After a lengthy summer hiatus, Derrick has a chat with litigation support guru and podcast extraordinaire, Robb Helt. Robb is an industry veteran who knows the business like few others. He is currently the driving force at DeFacto Trialworks, and lives and breathes the strategies he presents in this episode. He takes us through his sales process and provides valuable insight for any small consulting business looking to increase their customer base. Learn more about Defacto at http://defactotrial.com and check out Robb's podcast at http://podcast.defactotrial.com/Special Guest: Robb Helt.

Episode 16: Selling To Your Audience

Eric and Derrick discuss responding to criticism and the most productive way to confront clients and customers who aren't happy with your work.

Episode 15: Criticism and the 1-Star Review

Derrick continues his chat with Core's primary financial advisor, David Hergert, and goes into further detail about retirement plan options. Between this episode and last week's, they discuss everything from cash reserves, contingency planning, corporate structure, setting up employee benefits, and making sure your business is covered with liability insurance. To find out more about David and the services he offers, check out his profile at Ameriprise. Special Guest: David Hergert.

Episode 14: David Hergert - Financial Advisor (Continued)

Derrick has a chat with Core's primary financial advisor, David Hergert, to discuss the many financial considerations when starting a small business. Between this episode and the next, they discuss everything from cash reserves, contingency planning, corporate structure, setting up employee benefits, and making sure your business is covered with liability insurance. To find out more about David and the services he offers, check out his profile at Ameriprise. Special Guest: David Hergert.

Episode 13: David Hergert - Financial Advisor

Eric and Derrick are back with a new episode about the need to find balance in so many aspects of running a consulting business. After a particularly hectic couple of months, it seemed like a good way to jump back in. Work vs family, casual vs professional, valuable vs high-maintenance - always walking a tightrope to try and keep everyone happy and keep your business moving in the right direction.

Episode 12: Striking a Balance

In this episode, Eric and Derrick do their best to offend almost everyone with their take on business communication processes and procedures. Voicemails? Unhelpful emails? Small talk chats on business calls? There are a few rants, a few laughs, and hopefully laced throughout - there are some helpful tips for making the most of your day-to-day business interactions.

Episode 11: Please Call Me ASAP

This week Eric and Derrick discuss a few of the essential online tools they recommend when starting your business. In lieu of comprehensive, unbiased reviews of all the options out there, they rather lazily give you biased reviews based on nothing but gut feelings and the simple fact that they don't hate these tools after using them every day for years on end. 

They highly recommend checking out the following tools discussed in this episode by visiting their respective websites.

In order of appearance:


G Suite
Dropbox Business
Resilio 
Onehub
Wix
Harvest

Episode 10: Just A Couple Of Tools

In this week's episode, Derrick chats with friend and Core colleague, Alex Miller, about his passion for fine art, construction graphics and his newest source of anticipation, the OneWheel. But the real story here is an idea that he and his kids have developed over the past several years that he recently took public called creADDive Lessons. http://www.creaddivelessons.com. Great concept and great execution. Also check them out at the social media accounts below.

Facebook: @creADDive
Instagram: @creaddivelessons

From the website: 

As an artist and a father, there is nothing more satisfying than watching my children create. They do so with such freedom, unencumbered by old habits, art history, or critiques. They are so proud of their artwork, each piece seemingly a new adventure and experiment in creativity. Great concept and great execution.

Day after day, my wife and I find ourselves teaching them the lessons of life we hold so dear – to be kind and empathetic, bold and fearless. These teachable moments happen everywhere, but especially around the same table where their art is made, as we talk about the day that was. 

As I was hanging some of their art on the refrigerator, admiring the differences between their work and my own, a moment of inspiration came to me. While many of their paintings are full of free flowing strokes of color, my own work centers around bold images with simple monotone backgrounds. What they are creating is what I feel like I’m missing from my own work. So what if I combined my art with theirs while also creating pieces of work to help teach the lessons we discuss day to day? 

With their permission I created our first combined piece of art, The Golden Rule, and hung it prominently in our home. My wife and I found that we were pointing to the artwork every time we thought they could be treating each other nicer. Outside of the house, we found they were referring to the piece when talking to each other and to us. So we created a couple more, and those too were helpful in getting our lessons through. These images now hang around our house, and are a part of our daily conversations. The boys love talking about them, and we love reinforcing the messages. 

And so my wife and I have a running list of lessons and a countless supply of their art to marry together to create new pieces of work to help them learn the lessons. These are creADDive lessons, by Maxwell, Zachary and Dad. 

Special Guest: Alex Miller.

Episode 9: creADDive Lessons | Alex Miller

The topic this week is what to expect when you first start working with a remote team you don't know, and how to establish an effective work routine right off the bat.

Episode 8: Shock of Silence

Eric and Derrick discuss the infamous corporate ladder and provide their take on the differences between advancing at a large company versus a small one.

Episode 7: Finding The Ladder

In a somewhat holiday-themed episode, Derrick talks with special guest and colleague, Kim Levine, about her key role in creating a close-knit culture at Core. They discuss the importance of trying to maintain that vibe as the company grows, and how fortunate they are to work with such a great team. Special Guest: Kim Levine.

Episode 6: Extended Family

Eric and Derrick rattle off their opinions on management styles and philosophies - including employee handbooks, vacations, and sitting around doing nothing - and how that helped inform the way they interface with current employees. 

Also, Eric confirms that there are indeed bad questions that you should not ask a potential employer during an interview. Sadly, he doesn't tell you what they are.

Episode 5: Please Remember To Clock Out

Eric and Derrick talk through the tendency for new businesses to try and save money by doing everything themselves, and why that is often a mistake. They discuss the idea of building a support structure of experts who understand the way your company operates, and how much more cost effective that can be in the long run.

Episode 4: Money Well Spent

Our first guest, Nancy Schlaifer, joins the EG Podcast as we simultaneously send get-well-vibes to an ailing Eric. 

Nancy recounts her experiences working for a remote company while providing insight into how she balances work and home life. She also shares her views on isolation, the pros and cons of not speaking to people for days at a time, and why she ultimately thinks it's worth it.Special Guest: Nancy Schlaifer.

Episode 3: Spotlight | Nancy Schlaifer

The conversation this week revolves around deciding to fund the new business with emergency funds and a few generous short-term loans from family.

Armed with limited funds and some relationships that weren’t really accessible, the countdown began to see if there was enough money to make Core work.

Eric also discusses his love of paperwork - particularly as it relates to banks, and Derrick talks about the single most important thing you need to do to get paid. It involves invoicing, and yes, it does seem pretty obvious.

Episode 2: Let the Countdown Begin

Derrick and Eric discuss their personal experiences with leaving their full time jobs. Eric did so voluntarily; Derrick, not so much. They talk about the catalyst for each of them deciding to be part of a startup company - which apparently has something to do with some deep-seated authority issues. Who knew?

They each chime in on some basic management philosophy, and touch on how their families felt about them leaving so-called 'secure' jobs at established companies.

Finally, Eric explains what an Electronic Gentlemen is, and why they chose the name for the podcast. Spoiler alert: it's based on a funny story, and not much else.

Electronic Gentlemen Podcast

Electronic Gentlemen Podcast

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