Laura Rotter and Rock Robinson: Building Businesses of Purpose and Value After a Long Corporate Career

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:04

from smashing the plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:06

I'm David Schreiner Kahn with going solo.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:09

In today's episode, we hear from Laura Rotter and rock Robinson.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:13

After 30 years of successfully managing money for institutional investors,

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:22

Laura Rotter founded her own firm, true abundance advisors, a fiduciary

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:30

You'll learn how Laura was able to create a business that was in

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:38

Brock Robinson is an accomplished sales executive with 40 years of achievement

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:46

Sallie Mae Stericycle and the university of Phoenix.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:50

You'll learn how rock developed a framework for developing new relationships

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:00:57

Stay with us to hear all the details.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:00

Do you struggle to take consistent action on building your business?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:04

How do you feel about your business building products?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:08

Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:17

As a member of the smashing, the plateau community you'll have

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:24

You'll also be a member of a community that is built to be a

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:37

You'll find a range of tools and resources to support you as an

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:01:45

If you're committed to getting your consulting, coaching or small business

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:03

Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:07

We begin with Laura Rotter discussing her.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:10

After 30 years of successfully managing money for institutional

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:20

True abundance advisors, a fiduciary fee, only financial planning firm

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:30

Laura, welcome to the show.

Laura Rotter: 00:02:32

Thank you

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:32

so much, David.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:34

It's great to have you on it to alert.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:35

What caused you to start your own firm after.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:02:38

A very successful 30 year career on wall.

Laura Rotter: 00:02:40

First of all, I want your listeners or our listeners

Laura Rotter: 00:02:47

So it's important piece of information.

Laura Rotter: 00:02:51

I often talk about my time working as an institutional analyst and investor on

Laura Rotter: 00:03:02

The first 10 years, I loved love, love what I did the second 10 years.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:08

I was raising a family and just took it for granted as the primary

Laura Rotter: 00:03:17

But by the end of my career, and again, it was close to 10 years.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:22

I did not like what I did at all.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:24

The work was not interesting.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:28

I found that the investments didn't reward you for the risk and I didn't

Laura Rotter: 00:03:35

So you can hear though that.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:38

It was a long time till I actually left.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:42

And the precipitating event, actually, there were two in 2008, clearly

Laura Rotter: 00:03:52

I considered leaving and.

Laura Rotter: 00:03:56

In 2013, when I was working for the hedge fund group of city bank, there

Laura Rotter: 00:04:10

And so I never considered at that point going back.

Laura Rotter: 00:04:17

And I thought about how do I use.

Laura Rotter: 00:04:24

My gifts on understanding markets, understanding numbers, to understanding

Laura Rotter: 00:04:32

And during that tenure feel like I have a run on sentence, but

Laura Rotter: 00:04:42

I had started to practice yoga and learn to hear deep inside what I needed.

Laura Rotter: 00:04:50

I took a meditation teacher training.

Laura Rotter: 00:04:54

So when the time came to rethink my personal life journey, I felt like.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:01

There was some mission for me to use the skills I had developed on wall street

Laura Rotter: 00:05:14

And so that was my initial thought.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:16

I wanted to work with women having.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:19

Spend most of my career surrounded by men.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:22

I wanted to work with women and help them with their finances.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:26

And that was what I set out to do in when I left wall street, November, 2013.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:05:33

And how soon after you got your notice that you are going

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:05:42

I'm now an entrepreneur

Laura Rotter: 00:05:44

pretty immediately.

Laura Rotter: 00:05:45

I was lucky enough both to have accumulated assets

Laura Rotter: 00:05:54

The ability to take my time to move towards growing a firm, as

Laura Rotter: 00:06:07

I started to informational interview and I, in the course of this informational

Laura Rotter: 00:06:28

There's a lot of words used to describe what I do.

Laura Rotter: 00:06:32

And so though my intention had been.

Laura Rotter: 00:06:35

To go out on my own.

Laura Rotter: 00:06:37

I quickly realized, especially once I had the offer that I wasn't exactly sure

Laura Rotter: 00:06:44

So it would be helpful to work for another firm.

Laura Rotter: 00:06:47

I learned a lot with that firm and at the same time, learned a lot about

Laura Rotter: 00:06:56

And when you work for a broker dealer there, you're not always working.

Laura Rotter: 00:07:04

In the client's best interest.

