Discover why the biggest challenges for CEOs aren’t business problems, but life problems—and how the right peer group can become their most powerful tool for clarity, accountability, and growth. In this episode, you’ll hear how listening, vulnerability, and shared experience can transform the way leaders run their firms and live their lives.
In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Mark McFatridge discuss:
- Listening to understand vs. listening to reply
- Career path from banking to founding CEO peer groups
- How life challenges derail otherwise successful CEOs
- Structure and accountability of peer advisory circles
- Becoming a trusted advisor instead of just a technical expert
Key Takeaways:
- Truly effective business development starts when professionals stop “selling” and focus on building real relationships grounded in listening and trust.
- Many CEOs don’t fail because they lack technical answers; they struggle when life issues—family, health, aging parents—collide with business responsibilities.
- Peer advisory groups create a rare, confidential space where leaders can be vulnerable, get honest feedback, and see blind spots they can’t see on their own.
- Accountability structures—like committing to specific actions and reporting back to peers—dramatically increase the likelihood that leaders actually implement decisions.
- The shift from technician to trusted advisor happens when you listen deeply, diagnose the real problem, and connect people with the best solution, even if it’s outside your own services.
“By being in a group with other CEOs, your experiences get accelerated because you basically get to have their experiences as your own, and that just accelerates everything, whether it’s on the personal side or the business side.” — Mark McFatridge
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About Mark McFatridge: Mark McFatridge is the Founder and CEO of Quade Executive Peer Group, an organization dedicated to fostering growth, accountability, and strategic peer community for CEOs and business owners. With over 25 years of professional experience, he has served as Chief Executive Officer and board member for both publicly traded and privately held companies across various industries, including extensive experience in community banking. An organizational turnaround specialist, Mark specializes in leading underperforming businesses to scale, notably guiding the exit of a private company for an 800% increase in value within three years of taking over as CEO. Drawing on his background as a former bank president and peer group member, he now leads Quade’s facilitated executive “circles,” helping leaders build sustainable, values-driven organizations through strategic clarity, operational strength, and peer vulnerability.
Connect with Mark McFatridge:
Website: https://quadecircle.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mcfatridge/
Connect with Steve Fretzin:
LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Instagram: @fretzinsteve
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: Fretzin.com
Email: [email protected]
Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!
YouTube: Steve Fretzin
Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Steve Fretzin [00:01]
Before we jump into today’s show, if you’ve been listening to the podcast or reading any of my books, The Be That Lawyer Community is clearly the next step for your growth and development as a rainmaker. Learn proven strategies, connect with ambitious lawyers just like you, and put new ideas into action. Check it out at bethatlawyer.com/community. Build your book, own your future, and be that lawyer.
Narrator [00:30]
You’re listening to Be That Lawyer: Life-Changing Strategies and Resources for Growing a Successful Law Practice. Each episode, your host, author, and lawyer coach, Steve Fretzin, will take a deeper dive, helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results. Now, here is your host, Steve Fretzin.
Steve Fretzin [00:52]
Hey everybody, Steve Fretzin, and welcome to the Be That Lawyer podcast. Yes, yes, yes, we are here for your entertainment and education to be everything you need to be to live that best lawyer’s life. As you guys know, we love to build the books, own the future, and be that lawyer. That’s what this is all about. I got Mark waiting in the wings. How you doing, my friend?
Mark McFatridge [01:10]
Man, I’m fired up. Thanks, Steve, for having me.
Steve Fretzin [01:12]
Yeah, yeah, this is going to be a rock and roll show. We’re going to get to a lot of stuff that’s going to help individual lawyers as well as people running firms to just be their best selves and do things a little a little more intelligently is is a nice way of putting it. But as you may know, we love to talk about our quote of the show. It’s been our our anchor, if you will, for many, many years, and so, Stephen Covey, he’s the man. Lots of great quotes. And here’s one that that I don’t know I’ve heard I think I’ve heard it before, but I’m not I’m not placing like a time and a place, but, Most people do not listen. because I wasn’t listening, probably. There you go. Yeah, I was so busy thinking about what I was going to say that I I never paid attention. Now, here we go. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply. Sounds like every networking conversation ever.
