Episode Overview

Host Bob Pettke welcomes Lance “Duke” Snider to discuss the upcoming Midwest Staffing Conference, a must-attend event for staffing professionals featuring keynote speakers, networking opportunities, and over 30 vendor partners. David Atkins, a retired NY State Police Captain and motivational speaker, shares his powerful life lessons from 9/11 and his mission to inspire others to make the most of every day. Tune in for insights on thriving in staffing and living with purpose.

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: [00:00:00] Coming to you from the Ultra-Staff Studios in Chicago. Welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host, Bob Pettke.

Hello, and welcome back to the Staffing Buzz Network. I am Bob Pettke, the Chief Sales Officer here for Ultra-Staff EDGE. For those of you that don’t know, we are a full-service front office software solution, ATS CRM, for staffing companies. And today we have a very special episode for the Staffing Buzz Network.

We’ve got two, that’s right. Not one, but two guests on the Staffing Buzz Network. And our first guest today is Lance Snider. You can bring Lance in.

Lance “Duke” Snider: Morning, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Good mornin,g Lance. Lance, you are [00:01:00] our first guest. You are a staffing professional here in the Midwest, the heartland of the country.

And, you’re also on the board of directors for the Illinois Search and Staffing Association, otherwise known as the ISSA. We are glad to have you on.

Lance “Duke” Snider: Thank you so much. Appreciate this opportunity.

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. Lance is one of the key players involved in organizing an event that really benefits, staffing companies across the region here.

And you are it takes a village, right? But you’re a part of a team that’s organizing and facilitating the Midwest Staffing Conference, which is being held April 24th and 25th at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oakbrook, Illinois. So we’ve got Lance on to share some insight about the Midwest Staffing Conference.

It’s an annual conference held for staffing companies, large and small, across the region. Lance, as we get started, and I know there’s some [00:02:00] history here, how long, as far as you know, have we been been conducting the Midwest staffing conference

Lance “Duke” Snider: It’s good for everybody. It’s a great place for network and a great place for learning.

We’re all in this together. As you said, as an industry, we a great opportunity for everybody to get together, learn, get a little pumped up and then go get ’em in the staffing industry there, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Lance, one of the things, as somebody who was in the staffing industry for many years, a brethren, a brotherhood, I’ve said before, like a fraternal order of staffing people.

It takes a unique person to be able to thrive and survive in staffing for those that can’t do it. The staffing industry will let you know. It’ll knock you out of the industry if you can’t do it. So when you get a group of people that are keen and successful in staffing, it’s a very unique [00:03:00] situation.

And you find a lot of commonality with a lot of these folks.

Lance “Duke” Snider: Yes, you do.

Bob Pettke: With that said, from what you’ve told us so far, it sounds it’s gonna be a great venue. Now, is this an event that’s open to anyone?

Lance “Duke” Snider: It is, obviously, we’ve really focused on the staffing professionals.

Correct. But when you talk about, you mentioned before, large, small firms recruiters, sales. A lot of our series that we teach here is leadership, sales, recruiting. So there’s a for everybody. It will go Wednesday and Thursday, like you said, and on top of that, we’re going to have over 30 different sponsor slash vendor partners. So this is a real big to-do. So folks can come in, and they can come on in if they’re members, they get a discount price if they’re not members, we have a real special deal going there too.

They can just go online and check that out for a deal there, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Great. And you mentioned some vendors, some partners. What are some of the things people can expect? [00:04:00] What’s the format gonna look like as people start to plan their day? What are some expectations they should have? What’s the event gonna, the layout of the land gonna look like?

Lance “Duke” Snider: Sure. Absolutely. Obviously, we’re gonna have one of our keynote speakers on. And then also, I think we have another podcast following. Essentially, we’ll have an area where when people come into the floor, that was where all of our vendors are going to be in my head.

I think it’s 34 total vendors and they all have their tables there. And they are welcome to see everybody come in and start the network and start learning about, Hey, what does this partner do? How can they help me out in my staffing profession? Then that will spill over into the actual speakers’ areas, and from Wednesday through Thursday, we have a lineup three different on Wednesday and then three different sessions on Thursday of speakers that’s going to go over, let you really experience things, have nuggets to take away.

