Winning Strategies: Michael Richman's Path to Success | Michael Richman | Ep 114

Michael Richman  00:00

Small businesses are the really an economic engine for growth. And it’s really, for me was a way not only to find success for myself, but to spread success far and wide is through small businesses and entrepreneurship. So I got really interested in it, I decided to actually become a commercial banker. And I worked with small businesses who were seeking loans and growth capital and stuff like that. And I loved seeing how these businesses ran. I love seeing their challenges. And I truly saw again, that this is like the way that our economy kind of gets its its mojo is through small business.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:46

Hi, welcome to a another edition of Better Business Better Life. Today, I’m super excited to be joined by another EOS implementer. I’ve got Michael Richman who is actually from over in the US, and he’s a professional EOS implementer. But more importantly, he’s actually a fourth-generation business owner. So he’s been through so for generations of businesses, and he’s going to share some of his story with us. So welcome to the show. Michael, lovely to have you.

Michael Richman  01:07

Thank you. Thank you. I’m here in here in Los Angeles. So definitely, yeah, he had definitely a far apart, but I’m really glad to take the chance to talk to you. So yeah, I am a fourth. As she mentioned, as Debra mentioned, I’m a fourth-generation business owner. My story, my family origin story is really interesting. My My great-grandfather was a cousin of the famous gangster if you look them up on Wikipedia, Meyer Lansky, and in in the 1930s, during Prohibition here in the US, he suggested to my grandfather, hey, why don’t you get in the milk distribution business. And in addition to distributing milk, you can also distribute alcohol to some speakeasies. So that was my family’s first foray into business we did own after prohibition was over, we still continued on with our milk business until the late 90s, actually. So I grew up around entrepreneurs. I love entrepreneurs. And I always felt like I had it in my blood. And so I went to school, and studied communications. And I came out and I did some communications and PR work. And I realized that really, my passion was around small businesses, I saw that small businesses are the really an economic engine for growth. And it’s really, for me was a way not only to find success for myself, but to spread success far and wide, is through small businesses and entrepreneurship. So I got really interested in it, I decided to actually become a commercial banker. And I worked with small businesses, who were seeking loans and growth capital and stuff like that. And I loved seeing how these businesses ran. I love seeing their challenges. And I truly saw again, that this is like the way that our economy kind of gets its its mojo is through small businesses. And so I decided I wanted to own my own. So I did what I thought was smart, and I went to school and got my MBA, I like to say that I don’t think my MBA is actually worth the wallpaper that we used it for in our in our house. But I did, I got the MBA. And after I graduated, I knew that I want to own a small business and the type didn’t matter. I looked at everything, I looked at food distribution, and I looked at manufacturing, I looked at a bunch of different things. And I came across actually a sign business to install LED and neon signs. And I was in escrow in that business was driving there to sign the documents and and give the escrow officer the cheque and the owner that I was buying it for calls me on the phone and he says to me, Michael, I don’t feel like retiring. And I said, What I’m on my way to give you your money. No, no, I’m not going to retire. So I said, Okay, I’m back to the drawing board. And my father, who owns a manufacturing business here in Los Angeles called me and said, Why don’t you join me? And I said, Well, I don’t want to work for you. You have a partner, I don’t want to work for your partner. And he said to me, Well, what if you made my partner an offer and bought him out? And I said, that’s fine. But I said, you know, I value our relationship as Father, Son. And I’ve seen family businesses, and I see how sometimes stuff can get messy. And I said, so one thing that’s really important to me is that we’re going to be 50-50 owners, not 49, 51 were you tell me, this is how it’s going to be we’re going to be actual partners. And so I went ahead and I bought his partner out, and the company manufactured shade structures, poolside cabanas, and commercial awnings for large chains for seasons, hotels, Ritz Carlton’s people like that. And about five years into my journey, I realized I was kind of hitting the ceiling and my best friend who was working for me at the time and it’s been my