I AM CEO PODCAST

IAM945- Founder Helps Clients Manifest Dream Businesses into Reality

Podcast Interview with Robert Patin

Robert is the Managing Partner and Founder of Creative Agency Success and the Author of the international best-selling book The Agency Blueprint.

His focus is working with clients to manifest their dream business into reality, with a foundational principle that simplicity is best. Through decades of experience working in finance and over a decade working with Creative Agencies he is able to expertly partner with clients to guide their businesses to achieve their goals.

  • CEO Hack: Focusing on me and designing life the way I want it to be
  • CEO Nugget: Learn to say no and figure out what you're good at
  • CEO Defined: Visionary and to surround yourself with better people

Website: https://www.creativeagencysuccess.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Agency-Blueprint-Business-System-Success-ebook/dp/B08CBM9VZH/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Agency+Blueprint&qid=1610325391&sr=8-4

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/creative-agency-success/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cfofinancialstrategies
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativeagencysuccess/


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Transcription

 

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Intro 0:11

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 0:38

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Robert PatIn of Patton and Associates. Robert, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Robert Patin 0:47

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:48

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Robert so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Robert is the managing partner and founder of Creative Agency Success and the author of the international best-selling book, The Agency Blueprint. His focus is working with clients who manifest their dream business into a reality with a foundational principle that simplicity is best. Through decades of experience working in finance over a decade with creative agencies, he can expertly partner with clients to guide their businesses to achieve their goals. Robert, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Robert Patin 1:24

I'm excited to do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:25

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So they kind of kick everything off. I wanted to rewind the clock here more on how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story? When did you start the business?

Robert Patin 1:34

Yeah, sure. So I started by working in public accounting at different CPA firms for many, many years. And then worked internally at some marketing agencies and grew to love the industry and grew to love being sort of nearby creatives. As a true analytical mind myself, it's nice to have that creative outlet that I don't have in my normal day-to-day life. And then also found that working with small to medium agencies, really helping agency owners be able to manifest their dreams was something that gave me a lot of meaning in my life. So I developed my business to not only help agency owners but also provide myself with fulfillment.

Gresham Harkless 2:17

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, I appreciate that. And, and I can imagine that getting the opportunity to kind of have sounded like kind of both sides of the brain to be able to cultivate that have that is your strength, but also be in those industries, I imagine, most don't have both of those sides or have exposure to both of those sides. So I imagine when you work with those agencies, and of course, all your clients, I'm sure it helps out tremendously.

Robert Patin 2:39

Yeah, that's nice. I mean, I spent a lot of years in my younger years as a photographer. And as an accountant, that's not an outlet that I get to use very often, you know, and it's nice to be alongside the brilliant minds that I work alongside every day.

Gresham Harkless 2:54

Yeah, absolutely. Because you get the opportunity to have both of those sides of the coin. And it helps out I think as far as being able to look at the numbers and be able to understand that but at the same time think outside the box, sometimes in a creative way.

Robert Patin 3:05

Exactly. 100%.

Gresham Harkless 3:08

Awesome. So I know I touched on a little bit when I read your bio you did as well. Can you take us through a little bit more on how you serve your clients, and you work with them? And how exactly that process goes?

Robert Patin 3:17

Yeah, so typically speaking, when I start working with a new agency, we go through their 10, five, three, and one-year plans, outlining exactly what that agency is looking to accomplish and what the business owner the agency owner is looking to accomplish. And so what we do is we help guide them through different initiatives that allow them to manifest that dream into a reality. I'm a very data-focused mind, right? As I mentioned, I'm a very analytical guy. So I'm very data-focused mind.

So I help provide the agency owners with the data that they need to be able to make the decisions that they need on a day-to-day basis and help them remove that stress of the unknown. So when I come into an agency, typically speaking, you have the owner having created the business or the agency, essentially by accident, right? So they started by bringing on a new client, I started doing graphic design work, for example. And then I brought on another client and eventually had to bring on employees, so it wasn't something that they did from design. So I helped them get back to the root of what they wanted when they started the agency in the first place and make that come true.

Gresham Harkless 4:29

Yeah, and that's huge. And you know, you hear a lot of our I hear it on the show a lot. A lot of people use the phrase, accidental entrepreneur. I didn't realize I wanted to start this but I was passionate. I did great work and next thing you have all these clients and employees but I love how you talked about that data piece because I've always heard and I'm a big believer of the finances and the data and the systems will set you free. And I think that allows people to be even more creative because when you get to partner with somebody who has that expertise. It allows you to be present to serve your clients be your best self and create phenomenal things.

