Leading Through Adversity

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Stephanie Alexander, CEO of Boost LLC and co-founder of govmates. Dive into Stephanie's entrepreneurial journey, her innovative approach to matching government contractors, and the unique challenges she navigates in the federal contracting realm. The heart of this episode is about Stephanie's personal battle with breast cancer and how she navigated one this unforeseen challenge as a business owner and leader for her two companies. Discover how Stephanie's clarity on priorities and reliance on her team have not only propelled her businesses forward but also offered profound life lessons. This episode is a testament to the power of a strong team, adaptability, and the enduring spirit of a determined leader.

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Read Transcript Here:

Michael: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Mike LeJeune here with Game Changers for Government Contractors. We have a special guest here today, Ms. Stephanie Alexander. Before we dive in and start talking about your journey and everything going on in your life here, let's give everybody a little bit of an intro on who you are, what you do, companies you manage, all that kind of stuff.

Stephanie: All that stuff. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Stephanie Alexander. I am the CEO and founder of a company called Boost, B O O S T…..back office organizational support team. Back in the day when I started, I felt the need to tell everyone that. Now nobody cares and, I'm the only one that happens to know that. Our company works with federal contractors. It's the only people that we work with, and we do all of the corporate support. anything from accounting contracts, accounting, HR, talent acquisition, basically strategic advice. [00:01:00] So management consultants, through and through.

And then I also am the co founder of Govmates and we're an online teaming platform for federal contractors. So what does that really mean? It means that I'm too tired to learn new people. So everything I do is in federal contracting. We tell people we're kind of? match.com for govcons only we can't write that down cause we don't want to get sued. So match.com don't sue us. But I think you get the idea. Everybody's got subcontracting goals. They've got teaming partners. We're all frenemies in this world. And so it's putting good people with good people to go out and win new business.

Michael: Awesome. On the BOOST side, one of the challenges that I see for a lot of our clients and so it'd be, it'd be great to get your thoughts on this. How small of a company do you typically work with? Cause there's a lot of govcons in that half million, million dollar range.

They're growing, they're projecting. They're going to hit three, 5 million over the next year or so. [00:02:00] And nobody wants to touch them. So I'm just kind of curious,? where typically come in the picture. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stephanie: You're a pain in the ass. You don't know anything. You don't have any resources. And we're all kind of the level of compliance that you have to do because you are a federal contractor. Stay off the front page of the Washington Post. Here's the best advice I can get. It's honestly, no one cares. You were going to be on the TNM contract or a firm fixed price, the regulations that you were supposed to be following are a lot less onerous at that point.

You're not going after CPFF prime work. When you're under a million dollars, right? , you just have to, , understand where you are in the dynamic. And so, until you get to a certain size, don't do it. Be good to your people. Don't get sued. Follow as many of the rules as you possibly can. Pay your payroll taxes, hire somebody to make sure that you're paying your [00:03:00] bills and getting paid because people often forget the AR side of it. But in reality, there's only so much we can do for you at that point because we don't want to overload you with? a ton of compliance when we're , Dude, you can slip by another year or two on this, right?

We're going to set you up for it. But, at a certain stage, business development always comes first. Get the business. Drive the business in. With the business comes the level up. Then you can start layering in the compliance. You can start layering in the additional employees. Start to build your company. Right. But in the beginning, don't worry about any of that crap. Go get the business. I mean, you got to pay the bills, right? So you got to pay the bills to be able to generate enough business to actually want to work with people like me. Does that make sense?

Michael: I love that explanation. At what level do you typically see as the ideal client to be working with? Is it 5 million, 10 million?? where does that come in for you?

Stephanie: Yeah, so I think it [00:04:00] depends. ?You see people that they, they high ranking BD capture people from a nice system integrator that have a lot of connections. They’re going to go fast, right? They're going to grow it.

Somebody who's quite new doesn't really understand federal contracting doesn't really get the gist of it.? that they're going to take a little bit longer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To get that hockey stick, right? So if, if they're the first people, we'll take them on a little earlier because we can see kind of, all right, three new contracts.

We already know that you've got, we know you got drug deals going on. We know you got subcontracts with a couple of your buddies and we see how it's going to grow. Right. So you might as well layer us in now because we can see it if you're still trying to figure it out, et cetera. I'm kind of, just get a basic bookkeeper.

Just get some basic support to make sure that you're not screwing it up. You're not going to payroll jail. You're not on, like I said, on the front page of the Washington Post. But for those types of folks,? it's going to take a little bit longer. [00:05:00] Right. So ideally for BOOST, usually it's 5 million ish, give or take, but we swooped down earlier and we also go higher.