best friend for about 20 years, she said to me, Michael, you’re in a echo chamber, talk to your wife, you talk to your father, but you’re not talking to any other business owners. You’re not improving. And that’s why you feel like you’re hitting the ceiling. And so I said, Okay, well, what should I do? And she said, Have you ever looked into peer groups? And I said, No, I’d never looked into it. And I did some research. And I ended up joining EO, the entrepreneur organization, here in Los Angeles, and truly changed my life. I like to make the joke that I’m not a joiner. In fact, when I was a kid, one of my biggest fears you out there listening might think this is a little strange, but I was always nervous, you’re gonna get abducted by a cult, okay? And so when I heard about EO, I said, Oh, my God, I’m gonna get abducted by a business called now, and I’m an adult. And then my friend said to me, it’s very hard as an adult to get abducted. And I said, Okay, that’s fair. So, um, I joined, I joined do, and it really changed my life, I joined a forum, which is a peer group, like a board of directors, for you personally. And after about three months, one of the people in my forum turned around to me, and they said, Michael, every month, you’re coming in here with the same problems, and nothing is changing. And you keep saying, This is what I want for my business, but you’re not really doing anything to change it, you’re just kind of going around in a circle. And so they introduced me to traction into EOS. And we successfully implemented EOS in my business. We grew revenue, we doubled revenue in about four years, and increased EBITA by about 65%. And in a couple of years ago, we made the decision to sell the business, my father retired. And I said, now is a good time for me to do something else. And after I sold the business, I thought to myself, what is it that I am passionate about, I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. And I want them to see some me doing something that is not only something good for the world, but also something that I love and enjoy doing. And I thought back to what was it that I really have enjoyed in the past five, seven years. And I realized that while I was at EO one of the things I did as a volunteer was coach and mentor up-and-coming business owners. And so I was doing this and I was introducing them to some of the EOS tools. And I said, Well, what if I actually did this as a business where I could kind of spread the gospel to other business owners, and help them get what they want from their business. So they don’t struggle in the way that I did. And so that’s kind of where I am today, my story. Oh, that’s awesome. That was back in August 2022. And now you’re out there actually helping other people, which is fantastic. So I want to explore a little bit before we get started, I always like to ask my guests what of their professional and personal bests one of the things you’re most proud of, in your professional life and in your personal life so far.  Yeah. So I’d say in my professional life, and again, when I talked earlier, about how I feel like small businesses are the economic engine. I think that one of the things I’m most proud about is when I think about all the people that worked for me, my employees and my team members, I think about the fact that I helped put food on their table, I gave them opportunities. And for by giving them the opportunity, they were able to give their kids and sometimes their grandkids opportunities that they might not have other otherwise had. So when I look at professionally, I say to myself, there’s kids that are going to college, because of the business that I ran, that maybe wouldn’t have been able to do that. Otherwise, there’s people that have bought their first homes, you know, purchased a car went on that dream vacation, because of the success and what we built together. So that’s really what I’m most proud of as a business owner. And then personally, I have to say, my my family, I have mentioned a four year old, a one-year-old, my wife, we’re all very close. And I love them all very much. And so personally, I’m just it warms my heart every morning, I’m able to get my kids dressed and get them off to school. And it just, it’s one of the greatest things I can ever imagine.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  09:02

That’s wonderful. So I’m going to explain a little bit if I may, now around EO. So I was also a member of EAA for about three and a half years. And I know that it really is a game changer. And one of the things I say to my EOS clients is, you know, I think that you have to have an operating system, which is EOS, you need to have a peer group that can actually support you as well. So tell me a little bit about what you got out of a yo and what you found it did for you both again, both professionally and personally.

