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June 13, 2024

Ep176 Quentin Barrial - What Makes a Relentless Innovator Seek Failure

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Get Unstuck & On Target

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?

 

According to leadership coach Mike O'Neill's latest guest, it's not what you think.

 

In this revealing interview, product design expert Quentin Barrial shares his winding path to entrepreneurship - from living in 6 countries to starting multiple businesses. And he's learned to embrace an unconventional measure of success along the way.

 

As Mike digs deeper, Quentin recounts a pivotal moment: pitching his kitchen utensil company to Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph. The feedback? Let's just say it wasn't pretty. 

 

But for Quentin, that harsh criticism was a turning point. "The parts that I love were the parts where I completely failed," he tells Mike.

 

The veteran coach draws out powerful insights from Quentin's story, exploring what fuels his passion for solving problems across industries. Quentin also shares his vision for a product incubator that provides the kind of honest advice entrepreneurs need to hear.

 

Throughout the conversation, Mike reflects on his own journey from the corporate world to coaching, relating to Quentin's experiences of feeling "stuck" and learning to push through.

 

Key points to look out for:

• How Quentin's global background and diverse entrepreneurial experiences have shaped his unconventional approach to measuring success and embracing failure

 

• Mike's insightful questions that uncover the surprising traits and mindset shifts essential for entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles and keep innovating

 

• Quentin's vision for creating a product incubator that provides honest, direct feedback to help founders solve problems and bring game-changing ideas to life

 

If you've ever faced challenges on your entrepreneurial path, this episode will inspire you to see them in a new light. As Mike and Quentin show, failure isn't the end of the road - it's an essential part of the journey.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:10
Quentin Barrial
when you get stuck, usually bringing someone on, whether it's a consultant for just a couple days or,

 

00:00:06:10 - 00:00:10:18
Quentin Barrial
reaching out to a new engineer or going to talk to customers,

 

00:00:10:18 - 00:00:16:06
Quentin Barrial
because it's not always about the products, about the team. And you need product team fit more than

 

00:00:16:06 - 00:00:18:05
Quentin Barrial
most people realize.

 

00:00:20:19 - 00:00:30:15
Quentin Barrial
welcome to Get Unstuck and On Target, the weekly podcast that offers senior leaders insights and strategies to not only lead with competence and vision,

 

00:00:30:19 - 00:00:33:15
Quentin Barrial
but also to achieve groundbreaking results.

 

00:00:34:01 - 00:00:44:01
Quentin Barrial
I'm your host, Mick O'Neill. I coach top level executives on the power of ethical leadership to forge teams to be as united as they are effective

 

00:00:45:00 - 00:00:46:02
Quentin Barrial
in each episode.

 

00:00:46:07 - 00:00:56:09
Quentin Barrial
Join me for insightful conversations with leaders just like you, providing practical advice to help you get unstuck and propel you and your company forward.

 

00:00:57:07 - 00:00:58:08
Quentin Barrial
Let's get started.

 

00:01:02:07 - 00:01:30:12
Mike O'Neill
Joining me is Quentin Berry. All wooden is an entrepreneur. And founder of Lo-Fi solutions. After living in six countries across four continents. Quentin attended college in North Carolina. And with an interest in business and a background in engineering. It was there they first kind of discovered. Entrepreneurship. And why that has kind of set, you know, on a path of what we're going to be talking about today.

 

00:01:30:14 - 00:01:58:23
Mike O'Neill
After starting a first brand, he went on to start a kitchen utensil company before building an award winning, SAS solution. So for the past three years, Louis is proud to assist over 50 student entrepreneurs and established business owners. And he's worked in over 60 products. And that has allowed those companies to launch some really amazing innovations. I've had an opportunity to spend some time with Quentin before we even scheduled this podcast, and I think we're in for a treat.

 

00:01:59:03 - 00:02:01:06
Mike O'Neill
Quentin, welcome.

 

00:02:01:08 - 00:02:03:20
Quentin Barrial
Thanks. I'm excited.

 

00:02:03:22 - 00:02:34:00
Mike O'Neill
Quentin. When we first met, the conversation automatically went to entrepreneurship. Why? I have an interest in. What does it take to be an effective entrepreneur? And all too often, I have spoken to entrepreneurs who are on the other side of their journey, meaning they have lots and lots of lots of experience to call upon. You, in contrast, don't have lots of experience, but you had lots of success.

