Are you in business with your spouse? How is your personal relationship? How about your business relationship? Today’s guests, Kristen and Justin Deese are business partners and life partners and have figured out a way to have many successful businesses all the while having a successful marriage.
- Learn more at: www.BusinessSpouse.com
- Listen to Justin’s and Kristen’s 9 part podcast: CLICK HERE.
- If you missed Kristen’s and Justin’s interview on the Big Sky webinar on How to Build Passive Income, you can watch it by CLICKING HERE.
- Ready to take your business to the next level? Learn more about how Big Sky Franchise Team can help, CLICK HERE.
Kristen & Justin Deese are married business partners that wrote a book called ‘When Your Business Partner is Your Spouse’ and together they enjoy spending time teaching other entrepreneurs how to find happiness and success in their business.
Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
Transcription
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:01):
You worked hard to build your business. And now it’s time to grow. Welcome to the Multiply Your Success Podcast. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team and a serial entrepreneur. And the purpose of our podcast is to give you a weekly dose of inspiration and education to help you take the next step in your expansion journey. And as we get going today, the question I want to talk to you about is if you out there are doing business with your spouse, with your husband, with your wife, are you doing business together and life together and meshing the two together? And how is that going for you? Is it going well? Is it going up? Is it going down? How is that going? How are all of those parts going together?
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:51):
I’ve worked with so many couples over the years that have done business together and some do it very well and others not as well. And our guests today are Kristen and Justin Deese. And they wrote a book called When Your Business Partner Is Your Spouse and I really wanted them on to talk about their story. They’ve been doing business and life together for decades. They married young, they started businesses young and have had a flourishing career and life. They’ve built multiple businesses, grown them, sold them, bought them, all of those things, all the while raising a family and staying happily married. And I thought that their testimony and what they’ve been able to do together is really, really impressive and that’s why I wanted them on the show. So let’s go ahead and jump into our interview with Kristen and Justin Deese.
Justin Deese, Author (01:46):
So my name is Justin Deese. My wife and I have been business partners for a couple of decades.
Kristen Deese, Author (01:53):
Couple years.
Justin Deese, Author (01:53):
I can say that. Our entrepreneurial journey really started out in Atlanta in the early 2000s. Well, I was in the grill cleaning business, which who knew that was even a business and then that kind of morphed into an appliance installation company that we still own today. Throughout that time we’ve had that business, we’ve bought and sold a few different businesses. Currently we own that same company in Atlanta, we own a plumbing restoration company here in the panhandle of Florida and we own the coaching business.
Kristen Deese, Author (02:32):
Yeah. And there’s been things that we’ve done and let go over the years, especially before we really honed in on the appliance installation business in Atlanta. There was definitely a few things that were opportunities but we let them go for whatever reason and ended up sticking with the appliances which was cool. It was a unique business for us to do. It took a while to get it figured out but now I’d say we haven’t figured out.
Justin Deese, Author (03:04):
I think so.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:06):
Yeah. Well, and one of the reasons, and thank you both for that. And one of the reasons I’m excited to have you on the program is you are co-authors of a book. And the book is When Your Business Partner Is Your Spouse. And so I’ve gone through it, I loved reading it. My wife and I work together and we each have our own kind of business interests but we’re both involved in one of the companies together. And so it does make an interesting dynamic. And I know a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners fall into that same bucket. So what led you to writing this book?
Kristen Deese, Author (03:44):
Well running a business is challenging and being married is challenging and being a parent is challenging. And when you combine all of those things together it either can be very synergistic or it can be a recipe for disaster. So we were just kind of trying to figure stuff out as we went and we really honed in on what was working well. And then we started getting approached by people who saw that we were happy and we had successful businesses and it was kind of like, “How do you do that? What are you doing? How are you making it work?” And there was enough people that asked about it that we thought maybe we’re onto something here.
Justin Deese, Author (04:28):
Well we researched it. So we researched to find a book because we thought well certainly there’s because there’s not an actual number of how many spouses run businesses together. But the majority, at least when you’re talking home service businesses or any kind of technician driven businesses, typically the husband is the technician and the wife does the books and answers the phone.
