Discovering Success by Adopting Change
Ben Cash, Reason One
There’s nothing as certain in life as change. Fight as you may, the waves of change will come to everyone regardless of age, circumstance, or readiness. What can you do when the changes seem to mount higher than you can handle?
Ben Cash recommends embracing the change. Or better yet — creating change. Ben is a Founding Partner of Reason One, a full-service digital agency. His team of change-makers helps those who do good, do better. Ben’s 20-plus years of experience in the web services industry has given him a depth of knowledge that helps clients achieve measurable results. Now he helps healthcare, nonprofit, and other mission-driven organizations change the world — one web strategy at a time.
In this episode, Host Chad Franzen is joined by Ben Cash, Founding Partner of Reason One, to discuss how he learned to embrace — and create — change. Ben talks about the circumstances that led to his career change, how to handle multiple big changes simultaneously, and how Reason One is changing communities for the better.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Ben Cash opens up about how his personal and professional journey taught him to embrace change
Learning to create change instead of embracing it after change is thrust upon you
How Ben is making a difference in the community through Reason One
Ways the pandemic affected Reason One
Building company culture within a fully-remote team
What’s next for Reason One?
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Sponsor for this episode...
This episode is brought to you by Reason One, a group of problem-solvers and change-makers who help those who do good, do better. Whether you work in healthcare, a nonprofit, or a mission-driven organization, we help create beautiful, effective experiences for you and the people you care about.
Start turning your meaning into the message and your audience into advocates. Visit reasonone.com today.
Episode Transcript
Ben Cash 0:06
This is For the Better, A podcast for those working to effect change within their team, organization, or communities. I'm your host, Ben Cash. Thanks for tuning into the podcast, we're gonna do things a little different today, I got Chad Franzen here of Rise25, who's done tons of interviews with successful entrepreneurs, investors and CEOs. And we flipped the script, and he's actually gonna be interviewing me.
Chad Franzen 0:31
Great to be here. Ben, great to be here. Great to talk to you. I'll look forward to our conversation. Before we get going. I just want to let everybody know that this episode is produced by Reason One a group of problem solvers and changemakers, who help those who do good, do better. Whether you work in healthcare, or nonprofit or a mission driven organization, we help you create beautiful, effective experiences for you and the people you care about. Start turning your meaning into message and your audience into advocates visit reasonone.com today. Ben, thanks for letting me join you. How are you doing?
Ben Cash 1:01
Oh, yeah, sure. That was that was such a great intro. I like wow. Yeah. Yeah, you've done this before?
Chad Franzen 1:07
Yeah. So tell me about the podcast, what made you decide to start it?
Ben Cash 1:11
Ah, well, I think, you know, as you probably heard in the intro, you know, this is a podcast about change and helping, you know, or for those that are interested in change, and in their organization, or team or business or, you know, the community or world, etc. I've had sort of a love hate relationship with change over the years, both personally, professionally, and so it just felt like a natural, natural flow.
Chad Franzen 1:37
Mm hmm. What was it about change that, you know, what was it about change that makes you want to discuss it on the podcast?
Ben Cash 1:43
I think personally, I've been through a lot of changes over the past 20 years. I mean, I'm sure everybody has, especially in the last like, two years, right. And I'm also a CEO and business owner, and, you know, change is sort of part of the job description are rooted, you know, running a company, and that's what you do. So I gave a talk a number of years ago, you know, at some event, and they were like we ever talked to you want to act, like you know, we talked about change, and it sort of really got me thinking about it a lot more formally. And so this has just been a sort of, I think, a flowing from from that. And just from the business and personal change and whatnot, just sort of like it sort of addicted to it. It's a feature, not a bug.
Chad Franzen 2:27
Yeah, what was some of the change, maybe the personal change that you alluded to, that kind of spurred you toward this?
