Welcome back to The COO Solution Podcast! In this episode, Derek Fredrickson sits down with Rocky Anderson, Founder of ADC Water, to share a candid behind-the-scenes look at how bringing on a fractional COO from The COO Solution transformed his engineering firm from a cash-burning, chaotic operation into a scalable, purpose-driven business.
Rocky opens up about the emotional toll of trying to scale alone, how he discovered the concept of a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)as his trusted second-in-command, and the massive operational and financial shifts that have occurred in just a few short months. From tripling revenue to reclaiming time with family, this conversation is a powerful case study on what’s possible when visionary CEOs get the right support.
In This Episode:
- From Lifestyle to Legacy (01:25): Why Rocky decided to scale—and how that decision almost broke the business.
- Discovering The COO Solution (04:20): How a conversation changed everything and led to a “no-brainer” decision.
- Visionary vs. Operator (08:15): The assessments that revealed Rocky’s true genius—and why stepping back was the key to moving forward.
- Systems, Structure, and Scaling (11:33): How Rocky’s team began hitting every project milestone with less of his involvement.
- The Financial Turnaround (13:22): From $65K to $350K/month and a projected 50% net profit—what changed?
- Scaling with Heart (15:54): Why this growth journey is more than numbers—it’s about serving more people and building deep relationships.
- Hiring & Team Clarity (20:43): The operational map that’s helping Rocky onboard the right people at the right time.
- Personal Wins (24:17): More peace, more presence, and a renewed sense of purpose as a leader and father.
- Advice to Entrepreneurs (31:06): Why every growth-minded business owner should consider fractional COO support—sooner rather than later.
Why This Matters
This episode shows what happens when visionary entrepreneurs stop trying to do it all and start building the support structure their business needs to thrive. Rocky’s story is a blueprint for scaling smarter, not harder, while preserving the heart and mission behind the work.
Action Steps for Listeners:
- What part of your business can’t run without you—and why??
- Explore the difference a fractional COO could make for your growth.
- Map out your visionary role—and start pulling back from the rest.
Resources & Links:
New episodes drop soon—subscribe to The COO Solution Podcast so you don’t miss an episode!
Subscribe & Stay Connected
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/derekfredrickson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoosolution/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoosolution
👉 If you found this episode valuable, share it with a fellow business owner ready to scale smarter!
Transcript:
00:01
Derek Fredrickson
Hey everybody, it’s Derek Fredrickson here from The COO Solution podcast. I’m very excited to be with you today and a fantastic episode with a fantastic guest. We are here with Rocky Anderson from ADC Water out of Mesa, Arizona. And it’s great to have Rocky on the show with us today. Rocky, thank you for being here. It’s great to have you.
00:27
Rocky Anderson
Yeah, yeah, of course.
00:29
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah. So Rocky, we’ve been working with Rocky for, gosh, it’s only been since probably the beginning of the year, about January, December, Is that right? So it’s been, it feels like it’s been a few months, but we’ve had so much progress and momentum. It feels like it’s been a lot longer. So how long has it been that we’ve been together and working?
00:46
Rocky Anderson
Yeah, we had our initial conversations in December and then started working together. I believe it’s first of the year. I think we started on January 10th. If im not mistaken.
00:54
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah, so about.
00:55
Rocky Anderson
So it’s just literally been five.
00:57
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah, five months.
00:57
Rocky Anderson
Barely five months including onboard and everything.
01:00
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah. So in a good five months it’s been. So we’re going to dive into some of that today. But before we get into that, I’d love for you to just tell a little bit to the audience. Like what was it like before you started to work with the COO Solution? What was, what was going on your business before we got started, you know, maybe share a little bit about what was feeling stuck for you, what was feeling kind of frustrating or chaotic? What was your situation before we started to work together in your business?
01:25
Rocky Anderson
Well, we, to go back a little bit. We’d always been kind of like what I call a lifestyle business. Really small team, super profitable, you know, kind of takes projects as they come. No marketing, no networking, just all referral base. Did really well. And then I decided I got to this point where I finding myself really frustrated with how, with kind of how engineering was going in general, the engineering world and how clients were being kind of left behind and not really truly being smaller to mid sized clients not really being served and also contract operations with clients not really being served and just not being managed well. And so I decided I wanted to stop complaining about it and do something about it. So. So I don’t know why I picked the number, but I picked the number.
