Business Success and Resilience with Tim Ward

There’s a strong chance you’re not that far off from winning in business and at the game of life. It just takes one idea, but you gotta have unwavering belief and burning desire. If you can couple that with a lockdown strategy that’s fueled by heart, hustle, and muscle, you got a shot at winning. There’s one thing that all champions have in common.

They get shit done. So welcome to the get shit done experience.

Well, well, well, we find ourselves getting shit done again. I’m here with Tim Ward, our CEO, founder of TTSG, GSD Technologies and 2020 Design and now the Get Shit Done Experience. So you’re seeing episode three, Tim, welcome to the show. Thank you. By the way, thank you for starting the show. Thank you for having the vision of wanting to have a show.

And thank you for seeing me as a person that should be put in the pilot seat. I appreciate that very much. So, um, this is going to be interesting because your philosophy, uh, on business has been, you know, we’ll get into your three pillars, but a lot of that kind of comes from that root of get shit done.

Right. And we told the story on the last episode with Brian Bickel that, um, that one of our major customers said, Hey, you got to start an it company because all you do is get shit done. Right. So. Uh, so you find yourselves listeners here in the domain of where things get done, where shit gets done. Tim, where does, um, where does the, the vision of starting a business originate, right?

So you were in sales. came up through the, the, the progression that a salesperson would top performer, multiple different organizations, saw corporate USA’s version of it. 2009 hits. Boom. Start us off there. Yeah. I mean, I just did the worst time to start a business in the history study of business, except if after this, uh, this COVID yeah, this one.

Um, but, uh, no, I, I, In 2008, I was traveling. Um, I was working for a company called InMaj Systems and, uh, I was traveling back and forth from California, uh, Santa Clara, California, and, uh, for Kumar Malavalli from, uh, you know, um, disaster recovery, a business continuity side of, uh, the software. And. We, uh, sold a deal company was getting, uh, uh, bought out or whatnot.

And, uh, I came back to Chicago and copiers and printers were just, it was managed print service was just in my blood. So. And in, in, in hindsight, when you look at it, you’re like, Oh, you go, you know, I went to Western Illinois university, like I didn’t want to go to school, marketing degree, marketing, management, computer science, all that.

So I really didn’t even want to go to school. I just wanted to, I just wanted to work. I was a worker, right? So my thing was, is that, um, I, when I got out of college, I had gotten a, uh, a job selling copiers and printers and it was, you know, for a small company. And, uh, but then grew into a very large company and that was sold and, uh, was bought and sold and, and, uh, then it turned into Xerox.

So my thing is, is that, uh, when you, when you see that evolution of a small business and you’re, and you’re with owners or you’re with the people that started that business, there’s a, there’s a, uh, Like a lure, like, uh, like a stigma, like a stigma to that whole era, you know, like, what’s that lifestyle? Like, yeah, like, like, you know, you’ve got, um, you’ve got people that you’re responsible for.

You’ve got people that then, you know, that start with your company and that make money and then they, then all of a sudden the whole life hits it and they get married, they have kids, you know, two kids and a white picket fence and a dog and you know, the whole thing. So. You know, in 2009, when I came back from, from, uh, uh, from California selling software in a space that I didn’t know anything about, it was a new space.

Um, I just really missed the management service side of the business and, uh, something that I was successful in. And then when you really look at, um, how the, how from 2009 to. The current right to 2024, how that landscape has changed. Mm-Hmm. And, um, how much, and you know, back in 2000, you know, three to 2009 or 2008, 2001 to 2008, um, from when I was working and managed print services was becoming a thing.

Mm-Hmm, you know, and now how, how different it is, um, what’s changed, what’s so different. The landscape, the business has changed. Uh, number one, you know, after COVID, you know, you’ve got 33 percent of the offices in the city of Chicago or, or, or, or, you know, not stacked like before. I mean, there’s the whole air, the whole land, that hybrid workforce.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s all changed. And you’ve got to adapt and you’ve got to, you’ve got to. You’ve got to, um, you’ve got to adapt. There’s always savings, but it’s about way more than savings alone. Total technology solutions group redefines managed print services. Excellence is the minimum standard. TTSG is a true managed print service provider, deeply understanding your technology and business goals.

Your business is unique. Our solutions are tailored to your current and future business goals. Our customer first approach empowers and delights. TTSG can ensure your technology environment will scale as your business does. So as you navigate business and constant change partner with TTSG for premium advisement and seamless implementation of your technology goals, we set the bar high, your people deserve it.

