LeaderImpact Podcast
LeaderImpact Podcast
Ep. 77 - George Krahn - How an $8,000 Mistake Built a Stronger Business
George Krahn's path from working on a factory floor to founding his successful marketing agency, Proven Results, offers a masterclass in finding your niche and leading with purpose. After progressing through roles in production, quality control, accounting, and customer service, George discovered his passion for sales and marketing and took the leap to entrepreneurship – even as family challenges arose with his father's cancer diagnosis.
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Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world, dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional and spiritual lives to have impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions, comments or suggestions to make this show even better, please let us know. The best way to stay connected in Canada is through our newsletter at leaderimpactca or on social media at Leader Impact. If you're listening from outside of Canada, check out our website at leaderimpactcom.
Speaker 2:I'm your host, lisa Peters, and our guest today is George Chn. In 2009, george founded his marketing agency Proven Results that specializes in serving the manufacturing, industrial, construction and agriculture industries. His career in the manufacturing industry started in 1997, and for 12 years after that he progressed through the roles in production, quality control, accounting, customer service and finally discovered his passion for sales and marketing. He has the unique ability to see and understand the big picture of entire systems, the technical details of specific components, all the levels in between, and explain it in plain English to others. George has used his gift and his life experience to determine the best sales and marketing tools for manufacturers, industrials, agriculture and construction companies. Welcome to the show, george.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me, Lisa.
Speaker 2:It is nice to have you and we sort of came into. Well, I know we talked a long time ago after a podcast that we had done with Braden, but I hear you were just in Guatemala.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, that was a fun. It was a global exchange trip for Leader Impact, canada and just yeah, it's such a, it's a life-changing experience and like you can just say that and but like you have no idea what you're getting into, but it was amazing.
Speaker 2:I hear that all the time. It's like you can say those words but until you experience life-changing yeah. So maybe we'll share more about that later. But we're going to get into sort of your professional story. I'm wondering if you can share more about your professional story, how you got to where you were, because you have a great bio. It really sounds like you grew through the industry, so I love that you know great bio. It really sounds like you grew through the industry, so I love that you know all components. But if you have any pivotal points that sort of got you to where you are in this journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of funny how things come full circle, but I guess there's a couple of pivotal points. So one would have been when I quit my last job 16 years ago and I made the leap to starting my own marketing agency. So that was challenging on its own. But then my dad also had some health issues right during that time. So I had actually already given my notice at the plastic factory where I worked and then I agreed to stay on for another year and then that my plan was that that would give me more time to just prepare and just to build up my own business before I fully took the leap. And then that's when I got the news that my dad was kind of battling with lung cancer. So then the business kind of got put on the back burner and of course you take care of family, right. So spent a lot of time with my dad in that year and and I don't regret it and uh, I I did end up, um, putting my job and starting my agency after that. So, um, so yeah, that was it was, it was challenging, but then, yeah, even just uh, dad's health issues on top of that. So so that was one point and uh, yeah, so dad's up in heaven right now and I've been, uh, um, doing my marketing agency for the last 16 years. So but another pivotal pivotal point I would say is when I first got into it I was kind of thinking I don't ever want to hire any employees and I just want to do as much as I can on my own and I'll just kind of leave it at that and be content.
Speaker 1:And then it's kind of funny how life throws you curveballs.
Speaker 1:And I was actually teaching part time at Red River College some computer courses and business courses and stuff like that in the beginning when I started, and then I realized that there was a lot of bright young people in those classrooms and then, almost by accident, they need to do some work experience, uh, during the courses that they were taking, some of those business courses.
Speaker 1:And then, um, I just said to my wife, hey, um, we should get uh, this young lady to to just do her business, uh practicum, in our agency and see how that goes or whatever, like she's really bright. And so I I think it was like three or four weeks that she was supposed to work for us, and then I think it was after the first week I told Helen, my wife, we need to hire this lady. Like she is phenomenal. She's just zipping through everything that that I'm throwing at her and and doing it well, and so that's kind of another pivotal moment where I'm like okay, I think I changed my mind. I think we need to hire people so that we can help more companies. So that was the second major thing.