02:17
Rocky Anderson
We’ve always, you know, for years we’ve done about a million and a half a year in revenues and you know, somewhere in there 1.5, 1.6 and I just decided that, you know what, this. There’s a business model here to easily grow to 100 million a year out of opportunity rather than necessity and allow me an opportunity to see if I could actually, you know, potentially in my own little way, kind of transform both engineering and operations, and even if it’s just in 1% of the market, you know.
02:43
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah.
02:44
Rocky Anderson
So with that decision to grow came. Came a lot of frustration, a lot of cash bleeding and not a lot of progress over two years. And even last year, it was just super frustrating where if I took my eyes off the ball for a moment, if I tried to spend any significant amount of time, anything else, just the production would just fall and we wouldn’t hit our targets. So we just were not operating at our capacity. And it was killing cash flow. It was just absolutely the cash flow. Plus I was hiring down here in Arizona and building out office space down here and all that. So I’m just bleeding cash in both directions. Lack of revenue, which of course equates to lack of profitability and a lot of expenditures going out the door.
03:31
Rocky Anderson
So by the time I got to you, I was, say, exasperated and exhausted by the time I got. And so our conversations. Yeah. Really inspired me about. About moving in this direction with COO.
03:44
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah. And did you know at the time that, I mean, were you looking for a fractional COO? Was that kind of in your scope of. Of possibility? Or was it something that kind of, like, how did it come about? Like, how was it? Like, okay, now I know I’m looking for help. I’m looking for support. I know I can’t do it on my own. I don’t know what. I don’t know. Like, did you go and actively search or was it something that kind of, you know, like, light bulb went off in the middle of the night and said, here’s what I need to do? Or, you know, what was it that you were really looking to solve? Like, what was it that you needed to unlock? And what made you think that, okay, I need to reach out and look for a fractional COO?
04:20
Rocky Anderson
I am in a really amazing mastermind that we get together once a month and we’ll do deep dives on our business and that kind of thing? I had been lamenting the production side of things and the challenges around that, everything for quite some time. And one of the guys actually brought up, excuse me, the idea of a fractional coo, and I didn’t even know what a COO was. I don’t, you know, I’m a high school tribe, but I don’t… happens to run an engineering firm. I don’t, I don’t have a business degree or anything like that. So I’m like, well, what’s a COO? I still didn’t really know what a COO was but I wanted to explore it and see what, what it all looked like.
05:01
Rocky Anderson
Literally started doing Internet searches and at first I kind of dropped it because I, what I started finding was just these, what I felt like were just sort of like big conglomerate it type of. I don’t know, I don’t know why chop shop is coming. In my mind that’s not the right word. You know, just, just a, just a hamster wheel kind of a thing. And I didn’t feel like that was going to get me anywhere. I just had a, I’ve been around enough to know that kind of a format probably was not going to serve me. Whatever COO was, I still didn’t know. And then I happened to come across your site and I was just super intrigued by what I was reading on it, what I was seeing on it.
05:40
Rocky Anderson
And then you and I had our conversation and it was a no brainer for me just in the middle of that very first conversation that we had especially sharing like I’m waiting for the bomb to drop like, oh, this is going to cost you $20,000 a month or something. And when I discovered in the middle of that call, I guess it’s towards the end about the, you know, the really, the massive affordability of it and values, it was just an automatic no brainer for me. And so there was an instant like weight that was lifted off of me as I just out of our conversations and understanding what this could do for my company and for myself and I just, I. January 10th could not come fast enough.
06:22
Rocky Anderson
I remember all those forms over Christmas and doing that huge deep dive of all that information you asked me for over Christmas and I could not, I couldn’t sneak away from my family enough to get it done and get it together because I just wanted to get all this.
06:36
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah, I love that. I mean, I have to say when we spoke in December, you know, I feel like, you know, you were looking for us and in some way were looking for you. And what I mean by that is that I, I feel like there was a connection in terms of, you know, you and I and what you were looking for. And also I was really. I think I mentioned, like, I was really attracted to your excitement and eagerness, not only in the work that you were looking to do within your company and organization, but, like, you were sharing earlier a little bit more, like in the shift on how this industry is modeled and what’s working and what’s not working and what can be your part in order to, you know, have a ripple effect to make some change.
