20 Years: Still Doing What I Love

In September of 2001, I launched Judy Ferraro & Associates, Inc. It was an exciting time.

It would be the next step in a career path that started with me working at a scrap metal company, owning a scrap metal company,selling a scrap metal company, and then entering the world of consulting and working around with, wait for it, scrap metal companies and the people who serve the industry.

In 2001, I couldn’t wait to work with sales teams in attaining their goals while they learned to build lasting business relationships with their customers.

Before opening the consulting business, I took the temperature by teaching a class at a local college to see how my training would be received. It was well-attended, and the participants who weren’t my friends and family (yes, I padded the room) were interested in signing up for more. The class I taught at Moraine Valley College was called “Sales is More Than a Bag of Bagels.”

And sales really is about relationships because the woman who hired me to teach the class at Moraine Valley in 2001, hired me again at a different college as a keynote speaker on an entirely different subject, and our paths are still crossing 20 years later.

Just a few days after Judy Ferraro & Associates opened its doors, our world and our hearts came to a halt as we experienced the tragic events of 9/11.

For the first 10 days in September, I worked diligently to create my values, mission, and vision. I secured a piece of business making cold calls for an association encouraging companies to sign up for their healthcare plan. That gig would provide income until I landed a few accounts who were interested in my training. Even though my heart was always with the recycling industry, the goal was to diversify my customer base and not be fully dependent only on metal industry companies.

I made a logical list of target accounts: Chicago White Sox (love baseball), Chicago Bulls (love basketball) and Home Run Inn Pizza (love pizza).  

But 9/11 changed my trajectory. The desire to engage with companies and ask about their team’s productivity seemed insensitive. The calls had to wait.

My country was in a state of shock. As I watched heroes tirelessly sort through the rubble of the World Trade Center and waited to hear the whereabouts of people I knew who may have been in or around the towers, I wondered what would happen next. So much sadness and uncertainty. 

Now 20 years later, the country is working its way out of the shutdowns of 2020 and has been fighting a pandemic for over 18 months. I lost a cousin to covid early on. More sadness and uncertainty.

And just like 20 years ago, the heroes in our midst prevail. We will always be indebted to those who kept our stores open, remotely taught our kids and continue to take care of the sick no matter how tired and weary they have become.

In 2001, I would have never imagined our world as it is today or the challenges I would face. Unlike the unity that followed 9/11, I am reminded daily of the insurmountable divisiveness that is fueled by the internet, a tool created to connect us.

Unfortunately, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one's psychological state than neutral or positive things. Thus, negativity and blame run rampant throughout social media. The negativity powers discussions and beliefs, while it deteriorates our once-solid relationships.

I recently received a private message through LinkedIn thanking me for my refreshing posts. Nothing like a little serving of validation. I will continue the path of positivity.

The lack of inclusivity has become more apparent to me than it was 20 years prior.

Guns are in the hands of domestic terrorists who traumatize neighborhoods.

Global warming is violently ruining our country’s beautiful landscape, disrupting the wildlife, and contaminating the air we breathe. Yet it is still a debate.

In the aftermath of 9/11, instead of finding teams to train, I decided to take time to heed my own advice and apply the sales concepts I planned on sharing with others to my own business. It seemed like a good idea to concentrate on building relationships with the target accounts and, once we recovered as a nation, there would be time to discuss what I could do to help their teams.

I would secure the relationships. The prospects would know why they wanted to work with me, it was just a matter of when. And as our country recovered, so did Judy Ferraro & Associates, Inc.  

As a survivor, I truck through adversity rather easily, wondering about the people without those skills.

That same theory applied 20 years later at the outset of the pandemic when we were forced to pivot and use technology to communicate and build relationships. I put my chin up and went into survivor mode. For the first twelve months I worked ten to twelve hours a day. I knew it was necessary.

Early on, my customers were sports teams, manufacturers, a nursery, an engineering firm, service centers and steel mills.

It didn’t take long for the scrap recycling industry to inquire about my services. Over the years, they had seen a degree of sales success in my career and wanted some of that for their newbies.

While I was able to work with several of Chicago sports teams, including the White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Fire, companies around the metal industry like Independence Tube, US Steel, Ace Metal Crafts and a variety of other manufacturing companies, the recycling industry kept calling me back. I always joke that scrap metal industry is much like the mafia. Very hard to get out.

I began presenting at manufacturing and recycling industry meetings and conferences as well as writing a column for Scrap Magazine, which immersed me even further into the metal industry.

One of the highlights over the past 20 years was receiving the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) for a Contributed Regular Column. I don’t know which was better, the day the magazine’s publisher, Kent Kiser, gave me the news that my column could receive an award or the day I was presented the Gold Award for my On Sales column. I was thrilled with merely being invited to a room full of talented writers receiving awards.

My presentations at conferences were always something I looked forward to. In Vancouver, I presented five different times for one association and ate the goat cheese appetizer at a local restaurant across the street about the same number of times.