Ben Cash 2:34
So you know, that that talk that I gave, which was, this was a thing called Pecha Kucha and it it's sort of like TED talks, whatever, if they force you to cram in, you know, a topic into six minutes and 40 seconds, right. And so I had to really boil it down to its essence, and it really made me take a look back, right and forward to some extent, about what changed sort of, personally was was for me, like, what my change journey was, and it sort of the, sort of saw an arc, right, and, or a pattern I should say, and, you know, I think for me, it started out with fearing change. When I was, like a former life, I was a musician, I got a bachelor's, master's, and have a doctorate in trombone, which is, you know, the prerequisite to starting a digital agency. But it, it was sort of it was my whole identity, right, being a musician, and, and, you know, like a lot of creative folks, it's wrapped, you're wrapped up in it. And I think I was really fearful of losing my identity and creative outlet, when it was considered a change. But the challenge for me was that I, you know, I was, I had some mediocre success, right, it was doing good. I did some gigs here, and some tours and play with some orchestras and stuff. But it was just sort of mediocre, I wasn't really breaking through. And I kind of learned that nothing prevents change, like mediocre success. And you know, that that fear of losing my identity, and losing that creative outlet was, I think, what kept me from making the change sooner. But finally, I kind of got over that, that fear. And the more things are the chain reaction, and I knew some people who were, you know, starting, who were also doing web design and musicians, right, it just sort of naturally had, were drawn to that discipline. And so I just, I bought some books, taught myself how to do it, and started an agency, right. And it really grew from there actually had real success, a lot more success with that than in Edit music. And, you know, I grew the business quite a bit. But I think at a certain point for a number of years, I hit a plateau. And that was you know, I think that that's for the next logical thing for me at that point was I realized that I had to embrace change a little bit to kind of kind of kind of break that plateau you know, revenue and other things were just sort of the same every year was more of a lifestyle business and kind of realized I need to embrace change. And for me, that meant giving up control because You know, I being a musician, you you are control of your own craft your own your own thing. You know, starting your own business, you're an entrepreneur you're controlling, that's your businesses, your baby. And it was sort of tough to give up control to the doing parts, because the doing parts are what I loved, right? The design, the development, all those things, crafting things. It's the same thing that I love to music. And so my fear was this kind of again, that that fear kind of came back with this next phase, right? This fear of losing my mojo, that, that craft that thing that just got me excited every day to create things that if I didn't have them just somehow lose my mojo. But the problem was that I wasn't letting colleagues lead and shine, I was still controlling, or micromanaging to some extent, and I realized, we were really going to grow beyond what my capacity was, which I was at that point, I think I was sort of the blocker, if you will, was I really just needed to let them even shine, you know, get out of the way, and set them up to lead some change. And so I started shifting me to to work on the business instead of the business. And the the cool thing was, we actually had a record year that first time we really leaned into that, and the team was was doing what they were good at, and I was doing what I was going to get and getting out in front, where we had a record year was it was really great.
Chad Franzen 6:15
What kinds of things if you don't mind? What kinds of things? Did you were you hesitant to let your colleagues do that? Maybe, you know, they were they were being held down a little bit, and then you kind of let them shine? In what ways did you do that?
Ben Cash 6:28
I don't think it was that, that I, you know, was didn't think they could do it. I was like, it was just I wanted to do it. So I own the company. So it's sort of like who's gonna argue with the boss to say, You shouldn't do this, or you should, you know, so I will say I had some really great colleagues at the time who were, you know, pushed and prod and nudged me, right. And so they were, they were part of that change as well. And so for me, it was just getting up to things that I love to do, and find new things that that I had to do or sort of, like carve a new path and it was a little, it's, you know, that's sort of like a little scary in itself, right, trying to find the next new thing that you're passionate about, while you're like kinda like refueling the plane was in the air. But it worked. And, and, you know, I mean, that those way I was trying to get you to embrace it.
Chad Franzen 7:18
Sure, I can see why you would want to talk about change. Now in this podcast, you've, you've accepted the idea of change. What's next?