07:10
Derek Fredrickson
And you also had some pretty, you know, and we’ve been talking about it since, some pretty extensive and lofty goals in terms of, like, where you are now and where you want to be, both financially in the next couple of years. You know, your. Your big, hairy, audacious goal, what you wanted for your company, your team, your culture, your community, your family, kind of personally, and what that meant for you as well. So it was great that we kind of started off, and I was. You know, I remember right after the holidays, were. We were both chomping at the bit to get started, and we kind of dove right in.
07:38
Derek Fredrickson
And I have to ask you also, I know that in the beginning, one of the things that we do when we start working with a client, like you said, there’s a pretty extensive questionnaire and assessment that you fill out to understand everything about your business and where you are and where you want to go. And there’s some assessments that you did that helped you, I think, maybe understand a bit more about who you are and how you’re wired and what your strengths were. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Because I know we’ve talked about it since, and I’m assuming that was something that was enlightening as well, in addition to the work that were doing, but just kind of discovering more about yourself, but also, like, the role of Rocky and who Rocky is as the CEO of his.
08:15
Derek Fredrickson
Of his company, and. And, like, how you’re wired and your strengths. So can you talk a little bit about that? I think it’ll be interesting to share.
08:22
Rocky Anderson
Yeah. I was excitedly, but surprisingly shocked at the depth and breadth of information you were asking for. And it was awesome. I mean, it didn’t feel like a chore. It felt really inspiring to do it, do a deep, like, mastermind, which does a lot of this stuff, too. But it was just so probably already sort of conditioned toward it to begin with. Plus, I was desperate and. But it really was refreshing to dig into all of that and get some clarity. And then the multiple assessments and. And just the. The level of detail of your question really helped me to see that I am not an operational guy. I’m a visionary. I’m a 50,000, I might even be a hundred thousand foot guy. And I, I, I’m really good with mechanical things. I’m really good at working on things.
09:15
Rocky Anderson
I’m really good at fixing things. I can look at something and pretty much understand how it works. And I’ve just always been that way. And so it’s easy for me to want to dive down in the weeds sometimes, but it’s a place for me to be where I, when I have to sort of like trying to, trying to own a classic car and you turn it into a daily driver. It goes from being something that’s fun to being something that’s a chore that you wish you had never had. Right. And so it’s a way with the operational side of things, diving in and dipping in. But, but I don’t want to stay there. I don’t want any length of time there at all. I need to be on the visionary side of things. I need to be on sales side of things.
09:51
Rocky Anderson
I didn’t realize that I was really kind of built for business development sales and building relationships and that kind of thing. So it really, yes. Gave me a clarity about where I don’t need to be as much as where I do need to be. It’s so critical to being able to scale the business. We’re finding that right now with some of the things we try to get off my plate because we’re just realizing that even if I like doing them, they, we will not be able to scale. Yeah, just, it will just hit a brick wall.
10:19
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah.
10:20
Rocky Anderson
So, yeah, it was super enlightening to go through all of those assessments in.
10:24
Derek Fredrickson
The questionnaire and especially in the, I remember in the beginning and kind of like that, like I said, like a light bulb went off is that, you know, you’re not meant to be doing the things that you’re doing. It doesn’t mean that you could do them, that you should do them. And we talked a bit more about leveraging your strengths, your innate skills, your personality and how, you know, when you’re out in the field and talking to people and developing relationships and building those types of connections. That’s a business development skill. That Rocky as visionary, we want him to be more in that spot because that’s where it’s exponentially going to grow the business.
11:00
Derek Fredrickson
So it was great to see that you Were very accepting of that and realizing that once we built those kind of processes and structures and the team alignment, it gave you that confidence to go out and do more of that, which has continued to scale and grow the business since the beginning of the year. So. And tell us a little bit about that. Like, what has happened. It’s been four or five months. What are some of the like two or three biggest impacts that have had on you and also in your business in terms of whether it’s team or systems or leadership. What are the things that you’ve seen take shape over the last few months?
