John Burdett, CEO of Fast Slow Motion, explores the deeper aspects of leadership and business growth. John shares his transformational journey from a results-driven entrepreneur to a purpose-oriented leader, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the journey over just the destination.

John candidly discusses the challenges and realizations that reshaped his approach to business and life. He stresses that true success isn't about financial gain alone but about making impactful relationships and maintaining integrity in leadership. The conversation dives into the importance of setting the right goals and the dangers of sacrificing personal relationships for business achievements.

Listeners will gain insights into the philosophy of "doing business the right way," as John highlights how leaders can achieve excellence without compromising their values or relationships. His story is a powerful reminder that the path to genuine fulfillment lies in serving others and building a business that thrives on mutual respect and collective success.

Want to learn more about John's work? Check out their website at https://www.fastslowmotion.com/.

Connect with John on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jburdett/.

Key Points with Time Stamps:

• 00:00:39: John Burdett introduced as CEO of Fast Slow Motion.
• 00:01:51: John discusses the "destination disease" and learning to appreciate the journey.
• 00:02:42: John's pivotal moment of self-reflection and realization that personal change was necessary.
• 00:03:31: Discussion on leadership styles and prioritizing relationships over results.
• 00:04:33: Emphasis on the journey being more important than the destination.
• 00:06:07: John explains the importance of building meaningful relationships in business.
• 00:09:21: Goals for Fast Slow Motion focused on business sustainability and team growth.
• 00:14:44: John speaks on the concept of heritage and impacting future generations while alive.
• 00:17:00: John talks about balancing family life with business demands.
• 00:24:32: Discussion on helping clients with Salesforce and HubSpot to streamline business processes.

Transcript

00:00:10:24 - 00:00:39:18
Craig Andrews
Today I went. Welcome. John Burdett. He is the founder, the president and the CEO of Fast Slow Motion. It's a business that helps people who are using HubSpot or Salesforce, to get more things done with it. And one of his passions is doing business the right way. and we're going to dig in to understand a little bit more about what that means, what that looks like.

00:00:39:20 - 00:00:45:01
Craig Andrews
And so I just today I want to welcome John. John, thanks for coming on Layers and Legacies.

00:00:45:03 - 00:00:47:00
John Burdett
Thanks, Craig, so much for having me.

00:00:47:02 - 00:01:00:00
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So, the so right now, you were telling me, you know, fast, slow motion is a business that has. What did you say, 100, 120 employees.

00:01:00:02 - 00:01:03:19
John Burdett
Yeah. We have 120 full time employees across the U.S. right now. So.

00:01:03:21 - 00:01:29:04
Craig Andrews
Yeah, that's massive. I mean, for that space that you're in, that is absolutely massive. but before we go there, let's back up because the, it sounds like it's easy for folks to see the destination, not see the bumps in the road that brought you here. so let's let's go back. You said things weren't always roses.

00:01:29:06 - 00:01:51:06
John Burdett
Yeah. That's right. I think a lot of us always have destination disease. Thinking that that's going to fulfill us. And and as you mature and get older and kind of realize that the destination wasn't worth it and wasn't fulfilling you, you learn that you better enjoy the journey. And and that is very much my story. I came out of school not really knowing what I wanted to do.

00:01:51:07 - 00:02:19:19
John Burdett
I was a software engineer, and I started out building custom software applications for large corporations and got the opportunity to join a professional services firm that was, about 15 people at the time. And I helped build that up and then, switched over and did a product company and helped start that, out of my business partners basement and build that up and about about ten years into the journey, I, I had everything, you know, you would probably want.

00:02:19:21 - 00:02:42:15
John Burdett
I was very successful as an entrepreneur. I'd done it multiple times. You know, I had a I had a family and, you know, all the things, you know, money, all the things that you would want. I really didn't have to work too hard in the business anymore. It was kind of running itself, but I was, I was miserable, and I was like, there's got to be more to, to to this and to the journey and to to what I'm doing.

