WEBVTT
00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:18.640
Welcome to the Durable Entrepreneur Show, where we talk with the experts that know how to help early stage entrepreneurs get from day one to year six.
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:24.800
More than half of all small businesses fail in their first five years, but you are not going to be one of them.
00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:30.239
Listen up and apply what you learn to help you survive and thrive well beyond year five.
00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:49.520
I'm your host, Sean O'Hara, and today I'm really excited to introduce you to Colin Sandberg, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Fin Elevate, a fractional CFO firm that helps business owners drive profitability, improve cash flow, and make smarter decisions with clearer data.
00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:56.799
We'll be talking about mentorship, pricing models, the appeal of entrepreneurship through acquisition, and a lot more.
00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:02.240
If this episode is helpful to you, please take a couple seconds to rate our show with five stars.
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.200
All right, it's time to get down to business.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:11.519
Would you please now welcome Colin Sandberg to the Durable Entrepreneur Show?
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.079
Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean.
00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:15.920
This is a great opportunity for me.
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:27.359
You have an amazing story of how you've grown as an entrepreneur and in your expertise for some really practical, practical reasons that maybe even surprised you at the time.
00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:32.879
I feel like you're an excellent example of durability as an entrepreneur.
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.280
You started down this path through your family's business, right?
00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:38.079
Yep.
00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.560
So how did that how did can you fill us in on that a little bit about that experience?
00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:43.200
Yeah.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:49.760
So I had kind of an interesting moment in life where I realized at uh 21 years old I want to be an entrepreneur.
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:56.000
And uh the only person, and it had nothing to do with the family member, it was actually my stepdad who had a business.
00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:16.400
But I I just, you know, kind of gotten kicked around a little bit in life and read an article actually about an entrepreneur, and it just made me realize that like there was this field out there where you can, you know, your back's against the wall, things are not looking good, you've made some mistakes, you're down on your luck, and yet you can fix it.
00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.000
And that was entrepreneurship.
00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.960
And, you know, I didn't have the squeaky clean background.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:35.280
I'd kind of you know gotten in trouble a lot as a kid, and so I I I latched on to entrepreneurship, and that was how I ended up going to the nearest entrepreneur that I knew and said, Hey, let me let me come in here and learn for a year and see what this thing's all about.
00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:36.080
That's great.
00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:55.680
So so effectively, what it sounds like maybe the revelation was is like, hey, I'm not sure like where I where I might fit or where my starting point might be, but this sounds like an opportunity that if I can rely on myself and create something that that I actually have control of my own destiny.
00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.800
Yeah, and and it is, and it's exactly what you said.
00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.360
It's that control of destiny, right?
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:05.439
And and I always say, like, and this is kind of I had to tell my wife.
00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:07.759
So she didn't come from an entrepreneurship kind of background.
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:09.360
And when I met her, it sounded scary.
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:12.000
I worked at this small company, only had a handful of people.
00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:17.439
I had risk, and I said, Hey, I I would rather be the one in control.
00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:23.759
Like, give me that control, and I can at least trust myself that with my back against the wall, I'm gonna do the right things, right?
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.199
And as we know, you know, it doesn't mean we're gonna be flawless or perfect or make no mistakes.
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.120
We're gonna make a million mistakes.
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:31.599
Right.
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:37.039
But it is just that mindset of I'm gonna persevere no matter what happens, I'm gonna make it.
00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:47.759
Can you tell us maybe a little bit about some of the challenges that you faced in that first exposure with with the effectively it sounds like you went and pitched yourself for a job, right?
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:48.719
I did, yeah.
00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:00.479
No, so I I basically, and and that was that was an interesting early lesson in, you know, sucking up getting your humility right and going in and being willing to ask for something you need or want, right?
00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.159
Not all of us are good at that.
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:08.240
But yeah, so I I went into that first business, you know, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and just thought, you know, this is gonna be great.
00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.960
I'm gonna learn about entrepreneurship and then I'm gonna go do my own thing.
00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:12.639
I'll be here for maybe a year.
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.199
And pretty quickly in the business, found out the business was really a kind of a disaster.
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:19.600
I always say it was a financial house of cards.
00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:24.560
And what I mean by that is it had every type of financial problem a small business can have.
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:37.040
It had we couldn't pay all of our bills, we had not enough cash for payroll, vendors were screaming, customers weren't paying, we bought a bunch of inventory we didn't need, couldn't sell, and didn't want, right?
00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.879
And and all of those things compounding at the same time.
00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:52.800
And I walked in with zero experience, not knowing the first thing about how to solve those kind of problems, and pretty quickly realized I love the there's there's like an old farm saying, and I didn't grow up on a farm.
00:04:52.879 --> 00:05:02.079
So somebody let me know if I if I'm using this uh incorrectly, but it's this notion that you know you're a man when you can do the work of a man, right?
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.800
And and I love that thought process.
00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:14.240
And so when I got thrown into this business, 21, 22 years old, not knowing anything, I pretty quickly looked around and said, man, all the all the adults in the room have no idea what they're doing.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:21.920
Like I may, I may not be any good yet, but at least I know where I stand and I'm gonna go work on learning and figuring this thing out.
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.759
And so that's how I ended up, you know, thrown into the financial side of the business.
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:35.680
So even coming in with no background in in business, even at all, it was like the problems became painfully apparent right away, it sounds like.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.879
And I always joke that number one, I like I think every entrepreneur has proximity to another entrepreneur.
00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.240
I've yet to meet anyone who's never seen it up close and just said, you know, I'm just gonna go do this entrepreneur thing.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:47.199
Uh it sounds cool.
00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.360
They usually have a mentor, a friend, a family member who they've seen.
00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:58.879
And what's funny is, like a lot of things in life, is that you get up close to people and you go, nah, they're not that, they're not that smart.
00:05:58.959 --> 00:05:59.759
They're not that great.
00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:00.079
Right.
00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:01.519
Like they're they're just a person.
00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.560
They're just yeah, and most of them, I love the old George Carlin line.
00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.079
He said, the the scary thing is think how dumb the average person is, and realize half of them are dumber than that.
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:18.399
And so, and so from that perspective, you get up close to these other entrepreneurs and you go, like, oh man, these are not like geniuses who have everything figured out.
00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.959
Like, these are just again, I love, I love the show, like durable.
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.879
These are people who have grit and determination and perseverance.
00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:33.839
Most of them are of mediocre intellect, do not have some light the world on fire talent.
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.480
They're just showing up and going for it every day.
00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:48.879
And so once I was in a room full of people, and I even at 22 years old with none none of the awareness or knowledge of what I needed to be doing, I kind of thought, like, well, okay, these people like I can hang here, I can go figure this out.
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.639
And I just have to learn really, really quickly what the heck I'm supposed to do.
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:53.120
Yeah.
00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.480
So how did that unfold then?
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.800
You came in, the the problems were apparent.
00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.079
You it sounds like you immediately identified, like, hey, I've got some gaps here, but I want to figure this out.
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:03.040
Is that right?
00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:03.519
Yeah.
00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:08.480
So I I got turned on to an early mentor who happened to be a CPA for the business that was brought to us.
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.600
He's he's kind of like um firefighting CPA guy who he's he's thrown in.
00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:19.920
He had a reputation with uh helping small business owners, really getting in their business and helping them understand how to fix the problem.
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:26.480
And so he saw me as a young, eager kid willing to learn, and he just started dropping wisdom on me.
00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:30.959
And his name's Fergus, he's an awesome guy, still a friend and mentor.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.519
I always say he's like the crazy uncle that I never had.
00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:38.720
But he, you know, he he basically explained the whole game to me.
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.639
Like, you've got to be a lifelong learner.
00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.160
You have got to step your game up.
00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:47.040
Like, you're not gonna solve these problems by having somebody come in and tell you what to do, and you just do it and it works.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:57.839
You're gonna have to go through a million trials, tribulations, failings, but get get focused, get learning, and and be like a person of action, right?
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.439
You can't just be somebody who talks and likes theory and all that.
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:02.879
You gotta get after it.
00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:11.040
So that's awesome to have a mentor, and I think that is a common theme with people who are successful over the long term.
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.120
They're not operating in a vacuum.
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:21.759
And so many people in business are so willing and they really want to help people who are on the path that they once were on, right?
00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:22.480
Yeah.
00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:22.959
Yeah.
00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:24.720
That person's gold.
00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:29.439
Well, and like I we said, I said earlier about asking, how few people ask.
00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:32.080
Like, that is one of the things I'm trying to push my sons.
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.679
I've got uh uh two sons and a daughter.
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.759
My daughter's a little bit too young for the message so far, but I push them, especially the oldest one.
00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.799
It's like find someone who's already where you want to go or they're further along that journey.
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:56.879
You will not believe how infrequently someone will go up and ask that person for help, for guidance, for advice, just for another person to look at them and be honest with them about what they're good at and what they still need to work on.
00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:03.440
Like people who have achieved something will never tear you down for being vulnerable and saying what you want.
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.600
Like they will always lift you up.
00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:14.879
And so it's amazing how few people, like you said, I would say most successful entrepreneurs have found that, but so many people early in their career struggling just don't do that.
00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.080
And it I started in this game when I was the kid, right?
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.080
And now I'm in my mid-40s.
00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:32.799
It blows my mind how few people have come up to me and asked me, even though I've been in businesses with hundreds of employees, some of them had dreams of being entrepreneurs, how infrequently it is that people will do that.
00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:34.399
Why do you think that is?
00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:50.720
Is it a an embarrassment, like a humility thing, or is it like uh I don't want in some cases, maybe I don't want to expose that I don't have all the answers, or or is it just like I just am oblivious to the fact that I've got all of this help that I could get if I just asked for it?
00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.799
I mean, what is it a combination of those things?
00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:53.440
What do you think?
00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:54.879
Yeah, I think it's a combination.
00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.480
So I think it's a muscle that you have to flex to get better at, right?
00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.679
And for me, I did that a little bit early on and it had such dramatic impact.
00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:18.399
I remember mastermind groups, which is another way I'm I'm really, really passionate about people being in mastermind groups because it's kind of like the mentor mentee thing in one where you've got peers and in certain topics they're mentors, and certain topics they're mentees, and you're able to help each other.
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.399
But I remember first time I got into that, I was like 23, 24 years old.
00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:25.279
And most of the guys in the group are in their 50s or 60s.
00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.159
And so I asked a couple of them to lunch who I really admired.
00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:37.919
I saw how the group looked at them, and I took him and I remember one guy, he just after after a really nice lunch of us chatting and talking about life, and he was he had kids who were almost my age.
00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:42.639
And I just, you know, he said, Okay, Colin, like cut cut the BS.
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:43.840
Like, what what do you want?
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:44.960
Why are we here?
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:51.200
And he thought I wanted something from him, and I said, Man, Mike, I just want to know what you know, man.
00:10:51.360 --> 00:11:00.720
I was like, I just and and he was like, that guy to this day will pick up my call no matter where he is or what is going on.
00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:09.440
And that was 25 years ago, and this guy, or 20 years ago, and this guy will pick up my call and bend over backward to help me because I just asked.
00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.120
That's a great takeaway.
00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.159
A great takeaway.
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.879
Not just that we need mentors, but we need to ask.
00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:17.919
We need to ask.
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.879
And you may be surprised at how excited somebody is to have the opportunity to help and pass on their wisdom.
00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:25.360
Yeah.
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:32.639
And being like you said, being vulnerable, the reality is all of us realize that at some point we're faking it till we make it, right?
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:37.279
It doesn't matter if we're talking parenting, we're talking business, we're talking trying to get through college.
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:41.039
The people who have already done that, they know you're faking it till you make it.
00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.120
They're still faking it until they make it.
00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:48.159
So this idea that, like, well, if I'm vulnerable and I tell them I don't really know what I'm doing, then suddenly that's embarrassing.
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:49.120
No, no, no, no.
00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:50.320
They they already know.
00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.080
Like, you just have to be willing to say it and own it out loud.
00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:54.639
Right.
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:55.440
They already know.
00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:56.240
I love that.
00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.080
Yes, they they already know.
00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:58.960
Wow.
00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:00.799
Well, great, great guidance.
