. And I know many entrepreneurs don't because they're not in that position to, you know, sleep in their car and eat ramen noodles or something like that. Um, some have, and I know people, in fact, some of my very good friends literally have Lead that path to where they are today.

Very successfully. Uh, I was in a position where I had to create a bit of a runway. So it was about 43 to probably, so 11 years ago was what? 2013. Let's say, it was about three years later that I actually had my first client in my first work, but in the three years before that, I really made a commitment to learn and, and, and.

Read a lot of books and take on opportunities within my corporate job to start demonstrating and exploring the skills that I knew I would be needing in my business. And it was, it was sort of serendipitous for me that a soccer dad, um, I'd coached his kid in a couple of different sports. Pulled me aside on the sidelines and said, Hey, I'd like to talk to you about helping me with my new business.

He was starting a construction firm with one of his clients and wanted some help. And so I thought we were going to get together and have a drink or something and give him a few tips. And he said, no, I would pay you in, in, you know, I need some help. And I thought, well, I don't know what I could help you with and whether it's worth paying me for it, but I'm open.

And so we ended up trying out, you know, six months or so of me doing various things that he didn't feel he was able to do on his own. And so that was sort of the first client experience in 2016 for me as a side gig, uh, that I was doing in my free time and really learning some of the things that I had taken from my corporate career and leading teams and running businesses, making decisions and things like that to impart upon someone who maybe had technical experience, but not the people, leadership, and organizational experience that I had had.

So that was my first opportunity to kind of, you know, really try it out and see how it worked. And I worked with that company for seven years. We just, uh, wrapped up our work. Um, at the beginning of 2022, really, there wasn't much more that I could do that could help them. So we still connect and, uh, catch up from time to time.

But, uh, it was a side gig from like 2016 through 2019 for me. Um, but I think the short, uh, story is that. Investing in myself and learning that I needed to hone in my skills that I was going to take with me from my corporate experience, specific skills that I knew I would be needing when I was going to be engaging with clients and providing value one on one with them is where I spent my time in the, you know, six years or so in between.

Wesley J. Mathews: Like, and what did that look like? So you get the soccer dad, right? Hey, I need help. And you're probably like, Oh my gosh, do I price my time? And you know, as an entrepreneur, like I, I struggle sometimes with head trash or what's easy for us could be really hard for others. And you're trying to like, be fair and pray.

Like, how did you start that? How did you come about that? Did were you reading a lot of entrepreneurial books? Were you seeking out mentors or other entrepreneurs or how did you sort of kick that? Kick that

Bill Green: that's a good question. I think a little bit of all of that, but, but I think what it really came down to is when I talk about a lot with my clients and kind of a central focus of my own core values is to just be real. That's my first core value in my, in my business is to be real. And, and, and being, being real in a sense, since I literally sat down with this business owner and said, what are some of the things that you feel you need help with?

And we just wrote them down. We got to about 16 or 18 different things, everything from setting a vision to creating his LinkedIn profile to press releases. Cause I'm a journalism major that spent his first four years in public relations. And there were some things on the list that weren't necessarily in my wheelhouse, you know, like financial management and things like that.

I know people who do that. Well, I'm not one of them. I mean, I can manage my finances, but I'm not somebody that I would pay to do it. And so we kind of ended up settling on probably eight or so things that would be of value. And then the way the conversation went was, I want to realize that I'm going to be doing this very part time and, uh, starting with him and his partner kind of were the focus of the client work.

And so we kind of just said, well, what, what would this be worth to you? This is the be real part. And he kind of said, Hey, I couldn't hire an assistant. or an executive assistant or a coordinator to do the things that are on this list. Um, I would probably pay them this much money to do that. And I said, that sounds reasonable.

Let's start there and see where it goes. And so it turned out that, you know, at that time in 2016, the amount of time that I was able to put into those eight or so areas in the amount of actual hours that I spent, let's say on a weekly or monthly basis, really amounted to an investment for this business owner of about an executive assistant.

