Vision Pros Live Podcast
Original podcast
Being your best self with Carly Pepin and Jackson Calame.
8,799 words · 2 speakers
And so the lady gave birth on the flight and the flight crew obviously helped with that. And so every year they celebrate her birthday. She's now 21 years old. And every year Richard Branson has a call with her, um, and talks about how things are going. And so, um, that, that process of like, okay, things started here with this. Let's honor this relationship for the rest of the time. Well, Carly, the beer best show.com, you are now, I think my first official guest on the show. I think the only other, I think I've done two or three episodes and we do so many other episodes for other shows. I forget like things like this, but you're, you emulate the being your best. You do such a, such a great job on Vision Pros Live. I was like, oh my gosh, we're going to have more Carly in our life.
So thank you for joining me for the first guest episode of the be your best show.
Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to this one. I had a great time on Vision Pros Live. So that one was awesome. So I'm looking forward to this one too.
Oh, it was so, it was so fun. It was unforgettable and we, we kind of do the same thing in there. Like we help businesses and it's, it reminds me of the relationships that the NFL has with the NBA. Um, right. Or that Harvard has with Stanford. Um, like there's people who think they're enemies. But in reality, like they grow and build so much because of the mutual respect. And because they're constantly exchanging ideas and masterminding. And, um, so yeah, I told my team like immediately after that episode, we've got to find a way to keep Carly in our circle. Um, and this is one of the best possible ways we could honor that. I, I really, I can't think of anybody by name that I would have also like, been like, oh, let's, let's reach out to them and, and make sure they're the first.
Hence why we're here. So, uh, West Coast Growth Advisors, tell us about it. Um, I'd love to make sure the audience has some context on that.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, so basically we're working with businesses. We're helping, helping them to scale and grow. We focus on the people dynamics. So that's the culture, the leadership team, oftentimes, you know, the CEOs and owners as well. Uh, making sure that that culture is really steady and strong, that you're hiring people. We're keeping people on board and they're all kind of aligned and inspired with the vision and understanding the company, all those dynamics. Then we have the strategy component. We also focus on, which is really fun, you know, we get to understand the vision of the companies, the core value of a company, right? What's the actual strategy look like? What are the goals for the next one year, three years, five years, 10 years? You know, what's the big goal, right? What's your moonshot? What's the big thing that you'd love to achieve?
Um, and kind of creating the strategy around that. Uh, we also focus on execution. Has nothing, none of that's happening. You can have a few brilliant good ideas, but if you're not executing it properly, it just does not happen. And so obviously execution is a, is a huge one where we're making sure like all the right people are in the right roles. Things are getting done, things are being tracked efficiently and effectively. Um, and then we love to focus on cash as well, because cash really is king. And we want to make sure companies have healthy cash flow, because you really require cash flow for growth. So we're really focused on like those four pillars. And then on top of that, we love human behavior, you know, so we love just incorporating that into everything that we do on a day-to-day basis, because like,
I mean, people are your customers, people are your employees, you're a person. So it's just constantly coming in about understanding human behavior and why we do what we do and all these different dynamics.
I love it. I, I mean, you, you just gave a masterclass, um, and, and some of those four points right here, right? People caring about them, strategy, execution and cash flow and, and having cash and assets to be able to, and knowing how to negotiate, right? Knowing how to use and maximize those assets. Um, it's, uh, it reminds us so much of like first-class business too, and those, those principles are, are very in line with ours. So let's, let's do something unique. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna show some, uh, types of materials that we use to delegate. For those who are watching and like, how do we keep up with being our best on our end? And I want you, Carly, to just comment on your own styles of like, so there's one, it's one thing to claim execution, right?
And then it's another to bring a brand together, the way that you have with West Growth, Growth Advisors and your, your principles and dedication to this. I mean, I, I can see clearly that you know what you're doing with that. But feel free to like, Challenge what we have, like, okay, we do our new assignments. Um, you know, and we use a spreadsheet. This is a brand new process that we just came out with. Where instead of me telling the team, oh, yeah, we got to do this now. Oh, this came up this week. Oh, this came up. Nope. We do the assignment to where we assign a supervisor, a direct report, a trainee. We have little information and who's in that process, the timeline for the project, like, what do we project how long, like, when we can start on this?
