Coach Tim Campsall: Hey Austin, welcome to the show. Before we started recording, you mentioned something that you were doing in the past that was sucking you into the day-to-day and killing growth in the business. What was that?
Austin Walls: Hey Tim. Yeah, it was ⁓ involvement in the business was so deep in aspect that I found that employees were constantly coming to me for everything. I couldn't turn around without a question.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, it's a very common problem that I hear, especially as businesses grow. So let's dig into that a little bit. What specifically were you doing and how was that the company's growth?
Austin Walls: Well, you know, ⁓ have a very open relationship with all of my employees, you know, really treat them more like family. so they're very comfortable with me and comfortable with asking questions. And our ⁓ I kept so close to the vest that I was the warehouse manager. I was the ordering manager. I was sales manager. I was doing the payroll and doing all the accounting. so doing all of those things, you know, I wasn't
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: I wasn't allowing them to have enough ownership in their jobs, I think, to make decisions without feeling like they had to come to me first.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hmm. Yeah. And so how, what was the impact to the company's growth of you wearing all those hats and, that after you it through you.
Austin Walls: Well, well, you know, I would say throughout that process of kind of ⁓ some of that control and giving more ownership to the salespeople, to my office manager, to my warehouse crew, throughout that process, what I was learning to do was learning to trust them a little bit more. In terms of growth, we were on a good growth plane the entire time. But I had really outside of work, no home life, ⁓ know, just tied to the job constantly. And I do think because of that also missing some the aspects of the business that I couldn't see because I was so close to it. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Surprise! Yeah. Mmm, sure. Yeah. So you so you mentioned your the home life. What was the impact to you personally?
Austin Walls: Well, I have four kids and wife and I love them all dearly and they are very supportive of me. They always have been. And I like to return that favor by being supportive of them and the things that they want to do as well. And when you're sucked into the business daily in the way that I was, you end missing out on a lot of things. know, patients don't happen nearly as often. I would say
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Mmm, yeah.
Austin Walls: We've been on more vacations in the last three or four years than we probably went on the first 14 years of our marriage. So, yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: wow, ⁓ yeah, it's certainly business ownership has a bit of a burden, especially the beginning. So while you were that messy middle moment, what'd you realize that had to change and what'd you start doing differently?
Austin Walls: Well, the first thing was, know, I the inventory system. So I did all the ordering. knew what we had in. I knew what we had coming. You know, I was constantly checking to make sure that things were coming for customers, that it was going to be right. So I was so involved in that process that it was impossible for anybody to have the information that they needed. So the first step was realizing that we were way too big.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm. Right?
Austin Walls: to not have a point of sale in inventory systems. That was the first step to that, a little bit of freedom. So once we had that in place, the salespeople have a lot more tools at their disposal, right? They can what we have in a product, they can see what we wanna get out of it. ⁓ But the second step in that process was also giving them ownership in it. So...
Coach Tim Campsall: yeah. Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Yeah.
Austin Walls: I have never been part of a very strict background. Always been small business, family business. And so, you know, giving the ownership to say, hey, look, you know, I want you to sell, I want you to make money. We've got to make money too, but you have to take some ownership in this. if somebody's pushing for a better or asking for things like, I'm going to give you the leeway to say yes. to get this done and to feel like you're doing the best thing that you can do for your customer. Because ultimately that's what we want. We want the customer to win. If the customer wins, then I believe we win too.
Coach Tim Campsall: Well, thank you for sharing. I'm glad to hear that you've made some progress on that and you've been able to take some vacations by delegating some of those things and using some systems to automate some stuff. Austin, tell us what's the name of your company? What do you guys do? How do help folks?
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah. So Walls Furniture and Mattress. We are in Kokomo, Indiana. We've been in Kokomo for seven years now, but I have done this for 31 years. It is a family business. My parents started a furniture store in Muncie, Indiana, right before I turned 16 years old. So quite, quite some time spent in furniture. only only took a one year hiatus to work for another.
Coach Tim Campsall: you
Austin Walls: furniture store for about a year before I realized that if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it for myself. So we a mid-price point furniture store. I ⁓ to that we ⁓ are the that come to when they want good value, they want a good price, but they also want somebody who is going to take of them. You know, it's going to give service after the sale if they have issues, which is oftentimes the thing that's missing.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hehehehehe
Austin Walls: from low and mid price point products. that the higher end customers are used to getting, that guys in the middle and the bottom, they just think, well, you know, I'm not get that. If something goes wrong, I'm just gonna have to go buy a new one. But we're not store. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: said that took over the family business. stepping into ownership requires a bit of a leap of faith. Austin, so what was biggest surprise between what you expected ownership to be like and what it's actually been like?
Austin Walls: Yeah. you well, you know, I would say my when they got into this business in the nineties was kind of, it was kind of like the wild, wild west in terms of money in the furniture business. Things were going great. Companies growing. Stores were popping up left and right. And, you know, it was really a great time to be in. And I saw what my parents and I thought, Hey, this looks pretty easy. I quickly realized when I got into the business as owner in ⁓ the ⁓ 2000s that the landscape was much, much more difficult. ⁓ There was lot more competition. ⁓ We were starting to see some competition kind of creep in from online. You're kind of starting to see the beginnings of that. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Hahaha! and... right. Bye. Yeah.
