WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.899 Hey everybody, welcome back to Vision Pros Live. 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.000 I'm your host and coach, Fletcher Ellingson. 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:07.879 I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're in 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:12.640 this conversation. Why? Because on this podcast, 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:15.759 we get to meet people from all over the globe 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.440 who are chasing their visions, clarifying their 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.820 visions, and bringing their visions into the 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:27.649 physical realm. Our guest today is Tori Bjorklund, 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:31.609 and he's the founder and CEO of Victorified Consulting. 00:00:31.850 --> 00:00:33.810 What does he do? We're going to get into that. 00:00:33.929 --> 00:00:37.049 But first, let's welcome our guest, Tori. Good 00:00:37.049 --> 00:00:39.390 morning to you. Good morning. Thanks for having 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:42.270 me on. Appreciate it. You bet. Hey, before we 00:00:42.270 --> 00:00:45.590 get into what you do and who you help. I want 00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:47.590 to start off with a win, something that's going 00:00:47.590 --> 00:00:50.229 well. And this can be professionally, it can 00:00:50.229 --> 00:00:52.070 be personally. But, you know, there's a lot of 00:00:52.070 --> 00:00:53.490 suffering going on in the world. There's a lot 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:57.390 of disappointment. There's a lot of upset, discord. 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:01.409 We want to remind people that there's still good 00:01:01.409 --> 00:01:03.810 happening and that we can be the cause in the 00:01:03.810 --> 00:01:05.810 matter of that good. So lay it on me. What's 00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:08.609 going well in your life? Yeah, actually, I'll 00:01:08.609 --> 00:01:12.469 tell you two things. First of all, first thing 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:14.859 that comes to my mind is that In spite of the 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:17.920 fact that I'm in my 60s, I feel great. And I 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.219 made a decision when I was 52 years old to start 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:24.079 working out and lifting weights and things like 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.659 that, which I'd never done prior to that. And 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:30.640 so my health, I'm just really grateful to have 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.319 great health. The second thing is, Victorified 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:39.379 is my seventh company. And frankly, it's the 00:01:39.379 --> 00:01:42.260 biggest struggle I've ever had in business. And 00:01:42.260 --> 00:01:46.340 so one might think that's not a win, but I'm 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:49.579 learning so much more in this company than I 00:01:49.579 --> 00:01:52.459 ever have before in any of the previous companies 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:55.760 I was involved in. So, you know, it's great. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.099 I mean, it's a struggle. You know, fortunately, 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.760 we're, you know, keeping the wolves away. But 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:07.299 at the same time, I'm learning a ton. Wow. I'm 00:02:07.299 --> 00:02:09.560 going to take a moment and just address a couple 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:12.009 of things you said. First of all. Yeah, health, 00:02:12.250 --> 00:02:15.770 you know, that that saying health is your health 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:19.969 is the first wealth. The older we get, the more 00:02:19.969 --> 00:02:23.150 we realize like, oh, that's actually spot on. 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:26.289 That's actually true. Yeah. So congratulations 00:02:26.289 --> 00:02:29.210 to you for taking on your health at that new 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:33.569 level. I appreciate that because I'm in my mid 00:02:33.569 --> 00:02:37.219 50s and. two years ago i made that same commitment 00:02:37.219 --> 00:02:40.719 to take on my health at a new level um and so 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.520 i've been in the gym for two years uh working 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.080 out something i've never done i never went to 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.639 gyms yeah um i did other stuff but gyms and lifting 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:53.639 weights wasn't into it didn't like it um so it 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:56.460 has it's been an area of personal growth for 00:02:56.460 --> 00:03:00.409 me too and it took a while yeah a good while, 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:03.530 but I actually look forward to going to the gym 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:05.710 now, which is like, I never thought. I'm not 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:10.129 sure I'm there yet. I love the results that it 00:03:10.129 --> 00:03:14.150 gets. Yeah. So that's, I, so I look forward to 00:03:14.150 --> 00:03:16.310 the results. I don't look forward to being in 00:03:16.310 --> 00:03:19.770 the gym. Yes, yes, yes. Gotcha. And, and secondly, 00:03:19.810 --> 00:03:22.270 you, you said, you know, this is your seventh 00:03:22.270 --> 00:03:26.669 business and you're encountering some struggles 00:03:26.669 --> 00:03:30.199 and. This is an important thing to talk about 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:34.500 because it's easy to talk about the wins. It's 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:39.319 easy when you're winning, oh, life's great. But 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:42.580 if you're running a business, there are struggles. 