Robert Patin 5:05

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 5:07

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. So I want to ask you for what I call now your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself personally or your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Robert Patin 5:17

I would say back to the data portion, right? So a lot of instances, you have coaches, which is essentially 50%, coach and 50%, CF contract CFO, a lot of coaches try to fit a one-size-fits-all, for businesses that they serve, right? So, the way that I look at it is that I take the data of where the agency has been in the past, and use that data to allow them to be able to guide where they're going to be in the future, find out where those problem areas are, provide them with the tools that they need to be able to make decisions on their own and allow for them to be able to have that comfort that they can be able to continually improve their business.

And not just from a financial perspective, but looking at it from a sales from a lead gen to an efficiency and Talent Management and focusing on the holistic view of the entire business with a mindset of hey, we're in business to earn a buck, right? So make sure that we're positioning and pivoting from that point first. But again, back to just its data, so incredibly important in business management, and business ownership, and so I help agency owners in that in that place.

Gresham Harkless 6:30

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And especially, you know, I was just thinking of the kind of like the beginning story, I don't know if you've heard of the E Myth book. But a lot of times people are passionate about what they do. And then they start to create the business. And that business kind of has a mind of its own. And you forget why, you know, you were even doing why you decided to start this venture and it sounds like you increase the likelihood of being successful by having that data and that information so that those visions that they had, which are unique to each organization and business owner gets to come potentially to fruition.

Robert Patin 7:17

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 7:18

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

Robert Patin 7:19

So about being effective and efficient. I mean, to be honest with you, I would say that the piece that sets me apart from where I was early on in my career to now is that I spent many years doing what I thought I should be doing, and what I believe society had expected from business owners and, and career CFOs. At one point in my career, I had gotten to a point where I was at a breaking point. I ended up spending a couple of days by myself just with a book and a pen and wrote out what I wanted.

And that vision plan that I spoke about earlier that I help guide my agency, and clients, through, but that I wanted to no longer be chained to my desk change to chain to my work, and that I no longer wanted to be working obscene hours. So I designed my business life the way that I wanted it to be and eventually ended up turning that into my book that became an international bestseller last year called the agency blueprint.

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Gresham Harkless 8:18

If that makes so much sense. And, I was going to ask you if you felt like by and it sounds like you've done that for so many people. But do you feel like having that kind of freedom? Right? It creates that, I guess possibility that it can even be something that happens because I often feel like so many times, when you hear that somebody has a business or they're successful, or they however they got started, you automatically feel like you have to emulate that. But it sounds like everything that you've been able to write in creating your book is creating kind of like that blueprint or that that that path for yourself and your organization and then working towards that.

Robert Patin 8:56

Yeah, I mean, the thing that I think about being a business owner is that it comes with stress, it comes with risk, it comes with all of these aspects. And if it's not going to the end goal or it isn't going to provide you ultimately with the freedom that you want, then why would you go down that path in the first place, right? Otherwise, you could work for someone else, you could work for another organization and still earn quite substantial salaries, and still go down that path without that risk and that stress that you would have been an entrepreneur. So going down that path. It's so important, I think for it to be focused on you, right, you're the creator, you're the owner, it should be the way that you want it to be.

Gresham Harkless 9:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you're able to take whatever that vision is, and as you said, understand all the different pieces on how many leads, what type of talent you want to attract, and all those things that help you to get to that goal because I think once you figure out that maybe this is something that I want to do. You also can sometimes get stuck in figuring out how exactly that's going to happen. But I love that in your book, you've been able to help someone in class to do that as well.

Robert Patin 10:04

Yeah, it's quite rewarding.

Gresham Harkless 10:06

Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, and might be something you would tell a client or if you were to happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Robert Patin 10:19

Quite an odd piece of nugget of advice. But that nugget of advice or word would be no. Learn to say no, learn to figure out what your focus is learn to figure out exactly what you're good at. And don't allow your clients and don't allow other people to design your business in your life for you. So what I see so frequently, and many business owners, especially in the service sector, that they ended up creating a business around the way that either their employees or the clients wanted it to be right.

