Speaker: 0:01

Welcome to the Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce Join host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into conversations with visionary business leaders putting humanity first and profit second. From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in conscious capitalism. buckle up and let's go. Let your heart guide your business journey.

Tom Jackobs: 0:28

Welcome heart-led heroes. Today we're diving into relationship building and the art of Giving with Rod Newenschwander co-founder of Giftology. Rod's passion for people and purpose shines as he crafts connections that transform businesses and life Rod, welcome to the show.

Rod Neuenschwander: 0:45

Thank you. appreciate allowing me to join Looking forward to it.

Tom Jackobs: 0:47

I learned about Giftology about a year ago on another podcast, another guest suggested inviting you on, and I thought this is gonna be a great episode'cause this is definitely heart-led in terms of the gifting aspect I always ask the first question, what's your definition of a heart-led business?

Rod Neuenschwander: 1:05

Based on our 18 years with John and I being partners the reality of it is I think that definition has to center around relationships. People think about us as gifting because that's our superpower, but it's it's really about building. Strong relationships John used gifting. But it's centered on the relationship side. And so we focus on that for the last 18 years and built, massive network doing so using the tools that John used. And John was the front end. the irony is that I'm not I suck at gifting. But what I was able to do was build the the systems in place and team that allows people like me to get like John. And so that, that's centered entire organization, but it's really about development and expanding.

Tom Jackobs: 1:52

And that is at the heart of any heart-led business, the relationships with partners, customers, employees and all stakeholders. So tell us a little bit about Giftology, how that started and where you are today?

Rod Neuenschwander: 2:06

It started a long time ago. John started selling Cutco knives in college, You know how many people have done that? What John was able to do in college was he actually had somebody given the concept. And so John started doing that in college and really some of the key things some of the, that we off in things. Embrace the inner circle. It's not just about your relationship, it's about how you help that relationship and their relationships. And and beyond just business wise, the family, it's the and think. And so we on the inner circle in that process. Introduced by a country lawyer in Amish country, Ohio. wanted to give gifts to his contacts. John wanted to give a pairing like the kitchen life. And this client base was more like, men in the Amish community. it makes sense because you take care of the family, everything else takes of, and and then that, that changed. It led the charge and created an entire industry out of using Cutco as a gifting tool. And so then he ended up being the number one sales rep in the history of that 60-year-old company, they hundred million dollars a year. And he's number one by a wide margin because of what he was able to like generate, starting way back in those days and him, I started. About 18 years ago. we wanted to buy companies together, right? And so that was how we wanted to start off. And the first company we wanted buy didn't end up panning out. So I agreed to come in as president of that company, and it was going through a little bit of a rocky. I got into by fall into the turnaround scenario from that. And and then after that, John and I still wanted to work together after I then went to a larger turnaround in eastern Pennsylvania for a couple years. Led that for another two years. It wasn't until after that John's Hey, you know what? why don't we merge forces turns out he moved to Illinois six months later because he's getting married. funny. Things work out. what ended up happening, to be able to deliver what he was able to do. And so allowed John to live in superpower of building those relationships in authentic ways. And and we were able to build Giftology together. it wasn't Giftology back then, we put all the stuff that John had been doing together, said this needs to be a book. And so John we wrote pathology. And then the rest was history from that point, but but all back then, so there's two sides of that. So I would say yes, it's the focus of is relationships. But you can't avoid the hard stuff in that process either. Because if we didn't exist, it didn't help anybody. And so what we were able to do is build the proper structure around John, but also build a very healthy, highly profitable enterprise that served people in great ways, helped them love on their relationships enormously meaningful ways. Make good money ourselves so that we could be generous with what we were able to build. And so it, and so it, while we focused on relationship and that definition, the very question, it also is, it's not an excuse to avoid the hard stuff. we've had hard stuff to deal with over the years, but we were able to manage, do those things differently because of how we operate and view the world. We don't avoid those to be successful. We have to win. Customers have to win. clients have to win. we need to make sure the relationships we loving. So that was a long answer to your question, but there you go.

Tom Jackobs: 6:06

It gives good context around the business a lot of heart-led businesses myself included, have the heart and the head together and a lot of times that heart overtakes what should be going on in the brain in terms of building profit systems and processes.

Rod Neuenschwander: 6:21

Yeah.

