70. Growing Forward Podcast featuring Spotted Fox Digital

Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast with Paul Casey

Speaker 1: You have to know where you are before you can determine where you are going, Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington it's Tri-Cities influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert. Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams. So we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services coaching, and it could be individuals and teams or breakthrough success. Speaker 1: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Brad Sapp and feel, and Nate Robertson from Spotted Fox Digital, and they have some fun facts. And for the first time I think they might do one on each other. So who wants to go first? Speaker 3: All right. So, I mean, Brad's got, Brad's got some good ones, but I'll go with an easy one. I would definitely say, you know, some of the funny things that Brad does in the office is he's from Alabama. And so when he says certain words, you know, you could think he's a Tri-Cities boy until, you know, he starts saying compass like a compass and you know, I'm like, is that what did you say? He's like I say, compass and I was like, you mean compass? It's like, yeah. Compass. So definitely some of the language from being from Alabama, are you from Alabama where you're from Alabama roll tide. So that's what we hear a lot in our office. We got a new whiteboard, just a little side note in there. The first thing that was on it was a huge red roll tide. So Speaker 1: Nice, nice. And Brian, what about Nate? Speaker 3: Right. So there's a lot of quirks about Nathan usually has to do with squirrels, but no, it's really, honestly, one of the funniest things, I think Nathan tends to call it like a remote for the TV. He calls it a channel changer. And I just think that's an old term. Like it should be me calling that not you. I feel like it's a channel. It does promote longer though. Speaker 1: Oh, that's hilarious. And Brad said that his wife was starting to come up with a whole list for him. And he said, Oh, thanks, honey. That was enough. Well, we will dive in after checking in with our Tri-City influencer sponsor, it's easy to delay answering uncomfortable questions. Like what happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die. So it's no surprise that nearly 50% of Americans don't have a will and even fewer have an estate plan, many disabled clients worry that they don't have enough assets to set up an estate plan, but there are important options available to ensure that you have a voice in your medical and financial decision-making. Even if your health takes a turn for the worst estate planning gives you a voice when your health deteriorates or after you're gone. Marin Miller bam attorney at law is currently providing free consultations to find out more about estate planning or to book an appointment. Speaker 1: Call Maren at [phone] or visit Salus that's S A L U S-law.com today. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome Brad and Nate. Brad, first time we met was through BNI here in the Tri-Cities and I heard you were the guy for website and all that other stuff. This was your another Brad idea company then, and we've developed a friendship along the way you've done. You've been helping me with my website for years and years. And then Nate got to meet you along the ways you guys merged into a Spotted Fox digital. And you've done a lot of video for me and both testimonial videos and my not my speaker demo reel videos. So it's been a great compliment for our two businesses. So glad you're a part of this today. So let's dive in so that our Tri-City influencers can get to know you take us through a couple of your career highlights that led you to this current company and tell us why you love what you do Speaker 4: Well. So I actually started my career in Alabama. I was working for a software as a service company. We were working with hospitals and that's actually how I ended up in the Tri-Cities working with Kennewick general and Kadlec can went general, obviously is not Rios. They've gone through rebranding, but that's how I ended up here in the Tri-Cities. And that's how I started. That's how I actually built my relationships in marketing here locally started doing a web design for a local marketing agency. And I did some with regional agencies here and that's kind of how I ended up starting my business. So that was probably one of the biggest moves that actually come into the Tri-Cities and then joining BNI, you know, joining BNI has led to a lot of connections that led me to you all and led me to partnering with Nathan. And if it worked for that, you know, group of, or that organization and the people that I met through that I wouldn't be sitting here today. Speaker 1: Wow. Very cool story. Nathan, how about you? Speaker 4: Yeah, so I mean, I started, you know, Tri-Cities local, small town, you know, loved the idea of advertising from, you know, when I was little. And so when I was going to school, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew it was something to do in advertising. And