Welcome to another inspiring episode of The Jonny Ross Fractional CMO podcast! In this episode, Jonny Ross sits down with Sandy Domingos-Shipley, a renowned business strategist and author of the enlightening book "How to Build a World-Class Business One Brick at a Time."

With over 20 years of experience, Sandy shares her journey from Canada to the UK, her career development, and the valuable insights she has gathered along the way. Discover actionable strategies on customer focus, leadership, efficient business processes, and effective marketing that you can implement to elevate your business.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Customer Focus:
• Why aligning your business strategy with customer needs is crucial.
• Practical steps to embed a customer-centric culture in your business.
• Leadership:
• Strategies for creating effective leadership within an organization.
• The importance of setting realistic and measurable goals.
• Marketing Strategy:
• Key elements of an effective marketing strategy.
• The role of market research and SMART goals in targeting the right audience.
• Building Strategic Partnerships:
• How to form and nurture partnerships that enhance your business reach.
• Real-life examples of successful collaborations.
• Technology and Automation:
• Leveraging technology to streamline operations.
• The benefits and challenges of implementing marketing automation.

Quotes from the Episode:

• "Aligning your business strategies with customer needs is crucial for sustainable growth." – Sandy Domingos-Shipley
• "Effective leadership sets the direction and inspires the entire team to achieve business goals." – Sandy Domingos-Shipley

Listen and Be Inspired:

• Learn how Sandy's innovative use of Post-it notes evolved into the structure of her book.
• Understand the importance of storytelling in change management and marketing.
• Hear about Sandy’s dyslexia diagnosis and how it influenced her career and parenting approach.

Key Takeaways:

1. Focus on Top Priorities: Identify and concentrate on the top three areas that need attention in your business.
2. Employee Engagement: Collaborate with your staff and bring them along in the journey.
3. Self-Reflection: Regularly assess your leadership style and its impact on your team.
4. Effective Communication: Understand the diverse ways people process information and adapt your communication accordingly.

Upcoming Projects:

Sandy is planning to offer workshops to help businesses implement the principles from her book. These hands-on sessions will provide personalised guidance and practical solutions.

Where to Find the Book:

• Purchase on any Amazon platform.
• For a signed copy, visit Sandy's website. https://www.thesystemslink.com/

Links and Resources:

• Sandy Domingos-Shipley's Book: How to Build a World-Class Business One Brick at a Time
• Jonny Ross’s Website: https://jonnyross.com
• Connect with Jonny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonnyross/
• Follow Jonny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonnyross
• Fleek Marketing: https://fleek.marketing

Subscribe, Rate, and Review:

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts. Your support helps us reach more listeners and share valuable insights from experts like Sandy.

Join Us:

Don't miss our next episode, where we continue to bring you stories, tips, and strategies from inspirational business leaders.

Chapters:

00:00:12

Introduction and Guest Introduction

Introduction to the podcast and introduction of the guest, Sandy Dominguez Shipley. Remembering Rob Burrow - A moment of acknowledgment for the passing of Rob Burrow, a rugby league legend, and the impact on the rugby community. Sandy's Inspiration from Rob Burrow - Sandy shares her admiration for Rob Burrow's fighting spirit and determination to make a difference despite his illness. Sandy's Journey and Book Introduction - Introduction to Sandy's background, her bold move to the UK, and the discussion about her new book, 'How to Build a World Class Business 1 Brick at a Time.'

00:03:35

Sandy's Career Journey and Struggles

Sandy shares her career journey, struggles with dyslexia, and her determination to succeed despite challenges. Starting a Business and Networking - Sandy talks about starting her business, the importance of networking, and the power of personal connections in business growth. Implementing Quality Management System - Sandy discusses her experience with ISO 9001 quality management system and its impact on building a world-class business. Using Lego as a Framework - Sandy explains the concept of using Lego as a metaphor for implementing business frameworks and the importance of purpose-driven business practices. Discovering the Power of Purpose - Sandy shares her realization of the power of purpose in business and the impact of having a clear vision, values, and mission. The Importance of People in Business - Sandy emphasizes the significance of people in business, the value of showing personality, and the need for purpose-driven work environments. Writing the Book and Using Post-it Notes - Sandy shares her journey of writing the book, using post-it notes as a tool for organizing ideas, and the influence on the book's structure.