Tom Jackobs: 6:22

The two halves could be two people supporting each other in both, superpowers you on processes and business him on relationships and Giftology I think a lot of how in that context,'cause a lot of founders and probably listeners are listening to this, it's I don't have that other person that, that process person. How does that relationship work for just one person?

Rod Neuenschwander: 6:45

That's a good question. Give you a slightly different answer why I ponder that a little bit because what let's first suggest to people that do have partnerships. I think it's super critical that while John and I had different bill sets, we had very aligned values and very aligned structure in place where we were like yeah, we had our operating agreements were, consistent with our faith and how we viewed the world, we were aligned even though our skills different. And what we were able to do then is allow him to be John Rulon. I knew John Rulon before he became John Rulon. He's the same guy now as He was before he passed. And so the but. And then in that process we also worked with a lot of other founders. It's a little unknown, but we built pathology and we funded the whole thing because while we were, like in the early days when you said he was struggling a little bit, he was dire. And so in order to generate some cash we had. I worked with other companies and the same umbrella. We had another company we called Google Partners. everything we do is 5000%. Everything we do is together. And so underneath that umbrella end up working with other founders that are struggling in there. I led the charge on that, so I worked with a lot of founders to help them from struggling or underperforming or complete turnaround, depending on the severity to. For them. So I've worked with almost 10 founders sold six generally we're talking similarly and their solution was they partnered with me.

Tom Jackobs: 8:16

Yeah.

Rod Neuenschwander: 8:17

if you do not have that partner you either, I think need to have a small network of people that you rely on that becomes your trusted network. Different than your network. Network, right? There's like the Holy of Holies where it's yep. Coaching or just, somebody that, a group of people that you're gonna really develop that relationship with. I think John by himself. Early, did a lot of great things, but it wasn't successful. In some level. So he is number one, right? But it wasn't success for him personally, you need both and I don't know that one person can do that without having if you're really that person, then you need to have that offset and you don't have it through a partner. Then find, a network that can help you keep you honest to that an EO or something along those lines. I can help you, in that type of a setting. That would be my advice. I think they try to do it themselves. They're always gonna lean back onto their core without having somebody to call out on that and be like, no, this is what we're gonna do and why.

Tom Jackobs: 9:21

Yeah. Absolutely. having that support system, whether it's built into the company or outside is important. as an entrepreneur nobody, like my friends and family.

Rod Neuenschwander: 9:31

Yeah. a hundred percent. I'm writing as a commitment to John. We helped turn around and sell. that's a tribute to him writing a book write manual about those events founder focused Hey, this is how we did it. it's for founders through a crisis. founder psychology early in the book because you have to understand yourself that was the brilliance of John. He's so humble. he was brilliant at what he. Had built enormous network. we never argued or disagreed just didn't operate that way. worked with others seemingly humble, but on the execution side, founders, Say good things, serve and what you do. John was always willing to follow direction.

Tom Jackobs: 10:21

Yeah. So let's talk about how you built the business last August John passed away. How does a company that has such a strong force of kinda the face of the business continue and grow stronger?

Rod Neuenschwander: 10:35

Yeah. So we were a couple year there's multiple facet to that. Part of it is we have a large network and this focuses on relationships. And so I. A couple 500 people at John Steel, couple hundred online. Our team managed, because of the volume we just launched beyond, the next version of where we were headed. We lost in Texas and that book was in the works. Prior, the book talks about this, but the team came up with a John not needed raise, which is painful to think about we wanted to transition. This book is about building referrals, referrals ended up being like a hamster, jump from referral partner. John didn't do that. We talk about the relationship snowball to grow. VR is relationships. What John did naturally is broken into practical, steps. And that's what this all about. But this book project in the education program was in the works two years, two years ago. And we had people in place that, we're already on staff. Our content, is written by a partner named Mike. it was his concept Mike continues to develop Thoughtful content that, that's continuing. Sarah was hired to lead this educational initiative, this push on, like how do you build a relationship with the company? She was already in place. She was gonna doing stages that John didn't take. We're gonna focus on top eight. And training program that we partnered with somebody program that was really good and we, he was also, so we had a foundation built. my energies on accelerating the growth, all those components in place. true testimony of that had to exist. it looks like brilliant planning, vision. power of the network people leaning in to help us. Big name people that everybody would know continuing to support us, support John's family and help make this transition successful. And then John's always gonna be my partner this family my partner. strength of the company allows us to. We're the next message, the values and systems

Tom Jackobs: 13:17

Yeah. what a great testament and legacy for him.

