Owning a business is a challenge. Knowing how to keep innovating in your business is an even bigger one. Join restaurant owner, motivational speaker, and innovation expert Sara Frasca this week as she chats with Point Northeast co-founder Michael Smith on how business consultants can practice innovation. If you've ever pondered hiring a business coach but want a sample first, come along for the adventure!
Send us a message to join the show for free business guidance: https://pointnortheast.com/contact-us/
Sara Frasca is the founder and owner of Trasca & Co Eatery in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, an experienced and engaging motivational speaker, and the CEO of global business coaching firm Point NorthEast.
Transcript:
You're listening to level up your business, the podcast where we talk to hardworking business owners and leaders and help them solve real issues in real time. I'm your host, Sarah Frasca restaurant owner, keynote speaker and business coach. I've spent my career not only in corporate America, but also as an entrepreneur, carrying on my family's legacy through my restaurant. Now a business coach and consultant. I'm helping other businesses to use creative problem solving and innovative thinking to drive lasting change. Stay tuned to hear some inspiring guidance that will help you to level up your business. Well, good afternoon, I suppose it's still morning where you are. But thank you for joining me, Michael. I truly appreciate it. My pleasure, sir. Great to be with you. So you and I have had lots and lots of conversations, but our listeners have not always had the opportunity to learn from you glean insight from you. And so I'm just again, just delighted to have you on the level up your business podcast. Well, great. Thanks. Nice to be here. It's great. So I think first of all, thank you for starting a business with me. My pleasure, my absolute. I'm sure honored. And, you know, it's fun in so many regards. But I would say, you know, we've been able to make some magic together for clients. And that's been a real highlight of my life and my career. So thank you, again, publicly for that. My pleasure. Thanks. Well, Michael, I think if we can start out just because not everyone, you know, has had the pleasure of knowing you, from our listeners and those that will stream this, can you just give me a little background of kind of your career where you've come from how you've built your world? Sure, for a good many years, I was in the mass transit business, started there very early, the ripe age of 18 years old, and worked my way up to the number three position in a 12,000 person company in Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority, left and became the chief operating officer of the Denver transit system. So I spent a good part of my early career in the transit business, and then decided I was going to get out of the public sector and move into private sector, and had a relationship with some people who were consultants to me in Chicago, who always had a standing offer, if I ever wanted to get into consulting, that they would have an opportunity for me and to become a partner with them. So moved in that direction about 39 years ago. And we stayed together for a couple of years merged with a big national accounting firm. And I concluded there was probably not going to be a fit for me long term. So I decided to go and venture into the field of consulting on my own start my own company, which I did until I met Matthew Sarah and kind of changed the direction after almost 39 years, you are my first partner and an incredible partner you are. So it's it's been a great ride for 39 years, spent a lot of my early practice in working with all types of companies from fashion design companies to hair care, product manufacturing, to software development companies, to manufacturing companies, hundreds of accounting firms across the US and Canada, and then started to specialize in law firms about 20 to 25 years ago. And early on became, I believe, the first non attorney to be approved by the Supreme Court in Colorado, to present CLE programs to attorneys. And so that launched me into the field of law. And so that's where you and I have spent quite a bit of our time together, as well as assisting clients in all types of professions and industry. So it's been a great, great run. That's really great. And, you know, through our partnership, I mean, I think you have such a wonderful, wonderful set of business acumen. But in my opinion, you've also brought kind of the human side of being a business leader, being a business coach. And you know, you're really, in my opinion, kind of one of the best out there that can help people navigate their work life, you know, journey, because sometimes it's not the numbers or the business or the cases or the clients. It's succession planning its partnership, conflict, it's Can you talk about that a little bit like how did you get into really becoming a master of working with that subject matter which is Ultimately people. Yeah, you know, I don't know that there's a recipe or even a track to, to identify. But rather, I think, you know, I just have kind of an innate ability to see things and put things together reasonably quick. You know, so many of the clients that I've worked with that, you know, in the early days were clients where I'd never worked in their industry or in their profession. And, you know, I think one of the key attributes of a really effective business advisor is the ability to really absorb, listen, learn, observe, ask the right questions, and, and be able to, to internalize that information and start