"My biggest advice, is not being afraid to establish SOP's that allow you to focus on strategic growth"
Jeffrey Sabins is the Founder and CEO of Proven Valor Professionals, an operational business consulting organization. The primary mission is to not only help you build high-caliber processes and teams but to help you build operational processes that not only enhance your business but keep it moving upward on a positive trend. The overall goal is to achieve a self-sustaining unit that has fluidity among its ranks!
While serving in the Marine Corps, Jeff obtained his Master’s degree in organizational leadership and published two novels. As the 2009 MCL GySgt Carlos Hathcock award winner, Jeff understands how to take operational necessities and turn them into a self-performing system. As a Purple Heart recipient, he also understands adversity and overcoming obstacles along the path.
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Table of Contents
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Jeffrey Sabins: Absolutely! I basically had three realizations that led me to my current journey.
I very quickly realized during my military career that I loved business and the creativity behind shaping future paths. I enjoyed looking through data, finding problems and working with the team to find and implement solutions. I love operations within the Marine Corps and after, I knew that is where I wanted to live in.
After retirement, I also quickly saw how veterans were often misunderstood during the interview and hiring process. While I can’t say that for myself, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. However, as new hiring was happening, I seen a few aspects that I knew I could improve on. Concurrently, I remember talking to a Marine who was excellent at his work and even worked for a few high-caliber well-known individuals who he enabled greatly, but after transitioning he could not find a job because hiring agents could not understand what he had provided and brought to the table.
Lastly, having a son who survived a brain tumor and having autism, I knew how much being home with my family meant to me. I had been spending three hours a day commuting to work at the time and when I finally talked my boss into letting me work remotely, he was astonished at how much productivity he received from me. I knew after a military career of being away from family from constant deployments and training, I wanted a company with no HQ, I wanted to build a fully remote organization.
Was there somebody in your life that inspired you to take that specific journey with your business?
Jeffrey Sabins: Definitely! As I touched on in the previous question, my son had a peach-sized brain tumor when he was 2 years old. As a military family who moved constantly, had a new doctor every few years, and literally could not predict where you would be living two years down the road, this was another moment of adversity to add to the normal chaos. After three brain surgeries and ten years later, Carter is stronger than ever and inspires me daily.
My wife has dedicated her life to his well-being and supporting my daughter’s dreams as well, I knew there had to be a change within our lives. She had a period of 23 hours of therapy a week for Carter, plus dance and extra activities for Kinley, and then trying to find some time to pursue her dreams of running a small business, it was nearly impossible. Not to mention I deployed once again after all of this happened.
This inspired me to start my own company working from home, while she pursued her long dream of becoming a nurse.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Jeffrey Sabins: Personally, the notion of fearing change seems to settle among entrepreneurs. Specifically from start-ups not adapting to the results from increased revenue. Lately, I have worked with a plethora of companies who were within 3-5 years of their business and they continue to operate and think like a start-up. Tackling every issue themselves, afraid to delegate, refusing to create procedures as they feel they haven’t settled yet, etc.
My biggest advice, is not being afraid to establish SOP’s that allow you to focus on strategic growth. Find the operators you need to make the business function and operate efficiently. Ideally for these companies, finding fractional operational roles to come in and help you establish these procedures will help your business succeed and continue to grow. Just because something worked when you had ten clients, doesn’t mean the same thing will work when you have 1000.
Is there a particular podcast you listened to, or business thought leader that you find helpful while maneuvering this pandemic?
Jeffrey Sabins: I have always listened to Jocko and his podcasts. I have had struggles adjusting from the warfighter mentality / full-time Marine Corps living to this current life. While there are some similarities running a company, finding my true self has been difficult. Jocko is always inspirational and often showcases great stories I reflect on.
What is most important to your organization—mission, vision or values?
Jeffrey Sabins: Absolutely values! Our main goal is to help these companies out and they end up wanting to hire more veterans on their staff. If we can showcase what veterans bring to the table by helping companies create and establish operational policies, maybe those same companies will hire a veteran to come in and enforce them.
Taking care of these companies is the number 1 priority.
Delegating is part of being a great leader, but what have you found helpful to get your managers to become valiant leaders as well?
Jeffrey Sabins: Encouragement and listening! I am extremely flexible with how they operate, how long they work, or how they achieve success. My way may work, but theirs may be better. Talking through solutions and treating every single employee as though they are on the same level as myself is key. Nobody works for someone in my organization, we are a team of equals discovering solutions to other people’s problems!
How important do you think it is for a leader to be mindful of his own brand?
Jeffrey Sabins: Branding is extremely important. Consumers do not buy from landing pages, they buy from people and their story. You have to tell your story and ensure it’s included in your brand. There are so many business owners who try to build and fake their brand, but it never works.
My company works hand in hand with Lead Revenue LLC who makes building my brand super easy. They run my social media, manage my Google My Business, create and manage my website and work with me every month on my brand and where I can improve within performance.
Having a company like this handle the daily output of your brand allows business owners to focus on creativity and accomplishing their mission. Companies like Lead Revenue LLC are the Subject Matter Experts on digital marketing and make sure your brand not only makes sense and is telling your story, but also get it in front of as many people as possible.
How would you define “leadership”?
Jeffrey Sabins: Leadership is setting the example and taking care of your people. Everything else is implied and falls into place. Work hard, don’t expect people to do something you wouldn’t do, and at every step take care of the people that made a choice to work with you.
What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Jeffrey Sabins: “Defeat is just a word, toss the dictionary and figure it out”
Adversity is always present in life, solutions often are not. I quickly realized to focus on one problem at a time and find a solution. Then the next, and the next. Simple as that.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jeffrey Sabins for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jeffrey Sabins or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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