Laura Rotter: 00:07:06

I never saw anything inappropriate done, but there's a different standards.

Laura Rotter: 00:07:11

And so there are suitability standards and commissions generated

Laura Rotter: 00:07:18

And I ultimately found that distasteful, even if, again, nothing blatant was

Laura Rotter: 00:07:35

And that made me very uncomfortable.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:07:38

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:07:38

Even though in theory, there, there isn't supposed to be a conflict of interest.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:07:42

It's still sounds like there is potentially an inherent

Laura Rotter: 00:07:47

At the same time, back to what I said earlier of wanting

Laura Rotter: 00:08:12

That being said, I wanted a firm where there was a process of asking

Laura Rotter: 00:08:25

And I came to feel that I could only do that by going out on my own.

Laura Rotter: 00:08:31

After a little, under two years, I left actually in February,

Laura Rotter: 00:08:38

Cause I really did enjoy and respect the people I work with.

Laura Rotter: 00:08:42

And I didn't want to be going behind their back, developing anything

Laura Rotter: 00:08:47

So I left that firm in February of 2016 and started my own

Laura Rotter: 00:08:57

And I guess I just want to say one of the things I did is I became

Laura Rotter: 00:09:04

I had already been a certified financial analyst.

Laura Rotter: 00:09:06

That's a designation that I used for many years again on wall street,

Laura Rotter: 00:09:13

But one of the reasons I left is I wanted to pass the certified

Laura Rotter: 00:09:20

I left my tech myself time to study in between starting my own firm and

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:09:29

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:09:30

So it's interesting that you had a particular idea in mind about running

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:09:44

And you made a pivot to go work for somebody else in a slightly, whether

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:07

A couple of.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:08

Yes.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:09

And one of the things that I've observed is, especially with entrepreneurs,

Laura Rotter: 00:10:23

It's interesting David, because I think we

Laura Rotter: 00:10:29

Whenever you start opening your heart and being a little more aware of what's

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:39

Exactly.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:40

Said.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:10:41

So with that in mind, what happened following spring of 2016, when you

Rock Robinson: 00:10:50

I'm sure

Laura Rotter: 00:10:51

you hear from many entrepreneurs, it's an ongoing journey.

Laura Rotter: 00:10:56

The first thing that came to mind when you asked me that question is learning

Laura Rotter: 00:11:06

I do remember that.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:07

A friend is a sort of a cute story.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:10

A friend of mine, Sherry Perlman is had a listserv of Jesus psychologist.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:17

If other people in her field.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:18

And immediately I had a couple of call me and I met with them and they were eager.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:26

They became my clients then are still my clients.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:29

And I asked them, how did you meet me?

Laura Rotter: 00:11:33

And they said, oh, we were looking at.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:35

Listserv and our good friend, Sherry Perlman, I see posted your name.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:41

And I asked how they knew Sherry and the way they knew Sherry was clearly

Laura Rotter: 00:11:50

She did not attend the institution.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:53

They talked about.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:55

I have jokingly said, they had written a check for my first fee payments.

Laura Rotter: 00:11:59

I said, would you like your check back?

Laura Rotter: 00:12:02

Because this is a different Sherry Perlman my name, but again, who

Laura Rotter: 00:12:09

They're my they've been my clients longest, but so I feel like when

Laura Rotter: 00:12:16

In a certain way.

Laura Rotter: 00:12:18

It seemed easier.

Laura Rotter: 00:12:19

When I first started my business to find clients, then now three years later, I

Laura Rotter: 00:12:34

And.

Laura Rotter: 00:12:35

Having never run my own business before.

Laura Rotter: 00:12:37

These are all a mix, always of excitement as I continue to learn new things and

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:12:43

challenge.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:12:45

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:12:45

So what does it feel like to work on some of these things that are

Laura Rotter: 00:12:54

It's I guess the word that keeps coming to mind is

Laura Rotter: 00:13:08

And I feel sometimes blessed that I am challenging my.

Laura Rotter: 00:13:15

So much to grow, to explore new things, to explore new ways of communicating

Laura Rotter: 00:13:27

So I feel like it's very exciting.

Laura Rotter: 00:13:30

It's put me in place to meet a lot of new people, including yourself.

