Last updated on November 6, 2025
How does a youth pastor earning $36,000 a year end up building and selling a multi-million dollar tech company?
This is one of the most incredible founder journeys I’ve heard. In this classic interview, I (Nat Schooler) sit down with Kody Thompson (founder of Lightning Sites & WrkPod) to find out.
Kody shares a masterclass in leadership, resilience, and the power of transferable skills—from leading a team of unpaid volunteers in a church to scaling a $3.5M/year subscription website business. His new mission for WrkPod is to create 10,000 jobs in the Philippines, a goal that will impact 200,000 lives.
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Key Insights from Kody’s Journey
Early Beginnings: The Unexpected Path to Business
Kody’s journey began unexpectedly in an unconventional setting:
- Started as a youth pastor working with high school programs.
- Transitioned to freelance graphic design to support himself.
- Transformed his freelance work into a subscription website company generating $3.5 million in annual revenue.
Key Lessons in Business Leadership
Kody discovered that his experience as a youth pastor provided crucial skills for business:
- Public Speaking: Regularly speaking to large audiences built confidence.
- Team Management: Leading volunteer teams (who aren’t getting paid) taught him powerful motivation techniques.
- Communication: Developing skills to engage and inspire people.
The Importance of Adaptability
Adaptability emerged as a critical attribute for business success:
- Roles change rapidly as businesses grow.
- The ability to pivot and adjust is crucial for survival.
- Technological changes require quick decision-making.
Overcoming Challenges: Personal Growth and Resilience
Kody emphasized the significance of:
- Learning from failures.
- Developing “thicker skin” and not taking customer complaints personally.
- Continuous self-improvement and learning from the “pain” of the journey.
Business Relationships and Mentorship
Kody highlighted the importance of:
- Sharing similar values in business relationships.
- Finding mentors who provide valuable insights.
- Creating win-win scenarios in all business dealings.
Future Vision: Workpod and Social Impact
Kody’s current venture, Workpod, aims to:
- Create 10,000 jobs in the Philippines within five years.
- His 10-year goal is to scale that to 50,000 jobs, impacting one million lives.
Discussion Timestamps
(From the .srt file you provided)
- (01:06) – Kody’s Journey: From Youth Pastor to Freelancer to a $3.5M/year company.
- (02:42) – The #1 Skill He Learned as a Pastor: How leading volunteers was the best training for managing a paid team.
- (05:09) – The “Awkward” Challenge of Success: Why he couldn’t talk to his old friends about his new, high-stakes business challenges.
- (09:53) – The Toughest Early Challenge: Learning not to take customer complaints personally and developing “thicker skin.”
- (11:54) – The Jiu-Jitsu Analogy: How the “pain” of being crushed as a beginner is essential for growth.
- (17:05) – It Gets Easier: How his first business took 9 years to hit $3M, but his second business did it in Year 2.
- (18:22) – The Power of a Network: “One conversation with the right person can make all the difference.”
- (26:43) – The Best “Deal” He Ever Made: Bringing on his business coach as an investor—not for the money, but for the experience.
- (30:47) – The Single Best Piece of Business Advice: “Will I ever have to do this again? If the answer is yes, build a system.”
- (32:34) – The 5-Year Goal: His mission for WrkPod to create 10,000 jobs in the Philippines.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What skills are transferable from ministry to business? Kody highlights public speaking (from speaking weekly), team management (from leading unpaid volunteers), and communication as the most valuable skills he learned. He found that motivating people who aren’t getting paid forces you to get good at rallying them around a shared mission.
2. What’s the best business advice Kody Thompson received? The best advice came from his coach, Dale: “Will I ever have to do this again? And if the answer is yes, build a system.” Kody says this focus on creating solid processes is the key to freedom as a business leader, allowing you to delegate and work on the business, not in it.
3. What is the biggest challenge of rapid success? Kody mentions that as he became successful, he felt awkward talking about his new (larger) business challenges with old friends who weren’t in business. He had to learn to segment his social circles and find a new network of peers and mentors who understood his journey.
