How To Be Successful Operating a Small Business With Chris Lautenslager

From the family-owned pavement to the electrifying energy of Wall Street, Chris How To Be Successful Operating a Small Business With Chris Lautenslager has navigated a path that's as unconventional as it is inspiring. In our latest episode, Chris joins us to recount his incredible journey and how he's now turning his expertise towards championing the unsung heroes of our economy—small businesses. As the founder of GitLooped LLC, he's igniting a conversation about the indispensable role these enterprises play in our communities, especially in the wake of a global pandemic.

Morning routines can be a game-changer, and Chris is a testament to that. He shares his personal regimen of meditation, reading, and meticulous planning that sharpens his leadership and sets a productive tone for the entire day. This isn't just about personal growth—Chris stresses that success is a collective endeavor. He discusses how fostering a culture of respect and appreciation within your team can counteract the pervasive 'quiet quitting' phenomenon, boosting both morale and the bottom line. It's an eye-opening look at how investing in ourselves and our people can pay dividends in business.

We wrap up with a powerful discussion on the 'prosperity loop'—a concept Chris champions that intertwines purpose, value, and joy in business practices. He argues that personal values should guide decisions, much like historical markers guiding travelers, a principle particularly resonant with small business owners. Chris's passion is palpable as he talks about the unique advantage these businesses have in creating genuine connections and value, a stark contrast to the often profit-maximizing constraints of larger public companies. Don't miss this episode, where we celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and discover how small businesses keep that fire burning bright.

How can the guests contact?  website, email, social?

https://get-looped.com/

https://www.facebook.com/people/Get-Looped/100070935636104/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-lautenslager/

https://twitter.com/GetLoopedLLC

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:41

Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and know you are capable of more, then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your host serial entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast. Today we have the pleasure to interview Chris Lottenslogger. Chris is a seasoned sales and business veteran with a master's in finance and economics from Northwestern University. His 40-year career began on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he started his first business in partnership with his brother, curtis. With the introduction of electronic trading, he transitioned to Wall Street to participate in this new disruptive technology. As a senior sales executive with some of the world's most prominent financial institutions, he learned the business practices that can propel or crush a company's potential for success. He was able to apply those lessons as the founder and board member of a small business which developed into a publicly listed company on Nasdaq.

Speaker 2: 1:56

Driven by an unshakable desire to partner with leaders of small and medium businesses, chris founded GitLooped LLC as a platform to showcase the value and benefit of a collective prosperity for people, businesses and communities. Today, he helps businesses and CEOs incorporate prosperity into collaboration with profitability into their business practices. We are very excited to have Chris on the show. Welcome, thank you for having me To start things off. Can you please share with our listeners a little bit about your background and path to creating the prosperity?

Speaker 3: 2:30

loop. Sure, I'm happy to. I've been on the small business side of the world and I've been in the big business side of the world working for the man. I've experienced both. Plus is in my innocence. I'll start with the small business because that's where it all started.

Speaker 3: 2:45

I started growing up a family that had a small business. My father had a small paving company. We grew up with that business and anybody that's ever been in a household with a family business knows that that business is like a member of the family Everyone's involved and everyone participates. And so I grew up experiencing the pluses and minuses, the good, the bad, the hardship, the fears associated with being part of a small business. And then, when my father passed, when I was 19, I listened to the advice of society, went to the best school, got a job at the biggest and best firm, went to make as much money as I possibly could, wanted to be a big shot and sort of got there and pursued what that was like until I retired. And then I retired and moved to Breckenridge, colorado, for a number of years, came out of retirement after the pandemic and what pulled me out of retirement one is actually retirement's not all it's cracked up to be. I'll put that as an aside. People are rushing to find a place to die. I don't understand it. I fell for that Again. I bought into a lot of the American dream stories, and one of them was you work as hard as you can and you retire and then you can kick back and enjoy life. Well, I did that for four years and was bored to tears. It doesn't mean that there's not a role for that or that it's great for some people, but I found for me. I love being engaged, moving into an arena in which I can have a small business, participate in a business environment and have purpose. And my purpose with GitLoop is to be an advocate and advance the causes of small businesses.

