Achieving Work / Life Balance with Josiah Philipsen

Josiah Philipsen, owner of NextTech consultants, is our guest in this episode. His passion is to help business owners regain their time through technology. He firmly believes family, work, and personal life can and need to be balanced. Josiah is going to talk with us about why he started NextTech, what sets them apart from their competitors, and how technology can help business owners accomplish their goals.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Email | RSS

• How Josiah went from elementary education teacher to owner of NextTech.
• Where his passion for technology came from.
• The importance of setting the bar as a dad.
• How Josiah’s entrepreneurial spirit fits into his marriage.
• Why trusting your IT person is of the utmost importance.
• Josiah’s tipping point in changing his messaging.
• Takeaways from a recent Strategic Alliance meeting.
• What differentiates NextTech from their competitors.
• The types of problems Josiah solves for businesses.
• What can happen if you don’t have a plan for your technology.
• The ideal types of businesses that Josiah works with.
• How Josiah uses YouTube to market his business, along with other strategies.
• The two different sides of Josiah and how he balances those in his life.
• Why work is really not that important.
• Why Josiah decided to homeschool his children.
• The importance of valuing our lives outside of work.
• How to schedule a free consultation with NextTech.
• The conversations Josiah loves to have.

Connect with Josiah

NextTech Consultants website: https://nexttechconsultants.com/

TRANSCRIPT

Quick Links:

• Join the Live. Love. Engage. Community
• Intuitive Business Coaching
• The Live. Love. Engage. Book
• Support the Podcast with BuyMeACoffee.com

Enjoying what you’re hearing on Live. Love. Engage.? Subscribe on Goodpods or your favorite podcast platform, and click here to leave a 5 STAR Review. You can also watch the conversation on YouTube.

TRANSCRIPT

Gloria Grace Rand: I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of the Love Method and author of the number one Amazon Best Seller, Live Love Engage How to Stop Doubting Yourself and start being yourself. In this podcast, we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully. Love deeply and engage authentically so you can create a life and business with more impact, influence and income. Welcome to live love, engage,

Namaste and welcome again to another edition of Live Love engage. I am Gloria Grace brand, and today on the show, I’ve got a awesome gentleman who I met while back through a it was like a networking event, I believe, sort of a big strategic alliance. I think something like that networking event. And I was immediately intrigued by. That’s just how he manages to balance things in his life, which was sort of what we’re going to talk about in a minute. But first of all, I want to welcome Josiah Phillipsen to live lavender gage.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m super excited to kind of chat and I extend our conversation we had earlier.

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah, absolutely. So let me share with you a little bit about who this gentleman is. He is the owner of next tech consultants, and his passion is to help business owners regain time through technology. And he believes that family work and personal life can and need to be balanced. And as a father of three boys, he understands this is not easy. But then again, nothing good in life ever comes easily. And but he still says that, you know, we need to work hard and grow in our relationships with our family and in our business. And I think that’s a admirable mission, I guess, in life to do. And certainly as a father of three, I know that that can’t be easy, especially over the last year and a half when we’ve had to deal with so many changes in our lives due to circumstances outside of our control with the pandemic and everything. But I thought we might start with just a little a little bit more background on you, on how you got interested in in your business and technology and all that fun stuff.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah. So for me, it was kind of unique. I started out actually as an elementary education teacher, so my my bachelor’s is in elementary education of the middle level endorsement and math. So kind of unique that way. I’m not like a computer engineer or electrical engineer, but what I did was I helped teachers learn how to use technology in their class to really engage students. So as back in two thousand seven or twenty eight, when the iPod first came out, I actually got a grant from Oregon to kind of say, Hey, how can we use an iPod in the classroom to engage students? And was kind of it was one of the more like first times that really brought that in a classroom. Like at that point in time, no one else in any of the classes had really iPads or iPods or anything like that. So we brought it in, and that was kind of where my passion for technology came from. It was like, how do I use technology in a way that engages people and just makes things a little bit easier? And I think one of my big things, even in my my grant proposal is like, we also have to make sure that we never expect technology or to replace people because some people are like, well, technology is going to replace people in teaching. And I’m like, Well, that’s not true, and that should never be the goal because you need people.