Speaker 2:When you, going back to your first, when you quit your job and you quit the job and you're going to start your new company, I think what I heard you say that was a year sort of. You stayed on for a year until you actually left. Did you, when you quit your job I remember quitting a job that there was such a? You know I didn't really want to leave, but it was like I knew I should leave Did you ever get those feelings? I mean, I know you're cause, I know your dad got sick, but did you have any feelings leading up to that going? This isn't the time to quit, but I want to quit, but I want to do it my way. I think is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, I did have some reservations, like you have that security and I enjoyed my job and everything, um. But I guess it kind of comes down to like there were a bunch of different hats that I wore when I worked at that company and it's and he's still the best boss I ever had, but I really enjoyed the marketing piece, so like that that in the intro you talked about how I found my passion. So I just wanted to spend more and more time in that area passion. So I just wanted to spend more and more time in that area and I had these other responsibilities that I needed to take care of. So that's kind of why I just pursued it and I'm like, well, no, this is what I really enjoy, so I want to spend all of my time doing this stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a good feeling when you know it's time. It is time I love this, it is time to move on. You know so, well done. And yeah, I get the whole didn't want to hire. So at the time you didn't want to hire, were you working out of your house?
Speaker 1:Or did you?
Speaker 2:have yeah.
Speaker 1:That's kind of challenging because, yeah, doing marketing for manufacturing companies and other companies, so it is mostly advertising that we did at that time. So our services have broadened since then. But, yeah, fairly low barrier to entry, so it's just a laptop and a good internet connection and the knowledge obviously to to do that well and stuff. But, yeah, worked out of my own home, in my home office for like the first six or seven years all by myself and then, um, yeah, just kind of progressed from there. So it got a little bit challenging when we started hiring people. So well, to be honest, um, people actually came to our house in the beginning and and then then it got really awkward and then you mix kids with, uh, with employees and stuff. So then it's like, okay, no, we got to rethink this.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we did a few different things to address that and yeah, that was a bit of a journey, yeah, and I'm glad you shared that, because I think there's so many people that think we have to start the business, we have to go into a big building to be you know and or maybe they used to think that. But you know what. You can start it with your laptop and a good internet connection. You know, and you can run a multi-million dollar business and you can do it worldwide right now, you know. So it was a good share, so thank you for that. Did you have any other pivotal moments or would or did you want to move on?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess that that's mainly it. So I guess, when you start hiring people like now we're a team of seven, so five full timers and two casual people, so and my wife has been able to exit our business now as well and just kind of let her just do the mom thing and stuff, so I think that's been really good for our relationships. But we work pretty good together. But uh, but yeah, so those kinds of milestones happen and yeah, now we're a team of seven and we're just helping more and more companies. So it's, it's fun, it's it's more enjoyable working together with others than to just work in isolation, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well then, I'm excited to hear your best principle of success, and I just want to you know what is it.
Speaker 1:And do you have a story that illustrates that? Okay, yeah, so there's one thing that comes to mind. So I would say look back to see what you need to do going forward, to see what you need to do going forward, because, um like, so there's this one um marketing assessment that we do, so that when, whenever we're hiring anybody, we get them to go through three different assessments. So the one is called the marketing dna test. It kind of shows you how your brain is wired. But anyway, there's one thing that jumped out at me when I first took that test. There was this thing called Edison Einstein. Like there's these kind of little personas or strength zones or whatever. But basically what it is is some people's brains are wired so that you need to kind of like analyze some data or what happened in the past and then, as soon as you see that, then it's like oh, I can see what's happening here or the story that the numbers are telling, and then you know what to do going forward. So that's kind of how my brain is wired. I like creating things and I like new ideas and stuff like that, but I need to look at the data that came in already. So it's a little bit tough to start from a blank slate, but once you've got something going and then you collect a bit of data. So that's kind of served me well, like on a very small scale, but also on a very grand scale. So so one way that we applied that is A few years ago I did this exercise called RFM, recency, frequency Money.
