E01: How to Turn Business Struggles into Growth Opportunities
Struggling to grow your business and don’t know how to leverage your team's strengths?
Learn how to identify and overcome the hidden challenges that are holding you back, and streamline your operations to not only meet but exceed your business goals.
📒 Show Notes and Resources 📒
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Kellen Ketchersid
Kellen is a co-founder of Stag Business Coaching, business strategist, and a systems thinker. He leverages his extensive experience in biotech and consulting to empower entrepreneurs to navigate complex challenges with strategic growth solutions.
Albert Gillispie
Albert is a serial entrepreneur, business efficiency expert and co-founder of Stag Business Coaching who has founded several multimillion-dollar companies. With expertise in optimizing operations and innovative systems, he mentors business leaders who want to unlock their business’s full potential.
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EPISODE 1 TRANSCRIPTION
Introduction
[00:00] Kellen Ketchersid:
you could probably figure this out in, say, three years. What if you could just do it in one and what would you do with that time that you save?
[00:14] Albert Gillispie:
All right. Welcome to the Business Growth Masterclass podcast. I am your host, Albert Gillispie here with my co-host, Kellen Ketchersid.
And this is our first go. This is our first rodeo. Kellen, why are we having this podcast? What's our podcast about?
The Small Business Coaching Vision
[00:32] Kellen Ketchersid:
Our main goal here is to help business owners and to inspire people who are in the business world, see best practices, what other people are doing, learn from their mistakes, just create a community where we're sharing all the things that we've learned as we go through this journey, that is entrepreneurship.
So hopefully we'll have some great guests that'll help us get insights on what they're doing and some of the things they've, the pitfalls, they've had to navigate through and just what makes you a good leader in a business.
[01:05] Albert Gillispie:
So, okay. What do you do? What do you do right now? What do you do for a living?
Balancing Entrepreneurship and Personal Commitments
[01:11] Kellen Ketchersid:
So I am working at Stag Business Coaching, one of the co-founders here. And then I also do work for DiscipleTrips. It's a non profit that helps facilitate mission trips for Christian groups. So I split time. And then another job would be father of three and husband. So I keep my plate full and active, very active in church groups and volunteering and things like that.
[01:38] Albert Gillispie:
DiscipleTrips. Tell me a little bit about that. What do y'all do there?
[01:43] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. So DiscipleTrips, like I said, it's a nonprofit that helps facilitate mission work. So there's a lot of churches that probably won't have, don't have the ability to do a mission trip just on their own because maybe they just don't have a person on site where they want to go that's a good contact, or they don't have the know how in terms of logistics or getting low airfare.
So some of the practical aspects of it, but another part of what DiscipleTrips does that I love is, what they call flight school before a trip and it's basically a training to help people know kind of like what are some cultural norms of the place that you're going, how are you going to stay safe once you get there, depending on where you're at.
And also some tips on how to talk to people about your faith and how to start that conversation in a natural way and help share the good news about Jesus. So that's a big part of what DiscipleTrips does.
I have been brought on to help create their trip guide certification program, which is going to take all of the know-how that DiscipleTrips already has with what they do, and then push it out in an e-learning program where people can learn how to run their own mission trips.
[03:02]
Because the goal at DiscipleTrips is not necessarily to run everybody's mission trip, it's just to empower as many people as possible to get into the mission field. And a big reason, the why behind that, I think everybody knows a lot of churches are seeing people leaving.
And there's a lot of, especially in younger people, you see a lot of people who are leaving the church, maybe they grow up going to a church, but then once they get out of high school and they're in college and they're on their own a lot of people just stop going and really, if they are going to come back, it's probably once they have kids.
But a lot of them, a lot of people just don't go back into the church world. And there's a study that's come out that shows the two biggest factors that correlate with the likelihood of staying in the church in those college years, the 2 things that really stand out are going to a church camp or going on a short term mission trip.
