Business Is Booming

Business Is Booming
Episode 8 - Small Business Success Series Part 1
Host: Jennifer McCurdy
Guest co-host: Stephen V. Smith

Narrator: Business is booming from the small mom and pops to the big industries, our local businesses drive our economy and provide the products, services, and jobs we depend on. Our host, Jennifer McCurdy, brings us these stories as she visits with the business owners and leaders of Fort Payne and DeKalb County, Alabama. And now here's Jennifer.

Jennifer McCurdy: Welcome to The Business Is Booming podcast. I'm Jennifer McCurdy, and this special episode is part of what we're calling the Small Business Success Series. My co-host for this series is my friend Stephen Smith, a local entrepreneur who owns and operates small businesses and has for over 25 years. Together, we're going to take a look at some of the challenges small business owners face, examine current trends, and discuss ideas owners can put to work to improve their companies. Stephen, thank you so very much for joining me for Business Is Booming.

Stephen V. Smith: Hey, it's great to be here, Jennifer, and hope we have a little fun today while sharing some valuable insights with your listeners.

Jennifer McCurdy: We're so excited to have you today. Tell us a little bit about your background.

Stephen V. Smith: Well, as you said, about 26, 27 years ago, my wife and I started a marketing and communications company in Rainsville, Alabama, and we operated that for many years. In 2020, we sold that company to a strategic acquirer based in Oregon. And we've continued to support them through the integration of the companies. But in the meantime, we've started a new agency called Rare Life Media, and we also work in some short-term rental and commercial real estate. And we've got some other exciting projects going on that I can tell you about later. So that's a little bit about us.

Jennifer McCurdy: Well, having known you for many years, I have often reached out to you just for advice in general, and you've always provided me with some excellent advice, specifically around employees and employment, and I certainly appreciate that. So that kind of leads into what we're going to talk about today. Yes, it is adapting to the new mentality of employees. Now, we've had a few conversations about this, and I think it all started around COVID that kind of changed people's mentality and made different challenges for the employers. So your perspective on that is very interesting. I'd love to hear more about it.

Stephen V. Smith: Well, we've been hearing a lot lately about this phenomenon called quiet quitting. We're seeing employees that for whatever reason, they're not really engaged. They're not bringing their whole selves to work. They're just bringing the bare minimum. They're not quitting their jobs. And they're just, you know, quietly kind of checking out. And you and I were talking about that recently. It's it's not an isolated phenomenon. And I. I think it can really be tied back in a way to the pandemic. You know, when when COVID began to shut things down, all of us thought, gosh, this could go on for weeks. Who knows? Well, we had no idea what was ahead of us, and we weren't prepared for that, I don't think. As humans, you know, on a human level, we certainly weren't prepared for that as business owners. So, you know, we had to we had to learn a lot of things and we had to to adapt. And, you know, fortunately, our company at that time, we were already a distributed workforce. And so we, you know, most of our employees worked remotely anyway. So, you know, that part of the transition during the pandemic wasn't difficult for us.

Stephen V. Smith: But, you know, the toll that a lot of that stress and anxiety was taking on people as individuals. That was very real to us. And, you know, it might not have been as disruptive to the workflow, but, you know, you kind of look at what happened there. In a way, it's kind of like watching a football game, like we're in a football game and you're not even at the half yet. And, you know, there's 7 minutes and 38 seconds left in the second quarter and suddenly the whistle blows and we just stop. We all have to go to the locker rooms. Well after an extended period of time, you know, we all come back to the field. But what's happened to the players during that time of isolation? And oh, by the way, when you get back on the field, the rules of the game have totally changed. And so, you know, we can't expect these kinds of external forces to not have an impact on what's taking place inside the mind of the employee and how they're experiencing their job internally and with their coworkers and with the customers of that small business.

Jennifer McCurdy: Something you said at the beginning kind of resonated with me when you were talking about the quiet quitters. Do you think that a lot of employers are accepting more accepting of the quiet quitters or not necessarily ignoring it, but are oblivious? I mean, they probably some of them see it, but they're so desperate for somebody, a warm body in that seat that they are okay with that.

Stephen V. Smith: Yeah, I definitely think that plays into it because, you know, we've seen the tightest labor market that a lot of us small business owners have ever experienced. And so how do you deal with that? I mean, one you could put up with more than you would normally like. Like I say, have someone bringing 80% to the job is better than having no one there at all. But, you know, this kind of plays into that quiet quitting phrase. There are different types of employees and the level of engagement that they bring. And if you've been in business, you know, for several years, couple of decades or more, you've probably seen this over and over. The Gallup organization does a real good job with how they publish, and they do studies on these three personas of engagement, is what they call them. And a lot of your listeners have encountered this to different degrees, I'm sure. But these three personas are the engaged employee, the not engaged employee, and the actively disengaged employee. Now, the engaged employee, first of all, they're easy to spot. You know, they come into work, they bring it all. They're enthusiastic, they're bought into your mission. They build up other people on the staff. They just kind of bring everyone up a level, you know, and they really have ownership in the outcomes of their job performance.

