Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Jeremy Rivera, your unscripted small business podcast host. I'm here with Kate Hendrickson, who's going to introduce her agency, introduce a little bit of her experience, and tell us why she's a trustworthy expert.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Thanks, Jeremy. Yes, Kate Hendrickson. I'm with the strategy lane, and I live in a life of different worlds. So I am a consultant, a small business consultant. I'm also an author.
I'm also a parent and a wife and a friend and a sister and all of the things. And so I live my life in various lanes. I feel like we're all on a journey with various destinations and sometimes we course correct and sometimes we hit forks in the road. And so the lane I'm super excited to talk about today is the strategy lane.
And it really comes from years of not only my own leadership experience, but then working for a large consulting firm out of Chicago for over a decade, helping other leaders understand some of the leadership skills that you might not have been taught. And you just kind of started to have to pick up on your own. And so really helping people upskill themselves and learn more about leadership in general and goals and strategy is what I've done for many years. And now I'm doing it on the small business perspective. So it's super excited to be here.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Couple of questions along that line. Let's start with a really basic one.
How do you do marketing strategy in 2026?
[00:01:37] Speaker B: You're looking at it right now. So I love to talk to people. That is, my marketing strategy is truly getting in there and having some face to face time with people. So whether it's hopping on a podcast, sharing, you know, some tips and tricks and my expertise so that way other people can go, oh man, this would really help me. I'd love to partner or work with this person or, or putting myself out there at conferences and doing speaking events locally in my own community. You know, getting out there and meeting business owners and just sharing what I do with others from this perspective is really what I enjoy from a marketing standpoint. I'd rather sit down and have a conversation with you. Let's go have some lunch and let's talk about how we could potentially partner together and how I can really help accelerate some of the work that you're doing. Let's hop on the phone and have a conversation about it.
Let's, you know, let me jump on a podcast and talk to you, whatever that may be. I love getting up on a stage and sharing with groups of people doing workshops. Those are super fun because they're interactive and I get to work with people. So that's really a lot of my marketing strategy right now is how can I get myself in front of people so I can have that conversation?
I'm going to share and be totally vulnerable and honest.
Social media is not my.
I'm not my strength. I.
But I lean on others for those pieces. So where I know my strengths and things that I'm really good at and how I can help people, I sometimes have to lean on others from a social media perspective because I don't always feel like I know what I'm doing necessarily.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: I think because of. We live in the age of AI and actually this comes up because I heard about a company that does church social media media where they actually have banned all forms of AI in their business process, root to tip now.
And that comes from them wanting to, you know, be authentic in their messaging. You know, they're very spiritual and so they want the things that they do for their church to be from, you know, that spiritual side. And I think that that is an interesting challenge.
And I don't think everybody needs to become a Luddite when it comes to AI. I was literally talking about, you know, before we started about how I use AI to process my podcasts. But it is an interesting challenge of the inauthenticity that can come from overuse of AI. Like I was working out with my wife and her friends and they're joking and they're like, oh, yeah, I could totally tell that they used AI for this. And they're, they're not, you know, tech savvy people. They're not in the marketing space. And they were all like, yeah, that was, that, that photo. The, the, the headline that was totally from chat GPT. The, the, the message from that for that business, like, why do they think we not do not know.
And, and it ties back to what you just said of your own marketing strategy of getting out there and talking to people, having those real conversations. Irl. I think that.
Would you agree that small businesses often lean towards looking at tools as a solution versus leveraging people as a solution of interviewing clients, having a conversations, getting your founder on a podcast, getting them interviewed, and they're skipping over that process in favor of, oh, SEO surfer. You know, for $200 a month, it can do all of the SEO stuff, it can write all of our content and we can just use this tool, Ahrefs Semrush. Like there's just an obsession with, oh, as if I'm A business. I need a SaaS as a solution.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: I completely agree. And I think we're getting over tooled, definitely over tool. There's. We have so many tools that we can use. I am, I would say I like AI. I think AI is helpful in the right places.
I also feel like it can completely be overused and feel inauthentic. So I'm kind of on the line on that, on that opinion that there's definitely a time and place for it. I also feel like it's not the do all, see all be all. So while you may go to AI to get some recommendations or some, you know, whatever that may be, whatever your use of it is, whatever it spits out, then it's kind of on you to then say is this accurate or is this to verify? Right. Trust, but verify what it's, what it's telling you and what it's spitting out and what it looks like. So I definitely see the benefit.