00:15:49

Customer Focus and Business Strategy

Sandy discusses the importance of aligning business strategy with customer needs and practical steps for achieving customer-centric business culture. Creating Effective Leadership - Sandy shares strategies for creating effective leadership within an organization, including communication, goal setting, and training for newly promoted managers. Key Elements of an Effective Marketing Strategy - Sandy outlines key elements of an effective marketing strategy, including market research, smart goals, and strategic partnerships. Impact of Leadership Chapter - Reflections from MDs on the leadership chapter, highlighting the importance of focusing on people and culture in addition to business growth. Leadership and Self-Reflection - Discussion on the importance of self-awareness and reflection for effective leadership. The Power of Storytelling in Change Management - Exploring the role of storytelling in facilitating change and overcoming resistance to change. Key Takeaways and Future Plans - Key takeaways from the book and the author's plans for guiding businesses through the principles discussed in the book.

Hello and welcome. We are live on

LinkedIn. We're live on Instagram and we

are live on YouTube. This is the Johnny

Ross Fractional CMO podcast. I'm your

host, Johnny Ross. And today we have a

truly inspiring guest, Sandy Dominguez

Shipley. You're right, Sandy.

I am, how are you?

How's everyone? Yeah, really good, thank

you. Really excited to be talking about

your story and the book that you've just

written. But before we dive into our

discussion, I just wanted to take a

moment to acknowledge the passing of Rob

Burrow, a rugby league legend and true

inspiration to many, His courage and

spirit have touched countless lives and

he'll be deeply missed. Sandy, I know

you're a massive rugby fan. I don't even

think the word massive explains it, but a

huge rugby fan. This must be a

significant moment for you as well. And I

just wanted to see if you want to share a

few words about Rob and his impact on the

rugby community.

Yeah so I mean I started following rugby

league after he had retired but a lot of

people who were trying to teach me about

rugby league always spoke about Rob but

for me what got me was his fighting

spirit, you know, and knowing that there

is no cure for me, but I want to do

something for the future generations who

might, you know, get this disease, etc.

And having that determination and from in

Canada, we've got someone called Terry

Fox, who in his early 20s was trying to

come up with fundraising for a cure for

cancer, et cetera. And there was so many

similarities to Rob's character with

Terry that it just attracted me to him

and his story. And, you know, what he's

done is going to change how things are

received for the illness with a new

medical centre coming at me. I mean, what

he's done is going to be life changing,

definitely.

Yeah, yeah. Certainly leave a very large

legacy and very fond memories. Listen,

let's focus on today's show. Sandy is a

renowned business strategist and the

author of The new book, How to Build a

World Class Business 1 Brick at a Time,

with over 20 years of experience in

helping businesses streamline their

operations and focus on quality, Sandy

has a unique talent for turning complex

concepts into actionable insights. Just

wanted to share a tiny bit of Sandy's

journey which is fascinating as it is

motivating. So you're originally from

Canada, you made a bold move to the UK

with just 2 suitcases and a dream. Over

the years you've not only built a

successful career but also a thriving

business. Your book is a culmination of

your extensive experience providing

valuable insights into customer focus,

leadership and efficient business

processes. You're passionate about

helping SMEs grow sustainably and

efficiently, and your approach is

practical, down to earth and incredibly

effective. Certainly I was just talking

about in the green room about when I've

read the book, I find it so actionable

and so easy to read, so easy to

understand. Listen, I'm thrilled to have

you on the show and to share your journey

and talk about the new book and provide

some actionable tips for building a

world-class business. So welcome again,

Sandy.

Thanks for the invite and thanks for

giving me a chance to talk about the

book. It definitely was the hardest thing

I did. Moving to the UK and raising 3

kids was so much easier. So much easier.

But yes, thanks a lot, Johnny.

That says a lot. So tell us about your

career journey and how you ended up

writing the book.

So I'll just kind of explain my

background. I'm obviously I'm from

Toronto, Canada, for those who don't

know. And at the age of 21, I woke up on

my birthday and decided I'm leaving

Canada and left with 2 suitcases and a

thousand pounds. Now at the age of 21, I

was a translator interpreter for

Portuguese. So I did a lot of work in

there and worked in legal in real estate.

So when I moved over, I thought, you

know, I'll go to a country where they

speak English. Why not? And I did lots of

things. I've did graphic designing,

office management, you know,

partnerships. But the 1 thing I did

struggle is that everyone judged me for

not having an academic background

throughout my career because I didn't

have a degree. So I kind of finished high

school, that's a long story in itself,

and I dropped out of college. And I

really struggled when it comes to

academic formatting of teaching, but I

never knew why. And I kind of knew that

there was always something wrong with me.

