The Ambitious Coach Lab
The Ambitious Coach Lab is a practical, human-centered podcast for business coaches who want to grow and scale a meaningful, sustainable practice. Through real conversations, proven frameworks, and stories from the field, we explore what it takes to build the coaching practice of your dreams.
The Ambitious Coach Lab
The Community-Led Playbook for Building a Coaching Practice with Forrest Derr
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What if the fastest way to fill your practice isn’t chasing clients but building a community that pulls them to you?
In this episode, Cam sits down with Forrest Derr, known as “The Fractionator,” to explore how he built a full fractional COO practice in record time. Forrest shares his journey from EOS Integrator to launching his own business, and how a clear vision paired with a simple, focused offering helped him stand out in a crowded market. They unpack the power of community-led growth through local EOS groups, why leading with a help-first mindset creates exponential returns, and how positioning yourself to work yourself out of a job can actually accelerate trust and demand. Forrest also breaks down his approach to business development, including content pillars, storytelling, and staying top of mind without chasing every tactic.
Biography
Forrest Derr is a fractional COO and Integrator known as “The Fractionator,” where he helps entrepreneurial leadership teams implement structure, accountability, and operational clarity. After years of experience running on EOS as an Integrator, Forrest launched his fractional practice and quickly built a full client roster through community-driven growth and a help-first approach. He specializes in helping founders move from being stuck in the business to building scalable organizations that can run without them.
Links
Connect with Forrest on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/forrestkderr/
Learn more about Forrest’s work: https://derrconsulting.com/
Check out Forrest's podcast: www.fixersandfounders.com
Use code AC20 for 20% off Ninety: https://ninety.io
Join our free LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/16297012/
Welcome to the Ambition Coach Lab, powered by Nike. I'm your host, Dr. Tim Loss. Each week we explore the real tactical tough conversations and breakthrough moments that drive coaching success. Let's jump into today's episode. We have got Forrest Durr with us, the fractionator. I have been so excited about this interview. I actually was just on a podcast the other day, and we were talking, you came up and we were talking about your tattoo. That is how infamous it is. So I am very excited. But Fra uh Forrest is a fractional integrator COO and has a really cool story. We got to know each other during my time at 90 and launched into the fractional space. I remember we talked very early when you were looking at doing that. And then lo and behold, like five, six months later, you were full. It was like, what in the world? So I wanted to sit down with Forrest and just kind of talk through that journey. But welcome to the show, man. Excited to have you.
SPEAKER_00Man, I appreciate the invite. I've been looking forward to this all week.
SPEAKER_01Dude, it's been fun. I'm glad we were able to do it. So, well, as we kick off, I mean, share a little bit of your journey. I mean, kind of launching into the fraction. I mean, whatever you want to share, I would love to kind of understand your entrepreneurial journey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I tell everybody I'm a uh reluctant entrepreneur, which means I didn't really want to do this, but uh I did end up doing it anyway. So I started in EOS in the EOS space back in 2019. Uh, our visionary uh read traction and threw it at me across the table uh and said, hey, figure this out. We're gonna do this. And so once I read it, it clicked. It was like, oh my gosh, where has this been all my life? And so uh we tried to self-implement for 30 days, gave up. We hired an implementer. We tried to do it on spreadsheets, gave up, uh, implemented 90. And so we were on track uh right off the gate to uh do it right and do it the the fundamental way to get uh implemented into the EOS. And so we had an implement for four years, and during that time I was the integrator. I was the integrator for five years at the company until I left. And during that time, I had an introduction to another fractional integrator uh named Eric Quinn, and he shared with me what he was doing as a fractional integrator, and it just blew my mind. And after that conversation, I said, when I grow up, I want to be a fractional integrator and put it on my personal VTO, which I have a personal VTO, and laid it out and said, in five years, I'm gonna be a fractional integrator. And kind of, you know, fast forward a month, actually, probably a year, uh, I came across an opportunity to go work for another visionary. And that visionary had multiple businesses. He had a landscaping business, he had a CrossFit business and a jujitsu business. And my pitch was let me be your integrator for all your businesses. And the landscape business was the one paying the bills. Pay me W2 out of that one, and let me also help you with the other two businesses as a fractional integrator. And did that for about 15 months and then decided to jump out on my own and uh start this fractional business.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's so cool. I didn't even know some of that. That's awesome. Yeah, that's quite the spread. Like jujitsu, CrossFit, and landscaping, like ultra-fit individual, I would assume.