And so if you are more adept and feel comfortable saying know that this is what I do, and this is what I do well, so that you can make sure that you're doing it, one that is providing you with that, that passion, that excitement that you want. But really, it's learning to say no. And there was a TED talk that I listened to many years ago, unfortunately, had already learned the lesson at this point. But I thought it was interesting, because another CEO during that TED Talk said, it was the most important lesson that he'd ever learned was the learning to say no. And I felt 100%  the same.

Gresham Harkless 11:28

Yeah, that's so powerful. And I think a lot of creatives can listen to this as well, too. Or he that that nugget, because I think Steve Jobs has this quote where he says focus is not saying yes, to many things are saying yes to one thing is saying no to all the other things. And I think it kind of ties into what you talked about and having that conversation or, or having that writer however, that manifests itself into what that vision is, and allowing that vision to be the fuel, not where the client says, oh, you should have this or you should do that. And I think we often can fall into that trap because we aren't staying true to that vision and that goal and saying no to those things that aren't right in alignment with that.

Robert Patin 12:06

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're all gonna have different, quote, unquote, CEOs on the show. So Robert would just be the CEO mean to you,

Robert Patin 12:20

I would say that it means to be the visionary of the company, to surround yourself with smarter and better people, and to lift them. The recognition of your not being good at everything doesn't make you a failure, it makes you more self-aware. And so yeah, being the visionary, the person that pushes the business forward, and is the one that's creating the new ideas, and how to solve problems and create new solutions to issues that are out there in the marketplace. And that's driving your team, it's driving your talent, it's driving the business in a direction creating that vision.

Gresham Harkless 13:02

Nice. Yeah, I appreciate that so much. And I love that you said, you know, being understanding, like what you do best is not you being a failure, you doing all the things is not you being a failure. And I think so many times we feel like you know, I always say like when you start a business, you have to have some type of ego to say, hey, I can create something bigger and better to some degree.

But at the same time, you have to let that ego fall by the wayside to some degree, because you want to make sure that you're empowering those around you to be their best selves. And we all have something unique to us that we can do better sometimes than anybody else. And we need to lean into that because that's really how we can go further and make that dent in the impact in the world that we hope to have.

Robert Patin 13:41

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I look at every person that I encounter, as an opportunity to learn and to grow. And if you look at every person that you meet your team members included as an opportunity to learn and grow. It's it's such an important life lesson that allows you to be a better person tomorrow than you are today and a better entrepreneur a better, better at whatever it is that you do.

Gresham Harkless 14:04

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know if you feel like because you can see the forest for the trees, you understand, like the systems and all the things in the place. If that helps you out, as far as seeing like these are, these are the organizations that are the best run, because they don't try to they don't have a leader that tries to do everything. But I feel like that's something that speaks to me because I think so many times we think that being successful is doing all things but saying no, and being able to lean in on what you do best is really what it sounds like helps you be successful.

Robert Patin 14:33

Yeah, exactly. Right. I mean, that's what I was sort of speaking to earlier on when I was saying that I had created my career in my life around what I believed society to be. And I know that growing up when I thought of a successful business person, I thought of someone that was behind the desk that was dedicated to the work and they were working 100-hour weeks, right? That's what I envisioned as a successful entrepreneur, and then realized, Wait, why? Where did that come from? How did they get in? In my head and go away, yeah.

Gresham Harkless 15:03

Yeah. And that's, that's powerful to be able to do that. But I think sometimes we don't realize that our definitions, the way that we look at things come from someplace else. And we often don't ask why we're doing certain things, and how they align with who we are. But I love that you were able to do that because it reminds us that we need to question and do those exercise habits and those introspective moments to be able to ask, what is success? What do we want to do? And how maybe our definition is not aligned with that. And how can we change that?

Robert Patin 15:48

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 15:49

Awesome. Awesome. Well, Robert, I truly appreciate that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get hold of you to get a copy of your book and find out about all the awesome things you're working on. Yeah, what

Robert Patin 15:52

Yeah, what a recommend you check out my book, it's a creative agency success, calm Ford slash resources, you can download a free copy of the book on my website. Feel free to shoot me an email at info at Creative Agency success. com. We'd be happy to help in any way that I can.

Gresham Harkless 16:08

Awesome, awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, Robert. We will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get a hold of you. But I appreciate you know all the work that you do helping out these creatives, as well as all the insights that you provided today and I hope you have a phenomenal us today.

Outro 16:22

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.

