When Everything Seems Important

Prioritizing Your Time And Your Work

Listen as I share some tactics to use when you are feeling overwhelmed.

In this episode, I share a few tactics that help me when I feel overwhelmed and everything seems to be on fire.

[00:00:00] Julie Bee – Host: On today’s episode, I talk with Steve Rosenberg about patience in business and how channeling your inner Mr. Rogers leads to business success. I’m Julie B, and they don’t teach this in business 

[00:00:14] Midroll Spot: school. Each and every week, Julie sends out big ideas and easy actions that help elevate your. She’ll also share some awesomeness happening in the business community.

Don’t miss out. Subscribe to the Be Awesome breed@djulieb.com. 

[00:00:31] Julie Bee – Host: Hey there, I’m Julie B and you are listening to, they Don’t Teach This In Business School, a podcast where we discuss business ownership. Lessons that are learned through experience, not in a classroom or a seminar. Today, I’m really excited to welcome Steve Rosenberg, author, speaker, and principal of the G S D group to the show.

I’m really looking forward to this conversation because I know we’re gonna learn some valuable business ownership lessons. So Steve, welcome to the show. Thanks for being [00:01:00] here and with our listeners 

[00:01:01] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: today. Thanks, Julie. Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to be here with you. 

[00:01:05] Julie Bee – Host: Yeah, so let’s just start off, Steve, with a brief overview of what you do in your business and the types of clients you work 

[00:01:12] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: with.

Thank you. I am a, I provide fractional c e o and c o O services, project management, and philanthropic advisory for mostly for not-for-profits, sort of mid-size, not-for-profits. I do do some work in the for-profit sector as well. my career, sort of, it started in the for-profit side, and I know we’ll get into that, but has it migrated into the last probably 15 or 20 years on the not-for-profit side?

And that’s become my expertise, particularly in areas of what I refer to as earned income. So anything that is not a contributed dollar. Mm-hmm. , because as you know, and. Your listeners all probably know the competition for the philanthropic dollar. The contributed dollar is immense. It seems like every minute of every day a new 5 0 1 is being [00:02:00] formed and they all need money, want money, ask for money, and the.

Not-for-profits that survive and thrive are the ones that are able to be reasonably self-sustaining in the areas of earned income. Mm-hmm. So I do a lot of consulting in that area. And then I did just write a book called Make Bold Things Happen, inspirational Stories from Sports, business and Life, because my career did start.

In sports, and it’s a series of fun anecdotes from my life and I’ve interviewed a bunch of other people, and it’s the power of networking and why having a close and a large network is important to your success. Yeah. 

[00:02:35] Julie Bee – Host: Speaking of networking, and I know you and I talked about this a little bit before the show, but talk to us a little bit about the importance of networking for, for small businesses.

[00:02:47] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: It’s my mansia. It’s what I eat, breathe, sleep, drink, wake up, thinking about in the middle of the night if I’m sleeping at all. , it’s, I started a long time ago. Early in my life, I [00:03:00] realized that you need to know people. People are the root of our everyday existence. We talk to them, we deal with them, we meet them, and those who are introverts have to come out of their shell.

I really am an introvert by nature, and it is. Incredibly hard for me sometimes to walk into a room of people, but I, you know, put on my extrovert hat and I go and I talk to people. I was, you know, raised with my grandparents. My mom died at a young age, and we didn’t have a lot of money and we didn’t go any places.

So for me, I learned early that I was gonna see the world through the eyes and the ears and the stories of other people. So I always was anxious to meet new people, talk to people, and hear about their stories. I literally grew up in Mr. Rogers neighborhood in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, less than a mile from where he actually lived.

And if you remember, Mr. Rogers, who used the most disruptive invention, probably of our lifetime in television, he talked about [00:04:00] being neighborly and talking to your neighbor. And it sort of starts at home and that really close, you know, next door, two doors down, three doors down across the street. Mm-hmm.