Right. So we actually have billion dollar companies as clients, which is weird, but it is not for ongoing support, usually projects. But for our audience, I would say, it really just depends on how fast you're going to grow and when you need to do it, because there is a time where there's that delicate, and this is always a balance, right?

I don't want to expend too much in GNA, but the earlier I put in the systems and the processes, the better I am geared for high, growth, right?? I don't want to be putting in brand new accounting systems when I'm 5 million. I don't want to be learning new offer letters at 10 million, right?

I want to have my systems in place. I want to have my HRIS system going. I want to look at contract review. I want to start layering that in. But it depends on how fast that growth curve is going to be.

Michael: That's great advice. And we see that a lot too, [00:06:00] because we work with people that we always describe them as you can't spell government. They're that brand new. So they may even be thinking about, what should I sell to the government? So we work with that up to the billion dollar companies and they all have kind of the same problems. Yes.

It's really wild when you look at, we have a client right now, it's doing about 3 billion and you have the exact same problem as this company that's doing a million dollars, exact same problem. You don't know what you don't know. And you're very confused about the market.

Stephanie: It's different flavors of the same problem, right? And it's just, it's just at scale. And that's just it. I know when I first started my company, I always had the mindset, well, if I can just do this. Right. If I can just solve this problem, if I can just solve this problem. And here is the dirty secret. There was no end to problems.

They just scale, multiply and have bigger impacts. No CEO finishes up a Friday [00:07:00] afternoon, having done everything on their to do list and having solved all their company's problems. Does not happen. So, you kind of have to be uncomfortable with the uncomfortable. And you have to be comfortable with the idea that you will always have something new, a new challenge to resolve.

Right? And the minute you whack that, it's whack a mole. The minute you hit that one problem and you feel like you've solved it, something else will pop up.

Michael: Your problems start having children. They do. They multiply? bunnies.

I think that's some really good advice for people that are in this and they're struggling with why people don't want to work with them. I think your point there that some, some of it really is just a pain in the ass to, to kind of get those smaller clients into a certain area. That they don't need to be 'cause I think part of the problem in this industry is there are a lot of really good, scary sales pitches out there of why you need to hire me in order to grow.

And then you get those people [00:08:00] on a call and they're like, well, you're too small to workforce work with us and this and that. Or, Hey, there's this thing we can sell you or whatever. And it really doesn't solve their problem. But they're so scared and paranoid that they're gonna screw up and get sued by the government.

Which, you probably should be right that they're panicked out there trying to find a solution to something. That's not really a problem when the problem,? you said, is just grow the damn company

Stephanie: Materiality, right? When you're a billion dollar company, the government is in your right there. They're sitting beside you in your business. So you're 500, 000 Nobody cares. Yeah. And , that's the cold hard truth, right? Again, do the right thing by your people. Don't be assholes, continue to be as compliant as you can pay your damn payroll taxes. Don't screw people over.

The fundamentals you learned in kindergarten are still true in business 101, right? And try and do the right things. The best strategy is to layer in the compliance. [00:09:00] And a lot of people I know are out there , Oh my God, 50 people. You have to have all this stuff for HR, TCAA compliance.

You've got to have all this stuff in accounting, contracts, oh, blah, blah. Its kind of fear mongering and it's kind of , again, materiality. Right? you want to plan for it? You want to take it seriously? My entire freaking company is built on compliance, right? So there's a lot of BS you got to do when you're taking Uncle Sam's dollars. Right. But it's also one of the best industries in the world and it's the biggest. So, are you here for the long term? Then get this stuff in place, but do it in a way that makes sense. Win the freaking work first, right?

?I can't help you if you haven't won the work. Go get the money, go get the money, do a good job delivering. We'll figure it out. ?We can solve problems.

Michael: And that's really the hardest part of it all is getting the money. It's getting the contract because all the other stuff you're talking about, it's just process, it's procedures, it's SIM systems, things that have already been solved, just not necessarily applied to your company.

Stephanie: You have to have something that people want to buy and sell it at a price that people will pay. Business 101. And it applies to the government. So who's going to buy it? How are they going to procure it?

What's the type of contract vehicles they're going to use and how will they get money to you? Otherwise you're just wasting your time.

Michael: We could just do a podcast on this today.

Stephanie: I'm sorry. Rabbit hole for sure.