00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:01.759
I appreciate that.
00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:11.759
I wanted to talk a little bit more detail, obviously, about uh the business that you're in and how you help your customers.
00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:21.440
I mean, what one perspective that you bring is I feel like this combination of finance and an operations lens that you see businesses through.
00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:22.399
Is that fair to say?
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:23.759
Yeah, I think so.
00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:24.960
I think that makes sense.
00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.559
So yeah, so uh I ended up in that first business.
00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.600
I actually just sold it, uh believe it or not, just recently.
00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.039
So I had that business for 20, I was in that business for 24 years.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.639
Congratulations, by the way.
00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:37.440
Yeah, thank you.
00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:46.720
So I exited that business and another one, uh, have another business that I'm still part of, and then I I ended up at one point being kind of my own fractional CFO for my own companies.
00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.080
So I had my own office.
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.519
I didn't work with the team or the customers anymore or the vendors.
00:12:51.679 --> 00:13:04.000
I basically just dealt with the leadership and I advised them really on the financial part and just kind of, you know, from being a CEO for 15 years and all the things I'd seen, and then coaching CEOs in my own businesses.
00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.720
And so it really just gave me a different perspective.
00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:11.440
I like to describe it as the coach perspective, not just the player perspective, right?
00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:19.039
Because if when we're on the field, and I know this because I coach all my kids in all in basketball and soccer, when you're on the field, you're overwhelmed.
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:23.679
Things are coming so fast, you're trying to worry about what your body's doing, what your mind's doing, the other players, everything.
00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.440
When you get to be a coach, you stand on the sideline and you just can zoom out and see the whole picture.
00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:38.639
And so when I did that for my own businesses, it gave me tremendous perspective on like what doing it well looks like and what mistakes I had previously made.
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:47.600
It's one of those where you have like a thousand head slapping moments where you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe when I was on the field playing, I did this and I did this and I did this.
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:55.360
And so that that just gave me a really big passion for I love again masterminds working with other business owners.
00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:59.120
And so I took all of that and said, okay, how can I apply this?
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:01.919
And I just happen to love the financial side of the business.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:03.679
Most people don't.
00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:07.759
And so the business owners, it's like a topic they know they need to work on.
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.360
They don't want to talk to a CPA or somebody who sounds like a textbook because that's that's horrible.
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.240
And so there was that was kind of the opportunity for me to build a business around that.
00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:32.480
And so for you, when when you would work with these clients, like somebody basically found you and they knew that like I am struggling, either I'm struggling financially or I'm struggling maybe to even know where I am financially.
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:39.919
But when they came to you, was did you start with just looking at financial statements?
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.919
Did you start with the business?
00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:50.879
What would that engagement look like from the time that somebody said, Hey, can you come in and and have have a conversation with me about what's going on and what I need to do differently?
00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:52.320
Where do you go from there?
00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:52.960
Yeah.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.240
So that's a great question.
00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:00.399
So I I like to say that most businesses are are being run like they're looking through the rearview mirror of the car, right?
00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:04.399
You cannot drive a car looking through the rear view mirror, not for very far anyway.
00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.559
And yet that's what most businesses are doing.
00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:20.559
So when they get tired of living out of just about what's in the bank and and trying to run their business based on the bank account financials, and they get tired of trying to look in the rearview mirror and see, well, what happened last month has nothing to do with next month, but that's all I have.
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:25.120
So we really work with them on building that into kind of a forward-looking.
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:31.840
So you got to have a budget, you got to have a cash flow model, you got to have forecast for where you think revenue is gonna be.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.639
That's what we mainly work on with businesses.
00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.080
But in the first two or three weeks, I like to say we're drinking from a fire hose.
00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:43.120
I need to hear everything about the story of the business, what you offer, how many people, all the details.
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:50.799
And then I go look in the financials based on that knowledge, and I come back to you and I'm like, Sean, man, this is what doesn't make any sense.
00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.840
Like, here's what you told me, and here's what I saw.
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.799
Like, help me connect these dots because to your point, most people's numbers are trash.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:08.240
And so I I like to say after that first few weeks, we start asking really good questions, not necessarily coming up with all the solutions.
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:17.360
But ultimately, we have to get into a business that has a forward-looking lens, and we have to engage the team because it's no fun to be the entrepreneur.
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.799
You can be the most successful entrepreneur in the world, but if you got to do the work of 20 people, you're gonna be a miserable person.
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:24.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.480
Well, that makes a lot of sense.
00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:35.360
And that and that lens to start from seems like it's so much it's gotta be so much more impactful than just just pouring over the financial statements.
00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.000
As you said, that is the rear view mirror, right?
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.159
Uh a lot of that a lot of it.
00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:48.799
Yeah, and I've tried tried before I started this business to solve this problem every different way, even though I was a financial-oriented person coming up through that part of the business.
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.960
Once I was a CEO, I didn't have time for that.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:59.360
And so I tried 1099s and hiring experts and somebody who came out of corporate and using a different uh fractional CFO.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:04.559
And what's wild is they would do stuff like pull up the financials and just talk through them with me.
00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.160
Like, who needs that, man?
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:07.440
That's a waste of time.
00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:20.880
Um, if you're not helping me look forward or you're not distilling this into where I don't have to look through a three-page document where we're all distracted by what this weird little number is over here, and you know, it's$119.
00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.720
And what what is that category even?
00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:23.839
I've never even seen that before.
00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:25.759
Talk about a waste of time, right?
00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:41.519
So we we go through the complexity because someone has to, but our entire goal is to simplify it into a story that not only can the business owner keep up with and enjoy, but they can start to engage their team in certain elements of it so that everyone's pulling in the same direction.
00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:57.599
What what what do you find are kind of the financial habits of entrepreneurs that maybe you see differently in a business that is in growth mode versus those are kind of in the in the grind mode, right?
00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.039
Maybe who don't know their numbers.
00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:10.160
What are the kind of the some of the fundamentals that entrepreneurs need to make sure that they're really connect with to even just be able to have tee themselves up to have the opportunity to operate in growth mode?
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:10.720
Yeah.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:19.759
So the first thing is the the funny part is I'm gonna I'm gonna put a disclaimer when you say growth mode, because some businesses are growing, but that doesn't mean they're getting more profitable, right?
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.000
So you can have a great market.
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:28.799
I've been there before, you can have a great market, a great offer, a great whatever, and you think like, hey, if I just do more, I'm gonna, this is gonna be great.
00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.200
Really, you're just creating more work for yourself.
00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:40.400
So the biggest thing, like if you blindfolded me and just allowed me to just give one thing, I can't know anything about a business, I would say you have to have premium pricing.
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.839
So I beat up on people about this all the time.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.599
There are two successful business models in the world, period.
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:55.440
One is massive scale, Amazon, Walmart, any of the big giant Apple type brands, right?
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.640
That is one model.
00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.599
The other one is a premium price.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:00.960
That is it.
00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:05.519
If you cannot have Amazon scale, you cannot have Amazon's pricing.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:07.279
You can't do it.
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.400
It is not possible.
00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.200
I've never seen a business that could successfully pull that off.
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.519
It'd be small and cheap.
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:14.559
It just doesn't work.
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:21.440
And so that immediately challenges people to say, like, well, wait a minute, but I I'm not confident enough in my product, or I'm not confident enough in who I sell it to.
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:22.559
Like, I can't do that.
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:31.359
When you start giving yourself the I can't do that excuses, you are not doing it well enough to justify a premium price.
00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:36.079
It is not that it can't be done, it is that you have yet to figure out how to do it.
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:46.960
Well, and it's interesting probably because there's a lot of people in the very early stages of the entrepreneur journey who almost default to the idea that I need to be competitive on price.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:47.920
A hundred percent.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:52.640
And that isn't like, well, what are the yeah, that's a weak sales and marketing mindset, right?
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:56.799
The weak sales and marketing mind says, Well, what does the average person charge for it?
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.000
Let me go ten dollars less than that, and then it'll be easier to sell.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.839
Well, of course it'll be easier to sell.
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.400
The problem is you have to deliver it.
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:11.119
And yeah, and if you think, think about like the virtuous cycle of having premium pricing, right?
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.920
Now I can afford to invest in the best quality materials.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.160
Now I can afford to invest in my team.
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.920
Now I can bring on the experts that I need to help me do this even better.
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:25.279
Now I can, now I can, now I can't, versus the vicious circle, right?
00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.079
The vicious cycle of a low-cost price.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.759
Like now I got to find the cheapest.
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.680
Let me just get a product that's just good enough that the customer won't complain, but no better.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:34.079
Yeah.
00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.599
Same thing with my team.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:36.960
I can't afford experts.
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.480
I'm just in this grinding myself circling the drain, right?
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.799
That is that is a great answer to that question.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:45.519
It's so true.
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:57.359
Reminds me of early many years ago, I had an advertising agency and I took that low-cost approach coming into the market, and I got referred by one of my existing accounts to a prospect.
00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:06.000
And when I did my whole presentation and presented my proposal, the woman that I was talking to looked at me and said, They told me you were going to be cheap.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:06.400
Right.
00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.440
And I'm like, oh, what have I built here for myself?
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.000
Right.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:17.759
And the other part of that, I feel like, is that it is also difficult to pivot, right?
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:24.160
In your pricing model to go from the low cost guy to on the premium product.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:31.359
Because you've created this perception that you're low cost, and people know there's option, there's there's differences between premium and low cost.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:32.480
Much easier, right?
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:43.119
If you need to periodically adjust your pricing in the opposite direction for a short-term decision, as opposed to just raise prices.
00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.799
Once you go down that path, don't you feel like it it's hard to shift?
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:50.079
Yeah, it it's it's it's like negotiating against yourself.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.759
Once you've started it, it's very hard to kind of course correct.
00:21:54.079 --> 00:22:02.160
But I think that's where if if you were to ask the average entrepreneur if you had 10 times the opportunity to sell, would you raise a Lower your price, it'd be like, well, I'd raise it, obviously.
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.519
I had 10 times the opportunity.
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:08.400
So, okay, so you're not pricing that way because you think it's actually strategic.
00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.839
It's because you're seeing it as I have to have some revenue.
00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.519
So let me price it at whatever number will get something coming through the door.
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:21.200
The problem is, like most things, you know, I love the saying, easy choices, hard life.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.000
Hard choices, easy life, right?
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:32.240
So what we're basically saying there is if I take this easy out right now, by pricing it lower, I'll make things better.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:37.920
Well, you think you're making things better, but in reality, you're building for a future that's much, much harder.
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:38.720
Yeah.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:41.680
That makes make makes it makes a ton of sense.
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:57.920
Is there generally like if you're if you're looking at you wanted to do a quick assessment of somebody's business health, is there an initial place where you would focus that maybe seems like it's consistently the tip of the iceberg?
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:10.160
I mean, obviously we've talked about the premium pricing model, but I'm just talking about looking at numbers, a tip of the iceberg where you would say, okay, I can if I see this here, I know that there's probably all these other systemic things happening in the business.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:11.359
Or does it vary?
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:11.839
Yeah.
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:12.319
Yeah.
00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:26.799
So what we like to do is we break down the business and we have a six-line PML that we follow, which is basically revenue minus cost of goods sold, minus sales and marketing, minus labor, minus overhead, and the and the differences profit or loss, right?
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.079
So it's six lines.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.720
We we run that in a in a chart format because I like to see the shape of it.
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:42.079
And what I'm really looking for there is that as revenue goes up, do cost of goods really follow it, or do you think they follow it?
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:43.920
Like what's going on there?
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.599
As we've grown, let's say that over the last year and a half, we've really grown.
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.839
So we're gonna look at this thing quarterly.
00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.880
Is our overhead growing faster than our revenue?
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:54.720
Or is our overhead locked in?
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.680
A really good business can scale without drastic changes to their overhead.
00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:04.799
They may have some change to their labor, but their overhead is very dialed in.
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:09.599
And so you see these kind of habits that show up when you look at the numbers that way.
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.400
And it's really easy.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:15.359
Anybody can look at a chart and see the shape of it and say, like, oh yeah, okay, I see what's happening here.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:22.400
So those are the things I like to look at because it's one of those five areas before the profit and loss.
