Never Stop Starting: The No Fail Formula for Creating a Crazy Great Culture

By Barbara Yokom

Your NO FAIL Formula to Maximize Your Organization's Potential and Gain Lasting Success

Barbara Yokom started a dance school that began with 100 students, one room, and one employee. Over the next 29 years, it grew into a dance, music, and theatre school with 1700 students, 2.7 million in gross revenues, and 68 employees. The fast growth of the school and the impact it had on its students and community were due to the amazing team and the resilient crazy great culture she created.

The seven practices that Barbara developed are a tried and true way for your organization to live out its core values and achieve lasting success. Using this no fail formula in Never Stop Starting you will:

• Develop extraordinary resilience, so you and your team can "never stop starting" even through tough times.
• Establish deep connections and create a work-life balance to maximize your organization's potential.
• Avoid "Tricky Traps" that are killing your culture and keeping you from reaching your goals.
• Create an amazing, authentic, and fulfilling life, and take your organization further than you dreamed.

 

You, too, can create a crazy great culture within your workplace. Never Stop Starting will show you how!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barbara Yokom
• Release date: Sep 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988600213

Book preview

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

NEVER STOP STARTING

"Honest, vulnerable, transparent, authentic, courageous, that is Barb Yokom in a nutshell. This is not your ordinary business book. Barb has some ideas that are new, and we should take note.

1- Your business and personal life can mesh well, and you can have a wonderful life. Unlike all the other books that tell us we need to have a balanced life. The two can mesh and still have a beautiful family life with no guilt!

2- All businesses have ups and downs. Barb had a great business for twenty-nine years that made an incredible community impact, with a great culture and great teams. Yet a perfect storm came along in her last year of business. Even though Barb has superpowers, she could not stand up against it and had to close her doors. The lessons she learned through those years and especially from the final storm are in this book, for all our benefit.

I loved the lessons she espouses and am using them already. Thank you, Barb, for this book!"

Mike Johnson, President, Summit Forum Growth Advisors

"Never Stop Starting is an inspiring read. Barb Yokom shares the most challenging times of life and work and guides the reader to hopefulness. The ‘Seven Practices to Never Stop Starting’ are applicable to a start-up, established organization and all levels of leadership. Barb was ahead of her time with her goal to build a Crazy Great Culture. The blending of work and life is something we crave now more than ever."

Peggy O’Flaherty, Co-Founder, Mavely

Absolutely awesome piece of work! I was so pumped after reading it, I suggested it to three people right away. This book gave me so much energy!

Nicki Scott, Vice President, Rotary International

I have had the opportunity to witness the positive impact of this holistic approach to leadership firsthand. This book will challenge you to think differently about how you create authentic, healthy professional relationships and an unparalleled ‘Crazy Great Culture.’ Your employee efficiency and retention will soar, and everyone will love coming to work!

Joni Wiltz, Director of Marketing and Communications,

Loaves and Fishes

"Never Stop Starting is more than a great title for this book, it is the big idea and theme of Barb’s life. What you will discover on the pages of this book are the honest and vulnerable thoughts, experiences, and lessons from someone who knows firsthand the peaks and valleys of love, life and leadership. Get your pen and highlighter now because once you start reading, you will never stop!"

Jon Ferguson, Co-Founding Pastor of Community Christian Church, Author, and Speaker

Never Stop Starting

The No Fail Formula for

Creating a Crazy Great Culture

Barbara Yokom

Copyright © 2023, Barbara Yokom

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical (including any information storage retrieval system) without the express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations for use in articles and reviews wherein appropriate attribution of the source is made.

Publishing support provided by

Ignite Press

5070 N. Sixth St. #189

Fresno, CA 93710

www.IgnitePress.us

ISBN: 979-8-9886002-0-6

ISBN: 979-8-9886002-1-3 (E-book)

For bulk purchases and for booking, contact:

Barbara Yokom

[e-mail]

www.theneverstopstartingcompany.com

www.barbarayokom.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, web addresses or links contained in this book may have been changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The content of this book and all expressed opinions are those of the author and do not reflect the publisher or the publishing team. The author is solely responsible for all content included herein.

Important Note: To protect the privacy of individuals and company names and for purposes of gender inclusivity, we use the pronouns they, them, their throughout the book to identify an individual person and a group of people.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023910346

Cover design by Usman Tariq

Edited by Elizabeth Arterberry

Interior design by Jetlaunch

FIRST EDITION

This book is dedicated to my mom and dad, Rosemary and Bob Wilkin. They never squelched any of my ideas ever, as a happy-go-lucky little girl, an artist, an entrepreneur, a lover of the outdoors, and as a parent. They both encouraged me to never give up on my dreams, as crazy as they may have sounded. They truly taught me how to Never Stop Starting, even when it seemed impossible.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my husband, Andy, who is the best encourager and my best friend, for always putting up with my big, crazy ideas, big plans, and my Never Stop Starting attitudes.

