Entrepreneurship Feat: Business Coach Todd Randall

Dustin Steffey: 0:00

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Jaden Norvell: 0:51

This is the best stop for entrepreneurship and self development talk hosted by the doctor himself Dr. Dustin Steffey co hosted by entrepreneur and sports talk host Jayden rush, Norville. This is choppin with fire!

Dustin Steffey: 1:30

Hello, and welcome to another episode of chopping with fire. You're joined with your hosts Dustin Steffey and Jade Norville this up chop nation. How are you doing today, Jaden.

Jaden Norvell: 1:40

Good man got that workout in I gotta say I got a haircut yesterday, but just got my workout and feeling good. You look good. Thanks. Hey, thanks, man. Feeling good. I got a new hoodie. I think D. Steff got this one too whenhe was down here.

Dustin Steffey: 1:55

I did. I didn't wear it today because I didn't want to be matchies with you. But congratulations on your weekly haircut.

Jaden Norvell: 2:03

Thank you. Thank you.

Dustin Steffey: 2:08

Hey, listen, I'm excited today because we have a very special guest, Don, and from the great state of Florida. We have taught at random all with us. The significance of him is he is an eighth time CEO and business coach. Todd, welcome to the show. How are you?

Todd Randall: 2:26

Thanks, guys. Appreciate being on here. It's an honor to be on chopping with fire.

Jaden Norvell: 2:30

Thank you. Welcome.

Dustin Steffey: 2:31

We appreciate you. And we appreciate the expertise that you're going to bring. Obviously, we are an entrepreneurship and self development podcast and with your 30 plus years of experience, I'm pretty certain you embody a lot of the things that we talk about.

Todd Randall: 2:46

Let's get into it, man. It's fun. interesting topic for me.

Dustin Steffey: 2:49

Excellent. I think we should start out by giving you the Florida kind of introduce yourself to our listeners and kind of hit the ground running whatever you want to divulge. We're all ears.

Todd Randall: 3:00

Okay, thanks. Appreciate that. I think what's interesting about me, there are a lot of entrepreneurs in the world, right. And many of the entrepreneurs in the world are innovators, they had some great idea, or their position in the right place at the right time. Someone was Xenia business, maybe your parents had a business and they're exiting, and you had the opportunity to step up and take over or you were working for a large corporation that was dismissing your product, you were proud of it and you spent a lot of energy on it and you offered, you went to a bank got a loan and offered to take that product outside. Those are how a lot of entrepreneurs get started, I didn't have a great idea. I didn't have a great innovation. I didn't have parents with a business. And but I knew that I really wanted to be a business owner, it was an aspiration I've always had. And so I decided that you could be a grinder and just work it out. Right? I figured out start with some small business and I would work on it until it was better. And then scale it, you know, make it bigger or or find another business and scale it that way. And that was my journey. And I think that that's that journey may resonate with more entrepreneurs these days. Because if they were like me there, they might be sitting around, wondering when they're when their opportunities can come. And the fact of the matter is you can make your opportunity. And I think that's that's maybe my journey. And that's what makes you know, my journey a little more interesting to talk about because I think it appeals to like it resonates with a lot of entrepreneurs. Not that the five or 10% that get all the AirPlay, you know, if you invented the Rubik's cube or if you invented a cool new software app that gets lots of play. And lots of people like to talk about that. But what about the person who started and built a laundry mat? Right? Or what about the person who started mowing lawns? You know, and then created a landscaping service out of it and then created a product to suit the landscaping service that he that they had built. I think that those entrepreneurs are equally if not more interesting, because more more people can go that route, you know,

Dustin Steffey: 4:54

bring up an amazing point actually that I pondered once upon a time in school, but you brought it That began, which was the fact that there are so many entrepreneurs that have done something significant. But we haven't heard about them. Because they weren't the one that like, for example, invented the Rubik's cube or I don't know, invented Tesla, or whatever the case may be right? Like, yeah, but you bring up a good valid point.

Todd Randall: 5:20

Yeah, I'm the I'm the boring entrepreneur. And I value that, like, I've never been a person who likes to be out in front all the time. I've never really had a big social media presence or wanted to be on the boat, the company brochure, right. I wanted to be one of those quiet people that brought so much value to the market that I had customers, and just took really good care of those customers to the point where I built the lifestyle I wanted. For me, it's much more important that I can take Friday's off to go ride horses, or that I can work from Morocco, whatever, a month a year. Like those are things that mean a lot to me, that don't mean a lot to everybody. But they mean a lot to me. And I've to be able to build a lifestyle like that was was a priority over being famous or being innovative. You know?

Dustin Steffey: 6:03

Very I know, for one for the Friday horse riding my daughter would love you. She loves horses. Yes. You actually like Polo? Correct? If I remember,

Todd Randall: 6:11

right, yeah, it's a lifestyle. The thing about horses is a little bit like surfing, it's hard to dabble in, like, if you ride horses for a little while and then decide, you know, that's, that's what you're about. Suddenly, you're living in the country. And next thing, you know, you're building fences. And next thing, you know, you're taking on horses that other people don't want, and then you're feeding them. And then you're just, you know, shocking styles and, and it just becomes you know, you start wearing boots and baseball caps and buying pickup trucks, it just becomes you know a lot about who you are and what you do.

Dustin Steffey: 6:40

Tell me a little bit about like your first entrepreneurship experience, right? Like, what did you get involved in? Was it multiple businesses? Or did you start out with one, like, kind of walk me through that?

