The Zoomers to Boomers Business Show

Charting a Homegrown Path to Entrepreneurial Brilliance via Improv Skills

• Hank Eder / Milo Shapiro

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Ever felt like chucking your day job for a wild dream? Milo Shapiro did just that, swapping his IT security blanket for the unpredictable world of improv, and he's here to share his epic journey. This week on the Home Business Success Show, I, Hank Eder, sit down with the man behind Improv Ventures – the homegrown business that's teaching teams to communicate and collaborate with the spontaneity of a comedy troupe. Milo's story isn't just about gutsy career moves; it's a master class in transforming passions into entrepreneurial gold, proving that the leap from secure income to the thrill of home business can land you in a place of success and satisfaction.

Say 'yes, and' to innovation! Milo and I dissect the core skills of improvisation that can revolutionize team dynamics and idea generation. Imagine a world where every Lisa gets her moment to shine, contributing ideas that could propel her company forward. That's the power of embracing 'yes, and' in team building, a principle Milo's Improv Ventures champions. We delve into how these techniques are transforming the corporate landscape, encouraging teams to adapt, problem-solve, and even find the silver lining in failure. It's not just about being funny; it's about harnessing the potential of every team member to unlock groundbreaking innovations.

From commanding improv workshops to captivating audiences as a keynote speaker and public speaking coach, Milo's trajectory is a story of evolution. This episode reveals how an impromptu coaching session with a QVC seller became the cornerstone of Milo's speaking career, highlighting the beauty of a path that unfolds in real time, guided by the spirit of improvisation. For those who dream of charting their course and crafting a narrative that's uniquely theirs, Milo's switch from structured IT to the fluidity of improv speaks volumes. Tune in as we celebrate the home business hustle, where independence and success aren't just possible – they're just a podcast away.

Public Speaking Coaching: https://www.publicdynamics.com
Motivational Speaking/Teambuilding: https://www.miloshapiro.con
Photo Restoration & Editing: https://www.freshenyourphoto.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milo.m.shapiro/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/motivationalspeakermiloshapiro/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miloshapiro

Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.

Hank:

Welcome to the Home Business Success Show. Join us as we speak to home business entrepreneurs for tips, tricks, do's and even don'ts for running a successful home business.

Hank:

Welcome everyone. I'm Hank Eder, also known as Hank the PR Guy, host of the Home Business Success Show, and you're listening to bizradious all entrepreneurs all the time. Today we're going to pass on my two cents marketing minute to spend more time with our guest, milo Shapiro. Milo Shapiro has a rather unusual set of businesses that have grown organically.

Hank:

Milo Shapiro has a rather unusual set of businesses that have grown organically, one out of the other, and all home-based. In 2000, he quit his job in information technology to take his love of improvisation into becoming a corporate team builder, using improv games to bring out creativity and communication among the attendees. From there he became a motivational speaker, leading audiences in some of the games and talking about our relationship with risk, change and even failure. These speeches surprisingly morphed into his becoming a public speaking coach, working one-on-one with people to help them improve their public speaking, be it a one-time speech, a speech they give frequently, or just helping them feel more prepared, polished and powerful whenever and wherever they speak. Milo also has a business as a photo editor and restorer. Whether you want to get a stain out, a scratch out, bring back faded photos, add color to black and white, or just take your ex out of a family shot. Milo has been doing this since 2004, having edited thousands of pictures in that time. That business is freshinyourphotocom. Welcome to the show, milo.

Milo:

It's a pleasure to be here. Good job with the intro. I appreciate that.

Hank:

You're welcome. You know, my mother would have loved to use your services because my oldest brother had three wives. He's on his third wife and if he didn't leave on good terms with any of the wives, she would take the photos and she'd either rip out the person or she would take, you know, whiteout or marker. Yeah.

Hank:

So we call 1980s Photoshop is the whiteout and the marker. Exactly, my mother was a master of 1980s Photoshop, but anyway, let me ask you this how did you decide to leave information technology and start a company around improvisation?