Mark McFatridge [01:57]
Yeah, no, that that’s exactly right. You know, it’s one of those things, and I’m with you, I can’t remember exactly when I first heard it, but when I did, it was like a kick to the teeth, right? Like it was like, duh. Like, Yeah. and and when I started doing it, Steve, like, I learned so much more about the people that I was with, and this is both on the personal side and the professional side, right? Like, you know, you you just you you just take the time to enter and really focus on what people are saying, and, you know, you get to pick up little things like really what they’re not saying even, by how they go about it. And and it puts you in such a unique advantage, you know, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish at it, but but it gives you a great perspective on people. So, I’ve really taken it to heart and and it was a big change for me after I really started to apply it.
Steve Fretzin [02:47]
You know, it’s very hard, generally speaking, to be a good networker when all you’re thinking about is getting your words in, and one-upmanship, and how do I get what I want to say in? And it’s I do that, too. We all are sort of are, you know, prone to do that. Some people are are more experts than others. But ultimately, what I teach every day in sales-free selling and just in my practice is, you know, peace, love, and understanding. It’s in the top three. So, you know, might as well, you know, spend some time just asking good questions, and listening, and trying to pull out. You would probably agree that that it’s at the heart of coaching.
Mark McFatridge [03:22]
Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure. You know, you talked about networking and I’ll bounce on that for a minute. Like, I hate networking events because they’re so shallow, right? Those conversations are so shallow. And what I found is if I If I go to them—I rarely go to them anymore, but when I would go to them, if I would do this, if I would listen to other people instead of me trying to get my point across, it opened up and made them way more enjoyable for everybody. And then you take it into the coaching aspect and if you allow people to talk, they’re going to come up with the solution themselves, right? Like I I hate being called a coach cause I I just I don’t think that I’m that good, right? Like I’ve had really cool experiences, but, God, we all know what we need to do, right? Sometimes we just need to talk it and say it out loud. And if somebody’s giving you that opportunity to to talk out loud, you’ll eventually go, Yeah, I’ve I’ve known that all along, right?
Steve Fretzin [04:15]
Yeah, and by the way, part of being good coach is being humble, I think. So, there you go. You You’ve nailed it right there just saying that. Everybody, Mark McFatridge is the founder and CEO of Quade, focused on CEO peer groups, and and you know I run some rainmaker roundtables, and so I’m really excited about this. But that’s not where you started. Give us a Back up the truck a little bit and give us a little background on yourself and how you came to be.
Mark McFatridge [04:38]
Yeah, yeah. Born and raised in in small-town Indiana. Came to school at Butler University. I was an accounting major, so my undergrad’s in accounting. I went into public accounting cause that’s what I was supposed to do, and I hated it. Like, al- almost literally from day one. And lasted a year, and then I got into banking. And banking became my career, and in 2000 6, I had my first opportunity to be a bank president. So Regions Bank relocated me and my family from Indianapolis, Indiana, basically home, to Springfield, Missouri, where I ran all of their community banks in Missouri and western Kentucky, and it was just an amazing experience. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and but just had a blast. I took over the worst performing banking group in the company, and we turned it around in pretty short order. And when and so when you work for a big company, you know that means they’re going to ask you to do it again. And so they asked us to relocate, and we said no. We love Springfield. Our kids, I think at that point, were getting ready to go into high school and middle school. And we love Springfield. Springfield was a great place to raise kids, and so I moved to the community banking world, and what I found, Steve, is I really like to take stuff that’s broken and fix it, and so I would do that with banks. And so I I loved going to work. Like my first non-big bank was a $200 million start, basically a startup bank, and we kind of fixed it and sold it. And then I took over a bank that got into trouble after the downturn, you know, in 2008, 9, and 10. Took it over in 12. We fixed it and sold that one, and then I became the CEO of a publicly traded bank out of Little Rock, Arkansas, and found that I didn’t love being running an SEC-regulated company, and retired from banking in gosh, January of 17, and was really kind of at a loss, frankly. I you know, I’d always worked for somebody, but I had been around entrepreneurs really my entire career, and wanted to figure out what I could do. And so, had the opportunity to come back to Indianapolis, and did some consulting work, and then 5 years ago October, launched Quade. And so that’s that’s there’s my that’s my super long story made short of of how we got from from an accounting major to to Yeah.
Mark McFatridge [07:01]
to launching a a CEO peer group company.
