"Honesty is key. I keep this motto with customers, clients, and within my organizational cultures."
Adam Lyons Tweet
From Main Street to E-commerce, Adam Lyons has saved and scaled over 1800+ small businesses since launching The Smart BluePrint in 2020. How? Well, his magic ingredient isn’t actually magic at all, The Smart Blue Print is a 5-step surefire process for business owners — many of whom came to Lyons during the rough times of 2020, (like the Dungeons and Dragons Shop in Bastrop, Texas, which grew by 36,000% in the middle of the pandemic!)
Beyond his own portfolio of growing companies, Lyons is an advisor for over 500 brands across the US and Canada. Lyons has been featured on the Today Show, The Steve Harvey Show, Forbes, and the NY Post. He has been awarded 2 different ‘Wicked Smaht’ Awards due to his innovative business strategies and multiple 2 comma club awards. Companies he has worked with include PepsiCo, Nike, Nescafé, Discovery Digital Networks and many smaller brands.
Lyons created and developed his outside-the-box business system out of poverty and frustration. As an English immigrant, he started as a janitor– quickly becoming an accidental serial entrepreneur.Sixteen years later, the business maven and father of five lives with his family outside of Austin, Texas.
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We’re happy that you could join us today! Please introduce yourself to our readers. What’s your story?
Adam Lyons: I am a small business owner and lover, who launched The Smart Blue Print in 2020, and have since saved 1800+ small businesses, many of whom came to me during the rough times of 2020, (like the Dungeons and Dragons Shop in Bastrop, Texas, which grew by 36,000% in the middle of the pandemic!) I not only specialize in helping businesses scale, but I encourage major culture shifts that lead to better workplaces and happier humans. For example, implementing 5 minute breaks every 25 minutes for every single employee. In addition to encouraging a celebration of “wins” and company wide recognition.
CEOs and leaders usually have different motives and aspirations when getting started. Let’s go straight to the beginning. What was your primary goal for starting your business? Was it wealth, respect, or to offer a service that would help improve lives?
Adam Lyons: My primary goal with starting the SMART Blue Print was to help others grow and scale their businesses, especially during a time when thousands of business shuttered across the globe due to the pandemic. For example, I helped business owners come up with creative ways to save their businesses, like:
- Identify new offerings/products: but, do not rely on the supply chain. This can be service based. If I own a retail clothing store, this is a great time to add a custom tailoring department. Or, a restaurant without milk, now is a great time to explore non-dairy options in recipes. Even if they don’t make a profit, you are keeping your customers happy and in your circles.
- Rent out your space: If you have a retail or brick and mortar, rent out your space for events, fashion shows, photo shoots etc. (This isn’t a new business, it’s a new product just to provide some income to help you through the supply chain issues).
- Develop a pricing stack (items inexpensive and expensive) – during the supply chain crisis, a restaurant can offer a private chef experience. If you sell cars and have less cars at the moment, open a carwash service (inexpensive). Use your list of past clients (who have cars).
- Find local manufacturers capable of delivering the pieces you need, find new local sources of items. There are local manufacturers (if you own a restaurant and don’t have milk) go to a local dairy farm that has been ignored by the supply chain. We have to rely on ourselves, not the global.
- Communicate with customers explain what’s going on (but not generically), specifically. For example, for supply chain issues– let them know there is a shortage of (‘xyz”) in the area. (Not just at your store or business). This makes you an informative authority of the entire area so customers stop shopping around. If you’re a restaurant who gets shut-down again 2022, don’t wait, act quickly to move back to at home delivery orders, catering, or (to go alcohol in Texas).
Tell us about 2 things that you like and two things that you dislike about your industry. Share what you’d like to see change and why.
Adam Lyons: Two things I dislike about my industry:
Non-communication and lack of support. So often, business owners (especially small business owners) don’t communicate with anyone else like them. I am a big fan of peer lead masterminds (they are free!) If you get a group of 4-5 people together from similar industries, you can bounce new ideas off of each other regularly and improve business operations, finances and ideas. However, so many feel alone and this has to change.
Companies around the world are rapidly changing their work environment and organizational culture to facilitate diversity. How do you see your organizational culture changing in the next 3 years and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Adam Lyons: I currently own and operate over 7 companies, I have fostered a non-traditional environment by making them all emotional stakeholders in the business. We don’t call them / each other employees, for example. Instead, we are all colleagues who are often invited and encouraged to participate in meetings that have lasting impact on the company.
According to the Michigan State University “An organization’s culture is responsible for creating the kind of environment in which the business is managed, and has a major impact on its ultimate success or failure.” What kind of culture has your organization adopted and how has it impacted your business?
