Interview with Tabetha Sheaver - EOS Implementer, Entrepreneur, Business Consultant

Tabetha Sheaver is a CEO, certified EOS Implementer®, project management professional (PMI), and an award-winning business success partner. She helps CEOs regain control of their companies with organizational change management strategies. Helping entrepreneurial leadership teams to be open, honest, and healthy. Tabetha’s experience and insight have made her an in-demand public speaker and presenter nationwide.

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About Steven Denny: Steven Denny co-founded Innovative Business Advisors in 2018 and serves as a Managing Member of the firm. Steve has been actively engaged in M/A activities in a wide variety of industries for the last 14 years and has developed specific products to assist clients in growing their profitability and enterprise value. His specialty is working with established private companies in the lower middle market with annual revenues from $1 – 50 million.

Transcript

00:02

Welcome to the You Don't Know What You Don't Know podcast, by Innovative Business Advisors, successful business owners who have started, grown and led businesses share their journey and direction for the benefit of those traveling the same path.

00:18

Today we're talking with Tabetha Sheaver, business owner, founder of Plus Delta and several other companies. She's a go to business consultant, an EOS implementer, and a Master of process improvement. Tabetha’s passion is helping companies implement effective change. Tabetha, delighted to see you. Glad to have you with us today. Thank you so much for having me, Steve. Excellent. So what you do is very, very unique. Tell me about what led you to this. How did you decide to start your own company to do this? Yeah. So this has been a pretty winding journey for me. Started out actually as an account manager at a large company doing print and promotional products. I realized very quickly that I was different and had a little bit more of the entrepreneurial spirit, probably figured that out when I was sitting with a group of my peers. And I said, I wake up every morning thinking about how to generate leads. And they said, Yeah, that thought doesn't even cross our mind. And I think that's kind of when I realized I had the entrepreneurial bug. I love doing sales, I loved helping people. So just kept doing, you know, account management, growing in my practice. At one point, left to go start a mud run with my cousin. So the Battlegrounds Mud Run, which is at Cedar Lake Winery, I helped him build that. That was really my first experience being an entrepreneur, I call it with a safety net and his money. And that has become huge. Yeah. Now Tough Mudder rents it out. Yeah. So it's changed a lot since I was there and started it. But that was my first real entrepreneurial experience. And some things went wrong, some things that I you know, lessons that I needed to learn happened, that made me realize I needed to go back and get my project management certification. So we did that, which toward me into technology, which led me to becoming a CEO, which led me to realize I had no idea what I was doing being an entrepreneur.

02:17

And luckily, I came across that book Traction by Gina Wickman, and started dabbling with it and playing with it for a few years until I realized, this is my calling. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. It had the model, it had the framework, it had everything that I needed to be able to serve other companies well, and I love doing it. And it's the first time I come home from work, and I'm excited and jazzed about my day, whereas I used to come home and complain about everything that was going on in the business. So it's been a bit of a journey, I've helped start companies along the way, I've started a couple of my own, I've shut down a couple of my own, I have a couple that are still going. So there's a lot wrapped up in that. But I would say you know, to get to the base of it, it's about trying different things until you figure it out what it is that you love doing. And then do that. Absolutely. Describe for us what makes you guys unique. What do you do that's truly unique in the world? Yeah. So EOS specifically has three uniques. And they're called vision, traction and healthy. So vision is all about getting everyone 100% on the same page, traction is about teaching people to execute with discipline and accountability. And then healthy is about creating open, honest, fun loving, cohesive leadership teams. So there's lots of companies out there that will do just the strategic development plan development. There's lots of companies out there that will do the squishy, healthy, you know, feel good stuff. EOS is the only one that I know of that wrapped them all together, and then adds that accountability component on top. And how does that work with your project management skills and background? How do those two different skill sets kind of come together? The framework of us and then your kind of love and passion in that. And yeah, it's interesting, because I was told pretty early on in my career that I was what's called a helicopter employee, I was one of the few employees that could go to a very high level and see the big picture conceptually, and then go down and drill down into the details. And so I think that's what makes me pretty good. And as an EOS implementer, because I can be at that 30,000 foot view level, I can set trajectory, but then I can narrow down and say, Okay, there's real world stuff that has to happen. And I have that level of empathy for the guys in the trenches who have to actually do the work. And so you know, those two come together, and then I just have an extreme amount of empathy for people. And so the soft, squishy stuff comes through. But in project management, I was really taught how to compartmentalize and how to segment things and break them down into chunks. And that's really a big part of what we do in EOS is we break things down into a 90 day world and then even into a weekly world to achieve those big rocks that everybody sets. Yeah, and you you really are very, very good at it. Very, very talented. We had you in our group and we're a bunch of

05:00

We’re a bunch of cowboys, and you spent about a year I guess, working with us and walking us through building some processes and so forth.