Todd Randall: 6:52

Yeah, I'll go with a two pronged approach for this answer. Because when I was a teenager, and in college, I had the fire man, I had the I had a burning desire to be an entrepreneur. And so I tried anything that was in front of me, if I, you know, hurt somebody that was an entrepreneur, I would just copy them and try to do it. I tried multilevel marketing, I tried door to door sales, I would buy products, and then walk down the street and try to resell them. And none of that was really working. For me, I had short term success. But at the end of the experience, there was not money leftover, if you know what I mean? Right. And so like, I went away for the summer, for the summer to sell books door to door one year, and that was my business, I bought the books from a big book company, and I sold them to the customers. And it was a good experience. And I did sell lots of books. But at the end of the summer, I didn't have money leftover. And so I decided that entrepreneurship was harder than it looked. That was my experience when I was young. And so I went the corporate route, I got a boring degree, and I went to a boring company. And I found the lessons interesting, I really did. And I figured I would just amass knowledge, and I would amass skills, and then I would see an opportunity and jump. That was That was my plan is a good plan. And I think if you use that plan, I would recommend it. Actually, if someone came to me as a 20 year old and said, Look, I'd like advice from you, Uncle Todd, I would give him that plan, build skills, build mentors, network a little bit, find things that excite you, and then jump when you see a good opportunity, as opposed to just banging your head against the wall like I did. But after 20 years, I hadn't built up the courage. I was. God, I was 40 years old when I started my my first real business, right. And so I would never recommend someone wait that long. Because I did all kinds of things to build confidence. This was a mindset thing for me, I went and I got an MBA, I helped big companies build small businesses, great experience, like awesome, I loved it on my resume. And I definitely felt like I was becoming a better prospective entrepreneur by the day. But I, you know, at 30 I was I was in planning good shape to start my own business. I had some business plans out there in my 20s. And none of them stuck. But what I didn't do is I just didn't keep trying. And I think that was maybe the mistake. So. So that's maybe a long story to set up. When I was 40 I finally was confident you can wait until you're fully confident most entrepreneurs, you know, they're so fired up. They, you know, point name that I'm sorry, they point and shoot and worry a little bit about, you know, directing their shot after they start. And honestly, I think that's how a lot of entrepreneurs succeed. But for me, I left when I was confident I knew for sure that I could that I could run a small business when I was 40. And so I was on an assignment that was overseas. And I was just kind of appreciating the different perspectives and different lifestyles and stuff and it helped me. It helped me admit to myself, what was really important. When you're in the US and you live in a town with people like you and they dress like you and they talk like you it's kind of easy to get caught up in what they want. You know, my friends had large families and they had houses and they would go to the lake on the weekends. And I was kind of following that path. But it wasn't that valuable to me until I took this assignment. And I met people that are quite different than me. And it just kind of opened up my eyes and said, Oh, yeah, all right. I know what I want. And what I'm want is so important to me that I'm willing to quit this very sexy job with a very sexy title and a very high income. And I'm willing to go back to the US and I'm willing to open up job that's not sexy. To me, that doesn't make as much money. But it gives me these things that I really value. And I did it the minute I got home, I started looking for business opportunities. And off the first one that I found that I could do I did

Dustin Steffey: 10:48

you went to school? And so did I have my, my doctorate, you have your MBA, correct?

Todd Randall: 10:54

A pharmacy, pharmacy and an MBA. Okay, okay, perfect.

Dustin Steffey: 10:58

So one thing that I'm trying to remember, and maybe you can help me on this is when I took my entrepreneurship class, because I was completely business for my degree all the way through. I don't remember, in any of my studies them teaching me the real life application of being an entrepreneur, I remember them teaching me the tangible skills on how to like have the roadmap to be an entrepreneur, building the plan, and all of that stuff, but I don't remember them teaching me the drive, the grit, the the ability to keep going when you get knocked down, because as entrepreneurs, we get knocked down a lot. Or even though I'm saying that we're going to work 80 to 100 hours a week when we start, yeah, make sure that we have that success. Do you remember any of that?

Todd Randall: 11:45

No, you're so right. That's a great observation. I can remember the textbook, I used to have that textbook with me as a reminder of my entrepreneur class at my in my MBA program. And they talked, they had, say, a dozen chapters in the book. And one of them was about financing, right? You've got lending, and then you got venture capital, and then you got private equity, and we got Angel, and they would talk about all these things. And I'm like, wow, that's really sexy if you're in software. Right? For me, it didn't apply, because it didn't have a software idea. Venture capital was very hard to get for other industries, manufacturing, or sports or retail, or otherwise. And they did have books on operations, like planning, how to build fancy spreadsheets and stuff. They did have some HR stuff, but no, nothing on being an entrepreneur does require a mindset, which may seem a little woowoo. Like it's not. It's not very objective in some ways, but it's the most important factor. Like if you don't have that, you can't succeed, like it's not really possible. And so the question is, how do you teach that?

Dustin Steffey: 12:50

Really? It's a really good question. And honestly, between you and I, like I'm the same as you, right, like I went to school, I understand all of this. But I didn't develop until I took the reins myself, and upscaled myself. So whether that be reading other books, on other successful entrepreneurs, or whether that be and learning from my mistakes, and actually taking the risk, and trying out my first crack at being an entrepreneur, I didn't learn any of that in school, I learned that myself.