I don't mean it in a negative way, but I

just thought, how can I learn 5 languages

by the age of 18 on my own, but I

couldn't read a page on a newspaper or

whatever? It just didn't make any sense.

But throughout my career, I always worked

hard and I always found innovative ways

to do something better. And then that led

to another promotion. So I kind of had 1

job that led to so many promotions within

the same organization because of the way

I would work. And so when my son, my

eldest was diagnosed with dyslexia in

year 4, I got assessed at the same time.

So I thought, you know what, I'm going to

check, you know, why not? The day she

told me that I had dyslexia was probably

the happiest day of 1 of my top 5 because

it was an answer to what I couldn't

understand. But then I didn't know what

that meant in terms of, you know, my son

got really upset because he thought it

was a disability. He saw it as a

disability that it was going to stop him

from getting anywhere. And he was really

struggling. What am I going to do with my

life? So you know, When I was trying to

tell Louis what I've achieved, despite

not knowing I had dyslexia, despite the

challenges, moving to another country,

having, he wasn't taking that. He said,

mom, you're just saying that because

you're my mom, which as a parent is the

hardest thing to hear because you're

pouring your heart out with truth. And he

just wasn't listening. He really did

think that he was going to get nowhere

because people around him were very

academic, doing lots of things. And

schools were very pressured on the grades

and so on. So I said to my husband, I

need to do something because I can't just

sit here seeing Louis think that he's not

gonna get somewhere. So I just said, I'm

gonna start a business. He's like, I

don't know, I'll figure it out. So I came

up with a company name, you know, just

made 1 up. And I for the first year just

that worked. And all I did in that first

year was talk to people. I didn't tell

them what I did. I just want to talk to

people. And I early I realized early on

that people didn't want to know me

because I didn't have a big organization

behind me like I did before. And that was

a big learning curve when you go from the

public sector to private sector, like

you're starting from ground 0. And So

yeah, so I gave myself time to just not

put pressure on me just talk to people

meet people Because guess what you grow

your business by people. It's not

necessarily what you do or not So what

who you know, it's who you are. It's who

you are as an individual that will get

you far. And then I met somebody, again,

at this point, I had no idea what I was

gonna do. And I met somebody at a

networking event And he's like, Oh, what

did you do before, you know, before you

were on your own? And I said, Well, I did

this and did that. I says, Oh, so have

you heard of ISO? I said, Sorry, was ISO.

This? Are you sure? Because everything

you've literally just explained to me,

aligns with 9001 quality management

system, like really? So he said, do look

into that. So I did that, did the Lead

Auditor's course. And I sat there going,

so this 5 day really intensive course,

and I did that. And I'm like, does

everyone think this way? So I found that

whole week was nothing new, apart from

clause numbers, which for me was

horrendous. The principles of best

practice within the framework is how I've

been operating in the first place since

I've been working. So I found it

naturally easy to grasp because there was

nothing new. And that's how it all

started.

And you've taken down 9001 and used the

framework and the principles and sort of

taking away some of the technical aspects

of it to ultimately bring those best

practices for a world class business.

That's what you've done, isn't it?

Yeah. So I've tried to implement it with

a very business centric approach, not a

compliance or standard approach, because

I think that just makes people worry and

they find the whole implementation very

difficult because it's like you're

interpreting a new language. But what I

did during COVID, because that's where

obviously we met, is I was trying to

figure out a way to explain to people

what is a standard, what is it? And Lego

came about and I remembered being growing

up being an only child. I used to use

Lego to break things down in my head when

it was too complicated, whether it was a

personal problem, I used to kind of do

that to kind of make it more manageable.

