#4: How to Build an Advisory Board with Shannon Wilburn, CEO & Co-Founder of Just Between Friends
Shannon Wilburn, CEO & Co-Founder of Just Between Friends, grew her consignment business with her biz partner, Daven Tackett, from their first sale in her living room and $2000 in sales to a franchise system with 151 locations in 32 states and is on track to exceed 34 Million in system wide sales this year. Whoa!
Today, Shannon talks about who are the RIGHT people to go to for business advice and HOW she was able to create a panel of experts in her own company who are available whenever she needs them without having to spend a fortune!
She decided to start an advisory board, which consists of four members with different levels of expertise who meet quarterly for a couple of hours to discuss the business. They have standing agenda items which they tend to each meeting, and then go into discussing new business.
For Shannon, her advisory board was about finding the right people to help guide and grow her business. She was looking for a good fit in a trusted advisor instead of someone who didn’t have the time and means to dedicate to her.
You can follow Shannon on Instagram @shannonwilburn or visit learn more about Just Between Friends here.
What is the secret to scaling with joy? It’s simple- making more profit with less stress. To find out how to make more profit and work less, visit https://tenprofitdrivers.com. Yes, it’s possible to grow your company without adding on complicated programs, products or divisions. These are the same simplified growth methods that I have used over and over with my own private consulting clients and national brands, in info products, retail e-commerce, and service.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:00):
This is the Scale with Joy show, episode four: Scaling with Help.
(00:08):
Welcome to the Scale with Joy show, a podcast about scaling your company while living your most purposeful life, because here's the thing: there are no rules to say you can't grow a massively profitable empire and have joy in the everyday. My name is Laura Meyer and let's get started.
(00:33):
If you've been hanging around the entrepreneurial circles long enough, you're probably going to find that many of the conversations are based around WHAT. What programs should you be doing, what Facebook ads should you be running, what mastermind should you be part of? But I'm going to challenge you today with thinking more about WHO. Who are you surrounding yourself with as you scale your company and are those people truly helpful to where you want to go? Because here's the thing, you can follow so many different people hiking up the mountain, but is it the same mountain that you want to climb. Today you're going to hear from my longtime friend, Shannon Wilburn. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Just Between Friends consignment sales which, you will find them across the country and if you are a mom in the suburbs, likely you have been to one. I know that I've been to several myself looking for lower priced secondhand children's items that your kids tend to go through very quickly. In this episode Shannon talks about who are the right people to go to for business advice and how she was able to create her own panel of experts, what she calls an advisory board, in her own company who are available whenever she need them without having to spend a fortune. Don't miss my "aha" moment in this interview with Shannon coming up next on the Scale with Joy show.
(01:58):
Hey everybody and welcome. I am here with Shannon Wilburn, she's the founder and CEO of Just Between Friends consignment sale and I would love Shannon just for you to just get started and letting us know a little bit about how you started and then where you are today with your business.
Shannon (02:13):
Absolutely, thank you for having me, Laura. So, my company is called Just Between Friends and we are a franchise system and our concept is basically a marketplace for families to buy and sell gently used children's and maternity clothes, toys and baby equipment. And we do that by having our franchise owners market to their territories. They have protected territories and they market to families. Really our core demographic is families with children ages 0-5 and they market to them to bring their gently used children's and maternity clothes, toys and baby equipment to an event that is a really short event, typically two times a year in each territory, where families can come and sell their items. They're called consigners and shoppers can purchase items at 50 to 90% off. And our concept also has a real fun little culture piece to it where all of our franchises benefit in part local nonprofits. And at the end of 2018, um, I think in our, in our metrics that since the inception of our franchise system that our consigners and all of 151 territories in 31 States had given away $23 million.
(03:28):
After thousands of people come through and shop, there's always things that are unsold and families can determine if they want to donate that or if they want to come back and pick it up, and so that's kind of a little fun cause there's life after even our events those items can go to families maybe who don't have money to come shop. So, it's really fun. We've been franchising for 15 years and we're located in the great state of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma. We've loved it.
