Running the Bases with Small Businesses
Running the Bases with Small Businesses
Generate Your Value - The Next Level
Running the Bases today with Andy McDowell Founder of Generate Your Value. Andy is an Entrepreneur/Small Business Coaching Services Business Owner and Podcaster, and former Aviation Business Leader. And, Andy is our first guest to sing the National Anthem at an MLB Game!
Our Guest today says he is an Engineer by trade and a creative by nature! An Aviation Systems expert - Our lifelong Aviation Enthusiast - has an Engineering Degree from Georgia Tech, and a Masters from Georgia State in Computer Information Systems. He spent 27 years working in the Aviation Technology Industry, 22 of which were with Boeing. After a very successful career in the corporate world, flying around the globe working on very high-profile projects such as preparing both the Beijing and the Sochi Airports for the Olympic Games, he took his years of Business and Leadership knowledge to become an entrepreneur - founding his own Small Business Coaching Services Business in the Greater Atlanta Area
Generate Your Value Success Coaching offers participants a powerful business coaching process with the powerful, proprietary, Pinnacle Success System™ serving as the foundation.
It’s a great show as we explore going out on your own to pursue your passions and create a successful business.
To learn more about Andy and Generate Your Value visit: www.generateyourvalue.com
Andy’s Podcast: THE GENERATE YOUR VALUE PODCAST
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I'm Randy Rohde and I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs and small business owners. Plus, I love baseball. Every show I sit down with a small business owner and we discuss their running the bases of entrepreneurship. We throw the ball around on strategy, management, execution, and innovation. A little fun baseball talk. Hey, thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your cracker jacks, and you know what they say. Play ball, and it's a great day for a ball game. This is Randy Rohde with running the bases with small businesses, and our guest today says he is an engineer by trade and a creative by nature. I've gotta pursue that a little bit. An aviation systems expert. Our lifelong aviation enthusiast has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a master's from Georgia State in Computer Information Systems. He spent 27 years working in the aviation technology. Industry. 22 of those were with Boeing. And after a successful career in the corporate world, flying around the globe, working on some very high profile projects such as preparing both the Beijing and Sochi. Airports for the Olympic Games. That sounds interesting. He took his years of business and leadership knowledge to become an entrepreneur himself founding his own small business coaching services company in the greater Atlanta area. So please welcome to the show. We've got Andrew McDowell, founder and president of Generate Your Value Consulting. Welcome to the show. Andy, can I call you?
Andy McDowell:Yes, please do. That's what everybody calls me. If, uh, the only person that calls me Andrew is my mother, and if when she does, I know I'm in trouble.. Randy Rohde: I know. Yes. Yeah, that's good. All right, Andy, well, welcome to the show. Glad you could, uh, join us from, uh, Atlanta. That's always fun. Hey, before we start digging into your background and, um, your current, uh, venture here with Generate Your Value Consult. My research team has dug in a little bit and has come up with this little jewel of something that I've gotta mention. So on. Uh, we've had a past guest who was a fighter pilot in the Air Force, and he actually did a flyover on a World Series game several years ago. Um, I think you may be one of our first guests who actually got to sing. The national anthem at a baseball game. Uh oh. You doing your research? Yes, Yes. So tell us a little bit about that. I, from what I understand, I'm not sure exactly when, I didn't get a date on it, but from what I understand, you did sing the national anthem at an Atlanta Braves game. Is that right? Yes. Along with 11 other people, um, , this is back in the, in the stadium that the, the Olympics were in Atlanta, the previous stadium in the Brazen, not their current one at Trus Park. All right. And I belonged to a church that, uh, John Scholtz, the gm, uh, was a member of, and he arranged for, uh, one of our small choirs, which I was a member of an acapella. To come in and sing the national anthem. Uh, I belonged to a Lutheran church and it was Lutheran Day of all things at, uh, the Brave Stadium. So he brought us in to sing National Anthem, Mount Capella. Oh, very fun. Uh, you know, so we had three people in each of the ranges from base, tenor, alto, soprano. Um, and went out and stood right behind the pitchers mound, uh, on the field and, and sung national anthem into a couple microphones. They had my parents in, in the audience and got to watch the game with them was, uh, an amazing day. That's
Randy Rohde:very nice. I've always, uh, Uh, been a little fascinated by, um, when they're singing the anthem, when they have guests come in and they do this and at most games, and I'm in surprised when you say that they brought 'em out to the pitchers mount, because at most of the games that I see is that they're kind of over off to maybe the left of home plate or somewhere around in there and you know, because the players are wherever. But so that's interesting that you. Near, uh, the pitcher's mound, but so,
Andy McDowell:well they had to, they had to spread 12 of us. Okay. Yeah. Around on a grassy area. And I think they, they felt like there was enough grassy area behind pitcher's mound between second base with which to. Spread us out a little bit. Yeah. Now I am curing in the anthem.
Randy Rohde:Do they really take care of you? I don't know. It always seems like, you know, they kinda usher in and usher out and that's it, you know? And I'm always wondering like, you know, do they take you somewhere to a green room and you get like some refreshments? Do they kind of treat you like, Hey, thanks, you know, do they, They're like, Here's free tickets to the game.
Andy McDowell:And we, we were gathered out in right field area in. In the walkways where everybody else is walking, we found a quiet spot somewhere to get ourselves tuned up and, uh, you know, go through it once or twice, uh, together to make sure we were sounding all in tune and so forth, uh, just by ourselves. Yeah. And then we were told to, uh, go to a certain spot behind the right field fence when we were done. And we were just standing there waiting and they just opened up the doors and sort of pointed to the pitches mount and say, Walk over there and, 12 of us just walked out of right field. Behind the pitchers mound and got ourselves organized. And then somebody, you know, an organizer was out there with us by the mics and sort of pointed to us after they had announced us over the loud speaker you on. Yeah. Did our thing, and then turned around and walked right back out the right field and passed the fence. And then we had to, you know, we had tickets. Okay. They did give us tickets for the game and. Just, we had to find our own way to the seat. So there was no, you know, knowing the general manager of the Braves didn't do us any Okay.