00:02:42:17 - 00:03:08:05
John Burdett
And what I did is, you know, took it took some time off and some self-reflection and realized that I was the problem. the businesses weren't the problem. The people weren't the problem. The market wasn't the problem. The challenges wasn't the problem. The economy wasn't the problem. The government was in the problem. I was the issue, and I was I was trying to chase, the, you know, success for the wrong reasons.

00:03:08:05 - 00:03:31:13
John Burdett
And I was doing it in a way that was really kind of creating a wake of destroy action from a relationship standpoint, meaning that the results mattered more than people. my success in my business mattered more than my family. and that got me to a point of really a lot of of of of misery and just on fulfillment.

00:03:31:13 - 00:03:59:01
John Burdett
And I was like, there's just there's just got to be a better way. And, and so that was that was a big inflection point for me. And, I suspect a lot of business owners, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of people in the business world maybe can relate to that at some level where you, you kind of build your own present and you're trapped into it, and you've got things of real value now and you don't know way out, you don't know how to how to reset and and stuff like that.

00:03:59:01 - 00:04:33:12
John Burdett
So since that point, I've, I've really focused on number one, flipping that on its head and realizing that the, the journey is more important than the destination. Doing things the right way is more important than, financial outcomes and things like that, and making sure that I define success the right way so that on my deathbed, I'm proud of the the things that I've done versus, you know, dying with a bunch of money and no, nobody there to celebrate, you know, the life that I potentially, you know, lived in and things like that.

00:04:33:12 - 00:04:36:21
John Burdett
So, so, yeah, that's that's very much my story.

00:04:36:23 - 00:04:57:19
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And let's back up a little bit, you know, because there's a couple things dig in there, you know, and one of the things that you said reminded me of, something I've heard Chris Voss say. And for those that don't know, Chris Voss was a, FBI hostage negotiator. He's now one of the leading, consultants in high dollar negotiations.

00:04:57:21 - 00:05:28:06
Craig Andrews
And he says that when people ask him and so is so a good negotiator, one of his biggest tests is would they do business with that person again? And he's like, that's why I know I'm dealing with a good negotiator. He uses Oprah Winfrey as an example. He says Oprah Winfrey's tough and she's very specific about what she's she will do and won't do, but everybody that interacts with her team walks away feeling good and like they want to work with her again.

00:05:28:08 - 00:05:39:19
Craig Andrews
And so something you said was, you know, I forget how you said it, but it was something about results at the cost of people or something like that. What did you mean when you were talking about that?

00:05:39:21 - 00:06:07:18
John Burdett
Yeah. And what I learned on that is, is the you can be excellent and you can do excellent things and you can do it the right way and not, ruin relationships or, you know, kind of, you know, run over people along the way so that you just get it done and you can build meaningful relationships. You can add value to people, and you can make good money and you can make an impactful business, and you don't have to lower any of the standards.

00:06:07:20 - 00:06:29:04
John Burdett
And I think that was a big moment for me, because I was kind of always out the mindset, you can do it this way or that way, and you know, I'm just going to bulldog my way through things and if people are going to come on board with that, I don't have time to mess with them. And and the reality is, you better spend that time to build those relationships because you're going to it's really lonely at the top.

00:06:29:09 - 00:06:50:09
John Burdett
And if you're up there by yourself, there's, you know, you're going to fall, really fall far, and there's going to be nobody there to catch you along the way. so, yeah, that's kind of what I've learned as well, is don't lower the excellence bar, but make sure you're not sacrificing, the relationships along the way, because those are really what are going to matter at the end.

00:06:50:09 - 00:06:56:20
John Burdett
The end? Not necessarily how much money you made or whether or not you got that award or achieve that objective.

00:06:56:22 - 00:07:14:07
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Let's break that down. I mean, let's let's I mean, I get that I get the concept that you're talking about. What's that look like? Emotion. You know, what's an example of what look like when it wasn't you know, you got the results, but it was at the expense of people. And if you could, if you could know.

00:07:14:08 - 00:07:22:12
Craig Andrews
So let's take a real example. And if you could turn back time, what happened? And if you could turn back time, how would you do it differently.

