Business Problem Solvers with Eric Alspaugh, Episode 8
In this episode of Business Problem Solvers, Eric Alspaugh speaks with Jeff Blanton, founder and CEO of Jailbreak Leadership, a firm focused on unlocking team potential for exponential growth. Jeff highlights that “TEAMWORK remains the ultimate competitive advantage,” emphasizing its critical role in business success.
Tune in to the episode to hear about:
- Unlocking Potential Through Strength-Based Approaches: Jeff Blanton talks about Jailbreak Leadership’s focus on leveraging individual strengths to enhance business potential.
- Navigating CEO Challenges: He goes over the common challenges CEOs face, emphasizing the need to recognize blind spots and accept tough feedback.
- Importance of Partnerships and Expert Guidance: Jeff mentions that founders should seek expert guidance early to avoid costly mistakes and build strong relationships with service providers.
- Focus on Conscious Capitalism: Jeff discusses conscious capitalism principles and how his podcast, Conscious Curiosity SD, connects with leaders focused on positive impact.
- Industry Trends and Growth Areas: In discussing San Diego’s industries, Jeff notes biotech challenges but emphasizes optimism for companies fostering meaningful connections.
Learn more about Jeff Blanton:
- Connect with Jeff Blanton on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblanton
- Subscribe to Jeff Blanton’s channel on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jeffblanton9912
- Visit Jailbreak Leadership’s website:
https://jailbreakleadership.com
Subscribe to not miss an episode of Business Problem Solvers:
Connect and learn more from your host, Eric Alspaugh:
- Connect with Eric on LinkedIn
- Follow Alspaugh Law on LinkedIn
- Follow Alspaugh Law on Facebook
- Follow Eric on Twitter
Read the entire transcript of this episode:
Introduction to Business Problem Solvers Podcast
Eric Alspaugh: Welcome to Business Problem Solvers Podcast, where legal insight meets entrepreneurial innovation. Are you a startup founder navigating the complex legal landscape of entrepreneurship? Are you seeking practical advice, actionable strategies, and expert guidance to propel your business forward? Look no further.
Eric Allspaugh is a seasoned attorney. Based in the vibrant startup hub of California. And he’s thrilled to be your host on this exciting journey. In this podcast, we’ll dive deep into the intersection of law and business, bringing you insightful interviews with a diverse range of industry experts, thought leaders, and successful entrepreneurs.
From intellectual property and contract law to corporate governance and regulatory compliance. We’ll cover the essential legal topics that every startup needs to know. Our guests will share their wisdom, [00:01:00] experience, and practical tips to help you navigate legal challenges, seize opportunities, and build a thriving business in today’s dynamic marketplace.
So whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur. A budding startup founder or simply curious about the intersection of law and business. Join Eric on Business Problem Solvers podcast as we explore the legal insights and entrepreneurial inspiration that will fuel your journey to success.
Meet Jeff Blanton: CEO of Jailbreak Leadership
Eric Alspaugh: Welcome Jeff. It’s great to see you.
Uh, welcome to the Business Problem Solvers podcast. And, uh, to my, uh, get my. My viewers, I’d like to introduce Mr. Jeff Blanton, a friend, a colleague of over 15 years, the CEO of Jailbreak Leadership. He’s the CEO based in San Diego, and he has many other causes that he’s involved with, and [00:02:00] I want to just give him a quick opportunity to introduce himself and share some of those.
Um, things that he cares about most right up front and then we’ll, we’ll get into it more.
Jeff Blanton: All right. Well, Eric’s awesome to be here. Thank you for the invite to be on your show. It’s wonderful. So what am I doing down here in San Diego? I used to be an Orange County guy, moved down here about 10 years ago, uh, started jailbreak leadership.
Uh, focus of jailbreak leadership is really unlocking the potential of business through the people in the company. Um, I do, I’m a master facilitator, so we focus on strategic planning, solving team issues. Um, yeah, and we have a unique approach doing this as very strength based approach to, uh, what do we do great and how do we bring that forward?
I also, uh, have a podcast I do called conscious curiosity SD. I was born out of one of those passions that, uh, Eric was talking about. I’ve been involved with conscious capitalism. Uh, the whole idea of business, uh, being some doing business beyond just making [00:03:00] profit that your business should have a greater meaning.
And so I interview local San Diego business leaders that are, uh, doing exactly that. I do that for the better business Bureau. Uh, be local, which is part of the B Corp movement, conscious capitalism, obviously another organization down here called business for good and another organization called cause San Diego.
So it’s kind of a collaborative business organizations and we’re being the voice for all those business leaders. So having a good time down here trying to, uh, do amazing things.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome. Awesome. Appreciate, uh, all you’re doing for San Diego. I grew up there and have an affinity for San Diego and try to get down there as often as I can.
Jeff Blanton: I didn’t know that. We’re, we’re in San Diego.
Eric Alspaugh: I grew up in Mira Mesa.
Jeff Blanton: Alrighty. I’m in PB.
Eric Alspaugh: That’s the place to be. I met my wife when she was, uh, well, she was in, in, uh, Hillcrest at the time, but before that we used to, uh, hang out down in, uh, [00:04:00] Crown Point. Quite a bit in PB. So I know it well,
Jeff Blanton: it’s the hotspot, man.
It still is. You’ve rolled dudes like me.
Eric Alspaugh: I’m in bed by
Jeff Blanton: nine. I’m not sure what happens after nine o’clock around here, but something I hear lots of sirens.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome.
Navigating Legal Challenges in Startups
Eric Alspaugh: Well, uh, I have a relatively new podcast and I’ve been interviewing experts in their respective fields. And what I’m trying to do is provide information and, uh, useful information that’s, um, actionable for.
