Or do you prefer Mike Neal, Dr. Neal? Dr. Mike
Neal once or twice, just so people realize I'm
not Joe Blow off the internet. That's all. There
we go. It makes perfect sense because it's important,
you know, and I want everybody to realize that
too. So welcome in to Vision Pros. Dr. Mike Neal
has earned his position as a doctor. And that's
super important for us to realize because people
who have put in that much diligence to be able
to gain their education, gain their craft, they
have, I might call it a little bit obsessive.
People who get to that level of education. And
that's a good thing because it's like, wow, they've
uncovered every nook, cranny and corner. of uh
the surface of of the things that they lead on
and we're talking about we're going to talk about
optometry a little bit today we're also going
to talk about culture leadership and team and
what things dr mike has learned about as he's
been building his business but thank you mike
as well for also being a human being that is
a rare um and and super well received reality
um did you ever have a time in your life where
you required people to say doctor every time?
And was there an evolution there? Or were you
always human slash doctor? Well, I don't know
that I've ever identified completely. I mean,
a doctor is not who I am. It's what I do. Truthfully,
I'm an entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist's
body. That would be the most accurate thing to
say. There it is. Okay. That's totally fair.
I remember the first doctor I met who literally,
I was 16 and I was a new patient of his and he
walks in long hair and says, hey, what's your
name? I said, Jackson. He said, call me Dean.
And I was like, this guy's cool. And so I love
what you talked about in the book. You can't
teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar. The
first chapter is my favorite chapter of probably
any secular book. It talks about your R versus
your I, your role versus your identity. So thank
you for leading with that because I believe wholeheartedly
in the same concept. Our identity is not our
role. Continue with that. Yeah. Wow. That's a
great title. I haven't read that, but I wholeheartedly
agree with it. You know, what would be part of
my identity is helping people. I, that takes
all kinds of different forms, of course. And
just generally trying to get people to have a
little bit of a better day than, than they would
otherwise, if I'm around, you know, or when I'm
around, I should say. So that's kind of my thing.
It's simple. I love it. I absolutely love that.
You know, they, they say a smile. Oh, I'm right.
or a simple how are you can make an impact on
people, can change the world. And I'm also of
that mindset and believe that. So speaking of
Dr. Mike, what are three resources that you recommend
for other visionaries that have helped you get
to where you are currently? Well, there's things
and there's books, but I want to zoom out a little
bit on that. I would say number one, if you're
not reading because you don't have time or you're
not reading because of, and I don't just mean
reading Amazon books, audio books, whatever,
but if you're not consuming the wisdom of the
past, boy, oh boy, I think it's a, you got a
tough road ahead of you on the entrepreneur side.
There's this really interesting quote that I.
I wrote down the other day. I'm just pulling
that up as we talk. It's by Aldous Huxley. That
men do not learn very much from the lessons of
history is the most important of all the lessons
of history. So I think reading is fantastic for
entrepreneurs in trying their absolute best to
not repeat the mistakes of others. And as far
as specific books go, one that I... absolutely
love um well there's a couple that i absolutely
love um uh oh no of course i'm blanking on the
name i'll have to come back to that but um it's
it's that fellow maybe you've read it i don't
know why i'm blanking on it um it's that fellow
that studied rockefeller napoleon hill that's
what that's the author and what was the name
of his book i've read like six can grow rich
Think and grow rich. Bingo. Yeah. Boy, oh boy.
So read that book. I've heard of it millions
of times, probably a thousand times. And I'm
one of the few people who decided not to read
it yet. So, you know, I understand that. And
the title is so misleading because it's all about
money, money, money. It's not. It's how to build
incredibly effective, extremely high value organizations.
And I wish that it didn't have the word money
in the title, but hey, it's not my book. Well,
it has rich, right? So it's that misconception
of like, it's not money, but it alludes to it.
You're right. Yeah. And you're right. It doesn't
have money in the title, but rich can mean a
highly joyful, wonderful life, but that's not
how people take it. Anyway, my point with that
book is that I've read that, I think, six times.
