
Navigating Business Success with Todd Bailey: From Pulpits to Profits
Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. Our guest is Todd Bailey and EOS coach. EOS stands for entrepreneur operating system. It is a way to run your business, structure your business and get better decisions being made by you and your team members.
We talk a little bit about what it is, how to implement it, sources of information about EOS and how EOS and any operating system is critical if you’re ever thinking about selling your business because you have to be able to scale it and repeat it without the original owner to get the most money when you sell it.
So listen in and learn about EOS.
Narrator: welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county [00:01:00] or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.
Jonathan Breeden: Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast.
I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden. And on today’s episode, we have Todd Bailey, who is an EOS implementer right here in Johnston County. And I know you’re saying, What is EOS? It’s the entrepreneurial operating system. And it is a system by which you can run any small business more effectively in scale. I have been doing it maybe not greatly, but if that’s even a word here in my office, and it’s really helped me.
I’ve enjoyed reading the books and meeting other implementers like Todd. And I think you’re going to find this really fascinating about things you can do in your small business every day. He’s also a certified exit planning expert who can help small business owners who were looking to sell in the next 10 years.
And we’re going to talk a little bit about that. But before we go [00:02:00] get to that, I want to like ask you to Like, Follow or Subscribe to this Podcast, The Best of Johnson County Podcast, wherever you’re seeing it on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any of the other social media pages of The Best of Johnson County Podcast.
The Best of Johnson County Podcast comes out every single Monday and has now for over a year. And we’ve had many great guests and we have many more great guests to go. So go back and listen to some of our previous episodes. If this is your first time listening, we had Butch Lauder, Johnson County Commissioner Chairman, Chris Johnson Johnson County Economic Development Chairman.
We had Adrian O’Neill, Johnson County Parks and Rec Director. We’ve had local tennis, Dan Sims, local financial advisor, Chris Key. We’ve had a lot of great guests. We’ve had the Redneck Barbecue Lab and Mercedes Harris talking about all the great things going on there. So go back and listen to those.
And I think you’ll find it fascinating and continue to listen as we’re going to continue to bring you great guests like Todd [00:03:00] Bailey. Welcome, Todd.
Todd Bailey: Thank you. Good to be here.
Jonathan Breeden: All right. No problem. So tell the people. Who you are, what you do.
Todd Bailey: Yeah. So as you mentioned, I’m a professional EOS implementer. Entrepreneurial operating system. It’s simply a comprehensive system of simple tools to help you run your business more effectively, more efficiently and get more out of the business, get the life, the owner wanted out of the business.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, there’s no doubt about that. So let’s talk a little bit about your biography. How did you, I mean, this is a, not your first career doing this EOS stuff.
At one point, I think, where’d you grow up?
Todd Bailey: Yeah. So, I was born in Michigan. About an hour and a half north of Detroit spent my childhood in michigan. My dad got a transfer to Miami, Florida, So I spent my teenage years in Fort Lauderdale graduated high school there small college in Ohio and Spent a bunch of time in Michigan, Ohio before I moved to Johnston County.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay, and when did you move to Johnston County?
Todd Bailey: 2000
Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s when I got to Johnston County. We got here at the same time. [00:04:00] That’s awesome. That’s awesome. You were a pastor for a long time.
Todd Bailey: That’s what brought me to Johnston County. I went to college for the purpose of studying theology and being a minister.
And I came to, landed in Selma. Pastored a church in Selma. That’s what got me to Johnston County. And actually had the privilege of starting a brand new church here in Johnston County back in 2004 or 5 four or five, going strong. So I’m,
Jonathan Breeden: Where’s church
Todd Bailey: It’s called Cross Point Community Church on highway 70, halfway between Clayton and Smithfield.
Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Okay. I know where cross point is. Yeah.
Todd Bailey: So I started that church in 2004 and stepped out of the ministry in oh eight to go into business world.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And then I think when you got into the business world, maybe your first job wasn’t a financial advisor. I think you bought a business.