 

00:02:34:02 - 00:02:52:20
Mike O'Neill
And I just think it's been very interesting to our viewers and listeners to kind of get an inside view of what does a person who is on an entrepreneurial journey. You've already done some pretty amazing things. What is it about entrepreneurship that just excites you?

 

00:02:52:22 - 00:03:19:22
Quentin Barrial
There's a lot of problem solving. You know, when I was in high school, this was technically a while ago for me. but I took this huge passion for design on, like, engineering and architecture, and those were coming together to something quite interesting because there was a lot of problem solving into it. You know, you had this side that there was some kind of friction somewhere, and it had to be fixed.

 

00:03:19:22 - 00:03:45:22
Quentin Barrial
And I fell in love with the process. At the end of that high school journey, I had to figure out whether I was going to do business or pursue this. And so entrepreneurship was my middle point between doing business and doing the problem solving work. And that's why I absolutely loved it. And so every single day, you know, I get to come to an office and I work on, helping my clients or myself and building my own company.

 

00:03:45:24 - 00:03:54:06
Quentin Barrial
It's constant problem solving. There's no days there like the other. and I absolutely love that about it. So that's my main drive for it.

 

00:03:54:08 - 00:04:18:04
Mike O'Neill
Gotcha. I think I shared with you I spent quite a bit of time in corporate HR, leading HR teams, and I really understood the corporate setting pretty darn well. When I started my own business, I had a lot to learn. And boy oh boy, did I learn the hard way. Mistake after mistake after mistake. But now I'm happy to say I've made that transition.

 

00:04:18:06 - 00:04:28:03
Mike O'Neill
I'm an option, but premature too. And I guess what I would throw out to you is what? When people think about entrepreneurs, what do they get wrong based on what you've seen so far?

 

00:04:28:05 - 00:04:49:10
Quentin Barrial
They look at the success story and they're in it for the success story. I'm in it for the failed days. And it's you see a lot of entrepreneurs that are pushing through because they're excited about the problems that they're into. and, you know, I've worked with a lot of students in the past, and I was one myself.

 

00:04:49:12 - 00:05:10:12
Quentin Barrial
And when you learn about entrepreneurs, you hear about the guys that made it all happen. You know, a share of Elon Musk and, Tim Cook and all the folks that were there at, like the inception of, of a new company, and they made it so big. And usually what you see is they're wealthy, they have all the power, they have status.

 

00:05:10:14 - 00:05:31:20
Quentin Barrial
And so you have a lot of entrepreneurs, which I call want your pioneers. They want to get to that status, that high level. and they struggle all along because they're only looking for the positives and they forget about the negatives. and you and I both know you build your company, and you build your success on all the failures that you've had.

 

00:05:31:22 - 00:06:02:13
Quentin Barrial
You know, I build a clothing brand right out of high school because I wanted to figure out what entrepreneurship was. That went great. It still runs today. That was awesome. But I was longing for something that was a little bit more challenging. So that's why I built a kitchen utensil company, and it was completely different. And I the parts that I love, or the parts where I completely failed on what I was doing, you know, I, I had the opportunity to pitch to Mark Randalls and it was great.

 

00:06:02:15 - 00:06:24:18
Quentin Barrial
you know, he has all of his background building Netflix, and I was the student in front of him pitching my kitchen utensil company. By honestly, he raped me to shreds. Like, you know, some folks got to pitch to him. I had the opportunity. My pitch was fine. The product was awful now. So that's what I remember the best.

 

00:06:24:18 - 00:06:43:04
Quentin Barrial
Because, you know, for me, I had the opportunity to pitch to him again the next year. I'd built a different company and I got all the praise at that point. and so it's really exciting for me to see those failures along the way. And a lot of entrepreneurs don't look for those they're not excited about them, and they struggle.

 

00:06:43:05 - 00:06:46:20
Quentin Barrial
They just struggle and they get it wrong about entrepreneurship.

 

00:06:46:22 - 00:07:05:02
Mike O'Neill
You know what caught my attention? Two is the fact that you have expressed interest in a wide variety of pursuits. that I mentioned to you, starting a SAS organization. for those who don't know what that is, can you explain what SAS is?