Inventors and entrepreneurs to really get them excited, uh, eliminate risk and, um, yeah, get them off the couch, out of the garage and doing business. And one of the things I’ve run into, or as an attorney is dealing with founders and startups and making mistakes. And what I’m hoping to [00:05:00] do is maybe get some fun stories from you.
You don’t have to name any parties. Some anecdotal stories on, on maybe legal, uh, faux pas or pitfalls that you’ve seen in turning around companies. And I remember fondly, uh, 15 years ago, uh, meeting with you in your boardroom and discussing different strategies about how do we talk to the CEO? And tell him that he’s doing something wrong.
And so from that conversation, I imagine that you have continued to evolve that process and, um, I hope. We’ll have some anecdotal stories you can share that can shed light on expensive or humorous errors that these CEOs have picked.
Jeff Blanton: Yeah, it’s kind of interesting. I was making this comment, I think on [00:06:00] my podcast the other day that, you know, we get hired as consultants and usually the guy that hires us is usually the problem.
I think it was, we got this issue over here and you get in, you start working with it, you realize, okay, now we have to, now we got to convince them that they’re the problem in a nice way, right? So. I was actually in that conversation today. Um, I’m co consulting with a partner of mine on a project. We’ve been doing it for the last year or so.
And that was the conversation we’re having today. It’s like, we need to have a sit down with the, with the owner and say, you know, we, we need to do something here. We’re not going to hit those goals that you want to hit. So. That is always a big challenge and it’s kind of part of our role as outside advisors is to bring that to the party because that is the issue is we all have our blind spots that we can’t see.
And I think that’s part of our job, even though we don’t want to go there often, because that is the guy that’s writing the checks and all that, but ultimately we need to deliver on the outcome, whatever we’ve been brought in for, be it legal or management consulting, where it might be, it’s our job to [00:07:00] make sure that those things happen.
And so, um, so I’ll say that from the other side too, for the CEOs and the founders, be open to that conversations from people from the outside, because they do see the rest of the world and they’re seeing you, um, probably a different light. So part of what led to this conversation is we’re working with this client to help them achieve their big 2025, actually 2028 goals.
And we feel strongly running, I can make the 20, 25 goals if they don’t do, you know, some, some things here. And for us, we don’t live there day to day, right? We just show up once a month. We facilitate the big management meet. So we realize things aren’t moving versus when in the fray every day, day in and day out that, uh, we just have a little different view.
So, yeah, so that would be one of my big pieces of advice is if you’re on the service side, man up, deliver the message in a nice way. Great. And if you’re on the receiving side, uh, be open to that information and, uh, cause it’s probably, probably right on. [00:08:00]
Eric Alspaugh: So when you’re, uh, engaging, can you recall back to your humble beginnings and when you were starting engagements with companies to do these consulting projects, were there any.
Friction points from a legal perspective.
Jeff Blanton: I can’t even look at my own life here, uh, Eric, and think about being my own business, since I’m running my own business, you know, how many times I’ve kind of screwed up, but I’ll give you a great example of that is that, uh, I decided to, uh, trademark jailbreak leadership.
So I decided I should be able to do that. Right. So I went to one of these great online sites. I don’t remember which one, but I do all this great work. I do all the filings. It’s very clear. I should get trademarked. And of course I get refused by the government. Which then led to like, Oh, now what do I do?
So then I had to go to an attorney to get that all unwound so that we actually could get the thing trademarked. So I think that [00:09:00] one of the biggest thoughts is, is that, you know, why there are options today in the world of being go online and be our own experts.
Eric Alspaugh: So great, great advice. And I actually run into the trademark, uh, DIY.
Quite frequently, and just as a side note, it’s your point is we should all be looking for experts, uh, for, for, for particular things. And there’s lots of resources, but there are particular pitfalls with the USPTO and the trademark examiners, and they will nitpick any application to a degree that. A regular person cannot anticipate.
So that was no knock on you for sure.
Jeff Blanton: It wasn’t my, it wasn’t my lousy legal work.
Eric Alspaugh: No, no, they, they make it trickier than it needs to be. That’s a great [00:10:00] example though.
Jeff Blanton: Trying to create work for the attorneys out there. So she appreciate that. All right.
Eric Alspaugh: That’s the truth, man. That’s the truth.
Jeff Blanton: So the other big thought I would have in this space is, is to find partners in, in, in your work, right?
I mean, it’s, you want people that understand what you’re trying to do, that don’t just bring in some, you know, expertise about getting trademarks or is this the legal, but you know, people that are thinking bigger, that are vested in what you’re trying to do, understand your goals as a business owner. And can bring other valuable assets to the program as well.
And so you’re really looking for, I think, all your service providers, and certainly from your attorneys, is that relationship, that business relationship. So not just the technical expertise. So that’s part of what you’re buying as well, and what you should be looking for in your partnerships with your service providers.
Eric Alspaugh: Sure. And in a parallel vein, what are your thoughts about, you know, I, I’ve worked [00:11:00] with lots of startups, In the technology space and they require lots of different domain expertise. Do you have any advice or thoughts on bringing on partners and strategies at an early stage or some tips?
Jeff Blanton: Um, I would say do those things earlier rather than later, right?
I think one of the challenges we have is with founders is that we kind of want to try and do it all ourselves. And part of it’s due to expenses, right? It’s like, okay, do I want to write a check for this? Or can I just go do this myself? But, uh, thinking a little bit bigger and where you’re trying to go with things, I think it’s important to go find those experts in whatever area you’re looking earlier rather than later.
Don’t wait until it’s a problem. And then you got like, like my trademark and I have to go unwind this thing, which might at the end of the day, cost me more than if I had made the investment up front. So I think really understanding where your wheelhouse is, where your strengths are, if I got a certain technical expertise, great, I’d say that about anything, even a big job, like focusing on what you [00:12:00] do well and figure out how to bring the other people in around you to offset the things you don’t do so well.