Peace of mind, powerful innovation, TTSG. com. You think that’s an advantage for a small business that has more agility? Or a disadvantage because maybe not the same resources. I mean, you could look at all the, you could look at all the statistics from the manufacturers and, and, and business itself, um, in the small business world.

I mean, you’ve got large companies out there that have a large overhead and, um, when COVID hit. Hit and it hit hard for a lot of people, uh, TTSG and GSD in 2020, uh, well, not 2020 cause I started. Yeah. Yeah. I started 20, 20, 20, 20, you know, full crystal clear vision. But no, I mean from 2009 when I started and I didn’t know that I was going to start a company, I didn’t know that I was going to, um, I was going to start a company, but it was just going to be me.

So you weren’t at age 15 saying, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to own my own business someday. Uh, no, I was going to be a sales guy. My dad was sales. He was an insurance salesman. So it’s in the DNA. You got the pedigree. Yeah, 100%. My dad was, uh, 30 years with New York Life Insurance Company. Um, he was a trainer.

He trained salespeople, uh, very successful salespeople that, that became successful. And he’s, you know, my dad’s turning 80 in February and you know, he’s got friends that he’s had for 50 years that he’s, that he’s coached, you know, when they were, when they were coming into New York life, that still call him and still hang out and still talk to him.

And I just talked to a guy the other day that knew of my father, you know, but you know, when, when you look at. When you look at, uh, starting a business, first of all, it’s the whole thing. It’s like, how do you start it? You know, you got to do all the secretary of state stuff and everything else. There’s a lot of points to, before you fill out that paperwork, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of things that go against you and your mindset.

Oh, I’m sure. Like, I don’t know, understand this part. Like you gotta get, you know, you gotta set up the business. You got to do this now today. It’s easier, but before you had to do everything in person, 2009, you were still doing stuff in person. You were still seeing an attorney. You’re still seeing that.

You’re still seeing that. So when you tell other people your story of like, Oh, I’m going to start a copy and printer cup, aren’t copy, you know, you know, since, Since, uh, 2001, they’ve said paper is going, it’s gone, it’s all this stuff. So, when you tell somebody in 2009 that you’re going to start a copier and, and, you know, printer company and a management service company, they kind of look at you funny, right?

You’re going to get into a dine. Yeah, why are you going into a dinosaur? Yeah, a dinosaur. But the numbers all tell a different story. Yeah, 100%. So, when you really look at it, you look at, um, You know, the, the fear that I had in 2009 to go out on my own, you’re not getting a paycheck, you know, 2009, I was probably making, um, you know, three or 400, 000, you know, and I was doing that for, um, So this is working for another company.

Yeah. As a sales, top sales rep. Yeah. I mean, I was making a couple hundred thousand bucks that I was making more money. Um, And then all of a sudden in 2009 you go, I don’t care about the money. I care about what I’m doing. Right. So I had a passion for the management service side of it. So your fear is that, um, I’m not going to have anything, all the material possessions and everything else.

I’m not going to have my house. I’m not going to have this. Now, I was 29 years old, so I didn’t have a family. You’re still living in the outer world, not in the inner world. So I didn’t, it didn’t really, it didn’t really have any, Uh, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t have any of those extra less risk. Yeah. It was less risk averse.

Yeah, for sure. No, I was more, more risk averse had less risk. Yeah, exactly. You’re not bringing people along into your risk with you. No. So then, I mean, when I did this, I sold a couple, I sold a couple of deals and then the operation side of the business kicked in like, I’m in sales, I don’t know how to hook up copiers and printers.

I don’t know how to deliver them. I don’t know how to do any of this stuff. So it kind of evolved very quickly. Um, it evolved because of, uh, the way that we’ve got, um, you know, employees, it’s just the way, the way that people came and found out and then didn’t have anything going on and wanted to give this a try.

The people that weren’t in sales that people, you know, um, you know, Top sales reps that I had in 2016, 2017, 2018, were guys that I groomed from 2009, 2010. And a lot of them you got from hospitality, bartenders, or people that you met at some association or some other affiliation or somebody referred and But you didn’t hire to positions you hired to people like you hired people that you thought you could first off that you personally could have an impact on their life and help.

And secondly, that you saw had commonality and we’re, we’re wanting to be part of something. So you were hiring for the human and then you found a position that was relevant to them. Yeah, you’ve got, you’ve got, there’s different, you know, personalities that you need. You need an outgoing personality for. a sales role.

