Harnessing the Power of Positive Company Culture With Eddie Gonzalez

From episode: EP45 - Cultivating Growth from Within: Nurturing Your Business Culture and Promoting from Within

Eddie: I guess this podcast is becoming more than just about looking within your business. It's also about culture. It's the culture that you establish within your business as let's say an owner. Let's say we're speaking in regards to Willie's perspective, which is, you know, being the owner of the business and the relationship he actually establishes with his employees. Not every business has the opportunity to speak to their boss and the way that, you know, Willie and his employees relationship is. Willie established a culture in which, you know, he lets his employees come talk to him. And that should be something that you should establish in your business if you want to grow in that type of method. If you just want to be the boss and tell people what to do, that's one thing. But if you want to have a good relationship within the business in general, you know, like a good culture that people feel comfortable enough to say where they're at in life and where they want to be, that just creates the craziest amount of opportunity for your business to be a pleasant place to work at and also grow in an amazing way. You have to have good relationship with your employees to the point where it's like, they could tell you, you know, how they feel. They could tell you, Hey boss, I'm not really happy, you know, doing what I'm doing right now. Is it a possibility that maybe I could try it and do something else? That's just going to allow a person that could be at your business for one year and could be a lifelong, you know, business partner with you. What you're creating with your culture is what you could expect for the rest of your business life.

Willie: 100%. That's very well said. I see it very big. You're putting a position of power as a boss and you have the power within your business to do whatever it is you want. Knowing where they would like to be and helping them get there is what creates that real positive culture, helping them move forward. Because for you guys listening, you might know how to get your credit right. Then you might know how to grow and you might have established, you know, buying real estate and you've established companies and you're successful. Everyone would like to know how to achieve things. And I've talked to some of them and they're like, I would love to buy real estate one day. But they tell me, but that's never going to happen. And it's like, yeah, you know that I can help you get there in five years. What do you mean? Yeah, five years. I'll give you the game plan. Like we've talked before, game plans. Five years, you'll have your first apartment or your first house or whatever it may be that you can start renting out. I wouldn't live in it because a house to me is not a great investment. It's an investment that doesn't stop asking you for things. But if you're going to rent it, now you're looking at it as an investment and from there it can work. And we've been able to help people do that, which is insane. You know, God at the end of the day puts people in positions of power and your obligation is to give back. Your obligation is to give back. And those people that have those positive cultures, those people that are really growing, that have the people on staff that are better than them, because we hear that. I hear that a lot. Have people around you that can do things better than you can.

Eddie: Of course.

Willie: That is all from a positive culture. You're not going to get somebody that's a beast doing one thing and he's in a negative or she is in a negative..

Eddie: State of mind?

Willie: State of mind, in a negative atmosphere with a boss that doesn't support them and appreciate them. You're not going to get a hundred percent out of them. You're not going to get 60%.

Eddie: Correct.

You're going to get those people that are like, all right, I got nine hours. All right. Let's see. Let me see. You know, as you walk into scrolling on social media and that's not what you want.

Eddie: You're not getting the full potential of an employee, which could also be considered your friend. Which is also perfect example of you and I.

Willie: Yeah.

Eddie: Like our culture within each other. Yeah. It started as, you know, I was going to be a media guy. We were going to take care of A's Ornamental and the things that we would put out to grow your business, of course. But we became more than that. And not only are we friends, but we created something together, which is The Plant Movement Podcast. It came from Willie's idea to be out there in media and seeing that there's no media out there for your industry, you know, the plant industry and my mind coming to the sense of, YO, you want to speak and this is what you want. You want to be the voice. You wanting to be a voice for the industry and what better way than a podcast. So with that idea, and you wanting to do what you want to do and grasp the industry, speak for the industry, speak for the green industry. We created something that's powerful. That's creating a network, a friendship, with so many people, because it's more than just, us talking about a business and what they do. No, we're establishing a friendship with a different aspect of the industry..

Willie: And relationships that are more powerful than money. At the end of the day.

Eddie: You and I right now are creating something that, you know, that's going to last a long time that you could come back to our first, second, third, fourth, fifth episode and you can learn something from it. You're getting a different culture, different mindset, a different perspective from somebody who's also in the industry, that's also has a business, that's also is working towards something, and you get to hear how they started. You could tell that what Willie does with his culture as in the business, it's also implemented in the way that we interview. It relates, you know, we're asking questions. We want to know a little bit more about them. We want to know how they did start, where they're going, what their plans are, what they see for the future. That is a culture that you got to establish within yourself. If you want to be a successful, happy business owner, that's not concerned about the people, Oh my God, now I got to go look for somebody else because they lasted two weeks. They lasted three weeks. Creating a community within your business can help you elevate for a long time. Not just, you know, momentarily, you know, a year old, now I got to go look for more people. You create a good culture. You're creating a family.