Kristen Deese, Author (04:51):
All that administrative stuff.
Justin Deese, Author (04:53):
There’s so many, yeah, there’s so many people like that and we never really thought about it. So then we started researching because people kept asking and we were like, wow, there’s, there’s not. There’s not one.
Kristen Deese, Author (05:02):
There’s not a lot of resources like that but we knew a lot of people who were in the same situation. We started taking kind of an inventory of the friends in our social network and there was a lot of people who were trying to run a business and stay happily married at the same time. And they would have the pendulum swings of sometimes it would be going great and sometimes the marriage was suffering or the business was suffering and from a distance you could see where the gaps were. And so we kind of used those scenarios to figure out, okay, what are the key things that we’re doing that’s kind of helping us keep this all together. And that’s what ended up creating the topics of the book or the chapters of the book.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (05:42):
Well, and I love in the book one of my favorite chapters was the communication chapter. And I love that. That’s just so spot on. One of the things that really stood out me that I’d love for you just to maybe talk a little bit about for anyone who happens to listen to that they can check out the book themselves, certainly we’d love for them to do that. But you tell a story about, Kristen, you tell a story about how Justin had all of these ideas and kind of how they created tension there. So would you mind sharing some of that story there?
Kristen Deese, Author (06:23):
So when you’re married to a visionary, there’s lots of ideas that are constantly popping up. And I am the kind of person that if there is this new idea that we’re talking about, my first instinct is to figure out how to make it happen. And that ends up pulling me down into the details, which isn’t a big deal in general because I’m just a detail oriented person as it is but it can be exhausting when there’s constantly new ideas popping up. And what would happen is Justin would get a new idea on something and he’d be super excited about it and I’d be like, “Oh, okay, cool. Well I guess we’re going in that direction.” And I’d start doing the work behind the scenes of trying to get it lined up. And then a couple of days later he’d be onto something different. And I got to the point where I had to say, okay, I need to be able to filter out these ideas into ones that are actual ideas that we’re going to move on and things that we’re just going to talk about for a little while and then move on to something else.
Kristen Deese, Author (07:23):
So it was definitely a challenge and it created a rub for a long time because also in my personality trait is that I don’t appreciate change very much. And so to constantly be shifting gears was draining and a little bit stressful on me. So I really just had to kind of back up and say, okay, if there was a new idea and it came up in conversation multiple times, then I figured it was going to stick around and I should probably put more effort and energy into it. And if it was an idea that came up and I didn’t really hear anything after that, then I thought it was safe to kind of say, okay, that was fun and we’re just going to move on to the next thing.
Justin Deese, Author (08:00):
Well, and so for me to, it taught me not to voice every-
Kristen Deese, Author (08:05):
Ever single idea.
Justin Deese, Author (08:07):
… idea because I have a lot. And it’s like, oh, well, and then I’ll do a little bit of research and then go, no, that’s not the right one. But I would blurt that out to everyone and I think at times to even team members and they would go,” Oh god [inaudible 00:08:22]. Not another.
Kristen Deese, Author (08:24):
Here we go again.
Justin Deese, Author (08:24):
Yeah. So once we kind of got a little bit of clarity on that, which by the way, the company that we’re talking about in the book, we still own, it’s a pretty good sized business.
Kristen Deese, Author (08:34):
Yes, it is. The one that I was like, “Are you kidding me? I can’t believe we’re even thinking about buying another company.” We still have it and it’s successful.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (08:41):
Oh, that’s great. Well, I love that story. I love that story. There’s this idea of where one partner, one spouse’s ideas and driven in that regard. And I love the story that you shared. And I love the communication chapter. I’m going to reference this one again, where you had a client in your business that you are working with in your coaching or consulting business that had a longtime employee leave. And you had made mention that he said, “Hey, oh my goodness, my office manager left, what am I going to do?” And then one of you had said to the client, “Well, did you talk to your wife about it?” And the gentleman just sat there.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (09:31):
For me, when I was listening, I did the audio book, it made me think how often business owners or spouses that are partners, it just how often they go without communicating with one another and sharing ideas and just asking simple questions that if they weren’t your husband or wife or spouse, you would have asked that person. There was just an assumption. So I guess I’m curious from your perspective, what are maybe some steps or measures that people might be able to just put in place in their business or in their relationship with their spouse and working together?