Todd Bailey: I did. I bought a franchise. It was a printing business, a business cards brochure. So I was living in Selma, the businesses in Wilmington. So I was commuting a lot of windshield time and learned a few things. I loved being a business owner. I loved my, you know, I had two or three employees, loved [00:05:00] my employees, all my client, my customers were business owners. So I was loving that conversation. And I learned that I hated printing. No offense to printers. I just did not, I just not, I didn’t love printing. So I did that for a few years, my brother and I did it together and we decided we wanted out. So we stepped away from that and became a independent financial advisor.
Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And you did that for several years around Cary, I think.
Todd Bailey: For about 12 years. So I, started that in 2012 joined an independent firm in Morrisville. And our big vision was to have 50/60 financial advisors and four or five branches all over Wake County. That was our big vision. And we got to about seven, eight advisors plus staff, and we realized probably similar to you.
If we kept doing it the way we were doing it, we were going to implode. We had no ability to scale. And we didn’t know what to do. So we were looking for a solution. We found the book traction by Gino Wickman. He’s the one who started EOS. We read the book, we ended up in 17 and 18. We [00:06:00] hired an implementer like me to come in and teach us for two years, how to run our financial firm on eOS.
And I absolutely fell in love with it. I just, it spoke my language. I got it, loved it. And we started running our firm on it in 2019. I left that firm and started my own firm and Carrie brought some financial advisors. Brought in some strategic partners, brought in staff and the whole four years I was with quest financial group.
We went from 40 million in assets under management to 80 and assets under management in four years. So tremendous growth. All of that I attribute to the efficiencies and effectiveness of EOS So in 20 end of 22 into 23 my wife and I started talking about the future and I said i’ve got 14/15 years left before I hang it up. What do I want to do?
I don’t want to waste my time doing something. I don’t absolutely love and out of that conversation. We decided while I really enjoyed financial advising. I just enjoyed EOS so much more So that’s so I in 23, I sold my financial [00:07:00] practice and went all in on helping other business owners implement EOS.
Jonathan Breeden: Oh man, that’s great. That’s great. And you know, I’ve had the fortunate, been fortunate. I read the book traction as well. have a business coach and they it was one of the things they recommended as something to consider. And so I read the book traction maybe three or four years ago.
And it was one of those books. Like I mean, it spoke to me that the concepts were tremendous, you know, and there was this organization and in the book, it’s, way easier in the book than it is in real life. Like, you know, and I was like, yeah, I I could do this, I think, you know, and then I actually went to a presentation with, and, in the U.S person like you.
Todd Bailey: Implementer?
Jonathan Breeden: Implementer in Phoenix maybe two years ago. And they did a few hours on it. And I started writing out my plan and, you know, getting an ideal and, that kind of stuff. so I have slowly been surely doing [00:08:00] parts of it, you know what I mean? And it really does make a difference. But for those of and then I, and then I read the follow up book get a grip. And so anyway, if you’re a small business owner out there, traction and get a grip are probably two of the five best business books I’ve ever read along with "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill that was written in 1930 that’s still very relevant today.
So if you’re into that, I would, if you read those three books, you’re going to be way further ahead. So let’s talk about what it is? Other people have heard it. Most people you know, if you’re anybody in business has heard of EOS now Traction is a bestselling book, kind of what is it in a nutshell?
Todd Bailey: Yeah. So a lot of the pain points that we hear from a business owner, and EOS is really designed for businesses with 10 employees and up. So you’ve got a, the median business in the eOS universe is about 45 employees with a leadership team of three, four, five people That’s pretty cool. running the business. And so what we [00:09:00] find is one of the pain points is the business owner or the leadership team. They feel like they don’t have a sense of control over what’s happening under the roof. The business is going a hundred miles an hour and they feel like they’re always trying to catch up.
That’s a pain point that EOS is a great for 82% of the people who hire an EOS implementer do so for people issues. We were talking about retention and losing employees coming and going. And EOS is perfect for addressing. If you’re having people issues inside your organization, EOS is really the solution for that.
Some businesses have cashflow issues. They might be bringing in $3,000,000, but 3,000,000 is going right out the door 30 days later. And they always feel strapped. EOS is a perfect solution for that type of problem. A business leadership team or owner that they’ve tried everything. We read this book. We went to this seminar and went to this conference.
