Local Market Monopoly

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Clarence Fisher: All right. Welcome to another edition of Local Market Monopoly inside of business innovators network. And today we've got a special guest with you have been able to catch up with someone who I really think that you're going to love and be able to get a lot out of today. A few words, strategists, consensus builder, problem solver, and advocate for no nonsense effectiveness. These are the words that have been used to describe our guest today, Ms. Shelly Cademy. A little bit about her. She's built, turned around and transformed organizations over the past 25 years. She quickly identify the problems, gets to the issues and then works collaboratively and creatively to solve them. But she excels that is the hard conversations and I can attest to that myself. She excels at the hard conversations, the messy, complicated situations, and she displays a commitment, not only to the task that's at hand, but the principles of the sound data, equity inclusion in driving positive change within the organizations and the communities that she works with.

Clarence Fisher: She was also an early adopter of social media for businesses, and she led a social media one on one class for more than 1000 people. And this was, this was the early mid 200. So we fast forward after there were tons of accomplishments that she's gone through for nearly seven years, she's led workforce it's wholesale, which you all know that I am stationed in Tulsa, which is where I was able to get introduced to and meet her. Get this. She was the fourth executive director in six years and turned around the struggling organization via intentional board development consensus building. As we said before, collaboration with hundreds of partners, she had the rebuilding process and the structures relocating the organization as the largest office to improve customer service, rebuilding the staff, ensuring state and federal compliance and building a positive presence in the community via media relations, which I've seen how she gets involved in the community. So she's also worked collaboratively. If I could say a word with chambers statewide organization to create a business friendly policy and legislation, including criminal justice reform. And she launched the organization's first legislative agenda. She's got many awards, the name, the YWC Tulsa's women of the year, the journal records, 50 women making a difference. And she's here today with us to share how to gain clarity and give us clarity on how to lead.

: You're listening to local market monopoly with Clarence Fisher, uncovering the tools tactics and strategies. The most successful small businesses use to dominate their local market and own the block.

Clarence Fisher: Shelly, are you still there?

Shelly Cadamy: I am that it was such a long bio, but yes I am here. Thank you.

Clarence Fisher: You have what I call a long experience.

Shelly Cadamy: That's true.

Clarence Fisher: That is awesome. So tell us about you're with a group called the Metisse group in how you're helping your clients.

Shelly Cadamy: Yeah. I was fortunate enough to launch the Tulsa office of the Metisse group last summer. The Metisse group is an Oklahoma City consulting firm founded co-founded by my friend, Sherry Dale and Jean Hopper. And we really specialize in helping leaders lead, which sounds a little nebulous, but leading is really hard and sometimes lonely. And I think until you have led an organization, you don't really know what it's like. We were talking, you know, before, before you started recording, we were talking about, I think a lot of people will give you advice and think they know what it's like to be in your shoes when you're leading an organization. But it's sort of like the matrix, you know, when you take the pill, you see the world the way it is and you can't go back. But until you take that pill, you don't really know what it's like to lead. And so our organization helps leaders find clarity and helps them to really move their organizations forward in a way that hopefully helps them feel supported. And as though someone has their back and helps them to create wealth and jobs, which I love, I think it's remarkably meaningful work. And I was really excited to join the firm last summer.

Clarence Fisher: That is awesome. And I know at least a business that works with Metisse and is served by you. Now, can you explain to everyone else who's not familiar? Like, what is the benefits and the advantages of gaining this clarity that you help them gain?

Shelly Cadamy: Yeah, well, I mean, very often sometimes companies will come to us because they are, they know they want to grow and they need, they, they understand that they need a plan in order to do that. I will say those are, those are probably unicorn clients because, you know, I think when you're growing your business, you're just paying attention to the day today. And very often you can get caught up and grows and not really realize the impact of that's happening around you. And so, like I said, sometimes we have companies come to us who are ready to grow, understand that it's helpful to have someone on the outside who's objective to help them leverage and recognize their blind spots and help them put a plan together and go forward. And I will say we do things in a couple of different ways. So there are lots of organizations that do strategic planning.

