Axiom Podcast - Axiom Strategic Consulting

Thomas Hlohinek (pronounced Low-he-nik) is the founder of Rise Financial Partners and also serves as the Executive Director of the Manasota Christian Community Foundation.

We all understand when parents want to hire their adult kids to work alongside them in the business. What parent wouldn’t want that opportunity? But sometimes mom and dad can unwittingly set the stage for failure before Gen 2 has a chance to earn their first pay check.In this episode of The Axiom Podcast, Joey and Devin discuss the best way to bring Gen 2 into the business and how it can be a significant competitive and cultural advantage, rather than a distraction or worse, a toxic blow to the culture.

Working with family can be one of the most rewarding and yet frustrating experiences, especially when it comes to older and younger generations working in the same business. In this episode, Joey and Devin talk about setting boundaries and how business owners can help their children working in the business understand what is most important and what can be put on the back burner.Links to things mentioned in this episode:Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud PDF of Axioms Illustrative One Page Plan TemplateJohn Mellencamp Essentials Playlist

When it comes to passing the business on to the second generation, many parents struggle to let go. In this episode, Joey and Devin discuss:1) Common scenarios that come up in the transition.2) How the state of vision affects a transition from one leader to another.3) The importance of the “hand off” and what the baton of leadership really means.Links mentioned in this episode:Tim Ferris podcast: https://tim.blog/podcast/White Horse Inn podcast: https://whitehorseinn.org/how-to-listen/

“There’s something different about her!” This week’s episode with world-class trainer Jaime Marco is a fun one. Discover new insights on leadership, sales and customer experience with one of the most infectious people I know.

Delegating tasks is one thing. Delegating decisions is a little harder. How do you delegate something that happens inside your head?In this episode, Joey and Cameron dive into developing leaders who can think in ways to accomplish what is important to you and them.

Many parents wonder whether turning over the keys to the business will put their retirement in jeopardy. In this episode, Joey and Cameron layout the reasons why just having the second gen work in different areas of the business is probably NOT the best way to determine if they are ready.

“I want people to have a dignified retirement!” That is the heart of John McGuire and in this episode he breaks down how ESOP’s can help small businesses with employee engagement, succession, tax savings and a host of other things that keep business owners up at night.The episode is packed with useful information that all business owners should have. Here are some links to resources mentioned in the episode, but by far the most important is John’s contact information.John McGuire LinkedIn profile The Main Street Employee Ownership Act summary The ESOP AssociationThe National Center for Employee Ownership Contribution of S ESOPs to participants’ retirement security and employee-owner benefits Ernst and Young report

We’ve done several podcasts on theme parks over the last few months. It seems like everyone on the Axiom team has been learning from their family vacations.The secret is they’re great places to view business activities happening in high volumes, with how many customers or “guests” visit them daily.This summer, Devin got the opportunity to visit LEGOLAND, Florida, for the first time. So in this week's podcast, the Axiom team joins him to cover 7 lessons he learned from the place built with LEGOs.*Commit to lifelong learning.Delight in the success of your team.Empower your team with systems and processes.Support partners to incentivize buy-in.Restructure (or eliminate) staff when automation allows.Great customer service creates memories.Capitalize on and profit from 'waste'.*LEGOLAND isn't literally built with LEGOs, though many features are.

A few weeks ago, we talked about lessons Joey learned on a recent visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom. But all is not unicorns and rainbows at Disney. Recently, the company has come under criticism for pushing an agenda at odds with what many parents want when it comes to their child's entertainment.In this episode, we revisit the Disney conversation from another perspective, a perspective that acknowledges businesses should have an agenda. You may agree or disagree with a business's particular agenda, but we should all recognize that a business is a platform, and that platform isn't all about sales, profits, shareholder wealth or even stakeholders in general.

Projects are happening all around us. Whether it's a software migration, developing a new product or service, or completing a task for our customers - we're all constantly working on projects.This week, we sat down with our good friend, Bill Clinebell, PMP, Managing Partner of Relofant, where we discussed shared best practices of project management, his entrepreneurial story, and his two cents on what is happening in the commercial real estate market.

This week my good friend Ben Sturgill joins us to talk about economic indicators, recession, inflation, wages and what small business owners can do to stay on top of things in a rapidly changing economic environment.

What's the difference between a project manager and a business manager? Is it possible to build a great business manager? In this episode, Joey and Cameron discuss the qualities and characteristics of a great business manager, and what we can do to train, coach, and empower them to take more "ownership" in their roles.