Full Episode Transcript
(Transcript)
Nat Schooler: Well, I am very privileged today to be joined by Kody Thompson. And we are here to talk about the biggest lessons to learn as a business leader. And Cody might look young, but he has masses of experience. And, uh, we will dig into all of that as we, uh, go through this really, really great informal kind of interview. So hopefully, uh, you will get a lot of value from it. I’m sure you will. To be honest, looking at this nine page nine, uh, page doc, eleven page document he sent me, I think you will definitely learn huge amounts, as I will, I’m sure. So thank you, Cody. It’s a real pleasure. Really glad you’re joining me and, uh, looking forward to digging into this topic.
Kody Thompson: Thanks, mate. Really appreciate you, uh, having me on, Matt.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, uh, it’s my pleasure, really. And, yeah, I mean, it’s impressive what you’ve done in the past, but as you were growing from, you know, at the beginning when you really started your journey, what, how did you, how did you kind of get from where you were, ah, to where you are now?
Kody Thompson: Well, I started as a freelance, um, graphic designer. Well, actually before that I started as a youth pastor. So I was running, um, programs for high school kids. Um, and then the church that I was a part of saw what I was doing and I got employed, employed in the church that I was a part of. And so I did that for about three years, three or four years, working mostly with young people, running programs in high schools. And then, um, I took on a volunteer position in a church, um, on the other side of the country. And I needed to make some money, so I started freelancing as a graphic designer and I thought I would kind of do it for, you know, six months until the church could afford to pay me. And, uh, yeah, long story short, that freelance business turned into a subscription website company that we built to about $3.5 million in revenue a year. And I sold that business about eight years later. And so, um, and stepped into the business that I’m working on now, which is workpod. So it was a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest. I never anticipated, um, to be running a business. It was sort of like I started just as a freelancer and then I guess, realized that I was, I was good at what I was doing and just started hiring people. And then, you know, you get a few years down the track and look back and realize that, you know, you’ve, um, you haven’t done a bad job. And so, yeah, it was a bit of a surprise to me, to be honest. To, to get into the, into business like I have.
Nat Schooler: Amazing. Amazing. So being a youth pastor must have, must have helped, like, with your listening abilities, I would, I would think. And your communication skills.
Kody Thompson: Yeah, definitely. I think there’s a lot of skills you learn as a pastor that are translatable to business. Like, even, for example, public speaking. You know, once I started in business, I started getting opportunities to speak at conferences, which is how I marketed most of my products that I was selling to. And people would always comment because I was like, 23 years old or something like that. And, um, I would be speaking at conferences and people would comment on how comfortable you were on stage, even if there was a large audience there. But when you’re in church, you’re doing that like, every week. So by the time I was 23 years old, I’d probably spoken in front of maybe 20, 30,000 people or something like that. In the last two or three years, you kind of like, um, get some skills that you, I don’t know, another place you get that opportunity to speak in public so much as when you’re sort of pastoring in church and running church services and stuff like that. So, yeah, definitely there were skills like that and building teams, and because most of the teams in church are volunteers, most people aren’t getting paid. So you’re motivating and engaging with people who are there voluntarily. And so you’ve really got to know how to, um. Yeah, how to rally around people and create, um, a sense of fun and community within the team. Otherwise, people aren’t going to volunteer their time.
Nat Schooler: Of course, I’ve had to deal with some volunteers when I was in the wine industry back in the day, and, uh, it’s really very, very difficult to deal with those people because they’re kind of there because they have a mission. Right. Like, there’s a purpose. They have a purpose of. I’m not quite sure what that purpose is. Uh, but they know what it is. But I think once you work out why they’re there, then it kind of makes it a bit easier, doesn’t it? But it’s, um, a big lesson, most definitely, because then if you can motivate people that are not getting paid anything, then you can motivate people who are getting paid in a much easier way, can’t you, at the end of the day?
