SPEAKER_00 0:00

The worst thing entrepreneurs can do is get in a reactive mindset and they end up burning out, they end up, you know, shutting down or going back to corporate America because it's just so overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome back to Play Like a Boss. I'm your host, Tanya Lawson. And my guest today, Chad Paris, founder and CEO of Stonefly Consulting Group and host of the Process Over Pressure podcast. After 15 years in the executive seat, driving over $37

Reactive Burnout Warning

SPEAKER_01 0:25

million in revenue growth, Chad walked away to help founders fix the broken processes quietly draining their revenue and put AI where it

Chad’s Path From Teaching

SPEAKER_01 0:34

actually works instead of where it just adds hype. Chad, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Thank you so much for having me. I've been looking forward to this. Really excited to be on today.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Excellent. Well, let's start with your story. How did you get here?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Tell us your backstory. That's a that's a fantastic question. Uh, how much time do we have? I'll be short. Uh funny enough, I um, you know, when I finished school and I was figuring out what do I want to do with my life, um, I I I went into went to college and actually was a was a teacher, was a school teacher. I wanted to I wanted to teach and I wanted to coach. I just knew that's what I was gonna be. I was gonna be, you know, the next Bear Bryan or whatever. And uh so I spent 10 years in education and and kind of coached and I taught school, and then I went all the way up to become a school administrator. And I I look back now, and I think that's the foundation of of really what crafted or molded me into what I am today or what I do today. Uh so I'm an educator at heart. I I love educating, I love teaching, I love learning. I think it's it's the essence of who we are. And so when I, after 10 years, I I and I was in the state of Alabama, you you could actually be invested in retirement. And I said, hey, I'm gonna do something different. And I love people have told me all my life, you should be in sales, Chad, you should be in sales. And I was like, eh, you know, I like to teach. So so I did. I said, okay, my first ever sales job was selling pharmaceuticals. Now, you could imagine how hard and and and at that time very competitive to even get in. So when I interviewed, I think there was like maybe 120 people that were interviewing for the job, and I actually was chosen for the job. Um, and so I I asked my my I guess my that rate, my sales director, like, hey, I just want to know, this is a couple years after that, why'd you pick me? And she said, well, you you were like not like everybody else. You had a great energy, and and you had that educational background, and I knew you were a learner and you would be willing to learn and develop. And uh, and that's true, and that's true, I think, for anyone who is is doing something that's being successful. And so, you know, fast forwarding on, I I've had a career as as starting out in sales and have was very successful. Every sales job I had was successful. And and I don't say that to be uh boastful, I say that because truly it it was it was what I learned as as an educator in school that made that because I learned how to prepare, I learned how to read a room, I learned how to, when I went in to to speak to doctors, that I could articulate what it is that we that I did and the drug that I carried, and as well as just really like how to read people and talk to people. I think that's the missing art. We don't know how to communicate anymore. And I had a very successful career in sales and and actually changed from pharmaceuticals and actually got into building products and worked into manufacturing building products. And I just kept thriving to do the best. I was successful. And when you're when you do well, people start noticing. They're like, hey, you should go into leadership. What? Leadership? No, not me. Well, crazy enough, I went into leadership, and uh, and that's where I really got to to develop that that teacher in me to do that, and uh coaching people and helping people. And I think, you know, if you said, Chubb, what is the one thing that you take back from being in an education or or as a as you've been successful, I think it's seeing people be successful. Like I get a lot of pride in seeing people be successful and and and showing them some things that maybe helped them and seeing that. It's rewarding to me. Um, we all work for a paycheck, but seeing people be successful is rewarding to me, and that's something that fulfilled me. Um, and so I just kept growing and ended up becoming an executive. Uh spent 10, 15 years as an exec executive. And probably the last six or seven years of that, I worked with private equity bulk companies where they would buy companies, and then obviously when they buy them, they're like, well, this looks really good on paper. You know, we we want to spend money and buy this and we want it to grow. And then they get the business and they realize, uh-oh, this thing's got some processes that are broken, and what do we do? And so I was the guy that they would hire to come in and say, can you get this going in the right direction? So that's what I did. And I I so I, you know, I think that's that's what I've been doing is being able to help companies and help companies grow, and so it's been fulfilling that. Um, and then I walked away. I said, you know what? I have this entrepreneur in my heart, and it took me a long time to realize that's what I wanted to do. And so I started my own consulting company, and I do exactly that. I find processes that are broken in businesses, and I help fix those, whether they're they're you know, sales structure, marketing structure, sales playbook, leadership, teaching, uh, coaching one-on-one, or you know, uh programs where I actually come in and do like some training with their teams, executive level, sales level level. And then also do AI automation and helping with those workflows because AI is here, it's not going anywhere. And so I try to use those tools to help with processes and help develop some of those gaps. It may be, if they're lean in a small group, how to how to implement those. I find very often that most business owners want to do AI, but they just don't know where to implement it or how to do it. And so that's what I try to help them with.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

