829: Innovation at the Crossroads of Automation and Agility w/ Ryan Chesterfield

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wontropner to entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, Brian Lofermento, and I'll tell you what.

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Today we are in for a real treat because we are talking to a thought leader in a really interesting and advanced field.

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So Ryan Chesterfield is today's guest.

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He is a business professional with over 15 years of experience in the world of automated material handling and industrial robotics.

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What an industry.

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I'm sure that he thinks about things looking forward, looking future.

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Looking that is so different from the way that a lot of us operate in our own industries.

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He helps companies understand the application, market and implementation of industrial automation, in particular, warehouse automation.

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So tapping into Ryan's mind today is going to be so much fun to see the way that he views processes and systems and how we can all leverage those insights to grow our own businesses in ways that leverage technology and make us think in a more streamlined way.

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So I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Ryan Chesterfield.

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All right, Ryan, I'm so excited that you're here with us today.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thanks, Ryan.

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Thanks so much for having me.

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Heck, yeah, I tooted your horn just a little bit.

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I think your industry and your field is fascinating, but take this beyond the bio.

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Who the heck is Ryan?

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How'd you start doing all these cool things?

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How do I start?

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Well, I was always tinkering with systems.

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You could say I was a mechanical engineer in college, and as a kid I was taking the go-kart apart, taking the toaster apart, probably burnt the house down a couple of times, Almost burnt the house down a couple of times.

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And so in college I got the opportunity to work with conveyor systems, and I'll say like back in the day.

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These were the forms of automation in the warehouse like the conveyor had sort of allowed companies to move from just the forklift to moving individual boxes using conveyors to transport and sort them.

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So I started my career right out of college crawling around on the ground fixing and making conveyor systems work, and this is where I gained the understanding of how a warehouse works.

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Like to weave a conveyor system into an operation.

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It's sort of like the veins of a body, if you will.

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You.

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Then you kind of understand, you know how all the organs work to kind of make the body do what it needs to do.

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And from there I was able to move into sort of a sales role at that company and then I was even recruited to go to a much larger player in the industry for a sales role and in selling automated material handling your role is really to understand the customer.

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So I kind of talked about that a little bit before and I was able to utilize my understanding of their operation.

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But it also required the people, skills and communication to take that understanding which your eyes and ears have seen and heard from the customer and translate that to engineering disciplines on my team side to create that solution that the customer needed, or rather like what the customer would buy.

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And there was some strategy going into what the customer would buy.

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You know the customer may tell you they need the Cadillac when in reality they mean the Honda, or you have the inverse, where the engineers would design you the Cadillac and maybe your customer could only afford the Honda.

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So being a mechanical engineer in school helped me really communicate with the engineers on my team and helped me understand them, understand what their needs were.

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You know they can be sort of particular.

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They tend to like to work in their black box.

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So I was able to use my communication skills to understand the customer and sort of massage the information you know.

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So it was palatable by the engineers and I sort of attribute that to my success in doing that.

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And then I went on to work for a couple of startup companies where I kind of did.

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You know I started in some of the bigger companies and I worked there for a long time.

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Then I had the opportunity to go to some smaller robotic companies and see how they were doing it.

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And you know the startup life is way different than the large, mature company.

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You know they're flying by the seat of their pants a little bit.

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They're constantly doing research, and so I really thrived in that environment.

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I got to wear a lot of different hats, but it also brought me the observation that you know these people are figuring it out, and through working with them and just my experience, I realized I had sort of a specialized set of knowledge when it came to how operations work, the technology that they're using and how they're using it.

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And sometimes this doesn't go so well.

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In fact, oftentimes it doesn't go so well, and so I wanted to bring I wanted to make this better.

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I thought that I could use my communication skills and bring this expertise to the customer side.

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You know the people that are looking to implement these robots.

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I look at it as sort of like lawyers against civilians in a courtroom when they're up against these vendors.

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These are highly complex systems with engineers, and you've got people that run warehouses, and so bridging that gap is difficult, and I think that's where a lot of the gaps and maybe some of the dissatisfaction or lack of expectations comes from, and so I decided to start my own business out there to improve that.

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You know, being sort of a lawyer in the customer's court and a courtroom full of lawyers.

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Yeah, I love that overview for so many reasons, ryan, but first and foremost, I feel like it really reveals kind of that intersection of all of your experiences and passions.