Kody Thompson: That’s right. And that’s what I found. So those skills are, uh, really helpful. And so I’m very, I feel very grateful for the opportunities that I had there because definitely it made a huge difference when I started running a business.
Nat Schooler: So. So what about, like, friends and family and stuff like that? Like, we had a little conversation about that before, and, you know, over the years, people obviously see you grow into the person that you are now, and they’ve seen, they’ve seen you grow. But do you think that it can be kind of detrimental to sort of tell people too much along the way because they, they kind of. Maybe they’re not encouraging as you would like them to be, perhaps?
Kody Thompson: Yeah, there’s, I mean, there’s been, I guess there’s been people that have, um, like, understand you from a specific period in time. Like, if they were, you know, friends with you when you’re in high school, or if they, you know, knew you, knew me as a youth pastor. And so later on in life, they, um, might still look at you the way that you were, um, back then and don’t necessarily understand, like, what your life looks like today. To be honest, the thing that I struggled with more was just feeling awkward to talk about, like, um, my challenges in business. Like, for example, if I recently went through selling one of my companies, and it was quite a, you know, we got quite a lot of money for the sale of the business, but there was also complications with the, um, with the buyer, you know, paying all of the money that was due for the, um, purchase of the business. And you can’t tell everyone about that. Like, if I tell someone who, you know, one of my friends who’s not involved in business, you know, you can feel, um, sometimes awkward talking about money, you know, that amount of money, for example, or, um, talking about your problems that you feel like maybe they don’t understand what you’re going through. So certainly I felt like that before in my journey where people have, yeah, maybe not had those same experiences. And so I’ve felt kind of uncomfortable talking about it, not wanting them to think that I’m, you know, trying to brag about what I’ve achieved or something like that. So I guess that’s a, you know, been, um, something that’s been challenging over the years, going from, you know, um, having nothing. I was earning like, 36 grand a year as a, as a youth pastor. So, like, you’re barely. Barely making ends meet, and then, you know, to what we’re doing now, um, you know, it’s. That’s been something that I’ve found challenging at times.
Nat Schooler: Yeah. Yeah, I can, uh, I can imagine. So, obviously, that means that you’re changing your social circles as well, right? So you’re limiting the amount of information that you’re giving to the people who know you. And also you’re changing your social circles, maybe getting a coach or multiple coaches in order to help you to get to the next level as a business leader. Is that a sort of fair thing to say?
Kody Thompson: Yeah, I think so. Um, I mean, I try to stay, um, connected with, like, I’ve still got a lot of friends who are not in business. It’s just that you can’t sometimes feel like you can talk about that stuff with them and so you end up having more in common with, um, with other people that are in business and so you can talk about those things with them. Um, thankfully, a lot of my friends, um, like, I have different things in common with them. Like, I live on a farm and so some of my friends are live, uh, on property as well. And so we can, you know, connect around hunting and, um, we’ve all got cattle and so we can connect on those types of things. But when it comes to business, I, um, don’t always share all that stuff with them because, um, yeah, I guess I don’t want to come across like I’m trying to brag about, um, what we’re doing and, um, and, you know, and so you tend to talk about challenges in your business with other people that kind of understand those challenges. So, yeah, yeah, I, you end up with sort of, I guess, different circles of people that you spend time with and perhaps you’re not always sharing, you know, the complete picture with every, you know, every person in those different circles.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, yeah, I have, I have that, actually. And, and also when you, when you understand business and your friends maybe don’t understand business at ah, all. Like, it’s, it’s a complete, it’s a really interesting piece, isn’t it? Like being able to have friends who may be in a class that you go to or they might be farmers or they might. It’s just fascinating, isn’t it, how you can sort of segment your life in a way to sort of, uh, to be like that. So as you became a business leader, what do you think was like the toughest thing that you had to go through at the beginning?
