Enterprise Building Challenge Stories

Admittedly taking that sentiment literally, Thornton became obsessed with word clarity. To pass the time, he would manipulate word combinations just to see how many different ways he could say the same thing. To be sure, there were times when the words would fail him, like when he forgot his lines as a 9 year old in an Easter play.

Humiliation aside, Thornton stood by his love of what the right words could do. To help calm his fears, his mother put him in front of audiences so he could get comfortable with how important it was to communicate.

Today, 25 years down the road, as a speech coach and speech writer who works with professionals from myriad industries, he helps craft the presentations that deliver their messages—thoughts and words that carry the meanings they need to make an impact. 

Give us a snapshot of how your business started.

"The path where I am now started when I joined the National Speakers Association, specifically the Georgia chapter, around 2008. There is where I found my people—ones who were idea enthusiasts and content experts. The most beautiful part about it was that they had found ways to monetize their ideas, whether that was delivering presentations, writing books or offering coaching. That last part was new to me.

"I immediately felt like I was in the right place for me. As it turned out, these were the people who would become coaches and mentors to me, ultimately teaching me the business. Most notable was a relationship I forged with a person who ran a law practice but did not love practicing law.

"He ended up creating a communications company where he traveled around the country working with some of America's biggest corporations writing speeches for corporate executives training them to speak. I had an opportunity to learn from him.

"In the process, I was able to hone my skills in writing, speaking and coaching. The exposure was not only invaluable, but gave me something I could aspire to. It was hugely transformational in terms of my career path.

"I competed in a speaking competition hosted by the National Speakers Association in 2014. The competition, called “Speak Tank,” was based on the popular show “Shark Tank.” The concept was essentially the same as you might imagine. There were four contestants, including myself. We had 10 minutes to speak on stage, and then we were hit with a barrage of questions from the Sharks, who were well established people in the speaking industry.

"In terms of the prizes, etc., it was truly something. One of the prizes was that the speakers were offered mentoring and coaching opportunities.

"I won in 2014. I won the opportunity to attend a consulting college hosted by Alan Weiss, one of the country's foremost consultants. Over time, we developed a relationship. I tried to devour everything about his work over the years—a lot of which I still incorporate in my business today.  

"Another challenge I faced in my business was to what extent I would engage in social media.

My colleagues, as well as conventional wisdom at the time, suggested that social media was something I needed to be doing.

"The issue for me was that I'm just not a social media person. My gut was that it just didn't feel right, so I wanted to follow my instincts. That was a challenge. I preferred a more referral-type business. I know that this process of building a business can take time to build, so I really had to give all of it considerable thought.

"The first thing was to find if there was a middle ground. Was there a blueprint or strategy that I could use to solve this problem? I did what I always do in that I tried to find different perspectives.

"With social media, you are operating in a cluttered, messy field—one that can be very overwhelming. It was not something I necessarily wanted to deal with. That was the known—or spoken—part of it.

"Next was the known—unspoken—part. A lot of my colleagues who were trying to help me suggested that I absolutely needed to be on every social media platform in order to be successful. All of this is impacted by energy and my spirit. Instinctively, I felt like it was something I should fully engage in. That became abundantly clear to me.

"I ultimately took the slower route—to build my business through referrals. It was a more solid approach, at least from my perspective.

Why do business leaders struggle when dealing with problems or challenges?

"I think it is largely because their thoughts are not organized or that they don't have a process for approaching their problems. And if you don't have a repeatable process, or a way you routinely process your thoughts or challenges, things can get confusing. It may cause you to be impulsive.

"You have to have a healthy balance of organized and constructive critical thinking—and a real process for working through the sequences that come with every challenge you face.

"The other thing people do is measure the key results to see what's happening along the way. It's almost like they come up with a solution to a problem, or what they think is a solution to a problem, and then they take action on that solution. But then they never revisit it; they never go back to measure things. How is this playing out or what type of result am I getting? Do I need to change course?

"If you're running a small business, the less people you have to help in those instances, then obviously, the more extenuating those potential circumstances can be. It can ultimately exacerbate the problem and you can find yourself in a vicious loop.

Share a few strategies and tips that worked for you.

"If I'm dealing with the problem, I try my best to identify what all the issues are and if there are other people involved. If so, what are their interests? What is the problem? What is the opportunity? Personally, I try to strive so that everyone's interests are addressed.

"There’s a mutual sense that everyone benefits from the opportunity, so let’s identify the issues and try to understand everyone’s interest or perspective. I make a short list of maybe three to five possible solutions. Then, I spend some time evaluating the particular options. In some instances, I can eliminate things very quickly. In others, there may be overlap, so I can kind of combine one or two of the particular options available to me. Ultimately, I try to choose the best option to help move the needle forward.

