IAM2697 – CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Matches Qualified Workers With Companies

Carisa Miklusak 00:00

Winning in business. Being a CEO in business is really about resiliency over rigidity. You know, I think that there's oftentimes this assumption that when you're in a CEO role, you know what to do. You're gonna. I mean, we even just talked about this a little bit. Sometimes people working for you know things better. So if you ask them what you're listening for, they'll teach you to listen for something you didn't even realize was something you could listen for. So viewing that resiliency is more important over rigidity is really critical.

Gresham Harkless 00:58

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 Carisa Miklusak of Tiller. Carisa, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Carisa Miklusak 01:07

Thank you so much. It's such an honor to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:09

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Carisa so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing and. Carisa is the CEO of Tiller, a company that uses an algorithm to blindly match qualified workers with companies to fill their immediate placement needs. She drives Tiller's strategic vision and day to day execution with a relentless passion for the new workforce marketplace and providing it with innovative, sustainable solutions. In her role, Carisa works closely with the board, internal team, strategic partners and clients as part of her efforts to ensure aggressive scale and success. She's a serial entrepreneur who honed her digital recruitment skills@careerbuilder.com, where she spent over seven years building multi million dollar business business units. Carisa, are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

Carisa Miklusak 01:55

I am ready. Thanks for the really kind introduction.

Gresham Harkless 01:58

No problem. You're doing awesome things. So I get to give overly kind introductions to people that are doing awesome things. So I appreciate that. So I wanted to kick everything off to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you get started with your business?

Carisa Miklusak 02:10

Absolutely. What really helped me to get started with Tiller was a career long passion. I won't say lifelong passion, but career long passion for believing that Recruitment could be much more if we replaced titles, which tend to be the foundational building block that we've used in recruitment since like Ford built its first car with skills. What happens when you match on skills is that you reallocate talent differently. So I had had this passion and idea working in different companies, building different startups for a long time. And I was actually working at my past startup, tmedia, when I received a cold call from a very aggressive, now one of my core investors, but very aggressive investor who had an idea to take a totally different type of tool to market. It was very specific to, let's just say agriculture and making matches in agriculture. But through a collaborative conversation with myself, this core investor that I mentioned, one of his partners who's become our third deer partner, and my co founding team, we came to light with Tiller. We certainly didn't have a name at that time. And what really propelled me to move away from my past business and focus on Tiller were two core things that were going on. One, despite how hard we try, we still have conscious and unconscious bias in recruitment. And with this business plan, we saw a real way to make an impact there. And the other thing is the skill gap. We see companies struggling to find great people, people struggling to find great work. But again, if reallocate differently and use some new type of workforce, employees like gig workers and contractors, we can really start to make an impact on that skill gap too. So we just thought it was the right time and we jumped ship to make it a reality. And little did that aggressive cold caller investor know that he would be investing in Tiller. So here we are.

Gresham Harkless 04:03

Here we are today. That's awesome to kind of hear and I love that kind of unique perspective because I think like you mentioned, we've been so kind of locked in on, you know, this is my name, this is what I do, this is what my title is. But I love how that different perspective of, you know, looking at everyone and what they do as far as skills and then also to having a way by which to find those people that can fulfill those skills that you guys have created as well.

Carisa Miklusak 04:27

That's it. And you'd be so amazed when you look at someone that's an amalgamation of their skills and not the one, two or even 10 titles they've had, how relevant and applicable and skilled they are for so many different types of roles. So it helps employers have such a larger audience and then at the same time it helps workers to have so many different types of opportunities.

Gresham Harkless 04:46

Absolutely. You start to look at the things that you need to fulfill the gaps within organizations in a completely different way too, I imagine. So could you talk a little bit more about Tiller, Tell us exactly how it works and what it is that you do.