05:08

To get our group all moving in the same direction is no easy feat. And you did it I think in the first meeting and kept that cohesiveness throughout the engagement. So well, thank you. Yeah, you guys were a fun group to work with. You had a broad spectrum of ages and skill sets. And so it was a fun, but a little bit challenging project, but it was a good one. Particularly when you enter in a little bit of the technology side. Yeah, a bunch of us dinosaurs in there. Yeah. Cool. So far in your business, what are you most proud of in the business so far? So I have to tell a story. I was actually leading a team. And it was at the time that I was taking over as CEO. And I didn't really feel comfortable being a leader all the way. And I had one employee on my team who had the opportunity to go and present to a really large client. I in fact, I had said, you know, Ricky, why don't you go present to this client? And other people in the organization were saying, Are you crazy, you're gonna let him go stand up in front. And I just said to everyone, I said, if we don't trust him to do his job, then why are we paying him? And everybody looked at me like I had three heads, and they're still like, you can't possibly put him in front of these very professional people. And I said, I think he can do it. And I said I’ll, I get it's his first time, but I'm like, I'll have his back. I'll support him. I'll walk him through this. And after we did that, he came to me and he did the presentation, he did just fine. We ended up landing the account. It was great. He came to me though. And he said, with literally with tears in his eyes, he said, I've always been told that you can take the man out of the warehouse, but you can't take the warehouse out of the man. And he goes, today you proved me wrong. And that doesn't just change my life. It changes what I tell my kids about what's possible for their future. And I was like, Yep, that's it right there. That's why I do what I do. When I can get people to change their perspectives, to believe in people and to have people believe in themselves and overcome those limiting beliefs. I'll do that all day long every day.

07:08

Wow, drop the mic, folks. I mean, you could potentially have changed the trajectory of his family. Absolutely. What an impact. Yeah. And I still stay in touch with him. And they're all doing great and growing. And he's still at the same company. And, you know, he said, it's that kind of thing that you do when you believe in somebody and you're willing to put your name on the line for them to grow. That buys loyalty. I have no doubt in my mind that if I call them tomorrow, and said, Hey, come work for me, he would do it. So. But he's happy where he's at. And I'm happy he's happy where he's at. So we're gonna let him just keep growing and helping out that team. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm sure he's doing well. What have been some of the biggest challenges that you've faced? Oh, man. Seems like every day we face challenges as business owners. Yes, lots of them. I mean, so first of all, like, my own personal mindset is the biggest challenge that I have. And if I'm being completely candid, and vulnerable here, I have struggled with some anxiety and some depression. And it's taken me a long time to own up to that. And to do something about it. I thought I was doing things about it. And I wasn't really getting the level of calm or focus that I needed to have. And so I found myself doing a lot of different things to fill a void that just really couldn't be filled. And it was because of some of my own limiting beliefs. And because of some of the anxiety that had built by some of those beliefs, and so getting that under control has been incredibly helpful. But it's still a challenge day to day to stay focused and to figure out, you know, what the most important thing is and to stay true to your 10 year target, or, you know, to what your mission and purpose is in life. You know, I think if we put a gun to every business owner’s head they would have just said the same thing.

08:50

I was telling somebody over the weekend, the older I get, the more I believe that mindset is everything. Yes. It’s totally everything. Give us some background. Are there particular tools, techniques, you know, gadgets, apps that you've used? And I'm sure you've had a process. You've thought about that. So what have you found that’s been effective for you as you've as you've struggled with that? Yeah, so I mean, I've tried a ton of different things.

09:17

Having a quiet time with the Lord is most important to me. So making sure that I have that one on one time where I'm just going deep and scripture that I'm journaling that I'm talking one on one with Him, that's been very effective, which segues slightly into meditation practice. I mean, it's not traditional meditation, but just that sense of just stopping and getting quiet and just sitting in peace and knowing that things are going to be okay is a big piece of it. I have tried acupuncture, I have tried chiropractic, I have taken lots of courses. I've had lots of coaches, and I honestly I just got to the point recently where I started taking medication and you know, that's where it had to get for me and it's working better than any of the other stuff has ever worked. All the