Milo:

It was the scariest thing I ever did to go to four-year college, have a good benefits package, be in a solid company. I actually liked my job as much as I could like IT, but I was passionate about improv. I was spending my weekends and my evenings even my vacations I was spending flying to Calgary and San Francisco to learn from masters to get better and better at improv because I had such a passion for it. So when I heard that there was a company I think it was in Maryland that this new thing in 97 was going around called websites, and someone came by my desk and said, hey, check out this website and it was a company doing team building events in I think it was Maryland, Um, and I was looking and they they basically listed all the games they played. They were all games that I knew. I was like this game does teach listening skills. This is a good game for building on each other's ideas. Oh, this is not a good game for creative problem solving. I think what I would do is and just sat there at my desk one day, not doing my work for about an hour, making a list of if I ever did a team building course, what games would I include? And then I shoved it in my drawer, because who quits their job to do something crazy like that?

Milo:

Well, about two, two and a half years later, after a merger, we were offered voluntary separation packages.

Milo:

Didn't have to take it, but it was one of those things where it was just staring me in the face that they were going to give me six months salary to go away, which would be enough to get a business off the ground, and there was every good reason in the world not to do it.

Milo:

But I kept thinking this is gonna be one of those deathbed things Like, after spending 40 years doing something I found not the least bit satisfying being in IT, was I going to look back and go? I had a chance and I didn't take it. So I signed the paperwork and got that money and went off to start the company. I also learned how important it is to read the fine print, because they did not give me six months salary. They gave me six months salary in my 401k that I couldn't touch for 30 years. So I had to hit the ground running, starting my own home-based business, and I had to make it work, and so that's how I ended up starting the company and naming it Improv Ventures, Because initially it was all only about what I was doing with the improv and the team building.

Hank:

You know they say, of course, you know the kind of things they say they say that things don't happen by accident, so you're not reading. The fine print was probably one of those. What do they call that? Kismet? You know, it's one of those things that if you had known that, maybe you wouldn't have taken the leap.

Milo:

No, I never would have, and, as it turns out, not only is it good that I didn't know, because I wouldn't have taken the leap, but it's also given my 401k 30 years to grow with that money, so it'll turn out to be the right choice.

Hank:

But it was a lot of ramen bride for a while. That's very cool to have that little nest egg that was set up that way. Yeah, so, okay. So you started a company to do team building using improvisation and created a course that you call team improvising. Let's say, I'm a manager. With all the different kinds of team building out there, why choose a class on improvisation?

Milo:

So much of what I see out there with team building is, hey, let's all have fun and that's going to change something, right, and it really doesn't. You can go out and play volleyball, go out and do a scavenger hunt, but what did you get out of it? Or, at the other end of the scale, I've seen a lot of team building that feel like you're being put through some kind of a psychological experience and it's hard to get involved and emotionally connected to it because you feel like you're being put through paces. This is the best of both. Improv is a lot of fun. Even the people who start out with their arms crossed across their chest I'm not doing it they end up having a great time with it because I bring them into it nice and slowly. It's all full group stuff and then working in pairs. By the time I get people up in front of the group, everyone's having a great time and laughing and letting their guards down. But in terms of why that? Compared to other kinds of fun? Some of the things that I've mentioned improv teaches us about listening skills, building on each other's ideas, creative problem solving, non-verbal communication.

Milo:

I can't tell you how many times I've heard things like uh, what just happened in that last game? That's what happens in our staff meetings, but it's not so funny there. Or I have a client who just pulled that same nonsense on me the other day. That was going on in that game. It was the same dynamic. But it's not funny when it's me and my client. How do I handle this?

Milo:

I've even had managers watch me go over and say to a pair Dave, you know what you just did in that? I and say to a pair Dave, you know what you just did in that? I think what happened was you two are struggling because you built on the last thing. You said Listen to Liz and build on the thing Liz just said. Yes, like that, go. And then the two of them start having more fun and laughing and the manager will go. I've been trying to say that to Dave for 10 years. Why did that just work? I'm like you're critiquing his work performance, I'm helping him win a game. Which one is he more likely to listen to? But the message sinks in Wow, I do that. I was building on my idea, not hers. So those kind of things can make a real difference.

