Building a Thriving Family Business with Emotional Intelligence

Damon Pistulka  00:03

All right, everyone. Welcome once again, it is Friday and you know what that means? It is time for manufacturing ecommerce success. I am one of the CO hosts here, Damon Pistulka. That pretty gentleman right over there. Curt Anderson cohost gonna take it away in a moment. We’re going to be talking today about building a thriving family business with emotional intelligence with the Mischio family. Curt, take it away,

Curt Anderson  00:34

dude, Damon, I did you get a good night’s sleep last night? Like I texted him and I said, Dude, you gotta go to bed early for this one because like, you need a lot of rest for the 15 acres that a boy. So hey, got what? This is. Huge, huge day. Now. And unfortunately, I won’t be here for the rest of the episode. Because whenever there’s the word intelligence in the headline of our show, unfortunately, I cannot be here. My wife told me that just kidding. So you guys are stuck. So hey, I want to do some introductions here. This is such an I’m like proud uncle Curt. Today, we’re going to go around the horn. So you know, let’s start with a patriot. Let’s start with let’s start with Greg. Greg’s a seasoned, you know, repeat offender. We’ve got Greg miss you here, Greg. Happy Friday. How are you? Dude?

Greg Mischio  01:21

Happy Friday, Curt and Damon, great to be back. As always appreciate you having us on.

Curt Anderson  01:26

Man. You know, now, dude, you need to be a little better judge of character. Because not only have you come back over and over now you’re you drag your family into this little thing. Hey, let’s do some introductions. How about your wonderful, amazing, beautiful wife who can share and give a little induction? How are you what’s going on here?

Sharon Mischio  01:43

Hi, I’m great. I’m really excited to be a part of this and hear what everybody has to say and hopefully add something interesting.

Curt Anderson  01:52

Well, we can’t wait. You know what we might just have with the guys. We’re gonna just talk to you the whole time. So just learning. So now we’ve got a wonderful family fair. We have the Mischio family what just come into his life from Wisconsin, and we’ve got the one the only the favorite child. Don’t tell your daughter. We’ve got Sam Mischio in the house, Sam. Happy Friday. How are you man?

02:12

Hey, Curt. Hey

Samuel Mischio  02:12

Damon. I’m doing doing well. Really happy, really excited and honored to be here. Thanks for this opportunity.

Curt Anderson  02:19

Okay, so now, Greg, as you well know, I’m a huge raving fan of dad, right? You’ve been on the show. We’ve talked about George, I think number of times what an inspiration. You’ve got a great blog post on your website, if I recall, kind of telling his story. And now I just I found out another great little weak chair and you got to just tell us what tell us this little connection that you just told us before we went live what how did you and Greg, what do you guys, how did you come together? We

Sharon Mischio  02:46

came together in high school because our dads previously had lived in New Jersey and towns right next to each other but did not know each other. And then they each got jobs at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. So that is how Greg and I met.

Curt Anderson  03:03

And you guys, you guys been together? About two or three years now? How long has it been?

Sharon Mischio  03:08

Well, 38 years since we started dating. Actually, we just hit 3939 I

Greg Mischio  03:17

was gonna correct you there. Sharon. I

Curt Anderson  03:19

was gonna know, Greg, good. Good, man. You know better, right? Never Correct. Never correct the public. Right. So. So I let’s dive in. This is such an honor. You’re out there. drop us a note. Let us know you’re there. First off. Secondly, do us a favor, connect with share and connect with Greg connect with Sam on LinkedIn or whatever social media platform you’re coming to us at? We would trust me. There’s a ton of valuable information. We’re going to dive into family business and I’d say this is a great topic. We have not gone deep on this one. Damon, I can’t wait to dive in. Greg, I’m going to come to you in one second. But you know, I have this wonderful question that I love to ask. And that’s how I know all about George. So Sharon, I’ve decided I’m going to hit you with it. Okay, Sharon, little girl growing up. Now you got this jersey thing going on? You got the Wisconsin when you were little girl growing up before you met a wonderful, amazing, incredible Greg, Mischio, who was your hero? Who was your hero when you were a little girl growing up?

Sharon Mischio  04:18

Whoa, that’s a good question. I you know, I am an only child. So I think honestly, both my parents were my heroes. I was we were a super, super close family. And my parents had me when they were a little bit older. So they were very, very involved. And so yeah, I would have to say my mom and my dad. Alright,

Curt Anderson  04:42

great. We one of our favorite answers right there. Sure. All right, if we were doing like that Newlywed Game, I’m going to I’m going to ask you Do you know who Greg said? So we said George Murphy. I think I brought up George. I’m going to Greg you know what I’m talking about Sharon. Do you have any idea when I asked Greg, your husband your Favorite husband? What who his hero was when he was growing up? Who do you think he said? Steve

Sharon Mischio  05:04

Austin?

Curt Anderson  05:05

Oh, you were close. Close. Lehman by any chance it was Steve Martin so yeah, wild and crazy guy. So if you’re if you’re, you know, he’s still around. So if you’re a certain age Google Steve Martin

Damon Pistulka  05:19

flexing on him. It’s there’s a Netflix thing on Steve Martin. That’s great. Yeah, I

Sharon Mischio  05:25

just read about that. Incredible not,

Curt Anderson  05:28

they just put my weekend Damon, thank you. There you go. Hey, we’ve got a few people dropping comments. Yeah, we

Damon Pistulka  05:32

did. Let’s get going here. We got Schuler here today. Hey, Greg. Hey, should I say Lou? I see. Oh, Lulu. Sorry man. Sorry about that. We got Bruce stopping by we got Jason in house. Oh, go you WW stepson goes there. That’s cool. And we got Samuel stopping in. So

Curt Anderson  05:55

gold. Yep. Love it. Absolutely. Absolutely love it. So alright, guys, let’s dive in. Sam, how about I’m gonna throw this at you. You don’t mind putting on the spot? Because Mom and Dad are here little guy growing up in the great state of Wisconsin who who is your hero?

