TLSE S02 E04 JO Interview Edited

The Life Science Club Season 2, Episode 4 features an interview with Jeremy Opperman, the founder of BPM Associates. Jeremy discusses his role as a senior consultant in the business and his focus on people-focused relationships. He also talks about how his upbringing in a small business environment influenced his decision to start his own company. Jeremy explains that BPM Associates currently specializes in life science project delivery, but acknowledges that their focus may change in the future. He emphasizes the importance of quality in the industry and shares his journey of starting the business, with the support of his wife Amanda. Despite the challenges of starting from zero, Jeremy's intentional approach and hard work have contributed to the success of BPM Associates over the past 10 years. You are about to experience the Life Science Club, Season 2, brought to you by our presenting sponsor, CPM Associates. Extraordinary people, relationships that matter, important change for a better world, the joy of belonging, life, science, leadership. I'm Steve Simpson. This is Season 2, Episode 4, and we have a very special episode. We are talking to the founder of BPM Associates, Jeremy Opperman, who is also, in addition to being the founder, I like to say, the beating heart, the spiritual center of BPM. Hey, Jeremy, would you want to add anything I missed or tell us a little bit about yourself? Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be here speaking with you. We've talked about it for quite some time, so it's fun to make it happen. Yes, I often say I happen to be the founder of BPM Associates because that's not the focus that I use for my role. I'm actively working in the business as a senior consultant, part of our executive team, and that's the side of it that I usually focus on. In addition to that, I'm married with three kids. I like to say we've got the full household, three kids, two cats, two dogs, school, sports, extracurriculars, just in the throes of raising a family and helping to grow a business. Jeremy, we've known each other a while, and I've gotten to know you, and I love how humble you are. I'll just tell the listeners, every value, every word of our core purpose, all of that comes from your values and your vision for this company. Yes, you happen to be the founder, but if you didn't happen to be the founder, it would be a different company. It would have a different vision. It would have different values and everything. Speaking of humility, you've helped draw a lot of that out over the years, so hopefully that can come through in this discussion as well as the value that you've brought to me and the business and helping bring this all to life and to fruition. I'm like, who's interviewing who? I did tell the story in episode, I think it was episode one or two, about when we came up with the, and it was, it was a total like, let's get Jeremy, let's all get into Jeremy's head. When we came out with that Extraordinary People, Important Lastly Changed, Great Work Environment, it was just like, it was a moment, right? A core memory. It dropped, right? It was just a matter of really getting into what we're going to get into today, actually, which is, what was going on when you started this business? So let's start there. Yeah. So this is your chance to tell your story about the business. And for everybody wondering, yes, we're going to refer to recent events as well, but this is kind of a deep dive into the history of BPM. Yeah. So let's start there. Tell us about the business, what does BPM stand for, and what does BPM do? Yeah. So at the moment, we do projects for life science clients and medical product manufacturers. The episode you referred to, you heard some background on, yes, that's what we do now. What might we do 100 years from now? It could be a totally different thing. Asteroid mining. Asteroid mining, right? But that happens to be what we're in the business of now. Also in that episode, and we'll probably talk about it here, we are focused on how we operate the fabric of what we are is the way I think about it. And what I've always been very concerned about, what are we building? What are we building it out of? What's the fabric that we're using? And what it turns into in the year or distant future is probably a little bit unpredictable. But yes, so we happen to be in the business of life science project delivery, but we're very keyed in on that, how we operate people-focused relationships and this kind of small business mentality that we have for ourselves as we grow. Awesome elevator pitch. I struggled with that in my past. What's the elevator pitch? All right, so when, what would go on in your life? What time frame are we talking about when you decided, that's it, I'm starting my own business? Well, it's pretty cool. We turned 10 years old recently. So in 2023, we turned 10. So we got started in 2013. You'll hear me speak in the royal we. It's always a we, even if it was just a me at the start. But to go all the way back, I'd say small business and entrepreneurship has always been around. So my dad is a small business owner. He's in the lumber business. My godfather was a small business owner. That company is sort of the namesake of our business. Big Mike. Big Mike, Iron Mike. Iron Mike, yeah. And so small business and that way of operating and the opportunity to do that has always been kind of in the background of my