Andy McClure is an outsourced Chief Marketing Officer for small businesses. He offers flexibility and senior-level experience to companies that don't need that type of leadership full-time. Andy started his consulting practice 10 years ago partly by design and partly because he lost his job.

Andy McClure is an outsourced Chief Marketing Officer for small businesses. He offers flexibility and senior-level experience to companies that don’t need that type of leadership full-time.

Andy started his consulting practice 10 years ago partly by design and partly because he lost his job. Prior to starting his practice, Andy managed a sales organization, was part of a turn-around management consulting group, worked in marketing for a large technology company, and played a variety of management roles in a small contract-manufacturing business.

Andy has a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two teenage children.

In this episode, Andy talks about how he was able to “Flip the Script” in his 2nd Half utilizing his past Corporate experience into a successful Marketing Company.

“I am my own person, I have certain strengths and weaknesses and taking somebody else's template in a pure way wasn't really going to help me reach my full success. I finally gave myself permission to alter my business.”
- Andy McClure

Key Takeaways for Second Act’ers on how Andy paved his way towards his career shift success

Listen to yourself. Recognize what you are good at or wired to do.
Find a mentor. Someone who can help you shorten your learning curve
Recognize that you have your style for counterbalance. Give yourself permission to alter your business.

Topics Covered:

02:44 - How the Great Recession and series of developments in his career brought a pivotal shift to Andy

04:14 - Andy describing his ‘flip the script’ moment that led him to pivot, leave the big tech and do something different other than being in the ladder climbing corporate set-up

05:01 - His first dibs into the consulting practice, how he got started before ultimately losing his job in the big tech

06:33 - Biggest things Andy is most excited about with this new work and income direction at this point in his life: work-family balance, time freedom, and flexibility

08:35- ‘Who could I learn from? Like, who was my next mentor?’ Andy’s main concern before fully diving into the entrepreneurial route

11:56 - Andy describes his ideal client and the demographics of businesses he serves

13:25- Andy’s tip for Second Actors who want to kick-off their corporate experience as a service and why finding a mentor is important to shift their learning curve

Connect with Andy McClure

Connect with Tim Hansen

Transcript:

Tim Hansen 0:31

Hello, Second Act’ers. This is Tim Hansen. You're host, of your Second Act Career Coaching podcast. Today I have on as our guest, Andy McClure.

Andy is an Outsourced Chief Marketing Officer for small businesses. He offers flexibility and senior-level experience to companies that don't need that type of leadership full time. Andy started his consulting practice 10 years ago partly by design and partly because he lost his job. Prior to starting his practice, Andy managed a sales organization, was part of a turnaround management consulting group, worked in marketing for a large technology company and played a variety of management roles in a small contract manufacturing business.

Andy has a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and two teenage children. Andy, thanks so much for being on the show today. I appreciate your time. Why don't we take a couple of minutes and have you chat with our guests and tell us a little bit more about yourself and your business?

Andy McClure 1:30

Yeah, it's nice to be here, Tim, thanks for inviting me. You know, it's funny to hear that I've been in business for 10 years. I just realized that a few months ago that I crossed that threshold, and maybe I think we'll get into it during the conversation. But, you know, one thing that I experienced was, it wasn't a monolithic, 'Hey, I'm going to be in business. This is what I'm going to do and I know how to do it.' I really bumped into a lot of things along the way my business, changed and morphed. The kinds of companies I work with have really changed over time. So, it'd be fun to talk through what that experience has been like.

Tim Hansen 2:04

Absolutely, absolutely. And as we continue to start here, feel free to share the name of your business for our audience.

Andy McClure 2:12

Oh, sure. It's Sherpa Business Development.

Tim Hansen 2:14

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent, fantastic. Well, you know, with all that experience you've had and we mentioned a little bit in your bio, some people come to the second act and their careers and stage of life, some by design, some somebody's fault where, you know, loss of a job or whatnot. And it looks like you had a little bit of blend of that. So with that in mind, can you tell us what was your worst career moment that kind of was the impetuous for moving on into a new phase of working for you?

Andy McClure 2:43

As some of your listeners may have figured out based on the 10-year mark, the great recession was a pivotal time for me. Some of it again, by choice, some not so much.

So for me, it was really not so much one moment but a series of developments in my career and choices that at every juncture seemed like just a natural good move that eventually reached a point where I felt, 'Oh, shoot, you know, I'm really painted into a corner.'

I guess a few of the not so much a single decision. But a few of the key moments in my career came from spending a couple of years in a big company. And you know, you mentioned in the intro, I worked for a large technology company, and I guess, thankfully, recognize that that wasn't the best fit for me.

You know, so that was one of those moments, about almost 20 years ago, where I had an opportunity to move to a smaller company and just saw that that was going to be a little more interesting for what I wanted to do. I felt like, you know, I had a background and some opportunity to go help turn around a company so I was part of a small management team that tried to take a software company and get it back on its feet. So while I was kind of busy, heads down, working on all the stuff that we were just wrestling with day to day, it took a while before I realized, 'Oh, wow, seven years have gone by, and it's not going to work. We're not gonna we're not going to get the job done.'

