1004: MORE growth with AUTHENTICITY and revenue-focused marketing & sales w/ B Randall Willis

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and I'll tell you what here, to round out an amazing year of content.

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I've challenged our team behind the scenes to go find someone who is an expert in growth, and today's guest, in so many ways, is the picture perfect example of a lifelong of growth.

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This is someone who it's not his first rodeo we're gonna talk about his current business but this is someone who's been in business and growing businesses with wild success rates for so long.

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Literally, he probably will hate that I'm gonna say this on the air, but since I was one years old, this guy has been at it when it comes to growing businesses.

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He has such a depth and breadth of experience.

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Let me tell you a little bit about today's guest.

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His name is B Randall.

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Willis Randall works with business leaders who are not satisfied with their marketing and sales results to create strategies and campaigns so that they can book more appointments and close more deals.

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This is someone who, aside from being a growth strategist, a business advisor and, like I said, a lifelong entrepreneur.

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This is someone who's been at the helm of multiple businesses who have grown to dozens and dozens and dozens of employees.

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I'm going to let him humble brag about all the numbers, and if he's not willing to do it, I'm going to push him to do that, because his revenue numbers, the teams he's built, the impact that he's made across businesses and now, for the past few years, how he's helped other businesses achieve the same results in their own industries is incredibly impressive.

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I'm excited about this one.

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I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with B Randall Willis.

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All right, randall, I am so excited that you're here with us.

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First things first, welcome to the show.

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Thank you for having me.

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Brian Heck, yes, you've got a lot to live up to today.

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I'm not going to lie.

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We are so excited to have you on the show, so you've got to take us beyond the bio.

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You've done so many amazing things in your life and your career, so who the heck is Randall?

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How'd you start doing all these amazing things?

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Well, I'm lucky because I got involved in the digital landscape in the late 90s, so I've been on this ride for a long time, which has allowed me to both build agencies focused on using the digital landscape from its earliest days to also having an entrepreneurial mindset.

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So I've built companies to over 70 employees, and so I've got both experiences.

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I've been very focused on how our digital world has evolved, how to use it for business purposes, and also how to help other companies do the same.

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Yeah, randall, you said it, not me.

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Entrepreneurial mindset.

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We've got to start there.

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Then.

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What does that mean to you, coming from someone who is a lifelong entrepreneur?

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Well, what I like to say to people is there's a difference between making pencils and building a company that makes pencils.

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To be frank with you, I think that most entrepreneurs get stuck in the making pencils phase.

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They've got a vision for a solution, they have a passion for that solution and they focus on that solution.

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But when you're really trying to build a company that can stand on its own two feet and be in it for the long haul, that's where the true entrepreneurial spirit comes in, when you really focus not just on your end product but also how to build an organization that builds that end product and scale.

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Yeah, randall, it feels silly for me to say this in today's episode, but I'm going to confess it to you because I know that you're going to navigate us through so many waters for us to consider in our own businesses.

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Every time I've kind of felt stuck in any of my businesses.

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I've been at this for 16 years, ever since I was a teenager, and I always ask myself this silly question, which is, what would a real business do?

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And I don't know what that question does for me internally, but there's something about a real business.

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When we look at the Targets, the Best Buys, the Amazons, they're real businesses.

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They have processes, they have customer bases, they have follow-up processes.

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That's how it's kind of guided my thought process to you, as someone who has built so many businesses with outrageously awesome teams and impressive revenue numbers.

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What's a real business look like to you when you talk about building a company that makes pencils, not just having a product?

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What's that real business comprised of?

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Well, my belief is that you're, as an entrepreneur, looking to build a business.

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Your inherent goal is how do I ultimately build something that can stand on its own two feet?

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You know, I think that entrepreneurship is not about the Randall show or the Brian show.

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It's really about the brand you're looking to build.

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So, in this growth, as you grow your own organizations or organizations for other people, your mindset is also not just your product, but how are you doing it with purpose and intention, so that one day your brand and your product and your company can stand on its own two feet.

