Ep. 25 The Stern Truth: Business Strategy with Kendra Vyse

On this episode of the Stern Truth, we have Kendra Vyse, founder of Clear Direction Advisors. Kendra takes us through her journey of starting as an accounting practice that eventually turned into a business strategy and consulting firm. 

Accounting itself can be taxing (pun intended), but Kendra tells us how she found a way to take her knowledge and put it towards a new passion. She and I talk about the expectations we need to set when you run your own business, with both clients and vendors. When you’re a small business owner, accountability is everything.

Kendra gives wise advice about what to do if someone doesn’t understand their financials. We get into the importance of cashflow as well as the obligations we have if we choose to hire employees. 

She also highlights the importance of boundaries in her professional life. For her, the end of the day is the end of the day, no matter what. 

I’ve coached Kendra and seen her through some of the changes that defined her business. It’s so rewarding to me to see her thriving and helping people in a way that energizes her the most.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. 

Get in touch with Kendra here:

https://www.cleardirectionadvisors.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendravyse/

experts@cleardirectionadvisors.com

I’m excited to bring back the ONtrepreneur Bonfire Series. It’s a ZERO cost series starting in August running for 4 weeks. Email me to get your spot before they’re gone - Marshall@marshallstern.net.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: All right, everyone. Before we get into today's episode, just a quick reminder. The ONtrepreneur Bonfire series is starting soon. August 6th is our kickoff session. It will run for three weeks. There is absolutely zero cost to this except for your time. For one hour per week. Send me a. Email if you are interested to get on the list, get the link for our first session again for August 6th.

[00:00:24] Send me an email to Marshall@marshallstern.net. Details again in the show notes. Now grab a pad of paper and pen and enjoy this episode.

[00:00:39] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows. 

[00:00:58] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:22] This is the Stern Truth.

[00:01:26] Alright, welcome back to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And I am just so excited today because I have an I. What are you laughing at, Kendra? What are you laughing at? You're laughing. 

[00:01:37] Kendra Vyse: I'm excited too. I've been watching my calendar for this.

[00:01:39] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. I thought you were laughing at me. Does something in my teeth? 

[00:01:43] Kendra Vyse: No. 

[00:01:43] Marshall Stern: No. Okay, good. That's the Stern Truth, but Kendra, well, there you go. There's your introduction. Kendra Vyse of Clear Direction Advisors. How are you? 

[00:01:54] Kendra Vyse: I'm pretty good. How are you? 

[00:01:55] Marshall Stern: I am doing well, thank you. I'm doing well. 

[00:01:58] Kendra Vyse: I've been, I've been listening.

[00:02:00] I've listened to every episode and so I'm excited to be here. 

[00:02:03] Marshall Stern: I'm excited to have you here because we've known each other a few. We still have never met each other in person, although we are both Winnipeggers originally. Go Jets, go Farmers, all that. 

[00:02:13] Kendra Vyse: Yep. 

[00:02:14] Marshall Stern: Goldeyes.

[00:02:15] Kendra Vyse: Opposite 

[00:02:15] Marshall Stern: Opposite oceans, pretty much.

[00:02:19] Kendra Vyse: Yep. 

[00:02:20] Marshall Stern: Well, it is opposite oceans. Not pretty much. It is. There's only two oceans around here and, 

[00:02:28] Kendra Vyse: Well, there's three. If you count the Arctic. 

[00:02:31] Marshall Stern: Okay. That's okay. That's true. I'm sorry. Arctic people. If we have any listeners up there in Arctic land. One day. One day. One day. I think we're currently in three or four countries, so we'll see if we can go up there.

[00:02:46] Boost that. That'd be good. Tell me how did you, I want to hear all the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the ugly, but tell me a little bit about you and your business first. 

[00:02:57] Kendra Vyse: So my business has been around since 2013. It's actually gone through a couple of different changes, and I mean, you've been my coach through some of those changes. Started as an accounting practice and is now a business strategy and consulting firm. So instead of doing everybody's day-to-day accounting and their taxes, I now help them take the big picture view of their business and help them put their strategies in place for scaling and growth and being able to do it profitably and having the right systems and team in place.

[00:03:31] So it's much more fun than the day-to-day accounting. 

[00:03:35] Marshall Stern: Yes. Because day-to-day accounting can be very taxing, especially this time of year. 

[00:03:39] Kendra Vyse: Absolutely. Very, very taxing and very, yeah. When you've been doing it for close to 30 years, it, it starts to take a toll and you want to change and do something different, right.

[00:03:50] So, it's much more fun to take a look at the business and help people actually get their strategic plan in place. And help them look at their business instead of in the different silos of accounting and marketing and HR and operations, and go, no, let's pull them all together. They all are connected in helping people. 

[00:04:13] Marshall Stern: So, it's interesting. So you're actually, and I really didn't think about this in depth, I wanted you on this. Like, when I decided to do this, I thought, okay, I got to get you on because I know you have a lot of wisdom and experience, but you're a perfect guest for the Stern Truth because you are not just from your own experiences.

