“Local Business Owners Are the Forgotten Small Business Owner”
I remember thinking this as I sat in a room full of small business owners that served their communities. These folks were just trying to survive and make a decent living.
While many were great at what they did, they lacked the fundamentals to understand their business numbers to make smarter financial choices. They struggled to hire and keep good employees. They worked so hard and made so little progress to grow their business year over year.
It wasn’t because they didn’t want to learn, the problem was, the tools and resources they needed were not readily available.
The vast majority of the information on the internet was for managers or owners of larger businesses or for those who wanted to start a business from home.
Not for the unsung heroes of our communities. Not for those that kept our neighborhoods humming along. Not for those, we shout – “shop local”.
Who was providing them the information they needed to build an actual business not just a glorified job?
How were they going to earn a living that didn’t require them to work 60, 70+ hours a week and still barely able to pay their bills?
This is when the idea behind the podcast & website was born.
Hey Badass Business Owner!
You are one of the unsung heroes of our communities. You bust your butt every single day. Often working 70+ hour weeks just to put food on the table and pay the bills.
Far too often, business coaching websites focus on the “other” small business owners and they fail to focus on the local guys and gals that serve their neighborhoods. Not this one. Here we will focus on you and your unique challenges.
I realize how hard you hustle, I understand those long days don't always translate into the profits needed to pay the bills, never mind create the financial freedom you crave.
I want to help.
When I left big-box retailing after 25 years to become a local small business owner myself back in 2008, I joined a great group of folks like yourself.
The more I interacted with my fellow local small business owners, the more I realize how lucky I was to have had the years of business & leadership training I did, prior to opening the doors of my business.
As a previous store manager, district manager, divisional trainer and a host of other fancy titles, I had the opportunities to deep dive into what made a business successful. I was able to gain the tools I needed to succeed as a small business owner.
Unfortunately, most of my fellow small business owners didn't have the same opportunities. Small business owners come from all types and backgrounds and unfortunately, most never get exposed to the behind the scenes of running a business.
So, I have made it my mission to help as many folks as I can.
I feel strongly that business owners in our communities should be able to earn a 6-figure income. Not as just as an employee, but as a true business owner!
How Can I Be of Help on Your Journey to $100,000 in Profits?
Hey there! I’m Tammy and I’m here to share all the lessons I’ve learned from 25+ years in big box retail and from studying small business owners, like yourself, for the past 15+ years.
In 2016 I started a podcast called: The Local Small Business Coach (now called The Badass Business Owner Podcast) so I could start sharing weekly nuggets to help local business owners grow their business and start making more profit (money in your pocket!)
Since then, I’ve been overwhelmed by the feedback from business owners from all over that have reached out and shared how these nuggets have helped them tweak their business and now they are making more money than ever, and for some, they have once again fallen in love with their business.
Now I’m working on growing a YouTube channel to help my visual learners as well.
I’m on a mission to help as many small business owners as possible who serve our communities earn a fantastic living while doing what they love.
I’d love it if you would let me be a part of your journey.
I’ll stop rattling on (as I know my passion can take over… LOL)
If you are interested, my full bio is below. Just know, I'm just here to help.
Don’t forget: Listen to the Badass Business Owner Podcast, Check Out the Youtube Videos, or Join us in the Badass Business Owner Learning Center for courses that can help.
Feel free to always reach out and email me at tammy@localsmallbusinesscoach.com
I look forward to being part of your journey!
Tammy
My Journey & Experience
My name is Tammy Adams and my life's passion is to help others.
I know that probably sounds so cliché. But when I sit back and really ask where I get my “high” from, I can honestly tell you that it is the joy I receive from helping others grow and become better businessmen and women.
I remember during my long career with a Fortune 500 company, people would ask me what I wanted to be remembered for? My answer was always the same, I wanted to be remembered for the difference I made in someone’s career. That I played a small role in helping them succeed.
You know when you first join Facebook and everyone comes out of the woodwork to “friend” you from your past? I must say my heart grew three times as the Grinch’s did in the movie. People were reaching out and telling me how much of a difference I made in their careers. Even crazier, some of these folks were from 25 – 30 years ago. It really opened my eyes that I had achieved the one thing that I really wanted to be remembered for the most. Even to this day, I get folks from my past that reach out with this comment. I must say, it feels really nice.
So Why Am I Telling You This?
It’s really simple, my #1 one goal is to spend the rest of my life helping local small business owners, such as yourself, to achieve the success that I know every single person can achieve.
I believe that by sharing my successes and my failures over the last 35+ years I can help others.
My experiences come from hands-on, belly to belly working day in and day out with customers and employees, but I’ve also been blessed with many training courses that I've not only taught but that I also attended. I want to keep passing down this knowledge. To share with others who can’t afford or find the time to attend.
I believe strongly that all of my experiences have led to this moment. For me to share with you my successes and my failures. To share how you can take your business to the next level. I really believe every local small-business owner can make $100,000 a year if not more. And I'm not talking sales, I’m talking profit you get to put in your pocket!
I believe we do this by having strong business plans in place. By also having a solid understanding of business concepts. For those of you with employees, having the greatest team you can possibly have through great leadership.
By taking personal accountability for learning how to get stronger in the areas that you might not be as strong as (or what our egos would like us to think we are strong at). I know my ego has gotten in the way a time or two, so I get it.
We want to think we know it all, but those that continue to grow their business, understand that there is always something more to learn. We learn as we teach as well, so I’m hoping you might even help me help others.
A Little About My Background
Like many of you, I have been working since I was 16 years old. You could say that I have been a workaholic for many of those years. But I do it because I really believe that when you do what you love, the hours just melt away. I’ve been blessed to spend most of my working life doing what I love.