Austin Walls: that really kind of accelerated a little after 2010, but we were seeing it early on. We were also seeing in the markets that we were in, know, factories closing and some, some kind of changing of the guard regard to people's careers, you know, and I think thought it was going be a lot easier, I would say. And I quickly found out that that was not the case, that it was going to be a very tough, very competitive.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Austin Walls: You know, you have to have a high tolerance for in this business. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yes. ⁓ A common thing I hear is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be because there's a lot of hats to wear, right?
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. you're signing your name on the dotted line for loans and for lines of credit and things that you need to get going. And all of those things, ⁓ you're on hook for, ⁓ even if don't do well. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Right? Yeah. The bank doesn't care if there isn't money available this week. loan is still due. ⁓
Austin Walls: That's correct. The payment is still due. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Before the show, Austin, you shared that you're the sales manager, the warehouse manager, and the accountant right now. Earlier, you've gotten some other roles off of your plate and freed up some of those hats, but these ones are still the hats you're wearing, and it keeps pulling into the day-to-day. So give us some context around that. What's happening today?
Austin Walls: Yeah, well, you know, you and I've talked here recently, you know, I've been on the delivery truck for four weeks. know, it has been quite a struggle to find the right person to go the truck. Now, I could have hired anybody. I've interviewed maybe a dozen people just made a hire yesterday. Like we spoke before I came on. He ⁓ on Monday, but I want to hire just anybody. I want somebody that's going to the right fit. Right. And so I've been on the truck for the last four weeks every day doing deliveries. Some days that means three or four deliveries, some days that means seven, eight. On top of that, I still take care of my customers. So I still have service calls. I still have, you know, things to fix touch ups to do. ⁓ so I still have to fit all of that in too. you know, on top of that, you know, making sure that, you know, when orders come in that customers get called, I've got a
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin Walls: You know, I've empowered my salespeople be on the sales floor and sell, but still require me to out when I'm here in the store and to talk to them and ask them what's going on? What are people saying? What are they looking for? What are we missing? know, what do we need? And the same with the sales manager or with my office manager at the front desk saying, you know, how are we doing? are we doing for people? What needs to be done? ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Austin Walls: So still constantly in Now it's not as involved in the sense that I don't have to be in the store 24-7. That has allowed me to be on the truck and deliver all day long, right? ⁓ And for store not to miss a beat while I'm not in here. But I still have to do those things as well. I still have to make sure that everybody knows I'm paying attention. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yes. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. And yeah, fear of flight, right? Yes, yes.
Austin Walls: You know, and I need accountability and tell me what's going on.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, that's super important is that left to our own will always be less efficient and less effective than are if we have somebody managing us, holding us accountable. And so with of and you also are the accountant. ⁓
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah. you know, fortunately there, you I have accounting system, know, that makes that a easier for me. If I were to go ⁓ 10 years and look at I was 10 years ago, I spent so much time on accounting. ⁓ And, you know, and at the of year, it always be a mess to get everything to my accountant. You know, he's, you know, you know,
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: your corporation, so March the 15th is coming up. Like we got to, you you don't have till April the 15th. We've got to get this filed. You've got to get this turned in earlier. And so, you you're trying to figure out, you know, how do I do this in between everything else? And now I have a pretty good system. So when get to the end of the year and I turn everything into my accountant, you know, I might have a day worth of work to
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there, good for you.
Austin Walls: to reconcile all of my accounts and make sure because I'm doing those things daily. So I am doing daily accounting and then I'm going in and I'm doing monthly reconciliations and I'm making sure that clued in on exactly what's going on with my business all the time. What's my cash flow? What's my situation look like? Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: for you. So Austin, know earlier you've got things off of your plate and we're able to delegate those. But today now ⁓ with wearing the sales manager hat and the warehouse manager hat and the accountant hat, what's that keeping you from? How does affect the business an opportunity standpoint?
Austin Walls: Thank Well, you know, sometimes fresh set of eyes is important. I you know, I can see things that I couldn't see 10 years ago. But even in that situation, a lot of things that I still don't see. ⁓ I'm a victim of my past you so sometimes I see things and I go, ⁓ I've seen that before where somebody might look at it completely different than I would and see a different solution than I would see, right? So I think where we're at right now as a company is, you you described that messy middle, right? Like we're still solidly in that messy middle because we are not, we're too big to be a small business, but we're too small to be a big business, right?
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Austin Walls: And really I could use somebody to run the day-to-day operations of business, but the sales we're at just can't cover it. ⁓ And that's a decision. Do you hire somebody for a position knowing that they're going to have grow?
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, fair.
Austin Walls: keep that position or do you try to grow it yourself to get to a position where you can hire somebody and step back? The cost to me is that hard for me as an entrepreneur to dive into other businesses. ⁓ And I I have two other side hustles that I do ⁓ that don't get nearly as much attention as they ⁓ need.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm. ⁓ Yeah. Okay? Yeah.