Speaker 1:So you basically look at all of your clients that you've had over the years and then just kind of going through that exercise and basically what I was looking for is what's the common denominator? Where have we had our biggest successes, where have we had our biggest failures? And then I started seeing the patterns. So it's like, oh, okay, it's often manufacturing companies or construction companies. It's usually companies of this size small to medium-sized companies. And then it's like, okay, well, we need to actually try to niche down into that market and get more of those kinds of customers and not be everything to everyone. And it made sense, because that's kind of my background in the manufacturing industry. So it makes sense why we would have more success there, because I understood all of those different things and I trained my team on that. So just kind of looking back to see what worked the best and then just using that. And yeah, for years now we've just kind of focused on that niche.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so at the beginning you talked about the assessment that you did. That's sort of how your brain understand it. Did you do that with the rest of your team? Has each of your team member done that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so all of my team members have and that's kind of like. Even this morning I was at a leader impact event and and it talked. The speaker talked about focusing on where you're strong and like hiring people in your areas of weakness. So that's exactly why we do the assessments, like we look at their personality type, how their brain is wired as far as sales and marketing and Colby Index is another one we do. But basically I'm looking for people to fill specific roles because, yeah, I have a broad skillset and I can do each of those. But getting specialists in each of those areas, now that's what has really helped me, because I'm not a graphic designer by any stretch and my one team member in that area like that's just something new that she brought to the table and we never really used to focus on that, and now that's kind of part of we're designing the ads too. We're not just taking whatever the client provides to us. So that's just one example where finding people who are strong in areas where you're weak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great principle of success, thank you. Want to talk a little bit about our failures, because I think we all know we learn more from our failures than our successes. So I'm wondering if you would share maybe one of your greatest, or just one, and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1:There's a couple, but I'll just I'll just hold it to one. When I went on this Guatemala trip it was actually part of my business talk, so it's quite memorable, very fresh in my mind, when I was starting out, in the very beginning I landed my first big client, and then I was able to quit the part-time jobs that I was doing on the side, so that was a key client for me, and so it was a car shipping company from the usa. And um, it was a friday, and then I had this great idea for a new ad campaign that I was going to try out because things were going quite well, and then I I wanted to just try to keep on ratcheting up further and further. So I worked hard all day that friday and then by the end of the day, I launched the campaign and I was super excited.
Speaker 1:And then two days later, it was Sunday. After church we were headed to a family gathering to just have lunch there, and then, all of a sudden, I got a text message from Steve, the client, and he said what the heck is going on? My credit card has been billed over and over throughout the weekend and now we're up to $8,000 already, and and I. I started getting I turned white and felt sick to my stomach, and $8,000 is about how much was spent in one month.
Speaker 1:So now we had burned through that much cash in just two days. So, yeah, I took action as good as I could from my phone back then. So this is like over 10 years ago already. So I logged into the account, I paused it and I went through my four principles that I talked in my business talk, the one that I shared in Guatemala. But basically I stayed calm, I took action, I paused or, yeah, I minimized the damage so stop the bleeding is one of the principles and then I just reassured him that I would take care of it.
Speaker 1:I let him know that I was going to a family gathering. I said I'll check it out on Monday morning when I get to my desk. And then I found out that it wasn't in fact my fault. I hadn't double checked the budget and I think it was 10 times bigger than it was supposed to be, or something like that. And so then I just said to Steve I'm going to make this right, I'm going to pay this back. I can't do it in one shot, but I'll do it over the course of a few months and I will pay back what I owe you. This is my fault and you shouldn't have to pay for that yourself. So he was very shocked that I actually offered that and sounded like he may have been burnt in the past by other people and just surprised that I would actually own up to it and pay back the money. And yeah, so to us working together for longer.