You need somebody that’s got the grit, that’s got the hard work, dedication, perseverance, that’s going to, that’s going to drive themselves as an entrepreneur. Uh, like thinking as themselves as an entrepreneur. Yeah. So you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re finding those types of people and then you’re, um, You’re engaging with those types of people and then you’re coaching those types of people and then they turn out, you know, however they turn out, you know, sometimes you have the big, you know, it’s like in sports, you know, this guy’s supposed to be the number one draft pick.

Yeah. The next, uh, you know, Patrick Kane or the next, the punter stays for 18 years and the number one draft pick is on six different teams within six years, a hundred percent, you know, it’s the Tom Brady story, right? You’re the last pick of the NFL draft, you know? So. You know, sometimes you get those. And then sometimes you get the people that you have, you can’t want something more than the person wants it for themselves.

And that was a big fall for me in the earlier times. Um, you thought you could fix people, not even necessarily fix people. I just wish that I, I wish that they wished what I thought of them about themselves. You know, it wasn’t trying to fix them. It was, it was more of a part that I had such a, a belief that they could do this.

And then, you know, and then the other ones that came into the business, they, they did, you know, and they’re very successful and they’re out there doing their own thing. And some of them have their own companies and that’s phenomenal. That’s, that’s what you wish for somebody, because this is my dream, you know, this is what I’m living every day.

And, you know, it’s so cliche to say that it’s like, I haven’t worked a day in my life. You know, there’s more days that I feel like that than there are days that are work. That’s your 51 49. Yeah, like, I wait, I’m, I’m, it’s For real, like when you have a passion and you love something and you’re doing something, those people are understanding what I’m saying right now, the people that aren’t understanding what I’m saying are probably, yeah, you’re probably stuck, but unfortunately that’s a majority of the, the, you know, of the culture or the, you know, the marketplace that we’re in, you know, people that are having jobs and doing this, there are w two employees and everything else.

They haven’t maybe and some people need that. Some people need that structure. So 86 percent of businesses fail under five years. I think 94 percent under 10. Yeah. Um, you started the business in 2009 incorporated in 2010. So you could say the official, uh, time of the start of the business would be 2010, right?

Um, therefore. Next year’s 15 year anniversary. So you passed those thresholds, which is pretty fricking awesome. Right. And not only with TTSG, but then you said like, are you a serial entrepreneur? Like what’s going on, Tim? Like, can you not sleep at night? You just got to start another company. You’re onto your third, but there’s a little secret.

I don’t know if a lot of people know it’s actually your fifth and you could. conceivably say that this, because it is going to operate as a separate brand, is your sixth. Oh, wow. Didn’t even think about that. Yeah. So, okay. So, when you make that point, do you contribute that thought process to why the failure rate perhaps is so high?

That people are not passionate about what they’re doing. They’re doing it Cause the, you know, they thought they loved it and then they get into it and they don’t find joy in the boredom of repetition. They don’t find joy in learning how to do the administrative stuff or finding a person to take over the operational stuff.

Yeah. Um, what do you, what do you attribute some of those businesses out there that maybe are on that brink where the CEO or the founder is like having thoughts like, am I cut out for this? It’s almost like survivor guilt, right? Like you go through this and the odds are against business owners and small business owners, uh, in particular.

Right. So you’re already getting into an arena that is already expecting you to fail. So it’s almost as if you, um, you were just a statistic like, Oh yeah, he had his own business and he failed. The thing is, is that when you start your own business, there is. So much pressure. Um, and if you don’t have that, feel that pressure, if you don’t feel the, the, the, the need to succeed.

Um, I don’t know. I’ve never, I’ve never, I’ve never been in that position. I’ve, I’ve, I’ve had in my, um, in the early days. And I mean, even now, like we’re nowhere near where we like, where I want to be, right. Um, it’s taken a long time to get to where we’re at right now. And there’s building blocks and you know, I started the business when I was young.

I made a ton of errors, ton of mistakes, did a bunch, you know, um, You know, you can, there’s financial mistakes. There’s hiring mistakes. There’s, you know, building mistakes, right? Um, there’s just so many, but when you look at how many businesses fail and you look at then what it takes to, to run a successful business, there’s, it could be one degree off and that crazy.