We’ve tried it all and nothing seems to be working. EOS can really be the solution for that. So those are the pain points. That we often hear. And so what EOS is, is a system [00:10:00] designed to address what we’ve identified as the six key components of any organization. It’s vision, people, tracking data, addressing issues in the organization, your processes, and getting traction. Those are the six key components. And as a business, if you’re able to execute on those six key components, you’re more effective. You’re more efficient. The leadership team is more cohesive. Everybody’s just having more fun and to become more profitable.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and that is true. And I have, like I said, I’ve done a little bit of it and I’ve definitely tried to follow the structure and I think it’s important, you know, one of the first things you do, if you start studying it is you sort of need to develop a vision of just, what are we trying to do here?
And when I got into it and when I read the book. I wasn’t absolutely sure because we were, we’ve been very fortunate. We were growing fast. I knew I was trying to help children, but really how was that [00:11:00] into a vision that I can share with the other team members? And we’ve been working on that.
And I think we’ve got a pretty good one now. So talk about how people develop their vision state.
Todd Bailey: Great question. So eOS eOS is a system of tools. So there are about 20 tools in the EOS toolbox. So when you bring in somebody like me as an implementer, we help you implement and execute on EOS. So your business is running on EOS.
Over the course of the relationship, we’re just mastering those 20 tools. The number one tool in that toolbox is called the Vision Traction Organizer. Or the VTO for short. Basically what that is, is a tool. And if you’ve read the book traction, there’s a sample of the VTO in the book. Even if you never hire somebody like me, use the VTO in your organization. It is the best tool that you’re ever going to discover for your business.
But basically it walks you through eight questions. And the first question is your core values and then your core focus. And the third question is, what is your 10 year target? So what you’re doing is you’re [00:12:00] bringing the leadership team together.
And as a team, you’re identifying where is our organization, our business going to be 10 years from now? What. What’s the finish line 10 years from now, the value in that as you’re getting the whole leadership team to see the same finish line, because what we find when I step in with leadership teams, they, when you start the conversation, they’re very unified.
But as you start breaking it down, sometimes those visions can be slightly different. The COO and the CEO and the CFO, they all have slightly different visions of where we want to end up. So the Vision Traction Organizer brings everybody to the exact same vision as a leadership team. We’re in alignment. We agree on that and it gets everybody rowing in the same direction. So the VTO is a great tool. To help the leadership team sniff out what they should be doing.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and then you can also use that to help you in hiring, you know, and you’re talking about, you know, you have these sort of core values and then as you are interviewing [00:13:00] candidates or even if you’re writing ads, you know, I now write my ads with some of the values in it to try to attract people that are interested in one of ours is being heroic, you know, like trying to get our marketing here is be the hero of your life story.
Right? So, I mean, it’s all together, right? Like we won’t heroic individuals and employees working for our clients who we want to see the heroes in their own life, even though their relationship may not be working out. So talk a little bit about that sort of, cause I have really used that a lot. And I might not write it down, but I definitely have it in my head, sort of the right seat, right person, right value matrix as you go to decide to hire somebody.
Todd Bailey: Yeah, it’s great. So there are multiple tools that you just illustrated. The first one is the vision, traction, or the VTO vCO. So you’re identifying what are the core values and you’re, and I’m, when I implement with a team, I’m guiding the leadership team, I’m facilitating coaching for them [00:14:00] to figure out what their core values are. They aren’t aspirational. This is who we want to be. Our core values, this is who we are, this is our culture. Then utilizing those core values, like you’re using them perfectly, using them in your hiring, firing, staff reviews, everything gets measured against your core values. So you’re, bringing in the people who are attracted to that, you’re repelling the people who are not attracted to that, because you’re using your core values to hire and fire and review.
There’s also a tool, you talked about right people, right seats, which is Jim Collins terminology from the book "Good to Great". EOS just adopted that as the terminology. The right people, we have a tool called the People Analyzer, which is probably what you’re referring to. It’s a beautiful tool, super simple tool to help you figure out do we have the right people on the bus, the right people in our organization. The other tool for the right seats is what we call the Accountability Chart. Which some people may say that looks like an organizational chart an org chart is not an accountability chart is different. So we create the accountability chart. We [00:15:00] figure out what are the right seats in our organization for the next 12 months. Where do we need to go?
