49: Leadership: Loneliness, Hiring Coaches, Building the Right Team as an Entrepreneur

Behind Their Success: Ep 49

 Welcome to Behind Their Success. This podcast is for people who are feeling stuck on their entrepreneur journey or in their careers. It's for people who want to scale and grow their businesses, learn about the power of mindset, or they just know there's more out there and they want to start making changes.

I'm Paden Squires, the host of the podcast. I was never cut out to be an employee, and when I was an employee, I was bored out of my mind. So I made a plan. I studied and passed the CPA exam in eight months while working, all with the end goal in mind of quitting my job and starting my own business. I did that in 2014, and it has been an amazing wild ride since.

So now let's hear from other entrepreneurs, and what mindsets, and probably more important, what actions they have taken that have created and led to their success.

Paden: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Behind Their Success podcast. I'm Peyton Squires, the host, and today we have on Courtney De Rondei. Courtney is the CEO of Forge Financial [00:01:00] and Management Consulting and the creator of the Simple Scale Up system. With over 20 years as a CPA and 15 in business leadership, Courtney specializes in guiding small businesses from startup to scale up.

Paden: She's an expert in business, intelligent leadership, And corporate finance, Courtney. Good morning. Welcome on thanks for having 

Courtney: me. Glad to be here. 

Paden: Yeah, absolutely. Always a pleasure to have a another CPA 

Courtney: and people are going to think we're so we're not, we're 

Paden: well, you know, getting to know you for the last 10 minutes offline.

Paden: Um, when we started this, I think you're kind of like me, maybe a little different than your Average CPA from like an outgoing. 

Courtney: Yes, I get that a lot. Uh, for sure. 

Courtney: so I am a CPA, as you mentioned. And so I have a degree in accounting and I started out in public accounting, but what has always been part of my DNA is this belief that things could be better, [00:02:00] that they don't have to stay this way. and so, You know, if you look at my Clifton strengths, I'm a top strength as maximizer, I'm an Enneagram one improver.

Courtney: And so I definitely brought that to my public accounting firm. And so when things, uh, were stressful or compressed or, you know, hard, I was always looking for a better way. Way to do it. When we saw people leaving our profession because the hours are too long and the workload is too compressed. I said, well, how can we find a way to spread the workload?

Courtney: Anyway, in my career, I started out very traditionally doing tax and audit, was able to be part of building an audit practice in our firm, um, transitioned that to another leader and started, uh, an outsourced accounting practice, became an owner in the firm, immediately got elected to our executive team.

Courtney: So I got to have a front row seat at firm. Leadership and [00:03:00] also, you know, the things that come into play with, with being an owner in a firm, and then eventually became the managing partner.

Courtney: And then most recently launched a group business coaching and leadership development program. using that proprietary framework that you mentioned in my intro, the simple scale up system to help other leaders and business owners to grow and scale their organizations through what I've learned. So it's just a reverse engineering of all the things that I learned the hard way into the lessons learned. Um, cause you know, they say it's, you, you learn so much more from your mistakes, but you can also learn from mistakes other people made without making them yourself. And so that was really, the goal was creating a framework that would allow other people to get to scale faster and avoid some of those challenges that I learned firsthand by creating that system to guide our coaching program.

Paden: Yeah, So tell me like, your typical client or [00:04:00] kind of what is their, like, what's their problems and how are you? Yeah. So we serve 

Courtney: a lot of established small businesses. So generally if they are a service based business, they're over a million dollars.

Courtney: Maybe they're between one and 10 or 15 million. If they're a product based business, they might be, you know, 20, 30, 50 million. But they're all in this stage of where. They've made it past startup and they're trying to grow to the next level, but they're still thinking and acting like they did in startup, because that worked.

Courtney: That got them where they're at and they're trying to get to the next level. And so generally they've added employees. They may have a small leadership team. They're starting to realize that they're no longer only the founder. They're also needing to become a leader. And they have to be able to take their vision, their strategy, their [00:05:00] skills, their gifts, their talents, and leverage them among.

