IAM2259 – CEO Helps Business Owners Focus on High Impact Activities

Frank Goodman is a seasoned business consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience.

Frank has worked with startups, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies, holding degrees in computer engineering and systems engineering.

Frank shares the importance of understanding where clients want to go and the external factors that might affect their businesses.

He emphasizes the need for thorough assessment rather than quick fixes.

Frank discusses the challenge of businesses adapting to tools rather than the tools fitting their processes.

He believes technology should enhance existing workflows without forcing companies to change their fundamental operations.

The conversation highlights the importance of buy-in from the team for any technology or process changes to be effective.

Website: ROI for Pros

LinkedIn: Frank Goodman

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Transcription:

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Frank Goodman Teaser 00:00

Where are we trying to go with this? How does this impact your business? What are these other external elements that may exist? Like what, like where are we trying to go, right? And then we kind of go down that path with them, right?

We're not just saying, hey, give us a list of requirements and we'll figure it out because a lot of times when people come to you with the solution, it's probably not the right solution, right? Because they didn't properly assess the route.

Intro 00:26

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.

Gresham Harkless 00:53

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have an awesome guest back on the show today. I have Frank Goodman. Frank, Excited to have you back on the show.

Frank Goodman 01:00

Hey, great to be here, great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:04

Yes, absolutely. I'm super excited to have you on. And of course, before we jump in and talk about all the awesome things that Frank is doing, I want to read a little bit more about Frank's, take a little bit more of a glimpse into what awesome things he's been able to accomplish.

And for over 20 years, Frank has helped countless startups, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies transform their establishment through business consulting, websites, and custom applications.

Frank is an expert in creating user-centric web and mobile apps that align to companies' objectives and customer needs.

His background includes an undergraduate degree in computer engineering with a minor in Computer Science and a graduate degree in systems engineering from George Washington University.

And prior to working in the commercial space, he served throughout the intelligence community, helping companies like Booz Allen, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman meet agency objectives.

Currently, Frank works running Leading Bulb, Inc. And ROI Pros, LLC. Leading Bulb offers custom applications, integrations, automation, and AI implementations.

And ROI Pros offers a suite of SaaS tools and services to help business owners clear their plate of responsibility to focus on their high priority, high impact growth activities.

And like I mentioned, Frank was a guest on episode number 48 of our I AM CEO podcast. And we actually had a really cool conversation where we all met in person with some previous guests and it was episode number 101 of the CEO chat podcast.

And we even went as far back to talk about our retail jobs. I was at Circuit City, if I remember correctly, you were like at Radio Shack.

But one of the things that I love about everything that Frank's been able to do is when we were going back in time, he was a first generation college student and he really has had that entrepreneurial book since he was young from what I remember.

So I'm excited to have you on the show here. What other entrepreneurial things you're working on? Frank, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Frank Goodman 02:53

Hey, let's do it, man. Let's do it.

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Gresham Harkless 02:55

Let's get it started then. So to kick everything off, I know I touched on a little bit less for 01:00. Here a little bit more on what you've been working on, what got you started with all the awesome work you're doing.

Frank Goodman 03:05

Nice, nice. Yeah, so yeah, as far as you want me to just start with. Yeah, so yeah, so. Yeah, absolutely, so as far as me, I started in IC community, like Gresham said, so intelligence community working for the alphabet soup, jumping from agency to agency, always within tech, within the tech realm, but it was more consulting, leading different teams and things like that for enterprise-wide applications.

At one point, I realized that this was gonna work for me because at the time I was at Booz Allen, I did a quick project. They were able to make quite a bit of money from it.

It only took me about 2 days. And when they told me what they made versus what I received, which was essentially just a high 5, I was like, it's time for me to think about a different path.

And so I'm also a person that's rooted in just being able to understand my impact. And so one thing about government contracting is a lot of times they'll win really large projects or contracts and have a lot of money associated with it.

You'll put a lot of time, energy into your ideas, the thoughts, getting leadership by and all of these different things.

And when new offers comes into play, they'll toss it out, start all over. And so if you kind of like to see something that you created really get used and awaited, it was initially imagined.

Sometimes you fall short there. So I looked at small businesses initially, and we were just trying to build mobile apps, web apps, anything that would help a business grow, rather than be creating a new product for the market.

We would want to do that if it was about streamlining a business, we would want to do that.

But that's a service-based business, it's exchanging time for money. And so that's really when ROI Pros came into play.