Don't get me wrong it hasn't been all rainbows, sunshine, and unicorns. But I can honestly say for the vast majority of the time, I have really loved what I’ve done. There is something about building a strong business and a strong team that gets me excited.
I would consider myself to be very competitive. However, I am probably more competitive with myself than I am with others. I use other people's success to spur myself to greater success.
I have studied what makes success and more importantly what causes failure. I'm a firm believer that I don't have to personally do the “failing” as I believe that we can learn from other people's failures and learn that same lesson if we pay attention to what happened and why. By doing this, you speed up your learning curve and achieve success much quicker.
For example, if I saw someone put their hand on a hot stove and get burned, I'm pretty sure I don't need to duplicate that to learn the same lesson. However, when the waiter says the plate is hot, I still haven't learned that lesson. LOL
My goal is to share with Local Small Business Owners everything that I have learned over the last 35+ years.
You see I believe that local small business owners are the backbone of all of our communities. And I believe strongly that there is no reason why local small business owners should not be given the same opportunity to learn what the big box retailers’, corporate businesses and other successful local small business owners have already learned.
So, What Have I Done to Get to This Point in My Journey? My Career Roles
I spent 22 years with a major home improvement store, Home Depot. It was an exciting ride since I was part of the phenomenal growth from 64 stores to way past 2,200 by the time I left. Learning side by side with many of our founding folks. Some awesome merchandisers, operators, and leaders.
I came in as a cashier and worked my way up through the years. Not only did I run the front-end but I also successfully ran multiple merchandising departments as a department supervisor. Eventually becoming an assistant manager.
By far, my greatest joy and fun came when I was a store manager. Not only because I got to run a multi-million-dollar business, but more importantly, I got to develop the future leaders for our district. Many of my department supervisors and assistants went on to become store managers themselves or take on other great roles. You could say, I love helping my team become successful!
My journey continued as I went on to be part of our merchandising group traveling all over the west coast. Then on to a District Manager role for several years for Utah, Vegas, and Idaho. Having a passion for developing and training, I went on to become the Learning Director for our Division. I also spent several years as part of the Human Resources team.
Due to all the various different jobs in operations, merchandising, and Leadership, as you can imagine, I was often asked for advice on various things. My running joke was “Which hat do you need me to wear?” as I answered the question. The reason being each hat represented a different viewpoint and many times a different approach to the problem.
My 1st Local Small Business
When I “retired” from Home Depot, I only left because I wanted to venture out and take all the knowledge, all of the successes and failures and step out on my own and run a local small business. Like many of you, I always had the dream to be my own boss and have my own business.
It just so happened, that the opportunity came up for me to purchase an existing small business in my small town. It was a franchise that we all know and love. It's safe to say many of you might even have childhood memories of visiting this wonderful ice cream shop with 31 flavors. (wink wink)
During our time together, I will share the ups and downs, the successes and failures of this local small business adventure. (spoiler alert, buying a business where half the town disappeared a year later)
I'll share with you, how, in the first year I took that business from a negative $27,000 profit loss to a break-even point in a year. I'll even show you how a well ran business can still fail. I will share those tough times and the lessons I learned in order to help others.
I then went on to another local small business but this time with very different results. While both businesses were run very well (in my humble opinion), the difference came down to the right business at the right time under the right circumstances.
Sometimes, no matter how good you are, the timing isn't right for the business or it just isn't the right business to begin with.
My Next Adventure
When I needed to make a change to a small business that made enough money to support my family, I jumped into something I love doing. Of course, I loved selling ice cream (who wouldn’t) it just couldn’t pay the bills (I share in the podcast the challenges of owning a franchise).
I love helping people and I love real estate so why not be a Realtor?
I did my research prior to making the leap. I wanted to understand what made a successful real estate agent. I wanted, no, I needed to be successful out the gate!
This research paid off tremendously and allowed me to come out and get to a six-figure income quickly during a time when many Realtors barely broke $35,000.
My favorite part? How many business owners I work with and can help grow their business via referrals! Plus I get to pick their brain and help be their coach.
But this isn't about being a Realtor, nor is it about owning an ice cream shop, or selling hammers and nails. No, this is about the lessons I learned.
This is about sharing those lessons that I and many others have learned on what it takes to be successful in any business, in any field, of any size. This is about helping you to be successful!
Take Advantage of My Successes, Failures & Past Training
Home Depot spent thousands of dollars through the years to send me to some awesome training courses. I was mentored by some of the best leaders one could even imagine. By taking these lessons I learned through those 22 years and applying them to my local small businesses, I have been able to be successful in areas that many others have struggled with. But I also learned all the knowledge in the world only works if your business model is right.
Working with other small businesses the past 10+ years has helped me tweak the knowledge to fit the special needs of local business owners. Business concepts are the same no matter the business. How you apply them might be different, but all businesses have the same goal: Profits!
This website, the podcast, the videos, these training courses are all about sharing the knowledge with you. I want you to be successful and I want each of you to make over $100,000 a year profit.
I want you to be able to provide for yourself and your family in ways that you could only imagine. I want you to be able to give back to your communities and not have to worry about paying your bills. I want you to live the dream of Being Your Own Boss!
How You Can Help
In order to best help you, this is a two-way exchange. Please reach out anytime with your questions and/or materials you are needing to ease those daily pain points. Remember, this is about you and what you need. So I need to hear from you. Just shoot me an email to tammy@localsmallbusinesscoach.com with the topics, tools, and resources you would like to me to provide.
Thanks for stopping by and I want you to know, that I realize being a local small business owner can be a lonely gig at times. But you don’t have to do it alone. Just know, I’m always here for you.
Tammy
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You Are a Badass! I'm excited to have you in the exclusive group of people that want more for their business and their future! I'll keep you posted on the progress of the Membership Site and Can't Wait to help you take your business to the next level! Tammy