And then we make sure we got the right people In the right seats executing on that vision. So it all works together.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and one of the things you have to ask yourself whether you’re working with somebody like Todd Bailey or not is okay. What do I need each seat to do?
Todd Bailey: Yes.
Jonathan Breeden: And then you really need to talk about. You need a you know, and this was hard for me, but every job needs sort of a standard operating procedure and needs a KPI key performance indicator what they’re and every job you need to kind of know what skill sets would be good in that job.
And then you have to look and say, okay, who do I need to hire? And if somebody is already there, do they have this skill set? Is this something they excel at? Is this something they enjoy? Would they be better in a different role than the role they’re in? Because if they’re in a role that doesn’t fit them, they’re not going to be happy.
They’re going to be looking to go out the door. They’re going to be stressed. They’re going to be hard [00:16:00] to work with. And that nobody wins in that scenario.
Todd Bailey: Well, what we find, cause like I said, 82% of the businesses that bring somebody like me in it’s for people issues. They’re having people challenges and they don’t know how to solve it. So when we, when I teach them how to use the people analyzer tool and the accountability chart. That surfaces a couple of issues. One is you could have the right person in the wrong seat, which is kind of what you’re describing. Culturally, core values, this person belongs in my organization, but they can’t execute on the job for whatever reason. And so maybe I need to find a different job for them.
You’ll also find that you might have the wrong person in the right seat. What that means is you got a person who’s really, really good at their job. They’re good at finance, they’re good at payroll, they’re good at whatever they do. So, But they don’t fit culturally. They’re a cancer inside the organization. They’re disruptive. They’re at the water cooler saying things they shouldn’t be saying. So they’re really good at their job, but they don’t belong here. And so it helps you identify if I got the right person, the wrong seat, maybe I can find a good seat. If I’ve got the right person, it got the person in a good seat, but they’re the wrong [00:17:00] person. They’ve got to go. It helps you identify all of that.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and that’s the hardest thing for us, for a business owner, that’s been the hardest thing for me is you have an employee. It’s a good lawyer, but they are a little bit of a cancer and, but you really, they’re producing clients like you know, like to the outward world, it’s fine, but inward world, they’re causing problems.
And then I’ve had. People like that cost me other people that I did not want to lose because they didn’t want to work with that person anymore. The sort of the underlying stress and anxiety of having this person you know, in the office. And so, you know, a players kind of want to be with A players. A players don’t want to be hanging out with C players.
And not everybody can be an A player. But, you know, but a C player can make an A player uncomfortable in the A player lead. And that has happened to me more than once.
Todd Bailey: Yeah, 100%. [00:18:00] And utilizing the EOS tools can really help you solve those issues. Really can.
Jonathan Breeden: Right.
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Jonathan Breeden: And, If you’re the owner of a small business, you’re listening to this, any employee can be replaced except for you because it’s your business.
And if you get big enough, you can actually start to exit out of your business and become an investor where you’re not there every day, or you can sell it. So let’s talk a little bit about how you help people do that.
Todd Bailey: Yeah. Yeah. So, I had the privilege of exiting out of my business. And so I had a financial practice, a book of business. I had a group of clients. And exiting was any business owner spends 10, 15, 30, [00:19:00] 40 years building their business. They learned, I know how to build my business. I know how to do my marketing. I know how to do this and that I’m going to grow, grow, grow. 99% of business owners have no idea how to get out of their business.
They just don’t know what it looks like. They’ve never done it. They’re going to do it once. They’re never going to do it again. So they want to be experts, but they don’t know what to do. So what I do as a certified exit planning advisor a sepa is I come alongside the business owner three, five, seven years in advance.
We figure out how much do you need for the what is it worth? What do you need for the business to retire the lifestyle you want? So if it’s worth 3 million, you need it worth 5 million And we’ve got 5 years. Let’s get from 3 million to 5 million over the next 5 years. I walk them through that journey. If they’re already running on EOS that’s great.