00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.160
It's one of those five areas that's the problem if you're not happy with your numbers.
00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:31.359
I don't want to look for the needle in the haystack by trying to go piece of hay by piece of hay.
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:38.640
I'm gonna divide it into five hay, five haystacks and say, if now you tell me which one the needle's in, and I go a little deeper, right?
00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.359
And so that's the way we like to approach it.
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.279
And once you have that formula dialed in, we call it the simple profit formula.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:56.079
Once you have a simple profit formula dialed in and you know that you can't afford to spend more than 12% of your revenue on overhead, and boom, it spikes to 15 this quarter.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.079
Now we're diving in proactively.
00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.279
Like what's going on here?
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:00.400
Did revenue drop?
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:02.160
Did what what is our issue?
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.359
And it just gives us a check engine light for the whole business.
00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:06.160
Yeah.
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:14.480
That that makes that makes a lot of sense where you can see at a glance, like you said, now we're gonna dig in in this one area because something something smells bad here.
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:15.119
Yep.
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:15.759
Yep.
00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:16.160
Yeah.
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:21.839
And meanwhile, if you start with a three-page PL, you get lost on that$119 and you're like, what is this?
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:25.039
And two hours later, you've never made it through the whole PL.
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:28.720
You didn't learn anything, no, no action items, right?
00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:29.759
I ignore all that.
00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:38.960
I'm I'm looking big numbers first, and we're gonna drill down where it matters, and we'll keep drilling until we find that individual needle in the haystack.
00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:43.599
But by the time we get there, we're gonna have eliminated most of the hay, right?
00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.440
We're only focusing on the small area that can possibly have this needle.
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.519
And we get really, really good at doing that.
00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:51.920
And so then you can just do that in perpetuity, right?
00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:01.359
We can do that every quarter, every month, and constantly refine the business so that the minute something pops up, we identify, like, oh, we don't like that.
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.200
That that's not the direction we're headed.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:04.559
That's not where we want to go.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:05.119
Wow.
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:06.400
Makes a lot of sense.
00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:10.000
Very, very practical approach that people can understand.
00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:15.200
And I'm sure your clients have appreciation of you kind of distilling everything down for them, right?
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:15.519
Yeah.
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:22.720
As opposed because a lot of people, like you said, entrepreneurs are not necessarily inspired because they love the numbers of the business.
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:30.480
And probably there's a lot of procrastination and a lot of avoidance because it's just like you said, right?
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:34.480
And and then you can take distill it into something that like people can understand.
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:39.119
And these these are the and and that's probably helps them too, right?
00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:45.519
In like monitoring things uh on their own as well, having that having that lens to see the business through.
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:46.400
Absolutely.
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:46.799
Yeah.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:58.400
And and I think that was a big lesson early in my career, is I made the mistake a lot of people do of thinking that once I started learning a lot about business and about what we should be focused on, then my job is to come back and explain it all to my team.
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.079
Like I'm gonna tell them everything I learned.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:00.559
Oh.
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.640
That is not what a leader does.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:08.480
What a leader does is go out and understand the complexity of the world so they can come back and simplify it for their team.
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:16.000
And so to that point, if I'm gonna help lead someone's company from a financial perspective, I need to understand the complexities for sure.
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.799
But it is not so that I can then turn around and regurgitate all the complexities to the business owner.
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:28.079
I've got to simplify it into a methodology that they can understand quickly and that's actionable going forward.
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:29.200
Excellent.
00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:30.319
Excellent.
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:42.720
So uh I also wanted to ask you with the all the businesses that you've had, have you have those all been start scratch or and or have any of them been you investing or buying an existing business?
00:27:42.880 --> 00:28:05.759
And and what do you have, you know, just any guidance for maybe a maybe an aspiring, not an early stage entrepreneur, but even just an aspiring entrepreneur about which which one of those paths they should maybe consider, or even just contrasting those two options of buying the business that's already established versus starting one from scratch.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:07.039
Kind of pros and cons.
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.079
Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:11.359
So Finn Elevate's my first startup, the first business I've founded.
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:15.599
All the other ones I've I bought, either invested in or acquired outright.
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:21.200
And I will tell you, I always tell this to entrepreneurs, is it is much better to buy a business if that's an option.
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.680
And the reason is because generally you're buying something that has some sort of track record.
00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:31.039
It's already gotten over some of the initial humps that a lot of startups don't make it through.
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:36.880
And in general, if you can find a business that you can buy, it makes a lot of sense.
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.960
You're kind of buying altitude in a way.
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:42.720
You've got revenue, you've got some things established, you've got a track record.
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:49.440
And from my experience earlier in my career, it is very different to redirect momentum.
00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:50.720
Every business has momentum.
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:52.160
Some of it's good, some of it's bad.
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.359
We're going to try and redirect it in the way we want it to go.
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.319
That is much easier than creating momentum out of thin air.
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.039
And that's what starting a company really looks like.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:09.359
And so things that I thought I'd be able to get done with FinElevate, my first startup in six months, have taken me two years.
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:16.319
And in an existing business with resources and momentum, I would have been able to fight that journey a lot quicker.
00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:22.400
So the reason I didn't end up buying it with Fin Elevate is I was actually looking to buy a business.
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.599
I'm still passionate about buying businesses, but I couldn't find one that did exactly what I wanted.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:35.039
I would have had to strip it down so dramatically that it would have been, it would have killed all the momentum anyway.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:38.480
And so it made more sense to start my own.
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:43.440
So the majority of your entrepreneurship has been entrepreneurship through acquisition then.
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.440
So I owned, I owned my first business.
00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.480
Uh, I actually bought the business that I started in, the family business.
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:49.599
That was the one that I bought.
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:50.400
Oh, you bought that one.
00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.079
And I had that one for 24 years.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:30:00.160
So I started out as a minority partner and through a couple acquisition uh to from the prior owner, then ended up buying it outright.
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:05.200
I had a partner short term, and then that didn't work out, and the partner left, and it was a minority partner.
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:16.640
And so I've yeah, I've kind of done this every which way in terms of uh buying businesses, now selling businesses, investing as a minority in an existing business.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.559
And now this one fin elevates about two and a half years old that I started.
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:34.160
Um if somebody's interested in looking at that, where would they, where would they start to even go down that path of, hey, instead of building this business idea that I have, let me see if there's one where it makes sense for me to buy it.
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.039
Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:37.119
So you've got to educate yourself.
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:52.640
Like that's the number one, to me, that's probably the number one message that if if you want to be an entrepreneur versus being kind of a nine to five W-2 employee, the companies, especially if you're at a bigger company, they'll tell you exactly what they want you to know and all the things they don't care about.
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:55.920
As an entrepreneur, everything is your domain.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.039
You have to become a master of all the different areas of business.
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.480
And so this is nothing more than one more topic in the business, right?
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.920
So, what do you want to do?
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.279
What do you do if you want to learn something?
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.000
Yes, you want to look at some videos and things like that.
00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:12.319
But what I always find is I want to go find the books on this topic that are the best.
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:19.680
And I would say that probably the number one for acquisition entrepreneurship is uh Walker Dybell wrote a book called Buy Then Build.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:20.319
Uh.
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:27.680
And so that, and he actually has the entrepreneur uh or the acquisition lab, which I'm a member of.
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:35.599
So even though I was an experienced entrepreneur with 15 years of experience running companies and had bought businesses before, I knew I needed to step my game up.
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:40.240
And so I read his book, loved it, ended up joining his lab and going through his program.
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:42.640
And then it's got resources and it's got all of that.
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:53.279
So most of his clientele in that lab are first-time business owners or aspiring business owners who basically say, I've got to step my game up and understand this.
00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.319
And then you tap into all the resources and all the all the goodies that you can find there.
00:31:58.640 --> 00:31:58.960
Right.
00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.799
No, that's that's great advice.
00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:01.759
Thank you for sharing that.
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.319
I think I feel like that that's pure gold.
00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:23.599
Um, so I wanted to ask you too, with all the communities that that you have participated in and mastermind groups, do you see any like common missteps or failures that a lot of entrepreneurs will find that you know they just they they end up doing the same things and learning the hard way?
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:32.400
Yeah, I think that the one of the biggest is what goes right alongside, I would almost say the other side of the coin of of learning, right?
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:38.319
So you have to educate yourself, you have to continue, you have to really have that lifelong learner kind of mentality.
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:41.680
So whether you're in a group, a map, a pure group, that's a great way to learn.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:42.720
You're a big reader.
00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:43.359
Audio book.
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:44.240
I love audiobooks.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.799
I've I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of audiobooks.
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:55.359
Like to me, there is no excuse in 2025 or 2026 that you don't know some information because what's your format?
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:55.920
What do you like?
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:58.880
You want videos, you want audio, you want books.
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:00.799
There's no limit to information.
00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:02.240
So that's the one side of the coin.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:08.240
The other side of the coin is having honest self-reflection and being candid with yourself.
00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.400
Like, I am not very good at this.
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:14.400
Every time something doesn't work, you should be asking, what did I do wrong?
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:22.799
It doesn't matter if it's an employee that didn't get the job done, some strategic misstep, a client who was totally unreasonable and fired you.
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:24.559
It doesn't matter what happened.
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:28.079
You have to ask the question first and foremost, like, what did I do wrong?
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:30.960
Because I guarantee you there's an answer to that question.
00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.960
It's just that the people who don't seem to get much better never ask it.
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.720
Great insight there.
00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:41.599
Uh, with with regard to to your clients, because well, let me ask you this.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:44.000
What which business did you recently sell?
00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:46.079
Yeah, so I sold my first business.
00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.000
That was the one I was in for 24 years.
00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:48.480
Okay.
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:51.279
It was an airport conveyor business of all things.
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:51.839
Really?
00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:52.319
Um, yeah.
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:54.559
So, like what you claim your bag off of at the airport.
00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.039
We manufactured and sold those across the country.
00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:58.480
Who knows that that's a business?
00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:00.240
I mean, obviously it is so random.
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:02.240
It has to be so random, yeah.
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:03.119
Really?
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:03.920
It is.
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:11.519
It is one of those, like you you hear that and you realize there are a million and one ways to make a buck because it is super random.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:13.039
No, no kidding.
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.199
So it's probably like dominated by a couple, three players.
00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:18.159
I'm I'm guessing.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:21.760
Yeah, there's there's probably a half dozen total, maybe, maybe eight.
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:28.000
And to your point, like most markets dominated by the two or three big guys, everybody else is kind of nipping around the edges.
00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:32.960
And it's a perfect example of what I was saying earlier, where we tried that business every different way.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:36.960
When I came in, we were trying to be the low-cost provider, which was nonsense.
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:41.039
There was one specific area of the business we could have a premium price.
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:48.239
And so when I when I took it over as CEO, the very first thing I did was I shed 75% of our revenue, which was not making money.
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.880
And so this is the one thing I would challenge people with.
00:34:50.960 --> 00:35:01.519
When you have a business that's not making a lot of money and you've got two or three main things you sell, I've got to isolate those things and really take a cold hard look at each of them individually.
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:07.360
Because frequently, like what was happening with us, 75% of our revenue was losing money.
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:13.840
25% was making good money, but when you blended them back together, we we were kind of break-even or barely make a little bit.
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:22.159
And so I once I isolated, I was like, holy crap, that one guy selling half a million bucks a year, we make really good money at that.
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.880
And it's more than what we make as a whole business.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:26.159
So what is it doing?
00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:28.960
It's basically subsidizing the other part of the business.
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:32.400
And the minute that you're like, crap, like I can't keep doing that.
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:33.440
That makes no sense.
00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:34.719
Yeah.
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:42.000
That I mean that and that that is the type of gold that that you can bring to your to your clients too, right?
00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:48.000
Because I'm guessing that you see that as a theme sometimes.
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:49.199
Constantly, yeah.
00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:51.599
It's it's one of the exercises we do.
00:35:51.679 --> 00:36:08.800
Like I said, once we kind of dive in and we understand your your business and we've seen what the books say, we start kind of isolating for that by doing what we call revenue stream mapping, which is every different big offer you have or division or department, and really understanding like, okay, what's the cost of goods?