And I think the impact that I was able to deliver for that company in that first year and beyond, you know, was commensurate with what they were paying. And ultimately, as we added more value, more services, they added more, uh, more money to the, to the contract.

Wesley J. Mathews: Yeah. I want to, I want to hit on that real quick. Cause it's interesting because some clients in my experience, they look at things, they associate it to like an hourly rate calculate things in their head. I'm a big outcome guy, Like what's it work to you? Like, I love that statement because it challenges, cause at some point you're probably, I'm, I'm assuming you're thinking back and you're like, at some point you're really getting it, you're driving a lot of value.

Then you're like, man, I'm just, now I'm just getting it. Administrative assistant pay. I could charge a lot more. So talk about like that over the seven years, like how, how does that start and then just evolve into more? Right. I mean, if he kept you around for seven years, like really helping them adding a lot of value, but how did that start?

And then kind of where did it, where did it go?

Bill Green: that's a good question, Wes. And I think you intimated it earlier. Then as you start to kind of get out and do the work and you start to see, Ooh, that's a lot more work than I thought it was. And maybe I'm not getting paid enough for that. Or, oh, you know, that's probably not as enough that that's not as deep as I need to go.

Not enough. I probably shouldn't be charging that much. You start to kind of benchmark and that's where you start reading books, listening to podcasts, talking to other people who do similar kinds of things. And you level up a little bit. And the good news is in this particular instance, I don't think I was too far off.

Especially given the fact that I hadn't really done it before. You got to start somewhere, right? You're not starting out at kind of premium, uh, uh, compensation if you're kind of starting now, but, but I think in the end, it just did become a matter of, of, I, and frankly, I love the way you said it. I really have.

I think somebody might have given me this advice, but avoid the idea of hourly notion, like what is the value you provide and is there a relative benchmark? Let's just randomly say it's somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000 or $10,000 and $15,000, whatever the case may be. It's not, well, my, I charge $200 an hour or $500 an hour because then you're getting.

Way, way too much into time for money. And frankly, that's kind of what I was trying to get away from getting out of the W2 paycheck world, because you technically get paid for your time. I want to be paid for the value.

Wesley J. Mathews: So at what point, uh, so you take on your first client, right? now you have like two things you got to deal with. Right. And maybe there's like the sense of like, Hey, like how can you devote your time to both? But the one question I want to ask, I think it's really important for people that are in a, in a W2 job or like 2024, like you hear all this side hustle.

Everybody's got a gig and you know, we're on zoom meetings and all these different things. And when do you let go of the vine? Safety, right? I know you said like you needed a runway, but like at what point in your mind you're like, is it just your base needs are taken care of and you're like ready to go all in?

Or is it more of like, uh, Hey, I really believe in myself now. People are paying me. I'm adding value. Like, what was that trigger for you to let go of that vine?

Bill Green: You know, it's kind of both simultaneously, but, but I want to go back to what you said a minute ago. I think at some point for me, it's the recognition when you talk about merging, like doing the side hustle with the W2 gig, I had to get good in my own head in instance with. Who am I when I show up? It's not who do I work for logos on my business card?

What's my title? What's my business and what do I call myself? I'm still Bill Green, a guy that has these skills and interests and desires and wishes and wants no matter what label I'm wearing. So it really was a hard, but, uh, fulfilling kind of journey to come to come correct with after 20 at the time, it was probably a little less than 20 years, but after associating myself with my company and what it did and stood for, for so long, you had to go through a little bit of a, uh, come correct with. And so when I started getting really good at saying, Hey, when I'm doing my day job for which I'm receiving a paycheck every two weeks, how am I showing up? What value am I delivering? What are the things I'm doing? What are the skills I'm learning? What are the skills I'm demonstrating? Where are the gaps and how am I looking to close them?