But once you meet people, . I always like to be one degree of separation away from fixing a problem, and I’ve always been the person that’s been there to help other people, whether it’s to be the chief lettuce picker-upper, or to solve problems at a really high level. And it’s why I think I’ve had whatever little success I’ve had in my life, it’s because people know that they can count on me because I will always have a person who can help solve a problem and get something done, and, and the network and networking is so crucial to anybody’s success.

[00:04:41] Julie Bee – Host: It’s interesting. I don’t think anybody would guess that you are an introvert, so it’s really interesting to me that you are, but you’re like, you’re like the guy, you’re, you’re the guy. People call it sounds like, for things. So that’s really, I’m an introvert because I know a lot of introverts struggle with networking.

So how do you, how do you take care of yourself? You know, after you do a [00:05:00] networking event, how do you practice self-care after that? 

[00:05:02] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Yeah, it’s a great question. So, to me, I get so charged up and so excited because I’m, I’m genuinely interested in people and their stories, and I get so excited and I’m a.

Psychopath for follow up. So when I get home, if I have business cards or whatever, I will not go to sleep until I write to every single person. Great to meet you. And I will have some, not just great to meet, but I will try to connect us in some other way or, you know, my greatest joy in life and gift in life is to connect to people and watch great things happen.

Hmm. Not so that I can make money off of it. Although people say to me, why don’t you do that if I can? Person A and person B, and something happens in point C. You know, maybe somewhere down the line one of those people will wanna help me, or now they’re part of my network that I can call on and, and rely on.

But I always follow up immediately. You know, I know everybody’s birthday at four o’clock the day before your birthday, you’re gonna [00:06:00] get it. Text from me that says, happy birthday, have a great day tomorrow. And why? Because at four o’clock the day before your birthday, nobody’s wishing you a happy birthday.

Mm-hmm. , and generally, I’m the first person to wish somebody a happy birthday. So for me, coming down off of an event as an introvert mm-hmm. , I sort of slowly come down by. Just writing to people mm-hmm. Or texting them and talking about how great it was to meet them. And then I just start to plan for my, for, for my next day.

But I, I, I truly am an introvert and it is a lot of work to get to meet people. And I, I go to these rooms and I watch people stand in corners and not talk to anybody. And I, I feel bad for them because they’re missing out. . 

[00:06:37] Julie Bee – Host: So Steve, what is your biggest win so far as a 

[00:06:42] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: business owner? Wow, what a great question.

I guess so I have a degree in sports administration and I got it at a time when sports was. Still a fledgling business. Right. And there were only two universities in the country that had [00:07:00] sports, undergraduate sports administration degrees. And I went to the University of Maryland, designed my own major and came out.

And here I was living my dream. I always knew I wanted to work in sports. I thought I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. But being from Pittsburgh, people thought I had this, you know, yinza accent. Talking about downtown and south side, which I never thought I did. So I, I decided, all right, I’ll just go into business.

And I was working for teams. I worked for a really great company. I moved to Philadelphia after DC and I, I, I left the sports war. I left the organized sports war, and I started my own agency back in the early nineties as a very young person. And it. Beyond scary and risky cuz I left a, a real job with health benefits and, and security.

I wasn’t making a lot of money, but there was a real safety net there. Mm-hmm. and we went out on our own and within months we had at a partner and we had clients like the National Hockey League. Ringling Brothers Circus, Disney’s World on [00:08:00] Ice, the World Wrestling Federation. It was as it was then called now World Wrestling Entertainment.

We, we were doing our own events like with Nickelodeon Live and, and we real, we built a business. We ended up with 25 employees and some contractors, and we were doing events all over the country. I was this young, mid, mid 20 year old. Some person we ended up selling the business. But I took a risk and went out on my own left.

