"The nature of business is to resolve problems."
Joshua Karrasch Tweet
Meet Joshua Karrasch, a serial entrepreneur seeking to build a company that puts people first. He believes employees deserve to share in the benefits and profits of the company and endeavors to continue to implement that belief at Dynamic Specialties Group.
His background is diverse and provides a very “MacGyver” mindset that he brings to bear in his entrepreneurial endeavors. “7 times falling down, 8 times getting up” describes his journey. With each learning opportunity and each door that closed, Joshua has had the opportunity to grow to the next level. Today he brings that vast experience to bear building a successful IT Consulting firm that is People First.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Joshua Karrasch: My name is Joshua Karrasch, I am the CEO & Owner of Dynamic Specialties Group. Dynamic Specialties Group is a boutique Salesforce consulting firm. We support small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofit associations, and the federal government by integrating, automating, and scaling their sales process using Salesforce and other cloud-based platforms. We offer Advisory, New Installation, Org Revitalization, and Monthly Support Services.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Joshua Karrasch: I think it is important to recognize that the last couple of years has been full of hardship for many. As a company, Dynamic Specialties Group has been fortunate. We have experienced our own hardships, but in general, we have had the opportunity to serve our customers and grow our company by supporting their transition to fully digital and often geographically dispersed companies.
I think the most important lesson we gleaned from the last couple of years is to challenge our understanding of what is and what needs to be. In many instances we have found ourselves asking the question, “Does it really have to be this way?” Do we really have to be in an office to serve our clients? Do we really have to be at a desk for 8 hours to provide our clients with amazing outcomes? Can we put people first and profits second? Do we really have to live to work, or can we find a way that allows us to live more?
What is awesome is our clients are asking the same questions and we can help solve those for them by integrating, automating, and virtualizing their work processes. Challenge the norm!
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Joshua Karrasch: Be conservative in your spending and audacious in your initiatives. If we have learned one thing, it is that the way we do business is changing at breakneck speed. We can not sit back and wait for change to find us, we must be champions of change and embrace the new normal with open arms.
Ask your employees to share what can be done, dream big on your own, and challenge your assumptions.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Joshua Karrasch: I think the biggest impact the pandemic has had is to prove to the world that we can do our work remotely and still do it well. Maybe, we can even do it better.
We have adapted by eliminating a physical office from our plans. We have outfitted our employees with home office equipment and portable office equipment so they can be effective at home and on the go. We have embraced cloud technology 100% ensuring that we can collaborate even when we are thousands of miles apart. We have also learned to turn the camera on and call each other for small talk, “Just saying hi, how is the family?” Just because we are remote does not remove the human need for connection, so we take the time to nurture those relationships.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Joshua Karrasch: My mentor, Mr. Joseph Simms, gave me the advice I needed
“The waves come and go, but the ocean remains”
The nature of business is to resolve problems. When problems arise, challenges crop up, or things don’t go as planned the knowledge that this is expected, is not the end, and there is a solution is valuable in controlling the stress associated with the event.
What we forget is the opposite side of that coin. Success should be celebrated, but just like you don’t want to ride the wave to the bottom, it’s equally dangerous to ride it to the top.
In both instances, acknowledge the event for what it is, find the joy in addressing it, and move on in an even and balanced manner.
Saying this out loud makes sense and sounds simple enough; in reality, it takes practice to implement both personally and as a company.
In 2022 I will continue to drive this lesson into my company as well as my own life.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Joshua Karrasch: I think social media is giving us a taste of what to expect. I believe that employees will continue to demand the ability to work remotely and will continue to ask questions as companies try to return to the old way of doing things. Especially for in-demand career fields like IT. I know in the Salesforce space, many job applicants won’t take an interview that requires in-person work. I know at Dynamic Specialties Group, we won’t take contracts that require us to work on-site even part-time.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Joshua Karrasch: Too many.
Probably between 6-12. It is one of the skills I would like to unlearn as my company becomes more mature. I want to prevent my employees from having to exceed 8 hours of work-related screen time on any one day.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Joshua Karrasch: I come from a background of peer mentoring. In Boy Scouts, Emergency Medical Services, and the Military peer mentoring is a tool we use to grow the next generation. Part of that is the use of stories to share experiences and teach lessons. As I said before, we heavily leverage the “small talk” calls to stay in touch. These calls offer opportunities to teach via a story in both directions. When a story is particularly good or valuable, we will pull people in to hear it or re-share it in the next daily stand-up.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Joshua Karrasch: Our biggest challenge presently is controlling growth. No company wants to turn down business, but as the need for services like ours continues to grow, we have to restrict the growth to maintain the quality. Growth is a resource-hungry beast. It consumes time and cash like nothing else in a company. This can cause unexpected challenges in funding and human capital that are counterintuitive.
At a macro level, that same constraint applies to the entire industry. I would say if the industry continues to see the same growth as we have in the past couple of years, the #1 challenge will be finding experienced employees to do the work.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Joshua Karrasch: I want to continue to learn about building a people-first company. Additionally, I also would like to learn how to build community in remote work teams.
I think these two skills will help Dynamic Specialties Group be the type of company I would like to work for and do business with.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Joshua Karrasch: People First. Profits Second.
Simple.
Employees are not assets to be exploited. They are people to be supported, lifted up, and celebrated.
Leading by example is the only form of leadership. Demonstrate this servant leader approach, and I think things will work out just fine.
Also, not every workplace culture is a good fit for every employee, so take time to understand that during the hiring process.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Joshua Karrasch: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.”
I spoke to this previously, but business is a bit of a roller coaster. If I have this super power, it wouldn’t matter, my stress would be lower, and I would live happier. That would allow me to serve my employees better and the cycle would continue sown the line.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Joshua Karrasch: That my team arrives at the end of the year feeling fulfilled, happy, and enlivened.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Joshua Karrasch 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 Joshua Karrasch or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.