00:03:42.819 --> 00:03:46.500 There are challenges that we wish weren't there. 00:03:46.819 --> 00:03:51.490 And like you said. you're learning a lot. It's 00:03:51.490 --> 00:03:54.150 causing evolution to occur. It's causing adaptation. 00:03:54.669 --> 00:03:57.750 It's causing growth. And yes, it can be uncomfortable. 00:03:58.610 --> 00:04:01.530 But I appreciate the fact that you brought that 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:04.729 up because number one, it just shows authenticity, 00:04:04.990 --> 00:04:09.189 right? Things don't always go the way we planned. 00:04:09.509 --> 00:04:14.129 And to say that out loud, and it just shows authenticity 00:04:14.129 --> 00:04:21.870 and creates trust. So nice. Tori, the show is 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:25.149 called Vision Pros Live. And so we're curious 00:04:25.149 --> 00:04:28.410 here about people's vision. What's that clarified 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:31.110 story that we're efforting to bring forth into 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:34.430 the physical realm? And so I want to ask you 00:04:34.430 --> 00:04:39.209 if you will share with us your vision. Yeah, 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:43.350 absolutely. So I think I'll share it, but I'll 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:45.870 need to give a little background after that. 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:52.589 I really want to change the way technology consulting 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:57.970 is delivered in this world. I want to change 00:04:57.970 --> 00:05:03.930 the industry. It's broken. And I really think 00:05:03.930 --> 00:05:07.670 that we're on the verge of seeing that, in essence, 00:05:07.750 --> 00:05:11.449 consulting is dead. And people just haven't realized 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:17.029 that yet. I'll let you ask the questions and 00:05:17.029 --> 00:05:20.350 fill in a little context for that. This is fascinating. 00:05:20.490 --> 00:05:22.129 Yeah. So what I heard you say is you want to 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:27.089 change the way technology consulting occurs in 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:30.529 our world. And you see, for the most part, that 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:35.930 it's... It's going the way of doomsday. So tell 00:05:35.930 --> 00:05:37.250 me a little bit. Tell me what you mean about 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:40.790 that. Yeah. So there's a lot of consultants out 00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:44.769 there, both small and large. And one of the things 00:05:44.769 --> 00:05:48.350 if you look at statistics and of course, I think 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:52.569 I think it was Mark Twain that said there are 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:55.629 three kind of lies. you know lies damn lies and 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:58.490 statistics so you kind of have to take the statistics 00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:00.790 with a little bit of a grain of salt and whose 00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:03.970 numbers you use is is important but the reality 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:07.410 is that the buzzword today digital transformation 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:10.389 implementation of technology that changes the 00:06:10.389 --> 00:06:13.610 way you do business they those projects fail 00:06:13.610 --> 00:06:17.089 at a rate of 70 to 90 percent depending on whose 00:06:17.089 --> 00:06:21.550 statistics you use now think about that and we've 00:06:21.550 --> 00:06:24.240 heard we've all heard of really major failures 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.379 and costly ones and usually related to the government 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:29.860 or something like that but you think about a 00:06:29.860 --> 00:06:33.860 company that say maybe doing 10 15 million top 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:37.480 line revenue annually and they sink a couple 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:43.120 million into a major initiative and and and it 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:48.420 fails that jeopardizes that business and this 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:50.879 is happening over and over and over again and 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:53.430 i mean you know if you're If you're playing baseball, 00:06:53.889 --> 00:06:59.250 maybe 300 isn't a bad batting average. But if 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:02.610 you're playing in the world of business, succeeding 00:07:02.610 --> 00:07:08.930 30 % of the time or less is catastrophic. And 00:07:08.930 --> 00:07:10.850 in no other industry would this be acceptable. 