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It sounds like you know people could tune into this episode, being like they're talking about robots and industrial automation, but you're bringing in key ingredients, which are the people behind it as well as the actual business.

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I think that that intersection between technology, business and people is such an important consideration.

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Talk to us about that, because I feel like you're going into an industry where people are quite specialized.

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I would imagine and I don't know, but I would imagine that, let's say, the engineers behind Amazon's warehousing are probably some of the most brilliant tech minds that don't understand the business side of it, and probably not everybody understands the communication side of it.

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So talk to us about your unique positioning entering this field that is a complex field and how you navigate your way into there.

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Yeah, well, you know it's funny, I'll use the word business.

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A lot of what I do or focus that I bring is on return on investments and that's kind of where the rubber meets the road for these solutions.

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So everything that I do are going in.

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I'm keeping the back of my mind, like what is going to bring a return on investments?

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Because, again, like that's essentially how you're created on the other side of the solution, whether this thing actually saves us money.

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And that's the difficult part.

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And there's all the vendors out there are waving the solution or waving the flag that says I can save you money and they probably can in a vacuum, but without being aware of the other systems that you have in place and what their capabilities are or aren't, it's hard to determine whether you're actually going to be able to save money.

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So a lot of my expertise, of my previous employers when I was at the startups I was kind of in charge of determining return on investment and in fact I've kind of taken this to some of my clients and some of my niche is determining the return on investment of the technology within an operation, because I believe that's where really the customer or all these companies should start is really having a firm understanding of how much money this solution saves you, and it's been surprising out there the gap in understanding of exactly how this is going to save.

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The solution might save customer money, so I try to spend a lot of my time talking about that.

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Yeah, it's interesting hearing you talk about this stuff, because I feel like in the world of business and especially, it's a race to who can move the quickest and who can sell the most things, who can reach the most people.

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That's so often the race that we're all playing in business, Whereas I mean you've already said, for example, if someone doesn't need the Cadillac, maybe they need the Honda, and it's not just about merely applying a band-aid of technology, applying a band-aid of more automation, more implementation to it.

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Give us some of those real life examples, because you've seen behind the scenes of real life businesses and operations.

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What are some of those examples where more tech, more automation may not be the answer.

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And it really takes that understanding that you're introducing us to yeah.

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So part of this game is understanding the personality of the end user, I'll say, or the person that has to run the operation, like Arrow to the person that has to operate this machine or solution that goes into it.

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So if you, you know, if there's a range of different, I'll say customers, but what I mean by that is you know capabilities, experience it and you know goals, let's say so.

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If you've got a team that is very strong and has done these systems before, you might be open to a different set of solutions.

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And like a lot of this is also going to be based on the current I'll call it tech stack that you're using and this is like the systems that you have in place.

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And there's a stat out there that I've heard a number of different numbers, but it's 80 some percent of warehouses are still using manual processes and this is like part of this.

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Awareness is part of what you know made me start my own business was I saw opportunity and I believe there's a renaissance coming in.

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Ai and data are all really wind in sales to this.

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But getting to my point that there's a, there's a certain type of project that a certain customer is going to be able to bite off.

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So if you're doing your first technology project, you know, maybe we're not going out and getting you fulfillment robots and robot arms with vision systems and whatnot.

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Maybe we're getting you some carts with some scanning devices and we're going to start tracking our productivity, because right now, our productivity is tracked by a clipboard and a meeting on Monday morning.

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So that's what I hope to bring to these customers is, you know, like what to buy next, and that will be based on what you're doing now and what you're capable of, because if you're a mom and pop, you're not going to be able to buy a Ferrari or even implement it if you can afford it, and so I think there's a special recipe for everybody.

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Yeah, I love that answer.

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I'm so glad that that's where you went with it because it leads to, I think, a very important conversation for us to have, which is that prioritization, because, especially as business owners Ryan, you're one of us, you're a fellow entrepreneur, and we all wear so many different hats how do we even begin to prioritize and ask ourselves that big question that you alluded to, which is where do we start?

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What do we even begin in automating?

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Yeah, and I kind of point back to the team and expertise.

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You know what is it that you know?

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If what you know and your team is operating a warehouse which is this is most, this is most folks then you need help.

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Then you need help and you can rely on the vendors to tell you what it is you need.

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But I think you know what kind of outcomes to expect.

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There's going to be a bias there If you are a major 3PL.