 

00:07:05:04 - 00:07:17:11
Quentin Barrial
Yeah. It stands for software as a service. So it's when you built a software product and you're going to sell it through a subscription model or membership or whatever you want to do. so that's what a SAS business is.

 

00:07:17:13 - 00:07:47:20
Mike O'Neill
Is people know these are unscripted, questions and just kind of what pops in my head. But you started multiple business. So we've already kind of touched on three of those. one strikes me as being a, a product company. Another one being a SAS organization. Do you find it? There's a difference in the nature of the business you're starting and is there a level of complexity that you experienced that you maybe didn't see coming?

 

00:07:47:22 - 00:08:10:11
Quentin Barrial
You know, it's a good question. a lot of people, you know, you can tell they want that's their question, but they can't formulate it. So I, I love the way you put it. there are a lot of similarities in the, end of the mission. You know, you're always driven to build innovation that customers don't know.

 

00:08:10:11 - 00:08:33:21
Quentin Barrial
Is that good for them? And at the same time, solves their problem. And that's the intersection between design driven innovation and customer centered. And so when you can get to that point it's really exciting. So whether you do it for kitchen utensils, you're still solving the customer's problem in a completely different and innovative way, just as you would in a SAS software company where they have this issue.

 

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:57:14
Quentin Barrial
For my case, we were doing Lost and Found. That was our main focus through QR codes. and so we built a business because we wanted to solve the problem of the person. So yes, there's some intersection. I love a portfolio. Like when I do a million different things. That's what I love. It keeps me excited. And I'm quite good at project management because I can manage all those things at once.

 

00:08:57:16 - 00:09:23:11
Quentin Barrial
and that's where there's actually a lot of difference, because the skills that you need, the skills that are required to build that product are completely different when you're doing SAS software. You're talking to programmers, UX designers, user experience, user interface. so that's what you're based on. You still have some marketing and some general, you know, customer surveying, but that's kind of what your focus is when you're doing, kitchen utensils.

 

00:09:23:13 - 00:09:34:24
Quentin Barrial
You're talking about manufacturing, injection molding, that sort of stuff. So completely different pathways. But at the end of the day, you're still trying to solve the same problem for the customer.

 

00:09:35:01 - 00:09:57:07
Mike O'Neill
You know, as I'm listening to you, I may not be saying this very eloquently, but it sounds as if that that intersection you're making reference to, and that is if you could find that magic place between you solve a problem for a customer who didn't even know they had that as a problem, then that's that magic, if you will.

 

00:09:57:08 - 00:10:18:09
Mike O'Neill
I don't know to what extent a kitchen utensil would do that or not. However, it doesn't really matter. it's long as is. The timing is kind of. It is good there. Can we go back to your pitch experience where you felt like you kind of got shredded? you shared that you learned a lot from that, experience.

 

00:10:18:11 - 00:10:24:22
Mike O'Neill
And what ways have you thus far been able to share the things that you've learned with others?

 

00:10:24:24 - 00:10:49:03
Quentin Barrial
So, when I pitched this product, a lot of people at the end of the session came to me and, you know, wanted to check if I was okay, and I didn't. I didn't understand that. And my girlfriend happened to be in the room. who's always been my biggest supporter. And, and so I was asking her, I said, why are people coming to me and trying to comfort me?

 

00:10:49:08 - 00:11:12:07
Quentin Barrial
I don't get it. She said they all think that you got negative feedback. And I said, you know, you don't want feedback. Someone telling you they like the color. You want real feedback. and I got extremely excited about the fact that I got negative feedback rather than positive and something that didn't have much content to it.

 

00:11:12:09 - 00:11:38:21
Quentin Barrial
and so I think I've been able to carry that to other entrepreneurs that I've been able to help. Some have built small little products, and some are building incredible things that are soon to launch on Kickstarter. And I'd love to talk more about that if I could. those guys, I've been able to help them understand where the value is in the feedback and in the experience.

 

00:11:38:23 - 00:11:58:22
Quentin Barrial
a lot of the folks that came to comfort me turned into people that were looking into negative feedback because they saw the way that I interacted with it. so that's how I helped folks, thanks to that experience. And I've had tons of other ones, built on that. So, yeah, to answer your question, that's that's what it is.