to piece things together. And, you know, I think if I have a particular unique skill, it's the ability to pull things together pretty quickly, have a good insight about people. You know, I often say that consulting is not about necessarily giving the answers, although I think that's part of it. I think consulting more often than not business advisor is really being able to ask the right questions. So kind of a bias. And my bias is that most people have most of their own answers. But they're buried in the in the deepness of their their mind and not brought to the surface very easily. So a lot of times when I'm conducting a meeting, or an interview with a client, I'll say things like, I just like to have kind of a free flow of conversation, I'd love to get to know you better. And, you know, if you don't mind, I'll just kind of dive in and ask you some questions. So I very soluble, I don't have a script in terms of asking standard questions, I have kind of a mental picture, I'm trying to fill in the brushstrokes, if you will, to get a real clear understanding. So often, at the end of the interview, you know, I'll say to somebody, you know, What haven't we talked about, that we should have talked about? And if I've been effective in that, they'll generally say, you know, you've really asked me some things I haven't thought about in a long time, or I've never thought about, and, you know, I really appreciate the time that we spent together, because it's just been very educational for me. If I get that response, I know that I've probably done a pretty good job because I've helped helped awaken in them some, some answers that they may have deeply seated in their, you know, psychology, but they haven't brought it to, to the forefront so. And I think connecting with people, I mean, you know, my clients are my friends. Even if I'm only interviewing them for the first time I, I got a call on Saturday night with with a woman who lives in Georgia. And she's a very, very seasoned, capable attorney. She's just incredibly talented. And we had a session, she called me on Friday and said, you know, do you have time on Saturday night to talk? You know, usually I don't talk with clients at seven o'clock on a Saturday night, but I did in this particular case, and is often the case, you know, at the end of it, she said, you know, Michael, this has just been, I can't tell you how helpful this has been. I always feel like I'm talking to my psychologist or psychiatrist. And I candidly have gotten that response so many times over the years, it's kind of flattering, but I'll say I'm, I'm not a psychiatrist, or a psychologist, but people often feel that that's the role that I play for them, because I help bring out issues and resolutions that they otherwise wouldn't have. So it's really great. You know, it's interesting, because now that I'm working, you know, alongside you, I go to masterminds, I go to events, and people will say, Michael Smith is the best. So I'm just sort of curious. And, you know, I, I think it is true in a lot of respects. I mean, I've teased you that you're our Yoda. But what do you think has made you so successful that you've never done any advertising? You just literally have people saying to other people, I trust Michael Smith, if you need help, he's the guy. Yeah, you know, I don't know that there's a magic recipe. I really don't I I pride myself in the fact that you know, I, I have one client, they've been a client and you know who it is served for 25 years, and the person who's now the CEO of the company, and He is the former chair of the board of a very, very large real estate national real estate company. I knew him when he was 24 years old. And, you know, I've coached and mentored him along the way he's, he calls it seek, seek for advice. So I've been able to establish long term relationships. And you know, I think at the end of the day, my clients really matter. I mean, they are everything to me, you know, I mean, I make a living from it, but making a difference in their Business in their profession in their, in their lives is usually important to me. So I have a lot of clients who I consider very, very dear friends. And there's always a fine line that you have to balance in that because consulting is one, you often have to share with people something that they don't want to hear that they need to hear. So the friendship, you have to keep that someone in check, but I think it's just really, you know, I've been fortunate, you know, for 39 years, I've, I've just learned so much in so many different professions, I mean, what an incredible opportunity or career track where you get to go in, and you never see the same thing twice, you'll see things that are similar, but they're always different, the people are always different. And to really become intimately familiar with the business, the business owners, their key staff, their clients, how they do business, is just an incredible learning experience. I mean, you're just you're learning every single day. So every day is a new chapter, in a new book. The beauty of it is that over the years, you accumulate a lot of experience and knowledge and background on lots of different businesses. And as a result, you know, I will often say to a client, I will never ever give you a piece of advice, that's theory or just a theory, I'll only provide advice in terms of something I know that I've seen, that I personally have experienced, or that I've worked with a client and seeing them succeed with it. Those are the things that I'll share with you. And it may or may not work for you and your company. But that experiential base, that depth