Carisa Miklusak 04:59

Absolutely. We have two core products and an amazing team that make those products run. The first is our Marketplace product. It's an app based product and anyone can download Tiller and put in their skills. We don't ask for resumes, we help you to background check and then we do one interview at Tiller. What's really interesting about Tiller, we do match on skills but also we are the only entity that interviews our workers. Our clients are the employers that hire Tiller workers. Trust Tiller's algorithm, Tiller's team and Tiller's due diligence before the worker gets to them. And they don't actually conduct any interviews to. So we've somewhat reversed the decision making process. Much like Uber, because most people are familiar with Uber or Lyft. When there's a job that's posted by an employer that matches, we call our Tiller workers Tiller community members. Matches one of our community members skills. Times that they want to work, distance that they want to travel, we push the job to them and if they want it, they hit accept. Next thing is they get information on how and when to go to work. We then slip into a work management app for both the employer and the worker where you could check in and out on Tiller, track your hours on Tiller, help to be connected with some of our partners like Anthem Insurance or Honest Dollar if you want to start a savings account. But more importantly get paid through Tiller also and then check out and help to be set up for your next role. So if there are. I know the word gig worker is very popular. I think it's really just a part of the new workflow. But new workforce workers that want to work differently, it can be a really neat tool to kind of stack projects. And we focus on a variety of industries and really the only thing that makes every job common is that they all have a start and end date. Now sometimes employers fall in love with their Tiller workers. Tiller community members fall in love with their employers and we love those relationships too and help to make that match the other product we have. I won't take nearly as long talking about it, but it's essentially a white label up Tiller that works for companies like staffing firms. It's called Talent Compass and it just uses all of our matching and smart learning to Help automate the back end system, let's say at the staffing firm or even an organization that's constantly making new teams and wants to help to look at that skill based talent labor. So that's really what we focus on with the marketplace and helping workers have such different opportunities be the core, core focus of our business.

Gresham Harkless 07:30

Yeah, I love that and I love everything you guys are building because it creates so many like wins on so many different levels. And I really like the fact too because, and I was actually going to ask you this, like, how do you feel this plays into the kind of like the changes in the workforce? But it kind of speaks to that where you know, there are those gig workers now, those people that are potentially looking to develop certain skills rather than have different types of jobs, so to speak. So it kind of speaks to that. But then also it sounds like the employers are able to kind of fulfill those projects based off the those skills and they don't have to worry about going through all the interviews and making sure there's somebody qualified and doing all of that. That can sometimes happen.

Carisa Miklusak 08:08

That's it. You've got it perfectly. I think we'll probably recruit you for our sales team at extra moments in your already very full life.

Gresham Harkless 08:15

Yes, definitely. Let me know. So I'm all for it. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally or it could be for your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Carisa Miklusak 08:29

So I learned early on one thing that I'm not great at naturally is being super efficient. I am passionate and I love to learn and teach and spend whatever time it takes to really get things done properly. And as you know, when you're building businesses and scaling quickly, you really don't have time for that all the time. You need to make time for it where it's appropriate. But something I was taught by a much a wiser CEO when I was a young straggling CEO was to do the heavy lifting first. So I stack rank priorities where I put the things that are either most critical or even just the things I really don't like and don't want to do. At the top of my list, I try to get them done by 10am unless it's a really heavy lifting thing and it's, you know, going to be a couple days whacking away at it or whatever it may be. And it's hard to get in the habit of doing that. But I learned when I Do. Not only am I attacking it right when I get into the office or if I'm working from home or working from a plane, but also the rest of my day is so much lighter and enjoyable. One cheesy. I'm kind of proud on myself. Like, I did it, it's out of the way. But also just that feeling of like I faced what was really keeping me up last night. First thing, you start to get into a habit where you know you can do it. And after a while, maybe it's just from pure exhaustion or maybe it's from getting wise. Nothing really keeps you up at night because you know you're going to take a whack out of first thing. So it's like heavy lifting first after a nice morning walk warmup, of course, but when you're ready to start going at it, that's really helped me to drive efficiency and also just like increase my mood and happiness and enjoyment as a business person.

Gresham Harkless 10:05

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I think sometimes when you are, you know, have that awareness of yourself and understand how best to combat that is really kind of, I always say, like, I guess, true master, true. The best mastery is mastery of self. So to be able to master yourself and understand yourself and understand how things work and how you can kind of work around that is great. So do you find that also when you, when you do accomplish those tasks before that 10:00am deadline, do you feel like you get momentum throughout the day where everything just starts to move forward as well?

Carisa Miklusak 10:35

Absolutely. Because everything else is like so much faster. One, it's not as tough. Whether it really is, if not your perception is what defines your reality. So that's why not those things that you perceive as toughest off. So the next things are going to be just easier on your heart, on your mind, so you can move faster. You know, the other thing is you want to have a reasonable list every day. Like I remember having literally 98 things on the list, you know, every morning as an early CEO or as the sales manager in my early career builder days, I now really, truly, like on a really heavy day, we'll have 11 or 12 things, hoping that I'm going to get all of them done. But I really do try to limit myself at like 10 and put those heaviest things first. But I do find that momentum. I am not a weightlifter. I've done very little toning in my life. But what I do know about weightlifting is like, if you're doing repetitions and sets, that first set of 10 or 20, like you're moving so slow, but then your muscles warm up a little bit. Next time isn't so bad. And then, like, interestingly enough, the last rep where you feel like you should be dead is the one where you've actually got some momentum.