Laura (04:05):
A lot of people don't think of you as the stereotypical like corporate franchise or 31 States, hundreds of locations, you know, hundreds of sales. And when you started, you probably felt like, I mean, did you have this big vision to get it to this point?
Shannon (04:21):
No, I didn't. I will tell you kind of an entry point into why we even started this concept. When I was 12 years old, my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he was CFO at an oil and gas company. So we have plenty of money, had just built a beautiful custom home, had two brand new cars in the driveway. I have a twin sister, so we were 12 and we had clothes in our closet with tags on them and really wanted for nothing. And then he got sick and went on disability and went from a cane to a walker to a wheelchair in six weeks. And my sister and I learned that that was not how everyone lived. We had to be introduced to the budget and this is your clothing budget, Shannon and Tara and this is how much you have to spend for the entire year on your clothes. And we realized that our money was not going to go very far. We learned about consignment as an early junior high girl and not to buy anything unless you absolutely loved it and not to pay full price. And so that was kind of my introduction into consignment was just the need I had in my own life to still wear hip clothes and still be perceived well with my attire. When I got married, I married a pastor, a youth pastor, so not a vow of poverty, but close to it. We shopped consignment for ourselves and when we had kids, we continued to shop consignment and I wanted to stay home with my kids.
(05:51):
So that was kind of the real impetus behind just between friends is, I wanted to stay home, so I had to find a way to contribute to my family’s income. It was not, hey I want to have a franchise system. It was like, hey I have friends who dress their kids really cute and I'll get to shop in their closet first. So my cofounder, Devin Tackett and I started the company in 1997 in my living room and we convinced 17 of our friends to bring us their gently used children's and maternity clothing and we sold $2,000 in my living room. Someone tried to buy my couch, we used the kitchen drawers as cash drawer, and that's how it started.
(06:30):
And it just a need in my life to be able to buy gently used items. And apparently it wasn't need in a lot of people's lives. And I think going through, we didn't start franchising until we had done the business in Tulsa for six years and kept having moms in other states and cities come to us and say, hey will you help me get started? And so no business training here. Now of course I have real, real experience, but my degree is elementary education and my cofounders degree was journalism. So we had skills like everyone has, but just maybe not necessarily in the places that we need to them to grow a business.
Laura (07:14):
So when you felt like you needed to level up your skills, like let's say as you're growing your, you know, scaling, you know, this is starting to unfold. The path is starting to become clear that this is going to become bigger than your living room. Right. What were some of those points in which you were like, I'm going to have to get some help here?
Shannon (07:37):
That really started from the beginning Laura. I knew that I did not know anything about business. I'm a good question asker. And so I would ask questions and if I didn't know how to do something, I was scrappy enough to figure out how to get it done. And case in point, you know, for those people who are listening, I'm 49 and I started this when I was 27, so I've been doing it for what, 22 years now. And if you can think way back when, I mean internet had just come about and email had just come about. So, you know, small business did not have a presence on the internet, but I was like, I need to get us online and like, how do I do this? So we had first hired someone to do it for us and they were nonresponsive. They weren't changing the website when we needed things to be changed.
(08:32):
And I was like, I can do this. So I took a class at the local community college and learned how to do my own website. And I was the oldest, I think I was 30 at the time when I took the class, 30 or 35. I was in my thirties. And everyone in the class was college aged and they could tell that I was the only person. But anyway, we figured it out, got online and that was kind of just, that's kind of how I do things. I either figure out how to do it myself or I get someone with more expertise to be able to execute on my company's behalf. And that's worked really well for us and many, many, many. I have thousands of examples.
Laura (09:14):
And so I think for some people they may be at a point in their business right now where they're kind of feeling like, I do need that extra help, but they have a little bit of shame maybe around being like, I should know this. If I had just had an MBA, if I just always connected, you know they may be feeling bad about themselves for feeling like they, maybe they should be doing better or know better. What would you say to that person?