00:07:11.149 --> 00:07:15.230 I mean, if 70 % of the bridges built out there 00:07:15.230 --> 00:07:18.589 missed the mark, you know, and we're 15 feet 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:22.050 from the road or whatever. Nobody would accept 00:07:22.050 --> 00:07:25.050 that. Yet this has been acceptable for many years 00:07:25.050 --> 00:07:27.230 and hasn't changed. Those numbers have been tracked 00:07:27.230 --> 00:07:37.009 since the late 80s, early 90s. So those statistics 00:07:37.009 --> 00:07:40.149 are alarming. I mean, I didn't I did not know 00:07:40.149 --> 00:07:44.350 that. How can they be so high? I mean, seriously. 00:07:44.490 --> 00:07:49.910 Yeah. And a part of that is, to be fair. how 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.389 you define success and how you define failure. 00:07:52.629 --> 00:07:56.370 The differences between what the vendors consider 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:59.209 successful and what the clients consider successful 00:07:59.209 --> 00:08:01.389 is night and day. So the clients, if you ask 00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:04.930 them what does success mean, generally speaking, 00:08:05.389 --> 00:08:09.389 it's not just on time and in budget, but that's 00:08:09.389 --> 00:08:12.509 part of it, getting those projects done and that. 00:08:13.129 --> 00:08:16.579 But the other part of it is, Hey, they did a 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:18.819 whole bunch of thinking before they undertook 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:21.680 this initiative. And they said, well, okay, it 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.199 might cost us $2 million, but we expect this 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.060 at the end of that. And that's going to make 00:08:28.060 --> 00:08:30.759 us money. Because really, that's the bottom line 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:32.399 of the company. If it's not going to help you 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:35.659 make money, you don't want to undertake it. And 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:40.879 it's that part of it. Whatever they said they 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.639 were expecting from it, they never get that. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.960 And when that never happens, they never get their 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.620 investment back. That's failure. A vendor might 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:53.399 say, well, we got you running on the software, 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:57.659 but never delivered the expected benefit. The 00:08:57.659 --> 00:09:00.159 vendors will think it's successful and consider 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.159 it a success. And in those numbers, 20 % of them 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:08.580 never even get going live. They abandon it before 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.980 it's completed. And that's still way too high. 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:15.929 Yeah. Wow. Okay. So some big challenges. Yeah. 00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:24.950 Enter Tori. Well, in my team, you know, Victorified 00:09:24.950 --> 00:09:30.269 in general. And yeah, so here's the thing. The 00:09:30.269 --> 00:09:34.590 way that we do consulting has to change. We have 00:09:34.590 --> 00:09:38.590 to focus on the benefit of the client, first 00:09:38.590 --> 00:09:42.409 and foremost, making the client success. our 00:09:42.409 --> 00:09:45.230 primary success that's how we should measure 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:48.509 success and then the second thing is we got to 00:09:48.509 --> 00:09:51.970 quit telling the clients what they want to hear 00:09:51.970 --> 00:09:55.110 we need to tell them what they need to hear in 00:09:55.110 --> 00:09:57.950 order to be successful i mean if you were a a 00:09:57.950 --> 00:10:01.330 physician let's say you're a surgeon and and 00:10:01.330 --> 00:10:04.889 somebody came in and needed to have some surgery 00:10:04.889 --> 00:10:08.620 you wouldn't tell them well you know if you If 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:10.519 you don't want to do this, you don't really have 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:12.519 to do it if it really is a life -threatening 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:16.259 situation. And vendors do that all the time. 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:18.059 They tell the people what they think they want 00:10:18.059 --> 00:10:21.320 to hear. And the leadership of the client will 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.039 often lean on them and say, oh, do we really 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.259 have to do all this preparation? Let's just get 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:30.100 this thing in and get it done. And they succumb 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:32.740 to that. And they're getting paid a lot of money. 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:35.659 Those vendors, those consultants are getting 00:10:35.659 --> 00:10:38.570 paid a lot of money per hour. to be the expert 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:42.070 and instead of being the expert they find themselves 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:45.029 you know being the cheerleader squad or something 00:10:45.029 --> 00:10:49.070 like that that's why i noticed on your website 00:10:49.070 --> 00:10:52.149 you know one of your main pillars there is is 00:10:52.149 --> 00:11:00.830 preparation right yeah yeah yeah so yeah because 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:05.090 companies are in a hurry to get the financial 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:10.340 results right Yep. So, yeah. And and you're you're 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:13.460 bringing up a couple of things that, you know, 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:15.899 it's good for for companies to hear this. This 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:19.100 is a good conversation because, yeah, a lot of 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.700 companies out there will tell you what you want 00:11:21.700 --> 00:11:24.360 to hear. You're saying like, look, we're not 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.460 willing to do that because that's not in your 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:29.399 best interest. We're going to tell you what what 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:33.100 you need to hear. Right. And we're going to take. 