11:33
Rocky Anderson
Well, when I was bringing you guys on board, I knew that were potentially about to be in trouble because even though we’ve been really strong cash flow and not being able to hit all of our milestones, basically December, I pretty much put December on my back and I got December done and we had a really good revenue generating month in December. It was because I, I, because I just put it on my back, which also not scalable obviously and not good for marriages and all sorts of things. So, so the, so I, so I knew that, that we had this massive momentum about to come or at least that was my sense. That was what everything was showing me. Even though the last two years I’ve been waiting for it and I thought I was seeing it, then it didn’t happen.
12:19
Rocky Anderson
It was really starting to look undeniable. So, so that was another critical piece of why I wanted to get you guys on board as fast as possible. Because I knew if that stuff hit, were going to be in big time trouble because there’s going to be no way to get it all done and there was going to be no way for me to survive it potentially. Some of the things change are just simply, you know, again, just like just that mental release of me being able to hand things to Paisley. And I have this joke with her where I just, if I have a pain point, if I see something that I’m really frustrated with, I can just tell her what that is and say, make it go away. She goes off it makes it happen.
13:03
Rocky Anderson
She fixes my fixer. But she’s also obviously proactive with things too. So now this will be our third month in a row of hitting. Trying to think of February. We hit them too. It’s at least our third month in a row. It’s possibly our fourth month in a Row of hitting all of our project milestones.
13:21
Derek Fredrickson
Wow.
13:22
Rocky Anderson
And over the last two months, it has become progressively significantly less of my involvement. That has been a massive shift. we finished the year pretty good. Pretty, pretty darn good month. It’s like $204,000 of revenues that we. Nor an invoice for before that it was obvious again, because were struggling. We were struggling to hit anywhere from one month might have been. I mean, if I go back and look one month might have been only $65,000. Right. It was just like horrible. And now we are about to. The last February, March and April, we’re all over $200,000. Like $230,000. This month is going to be about 350. And seeing that we actually have a million dollars worth of work to complete between May, June and July.
14:21
Derek Fredrickson
That’s amazing. That’s amazing.
14:23
Rocky Anderson
Yeah. So easily on our way to doubling our revenues this year. I think my goal is to be at 10 million by the end of 2028 and then just sort of take another look, you know. You know, once we’ve crested that mountain now what do things look like on the way to 100 million? And like where, what are the next. You know, where are.
14:43
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah.
14:44
Rocky Anderson
And I, and I figured by the end of 2028, but I honestly think we will be probably at the goal. The goal is 3 million this year, 5 million next year. I think we’ll probably hit 4 million this year. And then, I don’t know, maybe next year will be 6. And so we could be to 10 in by the end of 27, which would be incredible. And we. One of the things that Paisley is really spearheaded is with our fractional CFO is. And our accountant is really putting together a detailed budget. And that has allowed us to really look at. Because. Because now I’ve been able to kind of look at, okay, we’re about capacity right now. So that tells me about how much, you know, dollar revenues each producing person can, can output and that helps me see what’s coming next.
15:32
Rocky Anderson
Then I can see where I’m going to have to add people which then I can put that in the budget. I can put the recruiting fees in the budget. I can see how all that’s going to impact everything. Yeah. And that has just been a super powerful tool. And, and we’re. We right now we’ve got it forecast out to about 3.7 million on 58 net profit. Wow. Unheard of for an engineering firm.
15:54
Derek Fredrickson
That’s incredible.
15:55
Rocky Anderson
Really. Productive engineering firms tend to operate at about 20% net profit. Not much. I mean, it’d be rare to be over that.
16:04
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah.
16:04
Rocky Anderson
So to be. To be even approaching 50%, let alone potentially being over 50%, is pretty spectacular.
16:11
Derek Fredrickson
Man, that’s. That’s. That’s incredible. I just. Congratulations. I mean, I know it’s been, you know, like you said, month to month. It’s increasing, it’s getting better and better. It’s gaining momentum, it’s gaining traction. It’s just. It’s wonderful to hear. There are a few things I just want to reflect back, both to you, because you’ve, you know, you’ve accomplished so much, but also for our listeners is that, you know, as you were sharing, you know, we talked about this in the beginning with. With Paisley and getting this kind of fractional COO support. They’re the ones in the middle. Like you said, make it happen, right? Your role as the visionary is to make it up. You’ve got the idea, you’ve got the vision, and then your team is there to make it recur, right?
