 Welcome back to geeks are sexy. I'm Jason the Duke from evil genius leadership consultants We brought all three of our guests back to be on our panel. I want to say hello to my friend Alex who's watching on Facebook live Thanks for thanks for watching Alex. Everybody waved Alex and make him feel welcome. It's great to have you here But what I want to talk about in our panel discussion today and this came from our conversation We had coffee the other day You had such a positive attitude. We talked about how even very tragic things in our lives very very difficult setbacks successful people find ways to Find a positive attitude when everything in the world seems like it's going wrong when everything seems like it's against you And that was very much your story as well Can you tell us a little about how you found the strength how you how you went through what you went through with your son and Came out the other side with all the great work you're doing in the community sure Jason Well, you know, I think that right after my son was killed I knew that it was really important that I had a choice either I was going to fall and Drowned or I was going to somehow stay strong and you know, and I made a decision like a week after he was killed that Somehow I had to turn my pain into strength and And that's what I did in order to do that. It's like when you get a bed every morning I know, you know, you have a choice. So before you get a bed Are you gonna have a good day? You're gonna have a bad day and it's like before you get a bed I just say okay, so you're gonna get a bed and you're gonna have a good day and you're gonna be strong today and I mean, I think if you can take something so horrific Like what I went through and turn into something so amazing There's no better way to honor a loved one that has been killed or someone close to you a friend that Has has passed. There's no better way to honor that person is to do something So amazing and you know pay it forward and that to me is a great way to do it But again, it's all about choices and I'm making that choice every day And I just find that when you have so much pain you can somehow make it into something so great Yeah, and I would never never wish that on on anybody that kind of pain or that kind of challenge on anybody But that is something we face in our businesses every day not to not to belittle what you've just told us I mean even even in little ways, I mean, you know, you have a bad day But you know, so Greg, what is what is something you found? What is one of the very first big challenges you faced when you started your business and how did you? Dig deep and find the strength to overcome it because sometimes, you know Sometimes we get a great idea to start a business and we just go you know what too hard We see a lot of that out there right three months six months down the road. Somebody's like, um, I'm not doing that How did how did you found the strength to keep going? Yeah? Well, and let me back up just one step Because part of the reason I started my business is because I moved to Vegas a few years ago for a job And after a couple years at that company there were some restructuring my job was eliminated and that really Was tough to deal with But I kind of dug deep as sammy said and and And so i'm sorry Sorry, that's my fault. I didn't I didn't give everybody the intel briefing And and decided this was something that I wanted to try to take the experience I had And the in the expertise I had and apply it in a different way And it's you know, it's exciting. It's exhilarating, but it's challenging I've always worked for companies where people tell you what to do And now I have to go out and find business But that's the fun part because when when you grow something on your own you really can take pride in it But you do have to dig deep and and real Resiliency is a word that you hear a lot about and I think there's a lot to that being able to bounce back learn from Adversity that you have and come out on the other side Absolutely, absolutely. So chris. What's a what's a challenge that you're facing in your business? Either in the past a big one in the past or something that you're facing right now because you're here You look like you've got it all together. You gave us great information about taxes. You got all the numbers I know you know them all off the top of your head, but I'm sure you're facing challenges as well Yeah, maybe I'll take it in a little bit of a different direction and talk about a more technical challenge that my business Sometimes faces so I do things very differently as I was kind of going to explain to you I do think I do everything in the cloud Everything I do is technological and the digital age and when you do taxes or accounting for that matter sometimes people just They want to see their accountant. They've been seeing once a year, you know, right around March or April and hand them a stack of paper And wait for them to do the return then come back see them again sign off on everything take it Mail it and be done with it and that's not how my business operates my business is very different than that I think it's a better model that helps save people time Where I do everything in the cloud, but the challenge with that that I find is sometimes people are scared of technology They don't understand the the encryption of having your data up in something like Dropbox Which is what I'll use for my clients is actually more secure than this paper you have