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The Good Question Podcast
Scaling Smart Andy Clark On Profit, Impact & Freedom For Small Business Owners
00:33:35
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- [00:01]
A
You're listening to the Good Question podcast with Richard Jacobs. Our goal is to make each of our guests exclaim, hmm, that's a good question. I don't know the answer. Because when that happens, it means you, the listener, may be inspired to learn more beyond the interview and to ask great questions yourself that lead to new insights. In this podcast, we cover historical and current anthropology, comparative religion and history. Welcome. And let's get started.
- [00:36]
B
Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Good Question podcast. My guest today is Andy Clark. He's an author of a book called Getting the whole how to create more profit impact and enjoyment in your small Business. So he's a bestselling author and a business strategist behind the whole pie system trademark term. He helps small business owners build companies that are more profitable, impactful and enjoyable. Instead of a miserable, never ending, 80 hour a week slog, I guess put my own spin on it. So welcome Andy. Thanks for coming.
- [01:03]
C
All right, Richard. Well, it's good to be here. Thank you for having me on.
- [01:07]
B
Yeah. Tell me a bit about your background. Were you, I would guess, you know, you probably run businesses before and were kind of sucked into maybe a self created job and then found a way to systematize your way out. But I don't know. What's your background?
- [01:19]
C
Yeah, I, I practiced law for about a dozen years. Business. I was a business lawyer. I'm Canadian. For the listener, just to provide some context. Spent all my professional life in Canada until about four years ago when my wife and I decided to move our four kids and ourselves to Costa Rica. So I'm coming to you today from Costa Rica, but I practiced law for about a dozen years, worked with a lot of small business owners and I found that I was a lot more interested kind of in, in business than I was in advising businesses from a legal perspective. So I decided to jump over into, into business and ran and managed businesses in healthcare and in financial services for about the next 10 years and just was always kind of baffled at how smart people that worked so hard could be so frustrated most of the time and that, you know, in, in the running of their businesses, including myself, and just kind of thought there had to be a better way. And so about seven, eight years ago I just started digging in what like, like what is the best way to run a, run a small business? You know, why do we keep having all these problems and issues, people problems and process problems and alignment problems and why, you know, why are business owners unhappy and why are employees unhappy? And so, yeah, so that's kind of what led me to it, Richard. And then, you know, slowly but surely I put together this framework which I call the whole PI system. Like, we can kind of dig in a bit more into, into the bells and whistles of the system. But that's, that's kind of, that's kind of the path that, that led me to try to, to help business owners be more profitable, be more impactful, and be. Enjoy the process of running a small business to a greater degree.
- [02:59]
B
Yeah, we'll go into that. What is, what is the PI system?
- [03:02]
C
What are some of the seven ye? I guess the big idea behind it is, you know, what I discovered was that like a business is just like sort of like any kind of organism that involves humans. And it, like unless you do some specific things to counter it, entropy will, will surface and things will get disorganized. That's just kind of the natural order of things. And so you have to be conscious about countering that entropy. Right. And what happens is small businesses that have some success is they as they get this success paradox, which is to say, you know, there's money coming in the door, they've got customers and things are going pretty well. But that's the result of that success is an increased level of complexity. And most small business owners aren't really trained to handle that complexity as their business grows. And they're not really trained to put the structure and system in place to be able to counter that entropy. Right. What they see a lot of times is, you know, communications break down, priorities aren't aligned, processes get fragmented, there's friction between their people and a business owner. The result of that is like, how did I get here? I'm not as happy as I used to be when things were sort of smaller and nimble. I'm kind of the victim of my own success as a business owner. So that's kind of the big idea behind putting a structure in place in the small business to counter that entropy, to counter that success paradox, to allow the business then to scale to the next level.
- [04:33]
B
You're right. When things get complicated, it just, it seems like, I don't know, it seems like it comes down to the people interacting. And, you know, this one doesn't like, like this one or this one's slow walking that or this one, you know, really should be fired because they're just not listening. And sometimes it, you know, our customers are acting up. It just. Sometimes it feels like you're a babysitter, you know. Yeah.