00:07:22:14 - 00:07:50:17
John Burdett
Yeah. So early on it was it was all about achieving the results. And so put processes and systems in place and if people didn't follow them, you know, I go ballistic. And I was like, you're out of here. I'd fire them, you know, whatever with no grace or no mercy or understanding of what's going on. And, you know, it was like and then people obviously complied and started doing things, but they were scared to death and just didn't want to lose their job.

00:07:50:17 - 00:08:10:05
John Burdett
Instead of wanting to fulfill the mission of the business and doing those kinds of things. And so, you know, at the end of the day, you know, you're essentially an asshole, but you got the results and then you just you just push your way through it and once again ended up getting where you wanted to go. But it it was not fulfilling and it was not worth it.

00:08:10:05 - 00:08:32:12
John Burdett
And you were there all by yourself. What I've learned now is the as you're starting something, as you're building something, you're within your purpose is is the most important thing. Now you need to validate that to make sure you can make money and you can build a sustainable business and all those kinds of things. Otherwise it's just a non profit and you're not building a real business.

00:08:32:14 - 00:08:51:17
John Burdett
But you need to define success and what that means to you. And you need to define that very early in the journey, because you're going to get distracted and you're going to chase shiny objects. And, you know, crazy financial things may happen, but you need to kind of level set on your foundation of success. And that's what I do.

00:08:51:17 - 00:09:21:01
John Burdett
And that's what I've done. So very simply for fast. So motion very early on. We're a little over ten years old now. I was like, my main success criteria for fast slow motion is number one, the business does way better without me. That ended with me. And then number two, when I'm gone, are people have a way better opportunity to grow and to get better and to thrive and and enjoy life and enjoy the journey that you did when I was running the company and when I was there.

00:09:21:03 - 00:09:45:22
John Burdett
So everything, every other goal or success factor is subservient to those two. And that really helps ensure that my mindset stays. Focus on the main thing, which is building a business that we love, that serves clients that we like and we add value to. But also they vote with their dollars and they pay us well so that we can build a profitable business.

00:09:45:24 - 00:10:01:08
John Burdett
And then that creates a growth engine for our people to be able to do more and make a bigger impact and things like that. So I think defining those things and being very specific about it is very important. And then that everything else just kind of falls in line from there.

00:10:01:10 - 00:10:31:17
Craig Andrews
You know, you know, and I think it's I think one of the things it's hard for people to parse through this. So and you look at stories like Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs bonafide jerk. I mean, when he came back to Apple in 97, if somebody was getting on the elevator and saw Steve Jobs heading for the same elevator, they would, like, do a U-turn and go take and take the stairs, because there are people who legitimately got on the elevator with Steve Jobs with a job.

00:10:31:19 - 00:10:35:13
Craig Andrews
And by the time the elevator doors opened again, they were unemployed.

00:10:35:15 - 00:10:36:05
John Burdett
Yeah.

00:10:36:07 - 00:10:52:15
Craig Andrews
And but he got phenomenal results. I mean, amazing results. And I think it's easy for people to look at that and say, well, that's that's just the cost. That's where you have to do it. That's the only way you can get those type of results.

00:10:52:17 - 00:11:10:09
John Burdett
Yeah, I would say you're settling, tends to Steve Jobs or people like that. I don't want to be Steve Jobs. You couldn't. I don't want to be. You could pay me any amount of money. You could make me as famous as you wanted to make me famous. But if that was the way I had to do it, I don't want to do it now.

00:11:10:09 - 00:11:31:17
John Burdett
Early on, I would have said I wanted to be Steve Jobs, and that would have. That would have been what I wanted to chase. But I realized that that was not fulfilling. And, you know, tragically, at the end of his life, I think he had a lot of those regrets as he realized that, you know, maybe, maybe people were way more, more important than I thought and, and that kind of stuff.

00:11:31:17 - 00:11:52:18
John Burdett
So I don't want to get to the end of my life and have all those kinds of regrets. Not that I don't make mistakes today, and I don't. I don't always focus, but I do think there is a way where you can achieve greatness, make a huge impact, and love people and serve people and help people and and build meaningful relationships.

