Exploring the Power of Strategic Planning and Execution in Business with Michael Johnson

This episode is an enlightening exploration of the power of planning and execution in business, featuring our dear friend and strategic planning guru, Michael Johnson. With his vast experience as the owner and CEO of Johnson Associates, Michael peels back the layers of administrative systems, revealing their significant role in sustaining businesses. 

Jump in as we uncover the business world's intricacies, from aligning company values and career trajectory planning to the morality and spirituality of a business. We explore the bell curve of civilizations and how it applies to businesses, navigating through societal shifts triggered by divisive tactics. We share a poignant story about honoring promises from a young entrepreneurship camp, weaving in lessons about societal manipulation and the power of one’s word.

Learn about understanding project scope before acceptance and the value of appreciating the culture of your workplace. This episode is an empowering knowledge pool designed to help you navigate through the business world in these changing times. Tune in and be prepared to rethink your business strategies.


For more information about Michael Johnson visit:

For the book:

Www.thechurchpostcovid.com 

Email:  thechurchpostcovid@gmail.com

Business Consulting:

Www.JASPCF.Com 

info@jaspcf.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 Maximizing Potential in a Changing World
• 13:24 Business Alignment, Growth, and Societal Shifts
• 18:10 Small Business Growth Tactics
• 30:31 Navigating Succession and Identity Crisis
• 37:23 Strategic and Succession Planning in Businesses
• 41:31 The Importance of Accountability and Feedback
• 54:59 Understanding Scope and Pricing in Business
• 1:07:28 Appreciation and Value in Business

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Everybody. Welcome to Friends with Businesses. I introduce you to my friends with Businesses and hopefully you benefit. Today I have Mr Michael Johnson, me and him. We go way back to Hampton University. He was a keyboard player. I was a drummer at the ministry that we attended down there for a number of years. It's the brother who would, in the middle of the shout music, break out with the like it's Mario Brothers and I'd be like man always chomping on my toes. The brother was great man. The brother was great, but now he's taking his talents and gifts and actually doing even more for the kingdom, and so I'm going to let him introduce himself, tell you what he does, who he is and all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 0:45

So wait, a minute, appreciate it, carl. And look, those were younger days, many years ago, many times ago. And so you know, we grow, we mature, we learn, we do better. Right, that's brand scheme. But no, I appreciate you having me on this morning. Truly, it is an honor and a pleasure to be here with you. And so, yes, I am Michael Johnson, I am the owner and CEO of Johnson Associates. We are a strategic planning firm and consulting firm where we operate and help businesses operate and optimize their businesses and streamline it across the board.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Most businesses really fail this artistic show within the first five to seven years, all because, one, they don't have a plan and then, two, they don't know how to execute this plan, and so a lot of the time, businesses often run off the idea of what they're good at versus how to actually operate a business.

Speaker 2: 1:34

So through time, through experience, I've taken my talents and, you know, skill sets and learned the craft of operations and management to figure out what is the best way to not just help entrepreneurs with small businesses, ngos across the boards and, yes, to your point, even the church and in ministry, you know, even a lot of times we think church is church. But these days and times. If the church does not have an administrative side, the church runs the risk of failing. Watch this since 2020, over 60,000 churches have closed down since the pandemic has kicked off. Not many people have done that 60,000, and that's just. That's the data that has come out as of June of this year. Wow, mm-hmm. And so I don't think it's a spiritual problem. I think it's an operational problem. I think it's a level of where we have to pivot and change our mindset as to how we do ministry and how we actually operate in ministry to ensure that we are running in excellence across the board.

Speaker 1: 2:38

You know, and it's interesting that you even bring that up.

Speaker 1: 2:43

So one thing that my pastor teaches is that every good thing that is done in the corporate world actually started in scripture. You know, and I think what, as you know and, like I said, I feel like this conversation is going to go relatively deep in the short time that we have, one of the issues comes where Christians don't know the Bible enough. I think if they actually read it, like you said, it's not a spiritual thing, it's really understanding that you know these things that were set up. I mean, if you look at how Moshe, moses operated, very, very administrative, I mean, even in the wilderness they did that you know. So you know those processes that we have.

Speaker 1: 3:28

You know, like I said, I'm going to go down that path, but I'm loving that you're actually doing this, because to hear that 60,000 ministries failed, that means it's something systemic, that means it's something deep rooted that we're not seeing, we're not believing that. It's like there's probably some type of conflict going on From the standpoint of what needs to be done versus what's being done in ministry. But go ahead, man.

Speaker 2: 3:57

No, yeah to your point when we start talking about you know Moshe, or Moses as those who know English know him as I talk about it in the first chapter of this book, how Moses didn't want to do it from an administrative perspective. It was actually his father-in-law, jeff Roll, that said hey, listen, you've not carried the weight of 1.2 million people on your shoulders alone. So if you imagine this, you have one man who has to deal with 1.2 million people, their cattle, their livestock, their issues. Try to hear from God, to figure out which way in the wilderness they're supposed to go and still be productive, right. It then becomes a matter of administration. So what Jeff did was said. He said OK, listen, get 70 elders, make them leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of 50s and leaders of tens.

Speaker 2: 4:48

This is one of the first pockets of administration, like governmental office you can call it business or office administration that you actually see in the Bible, right? So what corporations have done? And to your point, they've taken biblical principles and have applied them to their own operations and have seen much success. The issue is that principles are principles, so it doesn't matter who applies them. The principle is the same right. So when we look at it from a perspective of principles, we have to pivot how we do business, not just within the church. Across the board, 2020 changed how we live our complete lives. Whether you believe in the pandemic, you believe in the virus or not, the reality is this it shifted how we operate as a people, as a culture, doing business, how we worship, how we travel all across the board. And so if we're stuck in doing business as usual, how we did pre-pandemic, there's a very slim chance of success post-pandemic.

Speaker 1: 5:53

I thought I was going to agree, even as you shared that. I look at, let's say, entertainment, right Movies. It used to take a movie a while to restrain me. At least a year there was the? It's in the theaters, then it goes to DVD, then it goes to pay for a view then it goes to whatever the premium network channel is.

Speaker 1: 6:15

then it can get to streaming. Now something is out in February and theaters, by April, may, it's streaming somewhere. I'm thinking about a lot of these ministries that have these 10,000, 20,000 seats, sanctuaries, and are those as necessary anymore? I mean, are they getting packed out Because people again, like you said, zoom is everybody's best friend. I'm thinking about how many streaming companies came out during that time. The complete shift in everything that we've done have made coming together a premium, which I do think is very, very, very important to come together. So I think we even need to incentivize that in everything that we do if we feel that it is necessary. But yeah, man, indeed, but before we move on, please show your book, tell people the name of it so that we see that.