- [04:52]
C
So, I mean, you're exactly right. I mean, it sounds like you're speaking from experience. And you know, a lot of the frustration or a lot of the lack of enjoyment in business comes from people problems. But most, if not all people problems are avoidable. And there's the tools and strategies in the book around that. Like, you're probably always going to have a few people problems in your business, but it doesn't need to cause you so much frustration that you're pulling your hair out. It doesn't need to SAP all the enjoyment from your business. I actually say in the book, when I get to the people section of the book, you know, I say, oftentimes you ask a business owner, you know, what do you love most about your business and what do you think they say? They say the people, the freedom, right?
- [05:33]
B
Oh, a lot of times they say,
- [05:36]
C
they say the people. And then, and okay, what, what frustrates you most about your business? And it's the same answer. Oftentimes it's the people. So, you know, people can be the best part about your business or they can suck the life out of you. And as I said, there are things you can do to set yourself up for success on the people front of your business.
- [05:53]
B
I remember like the Muppets Take Manhattan from like 30 years ago. And his deli owner is like people's people, is people's working as people. And you know, Kermit was like, what?
- [06:04]
C
Borsky, Borski, Borsky. I remember that guy in the Muppets.
- [06:07]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [06:07]
C
So I guess I'll just talk a little bit about kind of the, the other thing that I discovered, I talked about, you know, the need to systematize in order to, to counter that complexity and scale to the next level. But what I also discovered, you know, like you, Richard, you've talked to, you know, thousands of experts in all different fields and I talked to and experienced and worked with business owners, you know, hundreds of them over the years. And you know, and when you ask a business owner what, what, what are your goals, what it is that you want? What are you trying to achieve? And what I lear, invariably the answer to that question was something that either related to profit or, you know, the money side of their business. It related to impact, which is making people's lives better in some way. And that could be your customers lives through your products or services. It could be your employees lives, you know, your, your community as a whole through charitable donations or volunteering or things like that. Or it relates to how much you're enjoying the process of owning and Operating your business. So you know, for example by say, you know, what do you want to achieve in your business this year or this quarter? And a business owner would say, you know, I want to, you know, 2x my revenue this year or 2x sales or something like that. All right, that's clearly, that's clearly a money goal. That's profit. Or they might say, you know what, I really want to, I really want this product or service, let's say it's a software, right? Like I really want to, you know, I really want our customer reviews, let's say to go from a three star to a four star or something like that, right? So you're, you're actually measuring that your customers, you're, you're improving your customers lives in a measurable way. And that could be a goal. And then the enjoyment side, you know, goals could be, you know, I'm so, I'm frustrated by people, my people problems, I'm working way too much, I'm stressed, I'm overwhelmed, I'm not enjoying things. So the answers could be put in the enjoyment bucket because frustration and overwhelm are kind of like the other, the other side of enjoyment. And so that really hit me that anything that somebody is trying to do in their business can fall into one of those three buckets. And therefore it occurred to me, why not build a system that is intentional about pursuing goals, pursuing priorities and all three of those areas simultaneously? Because if, if the focus is solely on money, well then you know, impact enjoyment can, can suffer not, not all the time, but they can suffer if there's not enough intention and focus on in those areas. And it happens, you know, the other way. If the focus is hey, I want to play golf seven days a week and you know, check my emails once a month and you know, talk to customers never. Yeah, that's probably not going to be really good for impact or profit if it, if it helps with your enjoyment. So, so the big idea is you really, it's like a three legged stool and if you're putting too much emphasis in any one area, things aren't going to go the way you want. So that's what really the system is designed around is being really intentional in those three areas. And then what are the best practices that will help you achieve higher levels of profit? Impact and enjoyment.
- [09:17]
B
Okay. I mean the impact, I don't know, I guess, you know, people will be focused on profit first, enjoyment second. Or maybe there's a mix of those two. But impact, that seems like it comes when, when everything else is dialed in. I mean how many people does that come early on for?