Todd Randall: 13:22

No, now back, I'm a little older than you are. So back when I was learning, it was really all about books, you'd go to a bookstore, and you'd pick up books by other entrepreneurs. And that's, that's what I use to fire myself up. Now, I'm sure it would be, you know, YouTube or podcasts like the ones that you run. But the part that they don't teach in school, that's that's crucial, is having a mentor. Almost almost every entrepreneur, I know, if you sit down and talk to them, they will talk tell you about someone they admire. And even if it's not a professional mentor relationship, where one of them is actually giving advice and counsel, they will still replicate their process as much as they want. Like, my uncle was so successful. And here are the two things that he did every day that made him successful, and they just replicate that process, even if the uncle wasn't really involved. And so, yeah, gosh, if I was building an MBA program now and there was an entrepreneur module, I would talk a lot about mindset, and I would talk a lot about mentors and resources like like the ones that you provide.

Jaden Norvell: 14:27

talked about that last week, or episode, did you? What was the first business you started in? You decided to come back to America.

Todd Randall: 14:37

I opened a spa, we had massage therapists and estheticians. Now I was from healthcare. And so the model was familiar to me. And I had been in athletics all my life. And so I used massage therapy to, you know, to accomplish you know, what I considered optimal health. So athletes are really comfortable with massage therapy and at the time I'm, at the time, the rest of the public wasn't so much like there was a subset eight or 10% of the population that got massages regularly, right. And then there's athletes and all athletes get massages regularly. And the rest of the world was just opening up to it. And I was trying to piggyback on that trend. I'm like, I think 10 and 20 and 30 years now that people are going to be using this for spinal bifida, and they're going to be using it for recovery from auto accidents, and they're going to be using it for because people will just be opened up to the idea, that's all. And that was the trend that I that I jumped into. And so I opened up a Spa in San Diego, California, I moved to San Diego because I thought it was a good environment for it. And then I just used a franchise brand. So I paid someone the rights to use their, you know, logo and some of their marketing material and some of their operations literature. I didn't need a franchise, but I just wanted, like, here's, here's the, here's the thing, too, about entrepreneurs is you need to decide what your risk profile is. And I will tell you, I left a environment where I was satisfied with work. And I was making a boatload of money. And I wanted something that was very high confidence of succeeding. And I was willing to trade a modest return. Because I had decided that I didn't need as much money as I made. And that was something that I had to come to grips with, because my friends just wanted more money. And I had decided I didn't need that much. So the question is, if I want to open up my own business, what am I opening up for, to become a billionaire, to have freedom to have security to have what you have to decide, right? And I decided that I wanted the freedom more than the money. And so I wanted a franchise, I bought into a business model that was a franchise because it offered me a higher confidence, I could look at I think there were three or 400 of this type of brand open at the time. And none of them had failed yet. And I thought, okay, that's validating, that makes me feel better about it, right. And some of them have been very successful. And the average, you know, was kind of in the was in the sweet spot of what I thought I needed. And so I thought, Okay, this is a good place to start, who knows where I go from here. But I need a place of high confidence to start and not all entrepreneurs do. Some people are really quite risk tolerant. And I wasn't at the time,

Dustin Steffey: 17:09

want to emphasize what you just said, have to be able to as an entrepreneur, assess your risk, and assess what you're going into entrepreneurship. Or for you. It was less about the money and more about lifestyle what you wanted to enjoy Ford beyond working 80 plus hours a week.

Todd Randall: 17:32

Yeah. And that may change. Let me give you another example. Two and a half years ago, I had four successful retail businesses all in California, and they were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. So when the pandemic hit, they all, you know, they were all assets worth millions of dollars. And they all went to a value of zero. And they were closed. So I had bills and liabilities to pay no revenue to match it. And someone came to me with a couple of business ideas. And the question is, then, well, these businesses might drag me down with them, right, I really may lose everything. So if you're in a position where you have nothing to lose, then you can be much more risk tolerant in that scenario. And so I I went for it, I started two new businesses in 2020. And they were both quite risky. Right, very distinct, different profile from 15 years ago, right? When I started my first couple businesses that were you know, you know, I was pretty risk averse at the time. And then two years ago, I was really quite risk tolerant. And both of those scenarios worked out well, because I worked hard and made them happen. But there's a certain amount of luck that goes into each of those scenarios, you know,

Jaden Norvell: 18:47

what are some things you look for when you're taking on a business?

Todd Randall: 18:53

That's a good question. I think we've hit on that first one, which is probably what prompted the question, which is what is your risk? Risk Profile? I think you should have a reason. You know, when you start a business, that the traditional kind of cliche reason to start a business is because you love something if you you know, if you do what you love, and you never work a day in your life, I find that to be less true than the cliche for a handful of reasons. One of them is if you love riding motorcycles, if you have to do it every day, you there's it takes a little bit of the joy out of it because it's not always just when you want to. There's you're not obligated, right. So I think that's one thing is decide what you're in it for. You could do it because you love it. Like I know some retirees who landscape for fun, and they just love working in the yard. God bless them and they don't you know, they're only work put in 25 or 30 hours a week. And that's fine. They never get sick of it. They never feel obligated. They take on projects that they feel like it and they charge an arm and a leg. And that's good entrepreneurship because they went into it because they love it. And it drives you notice that that drove several of their decisions downstream. They decided what their price point would be. They're a premium brand as opposed to discount brand or both? Both are valuable, right? They chose premium because of the reason they're in it. For instance, right, they chose hours and they chose geography, they don't want to drive too far, because they want it to be convenient. And there's some people that do it just for the money. And that's okay, too. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people open up businesses for different reasons. So I think you should be clear about that, before you start. For me, I was offloading from corporate. So it was a safety thing. My first business needed to be an off ramp that I could to build the metaphor, right, that I could apply the brakes slowly. And break before I got to this thought like, it was really important to me that I offload in a way that was security and didn't lose all all the money I'd saved up. So that was my reason to start. And so that's the reason that I chose that business. What other things do you look for? I think one thing that is hard as an entrepreneur to appreciate because you're always thinking about the upside, it's part of the optimism of of an entrepreneur, right, is you have to think about what capital constraints you have, and operate in a field that allows you a buffer. That makes sense, you know, I, I, I get stuck in this same kind of conundrum that other folks do, where it's like, well, you could make $10 million, if you just had a million dollars to spend, but there's a risk, you lose it all. And if you only have a million dollars, you know, that makes it a very, very high risk investment. And it also puts you in a position, the most likely result, if you go into a business that cost a million dollars, is you put a million in and you realize you need another 600 for something. You nobody knows until you get there, like nobody can see the future. And the person you're buying it from or the person who did it before you or whatever the government says or some report from YouTube, like they can guess right, but it always requires more because it never requires no one ever says, you know, it, this business will cost 100,000. So we're, you know, so we put 200 into an account to get started. No one ever says that they always say, we think it'll cost 100 We have 80 we just need 20 more. You know, I think that's a risk. So I think you need to think about what your capital constraints are, and what room you have. If and when things get weird, because they almost always get weird.

