cavnessHR Podcast Show Notes

My book is called, "Behind the Facade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success". It's available on Amazon in both eBook as well as hardcover format. The eBook version will actually be on sale for 99 cents during the month of May, small business month. So, In honor of all of you small business owners out there, during the month of May. You can go on Amazon and snatch a copy of the eBook version for just 99 cents.

Jason Cavness: Hello and welcome to the cavnessHR podcast. I'm your host, Jason Cavness. Our guest today is Alicia Butler Pierre. Alicia, are you ready to be great today?

Alicia Butler: Absolutely.

Jason Cavness: Alicia is a founder and CEO of Equilibria, a 14 year old operations management firm, specializing in business infrastructure for fast growing small business. It's here where she first formulated the KasennuTM methodology for business infrastructure. She has since successfully applied this method in over 30 different industries and counting. She has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Tulane University. She is also certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and has authored over 23 articles, case studies, videos, and white papers in the areas of business infrastructure, process improvement, and operational excellence. As part of a mission to provide access to operations resources for small businesses. She has started and hosts a weekly business infrastructure, Curing Back Office Blues podcast. Her most recent accomplishment lies in her new book, "Behind the Facade: How to Structure Automated Company Operations for Sustainable Success?" Was debuted on Amazon as a number one new release for business books in the production operations category. She is committed to do the right things right away. Her mantra is, "Leave it better than you found it." Alicia, thank you for being here today. I really appreciate it.

Alicia Butler: Thank you for having me, Jason.

Jason Cavness: So, a lot going on in your life right now in the business world. What do you focus on?

Alicia Butler: Well, there are so many different things, and honestly. I am at a point right now where I'm realizing that I may have to give something up. Right now, my company started as a consulting business. Where I work with other fast growing small businesses and helping them really streamline their day-to-day operations and get their processes in place. What I refer to collectively as business infrastructure. I'm at a point now where I'm really starting to enjoy the media side to what I've been doing. So, with the book, my podcast, as well as some of the online content that I've been writing. I realize now that I'm at a critical junction where I have to decide between the media and the consulting. So, consulting may go away, that one-on-one project consulting that is.

Jason Cavness: So, Alicia, lots of small businesses, they're told, "You've got to have a five year plan. Are 5 year plans still relevant? It seems like nowadays it is not relevant. Are they still being told to do a five year plan?

Alicia Butler: You know, it's funny because I hear people talk about the five year plan. I still hear people talking about doing a business plan. In fact, I was just on the phone with someone last week, and she was thinking about starting up a company and she was talking about putting all of this time, effort, and energy into creating a business plan. I said, "Well unless you are looking to attract investors or you're seeking outside financing or funding. I wouldn't put too much effort into creating a business plan because here's the thing. It's going to change." I told her, "When I look at my business plan compared to where my company is today. I could not have imagined where my business would be today." But I think it is good to start off having a plan. You definitely want to identify who your target market is, make sure you have a viable product or service. There are some things that you need to do in terms of due diligence. Is there even a market for what it is that you have to offer? But in terms of creating a 20 to 50 page business plan, I just think those days are over, Jason. Same thing with the five year plan. I think from a strategic planning and strategic growth aspect. I think it is good to have those conversations. But always with the caveat that things are constantly changing. They're changing even faster than we could've ever predicted just even five years ago. So, have your plan, but expect for it to change and be okay with that. Be flexible, be agile.

Jason Cavness: Now if only someone would tell the bank loan officers that.

Alicia Butler: Unfortunately, not all industries have caught up with us in the small business community. Bankers, as well as attorneys in many ways. I know you talk to a lot of tech startup companies and you are very tech savvy yourself, and a lot of times, the law just can't keep up with all of these changes in these disruptive technologies.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, can you talk a little bit about your own journey from 9-5 to becoming a small business owner, how that came about in the process?