- [09:30]
C
Well, it's interesting that you say that I actually one business owner that I work with that comes to mind right away. The whole thing, the, his whole view of his business shifted when he really got dialed into the impact. So the difference that he wanted to make in his customers lives. He actually ran a coaching business where he was both coaching directly but also recruiting other coaches and doing leadership development and all kinds of stuff like that. And when he really got dialed in on, on the actual impact that he was creating through his business to his end clients, that actually allowed him to kind of shift some of his priorities to be more customer focused. And what he found was that was the trigger that unlocked greater profitability. And, and that's not an isolated case because really when you think about it Richard, like why do people buy your, your products or services? They buy them because it makes their life better in some way. Either for five minutes or for five hours or for five months or forever, but it makes their life better in some way. And so I really encourage businesses and I work with them to really define what that difference is that they make in their customers lives. And the more value and the more difference you make, it really naturally follows that more customers are then going to want to do business with you. And that is a big lever of profitability. So you would think that impact is kind of maybe third in line or at best second. But it's actually where we start. Unless the business owner that I work with is totally miserable. We start with enjoyment and figuring out what's why he's miserable or she's miserable. But otherwise we start with impact and we really quantify what that difference is that you're making in your customers lives.
- [11:13]
B
Well, what's an example of impact that you thought was, was really cool beyond some generic, you know, statement for a business?
- [11:20]
C
Yeah, so I, I work. One that comes to mind is I work with a, an automatic car wash business that's like the biggest brand and the biggest independent car wash brand in Canada. Actually they're, they're all, all of their locations are in happen to be in Atlantic Canada which is on the east coast of Canada where I spent most of my life. And where they really got dialed in on impact was like you think, you think like washing your car in an automatic car wash. Like what could be less impactful for that? The surface. You just, you know, you just go and you wash your car and you get, get on with your day. But when you really dig in, but when you really dig into it, it's like, what, what, what is the value of that, of that service? And, and the business owner that I worked with was really focused on, on the amount of time. What he's really doing with his business isn't washing cars. I mean, it is, but what's the benefit of having that car washed? And one of those benefits is saving time. So you could spend a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon, you know, washing your car in your yard and you know, if you wanted to, five minutes, and you could go through the rubber duck car wash and get your car washed and then you save an hour and 55 minutes. Let's say that you can reinvest in, you know, playing with your kids or doing other things. And so it really got serious in quantifying, you know, the amount of time that their services save their customers and actually put it right on their website. Similarly, with gallons of water saved in communities because car washes actually use way less water than if, if people do it individually on their own. So it's these kinds of things, Richard, that you can really dig into that this is the impact that we're having on our customers and on our, and on our communities. And what you find is if you're really clear on that and you can really communicate that effectively to your customers, that they're going to be more drawn to you and buy more of your services, which then impacts the, or it leads to greater profitability for the car wash, though.
- [13:11]
B
I mean, yes, they're saving water. So do you put up like a, a banner or a counter like, you know, we saved ABC City 46 gallons last week by washing your car here instead of at home?
- [13:22]
C
Yeah.
- [13:22]
B
What do you do?
- [13:23]
C
Do you do that information? I mean, it's websites, part of messaging the community, it's part of their social media, you know, talking points and things like that. And in fact, there was actually, there was actually a water shortage in one of the locations where they operated over the, over the summer. It was a dry summer and people wondered, well, hey, there's this water shortage. You know, why are, you know, why, why can this car wash be open? But that was the reason why it was because actually, you know, they, they use water very efficiently in the community.
- [13:51]
B
How much water would it save? Was it like half the water? Like, do they quantify in terms of gallons?
- [13:55]
A
Yeah.
- [13:56]
C
Oh, gosh, you're putting me on the spot here now.
- [13:58]
B
It was just water into the bridge.
- [13:59]
C
And I, I, I don't, yeah, I, I could guess, but I I really don't know. Savings. Yeah.
- [14:06]
B
But it's significant, right?
- [14:07]
C
Yeah, yeah. I mean it's. And again, just an example of, you know, how, you know, quantifying impact and you can really communicate with customers that way. Yeah. So.
- [14:15]
B
Okay.
- [14:15]
C
Yeah.
- [14:17]
B
So that's the impact and then profit is profit. I'm sure you have your own primary varietary stuff. Stuff. Enjoyment. I don't know, is that more about systemization and time off or what's in the E part of the formula?