Kody Thompson: I think just like dealing with the stresses of, I think initially the biggest problem was the stress of, like, upsetting clients as the business grew. Cause when I was a freelancer, uh, I was the one dealing with all of the clients. And so, um, I was able to control everything, you know, control the experience that the customers had because they were only dealing with me. Um, and then even when I hired one or two staff, I was still the one interacting with the customers, and they were doing backend work. But once you start to build a team and build more of, like, a product and you’re building out systems and having other team members take on larger chunks of the work, there would be times where customers wouldn’t have, like, the best experience. And I remember, you know, early on, when, when clients would have a really poor experience, it would really bother me on a personal level. Like, like, um, I would go to sleep, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night thinking about a particular customer being upset or things of that nature. And then as the business grows, I still care about the customers, by the way, uh, as the business grows. But it’s funny how, like, those types of things, um, you kind of develop thicker skin, I guess, and you don’t take it personally. Like, I still care if a customer has a bad experience, but it doesn’t, like, define me personally as my own human being. And so you develop ways to deal with that type of pressure and stress. And so I found, like, along the journey, there’s been a whole bunch of that where, yeah, you kind of, at the start, things that used to cripple you, uh, like, a year later, suddenly those things don’t bother you anymore. So it’s amazing how. How just doing repetitions, you get more, um, used to the challenges of running a business, and you get better at it.
Nat Schooler: It’s funny, it’s so relevant to the journey that I’ve been going on the last, uh, two and a half years with jiu jitsu. It’s literally, it’s so relevant to being a white belt in jiu jitsu for over two years. Right. Uh, and, and being crushed. You’re basically the pressure of someone just crushing you every class you go to, and some, some young guy. I mean, I’m nearly 50 years old, right? And some young person is, like, just trying to crush you and, like, you know, like, lock your arm out until you tap and give in, right. And you’re submitted. Right. And it’s. And it’s so relevant to the journey that we all go through in life, uh, that it’s a. It’s actually quite, quite profound what you just said, to be honest. Ah, thank God I got my blue belt last week.
Kody Thompson: Yeah, I’ve heard the same m story. Friends of mine who do Jiu jitsu, and then there’s like, a, you know, one of my friends was talking about, um, the other week he had, there’s a 15 year old kid at jiu jitsu who keeps, like, kicking his ass, and he’s just, like, he’s talking about how humbling it is, you know, as a, you know, he’s in his mid thirties, and there’s, like, a teenager who’s just, like. Who just crushes him every, every week. He rocks up to class and, you know, it’s a, it’s a good thing to get humbled every now and again. And, um, it keeps you grounded, doesn’t it?
Nat Schooler: Yeah, 100%. But it’s just, it’s just, I just realized, like, I was just sort of. I’ve been thinking a lot about that recently, and it’s. And it’s just, and it’s just like that pain that you sort of go through along the way. It has so much meaning in it. It is so important, I think, actually, because it just, it makes you just learn, right? Because it’s like you just get so sick of being where you are that you have to take action and then grow into somebody different. Right. And. But you can’t take it for granted. Like, when you get to become that new person that you, that you are, you can’t take it for granted. You still got to continue working on yourself, right? Like, all the time.
Kody Thompson: Yeah. It’s funny because some people will go through the same pain and they get crushed and never get up. Like, I’ve always found that interesting. You know, even as a youth pastor, you would meet two siblings, for example, even sometimes, like, similar age, and then their parents, for example, would get divorced, and then you would watch the outcome of that stress on the children, which is awful, of course, but it’s interesting how some will. Will go through that, and it will. It’ll fuel their fire and they become like a, you know, a greater person. And then for others, it’s like that pain, like, um, can affect them sometimes, you know, you know, for the rest of their life or for an extended period of time. It’s like they’re not able to get over. Over, um, the experiences that they’ve gone through. So it’s all. I’ve always found that fascinating, um, that, you know, that pressure has the ability to bury you, um, or it has the ability to, like, you know, you can shake it off and step up to the next level, and, um. Yeah, I’ve always found that fascinating. So I’ve always tried to find ways that I could take the experiences I’ve got, you know, been through and try to, uh, make me a better person if I can.