Speaker 2: 7:09

So, yeah, the name of the book is called the Church Post-Covid Staying Relative in a Digital Age. It covers a myriad of subject matters, as we first talked about with just church administration leadership really recognizing your leadership style and your team's leadership style in which they can recognize right. It's one thing for you to be able to lead one way, but if your team doesn't respond to that, you as a leader have to pivot your leadership style to ensure that your team is successful. And so we cover a multitude of things, including leveraging technology, increasing digital membership, how to engage with digital membership, because a lot of churches say, okay, hey, listen, we have folks who don't wanna come back in the building.

Speaker 2: 7:47

But my question in the book is this are you engaging those online the same way you engage with those in person? What processes and what systems do you have of? Like, if I'm a part of your ministry and I move to, let's say, texas, but my home is in Charlotte, but I still wanna attend my home church in Charlotte, is there something in place that allows me to experience the worship or the worship experience the same way I would in person? So it all comes back to having the proper systems and processes in place right, having the right personnel, having the right people in place, having the right technology in place and watch this. Even more importantly, the right training. And, as we move forward, even beyond technology. I talk about how it's important to begin to reconnect to the community. At one point, the church used to be the epicenter of the community. Correct, I used to know sister Susan, brother Joe, they were my family.

Speaker 2: 8:41

I knew that, and so it was in the community aspect in which power and growth came about, whether it was economic growth, whether it was spiritual growth, whether it was okay. I'm gonna leverage my business because I know that Joe has a carpeting business, so when I need carpeting I'm gonna go to Joe. It was a place of community where people were allowed to engage with each other outside of just the Sunday morning and Wednesday evening or whatever day is your midweek service. You know your experience, and so I speak to those things within the book, as well as the importance of leveraging community technology and watch this. The subject that no one really likes to talk about is succession planning. What happens if you or your leaders or someone leaves? What happens to that arm of the ministry? And it's the same thing between church and in business. Yeah, business, they call it backfilling. They start training people to make sure that, if you know if so-and-so takes a new position, then we have someone who can automatically take their place without the business losing continuity.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Yeah, you know, you know as you go down there, you know and and I see this across you know, both of us have not only worked in ministry but also looked at things from a corporate standpoint and what I've learned is crazy that the most successful organizations reward efficiency and effectiveness even over loyalty. And I think sometimes that's where you know some small businesses or you know growing businesses and even some ministries, they kind of miss. It is, you know, because loyalty my team is very, very, very important, but we also know that nothing in nobody is forever, but the most high Mm, hmm. So I mean, if you need to have an understanding of backfilling, of succession planning, whether a person leaves or a person passes, because no matter what, there is that gap that's there and you know it's like, hey, so who do we have? Not only that has the skill set to perform, but a skill set to lead, but a skill set to have a mind to do something right, because you know, even just as one is, I was talking about, and I'm thinking about, you know, our time together.

Speaker 1: 11:00

You know I was thinking about how it works in corporate America, how you know people. You know a lot of. You say too many chiefs, not enough Indians. But I don't think you can have too many chiefs, and here's why I say that is because if somebody is willing to take ownership of what they do and they have the vision, they're essentially a chief, you know, but that means that you, as a leader, can back off and you're able to trust them as a book. I'm really called who not have when it's basically, and I just you know what I just did, my entrepreneurship camp. I just I implemented this. I gave people responsibilities and did not care how they did.

Speaker 2: 11:41

And that that speaks. That speaks to leadership. As I was speaking to, I think it's chapter two in the book, where we talk about the seven main styles of leadership. There's some that's autocratic, there's some that's laissez faire, that's like there's there's a myriad of, there's about seven or eight that are like mainstream of leadership styles. Sometimes you have to employ one style of leadership, sometimes employ several, depending on, depending on the space that you're in right on so allowing people the space to grow and grow there.

Speaker 2: 12:14

It does several things. One, it allows for independent thinking to. It allows for a space to have employees or people that's underneath you to learn their craft in a very safe environment. If someone can learn their craft, either perfect it or make mistakes, without the fear of penalty that's detrimental to their livelihood, then it sparks creativity, sparks engagement and then, to your point, it also sparks a level of noise, because you know what I did this? Yeah, messed up, but you know my boss was cool about it. They made sure, you know, with the proper processes, proper steps to ensure that I don't make that same mistake again, because now you're leading and managing instead of this directing and giving directives.

Speaker 2: 12:56

That is how you keep employee engagement levels up, and so it's the book, but it also allowed me to spark and launch my consulting firm across the board, where I talked to entrepreneurs, I talked to small businesses, I talked to non government organizations, even outside of the church, like I talked to businesses to ensure that they have these processes in place, because we're living in an age in which a time that loyalty is not number one. So watch this. It now comes down to does the business align with my core values and beliefs? Does the business allow me to grow as an individual? Does the business allow? Does the business have a plan? Right, I have a plan, not just for itself, but for my career trajectory, and so look at these things in the totality of where businesses are. We then have to say, okay, we have to shift how we're doing business.

Speaker 1: 13:49

Yes, yes, and I 1000, agree with you and even as you shared that, you know there has been this huge and it's not a short ship is having over time and I think it's a good and a bad thing, you know, because I'm not so much for how we've become so self centered and humanistic about it, but I do like the fact that we recognize that we are important because for so long it got, it was at the point where everybody was kind of like hey, you know, it's me for the whole instead of the whole for me as well. You know, especially the higher you move up is be like it's like every step you become more of a sacrificial lamb.

Speaker 2: 14:34

You know, at a time, yeah, there's been a study that shows the I'll call it the bell curve of civilizations, if you will and what ends up happening. It takes about 250 to about 350 years at the bottom, and civilizations first begin. You have first chaos and anarchy. They're coming, they're going to establish themselves, and then there's a level of spiritual awakening. Okay, I am aware of, there's something bigger than myself. Then there's a, then there's a level of, okay, morale increase, because now that I have a spiritual awakening, now I know that I have to live up to a certain code and certain standards. So now there's a morality clause that's built in there, depending on what field and what industry in which you're in, then, okay, then prosperity kind of kicks off because you advance within your field, because there's more rolling spiritual principles that you've learned Some people do and some people don't the they call it the cream of the crop, the very best of the best begin to ascend into a level of fluency, right, and then.

Speaker 2: 15:36

So now, the cream of the crop, they're making the big bucks, they're doing the best they can, they're at the top of the field, at the top of their career, and then there's sort of a plateau for a period of time where the machine is just running itself.