A very secure, uncomfortable job in the field that I dreamed my whole life at that point to get into. And, you know, so I, I look back very, I’ve, I’ve had fortunately some, some really fun successes over the, over the days. Not one of these big tech entrepreneurs that has, you know, sold for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mm-hmm. . But back at the time we were able to sell that, that that’s right. At the time when ad agencies were coming in and starting to buy. Firms like that and we sold, and I wanted to start to do something else before a young person to be able to take that leap and end up with clients like that. That was, [00:09:00] that’s what I always, I tell my kids about, and I’m very, very proud of that moment.

[00:09:04] Midroll Spot: You can have weekly leadership tips and insights delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up@thejulieb.com and if you’d like to connect with Julie, she’s available on the web and most social media platforms like Linked. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

[00:09:21] Julie Bee – Host: Hey, this is Julie B and you’re listening to, they Don’t Teach This in Business School.

I’m here today with Steve Rosenberg and Steve, we just talked about your biggest win as a business owner. So I’m gonna ask you the opposite question, and if you were given a chance, What past business mistake would you go back and do differently? 

[00:09:40] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: I would say I, I don’t have one specific mistake, but I would say I lack patience.

And so like, we sold that business, well, we should have stuck with that business, right? Because we, we made a little bit of money mm-hmm. , but I was al I’m always ready to move on to the next thing. Not that the grass is always greener. , but my eyes are all, [00:10:00] maybe I have a d d I don’t know , but I, I’m always looking to do something else.

Mm-hmm. . And I feel like there’s so much to do in the world and, and I just lack patience and, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m, I, I’m marvel with these people who have these careers, these 30, 35, 40 year careers mm-hmm. in one place. And I, that’s not me, but I, I always wonder, I often wonder like, what would’ve happened if I stayed at the, at.

Teams that I was working for, you know what I, my dream was always to be the commissioner of the N B A while I was working in the N B A. If I had stayed and had had some patience, would I be a, not Adam Silver, but could I be a senior executive in the N B A? Like I, I didn’t. I, I, I guess because I never really had a mentor growing up to give me these types of advice.

So if I saw, if I was going down this path and, you know, this lane looked a little bit faster, I would get into that lane, then I would get into that lane, and I, I definitely made mistakes. Nothing. Thank God that was, you know, devastating. But yeah, pa lacking patience to me is, is [00:11:00] really something I wish I could go back and if I had to, to, to be a little bit more patient with, with things.

Yeah. That’s what I always 

[00:11:07] Julie Bee – Host: tell people. There are no. unrealistic goals, just unrealistic timeframes. And I think that , I, I think, I think business owners, I’m the same way. I just want to, you know, I’m always thinking three years ahead, and often my team has to remind me, Julie, like today, today is the day that you need to do this thing.

Don’t think about what you’re gonna be doing three years for now. So I think that that’s, I think that’s kind of part for the course though, for entrepreneurs and business owners is we’re just always, you know, we want it and we want it right now. That’s, 

[00:11:35] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: that’s a normal thing. I think you’re right. I think you’re right.

I think you’re right. 

[00:11:39] Julie Bee – Host: So Steve, one thing I ask a lot of business owners is about burnout, and I’m wondering if you have any stories that you’ve experienced as a business owner going through burnout and if you’d be willing to share. . 

[00:11:51] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Yeah. I, I wasn’t as an owner, but I was running large not-for-profit, and it was a, in a, it was a [00:12:00] very large not-for-profit, and it was a, an exhaustive job.

I was doing really three people’s jobs at, at, at one time and then Covid hit. And I feel like a lot of us, I am not unique in this aspect. Covid took a lot out of a lot of people. Mm-hmm. , and it was the preparation. We knew something was coming, but we didn’t know what. Then there was that initial, oh my God, where are we in this world?

And I don’t have to just take care of myself, but I have a hundred some employees that I have to take care of. Mm-hmm. or Not for Profit is responsible for 85 other smaller agencies in the community that we have to take care of, plus an additional. Probably 60 schools and other types of organizations.