SPEAKER_00Well, he he was they were hobby businesses, and so he had a CrossFit gym in one park area of the parking lot in the complex, and then a jiu-jitsu gym. And literally he'd wake up and go to CrossFit at five o'clock in the morning and he'd do jujitsu at lunch and landscaping in between. And um but if you ask him, he'll tell you you can make hundreds of dollars a year in a CrossFit business.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Yeah, that's no doubt there.
SPEAKER_00But it was a good experience. I you know, I got to be, I tell people I got to play fractional before I got had to go out on my own. So I got to act as a fractional integrator without having to go out on my own yet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's actually a really unique part of it. I mean, when you were kind of ready to branch out on your own, jump out the nest, if you will, like when you were building, I I love that you had a personal VTO because I think that's a the one of those things that is one of the competencies that we talk a lot about on here is vision, right? You have to be clear on your why of what you're doing. You've got to understand the problem that you're going after. And so can you kind of talk about how you identified and kind of built your offering around your vision of what you wanted to do, but going after, okay, hey, I'm launching this. What problem am I solving or seeing in the market that I can address?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Great question. And I would recommend to anybody that's a coach, you got to have your own VTO. You've got to build out and have a five-year plan for a number of reasons. But I'll tell you, one of the best reasons was it gave my wife the comfort in me leaving my job. She was not worried about it. She knew I had already built the plan. We had talked about it, we had conversed about it, we had a strategy. And so for her to not have anxiety about me leaving a full-time job, having that VTO front and center made that transition easier. Um, but what I realized, and and talking about, I know we were talking about energy earlier, gosh, four years ago, I had started uh these chapters of local uh EOS businesses, people businesses running on EOS, and I totally did not do it. I wish I was smart enough to say I did it as a grand plan to build a fractional business. But what I did was I wanted to get local people together that spoke my language. I would go to the EOS conference every year, and then I'd come back and I couldn't find anybody that spoke my language. And so started throwing it out there on social media. And one person showed up to the first meeting, and then we repositioned it again, and then had 11 people show up. And the the value of that was I was getting in front of people every month talking about and sharing with each other how to get better at EOS. Not doing a lot of teaching, it was more of just facilitating the conversation. People were teaching each other, but I was in the front of the room every month talking to these people. And through that process, I became the subject matter expert for being an EOS integrator in this area. And so when I raised my flag and said, hey, I'm gonna do this fractional business, in 10 days, I had three contracts. It was it was that quickly, and it was because of the foundation of building that network.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that is such a cool story. I get chills every time I hear that because that is just wild. But it also shows the power of community-related stuff. I mean, that I have said this till I'm blue in the face. You know, everyone's talking AI right now and all these things, right? And I think what that is actually doing is pushing people to want to connect with other like-minded humans because we're losing that a little bit. And, you know, I am I'm a nerd on like social media and like the impact that it's having on society and all those kinds of things. But there's a level of we are so big on wanting to connect with other humans. We're communal creatures. And so I think when you can position yourself as that and lead with that, the natural byproduct is you start to learn and build relationships with people that you start to know, like, and trust, and then want to work with in some form of capacity. So I think that's such a cool, and I mean, 10 like 10 days has got to be a record. That's insane.
SPEAKER_00Most people that I've talked to, they're like, How did you do that? And I'm like, I had already built the pipeline. I mean, I'd already had the people in front of there. But it's interesting you brought up AI because I wanted to share this too. Energy, you know, that's going across the country now. I think we're up to 72 chapters as of this recording, is last I heard.
SPEAKER_0175. We had our L10 this morning. So yeah, we're 75.
SPEAKER_00So we're up to 75 chapters. Isn't that crazy? In this community where I live, there's another guy that is really good at AI. He started Lower Alabama AI meetups. He is doing the same thing off the same model of energy, but using AI as the topic. There's another guy that's doing marketing for humans. And he's doing local meetups. So I agree with you that I think I think there is a yearning for connection again, personal, one-on-one group connection rather than over a Zoom call. And so I think we've we've just kind of hit this inflection point where this is just continued to take off.