Plus that creates job satisfaction. That’s part of the jailbreak thing is, uh, what are your strengths? Lean into your strengths, go do that. Let the other people do the other things.
Eric Alspaugh: Perfect.
The Philosophy of Jailbreak Leadership
Eric Alspaugh: So tell me more about jailbreak leadership. Well, who’s your, who’s your target market, um, geographically industry market size?
Jeff Blanton: Yeah. So we, we focus on San Diego and that’s partly a personal desire from my perspective is if I never got another airplane, I’d be fine with that. That’s okay. And me is part of it. But the other part is when I moved from Orange County to San Diego. Uh, I came here with a sense that I had a reason to be in San Diego.
And as I mentioned earlier, trying to be part of a movement of how do we shift what we think about. When it comes to business, in my personal opinion, I believe our job should be a great expression of who we are and according to Gallup, something like 70 to 80 percent of [00:13:00] people do not find meaning at work.
So, you know, that’s, that’s a big problem. So part of my goal is how do you shift that? How do you change that? That’s part of the whole jailbreak leadership models. Like, you know, how do we break away from that mindset and as leaders, how do we invite people in a different way where we really understand who they are, what they bring the To our businesses, a grander purpose besides just making money.
And every business has a greater purpose. You’ll find that all the founders, like, why did you start this business? Whether it’s just to make money or did you have a greater reason or a bigger problem you’re trying to solve and invite people into that. And then how do they connect in with their own personal purpose?
So that’s a lot of what we do at GL break leadership. So I am a, um, master facilitator. A lot of my work is around strategic planning. So that’s working with senior teams that do exactly that. Let’s get clarity about the purpose, the vision, the mission of what we’re trying to achieve that should be enrolling for the whole organization.
And then how do we utilize our current strengths to actually go deliver on the goals of that. So the rest of the organization get behind [00:14:00] that. So that’s one piece of it. The second piece is we work with companies that actually come in and address team problems. So for example, I’m working with a, uh, Company down here, which is kind of funny.
It’s one of these PPOs that, you know, provide resources in their tagline. And one of the number one goals is hire the right people and reduce turnover. And they’re inviting me into their sales crew to say, we have a high turnover problem. Okay. So what can we do about that? You know, it’s walking the walk and talking to talk is always, you know, can be a bit of a challenge.
So what we’re going to do is come in and really address this from a team perspective, right? So we’ll examine this and say, what’s it look like to be on a winning team? Cause you know, if you look at sports, uh, if you have a team that’s winning, it’s all kumbaya. Everybody loves each other. We’re taking the hill, lots of momentum.
The teams that aren’t doing so well, fingers being pointed, everyone’s protecting themselves, right? And we continue to lose. So to me, if you can create a winning performing team, amazing things start to happen. So in that particular scenario, we’re going to bring [00:15:00] this crew together, identify what’s it mean to be in a high performing team, you know, like a winning team, because we all been there and we flesh out, well, what, what made that up?
And can we do that here? That’s kind of the simple version of this, but we facilitate that process in a way that the team themselves identify here’s the problem, but then they identify the solutions from their own experience. And so then you eat this automatic buy in, then you just got project as, okay, well then how do we implement those things we just identified?
So yeah, that’s the kind of work we do. Uh, I work with companies typically with over 50 employees, just kind of from the size that makes sense for me to be working with the companies.
Eric Alspaugh: Right. So. You got the process down your skill set and expertise are probably industry agnostic, but I’m just curious because I worked in the biotech industry in San Diego, 30 years ago.
I’m curious what industries you see. [00:16:00] And I’m just curious, what, what are the industries that are growing? Uh, I have a medical device conference coming up that’s international trade and we’re going to be dealing with Mexican consulate. And the Mexican consulate has offices all over San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles.
So I’m, I’m curious what industries you, uh, see growing right now.
Jeff Blanton: One thing is not commercial real estate. Those guys, I’ve seen a little bit of trouble. It’s been a place not to go, um, I actually like, like I said, I’m kind of agnostic, although I kind of lean more into, um, manufacturing and companies that are making things just from my own personal background.
It’s really interesting. I’ll have to share that, you know, you and I know each other from kind of the med device space, cause that’s where I spent the majority of my career in Orange County. Um, and here I am living in, in San Diego and I have not connected into [00:17:00] the biotech group at all, which is kind of a interesting,
Eric Alspaugh: from my
Jeff Blanton: perspective, I’m not sure why exactly I didn’t make that happen, but they appear to be struggling a little bit.
It seems like funding has gone a little sideways in that arena. Um, just based on what I see in the local San Diego business journal and that. So, um, they’re not as hot as they used to be. At one point that was like the place to be. Um, what, what are the other, I mean, I, I, on my podcast, I’m, I’m interviewing people from all kinds of different industries and quite honestly, it seems like the companies that are leading them, their business as well, all seem to be doing pretty well.
So I would have an optimistic view of the world.
Exploring Conscious Capitalism and B Corporations
Eric Alspaugh: So I did want to talk a little bit about, or a lot, actually, I’d like to talk about it almost exclusively about, um, the B corporations and what your, it’s not City Council, but what your, your podcast is about, Conscious Curiosity SD, [00:18:00] and what kind of businesses are you working with and what Tell me about the community and the positive impacts that you’re seeing and then.
We can talk about any legal stuff that’s maybe particular to the B corporations.
Jeff Blanton: Yeah, it’s kind of a, kind of an interesting story. So I was involved with conscious capitalism and if the audience is not familiar with that, conscious capitalism really has these four tenants. It’s a, it’s a philosophy essentially.
So tenant number one is that a business has a higher purpose, which is basically saying there’s something you’re doing above and beyond just making profit. Uh, two is conscious leadership, which I would. Translated to servant leadership, uh, conscious values, which again are having lofty values we actually follow.