Speaker 2:That's a great story and it's interesting. The phone call comes in. You're with your family. How many times have we, as leaders, done that? When you're a senior leader, the phone can ring any time and your response was you minimize the damage, you pause the account. That's all you can do, that's all you have control of, until you can figure it out and come up with an answer. But um and so you spent the time with your family. Too many of us, we hit the road. It's like I gotta go back to the office. I, you know. So the calmness there cause you talked about, you know, stay calm, take action. Uh, yeah, I did have.
Speaker 1:I did have trouble, like being present at the gathering, because this $8,000 thing is in the back of my mind, so I will admit that. But I figured, yeah, okay, I've done what I can do for now, and he's probably doing something on the weekend too, and yeah, monday morning we'll deal with it.
Speaker 2:We live in a world where we want things now. Yes, you paused it and there's nothing you can do. You can't get the 8,000 back and you'll look at it on Monday, but too many of us we drop everything. If it's a client that's calling, I want to make them happy right now. Well, he answered the phone. That was pretty good. You did what you could. Yeah, there's too much. We drop the important things too often. So that was a great start. I appreciate that. Thank you. Obviously, you are part of Leader Impact and that is awesome, and you know we want people. For anyone who's not listening, Leader Impact wants people to grow personally, professionally and spiritually for increasing impact. So I'm wondering if you're willing to share an example of how the spiritual makes a practical difference in your life as a leader.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I guess it comes down to the two main commandments that Jesus talked about was love God and love your neighbor as yourself. So love God and love people, and that's also the motto of our church that we attend. So, yeah, I just do my best to live that out and basically it's showing love to others with my actions, not just saying it but actually spending time with people or being compassionate in certain situations and stuff like that, and that's really where my spiritual life has. It flows into my business and my personal life all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. Love God, love people because it is in our actions. And you know, people may not say, oh yeah, he's a christian by the way he's acting, but when we keep doing it and and then maybe the the language we use, we might say something and but it's, it's a lot. It starts in our actions too, so that other people can see this is how we, this is how we um react, this is how we are love people. So thank you for sharing that. That Leader Impact is dedicated to leaders having a lasting impact. So, as you continue to move through this amazing journey in your own life, have you considered what you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a big question. I have thought about it a bit in the past and I guess when I was younger I would often just pray and say God, let me reach as many people as possible. You want to have a meaningful impact and not just like reaching people or whatever. And then, like when I was a little younger or like in early married life, I was like, oh, maybe, maybe I was meant for this role in the church or something like that. And then it's like, okay, no, I was totally wrong about that. So now, over the years, it's like it's become more clear, like as you just keep walking in faith. The years it's like it's become more clear Like as you just keep walking in faith. I can now see that that uh God is using me through business.
Speaker 1:So, um, yeah, it's uh just uh helping good business owners just uh grow their companies. And then there's always uh great things that happen from that, like they provide good jobs, provide good jobs, they support their local communities and they donate to like worthy causes out there. So if we can do our part and just help these companies grow, I see it all the time like these are just such good business owners and they're they're giving back and and stuff like that. So that's how we're kind of indirectly affecting those things by doing our part and kind of figuring out what is your life's purpose?
Speaker 2:Because God has all gifted us all talents and you know we are expected to use them.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was a great answer. Final question what brings you the greatest joy, George?
Speaker 1:Okay. So I would say, and so I have a servant heart, so we have a service business, so that kind of goes hand in hand. But I would say it's when I'm serving people using my spiritual gifts so, like you were talking about, we have different gifts and talents. Spiritual gifts, so, like you were talking about, we have different gifts and talents. So I've noticed that when I'm serving and I'm not really in my strength zone, like yeah, it's okay too, but when I'm really using what God has blessed me with, that's when I have the greatest joy. And then but although it is sometimes even just like like serving people food, like I've I've volunteered at some places or whatever.