Austin Walls: ⁓ And both of those things could actually be very profitable for me if I could pour myself into them. yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay. Fair enough, yeah. So it sounds like, sounds like, you know, working through this is, is, is definitely a priority for the year. so that you're able to, to get that time to be able to invest in your other explorations. For those listening, I'm coach Tim Camps. So when we work with business owners in the messy middle where the business outgrows, how it's being run and keeps the owner too much in the day to day. So Austin, what lesson do you wish you'd learn sooner as an owner?
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: allow you to get out of the day to day and ⁓ was the cost of not knowing that sooner.
Austin Walls: Yeah, I think it would have been to empower people to have feeling ownership ⁓ of their and their responsibilities. I think it took me too long to understand how to empower them ⁓ to make those without feeling like they had to come to me for them.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: So would say that would be the biggest lesson that I've learned is learning to trust people. Learning to trust that they're going to the best that they can do. And they're going to do it because I done a good job myself ⁓ of into them and ⁓ giving the to do so.
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And trust it's, that's a big deal, right? You know, you've, you've created this, you've built this baby, you've created it, you figure, you know, you've had all of your own lessons of figuring out how to do it well because of all of the mistakes you learn through. And then it's like, and now I have to, I have to let go of all that and have somebody else make their own mistakes. ⁓
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's been a big one, know, the trust thing. And I would also say too, not pushing too hard. There is such a thing as good sustainable growth, right? Natural, organic, sustainable growth. There's definitely that concept, which I didn't see early. I thought early on. that I would go in and I would see this growth immediately when we opened our first store in Anderson, Indiana. That was back in 2005. And I didn't get that right away. I was not very patient. And so I started another business in 2010, and that one took off. It did really, really well. So then I thought, OK, well, this is good. This I can duplicate. This is something that I can do in multiple places.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: And so I duplicated it four different times and failed every single time. I only succeeded the first time. That was it. The first one was the success. And so I think too, you know, being ⁓ a victim sometimes of that ⁓ success when happen quickly, you know, and you go, ⁓ I can do this over and over and over again. I didn't give myself time to learn why it actually worked.
Coach Tim Campsall: you Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, yeah.
Austin Walls: you know, and the formula wasn't there, what I tried to do, the duplication, I wasn't duplicating the right formula.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the things I see in that is that it's to duplicate yourself, right? So if a lot times the reason that the business is successful is because the owner's wearing all the different hats that you've already shared with them, right? And so if wearing all the hats in location one, it's pretty hard to cut and paste yourself into location two, right? Something has to give,
Austin Walls: Mm-hmm. Bye. Yes. Ahem.
Coach Tim Campsall: until we get location one to the point that I can run without us. we can cut and paste that into location two.
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah, that was a big problem. the right people that do the job in there. then not as well, think, location, geography, population density. There were a lot of other figures that went in there. I thought, that looks like a great location. I think the price is about where I need it to be. Everything else will fall in place. No. No.
Coach Tim Campsall: Sure, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The fallacy of if we build it, they will come is not correct, right?
Austin Walls: Right. No, there's a lot more, there is a lot more planning and research that should go into it. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mm-hmm. So Austin, in your journey when things have felt stuck or ⁓ changed when you brought in an outside perspective?
Austin Walls: well you know outside perspective is key because again you know we are as a society i think a lot of times like stuck in a box ⁓ you we have this week we have this box of ideas that shaped by our past experiences it's shaped by you know whatever knowledge that we have ⁓ and none that's a bad thing necessarily sometimes we're very very good at
Coach Tim Campsall: See you. Mm. Yeah.
Austin Walls: you know, things, you know, doing, you know, very specific tasks or whatever. But in business, you learn that, ⁓ know, the that you're great at, those are the things you should do. The things that you're not great at, those are the things you should find somebody else to do, right? So I that's the key with outside perspective. I get that my wife a lot ⁓ because she's very than I am.
Coach Tim Campsall: You Yes, yes. ⁓ huh. Yeah.
Austin Walls: And so she challenges me when we talk through things. Her ideas are very different than my ideas. My ideas are very logical and structured and I, you know, this follows this follows this follows this and it has to all make sense. And sometimes her thoughts, I like a spider web. mean, it's like, it's all over the place. But in that, in that, you know, process,
Coach Tim Campsall: You
Austin Walls: she is so much more open-minded and she's going in a lot more different direction. She's open to a lot more than I'm open to. ⁓ And I have to give that, you know, a And so, you know, through compromise, a lot of times, you know, I'll say, hey, look, if you, that's not way that I would do it, but I want you to experience this, you know, through lens. And so if you believe strongly that
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm, yeah. Yeah.
Austin Walls: we should do this, we've done things my way so often, let's do it your way and let's see how goes. the reason we have a point of sale system. She's the reason we have an inventory system. ⁓ fought that. I don't need it. It's right here. I know exactly what we have.
Coach Tim Campsall: Sure. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah. We, my world, all those things, buying back your time, right? I'm left in the POS, it frees up my time of not having to do it myself, right? I invest in an inventory system, I don't have to do it myself. The ⁓ you said to like stay in your lane or focus on the stuff that you're good at. right, so we have our clients do a time study ⁓ and track do they, where are they spending their time every hour over a couple of weeks.
