What percentage of your employees were the right people in the right seat on the bus BEFORE the Elite Forum?

After attending Elite Forum, it became clear that many of our people were not only in the wrong seat on the bus, they were on the wrong bus. We were a company of misfits that had been assembled ad hoc based on immediate, short-term needs and not how each person would meet the Purpose, Values and Mission.

What percentage of your employees are the right people in the right seat on the bus? (CURRENT)

90%

Why did you decide to attend the Elite Program(s)? What challenges did you have that you wanted to overcome?

We decided to attend Elite Forum because we were stuck. We had hit a plateau and working harder and longer was not pushing us through to the next level of growth. It seemed like the harder we worked the more stuck we became. Also, as CEO, I knew that I needed to grow as a leader. I knew I needed some “elite” level coaching so I could lead my company into the future.

Did you have a vision for your company before the Elite Forum? What was it?

Technically, yes. It was handwritten in a frame on the wall but nobody looked at it or knew it.

Our old vision/mission: We are the world leader of lead generation and data aggregation because we use advanced, innovative technology to give clients hard-to-get leads and data.

What percentage of your time was spent working ON (not IN) the business BEFORE ELITE FORUM?

10%-12%

What percentage of your time is spent working ON (not IN) the business? (current)

68%

What is your company’s Purpose?

We empower achievers to create abundance. We also defined our Core Values: Our OPTIMISM generates opportunity. Our PASSION drives us to serve others. Our INNOVATION creates market dominance. Our DILIGENCE makes us unstoppable.

What’s your company’s Mission?

We will empower 12,000 achievers to create abundance with our products and services by December 31, 2017. (That is the number of existing users of our systems and services we will have by the end of the year. We are in the last year of our 3-year mission.)

What are the top 1-3 things that you’ve implemented from the Elite Programs that have had the biggest impact on your success?

1. Leading to the Vision (which meant we had to define, and evangelize our Vision)

2. Meeting rhythms (monthly executive planning, quarterly planning offsites, annual planning, quarterly context downloads, quarterly reviews, monthly company meetings, weekly executive meetings, weekly team meetings and daily stand-ups)

3. Defining and tracking Big 3 for all employees

How have the Elite Programs impacted your business?

1. Our numbers speak for themselves. We have nearly tripled our business in 3 years. In the first year following Elite Forum we were able to laser focus on the right things and we grew sales by 100%.

2. We have an established company vision and culture that is a part of everything we do.

3. We know better which KPIs to measure and track so we can spend our time doing the most important things.

4. We implemented a series of meeting rhythms including monthly executive planning, quarterly planning offsites, annual planning, quarterly context downloads, quarterly reviews, monthly company meetings, weekly executive meetings, weekly team meetings and daily stand-ups. Each meeting has a clear agenda with reporting and action plans.

5. As CEO, I feel more empowered to make the hard decisions. I learned about actions I should be taking and found strength in hearing other companies doing the same things.

How have the Elite Programs impacted you personally?

I am personally more confident to lead the company into the future because I am armed with better knowledge and experience. Before I felt like I was just going with my gut or even faking it sometimes. I have always tried to learn as I go so I would have eventually learned some of this but Elite really helped to shorten the gap in the learning curve and connect me with other business owners who were seeking to do the same thing. I have become a better teacher and mentor to grow my leaders and other team members.

How has Elite Momentum specifically helped you?

1. Momentum brought another level of clarity to the foundation that we built during Forum.

2. Having other key members of my team attend with me helped to have them further catch the vision of the program and internalize the training.

3. More interaction with executives at Infusionsoft as well as other executive teams from all over the world has added another level of learning and growth.

How has Elite Mastermind specifically helped you?

1. As a business owner, it is very helpful to spend time with other business owners that are experiencing similar problems and hear their solutions. I have also formed friendships that go beyond business.

2. Access to key executives at Infusionsoft that have provided ongoing guidance and insight.

3. Attending the regular Elite meetings continue to help me to prioritize time to work on the business and not just in it.