Nat Schooler: Yeah. Yeah, I think. I think there is so much you just said there that’s so relevant to business and the journey that we go on as freelancers, as business people, as entrepreneurs, because we’re all, at the end of the day, I was thinking about it the other day. I was like, I was like, okay, so you get a billion, say you get a billion dollars, right? Okay, you sell your company, you become really super wealthy, but you’re on to the next thing, right? And like, when I interviewed Stanley Tucci, one of the most famous actor producer directors in the world, right? Um, you probably know who he is, I imagine, but if you don’t, it’s okay. But basically he was, when he, when he finishes a movie, he’s like, right, what’s next? And he achieves something. It’s like, what’s next? And like, my mentor, Steven J. Manning, he’s, he’s the most disappointed person in the room when something goes well, because he just looks at it and he’s like. And he’s like, yeah, but it could have been better. And it’s exactly the same with jiu jitsu. It’s the same with business. Uh, it’s so highly relevant and, you know, but it’s so difficult in the early stages of people’s careers and even at the beginning of maybe a change of career, because that amount of, there’s so much work, right, that needs to be done to get from zero to, I don’t know, driving in second gear as an example, it’s like. But it’s like how. I don’t know how people can actually do that anymore, you know, because it’s just, it’s just demoralizing. Right? It’s, it’s tough for.
Kody Thompson: Yeah, it’s funny, though, because once you’ve built a business once, it’s, it’s like, it’s amazing how much easier it is the second time round. Like, I, uh, know when I built my, you know, web development company, the first time, you know, getting it from, it took me like, um, I guess nine years to go from, from zero to break through. 3 million a year. It was like about a nine year journey. And then when I launched workpod, which is the business that I’m working on at the moment, we did over 3 million in the second year. So, um, and then I’ve got another business that I’m a part of, GP hero. And it’ll do 3 million probably in its third or three and a half years. Um, and so, and I don’t, I don’t run that business particularly. I’m just one of the owners of the business. But once you’ve done it before, it’s like easier the second time round. I think I over complicated so much stuff when I started my first business. And you do a whole bunch of stuff that doesn’t, that doesn’t um, achieve any results. And then, but when you’ve done it before, you kind of know where your sweet spots are as a business leader and you can kind of focus on the things that, you know, work and get results for you and your, in your particular skill set. And then you also develop a network so you have people that you can call like uh, we were talking about this earlier. Like if you’ve got a challenge in your business, you’ve got people on, on dial, you can, you can ring them and just one conversation with the right person can, can make all the difference. So I guess for anyone listening to this, if you’re starting a business, you know, make sure you keep all those relationships on the way as you build your business. And it does get easier, you know, once you’ve done it once before, you know, this might only be business one that you start. And when you sell that, you can move on to number two, number three. And it gets, it gets easier as you get more runs on the board and you’ve done it once before, it becomes like muscle memory and you can, you know, you can rinse and repeat the stuff that worked the first time and you can avoid the things that didn’t work last time. So, you know, that’s definitely been an encouragement for me as I’ve done this second business.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, yeah. There are so many things that you can waste time on that actually are completely irrelevant and you find yourself going. But that’s the same with people in businesses who want to become business leaders or even who are business leaders because we all get stuck, right? Because we’re human at the end of the day and if we care about the details, then we worry about the details. But experience, it makes such a difference. Like without, without that experience it could take forever. And you might never ever start on your journey to doing whatever it is you think you might want to do.
Kody Thompson: Yeah, exactly. I totally agree.
Nat Schooler: Uh, but there’s so much opportunity right now in the world. It’s literally we are overrun with opportunities to grow businesses, change careers. Careers, uh, and do so many things, certainly with technology being the way that it is and also opportunities. Whilst people, whilst people think, well, it’s been done before, is what a lot of people say, well, it’s been done before, it’s like okay, well, sure, things might have been done before, but if you can go in and you can have a different approach and have a different, different skill set, different mindset, you can build a substantial business really quickly, can’t you?