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Then we critique it together and go, right, these things are $25 an hour jobs. Why are you doing that? Then we work through the excuses because we all have them. Nobody can do it as well as me. It's just easier if I do it myself. But it's the opportunity cost. Your worth to the organization is two or three or $500 an hour, so stop doing the $25.
Austin Walls: Right.
Coach Tim Campsall: dollar an hour jobs so that you can be bringing in more $500 opportunities. And so then it's who do you delegate it to? Who do you outsource it to? Might we have to hire? And of course, financials come into play, but then you can do the compare and contrast. Well, if I had 10 more hours a week or five more hours a week, I could be doing this strategic stuff, business building stuff, and that's going to more than pay for this new hire.
Austin Walls: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, a great example of that. I've got a brother-in-law in business as well, too, and he has always been way better at this than I am at going out and getting large contracts or, you know, building other business relationships. Whenever anybody asks me, who do you know in business? I say, well, I mean, I know some people, but I don't spend time cultivating those relationships, so I don't have, you know, that kind of relationship with other business owners. where he is in all these different networking groups and he's meeting business owners all the time and making introductions and he's referring business to this person and he ends up, like I said, large contract jobs because who he knows, I, as a business owner, I don't know that I could say that I've ever gotten one of those jobs because I so
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: committed to the business and the day-to-day aspects of the business, I don't go out and I don't do that networking. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah. it is that you mentioned, right, ⁓ in the messy middle. It's a natural, you know, evolution, right? The messy middle is we see the potential, but you know, the business has grown to the point that it still relies a lot on us and being able to grow through that, right, and get more people, delegate more things, free up more of our time. We start transition from, ⁓ you know, a job to truly be in a business owner where we can think big picture and strategically and network and all that stuff. But it's a natural part of the growth journey. And that's the whole point of our show. And so our show is called Self Made is a Myth because we that no gets there on their own. So Austin, I'd to have you tell us then who are the three people in your business owner that you wouldn't. have achieved the successes that you have without them and how they help you along the way.
Austin Walls: man, there's, you know, so I would first and foremost, this is two people, but my parents, right? I was fortunate enough that my parents got into a business that was a good lucrative business get into. They did it, like I said, right I turned 16 they needed me to help them. So I was in immediately.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. ⁓
Austin Walls: be a part of this. I didn't really have a choice and that's great. I didn't mind. I actually getting paid. as a 16 year old, that was nice. ⁓ without my parents, mean my dad gave me the example of being a business owner. He always said he wanted to own a business. He didn't want to work in a business. So I got that of which was to see.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Austin Walls: And then my mother really was the engine that made it run, the day-to-day operations. And I think I learned a lot from her about work ethic, what it means to show up every day and what it means to truly be committed to making something work, right? So I would have to say those two definitely of lumped into one, a great of yin and yang representation of business owners, you know, in the way that they went about doing things on a daily basis. My uncle, JD Long, actually there are several businesses around Indianapolis and then south into Franklin and Bloomington, Indiana that exist because of him. He sadly passed away a few years back, but he was the visionary that led a lot of people into the furniture industry. ⁓ He got my parents into it, he got my aunt and uncle into it. a couple of stores in the Bloomington area that exist because of his leadership and what he did to inspire to ⁓ go out create their own furniture stores. And ⁓ there's a store in Indianapolis, stores actually, that grew out of another one of his
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay.
Austin Walls: He was just somebody inspiring in terms of business. And then where I'm at today, know, reps, know, friends, there's been a lot of people that have helped along, but one person, another person who was a furniture rep actually worked for uncle in Bloomington for years. how I met him. a good friend of mine, was a for furniture lines ⁓ for a long time for is the reason why I'm in Kokomo. You know, was a time where I didn't know if I was going to continue on with this journey and I was ⁓ sharing my with him. You know, he kind of poured into me and said, you know, you can do this. I know you can. We just got to get you in the right place. And I know that know where that place is. I know where it is.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hmm.
Austin Walls: nobody else knows that it's going to be available. And think the timing is right. He introduced to the gentleman that I bought this ⁓ store from I'm in now. sadly, Ronnie passed away. That his name, Ronnie ⁓ Goins. He passed away couple of years ago So I lost him as well. I've had, I've been fortunate to people that believe in me and people that inspire and pour into
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm.
Austin Walls: And that's what I want to do for the people around me. I want to do the exact same thing.
Coach Tim Campsall: So Austin, if those folks were with us here today, and I know a couple of them have already passed, but what would you want to say to them?
Austin Walls: mean, again, Thanks believing in me. Thank you leading by example, showing what it means be committed to something and positioning your mind and your body and your energy to achieve the goals that you want achieve. More than anything, just, yeah, thank you. you for pouring into me and believing in me.
Coach Tim Campsall: Austin, I appreciate your insights and with some of the things that you've worked through and currently through. Thanks so much for being on the show.
Austin Walls: Thanks for having me.
Coach Tim Campsall: If you're stuck in the messy middle, there's a way through it and you don't need to figure it out on your own. Our two week coaching trial helps you to see exactly what's holding you back and how to to ⁓ alleviate that. The link is in the description below. And if this conversation resonated, like it, comment and subscribe so you don't miss our next episode. I'll see you all next time.