And then the duration will be the minute log for how long until we can get the first piece built out for these campaigns? And then each one needs to have description, the minutes for day, week, or month, and the procedure, resources, and templates in order to effectively help that trainee. Then it moves over to this document where instead of using, I don't like Asana, Trello, nothing like that. I've never had great success with project management systems. And I find that it leads us to micromanage and like be task masters or slave drivers. And so instead, we designed this process to where our team members have columns. And they get to go at their own pace with basic suggestions of how many minutes, more or less, per day or week.
And they go one column after the next, working on their priorities. And if they do anything extra, it goes into the extra column. Um, and so some people manage that product, that was somebody who was newer, somebody who's been at this for a long time, like Marie Victoria, who's also COO. Um, she's got way more types of activities. And back in the day, we still had a lot of things to learn about how she's going about managing her day. But if I go down to these newer days, how do I do that? Sorry, I'm not very good at scrolling on spreadsheets. Um, I should have just blocked off the dates probably. Um, but you'll start to see a balance out of her days in.
March, where this, all she has to do is mark the category as she did this column, she did this column, she did this column. And then that gives us a balancing idea of are we giving Victoria the space? Things that are most important for her growth. In her day, or am I constantly pulling her off of her assignments and assigning her too many other things? And when it comes to client management, she also puts on here, those are inactive, but which clients did she touch for the day? I don't need to know the details because she always does the right work. She knows how to, how to build her day out. So that's, that's one of the ways that we go about on our side. Optimizing the, the use of time with our different people.
My, did you see that on the screen or did you see Cynthia's screen while I was?
I saw Cynthia's screen.
Oh, so it was one of my mistakes for the day. And we're, we're building the new show and logos, Carly's getting through it. And Cynthia, I texted Cynthia like, hey, where are you? And now I overlapped on it. So those of you watching, like just do your best, do the best you can. If you made mistakes, it's okay. But I do, I want to get your feedback on that. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna drive right back in just a tiny bit. I already said it all. You guys go back and listen, but it's, it's pretty easy to see. Assignment supervisors, direct reports, trainees, and then timeline. The supervisor is only there if they're needed. The director report is only there to help the trainee get started on the process.
And the trainee's job is to help make sure that the procedure, resource and template unfolds. And if they get in the challenges, turn for help. The, once those are done, they can then be assigned to a sheet like this. And this is what I was referring to in Maria Victoria's days where they, they're supposed to go column to column and have their columns organized for themselves, by themselves, based on their priorities with an emphasis on personal development and career growth. And so we want to make sure they do that first, but if I've come in or somebody else has come in to challenge that and we see a trend where they're not getting those things done, then it's time for us to look. Get balance and say, are we being fair to our team member? And if they're skipping things, why are, why are their priorities not in order?
And then over here for client type of management, they don't need to touch every client every single day. In her case, she's a COO. Um, and she's got, she's got a lot of stuff going on, but we can see a track record across all of our team members. Who's doing what? Um, what do they need help on? If it's yellow, that means it's kind of easy to train somebody on. If it's green, it's super easy. It can be reassigned to another team member. If it's red, that means that they still have to figure out their own procedures, resources and templates for it. Um, or we have struggles there. So that's, that's one of the ways we go about project management.
Anything you'd improve about that or like Jackson, this is chaos. You should change that. Happy to bring your thoughts. And how are you guys going about similar execution and, and delegation?
Yeah, I think the most important thing, like the point that you're driving across here is that if you're not organizing this and separating it and writing it down in some way, shape or form, it does become chaos because usually one person or a couple of people wind up being overly responsible for too many things and things fall in the cracks. And someone's going to get stressed out and someone's going to be frustrated and upset and it's just, it's chaos. And so it, it's like you said, like you're like, I don't like a sauna. I don't love a sauna either. We all have things we love. I usually check.
I like it better than all the other programs. I have to say that I cashed in my favorite one because I think about it, but I don't, I don't just like the system.
I know. There's so many different programs. Usually I check in to see like if a client likes something already and I'm like, what do you use now? Do you love it? Like, let's check in there. Usually they have something that they're enjoying or already incorporated. So I'm not really fussed about using whatever they have. But I'm like, but now let's figure out how to organize this in your system.
I tend to lead the witness more. I tend to be like, um, so you have a project management system and, and do you hate it as much as I did? Like, I don't want to.
If you hate it, like, let's change it. Yeah. But yeah, the delegation component is really key and mainly like I'll just be working with the leadership team. So usually if I'm working with a CEO one-on-one, like the owner and the founder and stuff, we'll do that on a one-on-one basis and I'll kind of guide them through that. Cause I find often like sometimes CEOs are just involved in things they don't need to be involved in. I had one CEO is working with them. He was really stressed out and I was like, what's going on? Like you seem like way off today. Only to find out that they're doing like a task that like human resources. Should do like they're trying to dissolve a fight between two. You know, lower level um employees like what are you doing?