And I remember doing a conversation with

somebody and he couldn't understand what

we were doing. And my son was playing

Lego on the floor and I thought, oh, let

me try this. So what I was saying to him

is that the standard is like the Lego

manual. It's a guide to tell you how to

get from, you know, the starting point to

the end result of what you want. And

every business in the world, whether you

are Google, my business, or a printing

agency, we all have the same core

foundations. Like LEGO, every set in the

world has got the core. The difference is

how it's being used. So HR, finance, they

all have the same customer service. The

difference is how we use it. And so if we

implement the framework like a Lego

manual with purpose, with focus, with the

end objective, then it becomes just the

way of working as opposed to doing

something because the standard says you

have to do it. And that's the thing is

you have to give everything purpose or in

this day and age when businesses are so

busy, if there is no purpose, people

won't follow through. And that's what I

tried to

do. And it's amazing how many businesses

start and don't even know their purpose

or don't realize the power of having a

purpose. And it took me, it must have

taken me a good 5 years within my own

business to realize that there actually

was a point to visions, values, missions,

purpose. Because in those first 5 years,

I thought, well, this is all a waste of

time. And it's just a waste of my time

putting words on paper. But actually, the

difference that that can make is

powerful. You also talked about people

and you're absolutely right, people buy

from people. It's about showing

personality. People buy from people they

like and so I love that you just

naturally went into that networking

environment in that first year of your

own business because you totally nailed

it. It's about, it is about people.

It is. And it's the same with it, with

your staff, you know, treat them like

that. You know, people spend more time at

work than they do with their own family.

So if you don't give them purpose and

bring them along the journey, they're

just going to think that they're just

there 9 to 5 and they go. Also, there are

some people that are happy with that. And

as long as you accept that and

acknowledge that, focus on the ones that

do want that purpose. And there's been a

lot of research about the new generation

of staff coming through, you know, that

actually will put things, will spend time

with purpose, they want to work with

organizations that have purpose that

makes them feel part of that purpose. You

know, when companies have all these

ambitions and everything else, they don't

really tell staff how far along they are.

They don't tell them how they've

contributed to them. And therefore they

just feel like they're turning work

without anything. They don't understand

how they feel part of it. Yeah.

I was honored to have been invited to

your book launch, which was fantastic.

Thank you very much indeed. And

particularly interesting the interview

that you did And you talked about how

when you were putting the idea of the

book together, I mean, this was over a

number of years as well. It was a lot of

it was around using hundreds of post-it

notes. And I was just wondering how just

how that evolved into a book and whether

that had an influence on the structure of

the book at all?

Yeah, so the reason I did post-it notes

initially, I never wanted to write a

book, never thought I could because

obviously with being dyslexic and words

is not my... I'm good at speaking but not

necessarily writing. My problem is I

forget what I've decided or I forget

solutions I've come up with before

because of how my brain, I just know how

it works now. And at this time I thought,

you know what, every time I come up with

a solution, unique to this client, I'll

just write it down. I'll just write it

down. And just in case it comes up again

or there's something similar because when

I problem solve for clients, I never use

the same solution to somebody else

because there's a lot of things that are

different, but I will use it as a

foundation to start building something

unique for them. And so I just started

writing them as a reminder to myself what

I've done when I was on site or something

came up as an audit idea or whatever. And

I just had this build up, build up, build

up. And 1 day my business mentor was like

what are you going to do with them? I'm

like I've got no idea so I've got them

but I don't know what to do and I'm

surprised I kept them because I hate

clutter and it was this big folder full

of just Post-it notes, random Post-it

notes. And then I was speaking to my

copywriter who, and she said, your ebooks

been so popular that I created during

COVID. And a lot of people have been

asking for more of it. That she said, why

don't you use those Post-it notes? So I

said, well, I don't even know what I've

gotten them. Because I was just doing

them as they were coming. There was no

structure. It was just whenever something

came through, I'd put it in there. And

then I was starting to distribute them in

terms of categories. And I realized,

actually, I've got enough here to start

something and so with my copywriter she

did the the framework finding somebody

that understands your brain like my

copywriter does it helps because she

gives me calm when I might not be. And so

she can kind of see, you know, where I

should go. And that's what we did. We

worked together on the framework and then

that's how I started putting more content

into it. But yeah, like I said, moving to

this country, 3 kids was so much easier.

I like the idea how you use the Post-it

notes to create categories and that I

think led into the chapters and 1 of the

chapters I want to focus on is marketing

but I'm going to come onto that shortly

because I'm going to start with 1 of the

early chapters, which is around customer

focus. So I think chapter 1 customer

focus, you emphasize the importance of

aligning business strategy with customer

needs. Why is that crucial and what are

some of the practical steps a business

can do to achieve that?