I use it, you know, from just an efficiency standpoint, creating new systems and processes sometimes, you know, right. I'll kind of throw it all in there and it'll map it out and then I'll go back through the map and go, eh, this is not quite what I was thinking. And I shift and adjust and change based on that. But it gives me a nice little template and starting point to then continue the work that I'm doing. So definitely see the benefit. Like I shared, I have a lane that I live in as a parent and I use it to be honest. I have a 13 year old and he is beyond some of the things that I remember from math and things these days. And so I go into AI and like say, can you solve this problem? And like break down the steps so I can see if he did the steps correctly because I don't remember right. And so that might not be the most efficient way to use AI, but I do feel like it definitely has its benefit out there.
But we need to be careful and cautious thinking of what is it waymos like the cars that drive themselves, they make me a little bit nervous. My husband loves them. I am, I haven't tried one. I'm not necessarily a fan just yet, but I feel like we can't. AIs can't be like a waymo. Like we can't just let it drive itself. We still have to be the driver of a lot of that.
A lot of that.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: I'm curious how you talk to a lot of small businesses probably in a lot of different niches and verticals.
I like to ask this question about how do you approach creative advice for businesses that are in like a boring niche. Like, it's not, you know, they're not selling swimsuits, they're not selling Ferraris. It's not sexy. It's like electric substation walls, you know, behind the meter, LNG power solutions for data centers.
It's not sexy. But how do you approach those conversations? Because there, there needs to be a creative spark, right? Like there has to be something. So how do you find the spark in the gray?
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I'll give you a couple of examples. I work with some plumbing companies. I work with a irrigation company, right. And irrigation is not something that we're like, oh, I can't wait to talk about irrigation.
However, it, we also, you know, we do a few things, we do some values exercises and say, who are we as a company and what do we do? And how does it align and connect to our long term goals and growth and marketing? And how do we make our potential customers and client base feel like we're partnership and align? So what does that value? What's the, what are our values and what does that look like?
Then we also talk about strategy. So thinking about our business now and where we want the business to be in two years or three years, let's have a little bit of fun. So that's where I get in there and get to do workshops and we like throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks in all kinds of areas. And in a dream world, what does this business look like and who is our avatar? Who's our customer, what's our customer base look like and how are we going to achieve that? So we actually do whatever the industry is, have a lot of fun in like in that big dream world of, you know, and how does AI connect to that? Like, right. How does AI a piece of that long term growth strategy that we have. And so we think big, we dream big, we put it all on the wall and then kind of like a funnel, we start to really narrow it down into we've already shared. We figured out who we are and what our values are. We figured out what our avatar is or our clients are, our customers, customers are.
And now let's look at what are our key two or three things that we're going to focus on on this big dream wall that we've created. So that way we continue to values and maintain true to who we are and give the best possible service to our customers or clients. And at the same time your values should pop should connect with your leadership style and that your team, your team should have the same values. And so while, yes, they're. They're selling irrigation, they're also selling who they are as people and as. And what they believe in and how you can trust them.
Right. And so those are things that are just innate and human beings and people that we get to have fun and discuss and figure out and skills that they, a lot of times don't know. When I think about the plumbers that I work with, the plumbing, the plumbing company that I work with, they were plumbers. Then they said, hey, I'm gonna build my. I'm gonna have my own company. I can do this, I can make all the money as the owner.
And so they went from being the plumbing, the plumber to the business owner.
And they didn't know how to lead a team necessarily. Right. And so they don't know all of those pieces. And so they get to have some fun with their training and development and upskilling and creating who they are as a company and a brand and a business and what they're known for and how they're respected in the community. And so all of those things we get to focus on and have some fun. And that really helps with their marketing strategy to say, this is who we are and this is what we believe in and this is how the service we're going to provide.
So I think that's how we kind of some of the small businesses that you might not think are flashy and fun, really, we get to be a little creative and have a little fun and really get to the core of who they are as a business and as business owners.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: You touched on a business plan and this question's from Theise and associates. Previous guest for you, what is the biggest hole that you see in small businesses? Business plan.
Small businesses business plan.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Small businesses business plan.
So I think a few things. One is they have.
There's a little bit too much chaos going on either up there or on the paper. There's. They're focusing on way too many things.