Influencing Youth Through Mission Work
[03:59]
And so that's one of the things that we talk about with people who are thinking about doing a mission trip is like, this is really a great way to, not just be so academic or, you know, just in our church setting, but like get out into the real world and put acts of service and Christian love into practice, really use that skillset, and really talk to people about what you believe and work that muscle, so to speak, in a way that gets you out of your comfort zone.
But then once you've done that in a mission field, you feel like, okay, I could do this. You come back home kind of on fire. And through that experience, a lot of people, I think will have a deepening of their faith and it'll be their own. So yeah, that's DiscipleTrips. So that's where I spend a lot of my time.
[04:47] Albert Gillispie:
Okay. All of that is so, so intentional with the Kingdom. And so, I mean, timely with our culture and what's happening with the church and in Christianity across the U.S. How did you get there?
My Journey to Business Coaching
[05:02] Kellen Ketchersid:
Man. So I got involved with missions when I was a college student. So I think my first mission trip was in 2007 to Peru and I went with a group.
And then the next year, 2008, I went with another group to Peru. And so we were in Lima and then there's a city in the north called Pura. And through that process, I met there was a family there in Lima that the father was a preacher and he would just go street preaching and they had a small church with a few young people.
And I really connected with those younger people. And they loved that. And after that second trip in 2008, the son of that family, he said, what if he just moved here and lived in our house and just helped us connect with younger people? And, you know, I was like, sure, yeah, I'm going to move to Peru. But then, I was wrapping up my last semester, my senior year of college for my bachelor's degree.
[06:04]
And I wasn't married at the time, so I was pretty unattached and I didn't really have a clear next step in the job market. So I was like, when else am I going to have an opportunity like this? So I decided to just go for it. And you know, I told my church and I told my family and I think everybody. I don't think anybody believed that I was actually going to do it, but when I was about a month away and I had plane tickets and I was going like literally the week after I graduated and walked the stage on graduation.
Then people realize, okay, he's really going to do this. So I did, and lived over there for half a year. It was going to be a full year, but I met my wife right before. So I came back early and got married. That was the start of mission work for me. And then throughout my life since then, even like while in industry jobs and working in the business world and, you know, the science world, biotech and biomedical world, I've always had one foot in church work or mission work.
[07:09]
And so a couple of years ago, I was invited to join the advisory board for this organization, DiscipleTrips, and really fell in love with what they're doing. And so when I decided to take the next step in my work life, you know, I started business coaching and consulting, but also had time to do more work for DiscipleTrips. So that's how I ended up doing this. Yeah, it's a long story.
[07:39] Albert Gillispie:
Okay. Tell me, you mentioned this in your intro bio. What is Stag Business Coaching?
Small Business Coaching Framework Explained
[07:46] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, so Stag Business Coaching, we help business owners that are at any stage, wherever they're at, but mostly small business owners looking at their business from six different dimensions.
So I'm certified in Business Made Simple, and that's really a great framework. It's a way that we can analyze a business, like I said, from six dimensions. And so we use the analogy of an airplane. And if the six parts of your business or the parts of your airplane aren't working correctly, then your business can't fly, or maybe it can't take off at all, you know, if you're a startup.
So those six parts are first and foremost, leadership and then marketing, sales, products, operations. And then we look at cashflow. So with those six dimensions, we can really tell where business owners are struggling and we can hone in on, not just that like area, but also the specific problems that they're trying to figure out in their business.
[08:45]
So we started this. Really, I started doing it on my own in the middle of last year, and then we formed Stag Business Coaching at the very beginning of this year with our group and partnership. So it's been fun. It's exciting. You know, it's kind of interesting to have a new business that's helping business owners.
So I get a little meta sometimes thinking about it from that way, but I love that we're able to work with so many different types of businesses and it really helps. I love that we're helping these business owners get traction in areas where they might be struggling.