- [14:27]
C
Yeah, well, it can really be anything, you know. Yeah. I'm not here to tell anybody to work more or work less or you know, it's, it's up to you as a business owner to, to design your own life and your own business. But what I am here for and what I do help out business owners with is if, is if they can just feel that there's something off. Right. They're not enjoying this business as much as they used to. Or, or at all. Or, or they have all these recurring FR in their business. And, and you know, just, just not. Just not. It's just not what they thought it would be. You mentioned freedom earlier when I, when I, when we talked about what's the greatest part about owning business. And you would think, right, that you know, that's one of the reasons why people get into business is the flexibility and the freedom that it should provide. But you know, what I tend to see a lot is just the opposite. It's, it's. They feel trapped. They feel trapped by their business. All this weight on their shoulders. The business feels heavy. You know, the, the payroll relies on the business owner. You know, and I'm talking about the owner operator, you know, smaller end of small businesses, you know, they often put their enjoyment last. Good hard working, risk takers, big idea people great in the community, they sponsor the soccer teams. But oftentimes their well being and their enjoyment comes last. And so what I'm trying to do and what I do is I try to give business owners permission to put that E right there beside the P and the I. Not, not taking a backseat, not being like, okay, well once I achieve X revenue and have X customers, can I then be happy? It's, it's no, there's a fa. There's a famous, I think it's, I don't know, maybe Aristotle. I don't know who it is but a quote that I love is like is happiness breeds success and not the other way around.
- [16:15]
A
Right.
- [16:16]
C
And, and so if, if you're delaying your happiness, if you're delaying your enjoyment. You know, oftentimes you, you might achieve a goal, but then another goal takes its place and another goal takes its place, and all of a sudden you. 10 years down the road and you're like, how did I get here? I'm miserable. I haven't been taking care of myself. I'm, I'm overweight. I have health problems. I, you know, my marriage is either over or it's, it's on the rocks. I don't spend enough time with my kids. Like, all of these things can happen almost like in a heartbeat if you're not intentional about protecting that enjoyment part of your life when you're running a business. Because importantly, I think business is a part of your life. It's a big part of your life, but it's only a part of your life. And if your business isn't making your life, life better, then there's a problem that needs to be solved.
- [17:00]
B
I don't know any, any examples of people you've been able to really help achieve a big transformation in terms of just being miserable to enjoying their business?
- [17:08]
C
Yeah, there, I mean, one that comes to mind immediately is the owner of a, of a monthly accounting firm who was like, literally overwhelmed because a client acquisition wasn't her problem. There, there are more clients than she could handle. She's in high demand. But it was just keeping up with the expectations of clients and keeping up with CL demand and trying to find people to add to her team. It was just, she was literally like, like super overwhelmed. And so we had to take it like, right, right back to the studs and be like, okay, here are your total, like, like, here, these are all your clients, and these are all the obligations you have for each of these clients. And this is the time commitment that you and your team is going to need to put in in order to satisfy these client demands. And we resulted in a number, and then we looked at, you know, hours in a week, and that's. Which is also a number. Put those two numbers next to each other or hours and a month, more likely. You could, you know, she could see, like, oh my gosh, like, this is impossible. It's not sustainable. I need to, you know, change. I need to either downsize, I either need to hire a bunch of people. I need to, you know, maybe refer clients elsewhere. Anyway, it wasn't an overnight process, but that was about three years ago. And I can tell you that today, more profitable and less work than ever. And actually, when we get together for our quarterly planning sessions now, it's like, she's almost like bored with her business because it's running so well. So I mean that was like, that's like a neat transformation of complete and total chaos and overwhelm to slowly but surely implementing the system and in this case the whole PI system into her business being intentional about profit impact and enjoyment. And you know, three years later, it's like some days she's like twiddling her thumbs. There's no more nights, there's no more weekends and revenue as you continue gain increase.
- [19:01]
B
Yeah, right. I mean, I think also, I don't know how much do you think business people are martyrs where they would feel bad if business was just successful and relaxing. Like there's got to be something else to this, I should be working harder or something wrong. Yeah, that kind of thing.