[00:04:35] And I know some of them, you know, working with you. But also when you're helping your clients, I mean, you see what people are doing right. And what people are not doing so, right. Maybe share some of those, like what you see, some of the challenges that people are going through and, and maybe some of the shifts that we need to make, 

[00:04:56] Kendra Vyse: So two big, well, three actually. One of the big ones really is that people don't understand how their numbers work in their business, right? So they don't understand how to read the different financial statements. They don't know what their financial statements are telling them. And they are convinced that their financial statements are for like the government and for the person preparing their tax returns and don't realize the fact that they're actually for themselves.

[00:05:27] Right. Those internal statements that you're getting out of your accounting system, they have to be set up for you, the business owner, so that you can actually make decisions in a timely manner. And that's the other reason why you need to have them done on a regular basis. But it's something that I've helped quite a few clients going, no, no, no.

[00:05:48] Like make them for you. Those statements are for you. So if you want to see things broken out in a different way, right? I've had them, they're like, oh my goodness, that's so amazing. Now I can see this and I've broken this. So now I know where those costs are coming from. I know where that revenue's coming from.

[00:06:05] Right. And that's something that people, I think, make a big mistake where they go, my financial statements aren't for me, but they really are. Right? Another mistake that I see a lot of people making is that they don't understand when it comes to their teams. Right. And that whether their teams are employees or contractors or freelancers or however that team is made up of, they look at them as just a cost, right?

[00:06:34] But they also don't necessarily understand how, if somebody who's working directly with a client, how the costs are related to the revenue that's coming in. Because I've been working with actually quite a few clients lately on that. This is what it's costing us, particularly for employees in this case, onboarding and training.

[00:06:54] And then how is that working in terms of what they're bringing into the business? Because they're client facing team members, so they're working directly with clients, but they tend to forget, regardless of what the team member is, there's a cost to it. But what does that free you up as the business owner to allow you to do?

[00:07:13] So if you don't like doing bookkeeping, if you don't like doing marketing, or you need more team members to work directly with clients, does that mean that you can now step back and have, and you're gonna like this one, have the energy to focus on something else that you like, but also something that you are good at?

[00:07:32] What is your specialty? Where your zone of genius is? Right? And going out and getting more clients, which are going to then help you with your team in order to pay your team and grow your team and grow your business. Right? So some people kind of look at that and they go, oh, well this is just a cost.

[00:07:52] Marshall Stern: Right. 

[00:07:52] Kendra Vyse: No, it can be so much more if let somebody else go do something you don't enjoy and you can, you can further your business and make it better. 

[00:08:01] Marshall Stern: Well, and I know just from us working together, both one-to-one, and also you've been in our, various different group programs Create, Momentum, and the private and the private coaching.

[00:08:13] So, you know, the Energy Audit, which is now the business Energy Reset, basically the same thing, right? We need to focus on the activities and not just the activities, the clients too. The people, that energize us and not drain us. We have to move away from as many of the drains, and one of them, for a lot of people, when I work with my clients, one of the ones that always comes up is the numbers.

[00:08:40] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. People, they're scared of them, but they're nothing to be scared of. They give you so much information. 

[00:08:47] Marshall Stern: But they need someone like you not now. Right. Okay. There's bookkeepers, there's accountants. 

[00:08:54] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. 

[00:08:55] Marshall Stern: Business strategists. 

[00:08:56] Kendra Vyse: Yes. 

[00:08:57] Marshall Stern: Bookkeepers bookkeeper. Now there's some really good bookkeepers and you've been really good with some of, with clients you've had done in the past, whether it's been bookkeeping or accounting.

[00:09:05] But most bookkeepers from my experience, enter the numbers. They make sure you're in Canada here. Like, well, even the States, like your taxes are paid, the government gets their portion payroll, everything is clean counts, year end returns. Boom. 

[00:09:21] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. But they're not always good about making sure that it's giving the right information, right, that the owner can actually do something with. 

[00:09:32] Marshall Stern: Right? Or you, you pay for it, you pay extra. You have to ask for it. Most accounting firms don't like, you have to ask, help me understand my numbers, and then you're paying like a law firm. Trust me, I've had that experience. When I sold my business, I got a significant bill from my accounting firm. I had no idea.

[00:09:50] It's like every email, every phone message, everything, and it's like, okay, I'm not going to be working with you again. I did not know this. 

[00:09:59] Kendra Vyse: Yeah, that's, I'm a big proponent of, because I have, I do work with accountants and, and bookkeepers in that too, as a strategist. And I'm a big proponent of not doing the hourly stuff for the most part.

[00:10:13] Right. It’s having a set rate and going, but that's where you have your own systems in place. So that you know, and you can say, but here's a flat rate for it. This is what's out of scope. That there'll be a little bit more, and it doesn't matter what you provide as a service, but it's, yeah, here's a flat rate.