SPEAKER_01Yes, 100%. And I mean, it's what's cool about it is it leans into both the help first mindset of let's meet people where they're at and we're just gonna lead with help, right? And it also factors into this abundance mindset, right? Like there's plenty of stuff to go around. Cause I was gonna ask you, like, the not that the fractional integrator space is crowded, right? Right. But like there are a lot out there. So, I mean, what like do you think from a differentiation standpoint? Because I kind of want to lean in on that from specifically like a coach or an integrator thinking about how do I differentiate? You know, like there's a lot of US double vendors, a lot of fractional integrators. Like, how do you think about how you differentiate yourself? And I mean, does it energy like does energy play into that in some form or fashion?
SPEAKER_00Energy absolutely plays into it, but it's really more the help first and abundance mindset. It's the yeah, the coffee conversations. I mean, I I've I over the years that I've been doing this, you know, there's plenty of people that I've had coffee with and helped them solve a problem just over a cup of coffee. A lot of times I bought the cup of coffee and they didn't even buy it. So, I mean, I I I paid for coffee and help for free. But those people, when they need you six months, nine months, twelve months, guess who they're gonna call first? They're gonna call you if you help them. So that help first mindset, I I do it with no anticipation of ever getting a return call. But what turns around, it comes back. It it comes back tenfold. And not only that, the people that you help for free refer you to people that end up being paid clients. That's another thing that that has been the secret sauce is that people go, How do you how do you get your business? I mean, you you do paid ads. I'm like, I don't pay for nothing for ads. It's all about referrals. I mean, I help people that then want to reach back out to me when they need help, but then they go tell their friends that hey, this guy over here, he can help you.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's so good. And then when you go in and like what is your dealing with? All right, what problem? You know, you're probably talking to the visionary or the CEO of the company, right? Like, what are you leaning into as far as talking to that almost, I don't know if you know a Don Miller story brand, but like there's the external problem, right? Like, oh my gosh, chaos, right? And then the emotional problem, like the internal problem, which gets to the emotional level, like, oh my gosh, I need help. Like, this is I'm I'm stressing out over this. And then you got a philosophical problem. But like you speak probably a lot to the internal problem. Like, how have you frame that from a, all right, I'm clear on who I am as an individual, but when I go and talk to somebody, here's the pain that I'm speaking to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. The the pain is very, very simple. And I've worked with founders that have a million dollars in revenue to I've got, you know, some that I've worked with $250 and $300 million in revenue. It's all about the inflection point in their business. It's not a revenue. It is an inflection point where they get to a point where they realize that they cannot operate and scale anymore without help. And they have to ask for help. But what I found is if it's there's two questions I ask. You know, how often is your phone ringing? And it's how often are you answering questions from employees? And then can you take a week of vacation off? And those answers are usually my phone rings off the hook, and no, I can't take a week of vacation off. There's no way I can do it. And these are companies that are running on EOS, but they just haven't built out the structure and accountability to where they can, you know, delegate and uh let go of the vine and let these people make decisions. So uh there's an empowerment process that I got to take them through to get that founder out of the business the way they're still stuck in it right now.
SPEAKER_01Have you found um like a niche down as far as an ICP, your ideal client that you want to work with? I mean, is there a I mean, it sounds like EOS, is there a size, an industry? I mean, are you pretty agnostic as far as that goes? I mean, what how did you get clarity on that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm I'm very agnostic on the industry. I I thought I was gonna focus on telecom just because I got a lot of experience there. And I definitely have worked with some MSPs and telecoms. So that's I tell people it's it's easier for me to know which couch cushions to pick up to find the problems in a telecom company because I know where the problems usually are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but uh right now I'm working with two construction companies and an MSP. So I'm I mean, I'm all over the map right now. Um but it it's it's that inflection point. It's where that founder has gotten to a point. You know, they've implemented EOS, it's not working right. You know, the level tens have not gone past the leadership team, accountability chart hasn't been updated in three months uh or nine months or even a year sometimes. And it's it's just that inflection point where that that founder is drowning. They they have figured out finally, and usually it takes a conversation, they have a job, they don't have a business. And if they can't step away from the business and they can't not answer the phone, they have a job, they don't have a business.