so I did some odds and end jobs and eventually landed my first job, which wasn't easy in a radio station here in the tri cities, which was used to be called NNB radio. So this is going to date me a little bit, which is crazy. Cause you know, I always think I'm young, but you know, let's be honest. So I got gray hair, I'm the silver Fox now. So, you know, but was able to land my first Speaker 3: Job in radio. And I enjoyed coming up with the ideas for clients and, you know, just found out that I have this unique niche to being able to, to come with a unique idea and not just a cookie cutter idea. And I did that for a while. And then I actually ended up working for a spotted Fox, which was a deal company. And when I was working there, I was doing mainly sales. I grew the Tri-Cities from zero and was able to build this up and then eventually ended up purchasing the company. And at that time it wasn't my dream. And I really liked the advertising aspect of it, but you know, ended up falling into the video side and on the side because I was able to build a team on the deal side. So I started doing some video production on the side and you know, that took off. Speaker 3: And then that's when I met Brad because Brad, we, we ended up working in connect workplace where Brad was and I met Brad there and I was like, hey man, you know, could you give me a quote on a website? And so we said, I was looking for videographers. Yeah. So, so long story short, we started working together and eventually quote unquote, we started living together, right? So we're in the same. I like convinced them to get an office space with me at a connect workplace. And he moved in and then from there we just started working together and everything was flowing so well that we said, you know what? We just need to partner. And then that's when Spotted Fox digital became right and and use our two strengths. And now we do social media management. We do paid ads online, paid ads, SEO, you know, kind of a one-stop shop for your marketing needs. Speaker 1: How many staff do you have now? Speaker 4: We have a total of 11, Speaker 1: 11 staff. Yep. And over there connect workplace behind, behind Costco back in their great office space area. And so why do you both love what you do? I mean, Nathan, I'm sort of hearing that the creativity is a big deal for you. Speaker 3: No, I would say, you know, one of the biggest things is, is delivering and, and coming up with a concept and an idea for a client and then, you know, the most nerve-wracking part is you come up with this idea, you're sitting at a meeting and you're like so excited, you know, and then you leave that meeting and you're like, Oh my gosh. Now I have to make this become a real thing. Right. And so the cool thing is, is, is actually being able to see that from an idea into fruition of like, wow, this actually happened and the client's happy and what we delivered to them. And so that's where I get my, you know, enthusiasm, enthusiasm and excitement for what we do. Speaker 1: How about you, Brad? Speaker 4: I would agree. I, my, my favorite part is really just, you know, helping businesses grow and it, you know, being able to form a team and have a team of people where it's not just me with the idea and then going to execute it, you know, having a team of people that can rely on and have their focus and their strengths so that we can deliver the best product possible. Speaker 1: Yeah. Very cool. And so staying in your strengths, multiplies, your influence, you both have strengths. How do you add the most value to this partnership now that you have 11 people on the, what would you say? Like your sweet spot is Speaker 4: Personally? You know, I think for me, it's, it's really making sure that we're like, day-to-day that we're doing the things that we need to be doing to get to where we want to be. Like, you know, not just, not just making sure that we're checking things off our list, but we're actually thinking long term of like, what are the things that we're doing today? They're going to get us to where we want to be tomorrow. Definitely. I don't think that's the biggest value that I bring to the team. Speaker 3: Yeah. I would say, you know, the visionary portion of myself is always thinking big, big dreams. Like we're going here, you know, one day we're going to be bigger than Apple. I dunno. I mean, that's what gets Speaker 4: Me out of bed in the morning is, Speaker 3: Is, is thinking big. And sometimes that can be really scary. And you have days where you, you know, as the visionary where it's really scary and you don't know about those dreams but being around a group of people like the team that we have, it's always like an injection of being like, yes, you know, we can, we can do it. And you know, honestly, I learned from a young age, like anything you set your mind to, like you can do. And so that's been a huge strength of mine is Speaker 1: Yes. So on the flip side, then you have to be self-aware of your weaknesses, right? So what's your favorite way to sabotage yourself? Speaker 3: I'll be honest. So Brad points at me, Speaker 4: This is an easy one. This is an easy one