Laura Rotter: 00:13:35

And of course the moments of frustration, but frankly, having been so unhappy for

Laura Rotter: 00:13:45

I do pinch myself every day that I get to choose how I spend my

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:13:52

Yeah, that, that is definitely quite a

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:13:56

Yes, Laura, what have been some of the most helpful kinds of.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:14:02

Resources as you've been going through this journey over the last, I guess

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:14:09

I

Laura Rotter: 00:14:09

not quite, 2016, yes.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:12

But it's been awhile.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:14

Yeah.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:14

I was

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:14:14

thinking about since you got laid off, but you've had

Laura Rotter: 00:14:30

Yes, I guess it's interesting.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:32

What comes to mind now?

Laura Rotter: 00:14:34

And so a message I'd give to anyone going on this entrepreneurial journey.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:39

It's very easy to fall into the rhythm of being an employee.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:45

Again, an employee of your own.

Laura Rotter: 00:14:48

And therefore, in some ways, a victim of the worst boss in the world, who's

Laura Rotter: 00:14:58

And it's only been the last couple of years, perhaps the last year where I

Laura Rotter: 00:15:10

I truly do believe that we all on this earth have a mission.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:14

And that mission is to find what makes you come alive and then go do it.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:19

And I would say the first couple of years, I clearly wanted stability.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:24

And so I kept to the same routine of getting up and how I spent my day.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:29

And I'm coming to realize that's not the gift I want to give myself.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:34

And that's not the gift I want to give my client.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:37

And as I look here, I see, I have a book called the Firestarter

Laura Rotter: 00:15:44

Again, talking about.

Laura Rotter: 00:15:45

Who do you want to be?

Laura Rotter: 00:15:46

What do you want to feel during the day?

Laura Rotter: 00:15:49

And I try every morning to journal to myself and write down what

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:15:57

day.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:15:58

And Laura, what are some of the things that, that you've done or ways that

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:16:08

Clarifying what your mission is and then fulfilling it.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:16:12

The one

Laura Rotter: 00:16:13

thing that comes to mind is finding like-minded people.

Laura Rotter: 00:16:17

I feel like I've been blessed in having both coaching groups in a coaching

Laura Rotter: 00:16:35

So as someone who spent a lot of my previous career, basically in front

Laura Rotter: 00:16:46

That's where I get a lot of my ideas from that's where I got, I get a lot

Laura Rotter: 00:16:57

And I guess another thing I'd like to say, I'm in a group with other financial

Laura Rotter: 00:17:09

And perhaps I take it for granted, cause I did have the wall street background,

Laura Rotter: 00:17:18

I feel like that's something that it's not an easy activity.

Laura Rotter: 00:17:23

It doesn't come easily to people of learning just to perhaps sit

Laura Rotter: 00:17:31

So that's also resources I've reached out.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:17:35

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:17:35

And Laura, at this point, given everything you've done over the

Laura Rotter: 00:17:44

Closer than I ever been.

Laura Rotter: 00:17:45

As I said earlier, I had started my firm believing that my most

Laura Rotter: 00:17:54

I turns out at this point, most of my clients are couples.

Laura Rotter: 00:17:59

And yet I'm still drawn to work with women and specifically women in a

Laura Rotter: 00:18:12

We teach what we continuously need to learn.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:15

I still identify, I still self identify as someone in a career transition.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:21

I let go of a Eben identity that I they'll perhaps towards the end.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:27

I didn't like the work.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:28

I certainly liked the identity and I want to help others.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:34

Explore, others who feel dead inside from having to keep doing the same thing

Laura Rotter: 00:18:42

So both help with the exploration of.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:45

As helping with the financial aspect of the change.

Laura Rotter: 00:18:48

And that's certainly in my case, a big thing, understanding, what my

Laura Rotter: 00:18:54

How do I invest appropriately?

Laura Rotter: 00:18:57

How do I make sure I have enough insurance, all these kinds

Laura Rotter: 00:19:02

The life goal.

Laura Rotter: 00:19:03

You can't have one without the

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:05

other.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:05

Yeah, they're very much intertwined.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:07

So Laura, for anyone who may want to go deeper with anything we've

Laura Rotter: 00:19:18

First of all, to learn about me, please go to my

Laura Rotter: 00:19:27

And please feel free to reach out to me.