[00:10:30] You know, as a business owner, what you're going to be getting and your client knows what their bill is going to be. At the end, instead of going, oh, you mean that when we talk for 10 minutes? Now you charge me like 15 minutes. Right. Like. 

[00:10:43] Marshall Stern: Well, but its, but it's all about the expectations, right? And this goes above and beyond what we're talking, like just the accountant.

[00:10:49] Or doesn't really matter. It could be no digital marketer, like a coach. Like if I, all of a sudden, if you, if we were still working together and you called me up and you say, I need to, you know, five minute, 10 minute call, and all of a sudden you get a bill from me or an invoice from me. It's like, unless that's communicated, and this is where a lot of businesses, drop the ball. They're not communicating and setting the expectations upfront. 

[00:11:16] If those are the charges that are going to be billable, you need to let them kno. If it's part of your package, like an all-inclusive or retainer, or whatever you want to call it, that needs to be communicated. Right.

[00:11:28] Kendra Vyse: And then that also flows into the pricing and the systems for that too, right?

[00:11:33] Or if that's what, if you're providing that, you need to be very clear and have the contract set up, but you also have to have the systems set up so that you know what's going on. And of course, at the beginning, that will be in flux, right? You'll make some mistakes and all that stuff. But as you go through business, all of that should be set up.

[00:11:54] And be systematized in the workflows and everything and know that. And build all of that into your pricing. Because otherwise, yeah, you get, people get these surprise bills or you start to look at stuff and go, oh wow, that client now costs me a ton of money that I wasn't expecting. Because you know, and it could be even you or your staff or anything going, they're not respecting the boundaries and what's out of scope of a contract.

[00:12:20] Because there's that side of it too. Expectations on both sides have to be done. 

[00:12:26] Marshall Stern: A hundred percent. No. A hundred percent. So before we get into specifically your, I want to hear your Stern Truth, like your challenges, your ups and downs, but before we get into that, like your journey –  what if there one, you know, our listeners are out there and they might have a bookkeeper, they might be doing themselves, they probably have an account.

[00:12:49] Someone doing their year end returns, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. But they're not really sure. They don't understand their numbers. What should they do? 

[00:13:01] Kendra Vyse: They need to, and it could be someone like me, could be their accountant, could like the tax preparer, could be the bookkeeper, could be going out and learning.

[00:13:10] Because there are some good courses out there. You really need to. Understand your profit and loss or income statement. Depending on what you want to call it, you need to also understand your balance sheet. Right. And something that a lot of people don't actually prepare, but they should be as cashflow.

[00:13:29] So you need to actually do that. And you need to understand on each line of the statements what something actually is and what's in there. Right. And then. Make sure that when you're looking at those statements, it's actually giving you the information that you need, right? So you should be able to look at, say for example, your P&L, your profit loss, and go, yes, I know that these are the wages of my teams.

[00:13:54] Here's the costs of things that are, you know, the direct costs of producing whatever it is that you're producing. And here's like my advertising and you know, my internet, my rent, my telephone, my promotional type stuff. But not just what the numbers are, but also take a look at some of the percentages of things, because those percentages, especially as you're growing, you need to take a look at that because if the percentages are changing, that can be a bigger problem, right?

[00:14:26] Like yeah. Yeah. I've got a client of mine that they happen to be a franchise because they've been with me since I started my business and we do a lot of that analysis stuff. And one of the things that we hone in on very quickly every month is when their COGS goes out of whack. Right? Their cost of goods sold, because that is a big piece of it.

[00:14:46] And we keep an eye on their payroll. Because those are their two biggest expenses. Yeah, so it's the percentages. They're growing, right? Like they're having more revenue and all that. But as the revenue's going up, we're making sure that those percentages are staying the same, because looking at the numbers, you might go, oh, the numbers are fine.

[00:15:06] You dig in, wait a sec. Our cost of goods sold just jumped up like 5%. Our wages just jumped up 10%. Something's going on here. We need to take a look at that. So it's not just the hard numbers themselves. It's that analysis piece, right? 

[00:15:22] And sometimes that's what you need is you need somebody to come in who's going to help set you up with those reports and, and teach you what to look for in terms of what's going to be important for your business, because there's standard stuff, but each business is a little unique.

[00:15:38] Marshall Stern: And we've talked about this many times, and cashflow is huge, right? I always say, you can't – one of the biggest mistakes I see – I always say the biggest mistakes. There's so many mistakes people make, but I think one of the most critical, I should say, not biggest, I'm changing my tune here.

[00:15:57] One of the most critical mistakes business owners can make big, small, medium, doesn't matter, is judging their business success at any given moment with their bank balance. 

[00:16:08] Kendra Vyse: Oh, that's the worst thing you can do. 

[00:16:10] Marshall Stern: Because I've done it. Trust me, I've done it. It's like, oh, I got so much. Whatever example I got.