We just don’t want to teach. We actually want everybody to go ahead and really learn and experience things and have takeaways here. So we’re really excited here, Bob. [00:05:00]

Bob Pettke: Great. With that said. And you’ve been involved in a part of this in one way, shape or form. What are some of the positive takeaways that you’ve heard from people who have attended this event in the past?

Lance “Duke” Snider: It’s a great question. I was blessed enough to be a co-chair last year, and I’m also co-chair this year, but as you said, it takes more than that. We have a wonderful committee here of about 13 folks, including the presence of the Wisconsin Association for Staff and also the Michigan staffing and as well as our own president here at ISSA.

So everybody’s on this committee to really make this a successful thing. That being said, last year’s survey was tremendous, both from the attendees that just really had a lot of great takeaways, but also our sponsors were really pleased with the flow through and everybody coming in. And I hate to say it on top of all that good stuff

we have a heck of a Wednesday night capper where [00:06:00] we all get together and have some appetizers, drinks. This time, we’re actually going to have a comedian come in. We have a comedian Wednesday, and then folks normally spell out and go have dinner. So it is just a really good time. Got great feedback last year.

Can’t wait to hear the feedback this year.

Bob Pettke: And I’m excited. I will be in attendance out of all the years I’ve been in staffing. This is my first year, and it is on the other side, right? As a partner and a vendor, and after all of these years in staffing, one of the things that I could recall, being in a C-level position in staffing and the staffing companies in the past, is oftentimes, you’d get solicited by vendors and, the day is so busy, and it’s so hard to pick up the phone.

Let’s face it: not only does it take a village to put together a conference like this, but there are so many resources that staffing companies rely on. So to be in a room with some of the finest staffing [00:07:00] partners in the country, all in one segmented space.

It’s gonna give people that have to partner or are looking to make changes in their partners. This is gonna be like kids in a candy store. They’re gonna have a chance to go from place to place and really ask the appropriate questions and do some vetting on the spot with some of those vendors.

Be it a company like ours, which we anticipate seeing a lot of people stop at our Ultra Staff EDGE table booth area, or if it’s gonna be something to do with how you’re doing payroll and things of that nature. Lot of good opportunities there to visit with some of those folks.

Yeah. Anything else you want to add, or you think people should know something that, what’s maybe give us a reason why somebody really would want to go ahead and take that time out of their day and sign up to participate.

Lance “Duke” Snider: Yeah, Bob. First and foremost, this is a Midwest Staffing Conference.

So I said about our Wisconsin help and our Michigan help and the Illinois [00:08:00] help, but of all the surrounding states around here, we’ll take it. Let me tell you, there’s so much to learn here. So Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, come on to this Midwest Stanford coverage. Why? Because I think everybody needs to hit a pause button.

Everybody can learn, right? If you always say you don’t need the learning, I think you’re wrong. I think there’s a great way to go ahead and learn some things. Current events, relevant events, and as well as why would we not be networking, leading each other? There’s enough in this industry that we don’t need to sit there and hide.

We can lean on each other, help each other, learn from each other and go have fun in the staff industry. That’s why we’re here, right? So I think everybody should come on 24, 25 April and have a heck of a good time.

Bob Pettke: Thank you.

Lance “Duke” Snider: I do want to say, if I can tell you, Ultra Staff EDGE has been nothing but a valued partner, ISA.

I will speak as on behalf of the board director. I really do appreciate the partnership from Ultra Staff EDGE and this opportunity to be on this podcast here, Bob.

Bob Pettke: I’ll tell you what, we [00:09:00] appreciate that. And likewise, we are privileged to be able to be part of this organization that gives back and what would be better for people that, people want to be with other people that are like them and like- minded.

And, you get two, 300, 400 people in a room that do this for a living. There’s a little bit of crazy, but a whole lot of love that goes with that. We’re excited. We’re excited to be there. So I will see you there, my friend, April 24, 25. We’re going to include some information in our links below for people that are watching this, but for people that might be listening audio to the podcast, how do people find out or how do people register?

