Business Mastery with Corey Anker, Executive Coach and Founder of Ankerline Coaching and Consulting

Ask Brien Episode 175 - Business Mastery with Corey Anker, Executive Coach and Founder of Ankerline Coaching and Consulting

Narrator: [: 00:00:00

Peter Bronstein: Welcome, welcome, welcome. You're listening to the Ask Brian Radio Show on KHS 1220 and 98. 1 FM. Well, we've been doing this show for a while. We've changed a couple of bits here and there, but we always go back to the premise of Ask Brian. We always go back to the premise of trying to help people in business, but everybody will always want to know why Brian is spelled with an E.

ut not too many people are B [: 00:01:00

Traci DeForge: I am here and man, I gotta be a resident expert in something so it might as well be the ease right and We are also resident experts in entrepreneurship here on the show.

So that's pretty exciting And but our most infamous And special E is, of course, our engineer, Jen. Yay.

Jenn: Infamous, wow. Thank you, Tracy. Yeah, I was

Traci DeForge: just going to

Jenn: say that. Yeah, your name is all over the internet. It's everywhere.

Traci DeForge: I kind of felt like, you know, maybe I should have used the word, like, patient, tolerant.

ow, you tolerate us, but you [: 00:02:00

Jenn: Well, I do not have to tolerate you. You are a, uh, ray of sunshine, Peter, on the other hand, so yes, I'll go ahead and take that. That goes

Peter Bronstein: completely, hold on.

That goes completely against our whole entire philosophy. One of the E's is empathy. So how we empathize. Yeah.

Traci DeForge: Yeah. I'm showing empathy to them. That's what I'm doing. And if you knew what empathy meant, you would be aware of that.

Jenn: Tracy has all the empathy.

Peter Bronstein: Tracy, you should change your name to have an E in it.

Traci DeForge: I know I need to, but you know what? I'm getting some pretty exceptional feedback from Ben today. So I'm just going to go with it. And, um, but more so than just us and talking about us, we really need to talk about our experts because if it wasn't for our engineer, which we covered. And our experts, we really actually wouldn't have a show because people probably wouldn't listen to this speeder and we'd ramble on about ourselves.

Our expert [: 00:03:00

And oh my goodness, our experts, they will surpass that. We have experts that have been doing what they've been doing for years and years. And if you need the mathematical breakdown, just because Peter always likes to challenge me to do that, to get to those 10, 000 hours, you would need to invest approximately 40 hours a week over the course of 50 ish weeks a year for a total of approximately five years.

to this show once, you know, [: 00:04:00

So that's the math, and those are the experts. And for that, we just get around here. We're pretty enthusiastic about what we do. Right, Peter?

Peter Bronstein: And you, everybody knows how.

Traci DeForge: We get it, we get it, we get that excited. Okay. But we do get the education component of our show, because if it wasn't for our experts providing us this amazing education, then our entrepreneurs would not be able to shorten their learning curve. And I think that's one of the biggest benefits of the Aspiron radio show is to really help all of you out there who are striving to really be successful in your business.

[: 00:05:00

Peter Bronstein: You know, I alluded to it earlier and I'm surprised you didn't use the word empathy, but I guess I'll have to be the one that's in charge of empathy, even though I'm the also the other biggie, which is ego.

So,

Traci DeForge: yeah, well, I mean, I was gonna say you're missing empathy and awful lot today so maybe you're just Finally, after eight years, it's coming around to the term. I

Peter Bronstein: don't know what the word means, but I've heard it before. He nailed it.

Traci DeForge: Well, maybe it's one of those things. If you stay at enough times, it will become true.

Peter Bronstein: I want to be a billionaire. I want to be a billionaire. I want to be a billionaire. Hey, I checked my bank. Well, you know what? Our

Traci DeForge: expert is going to really be able to, um, help it focus on mindset today. So you might just be on the right path and didn't even know it.

I think at this point we do [: 00:06:00

Okay. It's not any of the one. Yes,

Traci DeForge: I think we do. You said it's from Grease Lightning and it's electrifying and so are we. So we think, anyway, we call ourselves electrifying even if no one else does.

Peter Bronstein: Well, some people want us to be. Electrocuted. Alright, so let's go. Oh

Jenn: no! That's terrible! Don't

Traci DeForge: say that!

You're

Jenn: going dark, Peter. What is going on? It's too dark. I mean, I would

Traci DeForge: think that you were prosecuting an attorney the way you're talking. Yeah.

Peter Bronstein: And here's my first indictment, which has an I, not an E. Alright, so, with all of that said, We have a guest who may or may not have still be on the line. He may have said, why did I get on the show?