So many modern business self -help type books,
like advice books, they all come from that. It
is remarkable how many things appeal back to
that book. And I think it was written in 1937
or something like that. And so that is truly
one of the foundational books that I recommend
to people to start there. Love that. By the way,
and it is three resources. So I love that you
started with wisdom of the past because a resource
kind of like the word rich, it's meant to be
expansive. It's not meant to just be a book,
but the three things that have empowered you,
you know, and that's that you can get real creative
with that if you want to. Yeah. Well, another
one is learning. To be a lifelong learner, you're
trained to do that as a doctor. That wasn't hard
for me. But to be a lifelong learner, that takes
all kinds of forms, truly all kinds of forms.
For example, you can learn from your team. You
know, there's so many, especially in health care.
Health care is ridiculous for this, where it's
so hierarchical. All the knowledge comes from
the top. The doctors walk on water, blah, blah,
blah. Oh, my goodness. You got to be kidding
me. That is such an incredibly narrow siloed
way to, to think of things. Not up to me at all,
but Hey, guess what? You know, your team, they're
people. And in healthcare, you're in the people
business. If you're not, you're not going to
last very long, but they're all people. And so
you can learn from these folks. You can get to
be a better, a better doctor, a better business
owner, a better everything by realizing that
these aren't minions working for you. You're
working with team members. And that sometimes
gets lost on a lot of people. So that's an interesting
thing. And I think the third for me is vision.
How to, in an absolutely crystal clear way, formulate
your vision and communicate it to your team.
I think that is by far... One of the top three
things that a CEO or a business leader for that,
for lack of a better term, any leader needs to
get extraordinarily good at and completely dialed
in on so that there's no ambiguity. You can hand
off this vision to your team and they go execute.
That's where the magic happens. The really, really
extraordinarily world changing high end entrepreneurs,
you know, top 10, top 20 of. market share, Forbes,
all the CEOs you've heard of and know their names.
That's one of the things they're truly spectacular
at. And they achieve that vision no matter what.
Yep. I love, love, love what you just threw down.
Learner and learning about learning. We can drive
people away fast with this topic. And that's
okay if you're not the right person for this.
We want to respect your time. But those who really
get it, I'm just going to pull this book up and
show a little bit. This is StrengthsFinder 2
.0. And I found out my number one strength in
life was learner through that program. And one
of my other top five was visionary and being
able to lean into both, understand them, understand
how to maximize those strengths. It's one of
the greatest blessings of my life to unpack that
and uncover that through StrengthsFinder. I think
I read that when I was around 21 or so and it
completely changed my life. Marcus Buckingham.
I think you wrote the original one. And what
an incredible insight that was. Mine were very
different. Yeah, very different. Learner input,
two of the top 10 for me. Maximizers, one of
my top two. Strategic is another. Strategic and
Achiever. Achiever as well. Oh boy. I mean, time
out here for a second. If you haven't read that
book, it is, it'll save you a hundred thousand
dollars in therapy. I'll throw that one out there
right now. I mean, just love that. Love that
way to put it. Yeah. Just roll out, get the book,
take the, they even offer the strength finder
online. It will change how you approach things
in incredible ways. Cause you got to get the
code. so you can get your top five and it's totally
different than the actual book version too because
it breaks down for you my my wife and i my first
wife and i it was one of our early first dates
was we decided to do that together um it was
one of our best dates of all time we laughed
until we cried we were both learners that was
both of our first thing and her answer was completely
different of how she learns than mine we had
totally different reports um and so it is it
is an incredible resource to really unlock our
strengths so i thank you for letting me add on
to that um napoleon's think and grow rich lifelong
learner and diving into being a visionary and
those of you who are on the show those of you
who are listening i mean that's what this is
all about so dive into being a visionary with
us come on the show with us too we're gonna be
right back we're gonna dive into culture leadership
and team because dr michael has built uh a couple
of different businesses. And he's understood
the value of building with teams and visionaries.