Michael Richman  09:27

Yeah, I would say a bunch of things. One is it’s really funny when you join EO, I sat there, and I saw the group of people that were in my form in my chapter and I said, Well, none of them are doing exactly what I’m doing. How is this actually going to help me? And I think that the beauty of it is the fact that nobody in my chapter form was doing what I was doing. So to be in a group where I’m sharing my issues and maybe have somebody who owns a chain of orthodonture offices or you know is a is A financial advisor owns some financial advising offices, listen to what I’m going through, and have them come from totally left field and say, Hey, did you have you thought about this? Did you try that did is this something that you know, you’ve considered is a game changer, because I’m so stuck as a business owner, when I was when I had my business in this, like I said, this vacuum chamber of I’m only talking, even the other business owners, and I’m talking to all people that do what I do my competitors. And so to be able to have somebody who has no knowledge of my business kind of come into it and take a look at it and help me was huge for me, because they looked at it in a different way. And so it helped me grow in that way professionally. And then it also just helped me grow personally because it’s, it’s hard. Sometimes you can’t you know, a lot of people make their friends and their social networks at work. But I always found as a business owner, it was very hard for me to consider, you know, my employees, my friends, I didn’t really want to socialize them, I wanted to keep that boundary, but all of a sudden you’re in you know, you’re with people who are on the same level playing field as, as you and they’re your colleagues, the way that you you have a colleague, if you’re at a job and you don’t own own business, and so able to socialize, able to also discuss some of the things as business owners that we bring home with us psychologically, that you know, are kind of individual to business owners, that other people don’t experience is also was huge for me, also to have my my wife be able to talk to other wives whose husbands are business owners in here. You know, hey, I know what it’s like that that week that he’s cashflow is bad. And we don’t know if we’re going to make payroll and that type of stuff. Because my life. Yeah. My wife’s a therapist, but you know, she doesn’t understand business, per say, in terms of, you know, making a payroll or things like that. So the ability to just have somebody else to bounce it off of who’s been there is awesome.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  12:04

Yeah, and I completely agree. And I think you’ve formed really, really close relationships, because you, you talk about that stuff you can’t talk about with anybody else. And it’s all based on sharing experiences, as opposed to a coach or a mentor, who will kind of, you know, tell you what they’ve done. I think it just gives you that that opportunity to to really get deep with the people, both on a personal professional level, I love to but I had, there was six of us in our forum five, five guys and myself. And they were my brothers. They were my five brothers. I still keep I had breakfast breakfast with Warner, just two days ago. And he was from LA County. Oh, yeah, it’s great. It’s really good.

Michael Richman  12:39

I can tell this great story for people listening out there. My, my wife had a pretty difficult delivery with her first child, and our baby was in NICU, and she got out in NICU and my wife wasn’t going to be able to leave the hospital and come home with us. I was gonna have to take the baby home. And I was a first-time father, and I was freaked out and beside myself. And the first thing I thought to do was text my my form mates. And I’m like, I am scared. I don’t know what to do. And one of my form mates called me up and she goes, Okay, Michael, she goes tonight, the first night, you’re home, I’m sending over a nurse to help teach you a night nurse to teach you all these things about putting the baby to bed and all this. And she knew enough that she said, this is going to help you Michael, she said, I don’t even know. She said, don’t even tell me. No, don’t tell me you don’t. The night nurse is going to be there. She’s going to be there at eight o’clock. And to just have that those people that know me well enough to say, here’s what you need in order to help you in that moment. Was just was just amazing.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  13:44

Yeah. And I think it’s wonderful. I know that with a lot of the EO forums, a lot of them actually embrace EOS. And so the fact that they gave you attraction book as well, I mean, that is sort of some somebody deeply caring for you wanting to see you move ahead, giving you a tool that can actually do that. So tell me, I’m going to share my little story. So my story about reading tracks when I first got given it, I actually found it a bit of a tough book. I didn’t actually really get into it very easily, but I got given Get a grip at the same time. And I started reading Get a grip. And I have this whole thing about I love business fables. So I got completely hooked on Get a grip, read it in like less than half a day. And then I immediately wanted to read the traction book was like, okay, and now did you find out how this is actually done? Tell me about your experience with attraction book.