Kody Thompson: Well, it’s interesting. Like, the other argument to that would be, if it hasn’t been done before, might not be a good idea. You know, like a lot of the best businesses were just like a small tweak on an existing idea that was already out there. Like, take, for example, um, like, I love the Costco story. I don’t know if you know much about that particular business, but they’re not really, you know, one tweak, for example, for Costco Washington, was, um, was selling from the same place that they warehouse their products. So previously, you know, these large, um, companies would warehouse their stock somewhere else, and then they would transfer it to a showroom and then sell it. And Costco was one of the first businesses to just put their web, turn their warehouse into their showroom. And now, of course, at least in Australia, a lot of our large stores do that, like Bunnings and other hardware stores are in America. There’s the home hardware type model, and there’s so many, you know, Walmart and so many other businesses that have mimicked now what Costco did. But it was a very small tweak, but it was the, you know, it was the thing that catapulted their growth, was just taking something that already existed and then just coming up with a smarter way to do it.
Nat Schooler: Absolutely, absolutely. So what do you think the essential qualities or attributes are of a successful business leader?
Kody Thompson: I m think adaptability, like the ability to, um, adapt when things change in your business is really like a critical attribute to have, um. Because as your business grows, your role as a business leader changes. Like when you’ve got no staff, for example, you gotta be able to wear all the hats. You’re like, doing finances, sales, product delivery, admin, you’re doing everything, and then you get a few staff, and then now suddenly you’re managing staff. And then as that grows to a large team, now you’ve got a management team, you’ve got to have policies, you got to have, um, you know, structure. You’ve got to have cadence to your meetings, and everything changes. So what I found has been, um, one of the challenges I face is as the business grows quickly, your role as the CEO of the business changes very rapidly. You know, um, as the business grows, the needs that the business has for you will change. And so being able to change quickly and adapt is, is important. And then also the stuff you’re talking about with technology and other things, there’s factors that will come from outside the business, um, that will require you to be able to change direction and make decisions, sometimes quite quickly. Um, and if you don’t have the ability to adapt, I think that’s, you know, that’s going to be one of the things that will be, will be challenging. Um, if you’re running a business, for the business to survive, if you’re not able to change quickly, you won’t be able to grow something quickly.
Nat Schooler: Yeah. That all that makes, makes, makes, uh, sense completely. So what’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in business and what did you learn from it?
Kody Thompson: I think, um, one of the things that I was thinking about the other day, Washington, a particular staff member that was really talented, and I wasn’t able to find the right role for her in the business, and she ended up moving on eventually. And I’ve always thought about that because she, she was a high performing team member, but I just never was able to figure out where she fitted. And it’s something that I work really hard on with my staff is trying to place them somewhere that they’re going to be successful in the organization and try to find ways to help them to level up as individuals, but also in the way that they perform in the business. And so, yeah, I think about that a lot, and I guess it’s just, um, it’s just encouraged me. And I guess what I’ve learned is that, is to really try to, um, not think everyone thinks the way I think. And even, um, takes, um, like, learns the way that I learn, or, um, is motivated by the things that I’m motivated by. Like, everyone has their own personalities, their own way of learning, and I’ve tried to be more, um, aware of that when I’m dealing with the talent that’s in my team, to try to find ways that I can position them in and motivate them in the way that’s going to take them to the next level. And you only figure that out by doing it wrong, um, and not getting the results. And so, yeah, I think they’re some of my biggest mistakes, if I think about it, would just be, would be missing out on top talent. And it hasn’t happened very many times. I’ve been able to retain most of the good people in my organizations, but there’s been a few along the way where I was like, man, that person’s really killing it now. And I wish I had been able to get them in the right position because I know they would have been successful, but I just didn’t have the skills or the insight to place them in the right positions at the time.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, that all makes sense. I mean, at the end of the day, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Uh, you know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s a funny world that we live in, right? It really is. So when it comes to being a business leader, what, what’s one of the best business deals that you’ve ever done and why did it work so well?