[00:16:16] $10,000 in the bank account. That's great. Things are going really well. What I'm not looking at is, oh, I have payroll in three days. I've got in Canada, you know, G-S-T, P-S-T, remittances.

[00:16:29] Kendra Vyse: Every payroll, 

[00:16:30] Marshall Stern: Payroll expenses, payroll remittance, like…

[00:16:33] Kendra Vyse: Well, every country, every country has sales taxes. 

[00:16:35] Marshall Stern: Every country, sales tax. 

[00:16:37] Kendra Vyse: And the other side of that too is I've had people, when we talk about, especially employees, they look at it and they go, oh, well let's just, you know, 25 bucks an hour. That's my cost for my employees. They don't realize that there's that plus the payroll expenses. And there's a side of that that is, the balance sheet stuff, which isn't an expense.

[00:17:00] So if you just look at your P&L, your cash flow is going to go off whack because there's stuff that's not showing on the P&L, that you still have to send to the government and. Both me and my dad, because my dad had, and you know this, but your listeners don't. My dad had an accounting practice himself.

[00:17:18] That's kind of how I got into accounting. Both of us, his clients and my clients have seen people that don't monitor their cash flow and they kill their business. And a lot of it comes down to those obligations to the government and obligations to suppliers and employees that - 

[00:17:40] Marshall Stern: Oh yeah, the suppliers.

[00:17:41] That thing too. Yes. Oh yeah. I forget. You pay owe these payables, money payables. I owe these people money. And I've told you the story before, one of the chambers of commerce I went to years and years ago, it was a seminar and it was all about cash flow. The secret behind improving your cash flow.

[00:18:03] I think that's what it was called. And the room was filled. Probably good. 50 small business owners. And we were all excited. We all had our pad of paper ready to take all these notes, and it was one of the big banks, and they were promoting their Visa card. Just charge on your Visa. 

[00:18:22] Buy yourself another month. Put a Band-Aid on it. Don't worry about it for another month. 

[00:18:27] Kendra Vyse: Oh, there's so much more that you can do. Right. It it's the terms to your customers. And enticing them to pay faster. And it's the terms from your suppliers and like, there's so many different things that you can do to improve cash flow.

[00:18:43] Versus just, yeah, throw it on a Visa or a line of credit or something like that that extends your pay your payment dates for 30 days. 

[00:18:51] Marshall Stern: But Kendra, you get like some travel rewards back some points back and it's great because you don't have to pay for another 30 days and you get some travel points. 

[00:19:00] Kendra Vyse: But which you, depending on what it is, you still have to claim it in your business.

[00:19:03] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Okay, so let's switch gears. Let's go from the technical stuff of what you do to. Your Stern Truth. The good, the bad, the not so the bad and the ugly. The ugly, yes. Like seriously, like tell me like, because I always say like, this thing is not easy. It's not easy running a business. 

[00:19:23] Kendra Vyse: No, it's not.

[00:19:24] And I mean, I, one of my goods is the fact that I'm a second generation accountant. Both, you know, of being an accountant and having practices, but I'm a third generation entrepreneur, so I literally grew up with conversation around business from, well, probably when I was in the womb, because my gramps was self-employed as a carpenter.

[00:19:48] Marshall Stern: Well, you called, you called him Gramps too? 

[00:19:50] Kendra Vyse: Yes. 

[00:19:51] Marshall Stern: Oh, I don't know anyone else who's called their grandfather “Gramps”. I had a Gramps too. 

[00:19:56] Kendra Vyse: All the time. Gramps. Granny and Gramps. 

[00:19:58] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Okay. Nice.

[00:19:59] Kendra Vyse: Yeah.

[00:20:01] Marshall Stern: It was a Winnipeg thing. 

[00:20:02] Kendra Vyse: Maybe, I don't know, but yeah, no, I called Gramps, it was Gramps all the time.

[00:20:06] Okay. But yeah, he was a self-employed carpenter, so I grew up with him like working out of my grandparents' like garage. Right. So there was that, and there was always conversations around that. My dad started his accounting practice and technically at 81, he's still partly employed because he still works with people.

[00:20:25] I saw my mom start a craft business and decide that it got too big and the pension won out over a business, so that combined, that's a good thing for me. Because I, things that I helped my clients with, I sought my whole life. And then I just increased my knowledge when I went and got my CMA designation.

[00:20:46] Right. So that's, that's something that I help. I don’t know. It's all common sense to me, but it's not for everybody else. Yeah. 

[00:20:52] Marshall Stern: But a lot of people are not like you. No, they didn't, they didn't have that. Right. I just had a session earlier today with someone and no one, and a lot of times, they were never around entrepreneurs.

[00:21:02] They were never around people. I'm like you, I grew up my mom, my father, my grandfather, my Gramps, you know, had businesses and their grandparents, their parents did. A lot of people don't have that. 