Kristen Deese, Author (10:12):
I mean boundaries is always a big one. Boundaries for us is conversation boundaries and a lot of times it was time boundaries.
Justin Deese, Author (10:22):
A lot of it was time boundaries, yeah.
Kristen Deese, Author (10:26):
His brain works in the entrepreneurial manner all the time.
Justin Deese, Author (10:29):
Which is not 8:00 to 5:00.
Kristen Deese, Author (10:29):
From the moment he wakes up, to the moment he goes to bed, all days, all holidays. It doesn’t matter what day it is, that’s the way the brain works, which is amazing. And my brain has to shut off on that subject for a little while, because there’s other things that I need to be working on too ad focusing on that don’t have to do with the entrepreneurial side. And so I would get super exacerbated by just constantly talking about the business, even in the evenings when I’m trying to trying to pull dinner together or trying to get the kids to go to bed or we’re trying to do-
Justin Deese, Author (11:04):
I’m like, “We should white board this idea.”
Kristen Deese, Author (11:05):
Yeah, I’m like, “No man, no. We should get the kids in bed and maybe have a a glass of wine and not talk for a minute.” Go ahead.
Justin Deese, Author (11:14):
I was just going to say, yes, boundaries. And I think another step that a lot of really business owners, married business partners, business partners in general, I think the big thing they forget to do is figure out what their vision is. What is the why behind all of it? And yes, like anything else that will evolve. But for us, and it took us several years, once we finally sat down and went, what’s our vision? What is it that we want? Why are we doing this? Because a lot of times we asked ourselves that as we were frustrated, but we finally got to where we would ask ourselves that as we were a little bit more free and go, okay, why are we doing this? What do we want it to look like? And I think once we did that, it kind of really helped us make a roadmap of, okay, well, this is where we actually want to go.
Kristen Deese, Author (12:02):
That certainly makes decision-making easier.
Justin Deese, Author (12:03):
Oh my gosh, yes.
Kristen Deese, Author (12:07):
When you know what direction we’re trying to go.
Justin Deese, Author (12:07):
Yes.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (12:08):
Well that brings up a great point on doing this vision together. What happens, I guess if in your coaching or maybe when the two of you went through that, this exercise of building out the vision, how do you kind of mesh the visions together if they’re kind of going in different directions? What happens in that kind of a scenario?
Justin Deese, Author (12:29):
Well for us, even writing in the vision at the beginning was tough. We were fortunate enough to find that really good coach to help us move the needle a little bit. And one of the exercises that she had us do that we now do with clients is write our own eulogy. And there’s something pretty impactful that happens when you write your own eulogy. All of a sudden it starts to really move a lot of this crap out of the way that you’re so buried in. And it really, for me, I stopped taking everything so seriously. I was like, “I’m running the business like this super serious high level and that’s just not my personality.” So once you start writing that, it starts to get a little bit clearer and the divisions, they have to line up.
Kristen Deese, Author (13:14):
Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, it’s kind of like values too. Your vision and values really need to be, if you want to work successfully together, they really need to be pretty close in line. The eulogy exercise is really cool because you talk about having a high level vision of your business. That’s a high level vision of your life. And it takes a lot of things that feel really big and over-powering now and it just makes them so small and insignificant that a lot of times that’s enough to get past a split of vision. Sometimes that’s all it takes to kind of bring it back together. But yeah, in general vision and values, they need to be pretty close aligned in order for it to work really.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (14:02):
And so when you say, write your own eulogy, you mean literally sit down and write out your own eulogy. Independently, together, how do you do that?