upbringing. And so I probably owe it a lot to them and the people around me that demonstrated that small business was a possibility. But I also grew, you know, to love small business and entrepreneurship and just kind of the nature that you have to operate by in that ecosystem. And so, you know, when I got done with school, I had an engineering degree. Knew I wanted to do more of the project side of things because I liked the soft, you know, soft skill elements of projects in addition to the engineering elements of that field. Worked in a large multinational company. It was a great experience. You know, I got to experience operations and manufacturing and quality and all the different, you know, areas of a big company. But with them for a couple of years, really decided that, you know, being a cog in the wheel of a multinational corporation was not what I was, you know, super excited at about doing. So took kind of a half step toward a smaller business environment. Did that for about 10 years. That was my opportunity to get into the life science industry and discovered that it was an industry that I thoroughly enjoyed. Yes, it's good for products that impact people. And that's fantastic. But it's also an industry where quality matters. And that was a big draw for me is quality is super important in that industry. It's super important to how we operate our business. And it's also important to me personally. You know, everything in my life, I tend to do things, I'll lean toward higher quality even if it means it takes longer or it's more expensive. That's just my nature, you know, as I lean towards high quality. So the life science industry was a great fit, you know, for that leaning. So that step in that direction was a good one. But over the course of that decade working, you know, working with a company there, I wasn't able to satisfy all the kind of small business entrepreneurship desires that I had within me. Didn't know that I had them, but they started to emerge. And, you know, thankfully, with encouragement of my wife, Amanda, you know, she was the biggest proponent to say, you know what, let's just do it. You're motivated to do this. There's never going to be a right time, you know. I remember 2013, we just had our third kid, one year old, you know. What could be a better time to start a business, right? Shout out to Amanda. Yeah, shout out to Amanda. For that push, yeah. So thankfully she gave me the push. But, you know, there's always kind of an invisible hand that's moving you that way. So I think there's, you know, invisible hand moves you that way and, you know, we took the leap, leap of faith. Yeah. So thankfully that was, you know, it's been successful for the past 10 years. My dad will frequently remind me that most small businesses don't last five years and even less last, you know, 10 years. Yeah. And that's not a kudos to me personally, but a kudos to, I think, how we've chosen to do business, you know. And we'll get to some of that here with, you know, being relationship focused and people focused. Yeah. Long answer to your question. Hey, man, this is about you telling your story. People are often surprised when I tell them about our business because the conventional wisdom is, like, you won't be able to cut yourself a salary for two years. Most businesses fail in the first year and even more in the, you know, first five years. And anytime I tell people about our business, they're just surprised. We aren't surprised because, okay, we're all project managers. You were a project manager. I'm an engineer. You know if you design something a certain way and you plan the project a certain way and then manage the execution a certain way, with some luck, there's always, you know, good fortunate luck that kind of comes along. Yeah. You are convinced that there's no other option than success. Sure. Right? So this company is similar to that in that everything we do is on purpose. Yes, we are poised to take advantage of surprises. Right. Good surprises or we're poised to react to bad surprises. But nothing is left as let's just hope. Right. We don't use hope as a plan. Yeah. I think that's part of the small business entrepreneurial ecosystem. You're responsible for your own destiny. Yeah. So, yes, there's good luck and hope does play a role. Yes. But I think what we've proven to ourselves is that hard work and intentionality produces good luck. Yeah. In air quotes, good luck. What seems like good timing or good luck or whatever to somebody else is like, well, yeah, we've created that. Right. We planted those seeds. So you had an entrepreneurial spasm. Yeah. And your wife is like, if you don't do this, I've just got to kick you out there and make you do this. I love Amanda, by the way. And so you go out there and you do it. Right. What kind of challenges in those first, that first year, first few years did you face? Well, it's, you know, going from zero to one is infinitely hard, right? It's a step change. Yeah. So that in itself is difficult on every front, whether it's, you know, naming the business, establishing it, creating a logo. Designing a logo, yeah. Marketing it, finding the first jobs and projects. You know, everything is just hard and you're muscling it. Did you have the first project before you quit your business? No, I had a, I'd say, a healthy network of relationships. Right. So thankfully, you know, over 10, 15 years of working professionally, you know, I've developed a