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:38.620 due diligence to prepare you to set you up for 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.139 the type of success that you were expecting. 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:44.460 Exactly. That's exactly right. How does that 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:47.179 happen? What is, what is the, what's the preparation 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:50.159 phase look like? Yeah. So the first thing is 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:53.500 really defining the vision and, you know, that's, 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:59.240 uh, really apropos to your podcast and you, you, 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:02.899 you never do anything without vision. You know, 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:06.360 unless it's by happenstance and it happens to 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:10.019 you. But you have to have a vision for something 00:12:10.019 --> 00:12:13.799 before you'll undertake it. And one of the challenges 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.279 is communicating that vision to the rest of the 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:18.759 organization. There's all kinds of people that 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.059 are going to use that technology that have no 00:12:21.059 --> 00:12:24.080 idea why you're doing what you're doing and why 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:25.620 you're going to spend this money. And they'd 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:27.519 rather just have a raise. Just give me more money 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.639 and I'll work harder. You know, things like that. 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:33.049 But that's not scalable. And so technology meets 00:12:33.049 --> 00:12:37.330 objectives that makes the company better and 00:12:37.330 --> 00:12:41.610 and therefore then the chances for those employees 00:12:41.610 --> 00:12:46.830 to succeed more. But they need to get that message 00:12:46.830 --> 00:12:49.169 and it's not coming from leadership properly. 00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:52.389 The second thing about that is you've got to 00:12:52.389 --> 00:12:56.690 build the right team. You've got to. that experience 00:12:56.690 --> 00:13:00.250 in these kinds of initiatives is really, really 00:13:00.250 --> 00:13:03.490 important. And, you know, you got smart people 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:06.850 working for you, but smart people that haven't 00:13:06.850 --> 00:13:10.269 ever done this or maybe done it once and probably 00:13:10.269 --> 00:13:13.389 not very well, that's not going to cut it. You 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:16.690 need to get the right people in place and then 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:19.299 you need to have the right plan. to actually 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:22.899 execute that and a risk management plan around 00:13:22.899 --> 00:13:26.600 that. And then finally, you need to have what's 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:28.500 called organizational change management. The 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:31.700 idea of saying. What is going to get in the way 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:34.120 of this change? What are the risks to our employees? 00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:38.080 What are they going to do to subvert it? Or what 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.740 do they need to succeed with this? What does 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:43.200 the team need to succeed with this? And you get 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.840 all of that figured out. And so now you're mitigating 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.539 your risks. You're taking proactive stance on 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:53.200 helping people get through the change and understand 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.059 why the change is necessary. And then you execute. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.019 on a project i mean a lot of people can do project 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:03.740 execution that's that's a very mature discipline 00:14:03.740 --> 00:14:07.360 today as project management and project execution 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:11.620 but that aspect of the the people and making 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.000 sure you've got the right people in place and 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.799 helping them make it through the change and then 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.740 finally at the end we we call what we call sustain 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:24.179 this sustain stage is to help people really adopt 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:30.980 what the new change is as the DNA of the company. 