Speaker 3: All day. And I admit to it honestly, it's spelling and grammar. I'll be completely honest. That is my biggest weakness is I call myself a creative speller. So I'm able to spell a word, how many different ways Brad, I don't know, a hundred. So, you know, that's my weakness, but I also let people know that, you know, and I own it and that's, and I try to get better at it. And you know, I got Grammarly, I got all this stuff, but at the end of the day, I accept it as like, this is something I struggle with. And I have my team help me, you know, Hey, I'm gonna send this email out, this important email. I have them check it out. Like, it's definitely not something I hide. I let people know, I'm a bad speller, but I have a lot of other, you know, strengths to overcome. Speaker 1: Yeah. Like I said to you, you're aware of it and you make that known so you don't try to cover it up, which would just make everyone talk about you behind your back. And you also use tools like Grammarly, which is that's a good plug for that program and using your team to, because there's probably a few of them that are very strong on editing and proofreading and things like that. How about you, Brad? Speaker 4: Okay. So I've been thinking about this a lot and you know, I'm not, not trying to call him Nathan out here, but I think he's kinda my favorite sabotage on the same exact thing, because you know, it be like, Hey Brad, can you review this? And so it's really kind of controlling that in, in, in it's more of processes. It's making sure that we're following the process because it's easy with this guy. He has so many ideas all day long that, you know, and it's fun to collaborate. I love that part of it. I love like the creativity, but we kind of have a system in place now to where we try to parking lot his ideas and we discuss them on a certain time instead of like coming up or like talking about them every time they come up. Cause I thought, I thought I had good ideas before I met this guy and I, he still has good ideas and he just has a lot more of that. Speaker 3: But Brad used to be nice enough where you'd actually listen and be like, okay, what do you want to do? And now he's like, you know, Nathan "parking lot it" that's our new term Speaker 1: Verb. Speaker 3: And then I'm like, okay, I'm going to wait until next Tuesday. Speaker 1: Yes. Land the plane, land the plane. So I'm going to say, see you next Tuesday. Cut that out. So yeah. What are your meetings look like then? Because it sounds like it's a lot of fun. You know, you've got lots of ideas to play with, but what's your meeting rhythm, Speaker 4: You know, it's very structured. We have, we have a, we have a, an agenda for each of our meetings and it's set up, you know, it's a, it's very systemized where we have an ice breaker and we talk about like our best, our best personal thing. That's happened to us during the week and our best business event. And we kind of go through that as a team and then we, what else is on the agenda? So Speaker 3: Then we go through, I think, highlights of like what's happening, Speaker 4: Customer, employee highlights. What's good. Are there any issues we need to address? And then we have our parking lot Speaker 3: And well rocks first. So rock reviews. So our rock reviews are basically what we come up with as a an individual. And so our company rocks, so we offer a program EOS, which is its traction, the book traction, what is it? Them Speaker 1: Entrepreneurial operating system. Speaker 3: So we go EOS and that's the program that we've taken for our business. That's done pretty well. But do we want to cut that out? No, that's cool. Okay, cool. Speaker 4: Okay. So then after the rocks we have, it's called, I think it's called IDs. I'm not sure of the terminology, but then we identify, we identify, discuss and solve all our issues. So any of the issues that have been parking lauded for that week, we go through, we identify the top ones, and we start going through and solving them. And some weeks we get through one or two other weeks, we knock everything off the list. You know, it all depends on how complex it is, but we try to knock through those things and we just identify the most important ones and get through them. And it's, it really helps us as an organization to focus on the most important things and do it a specific time and not be worried about it every time something comes up and it just makes us a lot more efficient. Speaker 3: Yeah. Having the meetings actually structured is, is really good. And honestly has made a huge difference because a lot of times Brandon are so busy and not having that structure. There causes a little bit of chaos and nobody walks away from the meeting with a lot of value. And, and now I, I definitely feel like Armenians have gotten a lot stronger. Speaker 1: Yeah. Traction definitely recommends Gino. Wickman is the author. Want to give him lots of credit for that? And big rocks are your priorities, your top priorities for the quarter. Right. You set them for the quarter and then yeah, you have your a, was it level 10 meetings I think is your, is your weekly. And then the IDs and it's, I think