EP171: Michael Braun - Listening To Prospects Can Power Your Success

Michael Braun: So I have been very fortunate to be able to go out to networking events, and I've kind of always had the idea that I can just listen to people talk. You go to networking events and everyone is there to meet new people, and it's a very friendly place to go to. And one of the secrets I learned from Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, is just to ask questions. People really do enjoy talking about themselves. You can ask what they do and ask how they got into that, what their biggest challenges are, and they're more than happy to tell you. And then inevitably, the conversation can come to who manages your books. You're listening to The Successful Bookkeeper with your host, Michael Palmer. Listen each week as inspiring guests share their secrets of success to help you increase your confidence, work smarter, and build a business you love. This episode of The Successful Bookkeeper is brought to you by purebookkeeping.com, the proven system to grow your bookkeeping business. Welcome back, Welcome back to the Successful Bookkeeper Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Palmer, and today's show is going to be a great one. Our guest is a virtual financial manager, profit advisor, and founder of Upfront Consulting. Michael Braun, welcome to the show. Hello, Michael. Thank you for inviting me on. It's great to have you. And, uh, I'm really excited about hearing your story. Uh, we met of course on LinkedIn, which is the way of the world today. And, uh, just hearing a little bit of your story, I knew instantly that I wanted to have you on the show. To share your story with others. Excellent. Well, thanks for having me here. Yeah. So let's hear your career journey leading up to this point running Upfront Consulting.

Yes. Well, I started my career with WestJet in 1999 as a flight attendant, and after being hired, I began this intense training program with operations manuals, standard operating procedures. And so from the very beginning, I saw how a systemized approach to business is one of the key ingredients to the success of a company. And so during my time there, I trained customer service, hired flight attendants, managed performance, and was part of the management team that grew their department from 400 to 2,000. Wow. And so it was quite an experience to see a company evolve from that state. In 2014, I was growing restless and decided I needed a change. I had taken one accounting course from SAIT here in Calgary and decided to