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And that's where processes and scale and quality control obviously profitability come into play.

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Yeah, and I'm just going to piggyback right onto that, because a lot of people, when they think about their business, the one ingredient they love playing with is, of course, marketing and sales.

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Randall, it's been at the cornerstone of so much of your success as an entrepreneur, and you help others succeed with their marketing and sales as well.

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What do you see people doing wrong?

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Because I would love to hear your definition of what marketing is and what the goal of it is, and then also tell us some of those mistakes that people are making in that regard.

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Great question, brian.

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I think that the most important thing, especially in 2024 and beyond, is a keen focus on your buyer's problems, your buyer's visions and goals and hurdles, and what you believe your solution helps them overcome.

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I think that too many people focus on their solutions and not necessarily take the approach of what is my buyer's problem and how do we effectively help meet that solution.

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Why is that so hard for us, randall?

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That's my question to you today.

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Because all of these things, when we talk marketing, they sound so simplistic.

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But where is it that we humans mess these things up?

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Well, I think we're so focused on our product that we and we I think we make an assumption too often.

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One of the exercises I'm going through right now with myself and with my clients is I actually have them make a list.

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I say to them let's make a list of the 15 reasons why your buyer should purchase your product.

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And the reason I do that is because what I find is that most entrepreneurs believe that their buyer knows these reasons, that they already know why they should, why there's value in purchasing your product and service, and what we find is that most buyers don't know all the reasons.

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If there's 15 reasons why you should purchase Dispencil, most buyers may know four or six or one.

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And I think that when you understand that your buyer doesn't necessarily always know all the reasons why your product or service is of value, it helps you focus on really being articulating why we understand your problems.

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I'll give you an example.

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I tell people all the time nobody buys Tide laundry detergent because it has chemical compound X19723.

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They buy it because it gets blood out.

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That is aligning your product with the needs of your market, being able to identify people who would honestly benefit from your product or service People that have blood on their clothes need to get their blood out, and your product, ie Tide, helps with that problem.

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So when you can articulate that you understand the problem, that you can identify buyers who would benefit from your product and you do it compassionately, you're in the game.

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Yeah, I love that perspective, especially because when you bring that example for us as consumers, we so clearly understand these things as consumers.

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But somewhere along the way, when we're thinking about our own business, when we're thinking about our own products and services, we put a different hat on.

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And all of unique superpowers is that when we talk about marketing and sales, you immediately tie it.

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So much of your messaging with Right Angle, which is your company today.

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So much of the way you tie that is let's increase revenue, let's open up new markets so that our clients can book more meetings and close more deals To you.

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These things are very connected.

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Randall, I'd love to hear your perspective on how focused your marketing and your sales efforts are on that revenue component, because a lot of people get caught up in ad creatives and social media templates and all of these cool things that we can do.

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Where's that laser focus come from and how's it manifest in the real world?

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Well, I mean, business growth is about increasing revenue and, in the end, what I believe is the vast majority of marketers and salespeople are focusing on tactics.

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I posted something, I tweeted something, I wrote a blog article, I created an ad.

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I did a tactic.

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I wrote a blog article, I created an ad, I did a tactic.

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But in reality, what we have to focus on is the needs of our market and the needs of our buyers, and when you can do that, that's how you build a relationship with your buyers and ultimately increase revenue.

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When you increase revenue, you build your business.

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Yeah, I love that.

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I'll tell you what it's.

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One of my beliefs and reasons why we launched the show eight years ago is because I don't think we talk about revenue often enough in entrepreneurial circles.

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Kind of societally, we've been trained to oh, don't talk about money, Never ask someone how much it is that they're making, Whereas for us, as business owners, we need to be revenue focused.

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So, Randall, you've grown businesses from half a million dollars to $10 million in revenue.

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What are those plateaus?

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What are the inflection points?

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A lot of people get out of the gates and say I want to make 5K a month or I want to make 10K a month.

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What are those growth steps that you've seen along the way, or is it completely different?