And the fourth is the idea of the stakeholder versus the shareholder. So in the normal business model, at least in public companies, it’s all about the shareholder. Um, the idea of conscious capitalism, no, [00:19:00] you should be honoring all your stakeholders equally. It’s not like, you know, someone has to lose for someone to win.
It’s like, how do you run a business where everybody’s a winner? So I was involved with conscious capitalism. Which fits into this whole philosophy of how I think businesses should run. And it was COVID time and I’m on the board and some of our board members are involved with the big national where they have a big CEO event every year.
And so they meet all these amazing businesses are doing great, great things. And so we, we moved to zoom meetings and next thing you know, we’re interviewing people from New York or Boston or whatever. I’m going, why are we talking to these people? I’ll never meet these folks. So I, so I went back to the board and said, Hey, I want to start a podcast and I’ll, you guys will be my audience.
Right. And I’ll draw people from conscious capitalism. And they say, yeah, whatever, Jeff, check yourself out. That was basically the guidance I got, but I wanted to do it in a room, right? I wanted to have a live podcast where I’m sitting in a room and having good quality of products. And they introduced me to the BBB who was in the process of opening up a new facility.
So I’ve heard of the [00:20:00] BBB my, most of my life. I never had any really interface with them. So I get there and he got this beautiful facility and I didn’t realize they had a whole different business model than the typical BBB, which is almost more of a regulatory kind of business. They’re doing all this work to help support all their businesses.
And here in the Southwest, they got like something like 20, 30, 000 companies, part of the BBB. I didn’t realize how huge it was. And I attended what they call their torch awards. Which is their big words for integrity. And I’m sitting there, I go, wow, if I was blindfolded, I would have thought I was at a conscious capitalism event.
So I’ll say that you guys got to be part of the family, right? And they’re treating me like a King anyways, give me the room for free and all. And then that led to, uh, I was involved in a thing called pause, which the whole idea of causes, how do we connect for profit companies with nonprofit companies, And that’s where I met some people from the B Corp movement and the B Corp movement, if people don’t know, is this whole idea of you take all those concepts I just described with conscious capitalism, how do we actually measure and track that?
It’s a very highly difficult, it’s not easy to become a B Corp and you can get into this more than me, [00:21:00] but there’s also a legal aspect of it. There’s sort of the check the box for a B company. And there’s the, uh, help me out, Eric, there’s a different term for the ones that actually have the legal entity for that, which says that we will take into account both the, the, all the staples, not just the shareholders when we make decisions.
And so they became part of the family, which then also led to another organization, which is business for good, which actually is part of working with smaller companies to, to promote legislation that’s good for business. So anyways, Austin, I, what I started to realize is there’s lots of these organizations that are doing wonderful things.
But they all have their little niche and then there’s all these companies within those organizations are all doing wonderful things. So it turns out there’s lots and lots of companies doing great work, but they’re all in silos. So the goal of the podcast is to, is to have, get people’s voices out so other people can hear what’s going on.
And how do we start to connect these folks together? So we’ve been doing some work to bring the business organizations together to collaborate at a higher level. You know, supporting each other, finding ways to [00:22:00] do projects together, and obviously try to activate the companies inside those as well as the ones here in San Diego.
So the belief is lots of people are doing good things, but they’re all doing them by themselves. If we could start to collaborate at a higher level, um, so amazing things could happen here in San Diego. We could solve some of our issues.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome. Awesome. So I’ll, I love what you’re doing. I’m going to nerd out for a second, which is California actually has two types of B corporations, not C corporations, although they’re similar.
And from a legal perspective, the difference really is. The threshold, um, of the duties of the executives, the CEO, the C suite and the directors in a traditional corporation. You already mentioned it. There is this absolute duty to the shareholders, the only, you know, true [00:23:00] stakeholders for C Corps. B Corp changes the legal threshold, the rule on the duty that these executives have towards their shareholders.
So the B Corp shareholders essentially give away their right to sue the officers and the directors Unless it’s an out and out right fraud or theft on the company. And so by practically lowering the duty or the level of responsibility that the executives have to shareholders for maximizing profit, it allows them to engage in community discussions and take into account holistic business goals.
My problem, and I want to turn this over to you, is that I know lots of people with B Corps, and I’ve only seen a [00:24:00] handful be able to actually raise outside capital. And so would you like to opine on, I think it’s great that you’re connecting and there’s going to be synergy among these companies and that whole environment.
There’s going to be sharing in education and. Things like that. But can you share any insight on the funding for these, uh, early stage B Corps?
Funding Challenges for B Corporations
Jeff Blanton: So that’s funny you say that, right? Um, and you would know why, right? Because part of, uh, typically funders are very bottom line oriented. That’s usually not their goal, especially if you’re a private equity, right?
It’s like all about King, cash is King. So you can see the problem. So the issue becomes, so who are the funders that have that same mindset as the B Corp companies? And those are the ones you got to find. So just like I think in San Diego today, we only have something like 35 B corps and all of our community here.
So there’s an outlaw, there’s not a lot of them running around. So it’s [00:25:00] kind of a select group of people. So you can say from the funding side, it’s probably similar. Now with that said, just on my show, and we just released this one a week ago, we interviewed someone from a BC firm called Creston Ridge.
And their whole focus is to invest in companies or thinking about people, planet, and then profit. Right. And so you have to find those investors that really have that mindset because the average person is like, Oh, and she’ll say like, look, you got to have a good business model. You got to have something that’s going to make money here.
Or we’re not, there’s no conversation to be had. She goes, Jeff, there’s a lot of people that come and talk to us. We say, you should be a nonprofit because you’re not going to make any money. All right. If you come forward with a product that, you know, really has a good potential in the marketplace, but also has all these other factors, then, you know, they’re, they’re, they want to make an investment.