00:11:52:20 - 00:12:09:07
John Burdett
not only with your you know, on a personal level, but at a, at a, at a work level, because I think works good. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think we're called to do work and, you know, burnout doesn't occur when you're doing what you're called and love to do. Now, you may get tired, but you're not going to get burned out.

00:12:09:09 - 00:12:30:19
John Burdett
And so I think a lot of the symptoms that we're seeing in today's culture are a result of us kind of losing our focus of like, why are we really doing what we're doing? And, so once again, I think it's an and not an or, and making money and being profitable and doing things with a level of excellence are non-negotiables for me.

00:12:30:21 - 00:12:44:18
John Burdett
Those have to happen if those things are happening. Happening like profit is an outcome of your inputs. You've got to change your inputs because you're going to go out of business and you're not going to be able to make an impact if you don't have any money. you know, the in the business world, that kind of thing.

00:12:44:18 - 00:12:59:11
John Burdett
So that, that would that would be my, you know, kind of rebuttal to that. And once again, no judging here. and I just know that that, I figured out for me personally, that there was a better way.

00:12:59:13 - 00:13:23:16
Craig Andrews
You know, and to your point about Steve Jobs getting to the end of his life and having regrets, Tony Fadell was the guy who, delivered the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. As a matter of fact, it was the iPod. Apple was barely profitable until the iPod. And so turning Fadell was the guy who actually brought in it.

00:13:23:16 - 00:13:38:05
Craig Andrews
Most people don't hear about him, but he was the unsung hero. And when Steve Jobs was about to die, he reached out to Tony and said, Will you come visit me? And Tony said, no.

00:13:38:07 - 00:13:41:11
John Burdett
that's so sad, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

00:13:41:13 - 00:14:01:11
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And, you know, I think about, I mean, with my own journey, I, I mean, I was in a coma and everybody thought I was a goner because that's what the doctors were saying. And one of the biggest joys in my life was when I woke up and my wife started telling me how people responded. You know, how the team came together.

00:14:01:11 - 00:14:17:14
Craig Andrews
People started reaching out. it just it bowled me over. And. And that's why I hear you talking about is thinking forward to that eventual day. Yeah. How will people respond when you're no longer here?

00:14:17:16 - 00:14:44:05
John Burdett
That's right. Yeah. And it, I know this is leaders and legacies, but you know legacy is typically is like what you the impact you have after you're gone. I have a friend who started a nonprofit called the Heritage Forum, but it's all about really kind of starting that process while you're living. And heritage is is about maximizing that impact while you're living and making sure that transition doesn't take place upon your death.

00:14:44:07 - 00:15:17:17
John Burdett
And, that's really impactful as well, is because if you're building toward a legacy and making a real impact on people for for generations to come, you got to start that today and that that is heritage. And as you like, demonstrated with, with your, you know, tragic, situation, you obviously did some of those things, but because the business still thrived and did well and people kept going and they were missing you and they didn't want you to go away, but at the same time, you had prepared them to do that.

00:15:17:19 - 00:15:42:19
John Burdett
And I think we have to have that mindset as not only, in our family as, as, as leaders of our households and, and our families and things like that to start transitioning some of these key things to the next generation while we're still around and not as part of our will, but also as our business. If we're not constantly thinking about like, how is this business going to run without me?

00:15:42:21 - 00:16:04:21
John Burdett
you know, you're you're basically handicapping your business and, and creating a constraint in your business where you're you're the upper limit of the business instead of what your team can do, together. And, and what I've experienced that fast. So emotion over the last ten years is nothing more than a miracle because, I never dreamed of building this business this big.

00:16:04:21 - 00:16:30:02
John Burdett
I'm not good enough to do this. None of that. It's it's it's seeing our team do things way better than I ever thought possible. Like, if I if if we were just still doing things, all my capabilities, we'd be a lot smaller and a lot less successful. And perhaps out of business by now. And to get to experience that as a business leader, man, you talk about fulfillment, you talk about joy.

00:16:30:04 - 00:16:41:09
John Burdett
And so my job is to serve our team and, you know, I get to see the benefit of them thriving and doing things in an excellent manner. And wow, that that's a blessing in itself.