If they’re not running on EOS. EOS is probably going to be part of that journey because we found in the U.S universe that you can increase the multiple of your business by one X to two X. If your business is running on EOS, it’s more valuable. It’s more profitable to the buyer. [00:20:00] The reason for that is because if the buyer is looking at the business, is it owner dependent? If it’s running on EOS that communicates to the buyer, it doesn’t depend on this business, doesn’t depend on the owner to run, it makes it more profitable. So as I guide business owners through the exiting journey, EOS is typically part of that conversation because it brings more value, you get more bang for your buck. So I guide him through that process.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and the beginning, the first part of that process is the book’s got to be right. I mean, if you’re bookkeeping is not right and you’re not paying your taxes like you’re supposed to, and you’re putting cash in your pocket and you’re paying every personal expense you’ve got through the business and you just haven’t been audited.
That’s not going to work in a sales situation. And I know you have to have that hard conversation with a lot of people.
Todd Bailey: Yeah. Yeah. There’s a lot of organizational things. So when you start that exit planning conversation in a perfect world, it starts more than two years out, five, six, seven, eight years is even better, and there’s multiple reasons for that, but you we do what we call a triggering [00:21:00] event at the beginning. That’s getting a valuation compared to other businesses apples to apples to what I do. So if I’m if I’ve got a HVAC company with 30 employees. How do I stack up against other HVAC companies with 30 employees who are apples to apples like me? So I might be a million a 3 million dollar business, but the we call it the best in class. Might be a 5 million dollar HVAC business.
So you have the potential to be a 5 million. But there’s things you’re not doing that company is doing. So that triggering event identifies all that to figure out what can we do over the next three to five years to get you to the best in class in your industry we come out of it with a 21 point action plan. And then we I just walk the journey with them we create what we call 90 day sprints with the owner where we say let’s do these one or two goals for the next 90 days. And we just do that journey for as long as we need to, to get that business from 3 million to 5 million.
And we’re on the business side. We’re implementing EOS simultaneously.
Jonathan Breeden: Right. And that’s great. The other thing EOS can help you do other than get ready to [00:22:00] sell it, it can allow you to move to what I would call an investor level in your business where you still on it, but you’re not there every day, you might be there. Four or five hours a week. And I know the book for our work week with Tim Ferriss, whatever. It’s a good book. I think the title makes it sound like you can be Tim Ferriss and work four hours a week.
So title is catchy and he sold a lot of books, but he works a whole lot more than four hours a week. Tim Ferriss works a lot. He’s a hardworking person. He’s got a great podcast. So I don’t want people to think, Oh, I can work four hours a week and be Tim Ferriss. But I’m saying. You can, if you have your systems in place, you know, and your systems are running your business, then you, the owner, don’t have to run your business.
You can sort of hire somebody sort of to be the CEO or CFO of your business, and you can go do something else and you can check in literally three or four hours a week and still make [00:23:00] money. But you’re going to have to have something like EOS to do that.
Todd Bailey: And what we call that, we say. As the owner you’ve been running this HVAC company for 15/20 years we’re going to start moving you to the owner’s box. We call it put let’s put you in the owner’s box so you can do what you’re describing, you’re not really in the day to day operations anymore.
We’ve got other people doing that and that’s what’s attractive to a buyer It’s not owner dependent and you start getting to live what we call the EOS life. There’s a whole book written called the EOS life.
Which means you start living the life you always wanted to live, which is why you started the business in the first place. You wanted to live a certain type of life, moving to the owner’s box, getting you out of the day to day is exactly how you live the EOS life.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and you didn’t have the freedom of time because you don’t have to be there 40 hours.
Todd Bailey: To pursue other passions.
Jonathan Breeden: To do other stuff. And I’ve seen people do all kinds of things. I’ve seen people start other businesses. I’ve seen people travel. I’ve seen people become speakers. [00:24:00] I’ve seen, I’ve got friends who started writing books about their business journey. And it really is fascinating.
Todd Bailey: You’re involved in rotary and you don’t have the time. You’re, you go to the weekly meetings. You might volunteer to help with the playground down the street at the elementary school. But when you get into the owner’s box, then you’ve got time to go to Africa for a couple of weeks and do rotary stuff, to your point.