Speaker 2: 15:47

Watch this. The flip side of the coin then comes to this Once the affluent realized that, okay, I just want to keep it for myself, they begin to decrease the moral value Right then begin well, listen, we're going to change the rules, we're going to make sure that I keep mine and they don't have their. They don't have theirs. Once morality begins to decrease, spirituality begins to then crease, and then we get back to the bottom of the curve, where then it's just chaos, and I won't say anarchy, but it's just chaos. And then there's a level of confusion in which the, the civilization, begins to operate. And if you study history, you see this bell curve kind of take place over the course of about 250, 350 years, and so if we don't have the right structures in place, there's a risk of falling prey to what's going on in our environment. I personally believe that every business can be successful If you want to master your craft and then to master the art of business.

Speaker 1: 16:42

Yeah, oh yeah, you know, you say so simply.

Speaker 2: 16:45

We know that it's not that simple, right, it really, it really isn't right, it really isn't, but you know it's there's, there's a belief that if, if we put in the work to do these things, then yeah, then we can be successful. But the question then becomes are we willing to do the work? And so you know, with my, with my business, might the consulting side of my business, I work with companies, small businesses, entrepreneurs, because watch this, I don't want to see entrepreneurs fail. I don't want to see small businesses fail because that's bad for my business. Listen, like like five five is seven is when they first shut down because they have a lack of plan. So those who have some some level of education of business, they may make it to the 70, 10 year mark, but they still, they still fail because of execution.

Speaker 1: 17:32

Yep, yeah, most of so. Question. We talked about this bill curve play. Where do you think we are now as a society? And I'm going to ask it and do it, do it for as a as a nation world kind of situation, but also in the black community.

Speaker 2: 17:51

As a nation in a world. I believe that we have reached the plateau of a fluency and there are those who are trying to undercut the morale and spirituality of it all to ensure that the cream stays at the top. That's from a very national and global perspective.

Speaker 1: 18:08

So okay, wait before you move forward. You can't say that, and that's the how. Oh yeah, look I'm going to go ahead and we're going to go to it. So how do you say they're doing that, sir?

Speaker 2: 18:18

Well, I'm glad you asked Listen, listen, like here, when you look, when you look at policy and you look at laws and you look at the the I'll say the division between people. That's a way to ensure that no one ascends is to ensure that they are always divided. Correct? You have to pick a cause, a reason or something that'll keep people fighting long enough so that they don't come together, and that's that's from a very. It can be racial, it can be cultural, it can be watched, it can be from a business standpoint. If all the small businesses say the system is designed for me to fail, then guess what?

Speaker 2: 19:07

Many small businesses won't pursue their dreams. Yeah, now we have people who are not going after the money that is just sitting there for them to succeed, and then it go. It's divvied out to others across the board, those who have the knowledge and insight and who have come together as an association or coalition, right. So it's one of those things that if you aren't mindful of the divisive tactics that are being used, then you'll fall prey to the whirlwind of oh my gosh. Yeah, I call it. Sound by clicks. You hear this for 30 seconds. We live in an age where, because someone can grab your attention for 30 seconds to two minutes and put a bunch of reels on social media platforms, and if it's repeated often enough, science says that you'll begin to believe it's true, because you've heard it from multiple sources. Yeah, actually, checking the facts of is what they're saying from a baseline level factual.

Speaker 1: 20:02

So here's what's funny, right, you heard, we all know this, because your faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Jehovah. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But let's say let's take the word faith out of it. Right, let's take the word faith out of it and let's talk about somebody hearing, as we're talking about the culture, and you say the reels hearing, seeing, hearing, seeing, hearing, seeing. It's not faith, that's being built up, because faith is one thing, but there's something, like you said, being built up.

Speaker 1: 20:31

What I see and you know, even as you shared about, you know, the, the, those in charge, and I was like man. Do I really want to go this deep on my just? This is my third episode, so if I lose a subscriber now, I'm pretty, I'm sorry, but what I see is we're being taught to build altars to ourselves. We are, we have become the graven images. It's not even so much. Yes, you have your superstars and we can name them that are quote, unquote worship and all that stuff, but I think, even more than that, we've become to turn ourselves into those graven images that we're bowing down to, that we're serving, and in doing that, you know, and again, you know. I mean, if anybody don't know by now, by religion, I follow the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob and his risen son and I follow Torah. That's why I don't work on Saturdays and I believe law is important. You know, of course, god's law first, but even human law and, as you said, once we've gotten to this plateau and I love this analogy, I'm actually going to have to do more research on it, but I'm just taking from what you said thus far there are people in power who feel they're above law. Right, they're above. Torah is lawlessness in and of itself, but because they also have the power and the resources, they able to control the people under them to make them lawless and, as you said, it almost gets to a state of anarchy. But it's not anarchy, it's control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's that hinders small businesses from growing, because we don't even recognize the system or the game that we're playing. You know like and again, I love the fact that you wrote a book that's for churches but can be used by anybody and anything. I mean, I'm just hearing it, but it just brings the biblical print.

Speaker 1: 22:28

You know these ancient principles that are not new. You know the Dale, carnegie's and things, who are great people. They make this stuff up the most high, set it up from the beginning. As we said, he's a God of order, you know, and if he wants, if he set up success, we really can't get around that. You know, one of the worst things that people can say and why am I saying this is I'll make my throne like the most high where we get to make the loss. Mm, hmm, you know, but I don't know if this is going to make the episode. I'm like where you going, carl, but no man. But okay, I want to jump back into it. It's because we talked about where we are, you know globally, you know how. Where do you think we are as a community? A black community?

Speaker 2: 23:15

As a black community. I think they're over the, I say the last decade, decade and a half. There's been an awakening as to one who we are, where we come from and the power that we have. That's on one side of the coin. So I think there's been a spark lit in the new generation that says you know what? This is not fair, this is not right. We're going to fight for what we want, because this is what this is what's owed to us, not from a place of entitlement, but from a place of equity and equality based off the laws written in the US Constitution. So I think I think there has been an awakening.