Dustin Steffey: 22:31

You guys, I think with podcasting specifically. So for Jaden, and I, this is a business adventure for us. Yeah. And we assess the risk in the beginning. But like you said, things do come up and things have come up for Jaden and I that we've had to overcome. So you're never, for me, like my words of wisdom are a little different than yours, right? Because for me, it's like you're never truly ready to be an entrepreneur. But if you have the aptitude and the willingness, and you have the small little traits that we're discussing right now, why not risk it and try because I'd rather chase my dreams than someone else's dreams, like being a corporate business.

Todd Randall: 23:17

Yeah, you know, one other thing, Jaden that that that inspires me to mention is that I really recommend that an entrepreneur play someplace where they have unique or distinctive value. I've heard over and over again, people want to be in a business because it's profitable, or because it's, you know, some objective metric, without measuring what value they bring to it first. And like you guys are both really personable. You're both ambitious, and you willing to put in long hours, you're both pretty risk tolerant. And right. So to open up a podcast where you have to try different types of marketing, you have to talk to lots of different people, you have to have a curiosity that inspires conversation, like you have unique skills to bring to this job, which make us more likely to succeed than in a job where you're sitting in a dark room all day long, right? Where you both go crazy.

Jaden Norvell: 24:12

Yeah, I was just thinking I worked a U haul with one of these.

Todd Randall: 24:17

Yes. And you have to think about why did you get a job at U haul? Right? It had a purpose. It's like, here's what I'm looking for. I'm in school or I'm you're taking care of my ailing parents or something and I have 16 hours a week that I need to make a partial income. I need a job that's close to here. And that pays well by the hour and then maybe UPS is just the right fit right then or maybe UPS has a really good development program for drivers or for you know, for for anything really for sales or for customer service. And you'd go there for those reasons that may have a timeline that expires, right. So it's not to say that, you know, u haul or UPS wasn't a good fit for you when you started, but this is clearly a good fit for you And I think it you know, it kind of validates, you know why you're here.

Jaden Norvell: 25:04

So added another question. I'm not in college yet I started in the fall, I've kind of taken some gap years just because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Yeah. And I didn't really like the campus, I was at a lot of people in my realm, look at college as something that they can't maybe can't afford, or they want to go to boot camp, and they think these corporate jobs with a bunch of money, it's like, awesome. I kind of have that little bit of the same feeling. Why would you quit? A corporate job isn't to just burn out. Like, eventually, you just wanted to do exactly what you wanted to do, or?

Todd Randall: 25:43

Yeah, I tell you, it may be worth the story. What when I was in Europe, I was on an assignment for a really large corporation, it was a $300 billion Corporation, right. And they were wondering if they might be able to expand to Europe. And so they sent me to do a bunch of research. And I traveled around and talked to a handful of countries and tried to figure out what their needs were, et cetera. And I really loved that job, it was great. In the end, they decided, hey, this is the wrong time for us, we're not going to go there, come come back to the US. And I said, Well, I'm really disappointed, I'm going to take a few weeks off. And I've done nothing but work for a year. So I'm going to take a couple couple weeks off. And so I took three weeks off. And I stayed in Paris at a youth hostel essentially, because it sounds like a good three weeks, right there was because it was attached to a school and I wanted to study language I had worked in, in France a lot and my language skills were mediocre. And so I wanted to work on it, because it was fun. So I went to the school, and they put me up in a hostel that was right next to it for a place to stay. And so I would go to school in the morning, and then, you know, adventure in the afternoon, go golfing with friends, or go to the museum or what have you, or movies. And at the end of the three weeks, I thought this is one of the best months of my life. And I looked down at the tab at the bottom. And I'd spent very, very little money. And I thought, Well, geez, if I could have a month like this every month, whatever that number is times 12 was much less than I'm making. And so it just kind of changed my whole perspective on what I needed from life, what I valued in life, and how much money it was really going to take. So if you're evaluating something like school versus a corporate gig, I would say in especially in your 20s, try to measure it by what you gain from it, as opposed to what other people are doing, as opposed to what the reward is. And so when I say gain versus reward, there's a slight difference. When I say gain, I mean, what you're going to learn what skills you're going to have, what are you going to develop a practice, because the ability to make money is really markedly different in your 30s and 40s. Senators in your 20s. Right? No matter where you go, you're you're, you know, very likely to live paycheck to paycheck for many of the years in your 20s Most people, right? And so the question is, what do you get out of that, like, at the end of the decade, what do you have to show for it? Okay, a couple, you know, a couple nice pair of shoes and a car, which is how most people do it. Or you can have some real skill that you can go leverage somewhere and say, Hey, I just spent nine years in Sub Saharan Africa, taking care of HIV patients without Metis. Without meds, right. And that makes me uniquely interesting to your trial, your drug trial, which is testing aspirin, or, you know, Furosemide, for patients with HIV. And the reason that's interesting to them is they're like, Wow, most of the world expects big hospitals, but you worked in an environment that didn't have hospitals, and you're treating patients, you know, on this specialty disease. And you can go back to them and say, I'm uniquely qualified, very few people would be willing to take that risk to go to another country to work with sick people to work in an environment where they didn't have the, you know, all the all the capital, they needed to buy fancy equipment or fancy drugs. And I had that experience now go somewhere and use that, right? Or you could stay at home and work in the movie theater. Right? Unless, unless you're using that movie theater experience to advance some agenda, then take it as a loss and go try something else that you gain. So school, let's go back to school, school used to be a really good return on investment. Because you spend a couple $1,000 a semester and you get a lot of learning out of it. Now, the schools are so expensive, you have to go to every school and do your own return on investment analysis, like what do I really get is at $50,000. Because it's very hard. It's very difficult to measure the value of spending $50,000 on tuition. Yeah, especially in comparison to go into Sub Saharan Africa and taking care of patients. As a non healthcare professional.

