#195: What's Going to Get You Ahead is Your People: How One Entrepreneur 4x His EBITDA

What will you learn in today’s episode:

• How Chris has more than quadrupled their EBITDA by focusing on his employees and leaders
• How Chris scales his companies by focusing one KPI – increasing his employee’s median income
• Why Chris would give up millions instead of laying off 10% of his workforce
• How to harvest your employees’ greatest gifts and nurture their inner greatness
• How to abolish the 2 things that can erode profits and employees’ mental states
• How to unleash your people like never before
• Culture is the sum of everyone’s world views
• How to create a company purpose statement and engrain it in your culture
• How to use the company purpose statement as a line in the sand to make decisions
• How to create a culture that you can measure and monitor
• How to align your culture and financials
• The difference between entrepreneurs who are “hobbyist” and those who are growing an investment

Main Takeaway:

We cannot forget that businesses are made up of employees and people. Not only do we have to treat our employees well, but how we treat them and what we do right now (as a business-owner) will impact the future viability of our business. The leaders that are able to maintain the financial health of their business, while also keeping their culture and leaders intact are going to come out of this with a competitive advantage that I don’t think others are going to have. Employee growth, value growth, and the ability to have more options and freedom down the road are all linked to financial and business success. All of that come from a place where you are make clear, intentional decisions about your employees and company.

About Chris:

Chris Meroff built his company into a thriving laboratory of cutting-edge ideas for company culture. He wanted people to be seen for who they really are so that they can be fulfilled personally and professionally, either as a leader or an employee. His aim was to show his staff that there's more to their jobs than just giving up time with friends, family, and hobbies. With an emphasis on integrating work and life, Chris proved that the result can be fulfilling and rewarding. Establishing these roots of fulfillment in all of his endeavors became his life’s work.

Today, his companies employ over 200 people and all of them are quick to say that the culture there is unlike any other. This unique culture clearly shows that Chris’s Alignment Leadership model of pursuing fulfillment and developing people rather than skills is flourishing. Not just because the financials say so, but because the people themselves do.

Chris’s first book, ALIGN was published by Morgan James. His work includes inspiration as well as practical tools to seek fulfillment for employees, leaders, and all those in between. He knows it’s possible for anyone to accomplish because he and his team are consistently achieving their best every single day.

Author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Chris Meroff, has made a career of testing new leadership ideas to see what works—and what doesn’t—in service-oriented leadership. What he has gleaned from his research has helped him build a fast-growing organization with a diverse and engaged workforce that understands the mission of his organization and their place in it. His business, Alignment Leadership Consulting, exists to teach leaders how they too can boldly pursue a workplace culture that prioritizes employee fulfillment.

Quotes:

“When we see their greatness, we see them for who they are. It has been amazing to watch people evolve into the very people we imagined them to be, from the moment we hired them.” - Chris Meroff

“100 years ago, back in the day, when we were doing manufacturing or agriculture; yes, it made sense to be an expert in manufacturing or agriculture. People were plug and play. That made sense 100 years later? No. It’s all about people. Information and knowledge are all a commodity now. Anyone can look anything up” - Chris Meroff

“What we’re doing is leveraging our people in ways that people have never been leveraged before.” - Chris Meroff

“What is a culture? We define it as the sum of everyone’s world view.” - Chris Meroff

“One of the things that we teach at our bootcamp is the difference between ownership and management roles.” - Ryan Tansom

Resources/Links:

Chris Meroff Official Website

Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course

ARKONA Boot Camp

Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!

You can also reach out to me via email at [email protected], on my LinkedIn, or you can call me at 612-720-6530.

There are two ways we hope to help you get clear, get intentional, and get going:

 1.)    Mastering Your Cash Flow – Video Series

1. How To Build A 13-Week Cash Flow Statement

Get clarity on where and how your cash is coming from and being used and then build a plan to manage it wisely. Learn how to build a 13-week cash flow statement from the top CFOs in the marketplace.

1. How to Build And Revise Your 2020/21 Budget And Forecast

2020 and 2021 are most likely not going to look like you thought they did back when you built your budget and forecast. Learn how to model out different scenarios using forecasting best practices.

1. c. Create A Strategic Plan to Grow Company Value

Increase the chances you come out of the gates and capitalize on the future opportunities when our new "normal" sets in. Start thinking about how you can create a strategic plan to grow a valuable business that gives you choices.

 2.)    Intentional Growth™ Digital Course

Because of the current situation, Pat and I are working on a digital video course on the Intentional Growth™ 5 Principles. It will be the best of our material that we have in our 2-day Boot Camps that normally costs 5k for $295. Text the word Intentional to 66866 to get on the waiting list of the digital course.

We’ll teach you how to build a valuable company with the end in mind using our 5 Intentional Growth™.

1. In principle #2 - You’ll learn everything about how companies are valued, deal structures and how to calculate net proceeds (this helps if you want to know how much your company is worth, looking to buy a company or eventually want to sell)
2. In principle #3 - You’ll learn how the 5 major exit options (Internal, ESOPs, PE and more) work & the implications of each
3. Principle #4 - you’ll learn how to increase your multiple by derisking your company and building value for the long term build a financial model that ties to your strategic plan and what it takes to grow value for the long term.