Empowering Entrepreneurs to Thrive with Paloma

WEBVTT

00:00:02.424 --> 00:00:05.873
Hello and welcome to underdogs, bootstrappers and game changers.

00:00:05.873 --> 00:00:14.650
This is for those of you that are starting with nothing and using business to change their stars, motivating people who disrupted industry standards.

00:00:14.650 --> 00:00:17.865
This is the real side of business.

00:00:17.865 --> 00:00:19.030
This isn't Shark Tank.

00:00:19.030 --> 00:00:23.780
My aim with this podcast is to take away some of the imaginary roadblocks that are out there.

00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:28.431
I want to help more underdogs, because underdogs are truly who change the world.

00:00:28.431 --> 00:00:31.009
This is part of our Content for Good initiative.

00:00:31.009 --> 00:00:35.951
All the proceeds from the monetization of this podcast will go to charitable causes.

00:00:35.951 --> 00:00:37.726
It's for the person that wants it.

00:00:37.726 --> 00:00:51.229
Hello and welcome to another episode of Underdogs, Bootstrappers, Game Changers and you know I love it when I have a dear friend in the studio, my good friend Paloma today.

00:00:51.229 --> 00:00:51.731
Welcome.

00:00:51.951 --> 00:00:52.753
Thank you for having me.

00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.948
Thanks for coming to help Underdogs today.

00:00:54.948 --> 00:01:06.051
And you know folks, I always try to choose guests and you know a story for the day, and so today we're actually going to talk about business startup stuff.

00:01:06.051 --> 00:01:09.930
Paloma happens to be a business attorney for how many years now?

00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:12.447
This is my ninth year of practice.

00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:19.921
Ninth year and she's one of the most clever people I know, and that's why I love being able to.

00:01:19.921 --> 00:01:27.850
Usually it would cost hundreds of dollars an hour to talk to Paloma, but then I put her in the studio here for today and then you get her advice for free, which is amazing.

00:01:27.850 --> 00:01:32.471
So, yeah, we're going to work on underdogs today and business startup.

00:01:32.471 --> 00:01:36.790
So let's talk about somebody out there in the world today.

00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:38.266
They want to start their business.

00:01:38.266 --> 00:01:41.328
Your advice for the very first step.

00:01:43.543 --> 00:01:50.805
For the very first step, I would say you have to form the entity at a minimum.

00:01:50.805 --> 00:02:11.360
Right, you can have all the ideas in the world, but to have a full-fledged business, there are a lot of people out there that will run a business that's just a sole proprietorship, right Through their personal name, through their personal social security number and, I think, bare minimum from a limited liability standpoint.

00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:16.612
You have to go and form an entity and I always recommend an LLC for that purpose.

00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:17.842
Yeah, absolutely.

00:02:17.842 --> 00:02:22.412
Now, folks, you can obviously use your own social security number.

00:02:22.412 --> 00:02:26.361
You can go out there in the world and you know, start your business and just run it, use your own social security number.

00:02:26.361 --> 00:02:28.764
You can go out there in the world and start your business and just run it under your own social security number.

00:02:28.764 --> 00:02:31.925
But there's a lot of reasons why you want to separate the entity.

00:02:31.925 --> 00:02:35.207
There's tax reasons, there's liability reasons.

00:02:35.207 --> 00:02:37.049
Let's go into liability for a second.

00:02:37.049 --> 00:02:42.112
So person A, let's say, just starts doing work under their social security number.

00:02:42.112 --> 00:02:43.032
Talk to me about that.

00:02:43.653 --> 00:02:53.205
Yeah, I mean, I think if you were going to really break it down right, somebody who's doing work, let's use a service-based industry.

00:02:53.205 --> 00:03:08.782
You're doing work as a service business and you screw something up and maybe that results in the customer or client having a loss of some kind, the, you know, customer or client having a loss of some kind.

00:03:08.782 --> 00:03:15.966
If you're working solely under your personal social and you're a sole proprietor, you don't have that LLC to protect you, then they could potentially come after your personal assets, right?

00:03:15.966 --> 00:03:24.375
So having that LLC in place really puts a buffer between you and your personal assets and your business assets.

00:03:24.375 --> 00:03:34.468
So that worst case scenario if someone were to sue you or something were to go wrong and they were to pursue you for damages, all they can really pursue is your LLC assets.

00:03:34.468 --> 00:03:37.114
It creates that protectionary bubble around you.

00:03:37.420 --> 00:03:38.443
Yeah, exactly.

00:03:38.443 --> 00:03:48.622
And then just to bolster your point there, it's like if you have a business and then let's say, personally you own a house and somebody sues your business, you don't want to lose your house, you want to protect those assets, absolutely yeah.

00:03:48.782 --> 00:03:53.664
And then there's obviously some tax implication stuff, um, reasons behind an LLC.

00:03:53.664 --> 00:04:00.983
Um, there's some reasons like potential, like sale value at some point, um, and some other things that you want to think about.

00:04:00.983 --> 00:04:08.712
When, uh, you're talking about business structure, let's also talk about two, just so they know theory around different types of structures.

00:04:08.712 --> 00:04:13.893
I'm with you Nine times out of 10, especially small business folks, they're going to want an LLC.

00:04:13.893 --> 00:04:17.163
Let's talk about times that they would want to look a little bit further.

00:04:17.163 --> 00:04:22.324
So let's talk about like a corporation, for instance, when would they want to consider that, in your opinion?

00:04:23.226 --> 00:04:24.850
I think corporations are great.

00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:39.502
When someone is thinking about taking on investments from corporate companies, like a VC or private equity, a lot of them like to see more formalized structure within the entity, so they like to have that board.

00:04:39.502 --> 00:04:47.110
They like to have that separation between the shareholders and the decision makers which you don't typically see a whole lot in an LLC.

00:04:47.110 --> 00:05:06.422
The people who are members are often always managers or play a role in the management of the company, and so I think a corporation is great when you need to have formalities between the people who are making the decisions day to day, separate from the people who are maybe the investors or the people who have ownership.

00:05:07.363 --> 00:05:12.545
Sorry that's so well put and I want to once again, like I always do, try to bolster that point too.

00:05:12.545 --> 00:05:21.882
It's like the cutoff, folks, a lot of ways is if you have a couple people involved in the company, and LLC is probably the best way to go If you're going to get a lot of outside of an investment.

00:05:21.882 --> 00:05:22.163
You know.

00:05:22.163 --> 00:05:37.521
That's why tech companies and stuff like that, where they're fundraising a lot of money technically, usually start like as a corporation, because they're going to have a lot of uninvolved people like, uh, putting into the business and there is a threshold on, like, what the LLC can bear for different investment groups too.

00:05:37.521 --> 00:05:49.901
So most of you small business folks, just like I am, it's like you're going to want an LLC, right, you know.

00:05:49.922 --> 00:05:51.850
And then complexity of documentation and you know that sort of stuff it can be more cumbersome.

00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:52.009
I don't.

00:05:52.009 --> 00:06:06.040
I'm not going to say you dare have to have a lawyer when you have a corporation, but a lawyer and a CPA is going to be a really good team I mean it is anyways, but a lot of times bootstrappers aren't going to be able to afford those things, and so when you're jumping to a corporation, you know it's like you kind of want to be at the level where you're getting a lot of investment.

00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:11.153
So you have that necessity of it and the obligations increase so that you usually want to have a better teammate.

00:06:11.153 --> 00:06:12.605
You want to say anything to like.

00:06:12.605 --> 00:06:13.769
Add to that that I missed.

00:06:16.483 --> 00:06:19.387
No, I mean, I think you're right.

00:06:19.387 --> 00:06:30.737
Take meetings and minutes and resolutions and have these board approval processes that ultimately you know someone who's starting up and a true bootstrapper.

00:06:30.737 --> 00:06:44.024
They're only probably going to be just you know one or two people and having that formality, most people are just going to skip right over it, so they're not going to have all the corporate documentation that they need to back up all the decisions they made.

00:06:44.024 --> 00:06:50.535
So why not just simplify it and do the LLC and to your point, the LLC has so much flexibility in it.

00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:57.742
What I love as an attorney, from my perspective about LLCs, is that the operating agreement can be whatever you want.

00:06:57.742 --> 00:07:05.598
So, yes, there is a statute in every state that will govern your LLC in the absence of an operating agreement.

00:07:05.598 --> 00:07:11.374
But the nice thing is, if you want to draft around the statute, you can.

00:07:11.374 --> 00:07:17.930
So, yes, you kind of look at the statute and say that's a default right, that's what we have when we have no rules.

00:07:17.930 --> 00:07:21.896
But if you want to write your own rule book, operating agreement is perfect.

00:07:21.896 --> 00:07:23.240
And that's what I love about the LLC.

00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:31.122
We always joked like every state has their own LLC statute and each state kind of we joke as, like attorneys will say, like it's.

00:07:31.122 --> 00:07:36.324
The LLC is like the wild west of entity structures, because you really can do whatever you want with them.

00:07:36.725 --> 00:07:42.444
And here's the thing, folks if you don't define that at, like Paloma Saming, then it goes to default to the state.

00:07:42.444 --> 00:07:48.536
But you can have your own definitions of it, and if you've watched this show before, I call it operating in agreement.

00:07:48.536 --> 00:07:52.846
It's an operating agreement or an operating in agreement Usually.

00:07:52.846 --> 00:07:56.240
Um, you want to have one either as a as a solopreneur too.

00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:57.442
It's a good idea, right?

00:07:57.442 --> 00:07:59.064
It's like we've talked about this before.

00:07:59.386 --> 00:08:05.274
Let's say, if you need a reason, you know and I like to give you reasons beyond just say it, do it, cause I said so, you know.

00:08:05.274 --> 00:08:07.517
It's like, if you need a reason, why, why would it?

00:08:07.517 --> 00:08:12.850
Tyler, if it's operating an agreement, why would I need an operating agreement to agree with myself?

00:08:12.850 --> 00:08:13.250
Right?

00:08:13.250 --> 00:08:14.100
But here's the thing.

00:08:14.100 --> 00:08:17.404
Let's say you pass away who, what family member gets to take over?

00:08:17.404 --> 00:08:19.007
What's the rule you know for that.

00:08:19.007 --> 00:08:21.571
Do you want the state stealing your business from you?

00:08:21.571 --> 00:08:23.954
Because that can basically happen, you know.

00:08:23.954 --> 00:08:25.196
Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

00:08:25.196 --> 00:08:31.144
It's like, if you don't have an operating agreement, then it makes it real gray who the business goes to if you pass.