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Problems that I guess I'll steal from Biggie?

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More money, more problems.

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What is it completely different problems that I guess I'll steal from Biggie?

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Mo' money, mo' problems.

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What's it actually look like in reality?

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Well, it's a great question, and what I would say to you, one of the things, one of the most ironic lessons that I've learned on this journey, is that success can actually be suffocating.

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You have to be aware of that and you have to have a guiding light for where you're trying to get to.

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And that's the premise behind the difference between making pencils and building a company that makes pencils, because when you're building a company that makes pencils, as you scale, as you go from two to four to eight, to sixteen to twenty four, forty employees and and two to four to eight clients or more clients, the models change.

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So you, you have to understand that in that growth stage, you're going to be continually iterating your services, your quality control, your management, your tactics, and you have to take that mindset.

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Yeah, Randall, I've got to ask you this this is a bit of a selfish question while we're here on the air together and that is about growing a team that large.

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I remember when I was in college, I was convinced I wanted a company with thousands of employees.

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And then, when I reached 20 people working for me with my first business, which became a soccer media company, I realized, holy cow.

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My role as a CEO now is to manage all of these people.

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What has that looked like for you in the past when you look back on it?

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Did you love having 75 plus employees?

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Did your role change at that time?

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How do you feel about it looking backwards?

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It's a great question.

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It is true that as your company grows, you tend to get farther from the core product or solution that your company offers because, to your point, you're more focused on the overall apparatus, employees, operations, profitability, scale and less focused on what is the particular need of a particular client.

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Your vision is really about how can you take your initial vision, because most entrepreneurs get involved in building businesses because they have an initial vision about what they're passionate about.

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But as you grow, your job becomes to make sure that you're building a company that carries out your vision at scale.

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So it's really a question of understanding that with growth comes challenges, and what I would say to you is one of the most important things is to remain objective.

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What I mean by that is, when we grow, we we need to be less focused on a particular person on our team mary, bob or dave and more focused on their job, their job description, what the kpis are for success.

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And the more objective you maintain, the more your entire company benefits from that, because you're not playing favoritism, you're not getting getting sucked into like or dislike about a particular person.

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You're looking at your business apparatus objectively and as a whole and equally.

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Yeah, randall, hearing those insights.

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Really, what we see on display here is your executive mind in action.

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And when I think about that, this type of growth doesn't happen by mistake.

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It's something that I've learned as I've matured as a person and as an entrepreneur is that anyone who is successful they didn't accidentally slip and get up and find themselves as successful it's a lot of work that goes into it.

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How intentional is it?

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And I mean that not only in quantifying how intentional that is, but also give us some insights into the level of intentionality.

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Are there questions that you ask that are the right questions that led to that growth?

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Was this growth that you had envisioned?

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Three plus five years, 10 years out?

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What did that actually look like to be on such an aggressive growth path?

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You know, and you've mentioned this a few times so far in this conversation I never looked at it like I want to be a certain number of employees or a certain number of revenue dollars.

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First and foremost.

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I always said whatever we're doing, in whatever size we are, are we doing it profitably?

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Because I mean, profitability is what keeps a company going, and do you have a guiding light?

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Is there a guiding light, focus that you want to get to and that informs your day in, day out decisions?

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So you really have to have a vision for what you're trying to get to, and it's not mathematical, it's really is about the service or product that I'm offering.

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Do I do?

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I believe a large swath of buyers can benefit from it, and do you really passionately want to give that solution to people that you fundamentally care about?

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I think you have to have those guiding lights.

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Yeah, and when you talk about those guiding lights, it takes me right back to a little bit of shade that you threw earlier in our conversation.

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Which I so appreciate here on the air is that you threw a little shade at marketing tactics.

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A lot of people obsess about talking about tactics.

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Just scroll through your social media newsfeed and you'll see all these people trying to sell you individual tactics.

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Now you're talking about a vision, strategy and a vision.

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What do those look like, Randall?