Don't shut that idea down. If you're by yourself,
you don't have to go it alone. You don't have
to have massive amounts of capital and resources
to start to evaluate and prepare for teams. Hang
in there with this, with us on this. I know that
can be a scary topic, but we're going to do our
best to help you see how to evaluate that with
more patience with yourself, more patience with
others. And we'll try to conquer and accomplish
everything we can. over the next 30 minutes.
We'll see you guys on the other side. All right.
Welcome in to Vision Pros Live with Jackson Callum.
I'm your show host. We'll be doing interviews
for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders
who are building fantastic visions out there.
What's up, everybody? Welcome in to another episode
of Vision Pros Live. I'm your show host, Jackson
Callum, founder and CEO of First Class Business.
And I'm really excited to have Dr. Mike Neal
on with me today. He's got a brand and business
called buildmyteam .com. He's also an optometrist
and he's a bit of a serial entrepreneur. So there's
a lot that we can uncover and unpack with that.
I love talking to visionaries who've been at
it for a couple of decades because they have
a depth about them. They understand. the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that they've
come across along the way. They also understand
that entrepreneurship, it's not for the pain
of the heart. It's not easy. It's something that
is simple, but also extremely complex at the
same time. Usually the simplest things in life
are. Kind of like a baby. Anyway, I'm going to
leave that analogy where it's at. We're going
to continue with talking about some of the resources
that we want you to be able to dive into if you're
at the stage. So one, we're going to start with
Home Studio Mastery with Junaid Ahmed. He's also
the host of Hacks and Hobbies. It's a top 2 %
podcast globally. How could it not be with the
quality of studio that you see right in front
of you that he has set up? And he does studios
all over the country. He may have his first worldwide
deal actually this week. We'll see. But Dr. Daniel
of The Hair Rester. restoration uh podcast in
addition to uh we were building out the studio
for um the this advisory firm over in atlanta
it was fun to shout him and see how much depth
and detail he goes into building world -class
studios and if you're in a position where you
want to launch your vision in a way where you
are an industry leader this is one of the best
things that you can do is create an amazing environment
studio where where your industry flocks to you
and floods to you and says, man, this person's
doing things right. Start talking about the frequently
asked questions in your industry. Start interviewing
experts that are associated with what it is that
you do, and that can take you to great heights.
So let's move on to Dr. Danny Brassell. Dr. Danny
Brassell is a worldwide speaker as well. He's
become a great friend of mine. He's been working
with us for about eight months, and he has a
program called The Reading Habit. The Reading
Habit is a program to help parents inspire their
children to learn, to love, to read. And in a
world where devices are taking over, in a world
where education is still not moving at the rate
that I think most of us as parents want, he's
one of the greatest resources to help you unlock
that superpower of helping your children really
fall in love with something that can change their
life forever. As Dr. Mike just talked about,
becoming lifelong learners and making sure that
we make the effort to read. I also like something
else that Mike talked about. He talked about
not just reading books. There are ways to enhance
and amplify and improve the way that we read.
There's all sorts of new technology we can utilize.
I, again, recommend getting to know Dr. Danny
Vercel. While his price and offer you see there,
it says $2 ,997 down to $97. I've been working
with Danny on making sure that we launch a freemium
version of this program and also have a dollar
offer incorporated in it so we can help more
people throughout the world. And so that launch
is coming very soon. Let's move over to the Water
Project. The Water Project is not something that
we work directly with. It's just something that
I contribute to. When it came across my path,
I realized that there are millions of people
in this world who don't even have access to the
resource I take for granted every single day.
And I have it flowing to my house. I bet most
of you listening in do too. Well, we have the
opportunity to make an impact where this organization
is so transparent about how they go about what
they do. If you invest, if you just give even
$10 to one of these water projects, you get to
see what they're building and they send you the
proof that they built it as well. I can't think
of too many organizations where we can make more
impact. My hope is that if you know of another
organization that you'd like to see us support,
that you'll leave a comment and let us know what
the organization is. I will take a look at that
personally and see what we can do to help out.