[00:21:14] Kendra Vyse: No, and it's, so I try and impact that and it helps me, even though I've been around it my whole life, it still helps me because I can relate to my clients and help them, and they like the fact that it's a generational thing with me, right?

[00:21:31] That I have that and the background and stuff. But no, it's absolutely not easy. But that  -  because I saw it firsthand growing up where I saw, well, three of my family members with the ups and downs, right, with the how much work you had to put in the fact that it wasn't a nine to five job, that you had to sit there and go, okay, well do I do the business stuff right now or do I go take three days off?

[00:22:00] Right? And putting things in place. Because I saw my dad for years being just himself, and then he ended up going and buying an insurance practice. And then had people in the business that could help him with the accounting side of things, but allowed him to actually be able to take time off. Right. So, but I saw all of that.

[00:22:22] So when I jumped into business, I knew that that was going to be the case. I knew there were going to be ups, I knew there were going to be downs. And I mean, I've gone through it. It's, there's been times when, you know, I've looked at my cashflow and gone, ooh, okay, that's a little tight this month. Right? What are we going to do with it?

[00:22:41] But I just, I've always had that plan and I tweak the plan as things happen, right? So it's, even when I did the whole change from accounting to strategy, there's a plan there, and I know the plan isn't going to go 100% the way it's going to be. I've lost clients for various reasons. I've fired clients for various reasons.

[00:23:06] And it's just a fact of doing business. Right. But as you grow, you learn the people you want to work with. 

[00:23:14] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:23:15] Kendra Vyse: And then you refine that, and then you're going to get more and more of the people that you want to work with. And those are the people who you aren't going to have a problem with them paying you. You're not going to have a problem with getting any kind of information from them or them booking calls with you or all of that sort of stuff.

[00:23:32] But it takes time. And you have to constantly learn. 

[00:23:36] Marshall Stern: No, a hundred percent. Enough with the whole Kendra Vyse, Business Strategist. I want to talk about, I want to get to know, in a remaining time here, Kendra Vyse, the business owner. What I want to know from you is how do you do it every day?

[00:23:55] How do you juggle personal life with business? How do you juggle with those moments when you lose a client? And what that inside that little Kendra is telling you. 

[00:24:10] Kendra Vyse: Well, first of all, boundaries are a big thing. It took me a long time when I started my business to set the proper boundaries, right?

[00:24:21] So now it's when my day is over, my day is over, it is time for me to spend time with Steve, right? Or when my parents and friends have come to visit me, since they're still back in Winterpeg and I get to laugh at them in the minus forties as we're sitting at minus 10, I can take the time off to spend the time with them.

[00:24:42] So I have set up boundaries, but it took me a very long time to do that. I remember working 16 hours straight, having to drive my kid to school. Come home and crash for two hours and get up and, and do it again because I didn't set appropriate boundaries, right? So, very much struggled with that at the beginning of my business in terms of losing clients, whether it's because I've fired them or they've said, nope, need to, you know, we're done.

[00:25:14] I take it as a learning experience. What is it that I could have done better? Because inevitably there's something I could have done a little bit better. Right? And in some cases, there's a lot of stuff I could have done better, especially at the beginning, right? And especially during the transition. But at the other hand, I take a look at it and go, no, there's really nothing else that I could have done much differently, especially now that I've set up all my systems and stuff.

[00:25:41] But. I just look at it and go, okay, is this them or is it me? Right? And so I take it as a learning experience. And if there was something that I could have done better, I do it better with the rest, with like, the rest of my clients. And for new clients that I'm signing, I mean, there's always a little bit of a panic, I'm not going to lie, right?

[00:26:01] When somebody sits there and goes, well, no, you know, the contract's done and they don't renew, or we're pausing the contract or whatever. There's always a little bit of panic. Then you sit there and you go, oh. But I just sit there and go, you know what, no. Something better is coming along the way because it always has, even if it takes a couple of months, something better comes along the way.

[00:26:23] So, and sometimes even when, when I have lost clients, that little moment of panic, it allows me now to take a step back and do things to allow me to find better clients. To fill the space, right? Allows me to, yeah, look at my business and make my business better, which is just. Going to help me help more people.

[00:26:42] The other thing that keeps me going when I have had, you know, things like that, is really that light bulb moment that I have with people when I'm talking to people about stuff and they go, yeah, that makes sense, right? Like I just, this week somebody that I was speaking with, we were getting to know each other and, not so much a client at the moment.

[00:27:07] Get to know you, expand the networking type stuff. And we were talking and you know, talked about her messaging about what it was that she was doing. And I said, no, no, no, you just change this. Right? Call yourself the spreadsheet guru. Because that's what you do is you do spreadsheets for people in multiple different facets, all these different things.

[00:27:28] And she messaged me on Wednesday and said, Kendra. They're coming to me. I've called myself the spreadsheet guru, and I have had more people coming to me now than I've had like the two months before from one little tweet. 

[00:27:43] Marshall Stern: Isn't that awesome? Isn't it's like - 

[00:27:45] Kendra Vyse: That's what keeps me going. 