- [19:15]
C
That's true. It is true. I, like I said, I practiced law for, for a dozen years and, and when you say martyr, that comes to mind. The lawyers can often be martyrs. Like they're in my experience really many of them slaves to model of trading time for money. I think it's gotten better since I've left the practice. But that's a tough business model. As a business owner, you know, where you're not necessarily trading time for money. You know, once you get to that point where you are a little bit bored, that's to me a sign of success. You know, as long as your profitability is there, that means you, it's a sign that you've got your, your team working in place, your processes are in place, you've got your, you know, your KPIs or your key data metrics in place. And you actually, you should be able to, as a business owner, you should be able to get one piece of paper every week, I call it a key data tracker and have no other information about your business other than this one sheet of paper once a week. And you should be able to know how your business is doing and how if there are any problems in your business. Now it's very rare that owners get to that point because, you know, it's a business that they built in many cases and they still want to keep their hands in it to a certain degree. They still want to keep busy. But I think really ambitious and innovative business owners, they get to a point, well, well, what's next? I have this, I have this business running pretty smoothly. I now have this spare time and hopefully a little bit of money. What else can, can I invest in? Where else can I spend my time to create impact and make people's lives better.
- [20:55]
B
I thought, you know, a few years ago, I thought, what does the head of Microsoft or, you know, these huge companies do? And I realized like, they can't do anything except really like steer the ship. You know, they can't solder a circuit board or answer the phone. So I realized like, you know, the would be where I'm completely redundant. Like if I don't come in to do any work, it's fine. Everything runs just without me completely. And that was like very freeing. And I got close to that point and I did get bored for a little while and then luckily, unluckily problems occurred and now I got sucked back in. But, but for a while I experienced that. But there's, there also is guilt with it too. It's like, man, I should be doing more. You know, I don't really have to do anything now. It's like, I don't know, you know, maybe this is not good. Maybe I'm, because I'm, I don't have to do much. Maybe the business is going to implode and I won't know it. And if I was there and on top of, I would have known and you know, that kind of stuff, it just seems very psychological. I wonder if they're, I don't know, maybe there's some people, like, it's impossible for them to be happy no matter what they do.
- [21:50]
C
Well, yes, there is that. There's there. We all know people that there are. They're not happy unless they're stressed. They're not, they're not, you know, content unless they're living in the world of chaos. Like, and you know, that's a choice that you can make. And you know, there's not a whole lot that anyone can do to help people that, that are in that comfort kind of headspace. I also do like, to be totally frank, I do have a lot of, you know, I'm thinking, I'm thinking to business owners who will say to me, you know, I want to get out of the weeds. You know, I want to get. Help me, help me get out of the weeds. You know, I don't want to, I don't want all decisions to bottleneck with me. I want to develop my people and you know, I want to have good processes and I, I want to be able to step back. But kind of to your point, Richard, when we've had some success and in that, it's very, it very hard for business owners to step back even if they, they say they want to, but it's very hard for them not to keep sort of poking at things. And you know, you're right. That is a psychology. And, and, and why is that? You know, there's, I guess, lots of reasons why that might be. They just might not. Maybe they don't trust their people enough. Maybe they feel like, as you say, they don't, they don't feel valuable if they're not sort of in the weeds and, and involved in everything. But you know, for my money, if my business could run, you know, 90% without my involvement and you know, profitability was good, I felt really good about the impact I'm making in my customers lives, my employees lives, my community. There's lots of things that I can do with my time that make me happy and that I enjoy. So I would love to get to a point where somebody hands me a sheet of paper once a week. And I can see it's not to say that your business is running perfectly, but done intentionally and done the right way, you can see if it's running the way you want it to be or if there are problems. And that's a big part, big part of the whole PI system where we go really deep into what are those right metrics for your business that you need to be monitoring and reporting on and reviewing and taking action on weekly in your business?
- [23:54]
B
Yeah, also too, if, if you're at the point where you don't have to do anything, you know, if you're used to getting 20, 30 calls a day and I need your advice on this, what should we do here and now no one's calling you, you'd feel like, you know, feel useless. So I guess people, a lot of entrepreneurs have to be doing something or they'll, they can't take it, you know.