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A lot of these companies, a lot of big warehousing companies like you mentioned Amazon, for example, like they have these resources and house that have this expertise.

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So you know, know what you don't know and if you don't know, make sure you go find domain expertise, especially when it comes to technology, because you know I mentioned data before I think there is a, at least in the warehousing industry.

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You know, maybe manufacturing not so much, but there is a gap in utilization of good data and this comes from the inability to collect it.

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You know I mentioned 80% of the warehouses using manual processes, clipboards, whatnot.

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So, looking at your current systems and knowing your own operation I point to the data, because if you don't have digital data, that's telling you if you had a good day in your operation, then I don't think you know for sure.

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I think there's so many tools coming out Again.

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I mentioned AI and all this.

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All of this is going to empower businesses to utilize and make better decisions with data.

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Data is another place, and I'm starting with all of my clients.

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I mentioned the tech stack and the systems they're using.

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Really, what I'm saying is how are you utilizing data and what data are you using?

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What data could you be using to make better decisions?

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Yeah, it's so interesting hearing you talk about this because I'm viewing so much.

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When I think about technology, I always think about it as the great equalizer that we all have access to technology that can help our businesses grow.

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You and I have a direct line of communication right now to thousands of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in over 150 countries around the world.

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I always think about technology there.

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But then I like that small business, ferrari example, because it leads me to ask you, ryan, which is do you see these opportunities, especially with the introduction of AI, with the introduction of industrial automation not even introduction, but really the enhancement of it all?

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Is it the great equalizer or is it going to be a game where the Amazons of the world just have access to more stuff and the small mom and pops businesses will be left behind?

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Yeah, interesting question.

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Well, I think technology is lowering the point of entry for somebody that wants to compete with Amazon.

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What I mean by compete with Amazon is from a service level perspective, aka like two-day or one-day shipping.

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This is essentially what is driving the warehousing market to change.

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I mean, basically, consumers want stuff faster, they want more stuff and they want it faster.

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We're not buying less stuff online, we're buying more stuff online and we want it faster.

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This paradigm shift of purchasing online versus in the retail store has totally rocked the boat for the warehouse.

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Putting a bunch of boxes on a pallet on a truck and going to a store where the consumer actually does taking it out of the pick location is what we call it in the warehouse, but they actually do the picking.

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Now I have to take all of that and deal with all these unit level items in the warehouse Again.

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All of this is driving the need for change in the operations.

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Right now, everyone's throwing labor at it and COVID really pushed the labor shortage.

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The labor shortage in the warehousing was called logistics industries.

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I think under understood.

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I get the question a lot about robots and all.

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You're just taking people's jobs and the reality is there's no people to do these jobs right now.

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I mean, I would talk to clients that have to hire 30% extra people because up to the third of the workforce would just not show up A given shift.

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Imagine trying to run a business like that.

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The opportunities are coming from more online buying and this increased service level.

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Some of this technology is going to allow a small warehouse.

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You may not need a million square feet and all this digital horsepower to take a manual operation and utilize technology to streamline and do more with less.

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Yeah, I want to ask you that then, because I feel, like you already said it, that people love asking you about this.

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It is the comeback about robotics and automations.

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Is it's going to replace humans I'm thinking about?

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Actually.

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I'll give a real life example that you can pick on or you can add from your own library of experiences for me, so my book.

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Obviously, amazon and Barnes Noble are two big sales channels for me, but I also love manually giving my book away for free.

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It's one of my lead magnets in my business for a long time, since 2015.

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And so what I do because I'm constantly traveling is I mail it to a centralized warehouse.

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I use Ship Bob as the service that I use.

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It's super affordable and if someone places an order with me to get a free book, they just pay for shipping and handling.

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Someone or some robot in a warehouse Does it all for me.

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I never even touch it or see it.

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And so, ryan, a lot of people will be saying, well, that's replacing humans.

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I'm no longer involved in that process.

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No one on my team is I don't know who.

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If anyone is I just I like to think that it's just going to shift.

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There's going to be different responsibilities.

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Look at you and in your profession, in your industry, how many programmers are creating these robots?

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Talk to us about those changes that you see, not only today, but future, looking long term.

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Yeah, you know something I'll say else that is under understood.

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There's probably a better way to phrase that.

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But these robots are really a tool for the operators.

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They're intended to make their job easier or for them to make less decisions or be more sure about the decision that they're making.