I gotta tell you, I tried to [: 00:07:00

Hey Peter. Hey Tracy. How are you? Super, super glad to have you on the show. Not everybody knows who you are. Basically, I want to quickly go over what your background is, and then we can get into what you're currently doing. But let's give a little bit of a background, short summary, and tell us who you are.

Well, my name is Corey Anker. I operate under

Corey Anker: the modicum of Executive Leadership Coach. And I've been making my living for the past 15 years, helping to support, you know, high performing leaders in various sectors of industry, real estate, finance, people that, you know, hold space for a lot. They tend to be the heads of teams, companies, their family, and they've got multiple commitments and they're always trying to keep all the plates spinning.

And I try to make it a little easier for them.

Peter Bronstein: What did you do before that?

year voiceover [: 00:08:00

Peter Bronstein: Well, that's pretty good industry to get into. Not everybody can get into that industry. So then you decided to start this company for executive leadership. And what prompted you to get into that?

Corey Anker: You know, I've been doing, you know, the quote unquote work unofficially for a long time. And basically, the concentric circles of folks around me in my life, my friends, my family, colleagues, people kept coming to me for my input.

And even though coaching and advice are not the same thing, they do have some overlap. And, you know, people were saying to me, listen, you know, you got to do something with it. And what they meant by this was their sense, right or wrong, that they found a modicum of intelligence and communication skills.

ought up the idea of empathy [: 00:09:00

And then I gave them what I thought was the best input. You know, to help them from, from where they were. And then when it became clear that this was something I was really going to pursue, I went and I got some really intense training, not all coaches out there have training I have, as you guys were talking about experts and the thousands of hours I had put all my rest in.

And probably it's been, um, you know, it's been a decade and a half. You can, you can go by your, the math you already used and it's probably far exceeds 10 or 15, 000 hours.

Peter Bronstein: Who was your first client?

n New York city on the third [: 00:10:00

We were getting into some sort of casual conversation, and then he knew that I was in a training program, and he said, would you coach me? And I said, oh, let's, you know, let's try to make it a little more formalized. I shared with him some structures, and he was my first official, official client.

Peter Bronstein: And, without getting into too many details, you know, how did you figure out what's a charge?

Because you're, you're, you're pasted for a client. Excellent question. The

Corey Anker: simple answer to that is, never charge more than you can own. And, you know, charge what you feel, you know, is gonna, it's gonna allow you to show up and bring the value you have to be, you know, I charge what will have me show up and be able to bring my A game and also it should be, you know, you got to put some skin in the game.

comfortable, but if it's too [: 00:11:00

If I believe in an ascending leader who just hasn't, you know, whose results haven't caught up with their effort yet. But, you know, people charge 50 an hour, 100 an hour. When I was training, we related to what we called the low end professional rate as 125 an hour. And then, you know, there are people in the industry that get thousands upon thousands of dollars an hour or, you know, 50, 000 a day, 100, 000 a day.

It's a real diverse range of experience out there.

Peter Bronstein: So, first of all, in a typical day, With a client what are you typically doing for that client? And maybe it's not a day. Maybe it's a weekly. Maybe it's a I don't know how it works Do you frequency do you call them once a week? You know, how does that process?

Yeah well, first of all, this is going to be

Corey Anker: [: 00:12:00

So it's really important that I'm there in partnership with them. Supporting them kind of reading the math, you know, in the shotgun position, but they're behind the steering wheel, they're deciding where we go. So, you know, we jump in a conversation, we get connected for a couple of minutes, they tell me the flavor of the day, what's been going on, where they're at, if it's brand new, a relationship, I'm asking them what they want to accomplish in the session.

If we've been at it a while, they know that question's coming. So they'll volunteer it because, you know, you need a goal, whether it's in the macro arc of life. Or the micro arc of a single conversation. Coaching is all about figuring out the future point you want to arrive at, and then bridging the gap between where you are and where you're going.

ere you are. Not irrelevant, [: 00:13:00

And then we're off to the races. So what am I doing with that? I'm helping them clarify their goals. I'm helping keep them accountable that they are advancing towards their goals. A lot of very intelligent people find themselves quote unquote going dumb and they get confused. You know, fear looks like a lot of different things at a lot of different times.

It's not always hiding under your, your blanket from the boogeyman, you know, sometimes people just get busy or distracted or they change their mind. And so keeping that client on the track that together we built is a fundamental aspect of the work too.

Peter Bronstein: Okay, well, first of all, yeah, you mentioned flavor of the day and that's strawberry.