Jaden Norvell: 29:46

Right. Here's my here's my question. Companies that they look at your school from trying to get a job. The guy who goes to school is gonna get it or the guy who has that spirits in Africa is gonna get it.

Todd Randall: 29:58

I've hired Three or 4000 people over the last 10 years, for my businesses, I've had eight, a handful of eight businesses or so. And I hire a lot of people in their 20s and 30s. And I never look at where they went to school. I never even proves it doesn't matter to me. If they're going to school, it's interesting to me. If they have a degree, it's interesting to me that they went and accomplished it. But where they went doesn't matter to me at all. There are some degrees that really matter. If you want to go to Accenture or KPMG, or some fancy consulting practice, right, then yeah, go to an Ivy League school. That's where they hire. Okay, right. Otherwise business experience far outweighs education experience far outweighs, I will tell you that if I had two people apply to me, one from Yale, or Harvard, or some ivy league program, and one from a community college, and one of them stayed on campus and spent all the time studying, and the other one was promoted to assistant manager at the blockbuster, they're right and manage a team of 12 people, that experience at a video store is way more important to me than the fact that they went to an Ivy League school. So interesting. Yeah. And that's just from one employee, like one hire, right?

Dustin Steffey: 31:19

I had a chip on my shoulder when I graduated from college, right? Because for me, I thought in following the pathway that I did when in high school, and they're like, You need to go to school. If you go to school, the more education you have, the more money you make. So when I got out of my undergrad, I had a chip on my shoulder, hey, I got this degree, you should be hiring me and paying me because I got this degree. And then as I started progressing further into the workforce, so into the corporate workforce, right, I started learning in the same way that Todd brought up, which is, you know, what I value this experience, over going to school, going to school is great. And I am not going to discredit anyone that goes to get their education after high school, okay, whether it be a trade, or college or whatever. But what I will say, is I much a much more well rounded with the experience that I've gotten with working in corporate jobs than I did with going to school, there is definitely a difference between being book smart and being smart within your trade. And so I do value the person with experience over the person that does have school and not to discredit school, because I also put value on people that go to school too, because not a lot of people can sit there, go to school, finish out their degree and show that commitment of finishing out their degree, I think, actually more and more of what I'm seeing in the statistics anyway, the more people that are going to school, the less of them are graduating because of either money issues, or whatever the case may be, which has shown a trend negative for people that are going to school.

Jaden Norvell: 33:03

What did you tell them? What do you say the milk on? I like that little I think that fits.

Dustin Steffey: 33:11

Oh, so my, in my, in my humble opinion, a degree is just a piece of paper that shows your commitment to something and that you finished that commitment. So to me, that's all degree is it doesn't matter if you're an astrophysicist, an engineer, an architect, a lawyer, your degree to me shows me your commitment on one thing that you committed to and you were successful, but it doesn't give me any sort of entryway into what you are as a person when it comes to your soft experience.

Jaden Norvell: 33:50

So I had another question. Um, you so you've started a lot of businesses, I think you eight or six? So let's just walk. Can you walk us through the first couple steps when you start a business? What you do?

Todd Randall: 34:03

Yeah, sure. For me, the first business was a spa. And so I thought that's easy. You know, you just start hiring people. You have to lease the space and start hiring people, and then put posters up and put a cash, cash register and right, it's actually some of the big pieces take longer to fit in in that. So for instance, finding a piece of real estate can take years actually, if you want to be in the right neighborhood and you want to be in the right mall, or you want to be near a school or near, you know, a particular place of employment that can take a really long time. So for me, what I did is I negotiated the license with the brand that I wanted to use, because that was important. I didn't want to open up my own spa. I didn't want it to be Todd spa, I wanted to be somebody else's. And so it took eight or 10 months to negotiate that agreement. Then I had to take my capitol and set it aside because they wanted to make sure that I had it. It was part of their requirements. Like, look, if you're going to do business with us, we want to know, at least you can afford to build out. And then a negotiated a piece of real estate. So I talked to all the landlords in the area, I found one that I really liked, I started talking with them. They had all kinds of requirements that me too, that I didn't, I didn't anticipate, right, they wanted me to stand as a personal guarantor on the lease. That's really scary. Right. Once I had that in place, once I had the lease in place, then I, you know, created a business entity, you know, went to the state and federal level and just, you know, registered my name and stuff like that opened up a bank account, because now I had bills to pay, right. And then I had to go to the city and register plans with them for my build out, to show them how I was going to put new walls in or put new doors in for the space that I was renovating. And that's the first 18 months. Geez,