Austin Walls: Hey Tim. Yeah, it was ⁓ involvement in the business was so deep in aspect that I found that employees were constantly coming to me for everything. I couldn't turn around without a question.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, it's a very common problem that I hear, especially as businesses grow. So let's dig into that a little bit. What specifically were you doing and how was that the company's growth?
Austin Walls: Well, you know, ⁓ have a very open relationship with all of my employees, you know, really treat them more like family. so they're very comfortable with me and comfortable with asking questions. And our ⁓ I kept so close to the vest that I was the warehouse manager. I was the ordering manager. I was sales manager. I was doing the payroll and doing all the accounting. so doing all of those things, you know, I wasn't
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: I wasn't allowing them to have enough ownership in their jobs, I think, to make decisions without feeling like they had to come to me first.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hmm. Yeah. And so how, what was the impact to the company's growth of you wearing all those hats and, that after you it through you.
Austin Walls: Well, well, you know, I would say throughout that process of kind of ⁓ some of that control and giving more ownership to the salespeople, to my office manager, to my warehouse crew, throughout that process, what I was learning to do was learning to trust them a little bit more. In terms of growth, we were on a good growth plane the entire time. But I had really outside of work, no home life, ⁓ know, just tied to the job constantly. And I do think because of that also missing some the aspects of the business that I couldn't see because I was so close to it. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Surprise! Yeah. Mmm, sure. Yeah. So you so you mentioned your the home life. What was the impact to you personally?
Austin Walls: Well, I have four kids and wife and I love them all dearly and they are very supportive of me. They always have been. And I like to return that favor by being supportive of them and the things that they want to do as well. And when you're sucked into the business daily in the way that I was, you end missing out on a lot of things. know, patients don't happen nearly as often. I would say
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Mmm, yeah.
Austin Walls: We've been on more vacations in the last three or four years than we probably went on the first 14 years of our marriage. So, yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: wow, ⁓ yeah, it's certainly business ownership has a bit of a burden, especially the beginning. So while you were that messy middle moment, what'd you realize that had to change and what'd you start doing differently?
Austin Walls: Well, the first thing was, know, I the inventory system. So I did all the ordering. knew what we had in. I knew what we had coming. You know, I was constantly checking to make sure that things were coming for customers, that it was going to be right. So I was so involved in that process that it was impossible for anybody to have the information that they needed. So the first step was realizing that we were way too big.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm. Right?
Austin Walls: to not have a point of sale in inventory systems. That was the first step to that, a little bit of freedom. So once we had that in place, the salespeople have a lot more tools at their disposal, right? They can what we have in a product, they can see what we wanna get out of it. ⁓ But the second step in that process was also giving them ownership in it. So...
Coach Tim Campsall: yeah. Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Yeah.
Austin Walls: I have never been part of a very strict background. Always been small business, family business. And so, you know, giving the ownership to say, hey, look, you know, I want you to sell, I want you to make money. We've got to make money too, but you have to take some ownership in this. if somebody's pushing for a better or asking for things like, I'm going to give you the leeway to say yes. to get this done and to feel like you're doing the best thing that you can do for your customer. Because ultimately that's what we want. We want the customer to win. If the customer wins, then I believe we win too.
Coach Tim Campsall: Well, thank you for sharing. I'm glad to hear that you've made some progress on that and you've been able to take some vacations by delegating some of those things and using some systems to automate some stuff. Austin, tell us what's the name of your company? What do you guys do? How do help folks?
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah. So Walls Furniture and Mattress. We are in Kokomo, Indiana. We've been in Kokomo for seven years now, but I have done this for 31 years. It is a family business. My parents started a furniture store in Muncie, Indiana, right before I turned 16 years old. So quite, quite some time spent in furniture. only only took a one year hiatus to work for another.
Coach Tim Campsall: you
Austin Walls: furniture store for about a year before I realized that if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it for myself. So we a mid-price point furniture store. I ⁓ to that we ⁓ are the that come to when they want good value, they want a good price, but they also want somebody who is going to take of them. You know, it's going to give service after the sale if they have issues, which is oftentimes the thing that's missing.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hehehehehe
Austin Walls: from low and mid price point products. that the higher end customers are used to getting, that guys in the middle and the bottom, they just think, well, you know, I'm not get that. If something goes wrong, I'm just gonna have to go buy a new one. But we're not store. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: said that took over the family business. stepping into ownership requires a bit of a leap of faith. Austin, so what was biggest surprise between what you expected ownership to be like and what it's actually been like?
Austin Walls: Yeah. you well, you know, I would say my when they got into this business in the nineties was kind of, it was kind of like the wild, wild west in terms of money in the furniture business. Things were going great. Companies growing. Stores were popping up left and right. And, you know, it was really a great time to be in. And I saw what my parents and I thought, Hey, this looks pretty easy. I quickly realized when I got into the business as owner in ⁓ the ⁓ 2000s that the landscape was much, much more difficult. ⁓ There was lot more competition. ⁓ We were starting to see some competition kind of creep in from online. You're kind of starting to see the beginnings of that. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Hahaha! and... right. Bye. Yeah.