Steve Fretzin [07:04]
How do we get through How do we get through 20 years quickly? Well, that’s how we do it. Yeah. And there are, I mean, just out of curiosity, obviously, this is a show for lawyers and helping lawyers. I mean, do you notice any similarities between bankers and lawyers and the way that they think?
Mark McFatridge [07:19]
Oh, yeah. You know, I I think you’re all problem solvers, right? And I think that’s the the biggest piece is bankers and, you know, especially from the commercial lending side, which is where I grew up, right? And and commercial attorneys are they’re problem solvers. And so they’re always they’re listening. They’re trying to figure out where and how to to get the job done and to figure it out, and you know, within confines, right, that, you know, whether it’s, you know, bank lending rules, or it’s it’s the law itself, you know, it’s you’ve got those confines to help work within and, you know, trying to push as best you can for the best result for your client. So I think, you know, that’s that’s the biggest part of it. Yeah.
Steve Fretzin [08:00]
Yeah. You know, I’m wondering that like there was a time where I did work with banks. Back in the day, I worked in over 50 industries and banking was one of them, accounting was another, and financial services, and so on and so on. And they have training in not only the technical aspects of banking, but in the business development side of it. And I think lawyers, you know, unfortunately, and every lawyer listening knows this, they don’t learn this in law school, they don’t learn at the law firm level, so just trying to pick up what they can pick, which is why they’re maybe listening to the show. But how professional services firms spend a lot of time and money on the technical side, but they don’t really think about the entrepreneurial, CEO, rainmaking side, what do you take of What do you What’s your take on that, and why that is?
Mark McFatridge [08:42]
Well, again, it’s not foreign, right? Or it’s foreign to them because all you want to know is, okay, how do I get this job done, right? And you don’t think about, oh, well, where’s it coming from? Like where is my next opportunity coming from? And and it’s not easy, right? Like I don’t think people are natural sales people, right? And or business development people. And except when they realize what it really is, which is building relationships, and then it becomes way easier, right? It’s I’m not selling something. I’m I’m here. I’ve got a solution. I’ve got an opportunity. I can solve a problem, and if you get to trust me and we can build a relationship, then you know what I do and and you’re going to come to me when that opportunity makes sense.
Steve Fretzin [09:27]
Yeah. So there are CEOs and rainmakers and managing partners that have you know you know they’ve got all these services that they that they have, but they don’t typically have have either coaches or or advisors or peer group leaders. And what what can you tell us about about the big the big challenges that people in your groups have? Like you’re you’re part of like unwinding problems, right, and letting it not just not just solving them, but you use a group approach, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Mark McFatridge [10:00]
You know, ours are they’re really, when you focus on the CEO side of it, right? CEOs, they don’t fail because business is hard, right? Like they have the answers. They have access to experts, whether it’s CPA firms or whether it’s it’s law firms or whether it’s whatever, they have access to all the answers. CEOs struggle when life gets in the way, because life doesn’t pause, right? Like, you know, you you can you can just be rolling, and and business is pretty systematic, right? And you kind of have an idea of where it’s going to go, and and if something’s trending down, you know how to dive in and do it. But when you’re trying to do that, and you know, your daughter is in an auto accident, or you know, you you know, you’re you’re having trouble with your marriage, or your elderly el- elderly parents, or whatever, when that life stuff happens, and it just starts to pile on, and and it it never it never piles on when things are going great, right? So so just being in a room with other people that have to balance those things is really powerful, because they understand. Like you know, only a CEO knows what another CEO is going through, right? And so to be able to to sit there, and you know, our groups meet month- basically monthly, four hours at a time, and so over years you get to know each other pretty intimately, and you know what’s going on in somebody’s life. And just being to have those four hours a month to be able to be yourself, to be vulnerable, where you can’t necessarily be that as a CEO in an office, right? Surrounded by people that report to you or through you or whatever, you know, it’s just it just becomes a really powerful tool.
Steve Fretzin [11:39]
Yeah, I find that people are opening up to let the group know that they’re in therapy or that they’re having you know marital troubles, or that they’re struggling with their team at the office because they’ve got people that aren’t doing their jobs, and they’ve got a you know all this all this stress that they can sort of share with a group of people that they trust, and know that that they’re not judged, right? That they’re they’re all going through something together, and and there’s a safe place to go where you just can’t share that with with maybe your second in command or your team at the office. Although, you know, there might be some benefit in, you know, in being you know honest with your team. So how does that honesty within that group translate to benefit for the members to help them not only grow their businesses, but to your point, live that balanced or more balanced life?