Speaker 3: 4:27

During the pandemic and the lockdown, small businesses got the raw end of the deal. They did not. They sacrificed for all of us and it's time that we start to pay back that responsibility to them, because they are the fabric of our society. They are the heart and soul of our communities, and I think we learned during the pandemic that if we don't take care of them, they'll disappear. And so I'm on a mission to re-engage and re-brand small businesses.

Speaker 3: 4:55

As being cool, I think being a business owner is the greatest thing you can possibly be. There was a time in our lives where it was common to hear people say, hey, small businesses are the backbone of this nation. Well, when was the last time you heard that? And it's crazy, because small businesses still are the backbone of our nation. Do you know that, according to the SBA, 99.9% of all registered, of all created businesses are small businesses, and that over 47% of the private workforce work for small businesses? We are this country, and so I don't hear anybody out there saying we need to make a conscious choice to support small businesses. Until me. I want to be that person. I want to be the person that reminds all of us that we're all in this together.

Speaker 2: 5:48

The hair on my neck is standing up. This is getting me pumped up because you know, ken and I that's us, that's our listeners too we're very proud of the small businesses that we run. Man, oftentimes it does feel like sometimes we're forgot about. I'm excited, I'm really excited, for this podcast and to get into it a little bit more. Before we dive into go any deeper in the podcast, I do want to pause. I want to ask you a little bit about your upbringing. So you had mentioned that you were, your parents had had had a small business and you were involved in that, and so I've got young kids. Ken asked kids. A lot of our listeners have families and so I'm curious if you think back to your upbringing, what were some things that your parents involved you in the business that really helped as you went on to achieve great things, and what were some things that they may have done a little bit differently?

Speaker 3: 6:38

Again my last name's, latin schlugger. We have a very my father was very German heritage. There wasn't a lot of negotiation in our family. There was we're doing this, and actually what a great that's. One of the best lessons that I learned is we're working, we're participating, we are all part of this together. I think that's a really valuable lesson for all of us.

Speaker 3: 7:00

I think that, particularly with the distractions of social media and everyone looking at their phone, when I see my daughters talking to each other and their friends and they're all in their same in the same room via text, it drives me absolutely crazy. I don't understand that and I try to discourage it by always having activities. Rather than fighting against a very powerful social trend, it's much easier to provide alternatives, to find things that are fun to do. Sure, they might want to take pictures of it, but at least you're engaged. I remember when and I'll come back to your question. I'm sorry, david, I'm going down a little bit of a rabbit hole I remember when my daughters were in high school and I was divorced and they wanted to spend time with their friends. Hanging out with dad on the weekend when I'm in New York City and other friends are up in Connecticut was an increasingly losing battle. The way that I was able to re-engage in their lives was to get a place up in Vermont, teach them and all their friends how to ski. Who wants to come up to Vermont and go skiin'? Who wants to come up to Vermont and go camping? I do, I do. There we go. Now we have the involvement of their friends, their peers, their colleagues. Everyone wants to come. It's so much easier to have a gathering rather than trying to fight. You know, put up moats. That was my experience.

Speaker 3: 8:26

After that, to answer your question, david, when we were young, if we weren't in school, my dad would wake us up at four in the morning. Off we'd go to meet all the local business owners at the local breakfast place. It was just to give it and didn't matter. You know if I was in high school, what time I got in. At night we were going out, and so that was just part of your going out and you're doing any job you can help to participate in. It might be as simple as sweeping the sidewalk. It might be as simple as running to the store to get supplies. It might be as simple as picking up all the screws that fell on the floor in the back room. But there's things to do. I think learning that there wasn't.

Speaker 3: 9:12

I think the fact that we learned that there's honor in work I'm writing a series of classes right now about valuing yourself and your business, about how to bring joy and life back into your business.

Speaker 3: 9:25

Part of that is the value of work, that there is honor, there is lessons and being able to participate and do things, make things, fix things, pick up things. The whole concept that manual labor is below us is, I think, one of the silliest things that our society has foisted upon us in the last 20 years. There is honor in work, and I think part of what my responsibility is, or the role that I've elected to pursue, is to remind people you don't need necessarily to have a four-year degree to be special, to be accepted, to be qualified. All you need really is a work ethic, a desire to improve whatever you're doing it. That was the lesson that I got ever since I was growing up from my family was that we're all in this together and nobody's better than the other person and, by the way, your neighbors. You can help them too. So those are all good lessons that I think serve me well to this very day.