Randy Rohde:Waivers when it came to that. Not even a particular, not even a free hot dog. Like, Hey, thanks. It was like, okay. No. Well, there we go. Well, that's fun. Anyway, I think, uh, what I'm sure it's was a, a, a great experience, great memory for you. So, and fun for you. Oh, it was, well,
Andy McDowell:I mean, it was a great experience for my parents to be able to see their, Sure. Their son out on the big jumbo tron and oh. Center field as the camera was pan paning around
Randy Rohde:as, as we were singing . Oh, that's great. Well, let's kinda dig in a little bit of what you're doing right now, which is you have, uh, small business coaching services that you do called, uh, Generate your Value. Tell us a little bit about that, how you got started in it, and, um, well actually, before you give the background of how you got started, why don't you just give an overview of the service itself and what, and what you do in helping small businesses.
Andy McDowell:Well, I use a three, three prong approach. With potential clients. Uh, the most popular, which is a, I call it a peer to peer advisory group, but it's much like a mastermind group where I bring in small business owners, uh, once a month and we sit around a table for an afternoon in each client or customer brings a special 30 day project within their business that they wanna work on together with the. Where all the other business owners can act as like an advisory board to that specific owner. And we spend 15, 20 minutes, uh, on each business as we go around the table helping each other. I facilitate the meeting, bring my own advice and experience the conversation and so forth. And that's, that's my most popular. Part of my program because it's such a tremendous value. You know, it's not a big time consumer. For the business owner, it's four or five hours, one afternoon a month. I assign accountability buddies in between. So I take two participants in the group and say, Okay, get together in a couple weeks over coffee, a beer dinner. It doesn't matter in me. It's all about holding each other accountable to working on the goal that they had set trying to accomplish over the next 30 days. And they get to know each other better and get to be cheerleaders for each other and that kind of thing. So that's one facet. The other is a series of workshops, um, that are all geared towards, um, Business owners getting to know who they are in this world and how do they align with their business. Um, studies have found that's always the best way to go, as opposed to, you know, being a plumber but hating plumbing that's not gonna help you get outta out of the bed in the morning and really want to go to work and so forth. Right? So, who, who do you want to be in this world and how does. How's your business aligned is one of the workshops and we, we look at things as, um, who is your target audience and who are you really serving? And should you be saying no to certain people that just take up all your time? You don't really bring value to your business. Another one's on productivity. With your time, time management kind of piece. And, uh, have another workshop on laying the foundation of a business strategy for your business. So series of workshops. And then lastly to last arm, so to speak, of the program is just one-on-one coaching. Let's get in the room just one-on-one and work on a specific area or business that you're really having difficulties with, whether it's hiring, firing, marketing, sales, you know, whatever it may be, um, aspect of your business that. You want some one on one dedicated time with, from that perspective and that, that's where I like to really dive into who they are as a person and are, are you in the right place in terms of mindset and your heart and. Type of business that you're doing. And, um, I'm a big believer in leadership comes from the inside out, so let's mm-hmm. see where you're at and where I can help you in those aspects.
Randy Rohde:Right, Right. I love that, that you've have these three different kind of offerings, if you would, because I think they probably would be attractive to some people would love all of it. Um, I'm sure you find, and others I'm sure are attracted to. One particular avenue over another. I, I would imagine, like I'm a part of a couple of different mastermind groups, is what we call them, um, in, in my industry, uh, as well. And I love those. And you know, it's been, uh, a great opportunity for me to. Kind of banter about various kinds of things about our business and industry and learn from others and, and talk about growth and all of those kinds of things. So I really value the mastermind groups. But yeah, I think that's a, that's a great approach to be able to offer all of those different avenues, um, to your clients. Do you find that as well, Do people maybe. Are attracted to one, um, particular, uh, offering over another? Or does everybody do everything?
