IAM2823 – Founder Offers Business Owners Unique Coaching and Programs

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Transcription:

Shelly Berman-Rubera 00:00
I think the word that comes to my mind is tenacity. You just don't give up. You know, I just think that's been my gift. No matter what life throws at you, that little voice that says, I'm going to keep going.

Gresham Harkless 00:42
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gretch from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today, Fshelli Berman Rubera of small Business results. Shelly, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 00:51
Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.

Gresham Harkless 00:54
The honor is definitely all mine. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Shelly so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing and Shelly is the founder and president of SBR Small Business Results, based in Newton, Massachusetts. Shelly Berman Rubera is a Master Certified in Business Management and a certified Small Business coach. And emotional intelligence leader is the combination of her credentials and experiences that offers business owners unique and inspiring business development and coaching programs. She is known that. She's known as the 30 day strategy coach and is the founder of a strategic framework that drives results. Shelley, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 01:29
I'm ready here. Present and accounted for.

Gresham Harkless 01:31
Awesome. Let's do it. So they kick everything off. I want to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to get started with your business.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 01:38
I'm able to tell this in a pretty succinct fashion. My personality is that I really don't like being told what to do. So that's true of a lot of us. So I knew early on that I didn't want to work for anyone else. I needed to be my own boss at a very young age. I started a dance school and a lot of things I did came from passion, but with a lot of foresight. So I opened a dance school in the city of Boston and three months later, John Travolta hit the scene. So Shelley's Disco dance school became the second largest dance school in the city of Austin.

Gresham Harkless 02:14
Nice.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 02:14
Very exciting, fun period of time. Um, but the true entrepreneur in me is true of a lot of people. I got bored and said, this isn't really what I want to do forever. And knew I needed to do something having to do with my body. I actually took a position as a marketing director. Not that I ever studied marketing, but, you know, you run your own business. And it was there that I met someone who encouraged me to do bodybuilding. And so I became a competitive bodybuilder way before the whole trend of lifting weights. And. But how was I going to make any money? And so I became one of the first personal trainers on the east coast and actually ran that company for 23 years when the little entrepreneur in me said, I don't actually want to do this for the rest of my life either. So what was next? I actually opened up a leadership company, hit the ground running Corporate America, and really did quite well in terms of closing sales. But there were two things that happened, many things that happened. One is it was the downturn of the economy and so all external vending was being cut. Two was I found myself in corporate America and I really hated this. So, like, this was a bad turn and I had to go back and really say, okay, you can't keep reinventing yourself. Who are you and what's. Who are you? You know? And it was through that process, which I think is a crucial process, I was able to realize that I love starting and growing businesses. I love. It did not make sense to keep reinventing myself. It's very hard to do. So I became certified as an emotional intelligence leader, business coach, and master certified in business management. And that's what I've been doing for the last 15 years. It's really the culmination of all those experiences that allowed me to give birth to what I really believe I was meant to do.

Gresham Harkless 04:04
Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that and it's good definitely to hear. I definitely know a lot of people are listening, are here that they always feel like they have to do, they want to do something else. I'm glad that's the little entrepreneurial that's inside of us that's pushing us to do that. As you. It sounds like you went through a lot and you probably experienced with your clients as well.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 04:20
Yeah. I mean, the worst thing is to be bored.

Gresham Harkless 04:22
Yeah.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 04:22
You know, people that get up and go to work every day, then lose their passion and lose their desire and, you know, we're only here once, so it's much better to wake up and be excited about what we're doing.

Gresham Harkless 04:34
Exactly. And definitely I appreciate you for, like, helping, you know, so many, you know, business owners kind of Help. Help to do that and to be able to be comfortable in doing that and be successful in that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Could you tell us a little bit more about, like, how you work with your clients and some of the services you provide?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 04:49
So I work in multiple ways. I work one on one. I have a home office. I also go on site. I provide trainings for business owners and their employees. I run groups where you bring a group of entrepreneurs together and create learning and synergy and they can take care of each other, you know, like building an external sales team, but all working within a business coach and a facilitator for direction. And the number one thing that I love to do is my speaking engagements, where you can reach many people and right being in front of them, they have an ability to connect with you, believe in you, and walk away with tangible results. So all of that is under the realm of business coaching. It's personal and business development. And so that could mean a lot of different things. But we know that a company is only as good as the owner running it. So we do work on the interpersonal skills, business management, as well as any structures that need to happen within fundamentals that have to happen within a successful business.