Adam Lyons: The organizations I run have all adopted an equal opportunity, equal partnership type mentality. No person wants to be thought of as less important or replaceable. This is a huge problem with our society and work place. Too many businesses have lost the personal connection to colleagues.
Richard Branson once famously stated “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.” and Stephen R. Covey admonishes to “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. What’s your take on creating a great organizational culture?
Adam Lyons: Honesty is key. I keep this motto with customers, clients, and within my organizational cultures. When someone is late for a meeting (even a client) you have to let them know that your time needs to be respected, the same goes for colleagues in your organization. When both see you are honest and treat people equally across the board, a respect and understanding is developed. When a client does well after a strong campaign, I praise them, just as I do a colleague.
The overwhelming majority of more than 9,000 workers included in a recent Accenture survey on the future of work said they felt a hybrid work model would be optimal going forward, a major reason for that being the improved work-life balance that it offers. How do you promote work-life balance at your company?
Adam Lyons: I promote work-life balance by encouraging colleagues to work remotely, if they please. I respect their time, when someone needs a week off due to health, I do not question them and ask for a Doctor’s note. Then, when I ask them to work late each day for a week a few months later, they don’t question me. Building a trust on work-life balance has been the key for our organization.
How would you describe your company’s overall culture? Give us examples.
Adam Lyons: Understanding, mutual, respectful and fun.
- 5 minute breaks every 25 minutes (no matter what position they hold)
- Regular insight provided on overall meetings (no matter what position they hold)
- Celebrating wins and accomplishments (no matter what position they hold) this can be done via a weekly zoom call, slack, group text, etc.
It is believed that a company’s culture is rooted in a company’s values. What are your values and how do they affect daily life at the workplace?
Adam Lyons: Our values are deeply rooted in helping others, from helping one colleague solve a problem at their child’s school, to helping a client save their business with new ideas — helping each other is the reason my companies were formed.
An organization’s management has a deep impact on its culture. What is your management style and how well has it worked so far?
Adam Lyons: One day, my son came home crying and said “Dad, the local Dungeon’s and Dragon’s Shop is going to close, can you save it? You save businesses, can’t you save this one?”
I had no experience in saving hobby shops in small towns. But, I realized after a quick visit this business was about to die during the pandemic, especially since the owner relied (almost 100% on foot traffic). I took him on as a “client” for free and helped him with creative ways to stay above water. For example, creating online classes for hobby enthusiasts, create private experiences for hobby enthusiasts to play with toys and renting out his space for COVID testing. He was disheartened and didn’t want to deal with changing his standard business model.
In a difficult decision, I bought the shop and within 3 months, we 36,000x its revenue. I hired full time employees who love Dungeon’s and Dragon’s and got the store back on its feet. This all started with a free consultation.
Every organization suffers from internal conflicts, whether functional or dysfunctional. Our readers would love to know, how do you solve an internal conflict?
Adam Lyons: I solve all conflicts with data, heart, and honesty. What do previous situations and experiences tell us we should do? And, what’s the right thing? If you lead with logic and emotion — dysfunction quickly gets corrected.
According to Culture AMP, Only 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process at their organization (versus 70% of men), which leads to job dissatisfaction and poor employee retention. What is your organization doing to facilitate an inclusive and supportive environment for women?
Adam Lyons: As mentioned, I give ALL employees a seat at the table, regardless of position, race, age, income, gender. This allows all employees to hold emotional stake in the company they work for and with. Additionally, we like to lead by example, my wife Eve is the Vice President of all of our companies.
What role do your company’s culture and values play in the recruitment process and how do you ensure that it is free from bias?
Adam Lyons: We have each and every team member meet with perspective employees or colleagues, regardless of what position they hold. I quite often look to colleagues on new hires, to make sure they are a culture fit. We often open up the floor for discussion, asking about skillsets and personality rather than any bias that could be involved.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Adam Lyons: Businesses in 2022 will be challenged with overcoming the unknown: supply chain issues, Omicron, etc.
Leaders will have to get creative with how they present. Again, one example is a car dealership who is low on cars can and should start a carwash. (They already have the customer base, those who have cars) and the space. This is a COVID, supply chain friendly alternative to staying above water.
This has been truly insightful and we thank you for your time. Our final question, however, might be a bit of a curveball. If you had a choice to either fly or be invisible, which would you choose and why?
Adam Lyons: I would be invisible so I can help people in ways and facets I am not be able to otherwise.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Adam Lyons for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
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