10:00

other stuff worked, but only for a really short period of time. With the medication, I just feel good and normal and okay all of the time without having to try. So it's not dependent on me. So, you know, each person has their own belief about that. And I fought mine for a really long time. And now that I'm taking meds, I'm like, good. And I'm happy and it's okay. Yeah, it's fascinating. One of the, one of the other business mentors that I've followed over the years is Dan Sullivan. Right. And he talks about it changed his business when he figured out that he was ADHD and started taking medication for it kind of calmed his mind and allowed him to focus and really allowed him to take off in his business. So I think that's certainly something that's worked for many others. Yeah, I have a mantra that I repeat, peace creates space, space creates opportunity, and opportunity creates wealth. And so whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, or behind or anxious, or there's just so much going on, I feel busy, I just immediately go back to Okay, peace creates space, am I creating space right now? And if I think about that, and just take a couple deep breaths, I can usually recenter myself. And as soon as I can get calm, then I can think things out logically. And I can figure out what next steps are. But it's when I'm spinning and when I'm spiraling and frenetic that the things get tough.

11:27

Repeat that for us. Peace creates space, space creates opportunity, and opportunity creates wealth. Incredible. Yeah. Good mantra. Yeah, fantastic. As business owners, we have lots of challenges that we face every single day, right. So far, as you've endeavored on this most recent business, what's been your biggest challenge that you faced in the business? So in EOS specifically, my biggest challenge has been getting new clients only because there's a plethora of people out there who say that they’re coaches, and they’re life coaches or they’re whatever, and then there's a single single shingle who's hung up a company name, and they've said, Oh, I can do coaching. And I think that that's really hurt the industry. EOS is so much more than just coaching, it's got a facilitation component. It has a teaching component. And it's a proven process that's been around and there's well over 15,000 companies that are running on EOS now. So when I go out, and I say, Oh, I'm a business coach or consultant, you know, it's like, oh, you're one of those. And I feel like I just get dismissed sometimes. If people hear EOS, and they actually hear the story, and they learn about how it works, then it's much easier, but it's that getting past that initial barrier, really, of people believing that you're somehow different, or you're going to be able to help their business. Yeah. And business owners, we are not very good at putting our hand up and asking for help. Right? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it's really interesting. I was just listening to Prosperous Coach, have you read that book? Yes. Okay. So he says, If you ever feel like you're not doing a good job, just realize anybody gets value out of talking to a lamppost. And so, I don't want to equate myself to a lamppost. Like, I think I'm a little better than that. But it's helpful to remember that even if you think you know everything, and you're doing everything right, to stop and to have somebody else to verbalize things to helps you organize your thoughts, and it helps you to have breakthroughs. And so even if you don't go find a formal coach, please find something more than a lamppost and have the conversations, have the dialogues, talk things out, because I think getting the words out into the ethos and you know, into the earth, makes things become reality. So don't just dream it in your head. You’ve got to verbalize it at some point. Yeah, without question. And lampposts it's hard to get some feedback. Yeah, exactly. At least you can look at the body language if you have a person that you're talking to. Yeah, absolutely. I just thought that was a funny analogy, though. Yeah. What other challenges have you faced, I think for every business owner, if you ask them what their biggest issue was, is raising sales, right? And you've heard Terry and I, we talk about all the time, you know, sales is not your biggest problem, right? But a lot of business owners think that way. Yeah. What are some other challenges that you've faced in building the business? Yeah, for sure. So I mean, finding the right person is always a big one. I am incredibly lucky and blessed that the lady who works closest with me is absolutely my puzzle piece. And so that's one of the things we talk about all the time is, if you're a visionary, then you got to find that person. That's the integrator. So if you have lots of ideas, and you're running fast, and you're doing sales, you got to find that person who wants to stay at back at the office, who wants to do the details, check the boxes, organize the files, all of that kind of stuff. And so, once I got that person in place, everything became significantly easier. As you can imagine, I don't struggle a whole lot with process. I mean, I'm literally wearing process socks right now. So you