Gresham Harkless 05:54
That makes perfect sense. I'm glad you brought that up because I usually say a lot that a lot of times we forget that when we look at businesses and organizations, they're made up as people of people. And definitely, as you mentioned, especially as the leader or the CEO or whatever high level title you might have, you have to make sure that you're developing yourself as well too. Because I think sometimes we forget that as we're growing businesses or growing others, that we sometimes forget about ourselves.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 06:18
Well, personal development is. If we're not continually doing that, then literally that's why people go to life coaches, because they get stuck, right? You get to keep growing.

Gresham Harkless 06:30
That makes perfect sense. Now let me ask you this. Do you find that there's a good time or perfect time to hire a business coach? Or is this something that you do when you get stuck? Or can you be more proactive and do it before that? Is there a good time or is it just kind of any time?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 06:45
I really believe that from the moment you have an idea, whether you go to the sba, whether you hire a mentor, whether you find a colleague, I always say, find me someone smarter than me. I want that. I want that intellectual conversation. I want someone to tell me, good idea, bad idea, suggestions, support. Even Shelly, you can do it. Someone to believe in you. So I believe that we have our parents. Hopefully our parents do that. Not all do, but I believe that from the moment you have the idea, we need support and more today than ever, trying to go it alone is just way too hard and isolating.

Gresham Harkless 07:33
Yeah, absolutely. And you're the same as your environment determines your altitude or how you go, how much success you'll receive. So it's important to kind of make sure you try to facilitate it as much as possible. So I appreciate you answering that question and then also bringing up ideas of other ways that people can do it as well, too, whether it be going to the sba, getting mentors. There's so many different ways that we can kind of create that environment.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 07:54
The thing is, is that the reality is it is very, very hard to run a small business. Just grueling me. I've been doing it my whole life. It's grueling. The other side of grueling is that it's about the most exhilarating thing you can do. If you're a small business owner and entrepreneur, there's nothing better than, you know, seeing someone grow or make money or leave your office saying, oh, I'm energized. So. But that's the reality. The reality is that it's hard. You know, it's like they don't tell you, like, labor pain that parts. No. In art. Is the outcome amazing? Your kids? Yeah. But running a business is challenging. I'd rather someone tell me that and then help me cut the curve of learning or help me to pay attention to the key components, because otherwise, that's why the percentage of small businesses don't make it, because they're throwing spaghetti against the wall, hoping it'll stick. Just need help today.

Gresham Harkless 08:56
Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate you for saying that, because I think there is some. Some somewhat of a negative kind of story around what it takes to run a small business. Just as you said. I think sometimes a lot of the reason that small businesses fail is because you don't necessarily understand how difficult it is. So you come in thinking that it's going to be easy, that it's all sunshine and rainbows. You don't understand the ebbs and the flows and the highs and the lows that go with running a business. And if you aren't ready for that and aren't prepared for that, then that could be a shell shock the very first time it happens.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 09:24
I just want you to think about something. When I wanted to start a dance school, I rode my bike to the star Market. Parking lot with flyers and I put a flyer on every car. I got a phone number and a post office box. And if you could talk to the people that called you, you could sell. Right? You didn't even need a website. Now in today's world, I don't think I'm going to be putting flyers in the Star market parking lot which get to be found. And so, you know, or you could start a business from your passion, but now you need a strategic, you need the passion plus a strategic approach. And it's part of what you're doing. Our goal is to, you know, your goal, the podcast, reach people, help them paint a picture of reality. And even the business you're running, you don't have to do it alone. You can hire high integrity people to help.

