IAM163- Coach and Author Helps Businesses Improve Company Culture, Leadership and Revenue

Andy is Founder and CEO of Petra Coach, a business coaching firm working with businesses across the U.S. and Canada to improve company culture, leadership and revenue using methodology rooted in the principles first introduced by John D. Rockefeller. As a lifelong entrepreneur, skilled business coach, author and contributor, Andy Bailey is a recognized expert in the realm of business growth and success strategies. Recently he released his debut, Amazon bestselling book “No Try Only Do,” which details the start and success of Petra Coach as well as the unique methodologies upon which it’s based.

• CEO Hack: (1) TripIt for travels (2) The power of a hundred notes of gratitude
• CEO Nugget: The business is the actual product
• CEO Defined: Leadership- growing leaders who grow other leaders. 

Website: http://petracoach.com/

FB – @petracoach
Twitter – @PetraCoach
Instagram – @Petra_Coach
Andy's book – http://petracoach.com/notrybook/

Full Interview:

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

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

Gresham Harkless 0:27

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 Andy Bailey of Petra Coach. Andy, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Andy Bailey 0:35

Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:36

No problem, super excited to have you on, and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Andy, so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Andy is the Founder and CEO of Petra Coach, a business coaching firm working with businesses across the United States and Canada to improve company culture, leadership, and revenue using methodologies rooted in the principles first introduced by John D. Rockefeller. As a lifelong entrepreneur, skilled business coach, author, and contributor, Andy Bailey is a recognized expert in the realm of business growth and success strategies. Recently, he released his debut Amazon best-selling book “No Try Only Do” which details the start and success of Petra Coach, as well as the unique methodologies upon which it's based. Andy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Andy Bailey 1:22

And you do that way better than I would have done it. Thank you very much.

Gresham Harkless 1:25

Hey, practice makes perfect that's what I always say. So the first question I had is if you could tell us a little bit more about your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Andy Bailey 1:33

Let's see in this goes way back to college. So I started my very first business in 1993. Back in the pager days, you may not remember beepers, you remember beepers?

Gresham Harkless 1:46

I've heard of beepers. I didn't really have one.

Andy Bailey 1:50

That's the reaction I get most of the time. So we started in the paging business in the 90s, transitioned to two-way radios went from two-way radios to do some software development and cell phone, business, etc. So from 1993, until 2011, grew a telecommunications business, essentially from out of the attic of my home as a senior in college to a, you know, Inc 500 business a few times over, and ultimately exited that in 2011, part of that growth period, and I call it my dictatorship period. Early on, I had no idea how to run a business, I did everything from a command and control type to a leadership style.

And then changed after meeting a guy named Vern Harnish. And reading a book called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, which is a methodology for an operating system for your business, and implemented that methodology around 2004. And it changed my life, it changed me, it changed the way we ran our business, it changed everything. The essence of that was, where are you going? What does it look like? And what do you get to do to get there, and then putting meeting rhythms in a very rhythmic execution plan in place, so that you can get what you want from your business and allow people to do what they're there to do? Sold in 2011 took about a year hiatus, trying to figure out what I wanted to get to do next worked with a bunch of my friends who are entrepreneurs implementing some of the things that we had done at our company, which was our company was called Nation Link Wireless.

And in doing so, found a lot of energy from doing that with other entrepreneurs. So I got to kind of be with my tribe and, and help them build their businesses the way I have done it. And some of them successfully exited along that path as well. So in 2012, the start decided I wanted to start an actual coaching company, not just practice coaching, but a company, a team of people that went out and worked with entrepreneurial businesses all over North America, you mentioned US and Canada, we're now in Western Europe as well. We do this exact same work helping other people do what we have achieved in the past.

So that's kind of my background, my history and grew up not knowing anything about business and was educated along the path with hard knocks and bloody noses, and skin knees, and you bring all that experience to the table every day for other people.

Gresham Harkless 4:02

It's good. That's often why you want to make sure you have an expert in your corner. Because you don't want I want to try to avoid as much as possible all those bloody knees, scab knees, and hard knocks. But it never fails that sometimes you just have to go through that in business. But it's great that you've been able to go through that. But it sounds like you're also reaching back and reaching down to also help out other entrepreneurs and business owners through their paths as well.

Andy Bailey 4:22

Yeah, and back when I self-implemented so I took this methodology out of this book and put it in myself. It takes a couple of years to change business and culture in that manner. I didn't know there were coaches available. I didn't know I could hire somebody to come in and help me with that just like I do with fitness or just like I do with nutrition or like we would with anything else. So when I found out that there were coaches, there was a group of people who went around and help people do this. That's what I wanted to go do. Because it saves people so much time and effort and energy and you know skin knees getting to where they want to get to.