Rod Neuenschwander: 13:20

We had the launch in Austin, Texas. unbelievable experience, the impact he had on so many people that showed up only happens because strength.

Tom Jackobs: 13:35

Yeah that shows the power of relationships and the network and making sure that you're taking care of your customers and your stakeholders is if, when the tragedy does happen, when you have that network, they're gonna pick up and help you and grow. And It sounds like you set the foundations well before, life does, move on after the tragedy. And the company, still exists because of that foundation.

Rod Neuenschwander: 14:03

It still exists. our team takes that very seriously like John. they're gonna know their dad through the brand built around his concepts what he did and how he showed up for people that's how we view it and that's how focused organization right now.

Tom Jackobs: 14:23

Yeah. let's talk about the business side, a lot of heart-led founders struggle with profit side of the business, how do you help them overcome that need to just give away everything and feel good about giving, but not feeling good about receiving and growing profit and having a legacy.

Rod Neuenschwander: 14:43

There's a couple things your company has to thrive for you to be truly generous. And we're generous on. Supported a lot of organizations through profit. And so that, that's so it's very missional The other side is that I was able to work with John and a lot of founders, I'm sure on this call the same way. There's a thousand ideas they see it's not just being generous, some of it's focus. we put structures in place. I tell our team think of it like bumper bull like I can't squash John's ideas because those generate. Future vision of what we can potentially it has to live within a framework, right? Just think of it as we have to make sure we're bouncing in that direction. So I put it around enough parameters in place and guidelines that that we could operate effectively. And then they created something called the parking lot. And then eventually John knew, I'll never forget, I know if you knew John Paul seen John, but he had this huge smile his. Down when he started laughing. And so I'll never forget his face when he when he realized, when I said, that's a great idea. We'll put it to the parking lot. What I really meant was, we're never gonna do that. it's about honest conversation. Can't talk about relationships, not bad conversation, right? it's no we can't do that because of these reasons. we were dogmatic in building an efficient organization. This is going back almost 20 years ago, so like cloud computing just starting out, and so I remember, so we hired college educated state home moms. It's like that's our primary workforce and they're brilliant at what they do. We had to come over hurdles And early in the days, like we, we didn't even have centralized computing. we had if remember my PC DO or something like that. It was like a shared thing. Like they, they had to take turns to log into central computers. we were that early in the game, but the focus of that was it's like operation. And we were very. Focused on that and then making sure that that resulted in profit. Plus, we're generous to our team. So like we we do things that are not done typically, like they're staying at, they're staying at home college educated mom, so they're at home with their children a lot. We clean their house. pay for date nights. Once a month. pay for childcare. so they know we're supporting them we win together. competitors are designed so that hey, bonus. In those as we went together. So we were just able to build a efficient operation. And if you don't build a efficient operation, you don't have to give away the store to be generous. You just have to be creative.

Tom Jackobs: 17:17

Yeah. Cool. I want to go back to the parking lot because I think that's a really important message and concept for founders that struggle with shiny object syndrome or the squirrel syndrome, You get rid of one idea, another pops up. That's the typical entrepreneur. the founders listening to this and heart business owners. That is, I think the number one tr correct me if I'm wrong of most entrepreneurs, is that we got a brand new idea. Let's do that, and forget about the core business and what we're good at. Is that the idea of parking?

Rod Neuenschwander: 17:49

Oh yeah. Yeah. It's like fixated Like they fixate for whatever period of time and then they forget about it. The next thing fixate on. There's two sides to that, right? I believe in. high level macro thinking. we don't live in one page plans. We live like strategic, like there's no, like complicated. We try to stay very focused that's an easy thing. refocusing energy on primary objectives we need to accomplish in the next year. We live in that model. it's the parking lots. and some of those things we did use well, he understood that meant we're never gonna do it. I put it in the parking lot because it wasn't a bad idea, just wasn't the right time. And and so the but then it was easy to be like, okay, that's, right now what we. If you don't have that. That then it's easy to fall into that trap. It's like I just jump from the next open to the next home run. you need to build the foundation of your company on base hits it's not as fun for founders, but when you do hit a home run, it's worth a lot more. The founder on building something successful. there is a little bit of flexibility. Every year there be something like, how much do we have to put in this before stop talking. So there's that element too. It's don't, we're not part of our plan, but I'll do this because you need business oxygen a couple times a year we would do this. That's why it's like bumper and not like straight and narrow, right? There's gotta be some balance, but we are moving in the direction that we wanna be moving.