- [24:11]
C
Yeah, well, most, I mean most small businesses, you know, the business owner, yeah, they, they are going to be involved operationally to some extent. Like that's, that is the reality. So, you know, it's very often that. But I think importantly though, the shift needs to happen for a business to scale appropriately. The shift needs to happen where owner, operator really does step into that CEO role. And the role then becomes simp. Leadership, leadership, developing your people, you know, finding the money. If, if you need investment sources to grow those really high level things that only you as the business owner can do, that's where you need to operate as a business owner. Not in the weeds, not fighting fires, but at that sort of 3,000, 10,000 foot view, whatever it is of your business. That's where you need to be spending the vast majority of your time, and really, that's what I do when I work with business owners, is really try to. Try to initially quantify, okay, how much of your time is spent sort of in the weeds operationally, and how much of your time is spent, you know, leading your business and working on strategy and all those things that, that a business needs to go to the next level, and we figure out what that number is, and then we consciously make a plan to, you know, to get more and more out of the weeds, more and more into strategy and trying to find what's around the next corner and that kind of thing in a business.
- [25:34]
B
Have there been any business owners that you saw, they were trying, they were listening to you and all that, but you just couldn't help them. Either the industry was too crazy, or there's just factors beyond everyone's, anyone's control, and you just, you just couldn't make an impact.
- [25:47]
C
Yeah, I'd say. I'd say 10 or less, Richard. Like, you know, sometimes it just doesn't. It just doesn't resonate either. Maybe it's a personality thing or maybe it's like you say, it's one of those people that's, that thrives in chaos. And they might, they might say that they want to reduce the chaos, but. But actually they love the chaos. But really, you know, it's. It's business best practice, and it's hard to argue with business best practice. So a lot of the, the things that we do, the tools and the templates that are in the book and part of the system, I mean, they're really hard to argue against. You know, I gathered them into the system. I came up with a few of my own to add in. But a lot of this stuff has been around, right? I'm standing on the shoulders of giants like Michael Gerber and Jim Collins, Collins and John Dewar and others. Like, you know, if you're going to say that, you're going to say that what I'm telling you, Mr. Business Owner, you know, isn't going to work well, then you're also telling, you know, 50, 70 years worth of expertise, you know, hasn't worked, and we know that it has. So it's very rare where I get much pushback from a business owner.
- [26:53]
B
Well, that's good. I'm surprised, but that's excellent. What, what industries do you like to work with? Like, which ones do you feel like you're more of a fit with? And which ones are more alien to you that you don't really deal with.
- [27:03]
C
Yeah, I would say I'll start with the alien. Like I would say just total transparency that like food service, restaurant, food and beverage. I feel like that's one that I don't have a really good handle on quite frankly. I feel like that one's a bit of a different beast. You know, a lot of cash. Like. Yes, can I help? I have worked with restaurants before but I just feel like it's less, I make less of an impact there. But you know, otherwise I've worked. But I. What I really love about what I do or what I really love about the system is it's, it's pretty. I can agnostic in terms of industries. It can be professional, it can be professional services or just services. It works there. It can be products, like hard products. It can be, it can be tech and software. It can be, you know, landscaping, car wash as I mentioned, human resources, consulting, placement agencies, marketing agencies, coaching businesses. I helped a farm a couple of years ago. So you know, like I say the principles are pretty sound. You know, I put a big bow around them and made them accessible to. To majority of small business owners. And you know that's a lot of the value that I, that I feel that I bring to the table and that I have brought to the table. And you know, and also this idea that we just talked about where I really give permission to that business owner to be like, you know what this business is here to make your life better and if it's not doing that, we have some work to do but we can get it done and we can, we can make sure that you are really enjoying the process of running this profitable, impactful business.
- [28:34]
B
The. I don't know any stories of strange one off industries you've been in that would just out there like have you ever helped a funeral home or just some strange business?
- [28:44]
C
That's funny. The farm was interesting. I have to tell you. That farm was like. Because there it wasn't like a.
- [28:49]
B
You're.
- [28:49]
C
No, they. They were. It was a goat. It was a goat farm, like goat meat which is really big in the immigrant community. Like again the reason why I love my job. I learned so much. Every time, every time I get to peek under the hood of another business and another industry, I just learned so much. And so that was a really interesting. Working with, you know, immigrant farmers trying to serve the immigrant community.