And apparently it'd been going on for like a few months and I was like, what are you doing? Okay, let's like, and he has a whole HR team, by the way.
Were you watching me a few weeks ago?
No, I wasn't. And I'm like, what are you doing?
You're not talking about me, are you?
No, yeah, I might be, and if I am, stop doing what you're doing.
Let your team do their job. Let your team do their job. Um, so yeah, making sure that we're passing off the responsibility because. The important thing with the CEO is there's usually something that's very important to the CEO and something that they love to do within the company and something that. Is the driver of the company and we want to make sure that they're focused on those things. With the leadership team, we kind of do it more so in a group. So what we'll do is we'll go through. All of the top positions within a company and um like the top roles in a sense and it's going to be a little bit different for. Different companies, like some companies might have more of a focus on marketing. Than other companies, you know, some companies are gonna have a heavy.
Restaurant might have different titles and jobs than uh my business for growth numbers.
Like a restaurant might not have like an AI department, right? Where now we have like these larger corporations like and Amazon's probably like building an AI department, you know? It's like Google has an AI department, but like.
As a, as a young executive, I had the bright idea I was gonna, I was going to create the universal org chart.
Yeah.
Like I thought I was like the most brilliant thing in the world, right? And so I start working on this thing from my very narrow mindset. And that's when I realized I was like, oh crap. Everybody like restaurants have chefs, hotels have bellhops and and reception is like.
Can't do it. I was like, oh, my idea and concept was so naive.
Compared to what is is done. So yeah, big, big shout out to you. And I give Rocket Fuel some credit too. That they definitely helped me on on figuring some of that out. Thanks to the E-Myth as well for for helping on the process. Like it's it's such a hard reality to grasp and then to feel empowered to go through. That's a really easy component of like driving inferiority complex or like that. What's that called? The the easier one?
The imposter syndrome?
Syndrome, right? And it's so having somebody like you there who's kind of does that on a regular basis. Or is like very in tune with, let's simplify this. I'm so glad you talked about it because I it's almost always that is I can I go to any company. And it's almost always a disaster, the the org chart and how they're going about it. And there's an internal conflict that is just like, we got to stop, we got to stop the civil war before we can move everything forward. So yeah, let's go, let's go further down that rabbit hole.
Yeah, no, it's totally true. And then once you dive in there, you know, people, it's funny because people are sometimes resistant to putting stuff like this in the place. Because it takes a lot of time and energy. However, it's like when you start to put the comparison of how much time and energy you're taking. Like from the stress and the chaos, and then you match it up with, oh, I'll make you spend just as much time and energy organizing it and structuring it. But you're not going to feel as stressed out and you're not going to be as frustrated. And it's like, yeah, let's do it. Okay. So yeah, it's a it's a cool dynamic. And it's like, so it's figuring out the roles within your company that are most important. And you know, Red Bull is another fun example, because if we look at them, they have their sports and their teams and stuff. I'm like, I don't have that in my company. That's not going to be like a specific role in my company, right?
So really getting clear on what are the most important roles in your company and then figuring out like. We look at what the the metrics are for those roles as well. And it's like, what do we expect each of those roles to achieve, right? Like, what are the top metrics? There's usually like a top three to five priorities in each of those metrics and roles. And who's in charge of them? And this is interesting because we don't want multiple people in charge of one section. This is where we start to see why the chaos happens. Like, you might see the CEO in charge of his role, right? But then all of a sudden, like, the CEO is also involved in a CFO role and the marketing role and all this role. And you've got the CEO in six different places. And you're like, that's not working, right?
And then on that role, all of a sudden, it's like the marketing person is like, how did you not even make it on the sheet? What are they making you do? What are they making you do all day? And you look at it and you're like, okay, this is wild. And so you start to separate the position so that one person is in charge of that role. And one person is in charge of actually fulfilling those metrics. And then they're responsible for taking that down to their team, whatever size that is. And then that team takes it down to that team and that team. And then all of a sudden, all the little priorities, you know, start to fizzle down into little bite sized pieces. And then we have them keep track of that on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. And so it's really fun. We make them start doing like meeting rhythms. So every day we have like a set way for them to do meetings where we're only doing fifteen minutes.