[00:27:47] Marshall Stern: That's it. Yeah.

[00:27:48] Kendra Vyse: It’s any of those light bulb moments where people go, you've made my business and my life better now because of this? 

[00:27:56] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. That's what it's all about. I mean. Especially for us, like in the, in the business to business, the service industry, right. I always say, you know, if it, because, you know, I post a lot on social media, share a lot of tips and value, that kind of stuff.

[00:28:13] And you know, some people see it and some people don't, and I don't know, sometimes it feels like crickets or I don't, you know, people like, you know, might like it, but it's like, are you just scrolling and like, like, like, you know, like Instagram, like, like, like, like, and it's like, do you know what you're actually liking?

[00:28:28] But then there's the odd one person who will say, and I know you get at tune, they'll just say, thanks. I needed that today. And it's like, okay, I've done my job. I can, I can now go to sleep. 

[00:28:40] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. 

[00:28:40] Marshall Stern: Right. And that's my every day my, that's my why. Like every day. My goal is to make someone's day in one way or another.

[00:28:48] And maybe it's through this podcast, maybe it's through a post, maybe it's through a coaching session or a Business Therapy Session, which I call some of my sessions. But when we can do that for our clients like you do, that's what helps us get through those tougher times. 

[00:29:04] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. Oh, that and that's, I mean, that's why I'm still, I'm still in business.

[00:29:08] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:29:08] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. There were times when I could have sat there and given it up. I had people who said, oh, well hire you full time. 

[00:29:15] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:29:15] Kendra Vyse: I went, no, I don't want to, because I won't be able to get that to the same extent. 

[00:29:19] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Okay. So as we wrap it up, I would like to know from you what two things. 

[00:29:24] The first one is, what do you think separates those who are on the path and rocking and rolling, whether they've achieved it or on the path to achieving their goals, their dreams, their vision, all that kind of stuff. And from those who are really struggling, it's a big question. So I'm kind of putting you on the spot here.

[00:29:46] Kendra Vyse: That's all right. The people who are on the path, because let's be honest, your goals, your vision. They all change, right? There might be the, it might stay the same at the core, but you're always going to have a new goal. You're always right. Your vision might tweak a little bit. They go and ask for help. They, whether it's from their community, whether they've hired a coach, a strategist, a consultant, whatever it is, they have help.

[00:30:15] They're not trying to do it alone because you cannot do it alone. I mean, I actually just got off a call before this where helping somebody craft their messaging again for their offers, and we've been working on it and they went, why can't I do this? They're like, that was so simple. They're too close to their own business.

[00:30:36] That's why I went and worked with a rebranding specialist on my branding because I'm too close to my own business. So everybody who's going to reach their goals and bring their vision to life and do all they have help. It's if you try and do it alone, you can't do it. But they also have a plan. 

[00:30:55] Marshall Stern: But, oh yes, but you actually said something really, really important that I want to kind of extrapolate for a second, because I always say that as well.

[00:31:03] You can't do it alone. Build a team, right? Focus on, go through my Business Energy Reset audit. Bring people on your team who can do the things that drain you and that you're not really in your sweet spot. Right? And you can focus on business revenue generating, blah, blah, blah stuff that also energizes you.

[00:31:22] But you said the part about we're too close. And that's the key that people don't understand because all you've heard this many times. I've heard it many times. I want, okay, I'm going to start this is a new, this – I feel like I'm like on a late night talk show. We're playing a new game today.

[00:31:44] Okay. This is, we're going to have this new segment into our episode. I'm going to start a line. I want you, Kendra, to finish it. 

[00:31:50] Kendra Vyse: Okay. 

[00:31:50] Marshall Stern: Kendra, I will hire you when... 

[00:31:55] Kendra Vyse: I have the money. 

[00:31:56] Marshall Stern: Ah. 

[00:31:59] Kendra Vyse: Unfortunately, if you await for that time, you may never have the money, but you will move forward faster by spending the money strategically.

[00:32:10] Marshall Stern: Yep. 150%. People think they could do it. A lot of people think they understand that they really cannot do it alone, but they think, I don't think they're thinking about it. The fact that they're too close? 

[00:32:27] Marshall Stern: Because they see it themselves a certain way. They don't see.

[00:32:32] Right. It's like when you're in the mazes, that analogy, you're in the, if you ever go to like one of those corn mazes, corn husk, or you know, whatever, you know what I'm trying to say? 

[00:32:43] Kendra Vyse: Sunflower maze down the road

[00:32:44] Marshall Stern: Sunflower maze down the road, right? And you're in the maze. You cannot, it's hard to find the way out, the path forward.

[00:32:49] You're going this way, going that way. But if you were above the maze, looking down on the maze like we are, whether you're a coach, mentor, strategist, marketing strategist, business strategist, doesn't really matter. You're just looking from it from a more of a 360 degree or a 30,000 foot view. Looking down.

