Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years, and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now it's Bob Carruthers. Bob, you are what's known as a master chair in vintage Worldwide, which a lot of folks are quite familiar with. But you have been involved with vintage since 1996, so you've seen some stuff, and for that time you've been based in the Denver area.

Speaker 1 00:01:27 Bob, it's great to have you.

Speaker 2 00:01:29 It's great to be here. Josh, thanks for having me on. Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:01:32 Well, listen, I would love to kind of, you know, have you maybe share a little bit about what you do as a vintage master chair today? And we'll just do some table setting, maybe if you want to explain who and what vintage is. For those who don't know, that'd be great too.

Speaker 2 00:01:48 Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah, I'm a vintage master chair, which means I've met certain criteria within Invested as to number of members, retention rate, things like that. And the quality of my chairing is basically what it gets down to. I've been doing this for 28 years, like you said. So I've seen a lot of businesses come through it. This is an international organization that puts top leaders into, peer groups so that they can use each other's experience and knowledge to help them navigate the waters of being a CEO or a key exec. we bring in outside speakers.

Speaker 2 00:02:38 We do. I do individual coaching, and it's all about growing the companies and helping them reach their goals faster. And we in a national average, I think we, grow companies 2.2 times faster than other companies.

Speaker 1 00:02:58 Wow. If you were to. Yeah. If we were to drill down that on that, what do you think are the main contributors like what does a peer group provide that would enable some of that faster growth? And, you know, kind of asked in a different, different way without the peer group, what are these leaders doing that are keeping them from that growth potential that they might be able to have?

Speaker 2 00:03:25 Well, they're they're definitely not in trouble. They are they are successful CEOs in all types of industries within a group that have all kinds of experiences and knowledge. So one of the members can take a topic to the group, say, I'm thinking about doing this bonus plan for my people. And I'm, I'm just wondering about your experience within doing that? then the rest of the group will ask him a lot of questions and they will go around and share their experiences.

Speaker 2 00:04:02 It could be I did that once. and it it cost me $300,000, without a lot of, thankfulness in the people. You know, you didn't feel like I it was it was enough. Or it could be. I've done it. And it this is how it worked. This is how I roll it out. You know, that kind of thing. So it gives them a whole bunch of information to use in making their decision on what to do. So what that really helps is they make better decisions and get better results and become much better leaders.

Speaker 1 00:04:46 And I'm certain that you've seen now with your longevity and, envisage, this is probably a different type of organisation today than it was 20 some years ago. yeah. Tell me about the evolution, that that you've seen.

Speaker 2 00:05:05 Well, 20 some years ago, I think worldwide, we probably had 500 chairs doing what I do. And we're in, I think probably 6 or 8 countries now we're in. Last count that I know of 35 countries.

Speaker 2 00:05:22 We have over 45,000 members. So it's a concept that works. and it works worldwide. You know, it's the same in Mexico as it is in Germany. If business owners grow and learn more from other business owners or professional CEOs than they do by themselves. You know, it's like 15 brains are better than one.

Speaker 1 00:05:51 Yeah I mean it's it's quite similar. How is a by the way how is a vintage group. How is it going to be different. And similar to having a board.

Speaker 2 00:06:04 we call call this groups boards without any consequences. You know it's it's kind of like having a board except you know, if they don't hold you, they hold you accountable, but there's no chance of getting fired. There's no monetary costs or whatever. so they can roll things out to their board which is the vintage board, and then test it out and see if they're right. If they're about to make a presentation to their board, they can go through what they're talking about and, and, maybe just make it a better presentation.

Speaker 1 00:06:44 Yeah. so Bob, you know, in terms of, like, in your region, you know, how does, you know, if you're the chair of of a vista now, obviously, you've been a very successful one, have a long track record in history. if someone I just had a curiosity. If if someone, let's say, wanted to start a vintage group in their area, what would you recommend to them today to attract really great members?

Speaker 2 00:07:17 Well, it takes a lot of work to start a vintage group because it's a lot of asking for referrals. It's a lot of cold calls, unfortunately. it's it just takes some work and just a lot of effort. But once you get a group going then the rewards are so much, much they're just great. So you know, once you get over the hump of starting one, it's it's really, really good career.

Speaker 3 00:07:50 Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:07:51 As a as a chairperson, what what what's what responsibilities do you have?

Speaker 2 00:07:59 well, I lead the groups.

Speaker 2 00:08:01 I keep the groups full, and I do coaching. And I also, you know, design the meetings, run the meetings, work with vintage corporate or the headquarters to do things they'd like done. And that's kind of what I do. It's it's it's a great job because in coaching, I'm led into their lives at a deeper level, probably than anyone else in their world. Because I'm not judgmental. I sit and I listen and let them formulate thoughts. I ask questions and it helps them make better Decisions also.

Speaker 1 00:08:46 Yeah. What are some of the things that you see folks leaders that you get to work with. Are there some common stressors that that you hear say over especially like over the past year.

Speaker 2 00:08:59 Oh yes. Yeah, absolutely. a big one now is attracting people are, you know, you know, great employees are getting more and more scarce. The population, the size of the workforce in Denver, I think we have 3% unemployment. So to find good people is tough. another one is, what do I see here? Well, a lot of them are personal.

Speaker 2 00:09:38 You know, it's not just business. it could be. I've got one going through a divorce right now. I've got another one that's having trouble, with the sun, you know, it's. So we talk about those things and the groups talk about those things too. If a person isn't complete on their whole, their whole world, you know, how can they be a good leader if they're minds on something else? So we try to achieve that balance that helps them, take care of all the things in their life.

Speaker 1 00:10:15 All right. so, you know, for, for folks listening to us, and they happen to be either in the Denver area, Bob, or beyond, you know, how might they know if, if Vista would be, a good option for them?

Speaker 2 00:10:34 Well, I would suggest they just reach out to this stage, and vintage.com. there's a place where you can, you know, naturally fill in that you're interested in learning more, that that person had visited will line them up with a chair.

Speaker 2 00:10:55 and then, they can meet with the chair and learn all they need to know, and they'll know probably if it's a fit for them or not.

Speaker 1 00:11:05 Awesome.

Speaker 2 00:11:06 It's not all right. It's a selection process.

Speaker 3 00:11:09 Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:11:10 Bob Carruthers again. Vintage master chair. based in Denver, Colorado. Of course. Vintage. His website is vintage.com. which you might imagine, but you could also just Google vintage. Vintage has been around for quite a while. do you know if, vintage offers, resources for those, even if, I don't know, just someone's listening and and, you know, whether it's content. I think vintage, has a podcast. Maybe. do you, do you know of resources that they make generally available?

Speaker 2 00:11:44 Yeah, we do, we do, webinars with great speakers. That'll do a presentation. They can join those, reach out to me or reach out to just Vista in general and say you want to attend. We do them. I think we've got one on the 27th of this month of September.

Speaker 2 00:12:07 I don't know when this disc will air, but, we generally do them at the end of the month. and then we do have the podcast, you know, we've got all kinds of written things. We have a research department that puts out reports. we got it's just go to Vista. Com. You won't have trouble finding a lot of stuff.

Speaker 1 00:12:34 Yeah. Sounds great. Sounds great. Well, Bob Carruthers again. Vintage master chair, vintage comm. Bob, it's been a good conversation. Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 00:12:44 Thank you. Bye bye.

Speaker 1 00:12:51 Thanks for listening to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

Speaker 1 00:13:32 I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt in or email required, where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Make sure to hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning. That's right, seven days a week you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes every single day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur movement.