IAM477- Founder Offers Business Owners Unique Coaching and Programs

Shelly Berman-Rubera is the Founder and President of SBR-Small Business Results, Newton, MA, Shelly Berman-Rubera, is Master Certified in Business Management a Certified Small Business Coach, and an Emotional Intelligence Leader, It is the combination of her credentials and experiences that offers business owners unique and inspiring business development coaching and programs. She is known as the 30-Day Strategy Coach and is the founder of a strategic framework that drives results.

• CEO Hack: Following business books that align with my framework
• CEO Nugget: Tenacity- don't give up
• CEO Defined: Ability to grow and express myself, freedom, leading the ship

Website: http://smallbusresults.com/

Book on Amazon: 100 Tips to Small Business Results: Tips and Case Studies to Grow Business Owners and Propel Revenue

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Smallbusinessresults/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallbusinessresults/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellyrubera
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShellyBR
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShellyBermanRubera

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:30

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from me I am the CEO podcast I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Shelly Berman Rubera of Small Business Results. Shelly, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Shelly Berman Rubera 0:40

Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

The honor is definitely all mine. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Shelly so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Shelly is the founder and president of SBR Small Business Results based in Newton, Massachusetts. Shelly Berman Rubera is a master certified in business management and a certified small business coach and emotional intelligence leader. It is the combination of her credentials and experiences that offers business owners unique and inspiring business development and coaching programs. She is known as the 30-day strategy coach and is the founder of a strategic framework that drives results Shelly? Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Shelly Berman Rubera 1:18

I'm ready here, present and accounted for.

Gresham Harkless 1:20

Awesome, let's do it. So to kick everything off, I want to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to get started with your business.

Shelly Berman Rubera 1:29

I'm able to tell this in a pretty succinct fashion. My personality is that I really don't like being told what to do. So let's true of a lot of us. So I knew early on that I didn't want to work for anyone else I needed to be my own boss. At a very young age, I started a dance school. A lot of things I did came from passion but with a lot of foresight. So I opened a dance school in the city of Boston and three months later, John Travolta hit the scene. Shelly's disco dance school became the second-largest dance school in the city of Boston.

Gresham Harkless 2:04

Nice.

Shelly Berman Rubera 2:05

Very exciting, fun period of time. But the true entrepreneur in me is true of a lot of people, I got bored and said, this isn't really what I want to do forever, knew I needed to do something, having to do with my body, I actually took a position as a marketing director, not that I ever studied marketing, but you know, you run your own business. And it was there that I met someone who encouraged me to do bodybuilding. So I became a competitive bodybuilder way before the whole trend of lifting weights. but how was I going to make any money?

So I became one of the first personal trainers on the East Coast and actually ran that company for 23 years when the little entrepreneur in me said, I don't actually want to do this for the rest of my life, either. So what was next I actually opened up a leadership company, hit the ground running corporate America, and really did quite well in terms of closing sales. But there were two things that have many things that happened. One is it was the downturn of the economy. So all external venting was being cut. To us, I found myself in corporate America, and I really hated there.

So like, this was a bad turn. I had to go back and really say, Okay, you can't keep reinventing yourself, like, Who are you and what, who are you? You know, and it was through that process, which I think is a crucial process, that I was able to realize that I love starting and growing businesses, I love it did not make sense to keep reinventing myself, it's very hard to do. So I became certified as an emotional intelligence leader, business coach, and master certified in business management. That's what I've been doing for the last 15 years. It's really the combination of all those experiences that allowed me to give birth to what I really believed I was meant to do.

Gresham Harkless 4:01

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. It's good to hear as I definitely know a lot of people that are listening, they're here and they always feel like they have to do they want to do something else. I'm glad that's a little entrepreneurial that's inside of us. That's pushing us to do that as it sounds like you went through a lot. You probably experienced with your clients as well.

Shelly Berman Rubera 4:17

I mean, the worst thing is to be bored. Yeah, you know, people that get up and go to work every day, then lose their passion and lose their desire. You know, we're only here once so it's much better to wake up and be excited about what we're doing.

Gresham Harkless 4:32

Exactly. Yeah. And definitely, I appreciate you for like helping, you know, so many, you know, business owners kind of help to do that. To be able to be comfortable in doing that and be successful in that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Could you tell us a little bit more about like how you work with your clients and some of the services you provide?