On the last day when hardly anyone had the intent to attend a workshop, I stood outside the meeting room like a carnival barker herding people in, and the workshop turned out to be one of my all-time favorites.

I spent two years delivering key notes about the four generations in the workforce much to the chagrin of the older folks in attendance who thought I was going to dis the millennials. Instead, I talked about what the younger versions of ourselves have to offer and the importance of working together. Having 500 people in one room playing improv games was outstanding.

The upside of presenting wasn’t the new business that transpired but more the friendships that developed as a result. Every single workshop brought me to someone who became a part of my world moving forward.

As my business grew, so did I, but in a surprising way. Just a few years into my consulting business, I was talking with a group of peers at an ISRI event, noticing the amount of young people in the room. I found it invigorating to see them interacting. While others found the next generation as a threat to their jobs, I remember telling them, “Maybe your job. I love this new group of fresh faces with fresh ideas.”

It was that moment where I decided that the young professionals would be my focus. I began to study, question, understand and learn from them.

Repeatedly, I listened to seasoned businesspeople complain about the work ethic of the younger generations, sometimes in the young professional’s company, as if they were invisible. I find their perspective to be enlightening, giving me energy.

Because of them, things I inherently cared about like inclusivity of race and gender moved to front and center. It would resonate with them.

I went from seeing women (like me early on) trying to fit in as “one of the guys” change to a new perspective and confidence. I am in awe of those who feel they had nothing to prove. Instead, they encourage each other, and take the competitive edge down a notch to the level of “normal behavior.”

Many of the young people I’ve met, encouraged or worked with along the way have moved into leadership roles in their careers and with associations, and their impact is evident.

Today, the young professionals with whom I interact are my energy. They are why I get up every day and do what I do. Seeing those in my sphere thrive in their personal and professional lives inspires me to keep learning and sharing.

Seeing positive change rejuvenates my spirit. Seeing men and women in roles they thought unlikely is a reminder of how perseverance and inclusion make for success. As one young professional told me after a disappointment, “I’m going to stay the course.” And that she did.

Better yet, this younger group acknowledges and supports each other’s successes. The cut-throat way of business of dismantling the competition is becoming extinct. Apple didn’t dismantle Microsoft. They chose to do things differently and built a following like no other.

At the rate things are going, those who aren’t supportive and inclusive will stick out like a sore thumb and will be considered “business ghosts of the past” with a special place at the end of the bar, just for them, longing for the good old days. During this year’s Olympic Games, I watched the young athletes both support and compete. They get it.

I have been blessed with the many people who have touched my life in a positive way over the last 20 years. The cheerleaders. The pragmatics. The listeners. The friends who stepped forward when I needed help and expected nothing in return. The ones who trusted me to run businesses within their business. The ones who told me to do better. For that, I say thank you.

For those of you who have tried to trip me up or didn’t care for my style of training and leadership. I thank you as well. It is after I receive that sort of feedback that I always do my best work. It requires me to improve and change. The result is that I become surer on my feet after a stumble.

In 20 years, i continue to learn so much from the companies I serve.

I am in awe as workshop attendees create open-ended questions I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

I find solace in the guidance of mentors, and I have the honor of mentoring myself.

I use improv in all my training and keynotes and enjoy every moment as the amazing audience volunteers smile, laugh, play, and entertain others in the room leaving, everyone leaving with a smile.

I take risks and sometimes settled for lesser consulting positions around what’s best for my family.

I will walk away from business whose companies’ leadership styles fall below my value system.

I continue to assist in building the content of websites.

I focus on the strengths of individuals rather than trying to fix what others perceive to be wrong with them.

I use a variety of social media and a multitude of apps to keep current and relevant.

I encourage people to read more, and they do.

I saw the White Sox and Cubs win a World Series.

I had the opportunity to learn about ITAM, electronics recycling and document destruction.

I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds several times.

I took one speaking engagement because I was told I would have the opportunity to see a whale leap out of the water while in their country.

I made amends with people who were once rivals and realized we always genuinely cared about each other.

I saw my company struggle when my customers companies struggled and ultimately, we all survived.

I was "screeched" in Newfoundland.  

I’ve been able to play golf, throw an axe, travel to Italy, and attend to the Kentucky Derby, all with business associates.

I have written two books and working on another.

I lead consciously and with compassion.

I successfully balance work with family and raised an outstanding son in the process.

I laugh, cry, and genuinely care about the teams and people who I work with.

During the next couple of months, I will be reminiscing and sharing bits and pieces of what I have learned to celebrate the last two decades. Some of you will recognize the moments, words, and people. I invite you to comment & share. Should be a fun couple of months.

In closing, I was told early in my career not to use the word “love” in business. As a woman, it would make me appear weak.

Love is the core of my existence. Loving and serving is what I do. Loving my family and friends. Loving the people I work with. Loving to continually learn and grow. If you break decisions down to their lowest common denominator, they are based either on fear or love. Love is the only way to go.

How’s that grab ya old fart with a crewcut who told me not to say love?