Shannon (09:40):
So first of all, I'm going to recommend a book called the EMyth. I don't know, have you read that book, Laura?
Laura (09:46):
Yes. Yes. And I highly recommend it too.
Shannon (09:49):
It talks about scaling your business and if you want to scale your business, there are certain things that you need to do. And what I took away from this book among many things, was the fact that when you're an entrepreneur and you want to scale your business, when you start it, you have to create an organizational chart for your company. You know, if you want to be the CEO, you put yourself at the top. If you want to bring on other C level people, a chief marketing officer, a chief financial officer, whatever the guidance in the book is to envision yourself 20 years from where you are now and what will your company need 20 years from now to continue operating and continue to grow and continue to be successful and think about all those things. Okay, well this will be the financial department, this will be the marketing department and I'll need a social media person. I'll need a digital marketing person. I'll need a content person and I need this department and I've got to put these people in these positions.
(10:50):
And he said, get those bubbles written down, your organizational structure and then put your name in every spot. And as you go through scaling your business yourself, those things that you are doing in your business, whether it's emptying the trash or taking care of the accounting or taking care of the website or coaching other people, whatever it is, the things that take you longer and that you hate to do are areas where you have to use your accommodating skills to do them and it takes longer and you're not as efficient with your time and so the the goal is for you to put someone else's name in that spot as soon as possible because then you then get to go work in your strengths.
(11:42):
Understanding your strengths is a good place to be. I think also, a lot of times it may not be our pride saying, oh gosh, I should be able to do this, it is money a lot of the time. Right. I want to give an example on pride. I had a mastermind group of four women. It was me and three women. We were all small business owners, a few years ago and we would meet every six weeks to talk about challenges, issues, successes, just kind of get together to brain dump because if you're a business woman, that may not be your circle of friends. You know, it's hard sometimes to have those business conversations with people who maybe are not interested in talking about metrics and your marketing strategy and all of that. It was really good for me to be able to have a group of friends that were also in the same boat and we could talk about those things. And so, we got together, and one was like, oh my gosh, my blog, I'm doing this on my blog. And another was like, I'm doing this on my blog and I'm doing, the other one was like, I'm doing this on my blog. And they're like, what are you doing on your blog? And I was like, ahh I don’t have a blog.
(12:48):
They were like, you don't have a blog? You know, and I don't let people guilt me.
Laura (12:53):
Did you feel a little blog shammed?
Shannon (12:54):
No, I didn't. I probably should have. They convinced me, you really need to do this, this is great for your marketing strategy. And so I went home, I was like, okay. I was mad. So I sat down, I remember where I sat, I think I may take a picture of myself cause I was like, I am writing a blog. I sat down for five hours, five hours to write this blog and I was like this is crazy. And then I had to do it the next week and I'm like this is not, I am not spending, have you heard of genius time? Like it's no way to spend your time. And I was like, I don't like doing this. The end product is not that great. And so I picked up the phone and called someone and hired them to write my blog.
(13:56):
If I can't do it and we need to be doing it for our franchise owners, we got to get this done. But that was really freeing honestly, to take some business advice, know that it's not my strength and put someone else in that position. But that all that has not always been the case, right? Cause it takes funds to secure people I think you have to be really strategic about where you put your funds. And what I have seen in my business, I know this is not for everyone, but when you get to that certain point where you need to make a hire but you're like, ah that's going to be $30,000 or $50,000 or $100,000, whatever, you know the need is. And you're like, that's not going to go in my pocket now. But what it does for your work life balance, for the longevity of your company can be significant. And so you have to kind of look at that as an investment. I know for, I think for the first, like five years of both of the businesses I've started, I don't think I paid myself. And I was reinvesting those funds back into the business so that we could get to the point to where we are now.