Kody Thompson: Well, I had a business coach named Dale. Um, he was my, uh, when I was, started my freelancing business, um, my dad told me I needed a business coach because my business was growing out of control and didn’t know what I was doing. And I heard of this guy named Dale, and I went along to his program, and I just started to do everything that he told me to do, and it was working. You know, he helped me to understand the importance of systems in business. He helped me to understand the importance of having task management tools. And just, it’s all very basic stuff now, but I didn’t know any of that stuff, um, before. And so it was groundbreaking for me and really helped me to get some, um, structure in my business. And then because my business was growing so rapidly, um, he basically asked to invest in my business. And he invested very early on. So he certainly got a great deal out of the growth of my web development company because he got in very early. And, um, so I made him a lot of money in a deal. But I still feel like, you know, I won out in that deal. I think we both won in that deal. But for me, I learned, I’ve learned so much from him. We’ve been business partners now for about six or seven years. And so he’s my business partner in workpot as well, and we’ve invested in two other companies together. Uh, and so that was probably my, my best deal that I’ve ever made. Um, was, yeah, just I didn’t need his money when he asked to invest in the business, but what I wanted was his experience. He’s about ten years older than what I am, and he’s, you know, he’s got that extra ten years of experience in business, and he’s just got so much value to give. And so, um, building a relationship with him and becoming friends with him and his, his wife, Catherine, and his family has been, um, um, you know, I’ve learned so much. And a lot of my best friends I’ve been, have been introduced through Dale and his network. So, um. Um, that’s definitely been one of the best decisions that I’ve made.
Nat Schooler: That’s absolutely fantastic, because a lot of people don’t think that you should mix business and pleasure. They don’t, they don’t agree with that.
Kody Thompson: I, I actually, I actually think it depends on the people. Right? And at the end of the day, if you’re creating a life that you really want to, you really enjoy, that you don’t want a vacation from, and if you’re doing that, then why not have business relationships with people that you really like and you can be friends with? Right? Like, it’s, uh, you don’t want to. Go to work and with people you don’t, you don’t want to be business partners with someone that you don’t like, for sure. But I would say that the most important thing in a business relationship is that you share the same values. And I’ve seen a lot of, um, business partnerships not work. Um, but for Dale and I, the reason I think it’s worked is because we have very similar values in terms of, like, how we approach business. Like, even simple things. Like when you’re going into make a deal, you’re trying to create a win win, you know, and that, that’s been important. Cause when you’re, you know, talking to suppliers or dealing with a problem customer or whatever, I, if one of you is always trying to find a way to get on top of a client or a supplier, then those types of things will rub you the wrong way. And so you got to make sure before you have a business relationship with someone where you’re sharing equity in a company, you got to make sure you got the same values. If you don’t, it’s going to be a disaster. And, um, I’ve seen it a lot of times in other people’s businesses, and I’m always so grateful that, yeah, that, um, Dale and I have had such a great working relationship.
Nat Schooler: I’m just grinning away because. Excuse me, because I totally agree 100% with that hundred percent. Uh, it’s quite amusing, actually. So what is the best piece of business advice anyone has ever given you?
Kody Thompson: Best piece of business advice. I mean, this is going to sound like such a simple one, but one of the things Dale told me early on was, and it’s always stuck with me, is to ask yourself, will I ever have to do this again? And if the answer is yes, build a system. And that’s been the way that I’ve always tried to build my businesses and encourage my staff, um, to build out systems in their roles as well. It’s such a nerdy thing to say, um, talk about systems in business, but honestly, having solid processes is the key to having freedom as a business leader. If you’ve got great policies and procedures and stuff in place, then you can empower your talent to really rock their role. And it frees you up to take a helicopter view of the business and spend time working on improving the business rather than being stuck in the day to day processes in the business. So that’s probably been one of the best pieces of advice, has just been to ask yourself, am I ever going to have to do this again? It’s going to take longer the first time, but make sure you build a system and then next time, you know, you won’t have to do it. You can get someone else, you can delegate it out. So that’s been a great piece of advice.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, it’s absolutely, absolutely correct. So before we scoot off, because I know time is a premium for you, um, obviously you’re into planning and stuff like that. Right? So what are some of your future plans, business, uh, or personal for the next five or ten years?