Robert Patin 0:00

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I would say that it means to be the visionary of the company, and to surround yourself with smarter and better people, and to lift them up.

Gresham Harkless 0:11

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search up. This is I am CEO podcast. Hello, hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. And Robert patent of patent and Associates. Robert, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Robert Patin 0:47

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:48

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jumped in, I want to read a little bit more about Robert so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Robert is the managing partner and founder of patent and associates and the author of the international best selling book, the agency blueprint. His focus is working with clients who manifest their dream business into reality with a foundational principle that simplicity is best. And through decades of experience working in finance in over a decade working with the creative agencies, he is able to expertly partner with clients to guide their businesses to achieve their goals. Robert, are you ready to speak to the IMC Oh community?

Robert Patin 1:24

I'm excited to do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:25

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So they kind of kick everything off. I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through your SEO story? When did you get started the business?

Robert Patin 1:34

Yeah, sure. So I started by working in public accounting at different CPA firms for many, many years. And then worked internally at some marketing agencies and really grew to love the industry and grew to love being sort of nearby creatives. As a true analytical mind myself, it's nice to have that creative outlet that I don't have in my normal day to day life. And then also found that working with small to medium agencies, really helping agency owners be able to manifest their dreams was something that really gave me a lot of meaning in my life. So I developed my business to not only help agency owners, but also provide myself with fulfillment.

Gresham Harkless 2:17

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. And, and I can imagine that getting the opportunity to kind of have sounds like kind of both sides of the brain to be able to cultivate that have that, obviously, is your strength, but also be in those industries, I imagine, most don't have both of those sides, or have exposure to both of those sides. So I imagine when you work with those agencies, and of course, all your clients, I'm sure it helps out tremendously.

Robert Patin 2:39

Yeah, that's really nice. I mean, I spent a lot of years my younger years as a as a photographer. And as an accountant, that's not a an outlet that I get to use very often, you know, and it's nice to be alongside the brilliant minds that I work alongside every day.

Gresham Harkless 2:54

Yeah, absolutely. Because you get the opportunity to kind of have both of those, you know, sides of the coin. And it really helps out I think as far as like being able to obviously look at the numbers and be able to understand that but at the same time think outside the box, sometimes in a creative way.

Robert Patin 3:05

Exactly. 100%.

Gresham Harkless 3:08

Awesome. So I know I touched on a little bit when I read your bio you did as well. Can you take us through a little bit more on how you serve your clients, and you work with them? And how exactly that process goes?

Robert Patin 3:17

Yeah, so typically speaking, when I start working with a new agency, we go through their 10, five, three and one year plan, outline exactly what that that agency is looking to accomplish and what the business owner the agency owner is looking to accomplish. And so what we do is we help guide them through different initiatives that allow for them to manifest that that dream into a reality. I'm a very data focused mind, right. As I mentioned, I'm a very analytical guy. So I'm very data focused mind. So I help provide the agency owners with the data that they need to be able to make the decisions that they need on a day to day basis and help them remove that stress of the unknown. So when I come into an agency, typically speaking, you have the owner having created the business or the agency, essentially by accident, right? So they started by I brought on a new client, I started doing graphic design work, for example. And then I brought on another client and eventually had to bring on employees, so it wasn't something that they did from design. So I helped them get back to the root of what they really wanted, when they started the agency in the first place and make that come true.

Gresham Harkless 4:29

Yeah, and that's absolutely huge. And you know, you hear a lot of our I definitely hear it on the show a lot. A lot of people use the phrase accidental entrepreneur. I didn't realize I wanted to start this but I was really passionate. I did great work and next thing you know, you know, you have all these clients and employees but I love how you talked about that data piece because I've always heard and I'm a big believer of you know, the the finances and the data and the systems will set you free. And I think that allows people to really be even more creative because when you get to partner with somebody that has that expertise. It allows you to really be present to serve your clients and to be your best self and to create really phenomenal things.

Robert Patin 5:05

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 5:07

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. So I want to ask you for what I call now your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself personally or your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Robert Patin 5:17

I would say back to the data portion, right. So a lot of instances, you have coaches, which is essentially 50%, coach and 50%, CF contract CFO, a lot of coaches try to fit a one size fits all, for businesses that they serve, right. So I, the way that I look at it is that I take the data of where the agency has been in the past, and, and use that data to allow them to be able to guide where they're going to be in the future, find out where those problem areas are, provide them with the tools that they really need to be able to make decisions on their own, and allow for them to be able to have that comfort that they have the ability to be able to continually improve their business. And not just from a financial perspective, but looking at it from a sales from a lead gen to an efficiency and Talent Management and focusing on the holistic view of the entire business with a mindset of hey, we're in business to earn a buck, right? So making sure that we're positioning and pivoting from that point first. But again, back to just its data, so incredibly important in business management, business ownership, and so I help agency owners in that in that place.