Michael Richman 14:25

Actually, when I read the traction book, my experience was definitely different. It was like, it was one of these types of things where I went like, Oh, this is like, I didn’t think like we need to have core values. Like, I mean, I’ve been in business. I’ve seen lots of businesses in my life. I went to business school yet I didn’t have any core values. I need a chart that says what everybody’s responsibilities are like, I went doesn’t that doesn’t that make sense to everybody? And why did I do that? And so for me it was that Oh my god like this simple things can change my business. And this doesn’t have to be, you know, I’ve had these consultants come in there year after year, and they walk away and leave me with a 300 page SOP manual. Or they try to, you know, delve into the business and they’re there for, you know, every single day for for five, six hours racking up big bills, because they’re trying to rack up hours, but the company’s never moving forward. And all of a sudden, I look at at the tools in there and I go, these are simple things that even these consultants weren’t weren’t putting forward. And so as you start to roll them out, and you see how little these little easy, simple, simple things, like telling people what they’re responsible for. Creating scorecards is is a game changer. I tell the story, we we weren’t tracking numbers at my company. Is it? Okay, if I tell the story?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  15:55

Yeah, sure. I’d love to hear it. Yeah.

Michael Richman  15:57

Well, we weren’t we weren’t tracking numbers at my company. So we were, as I mentioned, we had a sewing department, and, you know, fabric selling. And so after we read traction, we start implementing us, one of our numbers was, we wanted no more than 5% Reject rate out of our selling department. So now that we’re tracking the number every week, and I’m looking at these numbers in our in our weekly level 10 meetings, I’m seeing week after week, we’re at you know, 12% 13%. And so I’m going okay, what’s the problem? And then when we rolled the scorecard down to the next level, and every single sower was then tracked on their on, on on what was going on in QC and their reject rates. All of a sudden, we discovered that we had one sower that was getting 75% of her stuff rejected. Wow. And so when we called her in, yeah, we called her in, and we said, hey, what’s going on? And she goes, You know what she goes, I want to retire. I’m not into this anymore. It’s not for me, thanks for bringing this to my attention. We parted ways. All of a sudden, my reject rate was around 2%. As soon as she left, so without the numbers, first off, she was happier, because she left. And she was kind of like, I think waiting for somebody to say, hey, it’s time to retire. She felt like she was loyal to us. And we didn’t even know that this was going on, because we weren’t tracking our numbers. So it was it was those little things that were a game changer.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:26

Yeah, I think you’re right. And I think maybe because I had done some coaching before I came across the EOS. I think that we were doing some of these things. But I think that the thing that kind of struck me was that the EOS at the core values, we’ve always been talking about EF core values, but I didn’t really fully understand the importance of them and how you could live and breathe them and rewards and the people analyze it as makes that stuff. So simple. We were doing measurables we had KPIs but again, I don’t think we had kind of worked out about everybody needs to have a measurable everybody’s have a number that they’re kind of held accountable for. So for me, it brought a lot of that together. But I think it just took the Get a grip book to get me really interested because it gave me a real life example to go. That’s why it’s important. Now want to find out how they do it. Yeah. Okay, yeah. So you got given the book, you started implementing EOS into the business, you started measuring things like your rejects, I think that level of detail, you know, when you get down to a wow, it’s one person that’s actually having a major impact. You could look at the high-level numbers and just think, you know, there’s something major going on, but in actual fact, it comes down to a little a small thing, not a small thing from her perspective, don’t get me wrong. I mean, obviously, fine. Yeah, knowing that you want to retire is quite a big thing. But yeah, you can start to really pinpoint what’s going on. What are the other tools that really helped change the business? Because you, you ended up selling the business? Very successful business, great exit? What do you think EOS did to help you with that?