SPEAKER_01When you look back on what made your your offer, because I mean, yeah, I mean, you you close stuff and we can point to energy that you had the proximity, but I mean, what if you had to like boil it down to something that made it click so quickly for you? Can you pinpoint kind of what that thing or things were that led you to see the success you had so quickly?
SPEAKER_00So, right out of the gate, I tell these founders I'm working myself out of a job. So it the first conversation is I am not your permanent solution. I am not gonna be here forever, and no, I will not work full time because I've had more than a few ask me to go full time. And I'm like, no, that's not what I do. And I'm out of the gate with everybody, leadership team, uh, owner, founder, whatever, is I'm gonna work myself out of a job. My position is to come in there and build the structure and accountability that you need and find my replacement. And that has been uh, it seems to be liberating for them to know that I'm there for a time, but not there forever. And a lot of consultants, depending on what the consultancy is, you know, they may position themselves for the next thing, the next thing to have a 10-year relationship. And that's okay, but that's not my model. My model is temporary from the start. Now, my engagements are six months. They start out six months, but most of them are nine to 12 months. At least that's the experience I've had so far because we get into it and there's just so much more to be done. But my offering is to work myself out of a job, find that integrator inside the company that needs to be raised up, or find an integrator outside the company that needs to be brought in, coach them, and then slowly exit out of the business.
SPEAKER_01There's uh I had a conversation with somebody the other day about this, and I'm curious your thoughts on this. Would you say that the integrator role, because the fractional integrator, specifically like an isolated fractional integrator that's not, you know, necessarily working in operations, because a lot of times it is that operational-minded person where they're kind of sitting in both seats, right? You know, operations and the integrator. That's very common. I would, I would assume, at least in companies that I've seen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so would you say the reason there's that the fractional integrator position is so attractive is that it really probably isn't a full-time role for most companies that are in like the size company and stage of company that most EOS companies are in, that that's why it's so attractive?
SPEAKER_00I think that's a big part of why it's attractive. And, you know, because I've I've experienced it working full-time in two different companies as an integrator, and I've I've had this conversation with a lot of integrators around the country. If you're an integrator full-time in a company, I would take a bet that half of the time that you're working for that company is working in two seats. Meaning I was I was uh integrator, and then I was also integrator in VPA ops, and then I was just back to integrator, and then I was integrator in VPA Finance, and then I was just back to integrator. And so as seats empty, you have to fill those as the integrator. You have to step into that marketing seat, that sales seat, that whatever. And that's actually a part of the challenge that I've seen with full-time integrators is that the visionary wants to save the money, keep the keep the consistency of the business. And oh, it'll be okay. You just sit in that seat for you know six months until we find the right person. And then it turns into nine months before we find the right person. So I I'm just I feel like I can be more effective as a fractional integrator because I am focused on being an integrator. Yes. And my model is one day a week. I'm I'm your integrator one day a week, and then I'm gonna come back next week and I'm gonna be your integrator that one day that week. And so it's it's just I can get more done in one day than a full-time integrator can get done in five days because of the multiple seats.
SPEAKER_01Yes. No, that makes total sense. Yeah. Because I think that like that is why there's been a uh, I would say a rise over the last five years, let's say, of more fractional integrators in the space because of I think that exact reason. What would you say makes a separates the the good ones from the elite ones if you had to kind of put something on, you know, record of kind of what differentiates the good ones? Because there are a lot out there, but I would I would consider you not to just boost your ego, but I would consider you, you know, one of the best. Um, so curious to your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I think the the good to great difference is the amount and the ability for that integrator to listen, comprehend, and execute what needs to be executed. Uh conversations I've had with a lot of fractionator, fractional integrators, they'll go in with a sledgehammer, you know, and they're ready to start making change on day one. And I've found that that is not a good way to do that. I get a lot more buy-in and success rate if I will just go in and listen. For like the first month, I don't make a single change. I'm literally just sitting in meetings, uh, meeting with leadership team members, meeting with the visionary, listening and observing. And it it's there's so much that I get out of that before I even start adjusting any dials. Um again, the ones that I've seen that have not been as good, they go in with a playbook and a plan and start attacking things. And it's like you got to give these people time to trust you and understand. And frankly, you don't want to make changes that you don't necessarily know the cause and effect of. Um, I actually did a post on LinkedIn recently about, you know, going into a company and and wanting to change around the warehouse. That was my first incalation. And before I before I understood how the warehouse was laid out was actually very logical. And if I hadn't listened and paid attention before we started making changes, I would have had to undo things that I had done.