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Because we've all heard those words before, but few people actually embrace them and make them part of their approach and their DNA.

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You know, it's like I've sort of articulated throughout this conversation so far.

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I think you have to passionately believe that you really care about your buyer, that you actually go to work every day because you want to create the best writing utensil possible, you care about people that write and that you can articulate and you passionately can show people that you actually are doing this because you care not to make money, not to sell them something, but because you actually get out of bed every morning caring about the needs and the challenges of your buyer.

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I think when you can do that, that gives you the guiding light principles to of your buyer.

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I think when you can do that, that gives you the guiding light principles to grow your market.

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Yeah, for sure I love hearing that and, randall, hearing you talk about passion.

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I'm super excited.

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I knew we'd be able to talk about it at some point in our conversation today.

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But you are also a remnant photographer.

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You have won awards.

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You've been showcased in so many different places.

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Talk to us about that, because whether you realize it or not I'm sure that you do is that all of these passions and the fire that we have inside of us.

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It plays into the people that we are, the executives that we are, the entrepreneurs that we are.

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So I'd love to hear how that's played into the person that you are and how you show up in life and in business.

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Well, what I would say to you is in Canada, so I've been.

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You can sort of even see behind me some examples of my work.

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I've been shooting since high school.

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I've actually had dark rooms.

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Actually, my first major in college was photojournalism, until I had a professor explain to me that if I focused on photojournalism I would be covering high school football games in Dubuque, iowa.

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So now I'm probably not going to do that.

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What I struggle with is the word artist.

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I've been fortunate that when my work gets seen, it gets purchased, it gets displayed, but I really struggle with the word artist.

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Am I an artist?

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Artist and what that word means and what my commitment to that means.

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I mean if I should be shooting 40 hours a week or not.

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But I think that in the end, if you have a creative outlet and you have a vision so in my case, I believe that the world offers us clues and examples and what I try to do is capture those, those examples, and and then show them.

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Um, I think if you have that passion and that vision, it's a great outlet and it's a great it's it.

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It is sort of entrepreneurship in that you are trying to articulate to people who might benefit from that what you see and why you believe it's of value.

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But it is an interesting balance because the more that I have focused on my photography, the more I've wondered why am I focusing on my photography?

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Because I am an entrepreneur as well.

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Yeah, randall, I'm so deeply resonant with all these things you're talking about now because I always say that everything is just a microcosm of life, business included.

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Business is just a microcosm of life.

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I've learned more about business and life sitting behind a chessboard or standing on a tennis court or playing soccer or flying my drone than in most other places, and it just gives us that new perspective.

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So, as someone who also loves picking up a camera and looking through a lens not nearly as much as you do or not nearly as creatively and as talented as you are behind a camera Give us some of those lessons, because I know that you know shooting a camera in manual mode.

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For example, the first time I was tasked with saying what do I want my aperture to be?

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What do I want my ISO settings to be, I had to make all of these decisions.

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Give us some of those crossovers from photography that you found that are totally true and poignant in business.

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Great question.

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So I would tell you there's a couple of things.

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One is the key to business and, quite frankly, the key to life is you have to be okay with your decisions.

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I always say to people you got to do the right thing, because not everything is going to work out and so often we get so focused on being perfect that it stifles us.

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We're afraid to do anything, we're afraid to be outgoing on social media or capture an image or put a stake in the ground, because we're so worried that we're going to be judged.

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And that holds true with photography also.

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You have to be willing to go out there and capture and put your name on things Because in the end good, bad or indifferent you have to be able to sleep at night knowing that what you did you can live with.

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And that holds true with business also.

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As you well know, not everything is a success in business.

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As a matter of fact, you've got to be willing and we hear this all the time.

00:20:21.917 --> 00:20:24.973
You've got to be willing to fail in order to succeed.

00:20:24.973 --> 00:20:30.657
So you have to have the gumption to put it out there, knowing that you won't be perfect.

00:20:30.657 --> 00:20:36.474
That, I think, is major, and that transcends both photography and business.