It's very focused and it's just focused on, you know, your quarterly metrics and for those fifteen minutes. And we check in to see in that fifteen minutes is like, how is the team doing? Are they stuck anywhere? You know, are they needing help anywhere? Are they moving forward, right? And also a chance to connect. So we get a little bit of rapport in there too. But short and sweet because we know meetings can suck and we don't want to sit there for an hour talking about crap. Um, and yeah, we do, yeah, right? Like you go crazy.
And they can suck. Like, there's, there's ways to, there's ways to combat it. And there's definitely time and need for, for larger strategic conversations. But a lot of times we do end up pigeonholed into a meeting that we're not supposed to be in. And this mouse pad right here, this book, um, The Effective Executive, um, is one of my favorites for understanding efficient meetings and, and getting people to, to realize they're invited, but they're optional. And like encouraging the optional nature of like, go away, go work. Um, like, we love you and we'll give you a report, but like, you don't have to be here for that. I don't have to be here for certain meetings, right? Those, those are super important dynamics. I love how you talked about that, that fifteen minute dynamic too. Uh, and I love that you talked about one of the realities that.
It's so important to, um, it, it depends on the level of the business. Some of you might have left or freaking out right now. Like, I don't have a COO and a CMO and a CFO and a CTO and a ZLO and I want to cry now. Uh, like, I get that. You're still okay. You know, I am the CEO. I am the CMO. Uh, Marie Victoria is in large part COO, but we do kind of share that role, her in Spanish, me in English. Um, right. So we've got different divisions on that for accountability purposes. And the CTO role is like, it's kind of filled, but you know, not, not really. And, and so as we, as we, so how do we dedicate ourselves to it? We're not as disciplined to the, the daily aspects, but you're calling me out on the things that are important for us to be able to take things to the next level. I'll do a quick reveal.
This is one of our past org boards. Um, and I'm actually not sure which our current org board is, but I know it's not this one. Um, because we got people still on here and a lot of people missing from, we've got almost 30 people on our team now. So this is the one I like to reference when I'm playing with presentations. Um, but the one that the team actively builds around, I don't remember where it's at. Um, and so you'll see my picture is on here for these different roles. And if my picture is there, I am, the, the point that Rocket Fuel makes is I am fireable from all these positions. And I should be held accountable to be able to complete them. And if we, the moment we have a better CEO come in, oh my gosh, please.
Um, you know, like I will be so excited to move out of that role and move on to the roles where I'm truly needed. And right now, that's, that's kind of where I'm truly needed for first class business and for the brand. And I'm also one of the podcast hosts of Vision Pros Live. I've moved quite far away from Vision Pros Live now. Uh, we still have other people that host the show, grow it. But my call is to be on this show. This is my environment, my MO. I need to be able to have difficult conversations with people. And Vision Pros is designed for starting out visionaries and they don't necessarily want to talk about the scary stuff and the hard stuff. And the, like, how did you actually accomplish what they don't know yet? Um, and so I was.
I was realizing that no, when I'm over there, I need to come in with a different type of energy and accepting uh this acceptedness and like openness for people over here. I get to play with people who are ready to go for my energy of like high, high execution, you know, let's, let's get after it. Let's really dive into what matters. And again, that's, that's why I brought you over here. So any, any, uh, any optimizations that you recommend or, or things spark that based on what you've seen us doing that maybe don't even have anything to do with org boards, but what else would you say, Jackson? I can predict this based on where you're at.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And it's, it's making sure I would say the metrics, right? Like holding people accountable for very specific metrics. And the goals, like whatever, and you sound like you've got the goals.
Let me challenge that one. Let me challenge it. I want to present the, I'm going to present the hidden objectives, objections that people don't share.
We, we literally were just, we, we always are doing this. We're startup for heaven's sake. Um, so we're always establishing the metrics. So we got a new Facebook ads campaign and the Facebook ads campaign, before we launch it, we do establish industry benchmark metrics. So we figure out what those are. And then we assume we're not as great as the average in the industry because we're new. Let's not be pretentious here. Um, you know, let's not go for the top. Let's make sure we get there first. And those become the metrics. So we set basic metrics underneath those standards. And in this case, our metric for our cost per view, we set at three to four cents. Um, and that would mean our, our cost per, I'm not going to show the screen. It'll take time. Um, but
our cost per click, um, is set around four to eight dollars, somewhere, somewhere between there. Well, we launched the ads and our cost per view did not turn out as a three to four cent cost per view. Because we were dedicated to the process of the principles and the building and the, uh, the nature of, of, of what drives an irresistible, irresistible offer. We got a point zero, zero, zero, zero, seven.