Michael: I'm in. No, we could definitely go down this rabbit hole and I could get on some soap boxes very quickly about how people are being trained in the market. And again, the fear mongering that goes on, but we'll save that for another time.

So part of what I wanted to get into today with you was, there's this quote that you probably heard before about how everybody has a plan until you get hit with [00:11:00] life, right? Life comes in, smacks you in the face and then you have to deal with that.

?I deal with it on small levels all the time. You're going and all of a sudden you get COVID. You're going and all of a sudden something happens in your personal life and somebody gets sick or dies or a dog gets sick or whatever and it just derails you at some point, because it wasn't in your plan.

When I looked at your LinkedIn post over the last year and a half or so,? you've had some things that have derailed you yet you've stayed focused. And I think the bigger part of this story today is the hope and how you have kept your spirits up and stayed positive and bounced back and all of that. I'm sure it wasn't always rosie for you, but I wanted to start out by just letting you tell everybody,? what's the last year and a half of your life look ?

Stephanie: I think I can very much say that 2023 was an absolute shit year without doubt, without a doubt. Beginning two days before Christmas in 2022, I received the news that I had stage one breast [00:12:00] cancer and had to wait. Fun fact, worst time of the year to ever get sick or have need tests or need expertise because everyone's on vacation and the worst part of anything is waiting. Right? So absolute worst time. Do not do things in December and January when everybody's using their deductibles and all the doctors are on vacations, right? Skiing or doing whatever they do. So anyway, ?I found out I had stage one breast cancer. So dealing with that ride in the beginning of 2023, I had a mastectomy on February 1st, 2023. I did not have radiation or chemo, but going through basically splitting my guts open to reconfigure a boob out of my tummy. That sounds disgusting and horrible and was not fun and not easy and not a small surgery. So dealing with all the ramifications of that. Then layering on preventative cancer care, which is tamoxifen for me and is a drug that has really not fun side effects and [00:13:00] navigating what that looks. Navigating the return back to work and not having your energy, just kind of not being able to focus, not having any of the things that just six months ago you thought you had.

And then finally 2023 was not done with me yet. Because at the end of 2023, in the last quarter, my asshole dog ran me over at the dog park and basically had a tibula fracture, which resulted in having yet another surgery and being on crutches for a whopping 80 days. Living on the bottom floor of my split level house. Not being in my own bed. I didn't see my closet or my bathroom or my bedroom for about three months. Sleeping on the sofa on a twin mattress, all the things that became incredibly difficult. Things that we take for granted every day. Being able to take, number one thing, being able to take a cup of [00:14:00] coffee from the kitchen to my office. Sounds so easy but when you're on crutches and it involves five different steps and moving from point A to point B and not being able to actually do the things, it was a complete loss of independence.

Further compounded by the death of a close friend from cancer at the ripe old age of 50 that came out of nowhere. That just hit hard, hit really hard. So I would say last year, I probably was at my absolute lowest probably in December, which is actually not that long ago.

But as with everything, it's kind of like, what's the alternative? You have to keep going. Right? You have to. The alternative, am I just gonna lay here? I'm way too young for this shit. Am I just going to give up? No, I have obligations. I have employees. I have a lot more life than me. I have a lot more to [00:15:00] do.

I have a lot more substance. Right? And so it became kind of like , okay, well, what is my story going forward and what am I going to focus on? The silver lining to having such a really crappy year and kind of bad experiences are you kind of come into your own with a lot of clarity and you realize how many things don't matter and you realize what really does. And so as I start 2024, I feel like I'm starting the year, even though we're kind of into the year with a focus that I feel like I may not have ever had before in my life. I know what my priorities are. I know what my goals are this year. I know what is important and every single thing that happens, I think to my what are my priorities in life? And where does this rank? And do I care? Right? What is important [00:16:00] and what do you want to do with your life? That becomes way more clear. That was a lot of talking. Sorry.

Michael: No, that was all good. ?How does something like this, the whole journey, how does it affect you? Emotionally, mentally, you kind of talked around the edges of it there. And while it's affecting you at that level, how do you keep your spirits up?