Mark McFatridge [12:30]
Yeah, you you know, I think when you build up that trust and you allow yourself to be vulnerable, you’re just going to lay it all out. And the other cool thing about it is, you know, while these, I call them allies, members of of the circle come together and they get to know each other intimately, they’re also still independent, right? So if you come and you say, Hey, I’m I’m looking at this. I think it’s an acquisition, and I’m help me walk through the numbers to the group, and I’d like to do this. And somebody, if it’s a bad idea, somebody’s going to raise their hand and go, What are you thinking? Right? Like, so they’re going to be independent because they don’t have to worry about whether we’re all getting together for dinner on Friday night, and and it’s going to spoil, you know, our our relationship with our spouses. Like, you’re together because you trust each other, you value their opinions, you get to benefit from their experiences, and so that independence is a big deal where, you know, if you think, if you’ve got, you know, your head in the clouds, and you’re like, This is the best idea I’ve ever had, and somebody looks at it and goes, That is That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done, right? Like, that is hugely beneficial because if you have direct reports, and I agree with you, you want to be honest with your direct reports and your executive team, but, you know, if you sign their checks, they’re going to at least temper some of the things, right? And and so if you’re in a group like this that you can trust, they’re going to tell you when something’s not a great idea.
Steve Fretzin [13:54]
Well, the saying, I don’t can’t attribute this to anybody specific, but you can’t read the label from inside the bottle.
Mark McFatridge [14:00]
Yeah, for sure. And when
Steve Fretzin [14:01]
you have a coach, or you have a group around you that sees the clear mistake, they see the way that you’re treating that employee is wrong, or they see the way that client is going to go south on you, and you can see it because you’re not in it, and they can’t see it, and that type of feedback is invaluable, whether it’s a coach or a group or whatnot. Just having a having someone’s experienced eyes on it, is that a big part of what makes a peer advisory group so important?
Mark McFatridge [14:28]
Yeah, for sure. You know, one of the things we talk about all the time is, you know, if you’re giving feedback to somebody, it needs to be from an experience-based perspective. So it should never be, You should do that. It should be, When I was in that situation, I did X, Y, and Z, and I screwed up X, and I screwed up Y, but Z worked out pretty good. Yeah. So coming from it as an experiential component is huge.
Steve Fretzin [14:50]
Yeah, that’s that way it’s not, again, we talked about no judgment, it’s it’s also not just saying, This is what you should do. It might be, Here’s what I did, and and and I made that same mistake, and and this is what what I did and what how it worked out for me. And that’s just a much clearer way of explaining something to get buy-in.
Mark McFatridge [15:07]
Yeah. Well, and and you know the other cool thing about that, too, is right, like in my mind, life is about experiences, and by being in a group with, in in our case, nine or ten other people, other CEOs, your experiences get accelerated because you basically get to have their experiences as your own, and that just it just accelerates everything, whether it’s on the personal side or the business side. I
Steve Fretzin [15:33]
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Mark McFatridge [18:48]
Yeah, no, so we call it an exploration, but same thing, right? And and so because we’re there for 4 hours, right, everybody gets a gets a spot. So it’s not just one person at a time. So we open up with just kind of a check-in, then we bring in an educational resource for about an hour, and then the the last 2 and a half to 3 hours is on explorations. And so same thing. Here’s a topic, and so I always ask, What is your biggest challenge or opportunity that you’re facing right now? And it could be business, it could be family, it could be it could be personal, whatever, and then you dictate what you need out of it. So you say, Hey, I am looking at a merger opportunity, an acquisition opportunity, and I would like you to help me walk through these numbers. Okay, cool. So you lay that all out. Again, ask peppering with all kinds of questions: what’s this going to do, how blah blah blah blah blah, and then come back. And then similarly, it’s like, Great, I got it, but here’s what I’m going to commit to do between now and when we meet again. So same thing, it’s it’s your accountability piece, which is huge. And so when they when we come back again next month, they’re going to start out with, Hey, did you or did you not accomplish what you said you were going to do? And you just don’t want to let that peer group down. And so, you know, 90% of the time, unless something just went sideways, you’re going to accomplish that. And if you don’t, and it carries over from month to month, you know, you said we spend we just spent 35 minutes on this. It’s like, look, you’ve been talking about this for 3 months and you’re not doing anything about it. It must not be that important. So either, you know, kind of get off the pot or or get it done, one of the two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very similar. Yeah.