Andy McDowell:No. Uh, by far the, the peer to peer or the mastermind type group is the most popular, and it's, for me, I see it as a journey for the customer. Right. And as they. Start bringing in projects into the group and start working on 'em. They, they, they find out which ones are easy for 'em, which ones are more difficult, and where they have potential growth as a business owner, as a leader, and so forth. And that usually migrates them, so to speak, over to the workshops and, and one to one. Yeah. I always encourage, I only charge $95 a month. It. It's really inexpensive, you know, it's a little over a thousand dollars a year if you, you know, if you tend all, all 12 through the whole year, which is not a, a large investment for a small business, and you just get tremendous value out of it. Yeah, yeah. From the perspective, particularly when you've, I sort of cap off the group at about eight, eight customers, and if you have a full group of eight, eight people, you're getting a ton of advice and comments and experience, uh, around the table that really helps you from that perspective. So it's a, it's a powerful
Randy Rohde:tool. Yeah. Well, I, and again, I would just attest to the value of Masterminds and, and that kind of a format. So I love. Something that we don't do. And you mentioned you kinda do this accountability buddy, uh, which I think is a great idea and to kind of push on our groups, we meet more frequently and so, um, that might make that a little bit more challenging in thinking, uh, the way that we operate. But I think it's a great facet and people, I mean, it's, it's proven that if you've got somebody that's kinda helping you be accountable, What you say you're going to do, um, you generally perform much better at, at actually trying to accomplish those things. So yeah, that's a great, Well,
Andy McDowell:so as well as somebody who's gonna be an encouraging, right? Sure. If you set out a goal and you get two weeks into it and you find you're having some difficulty, once again, you have somebody sitting across the table who's gonna offer advice or be encouraging to say, Hey, keep going. You know, maybe try this or try that and sort of get over that bump in the road that you ran into in trying to achieve your goal. And lastly, it's it's, it's only 30 days. So if you're really struggling with it, you just bring the same topic to the group again in the following month. And we keep, keep. Hashing away
Randy Rohde:at it for you. Sure, sure. You keep banging at it. All right. So we're gonna come back and talk maybe a bit more about, um, your consulting business, generate your value, and I wanna be sure as well. Hey, and tell the folks you can go and check it out, uh, at um, Andy's website. Generate your value all one word.com. Uh, we'll get you over there and you can find out some more information on that. Before you got into this, I think you also had some very fascinating career experiences, um, and I love this title. So when you were with Boeing, you had this director. Airspace and airport services and I think Wow. Airspace. How do you, the director of airspace, so with Boeing, and, and maybe if you even wanna step further back in time, I know I've got all, all of these notes on this, but, um, maybe how you came to join Boeing because you actually started I would. I, I would define as well, probably with some entrepreneurial spirits with a smaller company, and then you ended up, uh, working with Boeing. So maybe give some of that background and then guide us through how you got to Boeing and, and, uh, I'll also want to hear about the, um, preparation for the Olympic Games, I think too would be kind of
Andy McDowell:fun. Yeah. There's some fascinating stories behind that. Um, so I've had the, the, the pleasure and the blessing and the luxury. Experiencing many different shapes and sizes of entrepreneurship, right? So I came outta my master's degree and worked for two different small entrepreneurial firms, each less than 50 people. Um, the first one, uh, this is at the time where cellular companies were just coming on board, you know, the whole, whole idea, you know, back when the cell phone cost you like two grand and it was a big brick and I was gonna
Randy Rohde:say yeah, about the size of a shoebox and
Andy McDowell:yeah, Motorola was the big manufacturer and so forth. And, uh, the cellular companies were starting to put up all their tower. Cellular companies were obviously regulated by the fcc. And FCC had a rule that you, um, had to make sure that you went through an FAA process that ensures that your tower's not gonna be in the weight of airplanes. Ah, you know, in simple language, right? And particularly if your tower's over 200 feet, it becomes a major issue for the faa. And so you had to file an application, if you will, with the faa. To have it studied, screened, whatever term you wanna say for it, and get, get the FAS blessing before the FCC would issue a proper license, if you will, for that site to be built. Um, but the problem was the, the FAA took forever and this business, uh, had hired a bunch of X FAA people that had done that work and were able to. Turn around in two to three weeks as opposed to two to three months or even six months. Um, and you don't wanna, if you're building out a network, you don't want to put in an application and then 2, 3, 6 months later get a no. Right. That just ex extends things, extends timelines, and it really makes cellular companies unhappy. So they, they were more than happy to come to us and we had about a, um, 95% or better accuracy rate on our answers to them about what the FAA would say from that perspective. And the company I worked for before, Was bringing out a new technology that had been developed called Geographical Information Systems. And it's a, it's a database type technology that brings geography into the equation. And, um, I developed a system for the. Cellular based company that, uh, reduced the time from two to three weeks to two to three days and saved all kinds of costs for the company and just shot their profits through the roof. Oh, sure. The two owners decided, originally decided they wanted to find a, a, a cash partner, somebody to come in and infuse some money into the company. But then, um, there was one company called Jefferson. It wasn't owned by Boeing at the time, but they, uh, came in and said, uh, no, we don't wanna partner with you. You wanna buy you. And so the two owners sold. Uh, we became part of Jefferson and a year later Boeing bought Jefferson. And that's how we got into the Boeing folds. You know, we went through two or three HR programs and so forth. Then about a year and a half or so that just sort of drove us all crazy. But they made, they, they put me in another gentleman in charge of the business when the two owners left. Two owners signed a contract to stay on for a year to develop us as the the business leaders. And, uh, we went on our way. And then about a year and a half later, my partner left the company and put me solely in charge of it. And we all knew that the tower business was gonna eventually start declining, as, you know, as all their networks and towers got built out and so forth. We knew there was a maturity to it, but it came, uh, came much quicker than we thought It. And so we diversified and got into the business since we, we already had to have this knowledge of airspace to evaluate a tower against it to start getting into this consulting business of helping governments. Build up the highways in the sky in quote that airplanes fly. And at the time, GPS was coming out. That was the big thing that we worked on on the Boeing side with governments, was, uh, we already had the garment devices in the cars. Uh, cuz safety issues are a lot less and lot, lot less number of people get impacted with a crash or an accident so far as opposed to an airplane. Aviation is like the medical field. It just tests and tests and tests and tests and tests to prove a technology before they make it live, so to speak. And hello, uh, and the massive airplanes to start flying using that technology. And so we helped, uh, governments through that process to include bringing in a very advanced, uh, form of, uh, gps. Uh, myself and other gentleman that work for me have. Co-author two patents using that technology for Boeing. It's called rmp, Required Navigational Performance. And that's what we spent the 22 years was helping to bring gps, uh, based operations in the air and on the ground. Um, at airports we had. One of the best simulation tools, uh, on the market that was, um, homegrown so to speak, and we used it to simulate ground movements in the air. We could simulate an entire country's airspace. Wow, that's incredible. And used it as a, as a what if tool. Mm. You know, if you made this change here, what kind of impact would it have on the operations?