Ben Cash 7:26
Um, well, sort of in that, that arc, if you will, that have sort of my personal journey, I think the next thing I realized was that it wasn't a matter of enough to just sort of embrace change, I need to create change. And, because that because the things that we were doing, and sort of bracing, the things that were acting upon us, were not enough to really, truly breakthrough or truly get to that next stage. And so, you know, decided to create some change. And it was sort of a whirlwind as a couple years ago, maybe three or four years ago, decided to merge my agency with another agency. And if you want to upend things, you know, merge together two companies, two different cultures, you know, 60 people, two different ways of doing things, two different client base it like, it's, it's, it was a ton of change, it was a lot, right. And at the same time, I also my wife, and I had twins, one of those twins had some serious health issues with her long hospitalization. So just like was really crazy. At that time, we also got a puppy. Just because we wanted to, I guess we're masochistic. Get a puppy the same time. And we also renamed the organization and rebranded. I mean, it was just it was a lot of change in a very short bit of time, like when I'm like, in a year, essentially. So it, it was sort of it was it was a lot, and I think what, you know, the lesson I learned then, was, you know, I think the analogy I use is that, you know, if you've ever if you've ever driven in on icy roads, you have to be taught to, to, to navigate it. Because your instinct when you start sliding one way is to turn the other way. Like that's the intuition. But really what you have to do is steer into the curve. very counterintuitive, but it's what you do. And you know, so I think, for me, at least a lot of I think at that point, just because of my sort of history of fear with change, it was like a fight or flight response. But that counterintuitive sort of approach was what I think ultimately, what I learned and what I had to do, even though again, I had to sort of face the fears to do that. And, you know, to quote Robert Frost, the only way out is through and I think that was, you know, just had to just have to plow through I couldn't I couldn't, you know, couldn't give the puppy away or the twins away or go back in the merger. I just you had to kind of just hunker down and get through it.
Chad Franzen 9:53
So you're you're kind of in the midst of these these conditions and you're making this turn you're you're steering into the curve, as you said, What was the look like when you stare into that curve?
Ben Cash 10:03
Um, well, the the natural evolution was sort of like, you know, I, I was fearful of change, I embrace change, I started to create change, and I think, to the next steps are felt like to be the change, sort of cheesy, etc, you know, thing, I've heard that phrase on a lot of marketing campaigns and whatnot, but it's, but it's true. And I, you know, I, I think, you know, I think some of that came from just the last five years, there's been a lot of turmoils, right, but a lot of turmoil, societal, political, just a lot of a lot of things going on. And, you know, when you, when you have kids, it sort of changes your perspective, and I sort of look at change outside of my own little bubble. And, you know, the challenge for me was that, because of all the change, I was dealing with, you know, raising, raising kids and, and running a business, and, you know, it's like, I didn't have any time, or had very little time, outside of those things outside of those commitments to really make any change in my community or get involved. And it was sort of frustrating. And so, you know, realize that the real vehicle that I had was my business, and that could I could use that business as a as a gig for change. And, you know, because I think at that point, we'd already changed the mission of the business to work with purpose driven clients, and that kind of thing, right, that we set a new vision. But I think the difference was that, in that case, we, you know, we were working with purpose driven clients, and nonprofits and healthcare and sort of like the the goal was helping those who do good, do better. And we wanted to amplify their good works. But I think we realized that we actually had this team of 50-60 people, that was also could be a force for good, right. And I think we realized that we could we could make an impact, not just to our clients, and I think that's where some of the personal and professional for me overlapped and sort of came in solidified a little bit. And what sort of I think, really codified it at the end was, was the B Corp movement. I don't know if you're familiar with that. But it's, you know, it's like the this entity called B Corp, or it's a type of business, just like you have S corp, you know, C Corp, a server, but this is the one that's like a benefit corporation. And it's there's this organization called B labs that has built this sort of certification, where you know, you you run your business, ethically, and in a variety of, you know, like, with inclusivity, and sustainability, and just to be a better business, and be part of