[00:33:06] Yeah. You could see, oh, just go there, there, there, there, there. Because they see it. You don't, you're too close to it. And if people don't take anything else from the session, I think that is it. You are probably, if you're not where you are, it's probably because you're too close to it and doing it yourself.

[00:33:25] Kendra Vyse: Yeah, we all need help in our business, all of us. 

[00:33:28] Marshall Stern: Whether we're heading into a recession officially or not, finally, because it's been at the economy for a while. You know, whether it's, you know, the fearless leader down south or our fearless leader up north that going to drive us into, or both drive us into this recession – one of the first areas people are going to cut, a lot of companies are going to cut is marketing. Right? First. But marketing – 

[00:33:54] And I know you're not a marketing strategist, but you do cover all that. You're a business strategist, but marketing, and you work with marketers, marketing is the one area where most businesses should be putting more emphasis on. 

[00:34:09] Kendra Vyse: With the right- 

[00:34:11] Marshall Stern: Strategically, yes. 

[00:34:11] Kendra Vyse: Yeah, strategically with the right strategic messaging the right people and the right channels.

[00:34:16] But absolutely, if you drop your marketing, people aren't going to be able to find you. Right.  

[00:34:23] Marshall Stern: And if you have a referral based business, awesome. I bow to your shoes or whatever and that's great. But I'm telling you right now, it's going to end one day. Yeah. So quick, quick story.

[00:34:36] I know this is your, you’re my guest, but quick story. When I started the sign business, I might have told you this story when I started the sign business in 1994, I'm not going to mention names, whatever, to protect the innocent. So it was part of a franchise when I first started and one of the other franchises, which was the golden child of the franchise for Canada.

[00:34:54] And if he's listening to this, I'm not going to mention your name, I'm sorry, I'm throwing you under the bus, but you know who you are. I said to him once my first year in, I said like, you're doing amazing sales. I don't like, what do you do? Like, do you have this incredible marketing program? Like what do you, and this is back in 94, Yellow Pages was it.

[00:35:13] Like you didn't have online stuff, right? And he says, no, we don't do any marketing. We do the Yellow Pages thing. Because we have to, because it's part of the franchise deal. Because I was, I shared it with them because they were in this, it was geographical, whatever. It's all referrals, it's all repeat customers and referrals.

[00:35:29] I said, you don't do any marketing. He goes, well, nothing. I said, you don't do any business development like trade shows, lead generation, meet networking group. Nothing. He goes, nothing. It's all referral, whatever. And I said, okay. And I walked away and I said to my wife at the time, I said, I know I'm new in this business, but I'm not new in business.

[00:35:50] It's going to dry up. And it started to dry up and then he ended up selling it okay to someone else. And the sales even went further down. And then I ended up buying it from them at a highly discounted price. Right. But they had this huge network of clients and everything, and if they had just kept the foot on the pedal. 

[00:36:16] Kendra Vyse: And it's even marketing to your own, like to existing clients and past clients.

[00:36:20] Right. It's not sitting there and just sort of going, yep, we're just going to wait for them to come to us. 

[00:36:27] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:36:28] Kendra Vyse: And ways it happens is in some cases the same, some cases different than what it was years ago. Like the way my dad marketed his business is different than the way that I market my business, but both service-based businesses, right.

[00:36:44] And even the way I started marketing my business versus how I do it now, has changed. But you always have to be doing something. 

[00:36:53] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Never stop. Yeah. Never, 

[00:36:55] Kendra Vyse: Never, ever stop. 

[00:36:56] Marshall Stern: Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Never stop being out there because once we stop, it's will stop. It will, things will slowly stop.

[00:37:09] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. 

[00:37:10] Marshall Stern: Okay. Thank you Kendra. 

[00:37:12] Kendra Vyse: Well thank you for having me. 

[00:37:14] Marshall Stern: Well, thank you for being here, and thank you for letting me have you. So what we're going to do, I'm going to put your information - people want to get in touch with you – down below. I love to, you don't want people do it down below, but if people are like listening on the podcast, they're saying, what are you saying in the show notes?

[00:37:29] Okay. People, in the show notes, if you do want to get ahold of her, you don't see you in the show notes, you want to get ahold of me, marshall@marshallstern.net, or you can actually go to thesterntruth.com and get your name in there. So you never miss an episode of this, but I will definitely introduce you to Kendra.

[00:37:44] I'll do a personal introduction. That's what we're going to do. I'm going to put your stuff in the show notes, but if you want to meet Kendra, I will personally introduce you. Just reach out to me or you can go to her direct, and anything that coming up for you that you want to, like plug, like any program you're doing or anything you want to, this is your chance.

[00:38:02] Come on. 

[00:38:03] Kendra Vyse: Oh, this is my chance. Yeah. Well, actually later this year, I am, I'm actually launching two new things that I haven't done before.  One's going to be a group program. It's going to be a very small group program. And also looking at doing online retreats, which are more intensive, about three days or so, and really helping people walk out of that with a strategic plan for the next part of the year, or when it's at the end of the year at one for the next year.