Randy Rohde:Right. So, Now, would you use this as, as part of, from an operation standpoint, from a training like personnel, like pilots? Was it used for, for those purposes as well, or
Andy McDowell:No, it wasn't used. Um, primarily it was used for operations. Uh, when we got into like r and p, uh, it, it could be used for, uh, training purposes and flight simulators to educate and train pilots on the concept of r and p and how to fly an r and p based. Procedure, it was r and p, was a very highly accurate form of navigation, and it enabled you to start flying airplanes down. One of my favorite moments in my career was helping a Chinese open a new airport in Tibet, um, where the airport was in a river valley at about 11,000 feet, and you had mountains on either side of the river that were up around, uh, 22 to 25,000 feet. And so you literally had to thread a needle, so to speak, for the airplane. To fly over the top of this river and descend down into the airport. It was only possible with r and p and it's just a fascinating. Sight to see, or you're, you're sitting, sitting in your airplane seat in 7 37, look out the window and feel like you can reach your hand out and touch a mountain top from that perspective.
Randy Rohde:Yeah. Yeah. That is incredible. Now, w was this what led you to working on preparation for the Olympic Games then this particular kind of technology?
Andy McDowell:Yes. Yes. As a matter of fact, the work we did for the Chinese in Beijing, uh, later enabled them to become the second busiest airport in the world behind, uh, the airport here in Atlanta. Um, a year or two after the Olympics that we, we not only re helped them redesign their ear space using gps, but they brought in a third parallel runway and a second control tower, all, all in this two year project. So we used our simulator to help 'em figure out which. Runways should be dedicated to departures. Which ones should be dedicated to arrivals or a blend of that during what times of the day, depending on what demand is. Mm-hmm. and how, how to best use their, their new airspace structure to try and get as, as efficient as possible because, uh, for the Olympics, the world is coming. It's coming in a hurry, and it's, and it's a lot of it. Yeah. Right. Between all the athletes and the diplomats and TV and everything else. Yeah. You can have hundreds of airplanes parked at an airport, uh, for that. It's a little bit long. The games itself is two weeks, but it's probably a week before and a week after that. You've got a lot demand through essentially a month. Yeah. The world is coming to your doorstep and it's just, uh, One off, if you will, in terms of demand and operations on the airport. It's a special case, so to speak, and it takes a lot of
Randy Rohde:prep work to make it work. Right, right, right. That's incredible. I never really thought about as a service of what Boeing does, but you know, that's a whole nother. Facet of, obviously it's in the aviation space, but it's certainly, it's not building aircrafts. Like I, I think what so many people like myself maybe associate Boeing with, um, and not necessarily doing some of this other kind of aviation consulting services, uh, that you've outlined. Um, that really is pretty fascinating. So. Let's go from Boeing and then let's go forward here a little bit. Uh uh, um, so at a certain point you left Boeing, you've started the Generate your Value consulting. How did you know this is a big departure from, I mean, you are doing information systems deep into aviation, obviously aviation systems as you described, GPS stuff, you know, coaching small businesses seems like a big departure. Maybe it's not. Uh, I don't know. Maybe you can connect the dots for us.
Andy McDowell:Well, it is, and it isn't one of my favorite jobs as a leader within Boeing. Developing people. It was one of the things that got me out of bed was to be working with my team and others within Boeing, uh, to help them find, you know, join happiness and success in their life and in their, in their job and career at Boeing or, uh, Or elsewhere. I'd often sit down, peop sit down with people and say, uh, life's a journey. And I, I know Boeing's only part of that journey, and so I'm not going to sit here and develop a plan for you where you're gonna be stuck at Boeing all the time if that's not what you want to do. Right? So what do you, what do you wanna do with your life? What do you wanna do with your career? Maybe you can do it all the time here at Boeing, and maybe areas you want to get into is not a Boeing strength, so to speak, and we need to get you somewhere else. But let. Together, Uh, you know, think of me more as a life coach than a, than a boss, so to speak. And let's put a plan together to get you the skills and talents and experiences that you need to be successful in your career, uh, as you define it for yourself. And let's work together as a partnership to make that happen. From that perspective, uh, unfortunately, I was somewhere else in the world half of the year, so I could only take on a certain number of, uh, mentees, if you will, that were outside of my, outside of my team. Uh, I had plans, my hope was to be with Boeing for 30 years and then do what I'm doing today on a part-time basis from that perspective. But, um, you know, myself and thousands of other employees got laid off because of the 7 37 max crisis, uh, that happened back in 2019. And so I just moved that timeline to the left, said, Okay, I'm gonna go do this full time for a while, but it. What I feel like is my purpose in life and why I was created and why I'm here. And I wanna see other people succeed and, and enjoy life. Like I've enjoyed life, uh, with the blessings of my career and the situations and opportunities that I had and so forth. And so let's do what we have to, to help you have those same kind of. Environments, opportunities and, and successes. You define it for yourself, and I just get tremendous joy out of watching people grow. Yeah,
Randy Rohde:that's great. I love that line about, uh, as, as you would start out and you would tell people, you know, life is a journey, and, uh, Boeing's a part of it may not be the, uh, the final destination. Uh, or not even sure how long the runway may be with Boeing, but mm-hmm.. Andy McDowell: You know, we'll, parts of Boeing outside of my team and I help people go elsewhere? Yeah. How did you land on the name? Say, I'm getting all of this kind of aviation talk in here, and , how did you land on the name generate your value? I
Andy McDowell:just love the word value. You, you know, there are all kinds of different, think of value as a diamond, right? And a diamond's got different facets depending on how you cut it and so forth. And value just comes in so many different forms, whether it be physical value, financial value, emotional value, spiritual value, relationship value and so forth. And for me, uh, life is at its most joyous moment and so forth when you get to help others. You know, if you've truly done the inside work and can live a life to then turn around and do what you do, do what you do for others that you did for yourself from that perspective, you can then begin to start generating value in the world values either generated or extracted. And in, in a, in a strong relationship, say between a husband and wife, you're both generat. You're generating value in your spouse's life and you're extracting value that they're generating for yourself. And when there's a, an even amount of exchange and that generation and extraction, then you have a very strong relationship. So if you're gonna truly take control of your life and put a strategy together, what what are you doing to generate value in all areas of your. For yourself, for friends, for spouses, for children, for parents, for communities, for organizations. How are your values, actions, behaviors, mindsets, and everything else working together to then generate value in this world? And that's what my whole philosophy, methodology, what I do in my programs is all about is let's do the inner. Let's generate value in yourself first. Get that as a good, solid foundation so that you can then turn around and do it for others. And in that journey of doing it for others is where you find the joy, happiness, and success in the journey of life while you're going down the journey of life. It's not an end result, it's. It's a feeling, a mindset and everything else as you're going down that, that road in, in the journey of your life.