Courtney: A group of other people to help support them in that journey. And that's just a whole different thing. And, um, it can be really challenging. And so that's, that's who we help both in our group coaching program, which is called scaling leader. and then for our clients where we're providing outsourced accounting, with tax services or with or without tax services, some of them have other Um, and then also we have an audit practice.

Courtney: Generally, they are businesses who are established. But they're trying to get to that next level and they start to realize they need better visibility in their financials. They need to start predicting where they're going. They need to start leading. They need to start making sure they're being productive with their resources.

Courtney: They need to understand all these people that are around them. Um, that's really who we're working with and what problems they're facing. 

Paden: yeah, very similar. client base that I take, my kind of task [00:06:00] practice it's people that they figured out the first couple of levels of the game a little bit, right.

Paden: And now they're running into a whole host of new problems that they've ever faced. Right. And like you said, kind of like a guide, like you were me to kind of that have seen those patterns before and help them navigate all that stuff. And it is true. It is really interesting that like, And this is even something I'm seeing in my own business as I've, kind of had my business for a little over a decade.

Paden: Most of the time in there I was really just kind of running a solo practice and wasn't, I kind of viewed my business as my job to make money, to go buy investments and different things with it. Wasn't until the last, probably, you know, four or five years where I'm like, okay, I'm going to grow a firm, right?

Paden: Like I'm actually going to build a, build a firm. And now I'm going through some of those points right now where it's like, okay, probably the most important thing I do right now is just like leadership. And just leader of my team and leading by example and being the most disciplined person just because that leads.

Courtney: Yeah, it is. I, you're so right. I think leadership, what I came to realize is really [00:07:00] foundational. If you're trying to grow to the next level and some, some founders, some really entrepreneurial founders aren't cut out for that. And they are the serial entrepreneurs who get it to a certain phase. And then transition it to an operator or somebody else and they get out and go start something new.

Courtney: There's nothing wrong with that. But not everybody wants to do that. But they can get to that point where it starts to get messy and hard. And they feel like I either need to double down on what I've been doing and keep trying these same principles and tactics I've been doing that got me here. Or maybe I should just quit and give up.

Courtney: And there's really a third way. And that's to recognize that this is just a whole different stage. And there are different things you focus on and different things you have to learn and do. It doesn't mean that you did anything wrong to get here. It just means you've got to change to a different approach.

Courtney: And so for those who [00:08:00] are wanting to do, like you said, make this a firm, make this a company, stay in this, grow it, lead it. I think the very first thing you have to recognize is you are the leader. And that's, that's actually the first principle in the simple scale up system that I created. and with that comes kind of the responsibility and the accountability side of it.

Courtney: Like, ah, man, if something went wrong, it's, it's on you, but it's also a freedom to know that because you are the leader. You can change things. You can do what needs to be done to make it better or to change it. So though there is a weight of responsibility, there's also a freedom and knowing that you're in the seat.

Courtney: To make things different. 

Paden: yeah. Everything begins and ends with you. And yeah, yeah. And it's as a leader, you know, the leader of the business, you get to that business level, especially when you get through past the startup and kind of maybe into that seven figure range. It really is. The business is [00:09:00] 100 percent rise and fall with the leadership, right?

Paden: The leadership, the team and the skills and the, and the leadership. stuff in that state. I mean, like everything in the new stage is just a skill set, right? A new skill set for everybody to learn. The leader needs to learn to be able to just better leverage his time, and grow the business because, yeah, you, you know, you spent the last 10 years or whatever that timeframe is before working on all kinds of tasks that needed to be done at the time, you know, at the time then.

Paden: But now it's like, okay, that served you in the past, but absolutely that it's not what you should. Yes. 

Courtney: Yeah, for sure. And here's the other thing. If you've done this before and you go do it somewhere else. You almost have to be reminded of these same lessons again. I've seen that for myself. I know I mentioned I was part of building this audit practice and then this virtual CFO practice.