This picture really hits my heart. It's of children
celebrating water with even more enthusiasm than
my own children celebrate Christmas Day. That's
humbling. And so you may not be in a financial
position to make an impact on a water project.
But I hope that you will use this opportunity
to perhaps talk to others the same way I'm talking
to you right now about it and see if somebody
in your network is interested in even hearing
about it. You don't even have to ask them to
contribute. Just share the idea. Your share may
lead to somebody contributing $100. $10 ,000,
$100 ,000, and making a generational impact for
thousands of people throughout the world. So
it's all about that, guys. We've got 8 billion
people to help in this world. And my hope is
to inspire you to step up and do just that. Wherever
you are, wherever you're standing, lift those
who are in need. And let's get back to lifting
you up. So I'm going to bring Dr. Mike on stage.
We'll talk about cultural leadership and team
and his vision. Dr. Mike, welcome into Vision
Pros Life. Thanks so much, Jackson. Absolutely,
man. Let's dive right in. Mike, what is your
vision? 2020. I'm just kidding. The optometrist
nailed it. Love it. Had to do it. So what I absolutely
love is to create game -changing experiences
for people. And I'm able to do that with a team.
create the vision of what this game -changing
experience will be for people and assemble the
team that will do an absolutely phenomenal job
with it. And that's what I've done with Build
My Team. We've created a way to hire people without
using resumes to do that in a mostly automated
fashion that's extremely effective at getting
these A players onto your team. And that's the...
the long and the short of it would build my team.
Huge. That's such a huge vision. And in the wrong
context or the wrong people, such a dangerous
proposition as well. Right. It's kind of like
cryptocurrency people who are going to promise
to get you rich. It's like, you know, there's
people who can, and you know, there's people
who are probably doing that ethically, but there's
so few and far between that it can be, it can
be hard to really appreciate the value of what
was, you know, what's said in that environment.
So let's not tarnish this opportunity. I'm looking
at you saying, I like the way this guy represents
himself. I really like the way that you go about
branding and you're pragmatic, you're compassionate.
There's elements that I pick up as we go through
this interview where I'm like, okay, and you
understand the value of team and the importance
of it. For the sake of the audience, we're going
to go in order. I want to ask so many questions
like, well, how do you find the people? If you
don't use resume, what do you like? My brain
wants to, and my heart wants to drag me through
a bunch of, bunch of immature questions. Let's
start with culture. Let's start with culture.
What is culture a key element of this, you know,
or is it something that is not as important?
What are your open thoughts on culture? Oh, I
think culture is incredibly important, especially
in a small business. Where you don't have oodles
of people, you've got a small number of people.
They all know each other personally at some level.
And they interact, you know, the entire team
may interact with the entire team on an average
day. That's a big deal. So to think culture is
not important, well, that's probably why you're
having troubles with your team if you feel that
way. So, you know, in that particular case, look
in instead of outward. but yeah what we're able
to do with build my team is to meet you where
you're at with your culture and show you um and
help you actually change the culture of your
team love that and so what's here's what's neat
about that why i'm grateful about it i have personal
bias in all of this by the way um guys my mike
has his own company to run him and i are both
producers not consumers it doesn't mean that
we don't learn but we're he's i guarantee you
he doesn't have all day to go and watch all of
our episodes um right that's that's not what
producers do they produce results so mike our
our vision at first class business is vision
first then culture then leadership then we move
into marketing operations fulfillment sales and
support specifically in that order so i'm glad
to hear that you value culture because well awesome
somebody who's doing amazing understands the
value of culture it verifies validates the path
that i'm striving to learn and move towards moving
towards that next level leadership what does
what does leadership mean in terms of building
out these brands um how do we lead should talk
openly fluidly about where leadership falls into
play with build my team So there's a lot of different
ways to take that, but I like to kind of tell
a little bit of a story with regards to this.
My job as a leader is to, I'm going to use the
bus example, getting the right people on the
bus. So this will jump around a little bit, but
first thing I do. And boy, this is all going
to sound so linear and so incredibly easy. In
reality, it's nothing but, and it's not linear.