15:00

For all of those who can't see, I have socks on, that's a process and it says process creates freedom. So I don't struggle much in that process creation department, I do struggle a little bit in the following the processes that I create for myself, because there's a step here or there that I don't want to do. Because whatever you hopscotch over there, yeah, it requires, you know, going and logging in, and I can't remember my login or whatever. So yeah, there's little things like that that happened. But for the most part, we've got some really good processes, we've got some really good automation. So it's really just getting the right people in the right seats. And once you get that piece down, a lot of it takes care of itself. What does success feel like for you? I am living success right now. Like it feels like, first of all, it's that being emotionally balanced. That's what I've been looking for for years. So now that I've reached that, that feels like success, knowing that I'm balancing my family life and my personal life. So being able to be home to get kids off the bus or to go attend an event here and there. That is certainly a level of success. And then I measure my success by the success of my clients. So my job is to make sure that we're increasing my client’s company value. And so I'm constantly measuring, what kind of increase are they seeing, and on average, we're getting somewhere between 16 and 18% increase in revenue, typically. And if we're doing any less than that, then I'm pretty bummed. But every industry is different, every client is different. So that's just an average. That's incredible. Yeah, you're certainly an inspiration to me, in particular, and I've shared this with you, and many, many others. In our C12 Group, you brought this perspective of when we look at our balance wheel every month, which is kind of, kind of giving ourselves a score of one to 10. And in the various areas of our life. A year ago, you started giving yourself a lot of grace in that regard, and rating yourself higher than most of the rest of us do. And I think about your perspective more than every month that I do that. I think about it, that it comes to mind quite often. And you're living that. Would you speak into that a little bit more? So this is like, it's this big soapbox that I stand on every time I'm in EOS. We rate everything from one to 10 in EOS, we also in C12 rate the six key, or the I guess it's more than six, but the areas of our life. And I had this realization from EOS, that if you rate between one and 10, if you don't give yourself a 10, you've got to be able to say what you would do different in order to make it a 10. And so every month we were rating ourselves on this scale, and I kept going like, I'm just kind of shrugging my shoulders and picking a number out of the air based on my mood or my emotions, or based on whatever happened to me that morning. So I spent about a year going well, I need to get clear, what does an eight look like? What does a nine look like? What does a 10 look like? And I realized, especially in the areas of nutrition and exercise, I don't care about those areas as much as I do some of the other areas. And so what a 10 looks like for me in exercise is very different than what a 10 might look like for somebody else. And so when I realized that, and I started saying what does the expectation look like? And then giving myself credit for when I hit that expectation. It was like night and day, you know everything. If I decide that I'm going to only eat keto, and I don't eat keto, then yeah, I should ding myself. But if I decided I'm not going to eat keto this week or this month, then why am I getting upset with myself for not being on a diet? Like I'm not trying to be on a diet. So it's that sort of thing. And I think the same thing happens in accountability and in setting expectations for our employees, we tend to do that. We say, Well, I want you to do this job, and everything else deemed necessary, or Well, you're doing really good, but. But. Or, you know, that's great, but I need you to go above and beyond. What does that mean? What am I supposed to do with that if you cannot articulate to me, you know, step 123, You're not being on time, you're not, you know, tell me what it is that, the action is that I have to take in order to get the results that you want. And so anyway, I think when we're giving people eights and going well, I just never give 10s. Or even giving nines, I just, you know, 10s are saved for Jesus because he's perfect and nobody's perfect. That's not what accountability and expectations are about. Expectations are about, I expect you to do 123 therefore, if I do 123, reward me for doing 123. I'm very passionate about this.

19:32

It drives me crazy. I think it's great. And what's the result been for you? I mean, now that you've given yourself this grace, what is the result been for you? Well, so first of all, I feel better about myself, right? Because I'm not beating myself up for something that I wasn't really trying to do anyway. It has started to extend into my calendar management, which is interesting. Oh, talk about that a little bit. Oh, yeah. So I'm an avid time blocker on my calendar, but I was a multitasker

20:00

who liked to continue to squeeze as many things as I could into every little 10 minute 15 minute nook and cranny on my calendar that I have. So in time blocking people say, well, oh, you should leave yourself breaks. Well, I would leave myself breaks only to do more work on my breaks. And somebody said to me, Once, psychologically, you're actually not rewarding yourself, you're not giving your brain the rest, you're not meeting your expectations with your own brain, you're not even being honest with yourself, right? And so when I started doing that, when I started saying, Okay, I'm only going to get these three things done today, then if I want to do an extra thing, or here or there I can, but I don't feel obligated to do it. And psychologically, I'm telling my psyche, when you get done with this thing, you can be done, therefore, hurry up and get it done. Whereas before I was telling my psyche, if you hurry up and get this done, you just get to do more work. And that was not energizing or motivating. So yeah, it's starting to seep into other things in my life. Love it. But it's good, because I'm happier now because of it. Well that's the bottom line, right? Yeah. Isn’t that the bottom line, we all want to live a happier, more fulfilled life? Yeah, yeah. And you know, it's about guilt. Really, it's about not feeling guilt and shame. Yeah, the elimination of guilt. Yeah, I just don't feel guilty. And I don't feel ashamed for not, just because everybody else gets up and runs every morning, like, I hate running. I'm not gonna go do it. I'm sorry. Don't buy me running shoes.