 

00:11:58:24 - 00:12:08:11
Mike O'Neill
For the company that you founded, Lo Fi Solutions. Help us understand at what point in the process do you all typically get sold out?

 

00:12:08:13 - 00:12:34:21
Quentin Barrial
So, to to give our listener a little breakdown, if you're okay with that. This design company so will help with packaging, general product design. And then we also offer tons of different services to help products grow. And companies create longer product lines, whether they're established in want to create another product, in their product line or they're just new and they have this problem to solve.

 

00:12:34:23 - 00:13:02:06
Quentin Barrial
so and at the end of the day, we don't really look for a specific point at which you are with your company. And the reason we do this is because startups are in this constant flow of iterating. And really what you're doing is you're building something, you're testing it, you're changing it, and you just continue to go through that.

 

00:13:02:08 - 00:13:24:01
Quentin Barrial
and so if we were looking for the exactly the point where, you know, they're starting to iterate, well, we'll never catch them, if you will. And this is actually not the best point for them to come to us. so we just look for startups that have an exciting product. One, our help. and then we say, okay, yeah, great.

 

00:13:24:01 - 00:13:51:09
Quentin Barrial
We're, we're going to help you out with it. so we have some folks that, you know, come to us. They built the entire product. one company is doing, they're doing, electronic boards and a PCBs. Super exciting. It's an awesome product. They have built a product. The person is an electrical engineer with amazing experience. I've gotten to learn a lot from.

 

00:13:51:11 - 00:14:13:00
Quentin Barrial
He needed branding, packaging, websites, all that kind of stuff. If we can apply it, we do it. On the other hand, you have folks that say, I can't find the place to put my keys in a bathroom stall and I don't want them in my pocket. That's that's literally where they are. And so we say, okay, that's great.

 

00:14:13:02 - 00:14:34:11
Quentin Barrial
let's figure out how we get you to the right people that could let you prototype it, put it in the right place. Run customer surveys. So you're there's very different worlds. Well, we don't get involved in is after product launches. It's as simple as that. So we won't come in to, redesign a product that's already been launched.

 

00:14:34:11 - 00:14:44:05
Quentin Barrial
We go back to zero, we'll do revisions, will help create a better product. If it had failed. but that's what we're the best at. And that's what we we focus on.

 

00:14:44:07 - 00:14:51:14
Mike O'Neill
So if you're focused primarily on pre product launch, does it have a name.

 

00:14:51:16 - 00:15:20:04
Quentin Barrial
I wanted to say it's product launch preparedness. But when you say so a lot of folks think that you're only doing product launches and that it's about the scheduling and the PR that's going to happen through that, a lot more goes into a product launch. And so that's why I have a name did that. really product design is the best way to go about it, because product design involves the feedback that you're going to have to go through the product itself, but also the stage that you're putting the product on.

 

00:15:20:04 - 00:15:43:03
Quentin Barrial
And so and that could be your packaging, just like it could be the label that you put on the back, the way you design the QR code, or even who's going to see it in the press and what that image, that visual on a newspaper is going to look like. so there's not really a name aside from product design.

 

00:15:43:05 - 00:16:09:12
Mike O'Neill
You know, that this podcast has been listened to at last counts like 55 Nations. People have downloaded it. And so I try to keep in mind more of a world wide audience. But because you've lived internationally and you experience a lot when you think of the fat bits of entrepreneurial wisdom, what countries come immediately to mind?

 

00:16:09:14 - 00:16:37:12
Quentin Barrial
It's interesting because, there's countries where I had lived in, you know, I lived in Brazil, I lived in France, I lived in South Africa, Italy and Poland. And there's some countries that are not really entrepreneurial, though. They don't have this kick for it. It's quite hard to find it. I would tell you that the United States might be one of the most entrepreneurial cultures I have ever seen.

 

00:16:37:14 - 00:17:12:04
Quentin Barrial
granted, I haven't been in those places at the time that I was an entrepreneur. I'm seeing in other countries like France where entrepreneurship is growing and it's really exciting to see. the products are interesting. There's more there's different resources than you do in the US, and there's a different culture to adapt to your international audience. There's a gap in how you're the customer in that country is going to take the product for themselves.

