We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tyler Tong. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tyler below.

Tyler, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

My first real coaching client was a referral through the marketing company that did my website. They said they’d past along my information and they sounded excited so I should expect something soon. I was stoked and energy was high. Well, weeks went by and I heard nothing. I honestly forgot about it until I randomly got meeting scheduled through my website to talk about coaching. The rush came back and we setup a discovery call and they were ecstatic to have someone in their corner. I sent over pricing and the package, thinking it was a done deal. I didn’t hear anything again for about 8 weeks. I got a bit down on myself and discouraged. When they finally paid and booked the first session, they explained they’d just had a baby, life got hectic and it all made sense. I felt this rush of relief that it wasn’t something I did or said that scared them away, and excitement that I had actually booked my first client. It was definitely an emotional roller coaster getting to that point.

Tyler, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Tyler Tong, and I’m the Founder and CEO of Epic Arches, a Small Business Services firm. I provide Fractional Financial Leadership and Small Business Coaching. I’m super passionate about stories, and helping people bridge the gaps between their dreams and realities, mainly by building bridges connecting people and resources.

I help clients create work-life integration so that their business can be a blessing and not a burden to themselves, their families, and their communities. For a lot of small businesses, this involves helping with financial leadership (Fractional CFO or Bookkeeping), and for many others it’s just stepping in as a coach to encourage, partner in creating plans, and hold them accountable to those plans.

I’m most proud of the approach I take. I’m highly relational and want to spend time getting to know my clients – not as a legal partner in their endeavors but as a trusted friend and colleague that partners with them to help reach their goals. I operate through a basic 3-step plan: Learn, Strategize, Implement – and I’m there in the ditches with them for every step of the way.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The biggest thing that has changed my philosophy towards life, and impacted my business thinking and philosophy, is the concept of story. Donald Miller’s book ‘A Million Miles In A Thousand Years’ was the catalyst for this in my own life. Since then, he’s built out an entire marketing and business system based on story and his Business Made Simple framework is amazing.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This sounds like a terrible lesson to unlearn, but I had to figure out that people don’t know what business coaching or fractional anything is really. I come from a very business heavy background with my family, career, and education. I just thought people knew what that meant, but I was so wrong.

I’ve had so many conversations with people that have said things like “so what does that actually mean”. So it’s changed how I talk about my business to people. Instead of saying “Business Coaching” I’ve started to say things like “I help people make their business enjoyable” or something similar depending on the context. To sum it all up, I guess I’d say that I had to re-learn that I need to make things simple for people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.epic-arches.com
• Instagram: @epic.arches
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tylertong01/