When you find a good thing, you want everyone to know about it. That’s how the leaders at Rocket Clicks, a digital marketing company based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, felt about EOS®. The company experienced such enormous success by Running on EOS that they wanted to share that opportunity with others.
So, in 2023, the organization created the Rocket Clicks Help First grant to award one full year of working with an EOS Implementer® to a deserving nonprofit organization. To get to this point, they had to go through plenty of their own growing pains.
Rocket Clicks was founded in 2008 in response to the rise of Google ads and digital marketing. CEO and Visionary Tyler Dolph joined in 2015 to help with business development. Under his leadership, Rocket Clicks transitioned to a client service business, focusing on building great relationships.
The business experienced quick success… and all the growing pains that came with it. Through business associates, Rocket Clicks founder and owner Jeff Hughes was introduced to the Entrepreneurial Operating System®. Although not involved in the day-to-day operations of Rocket Clicks, Jeff knew the team needed something like EOS.
After reading Traction, Tyler agreed and immediately tried to self-implement. He admits now that his tactic was like going from zero to 100. They had a lot of vision without much traction.
Vision
“That was a ‘fun’ year with a lot of trial and error,” Tyler said. “I’m a classic raging Visionary and figured we could do everything ourselves. But when Jeff introduced us to our EOS Implementer, our whole world changed. We said, ‘Let’s follow the process the way it’s supposed to be.’”
Expert EOS Implementer™ John LaFontsee helped the Rocket Clicks team develop the framework they needed to succeed. Tyler came to appreciate the beauty of the “sandbox” EOS provided to help them learn and grow. They no longer had to worry about the operational aspects.
“We created the leadership team meeting cadence and used the People Analyzer properly,” Tyer said. “John gave us the confidence we needed to do what we had to do to be successful.”
Traction
Learning how to use the Level 10 Meetings for their intended purpose created a whole new culture at Rocket Clicks. Not only did they learn how to run better meetings, but they also learned what types of things to discuss in them.
“We learned how to prioritize issues,” Tyler said. “Actually, we learned how to talk about issues at all, without being accusatory or blaming someone. So we got into the real things that challenged our business.”
The level of vulnerability and permission to talk through real issues helped them make serious progress. As the leadership team progressed on their EOS Journey, the conversation turned to rolling EOS out to the entire company.
“Since this was the second time, we knew we had to get it right,” Tyler said. “We had to be comfortable with the cadence, the tools, and the nomenclature. So, we took a year as a leadership team to learn and then slowly rolled it out one level at a time.”
Now, everyone in the company runs on EOS, and the changes have been dramatic. Employees started to notice changes like Tyler not coming to people immediately to address every little thing. Instead, there was a structured day and time for them to discuss things, minimizing the daily interruptions.
Healthy
Tyler admits to having to work through anxious energy to get to that point and work through fear of something different that would limit his freedom. Instead, letting go of the day-to-day has allowed Tyler to focus on the bigger picture.
Plus, Running on EOS has allowed the Rocket Clicks team to enjoy more freedom and experience less anxiety when trying new things.
“We work with a lot of different businesses that run on EOS,” Tyler said, noting that nearly half of their clients run on EOS. “We’ve found we connect well because we understand the journey, talk the same language, and have the same type of expectations from meetings.”
Rocket Clicks doesn’t have intellectual property or software; they rely on building solid relationships. But one thing Rocket Clicks will never do is refer to their employees as family. They’ve been very intentional about building a team culture.
“A sports team has more accountability than family,” Tyler said. “A sports team has a shared fate, and its members drive towards the same goal. So, you give and receive feedback as it relates to helping or hurting the team. It’s not as personal.”
Takeaway
Since Running on EOS with an EOS Implementer, Rocket Clicks has increased its revenue fivefold. The team has grown from 25 to 50, serving more than 100 clients. But Tyler said the bigger story is the number of clients Rocket Clicks has impacted and the number of team members they’ve been able to see grow and improve their lives.
“We’ve seen our people get married, buy their first house, or have their first child,” he said. “Being a part of that journey with our team is really something special to us.”
Giving Back
Because of the success Rocket Clicks has experienced through Running on EOS, they knew they wanted to give back. They’ve served as a sponsor for the EOS Conference™ since 2019, and in 2023, they launched the Rocket Clicks Help First Award.
As the first recipient, Set Me Free Project, finishes its grant year, Tyler said he’s so proud of the progress the nonprofit organization has made and that Rocket Clicks could play some small part in helping them along in their journey.
“Working with an EOS Implementer to help them clarify goals, roles, and the use of tools is like watching our journey all over again,” Tyler said. “We’re so honored to have been able to gift this opportunity to a nonprofit to benefit from the support of an EOS Implementer like Rocket Clicks did.”
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