Randy Rohde:Yeah. So it's a real, it, it really is a journey and I, I really appreciate and, and value use that term. Please do kind, kind of the philosophical approach that you bring to, So it's not just you, you are not just coaching somebody on, this is how you can make your business more profitable. This is where you can eek out a few more, uh, points of margin, uh mm-hmm., but, but you really are talking about. Much broader, much bigger, much deeper concepts of success, and some of that is value and how they can draw more value out of their business. But in many respects, as you've outlined, you're talking about. Really all venues of an individual's life. So it's not just their business, but it's also their family, It's also their relationships. Uh, it's also their other interests and hobbies that they may be involved with. And yeah, so
Andy McDowell:one of my, that's a great, one of my favorite phrases is, Culture eats strategy for lunch. So from a leadership perspective, if you're leading, um, a business and so forth, what, what, what are you doing that's adding value to the culture of the organization that brings out the best in your, in your team and in your people. You know that those are those soft skills, you know, this term I heard and so forth. But how are you saying things? What's your mindset? What's your approach to your leadership style and everything else that's going to. Get the best out of your, out of your team that's gonna get you the results that you want. Cause ultimately that's what you're judged on, is the results and your balance sheet and everything else. But if you've, if you've got employees, you together with them as a team have to make that happen. So are you gonna be a micromanager and stomp all over people and yell at 'em and so forth that try and get the best out of 'em, which is a bad road to go down or are. Gonna actually generate value in, in their career and in their work life and so forth. They want to get out of bed and come work with you. Right, right. And work together as a team on the goals. Yeah.
Randy Rohde:That's a great approach and it, it opens up a subject I want to get in with you on, which is really about how do you treat and work and value your staff, and especially in today's world where staff retention, I think is so critical right now and, and. Keeping the good people on board with you, how do you do that? And I think you, I'm sure you've got some great insights into that. Before we get there, though, it's time. And it's time for the seventh
Andy McDowell:inning stretch.
Randy Rohde:The seventh inning stretch. Now folks, I uh, had the kinda of the, the warmup conversation with Andy prior to, uh, us hitting the record button. And you know, I always ask, uh, our guests before we kinda get onto the show here, Hey, do you like. Baseball . Some people are a little, you know, like, well, you know, I've heard of it and some people are like, Andy, I love baseball. I've been , I've played baseball my whole life, you know? Uh, so this is always kind of fun. I have some people who get. Very nervous that are familiar with the show, and I ask, I'm like, Hey, it's time for the seventh. And he starts like, Oh my gosh, this is the piece I've been most nervous about, , . So this is the time though. I, I, we just kind of dig in. My team, uh, finds some. Question that we might ask you that may or may not be relative to your niche. This one is not necessarily as relative to your niche as to your experience and which was your experience on, um, singing the Anthem at a baseball game. And I'm just gonna kind of dig right in and throw the question right at you here. Here it comes, Fastball right down the middle. Andy, do you have an idea? When was the first documented instance that the anthem was played at an American sporting event?
Andy McDowell:Ooh. Which could be not
Randy Rohde:baseball it. It could not be baseball, but it is though, . But I just read the question as it was thrown at me. So . Yeah. Yeah. So I that it was played at the first instance, that it was a played at American and sporting event, which actually was a baseball game. But do you have an idea of when, I'll just say the year, not necessarily, you know, more specific date. I
Andy McDowell:don't know the answer to that, but I can probably put together an educated guess. I, I would guess it would probably be in the forties, uh, you know, World War II and patriotism and nationality and all that was probably at a high level. I would. That's where I would put my money, so to speak on an answer, is somewhere in the mid
Randy Rohde:forties. All right. Okay. Well, you know, I will give you this credit. So you probably got, you know, kind of a foul tip here.? . Andy McDowell: I'm still alive. Yeah, you're still alive. You're still swinging. Um, it, uh, it, it is kind of interesting, so it, it actually started, uh, earlier than around World War ii, but I think you're right on point in the sense that it. Gained massive popularity around World War ii because then at that point, during the period around World War II, that the anthem was just heard everywhere at that point. Mm-hmm., Um, and not just at sporting events, but. Before opera movies. Uh, before the theater, they played the anthem and it was just everywhere. And then it waned a little bit. And then during the Vietnam War era, it actually came back and became really almost kind of indoctrinated into all sporting events at that point. But to answer your question, So, you know, the Anthem is about a battle during the war of 1812, so it's not gonna happen before then , But it actually was documented first being played at a baseball game in 1862 during the Civil War.
Andy McDowell:Wow. I didn't even have any idea. Baseball. Um, yes. Went that far back. Yes.
Randy Rohde:Yes. Yeah. So there you go. Isn't that fun? I was
Andy McDowell:thinking late 18 hundreds or early 19 hundreds it started. Yeah.