Speaker 2: 11:03

Awesome. I really like that answer and I think that's helpful to anybody that's running a business and raising a family. There is honor in work, and so I love that Over to you.

Speaker 4: 11:14

Ken, listening to your introduction and a little bit about your background, I'd like to, before I get into my question, I'd like to ask you a question Now. You had retired and you moved to Breckinbridge and where you kind of put up your feet for a few years and did the retirement bit and now you've activated yourself again and now you're back doing something and motivated. Can you share with the audience your happiness level? Were you not happy before? Happy or now, like, how has that impacted you? I'm curious.

Speaker 3: 11:43

Different, so happy is a state of mind on many respects, but purpose gives you that and a level of joy and involvement that I think is much deeper feeling, and so I love playing golf. I love playing golf up in the mountains. You can hit a seven iron 200 yards. It's the most incredible thing in the entire world. Yeah, I love skiing, I love to go skiing, I love hiking, I love biking. I enjoyed all that.

Speaker 3: 12:09

However, there wasn't the lack of. There was a lack of and I'm not saying this to be disrespectful to people in Breckinbridge. I just like to be able to talk about things that are more engaging, that are more challenging. You know one of the things that I live in Chicago right now. I go and do a lot of really fun things with a lot of really interesting people. For instance, last night I went to an event that was a fundraiser for a group which is raising money to bring the story of Soul Train. Do you remember Soul Train? On Saturday mornings, Everyone does. They're raising money to bring Soul Train to Broadway and they had a couple of the actors that are already cast there. These are world-class Broadway quality stars that have been in other productions, and they did a couple of their songs. They did a couple of the scenes and you're 10 feet away.

Speaker 4: 13:01

It was awesome.

Speaker 3: 13:02

It was just awesome. They were world-class. These are things that stimulate me. And then you get to have conversations about the quality of, or the history of, where you were when you first did your first Soul Train dance. You know it was just really fun. Again, I love Breckenridge. I love the mountains. I have a spiritual connection there that I don't get in any other place. One of the reasons that I went to Breckenridge is the mountains are just such a kinship for me. But the, the opportunities that are available in collaboration with others that are engaged in life, just bring me a level of fulfillment and joy that I embrace.

Speaker 4: 13:42

And right, Chris what's your favorite productivity hack for entrepreneurs and small business owners? I'm not a hacker.

Speaker 3: 13:48

I'm an investor. You know I'm a capitalist and got all the training I worked at some of the most well recognized financial institutions in the world. You know, sure, some riches are created shortcuts, but really I believe in investment and for me, the way that you create productivity, the way that you create value, is by investing in yourself. One of my favorite sayings and beliefs I live this is the best investment you can ever make is investing in yourself. So I get up very early every morning and I purposely meditate, I purposely read, I purposely journal, I think about what the day is going to be like, visualize, about how I want certain meetings to go, in preparation for them. I take that time in the morning to make me a better person and that ripple effect goes to every single person. I touch every single activity I do by taking the time to invest in me.

Speaker 3: 14:51

And I know that people with small kids and with school and all the demands on your time, you're like that's really super hard and, yes, you have to make a commitment to investing in yourself. It's kind of like for those of us that or you that have gone to college you didn't just get your degree after a semester, you had to go for a number of years. Your investment, your productivity quote hack, is about improving yourself. This is how you improve your business by improving yourself, and that takes a commitment of time and effort.

Speaker 3: 15:24

So, yeah, it's hard to get up early. Actually, once you do it after a while, it's not I. Here's the secret, gentlemen I love that time to myself in the morning, Before things start getting crazy, before all the demands start coming before. All of the, all of the requirements, all the tasks, all of the busyness, all of the business. That time in the morning has turned into my favorite part of the day. So does it mean I get up a little bit early? Does it mean I go to bed a little bit early? Yeah, but boy, that's the best productivity investment that I think any of us can make Invest in yourself.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Let's talk a little bit about leadership. How do you define leadership?

