Making Mondays work

Ange Dove (00:01)
Welcome to Your The Boss Podcast Show, and today I have with me Coach Kon. So Kon, welcome to the show.

Coach Kon (00:10)
Such a pleasure to be with you, Ange.

Ange Dove (00:12)
It’s great to see you again. So just introduce yourself. Tell the audience who you are and what you do.

Coach Kon (00:20)
So I am officially Coach Kon. I’m the CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions. I’m the founder of the company, and it’s essentially talent management, but for corporates — not the kind of talent management for people on stages, but more for corporate environments.

Essentially, I handle leadership development, I do a lot of executive coaching, and I work with companies to make sure they’re maximizing their talent.

I’ve been developing leaders and high-performing teams for well over three decades now — and I think my gray hair gives that away anyway. It all started back in my military days as an instructor there.

So I’ve worked across industries, continents, and cultures, and I’ve had the blessing of having a very diverse career operating in multiple industries around the world. It’s been quite an adventure, I have to say.

Ange Dove (01:21)
Okay, nice. So has it always involved people and leadership? Is that the common thread through your whole career?

Coach Kon (01:30)
I think that would absolutely be the common thread.

No matter whether I was in an operational role or a development role, I naturally gravitated toward developing people. Even as an operational leader, I always considered myself a coach and a developer within my teams.

So yes, it’s always been part of who I am.

Ange Dove (01:59)
Yeah, so it’s an innate part of who you are. That’s really good.

So you’ve had this long career and now you’re running your own business. Tell me how that started. How did you make that transition from corporate to being your own boss?

Coach Kon (02:18)
Well, I developed a lot of my skills in corporate, so I’m very grateful for that.

I worked for a very large Fortune 100 company during the mergers and acquisitions boom of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. The company grew to about 100,000 employees across 100 countries, so it gave me incredible opportunities to develop my leadership skills operationally and in training and development.

Eventually, I moved into more of an in-house consulting role within the organization.

Over the years, I also worked for large private companies, including in the restaurant industry with more than 200 units across North America — always in leadership development, talent management, and building high-performing teams.

Then after the Great Recession in 2008, the company I was working for got purchased by a hedge fund and relocated its headquarters from Denver, Colorado to Kentucky. Along with that transition, many of us were released.

Like many people, I thought, “Okay, I’ll just go get another job in my space.”

But despite my experience, I kept hearing:

“We love what you bring.”
“We love your experience.”
“But we probably can’t afford you.”
“Or we’re looking for someone younger.”

So I learned very quickly what ageism was all about.

This year actually marks 14 years since I started my own company.

And honestly, I never intended to become an entrepreneur. I’m what you’d call an accidental entrepreneur.

But I realized organizations were willing to pay me as a consultant, trainer, and coach — just not as an employee anymore.

So that’s how Fresh Biz Solutions started.

Eventually, I built it into a company that truly brings value to clients. I work with only a handful of organizations doing high-level, high-ticket work as essentially a fractional Chief Talent Officer or Chief Learning Officer.

I help companies structure their organizations properly, develop leaders, and make sure they have the right people in the right seats at the right time.

That’s really become my mission.

Ange Dove (05:46)
Okay. So making that transition — because I’m always interested in how people transition into business ownership — I was also an accidental entrepreneur. I just wanted to work from home. That was my main motivation.

So for you, when you transitioned into running your own business, were there worries or challenges? Or did it all just fall into place?

Coach Kon (06:25)
I would love to say it all just fell into place and I became rich overnight — but you know better than that.

There’s no such thing as overnight success.

It takes time to build your brand, understand your value, and develop your business. And when you suddenly put “CEO” on your business card, you quickly realize it actually means “Chief Everything Officer.”

There’s no IT department. No HR department. No accounting team. You are all of it.

So yes, progress was slow in the beginning.

But I was fortunate because some of my early clients were willing to pay me as a consultant, and one major contract helped me replace the salary I had lost and gave me the cushion to start building the business properly.

I remember a friend of mine — another entrepreneur — saying something to me early on that stuck forever.

He said:

“Being an entrepreneur is like running full speed toward a cliff that’s about 90 days away. You’re sprinting to finish projects and get paid, hoping another contract comes in before you reach the edge.”

And honestly, that’s exactly what entrepreneurship feels like sometimes.

That emotional rollercoaster isn’t for everybody.

After COVID, we saw this huge boom in people starting businesses and becoming solopreneurs — but many also realized very quickly that it wasn’t as glamorous as it looked.

Ange Dove (09:02)
That reminds me of something a friend told me years ago.

She ran a graphic design agency, and overnight her office rent went from $3,000 a month to $9,000 a month.

I asked her, “What are you going to do?”

And she simply said:

“We just have to make more money.”

That always stuck with me.

Coach Kon (10:29)
That’s the entrepreneurial mindset. You have to back yourself sometimes.