So, Bleed and Bug was more of a tech shop where we were building web and mobile apps for other people.

But ROI Pros became more of a suite of products where we were looking to leverage like SaaS tools to help businesses grow and wrap it into consulting.

So that way, it's not so much about coming to us to build a custom tool, it may be to give you technology to kind of fit your process, to help you streamline your processes or leverage tech and different ways to help your business grow.

But it was more about leveraging tools that we have created and we have access to instead of just always trying to build something custom.

Gresham Harkless 05:37

Awesome. That makes so much sense. I imagine, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like, especially with Bleed and Bub, I'm guessing that you were having these conversations where people were working in the business instead of on the business and not realizing how that was blocking their opportunity to kind of grow and scale.

So it sounds like everything you've been able to build has come from maybe those conversations you were having with clients.

Frank Goodman 06:00

100%. 100%. I think so often when you're building these products first a lot of times when people build products they don't go a lot of places or even if they tell you direct requirements they don't necessarily go where you want them to go.

Because they're going to tech shops and this is that thing a thing that kind of you know separates us but they go into tech shops and the tech shop will build out your requirements, right?

Like it based on what you're saying you want, they will build it for us. Well, because we understand business, and we understand tech That gives us a more holistic view.

o when we're going to any situation, people are bringing issues or problems or concerns with their business or ideas. We're thinking about where are we trying to go with this?

How does this impact your business? What are these other external elements that may exist?

Like, where are we trying to go, right? And then we kind of go down that path with them, right?

We're not just saying, hey, give us a list of requirements and we'll figure it out. Because a lot of times when people come to you with the solution, it's probably not the right solution, right, because they didn't properly assess the root.

Sometimes they're just trying to treat these like, these little band-aid solutions or symptoms, but it's not the root.

Like a person will say, I need more sales and they're not paying attention to what are you doing with the people you already have, right?

That's low acquisition cost I mean acquisition cost is a lot higher than you know handling the people that you've already done business with.

So I think a lot of times It's just really having those conversations and asking the right questions to kind of get them down the path of where they need to go without thinking about tech without saying oh, but the algorithm Oh, you know this new trend is happening Oh, I heard about this it's like you don't have to think.

And research about these things. You have a trusted partner now. We have technology. You know, you can leverage it right.

And we're going to get you where you're ultimately trying to go because we understand your business.

Gresham Harkless 07:56

Yeah, I love that. And so I must wonder, is that in line with your secret sauce and align with yourself personally, but also the business that helps set it apart?

Frank Goodman 08:04

100%. 100%. I mean, you basically hit it on the head. That's really what it's about.

Gresham Harkless 08:12

Yeah. That makes sense. And do you find like a lot of the clients that you've talked to or even clients that you work with, do you feel like they are seeing all of that or is it just like, I need this, I need this band aid, so please help me solve that there?

Frank Goodman 08:26

Yeah. I mean, I think the ones that come to you and just say, hey, look, I know something isn't right, you know?

But it doesn't really matter how they come, it ends up the same way. Because when you start to have that conversation, if you understand the business, you know the most important thing to them, or one of the most important things is their bottom line.

Like you know that money matters, they're not going to exist without money, which means if the money is important, their people's brains are important, right, which means that time is important.

It all trickles down to, really trying to figure out what is the real problems within this business, right?

So it really, it doesn't matter if they come and say, Hey, I know I just need this or I don't like, we will always offer, our input based on experiences, right?

That we've all had and they could reject it or they, and if they want us to just do exactly what they tell us to do, they will, but most people that come to us, that's not their mindset, because they're in a growth mindset and they're looking to leverage what they have no experience in, right?

They just know they need tech, right? But they don't know what tools they need. They don't know how the process should kind of work.

And I think another thing that kind of sets us apart is a lot of tools will make you change your business for that tool.

And we're not designed that way. We need to understand that in order for any tech to work, that takes buy-in.

And a lot of people don't look into the team buy-in into whatever it is that you're trying to do as an organization.

None of the tech matters. Nothing matters if your team isn't going to adopt it and actually live by it like you want them to.

So many people spend so much money trying to just get these tools and they sit on a shelf because no one will use it properly or there isn't proper training or that you didn't do.

So it's like part of what we bring is we need to understand where your team needs to be a part of the process so that we have the early buy-in.

So when it's rolled out, they understand the expectations and how we're going to move because we've all talked about it.