It’s a one degree. Yeah. You know, and it’s just like, right. It’s like pudding. It’s literally, literally honest to God. Yeah. I mean, and during COVID and you go from 2009 to, you know, 2020, that was an 11 year run, right? Um, we, we did phenomenal it through COVID the first year of COVID it was rough. But we did well, um, we had to cut back a lot of our budgeting and a lot of our stuff that we needed to do, um, and, you know, we closed, uh, we closed the city of Chicago office down because the city was shut down.

Yeah, I was very lucky. Like you had to put the tornado shutters up. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You were still, you were still operating, but you, you had some defenses up. Yeah. I mean, we made. Because you had to protect the herd. Yeah. And I made some very early decisions in COVID from the very, very get go of what the plan was going to be and, and stuck to that plan immensely.

I mean, to the, to the T, um, you know, and I had help. I had, um, you know, you have your corporate attorneys and you have your financial people and everything else, but in, in all reality, it’s one degree. Yeah. It’s one degree off and you could be, you know, it’s the Y at the road, you know, and there’s so many times that I’ve looked back since 2009 and been like, how many more of those Ys, you know, they get further and further apart.

Right. But there’s always that Y that comes up that if you make the wrong turn or if you have too many 51 49s, right, 49 50 ones, right. That those, those wear on people and, and owning business and, and, And having a business is not what everyone thinks it is. It’s not, you’re not on a yacht. You’re not drinking champagne.

You’re not private jets. You’re not doing all that stuff. I mean, not in the very beginning. And certainly not in the middle. Because you’re working too much. Because you’re scaling. Yeah. And you’re scaling. Even when you’re successful, you’re putting it back in because you want more. Yeah. I mean, and that’s all they ever, that’s all people ever think is, oh, it must be nice.

There’s a. Well, in many cases, and CEOs and founders, you probably feel this. And by the way, if you’re an employee of a small to midsize business, I think this is important that you hear this too. Like. The, the advantage that I have, okay, is when I go home and put my head down on the pillow, I can put my head down on the pillow and I’m thinking about my wife and kids and dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.

When you go home and put your head on the pillow, you’re thinking about my wife and kids. Yeah. You’re thinking about. Forty five other people’s wife and kids, and so that’s a different pressure. Now, the best attribute I think you would admit to, and I think anyone who knows you well knows, is that you are, um, a, like, world class salesperson.

Do you think that that has been the key element to your success? Of having that confidence that no matter what, you can find a way to bring in the next partnership, to maintain, to establish relationships, maintain relationships. Like I think it’s important that we identify our weaknesses, but we also have to play hard into our strengths.

Yeah. Strength of mine is definitely sales. Um, I, I, I love the customer interaction. I love being out at the facilities and seeing, ’cause it’s another thing like. When you’re dealing with small and, you know, SME, right. Small and medium enterprise business, right. Like what you’re looking at is you’re looking at, typically you’re at companies that you’re like, wow, we could be like this.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. They’re above you, right. And like in a status level, like, you know, Like they’ve got more employees than you, or they’ve got a bigger facility than you or like, and you’re having those interactions with those business owners. And I’m talking to those business owners on a day to day basis, peer to peer level, peer to peer.

And I’m like, Hey, I would. And I’m, the thing about me is I I’m always, you know, Hey, I need some help. Can you, can you help me? You know, you’re doing really well. Can you give me a little of the secret sauce, you know, can you, by the way, the point of this podcast is to offer that secret sauce up to other people.

Yeah. So I mean, I’m always, um, asking and I’m always questioning and I’m always intrigued by everyone else’s success. And I think that, I think that, that plays as much of a part as being a good salesman as just the, the sheer, Um, knowledge that there’s other people in the world that have gone through what you’re going through.

And as like men, we’re supposed to be like this big macho type thing. And you know, I mean, it’s, you know, same as the next day, right? But I mean, I’m, I’m pretty quick to ask for help. I’m pretty quick to not know the answer. I’m pretty quick. Is that humility or curiosity? Well, it’s, I’m, I’m curious. Every day I’m curious.

I’m curious, you know, and then, um, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s hard. Then you’ve got the humility effect. Then you’ve got that, you know, wow, that’s going to go into a lot of stuff, huh? So. Wait till I ask you what makes you cry. Yeah. No, I mean, my thing is, is that you’re being a good salesperson is it being a good person.

Yeah. Is even better. And then being a person that wants to learn constantly is even better, right? Because, and then overall, the whole overall Argent thing is just being the best person that you possibly be. So, uh, and try to try to stack up those days to do that. I mean, you’re going to get knocked down.