So I want you to know flavor of the day is nice You're a strawberry guy. Tracy. What's your favorite flavor?

ll about chocolate chocolate [: 00:14:00

Corey Anker: If I was Lady Jane, I could say vanilla and we'd make up Neapolitan I'm a bit more of a, I'm a bit more of a pistachio guy myself, I think, so.

Traci DeForge: Oh, we'll buy some green for money, you know, we'll take that. I like

Peter Bronstein: it. I like it. And a few nuts, because sometimes life's crazy. Jen, what is your favorite flavor? Rocky

Jenn: Road. Rocky Road? Yes. But I'm a Tracy. You have a little Tracy in you. Yeah, yeah. Anything chocolate, certainly not fruit. The fruit is, has no business in my ice cream.

Time and place for fruit. No, but

Traci DeForge: I will take an, I will take an Oreo in any flavor. Oh, yes. So you're going to put, you're going to put an Oreo in it. You can make it strawberry, vanilla, whatever with Oreo. I

Peter Bronstein: don't know how that will taste.

Jenn: Strawberry Oreo.

siness the biggest challenge [: 00:15:00

Corey Anker: is when I see a person who knows that they want more than they currently have.

And to be fair, you know, I'm not out there forcing change on people. If you are happy where you are, and you don't want to change a damn thing, More power to you, but people tap me on the shoulder and they hire me because they want change, they want growth, they want progress, and nothing is harder than watching somebody who is talented, confident, intelligent, even witty, and they're clear, and they see it, and they want it, and they begin the climb, and their legs start to get tired, and they quit on themselves.

I want to, but I can't force [: 00:16:00

So, it's heartbreaking to just watch somebody like, on their way and then just be like, yeah. You know, my legs are tired, I'm sitting down now. And it happens, but part of the deal.

Peter Bronstein: What is the difference between what you're performing in these consulting versus like a psychology, a psychologist? Well, you said consulting, so

Corey Anker: that's actually a third modality, right?

We've got coaching, we've got consulting, and then we've got what's called therapy. So, let's compare coaching to therapy, because I think that's, that was the crux of what you were asking. Therapy tends to be a healing modality. It tends to exist in a past to present timeline, because most people don't seek out therapists because everything's going great, right?

war, you know, decades ago. [: 00:17:00

So you got to talk about what happened back then, how you found yourself where you are, and then, you know, it's like a healing. Coaching is a lot more like climbing a mountain. That it is getting out of a hole or healing. It's in the present to future based space. And the client is related to as fully capable.

My client, I relate to my client as capable. I'm not putting them on my back and carrying them. In therapy, the therapist gets to say, Hey, just like another professional, like a lawyer or a doctor. They're an expert in the concept. They say, Hey, I've seen this before and I know what you need. And they may ask questions like, how does that make you feel?

now, past the present versus [: 00:18:00

Peter Bronstein: Now we're pivoting to Tracy. Well,

Traci DeForge: I'm going to take the pivot with a capital P and I'm going to actually do some, like some coaching scenarios, because I know that there are a lot of listeners out there who are struggling right now with growing, scaling their businesses, marketing, all kinds of things that they'd love to get some on the spot coaching, uh, Insights on so if you're up for it, Corey, let's do some role playing scenarios.

How about that? Of

Corey Anker: course, of course

the VA and I really need to [: 00:19:00

What are some of the tips or what are some of the things that you would help me do to overcome my fear to adding to my team, but also to how do I figure out how to afford it?

Corey Anker: Yeah, great question. First of all, congratulations on getting to a point in your business where you actually feel like you absolutely have to expand.

Not all businesses make it that far. That's worthy, that's worthy of celebrating. Look, this is a very, very common choke point in the growth arc of any business. You know, I don't know if you're a pizza fan, but in Brooklyn, one of the best pizza places probably in the world is a place called Zafarra Pizza.

as all himself by hand until [: 00:20:00

And the guy made every single pie himself because he knew like all good business people who start businesses, that he could trust himself the most, that nobody would make a pie better than him. But that's the problem. You can't scale when your hands are the only hands in the pot. So most business owners.

You know, they're very worried. Nobody's gonna do it as good as I do. Nobody's going to work as late or as hard or as dedicated. Nobody knows the recipe as well as I do. And so it's a very, very frightening growth point you know, the simple answer is it's really time to practice trust. And the way you practice, what makes practicing trust easier is getting a sufficient level of support.

by Jim Collins, but it's an [: 00:21:00

And one of the most important things he said was get the people on the bus, make sure you have the right people around you, people that are committed. People that are coachable, people that, you know, they're one, and, you know, will align as close to your own as possible. Get supported, train people, and slowly, and look, you gotta leap before the net appears.