16:46
Derek Fredrickson
With the right processes, the right people in place. And then usually that fractional COO is that connector, and the one in the middle, that. That makes it happen, the one that makes it real. So you’ve got that idea instead of you having to cascade it all the way down to the team and making sure that they’re dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s and managing them and putting out the fires if they do come up, which happens when you’re scaling and growing. You’ve got that connector and that bridge from the make it up to make it recur. And in the middle, you’ve got that fractional COO to make it. To make it real, you know, to make it happen. And as a result of that, you’re doing less better, meaning you’re in that visionary seat even more.
17:21
Derek Fredrickson
And I still love it when you talk about the numbers and where you are, but also, like, where you can see yourself going. Because what we’ve realized is that the more that Rocky is in that visionary seat, the more you’re in that space of thinking about the bigger vision and looking forward, it gives you that excitement, it gives you that energy, it gives you that motivation to continue to move things forward with the confidence that you’ve got the ship in place, right? You’ve got the structures, you’ve got the systems and there’s still work to be done. Right. There’s no, there’s no such thing as scaling nirvana. There’s always new level, new devil. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But as. And this is only. And this is fractional. This is, you know, Paisley, as the fractional.
18:00
Derek Fredrickson
It’s 40 hours a month, so it’s 10 hours a week here and there to be able to make that kind of traction. So what has that been like, knowing that, you know, as you said earlier, you know, a full time fractional or full time fractional. Full time COO can be a huge expense for a business of your size that’s scaling and has a huge opportunity to scale. But fractional, how did that work at like 10 hours a week or 40 hours a month? Because it’s still providing the support, the momentum and everything else. How has that adjustment been for you in that fractional model?
18:29
Rocky Anderson
Yeah. To answer your question and to pigtail dovetail a little bit on what you, what you were just saying, what’s cool about it all is because we are a relationship based firm. We’re not a transactional based firm. So it’s all about relationships for us out of like, we really love helping these clients. We, we specifically go after clients that we know that we can help. We know that we can bring value to them, know we can change, literally change their lives. It’s just water, wastewater. Right. But it’s like you can change their lives and how we help them get their projects done. So what’s cool about it is the numbers are great, money’s great. All that stuff and thinking about kind of where we’re going financially and all that’s also awesome. But it’s really amazing. Amazing.
19:12
Rocky Anderson
Think about how many more people that we get to help.
19:15
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah.
19:16
Rocky Anderson
Out of all this. And that’s really freed me and to spend a lot more time helping a lot of, A lot of clients that I have. Calling clients. They haven’t even signed a contract. Yeah, but they’re people I’ve been helping for a year or more or two years. And then I can just continue to do that as part of just what I do in bringing value and building relationships and having Paisley on board is helped me help me. Even though I’m still working six days a week, I still have way more on my plate than I can get done all that stuff because we are growing so fast now. But I get so much more time to focus on these people that I want to help.
19:50
Rocky Anderson
And I am just completely blown away at how much is able to transform in 40 hours a month. I thought for sure we would be going. I, my, in my mind I thought we’d be onboarding at 40 hours a month and immediately taking the jump to 60 hours a month because, you know, we’re going to need all the help and it’s like we may need it to make a jump at some point in time. But I, I am absolutely blown away at how much she’s getting done and the difference that she’s making in just 10 hours.
20:15
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah. It’s crazy. Yeah. And you guys. Yeah, well, thank you for that. Yeah. And you guys have made some significant hiring shifts as well. I mean, it seems like almost, you know, every couple of weeks there’s another team member, you know, an assistant, you know, marketing person or you know, engineer, senior engineer, junior engineer. What’s that been like? Because I know Paisley’s been helping you a lot with, you know, as we say, part of scaling is making sure you’ve got right people and the right seats.
20:43
Derek Fredrickson
And we start with the seats first, getting really clear on what’s the role, what’s the responsibilities, how are they going to contribute and move the needle and then how do we find somebody whose batteries included or really understands the responsibility so they can come in and kind of keep, you know, the ship moving, but even at a more efficient and effective way. So what does that meant for you? To not only have some of the new people on board, which has helped with the growth and the scale, but have somebody that’s partnering with you and kind of doing a lot of the heavy lifting and finding the people and recruiting them and bringing them on board.