[09:25] Albert Gillispie:
What is your unique ability within that? Like why do that? Why do you feel called to that? What, you know, what are you going to do I guess? Bad question, but what is your unique ability within the business coaching and why are you drawn to it?
[09:43] Kellen Ketchersid:
Well, I think I'm a relational guy. I'm also a very process-oriented person. I like to think in terms of, okay, we've got this goal and what are the steps that we need to take or what are the obstacles in the way. Just thinking systematically through whatever our challenges are and how we're going to problem solve to get through something that's in the way. So, I like that process.
I like thinking about– and I think you've got to think from a systems side, you’ve got to think in a process oriented way, but you also have to think in a people way because you can come up with the best process. You can engineer your way to theoretical perfection, but if it's not a people friendly process, or it's not something that people are going to adopt, or if you don't understand sort of the emotions or the team dynamics that are going on, then you can come up with the best systems in the world and still not get anywhere.
[10:44]
So you have to have both sides. And I think that's where we complement one another. I think we have a lot of strengths that fall on both sides of that. And in Stag Business Coaching, I think that we have a unique ability to really get into a place with a business owner quickly to know, okay, here's what I'm struggling with.
That's one of our first questions. Like, what's your biggest headache right now? And then just working the problem and thinking both about their team and also like what systems, if they have any, what are they doing to actually make this easier and more automated just so that things flow naturally rather than always having to, you know, pull things along just by sheer will,
Why Every Small Business Owner Needs Coaching
[11:29] Albert Gillispie:
Okay so business coaching, you know, obviously has been around forever, but feels very new agey, very “hi, let's meditate”. Let's talk about all these conceptual abstract things. Why should someone get a business coach? Why should some, why would a business owner, a business leader need business coaching? What does it help them do?
[11:54] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. Well, one thing we tell business owners, you know, most business owners are people who know how to figure things out, right? Most business owners have, they've got some gumption and some courage because otherwise they'd be just working for somebody else, but all of us have limitations, right?
And we’ve reached a point where we've used all of our natural skills and we hit a plateau, we hit a wall and we need to break through that so that our business doesn't get stuck or be limited by our unique skillset.
And so I think what we help business owners do is pinpoint the area where they're struggling, that's not their unique ability and how can they break through the plateau that their business has settled into because of whatever limitations there are within their team or their own personal leadership. And so I'd like to say, you know, you could probably figure this out in say three years.
[12:51]
What if you could just do it in one and what would you do with that time that you save? And as any business owner knows, sometimes solving those key problems earlier than your competitor is exactly how you get a market advantage or first mover advantage. And so time is everything in the business world.
And especially if you're competing for customers, you've got to know how to move fast. And I think that's what business coaching does. So if you're a business owner, then you're like, I could hire a business coach, but I think I can do this on my own. I would say, yeah, okay, fine. But like, when do you think you can get it done by?
I think if you do business coaching, you'll find you get it done a lot faster. And in the end you actually make or save more money by making that upfront investment. So I love it.
[13:46] Albert Gillispie:
I love it. So yeah. Said simply, Stag Business Coaching helps business owners attain the goals and vision of their company in a fraction of the time.
[13:57] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, that's, I believe that. And it's fun to see business owners feel like they're getting traction. I mean, we've all experienced that before where you have a breakthrough and it's like, okay, I'm making progress. And there's something about that momentum.
Momentum is so hard to build, but once you have that in your business, you can really go fast. So capturing that energy and excitement and, and giving a business owner a renewed momentum to move forward is really cool to see.
[14:30] Albert Gillispie:
You've had a really diverse career from preaching to working at the Mayo Clinic to working, you know, the better part of a decade for a medical device company to a biotech startup to now consulting.
I guess looking at that, what was a pivotal point in your career where you felt like you began to see what you were truly gifted at and get results from that?
How I Became A Small Business Leader
[15:05] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, I think it's whenever I was actually able to go from being an individual contributor to having a team. So a quick story on that. So whenever I was working for the biomedical company, I was originally hired just to run a lab by myself, just a production lab.