Randy Rohde:Wow.. So there we go. All right. I love it when
Andy McDowell:I learned something
Randy Rohde:every day. There we go. All right, well let's get back into it. Play ball. So Andy, I understand it and I love some of the stuff that you are doing with your consulting. One of the things though, that I'm. Curious. So you started your own business, so you were in some smaller kind of entrepreneurial chefs, then you went to Boeing, massive international company, and then you went back out, decided to kinda do your own entrepreneurial, uh, pursuits again. How was that for you? I don't, I'm, Was it challenging? Did you love it? Did you have struggle? It, it's going from, I don't even know what is Boeing, as I'm assuming just thousands and thousands of employees to going to something considerably smaller. Right?
Andy McDowell:Yeah. And they all bring, bring their different challenges. So as I mentioned before, I had different. Sizes are facets of entrepreneurship. I went from an employee in an entrepreneurship to going to Boeing with a big corporations, the the largest US exporter in dollars in the country with pl thousands of employees all over the world. But I was asked to start a business. Within that corporation. So I still had to go out, find resources within Boeing for my marketing and counting and you know, financial side and everything, just like an entrepreneur has to do. Um, and if I couldn't find the resources in Boeing, then I had the green light to go find it outside of Boeing to bring it in, you know, as a vendor or services. To help us out and left Boeing, and now I, I do all that for myself, but I've hired other companies to come in and help me with certain aspects, so, For me, it's, It's all the same. And it's not all the same. Mm. They all have all their own challenges. My challenge starting this business was my network was aviation industry around the world, on the government side, and now, now I'm working with small businesses, brick and mortar businesses and so forth that I was not participating in. Don't have experience in an area or anything, but business is business. It comes all in shapes and sizes, but the core of it's all the same. And I felt like the need was gonna be the most for those that don't have the experience that I have brought to the table through, through my career and so forth. And like I said before, I love watching people grow and so I, I just love working with people and just watch the, the eyes get big as they learn things. Uh, whether it's in their business or at the table with me and others and so forth, to gain that experience and to help 'em along on the journey. Yeah. Uh, you know, I used the, the analogy yesterday in a meeting about prize fighter. You know, who am I looking for as a customer? I'm looking for somebody who wants to be that prize fighter that's, that's in the ring, you know? Running their business and doing their best against the world, pushing against it with the business and so forth. And I'm in the corner yelling, encouragement and everything, and the bell goes off, and then we get to get together again and talk strategy, how's it going? And need to use more of a left jab or go for an undercut this time, or something of that nature. Get out there and keep fighting the good fight in, in growing, growing the business. And I just love that aspect. But I, I've had my, my challenges, you know, within Boeing, one of my biggest challenges in the business was something probably that people had never thought of, but was the contract basis. And in particularly the rule of law. So if we're dealing with governments, the government side on the other side of the table always wanted to make the rule of law of the contract to be within their own country. And Boeing wanted no part of it. They, they were willing to write contracts in US law or, or the UK law. Uh, and it was a major roadblock for me in, in being able. To get business. You know, at country of Mexico, it has a law that says all their contracts have to be in Mexican law, period. You know, there's no , there's no debate or or negotiation they can do with that. So I had to walk away from doing business in Mexico and helping them out with some of their airports just because of contract. Uh, from that perspective. So it, you know, like I said, each industry, each business type, it's all entrepreneurial in nature, but they all bring their own. Their own challenges, right? Yeah.
Randy Rohde:Their own what you have to overcome their own set of constraints, uh mm-hmm., I, I love the, uh, the way that you positioned and especially your experience in, in Boeing, because even though it was a large, uh, is a large international company, you were running essentially a small business within Boeing, and you were mm-hmm. had to do. What all entrepreneurs do now in sourcing support and services to help generate business. You were just doing it within the resources within Boeing, or It could go external if need be, but yeah, so that really adds to the, I think, the credibility and the insight that you can provide. I'm sure with your, uh, existing clients, Before we jumped into the seventh inning, we were just beginning to touch on staff and talking about value and valuing staff. In today's world, and you know, it's always in the headline, you know, the labor market and how difficult it is to hire people and all. Obviously, it also puts a great amount of pressure on retaining, uh, employees. What kinds of thoughts do you have around that specific subject? And when you're talking with some of your. Clients right now that have staff. What are some of the, the insights and the conversations that you're having with, with those folks in regards to staff, whether it's outsourcing them or retaining staff?