Shelly Berman Rubera 4:48

So, I work in multiple ways. I work one one I have a home office. I also go on-site and provide training for business owners and their employees and I run groups where you bring a group of entrepreneurs together and create learning in synergy. And they can take care of each other, you know, like building an external sales team, but all working within the business coach and facilitator for direction. And the number one thing that I love to do is my speaking engagements where you can reach many people, and right in front of them, they have an ability to connect with you believe in you, and walk away with tangible results. So all of that is under the realm of business coaching. It's personal and business development.

And so that could mean a lot of different things. But we know that a company is only as good as the owner running it. So we do work on interpersonal skills, business management, as well as any structures that need to happen within fundamentals that have to happen within a successful business.

Gresham Harkless 5:58

That makes perfect sense. I'm glad you brought that up. Because I usually say a lot that a lot of times we forget that when we look at businesses and organizations, they're made up as people of people, definitely, as you mentioned, especially as the leader or the CEO, or whatever high level, you know, the title you might have, you have to make sure that you're developing yourself as well, too. Because I think sometimes we forget that as we're growing businesses or growing others we sometimes forget about ourselves.

Shelly Berman Rubera 6:22

Well, personal development is if we're not continually doing that, then literally that's why people go to life coaches, because they get stuck. Happy to get to keep growing.

Gresham Harkless 6:34

That makes perfect sense. Now, let me ask you this, do you find that there's a good time or a perfect time to you know, hire a business coach? Or is it something that you do when you get stuck? Or is you can you be more proactive? do it before that? Is there a good time? Or is it just kind of anytime?

Shelly Berman Rubera 6:50

I really believe that from the moment you have an idea, whether you go to the SBA, whether you hire a mentor, whether you find a calling, I always say find me someone smarter than me, I want that. I want that intellectual conversation. I want someone to tell me, good idea, bad idea. You know, suggestions support, even Shelly You can do it, someone to believe in you. So I believe that we have our parents, hopefully, our parents do that. Not all do. But I believe that from the moment you have the idea, we need support. more today than ever trying to go in alone is just way too hard. and isolating.

Gresham Harkless 7:40

Yeah, absolutely. You're the same as your environment determines your altitude, or how high you go, how much success you will receive. So it's important to kind of make sure you try to facilitate it as much as possible. I appreciate you, you know, answering that question. Then also bringing up ideas of other ways that we people can do it as well, too, whether we go into the SBA, getting mentors, there's so many different ways that we can kind of create that environment.

Shelly Berman Rubera 8:01

The thing is, is that the reality is, it is very, very hard to run a small business, I've been doing it my whole life. It's grueling. The other side of grueling is that it's about the most exhilarating thing you can do. If you're a small business owner and entrepreneur, there's nothing better than, you know, seeing someone grow or make money or leave your office saying, Oh, I'm energized. So but that's the reality. The reality is that it's hard. You know, it's like they don't tell you like the labor pain. That part's the outcome amazing, your kids. Yeah. But running a business is challenging. I'd rather someone tell me that, and then help me cut the curve of learning or help me to pay attention to the key components. Otherwise, that's why the percentage of small businesses don't make it because they're throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping it'll stick. Just need help today.

Gresham Harkless 9:04

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate you for saying that. Because I think there is somewhat of a negative kind of story around what it takes to run a small business. Just as you said, I think sometimes a lot of the reason that small businesses fail is because you don't necessarily understand how difficult it is. So you come in thinking that it's going to be easy that it's all sunshine and rainbows you don't understand the ebbs and the flows and the highs and lows that go with running a business. If you aren't ready for that and are prepared for that, that could be a shell shock, the very first time it happens.

Shelly Berman Rubera 9:31

I just want you to think about something. When I wanted to start a dance school, I rode my bike Starmark parking lot with flyers. I put a flyer in every car. I got a phone number at a post office box. If you could talk to the people that call you, you could sell right You didn't even need a website. Now, in today's world, I don't think I'm going to be putting fliers in the stock market parking lot to be found. So you know before you could start a business from your passion. But now you need a strategy, you need passion plus a strategic approach. It's part of what you're doing. Our goal is to you know, your goal, the podcast, reach people help them paint a picture of reality, and even the business you're running. You don't have to do it alone. You can hire high-integrity people to help.