That's awesome. And I love the part about being a teacher. That's actually what made me want to have you on the show. Um, I have an education degree as well. And I think people underestimate teachers and what all they have to do and all of the skills they have to have. And those skills translate into other areas of business. Like you said, leadership, education, coaching, all of that ties in. Now, I know that you often say that most businesses don't actually have a sales problem. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

So, you know, I think I think we live in a in a very uh a time that we're in that wants instant gratification now. We we we want things to work today. Um and rightfully so. We live in if you if you want this, you can go on and

Why Sales Struggles Are Process

SPEAKER_00 7:03

use Amazon, you can buy it today. You you know, we we live in that world, and that's where we are. And I think sometimes for for sales, especially in businesses that I see, oftentimes everything is centered around the conversation around the sales performance, because obviously money coming in is how we most people justify whether the company is successful or not successful, right? So we we often hear the word that hey, the sales team's not functioning properly, or they're not doing the right things. And so what I often find is is why it's it maybe not be a sales thing, it's a process, is because oftentimes companies are not, they don't even I ask this question, who are you and why? The why is what always gets them. Why, why do you do that? What is your purpose? And so very easily when you're when you're a small business and you start and you just want to make money and you start making money, and then you say, hey, I want to hire this sales director to come in and run that part of it. And you do. And you expect, hey, I'm gonna pay them a big salary, I want them to run it, and they're running it. But they're running it the way they want to see it, not the way that your foundation is or your company's mantra of who you are. And so there's a misconnect. And so we end up with a sales team that's really got some process sales playbook. How do we go to market? Who do we talk to? How do we talk to them? All these things that are essential in running a business that we miss sometimes, and that's what I mean by the process, maybe the problem rather than the sales team. You may have decent salespeople, but your process and what you're asking them to do or wanting them to do or how you're judging them could be the foundational problem that's allowing them not to go out and speak the message. And so that's what I mean by that.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Okay, I love that. And if they try to automate that broken process, it's it's gonna cause problems.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I I I use I use AI. This is how I my I'm a love, I'm an analogy guy, love analogies. Um, and so you think about this. You take you the way AI is right now, you take a room full of kids and you open a bag of Skittles and you throw them on the floor. What's gonna happen? You're gonna start gobbling up all these Skittles, right? This kid may have six or seven, this may have eight or nine, this one have that is what AI is right now. It's a lot of tools out there, a lot of great stuff coming out, faster than you could even think about. And so what happens is business starts saying, well, let me put this in. Well, let me grab this piece. Oh, I want that, let me do this. And so they start grabbing these individual pieces rather than taking the whole bag of Skittles and handing it to the kid and saying, This is your whole bag. I think that's what my job is, is to say what you need and how you need it are two different things. And when you start thinking about how to implement those into the businesses and processes and what they do and how they do, then you're building a structure around that that AI can be a great useful tool. Um that is that is the to me the most important thing as a business owner, like having someone that can say, I don't think you need that one, but you may need X, Y, and Z to help them kind of understand and how it flows within what they're currently set up, is is is is what I do. And I and that's what I mean by that is that you you have to kind of understand where you want to put it and what you want to put it, where.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Now, while we're talking about AI, I have to bring up it's been all over the news, all the university graduating classes, booing, booing founders of of AI giving talks. Um, the university that I teach at included. Um, now I am by no means anti-AI. I love AI. I think it's wonderful. But what do you have to say about that? Do you think there are misconceptions?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