"I try not to overwhelm myself. With doing too many things, how can I do something that will move me closer to success? If this is a group issue, then I try my best to document what everyone has agreed upon.

"What is it that I'm committed to doing for myself so I can go back and look at it? And as I mentioned previously, it's all about monitoring and evaluations. You have to see how things are going throughout the course of the process. One of the things I think is important is the barriers. What are they? There are always going to be obstacles to progress, so you have to be clear about what those things are and have a plan to deal with them.

"The last thing is to come up with a time frame. When should things happen? I think that's ultimately something that's important to consider.

Where did you turn for answers, what type of research/due diligence did you conduct?

"I was always taught to respect and listen to my elders—or in the case of my business, my coaches—when I need answers. I believe in coaching. I’m a coach, so I know the benefit of being able to find smart people to talk to when you are trying to figure something out. It is important to listen to their experiences so that you can avoid some of the same mistakes. You can leverage their experiences for your success.  

Is there anything you would do differently if you had to start over?

"I think one of the things I would do differently if I had to start my business over is to track my numbers. What I mean by that is to set monetary goals for myself, and then track how I'm progressing toward those goals.

"I have a pretty intimate relationship with those numbers. In my experience, keeping track of those is motivational from the standpoint of score, not necessarily money. Setting a goal and being able to achieve a score is the athlete side of me. I was an athlete, so I'm motivated by that.

"There's a synchronicity that happens for me, too. If it's close to the end of the month and I'm short of my goal, it seems like something always works out for me to meet a goal. The universe knows it needs to send me a client or some type. I know that may sound a little bit crazy, but I absolutely believe that.

"So once I started tracking my numbers and my business, I felt more comfortable. I was able to focus more because I could look back and see where I was.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about tackling challenges?

"To take action once you reach 80%. I am a person who is very linear, analytical. I'm paralyzed if I'm not careful, and so if I have a situation where I'm facing a challenge, my natural tendency would be to try to look at it from different angles and different perspectives. I want to understand fully before I take action.

"And of course, in business, time is money. Time is our most important resource. I used to have a tendency to waste a lot of time just analyzing a situation—waiting to find the perfect solution or the perfect strategy.

"One of my coaches told me that you're never going to get to the point where you understand things 100%. So once you get to 80%—and that's subjective—once you feel you're at that point, you need to proceed. The other 10% to 20% you can kind of figure out while you're in motion. It gives you time to adjust or correct course.

What’s the core message you would offer others before they tackle their next big challenge?

"I think you have to have some type of process, and no process is perfect, so what you use may not work out exactly every single time. But if you get in a routine of having a process, you sort of build muscle and allow you to synthesize the information in the situations you're dealing with.

"So my process would be identifying and outlining the issues, to understand the interest of other people who may be involved. You need to look at possible solutions and evaluate your options.

"And then you narrow in on those options. What are the best one or two. 

"You also have to set up a timeline for achieving certain goals. Then it's all about basically monitoring and evaluating your process going forward. This works for any particular challenge that they may be facing.

Provide some examples of how the process of decision-making can be broken down in the beginning.

"Toward the beginning of my process, it is about identifying the issues. What is everyone’s interest? I sort of break those things down into things that are needed to know and the things are nice to know. The need to know things are the mission.

"The critical and nice-to-know things are more items on the periphery. I think a lot of times we can trip over things that we need to know versus the things that are nice to know.

"The beginning step for me is trying to identify and understand what is absolutely critical. And then you start listing the possible solutions. What are some of the things that I can potentially do? Having those options and keeping those options in front of me as I go through the process helps. You make that determination.

Is this process best laid to follow your gut or your instincts? How do you make that determination?

"I think that's a classic battle. I'm a thinker, so I think through things, and then my emotion sort of comes to play. Near the end of the process, I ask myself how I really feel about the issue. I know in certain situations people are the opposite. They're either all emotion first or emotion all the way through. But I think instinct does play a role in any problem-solving or decision you have to make.

"Personally, I deal with the issue in my head first. I try to lay out all my options, all my variables. Once I have that stuff straight in my head, I go to my gut or my heart. Ultimately, I ask myself I how feel now?

"Of course, not every situation will allow me to go through this whole process and to have the emotion at the end. But I believe that instinct is huge. You should always listen to your gut because it's an indicator. If nothing else, it's giving you either an up or down about a particular person or situation. I think that is something you should really pay attention to.