healthy network of relationships. Great. And anybody will tell you that business is about relationships. You know, we certainly operate by that, by those words, as opposed to just saying them. But thankfully, you know, I had a healthy network of relationships that I could draw upon and make that, you know, step forward. There were people who, as soon as they heard Jeremy Opperman had hung out his shingle, they were scrambling, like, we've got to get him. So that's awesome. But that takes courage and confidence. Yeah. When I first became independent, I already had a client lined up. So that takes a lot of courage and confidence. Sure. And maybe some savings. Yeah, that's part of it, too. And there were folks that helped me at that moment. Right. And so I won't name them here, but they know who they are. Yeah. They were helpful in that moment, you know, leading up to it, encouraging, and then going forward. And so I'll forever be, you know, indebted and grateful to those folks. Me, too. I'll leave it over there. I'll go to the mystery people. Right. It's the mysterious benefactor. Right. And then, you know, so going zero to one is difficult on all those fronts. But, you know, it's also exciting, and you're motivated to do all the things, right? So there's just some inherent motivation that comes with being in that moment. I'd say, maybe I'm jumping ahead, but I'd say the real difficulty was going from one to two, and two to four, and four to eight. You know, those early growth moments or those early growth, you know, phases were probably the most difficult part, I would say. Was there ever a moment where you thought, oh, boy, this might not work? I might need to go get a job. Well, I remember – I don't remember thinking that it won't work, but I remember thinking that, you know, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the work as an individual contributor, as a company of one. You know, I thoroughly enjoyed that. You know, you'll hear me say that, you know, the professional service aspect of what we do is very important to me. I enjoy being in a professional services organization. You know, you're serving people, serving clients in a professional manner with a high-quality service. I mean, I could do that, you know, as an individual for the rest of my career. I could do that in the life sciences. I could do that doing HPAC repair on, you know, residences. You know, so whatever – that service aspect is important to me. But making the decision to go from one to two and two to four and so forth, that was kind of a moment where I wasn't sure what I really wanted. And I think that's – thankfully, we grew to the point where we added folks like yourself and Denise Bachman and others that helped me kind of understand what are we doing, why are we doing it. And, of course, we learned – or I learned that by growing, you know, we can enable others to thrive within what we're building. And so that's extremely exciting, you know, to have that thought that we can take this really great thing that we've made and continue to broaden it out and give others opportunities to join in and participate in the special thing that we're building. Yeah. To share the success. To share the success. Yeah. That is actually something I hadn't – it hadn't occurred to me, but, you know, I get it. I get what you're saying, like – because I was an independent consultant for years, as you know, and part of it was I just loved doing the projects. And people would ask me, like, why don't you start a project management company? And my answer would always be, oh, I don't know if I want to do that. Now it's – now it becomes a different kind of job, right? And I'm not sure I want to do that. And, in fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to ever work for a company again. I didn't – I wasn't sure I ever wanted W-2 to be on my tax document ever again, right, until I met you. And when somebody interviews me for the show, we can get into my story. But when I met you and saw your vision and what you were trying to do, I was like, I think I can – and we kind of dated for a while before we, you know, got engaged, right? Right. And watching that, there was a moment where I was wondering, like, do we want to do this? Do we want to grow this thing or do we prefer this way? So what was – I know employee one was probably really hard, right? And you probably had to do a lot of research, like, what does it mean hiring somebody? What kind of legal requirements? Your accountant probably weighed in. Right. How did you make that decision to actually bring another person as opposed to saying, you know, I'm just going to do this myself? Yeah. Good question. It was kind of another invisible hand where the maybe first or it might have been the second project that I was doing was just more than I could do on my own. And, of course, I wanted to satisfy the client in what they were looking to do. And the only way to do that was to bring in some help. Okay. And so it was almost project forced that way of operating. Instead of saying, okay, you need to make a contract with the client, you just said, you'll just – you and I will do it. Right. I'll hire you and you'll do it. That's right. Wow. That is so similar to – I had a project like that and I went the opposite direction. I said – because it was offered to me. It was like, do you want to bring a man under you or do you want to – I was like, no, just – you can write a contract with