of background, in working in so many different professions in industries, has been so helpful, because you can cross reference between one type of business and another. And so the beauty of it is you make, you know, a pretty decent living, but you know, you're changing people's lives, you're changing, you know, their ability to be successful in business. And I think when that happens, they know that you've been a part of their success. And I know when I'm successful, it's not because of me, it really is because we've kind of connected and created some chemistry that have allowed them to make some unique decisions that they maybe otherwise wouldn't have made. And they're they're gracious enough to say, You've really helped me do what I otherwise wouldn't have done. And if I can accomplish that, that is success. That's great. That's great. I was going to ask you just kind of what has been most rewarding, I would imagine it's those moments where someone has said, Thank you, I, I've gotten to the place I wanted to get to because of you. And any stories or any other examples of kind of what has been rewarding for you, as a business advisor and coach, kind of stick out? Yeah, there's there's been, there's been quite a few. I received a text message this morning from the fellow who owns a distribution company. He's in Colorado, and he has a company in California. He's been a client for 25 years. And I can remember we've worked together for three or four years. And his father was in the business with him as well. Father had a very successful company in California. And we worked together for two or three years. And I said some things to him that were very difficult. And that was that he he didn't value and appreciate what his father recreated, even though his father was old school to business in a different way. And said, you know, you'd have a lot to learn from him. And we got into a little bit of a difference of opinion. I said, you know, I think we've gone as far as we can go, I think it's time for you to kind of do your own thing. Because he was very strong willed and, and decided that, you know, he knew better and that's fine. But to this day, he reaches out and says, you know, Michael, I haven't talked in a while we need to reconnect. And I'd like you to come out to my house in Newport, California and spend some time and you could have an eight. So 25 years later, and you know, I gave a client some bad news they didn't want to hear. He ultimately realized that, you know, the advice is probably pretty good advice. I had it was really unusual, because a couple months ago, I think you know about it. I reached out to a fellow who started his own law practice. And I hadn't talked to him a long time. And I recruited him years ago for a client of mine who had an immigration law practice. And at the time, this fellow was a school teacher, but he was got his master's degree in business and went to law school and was getting his law degree. And he's just a really gifted guy. He was just really, really smart. And I recruited him from my client. My client says, This guy doesn't know anything about law firm. He's a school teacher. I said, trust me this guy. If you give him a chance, he will be really really good. Turned out he was a rock star. So he worked with the firm, he was the law firm administrator became the CFO got his law degree, and he calls me up. And he said, you know, Michael, I just need to go out on my own, I'm going to start my own practice. And I said, Hey, that's great. You know, God bless. And so I taught, talk to him periodically, I haven't talked to him in 10 years, maybe even longer. And I just happened to call him a couple months ago. And he said, you know, Michael, I've never told you this. But I just want to, I want you to know, you were the most influential person in my life, that I've said to my wife recently, and she's also an attorney. I said to my wife, that if it wasn't for Michael Smith, I wouldn't be where I am today. Yeah, that's amazing. And we're huge, huge. It's pretty special. I think, you know, one thing you've told me that I think of a lot is that, often times the person that has been most influential is someone who sees something in you that you might not see in yourself. And you have a gift in that. I mean, I've I've been, you know, alongside for the ride in some of the examples, or, you know, we've teased out together people in an organization who maybe are, you know, kind of a diamond, waiting to be discovered, they're, you know, kind of heads down working hard, they've got great loyalty for the owner, they've got great, you know, kind of work ethic, but they hadn't thought of themselves as a leader, and you go in and you say, you've got it, you've got what it would take. And that is a change in the trajectory of their career and therefore their life. That was the exact conversation that I had Saturday night with this attorney who she's a 44 year old woman in Georgia, incredibly successful. She doesn't even have a clue how competent. I mean, she does have a clue for sure. But what I said to her is, I can visualize that, where you're going and the track that we're on, and the work I'm doing with the firm, that in five years, you out, you just have no idea how well positioned you're going to be you're going to be 49 years old, you're going to be at the pinnacle of your career, you have the ability to assume a leadership position in the firm, your end, ultimately become the managing partner of the firm. And I can see it, I can see it right now. And she said, You know, that's amazing. And you say that, because I've never even thought in those terms. And