Laura Rotter: 00:19:30

My email address is Laura L a U R a at true abundance advisors dot.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:37

Great.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:38

Laura, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join us today.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:41

I'm going solo and sharing your insights, sharing your

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:47

My guest today has been the owner of true abundance advisors.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:50

Laura Rotter.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:51

Thank you again, Laura, for joining us.

Laura Rotter: 00:19:53

Thank you so much, David, for inviting me.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:19:58

Now we shift to rock Robinson, sharing his career.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:03

Rock is an accomplished sales executive with 40 years of achievement growing

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:26

For the last seven years, he has provided services as a fractional sales

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:36

Cincinnati has been his home for the last 30 years.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:39

Rock.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:39

Welcome to the show,

Rock Robinson: 00:20:41

David, thanks for having me.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:42

So you've had a long career and clearly from.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:46

Sat in the introduction, a couple or more unexpected bumps in the road,

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:20:58

Tell me a little bit about your career and how these incidents

Rock Robinson: 00:21:05

Oh, thanks.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:06

The majority of my career David has been with fortune 500 companies.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:10

And really at the end, some midsize companies that were positioned for sale.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:15

And that was what I was brought in to do as a sales leader, I was on

Rock Robinson: 00:21:24

That was just gone all the time.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:26

I'm traveling three out of the four weeks.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:28

I'm in hotels, I'm in airports.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:30

Way too much food.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:32

I can tell you that.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:33

And I'm away from my family.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:34

And at some point in time, I think that was a huge contributor to say, really

Rock Robinson: 00:21:49

So for those that are listening, that.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:51

Lost their job or in transition, I've been there.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:55

I've understood it.

Rock Robinson: 00:21:56

I've tried to figure some things to do for the next time that came around.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:00

So I call them God winks.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:02

They're not coincidences or God winks that all of these things happen

Rock Robinson: 00:22:08

I wouldn't be where I'm at.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:09

If those things didn't happen.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:11

So I want to encourage others.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:12

That those things didn't feel very good when they happen, but you'll be

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:22:18

What did you learn each time that helped you deal with them?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:22:22

The next time something

Rock Robinson: 00:22:23

happened?

Rock Robinson: 00:22:23

I would tell people, I talked to a lot of people in transition because they

Rock Robinson: 00:22:29

You've been through some of these things.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:31

And I say, you always have to be building your brand.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:34

It sounds too easy.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:35

It's when we lose our job, we go out and say, man, I got to meet some folks.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:39

I got to figure out how I'm going to get my next gig, but you have

Rock Robinson: 00:22:44

And it's easier said than done, but you'll hear a lot of reference in our talks

Rock Robinson: 00:22:50

And please network, when you have a job, this is my strongest suggestion.

Rock Robinson: 00:22:54

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:22:54

You know what that reminds me of, I have a friend who's a

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:23:02

Time to apply for credit is when you don't need it.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:23:04

Cause that's when you get it.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:23:05

If you wait until you need it, you're not going to get it.

Rock Robinson: 00:23:07

Absolutely.

Rock Robinson: 00:23:08

Absolutely.

Rock Robinson: 00:23:11

So

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:23:12

what were some of the techniques that.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:23:14

Employed to build your brand.

Rock Robinson: 00:23:16

You know what?

Rock Robinson: 00:23:17

First and foremost I think networking itself is easy to say, I got to

Rock Robinson: 00:23:25

I knew nobody really, when you think about it, it's a big city,

Rock Robinson: 00:23:30

I didn't want to know the people that I did, but when I met people,

Rock Robinson: 00:23:40

Connection leads to like likely leads to trust and trust leads to an

Rock Robinson: 00:23:47

And what I found along the way, my experience told me I was doing this

Rock Robinson: 00:24:01

Because I'm from Michigan.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:02

And there was a basketball team that was the fab five.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:04

So I said there was a fab five questions that you always asked during networking.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:09

And when I'd meet with people, I'd share that.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:11

And it's just not the questions themselves, but how you ask the

Rock Robinson: 00:24:17

And I think helped a lot of people and it helped me lot.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:19

Alright.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:20

So I

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:24:20

have to ask you why, what are the five questions?

Rock Robinson: 00:24:23

Let's see, I tease ya.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:24

You're coming at it and they're so simple, but they're how you asked the question.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:28

The first one's a geographic question.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:30

I'd say, David, where are you originally born and raised?