Laura (15:14):
Yes, and if some people are listening, they're like five years. Franchising, that is the path of franchising. So Shannon and I met because I had franchised my company and it takes a long time to become profitable as a franchisor, and that's just to know about that path. That doesn't necessarily mean that all paths are five years to profitability.
Shannon (15:34):
We bootstrapped our company. So we did not invest or take any venture capital or private equity or anything like that. I don't know that they would've had us. So I just didn't even know you could ask for people to invest in your company. This is before I knew any of that stuff. So we just kind of made it work and ate beans and rice sometimes. But anyway, it worked out.
Laura (16:02):
So good. Are there any other points in your journey where then you had to level up again who you are either surrounding yourself with or the types of programs that you were investing in?
Shannon (16:16):
So it's interesting that you're asking this question because I had a breakfast this morning with another gal that's in franchising and I was kind of telling her this story that about three years ago we made the decision that we weren't going to bring on an advisory board. Not a board of trustees, not a board of directors with fiduciary responsibilities, but these are basically a board of advisors. So people who are really smart and wise in their own area of expertise. And I didn't need a full time person in that role, but I needed someone who I could pick up the phone and call him at a moment's notice and get a tidbit of good information and they would know about my company. I wouldn't have to spend an hour, you know, onboarding them to what Just Between Friends is and where we were. And it took me, I think we decided in 2016 that we were going to move in that direction, but I had to actually budget for it for my 2017 calendar and then we had to find the right people for the right seats.
(17:18):
And so kind of as I was going through it, I was thinking, where are my areas of weakness in leadership? For me that was technology. I care about technology, I want technology, I want our franchisees to have technology, but the time and effort that it takes to fully understand all of that and execute on the project management of getting it going and all of that. I had done that for years, but we were to a different point where we needed someone with a higher level of expertise than Shannon Wilburn. And I was looking for a technology person. I was looking for a financial person. I have financial acumen to a limited degree and that's been learned over 22 years of doing business, but lots of blind spots and really don't want to work on that side of it. I want the end result of that being done well, but I don't want to spend the time on it myself.
(18:23):
And so I needed some advisors there and I needed just a generalist in franchising, lots of experience in franchising. And I wanted someone else who had founded their company to come alongside me, someone who had founded their company and made a successful exit, to come along side me and help us figure out those blind spots. Maybe what we're doing wrong and had time to give to us. Right? So they had exited so they would have time and they weren't growing their company at a fast rate we were. So that those were the people that I went to look for. We now have four advisory board members and we implemented that in July of 2017 and it was kind of, if I'm being honest with this group, it started coming becoming apparent that maybe my capacity to lead in those areas was very limiting on the company. And so it's just kind of looking at your area of weaknesses and putting someone in that spot where it's their favorite thing to do. And then, you know it’s fun. So we put that in place. We have quarterly meetings with them and they have helped in a significant way in our growth trajectory in two and a half, three years in like in a big way, a big, big way.
Laura (19:56):
What is the secret to scaling with joy? It's simple: making more profit with less stress And to find out how to make more profit and work less, visit www.tenprofitdrivers.com or head to the link in the show notes where I share my top 10 favorite ways to create more financial margin and time freedom using the resources you already have. Yes, it's possible to grow your company without adding on complicated programs, products or divisions. These are the same simplified growth methods that I've used over and over with my own private consulting clients and national brands, in info products, retail, eCommerce and service. That's www.tenprofitdrivers.com, also available in the show notes. Now, back to the show.
Laura (20:45):
Is it okay to ask like do you pay these people?
Shannon (20:48):
I do pay them. I also paid someone to help me put this together and, I'm going to tell you that I don't pay them much and it's going to depend on who you ask, what they will work for. Right? If this were a true board, a true board of directors or whatever, lots of times, what I've been told, they get paid off of if it's a publicly held company, they may be shareholders and have some type of equity. If it's a private company, they may just get an annual salary or get paid per board meeting or whatever. And so the, I think it's just really important if you need to setup an advisory board to communicate upfront. Like, this is what I have to pay you. I totally understand if you're like, peace out, I'm not doing it for that, but I have to pay you. I'd love your expertise.
