Simplifying the Shift Schedule with Cory Warfield Co-Founder of ShedWool

Cory Warfield is the co-founder of ShedWool. ShedWool is an employee scheduling and workforce management software company. What that means is they help staff at companies fill a shift or take on an additional shift. So if someone works at a restaurant they don't have to call all their buddies to see who can cover for them. They can put it in the ShedWool schedule and someone can pick up the shift easily. Early on they were able to work with companies like IBM, American Airlines, BP, Four Seasons and several other high-profile companies. Cory worked in the hospitality industry for years where he saw the need for a scheduling app. He is also the co-founder of Mentor You Global which is a pro bono consulting platform. 

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [3:20] Jeremy introduces his guest, Cory Warfield.
• [5:30] Where did the idea for ShedWool come from?
• [11:40] What caused Cory and the ShedWool team to change their price model?
• [15:00] Cory talks about their early free model.
• [20:00] How client feedback helped Cory make a positive shift in the business.
• [23:00] Cory talks about connecting with high profile corporations.
• [28:00] What was the post that Cory wrote that went viral?
• [32:00] Tips for growing your following and professional network.
• [35:30] How does Cory decide which industries to target?
• [38:50] Cory talks about ShedWool working with Moonrise.
• [42:00] What is Mentor You?
• [50:00] Why did Cory eventually accept outside funding? Who did he hire first?
• [54:00] A low moment in business for Cory.
• [57:00] Why Cory turned down a buy out offer.
• [59:20] Closing thoughts from Cory.

In this episode…

Did you know that one of the most complicated aspects of the hospitality industry is creating and navigating the shift schedule? Managers and employees stress about their shift schedule more than almost any other aspect of their job. What is the solution? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from innovator and entrepreneur, Cory Warfield. In his conversation with Jeremy, Cory opens up about how he got the idea for ShedWool, why they decided to change their pricing model, how they were able to connect with high profile organizations, tips for growing your network, and much more. You don’t want to miss a minute of this engaging episode featuring Cory’s story!

Pain points often show you where innovation is needed. There are so many great ideas out there just waiting for someone to realize that there is no need to settle for the way things have always been. Cory Warfield leveraged his twenty years of experience in the hospitality industry to address an issue that bugged him and his industry peers for years, the shift schedule. Cory was convinced that there had to be a better way to handle the constant frustration over staffing issues, so he went to work on a solution. It wasn’t long before the vision, and the groundwork for ShedWool, Cory’s solution to shift scheduling issues started to form.

Solving a problem is one thing: finding the right price to charge for the solution is another thing entirely. Cory’s dream was to offer ShedWool as a free solution, but he soon realized that there wasn’t a clear path forward for the financial viability of his solution without a pricing model. While Cory was able to get some high profile organizations to try ShedWool early on, the free aspect of the platform caused some businesses to hold back, not knowing if it would go the distance. Now, they’ve created a reasonable pricing model at ShedWool, and the brand is thriving. What can you learn from Cory’s experience with the pricing model?

One of the best ways to make a name for your brand or business is to expand your personal and professional sphere of influence. Many business leaders are turning to LinkedIn to make these connections and grow their profile. As he increased his engagement on LinkedIn, Cory started to notice his profile rise and his circle of influence expand. Is there a secret to Cory’s expanded reach? Not really. Cory simply took the time to engage with influencers on LinkedIn by liking and commenting on their posts; he also took the time to create content that caused people to engage with him.

Do you want to expand your reach as Cory did? If you needed to expand your reach right now, what would you do? Where would you start? Thankfully, Cory was kind enough to share his tips for growing your network.

1. Get to know your network personally. A little extra attention goes a long way!
2. Step up your engagement efforts! You can’t expect to grow your reach by sitting on your hands.
3. Put in the time. The truth is, you’ll need to devote time to this if you want to achieve your goal.

This is just the start of Cory’s insights on this topic. Make sure to follow Cory on LinkedIn and learn from his brilliant perspective!

Resources Mentioned on this episode

• ShedWool
• Cory on LinkedIn
• Rise and Grind
• Moonrise
• Intro Music by Kidd Russell

Sponsor for this episode

Rise25’s mission is to connect you with your best referral partners and customers.

We do this in 3 ways…

1. Our Done for you Media - We help your company completely run and launch your own podcast. we distribute your show across more than 11 different channels including a dedicated blog post and social media. You simply show up and talk and we do everything else. Our team has been working with podcasters since 2009. I personally credit podcasting as the single best thing I have done for my business and my life. It has allowed me to connect with the founders/ceo’s of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, and many more. Besides making best friends and finding my business partner..podcasting has led to relationships with countless customers and referral partners.

1. Our Done for you Lead Generation- We manually send a consistent flow of customized outreach messages to your ideal clients and referral sources that you want to connect with to generate more business and clients - this is not paid traffic by the way.

1. Our Done for you VIP Events - We do live in-person VIP Days and receptions. These are 100% outsourced VIP days for software companies and conference organizers so we can help you serve your highest level customers.  It may or may not involve Elvis costumes - See video

Rise25 VIP Days have a proven track record of helping companies to get more referrals, increase retention with their VIP customers, and get more engaged new customers without adding extra work to that company’s plate.

Rise25 has hosted VIP events in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara, San Diego, New York, Sonoma, and Las Vegas to name a few.

Since these each require a lot of humans to do the work we have limited bandwidth and only want to work with the right company. so if any sound interesting to you go to Rise25.com and contact us or email support (at) rise25.com.

If your company wants to attract and connect with your highest level customers and referral partners then you can learn more and contact us to find out if your company qualifies at Rise25.com.

Rise25 was cofounded by Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran.

************************************************

Sticker Mule

Today's episode is also brought to you by Sticker Mule and I have an amazing offer. Stickermule one of the easiest and fastest ways to buy custom printed products. You can order in simply 60 seconds and they turn your design or illustrations into custom stickers, magnets, buttons, labels and packaging in a few days. Their customers include Amazon, Nike, Google, Netflix and many more.

The amazing deal is 10 custom stickers for $1..yes just $1 and this is typically $20. Go to https://www.stickermule.com/inspired

This is going to be for a limited time so if you are listening to this and it has passed then I have still arranged for you to get $10 off your first order.