Andrew Wiess, EOS & Truck Trolley
Andrew Wiess’s branding and headshot session in Bay City, Michigan, brought together the professionalism of EOS and the entrepreneurial spirit of Truck Trolley. Captured in a modern office setting, this collection blends authentic headshots, candid work moments, and detail shots that showcase the story behind his businesses. From leading strategy sessions and typing through EOS processes to handwritten planning notes and brand details, every image reflects both focus and personality. These photographs highlight Andrew’s approachable leadership, his connection to EOS, and the innovative drive behind Truck Trolley, creating a versatile set of branding images designed for professional websites, social media, and marketing use.
I had my photoshoot shortly after I had a baby and you can't even tell. I've only seen the sneak peeks, but my husband and I already love them. I'm so glad I had that opportunity to have Arielle shoot these for me!!
EOS is a complete and proven system that has simple, practical tools for the entrepreneur to be able to structure and scale, to get everything they want from their business. EOS is a way for the entrepreneur to scale their business so that they aren’t the bottleneck anymore. A lot of times as entrepreneurs, we are wearing all the hats, doing all the things, and eventually we get in our own way for the growth.
EOS is a way to structure what we’re doing day to day and bring in the necessary help to take our business to the next level. That next level is what we truly want for our organization, and EOS helps us break through ceilings as we hit them throughout the journey.
When a company is implementing EOS, the typical implementation is around two years. So it’s not a quick fix, it’s not a magic pillar, a silver bullet. We’re focusing on three things mainly. First being the vision, where is the organization going long term and how do we get there? The second is traction, because we can dream and have these great visions but if we don’t take the necessary steps and become disciplined and accountable, we’re going to end up somewhere else. And then lastly, if you have a leadership team or you have a team around you, you want to build a healthy cohesive culture so that people are doing what they love and they love what they do for work, because life is too short to be stuck working and doing things you hate.
EOS is free to you right now if you go to EOSworldwide.com. You can download all the tools. If you buy the book Traction, you can have the instruction manual in front of you. An EOS implementer like me is typically needed when someone doesn’t have the time or capacity to do it on their own and they need help. But a lot of times, especially for smaller organizations, it makes sense to start and do a few things on your own first before needing an implementer.
Obviously, I believe the practices are great for everyone but if they wanted to actually work with an implementer rather than on their own, it makes sense for an entrepreneur when they have a team of 10 to 250 employees. That’s where you’re starting to hit some ceilings and you’re ready to take it to the next level.
For someone just starting a business, there are good practices to look at to set yourself up for success and ways to implement them from the start. The first thing I would look at is the vision traction organizer, which gets your vision for your organization and your plan out on one document. So you’re talking about core values, what defines your organization, who you want to be part of it when the time is right, and more business planning aspects.
You want to also look at what you are focused on. What’s your core focus, why are you doing this? The overarching reason for doing what you’re doing, and then the niche, what you are providing to the market that is different and better, that you can do better than anybody else. Then you start the long-term thinking. Where are we going? What’s the big goal that we’re trying to achieve over the next 10 years? Then bring that down to the ground a little further. You start crafting a marketing strategy on who’s going to help you get there with your ideal customers and prospects, and then you create a clear, vivid picture of what the business needs to look like in three years from now. You want to build a strong future that draws you in, because the stronger we can paint that picture and the more vivid we can be, the more we’re drawn to it.
And then you just keep going closer to the ground. One year plan, you’re starting to set goals for what this organization needs to accomplish over the next year to set us up for that three-year success, and then Quarterly Rocks. What’s our next step for the next 90 days to get us to those goals?
You’re also building an issues list. What are our challenges, obstacles, barriers, opportunities, other ideas that can take this business to the next level? And all of those things too, when you set rocks, really need to look at that big picture to decide what you’re doing in this quarter. Typically, you want everything to align. Otherwise, why are you doing it? If your rocks aren’t aligning with your goals and your goals aren’t aligning with your three-year picture, and your three-year picture isn’t aligning with where you’re going long-term in the organization, what’s your reasoning for doing it? That’s the question I would ask.
When you’re setting a good rock, you want to make sure it’s smart. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. You want to make sure that you’re not setting yourself up for something that you don’t know when it’s done. And that you can tie it into some larger objective that you’re trying to accomplish.
The other thing when you’re setting rocks is don’t get overwhelmed with them. Less is more. You’d much rather get three rocks 100% done than 10 rocks 30% done each. You want an accountability partner who’s holding you to what you said you were going to get done.
Five things I’d say to someone just starting out in entrepreneurship…
Being an entrepreneur is lonely. Finding groups to work with, finding an accountability partner if you don’t have staff or team members who can do that for you, and finding mentors that can help hold you accountable for what you say you’re going to do is powerful. On the loneliness side of things, getting a co-working membership at someplace like CMURC can give you an avenue to connect with other people, and especially other entrepreneurs.
I think building a strong vision for your organization is critical. I call it the rubber band effect. You want to have positive tension drawing you towards that future, otherwise you’re going to stay where you’re at. You have to have a compelling thing that you really want in order to move the needle and get where you want to go. Having that vision, that plan, is another powerful thing.
As an entrepreneur, we’re wearing all the hats. There’s a lot of chatter, there’s a lot of distractions. Another powerful tool is what we call clarity breaks. Have a way to unplug from all the distractions, get in a quiet space, and spend time journaling. Ask yourself tough questions. Protect your confidence. When you’re focused on the long term and you’re getting hit with 30,000 things a day that are trying to distract you from that, a clarity break is a good way for you to reset.
Even if you don’t have people to help you yet, know what you’re really good at and where you bring value. Understand what you’re doing just because you have to, because early on you have to adapt and do all those things. But as you scale and are getting ready to go to the next level, some of those things may be better suited for somebody else to do. Know how to pivot, change, and be adaptable.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Entrepreneurship is a tough go, but even on the bad days, you find out you still love them. Grind, hustle, do the work, don’t give up. It’s worth it.
I love talking all things business with all people. Anyone can reach out to me at my email address, andrew.wiess@eosworldwide.com.”
– Andrew Wiess, EOS Worldwide, Truck Trolley