Andy McDowell:So it, to me, um, it really boils down to leadership style and mindset. So you have a position to be filled. You have some tasks or processes or whatever that need to be taken care of by somebody, and you're gonna put a job description out there and ask. Ask people to apply for the position, um, and then you're gonna hire somebody. And so how, how do you see that relationship with that person that's coming in? You know, do, do you see it as an authoritative kind of relationship? Like, I'm the boss, here's the job. Sit down, take care of these tasks, be a good boy or girl. Get your, get your work done, and everything will be okay here. And oh, by the way, I'm gonna take, take the credit for everything that we do. Or do you see it as a relationship, as a win-win, right? Um, you as a, as an employee brings certain things to the table. You're bringing talents, skills, your time. You're making a choice. I mean, that's all more important today with the whole great resignation and, and everything that's been going on after the pandemic. People have choices. So what are you doing with your culture, your job benefits, your offering salary? All those pieces that you're bringing to the table that, that the future employees going to bring in terms of skills, talents, energy, their time, and so forth. How are you both bringing that to the table? You know, somebody brings the, the mud and the other person brings the water and you're gonna make this great piece of pottery together, Or is it just gonna be a mess on the table because you're not bringing the right mindset and the right environment and culture to the table to get the best. Out of your people. Your employees want an emotionally safe place where they feel like they can contribute, they can speak up, they can bring their ideas and contributions and their skills and talents to the table. Uh, they want all those things to be valued and respected. That doesn't mean that somebody throws an idea on the table that she do it, but it's all about how it's received. Right? Say, thank you so much for expressing that idea. That's worthy of consideration or it's not worthy of consideration because I see we might have big stumbling blocks with A, B, and C and say that in a respectful way, but I really appreciate you bringing that to the table. You know, are you gracious in that and so forth that. A person's not gonna be afraid to do the same thing next week or next month or whatever with some other project that you're working on from that basis. So is it, is it really a win-win relationship that you're developing with your employee and your employees? Or, or is it all about you? You, you, you, And that's, that's all a mindset. That's all. Why, Why are you in it? Why did you pick leadership? Why do you want to be a. Do you want to generate value in the people's lives that work for you? Or are you just there to collect a big paycheck, get all the credit and, and feel like you're on some kind of power cruise because you've got the title and authority next to your name on the nameplate, next to the doorframe of your office. And that's what I try to get to with my clients is figure out what side of the fence are you on. Are you afraid to hire people the smarter than you? See the end of the day, uh, a leader gets judged on their end results. The results. So are you gonna put all, put all the monkeys on your back and, and do it all yourself? Or are you gonna develop a high speed team that feels included, heard in, in their skills and talents are being utilized to the max potential? That when you know Randy, one of my favorite examples is I had a gentleman when I was within Boeing, uh, there was a master sergeant in Army and he was with a tank battalion, not anything, uh, related to aviation. So he didn't have any background in aviation. But when, when we interviewed him, You could see the attitude, you could see the mindset, and he worked his way from the bottom. You know, technically speaking from the bottom of our organization to the top. In five years, I had no problems writing the checks for the expensive training. I would have to send people to, you know, in order for them to keep moving up the ranks, so to speak, with this guy, because when I asked him to do something, his immediate response was always too easy. You know, he had a master sergeant kind of attitude that had been grained into him in the Army, and that's why we hired him was because of attitude, not because of technical competency, and he ended up being one of our best employees in my career. At Boeing because he had the right mindset, he had the right culture within the team, and his contributions were respected and honored. Now
Randy Rohde:that's interesting that you bring that up as an example. And I'm wondering, this kind of a philosophical question maybe in regards to working with, uh, your team and a staff, is it easier, and maybe that's not even the right question, but I'll, I'll take it in that direction. Is it easier to hire somebody? That may come with that kind of mindset, or is it easier to develop that culture within your organization to cultivate that mindset?
Andy McDowell:My experience is, is it's easier to hire that mindset because technical aspects and so forth are easier to teach and train than to get somebody's mindset turned. It's not to say it's not, it's impossible to do that. I just think it takes more work, more trust, uh, and is a longer journey than bringing in somebody with a right mindset and just taking 'em to the technical training or whatever is necessary for their skills and talents
Randy Rohde:to be developed. Yeah, Yeah. How about on the aspect about retaining employee. Do you have some insight on, you know, so many of the people that listen to our show are small business owners. What are some things that you would tell them to like, Hey, here's some things, you know, 1, 2, 3, focus on to help retain your, your good and your good employees or good staff? Well,
Andy McDowell:number a reason why employees leave is cuz of the relationship with their supervisor. So it's, it's a one on one thing, so, How are you treating them? What is being said are, are you honoring them as a person? Are you honoring what they want to do with their life? And are you helping to facilitate that? You know, and is, is a culture in the office set up for that as well? So, you know, I recently read a survey in my, my co-host and I did a, an episode of this on, on our podcast about culture and what were the, you know, survey was asking question, what is the most important. Parts of a culture in, there was one survey asking it of employees and there was another survey done asking it of leaders and business owners and so forth on the employee side. Salary and money and benefits was in the middle, you know, if you had a list of one to 10, they were around five and six. And the top four above that I would label as emotional values. Is there emotional safety? Do I feel like I'm being respected? You know, it was those type of items that were on the list. Those soft skills, per se, the relationship, they, they just don't get paid enough attention, um, in leadership and business from that aspect that if you pay at least a 50 50% of your time, Between the two as opposed to, Well, we've got great pay, we've got great benefits, and we do really cool stuff, and things like that. You're gonna be able to retain people a lot longer. There's a difference between attracting them and them stepping through the door on the first day. It's another thing to retain 'em, because now you've got experience. It comes into play, an experience of, of their time with you as the leader. Their time within the business, their time within the business strategy, their time within the industry that starts contributing to that. Mm-hmm., they haven't experienced that when they make the decision or the