IAM1172- Coach Empowers CEOs to Create World-class Experiences

Ben is a husband and father of three boys and lives the farm life in upstate New York. He and his team help coaches, consultants, and agencies create world-class experiences for their clients and then help those owners become Empowered CEOs. Ben has coached over a thousand business owners in the past few years and loves laughter, nature, and being present with those he loves.

• CEO Hack: (i) Home and nature for grounding (ii) Reading
• CEO Nugget: Spend as much time in self-discovery and self-awareness as you do growing a business
• CEO Defined: Leading your team and the vision of your company at the highest level

Website: https://theempoweredceo.com/

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Transcription

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00:00- Intro

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 of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

00:11 – Ben McLellan

So I would say spend as much time in self-discovery and self-awareness as you spend trying to grow your business.

00:39 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. Ben McCullen of the Empowered CEO. Ben, it's great to have you on the show.

00:49 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to chat with you.

00:52 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, super excited to have you on. And before we jump into that interview, I want to read a little bit more about Ben so you hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Ben is a husband and father of 3 boys and lives the farm life in upstate New York. He and his team of coaches help coaches, consultants, and agencies create world-class experiences for clients and help those business owners become empowered CEOs. Ben has coached over a thousand business owners in the past few years and he loves laughter, nature, and being present with those he loves and who doesn't love that. Ben, super excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:27 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, man. Let's do it. Let's dive in.

01:29 – Gresham Harkless

Let's make it happen. So to kind of kick it off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit. Here is a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO, Zoe.

01:37 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yeah, sure. So honestly, it really started like in my late 20s. So I'm 42 now. In my late 20s, I had moved to Massachusetts from Rhode Island, and I was dead sad. I'm going to grad school. I was a drummer at that point. I'm going in for jazz studies. And in the orientation of grad school, I started to get nauseous, like physically nauseous. And I was like, Whoa, something's off here. And I was like, you know what? I don't think this is the right move.

So I stood up in the middle of orientation, you know, hundreds of people in an auditorium. I went and I withdrew and I called my sister and I was like, well, this is what I did. What should I do now? You know, I just moved to a new state, and like I got to get a job or do something. And so, you know, that long story short, I made my way into being a personal trainer and then got into yoga and started teaching yoga and ended up opening my own personal training in the yoga studio.

After a couple of years of being in the business. So that was kind of like the start of my entrepreneurial journey. And I wouldn't have called myself a CEO at that point, but it was really kind of the beginning of that entrepreneurial journey. I kind of fast forward a bit, I ran that business for about 6 and a half years and got kind of bored with it. I don't know about you, but you know, I'm one who seeks out growth and challenge and those kinds of things, right?

And so I let go of that business and moved into the online space where, you know, I got into media buying and ran a small Facebook ads agency for a little bit, but then ultimately landed inside of a business where I was coaching other online entrepreneurs. Did that for a couple of years. I became the client success director there. You know, it was an 8 figure company.

I was overseeing like 250 active clients. You know, some of them like starting their business, but many of them doing 7, 8 figures. So got a lot of experience with, you know, multimillion-dollar businesses in that kind of online space. And then last year is really when I said, okay, it's time for me to do my own thing, you know, launch the empowered CEO and you know, that kind of brings us to where we are today.

04:06 – Gresham Harkless

Extremely powerful. And so I'm sure that's a little bit of what you do when you kind of work with your clients is kind of work through a lot of those fears, those, you know, maybe imposter center, all those things that people kind of work through. So I guess could you take us through a little bit more on how you're working with your clients and what that looks like?

04:22 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yeah. So it's interesting because we have evolved as a company in terms of how we serve clients. So, you know, when I started last year, it was just one-to-one and working with these, you know, founders of companies and helping them really kind of move into what I call the empowered CEO seat. But now we help in a couple of ways.

So on one level, we help, you know, coaches, consultants, agencies are done for you, some people like that language. We help them create really amazing client experiences. And so sometimes that will also then kind of lead into the founder saying, hey, could you help me become like a better CEO? So it can often happen in phases like that. But to answer your question specifically, yeah, many of the conversations that I have with clients, are just kind of navigating, like helping them understand who they are and what they actually want and desire. And then what are the actions I need to take to get to that outcome or toward that outcome?

05:28 – Gresham Harkless

I definitely appreciate that. So would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce, the thing you feel either sets your organization or yourself apart and makes it unique? Is it that ability to kind of tap into that, to have those conversations, of course, get those results?

05:41 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yeah, I do think so. You know, especially because like, in the online space, to me, there's just, there's a lot of crap, honestly. There's a lot of stuff going on where, it's like gurus will say, and nothing against gurus or people who are seen as that. But I think what happens a lot of the time is people or business owners will say, oh well, look at what that person did. I need to do that.

And they're actually robbing themselves of true fulfillment and peace. And to me, like really fulfilling like what they're supposed to be here to do, you know, like their individual purpose. And so for me, that's like part of the mission and the vision is to help people really understand like, why am I building this business? Like, what is it truly about me that I need to fulfill on my path here in this life?

And it's not about what anyone else wants or needs. It's truly about like, why am I here? And it's not something that's talked about a lot in the online space, especially. And so, yeah, when you, you know, I think when you ask about secret sauce, I think I found a way to, you know, have people trust in me and trust in how I show up and guide them. But at the same time, my goal is to make them independent and not dependent, if that makes sense.

07:11 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, the word empower definitely rings through as well too, and being able to feel like you have that opportunity to do that. And I say often, like, if you run your own ratio, never lose. What resonates with me is what you said, because I think so many times when you see, quote-unquote, success and how redefine it, we always want to try to emulate that. But I love that word that you said, robbing yourself, because I think so many times we forget about ourselves when we're working on our business or providing products or services, not only do we rob ourselves, we also rob the people potentially that could be impacted if we do stay true to who we are and do what we're supposed to do.

