Entrepreneurial Strategy: How Forrest Derr Helps Businesses Thrive

Welcome to Founders' Future, a podcast powered by Closers.io, where we dive into the journeys of innovative entrepreneurs, explore the road ahead for them and their company. I'm your host, Jay and Kronasio, and in each episode, we uncover the stories behind impactful ventures, the challenges faced along the way, and the strategies driving their future growth. Today we're thrilled to have Forest Dirk, the founder of Dirk Consulting. Forest brings a rich background, his business management education, leadership roles and telecommunications and technology, and now as a business consultant specializing in the entrepreneurial operating system or EOS and fractional COO service. He's helped numerous small to mid-size businesses streamline operations and scale effectively, and he's here to share how he's transforming the consulting landscape through Dirk Consulting. We'll explore his founding story, how his business empowers clients across industries like tech and retail, and his vision for scaling this mission driven. So let's dive right in. Forest, welcome to Founders. Appreciate it, Jay. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Appreciate having you on. So we'd love to just start at the very top for our listeners here for us. Take us back to the beginning, right? What specific problem in the business operations or growth landscape, maybe around inefficiencies or leadership challenges for small businesses really inspired you to start Dirk Consulting. Yeah, so I started out working in a couple different companies as an integrator or COO. So I work for a telecom company for eight and a half years and then work for a landscaping company that also incorporated some other businesses. So there were some smaller businesses that the visionary owned at jujitsu gym across fit gym, a software company. So I had the experience of working in multiple industries and one of the things I keep seeing over and over again and all those industries is the issue with that. COO type role that COO type mentality. There's so many businesses out there that need the expertise of a cheap operating officer, but cannot afford one. They don't have the bandwidth to be able to afford one full time. So that's what inspired me to go ahead and start Dirk Consulting back in January of this year and start servicing that under you know, utilize client base. Amazing. So so obviously you just just kind of spun up Dirk Consulting. So how has it evolved thus far from what you're providing and who you providing that for what's changed since you started or is obviously it's in its infancy here. So is it still kind of rolling? Yeah, yeah, it's still in its infancy, but I tell people that I've been doing this for several years. So I've been working with clients a lot of coffee shop and lunch payments for talking to different businesses and helping them through struggles over the last two or three years. And that's that's really what inspired me to get going, but I decided back in December that I was going to leave my full time job and go ahead and start this business. And it was amazing. I mean within 10 days I had three clients that sign contracts where I work with them one day a week and that's pretty much full for me is to have a one day a week engagement for three different clients and then I have some clients that I work with monthly. But the clients are all over the map, you know, one's a construction company, one's an electrician company, one's a telecom company, they're all over the gamut, but the problems are all the same. It's people process and structure. That's what it ends up being so awesome. So I mean, on this on that front, since you're just getting an obviously have a ton of experience and that's why you decided to create Dirk Consulting, but what is a misconception that people have about the business consulting industry, especially around its value of EOS or scalability for small businesses, what's something there that you can address for the list? I talked to a group yesterday of about 60 business leaders in the market, helping them understand what fractional leadership is. And I think that's probably the biggest misconception. This fractional movement has been going on for a number of years and it's just now starting to take root where people understand what it is. There's fractional cheap marketing officers, fractional cheap operating, CFOs, CMOs. There's all these different fractional roles. I'm just one of many, but the market is starting to realize that these smaller businesses, these, you know, two to 20 million dollar businesses that can afford a COO full time. Hey, you can pick one up for actually work one day a week and that fractional executive can get significantly more movement within the company than hiring somebody out of college that doesn't have any experience or hiring somebody that's only got a couple of years experience. So tapping into that experience is what most people realize. Absolutely. So on that same front, would love to kind of tap into the nuts and bolts up of what you'd with dirt, right, especially being that you're really starting to pick things up now. What is the core offer there and how is it structured for your clients from when they come to see what can they expect to hear from what you can offer? Yeah, it's really an evaluation of their business. So the three industries, the three businesses that I talked about, they're all facing different problems around the same types of issues. And so the first part is just a business analysis. So the first day is really just analyze the business. I spend the whole day asking questions and it's very interesting. The response I tell people I don't have the answers. I have the questions and I help them got with your guy to discovery to find the answers that they need. So that first usually first two days that I've experienced with these is really just helping understand what the business problems are identifying those gaps. And then we create a strategy to meet those gaps over a 12 month period. And then and then on that point, you're offering the fractional CEO. And are you doing coaching for businesses as well? Is it really just that fractional? It's fractional COO and then I've got a couple of businesses that I'm actually doing coaching where I'll meet with them once a month and just help them think through strategy. And we talked about EOS a little bit EOS is really a good framework to work within. I'm not a EOS implementer. I'm at what's called