And it involves throwing spaghetti at the wall
to see what sticks, all kinds of stuff like that.
But job number one is to create the vision, as
I mentioned earlier. Here's what we want to do.
Here's the vision we're trying to achieve. In
a small business, that can change a lot. It can
change rapidly. And if that does, you own it
and communicate it. But the vision operates functionally
as a map. So now that we've got a map, you know,
we're here, we need to get to there. How do we
do it? Well, we do that by, let's use the example
of the bus. We get the right people on the bus.
Oh boy, sounds so easy, doesn't it? Well, businesses
perpetually struggle with this. Everybody does.
If you are having troubles with that, good news,
you're not alone. It's universal. It's not unique,
it's universal instead. So getting those right
people on the bus, that's what Build My Team
was created to do. And what we do is we measure
people's natural strengths and talents, which
ties back completely unintentionally to StrengthFinder.
That's not a tool we use, but we do it a different
way. And the concept is that when people are
working in a role that utilizes their natural
strengths and talents, they are unbelievable.
They are incredibly productive. They talk about
producing. Oh, my goodness. The results can be
shocking because they're being asked to be themselves
all day long. They show up for work. They are
themselves. They do what they're naturally good
at. They excel in the position. It's unavoidable.
And then they go home. And for the most part,
they really don't think anything special. Because
all they did was be themselves. And you look
at the results that that can create, you're like,
oh boy, that's a lot of things. And special is
number one, because they're just knocking it
out of the park on a regular basis. Now you contrast
that to somebody who is showing up for work,
being asked to be someone else, not who they
are, struggling constantly. Oh, is this for me?
I don't think it's for me. And there goes an
hour or two of their time. I mean, that's a bad
fit for the role. So our goal with Build My Team
is to get those people, the right people for
the position onto the bus. And then get your
bus all filled up. And then we make sure that
they're in the right seats on the bus. That's
what people forget a lot of times. What's huge?
There's a symptom too for this, right? One of
the greatest symptoms, one of the easiest systems
that I track on this is, are people dreading
to come to work on Monday? Or are they excited
to come to work? If they're not in a natural
position, they're naturally going to fight against
that feeling. They're going to have that mopey
energy. But if they are aligned with what they
do and they feel fulfilled by what they're doing,
they tend to show up where it's like, I'm excited
to be here. It's like a birthday every day when
people are in the right position. Agreed? Yeah.
Absolutely. Birthday, Christmas, pick your holiday
time of life. But it's something to be celebrated.
They're not fighting, and I think that's key.
Before Build My Team and approaching hiring using
this strengths and talents approach, contrast
that to resumes. You get somebody who just wants
a job, just wants a paycheck, going to go punch
a clock, all those things. And I remember I was
looking at my phone. Sunday nights wondering,
just waiting for the texts, waiting for the texts
about why somebody wasn't going to come in the
next day. And, you know, thankfully those days
are over, over for good because I'm never hiring
using resumes again. It's such a ridiculously
outdated process. And the only reason to do it
is simply inertia. You know, that's, that's it.
There are new and better ways to do it. So getting
those people in the right seats on the bus, that's
critical. And then once you've done that, the
next step as a leader is to find the person who's
going to drive the bus. In a lot of ways, that's
a manager. Getting them behind the wheel, giving
them the map, your vision of where they need
to go. And then the key point, you don't want
to forget this one, put the guardrails on the
road. Make sure you tell them what they're allowed
to do, what's outside the guardrails. And then
the next thing, Jackson, it's really easy. You
get the heck out of the way. You have to get
out of the way. Let them drive the bus. And what
you'll be shocked about is how fast they drive
it, how far they get using far fewer resources
than you can ever imagine. I mean, all of those
types of things happen to me over and over and
it's nothing short of incredible. That's phenomenal.