Yeah, it's what I've noticed with a lot

of businesses, you know, no matter what

size it's been is that people forget

sometimes who they're selling to. They're

so eager to either copy a competitor

because they're doing really well, or

they're so chasing the money that

sometimes they forget who they're

actually selling to. And, you know, and

so trying to really embed a customer

centric culture, where it is very

obvious, and you know, continuous

research, you know, always looking at

that, you know, embedding a customer

journey mapping is very important because

it really tells you that you really do

understand because customers are very

fickle these days. And if we don't, you

know, the way we were as a cut because

you and our customers, but if you forget

that we ourselves are customers. So when

we look at customers, we don't actually

reflect on what would we be like, are we

a customer to our product or service that

we're selling to. If we don't have a map

and reflect that map and how we were 10

years ago is not how we are now in terms

of buying powers and so on, guess what?

These things make us more powerful than

we've ever been. If we don't really

understand and put that at the core of

everything we do, then the strategy will

be a waste of time. You know, and the

other thing is measuring. I am and you'll

tell me the book, monitoring and

measuring is the key to anything. First

of all, asking the right questions is the

first thing, but having the right tools

to measure what we are doing with the

right objectives, whether strategy,

whether it's smart. If we don't have

that, you're not going to know if it's

good or not. And that's what I see all

the time. So we've got all these great

ideas. But if we don't put the customer

first in understanding what they want and

actually have a way of measuring based on

what we want out of it, then we're just

gonna go around in circles. So I try to

implement a framework around that so that

every time they want to add a new product

or change the services, we always put

those questions first before we even move

forward.

You talked about, well, in fact, actually

people that are listening right now, you

might be on the podcast. Welcome, by the

way. Sandy was holding up an iPhone if

you were curious as to what you thought

you'd give up at 1 point.

I always forget.

But I'm very, very grateful for our

listeners. You talked about ensuring that

you understand the customer and know the

customer. And what's really interesting,

I'm currently reading a book Rory

Sutherland who wrote Alchemy. And What's

fascinating is even the customer doesn't

actually know what they want or certainly

they can't explain it because a lot of it

is psychological. So it's so important

for a business to understand the

customer, but it's also so important for

a business to understand and recognize

that the customer doesn't always know

exactly why or what they want either.

Well, Apple are a great example. Apple

is, you know, in my book, I don't use a

lot of big corporates, for example,

because I try to make the book more

relatable to an SMA. But occasionally, I

did. And Apple is the perfect example of

that. The whole iPhone thing, having a

computer on a phone, they created that

need. They created that want. We didn't

know that we wanted that. And if you can

do that, but you can do that by

understanding who you're trying to sell

to and create that vision. We were

talking before we were on the show about

the power of storytelling and creating an

idea, a vision of what people might want.

You know, We get influenced by people and

stories and, oh, how can I have a bit of

that? And if you can create that, that

makes you unique. Because if you can

create that ideal situation that the

client might want, that will set you

apart as opposed to trying to fit in with

what is currently the trend, you're going

to go ahead, but that takes skill and

time to do that. But if you can do that,

that will set you apart from everybody

else. But Apple is a great example of

that.

Yeah, for sure. In in chapter 2

leadership, you talk about the role of

strong leadership in driving business

success. Can you share some of the

strategies for creating effective

leadership within an organization?

So obviously there's quite a few, but for

me, my top 3 would be communicating

company goals and keeping them updated

you know but don't over communicate too

many people either over communicate and

people will switch off or they don't

communicate enough it's trying to find

the right balance to suit your

organizations but keep them on board

about what's going on. You know, the

companies, like I said before, will have

targets, ambitions, you know, we want to

get this amount of growth, you want this

sector or whatever it is, but don't keep

the staff involved in where progress is

going or where they're not going and get

them to come up with solutions. So if

you're not meeting your targets, get the

staff to come up with, you know, why do

you think we're not getting there? You

know, you guys are the ones who are doing

the work, are we not resourcing it? Or we

make was this target impossible? You

know, that is 1 thing Setting measurable

goals and making them realistic the

amount of times I've seen people have

like Okr's or you know really hard ones

and and not demonstrating that they don't

understand what the staff go through. If

you're going to set goals, personal

objectives, company objectives, make them

realistic. Don't make them too easy

because then people won't put in the

effort, but make them a little bit

challenging, but not too much. When it's

too impossible, and I've seen some of

them going, you really thought you're

gonna be able to do that? It's gonna

cause a lot of negative reaction from the

staff. Staff are not gonna react to it.