Lance “Duke” Snider: Yeah. If they want to go right to I S A works. So I S A W O R K S. com. isaworks.Com. They can get right on there. They’ll see the Midwest conference right at the top. Register now, get on board.

Bob Pettke: Perfect. Lance Snider. Thanks for being here today. Just another good brother when it comes to staffing, and we look [00:10:00] forward to seeing you next time.

Lance “Duke” Snider: Thanks, Bob. Take care of everybody. Perfect.

Bob Pettke: So there you have it, Lance, well-liked, well-known in the community ,very knowledgeable and just a really good guy. And when you come to the conference, make sure you go by, and you shake his hand, and you say hi to Lance.

I’m sure he’d be glad to see it. Like I said, we’ve got two guests today, so we’re going to step into our next guest. So our next guest is an author and motivational speaker, David Atkins.

David Atkins: Hello. Hello. Hello, Bob. How are you?

Bob Pettke: Good brother. How are you doing? Welcome to the network.

David Atkins: Let’s go excited to talk and excited for the event and the conference next month.

Bob Pettke: No, we are as well. And we’re excited to have you. I’m going to give a little information, David. I’ve told other people when I’ve gone through this this is your life, right? So we’re going to talk a little bit about who you are and what role you’re going to play here at the conference.

And just to tell you a little bit more about David, he is a retired New York [00:11:00] state police captain. He was 22 years in the service with them. And you were a New York state trooper. You were the trooper of the year in 2003, and then you, you topped, you had to follow that up and top it off with you were the New York State Police Investigator of the year in 2007.

How am I doing so far?

David Atkins: Yeah, you’re good. You’re good.

Bob Pettke: All right. All right. All right. So again, you’ve done, you did a lot of different things while you were working with the state there in your officer role, and then, you were working full-time for the New York State Polic,e and while you were doing that, you also built, and we’ll talk a little bit about this ’cause I think we’re really interested to hear.

You’ve got a very successful run with Beachbody where you were able to build a team about up to 1400 people. Today, you were successful on both sides of the business. Through this process, you become a keynote speaker, and it looks like if history tells me that you spoken to [00:12:00] Superdome.

David Atkins: Okay. I did.

Bob Pettke: And you want, talk to me about that a little bit.

David Atkins: So 20,000 people in the NFL Superdome, people say, David, how is it to speak to 20,000 people? And I said I think once you get to around a thousand or even three, four or 500, it all becomes the same at that point. It’s the energy just seeing that amount of people, but that was an amazing event and super grateful that I had that opportunity.

Bob Pettke: I can only imagine what it’s like to get up there in front of that large group. And there’s got to be just a tremendous energy that you would feel there from that. One more thing that stands out in your history is you were also a first responder.

At ground zero on 9/11, and you spent weeks there working in New York City. It’s a sobering experience. Anything you add or share to that and maybe tie that into, how it got you, how that laid the groundwork for you to do what you’re doing today.

David Atkins: Great question. I like to say what’s what [00:13:00] 9/11, it was really eyeopening of, just how precious life is. And I remember being down there the day after and looking at the pile of rubble and I often explain it to people that when you used to look at the TV screen on 9/11, you would only see what was right in front of you, like directly in front of you.

And I remember getting down there and looking up and as far and as high as the eyes can see for 360 degrees, seeing a pile of rubble. And I remember telling my mom and my family, I’m like, there, there’s going to be no survivors. And I remember driving out of ground zero, like my first day. And I was blocks away, Bob, blocks away.

And I remember looking up at other skyscraper buildings in Manhattan and New York City. And I would see what looked like spears like arrows sticking out of these buildings that were perfect, but like 70 stories up these spears. And it was the metal beams from the twin towers that went end over end through the air for blocks and just [00:14:00] penetrated the building.

So it was eye-opening. And people are still not many people, maybe from New York, people here are the Metro New York, New Jersey, but people are still dying from 9/11 related sickness and cancer. One of my friends died from a 9/11-related cancer just a couple of years ago. Every February, I have to go i,n and I’m part of the monitoring program, and I get a very thorough physical done to check my lungs and my chest.