And over the ensuing years, both before and after I retired corporate, I think that's where that, that idea of being really comfortable at being who you are and driving authenticity and freedom being, uh, wrapped up and wrapped around being able to show up as yourself became a real central component of everything that I do.

Because if you're trying to be something to someone else, that's what I learned from that rep I talked about at the beginning of our conversation. You're really abandoning the things that are really happening to you and for you in your life And not embracing those. So it's a long way of saying that, you know, I got pretty comfortable quickly because I made a commitment to do it to say that whether it was doing my day job or whether I was working with a client on a Saturday morning in front of a whiteboard, I was the same guy.

I was just wearing a different hat.

Wesley J. Mathews: So I see the dad, the dad, uh, thing in the, in your background, like how, how did that, how did the corporate experience of your life and, and then, you You're an entrepreneur. Like what, what are the big differences as a family guy or just your overall wellbeing or life? Like, is there a big difference that you can really see from those, these two experiences?

Bill Green: Well, the biggest difference, Wes, is I became an entrepreneur. My kids were driving in, in college or almost ready to go to college. So there's a lot more self sufficiency. I don't know, looking back on my experience over the last nine years or so, what it would have been like to try and tackle that. Uh, where you are in your life.

For example, when my kids were six and eight 12 and having to coach their soccer and their baseball and all that kind of stuff. So the nice thing about a more predictable income and a predictable lifestyle and not having the pressure of running the business was it gave me the freedom and flexibility to be really, really present with my family.

Not that it wouldn't. be possible as an entrepreneur. But I think what I've learned in the last nine years is trying to start something new from scratch, like I did in 2016 when my kids were six and eight and 12 would have been a lot more difficult than it was when they were 16 and 18.

Wesley J. Mathews: Yeah.

Bill Green: so I think that's the biggest difference, especially as a family person, is that I could take a few more risks.

Now I can be, I can travel and kind of be disconnected a little bit more without so much fear of loss, uh, from a family perspective.

Wesley J. Mathews: I had a good conversation with a good buddy of mine, I think like last week. And he's like, being an entrepreneur is scary, right? Like it's, it's just, there's so much risk and there's all these things. And I'm like, I think having a W 2 job is scarier. And he's like, how so? I'm like, they can fire you at any second. he never thought about that. I think I kind of freaked him out, but I'm like, to me, that's way scarier. Like having, you know, I'm, I'm an entrepreneur, you're an entrepreneur. I mean, sometimes we have bad days or our thoughts and our vision changes. And, you know, so it's, it's kind of an interesting perspective.

It's really cool that you've seen. Both sides of the coin there. Um, but like what, so, so now, right? You got Bill Green, you, you do all these great things. You have all these, a wide range of skillsets, but like, does affect niche down specifically? Like you seem very passionate about people and certain things.

Like what is affect really? Like what's the heart and the core?

Bill Green: yeah. I'm glad you asked that because that's something that I've worked really hard on in the last year, taking into account my real life experiences with clients and the different frameworks that I've used and tools that I've curated and learned and become certified in. And I think particularly over the last three to six months, but certainly over the last year, I really feel like I've gotten dialed into this idea of company vibe.

Um, and the reason why I kind of chose that was in my experience, Coaching in the corporate world. strategy came from headquarters, you know, hundreds of miles away from where I was working with my team in the field, but I had human beings, boots on the ground in the field and the connection between the strategy at headquarters and what was happening to produce the revenue was me and so when I, what I found was when people were connected and we were really.

Compassionate and, and showing, uh, an understanding of what's happening to them as humans. We could ask for more, be more clear, get more buy in, get more alignment around execution on strategy. Then if we just said, Hey, this is what we're going to do. Let's go pausing for a moment saying, what's going on. Is there something going on in your life?

I need to know that's making this happen the way it is instead of the way we'd like it to. And so that is the vibe. And I, I often define it West as that in almost imperceptible space between strategy. We hear those words a lot in business, don't we? Strategic planning, or what's your strategy? Or culture and toxic culture and, you know, workplace drama, or My culture is great, or my culture sucks.