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:23.760
What, you know, kind of breaking down that simple profit formula, especially in a small entrepreneurial company, is like how much time you spend on it and how passionate the owner is, because a lot of times they've got this big offer that they're doing that's being neglected and therefore it's not making money.
00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:25.039
And why is that the case?
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:28.159
It's the case because the entrepreneur doesn't even like it.
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:38.159
Do you do you ever find that that entrepreneurs will resist in ditching a non-profitable part of the business because they're emotionally attached to it?
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:38.800
Of course.
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:39.199
Yeah.
00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:43.519
And and look, I tell the entrepreneurs we work with, like, hey, this is your this is your show.
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:44.480
This is your party.
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:46.639
Like, I'm gonna be honest with you.
00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:50.800
Like, that's part of what we have to have to work together, is I have to be able to be really candid with you.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:57.039
If I see something I don't like or I like, or I'll but at the end of the day, we're gonna be like your dream employee.
00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:02.880
Once you decide and you make a call, we fall in line and we go, and we're gonna try and make whatever you decide successful.
00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:05.679
But yes, we do have that happen.
00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:10.880
Uh, I wouldn't say super common, and and when it does, it's usually that's the story.
00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:14.159
A few months later, they're like, that's it, I'm done.
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:26.880
Like once you told me this is not making money, and I see all the work and energy that I have to put into it, it starts to kind of eat at them to know that all of that energy is going into a black hole.
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:27.679
Uh-huh.
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:28.480
Exactly.
00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:32.000
So, how emotionally attached are you to that black hole?
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:32.880
Exactly.
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:36.480
It's just like, I'm just gonna let you sit with this thought for a minute.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:37.119
Yeah.
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:39.280
Eventually they're gonna say, yeah, okay.
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:43.519
Maybe initially they resist, but it's like, yeah, why why are you in business?
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:44.800
Exactly.
00:37:45.119 --> 00:38:03.360
So I I know one of the things we we talked earlier, Colin, you you mentioned, you know, MBA versus CPA thinking, and uh and everything that we've talked about really reinforces how you bring value in in that mindset, looking at the business very holistically.
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:10.880
Do you find that when when you're working with a new client that they they're like, yeah, okay, open book?
00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:16.400
Yeah, I would say that they they're really refreshed by the idea that we're looking at their entire business.
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:23.599
Because again, you know, the one of the very first things I ask, even in the sales process of just trying to get to know someone, is like, what's the North Star?
00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:24.239
Where are we going?
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:25.280
Where do you want to be in five years?
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:26.320
Where do you want to be in 10 years?
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:28.239
Is it, I want to grow this thing to sell it?
00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:31.280
I want to grow it and have someone else take it over.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:34.960
I want to just get back to doing the part of this that I really love.
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:36.800
Like, what is your North Star?
00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:41.599
And once I know that, then every move we make has to be with that in mind, right?
00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:45.199
It's there's not a generic one size fits all on entrepreneurship.
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:51.039
And so, to your point, we're not digging into those things just to say, like, well, let's talk about HR.
00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:52.800
You know, nobody wants to talk about HR.
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:59.679
We are asking targeted questions and diving into parts of the business that are going to unlock you getting to your goal.
00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:04.400
And I think for people, it's really refreshing because most entrepreneurs welcome input.
00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:15.920
Like, man, if you can help me fix my pricing, or if you know about how to sell better or how to package my products in a way that will lead to a better business model, absolutely, let's talk.
00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:22.800
And so we don't, we rarely have anybody who says, like, hey, that's off limits, or once they understand what we're we're working toward.
00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:23.599
That's great.
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:32.239
If you have an entrepreneur who is, you're just the mentor situation, and they're literally just starting.
00:39:32.719 --> 00:39:45.199
For them to build the foundation that they're going to need to be financially successful, what would be one thing that you would say, look, when you this is what you have to be thinking about when you set this up?
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:56.639
We talked about a lot of different things, premium pricing, about the holistic view of the business, and and and you know, so many great takeaways, but if there's one thing, get me started on the right track.
00:39:56.719 --> 00:39:58.320
What advice would you give?
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.719
Think long and hard about the business model.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:02.079
So, what do I mean by that?
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.400
So, my first business uh was uh in the airport conveyor space, as I mentioned.
00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:11.039
You know, that's basically a construction business and a manufacturing business sandwiched into one.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:13.360
Honestly, really hard business model.
00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:15.679
Not one I would recommend for the faint of heart.
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:23.199
Uh and it's and also selling to a government, uh quasi-government entities and airports and airport management companies.
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:25.519
And so you're That sounds like a dream.
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:26.559
Oh my gosh.
00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:27.679
It's yeah.
00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:33.760
If if your goal is it's kind of like uh Warren Buffett had the saying, what's the best way to become a millionaire?
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:36.400
And he said, start as a billionaire and buy an airline.
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:37.280
Right.
00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:40.719
And so it's kind of that that one's a rough one.
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:44.079
So I tell people, think really long and hard.
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:45.760
I mean, this is a step most people skip.
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:53.679
They say, like, oh, I like love dogs, so I want to, I want to have a dog washing business, or like, you know, where you have like a grooming center kind of thing.
00:40:53.920 --> 00:41:06.719
Okay, but now what you don't realize is that for a retail-based business, signing a long-term lease is almost on par with buying or selling a company in terms of these the stakes that are involved.
00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:14.800
You're signing a personal leaf lease, uh, you know, personal guarantee on a five-year lease that is more money than you can cover personally.
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:18.000
That is a massive risk to take on.
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:21.679
And so when you think about business as a business model, what do I mean by that?
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:23.039
It's what's the revenue model?
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:24.639
Like, how am I going to get revenue?
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:25.679
Is it recurring?
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:26.719
Is it one time?
00:41:26.880 --> 00:41:28.239
Is it coming big waves?
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:30.159
Is it small transactional?
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:36.320
Then think about what are you, what are you actually going to do in terms of your labor model?
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.199
Thinking about the marketing, how will I actually generate business?
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:45.760
And so any business, you say you like dogs, we could come up with 10 different businesses.
00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:48.320
And each one will have a wildly different business model.
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:54.159
Some of those will play to your strengths or areas you're comfortable, some of those will play to your absolute weaknesses.
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:59.280
So don't just take the first thing you see and make the plunge.
00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:04.079
Think about the model and what you can afford and what resources you bring to the table.
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:11.920
And you can you can figure out an angle to work in an area that you're passionate about in a business model that you can withstand.
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:15.280
And that that comes from from being there, right?
00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:20.639
From all the accumulated experiences that you've had as an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs that you've worked with.
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:31.679
And I I I I talk with a lot of entrepreneurs who, and I feel like there is a common thread here with durability with somebody who does find a way to be passionate about the business that they're in.
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:37.199
And that and that could be, like you said, the dog scenario, but there's how many different ways to approach that.
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:44.079
It could also be people who just like really want to be a great leader and help elevate the lives of the people on their team.
00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:52.079
But it does seem like there's always this question of should you chase the market or chase your face your dream, trace your passion?
00:42:52.239 --> 00:43:00.239
And and it seems to me like the the ultimate scenario would be to find a way to make both of those things work.
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:03.920
But in order to thread that needle, you have to test a lot of business models.
00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:04.400
Yeah.
00:43:04.559 --> 00:43:04.800
Yeah.
00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:08.880
And I think to that point, I think there's there's two sides to that same thing, right?
00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:17.599
One is I will tell you from personal experience, being in airport conveyors, I could care less about air or couldn't care less about airport conveyors, right?
00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:18.639
It is not a passion of mine.
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:20.480
I'm not a mechanically minded person.
00:43:20.719 --> 00:43:25.679
I learned about all those things and I got really good at it for a while, but that is not a passion of mine.
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:28.079
I love working with entrepreneurs.
00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:29.840
I love the financial side of business, right?
00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:31.119
I love what I'm doing now.
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:33.599
So that was part of my deal.
00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:38.400
But I only came back to this because I thought really long and hard about that business model.
00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:44.639
And so, kind of to your point, I think people have to realize you need to be a pro to be a success in business.
00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:48.480
It does not matter if it's a field that you love.
00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:54.639
There is no outsmarting the hard work, the grit, the falling down on your face and having to get back up.
00:43:54.719 --> 00:44:01.199
There is no outsmarting that or being like, well, if I just pick the thing that I love, no, it It'll never feel like work.
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:03.760
You know, that is a nonsense notion.
00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:10.880
There is 20 things in my email and your email right now, no matter how successful our business might be, that we don't want to deal with.
00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:15.679
And it's part of just the penalties of rank and the reality of being in business.
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:16.639
That's great.
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:18.239
Well, thank you for sharing that.
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:26.079
Colin, a couple things I wanted to ask you, just wrapping up, is when you are not working in the business, what do you do to relax and unwind?
00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:27.360
How do you recharge?
00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:30.880
So my kids are between uh nine and fourteen right now.
00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:36.000
Uh I don't know that relax and recharge is really the right way to phrase it.
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:39.199
We're in that age of kids where they're heavy into activities.
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:45.440
And like I said, I coach all three of them in soccer, uh, and some in competitive soccer and in basketball.
00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:49.920
And so between that, it is pretty much full tilt all the time around my house.
00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:50.639
But I love it.
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:56.000
And it's it's a fun way to spend time with them and you know, and gives me something to be passionate about.
00:44:56.159 --> 00:44:56.880
So yeah.
00:44:57.199 --> 00:44:58.000
Well, that's great.
00:44:58.079 --> 00:44:59.760
I mean, get get it while you can.
00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:13.599
Obviously, those years go by quickly, and I did coach my kids, and sometimes it feels like you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, and it's a divide and conquer scenario about who's gotta be where when, and and all of that when they're so involved in activities.
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:21.280
But obviously, as you know right now, there's never gonna be a time in your life when you're gonna look back and say, Wish I didn't do that.
00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:22.320
It's always gonna be.
00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:23.920
I'm so glad that I did that.
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:24.159
Yeah.
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:26.159
So glad it's been life-changing.
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:28.159
I recommend it for everybody who's got smaller kids.
00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:31.760
Whatever your kids' activity is, mine mine happened to love sports.
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:33.440
I knew nothing about soccer.
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:39.920
I now coach three, head coach of two teams and assistant coach of another in including in competitive soccer.
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.400
And I did literally never played, I think I played one season as a four-year-old or something, you know.
00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:50.639
But I feel like if you could figure out the airport conveyor business, you could probably figure out you soccer.
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:51.760
That's a good point.
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:52.559
Yeah.
00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:53.440
Okay.
00:45:53.679 --> 00:46:00.320
Well, hey, Colin, how can our listeners reach out with you, follow you, or or connect with you about working with you?
00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:01.280
Yeah, absolutely.
00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:02.800
I'm really active on LinkedIn.
00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:03.760
That's the easiest way.
00:46:03.920 --> 00:46:05.039
Just look me up on LinkedIn.
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:06.239
Or just go to our website.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:08.239
It's finelelevate.com.
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.800
And yeah, I love, like I said, I got into this.
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:12.320
Yes, I checked the business model.
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:16.960
I made sure it was something I was happy with and built it in a way that I was, I knew I could be successful.
00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:19.280
But first and foremost, I love entrepreneurs.
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:23.360
Like I'm in, I'm in three or four different groups, started multiple masterminds.
00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:25.440
You know, I'm this is just what I love.
00:46:25.599 --> 00:46:27.440
All my best friends are entrepreneurs.
00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:33.840
So if somebody's got a question, even if you don't be like, you know, hey, you're ready to be a client, man, do what we talked about earlier.
00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:35.039
Be willing to reach out.
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:38.400
People will help you for free if you're willing to reach out.
00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:40.320
And obviously, we love paid clients.
00:46:40.559 --> 00:46:47.440
So if somebody's got a million plus business a year and they're and they need this sort of financial insight, yeah, we can help with that too.
00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:49.119
But don't be afraid to reach out.
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:50.000
Excellent.
00:46:50.159 --> 00:46:50.639
Excellent.
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:52.400
Well, thank you very much.
00:46:52.639 --> 00:47:00.079
Appreciate all of the experience, the stories, the wisdom, and the actionable guidance you've offered our listeners today, Colin.
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:01.920
Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean.