Cent like a seven thousandths of a cent cost per click on that. And we ended up, I'm sorry, cost per view on that. We ended up getting a one cent cost per click, uh, which I have never even seen a case study uh for that before. And the other scenario that I want to bring up though, is we just assigned somebody the role of director of uh, community development. Um, cause now we're starting to move forward with not just a podcast, but a community. And I was gonna put metrics in place, but I realized I don't, I don't want her to be numbers driven yet. I want the community to be based on, let's make sure that the, we're focused on the
standards of values and let's learn about other metrics that exist out there, thanks to chat GPT and things like that. And then we can start working towards establishing those metrics together, but we also need to see. And so I, I also said, well, it, what if, what if 10 people join the first week and 20 people join the second week? You know, and three people join the next week, it's gonna take a little bit to figure out what the routine is. And I don't want to get this community development specialist addicted to focus on crushing those numbers. Cause I want her focus to be on the value of the community itself and making sure that the community is winning. So help me understand, like, how do you rationalize those two things?
Yeah. So that's your KPI. It's making sure you have the right KPI. Cause what you specifically said that last piece is you want to have her to focus on the value of the community and the value that the community is getting. So what is the metric to measure what the community is getting? How do you measure what value the community is getting? Cause that's what's truly important to you. When we think about metrics, we can get really stuck in financial metrics, but the truth is, it's exactly what you want to measure. And if your goal is the value that people are getting, how do you measure that? Is there questionnaires that you can do? And then all of a sudden, that's the metric that that person is focused on. They're not focused on the numbers, the financial person.
I did not learn that until this week. I'm so glad you're here, technology. It looks like, yes, I know, now I can say, well, Carly said so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Said so, then I can do this. Um, so.
I'm gonna show it. I'm gonna show it. Let me know. Like, do you, what do you, what do you feel about these metrics? So here we've got the procedure development, right, for the community director. And I, I think I said something to chat GPT, like, hey, this person likes to have established roles. And we need to get procedures and resources in place and give them space to develop. Because they're, they're great, they're strong, but they're timid. Um, and if we don't set them up with a path for what to do, week after week after day, then, uh, they're, they're gonna feel like they're not doing the right thing. Um, and so chat GPT, this like created the plan and I, I was like, okay, cool, awesome. Um, but here we are on the metrics. So it says confidence and welcoming and engaging new members.
Consistent and meaningful participation in the Facebook group. Smooth facilitation of guest expert interactions with our community. And increased member interaction and overall community vitality. It feels so fluffy.
I would add to this, like, what you want your customers to experience and feel. And then you start doing customer surveys to see if they're getting that result. So.
To value and feel, is that what you said?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, like what experience is it, what value are they getting from it? What specifically, what specific value do you want them to get? And then make sure you're doing customer, the, the group community, make sure you're doing questionnaires in there. To ask questions to ensure that they're getting those details. That one's really important. Yeah, so it's this one because you want the value, how, if, if the community is getting the value that you want them to have. You gotta ask the people, this is a community question, this is your customer question and customer surveys. Yeah.
I love.
Which is so fun, by the way, it's so funny.
You're amazing.
Sometimes they also get things and you're like, I did not even think that they were gonna get that.
I'm so glad you said it. We've been the quiz funnels. We've put on pause because I always I always create them and then leave them alone. Um, and that's not what you're supposed to do with a quiz funnel. You're supposed to implement, right? The execution. Um, so we did a superhero quiz funnel um that will eventually be launching. I designed this years ago. Um, with Zach Gagnon, uh, he he helps us with our our build outs. Um, he's a guy that comes in and saves things last minute when we need it. Um, but the this process for this quiz will be able to like, are you a villain or a hero as an entrepreneur? Uh, and then it finds you based on the categories like which which superhero are you, right? We're gonna go a little bit viral with this since we launch it, but.
Um, our content strategist, I've told her about it, and so she might be picking the torch up on this and finally implementing it, but. Entrepreneurs, if you're if you're stuck in these battles and boats, don't don't feel like you're alone. You know, it does take a process to pull it together, but there was one other thing I wanted to to grab here. Oh, I opened it, and this is our our Spanish quiz. So we just launched ads for our Spanish community to. Find people who are looking for work and the all I did is ask chat G P T. Um, here we go. If I were to create a simple survey and quiz to attract Latinos to consider a career as a virtual assistant and launch the survey. With the Facebook ad quiz stack, what quite I made that term up, um, by the way, but chat G P T gets me, you know?