Michael Richman  18:48

Well, I think that the getting the right team around me, because the team was really valuable when the ownership came in and bought the company. And I think that having been, you know, hiring, using our core values was huge. Because you would, you know, I would do something where I would give my the core value speech where I would give an example of each of our core values during the interview. And then I would ask my people that I was interviewing, I’d say, give me an example, in your work life when you’ve seen this core value, or define it for me or tell me in your personal life, when you’ve been in, you know, the drugstore, you’ve been at the supermarket or at a restaurant, you’ve seen these core values in play. And that really enabled me to weed out a lot of wrong people that I would have hired otherwise, just for their skill set. It enabled me to say they don’t understand one of our core values was customer first every single time. And that was really how we made a name for ourselves and got these huge clients. And you know, when you interview people and you start to dig into, this is what customer first means to us, and they don’t even understand what customer first means and they don’t have any interest in customer first, it enabled me to make the right decisions. And it enabled me the people analyzer also with our core values, to know when I should be giving people raises, and when I should be, you know, recognizing them and that type of thing. So having the right team around me was huge. And I think that I owe that to the core values in the people analyzer.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  20:23

That is fantastic. And so for people who may be sitting on the edge and kind of thinking, oh, yeah, I probably need some kind of operating system. But you know, I’ve tried a few and they don’t seem to work. What do you think it is about? EOI know, I’ve got my own opinion, what do you think it is about EOS that makes it easy to bring into an entrepreneurial business or a family business?

Michael Richman  20:45

Well, I think I think really, it’s the simplicity of it. Like I said, when I, when I read traction, I’m like, there’s not this is not rocket science. I think people get scared sometimes, when you’re when you you’re telling them what you want to do with them. And they think that I don’t have the MBA, and I’m not, you know, Jack Welch or Warren Buffett. So how am I going to ever do this, but when you read traction, you start putting the steps to get you know, the key components together, when you start rolling it out to your organization, you realize things like core values, they live in everybody’s heart in the organization already. Anyway, we’re just taking what’s in your heart. And we’re putting it on paper, and we’re using it to run our business. Okay, and that’s what I think is the beauty to me, of EOS we’re taking, you know, what the important measurables are deep down for your company. But now we’re taking those, and we’re shining a light on it. And so that’s the other thing about us, I like to say it’s like going into a dark room and flipping the lights on and seeing what’s actually in there, you know, yeah.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  21:47

The brilliance is in the simplicity is what I always say, that’s absolutely true. But so there’s some people I know, I get this kind of feedback are, you know, but it’s really templated. And it’s just gonna be, you’re gonna force me into a box, and it’s not going to work for me. How would you deal with that as a question?

Michael Richman  22:03

Yeah, well, first off, when people say it’s templated, I say, Who cares? If it works for you, and you’re making, I mean, and you’re making a lot of money, and you’re getting what you want from your business? Or, you know, you’re you’re able to go golfing three days a week now, because EOS has been implemented in your company, why do you care if it’s templated, and every other company uses it. But second, up, the tools are templated. But the things within the tools aren’t templated, right? I’m not telling you what your core values are. I’m not saying these have to be your core values, you’re choosing the core values, I’m just showing you the vehicle, that’s going to get you there. So it’s like driving in a car, if you will, right. Like every car has four wheels, and a motor, but the inside is different. And the motors a little bit different. And so we use the same, the same tools to build the car. But everything about it is different, once you get to the inside doesn’t mean.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  22:58

Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true. And I think that’s kind of the reasoning I give as well as it Yes, it is a framework. And it’s designed to give you some structure, and some discipline, some accountability. But without it being too rigid. Like he doesn’t think EOS is rigid at all. It’s got some very simple frameworks that if you follow, you’ll get the results. And it’s very much about what is in your heart, what your business consists of, it’s bringing it to the forefront. So everybody gets on the same page with it.