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So, for example, like in your book example, you know that, you know that.

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You know SHIP Bob gives the order to the warehouse, whoever it is, and it ends up on like we call it, like a pick list, and so it's a bunch of stuff that like somebody or people in the warehouse have to go get, and so somebody either walks out to that location you know they probably scan the order and it tells them where the book is and they physically walk out there, grab the book, maybe they put it on a conveyor, maybe they put it on a cart, maybe they physically walk it back to a pack station.

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But with technology, there's robots.

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Now, for example, there's these like kind of hot tech right now called AMR or autonomous mobile robots, and instead of the person having to walk to that location to get the box, the person stays in what we call a zone and you know.

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So they're in.

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Like they, they have access to many pick locations and a robot comes to them when it enters their zone.

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It tells them what unit to pick and they'll grab the unit and you know likely they'll scan it from the robot.

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So let me make sure it's the right unit.

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They'll put it on the tote and the robot and the robot will take it to, you know, maybe a pack station.

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Maybe that person ordered another book that's in another part of the warehouse and so it will travel there.

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So in this case, what we're doing is we're we're reducing the walking time of that operator.

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In a warehouse, operators can spend up to 80 percent of their time walking and if you think about having, you know, labor shortage and not enough people, we want that operator to be doing things that humans are good at, using their eyes and ears and hands, like that's where they're adding the most value to the product.

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Walking in a straight line is not adding the most value, so we use the technology to do that.

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That person is still there, the role is still very important, but we're using the robot to just supplement some of the movement we have to do to increase capacity.

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Yeah, I really like the way that you illustrate that, Ryan, because actually, what I think you're doing I'm going to use this retort to when people talk about this is actually think we're humanizing people in the workforce again is that, instead of just being arms and legs that go get something, those are the types of things that we can automate so that humans can use their logic, use their brains again.

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So I really love your perspective on that, which leads me to I would imagine a big disruptor or enabler in your industry is obviously AI.

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What's your take on AI?

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How is it influencing or impacting your industry and where do you see it going in the future?

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Yeah, so I mean AI and machine learning, like it's got this, like AI, in my opinion, has this sort of romanticized view from the public, like both in positive and negative ways.

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But if we call AI, you know, using data to make better decisions, essentially we've been doing this in the warehouse for quite some time.

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Right, we look at our past order history, we know what our busy months are, we look at what products sell and we make them easier to access.

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But you know, I mentioned before, you know, all the manual processes in warehouse.

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The data is there's a lot more data to be had and to be collected, and so the system is only going to be able to analyze the data that is there.

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But as AI and as technology and computer chips become smaller and, you know, networks become more powerful and be able to send more data, we'll have more opportunities to be able to collect information on the ground level of an operation to do that, and so, once we're able to feed AI with this data, this is where AI is going to be able to make the most impact.

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And also there's you know there's a lot of robotic companies out there right now.

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There's a lot of solutions and one of the sort of rifts out there is that all these robotic technologies they have their own software and it's difficult to get all of these systems talked to each other.

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And this is where the return on investment to some of these solutions is damaged, because they're kind of siloed solutions.

00:21:30.954 --> 00:21:36.988
And you know, I don't want to say nobody's really figured it out yet, because companies are out there trying to do this.

00:21:36.988 --> 00:21:51.209
But AI will allow us to bring all of this data together in sort of a centralized format to make decisions and dispatch to this, because a lot of the times these robotic systems that you know get a B minus grade or a C plus.

00:21:51.209 --> 00:21:53.994
They're doing exactly what they were designed to do.

00:21:53.994 --> 00:21:56.683
They just aren't getting fed the right food.

00:21:57.596 --> 00:22:01.994
Yeah, I love the way that you express these things, because it is such a technical environment.

00:22:01.994 --> 00:22:16.647
Understanding how AI actually functions means that we'll be able to better leverage it, and so many people complicate what AI really is, but at the end of the day, as you just said, it's its inputs and its outputs which speaking of all these technological advancements.

00:22:16.647 --> 00:22:24.311
I am a good sucker for quotes and, ryan, I know that you are as well, and one of your favorite quotes is also one of my favorite quotes Henry Ford.

00:22:24.311 --> 00:22:24.974
We can debate this offer.

00:22:24.974 --> 00:22:28.954
I think his best quote is whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

00:22:28.954 --> 00:22:33.974
But your favorite Henry Ford quote is if I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.