So I think really figuring out how to narrow it down into two or three key things that as a business and as a company you're going to, you're going to work towards is one thing that I find. I jump in and I start working with somebody and they have all of these things that they're working on and they're constantly putting out fires and they're in a million directions and they never have a time to work on their business. Because they're working in their business on too many things. On too many things and too many pieces.
So I would say definitely that will be a piece of it. And then having the tracking and data mechanism to see if you're actually making progress and moving forward. So, for example, if you have, you know, some financial metrics you're trying to hit, but you're not actually, you know, tracking your financials well, or timely or accurately, right. Then we don't even know. We don't know. We don't know if we're moving forward in the right direction. We don't know if we're going to hit our goals or we don't know if we're going to continue to grow or, or grow at all or if we're moving in the wrong direction. So I think not having the data.
So I honestly think if you can narrow your focus to two or three items and have some data to look at to say, yes, I'm moving in the right direction or no, I'm not and I need to course correct, that is where things get really good. Really. Right. That's where things get really fun. But the issue is just too many areas that you're focusing on and no data to see you're really getting there.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: I feel that I was just setting up, you know, ZapDigits, a dashboard to pull in Google Search Console and Google Analytics and realized, oh, they didn't actually set up the Google Analytics at all for this project. Like, well, now I need to go back because I totally, you know, new project. I would have expected for them to have, I don't know, analytics at all. But there's this glaring gap. Another client that I, they're about to launch a new site and they're like, anything you missed? I'm like, yeah, you don't actually have any conversion point on the site. Like, it's all information.
What do you want them to do when they get there? And how will you measure its success? And like, oh, well, there's an email on the contact page for our publicist. And like, so do you want, like, can we track how many emails that person receives and whether it came from the site it came from? Oh, yeah, they could have gotten that email from anywhere else.
Can you turn that into a form? Like, yes. And then they're like, well, what we really want them to do is, you know, download this information sheet.
Well, then we should put an email field and download and have them go to a download page. But, you know, capture them into some sort of CRM. Come on folks, it's 2026. You don't have a CRM. You don't have the concept of having a form on a site that you've spent millions of dollars for to do this launch. Like it's a new company, huge product, everything, and you literally have no way to measure its success.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Exactly. And you need to make it as easy as possible or they're going to the next guy, right? Like there's always somebody else who can offer what you're offering and, or something similar.
And if you don't make it as easy as possible for them to, and for you to keep up with whoever that is, whoever that customer client base is, if you can't keep up with it because you're not tracking that and, or they can't get in touch with you easily, they're moving on, they're moving on to someone else.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: I think this is a good moment to give you a soapbox. You're going to speak to small business owners and give us your hottest take for small business owners.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: This is, this is, this is a good question. So I will say if small business owners are living, you feel like you're constantly living in that reactive state and you're constantly putting out fires and you don't know what next year is going to look like. You don't know what the end of this year is going to look like.
I think now is the time to find that accountability partner or coach or consultant, whatever you want to call it, same thing. But to find that person who is going to help you find some direction. And I think that's. I love, I love the work I do. I want to be the person behind the curtain, right, that says you go get all the accolades, you do the hard work, you go grow and put your company out there. But I'm going to be behind the curtain nudging you along and pushing you along and holding you accountable to these things that we've identified are the most important in your business. And I love being that, that person. And I think now is the time if you are a small business owner, to find what that per, who that person is in, in your world, whatever that looks like. And sometimes it's a, you know, sometimes a business coach or consultant, sometimes maybe you have a co worker or a coworker or you own the company with someone else. I get, you know, your co owners, right?
You need to set time aside to work on the business and have somebody that's going to hold you accountable to all the things that you need to do to Help move yourself forward.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: I love that. And it comes to mind because I just interviewed Brandon Moon, and he comes in from the other side of business planning of how to exit your business. And his entire business model is, you know, how do you wind down? How do you, what's your escape plan? And it struck me that, you know what, I've literally started a small business, several different small businesses. And I didn't go into them thinking, what's my end goal here? Like, how does this, how does this end? I was so focused on, on whether or not I could. I never stopped to think if I should from Jurassic Park. But it's.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Please go ahead.
I was gonna say I do an assessment right before I work with someone. And that's one of the questions is, you know, are you long term looking to sell? Because that totally directs our strategy and what we're working on in the next year or two years, and what does that look like? So it's definitely part of the initial assessment to figure out, are you in it indefinitely or do you have an exit in mind? You know, so
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Bruce Ashford was my last guest, and he does consulting for SMBs and nonprofits. And we had a question that came up. We wanted to think about how much do you measure the social good and how do you include plans for building the ethos of your company as it scales and grows? And the example was, you know, there are companies that started like a hundred years ago. They still exist today. Obviously the owner is dead, but the company continues to grow and gain profits and continues to exist.