And so we have to always be on our game. Cause if they’re looking to us, it was like a, A United Way type of an agency, an umbrella type agency. Mm-hmm. and. The, it was if I wasn’t working 20 hours a day, and I’m not exaggerating, I, I, it was, you know, one of those moments where [00:13:00] you just always had to be on the phone, didn’t stop ringing, there were security issues.

There were just constant things. And finally at the end of 2021, about 13 months ago, I, I just woke up and I was like, I, I just can’t do it anymore. And I’m somebody who. Prize myself on having a, a, a great deal of energy. I wake up at five every morning. I work out. I don’t go to bed until one o’clock. The, the, the, yeah, the, in the morning I sleep very little.

Mm-hmm. , but I just physically couldn’t think about the work was still very important, but the process that. The, the work, I, I just, I couldn’t get my, my arms around it. And I did something that I would never advise anybody to do it. I just left, I just said, I gave him like a few months notice and I was like, I’m, I’m out.

I can’t do it anymore. Mm-hmm. , I had never experienced that before, but I, I really do believe that Covid was, you know, it was something that, you know, obviously we’ve never seen in a lifetime. I hope we never see it again. And that just, I was working towards burnout anyway, just cause of the nature of the work.

And then Covid. [00:14:00] just crushed 

[00:14:01] Julie Bee – Host: me. Yeah. There’s a study that I’m sight a lot in my, well in my book and in some other things that I’ve got going on about burnout, but it was actually done before covid. It was something, it’s close to just like 48% of business owners reported feeling burned out, and that was done in like 2019.

So you can only imagine how those numbers increased. And it wasn’t just business owners, it was, you know, across the board. Burnout does a real, it’s a real thing that happens and I think it happens to almost everybody at some point. And I’m, you know, I’m really passionate about like helping business owners not get to the point where they feel like they have to walk away from whatever they’re doing, but some do.

So I like to ask that question. You see, even. 

[00:14:42] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Yeah. Yeah. You see it like even the, the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams football team. Mm-hmm. And this is a wildly successful guy, creative, smart. He, he’s thinking about leaving the team. Mm-hmm. Cause he, he can’t coach anymore. This is a, when, when you look at, that’s not like a dream job from our perspective, from my perspective.

I’m like, he’s [00:15:00] gonna walk away. And you see it in sports. You three see it in politics, you see it in religion, you see it at high level business people. It, there is a grind to it. And you, and we’re seeing it now in the results. Post covid where mm-hmm. people aren’t going back to work. Mm-hmm. , they’re happy to sit at home or work remotely, or they’re doing something else, or they’re in the gig economy.

Something that sort of makes them happier. Cause this grind of wake up shower, get, get, get on the train, get on the highway. It’s, it just, it wasn’t healthy for anybody. Mm-hmm. And we have this new generation, you know, gen Z, who they’re like, yeah, we’re not doing that. And they’ve, I always, I always laugh.

You know, four in that, four kids in that age range. And you know, I, I always say that Gen Z’s done two things. They slowed us down and they’ve brought us really comfortable clothes. Mm-hmm. , you know, with the Allbirds and the Lululemons and everything’s casual up. But as I look back, I’m like, wow, that’s, , there’s a couple really good additions that they’ve brought to us.

Mm-hmm. , and, you know, we’ve gotta meet [00:16:00] them where they are. You know, we can’t be that generation that says, oh, they’re, they’re Quang, they’re lazy, they’re crazy. We’ve all, every generation has brought something new to society. And if you don’t embrace people where they are, you’re, you’re, the train’s gonna pass you by.

Yeah. 

[00:16:14] Julie Bee – Host: So Steve, one thing a. People who are in leadership roles say is that it’s lonely at the top. And I know you work with a lot of leaders, so I, I’m just interested if, if you experience that loneliness or, I mean, obviously being the networking person that you are, maybe you don’t, but if, if you have or if, or you see other people experience it to talk about that a little bit and also, you know, how do you overcome that lonely?