00:16:41:11 - 00:17:00:14
Craig Andrews
Yeah, I bet, I bet. Let's talk a little bit about family because that's, you know, that's the other thing that happens in business is so many times the family suffers, you know, and, you know, you know, how did you see that playing out in your life? And what what changed?

00:17:00:16 - 00:17:19:08
John Burdett
Yeah. So for the first ten years, it was a constant struggle. I have the best wife in the world. And, I wasn't always the best husband, and, she's she's she's just amazing. But, you know, she stuck with me and supported me even when I just didn't deserve to be supported. But I definitely prioritize my work. I work like crazy.

00:17:19:08 - 00:17:36:24
John Burdett
And, you know, there was, you know, I missed out on a lot and all that kind of stuff. So when I had, you know, the the kind of the revelation that I told you about earlier, I decided, well, I'm going to do things a different way. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I'm going to I'm going to prove it doesn't work.

00:17:36:24 - 00:17:57:01
John Burdett
And I just take the, the, the, the assumption for granted that it won't work. So I started fast, slow motion ten years ago as a remote first company. So we've been doing remote first. We don't have an office. We've really never had an office. We had a really small office space early on when it was just me and a couple other people, but we we built it out of ten plus years ago.

00:17:57:02 - 00:18:19:20
John Burdett
So when Covid happened, nothing changed for us. We've been doing that for many years up until then. And the the main driver was, is I wanted myself and our team members around their family and have meaningful personal lives as they worked really hard because in consulting and professional services, you work a lot of hours and we're unapologetic about that.

00:18:19:20 - 00:18:41:16
John Burdett
But I want you being able to be around your kids or go on dates if you're dating or whatever you're doing, to be able to not miss out on, go to the gym, whatever you want to do. So I started working from home. I was like, well, if I'm going to do this business and I'm going to fulfill the mission, we want to do one of our core principles is flexibility, and we want to build that into the culture from day one.

00:18:41:21 - 00:19:01:10
John Burdett
And I'm going to be the first guinea pig to figure that out. And so it really kind of changed the relationship with my wife and my kids, because I was around all the time now, I was working hard and they got to see how hard I was working. I'll never forget my wife came out to me, you know, first couple months in the business.

00:19:01:10 - 00:19:19:14
John Burdett
And she was like, I had no idea you talked all day because, you know, I'd come home from work and I would be just exhausted. I'm an introvert by nature, so I'd used up all my words. I just, I needed to veg for a little bit. And guess what? She'd been home with the kids all day, not having adult conversations and wanting to talk the whole time.

00:19:19:16 - 00:19:38:04
John Burdett
And there there was just natural conflict because we had two different needs that needed to be met and nobody understood the other person's needs. And so she got to see how I did my day to day. And that, that, that opened her eyes to like, you know, I'm not being lazy or I'm not upset at her. I'm not want not wanting to talk.

00:19:38:04 - 00:19:59:09
John Burdett
I'm just tired and need a period of refreshing before before that happens. So lots of stories like that. But that was one thing I did very intentionally to kind of change my family dynamic. and there's been so much fruit from that that I could share with my kids and all that kind of stuff. But, it was it was life changing and game changing for me.

00:19:59:11 - 00:20:21:00
Craig Andrews
Wow. Yeah. Well, and I think the thing I think it's in the same, similar vein is exercise. You know, instead of looking at exercise as a time sync, it's an investment. You know, when you're investing in your body, it pays back dividends when you invest in your family. Yeah. It pays back dividends.

00:20:21:03 - 00:20:36:21
John Burdett
Yeah. Yeah. Actually learned that from Craig Rochelle I don't know if you follow him or not but he's definitely check out his podcast read his books. But I thought there was something wrong with me because I don't like to rest. Like I'm not the guy to go sit at the beach and read a book. that's kind of miserable for me.

00:20:36:21 - 00:21:05:04
John Burdett
I'll sit down at the beach and for a little while, but I just don't want to sit out there on that. I just don't rest that way. I'm thinking about five other million things I'd rather be doing. And so if it's that I rest through physical activity. Yeah. So I go to the gym every day about 415 because that's I'm very productive in the mornings, and by the afternoon I'm in my red zone and I'm tired and I and so I go to the gym and that resets my brain and allows me to be productive in the evening.