So make it realistic because it'll

demonstrate you understand their role and

what the complexity of what they've got

to do. And the last 1 I would say,

because like I said, there's a few things

is provide training for newly promoted

managers. Oh, I see a lot of people who

get promoted because they're good at a

job, but doesn't mean they're good at

managing people. It's 2 separate skill

sets. And unfortunately, I've seen over

the years that people get promoted for

doing a good job, but don't get the

support they need, whether it's

mentorship, training, whatever it is,

supporting them in that transition,

because they're not going to be doing

that job anymore. They're going to be

focusing on supporting that. For me, it's

a great sign of leadership, because it

means that you understand their

weaknesses. And again, not everybody.

Some of us might say, but I was good. I

know there's always a small percentage

that naturally fall into the manager

role, but there's a lot that don't and if

you can support them in that transition

for me is a good sign for all the staff

that you are always there to support them

in their personal growth because it is

all part of the personal growth.

Yeah. And for anyone watching or

listening right now, I mean, if you can't

argue with that, can you? There's some

very simple practical steps here, but the

question is, are you implementing that

within your business and how well are you

implementing that? And Sandy has

ultimately got a bit of a roadmap here

for you making it very simple on all the

things that you need to be considering. I

want to get into the marketing strategy.

And so you talk about marketing strategy,

you also talk about building strategic

partnerships. Let's focus on some of the

key elements of an effective marketing

strategy that you outline in the book and

how businesses ensure that they're

targeting the right audience?

So again, and there's various things I'll

talk about 2 or 3 that I think are easy

ones to do is first of all market

research and that analysis you know, you

need to do some market research, but the

things you're looking at is, you know,

competitive strengths, weaknesses and

threats. You know, those are things that

are sometimes obvious through, you know,

word of mouth kind of research,

Identifying what people are good at, you

know, like if you look at basketball

players, Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal,

they knew each other's weaknesses and

strengths and they pushed themselves. If

we know what our compa- you know, don't

look at competitors as a negative, look

them as a positive, because there are

things that you're gonna be stronger at

and things that you're not. So work on

the nots so you can go above. Because

what I see a lot of people do, a lot of

businesses do is that they can

complacent, they know they're really good

at something, but they stay there. Your

role is if you want to get above is

actually how can you go above that. So

doing market research is important.

Finding the right people with the right

skills to do it. That's the thing is you

have to find someone who's good at it.

You know don't just I couldn't do it to

the level that it needs to be, but if you

find the right person, they know how to

do that. Smart goals, set measurable.

Again, it's always about what is it that

you want from it? And so many people do

not know what they want from it. They'll

say, Oh, we want to make more money.

Well, that's not enough. You have to put

it more practical. Again, get the Lego

pieces, write them down and focus on what

they are. And if you cannot measure what

you're trying to do, then don't do it.

Just don't because you're not going to,

you're not going to learn from it. So

whatever thing you do when it comes to

marketing, make sure you can measure it

with a report, with numbers, with

something, so that you can look back and

go, OK, did it work or did it not work?

Why didn't it work? If it doesn't work,

it's great that it didn't work because

you'll learn from it. We only learn from

our mistakes. So for me, mistakes are a

good thing. Don't look at it as a

negative. So for me, if you can't measure

it, don't do it. And the last 1 I would

say is partnerships and collaboration. I

think too many people look at

partnerships as a negative, as in, you

know, what if they're going to take my

client away or what, you know, that kind

of worry of the, but actually what

positives can you get from it? You know,

when we are absolutely inundated with,

marketing and posts and all that, if we

partner with the right person or they are

organization, you're going to have such a

broader reach with hardly any effort if

that makes any sense. And it's your

opportunity to enter the room and show

what you're good at. And There's so many,

you know, big corporates do partnerships

all the time because they see the

benefit. They don't see the negative. So

if you do partnerships and obviously

small businesses, they really struggle to

figure out how to do that. And it's

really looking at What are you weak at?

And is there anybody next, you know,

around that you trust who might be, you

know, for example, I might be a company

that manufactures product and our

warehouse system just doesn't work or

really, you know, delay. But if I partner

with a dispatch center who does this for

loads of companies, that works. And it

helps both ways. So for me, focusing on

partnerships in a practical way, you

know, in small doing small steps, because

it is quite a big in small steps. You

know, it does work. And there's examples

in the book that talks about that.

Yeah, I mean, you just mentioned some big

brands do it. Walkers and Pepsi are doing

it right now for the Euros, you know, 2

huge brands, but doing that partnership.

