IAM1900 – Coach Helps Businesses Achieve Freedom and Money

Todd Randall Teaser 00:00

Can I ask one specific question about my business? Cause I think everyone's going to learn from it. And then you have the floor and you have one-on-one interaction with somebody who's much more experienced than you. And that's a way to maximize value right now, because it's really hard to find good mentorship for good value.

That's my hack, is find a small group and then you get small moments of imminent wisdom.

Intro 00:22

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 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 IAMCEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless :00:49

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast, and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year, and we're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call the CB Nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month we are focusing on operations. The systems will set you free. So think about systems, think about flow, sustainability, potentially working out in your morning routine, waking up early, e commerce, different business models. Think of the operations in the models that basically set up the foundation to allow the creativity within organizations, but also to make sure the trains are running on time and things are going as they should.

Now, this is extremely important because we often can turn to the sexy parts of business and forget about the operations and how. So I really want to focus this month on this specific topic. Sit back and enjoy this special episode at the IAMCEO podcast. Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Todd Randall of Beach View Coaching.

Todd, super excited to have you on the show.

Todd Randall 02:08

Hey, guys, thanks for having me. It's an honor.

Gresham Harkless 02:11

Yes, the honors is all ours. What I want to do before we jump into the interview is read a little bit more about Todd so you can hear about some of those awesome things that he's working on.

And Todd, the eight time CEO and business coach from rural Florida found that running a business can lead you to an early grave, if you let it. He set out to build a business enterprise that worships freedom more than money and somehow ended up with both. This is a story of how a man set a crazy goal for himself to learn, to play polo and travel the world, indulging that passion and then working persistently until he achieved it.

Todd, super excited again to have you on the show, my friend. Are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO community?

Todd Randall 02:46

I'm ready. Thanks. Nice intro.

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Gresham Harkless 02:48

Yes. Nice work that you've been able to do. So now, before we jump into all the awesome things you're doing, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit more on what I touched on, how you got started. What I call your CEO story.

Todd Randall 02:58

Yeah, I love the stories. One of my favorite stories to tell because it was a real life changer for me. I was running through life in the same way that people do, right? They get up and they have breakfast and they do the normal things every day that they have expected of themselves. Then I had a reason to look at life differently. About 15 years ago, I was a corporate bureaucrat in the middle of this really big company and a very satisfying job. It was amazing. I worked for a 300 billion company. They asked me to go to Europe and check out a couple countries there to see if any of our divisions would work for their workflow, et cetera.

I got to work with the executives of our company. I got to live in other cultures and practice language and all the things that make life and work fun. While I was there, the financial system started to collapse. And so my boss had said, Okay, great work, Todd. It's time for you to come home. We'll find some place for you here to work back into the fold. I was so sad because I was really on to something. I was establishing this great work life balance. I was learning, like I said, language and meeting cool new people. And I said, Okay, I need a couple weeks to decompress. And they said, we understand, Todd.

They were very gracious and generous about the whole thing because they knew I was disappointed, right? And so what I did is I took a couple of weeks off, three weeks, and I went to Paris which is a fabulous city. All the things you've heard about it are true. I enrolled in a language program where you study language in the morning, and then you go out and you practice it on the city in the afternoon. So I played golf with friends and went to museums and shows and traveled around Europe and stuff. At the end of the month, I looked down on my credit card bill for that month, as a fraction of what I was making at the time, it was an embarrassingly small amount.

It was one of the best months of my life, and I thought, Holy crap. I was living in a dorm, by the way, because I I couldn't find a place to stay. Real estate is tough in Paris. And so the school I was going to put me up in a dorm and I'm like, yeah, sure. I don't care. It's fine with me. That's one of the reasons at the end of the month that I had this, it was like a couple thousand dollars and I was doing everything I wanted. Like I said, I was getting out in the town. I was seeing art. I was visiting with friends. I was traveling to other countries and at the end of the month, I thought maybe I don't need a million dollars a minute to be happy, and I reset that value in myself, that maybe a fancy house, because I had a nice place in the U. S. at the time, and I thought, gosh, maybe investing all the money into a big home and a fancy car, because I didn't have a car when I was in Paris.

I didn't have a fancy house when I was in Paris, but so many other things were really fulfilling, very, very satisfying, and at that moment, I said, aha, big revelation for me. I work for a big company. I make a lot of money. I have a big title, but I have a lot of baggage that comes with it and those things have to offset each other. Maybe there's a different way and that was the seed of all of it. When I came home, the very first thing I did was start searching for my own business ideas, because I knew that I could run a business that could support myself.