So it’s still with me today. And I like to say between that eye-opening thing and the loss of my best friend who was shot and killed as a state trooper, I like to say, and I’ll share this next month, that life doesn’t always fire a warning shot. And for me, every single day, like for me, every single day is a blessing and a gift.

And it’s what we do with the 24 hours today that matters. And I think that’s what took me in my life and catapulted me because every single day, my goal is to be my best to live up to my potential and to not compare myself to others but compare myself to David. How can I be better today than I was yesterday?

And that’s state police to [00:15:00] business, to author, to speaker. It’s just always been that journey of just trying to improve because we only get one shot at this thing called life, right? I like to say there is no warm up in life. There is no practice. So it’s just about showing up each day and giving your best.

Bob Pettke: No, I’m with you. And no, you talk about being an autho,r and it says, I did some research, and I pulled a bio up here. It says you published your first book, the leveled-up life. And that talk about your book a little bit.

David Atkins: So my book, it’s just success principles that I have learned from when I was a child, whether it was saving up for a batting cage to put in my backyard.

And when I asked my parents to buy it for me and they’re like, no way. And what it went through of delivering newspapers in New York in February and March for a year. Or it was building my Beachbody business to a million-dollar business or moving up to the ranks of the state police to be a captain.

It’s the principles of how to. Face adversity and how failure is part of the process and having a vision for your life every single [00:16:00] day to have those goals, not accepting your life for what it is, but like leading our life to where we want to go. Or a big thing that I speak on his mindset, like we can’t control those things that happen to us every single day.

Like when the pandemic happened, we can’t control that, like the circumstance, you can’t control it, but what we can control is how we react. It’s like our energy is a choice. Our attitude is a choice. How we show up is a choice. So, for me, I realized that I couldn’t play victim. I had to play like Victor mentality.

So when it was building my business and going through Bob, it was a serious growth journey in my career and in business, reading hundreds of books. There’s that saying success leaves clues. So, for me, I would study those that were more successful than me. And I would try to improve my life, whether it was books I read. That’s how it led ultimately to when I retired to pursue being a speaker. I wanted to write a book about the principles that I’m not just talking about, that I lived, that I feel that you can [00:17:00] apply to anything in your life, whether you’re trying to improve your health, your relationships, be better employee, because entrepreneurship isn’t for everybody, or whatever

it is, if you take this and you have this mindset and follow this, you will level up your life. And I think I say it’s the no-excuse blueprint to live a life up to your fullest potential. And something I thought I could write in 60 days. I’m like, Oh, I got this. I’ll get it. And it was like almost a year project because I like to say every time you set a goal for something, plan on it being 10 times harder than you ever imagined.

And I think that holds tried and true for everything that you do in life.

Bob Pettke: No, absolutely. And you had mentioned something here about an entrepreneur being an entrepreneur and I will ask you here in a second about your Beachbody experience about how you were able to build that up.

But one of the things that you’ll find, or that I just know from being around staffing for so long, is that there is the heart of an entrepreneur. Everybody, for the most part, has somewhat of an entrepreneurial [00:18:00] spirit. We’ve got some big companies that are going to even be at the Midwest Staffing Conference and they’ve got people that are driving sales, driving recruiting.

They might be regional managers or branch managers or salespeople. And it is a unique, as you heard in that first segment, it’s a very unique group of people who have that if they don’t own it, they run it like they do. And other people, we’re going to have some folks that are going to be the tenants or just that listen on a regular basis that one day they got, they got the itch and they scratched it and they open up their doors for the first time.

And, they built a business with maybe one person. They put one person on a job, and it started with one, right? It started with one. And I think that the entrepreneurial spirit transcends. I know it does. From industry to life to industry. Absolutely. You had built this Beachbody business and

I’ve got my niece, actually is a coach. So I’m a little familiar with Beachbody as [00:19:00] well. But talk to us about how you got to that point and, was it one that, it’s your story, not mine, so I’m not going to lead the witness about how you got started and how you were able to build that up, and what was your mindset to do it?