00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:18.640
Welcome to the Durable Entrepreneur Show, where we talk with the experts that know how to help early stage entrepreneurs get from day one to year six.
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:24.800
More than half of all small businesses fail in their first five years, but you are not going to be one of them.
00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:30.239
Listen up and apply what you learn to help you survive and thrive well beyond year five.
00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:49.520
I'm your host, Sean O'Hara, and today I'm really excited to introduce you to Colin Sandberg, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Fin Elevate, a fractional CFO firm that helps business owners drive profitability, improve cash flow, and make smarter decisions with clearer data.
00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:56.799
We'll be talking about mentorship, pricing models, the appeal of entrepreneurship through acquisition, and a lot more.
00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:02.240
If this episode is helpful to you, please take a couple seconds to rate our show with five stars.
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.200
All right, it's time to get down to business.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:11.519
Would you please now welcome Colin Sandberg to the Durable Entrepreneur Show?
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.079
Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean.
00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:15.920
This is a great opportunity for me.
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:27.359
You have an amazing story of how you've grown as an entrepreneur and in your expertise for some really practical, practical reasons that maybe even surprised you at the time.
00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:32.879
I feel like you're an excellent example of durability as an entrepreneur.
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.280
You started down this path through your family's business, right?
00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:38.079
Yep.
00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.560
So how did that how did can you fill us in on that a little bit about that experience?
00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:43.200
Yeah.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:49.760
So I had kind of an interesting moment in life where I realized at uh 21 years old I want to be an entrepreneur.
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:56.000
And uh the only person, and it had nothing to do with the family member, it was actually my stepdad who had a business.
00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:16.400
But I I just, you know, kind of gotten kicked around a little bit in life and read an article actually about an entrepreneur, and it just made me realize that like there was this field out there where you can, you know, your back's against the wall, things are not looking good, you've made some mistakes, you're down on your luck, and yet you can fix it.
00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.000
And that was entrepreneurship.
00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.960
And, you know, I didn't have the squeaky clean background.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:35.280
I'd kind of you know gotten in trouble a lot as a kid, and so I I I latched on to entrepreneurship, and that was how I ended up going to the nearest entrepreneur that I knew and said, Hey, let me let me come in here and learn for a year and see what this thing's all about.
00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:36.080
That's great.
00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:55.680
So so effectively, what it sounds like maybe the revelation was is like, hey, I'm not sure like where I where I might fit or where my starting point might be, but this sounds like an opportunity that if I can rely on myself and create something that that I actually have control of my own destiny.
00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.800
Yeah, and and it is, and it's exactly what you said.
00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.360
It's that control of destiny, right?
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:05.439
And and I always say, like, and this is kind of I had to tell my wife.
00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:07.759
So she didn't come from an entrepreneurship kind of background.
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:09.360
And when I met her, it sounded scary.
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:12.000
I worked at this small company, only had a handful of people.
00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:17.439
I had risk, and I said, Hey, I I would rather be the one in control.
00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:23.759
Like, give me that control, and I can at least trust myself that with my back against the wall, I'm gonna do the right things, right?
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.199
And as we know, you know, it doesn't mean we're gonna be flawless or perfect or make no mistakes.
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.120
We're gonna make a million mistakes.
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:31.599
Right.
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:37.039
But it is just that mindset of I'm gonna persevere no matter what happens, I'm gonna make it.
00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:47.759
Can you tell us maybe a little bit about some of the challenges that you faced in that first exposure with with the effectively it sounds like you went and pitched yourself for a job, right?
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:48.719
I did, yeah.
00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:00.479
No, so I I basically, and and that was that was an interesting early lesson in, you know, sucking up getting your humility right and going in and being willing to ask for something you need or want, right?
00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.159
Not all of us are good at that.
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:08.240
But yeah, so I I went into that first business, you know, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and just thought, you know, this is gonna be great.
00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.960
I'm gonna learn about entrepreneurship and then I'm gonna go do my own thing.
00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:12.639
I'll be here for maybe a year.
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.199
And pretty quickly in the business, found out the business was really a kind of a disaster.
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:19.600
I always say it was a financial house of cards.
00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:24.560
And what I mean by that is it had every type of financial problem a small business can have.
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:37.040
It had we couldn't pay all of our bills, we had not enough cash for payroll, vendors were screaming, customers weren't paying, we bought a bunch of inventory we didn't need, couldn't sell, and didn't want, right?
00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.879
And and all of those things compounding at the same time.
00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:52.800
And I walked in with zero experience, not knowing the first thing about how to solve those kind of problems, and pretty quickly realized I love the there's there's like an old farm saying, and I didn't grow up on a farm.
00:04:52.879 --> 00:05:02.079
So somebody let me know if I if I'm using this uh incorrectly, but it's this notion that you know you're a man when you can do the work of a man, right?
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.800
And and I love that thought process.
00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:14.240
And so when I got thrown into this business, 21, 22 years old, not knowing anything, I pretty quickly looked around and said, man, all the all the adults in the room have no idea what they're doing.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:21.920
Like I may, I may not be any good yet, but at least I know where I stand and I'm gonna go work on learning and figuring this thing out.
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.759
And so that's how I ended up, you know, thrown into the financial side of the business.
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:35.680
So even coming in with no background in in business, even at all, it was like the problems became painfully apparent right away, it sounds like.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.879
And I always joke that number one, I like I think every entrepreneur has proximity to another entrepreneur.
00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.240
I've yet to meet anyone who's never seen it up close and just said, you know, I'm just gonna go do this entrepreneur thing.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:47.199
Uh it sounds cool.
00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.360
They usually have a mentor, a friend, a family member who they've seen.
00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:58.879
And what's funny is, like a lot of things in life, is that you get up close to people and you go, nah, they're not that, they're not that smart.
00:05:58.959 --> 00:05:59.759
They're not that great.
00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:00.079
Right.
00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:01.519
Like they're they're just a person.
00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.560
They're just yeah, and most of them, I love the old George Carlin line.
00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.079
He said, the the scary thing is think how dumb the average person is, and realize half of them are dumber than that.
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:18.399
And so, and so from that perspective, you get up close to these other entrepreneurs and you go, like, oh man, these are not like geniuses who have everything figured out.
00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.959
Like, these are just again, I love, I love the show, like durable.
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.879
These are people who have grit and determination and perseverance.
00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:33.839
Most of them are of mediocre intellect, do not have some light the world on fire talent.
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.480
They're just showing up and going for it every day.
00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:48.879
And so once I was in a room full of people, and I even at 22 years old with none none of the awareness or knowledge of what I needed to be doing, I kind of thought, like, well, okay, these people like I can hang here, I can go figure this out.
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.639
And I just have to learn really, really quickly what the heck I'm supposed to do.
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:53.120
Yeah.
00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.480
So how did that unfold then?
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.800
You came in, the the problems were apparent.
00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.079
You it sounds like you immediately identified, like, hey, I've got some gaps here, but I want to figure this out.
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:03.040
Is that right?
00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:03.519
Yeah.
00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:08.480
So I I got turned on to an early mentor who happened to be a CPA for the business that was brought to us.
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.600
He's he's kind of like um firefighting CPA guy who he's he's thrown in.
00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:19.920
He had a reputation with uh helping small business owners, really getting in their business and helping them understand how to fix the problem.
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:26.480
And so he saw me as a young, eager kid willing to learn, and he just started dropping wisdom on me.
00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:30.959
And his name's Fergus, he's an awesome guy, still a friend and mentor.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.519
I always say he's like the crazy uncle that I never had.
00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:38.720
But he, you know, he he basically explained the whole game to me.
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.639
Like, you've got to be a lifelong learner.
00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.160
You have got to step your game up.
00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:47.040
Like, you're not gonna solve these problems by having somebody come in and tell you what to do, and you just do it and it works.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:57.839
You're gonna have to go through a million trials, tribulations, failings, but get get focused, get learning, and and be like a person of action, right?
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.439
You can't just be somebody who talks and likes theory and all that.
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:02.879
You gotta get after it.
00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:11.040
So that's awesome to have a mentor, and I think that is a common theme with people who are successful over the long term.
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.120
They're not operating in a vacuum.
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:21.759
And so many people in business are so willing and they really want to help people who are on the path that they once were on, right?
00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:22.480
Yeah.
00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:22.959
Yeah.
00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:24.720
That person's gold.
00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:29.439
Well, and like I we said, I said earlier about asking, how few people ask.
00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:32.080
Like, that is one of the things I'm trying to push my sons.
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.679
I've got uh uh two sons and a daughter.
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.759
My daughter's a little bit too young for the message so far, but I push them, especially the oldest one.
00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.799
It's like find someone who's already where you want to go or they're further along that journey.
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:56.879
You will not believe how infrequently someone will go up and ask that person for help, for guidance, for advice, just for another person to look at them and be honest with them about what they're good at and what they still need to work on.
00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:03.440
Like people who have achieved something will never tear you down for being vulnerable and saying what you want.
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.600
Like they will always lift you up.
00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:14.879
And so it's amazing how few people, like you said, I would say most successful entrepreneurs have found that, but so many people early in their career struggling just don't do that.
00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.080
And it I started in this game when I was the kid, right?
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.080
And now I'm in my mid-40s.
00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:32.799
It blows my mind how few people have come up to me and asked me, even though I've been in businesses with hundreds of employees, some of them had dreams of being entrepreneurs, how infrequently it is that people will do that.
00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:34.399
Why do you think that is?
00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:50.720
Is it a an embarrassment, like a humility thing, or is it like uh I don't want in some cases, maybe I don't want to expose that I don't have all the answers, or or is it just like I just am oblivious to the fact that I've got all of this help that I could get if I just asked for it?
00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.799
I mean, what is it a combination of those things?
00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:53.440
What do you think?
00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:54.879
Yeah, I think it's a combination.
00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.480
So I think it's a muscle that you have to flex to get better at, right?
00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.679
And for me, I did that a little bit early on and it had such dramatic impact.
00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:18.399
I remember mastermind groups, which is another way I'm I'm really, really passionate about people being in mastermind groups because it's kind of like the mentor mentee thing in one where you've got peers and in certain topics they're mentors, and certain topics they're mentees, and you're able to help each other.
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.399
But I remember first time I got into that, I was like 23, 24 years old.
00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:25.279
And most of the guys in the group are in their 50s or 60s.
00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.159
And so I asked a couple of them to lunch who I really admired.
00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:37.919
I saw how the group looked at them, and I took him and I remember one guy, he just after after a really nice lunch of us chatting and talking about life, and he was he had kids who were almost my age.
00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:42.639
And I just, you know, he said, Okay, Colin, like cut cut the BS.
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:43.840
Like, what what do you want?
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:44.960
Why are we here?
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:51.200
And he thought I wanted something from him, and I said, Man, Mike, I just want to know what you know, man.
00:10:51.360 --> 00:11:00.720
I was like, I just and and he was like, that guy to this day will pick up my call no matter where he is or what is going on.
00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:09.440
And that was 25 years ago, and this guy, or 20 years ago, and this guy will pick up my call and bend over backward to help me because I just asked.
00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.120
That's a great takeaway.
00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.159
A great takeaway.
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.879
Not just that we need mentors, but we need to ask.
00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:17.919
We need to ask.
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.879
And you may be surprised at how excited somebody is to have the opportunity to help and pass on their wisdom.
00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:25.360
Yeah.
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:32.639
And being like you said, being vulnerable, the reality is all of us realize that at some point we're faking it till we make it, right?
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:37.279
It doesn't matter if we're talking parenting, we're talking business, we're talking trying to get through college.
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:41.039
The people who have already done that, they know you're faking it till you make it.
00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.120
They're still faking it until they make it.
00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:48.159
So this idea that, like, well, if I'm vulnerable and I tell them I don't really know what I'm doing, then suddenly that's embarrassing.
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:49.120
No, no, no, no.
00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:50.320
They they already know.
00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.080
Like, you just have to be willing to say it and own it out loud.
00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:54.639
Right.
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:55.440
They already know.
00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:56.240
I love that.
00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.080
Yes, they they already know.
00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:58.960
Wow.
00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:00.799
Well, great, great guidance.
00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:01.759
I appreciate that.