You know, that that is uh

AI Hype Versus Useful Workflows

SPEAKER_00 10:53

wow, that's such that's such a great question. And it and there is a big debate going on right now with that, right? I mean, there they're they're all over the place in this debate about that. And I think that, you know, for me and where I stand on that, AI is not going anywhere. Like it's not going to stop. AI is not going to leave. It's here. The people that we have in school today and the learning that happens, I think we have to really consider how we use the tools that they're going to be using when they get out in the workforce to be able to help them learn that, right? I think we can't say anti-AI because it's not going anywhere. It's just going to get better. We're investing as a country billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. So it's here to stay. Um and I go back to the the when internet came out. You know, we were, if you think about it, colleges and schools were like, hey, we don't want internet. No, you can't have those computers in here. But now you can't even have a business without a website. You can't even function in your day-to-day without internet. I mean, you can't even run a school classroom without computers today or internet. So I think we have to really examine how we use it and the structure within we use it and try to create some of our educational platforms and how how we engage in a classroom by implementing the tools safely, but letting them to be because we want people to be thinkers. We don't want to stop that. And how do you do that and AI at the same time is the challenge. And I think there's a happy medium. We just have to figure out what that is and how that works.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

100%. 100%. Now, my my audience is primarily solopreneurs and small businesses. So where do you see small and mid-sized businesses waste the most time without realizing it?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I think, you know, for for and we're talking about like really small business, and I call I call you know entrepreneurs newly, you know, zero to you know two or three million dollars, you know, roughly. And then maybe five to you know a hundred kind of the in the next step or or or however. But I think I think what what I notice the most is is is single entrepreneurs is is when they get into it, um they're either tired of of working their nine to five and they're and they want to go out and they want to create their own business, which I applaud. I'm all for. I think where it misses sometimes is they're not good at everything. And they're maybe really good at the sales side of it, for example. But they're not very good maybe in the marketing, or they're maybe not very good in the operational side of it or whatever. And so what happens is they try to do everything. They try to do all the phases. And so for very young entrepreneurs, people starting out small business, I always say, I think it's worth your time to do a session, whether that be with you with you or me or whoever or somebody that will allow them to kind of paint out their vision and how they want to start and

AI In Education And Misconceptions

SPEAKER_00 13:53

start really, I I call it, you know, diagnosing who they are, what they're gonna be, and kind of get that legwork done before they start. Because oftentimes is let's say that you you start your company and it takes off and you're making a lot of money. And you don't have those foundational things or those gaps. And the that comes to the head very quickly, and it's hard to retract back to building that foundational piece once you're up and going and you're really making money. At that point, you become what I call you're very reactive. You're being very reactive to the situation. And so I always encourage them be proactive, kind of set that vision of what you want to be. Doesn't mean it's not going to change. That's not what I'm getting at. But you but you if

Where Small Businesses Waste Time

SPEAKER_00 14:36

you do that part first before you start launching that entrepreneur, I think it'll give you that the skill set to say, I see this coming. Here is a problem. No, how can I be uh active or proactive on it versus reactive? The worst thing entrepreneurs can do is get in a reactive mindset and they end up burning out, they end up, you know, shutting down or going back to corporate America because it's just so overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, I think when you get in that reactive mindset, you have a job, not a business. Um, and I agree with you 100%. Reach out to someone and get help. I wish I had that when I was first starting out. I started my business part-time in '97 and I went full-time as an entrepreneur in 2000. And you did not have the sources we have now.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