So whether like I said, well, give us a success story, and this has actually come up twice in the podcast with two different investors. I had another one in the angel side of the world and it can be [00:26:00] spelled like cooler heads. So this is a great example where a woman had cancer. And through the whole cancer treatment thing, she lost her hair.
Well, there’s a treatment, I guess you use like cooling, you can maintain your hair, but it was very expensive and cumbersome, whatever. So she ends up starting a company, comes out with a product that’s able to solve that problem in a good way. And so here’s a. So one is you got an owner has got great passion for doing something that’s, you know, beyond just making money.
She’s got a passion for solving a problem out here and apparently she’s doing quite well with her business. In fact, we’re talking about trying to get her on the podcast. So I think it’s connecting those dots and finding your people. I think that’s the key, which I would say is true regardless of who you’re trying to get funding from.
Right. I mean, there’s lots of money out there. There’s, they’ve got the good money and the bad money. So you’re always looking for the good money, the people that connect well with you. Right. But in this, in this environment, you’d be looking for people to have that same philosophy about business.
Eric Alspaugh: I like that.
Well, you said that the good money, what are, what are some criteria that you would, [00:27:00] um, prioritize for good money?
Jeff Blanton: Uh, you go back to the, having that same culture, right? Did we make, do we make decisions the same way? Right. I, I would think that’d be one of the biggest things also, uh, cause often people are making investments.
Your business all of a sudden become board members. So what kind of board member they kind of be? Are they going to be some of the, it’s going to be. Uh, going against everything you’re trying to do. Uh, so you got, you want to make sure you’re highly aligned together, right? Not just, Oh, this money will take the money.
Then you find out. Yeah, but it comes with a lot of strings attached to it that aren’t going to work out. Well, you’re constantly conflict. And it works the other way too. Like, uh, my guests from Crescent Ridge made the comment like, you know, we made some investments where kind of back to the founder wasn’t necessarily doing the right things and they weren’t necessarily willing to listen.
Right. So she goes, we made some mistakes on the other side. So, you know, you’re looking for that. That’s it.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome. Awesome.
Finding the Right Partners and Mentors
Eric Alspaugh: This is something I heard is [00:28:00] that really even B Corps nonprofits, any startup, they all need mentoring. They all need connections. You got any, uh, Tips for people that are in any of those categories for doing, I wouldn’t call it business development, but just, uh, finding mentors, partners, and connections.
Jeff Blanton: Yeah, I mean, there’s lots of organizations out there. I mean, as example, I was talking about the BBB, they run a program, I think, uh, GoDaddy’s part of it to work with startup people to help them get the basics and the fundamentals they have in place. There’s usually lots of different organizations in the venture space where their goal is to help bring tools and things like that.
Um, you have your CEO peer groups is another place, a great place to get into, engage in a place where you’re coming in and you’re getting educated as well as you have other people around you that can help you solve problems that [00:29:00] hopefully they’ve already solved them. They can give you some inputs and vice versa.
So I’d say you need to get out of your bubble. It might cost you a couple of bucks, but the ROI can be really great. Especially kind of more of the group environment kind of thing versus having it, uh, Well, one off coach that could get kind of expensive, but by belonging to a larger organization, uh, I know up in Norwich kind of still exists.
Octane was a great place for the medical device guys back in the day. So they run lots of educational programs, um, you know, for more mature companies, like an ACG or someone like that.
Exploring Business Networks and Associations
Jeff Blanton: And they all have a niche, like ACG is really about M and A kind of activity. So you’re at that place going, I’ve run my business for 50 years.
I’m getting ready to sell, you know, go to some places where people are talking about that. So you can go get educated. And go find out who those experts are that you can tap into when you need them. So they’re out there. Not that hard to find.
Eric Alspaugh: So ACG for the uninitiated is the association for
Jeff Blanton: corporate growth,
Eric Alspaugh: for corporate growth.
Great. So there’s a
Jeff Blanton: really large, uh, Orange [00:30:00] County has a really big program up there.
Eric Alspaugh: Yeah.
The Power of Local Chambers and Networking
Eric Alspaugh: Uh, what about local two things? What about joining local chambers of commerce? Uh, do you have one in San Diego?
Jeff Blanton: How are they? We do. In fact, we do. In fact, I just interviewed the, uh, the, the CEO from the Carl’s bed chamber.
And I have to tell you, I have to tell you, I was blown away by all the activities that they’re up to. You know, I’ve attended some chamber things like, okay, these are all kind of mom, pa, small businesses that kind of get together and exchange some cards. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is not the case at all. I mean, they got lots of big companies as well.
And the things that they’re doing, the community, the programs are running. I was blown away. Really surprised.
Eric Alspaugh: Okay. That’s, uh, we have lots of, uh, up in Orange County. I think there’s 36 cities. And so the chambers of commerce are very small.
Jeff Blanton: So I think Carol’s bad. One’s like the second largest in, uh, California or something, or at least in San [00:31:00] Diego County. But, um, and so you’re, to the point you’re making, Eric, I think it’s like, again, just like finding the right service providers. I mean, find organizations that fit you, right? You may go on the paper.
This looked like this organization be like, should be really helpful. Maybe it’s not. So maybe ACG is not your thing. We’ll get involved with EPI, you know, exit planning Institute. If you’re looking at selling a business, so there’s usually more than one organization out there that you can tap into.
Eric Alspaugh: That’s great.
Do those certainly, certainly,
Jeff Blanton: certainly. And certainly like the industry conferences, the bigger ones that occur, I mean, those are great places again, to go and connect with people.
Mentorship and Industry Conferences
Eric Alspaugh: I was going to ask, do any of those organizations, ACG, EPI, do they have a mentoring type programs or those you just got to go in, become a member, attend, build relationships with people the traditional way?