Speaker 3: 16:03

This is going to. Actually, I'll just stay rather than qualify. To me, the best leader is the person who recognizes that he's not doing it alone. Okay, when I was growing up, when I was younger, I was a quote self made millionaire. I made my first million dollars when I was 28. And boy was I full of myself. What I've learned is that I had a whole team of people that I didn't give credit to during that time.

Speaker 3: 16:26

Best advice is to invest in others. Okay, if you're going to be successful in business, recognizing and identifying your people as your greatest asset is the best thing you can do to increase your profitability in your business. And I know this is counter intuitive at times because, believe, I have a team myself and I look at my biggest expense is my cost of labor. It is by far my biggest expense when I'm nervous. Is there a part of me that's like, oh boy, and you know I. Where can I cut? Or where can I work? Where can I? Where can I make adjustments? I'm not saying that you don't need to be cost aware no profit, no business. It's as simple as that. But I am saying that if you value and view your employees as your greatest asset and they actually are your greatest asset. They're the ones that are creating your wealth. They're the ones that are interacting with your customers on the front line. They're the ones interacting with customer service, with your vendors, with their, the face of your organization, and they can and will make or break. So when you give them that level of acknowledgement of your valuable and important to me, how do you think it makes them feel?

Speaker 3: 17:37

How did it make you feel when you were working for the man being treated like you were a cog Every once in a while? I had a great manager who treated me as a partner. He would ask my advice. He would appreciate the extra work that I would do for him and I would give him that extra work because he appreciated it. If you want people to work hard, show them how much you value them. They'll work hard. If you want people to quiet quit what a concept. I was just again. I'm writing a book right now and I'm writing these courses and this whole concept of quiet quitting, of purposely not working, showing up and purposely not working, just mailing it in, so to speak. How sad on so many different levels. And it's so preventable. People act that way when they're treated like they're invisible, like you don't care. If you don't care, they won't care. So treat your people like they're the greatest asset in your business, because they are, and they'll reward you for it.

Speaker 2: 18:33

I really like that. I really like that. What have been some ways that you have found to recognize employees? You know there's recognizing somebody publicly at a meeting. There's the employee of the month parking spot, so use the investment terms, what tends to be a high ROI and I don't mean that in getting more out of somebody, but really making them feel appreciated and letting them know that you really value their hard work. What have been some methods of communication that have stood out as very effective?

Speaker 3: 19:02

Ask their advice, what do you think? And then use it. I'm thinking this what do you think? Why? If you disagree, then disagree respectfully and explain why. But if you agree and then acknowledge that it's this person's idea in public Melissa, this was Melissa's idea. I think it's a great idea. Let's, let's, give this a shot. Boy, oh boy, does that go a long way. Listen to other people's advice and guess what? It's good advice because these people are on the front line, all right. So running your own company. I recently was listening to in the morning I listen, I watch video classes also of things that I'm trying to learn.

Speaker 3: 19:38

This person was talking about his team that he runs. He runs 35 people and he was saying after seven it starts getting challenging. I'm like after seven, and it made me realize you can't be everywhere at all times, and the sooner that you're comfortable letting go, in other words, the sooner that you're good at hiring the right people, because that's really the key Hiring the right people, not just anyone that'll take the job, and most certainly not anyone simply because they're their credentials mean they're qualified. It's who are they as a person. When you can let go and let others make decisions and run with things. That's when you can take your business to another level.

Speaker 4: 20:17

I like that. Now, chris, we have people listening to the show, we have some tire-cuckooers, we have some people that just got started running a small business and we have some people that are, you know, been running small business for years. What is the one piece of advice that you would give the people listening that have just started or getting ready to start? What's the?

Speaker 3: 20:34

one piece of advice. You are not your business, you're a human being. This is going to sound really hard. Businesses don't love you. People love you. Do not abandon your family. You will always regret it. It doesn't mean you can't invest in your in your business. It doesn't mean that you can't give it the time and attention that it needs. But do not ignore the people that love you, because if you do, they'll stop loving you and you will always regret that, and I learned this the hard way. This is our advice, because I was all about my business and being being quote successful Success without sharing is one of the most hollow experiences you'll ever have. So don't forget the people around you. That's my advice for people starting out, because it's so easy to, particularly when you're making progress. It's so exciting when things are going well. You want to just dive into it and just own it. Don't forget the people around you. They love you. By the way, businesses don't, no matter how much you think they do.