But that space in between is very, very fluid and very wide. And that's where I like to spend my time. So when I, when I think about Effect Advisors, it's about how do we Engage, change and influence that vibe in a way that works for us by connecting strategy and culture instead of something that just happens around us to cause us to drift or get stuck.

Or sometimes it's an accelerator with wind at our back. So that's been my experience is to really niche into that space of, um, the, the, the, the feeling and the emotion, if you will, that, that creates, uh, friction and conflict for, for business owners.

Wesley J. Mathews: So how, how is like a visionary entrepreneurial run company like, obviously before, I mean, they could call you and solve this problem and start working with you, but obviously there's entrepreneurs that probably have gone through some trauma or some major issues to, to ultimately, uh, Find you right and have you help because I'm looking at myself as a visionary in my last company and our culture and you know, You see you hear culture and I kind of would like roll my eyes oh you want stupid things on the wall That's a

Bill Green: Right.

Wesley J. Mathews: I'm like if you're an a hole, I'm not gonna hire you if you're a good person I'm gonna hire you and like that's our culture, right?

Bill Green: Yeah, right.

Wesley J. Mathews: I never thought about that then all of a sudden I woke up and we had like 50 employees and I'm like Oh man, like this is kind of bigger than me. Or like, I got to like, I bought into EOS and I implemented EOS and the VTO, getting people around one vision.

But I'm really interested on your perspective around like, what is a, what is an entrepreneurial run company need to start thinking about and like, what's important? I mean, so many things to pick apart there, but DEI wasn't a word that existed. A handful of years ago and inclusion and all these things are happening.

It's like overwhelming. And sometimes as a visionary or entrepreneur, like it's kind of scary.

Bill Green: Yeah. No, I understand where you're coming from and I think it is, um, I was an EOS implementer. I think you know that we've talked about it in the past and I learned a lot from that experience about the importance of, I guess you could say system or framework or structure, accountability. That is so important.

So I talk about clarity and connection being two key catalysts to harness the power of a company vibe and turn it into seismic business results. That's sort of my story. You know, my elevator pitch, I guess, and what that looks like, I think, from a visionary, visionary entrepreneur is I have a plan. Even if I'm the only one that can clearly articulate it, I have a plan and I love it.

It's a good one. Maybe one or more people also see it that way. They'll say things like, people just aren't aligned. I can't get my team to follow it. I can't get people to do what they say they're going to do. These are real words I often hear. Something feels off. I mean, nine out of 10 times, one of those comments are what I hear.

It's not, I don't have a great org chart or my meeting. So I do hear this from time to time. My meetings suck. I hear that one a fair amount or meetings are soul sucking, but there are different cues that I pick up in the conversation that my ear is In tune to that, maybe other people's are not, and I don't tend to get too involved with process or, you know, standard operating procedures or financial health and P and L and all those kinds of things.

There are people far more qualified than me to do that stuff. But I really feel like when I hear people say, I have a vision. I know where I want to take this organization. I just feel like I'm always getting in the weeds. I've got my elbows in the mud up to my elbows in the mud, or people aren't singing to the same sheet of music.

All of those kinds of phrases. Tell me there's a vibe issue. Something is off and almost always it's, is it clear what you want and are you connecting to the people you're asking to do it? If the answer is no, I can help.

Wesley J. Mathews: Yeah. I was going to ask, I mean, is it usually the visionary or the entrepreneur or founder, they're asking the question, but they're really causing, they're, they're causing the issue.

Bill Green: Yeah, I think so. And you know, sometimes the, the way it comes up, and I'm sure you've heard the phrase be before, are you the fireman or the arsonist?

But, but I think the, the real, uh, challenge comes down to. Suffocating the energy in the creativity of the entrepreneur and the visionary, but helping to build the phrase I like to use is self, I don't mean this literally, but conceptually a self, a self managed team of leaders and ultimately a self managed organization. What does that sound like? You know, People would act like an owner.