Michael Richman  23:24

Right. And the other analogy that I always give is, it’s like going to the gym. You know what I mean? Like for me, EOS is like going to the gym, you go to the gym, and you have all these exercises that you can do, and you know that the trainer may be suggest that you do and you could do them incorrectly, and you’re not going to get anything out of it. So, you know, my trainer used to say to me, Michael, I could train you in a park with no equipment, and I’d give you a better workout than you would, you know, get from a lot of other trainers. And I think that, you know, it’s been able to not only have the tools but to utilize them correctly.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  24:04

Yeah, no, I completely agree. Awesome. Okay, so tell me a little bit about your life now as a professional EOS implementer. Yeah, tell me how it looks like these days. Yeah.

Michael Richman  24:16

I look, my favorite thing is going out and meeting people. I love meeting people. I love talking to them. I love helping them like this is my this is my unique abilities, helping business owners and I like to say, I’m, I was I was mentioning to Debra, I saw that, you know, you volunteer with, you know, with animals and give back in that way. I’m not great at that. I’ll be totally honest. I’m not great at volunteering in that way. But for me giving back is helping these business owners get what they want from their business. And then that in turn, gives all their employees what they want from their lives, I think. And so for me it’s really special. So I love seeing Different businesses. I love different industries. It’s so funny. People say to me, do you specialize in any industry? No, I don’t specialize in any industry, because there’s so many similarities between businesses and what they’re dealing with. And it doesn’t necessarily matter what the industry is. But going in, and just learning about the nuances gives me a whole new view on the world. And unlike whether it’s when I’m purchasing insurance, because I work with an insurance client, now I’m thinking about insurance in a little bit of a different way, or, you know, whatever whatever the case may be.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  25:31

And I think it goes back to your story about EEO as well, right? It’s like, actually, there are very, very similar issues and challenges and problems that all these businesses face. But seeing them from different perspectives is just phenomenal. I know that I get a real kick out of working with my clients doing this podcast, every time I do anything. I’m not only helping, but I’m learning myself. And I think that’s a it’s a great way to live life.

Michael Richman  25:52

Absolutely. Yeah.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  25:54

So what is your ideal client look like in the US?

Michael Richman  25:57

I mean, again, my ideal us client is somebody that really like is open to self-examination. And that’s the same thing. In EO and itself. It’s constant self-improvement, it’s okay, I need to be honest enough with myself as to what my skill set is where my shortcomings are, and, and how I can improve those things. And it’s the same thing in EOS. It’s this constant state of not only business improvement, but it’s self-improvement. And so my ideal client is the person who says, I want to improve myself. And I’m open to change that I’m not just going to sit there and try to throw roadblocks up every two minutes. Well, this won’t work or that won’t work. You know, I’m great with I’m great with family businesses, like like you because I lived in one. I’ve lived in a few actually. And so I know, I know what it’s like. And I know the unique set of challenges there. But I’m definitely and I still talk to my dad, by the way. So listen, every day I talked to him still so but

Debra Chantry-Taylor  27:08

I have a timer going for him by the way. Oh, great.

Michael Richman  27:11

He is He has to Corvettes and he is going he loves traveling. So he’s going to the anniversary of D Day next month in in at the beaches in France. So.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  27:25

Oh, wow. That’s amazing. Cool. Yeah. Okay, great. So yeah, so you understand because your family businesses, the reason I’m the same as you, I didn’t actually have a family that was in family business, my family were very traditional. But I’ve worked in family businesses, as a GM as a CEO. So I kind of got to be on the non family, part of the family business. And I love the dynamics. And I’m also really passionate about, you know, you just said that you still speak to your father, I think that family business has the potential to destroy those relationships, if it’s not done correctly. And I love that ELS can actually bring all this stuff out into the open, and have people doing what they love with people they love. And it stops those family fights, it actually means they can go to the family barbecue and still be a family and still love each other and still enjoy each other’s time together. So that’s why I love family businesses.