Speaker 2: 23:50

But to your point three, I believe that there's some level of disconnect between those that are fighting for what they want, based off the information that's available, and those that, I'll say, the previous, their predecessors, generation that has the inside scoop on the track to get there. There are the generations are fighting a well fought fight with the tools at their disposal. But because of the disconnect between generations, I feel as if the two sides aren't talking to one another. Because watch this, you have the new generation love it. Full of entrepreneurs, full of business endeavor, full of this. It's amazing, it's dope to see, right, right, but where's the money Is incorporated? The money is in government. The money is in these places where the predecessors generation has worked for 10, 20, 30 years, and so, without a bridge to say, hey, listen, I know what you're trying to do, but have you considered this? Have you considered doing this? Have you considered doing this? And what ends up happening is oh, I take the information that I have and the fight that I have, and now I know the context of where I'm trying to get to. Now you can put, formulate together a game plan, but right now is oh, this generation is fighting against this generation. They don't want to talk to this generation. Vice versa, oh, you're old, are you just new, and you don't listen, or I'm just going to do me, I'm going to do my own thing, yolo, and you just stubborn. And so it's in fighting from a cultural perspective, that says, hey, if we can just calm down for about 10 to 12 years, we come together because watch this, since 2020, 10 million applications has been filed for new businesses. We're literally talking three and a half years. Wow, since 2020, 10 million people have decided that, hey, I want to do my own thing and open up my own business. Now, let's put it in perspective in the last three years a year and a half that we're at home Right, many people were operating without really operating correctly.

Speaker 2: 26:10

Yes, yes, there was a proper paperwork involved. There was no proper plan involved. There was a book that I've read some time ago called the e-myth, where it deals with those who want to. It's called why small businesses fail, but it really tells you how to succeed as a small business. Right, very great read. Very short read, but impactful in its content. And what I took from the book was this you have those that are the entrepreneur, the technician, and then you have the manager. The entrepreneur is the visionary. Yo, this will be so dope if I did this, oh my goodness. Right, the technician is like well, I've been doing this for five, 10 years. I mean, I can easily look this up on how to do it, I know what I'm doing, but they all fail from a managerial perspective because they don't know how to operate a business. If you're going to be successful as an entrepreneur or a small business, you have to have both the technician side Right, the entrepreneur side to be a visionary, and the managerial side, to ensure that your business is operating from a place of one sustainability to a place of excellence. And three, most importantly, a place of compliance, because if you are compliant with your local, state and federal regulations, you will not be successful and you will owe money. Yeah, yeah, like, let's just keep it, let's keep it a band, let's talk about it.

Speaker 2: 27:42

A lot of businesses started because, hey, I know how to do that, right, yeah, I've been doing this all my life. I can easily do that. But when they get into the nitty gritty of operating the business, there is why it fit. I had no idea it took all that Like, hey, some point, I've never written a book before and when I wrote the book, wrote the book working with a publishing company and I had a nine-day crash course with the publisher.

Speaker 2: 28:11

I was like, listen, yes, you can launch your book and it's on Amazon now. However, you need to set the back of house up, you need to set this up, set this up, get this website up, get this, do this, do this, do that. And so, when I'm looking, you need to set your payment stuff up and you need to make sure you're counseling. Make sure you did. And when I'm looking at it I'm like I just wanted to write a book. And he was like that's great, congratulations, you've written a book, but your book is now also a business. Yeah, you don't have the back of house stuff done for your business, which is the book. You'll never see it die.

Speaker 1: 28:43

Man. I love that. It's that everything's lawful and everything's expedient, and sometimes it's, and I think what happens is we see the front end of stuff and people will get overnight success. There's no such thing as overnight success. It has never happened in the history of the world has there ever been an overnight success. It even took your shoe with three days to raise. Come on y'all.

Speaker 2: 29:08

So you had to stay down a little bit.

Speaker 1: 29:10

Right Right, there's a lot of work involved here people, but but, like, like, going, going back to even. I want to, I want to take it, take a step back before, even before we get to that piece. You spoke about this generational gap, and one thing one of me and my boys talk about pretty often is the fact that the generation before us, like us, are still working. They're in their 60s, their 70s, their 80s and they're still not even just still working. They're still running the show and they're doing a good job running the show, but they're not necessarily doing a good job in preparing the next generation. I look at us, our generation, compared to theirs. There are people who started doing what we're doing now 20 years ago, when they were half our age, but they did not give us the opportunity, blueprint or even permission to do the same, because they were protecting their spots, you know. So, unfortunately, which, which, even as we spoke about earlier. I think that's where loyalty started to leave. It was because go ahead.

Speaker 2: 30:27

No, I said it is. It is where it started to leave. There is a. There is a. I'm going to read a quick quote in passage. When we start talking about succession and understanding what's going on, right here's, here's our reality. When it comes to the older generation A lot of the older generation they suffer from what's called identity crisis. The question then becomes who am I once I'm no longer in this seat?

Speaker 1: 31:00

Yes.

Speaker 2: 31:01

And so when we start looking at the mental, emotional and psychological effects of what ends up like, there's a, there's an experience that I had, I take it back. I was doing consulting work before I was actually, you know, calling myself a consultant, right, you know my things. I just want to help. That's where I was years ago. I just want to help, let me help you out.

Speaker 2: 31:23

And so there was a leader who was getting ready to retire, rightfully so, served his time, did about 20, 30, 40 years in this, in this role. Hey, I'm retiring, I'm going to get ready to walk out. They book, they, you know, board voted a new leader in. So now this person was, you know, immediate past, exo facto, on the board. Right, this, just by bylaws, is how it had it set up. This leader, the old leader, interjected in the new leaders affairs for the first nine months.

Speaker 2: 31:57

Well, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that, listen, listen. And so the reality was, you know, we had myself and the two leaders had to sit down. They brought me in and say, hey, listen, can you mediate this? And I was like, oh, what's going on? What are we doing? What are we doing here? I said with respect to. You know your history and your legacy. You are tarnishing it Because you now have an opportunity to go from being the person doing the work to now the person advising the person, instead of just doing the. But you can't get out of. Oh, I have to do this. I got to have my hands in this, I got to have my hand and I wouldn't do it that way. Well, guess what? You aren't here anymore.

Speaker 1: 32:35

Right, you have to learn, yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:37

You have to relearn your role in your position, and I learned at that time. It then became an identity crisis. The individual wasn't asking themselves well, what am I supposed to do now? How do I like? What is my role?

Speaker 1: 32:54

Hmm.

Speaker 2: 32:54

I've been doing this for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And so, to your point, when we look at the old, the older generation or our predecessors in generation that they've been doing this for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, they don't know anything else. Hmm, because, just at the same, just that they haven't trained the younger generation to do, or given them permission or given them the grace or the leeway to do these things, now they also haven't given themselves the grace to learn how to not do these things either. So it's a conflict within themselves.

Speaker 2: 33:27

This is all I know, this is who I am. If I don't do this, then what am I Now? It's a level of narcissism, because it's like I am the company, you're not. I am the business, I am the role, I am the position, but you're not I'm the position you know and I believe it's somewhere into a ride.

Speaker 1: 33:47

I need to go back and look at it, even as you shared that that after the age of 50, it is chapter.

Speaker 2: 33:56

I talk about it. I don't read books anymore.