00:21:05:10 - 00:21:22:04
John Burdett
And I'm not I'm not resting like I'm taking a nap. I'm going to the gym and I'm not thinking about work. I'm not thinking. I'm basically thinking about surviving this exercise. And I'm getting getting all that in place. And then that resets my brain for another good period of productivity.

00:21:22:06 - 00:21:34:08
Craig Andrews
So I just had a huge sigh of relief. I was feeling like a slacker. I was like, Holy crap, I go work at 515. He's got me beat by an hour. I was thinking five, five. I thought you meant 415 in the morning.

00:21:34:11 - 00:21:51:12
John Burdett
No, it's afternoon for me. Yeah, absolutely. So I, I work early in the morning because that's my most productive time. That's where I think the clearest. And I just love the morning time. And then like I said, by the afternoon I'm I'm dead and I'm ready to to stop and do everything. But that that exercise gets, gets me reset.

00:21:51:12 - 00:21:59:08
John Burdett
So yeah, I definitely don't work out of the 415 in the morning. That would not be fun for me.

00:21:59:10 - 00:22:18:22
Craig Andrews
yeah. So that's no, that's that's really cool. And I think the, you know, one of the, you know, one of the guest, I believe, you know, I'm, Ryan Dice, who was, I think, our second guest on Leaders and Legacies. And I asked him, I said, you know, what do you want your legacy to be 50 years from now?

00:22:18:22 - 00:22:41:10
Craig Andrews
And he said, you know what? Nobody's going to remember me 50 years from now. He said, I'm investing in my family. I want my kids. That's where my legacy is going to come through. His. And isn't that true? I mean, there, you know, other than what couple dozen business leaders, you know, from over the last couple hundred years, we don't remember these people.

00:22:41:10 - 00:22:42:13
John Burdett
That's right. Yeah.

00:22:42:18 - 00:22:51:14
Craig Andrews
I mean, there are people today. There are people today graduating college, rising up in the workforce who had no idea who Jack Wilshere's was.

00:22:51:16 - 00:22:53:21
John Burdett
Yeah, I represent, yeah.

00:22:53:23 - 00:23:05:16
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And he was counted as the, the best CEO of the last century. And here in one generation there are people in business who had no idea who he was.

00:23:05:18 - 00:23:25:02
John Burdett
Yeah. It should be very humbling to all of us. but also it's a great opportunity to kind of change our perspectives on what's important. big thing that's kind of been on my mind the last 3 or 4 years is like, how can I be a multiplier? Like, how can I invest in leaders who then invest in leaders, who then invest in leaders?

00:23:25:04 - 00:23:45:18
John Burdett
And and the goal is 100 years from now, somebody is telling a story that perhaps originated for me, and they have no idea who I am or I'm never quoted, I've never mentioned. But man, what an impact. Yeah. Like what the impact that would be. And so, you I push that with our team as well with what we do and invest in our clients.

00:23:45:18 - 00:24:07:24
John Burdett
We can be that difference and create that multiplier effect. And so being a being a multiplier, you talk about creating a legacy that's not only with your kids. but that's with with everybody that you're leading and guiding. And so that that excites me. That's why I want to I want to double I want to triple fast, slow motion is I want to double, triple, quadruple that impact.

00:24:08:01 - 00:24:20:16
John Burdett
And the way multiplication works, it's like compounding interest. It grows, it goes, it goes up exponentially early and not not just linearly. So, there's a lot of opportunity for there to, for all of us to make a difference.

00:24:20:18 - 00:24:31:24
Craig Andrews
Now. So let's talk a little bit, about that. And, the fast, slow motion you help folks with both Salesforce and HubSpot.

00:24:32:01 - 00:24:32:14
John Burdett
That's right.

00:24:32:18 - 00:24:43:16
Craig Andrews
And what's that mean? I mean, so think, you know, today I think everybody knows who HubSpot is. Of course, everybody knows who Salesforce is. But what do you how do you help people with those?