Stephanie: Right. I will tell you that cancer is a total mind F. We'll try and keep it on the PC level here. Anyone who's been through it, will tell you the same. You immediately, when it happens, you're like, Oh my gosh, get it out of me. Do the thing, do the treatment, do the stuff. Right. And then you're kind of left and there's this whole? PTSD from the experience and the emotional aspect of it. I immediately, I view myself as being smart enough to have recognized that there is definitely a mental aspect so I started counseling pretty much right after my mastectomy to kind of [00:17:00] work through a lot of it. You go through all the stages of grief, what your life before you. In the beginning, you think you're going to get back to your previous life, and in reality, that's never going to happen. You have been permanently changed by this experience, mentally, physically and emotionally. You have been through the shit and whether it's cancer or some other traumatic event, people do this all the time. Right? And so you kind of have to level set on your mindset. ?What does that mean? Right? ?Who am I? Who am I? I'm not a new person. I'm still me, but I'm forever altered by this experience. And how do I show up for people? How do I show up in my own life? And I mean, yeah, it was really crappy a lot of different times and particularly losing a lot of my energy, right?? I didn't feel like myself, but I knew that I would get through it. ?You have to have the resilience.

You have to know and believe in yourself that this too shall pass, right? This too will, this is a [00:18:00] phase of life. This is not forever. Just like when you have down times in your business, right? This isn't forever either. ?You go through crappy times and you recognize you're really grateful for the good times.

I think one of the biggest secrets of life is recognizing and being in the moment and recognizing when it's good, right? ?When your team is firing on all cylinders and you've won the contracts. When you're at the height of it, right? When your family's doing really well and they're healthy and everybody's kind of getting along at least enough, then you're in the middle of it, right?

When you're feeling good enough to take a neighborhood dog walk or to go on a walk with your elderly parents or your spouse or your kids. When you recognize the goodness in the everyday mundane ness and you recognize when it is good and can appreciate it in the moment, that is clarity.

And that allows you to know [00:19:00] that this too shall pass, the good and the bad. And that when you're in the good, you enjoy every last ounce of it, knowing that, yeah, life's going to throw you another curveball at some point, and it could be a parent. It could be your spouse. You don't know what's going to happen, right?

And so knowing that you have the resiliency to continue and that you'll get it to the other side is life changing.

Michael: I love every bit of that. I think that is probably the hardest part for a lot of business owners is you are just kind of chugging along doing your thing and especially successful folks.? We tend to focus on what's next.? I've just done this and now I'm focusing on what's next instead of taking that moment to be like, Wait a minute. I just finished this thing. I did the thing. ?

Stephanie: My team did the thing. Right. And [00:20:00] I think if you ask my team, they would tell you as of last year, I probably didn't, I didn't thank them enough. And I probably didn't recognize the celebrations and now I think it's my mantra. I'm like, guys, we're doing? really, really well. Or, Hey, we just went through a really hard thing and I'm proud of us. Cause we kicked ass on that or, Hey, this wasn't our finest moment, but at least we learned some lessons and we're going to move out on it.

Right. ?To really celebrate the good, the bad and the ugly.

Michael: As I was telling you before we hit record on here, over the years, I have talked to a handful of your employees for one reason or another. We've connected online and wind up on a phone call and everybody's always raved about you. It's always been completely unsolicited. Just, Oh, I love what Stephanie's done over here and what she's built and all that kind of stuff. So in the background, they're definitely impressed with you…? who you are and what you've been able to help them do and guide with your team. So that that's been a big thing.

I can't [00:21:00] imagine it just getting much better on this back end of here. Which kind of leads me to my next question for you is: I know that running a company, much less two companies successfully under the perfect conditions require a ton of dedication and energy. How did you, or did you even, adapt? your leadership style, your operational strategies just to maintain the business while you're going through the self described shit that you went through?

Stephanie: 100 percent reliance on two amazing work wives. My COO at BOOST, Lisa Linden, who's been with me for 10 plus years. She knows where all the bodies are buried. She knows the skeletons in the closet. She has been through the thick with me. She took the command. My co founder at GovMeets, Katie Bilek. Who has, again, knows where all the bodies are buried.

These two women [00:22:00] have been incredible for me for the last year. So they both rose to the occasion. Didn't miss a beat. Everything kept going and, under their leadership, I think both companies thrived. I think we all have our roles to play. ?I think leaders feel like they're so important and they feel like nothing can get done if they're not around and they feel like they can't take a vacation they're so important.

In reality, you haven't built a decent company if you are so important because you are not scalable. You have not delegated and you have no idea. Your team needs to be able to thrive without you. The one thing I think I am smart enough to do is to hire smarter people. And I say that all the time. I built my company so that occasionally I can go on vacation. And I don't check email and I don't call in and I don't want to hear from you quite frankly, and they [00:23:00] don't want to hear from me either. That's how you know that you're building something that has value.