 

00:17:12:06 - 00:17:39:07
Quentin Barrial
there's going to be, depending on the culture, how a customer is going to interact with the product or react to even a small logo on your packaging might make all the difference. and so that's it's actually on the consumer side that entrepreneurship is the most it's on a seesaw, really, because your customer has a completely different vision.

 

00:17:39:09 - 00:17:53:21
Quentin Barrial
There are companies that want to come to the US and build a product here. If usually they don't understand what the customer is looking for and how the customer thinks, and that's what makes that product fail.

 

00:17:55:15 - 00:17:56:24
Quentin Barrial
I hope that answers your question.

 

00:17:57:01 - 00:18:13:06
Mike O'Neill
And answers are very very well. I appreciate you sharing that. as you kind of reflect on your experiences thus far. Can you share an example or perhaps you or a client got stuck. And when that happened, what did it take to get unstuck?

 

00:18:13:08 - 00:18:39:16
Quentin Barrial
It's interesting. I, I happened be a CTO of a baby bottle company, and it was an awesome experience. I absolutely loves it. The founder came to me and said, this is the problem. We need to design a product that's going to be loved by everyone. So you see how how early in the stage they came to us and we said, okay, that's great.

 

00:18:39:20 - 00:19:01:13
Quentin Barrial
And for a year we built this product that won awards and it was exciting and so on. And we are still in the development stage. And they had launched and one day we were having a meeting, breakfast meeting, and we looked at the product and a lot of engineers had looked at this product and said, there's just no way you can make it happen.

 

00:19:01:17 - 00:19:22:12
Quentin Barrial
It's just the physics is not on your side. we were college students. I don't have the engineering degree, but I understand engineering. And and so we pushed through it and we said, no, this is going to work. We made it work. And contrary to all the what the engineers were saying, we made the physics happen and the product worked.

 

00:19:22:14 - 00:19:44:21
Quentin Barrial
But then it got too complex and we got in this big, like we had our feet in the concrete and it was concrete. We were stuck. So during this breakfast meeting, we're looking at products and we're saying we might have to completely redesign it so that we can just make it better for the customer. We made the technology work.

 

00:19:44:23 - 00:20:09:12
Quentin Barrial
The baby bottle. As much as it sounds basic. A baby bottle has a lot of moving parts to it. and we said we are going to have to redesign this product because while it works and we've proven that physics works and so on, our customer is not going to be really excited about it. So we took it back to zero.

 

00:20:09:14 - 00:20:28:17
Quentin Barrial
We said, this is what we know. We've learned for a year what works and what doesn't. We've learned about the tiny little technologies. Even in the nipple of the baby bottle, there's a little hole so that the air can go to like little things like this. And we said, okay, we have a team. Let's reiterate create a new product.

 

00:20:28:20 - 00:20:56:07
Quentin Barrial
And in six months we launched a new product that had different versions. And it was it. I'm so excited to see where that product goes. because it's got an amazing trajectory and an amazing team. But it took going through those rough patches and especially that point where we were just stuck, very stuck at it. If I may add something, it's not only about the product.

 

00:20:56:07 - 00:21:17:18
Quentin Barrial
Sometimes it's about the team that, you know, the team gets stuck sometimes. when you're working as a as a single entrepreneur, you're the life of whether it goes well or not. If you're in a good mood or if you're excited about the product, you're motivated, the product grows. And the second day you have a slow day that you didn't sleep well.

 

00:21:17:18 - 00:21:55:06
Quentin Barrial
The company slows down. When you have a team of two. It's great because you're actually balancing each other off where you don't have to have someone or both of the folks. At Good Days, you know, someone can cover. If you're feeling 20%, someone can cover the 80% for you. and so when you get stuck, usually bringing someone on, whether it's a consultant for just a couple days or, reaching out to a new engineer or going to talk to customers, that's going to be able to get you unstuck.

 

00:21:55:08 - 00:22:04:03
Quentin Barrial
because it's not always about the products, about the team. And you need product team fit more than most people realize.

 

00:22:04:05 - 00:22:23:10
Mike O'Neill
Now, I kind of set up took particular notice that because that is this is my wheelhouse. When you mentioned that when you think about the team that you try to surround yourself with. It may not be employees, but it's the people that you kind of bring together. What are you looking for? To be a good member of the team that you're working with?

