Help is Not Coming; Developing Talent From Within with PJ Jonas

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation! JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire! Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Science of Scaling. Today, we'll be breaking down the fact that help is not coming, how to develop talent from within. To drop these value bombs, I brought to PJ Jonas and the EO Fire Studios. PJ created Goat Milk Stuff to help people achieve healthy skin. They quickly grew into a seven-figure business that continues to scale with the help of the next generation. And Fire Nation, today we'll talk about hiring talent, where it comes from.

0:38We'll talk about what the future holds as far as PJ is concerned, developing a leadership team, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to PJ and our sponsors. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch.

1:14Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Is this your year? Visit thrivetimeshow.com to see thousands of Clay Clark's business coaching testimonials featuring over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's month-to-month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. schedule your free consultation today at thrivetimeshow.com. PJ, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hi, Fire Nation. So excited to be here. I've got to say that one thing about being successful that really surprised me was how complicated it is.

1:56Life was a whole lot simpler when we weren't successful because we didn't have all the choices that we have now. Fire Nation, sometimes Biggie was right when he said, mo' money, mo' problems. And I'm going to be honest with you, it may sound a little far-fetched, but it can be the reality for some people for sure. Now we're talking about how help is just not coming, Fire Nation. We're going to be talking about developing talent from within. And a lot of entrepreneurs, PJ, they struggle when it comes to building the right team. Where does your talent come from? So we've been a bit unique in that we've kind of grown our own talent, having produced them ourselves.

2:38So we have eight children and all eight children and actually some of their spouses as well are involved in the business. And they are very much the core of everything we do. So Fire Nation, sometimes you just got to breed them. That's just the reality. People always say, oh, did you have eight kids because you knew you were going to do this? I was like, no, if I'd known I was going to do this, I would have had a whole lot more. Definitely. Now, let's talk about the pandemic because, listen, it caused a lot of changes. Some good, some bad for businesses specifically. How did your business change with the pandemic?

3:12We pretty much did a 180 on half of our business and just went all in on the other half. So basically making soap in a pandemic is a pretty good place to be. So all of the other stuff we were doing, all the goat milk cheese, all the on-farm visits and agribusiness and agritourism and all of that stuff, we pretty much just ended and focused everything we had on the soap and bath and body stuff. So it really streamlined everything we did. You know, it was able to increase the profitability because we got rid of a lot of the other ancillary stuff. And so it really helped us to focus on what we do best.

3:54So what are the lessons for our listeners with this? What does Fire Nation need to take away from your experience? You know, one of the things that I have learned is sometimes the things that look really bad on the surface actually push you in the direction that is better for you, right? Like when we had to shut down our on-farm business, that was, you know, that was almost a million dollars that we just, it just closed off overnight. And we were like, oh my goodness, what are we going to do? How are we going to recover from this? And it's been, you know, it's been the best thing that's happened to us.

4:30Our lives are much better. The business is much more streamlined. So, So, you know, take that when that bad thing seems to happen, take that deep breath and be like, okay, what is this going to teach me? What do I need to learn from this? And how am I going to push forward and make everything come better on the other side? Now, a lot of us have heard of the 80-20 rule, like Parkinson's law, like basically, you know, the reality, Fire Nation, that's for most people in a lot of scenarios, 20 % of what you're doing is producing 80 % of your desired outcome. How is that true for you, PJ? Get specific on that.

5:02Yeah. So one of the things that we had looked at at one point was going with a 3PL, which is basically taking all of our shipping and outsourcing it to somebody else. And when you do that, the fees are all based on the number of SKUs you have, the number of products. And so we spent about an eight to nine month period scrutinizing every single SKU we offered and deciding whether it was worth it to continue or not. And, you know, you looked out at those and you go, okay, well, it's true. I mean, the bulk of it all comes from the 20%. And you look and you go, well, we don't even like making this product.