choice to come work for you and step through the door on day one. Mm-hmm.. Randy Rohde: That's great insight. I'm going to hit you up now on some broader, uh, I guess we're coming into the bottom of the ninth. This is where I get ask you really as a grizzled old veteran in this game of business that we're in , uh, for those folks who are just starting out, thinking about either opening up their own shop, getting into the ball game, if you would, the rookies of the game, what advice do you have for them? Biggest advice is see it as a journey. It's, it's going to be. Some might say it's going to be a fight. Some might say it's going to have its difficult spots, but it's, uh, it's going to be a journey with ups and downs. And do you have the persistence and the grit as I call it, to withstand the bumps in the road to survive, per se, but not only survive, but to also thrive? From that perspective, and it's, it's not only a journey, it's a learning journey. So how are you about learning? Are you okay with falling off your horse and dusting yourself off and getting back on the horse again? Having learned the lesson as to why you fell off the horse to begin with. And to do something slightly different or major league different depending on the issue, to reduce the risk, if you will, of falling off that horse again. Good. So are you coming in with a mindset of, Oh, I got this all figured out and Yeah, the piece of cake and you know, Yeah. No, no, I got it. I got it. And you get six months into it and went, Oh boy. You know, I feel like you got, like I did a couple times, Randy, uh, growing up in high school, in baseball, where you get up there in Bunning practice, you know, you're, You're up there with a bat and they're throwing in, you know, 60 mile an hour pitch or whatever, and you have to turn around with a bat and, and you make a slight motion with a bat so it hits the ball and try to bun it, and it goes off the top part of your bat and it hits you right between the eyes. Yeah, right. I know. I had that happen to me twice. in baseball camps and so forth growing up as a kid, and it's like, Yeah, yeah, I got this. It's a. It's a but no big deal. You turn around and right between the eyes, . Yeah. Didn't see that coming, you know, so to speak. So how, how do you, how do you deal with those moments? You know, where you're like, Oh, this is harder than I thought, and you're just gonna pack it all in and give up, or you're gonna learn a lesson out of it and keep. Keep moving along. Yeah, yeah. You know, from that perspective, and to me, that's the most critical element and foundational. It's not necessarily your knowledge about accounting or marketing or your product or services. Are you in it to win it? And you see it as a journey, a learning journey. And you're coming with a right mindset that I don't have it all figured out, but I'm gonna learn as I go along. And. Oh, by the way, if I'm really struggling, I've got, uh, I can go get a business coach or I can talk to other entrepreneurs, or I can build my network and go talk to other people and help me along, you know, to learn on this journey and see it as a journey from that perspective. That's my, my biggest advice when anybody asks me that question is, uh, Put on your catcher's gear,
Randy Rohde:and, and get ready. Put on the pass, put
Andy McDowell:on your mask in your catcher's gear, and be ready for the balls to be coming at you. Yeah. And have that perseverance to keep, keep muddling through, so to speak. Learning your lessons to know. Um, okay. Uh, Joe Smith's curve ball is not working today. So let's, let's stick with the fast ball on the slider today. Try to get ourselves through this nine innings and then, After the game, we'll go work on that curve ball a little bit more and, uh, hopefully next game that curve ball's working and we have a better outcome. Right? Yeah,
Randy Rohde:yeah. Uh, good advice just to use your, your baseball. I know. I love, I love the baseball tech. Well, listen to Andy. I thank you so much, man. You, you brought. Uh, a lot of good stuff in your, uh, gym bag to the, to the field today, you did mention, and I want to be sure I highlight it with, uh, with our listeners as well. You also have a podcast and I believe it's also called Generate Your Value. Is that right? That's correct.
Andy McDowell:I I do What a co-host Zach Levy, who's a. Right. A business owner in the financial services side, and we talk about life leadership and small business issues. You know, we, we started, I didn't tell you this before we started recording, but the podcast got started in what we call a bourbon and business moment So Zach and his wife Megan would come over, we're all bourbon fans, and we'd, uh, grab a glass of bourbon and sit on the back, my back porch and. Talk about life and business and so forth, over a glass of bourbon. Nice. And, um, I'm, I'm a big love versus fear guy, and so I was quizzing Zach on what his fears were in life. And he said, You know, I've always wanted to start a podcast, but, but it's just been afraid to. And I said, Well, just so happens last month I've been thinking about starting a podcast for marketing purposes on my business. So, Do it together. And that's how the conversation happened. Within a month, month and a half, we were up and rolling on our podcast and, and and so forth. So Zach and I have a great time.
Randy Rohde:That's my kinda business meeting, you know, bourbon and . That's good. B b moment we call. Yeah, that's a bourbon and business. That's it. That's a good,
Andy McDowell:His wife's from Kentucky and she knows all things about bourbon, so I get educated
Randy Rohde:on bourbon. Oh, very good. Oh, that's, that's gonna be fun. Well, listen, I, I wanna be sure I, I will have, uh, the links both to your podcast and to your website, uh, where people can, uh, reach out to you directly, generate your value.com, and then we'll also have the link to your podcast in there and they can go check that out in the show notes. So, Very good. Andy, thanks so much, men, for being on the show. Great to get to.
Andy McDowell:Uh, great to get to know you, Randy as well, and, uh, I wish you all the best for the Guardians and the Cubs.. Yes, Yes. In the coming season. Um, I'm looking forward to second half of the season what it brings. You've got some tremendous races going on. Yeah, I was looking at American League East. Oh my goodness. Oh, crazy. Yeah. The or Orioles are backed 500 and they're still at the bottom of the Yeah. Of the division in almost. Anybody else above them could be, you know, number one or two in the other two divisions. Yes. I mean, it's just a fascinating year for
Randy Rohde:baseball Michigan. Not, not so much for the Cubs. I think we're looking to see what we can do next season already. But , you never know The Indians. Oh, guardians. Sorry. I'm still stuck in the, in the past world. The guardians actually, uh, you know, they're hanging in. We'll see what they can do over the, the, the last half of this season. So, but um, yeah, it's
Andy McDowell:always fun. Yeah, we, we've got. The Braves got their challenges with the Mets. Yeah, they've got two. Tremendous pictures in what Gros can be coming back soon. And then, Yeah,
Randy Rohde:well the Cubs just, Cubs just finished. Two of those are just ACEs with the Mets, so yeah, we, we took her bruising with, uh, with the Mets, so we, Anyway, right Andy, well listen, you take care. And folks, that's the ballgame. So thanks for joining us today and if you like our show, hey, please tell your friends, subscribe and. Give us a review, as we like to say. We'll see around the ballpark. Running the bases with small businesses is brought to you by 38 Digital Market. A digital marketing agency committed to client growth with lead generation higher conversions. And increased sales. Connect with us today at 38 digital market.com.