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:36.139 It's oftentimes, well, we've never done it this 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:39.200 way. And that's that kind of fear and uncertainty. 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.340 And now at the end of having gone through that 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.620 implementation, you need to make sure that your 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:47.919 people are saying, this is the way we do it. 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:52.059 And that's the assimilation of the change into 00:14:52.059 --> 00:14:54.860 the organization. So those are... I answered 00:14:54.860 --> 00:14:57.039 your question about preparation, but it's all 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.460 the rest of it as well. Yeah, no, I appreciate 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:05.179 that. So, yeah, this is not an overnight process. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:11.559 No, this is a large, large undertaking. How long 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:14.519 does something like that take? I mean, it varies 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:17.740 a lot. It varies on a matter of how complicated 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:20.700 it is, how broad the scope is. I mean, if you're. 00:15:21.100 --> 00:15:24.679 implementing a new erp system for example i mean 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.259 that can be multiple years for a large for a 00:15:27.259 --> 00:15:30.000 large company you know we we work with companies 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.220 that are you know have multi -billion dollar 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:36.820 organizations that can be multiple years um a 00:15:36.820 --> 00:15:39.539 smaller company you know we're in in the middle 00:15:39.539 --> 00:15:41.720 of an implementation with a client that's about 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:45.200 50 million in top line revenue you know that 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:49.159 can be eight nine months you know so uh it varies 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:52.379 in the scope of what's happening um yeah but 00:15:52.379 --> 00:15:57.440 it it the first thing often is it really only 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:02.120 takes about a month to two months to really put 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:06.639 together a solid plan for the preparation and 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.700 and implementation Got it. Got it. And this is 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:12.820 I'm glad we're having this conversation. We have 00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:15.919 lots of listeners who are in, you know, in those 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.080 businesses, 10 to 50 million. And so there are, 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:25.279 you know, there are there are CEOs and managers 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:30.519 listening to this. And they may have a jaded 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.220 view about this. Maybe they've been through it 00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:36.139 and abandoned it, like you said, maybe that. 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:41.080 But. What I want them to hear is it is possible 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:45.720 if you have the right team in place. And so if 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:50.179 this is piquing your interest, then visit Tori's 00:16:50.179 --> 00:16:54.019 website and read about what they do. Look at 00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:57.360 some of the testimonials. Give us the domain 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.360 name for your website, please. Yeah, it's victorified 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.299 .com. Victoria, like the name, F -I -D -E dot 00:17:04.299 --> 00:17:08.170 com. Okay, victorified .com. Go and check it 00:17:08.170 --> 00:17:11.130 out. If you want to have a conversation, obviously, 00:17:11.150 --> 00:17:13.269 I'm sure they can contact you via their website. 00:17:13.730 --> 00:17:17.250 Someone will contact you and have some sort of 00:17:17.250 --> 00:17:21.069 discovery conversation. It may be the time. If 00:17:21.069 --> 00:17:26.809 you're listening to this, consider how serendipitous 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:29.269 it is that you're listening to this conversation. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.119 And this is what's needed in your company. Maybe 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.279 this is the company to call. Maybe this is the 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:40.640 moment where you take action. So visit them at 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:47.599 victorified .com. And it may be your time to 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:52.619 partner with this company and move the needle. 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:00.029 I'm curious. Let's go back to what you said in 00:18:00.029 --> 00:18:03.349 the beginning. You talked about this is a challenging 00:18:03.349 --> 00:18:05.890 time for you. Yeah. This is a challenging business. 