Gloria Grace Rand: Absolutely.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah. So I kind of went there, taught for a little while, and even when I went into schools as a teacher, I kind of became the help desk for a lot of the teachers. They asked me questions because I was more personable than the IT department. So going, Yeah, I don’t know why.

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah, that’s good advice.

Josiah Phillipsen: Oh yeah. But then after that, I got into the cut the middle school program at the at the school I was teaching at. So I was like, Well, what I want to do, I don’t really want to keep teaching, but I want to what do I want to do? So after that, I found a job at George Fox University kind of blended education and technology together, and I was there Support Desk four and then became a Linux engineer for them and kind of help manage their I.T. department and grew. And then finally, I decided about two years ago to quit that job and to take my consulting business full time. And really, like you said earlier, like with my consulting business, it’s really like, I want to help businesses like I, I my I. I’m good at I.T., so I use that as my tool to help people. But like I said, like you said earlier in the introduction, my passion is really like, how do I grow your business? How do I help you with that balance? Because in your life and your business, because I get it like, it’s not easy, but it is something that’s really important. And I think especially as a dad coming from that perspective, like where I think we talked a little bit in our conversation earlier about how in the U.S. there’s not really a bar for being a dad. It’s like, Hey, let’s let’s actually like set a bar where it’s like, Hey, I should do more than just show up. And it’s not easy because you have to balance that full time job. You have to balance like, what do I do with my kids and I and I get that struggle, and I want to have those conversations in a way that’s helpful for people because I think that conversation isn’t really had out there that often.

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah. And that’s. That’s yeah, now I really remember exactly what it was about, why we clicked, because, yeah, that was the important thing, I think is that is that we we don’t hear too much about dads and and how they can really help help to be able to manage their businesses or manage even being an employee and being able to manage raising a family as well. And because sometimes it seems like it’s just, you know, gets put on the mom. But I know that there’s a lot of dads out there that really want to be able to be of service to their families as well as their professional lives. Because I’ve met them and they’re amazing, amazing men and, you know, and we need to encourage that. So it’s great that you’re helping business owners in that now, you know, making that transition that you said from being, you know, more in the academic academic arena, but you were so like on a help desk. But then going into starting your own firm, doing that full time was what were the challenges, if any, in doing that?

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, my wife and I have always been pretty business oriented. So like even when we graduated in college, we we started a screen printing. I had a tutoring company like. So running our own business was always something that we wanted to do. It gives you that flexibility like I can be home with the kids more. There are times entrepreneurs are the only people that will work 60 hours and get paid nothing. Yeah. So like, we all get that too. But it’s it kind of that challenge was like, how do I like go from just being handed tasks and handing jobs in more of like a help desk or where there’s already people there asking questions to like, I don’t have clients and how do I balance that and find clients or find people that not only like because you can find people, but you also want to find the right people where it’s like, Hey, I I don’t want to if we’re not going to click or work together, well, it’s not going to be a good relationship. So one realizing that was huge, like realizing like there are certain people that as an I.T. department, they have to be. We had a CIO come in to interview at George Fox one time, and he actually said a statement that was really kind of powerful.

Josiah Phillipsen: I mean, he said, You have your I.T. person, you have to have the most trust for because they have access to every system in your building. They can get into your financial records. They can get into everything. Yeah. So becoming an IT support person, what isn’t just about, Hey, I know the technical stuff which I do because I spent lots of years learning it. But it’s more also about building that trust and that relationship with your customer or with a business of like, Hey, you can trust me, and here’s why. And kind of realizing that that’s more of what the IT department needs than saying, Hey, I’m super skilled, and here’s all my certifications. I mean, you can go to any I.T. company and get those. But like, what is the difference that really sets you apart? And that was kind of understanding that and building that gap and kind of making that message out. There was probably the hardest part of like, Oh, it’s not really just, I’m doing it. It’s how do I get people to trust and understand what I’m doing? So they don’t have to worry about it?