You’re going to have problems. There’s there’s issues all along. Um, the road of owning your own business of, and then of, and then you’ve got a lot of personalities, then there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of things that come into play when you, you know, you know, we’re here in Hanover park and 30, 000 square foot building with, you know, soon to be 50, you know, you know, 40, between 40 and 50 people depends on who’s coming in.

Yeah. You know, that’s a lot. Yeah, that’s a lot of personalities and there’s a lot and like when you said when I go home at night, um, which is new, right? I have a son, four month old son, which is a totally different thing. Um, which to me. When I go home, I get home and I have a, a, a, a time frame, it’s 30 minutes to an hour, decompression, decompression, because we’re running on all cylinders, it’s a very high intense, uh, type of, um, gig.

And then you’re gonna start your second gig. Yeah, and then the second, yeah. Dad. Which is more important than the first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But my thing is, is that, um, you know, when I get home, there’s a lot of other things that I’m thinking about besides just my family, thinking about a lot of decisions that we’ve made throughout the day or throughout the week that, uh, impact, like you said, everybody at the company.

And those are the, those are the difficult. That’s the, those are the days that are difficult. You know, I’ve, I’ve said this numerous times. I know that you’ve referenced it a few times is that it’s 51 49, right? When you make a hundred decisions a day and you make 51 good ones. You sleep pretty good. Yeah.

You sleep. That’s a winning record. And my, and 51 percent is, you know, 51 good decisions. Baseball. You’re getting the wild card spot. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, and yeah, and then there’s only, that’s a, that’s a platform to build on. Right. It’s just to make better decisions. And then you get that, you know, you get to get that up when you first start business, you’re not making all the best decisions.

You’re losing a lot more than you’re winning. Um, because it’s a, it’s an investment. It’s, uh, and you know, you’re putting a lot of sweat equity into it. You’re not getting paid. You’re not, um, you’re not seeing the fruits of your labor. So, when you get home and you sleep well, typically the day went well.

When you, the times when you don’t sleep well are when you made 51 bad choices. Bad decisions and 49 good ones, right? So it’s like, that’s kind of how I explain it to, you know, young business owners or, you know, those are the things that really impact you. So it’s like, you’re at home with your family, but there’s decisions coming down the line that are coming at that Y in the road that are going to change the organization forever.

And you’ve got to sit Collaborate with your team, you know, cause it’s nothing of what I started the business, but this business would not be here unless it was for the people of the business. I mean, our organization, our culture here is, is amazing, right? But my thing is, is that when you have to make those tough choices and those decisions, those decisions weigh on you.

And when you collaborate with your inner group and your decision makers here at the company, you’re trying to make those best decisions for everybody that’s in the organization. IT decision makers, this might sting. Frustrated with IT issues, security threats, and the stress of your technology infrastructure.

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Yeah, actually six. Yeah But our clients are prominent clients. Yeah, like especially in the Chicagoland area. Yeah, like some prominent clients And, um, not only in, uh, the for profit, profit, but for non for profit as well, like big time purpose, giving back to society to like life changers. Yeah. Um,

we’re also competing with some prominent organizations. That have big names, have a lot of money, and they’re awesome. And great competition. Most of them are, you know, most of them They’re friends of yours. Yeah. And if not, if not Mentors. Yeah. If not, uh, definitely, um, uh, friends of mine. Definitely acquaintances.

Um, but this is such a close, this is such a tight knit community of, of entrepreneurs and of business owners, everything else. I mean, there’s one in particular that I would, you know, that I’ve watched for 20 years and it’s amazing. I mean, the guy is, That’s phenomenal. Yeah. It’s just, it’s, it’s. Kind of a branding expert.

Yeah. He’s amazing. And I’ve always, uh, I’ve, and, you know, it’s just recently that I’ve, I’ve, I’ve gotten a really good, uh, you know, uh, line of communication and, you know, and he’s, uh, yeah. He’s a wonderful guy and his company is amazing. It’s nationwide. He’s a local, uh, you know, out an hour, you know, 45 minutes away from us.

But you find those people in the, that want to give and want to educate and want to, you know, Um, give back and the guy is, it’s, the company’s amazing. The owner is amazing. Uh, he’s helped me. In fact, we have a, we have a meeting, uh, next couple of weeks. He’s, uh, that I’m going over to his place, seeing some of his new buildings.