David Atkins: No, that’s great. So I could tell you it started with. My wife and I go back, say 12, 13 years. We had two kids going on three. My wife was struggling with losing her baby weight. I was growing, adding weight to myself. I was heavier than I was now. And I think it was, we were just going through the motions of life.

We were stressed out all the time. Tired all the time. We would bicker often because my wife and I also at the time, and I’ll share this, like we were six figures in debt with poor credit card choices. We made poor decisions early on in our marriage that we didn’t know what the right thing is and we were gym goers. We go three or four times a week, but we were just going through the motions.

And I finally said something needs to change. We’re not thriving in our marriage. We’re simply [00:20:00] surviving. And I came across a buddy I work with, he’s been trying to get me to do P90X, one of the Beachbody programs. And I literally said no to him for months. And the funny story is we got sent to Houston, Texas to look for a main witness of a murder case in New York.

And we both were flown out there. We found the witness. We did our interview. We were done earlier in the day. And I said, Hey, let’s go to a Houston Astros baseball game. I’m a big baseball fan. And he’s not a baseball fan. He said I’ll go to that Houston Astros baseball game, but you need to do that ab workout from P90 X.

And I relentlessly was like, fine, I’ll do it. And in the hotel room, I did this like 16 minutes, and it killed me. I couldn’t finish it. And I got hooked, and what started happening was it started with just working on my wife and I. We would get up before our kids got up, we started working out, we started getting results, and people were like, David, what are you doing?

And Kristen, what are you doing? We came like that walking billboard and we also had an energy to us. So we just started saying, Hey, we did P90X, and then the next program was [00:21:00] insanity. We shared it and we did not realize at first there was a business opportunity, like we would just share it to other people.

And then we started seeing people actually earn income from building it and building the business. It’s a network marketing business and direct sales. So we started sharing it with people, and it grew to two, three people. Like you said, we were the first, then the two to three and then 10.

And then we just started seeing the vision. I’m big on vision. Wow, there’s people that have earned six figures have created paid-off debt. Again, we were struggling, and we decided to go all in. And in two years, we paid off a hundred over six figures in debt, and we ultimately became a million-dollar earner.

And it grew internationally to a team we led to 1400 people United Kingdom County, United States. And that opened doors really for me as a speaker. Beachbody started saying, David, you were working full time, you had three kids, and you built this business. Can you share your story?

And it started in a library of 15 people and ultimately grew to 20,000. And that’s when I [00:22:00] realized, wow, I have a gift that I believe was given to me to be able to go and inspire and share my story. And that’s when the door’s open for keynote speaking. Cause I like to say, Bob, so often I like to say work with what you have, with where you are, because what you have is plenty, and for us, it wasn’t about, I want to be an entrepreneur and build a million dollar business.

It was, I just want to start with my day one. Cause everybody has their day one. Let me just get a little healthier. And then the business started growing and then it was all right. Don’t compare my chapter one to somebody else’s chapter 12. Let me just be a little bit better and help the two people that we’re helping right now and then teaching them to help people.

And then it grew. And I think that’s the way life is like my why, and my vision is much different today than it was 12 years ago. I’m just trying to be the best I am now and just whatever doors, and I’m a big believer in this, when doors open for you and opportunity knocks, you got to take advantage of that opportunity. And that’s the way I live my life.

So then the book came, and then I started a podcas,t and now I just keep pressing forward. [00:23:00] So here I am.

Bob Pettke: I can relate, and I’m sure that our listeners can relate and that the staffing community can relate. One of the things that I’ve noticed that in life ,and this is, I’m going to say it about you, David, you probably, for lack of a better word, suck at most things, but once you find.

You know what it is that works for you when you jump on, and you jump in, and you give it everything you’ve got. That’s the space in place where you thrive, survive, and excel. And so that, that’s actually a great story.

Obviously, this entrepreneurial spirit, you’ve now been successful. You’ve wrote this book, you are now keynote speaker and we’re excited to have you come in and share your message with the folks at the Midwest Staffing Conference. And that’s chapter two of what you’ve been doing.