an EOS integrator and there is some confusion in the marketplace sometimes with that because they both start with an eye and sound similar. But an implementer works outside the business to help accompany guide through that journey of implementing EOS. I'm an integrator. So I'm inside the business working inside that business on a weekly basis. So several of my clients have an implementer who meets with them once a quarter. And then I meet with them weekly to help them implement and push EOS throughout the organization. Amazing and I'm a definitely a big big believer in EOS. There you go. Great book. Yeah. A great book for sure. I mean, it's crucial to to be able to add. I mean EOS is is is massive when it comes to really structuring business and following and having your rocks and being able to just do things efficiently. Definitely a big believer. So always happy to have owners on here and founders on here that you do it as well. So on that same front for us talk to us about what's working really good right now for acquisition. Right. How are you acquiring customers right now? It's it's a network. So one of the things that started three years ago was a group called entrepreneurial entrepreneurial networking resource group. Energy ENRG started that three years ago and just got EOS like minded people together and that has grown. We've got two chapters in South Alabama, one in California, one in Tennessee, one in Ohio. And it's just continuing to spread but building that network of like minded people who are fans of EOS all but one of my clients came out of those groups. Where I meet with them once a month, working through complex problems in their businesses in a group oriented environment and the companies realize the value and having someone that understands the business side and understands multiple industries to come in there and help them with those problems. So that's really I have done no paid advertising. I mean, I've obviously got a LinkedIn profile, but that's that's the only way I've gotten business. Interesting. Very interesting. So obviously from from the sales process standpoint, is it just you right now running the show? You don't have anyone else sales team. I got a I got a virtual assistant that works for me about 10 hours a week helped me manage my calendar and do some LinkedIn posting and management for me, but I do not have any sales force. It's all word amount. Wow. So really just just really doing everything you can to get this thing up and going, you know, that's incredible. And obviously you're doing great already. So it's clear as day that you're going to be able to continue to to move that path. So I mean, if you had an opportunity to identify something that would make the biggest impact on your growth right now, what? Yeah, I think my biggest challenge is trying to figure out how to replicate myself, not the right word, but expand myself and how I can reach more people. Because I'm not selling time. I'm selling days right now, but I'm literally booked up through May right now. And so I do not have any openings until June would be the first openings that I have for potential clients. And so that's that's the biggest challenge for me is how do I replicate myself? Do I go higher a experienced integrator and bring them into the fold and go all in and start a firm that outsources more than one person. That that's kind of where my head is trying to decide if that's the right path or do I do some type of online group coaching where I can expand my reach without having to do one on one coaching. So that's where I'm struggling right now trying to figure out the best path. So it sounds like you're not having an issue with lead generation at all booked up at that point. So really just trying to consider if you got a restructure kind of the offer and adding that group coaching element really being right in front of more people to impact more. So that definitely makes sense there. So I mean, on that on that front for us, talk to us a little bit about what your top priorities are for the next six to 12 months when it comes to growing or consulting. Yeah, the next six to 12 months is to solve that problem as far as you know, do I hire and contract more integrator coaching to work under that umbrella and work with them to build their businesses out as a subcontractor or do I take some time and build out some of these energy chapters that I'm working with. So there's another potential play to monetize and get those energy chapters to get more depth in the education that they're doing to help more people and expand that. So those are kind of my two paths that I've been thinking about. Beautiful. So with that, you know, hypothetically speaking, if we had a journey snapped our fingers and we're going to provide you with unlimited risk now, what would you implement? I would implement bringing on more clients. I mean, that's my issue right now is I need more capacity to be able to handle the clients. I do not have a prospecting problem or a sales problem at this point, I have a problem with capacity. I had more capacity than I would absolutely productize what I'm doing better and system ties it better so that it could be replicated and get out and get in front of more people. So on that same page that right for I would love to know and I know our listeners would love to hear of what's your take on the business consulting industry as a whole and it's evolution in the coming years. It's on EOS and the tech. How are you positioning yourself for that? Yeah, just positioning myself to continue to add value, not focus on hours, but focus on the value that that I can bring and other fractional executives can bring. Because again, there's so many companies, especially smaller companies and companies that you know been around 15, 20 years that maybe, you know, three million, four million. They're so focused on time value instead of on the actual value in ROI. And I think of it, you know, from the story of the engineer, they're the electrician that goes and works on somebody's house and it's not how long it turned it took him to turn the screw. It's knowing which screw to turn right. And so that's where that consultancy needs to focus. It's time everybody needs to be focused on not how many hours were working. But what is the value that we're providing? What's the ROI that providing? And I think people are starting to to accept that and realize that it's not about the hours. It's about the impact. Absolutely. So I mean, with that being said, I mean, I have so many different