so part of illuminating the possibility is is huge for somebody, because if they're, you know, we're all kind of insular, we all kind of we're all our own worst critic, you know, should I do this? Should I do that? And so it's so hard to see yourself from the outside. And so having somebody who's got a reasonable degree of experience, who can say, here's what I see. And it's not BS, it's, you know, you never tell BS, you give it to him as straight, as you know, I say otherwise, it comes out crooked. Bottom line is, but good positive direction. And people say, Well, you know, okay, so maybe now you plant an idea in their head that they otherwise wouldn't have had, and then they start moving in that direction. You know, they, you know, so much of our capability is hidden. You know, there's been a lot of studies at MIT and Stanford and other, you know, major educational institutions, that if we're lucky, we're tapping into six to 8% of our mental capability consciously 90 92% of our capability is subconscious. So consulting is about how do we go in and tap that 90 or 92%, that's down there and bring it to the surface. Because at the end of the day, I'm an absolute believer that when somebody commits to something that they want to do, and they are absolutely clear that this is something I'm going to have in my life, you can do anything you can do, you can accomplish any goal that you set, you have to first be clear that it's something that you want. And then when you commit to it, and you're focused and disciplined. And I know that from personal experience. Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, I know you have done amazing things in your career and also helped others. I was curious if you would next talk about just this process of, of envisioning what you want of putting it out there. And I mean, really articulating kind of the goal and then moving in that direction. I think you've, you've given me a lot of examples, and you've talked to me about, you know, you have to you can't do something if you haven't dreamed it, or Yeah, right now, you know, notice about me, and it's kind of just an example. A lot of people over the course of my career have said, you know, Michael, you've really been really lucky. And my response has been, you know, I appreciate that. But you know what, honestly, luck has not had a whole lot to do with it. It really hasn't. I mean, it's been anything that I've accomplished, didn't happen by accident, it happened by design, it happened by choice. And you can't reasonably accomplish something that you haven't yet clearly envisioned and within your own mind. And an example of it, and one that I'm very, very proud of, is when I was 34, I was diagnosed with pretty much advanced emphysema because I was a smoker, terrible, terrible thing. I took up running as a way to rehabilitate my lungs, and, you know, did my first marathon after nine months after smoking two packs of camels for many, many years, I mean, I thought I was going to die. And then the next year did another and basically does pretty significant recovery in my health. But the ultimate was, I was going to run 100 mile race up in Leadville, Colorado, which starts at 10,500 feet and goes up to 12,900 feet. And it's, you know, the highest and most difficult 100 mile race in the United States. And I set a vision of, you know, running and completing that race. And I can't tell you the amount of time and energy and pain associated with preparing for that getting up in the middle of the night running through the night, running in the snow going for, you know, 15 or 20 hours at a time. And people would often say to me, are you crazy? Are you nuts? Why would you want to do that? Well, for me, it was a, it was kind of the pinnacle of a long running career over, you know, some 40 years. And so every time I would be on the trail and done it four different times, every time I'd be on the trail, it would be, you know, this pitch of night, and the moon would not be out and it would start raining. And it's three o'clock in the morning, and you're just hurting so bad. And you're in so much pain. And you're saying why are you doing this? And what I would do is in my mind is I would visualize the finish line in Leadville, Colorado, with the finish batter hanging up. And as soon as my head went to pain in my body was aching is it was all about pain management. And that is how do I take my mind? And how do I take it out of the presence and put it into where I want to be. And so getting that focused in my head, and you crossed the finish line. And it wasn't pretty? Yeah, difficult in business is very, very much that way. Helping people get clarity about what their Leadville finish looks like, that could be a $10 million business, that could be a $50 million business. It's not about the money. It's about the journey, it's about the satisfaction, it's about the accomplishment. It's about making a difference in people's lives. It's about creating a company that you can be very proud of. And you and I are very much in that sir, you and I right now are very, very much in that is our relationship is ever so important to both you and me. Because I know I know what you're going to create through my help and involvement. But you know, as I said to you a number of times, I can see four or five years out, you'll be better than I ever was. And you will be because you've got such talent, and such capability and incredible energy, great intellect. So you've got all the tools, you know, the only difference between you and I, as you know, I've got 30 years more experience, you know, and that can be helpful as we kind of