Creating an Employee First Culture with Sherry Deutschmann

Published: Aug. 5, 2020, 4 p.m.

Welcome back to the Micro Empires Podcast! I’m your host, Jennifer Ives Grimson. Today I had the pleasure of speaking with the incredible Sherry Deutschmann founder of Letter Logic, a company she sold at $40,000,000 and Brain Trust, a project dedicated to helping women in business. Sherry attributes all this prior success to creating a unique culture of putting the employee first before the customer or the shareholder.  

Alright, Let’s jump into this episode and hear from Sherry about how to create this culture in order to empower others and ourselves. 

 

[00:01 - 7:55] Opening Segment

  • I introduce Sherry and how we met
  • I share some of Sherry’s amazing accomplishments
  • Sherry tells us a bit of her story and how it started her on her path
    • From cleaning houses to owning houses

[07:55 - 25:20] The Employee First Culture 

  • Sherry talks about the start of her venture into Letter Logic
    • Realized the customer service in her job was lacking so began her own business in her basement
    • Sherry had to sell all her belongings to build the company
  • The success of a company begins with the employees
    • Take care of the employees and they can focus on taking care of the customer
    • Sherry talks about employee benefits including a profit-sharing plan
    • Creating an “employee-first culture”
  • Sherry talks about the short-sightedness of not investing in listening and transparency 
    • Listening to people is free
    • How Sherry started “Lunch with Lucy”
    • Publishing meeting minutes
  • Developing empathy for your employees and co-workers
    • Let your people know their value to the company and to themselves
  • Briefly talking empathy in Sales 

[28:53 - 39:45] Empowering Women in Business 

  • My “What would a man do” question
    • Sherry talks about valuing diversity and asking for the right things
    • Women Don’t Ask - Linda Babcock
    • Sherry tells a story of her experience with sexism in sales
  • Sherry talks about her start with Brain Trust
    • Creating small-group sisterhood to get to the million-dollar mark in their business and their net worth 
  • I break down some statistics about women in business 
  • Sherry challenges women about thinking bigger and differently 
    • Create something investable 
  • Don’t be afraid of investing in yourself
  • Sherry talks about having “Imposter Syndrome”

[39:45 - 51:15] Closing Segment

  • My questions for Sherry
    • Biggest financial mistake
    • The biggest impact on your financial independence 
    • Favorite book 
    • Common myths for women in business
  • Sherry takes questions from the audience 
    • Messages for the readers of “Lunch with Lucy”
    • Sherry’s mentor and husband
    • Game-changing habits
    • Where you should focus your energy in the first year of business
    • The moment Sherry realized she pulled the business trigger
  • Trivia for the audience and book give away
  • Final words

 

Tweetable Quotes:

“I just thought if I take really good care of the people and if I focus on them, then they can focus on taking care of the customer. And the customer will be more dedicated and loyal to us because we are providing extraordinary service. They’ll be willing to pay more for that and that will satisfy me - the shareholder.” - Sherry Deutschmann

“There’s nothing that will give you a better R.O.I.(Rate of Investment)  than investing in your people.” - Sherry Deutschmann



If you’d like to connect with Sherry you can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Learn more about Sherry and her book at https://sherrydeutschmann.com/.  

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I’m excited to know more about you. Also, feel free to shoot me an email at jennifer@micro-empires.com

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This podcast is about YOU.  We all have a story; whether your story is a lot like mine or totally different. Maybe you have a good job, but you know in your heart that you want more. 

 

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