You take an, I had one client of mine say, you know what? The intern is acting like an owner. Now, you know, we were working together for about six months, even down to the, he didn't mean this literally, but the intern he was referring to is somebody that was showing up every day and offering her insights and contributing in a way as if she was an owner of the company.

So if you can create that vibe in the organization and to your point earlier, it goes beyond culture. It's a feeling of engagement. And I use the term vibe Wes to mean You are vulnerable. You are willing to be humble and vulnerable in the moment. You don't know everything. That's the V in VIBE. I is insight. Do you know yourself?

Are you self aware? Are you willing to be open to others preferences and the way they like to show up? How do you use insight to make decisions? B is for belief. What do you believe? Is it clear what you believe? Do people want to follow that belief? And energy that comes from it, which is the E. Do you show up with your energy?

Not necessarily crazy Tony Robbins energy, but whatever your version of energy is. It could be more low key, but vibe is vulnerability, insight, belief, and energy. And if you have a strong vibe in an organization, you can do anything. You can get through any challenge, visionary or not.

Wesley J. Mathews: Do you feel like I had that aha moment for me, like where I kind of had to get out of my own way as a visionary and I bought into EOS I'll never forget like talking to the implementer and I'm like, this is going to take two years to do, like, are you kidding me? And you want me to pay you what? And I'll never forget because I had an operations manager who I loved to death.

She was like my first hire in the company. And she was so burnt out on client work. And she was dealing with me, which is a visionary arsonist, putting out fires, organizational whiplash. She looked me dead in the eye and she's like, if you don't do this, I'm leaving. And I said, no, you're not. I'll do it.

I'll, I'll, I'll sit tight. I'll keep my mouth shut for a year. And I did it. And I came on the other side of EOS, but without those things happening with me, like, it wouldn't have happened. Like, how do you prepare an entrepreneur? I don't know if it's a revenue thing or a mental thing, but like. Your first part of your letter, the V, they have to be humble and vulnerable.

Like, how do you steer an entrepreneur that direction? I don't know if I'm asking that clear, but

Bill Green: no, I think that's a good question, Wes, and, you know, frankly, sometimes people are just clearly not that they're not vulnerable. They're not humble. I'll share an example. If it's okay illustrate what you just said. I had the pleasure of meeting an entrepreneur at an event recently. Really good guy, lots of energy, sharp as a tack, as they say.

And we were getting a drink or something at that little happy hour after the event, you know, and he came up to me and said, Hey, I'd like to learn more about what you do. And I explained it a little bit, as much as you can, standing at the bar, grabbing a drink. And he said, you know, I'm all about core values.

And one of my core values is accountability. Like if my people aren't on time, I just fire them. Because they need to be accountable. And my first reaction was, you're the last person I want to work with. Because there's nothing I can do if you're not willing to be vulnerable. There's gotta be, now, if people are routinely late, that's a different conversation.

But that seems a little bit trigger happy. So that was such a stark example of just some people don't have that gene or haven't developed it yet to be vulnerable and humble and willing and open like you were in the example when your operations manager said, if you don't do this, What she was saying is, Wes, I trust you and I need you to know we need more structure around here.

And you're like, alright, let's do it then. That's a vulnerable leader, you know. If she didn't have the trust in you to push back on you, she would have just said, okay, and probably left. And would you have even known?

Wesley J. Mathews: Yeah, I was torching the houses. She was the first one to stand up to me. And I,

Bill Green: Yeah, the

Wesley J. Mathews: see them with these entrepreneurs? Right. From a starting point to like wherever in the engagement, like. Does it change their life? You know, does it make them happier? Does revenue grow? Or like, what's some of the top things you see change when an entrepreneur is able to like change their vibe and be humble and invest

Bill Green: first thing is I, I think that I hear is I love that there's somebody to talk to about this. I had a client recently say to me, Hey, I wanted to, do you have a minute? I said, sure. We jumped on a phone call and I said, Hey, I, I have this issue I'm trying to deal with. It's kind of a weird situation. And I couldn't think of who to call, but you're the closest thing I have to a therapist.