Samuel Mischio  06:09

It’s a good question. Honestly, I would say there was there was maybe a time of growing up but this a this answer has actually developed as I’ve gotten older I’ve taken I’ve had a hero in so many facets of my life. Obviously home life, Mom and Dad. Model everything I do after them and how I’m trying to build my own adult career now. And with I would say athletics can’t look too far. JJ Watt, he’s just like 30 He grew up but 30 minutes from where I’m living right now is not only just an insane athlete, but his work ethic is borderline maniacal and that’s something I’ve tried to take not only in athletics of my own, but then also professional career as well. I would say professionalism and just kind of like there’s a I would throw Nick Saban out there actually I know a lot of people don’t like Nick but I’ve had the the pleasure of seeing him present at a at an event and the wisdom he shared in the span of like an hour changed my life. I use it on a daily basis. And in between, I mean, the sideline rants are one thing but he’s gotten pretty, pretty wise and in his old age, and he has shared a lot of that wisdom with the World Man it’s it’s made a really big difference in my life. So I’ll cut it off there there’s a lot more tangible

Curt Anderson  07:30

man phenomenal answer just hey, you must have really good parents because those were great answers so you know the white brothers you know go out my box A Wheaties I think they’re hanging out in the box Wheaties they must have done something right and Nick Saban whether you know if you’re a Bama supporter or not, you know hands down greatest college coach whether you’re you know on arguably you know bar none so alright to great answers at what Damon what an inspiration so

Damon Pistulka  07:56

yeah, no doubt man.

Curt Anderson  07:58

Okay, we got Dale here’s today Damon. He says Go Team miss you. How

Damon Pistulka  08:02

about that one? Oh, yeah, yeah. Hey, Dale’s high today.

Curt Anderson  08:07

All right, so hey, let us know you’re out there, drop us know give us a big hello, connect with the miss you family on LinkedIn. Please do your thank us later. Greg. I’m gonna start with you. When bound, we’re here to talk about family business and man sharing. I cannot wait to dig into your expertise. Let’s start here. Just share a little bit let’s I’m gonna lay the foundation, who in what is when bound? How do you and your team make the world a better place? Right. So

Greg Mischio  08:32

we are a digital marketing agency. We specialize in manufacturers. We create content and then use marketing to distribute the content, different channels work specifically, really well with small, one or two person marketing teams or companies, manufacturers that don’t have a marketing team at all. And we usually work with manufacturers that are sales driven organizations. We like to say we we create this content to make a digital twin of their sales team and help people get to know them like them and trust them. Well,

Curt Anderson  09:09

dude, you in my world you are the king of no light trust you introduce that term. I shamelessly use that and we reference you Damon, we always reference our friend Greg when we do that, right. Yeah, so many things. I think we do. I don’t know. Do we owe him royalty for that? I don’t know.

Greg Mischio  09:25

Like all smart marketers. I ripped it off from somebody. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  09:28

I did that. So I just I bought it from you. So but anyway, you mentioned you That was my next question. You mentioned the word tuber. I guess it is two words right. digital twin. Can you please share with folks what curious minds want to know what do you mean by this digital twin? What is that? Yeah,

Greg Mischio  09:43

that we have to be careful in the manufacturing world because there’s so many engineers and engineer minds and so they go to the literal interpretation of that, but it’s it’s more of an analogy or metaphor. What we’re trying to do is because People I think up to 60 to 70% of the customer journey occurs before a meaningful interaction with the sales team. People are out there researching online. So you need to get out there online with your messaging. And you want that messaging you want that content to function like a salesperson, you want to get them people to know you with talking about their pain points, you want the content to give them insights. So they’ll like you and how they can improve their business. And then you have to give out the trust elements, case studies, testimonials, things like that. Now, you should have just asked Sharon, all of this, because she can recite this from memory from hearing me go through this spiel, in car rides and on the phone. So but that that is essentially what we mean with the digital twin. So we’re not literally replacing the salesperson or creating some kind of AI bot. It’s your content is functioning like a salesperson is over there. Right, Sharon? Absolutely.

Sharon Mischio  11:04

Very good. Awesome.

Curt Anderson  11:07

Hey, that’s fantastic. And so Sharon is Murphy, I’m going to tie in so I’m going to to get into your background. But before I go there, so Greg, just kind of hit it on the head. You know, you’ve heard his pitch over and over for spouses out there. What’s it like being married to an entrepreneur?

Sharon Mischio  11:25

Yeah, it’s, it’s really interesting. It’s, there’s a lot of ups and downs. I think, you know, over the years, I think the older you get to you understand that the highest of the highs aren’t going to stay there. But also the lowest of the lows aren’t going to stay there. And you are able to deal with that a lot better, the more experience that you have. So it definitely takes patience. It takes you know, one day it’s like this is it, I think I need to do something else. And then the next day, it’s like this is the best day ever, you know? So you just kind of get used to that and you ask questions, and I’m really glad that I have a background in coaching, because it has really come in handy. It

Curt Anderson  12:14

Greg It must be very convenient being married to a coach right especially one that works on emotional intelligence share. And I’m I have to we have to talk offline. But yeah, so I let’s let’s start over here. Sam is a young guy growing up. We talked about your heroes if you’re just joining us, so obviously looked up the mom and dad you grew up dad as an entrepreneur, what was it like as a son growing up with an entrepreneurial father?