traverse our success trail together. No question. I think you and I have a lot of good kind of symbiotic moments of our different strengths. But yeah, you have a wealth of knowledge on a lot of different things. So um, yeah, it's it's a really interesting parallel you draw between the running, you know, and just kind of putting that out there and then doing the work because what you and I have been very specific on is that we're not going to be be able to help everyone, right? I mean, there are some folks who might say, like, I want that silver bullet, I want that magic fix, and they're out there looking for what's the, what's the latest, you know, snake oil that can fix all my problems. And you and I are like, ah, that's not our thing, because we believe that a sustainable improvement up into the right, which is our motto is done through hard work through discipline through dedication through I would say probably a pretty good amount of time. Yeah, it's a journey. It is a journey. That is true. Well, man, I mean, I would say you know, the, the things you've done in your career have been pretty amazing. I mean, the the running included, I think you are an inspiration to me, as you well know, you are an inspiration to many, many others. And I think you and I have a lot of fun ahead of us. I think it's up into the right for us as well. I think we're gonna have a lot of good clients, and lots of good challenges from them. And I look forward to it. Same here. Yeah, making a difference together is huge. It's been great, and it's going to be even better. So as a wise man once taught me to ask, is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners today that I maybe didn't think to ask you? I think real success is somebody who, in business real success is somebody who has put together a business or a company, or a firm, where they make a very, very good living, they develop the asset that they have, which is their business. But they recognize that the way in which they do that successfully is the key to this business is about selecting the right people, and having the right people in the right place. And people who share a common set of values and purpose, and that they are intrinsically connected to the business because it's not just a living, they believe in what the business does. They're committed to what the business does. They feel that they are an owner of the business, whether they're an equity owner or not, that they feel totally committed to what the business is all about. And success is managing turnover. A good business owner is one that if somebody leaves your business, you ask the question, Is there something I could have done differently? That would have kept that person in the company? Did I disappoint them? Or did we fail somewhere. And if somebody leaves because their spouse took another job in another state, or somebody took an opportunity, that was an opportunity, they just couldn't refuse, God bless him. But if people left your organization, because they didn't feel valued, they didn't feel appreciated, they didn't feel like they were compensated fairly, they didn't feel like they had a career track, shame on you. successes. When you build a business where you got stability, you've got people that are committed to a shared vision, and that they are producing results. And you are systematically growing and building that business over time. And that you get to a place in your career, where you truly have the choice of when you want to work in the business and how you want to work in the business. I was just with a guy last week in Louisville, Kentucky. And he's got a very, very, very successful construction business in Michigan. And he transferred the business over to his his son, and the son is now more successful than he was. And he was wildly successful. And I watched the relationship between the two of them. And the father is 81 years old. And the son is 51 years old. And watch the chemistry between the two. And you talk about cool. I mean, just a neat, neat experience of and this father walks away. He's got more money than God and his sons making more money than he ever did. And they've got a company where everyone's been there a long time. Bingo, that's beautiful. Bingo. Because the real value of a company, the real true value is what do you create over the long term? And do you either sell it? Do you transfer it to another person? Do you get paid out. But the ultimate peak is when you get to a place where the business is running very effectively, very efficiently and independent of your active involvement, where you have the systems and the organization and the people in place that are just killing it, knocking it out of the park, that success. It's great. It's great. Well, again, thank you for being willing to be on the podcast. Thank you for building a beautiful business that I'm very, very proud of. And that I'm hoping will have a very lasting legacy for our coaches for our clients. So thank you, and I am excited to help clients with you in the next couple of days even so I'll see you in person soon, which will be fun. That's right. We'll be together for a full week next week. And we were together a couple of weeks ago and looking forward to it. Me too, Michael, thank you again. Okay. Bye. Thanks for joining us, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of level up your business with me Sarah Frank. Scott if you have a problem in your business that's keeping you up at night please join us in a future episode so we can help get you unstuck just clicking the link in the show notes and send us a message please remember stay innovative friends