So I'm calling you. And I'm like, Hey, listen, I am not a licensed therapist. I don't play one on TV. I don't pretend to be able to solve people's psychological challenges, but I'm all ears. What's going on? And all he was describing to me, Wes, was a human being challenge. Him and his, he and his COO had a difference of opinion on something that was happening in the business.

The COO went one way and he wanted to go another way. And he called me to How do I handle this conversation with him where I don't upset him or. Make him feel like I don't trust him, but that we don't have this happen again. So we spoke for 20, 25 minutes and he's like, you know what, thank you. That's exactly what I needed.

I just needed someone to hear me out, who I trust and who could understand what I was talking about. That's, that's, that's what I see happening for, for visionaries that I know that I know what I'm doing. I just want somebody I trust to be able to tell me that I'm on the right track and maybe give me a tool or a tip or an idea to go a direction that haven't thought of before.

So

Wesley J. Mathews: It's funny you mentioned that because I think as an entrepreneur, like it's kind of lonely, right? Like and I met through EO Entrepreneur Organization, our tribe of people, right? And, um, that's, it's funny you mentioned that. Cause I think like five years ago, somebody had asked like, what do you do for like, what do you do?

I'm like, well, I think what I actually do is I'm, I'm an unlicensed therapist state of Michigan. I

Bill Green: yeah, the world's least qualified therapist. That's what I'd say.

Wesley J. Mathews: should send in money for the license, even though I wouldn't get approved to be one, but. That's kind of what I do. Um, but you know, kind of going back to people, since you're so experienced on that, I think it's, you know, as I've kind of evolved as a leader, I'm trying to continuously evolve, but something that stands out to me from all the content I absorb, it's, I'm trying to be the dumbest guy in the room,

Bill Green: Mm

Wesley J. Mathews: I want people that are smarter around me, but like, what are some things that a company can start to do? Like they might not be ready for like a Bill Green or an Adfect Advisors yet. But what are some like baby steps that. That entrepreneurs can start to do to kind of go down the right path.

Bill Green: hmm. I love that question. I mean the simple of the simple things are sometimes the most high impact. One of them is have routine conversations with your people. One of my mentors in the corporate world, whose opinion I respect a ton even to this day, used to call them walks in the park. They don't have to be formal people.

Paper, put it in your company file, nonsense. Just a conversation, meet up for lunch, grab a coffee, go for a walk around the parking lot, 15 minutes, once a month, and just ask people three simple questions. It's really easy. Number one, what are you working on right now? People love to talk about what they're doing.

Number two, what challenges are you facing? How is it going? Number three, how can I help? You can do that without paying anybody a dollar. Connect with your people, make the time, schedule it in your calendar. It doesn't have to be rigorous with forms and Likert scales and files and documents. So connect with people is the easiest thing I would say that leaders can do.

Um, the second thing I'd say is to include them in decisions. Hey, we're thinking about rolling out this new product. I wanted to get the team together and see what you thought. Anybody want to weigh in? Questions are so much better. Make your questions better than your answers. The more you can ask questions of people and have them share it, you'd be surprised.

You learn things you might not have otherwise heard.

Wesley J. Mathews: And that goes back into like that, uh, you know, intern or whomever that's like acting as an owner. they start to feel buy in and that connection and feel valued. So what I heard from you, it's three simple questions just to reiterate. Cause I think I love how you just, it's really simple. not brain surgery.

What are you working on? What challenges are you currently facing? And I, would you even say like personally or business like business? I mean, cause you had mentioned a story earlier, like sometimes it's your personal life that's overflowing into business. And to me, I don't care what anybody says or like, well, business is business and personal is personal.

