We were lucky to catch up with Robert Mcgraw recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I started in October of 2023 when I was between jobs. That was my 3rd start. Returning to corporate and the conflict with the demands of life kept competing for my time. That would happen again in late 4Q23. I took another “corporate job” as a Director of Talent Management, finally adding recruiting to my scope. This time I kept the business going though. Though it was on life support, I was starting to understand the benefits of owning a business. The end of that 3rd bad experience, confirmed for me that I would be happier if I built my own business. Luckily, we are financially in a place where there is a runway to get it started. Also, my wife helped me come to that realization and fully supported giving it a try. While I would have enjoyed owning my own business much earlier in life, many of the lessons and qualifications I gained in the 20+ years in corporate are what make the business possible today. Lots of good is on the horizon. It just takes time to get to the revenue at the end.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always liked learning and helping others. Learning comes easy to me and helping others is rewarding. That is the thread that permeates by entire career from the Military to the present day. It was in the military I learned how to lead: character, competence, ethics, communication, and more. After the military, I took a low level individual contributor role to preserve my independence and provide the time for me to go to school. In that first company, I was quickly promoted 5 times with the final role being a Training Manager. That was my point of stability in my profession. Along the way, I got educated, certified, and gained global experience. The learning and growth continued over the next few years and companies. The discipline of always living below my means and saving diligently from age 20 enabled me to take what I have learned in big business and turn my attention to helping small businesses. I’m probably most proud of my open coachable character and ability to learn. My clients know that working with us they get friendly, competent, honest experts who can partner with them to solve their culture and process issues to create a thriving workforce that produces results.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I found Jerry’s name on a government contracting database and sent a cold email. Thankfully he said yes. He is a great mentor and partner: humble, intelligent, kind, helpful.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My position as the head of global talent development was eliminated because I am a man. I was replaced by a lass qualified woman. Most would be paralyzed emotionally, take time to process and heal, before getting onto the search work. Many get stuck in anger, grief, anxiety, fear, or other emotions. After a little processing, the next Monday, I began the work to find a new job.

In a non-work setting, resilience can look a bit different, sometimes like laughter and celebration. In this example, it is all about perspective. We were on the way back from the Tail of The Dragon in Tennessee, each on our own motorcycle. Jim, my friend who was riding lead announced over the intercom, “I’m losing pressure in my back tire.” We decided to exit the highway and pulled into a gas station. Jim was stuck in anxiety, unable to take a step forward. He was literally walking in a circle voicing all his worries. I started laughing and jumping up and down. That got his attention, “What’s wrong with you?!” “Oh Jim, don’t you see? We are in the story! Right now we are in the middle of the thing we will remember and laugh about later. We are 3 guys with plenty of resources and a problem to solve. This will be great. I’ll go get some soapy water.” With that, I took the first step for Jim. When I came out with the foamy cup, I explained, “first step is to find the leak and determine how bad it is.” He rotated the tire while I poured. And then we saw it, the steel belts protruding from the tread. His tire needed to be replaced. Now he was really worried and awfulizing. Time for compassionate command. “Jim, how about you call around and get a tow truck on the way? Erik and I will call shops in the area and see who has a tire. What size is it?” Just like that, we are moving again. 3 hours later, his bike had a new tire. That night we laughed about it over a few beers. The mental resilience and ability to reframe are just one of the aspects of resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fullswingtd.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullswingtd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573456495900
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/full-swing-training-development/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: https://x.com/FullSwingTD

Image Credits

Dear World, Robert McGraw