Small Business Stories - Circle of Champions Video

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Small Business Stories - Circle of Champions

Alex Fees: I’m Alex Fees on SBTV.com. We are coming to you from Denver, Colorado from a small business guru, Michael Gerber conference. The title of the conference is Exploring the E Myth and with me here now is Bob Yates. Bob Yates is another entrepreneur. His company is Circle of Champions out of Bowie, Maryland. Now Bob before we get to you here, I want to talk about a couple of quotes from Michael Gerber from this morning session. Gerber I should say Michael Gerber, among other things says, “We are not here for improvement as Walt Disney put up. We are here to pursue the impossible,” and Gerber also says, “Getting organized is an engineers fixation.” He says, “It is “stupid” in the world of the entrepreneur.” Bob Yates has that been your experience? Bob Yates: To be stupid to get organize. Alex Fees: Well apparently Gerber is trying to make the point that people spend too much time focusing on the notion of getting organized. Bob Yates: Yeah, I know I believe that for the most part. I’m a visionary and I don’t believe this balance and real organization when you’re trying to change the world. You’re going to have some chaos but the most important thing is to stay true to your mission, and so I think organization has its place enough of course its important but I think what’s most important is to know where you going and you map out a plan to get there and deal with the chaos on the way. Alex Fees: All right Circle of Champions is in Bowie, Maryland. What is your company? Bob Yates: Circle of Champions is a personal development entrepreneurship empire. We are—I started out in business very young, 11 years old and one of the things that I noticed as I was growing as an entrepreneur is that I did not have a support base. Most people that I knew had 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. I’ve never had a job in my life. I’ve never worked in Corporate America. I’ve had the privileged of starting early and getting into the business and I built five companies. I have nothing but a high school education and no college. What I did notice is that not having a support base may look at what could I do to make it easier for other entrepreneurs. So we formed Circle of Champions and we trained people to make the transition from employee to entrepreneurs. Recent survey show that 86% of people go to work either feeling unfulfilled, underpaid or under appreciated. So we know people to make the transition because many people will never be happy in that cubicle. So instead of just going to seminars, which what I did, and then leave in those seminars and being left to work it out on my own, I started a network for entrepreneurs. So that when they go to seminars, they can also have a support base where they can come and network with other entrepreneurs. So that’s what Circle of Champions is, it’s a seminar training company with the support base, a network built into it. Alex Fees: Okay when you say support base, so you’re not talking about administrative support? Bob Yates: No I’m talking about support of being able to be around other entrepreneurs that have all ready navigated the journey and that can help younger entrepreneurs be able to know—it’s no surprise when you have that rollercoaster. It’s no surprise when you have mumps of famine when you’re starting your business. So a season entrepreneur can get together with the younger entrepreneur and help them to navigate the path. Alex Fees: So Bob would characterize it as mentoring? Bob Yates: It’s mentoring. It is mentoring and it is cross-pollinating. Alex Fees: Who were your agents in Circle of Champions, who are your employees? I mean who are the people you’re talking about who mentor other business people? Bob Yates: They are called coaches. In the organization we basically have coaches in seven different areas. I’ll just mention a few. They’re the wealth coaches. There are dream coaches. There are personal development coaches. There are health coaches, because Circle of Champions is not just personal development but its entrepreneurship, it’s financial freedom, it’s the development of the whole person. So these, I characterized these people if I’m hearing you correctly as coaches. These are who my agents are. They are coaches who had been through my programs and now they understand the business owners and they understand the way of entrepreneurship. Alex Fees: Most people who become entrepreneurs, they come from Corporate America. They work for a major corporation. They get set up and then decide to pursue their dream. You bypass that whole step. Bob Yates: I feel blessed and fortunate because something that was set today is kind of what I have lived by. I don’t know what I’m doing and you know, I haven’t been to school for what I’m doing and so when Michael Gerber says today that you don’t have to know the way. I can understand that I never known—and the great thing about it is that I’m on a mission to change the world. I don’t have to know how I’m going to do that. What I have decided is that that’s my mission, to come here to this planet, make a difference here, change millions of lives and so I think that’s really probably the most liberating thought for many people that I know who are here and for the people that I teach in the organization, is that you don’t have to know but if you have enough passion and you really love what it is you’re doing, then the answers will come. Alex Fees: And Bob Yates where can people get more information about Circle of Champions? Bob Yates: We have two websites and let me tell you about why we have two. Number one is, Circle of Champions www.circleofchampions.com. That’s our main site and you can go there and see the upcoming events. You could come to those events and learn about how to get involved with our network. The other website we recently formed was called the Women in Business Network of America and that’s to help women entrepreneurs in particular to help them to launch, grow and build successful businesses but also to be build the entrepreneur and I think that’s one of the things I like so much about Michael Gerber, is that he’s not focused on how to fix the problem in the business, he is focused on how to fix the entrepreneur. Alex Fees: He’s focused on the big picture. Bob Yates: That’s right. Alex Fees: All right Bob Yates for the Circle of Champions. I’m Alex Fees of SBTV.com. Small business is our only business.