Gresham Harkless 10:14
Absolutely, yeah. Success is a team sport and you know, that's part of it. Like you said, what we're trying to do is help it to increase the business success rate and help people to be successful by knowing about resources, understanding, you know, the difficulty that running a business can be, but at the same time understanding that there's so many resources and individuals like yourself out there that can help people do that. So I know I touched on this a little bit when I read your bio, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 10:41
Well, I would say that there are two things I believe that people need a framework that just the idea of being coached or consultant, you know, hiring a consultant is too esoteric. How much money, how much work, how long do I need to be with you? So I did this for myself. It's something that I'm gifted doing for my clients, which is creating a framework within which you work. So it's not. Where are we going now? So very briefly, my framework is six steps. Begins with commitment. Step two, focus. Step three, how do you spend stand out? How do you market? That's one of them. Step four is building relationships which you're gifted at. Step five is managing emotion. And step six is accountability for your result. So when I talk to a client, we're going to work within the framework. And it's when you have all those pieces in place that you stand to make a change. Right. Not out there. Let's work within the framework. The second thing I have is my just total belief in myself and that where I've been, my highs, my lows, my life experience, that I do hold Wisdom that's worthy of sharing. And so I think that being in a structured framework and believing in myself, two gifts that we can give your audience, you know, what's your framework and do you really believe in your own self worth is a very winning combination.

Gresham Harkless 12:09
Absolutely. 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 an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 12:19
I really follow good business books, I follow business books that align with my framework. So if there's something about commitment or about productivity. So I think that I'm really. My secret is that I love quiet. Like I really love scary how much I like quiet. But I like reading and quiet and a notebook. And that's what keeps me fresh.

Gresham Harkless 12:45
Yeah, I, I love that, that hack and I think especially with such a high technology diet that it seems like we're all on, you do need that time to get away. And I think, you know, sometimes people are definitely afraid to be in that quieter piece. But I think for myself personally, a lot of times that's where really good ideas are, really good introspection and kind of stepping away from all the rapid information that we're getting. If you're able to step away and just read a book, write on a journal, do things like that, it allows you to really get clarity. 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?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 13:23
I think the word that comes to my mind is tenacity. You just don't give up. You know, I just, I just think that's been my gift. No matter what life throws at you, that little voice that says, I'm going to keep going.

Gresham Harkless 13:38
Absolutely. I love that and I love that perspective because I think a lot of times, you know, just as you said, sometimes we just have to make a choice not to give. And it's hard to be, I always say it's hard to be somebody that never gives up. And it's hard to lose, it's hard to fail. If you never give up, if you just keep, you know, clawing at whatever you want, whatever that goal aspiration that you have, you know, for your business and for your life. If you do that and you continue on with that, that no matter what, then you, you, you too can make sure that you're, you reach wherever you're going. 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, Shelly, what does being a CEO means?

Shelly Berman-Rubera 14:12
Being a CEO means that I have the ability to grow, express myself and the freedom. If we go back full circle to my first. Your first question is to lead this ship, to be the captain of the ship. And I like that.

Gresham Harkless 14:29
Awesome. Yeah, I think definitely many entrepreneurs and business owners could definitely, you know, understand that and love that definition because you have the freedom, you have the choice in order to paint the picture of what you want for your life and for your business. But you have to, of course, roll up your sleeves and make sure that that happens. But I appreciate you for obviously doing that yourself, but also for helping so many, you know, entrepreneurs and business owners do it themselves. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know and, and then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you guys are working on.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 15:00
Well, first of all, just thank you. And back at you, because what you're doing is really colossal. I appreciate it, bringing us on and trying to showcase and bring support to your network. My web address is ww.smallbus, short for business smallbusresults.com on that website, you can sign up for my newsletter. The newsletter will let you know, events, webinars, anything that we're offering. I do work virtually all the time, just like you and I are. I love person to person, but in today's world, some just can't get to it, you know, and not everybody lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Gresham Harkless 15:36
Yeah, true.

Shelly Berman-Rubera 15:37
Yeah, I think that's it.

Gresham Harkless 15:40
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll make sure to have those links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can click through and follow up with you and sign up for your newsletter. But thank you so much again, Shelly. I appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.