5:39Like, why are we doing that? Just because, you know, three people a year ask for it. So it was really, you know, validating when you looked at everything from a numbers perspective to go, yep, we're getting rid of that. We're cutting all that out and going to just focus on what most people want. You know, you don't need every single person to be your customer. If they want something customized, something out there, that doesn't have to be something that you provide. And so what do you do when those three people come to you and are like, but PJ, you made this last year and I loved it and now I can't get it anywhere.

6:12How do you deal with them? So we actually do offer a custom option, but it is very expensive. You're almost doubling what it would cost to get one of our standard options. And so, like I said earlier, my children work for me, so I let them know. them go ahead. If someone wants a custom, then they can do that. And that can be some of their side money. So it doesn't even really a part of the general business, but we can still do those customers who are willing to do that extra price. Let's talk about the future because you, of course, had some transitions and adjustments and pivots to undertake during the pandemic.

6:52And you came out as a better and stronger business as a result. So now you're recognizing that, hey, the future is obviously a place we're going to be at some point. So what do you think the future holds for entrepreneurs in general? And then how are you specifically planning your future as a result? Yeah, I think that the future is very exciting. I think that there's a lot of businesses that didn't necessarily have a strong business model. And, you know, it's sad for those businesses if they didn't survive the pandemic. But I think, you know, the higher interest rates, learning, you know, how to deal with when the customers just disappear has made the businesses that have survived focus on the fundamentals, focus on the core and really strengthen what they do.

7:40So I think it's a very exciting time for entrepreneurs and businesses in general. One of the things that we are focusing on very hard is our leadership team. So when I started Goat Milk Stuff, my kids were 1 to 10. Now they're 16 to 26. And they're getting old enough where they can actually start to make the decisions. And so that's been very interesting watching them make mistakes. So I have to let them make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and do what it's going to take to not just deal with the business today, which is kind of when we first put it in place, that's what they wanted to do.

8:20They just wanted to focus on what was happening today and now starting to look down the line and be like, okay, well, I have to prepare for this. And what am I going to do, you know, six months from now? And what are my targets and all of that? So it's, there's been a lot of growth there, but, you know, sometimes it just takes time. They just have to keep getting their, you know, their hands dirty. Fire Nation, don't be afraid of getting your hands dirty, whether that be figuratively or literally in your business as the future awaits. And we have a lot to talk about around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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11:15Because Clay only takes on 160 clients, he personally designs your business plan for you. Then Clay's team of talented designers, videographers, web developers, workflow mappers, and accounting coaches will help you to implement that proven plan. See over 2000 verified success stories and schedule your free one-on-one 13 point assessment with Mr. Clay Clark himself today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and directed through practical plans of action. Become the next success story. Schedule your free 13-point assessment today at Thrivetimeshow.com. PJ, we're back and I want to talk about developing a leadership team because it can be really tough to build the right leadership team, but it can be critical to your success.

11:59So what strategies have you employed that you would recommend to Fire Nation? So I think it's really important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the people you're putting into that leadership team. You know, whether you do a personality profile or some sort of testing to understand who's gonna be your analytic person, who's gonna be your people person, who's gonna be your problem solver, because you need people who are capable of dealing with all of those. And you don't want your leadership team to be too big, but you have to make sure those bases are all covered. Otherwise you're going to have a gap and things are going to fall through.

12:37And so once you have the natural tendencies where people are good, where people like to be, because it doesn't do you a whole lot of good to put people where they're not happy, then you can really start to educate and train and give them opportunities to improve. Fire Nation, wise words from somebody who's built that leadership team that I know a lot of us desire. Now, why didn't you just hire from the outside? That's a really tricky question. We made multiple attempts to do just that. We hired different people. We did virtual assistants. And who'd you use specifically in those attempts? So we had, I think it was contemporary VA we tried.