Samuel Mischio  12:37

Yeah, there was. I learned I learned a lot there were actually a lot of breakfast conversations are what jumped out to me the most especially when I was coming up through like elementary and middle school dad would often tell Anna and meet over eggs in the morning. Like what was what was going on if he was writing an article, what we I remember looking over the Winbond logo when it was first when Winbond was first getting launched dead as my input to help pick the color of orange that we would choose for the logo. So there was always a degree of involvement in that you saw things picked up bits and pieces here and there long before I joined the wind mountain team. So it was it was never like God. You I mean, you would never there was no like pressure or anything. There was always just like here if there’s if there’s information if you want it, it’s always of course here we’re going to talk about it. You’ll pick up interesting bits and pieces as you get older. And it just organically kind of seeped in as we went through. It was really nice.

Curt Anderson  13:37

I love David aid. We’ve got a couple of Captain Kirk dropped a couple of

Damon Pistulka  13:40

Yeah, I know he did. He said his first one. He said no light, no respect and trust. There we go. And then he’s like no digital clones. He loves that part about it. Then we got another comment here. I’ve wondered this for years about the digital twin. He said the digital twin revealed. There we go. Thanks so much for the comments. I love

Curt Anderson  13:59

1. And again, if you want to go deeper, you know, Greg dropped you know what, Greg that might have gotten to if you want to put that in a chat. Oh, might have gone the other chat but go to when bound and if you do if you Google digital twin Greg issue checkout, go to Greg issues, LinkedIn page, go to when bound and one thing that I love about when bound you know, there’s a lot of marketers, Damon, you know, and maybe I’m guilty of it, but you know, we call it the cobblers kids with no shoes. You go to when bound there is a ton he’s the marketer that has a wealth of information on his website, blogs like crazy and one thing that I really love and admire that you do, Greg is like you’re always shining a light on other people, even even competitors, other people in marketing. You do an amazing job. But if you’re you know you’re looking for some b2b marketing expertise, go to wind down and there’s a ton of information. Greg, let’s come back to you, David. Go ahead.

Damon Pistulka  14:52

We got a great question here from Dale and we can get this answered while we’re in there. If I’m missed it. What was the moment of inspiration for the name when bound ALS?

Greg Mischio  15:06

Yeah, it actually in retrospect, I, the name did not pass the radio test. So if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re starting your company, think of the radio test, can you say your name, and somebody could hear it on the radio and be able to spell it correctly? Well, I shouldn’t have done that. Because everybody says wind bound, I have to spell the thing out whenever I’m talking to vendors, or whoever, it’s kind of a nightmare. But it actually started with because we do inbound marketing. Content marketing is sometimes called inbound marketing, you’re bringing content that brings people to site. And then when we initially started out, and we still do this, we did conversion testing. So not only were we going to bring people to the site, but we were going to do conversion testing on the website. So you would get the when, you know, with your inbound so yeah, I actually, again, at front, I was talking with a friend about this and he brainstormed the idea and you know, again, like a good good marketer, I ripped it right off. And, and, and that’s, that’s where it came from.

Curt Anderson  16:15

So you know what, Greg, I think it’s a I love the name and I love what you’re what I usually hear you say is hey, when you when you team up with the with the misuse, you’re bound to win. So again, when found, I personally I think it passes the radio test. I love it. Great name. So I want to I want to I want to tie him with Sharon made a comment. Greg, is that true? Is that I want to dispel a myth is are there highs and lows and entrepreneurship?

16:41

I’m just just a couple.

Curt Anderson  16:45

One or two? Right? Yeah. So what year did you start winning round?

Greg Mischio  16:50

This is actually our 10th year, our 10th

Curt Anderson  16:52

year. Okay, so just what am I gonna do? I’m gonna I want to chime in again, we’re here to talk about family business with emotional intelligence, which is way out of my league, but just share a little bit like the 10 year journey, you know, how have you grown? Have you become more seasoned? If I could use the word mature? You know, how have you grown as an entrepreneur?

Greg Mischio  17:10

Yeah, I think it’s a good segue into the whole emotional intelligence discussion. About I started out with no real ambition to be an agency owner, I just thought it was a great opportunity. I had a lot of writer friends who were always looking for work. And it was we were getting clients and we need a great writers. And I liked working with writers. So like, Oh, heck, get out, try. We’ll try this agency. And we’ll try and build this. And I would say that definitely in my early days of management, and I think my team will back me up, or at least one of the people has been with us for a while is really kind of seeing the difference. I was definitely lacking on the emotional intelligence side. I was not a real empathetic editor. And you know, I think I came from the school of hard knocks kind of, you know, I’m gonna just edit this, and, you know, you got to deal with it. And I think about I’m not sure when this was but it was before I hired Sam, I had given him a book by Gary. Sam pronounce the last name.

Samuel Mischio  18:30

Oh, Vaynerchuk.

Greg Mischio  18:32

Yeah, your god blow up his last name. Jab,

Curt Anderson  18:37

jab punch was one of those books, right?