00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:11.470 Help me understand why. What's going on and what 00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:14.529 are you learning? Yeah. So the first thing is 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:18.769 marketing. Marketing has changed. You know, what 00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:20.569 used to work doesn't work. Most people in the 00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:24.710 marketing industry will tell you that. I don't 00:18:24.710 --> 00:18:28.890 know what works, frankly. I'm trying to build 00:18:28.890 --> 00:18:32.950 a business here and scale it out. And I'm finding 00:18:32.950 --> 00:18:36.589 the only thing that works right now is my personal 00:18:36.589 --> 00:18:39.390 networking. And that's always worked. That's 00:18:39.390 --> 00:18:42.250 never changed. It's just that's difficult to 00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:45.490 scale. I can only meet with so many people in 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:48.289 a week, you know, and so forth. So that's one 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:51.869 thing is getting that sales funnel built. And 00:18:51.869 --> 00:18:55.170 second thing is really the messaging. And that's 00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:57.049 probably part of feeds into the sales funnel. 00:18:57.450 --> 00:19:00.650 problems as well. The messaging, a lot of people 00:19:00.650 --> 00:19:04.609 are familiar with how consulting is done in the 00:19:04.609 --> 00:19:07.410 past. So they have presuppositions about what 00:19:07.410 --> 00:19:12.170 we do. And so we're not a very large organization. 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:15.430 It's difficult to change the way people think 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:20.130 unless you're a behemoth that can put a lot of 00:19:20.130 --> 00:19:24.660 money into marketing. and messaging and so forth. 00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:27.640 You know, it reminds me of when I was in high 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.680 school or junior high and microwaves were first 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:35.079 coming out. I mean, those companies that first 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.500 were creating the microwave and selling that, 00:19:37.579 --> 00:19:40.359 they did a lot of work to get people used to 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:43.579 the concept of nuking their food. And if you 00:19:43.579 --> 00:19:46.500 were a small organization trying to get that 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:49.599 into the market, you just wouldn't be able to 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.339 do it. without those kind of resources. So that's 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:56.579 part of what we're struggling with. But one of 00:19:56.579 --> 00:20:00.779 the things we've done to try to mitigate that 00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:04.920 struggle is to give, and it's unheard of, but 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.259 to give a guarantee and say, hey, we will guarantee 00:20:09.259 --> 00:20:14.019 that you hit your objectives or we'll be working 00:20:14.019 --> 00:20:20.099 with you to... to help you hit those objectives 00:20:20.099 --> 00:20:25.380 at our cost. Not, you know, we'll come and basically 00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:29.460 share in the cost to get you to where you need 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:32.259 to be. It's unheard of in the industry. Yeah. 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:37.000 Okay. Talk about it. a position of differentiation. 00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:42.019 Okay. That's something to lead with for sure. 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.240 Yeah. I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you just 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:48.480 talked about that because that's something that 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.220 you just, like you said, there aren't other companies 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:55.700 doing this. Let's talk about our guarantee. We're 00:20:55.700 --> 00:20:58.299 guaranteeing that you are going to get your results 00:20:58.299 --> 00:21:01.880 or we're going to share in the costs until you 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:05.640 do. Really interesting. Got it. Got it. You know, 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:09.200 the, the sentiment that you just talked about 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:14.519 as well of like what is working in the area of 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:18.319 marketing. I hear that all the time. And I talk 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.460 with a lot of business people, a lot of business 00:21:20.460 --> 00:21:24.279 owners. I hear that so frequently, like what, 00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:27.259 what, which direction should we take for marketing? 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:32.410 And, but what I find interesting. and also continues 00:21:32.410 --> 00:21:37.349 to resound is you're still playing the offline 00:21:37.349 --> 00:21:43.269 game of personal networking. And that is also 00:21:43.269 --> 00:21:45.910 consistent with what I'm hearing from people. 