Michael Richman  28:12

Yeah, yeah, I just think because it does, there’s, you know, there’s so there’s different roles, you know, your your he’s my father, but he’s also my partner. And you know, ELS helps me crystallize that. And again, the number one tool for that is the accountability chart, right? Like, yeah, this is what this is what I’m responsible for, and this is what you’re responsible for.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  28:32

And then structure first people second, I think we founded businesses, it gives them that it gives them the opportunity that they’ve never really had to go, Hey, here’s what the business really, really needs. And these are the sort of the main functions, the accountabilities we need, and then we start to put the people in there. And sometimes it gives the family permission to kind of go, Hey, we don’t need you in a role here in this leadership team, or for the person to step back as well and kind of go, phew, ah, I had it had a father of the day, say to me, I really don’t want to do any of these roles anymore. I actually want to go off and do XYZ. And it was like, wow, that’s what the accountability chart gave them permission to kind of go for me anymore. Yeah.

Michael Richman  29:08

Exactly. Or sometimes it opens up that conversation, what I’ve had to is, hey, maybe this this person in our family needs a paycheck, and that’s why they’re hanging around right now. But they’re causing more damage at the company than than it’s worth. And, you know, it’s like, well, maybe then you just need to give them a paycheck and tell them not to come in anymore. Because, you know, I, your family, and if you’re responsible for them, I get it. But you know, I had family members who my uncle was, unfortunately a drug addict. And my family kind of had to help him and he didn’t always come into work in our business and things like that. And I always look at that when I’m talking to family businesses. And I’m like, you know, if this person can’t be counted on but you need to help them out financially. Those are two different issues, but don’t hamper the business by trying to help the person there might you’re way to do both.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:02

Yeah, that’s a really, really good point. And I think the tools, the EOS tools, give them the ability to have have those conversations that they may never had. Because they may not have seen an opportunity before, they might have not known how to deal with it. So we give them the ability to do that. Okay, so I’m talking of tools, I always like to ask I guess where they kind of three top tips and tools, so they can actually walk out of the listening to this and go and do something useful in their life. So what are your your three top tips tools could be books could be Eos, tools, whatever you like.

Michael Richman  30:31

One one book that I absolutely love. If people haven’t read it is the Go Giver. I don’t know if you run out if you like business.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:39

I had Bob Berg on my podcast just a few weeks. Yeah. And I’ve got his other business partner, the one that wrote the Go Giver marriage. His that he’s coming in to talk to me as well. So I love I love the Go Giver series. Yeah.

Michael Richman  30:52

Yeah. So if people haven’t read that, I mean, that’s how I run my life is giving back. And you know, giving back before you ask for anything in return. And that’s what I took from from the Go Giver. I’m always about helping first. It’s not about how can I make $1 Here dollar there. It’s about like, let me help first. And if there’s a relationship to be had, that’ll come to fruition on its own. Always live my life that way. I teach that to my kids, too. That’s awesome.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:20

Yeah. And I think that the great thing about the Go Giver, there’s actually a whole series of them’s there’s one, just the general Go Giver principles. But then there’s one about sales. There’s one about marriage, there’s there’s a whole range of that, which is they’re just phenomenal books. I completely agree. Yep.