Gresham Harkless 4:54

Yeah, and I think a lot of people and I know it's for myself as well too. Sometimes you see the creativity it takes to run a business, you have to think outside of the box and do things like that. But you also forget, like you kind of touched on, I believe, where there's a methodology towards being successful where there are actual systems and principles in place that help you to be successful. So it's great that not only have you been able to learn that, but again, like you're reaching back to the kind of help others with that as well.

Andy Bailey 5:18

Yes, it's a lot of fun today, we're, we actively work with about 100 to 120 companies at any given time, you know, 25 or so team members. And we travel, as I said all over North America, the US, Canada, and Western Europe working with these businesses, and we graduate them about every 24 to 26 months. So they roll out new companies, we'll come on, we've got a couple of kicking off this week. So it's always interesting. And you get to see everything there is to know about tons of different companies in every industry imaginable.

Gresham Harkless 5:47

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And can you drill a little bit deeper and tell us I guess a little bit more about how you're helping to support these clients? Or what are some of the things that you're doing? And some a little bit more about that methodology?

Andy Bailey 5:56

Sure. So, one of the first things we'll do is work with them on what we call foundational items. So why do we exist or what's our core purpose? Truly, why do we show up every single day? What are our core values? How are we going to behave as a collective unit of people? How are we going to treat one another? Our customers, our community, our vendors, how are we going to act will build a B hag or big hairy audacious goal?

So what is that 10 to 30-year kind of way out there a vision that is so big and scary that but it is our Northstar, and then we'll break it down into three years. So what is three years look like in a very specific manner? But what are our targets, metrics, and numbers? And then what are what we call capabilities? What are we got to be really good at in order to go from, you know, maybe it's 5 million a day to 50 million in three years? What does that look like?

And then we get really granular in the next 12 months, so we go from three years to one year, and even really, really granular in the next 90 days. Everything is broken down with key performance indicators. Everybody's got a goal, a set of metrics, and key performance indicators for each person, and then we'll implement our meeting rhythms.

So dailies, weeklies, monthlies, quarterly so that we can keep all those things moving forward. And that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg. So what is the plan, the meeting rhythms will help execute on the plan. And then we've got hiring practices and review practices and a whole lot of things that we implement. So it's pretty much a 360 view of how you run our organization doesn't matter what the industry, business is business, and there are certain components, as you said, that have to be there to run effectively.

Gresham Harkless 7:24

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I love the idea of you know, as you say, beginning with the end in mind, so to speak. So looking at that vision, you know, 30-40 years down the line of where exactly you want to be and have such a grandiose vision for what you want to do, and then break it down literally to like the daily activities for each person and how they're actually going to help you to kind of get towards that overall goal. So I love that. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be kind of like your distinguisher. Or what do you feel kind of sets you or your organization apart?

Andy Bailey 7:51

I think the title of the book. And you mentioned that is “No Try Only Do” and one of the things that we are really good at is not allowing somebody to be mediocre. We work with a lot of businesses, a lot of businesses who either in leadership or at a team member level, just allow mediocrity to be okay. And when we show up in an organization, we want to work with those people in those teams that want to go be awesome.

And we'll build a plan, we'll hold them accountable. I personally get to work with some fairly large companies and fairly large C-level executives who don't want to get my phone call when they haven't done what they said they wanted to do. So we're really, really good with not accepting mediocrity from a human being. Because we know they can perform at a higher level if they'll just get out of their own way most of the time.

Gresham Harkless 8:42

Yeah. And that's what often happens, it kind of seems like we can be our own worst enemies. And we need sometimes people to hold us accountable for the greatness that we have within us. So it's great that not only that you see that within people, but you're also holding them and the organization up to that level so that they can be great and be awesome, as you said.

Andy Bailey 8:59

Yeah, sometimes it's a boxing match, and sometimes it's a hugging man.

Gresham Harkless 9:03

There we go, there we go. One or the other. But either way things are getting done, which is the important part. So now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack this might be an app or book or habit that you have or even some nuggets from your old book, but it's something that you feel like makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Andy Bailey 9:19

It's interesting you say that because we've been working to collect entrepreneurial hacks for probably a year now we want to put them into a book long term because I think it's something that's really important. And we don't recognize them enough. Like we do them all the time. I'll give you an app and I use this app constantly is a hack. But TripIt is something that has saved me more times than I can count because I travel 100-150 days a year. And that just keeps everything running for me. My team will take and put information in there for me.