21:14
Rocky Anderson
Yeah, she actually personally recruited our current executive assistant that probably is going to turn into a project manager. So, so. And she’s just a complete rock star. And it’s been amazingly helpful to really focus first on what are the seats and then who are the people starting with the seats, taking our current people, looking and looking at where they. And then, and then hiring specifically in order to fill the gaps on any weaknesses that we have. We don’t have a lot of, we have, have some moderate fact finders. Finders, you know, if you know about the. Kolbe, of course you do. But we don’t have a lot of follow through. So we’re bringing on two actually.
22:05
Rocky Anderson
Sandy is a super, my assistant, executive assistant is super strong follow through two more people that are super strong and Follow through and so, so that we can round that kind of stuff out. But that’s the amazing thing about everybody taking these assessments and everybody understanding where their strengths are, their natural inherent strengths are. And then, and then bring them being higher specifically to, okay, as soon as these people come on board, then we’re going to take these responsibilities off of this person. We’re going to shift over to those guys. We’re going to take some of my responsibilities shifting over to that person. We just, we already have a plan in place.
22:36
Rocky Anderson
We already have a map and how all of this is going to go so that on day one, as we bring these people in, we know what the next operational shift is. So now we know that by, with our second engineer coming on board in July, we know that probably by August, we will have most of the things off of my plate that need to be off my plate in order for us to scale.
22:59
Derek Fredrickson
Wow.
22:59
Rocky Anderson
Which is pretty exciting. I didn’t, I didn’t think it would happen that fast, but I’m actually starting to see that I might be able to sneak away for a little bit of time off.
23:07
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah. And I was gonna say, because here’s what’s interesting is that, you know, and working with founders and CEOs, it’s natural. It’s, it’s, you know, part of what we do is. And one of the first things is looking at where is the CEO, the bottleneck? Right. Where are they involved in so many things, and where can we find the right process or the right person to resolve that? But also, like, where are they spending their time and things that if they get their time back, and you said you’re still busy, you still got a lot of stuff on your plate, but it’s at a whole other level.
23:33
Derek Fredrickson
But I feel like you’re more energized because you’re focused on those activities that are more aligned again, going back to how you’re wired and what your strengths are and kind of driving more of that execution of the vision at that bigger, you know, bigger picture level. But I also, I love to ask the question, like what has surprised you the most about this experience and what has this meant for you or what’s a valuable part of this for you, kind of more on a personal front, if you’d be willing to share. I know you’ve talked about some, some dreams there about not just, you know, taking some time off on a weekend and, you know, enjoying the family and everything else, but Kind of some bigger, you know, loftier dreams and hopes in some way.
24:11
Derek Fredrickson
But what has this meant for you on more of a personal front if you can share a little bit?
24:17
Rocky Anderson
Yeah, yeah. The, the, you know, the, My family, family is super cool. I got kind of a late start in life with a young family and I’ve got an eight year old daughter and a four year old son, two year old son. And I don’t really need time off. I, I could definitely stand to take a little bit of time here and there and just recharge and set a day or two and get right back to it. I start to kind of twitch if I move away too long, but I know it’s important obviously that I spend time with my family and that I like, why would I be doing all of this if all I’m going to be doing is grinding in every single day in and day out and I don’t get to spend time with them.
24:56
Rocky Anderson
I don’t, I don’t get to be a part of helping them enjoy the fruits of all of that hard work. And so I’m excited to get to a point where yes, I can take, I don’t need the time but to be able to take my family and go amazing trips and just, or even just spending some amazing time together without me having to be checking my phone all the time and checking in and wondering if everything’s okay. I still might be excited to check in because I have a hard time disconnecting, but it won’t be a worry. Mindset, excited mindset, which is also the thing that has really shifted. It has. It’s part of me really made a decision that this, this bringing you guys, you guys on board was really part of my overarching realization.