Steve Fretzin [20:27]
Right. Okay, well, I think, you know, great minds think alike and and so do ours. So there’s that. But I mean I think there are people that I mean, it’s possible, especially in the legal space, that managing partners and people that run practice groups or just people that are rainmakers that are equity partners that are kind of running their own show, they just don’t know this exists. I think they they know coaching exists, but I don’t think they know very clearly that this might be an option for them. How do you get the word out to CEOs? How do you Is it all internal from your members referring in or do you market it? Like how do you how do you find? Because it’s also about finding the right fit. Like you don’t want to bring a lunatic. One bad apple spoils the bunch, right? So we have to really find the right people.
Mark McFatridge [21:09]
For sure. Yeah. Yeah, so we do it in a handful of ways, right? Like you know when I when I started this, and and you’ll laugh, so I started Quade 5 years ago. It was supposed to be a lifestyle business, and I screwed it up and and kept scaling, right? And so so now we have you know I have licensees that are out there that are that are building their own group, so they’re doing their own marketing depending on where they are. We have and we have virtual as well as in-person circles. And then I’ve also started working with professional services firms, CPA firms, law firms to instill peer advisory divisions within their firms for their clients. So, Yeah. you know, I think certainly on the CPA world, and I think the law the the law world is is at risk of being somewhat commoditized if they’re not careful. And having a peer advisory division can start to build deeper relationships with their existing clients. And so being able to put that together and offer that within, and now it becomes a line of business for them as well. So
Speaker 2 [22:10]
Yeah.
Mark McFatridge [22:11]
it’s an opportunity for professional services firms to to to build it on the on their own.
Steve Fretzin [22:18]
Well, and they’re and they struggle with like, All right, so should I just go to more networking events, or do I have to like, you know, still attend conferences? Look, I’m in my, you know, early 60s. I’ve got a huge book of business. I’m running a firm. You know, how should I be spending my time? And the reality is if you can get a bunch of CEO clients together, put them in a room, and do what you do and do what I do, like facilitate high-level conversations as the trusted advisor, as the person the person facilitating is the hero of the story. I mean, that is just that is you know, you can be humble, but ultimately, you know, when you facilitate a great meeting and everybody gets value out of it, they want to be around you, and they want to work with you cause because of of that. And I think there are trust there are lawyers and and accountants that will get a tremendous amount of value from talking to you about starting a group as a way of staying tight with their clients. Maybe the clients bring in other clients to be in that group, then they end up doing the legal work with you. Like there’s all these options and opportunities there if it’s pulled together right.
Mark McFatridge [23:18]
Yeah, no, you’re dead on. I mean, I think you know, I I like we we talked about it early. Like I’m a relationship guy, right? That is super important to me. And what better way to build closer relationships than to be hanging out with that the same group of people month after month after month after month, hearing about what they’re going through, and providing them connections to solve whatever opportunities or challenges that they’re facing to build that credibility in that relationship. They’re never going to leave. How would why would they leave that, right, if they have that? And you actually, again, going back to, I don’t love to be a coach. You don’t have even have to be a coach. You just have to facilitate and go, Hey Steve, you were in that position just a little bit ago. How did you handle that? Share that with Tom, right? And so now they’re coaching each other and holding each other accountable, and you’re just providing the venue and the facilitation and the, you know, the expertise from the educational resources and that type of stuff. It it’s really powerful.
Steve Fretzin [24:14]
Yeah, I mean, you have the talent in the room. You don’t have to be the talent other than someone that’s going to make sure that, you know, the inmates don’t take over the asylum. Like you have to have an agenda. You have to follow it. You have to keep people on time, right? Because some people, you know, like we just talked going back to the very beginning, they’re not listening. They they just want to get their two cents in and and one-upmanship and all of that. And I think one thing that lawyers and maybe all professional services need to do better, and maybe you can just take a minute or two on this, is moving from that expert that everyone knows, like in, you know, labor and employment or in, you know, accounting or whatever it might be, you know, auditing, whatever it might be, to being a trusted adviser. How do you see a transformation or how people can transform from just being someone that is really well-regarded in their space to someone that is drumming up a lot of business and helping a lot more people because everybody wants to refer that individual as the trusted adviser?