Greg Mischio  18:42

What’s the title against him? 12 and a half. Yeah. He So Sam, I gave this to Sam, a friend of mine and given it to me, and he was talking about the books about soft skills. And you know, me, I’m like, Hey, man, I don’t have time for this. I am tactics and strategies, we got a win. Here’s Sam, you want to read this? And I think at this time, I’m not sure we’re if you were in college, or you were just starting one of your first jobs, Sam, but Sam gave it back to me. And he said, Hey, Dad, you know, Gary said that emotional intelligence is going to be the number one hiring trait for people in the future. And that I that just stopped me and I’m like, what, what, first of all, what is emotional intelligence? And what is he talking about? So I read the book. And there was also things going on with me personally that I think, I don’t know. I was not like, just in my relationship. I think Sharon and I have had a great relationship over the years but you know, there would be things that I would think about like cheese you know, we would if I got if we got an argument over something I was thinking about my Self and how I was during the argument, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like I didn’t like me. And so I read this book by Gary from Sam. And I’m like, Oh my God, I don’t do any of this. I have no empathy. I mean, no might not be it might be a strong word, but I don’t have much empathy. Yeah. I’m, and really, it stopped. It really started all there. And so then I really started, do a deep dive in emotional intelligence. And churn can probably tell you more, but I feel like it, it definitely transition me as a boss. And in that’s when, you know, I never considered Sam as a possibility for coming on. Because I think Sharon could probably shed some light on this. She said a few years ago, you would not have been ready for him, you would have been a good boss for him. But just that transition, seeing people, it’s just and my my team has, like, I definitely am different when when I’m dealing with my team. My one employee said like, there was like a moment where you flip the switch. And he’s like, now you’re I can’t I can’t imagine a better. Yeah, he’s very happy to be working with us. Wow.

Curt Anderson  21:17

Hi, Damien. How about So sure, in our little show, we call it we call these trap the mic moments that might that might be then we have when it gets higher level we caught moment of silence. Let’s just like take a moment just a sleeve or, Greg, I have a round of applause for Greg right there. Dude, I like I know. Do you ever get chills? I mean, listen to what you just heard, right? had the wherewithal had the humility to understand like, I want to be better. I want to get better. I want to like be a better boss, better teammate better leader and have that. Like dude, you just, man. That’s good. Okay, Sharon, your background? If I understand? I did, I did a little stalking just a little bit about your teeth. Were you a school teacher? Did I say that correctly? So yes, it man, I need to get together with Miss shoes. I’m coming out my wife, Jill. She’s a 20. Some year 2025 year school, you know, she teaches pre K, I think I saw you did first graders. So share with us just a little bit on your background as a teacher, and then I’m going to get into you are now a parent coach, if I understand it. So there’s a little, little background, I’m going to lay the foundation there, then we’re going to get into this emotional intelligence. Sure.

Sharon Mischio  22:24

Yeah. So I taught first grade, I taught fourth grade. Worked with teenagers for a while. So lots of experience with kids. But in working with children, you’re also working with their parents a lot. And I loved both, I loved my job very, very much. And it was kind of a natural thing to transition to being a parent coach. And the the training that I got was really awesome, because in to get into the particular program that I did, you had to already have a degree in education or sociology, or something like that, where you had the background. And it was really all about the coaching this program, which was wonderful. So we read a lot of good books, we and I really learned specific types of questions to ask. And that really make people bring out their own curiosity about what’s going on. And make them think without getting offended, or kind of shutting down their brain. It’s about keeping them in a positive space in their brain so that there’s room to learn and grow. Because if we get a negative question right away, your brain will shut down and it can’t do anything. So it just kind of came about in this amazing way where Greg was doing some work. And he did a lot of work. He read the book Sam gave him he started listening to a lot of podcasts about emotional intelligence. I mean, the man gets up at 530 or six every morning and works for a couple hours before he actually goes to work, and does his own his own learning so and then we go for really long walks every night. And we would talk about what I was learning in my program. And it really, I mean, I think the universe just sort of made this happen. It’s just amazing how everything that I was learning, I could practice on him. Because the questioning, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking to a parent or a business owner, or your own child. It’s it’s about getting people to think about how and why and what they can do to make changes instead of yes or no questions, you know, did you screw up? Yes. Well, that’s probably not going to get anybody anywhere. So you know, really getting curious and talking about I wonder what happened. Can you tell me more about what you were thinking well, when something went wrong, and so it I listened to him do But now with not only his, you know, people that are working, you know, with it for when bound but also the clients, right? It works that way too. So it’s pretty powerful.

Curt Anderson  25:11

Right? So just just empowering yourself with different tools, different mechanisms to, you know, again, like better, healthier communication, better relationship better understanding. And I think Greg, you know, I don’t know if you use this word, but you know, a little bit more selflessness, and less selfishness if I’m understanding that correctly. Damon, let’s grab there’s a question here that rock Lamont rock, happy Friday, dude, he’s got a rock,

Damon Pistulka  25:35

hey, right. Who are Greg’s heroes to inspiring him to have the grit to that the risk to be an entrepreneur take the risk to be an entrepreneur first of all? And also why ask Sam to suffer and sacrifice?