No.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

And you don't. You had to learn, you know, baptism by fire, sink or swim.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

You're you're you're so right. And and there's like there's so I mean, there's so many great organizations out there. You know, there's there's so many that's that's free, there's some that cost, there's, there's, you know, I I I'm for myself including, like I I just have a hard time pay charging somebody to have a discovery call because I don't even know what their needs are. I I I I always tell people, and I'm pretty sure you're probably the same way, is like, why don't you just kind of tell me a little bit about what you're trying to do and let me like kind of think about that, you know, and and and kind of help people because I think, you know, for me, I had people that help me. Um and and and you had people to help you. Uh, but there are so you're right, there's so many resources out there today that can really help them and kind of plan out and be very uh you know thoughtful on on what they do. Um because you know, the worst thing you can do, and you said it, I love what you said, you're working in the business rather than owning the business. That happens a lot. And that's not just for small business owners, that's big businesses too. Hey, trust me, I've seen a lot of great big businesses that do over $100 million that are the same way.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah, and that does lead to burnout. Now, back to AI. What is one of the most common AI strategy mistakes that you see owners making right now?

SPEAKER_00 16:49

You know, I think it's uh with with uh Claude and and uh ChatGPT and Manus, there's a lot of them out there, and they're great tools. They're very, very good tools, but but what we're seeing is even a shift and and uh entrepreneurs heavily doing that as well as just normal people who don't own a business. We used to Google things. We used to go to the Google and put it in and ask things. Now we're doing it in these platforms. And uh even even the way you you know you you find a business today, it's you know, Google is still a great place, but it's vastly you can see it going down, and these others are moving up. And so I think what happens is is a lot of business owners start relying on that as their as their as their Bible to their business, how to operate, how to work it. So they they start putting in questions like, you know, how do I build a marketing campaign? How do I do this? How do I do that? And so, you know, the first thing that always comes to mind is SEO. Like everybody thinks about SEO, SEO, we got to have a website, gotta have people looking there. Well, well, I use as an example. Most companies what they're doing is they're putting their SEO configuration or their blog post, whatever in a CLID. Well, so is everybody else. So you're not being any different, you're just stacking up against everyone else. So you you have to be careful in what you're using the tool for and not be the the I call it the Bible to your business, but rather than a you know, rem you gotta keep remembering on AI. AI is a tool. It is only a tool. It's

The Biggest AI Strategy Mistake

SPEAKER_00 18:18

only gonna give you what you put into it. It's it's a way to connect. It's not it's not the reason the business was built. It's not the sole proprietary you are. Don't use it as a as a uh brain or a Bible, use it as a tool.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

100%. I totally agree with you on that. Because it can put out some really good stuff if prompting correctly. Prompting correctly, but it can put out some some really bad stuff as well.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

It can. It's uh it's it's it's pulling from a lot of places. So, you know, you you have to be careful on what you there's still that and and I'm and I'm and I'm very advocate about this. Even though I do AI automation, very adam, adamant about the human element. Um because because the first thing I always get is would be people. Well, AI is going to replace people. We're not gonna have people anymore working. And and and that is one way to look at it. But I think the right combination is using the tools, but having that human element too. Peer-to-peer conversation, real people is still very powerful. And we we can't lose sight of that. We have to have people, and I think people interacting is is very important. So I always always warn people don't be fully like, I'm gonna do everything AI, I'm not gonna have human beings and all that. Like, like I I I I'm not for that. I think that's the wrong move, but that's my personal opinion on.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Agree. That human connection is never gonna go away, and the companies who maintain it are definitely going to surpass those who don't.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Agreed. I totally agree. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Now, say a founder wants to use AI, but they they feel behind and lost. They don't even know where to start. What should be their first move?