Stephen V. Smith: And, you know, these are the ones that are the shining stars. They're they're easy to spot. Um, but then you've got the not engaged employees. Now, this category is a bit like those quiet quitters. You know, they, they come to work, but they're really not attached to the work they do. They don't bring energy, they don't bring any passion to work. It's sort of a bare minimum. You know, they bring they're not raising their hand for any additional work or, you know, for anything else that that you might need help doing. They're just basically coming in, doing what they have to do, you know, and then checking out. But then you've got that third type of employee, and that's the one you really have to be concerned about the actively disengaged. Now, outwardly they're unhappy at work. They're the ones that are speaking negatively about projects that are going on, about other employees, about customers and just everything their attitudes or are just toxic, you know, and and those actively disengaged people. Well, those are the employees that bring down the rest of the organization. And when you're in labor market like this, how do you address that? And, you know, that's that's one of the challenges that small business owners are facing.

Jennifer McCurdy: So, yeah, let's talk about flipping the script. So when you have those warm bodies in place who are obviously actively disengaged or not engaged, is it not better to work with them and try to find ways to engage them and make them excited about their jobs? Can you talk about that?

Stephen V. Smith: Absolutely. You're spot on, Jennifer, for that that not engaged group. That's the subset of employees that you can really have an impact on. You need to take care of your engaged employees. Of course, you need to make sure that they continue to be engaged. You give them the attention they deserve. And of course, there's not a lot you can do with the actively disengaged group to really move the needle with them. But when you look at your programs, your policies, your benefits, your working conditions, things of that nature can can have an impact on the level of engagement from your employee. But, you know, those are fundamental things that business owners have been working on for years. Well, I think there's some other things that we can do as small business owners to really more deeply address the issue of that lack of engagement.

Jennifer McCurdy: Okay. Let's dive into that more.

Stephen V. Smith: All right. Let's do it. It's really all about investing in your employees. So number one is you can inform your employees. Take the time to discuss things that are happening in the company. Keep them informed of, you know, new projects that you may have coming up. You're working on landing a new client and you're going to be launching a new product line or whatever the case may be. Share your ideas with them, Get their ideas, involve them in the process of running the business. And don't treat them as someone who is coming in and filling a position for you. Treat them as a partner in your operation and keep them informed. They're going to feel more respected. They're going to feel more valued. They're going to bring more of themselves to the table. So that's one thing. Another thing is to empower your employees. As a small business owner myself, I know that through the years I've been guilty of being the go-to for everything. Well, that's not only hard on the business, but it's hard on the business owner. And you can't scale that. You can't scale yourself. You know, you have a limited capacity, but you're also robbing your employees and operators of the opportunity to engage more with the business, to contribute more to the success of the business. So when you empower your employees, you know that that can look a variety of different ways. But, you know, giving them some ownership over an element of the customer service. Allowing them in, you know, some some gray areas in which they can make decisions without having to come to you for decisions. Now, the decisions they make there might be different than a decision you would have made in that case. But they made it and they didn't have to come to you for it.

Jennifer McCurdy: You're reading my mind, Stephen. I'm guilty of oftentimes myself. One, I'm afraid sometimes if I delegate, they may think, "She's lazy and doesn't want to do it herself." That's hard. You know, You don't you really don't want to feel that way. But also, I'll say the benefit and for sure and really need to apply this myself, allowing people the opportunity to fail. I mean, if you don't let them try, they're never going to learn. And so and many times, I think as a person who has employees, that's hard to do is just say, go ahead and give it to them. Their ideas probably aren't going to be the same as yours, but guess what? They might be better and they may do it differently, but better than how you would do it. So it's hard. It's hard to let go, but that's definitely a lesson we can all take to heart and try to do better with. I know.

Stephen V. Smith: Yeah, because otherwise what message are you sending? I don't trust you. I don't have confidence in your capabilities. So when you empower them, you send the opposite message. You give them some autonomy. I've read about businesses that, you know, for example, say all of our customer service representatives have a dollar limit, $100 limit. Let's say if you can solve this customer's concern, complaint, problem for $100 or less, just do it. You don't have to come to the boss. You don't have to get clearance. Just solve the problem. And, you know, that's certainly one way to look at it. But, you know, the employee needs to feel like they're empowered to do their job and you're not going to be there second-guessing everything. You've got their back. Well to do that, you know, that requires you to train them and for them to understand, you know, what expectations you have. But, you know, an employee can say, I've made this decision in my job because I feel like that decision aligns with the company mission. And other people in the company, including the owner, would have made a similar decision.

Stephen V. Smith: When they can say that, you know that you've hit the sweet spot. So you're going to inform your employees, You're going to empower your employees. And the third thing is we want to grow our employees. So many studies show that employees care as much and sometimes more about professional development opportunities and opportunities to grow as they do compensation, you know, when they're surveyed. So look for opportunities to send your employees to conferences in the industry so that they can learn more about the work that you do and the people you serve. Buy them books, sign them up for LinkedIn learning courses. I mean, that's a very inexpensive program and they get access to all kinds of courses. And, you know, maybe there's some certification courses in your particular industry just to help them and look for opportunities to help them become better at serving your overall businesses and taking care of your customers. When you do that, then they'll become more engaged and they'll really start looking at this as having ownership in their job. If they're not in that not engaged category.