Um, yeah, it’s amazing, but then there’s, you know, then there’s other companies and you don’t really hear about, um, are really like naysayers in the, or in the, in the, in the lot, you know, in the marketplace, they’ve got a bone to pick with, uh, uh, people. And you know, those are the ones that, you know, are kind of stagnant.

Those are the ones that don’t get over that next hump. They kind of stay, they kind of stay there. And then got some internal blockage, which causes external blockage. Yeah. It’s kind of like the universal. And that was kind of the point that I was, I was going to bring, um, up is that, you know, being a small to midsize company, to be able to interact with prominent organizations and service them and provide great results in a market that has.

Fantastic competition that is prominent. Yeah. It’s gotta be very gratifying for you. Why do you think some of these organizations, you know, could have chosen to go other places? Why did they choose TTSG? Why did they choose you in particular, and then TTSG? Because I think they bought you first. Yeah, there’s a lot.

Uh, people buy from people. Uh, I’m part of a big network. I’ve been here my whole life. Um, you know, I was born in Indiana. I was here at six years old. I’m like, my hometown is 20 minutes from here, 15 minutes from here. Um, but, and I have a graduate of friend high school. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Shout out to friend.

Um, but my thing is, is that, uh, Yeah. It’s about the network and it’s about the people and it’s about, um, what you put in is what you get out, right? If you’re, um, it’s about the network. If you have any, any bit of a network that you can work, um, for business, friends, family, um, other business owners, uh, It turns out in the, it’s a long play.

It’s not a short play. It’s a very long, long. That was kind of where I wanted you to go without getting guiding you because the world has become very impatient and very transactional and very, well, we’re going to throw a landing page up. There’s going to be four links. You click on that link and then we’ll have somebody do a bid and then you sign up and.

And by the way, once everything is fantastic and we’re going to get you to sign up and then we kind of disappear a little bit at year one, you know, it’s a five year agreement and we kind of disappear a little bit and you know, then the service kind of drops and, and then, but then, but then four and a half years into the agreement, we suddenly pop up again and want you to sign the agreement again, that has been the exact opposite of your mentality.

In building this organization. Is that because you believe so strongly in service? Is that because you’ve seen how this industry has kind of deteriorated a bit on service, or is it because you have relied so much on your network to sell? You you’re really entrenched with these human beings and want to make sure that they have the ultimate brand experience, or is it a combination of all this?

Just what are your thoughts? Yeah, I think it’s a combination of all of them, but when you look at, um, I get really. Tied in with our customers. Like I go to a lot of events, I’m a part of a lot. I give a lot back to those organizations. Um, so it’s almost, and, and it’s also on my name, right? So it’s, and their personal contacts of mine.

So, uh, yeah, service in the industry has gone down quite a bit. There’s a lot of manufacturers out there that, um, that the services is. Is less than par, right? Um, there’s a lot of clients out there that don’t know any better. They’ll buy the big box names. They’ll go from there. But when we go in from, from TTSG and, you know, we’re not, we’re not any different.

I mean, it’s just, you know, everyone’s got their own. Own way to sell and stuff like that, but it’s really our service. Our service is really second to none. Um, we’ve got, uh, some unbelievable people. They’re fantastic. They really live, uh, and breathe the company. Um, and like I said, it’s just, it’s the culture of what you’ve built.

To know that if it’s important to me, it’s going to be important to them. And if it’s important to me, it’s important to them. Do you know what I’m saying? So it’s like, so it’s, you know, they know, um, and, and the tenure here is, you know, we’ve got guys here for 13, 14 years. I mean, the service department is pretty much has grown up here.

Yeah. They’re 10, they’re, they’re average tenure at the service department’s over 10 years. Um, so I mean, there’s, There’s a lot to be said about that. Um, to answer your question and in the, in the broad long question, it was a long question, but it’s a good question because, um, you’ve got to have the service service, you got to lead with service, right?

And you got to do what’s right for the customer, um, constantly you got to do what’s right for the customer. But my thing is, is that, uh, the people here are what make the company. And they, they’re what drive, they’re the fuel and when you have racing fuel in your blood, right, and they know that we use references and we, you know, and we use the other client, uh, the other businesses to network into other ones at any given point.

Those companies can have a problem with TTSG can spread like wildfire. So they know that, um, we’ve, we’ve been, uh, lucky to have these people. Um, we’ve been lucky that they’re in the right position within the organization. And, um, it’s built on a network of mine, but now there’s so many other people and sales and, um, that it’s really.

