Rose Davidson: Hello. And are you looking to achieve peak performance? Your personal life and your business life as well. My next guest, Brad toolbag can help you with those things. Brad is a seasoned consultant who has helped many small to medium sized business owners grow their profits, helping them select the right tools and operate at peak performance.
Welcome Brad, and thank you so much for joining me at some ungodly hour.
Brad Tornberg: Thank you rose for having me. I appreciate it.
Rose Davidson: So firstly, let’s touch a little bit on your book, which is it’s around a business fitness revolution and it looks at the physical and mental wellbeing of the C-level executive or business owner.
Tell me how you came up with the concept and what exactly is it?
Brad Tornberg: It’s an interesting story. It started with me doing some consulting hired by a C-level executive to take a look at his organization. And the first day that I was in there, what I noticed was he was extremely out of shape.
He was sweating profusely and it was the middle of winter. He had fried food on his desk that he was eating in front of him and he was yelling and screaming at all of the people in his organization. And they looked very unhappy. Actually, they looked pretty miserable. And that’s when I realized that the business owner is like the brain of the business and how he communicates or doesn’t communicate effectively is like the central nervous system.
So I wrote a blog article on that, and then I took it a little bit further and I started to look. Other parts of the business that are like systems, for example, the financial is the circulatory. How quickly money moves through the system, how good your cashflow is? The skeletal is the internal systems, right?
It’s things like your infrastructure and your computer systems and your HR systems and your ear is how do you. To what people are saying and your stomach, how you digest information, because there’s such an overwhelming amount of information that it became a chapter after chapter. And eventually each of the blogs, I turned them into more detail and turned it into a book.
And then this past summer, I decided to extend it even more by creating an online course with 13 chapters of each. With workbooks and everything related to it. So it’s been an interesting journey, the way that it’s morphed itself. And what’s even more interesting is that the interest is now coming from health and wellness.
Things like blue cross blue shield and the hospitals in the area that have their own. Jim’s or their own fitness center saying, Hey, this would be a great program to incorporate for our executives. Plus it will also maybe bring in people from the organization as well. So the thing has grown in a lot of different directions, but it’s an interesting concept because what it does is it’s looking at not only the business and the health of the business, but really the business is only as effective as its leader is.
And if the leader is not helpful, The business can’t be healthy. If the leader can’t be focused on a hundred percent, he can’t be focused on his business a hundred percent. So that’s how the concept of,
Rose Davidson: yeah. Very interesting. Making me get the book. Is it available on Amazon or bookstores?
Brad Tornberg: ย Yeah, it’s on Amazon.
It’s the business fitness revolution by Brad Hornberger and you can get that. And again, you can reach out to me as well, and I can give you information on the course.
Rose Davidson: That’d be lovely. Yeah. I’ll put all the links in the in the checked in, not in the check, the show notes. That’s what I was trying to say.
I’m having a bit of a senior moment.
Brad Tornberg: I’m the one who’s on the early side of the clock here.
Rose Davidson: That’s very true. It’s very true. And ending my day and you’re just beginning. You did have a little bit of. A bit of a tragedy during your life. And I don’t want to touch on that too much, but you decided that that teaching others how to achieve, their peak personal and business performance was a way that you could, give back to the world.
Tell me what you actually do for your clients.
Brad Tornberg: It’s interesting because if you look at what I do, my business basically provides operations and technology consulting. So I started out as a technology consultant, really helping businesses. Acquire and implement software solutions for their business, everything from manufacturers to retailers, to accountants.
And as I was working with those clients, they noticed that I was a lot more than a technology specialist, that I was one of those people who really has a very strong understanding of not only technology, but also a very strong understanding of business. No, my dad being the owner of a manufacturing company I learned early on that entrepreneurial spirit and how to be a business owner and that perspective.
Really led a lot of my clients to say, Hey, look, maybe you can help us in other areas. We’re having some issues with getting the right people in the right roles. We’re having issues with trying to source additional growth in our sales area. Can you help us grow our sales? So it’s really evolved over the.