Speaker 1:And then it's just like just serving people in that way or waiting tables or whatever, like just as a volunteer thing, so that that brings me a lot of joy and but like like living out my purpose in business. And then just when you can see that a company has growth and when, when the owners and managers are just ecstatic about how things have improved and you actually kind of follow through and, yeah, like we get challenged sometimes like your business has proven results. So so let's see the results, prove it, it's in your name.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So where do you feel, because I know you've done a lot of keynote speaking with your company and now with Leader Impact Do you feel that that's one of your greatest strengths to share?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's kind of what seems to be revealed here. So it just seems like there's three things that are kind of intersecting now. So my faith, business. And then there's this connection to Latin America. So this trip was to Guatemala, so we actually have a second home in Mexico and two of my team members from my work team are from Mexico. So, um, I just finally realized it when I was on this trip, um, that it's no accident that that we have a base in Mexico already and that and I'm not totally fluent in Spanish yet, but, uh, but I have four Spanish speakers on my team, so that's not by accident. So I can see now that more and more is being revealed and it's all kind of coming together now, those three things. So I think that's kind of how God's gonna use me in business just to kind of keep moving forward in that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. You say it's no coincidence. I believe that it's not this random chain of events. It it is, it's meant. If you and I think sometimes it takes us to step back like you step back and go wait a minute, guatemala isn't Mexico. I have a place you know and you look at all and go I'm meant to be here right now. Sometimes that's all I think is I'm meant to be here right now in this conversation or at this place, and you just smile and go yep, that's where I was supposed to be, I'm planted.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you just take the next step. Or you know inwardly, you either hear you don't hear an audible voice, but you know the spirit is saying you need to move forward, to do this, and it's like I don't understand why, but I'm going to do this. So there's steps that you take and then all of a sudden you look back and it's like, oh, okay, I can see now what the big plan is and okay, that makes sense, and yeah, I'm willing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like it that we had to wait to look back and go. Oh okay, I see it now, Because sometimes, when you're in it, it's not always easy. It's not always easy decisions. So you know. Anyway, I want to thank you for joining us, George. That was a fun half hour. Is there anything else you want to say? Did I miss any? Do you have any stories that I cut you off Because you seem? You seem to have some good stories. Actually, I'd like to hear more about your failings, but we'll do that another time. We all have so many, I'll pick one, yeah there was a second feeling.
Speaker 1:I did talk about that in my Guatemala talk. That was a time where one of my employees made a mistake and then I just went through the four steps again and just didn't lose my cool and just made restitution, and it was just a good reminder for me that yeah, even though I didn't personally make that mistake, I'm still responsible and I still got to own up to it. And yeah, so that was another one. Yeah, so that was another one. And yeah, there's all these opportunities to correct things, because we are not perfect people and we're going to keep making mistakes. So is what it is.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a perfect way to end. We are not perfect people. We will make mistakes and we will move forward. George, I want to thank you. If anyone wants to connect with you, if they want to engage with you, what is the best way?
Speaker 1:So you can go to our website, provenresultsagencycom. Or you can go to my LinkedIn profile. Just search for George Krohn on LinkedIn and I think I rank pretty good on there, so you should be able to type in my name.
Speaker 2:Good, well, that ends our podcast, and I just want to thank you again, and maybe one day we'll meet in Guatemala.
Speaker 1:Sounds good.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you, george. All right, well, if you're part of Leader Impact, you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you're not yet part of Leader Impact and would like to find out more and grow your leadership, find our podcast page on our website at leaderimpactca and check out our free leadership assessment. You'll also find on our webpage chapter one of Braden Douglas' book Becoming a Leader of Impact. You can also check out groups available in Canada at leaderimpactca or, if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out leaderimpactcom or get in touch with us by email info at leaderimpactca and we will connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating or a review. This will help other global leaders find our podcast. Thank you for engaging with us and remember impact starts with you.