Ange Dove (10:34)
So now let’s talk about what you actually do.

I can see behind you “The Engagement Blueprint.” That’s your book, right?

Coach Kon (10:55)
Yes, The Engagement Blueprint is my latest book. It’s coming up on two years now and it hit number one on Amazon when it launched, so I’m very proud of it.

The book is really the culmination of all my years of experience studying engagement — what truly creates engagement and how organizations benefit from it.

The other book behind me is The Seven Keys to Navigating a Crisis, which I co-wrote during COVID.

We actually wrote and published that book within 45 days during the pandemic shutdowns to help people emotionally navigate crisis and uncertainty.

Whereas The Engagement Blueprint took about 18 months of research, interviews, and storytelling.

Ange Dove (12:43)
So let’s talk about engagement first.

Why is engagement so important?

Coach Kon (12:52)
A lot of leaders think engagement is some fluffy HR concept. But the numbers say otherwise.

Gallup reported that globally, disengagement costs the world economy $8.9 trillion in lost productivity every year.

That’s nearly 9% of global GDP.

And when you look deeper, only one in five employees globally actually say they’re engaged at work.

Think about that.

If you’re sitting in a meeting room with five people, statistically only one person is truly engaged.

That’s staggering.

And even for small businesses like yours and mine, imagine what could happen if more of your people were truly engaged.

Ange Dove (15:20)
So what’s the problem then? Why are people disengaged?

Coach Kon (15:28)
Because their needs aren’t being met.

After 18 months of research, I found there are four essential human needs that drive engagement.

1. People Need to Feel Valued

People want to feel safe, respected, appreciated, and heard.

That means:

• Physical safety

• Emotional safety

• Psychological safety

• Respect

• Gratitude

• Attention

Even something as simple as genuinely thanking someone can change how they feel.

Generic praise like “Good job” doesn’t land the same as specific appreciation.

And attention matters too.

When you’re talking to someone, put the phone away. Close the laptop. Be present.

People who feel appreciated will always give you more than expected.

2. People Need to Feel Connected

We are tribal creatures.

We want to belong.

That’s why people connect over sports teams, hometowns, universities, or shared experiences.

At work, leaders need to help people connect:

• To each other

• To the team

• To the mission

• To the organization’s values

When those connections become strong, people don’t want to leave.

3. People Need to Feel Productive

People want to know their work matters.

A great leader helps employees understand where they fit into the bigger picture.

I often use the story of the three bricklayers:

• One says, “I lay bricks.”

• One says, “I build walls.”

• The third says, “I’m building a cathedral.”

The third person understands the vision.

When employees understand the bigger mission, engagement and productivity soar.

4. People Need to Feel Supported to Learn and Grow

People don’t want to feel stagnant.

Even if they’re happy, they still want movement, challenge, and growth.

A good leader helps people see a future within the organization — not just a paycheck.

Because if people can’t grow with you, they’ll grow somewhere else.

Ange Dove (32:28)
I love that.

Now, you have this phrase I really love: “Making Mondays Work.”

Can you explain that?

Coach Kon (32:42)
Absolutely.

“Making Mondays Work” is really the combination of everything I focus on:

• Engagement

• Resilience

• Performance

I wanted to find a way to explain how we create more human-centered workplaces where both employers and employees thrive.

One weekend, my wife was talking about the toxicity of her workplace and she said:

“God, I hate Mondays.”

And I realized — we all know that feeling.

On Sunday evenings, your body tells you the truth about your work.

If you feel anxious, stressed, angry, or emotionally drained thinking about Monday morning, chances are you’re in a toxic or disengaged environment.

But if you’re excited to go to work, see your team, and contribute — that’s a completely different experience.

And the common denominator is leadership.

Leadership determines how people feel about Mondays.

So the work I do with organizations is about creating workplaces where people feel:

• Engaged

• Resilient

• High-performing

That’s what “Making Mondays Work” means.

Ange Dove (35:09)
That’s really beautiful.

So if someone is listening to this and thinking, “I need this in my organization,” where can they find you?

Coach Kon (35:21)
Two places.

First, my website: FreshBizSolutions.com

I recently updated it with information about all these concepts, including Making Mondays Work, leadership development, coaching, and speaking.

The second place is LinkedIn. You can find me under “Coach Kon” — spelled with a K on purpose.

Because it’s hard to trust a coach spelled with a C.

Ange Dove (36:23)
He’s not a con coach — he’s Coach Kon.

So Coach Kon, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been inspiring listening to you.

Everyone, I’ll put the links below wherever you’re listening or watching so you can connect with Coach Kon.

Thank you so much.

Coach Kon (36:41)
Thank you. It was a pleasure catching up with you and sharing this information with your audience.

I hope people find value in it, and if they have questions, please reach out.

Ange Dove (36:51)
Thank you.