00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:11.759
I wanted to talk a little bit more detail, obviously, about uh the business that you're in and how you help your customers.
00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:21.440
I mean, what one perspective that you bring is I feel like this combination of finance and an operations lens that you see businesses through.
00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:22.399
Is that fair to say?
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:23.759
Yeah, I think so.
00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:24.960
I think that makes sense.
00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.559
So yeah, so uh I ended up in that first business.
00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.600
I actually just sold it, uh believe it or not, just recently.
00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.039
So I had that business for 20, I was in that business for 24 years.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.639
Congratulations, by the way.
00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:37.440
Yeah, thank you.
00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:46.720
So I exited that business and another one, uh, have another business that I'm still part of, and then I I ended up at one point being kind of my own fractional CFO for my own companies.
00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.080
So I had my own office.
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.519
I didn't work with the team or the customers anymore or the vendors.
00:12:51.679 --> 00:13:04.000
I basically just dealt with the leadership and I advised them really on the financial part and just kind of, you know, from being a CEO for 15 years and all the things I'd seen, and then coaching CEOs in my own businesses.
00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.720
And so it really just gave me a different perspective.
00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:11.440
I like to describe it as the coach perspective, not just the player perspective, right?
00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:19.039
Because if when we're on the field, and I know this because I coach all my kids in all in basketball and soccer, when you're on the field, you're overwhelmed.
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:23.679
Things are coming so fast, you're trying to worry about what your body's doing, what your mind's doing, the other players, everything.
00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.440
When you get to be a coach, you stand on the sideline and you just can zoom out and see the whole picture.
00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:38.639
And so when I did that for my own businesses, it gave me tremendous perspective on like what doing it well looks like and what mistakes I had previously made.
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:47.600
It's one of those where you have like a thousand head slapping moments where you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe when I was on the field playing, I did this and I did this and I did this.
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:55.360
And so that that just gave me a really big passion for I love again masterminds working with other business owners.
00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:59.120
And so I took all of that and said, okay, how can I apply this?
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:01.919
And I just happen to love the financial side of the business.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:03.679
Most people don't.
00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:07.759
And so the business owners, it's like a topic they know they need to work on.
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.360
They don't want to talk to a CPA or somebody who sounds like a textbook because that's that's horrible.
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.240
And so there was that was kind of the opportunity for me to build a business around that.
00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:32.480
And so for you, when when you would work with these clients, like somebody basically found you and they knew that like I am struggling, either I'm struggling financially or I'm struggling maybe to even know where I am financially.
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:39.919
But when they came to you, was did you start with just looking at financial statements?
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.919
Did you start with the business?
00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:50.879
What would that engagement look like from the time that somebody said, Hey, can you come in and and have have a conversation with me about what's going on and what I need to do differently?
00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:52.320
Where do you go from there?
00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:52.960
Yeah.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.240
So that's a great question.
00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:00.399
So I I like to say that most businesses are are being run like they're looking through the rearview mirror of the car, right?
00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:04.399
You cannot drive a car looking through the rear view mirror, not for very far anyway.
00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.559
And yet that's what most businesses are doing.
00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:20.559
So when they get tired of living out of just about what's in the bank and and trying to run their business based on the bank account financials, and they get tired of trying to look in the rearview mirror and see, well, what happened last month has nothing to do with next month, but that's all I have.
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:25.120
So we really work with them on building that into kind of a forward-looking.
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:31.840
So you got to have a budget, you got to have a cash flow model, you got to have forecast for where you think revenue is gonna be.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.639
That's what we mainly work on with businesses.
00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.080
But in the first two or three weeks, I like to say we're drinking from a fire hose.
00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:43.120
I need to hear everything about the story of the business, what you offer, how many people, all the details.
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:50.799
And then I go look in the financials based on that knowledge, and I come back to you and I'm like, Sean, man, this is what doesn't make any sense.
00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.840
Like, here's what you told me, and here's what I saw.
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.799
Like, help me connect these dots because to your point, most people's numbers are trash.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:08.240
And so I I like to say after that first few weeks, we start asking really good questions, not necessarily coming up with all the solutions.
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:17.360
But ultimately, we have to get into a business that has a forward-looking lens, and we have to engage the team because it's no fun to be the entrepreneur.
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.799
You can be the most successful entrepreneur in the world, but if you got to do the work of 20 people, you're gonna be a miserable person.
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:24.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.480
Well, that makes a lot of sense.
00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:35.360
And that and that lens to start from seems like it's so much it's gotta be so much more impactful than just just pouring over the financial statements.
00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.000
As you said, that is the rear view mirror, right?
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.159
Uh a lot of that a lot of it.
00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:48.799
Yeah, and I've tried tried before I started this business to solve this problem every different way, even though I was a financial-oriented person coming up through that part of the business.
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.960
Once I was a CEO, I didn't have time for that.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:59.360
And so I tried 1099s and hiring experts and somebody who came out of corporate and using a different uh fractional CFO.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:04.559
And what's wild is they would do stuff like pull up the financials and just talk through them with me.
00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.160
Like, who needs that, man?
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:07.440
That's a waste of time.
00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:20.880
Um, if you're not helping me look forward or you're not distilling this into where I don't have to look through a three-page document where we're all distracted by what this weird little number is over here, and you know, it's$119.
00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.720
And what what is that category even?
00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:23.839
I've never even seen that before.
00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:25.759
Talk about a waste of time, right?
00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:41.519
So we we go through the complexity because someone has to, but our entire goal is to simplify it into a story that not only can the business owner keep up with and enjoy, but they can start to engage their team in certain elements of it so that everyone's pulling in the same direction.
00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:57.599
What what what do you find are kind of the financial habits of entrepreneurs that maybe you see differently in a business that is in growth mode versus those are kind of in the in the grind mode, right?
00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.039
Maybe who don't know their numbers.
00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:10.160
What are the kind of the some of the fundamentals that entrepreneurs need to make sure that they're really connect with to even just be able to have tee themselves up to have the opportunity to operate in growth mode?
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:10.720
Yeah.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:19.759
So the first thing is the the funny part is I'm gonna I'm gonna put a disclaimer when you say growth mode, because some businesses are growing, but that doesn't mean they're getting more profitable, right?
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.000
So you can have a great market.
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:28.799
I've been there before, you can have a great market, a great offer, a great whatever, and you think like, hey, if I just do more, I'm gonna, this is gonna be great.
00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.200
Really, you're just creating more work for yourself.
00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:40.400
So the biggest thing, like if you blindfolded me and just allowed me to just give one thing, I can't know anything about a business, I would say you have to have premium pricing.
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.839
So I beat up on people about this all the time.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.599
There are two successful business models in the world, period.
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:55.440
One is massive scale, Amazon, Walmart, any of the big giant Apple type brands, right?
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.640
That is one model.
00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.599
The other one is a premium price.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:00.960
That is it.
00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:05.519
If you cannot have Amazon scale, you cannot have Amazon's pricing.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:07.279
You can't do it.
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.400
It is not possible.
00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.200
I've never seen a business that could successfully pull that off.
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.519
It'd be small and cheap.
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:14.559
It just doesn't work.
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:21.440
And so that immediately challenges people to say, like, well, wait a minute, but I I'm not confident enough in my product, or I'm not confident enough in who I sell it to.
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:22.559
Like, I can't do that.
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:31.359
When you start giving yourself the I can't do that excuses, you are not doing it well enough to justify a premium price.
00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:36.079
It is not that it can't be done, it is that you have yet to figure out how to do it.
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:46.960
Well, and it's interesting probably because there's a lot of people in the very early stages of the entrepreneur journey who almost default to the idea that I need to be competitive on price.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:47.920
A hundred percent.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:52.640
And that isn't like, well, what are the yeah, that's a weak sales and marketing mindset, right?
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:56.799
The weak sales and marketing mind says, Well, what does the average person charge for it?
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.000
Let me go ten dollars less than that, and then it'll be easier to sell.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.839
Well, of course it'll be easier to sell.
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.400
The problem is you have to deliver it.
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:11.119
And yeah, and if you think, think about like the virtuous cycle of having premium pricing, right?
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.920
Now I can afford to invest in the best quality materials.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.160
Now I can afford to invest in my team.
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.920
Now I can bring on the experts that I need to help me do this even better.
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:25.279
Now I can, now I can, now I can't, versus the vicious circle, right?
00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.079
The vicious cycle of a low-cost price.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.759
Like now I got to find the cheapest.
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.680
Let me just get a product that's just good enough that the customer won't complain, but no better.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:34.079
Yeah.
00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.599
Same thing with my team.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:36.960
I can't afford experts.
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.480
I'm just in this grinding myself circling the drain, right?
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.799
That is that is a great answer to that question.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:45.519
It's so true.
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:57.359
Reminds me of early many years ago, I had an advertising agency and I took that low-cost approach coming into the market, and I got referred by one of my existing accounts to a prospect.
00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:06.000
And when I did my whole presentation and presented my proposal, the woman that I was talking to looked at me and said, They told me you were going to be cheap.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:06.400
Right.
00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.440
And I'm like, oh, what have I built here for myself?
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.000
Right.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:17.759
And the other part of that, I feel like, is that it is also difficult to pivot, right?
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:24.160
In your pricing model to go from the low cost guy to on the premium product.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:31.359
Because you've created this perception that you're low cost, and people know there's option, there's there's differences between premium and low cost.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:32.480
Much easier, right?
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:43.119
If you need to periodically adjust your pricing in the opposite direction for a short-term decision, as opposed to just raise prices.
00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.799
Once you go down that path, don't you feel like it it's hard to shift?
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:50.079
Yeah, it it's it's it's like negotiating against yourself.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.759
Once you've started it, it's very hard to kind of course correct.
00:21:54.079 --> 00:22:02.160
But I think that's where if if you were to ask the average entrepreneur if you had 10 times the opportunity to sell, would you raise a Lower your price, it'd be like, well, I'd raise it, obviously.
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.519
I had 10 times the opportunity.
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:08.400
So, okay, so you're not pricing that way because you think it's actually strategic.
00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.839
It's because you're seeing it as I have to have some revenue.
00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.519
So let me price it at whatever number will get something coming through the door.
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:21.200
The problem is, like most things, you know, I love the saying, easy choices, hard life.
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.000
Hard choices, easy life, right?
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:32.240
So what we're basically saying there is if I take this easy out right now, by pricing it lower, I'll make things better.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:37.920
Well, you think you're making things better, but in reality, you're building for a future that's much, much harder.
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:38.720
Yeah.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:41.680
That makes make makes it makes a ton of sense.
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:57.920
Is there generally like if you're if you're looking at you wanted to do a quick assessment of somebody's business health, is there an initial place where you would focus that maybe seems like it's consistently the tip of the iceberg?
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:10.160
I mean, obviously we've talked about the premium pricing model, but I'm just talking about looking at numbers, a tip of the iceberg where you would say, okay, I can if I see this here, I know that there's probably all these other systemic things happening in the business.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:11.359
Or does it vary?
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:11.839
Yeah.
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:12.319
Yeah.
00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:26.799
So what we like to do is we break down the business and we have a six-line PML that we follow, which is basically revenue minus cost of goods sold, minus sales and marketing, minus labor, minus overhead, and the and the differences profit or loss, right?
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.079
So it's six lines.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.720
We we run that in a in a chart format because I like to see the shape of it.
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:42.079
And what I'm really looking for there is that as revenue goes up, do cost of goods really follow it, or do you think they follow it?
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:43.920
Like what's going on there?
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.599
As we've grown, let's say that over the last year and a half, we've really grown.
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.839
So we're gonna look at this thing quarterly.
00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.880
Is our overhead growing faster than our revenue?
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:54.720
Or is our overhead locked in?
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.680
A really good business can scale without drastic changes to their overhead.
00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:04.799
They may have some change to their labor, but their overhead is very dialed in.
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:09.599
And so you see these kind of habits that show up when you look at the numbers that way.
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.400
And it's really easy.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:15.359
Anybody can look at a chart and see the shape of it and say, like, oh yeah, okay, I see what's happening here.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:22.400
So those are the things I like to look at because it's one of those five areas before the profit and loss.