Jaden Norvell: 35:58

you talked about mindset, what's the most important thing to remember, while you're going through this process for beautiful,

Todd Randall: 36:06

really long term thinking? I think in order to be good at small business, you have to have both, you have to be able to micromanage and grind. Like at the end of the day, you have to look down and say did I do 10 practical things today or not? Because if I didn't, then pragmatically, this is never going to work. But you have to keep along mindset so that you know that some days you are going to tread water. But it's all for a greater purpose. Right? Like some days you go to the gym, and you're like, look, I'm sweating. But like, I don't feel like I'm growing here. I didn't lose many sets, or I got winded early, or I was distracted or answered emails. The question is, do you go? That's the real question do you go, that's the first most important thing because if three years now you want to enter a competition, or you want to lose 20 pounds, or you want to be leaner or whatever. It takes a long time to reach some of those goals. And you can't get there without showing up. So show up. That's the most important thing, knowing if you show up at the end of the two or three years, you'll reach your goal. Now, the second thing once you agree to show up is you got to make the most of the time, but I think some many entrepreneurs actually, they spend a lot of time thinking about how to make the most of their time. And what they end up losing there is the showing up part. Like I've had people train for a marathon and they read lots of books about how winds, wind sprints, and diet and time of date of working out. And they get coaches and stuff. And you said oh great. How much did you run this week? Oh, well, I'm gonna run Friday and Sunday. No, you can't train for a marathon running Friday and Sunday. That's not how it goes while my running group runs on Friday, and I run with a coach on Sunday. What about Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? You know, kind of put miles in?

Jaden Norvell: 37:47

Did you have like a Better Call Saul thing going on in the backend?

Todd Randall: 37:52

No, I tell you. Yeah, no entrepreneur requires a lot of you from from a mindset perspective. Because there are many days where it feels like everything is burning and going around you and you have to walk into it realizing that there will be disasters aren't real entrepreneurs expect disasters to happen? And then put on there the house is burning down face. And they start you know, start filling buckets with water. Thank

Dustin Steffey: 38:23

I like to I like to summarize what we discussed with my guests because we to learn from our guests. It's it's just human nature. If you're not learning, then there's no point in doing it. So for me some key things that I took away from the conversation and Mikey things are going to be different from James and even yours, Todd, because I'm sure we gave you something to I did learn to Yeah, yeah. So for, for me, what I learned was, even though I'm on this journey of being an entrepreneur, and our podcast is very much so successful, and it's trending in the positive direction, I too, still need to plan for the unexpected, like just because we're seeing success doesn't mean that that success is going to keep going. And I have to plan for that. And I learned that from you today, just based off of the environment that you had two years ago with COVID and all that stuff, you had successful businesses, and then all of a sudden, one day the rug was swept. So you had to learn and adapt fast. So that leads me into the second thing that I learned, which is the adaptability piece, you have to be able to adapt to the environment. Most businesses that I see, they're successful because they change with the changing environment. And the ones that I see that aren't successful and they're closing their doors are the ones that weren't willing to change. They operated back in the past and we're not in the past anymore.

Jaden Norvell: 39:51

Not a lot of people start a business during COVID. So what type of businesses do start amidst a pandemic that were successful?

Todd Randall: 39:59

Well, remember I was on the wrong side of a couple trends, right? So I had businesses that really required people to be in a, in a small space, and working hard and breathing hard next to each other. Right. So I looked at construction. And I opened up to a wholesale and construction business, because people were staying home and they were improving their homes. And I thought, well, that's a nice trend. And I think that trends going to continue. And some business owners thought it was a flash in the pan, and they want to take advantage of the quick gains that they'd had. And I was of the opinion that Oh, no, no, this is not a flash in the pan, people are going to be spending more time in their homes from here on out. And so that's what made it a good investment for me, because I was buying into somebody who really wanted to get out. And our reasons were in alignment, genius.

Jaden Norvell: 40:45

Dustin, to kind of piggyback on what you said, I see that a lot in football. And what we try to do is build consistent success, right? But if your quarterback gets hurt, you got to have spent time training the backup, right? So adapting.

Todd Randall: 41:01

You know, one thing you guys reminded me of today is that the return on investment, when you're two and three and four years into your journey, the return on investment profile is built around a 234 on your plan, because those that's all the experience you have. And it's a good reminder to me to be thinking in longer increments and to be emphasizing that right? The question that I hope your listeners are thinking about is, if I'm in my early 20s, where do I want to be when I'm 30. And instead of making that value of his school worth it to me this year? Which is a very difficult question to answer, right? The question is, when I'm 30, what will be most valuable? Now the most valuable thing when you're 30? Is the experience that you've gotten along the way. If you also think having that experience with a degree is super helpful to you, then whatever it takes work it in, work it in, right. But it's not one or the other, probably it may be both. And make that make that call based on where you want to be at 31, not at 22 or 23.

Dustin Steffey: 42:05

And for me, I'm 34 Right. So I currently am going down this journey of chasing my own dream. But I feel like for me, I had to start here, because I had to take my 20s when getting my degree and stuff to understand moving forward and doing this. And now I feel like I'm equipped with the necessary resources to be able to move forward.

Todd Randall: 42:30

Yep. Isn't isn't it weird that if looking back now at 34, you think, Oh, I could have started this at 25 If I wanted to. And I just would have had more bloody noses, but I could have done it. But you're more confident now. And that helps you solve problems. Because when you see a problem, you don't freak out. You don't panic and think, Oh, I'm too young. I'm too young to handle this. You think? Oh, no, you know, I'll figure it out eventually.