Hank:

Well, that's an interesting point because a lot of people, when they're supposed to be listening and I've done this many times, I'm sure we all have we listen for our next response, not to truly listen and understand what the other person is saying, not to really entertain what the other person is saying. And in business it becomes more and more important to truly listen, because if we listen to our customers or to our potential customers when we're in meetings with potential customers, if we listen real carefully, we get an idea of who they are and, more important than that, what keeps them awake at night and what can we do. What kind of solutions do we have to help them sleep at night. And then they're more likely to say well, this person has something that I need and want, as opposed to trying to dazzle them with all our credentials and our ego and all that kind of stuff.

Milo:

So yeah, when I'm doing an initial contact with people whether it's about the team building or speaking or, even more so, with the coaching that we'll get to I ask a whole lot of questions and I'm typing and taking notes the whole time and I almost always say so I just want to make sure I really know where we're at and I parrot back everything they said to them, including the goals they want to make sure I really know where we're at" and I parrot back everything they said to them, including the goals they want to get. I can't tell you how many people go. Oh, my gosh, you totally get what I'm looking for. Yes, I'm like wow. All I did was say back to you what you said to me, but we are so used to not really being heard because everyone has an agenda that someone just making it really clear that they truly heard what that person said, and it's big for people to feel that.

Hank:

Yeah, because everybody wants to be heard, but mostly they're not. So what are the skills of improvisation that you help relate in team improvising?

Milo:

So I've covered a couple of them a little bit, but one of the ones that's really big is the building on each other's idea.

Milo:

I'm going to talk about that a little bit more. There is so many times you may have heard it's kind of famous the idea of yes and that we're building on the other person's idea. So one of the exercises I do is I make the person. You can't start your next sentence without the words yes, and, and it's amazing how many times people will say yes but and everyone laughs and they're like what's so funny? Like you don't even know what you just said, did you? I said yes and I'm like no, you did. And I've heard people say yes and they go on with their own idea and it becomes more obvious once you start looking at it. I had this one woman, lisa, who was in a chorus with me and she went back to the office and heard someone literally use the words yes, and and he went on. This was in a meeting, not an improv class, and she said because of the improv, it retrained her brain to go. He made that sound like he was building on my idea and he didn't. He just used the technique that he has come up with or subconsciously, and she said you know what? That wasn't my idea. Let's finish talking about your idea. But then I want to come back to my idea, because it's not the same. Lisa's idea made a million dollars. I don't even know which idea they picked, but what was it worth to the company, at least that they had two ideas to choose between because Lisa caught that. And what was it worth to Lisa to feel like she didn't get stepped on when she didn't even really realize that in the same way before, because she didn't have the insight?

Milo:

Those are the kinds of things we can get from improv. Also, it's how to take an idea and build on it in a different way. I can't tell you often how often the phone rings and someone asks me to do something and it's not what I do and I'm I would be wrong to say yes. I'm also wrong to try and talk them into what I normally do, because it's not what they need, apparently. So improv has taught me how to go. That's not exactly what I do, but here is something I could do that is within the world of what you're trying to accomplish, that might accomplish the same goals and that and I don't want to tell you I'll do something I'm not suited for with this reach. Oh, actually, that sounds like it would reach our goal even better and take less time. Okay, so now we've found that's improv, because it would be easier. What would most people go and say? That's not what we do.

Hank:

Yeah, there you go. That's improv and it also came from. It was born out of careful listening, Because by listening and understanding then you were able to pivot and offer them something that they really needed, rather than something that you would try to convince them that maybe they needed.

Milo:

I don't know on stage of any skill worse in beginner improvisers or sometimes they're not beginners than not being a listener. You can tell when someone's got an agenda and they're trying to drive all the other actors through their agenda, and the audience picks up on that too.

Hank:

Yeah, you know, when I was in high school drama, I had a really remarkable drama teacher. His name was Jay Jensen, out of Miami Beach, and there's a movie on him called Class Act. He was the teacher of Mickey Rourke, he was the teacher of Andy Garcia and he was my teacher. But the difference between those guys is that they were pretty good actors. You know, I thought I wanted to be an actor, but I really wasn't very good at it.

Milo:

Well, their podcasts are terrible, though, so everyone has their own.

Hank:

But when we did a show in my junior year of high school it was called the Serpent and it was an experimental theater thing and he brought us in the Chicago cast of Hair, who was in town to teach us some team building exercises.