Speaker 1: 34:01

This is ebooks all the time, but now I got to go buy this book and read it. I actually already ordered that. I just got to read it, man.

Speaker 2: 34:08

I wrote about it in chapter one, man, where we talk about I think it's in numbers where there was a cutoff point where you no longer had to do the role, but then you went from doing the role until advising in the role.

Speaker 1: 34:22

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 34:23

I dare say it's in numbers where that took place, because the reality is hey, listen, you weren't designed to do this forever.

Speaker 1: 34:30

Right, right, we are, because we, you know, man, we go back to best. And for me, I'll be honest, I don't want to be super old, doing what I'm doing now, Like to be on. One of the reasons that I work the way that I work is because I still want to hit that 50 mark in retire. Yes, like I don't. I don't have the advantage of doing it for the past 20 years. So I'm making up for it now. And not only am I doing that, I'm also already working on my succession plan, like I have. So my cyber security practice. I have interns during the work now who are in their 20, I don't, I'm giving them what I didn't have.

Speaker 1: 35:09

Yeah Well, I did not have the opportunity at 19 to run. I could work, but to run something. We have that energy to be able to put my mind to practice that innovation that's in my mind and in my heart, put that to practice and it's like that's where my focus is now, like even with the camp that I'm doing, it's hey, I want y'all, starting now in your teams, to know that about a time in your 20s, I want you to not be doing what I did, because I'm just somebody's work of me and I'm grateful for the positions that I had and I had, but it's like, but at the same time, I do recognize how it set us back. I mean because, essentially, you know, again looking, I basically look at scripture these people passed the torch before they passed, like Joshua was in place a long time before Moshe.

Speaker 2: 36:10

You know I joke because you know I literally talk about this within this book. There's a way to train your leaders right when we start dealing with succession and I deal with it from a four point perspective there's the intentional right, when I do and you watch To now me is what I'm doing, and then you, the mentee that you're watching, then it's guiding right. So it's like I do, you help, and then we talk about it, because you went from watching what I'm doing to now, slowly but surely, now you help me, and then we talk about what you see, what you experience, versus, versus, versus. Then it becomes collaborative I do, and then we do together and then or actually you do, I'm now helping.

Speaker 1: 36:57

Okay, oh, yes.

Speaker 2: 36:59

Step three then comes you, after we've helped together. Step three then becomes you do the work. I guess the sis now.

Speaker 2: 37:06

And then we talk about it and then, last but not least, you do the work, I watch and then we talk. So you see it goes. It goes in a C-SOL perspective where now there's a, there's a series involved that says, okay, if we do these things now, I can train everybody else. And so you know, within my consulting firm I talk about this in terms of strategic management what does your business look like over the next one to three years? Right, what does it look like? What are your company's goals?

Speaker 2: 37:40

A lot of people just say, oh, I'm in business, I want to do this, I want to do that. But so what I do from a consulting standpoint on within my firm, is that I help entrepreneurs, small businesses and even, you know, mainstream business corporations, ngos, to say what is your strat plan? Because if you're operating without a strategic plan, once it's hard to get funding because no one knows where you're going. Right, no one knows where you're going, yeah, right. And then, even after the plan is created, then I also offer project, because you know I work in project management. So now the question is do you need somebody to help you implement these plans? The answer is yes, but you know what I'm saying Because you may not know, like again, a lot of people know the what. They don't know how.

Speaker 1: 38:25

Which is why you have to hire the who.

Speaker 2: 38:28

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 38:29

You have to hire the who.

Speaker 2: 38:30

Simple plug for every small business and entrepreneurs. Guess what If you hire a consultant, it is a tax write off for your business, yep.

Speaker 1: 38:38

Yep, it's a business expense.

Speaker 2: 38:40

It's a business expense If you bring in a consultant to help you get whatever. You pay them. You can write that off on your taxes. That's a fun fact for you. You know, small businesses, entrepreneurs. That's a little financial management.

Speaker 1: 38:51

Tell them when you bring me in, you actually can write off more than you could for an employee.

Speaker 2: 38:56

You sure can, because everything you pay me can be written off.

Speaker 1: 39:01

Right and I actually cost less my projects. I mean, you have to. I don't even want to get all that, but there was something that you, that you should. Oh, here's a question I think I'm going to start asking Sure, right, companies, do you want your business to die with you? Do you want your organization to die with you? Do you want your church to die with you? It's a very good question and I think people don't.

Speaker 1: 39:29

Some of us don't look at our mortality. You know of ourselves and we definitely don't get the mortality of our business. We feel like we've done certain things and it's just. You know, hey, yeah, somebody else can come pick it up, my children pick it up, but if you haven't put anything in place for it to, for it to happen, it will literally happen. We are one generational business.

Speaker 1: 39:48

You know I listened to podcasts all the time, right, and you know I've looked at, I've listened to. You know Walmart. You know, versus Kmart, essentially, you know, you know the Walmart, the targets, the, the apples, the Microsofts, and all of them, every last one of them, had lengthy succession plans. They did not wait until, like not even Walmart, because, you know, while Sam was, he was going through some things. Physically he's. He had people in place early.

Speaker 1: 40:25

There were certain things that still because of his name that he did, but when it came to making sure that the business could thrive and survive and have this, yeah, have the systems in place. Because one of the biggest things about it is what I've learned is that when people, even when they do have a succession of leadership, they don't want to have a succession of processes, they don't want to have a succession of culture, they don't want to have a succession of of of the way things are, it's like look, this is what we, how we've gotten here, but it's like, but if that doesn't work for the next generation, you better not do it, because again we'll go back to, they won't be loyal to that because they don't have an investment in it. It may be what raised them, but if they didn't build it, there's nothing.

Speaker 2: 41:12

And so, and so, to your point. It's, it's important that businesses small, medium, large your corporate, your mega corporations, engage in employee engagement. You have to, you have to ask your people hey, is what we're doing working?

Speaker 1: 41:31

That's a scary question to ask, man. Let's, let's stop, let's stop right there, let's stop right there.

Speaker 2: 41:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 41:40

Why is that such a scary question?

Speaker 2: 41:42

Because it does two things. One, it opens yourself up to hear the criticism of your subordinates, which we go back to levels of narcissism that no managers and leaders really want to hear the criticism of those. Well, I think, what do you mean? I suck as a leader, you work for me. So it opens a level of criticism up. But then, two, it also can make managers, leaders and CEOs realize that, hey, I may be steering the ship in the wrong direction. So there is no company that exists without employees, and if the employees are not satisfied, then they'll leave. You'll see high turnover and it costs more to hire new employees than it does to keep and retain them. So the reality is this whether your company has three employees or 300,000, at least once or twice a year there ought to be a conversation that says hey, listen, let's talk about where we are, let's talk about where I'd like for us to go, and then let's talk about how have you been feeling since you've been working here.