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah. Was was there a tipping point that you found where you were? Finally, you were able to like, really kind of relax into that and saying, you know, yeah, I’m confident. And then people started responding.

Josiah Phillipsen: I think it really like. Um, there was a couple tipping points in my business. One was going full time and in that kind of decision where, hey, I need to go full time I was when we talk about work life balance, I I’ve gone both ways where I had no balance because before I went full time, I was running a business, working a full time job, doing my MBA, taking my kids to these trips and doing these things where I was like, Oh, I’m doing great, I’m still involved. And then when I step back, I realized how little I was involved. Hmm. And so that was the tipping point for me, like two years ago. And then once, once. So that’s when that struggle really came of. Like, how do I make my message more available? Like, I didn’t even have a website for four years because I was like, Well, I don’t need one, but for four after that, it was kind of the How do you? For me, the tipping point was really kind of that strategic alliance meeting that we had was which for me, I was like, Oh, the meeting was interesting. It was really fun. It was great. But that meeting really kind of hearing from other people really helped me realize that’s the major tipping point. That’s what I’m missing in my messaging. I met with a couple of the coaches from there and they were like, Well, why don’t you say that more? Why don’t you go out there and tell people? Because what? Then they basically said, What I said earlier is everybody has certifications, but what you have is different. And I was like, Oh, and that was kind of that tipping point of like, OK, how do I now make that message real?

Gloria Grace Rand: Right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s your that’s what differentiates you from other people and from from your competitors. And that’s so important to be able to find that when you are, you know, starting a business and to be able to come up with that. So it’s good that you were able to get some support on that and to be able to start doing that. Can you give an example of how maybe you’ve you’ve helped someone in their business and to be able to accomplish their goals? Because really, it’s like when you talk about, you know, technology, it’s like it’s such a broad category. So so give us a little taste for how you actually do help someone.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah. So there’s there’s two people that really come to mind and the first one, he’s a coach and he emailed me and was like, my emails aren’t going through. I don’t know what to do. My computer, all of a sudden, everything was like crashing down. So I was like, I understand, like, let’s let’s have that conversation. Let’s figure out where to go. So what we did was we set up his emails to where they were flowing securely. I’ve talked a little bit about how there’s two things that create spam or the most likely reasons why your messages go to spam. And so we actually that was why that’s what was happening to him. And so I actually fixed those for him that day because I was like, Well, you need to be able to email. That’s a pretty important thing. Yes. So we fixed it that day. And then we kind of had the longer conversation of, OK, now what do we do with your computers? Your emails are flowing. So how do we manage your computers? How do we make sure that they’re secure? How do we make sure you’re not getting too much spam into your email? Do you have a network at your business? And so we worked with him to really build that security because that was a big piece that he was missing. So we went in and we set up antivirus. We set up spam and malware filtering even in cloud services like Dropbox for him. And so we have these systems in place that are constantly scanning all of his files, his emails, his computer to make sure that it’s healthy and that it’s running properly.

Josiah Phillipsen: So for him, that’s what he needed. He needed that security and that peace of mind, and it took a while to get there. But we got there, took about a month and a half when we got there and everything was set up. And he felt comfortable again, and that was the big relief for him to be like, OK, now I feel comfortable. Like. And then, yeah, and I think the other one I work with back in like education, I work with Head Start, which is a really fun program. If you haven’t heard of it, you should. It’s in Oregon. Mainly, it’s basically preschool age. Kids get a head start in the school, so kind of helping them get there. And so it’s a really fun organization because for them as a larger organization, they really needed someone to come in and assess their current assets and say, Hey, where do we go in five years or what? What’s our plan moving forward? So really, for them, what we did was like we built out a five year plan like, Hey, this year, you need to replace these, this many computers. This year you need to replace this. And then we kind of had that five year plan of a computer rotation, plus a network rotation, because the worst thing that can happen is in five years. You don’t have that plan and all of a sudden you have to buy everything at once.