I'm like, no, like for me, like it's not, it all blends together. And you know, WYSIWYG, right? What you see is what you get. Personal, family, business, they all impact each And then number three, you said, how can I help? And I would imagine consistency is a big thing, because the first time as a leader, you probably do that.

Your team's like, okay, Wes, write a book. Let's see how far this goes, right? then you probably do it again, it again, and there starts to be some comfortability. Um, What about like, uh, you know, even like connecting with your team, right. Or we're in this remote world now where we just hired somebody in our company, she started Monday, she's in Traverse City, she's five hours away.

Uh, back in the day, I used to like, we'd go whirly ball playing every or like do something together as a group, how do you. Have you seen any cool things to include remote people to kind of keep that vibe?

Bill Green: Yeah. I appreciate that question too. You know, A lost art is a handwritten note. And such a lost art. We're texting people, DMing them, Snapchatting them. My kids will tell me there's probably five or six other things that, that they do that I don't even know how to use. But jotting a note to someone. I mean, when's the last time you got a personal handwritten note from someone in the mail?

Good.

Wesley J. Mathews: So I write them. So I'm like you. write them. My handwriting is atrocious,

Wesley J. Mathews: and I love it. Cause it's like, to me, yeah, I actually have the same Thought process as you is how many handwritten notes have, have I, like it to me, it's just such a differentiator, right? And just, I have, I actually have like company logo, just kind of write my nasty handwriting in there.

And I'll sound like a Starbucks card or,

Bill Green: Yes.

Wesley J. Mathews: yeah, that's, that's really cool. What I, what I used to do, and I think this is a lost art and I think talking to you, it just reminded me of what I, what I should do is, Uh, my employees back in the day, I would find out what their favorite, uh, alcohol was, what their favorite candy was.

And I would write them a handwritten birthday letter. wasn't like BS, it wasn't from like, uh, you know, pay the pen

Bill Green: It was from the heart.

Wesley J. Mathews: Which my financial advisor sends me, and I was like, if you send me that again going to be a problem. Like take the two seconds to write it or don't do it.

And I would give them like a six pack of Bud Light and like Skittles. Like if that was their thing, I would have a couple of times, I would always leave my door open and people would kind of peek their head and be like, Hey, you got a minute? Like, that was my thing. You got a minute, right? Sit down in the chair and let's see.

I had handfuls of people in tears. They, they were like, you know, ever since I turned X or like I moved away, I don't have anybody, nobody cares. Like, thank you so much. And I'm like, And what's funny is I love that you say, keep it simple. Cause that was my idea. We had talked operationally and SOPs and all this things about when somebody comes on and birthdays, I'm like, can we just keep it really simple make it impactful?

But even talking to you, answering my own question is I just need to ship it. I need to ship them something personally. getting a box personally that you don't know what it is, like that's probably a nice surprise and delight.

Bill Green: It's so fun. And you know, there's apps like Thanks, T H N K S, I love. You can send someone, uh, I happen to coincidentally, the last two people I used the Thanks app with happen to like hiking. So I send them an REI gift card for a hundred bucks and, you know, it's easy. It comes on their text. They open up their phone.

I'm like, wow, Bill, I was just telling Bill I'm going on a hiking trip and he sent me a gift card to REI and go buy a new backpack. That's a nice connection. Handwritten

Wesley J. Mathews: need to, you might need to add 300 to that nowadays, but

Bill Green: Yeah, right, right. At least it goes towards a backpack. But, you know, just, I think anyway, you know, even, even picking up the phone and knowing that someone's daughter had surgery recently.

Hey, how did the surgery go? Is everything okay? All people really need to know is that you care about them. That's the most, genuinely, like you said a minute ago, it's not some preformed, you know, sentiment that you scribble on every card. It's a genuine from the heart with crappy handwriting. It means it came from you and they know it.

That's the important thing. the connection I talk about.

Wesley J. Mathews: No, that's awesome. Um, so what, so is, is your, is your services? I mean, I want to talk a little bit, dive deep. I mean, you're, you're a wealth of knowledge. I think you can get a lot of entrepreneurs, like right sizing the ship in terms of Like what's a good company for you? Is it a certain amount of people?

