Michael Brooks – goLance

Tim Melanson: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the work at home rock star podcast.

Excited for today’s guest. He is the CEO founder of Golans and he helps people find work from home jobs and he also helps businesses find people to work for them. So very excited to be rocking out today with Michael Brooks. Hey Michael. You ready to rock?

Michael Brooks: Oh yeah, Tim. Thanks for having me here. That’s uh, great to be a part of the program.

I appreciate it. Awesome. Bring the energy. Love it.

Tim Melanson: so, Hey, let’s start off on a good note. So tell me a story of success in your business or your life that we can be inspired.

Michael Brooks: Uh, so success was when I started Golance. Um, it was when that I, I truly felt successful. I just kind of sunseted, uh, and stepped away from a leadership role of a subscription billing company that I built an e-commerce platform.

And I was deciding what I wanted to do for the rest of my working life. Because I had this theory that if I committed to the rest of my life, I was 36 at the time. And, uh, I was like, well, what if, what if I wanna stop working at say 76? And that’s where I want to 75, 76. But that way it gives me around about 40 years and then I could work backwards from there.

Um, so I took a very long, long view, uh, and that’s when I started Golan and I just felt like. the moment I made that decision. I felt successful. The moment I made that commitment and I married to a business the same way I married to my beautiful wife right on.

Tim Melanson: And it’s very, very, I mean, good business idea nowadays, for sure.

Michael Brooks: she may, she actually may wanna stay married past 40 years. I think I thought the death deal is fart thing with her, but, uh, sorry. I just had to throw that in there. Yeah. Just in case

Tim Melanson: she’s gonna hear this probably.

Michael Brooks: There’s a sense,

Tim Melanson: right. On, well, that’s awesome. Yeah. And I mean, it’s, it’s great to have, uh, something where, you know, how you’re helping people.

Yeah.

Michael Brooks: Yeah. It, it truly is. And connecting that first, first freelancer to the client and getting that first work on the platform, um, out of MVP, um, MVP, it was a minimum viable product. I just remember that being just like, ah, that was a win. That was a win. Yeah, totally

Tim Melanson: now. Okay. So with those good. Come some bad notes, too.

Things don’t always go as planned. So I’m wondering, can you share with us something that didn’t go very well and how we can avoid it to recover?

Michael Brooks: Yeah, it was after the economic crisis back 2008, 2009. It really hit me 2009, 2010. You know, I found that, and this seems to be kind of universally true during economic downturns and changes in the markets.

Lawsuits come out. And so I got hit with a couple of those, uh, my business. I had this entire office structure and swanky place at Newport beach and all these people. And I had to fire a lot of people. Um, layoff, let go, whatever you wanna call it, it was painful. And I just sit in front of them and, and, uh, I hated it.

And I, I tried to build this culture. I don’t know if you’re a fan of the show of the office, but I called it the full Michael Scott. Right. I had the, the office with the, the Halloween parties and everything, and just tried to create some type of culture that way that I thought was supposed to. Um, and, uh, and that was very, very painful.

And that forced me into, I couldn’t afford an office anymore. I couldn’t afford my staff. I kept. My wife and I kept working. I had one other guy who, who now runs that company. Um, and he agreed not to take a paycheck for a while. I mean, it was, it was very, very, very difficult. And, uh, you know, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that’s what, because that’s when we decided we’re like, we, we had none of it.

Swanky office 50 people. And we’re like, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? So we hired a freelancer software developer, uh, in, uh, like five hours outta Moscow. He now lives in Panama. Um, but he’s still, he’s now the CTO of that company. So, um, I did a hail Mary across the world and I, it was something.

Absolutely have never have done. There was key cards. There was every type of system in place. And then I realized nobody cared if I wore a suit and nobody cared how cushy the chairs were. And none of that mattered. It was just the results that we were building. Um, and that’s where, that’s where I shifted painfully out of the, you know, the, the, the world, I was the known universe I was used to.

Into this remote working world, which, um, turned out to be a massive, massive blessing, but it did not feel like it at the time. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: Wow. I just wanna point out again, when we talk about failure, we often hear people say a blessing in disguise. Isn’t that interesting. Something really bad happens to you and something good comes out of it.

