““The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.””
Who's helping you build the company of your dreams?
There are certain best practices that, if followed, will help you and your business grow faster, with less frustration, and less stress on your life. Do you know what's holding you back? What one thing would catapult your business into the next level of success? When working with the right partner, you are more likely to accomplish the goals you set and reach the success that you know is possible. A few reasons to consider working together:
not emotionally connected
Every day your decisions can have long term implications to your business. Like most business owners, you are probably doing the best that you know, and trying to get better. One advantage I bring to the table is a different perspective. Because it wasn't my idea, I'm not emotionally connected to the outcome and am free to see things differently.
You don’t need answers
Be careful of working with a business consultant or business coach that promises guaranteed solutions. All our clients know "We don't have the answers, but we do have some really good questions." One company that we worked with developed a saying: "There is no silver bullet." What this meant to us was simple: What worked for someone else may not work for us.
Who is willing to challenge you
"What I love about you is that you kick me down, and then you help me back up. Most consultants just knock me down and leave me there." You don't need a "Yes" person on your team. You need someone who can challenge the decisions you've made and push back when necessary so that we get the best result. My goal is your success, not your happiness.
About
I walked away from a success venture capital firm to focus on helping other's create success in their business. My mission is to help the people that I believe in to accomplish the things they believe are possible. Entrepreneurs are worth believing in, and have dreams that create value in the world.
For over 20 years I've worked on projects with companies from all over the world, international athletes, NASCAR, several Major League Baseball teams, startups, and even collaborated on a NY Times bestselling book. I have been “Finding a better way” in technology, business, strategic planning, marketing, and professional development for over 20 years and am also a Lean Startup enthusiast.
Now I'm leveraging that experience to help founders & CEOs smash through barriers, crush goals, and build better businesses.
There are certain foundational principles and best practices that will help you and your business grow faster. Just like having a personal trainer will accelerate your fitness goals, a business coach can help you achieve success faster.
Let's talk about what you want to accomplish, and more importantly, what's getting in your way.
Praise & Reviews
“I tripled the size of my business in two years of working with Steve.
He asks questions you never would have asked yourself, to come to business decisions you never would have thought to make.
It’s like having a smarter, savvier version of you future self to guide you in the right direction.
His invoice is my first and favorite thing to pay each month.”
“My absolute biggest challenge prior to working with was that honestly, I just really did not have experience running a business professionally. The challenge was to make myself think in a new way. I could not continue to run Mad Taco as a single entity and I struggled to see the big picture. Steve helped me realize that I was still operating Mad Taco as if the first and the second location were the only two I would ever own. I now realize the importance of good systems, accountability, and more importantly, the right people in the right place.
This left me feeling unprepared, inadequate, inept. I still feel that struggle as I learn my way through the process. After working with Steve I began to push some of my people. To define their jobs with specifics and to hold them accountable for those specifics. It’s not perfect, yet, but we are working toward it. And he helped me to set goals by not being satisfied with status quo. Instead of telling myself and each other, I now approach situations with a “what will it take to achieve that?” attitude.
Through holding people accountable, one of my GM’s has left and a better person has stepped in. My second GM has been repurposed for a position he is better suited for, and a task/projects-oriented person has stepped in.
If you are unsure if Steve is a good fit for your company, hop off the fence and into Stephen’s yard. He is easy to work with, clear, and savvy. You will learn as much about yourself as you will the people you are working with. Steve is a guide. He doesn’t do the work for you, but why would you want him to? It’s my business, I want to learn how to make it perform better; Steve helped me do that.”
“My absolute biggest challenge was getting my team to step up and think strategically. Not just relying on me to be the idea guy. This left me feeling ineffective, frustrated & demotivated at times as a leader. On top of that, implementation of those ideas was the next big struggle that Steve helped me overcome.
My team was skeptical at first, but after Steve began articulating our problems in only a way that he can and giving examples of how he has seen these struggles in other companies, my teams ears perked up and they began to engage more. After 2 weeks, they were completely bought in and excited to begin implementing improvements. After working with Steve we are having the best leasing year we have ever had. We have data driven accountability, and the team is aligned and humming.
If you are on the fence about working with Steve you have probably been burned by consultants in the past and don’t want to make that same mistake again. I’d encourage you to evaluate if what Steve is saying sounds like it will work, trust your gut and give him a shot to show you his value.
Steve has an incredibly unique thought process, a brilliant mind and an engaging heart. I believe his value add spans all industries and he is capable and passionate about helping leaders at all levels.”
“As my business continued to grow, I found myself feeling more and more isolated during business decisions. I would try to find people to confide in and seek advice but they normally did not understand what I was going through as an entrepreneur.
I found that when speaking with Steve, he would help me answer those questions and fears by asking more educated questions that only a fellow business person/entrepreneur would know to ask you. I felt understood and less alone in some very tough decisions.
Steve helped me organize and strengthen my management team as well as seek out what type of business practices worked well for my company’s structure and culture.
If you need an educated colleague to confide in and work things out with, then Steve is definitely your guy. He will make you dig deep to answer the questions yourself as well as help provide you with the tools you need to move your business to the next level.”
“The reality is that Steve sees your potential more than you do. As a result, I’ve worked with Steve since 2014. During our time together I am more effective as a CEO because I’m following best practices in my business and he is holding me accountable.”
“Steve has a keen ability to get to the root of business problems, particularly in a startup context as founders are diagnosing the business problem they are trying to solve. Steve uses the relentless combination of solid questioning skills and empathetic listening to hear what the customer is saying - and what they are not saying - in order to build the right response plan and solution. Not only does Steve have this skill himself, he is excellent at coaching founders to apply the same strategy and tactics which can be an absolute game changer for those who heed his coaching.”
“Steve has an amazing skill I wish I had. It seems hecan tell someone practical anything and it not come off as rude because he cares about people. He is also incredible at reviewing your behavioral profile and gazing into your soul. After we sat down to talk about mine, the first words he said cut right to the core. He was on point and knew exactly what he was saying. His ability to quickly evaluate companies and ideas is incredible. I really enjoyed working with him. In just one meeting he saved me 10 years and hundreds of thousands of wasted time and money.”