Courtney: Now I'm building this coaching practice and these same things keep coming up. And I think, Oh yes, I know what to do here, but it's not necessarily your natural instinct. To make that switch. And [00:10:00] in our group coaching program and scaling leader, we have clients who have done the same, they've built something before and now they're building something new and they're recognizing, Oh yeah, I, I do have to switch thinking, do this.

Paden: Yeah. I forgot about this stage. I mean, that just goes 

Courtney: to show how. Typical this is, it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It just means you have to recognize and start to do things differently. And 

Paden: it's, it's super helpful to have a guide or an outside party. That's like, Hey, remember, see this?

Paden: You, you're not seeing this right now. You remember this? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. 

Courtney: We talk about that in, in our group coaching program. you know, we have this curriculum, we have this framework we built called the simple scale up system. and that's, it's, I actually have a copy of it here in my, this is like a quick overview.

Courtney: People can read this little overview or download the PDF and that will be like a map to you. But sometimes it's helpful to have a guide, like you mentioned, someone who [00:11:00] has been there before to help point you along the way, to help guide you along the way, to encourage you, to show you those paths. And that's really, I think the difference between, you know, reading the book and trying to do it your own.

Courtney: And being part of a coaching program or having some kind of a coach or mentor, we need people who have done these things before to help us. And I think it helps to build our intelligence. It helps to build, um, our insights. A lot of what happens in startup, you're relying on your gut, you're relying on your instincts and, and that, that can be very helpful.

Courtney: But when you try to grow to the next level. Your instincts are based on your emotions and your experiences. So it's super helpful if I'm, if I'm trying to get around my own neighborhood. I can trust my gut, right? If I'm trying to get to, you know, where you're at, um, a few hours south of [00:12:00] me and I've only been there once, I probably need a map or a guide because I'm not going to be able to trust my gut.

Courtney: And so that map or that guide helps to build trust. Our instincts for the future. So we're actually adding intelligence to ourselves. We're boosting our instincts as we add insights and information from, um, guides and, and maps along the way. 

Paden: Yeah. And you know what I would tell you, a map's great, but that guide is going to take you down that a 

Courtney: whole lot faster, 

Paden: right?

Paden: Like if you're Actually, I 

Courtney: post pretty frequently on LinkedIn. And one of the things I shared within the last week or two was a question that I got from a prospective coaching client about a year ago. And he said, Courtney, if you wouldn't have had your coach, do you think you'd be where you are today?

Courtney: Do you think you would have accomplished what you've accomplished? And I kind of thought for a second and I said, you know what, I'm, I'm pretty confident person. So I think I would [00:13:00] eventually get there, but I, it would take me so much longer. I would not be where I am right now without the coaching program that I was in without the executive coach that I have, um, that you're exactly right.

Courtney: Payton, that's what gets you there. faster because you can so much more quickly add those insights and intelligence to your instincts and get better along the way. 

Paden: there's a quote or something, there's something out there. It's like a, a fool never learns. A smart person learns from their own experiences, but a wise person learns from other people's experiences.

Paden: Right. the beauty of the why, you know, the wise person learning from other people's experiences. One. Way faster, right? You know, you might be five years down the road on something and save me five years, but like, hey, don't go here. Go here. And you just cut five years off my path. and I had another point there.

Paden: It was, it was a great point, but I lost it in my point there. But anyway, I'm having the [00:14:00] guide, having the map. Um, you know, and leaning on and, and, and personally in my, my world, that's something that's really accelerated my growth, especially in the last, I'd say two to three years, is being part of networking groups, being part of, a mastermind group that's full of people that, are business owners that honestly, some of them intimidate me because they are.

Paden: 20 steps down the road for me. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I don't belong in this group or whatnot. Right? Like, but it's, it's being uncomfortable and being those groups and being the, quote unquote, maybe dumbest person in the room is probably the best room for you to be in because you can just sit there and soak everything up.

Paden: And probably skip a bunch of levels because you're learning from absolutely. 

Courtney: Yeah. Yeah. They say if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. 