Jennifer McCurdy: Yeah, they'll see the investment you're willing to take on them. You know, you're applying that investment toward them and it makes them feel valued for sure.

Stephen V. Smith: Absolutely. And, you know, help them set goals. And don't be like some some of those companies that go years, you know, they never really have an official performance review process. You know, the employee never really gets any feedback on the job that they're doing. You know, their their entire evaluation system might be, hey, everyone's doing great. It's been a great year. And, you know, here's everyone's Christmas bonus or whatever.

Jennifer McCurdy: I hate those. I hate it when everybody gets the same bonus. Because it makes those who are actually working hard feel like they're not valued and those who aren't working as hard have no incentive to work harder. In my opinion.

Stephen V. Smith: Yeah, I think that's it's very important to take the time to give your employees that feedback because they crave it. Well, I mean, not the actively disengaged. They don't crave it. But you know, as a general rule, people want to know, how am I performing? Well, one way to measure that is say, let's set some goals at the beginning of the year. Let's look at some things that you want to accomplish within the company that the company needs you to accomplish personally and your personal development, you know as well as in your job. And that gives us something to measure by.

Jennifer McCurdy: And that's a great way to find out their interest too. Some people aren't going to read a book necessarily, but there are other ways you can engage with them and show them that you value their services to your your company.

Stephen V. Smith: Absolutely. And, you know, like I said, once, once you invest in them, you set those goals together. It creates that benchmark that you can go back to and and look at throughout the year. Are we making progress in these areas? So you can hold them accountable. They can hold themselves accountable. And they can hold you accountable. You can say, well, you know, we're six months in. You haven't been to a conference yet. They say you haven't sent me to a conference yet. You know, is there one coming up that just makes everyone more intentional about developing that employee.

Jennifer McCurdy: Or even ask them to identify some conferences they would like to attend?

Stephen V. Smith: Absolutely. Get them involved in the process.

Jennifer McCurdy: So the main takeaways there was to inform them, empower them and grow them.

Stephen V. Smith: Right. And, you know, we're just talking about making investment in people, you know, like like helping make your business a success. Most of those things we've talked about, they don't require a lot of money. I mean, sure, there's travel expenses and but, you know, for the most part, it just requires you as a small business owner to be intentional about nurturing the people that are working in your organization, in your organization, because ultimately they're the ones who are promoting and ensuring the success of your business. And that equates into your personal goals as a business owner. So it just makes sense for you to invest in them.

Jennifer McCurdy: So if you want more information from the Chamber's perspective, you can call 845-2741 or. The best way is probably to email Jennifer at Fort Payne Chamber dot com and learn more about what services that Stephen can offer or set up something. Stephen, do you have anything else to add? If I fail to touch on any of the topics that we had discussed previously.

Stephen V. Smith: No I think that's it for the topics that we're focused on in this particular episode, Jennifer, but we you know, we've covered a lot of high ground and I'm really excited about this series as a whole. You know, I've been talking about this for some time and sort of tossing around some different ideas. And so, you know, I'm all about helping small business owners because, I mean, that's still who I am. And, you know, that's who I've spent more than a quarter century of my life being. And that's been my reality. And so I'm excited to see what other topics that we're going to explore that will help small business owners. I think we have, what, four or five more episodes planned in this series. So yeah, let's see where this takes us.

Jennifer McCurdy: But if you have any questions or comments, I think we'll provide most of the links you'll need will be in the podcast notes. Is that what it's called? Podcast notes?

Stephen V. Smith: Yep. Yep. Show notes.

Jennifer McCurdy: I don't know the terminology. I'm winging this, as we all know. There you go. Stephen, we appreciate having you. I know one of our upcoming episodes will be the acquisition of a small business, right? That is intriguing to me. We have talked about that as well, and I've read some of our talking points on that episode. That will hopefully be our next episode, and that's going to be some really good information for all of our small business owners because we all know you're not going to do it forever and somebody's going to have to either acquire it or pass it down. And I'm excited to hear what you've learned through your experience.

Stephen V. Smith: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that one. Now, if any of your listeners want to connect with me, Jennifer, they can find me on LinkedIn and they can find me on Twitter. I'm Stephen V Smith there. Stephen First name is spelled with a PH and yeah, looking forward to, to chatting with folks and connecting. So look me up on there and let's talk.

Jennifer McCurdy: Good deal. Thanks so much for being with us today and I'll look forward to having you back really soon.

Stephen V. Smith: Awesome. Let's do it again.

Jennifer McCurdy: All right. See you later.

Narrator: You've been listening to Business Is Booming, a podcast brought to you by Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce. The host is Chamber Director Jennifer McCurdy. Executive Producer, Stephen V Smith, with assistant producer Emily Kirby. Our engineer is Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studios. Business Is Booming is a production of Rare Life Media.