00:08:31.947 --> 00:08:35.043
I mean it forces it through probate, which a lot of people don't realize.

00:08:35.043 --> 00:08:51.493
That could create bungles, like, let's say, the business is really doing well and then all of a sudden you pass away as an owner and there isn't that operating agreement to say, hey, my brother or sister is going to come in and either continue operating or wind it up.

00:08:51.493 --> 00:08:53.842
Probate takes a while.

00:08:53.842 --> 00:08:55.086
People don't realize that.

00:08:55.086 --> 00:09:11.763
So you know the the business ended up ends up kind of in limbo where you're waiting for the court to say, yes, this person can now go in and control the entity on your behalf, when you could have just had it in the operating agreement and there would have been no waiting period.

00:09:11.964 --> 00:09:13.249
That easy you know.

00:09:13.249 --> 00:09:21.101
So hopefully that talks you into why you would need an operating agreement as a single individual, and then an operating agreement for a partnership is a necessity.

00:09:21.101 --> 00:09:22.506
It's the rule book, right?

00:09:22.506 --> 00:09:30.822
And you know like I'm, I have a 50 sheet questionnaire that I'm working on getting to you guys, um, and it basically goes all through all these fundamental things.

00:09:30.822 --> 00:09:35.102
Because it's like, if you study enough partnerships, partnerships are usually the downfall of the business.

00:09:35.102 --> 00:09:37.730
They can also be the most tremendous benefit.

00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:47.336
But like a simple example is you know it's like well, what hour of a week were we going to both work and what is considered a business expense and a personal expense?

00:09:47.336 --> 00:09:52.306
For instance, if your partner's going willy-nilly on every lunch out there in the world, that's probably going to frustrate you.

00:09:52.306 --> 00:09:55.066
So you probably want to put something in the operating agreement with.

00:09:55.066 --> 00:09:57.368
These are the amount of hours we're both going to work.

00:09:57.368 --> 00:10:01.030
This is the rule around a lunch.

00:10:01.030 --> 00:10:05.846
Weigh in for me too, like, give me a couple other rules that we want to think about in the operating agreement.

00:10:05.966 --> 00:10:25.980
Yeah, I mean, I think, division of profit and how much each partner is contributing right, because it can be lopsided oftentimes, with one person being like the rainmaker, bringing in all the business, and maybe the other person is doing all the nitty gritty, right, they're the workhorse behind the scenes, and so you don't always.

00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:38.889
There are times when someone's not carrying their weight and there should be a division in the agreement, but then there's other times where someone is carrying their weight behind the scenes and maybe they're being written out of their fair share.

00:10:38.889 --> 00:10:39.991
Right, it goes both ways.

00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:40.900
And that's.

00:10:40.900 --> 00:10:44.326
You know you're saying right now well, I'm starting it with my best friend.

00:10:44.326 --> 00:10:49.894
You know it's like you're saying that back, like I don't need this agreement and you're deadly wrong.

00:10:49.894 --> 00:10:53.128
You know it's like have a rule book to follow, have something to go.

00:10:53.128 --> 00:10:54.631
Remember when we talked about this.

00:10:54.631 --> 00:10:57.005
That's why I have the 50 sheet questionnaire too.

00:10:57.346 --> 00:10:58.812
By the way, I don't sell it, as you guys know.

00:10:58.812 --> 00:11:03.648
This isn't like a prep to sell you something, but it like gets those fundamental little things out.

00:11:03.648 --> 00:11:05.792
It's like how many hours were you supposed to be working a week?

00:11:05.792 --> 00:11:07.114
When do you take vacations?

00:11:07.114 --> 00:11:08.140
What's the rule on that?

00:11:08.140 --> 00:11:09.849
Like, how much are you going to get paid?

00:11:09.849 --> 00:11:11.135
How much am I going to get paid?

00:11:11.135 --> 00:11:12.942
What's the idea around dividends?

00:11:12.942 --> 00:11:15.831
You know like when are we going to have like dividends in the company?

00:11:15.831 --> 00:11:17.861
You know when are we going to reinvest in the company?

00:11:17.861 --> 00:11:23.408
You know it's all these fundamental factors and like partnerships destroy or improve a business.

00:11:23.408 --> 00:11:47.864
You know like daily there is so many case studies on like partnerships of successful companies that are actually what derail the company their guard down when the partner is someone they care about or they love.

00:11:47.884 --> 00:11:53.524
And, inherently, you cannot imagine a future where your mom or your sibling or your best friend and you hate each other because of your business.

00:11:53.524 --> 00:12:05.044
But I think that that's more common than people who go into business with people that they have less knowledge and less history with because they are nervous about what that future looks like.

00:12:05.044 --> 00:12:10.342
Right, you don't, inherently, you know you go into business with your parents and you're like this is going to be great.

00:12:10.342 --> 00:12:14.682
We don't need to put all the parameters in there for what happens when go, when things go wrong.

00:12:14.682 --> 00:12:24.424
Right, and so I think that in and of itself, should be a red flag for anybody going into business with someone that they're very close with you know, lifetime friends or family.

00:12:25.147 --> 00:12:34.664
that has to be considered when drafting an operating agreement, you know and then if you love that person, it's even more of the reason to have it because it will destroy a relationship faster than anything I've ever seen Like.

00:12:34.706 --> 00:12:40.265
I've helped hundreds of business people and a lot of times a partnership becomes, you know, and it's usually a miscommunication of some sort.

00:12:40.265 --> 00:12:49.807
I thought you were going to X and I thought you were going to Y, and inevitably in partnerships too, you see, nine times out of 10, it's very lopsided.

00:12:49.807 --> 00:12:55.254
One person's doing a lot more work than the other one, so, just like, have rules on if that like happens, you know.

00:12:55.254 --> 00:12:58.544
And so, um, okay, we beat operating agreement with a dead horse.

00:12:58.544 --> 00:13:00.469
You have to have it, you know.

00:13:00.469 --> 00:13:03.912
Um, operating in agreement, it's basically a rule book, you know.

00:13:03.912 --> 00:13:05.760
So that will can confuse you anymore.

00:13:06.001 --> 00:13:07.365
We've talked about business structure.

00:13:07.365 --> 00:13:14.067
Llc is basically like, let me, let me, let me balance that out just a little bit too.

00:13:14.067 --> 00:13:17.201
I want you to think about almost a new person happening in the world.

00:13:17.201 --> 00:13:20.208
When you open an LLC, an LLC gets something similar.

00:13:20.208 --> 00:13:38.145
When you register with the IRS and that's called an EIN right and EIN into the business, let's say it's a person is like the social security number that is what you're going to use for doing taxes and you know things of that nature, and so that separation, you're almost creating a new person in the world and new person becomes that business.

00:13:38.145 --> 00:13:44.167
So that's what an LLC is, folks, and that's we've talked a little bit about why you want to have it fairly simple to file.

00:13:44.167 --> 00:13:46.110
You know people pay a thousand dollars online.

00:13:46.110 --> 00:13:48.674
Please don't pay a thousand dollars online to do an LLC.

00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:50.482
You know, don't use legal zoom.

00:13:50.482 --> 00:13:52.628
You don't need to know it.

00:13:53.048 --> 00:13:53.730
It's incredible.

00:13:53.730 --> 00:13:55.274
And so you can do it.

00:13:55.274 --> 00:13:57.525
I promise you get online, do the paperwork.

00:13:57.525 --> 00:14:03.106
If you want consultant attorney, you know, a couple hundred bucks probably to get an attorney to do it.

00:14:03.106 --> 00:14:08.178
You know I don't like to quote people's rates by any means, but you know, don't pay a thousand dollars online.

00:14:08.178 --> 00:14:09.462
It's a very simple process.

00:14:09.462 --> 00:14:10.567
You can do it yourself.

00:14:10.567 --> 00:14:10.969
You know?

00:14:10.969 --> 00:14:18.155
Um, one of the things on there that confuses people constantly is member managed, manager managed, right.

00:14:18.155 --> 00:14:21.364
So let's talk about that really quick, Cause they're going to see that and that's where they're going to get stuck.

00:14:21.364 --> 00:14:23.368
I know because I've helped enough people with them.

00:14:23.368 --> 00:14:25.532
So let's talk about member managed.

00:14:26.774 --> 00:14:26.994
Yeah.

00:14:26.994 --> 00:14:36.600
So I think the main difference right is member managed means that all the people who have ownership in the entity can make decisions together.

00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:46.535
Manager managed means that there's one or more people, who may or may not have ownership, that make day-to-day decisions.

00:14:46.535 --> 00:14:48.163
Now don't get me wrong.

00:14:48.163 --> 00:14:58.389
There are things that should be included like manager-managed entities have to have parameters around what the manager makes decisions about.

00:14:58.389 --> 00:15:03.528
You don't want to just wholesale give the manager carte blanche to make important decisions.

00:15:03.528 --> 00:15:30.070
Common things that are carved out in the operating agreement for manager not being able to make decisions are dissolution of the entity, changes to the operating agreement, transfer of ownership, things that are like big hit ticket items, and if you don't have it in there, I think you run the risk of blurring the line of like, what can the manager do and not do?

00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:42.469
And if it's not written in there with some specificity, I think it's open for interpretation and there could be some instances where a person who's a manager but maybe not a member gets away with too much power.

00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:44.206
Yeah, agreed 100%.

00:15:44.206 --> 00:15:55.106
Most of you bootstrappers, most of you starting a business, you're going to be a member managed LLCs and not manager managed LLCs, so that takes care of that bucket where most people get confused.

00:15:55.106 --> 00:15:57.993
Um, the other one is stat agent.

00:15:57.993 --> 00:15:59.684
Let's talk about stat agent for a second Cause.

00:15:59.684 --> 00:16:07.577
That's what really confuses people and you know what's funny is a lot of people think stat agents like a lawyer it can be a lawyer, so but I don't want to confuse you there.

00:16:07.577 --> 00:16:13.452
But a lot of people think when they have a stat agent, that's like some sort of like major business protection.

00:16:13.452 --> 00:16:21.667
Um, like I've been with believe it or not, I don't know if you've heard this before, but a lot of people assume that it's like when you have a stat agent, it's like hiring a lawyer that's going to protect your business.

00:16:21.866 --> 00:16:25.831
Oh, no, I haven't heard that, yeah, like that is like people get it so lost on what it actually is.

00:16:25.831 --> 00:16:32.150
And, um, before we go too deep into that, I'm going to tell you right now you can be the stat agent.