Austin Walls: that really kind of accelerated a little after 2010, but we were seeing it early on. We were also seeing in the markets that we were in, know, factories closing and some, some kind of changing of the guard regard to people's careers, you know, and I think thought it was going be a lot easier, I would say. And I quickly found out that that was not the case, that it was going to be a very tough, very competitive.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Austin Walls: You know, you have to have a high tolerance for in this business. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yes. ⁓ A common thing I hear is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be because there's a lot of hats to wear, right?
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. you're signing your name on the dotted line for loans and for lines of credit and things that you need to get going. And all of those things, ⁓ you're on hook for, ⁓ even if don't do well. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Right? Yeah. The bank doesn't care if there isn't money available this week. loan is still due. ⁓
Austin Walls: That's correct. The payment is still due. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Before the show, Austin, you shared that you're the sales manager, the warehouse manager, and the accountant right now. Earlier, you've gotten some other roles off of your plate and freed up some of those hats, but these ones are still the hats you're wearing, and it keeps pulling into the day-to-day. So give us some context around that. What's happening today?
Austin Walls: Yeah, well, you know, you and I've talked here recently, you know, I've been on the delivery truck for four weeks. know, it has been quite a struggle to find the right person to go the truck. Now, I could have hired anybody. I've interviewed maybe a dozen people just made a hire yesterday. Like we spoke before I came on. He ⁓ on Monday, but I want to hire just anybody. I want somebody that's going to the right fit. Right. And so I've been on the truck for the last four weeks every day doing deliveries. Some days that means three or four deliveries, some days that means seven, eight. On top of that, I still take care of my customers. So I still have service calls. I still have, you know, things to fix touch ups to do. ⁓ so I still have to fit all of that in too. you know, on top of that, you know, making sure that, you know, when orders come in that customers get called, I've got a
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin Walls: You know, I've empowered my salespeople be on the sales floor and sell, but still require me to out when I'm here in the store and to talk to them and ask them what's going on? What are people saying? What are they looking for? What are we missing? know, what do we need? And the same with the sales manager or with my office manager at the front desk saying, you know, how are we doing? are we doing for people? What needs to be done? ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Austin Walls: So still constantly in Now it's not as involved in the sense that I don't have to be in the store 24-7. That has allowed me to be on the truck and deliver all day long, right? ⁓ And for store not to miss a beat while I'm not in here. But I still have to do those things as well. I still have to make sure that everybody knows I'm paying attention. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yes. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. And yeah, fear of flight, right? Yes, yes.
Austin Walls: You know, and I need accountability and tell me what's going on.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, that's super important is that left to our own will always be less efficient and less effective than are if we have somebody managing us, holding us accountable. And so with of and you also are the accountant. ⁓
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah. you know, fortunately there, you I have accounting system, know, that makes that a easier for me. If I were to go ⁓ 10 years and look at I was 10 years ago, I spent so much time on accounting. ⁓ And, you know, and at the of year, it always be a mess to get everything to my accountant. You know, he's, you know, you know,
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: your corporation, so March the 15th is coming up. Like we got to, you you don't have till April the 15th. We've got to get this filed. You've got to get this turned in earlier. And so, you you're trying to figure out, you know, how do I do this in between everything else? And now I have a pretty good system. So when get to the end of the year and I turn everything into my accountant, you know, I might have a day worth of work to
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there, good for you.
Austin Walls: to reconcile all of my accounts and make sure because I'm doing those things daily. So I am doing daily accounting and then I'm going in and I'm doing monthly reconciliations and I'm making sure that clued in on exactly what's going on with my business all the time. What's my cash flow? What's my situation look like? Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: for you. So Austin, know earlier you've got things off of your plate and we're able to delegate those. But today now ⁓ with wearing the sales manager hat and the warehouse manager hat and the accountant hat, what's that keeping you from? How does affect the business an opportunity standpoint?
Austin Walls: Thank Well, you know, sometimes fresh set of eyes is important. I you know, I can see things that I couldn't see 10 years ago. But even in that situation, a lot of things that I still don't see. ⁓ I'm a victim of my past you so sometimes I see things and I go, ⁓ I've seen that before where somebody might look at it completely different than I would and see a different solution than I would see, right? So I think where we're at right now as a company is, you you described that messy middle, right? Like we're still solidly in that messy middle because we are not, we're too big to be a small business, but we're too small to be a big business, right?
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Austin Walls: And really I could use somebody to run the day-to-day operations of business, but the sales we're at just can't cover it. ⁓ And that's a decision. Do you hire somebody for a position knowing that they're going to have grow?
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, fair.
Austin Walls: keep that position or do you try to grow it yourself to get to a position where you can hire somebody and step back? The cost to me is that hard for me as an entrepreneur to dive into other businesses. ⁓ And I I have two other side hustles that I do ⁓ that don't get nearly as much attention as they ⁓ need.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm. ⁓ Yeah. Okay? Yeah.
Austin Walls: ⁓ And both of those things could actually be very profitable for me if I could pour myself into them. yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay. Fair enough, yeah. So it sounds like, sounds like, you know, working through this is, is, is definitely a priority for the year. so that you're able to, to get that time to be able to invest in your other explorations. For those listening, I'm coach Tim Camps. So when we work with business owners in the messy middle where the business outgrows, how it's being run and keeps the owner too much in the day to day. So Austin, what lesson do you wish you'd learn sooner as an owner?