Mark McFatridge [25:11]
Yeah, well, I think it goes back to our opening quote, right? Like, listen to understand. And if if you’re somebody who is willing to listen and understand what somebody’s going through and then be able to take that and connect it to something that helps them solve their problem, and whether it’s in in your shop or it’s somebody that’s, you know, across the street or whatever that can help them solve their problem, that’s huge, right? And you’re doing it out of, you know, out of respect, out of of the relationship and the the value and the trust that goes into that relationship. And you’re not asking for a referral fee or anything You know what I mean? Like you’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do, and and that’s what relationships are all about. So yeah, I think, you know, it starts because they come to you with a problem and you’re a great technician and that’s awesome. But if you ask the right questions and you dig a little bit deeper and you go, Hey, you came to me for this. That’s really not what your problem is. Let me introduce you to to Steve, who who is an expert in this field. And now, all of a sudden, it’s like, Ah, I get it, right? And and it’s just it’s just taking that next level of of care.
Steve Fretzin [26:20]
It It does take some extra effort, though, to be a trusted advisor and to have that sort of a label than to be a great, you know, just a great tactician. You need to build a network of top-level people. I have a client of mine who’s overwhelmed with work, and I said, you know, Would you be open to taking on a co-counsel to help you with this? Because I don’t want you turning business away because you’re you’re in, and, by the way, you’re in my program, and you need to come to class and do the things we need to do, and you’re not showing up. So, it’s because she’s underwater. I said, Look, let me look around. I got three or four people that I think would be good for co-counsel to help her get through the next six to eight weeks, you know, alive, and be able to have a breath. And that has nothing to do with business development coaching. That has nothing to do with, you know, what what I’ve got in my signed agreement with her, right? This is the stuff that allows us to build the kinds of relationships that are incredibly sticky. And we do it because of A, it’s fun, but B, it’s because it’s it’s really helping someone beyond just the coaching or just beyond the consulting that we can provide them, which is what I think trusted advisors are all about.
Mark McFatridge [27:26]
Yeah. No, I I agree, and and I think, you know, you and I have hung out a handful of times now, and, like, I think we think similarly, right? Whenever I’m talking to somebody, I’m constantly going, Oh, I know somebody who they should talk to about X or Y. And, you know, it could it could be, you know, wine or whatever, but I, but I’m always constantly thinking about that because that’s fun, and it’s meaningful. And, again, I think it actually shows that I am listening to them, right, if they’re doing that. And so I’m showing them their the respect that they’ve earned, and and then taking it to the next level, and making that extra effort of, you know, just sending a text connection, right, or an email connection. And and that it’s just it’s so easy to do, and so valuable and meaningful for for everybody involved.
Steve Fretzin [28:10]
And And here’s the reality, too, Mark: anybody can say that that’s important; you actually walk the walk. I mean, we met once or twice, and you you made a very high-level connection for me very quickly. I mean, maybe too quickly. I kind of ruined the relationship for you when I got on the phone. No, I’m just kidding. I didn’t. We got a lot. That would be That’s the That’s the worst feeling in the world. What did I just do? No, no, we hit it off great.
Mark McFatridge [28:32]
Yeah. But it was
Steve Fretzin [28:33]
The point is, is like, you’re not just talking out your rear end. I mean, you actually practice the things that you preach, and I think it makes you It It makes me want to help you. It makes me want to stay connected with you and figure out, like, how can we collaborate? And that’s what this is all about, is how do we develop the kinds of friendships and relationships that that make this fun? Like, it just doesn’t have to be business and just work. Like, this can be enjoyable, too. Hey, listen, man, this is great. I appreciate you sharing all this wisdom, but there’s one question I have for you that’s burning right now, and it’s: what’s Mark’s big mistake?