00:16:32.150 --> 00:16:41.985
Like, when you get on some of these big online companies, they are literally going to scare you into this and they're going to tell you you need to pay us $200 a year, you need a stat agent.

00:16:41.985 --> 00:16:43.488
Are you sure you don't want a stat agent?

00:16:43.488 --> 00:16:49.796
You know, and it's like, so my suggestion is, if your company's big enough, you have a Paloma be their stat agent.

00:16:49.796 --> 00:16:50.763
Right, you have your lawyer.

00:16:50.763 --> 00:16:56.105
That way, like, talk to me about what a stat agent actually does, and then I'll give like more of like my side on it.

00:16:56.346 --> 00:17:10.007
Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting you say that about people's misperceptions about what stat agents do, because ultimately it's really just something that's published on the state filing website, right?

00:17:10.007 --> 00:17:34.520
So in Arizona that's the Arizona Corporation Commission, For a lot of other states it's the Secretary of State, but it's always published online so that if anyone has beef with your company, they can have a designated person and place with a mailing address to send their complaint or letter or whatever it may be, and it's commonly most used in litigation senses right.

00:17:34.580 --> 00:17:44.670
So people are filing a complaint and it's a formal, the FF serve you that, the complaint and all of that, and the stat agent is usually what will receive process of that service.

00:17:44.670 --> 00:17:57.692
So there's, you know, like you were saying, you can be your own stat agent, but the beef with it is that you have to have a physical address that someone can literally show up and hand you a document.

00:17:57.692 --> 00:18:06.703
It can't just be a UPS box, and that's, I think, where people get confused, because you can have a UPS box for your principal address if you really want it to be.

00:18:06.723 --> 00:18:17.829
Yeah, yeah, it's just basically a person that receives the documentation, folks, and if you have a business location, you know that you're open and available you can be the stat agent and you can save yourself a couple hundred bucks a year.

00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:25.070
But the online companies love to scare you into it, you know, and they love to tell you that you need this and you're going to be in a lot of trouble if you don't get it.

00:18:25.070 --> 00:18:26.211
You can be your own stat agent.

00:18:26.211 --> 00:18:27.314
That's the case in Blanc.

00:18:27.314 --> 00:18:30.368
But it's nice to have a lawyer be your stat agent.

00:18:30.368 --> 00:18:55.185
You know, or you know somebody else that's going to be around the office constantly, Right, and so that way, if you get served because nine times out of 10, that's what a stat agent's you know therefore, is like you've gotten something to do with a legal thing and that's the state saying, hey, we need to get a hold of you, here's the paperwork, because you're getting sued, and so it's nice if your lawyer accepts that stuff, so you can save some money at first, but then eventually, if you want to get down the road, it's not a bad idea to have your lawyer take in.

00:18:55.465 --> 00:19:07.486
Well, and I would say that, if I would almost say the market rate, for if you wanted to hire an outside company, not even your attorney, you just wanted to use a third party $50 is kind of the average that I see.

00:19:07.486 --> 00:19:08.570
It might go up now.

00:19:08.570 --> 00:19:13.506
I feel like inflation every year increases slightly, but the companies that are charging a couple hundred dollars.

00:19:13.506 --> 00:19:14.869
That's above market.

00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:16.820
So there's no reason.

00:19:16.820 --> 00:19:25.579
If you do want to hire a third party and it not be an attorney, $50 is pretty much the going rate and if you dig around enough, you should be able to find one that has that as its rate.

00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:26.765
You're talking $50 for the year.

00:19:26.825 --> 00:19:27.406
For the year yeah.

00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:29.346
And so like $50 for the year.

00:19:29.346 --> 00:19:30.303
It's a no brainer, probably.

00:19:30.303 --> 00:19:32.786
Folks you know it's like that way you keep yourself out of trouble.

00:19:32.786 --> 00:19:40.710
I'll tell a quick story around that, but here's the thing the online companies will now give away free LLC.

00:19:40.710 --> 00:19:43.590
Right, and it's mostly so they can sell you this for hundreds of dollars.

00:19:43.590 --> 00:19:47.493
The other thing is, too, it is absolutely free to dissolve an LLC.

00:19:47.493 --> 00:19:57.661
Um, I ran across a couple recently, um, that, uh, when they contacted one of these online entities and say, hey, we never use the LLC, we want to dissolve it, they said, okay, great, $1,400.

00:19:59.382 --> 00:20:00.063
That's insane.

00:20:00.202 --> 00:20:03.825
Yeah, so be careful what's free and why they're doing it.

00:20:03.825 --> 00:20:07.126
They're making their money on the stat agent they're making money they're counting on.

00:20:07.126 --> 00:20:10.268
Unfortunately, folks, a lot of people, set up LLCs and they never use them.

00:20:10.268 --> 00:20:12.869
Right, greatest intention, never uses it.

00:20:12.869 --> 00:20:14.810
And, by the way, if you're not going to use it, close it down.

00:20:14.810 --> 00:20:25.522
Right, you don't want all the implications of that, but, like you, don't need to pay $1,400 to dissolve it, no, that is insane and I think that to your point.

00:20:25.903 --> 00:20:34.486
If you're utilizing a third party to, say, form your entity, you don't have control over the online filing process.

00:20:34.486 --> 00:20:47.444
So, setting aside the desire to terminate an LLC that you're not using, what if you add a partner, or a partner leaves, or you need to change the principal address of your business, or the statutory agent needs to change?

00:20:47.444 --> 00:20:56.905
Granted, if you're using a third party, they might be your statutory agent and so it's easy to just say, hey, you know, charge me X and change your, you know stat agent address or whatever.

00:20:56.905 --> 00:21:10.480
But if you don't have control over your filing with the state, you inherently have to always go back to the third party and pay them essentially ransom money to make changes to your LLC.

00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:12.125
It's silly and it's unnecessary.

00:21:12.205 --> 00:21:13.028
That's why it's dangerous.

00:21:13.028 --> 00:21:14.778
They're like here, here's a free LLC.

00:21:14.778 --> 00:21:16.083
It's not free folks.

00:21:16.303 --> 00:21:17.425
They're after the other stuff.

00:21:17.686 --> 00:21:26.762
And what frustrates me about that is that's immoral and unethical to me, because they've acted like something's a free service and really it's just to trick you into buying a bunch of other BS from them.

00:21:26.762 --> 00:21:28.746
You know, and so be careful with that.

00:21:28.746 --> 00:21:40.000
You know it's, it's worth, it's so easy to do folks Like, and if, if you get like, if you put something on the paperwork wrong originally, they'll kick it back to you and tell you how to correct it Right, they'll tell you what you did wrong.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.843
You know it's like I guess that's what's nice about what we have here.

00:21:42.843 --> 00:21:47.307
You know it's like you can come in anytime and we help you file an LLC for free, a hundred percent for free.

00:21:47.307 --> 00:21:51.140
We help you like I'll print the paperwork for you, I'll point you in the right direction.

00:21:51.140 --> 00:21:53.150
I have to make sure you file it yourself.

00:21:53.150 --> 00:21:57.038
You know I don't do that part for you, but like that's that's how easy it is.

00:21:57.078 --> 00:21:59.862
And everybody, when they look at it they're like I'm surprised, it's that me.

00:21:59.862 --> 00:22:08.722
Um, like they make it a little bit more complex than it ever should be.

00:22:08.722 --> 00:22:13.686
You know it's like oh, I need document, and I usually remember the name of the document off the top of my head.

00:22:13.686 --> 00:22:19.027
You need this document because you're doing this and you're going to be on your own stat, not agent, so then you're doing this document.

00:22:19.027 --> 00:22:22.019
So putting the three documents together is probably the hardest part.

00:22:22.778 --> 00:22:33.260
So, like usually when people come in here, we just lay out all three of those documents and like, here you go, you know, and so um, uh, so yeah, so we've talked about LLCs really important um in business structure.

00:22:33.260 --> 00:22:39.624
Please do that, although, and like something I want to mention here too, is like there is no magic trick to an LLC.

00:22:39.624 --> 00:22:43.518
I see these things online I don't know if you've seen them where it's like open six LLCs and somehow that becomes a billion dollar business.

00:22:43.518 --> 00:22:46.020
Where it's like open six LLCs and somehow that becomes a billion dollar business.

00:22:46.020 --> 00:22:51.126
No, folks, it's literally just an entity to hold your money that you potentially do or don't make.

00:22:51.126 --> 00:23:02.097
You know it's like, or do business through is a better way to say you know there is no secret method to why an LLC will just make you money arbitrarily.

00:23:02.118 --> 00:23:09.650
No, no, and I mean, if you scroll through any social media now, I feel like the get rich quick schemes are endless, right?

00:23:09.650 --> 00:23:21.170
I see a lot of people come to me with especially in Arizona investment properties and they want to move those investment properties into LLCs.

00:23:21.170 --> 00:23:36.980
Right, because they saw something online or they read a blog post that says like, uh-oh, you don't have your Airbnb home in an LLC, and while there's truth to that, there's also a lot of limitations to how and when you can do that.

00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:53.703
And so I feel like you know, you and I are both probably battling on the regular these misconceptions that are getting downloaded off the internet and people just think, oh, you know, I've got all these Airbnbs, I'm just going to throw them into an LLC and, abracadabra, all of my problems are solved.

00:23:54.567 --> 00:23:55.550
It's so crazy to me.

00:23:55.550 --> 00:24:01.106
And the other thing, folks, is there is obligations to having an LLC, you know, and there's tax implications and things like that.

00:24:01.106 --> 00:24:05.028
In every way it's a good idea, you know, but it's not a magic trick either.

00:24:05.028 --> 00:24:13.336
You know, it's like and it's good for you know, um, protections and tax strategy and that sort of stuff, but it's no magic trick at the end of the day.

00:24:13.336 --> 00:24:16.244
So that's LLCs, that's operating agreements.

00:24:16.244 --> 00:24:18.836
Hopefully we've kind of like disillusioned those things for you.

00:24:18.836 --> 00:24:31.205
Um, the other thing, when they, before they start and it's a mistake that I've made, uh, in the past is like trademark search, so like, if you're going, I love the name, help me get a name, paloma, let's.

00:24:31.205 --> 00:24:33.948
We're starting a landscaping company today, you know.

00:24:33.948 --> 00:24:36.829
So let's, let's develop a name for a landscaping company.

00:24:38.510 --> 00:24:41.473
I'm sure it's taken green acres green acres landscaping.

00:24:41.753 --> 00:24:44.917
So here is and I'm not telling you how to break the rules.