Or are you aware of any extra programs that they have for startups? so much. [00:32:00]
Jeff Blanton: Um, I’m not sure about ACG, other than the fact, I know that ACG has a CEO round table group that they do. So I think once a month they have an opportunity for the CEOs to get together as just part of their membership and they’ll bring in an educational piece to that.
So I think most of the organizations do. I mean, as part of their goal is to educate and this is where the service providers show up. So the service providers are there to provide knowledge and information. So they put on programs. So usually lots of sub programs. To, uh, help support the companies.
Eric Alspaugh: I attend lots of various networking groups just because there’s lots of blind spots out there.
And I, I, I don’t know what I don’t know. And I usually am able to take away something from attending an event on manufacturing of plastics, shipping of sterilized products, something that’s Maybe not in my daily, weekly, [00:33:00] monthly, yearly things that I would normally run into.
Jeff Blanton: So to your, to your point, it’s, it’s good to sometimes go to things outside your normal domain.
So your medical device guy or something’s like, okay, you can attend those. But what else is of interest to you? That might be interesting, right? Yeah, you got a product, you got a ship, or let’s go to a packaging program, right? Let’s see what they’re talking about over there, right? Cause that’s where those experts are going to be.
So some diversification can be good and you meet a new group of people.
Eric Alspaugh: For sure.
Volunteering and Nonprofit Involvement
Eric Alspaugh: So I, um, have been involved with numerous nonprofits. I’m always finding myself volunteering to be on board and I found that as a very good way to, to network. With, uh, people who have, uh, some altruistic values and it is an easy way to build relationships.
When I’m not at a chamber meeting or some meeting where [00:34:00] there’s this, uh, pressure to exchange a business card, say thank you and move on in three minutes because I’ve got limited time. Do you have, I know that you’re involved in nonprofits and I want to hear about your thoughts for the younger folks on opportunities and how they can contribute or should they contribute or how to get involved in.
If you have any specific nonprofits that you want to discuss that you’re involved with, I open the floor up to you.
Jeff Blanton: Sure. Sure. Um, I think that’s a good point. In fact, one of the best, even these organizations, special organizations we’re talking about. Um, usually there’s a board, just people running things.
So one of the ways that we can get engaged and really get to know people is a raise your hand and actually volunteer and do some work for the organization. The best way to know people is to do work with them. I mean, otherwise it’s just a lot of conversation. The minute you start doing work with people, you’ll find out who they are, right.
Who delivers, who doesn’t deliver that kind of thing. [00:35:00] So, uh, highly recommend, you know, picking and choosing because quite honestly, there’s lots of them out there and you can spend all your time doing that, um, then kind of back to maybe some more specific nonprofits that aren’t, you know, your, your business domain.
What do you got passionate about? Are you passionate about homelessness? Are you passionate about, uh, sex trafficking, whatever it might be. Again, you’re a finder. I think we have some like 15, 000 nonprofits in San Diego. If you can believe that. Majority of them, I’m assuming aren’t doing too much, but, um, there’s plenty of places to go and volunteer and get involved with the board.
Uh, you say about younger folks, so my wife actually runs a nonprofit here in PB and, uh, she inherited this organization and inherited the board with it. And so that board has been kind of evolving over time and they were kind of the older generation. My wife has been out dramatically recruiting younger folks, and she’s like, Oh, they show up.
They’re excited. They want to do things. So there’s plenty of room for the young, younger folks out there to want to get involved and take on a role. [00:36:00] So go find something you’re passionate about, because, you know, it’s going to be work. So you want to be doing something that brings some purpose and meaning to you.
Eric Alspaugh: That’s amazing and I, I love that you say there’s 15,000 nonprofits and, uh, unfortunately, , we know that very, it’s, it’s, it’s hard to get funding, uh, but. If, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and, and commit that sweat equity, those youngsters, they can really, uh, have a big impact.
Jeff Blanton: And I would say the other thing is if you’re going to go volunteer, excuse me, one of the things is, is, uh, what are your, what are your talents and treasures that you can bring to the party?
Right. And make sure that that’s where you’re going to get to do there. You don’t want, you don’t want to go join some organization and oh, great, Eric, we’ll put you on the parking lot. You can do the traffic control. Like, oh, I have no interest in doing that. Well, I’m an accountant. Let me go do the books.
[00:37:00] Right? So where, where’s your expertise? Where’s your passion? What are you interested in? Find someone that’s looking for those services. So those, again, those things connect. I can bring my best me to this situation that I, I, I like what you’re doing in the bigger picture and, but I also get to do what I do, so make sure you define your role, don’t just show up, go here.
I am. What do you want me to do? Cause I guarantee they’ll probably find you some pretty crappy job to do.
Eric Alspaugh: Yeah. No one
Jeff Blanton: needs to clean the bathrooms. Great. Welcome to the board.
Eric Alspaugh: I’ve, I’ve volunteered for parking lot duty before, and that’s, uh,
It’s rewarding in it’s own way.
Jeff Blanton: Yeah, I’m always struck by the, uh, the churches that, you know, have the CEO of some big company doing parking lot duty instead of like, man, the guy should be inside helping her run the business over
Eric Alspaugh: here. Right. Servant leadership, servant leadership. I think it goes along with a lot of your conscious curiosity SD and, uh, yeah, being humbled is an [00:38:00] amazing way to change perspective.
Jeff Blanton: That’s a great example of, I want, I want to do something of value and I want to bring my skills to it. And I find purpose and meaning in doing it. Right. So we’re looking for the same thing in our pay jobs.
Eric Alspaugh: Absolutely. So, um, let’s see, we talked about getting, I really like what you’re doing in San Diego.
Purposeful Companies and Community Impact
Eric Alspaugh: What if I, what I don’t know that I don’t know to ask you about on what’s going on in San Diego and, um, what’s going on with, you know, Uh, jailbreak leadership, and what, what do you see on the horizon in the next, I don’t know, couple of years, how much longer do you want to be doing this?