right here Because somebody can just steal this There's nothing important on this There's a bunch of scribbles I made so it doesn't really matter but but had it been important, right? You know storing it in an encrypted method in the cloud is just a lot safer way to do it It's a lot easier for you because you don't have to worry about making an appointment So really the the technical business challenge that I'll face from time to time is getting people over that hump So so how do you get them over that hump? Yeah, so what I have a pretty good success rate with and a lot of it is just getting them comfortable with me Getting them comfortable with with technology and explaining to them Like I've been explaining to you a little bit more about a great thing that I've been able to do Is I have a lot of great clients that are very supportive of my business and they give me great reviews So they talk a little bit about the technology driven approach that I've been doing for years And how efficient it is for them and how much they like it. So that's how I get them over that Okay, yeah, and you know Um, so one of the things I found one of these I found when I started my business I had a hard time Asking other people for help Where is Greg? Where's something where you had to go ask someone for help when it was in this business or in your previous career Was there a time you had a really hard time going to ask somebody for help? Yeah, uh, I haven't I and I still do that every day I um, I know, you know a little bit about human resources and a little bit about employment and labor law But I don't know a lot about marketing about business development about social media And so I I reach out to other people who are starting their own small businesses who other consultants who are out there because You you can always learn from other people I'm a big believer in asking for help Finding out other ways of doing things reaching out Broadening your network and uh and really learning something new every day Awesome awesome. Yeah, it's it's so hard to ask for help. It was a lesson I really had to get over Uh, you know, it came from the air force being in 20 years and after 20 years in the air force It was I'm the guy who has the answers. I'm the guy who has to ask for help right and then It's uh, it's like starting it starting at zero again And it's uh, it's exciting and it's fun, but it's also a little scary sometimes now, sonny I know you're always looking for donors. You're yes, man You're you have nonprofits always have big challenges Whether it's just getting volunteers to show up or getting those donations from those those corporate partners I have no problem asking for help. I know you I know you don't so who are whether it's us around this table Or people in our audience Who are some people you'd like to be connected to or you could use some help Getting connected to to certain certain people or donors Well, we'd like to just reach out to companies that um, you know, they have a lot of companies like to have people To volunteer for certain organizations And we would love to be promoted within companies A lot of people like to have nonprofit organizations attached to whoever they are. We love to partner up We partner up within spirata and a whole community. So yeah, we're always looking for volunteers or someone they would We love to partner up with um, but getting back to your one question about you know being uncomfortable and and doing something new and Getting under out of your comfort zone is you know, I started a chocolate business, which I know I didn't tell you And and I and I thought you don't need my permission when I was listening to you guys talk And you know, I wanted to say anybody out there is listening who wants to start up a small business You know, and it's a it's your passion and you're scared Um, I always wanted to start up my own chocolate business But it took my son to die for me to get the strength to do it and you know I want to tell everybody out there go in do it Don't wait till something traumatic happens be uncomfortable and start that business anyway and you'll see It'll usually be a success if you do it uncomfortable. That's right Anything worth doing is going to make you a little uncomfortable. Don't be afraid to ask for help Thank you all for being here today. We're we're running to the end of our time But chris tell our tell our audience one more time where they can find you how they can get a hold You if they're looking for some accounting or virtual cfo Help. Yeah, so you can find me online through my website, which is www.cndcpa.com All right, sonny, how can how can we reach the foundation or you? Douglas j. Green Memorial Foundation We're also on facebook or sonny shabbro on facebook and Anybody can reach out to me if they need any kind of care packages or donations. I'm always And greg, how can how can everybody find you easiest way is www.ndunamo.com All right. Well again, thank you all for being here alex. Thank you for watching It's great to have a guest on the facebook live. Hi alex And uh, and i'm jason laduke from evil genius leadership consultants. This is geeks are sexy We'll be back on the fourth friday of september. I don't know the date. Um, don't know my calendar for me Thank you for watching. We love to have you here Please get in touch with our guest. Please get in touch with sonny if you want to make a donation Thank you for being here. We'll see you next month. Thanks jason. Thank you. Thank you