what's cool is that the issues get solved at a certain time and they don't, they don't consume the other meetings, but it's like, alright, this is our time to bang these out that stuff. Well, rarely do we achieve our highest potential by ourselves. So who keeps you accountable and energized to getting your own professional and personal goals accomplished? Speaker 4: Man? I would say what keeps me personally energized is, is the people that we work with. I think that, you know, and the, in our clients, you know, and looking at what they want and growing people, not, not the dollar, you know, I think a lot of people get held up on, on a dollar and making, you know, making a living instead of actually making an impact on someone's life. So that's definitely something that keeps me motivated is it's not just about going to work and, you know, just making money. It's about when, you know, I leave this place one day. I want people to say, Nate was a great guy. I worked for him and he taught me this. And that's why I am where I am today. So Speaker 1: Making a living, making an impact, not making a living love that. That's that's good stuff. Speaker 4: *inaudible* Speaker 1: How about you, bro? It keeps you accountable and inspired, energized. Speaker 4: So yeah, so I would say, I, I thought about this. I think there's like three things that keep me personally and professionally accountable each week. And we've mentioned a couple of them. One of those is, is on, on a professional level. There's two things. There's the level 10 meeting that we have each week, because that really helps us keep a pulse on what's going on, but it also holds us accountable for the rocks, all the to-dos and making sure that we're staying on task. But you know, I, I'm very much a, you know, professional accountability system each week, you know, holding, held accountable for making sure that we're bringing business to our networking team and that we're getting that back. And then personally, and even professionally you Paul, you're your business case plug there? I noticed, I noticed a big difference when, when I didn't have that, you know, I was, I did other things like mastermind and things like that, but that it was from a different perspective. I noticed a huge difference when I came to you, Paul, and you were helping me because it, it really put in my mind the things that were easy to forget about, you always reminded me of, Oh, you need to be working on this and this and this. And if it weren't for you holding me accountable each month, I would never look at those things. And it's all legislative. It looks like that. And it's made, it's made a big difference, Speaker 1: Right? Yeah. Without accountability things fall off the radar, don't they? And so even your park, the parking lot concept keeps things back on the radar, so you see, can bring them up. So yeah, coaches, BNI group, so many good ways to surround yourself because as an entrepreneur you could get, and especially in COVID, it's like double isolation. So it is great to surround yourself with people that keep you pumped up and accountable, then there's replenishing your energy. I was just reading in a book before coming over here today that, you know, time is a finite thing, but energy you can actually replenish. So that keeps you at the top of your game. What do you do to manage stress, Speaker 3: Manage stress, man, I know what Brad does, Brad meditates. And this is something that I wish I could get better at because I've done it a few times and it's been, it's been really good, but yeah, Speaker 4: It's consistency. It's the consistency. Yeah. Speaker 3: I would say just getting outside, like, and getting, putting myself in, like when I'm at work, I can get re-energized just by going on to you, maybe, maybe a social media shoot with some of our social media team. Right. And I'm going through and I'm like, thinking, oh man, we're doing this. This is great. You know? Or like, I love the video shoots. Right? Like a lot of times I get varied and just the day-to-day of being a CEO hopper and doing that side of things, but it's nice to actually go and actually be a part of like what you're creating. And so that's really actually energizing to me instead of doing the day-to-day it's, it's switching things up, I guess, at the end of the day. Yeah. Speaker 1: Switching things up. Yeah. Changing the state. I think Tony Robins says and reconnecting to what you do best. Sounds like also pumps you up. So breath meditation, anything else? Yeah. Speaker 4: So meditation is definitely a key for me. It really kind of helps it's it's really kind of, I don't want to say mind control, but that really is kind of what it is. It helps you kind of control that monkey brain, you know, cause it's easy to really get stuck in your head and you know, whether, whether negative thoughts or positive thoughts or whatever, it just helps you kind of control that and helps you. Like it just helps you think about things without reacting first. And I've noticed a huge difference since, since meditating. But the other thing that I do is a walk and I'll either listen to music or listen to podcast book. That's