this, this B Corp movement. And I think I heard this, Vincent Stanley of Patagonia talk at one point about this. It's like, there's different organizations that can make change, right, you've got government, you've got NGOs and nonprofits, and you've got business, right, those are just sort of the the biggest sort of entities, government, you know, with government, politics and, and democracy are sort of moves very slowly, and does not necessarily go in the right direction. And you know, NGOs are the things that they can make an impact, but they don't often have the scale to solve the larger systemic issues. And like, just sort of some stats are thrown at you. Like, there's in the US, there are 1.5 million nonprofits, but there's 31.7 million businesses, right. So that's serious scale, right. So if businesses were a force for good, then there's a real chance of changing the direction of a lot of things in our, in our country and society, for the better. You know, whether that be social or environmental, or whatever it is. So, you know, by joining that movement, and wanting to become a B Corp, it really focused on how our business operated, right, we wanted to be, first and foremost an ethical, equitable place to work and take care of our own people first, that was sort of like the baseline, and then use our team or not use our teammates, you know, collaborate with our team to, you know, for example, we had a, we implemented a volunteer program. So we give our Team X number of days a year to go out in the community and volunteer. You know, we support different nonprofits and organizations who make a lot of financial contributions. You know, in the work that we do, we try to build accessible solutions for all right, and accessibility is a both a practice and a passion for us. And, and then also sustainability is a more recent movement, in that if the internet were a country, it would be the sixth largest user of energy, and websites and what we do and has a big impact on that. So figuring out how to build a more sustainable web that has less of an impact and improve that number. So all those all those things were measurable, tangible things that we could do to use our business as a force for good. That makes sense.
Chad Franzen 14:57
Sure. You talked about kind of all the turmoil in the world The hostile climate, political, what have you? And then of course, COVID comes along, how did how did the pandemic affect your business?
Ben Cash 15:09
Oh, man, you know, it's funny, I gave that talk on change. And that was sort of like this anchor for me. And remember, at the end of the talk, I was like, you know, talk to me in a year, and ask me how this how this is going, right? Because I was sort of planting this flag and all the things that we're going to do, like, talk to me to your and we'll see how it goes, right, hold us accountable. And then, of course, a year later was the pandemic. And it was it was it I've always sort of joked, like, if I came back and did like that, the part two of this, it would be like, you know, well hold my beer. Right? Let's, you know, it was already a lot of change. And let's, let's, let's lean in. And so, I think, you know, for us in a business, it was like, it was a survival mode or opportunity mode, right? Like, we had to keep, we wanted to keep our team employed, we wanted to keep everybody safe and healthy, and stay in business. But we also, you know, I think one of the great things about any situation like this, the silver lining, if you will, but not to minimize the downsides, and, you know, the tragedies associated with the pandemic, but, but that kind of massive constraint, creates innovation, constraints are amazing things that move us forward and to do to do new things and think in different ways. And so that sort of the survival mode for us turned into opportunity mode a bit. And, you know, we became a fully remote agency, we actually had an office building downtown here in Charleston, a nice one that we were so proud of, and we ended up selling the building, going fully remote. And, you know, in 2020, with the protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, we felt like, you know, we wanted to not just stand in solidarity, but act in solidarity and recognize that our own tech industry, it has a, there's a gap in representation of marginalized communities. So we saw as a response to that. And so leading to the change, we, we built a scholarship and mentorship program for black us and tech. We had our first year last year, and it is a great success. We're planning our for our second year, and that was something just were both our, our mission and vision. And that our mandate, how that like lived out in the moment, it was, you know, but I think, you know, examples like that are going for the remote, think we just leaned into change. And that's sort of just our, our sort of, like I said at the beginning, like it changes a feature, not a bug. And so
Chad Franzen 17:35
I'm guessing for somebody who was maybe, who, in the past has been somewhat resistant to change, and is now you know, running his own business, the decision to go remote and have everybody scattered, that must have been a little daunting.