Um, what questions would be most relevant and attractive? I'd like I'd like your help creating this in Spanish, inviting people to want to take the quiz. Building the order of questions and the end will ultimately qualify them by saying something like, and I don't have to do anything proper either, right? I can make this awkward and chat G P T will almost get it right. So, um, so like, hey, you'd be a great candidate for virtual assistant. So maybe we ask questions about whether they have internet access, a computer or laptop. Experiences in Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I don't want to influence you too much, though. Please give it your best shot. And then afterwards, I had one more thing. I said, I'd like to add two questions at the end.
Why? Because I read it and I was like, oh, cool. This is perfect. But if a company was simply to pay you for, um, wait, was willing to pay for you to have the equipment necessary to do this type of work on a scale of one to 10, one not at all 10, my dreams come true. How likely would you be to consider the opportunity with that company? Same thing if you, if a company was willing to train you to be a podcast host and pay for the microphone and camera on a scale of one to 10. How likely would you be to consider the opportunity? And then chat GPT gave me like everything I need for a great quiz. Um, so the reason why I'm mentioning that is because you, you've talked about these community surveys, um, right? And making sure that we are listening and hearing people from the get go that that can, I did, they did that today.
Um, right. So you're right on the same vibe and um, element that, that I've been working on. What I've struggled with is, uh, in the past, I've built communities that were ghost towns, right? I'm, I'm not great at running community and, and perhaps it's because I'm spread too thin, right? And I, I was spread too thin. Now, uh, we're moving back towards it because we've got more team members involved, but what are some things?
I want to make sure the community is not a distraction for entrepreneurs. Right? My market is not, um, hey, let's do a book club and, and dedicate your time to this book club. It's, uh, the communities that I'm running or want to run are for people that I want to be able to come into our community. Get the value what they need and go out. I don't want them to be stuck here posting their seventh photo, um, you know, of, of the day. How, again, how do you, how do you balance that? Any ideas and thoughts?
Yeah. So this is also unique to each individual. Like it sounds like for you, the community is not your favorite thing to do. So having someone run it is wisdom and delegating it to someone who loves it is wisdom. It's funny. I was just working with someone else who running communities is like, it's just their thing, like period. And so when I talk to them, it would be crazy for them to delegate that part of the position. They'll delegate potentially other parts that maybe you're not as, or you're really. Really inspired by, right? And so it's really making sure.
Just put me, let me play the guitar in the community, you know?
Totally. You're like, I'll just do that. Um, yeah, where she just wants to run it like that's like her thing. And so it's making sure if it's your thing, like that's something that you can definitely put yourself in the role of, but it's not your thing, then it's delegating wisely and making sure, again, not only you're holding yourself accountable for these metrics of like, what exactly do you want to achieve from it? But you're also holding other people accountable as well. Um, and this is a funny metric, by the way, this one I learned. Cause when we think about metrics, just to get people out of their heads and another cool example, like how metrics can go or like in weird ways. Um, Walmart wants to offer the lowest prices, right? And so you would think maybe that metric would be something financial, right?
One of the metrics that they use to make sure they're still offering the lowest prices and not overspending internally within the company is via customer complaints. If they're not receiving enough customer complaints about their store and the main one is that they can't find stuff, there's nobody on the floor to help them find stuff. If they don't get those complaints, they know that they're overstaffed. They purposely have left staff at a Walmart specifically to make sure that their overhead is lower. So you get the best prices, no joke. And so if they're not getting enough complaints, they're like, this store is overstaffed. And that's wild. That's their metric is complaints about.
I wanna say, I freaking love.
It's cool.
I know it gets better. I know it hurts small business. I, I, I, I understand, but I really, really, really like, it's so easy to go to like they, they, they've really, it's amazing how the experience still isn't really that compromised.
Um, like I, I don't ever feel unsafe in Walmart. Um, I don't feel like I can't, I feel like I can find things. So that, but that, that, that level of efficiency, that is such a brilliant hack to be able to put in the place. And it's to me, it, again, you can manipulate and abuse that to the point where you're providing bad service. But there's a difference between buying, providing bad service and feeling like everybody has to have a five star experience. And that's coming from the guy who runs first class business. Like I don't want anybody to have a second class. Experience in my brand, but if somebody comes in and is like, where are the white gloves? And why are you not wearing a suit and tie? I'm like, your definition of first class is different than mine. Love you. Deloitte's that way. That's, that's not what we do at our business.
