2280 - Leadership Lessons to Silence Self-Doubt with ABS' Sandy Moll

0:04Well, hey, Thoughtful Leader. Welcome to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur. On this show, I interview purpose-driven founders, experts, and change makers who are making a real impact in the world. Want to be a guest? Simple. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click podcast. I'd love to promote your story to our audience of over 100 ,000 and across over 2 ,300 daily episodes and counting. Want to get booked on other great shows like this? Simple. Go to podverified.com and get your free guest authority score. Thousands of hosts are looking for high quality guests and Podverified connects you the right way. Now let's dive into today's episode.

0:58With us right now, it's Sandy Maul. Sandy, you are the CEO and founder of Advanced Business Solutions, a.k.a. ABS. You're found on the web at abs-core.com. We have that direct link in the show notes for this podcast episode. Sandy, it's great to have you. Nice to be here, Josh. Thank you very much. Well, I'm going to surprise you. I forgot to mention one thing before we hit record. And, you know, it's always fun to just kind of hear what people do for fun on the outside, especially, you know, big leaders, you know, doing big, great things in business, but we all kind of have our personal interests and fun.

1:35And so I'm just kind of curious, like, what have you been doing for fun this summer outside of work? You know, I don't know if there's any, anything you've been watching or hobbies or maybe some trips or whatever that you've done. Well, I am a big reader. And, but this summer, I also, we have a swimming pool, so I swim a lot, travel a lot. One of my favorite hobbies, which a lot of podcast hosts laugh when I say is I spend regular time in silence and that is probably my best hobby ever. You didn't say meditation. You said silence. Tell me more. Well, I do meditate, but I also spend a lot of time just getting rid of all the noise that we're always surrounded with.

2:18And so every day I spend at least 15 to 30 minutes just sitting in silence and sometimes it's outside. Although we talked about, I live in Kansas, so it's hot and extremely humid right now. So now I spend it inside. Otherwise I'd melt as my grandson says. So it's really just quieting down my mind from all the noise. It's different than meditation. Well, it is. It's almost like, and I think about, Sandy, our lives today and how, and I've actually been seeing this a few times. I'll date myself. I'm an 80s kid. And, you know, I just have memories of like, you know, if I'm like waiting for my mom and dad to come pick me up, I remember just like sitting somewhere for like 45 minutes straight and just sitting there.

3:13I don't have a phone. Maybe I had a walkman with me, but I'm pretty much just sitting there, not talking to anyone, not doing anything. And just kids today don't do that. They've always have something to entertain themselves and what the net effect of that is. But Sandy, I think about the way that you're describing this is almost like a moment of rejuvenation. And, you know, it's like the, you know, the exhale, you know, and a long, you know, before, you know, we go back to the frenetic back and forth breathing or whatever. And it's almost like, you know, I would envision this as almost like being just a, you know, kind of being bathed in quietness.

4:02And your brain must love that. Oh, yeah. It's amazing. Somebody asked me, well, don't you fall asleep? I'm like, there's been times when I have to stop and that's okay. I, my body needs that, but I find I can be a better leader when I kind of get rid of all the noise and just take a, take a moment for, for that quiet. What do you do when a thought comes in, maybe like a work stress or worry or something comes in during that time? Sometimes I write it down. Sometimes I'll go, Hmm, wonder why I thought of that. You know, it's observing. Yeah, I do not. I'm a big believer that I don't try to control things.

4:45And during that time, it's like if it's something like, oh, crud, I forgot to rotate the laundry or something, you know, I'll maybe write it on a journal that I have laying there. But to be honest, very few times do I have thoughts come in my mind anymore. It's At first, there was a lot of this, but I've done it so many years now. But I will tell you, my teams will tell you I'm a better leader because I have that time that I've set aside. Most of my leaders now actually have got some type of a routine that they do a similar thing. I thank you so much for that. What a great reminder. Hey, Sandy, while I ask you this next question, I don't know if your microphone, if you have the ability to move it closer to your mouth or whatever.

5:29but just to kind of warm it up, that'd be great. So obviously I want to learn about advanced business solutions, who you work with and what is ABS? So ABS has been in existence close to 20 years. We primarily started out working with banks and credit unions in a troubled economy time. My, my history is, is financial service. And then we have grown so much over the years that a lot of our banks and credit unions have referred their small and medium business clients to us because we understand finance, we understand operations, we understand operational efficiencies, we understand all of our team in some form or fashion are small and medium business owners.

6:11So we serve financial service institutions in basically anything they need with the exception of taxes. Small and medium business, we can usually serve them in about 100 % of what they need to depending on their type or their industry. We do a lot of strategic planning, a lot of coaching, a lot of recruiting, a lot of interim staffing, a lot of operational efficiency, a lot of marketing, a lot of virtual assistants, those types of things. Probably my favorite, though, with our small and medium business clients is coaching them how to not have to do the traditional marketing. Not that I'm against traditional marketing, but we have grown to be a multi-million dollar company with really no marketing.

6:54We have grown a hundred percent by referral. And so it's really, how do you, how do you get it where you, your, your marketing is sending thank you notes to those people that have shared people with you. And that, that's probably my biggest personal passion. I have an amazing team that we've grown over the years, but what we do is we listen a lot and we help people solve their problems. Well, what is going on in your industry that you serve right now? You know, obviously there's a lot of movement and, you know, some sectors, there's a lot of, you know, uncertainty, I would say in terms of like, oh, this is happening.

7:34No, no, this is happening. What's going on in the banking world? Well, in the banking world, it's the same as I think a lot of the other industries. There's uncertainty with when you have new, when you have changes in Washington, especially in a highly regulated field, there's uncertainty what's coming next. And I tell our financial service clients, and I actually told one of our medium-sized business clients this morning, I said, stay focused on what you do best and don't chase the squirrels. Stay focused on your niche, Stay focused on what you do best. Stay focused on your core and don't chase those squirrels.