Jeff Blanton: Good question. How long, how long do I have to be doing?
I need to make some money like all of us. Um, well, I’ve been on a real journey, Eric, [00:39:00] um, for a long, long time of always trying to narrow down to where I get to do what I do best. Today, I mean, as you knew me back in the day, I used to have a project management company, which was the thing I thought I did best back in the day.
And then I realized actually there’s a piece of project management I really like to do. So this is a story to listen to, right? We all should be thinking this. So what I realized was I love the front end of projects. I love the part, like what mountain do you want to take? How do we put the team together?
How do we create the plan? How do we get excited? And then it’s like, go great. I don’t want to be doing budgets. I don’t want to be chasing people around. Did you do your, you know, I don’t like the backend. So now what I’m doing with strategic planning looks very much like the front end, right? So I’ve been continuing in my career to always go, what’s that thing I do best?
And you know, how do I keep narrowing that down and make that my career? So as long as I can keep doing that, let’s just keep doing it, right? So I don’t see an end to that if I get to do what I really love to do. So yeah, that’s, that’s the plan for jailbreak and Jeff Blanton. Um, my, my hopes [00:40:00] are that this whole idea of the purposeful companies, that there’s a larger movement going on here where again, my facilitation skills.
Around bringing teams and collaboration together. I have a role to play in that and help them changing the whole dynamics that here in San Diego. You know, we have this, uh, tagline that says we’re America’s finest city. Maybe, maybe we got a lot of, got a lot of things not going so well. I was in Costa Rica.
Uh, two months ago, and I was down there with about 40 business people that I didn’t know any of them. And it’s always interesting when people say, where are you from? You say San Diego, San Diego. Right. What a cool place. I go on. Yeah, it is. But, you know, so I think we can fix those butts. And I think business has a big role in that.
I think there’s, we are the greatest influencers. So how do we use the influence to positively impact our city? So. That’s a lot of work I want to be doing through the podcast and all these organizations I was talking about is how do we make that happen? How do we continue to roll more and more companies in?
How do we start to collaborate [00:41:00] better to actually have a positive impact in our community? So I, I would love to see people fly into San Diego, Oh, it’s beautiful here. The weather’s great. You got oceans and all this good stuff, but they go, wow, something else is going on. You know, I go to a coffee shop.
The service is great. Everybody seems to be happier here. Right. I mean, that’s what I love to see and not, it might not even be tangible. Right. So it’s like, there’s something interesting in our community. It looks different than everywhere else.
Eric Alspaugh: I love saying
Jeff Blanton: we want to be the, we want to be, we want to be the model for America.
That’s kind of part of our philosophy that we have a unique opportunity to actually make our city, the city that everyone else should be trying to be like. We’re kind of like a little Island down here with the ocean, the border Marine base in the desert. We’re like, as you know, we’re a big little city, right?
Everybody kind of knows each other. You’re like one person away from anything down here. So. We do have that opportunity.
Eric Alspaugh: San Diego is my wife would call it was provincial. And, um, I, I recall whenever I’d go to the home depot to be [00:42:00] buying something to fix up my condo that I would know somebody in the parking lot every time it didn’t matter, and I loved it.
Jeff Blanton: Right. Yeah. So you don’t want to screw up here either because everybody will know it. So you better have some integrity if you’re going to play the game in San Diego.
Eric Alspaugh: San Diego is a tech hub with UCSD as one of the biggest employers, Qualcomm, uh, doing, I don’t know, but technology with chips and Bluetooth and cellular communications, things like that.
What kind of technologies are you using or do you need, um, in your business or do you see trends in, in the clients that you’re working with? Or is that a, a domain? That you would say you need to get an expert for, or what do you see it in the, in the [00:43:00] technology space and innovation in San Diego?
AI and Technology Trends in Business
Jeff Blanton: Well, clearly the biggest conversation today is AI, right?
I mean, everybody’s going, all right, AI, AI, everything. So that, that’s, that’s the hot ticket today. Um, I just had, uh, the CEO from a company called managed solutions, which is IT, uh, provider company. National and reach. And I says, what’s the big topic? And he said, ah, AI, right? And he goes, it’s kind of a shift to where, you know, people are coming to him now and saying, what’s the product, what should we be doing?
And he said the same thing I keep hearing over and over every time I get in this conversation is we just need to get in the game. So even in my business, I’m using AI anytime I’m doing marketing things or I need to create something. I, let me, let me write something up. Let me throw that in AI and say, here, clean this up, edit it, make it more compelling.
I’m always blown away with what the thing does. So it’s really just about getting in the game to start using it. I’d have to imagine two, three years from now, we’ll probably have a chip in our head or something, and it’ll be way easier to use. But [00:44:00] for now, it’s like, cause I’m hearing AI is not going to displace you.
It’s like, you just need to figure out how to be using it. And if you don’t know how to use it, then you’ll be displaced by someone that does know how to use it. So I think it’s about, that’s why I keep hearing from all the experts is just start figuring out how you use it in your world.
Eric Alspaugh: Okay, great. Great.
Jeff Blanton: And I’m seeing people use it all over. I interviewed a person, uh, her business is really working with companies in regards to reputation, social media reputation. Like, so you started getting bad, uh, recommendations and whether, what do you do with that?
Eric Alspaugh: Yeah.
Jeff Blanton: How do you, how do you challenge that then? How do you turn that a positive steam?
In a positive way. And she’s now, they created internally a whole big AI model where they’re can track all this information and quickly analyze what’s going on. So yeah, so some companies are very aggressively creating their own models to figure out how to use things. So it’s, it’s, it’s cool. It’s going to be a game changer for sure.