Michael Richman  31:31

Yeah. So I’d say if people haven’t read that book, that’s really a great one to check out. I would say also, like I said, that the scorecard, if we’re talking about specific EOS tools, really thinking about what are those numbers that are going to give you the absolute pulse on your business? Because as a business owner, I would wake up at 2am. And I think to myself, Okay, how do I know if Tim is doing a good job? And then I would come into work in the morning. And I’d ask for people who are used to me doing a good job. And they tell me Yeah, and that was how I would I would judge people was based on what somebody else said about them. And, you know, in hindsight, a lot of people run that way. They don’t have substantive data to make decisions. And so just the idea, and one of the things that the implementer that I worked with book, another book that he suggested to me is one called The Checklist Manifesto. Oh, yeah. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. But it’s about using checklists for everything. And I ended up using checklists for everything in my company. And that in and of itself became a scorecard measurable, did Bob fill out the checklist in the morning, so we had, you know, a fleet of trucks that would leave every day, and every person had to fill out a checklist before they went and one of their scorecard measurables was whether or not they fill that out. So we were able to track both of those things. And just being able to see those things numerically, like he won’t even take the time to fill out this checklist to make sure that the truck breaks aren’t going to give out and make sure that they have enough windshield wiper fluid would tell me like this is these are the people where we need to make changes. And so I would say number two, that’s that’s a great tool. And then

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:13

I think just so just go back to your original example, the scorecard too, I think that it, it really does, if you’re using the right numbers, it helps you drill down to the kind of the real issue. And I bet if you’d ask people about the sower that was ready to retire. They probably all liked her and probably thought she was all great. So if you ask them how she was going, they would have gone Oh, she’s great. She’s doing well. It’s not until you get to the actual numbers, we can start to see where there’s a potential issue.

Michael Richman  33:39

Yeah. Or I loved her at happy hour, you know, we went out to dinner after work, and she was so much fun, you know, but so they’re gonna, of course, say, oh, yeah, she’s great. And so I think, exactly, a lot of business owners kind of make decisions that way. And that’s, you know, making it on based on ego is really, is really hard. And, and I would say the third tip is get get yourself a peer group. We talked about it earlier. But if it’s not EO, if it’s not YPO there’s tons of other peer groups out there, like get yourself as.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  34:15

Vistage. Yeah, I completely agree. Why actually run I run a peer group here in Auckland for midsize businesses. And I because I know from my own experience, how important that really is. But there are so many different options. I completely agree. It’s like having that ability to chat to your peers. It can be really lonely at the top can be really lonely when you’re running a business. And this gives you that opportunity to have other friends that side of the business.

Michael Richman  34:38

Exactly that are there and looking out for your best interests. So it’s a total game changer. You have to do it. Yeah.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  34:44

Beautiful. Okay, um, we could talk forever because we’re both obviously very passionate about very, very similar things. But suddenly we can’t. If people want to get ahold of you, Michael, can you tell me how they would find you and what they can do to have a chat to you?

Michael Richman  34:58

Sure, sure. Sure. My email address is Is Michael M I|C H A E L dot Richman, R I C H M A N @eosworldwidecom and would love to set up a time to talk to anybody if I could be of help to them.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:18

Yeah, that’s fantastic. And I’d also put your Eos website in the comments in the, in the podcast as well. So easily find you there. We have some of the longest email addresses in the world, don’t we?

Michael Richman  35:29

Yeah, exactly. That’s okay.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:34

Yeah, that’s true. It’s been a real pleasure to actually hear about your story. I love talking to people who’ve not only run EOS and their business, but are now out there actually helping other people with it. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing so openly. I think showing those specific examples just gives people a chance to get out. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And don’t be put off by me not finding traction, easy to read. Obviously, Michael, find it a very easy read. I think it’s different horses for courses. But it is a great book, it is seriously the best way to kind of work out what EOS is. And my tip would be, you know, read the book, start doing this stuff. But do get yourself an implementer because you cannot work in the business and run the EOS process as well as somebody come from externally. I know that in the last couple of weeks, I’ve actually engaged with an EOS implementer myself call my own business, because I’ve realized from working with another client that they’d been self-implementing. And they said that you can’t run meetings really, really well and run the meetings and facilitate and all that stuff, and still be involved in the meeting. And I realized I’m I can’t either. So yeah, I think having an implementer is the best way forward. So speak to Michael. I’ll put his URL in our in our podcast notes. And, again, Michael, thank you for your time,

Michael Richman  36:46

Debra, Thank you