types of founders and entrepreneurs and owners on the show. And I love touching on this because it really kind of puts things into perspective for. So the question is, is so many of the founders that I speak to face a moment where they almost gave up, right? It started, but you have a big background, a deep background and why you're so good at what you're doing. So talk to us about a time that your back was up against the wall. You felt like you were almost going to give up, but you pushed through it. How did you push through that moment? Yeah, it's hard for me to say because I've only been doing it for a short period of time. But when I decided to leave the full time position back in December, I took a week off to just think through what I wanted to do. And I did toy with the idea of just getting another full time job because frankly, three years ago, this was my plan, my five year plan, my personal five year VTO, so to speak, was to build a consultancy. So I wasn't quite ready to do that back in December, or at least according to my plans, but I did explore the opportunity of taking on a full time job and talk to a couple of recruiters. And when they started having me fill all these forms out trying to get a job, I was like, I'm not going to do this. This is crazy. Why am I doing this? And so took that week thought about it, sent out a couple LinkedIn messages and then just push through. And like I said, picked up clients very quickly and had a lot of affirmation from people saying, yeah, this is, this is where you're supposed to be. I absolutely love that it's clear as day, you know, what you're, what you're able to communicate with and how successful you are already, it's, you know, you're just can continue to do great things in the space and super grateful to have you on and talk through that with you and have our listeners, get some insight on to what you're doing there. So we'll love to go into a bit of a closing lightning wrap or so I want to know, obviously, again, just kind of getting started, but what's a tool or resource that you're using, maybe it's a strategy from from your past job or a technique that you're using with the OS, but what's been a game for order? Yeah, absolutely. Game changer has been the 90.io software. So I don't know if you're familiar with 90, but that software is an absolute game changer. People just, they think they can think about their business and run their business without having a centralized plan and having that centralized plan and having that centralized location for all your accountability chart between the VTO and the accountability chart, every company I work in, I require them to run on 90. Even if they aren't running on the US, they've got to run on 90 because that's the only way I can manage what's going on in that business to know what that two page business plan is because every client I ask first question, do you have a business plan? Yes, second question, where's your business plan? It's in a drawer back here. What was the last time you looked at it? I don't know three or four years ago. All right, that's got to end today. So let's figure out what that business plan looks like. So hands down, the 90 software allows me to be able to get all that in one place and going through that exercise. People, their eyes open up when they realize this is where it's at. Very cool. So it's 90.io 90.io. Yep. I will have to definitely get that checked out. I know our listeners will be looking into that as well. So appreciate you sharing that with us. So yeah, with that, what is the piece of advice that you've personally received for us that really just kind of sparked something in your mind and it's just the best piece of advice for scaling a business like I think the best piece of advice is go before you're ready. There's a lot of and I struggled with this for a long time. I ended up hiring an executive coach that work with me to help me think through some things, which that's another thing I would recommend is hiring an executive coach because Tiger Woods. It doesn't matter who you think about from a professional athlete, they hire coaches executive should hire coach. But go before you're ready has been a mantra that's helped me think through things because so many times we have and I've experienced this paralysis by analysis. I want to get it perfect. I want to get it right. I want to have a playbook. I want to have all the tools I need. I want to have everything lined up. I want to have a plan that deals with all the contingencies. But you got to just go before you're ready, especially if you're going to launch a consulting business, you know, I didn't have all the things that I needed to get started. I didn't have a checking account. I didn't have an LLC agreement. I didn't have any of that. I mean, I started billing clients before all that was ready to go, but you just got to go before you're ready. Absolutely love it. And then just around us out here for us, what is a piece that you can give to our listeners right now, whether founders and entrepreneurs or just getting started out in the space like yourself and want to see success like you have. Build your network. I cannot emphasize that enough. I had a mentor share with me concept called net weaving and networking is not the same as net weaving and net weaving is introducing others to each other. Without looking for something in return, and that's something I've been doing for the last five, six years is I'll come across somebody and then the first thing I'm thinking about is who can I introduce them to that would make a good relationship between both of them, even though I wouldn't get anything out of it. And if you will net weave, you will grow your network a lot faster than networking. Well, with that there, that does wrap up another inspiring episode here of founder, you just want to thank you again for us for sharing this remarkable journey so far in your insights. I know you just getting going, but it really does sound like you're going to do some incredible things in the space. I'll be keeping up with you. I know where we got each other on LinkedIn there. So I'm excited. Are you go to our listeners, if you did enjoy this episode, don't forget to subscribe to founder's future, wherever you listen, your favorite podcasts, you can also find more resources and insights at closers.io where we're dedicated to helping businesses accelerate their growth through train deployment centers and world class marketing until then keep climbing and we'll see you on the next.