But there was an area, another production area that had a team of about twelve guys that were just producing this, we called it Membranes, it was the area. And it was basically a production line, not an assembly line, but they were fabricating a product.
And the manager had just left. And I went to the director of operations when I heard about it. And he was looking for the next hire and I was getting the work done in my production lab pretty easily. And I asked him if I could try to manage both areas and, you know, he gave me a chance. He said, let's try it.
[16:10]
And so it was my first opportunity to work with a team. And talking about the relational aspect right away, the big problem was there was kind of a us against them mindset. So the production team felt like they knew how to do things. And there were all these new ideas that were coming from leadership, specifically that director of operations.
He wanted to see a leaner, like lean Six Sigma was a big thing for him. And he wanted to see a lot of new things implemented in that work area, but it just wasn't getting adopted. So there was kind of a cancerous mindset in the group. And one of the biggest things that I had to learn in those early days were like turning around a culture and how do you get buy in a group of people that feel like they know better and, you know, the management team is disconnected from them, like they were literally disconnected.
They were in a clean room. And so there wasn't even a lot of engagement between the leadership and the, where the work was getting done. So I spent a lot of time, especially in the beginning, getting into the work area and getting to know the team. And then I started seeing which individuals in the group were just not on board and which ones were team players.
[17:29]
And we did have to clean house a little bit, which was challenging as a new manager of the team. You know, I think I fired ten people in six months, that was the number of that first year. And, and it's not like everybody was fired, but there was a good percentage of turnover early on just trying to get the right team in there and to change a culture.
But we eventually had a group in that room that loved putting into practice, lean principles. They saw the difference that it made. It made their job better. And then before I left, we did an employee satisfaction survey every year. And that area won the employee satisfaction survey three years in a row after that initial cleaning of house.
Snd, and changing of the guard, you know, and it was just so cool to see that membranes went from the area that we're most worried about having some sort of problem to being the best, like the best well oiled machine and other staff members who worked in different work areas, they wanted to be in Membranes.
[18:46] Kellen Ketchersid:
So I was really proud of that and It's kind of like what I mentioned earlier, knowing the people and the process and putting them together is really where you get results.
And so that was a breakthrough for me just going through that wasn't an easy, you know, journey, but it really helped me. See how to, how that can work effectively. And it really was what served me well later on with the startup and now in the coaching.
[19:17] Albert Gillispie:
You touched on so much of what I see and admire in you is You are a fantastic teacher and builder of teams. You have that like relational gift where you can balance empathy and make a person feel seen and heard with also, you know, nudging them and leading them towards the overall goal.
And that is like a superpower that I've admired for years. I kind of skimmed over your career. And so I wanted to give you a second, just for, you know, at a 10,000 foot view, what's kind of the highlights of your career and what are you most proud of career wise?
[20:13] Kellen Ketchersid:
Okay. Wow. Most proud. Okay. So first, just a quick– You want kind of my career journey and then what I'm most proud of?
Okay. Well, I started out as a genetics nerd. That's what my master's degree is in. That's called molecular pathology, which is basically using genetics to diagnose people with hereditary diseases.
So that's what I did at the Mayo Clinic, worked in their molecular genetics lab. We would run the lab tests that would tell whether or not somebody had a hereditary disease. That was great. And the systems and, you know, like the process part of my brain and also just interest in genetics. And I see that as like God's creation and there's so much beauty in that.
[20:59]
That's why I was drawn to that. But like I said, I'm also a relational guy so I needed to be, eventually I knew I needed to be in a leadership role, or I wanted to be, got to earn your stripes first, you know, so went from Mayo to a company called Osteogenics, which is a biomedical company that we were at and and that's where I told the story about.
You know, eventually being a production manager, I spent a couple of years working in regulatory for them, which wasn't a great fit for me. It was very technical and very dry, which I can do that and it's okay. But again, I kind of lost sight of the people side of what I do and what I like. So when I had an opportunity to jump into a new startup, that was a biotech, I did it.