30 years of to what I am to this now. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that, I have to give back to people, if you read Bernay brown, she talks about being empathetic and leaning in and, diversity and inclusion and all of those things. So I’ve had to adjust who I am as well.
And the things that I do now some of the things that I offer are, teams building and individual building, how to work effectively as a team, how to be empathetic. So as new concepts come out and as I continue to relearn, I introduce those and infuse those into my programs.
And each program is actually very different depending on what the needs are of the client. I’ll go to some of the people who are like me to get up at four o’clock in the morning and they work out every day and then I’ve got others whose. That’ll never happen for me, but I could see that, in the middle of the day during one of our conversation, they’re dozing off because they have a carbohydrate load.
So they’re not really focused on what’s going on. So I’ll notice, I’ll try to work with him on reducing his stress, things that are specific to him, because I noticed that he has more of the requirement than maybe the business does. And sometimes. The C-level executive or the business owner is very on top of things, but he’s having problems with his business and he can’t necessarily break through.
So a lot of the focus may be on more of the business side of it, or the people are not happy with what they are. I’ll be working with the business owner in terms of. How he could be more inclusive himself and how he can be more understanding when he’s working with other people. So it becomes a whole potpourri of different things that we bring to the solution front, but it’s usually customized and unique to that client.
Rose Davidson: Yeah, but I, as it should be too, the, you can’t really just have a blanket solution for everyone because it doesn’t fit everyone and, each needs or each individuals or organizations needs are different from another persons or organizations. But how has the current health crisis in, globally affected how you deliver your programs?
Brad Tornberg: It’s interesting. Originally this program was designed to be delivered as an in-person program in collaboration with one of the fitness facilities, I was going to come in and bring in the business fitness part of it. And they were going to bring to the table, the personal fitness part of it.
Meanwhile, I went out and I got my personal fitness certification anyway, because I figure if you’re going to speak about personal fitness, you’d better be able to know what you’re talking about. It was all set to go that way. We even created a program whereby you know, the executive would come in the morning.
He’d have a quick little 25, 35 minute workout. They’d shower up, they’d meet mil, we’d meet in a room. We’d go through a hot business topic for that week. And they would each get a bagged lunch, a bad breakfast, a piece of fruit, some yogurt, something healthy, and go along their way and get back to work before their day starts.
When the pandemic. That was when I decided that, I could put this course online and it’ll give me something to do while the pandemic is happening so that when we come back to the real world again, or the normal world again, or what’s causing normal again, that I’ll be able to then. Two program offerings one online and then one in person.
So if anything, it’s actually encouraged me to create content. Having 13 chapters with five videos in each chapter costs me a lot of money to do. But as I tell people, I’ll never have to develop content again, for as long as I’m living.
Rose Davidson: No, you weren’t. It’s a credit to you to be able to do all of that 13 chapters and all those videos.
It’s yeah, I’m pre questionating on my course. It’s the video part. It’s not the writing. It’s not the content. It’s the videos.
Brad Tornberg: Yeah. You know what? I actually I had a good year last year, even though we. The pandemic actually on the technology side, it gave me a lot more business because a lot of people, I do a lot of work in the supply chain and obviously that’s probably the biggest challenge of the world has right now.
So every business that’s having supply chain challenges reached out to me. So what I did is I took I took the profit, I made on that and I actually went out to the west coast and. I had it professionally done because they scripted it based upon, meetings that we had on the book. And we went through each of the chapters and by doing that, it actually made it a lot easier for me.
I just basically had to show up and do what I do best to speak. So I liked that because I was able to get it done
Rose Davidson: quickly. That’s a great way of doing it. I think sometimes down days a do it yourself, things aren’t as. Not so much 70 something else. Bright, shiny comes along.
Brad Tornberg: I hate to say that I’m in the later stages of my life, but I consider that, this is the last quarter of the football game, right? Michael’s now or the kinder and gentler, With Microsoft. I’m doing a lot of mentoring for a lot of their younger people that are coming up and I’m realizing that, Hey it’s time for the new generation and their thoughts and what they’re doing.