00:22:33.974 --> 00:22:42.728
Talk to us about how that shapes your view of your work, your industry, the work that you do in the future of business and automation as a whole.

00:22:45.237 --> 00:22:47.442
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that I got one.

00:22:47.442 --> 00:22:57.130
I saw I read your quote this morning and you know as far as the horses won.

00:22:57.130 --> 00:22:58.994
Well, maybe, okay, I'll start with the first one.

00:22:58.994 --> 00:23:02.318
And if you think you can, you can.

00:23:02.318 --> 00:23:08.384
And when I was working at this industry leader, I left that industry leader to go to startups.

00:23:08.404 --> 00:23:13.932
But I had that's when I first had the thought gosh, if I worked for the customer, I could save them so much time and money.

00:23:13.932 --> 00:23:24.994
I just thought, like if I was spending all of my time with them, versus with five other customers which what you have to do when you're selling these things or 10, I could bring so much benefit.

00:23:24.994 --> 00:23:40.653
So, you know, then I went to work for the startups and I realized that, you know, they were just kind of figuring a lot of this stuff out and and I had made a lot of return on investment tools and kind of realize I had a knack for this and so I thought I could really utilize this to empower, you know, the customers.

00:23:40.653 --> 00:23:52.994
You could say, and so that first quote strikes me because, you know, I sort of thought I could say I made the observation that the skills I had developed in my industry and I've only ever been in this industry.

00:23:52.994 --> 00:23:54.974
I started in college and automated material handling.

00:23:54.974 --> 00:23:56.862
This is the only world that I know.

00:23:56.862 --> 00:24:12.974
However, as the world of logistics and Amazon, you know, explode and e-commerce and everyone's kind of chasing Amazon and the service levels, I realized that there was a utilization across a lot of different industries, or rather this industry, but a lot of different types of companies.

00:24:13.675 --> 00:24:18.724
And so also you know the quote from Henry Ford about faster horses.

00:24:18.724 --> 00:24:23.994
I think that applies to you know the renaissance that I think is coming right.

00:24:23.994 --> 00:24:51.403
I have also the observation that these customers, they only know what they know and to bring in this, you know this mousetrap of a solution, this big honkin machine that they have to operate, that change management is very tough, so one they're going to need coaching to make it through that and they're not even going to be able to see the full picture of how this is going to work for them without some expertise on their side.

00:24:51.403 --> 00:25:02.678
Yeah, you don't know what you don't know, and I realize that this technology is really outside of the visibility of the people that are using it.

00:25:02.678 --> 00:25:04.362
I'm out here trying to improve that.

00:25:04.931 --> 00:25:16.227
Yeah, ryan, I love hearing the way you talk about those things, because now I feel like we're really crossing that bridge from just Ryan, the subject matter expert and the thought leader in your field, to now also Ryan, the entrepreneur.

00:25:16.227 --> 00:25:30.895
Which is such a fun part for me in having these amazing conversations with people like yourselves Is that, like I say, you're one of us, you're a fellow entrepreneur, so, with that hat on, obviously your love for your customers is so clear even just in talking to you here today.

00:25:30.895 --> 00:25:31.961
What is it?

00:25:31.961 --> 00:25:39.208
What is the way that you think about your business as someone who's so crazy about and proficient when it comes to, automations and systems?

00:25:39.208 --> 00:25:42.962
What is the way that you think about your business today and into the future?

00:25:42.962 --> 00:25:46.031
What drives you for your own business's growth there?

00:25:47.815 --> 00:26:07.381
Yeah, I think, surrounding myself with people that are smarter than I am and I realize I guess I said it earlier sort of coaching the customer you don't know what you don't know, but I plan to utilize the people around me.

00:26:07.381 --> 00:26:12.298
This is definitely, I'll say, one of my skill sets is building and sort of maintaining a network.

00:26:12.298 --> 00:26:51.422
But one of the things that I've done is surround myself with folks that are smarter than me, other independent consultants that do sort of exactly the same type of subject matter that I do, or maybe technology adjacent, because what I want to do for the customer is be their technological hub on what project they should do next, whether it's a, do I need a ship bob or do I need a new warehouse software or do I need a conveyor system, and if I'm not going to have the expertise for all of this, but I want to have the credibility to bring them the expertise for the full suite.