[00:38:30] Marshall Stern: I like that terminology. I haven't heard that before. Online retreats. I've heard of like online, like, you know, five day intensives, three day intensives. And obviously retreats, but retreats are usually in person retreats, but an online retreat, I like that. 

[00:38:47] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. It's going to be very - other than everybody's going to be in the comfort of their own space. It's going to be some intensive learning sessions, right? 

[00:38:59] Marshall Stern: Oh, oh, oh, oh. Here's an idea. Here's an idea for you. Okay. I know we're still on the Stern Truth, so here's an idea for you. Just came up because I'm going to forget it if we just stop recording. Why don't, part of their online retreat – one of the things you should encourage people to do, it doesn't have to be, is to for them to go to hotel.

[00:39:15] Kendra Vyse: Oh yeah. 

[00:39:17] Marshall Stern: Because that's a real retreat. Because a retreat, the whole idea of a retreat, the problem with whatever is, we’re in our house, we have the kids, we have the dog, we have the Steves, right? Hi Steve. But we have that stuff, right? We have our homework, even just our environment.

[00:39:33] But when we like quick story and then, then we're going to wrap things up. So I took a two day retreat at a local hotel back early December of this past year, of last year, 2024. And I remember my son, who was going to university towards you in Ontario, found out that I was at a hotel by myself. And he calls me and he said, what are you doing?

[00:39:59] And I said I am working, I'm doing this retreat. It's a two day by myself. He goes, why? And I, and my son watches this, so Josh, I love you, man. But he goes, I don't get it. You're weird. He goes, you are weird. Like, I just don't get it right. And I said, you know what? I'm getting more done in these two days without all the distractions.

[00:40:23] And I went, there was a pool, there was a gym. Unfortunately it rained a lot of the time because it was Vancouver in December. But I was able to walk around. They had an umbrella, so I was able to use that outside. But I was able to be by myself out of the environment that I'm normally in and being able to really plan my 2025.

[00:40:42] Kendra Vyse: And that's what this is. It's it, that's what it's going to be, is even with the intensive learning pieces. Yeah, there's going to be where people can come together and discuss it and, and all that sort of stuff, but it is going to be, without actually going and traveling somewhere, but absolutely go to a hotel.

[00:41:00] But it's that, yeah, you need to be in a space where this is your focus for like those days. 

[00:41:06] Marshall Stern: That's awesome. Well, I look forward to hearing all about that, but we're going to see you probably, hopefully our next Connect and Collaborate, which I have to start mentioning. I have to start plugging on the show too, because people want to meet other entrepreneurs.

[00:41:17] Yes, there's Momentum, which we meet two times a month, but there's Connect and Collaborate, which is Momentum. You can come as a guest to anybody, just reach out to me. You can also go to marshallstern.net, Momentum, check it out. But Connect and Collaborate ‘sfree. And we do it first Wednesday of the, yeah, I keep switching the days.

[00:41:33] I think first Wednesday of the month. I'll send you an email shortly on that and you can just meet. We've been doing what, since like the pandemic, right? Four years. Yeah, four and a half years, almost five years now, and you get to meet other entrepreneurs, great entrepreneurs like Kendra.

[00:41:50] And that's where I think I met you. 

[00:41:52] Kendra Vyse: Yeah, I think so first. Yeah. Yeah. It was connect and collaborate and 

[00:41:57] Marshall Stern: Then the mastermind. 

[00:41:58] Kendra Vyse: Yeah. Lots of good discussions in there. 

[00:42:00] Marshall Stern: Yeah, lots of good discussions. So, all right. I've kept you a lot longer than I thought I was going to keep you because I knew you were going to say a lot of things, but not, not this much.

[00:42:09] This was awesome. 

[00:42:11] Kendra Vyse: Oh, you, well, I think we could probably talk for a lot longer. 

[00:42:15] Marshall Stern: Oh, I'm going to have to have you back. I know I am. So what I want to hear from everyone, so thank you very much. 

[00:42:20] Kendra Vyse: You're very welcome.

[00:42:20] Marshall Stern: And I'll get you info down below. So for the rest of you, I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments, insights, takeaways from our time together with Kendra.

[00:42:30] And again, if you want to get in touch with her, go down below or reach out to me, you know where to find me. And the other thing I got to do. Do the whole podcasting thing and say, please subscribe, like, share, review, all that kind of stuff. Because that the more you guys do that, the more this podcast will be seen by more and more business owners and we can actually touch and affect change, Kendra.

[00:42:54] We're going to affect change in this crazy world. 

[00:42:58] Kendra Vyse: Hey, that's always part of my vision.  

[00:43:01] Marshall Stern: And THAT is the Stern Truth. 

[00:43:06] Thank you so much for tuning in to Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. 

[00:43:35] That's marshall@marshallstern.net.And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.