Justin Deese, Author (14:13):
Independently.
Kristen Deese, Author (14:14):
Yeah, we did it independently. And it was you sit down and you literally write what you would want somebody to say at your funeral about you. And then we wrote them independently and then we read them to each other.
Justin Deese, Author (14:26):
Yeah, that was pretty-
Kristen Deese, Author (14:26):
That was-
Justin Deese, Author (14:27):
That was pretty deep.
Kristen Deese, Author (14:31):
Yeah. It’s kind of like the very pinnacle of your ultimate vision. And so sometimes you can even when you’re looking at large opportunities in front of you, does this opportunity get you closer to what it is that you want out of your life in general? Or is it taking you in a totally different direction that doesn’t necessarily line up with what you want overall? And again, the vision has the ability to make decision-making quite a bit easier.
Justin Deese, Author (15:05):
Well, and again, vision is one of those things that you have to dust off every now. And I mean, if we’d have, at least for me, had I written a vision at 19 years old, it would have been Lambos and private jets, living that MTV life. Now that I’m not quite that age anymore now it’s not that. It’s freedom and able to whatever, do whatever I want to do.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (15:28):
Oh, that’s great. And I guess what you’re saying here is, is what I’m gathering at least with the vision, the values coming together on that, it creates a filter or a lens for you to really be seeing your business and your decisions and really expanding. And for growth minded entrepreneurs, people who are really on that trajectory of growth, it sounds like what you’re saying it really helps crystallize that right opportunity or that next decision. So not saying yes to every new thing that comes your way. Am I understanding that right?
Justin Deese, Author (16:10):
And it’s an accountability tool. Now you can have that conversation of remember when we did that eulogy, you remember when we did that vision? This does not get us in that direction. This is a completely opposite direction. I think it’s a good accountability tool.
Kristen Deese, Author (16:26):
Yeah. I mean, it’s not possible to say yes to everything that pops up in front of you and still be able to keep a relatively straight line to what your goals are.
Justin Deese, Author (16:35):
It’s completely impossible, yes.
Kristen Deese, Author (16:37):
And I mean, a knee-jerk reaction for new entrepreneurs especially is to say yes to anything that looks like it could be money coming in the door because we’re trying to generate sales, we’re trying to build a business, we’re trying to be everything to everybody. And so the instinct is to say, “Yep, we can do that.”
Justin Deese, Author (16:54):
Watch [crosstalk 00:16:55], I got this.
Kristen Deese, Author (16:55):
Yep, we can do that. And then background I’m like, “We don’t known how to do that. We don’t know what we’re doing.”
Justin Deese, Author (17:00):
We’ll figure it out.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (17:03):
Oh, that’s funny. Well I think that any entrepreneur probably can relate to that when they first, at least when they first get started you’re just trying to get some cash flow and get things going. And in the first beginning parts of the book when you were talking about that, I know I resonated with that. I said, “Oh yeah, I remember those days.” Well, this is a great transition time for us to kind of get into the theme of the show where we talk about those misses, makes and multipliers. So I’d love to find out from each of you that we have two folks and as a guest to start with initially here a miss or two that came along the way or has come along and something you learned from it.
Justin Deese, Author (17:48):
You want to go or you want me to go?
Kristen Deese, Author (17:49):
No, I’m ready. I’m ready.
Justin Deese, Author (17:50):
Okay.
Kristen Deese, Author (17:51):
Okay, so on the miss, to me that is, we were raising our kids at the same time we’re trying to raise a business. And while I wouldn’t necessarily, I would still do that again in terms of raising kids and raising a business at the same time. But I would put way less time. No, I would put way less energy into the business and I would have gotten it organized sooner so that it didn’t take as much time away from my kids as it did when they were little. I think that was the priority. There was a lot of energy put into the business because it was our livelihood. It was putting food on our tables. It was paying our bills and it was necessary. But at the same time, the kids were getting a lot less of us during that time because we were running around like crazy. And we didn’t have the things that we talked about in the book together and organized and outlined and we didn’t have organization in our business. And so I would’ve probably-
Justin Deese, Author (18:54):
[crosstalk 00:18:54].