00:26:51.422 --> 00:27:07.663
So, using my network and surrounding myself with people that are smarter than me, and I'll say also trying to be diverse, one I'll say luxury that I have is I have the ability to help the users of the automation.

00:27:07.663 --> 00:27:23.403
You know, the folks that are trying to, you know, deploy these robots on their own behalf, and I have the ability to consult for the folks that are building and selling these robots, and so I'm trying to basically work with both sides of the fence, basically for the same outcome.

00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:32.679
I want automation to have, you know, a better reputation is maybe a shallow way to put it because everyone's chasing it right now, but I want these projects to go better.

00:27:32.679 --> 00:27:39.301
I want people to see the return on investment and I think and do that by helping both vendors and the customers.

00:27:39.301 --> 00:27:45.109
I also happen to help people investing in these companies, which is it sort of makes sense.

00:27:45.109 --> 00:27:47.336
But this is a new industry, right?

00:27:47.336 --> 00:28:06.608
This is a new world of robotics and, given my level of understanding of the customer and the technology and sort of what has worked, what hasn't worked, I found that I'm able to bring a unique perspective to private equity and venture capital folks that you know maybe they look at law firms or dental offices or real estate.

00:28:06.608 --> 00:28:12.182
You know they don't necessarily know how to analyze a robot company.

00:28:12.182 --> 00:28:22.443
So, trying to be diverse and not silo myself into one particular function and utilize my skills as many ways as I can.

00:28:23.171 --> 00:28:35.623
Yeah, and it makes sense because in such an emerging industry that I would imagine it must feel like it's changing every six months in your field it's really cool that you have that ability to be so flexible and nimble and apply all of those past experiences.

00:28:35.623 --> 00:28:45.856
So I guess my question to you, ryan, entrepreneur to entrepreneur, is, with your automation hat on, aside from warehouses, we obviously wear so many hats in our own businesses.

00:28:45.856 --> 00:28:55.853
We have to do bookkeeping, marketing, sales, lead generation, nurturing all of these things and, of course, customer service actually delivering on those projects.

00:28:55.853 --> 00:29:08.789
What are some things that you do that's inside of your entrepreneurial arsenal, when it comes to either you automating some of these responsibilities that we have, or maybe a favorite tool or some tools of yours that you use to actually run your business?

00:29:11.073 --> 00:29:12.174
Yeah, interesting question.

00:29:12.174 --> 00:29:14.818
People ask me this a lot.

00:29:14.818 --> 00:29:18.884
So a couple of different things.

00:29:18.884 --> 00:29:28.914
One, I mean there are some amazing I'll call it outreach tools out there and maybe you guys utilize some of these tools.

00:29:28.914 --> 00:29:32.282
But I've used AI to generate messaging.

00:29:32.282 --> 00:29:49.372
I've used AI to deploy these messages and then analyze which of the messages I may make four different flavors of messages and I see which flavor tastes best to the customer, and so then I rinse and repeat this messaging.

00:29:50.534 --> 00:30:08.190
So, using online platforms to analyze data of what's working and what's not, and then really just technology is enabling us to connect with people all over the world, and you kind of mentioned, like how we're able to have a conversation right here, enabled by technology.

00:30:08.190 --> 00:30:33.943
But there's there's simulation, there's design resources all over the world that, if you know how to feed this machine I'll call it like feed the engineer with the right inputs, they can generate quality outputs, and so just utilizing platforms that connect me with resources has been, has been huge, and I think I think it's, I think it's kind of the way of the future.

00:30:33.943 --> 00:30:37.384
I think there will be more independent resources.

00:30:37.384 --> 00:30:48.875
Maybe you could say like myself, but there'll be people that have niche skills, that realize they can become independent because technology will connect them to work, and I think that's coming.

00:30:49.590 --> 00:30:50.756
Yes, amen to that.

00:30:50.756 --> 00:30:57.377
That is a future that I want to subscribe to, because I think that all these things that you said it just it results in better business.

00:30:57.377 --> 00:31:03.396
It's applying the right skill sets and the right past experiences to the right problems that we can individually solve.

00:31:03.396 --> 00:31:09.278
So, ryan, I want to live in that world that you just illustrated for us, and I do agree with you that I think it's on the way.

00:31:09.390 --> 00:31:21.638
So, with all of that in mind, you gave us so much good advice and insights today, not only about your industry, not only about your nature of work, but also just as an entrepreneur and someone who's a thought leader in a very forward future looking industry.