And what I found with a lot of small

businesses is there's so many

opportunities out there, but some of them

just either haven't thought about

partnerships or don't have the

confidence, feel that they're not going

to add enough value to form a

partnership. And I challenge you, just

like Sandy is right now, in terms of the

power of a partnership and the actually

the amount of value that you can bring if

you choose and find the right

partnership. And I was laughing at smart

goals, by the way, because a lot of the

marketing strategy that I do and the

workshops that I do, I do a LinkedIn

workshop. And 1 of the first things that

I say is, you know, actually, what is it

you're wanting to achieve from LinkedIn?

And they all say the same thing, you

know, more money, more contacts, more,

more clients. But if you go in to

LinkedIn as a, with a marketing strategy

of, I just want more business, it's never

going to work. So you've got to have

something very specific, measurable, easy

to achieve, attainable, that smart

objective. Have some, and so focused and

targeted.

Yeah. And thing is like for me, I mean, I

don't go LinkedIn saying I want more

business. What I use LinkedIn is, is to

educate. That is my sole purpose is to

educate. And as long as people come back

to me and say, I love that post, I love

that blog, I know that my purpose for

LinkedIn is educating. It's not selling.

I never sell on LinkedIn because it's not

for me, but some people do. Like I said,

it's something simple, measure, measure,

measure. You know, it's boring, but it's

the data, you can't lie with data.

I think 1 of the chapters you talk about

leadership And I know we talked about

earlier But 1 of the things that

interested me was that some of the

feedback that you've had is that that's

actually 1 of the big biggest chapters

that gets people to reflect just tell me

some of the stories that you've heard

already about what some of the MDs that

have been reading this have said about

that leadership section?

Yeah, so what they've said is they didn't

realize that because they're so busy

trying to grow the business, you know,

more money, you know, bigger turnover,

that actually they've not focused on the

stuff that has to be done before, which

is the foundations of the people and the

culture, because they're so busy chasing

the next contract or the next tender or

whatever. And what it's done, it's made

them reflect on how they are as a leader

in an MD, because obviously anyone can be

an MD, but doesn't mean you're a leader.

It's 2 separate things. And to be a

leader means you have self-awareness of

your role as part of the team. You know,

you are there giving the vision and the

drive to the people within your team. You

know, they're not going to put as much

energy in your business if you do not

acknowledge their role in all that. And

so, you know, 1 guy said to me, I saw

myself as a leader because I was the MD,

but actually reading the book, I've done

none of that. Yes, they've all got good

pay. But as a leader for what it's meant

to be I've not done that so he's now

gonna go through the the workbook area to

Change, you know at the mission statement

that actually means something, you know

in the book I talk about mission vision

and so on A lot of these are fluffy words

for a lot of people. But actually, it's

it's a statement that says this is how we

are. But the empty does not behave in

that way or does not demonstrate through

their actions. No one's going to buy into

it. So their actions actually say a lot.

And so yeah, that was kind of an

interesting, I wasn't expecting that 1 to

be so brought up is the leadership, it is

about self reflection. I was saying to

before I self reflect how I was last year

the year before, because if we don't,

we're never going to learn anything from

how to be a better version of ourselves

for next time, for the next year. We need

to give ourselves purpose, even as a

leader. So yeah, that was an interesting

reaction to the book, is a leadership

bit.

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? How

it's only until you start reading

something or listening to something that

you actually start reflecting and

reflection is so important. You believe

strongly in storytelling, which in

marketing, I think, actually a lot of it

is around storytelling. What's your,

what's your thoughts on storytelling and

how important that is?

So for me, the biggest challenge in the

business is change management without a

shadow of a doubt is when you're

introducing change to people, people

don't like that they see it as a negative

because that's you know I'm familiar with

something whether it's a process or a

procedure that is how I know and when you

change something people are like oh my

god what does that mean they really go

into the negative they don't see change

as a positive and as a whole storytelling

is the easiest way to get people to buy

in because you're bringing them along.

You're putting purpose into what you're

doing. And, you know, it's So key to, you

know, everyone talks about storytelling

when it comes to marketing, which is

obviously, you know, narrative marketing,

etc. But if you use stories to

communicate why you're changing

something, you're naturally bringing

people into your world as to why you're

doing it. You're not doing it because the

MD decided we're going to do something or

the office manager decided on a whim, but

too many people make changes without

really communicating it. And just telling

people why you're changing it doesn't

work. But bringing a story element does.