21:25

That would not be the optimal gift.

21:30

Outstanding, outstanding. Well, I think we've definitely got a very good glimpse into your wisdom in that regard. And I think that's, it's so masterful, as I said, I think about it on a regular recurring basis, and try to give myself more grace in that regard. And it's opened up some interesting conversations with my wife as well. Well, tell me about that. How is it changing your life? Like, where are you giving yourself grace right now? On the family side was a big thing, right? I always used to think of, well, if I was the perfect, you know, husband, father, whatever, right, I would do these things.

22:04

And now it's, I think about that differently. I'm living within the box, it's between my own ears. I'm not really living into the vision that my family expects of me in that regard. So it's kind of a different perspective. Yeah. And so much of it is about getting clear on what those expectations are. Because I realized most of the expectations I was setting, were my parent’s beliefs, right? And when I sat down with my husband and my kids, right, when I sat down with my husband, and my kids, they were like, I don't care if you do that. I don't, we don't care if the couch cushions match, you know, like, it's just not important to them. So, yeah, talk to people and find out really what their expectations are. It's really fascinating to me, when I ask people what their expectations are, they can't articulate them most of the time, you've got to give people kind of like 10 to 15 minutes to get their thoughts together. And so if we don't know what our expectations are, how can anybody else be living up to them? Exactly. If you don't know what you want? How can anybody? Yep. Be in a position of living up to that, which is why we got to take clarity breaks. We have to take the time at least once a week to stop and whether that's praying or meditating, or whatever it is for you, you got to take that time to get clear on what your focus is, why you're here, how you're going to make a dent in the world. Yeah, yeah. It's enter into the rest, right? That's what the Sabbath is all about. Just create space. Amazing. So you've got an amazing business that you're building, you have got a lot of business owners that you're working with. I know you're delivering a tremendous amount of value out there. As you begin to think long term about your business, what are some of the goals that you establish for yourself and your business? Long term? And ultimately, you know, we all know that 100% of business owners are not going to stay with their business forever. Have you begun to think about what would your plans be after this business? Or is there another business that you're, you know, that you may start, move into? Yeah, so what's really important to me is legacy. And so I am working to actually build two separate businesses that I can give to my children. One is in the E commerce space, the other one will probably be in the automotive space. You know, the idea is EOS allows me to live my EOS life, which is doing what I love with people I love, getting paid fairly with time for other things and making a huge difference in the world. And so I'm getting to do that, which is living my dream. It's scalable. Like there's a lot of coaches out there that you know, are million dollar coaches. Or have other coaches. Or have other coaches. Yeah, but that's for EOS, that's not really a model that they have. And so I don't really anticipate on selling this business, but I am using all of the assets to invest into growing other businesses that are more scalable. And then ultimately, my goal is to hand them down to my children. And when I say hand them down, I mean, sell them to my children. I'm going to make them pay for them because I think that that's an incredibly important part of business ownership is being willing to take the risk so. Working to

25:00

prepare them. They've been working under my tutelage since they were eight and 10. So they're now 10 and 12. So they're well on their way.

25:09

They’re doing some amazing things on their own. Yeah, I taught them. I wrote a 28 step process for them to do some of my LinkedIn work. And both of them can follow it to a tee and involves video editing and all kinds of stuff. And they're doing great. Yeah, they could be, they could be LinkedIn coaches for many others. Maybe, maybe when they grow up. They don't really like it. They just do it because it's how they get spending money so.

25:33

Well, awesome. Well, it's been an interesting conversation. I think, again, there's so much wisdom and in those things. I want you to repeat your mantra one more time because I think I want to leave people with that. And then I'd also like you to answer the question, how can people get in touch with you? Yeah, absolutely. So peace creates space, space creates opportunity, opportunity creates wealth. So if you're interested in learning more you can check me out at Tabethasheaver.com. It's ta b e t h a s h e a V as in Victor er.com. Outstanding, very good. Tabetha, thanks so much for joining today. Thank you.

26:11

Thank you for listening to the You Don't Know What You Don't Know podcast. We invite you to visit www.youdontknowwhatyoudontknow.com and sign up to receive updates on upcoming episodes. You can also let us know if you'd like to be a guest or recommend a business owner to be interviewed. Find us on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube where you can like follow, share and join our efforts. Thanks for listening. We hope you join us again.