That's how you know that you're building a culture where people take accountability for their actions and they're responsible. ?If you can't delegate and you can't build your teams to operate without you, then it's an ego play. We all have our roles, and I'm much more clear on what my role is within both organizations. But you have to let people thrive without you.

And in doing so, then you can have a really shit year and things are still good. BOOST grew year over year, I think 17 percent on the top line. Govmates also did really well. I mean, they didn't skip a beat. Do I feel like some things were missing because I wasn't there? Yeah, a little bit, but I mean, it wasn't a catastrophic year on either company.

And that's because my teams are awesome. It's not because of me. It's because I wasn't around and my teams are really, [00:24:00] really good.

Michael: What you built prior to the year, it's really a testament to what you did before all of that happened to make sure it was set up, even though you didn't know it was coming or expected in any way. It really is a testament to that. Many leaders really struggle with showing any sort of vulnerability. Yet, like I said, I've watched you for a year. It's not every post from you, but you shared your journey enough that I've been following it and been waiting for updates here and there, to see those come through and glad to see them when they come through.

?But given the fact that most people in a position like yourself struggle with that, I know it had to be key through this. How did that vulnerability play a role? In ?the personal and professional relationships that you had and did you see unexpected benefits from that vulnerability? ?

Stephanie: I think people who know me and people who work with me know that if anything, I'm known for being extremely direct, [00:25:00] probably too much though sometimes, which is something I will work on and continue to work on my entire life.

And transparency. It's how do you want to manage? How do you want to be seen? I don't have the bandwidth fortitude or ability to be different people to different people, right? So, I am authentic and genuine in every one of my discussions and relationships because I don't know any other way to be.

Because, quite frankly, I'm busy. I have two companies. I have a life. I don't have time to put on different facades for different people. And so I think that when you act with transparency and honesty, people ask me this question and I'm like, I didn't know any other way to be.

And I kind of was , well, I'm going through some really crappy stuff and I hope that maybe in posting about it and talking about it openly on LinkedIn, that it [00:26:00] helps folks. That was always my goal, right?? I hope that this is useful for someone. And honestly, I got more out of it probably than anyone because people were genuinely concerned and genuinely supportive.

And I was like , thank you, tribe. Because at a time where I didn't know what I was facing, I didn't know what I was in for, it was really nice to see people post nice things, right? I benefited from it. And I just hoped that other people would benefit as well and know that they're not alone. It can be very, very lonely in the CEO spot and I think that it doesn't always have to be. I understand why it is. And sometimes I too am lonely. But I think it's good for leaders to hear from other leaders, Hey, it's okay to have a shit year. It's okay to have a bad performance. It's okay to not know all the answers.

I know none of the answers these days, right?? The older I get, the less I know. But the more I'm open to [00:27:00] hearing from others and others experiences and wanting to learn from other leaders. So that was my goal. I hope that I did it. I've had many people come up to me and just share their own journeys and their own health and their own things. And I'm like, great, I hope that this is helpful for you.

Michael: I think it definitely is. I've said before, even just watching some of the things transpire, I'm like, gosh, I don't have an excuse today.? I don't want to do this, but I could get up and here she is wanting to do something and can't get up off the couch. I just don't have the excuse. And honestly, there's some days you still are, I'm still sleeping in and not doing the whatever. Cause I just don't want to. But more often than not, it's definitely gave folks like myself somebody to say, get your out there and do what you're supposed to do because you can, and I can't right now and that's part of it.

But also just [00:28:00] the getting through it fight. Cause I think every CEO, every business owner, every executive, there's always something that you're struggling with. It could be in the business, it could be at home, it could be in your mind. And to see that somebody else has a struggle of any kind and they're fighting through it and they're not necessarily focused on, well, we've got to double the company while I'm sick. It’s like, well, it's going to suck and we'll fix it later. I see that a lot where people are like, well, we've somehow got to figure out how we're going to double the company, even though I'm in a hospital bed on chemo. I had a client years ago that was, we started a book project and I was helping him write his first book. We were probably in our second phone call and he got diagnosed with throat cancer and I was like, you just need to stop and you need to take some time.

He was almost 70 and he's like, ah, it'll be fine. And probably a month or two after that, he was like, remind me again what your name is. We’d get on a call and he's like, I know, I know. And so [00:29:00]? we were having those kinds of challenges. And it's like, man, just take the time. No, I can't take the time. I've gotta do this and gotta do that. And gosh, that was almost 10 years ago and he's still, he's thriving and doing well. And he has a business that focuses on public speaking in healthcare because it totally transformed his life.