- [29:09]
A
Community.
- [29:10]
C
Yeah, really interesting. That wouldn't have been one that I would have thought that would ever work with goat. Goat farmers.
- [29:15]
B
But I did do anything unusual to make it work?
- [29:18]
C
No, no, I wouldn't say it was really interesting. I'd say I tell this story in the book about them is that they, you know, we, when they, when they artic. One of the things we do fairly early on in the process is try to really get clear on articulating the vision of the business. Like, what are you trying to accomplish here? But like what, you know, and, and they articulated this vision for their business, which was, was essentially to be the, the Canada's number one producer of goat meat and other high quality meats or something like that. And, you know, and that this was a farm in Atlantic Canada. And, you know, Atlantic Canada is a small, small part of Canada. And if you're saying you're going to sit up and tell me you're going to be the number one in all of Canada, that's a pretty bold vision. Pretty bold vision. And I'm thinking to myself, like, okay, all right. Like it's, I'm not here to tell you what, what your vision should or shouldn't be. I'm here just to help you articulate and clarify. And wouldn't you know that within three months, less of that, they were, their farm was featured in the Globe and Mail, which is, I don't know if you know this, but it's Canada's biggest national newspaper. And it was in the Saturday edition, which is the most read newspaper in all of Canada. And in the feature section of the Saturday Globe Mail, there they were, there was a big story about, you know, how they're immigrant farmers and trying to serve the immigrant community and it's cool. Yeah, so that was really neat because, you know, it's not to say that their vision happened overnight, but when you put something like that down on paper, you articulate it, you put it out into the universe. You know, it's weird how things happen and you know, the fact that they are, you know, in Canada's national newspaper on the Saturday edition of a big, like, does that happen without clearly articulating their vision that you want to be across Canada? Maybe, maybe not. But it's pretty interesting coincidence.
- [31:02]
B
Yeah.
- [31:03]
A
Yeah.
- [31:03]
B
That's really weird. Well, very cool. How can people reach you? That would be good candidates for you to work with. Like, what would make someone a good candidate versus not so good? And again, how do they get in touch?
- [31:12]
C
Yeah, so typically I work with, with businesses that are, like I say, on a smaller end, a small business. There really isn't a hard and fast rule about it. In the book, I call it 500k to 5 million in revenue. You know, like 5 to 50 employees, something like that. I work with businesses that are. That are much larger than that. And so if you're listening and you're running a business and you're kind of in that range, you've had some success, probably been in business at least three years, and your experience, this success paradox that we talked about earlier, you're. You're feeling that things are starting to get disorganized. You know, that entropy is setting in, communication breakdowns, lack of alignment, all that stuff. And, and you're not. You know, you're feeling in your gut, like, is this really what owning the business is all about? Like, is. Is this really what I signed up for? You're probably a good candidate to, to reach out and maybe have a discussion with me or at the very least pick up the book, because you can get a lot done just by reading the book. So you can find me@thewholepisystem.com that's the website. I tend to spend most of my social time on LinkedIn. So you can find me on LinkedIn. What else can I tell you? And the book is Getting the whole pie. And you'll find that on Amazon.
- [32:27]
B
Would be funny if you had a reward ceremony where you smooshed a pie into their face. You know, really made it. That would be a good outcome. It'd be funny. You wanted the whole pie. Here you go.
- [32:38]
C
You now have the whole pie. Yeah, it'd be kind of me like the old. That. That what? That ice bucket challenge from a few years ago. Like, this is. This is. Yeah, I could see that going pretty viral. Yeah, good idea, Rich. Thank you, I guess.
- [32:51]
B
Yeah, well, no worries. Well, Andy, thank you for what you do, and thanks for coming on the podcast. I appreciate it.
- [32:55]
C
No, thank you. I really enjoyed the discussion. Thanks, Richard. If you like this podcast, please click the link in the description to subscribe and review us on itunes.
- [33:06]
A
Thank you for listening to the Good Question podcast. Please email support at the Good Question podcast if you have any referrals to great guests for us to interview. Visit thegoodquestionpodcast.com to hear more interviews. And please help us spread the word by rating and reviewing us on Apple podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to this podcast.