00:24:44.917 --> 00:24:45.538
You know like.

00:24:45.538 --> 00:24:47.181
This is my disclosure statement.

00:24:47.181 --> 00:24:53.028
You know it's like, but if green anchors never does more than like 10 bucks in business, chances are real.

00:24:53.028 --> 00:24:54.871
Green anchors is never going to come after you.

00:24:54.871 --> 00:24:56.759
I'm not going to say that for sure, because they might.

00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:00.240
You know it's like, but you want to also plan for your success.

00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:06.426
That's something we'd also don't do quite often when we're starting businesses, cause we're barely uh, we're being afraid.

00:25:06.426 --> 00:25:07.388
We don't know what we're doing.

00:25:07.388 --> 00:25:11.498
We don't think like, uh, we're just going to open this small landscaping company.

00:25:11.498 --> 00:25:14.894
We don't ever think about what the pie in the sky dream, for it could be Right.

00:25:14.894 --> 00:25:19.340
And so, green anchors, we look at it right and we want that as in.

00:25:19.340 --> 00:25:20.742
Like, we're just going to open that business.

00:25:20.742 --> 00:25:22.084
But here's the stop gate.

00:25:22.084 --> 00:25:27.855
You go like what, what do I need to do to look at if I should take green acres on as my name or not?

00:25:27.895 --> 00:25:33.596
I mean, I have no zero cost items that you can do to make sure that green acres is a good name.

00:25:33.596 --> 00:25:35.058
Yeah, google it.

00:25:35.058 --> 00:25:41.218
Yep, right, um, at a bare minimum, google it to see who's in your area, I would.

00:25:41.218 --> 00:25:48.700
I would also just Google some other States in the surrounding areas to see if there's other states that might have a claim to that name.

00:25:48.700 --> 00:26:00.167
You can do a free search on the USPTO, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and do a search for the name, see if the logo is taken on a separate basis.

00:26:00.328 --> 00:26:08.086
I mean, I think in today's world, what matters most is not just the name and the URL.

00:26:08.086 --> 00:26:12.362
People forget that you're going to also want all the social names, right?

00:26:12.362 --> 00:26:19.061
So maybe you get the URL and you're like, yes, greenacreslandscapingcom is available, I'm sure it's not.

00:26:19.061 --> 00:26:22.375
And then you go on Instagram and it's gone.

00:26:22.375 --> 00:26:24.078
And you go on TikTok and it's gone.

00:26:24.078 --> 00:26:30.789
And then all of a sudden you see and you'll see this from time to time you'll see people who are influencers didn't think far enough ahead.

00:26:30.789 --> 00:26:50.318
Every single social is a different variation and then it's hard, because how do people okay, you have to remember Instagram is greenacreslandscaping1 or like the real greenacreslandscaping or whatever, and so I think the easier it is for people to find you, the better.

00:26:50.318 --> 00:26:50.900
It is Right.

00:26:50.900 --> 00:27:02.229
So you want to pick something that you can literally gobble up all of the potential visible things that are online, to have unanimous like similarity across the board.

00:27:02.575 --> 00:27:07.667
You know, we uh, we started, uh like this is after I had a couple of businesses, so I never I knew this.

00:27:07.667 --> 00:27:11.196
You know, like we still make mistakes, even as, like business people progressed.

00:27:11.196 --> 00:27:17.096
But um went out there, we uh, um, we decided to open a chain of custom mattress stores.

00:27:17.096 --> 00:27:28.747
Basically like we had a factory and, uh like, building your sandwich, you could come in, fill out a sheet of paper, try out this like bed that we could cobble together for you and then you could order it, just like ordering a sandwich.

00:27:28.747 --> 00:27:31.441
I want the memory foam, I want the pillow top.

00:27:31.441 --> 00:27:32.242
You know that sort of stuff.

00:27:32.503 --> 00:27:37.068
And then we would yeah, and then we would have that that bed built for you and shipped to you, right.

00:27:37.068 --> 00:27:40.019
And so we created this name that we loved.

00:27:40.019 --> 00:27:51.455
Uh, put a lot of money into the website, put a lot of money into like people don't realize.

00:27:51.455 --> 00:27:56.071
It's like a sign for your store is ridiculously expensive, you know, like those signs are expensive, like all the branding was expensive, all the time and effort were expensive.

00:27:56.071 --> 00:28:02.007
Open the doors, cease and desist right From a pillow company, not a mattress company, right, but close enough in a trademark and springing.

00:28:02.007 --> 00:28:04.078
We had no choice but to scrap everything.

00:28:04.420 --> 00:28:06.763
You know, and so do the research here too.

00:28:06.763 --> 00:28:08.647
And I want to bolster some of your points too.

00:28:08.647 --> 00:28:09.749
It's like I will.

00:28:09.749 --> 00:28:19.564
Actually a name's a hard thing and you should think about it and you should look at my episode that I talked to Brain Glue, james Bond, like incredible thoughts on marketing around names.

00:28:19.564 --> 00:28:21.321
But names hard, you know.

00:28:21.321 --> 00:28:23.942
But if you think about it, it's marketing gold.

00:28:23.942 --> 00:28:24.925
See the episode.

00:28:24.925 --> 00:28:28.028
But at the same point, I will give up the name.

00:28:28.028 --> 00:28:30.890
I like um for the domain A lot of times.

00:28:30.890 --> 00:28:33.551
If I can have a better domain, if I can have better social handles.

00:28:33.551 --> 00:28:37.780
You know, I've seen it over and over again somebody becomes an influencer, like you're saying.

00:28:37.780 --> 00:28:39.705
I've seen a podcast recently.

00:28:39.705 --> 00:28:41.376
Actually the lady had this name.

00:28:41.457 --> 00:28:45.723
She never looked at any of this stuff you know, and then like she got successful, and that's the thing.

00:28:45.723 --> 00:28:49.308
They won't hit you usually immediately, like they did with um, our business.

00:28:49.308 --> 00:28:57.415
They'll usually hit you when you, when it hurts, where you've had a lot of success with it, and it's like, hey, you're not doing anything with this anymore, you know, and they might even hit you with a lawsuit on that, right.

00:28:57.415 --> 00:29:04.624
So you know, like, look into that stuff, because even a pillow company can be a trademark infringement versus a mattress company.

00:29:04.624 --> 00:29:18.318
So you have to be kind of like cognizant of that stuff and do the time around the domain the social media handles, like these are important things, planning your business's success, right, and so, um, so I think it's very viable to look into that stuff.

00:29:18.318 --> 00:29:21.026
When you're looking at the USPTO Did I say it right?

00:29:21.086 --> 00:29:21.815
I always say it wrong?

00:29:21.815 --> 00:29:26.125
Um, so you'll see that there's going to be the name green anchors.

00:29:26.125 --> 00:29:29.901
But there could be a green anchor haircare, there could be a greed anchor.

00:29:29.901 --> 00:29:33.768
Uh, give me one um television company.

00:29:33.768 --> 00:29:36.821
You know it's like, so is that a trademark infringement?

00:29:36.821 --> 00:29:38.244
And that's where it gets gray.

00:29:38.244 --> 00:29:45.336
That's when you start talking about like filings, attorney talk, trademark, trademark discussions, things of that nature.

00:29:45.336 --> 00:29:47.776
So, folks, but bare minimum to do your diligence.

00:29:47.776 --> 00:29:53.376
You can go take a peek and if you have agreed anchors, that's somewhere in the realm of lawn care.

00:29:53.376 --> 00:29:55.843
It might be a little bit dangerous to seek it, right.

00:29:55.843 --> 00:29:57.958
I'm not going to say ever, like would you say.

00:29:57.958 --> 00:29:58.882
I wouldn't say ever.

00:29:58.882 --> 00:30:02.816
It's like a direct no, unless it is a direct landscaping company or.

00:30:02.816 --> 00:30:09.048
But it's like it gets a little bit more tricky, right, and if you're not going to spend the money in that moment, it's probably not one that I would risk.

00:30:09.048 --> 00:30:09.915
What do you think?

00:30:10.217 --> 00:30:29.848
Yeah, I mean, I think so the the part that's complicated about protecting your branding is that there's the federal level, which is the USPTO, then there's the state level, which you can, you know, register your trade name with the state, and then each state has limitations on LLC names.

00:30:29.848 --> 00:30:39.420
So let's say you have an LLC name and it's good to go here, but then you expand into New Mexico and it's not there.

00:30:39.420 --> 00:30:41.950
You know they, they have someone with that same name.

00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:58.189
You would ultimately have to most likely if you wanted to continue to do business in New Mexico file a DBA so that you weren't super similar, um, because they wouldn't necessarily allow you to file the same name as a foreign registered business.

00:30:58.189 --> 00:31:05.607
Obviously, each state is different, but I think it gets, you know, depending on what your long-term goals are and to your point.

00:31:06.217 --> 00:31:08.805
Sometimes you're not thinking big enough, right?

00:31:08.805 --> 00:31:09.980
You're just starting out.

00:31:09.980 --> 00:31:35.398
The thought of being a multi-state business is so far off in the future that you're comes what's to say that you have a plan when you decide to expand into another state and you run into these issues with branding or similar names.

00:31:35.398 --> 00:31:47.328
I almost think there's a similarity there for planning, you know, people don't talk much about getting process and systems in place early on, right.

00:31:47.328 --> 00:31:54.140
You launch a business you know even for myself launching my own practice when things are slow.

00:31:54.140 --> 00:31:55.284
You're focused on marketing.

00:31:55.284 --> 00:32:03.144
You're focused on getting the word out that you exist, getting new clients, new customers, building what generates you revenue.

00:32:03.144 --> 00:32:06.734
Right, because that's your only, your sole metric that you're worried about when you start a new business.

00:32:06.734 --> 00:32:08.000
You're like how do I make money?

00:32:08.362 --> 00:32:08.541
Yeah.

00:32:08.836 --> 00:32:32.344
And then, once you start making money, you know things get busy, and I think people really underestimate and myself included that once you start getting busy, the time that you would normally have been able to spend getting your you know for lack of a better word shit together you don't have it anymore, and so now you're trying to fit in.

00:32:32.384 --> 00:32:38.584
You know an hour here, an hour there, working on things that you could have been working on all along from the get go.

00:32:38.584 --> 00:32:51.571
So I think what my, my personal advice that's not really legal in nature to startups and small businesses is when things are slow, absolutely you still have to focus on the marketing and the money.

00:32:51.571 --> 00:33:05.248
You know revenue generating tasks, but carve out time every single week or every single day, depending on how you want to work on it, and start figuring out what your business is going to look like when it's busy.