What innovative ways do you hire, lead and fire to the vision? (Be specific)

1. We begin every meeting in every department with a positive focus and a vision minute/training and everybody takes a turn presenting the vision training. This really makes it a part of everything we do.

2. We have a daily stand up at 1:53 for 7 minutes. We always talk about the purpose, values and mission and get to hear very briefly from each department, address any immediate issues, and end with a positive cheer, usually one of the core values that was discussed in the training minute.

3. Book of the quarter club, because one of our core values is innovation and we find inspiration in great books and discussing them together.

4. We use our Purpose, Values and Mission when we need to coach team member’s improvement and occasionally we do have to fire people. The vision helps us discuss the reasons as they relate to the person meeting and fitting the culture created around our vision.

What innovative things do you do to strengthen your company’s culture? (Be specific)

1. We have a daily stand up at 1:53 for 7 minutes. We always talk about the purpose, values and mission and get to hear very briefly from each department and end with a positive cheer, usually one of the core values that was discussed in the training minute.

2. Monthly company lunch to review our successes, discuss the upcoming goals and just be together.

3. Monthly Leadership lunch

4. Achievers club trip. This year it is a cruise to the Bahamas.

5. We use a service called Motivosity, which is a peer to peer recognition platform. Everyone has Motivosity bucks to share with each other when they think they are doing great with a core value. We award monthly badges for each of our core values. People can spend their earned Motivosity bucks in the company store.

6. We have Vision cards throughout the office and our purpose is on the wall when you come in the office.

7. Weekly chips and salsa station.

8. Ping Pong tournaments

9. Quarterly service projects specifically to help families and their real estate needs (Habitat for Humanity).

10. We have a gong the sales reps hit when they get a sale.

11. The CEO sometimes does push ups in the daily stand up for every sale that week.

12. We prepare for executive quarterly offsites with each team before the offsite.

13. The executive team has an open-door policy so any team member can talk to any executive at any time about any topic.

14. We give the prestigious Innovation and Achiever of the Month awards.

15. Each team member is interviewed by the CEO at the beginning of every year and asked 5 questions: Do you know the company vision including the purpose, mission and values? Who have you empowered to achieve abundance recently (explain)? What do you love about working here? What would you change about working here? How can we help you achieve abundance this year? The CEO writes down the answers and we use this as a guide to improve as a company and to empower our team members to achieve abundance.

16. Each conference room is named after one of our core values.

17. We frequently give cash rewards for team members who can recite all or part of the purpose, mission and/or values.

18. We have a summer fling at the house of the CEO and a Christmas party for the whole company and their families.

19. We improved our employee benefits and compensation package. We implemented a stock option program, health benefits, matching 401k, life and disability insurance, HSA, etc.

20. Annual kickball game that the whole team participates in during the work day.

What was the most challenging thing to implement? How did you overcome that challenge? (Be specific)

1. Initially it was setting the new meeting rhythms because we were so busy working IN the business that it almost seemed impossible to spend so much time ON the business.

2. Big 3. Sometimes it is easy to get distracted from each of our most important tasks with all the daily issues. We find we need to consistently review, define, measure, prioritize and have discipline to stick to each team member’s Big 3.

3. We come away from every Elite meeting with so many ideas and desired tasks, it is difficult to pick the best ones and do them. Clate instructed me early on to pick 2-3 of the most important ideas and ensure they are completed, then go back to the list.

What would your business look like today if you hadn’t attended the Elite Programs?

1. I think we would still be stuck growing at a slow pace with too few of the right people.

2. We would not have been able to attract some of the talent we have because we are a more attractive company to work for.

3. We would likely not be as deliberate and focused ON the business, our KPIs, our team and our customers.

What’s your #1 tip for other business owners who want to grow from 7 to 8 figures?

It’s extremely difficult to get there on your own. You need leaders that not only align with the vision but live it and want to make it a reality. Then, you must let go and delegate to those leaders. Trust your leaders to carry the vision and care like you do about the business.