 

00:22:23:12 - 00:22:43:11
Quentin Barrial
It's interesting. I look for people that can give me negative feedback. I don't have a lot of folks that, I tell them what my business is, and they they nod their head and they go, that's awesome. That's really great. And, that's, you know, that's not feedback. That's comments.

 

00:22:43:13 - 00:22:44:18
Mike O'Neill
Yeah.

 

00:22:44:20 - 00:23:12:15
Quentin Barrial
So I look for feedback first and, you know, it can be positive feedback. It's a great product and it's all positive. There's nothing wrong with this person. There's a click wherein that person turns from someone I go to for feedback to someone I go for as part of my team. It's because they turn from someone that gives me feedback to someone that gives me advice, because feedback tends to be just kind of general advice is based on the situation that you're in.

 

00:23:12:17 - 00:23:31:19
Quentin Barrial
There's a lot more emotion and advice because they give me advice about the position that I'm in. They understand where I'm at and where I'm trying to go. and so when there's that, click here where people understand where I'm trying to go, they're going to give me the positive and the negative feedback. That's a great team member to me.

 

00:23:31:21 - 00:23:37:12
Quentin Barrial
That's it's it's as easy as it gets. to.

 

00:23:37:14 - 00:23:59:14
Mike O'Neill
Within as you think about the the path that you're on now and it's already taken some interesting turns, but it's had a cumulative effect. That's kind of how I kind of conclude. You've learned from each of these experiences. Do you have, something in mind as to what it is that you're aspiring to? And if so, can you share it?

 

00:23:59:16 - 00:24:28:20
Quentin Barrial
Absolutely. I've always had a dream to have a product incubator. You see a lot of accelerator programs for startups in the software world, where you have a developer's that are together. There's not much for products and product design can actually impact the customer's choice. And it's been proven in studies, you know, 73% of folks are going to grab the product almost only based on the design.

 

00:24:28:22 - 00:24:49:14
Quentin Barrial
So I'd like to see myself in a place where I help companies, but in a more holistic way, if you will. It should be a place where we have this idea. We really, really want to solve someone's problem and it gets incubated for, you know, six months to a year. And we build this amazing product that people love.

 

00:24:49:14 - 00:25:11:04
Quentin Barrial
That's exciting and that solves the problem. That's my ultimate vision. When I graduated college, I went on to an AI generator and I had to create my vision and what I was exactly adjoining, what the building would look like and so on. And and it's quite far fetched, but it gives you a direction, right? If you want to go to the beach, you don't have to pick where you're going to put the chair.

 

00:25:11:08 - 00:25:31:12
Quentin Barrial
You can just go towards the sand and you'll figure it out then. that's how I like to look at it. and so I have this vision of a building for me. and so then I went backwards and I broke down all the steps and really, what it the roots were. We had to create a graphic design company.

 

00:25:31:12 - 00:25:53:12
Quentin Barrial
So we did that. We helped folks doing that then. Now we're helping entrepreneurs build entire products. The next step will be, to bring on a marketer to get that product from, you know, a good looking product to a product that people can relate to, communicate with, have an emotional connection with. and I'm, I'm super close to doing that.

 

00:25:53:12 - 00:26:18:24
Quentin Barrial
I think I'm, I'm inching towards it. This is a very exciting. And the envision is just a great team. Lots of collaborations. What I'm, I care about the most. I've worked at fortune five hundreds. and I there is collaboration not to the level that you find in entrepreneurship. That's my dream. A lot of collaboration and amazing spot building, amazing products.

 

00:26:19:01 - 00:26:43:12
Mike O'Neill
I appreciate you sharing just that. You know, you have position yourself as being on the other side of a microphone. You host a podcast, and here you are now a guest on the podcast. So let me ask. You said yes to come on the podcast. We've had a rich conversation. What do you really want our viewers and listeners to have as takeaways from this conversation?

 

00:26:43:14 - 00:27:09:21
Quentin Barrial
I really like the name of your podcast, Getting Unstuck. I and I think that's what I hope folks or our listener, it can can get to is you're going to be stuck. But getting unstuck is about the best gift that you can get. I've been stuck many times, you know, moving from country to country. I was fluent in the language, you know, I was fluent in Polish.