Dustin Steffey: 42:52

Yeah, I mean, for me, I have to assess the risk differently, too, because I'm a single father as well, too. So I also have to make sure that the risk that I'm taking, I can take and still be able to support my daughter. And so there's, there's a lot more when you add in layers. So you're right, if I started this at like, 21, I would probably be better off for it. So this is why I'm proud of Jaden because he's 22. And, and doing this and so by the time you know, he hits 34, like me, he's gonna be in a whole different world compared to where I was,

Jaden Norvell: 43:26

you might probably be a single father to brag. I wanted to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. But not just a millionaire like above that but as a base. And I don't know, I just always knew that school was there for me. And and I'm lucky because my father, I get it a little discount on school Rice was not as big as decision for me. So I've been kind of putting it back and back because I didn't want to do something waste time, right? You said make time valuable. So I didn't want to waste time doing something that I wouldn't be doing, what 10 years or so.

Todd Randall: 44:04

So the two questions you want to ask yourself is why? Why you want to become a millionaire. Because having money is not a thing in itself. All it does afford you opportunities, either freedom or fame or security or something, right? So figure out why. And then ask yourself, Okay, what are the three or four things that I would need to be a billionaire? Do I need capital? Great, better get that? Do I need education? Great, but I get that, you know, do I need a bigger, bigger network greater, better get that but they're not. They're not equal parts? Probably. If you ask yourself those two tough questions, and then just go get those things, then it gives you the confidence to know Oh, I have a plan. Yeah, it might take me a couple years but I have a plan at least.

Jaden Norvell: 44:43

Those are great questions. I think our listeners definitely need to ask themselves for me. I'm like you I like to like you said that great day you had when you get to go do what you want. Like travel. I like those days. Yeah. And then for school, I'm going to study things that makes sense. Like you know, taxes Isn't learning how to do accounting and business classes? And then I like World War Two. So I'm gonna go to Germany and study that stuff. So more stuff I want to learn not just stuff that you have to you think you have to learn for whatever the case may be? Yeah. Well, my closing I learned a lot, I think we got to have you back on, you gotta have a lot of knowledge. So we got to, we got to have you back. I just learned a lot about there's a lot more that goes into I like the analogy that you used, you said point issue, I kind of feel like that's a good idea for people to start. It's just a start, you know, and not. You don't have to necessarily put all your eggs in one basket, maybe. But definitely delegate time to where you can be productive with your dreams and your visions.

Todd Randall: 45:50

Yeah, go for it. Every journey starts with a single step. I think some people sit or sit around and wait and plan their direction perfectly. And it's 10 years before they take a single step. And that has to be some compromise, you got to start walking earlier, you'll never learn anything along the way you'll go the wrong direction everybody does. And what you'll find is maybe it's not so important to have the perfect first step plan. But if you if you do no planning, you will run in circles,

Jaden Norvell: 46:14

today's worlds a different world than we ever seen with the pandemic, how has it changed for entrepreneurs in this day, pre post COVID Almost.

Todd Randall: 46:26

I think it lends itself to the part that that turned me on to entrepreneurism, which is I think people are a little more in tune with what they want these days. They're not hanging around in pods of people as much as they used to be. And I think in that environment was a little easier to follow the group with the group wants with the group Where's or where the group lives, I think people are able to make their own decisions. And I think that lends itself to entrepreneurism, so you know, fingers crossed, it does make it a little more difficult, and that the learning journey has to be a discipline. Right? When I was working in the corporate world, I was working with people who were as ambitious and interesting and inquisitive as you two are every day. And so I'd sit across the desk and somebody would have a little, you know, aphorism or some cute saying that they use and I'm like, that's an interesting way of looking at that. You know, and it changes the way I think, because smart people are working and growing and developing within my within earshot. Right? And so now these days, like I do, I listen to podcasts, I go to YouTube a lot. But you have to find a way to build community. And that that is a burden, I think, in the post pandemic environment. So question for both

Jaden Norvell: 47:42

of you, how do you think the new generation they can go online, a lot of classes and learning got moved to online? How is that changing how people are going to come into the workforce or education wise, I feel like you can just google anything right? And it pops up and not like you said, around people within earshot. We're doing it over zooms. How do you guys think that's changed? The learning environment?

Dustin Steffey: 48:05

Good, I have a I have an issue with online learning, not an issue, that it's a bad thing. But more and more, what I'm seeing with the generations as they keep moving forward, is there's less less soft skills learned, because they've been, they've been pigeonholed to like learning on their own right. So then when they get into the workforce, they forget how to collaborate with people, they forget how to approach people, they forget how to have conversations with people. So I feel that while online learning is awesome, and while we have Google, at the tips of our fingertips, it's also negative too, because we're losing out on what we had in the past, which were these gentleman agreements, the soft skills of being able to communicate, public speaking, all of that stuff, we're starting to see a decline in that, in my opinion. And again, this is just my opinion, Todd, you may have a different opinion. But that's just my opinion.