Gresham Harkless 10:33

Yeah, that makes so much sense. So 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 like an Apple book or even a habit that you have. What's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Frank Goodman 10:44

I think It's important to always take a step back and realize how you're really spending your day.

I think a lot of us, it's so easy to get caught in a routine and not realize what we're actually spending our time and energy doing.

Because a lot of times if we really kind of step back and do like a somewhat regular assessment of your day.

And I mean, literally, when you start what you call work, or whatever, what are these activities that's happening throughout the day? Really document and take an assessment.

And then you need to figure out, okay, is this high impact and high priority? Because that's telling you, well, why are you doing this?

I don't care if you contract out and just get another human to do it or you'd find ways with tech, but it's like, if it's not high impact, high priority as a business owner, you really should be challenging yourself if you wanna grow, you should be challenging yourself. So that's what I would say.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Yeah, and that makes so much sense. I wonder if that data part is a big part of that, because I'm curious, do you find that, are people maybe afraid to look at the data?

Do you feel like there's some apprehension from being able to look into that to see, ultimately, this is where we're at.

This is the temperature right now in your business and maybe not want to face with it the changes or adjustments that need to happen as a result to get to where you want to be.

Frank Goodman 12:07

I think I think a lot of times people are either overwhelmed or they either overwhelmed or they maybe a little intimidated about going through the process of even understanding what to collect.

A lot of people aren't even collecting the data in the proper way. They're collecting data. They have a lot of data, but that doesn't mean they have the right data, right?

Because you have to start with understanding what your business is and where you're trying to go and all the elements and things and inputs that go into you getting there.

And a lot of people aren't really structured in that kind of way. They kind of look at the numbers.

Am I profitable? Am I making money? Am I not making money? Are people showing up or not showing up?

They look at very surface level things like that. I think a lot of times it's just them not understanding data and the way that data can be used to tell a story.

That's not something that a business owner naturally does, you know, in that kind of way, down to the smallest piece of data.

So I think a lot of times they just don't have it. Their mind doesn't really wrap around it. Tech is complex. There are so many different tools.

So even just to choose on a tool is like overwhelming. You have to think about where you're ultimately trying to go to know how things connect to all go there together.

Like you can't like so I think people's approach is even off a bit in a lot of cases because they're just getting these silver bullets. Oh, this happened in 30 days. If I get it. Oh man, that's a great message. Oh, that's a great message.

Now you have 50 subscriptions and you're not using any of it because now that you have 50, you don't even know how to connect. You don't know how to get.

So one's collecting data, this collecting data, but how do they talk and how do I benefit from it?

It's like people don't want to log in stuff man figure all this they just want they just want to know the answers you know and focus on what they're good at you know like that's what we want to do. I want to do what I'm great at.

And that's people, that's team building, or that's this, live there, you know? Let that other stuff go.

Gresham Harkless 14:12

Yeah, that makes sense in it. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

Our goal is to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Frank, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Frank Goodman 14:25

I think a CEO to me is a person that understands their people's why. They understand what drives their people.

I think it's a person that understands their business and what drives their business, right? Like almost looking at their business as a person in a way, right?

It's like, so it's a person of understanding and that they understand everyone's drive and their system and their ecosystem, right?

Like you understand everyone's drive because that's the motivator because you need motivation.

You need them to be motivated to get to wherever you're trying to go. So it's the person that really has to be able to just understand where everyone wants to go and how that ties to where they want to go. And they can pull it together, if that makes sense.

Gresham Harkless 15:15

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Frank, truly appreciate that definition. 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, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Frank Goodman 15:29

We understand your business, we understand your path, and we walk that path with you. So we are a person that you are, a company that you can kind of reach out to.

And even if it's a call just to get some ideas, we don't mind giving a little time for something like that. But you can reach me at frank@roiforpros.com or go to the website roiforpros.com. R-O-I-F-O-R-P-R-O-S.

And as far as the tools and things like that, we can kind of discuss different tools. We could discuss your situation because I don't really like to talk about tools as much as you know where you and where you're trying to go and then we kind of go from there. So yeah.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll have the links and information that show notes as well too, after that and bleeding bulb as well too so that everybody can reach out to you, Frank. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Frank Goodman 16:23

Absolutely. All right. Thanks, Gresh. Great talking to you again.

Outro 16:27

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by CBNation and Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blues16media.com. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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