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Cameron Herold is the former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, a franchised junk removal business that he helped grow from $2M to $106M in revenue during his 6-year tenure as COO.
Based on that experience, in 2016 Cameron founded the COO Alliance, a peer group for Chief Operating Officers (or those whose roles are best described as the “second in command”) that now boasts over 600 members representing companies with an average of $28M in annual revenue.
Cameron is also the creator & host of the Second in Command podcast, and is an author of a book of the same name (to say nothing of his six other best-selling books). Cameron is also a highly sought after Coach and public speaker to the Small and Medium Sized Business community.
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Hiring Your Second in Command: With Cameron Herold, Founder of the COO Alliance and Former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK – In The Trenches
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Episode Summary with Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction and Cameron Background
- 02:45 Origin of Cameron’s Focus on Second in Command
- 05:06 Defining the Second in Command and Its Role
- 07:29 Personality and Skills of a COO vs CEO
- 11:30 Journey as CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK
- 14:41 Pricing Strategies and Scaling the Business
- 16:51 When Is a Company Ready for a COO?
- 19:04 Do Titles Matter? COO vs Chief of Staff
- 21:47 Signs a Company Is Not Ready for a COO
- 22:46 Common Hiring Mistakes for Second in Command
- 38:28 Building a High-Functioning CEO-COO Relationship
- 41:37 Conflict Resolution and Communication Tools
- 44:21 Cameron’s Nomadic Lifestyle and Lessons Learned
- 48:17 Most Meaningful Lessons from the Past Year
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