I love the depth. of the analogy i agree with
you it's not it's not easy just because it is
simple um yet it's pragmatic and it aligns with
universal laws that are simple to understand
not like not like gravity or in centrifugal force
um like we all all of us who drive yeah know
the bus analogy um right can relate to that and
correspond with us it's absolutely beautiful
um so let's define a little bit to Um, what is
your vision for those that you serve, right?
So there's the reality of, of the bus analogy
and that we're moving. What is it that they can
anticipate on the other side of this? Um, what
does life look like once they've moved into this
experience? So, first of all, is they spend very
little time on the hiring process, almost nothing
because the, the, um, the, the wonderful ape.
plus B plus candidates are served up to them
right into their email. And they do almost no
work whatsoever, spend almost no time on the
hiring process. That's number one. And what does
that translate to? That's really easy. That's
a virtually stress -free hiring experience. Can
you even imagine? No, I'm ready to sign up. And
I mean that. Yeah, it's virtually stress -free
because our team does all of the work. And they're
able to pull the right needle in a stack of needles
out from everybody else. And that's what our
process does. By finding these natural strengths
and talents, we're able to find the right needle
in the stack of needles. That's so enticing.
Like I said, this is something that after this
show, I'm going to bother you guys as well and
find out. No bother whatsoever. This is what
we do as visionary leaders. Visionary is listening
out there. When you come across somebody who
bridges your gaps, who is able to help you overcome
the challenges that you have, instead of passively
leaning away from that and just taking notes.
I do recommend taking notes, by the way. But
take action. Take the actions. That doesn't mean
overcommit. That doesn't mean I'm going to get
baptized by Dr. Mike today. But I can explore.
what Build My Team is about, I can say, okay,
I have certainly struggled, especially when it
comes to hiring North Americans. I've struggled
a lot. And when it comes to finding people that
are great with service -based sales initiatives
as well. You know, it's so hard. It's so easy
to find people who think they can be one call
closers. But I have an environment where I'm
like, no, that's not a thing here. That's not
how we build relationships long term with people.
And so are there certain positions that you guys
thrive on hiring and certain things y 'all don't
hire for? Or is this a universal process for
hiring at any level, C -level management or management?
entry -level individuals? What does that look
like? We excel at entry -level administrative
team members, clerical team members, any of those
types of positions. We also hire managers. I
would say not necessarily high -level managers,
although we've done that in the past, but our
focus is on the entry -level and the people who
work directly with the entry -level folks. Can
this be done with C -level executives? Of course.
But there's other ways to work with those folks
as well that probably yield a more appropriate
impact to those types of decisions. There are
companies that, like Predictive Index is one
that I really like for C -level executives. Here's
the person. Here's what they're good at, all
their strengths, their talents. And it's a vastly
wider range because we don't need to do that.
And it's like we have optimized our process on
entry level and administrative clerical type
team members. We can, I mean, when we bring a
person to the table for your business, we know
they can do the job already. It's not a maybe
they can do the job. We already know that. It's
just whether or not you like person A, person
B better. Which one do you think would be a better
fit for your business? That's it. You're not
going to get oodles of candidates for high -end
positions, but for the entry -level positions,
you don't know. You might get 100 applicants
for a position. Where do you even start? Well,
our software is automated. We know exactly what
to do to figure out who the one or two best people
are out of the 100 that might apply. That type
of thing. It's huge. And another big thing that
you're alluding to with that is the principle
that as well, we're slow to teach because we're
still in the expanding phases of our version
of what you're talking about. And we hire predominantly
Spanish speakers. I speak Spanish fluently, so
I get to bridge that gap. AI does an amazing
job of helping Spanish speakers do English work
where the client. Doesn't need to interact with
them. Doesn't need to even know. We're happy
to reveal it. And usually the client gets to
a point where they're like, Jackson, why can't
I meet anybody? I'm like, you can. They do speak
Spanish. I'm like, what? They can't see that.
But you're talking about supply and demand as
well. Also being in favor of the business owner.
And when you only have one potential hire or
one office manager that. has no risk, absolute
freedom and control over their positions. There's
a quote that applies to both the entrepreneur
and the employee in that regard. And the quote
is absolute power corrupts absolutely. And so
both end up in a power trip position where the
entrepreneur can make all decisions and is corruptible.