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: allow you to get out of the day to day and ⁓ was the cost of not knowing that sooner.
Austin Walls: Yeah, I think it would have been to empower people to have feeling ownership ⁓ of their and their responsibilities. I think it took me too long to understand how to empower them ⁓ to make those without feeling like they had to come to me for them.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: So would say that would be the biggest lesson that I've learned is learning to trust people. Learning to trust that they're going to the best that they can do. And they're going to do it because I done a good job myself ⁓ of into them and ⁓ giving the to do so.
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And trust it's, that's a big deal, right? You know, you've, you've created this, you've built this baby, you've created it, you figure, you know, you've had all of your own lessons of figuring out how to do it well because of all of the mistakes you learn through. And then it's like, and now I have to, I have to let go of all that and have somebody else make their own mistakes. ⁓
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's been a big one, know, the trust thing. And I would also say too, not pushing too hard. There is such a thing as good sustainable growth, right? Natural, organic, sustainable growth. There's definitely that concept, which I didn't see early. I thought early on. that I would go in and I would see this growth immediately when we opened our first store in Anderson, Indiana. That was back in 2005. And I didn't get that right away. I was not very patient. And so I started another business in 2010, and that one took off. It did really, really well. So then I thought, OK, well, this is good. This I can duplicate. This is something that I can do in multiple places.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: And so I duplicated it four different times and failed every single time. I only succeeded the first time. That was it. The first one was the success. And so I think too, you know, being ⁓ a victim sometimes of that ⁓ success when happen quickly, you know, and you go, ⁓ I can do this over and over and over again. I didn't give myself time to learn why it actually worked.
Coach Tim Campsall: you Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, yeah.
Austin Walls: you know, and the formula wasn't there, what I tried to do, the duplication, I wasn't duplicating the right formula.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the things I see in that is that it's to duplicate yourself, right? So if a lot times the reason that the business is successful is because the owner's wearing all the different hats that you've already shared with them, right? And so if wearing all the hats in location one, it's pretty hard to cut and paste yourself into location two, right? Something has to give,
Austin Walls: Mm-hmm. Bye. Yes. Ahem.
Coach Tim Campsall: until we get location one to the point that I can run without us. we can cut and paste that into location two.
Austin Walls: Yeah, yeah, that was a big problem. the right people that do the job in there. then not as well, think, location, geography, population density. There were a lot of other figures that went in there. I thought, that looks like a great location. I think the price is about where I need it to be. Everything else will fall in place. No. No.
Coach Tim Campsall: Sure, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The fallacy of if we build it, they will come is not correct, right?
Austin Walls: Right. No, there's a lot more, there is a lot more planning and research that should go into it. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Mm-hmm. So Austin, in your journey when things have felt stuck or ⁓ changed when you brought in an outside perspective?
Austin Walls: well you know outside perspective is key because again you know we are as a society i think a lot of times like stuck in a box ⁓ you we have this week we have this box of ideas that shaped by our past experiences it's shaped by you know whatever knowledge that we have ⁓ and none that's a bad thing necessarily sometimes we're very very good at
Coach Tim Campsall: See you. Mm. Yeah.
Austin Walls: you know, things, you know, doing, you know, very specific tasks or whatever. But in business, you learn that, ⁓ know, the that you're great at, those are the things you should do. The things that you're not great at, those are the things you should find somebody else to do, right? So I that's the key with outside perspective. I get that my wife a lot ⁓ because she's very than I am.
Coach Tim Campsall: You Yes, yes. ⁓ huh. Yeah.
Austin Walls: And so she challenges me when we talk through things. Her ideas are very different than my ideas. My ideas are very logical and structured and I, you know, this follows this follows this follows this and it has to all make sense. And sometimes her thoughts, I like a spider web. mean, it's like, it's all over the place. But in that, in that, you know, process,
Coach Tim Campsall: You
Austin Walls: she is so much more open-minded and she's going in a lot more different direction. She's open to a lot more than I'm open to. ⁓ And I have to give that, you know, a And so, you know, through compromise, a lot of times, you know, I'll say, hey, look, if you, that's not way that I would do it, but I want you to experience this, you know, through lens. And so if you believe strongly that
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm, yeah. Yeah.
Austin Walls: we should do this, we've done things my way so often, let's do it your way and let's see how goes. the reason we have a point of sale system. She's the reason we have an inventory system. ⁓ fought that. I don't need it. It's right here. I know exactly what we have.
Coach Tim Campsall: Sure. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah. We, my world, all those things, buying back your time, right? I'm left in the POS, it frees up my time of not having to do it myself, right? I invest in an inventory system, I don't have to do it myself. The ⁓ you said to like stay in your lane or focus on the stuff that you're good at. right, so we have our clients do a time study ⁓ and track do they, where are they spending their time every hour over a couple of weeks.
Austin Walls: Yeah. Yeah.
Coach Tim Campsall: Then we critique it together and go, right, these things are $25 an hour jobs. Why are you doing that? Then we work through the excuses because we all have them. Nobody can do it as well as me. It's just easier if I do it myself. But it's the opportunity cost. Your worth to the organization is two or three or $500 an hour, so stop doing the $25.