00:24:43:18 - 00:25:03:12
John Burdett
Yeah. So what what I learned about building businesses is you need good systems and processes to scale the right way. And oftentimes what we end up doing is kind of putting together multiple systems. A lot of us just do it on spreadsheets, and you end up with Tableau, and you have all these different applications all over the place.

00:25:03:12 - 00:25:27:09
John Burdett
You have data all over the place. You have processes. Sales, does things one way and uses a different system than a service. And account management. We I figured out through a previous business that I helped build that you can do that in one place on a on a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot, where you can have all your data, all your processes in one place.

00:25:27:15 - 00:26:03:20
John Burdett
And so that's why we like those two tools. They're just a tool at the end of the day, but it's a place where you can do everything and not just one part of your business. And, that greatly simplifies everything. It also, you're able to do it and what I call a flexible data platform, meaning that you can customize it using declarative tools and not a lot of custom programing, which is real powerful as well, because you can customize the tools to match your business, and you don't have to do things awkwardly because the tool is limiting you and saying you got to call things a certain way or not.

00:26:03:20 - 00:26:30:06
John Burdett
Do something that's really important to your business model or business process. And so we help people fulfill that mission, and we focus on smaller growth businesses. So we don't work with fortune, you know, 1000 companies. We don't we don't like working with larger enterprises. We want to help small businesses become big businesses. But by doing that, by putting IT systems and processes in place on either the Salesforce or the HubSpot platform.

00:26:30:09 - 00:26:49:22
John Burdett
so fundamentally, we're business consultants that look at the business holistically, and then we implement those those those processes and systems and those tools so that it's practically used on a day to day business so that your businesses scales and grows consistently.

00:26:49:24 - 00:27:21:11
Craig Andrews
And, you know, a lot of people are familiar with Salesforce or HubSpot and, and some have some, you know, preconceptions about them. But if somebody were trying to figure out, you know, which platform do I choose? Do I choose Salesforce or do I choose HubSpot, or do I go something else? What's just between those two? What? Yeah, what would be what would be the leading indicators that would have you steer somebody towards Salesforce versus HubSpot?

00:27:21:13 - 00:27:42:03
John Burdett
Sure. So take one step back and then we'll get to that. yeah. I really strongly believe you need to choose a platform and not a point solution. unless you're a technology company, you know how to do data integration and you know how to, you know, build APIs and do all the stuff that is real complex. And most of us, you don't need to be worrying about those things.

00:27:42:03 - 00:28:05:13
John Burdett
You need to be focused on growing and scaling your business and doing what you do. That to add value. And so what that means is in the day is choose a platform that can do the majority of what you need for all of your business, but also one that you won't outgrow or out scale. And so that's why we only implement Hotspot and Salesforce because you you'll never outgrow those two platforms.

00:28:05:15 - 00:28:26:24
John Burdett
We used to only do Salesforce, because HubSpot used to be a point solution in the marketing world. then they started added CRM, they added service, and now they have ops. and they have content hub and all, all the different hubs that they have. And it will now scale and it will it is now flexible enough to handle all these different business functions.

00:28:27:01 - 00:28:54:02
John Burdett
And so that's why we also implement as well between the two. really it's looking at some of your business objectives and business goals and making sure you're kind of picking the one that is going to add the most value to you. Fundamentally, it's it's kind of like Mercedes and BMW. you know, there's a little preference around, you know, work how the interior is configured and some of those things.

00:28:54:02 - 00:29:22:16
John Burdett
But they're both great cars and you're not really going to go wrong on either one of them. but there are some trade offs, that, that, that, that you have right now. but those gaps are being filled each and every day, by HubSpot and Salesforce. So if you're in a, let's just say if you're in an industry that is highly regulated, like health care or financial services and stuff, Salesforce has much more of a trust layer and data security layer than HubSpot does right now.

