Episode 26:  I’m happy to welcome Marcy Young to the studio for today’s episode.  Marcy is the Founder and CEO of HR Alliance LLC, in Louisville, Kentucky.  She’s developed a business model enabling companies to contract with her and her team of HR specialists, without having to hire them in-house.  It’s an ideal way to get the HR expertise a business needs for ongoing help, project-based initiatives or a hybrid plan customized to meet specific needs and/or situations.

The pandemic had a significant impact on how businesses retain and recruit talent.  This change is a significant part of how Marcy Young and HR Alliance can help small, medium and large companies to move forward.

Meet Marcy Young

Marcy has been in HR for over 25 years.  She founded HR Alliance to provide outsourced HR services to help small businesses navigate state laws, HR-compliance issues and many other issues.  The services are customized to meet client needs.  This limits the expense, while ensuring the business can rely on HR experts to enable them to deal with a myriad of complex issues.

It’s not uncommon for a small business to lack a full understanding of what it actually needs.  HR Alliance can advise and guide clients.  Marcy’s team provides a full-service suite of capabilities, designed to meet both immediate and long-term needs of their clients.  This outsourced approach enables the business to maintain budgetary flexibility.

HR Alliance – Focused on People

Marcy is a people person, at her core.  HR Alliance has a heart and compassion for people.  It drives her company’s culture, but also determines how her team approaches clients and their HR-needs.

Marcy explains a company’s largest asset is its people.  At the same time, its largest expense is payroll.  HR Alliance focuses on the areas that make the largest impact on the business and its bottom line.  Your people and resulting culture is who you are as a business.  This is Marcy’s professional wheelhouse. Read more →

Episode 24:  Ever think about writing a book?  In this episode, I interview Cathy Fyock who’s a professional book writing coach.  We’ll discuss how she works with her authors, why you should consider writing book and part of the process involved in accomplishing it.

Cathy began coaching after writing her own books.  She had been consulting, but wasn’t as happy in this role, as she’d hoped.  She had managed to write 4 of her 5 books in less than 6 weeks.  A colleague asked her about her process for accomplishing this so efficiently.  That’s when it actually dawned on her that her process did, in fact, exist.  She was invited to give a program on it and engage in a coaching role.  That’s where it all began.

Many people want to write a book.  They recognize the need, but they don’t understand where to get started or how to stay on course to complete it.  Cathy has the solution to these and many other challenges.

What Types of Clients Does Cathy Fyock Help?

Cathy works with professional speakers, consultants, coaches, thought-leaders, solopreneurs, wealth advisors, CPAs, attorneys and realtors.  If you use your expertise as a strategy to serve your client base, codifying that expertise is a way to educate, inspire and sell your client base.

Having published a book can position you as an industry expert.  It lends a high-level of credibility to your personal and professional brand.  The topics in your book can help people realize an alignment between their goals and your ability to help them to achieve those goals.

Your book will help promote a sense of trust and authenticity between you and your target audience.  Cathy is a huge fan of writing your own book, rather than using a ghost writer.  The process will help you to clarify your thoughts and mastery of the topic.

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Episode 22:  The business assumptions, rules and paradigms you used to guide your business through 2020 and previous years won’t necessarily apply in 2021.  Join me for a discussion with Industrial psychologist and business coach Rita Ernst and photographer/brand & image consultant Coral Abood.  If 2020 was the year of pivot, 2021 will be the year of flex.

Rita discusses how her background as an industrial and organizational psychologist gives her a unique perspective in how she approaches her client issues.  She works with small businesses who have achieved significant earnings, but now realize that the tools and approaches the business leader relied upon during start-up may no longer be the right tools, as the business evolves.

Rita can assist with defining the organization structure, roles and responsibilities, culture, etc.  She works to bring clarity to business challenges and to empower the leaders to resolve issues and continue making solid progress.

As a small business owner, do you feel as if your business is running you, instead of you running your business?  Maybe it’s time to engage a business coach to help you.

Coral has been in business for almost 12 years.  She works with businesses to create and/or improve their images and brand positioning.  She often begins with 2 key questions:

• What sets you apart and makes you unique in your marketplace?
• Who is your target audience?

Coral brings a level of intention to how and why the images are going to be used to appeal to the audience and convey meanings.  This is about visual story-telling and your imagery needs to support your brand’s story.

Evolving Business Require New Skills

I asked Rita Ernst about the importance of recognizing that your skill-set has to change if your business is going to be managed effectively.  Rita understands that when leaders fail to understand this, they themselves can actually be a roadblock to the company’s success.

Business leaders bring passion and vision to the business.  They have enormous energy to devote to the details, as well as the overall operation.  Delegation of some decisions and/or responsibilities can be very difficult for some people.

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Episode 20:  My good friends Wendy and Alan Hall joined me in the studio for a discussion about the Alan Hall Agency.  They work with various types of insurance.  In June of 2018, they appeared on my small business radio show, Let’s Get It Started.  Their business recently went through some changes, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask them to walk us through the process.

Their business was founded in 2013.  Today, they primarily focus on Medicare, health, home and automobile insurance.  Earlier this year, they relocated their office, just before the COVID crisis.  All things considered, the business is still doing well.

One of the drivers behind the relocation was the opportunity to expand their lines of business insurance policies.  However, that area if far more complicated and takes much longer to process.  The other types of insurance they provide are much more efficient to quote and process, based on their years of experience.

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Episode 18:  There’s a lot of negative news with COVID-19, protests, riots and other factors.  Jim and Dr. Tony Sheppard will discuss some useful perspectives and tips for filtering out that negativity and maintaining your mental health, as you manage your business and protect your family.

Dr. Sheppard is the owner of Groupworks Psychological Services in Louisville, KY.  He’s a certified group psychotherapist.  The practice provides various types of psychological services for children, adults and families.  During the COVID-19 crisis, his practice has successfully transitioned to a tele-health format.

Many of Dr. Sheppard’s 2020 business goals have been delayed or sidetracked.  This is a common theme for many business owners, entrepreneurs and managers.  In fact, Tony actually contracted the coronavirus at a conference in New York, earlier this year.  Luckily, he’s made a full recovery.

Business owners are struggling with financial pressures, increased stress and anxiety, feelings of helplessness and maybe even failure.  We may also deal with many distractions and a general inability to focus.

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