[00:16:38] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: It’s a, such a great question and an important idea. I, I personally have never, cause I am collaborative by nature mm-hmm. , and I always like to make sure that I have a team that I’m inspired by and that I hope I can inspire. Right. Because your team has to inspire you also. Otherwise, what’s the point of being a leader?

And so, you know, I, [00:17:00] I make sure that my team. Good work plans that are tied to whatever the mission or vision or strategy is. And we meet and we talk. And I’m not the type of leader, and I know this sounds ideal, but I’m not the kind that says it’s my way or the highway. Mm-hmm. , like I’m not always right. I am far from the smart.

If I’m the smartest guy in the room, let’s leave the room. Cause it’s a bad room to be in. Like I want to, I wanna learn from you, I’ll help you, I’ll coach you, I’ll teach you. But I want to learn. I’ve always wanna, I’m never afraid of smarter people than me. Mm-hmm. To hire. Okay. And I feel like those that I’ve seen, those that who are lonely adopt, it’s because they are, they are managing, they’re not leading.

Right. They’re telling, they’re not inspiring, and then they get to the top and they’re, their doors are always closed. Mm-hmm. , or they’re always in these private meetings or always have. Phones in. They’re like, I, I can’t talk. I can’t talk. And there’s no collaboration. Yeah. And you know, they go to meetings, they go to lunches, they don’t communicate clearly or effectively, and then you see [00:18:00] people leave their businesses and the, the tops not a place that should be lonely.

I know that the peak of a mountain is, is very thin. But I know tons of people that have, you know, climbed Mount Everest and Kili Aero and all these places and, and they do it in packs together. So when they get to the top, they can enjoy it as, as a group. And I don’t know who, I don’t understand, I should say what, how you can want to get to the top of anything.

Mm-hmm. by yourself, like life is there to enjoy with other people. And that’s why I keep talking about with this networking, like being with other. Right is just, it’s more fun. And so I I, I’ve never experienced it, but I, I, I, I, I feel, again, I feel badly for those that just don’t wanna be with other people.

Cause when you’re at the bottom, I would wanna be with somebody, uh, with other people. And when I’m at the top, I would wanna be with other people. So that’s just my perspective. 

[00:18:50] Midroll Spot: Every week, Julie sends out big ideas and easy actions that help elevate your business. She also shares some awesomeness happening in the [00:19:00] business community.

Make sure to subscribe to the Be Awesome brief@bejulieb.com. 

[00:19:07] Julie Bee – Host: You’re listening to, they Don’t Teach This In Business School, and I’m the host, Julie B. I’m here today with Steve Rosenberg. And Steve, you mentioned teams in. Question I asked you. So I wanted to talk to you about the importance of teams from, from your point of view, and also if you have any, you know, one or two really proud moments of teams that you have led in the past, I’d love for you to share those.

[00:19:30] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Teams are the, are the most important thing, right? And they are, whether it’s a sports team or your, or your team in business, there has to be a cohesiveness. And you’ve gotta, sometimes you have to tinker and you have to find the right pieces, and sometimes not every piece works. And you have to change pieces out.

And as a, as a business owner or manager, or c e o, it’s very hard to, all right, I’ve gotta get rid of this person. They’re not, they’re not pulling their weight, right? Because the team can only advance. As far as the per person that’s [00:20:00] that, that’s, that’s the least, right? Mm-hmm. and I, I believe that the, you know, every person has to understand everybody else’s job.

And cause let, let’s say you’re in the marketing department and you’re a writer, okay? And you’re just writing copy all day. Well, what does that copy? Where’s it ultimately gonna go? What does it mean? What’s it gonna do? Why are we using it? Cause if you’re just gonna sit and write copy all day, you’ve gotta be inspired by sort of the bigger mission.