Right?

Michael Brooks: I would agree, Tim. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: And, uh, yeah, I mean, getting into the remote world, I mean, Probably helped you quite a bit when the lockdown started to happen, didn’t it?

Michael Brooks: I didn’t notice much difference. Uh, we, we homeschool our kids. We have for about eight years now. And, um, you know, it’s, it was like not, not, not that much different lockdowns.

And we live in Puerto Rico and lockdowns were really severe there. I mean, kind of oddly severe, like, uh, you can’t drive on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It was weird. Um, we were like, Okay. So we’re working from home and we’re homeschooling and kids. You’re probably not gonna be able to go on your play dates that you like.

And then other than that, not much changed. So it, it made it for an like the whole world was coming at me. And everyone’s, what’s your plan for this? And do you have a structure for that? It was like, Yeah, we we’re just gonna keep working yeah, just keep doing we doing so, um, COVID was, uh, was I, I, I saw what was going on, but I honestly, I tried as much as I could not to pay attention to any of it and just stay, stay laser focused and just get work done and just go, okay, well, I’ll try to be healthy and, um, and, uh, you know, make sure that I’m eating well and doing all the things to stay healthy and then just.

And that, and that, that was, that was our winning strategy through COVID right on, right

Tim Melanson: on. So now, uh, let’s talk a little bit about, you know, learning from the best learning from, from people and, and growing that way and like, what’s your approach to, you know, things like masterminds and coaches, like, do you do that for yourself or what?

Michael Brooks: Yeah, my, my, my position has evolved. I was heavy into a mentor and I like went to work with a men work for a mentor and. Partnered with him. And it was it. I kind of enveloped his personality and this is not a healthy person to envelope their personality. There were some things that this mentor did that were, uh, like wonderful.

I learned some great skills, but the, the idea. It’s it’s dangerous because it’s such a position of trust, right? It’s almost like a therapist, therapist show up to an office and help people left and right. And negotiate them and navigate them through challenging times in their life. But they can also go home and their lives are a mess.

So I was getting the positive, but I was also getting the negative. Um, and then ultimately that relationship fell apart and I had to do a lot of self work and personal work, and I’m a huge fan of feedback and, and, and feedback exercises. And then I didn’t have a mentor for years, and it’s only recently that I started doing masterminds in, in, in Puerto Rico.

We, we have a Dorado meetup, Silicon, we call it Silicon Dorado beach, and we, uh, there’s, there’s a few of us, just some entrepreneurs that get together and share stories and share ideas. And that brain trust is great. But there’s people in that group that have a lifestyle I don’t wanna live, but I can value and appreciate.

Um, and I love and respect them, but I can value and appreciate their accomplishments. And so I get access to, to those, to that insight. And then I also get the benefit of being able to provide and help people. Um, but I haven’t stopped there. I even picked up, uh, another mentor, um, that that’s been immensely helpful.

And I’ve. I, I, I would be careful if people ask for a mentor from a friend or a relationship, I honestly think this one’s better to pay for. And I pay, I pay quite a bit more than I ever thought I would for this mentor. Um, it’s actually, it’s jar Robbins, the CEO of success magazine, and, uh, he’s building, uh, what I think is gonna be the biggest mentor company that ever exists business coaching company that ever exists.

But, uh, the value that I get from our monthly calls and the processes and the worksheets is, is, is immense in it. It is turned into quite like we had our six months. Program and it was up and he is like, do you, do you wanna renew? And I’m like, yes, yes, this is the only therapy I get jar. And so then, and it becomes a, you know, when you’re in business or, or, or dealing with complex relationships, uh, all day long, um, sometimes you need an outlet to help navigate through those.

And it’s okay to focus on one that’s just business. Uh, and even the psychology of, of business. Yeah. Yeah.

And so, I mean, you mentioned a couple good things, like, you know, friends and, and, uh, family, fer mentoring and all that stuff. And that you’re yeah, I think you’re right. I think that’s dangerous cuz they probably won’t tell you what you really need to hear.