Eric Alspaugh: Yeah. We’re going to play with it, Eric. Oh, for sure. And we’re, we’re definitely on the front end of things right now. [00:45:00] And I know they’re only letting us play with the, the, the. The kindergarten version. And I’m sure, I’m sure that some companies have access to the university level, uh, program and are using it in, in lots of different ways.
And we haven’t heard about like right now, it’s a fun, a fun tool exploring. Um, we haven’t had too many, uh, mess ups, but there are, there’s already last year and in other state jurisdictions. Where lawyers have been using AI and the AI created fake cases and the lawyer relied on it, submitted it to the court with an affidavit swearing that they were telling the truth.
And, uh, just getting busted and in some jurisdictions, I think they’ve even been disbarred already for, for relying on AI [00:46:00] mistakes. And so, um, I, I’m sure that they’re, I got, I got
Jeff Blanton: burnt once I got burnt once in the podcast, right? So I’m doing my research on my guest. And it was the CEO of Love Sack, you know, the big couch company and, um, anyways, it’s what’s, what’s the TV show where they come in, they pitch their deals, got, uh, Shark Tank, Dark Tank, right?
So this thing is that he was, yeah, Cuban and it said that he had been on Shark Tank. So, you know, in his intro, I said, and he was on Shark Tank. And so I go through and said, he goes, I never was on shark tank. I go, Oh, sorry. Fortunately we can edit that out. Right. But, uh, yeah, so you do need to be pay attention.
It doesn’t always tell you the truth.
Eric Alspaugh: Yeah. Once it gives you all your good marketing, you still got to read it once.
Jeff Blanton: Yeah, at least once. Especially if it’s talking about you, right? That’s really not me. It sounds good. That’s not really me.
Eric Alspaugh: Oh, that’s great. Yeah. Let that be a warning [00:47:00] people. This is 2024. So by 2025, um, I don’t know there, there should be a meme for this.
If, if there isn’t one already.
Jeff Blanton: It’s going to be moving fast. And like I said, I’m sure it just, we’re going to be part of our lives and we won’t be thinking about it. We’ll be like, just, you know, a tool that we have and yeah, but in the meantime, don’t be afraid of it. Get in there, start using it.
Eric Alspaugh: All right.
So that’s encouraging that even in, uh, Jailbreak, break leadership and in your organization that you’re able to, uh, improve efficiencies and outcomes. Are you using it in workflow or you mentioned marketing, but, uh, how, how are you using? I
Jeff Blanton: probably in a worst possible manner, you typically just a cut and paste kind of thing.
I’m kind of creative, so I like to generate things. But the other day I was turned on to, uh, something and I was like highly interested in it. I actually [00:48:00] used AI to do the investigation because what’s it doing for you? It’s like really taking all, if you do a search now, I get 8, 000 things or a hundred thousand things.
Right. Well, this takes books at that a hundred thousand and says, here’s the consolidated story. So they’re kind of doing all that for you. So in that search that I did the other day, I just used that to, you know, do my search. So I’m trying to remember to use that as a search tool.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome.
Jeff Blanton: But when it comes to the marketing stuff, I’m not doing anything more exciting than just studying and pasting.
I’ll create something, throw it in there. All right. Revise this thing and help me make this and it’s great to go make this a podcast introduction. Right. And I mean, it writes it as a podcast introduction. So
Eric Alspaugh: yeah,
Jeff Blanton: the more instruction you get, the better the answer you get.
Eric Alspaugh: So, so far the, the spell check on it is way better.
Jeff Blanton: That’s I use it for that too. Cause I, I’m terrible. I write something, I leave half the words out and I don’t, I can read it five times and never see those missing words. So,
Eric Alspaugh: Well, that’s great. It is
Jeff Blanton: my editor, editor in [00:49:00] chief.
Eric Alspaugh: I love it. I love it.
Podcast Highlights and Closing Remarks
Eric Alspaugh: Well, that’s been super fun. Is there, uh, any, any shout outs you’d like to give for, uh, anybody in, in San Diego?
Jeff Blanton: Um, just to my podcast, check it out, Conscious Curiosity SD. I think you’d really enjoy it. Do a nice little 40 minute clips and a wide variety of, uh, business founders and leaders, some big companies like Gary Rish That are, you know, investors, you know, from the VC world, kind of a wide gamut of folks, but, um, really hearing their backstory of what they do and why they do it.
So I think it’s pretty informative and certainly the organization that are supporting me, which is Conscious Capitalism, the BBB, uh, Business for Good, uh, San Diego, and, uh, this one. Oh, and one other one,
Eric Alspaugh: whoever that
Jeff Blanton: might be.
Eric Alspaugh: What’s the, what’s the best way, uh, for people to get ahold of you through, uh, your website?[00:50:00]
For sure.
Jeff Blanton: Uh, reach out or LinkedIn, one or the other, pretty active on LinkedIn through the podcast.
Eric Alspaugh: Okay. So Jeff
Jeff Blanton: Blanton on LinkedIn or jailbreak leadership and go there, see a little bit more of what we do and connect from there. So if you’re looking for strategic planning here, 2025 is almost upon us.
Let’s do it well next year. So we’ll create a plan that actually works, that you’re not going to stick on the drawer, that your whole team gets excited about, all connected, motivated, all pushing in the same direction. I’m your guy for that.
Eric Alspaugh: Awesome. Well, it’s been great catching up just a little bit and I’m going to let my calendar to reach out to you and come down to San Diego and get a lunch and, or maybe a sunset real soon.
Jeff Blanton: I’ll be here. Come on down, Eric. I’d love to see you. It’s been too long.
Eric Alspaugh: Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Blanton: Appreciate you having me on the show.
Eric Alspaugh: Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes, where we’ll cover topics ranging from business formation and fundraising to contracts and [00:51:00] compliance. Subscribe now and never miss an episode of Business Problem Solvers.
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