Shelly Cadamy: We do. I think something that's really valuable and that is that we get to know when an organization before we step into a planning session, we do interviews from the top down. We analyze financials, marketing, workforce, and HR, etc. So by the time we get into a room to do a planning session with the company, we already know, we already know the organization. We know where the bodies are buried. We know the things that the frontline people won't tell the CEO, you know, all that, all that stuff that you really need to know in order to put a real plan together. And we also have solid recommendations for goals. And so when we step into a planning session, we very quickly put together a real-world plan that focuses on, like I said, concrete goals, but then we stick around for a minimum of six months to ensure that that plan actually gets executed.

Shelly Cadamy: So like I said, I, you know, leading is difficult and very rarely do, does an organization have the capacity or even just emotional labor to execute a strategic plan, which is why a lot of those plans end up failing, ended up being on the shelf, etc. And so we stick around, we do a little handholding, we do holding fees in fire and also bringing resources to the table. And frankly, the expertise of our firm, all of us have been CEOs, executive directors, company, founders, etc. And so we bring all that to the table to really support leaders in getting those plans executed. And of course, the answer to your question, the benefit of that is you do a lot more spinning your wheels, needlessly. I mean, you're spending your, your resources wisely, your emotional labor, your all of your capital, your human capital, your financial capital, you're just being efficient with all those things.

Clarence Fisher: Where do you feel like this hard-nosed kind of, and I'm going to just go to say, I dunno if it's hard-nosed, but I'm going to say hard nose because I mean, I'm just gonna say like, you are not afraid to speak with, these are C level CEOs owners who have started, started and run these, these big companies. You know, they have to have a level of confidence themselves, but you're not afraid to have those conversations with them. What is that something natural that naturally comes to you? Or is that something that kind of, you gained dealing with all of these different situations?

Shelly Cadamy: Oh, that is such a good question. And I'm not sure that I know how to answer it. Maybe my therapist would know how to answer it better than I would. I mean, for me, I don't know that it comes naturally. I was very fortunate to have really great jobs along the way and really great visionary mentors. I've done some kind of economic development for 25 years. So for like my first job out of grad school was with the Oklahoma department of commerce. And I was able to interact with the governor's office and economic developers across the state who was 30 years older than me and who really supported me and helped me grow in my career. And I'm really, really fortunate. I think to a certain extent, I'm, I'm fairly wired to have difficult conversations in a respectful way. I think also, you know, everybody, we're all human and I feel like I owe people the respect of my expertise. And so if someone's paying me to help them build their business, they're not paying me to tell them that they're perfect and wonderful. They're paying me in our firm to help them build the best organization they can build. And for me, that's just, that's a respect, being honest with them. And diplomatically, honest is just the most respectful thing I can do. And I would say our entire team has that attitude as well. I hope that answers your question.

Clarence Fisher: Absolutely, absolutely. That's great. So you talk about, they bring you in, in order to help them build their company. And we know that what are some of the biggest myths that are out there when it comes to what you do, where business owners are like, Hey, we are clear about what we want.

Shelly Cadamy: Well, I will say that not every growing small to midsized business is a good fit for us. I mean, I ran entrepreneurship programs for about 13 years of my career. And what I'm doing now is not, it's not unlike that. I'm just doing it as an entrepreneur myself this time around. And so I will say that there are many organizations that could benefit from having an outside trusted advisor. But I think honestly, the founders and leaders who have failed once or twice are the ones who are most likely to appreciate an outside trusted advisor. And so there are organizations who, you know, someone will say, Hey, you should go to so and so, and I might go have coffee, and if they have all the answers already, then I'm probably going to thank them for their time and, and move on down the road because it doesn't really matter if we could benefit them or not, they're not open to that.

Shelly Cadamy: And so I don't know if that's a myth about what we do or not, but I would say that that is something that, that I run into. I, can I tell you some myths about, can I tell you some things I run into with founders and CEOs? So they think are interesting. That's probably a little more interesting. So I am very, very often I have client current clients and I talk to people often who are beautiful business owners who have built stuff from the ground up. They've done it without sometimes without formal education, sometimes without a lot of experience. And they've just built these beautiful organizations. And I am so baffled by how many of them think they're not real business owners. And I will say women, especially. So I'm working with a woman now, who's had a business, a gym for seven years, but it was, she didn't build it intentionally.