And also there’s probably no skin in the game as well. Right. I mean, shouldn’t you don’t you value things more if you

pay. I I think so. I, I think so. And the, the fallacy is, so it’s gotta be somebody around me or, or, or a family member’s gonna take me under their wing and all that. That’s all it’s, I, I think it’s counterproductive and, and in some cases it can be helpful, but there has to be an arms distance, and it’s a very delicate relationship.

It, it it’s, it should be something that you can start and you can. And you have a control there. And there’s a, a, a clearly laid clarity of purpose and objective. And I think a lot of times people come in and people have asked me to be, oh, will you mentor me? And, and I’m like, yeah, you know, I’ll give you advice, call me, but like, It’s it to sit down and say, okay, I’m going to take this mentorship job on with, with, with you.

It’s it’s I, I, I don’t think I would be doing somebody justice now, if somebody had an interesting problem and they were trying to work through it, uh, sure. There’s some stuff that I absolutely loved helping navigate through and I’ll follow up with that. And I do that a lot, but consistent mentorship. I think it’s great, but that’s a.

That’s a two sided relationship and absolutely skin in the game. That’s somebody who has to be serious and committed. And it shouldn’t be a, let me just ask somebody, if they’ll have a weekly call with me to tell me what I’m doing to write that’s. I think that’s a bit much to ask.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. It, and I mean, it’s similar to like hiring family in your business as well, because I mean, what happens if it doesn’t work out?

Like now it’s super awkward. Cause you. Fire them. And you gotta break that relationship. And now all of a sudden you’re sitting at the dinner table at , you know, at a family event. And it’s just, it it’s,

it’s awkward, right?

Michael Brooks: That it requires an immense amount of honesty. To get value, just like therapy, just like going to the doctor or talking to a lawyer, you’ve gotta be able to barf up everything that’s going on.

And especially the things you’re, you’re kind of embarrassed and maybe ashamed of like, oh man, I really shouldn’t have treated this person this way or done this. And, and you need some, and that’s like, there are people that are experienced with. And, uh, and, and that’s that’s, um, yeah, that’s, I very rarely arms distance.

That doesn’t mean you can’t look to family for guidance and support, and, uh, can’t be a support to family and guidance, but the, the, the concept that, uh, a family member or, or a loved one or friend is going to take you under their wing and mentor you and sh like, um, I think that there, there can be benefit there, but there’s also a lot of dangers that people.

Quickly overlook. Yeah.

Yeah. I think maybe like for one offs, you know, oh, I, you know, I’m having this problem right here. Can you just help me out with this problem only that would work, but you know, a full relationship might be awkward,

right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: So now how about practicing and getting good at what you do and honing or crap?

Like what, how do you approach, you know, you know, constantly learning and getting better at what you do.

Michael Brooks: So the, the cool thing about that, especially for people working at home, right. That are in the business of promoting marketing and selling their service. So I talked with this one kid and, uh, he was a, he wanted to buy, he wanted to be a Facebook media buyer and he was excited and he kept coming after me, kept coming after me kept, Hey, I want this.

And so I was. I, I was appreciative of his persistence. I was like, okay, this guy seems serious. He didn’t have any money. He was just a kid and he didn’t have any trust. He didn’t have any clients or anything, but he knew that this was what he wanted to do. He was like 19 and he looked like 12. I mean, this was a young kid.

I said, okay, look, um, Tyler, this is what you’re gonna want to do. And so I went and did a screen share, and I showed him some YouTube channels and some different blogs that described how to buy and sell Facebook media. And there was teachers there. Um, well, the first thing you wanna do is consume all of that, right?

The next thing you wanna do is to build the. And build a YouTube channel. And then after that, you want to go in and teach it. So you’re gonna take what you learn and you’re gonna go through, make sure you know it well, and then you’re gonna go and teach it and say, okay, this is what I’ve learned. Let me tell you how to, you know, do a bully bid or, or CPA market, something that.

Is specific to Facebook media buying. There’s lots of little nuances there demonstrate that you actually know what you’re doing. And during that process of honing in on your skills, you’re also creating quality marketing material. You’re learning how to speak about the service that you want to provide.