It’s really, they’re building their own network now too. There’s a time in the place, right? You’re, you’re 2090 started as 2009, but 2013, 2014, 15. I knew every customer. I knew every customer. Yeah. Your name was on everything. Yeah. But I, I knew every customer. Yeah, it was every customer. It wasn’t like you had a call center of people pounding the phone, bringing in random, uh, cold calls that were turning into customers.

You were really working the referral base, which, which, by the way, is Is it is a magical way to build your, your sales, uh, and revenue stream, but it also is an accountability thing. Like you just alluded to, because like, if you’re building off of referral base, then if you, if you don’t provide the same service.

Get the phone calls at three o’clock in the morning. Yeah, like if your prominent client referred three of their friends because they trust you, they believe in you, and they like you, and then you don’t give the same to those three they referred, that looks bad on them. Yep. Yeah, yeah. So it’s actually works as an accountability measure.

Huge. And 80 percent of our sales right now are still referral based, based on partnerships and relationships saying, Hey, look, you did it for me. If I, if I love. People, the way I love people, since you did it for me and you’ve done it for me like this for 10 years, shame on me. If I don’t refer you to my friends to get the same benefits.

Yeah, no, it’s absolutely, that’s a hundred percent accurate. Um, but now my, my, the way that it’s evolved, this is crazy because they were my. From the very beginning, right there, there, there were people doing me favors, right? There’s anybody and everybody could sell copiers and printers and they can supply.

Okay. Service or, you know, to get them by a lower price, lower price or whatever, not really adding value to anything, but when you. When you start off with a network based referral, like all of the business was in 2009, 2010, 2011, then you open that network up and you’ve got other sales reps that are coming in and you’re introducing and that they’re making the contacts with my contacts that are then spreading this all out.

So you better have a culture you better have because they’re becoming an extension of your, they’re speaking on your behalf. Yeah, correct. That’s a lot. That’s a lot. It gets so scary. Was that Yeah, it gets, well, that’s the control part of the business. When you get to a point that you’re scaling your business and you’re feeling there’s a lot of times that early on I would go home and I’d be like, I feel out of control.

Like I got, it’s out of control cause I don’t, it’s not in this little box that I can, you know, put a bow on it and I don’t know like, who’s this customer or what are they buying or how much is this deal or, or where are they located? There’s a lot more going on. And now all of a sudden, right now where we’re at today and, you know, with the, with the, in the last year, there’s a, you know, there’s a lot more coming to fruition.

There’s, you know, it takes a while to build this up. And now all of a sudden we’re just starting coming through and it’s deal after deal after deal with the, with the people that we’ve trained and it’s, it’s explosive and it’s, it’s going, it’s going well, but I don’t know. I, at this point, I don’t know, maybe 25 customers a year.

Yeah. You know, I think it’s, I think we did the numbers. I think last year I knew about 24 customers because you know, that I, that I’ve, that I’ve got into, um, relationship with, and then they’ve, they’ve, they’ve been so kind to go with, uh, TTSG and then to be serviced by us as well. So, you know, there’s hundreds of deals.

It’s crazy. So it’s, so it also, it also is great timing within the maturation process to start to tell brand stories because now you can, now you can tell the marketplace, your brand story with pride, authentic, uh, authenticity, and, um, you can know That you are living up to the story that is being told.

The biggest challenge I see a lot of companies have is they have one persona online, like they’re telling a story on social media, and then you go into their organization for any extended period of time, and you’re like, wait a minute, that’s not What I saw in life, there’s two different things happening here.

And I think what’s really cool is the whole point of this podcast and just the content that we’re putting out is we’re just documenting what’s happening. Like this, you could tell by our tenor and our conversation right now, like there is no pad of paper here. We’re having a conversation. Yeah. Um, but w and we want you to understand who’s steering the ship and kind of the philosophy and how it was built.

Um, but this, you, you had alluded to the point that you give back. Um, and I’ve been very impressed with that in my time here. Um, I’ve been to two events, um, that are sponsored by TTSG GSD in 2020. Um, which means in most cases, um, you’re probably, uh, Affiliated with, part of, or in one case, the Kevin White Foundation, um, originated.

Um, so you’re doing a lot of giving back. What’s been amazing to me is interacting with other CEOs and executives that are in your peer group and, um, their relationship with money. I think I talked to you about this in the car the other day. Um, how does that happen? The relationship that people that are in the middle class, let’s say of the world and even upper middle class have a different relationship with money than the top 1%.