Mm-hmm. and that. Was not taught to me early on. Early on when I started, it was, this is your job, this is what you’re gonna do. Mm-hmm. and just do your job. And that collaborate. I, I wanna think the word collaboration and synergy. Those weren’t real words back. Mm-hmm. back then it was just do your work and, you know, then, and leave the day.

And, and again, I’m gonna go back to that, that covid time period. And I feel like. A lot of your guests might say the same thing. We were very prepared. I, not that we were any smarter than anybody else, but we saw something coming. Mm-hmm. and cause of the type of organization we were, we always had to [00:21:00] be extra prepared in case of fire or flood or, or anything because we have all these other agencies that we were taking care of.

So I said, you know what? Our communication plan and our, our, our god forbid, emergency plan. Mm-hmm. was never. It wasn’t up to the snuff that I thought it should be. So we started to meet in very early January of 2020 to, to put communication plans together and what ifs and who’s gonna do this and, and, and that sort of thing.

And we had a, a reasonably good plan together. We, we tested our work from work remotely. We were early adopters of Zoom. We used Zoom. probably back starting in 2018. Mm-hmm. , so we understood the capability. We had just switched to Zoom phones. Mm. Thank God. And so again, some, there’s some luck in, in, in building good teams and preparation, but our team, everybody was so bought in and dialed in.

And then when Covid hit, they were so energized. We started to do [00:22:00] community webinars like this before anybody else, so that other people could learn from the work that we were doing. And I knew that I could count on that team. on Sunday at 5:00 AM or Friday at 7:00 PM or in any time in between, because we all had the same goal in mind.

Mm-hmm. . And that no matter what happens, and again, I’ve had, I’ve had a lot of really fun things have happened. Yeah. Positively. But that watching everybody come together through a complete un very scary unknown is something that Will, will, I will take with me to the end. So 

[00:22:34] Julie Bee – Host: you mentioned something there that I want.

About, you said buy-in and buy-in is something that leaders often struggle to get from their teams. Do you have any insights into the best ways to get buy-in from the people that you lead? 

[00:22:49] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: For, for me, it’s all always about clear, open, honest communication, and I don’t think there’s a close second to that.

Mm-hmm. communication goes both ways. [00:23:00] Mm-hmm. , right. It can’t just be you talking to them and these are the rules and it’s what you’re gonna do. You have to give employees a forum. to not just give you feedback to say, I don’t like the way you spoke to me, but to give feedback to say, Hey, here’s an idea.

What do you all think about it? Let’s come together. Let’s coalesce over this idea. How can we make, I have this idea, how can we make it better? Is it the right idea? Mm-hmm. . But if you have a leader that just says, , this is the way we’re gonna do it, and that’s it. And you guys implement this strategy. It’s very hard to get excited no matter how much you get paid, no matter what your benefits are, you wanna be part of a process.

Mm-hmm. and part of seeing the end result. And so that you can go home or you can go out on Friday night with your friends and say, I helped build that. Because I think deep down, most people are builders. They wanna say that they did this, saw this, help prepare this. , and if you don’t have that sort of clear, open, honest, two-way communication.

And, and let [00:24:00] everybody know what the end game is supposed to be like. What are we working for and towards? Mm-hmm. . Then I don’t know how you could ever get by and you can’t do with just, Hey, if we get this done, I’m gonna give you a hundred dollars. All right. You’ll get that task done. But Right. I could get my dog to eat if I, if I put a steak down every day.

But you know that, that, that’s not what you want from your team or what you, you want real buy-in. You’ve gotta be honest and open with them. Mm-hmm. , that’s, I, to me, I, there might be other ways, but for me, there, there is no other. 

[00:24:29] Julie Bee – Host: Yeah. You want that motivation to come from their internal, they’ve gotta motivate 

[00:24:33] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: themselves.