And when someone sees that they’re gonna want to hire you and. Unfortunately, it worked out way too well because I tried referring him to a bunch of people and he was booked and his price per hour went from like down here to B, B, B, B, B, B, B. And he got more clients than he can handle. And now he’s got, uh, you know, that the problem of, you know, more clients than you can handle.

But, um, the, when someone looks at a, a pro a prospect looks at it and goes, oh, this guy knows what he is doing. Look, he’s doing all these videos on it. What a, what a great way to demonstrate your competency, right? To demonstrate that I, I have an understanding. And then after that you go and you get case studies and you get, you know, you get, uh, Hey, I’ve done this successfully for two people.

Here’s the cause here’s the effect. Here’s the result that we’re trying to get. Right?

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And I, I find that the, the world that we live in today too, is just, it levels the playing field because anybody can do what you just. You know, anybody can do that. And I, I think maybe 50 years ago, you, we didn’t have that kind of ability.

You needed someone to invest in you and you needed all these other things. Now you just need a laptop. Actually, you don’t even need a laptop.

Michael Brooks: You need a phone. right. Yeah, exactly. You get on a phone, but a laptop, you get a, you get to digest and you get a free lesson and you learn it. And then you describe what you’ve learned.

And then with, with. You know, it’s, it’s just demonstrating a competency. Yeah. And when people do that, it, it, it’s a really good look. And then someone goes, okay, I’ll give you a chance. You, you can be honest about it. Be like, look, I learned this. I, I decided to show you what I learned, hire me and I can do it for you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Tim Melanson: And you do actually learn a lot from teaching other people too. So, and even if you’re just creating some sort of video tutorial, you will learn more from doing that. Yeah.

Michael Brooks: Yeah. Great.

Tim Melanson: Right on. So now what about the band? So let’s talk about, you know, putting the right people around you and Hey, I mean, that’s part of your business, but, but, uh, but I’m wondering, like, what do you do?

Like, what was the first people that you made that you hired in your business?

Michael Brooks: Yeah, that’s a big one. I mean, you know, when you’re running a business or even performing a service, you’re wearing all the hats.

Right. And so that’s how you start and then to grow you, you kind of work with somebody that can also wear all the hats and then. You know, what I’ve learned when it comes to hiring is, uh, you, you, you clearly identify the position. Look for someone that’s had two successful engagements in that position.

Someone who’s done the thing that you wanna do, a human that can do the thing that you want that has done it twice. And there’s a clearly identified scope of, uh, this is what you’re going to do, and this is the result. And when you do that, you make very clean hiring decisions. Instead of, ah, I gotta find a SEO guy, you know, it’s like, okay, hold on, hold on.

What are you truly trying to accomplish? And that’s, that’s, uh, so many, I think business owners and, and even, uh, remote workers, they, they kind of get into the, okay, I got this, I need somebody to find that can do this. And they’re, they run a little fast and loose. Um, the more someone can. Uh, discipline themselves to truly, I identify the scope of work and understand it, and then the better they can find the human that meets those requirements.

And, and that’s where the work is done. And that wasn’t wisdom it’s experience. I was working, uh, living in Puerto Rico where on the Atlantic time, half the year. So I’m an hour ahead of, uh, hour ahead of east coast. And I was just going after getting up early, working with, uh, the teams in Europe, then working on the east coast, then Midwest.

And I was like timing my day. So I could just maximize every minute and do as much as I can. I have a friend that that’s, uh, you know, from, from a business perspective has accomplished way more than I have and has had successes that are, I mean, Very well known, very well known company, a CEO, founder of a very, very well known company.

He’s kind of like, what are you doing? Why like, why do you do all this? And I’m like, because I’ve got all this, this, this, this, and he’s like, was, is it just like busy work? I’m like, well, I’ve gotta, and I’m just rattling off my list. I’m like, how do you do it? Like, you know, I’m like, I’m like, you’ve got 2000 employees, you’ve got this, you’ve got like this massive enterprise, big, uh, big VC back to you.