00:29:22:18 - 00:29:45:18
John Burdett
Like Hubspot's, not HIPAA compliant. and so you may you may want to focus on Salesforce. If you're in one of those industries, Salesforce is much more complex. It's much more powerful. and so it, it you have to simplify it a lot more for a lot of smaller businesses because they don't need a lot of what is going on, but you can grow into it.

00:29:45:20 - 00:30:08:22
John Burdett
Hot spot out of the box is a lot easier to use, and, you can usually get up and running a lot faster now because it is not as configurable as Salesforce. It's getting closer. you sometimes have to make some compromises or you have to write custom code and stuff like that. So there's there's a whole laundry list of things you can kind of go through.

00:30:08:24 - 00:30:28:04
John Burdett
and that's one thing we, we do guide our clients on is like, which is the best fit for them to help them understand the pros and cons. But if I'm really honest with you, if you pick either one of those, you're going to be fine. And that's not going to be your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is configuring those tools so they're easy to use, and your team uses them.

00:30:28:04 - 00:30:49:16
John Burdett
And then having the discipline to follow those processes and use the systems on a day to day basis. It's we mentioned working out the world does not need another workout plan. There's plenty of them out there. We need to have more people following them. and that that is always the the problem with with these kinds of projects is adoption and making sure they're being used.

00:30:49:18 - 00:31:00:13
Craig Andrews
You know, it's funny, you bring up a fundamental marketing problem. I tell people. So it's always easier to sell a diet pill than gym membership.

00:31:00:18 - 00:31:02:02
John Burdett
Oh, yeah.

00:31:02:03 - 00:31:07:00
Craig Andrews
We all want the diet pill. But the reality is we all need the gym membership.

00:31:07:02 - 00:31:24:09
John Burdett
Yeah, and what we we joke, it kind of sticking to the gym mentality is like, we work with the CrossFit gym members, not the Planet Fitness gym members, the people looking for the shortcuts. And I only want to pay $10 a month and still eat donuts and not get in shape. we don't want to take their money and waste their time.

00:31:24:09 - 00:31:40:09
John Burdett
We want to work with the people that are like, I'm paying a lot of money every month, and it's hard, but I'm going to get in there and do the work because what we're talking about, there's nothing easy about it. And and we're here to guide you and help you and be there for you and coach you and all those kinds of things.

00:31:40:14 - 00:31:51:16
John Burdett
But you gotta you gotta put in the work. John, I heard John Maxwell say one time and you'll love this quote. He said, everybody wants to do what I do, but nobody wants to did what I did.

00:31:51:18 - 00:31:53:03
Craig Andrews
Yeah, that's great.

00:31:53:03 - 00:32:19:15
John Burdett
And that's so much around. This too, is like, everybody wants to kind of get to this ideal scenario where all their data is in one place and all their processes are codified. And, you know, it's just everything's running like a, you know, beautiful engine and well-oiled machine. But very few people want to put in the work to get there, because you just don't get there by taking a diet pill and, and, and getting skinny, you got to, you got to put in the work.

00:32:19:17 - 00:32:20:17
John Burdett
Yeah.

00:32:20:19 - 00:32:30:15
Craig Andrews
But, John, this has been a great discussion. And, I love, love your the perspective you brought. how how can people reach you?

00:32:30:17 - 00:32:52:07
John Burdett
Yeah. Check us out on, on the web at Fastenal motion.com. All our social media properties are posted out there. We're posting on social all the time. We do have our own podcast, so go check that out. and then you can you can find me on LinkedIn by going to our website as well. So I'd love to connect with you really just want to help people, and, and add value to them.

00:32:52:09 - 00:33:16:12
John Burdett
that that's kind of what I've devoted, the second half of my life to is and, and doing that in context of the business world because I do I do believe fundamentally, you can build an excellent business the right way and make a lot of money and do a lot of great things and not have the regrets, at the end of your life that, you know, some of us may have if we cut corners or not, focus on the right things.

00:33:16:14 - 00:33:17:18
John Burdett
right now.

00:33:17:20 - 00:33:23:19
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well that's awesome. Well, I hope people reach out to you. And thanks again for coming on, ladies and legacies.

00:33:23:24 - 00:33:25:07
John Burdett
Thanks again so much for having me.