Speaker 2: 21:28

I think that's really good advice and and something that all entrepreneurs need to hear, and probably need to hear it once a month on a loop, because constant juggling. But you're absolutely right and and that is really really good advice. So now during the intro we talked a little bit about prosperity loop and I'd like to get into that a little bit more. How does prosperity loop benefit small and medium sized businesses? And maybe could you start with what is it.

Speaker 3: 21:55

So the prosperity loop. After the pandemic I'm looking at businesses and I'm having thinking about it a lot. You know I'm thinking. During the pandemic I had a lot of time to think and I started journaling then. And so I started journaling and ideas come out of all the mindfulness practices that I do, whether it's meditation or reading or walking or exercise or that any of the things that I do to take care of myself.

Speaker 3: 22:20

The activity that surprised me the most shocked me at how much I got out of it was journaling. It just so helped to clarify my thoughts, to write down my experiences and what I'm thinking about. And can it be a different way and what would someone else do or how should I approach it differently? It has just been so remarkable for me. So again I was like journaling come on, really it's the last thing I wanted to do. Who has time for that? But it has just been really, really powerful for me. So in journaling I was like I could probably make a book out of this, and so I was like why don't we do that? Why don't we start outlining and coming up with concepts?

Speaker 3: 22:59

And book is a reflection of the ideas that I had during the pandemic around two themes, two fundamental themes. One, I've already talked about that people are the most important asset that you have in your business, and so some of the aspects of the prosperity loop that I talk about are how to create purpose for yourself and others within your team. Okay, people don't want to follow a leader, people want to be inspired by a leader, but people won't participate in a cause. Okay, so if you can find things that everyone can rally around, you're going to get a lot happier and a lot more committed work. So I talk about creating value. I talk about value creation, so purpose, and then value creation, about having values, and, and when I talk about values, people often think of a couple of different things. One is oh, how do I value my company? In other words, what's it worth? I'm talking about your personal values, of what's important to you. Oh, people like, oh, my morals, what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's what's, what's not so good. In this case, it's about what makes you happy individually, what brings you joy, what is it in life that you've identified? And many people don't go here. I help you that you identify, that invigorate you, and when you can start identifying what your values are. It makes many of your decisions so much easier. Should I do this or should I do that? Well, I found I might make more money, but working for people that are constrict my freedom don't make me happy, so maybe I won't go down that road.

Speaker 3: 24:35

You have guideposts, you know. Guideposts are there to give you direction and they're usually set in very strong set rocks. In the 312 beast sea, the road, the Apean Way. It was called the mother of roads and it was their primary mainline to be able to supply the Roman troops and from that all other roads were created. It's where the saying all roads lead back to Rome come from. So along the way of these roads would be these big, huge stones that would have directions, guidelines of where, how far away is the next destination, where could they go for shelter, where can they go for food. So that's where guideposts actually were created from, and those are your values. They're your guideposts, so creating a class, of course, that allows you to be able to identify what your guideposts are and how to use them. I found that to be super helpful. That came from the book sharing the profitability of the company with your employees. Okay, I know many business owners that have gotten rich from their company and pay a above average market rate for their employees and feel good about that.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Okay great.

Speaker 3: 25:47

I'm not going to argue against that. That's the way most businesses operate. I would like to position the concept that they're helping you create wealth, change their lives If you're making real money. And I'm not saying increase your fixed costs, but there's incentive programs, there's way to help reward people that are significant to your organization. There's many business owners that I'm talking to are like how do I keep key employees they all keep getting hired away by larger, more profitable firms and make it worth their while to stay. Some of that is compensation structure, some of that is value structure. Do we have a culture and a value that rewards each other and values each other? So I talk about values, I talk about shared rewards and I talk about communication, taking the time to make yourself available to talk to others.

Speaker 3: 26:38

It's really easy, as a CEO or senior management of a company, to insulate yourself with the circle of your friends, peers and senior management, or maybe one level down. Get there early, go for a walk around the office, see who's there early. They're superstars. Ask them their opinion. They're there early for a reason. Stay a little late, talk to people and show them that you care what they think. These are some of the principles that I talk about in the prosperity loop, just about changing the way that you approach your business, because one of the joys associated with having a small, private business is you can do things the way that you want. That makes you and your team feel special. Jp Morgan Chase.