Kristen Deese, Author (18:54):
Yeah. I would have gotten that organized sooner.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:00):
What about you, Justin?
Justin Deese, Author (19:02):
So for me, it’s actually similar. When we started growing our first business, we grew fast. I mean we were in six, eight states. It was absurd. There was money coming in and right out the back. And it was like, Look at all this money we’re making. We got no money, where’s it all going?” And for me, it finally was a gut check of as an entrepreneur sometimes, and I don’t think this is by nature, but you always feel like you got to know the answer. Because really at a young age, I didn’t know where to go get information from. People tell me about books, I’m like, “I don’t have time to read a book,” and there wasn’t Audible I don’t think at that time. There were some audio books, but they were on CDs back then.
Justin Deese, Author (19:52):
But then once I let it, just let it go. I don’t know everything. No one’s born knowing how to do this. And once I just kind of went, get over it, figure it out. I mean we took our business from all those locations back to one and went, let’s get really good and then let’s grow from there and we did. And so yes, getting systematized at the beginning, getting better structure, getting better understanding of what even business was. Because to me business was selling, right? I forgot about the very basic one-on-one of business is make more than you spend. That’s pretty much any business you’re in, that’s the premise of the whole thing. Well I had the make money part of it but the spend part of it ended up, where does all that money go? So for me, it’d be getting organized and just putting ego aside and understand that you don’t know what you don’t know.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (20:50):
Yeah yeah, wow. Well, thank you for sharing those. And let’s talk about a make, we’ll kind of flip it on the other side and have you share a make or two that came along the way.
Justin Deese, Author (21:02):
You got one? I got one.
Kristen Deese, Author (21:05):
I know you have one, go ahead. I think I know which one you’re going to say too.
Justin Deese, Author (21:07):
So for us, really when we got really down in the business and we started to self managing, that was our mantra there for a couple of years, self managing businesses. Truth is, I’m not a big fan of the day-to-day operation. I like the growth, I like the scale part of it, but I’m not a huge fan of the every day part of it. But we got our business to the point where it was self managing, we had a really good team. And we pulled our kids out of school, we got an RV and we went across the country and we got to travel. And now we were coaching and training so there were speaking that was going on at the time and there was client visits. But that was maybe 20% of this amazing journey where we went from Florida to California and then up to New York and back down. And our kids were right at that really good age where they still remembered it and they appreciated it. Now, they wouldn’t.
Kristen Deese, Author (21:57):
They were old enough to remember it, but still young enough that they wanted to hang out with us.
Justin Deese, Author (22:04):
So that, to me that was a big one because not only did that impact us, our kids still talk about that now and that’s been five years ago, but they still talk about that. And plus it just helps them in general in school because they’re like, “Oh yeah, I’ve been there.”
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:20):
That’s great. What about you, Kristen? Anything different?
Kristen Deese, Author (22:24):
I think for me, we had our own business coach for a couple of years in our businesses. And I learned so much from that experience to the point where towards the end of our coaching session I would start finding myself asking the questions that I anticipated her asking us when we were going to be on the phone before we even started coaching with her and then I was like, okay, cool. Well first of all, before we did coaching, I didn’t even know that was a thing. And then once we got to a point where we were organized and we were doing things like taking our kids out of school to go on RV trips, I’m thinking, man, it would be really cool to be that person for other companies who are struggling. There’s other companies that are going through the same things that we’re going through and are struggling with the same things that we are. And it would just be really cool to be able to help those companies out and onto the other side and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and not be bogged down by it all the time. And so kind of making that transition into coaching is I think it’s kind of partly finding my purpose in general of all of the things that we’ve done over the years and we kind of whittle it down to say-
Justin Deese, Author (23:42):
What’s the big shift between you’re business owner and you and you aren’t in the business. I mean, I think that was our big pivotal moment was we finally went who’s the boss here? We own you. You don’t own us.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:57):
That’s amazing. Well, I love that. And I love this story too because my wife and I are talking right now of planning a similar type of road trip. We said, “Wouldn’t that be cool if we just got an RV and just went all around the country each picking out national parks and monuments and all the fun stuff to do in all these cities.” And our kids are at that age right now where they’re still interested in hanging out with mom and dad. So as a parent with younger kids than you right now, it’s a motivator to say, “Well we probably should do that sooner rather than later. Let’s not wait until high school. Let’s get that going.”