What I saw at these foundations was people donating five figures. Um, you know, the trip that they, that they’re getting in the auction is a 4, 000 package. And they’re paying 20 grand for it because they know that they’re, they’re giving back to something now you could say, well, yeah, well, they make so much money.

They think, well, there’s a lot of places they could put their money. Yeah. Right. Um, and you don’t get to the point of making that much money by not being smart with your money. So. What is the relationship with money that you’ve established and the top 1%, how do they look at money? It seems like you look more at money as an investment into people, the next thing, and that’s going to come back to you.

You is like this universal energy. It’s going to just keep coming back to you. So can you, can you give our, our listeners a little bit of an idea of kind of how you look at money, your relationship with money? Yeah. I mean, there’s a, there’s a, there’s definitely a lot of that going on. I mean, you’ve been, you’ve been with, uh, You’ve been with TTSG and GST in 2020 for now, three, four months.

And, uh, you’ve come in and during the summer, there’s a lot of golf events that we have, and there’s a lot of, yeah, yeah. There’s a lot of, uh, there’s a lot of chariot events. Um, and we’ve done quite a bit in the community to give back. I mean, there’s three, uh, You know 501c3 is that rely on us every three or four years where you know every year we’re giving but then there’s a bigger give and it makes um it’s good for the community the relationship with money that you have is that money comes and goes right you have good months you have bad months you’ve got to have.

Some reserve, you’ve got to have, uh, a plan, but the more you invest in other things rather than material things, right? I feel give, give back tenfold. So if you’re going to invest in somebody that’s going to come to the organization, you know, this firsthand and they’re asking for X amount of money, you know, give it to them because they’re happy.

And you want happy, healthy environment at work. So when you’re giving money and you’re, and you’re applying the principles of what, you know, of what the brand stands for, the culture that, uh, that jet fuel you’re talking about. Yeah. That’s going to pay you back. You never know when. Mm. You’re just play.

It’s odd. It’s just, it’s like the sports book. Like you, like there’s odds. This, this girl is doing really well. She’s come from another company. Let’s bring her in, let’s pay her what she wants. Let’s invest the money into the people, into the process, into the procedures, into software AI. Uh, automation, let’s do that.

There’s other individuals that don’t do that. They don’t invest back into, they take their money from their company. They take it, they, they store it to the side. They do their own stuff. Listen, I’ve taken money from the organization. I’ve given money back to our organization tenfold, right? It’s not about that.

It’s about getting, it’s about getting the company to where you want it to be. And it’s gonna, it’s risk. And isn’t it also getting 5, 6, 10, let’s say you have a 50 employee company, getting 5, 6, 10, 15 people to want to fight for the brand as hard as you do. They’ll never fight completely as hard because their name is not all that much more fight.

You know what I’m saying? But like to, to love the brand, to want the brand to succeed. Yeah. There’s always that. I have a passion. I It’s an, or it’s like a baby, like, Oh, this is my company’s my baby and everything else. And I never understood that until I have a four month old now. Right. So when you look at it and it makes a lot more sense now, right.

Um, it is, it’s your, it’s your baby, but at point your baby. Learns how to crawl, learns how to walk, learns how to talk, throws the ball, goes into school and next thing you know, they’re off to college and then they’ve started their own life. So we’re at the point where this is 15 years, right? We’re going on 15 years.

It’s a 15 year old. Right. There’s going to be things that are going on. We might come home at 2 a. m. when our curfew’s 10 a. m. I mean, there’s things it’s like, it’s like a person you’ve got to look at. Like, there’s a lot of things going on right now. And in TTSG and GSD in 2020, there’s a lot. Yeah. There’s a lot of pubescent age.

Our voice is changing. Yeah. Like we’re becoming men and women and the people that have been here are feeling that and you know, we’re doing build outs and the, and the office is changing and we’ve got stuff going on in the back and you know, there’s, we’re, you know, we’ve got a podcast now, right? So, and we, we’ve got nine more people that, you know, we’re a small business, right?

Some of their competitors are very large competitors, right? They started with it. So this resonates with everyone that has a business. It resonates with my competitor resonates with my colleagues, my friends that own businesses. This is where we’re at. It’s a cool place to be. But I don’t think we’re going to be here for very long.

Yeah. Like we’re moving up the, the, the ladder and there’s more people that are, that are coming in. There’s more people that are coming through the door, right? Can your business handle 15 percent growth? If yes. You have to engage with 2020 design. They fuse data and creativity to stop the scroll, break through the noise and grab the attention of your future customers.

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