Wouldn't it have been nice if that owner 100 years ago had made it a mission to plant a tree every year, year in a major park, we'd have a hundred, you know, 100 year oaks in, in these parks. If they had done that, and they, they would have cemented like a longer term legacy than just another company that exists. And it, it's just there to make money, and it's still making money, and it will continue forever to try to make money.
But that's kind of it, right? So what's your advice for, you know, small business owners? To perpetuate a legacy by thinking about that in their business plan, in their mission and statements of vision, statements, et cetera?
[00:20:40] Speaker B: I think that's where we start. Go back to values, right? And so when you're determining what are your key core values, you know, a lot I do, I have a huge list. I have a lot of people of, like, recommendations, and we kind of talk through what that looks like and community Is one that a lot of businesses gravitate towards because of a lot of. Especially with small business owners. They're in their own community a lot of times. And so community in general. But I think then connecting back to community of that how you're giving back.
But I think a lot of that also stems with the culture you're building within your business and organization. So are you surrounding yourself with people and employees and team members who are also have a sense of community and also have a sense of giving back. So I think that's part of the interview process when you're bringing on, you know, building your team and bringing on new people is there's kind of the cultural fit around community and with them and then your company and organization. Because when you start to build a culture of community, then it just becomes natural that it is something that you all find important. And so you find time, you make time for it because everyone in the organization finds that it's something that is important.
Also I think we know when you think about goals and key actions and what are you going to focus on and what are you going to work on setting something specific that connects you back to community that you're going to achieve by in a six month period or a one year period. But putting that on paper and I'm going to use the word accountability again and then making sure you hold yourself, yourself accountable. Let's have someone that holds you accountable to getting it done. Because it is so easy to get wrapped up in the business aspect and the making the money and getting selling what you're selling or providing the service that you're providing or whatever that may be, it's really easy to get wrapped up in that. And so holding yourself accountable to a specific community goal and building a culture of community when you're doing your hiring and bringing your team in, I think are two really important ways to keep yourself connected to community and not just the bottom line.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Bruce Ashford, and I'm going to do this for you too, is I gave him the opportunity to ask the next next guest a question, a challenge that he had himself a pain point he was trying to solve in his business.
And he wanted to know if you had any advice about cash flow for businesses. He said that he'd explored profit first. Kind of wrapped his head around that, but wasn't sure if there were alternatives.
Profit first cash flow model that could be considered or that you'd run into.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. So we look at all the financial data, obviously we pinpoint a specific area that we're going to hone into. And so it could be cash flow, could be just ebitda, right? It could be various different things we take a look at just figure out what are we going to, what's going to be our focus point from a data perspective.
But from a cash flow specifically, obviously I think you're line item your expenses too. So that way there's a little bit more of an even spread about if I would say so. Like for example, I have a client who when we were looking at their numbers, their marketing dollars were wild. I mean when you were talking about do you even know what you're doing?
They were spending such a high percentage of money on marketing dol and had no idea if it was actually getting that bringing them any sales had no tracking mechanism. They were just. Every Google Ad they could buy, they were buying it. Every Facebook ad they could buy, they were buying it. They weren't looking at, you know, how they were getting their clients. And it was really a mess.
And so we had to figure it out like what do we need to exclude? What do we need to do better? And then look at how that adjusts and changes our cash flow.
We ended up reducing some of the ad spend, right. But what we found was the customers and the clients were continuing with maintaining about the same. We weren't, they wasn't losing any. So we saving money there. But at the same time we were noticing that you're still getting the same amount of customers and client calls and service calls and that kind of thing and went okay, this is really telling from a cash flow perspective is you don't need that, right? You don't need that. But what do you need to continue to maintain a high level of cash flow? The other thing is analyze your business.
So for these, you think about like a H Vac company in the summer months, they, that cash flow is probably much higher, right? They're doing, they're got. People are calling. My A.C. is out, my A.C. is out, My AC is out. Right? And they immediately want, they'll pay anything for an emergency services to get somebody out there because they're. I live in Florida, so you know, cause it's, it's sweating and hot. So.