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah, that’s true. That’s super costly. Not. Good deal, yeah. No, it’s do you you work with like a specific type of business or different or specific size of business or or have you or are you still sort of experimenting and seeing what you know, who is sort of your ideal client as they say?

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, I really that was what a lot of the past six months is trying to figure out is what is. And so what I’ve what I’ve realized is that clients are a business that is from five to 50 employees is like the perfect setup for me. I do help a lot of solopreneurs also, but really, that five to 50 is kind of like that sweet spot where it’s like, Hey, you have you have needs and you have quite a bit, you don’t have the time because once you get to five employees, you don’t have the time to sit there and think about their computers or think about how your email is flowing. You just don’t have that time. Right? Once you get above 50 ish employees, the the fun and it kind of gets sucked out like it becomes this corporate structure where I’m like, I don’t really want to do that like so.

Gloria Grace Rand: Well, that’s good. Well, I would think that there are a lot of businesses that fall into that category. So so you should be able to have have your pick of clients and be able to to develop a reputation and have people refer you and things like that. Is that how you are getting most of your business right now, would you say, or I’m just I’m just curious because there’s lots of different ways for people to be able to, you know, promote their business.

Josiah Phillipsen: So there’s really, yeah, for me, there’s two ways. One which is a really small way, as through my YouTube channel where like, I’m just like, Hey, here’s how you do things, and I try to help people in a free way with like, if you don’t know how to set up your email, here’s steps on how to do it if you don’t know how to do certain things. And that’s what my YouTube channels for. So I’ve gotten a few people from there where they’ve gone through and they’re like, Oh, I can’t actually do this and they give me a call the other. But most probably ninety five percent of my clients are all referral. And I think for me, like, that’s the way I like it. Like, I don’t I don’t really like like marketing too much. Like, I think it’s in a lot of ways. You have to be really careful with it because a lot of ways it’s like, Oh, I sound, I feel like I’m sounding fake when I go out and put out a message or people won’t believe it. And that’s my own personal kind of opinion on marketing coming through, obviously. But I think I struggle with that. So really, for me, it’s really like I build relationships with people and they refer me to others, and that’s kind of how my business has grown.

Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah. Well, and it makes sense for you, I think, especially because of this trust factor, because you are really in charge of, you know, some very important part of a, you know, of a business and being able to, you know, in this day and age of really of all you hear about, you know, people breaking into computers. I mean, my son is involved in the cybersecurity, so I hear from him sometimes. So it’s it’s really important to be able to protect what you have. Protect your information. So. So it makes sense that that’s how you would get there. What is? You come up with, say, one thing that most people don’t know about you.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, I think so for me, there’s two I really there’s two different kind of sides to me. And what I mean by that is I have like a business side and they all like work together. But I have like a business side where it’s like, Hey, I’m going to do the work. We’re going to talk about your business. But I also have this other part that I really like streaming. So whether it’s playing video games, whether it’s just chatting with people or it’s really fun for me, like. And as an it person, people are like, Oh, you just play video games all day and you probably never work. It’s not true, but but for me, it’s more about that streaming and that connection that you get to make with people where it kind of brings in that passion of like, I want to help people and I want to and I want to help them grow in whatever way I can. And so streaming for me is really it’s kind of this other persona that I don’t in business world. I don’t really throw out a lot because it’s not the appropriate place to do that. But it’s really fun for me because I get to meet new people that I would have never met. And so like I get, I get to talk with people about like, Hey. And that’s where kind of that D&D thing came from is like, how people are struggling as a dad. So I get to have those real conversations with them in real time and talk with them and they chat and like in a chat message, and then I get to read it and respond. And so it’s a really fun kind of interaction for me, and I just, I don’t know, I really enjoy it like so that’s kind of a weird not a lot of people. If you meet me and like next, tech consultants don’t really know that,

Gloria Grace Rand: Oh, well, the secret’s out now.