Mark McFatridge [29:04]
Yeah, you know, I I said when I I I’d retired from banking, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I knew that I wanted to be to own a business. And what I didn’t do So my big mistake was I was so accustomed to having every minute of my day scheduled, right? I could look at my Outlook calendar and go, I know exactly where I want to be. And all of a sudden, I’ve retired and my Outlook calendar is blank, and I don’t know what to do. I like And so I knew what I should have done, which is I needed to take like six months at a minimum and maybe even a year and not do anything, and just kind of float and figure out what where it’s going to take me. And I couldn’t do it. And so I was constantly going out looking for investment opportunities and and networking and talking to people and all that kind of stuff. And so I I got into a couple of deals that I If If I would have taken the time and and relaxed and I would have never gotten into them. And so that was my big mistake was take the time, figure out what your next stage is going to be and and then go go do that. So I completely screwed that up and and yeah.
Steve Fretzin [30:17]
Just say like measure measure twice, cut once, and you you cut too soon. Yeah,
Mark McFatridge [30:21]
yeah, exactly right. Yeah.
Steve Fretzin [30:23]
Well, you know, I was just talking to I had someone on my show, I think it was the last episode or two, we were talking about, you know, shiny penny syndrome. When you have an entrepreneurial, like, you know, gut in you, like you just go after things. Then you realize, wow, you know, I was I was very ambitious there, but probably took took away from something else or some other idea could have done more done more effectively. Fantastic, man. Let’s take a moment and thank our incredible sponsors. Of course, Lex Reception. Part of being a leader is knowing, you know, when to delegate and and when to automate and get things off your plate. Of course, Lawyer.com, the number one resource to get found as a lawyer to get on lists and and make sure you get that backlink. And of course, PIMCon coming up in October, the Personal Injury Mastermind, and our friend Chris Dreyer runs a a great show over there. Mark, people want to get in touch with you, they like the idea of a CEO group, or they like the idea of running a CEO group as a lawyer, and I’d love to have you talk with some of my clients about that because, quite frankly, it’s just another whole avenue that they never even imagined existed. So I think that could be interesting. But what are your digits?
Mark McFatridge [31:28]
Yeah, easiest way: QuadeCircle.com, and Quade is spelled Q-U-A-D-E. It’s a word that I made up. Quad meaning four and four E’s. So when I was turning banks around, my four E’s were engagement, education, empowerment, and execution. And when I was trying to figure out what to name this thing, I was writing down all kinds of stuff. And so quad E. So quadecircle.com is is is how to find it. Or on LinkedIn, Mark McFatridge. You can find me there. Pretty active on LinkedIn. And yeah, those are those are the easiest ways to get ahold of us.
Steve Fretzin [32:00]
Yeah, and I’ll make sure we have all that in the show notes as well. But listen, man, just such a wonderful time, and I appreciate you coming on the show, sharing your wisdom, and again, I think that peer advisory is either not known or it’s known, but not people aren’t. And by the way, I’m not going to say it’s free, because it’s not. But like in the grand scheme of things, compared to what traditional coaching costs and everything, it’s usually much less expensive and much a much better investment for people that are already successful and they’re just looking for like, how do I get to even a higher level?
Mark McFatridge [32:30]
Yeah, no, I agree. And you know, in my head, right, if you’re in a peer group of 10 other CEOs, you’ve got 10 coaches right there, right? So it’s not just one, and and you’re benefiting from true experiences versus theory and and so forth.
Steve Fretzin [32:45]
It could be hundreds of years of experience all in the same room, helping you make less mistakes and think more clearly. It’s kind of a kind of a no-brainer, but that’s what guys like us would say that do it. So, you know, there you have it. But thanks again, man. I appreciate Yeah, no bias here. Yeah. No bias at all. No, haha. But thanks again, man. I appreciate you.
Mark McFatridge [33:02]
All right, brother. Appreciate you. Thank you.
Steve Fretzin [33:04]
Yeah, you got it. And hey, thank you everybody for hanging out with Mark and I for the last 30. Hopefully, you picked up some good ideas. Again, you don’t have to be a CEO to get into a peer advisory group. For me, it’s if you’re an ambitious business developer, you know, we have our Circle community. That’s like a large peer advisory online group. We’ve got regular peer advisory for folks like Mark. You’ve got, you know, you can you know, you can just be a CEO, and again, if you’re running a firm, that might be good for you. But listen, it’s all about helping you build your book and own your future, and be that lawyer, everybody. Take care, be safe and well. We will talk again soon.
Narrator [33:39]
Thanks for listening to Be That Lawyer, life-changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website fretzin.com for additional information and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends. For more information and important links about today’s episode, check out today’s show notes.