Ben Cash 17:50
Yeah, I mean, like every other business, you know, we were trying to do, we're just sort of figuring it out as we went along. I think what was unique for us was that, you know, we have a, say headquarters, because that sort of is a loose term now being fully remote. But we have a large chunk of our team in Charleston, and also a large chunk of our team in Toronto, and, and some others across the country, and even some in across the pond. And so in essence, before that, we were hybrid, because we had this main headquarters in Toronto, in Charleston, and we were in our teams were working cross border. So we're already using, you know, zoom, and collaboration tools, and Slack and all those kind of things, right. And the challenge for us was that the hybrid wasn't, wasn't actually working all that great anyway, because you had one foot in one foot out, and you know, you get off of the meeting, and you have your local conversations. And, and it just there was a disconnect, and our two teams couldn't, couldn't connect. So what it did was, it was sort of this democratization, if you will, of our agency, when we went fully remote, it was one person, one screen, and we had to learn how to build a culture together, there was a root and that just, I think, anytime there's, this has maybe a sort of a takeaway for us, anytime you're going through real change, or changes, sort of, like, beating you down, you have to be very, very intentional. And I think by having to learn these things in the, during the pandemic, and figure it out, we had to be very intentional about our culture. Because our culture, I think, just like any organization, you know, your local office or your local community, it just sort of grows organically. And when that's when that organic thing that existed or is sort of just grown up around you is taken away, you're going to be intentional, you got to figure it out. And so that so anytime you're intentional, it's it's a good thing. And it really, it really, I mean, I would say our you know, like that some of the metrics that we use to determine team cohesion and health and that I think, are are are better than they were before. And so, you know, that's always the hope right? Share it out. Yeah. Then Then Then when you went in,
Chad Franzen 19:53
absolutely. That's great. So what's next for Reason One?
Ben Cash 19:55
Um, well, we're in we're doing some planning stuff for you. No for 2022. And I think the, you know, I think the thing that we're, you know, there's this sort of, I think if there's a theme to it, it's about community. Now let's again, buzzword, somebody who's yelling, bingo, but it's it is, you know, we, I think we've learned a change through change that we can't do this alone, right. So whether it's our own operations or operations, or our business or growth or whatever, you know, we're starting to work more with outside consultants and partners and build partnerships to to lean on others. And, you know, on the on our client side, I think we realized that you just do a lot of the relationships we've made and connecting people, that there's an opportunity for us to create some peer to peer connections, because we have so many clients in the industries that we work in, and they're all facing the same problems, right. So one of our things that we're working on next is to is to build some, some roundtables, if you will, to sort of connect those, those connect our clients connect to different industries and communities to help them solve problems together. And of course, this podcast, right like this is, this is part of that next thing, you know, because, I mean, obviously, it's an excuse to meet new people and make connections, which is sort of, again, part of this building community. But selfishly, I also want to learn how others are navigating and creating change. Because I am wrong, probably more than I am, right. And I want to hear other people's stories, you know, what are the failures that they've had? What are the successes that they've had? How do they keep the ship together? Amidst change, I just, I just, I'm sort of addicted to this. And I and I love talking with people about it. And I think ultimately, by recording it, well, you know, hopefully others will learn as well hear the podcast or hear, you know, someone talking about something that they did, and maybe they'll learn something as well.
Chad Franzen 21:46
So you mentioned earlier that you sharpen up kind of sharpen your company vision? What were the reasons behind that beyond your personal motivations?