And the employee who knows that you can't find
somebody like me. is also put in the exact same
position. But you're talking about making sure
that there's an abundance of applicants at your
disposal. I hate that word in this context, right?
We're not trying to dispose of people, but we
are trying to figure out how do we put systems
in place to then make sure that out of those
people who are applying, the right one or the
right few get considered. Yeah, no, it's an impossible
reality that most entrepreneurs will never figure
out without companies like ours. But you have
the upper hand on this with what you shared by
far. You know, your process, like I said, I say
upper hand. That's why I'm like, no, I want to
figure out how to work with build my team. This
could be really this could be life changing for
entrepreneurs everywhere. And I want to end on
one thing, Dr. Mike, my skepticism that I think
everybody. subconsciously has out there, but
most people are so scared of they want to address
it. And that's the statistics. 96 % of businesses
lose within 10 years. 4%, I've been consulting
long enough, they survive. Out of those 4%, there's
a small percentage of people who actually repeat
success. And out of those, Then we have to look
at it and say, okay, out of this percent of a
fraction of a percent, how many are doing it
ethically versus how many are not? And so that
puts us in a very, very precarious position where
we don't know who to follow and we don't know
who to trust. And so I like what you're doing,
where you're going. This is like you found the
fountain of youth in essence. So feel free to
run with that for the next few minutes. helped
me get past my fear of the unknown. Yeah. Well,
it's done at a couple levels. One, the company
does one thing only. That's it. We find the best
people for these positions and that's all. It's
not a recruiting company. It doesn't operate
like that. We don't have a stable of people.
I've heard that term used before. That's awful.
We start everything from scratch. And as far
as ethics go, If you don't believe we're ethical,
try and move forward with us as a client and
ask for something you're not supposed to ask
for. You'll find out we say no. If it costs us
the business, it costs us the business. We do
video interviews for the finalists. And the reason
we do that is to make sure that they would properly
represent your business. It doesn't matter what
they look like. Our team reviews these video
interviews. We used to send them to clients.
We had to stop because a couple of the clients
wanted candidates that looked a certain way.
And that's not only illegal, but it's just wrong.
So I take the ethical side incredibly seriously.
We want our clients to forget that they ever
have to hire again. You know, somebody leaves
your business. Okay. you tell us what you loved
about them tell us what you didn't like about
them opportunities for improvement we kind of
work that into our process for whom we're looking
for for your business we find somebody better
every every time this happens it's an opportunity
to continuously improve we have a feedback loop
built into all of our processes so they get like
they're already incredibly effective and uh improving
all the time um so i would say from From the
ethical side of things, look, if you don't believe
that we're ethical, don't do business with us.
Plain and simple. Why would you? If you want
us to do unethical things, we're not doing business
with you. Just remember, we're able to ascertain
our candidates' strengths and talents. We also
schedule an initial consultation call with all
of our new clients because we want to make sure
we can actually help you. If we can't, we're
not going to. work with you as a client because
all that's going to do is cause us uh and you
major problems down the road so we just don't
do it exactly what i was going to ask next yeah
what we're looking for is yeah we're looking
for a relationship that lasts for years i think
our oldest client is somewhere around uh boarding
on seven years old now and i don't even know
how many people we've hired for their business
oodles and oodles of people um But they don't
even think twice about it. You know, they just
reach out. I need a person for this position.
And off they go. What does a business, that's
what I wanted to dive into, is I'm super picky,
right, about who I'm going to work with. It's
going to disrupt my energy if it's the wrong
person. You know, the client's going to be a
fireball and a nightmare if they follow what
most of the business world follows. i we turned
down a lot of people we let a lot of people pass
through the process because they're not going
to have an appreciation for our culture so what
does what do what do businesses need to have
in place in order to pre -qualify for build my
team um you know and and what are the things
that what are the do's and don'ts of like man
they're they're qualified or not to receive and
to benefit from this process? Because I imagine,
again, I know that you're looking at it the way
that some of the visionaries, though, I know
won't. You don't want to set these team members
up for failure. These people that you might be
hiring with a company that's just going to flop.