00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.160
It's one of those five areas that's the problem if you're not happy with your numbers.
00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:31.359
I don't want to look for the needle in the haystack by trying to go piece of hay by piece of hay.
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:38.640
I'm gonna divide it into five hay, five haystacks and say, if now you tell me which one the needle's in, and I go a little deeper, right?
00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.359
And so that's the way we like to approach it.
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.279
And once you have that formula dialed in, we call it the simple profit formula.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:56.079
Once you have a simple profit formula dialed in and you know that you can't afford to spend more than 12% of your revenue on overhead, and boom, it spikes to 15 this quarter.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.079
Now we're diving in proactively.
00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.279
Like what's going on here?
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:00.400
Did revenue drop?
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:02.160
Did what what is our issue?
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.359
And it just gives us a check engine light for the whole business.
00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:06.160
Yeah.
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:14.480
That that makes that makes a lot of sense where you can see at a glance, like you said, now we're gonna dig in in this one area because something something smells bad here.
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:15.119
Yep.
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:15.759
Yep.
00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:16.160
Yeah.
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:21.839
And meanwhile, if you start with a three-page PL, you get lost on that$119 and you're like, what is this?
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:25.039
And two hours later, you've never made it through the whole PL.
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:28.720
You didn't learn anything, no, no action items, right?
00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:29.759
I ignore all that.
00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:38.960
I'm I'm looking big numbers first, and we're gonna drill down where it matters, and we'll keep drilling until we find that individual needle in the haystack.
00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:43.599
But by the time we get there, we're gonna have eliminated most of the hay, right?
00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.440
We're only focusing on the small area that can possibly have this needle.
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.519
And we get really, really good at doing that.
00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:51.920
And so then you can just do that in perpetuity, right?
00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:01.359
We can do that every quarter, every month, and constantly refine the business so that the minute something pops up, we identify, like, oh, we don't like that.
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.200
That that's not the direction we're headed.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:04.559
That's not where we want to go.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:05.119
Wow.
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:06.400
Makes a lot of sense.
00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:10.000
Very, very practical approach that people can understand.
00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:15.200
And I'm sure your clients have appreciation of you kind of distilling everything down for them, right?
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:15.519
Yeah.
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:22.720
As opposed because a lot of people, like you said, entrepreneurs are not necessarily inspired because they love the numbers of the business.
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:30.480
And probably there's a lot of procrastination and a lot of avoidance because it's just like you said, right?
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:34.480
And and then you can take distill it into something that like people can understand.
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:39.119
And these these are the and and that's probably helps them too, right?
00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:45.519
In like monitoring things uh on their own as well, having that having that lens to see the business through.
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:46.400
Absolutely.
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:46.799
Yeah.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:58.400
And and I think that was a big lesson early in my career, is I made the mistake a lot of people do of thinking that once I started learning a lot about business and about what we should be focused on, then my job is to come back and explain it all to my team.
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.079
Like I'm gonna tell them everything I learned.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:00.559
Oh.
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.640
That is not what a leader does.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:08.480
What a leader does is go out and understand the complexity of the world so they can come back and simplify it for their team.
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:16.000
And so to that point, if I'm gonna help lead someone's company from a financial perspective, I need to understand the complexities for sure.
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.799
But it is not so that I can then turn around and regurgitate all the complexities to the business owner.
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:28.079
I've got to simplify it into a methodology that they can understand quickly and that's actionable going forward.
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:29.200
Excellent.
00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:30.319
Excellent.
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:42.720
So uh I also wanted to ask you with the all the businesses that you've had, have you have those all been start scratch or and or have any of them been you investing or buying an existing business?
00:27:42.880 --> 00:28:05.759
And and what do you have, you know, just any guidance for maybe a maybe an aspiring, not an early stage entrepreneur, but even just an aspiring entrepreneur about which which one of those paths they should maybe consider, or even just contrasting those two options of buying the business that's already established versus starting one from scratch.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:07.039
Kind of pros and cons.
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.079
Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:11.359
So Finn Elevate's my first startup, the first business I've founded.
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:15.599
All the other ones I've I bought, either invested in or acquired outright.
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:21.200
And I will tell you, I always tell this to entrepreneurs, is it is much better to buy a business if that's an option.
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.680
And the reason is because generally you're buying something that has some sort of track record.
00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:31.039
It's already gotten over some of the initial humps that a lot of startups don't make it through.
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:36.880
And in general, if you can find a business that you can buy, it makes a lot of sense.
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.960
You're kind of buying altitude in a way.
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:42.720
You've got revenue, you've got some things established, you've got a track record.
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:49.440
And from my experience earlier in my career, it is very different to redirect momentum.
00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:50.720
Every business has momentum.
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:52.160
Some of it's good, some of it's bad.
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.359
We're going to try and redirect it in the way we want it to go.
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.319
That is much easier than creating momentum out of thin air.
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.039
And that's what starting a company really looks like.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:09.359
And so things that I thought I'd be able to get done with FinElevate, my first startup in six months, have taken me two years.
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:16.319
And in an existing business with resources and momentum, I would have been able to fight that journey a lot quicker.
00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:22.400
So the reason I didn't end up buying it with Fin Elevate is I was actually looking to buy a business.
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.599
I'm still passionate about buying businesses, but I couldn't find one that did exactly what I wanted.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:35.039
I would have had to strip it down so dramatically that it would have been, it would have killed all the momentum anyway.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:38.480
And so it made more sense to start my own.
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:43.440
So the majority of your entrepreneurship has been entrepreneurship through acquisition then.
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.440
So I owned, I owned my first business.
00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.480
Uh, I actually bought the business that I started in, the family business.
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:49.599
That was the one that I bought.
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:50.400
Oh, you bought that one.
00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.079
And I had that one for 24 years.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:30:00.160
So I started out as a minority partner and through a couple acquisition uh to from the prior owner, then ended up buying it outright.
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:05.200
I had a partner short term, and then that didn't work out, and the partner left, and it was a minority partner.
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:16.640
And so I've yeah, I've kind of done this every which way in terms of uh buying businesses, now selling businesses, investing as a minority in an existing business.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.559
And now this one fin elevates about two and a half years old that I started.
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:34.160
Um if somebody's interested in looking at that, where would they, where would they start to even go down that path of, hey, instead of building this business idea that I have, let me see if there's one where it makes sense for me to buy it.
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.039
Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:37.119
So you've got to educate yourself.
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:52.640
Like that's the number one, to me, that's probably the number one message that if if you want to be an entrepreneur versus being kind of a nine to five W-2 employee, the companies, especially if you're at a bigger company, they'll tell you exactly what they want you to know and all the things they don't care about.
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:55.920
As an entrepreneur, everything is your domain.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.039
You have to become a master of all the different areas of business.
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.480
And so this is nothing more than one more topic in the business, right?
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.920
So, what do you want to do?
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.279
What do you do if you want to learn something?
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.000
Yes, you want to look at some videos and things like that.
00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:12.319
But what I always find is I want to go find the books on this topic that are the best.
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:19.680
And I would say that probably the number one for acquisition entrepreneurship is uh Walker Dybell wrote a book called Buy Then Build.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:20.319
Uh.
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:27.680
And so that, and he actually has the entrepreneur uh or the acquisition lab, which I'm a member of.
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:35.599
So even though I was an experienced entrepreneur with 15 years of experience running companies and had bought businesses before, I knew I needed to step my game up.
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:40.240
And so I read his book, loved it, ended up joining his lab and going through his program.
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:42.640
And then it's got resources and it's got all of that.
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:53.279
So most of his clientele in that lab are first-time business owners or aspiring business owners who basically say, I've got to step my game up and understand this.
00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.319
And then you tap into all the resources and all the all the goodies that you can find there.
00:31:58.640 --> 00:31:58.960
Right.
00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.799
No, that's that's great advice.
00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:01.759
Thank you for sharing that.
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.319
I think I feel like that that's pure gold.
00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:23.599
Um, so I wanted to ask you too, with all the communities that that you have participated in and mastermind groups, do you see any like common missteps or failures that a lot of entrepreneurs will find that you know they just they they end up doing the same things and learning the hard way?
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:32.400
Yeah, I think that the one of the biggest is what goes right alongside, I would almost say the other side of the coin of of learning, right?
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:38.319
So you have to educate yourself, you have to continue, you have to really have that lifelong learner kind of mentality.
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:41.680
So whether you're in a group, a map, a pure group, that's a great way to learn.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:42.720
You're a big reader.
00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:43.359
Audio book.
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:44.240
I love audiobooks.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.799
I've I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of audiobooks.
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:55.359
Like to me, there is no excuse in 2025 or 2026 that you don't know some information because what's your format?
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:55.920
What do you like?
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:58.880
You want videos, you want audio, you want books.
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:00.799
There's no limit to information.
00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:02.240
So that's the one side of the coin.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:08.240
The other side of the coin is having honest self-reflection and being candid with yourself.
00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.400
Like, I am not very good at this.
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:14.400
Every time something doesn't work, you should be asking, what did I do wrong?
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:22.799
It doesn't matter if it's an employee that didn't get the job done, some strategic misstep, a client who was totally unreasonable and fired you.
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:24.559
It doesn't matter what happened.
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:28.079
You have to ask the question first and foremost, like, what did I do wrong?
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:30.960
Because I guarantee you there's an answer to that question.
00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.960
It's just that the people who don't seem to get much better never ask it.
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.720
Great insight there.
00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:41.599
Uh, with with regard to to your clients, because well, let me ask you this.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:44.000
What which business did you recently sell?
00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:46.079
Yeah, so I sold my first business.
00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.000
That was the one I was in for 24 years.
00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:48.480
Okay.
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:51.279
It was an airport conveyor business of all things.
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:51.839
Really?
00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:52.319
Um, yeah.
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:54.559
So, like what you claim your bag off of at the airport.
00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.039
We manufactured and sold those across the country.
00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:58.480
Who knows that that's a business?
00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:00.240
I mean, obviously it is so random.
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:02.240
It has to be so random, yeah.
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:03.119
Really?
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:03.920
It is.
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:11.519
It is one of those, like you you hear that and you realize there are a million and one ways to make a buck because it is super random.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:13.039
No, no kidding.
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.199
So it's probably like dominated by a couple, three players.
00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:18.159
I'm I'm guessing.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:21.760
Yeah, there's there's probably a half dozen total, maybe, maybe eight.
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:28.000
And to your point, like most markets dominated by the two or three big guys, everybody else is kind of nipping around the edges.
00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:32.960
And it's a perfect example of what I was saying earlier, where we tried that business every different way.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:36.960
When I came in, we were trying to be the low-cost provider, which was nonsense.
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:41.039
There was one specific area of the business we could have a premium price.
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:48.239
And so when I when I took it over as CEO, the very first thing I did was I shed 75% of our revenue, which was not making money.
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.880
And so this is the one thing I would challenge people with.
00:34:50.960 --> 00:35:01.519
When you have a business that's not making a lot of money and you've got two or three main things you sell, I've got to isolate those things and really take a cold hard look at each of them individually.
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:07.360
Because frequently, like what was happening with us, 75% of our revenue was losing money.
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:13.840
25% was making good money, but when you blended them back together, we we were kind of break-even or barely make a little bit.
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:22.159
And so I once I isolated, I was like, holy crap, that one guy selling half a million bucks a year, we make really good money at that.
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.880
And it's more than what we make as a whole business.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:26.159
So what is it doing?
00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:28.960
It's basically subsidizing the other part of the business.
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:32.400
And the minute that you're like, crap, like I can't keep doing that.
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:33.440
That makes no sense.
00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:34.719
Yeah.
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:42.000
That I mean that and that that is the type of gold that that you can bring to your to your clients too, right?
00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:48.000
Because I'm guessing that you see that as a theme sometimes.
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:49.199
Constantly, yeah.
00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:51.599
It's it's one of the exercises we do.
00:35:51.679 --> 00:36:08.800
Like I said, once we kind of dive in and we understand your your business and we've seen what the books say, we start kind of isolating for that by doing what we call revenue stream mapping, which is every different big offer you have or division or department, and really understanding like, okay, what's the cost of goods?