(21:45):
This is not a life sentence. Being on my board, if it's not working out for you, the time invested for the money, is not working for you, then hey tell me. We'll still be friends. I'll still probably call you on the side when I need advice, but you won't have to attend meetings. And we just do, we do two hour phone calls. Right. Cause I'm trying to limit the expense, every quarter. And then we do one, one of those quarters, it's usually in the summertime, like it's coming up July 30th in Minneapolis. I'm meeting with my advisory board and they're just flying in for one night. We'll have a three hour in person meeting, we'll go to dinner and then everyone can go home the next day.
(22:28):
So it's just, it's just a little bit of face time cause all the other ones are just, you know, phone conversations. And I will tell you, I don't pay them much, like $500 per meeting. So that if that's a little benchmark for someone, what does that, like $250 an hour typically? So I pay for their expenses if they're flying in, pay for their hotel, all of that kind of stuff. So I budget about $10,000 for my advisory board, but the value that they bring to me, even if I had the funds to, you know, pay $100,000 and get, you know, a level of expertise that I felt like I needed, I feel like these guys, honestly, I think these guys are doing, like, one of them just tells me to give it to charity. Like none of them need $500.
(23:24):
It's more of the process of you're putting in time for me. So I want to appreciate you in that way. But honestly all of them could demand thousands of dollars for a meeting. But it's again, it's just a thank you for your time, you know? Take your wife out to dinner or take your kids to the park. I don't know. I don't know. I think if you, if you have relationships with people and you know, that ask it, especially I think, just totally Shannon's opinion, if you tell him it's not a life sentence and we're not asking for a 10 year commitment or even a three year commitment, this is, you know, let's see if this works for us. If it doesn't work for us then and honestly if it doesn't work for me either, like we have exited someone from our advisory board already and it's only been in play three years. We just did that because they could never, they were never available for the meetings and I was just like, hey I need to replace you.
(24:34):
That's not exactly what I said, but I was like, hey, I know you haven't had time to go to these meetings cause he had a life change in the time that I asked him to be on the board. And you know, these things, these things happen, your life changes, your work life balance changes and then all of a sudden you can't give the time you thought to something. And I kind of wanted to let him off the hook. Like don't feel guilty. I'm still going to use you on the phone, I'll call you when I need you. But you don't have to make a commitment to attending an advisory board meeting. So I think he was sad but also relieved. You know, you're like, I want to do this but I don't really have time.
Laura (25:12):
Did anybody say, I can't imagine anyone saying no to you Shannon, but did anybody say no?
Shannon (25:18):
So when he exited, we needed to fill his position. So I've spent about three or four months, like really praying about it. The rest of the advisory board and myself made a list. Cause at that point we had been together two, two years or so. We made a list of people who we thought could be in that position. And I made the ask to two different people cause I thought, well if one doesn't say yes, I want the other one to say yes. What if they both say no, you know? And so I made the ask to two people fully knowing that I might get two people and I would be just overjoyed with that. And the one, the one that said yes, we communicated often and the one that I still haven't heard from. I took that as a no. I will see him here soon and yell at him for not getting back to me and he'll make fun of me for not getting back to him.
Laura (26:25):
Yup. You'll see the person at IFA or something, which is the International Franchise Association conference where I met Shannon for the first time and there'll be like, oh, that's right, there's that email from you.
Shannon (26:35):
I sent him an email and I had a phone call with him, but I told him we're not in a hurry. So that may have been it. He leads a huge brand with over a thousand franchises and I'm sure he is in the weeds of his own growth stage and it's not the right time. And so it's easier sometimes not to, not to answer and you know than to pick up the phone and call and say, you know. I think I'll see him, and he'll be like, oh, I haven't gotten back to, you know.