SPEAKER_01So on top of the relational aspect of losing trust of like, what does this guy think he's doing? Right. You know, so there's a lot of the emotional, relational aspects that I think that probably also plays into the good to the great, if if you will.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think it does.
SPEAKER_01So let's switch gears here and let's talk business development. We've kind of already talked a little bit about it, but uh, that seems to be every coach, consultant, advisor, fractional that I've ever talked to business development seems to be the number one thing that's on their mind. Yeah. So I can't think of anybody better to talk to than someone that I mean, I had I I had kind of written, I think six months is kind of like for it sounds like it was 10 days.
SPEAKER_00So it was 10 days, and I had three contracts one day a week. It was that quick.
SPEAKER_01So that is truly wild. But let's talk. I mean, let's talk a little bit about the business development levers that you always think of them as levers, right? Like I can pull, you know, the community lever, I can pull LinkedIn, I can pull, you know, ads, whatever. Like, let's talk a little bit about what your strategy was on that so we can kind of think. And you know, it can be multi, you know, I know you're a prolific LinkedIn user and also, you know, ultimate founder of energy. So I know those have to be at least two of the levers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, those are two big levers. Uh just building communities. Uh, I tell people all the time, build a community. And if if you if it's not a community, go build one yourself. And it it's very, it's not complex. Meet in a coffee shop, it's really easy. But that's a lever, helping people first and getting referrals that way is a big lever. Um, asking people for recommendations. I mean, it it amazes me sometimes people that, you know, well, I don't want to ask for a recommendation. Well, why not? If you did a good job for them, get a recommendation. Use those recommendations, use those references. Um, with respect to LinkedIn, I I've got a guy, his name is Ben Kaiser. We talked about him earlier, but he is a prolific YouTube star. Uh he's very humble, but he has a very huge following on YouTube. And one of the things he explained to me was you need to have content pillars. And what are your content pillars? And so I spent some time with it. My three content pillars are what we're doing right now, being a guest on a podcast, huge pillar. Uh, second content pillar is personalized videos, which I don't do selfie videos because I'm I suck at it, I'm horrible at it. So I get somebody to help me do it. And then the third one is telling stories and not asking for the sale. So if you look at my LinkedIn, you'll see personalized videos, you'll see me on guest podcast episodes, you'll see me telling stories. And that trifecta is again, I I can't I can't explain it, but it just works. When I when I go up to people, for example, one of the most recent contracts I got, met with a guy, somebody referred me, so that was good. I went and sat down with a guy, never, never told him what I did, never explained my business, never talked about pricing, never talked about what our my process was. He explained his business to me. Okay, talked about all the problems. And then he said, All right, well, let's go ahead and get started. And I'm like, Well, we hadn't talked about pricing yet. He was like, Oh, well, how much do you charge? And I told him, He's like, Oh, okay, well, send me a contract. He knew me. He knew who I was. He knew what I thought. He's watched videos. He's watched a podcast. He's watched, he's read my mind in the posts. So it's a long game. It's not something you can start tomorrow and get leads the next day, but my LinkedIn is is is heavily full with people reaching out to me, asking me questions because I'm giving free information.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I think so many um coaches and fractional, all of the above miss that where LinkedIn doesn't necessarily, it's probably not, especially early on, isn't going to necessarily net you like tons and tons and tons of conversations. Right. But what it does is it puts you in a place where you start staying top of mind, right? Yes. That to me, I cannot tell you how many people. I put up a post. This was my best performing post in 2025. I did a bicycle kick as a 33-year-old, which I still am hurting from that. But I cannot tell you how many conversations that started of people that were like, no way, you played soccer. I played soccer too. Hey, that was crazy. We should totally have coffee. Like it was wild to me how many people, a personal post that nothing to do with business, led to staying top of mind.