But they also know that the other times of the year, like fall, people have their windows open if their AC goes out. They've got a little bit of time because there's a nice breeze coming through.
They're, they're, their AC is not working as hard so they're not going to have as much many service calls. So you have to adjust your business to that. Knowing that, hey, in the summer months we're going to be crazy. And it's going to be, we're going to have a lot of money coming in, we're going to have a lot of people working, probably paying overtime. And then the fall winter months, it might look a little bit differently and we need to adjust and be prepared for that. So I think some of it is knowing your own business and knowing those ebbs and flows based on your own expertise.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Love that.
When you're doing like a check in on marketing with your client, what are your, what's your low hanging fruit to start that conversation? Like, where are you driving that conversation first? Like, you know, Newton Crouch, you're in the agricultural industry. I need to get you into this, I need to resolve this problem. Is there something that you always gravitate to when you're doing your check ins with your clients that you want to address first in that conversation or just like a. Do you have a standard checklist of things that you're going through when you're doing that consultation call and having that interaction to keep them moving in the right direction, or is it really customized every single time?
[00:27:20] Speaker B: It's pretty customized because we'll usually find out pretty quickly what's working well and what's not and where there's some gaps. So when we determine what those gaps are, we might touch on our consistent touch points. In regular conversations and calls, we might touch on the things that are working well because it's always really nice to celebrate those.
But then we're really honing in on some of the things that have been either an issue or a problem or you can't get past or there's a gap. I also lean on the business owner.
I don't always necessarily have the answers, but I guide them to kind of figure out some of the answers.
Like I said, I work with plumbers and irrigation companies and things like that, where I work with a behavioral health clinic.
So I'm not a clinician, I'm not a plumber, but I can help ask the questions. So that way we get to a solution or an answer or a next step so we can find the solution or an answer. And so I really view it as a partnership where we're just digging in together to determine where the gaps are and what might need to be done differently and where we're spending money that we don't need to be spending money from. Specifically from a marketing standpoint, you know, do you have a company that's helping you with that and what does that look like and what does that return on your investment?
Are you doing it yourself organically and do you know what you're doing? Right. Is there some training that needs to happen or training that needs to be involved from a marketing place because you are a plumber and marketing is not necessarily your expertise. So we really look at what are you currently doing, what's current state, what data do you have to track it? Then we start tracking the data.
So all of that takes a little bit of time and then saying, okay, now what do we need to do differently and is there some training involved? Do we need additional resources? Right. What does that look like? So I'm not gonna say it's a specific recipe. It's definitely very customized to each client because each client's gaps look a little bit different.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: As to kind of wrap up this conversation, I'm curious, when you booked, what was the topic that you wanted to make sure that you talked about that you haven't had the chance to yet?
[00:29:43] Speaker B: We talked about strategic planning, we talked about goal management.
I would say there's also an aspect of it around training and development for your team. So I while I love working with business owners and their leaders and figuring out what does that long term strategy look like and what goals or KPIs they're going to set for the next upcoming year and what data we're going to track to make sure we get there, there's also a level of understanding that your staff and your team needs to be aware of because they contribute to this, they influence these goals and how do you communicate that? So what does that communication look like to your team? How often are you communicating about your goals and do they understand what these numbers even mean and how they're connecting and pushing the work forward? So I think that's another really important aspect to working with small businesses and making sure that they are incorporating their entire team in this process and they're training and upskilling them on the business as well. And then you can build incentive plans around it. And so I love helping to do that as well where people can really see, not only they can see the numbers and how they're helping the business grow or helping retain team members or you know, whatever you're tracking, but they can also really feel connected to pushing it forward because of the benefit it gives them. Also it makes them a, that makes them act like an owner. Right. Like if you have, yeah, if you have dollars on the line, I'm gonna, you know, I might react a little bit differently. So that's really. I think that's another fun piece of it that we didn't really jump into. But pulling your team in, communicating out, building some cool incentive plans and bonuses structures around these core things that you've determined are important.
I think all of that is good stuff, a lot of good stuff.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: I think that's an important piece because from like a management perspective, you can often be so focused on the role and defining. I want them to do this, I want them to do that. That you often overlook some additional things that you can structure to make sure that they, you're respecting them as a human that's doing these things.
Yeah, you can design Claude to like execute this skill. You know, you can, you know, refine your prompt again and again and then it will do it again. And it doesn't need cupcakes. But I've found that humans work better with occasional cupcakes. Humans work better when they have some, you know, or cheddar, you know, some extra money incentive in it. And it can either be, you know, don't, don't substitute pizza for wages. That's always a terrible business plan of, oh, yeah, you know, we got rid of the bonuses, but hey, you get pizza in the office, right?