13:20I don't remember the call center one. There was like a rhino something. I don't know. It's been a while. But what we found was people who were not here on the farm were never able to capture the essence of our company and our culture. You know, it was important for them to understand what was happening here so they could actually interact with the customers the right way. because, you know, things as simple as, you know, someone writing a piece of copy and saying, you know, the goats were doing this when the goats weren't doing that. And anybody on our YouTube channel knew that the goats weren't doing that was causing problems.

14:10So, you know, and then you start looking and you start saying, okay, well, maybe we can make them, you know, come once a month and come on site and do all sorts of stuff. And everything we tried, it was just, it made our lives harder. You know, the purpose of doing that, right, is to simplify your lives and help you to focus on what you do well. And so we kind of gave up on that a couple years ago and said, what's going to work for us is bringing in some of that lower level work and knowing that we're going to have a higher turnover at that, you know, keeping a couple, you know, keeping our, a couple extra employees so that when someone abruptly leaves, you know, you're not in the lurch and training our children to take on those higher level tasks, which was slow going, right?

14:58Because they were used to doing all the hands-on work. They were used to making soap and milking goats and, you know, and doing, filling orders. And so to be like, okay, well, now you've got to figure out how to write this piece of copy. You know, now you have to figure out an ad campaign. That's taken time. But once we knew who had that natural aptitude, putting the time into training and courses and things like that is just a matter of time and money. And that will all come eventually. PJ, take a step back. What is the biggest piece of advice that you have for entrepreneurs over the next five years?

15:40I think you need to figure out your priorities. And we, you know, we say that, right? Like, oh, what's my priorities? And everybody knows what they're, you know, oh, well, this is my priority. That's my priority. And yet I don't think many entrepreneurs actually work the priorities that are going to add to their bottom line. You know, I think it's so easy to get distracted by all the little stuff that we have to do, all the little stuff that has to be taken care of and not work the biggest thing that's going to impact that bottom line. And so if you can figure out a way to devote the time to that, and it doesn't have to be like it's, eight hours a day, every day.

16:24I mean, even if it's just 20 minutes a day moving that priority forward, it's going to make a big difference when you look back five years from now and be like, okay, we went from there to there. We didn't just get bogged down in all the details of running the business, we actually moved forward. PJ, what is the one key takeaway that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today? You know, I've always said that entrepreneurship is hard, but it is one of the most rewarding things you can do. And it's very easy to let the problems, the difficulties, stop us from taking the joy in what we've accomplished, right?

17:10And just the fact that we've built a business that, you know, if you have employees, you're supporting other people, you're helping them have a living, you're having a living yourself, you know, it really should be something despite, you know, problem customers or government regulation or whatever junk you're dealing with, that you just go, what I'm doing is awesome. And I just deserve, you know, a big round of applause, even if it's just for myself. Fire Nation, great takeaways from PJ, who, by the way, was one of our original 100 guests back in 2012 on Entrepreneurs on Fire, which is just crazy to think about.

17:46But she's been doing it for a long time. She's continued to innovate. She's continued to learn from mistakes and to capitalize on successes. and man, PJ, if Fire Nation wanted to connect with you and learn more, what is your call to action for our listeners today? Yep, so the easiest way to get ahold of me is to just go to the website, which is goatmilkstuff.com. There's a contact form on there. And if you just put, you know, this is for PJ in there, it'll get right to me and I would love to reach out. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And hello, you've been hanging out with PJ and JLD today.

18:24So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type PJ in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. PJ, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Awesome, John. Thanks. Hey, Fire Nation. A huge thank you to our sponsors for sponsoring today's episode. and Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs are great at three things, productivity, discipline, focus. That is why I created the Mastery Journal so that you can master these three things in 100 days and we're talking step-by-step.

19:00Visit themasteryjournal.com and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch. Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts.

19:32Is this your year? Visit thrivetimeshow.com to see thousands of Clay Clark's business coaching testimonials featuring over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's month-to-month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at Thrivetimeshow.com.