And so I, I'm really, really, that was, that's huge. Okay. I gotta ask you a question before we lose the time because this question, huge shout out to Trish. She's on Vision Pros today and she is newer to the world of sharing visions on podcasts. And it was such a beautiful episode that I'm going to again redirect all of you guys. Like I would highly recommend going and hearing Trish's episode in a couple of weeks when it comes out.
But she said, Jackson, one of the pre-show questions that would be so cool for you to ask would be, what's something that your guest wants to talk about, but they've never gotten a chance to share on stage?
And I was like, that is such a core fundamental reality.
Doing that as podcast hosts in the world more often. So whoever she learned that from, just brilliant. Carly, what, that you don't get asked or that you would love to share with the audience?
That's funny. It's probably what I'm obsessed with in day to day life. What I'm obsessed with is that, you know, we all have a destiny, like genuinely. And you don't really talk about it and you don't just get to share it. And when you connect with it, it's like, you know, I was just talking to someone yesterday. Just they were selling me some, I was looking for some services. They were selling me some, but they were going through like the traditional sort of sales pitch. And it's really important. This is, I was, I told my husband too. I was like, I really want to share this, but I don't know if anyone's going to ask me the question. But it's so important, like for people to know. So it's so funny that you said this. It's so funny that you're saying this right now. And the experience was he's going through the sales pitch and at the end of it, like I have the objections and stuff.
And then he goes through and he's like, well, how are you going to achieve your dream if you don't have X, Y, Z? And I'm looking at, I'm like, this is my destiny, bro. I was like, whether I hire you or not, like this is gonna happen, you know? And it's crazy because I just remember. Before I was connected with it, I just, I, it was so easy for me to get on a phone with someone and for them to tell me, if you don't hire me, you're not going to achieve what you want. Where now I'm like so connected to these things and I'm like, this is my destiny. Like, uh, what world do you think this isn't going to happen? Like you're obviously not my person. And so, yeah, and the importance of, I know it's hard and I know it takes time because
we clear so much noise in our head and we clear so many different things and dynamics of like subordinate nations and what we should do and what we're supposed to do. But man, when you really connect with like that thing that you just feel like you're destined to do, like, it just shapes your life in such a way. Like I can't imagine my life not being connected with that. And the experiences I get to have and just being able to look at someone and just be like, no, I'm going to get it done. Like you're not my person and in what world is that not going to happen? Like when he said it, I was like, huh? Like, why do you think it wouldn't happen? That's crazy.
Right. And so nice. To me, I think I, I could be projecting here and I might be assessing wrong, uh, vision pros, uh, and wait, be your besters? I, I don't know what I'm gonna call you guys yet as an audience, but
Carly is a reflection to me of the years of dedication of self-awareness. Um, rather she's put into those exercises and understanding like that it's okay and to embrace authenticity, um, right? To embrace your, she calls it destiny. Um, we, we don't, I don't like that word, but I, I like the concept, right? I like, I like everything the way that she described it. So I'm like, cool. I can deal with destiny with the way that you see it. Um, I, I see that we, I call it foreordained. Um, and that's getting technical. It's like, forget the technicalities. The point is, yeah, I was called to a very big purpose when I was like 20 years old. Um, and it was to help Latinos and, and, and little countries and little, little, um,
towns throughout the world, um, by becoming a business owner and helping businesses. I didn't know why. I just knew I was supposed to do it. Um, and so now I, I've spent the last 14 years, sometimes hiding from that destiny, right? Sometimes running from it. Sometimes tinkering with it. Um, and the challenge is every time I have kind of found myself.
Distracted by something else.
My life does not go as well as it should. My life starts to just like rattle a little bit. It's like a little earthquake is underneath me when I'm not aligned with that purpose. Yet, when I get myself back on focus with it, and as I mentioned the ads, we just prioritize launching ads for Latinos to find work when we've got a full stack of people and we don't need any more people working with us right now. And instead of preparing for like campaigns related to social media marketing world, which is coming up this weekend, I was like, no, we need to do this. Um, you know, this is what we need to be focused. And it's, it always, when I do that, it always leads to better results. Even if somebody else comes along and says, well, Jackson, that's not aligned with the, uh,
uh, and I'm not talking about team members, but outsiders coming along and saying like, why aren't y'all doing this? Why should, well, y'all should do this, you know, you have to do this, you need us. And I'm so grateful for the knowledge that, no, I, I need God. And for me, beyond God, I don't need anything, even oxygen. If he calls me home, he calls me home. It's supposed to be better up there anyway. Uh, you know, so like that, that's okay. But I hope that all of you listening in, focus on being your best self and that you have recognized, you've seen the opportunity to align your best self with that destiny or purpose that you're designing.