Jonathan Breeden: Right? There’s no doubt. And You know, another version, you call it the owner’s box. Some of the business books out there talk about four levels of ownership. Level one, it’s you and you’re doing everything level two, it’s you and a few employees, but you’re still doing the vast majority of the work of the business. Whatever output is coming out. If that’s HVAC, you’re still running service calls or whatever. Level three allows you to get to sort of a you maybe have some mid-level management, but you’re still there every day, but you’re not having to run the service calls or you know, I don’t really do a lot of consults here anymore. you know, I have people to do that. And, [00:25:00] but yet I’m still here. And then level four is you’ve sort of ascended out of the business into what you would call the owner’s box.
And you have people, doing everything underneath you. Now you have to grow to be able to have the revenue to allow you to pay these people to replace yourself because they’re not going to work for free. And good managers are going to cost you, six figures in most of these small businesses, but you can get there if you have a system and a plan.
Todd Bailey: Well, that’s where we find that if you want to be in that owner’s box, you want to be on that fourth level, as you described it, you can get there and it actually doesn’t take as long as what most owners think it will take, primarily because when you start running on EOS, you become more efficient. You become more effective. So you’re getting time back and that frees up financial resources inside the organization to expand the business. So you can get there faster than you think you can. If you’re running efficiently.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, well, because the main thing is you have to work on the [00:26:00] business, not in the business. And I think that is one thing where small business owners really get confused because they’re so busy doing the work, whatever it is, they’re the chief bottle washer. They are doing the work that they’re not thinking about these bigger visions, the core values, the organizational structures. We’re not going to have time today to get into the rocks and how you figure out what the issue is and whose job it is to solve it and their responsibility for bringing it back.
You push the rock up the hill. You know, I mean we would take us an hour and a half to do that podcast but like I think that’s where people happen and they don’t get a chance to step back and look at it because they’re just, right. Doing the work every day.
Todd Bailey: And the biggest hurdle that I run into, because I talked to a lot of business owners that fit in that 10, 20, 30, 50 employee space is that we’re just so busy. I’d love to talk to you, Todd. I love the idea. I love the concept. We’re so busy. And my question is, if we don’t engage, what will look different 12 months from now? And essentially the answer is we’ll be in the same boat 12 months from now. [00:27:00] We are now because I don’t have time to work on the business. The reality is if you don’t take the time to work on the business, you’re never going to move on.
Jonathan Breeden: Well, and you know, my business coach always said, you know, when you start out, you do the work nine to five and make your fortune 5 to 9. Yeah. You know, like you actually work on the business. So that’s what, that’s what Richard James says. So anyway, how can people get in touch with you?
Todd Bailey: So, my cell phone number is the easiest 919-518-7728 my website is EOSWorldwide.com/Todd Bailey.
Jonathan Breeden: All right. That sounds good.
Todd Bailey: And LinkedIn is great too. All right. All that stuff is on link. Right.
Jonathan Breeden: And he goes to tons of chamber events. If you go to any chamber events around here, you’re going to see Todd. His greatly involved in the community. So the last question we ask everybody is what do you love most about Johnson County?
Todd Bailey: Well, I’ve lived here 25 years. I started in Selma and kind of migrated toward Clayton and I live in Riverwood and Clayton now. I love the culture. It’s what brought me here. It’s [00:28:00] what kept me here. All five of our kids were raised in Johnston County.
They went to Cleveland High School, Corinth Holders High School, graduated. Most of them still live in Johnston County. It’s the culture. I just love everything about the culture. I love being. Close to Raleigh, but not too close the culture in Johnston County is just I love it. I just love it.
Jonathan Breeden: It’s great. It’s great. I love the culture here I love the people. I love being close to Raleigh, but not in Raleigh, you know that kind of stuff. I agree with you 100% Well, we’d like to thank todd bailey from coming on to this episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. We would like to remind you to Like, Follow, Subscribe to this podcast and if you wouldn’t mind sharing any of your instagram stories and tag The Best of Johnston County Podcast it will help us grow you.
Like I said, this is really, if you’re a small business owner, EOS is a tremendous operating system. Even if you don’t hire an implementer, read the book, "Traction", read the book, "Get a Grip", read, go back and read the book, "Think and Grow Rich" about sort of the mindset of growing a business. they all have been instrumental to me. They’ve been instrumental [00:29:00] to Todd, and it can be instrumental to you too, as you continue to grow and move forward until next time I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.