25:40
Rocky Anderson
Realization that I just, I had to change everything. I had to change everything. Everything was going because it wasn’t obviously wasn’t working. Yeah. And I could not continue to come home every day feeling defeated, frustrated and just like how, how am I, how is this even gonna, how is this Right? Right? And so it just, that leaks into all parts of your life, regardless of. I’m a very strong mindset person and it still is like incredibly difficult to not let that leak into my personal life, in my marriage, my parenting and all that stuff. And so to shift to just being able to clearly see I’m already moving towards just pulling levers, but to clearly see that even by the end of this year, my role is primarily going to be pulling levers and also building relationships.
26:31
Rocky Anderson
That’s, I don’t have to sit there, sit there and figure things out myself. I can just bring my team together, including Paisley, and say, here’s what I see, here’s what I’d love to see us do. And then everybody’s just able to execute because everything’s organized, we have the processes in place, we’ve got everybody in the right seats, all that stuff. So that’s just, that is completely shifting my mindset from one of obviously the dream is still out there, the vision is still out there, I know we can make a difference. And yet operationally like just being completely depressed about the whole thing, to be honest to now just, just feeling really excited and on fire about the whole thing and really seeing that this is all just this is going to happen. Yeah, it’s inevitable.
27:13
Derek Fredrickson
I love it’s this. And I’ve seen this shift, right? I mean, it’s this abundance mindset. It’s this growth minded mindset where you can see the bigger future, you can see the bigger vision. And like I said earlier, it excites you. And what I love about it is that like you said, you’re passionate about what you’re doing and when you’re taking that time away, whether you know, being with your family or like you said, recharge or whatever that might be, you can choose to check in. And that’s more from like, if you want to, but it’s not because you have to. And I think that’s a big shift because oftentimes as CEOs, we feel like I have to check in, I have to make sure everything’s okay, I have to make sure this is getting done.
27:52
Derek Fredrickson
I have to make sure that we’re on track and there’s no fires to be put out and okay, I can go back to my Saturday with my kids and the challenge. The rub is that we’ve already checked out of this personally when we’ve only spent five minutes just to check in over there. And if everything’s that at peace, great. But then like to come back into that mindset and that energy, personally, it’s a hard shift. And I’ve also said that, you know, in some cases you’re kind of cheating your family in some respect because you’re checking out, but you’re also kind of cheating the business because you’re having to feel like you still have to check in. So when you have that type of support in place, it really kind of shifts everything.
28:28
Derek Fredrickson
And it’s been amazing to see that transformation, you know, happen for you. And both professionally, but also personally, there’s still work to be done. You know, we’re going to get you to take some of those longer weekends and that villa in Tuscany is becoming more and more reality than a dream. That’s. That’s next on the vision board, so to speak. So I love it.
28:49
Rocky Anderson
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, and that’s one of the things that Is really, I have found refreshing and unique about your company. Your company is that, hey, it’s not just that Paisley is amazing and has made a. Just a massive transformation day to day. But then the fact that you’re checking in once a month with us and we’re doing that higher level, like you have, you have a way of, like, you’re still focused on the operational stuff and you’re, and you’re really focused on that overall strategy. But I love how you bring the personal element into it and that it’s clearly important to you that you are helping. I can see that it’s genuinely important to you that you are.
29:29
Rocky Anderson
That you help me find a way to have peace in all of this and to feel energy and to have that spiritual and mental health along with the business and financial.
29:42
Derek Fredrickson
Yeah, it’s a balance, but I mean, it’s a value. That’s why I say in the beginning there was that connection because, you know, we can help a lot of companies, but I think it’s those that know they need the help and excited about what that help can allow them to do in their professional mission and their organization and the impact, but also what it can do for them personally, because that’s a value and being able to balance that both. I mean, you know, as we scale and grow our company, there’s that, you know, kind of pull and tug on, you know, where can I spend my energy and how. And, and. But knowing that the personal value is a strong part of that. It gives us another element of how we do what we do.
30:18
Derek Fredrickson
And for those that appreciate that, I think it’s where it really can move the needle. So I appreciate that because I’m kind of reflecting that back to you at the same time as well. So thank you for that. So I’d love to ask you, Rocky, before we wrap up, there’ll be Some that are watching this and listening to this and inspired by your story and love the results and the progress and everything else. But what would you say to someone who either knows that they may need help or support, or maybe they don’t know and they’re not ready, or they don’t know if they’re ready to think about, do I need a fractional coo? Like, what would you say to somebody because you were at that point less than six months ago?