So it tells me says to go now like get in your car and start driving to the airport or you're not going to make it that just really saved me big time. The other one is probably that's it technology kind of a, it's not brand new. But most people don't use that level of technology. The other one that I'll give you is been around forever and ever and ever and is not as popular as it used to be. And it's more powerful than anything else that somebody can do. And it's the power of the hundred notes of gratitude. It's one of the things that we're known for the inside of Petra Coach is we teach a higher level of appreciation inside of businesses, and we teach people how to do it in a sincere manner.

So writing a handwritten note of appreciation that is specific to the action and moves through what is the impact that the action had on me or us or the group or the team or the community and telling the other person both verbally and in written form, it's just a lost art. And I think that we can call it a hack, but it's certainly something that the other person appreciates it and I get a lot of satisfaction and giving appreciation to other people in that manner.

Gresham Harkless 10:54

Yeah, I love those hacks. And largely because we're living in such a digital age nowadays, a lot of people forget to write those handwritten notes. I know, like, as a kid, I used to have to do that whenever I got gifts. And a lot of times, that gives you a lot of appreciation to be able to send that to a person as much as you got an appreciation for whatever they might have done for you.

Andy Bailey 11:12

I've gotten no course back here that says, says thank you. And then Prince says, this is not an email.

Gresham Harkless 11:19

I love it, I love it, I love it. And now what it asks you for is a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Andy Bailey 11:30

I've often said, if any entrepreneur knew how hard it was to build a company, they would never start, which is true. I mean, there are a lot of days where you question yourself, why am I actually doing this? I think I talked earlier about the dictatorship, and then the operating system and the shift. So I think I would go back. And I remind myself a lot I teach other people this, I speak from the stage on this. And it's a reminder for me that the people inside the organization are the key to the success of the organization. Another way to say the exact same thing is the business is the actual product. So we may think we sell water jugs or whatever, but it's not making the business. So that would be my piece of advice. And I gotta remind myself of that all the time.

Gresham Harkless 12:18

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I definitely appreciate you for reminding us of that. And 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 hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show and look at entrepreneurship and business exactly what that means. So I wanted to ask you Andy, what does being a CEO means to you?

Andy Bailey 12:35

Well, I think this is a fairly easy answer for me, and I'm gonna translate CEO to leader or leadership, the definition of that, to me is growing other leaders who grow other leaders. And it's one of the biggest barriers that I had to overcome, and I continually work to overcome it. And it's one of the biggest barriers I see for other CEOs or C-level executives in any business. And even all the way down through mid-level management leadership, in general, we don't necessarily have the mentality of growing someone else to be a leader, and empowering them to then grow other people. So until that thing has gone to layers, you're not doing your job as a CEO.

Gresham Harkless 13:13

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And especially when everybody has their own kind of zone of genius to be able to kind of cultivate that and to push that within somebody so that they can lead in the way that they're supposed to lead that truly makes you a leader. So I think that's a great reminder for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, or whatever leadership role you might have. So thank you for that. No problem. And, Andy, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then also how best we can get a hold of you. And of course, get a copy of your book.

Andy Bailey 13:44

No, sure. I'll give you a little. Here's what I see. Like I get to go out, I'm lucky enough to have sold a company or two. And I get to go out in the world, I spend a lot of time with entrepreneurs and businesses and leaders and managers and just people in general. And one of the biggest mistakes that I see. And I see it even in my own organization many times, and it's something that I want people to really realize and change if they think too small. We as a human are limited in how big weekends actually think.

And I've got a little bit of a mantra, just think bigger, also continue on with live harder, and be grateful. But the whole thing about thinking bigger, Bill Gates had a quote once and he said, we overestimate what we can do in one year and we underestimate what we can do in 10 years. And that's because we have small thinking so thinking bigger would be my kind of additional comment.

Gresham Harkless 14:35

I love that and if people wanted to follow up with you, what would be the best way for them to do that?

Andy Bailey 14:39

Just email me so obviously our website www.petracoach.com. And I'm Andy, andy@petracoach.com. Feel free to shoot me an email about books available on the website or at Amazon. And again, the book is “No Try Only Do”.

Gresham Harkless 14:55

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes. Well, Andy, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule and all the awesome things that you're doing to kind of help out entrepreneurs and business owners and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Andy Bailey 15:07

Thank you, bro.

Outro 15:08

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

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