Laura (27:17):
Shannon, this is so good. And I feel like it's so helpful. And I think there's probably a whole handful of people that are watching that are like, oh, I need an advisory board. I don't even know that this was a thing. I think that it's going to be mind blowing.
Shannon (27:33):
I'll tell you what the hardest part is, which is the updates. So unless you're a really detailed oriented person, which that's not me, I send them an update a week before the advisory board meeting and that gives them some time to read the 8 or 10 or 12 or 30 pages that I happen to send them on what's happened in the last three months and where we're going. And the agenda always has, the first four things on the agenda are the standing agenda items, which are, we need to talk about the finances or even just touch on it. We need to talk about the marketing. We need to talk about the operations and we need to talk about development. And so I give them updates from all of those departments a week ahead of time. And then there's this section for new business. So if we're thinking about doing something extra, or I want their expertise in something as a group, I'll put that there. The last section is what keeps me up at night. Shannon's concerns.
(28:25):
And lots of times that's like, oh, I'm being a sucky leader right now. Give me some advice. You know, or I don't know how to handle where this particular project or whatever is going. I don't know how to get out of it, or I don't know how to move it forward. And they're able to then give me good advice. I'll tell you that one of the guys on the board also coaches me on the side and he said, Shannon, you're the most excellent person to have to advise because you execute on our suggestions. And I think, you know, it's really, it's really important to keep in mind if you're asking for someone's advice, even if you don't take it, get back to them and say, you know, thank you for that, that advice.
(29:14):
We chose to go a different way. And here's why. Because you know, they're spending their time, effort, and you know how it is when you give someone advice, even in a spousal relationship, you give someone the advice and they don't take it. You're like, well why did they even ask? Or why did they need my help? And so I think if you're asking questions and want to move forward, the people that you're asking their advice, you need to be able to fully trust that they have your best interest and that they understand your culture, right. Cause it's hard, that was a big thing when we, when I talked about my culture. We have a Christian company and you don't have to be a Christian to be a part of my advisory board or even a franchisee or part of my staff, but you, you better believe it that you're going to know that I'm a Christian.
(30:07):
And so I wanted them to know that, hey, we're going to start our meetings in prayer and we're going to end our meetings in prayer. And if you're not okay with that, you probably need to say no. And, I'm going to talk about what the Lord is doing in my business in these meetings. And if that makes you uncomfortable, you probably should say no and I'm going to give you personal prayer requests in my updates and you know, it might have nothing to do with the business and I'm happy to pray for you, your personal stuff too. I don't know, it just, I feel like they're friends, cause they know you, they have your back. And so I trust them and I know that they're giving, when they're giving advice, it's based on their knowledge of where I am in my role and, and not just ancillary advice, anecdotal advice that they would give to anyone. They're really taking my story and my position and my beliefs and my culture into advice.
Laura (31:07):
And as I'm listening, what's so neat is that I'm hearing, you know, as you were talking I was kind of hearing people's what their objections might be. Like, well how would I get somebody to do that for me for such little money? Or how would I find these people? And the thing, a couple of things that are standing out to me when I'm hearing you speak, which is first is just ask. The second thing is, is be fun to coach, be somebody who's fun to coach and I've been a part of coaching programs and I offer coaching programs and it's always the people that are enjoyable to coach that get the most out of it, right? Cause we're going to do more for that person. Like if you show up with a smile and you're like, wow, I haven't thought of that, that makes me uncomfortable, which is probably good.
(31:48):
So let's, let's step into this. Let's walk into this. Or when you weigh it against maybe something that they didn't know about your company, but you get back to them on that, that makes you fun to coach. It makes you fun to be around. And most, most very successful people didn't get there by being selfish and hoarding all their knowledge. People are successful because they've been generous. They like seeing somebody like Shannon or like me or like you, the listener, win. They like that, they enjoy that. It's part of their giving back. So when you were taking action, do it with that idea of like they want me to win and this is something they enjoy doing if they have time for it, they're going to say.