00:20:37.266 --> 00:20:48.133
Yeah, randall, I want to piggyback right off of that, because I think about the first time that I picked up a camera and started even learning about the very basics of photography, I had all these sorts of excuses, randall.

00:20:48.133 --> 00:20:59.298
And you know I would say the sun is not out, you know we don't have the world's greatest light source, whereas a more experienced photographer gosh, you all can create magic in seemingly any circumstance.

00:20:59.298 --> 00:21:04.416
And so that's where I realized macro conditions versus how do I play around those.

00:21:04.416 --> 00:21:08.491
And here you and I are having a conversation about business at the end of 2024.

00:21:08.491 --> 00:21:12.065
And there's a lot of unknowns in 2025 and certainly beyond.

00:21:12.065 --> 00:21:20.098
Macro economically, just climate wise, there's so much going on, randall, using that analogy, how do you make the most?

00:21:20.098 --> 00:21:27.608
Because a lot of people use macro conditions as those excuses, but walk us through that as someone who's been in the game for decades now.

00:21:29.071 --> 00:21:32.478
You know it's a lot of what I just said.

00:21:32.478 --> 00:21:35.527
You have to be okay with not being perfect.

00:21:35.527 --> 00:21:51.615
I was in a conversation yesterday with one of my team members who is a perfectionist and what I said to her is it's not about did you hit 100%, it's about if you were at 75% this month, are we at 80% next month and 85% the month after.

00:21:51.615 --> 00:22:00.999
You have to take pleasure and pride in direction and when you do that, you realize that you don't have to be perfect.

00:22:00.999 --> 00:22:08.273
You just have to be willing to put a stake in the ground, be okay with that and then use that as a way to grow from there.

00:22:08.845 --> 00:22:14.605
The other thing is, I think, now more than ever, authenticity is the cornerstone.

00:22:14.605 --> 00:22:26.551
It's a very loud, noisy, crowded, all Caps, all exclamation points world we live in, and the key to getting around that is to be authentic.

00:22:26.551 --> 00:22:32.868
If you can look somebody in the eye and you can say no, I really think this is the right solution.

00:22:32.868 --> 00:22:36.988
I really understand what you're going through and I really think this is the right solution.

00:22:36.988 --> 00:22:41.351
If you can be authentic and compassionate, you have a chance.

00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:55.844
Yeah, I love the fact that you brought that up because I'll tell you this, randall, one of the things that when our team came across, your work your LinkedIn stands out to us because you are always giving value, creating value, providing value on your LinkedIn.

00:22:55.844 --> 00:23:01.825
You're just freely putting so much golden content out there and listeners don't worry, we're going to be linking to Randall's personal LinkedIn.

00:23:01.825 --> 00:23:14.851
We'll talk about all his links at the end of today's episode, but I want to talk about that because so much of your content, as I browse through it is it comes from experience A lot of things that we hear online, randall, it's theory, it's regurgitated things.

00:23:14.851 --> 00:23:19.086
We live in an AI era where more and more people are just copying and pasting what AI is saying.

00:23:19.086 --> 00:23:23.594
Talk to us about your mindset and how you sit down and say you know what.

00:23:23.594 --> 00:23:30.267
This is what I want to put into the world and I want to inject it with all of the authenticity that I have to offer from my own experiences.

00:23:32.713 --> 00:23:34.017
I'm really trying to give back.

00:23:34.017 --> 00:23:38.210
I really sincerely want to give back as much as possible.

00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:50.875
My goal is to take my experiences, both as a business builder and as a digital maverick who's been at this for a long time, and I want to share my experiences.

00:23:50.875 --> 00:24:03.627
I want to allow other business leaders who are going through the process to benefit from the challenges that I've overcome and the experiences that I've had and really fundamentally, my goal is to give back as much as possible.

00:24:03.627 --> 00:24:05.090
End of conversation.

00:24:05.090 --> 00:24:07.020
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna do a quick plug.