He’s like, look, I, I, I clearly identify what needs to be done and I go hire the right person for it. And then I make sure the economics work and there’s times where you have to be scrappy and you can’t do. I find it works best when it’s on an hourly, as needed basis. And you build a good relationship with someone that can do what you need to be, or fix the contract, whatever, but you, they can do what, what needs to be done and you can out keep pushing out, but it comes through you until you’re so comfortable.

It doesn’t need to pass through your hands anymore. So it’s, it’s clarity of. And then looking for somebody from a practical perspective, having two successes, getting that outcome. And that’s the human you look for.

Tim Melanson: Right on. So, and so would you recommend hiring like an employee or hiring some sort of freelancer?

Michael Brooks: Uh, I mean, I’m a freelancer guy, like that’s, I, I don’t have any employees. Everybody’s a freelancer, so I, I truly love freelancing. I think it gives a lot of freedom. Um, I, I think it’s, uh, it allows people to, uh, adjust their. They don’t have to, they don’t have to go asking for a rate is they adjust their rate and then they go, Hey, this I’m gonna get other business.

I can support this. I can do that. This is kind of where I’m at. And it, it, it takes it from, from a really weird. I mean almost ownership perspective. Like, I don’t like it. Like, they’re like, you know, you ever do something and you’re like, I’m not going back. Right. You’re just like, or you you’re just like, I’m not going back.

I know a gal that went to school at a, uh, where, where did the nuns, the nuns school, you know what I’m talking about? I think con yeah. And she was, uh, she was like, she’s like, she had 16, she went home for the summer and she’s like, look, I’m not going back to that school ever. And her parents were like, what are you talking about?

It’s a great school. Yeah. I’m not going back. It’s I I’m figured out what life is like outside that I’m not going back. No disrespect to the NRE community. I’m sure it’s wonderful. And she said a lot of her friends loved it there. She just didn’t. And she was like, it’s not for her. So for me, when, when I found that this whole going back to when I broke through my fear of hiring somebody that I didn’t, that’s not sitting next to me, that I can’t collaborate with shake hands with them and all those things that I felt.

Were were super important. And I still love meeting these people and I met most of them. I, I really enjoy flying around and meeting people, but, um, but, uh, you know, that, that was one of the things is I’m going, no, no, no, no. I’m not going back to that. Never. It’s not a relationship that I think is healthy. I think freedom in a relationship is, is much healthy and that’s why I like free.

And another thing that I find is that when someone’s a freelancer, they are, they’re building their own business. They’re, you know how they say that no one will ever work as hard for you and your business as you do. Well, uh, this kind of breaks that because now all of a sudden you both have a business and you’re both interested in growing that business.

That’s right. So they will work as hard as you work because it’s their business, right?

Well, well put, yeah,

Tim Melanson: right on. So now, uh, how do you handle now? I’m curious. So now from a, uh, freelancer position, I, I get it now from someone who’s hiring a freelancer and this freelancer decides they want to raise the rate or they’re, you know, whatever it is, like, how do you handle that?

Do you,

Michael Brooks: what do you do with honesty? And you let them know. Yeah, I go, okay, well, let me take a look at what the position is worth and let me go look elsewhere and, and let’s just, you know, make sure I’m not gonna cut you off or get angry and just say no and try and hurt you. But. Don’t do that to me either.

Let’s be kind to each other and, and, you know, I genuinely think that asking for kindness is just a, just a nice way to go. And you just go, look, let me take a look. And sometimes I go back and I go, you know what? You’re right. I looked, I found some other people and I did the math and yeah. Yeah, you’re right.

You’re you’re you, a position with us has, has grown and, you know, Mo most of the time, um, I don’t run into that because we do preemptively offer rate increases and you know, it’s it’s it’s um, yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s core to culture too, recognizing when someone’s elevated and then going, okay. Let’s let’s look at, are we underpaying people?

Right. And then I, I found there was a, a, a big sickness in the whole, Hey, I can hire somebody. From a really impoverished comp country and just pay ’em nothing and they’ll do whatever I want because they need money. And it’s like that, that was a, a common discussion. That was a common theme I heard from people and I found it to be very sick and, uh, like not at, and then the results were never there.