Tim Hansen 4:07

Would you say that was probably one of your big flip the script moments when you realize there's you have to pivot and do something different?

Andy McClure 4:14

Yeah, yeah, it was that point where those couple of decisions to leave the big tech world and at least in my assessment, I could no longer go back to a ladder-climbing effort in a career, you know, along that path.

And then I found myself, 'Okay, well, I've got this small company experience, which some people might value.'

But the story isn't great. We didn't have success. We didn't you know, we didn't revive this company. And part of it was the economy came crashing down.

So yeah, that fit flip the script moment, ultimately was, 'Wow, this is the hand that I've dealt with myself. I kind of have no longer can look to big companies. My perception was that I couldn't go back that way. And I was out of a job because the company was crumbling.'

I saw a little bit of the writing on the wall. And so I got started before ultimately losing my job I got started consulting and coaching with small companies on the side. So I had a little bit of a head start. So that's why I was partly by choice, I saw a way to develop a coaching practice, but then I was thrown into the, into the deep end a little sooner than I want it.

Tim Hansen 5:21

Okay, well, well, let's talk a little bit more about your marketing and consulting practice. And tell us a little bit more about that some of the types of clients you work with now and some of the things you do for them.

Andy McClure 5:31

the way it's formed over time. I now like you mentioned in the intro, I act as a chief marketing officer for just a couple of companies at any given time. So these tend to be companies that are big enough where they need a really organized and productive marketing function, but not so big that they can hire that team full time and it's a model that you know, I looked around me and people that I get to know in business it's used elsewhere are lots of fractional chief financial officers, you know, legal counsel that will have a handful of clients that they serve.

So that was comforting to me that I, as I got into it and formulated my own approach, I could see some examples around me that were pretty similar. So I tend to be companies that are two to 10 million in revenue. And I can kind of give them a level of assistance that they wouldn't be able to, to have if they were trying to find somebody hired to hire full time.

Tim Hansen 6:25

Oh, fantastic. Well, what would you say is probably one of the biggest things you're most excited about with this new work and income direction at this point in your life?

Andy McClure 6:33

It's been the freedom of my schedule. So over the over these 10 years, you know, I spent three years coaching my daughter's lacrosse team which meant, you know, wrapping up my day at 3:00 PM to go go to the field and get the practicing craft and freedom to go, you know, on the weekends to coach games, picks up a mountain biking habit that my son and I get to do. So really having the freedom to flex. Take time during the day on a day that my wife is off, she's off on weekdays, we can go for, go for a walk or hike it, you know, 10:00 AM, if that's what we want to do.

Tim Hansen 7:11

That's fantastic. That's one thing. I've found that a lot of people that are at this point or in this business model, they've kind of found away at this point in time to have their work revolves around their life, not their life around their work.

And you know, to me, I was a single dad for a number of years before I got remarried, and I valued that time. I'm in the same work model as you and I wouldn't have traded that for anything. My daughters are both now married and I have two grandsons and I am so grateful for that. So yeah, I understand it. And there's nothing, to me, everyone has a different value system what they want to do. But for me, I couldn't put a price tag on that.

Yeah, And I had plenty of opportunities to go back into the corporate world, but it would have taken me far away from home not say that people shouldn't do it just depends on your circumstances. But I'm glad to hear that that worked out well for you. There's nothing like having that family life balance.

What do you think was probably one of the biggest things that were holding you back from what I call flipping the script, flipping things around what people would perceive as a negative loss of a job or whatever, and making that an asset and moving forward in a new direction? Can you share it? Sure, just share a little bit about that with our audience?

Andy McClure 8:01

You know, that was an interesting question. So in thinking about that ahead of time, it popped out for me that I think, in my career, I really was fixated might be a little strong, but I certainly was very concerned with who could I learn from? Like, who was my next mentor?

An assumption that to have that I need to be inside a company reporting to somebody that I can learn from and then kind of progressively, you know, get to a new level on my career and then look for my next mentor.

And so when I was forced to think differently about what I would do next when the company I was with wasn't going to make it and I just didn't feel like I could go back into a big company environment, I started just looking On the internet, I came across a coach, someone who had a business to teach people. How to go into the type of business that I'm in. I'm kind of taking it in my own direction after time, but that gave me the confidence to go for it.

And again, I didn't really think about it this way at the time, but I know, looking back that big part of what was comforting about that is like, 'Okay, here's somebody I can learn from. I won't be totally cold out there trying to get clients or figure out what to how to advise them. I'd have some materials and have someone I could talk to that would coach me through it.

Tim Hansen 9:31

Right. Do you think of the fact that you had somebody like that kind of helped shorten the learning curve for you?

Andy McClure 9:36

Oh, for sure. For sure, both in a really tangible way in terms of I had forms and processes that I could adopt from that person. But also in just having the confidence to go forward versus just knowing myself if I didn't have that roadmap I would have spent a lot of time second-guessing. And kind of going back and retrying and then going back. All right, but it kept giving me a little more forward momentum due to having that guidance and a belief that, 'Okay, well other people have done it. This guy has shown other people do it. I can just kind of follow along and not worry too much.'