Speaker 1: 42:57

Let me stop right there. I got to ask questions now.

Speaker 2: 42:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:00

Should this be anonymous or not?

Speaker 2: 43:06

I mean, it depends on the size of the company, right? If you only have three employees, it's not too difficult.

Speaker 2: 43:12

But if you have 300,000,. What I've learned is that nothing is really anonymous. The reality is most companies can track who said what If they really wanted to. Most companies can track who submitted what responses to the survey question and although it says it's anonymous because your machine is tapped to I mean you work at IT, you know, because your machine is tagged with an IP address there's always a way of finding out who said what. So I mean there's an appearance of anonymity, but the reality is that they really wanted to know who said what, where, when and why they could really find out. But to your immediate question, I think it allows some level of personal and mental security to know that it's anonymous, that you know what I'm going to speak my piece and won't nobody say nothing, but just know that if you say something too off the walls, they have a way of tracking every response. That's done.

Speaker 1: 44:15

I dare to say it's stronger, non-anonymous. Here is why If you have the right culture in place, if you have the right culture in place where you know because if you have a non-punitive culture, you know I mean, of course we know they're punishments for crimes, right, but there shouldn't be punishment for opinions. There should not be punishment for desires or wants that if people feel like they can speak their mind without consequence, of course they'll respectfully. But even if it's not uber-respectful, like it ain't got to be overly respectful, and you're able to get that honesty, they'll trust you.

Speaker 1: 44:56

I had a situation last week where so with my young entrepreneurship camp, there was a technical snaffle in the last presentation, right, because they were in a big auditorium, they were present on the screen and the cord the HDMI cord went out. The tech for the place was not there, so we couldn't get a new one, so they did not have a fair shot at it. So I said you know what I understand. I will go in my pocket and give you all prize money that was not allocated for anybody, like, hey, this is for you all. Right, they weren't a part of my cohort, they were part of one of the other ones, but I'm the CEO, I run it, so it's like it still falls on me.

Speaker 1: 45:37

Everybody else got their money immediately, except for those two, and that's only because I was like, yeah, can y'all cash out. I told the teacher, give me the cash out so that I could send it to them, and all that, this and the other. It's Friday, it gets to sundown, I'm not doing it after that, and so the next day they're hitting him up over like hey, are we getting it? Imagine this is 16, 17,. You know, young teenagers yeah.

Speaker 1: 46:03

Yeah. So if we're not getting it, just let us know. And I'm like, and Carl see, that's the same reaction that my boy had and I said it's okay, I'm not. He said, man, but you gave all this, you fed them every day this information.

Speaker 1: 46:19

I said it's all right, but remember, these young boys showed up because there was prize money involved. They presented and they felt like their plan was good enough to win and they feel like they were cheated out of that and I made a promise to give restitution on that. So I wasn't upset that they were pressing. He was like, yeah, but they should be more grateful. I said I get that part and that will be great if they were. It might leave a better taste in your mouth. But for me, pause. But for me I'm like I get it. I respect the thing that a promise was made to them. Everybody else got a fair chance and everybody else got what they were promised, except for me.

Speaker 1: 47:07

I couldn't take him to standpoint well, you want boys to give them a first. I did not count them as my heart. I don't need, I don't touch all this. Y'all are eight for three to pass two weeks, all that type of stuff. But I said. I said, bro, I get what you're saying and I'm grateful for you standing up for me, but I'm also humble enough to recognize, when it comes down to it, it's my fault that it didn't work, not because I was responsible for the court or anything like that. I found ability in leadership, though, so that's good, yeah, and I think that and I want to even speak to that because I want you to speak to that how is that again in our community? And since you wrote the book in the church?

Speaker 2: 47:56

All right. From a community perspective, we are getting to a place where accountability should be the norm. But we also live in an age where can't nobody tell me nothing, you can't tell me what to do. I'm my own person, I'm my own boss. So just because you don't agree with what I'm doing, this culture that we live in, I think it lacks accountability to an extent when it comes to operations. But I do believe that we are increasing our level of accountability to things that are morally sound and have cultural value to it. So I will not say it's all bad. Where we are right now in the current space is that from accountability it's like well, if you don't like what I'm doing, you a hater. I'm not really hating, I'm just trying to show you there's a better way to do this that will be beneficial to you in the long run. So we're kind of short-sighted on that Within ministry if we're gonna keep it a ban. To my point, I made early about 60,000 churches shutting down. Right, watch this. Did they have to shut down? No, had they listened, they would probably still be open. But because you can't tell people anything, because again it goes back, I mean it's funny.

Speaker 2: 49:26

I talk about a lot of this in the book. Like a lot of leaders say, this is my ministry, I heard from God, it's me and God. Well, no, listen, let's talk real-life logistics. You don't have to do the things that you're doing if you're gonna be successful. And so when we start talking about accountability, people don't want their name, image and likeness to be ruined, so they stand on, they dig their heels in the dirt on.

Speaker 2: 49:52

This is what I believe and this is what, and you're going against my beliefs. But if what you believe is morally corrupt, scripturally corrupt, culturally corrupt, economically corrupt, or even from a place of being value or valuably corrupt, then you have to really reassess what you're doing. And so accountability goes up. So there's no matter where you are in your personal chain of command, your personal development. There ought to be somebody above you that can check you on what you're doing. If you have arrived and no one can check you on what you're doing, when you're doing it, how you're doing it, then at some point you're going to hit a wall because you're trying to do it yourself. You're trying to do it on your own strength, and that's from a spiritual perspective we can talk. In business, even most CEOs have a board that they have Right, I'm about to say the same thing.

Speaker 2: 50:49

Yeah, you know what I'm saying, but even most CEOs have a board that they have to report to, so there's some level of governance and oversight, and so there's some level of accountability in every aspect of living. And so we have to get back to a place of, yes, I am running my own company, yes, I am a boss, but I also have to say let me get a mentor, let me get a consultant, let me get somebody with an objective viewpoint that's not emotionally tied to what I'm doing, to help me be successful. Because a lot of the time, people fight back because they're so emotionally invested. And again, I guide, michael, I get it because people want you, want this thing to succeed. They want to be successful.

Speaker 2: 51:37

So you have poor time, some people have poor resources, some people have said, hey, you know what, I'm gonna go out on a limb to make this. So they're so emotionally invested that they say can't, nobody tell me nothing? This is what I'm doing. But wait a minute, if you will just allow yourself to really have a mentor, a consultant, someone with objective views that say, hey, listen, yeah, I want you to be successful too, but I'm not so emotionally tied to this as you. So I'm gonna tell you what's working, what's not working, how you can pivot, how you can change, what you can tweak along the way to make sure that you get what you desire.