I think that is a fascinating question. You know,
this comes down to the capitalistic approach
of should we take every customer? Well, the answer
is no. What do you need to be a great client
with us, not for us, but with us? You need to
be honest about the problems you're actually
having. No BS, none whatsoever. We've heard it
all. It doesn't matter what's going on in your
business. You need to tell us as honestly as
you can, because we have to help you from a position
of truth. And that's getting people onto your
team. If you're a tyrant, tell us you're a tyrant.
we work with doctors i mean you think that's
going to surprise anybody oh my goodness so if
you're a tyrant tell us you are we're going to
one of the things we measure is stress tolerance
and candidates we can put people on your team
that aren't bothered by that um if you don't
tell us you're a tyrant okay then then that's
one of the reasons why you're cycling through
people so being honest the other thing is kind
if if you're mean Look, those t -shirts went
around and were super popular for a while. Mean
people suck. Nobody wants to work with that.
If you're a mean person, we can't help your team
because you're just going to cycle through people
forever. But that's it. Honesty, kindness. And
I think the third thing is to let us work. Our
process works exceptionally well. Give us the
ability to... to work for you. And that's the
type of relationship that has us hiring for businesses
for years and years. I love it. I love it. And
it's so interesting. I'm excited to catch up
with you further about this a lot. I'm very excited
because you bridge a gap that's very important
for us to be able to bridge as clients potentially
scale. We have a system that's automated to repel
clients um a legion process that allows us to
recognize who's honest i wouldn't say kind uh
i like kind but i'm a big fan of the book radical
candor um and that book is so it's it's like
think and grow rich people misunderstand oh radical
means crazy like and candor means super super
like in your face truthful um but the book is
designed around you love people enough to be
able to recommend changes um in their life that
other people want and so modern kindness um or
probably past kindness too she labels as ruinous
empathy um which is you love people so you don't
tell them what they're doing wrong and you just
leave them in the state of crap um where they
can't move forward in life and that's that to
me is not kind And so I appreciate the pragmatic
nature, the well -cultured nature that you bring
attention to this topic. It is sorely needed
throughout the world. And I wish you all the
best on what you do, whether we get to come back
or not. I think you'd make a phenomenal interview
on my other show, TheBeYourBestShow .com. And
The Be Your Best Show is an environment where
I will interview tremendous leaders about the
good and the bad and the ugly. and it's a good
90 minute to three hour process where we can
really we just scratched the surface today uh
you know you and i know that um and business
owners they need to get the deep variables hence
why i'm grateful for stephen bartlett as well
um a diary of a ceo he dives to deeper levels
with success that's fun yeah you're going to
listen to him Yes, it is. And so we have big
ambitions to be able to go that route. But you're
somebody that I would love to have. It would
be such an honor to have in that process evaluating.
All of you who are listening in right now, you've
got the website. buildmyteam .com. You got the
ability to Google search Dr. Mike Neal and connect
to them through that. We're going to, of course,
put the show notes below the show, the episode.
You'll be able to see the resources that we talked
about. You'll be able to see links that we recommend
going to based on that. And then in the top right
corner, you're going to see a button that says,
be our guest. If you would love to come on our
show and share your vision, it doesn't matter
if you've found. the Holy grail of hiring, um,
the way Dr. Mike has, or you're in the process
of incubating something like that, come and share
your vision with us. This is an environment where
we want everybody to be able to step into their
visions and inspire the world with what they're
up to. And, um, as long as you're doing good
for others and trying to help people, then you're
a visionary. That's, that's worth getting that
message out there for. And, um, yeah, we will
see you guys all on the next episode of vision
pros. Dr. Mike, thanks so much for being here
today. Thank you, Jackson. It's my pleasure.
This is wonderful. Absolutely. I'll see you soon.
Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy
that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision.