Episode 58: Jonathan Raymond on Leadership

Today my guest is Jonathan Raymond the former CEO of E-Myth, he became the CEO in 2011 when the owner wanted to modernize the brand. He decided to break out on his own in 2015. The idea behind the E-Myth is that running a business is different than being great at whatever the business does. An example would be a great dancer who opens a dance studio and discovers there is more to running a dance studio than being a fantastic dancer. Jonathan now focuses on what it takes to create a great business and the culture, scale and team involved with doing so.

He now focuses on refound.com and the core principles required to be a great leader and business owner. Jonathan has a new approach to leading and managing teams. He is also the author of the upcoming book, “Good Authority”. When it comes to managing teams, we not only need a new set of skills, we have to reimagine who we are and Jonathan and his business help leaders to be the best they can be. Enjoy!

Today’s topics include:

As an entrepreneur there is still culture and team building and interpersonal dynamics that need to be dealt with

It also comes down to referrals, so good relationships are important

People make referrals in relationships

Going into a relationship with a freelancer, you want to be able to refer them to others because of the great job they did

We want freelancers who do their job and don’t need to be micromanaged, we also want to refer responsible people because it is a reflection on us

People overestimate the big stuff, but the small stuff is important, like email response time

Be the type of person people want to do business with, no BS around communication

If you mess something up take responsibility and not only apologize, but say what happened and take ownership

We have a pretty good sense of which clients are happy, reach out and restore amicability

People don’t like confrontation and bury stuff, but then it stacks up

Understand who your ideal customer is, challenge assumptions that the client has, the client is in their own bubble, coach and mentor them

Fill the gap with challenge and communication

Scarcity can prevent you from pushing the envelope, yet it is counter intuitive to not take the risky road

Some clients aren't’ the clients you want to work with anyway

Actually, have requirements and screen clients so that you are not stuck with an unresponsive hard to communicate with client

The fear that it turns off clients is unfounded, people want to buy a process, so having a set plan to deliver will set you apart from the competition

Set expectations from onboarding to deliverables

Build accountability into the process

Your time is valuable

It comes down to the way you see yourself and your value, at some point being superman is not sustainable, hold space and create context for change

Be Yoda not superman, self value and self worth

Fixer, fighter or friend - 3 styles of taking on superman role

Good Authority is Jonathan’s new book coming out

Mentoring your own clients - Small business owners don’t have anyone to question them

People at the top are in a bubble and they don’t see what they don’t see

You can add value by mentoring and asking questions and building a personal relationship

What is the purpose? What is the result? Find the why, you will have a happier client and deliver a better product and maybe make a friend on a way.

To get the right website figure out why they are doing what they are doing.

“Mentoring means questioning the assumptions they don’t realize that they are making” Jonathan Raymond

Imposter Syndrome - Roadblock of it not being my job and self doubt coming up.

Take a small risk and you will be amazed how people will open up

Resources and links:

Refound

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