me separately. Yeah. So, again, your courage is really coming into play. Yeah. And then it's – that opens up a whole new world because you don't – you no longer just have the relationship between me and the client. Now you have internal relationships of – there's internal BPM relationships that are happening. And so it's a whole different way of operating. And I think it was fine in that moment, but I went into it without a full plan. Right. Yeah. I think we had maybe two or three or we – reflect back on 2020, right? Yeah. When you and I were in a conference room. It was in 2020. It was in 2020. That's when it became real and intentional. I'm sorry. I'm just thinking about us. Young Steve and Jeremy. There's so much I need to warn you about. Yeah. We cannot. Right. One of our favorite authors. Yeah. We should have had, you know, photos taken so we could have old-fashioned, you know – Yeah, right. – hanging around. Like, hey, there we were in – Me with my short hair. 2020. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, thankfully, the right folks showed up in that time – in my, you know, timeline. I didn't know that I needed a Steve Vinson or that we needed a Steve Vinson. Nobody ever knows. In order to do what we were meant to do. Yeah. And it turns out that's what was needed, right? Yeah. So, you've got invisible hands, you know, hard at work all along the way. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it's, you know, through the hard work that we did and, you know, more than just you and I, we, but, you know, Denise and others. The hard work that we did was really kind of get on paper or get out from our hearts. What are we trying to do? Yeah. Right. And how are we going to operationalize that? That was the real hard work of, you know, of not starting the business but kind of, you know, it's almost like a rebirth of the business. VP of 2.0? 2.0. Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, that was the real hard work that was necessary in that moment, in that phase to set us up for the path that we've been on in the years since. Mm-hmm. So, again, I couldn't have done that on my own, right? I was inspired by, again, the fabric of what we're building and kind of our nature. But through the help of others, yourself included, is where we got serious about it and got intentional about getting it on paper and executing. Yeah. I mean, I like to think it's almost like there's a gravitational pull. Mm-hmm. And, like, you're at the center of where it's sort of orbiting. Because while maybe you could have, maybe you couldn't have done it on your own. Mm-hmm. I'll take your word for it that you couldn't have done it on your own. But it certainly would not have happened without you. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, and that's why I use this, like, spiritual center or beating heart. Sure. Because you are that gravitational force that attracts people to you. And we, not only do people just want to help you, but they realize that through helping you, they're going to get what they want, too. I think it was Zig Ziglar that said, help enough other people get what they want, and you'll have everything you ever wanted. Right. And it's been fantastic for me in that sense. But what in the, say, past few years, what's it been like? So, you know, if you think of it in phases, like there's VPM 1.0, you know, Amanda kicks Jeremy out of the house. Mm-hmm. And then 2.0, and then you hire a few people. Some people come, some people go. Right. Nobody ever knows they need a Steve. Steve shows up. We kick off VPM 2.0, and then nobody ever knows they need a Denise. And Denise shows up, and the next thing you know, we're doing, what, the book Rocket Fuel? Right. EOS. EOS, yeah. And we just, we set off on VPM 2.0. I think we're on 3.0 by now. Mm-hmm. What's that been like as the owner, the founder? A lot of people don't get to this point, as your dad and Big Mike probably pointed out. Yeah. A lot of people don't get to this point where you get to see this kind of growth. Sure. What's that been like? Yeah, it's been a journey, and it's challenging. It hasn't come easy in the sense that I've had to put in real work to walk that path, and so have you and Denise and others. But it's the journey that I was interested in in the first place. Mm-hmm. So you've heard me say before that it's not that end product, the end business that I'm motivated by. I'm motivated by this journey that we're walking, and the challenges and hills and mountains we're overcoming along the way. Right? So that's what I'm truly after. But that journey isn't easy. We've chosen not to just stand still. And we could have operated as a company of two or four or eight or whatever, but we chose not to. And that's creating challenge for ourselves to continue to learn and grow and walk the path. So that's why I describe it as challenging. Right? Yeah. It's not the easy path. But I think there's kind of a human truth in there. We're not designed to stand still. Yeah. We're designed to be moving and doing and growing and learning and building. So this is my and our opportunity to do that in a business setting. Right? Mm-hmm. And that's what ultimately motivates me to keep doing what we're doing. And then to go back to something you said about being kind of the beating heart of the business, that's great. I love that space. But another challenge in the growth has been where do we all fit in? Yeah. Right? And what