Sure. Somebody will show up and they’ll bill and they’ll do the work and they’ll take the abuse and it’s like, okay. But at the end of the day, They’re, they’re not, they’re not looking out for your best interests. Um, however you take that same. Job that same necessity. You put a little bit more time and work connecting with the right person, creating an environment of culture, uh, like a good cultural environment, um, and paying them a little bit more like still getting a really good value and not just taking advantage of the, the, the fact that they’ll, they’ll do it for the lower amount and going look, uh, you know, this is, this is your value.

We’re we’re, we’re happy. We’re getting a good deal. Um, the going rate is this, but we’re gonna pay a little bit more because, uh, you know, we, we, we think you, we think you deserve a little more. We just had someone that was a very, very low cost. And we, she, she went through all these tests and we did all these tests on her.

And I looked at this said, man, let me tell you something. I’ve taken some of these tests, cognitive tests, critical thinking tests. I’m gonna give you a secret tip. Don’t tell anybody I wouldn’t hire myself. These things are hard. , they’re very hard. They’re not easy. And so, uh, we ended up hiring this gal and a lot based on her test and her, her, her, her critical thinking capabilities and outperformed all our expecta expectation.

We gave her a 60% race, cuz we, we knew that, Hey, if we don’t. We’re taking a risk of losing somebody who’s great. Or at least not really showing, like it’s not good culture. So just cuz you can pay somebody. I don’t even wanna say just pay ’em because you can take advantage of somebody’s weak situation doesn’t mean you should and long term it’s not profitable.

It’s about the people you work with. They’re they’re into your. So you really want to take that in and, and, and, and, and make a relationship there. They feel like they’re gonna be treated with trust and respect and dignity. And you want the same.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Well, I’ve noticed something. So, you know, I interview mostly freelancers on this show and.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that most people who get into freelancing from my perspective and from my experience, get into it for a level of freedom and a level of, uh, lifestyle. And so yes, they need to be making enough money to live. And you, you mentioned a few things. I mean, you go find out what the going rate is, make sure you’re paying them appropriately, but as long as you’re creating a culture and a place where they want to come to work and where they’re excited about.

I don’t think you really have to worry about them taking off for more money. Cuz that’s not what they’re, what, what they’re doing this for. Right,

Michael Brooks: right, right. Uh, I, I mean people, I mean even if there is more money available to ’em, that’s not always the only factor, you know, that creating culture in a decentralized team is it it’s the unknown universe and it’s starting to get known and it.

Uh, beautiful. It’s it’s it’s uncharted territory and you, you run into some, some, some, you know, rough roads and there some, no roads, and, and you’ve gotta like, kind of carve your own path, but it’s, it leads to a very lush garden. Sure does.

Tim Melanson: So I’m excited to hear about more about what’s going on in your business right now.

So it’s time for your guest solo. Tell me what’s exciting right now.

Michael Brooks: Um, so we’re, we’re a Lance marketplace. We connect clients to freelancers globally. Uh, we integrated, uh, we integrated virtual cards within our platform. We’re focused on getting people paid quicker, uh, and at a lower cost, we think cost is core to culture and.

And deploying more of these cultural things that we’re talking about. Uh, we are working with jar and his company, which is really exciting to deploy, um, different feedback, like cultural feedback, uh, feedback processes. I mean, you can, you can look at some of the, the comp the companies out there that are good, that are good to great, that have done leaps and bounds.

The ones that focus on culture. So we focus heavily on culture, uh, for us, for our team, we’re taking what we’re learning and we’re pushing that out to our community, our com our community of clients and freelancers and helping them create a, a distributed team or remote or decentralized workforce culture.

That, that, that really is changing the game.

Tim Melanson: Right on, tell me what would be the. How would you describe the best personality that’s gonna be, have the most success, you know, in, in your.

Michael Brooks: So that’s that’s. I mean, um, I don’t like to say this, but I just, I don’t think that question I is, is I don’t think, uh, I don’t think I can answer that question effectively because there’s a different personality for every different thing that we need to do.