Yeah. They’ve gotta be motivated. Right, right. Like I was at a horse race last week and a jockey gets on a horse and he’s beating him on the side, and that motivates the horse to run. Mm-hmm. , you don’t do that with your employee. They, you want them to wake up every day to go, I’m going to work today. And I like, it doesn’t even work.

I, I’m going to do what I like to do and look, it doesn’t work with everybody. I’m, I’m far from perfect. I’ve made a gazillion mistakes, but I’ve always tried [00:25:00] to, to make sure that people knew where I come from. And I always say to everybody, you know, just tell me. Where your issues are, right? You, you need a couple hours of lost time during the day.

Don’t take a vacation. They just let me know where you’re going to be. Mm-hmm. . And we always have that open communication. Don’t take advantage of me and don’t make me look bad and I’ll cover for you all day, every day. That doesn’t matter where we are. And I feel like people, uh, people like that. I 

[00:25:23] Julie Bee – Host: think they do.

So Steve, I wanna ask you a question. I love asking business owners. How do you define success? 

[00:25:32] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Whew. Well, for me, it’s funny, I actually wrote about that in, in the book, and I, I get asked like a, a, a similar question to, to me, success is, look, some people would say, oh, the, the amount of cars and money and houses.

I, to me, success is showing up every day. and giving your best and, and knowing that at the end of the day you did everything you could to, to make everything better. Whatever, whatever. Everything is your work. Mm-hmm. your home life, [00:26:00] your, your, your kids, your parents, your what, whatever it is. . I, I say that the opposite of success isn’t failure.

I always say the opposite of success is not trying and not showing up. And I look at so many people who just don’t try and, you know, my, my oldest son had a baseball coach, and at the, when they broke the huddle, they had always say attitude, you know, 1, 2, 3 attitude. Mm-hmm. . And he would always say to them, the one thing in life you can control is your attitude.

And if you have a good attitude and it’s hard, listen some days. You don’t wanna have a good attitude, but if you, if you have that and you really work hard, success is gonna be defined for everybody else. I’m not one of these people that thinks that we should all have the same amount of everything.

Mm-hmm. , like I do believe that, that we should have a meritocracy and you should get what you put in, get out what you put in. Mm-hmm. and. I, I just, I’ve watched so many people who, from my perspective, just don’t give enough, whether they are people, whether they are [00:27:00] athletes, musicians, artists, they, they go about that.

Some people are immensely talented mm-hmm. , and they just don’t give it their all. Yeah. So, to me, success is, are you getting out everything that you, as much as you. Can, can put in, give everything your all, and you’re gonna get what you deserve in life. It’s not always fair. That’s not what I’m suggesting.

Mm-hmm. , but show up every day and, and, and give a good, honest day’s effort, effort, effort, effort. And I feel like success will come to you in, in, in some way, shape, or form. I really believe that 

[00:27:32] Julie Bee – Host: that is very inspiring. I think that you’re right though. I, I know a lot of people who talk about doing things, but they never do them.

And I, I’m always the one there to. Just do it. It’s not, you’re never, no matter how much you plan to start something, you’re never gonna have it right straight out of the gate. You’re going to make mistakes. So the sooner you accept that and start and do, the sooner you can potentially, you know, get to achieve those goals that you 

[00:27:58] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: want to achieve.

Hey, [00:28:00] think about you. You, you have, there are a lot of people that say, I’m gonna be in the media. I’m gonna do a podcast. Mm-hmm. And, and it never launches. And I found you cause I discovered your podcast. Mm-hmm. I love the name. And I said, I’m gonna start listening to this podcast. And cuz I don’t feel like I’m ever too old to learn something new mm-hmm.

From somebody else. And you’ve done it. And I reached out to you and I was like, I love your podcast. And last year I said, you know what I wanna. Book, how many people sit down and mo most people can’t write a long email. Right. And you, you write 50,000 words. That’s a lot of words. So I, I’m not, I’m, I’m not, you know, Edgar Allen Poe, but I sat down and I wrote a book and I’m selling books and people are asking me to speak and talk and, and that sort of thing.