00:24:08.084 --> 00:24:13.705
A book that really influenced me several years of book, several years ago, is a book called the go givers.

00:24:13.705 --> 00:24:15.471
It's written by a guy named Bob Berg.

00:24:15.471 --> 00:24:26.333
I would recommend you look it up and that your listeners look it up, and it's really about giving that when, as a matter of fact and I should have it open right now they.

00:24:26.333 --> 00:24:31.929
The book is focused on what's called the five laws of stratospheric success and it's really about here.

00:24:31.929 --> 00:24:33.613
It is the five.

00:24:33.613 --> 00:24:35.084
If you don't mind, I'm gonna read it real quickly.

00:24:35.084 --> 00:24:46.587
The five laws of stratospheric success is the first law, is the law of value, and it says your true worth is determined by how much more you're willing you give in value than you take in payment.

00:24:46.587 --> 00:24:49.497
The second law is the law of compensation.

00:24:49.497 --> 00:24:54.489
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

00:24:54.489 --> 00:24:57.201
The third law is the law of influence.

00:24:57.201 --> 00:25:02.371
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.

00:25:02.371 --> 00:25:09.329
The fourth law is the law of authenticity the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.

00:25:09.329 --> 00:25:13.746
And the fifth law is the law of receptivity.

00:25:13.746 --> 00:25:17.073
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

00:25:17.779 --> 00:25:29.710
And when I read this book and again it's called the Go-Giver by Bob Berg it really touched me because it put to words what I've been trying to do organically.

00:25:29.710 --> 00:25:34.804
So that's really what I'm trying to do, and as much as possible.

00:25:34.804 --> 00:25:37.589
And wherever the chips fall, the chips fall.

00:25:38.310 --> 00:25:41.864
Yeah, gosh, listeners, randall was not prepped with any of this stuff.

00:25:41.864 --> 00:25:59.303
This is totally on the fly, and what I really want to call out and point out here is that, randall, earlier in our conversation you talked about if we're selling a pencil, we need to be obsessed and so passionate about the people who want to write with pencils, and that is something that, as soon as I ask you about the content that you create, you immediately jump to.

00:25:59.303 --> 00:26:00.969
I love helping business owners.

00:26:00.969 --> 00:26:10.551
It's just something that I genuinely love, and so everything else you do is a natural byproduct of that passion and that care that you exhibit.

00:26:10.551 --> 00:26:12.559
So you're practicing what you preach in real time here, and I'm so appreciative of that.

00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:20.829
Randall, I want to ask you about longevity, because it's something that I know to celebrate so much because it's so hard out there for so many people.

00:26:20.829 --> 00:26:27.910
But being persistent and being resilient through changes and always adjusting, that's what life and business is all about.

00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:37.890
So, with your hat on, looking backwards at your decades of being a successful business owner and president and leader of so many different ships that you've been leading, what's changed?

00:26:37.890 --> 00:26:40.653
What are some of those changes that you've seen over the past decades?

00:26:40.653 --> 00:26:46.211
Because a lot of people will convince themselves AI is going to change everything, but at the end of the day, business is business.

00:26:46.211 --> 00:26:49.384
So what's your perspective with decades of experience?

00:26:52.230 --> 00:26:57.542
Well, it's true that I've seen over the thank you for using the word decades.

00:26:57.542 --> 00:26:58.443
I really appreciate that.

00:26:58.443 --> 00:27:13.542
I've seen that there are hype moments that have occurred in our digital world SEO became a hype moment, social media became a hype moment, e-commerce became a hype moment, as you mentioned, ai became a hype moment.

00:27:13.542 --> 00:27:23.157
But ultimately our society gets excited about these phenomenons but then it settles in to where it's going to fit in our day in, day out.

00:27:23.157 --> 00:27:33.683
So I really think it's really about not getting overhyped about any one particular phenomenon, phenomenon, but really understanding that's all part of a bigger journey.

00:27:33.683 --> 00:27:38.483
And that gets back to my point about building a company that makes pencils versus making pencils.