Shelly Cadamy: She was kind of like the pied Piper. And she had people ask her for training. And so she started training and then the next thing she knew, she was doing three classes a day in her garage. And someone said, Hey, why don't you open a gym like that? That's how she built a gym. And she's been, she's had a gym for seven years but somehow doesn't view herself as a real business owner or a real entrepreneur. And so I would love to get to the point where I could help owners and founders see themselves more realistically sooner and really recognize what they bring to the table. Because I think especially the ones who don't, you know, the ones who don't have an MBA, they think, Oh, okay, well, if I, those people out there who have an MBA could do this better, I, that's not always the case. And so I think that's, I think that's really interesting.

Clarence Fisher: So why do you think, I think that's how a lot of us get started is we start as the technician that maybe you don't like a job or something, you'd start on the side. And I know for me, I didn't realize I was in business until my accountant said, do not take another cheque in your name.

Clarence & Shelly: I love that. Yeah, honestly. I mean, one of the ways I made a change last spring, and one of the things that drove me to consulting was I just had a lot of consulting projects fall in my lap overnight. And I went, Oh, okay, this is a pretty good gig. And I like this work and its meaningful work. And a couple of months later I joined the Metisse group. And I guess I'm a consultant now, you know, that's how that went. I think that you know, I have another client who kind of like yours. She was like, well, you know, I'm going to go out on my own and see how this goes and thought she would hit a certain level of income. And then within a year she had employees and was growing faster than she ever expected and is growing exponentially now. And honestly, that's when we see a lot of our clients, they come to us when they've had unexpected growth and sometimes explosive growth because that's, when you see, you kind of see the wheels come off a little bit, it's just growing pains.

Shelly Cadamy: You know, that's the other thing, I think founder CEOs, what are entrepreneurs, whatever you want to call it, they really beat themselves up. I mean, really beat themselves up like, Oh, this is happening and that's happening. And so one of the things I love helping them with is, Hey, this is totally normal. Like these growing pains and this stuff that's happening, this is a totally normal experience. And lots of other entrepreneurs have this same experience. And so it's not a character flaw. And so that's when we see a lot of organizations because they've grown and they need a little bit of support in kind of figuring out what that next step is. And sometimes, sometimes it means letting go of a client. Sometimes it means crossing off a product or service that they added because somebody asked for it, but it doesn't really fit their business model. I mean, there are just all kinds of things that happen when you're growing that clarity lens, a little clearer lens too.

Clarence Fisher: That's great. I think some of the most successful people that same microscope, the same thing that makes them successful, that that microscope of constant improvement is also what can be the double-edged sword that makes effective or successful people beat themselves up. You know, when they're not, they're not living up to, to, you know, another thing is like, we look at people, we look at the bayzos we look at the people that we look up to and measures ourselves to that. So I'm not really doing much.

Shelly Cadamy: Well, I was just going to say, you know, when I'm as a young professional, I used to look at women my age and think they were perfect. They were iconic and that they didn't have any ridiculous drama in their lives and had everything figured out. And so one of the things that I am very intentional about is letting younger people know that. Yeah, no, we, none of us have it figured out. And once I got to know some of those women who I looked up to, it wasn't anything they did intentionally. It was, it was an assumption I had and to a certain extent how people are portrayed in the media, etc. But I very intentionally let people know, Hey, I do not have all this figured out. I'm kind of a hot mess sometimes. And I think that gives people a little bit more grace, you know, and not having it all figured out.

Clarence Fisher: Yeah. I thought, I mean, it was comforting to me having, I know the first time that we met and, you know, had me doing my research and having in my head that you've got this experience, you know, this long experience and for you to say, Hey, I know what I know. I don't know what, I don't know. I'm working on this too. She's a real person.