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yeah, this is this is uh a really good example. Uh I I have a of I have a client that that uh had been in AI and been dabbling in some different platforms. And uh he reached out and said, Hey, uh uh I'd like to have a conversation with you. And I and I did, and and in discovery, I think he had 15 different AI tools that he stacks that he was using. And um he, you know, it was it was confusing, it was overwhelming. And and basically it got to where he forgot even the the ones that he had. He was still he was paying for them every month, but he didn't even know what he had. Um and I think that's very common uh that we start, you know, we see we see something on Instagram, we see something on Facebook, like, oh, that's really cool. Let me get that. And they do it. And they, you know, it's it's it's a low entry point, you know, it's $100 a month. Oh, it's not nothing, it's $100 a month, it's gonna do all this stuff. And then they get it and they're like, well, it doesn't really do what it says it's gonna do, and it doesn't fit into my company. And so you you're when you try to put something that is not intended for the way your company is structured, it's like putting a uh, you know, a square peg and a round hole. It's just not going to work. That's where I think having people who understand AI and understand how it works, not only

Feeling Lost With AI Tools

SPEAKER_00 21:18

just the AI tool, but the business sense too, so that you can have this great match. And and being able to to put that into to the way it should flow in your company is the right way to do that. And so even with this situation, you know, he had a whole bunch of great tools that he bought, and but it was not really nothing was actually getting done because they were all competing against each other.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Gotcha. Yeah, no, and that happens. That definitely happens in there are different tools that suit different jobs. What is one process fix that almost any business could make this week? Because I want my my listeners to go away with something tangible that that they can do. So this very week, what is one process that would fix almost anything in a business?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Uh I think if if I was going to give one, and there's there's tons, but to do to give one, I think the first process that I would that I would recommend for any business owner is to do a an exercise that I love to do with business owners. I I think it's um a a great tool. And I have a I have a little 10 10 questionnaire thing that I that I do. Um, but you can do it, you can you can do it on your own. You don't have to do the questionnaire that I have, you can do your own. But do do do an examination. Just just think of like when I say 10 questions, think about what is who who who are we? Like really, who who are we? Like who who and and and and what do we do? So who are we? What do we do? And why do we do it? Ask yourself those three questions. I know it may be challenging, and you may go, yeah, we're we X, Y, Z, you're done. I've done the task, done. But I challenge you to really dive deep and say, okay, and maybe ask a coworker, maybe ask somebody that sits over in the inside sales department or the marketing department, ask them that question. And get a can get a sense of your team, of the people that work for you, to answer those three and take that data and go back and look at it and see if they're all the same, then you're off

Three Questions To Align Teams

SPEAKER_00 23:26

to a great start. If you got a bunch of different answers on that, I think that's the place you probably should start. Is that no, if your own team and your own company and your own infrastructure cannot answer those and everybody be on the same page, that's the process that needs to be fixed first because you can't grow, you can't build, you can't change until you all get that in line with each other.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

I love that. Now, if listeners want to learn more, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Yeah, so uh I have a website, stoneflyconsulting.com. Um, my email is Chad at stoneflyconsulting.com. Very, very original. Uh I also, you know, if if I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn, Chad Paris, uh, they can reach out there, you send a message. Love to have a conversation. And you know, and that's that's one thing that I find that I love the most is having these types of conversations with people, get to learn about their business. Um, I I don't charge people to have a conversation. I'm not charging you $300 an hour to have a conversation. Uh I often tell people all the time, I don't even know if you're a good fit for me, and I don't know if I'm a good fit for you unless I understand what you're doing or what you're trying to do. So in order for me to do that and be the best for you, I got to kind of have that discovery to know first before I can even help you. Because listen, I'm gonna be the first one to tell you. I'm not your person, but I know somebody who is. Uh I I'm okay with saying that.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Absolutely. I I agree. And that transparency is so important. So I want you guys out there to listen to what Chad said today. Start nailing down, you know, who are you? What is it you do? Who are you helping? Because that those are your first steps to really know your why. And until next time, keep planning like a boss.