And it’s a great accomplishment. But I didn’t do it until last year. I always thought about it, I talked about it, but I finally said, I’m gonna do it. And I guarantee you, you did the same thing with your podcast and everything else you’re. . 

[00:28:54] Julie Bee – Host: Absolutely. Yeah. I, and you know, I wrote a book and I, I laugh. I’m like, it’s the book that took me 10 years to [00:29:00] write, because I would always say I wanted to write it, and then I finally sat down and did it.

So sometimes you just, sometimes it takes a little time to get there, you know? And sometimes, but you, you ultimately, you just have to do it so Well, Steve, listen, I have, I have one other question. One final question I ask all of. And it’s, if, if you were asked to teach a class about being a business owner to potentially future business owners, what is the one thing that you would really want them to learn from you?

[00:29:30] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: So to learn from me. Wow. That’s a great question. So I, I, I, I would really just say, , in addition to coming out and working hard and giving it your all and being a good, honest, effective communicator. You know, be authentic, be genuine, and go out and talk to people. Channel your inner Mr. Rogers. And I never thought at, at, at my rip old age that I would still be talking about Mr.

Rogers, but that guy had a profound impact on [00:30:00] my life, then, on my life. And, you know, talk to your, Go meet people, build your network. Nobody talks about networking and networking’s not going to the Chamber of Commerce amount with 50 business cards and giving them all out. Mm-hmm. and hoping people call you.

Mm-hmm. , that’s not networking. Mm-hmm. networking is hard. I tell people, all of my employees that I either inherit or meet when in our first encounter, I give. , brand new number two, pencil, and I tell them three things about that pencil. I said, in order for this pencil to work, it has to stay sharp just like us.

And to stay sharp, you gotta put it through that little grinding machine, which looks painful. , right? But same thing for us. For us to stay sharp. Mm-hmm. , we can’t just lay in bed all day. We gotta do things that might be painful, number one. Number two, what’s at the other end of the pencil and eraser? Cause we’re gonna make mistakes.

I make them probably five times an hour it seems like. But we have the eraser so that we can erase what we mistake, what the mistake we made. Hopefully we don’t make them same mistake over and over [00:31:00] again and we move on. And number three, and most importantly, that pencil. Is we use it to leave a mark. So leave a mark on society.

And to me the pencil represents so many important things and it’s, but, but to me, you can’t get anywhere without a good, vast, robust network. And, but that’s why that pencil and, and shortness, you have to work your network. Keep in touch with them, wish them a happy birthday. Mm-hmm. , I have a, every Sunday I make a list I’m gonna talk to or touch a hundred.

every single solitary week. I dare anybody that’s listening to try that. And, and I don’t miss, I hit a hundred every single weekend. It can’t be the same a hundred from the week before or the week before. And by the way, it could be happy birthday. It could be, Hey, I just saw this article I thought you might like mm-hmm.

it, it, and it can’t be a random street meeting. It’s a planned a hundred and that is, On, in and of its own, but it’s how you keep your network sharp. And if you want to be the person that can be one degree of separation from solving problems. [00:32:00] That’s what you have to do. And nobody teaches that. I guarantee you.

They don’t teach that in business school. I know they don’t 

[00:32:05] Julie Bee – Host: so well. Steve, listen, I’ve really enjoyed this conversation and I know the business owners and entrepreneurs who will listen to it will get so many valuable tips out of it. I just wanna thank you again for being on the show. 

[00:32:18] Steve Rosenberg – Guest: Thanks for having me, Julie.

It was awesome. And keep up the great work. You do an amazing job. 

[00:32:22] Julie Bee – Host: Well, thank you for that. And that is it for this episode, but stay tuned because I’ll be back with more lessons learned on the business owner’s journey. I’m Julie B and they don’t teach this in business school.