Narrator: That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.
If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.
In Johnston County, I sat down with Todd Bailey, who is reshaping how small businesses operate. As a professional EOS implementer, Todd brings a transformative approach to entrepreneurs seeking structure, scalability, and sustainability in their ventures. But what is EOS, and why is it garnering so much attention?
EOS stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System, a toolkit designed to help businesses navigate pain points like people management, cash flow issues, and inefficiencies. On Episode 63 of “The Best of Johnston County Podcast,” I explored with Todd how EOS can revolutionize business operations.
From Pulpits to Boardrooms
Todd’s journey is remarkable. Born in Michigan and later raised in Fort Lauderdale, he arrived in Johnston County in 2000 as a pastor. He established Cross Point Community Church on Highway 70. After stepping away from ministry in 2008, Todd bought a printing franchise in Wilmington. While this ignited his passion for entrepreneurship, he realized printing wasn’t his calling.
“I loved being a business owner,” Todd told me. “But I needed something aligned with my passions.”
This realization led Todd into financial advising, where he thrived for over a decade, growing his firm from $40 million to $80 million in assets under management. Along the way, Todd discovered EOS through Gino Wickman’s book Traction, a bestseller that outlines its principles. Inspired by its potential, Todd implemented EOS in his firm, transforming operations and fostering growth.
What Is EOS?
At its core, EOS is built on six components: vision, people, data, issues, processes, and traction. Todd explained it’s about creating a cohesive, high-performing team aligned with a clear vision. “Businesses often feel like they’re running at 100 miles an hour without control,” Todd noted. “EOS helps them regain that control.”
Using tools like the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO), businesses can define core values, set long-term goals, and create actionable plans. Todd emphasized that alignment among leadership teams ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction. For Todd, the VTO was pivotal in scaling his financial practice, doubling its assets under management in four years.
Tackling People Challenges
Many businesses adopt EOS to address people-related issues. Todd explained the “right person, right seat” concept, borrowed from Jim Collins’ Good to Great. This ensures employees align with company values and excel in their roles. Tools like the People Analyzer and Accountability Chart help businesses evaluate teams, identify gaps, and make informed decisions.
“You might have a great performer who doesn’t fit the culture or someone who embodies your values but isn’t in the right role,” Todd said. “EOS helps navigate these challenges.”
Todd shared how the Accountability Chart was crucial in placing team members in roles where they excelled, driving his firm’s success.
Preparing for the Future
Beyond daily operations, EOS is transformative for owners planning exit strategies. As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Todd helps entrepreneurs enhance business value and prepare for a sale or transition. By implementing EOS, businesses become less dependent on owners, making them more attractive to buyers and increasing value.
Todd’s process involves long-term planning, setting financial goals, and executing 90-day sprints to achieve progress. “You can increase your business’s valuation significantly by adopting EOS,” Todd said. “It creates a sustainable, owner-independent operation.”
Living the EOS Life
For Todd, EOS isn’t just a system; it’s a philosophy. The “EOS life” is about achieving balance—enjoying work, pursuing passions, and spending time with loved ones. Todd’s journey from pastor to entrepreneur embodies this ethos. Today, he helps others build businesses aligned with their dreams.
Why Johnston County?
When I asked Todd what he loves most about Johnston County, his answer was heartfelt: “It’s the culture. It brought me here and keeps me here. This community shaped my family’s life, and I’m grateful to give back.”
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a business owner looking to scale, streamline operations, or plan for the future, Todd Bailey’s insights into EOS offer a roadmap to success. As I often say, Traction and Get a Grip are must-reads, alongside classics like Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
So, are you ready to take your business to the next level? Start by asking yourself: “What’s my vision, and how will I get there?” With tools like EOS and experts like Todd Bailey, the possibilities are endless.
AND MORE TOPICS COVERED IN THE FULL INTERVIEW!!! You can check that out and subscribe to YouTube.
Connect with Jonathan Breeden:
- Website: https://www.breedenfirm.com/
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