Listen "E04: Finding Your Edge to Scale Your Business with Jeremiah Boucher"
Episode Synopsis
What does it take to scale a business? In today’s episode, Pasha Esfandiary and Cody Littlewood welcome their first guest on the show! Listen to how the CEO of Patriot Holdings, Jeremiah Boucher, who shares valuable insights into building a business from hiring to scaling and how he's competing in an old-school industry using technology. Listen to how he’s delivering equity to his employees to keep incentives aligned, how he makes decisions with a long-term view, and how he’s learned to embrace the journey.
Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:
The CEO’s job of allocating resources
How to surround yourself with the right people
Giving employees equity and how to structure it
The concept of phantom equity
How to elevate people in your organization
Adapting to the times and showing up with authenticity
Episode Highlights:
[07:35] Your Job as the CEO
The sole focus of a CEO's mind should be to allocate resources – your capital and your talent. Jeremiah started his business in manufactured housing because he had an edge. Nobody was there and it was a good asset class. From there, he transitioned to self-storage and tertiary suburban markets because of undersupply, there's not a lot of competition, and they have good yields. Then he's pivoting into industrial which is currently the flavor of the market. And right now, his linchpin is scaling his business by building a call center that handles maintenance remotely.
[15:27] How to Surround Yourself with the Right People
The people that helped you get to where you are, sometimes won't help you get to the next level where you go unless you don't adapt, and you don't see it ahead of time and anticipate as an owner. Hence, you have to first define the role, then find someone with the skill sets to fill that role, and then keep adapting.
Most importantly, you have to align the incentives. Bring in key players as partners. Phantom equity is a strong motivator where they don't earn it until they actually invest and stay at the company until the investments materialize.
[18:52] Creating a Structure for Employee Equity
One way to funnel profits and distributions into one bucket is to open a separate company. Then in each asset, allocate 1% or 2% or whatever you want it to be. That's a partner in each of the assets or funds, and that flows into that bucket.
[20:45] How to Elevate People in Your Organization
Empower your employees to be the best they can be and have them rise to the highest potential in terms of their skills. Make sure each department understands the key dependencies of how each person needs to pull their own weight. Lead from the front. Have a brand and get yourself out there. Share who you are and what you do. Be what you want to be and share that with the rest of the company, and they either come along or not. At the end of the day, it’s all about communication, and don’t ever lose connection with the team.
Resources Mentioned:
www.jerlinks.com
Finding Your Edge by Jeremiah Boucher
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Who by Geoff Smart
Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:
The CEO’s job of allocating resources
How to surround yourself with the right people
Giving employees equity and how to structure it
The concept of phantom equity
How to elevate people in your organization
Adapting to the times and showing up with authenticity
Episode Highlights:
[07:35] Your Job as the CEO
The sole focus of a CEO's mind should be to allocate resources – your capital and your talent. Jeremiah started his business in manufactured housing because he had an edge. Nobody was there and it was a good asset class. From there, he transitioned to self-storage and tertiary suburban markets because of undersupply, there's not a lot of competition, and they have good yields. Then he's pivoting into industrial which is currently the flavor of the market. And right now, his linchpin is scaling his business by building a call center that handles maintenance remotely.
[15:27] How to Surround Yourself with the Right People
The people that helped you get to where you are, sometimes won't help you get to the next level where you go unless you don't adapt, and you don't see it ahead of time and anticipate as an owner. Hence, you have to first define the role, then find someone with the skill sets to fill that role, and then keep adapting.
Most importantly, you have to align the incentives. Bring in key players as partners. Phantom equity is a strong motivator where they don't earn it until they actually invest and stay at the company until the investments materialize.
[18:52] Creating a Structure for Employee Equity
One way to funnel profits and distributions into one bucket is to open a separate company. Then in each asset, allocate 1% or 2% or whatever you want it to be. That's a partner in each of the assets or funds, and that flows into that bucket.
[20:45] How to Elevate People in Your Organization
Empower your employees to be the best they can be and have them rise to the highest potential in terms of their skills. Make sure each department understands the key dependencies of how each person needs to pull their own weight. Lead from the front. Have a brand and get yourself out there. Share who you are and what you do. Be what you want to be and share that with the rest of the company, and they either come along or not. At the end of the day, it’s all about communication, and don’t ever lose connection with the team.
Resources Mentioned:
www.jerlinks.com
Finding Your Edge by Jeremiah Boucher
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Who by Geoff Smart
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.