Like what's the trigger for you where you're that's a really good opportunity for.

Bill Green: You know, I wish I could answer that directly because it seems I could make things so much easier, but I have, I just had a session with a client yesterday that has nine people. And I'm going, uh, in two weeks to a company that has 135. So I would say generally speaking, while there isn't a right answer, most of the organizations I work with are between 25 and 75, maybe skewed more towards 50 to 70.

There are exceptions on the tail, but you have to have enough people to where, you know, the connection can get lost. You may have seen that. That little visual, I think there's a name for it. It starts with a B, Bauer something or other. I can't remember. I should probably remember this, but it has like a triangle, three connection points, and it has a square, four, and then it gets into hexagon and this big orb, have you seen that before?

Okay. The more lines that we have to connect two points from three to four to eight to 12 to 14, it's just like a bunch of, uh, balled up roll of rubber bands, you know? The connection gets lost and you get fraction and friction. And that's where we start getting vibe issues is when we can't keep that connection tight.

So I would say that, um, for an organization to benefit from working with me, it could be more than three or four and it could be as many as a thousand, I suppose. But I'd suggest that in my experience, it's been 50 to 150 is a pretty common number, but that doesn't mean it can't be less or more.

Wesley J. Mathews: I'm assuming you've read a lot of really good books. I don't know why. What's a good book recommendation you'd give to an entrepreneur who needs to start paying a little bit more attention to their people and, uh, investing in people?

Bill Green: Right now, my very favorite kind of like the almost always reaction to that question is a book by Tim Spiker called The Only Leaders Worth Following. the punchline is he ultimately talks about how important it is to be inwardly sound and others focused to be a truly effective leader. And this is based on some research that he cites in the book, and there's lots of other examples in it that, you know, uh, make it a worthwhile read.

That 20, 000, um, Leaders 360 surveys from Fortune 500 leaders back in the late 2000 and teens, I want to say 2018, showed that there were 10 common traits among leaders that made them effective according to the 360 feedback. And they were the things you'd expect, right? Ability to strategically think, developing talent, all the things.

Resource allocation, things that good business leaders do. But what was interesting, Wes, was 77 percent of a leader's effectiveness came down to their ability to be inwardly sound and others focused. And what inwardly sound means is self aware, holistically healthy, confident from within, that vibe that I talk about.

And the others focused was showing empathy and humility. And a genuine concern for them, kind of like going back to the story of the representative I worked with whose dog had died and she wasn't well. So, if you can be in really sound and others focused, Tim Spiker says in the book, you can be an effective leader, but you have to be committed to that.

And I think that's just such a great read for, uh, leaders, entrepreneurs who are looking to kind of make the people shift, uh, effective because they, it's got to start from inside.

Wesley J. Mathews: Yeah, no. That's great feedback. Well, it's been really awesome spending time with you. Um, how can people get in contact with you, Bill? you're a wealth of knowledge. love for people to easily connect with you.

Bill Green: I appreciate it. Yeah, my website is, uh, meet bill green.com with a name like Bill Green. I don't have a whole lot of options for websites, so, uh, meet bill green.com is a chance to, uh, check, check out what I do and, and I'll book an appointment or, uh, reach me. Uh, my email is bg@meetbillgreen.com and my cell phone number, I'm happy to get phone calls and texts is, uh, 2 4 8 9 8 1 2 2 9 9.

And of course I'm on LinkedIn, um, as Bill Green.

Wesley J. Mathews: Bill Green's easy. I don't even need to spell it.

Bill Green: That's right. No E at the end. You're in the middle.

Wesley J. Mathews: well, Bill, thanks so much for the time. I really appreciate it.

what you do.

Bill Green: I appreciate you having me. Thanks.

Wesley J. Mathews: Have a good one.

Bill Green: You too.