Courtney: I've just had such great opportunities over the years to be part of different group coaching programs, one on one coaching masterminds, and I'm having people who've been there before people who are farther down the path than you [00:15:00] can just has consistently expanded my thinking about what's possible.

Courtney: And accelerated my ability to get there more quickly. And I was just talking to a couple of people last week about the difference between a group coaching program and a mastermind, because right now I'm in a couple of masterminds and they are tremendous. but I've been in group coaching before and then I have, I facilitate scaling leader, which is a group coaching program.

Courtney: And so. And here's how I would look at the difference, depending on the group coaching program, at least comparing scaling leader, what I have, um, to help people to grow and scale to the next level versus a mastermind is that in our group coaching program, we have a curriculum and a framework that you are essentially learning and implementing within your business.

Courtney: Um, so that you and your other leaders and your team are all operating, um, on the same [00:16:00] system. You're using the same agendas, the same check in forms, the same working style profile tools. All these things are equipping you with not only principles and practices, but real like fill in the blank tools that you can use.

Courtney: So for people who need that kind of system and structure, something like Scaling Leader is providing that. Doing it in a group setting gives you also access to other leaders who are in a similar place, or maybe they're a little farther ahead of you, some behind you, mostly to build connection and relationship with, you can learn from each other.

Courtney: Absolutely. But we don't do mastermind type settings. We do connection dinners, but we're mostly concerned about people building relationships because leading is lonely and having other people who get it, that you can be in relationship is really valuable. Now, compare that to the couple of masterminds that I'm in right now, there's not really a curriculum.

Courtney: It is mostly experience shares [00:17:00] from people who are at or beyond my level because I don't at this point, I don't need a new framework or a new system. I've already got my own and I'm teaching it. I don't want to, you know, cloud my mind with other things, but I'll take little pieces from things that I learn from others in my group.

Courtney: And maybe make something better because I'm a maximizer or, expand my thinking or shift my mindset. And so whatever it is that you need, if you need a one on one coach, if you need a mastermind, if you need a curriculum and a structure being really intentional about what it is that's most helpful for you in this season and finding it is going to get you there so much faster.

Paden: kind of shift gears a little bit. And I'm kind of talking to talk about you a little bit on here. what would you say is your best skill? 

Courtney: I think my number one skill is the ability to maximize or improve something that's already good to make it better.

Paden: Um, 

Courtney: just constantly believing [00:18:00] that better is possible. We can learn, we can grow, we can change. We don't just have to accept the status quo. And I would say closely related to that is the ability to galvanize or encourage others around those same ideas to do it together. those are probably the super power that I, That I have that has led to my fulfillment and to my collective success with my team and with clients.

Paden: just curious, have you ever taken the culture index? I have not taken culture index. 

Courtney: I've taken so many. I've taken predictive index and Colby. Well, yeah, predictive culture. They're, they're, yeah, predictive index. I think I was in like towards the middle. I think that they called me a chameleon.

Courtney: Uh, does that, like I can kind of shift to what is needed. 

Paden: My guess is, yeah, you, you certainly, uh, you're certainly not the typical CPA profile, right? I'm not either, but, um, as you can probably tell, you're certainly high social, [00:19:00] right? and the galvanizing piece, you're kind of like a, that's very similar to my profile, like in the culture index, which I'm called a coordinator, which is like a, it's a social profile.

Paden: you have high detail, you're social. You're also low patients like me, like I'm low patients. I want to get. Um, but the leading trade is the social ability with, with the detail. my guess is you're something like, um, but it's, the ability in the coordinator profile, like is, is very much a galvanizer, a team, like the glue of, of the place, right?

Paden: Like around here, like I love just hanging out and talking to the people and, and leading and, and it's not even about necessarily business, but Creating a fun kind of environment that will be relaxed and you 

Courtney: know, yeah. Yeah. A big part of our culture at Forge is succeeding personally and professionally.

Courtney: and putting people first and recognizing that we're all human beings with all kinds of things going on in our lives outside of what we do in our work. and so that, kind [00:20:00] of relational social aspect of it, it just helps me to, to help people see, And for me to see in them that there's more going on here than just what we do during the week, and it's all interconnected.