Rock Robinson: 00:24:33

I'm looking for connections.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:34

I don't ask where you live today.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:36

I want multiples.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:37

So myself, I'm from Detroit.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:39

Then I moved to Chattanooga and then I lived to live in Cincinnati.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:43

I have three potential connections or something about geography.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:46

When we talk and ask, I could be in Florida and I see somebody

Rock Robinson: 00:24:52

And where are you from in Cincinnati?

Rock Robinson: 00:24:53

There's a geography.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:54

So easy, simple, soft number one.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:57

Number two is family.

Rock Robinson: 00:24:59

And I say it that way.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:00

I'd say David family, because in today's environment, I'm not asking somebody.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:05

If they're married, I'm not asking if they have kids.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:08

Now I'm more of a senior player.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:10

People come to me and they'll say rock, do you have grandkids?

Rock Robinson: 00:25:13

You know why they're asking me?

Rock Robinson: 00:25:14

Why do I have.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:16

Because they want to tell me about their grandkids.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:18

Okay.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:18

So I figured out that based on the questions it's so open-ended right.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:23

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:23

I want them to tell me what family is.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:24

I've had people tell me their family.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:26

Is there two German shepherds?

Rock Robinson: 00:25:27

Oh, they're awesome.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:28

I go, you got dogs.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:29

I got dogs.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:30

They tell me about their parents.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:31

They tell me about their siblings.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:33

They'll tell me about a wife.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:34

If they had one.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:35

How about if I asked him if he was married a gentleman.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:38

And he's going through a nasty divorce.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:39

I think we've really not connected right there.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:41

I've just brought up something I didn't want to bring up.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:44

And so it's, open-ended question that's two family three is tell me school.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:49

Same thing with school.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:50

Open-ended David, I'm not asking you where to cut, where you went to college.

Rock Robinson: 00:25:54

How about if you didn't go to college, how does that make you feel?

Rock Robinson: 00:25:56

I want to not be threatening in my questions and I want to hear feedback.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:00

I went to a high school.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:01

70% of my graduating high school class went to work for three companies.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:06

Guess who they were general motors, Ford or Chrysler.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:09

Okay.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:09

And they're all retired.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:10

And they've told me they may have went in the service.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:12

I go, awesome.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:13

Tell me what service you were in.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:14

If I was a service guy and you were in the army and I'm in the army, we've connected.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:18

Or I went to work.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:19

I had to provide for my family right away.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:20

I had a young family.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:21

So my school is number three for is.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:24

Tell me about your career journey.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:26

You've done that a little here.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:28

I want people to tell me, I want to see if I can connect with the types of jobs

Rock Robinson: 00:26:40

And then the very last one is David, tell me what your passionate.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:43

When I can learn what you're passionate about, it's a little

Rock Robinson: 00:26:47

I could be passionate about giving to the church and I just, but that's not a hobby.

Rock Robinson: 00:26:52

So when I could find out those five things, I've got opportunities to

Rock Robinson: 00:27:03

And now I have the ability with all that intelligence to do unique.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:06

Follow-up.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:08

If you can imagine that.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:09

And one of my favorite stories, I was, I did this on a client,

Rock Robinson: 00:27:17

He gave me the answers.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:18

He tells me he's from Cincinnati.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:19

He's played baseball at the university of Cincinnati.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:22

He's got four daughters, the whole nine yards.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:25

I gather all this intelligent, he's a wine kind of sewer.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:27

He's a big red machine fan.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:29

And it was true that I was able to uniquely follow with.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:32

Nobody else has ever done with him.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:33

He was a big red machine baseball fan and his favorite player.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:36

He told me it was Tony Perez.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:38

So I sent him a hand note and follow up.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:40

I said, Hey, thanks for getting to know you personally and professionally, it's

Rock Robinson: 00:27:46

That's 50 years old.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:47

I think he didn't it.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:49

And I put a Tony Perez baseball card in an envelope and send it to him.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:52

I, would've never been able to do that.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:54

Create a connection if I never asked the questions.

Rock Robinson: 00:27:56

So fed five, there you go.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:27:58

And is there a particular order that you asked them in?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:28:02

I like

Rock Robinson: 00:28:02

them that way, born and raised family school,

Rock Robinson: 00:28:08

I see a lot of, and I do this with salespeople too.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:11

When I coach them, a lot of people start with the passion first and they

Rock Robinson: 00:28:15

And what did they do it, they may have just watched the Cincinnati reds.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:18

They go, Hey, what'd you think about the reds game?