Shelly Cadamy: Thank you for that. You keep mentioning my long experience. I'm getting a little conscious of my age. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm totally getting. Let me say this. My friend, Julie Searles, who's super wise. Tell me about the Dunning–Kruger effect a few years ago. And I had never heard of that. And I don't know. Maybe everybody else has heard of that, but it's something I share with a lot of people and the gist of it is I'm going to oversimplify it as I explain it, but go Google it. The gist of it is that competent people are constantly questioning their competence kind of to the point that you mentioned earlier, you know, and I think it's tied to imposter syndrome that, that people who are competent are pretty continually sure that they're not doing things properly. And then people who are not competent are very sure of themselves and very cocky. And that's so interesting. I mean, in another lifetime, I like to get a Ph.D. and, and study all that because I think it's the way in which the universe punk stuff because that's so counterintuitive. And I think that almost everyone I know has imposter syndrome. And so I would love it if everybody listening to this if you take away nothing else. So Google the Dunning Kruger effect, please,

Clarence Fisher: It doesn't seem like you would run into too much of the excuse of bringing on that trusted advisor like yourself, that it costs too much. Or maybe it's gonna take too much time, or maybe you do. Is that something you face?

Shelly Cadamy: Oh, you know, everybody in business runs into that. I mean, I always approach things from a value perspective. If I feel like I can bring value to a customer, then I'm going to talk with them about the value that we bring. If I don't feel like I can bring value that I'm not going to talk with them at all. You know? And so hopefully by the time we get to talking about costs, I've already demonstrated my value. I mean, I really, I'm a big fan of abundance and I give away a lot of expertise. I give away a lot of my time. I have a lot of copies, hopefully by the time someone is a prospect, they're already convinced that I know what I'm doing. And so the money part is kind of a done deal. By the time we get there, I'm sending an event this week and I had run into this one of the founders of a particular company.

Shelly Cadamy: We had run into each other three times at various meetings and I had done nothing, but ask questions and contribute to the conversation. And this gentleman checked me out online as we all do now. Right. That's why my LinkedIn profile is very complete and thorough. And I have lots of recommendations. I had checked me out online and was interested in working with me just because of my contributions and meetings and asked to sit down and talk about how we might be able to work together. I mean, that's a beautiful way to do business because when people come to you, then you're kind of halfway there.

Clarence Fisher: Yeah, absolutely. And that happens because you're sharing, we call it authority marketing. When, you know, you don't have to call yourself the expert. If you're actually helping people, you help people by helping them, you know, you show that you can help them by actually helping them and then come around. What are some of the other fears that those small businesses have when they embark upon this and say, okay, yeah, we need to gain clarity in order to lead better? What are some of the fears they went across?

Shelly Cadamy: I think they're afraid of change. I mean, humans are afraid of change. And so I try to manage that along the way. I think they're also afraid of handing their baby over, which they should be. I mean, you really should. You should vet a consultant deeply. You know, I mean, you have to trust someone if they're going to advise you on your business. And so I think that they fear of letting someone else have control, whether that's letting an employee within the organization have control or an outside consultant or a spouse or whatever. I think that those are probably the top two fears that I run into. And I don't blame people. You know, people who've built something from the ground up they're invested and it's important to know that. And it's important to honest to honor it and to meet people where they are.

Shelly Cadamy: And like I said, you know, the change happens. I'm working with an, now it's a nonprofit. And I let them know, Hey, a lot of we're going to go through a lot of change if we put this plan together. So, you know, stuff is going to happen. You're probably going to lose a few board members because as we move along, some people are going to opt-out because they realize they're no longer a fit for the organization. And so that's, again, not a character flaw. You didn't do anything wrong. It's a natural part of growth. And so when a board member opted out the next week, then the executive director said, Hey, you know what? I knew because you said that might happen. I felt okay with it. And so I just, I try to prep people along the way for those growth steps so that it's not quite so disconcerting when it happens.