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Alex Fees: I’m Alex Fees on SBTV.com. We are coming to you from Denver, Colorado from a small business guru, Michael Gerber conference. The title of the conference is Exploring the E Myth and with me here now is Bob Yates. Bob Yates is another entrepreneur. His company is Circle of Champions out of Bowie, Maryland.

Now Bob before we get to you here, I want to talk about a couple of quotes from Michael Gerber from this morning session. Gerber I should say Michael Gerber, among other things says, “We are not here for improvement as Walt Disney put up. We are here to pursue the impossible,” and Gerber also says, “Getting organized is an engineers fixation.” He says, “It is “stupid” in the world of the entrepreneur.” Bob Yates has that been your experience?

Bob Yates: To be stupid to get organize.

Alex Fees: Well apparently Gerber is trying to make the point that people spend too much time focusing on the notion of getting organized.

Bob Yates: Yeah, I know I believe that for the most part. I’m a visionary and I don’t believe this balance and real organization when you’re trying to change the world. You’re going to have some chaos but the most important thing is to stay true to your mission, and so I think organization has its place enough of course its important but I think what’s most important is to know where you going and you map out a plan to get there and deal with the chaos on the way.

Alex Fees: All right Circle of Champions is in Bowie, Maryland. What is your company?

Bob Yates: Circle of Champions is a personal development entrepreneurship empire. We are—I started out in business very young, 11 years old and one of the things that I noticed as I was growing as an entrepreneur is that I did not have a support base. Most people that I knew had 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. I’ve never had a job in my life. I’ve never worked in Corporate America. I’ve had the privileged of starting early and getting into the business and I built five companies. I have nothing but a high school education and no college. What I did notice is that not having a support base may look at what could I do to make it easier for other entrepreneurs.

So we formed Circle of Champions and we trained people to make the transition from employee to entrepreneurs. Recent survey show that 86% of people go to work either feeling unfulfilled, underpaid or under appreciated. So we know people to make the transition because many people will never be happy in that cubicle.

So instead of just going to seminars, which what I did, and then leave in those seminars and being left to work it out on my own, I started a network for entrepreneurs. So that when they go to seminars, they can also have a support base where they can come and network with other entrepreneurs. So that’s what Circle of Champions is, it’s a seminar training company with the support base, a network built into it.

Alex Fees: Okay when you say support base, so you’re not talking about administrative support?

Bob Yates: No I’m talking about support of being able to be around other entrepreneurs that have all ready navigated the journey and that can help younger entrepreneurs be able to know—it’s no surprise when you have that rollercoaster. It’s no surprise when you have mumps of famine when you’re starting your business. So a season entrepreneur can get together with the younger entrepreneur and help them to navigate the path.

Alex Fees: So Bob would characterize it as mentoring?

Bob Yates: It’s mentoring. It is mentoring and it is cross-pollinating.

Alex Fees: Who were your agents in Circle of Champions, who are your employees? I mean who are the people you’re talking about who mentor other business people?

Bob Yates: They are called coaches. In the organization we basically have coaches in seven different areas. I’ll just mention a few. They’re the wealth coaches. There are dream coaches. There are personal development coaches. There are health coaches, because Circle of Champions is not just personal development but its entrepreneurship, it’s financial freedom, it’s the development of the whole person. So these, I characterized these people if I’m hearing you correctly as coaches. These are who my agents are. They are coaches who had been through my programs and now they understand the business owners and they understand the way of entrepreneurship.

Alex Fees: Most people who become entrepreneurs, they come from Corporate America. They work for a major corporation. They get set up and then decide to pursue their dream. You bypass that whole step.

Bob Yates: I feel blessed and fortunate because something that was set today is kind of what I have lived by. I don’t know what I’m doing and you know, I haven’t been to school for what I’m doing and so when Michael Gerber says today that you don’t have to know the way. I can understand that I never known—and the great thing about it is that I’m on a mission to change the world. I don’t have to know how I’m going to do that. What I have decided is that that’s my mission, to come here to this planet, make a difference here, change millions of lives and so I think that’s really probably the most liberating thought for many people that I know who are here and for the people that I teach in the organization, is that you don’t have to know but if you have enough passion and you really love what it is you’re doing, then the answers will come.

Alex Fees: And Bob Yates where can people get more information about Circle of Champions?

Bob Yates: We have two websites and let me tell you about why we have two. Number one is, Circle of Champions www.circleofchampions.com. That’s our main site and you can go there and see the upcoming events. You could come to those events and learn about how to get involved with our network. The other website we recently formed was called the Women in Business Network of America and that’s to help women entrepreneurs in particular to help them to launch, grow and build successful businesses but also to be build the entrepreneur and I think that’s one of the things I like so much about Michael Gerber, is that he’s not focused on how to fix the problem in the business, he is focused on how to fix the entrepreneur.

Alex Fees: He’s focused on the big picture.

Bob Yates: That’s right.

Alex Fees: All right Bob Yates for the Circle of Champions. I’m Alex Fees of SBTV.com. Small business is our only business.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services