Rock Robinson: 00:28:20

I go, how do you even know I'm a baseball fan?

Rock Robinson: 00:28:21

So again, they're asking because what they like it.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:25

So you gotta make it open-ended rock.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:27

What are you passionate about?

Rock Robinson: 00:28:29

And if I told them, then they know, and they can see if we can connect on that.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:32

But that order.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:28:35

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:28:35

I find that when people ask me about what I'm passionate about first, or if

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:28:50

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:51

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:51

I found in my experience has told me that, that geography question associate.

Rock Robinson: 00:28:55

As long as I, I'm not like a stalker telling me where you live right

Rock Robinson: 00:29:02

I had a guy tell me he's from Jersey and I go, wow, why can't you pump your own gas?

Rock Robinson: 00:29:06

I just know some stats about the state and I could create a conversation.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:10

Cadet.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:10

That's all I'm trying to do

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:13

now.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:14

If you're really doing a lot of networking, and you're

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:19

How do you track the information?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:21

Because it's, there's a lot of details buried in this.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:24

I don't know about you.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:29:26

Once I get past about 10 people, I would probably forget most of it.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:29

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:29

In that crazy too, because I think, this is my sales background.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:33

We used to write stuff on the back of a business card, or then we got

Rock Robinson: 00:29:37

Then we put them in folders.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:39

I print off their LinkedIn profile and make notes on their LinkedIn profile.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:43

Then I'd make an Excel spreadsheet.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:44

And finally I wised up and it came up with something that.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:47

Sales CRM software.

Rock Robinson: 00:29:50

And I've got a software that I use and I tell the audience I've

Rock Robinson: 00:29:55

And I was a power Salesforce user way, too big for people like me now, what

Rock Robinson: 00:30:05

I use one today called pipe drive and I've actually incorporated.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:10

I have fields for my fab five about that.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:13

So after we talked.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:15

I take my notes.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:16

I automatically put them in my CRM and I throw my notes away.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:20

I'm trying to be so good paperless and it's got an app.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:24

So I'm out and about.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:26

And I bumped into David and then I see some facts about

Rock Robinson: 00:30:30

And now all of a sudden I'm intelligent connecting when I've talked to

Rock Robinson: 00:30:35

I can't remember everything, but when I could store it.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:38

So when you get good intelligence, you have to store it.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:42

And save it.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:43

And that's how I do it.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:44

I use a software.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:46

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:46

Are

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:30:46

there other CRMs that you like.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:30:50

Particularly for solo consultants,

Rock Robinson: 00:30:52

you know what?

Rock Robinson: 00:30:53

I just resonated on a bike drive.

Rock Robinson: 00:30:56

I've rolled it out for probably seven of the companies I've worked for.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:00

I'm not a programmer and it's that easy.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:03

So I'm a sales guy.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:04

So if I can, I get my way around a tech stuff, pipe drive for me go to that easy.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:08

I'm not jumping off them.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:10

I've seen the more complex ones.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:12

And for me, it's been intuitive.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:14

And let it drag and drop and stuff like that.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:18

I just love that.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:19

But fields that some of the softwares that's out there, they have names

Rock Robinson: 00:31:28

I can call it whatever I want.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:29

I can call it the fab five.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:30

It works.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:32

So I love it.

Rock Robinson: 00:31:33

I

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:31:33

love it.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:31:34

One thing that, that struggle.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:31:36

As you were describing your transition from working inside organizations,

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:31:46

And I would think that as somebody who is involved in sales, As a profession would

Rock Robinson: 00:31:53

in a lot of cases, this is the one thing,

Rock Robinson: 00:31:58

It's a consulting business, right?

Rock Robinson: 00:32:00

And I'm a fractional sales leader and I'm a sales coach.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:06

But what I was doing prior to this, I was a sales leader for 30 years.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:11

I wasn't carrying a bag.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:13

I wasn't the frontline guy out having a coffee.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:15

So I had all the team doing.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:16

And they did that work.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:18

So it was almost reversed.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:20

I became a frontline contributor again, where I had to do those

Rock Robinson: 00:32:26

And I did it, but it'd been a long time.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:28

And I think where I've seen some of my peers and associates that

Rock Robinson: 00:32:36

And I think I see it in consulting too, because there's peaks and valleys.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:41

You always have to be.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:42

Networking.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:43

You always have to be prospecting because when you get the business, then

Rock Robinson: 00:32:49

Then all of a sudden you're out of business, you got to go find it again.