Clarence Fisher: You had that conversation. Was that conversation before they engaged you or afterward after you had already come on, officially,

Shelly Cadamy: It was during, it was during, it was while we were doing the planning. And I will say that everyone, you know, when I said that there was, there was a throughout the room, you know, because that's hard, it's hard. It's hard to think about, especially with a really bonded group and with an invested founder, you know, they don't want to think about people leaving or you know, what they really don't want to think about is people getting upset with them and leaving. And so that was a discussion I had with the full board, as well as the staff, everybody was on the same page that that was potentially a product of growth. And it also gives them, I mean, I sent it in front of the full board because it also gives the board members an opportunity and opening if they look at this and they think, okay, I've done a good thing. I've, I've loved working with this organization up until this point, but you know, for the direction we're going in now, whether it's like fundraising or scaling nationally or whatever, they may decide that it's no longer a fit for them. So it gives them an opportunity to say, Hey, I've loved this and I'm ready to move on to something else now. And that's okay. That's okay. It's okay for employees to do that. It's okay for board members to do that. And those are, those should be really civil discussions.

Clarence Fisher: So let's say that I am, I understand we have to get some clarity in my organization so that I can, and I like how you said, I asked was it to lead better or just to lead. But even as I think about my own organization, it's just to lead because you know, some of us like you're so busy selling and operations and all of that stuff that it really can get to where I wonder if the whole team is on the same page. Right? So if I say, I don't want to necessarily engage you yet, but I want to, let me see if I can get this all together, get myself together myself. What are some of the little known pitfalls kind of common mistakes that you've seen businesses make in trying to, and try to do it themselves?

Shelly Cadamy: Oh, I think putting strategic planning, putting a strategic plan together internally, and I've seen this happen. I think, by the way, it is so unfair when boards do that to their executive director, I've seen that twice in the last few months, they don't want to spend the money. And so they make the executive director facilitate the strategic planning session, or the CEO puts it together or whatever. And it's just the dynamics of that are really unfair. And very often you end up not with a strategic plan with that, with a laundry list of tasks, which isn't super helpful. I would say that's the number one thing. And actually, so one of the things that I should have mentioned is that I mean, one of the programs or services we offer that's really helpful for leaders is we have the oldest and largest network of peer advisory groups in Oklahoma.

Shelly Cadamy: And the reason for those groups is that leading is hard and very often lonely. Okay. So we've put together these groups of true peers. So we vet everyone, usually, people who come to the groups that are referrals from other people in the groups or referrals from people we know, and the groups meet for three hours each month, we do individual updates that are structured. We facilitate the groups, of course, but then one member each month does a really detailed presentation on a leadership opportunity or hurdle and how they think they're going to address it. And then everybody else in the group gives some very hard-hitting objective feedback on, Hey, this looks good, but I'm not sure that you, I think you may have a blind spot here or, Hey, this is what I did when my partner left unexpectedly and took half of our employees within or whatever the situation is.

Shelly Cadamy: And I will say, I have seen the majority of people who do those presentations. They come back the next month and let us know that they have drastically changed their business strategy for the better. And so I love those groups. I think the other thing, I mean, in addition to positively impacting business strategy, I also love, love, love hearing from people. I love this group because I know everybody has my back. I know it's a safe space. I know no one's going to share what I'm sharing here. And I think the biggest thing is just people having their back. Because when you're leading like I said, you can't call it your best friend from seventh grade and share your leading struggles. Because very often they're not going to know what you're talking about. And you really shouldn't be doing, telling your employees and you shouldn't be sharing, you know, with your board inappropriately, or your spouse or whomever. And so you have to have someone to bounce things off of and to get objective feedback from. And so that's, that's what these groups provide. And I absolutely love it. And so that's one way to engage with our firm without doing on the playbook, which is what we call our, what we call our planning services, what I've been referencing.

Clarence Fisher: And on your site, you, your site mentions gaining more clarity, capacity and connections. Maybe there was one more, the capital. But what is that? What does that mean?

Shelly Cadamy: Capital is financial capital and human capital. And so Sherry Dale is one of our co-founders. I've known her for 20 years back when I was running entrepreneurship programs beginning in 1999, I would refer my clients to her because she did contract CFO services that long ago. I mean, before really anybody, I think anybody else was doing those services. And so she's really talented at taking a look at financials and helping a company, a startup, a smaller company who really shouldn't be hiring a CFO or a full, full CFO, looking at their overall business and recommending some financial strategy. And so that's a big part of the capital building that we talked about. And I will say, that's one thing about entrepreneurs. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, they outsource their accounting, but outsourcing your accounting is not the same as outsourcing your financial strategy.