Greg Mischio  25:51

It’s a good question. I mean, the grit, I you know, rock rock is first of all, rock is a great friend and rock and I ghostwritten rocks book, which is truly I think, an amazing story called they named you right? And rock is very inspiration. I’ve known Rob for years. He’s a real inspiration in terms of grit, and getting in there and taking the punches and getting back up he’s gone through the whole roller coaster ride so I think you know, just inspiration wise for grid is just seeing so many people get out there or win and lose and get back up. We always say the only way you lose is to quit and so I’ve seen so many people get in there and fight it out. And in terms of asking Sam to sacrifice and I forget what the other word was there but I’ll let Sam answer that you know, I I just all I would say is I tried to preface this and try to keep give as many warnings to him that this is not going to be an easy road he’s going to choose if he jumps on board. So

Curt Anderson  27:07

let’s you know what let’s go there so rock thank you for the questionnaire that is awesome and rock I encourage you if you don’t mind, drop your book in the chat love for everybody to get a you know inspiring story here. Jump in the chat. Everybody grab rocks book. Greg was a big part of it right and goes for it. Man. Damian Collins of Greg, Miss you sharing? How did you hit the lotto? My goodness gracious. So let’s

27:33

back up there. Greg. Thank you.

Curt Anderson  27:41

You know, I stand corrected. I told you, I probably shouldn’t be on this episode. Since I keep seeing that word intelligence. I’m like, why am I on this? Alright, Sam, let’s go here, my friend. So hey, I’ve had the honor and privilege I got to hang out with the misuse in Austin, Texas. This you know, what a highlights of 2024. Sam, just share a little bit your background? What were you doing previously, to join in when bound and just walk us through? So say there’s a next gen, you know, we need this next generation coming into, you know, whether you guys like, definitely like, you’re part of manufacturing, right? We need young, energetic passion, the skills, the talent that you bring to manufacturing, what inspires What were you doing before, and what inspired you to jump on board at Winbond.

Samuel Mischio  28:24

So, prior to joining wind down, I was working for the headquarters of a sales and marketing fraternity that I was a part of during college. And that role is there was that was a people facing role that I had. And it was I mean, the fraternity is rooted in people it deals in people helps create salespeople. And so there was a lot of like human learning that took place over those three and a half years that I was there. So then looking to manufacturing and then just kind of knowing being somewhat familiar with the work that that dad was doing with wind mound. That’s kind of where manufacturing is going to end up going. There’s a lot bigger the people component of manufacturing is growing by the day. And it’s evolving rapidly. I think now with what like 35% of the workforce that’s going to be retiring in the next five to 10 years or so. There’s a lot of training that’s going to need to take place and a lot more resource development, new resource development that’s going to need to be taking place in new ways and COVID certainly expedited that process and inherited some of the organic training that may have taken place otherwise, just with observing on the job. There’s probably a few year gap there in training. So kind of being able to blend the experience that I had had with a hole with a new challenge with people that I love was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Curt Anderson  29:57

Nice, awesome Hey, I want to I want to I want to segue back what we you mentioned the book that Gary Vee book 12 and a half. Strongly encourage everybody grab that book. How did that book come on your radar? And how did how amazing is that? That you pass it on the dead? How did that book come on your radar?

Samuel Mischio  30:15

I was given it as a gift, actually. Nice.

30:17

Awesome, nice

Damon Pistulka  30:18

bomb.

Greg Mischio  30:20

I gave it to him because I’m like, I don’t know. I’m not gonna read this. It’s here, Sam. You got soft skills.

Curt Anderson  30:29

That’s hysterical. You give it to him. He gives it back to you. So I Greg that’s just like, right? Yeah. So Greg, let’s go here. What was your thought? You know, when when when Sam was growing up in high school, college, Were there ever times where you’re like, Man, I wonder if my kids you know, I don’t like every I was just talking to an entrepreneur this morning, baby boomer. And you know, doesn’t have the prodigal son, the prodigal daughter? What’s my what are my next steps? I’m getting tired. What do I you know, what do I do? What was Was there ever a process of like, you know, hey, is this something I’m building legacy? Next steps? What take us there?

Greg Mischio  31:04

Yeah, so I didn’t want Sam to get into marketing is marketing is really tough. I mean, it seems like a lot of fun. You know, you get to be creative and stuff. But you got to produce results. And so there it is. It’s kind of a roller coaster ride. So Sam grown up, in Sure, Sharon can chime in. But Sam was always he’s always just like, we get a lot of compliments from friends. And people who’ve met Sam over the years, just how conscientious he was. He is always been a really giving kind person definitely takes after mom in that respect. And just it’s been a great kid. And he The other thing about him though, at every level he’s been at, he’s always been a winner. He has been like a state champion, almost state champion in high school, a runner up in the swimming. He’s just always every level he’s got to in college. He was like President of his business and his social fraternities. Like every step he’s gone on. He’s one. So I just kind of had that in the back of my head. And, but then I never knew what his path would be or what he would choose to do. And I never envisioned myself working with him. But I was we were up at a client’s place a family business Delta Montek and Wendy Stromberg, who is the second generation there and on the executive team said to me, have you ever thought about asking Sam if he wants to come into the business because my daughter and as a dancer, and we don’t, we’re not hiring any dancers right now. So I thought, No, I’ve never even thought of him wanting to come in. And what happened was, it kind of led to all this was we’re redoing a our homepage, and I just ran it by Sam and, and his girlfriend, Shelby, and they gave me all this great feedback, and especially Sam and really stuff that made me think so between that and the Gary Vee book, I’m like, Hey, wait a second, I was at a spot where I needed somebody kind of at the entry level to come in and do fill the role of customer success manager, but he didn’t want to hire somebody who had just up and leave, you know, get a couple years worth of knowledge and up and leave. Sam now knows he can’t do that, or he won’t get fed at Christmas time. So locked in. But it just seemed like the planets aligned and so we, you know, we talked about it a lot. I was a lot of hesitancy on my part, probably more or less from just whether Sam can do the job and more Can I can I get him to the point where he needs to be and more concerned with my own managerial skill and the possibility of letting him down but I don’t know we both just decided to take the leap and got a lot of encouragement from mom and still get it and and then you’re you know, we just celebrate as your anniversary the other days. So here we are.