Hank:

It was very amazing and that's what kind of a man this was. That's kind of a teacher he was, if you ever get a chance to find the movie class at that. Okay, about Jay Jensen, yeah, he was totally amazing. That being said, I get now how you became a motivational speaker. But how did that lead to your becoming a coach?

Milo:

Well, there was a step in between there, the team building people kept saying to me this is really powerful, you should do this with bigger crowds. So that's how I ended up taking some of the games and tying them into a keynote called we Gotta Fail to Succeed, where I talk about our relationship with change, risk and failure. In an improv show, you should be failing 20% of the time. If you're not, you're probably playing it too safe. It's only in failing about 20% of the time that you can do anything really brilliant, and the other 80% because you're pushing your borders. And that's what I talk about. And they have people nodding like I just saw you nodding, I go great, you got the idea. Turn to the person next to you. You saw you nodding, I go great, you got the idea. Turn to the person next to you. You're going to try it. And for about 30 minutes out of the 60, I lead them in the games.

Milo:

And the surprising thing to me when I started keynoting was all of a sudden it became the bigger part of my business. I became like 20% team building, 80%. Speaker. Did not see that coming, but I was fine with it. The speaking was fun and, honestly, it was less exhausting One hour on stage versus five or six hours with team building sometimes. But you had to back to your question how did that lead to coaching? Was that? People kept coming up to me at the ends of my speeches and saying would you work with me on my speaking skills? Would you come and work with my staff? And I kept saying, no, that's, that's not what I do. I had years in toastmasters. I've had a lot of training since then through the national speakers association, but I not trained to train other people.

Milo:

But this one guy came up to me and he was quite insistent. He said I really think you're the one who's supposed to help me and I need it fast. So what's going on? He said I sell on QVC network. I sell plants and they told me the last time I was there that if I don't sell more next time they're cutting me, and QVC is 90% of our sales. I can't lose this. So I really need your help. I said well, you sound desperate and you don't have much time to find someone else. Come on over Home-based business. Literally came into my living room with a stack of VHS tapes that's how long ago this was and showed me some of his QVC performances. And I said yeah, I can see some of the things you're clearly doing wrong. That's off-putting to the viewers. And so he worked on a few of those things and he practiced them and got better. And he went back to Pennsylvania to try and save himself from being cut.

Milo:

And about five minutes into selling the plants he noticed a strange look on the face of the woman who was interviewing him and she said I understand, you have plant food too. Tell me about your plant food. You didn't want to talk about plant food. He you have plant food too. Tell me about your plant food. He didn't want to talk about plant food. He had plants to sell. But she kept driving him back to the plant food and he finally said I guess I'm sunk here. I'll just talk about plant food.

Milo:

And afterwards she said he said to her why did you take me away from the plants? She said you sold everything out in five out of your seven minutes. We couldn't have two minutes of dead air. I had to talk about something. You were completely different on camera. What did you do? The audience loved you and he said oh, I hired a coach. So when he came back and told me that story. I said, guess I got to add this to the third thing on the website and it took off and now I'm probably 80% in that business, 80% speaking coach, 15% speaker, 5% team builder. So the thing that I started the company from is only a couple of times a year compared to this coaching, and I'm fine with that. I love helping people and watching them grow and get that excitement.

Hank:

Well, you know, we mentioned that these things. They blossomed organically, which is a great thing. You know, I have a writing partner and I heard, you know, when we spoke earlier you said you're also a writer and you're writing a play. I have a writing partner, you know. We've written screenplays. We came really close to selling one, but you know how that goes. We had an actual producer, who I won't mention, but he's pretty well known, but then the whole thing, of course, fell apart at the last minute.

Hank:

But, that being said, my writing partner we're working on some novels right now, little by little. He's got more time than I do, but when I try to put in the outline, here's the outline. We need these kind of beat points, you know, and he always says, yeah, beat points, schmied points, it has to evolve organically. And I say, okay, I will let it evolve organically, but we still have to hit the beat points, because we need somebody to publish this or, in the case of a screenplay, we need somebody to produce it. Without the beat points it's not going to happen. But when you merge the two worlds, it's a really good thing.