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, you that goes

Gloria Grace Rand: Well, especially it’s I should let folks know who are listening to this and not watching it on YouTube is you have quite the impressive setup. You have this lovely microphone that’s got that’s on a bar that is hanging down, OK, I just have mine in front of me, you know, and then you’ve got the headset on. So I mean, you really look like the epitome of, frankly, a podcaster or radio announcer. And what’s been, you know, traditionally that look, so so you’ve got to look down. So, you know, maybe you need to start thinking about your thought about starting your own even podcast because I think you’ve got lots of different subjects that you could talk about. You could have a personal one that’s for dads and then you can have your business side as well. So just putting it out there, I don’t know about that.

Josiah Phillipsen: I have. I think it’d be a lot of fun. I’ve gone back and forth with a few different ideas. It’s all about like, what do I have time, what I want to develop right now? Yeah. So yeah, I’m working on it. I do. I do want to eventually.

Gloria Grace Rand: Well, that’s cool. Yeah. Well, you’ll have to check out my on my show because I’ve had I’ve had one already guest who talked about podcasting, and then I just interviewed somebody yesterday, so he’ll be on later on to talk about podcasting so you can get some get some tips from there, for sure.

Josiah Phillipsen: I’ll check it out a

Gloria Grace Rand: Little, a little plug for my show there.

Josiah Phillipsen: Absolutely.

Gloria Grace Rand: What else is there anything else that you think will be important for our listeners and viewers on YouTube to know about? You know, anything technology balancing work and business? I mean, family and business? Yeah, balancing work and business. There you go. But family and business that we haven’t, that we haven’t touched on already yet.

Josiah Phillipsen: I think even just just letting people know that they should have that conversation, like I think because I know we talked a lot about how my wife and I talk a lot about how our culture in the U.S. has really been like, you need to work all day and then go home and finish your work and then go back and do it all again. And I think that that the really freeing thing one is to realize that work really isn’t that important. Like and I say that really carefully because I know some people are like, Well, no, it’s my life, it’s what I do. But I’ve told I said this to somebody else and I thought it was pretty good. But what I said was, I was like, You know, at your work, let’s if something were to happen to you, they’ll forget you in two to two to four weeks like your work won’t really remember you past that like. But your family will remember you their whole life and your friends. And I think having that conversation of like, How am I like? We need to work because we have to provide for ourselves, so we have to provide for their four families. But what are the ways we can do that and still be with our families and having that conversation with your, with your spouse or with whoever? Like even a coworker just opening up that conversation where it’s like, Hey, I really need to leave today a little early because I need to get to my kid’s soccer game or I need to go hang out with some friends today and making that something that’s OK. And I know in some jobs you really like, you have to be there at that time, and that’s not really an option. But even talking with people and having that conversation is so important so that it’s not something that just gets left behind because my wife and I this year had to decide whether we’re going to go to a public, private or home school.

Josiah Phillipsen: And we went we actually had them enrolled in three different schools because we were like, Oh, which one’s which one do we want? I don’t know. Going back and forth and we finally decided in forcing, we’re able to do homeschool because it gives us that flexibility. But we we realized how much in public school, I think, and I’m I’m very careful how I want to say this, but in public school, like it teaches I as a teacher, I hated homework. I thought it was the worst thing you could do to a kid. I think that if you have a kid in school and you teach them, Hey, I need you to go to school for eight hours or six hours, whatever it is, right? And then you’re going to go home and finish two to three hours of homework. It teaches them at a young age that I need to work my whole life. And that’s what’s the most important thing. And so I think having that conversation and talking with people and like, how do we balance that because you want to be respectful to the teachers, they’re phenomenal and they work really hard to be there for your kids. And in no way do I want you to forget that too. Like, that’s like teachers. It’s amazing what they do. Yeah, but I think that having that conversation of like, how do I help my kids realize and whether it’s a model that you’re doing or teaching them, that work isn’t the most important thing in your life. Hmm.