Alicia Butler: Sure. I was living in New Orleans, Louisiana. I'm originally from Louisiana. I was working as a Chemical Engineer and Jason, I had this feeling one day while being stuck in my home and the waters we're starting to rise. There was a tropical storm that was moving through the city. This was around late August, early September 2004, and I just had this feeling that I couldn't shake. I needed to get out and get out as quickly as possible, meaning get out of the city. I was working full-time at that point as an engineer at a small family owned engineering consulting firm. I was also going to school at night, working part time on my MBA. So, I ended up quitting my job. Everybody thought I was absolutely nuts. So, I quit my job; I believe it was September 2004. I graduated from business school in December 2004. Then the following year in January, I put my house up for sale. It sold within a week and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I only knew one person. I just saw Atlanta as the city where I could start over. I would be able to make my career transition from Chemical Engineering to preferably something in marketing research and Jason, that did not happen. This was right around the time when more and more companies, and you can appreciate that this being in HR. This was around the time when more and more companies were starting to really enforce doing things online, applying for jobs online. I remember thinking, filling out these applications online; it was like everything was going into a black hole. Because you'd never get a response one way or the other as to whether or not your application was received. Whether or not you had been denied for a potential opportunity that you were applying for, and if you are denied, why?

Alicia Butler: So, I decided after about two solid months of what seemed to be an endless job search. I decided for that same amount of time, effort, and energy that I was spending and trying to find a job working for someone else. I could redirect that time, effort, and energy into creating my own opportunity. That's really how it all happened. It started with me trying to figure out first of all, what type of business am I going to start? Through a period of self- reflection, I realized I've always been really good at organizing things. I said, "Okay, well I'm going to start a professional organizing company," and this kind of ties back to what we were talking about earlier with creating business plans. The original business plan for my company was all about having this professional organizing company. Now, look at what I'm doing now. It's obviously no longer a professional organizing company. But there are still some elements that still remained in intact that kind of carried over from my organizing days. So, that's how I made my transition from the nine to five to becoming a full-time business owner disqualifying.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, we all know every customer is not a good customer. How do you go about disqualifying a potential customer?

Alicia Butler: That's a great question. It takes a lot of trial and error, as I'm sure you can appreciate. Honestly, for me, it was really gaining clarity on who I wanted to do this work for and making sure that aligned with the people out there in the universe who actually needed what I had to offer. One thing I can tell you right away is I realized after about, it took about five years of being in business for me to really understand that what I do doesn't typically resonate with startup companies. It tends to resonate with companies that have been in business for at least three to five years. The reason, Jason, is because when companies are just starting out. There's a much stronger emphasis on marketing and promoting and branding your company and understandably so. People have to know what your product and service is all about. But what happens when you actually start getting a lot more business because you've done such a great job at promoting and branding your company, and now you have maybe more business than you can handle? That's when companies are usually at a point where they are ready and open, and willing to have a conversation about those back office operations. But it took several years for me to really think about all of the projects that I worked on up to that point and all of the different clients that I had worked with in order to really understand what the patterns were and what traits they actually had in common. That's how I was able to eventually carve out my defined target market.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, is there a certain type of industry you like to work with the best?

Alicia Butler: Honestly, I'm just so intrigued by every business I've ever worked with. I learn so much. Jason, there isn't one industry that I prefer over another to be honest with you.

Jason Cavness: Can you talk some about your social media efforts and how that's helped grow your business?

Alicia Butler: Absolutely. Well, let me first say I was a late bloomer when it came to social media. I reluctantly started using social media kicking and screaming, fighting all every step of the way. It wasn't until toward the end of last year, 2018, that I had this epiphany. This light bulb moment or this "Aha" moment, if that's what you want to call it. Where I realized my company is really a media company. Once I had that very simple shift in mindset to being a media company versus a consultant company, it changed everything. I no longer saw creating online content as being cumbersome or an unnecessary evil. I see it now more as this is a key fundamental way to get the word out about what I do. So that the people who are looking for what I do can actually have access to that information. So, my very first experienced with social media, honestly, was on SlideShare and LinkedIn. I didn't know much about either tool. Honestly, with SlideShare, I was just taking some old presentations that I had lying around, Jason, and I just started uploading them. Lo and behold, one year, I think it was 2013, I actually received an email from SlideShare telling me that my content had been in the top 1% most viewed for that particular year.