30:54
Derek Fredrickson
And what would you say to somebody that’s maybe thinking about it now? And how would you inspire them, you know, to, to take the next step? Like, what would you share with somebody that’s a business owner? Like that?
31:06
Rocky Anderson
I would say, I would say that as soon as you made the decision to scale, you should, you should bring in a fractional COO. I wish that I had done this over a year ago when were still slogging through, just trying to figure out how were going to be. If I had done this a year ago, it would have completely accelerated the process of us becoming profitable again because it would have allowed me to take all of that, focus on the operational side, shift it over to you guys, and for me to focus on how are we going to grow the business, how are we going to move all this stuff forward? And Paisley’s even been helping super helpful on the, just the marketing and biz dev side and bouncing ideas off and that kind of stuff.
31:59
Rocky Anderson
And it would have just freed me up to really be focusing on that stuff. And we had, because we had to work there, we just couldn’t get it done. And, and then, even though we had some projects stalling, that kind of stuff, it would have allowed me to accelerate bringing new clients on board and all of that. So I wish I would have done it a year ago. So I say as soon as you decided to scale your business, you should get your, get your finances in order to handle it and bring a fraction on board.
32:28
Rocky Anderson
Because, and I, to be honest, I would, I don’t get anything out of this, but I would say bring your company on board and it would have just, it would have, we would have been way farther away sooner because I think that’s, you know, in scaling the business, that’s something that, you know, we always. Human nature to completely underestimate what we can get done in five years and we way overestimate what we can get done in a year. This Just was way more expensive and took way longer than I ever could have imagined. And to have brought you guys on board a year sooner would have shortened that process by a long shot and would have made life much more palatable for me over the last 12 months. So I would just say just do it. Just do it.
33:10
Rocky Anderson
I’ve been, you know, I’ve sent friends.
33:12
Derek Fredrickson
Your way because, and I appreciate that.
33:15
Rocky Anderson
Frustrations and it’s a no brainer to me. I’m, I’m a, I’m convinced.
33:21
Derek Fredrickson
Well, and I appreciate that. Yeah. And thank you for that. Rocky. Fantastic. Before we wrap up, anything else, any kind of final words of wisdom, a tidbit, any other thing that you wanted to share, this has been super helpful. Just again, I think hearing it from others that it’s possible and what does it look like and you shared openly and I appreciate that because people like to see and hear what it’s really about and we’ve done that today. But before we wrap up, anything else that you wanted to share that anyone else listening can get some value from.
33:52
Rocky Anderson
I think, I think just again understand, understanding that when you’re ready to scale, it’s gonna, it’s going to take longer and cost more than you think it’s going to be. Whatever that number is for you, whatever those figures are for you. And I think that, I guess just in business in general, what I have really found brings the most success is focusing on the relationships instead. Transactions, it takes, it definitely takes longer, but it is way more sustainable. We have clients that are 20 plus year clients and we typically, once we, once we gain a new client, they never go anywhere, they don’t want to use any. And it’s because we focus on the relationships. And I would say that would be, if I were ever going to start another business, I would start with the relationships before I did anything else.
34:36
Derek Fredrickson
I love that, I love that. And that’s what we keep saying to you is like it’s all about the relationships because that’s part of your zone of genius. So the more we tap into that, the more that you tap into that with your clients, your partners, your network, whatever it might be. That’s, it’s a great message for those that are looking to scale because sometimes people are looking like, oh, I could do so much with the marketing and there’s all these different opportunities. Like, you know what? Sometimes business is business and it’s built on relationships and who do you know, and how you can help, maybe sometimes without the expectation of getting something in return right away, but it has a lot of value in the long term.
35:08
Derek Fredrickson
And I know that you’ve been building your business on that and doing more of it as we free up and give you more time to do it. So that’s been a great revelation to see, so fantastic. Well, thank you, Rocky. It’s been great to have you on the show. Wonderful to continue to work with you, more to come, and thank you everybody for watching. And we’ll see you next time on the COO Solution podcast. Thanks again, everybody. Bye. Bye.