always helpful, but music has a huge stress relief for me. Speaker 3: That raises one for me, like fitness working out. Because a lot of times when I'm in that slump and I've been working really hard and maybe I through working out, out the window for a little bit, then you started really hitting ceilings. And I feel like once you start working out and you know, I am Peloton this year, cause I've never done, you know, spin or anything like that. But my brother-in-law has been doing it for like a year. And I was like, okay. I was like, I'm going to buy one of these sayings. COVID the gym's closed. And I need someone to push me. And so it's been awesome. I mean, when I get off of it, my brain feels rejuvenated. Like I feel more confident. I think that's the biggest thing for me in fitness is like, when I got done working out, I'm like I lifted these weights. I was on the Peloton. I'm freaking confident and I go to work, and I'm guaranteed. People could tell like, wow, now you got a good workout. So he's on my butt. You worked out today. You didn't work out yesterday. Exactly. I showed up yesterday. It was a long day Speaker 1: Exercise. The best depression Buster there is. Well, before we head into our next question on a hiring and people development, a shout out to our sponsor located in the Parkway, you'll find motivation, new friends and your new coworking space at fuse. Whether you're a student just starting out or a seasoned professional, come discover all the reasons to love co-working at fuse come co-work at fuse for free on Fridays in February, enjoy free coffee or tea, Wi-Fi printing conference rooms, and more, and bring a friend. 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Whether it's internal with our team outpacing for clients, having a strong relationship with people is super important. And then, you know, having good organization and really like leadership, being able to run a team of people. Those are really key traits that I always look for. If we're looking for somebody for our leadership team. Speaker 1: Yeah. What's interesting about that is you didn't say anything about social media skills or web code. I mean, you started with values in her personal and organizational leadership skills. Speaker 3: Yeah. Hiring people for me is always a really exciting task, but sometimes I'm not the best person to make the final decision. I'll be honest. And that's because I, I I've done some like leadership and kind of personality traits and I'm the kind of person that I see. Like everybody has potential, you know, I'm like I send to me and I, it could be any, Oh man, that guy would hire him. And after he had done, I'm like, I feel like we should just hire them. All right. So it's good to have Brad to like really focus me and, and you know, our team because we actually have our team that helps us hire, like, it's a big thing because instead of Brad and I just making that decision, we have key members on our team that it's like, Hey, you're going to be working with this person. And so making sure that they can work well together. And so I think that that's definitely a, you know, when it comes to hiring, it's not always for me an easy decision, but with the help from my team, it definitely gets it. Speaker 1: That's why it's nice to have a hiring team or hiring panel with multiple personalities on the team. You can. Speaker 3: Yeah. And we deal with so many different personalities between, you know, just our clients and even staff, you know? So you have to be able to work with, that's all we've been really blessed. We have, yeah, we have, we have an awesome team. Speaker 1: So when have you taken some lumps in hiring? Like what, you know, I've been walking along the journey with you bred for a while, so there's been successes and you know, some that didn't work out where have you seen like maybe like, Oh, we sh we should have seen that. Or they didn't have that trader that value. Speaker 3: Oh man. That's hitting close to home. No. Yeah. You want to take that? Yeah. Yes. Can you repeat the question? So honestly, a lot of times when you're hiring in, and you're not thinking of the actual fulfillment of the position, because you have to be thinking of all, you know, we were low, you know, I'll give you a sense. We were looking for a certain person to fill a certain void. Right. And the main thing on that void was the personality and the skills of communicating with our clients and those things. Right. But we didn't really pay attention to the actual like functionalities and what that person can do. And so when we brought them on our team, it was, it was a lot more training to the other sides of that part of the business that we were thinking they already may have had, but we were more focused on tunnel vision and they are that perfect person for that. But we weren't really thinking of the other side of fulfillment. And so I think that definitely realizing that they, and they have to be well-rounded and not just think, well, this is going to solve all our problems because the last person we had was good at this, but really what we need is this right? So it's a kind of mix in between. Speaker 