00:21:46.089 --> 00:21:48.529 They're throwing money at advertising and I'm 00:21:48.529 --> 00:21:51.630 not saying they shouldn't because obviously there's 00:21:51.630 --> 00:21:55.430 some level of return. But what I hear consistently 00:21:55.430 --> 00:21:58.910 over and over and over again, it's still this. 00:21:59.289 --> 00:22:02.569 high level of offline marketing that is creating 00:22:02.569 --> 00:22:06.289 a business, at least these long -term and big 00:22:06.289 --> 00:22:10.809 money types of, of relationships. Right. So, 00:22:10.970 --> 00:22:13.769 I mean, to, so to your concern, I got to say 00:22:13.769 --> 00:22:16.769 like, well, keep it up because that seems to 00:22:16.769 --> 00:22:20.410 the offline game seems to be somewhat unique 00:22:20.410 --> 00:22:22.609 where everyone's trying to win the online game. 00:22:22.670 --> 00:22:24.789 And if you're playing the offline game, that 00:22:24.789 --> 00:22:29.980 may be giving you some advantage. Well, I think 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:31.880 it really helps with closing. And, you know, 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:35.339 I mean, we have a high close ratio and and and 00:22:35.339 --> 00:22:39.200 then we have, you know, just super high client 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.500 satisfaction. You know, every one of our clients 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:46.099 is referenceable. Right on. The bottom line is 00:22:46.099 --> 00:22:49.640 it's it is a challenge to scale that way. Yeah. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:55.119 Yeah, for sure. Our guest today is Tony Bjorklund. 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:59.359 And. If you're finding this interesting, if you're 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.779 like I am, what I what I'm appreciative about 00:23:02.779 --> 00:23:06.420 Tony is is his authenticity. He's not saying 00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:11.440 it's all all roses here. He's like, this is real 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:15.880 work and it takes preparation. It takes time. 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:20.039 He's not going to promise you, you know, pie 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:22.880 in the sky here. Let's be realistic. So if you're 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:25.339 looking to work with somebody who has that level 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:28.940 of authenticity and who's willing to put a guarantee 00:23:28.940 --> 00:23:33.480 in an industry where that doesn't exist, if you're 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.819 curious about this, reach out, have the conversation. 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:41.440 Any last words before we wrap this up, Tori? 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:45.519 I would say that I guess the last thing I would 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:49.680 probably emphasize is that. in the industry today 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:54.420 with AI and other things going on, being able 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:58.700 to pivot and change rapidly is becoming an imperative 00:23:58.700 --> 00:24:03.500 in business. And frankly, the industry hasn't 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:05.519 figured it out yet. The technical industry has 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:10.839 not figured out how to make our clients agile. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:16.140 in these areas and with major technical initiatives. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:21.539 And I believe we have. And so, you know, if you're 00:24:21.539 --> 00:24:24.039 worried about that and you're worried about being 00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:26.259 able to, you know, not only what you need to 00:24:26.259 --> 00:24:29.000 do now, but how are we going to become the kind 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:31.980 of organization that can be agile and change 00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:36.819 and adapt quickly as all of this technology just 00:24:36.819 --> 00:24:41.140 is accelerating. You need to get your company 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:45.009 equipped. for change and that's really what we're 00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:48.089 about i like that i'm gonna put my own spin on 00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:50.769 that i because what i heard you say is if you're 00:24:50.769 --> 00:24:55.150 a company that's that's um concerned about remaining 00:24:55.150 --> 00:24:59.029 relevant yeah then let's have a conversation 00:24:59.029 --> 00:25:02.250 right absolutely yeah yeah yeah really good really 00:25:02.250 --> 00:25:05.210 good um thank you so much for being uh on our 00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:09.049 show today Yeah, appreciate your time. Appreciate 00:25:09.049 --> 00:25:12.329 your expertise. And now it's time for you all 00:25:12.329 --> 00:25:14.849 to get out there. Be a source of kindness. Be 00:25:14.849 --> 00:25:17.109 a source of contribution. You do have something 00:25:17.109 --> 00:25:20.480 to offer this world. I believe in you. Thank 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.480 you for being here today. I'm really happy that 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.519 you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:27.779 forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:29.880 continue to move forward. This is gonna get more 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:32.160 and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:34.279 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:36.460 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:25:36.460 --> 00:25:38.759 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:41.079 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.