Speaker 1: 52:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 52:16

So capability is important from a small business entrepreneur perspective. You have to have somebody to say, hey, listen, I'm gonna walk you through this and watch this. It has to be somebody who's been where you're trying to get some.

Speaker 1: 52:33

And I've been here and I'm listening and, like I said, I'm looking at it from a ministry perspective and even a spiritual perspective, even God's accountable, because what he said is I honor my word above my name. So he placed what he said out of his mouth and put on paper his promises above his power. That's crazy to me and I'm like, oh man, that's like crazy. I was like, oh wow, because it's like hey look, I said I'm going to do this and I'm autonomous, I'm omniscient, I can do whatever I want, but what I'm saying is I'm going to be held accountable to what I said. That's a very interesting check and balance and I think that and this is what myself, as a CEO, with people who work under me I have to be with my word Meaning, I have to acknowledge and honor what I've said. The covenants, essentially, that if I make a promise, I have to fulfill it, no matter what happens, like so many things happened over the past two weeks, with family stuff, with things not going right, with expenses being more than expected. But there were 50 students who expected me to show up. They expected to learn something. There were employees that expected to be paid. There were vendors who expected to be paid, I couldn't say it was my company, because things ain't going right the way I want them. I'ma go here and I'm about to change the game up real quick. Like y'all gotta wait a while for y'all checks. Hey, students, just don't come. Tomorrow it's over. That's why we gotta be careful of what we promise, careful of what we say, because if we promise and we don't deliver, then what's our word worth? Like I how much? Right, because we have to honor our word above our name. We gotta do the same thing that the Mose High does, and I think that's where a lot of us mess up.

Speaker 1: 54:59

And I primarily talk about our community. I don't know really much outside of it. Like I grew up in Kentland, I went to Hampton. You know what I'm saying. I'm like I can't really tell you about no real other community, but what I can say is that what I've seen is that we and you talked about this at the beginning. People are good at what they do and they start a business and at that point they're in charge.

Speaker 1: 55:24

And I assert and it's probably in the book that your policy, your procedure and your law actually have to be more in charge than you are the things that you have said out of your mouth, the things that you have promised, have to be more in charge than you are as a consultant. When you and I go to a business and we do the same things, we learn the same thing. But we go in there and we make a promise and we say we would do this for this amount of money. We give a fixed price or not to exceed whatever, no matter what comes up. We got to honor that, got to honor it. We have to ask them to amend the contract.

Speaker 1: 56:12

Yeah, it didn't get so. On them it was like well, no, well, hold on. You said this is what you put on paper, this is what your law is. You made this promise that, come hell or high water, you gonna do this. It was up to you to decide. It was up to you, as a consultant, to meet it, decide and understand what contingencies need to be in place in case things don't go the way that I planned. That's why I'm in charge. I have to, like John Maxwell, say you had to see more and see before.

Speaker 2: 56:43

Yeah, I'm excited that you brought that up. Like it goes to one of the six main products that we offer at the firm right Project management. Yes, as a project manager, you have to look at the scope of work before you agree to it. You have to ask what. And this is for those who are listening, this is for those who are entrepreneurs. Who's like listen, I got an order coming in. Listen. Or small businesses hey, listen, I got to. You know some so and so wants to use my services for this. Let me drop a gem on you for free. Normally we charge, but let me drop this gem on you for free. Right, let me give you a stream.

Speaker 2: 57:22

Look at the scope of the work before you accept a job and give a price. Right, because here's the reality. A lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses will just take the work because, hey, I'm getting my name out there. Hey, I'm done. I'm gonna be honest with you Name recognition does not keep your lights on. No, name recognition or having your name out of place, like.

Speaker 2: 57:48

There are some things you have to have. You know, some level of discernment. You know what. This would be a good opportunity for me. Let me just go ahead and do it right. Anybody that doesn't go ahead and do it.

Speaker 2: 57:55

But your average project, your average contract and you have to look at these things your opportunities as contracts. These are opportunities. You've worked hard, you've done the work to get in this position, so don't think someone is doing you a favor by giving you a quote opportunity. This is your business, this is what you do and you're leveraging your business experience and your expertise for payment. So it's not an opportunity.

Speaker 2: 58:22

Oh, thank you for the chance. And no, not at all. You are now a professional operating in your field. Charge accordingly. So right, look at the scope of work before you just say, oh, yeah, I can do that, because a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs they get in the rat race of oh, I took this job but I didn't know it was gonna be this much work. And now the pay isn't worth the work in which you're doing. But because your name and your brand is on the line, you put up 150% of time, energy and effort to execute, not realizing that they just got you for 150% of something where you really only could have gave them 65. Yep, yep.

Speaker 1: 59:04

Because the show only paid for 65.

Speaker 2: 59:07

And the show, only paid for 65. So I have to ask people like listen, what exactly do you need? There was a company was like hey, listen, michael, you want you to do a strategic plan for us. You know. I said, okay, well, what exactly do you need? Well, we need this, we need that, we need graphics, we need this, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that. Da, da, da da. Okay, it's 25 grand. They said, excuse me. I said no, I need you to understand something. This is a 10 week project that you need to have to your board, where you're not just asking me to work with you. I have to deal with your stakeholders, internal and external. I got to deal with your board for input and I have to get this comprehensive package put together within the next 10 weeks to ensure that your business is successful for the next five years. All right, so you're telling me that this price for 10 weeks isn't worth your business being successful for five years? You don't really want it. I wish you the best of luck.

Speaker 1: 1:00:05

Most people don't count the cost on either end. Yeah, like they don't count the cost on. Sometimes, as consultants, we don't count the cost properly, and which is why we keep. And I'm gonna tell you all the time, name recognition is not that important. It's not that important. I know some people with a million followers and no money coming from it. So, yeah, but counting the cost is very important, even before you don't go and buy a field without knowing, like you don't go looking for consultants unless you know you can afford one. Well, all I got is this well, you need to go read some more books or something.

Speaker 2: 1:00:48

Yeah, and watch this. Leave it up to the consultant to negotiate, right? Yep, because watch this. So you know, watch this. You know, with small, I understand the struggle of entrepreneurship and small businesses. Having been there myself, I get it and I understand. I want you to succeed. Well, watch this.