That amount, remember I told you at the end of the month when I went down and I looked, I had a number now. And it was very different from the number I had before. Everybody's got a number in their head of what they think they need. And I said, gosh, I know that I can start any number of businesses that could support that number. And off I went and the search began.

Gresham Harkless 06:17

Nice. I appreciate you telling that story. We sometimes don't know why we have those goals and we can sometimes become so attached to those know, goals that we don't know why we have those goals. You had that experience where you start to really enjoy doing and be able to look at the credit card and say this didn't as I thought. And I have the fulfilment and satisfaction.

Todd Randall 06:37

Yeah, exactly, if you decide the course, you decide the speed. You decide what hills and the distance. Yeah. You're designing it for yourself. You can win that thing. I think that's also part of my story because, so many entrepreneurs start a business because they're at a big company and they roll their division out. Oh, I can tell Mr. CEO or Ms. CEO that you don't value this product anymore. You guys are going in a different direction. You're going all electric. I invented the gasoline engine. So I'm going to take this division of the company and I'll get a loan and I'll go run this company. So many people start their company that way, or they have this great innovation and an invention or a new way of doing business.

And that's the way they start business. But to be fair, that's only a small percentage of all business people. They get much more press release. Then the person who starts a laundromat or the person who starts a newspaper route, or the person who goes to yard sales and picks up things and repurposes them on Amazon or eBay, right?They're all business people too. They're all entrepreneurs. It's not as sexy. It doesn't get front row billing, and the newspapers are on the online reporting mags, but those folks are entrepreneurs and they deserve just as much kudos and respect as the other crowd.

Gresham Harkless 07:50

Yeah, I would definitely echo that as well. That's some of the things that I felt like were the most captivating when you sit down and talk with the laundromat owner or the person that has a tutoring business or the person that has a dance, whatever it might be, they have really captivating stories. Just like you're saying and why they did it.

They're doing what they're doing. I think it's one of the most motivational and inspiring things, which is why I love the work that I do as well. So thank you so much for making that happen.

Todd Randall 08:15

Yeah. I envy your job. I think it seems so fun to be able to network with folks who have their own stories. There must be some tidbit that you learn from every single one. I do from the podcast that I listen to yours, so I'm sure you do as well.

Gresham Harkless 08:27

Yeah, absolutely. It's so much, great information and knowledge that we can all learn. So before we jump into hearing more from you, about your knowledge and what we can learn from you, I wanted to go a little bit more into how you serve your clients and where you landed upon, and being able to provide that impact.

Can you take us through a little bit more on how you serve your clients and what you feel is maybe your secret sauce and sets you apart and makes you unique.

Todd Randall 08:46

I was acknowledging right out of the gate that I wasn't the special sauce. I was the collector of skills, trades, networks practices, and I put them together. Someone has to be the project manager, and oftentimes that's what an entrepreneur is at the end of the day, right? So, I love how provocative your tagline is, IAMCEO, because I think it begs the question, What does that mean? What is a CEO? What does a CEO do right? And I think for my case, our special sauce is that I had to go learn those skills and apply them to my trade to make the businesses successful.

And then when I made one business successful, that wasn't enough to create my dream. So I had to do it again and again and again. And I did it with different industries. So our secret sauce is we help people with the practical skills. Business essentially is just a set of skills, right? There's nobody that wakes up on their fifth birthday and says, I think I'll hedge some income from a different country to eliminate currency risk. That doesn't happen. What happens is you start a business and you start trading with a vendor or a customer that lives outside the country and you get hurt.

We're someone that can pass on real mentorship and guide them through the process. It's a long answer saying that we're a firm that specializes in transferring real business skill to people that feel like they're in over their head or want some help.

Gresham Harkless 10:10

Yeah. Absolutely appreciate that. 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, a book or a habit that you have,  but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Todd Randall 10:22

Yeah, it used to be that I would just pick up a book a week. That was my favorite way. But I think books are tough these days because it's just so much easier to read digital. I tell you what I do is I have a new favorite every six months or a year. What I do is I just give myself permission to dabble in with the gurus. So there's so many out there at this point that it's hard. Someone the other day said, Oh, he reminds me of Tim Ferriss. And I'm like, who's Tim Ferriss? And what do you mean who's Tim Ferriss? He's one of the best advisors on the planet.

And it's actually not weird that I wouldn't know one name, right? And so for years, I think that different experts are better at different things. Seth Godin is someone that I still go to, to read his blog once a week on marketing and brand because he just understands that he can explain it so much better than other experts I have.

I think as it relates to strategy, I love a fellow by the name of Scott Galloway. He's a professor. Lives in Florida. I can't remember what university represents big picture thinker. When I want practical stuff, Tom bill, you, he has a group called Oh, impact university.