00:27:38.523 --> 00:27:41.734
So many entrepreneurs are so focused on the product or they've got KPIs I want to make a million dollars and I'm gonna go versus making pencils.

00:27:41.734 --> 00:27:45.047
So many entrepreneurs are so focused on the product or they've got KPIs.

00:27:45.047 --> 00:27:54.170
I wanna make a million dollars and I'm gonna go play golf for the rest of my life, but a true entrepreneur is really trying to build an organization that's gonna stand on its own two feet.

00:27:54.170 --> 00:27:56.185
That doesn't happen in one year.

00:27:56.185 --> 00:27:59.307
It takes time and again.

00:27:59.307 --> 00:28:01.622
The inherent goal is that you wake up one day.

00:28:01.622 --> 00:28:07.493
Five years, 10 years down the road and your organization is standing on its own two feet.

00:28:07.493 --> 00:28:19.915
If you have that mindset that you're trying to build something that's going to sustain, I think it gives you the guiding light for the day in, day out decisions that you make.

00:28:20.601 --> 00:28:26.949
Yeah, Randall, I have to ask you this because we haven't explicitly talked about managing people and managing our teams.

00:28:26.949 --> 00:28:33.461
You've kind of given us glimpses into it by saying it's about establishing that vision and getting buy-in and leading people towards that vision.

00:28:33.461 --> 00:28:39.321
But as someone who has grown such successful teams, what are some of those insights you picked up along the way?

00:28:39.321 --> 00:28:42.909
I'm sure you personally also grew as a leader with all of that experience.

00:28:42.909 --> 00:28:44.992
What are some of those things that you realized along the way?

00:28:44.992 --> 00:28:46.943
Wow, this is what makes a difference.

00:28:46.943 --> 00:28:51.563
This is how I can help people flourish on route to the shared vision that we've all developed.

00:28:53.188 --> 00:28:59.183
I think you've got to be respectful to every one of your team members and you've got to do that consistently.

00:28:59.183 --> 00:29:03.571
You can't show favoritism or even an implied favoritism.

00:29:03.571 --> 00:29:05.582
I think you have to be consistent.

00:29:05.582 --> 00:29:08.587
I think you have to respect every one of your team members.

00:29:08.587 --> 00:29:18.180
I think you have to be very clear about what success looks like, so that everybody is rallying around the same definition of success.

00:29:18.180 --> 00:29:44.667
And again, when you're consistent within that good, bad or indifferent at least your team members are going to understand that you're not playing favoritism, that you're using the same KPIs for success for everybody, that it's open, it's in the everyone knows what those are, and that way you can sort of sleep at night knowing that you're not, because I think favoritism gets seeped in too often.

00:29:44.667 --> 00:29:50.388
So I think the key is you really have to be a very good communicator.

00:29:50.388 --> 00:29:53.368
I think you have to have clear definitions of success.

00:29:53.368 --> 00:29:56.326
I think you have to be respectful of every one of your teammates.

00:29:56.326 --> 00:30:01.970
Good ideas come from all kinds of places and I think that's your best shot.

00:30:02.779 --> 00:30:04.184
Yeah, randall, I'll tell you what.

00:30:04.184 --> 00:30:12.354
I was so excited for us to chat here today and that has only ramped up since we've been on the air because what we're talking about today really is the root of it.

00:30:12.354 --> 00:30:16.446
You called it out in the first answer, which is building real companies.

00:30:16.446 --> 00:30:28.077
This is the real stuff, and you so effortlessly whether we're talking marketing and sales, or scaling or managing people you so effortlessly have a ton of value to give in all of these domains because it's lived for you.

00:30:28.077 --> 00:30:30.046
It's lived experience that you get to lean on.

00:30:30.367 --> 00:30:39.644
So I appreciate those insights, but at the same time, I also knew that we'd be short on time today, which is why I always love asking this last question, because you can take it truly in any direction that you want.