Rock Robinson: 00:32:51

So it's usually a peaks and valleys and some folks don't have the

Rock Robinson: 00:32:57

So they tap out and they go back and get that job in corporate America and

Rock Robinson: 00:33:02

I think that's part of it too.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:04

You really have to stay on top of that.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:06

Yeah,

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:33:06

no, that makes a lot of sense.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:33:08

Rock.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:33:08

When you went out on your own, how did you figure out what your

Rock Robinson: 00:33:15

I was blessed at the time because that third time of that

Rock Robinson: 00:33:27

They were awesome.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:28

People had 200 plus frontline contributors and salespeople.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:32

I They were spreading education through corporate America.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:34

And I was just so pleased with what they were doing.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:36

And just as it happens in corporate America, a new person comes

Rock Robinson: 00:33:44

And they suffer my boss, who was an awesome architect of what we were doing.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:48

And they go rock a little time later.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:50

I need you to get those 200 plus salespeople on a con call.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:53

Cause I want to talk to them like, oh, sure.

Rock Robinson: 00:33:56

And about 120 seconds later, the entire team and me.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:00

They were going to go in a different direction and that was step one.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:03

I go, wow.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:05

The band broke up.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:06

That's really what it was a little do they know they're destined for

Rock Robinson: 00:34:18

And then 45 days.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:20

My youngest son, Ty at the age of 25 suddenly died.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:25

So now you have a sever job and the loss of a child all within 45 days, and you're

Rock Robinson: 00:34:34

I think there was a sign for me that says, I think there's

Rock Robinson: 00:34:38

And somebody tapped me on the shoulder and told me about this business and with

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:34:49

Wow.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:34:49

So had you heard about this niche before that?

Rock Robinson: 00:34:51

I really hadn't.

Rock Robinson: 00:34:52

Somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said, rock you're

Rock Robinson: 00:34:57

That's out there for this for we're looking for sales leaders that look just

Rock Robinson: 00:35:10

It sounds like it's in my wheelhouse.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:12

I went through my wife.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:13

I said, it sounds exactly.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:16

She goes, it's exactly what you've been doing all your life.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:18

She says, I'm good with it.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:20

As long as you don't go into a business and involves golf

Rock Robinson: 00:35:23

So she didn't want me in the golf business, but the, as long

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:35:29

Tell me a little bit about who your ideal client is

Rock Robinson: 00:35:34

Yeah, sure.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:35

And what I do with the bandwidth and I'm a sole proprietor, so rock

Rock Robinson: 00:35:41

So you're dealing with.

Rock Robinson: 00:35:43

The creator, the biller, the implementer, the executer, all in

Rock Robinson: 00:35:50

So I'll deal in Cincinnati Dayton or some of the major cities Northern

Rock Robinson: 00:35:55

And I'm looking for mid to small size companies and I've targeted.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:00

It has a, at least it has a minimum, a max of about six sales.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:06

So we're really dealing with a different dynamic than I was used to because what

Rock Robinson: 00:36:12

I want to work with multiple companies.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:14

What I do, it's people in process that come on in, I said,

Rock Robinson: 00:36:19

And are they doing the right stuff?

Rock Robinson: 00:36:21

And I help implement change.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:23

I put in processes.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:24

And then I.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:25

This is what nobody's doing.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:26

And this is why I think there's a huge need.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:29

That's out there.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:30

Somebody that wants to coach, I want to help them.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:33

I don't say, make 10 more phone calls.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:35

I'll show you how to make the first phone call and help you make the next one.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:38

And then let's go, right?

Rock Robinson: 00:36:40

I gotta figure out where you need help and I want to help you.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:43

And in today, nobody wants to coach anybody.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:46

He just said, here's the number.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:47

If you don't hit the number you got 30 days.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:50

We'll see you putting on a performance plan.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:52

I don't want to do that.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:54

So that's my niche market and where I'm operating at.