Alicia Butler: I was like, "Whoa." So, that's when I really understood the power of social media. Then, it became a matter of trying to figure out, "Okay, of all of the different platforms that are out there, where should I play?" Because not every platform works for every business. Anything that allows me to have visual aids, like for example, the beauty of Twitter is you can have a very short tweet. But you can also add an image. Same thing with a LinkedIn post. With SlideShare, the beauty is you can actually upload an entire presentation or an infographic or a white paper. So, whatever tool is out there that allows for not only text but imagery as well as works really, really well for me.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, what is your definition of business infrastructure?

Alicia Butler: Business infrastructure is a system for linking the people, the processes, and the tools and technologies that are needed to run your company on a day-to-day basis. Linking all of that so that you can have the structure to scale your business in a way that is profitable and sustainable.

Jason Cavness: From the small business owners you've dealt with, what are most of them getting wrong about building their business?

Alicia Butler: Oh, great question. Honestly, Jason, we don't know what we don't know. A lot of times, especially as companies start to grow and grow very quickly. They know that they have to hire more people, and some of them actually will start to hire people and then they realize that their turnover is really high. When they come to me asking me for for help, it's so easy to blame people. I always tell them, "You should blame your process before you start to blame people." So, the first question I almost always ask people like that is, "What information did you use to train the people that you hired?" The answer almost 95% of the time is, "Well, we didn't have anything documented." Okay, you hired these people, then they get there and they'd either don't know what to do or they don't know how to do it, or both. But yet, you're blaming them because you had to fire them or for whatever reason. They decided to leave on their own. You want to set people up for success as you bring them into your company to help you out. That is a major part of getting your business infrastructure in place.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, you're in Atlanta, correct?

Alicia Butler: Yes.

Jason Cavness: Are you just focusing on Atlanta companies or are you like worldwide, nationwide??

Alicia Butler: Worldwide. This is a worldwide phenomenon, Jason. It's so interesting. We tend to think that we are the only people who experienced certain issues, and it's just not true. I've spoken to people in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, France, Jamaica. I've interacted with people in Japan. This is an issue that is universal.

Jason Cavness: So, how do you deal with people in different countries? Is it you have to worry about the culture, different aspects like that? Because I'm sure one size does not fit all, right?

Alicia Butler: Absolutely. So, you always want to be mindful of the different laws, different regulations. There are differences in employment law. There are some things that can kind of remain the same though. Especially when you're talking about process and maybe potential ways of automating a process. For example, with something like there's a tool called Acuity Scheduling, just as an example. I tell my clients, my international clients, "As long as you have access to great wifi or internet, you can use a lot of these tools." Even though they are produced by American based companies, you can still use these tools to help automate and streamline your processes. Now, when it comes to things that deal very specifically with labor, labor law, that definitely has to be tailored to the country in which they are operating.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, moving on, can you tell me about a time you were a success in the past, what you learned and what we can learn?

Alicia Butler: Sure. There are lots of examples. Well, one that comes to mind is actually a client. We just completed another project together very recently. But the very first project that we worked on together, they actually have several companies. So, this was for the first company that we worked on together. They actually wanted to be a completely paperless business. This was kind of an offset of that organizing thing that I talked about earlier. What ended up happening. We not only figured out how to eliminate all of the paper by using these automation tools and using more of these digital storage tools. Like Dropbox and Evernote and a combination of Google Drive. We also helped them to develop their different processes so that people would understand the flow of information throughout the business. So, from the moment a customer came in through their doors until the moment that customer actually received what he or she ordered. What was the actual flow of information and what is all of the paperwork that was associated in that flow of work? That's how we were able to figure out where things can be digitized.