1: Yes. And you do learn from what didn't work. Speaker 3: Yeah. The important thing is like, you're always going to have, they're always going to be things that don't work out. You know, you're going to have quote unquote failures, but as long as you take something away from that and you learn and you better, that it's all part of that it's yeah. Speaker 1: Yes. So I've had emerging leaders tell me they want to grow thinking strategically. So you both said that it's sort of your strength spot to look at the big picture. You both described yourself as visionary working on the business. How would you say an emerging leader can look at the big picture and what does that look like for greater long-term impact? Speaker 3: Well, for me, its really time blocking, you know, walking out the time to do it with our level 10 meetings, but also like personally, like blocking out specific times of the day that I'm supposed to be doing specific activity. And as long as I have those, or as long as I get those done, I feel like that's a successful day. The other part of that would be our, our long-term planning that we do. We, we blocked out like three to four days a year where the entire day is focused on that alone and we've walked everything out and that's all we talk about. And so I think again, just blocking that time out is a huge, huge deal. No, and I totally agree with Brad. And I think one of the biggest things is that you're not just time-blocking for yourself, but we actually tie block with our team to complete our vision. So that way, you know, you're able to, to all be on the same track without there being confusion of where are we going? And maybe Brad has certain goals in his mind that he's not sharing with me. And so when we do it as a team and we time block, it really has a huge impact. And I do definitely think that you should do personal time as well, but when it comes to goals of the business, definitely, you know, the team is definitely key. Speaker 1: Yeah. And our teams are waiting for us as leaders to cast that vision. I think it gets them excited when they know where the owners are going, where the leaders are going, and they get confused when they don't know where they're going. Or like you said, your goals are in your head, but I can't read your mind. So, and then Brett, you know, I love time-blocking, that's like huge. So, so if you're trying to find time for things, that's going to fall off the radar, but if you literally calendar that appointment with yourself, that's going to happen. I also, like I added about the retreat. I think every team should do these chunks of time where you just look out a little bit further and you can gain a lot of ground by doing that. So that's the macro level now to the micro level, what small acts of leadership do you try to both do daily as much as possible to make a positive difference in your team? Speaker 3: I'll definitely say leading by example, and you know, that's not always an easy thing to do as an owner. You know, sometimes you just want to roll in at 11 o'clock and, you know, Hey, I own the business. Right. But I think sometimes, you know, being the first one at the office and the employees seeing that I think that's been a huge impact and just kind of letting people know like, Hey, I'm in this to like, you know, yes you do. You know, you work for me, but I work with you. So yeah, I would agree with that. And I think the other thing that we do as a, as a leadership team, or as a company is really like showing our appreciation, not just for, not just for our clients, but for our, our employees, like showing them recognition of the things that they do well and and rewarding them when a client compliments what they do. Speaker 3: Oh yeah. We have a breadboard. Yeah. We have a brag board and, and we have goals for each department on certain amount of kudos or things that they're supposed to get each, each quarter. And we look at that all the time and I've noticed a huge difference in our team. They're, they're just so much more excited on a daily basis of like, even when they get a compliment, it's, there's just so much more excitement among the team together. I also like to add onto that brag board thing. I think it's such a cool, like a lot of people don't want to brag. I'm not going to probably like, I don't mind being like, look, you don't look at this, you know, two people I know, and I'm are close to. I like to and think a lot of people like hold those things inside. And I think it's important to show them and have a place where they can go, Hey, look, this happened to me. And its a, it's a great place to put it. And it's a place where we can see like, Hey, they're doing a great job because some of the times we see these employees are doing great things, but we just never hear about it. And so we put a place where they can actually show us or tell us where it's a safe place to do it. So yeah, that's been super helpful. Speaker 1: Brag board. Love it, love it. So if one of our TCI listeners asked you, like what, what two to three books must they read to grow their leadership or their entrepreneurial skills? Or maybe it's a resource like