8:14And, but yeah, in financial service, it's a lot about, hmm, what's, what's, what regulations are going to change or what's the economy going to do? And there's a lot of watching. There's a lot of predicting, which I kind of chuckle a little bit at. And it's, there's a lot of uneasiness, which is sad to me. I think if people just stay focused on, hey, I'm put here to serve this industry or I'm put here to serve this client base and listen to what they're struggling with, you can serve them a lot better and you don't get stuck up in all the noise. Yeah. Well, so I want to make sure I understand.

8:56So you are working with banks. Is that correct? Or financial institutions? Can you just make sure? So I want to know that who needs to be connecting with you? that's listening right now. And I'd say in particular, what might be the gaps or pain points that they might be experiencing to say, oh, I need to grab a call with Sandy? Well, I will tell you from your podcast, probably any small or medium business owner. And why is if they have a pain point of I'm not growing as fast as I want to, or I'm not growing the way I want to, or I'm not even sure how to get clients, or I need some more capital, but I don't know.

9:33I keep getting turned down by my bank. That's another one we get a lot of. It's like, all right, let's look at your books. Let's look at where you're at. Let's look, do you really need additional funding? What are the options? And those are the type probably that are your listeners, I'd say, that we can serve. We can serve those small and medium business owners. My husband and I own five businesses. Four of them are considered the small and medium business market. We've been there. We've done that. We've been successful at it. We've sold some. So if they're getting ready to start a business or if they're kind of at a, I'm not having fun in my business anymore.

10:11And they maybe are looking at selling. Let's talk. If they can't grow, if they're at the point where like, I'm not even sure what to do with my business. I would love to talk to them and see if we can help them. And so it seemed like there was kind of a wide swath there. And so again, we'll, we'll make sure to share the link to your website where, where I think, you know, folks might want to go to kind of figure out, you know, where they belong. Sandy, you know, I really appreciated your advice on the, you know, the moments of silence and how valuable that is. I'm hoping maybe you could maybe share a couple of, based on like everything that you see, the world that you live in, like if you were to say, if you were to give two pieces of advice for founders, leaders that are listening to us right now, based on everything that you know, and you see, like what couple of areas of their business might you say, you know what, you probably want to pay attention to this.

11:10And here's a couple of ideas. Anything come to mind? Well, I think I heard two different questions in there. One is, yeah, one is one piece of advice. And I think the biggest piece of advice I give anybody is get really clear on what problem you're solving for people. People don't really pay you a billion dollars just because you work hard. They pay you based on the problem you're solving for them. So get really clear and listen. It's like, what is a problem I can solve that can't be replaced by technology or other people because I do it in a unique way? I think really get clear on what problem you're solving.

11:50That clarity brings a lot of clarity in every other piece of your business going down. I think the other question you asked is what should they be watching for? And again, I think it's what problems you're solving. In every one of the businesses my husband and I own, we are constantly saying, what problem are we trying to solve? Or what problem is out there that only we can solve for these people the best way? And I say that same thing, whether you're a body shop owner, you know, why are you the best body shop? Why are you, you're solving the problem of fixing these cars? What sets you apart? You know, what problem are, a lot of that is asking questions and listening, but I think really it focuses down into one thing and that is what problem are you solving and why do you do it best or how do you do it best?

12:39And that is a hard question for someone to answer on their own without talking it out with someone. Yeah. Sandy, to our friend that's listening right now, what are their next steps? And again, in your work with SMBs, what do you usually talk about in your first conversation or two? We ask a lot of questions, why they're in business, what they love about their business, how they got started, what challenges they see, what problem they're solving. We spend about 30 minutes just asking, almost like a podcast interview. We ask a lot of questions. And then we can take those questions and dive down deeper.

13:23um that really uncovers you know we had a conversation with somebody that after 15 minutes we realized they started this because they just needed money and it was something they could easily start nothing wrong with that but let's work through what you're passionate about um so really if they wanted to talk to us one they can go to our website abs-core.com nothing to do with your stomach and there's a contact us there or they can reach out to me on LinkedIn or they can they can even email me it's really my email's real easy it's s-m-o-l-l so small but with an o at abs-core.com and in their subject line if they put um josh pod josh's podcast then i'll know where they're coming from um josh's podcast um you know josh it's you have figured out and i i feel honored to be on here.

14:19You have figured out who, what problem you're trying to solve. And you can only do it the way Josh does it by bringing different people to those small and medium businesses. You've, you've got this figured out. You're like, this is the, this is the problem I'm solving. This is how I'm solving it. No one else can be Josh. Um, and we can help others do that, figure that out. I like that. Uh, I think a lot of it is trial and error. Yes. Yes. That's not the ideal way maybe uh you know getting your nose bloodied for years and years and years but eventually you know you don't throw in the towel you kind of figure out what not to do enough times that uh well i got nothing else to do but this so it works yes and sandy mall uh great conversation again ceo founder of abs uh again advanced business solutions found on the web at abs s-core.com.

15:12Sandy, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Josh.

15:20If you've enjoyed this conversation, I'd love to invite you to share your message with the world at podverified.com, where thousands of podcast hosts and thoughtful guests are connecting the right way. Podverified helps match you with the right stages for your level of authority. No more wasting time on brand new shows that just aren't a fit. Your guest authority score is free. And so are your first two podcast matches. Come hang out with me there. I'd love to learn more about your business, support your mission, and help promote you far and wide. Just head to www.podverified.com to get started.

16:03And of course, if you'd like to be a guest right here on The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, just go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. Thanks for being a part of this movement. We rise by lifting others.