Ben Cash 21:55
Good question. Um, you know, I think so, just to sort of take a step back when we had merged, right, we had some common strengths. You know, we did that old SWOT analysis and whatnot. And it's like, we had certain verticals, that we were both strong and overlap, like, we work with nonprofits. And we worked in, you know, services sector and some other things, you know, a lot of overlap. And so it was natural for us like it just with a sort of academic exercise of saying, Okay, well, we're going to focus on these verticals. And we're going to, you know, these are the software platforms that we that we work with, and we're going to leverage those to, you know, like, just all the sort of academic stuff that looks good on paper. Right. And it made sense. And it was working to some extent, and helped us sort of focus our, our attention, but I don't think it was, it was good on paper, but I don't think it gave people a reason to get up out of bed. Right. And you know, why you come to work? Why you are excited to work on these projects? And, you know, I think, I think, and also mergers are tough, right? So I think we had some frustration with the work with burnout, we lost a few good colleagues. You know, it just it was, it was it was a long road to travel. And I think the other thing that was a challenge, too, is like when you're when you're changing, when you put getting out in front, the new things, you lose your old fallback, you lose that foundation that you had, and I think for both agencies, our previous way of doing things that the old, the old, tried and true muscle memory was was gone and didn't exist anymore. So we lost our fallback, right. And also, I think that because the vision wasn't as sharp we had, we had, like a lack of clarity, right for decision making, and our priorities moving forward. So I think that was sort of the pain that we were in, you know, again, those awesome colleagues sort of like, you know, pushing and prodding, and like, you know, this, this needs to be better. And so we, you know, as a team kind of work together to figure out what, you know, less about what is the the job where, you know, like, the job we're dressing for, which I think is often when you're trying to grow, you're like, this is this is who we want to be, and you put that that coat on, and more about our shared DNA, I think was just a, we looked at it a different way. And, you know, I think, ultimately, for us that this shared DNA was we wanted to make an impact. And those the path the projects that were most in the class were most passionate about, were the nonprofits were those organizations that were making a difference, because, you know, if you feel like you're having an impact, it's, it's, you know, just more, there's a better reason to get up. You know,
Chad Franzen 24:32
why didn't you Why were you guys kind of unable to see this or have this vision before?
Ben Cash 24:39
Well, I think it gets back to that fear, right, that fear thing that kept coming up? I think we were I think we were hedging to some extent, like, you know, we don't want to give away this thing, because then that way, you know, like, there's risk and giving away give away things or hedging. Right. You know, we were hedging and I think we're willing to fear God our thinking, and this was really planting a flag right? Yeah,
Chad Franzen 25:01
what? What did you hope the new vision would accomplish then? Any probably still hope it will.
Ben Cash 25:07
work in progress, right? Talk to me in a year. They'll be like, you know, zeta, arrogant by then. And, you know, who knows? We'll we'll all be holograms, in virtual office space. I mean, who the hell knows. But you know, at the time, you know, when we were trying to think about like, why are we why are we doing this vision? What do we hope to get out of it? I think there was, there's a couple of things, you know, I think we wanted to attract the right talent and clients. You know, we wanted to attract those clients that that also share our beliefs and our sense of purpose. And also, we want to colleagues that, you know, shared our same share the same thing. And I think if, you know, if everybody in the organization feels that way, it really is, we bonds the team for the common purpose. And also with the clients. I think, when we're aligned with our clients, that means stronger, longer partnerships, and, you know, it motivates motivates the team or does it everybody beyond a paycheck beyond something, you know, just beyond the usual stuff, and for something that we all believe in. And then I think the, you know, that decision making challenges that we had, I think when you provide a sharp vision, brush, clarity, you know, you know, the tenants, etc, that helps us make decisions and solve problems together. It definitely helps sharpen the marketing plan. You know, and, and position ourselves a lot better. But ultimately, I think if it was just, we were doing it because we think it would actually make a difference.
Chad Franzen 26:38
Hey, Ben, I really appreciate you allowing me to have this conversation with you today. It sounds like it's gonna be a great podcast, very insightful and interesting and one that people can really relate to, and we'll look forward to it in the future..
Ben Cash 26:50
Awesome. Thanks so much, Chad. Appreciate it.
Chad Franzen 26:52
Thank you so long everybody.
Ben Cash 26:56
This has been an episode of For the Better for more information episode or to be a guest on the podcast visit forthebetterpodcast.com Thanks all be well.