Whatever you want to call it. Yeah, whatever words the best for you. Yeah. Yeah, but it's funny because it's like, it's like you just said, it's like the whole world comes and tells you what it's supposed to be and what it's supposed to look like. And you listen and it's like, so until you really tap into it, you just won't start looking at people and being like, no, that's not it. Like it's definitely not it. And they could be so convinced that that's it. And you could just look at them and be like, you're definitely wrong. Thank you, but no, thank you. And so it's really important to connect with that. And because it's like, when you do, if you come to someone like Jackson or myself, then we're coming in and it's like you help expand that dynamic.
Yes.
And it doesn't, it's not like coming and working and I, I'm going to guess this with you too, just based on my experiences with you, coming and working with someone like us. Not even just like coming in and having us tell you what your vision should look like.
It's like you're gonna. I used to, I used to.
Out. Yeah, I've done that.
Dude, I was like, I was like, I don't, I would like, tell everybody what you have to do and you need to do. And I, I don't, look, I love him as a person, but leading like that, and I, and I use him as a poster child because he's created a lot of success in what he does. I'm not saying it's not a successful path, but I did not build the relationships, cultivate the types of relationships I wanted. When I used to use words like you should do this, or you have to do this, or you need, those are all controlling words. And who am I to control? Another adult human, even, even not adult human being, but it's, it's not my role to think for them or to act for them. And like you said, I see it as facilitating. It's you could do this.
We invite you to take these steps. And as I've, I've learned to do that, I have, I have far more enjoyed my relationships with those who get it. And when we have clients that need the controlling, like you hear it, they'll be like, well, wait, should I do this? And my response is, I don't know. Like, should you? Uh, you know, you, you, you're a visionary. You're the one who leads. So I, again, I don't usually make him feel that awkward, but I will call it, help them realize like, okay, I understand that you want me to make that decision for you. I'm here to make that decision with you, um, you know, and let's explore it together. And that's exactly what I've seen from you, Carly. That's exactly why I'm so happy to have you as the first guest of the Be Your Best Show. And we're going to be adding a trailer later to this, my friend.
So as you're listening in though, you can always and easily find Carly Pepin through Google. I bet you can find it through ChatGPT now. Um, you can find her, all the social media channels too, and the West Coast Growth Advisors, of course. I think both of us hope that one, you reach out, um, you know, and you start a friendship, um, you know, like a true sincere relationship, and that you evaluate what your options are. Um, you know, go look at Deloitte. Go look at Virgin Startups, please. Um, and I, if I could work with Richard Branson, um, you know, I would be very happy to. Unfortunately, they only take a hundred applicants per quarter. You have to have a three year track record. That's already awesome. Um, and so it's, it's not like I lose anything by you finding out about that.
I win because then you come in more centered when you actually want to talk to us. And I think that Carly is one of the best people on the planet to talk to about business growth and that comes after reading, like I could call Michael Gerber, um, you know, and see if I were in Patrick Lencioni of five dysfunctions. We will soon, um, but he's not going to take my call right now. Um, you know, Carly did, she showed up, she's here. And she has the same types of principles and values of some of the best leaders I've ever learned from in the world. So it's my honor to have you here, Carly. Any final thoughts you'd like to share before we wrap up?
Yeah. Focus on your vision, your mission and really like do the work to pull it out and then contact people like us to help it get executed. Cause that, I don't know about you, but that just vibes me up so hard and I love watching people's vision come to life. And it's worth it.
Absolutely. So go join us on Vision Pros. If you heard that and you're like, oh, I have a great vision. Go pie, be a guest on Vision Pros. And if you want to be a guest on the Be Your Best Show, just know this is actually, as fun as this was, the reason why it was fun is because Carly's authentic. What is awkward is when people want to come on the show and I'm like, no, no, we're going to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. There just wasn't any need to talk about ugly today. Um, you know, it's because we see our like raw mistakes and all that as tangible opportunities and, and we go with the flow and the blessing of that. So I hope that inspires some of you to do the same. And, uh, keep being your best and we'll see you on the next episode, everybody. Take care, guys and watch.
Page updated November 13, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