roles are we serving in the company? Because when it's a company of one, I'm wearing all those different hats. Now, you mentioned my accountant previously. I was the accountant. You were the bookkeeper and the accountant. Right. Yeah. HR manager. Exactly. Yep. So another part of the journey has been creating these new seats, these new roles, which we've had multiple iterations of the roles. Right? And who's going to thrive best in each role? Mm-hmm. That's been some more hard work, too, in the growing business is where do I best fit? Yeah. So, again, thankfully, what you do, what Denise does, and others, we're helping each other identify where are we going to thrive. So that you're in your happy place. So that you're in your happy place. That's right. What I really want to get into a little bit is this point about putting all these things in place and being a growing business at the same time. Mm-hmm. And I think a lot of people have this question of why would you put all this stuff in place for a six-person company, eight-person company, 12-person company? You have way too much overhead for a company of your size. Right. It goes against conventional wisdom. Yeah. So to answer that a little bit, sort of ask why do that? Why not do it like everybody else does? There are non-conventional wisdom things going on at BPM. We've got executives in place. We've built a lot of infrastructure for how we run the company, processes, procedures, tools, and overhead. We've got a lot of internal work we do on things related to our values like DEIB and building out our platforms and our tools. So we have people doing non-billable work just working on the company. So the question might be why? Why do all that stuff before you've gotten to the size that a company typically would need to get to before you would actually need all that? Yeah. That's really the key question is why do it in that order? I think a lot of it has to do with quality. You know, I'm focused on quality in everything that I do. And I think talk about gravitational pull. I think that's something that has drawn each of us together as part of BPM is we all share that, you know, desire to produce something that's high quality. And I think in order to do that in the business, you need a solid foundation. Combine that with I'd say we're not chasing revenue. You know, we might say people over profits or we're not chasing profit as the primary purpose of the company, right? And so with those two, you know, things at play, it makes sense that we look at building a solid foundation before we try to grow and scale. You know, some people who, you know, when I say entrepreneurship and small business, some people might get the image of a Google or a tech startup, you know, that's going to have a rocket trajectory in the first year or two or five. And I'm sure that's an exciting experience, but it's not what we're driven by, you know, with our business. You know, if growth occurs and it has, I think it will continue for good reason, that's fantastic. But that's not what we're, that's not our primary driver. Our primary driver is to create something that's high quality, attractive, and, you know, is stable and capable of growing before we achieve that growth. Because I think what could happen in that situation is you're growing on a shifting foundation and it could topple over, right? And we certainly don't want that to happen and impact negatively all the lives that were, you know, that are part of our company now. I think that's why we're so focused on that. I can't say it any better. I think we're certainly in alignment on that. So what did I not ask that you were hoping I would ask? I'd say the, you know, we mentioned shared success. And I'm not sure what the question is, but ultimately it's, you know, why is that important to us? Why are we different in that way? And I think it's important, you know this, and Denise knows this, and I think everybody that works with us knows it. But, you know, we are, we're different by design. And I think it goes back to your previous question. Why establish a foundation like that and make that the primary focus? But, you know, we're focused on these elements that are important to us, you know, that align with our values. You know, it's the people focus, the quality focus, the environment, the fabric that we're, you know, building this company out of. Another one of those values is this shared success. You know, I'm not building this. We aren't building this to enrich ourselves to the maximum, you know, amount. We're building this because we want to build something that's special and involve others in it and allow them to bring their talents to the table. Not just for, you know, a fair wage. We want to include everybody in this, you know, share in the success of what we're building. We're still figuring out what that means. We've gone through a couple iterations of it, and I think we'll continue to do that. But that is foundational to who we are, why we're doing this, you know, how we operate is, you know, doing it in such a way that we can share in the success of the business, which I think makes us unique. Yeah, I think so. And the other unique aspect of that is when you think of sharing success, you're not just thinking of sharing money. You're also thinking of what you said earlier. When you made your decision to bring more people on, like, that's an opportunity to share opportunities to do good work. Right. To