Gresham Harkless 10:22

Absolutely, yes, success is a team sport. You know, that's part of it, like you said what we're trying to do is help it to increase the business success rate and help people to be successful by knowing about resource understanding, you know, the difficulty that running a business can be, but at the same time understanding that there are so many resources and individuals like yourself out there that can help people do that. So I know I touched on this a little bit when I read your bio, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. It could be for you personally or your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Shelly Berman Rubera 10:51

Well, I would say that there are two things. I believe that people need a framework, that just the idea of being coached by a consultant, you know how to hire a consultant is too esoteric, how much money? How much work? How long do I need to be with you? So I did this for myself. It's something that I gifted doing for my clients, which is creating a framework within which you work. So it's not, where are we going now? So very briefly, my framework is six steps begins with commitment. Step two, focus on step three, how do you stand out? How do you market that one? Step four is building relationships, which you're gifted at. Step five is managing emotions.

Step six is accountability for your results. So when I talk to a client, we're going to work within the framework. it's when you have all those pieces in place that you stand to make a change, right? Not out there, but works within the framework. The second thing I have is my total belief in myself, and that where I've been my highs, my lows, and my life experience, I do hold wisdom that's worthy of sharing. And so I think that being in a structured framework, and believing in myself to gifts that we can give your audience, you know, what your framework? do you really believe in your own self-worth, is a very winning combination.

Gresham Harkless 12:27

Absolutely. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Shelly Berman Rubera 12:38

I really follow good business books, I follow business books that align with my framework. So if there's something about commitment, or about productivity, I think that I'm really my secret is that I love quiet. Like, I really love scary how much I like quiet. But I like reading and being quiet. and notebook. And that's what keeps me fresh.

Gresham Harkless 13:05

Yeah, I love that. That hack. I think especially with such a high technology diet, that it seems like we're all on, you do need that time to get away. I think, you know, sometimes people are definitely afraid to be in that quieter piece. But I think for myself personally, a lot of times that's where really good ideas are really good introspection and, and kind of stepping away from all the rapid information that we're getting if you're able to step away and just read a book, write on a journal, do things like that, it allows you to really get clarity. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Shelly Berman Rubera 13:43

I think the word that comes to my mind is tenacity. You just don't give up. You know, I just think that's been my gift, no matter what life throws at you. That little voice that says I'm gonna keep going.

Gresham Harkless 13:59

Absolutely, I love that, and I love that perspective. Because I think a lot of times, you know, just as you said, sometimes you just have to make a choice not to give and it's hard to be I always say it's hard to be somebody that never gives up and it's hard to lose, it's hard to fail if you never give up if you just keep clawing at whatever you want, whatever that goal aspiration that you have, you know, for your business or for your life. If you do that, and you continue on with that no matter what, then you too can make sure that your reach, where are you going? now I would ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Shelly What does being a CEO mean to you?

Shelly Berman Rubera 14:34

Being a CEO means that I have the ability to grow, and express myself. That freedom if we go back full circle to my first your first question is to leave the ship to be the captain of the ship. And I liked that.

Gresham Harkless 14:53

Awesome. Yeah, I think definitely many entrepreneurs and business owners could definitely you know, understand that and love that definition because You have the freedom, you have the choice in order to paint the picture of what you want for your life and for your business. But you have to, of course, roll up your sleeves and make sure that that happens. But I appreciate you for obviously doing that yourself, but also for helping so many, you know, entrepreneurs and business owners do it themselves. Of course, I appreciate your time even more.

So I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. Then of course, how best to get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you guys working on.

Shelly Berman Rubera 15:25

Firstly, just thank you and back to you because what you're doing is really colossal. I appreciate it, bringing us on and trying to showcase and bring support to your network. My web address is www.smallbusresults.com. On that website, you can sign up for my newsletter, the newsletter will let you know about events, webinars, and anything that we're offering. I do work virtually all the time, just like you and I are. I love person to person, but in today's world, some just can't get through it, you know, and not everybody lives in Massachusetts. Yeah, I think that's it.

Gresham Harkless 16:10

Awesome. Awesome. Well, we will make sure to have those links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can click through and follow up with you and sign up for your newsletter. But thank you so much again, Shelly. I appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]