And then that other chapter laid the foundation. I’m sure there are things that happen, in your time in law [00:24:00] enforcement that laid the groundwork for you to build to this next chapter where you are now thriving, surviving, being successful. If you look back on those earlier days, what are some things that really seem to stand out for you?

Hindsight is a beautiful thing, right? What are some things that you can look back at that attest to, and I’m just going to say it, and a lot of people that are successful or humble. What are some of those early things that happened in life?

And you mentioned a couple of those, the loss of your friend but what are some of the other things that have happened that laid the groundwork for you to be where you’re at today?

David Atkins: I think, especially in the law enforcement community, that my partners or fellow troopers depended; they put their life on the line, and they depended on me to be there for them if they needed help.

So, for me to be out there and be my best and perform at my best to possibly be in a situation that could put [00:25:00] us in a life and death situation, and there have been times of that. I’m calling for help, and you rely on each other in that community. So that was a driving force to start really taking serious.

My physical wellbeing, but also our mental wellbeing, because if nothing is right up here, I believe this mental health is just as important. So, for me, it was not only physically taking care of myself because my partners depend on that, but I also started learning that even my kids they deserve the best of me, not what’s left of me.

So I realized I need to be the best father to my kids and husband to my wife, taking care of my physical health. I realized mentally I see a lot of negative in the world and law enforcement, right? You don’t get called to a scene of something negative: 9/11, lost my best friend.

I’ve seen children die. I’ve seen many things. So I realized, okay, I can’t control these things, but I need to then fuel my mind and my body with things that will put me in a better head space so that I’m the best that I can be. And I think it just started off with the career I was in. And then [00:26:00] recognizing the struggles in my marriage and just saying this can change, and I need to be the change you want to see and stop waiting.

I like to say, I used to wait for other people to free me, circumstances to free me. I want a new contract to get out of debt, wait for them to free me. And I finally realized, David, they didn’t need to free you. You needed to free yourself. So, once I took ownership of that in my life. And I went forward, it’s the most freeing feeling in the world because you no longer allow the outside things to affect your level of success in all areas of your life.

So I know that was a loaded answer, but it’s hard to say it was one thing. It’s where the mindset was.

Bob Pettke: You know what I call that? I call that, again, perspective. And I talk about hindsight and I’m a firm believer in it. Uh, if you’re not learning from the things that happened in life, something’s got to change in life and on a different scale, and you talked about having to rely on people, and people have to rely on you. Now, in your situation, oftentimes it was life and death, but, [00:27:00] and it’s almost unfair to me to make the comparison.

But in staffing, one of the things that we run into is having to rely on our folks as well. Oftentimes, you need a salesperson to go and secure the business, and then once they secure the business, it has to be the right job, the right pay, the right location, and then they’ve gotta come back and share that with their team.

Then that team’s gotta fill the order. So you gotta rely on them to fill it. Then you’ve gotta rely on the person to actually show up and go to work. There’s a lot of trust that has to happen there and things don’t always go right.

And I think one of the things is I listened to your story and just law enforcement itself and just talking about things definitely didn’t go right all the time when you were in law enforcement, but you’ve built upon it. And I think that your story that you’ve shared a little bit today, we’ll hear more of it when you’re here at the Midwest Staffing Conference is that you have taken those experiences and, you would have an obstacle and it could either [00:28:00] be a stumbling block or a stepping stone.

And it sounds to me like you’ve ,along the way, taken advantage of those obstacles and use them to propel you to where you’re at.

David Atkins: I know. Absolutely. And I like to think that it also is a mindset flip from life is going from me to others, having a servant mindset, because once I started realizing even whether it was when I’m out there in the law enforcement community, it’s about helping the society, the community that I’m in.

When I was an entrepreneur, and I was building my business, I made sure my focus was to help other people get healthy and to help other people build businesses. And now as a speaker, It’s not about David Atkins. It’s about who in the audience can take my message to better their life. And when I wake up every single day, no matter what it is, and it could be staffing, it could be real estate,

it could be speaker. When you flip the mindset, Bob, and you have a servant’s mindset. There’s that saying, help enough people, Zig Ziglar says, help enough people get what they want, and you will get what you want. S,o for me, every single day, it’s who can I serve today? Who can I empower [00:29:00] today?