You know, if you wait until everything is perfectly comfortable to jump, you will probably, not only will you wait too long, you may wait forever. So it's really important to just You know, go for it, build, build the instrument and just leverage it. So I'm gonna start with that.

neur, I know that can make a [: 00:22:00

So just in general, what would you talk through a client? In terms of identifying their money story and managing their money

Corey Anker: story. Great question and absolutely true. We human beings are just absolutely bananas when it comes to money. Some people can't save a dollar to save their life. Other people won't spend an extra 50 cents, you know, on adding extra cheese to a sandwich and everything in between.

Look, at the end of the day, you want an empowered relationship around money. A lot of people have a disempowered relationship around money based on how it was when they were young. Some people make money, you know, if they equate it to their self esteem or security or whatever. And there's, there's a practical value to money, right?

nt situation. There's a very [: 00:23:00

You know, money can always be made. The healthiest, most empowered relationship for money is almost like air. You don't think about it. You know, it's there. And if you want more, you can take another breath. Money can always be made. So that's not to say that you shouldn't, you know, be irresponsible and just run out and spend every penny in your account because you'll make more, but it does mean that you shouldn't allow money to be the thing that gets between you and what it is that you want as an individual, as a business owner, you know, you can go raise money, there's a lot of, so.

It's really about crafting a relationship to money that will support you.

And that leads me to my next [: 00:24:00

When is a good time for business to invest money? Let's say in lead generation.

Corey Anker: I would say it's kind of like. If you had a parachute on your back, or like a hang glider or whatever, and you, you were, you know, gonna like leap off a cliff and fly, when would you jump? And the answer is, you wouldn't jump 50 yards before the edge, you'd jump when it made sense because of where you were and where you, you know, you were gonna like jump into the ether, right?

So it's like, probably, I would say Three to six months before you're really like right there, that's the time to kind of invest those dollars and come out as like a launch and a blast, because really those, that ad spend is just about amplifying your message. So once it's clear. And you have full belief in it.

do. You've got to hone your [: 00:25:00

That's what I would say. Yeah.

Traci DeForge: And you know, I think too, just a point to carry on from that is that whatever you're doing in your business right now, you're going to feel and experience or whatever you're not doing in your business right now, you're going to feel or experience in 90 days. So look today at where you are in your business, what you were doing 90 days ago, and then forecast where you want to be 90 days from now.

Corey Anker: And build a plan. Remember, the pain of discipline pales in comparison to the pain of regret. So, whatever you do, don't stay inactive too long. You know?

Traci DeForge: So, Cory, one of the things that you're seeing, you don't have to, um, you know, break any anonymity with your clients, but what are maybe some of the top three?

ou're seeing kind of show up [: 00:26:00

Corey Anker: Yeah, great. So when we spoke a little bit about it, right, friction points, right? So scale and, and getting to that next gear performance on a team. The, the interpersonal communication and the formation of relationships, integrity, trust, you know, people always like pulling their weight. A lot of times, bigger companies will bring on, you know, some rock stars onto a new team, and they're reliable for certain value and certain skills, but they may, It can sometimes disrupt the vibe of the team or they're not getting the maximum [00:27:00] performance in other ways.

And so it's really, really important for the sake of efficiency and harmony to get everybody on the same page and sort of knowing their role. It's very similar to sports, you know, I work a lot of times also with family businesses, so you can imagine how complex that gets when you're, you know, you're wearing the hat of brother or father or son or daughter or mother, whatever, and also colleague or CEO to a VP or whatever.

So that comes up a lot too.

Traci DeForge: Oh yeah. I can imagine too that you're also dealing. Not only just with the dynamics of family relationships in a family business, but the idea of succession too. I mean, obviously succession was one of the biggest hits on the, on the HBO and the award winning TV series. And not all of us can have the lucrative fortune that that particular family was based on.

n any business, but a family [: 00:28:00

Corey Anker: Yeah, I mean, and by the way, that was an amazing show and they had all that wealth and, you know, even because of it, let alone, you know, in spite of it, they, they, they had plenty of dramatic, dramatic issues.

Traci DeForge: They definitely had, they did not have a lot of empathy in that family. Honestly,

Corey Anker: for the sake of this conversation. Because, you know, we're limited on time. Obviously, this is a subject that we could, there's a lot of meat on this phone, so to speak. I would just say it's really about as much transparency, open communication as possible.