Gresham Harkless 11:23

Yeah. Impact. Yes. In fact, there is a podcast.

Todd Randall 11:26

I really like Tom. He's so practical and he's willing to get into the weeds with you. Some of his groups give you direct access to him and there may not be cheap and you may not get a bunch of time with him, but I'll tell you a couple minutes of Tom can clear up a real big problem. And so I go those routes nowadays.

I really like the inspirational stuff, the Zig Ziglar and Grant Cardone and that path I feel like I'm inspired as I need to be now. It's mostly practical information. And so I'll find somebody that's relevant and then the blogs are my favorite thing because they can get downloaded to your email and you can read two sentences and if it's great, super. If it's not, you can just go on to the next thing and give yourself permission to dabble. Take a little information, read it. If it's interesting, pass on it. If it's not and just keep coming back to the well.

Gresham Harkless 12:12

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you touched on, but it might be something you would tell your favorite client. Or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell younger business.

Todd Randall 12:26

Okay. So I'll expound on one of the things that we started, but add a little practical tip to it. The road of self development is one that you have to curate. It's for you. Like the whole purpose of self development is that you develop yourself, not somebody else. And so looking on somebody's top 10 business book list is not that helpful. Unless you spot something on it that's useful to you and go read it. Reading all 10 is actually probably not useful, right? Everybody's business is pretty unique. If you describe your problem to somebody who's been there before in 5 or 10 minutes, you can make a life changing decision, right? And that's worth a lot, but I realize it's hard to front the money just in case you run into that scenario, right?

So I think small groups are a way in your early stages. If you start a first chiropractic business, or if you start online coaching for dog training, right? Early in the process, find someone that can go through with you. That you can mediate that cost. You can compromise somewhere in the middle where yes, you don't have Grant Cardone for three hours a week cause you can't afford it, but you don't get stuck in a big group where you're just a number and you're not getting something valuable. Find a small group where you can say, Hey, I have just been listening the last couple of weeks and I think it's really valuable, but can I ask one specific question about my business? Cause I think everyone's going to learn from it.

And then you have the floor, and you have one on one interaction with somebody who's much more experienced than you. That's a way to maximize value right now, because it's really hard to find good mentorship for good value. That's my hack. My hack is find a small group, and then you get small moments of imminent wisdom, like really good reaching types of advice. But you don't need it every week. You don't need it every hour. Just use it when you need it.

Gresham Harkless 14:08

So, I was asking now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. You might've already touched on this, but we're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on the show.

So Todd, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Todd Randall 14:19

Yeah, I think a CEO is helping other people run a business. I think you need to separate yourself from it like a true CEO, like you can be president and you can be chief operator, but to be a CEO to me means you've separated yourself from the day to day operations. You have folks in those positions that your job is to support them as much as you can. And so it is a position of service more than any other in the organization. What do you guys need? I asked my general managers all the time, what do you need this week? We really need someone to grease the gates. I'll be there. Then I'll find some grease. I'll go to the hardware store and I'll grease the gates. If that's what you need, right?

We need a lot more inventory, which requires a lot more capital. So we need a half a million dollars. It's a different job, but it's my job to support them. If they need more inventory to make their sales, then I have to find a way to do it if they need more staff. The CEO's real task, I think is to find the people that can run the organization and then give them whatever they need, set the culture, set the environment, give them all the resources they need to run it.

Gresham Harkless 15:14

Absolutely appreciate that and of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is 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 people can get a hold of you on about all the awesome things your team are working on.

Todd Randall 15:28

Thanks for that. Now, I don't have anything in addition to add. Your questions are so insightful that I feel like there's a lesson learned in here somewhere. If you look for it, the best way to reach me is a website beachview.biz because I had this fantastic apartment at the time when I created the name, I was overlooking the beach and I never wanted to forget it.

So beachview.biz and I get a lot of my clients involved in a Facebook group. And so if you want someplace to go, or just to figure me out and see if I'm interesting or useful, the Facebook group is called a Real Business Coaching. That's a good way to get to know our group from even you can get to know it from a distance, before you reach out.

Gresham Harkless 16:11

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I definitely appreciate that Todd. To make it even easier we'll have the links and information in the show notes for the Facebook page and the website as well too so that everybody can follow up with you.

I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Todd Randall 16:11

Thanks Gresh. It's an honor. Thanks again for the invite.

Outro 16:13

Thank you for listening to the IAMCEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. IAMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at ceohacks.co.

This has been the IAMCEO podcast with Gresham Harless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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