Rock Robinson: 00:36:58

And I've just been passionate about coaching though.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:00

I just there's something that's I, it resonates with me.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:04

That's missing out there.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:37:05

Tell me a little bit about the characteristics of a company

Rock Robinson: 00:37:13

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:14

You know what, there's something about being a lifelong learner.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:18

I look at owners and presidents of companies that are open to change.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:23

People that are open to consultants, open people that are open to

Rock Robinson: 00:37:29

It is radically different.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:30

At one point last year I was vice president of sales for

Rock Robinson: 00:37:34

Okay.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:35

You have to be open to that.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:37

It's radical.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:37

They, some folks want you in the office, 60 hours a week.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:40

That's not going to happen, so there's gotta be a fit with that.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:45

And the ones that I've seen that have been served very successful with

Rock Robinson: 00:37:51

They want to grow and they're willing to change.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:53

Do I gather

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker: 00:37:54

it's industry agnostic.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:56

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:37:56

I've predominantly been always in B2B, so I've never been in retail.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:01

I got family that are in the party store business.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:03

They wait for people to come to their store.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:05

I just couldn't do that.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:06

So always going out, but yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:08

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:08

If usually a lot of the companies I dealt with have sold, I'll call it

Rock Robinson: 00:38:16

And I always I'm intrigued by that because now I'm selling

Rock Robinson: 00:38:20

It's just not a, I found if you've got the cheapest products, sometimes

Rock Robinson: 00:38:25

We'll put it on a website and you can pick the lowest price.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:28

And there's people that do that now.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:30

But I love selling value and helping my sales team sell value.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:38:34

Can you share a story of a situation that you've walked

Rock Robinson: 00:38:40

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:41

There, there was a great situation.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:43

It's in the manufacturing industry and they didn't have a lot of process.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:49

They didn't have a CRM family business and they just needed help

Rock Robinson: 00:38:56

And being an outsider coming in.

Rock Robinson: 00:38:58

I literally, because they were a quality company they'd

Rock Robinson: 00:39:04

I just needed to build that trust and let them be able to see that an

Rock Robinson: 00:39:12

And we had one of the sales team members that would be an error

Rock Robinson: 00:39:18

And to see that person be open to growing and me coaching that person

Rock Robinson: 00:39:27

I literally, I wouldn't say it's turning the keys over, cause it's not

Rock Robinson: 00:39:41

And I'm so excited to see where he's going to take it from me.

Rock Robinson: 00:39:44

But those are the situations when that can be involved and feel, I made a

Rock Robinson: 00:39:55

And I don't want to do that.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:39:56

Rock, this has been a really great conversation about your

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:12

And a little bit about the kinds of clients where you solve their problems.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:17

If someone wants to.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:19

Learn more about anything we've discussed or access any resources

Rock Robinson: 00:40:26

for them to go?

Rock Robinson: 00:40:26

The best way to find me is on a LinkedIn rock Robinson, you type that in there and

Rock Robinson: 00:40:33

I'm coming up first.

Rock Robinson: 00:40:35

Okay.

Rock Robinson: 00:40:36

Come see me.

Rock Robinson: 00:40:37

We'll have to have a conversation.

Rock Robinson: 00:40:38

You did all my contact information.

Rock Robinson: 00:40:40

Is there.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:41

Great.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:42

And we will, of course include your LinkedIn profile link in the show notes.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:46

Anyone who's listening can go there if whatever platform you're listening on or

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:54

You can find the link in the show notes.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:40:56

So rock, I want to thank you so much for joining us today and going

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:05

Based on many years of experience, my guest today has been the president

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:12

Rock Robinson.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:12

Thank you again for joining.

Rock Robinson: 00:41:14

Yeah.

Rock Robinson: 00:41:15

Awesome.

Rock Robinson: 00:41:15

Dave,

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:18

both Laura and rock experienced major transitions.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:21

When they left their positions as employees and started their own

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:31

Do you struggle to take consistent action on building your business?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:35

How do you feel about your progress?

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:38

Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:47

As a member of the smashing, the plateau community you'll have

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:54

You'll also be a member of a community that's built to be a safe, caring place.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:41:59

We're inclusive, direct, active, and empowering conversations are welcomed

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:06

You'll find a range of tools and resources to support you as an

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:15

If you're committed to getting your consulting, coaching or small business

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:34

Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com, where we have additional resources to help

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:41

Build their business.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:42

After a long career, as an employed professional, we believe you should be

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:49

What you're worth consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:52

Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com.

David Shriner-Cahn: 00:42:55

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show.