SPEAKER_00It's being real and it's being consistent. And that that's that's the that's the magic is to be real and be consistent. You look at all the posts that I do, all the stories that I tell, they're all stories. Right. Some of those stories go back 10 years to when I was working full time. And that's another thing I I think I I don't think I know. I see from Tommy. Well, I haven't been a coach for very long. I don't have that many stories. Well, go back to when you were working in the warehouse. The best stories. Go back when you were working at Popeye's or Popeye's chicken, McDonald's or whatever. You know, go to somewhere and pull out those things where you solved the problem, and that's the stuff that resonates. And I don't know if you're seeing this, but I I can tell you from my uh traffic, my written posts get thousands and thousands and thousands of impressions. My video posts may get a hundred, two hundred, maybe a thousand impressions. But it's the videos where people would typically reach out to me and say, I saw that video, I want to talk to you now, but they already knew me from the written post. So it really, if you can, if anybody can figure out their content pillars and then execute over and over and over again, you will be top of mind when they're ready for you.
SPEAKER_01Right. And a lot of times I love the podcast approach because that's such an underutilized, I think.
SPEAKER_00Oh, gosh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oftentimes, I mean, this is I mean, I'll get my strategy from the this podcast specifically. We will literally cut down snippets and shorts from this episode and I send them to Forrest that he can utilize. I do all the work for that, and then send that to him that he can use as content for himself. And a lot of shows are like that because number one, it helps me. Yeah. If Forrest goes about my show, it helps me. Yeah. But it also gives him content and then it just allows us to raise the brand. So I mean, it's it's a win-win for everybody. So a lot of shows are like that that give you that content that then gets you that video stuff. Because I think it is a lot of times people are just don't know where to start specifically with video content. Because it is, I mean, it's a little intimidating.
SPEAKER_00But and you and I have known each other for a long time, so that's how we connected. But I I hired a PR firm to get me on podcasts. And and her pitch to me was I'll get you on 30 podcasts in 90 days as a guest. And if there was a fee involved, obviously, but that fee was ridiculously cheap per episode. And then when you look at the exposure and the content that gets built, and then you know, people are calling me out in California that that saw me on a podcast for a local California uh, you know, studio that had 10,000 subscribers, I'm like, this is crazy. And it's it's evergreen content. So I'm I'm a big believer in podcasts from a sales business development standpoint.
SPEAKER_01And I mean, even from the if you go in, I mean, you've got a show too, and we'll link out to that in the show notes, but like the it goes in, it's so easy to get people on a conversation where you just happen to hit record and we talk about our expertise or whatever it is. Yep, and it's such a great business development motion because you're getting your target on there or you're going to somewhere that you're gonna be able to have a conversation. So and it's just you just happen to hit record. So I think it's it's a great avenue. And then obviously compound that with LinkedIn, compound that with the community stuff. Your entire strategy is just staying top of mind and having the cadence to where you're hitting the person that is either in that community thing or is scrolling on LinkedIn and it's like, shoot, I'm dealing with that exact problem that Forrest is talking about. Let me ring him up or let me send him a message to actually pick his brain on this. And that seems to be how it's just netted you three clients in 10 days.
SPEAKER_00I have not cold called one time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's wild.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I've done it years ago, but during the life well, since I started this business, I have not cold called one time. I just haven't had to.
SPEAKER_01That's so powerful. Yeah, that is yeah, that is the testament to a personal brand and consistency in that. That that just screens that to me. And I don't want to underestimate the community aspect because I think that is a huge part of it.
SPEAKER_00It's huge, huge.
SPEAKER_01What would you say from the energy? Because it sounds like those clients were from energy specifically. Right. Think about it from the perspective of, hey, like an implementer that's maybe on the fence of, hey, I don't know, like I don't know about the time commitment. Like, I'm uh let's take a professional that's maybe got four or five clients, right? They're, they're, you know, they're surviving. Yeah. Um, but you know, want to scale and grow. They didn't get into their EOS practice and have four clients, right? So let's talk to one of those that is maybe on the fence, is maybe I I don't know. I don't know if I want to commit to 12 times a year. I got to meet with everybody, then I got to figure out how to go. What would you say to challenge that mindset?