00:33:05.248 --> 00:33:06.219
Right, thank you.

00:33:06.219 --> 00:33:08.557
Work on your CRM in advance, you know.

00:33:08.557 --> 00:33:16.702
Get, get your systems in place, work on automations, work on all these things that you're not going to have time for when you have success.

00:33:17.124 --> 00:33:17.403
You know.

00:33:17.403 --> 00:33:29.327
And then, like it's such a double-edged sword for me because, like with bootstrappers, like I want you to have the bare minimum in, like startup costs and like looking at a trademark is just another one of those things that's going to cost you some money up front.

00:33:29.327 --> 00:33:31.939
But I also want you to think about it in your success this way too.

00:33:31.939 --> 00:33:41.097
It's like imagine everything I put a piggy bank over here, right, and then every time I have a customer interaction that's positive, let's say, I put a coin in that piggy bank right.

00:33:41.097 --> 00:33:46.828
And like, let's say, I have a piece of marketing content I put out on social media, I put another coin.

00:33:46.828 --> 00:33:53.047
What I'm saying is you're building value in your brand, every discussion, you have every social media post, every time you build your website.

00:33:53.047 --> 00:33:59.737
But here's the thing If you don't have that trademark, technically that piggy bank is something you're putting money into that could be taken, you know.

00:34:00.096 --> 00:34:01.358
And then, like here's the thing too.

00:34:01.358 --> 00:34:08.570
It's like, let's say, you get down the road, you do an amazing job putting money in this piggy bank, and then somebody comes along and they're after the trademark.

00:34:08.570 --> 00:34:10.963
They're coming up behind you and maybe they're even nefarious.

00:34:10.963 --> 00:34:28.123
They're seeing how well you're doing and like oh, joe Smoe doesn't have that trademark Now you are in, this gets into legal territory there From my seat and I'm not a lawyer, folks From my seat I do think you have some precedence there, being in business for a long enough time, but still, it's not a fight.

00:34:28.123 --> 00:34:29.065
You want to fight right?

00:34:29.724 --> 00:34:38.251
No, I mean there are instances I've seen in my practice over the years where people don't register.

00:34:38.251 --> 00:34:41.844
Yep, someone registers, not even nefariously right.

00:34:41.844 --> 00:34:44.117
That nefariousness does exist out there.

00:34:44.117 --> 00:35:14.728
But there's another business similar idea goes out, registers the name and then all of a where you have a window to challenge, as like you were saying, a preexisting business that's been around, that has first dibs right and that window closes.

00:35:14.728 --> 00:35:27.125
So in some ways the scammers of the world can sometimes be helpful in that they're out there data mining for you know you'll get a hundred calls a day.

00:35:27.164 --> 00:35:32.112
You know, and so like you might get a letter and it's, and the scammer might say you know, hey, we saw.

00:35:32.112 --> 00:35:34.960
Somebody is like registering your mark.

00:35:35.380 --> 00:35:38.827
And 50% of the time, maybe more, it's not true.

00:35:38.827 --> 00:35:42.539
And you can go on and you can search and you can disprove that that's happening.

00:35:42.539 --> 00:35:47.648
But there's also that like 20 to 10%, where they're?

00:35:47.648 --> 00:35:59.898
They send you a letter and they're right and you have a timeframe to challenge it and you're like thank you, scammer, for letting me know, don't hire them, because you know who knows what, where that letter came from Please be careful with that.

00:35:59.918 --> 00:36:06.360
But at least you now have been told that you are in this challenge window and you can do something about it yeah, absolutely.

00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:19.148
Or, like I always tell clients that are trying to run their business, bootstrapping it, trying to do it on like the lowest cost possible, as they're growing organically and reinvesting smartly.

00:36:19.148 --> 00:36:25.373
I think that you can always, if you know what you're going to register, just pop on.

00:36:25.695 --> 00:36:25.775
Yeah.

00:36:25.815 --> 00:36:30.920
Pop on every month just check, make sure no one's out there registering it Right.

00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:37.110
And that way you have peace of mind that it's still available without spending the money when you're not ready to.

00:36:37.110 --> 00:36:39.257
And, worst case scenario, you pop on.

00:36:39.257 --> 00:36:40.380
Let's say it's been six months.

00:36:40.380 --> 00:36:43.659
You pop on on the sixth month and you're and you see someone has registered.

00:36:43.659 --> 00:36:49.420
Now you're like okay, it's time to spend that money because it's important to my business and my brand.

00:36:49.902 --> 00:36:57.981
That every time you're putting you know an email out, you know a website out, that sort of stuff, you're building value in that brand and so make sure you pay attention to protecting that Like this.

00:36:57.981 --> 00:37:04.143
Whether you know this or not, as new business people, if you've joined this, it's like this is super valuable stuff.

00:37:04.143 --> 00:37:10.085
It took me years to understand what this stuff is right and I'm sure you see people make mistakes in it every single day.

00:37:11.315 --> 00:37:20.467
I mean I think it's hard because hindsight is 20-20, right, and so you know you can always pivot, but does the pivot hurt?

00:37:20.467 --> 00:37:22.682
I mean, here's a good example for me personally.

00:37:22.682 --> 00:37:30.416
I have no intention at this time to use an Instagram name that I used to have Used to have one.

00:37:30.416 --> 00:37:31.659
It was for personal use.

00:37:31.659 --> 00:37:37.824
I sat on it for a while, decided ultimately I just didn't want to use it anymore and I switched to something else.

00:37:37.824 --> 00:37:43.420
And after that I actually found that the URL and it's it's my name.

00:37:43.420 --> 00:37:49.358
So I, like, got the URL and I I'm sitting on that URL Cause maybe at some point in the future I'll use it.

00:37:49.358 --> 00:37:56.358
And I went back to steal back my Instagram handle and it was gone.

00:37:56.737 --> 00:38:00.407
And and it's a real person they're posting, you know, pictures of their life.

00:38:00.407 --> 00:38:25.045
But I was like, oh, like I should have kept it, like I, you know, I just it was one of those weird spur of the moment decisions where I had this idea about like doing a travel blog and I switched my personal to the name of that, that travel blog that I was going to start, but never did and so, um, I mean, at some point I'm sure I could probably write you know the girl and be like hi, you know what name, your price probably.

00:38:25.184 --> 00:38:30.900
But you know like, um, the thing is too.

00:38:30.900 --> 00:38:35.699
It's like if you don't get those donate names and stuff, like, people will approach it.

00:38:35.699 --> 00:38:38.112
They'll go out and buy them because they know you would want that.

00:38:38.112 --> 00:38:53.657
And then they'll charge a premium on it, you know, and it's like I gave myself a hard time for making the mistake, having already had businesses before in the mattress business, but, like a well-known story is, Facebook made the same mistake when they uh transition over yeah.

00:38:53.797 --> 00:38:55.000
They didn't double check either.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:55.581
You know.

00:38:55.581 --> 00:38:58.416
It's like I learned that lesson a long time ago now, you know.

00:38:58.416 --> 00:39:08.028
But it's like even one of the biggest companies in the world has made that mistake, and my understanding is they had to pay millions for the name Meta, and so it's another reason.

00:39:08.028 --> 00:39:16.242
It's like look at the Meta folks that were out there, genius move in making sure they were protected, because look how much money it amounted to, probably more than their company had ever made.

00:39:16.242 --> 00:39:17.570
I don't remember what the company was.

00:39:17.570 --> 00:39:17.934
No, absolutely.

00:39:18.536 --> 00:39:35.588
I think one other piece of that is that let's say you start a business and let's be real, the stats on people who build a new business into something that's truly successful, that lasts for a long time, it's not great right, it's hard yeah.

00:39:36.036 --> 00:39:37.498
It's really, it's really hard.

00:39:37.498 --> 00:40:00.027
You have a high failure rate and so not to be sort of like the you know rain cloud in the room, but if you start a business and you have a really great name and then you close up shop because maybe it's not doing well, don't I always warn people, don't just give up all of your branding or all of your names.

00:40:00.027 --> 00:40:02.858
Maybe you'll reuse them, right, like?

00:40:02.858 --> 00:40:03.360
Look at the.

00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:05.885
What happened with my the Instagram handle that I had?

00:40:05.945 --> 00:40:17.505
it's gone and inevitably maybe the things that you have, like meta, could be worth something down the road where you get paid out because you were sitting on it.

00:40:17.525 --> 00:40:18.827
Um, I had someone come to me.

00:40:18.827 --> 00:40:33.126
They they were, um, want to call them like a plant shop, but they specialized in like cacti and succulents and things like that and ultimately I didn't work with them directly.

00:40:33.126 --> 00:40:45.961
It was someone that was working with them that was a web designer and they said you know, just out of curiosity, you know what are your thoughts on, you know they're, they're retiring, they want to sell the business, but they don't know the value.

00:40:45.961 --> 00:40:55.329
And the value of the business was actually pretty nominal because the plant shop was all virtual for the most part.

00:40:55.329 --> 00:41:08.568
They had, over time, shut down the plant store that they had physically, like the nursery right, so all of their nursery stuff was actually only open for them, only open for them cultivating.

00:41:08.568 --> 00:41:12.166
And then they were shipping cacti all over the country and across the world and it was.

00:41:12.166 --> 00:41:22.704
It was interesting to see how much revenue was being generated, based on just the story that this web developer was telling me about, from selling cacti all over the world.

00:41:22.764 --> 00:41:34.047
It just blew my mind, but these people had the URL and I'm sure they still have it, or I hope they do at this point, cause I wasn't able to talk with them is cactuscom.

00:41:35.074 --> 00:41:35.356
That's.

00:41:35.356 --> 00:41:41.338
That's such a good point, Cause sometimes you have something as simple as that and there's a tremendous amount of value to it so much value yeah.

00:41:41.338 --> 00:41:43.541
People don't think about that stuff enough.

00:41:43.541 --> 00:41:55.922
I really you know I I've walked into a lot of businesses to help the people and there's a lot of businesses where people are like Tyler, my business is worth nothing and it's like that's almost never true.

00:41:55.942 --> 00:42:03.119
Your business is almost always worth something, and it could be the value in the domain name, it could be the value in your client list, it could be the value in your inventory, you know it.

00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:04.983
There's always some sort of value there.

00:42:04.983 --> 00:42:20.166
So I would implore you, out there if you're like over it or whatever, at least like Paloma saying maybe hang on to the domain name or like do a little investigating, you know, call a broker or something like that and ask them about, like what you could actually do with that business instead of just closing it up and walking away.