Shannon (32:26):
Yeah, I agree. So I want to, I want to give an example. There's a gentleman here, I say gentlemen, he's 27 he's so young. When he reached out to me last year through a mutual friend, I think someone had said, hey, you need to talk to Shannon. So anytime someone is thinking about franchising locally, they are like, you need to have a conversation Shannon. And so I do this often. And so they will set up a meeting, a phone call a breakfast, whatever. And so last year I got a call from this guy who had a concept that he had started, they were about a year into their concept and his goal was like every entrepreneur that I've ever met, grow it and sell it And that's, that's your goal. So he came to me and I was like, well, you're not ready.
(33:19):
And honestly, I gave him an hour and a half worth of what I felt like was raining on his parade or crushing his dream or whatever you call it. Like you're, you're far away from where you need to be in order to scale this, like you've got work to do. And he took copious notes the whole time we were meeting and then he went back to his office and typed up his next steps, wrote out the notes that he said, this is what I heard you say, this is what I'm going to do. Are we on the same page? And I was dumbfounded. Like, wow. I mean he looks sharp. He had done some great things in his business where it was succeeding locally, but I was like, there was this huge gap in what where he needed to be and that's okay because you have to start somewhere, right.
(34:16):
You have to start somewhere. I started in my living room, you know, and so when he sent that to me, I was like, okay, this is not normal. Like I mentor people, coach people. Most of the times the conversation, they take notes. But I think that was the first time ever someone had gotten back to me same day, like within a couple of hours with what they were going to do based on what I had said. And it made me feel good, he actually heard me, and I didn’t just wait an hour and a half. And so exactly what you are saying. And, so that was a year ago and he reached out last month and he said, hey Shannon, and I'd like to meet with you again, show you where we're at, show you our plans, get your advice again. So met with him last Friday and met with him again. Same thing. He took copious notes when we got home. I had said, you need to connect with this person, need to connect with this person, you need to go to this conference, you need to listen to this podcast. But I mean, just, I probably overwhelmed him and he went home. He said, these are my next steps, and these are your next steps, Shannon because you're going to make introductions to these three people and you're going to send me that and show me where I can find this. And so, I got his notes back and my next steps and his next steps. And I was like, okay, well I can't be the slacker here.
Laura (35:46):
I have to say from, you know, from my perspective of having Shannon help me when I was franchising my business and scaling and growing, it was such a blessing. And you know, Shannon and I met like at a franchise conference and I was like, oh my gosh, I've been to your sales. They're so great. And she was like, great. And like I was like, oh way she remembered me. Six months later she called me and asked me to be part of her Christian based mastermind retreat. We call it the advanced group, which was one of the biggest blessings in my life, my career to date and it was, there was amazing relationships that lasted well past the point where I was being, I was franchising my business, which was amazing.
(36:32):
And I would just say that like whenever you go into any relationship, think about what you're giving the person that you're asking first. When Shannon approached me, I was immediately like, wow, what could I do for you in return? Like how can I contribute to this group? What can I bring to the table? Cause I was the baby of the group. You know, there was national brands that were part of our advanced group. Thanks so much. This whole idea of cultivating relationships and never knowing maybe that person will be on your advisory board. Maybe they won't. Maybe it's somebody who could be in a mastermind with you and always thinking like, what can I do to contribute before I take, if you can just keep that mindset going. If you're kind of listening to Shannon and you're like, how would she have checked with this person and with that person, how are people seeking her out?
(37:29):
It's that, it's that constant cycle of, of contributing, without worrying too much about what you're going to get return and trusting that the Lord rewards generosity and having that trust in that faith and his favor on your life and leadership. Thank you, Shannon, for just being so honest and transparent and being you, which I knew that as part of this series that you would bless so many people and I think that advisory board idea is something that like, I think there's many so many leaders who didn't even know that they needed it.
(38:06):
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The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.