Shelly Cadamy: And I would say that quite a few organizations don't really pay attention to their financials like they should, and they don't hire people to pay attention to their financials. So that's one, that's one opportunity that sometimes doesn't get discussed. And so that's one form of capital. Another form of capital, like I said, is that human capital and Danielle were L who's one of our partners. She led the HR department, it's Teleflora. She has a lot of expertise around HR. And then I led workforce Tulsa for almost seven years. And so HR and workforce development are not the same things, but we team up often and can help a company get their HR kind of ducks in a row, but then also help them build a workforce. So instead of throwing a billboard up on a highway saying, Hey, we're hiring welders. We can help a company think about creative ways to find people with minimal skills and then help them to build additional skills. And sometimes we have a customized curriculum. Sometimes it was on the job training and sometimes bringing money to the table from various different pots of money to build employees that saved the company a whole lot of money, a lot of lost productivity, a lot of recruiting costs, et cetera. I don't think, I don't think a lot of companies realize how much money goes into not having the employees they need the right people on the bus and turnover it's extraordinarily expensive. So those are the two kinds of capitals that we focus on human and financial

Clarence Fisher: Without naming names. Is there a story that may be that you could tell us how you've helped your clients kind of overcome all of these obstacles facing and succeed in gaining that clarity? Either the capacity or, or connections or the capital?

Shelly Cadamy: Oh gosh. I'm really careful not to share specifics about companies. I will. And I'm sorry, just a side note. I just watched someone come down the wrong way on a one-way street and then park right in front of me, knowing that he drove the wrong way down a one-way street. And so that's interesting.

Clarence Fisher: Are you safe or no?

Shelly Cadamy: Oh yeah. No, I'm totally safe. I'm just laughing because he's now paying for barking and I'm pretty sure he's going to get charged. I shouldn't say I shouldn't laugh. I mean, I'm fair. Like if I were not on the phone with you, I would get out and say, Hey, you're going to get your car towed if you leave it like that.

Clarence Fisher: Oh, you can let him know if you want it's up to you.

Shelly Cadamy: No, that's okay. That's all right. I just think it's interesting anyway, so let me get like recentered on your question. What are some ways, I mean, I think the key is listening to people. So we do a ton of listening. I will say, I've I listen, you know, nine-tenths of the time I spend with prospects or clients is listening and then one 10th of the time is offering possible solutions to their pain. And so that's maybe a little more generic than you were hoping for. But my career has been made up of just connecting people to other people who know how to do things. And me knowing who to call, to understand how to find solutions for people. I mean, I don't know, I don't know everything, no one knows everything right. But I have a good solid network of people who do a great job at what they do. And so if I can listen to prospects or clients, sometimes I can deliver solutions and I'm happy to do that. But when I'm out the right ones to deliver a solution, I will happily connect them with someone else to deliver that solution. And that way we get our clients, everything they need. And, you know, that's how you really become a trusted advisor is by helping them to solve all their problems, not just the ones that you saw, you know what I mean?

Clarence Fisher: And I, and I totally understand that privilege that you have. And like you said earlier, when, when people share things with you, that you know, it's in the room and it's with you. So I, I totally get that. You can't get too specific on any stories or situations. Yeah, absolutely. So what inspired you to become a consultant? You touched on it earlier a little bit earlier, but what inspired you to do this?

Shelly Cadamy: Well, I turned 50 and I think for women, especially there's maybe for men too, I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't say that. I have to think about that. There is something that happens when you turn 50 that I just am very aware of the opportunities I've been given. And I really, really like to give back or provide opportunities to others. That all sounds super corny, but it's also true. I'm also, I'm an ENTJ. I don't know if you do Myers-Briggs but I'm an ENT J I love making systems and processes work, and I'm good at that. I'm good at kind of diving in and ensuring that things work the way that they should be working. And quite honestly, I mean, at, uh, at the highest level of my motivation is wealth creation. I am interested in social justice. I'm interested in leveling the playing field and money very often has a leveling effect. You know, if people have good jobs, it's in, that can be a significant contributor. I see those things totally integrated. And it's the legacy that I want to leave for my kids and my granddaughter, who, by the way, is the smartest almost two years old in this region of the country. And you can laugh cause that's a joke.