00:42:20.166 --> 00:42:33.425
So, but like, all the things we've talked about today will help you with that right Having a, you know, like if it comes to a Paloma specialty, too is mergers and acquisition stuff, you know.

00:42:33.425 --> 00:42:38.885
And so it's like when it comes to that sale point or that acquisition or that merger, it's like how important is it to have all these ducks lined in a row that we've set up so far?

00:42:39.735 --> 00:42:46.302
No, I mean it's imperative, and I think a lot of people start businesses without the end in mind.

00:42:46.503 --> 00:42:46.623
Yeah.

00:42:47.123 --> 00:42:54.516
And there are ways to structure your startup to be exit friendly, right.

00:42:54.516 --> 00:43:07.717
And so, just like we talked about with the idea of thinking, thinking bigger, thinking about your success in a different way, Right, it's so hard at first, folks, but please, please, have the pie in the sky vision.

00:43:07.717 --> 00:43:09.862
Yes, Dream bigger, you know.

00:43:09.862 --> 00:43:10.503
Think about.

00:43:10.503 --> 00:43:14.903
Think about the complexities that you will face when things are really rolling.

00:43:14.963 --> 00:43:15.284
Right.

00:43:15.626 --> 00:43:41.027
Um, and I think one of the biggest takeaways that you can have as a startup is that when you sign contracts with your vendors or with your, let's say, your lease like anything that's a big contract, that's even with your clients or customers there are there's language that you can put into those contracts that make it easier for you to change ownership later on.

00:43:41.027 --> 00:44:00.184
And you see it quite frequently in the SaaS industries, where people are maybe collecting data they're not necessarily selling the data, but if you don't inherently have language in your documents that that data can be transferred on sale, where's some of the value that you have from your SaaS company?

00:44:00.184 --> 00:44:18.476
Right, think there are ways to plan and prepare that might seem foolish, just like this you know, thinking about what happens when you have six employees and you know you've got all these complexities that you wouldn't have ever dreamed about when it was just you in a garage somewhere, right, um?

00:44:18.856 --> 00:44:24.976
so I think that there are ways to plan for future exit that should be baked in from day one.

00:44:25.096 --> 00:44:26.099
And a lot of it's easy.

00:44:26.099 --> 00:44:38.556
It's kind of like you know, um, I mean, how excited is somebody to get into their new business or their new you know building or whatever, and they'll kind of like they'll sign whatever you know to get that done because they're so excited about it.

00:44:38.556 --> 00:44:44.403
So like when you're in that whatever phase, you know like of excitement phase, like do those things smart.

00:44:44.403 --> 00:44:48.068
You know like, enter into leases smart, analyze the lease for your success.

00:44:48.068 --> 00:44:49.731
Don't just get so excited about it.

00:44:49.731 --> 00:44:51.639
You know, enter into contracts smart.

00:44:51.639 --> 00:45:04.463
And the other thing I want to um, implore you to is, like your clients, for the most part, are going to have no problem signing a client when they're a contract, when they're excited you're you've just sold them, whatever X is and the amount of valuation that increases your business.

00:45:04.463 --> 00:45:15.567
You know, when you have those secure contracts like talk about that for a second too like fundamentally laying out proper paperwork, like we're talking about, and then like how that values when somebody goes to sell their business.

00:45:16.615 --> 00:45:18.519
I think, inherently right.

00:45:18.519 --> 00:45:25.117
People want to be able to say this business has, let's say, the business on paper is worth a million dollars.

00:45:25.117 --> 00:45:31.291
How do you, how do you make sure that that valuation is accurate?

00:45:31.291 --> 00:45:40.411
Yep, you see a lot of businesses that do handshake deals or things are sort of rudimentary in terms of paperwork, or maybe it's a invoice instead of an actual contract.

00:45:40.411 --> 00:45:44.403
Buyers don't want that, buyers want to have this.

00:45:44.403 --> 00:45:59.143
You know, here's a full list of all of our customers, clients, vendors, all of our important contracts here it is all on paper, to verify that everything we're telling you financially is true and accurate and people can't just walk away tomorrow.

00:45:59.704 --> 00:46:03.824
You know, what's so funny too is like you won't believe this, but I've seen this multiple times in business.

00:46:03.824 --> 00:46:10.407
Clients will get excited when you hand them a proposal or a contract, because then it like shows that you've got your stuff together right.

00:46:10.407 --> 00:46:12.010
It's a little bit leery, you know.

00:46:12.010 --> 00:46:15.240
You're out there saying that, like whoa Tyler, it's going to be hard for them to sign the content.

00:46:15.240 --> 00:46:15.943
No, it's not.

00:46:15.943 --> 00:46:23.150
They actually prefer it, because if you go up and just shake their hand and say, yeah, like they'll tell you all the things I mean, here's a good example.

00:46:23.150 --> 00:46:29.929
Maybe you ever worry and don't get me wrong, there's some genius waiters out there but do you ever worry when the waiter never puts anything down on the piece of paper?

00:46:29.929 --> 00:46:30.769
You know what I mean.

00:46:30.769 --> 00:46:32.193
That's what your client's doing.

00:46:32.193 --> 00:46:41.625
You might be a genius and you might be able to remember the order per beta, but they would much rather have you have a scope of work and sign off onto it, and that will save you so many heartaches, you know.

00:46:42.067 --> 00:46:48.708
Well, and I like your analogy because we we worry about it because we've had so many waiters not write it down and get it wrong.

00:46:48.708 --> 00:46:55.148
So same concept, right when it's not written down and you're doing business with someone you start to have doubts about.

00:46:55.148 --> 00:46:58.768
Well, are we really on the same page, and am I going to get what?

00:46:58.967 --> 00:46:59.871
I bargained for.

00:46:59.871 --> 00:47:04.106
I think you made a really solid point, which is that it's interesting.

00:47:04.106 --> 00:47:22.150
There are a lot of small business owners that worry about having people sign contracts and they're intimidated by this idea that they're going to have people read something that's maybe more than one page and they're going to say no because of it, or they'll turn down the work or whatever it is.

00:47:22.331 --> 00:47:26.244
And I can tell you with certainty that's just not true.

00:47:26.244 --> 00:47:39.659
And and if you're worried about having a contract that's intimidating, there are ways to structure it to make it sound more natural, to have it be more humanized, that it's less intimidating, right?

00:47:39.659 --> 00:47:42.530
You don't have to have all of the legalese in there.

00:47:42.530 --> 00:47:44.347
There's ways to format it.

00:47:44.347 --> 00:48:02.150
I mean, I've taken, you know, in businesses where people are worried about this as a key function, or they've had people look at it and say I really don't want to read this, you know we've taken that contract and simplified it to the point where people can't really claim that they don't understand it anymore.

00:48:02.170 --> 00:48:04.344
And and it went over really well.

00:48:04.344 --> 00:48:06.574
It still has all the protections granted.

00:48:06.574 --> 00:48:11.590
You know, I have to tell people hey, if we need three pages, three pages, is it right?

00:48:11.990 --> 00:48:25.681
You know, and I've been in business now for about 15 years, 13, I don't know, 15 years and uh, had contracts in my businesses and I've can think of one time in all of history that somebody balked at the contract.

00:48:25.681 --> 00:48:28.385
And you know like I'll actually tell the story really quick.

00:48:28.385 --> 00:48:42.490
But you know, it's like somebody came in, refused to sign the contract and so starts screaming at the receptionist, who's being really polite, just asking him to go over the scope of work and give a signature, and he's like I'm not, I'm out of time, I can't do this.

00:48:42.490 --> 00:48:43.041
You know it's like.

00:48:43.041 --> 00:48:46.364
And so I went in and I said, hey, you need to sign the contract.

00:48:46.425 --> 00:48:47.867
And he's like I'm not going to sign the contract.

00:48:47.867 --> 00:48:52.632
You know I'm dropping off, like, and I should have been out of here minutes, moments ago, or whatever.

00:48:52.632 --> 00:48:55.775
And I said well, I'm sorry, we'll be turning down your work today.

00:48:55.775 --> 00:48:59.748
And he said you're going to turn down thousands and thousands of dollars.

00:48:59.748 --> 00:49:01.221
And I was like yes, we are.

00:49:01.221 --> 00:49:07.221
And here's the thing, folks, a person that will not sign your contract and is already being rude to the receptionist.

00:49:07.460 --> 00:49:09.041
Not only do you have the brain.

00:49:09.041 --> 00:49:18.128
Your employees are so important that they have, you know, a good mindset and that is going to mess them up for the day, especially if you're not helping them.

00:49:18.128 --> 00:49:20.028
Right, you know like that is so important.

00:49:20.028 --> 00:49:26.972
If your employees are in a good mood, they'll treat your customers while your business will do well, and I can tell you right now that was the best stop gate ever.

00:49:26.972 --> 00:49:51.027
You know, that guy not wanting to do the paperwork was a beautiful gift because guess what, the second I sign on to doing that work, now that guy's my problem, right, and when he wants to be every bit of a jerk with the work you know which I promise you is going to happen you'll wish a million times you didn't have that guy, you know as a client and so like it's another stop gate If they're not willing to sign your paperwork and be a reasonable human and show that like hey, we list things out here, so we don't get.

00:49:51.047 --> 00:49:54.211
This is a customer service too, to do paperwork.

00:49:54.211 --> 00:49:58.146
We're not just trying to remember your order, you know, we're showing you what it is.

00:49:58.146 --> 00:50:00.215
You know it's like that's a client you don't need.

00:50:00.215 --> 00:50:03.809
There are certain clients in the world, folks, that you're better off letting them go down the street.