Gloria Grace Rand: I think that is so important. Yeah, it is. When I hear stories of these kids having like three or four hours of homework, it’s just blows my mind. I did not have that when I was a kid. Yes, I had homework, but it usually took me no more than an hour. I mean, it was not excessive. And even, you know, from grade school all the way up to high school and and even in kindergarten, they have homework in kindergarten, I’m like, OK, kindergarten. I remember, like, you know, learning how to use a hammer, and I would like Hammer and we had that. We had, you know, reading, we had playtime. It was not so much focused on, Oh my gosh, we’ve got to get you ready to join the workforce. And so you got to learn and be the best you can be. And that’s a whole nother conversation. But it is what I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about that and it is something that, you know, we need to have these conversations and to talk about it. So so it’s good. And I wish you much luck with with your kids and doing all of that and, you know, being able to to manage. And because it’s not, it’s not easy no matter what, whether they’re going to school or whether they’re at home, they’re still going to be challenges. I’m trying to run a business and that fun stuff, but I guess that’s what makes life worthwhile, right? That’s true.

Josiah Phillipsen: Hopefully, I guess surprise my kids haven’t come in and interrupted like, I’m surprised.

Gloria Grace Rand: Well, they’d be welcome if they did, because you know, that’s that’s the cool thing about doing, you know, recording. Yeah, I’ve had sometimes I’ve had my hubby open up the door, so I’m surprised he hasn’t either. So. So we’re lucky to. De. If someone wants to be able to learn more about your company and maybe they’re like, Ooh, yeah, I really resonated with what Jose’s talked about today and I want to learn more about it. How can people get a hold of you?

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah. So on my website, I have a spot that says, Hey, schedule a free initial consultation. And that’s kind of what I would give away to people. So I even yesterday, somebody called and I was like, I like, Let’s talk about your business for 20 minutes. Let’s talk. And then we kind of troubleshoot a problem. And that might be the last time I hear from her, but we fix her problem. It was totally fine and we did it in forty five minutes. So I have no problem with an initial consultation where we get to have that conversation. We talk about your business, where you’re at, where you can grow in different ways that can make your life easier. And so if you want to learn more, you can go there and you can chat with me and I think I gave you my email. I’m always happy to answer questions or like, have an email conversation with people, especially about their business or about being a dad or a or a parent really in general and love those conversations. And I think they’re fun. And so if you want to email me with those and if you want to talk about your business and how to kind of move forward, I do have that initial consultation that people can come and join.

Gloria Grace Rand: All right. And what’s your what’s your website?

Josiah Phillipsen: Yeah, it’s next. Tech consultants dot com.

Gloria Grace Rand: Ok. All right, perfect. I’ll have that in the show notes. So in case you’re listening and you don’t have a pen, handy not to worry. I’ll have all that and I’ll have your email in there as well. But I just want to make sure we get it out there so someone doesn’t get the show notes for whatever reason. Shame on you. But this way they’ll have it for sure. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for being with us today and sharing a bit of your your story and how you’re helping folks with their technology and much success to you. And I’m glad you’re you’re finding your way and and I look forward to maybe checking out a future podcasts should you ever get motivated to do that. So definitely let me know

Josiah Phillipsen: For sure and thank you so much for having me. It’s always a blast to have this conversation and and do that, so I really appreciate it.

Gloria Grace Rand: All right, awesome. And thank all of you out there. I really appreciate you for listening and watching on YouTube. And if you ever have any comments for free, you can email me. You can email me at Gloria, Gloria Rant, or you can certainly follow the show and get connected at Live Love Engage podcast and until next time. I always encourage you to go out and live fully. Love deeply and engage authentically.

Gloria Grace Rand: Did you know that a majority of entrepreneurs tend to discount the importance of their work and a good number feel their success is simply due to luck? I know from personal experience that self-doubt can keep you from having the kind of life and business you desire. That’s why I’ve created a free guide called Uniquely You How to Move From Self-doubt to Self-love in four simple steps to claim your free guide. Go to live love. Engage dot gift that’s live love. Engage dot G I F.T.