You know, I, I once partnered with a guy and. I mean, this was an operations genius, and I’m kind of talking about some of the stuff I’m doing and, you know, Hey, you should be able to do this. You should be able to do that. This is good. And he is like, look, the world doesn’t need two, Michael Brooks’s you do what you do.

I’ll do what I do. And he and I have totally different. Um, personalities, but we made great partners. So I, I say, come as you are, come, come, come as you are. And, and find a place for yourself in this world based upon who you are and what, and, and, but always, always be improving. Always be presenting show up strong, put your best face on your profile, add as much stuff as possible.

Um, do videos, those videos, you can’t lose with those videos. You know, people, people don’t wanna read resumes anymore. If you have a video of, if somebody’s a customer service agent, you should have a video of yourself talking about customer service. Somebody who’s a software developer. You can have a video explaining software development where it may not be your face, but you are, you are instructing and showing what you’re doing.

So something that demonstrates something visual, it’s a great way to consume data, to consume information about somebody it’s a powerful tool. You should be using it now, right on,

right on. So now do you help people find, you know, what it is that they’d be good at? Or do they already have to know that before they get to.

We, we try. So most people have a certain understanding of their skill set. So we do skills test, but we are adding constantly as part of our cultural program, uh, different personality tests and things of that sort. And, and trying to use that to identify what people would be best for what positions, cuz people may be undervaluing themselves or going down a career path that may not make the most sense for them.

So any light we can shed on that, we’re happy to. um, and that’s, you know, quarter culture. Okay.

Tim Melanson: Uh, and, and the reason why I ask that both those questions is because that’s the most common questions I get asked is I don’t know. You know, I, I, I, I know I’m not happy at my company. , you know, doing whatever it is I’m doing in my cubicle, but I don’t know what I could do.

And, you know, there’s so many things you can do, that, uh, you know, from what I’m hearing from you, like, it’s just a matter of really digging into your path, digging into your skills and figuring out what kind of match you can, you can create.

Michael Brooks: Right. Well, yeah. And what if you had, I, and it doesn’t mean you have to stick to this idea, but what if you had one thing that you were gonna do for the rest of your working life start backwards and work from there?

Figure out where you want to be. I go, okay. For me was 75, 76 years old. This is where I want to stop. Pushing the, the pedal to the metal. This is where I wanna go. And this is my Keith Richards days. This is where rock are, right. This is where I get to wind down and stop raging, like I used to. Um, and I don’t know if that’s gonna come to effect anything can happen.

Life happens. Uh, I, don’t not a mind reader. I know that anything’s possible, but if I’m focused on one thing and, and mastering it, what would you be excited master? What would you be excited working on? What would you, what would you still be interested in 40 years from now? Um, and if that’s marketing. Okay.

Let’s learn that. Let’s get in that if it’s software development. I mean, I don’t know how to develop software. I don’t know how to code. Right. I’m sure I could figure it out, but I might, you know, strangle myself. I don’t think I’d be happy doing it. I like this. I like being on the phone. I like talking with Tim.

I like having these conversations and engaging and hiring and, and that type of thing. And so that’s kind of led my career path with what I truly enjoy.

Tim Melanson: Love it. So how do we find out more about this? Where do we go?

Michael Brooks: Go to go, Lance, make a profile, come work with us, give us a shot. You know, we’re trying to get you work, uh, or we’re try to find the right person for you.

Love it. That’s it. That’s it. That’s our whole offering. We just wanna help. We wanna help foster quality, amazing relationships that create amazing results. Baked in value. Wow. Well, that sounds good to me, Michael .

Tim Melanson: Thank you. So, uh, thank you so much for rocking out with me today. This has been a lot of.

Michael Brooks: All right, Tim, you are a rockstar.

You are the work at home rockstar. I’ve enjoyed this immensely and I’m gonna go, uh, for on Metallica. Thank you. Perfect.

Tim Melanson: so the listeners make sure you subscribe right and comment, and we’ll see you next time with the work at home rockstar podcast.