00:50:03.809 --> 00:50:06.824
And if you have things like your paperwork, that's going to stop somebody.00:50:06.824 --> 00:50:09.527


If they're being a prick about the paperwork, they're going to be a prick about the work.00:50:09.527 --> 00:50:11.971


But then the thing is you own them.00:50:11.971 --> 00:50:15.076


Now, the second time you, the second you do their work, they can sue you.00:50:15.076 --> 00:50:18.454


Another reason to have your LLC you know you allow that.00:50:18.454 --> 00:50:20.242


Non, that guy didn't sign your paperwork.00:50:20.242 --> 00:50:23.514


Something goes on he says you should have done so-and-so.00:50:23.514 --> 00:50:27.565


You know now they're suing you, but at least they'll sue your LLC and won't take your house.00:50:27.565 --> 00:50:31.130


That's a culmination of our entire discussion so far.00:50:31.972 --> 00:50:33.815


No, I could not agree more.00:50:33.815 --> 00:50:56.525


I mean, it's hard, I think, to parlay off of what you were saying when you're starting out and you're desperate to bring revenue into your business it is so easy to turn a blind eye to that little feeling in your gut that says this guy isn't right, or this person is just being over the top, or you know, can't, can't please them any which way, right?00:50:56.625 --> 00:51:09.307


So I implore you, as much as it seems like the wrong decision, to turn down revenue and in most cases, like you said, like you know, they're going to throw it in your face and maybe make you doubt it.00:51:09.509 --> 00:51:09.750


Yeah.00:51:10.612 --> 00:51:12.539


There's there's red flags in relationships.00:51:12.539 --> 00:51:15.106


There's red flags in customer and client relationships.00:51:15.268 --> 00:51:16.251


It's the hardest thing.00:51:16.251 --> 00:51:26.802


And you know like, um, it's funny that to me it's like everybody in business is like oh, my really rich client, with all this money, you know, and things like that, and that's what everybody wants is the really rich client.00:51:26.802 --> 00:51:31.731


You know it's like, but if you get the really rich miser client, this is the worst customer to have ever.00:51:31.731 --> 00:51:33.315


They're going to nickel and dime you.00:51:33.315 --> 00:51:36.449


They're used to doing this in life getting things for nothing, you know.00:51:36.449 --> 00:51:43.269


And what's funny to me is you'll avoid your middle class client and that's the one that's out there sending seven people in the door.00:51:43.269 --> 00:51:47.284


It's like don't get caught up in the rich miser client, let them go down the street.00:51:47.284 --> 00:51:52.371


I'm serious and I'm not saying all rich people are like that, but I'm saying you'll know the ones right.00:51:52.431 --> 00:51:54.952


You know the nickel and dime, the Scrooge client.00:51:54.952 --> 00:51:56.954


There are those Scrooge clients and they're.00:51:56.954 --> 00:51:58.856


They're after you for getting everything free.00:51:58.856 --> 00:52:01.969


You'll see them because they're yelling at the hotel clerk to get a free room.00:52:01.969 --> 00:52:05.940


They just came up with something arbitrarily, like the banana was ripe in the room.00:52:05.940 --> 00:52:07.202


You know like they need a free room.00:52:07.202 --> 00:52:09.422


They'll do this to your business too, I promise you.00:52:09.422 --> 00:52:43.802


And what's funny about this is you're avoiding those beautiful people that are sending 10 people in their door that maybe aren't as rich as't have the red flag at the outset of the relationship and maybe it's, you know, a wolf in disguise and that person ends up being a terrible individual to work with.00:52:44.344 --> 00:52:44.664


That.00:52:44.664 --> 00:52:52.929


That contract is really what will protect you from you know, deliverables that you never agreed to right.00:52:53.079 --> 00:53:00.666


All of a sudden they're like hey, you were supposed to do X, y or Z and you're like I never agreed to any of that, that wasn't part of our pricing, that wasn't something we agreed to do.00:53:00.666 --> 00:53:23.650


I think an easy example and it's not universal, but for people who do web design or something that's creative, like people who do paintings or something like that having a contract, even if it's short, that says you get X number of changes before I start billing you for changes because inherently it's creative in nature.00:53:23.650 --> 00:53:26.762


So what you think looks great, they may not think looks great.00:53:26.864 --> 00:53:28.829


Well, and then you can under promise, over deliver too.00:53:28.829 --> 00:53:32.108


So let's say you, you will do more changes than that.00:53:32.108 --> 00:53:35.315


Now you look like a hero and I try to get people to understand that all the time.00:53:35.315 --> 00:53:39.331


I uh I'm going to make this story really quick to to bolster this point as well.00:53:39.331 --> 00:53:55.340


So I was at the olive garden and I was having a meal there and, um, I got the tour of Italy, right, and then I like wanted chicken on the Fadacini Alfredo, and the very nice guy said, hey, you know, like that's going to be an upcharge because it does not generally included.00:53:55.420 --> 00:54:04.588


It's like totally intuitive to me, right, I realize I'm going to have to pay more for the chicken, but what's interesting is like now, let's say, the landscaper, right, and this happens all the time in small business.00:54:04.588 --> 00:54:06.106


You have a scope of work.00:54:06.106 --> 00:54:17.534


You go out to do said scope of work and the client happens to go hey, why don't you trim that bush on your way out the door?00:54:17.534 --> 00:54:19.422


And the second that bush ends up on their invoice, all of a sudden they got a problem with it, and that's what's so interesting.00:54:19.422 --> 00:54:25.601


That's why you want to scope of work and paperwork, because the second they make those change orders, you know, to the scope of work you need to be adding on.00:54:25.601 --> 00:54:29.146


And what's funny to me is it's so intuitive to us at Olive Garden.00:54:29.146 --> 00:54:32.309


You know in a big business that, like, I'm going to be charged X for chicken.00:54:32.590 --> 00:54:35.655


But why is it never intuitive in the small business world?00:54:35.655 --> 00:54:38.664


It's like, hey, you just asked for 45 changes.00:54:38.664 --> 00:54:39.807


That costs money.00:54:39.807 --> 00:54:41.552


You just asked for a new bush or a tree.00:54:41.552 --> 00:54:42.342


That costs money.00:54:42.342 --> 00:54:43.565


You asked for a new wall.00:54:43.565 --> 00:54:45.411


Like, hey, why don't you just do this on your way out?00:54:45.411 --> 00:54:46.641


The door is extra money.00:54:46.641 --> 00:54:49.728


So I have changeovers, have scopes of work, you know.00:54:49.768 --> 00:54:56.512


And so that actually like folks, whether you believe it or not, maybe we're having a little bit of a, a paperwork.00:54:56.512 --> 00:55:00.065


Uh, you know, like legal discussion about that same time.00:55:00.065 --> 00:55:06.027


Like I wish I could give you my brain for a minute and Palomas and like show you how many pitfalls that you can avoid.00:55:06.027 --> 00:55:07.831


Like business is stressful enough.00:55:07.831 --> 00:55:14.471


If you'll do some of the stuff we're talking about today, having these productions, you know like you'll be like man, I'm glad I had that.00:55:14.471 --> 00:55:16.574


I'm glad I separated my LC.00:55:16.574 --> 00:55:19.867


Oh man, I'm so glad you know I did stuff with my trademark.00:55:19.867 --> 00:55:20.769


You know it's like cause.00:55:20.769 --> 00:55:22.822


Look at what my business grew to be, man.00:55:22.822 --> 00:55:28.967


You know, now I have this scope of paperwork and now, like this guy sued me because I didn't do something, but now I have the magic ticket.00:55:28.967 --> 00:55:32.891


You know, it's like like that stuff believe it or not, folks is so invaluable.00:55:33.632 --> 00:55:51.021


I think your olive garden story actually hits home almost like a complimentary point, which is that it's easy, right, Like you said, in small business, to get lost in this fact that, like when you ask for more it's not just freebies, it's stuff that you know.00:55:51.021 --> 00:55:57.889


If your time is by the hour and someone asks for more, it should inherently increase the overall bill.00:55:57.889 --> 00:56:04.668


But what you were saying is like, okay, you want chicken on the fettuccine and the guy's like that's going to be an upcharge and you approve it.00:56:04.668 --> 00:56:21.987


That, I think right, there is, is one of the other lessons that can be taken from your story, which is that if someone asks you to do more don't just do it and assume that they're on the same page, that the invoice is inherently going to be increased by whatever the rate is that you discussed.00:56:22.489 --> 00:56:27.628


Be up front and say, hey, I'm happy to trim the bush on the way out, but I trim bushes at.00:56:27.628 --> 00:56:29.052


You know, 20 bucks a bush.00:56:29.052 --> 00:56:32.456


So are you okay with the $20 added to the invoice?00:56:32.456 --> 00:56:34.184


And they get to say yes or no.00:56:34.184 --> 00:56:39.650


Right, and if they inherently never wanted to pay for it, they're probably going to say no and that's okay.00:56:39.750 --> 00:56:47.521


You're, you're so right, and that's why a change order official document around those like lines is like imperative, because you're right, it should be a double agreement there.00:56:47.521 --> 00:56:50.427


Right, you shouldn't be obligated to something that is going to cost more money.00:56:50.427 --> 00:56:53.934


But also, they shouldn't be obligated to something they didn't know was going to be charged more for.00:56:53.934 --> 00:57:00.164


Yeah, so and like believe it or not, folks, that sounds so simplistic to some of you, but it's like, it's a big deal.00:57:00.164 --> 00:57:02.871


I've seen it, you know, in businesses over and over again.00:57:02.871 --> 00:57:07.027


You probably worked in legal matters that are something as silly as that over and over again.00:57:07.027 --> 00:57:08.831


It is so nice.00:57:08.831 --> 00:57:12.858


How, how nice is it when you have the like what do I want to say?00:57:12.858 --> 00:57:15.603


Like the smoking gun, like to help you with like a case?00:57:16.586 --> 00:57:19.152


Oh, I mean it's, it's wonderful, right, you?00:57:19.152 --> 00:57:20.159


I think it's.00:57:20.159 --> 00:57:23.003


I'll use an example.00:57:23.003 --> 00:57:38.108


Um, there, you know, I was working with a business that had their sole sort of purpose was to provide kitchen equipment to various restaurants, and they were working off of invoices.00:57:38.309 --> 00:57:38.489


Yeah.00:57:39.221 --> 00:58:10.753


And they had a sort of language in there that was loosey-goosey around maintenance and you know, this is sort of an area where you look at it and you say, this is sort of an area where you look at it and you say if only the language said X or if only it was a little more clear about what your obligations were, Because inherently, there were restaurants that were failing to do their maintenance and so the equipment would break down, and part of the contract was when there was a repair or a breakdown, they would come out and they would service it.00:58:10.820 --> 00:58:12.865


When there was a repair or a breakdown, they would come out and they would service it.00:58:12.865 --> 00:58:22.882


Well, it ended up becoming this never ending service situation, where they weren't the machines weren't faulty, it was that they weren't doing the required maintenance which was creating all these breakdowns.00:58:22.882 --> 00:58:37.494


And so I think it's a good example of how you know, if the contract had just been a little bit clearer, to say, hey, we're going to give you this workbook or this download or whatever.00:58:37.494 --> 00:58:45.612


However, you're going to give the information to that customer that says you need to do X, y or Z to maintain this equipment.00:58:45.612 --> 00:58:52.353