Todd Randall: 49:05

No, I see that in the workforce. I do I struggle with it. And I don't struggle with it, because I think it's wrong or bad, or I hold judgment. It's just, it's one more thing that I have to that I have to coach and teach on. There are some skills that I have to coach less on, right, the technology part, people are much more comfortable with that you don't need to teach them basic technology skills like you did 10 years ago. So I'm grateful for that. But I think the soft skills are something and because there's soft it's it may be requires a little more sensitivity as you build programs for it. You know, like I had some staff that I felt like I wanted to, to improve personal hygiene in the workforce. And think about the landmines that you know that kind of brings with you, but you still, you know, if customers are visiting your site and they you know, they have concerns about the personal hygiene of your staff, you have to think to yourself, Okay, how do I help people understand that showing up to work in, you know, pajamas that are hanging down below your butt is, is somehow inappropriate. And it's like, well, this is how I dress at the mall. And this is how I dress amongst my friends. And this is how I watch football games, why wouldn't I be able to do that at work? Because my value is my brain. And my personality is not how I dress. And you have to think to yourself, well, you know, maybe that's not the way that whole world sees it. And you're working with a wide variety wide spectrum of people, and how do you convey an image to them that helps them feel secure, even though they've never met you. And you have to break it down to those distinct elements. Right? So I agree with you, I think the soft skills are something that require more of our time now than they used to be. I'm a fan of online learning for skills. I think school in general is a great place to learn to be an electrical engineer or a pharmacist. Or, you know, there are many skills that you can learn online, as long as then you go turn it into some kind of practical experience. I think without the practical experience, school can be difficult return on investment.

Dustin Steffey: 51:05

Mind you, I feel like so Jaden, Jaden is a different era than me, right? He's an anomaly of his generation. Because for him, like I've never met someone who is like, as well spoken as he is, and has developed some of the soft skills that I haven't seen out of his generation at all. So like, there are anomalies. Definitely. And Jaden is one of them. But you're right, like in the same token, we are working on his personal hygiene.

Todd Randall: 51:38

Jaden, what do you attribute that to? Is it sports? Do you think that helped you build the community and the soft skills of working with people or just Yeah,

Jaden Norvell: 51:49

I moved nine times. So I was that kid in the lunchroom with the lunch tray? Not knowing anybody? Right?

Todd Randall: 51:56

You got forced to make new connections? Yeah, yeah, pretty much

Jaden Norvell: 51:59

in that, you know, it helps. I had a question. We might be run out of time. And this is kind of a different topic. But you are a CEO. We haven't really touched on that. You did say you have to make people understand, you know, you smell bad. Don't take shower. But you have HR I see can't really. So can I get some tips on being a CEO? I mean, I My dad's a head coach, right. So I kind of see it. And then on the back end of that, is it it they say it's lonely at the top? And I kind of see that with my dad. He has some friends, right? But they're from the past. And even me myself. I have trouble.

Todd Randall: 52:32

Yeah, so that's a that's a great question. Just remember that every role in the organization has some specific role to play from the greeter at the Walmart door to the CEO of an organization. And as a CEO, you have to think long and hard about what your role is. Because you may not directly answer to any group, you may not have a board of directors, right? You may be the boss, like I'm the owner of all my businesses. And so I don't have a board of directors, I make all the decisions. But my staff, I try to think about it this way, my staff count on me for what what do they really need from me? How do I support them best, and that's my job. Right? And then I have to hold myself accountable. So the job of the CEO is to build community, build a culture, surround yourself with people that can get the job done, and get them the resources they need to do it. Those are the top three things. Now, generally speaking, resources includes capital. So that's an important thing for CEOs to be good at. But you also need to spot what people you need to get the job done and what culture they need. Some people need a sporting environment, where you have goals and PEP sessions and accountability, style, and some cult, some cultures really need a nurturing sensitive environment where it's about safety, and it's about artistry or creativity. And you have to decide you have to see that as a CEO, because you know, what they need? What what does the team need? How do I support them, and then you need to create that environment. So the reason that it's lonely, is because most people in your organization, impact the lives of the folks that report to them, disproportionately so than the people around them, like their colleagues, right? If there are five head coaches in a major university, you know, your father as a head coach doesn't impact the lives of the other head coaches as much as he does his assistant coaches, because his opinion has, you know, a disproportionate influence on their compensation, about their longevity, about their job satisfaction, right. And as a CEO, everyone reports to you. And so you, you have to be sensitive to that. That's right. You have to be sensitive to the fact that the decisions you make impact a lot of people a lot of people's lives, and it makes it that's what makes the job Have lonely because you have to be honest with them, to the extent that helps them get the job done. And they can't be as transparent or honest with you. That's the nature of the job.

Dustin Steffey: 55:11

You've heard that I wanted to also hone in on the fact that you are a business coach Todd. And with that being said, I'm sure you're able to be, you're able to have people get a hold of you on social media or other avenues. What are some avenues that our listeners can maybe get a hold of you and kind of enroll your services or talk to you or pick your brain at your wisdom? What are some ways to get a hold of you?

Todd Randall: 55:38

Thankfully, I find social media is the best avenue for that these days, because it allows people to get to know your content a little bit and get a sense for who you are and what kind of problems you solve. Before reaching out. I have a Facebook group, which is the best way I think Facebook group, it's called real business coaching. It's easy to search for Facebook, Ford slash groups, Ford slash real business coaching. And I also have a website that directs you. It's called beach view dot biz. Because my business my business dream started when I had a view of the beach and thought I'd like to live here forever, but I can't afford it.

Dustin Steffey: 56:12

Ain't that the truth? will also have that up on our website. More to come, we'll source it to this episode. So it'll be easier for our listeners to get a hold of you. I wanted to extend my thanks to Utah. I really appreciate this conversation. I've learned so much from this conversation. And it was it was just amazing to have just the knowledge alone, which is why podcasts are so impactful. So thank you for being on our show. Thank you. Thank

Todd Randall: 56:43

you guys. You're great hosts. I enjoyed talking to you guys. And I learned I learned tidbits from you too. So congratulations on your budding business and yeah, let's have this conversation anytime it's fun.

Dustin Steffey: 57:18

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