Curt Anderson  34:20

Hi, Dana. Another moment of silence right there dude. So a couple of comments. A Kelly Robinson is here Tommy Robinson

Damon Pistulka  34:26

dropping in say? Hi Greg. Laughing at some you had said That’s awesome. Roxane worked with Greg and the wind bounce seems since 2010. That’s awesome man. And rock also dropped the link in there for his book. So he’s heard that title in there. So yeah, thanks. Thanks so much. Alright, Sharon,

Curt Anderson  34:47

let’s I we’re going to dive deep Sharon. I would love a little coaching lesson from you before we go there. What was going through your mind supportive scary excited when when you her husband and son, you know, come together what was going through your What was your mind going

Sharon Mischio  35:03

through? Right? Well, it is scary because you want your family to get along, and you don’t want work to get in the way of relationships. So of course, I was nervous. I was also really excited because Greg was on this journey already, by the time he decided to hire Sam. And so I knew. I mean, Sam has always had so much emotional intelligence, Greg, and I would joke like, how did we get this child who’s like, so much better than we are? Like, really, like, so good. Good heart and, and just does the right thing without even thinking twice all the time. And so, you know, it was it just seemed right. It just seemed like the right opportunity. And so many things have presented themselves that, you know, have made us not doubt it ever since and just listening to them talk through things. When I’m, you know, our condo is pretty open. So I can hear conversations a lot. And it’s really cool to hear them hash through when things go wrong, because of course they do. And just hear the way they communicate and talk and you know, does that mean, things are perfect and sunny all the time? Of course not. Things happen. And, but it’s really kind of beautiful, to to watch it play out. And I really do believe that our family is closer because of it. You know, even though there are hard and there’s I know that they’ll there will be more hard things that, again, it’s sort of this up and down thing. But having been through it with Greg for so long. Now I know. And I have complete confidence that that these two are running a really good show.

Curt Anderson  36:54

Well, I’ve gotten a beautiful thing, what a great phrase. And again, I got to watch these two in action. Damon’s are like two best buddies. It was just they’re just a breath of fresh air. They have a consistent contagious enthusiasm. I had so much fun with these guys. Guys have integrity. And again, you know what, Charlotte? And you know, when you have a great son, I hate Greg, nothing personal. It’s always you have a great mom. And there’s a great sign. It’s a great mom behind the behind the scenes. And Greg, you know what I’m saying? So totally. Sure, let’s go here. Could you give us a, you know, little coaching lesson, I’m asking for a friend, not for me, not for Damon. So just, you know, take us through a little you know, when you’re working with a client, as a parent, coach, emotional intelligence, I’m not sure exactly where to start, but just you know, what are some what are some tips, strategies that you could empower us with?

Sharon Mischio  37:42

Sure, there’s, there’s so many issues that come up in parenting and in life, and a lot of times, they’re kind of similar, but what comes up a lot for parents is, you know, say, your child is having tantrums, and they’re having tantrums in public or something. So um, you know, what we try to get parents to understand is where their child is developmentally. And what skills they can expect their child to have at that age, and what skills they need to help their child build as a parent, and how to be the leader that that child deserves to have, and also how to take care of themselves so that they can be that leader, who is there for their family? And so, again, it’s kind of that questioning, and it’s asking, hmm, you know, I wonder why these tantrums are happening when we’re at Target at 830 at night. I wonder, you know, let’s talk through that. I wonder if it could be a little too late, or I wonder. So coming at their child with curiosity. You know, basically, it’s about coming at any situation with curiosity. I wonder how we could change that. I wonder what is causing that? How could I do things differently? And can I try that out? And then see how that works? I wonder how that person is feeling? What do they need? Personally? What is that? I asked Greg that a lot about, like, what does so and so what do you think they might need to help them understand or do a job differently or better? And it’s the same thing I would say to parents, let’s think about what does your child need? Well, before we go to target, let’s make sure they’re rested and fed, and that you preload them with you know, we’re not going to get a treat today. You’ve got your cheese stick and your really funky dinosaur bottle of water here. And that’s what we’re going to have. You know, does that always work? No, of course not. Kids are going to have tantrums adults are going to have tantrums. But really, I think curiosity is my number one word for Yeah, emotional intelligence of you know, instead of just saying the other person is wrong, and they should do it your way. Get curious about why they’re doing it that way.

Greg Mischio  40:00

So if I just jumped in, like a perfect example would be me coming and talking to Sharon, why can’t Sam do this job? She will turn it around and say, what does he need to do the job? Right. Right. Be curious about that and ask those questions. Because obviously he wants to do the job. Right.