Courtney: So if someone is struggling, With something financially or relationally or physically, it's going to impact the way they show up in the work they do with our team and with our clients. And likewise, if something's causing them challenges at work, it's going to affect the way that they interact with their family.

Courtney: And so a big part of our culture is helping people, equipping people with tools and training and coaching, um, around what we call human intelligence. Thanks. And, and just being able to, um, understand the interconnectivity and the value of rest and rejuvenation fulfillment using your strengths and gifts.

Courtney: Um, we actually do a whole session in our scaling leader [00:21:00] program and we do it within our team. Where everyone takes three different assessments. So we do, um, Clifton strengths for the kind of the thinking side of the brain, the cognitive side. We do Enneagram through integrative nine for the feeling or motivation side.

Courtney: And then we do Colby for the conative or, instinctive action side of the brain. So we all think, feel, take action through different ways. So we take all three assessments, people deep dive on their assessments, summarize them in a working style profile, deepens each person's self awareness 

Courtney: how am I wired?

Courtney: And then the next step is to say, what should I even be doing based on the way I'm wired and gifted? What are the types of things that I should be doing? Because if you use your instinctive gifts and strengths, you'll be way more effective and way more fulfilled. we just have to account for the fact that we're [00:22:00] not going to be quite as effective at it. And it's going to drain our energy. And so the more we can increase our self awareness, the more we can work within and leverage play to those strengths.

Courtney: And when we use that within a team. So when I use that within my team or my scaling leader clients use that within their teams, they start to boost the overall engagement and effectiveness because everyone's doing what they should be doing, or at least most of the things they're doing align, um, those types of assessments and leveraging the information.

Courtney: I just have found so much value in for my own self awareness and for really optimizing the people within your teams. 

Paden: that's been huge. I would say in the last two years for me, you know, I have a small team on my tech side, but like just having me and everybody on our team understand each other from like that, that, that viewpoint of like, this is what Jake's good at.

Paden: This is what Spaden's good at, this is what Alex is good at. 

Courtney: and I think kind of what prompted me to think about that, you were saying, um, [00:23:00] paid a minute ago, you're different than typical CPAs.

Courtney: I'm different than typical CPAs, which means I'm different than a lot of the team. That I lead and so having that intelligence, that insight from those profiles is really valuable for my leadership because if I lead them the way I would lead me. It's not going to land because they don't think, feel, and take action exactly the way I do.

Paden: I'm also going to guess that some of your constant improvement you're looking for over the years has probably rubbed some of those traditionals people. Right. Yeah. It's like, Oh, why can't we just, 

Courtney: why do we have to change this?

Courtney: Why do we have to make this? It's just the way it is. It works. I mean, that's a great point too. 

Courtney: I'm an innovator. I like change, risk, and uncertainty. 90 percent of my team is low. 90 percent of the accountants. That means they don't, they don't like risk, change, and uncertainty. Their gift. [00:24:00] Is that they try to minimize chaos. They try to preserve what's working. That's those are gifts until you need to innovate.

Courtney: My innovation is a gift until we need to slow down and keep what's working. They're all gifts. You just have to understand where you're naturally bent towards. But because of that significant difference between myself and most of my team, I am incredibly mindful of. The initiatives that we take on and the language I use around it.

Courtney: I almost always position something. As a version 1. 0 or a minimum viable product or a beta because it sets the stage that this is going to keep changing and iterating. This is not the perfected end all be all. And that alone gives them more certainty. It reduces the uncertainty that they have about what's coming because they start to expect there will be a version [00:25:00] 2.

Courtney: 0, maybe a 3. 0. And so just things like that. That human intelligence aspects have been so valuable for me in learning to lead. And then, you know, building that into our, our system when we're coaching other leaders and scaling leader, because the adding that intelligence, those insights to your instincts can make a huge difference.