And unfortunately, when I use the word

storytelling, people think it's a fluff

term because it's very soft. But like the

frame, the ISO, it's just a framework of

communication. And 1 book that I tell a

lot of my clients to read is Build a

story brand book by Donald Miller

great book great

It it I mean he plus the research that

he's done with and Dr. JJ Peterson about

storytelling and the framework, it is

perfect for SMEs. It really is. And it's

not just a corporate thing, storytelling.

And so I try to help my clients use that

framework to communicate change. And it

does take time and practice. The first

time it may not work, but as you go and

get used to it, it does actually work

because people understand and they will

buy into it. Sandy,

we're coming to the end here. There's so

much if we had to, if you had to

summarize the book, what would you think

of the top 3 takeaways that you really

hope readers are going to get and take

away from this? What would be your top 3

takeaways?

I would say the first 1 is think of your

top 3 areas that you want to focus on.

Our brain cannot cope with more. I mean,

the book has a lot of topics, but

prioritize the top 3 and focus on those

top 3 because don't get distracted by

everything else. Again, use Lego to

visualize those 3 things. So whether you

put a word in each Lego block just to

kind of focus it right. I'm going to

focus on this 1. The other 1 is bring

people along, talk to your staff. They

are the ones who do the work. Guess what?

They'll have great ideas. So

collaborating with your staff, with your

teams, bringing them along just makes

things better. It really does. And the

last 1 is self reflection. I really, I

can't say how self reflection, whether

you're the manager or the MD or the

leader, self reflection of where you are

versus what you're doing with your team

does actually have a big impact. So for

me, those 3, 0, can I add another 1,

sorry? Is communication, Understanding

how to communicate with your staff

because unfortunately there's a lot of

different types of people who process

information differently. So understanding

the intricacies of different people with

whether they have ADHD, dyslexia. There's

a lot of ways people learn and knowing

what works for each member of staff as a

whole does help you ensure that whatever

you do moving forward does get through to

people. Sorry, I had to add that.

Well, we can have 4 takeaways. I'm just

wondering if you've got what the next

exciting thing you've got coming up,

because you've spent so long on this

book. I'm just wondering what the next

thing for you is if you've already set

your own Smart objective or if it's back

to focusing on the business What's next

1 thing? I'd love to do and I've and I'm

planning it for the next 12 months is I

want to go into businesses and put some

and guide them through some of these

principles because even though you know

it is very practical sometimes people do

struggle to interpret that into their own

business because guess what they're busy

doing stuff so I've targeted myself to to

to work with businesses do workshops and

actually go through some of these and

make it where they can ask questions,

because we learn by asking questions. And

so that's kind of what I'm focusing on,

because I really do believe in my book.

It is what I do, and I have done in the

last 8 years, and I know it's worked. So

I kind of want to expand it to actually

make it into a workshop with people so

they can air out their worries and their

struggles and use my dyslexic

problem-solving skills to help them

through that process.

I love this. The listeners and viewers

right now wanting to grab the book, where

should they be going?

So they can get it on any Amazon platform

or, my kids think this is funny, if you

want to sign copy you can buy directly

from my website because apparently that's

very popular. So, yeah, if you want to

sign copy, you get it from myself on my

website and you'll get a signed copy. So

we'll put we'll put the links in the show

notes. I highly, highly recommend you buy

this book and read it and start

implementing some of these practical tips

into your business. They're so

actionable. I like the word how you

called it a workbook because it is a book

that you can literally work through. And

then I think it's about thinking about

whether you should be engaging with

somebody to help you actually through

this and start focusing on your business.

And, Sandy, thank you so much for joining

the podcast. It's, it's been an absolute

pleasure. We could have talked for much

more. We've not even, you know, there's

so much we've not covered away from the

book as well. But I am really thankful.

I'm thankful for you listening and

watching as well. So thanks for joining

us. Please do subscribe, let us know what

you think, give us feedback. And I'm sure

that Sandy is up for answering questions

as well afterwards. Best place to find

you online, is it LinkedIn or?

LinkedIn is where I'm always at, but my

website does have a contact sheet. But

yeah, I'm happy to give my email address

on the notes afterwards if anyone wants

to get in touch directly.

Fantastic. Listen, this has been Jonny

Ross, Fractional CMO with Sandi

Dominguez-Shippley with her new book,

Building a World Class Business. Go out

there, buy it and start changing your

business today. Thank you so much, Sandy.

We'll see you all soon. Take care.

Thanks a lot, Johnny.