Tim Hansen 10:15

Excellent, excellent. Now I found that seems to be a consistent theme with people that are moving on into this work model. Of course, I always tell some folks that you can figure a lot out on your own and that's fine. It's just going to take you longer to get there. And everybody's got a different you know, budget and cost and time and commitment that they want to have involved. I've hired coaches most of my life in different things from sports or business.

And to me, I looked at it as an investment and to your point about tangible assets night and day, and again, everyone has a different way of getting there. I've got some friends of mine that are diehard do it yourselfers be on YouTube forever, and that's okay.

I always say just figure out what your method is and if it works for you rock on. For me, you know it was being a single dad years ago. I have Two daughters to support I wanted to get there quicker rather than later, it sounds like you're in the same boat. And it is also fun to connect with people that have kind of gone a little bit before you. To start networking with people at this point in life.

You know, as we're coming to the end of our time here, can you tell us a little bit about what a good client would look like for you?

So if anyone in our audience would like to reach out for you, I like to also make this a little bit of a networking opportunity for everybody. So tell us a little bit, I know you touched on it briefly, but let's just spend a moment and talk a little bit more about that right now.

Andy McClure 11:36

Sure, yeah. I appreciate that. Given how I've been able to construct my practice, I have the good fortune of meeting a handful of clients at any given time, which gives me the freedom to be open to lots of conversations. If I can be helpful to folks that have a business that doesn't quite fit in my portfolio or somebody that's just starting out.

You know, so at one level answer your question is really anybody who's struggling with marketing are curious about how they might market their business. I'm always happy to have a conversation and share ideas or be a sounding board, specifically the ones that tend to fit as a long term client, for me. Fit that profile I mentioned before, you know, maybe they have 50 or more employees, they've got, you know, a few million in revenue. They tend if they especially if they serve a local or regional audience, then a lot of the marketing strategies that we put in place are pretty common.

Tim Hansen 12:29

Is there any specific industries in mind or is it pretty much all across the board as long as it fits the employee and revenue demographic?

Andy McClure 12:37

tends to be best if it's more of a services business, I don't have nor have I don't think at any point worked with retail or restaurants. It's just not in my wheelhouse. There are other folks who, who are marketers who can help those folks and I have a network of people that I can refer to.

My best fit has been, you know, business to business services. So accounting firms, law firms, things like that. And then I happen to have a sweet spot, I guess, for companies who have people out in trucks.

So I have some clients where, you know, they're out servicing generators across northern California and other company that's, you know, has people out cleaning and servicing drains, you know, storm drains to keep garbage out of our beautiful bays.

So, alright, industrial kind of services. They're kind of under the radar, but they need marketing help, too.

Tim Hansen 13:25

Well, do you have any final tips and advice for our audience and things that in addition to what you've already shared it for someone else that may be listening to this and kind of encountering whether they should move on? How could they take some other past experiences, any tips you'd like to share with them on how they can do that successfully you know, going forward?

Andy McClure 13:44

I think maybe just the additional, I guess, counterbalance to what I was saying about looking for those mentors or people who could help kind of an echo realization that I had to have after a few years into it, after really trying very hard to stick to the formula that I hadn't been from that coach, it was, it was incredibly helpful to me.

I also recognize that I am my own person, I have certain strengths and weaknesses and taking somebody else's template in a pure way wasn't really going to help me reach my full success.

So I, I finally gave myself permission to alter my business. And that's how I pivoted from trying to reach a lot, you know, do group training programs and stuff like that, and really just was a better fit for me to have a deeper, more intimate, more multifaceted engagements with a handful of clients.

And I could have gotten there faster if I just listened to myself and recognize that was what I was good at or wired to do. So that was really just that counterbalance that again, yin yang of ’Yes, you know, really got a lot out of having a mentor, having a roadmap, but also, you know, kind of got my own style.

And I think along the way, some of these formal personality assessments, you know, listen to those kinds of things. If you don't adapt how you're going to do that. This Second Act of your career to what you're good at or what your natural tendencies are, then it can be pretty frustrating. So the more I've acknowledged who I am and adapted, the better things have gone.

Tim Hansen 15:10

All right, fantastic. Well, as we're coming to the close of our interview, how can our listeners, if they wanted to reach out to you, what would be the best way for them to do that? Can you list your website address or phone number, whatever, whatever contacts you would like, for someone to be able to connect with you.

Andy McClure 15:26

Yeah, great. Thank you. The easiest thing is my website. It is sherpabusinessdevelopment.com and sherpa is S-H-E-R-P-A. So yeah, I've got all my contact information there and would welcome any kind of outreach.

Tim Hansen 15:42

All right, fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. And we look forward to meeting with you on the flip side.

Andy McClure 15:49

Thanks, Tim.

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Second Act Career Coaching Podcast

How Andy McClure Utilized His Past Corporate Experience Into Setting up a Successful Marketing Company

Transcript:

SecondActCareerCoaching