00:31:21.638 --> 00:31:23.738
I think there's so many nuggets of knowledge for us.

00:31:23.738 --> 00:31:29.817
So I'm going to ask you the most difficult question I have no idea which direction you're going to take it in which is what's that one takeaway?

00:31:29.817 --> 00:31:41.317
With so many considerations and the market moving and evolving quicker than ever before, what's that one thing that you hope every listener, no matter where they are in their entrepreneurial journey, walks away from today's session with?

00:31:42.054 --> 00:31:52.788
I don't know if this is a quote, but I'm sure it is in some contexts and it's sort of in the same vein of Henry Ford's quote about the horses.

00:31:52.788 --> 00:31:56.930
But adapt or fall behind.

00:31:56.930 --> 00:31:59.824
And I think this applies to an individual and a company.

00:31:59.824 --> 00:32:28.750
And as far as the individual goes, if you're not learning new skills or you're not in a function where you're constantly being told to do things, or new customers or new people, there's somebody else that is, and the same light of the business and the warehouse, if you've been doing your processes the same way for 10 years, the demands are increasing and adapt or fall behind.

00:32:28.750 --> 00:32:31.769
Your competition is out there looking for the solutions.

00:32:31.769 --> 00:32:35.534
I'm talking to a lot of these people, so I think just that.

00:32:35.534 --> 00:32:40.914
I suppose always look to be learning and more information is better.

00:32:40.914 --> 00:32:49.904
It's kind of three ways to say the same thing, but Adapt or fall behind.

00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.186
Yeah, really powerful advice.

00:32:52.186 --> 00:32:59.128
Adaptation is such a core part of all of our entrepreneurial journey, so I love that you chose to go in that direction with it.

00:32:59.128 --> 00:33:05.486
It raises the bar for all of us, all you listeners around the world who are tuning in Ryan's, challenging us to continue to adapt.

00:33:05.486 --> 00:33:08.369
It's not something we do once and we get comfortable with it.

00:33:08.369 --> 00:33:10.166
It's an ever-evolving process.

00:33:10.166 --> 00:33:20.247
So I think that's a perfect segue, ryan, to talk about your business where listeners can go, because I know that your business is always evolving and staying ahead of a rapidly evolving marketplace.

00:33:20.247 --> 00:33:21.625
So drop those links on us.

00:33:21.625 --> 00:33:28.183
Where can listeners go to learn more about you, all the great work that you're doing with your business, and connect with you, entrepreneur to entrepreneur?

00:33:29.709 --> 00:33:30.530
Yeah, thanks, brian.

00:33:30.530 --> 00:33:36.945
My company is called Automated Fulfillment Consulting or AutoFC, and you can find us at wwwauto-fccom.

00:33:40.181 --> 00:33:41.586
Listeners, you know the drill.

00:33:41.586 --> 00:33:45.270
We're making it as easy as possible for you to find Ryan's business website.

00:33:45.270 --> 00:33:46.022
It's auto-fccom.

00:33:46.022 --> 00:33:51.681
It's a rare short domain name in a world where I feel like domain names are running out.

00:33:51.681 --> 00:33:52.766
So kudos to you, Ryan.

00:33:52.766 --> 00:34:01.705
Auto-fccom listeners, we're dropping that link down below wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, as well as a link to Ryan's personal LinkedIn If you want to reach out.

00:34:01.705 --> 00:34:05.519
Say thank you for being so generous and insightful with us here on today's episode.

00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:10.452
Otherwise, Ryan, on behalf of myself and all the listeners, thanks for coming on the show today.

00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:12.545
Thanks so much for having me, Brian.

00:34:12.545 --> 00:34:13.168
It was a pleasure.

00:34:14.963 --> 00:34:20.360
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wontropner to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:24.340
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:34:24.340 --> 00:34:30.949
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewontropnershowcom.

00:34:30.949 --> 00:34:33.728
And I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:34:33.728 --> 00:34:42.320
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.

00:34:42.561 --> 00:34:44.480
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00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:45.980
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00:34:45.980 --> 00:34:49.400
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00:34:49.400 --> 00:35:00.320
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00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:08.880
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00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:10.159
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00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:14.579
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00:35:14.579 --> 00:35:16.079
Initiate a live chat.

00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:25.891
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