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:23.760
What, you know, kind of breaking down that simple profit formula, especially in a small entrepreneurial company, is like how much time you spend on it and how passionate the owner is, because a lot of times they've got this big offer that they're doing that's being neglected and therefore it's not making money.
00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:25.039
And why is that the case?
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:28.159
It's the case because the entrepreneur doesn't even like it.
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:38.159
Do you do you ever find that that entrepreneurs will resist in ditching a non-profitable part of the business because they're emotionally attached to it?
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:38.800
Of course.
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:39.199
Yeah.
00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:43.519
And and look, I tell the entrepreneurs we work with, like, hey, this is your this is your show.
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:44.480
This is your party.
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:46.639
Like, I'm gonna be honest with you.
00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:50.800
Like, that's part of what we have to have to work together, is I have to be able to be really candid with you.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:57.039
If I see something I don't like or I like, or I'll but at the end of the day, we're gonna be like your dream employee.
00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:02.880
Once you decide and you make a call, we fall in line and we go, and we're gonna try and make whatever you decide successful.
00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:05.679
But yes, we do have that happen.
00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:10.880
Uh, I wouldn't say super common, and and when it does, it's usually that's the story.
00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:14.159
A few months later, they're like, that's it, I'm done.
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:26.880
Like once you told me this is not making money, and I see all the work and energy that I have to put into it, it starts to kind of eat at them to know that all of that energy is going into a black hole.
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:27.679
Uh-huh.
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:28.480
Exactly.
00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:32.000
So, how emotionally attached are you to that black hole?
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:32.880
Exactly.
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:36.480
It's just like, I'm just gonna let you sit with this thought for a minute.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:37.119
Yeah.
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:39.280
Eventually they're gonna say, yeah, okay.
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:43.519
Maybe initially they resist, but it's like, yeah, why why are you in business?
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:44.800
Exactly.
00:37:45.119 --> 00:38:03.360
So I I know one of the things we we talked earlier, Colin, you you mentioned, you know, MBA versus CPA thinking, and uh and everything that we've talked about really reinforces how you bring value in in that mindset, looking at the business very holistically.
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:10.880
Do you find that when when you're working with a new client that they they're like, yeah, okay, open book?
00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:16.400
Yeah, I would say that they they're really refreshed by the idea that we're looking at their entire business.
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:23.599
Because again, you know, the one of the very first things I ask, even in the sales process of just trying to get to know someone, is like, what's the North Star?
00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:24.239
Where are we going?
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:25.280
Where do you want to be in five years?
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:26.320
Where do you want to be in 10 years?
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:28.239
Is it, I want to grow this thing to sell it?
00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:31.280
I want to grow it and have someone else take it over.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:34.960
I want to just get back to doing the part of this that I really love.
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:36.800
Like, what is your North Star?
00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:41.599
And once I know that, then every move we make has to be with that in mind, right?
00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:45.199
It's there's not a generic one size fits all on entrepreneurship.
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:51.039
And so, to your point, we're not digging into those things just to say, like, well, let's talk about HR.
00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:52.800
You know, nobody wants to talk about HR.
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:59.679
We are asking targeted questions and diving into parts of the business that are going to unlock you getting to your goal.
00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:04.400
And I think for people, it's really refreshing because most entrepreneurs welcome input.
00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:15.920
Like, man, if you can help me fix my pricing, or if you know about how to sell better or how to package my products in a way that will lead to a better business model, absolutely, let's talk.
00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:22.800
And so we don't, we rarely have anybody who says, like, hey, that's off limits, or once they understand what we're we're working toward.
00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:23.599
That's great.
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:32.239
If you have an entrepreneur who is, you're just the mentor situation, and they're literally just starting.
00:39:32.719 --> 00:39:45.199
For them to build the foundation that they're going to need to be financially successful, what would be one thing that you would say, look, when you this is what you have to be thinking about when you set this up?
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:56.639
We talked about a lot of different things, premium pricing, about the holistic view of the business, and and and you know, so many great takeaways, but if there's one thing, get me started on the right track.
00:39:56.719 --> 00:39:58.320
What advice would you give?
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.719
Think long and hard about the business model.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:02.079
So, what do I mean by that?
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.400
So, my first business uh was uh in the airport conveyor space, as I mentioned.
00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:11.039
You know, that's basically a construction business and a manufacturing business sandwiched into one.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:13.360
Honestly, really hard business model.
00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:15.679
Not one I would recommend for the faint of heart.
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:23.199
Uh and it's and also selling to a government, uh quasi-government entities and airports and airport management companies.
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:25.519
And so you're That sounds like a dream.
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:26.559
Oh my gosh.
00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:27.679
It's yeah.
00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:33.760
If if your goal is it's kind of like uh Warren Buffett had the saying, what's the best way to become a millionaire?
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:36.400
And he said, start as a billionaire and buy an airline.
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:37.280
Right.
00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:40.719
And so it's kind of that that one's a rough one.
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:44.079
So I tell people, think really long and hard.
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:45.760
I mean, this is a step most people skip.
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:53.679
They say, like, oh, I like love dogs, so I want to, I want to have a dog washing business, or like, you know, where you have like a grooming center kind of thing.
00:40:53.920 --> 00:41:06.719
Okay, but now what you don't realize is that for a retail-based business, signing a long-term lease is almost on par with buying or selling a company in terms of these the stakes that are involved.
00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:14.800
You're signing a personal leaf lease, uh, you know, personal guarantee on a five-year lease that is more money than you can cover personally.
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:18.000
That is a massive risk to take on.
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:21.679
And so when you think about business as a business model, what do I mean by that?
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:23.039
It's what's the revenue model?
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:24.639
Like, how am I going to get revenue?
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:25.679
Is it recurring?
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:26.719
Is it one time?
00:41:26.880 --> 00:41:28.239
Is it coming big waves?
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:30.159
Is it small transactional?
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:36.320
Then think about what are you, what are you actually going to do in terms of your labor model?
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.199
Thinking about the marketing, how will I actually generate business?
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:45.760
And so any business, you say you like dogs, we could come up with 10 different businesses.
00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:48.320
And each one will have a wildly different business model.
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:54.159
Some of those will play to your strengths or areas you're comfortable, some of those will play to your absolute weaknesses.
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:59.280
So don't just take the first thing you see and make the plunge.
00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:04.079
Think about the model and what you can afford and what resources you bring to the table.
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:11.920
And you can you can figure out an angle to work in an area that you're passionate about in a business model that you can withstand.
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:15.280
And that that comes from from being there, right?
00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:20.639
From all the accumulated experiences that you've had as an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs that you've worked with.
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:31.679
And I I I I talk with a lot of entrepreneurs who, and I feel like there is a common thread here with durability with somebody who does find a way to be passionate about the business that they're in.
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:37.199
And that and that could be, like you said, the dog scenario, but there's how many different ways to approach that.
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:44.079
It could also be people who just like really want to be a great leader and help elevate the lives of the people on their team.
00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:52.079
But it does seem like there's always this question of should you chase the market or chase your face your dream, trace your passion?
00:42:52.239 --> 00:43:00.239
And and it seems to me like the the ultimate scenario would be to find a way to make both of those things work.
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:03.920
But in order to thread that needle, you have to test a lot of business models.
00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:04.400
Yeah.
00:43:04.559 --> 00:43:04.800
Yeah.
00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:08.880
And I think to that point, I think there's there's two sides to that same thing, right?
00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:17.599
One is I will tell you from personal experience, being in airport conveyors, I could care less about air or couldn't care less about airport conveyors, right?
00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:18.639
It is not a passion of mine.
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:20.480
I'm not a mechanically minded person.
00:43:20.719 --> 00:43:25.679
I learned about all those things and I got really good at it for a while, but that is not a passion of mine.
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:28.079
I love working with entrepreneurs.
00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:29.840
I love the financial side of business, right?
00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:31.119
I love what I'm doing now.
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:33.599
So that was part of my deal.
00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:38.400
But I only came back to this because I thought really long and hard about that business model.
00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:44.639
And so, kind of to your point, I think people have to realize you need to be a pro to be a success in business.
00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:48.480
It does not matter if it's a field that you love.
00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:54.639
There is no outsmarting the hard work, the grit, the falling down on your face and having to get back up.
00:43:54.719 --> 00:44:01.199
There is no outsmarting that or being like, well, if I just pick the thing that I love, no, it It'll never feel like work.
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:03.760
You know, that is a nonsense notion.
00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:10.880
There is 20 things in my email and your email right now, no matter how successful our business might be, that we don't want to deal with.
00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:15.679
And it's part of just the penalties of rank and the reality of being in business.
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:16.639
That's great.
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:18.239
Well, thank you for sharing that.
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:26.079
Colin, a couple things I wanted to ask you, just wrapping up, is when you are not working in the business, what do you do to relax and unwind?
00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:27.360
How do you recharge?
00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:30.880
So my kids are between uh nine and fourteen right now.
00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:36.000
Uh I don't know that relax and recharge is really the right way to phrase it.
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:39.199
We're in that age of kids where they're heavy into activities.
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:45.440
And like I said, I coach all three of them in soccer, uh, and some in competitive soccer and in basketball.
00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:49.920
And so between that, it is pretty much full tilt all the time around my house.
00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:50.639
But I love it.
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:56.000
And it's it's a fun way to spend time with them and you know, and gives me something to be passionate about.
00:44:56.159 --> 00:44:56.880
So yeah.
00:44:57.199 --> 00:44:58.000
Well, that's great.
00:44:58.079 --> 00:44:59.760
I mean, get get it while you can.
00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:13.599
Obviously, those years go by quickly, and I did coach my kids, and sometimes it feels like you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, and it's a divide and conquer scenario about who's gotta be where when, and and all of that when they're so involved in activities.
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:21.280
But obviously, as you know right now, there's never gonna be a time in your life when you're gonna look back and say, Wish I didn't do that.
00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:22.320
It's always gonna be.
00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:23.920
I'm so glad that I did that.
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:24.159
Yeah.
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:26.159
So glad it's been life-changing.
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:28.159
I recommend it for everybody who's got smaller kids.
00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:31.760
Whatever your kids' activity is, mine mine happened to love sports.
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:33.440
I knew nothing about soccer.
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:39.920
I now coach three, head coach of two teams and assistant coach of another in including in competitive soccer.
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.400
And I did literally never played, I think I played one season as a four-year-old or something, you know.
00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:50.639
But I feel like if you could figure out the airport conveyor business, you could probably figure out you soccer.
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:51.760
That's a good point.
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:52.559
Yeah.
00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:53.440
Okay.
00:45:53.679 --> 00:46:00.320
Well, hey, Colin, how can our listeners reach out with you, follow you, or or connect with you about working with you?
00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:01.280
Yeah, absolutely.
00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:02.800
I'm really active on LinkedIn.
00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:03.760
That's the easiest way.
00:46:03.920 --> 00:46:05.039
Just look me up on LinkedIn.
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:06.239
Or just go to our website.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:08.239
It's finelelevate.com.
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.800
And yeah, I love, like I said, I got into this.
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:12.320
Yes, I checked the business model.
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:16.960
I made sure it was something I was happy with and built it in a way that I was, I knew I could be successful.
00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:19.280
But first and foremost, I love entrepreneurs.
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:23.360
Like I'm in, I'm in three or four different groups, started multiple masterminds.
00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:25.440
You know, I'm this is just what I love.
00:46:25.599 --> 00:46:27.440
All my best friends are entrepreneurs.
00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:33.840
So if somebody's got a question, even if you don't be like, you know, hey, you're ready to be a client, man, do what we talked about earlier.
00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:35.039
Be willing to reach out.
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:38.400
People will help you for free if you're willing to reach out.
00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:40.320
And obviously, we love paid clients.
00:46:40.559 --> 00:46:47.440
So if somebody's got a million plus business a year and they're and they need this sort of financial insight, yeah, we can help with that too.
00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:49.119
But don't be afraid to reach out.
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:50.000
Excellent.
00:46:50.159 --> 00:46:50.639
Excellent.
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:52.400
Well, thank you very much.
00:46:52.639 --> 00:47:00.079
Appreciate all of the experience, the stories, the wisdom, and the actionable guidance you've offered our listeners today, Colin.
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:01.920
Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean.