Speaker 3: 27:19

Okay, I'm going to bite my tongue here on five different things. Jamie Dimon made the comment that he wants to make a larger contribution to community and institute a number of proposals to provide resources and funding to be able to create a number of different initiatives. All sounded great. The board of directors and activist shareholders. All of those proposals down dead. Because, as Milton Friedman said in 1970, which has become the mantra of the company, capitalism today is the purpose of public companies is to increase shareholder profits, period. So to expect a company to ever do anything outside of increasing shareholder profits is a fallacy. They won't do it. That's why I say companies don't love you. They actually are legally bound, not to. They have a fiduciary response, that's ability to increase shareholder value. So when you're curious as to why bonuses aren't going up or why benefits aren't being increased or why hours are being increased or why staffing is being reduced and you're doing the job for three now. It's because the only responsibility that management has is to increase shareholder value, whereas small, private businesses.

Speaker 3: 28:33

We can do anything we want. All we have to do is stay in business. We're the organizations. They're going to change the culture of this country. We're the organizations that are going to reconnect the fabric of our communities. We just have to reorganize and reprioritize what the purpose of our company is. If we try to mimic, being focused strictly on money and compete against large companies in that environment, we will lose. They have more resources, they have greater inventory, they even have easier distribution. They can deliver things to their people's front doors cheaper than you can. What you have is the ability to connect and make contributions and value to your customers and community. That is your secret sauce, that is your superpower Are your people and your customers and your community. Be of value to all of them, and you'll do so much better.

Speaker 4: 29:28

I really like that concept. It's very deep and something that large corporations are not doing and, like you described, won't do ever, because that's the eats into profitability. Can I tell?

Speaker 3: 29:39

you a side story. I think everyone that's ever worked for the man has a story of when they realized that they weren't being loved by their company. There was a moment in which there was a clarion bell, in which they were like, wow, that's when many people become quiet quitters, there's better ways. For me, that clarion call came. I was working for an organization and I love this company. I love the people in it, I love the product that I sold for it and I was freshening it. I was working constantly, traveling all around the country.

Speaker 3: 30:11

My 40th birthday it's in January. The company has an annual meeting. They're down in Disney World at celebrating a company-wide event of you know that's when the company meeting is and they're going to have honor the employee of the year. I won that award. I was employee of the year for this company. There's about 150 people in it. I was employee of the year. So proud, I was so happy. I was just. I would do anything for this company and was willing to and did in many respects.

Speaker 3: 30:39

That was in January, january 10th actually February 14th I was fired Lessons then, a little over a month later, and it wasn't just me, it was three quarters of the sales department. I was just one of the people fired, and the reason for it was nothing personal. It was that the company we had been so successful in sales, we had done such an amazingly great job that the amount of assets that this manager was managing at the time came to what he believed was capacity. And so, in his mind, he did not want to jeopardize potential returns or management of funds for his customers honorable, and subsequently he just didn't need sales anymore. So while I was the employee of the year, on January 10th, february 14th, I was fired. They did not love me.

Speaker 4: 31:27

That's a bitter one.

Speaker 2: 31:28

This concept of the Clarion Bell is. So I was, as you mentioned, that I was thinking about mine. I studied for four years to pass the CFA exam. They told me what my bonus was going to be. I had it in an email and I passed the CFA. Came time to pay out that bonus and it was significantly lower than what I had thought. I pulled up the email and I said here's the email where it says what my bonus should be, and I got in trouble for violating the 18 month email retention policy.

Speaker 2: 31:56

That is when it switched. It was like a flip switch. I was like I am not going to devote any more time to this. I am going to, and I bet I started the company that I run today inside of two weeks. That's a really interesting concept that I think a lot of people have and that's really unfortunate. And as we run businesses, our goal is to not have that moment for our employees as to treat them like, give them the respect that they deserve, and so it's interesting to put a name on that event because it deserves a name, and so David, I want to expand on that point that you are making.

Speaker 3: 32:35

One of the things that I love about small business owners is they will go beyond the extra mile for their employees. They do love their employees. They'll sacrifice, They'll miss their own payroll and the ones that aren't, they're not going to be in business very long Again. It is your secret sauce as a small business owner that you have the ability to interact with your team and make them feel special. There is nobody else that can do that in a public company. That is how you compete against those beasts.