And if you think of it that way in business and staffing in life. It will come back to you. You’ll be better for it. You’ll feel better. And it just keeps you on the straight and narrow of where your focus should be.

Bob Pettke: Sure. As we wrap up here today, David, one of the things that I want to ask you is, and this is your chance to really. Talk a little bit about what do people share with you. They sit through one of your sessions, and you’re obviously going to get feedback. It’s part of what keeps you coming back for more. But what are some of the things that have been shared with you where people have benefited from it? What are some of the thank yous you get?

What are some of the responses you get from positive feedback? What are you hearing?

David Atkins: Yeah. Captivating tears. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. I just heard a couple weeks ago, one lady, and and for those that have faith in their life, said, David, I felt like it was God’s words coming through your lips to my ears.

And I needed to hear that. She came up to me [00:30:00] after I was doing my book signing, and she was in tears. And that’s my goal. Like my goal is to get people cause we all laugh in my keynote. We will cry in my keynote because my goal is to help them. And it’s just, it’s the wow factor. It’s the thank you factor.

It’s the tears. It’s the messages that I get. I just, there’s just so many and part of me, I don’t want to be awkward, like sharing, but that’s what it is. That’s my goal is to impact people for the better, to leave there different than they entered the room after my keynote. So I guess that was the one thing when somebody said that one thing to me, and she was literally online. I saw her, and she was shaking and crying.

That was really touching.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. One of the things I had written down that I wanted to ask you, and you just said it, my mindset when I go in to listen to somebody who’s in a keynote position and is going to deliver a message is I’m always expecting, in the spirit of, are they going to leave me better than they found me now?

Are they going to provide some type of [00:31:00] valuable insight? It doesn’t have to change my world. It doesn’t have to change my day, but it has to change. Maybe, give me some perspective on something I haven’t seen before. Absolutely. So I think, from what I’m hearing from you, I’m excited to be to listen and be a part of that, and I’m expecting to, no, have a lot of people want to come in and be part of this and hear your message.

David Atkins: Thank you. So I’m looking forward to it. I really am. And thank you so much.

Bob Pettke: No, absolutely. So David, thanks for being here. Maybe in another time, place or space, we can have you on board, but until then, we’ll definitely see you at the Midwest Conference on April 24 and 25.

And so, thanks again for being here, and I’m looking forward to your message.

David Atkins: Bye bye. Thank you so much.

Bob Pettke: Perfect. Thanks again.

What a great opportunity to visit with David, and very excited to hear his message and, again, something that transfers over in life, right? Every day, we grind in staffing. Like I said earlier, we got to find the jobs. It’s gotta be the right pay, the right [00:32:00] location, the right type of job, the right shift, then we’ve got to go to our recruiters, and then we’ve got to go to the people to find it.

And this could be temp to hire direct hire. But you need a certain mindset to be successful at this. And there is a camaraderie and there’s a partnership that’s involved. And I think that David is just 1 of several very influential speakers that are going to be at the Midwest Staffing Conference. So I encourage anybody who’s listening, who hasn’t made the reservations or signed up yet to look into it, get on board. It’s that ISSA works. If you can go ahead and Google that or search on that, you’ll be able to find that. So again, thanks, David. And thanks, Lance, for being here.

And again, for those of you who maybe are listening for the first time, or for those of you that are listening and maybe haven’t subscribed yet, make sure you’re telling people in the staffing community about the Staffing Buzz Network and make sure [00:33:00] that you’re subscribing to our podcast.

You can watch us on YouTube. We’re on all of the major platforms. If you’re interested in learning more about Ultra-Staff EDGE, our ATS, our CRM software, don’t hesitate to reach out. You can go ahead and email me; you can visit our website our phone number is going to be on the outro page. We’re going to have some folks at the conference April 24 and 25. Come by and see us and learn a little bit more about who we are and how we can help you be the backbone of your business and help your business shine and prosper as well.

So with that, everybody, thanks again for listening. And until next time, we’ll see you on the Staffing Buzz network. Thanks.