Curt Anderson  40:25

Yeah, absolutely love that. So I share I know she has been talking my wife. So yeah, I had a tantrum. I’m just kidding. So, Damon, what do you? Well,

Damon Pistulka  40:33

you know, this, I think it’s so great. Sharon, there’s people like your letter helping parents now I’d had this conversation. My mom, she’s 80 just turned 8080. Yes. 80. And she was telling me about how growing up, you know, they were just doing it. They didn’t know what was going on. And now and so you, Greg, Kurt myself, you know, we are our parents did everything we they knew. And a lot of parents today, even younger parents the same thing. But you’re helping them understand different ways of, of being more encouraging. And the emotional intelligence part of that is really understanding how to help people, because that’s how we get better, you know, raise better kids have happier lives. And all the things that haven’t I just saw was so appreciative to hear, hear this and that curiosity is just right at the heart of it all. And what you said Greg to is, is I think in a lot of us in that I’ve gotten to that point or trying to get to that point. Now we look at things as why the heck wasn’t that get done the way? It’s like, What didn’t I do? What did I do? How did I not help them? And when leaders embrace that the organizational culture changes the way people treat each other changes, and it’s such a great thing, but not to get past. Thank you, Sharon, for what you do. Yeah. Last,

Curt Anderson  41:57

what an admirable career the year goes in and a demon, we got another comment from Captain Kirk here.

Damon Pistulka  42:05

Yeah, he’s talking about after work. After having worked in my dad’s manufacturing company, during college, summer breaks, he kind of wanted to get a return on my investment, my college education. And what as at the end, was at the front of the line invited me to join the company, it became a way developed a common purpose, even though he had offered often had different ways of doing things. That’s awesome. And then Greg said this to get curious to understand first is a key aspect of emotional intelligence. And it really is, it’s foundational to it. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  42:40

What a powerful, powerful tool that how you’re enabling people, Sharon, to better understand, you know, and it could be, you know, 55 year old could be whatever age, you know, I’m a little bit hungry. I’m a little bit tired. I’m a little bit cranky. So it wasn’t necessarily how about, you know, something happened hours ago? It was and it just came out in that moment. I love that I know. Gosh, Damon, this is like, I know, we need to start winding down. Sam, I’m gonna go here for a minute. Okay. So you’re coming into a company that’s been established for 10 years, you know, you know, it’s the owner’s son, right? The boss’s son, how do you you know, how do you apply emotional intelligence navigating with coworkers, teammates, dad, boss, like, how are you applying these tools?

Samuel Mischio  43:22

Gosh, how am I applying these tools? Will I get a lot of practice, I do it every everything that I do every day, I try and weave emotional intelligence in there, I try to be conscious of the tone of all of my communications understanding that no matter like, is like I come in with the with the label of the boss’s son. So I’m conscious of that. And I understand that people will see that before they see or get to know me. So I’m not I try and take like any sort of, I try and communicate it as much as I can that hey, I’m here to learn, I ask questions as well. I try not to lead with any sort of thing like acting like I for some reason would know something that they weren’t. It’s I try and keep like experience at the forefront like helped me understand this. And stick to facts as much as possible facts and things that are like universally known. So just just really trying to come in and be a supporter as much as I possibly can. Knowing that, I mean, we see it, it gets amplified quite a bit too, like the I don’t ever want it to turn into a situation where it would be where I could be viewed at with a toxic nepotism label attached to me that’s I’ve taken that on as like a challenge like I never want that attached to me. So kind of understanding that that people if they get an opportunity, they will look at me like that. So I’m really trying to be omnipresent in combating that is how I kind of approach my work every day.

Curt Anderson  45:02

Damon sec, our third moment of silence right there, greg howard. All right, what’s the secret? Greg and Sharon, how do you raise such a wonderful, amazing, bright, mature list goes on. It’s a credit to Sharon Greg. You’re passing a buck. So I’m very modest. But Greg, it kind of runs in your DNA goes to George, and you know, you’re passing it. But I commend both you guys. Let’s start. I know we’re coming into time. Let’s start winding down. Greg. Any thoughts, words of wisdom from an entrepreneur, entrepreneur standpoint, family business, any parting words of wisdom that you’d want to share with folks, strategies, tips that you want to leave us with?

Greg Mischio  45:42

Well, I would say three things. One, our core value at Winbound now is empathy. And that’s it, empathy. So many things can come good things come from that integrity, honesty, all the other things, it’s got to start there. That’s our core value, that NAT alone, too. If you’re out there, and you’re looking for a coach, I think what Sharon has learned, and I’ve gleaned from her, as you know, now that she’s a parent, coach, she’s, I’ve heard her work with, like, up to 10 different parents, and they’ve all had amazing transformations. And Sharon has not told them one single thing to do, she has allowed them to asking curiosity through curiosity, asking them what they want to be as a parent and letting them come to their own discovery. So if you’re working with a coach, I think that’s really important to keep that mindset. And then three, you know, we got to trust the young generate younger generation like this this knucklehead to my left here and you know, we got to get give these guys a chance and let them get them out there and encourage them and give them the opportunity to fail as the road to success as their road to success.

Curt Anderson  47:11

Just we’re just savoring that one Greg for his Madison in humbles Greg is what it’s what. He just makes everybody around him better, man. It’s just iron sharpens iron you hang out with Greg miss you, you just become a better person. Sharon, any Damon, do we have another comment or question here?

Damon Pistulka  47:28

Yeah, we do. It says, Okay, this doll, it’s got a question for Sharon. How do you manage the challenging situation when your husband imposes opinion and son wants to do the work in their own way as sometimes the ego come in between? And people don’t see? Really, which is the best way to do the job? Wow. So dad says one thing, son wants to do it another way? How do you help them see it together? Right.