So the one thing I’ve been good at obviously having three younger daughters who are that age is understanding what they’re looking for and what they’re doing. The value that I can give is learn from my mistakes. I’ve made a lot of them in the course of my life, but I think I’ve got it right now.
So the people that I’m working with are very, they’re like sponges. They listen intently and they want to learn this new group of kids that are growing up. Are much different than, I guess you would say that millennial age, where everyone stayed at home and live with their mom and dad and saved money, this new generation.
I don’t know what it’s called particularly, but yeah, gen Z or whatever it is. But as my daughter said, we looked at the millennials and we don’t want to live that way. We want to be successful. Like our parents were, so it’s almost like it skipped a generation and they now have. That drive and that entrepreneurial spirit that, my generation had when we were starting out.
So it’s good to see that. And a lot of the advice and a lot of the things that I’m giving or. Building a business, scaling your business sticking with things, not quitting. Like I always tell people, they say they’re an entrepreneur. And I said you’re not an entrepreneur until you’ve eaten out of a can of SpaghettiOs five nights in a row for dinner.
What sacrifices, all that. It’s really, to give back to it’s to be social a little bit more socially involved in and have a little bit more of a social footprint. And I talk about that in the course that a business health is also having a heartbeat.
Rose Davidson: Have you been thinking about starting a podcast?
You can share your knowledge and expertise with people globally create original content that is completely unique from anything else to add in today’s. Not just in terms of star, but also perspective. And when we talk about revenue generating potential let me tell you it doesn’t stop there. The time to start is now, you know that you shouldn’t be doing it for many people are reluctant because they don’t know how to produce it or what tools they need to do their podcast.
Please feel free to email me at guest at talking with the experts.today. And let’s talk about how I can help you to build authority and credibility for your business through podcasting.
Brad Tornberg: having not a circulatory system necessarily as well, but having a heartbeat, what impact are they making on their community?
What things are they doing for the betterment of mankind? Being kinder and gentler. I’ll be honest with you. For me. It was a shift. Cause I grew up in the age where. Do the damn job or I’m going to fire you. And there was no, let’s work together and figure out why it’s not working.
It’s like a participation trophies. You’re going to get one anyway. Not that’s not a good thing. Cause I think, if I would’ve grown up. That part of life, I would have probably felt much more inclusive of everything around me. And I’ve had to over comment. I think a lot of us older folks have to overcome the way that we were raised and the way that we were weaned in business and an industry to what it is today.
And there’s a real. There’s like a Chaz in between the two and you have to be able to adjust to it. And I think like people say, bread, you do a lot of different things. What are you really good at? And I said you’re looking at a guy who probably has the world’s fastest learning curve because everything that I do is always learning something new and I have to learn it and ingest it quickly because it’s a new kind of.
And I have to make it look like I really understand that well, and I’m a, I’m an expert at it. So that means, coming up to speed on things and researching and reading and learning very quickly. And that’s the advantage, entrepreneurs say what’s the best one piece of advice you can give me.
And I tell them, And get your ass out of bed early. If you get your ass out of bed early at four o’clock in the morning and you catch a half an hour workout and some people then maybe meditate or, have some they go to religion or whatever it is, have, whatever it is that you do for yourself with that hour, and then come back and, bite the face off the world.
That’s what I do from five o’clock, five 30 till nine o’clock the rest of the world is still getting organized. I’ve gotten more done in that three and a half, four hours that most people do in the day, which gives me the flexibility of how I want to now position my day and the things that I want to do.
And, things pop up as an emergency. I’ve gotten things I needed to do out of the way. It’s really about. Your own motivation and your own drive and the things that, that you want to do, but it’s a discipline. And that’s what I tell people to discipline. When they say to me, when I talk to a business owner and he says, oh, there’s just no way I could possibly get up at that hour.
And I say you know what? I bet you, if you dragged your butt around for a couple of weeks, eventually one day, you’re going to wake up. 10 minutes before you have to leave to go to the gym. And every day you’re going to wake up. At the same time. I wake up at the same time every day and I go to bed probably the same time as most people do, maybe an hour earlier, but for the most part, my day is complete, but it’s longer.