Kody Thompson: Well, for business, um, workpod is the project that I’m mostly focused on at the moment. Um, and so what we do is we help people build teams in the Philippines. Um, and so right now, over the last two years, we’ve placed about 1000 staff in the Philippines for our clients. And our five year target is to create 10,000 jobs in the Philippines. So, um, right now we’re placing about 50 staff a month, um, uh, through workpod for our clients. And in order to achieve that goal, we need to get to 200 a month, um, placing 200 staff every month. And so we’ve been able to double from, we’re doing about 25 staff a month. In January, when I came on full time as the CEO, I had to stay as the CEO of the web development company until that deal had gone through. And so since January, we’ve doubled it, uh, but we need to double it and then double it again. And if we can do that, will hit our target of creating 10,000 jobs. And, uh, yeah, that’s, I guess from a business standpoint, that’s the big goal that we have at the moment. If we can achieve that in the Philippines, they say, the government says that one full time employee, financially, um, provides for 20 Filipinos. So if we can help 10,000 people get jobs, then we’ll be impacting 200,000 people. And that gets me really, uh, excited. And then our ten year goal from there would be to go from 10,000 to 50,000. And if we’re able to do that, then we’d be helping a million Filipinos. And so that’s kind of like my, my big business goals and then my family goals. We have a farm, uh, in northern New South Wales of Australia. It’s a hundred acre farm. And, um, we’ve got a house that we’re renovating on the farm at the moment, and my wife’s family’s all moving out. And so we’ve got this house we’re renovating so that they can move in. So I just love creating community, you know. Um, around us, we’ve got a great church that we’re a part of, and so we always have. We’re kind of the ones that have everyone over at our house. So my personal goals would just be to do that, spend as much time with my family, um, you know, to spend time with my friends. And also I want to create sort of like a legacy property here where my. Where my parents get older, they can, you know, retire here on my property and we can look after them and, yeah, so that’s kind of my. Yeah, my personal goals.
Nat Schooler: Super, super. Well, thank you. I’ve really enjoyed speaking with you as I did before and looking, uh, forward to spreading lots of positivity. I, uh, love your half, half glass full attitude. Uh, and, uh, yeah, I think it’s absolutely super. So thanks for listening, everyone. Uh, we appreciate you. And do check out the links, uh, wherever you are watching this.
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Read more about Kody below.
Kody Thompson is a dynamic entrepreneur and visionary leader with a track record of success. He is renowned for his achievements as the founder of Lightning Sites, a web development company that he built from a $250 startup into a multi-million-dollar enterprise generating in excess of $5M profit across eight years. Over that time Lightning Sites was able to build over 1,500 websites, servicing over 800 clients monthly and generating in excess of 500,000 leads for his clients.
In 2023 Kody was able to transition out of the day-to-day operations of Lightning Sites, when it was acquired by US technology company Sites At Scale.
After successfully building his own remote teams to grow and exit Lightning Sites, Kody developed a reputation as an expert in building international teams and scaling businesses and launched the Business WrkPod in 2021, with Co-Founder Dale Beaumont. WrkPod specialises in helping companies build teams in the Philippines, offering comprehensive services that include talent recruitment, state-of-the-art co-working spaces, and extensive training and support for both clients and Filipino talent.
In the last 2 years, Kody has facilitated the placement of over 900 remote staff for WrkPod clients and grown enabling them to achieve greater efficiency, reduce operational costs, and strengthen their enterprises.
Beyond his business endeavors, Kody is a devoted husband and father of two daughters. He is also deeply committed to philanthropy and has initiated the Love @ Scale project in the Philippines (see video), which supports 250 students. Kody’s journey is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to making a positive impact in both the business world and the community.
Get more info on WrkPod here: https://www.wrkpod.com/
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