Speaker 2: 33:04

I like that, I really like that, and that, I think, is an important message for all of our listeners to hear, as we do compete against some of these bigger companies and we see it all the time. You can use the B word, you can call them a beast.

Speaker 4: 33:19

Oh, yeah, yeah, these beasts, yeah for sure. So, chris, I think we could talk for hours on this topic. I mean, you're very passionate about that, david and I are as well. But to be respectful of everybody's time, are there any questions that we didn't ask you that we should have, that you want to share with the audience?

Speaker 3: 33:34

Yes, how to get a hold of me? You can get a hold of me by going to my website at wwwget-loopedcom. That's G E, t, dash, l, o, o P E D dot com. We have a number of opportunities to be able to work with me. I have this course coming out. We have a number of four free webinars over the next four Tuesdays that we're doing to introduce it. The course itself is being launched on May 12. It's called how to Value Yourself and your Business.

Speaker 3: 34:06

We have a golf outing that we're committed to on August 12, monday, august 12. That's going to be up at Glen Floor Country Club. It is a small business celebration golf event. We're going to have guest speakers come in the morning. Then we're going to break off into groups, be able to have fun. A number of prizes will be rewarded. Then we'll celebrate, have conversation at the end about some of these topics that we talked about on how to improve our businesses. There's going to be a charity component associated with it also. I promise it's going to be a great event. Come join us. The world is changing, but it's our job change it. Nobody else is going to do it, but we have the gift the ability to make those changes.

Speaker 2: 34:52

Come be part of it Very nice In what type of business owner would benefit from the services of GitLoot.

Speaker 3: 34:59

So I'm not about how to increase your margins by 10%. I'm not about how to streamline your supply chain. I'm about how to reengage your life, to give you a sense of joy and value in working in your business and with others. So if you've been losing a step, if you've been disengaged, if you find yourself being irritable, come spend some time with us and remember what it's like to be fortunate, because we're all so fortunate.

Speaker 4: 35:28

Well, Chris, for every guest we have on the show, we run them through the ringer. It's called the fire round and it's a series of four rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Oh boy?

Speaker 3: 35:37

You see how much of a chat I am, so that's going to be hard for me. I'll try to keep my answer short. What is your favorite book? It's going to be a little revealing. Alcoholics Anonymous Change my Life, gave Me a Whole Another World and anybody that's out there that needs to experience freedom from some of the struggles or challenges that addiction is bringing to you. Alcoholics Anonymous truly is filled with miracles. Awesome. Thanks for sharing that. What are your hobbies? Oh, I'm an outdoor guy. I love to ski, I love to golf, I love to bike All those things that allow us to be able to engage physically. And then spiritual. I have a spiritual quest, so it's mind-body connection. It all works, excellent. What?

Speaker 4: 36:20

is one thing that you do not miss about working for the man.

Speaker 3: 36:23

I went through my values. Ok, I identified my values and one of my very top values is freedom. I realized that ever since I was a little boy. I hate people telling me what to do, so not having anybody besides my girlfriend tell me what to do is a blessing.

Speaker 4: 36:44

I definitely agree with that one. All right. Last question what do you think sets apart successful entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started? Courage.

Speaker 3: 36:53

It takes courage, make no mistake about it. You need to have the courage to do things differently, because it's only going to be the same unless you do things differently. Excellent.

Speaker 2: 37:04

Outstanding Chris. I want to thank you. Thank you, ken.

Speaker 4: 37:06

Yeah, you're very welcome. Great answers.

Speaker 2: 37:08

Absolutely so. I want to thank you for being a guest on the Burning man podcast. This has been an absolutely outstanding conversation. It's great to hear somebody enthusiastic about small business, as we are, and our audiences, and so thank you. Thank you for that. We had discussed People are interested in working with Get Looped. We're going to post links to all of that in the show notes so to all of our listeners, if you're driving, keep your eyes on the road and there will be a clickable link there in the show notes. Chris, I just want to thank you. This has been a lot of fun and we're looking forward to staying in touch.

Speaker 3: 37:42

Thank you, it's been great.