Milo:

And it's challenging because if you don't have those things that they're looking for, they'll turn against you. But at the same time it's got to feel organic. So I tend to write as an improviser. It's got its pros and cons. I tend to say what is what comes next? Don't think beyond that. Reanalyze, what is what comes next, what comes next? And there was one time I was working on a novella and somebody said I can't wait to find out how this ends. I said I know me too. He goes you don't know yet. I said no, the characters haven't told me yet. I have to see what else they say before I know how this thing is going to end. And he looked at me like I was crazy, like I was. You know how do you, how do the characters tell you? But it was working because I made interesting characters in interesting situations.

Hank:

That's right. Well, if your characters are true and they're actually acting from the motivation of who they are, then the choices they make should be relevant. They should be. They should organically fall into place and be true to what that character would choose. So, yeah, what does coaching with you look like?

Milo:

It's something that I make sure that they know that we're on the right path. For there's a lot of coaches out there who say here's my patented seven step process. I take everybody through and I have to be really clear to people that I will never have that. I don't want that. I don't think it's healthy, Because if Chris comes to me because he's bland and boring and nobody really wants to listen to him but he's at least fairly organized, and Tina comes to me because she's lively and exciting and fun and never makes a point and people say she rambles, why would I put them through the same process? They need different things. So what coaching looks like is the initial appointment. I do two things. I do a feedback interview with them where I ask them a lot more questions than most people ever have about what do they know, what don't they know, what's getting in their way, what are they trying to accomplish? To make sure we're on the same page through this assessment and I've had a lot of people say to me I learned a lot about myself doing the assessment. I didn't expect to get that. It's not Myers-Briggs or DISC, it's specifically on speaking skills. I designed it.

Milo:

The second part I teach something called the four steps to successful speech structure. This is a fundamental of everything I teach about how to organize a speech, and I'd like to do it right up front because if I don't, I end up wanting to reference to it and backpedaling. So in that first appointment, everyone, whether they decide to continue with me or not, at least leaves with the four steps. And so many people have said to me oh my gosh, I'm not going to just stare at that blank Microsoft Word page or the first screen of PowerPoint. I know how to start. I'm going to work the four steps At the end of that appointment.

Milo:

If they decide that we're not a fit, or if I once in a while say I don't think we're a fit, then we go our separate ways. It's rare, maybe 5% of the time. For the other 95%, they're more excited than ever and I say great. That's the moment that coaching actually starts and they always have a homework assignment, because I don't want their learning to be limited to the time we have together. And we'll come together and I'll ask how was the homework? Was it easy, Was it hard? Did you have fun with it? Where did you get stuck? They'll give me a lesson of the day. And the lesson of the day will vary based on what I saw in the homework and what their goals are, and they can pick at that point in time what package they're going to choose. Are they going to pay each time? Are they going to get a block of three, five, 10, or 25 hours with me so that we can work together to help them reach their goals?

Hank:

Very, very cool. You know I hate to cut you off here, but this time is flying by no-transcript.

Milo:

But, as we were talking about earlier, it's tricky to find the second edition. You might accidentally buy the first. So the best thing you can do is go to miloshapirocom and click the books tab and that'll take you to the second edition from 2020 instead of the 2007 version.

Hank:

Right Now, what is the best way for our audience to contact you if they're interested in getting your coaching or anything else that you have to offer your photo editing, which we never got a chance to talk about.

Milo:

That's okay. The best way to find all of it the team building, the hiring me to speak at a conference and the coaching is all at MiloShapirocom. There is no C in Shapiro. That's the one place people go wrong, miloshapirocom. And if you were teased at the beginning by, oh, I have some photos that could stand to be fixed up in one way or another. Check out freshenyourphotocom. You'll see all kinds of examples, and both websites have contact pages to reach me.

Hank:

Very cool. Well, thanks for being here with us today, milo. And to our listeners, tune Very cool. Well, thanks for being here with us today, milo. And to our listeners, tune in every Wednesday for the Home Business Success Show here on bizradious. Remember, you can achieve success, freedom and independence in your own home-based business. I've done it, milo has done it, and you can, too, see you again next Wednesday here on Biz Radio. This is Hank Eder, wishing all of you a fabulous day of home business success.