Paden: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's, that's great stuff. So according, you know, on, on your journey of doing all these businesses, what would you say is the best decision? Best 

Courtney: decision I've ever made. Oh, goodness. I think probably the, uh, pivotal pivotal moment for me was in 2020, adding an executive coach, a one on one coach.

Courtney: So I was co managing partner at the time, um, getting ready to become the managing partner of our firm, the firm that we split off from, and I was in group coaching. I'd done, you know, some leadership development. [00:26:00] But I invested in a one on one executive coach, and I have done, I've learned more from that coach.

Courtney: His name's Kevin Jennings. I've learned more from Kevin. I've expanded my thinking more. I've changed and expanded what I believe is possible more. In the last four years than I ever could have without him. And that shift from being a peer to being the leader. So being a partner in my firm to being the managing partner or the CEO now, I wasn't prepared.

Courtney: for how lonely that would be when I felt like all of a sudden, nobody tells me anything anymore. 

Paden: And so having 

Courtney: an executive coach, someone who I could talk to and really share my challenges, who could be my cheerleader, um, because I couldn't really get that from My other partners anymore [00:27:00] because I was now their leader.

Courtney: Um, I would say that's, that's probably one of the greatest decisions I've made is that investment in coaching. And there's a belief there, not just in a belief in the coach, but there's a belief in yourself that you're going to be coachable, that you're going to take what you're learning and get value from it.

Courtney: that was definitely a pivotal moment for me. 

Paden: similar for me. Like it's, just getting around people that make you better. Right. Put your stats up, whether it's one on one coach or like you said, you know, mastermind type stuff. Um, you know, I got 40 guys, I think in a mastermind group that are all, you know, I'm say watching me, but like kind of are, right.

Paden: We all keep tabs on each other and like, um, For me, I like that accountability or whatever. Right. Like I want to show these guys that who I say I am and the accountability is, is for me as a social person is, is really important because like I'll do stuff. It's an interesting thing about my personality is like, I don't even do [00:28:00] stuff for me, like really per se.

Paden: It's, it's more that I don't want to let other people down is, is really like. Honestly, the underlying motivation, right? it's being around people that hold me accountable and, say, Hey, Peyton, you say your standards are here. Let's see. 

Courtney: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think understanding those things about yourself and then taking action.

Courtney: To develop them, increase that awareness is definitely an accelerator of leadership ability. 

Paden: So on the flip side of that, Courtney, what is one big mistake you've made? 

Courtney: Um, so a big mistake, it actually happened around the same time in 2020, as I was becoming the next managing partner, one of the strategies that, that my executive team and I had decided on was splitting.

Courtney: The firm. So we had just grown to where we had two very different business models. We had this high volume tax practice, mostly, you know, B2C, high volume, small fee per client, mostly [00:29:00] serving people in geographic locations within a 20 mile radius. And then we had the audit practice and the virtual CFO practice that were serving, business clients.

Courtney: So B2B. All over the country, digital, most people don't even know or care where we are. and a higher dollar and lower volume, two very different models. And so the strategy was let's split because we've got within our ownership group, we've got people who work in each area and we're just wasting a lot of energy trying to find the common brand vision, 

Paden: Yeah, 

Courtney: even processes.

Courtney: And so I thought this was a great idea. Um, my executive team thought it was a great idea. We pitched it to the partner group and it fell flat because I was approaching it as a business strategy and I gave zero thought to the way that my fellow partners would feel about this and what they felt was like we were abandoning them.

Courtney: Like we were disregarding them. [00:30:00] You know, we didn't even care. And I broke so much trust. We didn't even get to a vote. Um, we, I broke so much trust and there was so much, disappointment and just because of the way I handled that. And so over the next two years or really 18 months, I rebuilt trust with those partners.

Courtney: I first, I got coached by my coach on not quitting because I'm a loser. Then I rebuilt trust with those partners and ended up building, uh, and presenting two different strategies to go forward together or to go forward separately. And I set aside my, kind of hope in one outcome or the other. I got comfortable with, I can't control the outcome.