The company was called NemaLife. And so they had developed a new technology and a microfluidic chip to test for the efficacy of new ingredients that could be used for a food ingredient testing. It could also be used for testing new medicines. There's a lot of applications. One of the coolest moments at that company was we had our technology sent up to the international space station.
[22:16]
And so the astronauts actually Skyped with us whenever they ran our experiment. And I mean, it's a one way Skype, so they can talk to us. If anybody wanted to send feedback to them, it had to go through a command center, I think in Colorado. So there was only one person on our team who could actually talk back with the astronaut, which I don't think they did because they had already had great instructions, but we had some great experiences at that company.
I joined, I think I was the fourth or fifth guy to jump in. And I was hired as the director of operations. And we grew to a team of around thirty before I left. And the company did really well over that time, saw a ton of growth and again, team building and all that, that goes with that.
But again, eventually there was a point where I wanted to kind of take a leap and do something that was more something I owned or at least co-owned. And so that's led to this business coaching, which I feel like takes all the things that I have in my background and puts them together in what, what I'm best at and what we're best at.
[23:25] Kellen Ketchersid:
And so I guess I am proudest of that. That, you know, I think anybody who goes into business or takes the leap to not work for somebody else. And you know, do something that's your own. It takes, it takes a leap of faith, it takes courage.
And I am proud that we are doing this and we are able to help business owners who have done the same thing. And so, yeah, in terms of career, I think that's probably what I would be proudest of this recent step into business coaching.
[23:59] Albert Gillispie:
You, you are a humble guy. I mean, I, I think you, you understated the NemaLife journey where, yeah, you were employee number four, but the other three were essentially the founders that, you know, you came in and these are my words, not yours.
You, you came in and really ran a startup, you ran a biotech startup that you grew from, you know, just you and the three founders to a team of thirty that, you know, you built systems and you built a manufacturing line, you built so many different big pieces of a business in a really complex environment.
Yeah, at a biotech startup with patents and investors and so many different pieces to that. That was more of like what you had been doing, you know, what you did at the medical device company where you were building teams and helping them solve problems and, you know, move the company vision along. I've always admired that you're such a good builder of teams.
[25:15] Kellen Ketchersid:
Thank you. I would say, like, one thing I'll say is, I think that one of the things that has helped me is having great people. So, if there's anything I can take credit for is that I've brought in people who were extremely smart and gifted whenever we were hiring and building our team and people who are a lot better than me at a lot of all the things that they did.
We had, I mean, one of my first hires, I think it was my first hire at NemaLife. It’s this woman, Rebecca. And Rebecca was just an all star and just that one hire freed up so much of my time because now she could run the lab seamlessly. She was an amazing multitasker. She could do things that I would never be able to do.
This is just one example of, you know, when you bring in the right people, it makes you look pretty good, like all of a sudden you can, you can be perceived as a great leader. And a lot of the work is being done by the other people. I mean, like, I know that's part of what leadership is.
[26:23]
But I think good leadership is a lot of it is just having people. I mean, it's cliche, but it's true having people in the right seats, having the right people on the bus and in the right seats. And so I think if there's something to be said there, that's probably in that area. But yeah, we had a great journey with my time at NemaLife and they're still going and you know, wish them all the success in the world with their journey.
[26:50] Albert Gillispie:
okay. A couple last few questions. One is what is one practical nugget that we could give our, our audience that has really, you know, you've seen an impact in business, you've seen an impact personally, like what's one really practical nugget that someone can put in use today.
Practical Tools for Small Business Owners
[27:14] Kellen Ketchersid:
Okay. Well, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is a tool, right? That we call the project filter. You're actually better at explaining that than I am. So maybe I'm going to turn this around and ask you to, to talk a little bit. Can you do that? Project filter and kind of how to use that as a tool for problem
[27:36] Albert Gillispie:
Absolutely. Yeah. It, so we use it internally all the time and it's essentially a tool that we use to either address a project or an issue and it gets at the heart of an issue quickly. And so basically you start with what is the ideal outcome, if it's a problem, you know, what does it look like to solve that?