a website or, you know, just a place that you go to grow. Where would you point them? Paul Casey, another $5. [inaudible] Speaker 3: I would definitely, I mean, I'll be honest. I'm not a huge book reader. I like audio books, but I would, for one of them, I'd say traction and let me be completely honest. Have I finished reaction completely, almost I'm on the last final, like 20 minutes, I think? But the biggest thing I would say is, is, you know, finding your niche. So mine is YouTube. Like we learned a lot of stuff like video production wise on YouTube and, and we were able to emblem emulate what we liked and, and to, you know, a process or product. So for me, you know, Speaker 4: Years ago it was not much of a book reader, but in the last like several years, I've definitely become more avid reader. But I also do listen to audio books. I have a few favorites, but I would say, what are the most impactful books that I've ever read from a leadership standpoint is relentless by Tim Grover. I think that's an amazing book. It doesn't necessarily talk about like leadership from a business standpoint, but it talks about leadership from kind of a team standpoint. And I think that, that, and it, it talks a lot about basketball and, you know, your major superstars who went through this crazy coaching, but it talks about what they had to do to become that super Rockstar. And so I think that's a good foundation. And for me, it's a very inspiring book. So I always, always liked to pick that up. I love listened to it several times and then the other there's two other books, traction, I would agree. And then what's the Stephen Covey book, cost Speaker 1: Seven habits of highly effective people. Speaker 4: And that one's a really good foundational book, Speaker 3: Paradigm shift and podcasts. I mean, I had been listening to John Maxwell. That's been a huge, a huge, I would say, a source of leadership information and, you know, he has a really good way of putting it across. So that's been cool. Speaker 1: So finally, what advice would you give to new leaders, new entrepreneurs or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Speaker 4: I would say really just always trying to improve yourself, always try to constantly refine you're never going to, Speaker 3: There's never a, there's never an informant, you know, you're always like, I think when you're, when you're young, you kind of think, Oh, well, I'm going to, I'm going to get to this point and everything's just gonna be great. It's, it's just, it's not like that. It's, there's always things to improve on. There's always just skills that you can continue to refine. And let's say just always be working on that. Okay. Yeah. And on the leadership side, a lot, a lot of people will put in, you know, as a boss quote, right? Like, and, and don't be a boss, be a leader and don't just tell people to do things, lead them to do that. So I think that that's where a lot of people, when they step into a leadership role is, they feel like, Oh, well, I just need to tell people what to do and do this and do that. And that's the wrong way of leadership. I think it’s; it's being on the, in those trenches with that employee and, and helping them get to where they want to go. And that's a leader, you know, Speaker 1: You're here. Well, how can our listeners best connect with you too? Speaker 3: I would say, you know, they can always check out our website, Spotify, digital.com or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We're always there. We're here for you guys. Speaker 1: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading. Well, Rob, Speaker 3: Thanks, Paul. Speaker 1: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend it is the book managing transitions by William Bridges. So change is really hard for most people and maybe the structure of change is the easy part as a leader, but we forget sometimes that change has an emotional impact on people. And if you don't have a strategy, you don't have someone on it. Then oftentimes people will resist that change to the bitter end. So he breaks into three groups talking about the letting go part, the neutral zone and the new beginning. And if you don't have a strategy for all three change is going to be a lot harder. So managing transitions by William Bridges. Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guests, Brad Sapp, and field, and Nathan Robertson from Spotted, Fox digital for being here today on the Tri-City influencer podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence and the spirit of Brad's meditation here at John Kabat-Zinn says mindfulness is about love and loving life. When you cultivate this love, it gives you clarity and compassion for life and your actions happened in accordance with that until next time, KGF keep growing forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforwardatpaulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free control My calendar checklist, go to www.take back my calendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message two seven two zero zero zero, and type the word grown Speaker 1: Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.