professionally develop. All the investments we've made in professional development and training, investments we've made in people being able to enrich themselves professionally, personally, that's part of the shared success. And then they get to share their success with other people. Yeah. Because one of the other things I love about our company is if somebody has a challenge on a project they're working on, they're not on their own. It's not even just Jeremy or Steve or Denise jumping in and helping them. Everybody in the company will swarm around a problem and take joy in helping this person get through an obstacle. And now we have a lesson learned that that person brings back and says, here's how I got through this obstacle. Oh, by the way, make sure you ask Sam or make sure you ask Jamie because, you know, they helped me through this. And if you have this specific problem, they can really help you. You know, that is all shared success also. Absolutely. And a couple points on that. I hope I can keep them all in my mind. But, number one, you know, all of the challenges that I described going through in the business going from zero to one to two and so forth, those were all, you know, growing opportunities. And that's the way growth works. You know, it's hard in the moment. You look back on it from the future and you're like, oh, that was a growth period. That's why that was so painful. Of course. But, you know, growth is important, you know, individually and as a company. But, you know, we're giving or sharing that opportunity for growth with everybody that's coming to work with us, right? We're providing an environment that's going to challenge them and grow them. And we know that, you know, that's part of, you know, sharing in the success of our business. So that's very important to us. It's interesting, too, because that version of shared success applies to our clients and other contract firms who happen to be on our project teams. Right. Because we do the same. When we're leading a project, as project managers, we're leaders, right? And I believe strongly in this, you treat your folks well, they'll treat your customers well. Because we provide this foundation for our folks, when they're leading projects, they're providing opportunities for those project team members to grow and to learn and to be fulfilled. And isn't that something? When you can say, we have clients come to us and say, I'm so glad that you were on my project because I feel like I've grown. I feel like the team just pulled together. It was hard. It was challenging. But we did it. And we feel good about that. The other piece is that ripple effect. Something you said earlier just makes me think of that. You know, it's that ripple effect in our industry, in our personal lives. You know, the way we choose to operate as a business and with our staff, that ripples out beyond us. So, you know, I think that's another way of sharing in the success and sharing in the way we do business and bringing that, you know, further than we can reach ourselves. Well said. Well said. Is there an online resource or a book or something? You're so smart. How'd you get so smart? What can you share with the listeners? Something you've read or some online resources? Well, I think I'm not going to call it one specific thing, but I'd say just continued, you know, thirst for knowledge and growth. So I'm a big audio book consumer. I'm a big podcast consumer. So it's all driven by, you know, an expansion of understanding, an expansion of skills, communication, whatever it may be. It's, you know, it's constantly, you know, seeking that expansion of skill set. Well done. You know, you just had an election and that was a good politician. What's your second favorite podcast? I know what your favorite podcast is. Oh, that's a good question. One that I really have enjoyed is, I think I'm going to get the name right, but it's called How I Built This. Oh, yeah. I think it's an NBR, maybe family podcast, but it's, you know, each episode they're interviewing a different, you know, company founder. And you get to hear the roots of how these companies were founded. And it's just fascinating. It's inspirational. It's educational. So that's kind of a go-to for me, especially in those moments where you are going through growth. Yeah, right. And you're like, man, this is hard. Why is everything so hard right now? Yeah. And you forget that it's because of the growth phase that you're in. But that's a good resource to go to and get some, you know, some therapy on other companies that have done similar things. How I Built This. How I Built This. Okay, what if somebody wants to get more information about what we talked about today? Yeah, we're big users of LinkedIn. Yeah. So find us on LinkedIn. Follow us. Connect with us. Like our posts, whether it's BPM Associates on LinkedIn, myself, yourself, and our website as well. Awesome. But don't forget the dash, bpm-associates.com. That's right. And speaking of things not to forget, don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, do all the Internet things. And go to TheLifeScienceEffect.com or bpm-associates.com. Jeremy, it's been a joy. You did great. Thank you very much. I think I did pretty well, too. I always do pretty well. I'm glad we finally knew that. Thank you. We pulled it off. We'll have to get to these on next. I would love that. All right. I'll do that. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.