Tom Jackobs: 19:24

Yeah, absolutely. some ideas are good long term strategies that should be done I do this all the time, it's oh, we need to do this. And I have this idea. I take it to the team and the team's oh my gosh, we're gonna have to do all this stuff. And then I, but in reality, I'm just speaking out loud not saying, let's do it now. I read in a book where I forget what book it was, but the founder. Was having to put together the overall plan, but not take it to the team. Put the plan together a little bit, a little straw man, and then sit on it for a week and then decided to take it to the team or not. And usually within that week the sizzle fades from the idea.

Rod Neuenschwander: 20:01

That's interesting because I talked about that with every founder we work with John included. Let's go out back, have some cigars, talk about it. But we're not gonna talk to your team. Like your team's gotta be focusing on these objectives that we agreed upon are what their primary focus is on. Otherwise, they're, you're confusing them. They, what to do comes out of your mouth. They think it's truth. you can't operate that way. I would a thousand percent agree going back to your earlier question of like, how does a founder do it himself? Like those are good things to, they almost can't help themselves when you get an idea that it just comes outta their mouth. That's why I think they have somebody else they can talk to, find that group you can spew your ideas on and not your team. And that's gonna be if they can accomplish that will go a long way to helping them succeed.

Tom Jackobs: 20:46

I've done that in the last several years just zipping it up to the team and talking to my business coach It's made a huge difference.

Rod Neuenschwander: 20:53

I can imagine.

Tom Jackobs: 20:53

Rod, this has been a great conversation. I'm happy you were able to make it onto the show and share what Giftology is about. how can people learn more about Giftology

Rod Neuenschwander: 21:02

Technology group do com is our website. Learn about our service offerings and how we can help our mission is to help leaders love on their relationships because everything rises a falls on relationships, right? It's literally that simple. And so we take that very seriously and know clients are giving us their most important relationships. Giftology group.com. Buy it on Amazon. Give us a review with five stars. If you love it. that book talks about Giftology, a lot of the philosophy around this and beyond.

Tom Jackobs: 21:40

Great.

Rod Neuenschwander: 21:40

Do it.

Tom Jackobs: 21:41

All right, awesome. We'll link both those books up into the show notes as well as the website quick question before we sign off are you guys doing Cutco with the personalized, still buying from Cut.

Rod Neuenschwander: 21:52

we have a great partnership. The owners of PCO are Jim Jr's, an unbelievably good human being and his team. John felt strongly about this. The one place that things happen the most when the building relationships is around food and the table. And so nothing is better than making sure that you're in that space. And so all, a lot of our on the kitchen in the inner circle there because that's where relationships develop over a meal. we work with them.

Tom Jackobs: 22:24

Awesome. One of the ideas was sending gifts, not with the logo, but something special two years ago we had cutting boards made my father was a woodworker and made these beautiful cutting boards with everybody's name. Engraved It was like, you're a cut above.

Rod Neuenschwander: 22:40

Yeah.

Tom Jackobs: 22:41

or sell on your website clients were just like, wow, this is amazing. Every time they look at that, because dad had written up a. Really funny guy too, about the history of the cutting board and how to take care of it that went in the gift box they were talking about how great of a gift that was.

Rod Neuenschwander: 22:59

Now every time somebody uses that, they cannot help but the thing you, so how many times do you think that impression for that cost And so things they pick up ACO, knife, they can, and even it doesn't have a loved one whatever you put Bible verses, their favorite quotes. Like all the stuff that they they can't not help but think about that, in a positive.

Tom Jackobs: 23:24

Yeah. it doesn't need your logo on it either.

Rod Neuenschwander: 23:26

Absolutely.

Tom Jackobs: 23:26

Rob, thank you for being on the show.

Rod Neuenschwander: 23:28

Thank you for the invite. I enjoyed it.

Tom Jackobs: 23:31

Thank you for listening and watching today. I appreciate it. Make sure you're checking out everything Rod is doing at Giftology, and we'll provide all that into the show notes. And then if you could do me a small favor, and that would be to give the show a rating and review. So it can spread the good work that we are doing here in highlighting all these great heart-led businesses. until next time, lead with your heart.

Speaker 2: 24:00

You've been listening to the heart-led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs. Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.