Gresham Harkless 6:30

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And especially, you know, I was just thinking of the kind of like the beginning story, I don't know if you've heard of the E Myth book. But a lot of times people are passionate about what they do. And then they start to create the business. And that business kind of has a mind of its own. And you forget why, you know, you were even doing why you decided to start, you know, this venture and it definitely sounds like you increase the likelihood of being successful by having that data and that information so that those visions that they had, which are unique to each, you know, organization and business owner gets to come potentially to fruition. Absolutely. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or a book or habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Robert Patin 7:19

So about being effective and efficient. I mean, to be honest with you, I would say that the piece that really sets me apart from where I was early on in my career to now is that I spent many years doing what I thought I should be doing, and what I believe society had expected from business owners and, and career CFOs. At one point in my career, I had gotten to a point where I was at a breaking point. And I ended up spending a couple days by myself just with a book and a pen and wrote out what I wanted. And that vision plan that I spoke about earlier that I help guide my agency clients through, but that I wanted to no longer be chained to my desk change to chain to my work, and that I no longer wanted to be working obscene hours. And so I designed my business life the way that I wanted it to be, and eventually ended up turning that into my book that went international bestseller last year called the agency blueprint.

Gresham Harkless 8:18

If that makes so much sense. And and, you know, I was actually going to ask you that if you felt like by and it sounds like you've definitely obviously done that for so many people. But do you felt like having that kind of free? Right? It creates that, I guess possibility that it can even be something that happens because I often feel like so many times, when you hear that somebody has a business or they're successful, or they however they got started, you automatically feel like you have to emulate that. But it sounds like everything that you've been able to write in creating your book is creating kind of like that blueprint or that that that path for yourself and your organization and then working towards that.

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Robert Patin 8:56

Yeah, I mean, the thing that I think about being a business owner is that it comes with stress, it comes with risk, it comes with all of these aspects. And if it's not going to the end goal of it isn't going to provide you ultimately with the freedom that you want, then why would you go down that path in the first place, right? Otherwise, you could work for someone else, you could work for another organization and still earn quite substantial salaries, and still go down that path without having that that risk and that that, um, that stress that you would have being an entrepreneur. So going down that path. It's so important, I think to for it to really be focused on on you, right, you're the creator, you're the owner, it should be the way that you want it to be.

Gresham Harkless 9:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you you're able to take you know, whatever that vision is, and as you said, understand all the different pieces on how many leads, what type of talent do you want to attract and all those things that help you to get to that goal because I think once you figure out that maybe this is something that I want to do. You also can sometimes get stuck in figuring out how exactly that's going to happen. But I love that You know, you do that in your book, you've been able to kind of help someone class to do that as well.

Robert Patin 10:04

Yeah, it's definitely quite rewarding.

Gresham Harkless 10:06

Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, and might be something you would tell a client or if you were to happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Robert Patin 10:19

Quite an odd piece of nugget of advice. But that nugget of advice or word would be no. Learn to say no, learn to figure out what your focus is learn to figure out exactly what you're good at. And don't allow your clients and don't allow other people to design your business in your life for you. So what I see so frequently, and many business owners, especially in the service sector, that they ended up creating a business around the way that either their employees or the clients wanted it to be right. And so if you are more adapt and and feel comfortable saying know that this is what I do, and this is what I do well, so that you can make sure that you're doing it, one that is providing you with that, that passion, that excitement that you want. But really, it's learning to say no. And there was a TED talk that I listened to many years ago, unfortunately, had already learned the lesson at this point. But I thought it was really, really interesting, because another CEO during that TED Talk said, it was actually the most important lesson that he'd ever learned was the learning to say no. And I felt 100% The same.