SPEAKER_00I I would challenge it to say I'm a perfect example of what the success can look like when you're in front of people top of mind every month consistently, and you're giving back. I mean, one of the what is one of the core values of EOS is to abundance mindset. Is that what it is? I can't remember. Yep. Help people. Just help people for free. When you help people for free, I promise you it will come back. It will definitely come back. And the consistency of being in front of people every month and talking through issues and and seeing people solve issues and having conversations after the fact. One of the things I've seen regularly, and I've been doing this for over four years now with these energy chapters, is I will have a meeting with 15, 20 people in an energy meeting, and then we'll break, and then I'll go to the coffee shop two doors down, and six of them are in there and they're separated into the twos having meetings. And so it it really does create a community conversation where these people are building relationships. And part of what we did when we started Energy, we here's what we decided. We said if we can make businesses more healthy in this area, then there's gonna be better jobs in this area, and there's gonna be a better community in this area. And so it is an investment in your area to build communities, and if you do that, I hate to be like, you know, field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. If you build a community, people will come and naturally they're gonna start bringing their friends and it's it's going to get word out. And there's so many people that are um that you know, I've I've talked to people around the country, and they're like, Oh, there's nobody that does EOS in my community. I was like, because you don't have a community yet. They're there, right? They're there. Yes, they're just like talking about it. There's nobody to talk to. You gotta find them. But when you find them, they're they're like cockroaches, they come out of everywhere. You don't realize you don't realize how many people are running on EOS.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. We we run stuff, you know, Jamie Mullikan and Andrew Geisel and all that here in Greenville. I I kid you not, we'll run events here and we'll have like 50, 60 people coming out the woodwork. Like, I mean, it is wild how many. And Greenville is not a big city, right? But it really does. It goes to show, and I think one of the other benefits that it offers is it also gets it. I mean, yes, the benefit of having it people in your neck of the woods that are your neighbors that you can start to build relationships with and even almost dictate your supply chain, you know, and partners on that. But it also connects you to the larger EOS ecosystem, right? To the partners that are in that, the the 90s, the tightest talents, like all, you know, these providers that are within that space. And one of my favorite things about the national chapter is it connects me to people where I got on an awesome call the other day with a guy that lived in Kentucky that was in a marketing agency and like was an awesome dude. And we just kicked kicked it off. We just happened to be in that breakout room. And now we connected on LinkedIn, we're staying in touch now, and it's connected me to other cool people that are in the EOS ecosystem, all because it just has built these. There's lots of islands out there, right? And the end goal with community is that you start to build bridges between all of those, and you can have this common thread that we have this orange thread that runs through us that we run on EOS. So that shows me that you're a good human, that you care about growing your business. You're probably a growth-minded leader and you care about your employees and making sure that they are, you know, they benefit from both financially, personally, professionally, all of the things. And so, ideally, testable theory that those people probably want to hang out with those people that are like them. And it I think it goes to show all these chapters that are out there, they start to grow like wildfire. So it's really cool to see the business development benefit that you get out of it.
SPEAKER_00Like I said, I wish I was a genius and had, you know, developed energy just for business development, but it just it happened, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right. Well, I think that's actually more powerful. Yeah. That because I think people can see through when you are kind of utilizing it for a biz dev motion. Like it's kind of obvious. So I think leading with the help first, and like, I truly just want to create this group because I want to be around other people that love and run on EOS.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Then what happened is the business development conversations happened. You didn't lead with that, they just naturally happened. Right. And so I think that's what's really cool about it. And that is, I mean, I think you are probably the only one that I know that's got 10 in 10 days. But I also understand and have seen examples of implementers that have gotten clients out of it, right? So I mean it's you are not the isolated, you're not the anomaly. Like this just happens because you create that structure and that environment for it to happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and and to that point, you know, I only had two chapters running here up until January of last year. So there were only two chapters running in two cities that were sister cities, but I had implementers from three and four hours away that would come and, you know, present a toolbox topic, and they would pick up clients because people would say, I want to go faster. I need to go faster. So here's a way for me to go faster. So I I could give you, you know, Mike Ellicott, Duncan Manley, Lee Hanley. I could name off, you know, half a dozen implementers that didn't even have a chapter in their area, and they've gone back now and they've started chapters in their areas because they've seen the value of that help first mindset and that abundance mindset.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for sharing all this and kind of giving us a sneak peek under the hood, if you will, of how you had so much success early on. Yeah. Um, but I always like to, if you've stuck around long enough and you uh you understand where I'm going with this, but I always like to ask guests because I find this just fascinating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, my curiosity gets the best of me. But if you could go back to rookie forest, just starting out, yeah. You know, you could take it what whatever angle you want. If you want to do the fractional, you know, you want to the integrator, I mean, however you want to take it. Um, but if you could go back with all the knowledge and experience that you have now, what advice would you give yourself?