My children, Annie, Charlie, and Lillie and my son-in-law, Sawyer, who inspire me everyday to be a better person in this world. You always push me out of my comfort zone. Auggie Doggie, who is the best comforter and friend a girl could ever ask for. He makes me stop and smell everything, move more, snuggle more. He is the best teacher of practicing presence, and just makes life better.

Deborah Newman, to whom I am very grateful for taking me on the most difficult journey I have been on, who tirelessly reminded me to start again. This book would not have ever been done without her willingness to never give up on me and to share with me all of her wonderful storytelling and editing talents. Thank you so much Deb, I will forever be grateful for your time and friendship. There are not enough ways to say thank you. Your generosity was beyond extraordinary.

Everett O’Keefe and his amazing team at Ignite Press.

Cindy Tschosik, for getting me started on this journey of writing a book.

My brainstorming buddies: Julie Harper, Nicki Scott, Ann Gleason, Greg Claunch, Peg Griffiths, Lisa Ferguson, Michelle Mitchell, Joni Wiltz, Ross Berkley, and Peggy O’Flaherty.

Lori North Guba, the OG.

All the staff, faculty, students, and parents who were ever a part of helping to make The School of Performing Arts an extraordinary place to work and call home. If it were not for each and every one of you, there would be no lessons learned about how resilience can create an extraordinary culture and life.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part I: The Downfall of Our Crazy Great Culture

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

Chapter 2: The Perfect Storm

Chapter 3: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Chapter 4: Building a Crazy Great Culture

Part II: Seven Practices to Build a Crazy Great Culture

Prelude: The Down-Low on Tricky Traps

Practice 1: Understand First

Practice 2: Reset, Reframe, Restart

Practice 3: Think Big and Dream Big

Practice 4: Get Uncomfortable

Practice 5: Ready, Set, Goal

Practice 6: Elevate Others

Practice 7: Build Your Spiritual Muscle

In Closing

Postscript

Endnotes

About the Author

Foreword

Barbara Yokom is the living definition of resilience. I have never met anyone so capable of bouncing back from unanticipated change and challenge with such positivity and vigor. In the twenty years I have known her, she simply Never Stops Starting.

In my life, I have had the privilege of meeting many incredible individuals. Yet Barb’s positive persona outshines most. Barb’s authentic and consistent approach to life and business is artfully shared in her seven great practices. I cannot imagine a skill leaders need more today than resilience. The timing of Never Stop Starting is perfect.

In my former career in accounting and corporate finance, I came to understand the importance of a solid grounding in numbers for success in business. But as a change management consultant, it quickly became clear that is just not enough. All organizations, regardless of what they sell or do, are made up of people. They live or die by how well those people work together. True business acumen requires a deep curiosity to get to the heart of what makes people tick and excel. I had the privilege of observing Barb’s crazy great culture at The School of Performing Arts on many occasions. I had never before seen a workplace where everyone was so invested in enhancing and supporting each other’s professional and personal lives. My early belief was that professional and personal lives should be kept very separate. But we are each one person, and our lives in and out of our workplace are intrinsically linked.

One thing I now know is that values should drive behavior and behavior drives results. This book will provide the reader with the tools to see any challenge and setback as an opportunity for personal and professional growth and learning. Just imagine how much better our world would be if we were all grounded in values and could all Never Stop Starting!

Nicki Scott

Vice President, Rotary International

PART I:

The Downfall of Our Crazy Great Culture

Chapter 1

The Aftermath

I started my dream business, The School of Performing Arts, when I was just twenty-four years old. Over twenty-nine years, it grew from two teachers and 150 students in one dance studio to sixty-eight employees training over 1,700 students in dance, music, and theatre in 16,000 square feet of beautiful studio and performance space. On June 12, 2019, I walked out the front door for the last time. Despite the fact that, over those twenty-nine years, we had built a crazy great culture, extraordinarily high-quality programming, beloved faculty, staff, and families—truly, my dream business—on that day we were forced to file Chapter 7 business bankruptcy. The dream was over. What I know now is that building a dream business requires amazing resilience. Yes, you get tired. Yes, where there are people, there are problems. Yes, money comes and goes. But reflecting on the loss of my business, I realize that it takes a particular mindset. A never stop starting mindset. That mindset offers all kinds of opportunities whether you are starting out, growing your business, or starting again.

That June morning, my husband, Andy, and I woke up and drove to the School in Naperville, Illinois. I was devastated. We spent the morning at the attorney’s office for the final bankruptcy paperwork. That afternoon was the last time we would step inside the doors of my beloved school, The School of Performing Arts—or SPA, as our students called it.

As we boxed the remaining personal items, I thought of each team member, student, and family, again, with a heavy heart and deep sadness. I felt numb, as if I were just going through the motions. Andy and I were both in shock that we were actually closing the School as a legal matter instead of with the dramatic and celebratory finale I had always envisioned. When, eventually, it would be time for me to pass the key to a new owner of the School, I had envisioned an extravagant party with champagne toasts, hors d’oeuvres, awards, and giving speeches of achievement and gratitude with tears rolling down my cheeks.

Instead, that day, as we packed our belongings, neither Andy nor I knew what