Speaker 2: 1:01:11

There's a stretching that also takes place in success. So you now have to ask yourself am I willing to grow to the level that I know I'm capable of? Because there's a cost for that. If I want to lose weight I got to work out, there's a cost for that. I got to join a gym, I got to work out I might have to change how I'm eating, which costs money, like there's a cost to everything, Everything. We have to ask ourselves do we really want what we say we want or not? And so you know I deal with these things.

Speaker 2: 1:01:38

You know my firm deals with, you know, small businesses, entrepreneurs, even. You know, medium businesses or corporations and NGOs. We, you know, pursue, you know, government contracts as well, across the board. And you know things cross next 12 weeks actually dealing with a grant writing course where I'll actually get certified grant writer, actually write grants too. So it's actually going to be pretty dope, like I'm excited about that Nice, really really excited about that. And so we're teaming up with a company that's local and I will literally be certified to write grants, which again helps small businesses get funding Right. But you have to be able to do the work. So I love this platform that you have, man, like I really do, and like it's when we start talking about friends with businesses. Business is important, but how we do business is imperative to change in this new environment that we end, unless we're gonna spend our wheels and watch this. The longer we spend our wheels, the more things will change while we're not aware of it. You gotta understand policy if you're gonna do process Right. Yeah, yeah, you gotta understand.

Speaker 1: 1:02:49

You gotta say compliance, we can do policy.

Speaker 2: 1:02:51

Yeah, you gotta figure out, okay. Well, what is the law, say I can do. What am I supposed to be doing right now? Okay, what are the local laws of my state? Am I? Are there grants? Are there small business grants? Are there? Is there funding for my business? Can I attach my business to community service to ensure that I can get the funding to do Like? There are so many ways for small businesses and entrepreneurs and even larger businesses to obtain funding that it's crazy. But because we don't know or we don't wanna hire a consultant to help us.

Speaker 1: 1:03:27

Man brother, this has been a wonderful conversation.

Speaker 2: 1:03:32

Yes, man, it has, it has.

Speaker 1: 1:03:35

We've gone. That's what we've done. Hold on, hold on. I didn't get to that one question on my list.

Speaker 2: 1:03:44

I think we gotta do some stuff, though Some stuff won't work.

Speaker 1: 1:03:46

Some stuff won't work Cause, like I had one, if you had a stall all over the day, what you do, how'd you get into it? I didn't get to know that, but so that means we gotta come, you gotta come back, you gotta come back? Yeah, I'd love to, but before you go, please plug your everything, and then, of course, send me something, so I'll put it in the show notes, cause I want people to know it. Plug everything.

Speaker 2: 1:04:03

Sure, sure, sure, don't listen. So for the consulting arm of what I'm doing, working with small like I don't even say small business, if you own a business large, small in between and you're trying to figure out how do I take my business to the next level, my website is up and running. It's wwwjs. P is in, paul, c is in, charlie, f is in Frank, so JASPCFcom. It'll take you to the page. If you click book now, it'll allow you to actually find time to get an hour with me. We can schedule a consultation and really figure out the best path forward for your business. It only takes an hour to really write it out.

Speaker 1: 1:04:45

So how much is the consultation?

Speaker 2: 1:04:47

Well, the consultation is actually reduced to 250 right now. I brought it down just for this purpose. Like I brought it down just for this purpose, 250, right, because what it does is this we're going to map out in an hour how do you really elevate your business, and I know that's not expensive at all.

Speaker 1: 1:05:04

Right, I'm like 250. I'm like bruh, Because some of them walk away with it and make five figures of a 250 call.

Speaker 2: 1:05:13

Exactly, exactly, exactly, and so, because we're here and because we're on this podcast, I'm giving a discounted rate of 250 for the hour. This is where we are An hour of your time to map out your business and figure out how do we execute it and get it to the next level.

Speaker 1: 1:05:30

You mean an hour of your time.

Speaker 2: 1:05:31

Hour of my. Well, it's an hour of their time. Yeah, but it's not your time, because they're going to spend an hour with me, but we're going to dig deep.

Speaker 1: 1:05:37

Maybe waste an hour if they want to. Okay, I'm not. Okay, no, y'all be doing something productive. I'm just, I'm just. I go extreme sometimes.

Speaker 2: 1:05:44

Listen, it is very, it is very. It is very intuitive and important to understand that one readers. Leaders are readers first off. Most leaders are readers. You have to read to understand what's going on around you, to understand the corporate, business and entrepreneurial and economic environment in which your business is trying to operate in. This is where we are and this is how I want to help you. So, again, it's wwwjspcfcom.

Speaker 2: 1:06:11

And for those that are in ministry, who are trying to understand what's going on, how can they flip their ministry, really transform their ministry, and really just one from a planning perspective, from a administrative perspective, watch this. We even talked about in the book how to leverage technology in this new age. How do you leverage technology in your church, in your ministry? Because it's necessary. This is 2023, people, people watching church online, they are. So we talk about it.

Speaker 2: 1:06:40

Listen, all you have to do is go to thechurchpostcovidcom. Again, it's wwwchurchpostcovidcom. Order your book there. If you want to order multiple books for your team, like this, book can be used as a teaching tool for not just churches but ministry teams. I consult with pastors, I consult with leaders. I actually come in and train churches, train leadership teams, train ministry teams, train worship departments. Train your sound and AV teams. I have a marketing team that'll work with your social media team to figure out how do you put your best foot forward on social media, all inclusive, all in confidence and packaging. So let's have a conversation, but step one by the book wwwthechurchpostcovidcom.

Speaker 1: 1:07:28

Man, bro, I appreciate you. Like I said, man, you know knowing each other for 20, thanks You're old now, don't say, don't put it on.

Speaker 2: 1:07:36

When you say that, don't say it.

Speaker 1: 1:07:38

Good gracious, but hey, but not man. I appreciate you coming on, man, you actually, you know you've brought a whole lot of value. I hope everybody who is listening of course not just a church, but anybody who is in business wants to be in business or even a part of a business. You know, you even talked a lot about, you know, just being an employee. You know, like the things that you should look for in going in.

Speaker 1: 1:07:58

So, man, thank you so much for coming y'all, please click the links, check it out, buy the book, drop in the comments something, a nugget that you pulled from this conversation. I know you, there's probably a whole lot of our men's already down there, but, you know, please, do you know, reach out to Mike, you know, and find out how you can take your business to the next level. So if you have any questions comments concerns metaphysical speculations please, you know, feel free to reach out. Thank y'all for joining the Friends with Businesses, where you meet my friends with benefits, and I know you're gonna get the Friends with Businesses and I know you need the benefits.

Speaker 2: 1:08:33

It is a benefit to have a business. Yes, sir. It definitely is.

Speaker 1: 1:08:36

All right brother man. Thank y'all so much.