Justin Deese, Author (24:40):
Don’t do it in high school.
Kristen Deese, Author (24:40):
Don’t do it in high school. We actually learned that fourth graders get free entrance into national parks.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (24:47):
Oh yeah, that’s right.
Kristen Deese, Author (24:48):
Fun fact, we learned on our trip because we had a fourth grader and we went to the Grand Canyon and she got us in for free.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (24:56):
Amazing. Well, let’s talk about this idea of multipliers. The name of the show is Multiply Your Success and we always get a wide variety of answers to this question. It’s one of my favorites that we ask. And is there a multiplier that the two of you have used or found helpful as you’ve expanded your business and into multiple businesses?
Kristen Deese, Author (25:19):
I mean, it comes down to the systems. It makes you be able to leverage the business. If you can’t leverage beyond yourself, you’re not going to be able to grow. If you’re the bottleneck in your business, you’re not going to be able to grow. And so you have to be able to come up with a way to teach other people how to do what you’re doing so that you can grow and leverage your business. And that is systems.
Justin Deese, Author (25:42):
So my answer on systems is the exact same. The shift I would make there is that with good systems really allows you to identify good people. It allows you to make that differentiation between willingness and ability, and it allows leaders to become leaders. And it gives them a tool to hold other people accountable without the boss thing, yelling at people or whatever that thing is. I think it allows leaders to be even better leaders because they can go and say, “Hey, here’s the system. How can I help you do your job better?” So yes, it goes to systems.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:22):
Great. Well, and for anyone that maybe happens to listen in, you guys were guests on our webinar as well where you did a presentation about systems and kind of one part of that piece. So anyone who maybe listens in, we’ll make sure we link that up so that they can follow that and watch that episode as well. And the final question we love to ask every guest is what does success mean to you?
Kristen Deese, Author (26:53):
Success to me is time and financial freedom. It doesn’t necessarily, I still work, but I work because I want to. Our businesses have set us up into a place where we have time and financial freedom to be able to channel our energy and time where we want to. And so that to me is success.
Justin Deese, Author (27:21):
I mean, it’s the same. I mean when we sat down to recreate our vision, that’s what it was for both of us, is we wanted to love what we do and be able to help and make a difference in the world without doing it 90 hours a week. I mean we went a lot of years with 100 hour weeks and now we don’t have to do that.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:42):
Amazing, amazing. Well, and as we kind of draw to a close here, I’m just curious, is there anything you’d like to share before we go that maybe we didn’t have a chance to go over or talk through?
Kristen Deese, Author (27:58):
We actually recorded a nine series podcast about the book that is available where podcasts are available. It’s titled the same as the book. And we did nine episodes because that’s how many chapters there are in the book. And we just kind of went through and recorded a behind the scenes podcast of why we chose that chapter or why we chose that topic and why we chose the stories and just kind of bantered back and forth a little bit. So that’s kind of fun to pair along with the book to kind of get a little behind the scenes view of how it came about.
Justin Deese, Author (28:29):
And if you’d like to find the book, if you go to businessspouse.com, you can find it there or on audible, you can find it there as well.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (28:38):
Great. And tell us too a little bit about your coaching or consulting practice and who are the customers you serve, what’s an ideal fit for you? And talk through a little bit about how you’re serving people in that way.