SPEAKER_00Hire a coach. Hire a coach. Um, I I still have a coach. I hired an executive coach several years ago, and that has been transformational. And people will say, Well, why do you hire a coach when you kind of coach people and stuff? You know, why? And I'm like, Well, Tiger Woods had a coach. I mean, he was the best player in the world, and he hired a coach. And why did he hire a coach? To be able to see things that he couldn't see and observe things that he couldn't uh comprehend. And uh I I firmly believe now after doing that, and I didn't play sports, so I'm actually at a disadvantage. I didn't play sports in high school or college or nothing, so I didn't even understand what a coach could really do. But if I could go back, I would say hire a coach. I should have hired a coach earlier. I I would be much further along right now, even though I feel like I'm pretty far along if I had hired a coach much earlier.
SPEAKER_01That's a good word. I I brings up um JBS, Jonathan B. Smith has this thing. It's like the trifecta, right? I don't remember exactly what he calls it, but the he talks about having a business operating system, right? Every leader should have a business operating system. They should have a peer group, so a community of practice, right? And they should also have a coach. Yep. I think that is the trifecta, the triple threat, if you will. And so that it goes to show because you got your community, you got your operating system, and you have a coach. I mean, so you're a walking testament of that. So that that's a really good word. I appreciate you sharing that. Yeah. Second thing I always like to ask is what's a lesson you're in the middle of learning in this current moment?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I I am I'm learning how to be a visionary. Believe it or not, uh, with the business that I'm uh that I'm in and the business that I'm doing, because I'm developing some products and some, you know, intellectual property and things. And uh it's it's not as easy for me to do this, uh, but I'm working through that process to uh think about how to build uh things that are in my head, not not just help other entrepreneurs, but actually do some entrepreneurial stuff myself. So that that's what I'm working on right now.
SPEAKER_01That's exciting, man. That's fun. Yeah, that's um I'm like a 92% on the visionary thing. So like I just live in that world. But it's uh yeah, yeah, that's that's good. I it's I think being that well-rounded probably actually makes you a better fractional integrator of kind of understanding, being able to tap into both of those energies. Um so well, let's say someone you know wants to pick your brain on something. What's the best place to get in touch with you?
SPEAKER_00Oh, the best place is on LinkedIn. So look me up on LinkedIn. I'm easy to find out there. There's there's not more than I think there's one other college student named Forrester out in California somewhere. So pretty easy to find out there. I've got a website, dirconsulting.com, D E R R Consulting.com, but either one of those places you can get to me pretty easy and and uh pick my brain.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Yeah, definitely a help first. And we'll we'll link out to all that in the show notes for make it easy for people. But man, Forrest, thank you for coming on and doing this. Yeah, we we've known each other for a while, and uh, it's been fun to watch your growth. And I appreciate your support. You have been uh a kind um friend, a mentor, kind of when I walked through some things and and even wanted to go into the fractional world myself. You were the first person that I called. And so thank you for your leadership and guidance in my life because I I look up to you and I I I think many people do. So I was excited to have you come onto the show and just have a conversation. So I appreciate you taking the time.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01Well, cool. Well, thank you all for watching. Uh, we will have many more episodes uh going forward here, but I appreciate Forrest taking the time to come on and talk with us. Take care. That's it for today's episode of the Ambitious Coach Lab. My hope is that something here helps you sharpen your craft and keep building a coaching practice you're proud of. Before we wrap, a quick thank you to our sponsor, 90. If you're coaching leadership teams, having your clients run their entire world in 90 truly elevates your work. Vision, rock, scorecard, issues, it all lives in one centralized place. The clarity keeps your clients aligned between sections and makes every conversation you have with them more focused and more impactful. I've used 90 with over 500 leadership teams, and I can tell you it makes great companies better and great coaches even more effective. Feel free to use the promo code AC20 for 20% off. Again at 820 for 20% off. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I'm Cam. Carry on as you grow your ambition property. See you next time.