That's not what we're talking about.
But, you know, if you're going to take the time to structure a lifestyle business and you aren't doing it as a solopreneur and you're going to have other people involved, then, you know, make a consideration.
You know, how much of my profit do I want to invest in making sure that the lifestyle and providing for my employees, my coworkers, is developed enough where they're not going to be going home exhausted at the end of the day. But actually, you know, coming up with creative solutions for problems, coming up with creative marketing ideas, like if you, especially since, you know, more of the bump and grind, like just execution stuff is moving towards aiification, you know, we want to create the environment where we're not just, you know, cultivating human drones to do, to shuffle paperwork, but to create an environment where, you know, they actually do give a damn about the company that they work for.
[00:33:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I completely agree. I think AI can't replace that people connection. And like I shared with you at the very beginning of the podcast, this is how I connect and market and work with people because I love the people aspect and I think that, you know, we can't let AI replace that and making people feel important. You know, I think I'm a huge proponent. If you have, if a team of people that one on one conversations, that consistent monthly conversation to talk about everything from what's working well to what barriers are you facing, to what are our goals look like and how are you contributing to them? Do you have the tools and equipment that you need to get your job done and you make them feel important. And so I, but, and I agree, pizza does not replace wages. So there's, it's, it's icing on the cake, but not, that's definitely not gonna, shouldn't replace wages.
But I think there's a lot of really fun aspects of this that in addition to the things we already talked about that can really help create the right culture, the right team, move you forward. And if you're a numbers person just looking at the bottom line, it's going to give you an roi because your team is, you're going to retain your team members and you're not consistently having to onboard new people and spending your time hiring and interviewing and retraining and that's going to save you on the bottom line. So if you don't necessarily see the benefit and that people connection and you can see the benefit in the roi,
[00:35:13] Speaker A: I, I, it stands out vividly in my memory. I worked at a, a real estate website hosting company and worked my way into management. And the second meeting I attended once I was elevated to a manager of team of 12, you know, they were talking about setting the goals for the next quarterly budget and they're like, yeah, we need to reallocate and remove some of these human resource expenses. It's the biggest expense in our company and it's just dragging us down and we need to reduce these highest, you know, these highest earners. The wages for these people are way too high. And I was like, wait, you're going, you want me to remove Johnny Camacho?
He does the work of four different people.
Like he's been there the longest. He has the most institutional knowledge, Customers love him. He's saved dozens of accounts. Like, no, I'm sorry. He just makes more than anybody else does. And we need to, you know, you need to understand, Jeremy, that the human resources are the biggest cost to our company. I'm like, I object. I put it on record. And then they made me fire him. And we actually suffered so badly that we actually had to hire him back and increase his wages because our numbers dropped so dramatically. Churn went through the roof.
The team was in chaos. And I'm like, I told you guys like Looking at the numbers and looking at people as like, oh, this is our biggest expense. Yes, but it's also your biggest investment. It's your biggest weapon. It's your business, like, let's work on other things in the system, in the software, in the sales process, that's leading to excessive churn. But booting out one of your most expensive, your most experienced person, because you pay them more. Well, you pay them more because he was there longer. You paid him more because he had more experience.
You should have given him a raise so that we could, you know, put an extra goal out there for extra retention. Instead, it was. It was just chaos. But it was just the best example of karma coming around. Having to, you know, reach out and be like, hey, can you come back and we'll give you a raise because we're really suffering.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Oh, man.
Yeah. No, that is exactly it. I think. I think people typically end up. Up realizing when they make those kind of mistakes that they may have. May. May have made a wrong decision.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: I would love for you to tell the people and folks who are listening how to connect with you. Where can they find you if there is a social media channel that you are on, they can speak to you at.
Where can they get connected with Kate Hendrickson?
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Sure. So my website is thestrategylane.com you will find all my lanes there. So I'm just letting you know it's a very structured chaos of consulting, writing, family life, blogs, blogging.
But it's really fun and I would love for people to just follow along on my.
Like, I shared structured chaos. But it's thestrategylane.com and you can also find me on LinkedIn, you can find me on Instagram and all those links are on my website. So I think that's probably the best place to connect.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: I appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on board.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Jeremy.