Gresham Harkless 11:36:

Yeah, absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Carisa Miklusak 11:46

I would tell my younger self and anybody that hasn't come to this realization on their own or been taught this by a good coach, that winning in business, being a CEO in business is really about resiliency over rigidity. I think that there's oftentimes this assumption that when you're in a CEO role, what to do. I mean, we even just talked about this a little bit. Sometimes people working for you know things better. So if you ask them what you're listening for, they'll teach you to listen for something you didn't even realize was something you could listen for. So viewing that resiliency is more important over rigidity is really critical.

Gresham Harkless 12:25

Yeah, that. That makes perfect sense. And, 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 this show. So, Carisa, what does being a CEO means to you?

Carisa Miklusak 12:37

To me, it means having the honor and influence to really impact change. And hopefully that change is with people, not just with technology. So I think that there again is a myth that you become more autonomous as you rise in rank or title, and the ultimate autonomy is founding or owning or running your own business. And I think it's really the opposite. If autonomy is important to you as a CEO, you belong to everyone and, you know, really serve your team and in our case, our Tiller community members and our investors and stakeholders in the way sometimes that you serve your family. And so to me, it means being able to have a larger impact. You know, I believe that I have thoughts that can help people have more opportunity. And this is just an incredible honor to be partnered with the team that wants to drive toward that same goal and spend their time and their discretionary energy on building. But it's also a lot of responsibility, again, like building a family. It's a big responsibility. And so you want to make sure that you're constantly working from good intentions, oftentimes with yourself as the last person in mind. To me, it's an honor and it means a large opportunity to help impact social good.

Gresham Harkless 13:58

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you guys are definitely doing that and kind of go back to like the book the Eaters. Eaters Eat Last. A lot of times, you know, you have to make sure the whole family eats before sometimes you eat, but at the same time, you know, such a rewarding opportunity. So I appreciate that definition and I definitely appreciate your time even more. Carisa, what I wanted to do was pass you to the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a whole view and find out about all the awesome things you guys are building.

Carisa Miklusak 14:26

Building. Well, first of all, thank you so much for your time and for the lovely dialogue. It's been an absolute honor and a pleasure. You know, the last thing that I would share is business takes a lot of our life, especially if you're a CEO or building companies. Have fun. Again, you're building a lot of the processes or defining how things work. So make sure to build an enjoyment. Do things as long as it's effective and you know, drives results in the way that you like to do them. Make sure since you're going to spend so much of your life doing this, that you're carving out a little bit of fun time for a good time. Sorry to be redundant there. And one way to do that is to of course, not only surround yourself with a great team, but surround yourself with a great group of either other CEOs or business leaders or innovators or maybe it's poets that does it for you, that you can keep time with and share notes with and laugh about the things, things that are top us, those things you do before 10am, I would really encourage you to do that. And if you are wanting to build a startup and a new CEO, please, please build something that you're passionate about. Because passion breeds energy and this takes a lot of energy. And energy is definitely, I think, part of that equation to. To success.

Gresham Harkless 15:42

Yes, absolutely. I definitely appreciate that and appreciate you giving us that. That reminder because a lot of times you got to remember your why when, when you're doing all those things and when the ups and downs of the roller coaster kind of often come. So people that want to find out more about Tiller, what's the best way for them to do that?

Carisa Miklusak 15:58

Of course you can go to www.tiller.com T I L R because the website was a lot more affordable. And also if you want to find me. My name is tough but it's Carisa Miklusak C A R I S A M I K L U S A K and I am everywhere at that handle so facebook.com karisamiklusak Same on LinkedIn, same on Twitter, everywhere I'm available and I do enjoy, as you know, over communicating and connecting so I'll be happy to continue the conversation.

Gresham Harkless 16:34

Well thank you so much Carisa. Communicating with us and giving us so much words of wisdom and knowledge and well we will definitely have those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate appreciate you. I appreciate what you're building and all the impact you're having. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.