07:45 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And, you know, again, just I can just speak to the space that I'm in. But, you know, I think a lot of times it's about big numbers and, you know, what's the most number of clients I can serve. And for me, it's like, well, I could try and serve a thousand clients and I've done that at a company, but what if I served 10 people really well who then served a thousand people each? Like, you know, I think sometimes people don't think about the exponential impact of what work can be with even a few individuals. And so I'm not saying if you want to serve 10, 000 people, great, you go do that, but it's not the only way to be impactful on a large scale if that's something that drives you.

08:35 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. We sometimes forget about that domino effect or that ripple effect of when you're able to kind of serve. And I think we often forget that you can decide how you want to run your business and you can tailor it according to whatever your goals are. You mentioned that fulfillment word and happiness and those things and you figure out what that is and then you start to create the steps and direction in order to do that. So absolutely love that. And 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 Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

09:12 – Ben McLellan

So I'd say a couple of things. one is time in nature. So we've got like, it's not a full-blown farm here in upstate New York, but we've got a few acres of land and we've got like 4 sheep and some chickens and barn cats and stuff like that. And I also spend a fair amount of time like kind of hiking in nature. And what I find is that, because my work is like very, it's business, right? It's like we're in businesses, we're helping people build their 7, 8-figure businesses, and so on. So it's intense.

I wouldn't say it's overly stressful, but there's an intensity. But then when I come back to home and nature, it has such a grounding impact on me. And it's just a reminder too of like, oh yeah, nature is like the foundation of everything, right? So it kind of brings me back to the fundamentals and like, what's most important in those things. So that's one big part of my day and my week.

I think the other thing for me personally is reading, you know, and over the last few years, like, what I've read the most has been like all different kinds of leadership books, you know, John Maxwell and Patrick Wencioni and Brene Brown and Simon Sinek and Those inputs, it's not just the reading, it's like the input of that and then getting to put some of those ideas and concepts into play in real-time have just been like tremendously valuable.

10:43 – Gresham Harkless

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

10:56 – Ben McLellan

So I would say spend as much time in self-discovery and self-awareness as you spend trying to grow your business. And I'll give some context. So, you know, what I've found, you know, so I've been practicing yoga, meditation, Qigong, Tai Chi over the last 12, 13 years now. And I think going through those practices has raised my level of self-awareness quite a bit. Now I still have a ton to learn about myself, But what that's also done is the deeper I understand myself, it also allows me to understand others on a deeper level.

And again, when we talk about like secret sauce, or really being able to like pave your own path, no matter like what your business is, or what kind of phase of life you're in, that self-awareness and being able to have a high level of emotional intelligence, I think it's like, it's almost like the key to life if you will. So spend as much time on that as you're going to spend trying to build your business or team or any of that and it will pay itself back exponentially.

12:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I love that nugget. And I think so many times I always say like, when you sit down and you talk with somebody, get to hear their story, what they do, their passions, their gifts, all of those things, you realize that we're a lot, you know, further or closer together than we are apart. So I love that nugget because a lot of times when you are discovering yourself, you think that that's not going to be beneficial, you know if I decide to work with this person or that person. But as we learn more about ourselves, learn about the evolution, you know, that we even go through, it helps us to be able to kind of interact, to connect, to have conversations, to learn more about others as well. And it just makes us better, you know, human beings, at the end of the day.

12:52 – Ben McLellan

Yeah. Yep.

12:54 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, truly appreciate that. And Ben, I want to ask you now 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 Ben, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:08 – Ben McLellan

Yeah. So to me, it means leading your team and the vision of your company at the highest level. And so I see the ideal CEO role to me is one of internal coach, like you're supporting, nurturing, guiding the team that's underneath you, but not underneath you, alongside you. And at the same time, you're coaching and developing and furthering the vision and mission that you've laid out for the company that you've established.

13:46 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that kind of, you know, both sides of that coin as well too, because I think obviously we have that outward piece that even we were talking about before in the nugget, we sometimes could focus on that more than anything else, but we forget about the internal, you know, coaching for ourselves, but also for our team members and what that looks like and how that doesn't really take away from the outside. Actually, they're very intertwined. And as you grow one, it helps kind of complement the other and vice versa. So it's so important that you kind of understand both sides of that coin.

14:15 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yep. Yeah, exactly.

14:17 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Ben, truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best we can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:32 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, sure. So I would say, you know, for you guys as leaders, you know, to take the time to really pour into yourselves. And, you know, one of my early mentors always used to say, we can only give what we have an abundance of. And so, you know, by taking the time to pour into ourselves to understand ourselves to rest to unplug to really nourish and nurture ourselves as leaders. Leaders, that's going to allow us to lead better, to be more impactful, to have that level of peace and fulfillment that I think we all deserve and is possible for us. So that's what happens.

15:16 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. And for people that want to get ahold of you, what's the best way for them to do that?

15:20 – Ben McLellan

Yeah, yeah. So you can go to, we're going through a bit of a rebrand. So you can either go to the empowered CEO.com or ethical scaling.com and, you know, feel free to reach out, you know, connect with us. And yeah, we'd love to talk to anyone who wants to have a chat.

15:37 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. We'll definitely have those links and information in the show notes as well, too. I love that final piece. I was watching a video, I think it was with Oprah, where she says you want to give and pour into yourself so much that it spills over into the saucer of the cup and then you're giving from the saucer. So if we remember that, it doesn't take away from how much we're able to give. It actually expands and gives us more opportunity to do that. So I appreciate you so much for reminding me that, of course, doing that as well. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:05 – Outro

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.

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