And I think that’s an important point to bring to people.
Rose Davidson: It’s a lot to do with mindset. It’s a lot to do with motivation and it’s a lot to do with. You’re writing feelings of self-worth and drive. I think you have to have that dropped big and entrepreneurial. You’ve got to have that drive.
You have to have that spirit. You just have to have guide to you know, that things should be a problem for you. If you find workarounds for everything.
Brad Tornberg: Yeah, you do. And, you write about self-worth. I’ll give you a good example of that. The morning I decided that my body’s too sore, occasionally I have those mornings and I’m laying there in bed, deciding whether I want to get up to go to the gym.
Rolling around. And then I finally sent him as a whole damn, I’m going to either lay here in lament about it all day and then regret the fact that I didn’t do it, or I can just get my butt up and I can just go and I’ll feel better. And every time I do. And that also makes me feel better, is that you don’t
Rose Davidson: have that term.
You don’t have that guilt. You don’t have that feeling of guilt because I should’ve gone to the gym today. But I was too damn lazy and to do it and and then it effects your whole day.
Brad Tornberg: I have good parents who made me feel guilty, so that really rubbed off on.
Rose Davidson: But any other books in the pipeline or what have you.
Brad Tornberg: No, actually the second book I’d like to write is I’d like to explore more of the business owner’s mindset and his brain. So the next book I think, is going to be called the business brain, the business owner’s brain. And it’s really going dive into the business owner and the way they think and what their perspective is.
Because one of the things I’ve noticed as a business owner who’s had employees is that sometimes I’ll dismiss something. And just because I’m. I’ll dismiss something. I’ll say it’s not important or whatever, I’ll walk away from it. And then I’ll notice that person, it really upset them because what’s important to other people is not necessarily important to me as the business owner.
It doesn’t make it. It doesn’t mean. They’re feeling or their thought or their process any less important. It’s just that right now I’ve got bigger things on my brain. So being sensitive to that I think is really important as well. So all of those things are really how the business owner perceives his people, how he reacts his people, whether he’s busy or not, he needs to react in a positive way to show that reinforcement.
What drives that? What drives the business mind? What is those, what are the things that are underneath it? What is it that makes an entrepreneur? What is it that makes a clerical worker or a clinical, if you
Rose Davidson: can figure that out, then good on you.
Brad Tornberg: Yeah. If I can figure that out, I can control the world, me and alumnus.
Rose Davidson: Fred, where can people find you if they’d like to work with you?
Brad Tornberg: My I’ll give you my us phone number and I’ll give you my email address. My us phone numbers, obviously it’s zero one for the U S and it’s a 7 3 2 7 3 5 6 4 2 9. And my email address is B torn Berg, T O R N as in Nancy, B E R G. At the number three business consultants, plural.com.
Rose Davidson: I picked the go in the show notes anyway, but yeah. Thank you for sharing that information. Sometimes it’s easy to hear it then to read it. Yeah. And so we’ve covered the book in time. Yep. I’m looking forward to reading your next book. It sounds absolutely fascinating. And if you, as I said, if you can figure out what makes an entrepreneurial tick, then you’ll rule.
Trust me.
Perfect bread. If he got, I know you shared a little bit of wisdom with us earlier on, but would you like to share another snippet of something that will make add.
Brad Tornberg: Put one foot in front of the other. There’s going to be days that are good. There’s going to be days that are bad. Don’t look at the day, look at the goal, set your goals, make sure that you have your short-term goals, your intermediate goals and your long-term goals. And remember when you hit your goals, you set new goals because goals are not something that you achieve.
And then stop goals are something that you keep striving.
Rose Davidson: Absolutely very wise words. Indeed. Fred, it’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. I wish you the best of luck in your book, and I’m sure that your course will be absolutely phenomenal when it comes out. When you brought the next book, you take care now and have fun at the gym.
Brad Tornberg: Take care. Nice to talk with you.