But it was like, we as CEOs and owners don't, it’s like you said, I'm too important to take the time. Where it's , Hey, we need you to get better. And you need to do that.

Stephanie: You need to have built a team that you trust that can handle stuff in your absence. You don't have all the answers. If you’ve built a team focused on you as an owner, then you've done yourself a disservice.

Michael: You've talked a little bit about your workwives in both companies and how well they've taken care of you and things. Was there anybody else in the system, we don't necessarily have to point them out by name or whatever, that we're? in your support [00:30:00] system that you didn't know how much you needed and they stepped up and you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm so glad this person or these three or four people stepped up and did things for me. Maybe it was family. I don't know.

Stephanie: I would be 100 percent remiss if I did not personally say that my beloved life partner, Frank was 100 percent with me the entire time. It's all about your relationship and what you thrive under and what you don't thrive under and navigating those boundaries. He has been an absolute rockstar this whole past year and I couldn't have asked for anyone to be more supportive or loving or caring and go through the shit with me and show up at the doctor's appointments and help me where I need to, and bring the coffee from the kitchen to the office, and do the dishwasher and all the cooking, and all the cleaning and all the [00:31:00] things right?

Do I love being in a relationship where I felt so off kilter and not helping and not doing anything? Absolutely not. And it's the minute I could get back to kind of more equilibrium, it was better for the relationship. But honestly, it thrived. I love that man. That is my man. And in showing me his attitude and what he's been through over the past year, I'm clearly that for him and he is that for me.

Michael: I feel like after you say that, I don't want to ask you any more questions. I just want to end it right there. But yeah, I have a couple more questions. Reflecting on this whole experience, you've touched on this a little bit, what are, in your opinion, the most significant couple of lessons you learned from all [00:32:00] this?

Stephanie: I knew it before, but I really know it now: to build your teams, right? Empower your teams,? again, build a team and build a company where you can be gone for three months and it won't completely fall down. Build for scale and build for, I think, having clarity and focus on what's important. Whatever that is for you. It's different for everybody and there is no right or wrong answer. Because my answer for me personally might be very different than you, might be different than other people. Comparing yourself to what everybody else is doing or what bullshit they're posting on LinkedIn or how many contracts they've won and what their team looks. If you keep comparing yourself to others, you will always fail. Your path is different than everybody else's.

And then again, I keep going back to knowing when to appreciate when you're in the good and when you're in the [00:33:00] bad and knowing that no matter what, it will change. Life will throw good stuff at you and bad stuff at you and the ability to adapt and maneuver and flex and shift is important.

Sometimes work isn't the most important thing and that's okay. It is not a weakness. It is not a negative. It just means that, especially as a leader, today is not the day. This month is not the month. This year is not the year. So stop holding yourself and other members of your team to unrealistic expectations if that is indeed the case.

Michael: I love all that. I showed this little meme the other day to my daughter, cause we were always talking about? goals and different things. I'm going to mess it up when I say this, but it was something along the lines of, Mount Everest is covered with dead bodies of people that were super excited about their journey. Just calm down. Just [00:34:00] calm down a little bit. Cause they start the journey and don't make it.

I really appreciate you coming on and being open about this stuff.? I have shared with you before the podcast, it was emotional for me and I didn't know you. I didn't know you and I'm sitting there watching it and I'm just like, man, I hope she's doing well. I didn't know you well enough to comment on things and say, whatever, but thank you for sharing it all. Thank you for coming on and being willing to talk about it. You've got a support system that is just really great on that side, but also externally, there's a ton of us out there as CEOs, owners that if you ever need anything, you reach out and we'll take your phone call seven days a week and just be there to listen. And if that's all you need is to just vent about it.

Stephanie: I still appreciate that and thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you reaching out and allowing me to share. I just hope it's useful to someone.

Michael: I guarantee it will be. And for those folks that are not a pain in the ass and are ready to work with BOOTH, yes, of course, reach out to Stephanie and her team and work with them because they're great people.

Stephanie: Always. Reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm happy to be a resource. I'm happy to share some knowledge and support. And also, if you do need any of the things that we do, sure, feel free.

Michael: Awesome. So thank you again. I really appreciate you coming on today.

Narrator: I really hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, I'd really appreciate it if you would like and subscribe to the podcast and tag me on LinkedIn or whatever social media you use.

So thank you again for joining us today and we'll see you next time.