Alicia Butler: As a result, Jason, they never could have imagined that they would actually make more money because they actually freed up space. It's pretty clear that once you automate, just as an example, that you can save significantly on the expense side of your business. But a lot of people don't associate operating more efficiently with being able to actually increase your top line revenue as well. The more streamlined your back office operations are, the more time you have as the business owner, and this was the situation in this client's case. They found that it actually freed them up from a time perspective to work on even more business development activities. That's how they were ultimately able to not only save cut costs. But they were also able to increase sales, which increased revenue and ultimately profit as well.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, follow-up question. Talk about a time you failed in the past, what you learned, and what we can learn.

Alicia Butler: A time that I failed. There've been many, many, many failures, Jason, over the years. One that still kind of just really rubs at me, and I'm still kicking myself for not being able to figure this out. So, going back to SlideShare, one of the things I noticed on SlideShare was that of all of the content I had ever posted, the most popular, or when I would upload attachments, excuse me. When I would upload copies of flowcharts. For example, there's an example, accounts receivable process flow chart. It has thousands and thousands of views. I thought, "Not only are people viewing these example flowcharts that I've uploaded. But they're also downloading it." That's a far more powerful metric than just the number of views when people are actually downloading your content, that's very telling. Jason, I thought, "Well, they're viewing it, they're downloading it. I wonder if they would actually pay for this." So, I actually created a whole suite of these process flowcharts products that people could purchase off of my website and Jason, the sales were just, it was a bust. I mean, I worked so hard at that. I've worked with at least three to four different marketing consultants over the years and none of us could figure this out. So, that was a big fail on my part because I put a lot of time and money into creating these digital products and it was just a bust.

Jason Cavness: People always say, "Well, it's a lesson learned," but sometimes, you don't want to learn those painful lessons.

Alicia Butler: I still can't figure out honestly, what did I do wrong? I don't know if it's because when you start off offering something for free that it's quite a leap for people to actually begin to pay for it. Maybe that was the lesson learned. I don't know.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, I understand you have something for our listeners today?

Alicia Butler: Yes, so with my book is called, "Behind the Facade: How To Structure Company Operations For Sustainable Success". It's available on Amazon in both eBook as well as hardcover format. The eBook version will actually be on sale for 99 cents during the month of May, small business month. So in honor of all of you small business owners out there, during the month of May, you can go on Amazon and snatch a copy of the eBook version for just 99 cents.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, can you give us your social media and your company's media, social media links, so people can reach out to you?

Alicia Butler: Sure. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me at Alicia Butler Pierre on Twitter. My handle is Alicia_B_Pierre, l, underscore Pierre. That's spelled P like Paul, I-E-R--R-E. I also am very new to Instagram, so you can find me on Instagram as well. Same as my Twitter handle. On SlideShare, you can also just do a search for me, Alicia Butler Pierre. My company also has different channels. So on YouTube, you can find us at Equilibria Inc. That's E-Q-U-I,-L-I-A B-R-I-A I-N-C. So, just look for us there. You can also find us on Twitter and LinkedIn at Equilibria Inc.

Jason Cavness: For our listeners, we will have the links to her social media and her offer on our show notes. You can find our show notes at www.cavnessHRblog.com. Alicia, we've come to the end of our talk. Can you give our listeners any last minute advice or wisdom on anything you want to talk about?

Alicia Butler: Absolutely. When you're growing. Again, it's so tempting to focus on making your business look good on the outside. But what you want to do is make sure that it looks as good on the inside as it does on the outside. Don't run away and don't shy away from the details. The details matter. It's going to make all the difference in how your customers actually experience you and your company.

Jason Cavness: Alicia, thanks for that. Alicia, thank you for your time today, I really appreciate it.

Alicia Butler: Thank you. Thank you, Jason. This was fun.

Jason Cavness: To our listeners, thank you for your time as well. Remember to be great every day.

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CavnessHR: Focus on your business, we've got your HR

Be Great Every Day!

April 21, 2019

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cavnessHR Podcast Show Notes

A talk with Alicia Butler Pierre of Equilibria, Inc.

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