Shelly Cadamy: I'm sure everyone thinks that about their grandchild. Mine really is very, very bright though, and already very strong will. And so, I mean, that's ultimately why I decided to become a consultant. I really wanted to work with people who get it. And I really wanted to, I really, really wanted to have meaningful work and I do, and I love it. And I hope that that makes sense.

Clarence Fisher: Absolutely. And it may also make sense that you are E N T J because I swiped something from you because I am an I N TJ. So as soon as number one, the fact that when we were scheduling coffee, you sent me a Calendly link was awesome. I started doing that two years ago and actually, my friends thought I was being pretentious or whatever the word is. They're like, are you serious? I'm like, it cuts back and forth. Right? But you took it a step further. And this is what, this is what I took from it is I've always struggled. I had this space that said, where we'll meet at your favorite place, where do you want to meet? And then I always get these anywhere. And I'm like, well, you had already pre-checked locations. And then also a space for if I just, if I do have a space that I just asked. Absolutely like, and I thought, yes. So I put those radio buttons on my Calendly late, so thank you very much.

Shelly Cadamy: Oh, I love it. Oh, you're so welcome. I love it. Do you want to hear something terrible? I also do that for my personal, I don't want to call it meetings cause they're not meetings, but like if a friend says, Hey, let's have drinks or do you want to have dinner? I have a super-secret after-hours Calendly link. So I send that to them and go, yeah, just pick it. Yeah. And so, I mean, I, I don't know. Maybe people think that's pretentious. I think it's just not wasting other people's time. If I'm fortunate. I have my mother passed when she was 70. My dad died when he was 27. And so if I'm fortunate, if I live as long as my mom did, I'm 20 years left. I really don't care to spend more of that time than I absolutely have to on ridiculous minutia.

Clarence Fisher: And I don't want to ask other people to do that either. I mean this back and forth of what about Tuesday? What about Tuesday and four? What about, you know, I mean, goodness, there's not a lot of value in that. And when I'm coaching CEOs, founders, owners, I'm always coaching them about where are you putting your emotional energy, wherever you put your emotional energy, I hope that's really valuable because you have limited emotional energy. And I know I have so many clients and I know so many leaders who are just exhausted, they are exhausted. And so if I can help them take some something off their plate, you know, whether that's helping them with a project management software, I love Monday, by the way, monday.com. They don't pay me anything for saying that. I swear, but I've looked at several different project management, online tools and I love Monday, but you know, just using technology to take some balls out of the air or helping them with some kind of scheduling tricks, I want to help people not feel despair on a regular basis. And so one of the ways I do that for myself is I use Calendly. So I'm glad that you,

Clarence Fisher: That is awesome. Thank you. And thanks for monday.com. We'll put that in the show notes as well. So closing out before this guy gets towed in front of you

Shelly Cadamy: He left by the way. Wave, wave that he waved at me as he was leaving, which leads me to believe that he was aware of what he's doing, which I don't understand. Yeah. I don't understand why he paid for his parking, knowing that he was parked extraordinarily illegally. I just find, I just think humans are interesting. Anyway.

Clarence Fisher: I felt the clarity that you gave him just from looking his way. That's how awesome your consulting is. Like you get clear.

Shelly Cadamy: I don't know. I don't know.

Clarence Fisher: So what is the most important closing down here? What's the most important question that you feel like leaders of small and mid-size growth organizations should ask themselves as they consider investing the time and the resources to gaining more clarity so that they can lead more effectively.

Shelly Cadamy: So that's a really big question. And I don't know that I'm prepared to answer it and this may be super cheesy, but I think it's, it's a good kind of conversation starter. What's your exit strategy? Because more often than not, when I ask that question, I get an, I don't know. And so if you own a business or if you've founded a nonprofit or whatever, it's hard for me to help you unless I know what the end game is. And so I always help people understand, okay, what is the exit look like for you? And then we back up from there.

Clarence Fisher: And so I've gotten my exit strategy. And now what should we consider before when we were evaluating a consultant like you, to help them achieve that goal?