And then you break that down into measurable criteria of like, okay, if we have solved sales, you know, our sales problem. What does it look like to solve that? How many sales do we need to generate? How much income do we need to generate? And you list out specific success criteria that let you know that you've solved it.
[28:29]
And then as a team, you break down, okay, if I want to go achieve these measurable criteria, what obstacles are in the way? And then from that, you break that down to, okay, given what the top three to five obstacles are, what are my next three to five actions that I need to take to address those?
And as a team getting everybody in the room and talking through a problem like that, you can quickly solve something that alone seems insurmountable or impossible to address. In 30 minutes, you can move your company six months down the road.
Okay. We're both big readers. We've both read several hundred books in the business community, business world. What is your, you don't have to give me your number one book ever, but what is a book in your top five for business books, what's one that you recommend?
[29:41] Kellen Ketchersid:
Man, I mean, this is such an oldie, but I feel like sometimes those older business books are the ones that kind of started it all for a lot of the thinking that you read in other places. And I read Seven Habits by Stephen Covey when I was, I think I was in high school and
[30:00] Albert Gillispie:
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
[30:03] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. Got it. Sorry. I just always say Seven Habits. I think that was the first book that was in that vein of thinking like a business owner, you know, a lot of it's more about just you as a person, how to be effective, but really that translates to leadership and good leadership.
So, yeah, I think that's probably the first book I read that was in that sort of business, or business tangent kind of place. And it made a huge impact on me. I still quote things from that book today on a regular basis. Anybody who's read it, I think it makes a difference in their life. So how about you?
[30:44] Albert Gillispie:
One of the most influential books that I read was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, it was written in the 1930s. And it is one of those, you know, it's pretty thick with people talk differently in the thirties than they do today.
So it's less conversational, but it's one of those that you just kind of marinate on a little bit. That really was a big shift for me personally, knowing if I wanted to achieve what I was looking for career wise, I had to take ownership of every single part of that.
So one last question before we get off. What is, and this is one of those cliche questions, but I think it's great, one piece of advice you would give your younger self?
[31:37] Kellen Ketchersid:
Don't be afraid to go for it. I think, especially when you're younger, I think it's good to have a healthy level of humility.
So, you are going to need to listen to other people, and you are going to need to learn along the way. But, if I could talk to a younger me, I would say don't wait until you feel ready.
Because oftentimes you're never going to get there. It's never going to be the perfect time for you to make that leap to start your business or make that leap to go talk to the owner and see if there's that opportunity for you.
I think a lot of people have fear about messing up or about rejection or failure. And I've struggled with that at times, different times. And I would say you just need to put that out of your mind and take those leaps of faith. And I think you get rewarded for it.
And that's so much of business. That's what it's about. What advice would, I'm curious, I got to ask you, what would you say to your younger self?
[32:47] Albert Gillispie:
Along the same lines, and it's try stuff. You know, that's one thing that I've said many times is going to college, you think you have your career path lined up of exactly what you want to do exactly what you're meant to do.
And until you get out and try different careers, different roles within a certain career, you really learn a lot about yourself. And that's something I struggle with and will always be a journey is just self awareness and knowing, you know, what am I good at? What gifts do I have to give the world? What gifts do I have to build the kingdom?
[33:25]
And so I would just, You know, try stuff, try different careers, fail, keep moving. Okay. We're out of time. This has been, it's been fun. This is our first rodeo. We're going to get better and better at this.
And I'm really excited to start this journey with you and, and get to know some people and different leaders that we know and love and admire. And so thank you for being our guest on our very first podcast, very first episode of the Business Growth Masterclass podcast. And so thank you and we'll see you on the next one.