Austin Walls: Right.
Coach Tim Campsall: dollar an hour jobs so that you can be bringing in more $500 opportunities. And so then it's who do you delegate it to? Who do you outsource it to? Might we have to hire? And of course, financials come into play, but then you can do the compare and contrast. Well, if I had 10 more hours a week or five more hours a week, I could be doing this strategic stuff, business building stuff, and that's going to more than pay for this new hire.
Austin Walls: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, a great example of that. I've got a brother-in-law in business as well, too, and he has always been way better at this than I am at going out and getting large contracts or, you know, building other business relationships. Whenever anybody asks me, who do you know in business? I say, well, I mean, I know some people, but I don't spend time cultivating those relationships, so I don't have, you know, that kind of relationship with other business owners. where he is in all these different networking groups and he's meeting business owners all the time and making introductions and he's referring business to this person and he ends up, like I said, large contract jobs because who he knows, I, as a business owner, I don't know that I could say that I've ever gotten one of those jobs because I so
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah.
Austin Walls: committed to the business and the day-to-day aspects of the business, I don't go out and I don't do that networking. ⁓
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah, yeah. it is that you mentioned, right, ⁓ in the messy middle. It's a natural, you know, evolution, right? The messy middle is we see the potential, but you know, the business has grown to the point that it still relies a lot on us and being able to grow through that, right, and get more people, delegate more things, free up more of our time. We start transition from, ⁓ you know, a job to truly be in a business owner where we can think big picture and strategically and network and all that stuff. But it's a natural part of the growth journey. And that's the whole point of our show. And so our show is called Self Made is a Myth because we that no gets there on their own. So Austin, I'd to have you tell us then who are the three people in your business owner that you wouldn't. have achieved the successes that you have without them and how they help you along the way.
Austin Walls: man, there's, you know, so I would first and foremost, this is two people, but my parents, right? I was fortunate enough that my parents got into a business that was a good lucrative business get into. They did it, like I said, right I turned 16 they needed me to help them. So I was in immediately.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. ⁓
Austin Walls: be a part of this. I didn't really have a choice and that's great. I didn't mind. I actually getting paid. as a 16 year old, that was nice. ⁓ without my parents, mean my dad gave me the example of being a business owner. He always said he wanted to own a business. He didn't want to work in a business. So I got that of which was to see.
Coach Tim Campsall: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Austin Walls: And then my mother really was the engine that made it run, the day-to-day operations. And I think I learned a lot from her about work ethic, what it means to show up every day and what it means to truly be committed to making something work, right? So I would have to say those two definitely of lumped into one, a great of yin and yang representation of business owners, you know, in the way that they went about doing things on a daily basis. My uncle, JD Long, actually there are several businesses around Indianapolis and then south into Franklin and Bloomington, Indiana that exist because of him. He sadly passed away a few years back, but he was the visionary that led a lot of people into the furniture industry. ⁓ He got my parents into it, he got my aunt and uncle into it. a couple of stores in the Bloomington area that exist because of his leadership and what he did to inspire to ⁓ go out create their own furniture stores. And ⁓ there's a store in Indianapolis, stores actually, that grew out of another one of his
Coach Tim Campsall: Okay.
Austin Walls: He was just somebody inspiring in terms of business. And then where I'm at today, know, reps, know, friends, there's been a lot of people that have helped along, but one person, another person who was a furniture rep actually worked for uncle in Bloomington for years. how I met him. a good friend of mine, was a for furniture lines ⁓ for a long time for is the reason why I'm in Kokomo. You know, was a time where I didn't know if I was going to continue on with this journey and I was ⁓ sharing my with him. You know, he kind of poured into me and said, you know, you can do this. I know you can. We just got to get you in the right place. And I know that know where that place is. I know where it is.
Coach Tim Campsall: Hmm.
Austin Walls: nobody else knows that it's going to be available. And think the timing is right. He introduced to the gentleman that I bought this ⁓ store from I'm in now. sadly, Ronnie passed away. That his name, Ronnie ⁓ Goins. He passed away couple of years ago So I lost him as well. I've had, I've been fortunate to people that believe in me and people that inspire and pour into
Coach Tim Campsall: Mmm.
Austin Walls: And that's what I want to do for the people around me. I want to do the exact same thing.
Coach Tim Campsall: So Austin, if those folks were with us here today, and I know a couple of them have already passed, but what would you want to say to them?
Austin Walls: mean, again, Thanks believing in me. Thank you leading by example, showing what it means be committed to something and positioning your mind and your body and your energy to achieve the goals that you want achieve. More than anything, just, yeah, thank you. you for pouring into me and believing in me.
Coach Tim Campsall: Austin, I appreciate your insights and with some of the things that you've worked through and currently through. Thanks so much for being on the show.
Austin Walls: Thanks for having me.
Coach Tim Campsall: If you're stuck in the messy middle, there's a way through it and you don't need to figure it out on your own. Our two week coaching trial helps you to see exactly what's holding you back and how to to ⁓ alleviate that. The link is in the description below. And if this conversation resonated, like it, comment and subscribe so you don't miss our next episode. I'll see you all next time.