If everybody's on the same page, and it doesn't mean that everybody's getting an equal cut. Partnerships doesn't have to be 50 50, but it's just the idea that everybody's voice is heard. Needs are, you know, accounted for to the extent they can be, because then it's an empowered plan. Then the handoff, the transition, is a lot more empowered.

um, It just cuts down on his [: 00:29:00

You know, so that's what I would say in simple terms.

Traci DeForge: And you know what I think too and also about setting up systems, so whether it's a family owned business or you're just running a business and scaling a team, it's so important to focus on your system so that the business is not so incredibly founder dependent versus just being able to operate on its own.

So, um, that's something that I think People don't talk about enough and we could dig into a little bit more after the break, but there's, especially if you want to sell your business, right? Like you have to, as a founder or person who's running the business, you've got to be able to step away and let your team take over

Corey Anker: and, you know, there's always a transition, right?

Where that [: 00:30:00

Traci DeForge: And I think that's such, such a hard thing as a founder, if you've started as a sole entrepreneur and you've transitioned, like we very first started talking about earlier, and then you built out your team, but you're still, it's still yours, right?

And so it's very hard to kind of get out of that, that day to day operation. So

Corey Anker: if there's enough, if there's enough heroes, it makes it easier.

Traci DeForge: Oh, that's a good point. Yes. Oh, well, Corey, I mean, thank you for indulging me in all the scenarios of entrepreneur challenges. And I know there's so many more that we could have been able to delve into if we had more time.

So our listeners, I'm sure would love to learn more about you, how to get in touch with you, to be able to feel and experience what it would be like to work with you. So what is the best way for anyone to touch base with you after the show?

Corey Anker: Well, if you're listening right now and you want to get in touch with me, and by the way, feel free to, you know, just shoot me an email.

I'm [: 00:31:00

Traci DeForge: And of course we'll have that along with all the other resources and key takeaways, um, in the show notes for the podcast.

And if you didn't know whether this is your first time listening Yes. This show, this live fantastic radio show is repurposed as a podcast for you to go back and refer to or share with your friends and you can find it wherever you to your favorite podcast. Apple, Spotify, iHeart, all of the places, but be sure to search for the Ask Brian podcast.

That's A S K B R I E N, the podcast.

o, Corey, my question to you [: 00:32:00

Corey Anker: I have ever had Well, I'll tell you, there was a leader who was working for a, uh, a Fortune 500 company, and they had gone from being a very high performer to actually having some, uh, success.

nd it was a very interesting [: 00:33:00

Peter Bronstein: Okay, and where are you going from here? You know, what's your goal? I would say that

Corey Anker:: 2025

And I want to get out there to larger audiences and really be able to speak and provide, to provide solid content. So that's, that's what's coming next for me. And, and a book will be coming by the end of 2025.

Peter Bronstein: Before we get to the book, the first part, how do you envision obtaining those goals?

Corey Anker: How do I envision, like, getting to speaking day?

n New York last month, and I [: 00:34:00

Um, it was on the, the four essential questions, the 10 X, your life and business, so talk about integrity, talk about relationships and a couple other things. And so I'll market that and then, you know, getting out on the socials, word of mouth, you know, I just, I show up with the being a coach wherever I go.

I'm not obviously in coaching conversations on the line at Starbucks, but when you're, when you're really satisfied. With your existence and you carry yourself with a certain energy and you're able to communicate and you're able to do what I call active listening. You can clean just people and in my experience, you know, things always lead and people know people know people so I have no doubt 25 is going to be a huge year

d that is how do you build a [: 00:35:00

It's a meaty question It is general, but it's really really important

Corey Anker: very broad I think honestly I think It's really about awareness and clarity. You have to know your goals. You have to know what your business is really, truly about. Not just the pizza, you know, it's what I talked about earlier. It's like, what, maybe that's about community.

Maybe that's about, you know, you really have to understand what your mission is and you want to get the, you really just want to get those right people on the bus. So know what you're about, know what your mission is. And then when you're interviewing people, make sure that, you know, Their skills and desires are aligned with yours and really make sure that they're coachable because again, you were there first, so you're probably going to have a great expertise that you're going to want to pass along.

and be transparent, let the [: 00:36:00

You will, you'll be grateful, you'll be thankful for that later.

Peter Bronstein: Wow, thank you very much, Bori. Thank you very much, Tracy. Ask Brian Show, 1 FM. We'll be right out.

us every Thursday on KTHS AM: 1220

Visit askbrian. com to join the conversation and ask us your business questions and we'll answer them on our next episode. That's askbrien. com.