Advertise on podcast: The Practice Builder

Shelley Woodrow has done more talks than most Implementers will do in a career. She is a Certified EOS® Implementer in Las Vegas with about 420 sessions and seven and a half years in the field. On The Practice Builder this week, she sat down with Chris Beer to break down how she approaches the talk, from booking to follow-up to conversion. One lesson stood out above the rest, and it came from losing what she assumed was a clear win. Chapters: 00:00 The Art and Science of the Talk 02:41 Demystifying the Talk Process 05:08 Engaging with the Audience 07:40 Success Stories from Talks 10:15 The Importance of Connection 12:39 Biz Development and Client Management 15:09 Building Relationships in the EOS Community 17:49 Collaborative Talks and Their Benefits 20:37 Finding Authenticity in Business Development

Mike Abercrombie is about to tick over a thousand EOS® sessions. On the episode, he shared a three-word framework for the Implementer career arc: learn, earn, return. Simple enough to sound like a bumper sticker. But the way he mapped it to his own ten-year practice turns it into something more diagnostic than that. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to the EOS Journey 02:22 The Learn, Earn, Return Philosophy 05:15 Navigating the Learning Phase 07:39 Graduation and Client Independence 10:15 The Importance of Community 12:42 Balancing Work and Life 15:40 Building Trust in the EOS Community 18:00 The Power of Peer Relationships 20:16 Contributions to Local EOS Communities 22:44 Final Thoughts on Mastery and Community

Adam Goldschmiedt crossed 200 sessions recently. He has been implementing for three and a half years, and somewhere in that stretch he stopped trying to be the Implementer he thought clients wanted and started being the one he actually is. That shift sounds simple. It was not. And the moment it clicked was a twenty-second decision in his car on the way to meet a prospect. Chapters: 00:00 From 100 to 200 Sessions 03:13 Why Focus Days Are Hard 05:27 A Better Focus Day Landing 08:24 Humility, Confidence & Growth 13:17 Early Days as an Implementer 16:27 Taking the Leap into EOS 18:51 Finding Your Own Style 23:10 Core Values & Emotional Capacity

Rob Drynan has been an EOS® Implementer for about five years and is somewhere around 300 sessions in. On the latest episode of The Practice Builder, Chris Beer sat down with him to talk about what happens when he started showing up on behalf of the greater good of the organization The most useful part came near the end, when Chris Beer asked what Rob is doing to get better as an Implementer. His answer had nothing to do with tools. Chapters: 00:00 Balancing Money, Time, and Energy 02:17 Building a Sustainable Client Calendar 03:49 Business Development Beyond Client Sessions 05:39 Referrals and Growing a Practice 08:30 Learning Through the Implementer Community 13:19 Curiosity, Assumptions, and Facilitation 16:16 Getting Better by Being Direct 17:50 How the Work Changes Your Life

Kurt Schneiber has been implementing in Houston for 12 years. He came into his EOS practice cold: no network, no referrals, nobody in the city except his daughter. In 12 months he had 21 clients. He pushed his chair away from his desk on day one and said he wouldn't sit down until he had 20. His passion, in one sentence: he exists to make a positive, meaningful, and lasting difference in the lives of the people he meets every day. The hustle is the easy part to see. The harder question is why it holds for 12 years and why, for most Implementers, it eventually doesn't. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to the EOS Community 01:47 Universal Challenges for Implementers 03:17 Finding and Connecting with Passion 07:30 The Importance of Accountability and Impact 13:14 Facilitation Techniques and Physical Engagement 19:39 Delivering Peace and Purpose in Business

Josh Holtzman is about nine and a half years and just past 1,001 sessions into implementing. He is co-authoring a book about Vision, the newest book in the Traction library, and for years he has been fixated on one topic in particular: the State of the Company meeting. Talking to him surfaced something uncomfortable. Most Implementers install the rollout meeting, then watch the whole-company cadence quietly disappear. Josh thinks that gap is the Implementer's fault, not the client's. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and Josh’s EOS Journey 01:58 Why State of the Company Meetings Matter 03:31 Starting the 90-Day Cadence 06:00 Making the Quarterly Rhythm Stick 07:49 Choosing the Right Meeting Format 10:07 Who Should Lead the Meeting? 14:45 Accountability and Sustainable Momentum 17:07 Turning the Meeting into a Culture Builder 21:06 The Magnet 360 Leadership Story 22:41 Developing the Next Generation of Implementers

John McMahon has been an EOS® Implementer in Chicago for twelve years, a little past a thousand sessions. Chris Beer brought him on The Practice Builder to talk about storytelling and human connection. The moment worth stealing, though, was smaller and stranger: a point about the telephone. Specifically, why a piece of technology from the last century has quietly become one of the most effective business-development tools an Implementer has. Chapters: 00:00 The Foundation of Practice Building 02:38 The Power of Storytelling in Connection 04:53 Navigating Modern Communication Challenges 07:32 The Shift in Client Engagement Strategies 10:06 Facilitating Meaningful Conversations 12:08 The Role of the Facilitator in Team Dynamics

Paul Detlefs has been an EOS® Implementer for fifteen years, which puts him eleventh in tenure across the whole community. By any measure he knew the material cold. And for years he underachieved anyway, bouncing between ten and fourteen clients while peers kept telling him he had more in him. He even lost his designation for a stretch and sat out six months to get his act together. On the podcast he tells Chris Beer what finally moved the needle, and it was not a better pitch. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to EOS Implementer Practice 01:03 Paul Detlefs: A Journey of Discovery 04:38 Evolution of an EOS Implementer 07:09 Business Development Insights 14:24 The Power of Peer Groups 20:36 Building Community in New Markets