 

00:27:10:02 - 00:27:34:24
Quentin Barrial
I did my early elementary school years there. I was completely caught up. Then I got pulled out of the soil as if I was, you know, a little tree and put into this new soil, which was Brazil. And all of a sudden I forgot to polish and I was learning Portuguese, and I was re adapting in the same climate, new way of thinking, and different level of security in the city.

 

00:27:35:01 - 00:27:56:20
Quentin Barrial
and it happened again in, in coming to, Atlanta. And every single time when you get to a new place, you feel extremely stuck. Okay. and so that's what I hope our listeners can get to, is you can feel stuck right now, but if you put your mind to it, you can definitely get unstuck.

 

00:27:56:22 - 00:28:21:19
Mike O'Neill
I appreciate you saying that. And I also appreciate the plug with the name of the podcast. You know, Gwen, before we wrap up, I have a question I want to pose to our listeners, and that is, are people following you because they feel obligated or because they genuinely want to? I'm a leadership coach, and I'm dedicated to supporting high achieving leaders like yourself through life's challenges.

 

00:28:21:21 - 00:28:50:07
Mike O'Neill
Whether you're feeling stuck despite past successes or grappling with rising expectations or searching for renewed purpose. I'm here to provide whatever guidance I can. My approach. It empowers you to discover your core purpose and unlock your full potential. Work. Together, we can uncover hidden blind spots, challenge those limiting beliefs, and foster accountability, leading to renewed growth and fulfillment.

 

00:28:50:08 - 00:29:14:21
Mike O'Neill
So if you're ready to take the next step in your leadership journey, I invite you to visit Bench builders.com to schedule a conversation. And let's just unlock that professional and personal potential together. Quentin, I want to thank you for sharing your expertise with us today. If listeners want to reach out and connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

 

00:29:14:23 - 00:29:27:22
Quentin Barrial
My solution is.com. I solutions.com. And there's a big button that says schedule free discovery call. You'll fill out the sheet and we'll get on the call and figure out how we can help you.

 

00:29:27:24 - 00:29:40:09
Mike O'Neill
So it's Louis, and I do know that lo I actually stands for leaking Optimization and Innovation. Perfect lo fi solutions. Thank you. When?

 

00:29:40:09 - 00:29:43:10
Quentin Barrial
Thank you so much for having me. It's been awesome.

 

00:29:43:12 - 00:29:53:03
Mike O'Neill
I also want to thank our subscribers for joining us, and I hope you have picked up on some quick wins from Quentin that will help you get unstuck in On Target.

 

00:29:54:09 - 00:29:58:09
Quentin Barrial
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Get Unstuck and on Target.

 

00:29:58:11 - 00:30:18:24
Quentin Barrial
I hope you gain insights to help you lead with competence and drive your organization forward. Remember it, Bench builders. We're committed to your success, your leadership excellence, and your strategic growth. If you've enjoyed our conversation today, please leave a review rate and subscribe to keep up with our latest episode.

 

00:30:19:08 - 00:30:23:08
Quentin Barrial
This show really grows when listeners like you share it with others.

 

00:30:23:07 - 00:30:26:20
Quentin Barrial
Who do you know? Who needs to hear what we talked about today?

 

00:30:27:04 - 00:30:34:09
Quentin Barrial
Until next time, I encourage you to stay. Focus on the target and continue to break new ground on your leadership path.

Quentin Barrial Profile Photo

Quentin Barrial

Founder

After living in 6 countries across 4 continents, I had to choose where I was going to start my career. I went to college in North Carolina with an interest in Business and a background in Engineering which I had gained from early involvement in robotics. It was during my first year in college that l discovered entrepreneurship. This new discovery launched me into thousands of hours of apprenticeship.
After starting a first brand, I went on to start a kitchen utensil company before building an award winning SaaS solution. I loved building my own companies and getting through all the challenges because I was learning faster and faster. But the best part of my entrepreneurial journey was getting to help others and their startups which I did under my current company and now primary focus, LOAI. Over the past 3 years, LOAI is proud to have assisted over 50 student entrepreneurs and established business owners, worked on over 60 products, and allowed companies to launch amazing innovations. While the company continues to grow, I stay grounded to my vision. My motto has always been "saving you time, by spending mine" and I live by it every day.