00:30:39.644 --> 00:30:53.461
And that is the one takeaway, the one piece of advice that you want to impart on our listeners, knowing that we're being listened to by thousands of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs all over the world, in over 150 countries, at all different stages of their business journeys.

00:30:53.461 --> 00:30:56.009
What's that one thing that you hope they walk away from?

00:30:56.009 --> 00:30:57.031
Today's episode with?

00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:00.501
You know authenticity.

00:31:00.501 --> 00:31:06.087
I really think that if you can be authentic, you've got your best chance of being successful.

00:31:06.087 --> 00:31:24.262
And authenticity includes really trying to understand your buyers, your market's perspective going through, and that you really care about that.

00:31:24.262 --> 00:31:29.762
That's why you're building the company, because you care so passionately about your buyers and what their struggles and what their challenges are.

00:31:29.762 --> 00:31:37.084
I think that's the best way to live life, it's the best way to build a business and it's the best way to gain market share.

00:31:37.084 --> 00:31:43.163
The less you sell and the more you offer value, the best chance you have.

00:31:43.964 --> 00:31:51.441
Yes, extremely well said From start to finish, randall.

00:31:51.441 --> 00:31:56.752
You've given us the real stuff of what it looks like to build impactful companies that are truly obsessed and passionate about the people that we serve.

00:31:56.752 --> 00:32:04.528
It permeates through every single thing that you do, which is why, even though we're short on time here today, I'm grateful for all the great content that you're constantly putting into the world.

00:32:04.528 --> 00:32:10.250
So, listeners, this is not the end of your journal with Randall, because he's putting so much goodness into the world.

00:32:10.250 --> 00:32:12.260
So, randall, drop those links on us.

00:32:12.260 --> 00:32:13.702
Where should listeners go from here?

00:32:16.507 --> 00:32:40.388
Well, I tend to be active on LinkedIn as my social platform of choice and I try to do exactly what I've said throughout this conversation, which is to share valuable content in different forms designed to help those people that I want to talk to, so LinkedIn is a great place to remain engaged with me.

00:32:40.388 --> 00:32:52.070
Also, I try to run that through the website right angle, and the website is the rightangleconsultingcom, and that's where you can best find me, day in, day out.

00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:54.587
Yes, listeners, you already know the drill.

00:32:54.587 --> 00:33:01.180
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find those links down below in the show notes, no matter where it is that you're tuning into today's episode.

00:33:01.180 --> 00:33:04.207
Definitely find Randall on his personal LinkedIn.

00:33:04.207 --> 00:33:06.172
We are going to link directly to that down below.

00:33:06.172 --> 00:33:07.222
You can just search his name.

00:33:07.222 --> 00:33:10.856
You see it in the title of this episode be Randall Willis on LinkedIn.

00:33:10.856 --> 00:33:15.810
I'm telling you, as someone who is also a consumer of all of the great content that he puts out there.

00:33:15.810 --> 00:33:18.464
This is someone who's so dedicated to giving value.

00:33:18.464 --> 00:33:23.780
You'll find his business website at the right angle consultingcom.

00:33:23.780 --> 00:33:24.502
Check those links out down below.

00:33:24.502 --> 00:33:29.522
Otherwise, randall, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:33:29.522 --> 00:33:37.788
Thank you for having me hey, it's Brian here and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.

00:33:37.788 --> 00:33:41.763
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:33:41.763 --> 00:33:48.194
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:33:48.599 --> 00:33:50.965
And I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:33:50.965 --> 00:33:59.761
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:33:59.761 --> 00:34:03.392
These are not sponsored episodes, these are not infomercials.

00:34:03.392 --> 00:34:06.891
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00:34:06.891 --> 00:34:17.847
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:34:17.847 --> 00:34:26.347
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just wanna invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:34:26.347 --> 00:34:27.688
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00:34:27.688 --> 00:34:32.315
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00:34:32.315 --> 00:34:33.715
Initiate a live chat.

00:34:33.715 --> 00:34:43.130
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always, every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.