Sharon Mischio  47:58

And I don’t know if they’re talking about a family business? Or if they’re talking because my answer might be

Curt Anderson  48:06

just couldn’t be both right can be maybe the one printing event. Right. So yeah,

Sharon Mischio  48:11

you know, it takes a lot of talking and listening. The thing about when you’re coaching someone is you find out their unique family dynamic and their unique situation. Yeah, sometimes a question like that is really hard to answer unless you know, a few other little details. And, you know, my biggest thing I tried to tell parents is give your child some autonomy, they might fail. But they’re also going to learn a lot more from that. Unless it’s autonomy where they could be killed or something like it, we’re not going to let our two year old cross the street. But you know, your kid can choose to wear a coat or not a coat, you know, your body, go outside and see what you think the temperature is, and you know what to do, things like that. So you know, that this person, you know, a lot of us when we’ve been around the block of time, or to think we know the best way but a lot of times also, a younger generation has a new way that works really, really great. And we need to give them an opportunity. So if this isn’t a situation where it’s going to, you know, for sure ruin something or you know, it would be great if they can sit down and talk through it and maybe come together and reach a consensus.

Damon Pistulka  49:22

Awesome. Awesome. There you go.

Curt Anderson  49:26

Man, Damon, we’re just like a free coaching lesson to know this just now number. To be honest, I never find out what makes Greg so good. Right. So that we’re getting we’re getting the other side of things here. So, Sam, as we wind down parting thoughts, words of wisdom, anything that you want to share for the younger generation on how to deal with us own owner, goofy people, what are your What are your thoughts there?

Samuel Mischio  49:49

I would say there’s a there’s a balance that needs to be observed there first. My first word of advice would be Common with respect, it’s the system has worked for a long time, and the generation who’s handing the reins down has made it that way. So there. And there’s, I mean, decades of experience, that young generation just does not have an experience as the best teacher. So it’s, it would be foolish to dismiss that out of hand. So until like, do the best you can to learn everything, you can ask as many questions as you possibly can, because they’ve seen it happen. And they know some there, they know something that you don’t. And that’s just a fact. So, but then you can take all the facts that you learned from them. And then also apply the facts that you have seen and see if there’s any disconnect in the middle. And that’s your opportunity to come together, improve and build something new. Wow. But you got to keep to do that though. You have to be willing to look for the facts because they’re not just going to present themselves you got to know all ties back to the questions and curiosity. Like know what questions to ask, know what your end goal is. So you can search and obtain that information, and then know how to apply it objectively in the middle so that then you can build something even better. Gosh,

Curt Anderson  51:10

brilliant. Absolutely. dropped the mic again. So Sam, last last question. So I know Mark Twain said when he left us home at 18 He was just shocked and amazed of how smart his father was when he came home at 22 Did you find that when you left the home at 18 and you came home at 22? Do you find your dad was a little bit smarter?

Samuel Mischio  51:29

Oh I still find that out every day. Now it’s been I mean ever since ever since it’s been nine years almost

Curt Anderson  51:38

every day isn’t it? So yeah, it’s just and

Samuel Mischio  51:41

that’s experienced coming into play with like all the things and now I remember things that I didn’t back then because it now has returned to my life things that advice I was given that I may have like brushed off before yep, that’s that is 100% true

Curt Anderson  51:57

yeah, he was like yeah, I guess he I guess the the old man didn’t know what he was talking about. So I absolutely love it so i We’re gonna wind down in Michigan so I have the they’re just absolutely crushing it they’ve got a ton of things to do it was just such an honor privilege that they took an hour out of their day to join us I cannot express my thanks my gratitude my admiration. My know like trust Greg miss you just this was just such I had such high expectations and you guys just absolutely just what blu ray pass says so Damon, as we close down, I always love to say hey, just go out and be someone’s inspiration. Just like the three issues here. And how about if you’ve been hanging out with us for you know, how about a big round of applause? You know, jump out of your chair give a standing ovation for Sharon, Greg, Sam issue joint connect with them on LinkedIn. Go to when bound and if you’re a manufacturer out there, do yourself a favor. Check out what’s going on with Greg at wind down. Our parents out there. You need a little coaching lesson. Check out our friend Sharon Miss Chu. She is here to help. My god demon. I’m like a proud uncle right now. So

Samuel Mischio  53:04

one real thing I think this actually this is one thing I’m glad Casey Hardison. I’m glad you said this curiosity killed the cat. That is right to a certain degree. But that’s curiosity applied without emotional intelligence. Like if you stick your head in a rocket tube before it starts off. Of course, Curiosity is going to kill you. But you need to kind of sense when and where to be curious.

Damon Pistulka  53:27

Yep. Great point. That’s

Curt Anderson  53:29

look what happened to me. Right Sam saw I’m just I guess we’re gonna close it down. We want to just thank everybody for joining us, Damon, close us out. Well, you my friend.

Damon Pistulka  53:38

All right. Well, I just want to thank everyone for being here today. First of all, the Michelle’s being here. So cool to have Sharon and Greg and Sam here with us today talking about emotional intelligence and building a thriving family business with emotional intelligence. Also want to think Bruce, Captain Kirk Casey Dalet. And wow, there’s so many other people in here, Kelly Robinson for stopping by rock for stopping by long term friend and client work together with Greg and then we’ve got Oh God, we got Dale was here today. I’m just going back through him meet and oh, there’s so many Jason Schuler Oh, thanks for everyone for being here and drop in the comments. If you got in here late. Go back to the beginning. You’re going to be ready to go. You should listen to this and go back through it again. Wow, we are done today. We will be back again next week. Everyone Hanging Out guys and we’ll finish up offline. Everybody else be incredible this weekend.