Bluegrass Critical Thinking Solutions

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in leadership development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Tom Ruby, Founder and CEO of Bluegrass Critical Thinking Solutions, located in Junction City, KY, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Bluegrass Critical Thinking Solutions is a small consultancy specially designed to mentor business leaders. We help leaders take back their time by focusing on the important, vice interesting, issues that challenge them daily. We help CEOs get out of the weeds of doing and focus on leading. That means setting objectives, developing strategies to achieve those objectives, and developing a leadership team to see those strategies to completion.

We provide seminars in critical thinking, innovation, strategy, and leadership to include specially designed overseas Leadership Experience off-site. Our clients span the range from large multinational businesses, to multi-state businesses, to entrepreneurial start-ups. We also have helped several non-profits develop strategic plans and leadership development plans.

Tell us about yourself

I was born to a peasant family in Serbia under communism and was carried out of the country in an escape by my mother. The first person in my family to attend college, I served in the military for 30 years and developed a special expertise in advanced analysis and strategic planning. As I prepared for a transition to civilian life, I worked with small business mentors to design a consultancy geared to help small businesses that otherwise wouldn't be able to hire a large consulting firm to help them with key issues.

We deeply hold to the truth that small businesses deserve good mentoring every bit as much or more than major corporations with billions in the bank. We have spoken to so many businesses that know they are failing or running out of money and decide they can't spend a little bit of what's left in an attempt to prevent failing and thus fail. This is what we seek to alleviate.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest success is when our clients no longer need us. While we seek long-term relationships with our clients, we want to aim to teach our clients to be self-sufficient. When we start with a young entrepreneur starting up a business, we can sense pretty quickly whether the founder will have the discipline to see the process through. When they do, that is the biggest joy for us.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Hands down, the most difficult thing we face is the moment a business leader looks in the mirror and decides whether or not what they said for the last several months was true. Because if so, that requires some behavioral change. The most difficult time comes when a client decides to continue struggling as before because change, in their minds, is harder than continual struggle.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Find someone to mentor you through the process and assess what you're doing from an outside perspective.
Focus on the big picture and lead. Hire good subordinates and leave the doing to your doers. You lead the leaders who lead the doers. Be disciplined.
Read every day. Challenge your team to read every day. Read not just business articles but novels and histories, and deliberately attempt to link issues you face with lessons from the books you read.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://bgcts.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bgcts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bgcts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomislavruby/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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