Kristen Deese, Author (28:55):
We typically work with businesses. In general, we work with service businesses who are ready to grow but they’re struggling still with a lot of the things, a lot of the frustrations that are happening over and over again. And so I come in, I do most of the coaching. I come in and show them how to get clear on their vision, how to get really organized in their business, how to get their systems dialed in, even into their financials, helping them read and understand their financials. Because then when they’re really strong in their foundation like that, then when they go to do sales and leadership and marketing coaching and training, they are not compounding the situation that they started with .
Kristen Deese, Author (29:45):
A lot of times when people or business owners are struggling, they feel like if they just add more sales to it that that’ll make it all better. And a lot of times that actually makes the problems worse. And so if we can go in and get the foundation strong, then when you go add more sales and marketing and leadership and all that kind of stuff to it, you will be able to support it. So that’s basically in a nutshell what I do is help them get organized in their foundation.
Justin Deese, Author (30:10):
A lot of the clients that I work with and I truthfully don’t work with a ton of them just because I have other projects that I do. Normally I work with sales and leadership, how to be a better leader, how to understand how to actually lead people. I think people have this confusion about you can motivate people and you really can’t. You just have to give them the space and the tools to be the best that they can be.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:32):
Wow. Well, I think that’s absolutely fantastic. And I loved your book. Businessspouse.com is the website to find all things about doing business with your life partner and business partner. So thank you both so much for being here. \
Kristen Deese, Author (30:49):
Thank you for having us.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:51):
Kristen and Justin, thank you so much again for being here. And if you have more questions or want to get a copy of their book or learn more about how they might be able to help you and your spouse in your business, go to businessspouse.com, they make it really easy. It’s in the show notes, but businessspouse.com makes it really easy, gets access to all of the things that they do.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (31:12):
So let’s go ahead and jump into today’s key takeaways. So the first key takeaway was when both Justin and Kristen talked about boundaries and especially time boundaries with each other. And I thought it was a great story. They talked about this in the book and in the interview today, but they talked about when Justin always has ideas and he’s always kind of going, night, day, doesn’t matter, all the time. And Kristen talks about she needed a little downtime and to kind of turn things off sometimes. And so I think understanding what those boundaries are. And Justin said, when he realized it, he realized, hey, maybe I shouldn’t be talking so openly about the ideas that are bouncing in my mind because most of them might not happen. And Kristen realized from her side that not all of those ideas are going to stick. Maybe one here or there might after a while. So I thought that was really great on working on establishing and setting those boundaries together.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (32:16):
The second key takeaway today was to figure out your vision and why you’re doing what you’re doing and then share it together. And they shared a story about how they worked with a business coach and they wrote their own eulogy. And they did it separately and then they came together and then they read it out loud to each other and they took turns doing it. And that really helped give them clarity. I thought that was just a great idea and it’s a great exercise. So it’s something that I think I’m going to do and something for my wife and me to do as an exercise. And even if you’re not business partners, I think it’s just a great exercise. What do you want out of life anyway? You are spending your life together with your spouse so that would probably be a good thing for you to both have a good idea of what you’re looking for. So great, great takeaway.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (33:08):
And number three, Justin talked about once he let go of feeling like he has to know everything, because he feels that way sometimes as an entrepreneur, that things really started to take off. It gave him permission to start entrusting his team, starting entrusting in the systems and the processes that they developed. And I thought that was a great takeaway.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (33:34):
And now it’s time for today’s win-win. So today’s win-win is about systems and systematization and putting processes in place to help your business run more effectively. And I really liked it when Kristen said. “You need to put systems in place in order to leverage yourself.” I thought that was brilliant and just absolutely fantastic. And then Justin followed that up when he said, “With good systems, you can be a better leader and a better boss because the systems help the team manage themselves so you turn into more of a coach and supporting people.” I just thought that was absolutely brilliant. And certainly, being in the franchising business, it’s a business of replicating systems. So naturally I’m going to gravitate to that. But I just thought that was a great, great takeaway for any business at any stage of growth and any business leader here.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:39):
So that’s our episode today folks. Thanks for tuning in. Please like, please subscribe. And remember, if you’re thinking about franchising your business, or you’re ready to take it to the next level, give us a call or reach out to us over at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for being here.