Mark O'Donnell is Visionary of EOS Worldwide now, but before that he built one of the busiest practices in the EOS® community, 34 clients at his peak. On the latest Practice Builder episode, he let Chris Beer take him back to those years of “Mark, the Practice Builder.” The thread running through the whole conversation was a question every Implementer half-asks themselves: what separates the ones who take off from the ones who stall? Mark's answer has nothing to do with the tools. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:41 Mark O'Donnell's journey as an implementer 06:08 The implementer–client relationship 10:41 Competition and motivation in the EOS community 14:16 AI and the future of coaching 14:53 The premiumization of implementers 18:32 AI and accountability 22:46 Building a successful implementer practice 29:07 The identity shift of becoming an implementer

Stas Balanevsky has been an EOS® Implementer in Buffalo for five and a half years, running a practice built almost entirely on doing good work in the room and picking up the phone.   Chris Beer sat down with him to dig into the part of the job that happens outside the session room: the client experience. His answer wasn't a framework or a follow-up cadence. It was a book. Chapters:  00:00 Introduction to EOS Implementation 02:23 The Importance of Client Experience 04:50 Building Community Among Integrators 07:18 Engagement Strategies for Clients 09:43 Understanding Graduation in EOS 11:38 Navigating Self-Implementation Challenges 15:31 Navigating Change and Optimization 17:12 Learning from Experience: Common Traps in Implementation 17:35 The Importance of Reps and Authenticity in Client Work 22:17 Embracing Mistakes as Learning Opportunities 24:24 Building Community: The Power of Support Networks

Scott Rusnak has been an EOS® Implementer for close to a decade, longer if you count the years before he officially joined the community. He ran more than 150 session days last year and coaches other Implementers on the side. When Chris Beer asked him how he keeps his pipeline full, his answer was blunt. He doesn't do business development. He spent the rest of the episode explaining what he does instead. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Building a Practice 01:00 The Importance of Focus Days 02:52 Building Relationships Through Shared Experiences 05:22 Mindset and Business Development 07:36 Redefining Business Development 09:33 Surrounding Yourself with the Right People 11:28 Evaluating Your Concentric Circles 13:12 The Impact of Relationships on Business 15:22 Integrating Work and Life 17:44 Future Goals for the Practice

Jim Coyle has been implementing EOS® for 15 years, with more than 1,300 sessions behind him. He also built Nexus, a group of implementers who wanted to be in business for themselves without being by themselves. Jim is a striver, and he knows it. This is a conversation about what happens when a striver builds the practice he always wanted, then finds it starting to look a lot like the treadmill he thought he'd escaped. Chapters: 00:16 Introduction to Practice Building and Jim Coyle 01:59 The Striver’s Mindset and Its Challenges 04:54 Overcoming Overwork and the Badge of Honor 07:47 The Discomfort of Quiet and Reflection 10:47 Celebrating Different Journeys in Practice 15:38 Deepening Client Impact and Love for Work 17:07 Balancing Life and Practice with Intentionality 20:32 The Role of Clarity Breaks and Self-Care 23:49 Final Thoughts: Love, Intentionality, and Community

Rip Tilden has been implementing EOS since 2009, which means he has run seventeen annual seasons. He is closing in on 900 sessions with somewhere near 100 client teams. When Chris Beer asked him about celebrating wins, Rip went somewhere else entirely. He talked about the season that nearly undid him, and the ordinary scheduling fix that most Implementers never think to ask for. Chapters:  00:00 Introduction to EOS Implementer Practices 02:29 Building Relationships with Clients 04:45 Navigating Tough People Decisions 07:04 The Challenge of Non-Target Market Clients 09:28 Celebrating Wins and Milestones 11:50 Intentional Scheduling and Client Management 14:33 The Trusted Advisor Relationship 16:21 Delivering Value to Clients 18:55 Authenticity in Client Relationships

Ted Bradshaw has spent ten years as an EOS® Implementer and run more than 1,300 sessions. He also trains new Implementers coming out of boot camp, so he sees the field at both ends: people on day one, and people a thousand sessions deep. What he's noticed connects them. The doubt a new Implementer feels before their hundredth session doesn't fade with experience. It comes back at the thousandth, wearing different clothes. Chapters: 00:00 Building an EOS Practice 01:44 Commitment Over Conditions 05:43 Building the Right Network 08:35 Purpose, Relationships & Mindset 10:53 The Transition Behind Every New Practice 13:43 Facing the Hard Work 15:19 Ownership & Responsibility 20:08 The Proven Path to Progress 22:27 Sustaining the Practice Over Time

CJ Dube’ shares her philosophy on staying present in the room, why pen to paper helps her keep full attention on the team in front of her, no PowerPoints, no distractions. She also gets candid about what it actually takes to build a lasting practice: there's no magic wand for filling your pipeline, just grit and doing the work. Along the way, she opens up about her own 16-year journey, over 2,200 sessions, and the small team she's built to support a practice at that scale. Chapters 00:00 The journey of building a practice 03:03 Delivering value to clients 06:04 The importance of personal health 09:11 Managing a growing practice 12:07 Building a supportive team 14:53 Creating an intentional culture 18:10 Lessons from the EOS community