Shelly Cadamy: Well gain to make sure that the consultant is a good fit for you. Like, I'm not like I'm not a warm and fuzzy consultant. I mean, if you need someone who's going to ease you in and I'm not being critical when I say this. Everybody's different and everybody has different needs. And so I'm respectful, but I'm also, I move people on down the road pretty quickly and I'm fairly direct. So I'm not going to be the best fit for everybody. You really need to interview any potential consultants, it doesn't matter if it's a management consultant or someone who's an executive search firm or an accounting firm. I mean, whoever you're hiring, you really need to do your due diligence. I do my due diligence like crazy and make sure that that person is a good fit for you, a good cultural fit before you move forward. And you know, you're going to get a lot of different reviews just because, you know, someone says, I'm not so sure about that person. Okay. Ask three, four or five other people, because you're going to get different reviews on anyone that you're vetting. Otherwise, that organization here's my role. If I ask some, if I'm vetting an organization or a person to work with, and everybody says, they're wonderful. I wonder how effective they are.

Shelly Cadamy: Does that make sense? Cause I think if you're effective, you're going to upset some people somewhere. And so if everybody says how sweet and nice you are, I started to question your effectiveness. Is that awful? Maybe that's because I'm just super jaded. I don't know. So I would just say, do your due diligence, understand yourself well enough to know what a good advisor looks like for you and your organization.

Clarence Fisher: No, you made me feel so good about the guy that gave me a one-star and said the owner of this company is rude.

Shelly Cadamy: Yeah. I mean, you know, for Nate Brown, I started reading Bernay Brown about a year before she got like super popular. I started reading her work to better understand shame because from a parenting perspective and I ended up learning more about myself than I did about my children. It's funny how that happens, but you know, her courage to lead and her other work is really, really helpful. But when you're, when you have the courage and leading, not everyone is gonna like you and that's okay, but you do have to be prepared for that. And it's okay to be sad about it too. But you also, you have to lead authentically and you have to be effective and sometimes you're going to make mistakes and it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to admit that you made a mistake, but along the way, not everyone is comfortable with that. And I, that's why I say, when you lead that way, you're going to make some people uncomfortable and they're going to quote you. And that's just something you should expect. Unfortunately, I wish the world were not that way, but it is

Clarence Fisher: Absolutely. So today talking about due diligence, how can someone find out more about Shelley Cadamy and the Metisse group and how can you help?

Shelly Cadamy: Yeah, well, Metisse group, we have a website like hopefully everybody else does in 2020, it's spelled a little differently. It is M E T T I S E. And if you wonder what that's about, there is an excellent explanation of why our name is what it is on our website conveniently. So you can go to the website if you want to learn about our partners. Of course, we have plenty of information on the website as well. If you want to learn about me, I'm the only Shelly Cademy on the face of the planet and I'm fair of noxious social media-wise. And so you can just Google me and the rest of the other co-founders and partners in the firm are all very accomplished people in their own. Right? And so you can find out about them on LinkedIn, as well as our friend, Google.

Clarence Fisher: Awesome. Shelly, this has been great. Thank you for taking the time between appointments and always running. So I just appreciate it and my listeners do too

Shelly Cadamy: Yeah, no, I'm so flattered to be asked and I hope this was helpful to at least one person listening and Clarence, I will see you soon

Clarence Fisher: And there we have it. Shelly Cademy her website is mettise.com, M E T T I S E. And if you're looking for, to gain clarity capacity connection, definitely go there. They have a number of partners or consultants. There's Shelly is just awesome. I actually working with her right now, so I can highly recommend her, which is why I brought her into to share with you. So as always go to local market monopoly.com. And if you want to ask a question or submit a Hey Clarence, this is who we would like to know more from, go there. And then also in the show notes, you can find where I think we mentioned Calendly. And she said monday.com, which she's not getting paid to. I don't know for me, either one of those I mentioned, but really, really slick way that she is using those. So hopefully this will help you own the block. As you know, this is where we try to help you to do, but go to local market monopoly.com for more resources. We'll see you next time.

: We appreciate you listening to Local Market Monopoly. Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show and visit ClarenceFisher.com for more resources that will help you dominate your local market and own the block.