Courtney: I can control how I show up and how I prepare and who I am as a person and a leader. And it ended up, you know, 18 months later, unanimously. Approving to split [00:31:00] what I learned 18 months prior to that. If I wouldn't have learned that lesson, I mean, I missed so many things along the way, but it was hard and I've never wanted to quit more than after that.

Courtney: the fallout from that. Yeah. 

Paden: those, you know, and it's like, what do you do about those things? Like, you know, you, you had the best of intentions, right? Like, and, and you didn't know that you were stepping in it or offending someone or what not. But like the important thing is that. okay.

Paden: What role did I play in this? What can I do different? What can I do to make these connections, strengthen these connections that, you know, I've gotten hurt in some way or, or whatnot, but like, that's the only thing that really matters out of that whole story. Right. It's like, because you're going to, you're going to do something similar in the future, right?

Paden: It may not be that exact same thing, but you're going to mess something else up. Right. It's just the ability to humble yourself. Okay. Yeah. I messed that up. What can I do? Let's go, 

Courtney: right? Yes. Yeah. I think it's just that belief that we're either winning or [00:32:00] learning and we're not ever losing unless we don't get the lessons from it.

Courtney: So unless you quit or you skip out on the lesson for sure. And, and I, I tell my team that all the time, but when you're the one learning, it can be, it can be hard, to not give up and to not quit. But I think the more we recognize that that's actually. Just part of the journey, like we should expect that we're going to mess up and we're going to learn from those mistakes and, and keep going the more we expect that versus expecting that everything is just smooth sailing and up and to the right, the easier it becomes to learn from those lessons and, and recognize, you know, we're in a stage of developing our character, developing our skills, something's being developed in us for what comes next.

Courtney: That we have to get through before we're ready for that next phase. 

Paden: One last question for you, Courtney. If you could tell yourself one piece of advice going back to the beginning of your career, you can say, Hey, Courtney, here's what you need to do. [00:33:00] 

Courtney: Well, I think it would be to never stop learning and growing.

Paden: Yeah, I, I love that as a lifelong learner, as a guy that's always like considered myself a reader and, uh, and all those things that I would say that's the number one thing that's led to my success is being curious, right. And reading and listening and learning new things. Um, curiosity is a superpower.

Paden: One of my executive coach friends is that is his whole, um, his whole thing. It's curiosity, superpower. One question can change the course of your life. One great question. And it's, um, Just being curious, right? And continue to learn. This has been an awesome conversation, Courtney. What is the best way people can connect with you?

Paden: you obviously got a lot of cool resources for businesses, uh, growing and stuff. What's uh, what's Yeah. So for 

Courtney: me, um, directly, I am very active on LinkedIn, so I'd love to connect or do a follow on LinkedIn at Courtney Derondi. And then for Forge, whether you're [00:34:00] looking for outsourced accounting, auditing, group business coaching, Um, one on one coaching, any of that kind of, coaching and training.

Courtney: You can find us at forge ahead. com and, on our website on forge ahead. com, you will see a free assessment called a business intelligence grader. Encourage you to check that out. You'll be able to self assess where you're at on your journey towards scaling. In finance, leadership, productivity, and human intelligence.

Courtney: So a lot of the things that, that we, um, just kind of naturally talked about today, um, those are real things that have to be addressed and, improved upon in your journey towards scaling. So if you want to see where you're at, get some specific tips, as to what you should focus on, depending on your assessment, you can check that out.

Courtney: It's called our business intelligence grader. You can find it at forge ahead. com. 

Paden: Awesome guys. Yeah. So check out Courtney at forge ahead. com. Courtney, I appreciate you coming on. This has been a great conversation. We have a [00:35:00] lot in common, similar fields. 

Courtney: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Paden: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you found it valuable, please rate, review, and share it. That is the best way to help us build this and reach more people as we're trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs. You can follow us on social media by searching for me, Payton Squires, or going to paytonsquires.

Paden: com. On the website and social media, we're always sharing tips of personal growth, and there we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks guys.