Gresham Harkless 11:28

Yeah, that's so powerful. And I definitely think a lot of creatives can definitely, you know, listen to this as well, too. Or he that that nugget, because I think Steve Jobs has this quote where he says, you know, focus is not saying yes, to many things are saying yes to one thing is saying no to all the other things. And I think kind of ties into what you talked about and having that conversation or, or having that writer however, that manifests itself into what that vision is, and allowing that vision to be the fuel, not where the client says, oh, you should have this or you should do that. And I think we often can fall into that trap, because we aren't really staying true to that vision and that goal and saying no to those things that aren't right in alignment with that.

Robert Patin 12:06

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're all gonna have different, quote, unquote, CEOs on the show. So Robert, would just be the CEO mean to you,

Robert Patin 12:20

I would say that it means to be the visionary of the company, and to surround yourself with smarter and better people, and to lift them up. That the recognition of you not being good at everything doesn't make you a failure, it actually makes you more self aware. And so yeah, being the visionary, the person that pushes that the business forward, and is the one that's creating the new ideas, and how to solve problems and create new solutions to issues that are out there in the marketplace. And that's driving your team, it's driving your talent, it's driving the business in a direction creating that vision.

Gresham Harkless 13:02

Nice. Yeah, I appreciate that so much. And I love that you said, you know, being an understanding, like what you do best is not you being a failure, you doing all the things is not you being a failure. And I think so many times we feel like you know, I always say like when you start a business, you have to have some type of ego to say, hey, I can create something that's bigger and better to some degree. But at the same time, you have to kind of let that ego fall by the wayside to some degree, because you want to make sure that you're empowering those around you to be their best selves. And we all have something that's unique to us that we can do better sometimes than anybody else. And it's important for us to lean into that, because that's really how we can go farther and make that dent in the impact in the world that we hope to have.

Robert Patin 13:41

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I look at every person that I encounter, as an opportunity to learn and to grow. And if you look at every person that you meet your team members included as an opportunity to learn and grow. It's it's such an important life lesson that allows you to really be a better person tomorrow than you are today and a better entrepreneur a better, better at whatever it is that you do.

Gresham Harkless 14:04

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know if you feel like because you are able to see kind of the forest for the trees, you understand, like the systems and all the things in the place. If that helps you out, as far as seeing like these are, these are the organizations that are the best run, because they don't try to they don't have a leader that tries to do everything. But I feel like that's something that you know, just kind of, you know, speaks to me, because I think so many times we think that being successful is doing all things but saying no, and being able to kind of lean in on what you do best is really what it sounds like helps you be successful.

Robert Patin 14:33

Yeah, exactly. Right. I mean, that's what I was sort of speaking to earlier on when I was saying that I had created my career in my life around what I believed society to be. And I know that growing up when I thought of a successful business person, I thought of someone that was behind the desk that was dedicated to the work and they were working 100 hour weeks, right. That's what I envisioned as a successful entrepreneur, and then realized, Wait, why? Where did that come from? How did they get in? In my head and go away, yeah.

Gresham Harkless 15:03

Yeah. And that's, that's powerful to be able to do that. But I think sometimes we don't realize that our definitions, the way that we look at things come from someplace else. And we often don't ask why we're doing certain things, and how they align with who we are. But I love that you were able to do that, because it reminds us that we really need to, I guess, question and do those exercise habit and those introspective moments to be able to ask, what is success? What do we want to do? And how to maybe do our definition is not aligned with that. And how can we change that? Yeah, exactly. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Robert, I truly appreciate that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get hold of you get a copy of your book and find out about all the awesome things you're working on. Yeah, what

Robert Patin 15:52

a recommend you check out my book, it's a creative agency success, calm Ford slash resources, you can download a free copy of the book on my website. Feel free to shoot me an email at info at Creative Agency success. com. We'd be happy to help in any way that I can.

Gresham Harkless 16:08

Awesome, awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, Robert. We will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get a hold of you. But I appreciate you know all the work that you do appreciate helping out these creatives, as well too and all the insights that you provided today and I hope you have a phenomenal us today.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB nation in blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us at I am CEO Doug CEO. I am CEO is not just a phrase this community. Get your driven CEO gear at CEO gear.co This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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Mercy - CBNation Team

This is a post from a CBNation team member. CBNation is a Business to Business (B2B) Brand. We are focused on increasing the success rate. We create content and information focusing on increasing the visibility of and providing resources for CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners. CBNation consists of blogs(CEOBlogNation.com), podcasts, (CEOPodcasts.com) and videos (CBNation.tv). CBNation is proudly powered by Blue16 Media.

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