And if you fail to do that and we come out and we do maintenance and find out it's because you haven't done the maintenance.00:58:52.353 --> 00:58:56.829


We have the opportunity to take our machines back Because at some point.00:58:56.869 --> 00:59:01.005


This is just costing us money and you're not doing your fair share right.00:59:01.005 --> 00:59:02.769


But the contract didn't say that.00:59:02.769 --> 00:59:13.253


So I feel like the overarching theme is anything that you would expect from your client or customer needs to be outlined.00:59:13.253 --> 00:59:34.039


But then, vice versa, you're going to outline all the responsibilities that you've agreed to take over and when you have the two really well put, when things happen like failure to maintain equipment, you go then point to the contract and say, hey, section 7.6 says you failed to maintain.00:59:34.039 --> 00:59:47.471


And we've been here multiple times and turns out, you know, the ice cream machine isn't working because you haven't cleaned it ever and we've decided we're going to end our contract with you, you know you know like I'm going to bolster this point again because I think it's so valid.00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:50.005


And then you have the option to be the hero.00:59:50.005 --> 00:59:51.007


You know it's like.00:59:51.007 --> 01:00:00.668


Otherwise, if you just go out there, fix the ice cream machine, they'll think that was just part of what you do, you know, and it wasn't part of what you do, you were going above and beyond.01:00:00.668 --> 01:00:06.782


So if you have that in your contract and you go, hey, you didn't maintenance the ice cream machine, we're going to fix it anyways.01:00:06.782 --> 01:00:15.034


Now you're a hero, right, that's another reason to have it in there, you know, because even if you are going to do it, then you can be heroic or you can just be the bare minimum.01:00:15.034 --> 01:00:21.893


You know and that's another way to get really good customer loyalty is having that documentation that like, hey, we don't fix this stuff, but guess what?01:00:21.893 --> 01:00:28.492


This time we're going to fix it for you, you know, but next time you need to maintain the equipment or you can hold them to the line, I'm sorry, you know.01:00:28.492 --> 01:00:29.434


Like, here's the document.01:00:29.434 --> 01:00:30.034


You signed it.01:00:30.034 --> 01:00:30.653


You know which.01:00:30.653 --> 01:00:37.677


Either your strategy is in business, you know, and so um, so it can be such a good customer service tool too.01:00:37.677 --> 01:00:40.617


You know it's an under promise, over deliver thing.01:00:40.617 --> 01:00:46.858


You know, and that's one of my key components in business, is experience obvious, or the customer experience?01:00:46.858 --> 01:00:47.800


What are they going through?01:00:47.800 --> 01:00:52.851


But this is part of it, right, having good paperwork, believe it or not, is a good customer experience.01:00:53.273 --> 01:01:01.315


And so we kind of started out in LLCs and we talked about operating agreements, you know, which are super important operating in agreement folks.01:01:01.315 --> 01:01:10.262


And then we talked about trademarks, we talked about paperwork, fundamental first aspects, with your, your first couple of months of business.01:01:10.262 --> 01:01:10.922


What did we miss?01:01:10.922 --> 01:01:16.740


I should know, because I wrote 21 steps to starting a business, but I I don't look at them every day, you know.01:01:16.740 --> 01:01:20.791


And so, um, uh, and we talked about domains and we talked about names.01:01:21.532 --> 01:01:42.509


Um, I think that's fundamental first aspect of what I want people to be thinking about, you know, like when they first start this stuff out, I mean then we could get off and like we'll have to bring you back and we'll talk about employment contracts and like the next level stuff per se, because this, in my mind, is level one, right, and then we go to a next level which, folks, that's the hardest level, is the next one.01:01:42.509 --> 01:01:44.460


It's like when you're start dealing with employees, growth.01:01:44.460 --> 01:01:54.606


You know that when you actually have something, you know, it's like I was talking to a friend the other day and they're like if you have success to a certain amount, plan on being sued, it's just going to happen.01:01:54.606 --> 01:01:59.409


You get enough employees, you get enough going on with the name in your business.01:01:59.409 --> 01:02:02.463


It's going to happen, no matter what kind of human being you are.01:02:02.463 --> 01:02:07.414


Some people out there will be sued a lot more because they're awful creatures.01:02:07.414 --> 01:02:10.306


But good people too, get sued.01:02:11.110 --> 01:02:11.530


Absolutely.01:02:11.530 --> 01:02:14.338


But good people too get sued Absolutely.01:02:14.338 --> 01:02:23.686


No, I think I could not agree more with the idea that stage one seems like a lot and it seems over.01:02:23.686 --> 01:02:25.590


There's so many steps, it's cumbersome.01:02:25.590 --> 01:02:31.663


People seemed overwhelmed, right, but stage two, whole nother ball game.01:02:31.663 --> 01:02:40.650


And, and you know, only when you're at stage two can you look back at stage one and be like, well, that wasn't so bad, yeah, uh yeah, the paperwork, coops and stuff like that after you get.01:02:40.690 --> 01:02:49.304


That's why it's like one of my passions to make that part easier, right, and to help people with the pitfalls and to help them with the nefarious online sources that are charging all kinds of money.01:02:49.304 --> 01:02:53.528


The average business start cost, you know what it is, $4,000.01:02:53.528 --> 01:02:54.911


That's it.01:02:54.911 --> 01:02:57.155


There is not a better way on the planet.01:02:57.155 --> 01:02:59.588


I don't care what investment you're talking about, I don't know.01:02:59.588 --> 01:03:02.201


I don't care what property purchase you're talking about.01:03:02.201 --> 01:03:05.251


There is no better investment in the planet than a small business.01:03:05.773 --> 01:03:16.222


And the 90% failure rate I'm telling you right now from helping thousands of people, you know it's mostly because they choose the wrong dream and they quit, and the choosing the wrong dream made them quit, right.01:03:16.222 --> 01:03:19.411


So and then, like that's why I like making this stuff easier.01:03:19.411 --> 01:03:30.166


You know it's like choose the right dream, choose the right business, do some fundamental pre-work, you know, do these simple things that we're talking about for protections, and like peace of mind and that sort of stuff.01:03:30.166 --> 01:03:31.688


You will get to the next step.01:03:31.688 --> 01:03:35.373


I can almost guarantee it If they do this like pre-work.01:03:35.373 --> 01:03:37.235


And I've actually folks, I'm working.01:03:37.235 --> 01:03:38.804


I don't know if you know that I'm working on this.01:03:38.804 --> 01:03:50.248


I have developed a smaller version of the business plan that actually outputs if your business should be proceeded on or not in its current form it's basically a check and balance system, um, based on a.01:03:50.429 --> 01:03:52.132


I know my folks out there.01:03:52.132 --> 01:03:55.949


I would love you to write an 85 page business plan, you know, but I know you're not going to do it.01:03:55.949 --> 01:03:58.443


So I have a one page worksheet that you fill in.01:03:58.443 --> 01:04:03.568


If it doesn't check out at the bottom, you got to go revamp something I like, bolst this.01:04:03.568 --> 01:04:10.028


But I believe I can save the bills business failure rate by at least 50% if they'd fill out the sheet before starting the business.01:04:10.028 --> 01:04:18.686


And now, if we add on these fundamental aspects that we talked about today, that a lot of people have pitfalls in like success rate keeps going up.01:04:18.686 --> 01:04:23.750


Right, there is things that you can do to be more ready to have success in business.01:04:24.360 --> 01:04:31.427


Well, I think the business plan in some ways is a goal in writing down or an exercise on writing down your goals.01:04:31.849 --> 01:04:32.150


Totally.01:04:33.460 --> 01:04:39.382


So and people look at it like this weird work, homework, assignment where you're writing stuff down that you're like, I already have it in my mind.01:04:39.382 --> 01:04:50.740


But how many times have we learned through you know, all the influencers, all the scientists, all of the people that you know talk about goal setting, that you have to write it down.01:04:52.505 --> 01:04:53.186


Absolutely.01:04:53.186 --> 01:04:54.972


It helps you analyze the pitfalls.01:04:54.972 --> 01:05:00.599


And then the big mistake people make with it is they do it now for investors.01:05:00.599 --> 01:05:04.369


Don't do it for the fucking investors, do it for yourself.01:05:04.369 --> 01:05:10.619


And then, when you happen to get to use it for the investors, for your pitch deck or whatever, then great, but do it for your own analysis.01:05:10.619 --> 01:05:12.085


I say the same thing about your books.01:05:12.085 --> 01:05:17.666


People will only, especially at first, do the books for the IRS.01:05:17.666 --> 01:05:18.650


Don't do the books for the fucking IRS.01:05:18.650 --> 01:05:19.112


Do the books for you.01:05:19.112 --> 01:05:25.090


And then you happen to be able to make it easier to pay the IRS, right, you know it's like those tools are for you, you know.01:05:25.090 --> 01:05:34.501


And then, like you happen to be able to the bonuses, you happen to be able to use them for what you're supposed to use them for, right, you know, or could use them for, you know it's like absolutely Well and a lot of the things you're talking about.01:05:34.521 --> 01:05:35.704


you can be used for metrics.01:05:35.704 --> 01:05:37.407


You know KPIs.01:05:37.407 --> 01:05:41.782


Everybody talks about KPIs now and, like I, what does the KPI even stand for?01:05:41.782 --> 01:05:42.923


I know what it means.01:05:43.164 --> 01:05:43.403


Yeah.01:05:43.804 --> 01:05:45.786


Key performance indicators.01:05:45.947 --> 01:05:46.146


Right.01:05:46.847 --> 01:06:04.489


I mean, what's crazy to me is that even you know KPIs is like this corporate lingo that like got like dribbled down from these giant companies but, like it's true, kpis can be stuff that's not even you're not tracking it in the traditional sense, let's say.01:06:04.570 --> 01:06:22.411


I mean, a good example is when I was in law school, I actually took a class that was about starting your own law firm, because it was something that always interested me and part of our homework for that class was to write a business plan, and it was the long kind, the kind that was laborious, and you hated it.01:06:22.619 --> 01:06:23.945


Oh, Glabe's 85 pages.01:06:24.079 --> 01:06:26.706


Yeah, so you know and you know what.01:06:26.706 --> 01:06:28.487


I did it because it was part of our class.01:06:28.487 --> 01:06:39.922


But what's incredible is, like a year ago I found it in all of my paperwork and I hadn't read it since then and I was reading through it and I was thinking to myself.01:06:39.922 --> 01:06:53.221


Somewhere my subconscious must have stored a whole bunch of the stuff that I wrote in there, because I literally have been following my own business plan to a T it's, it's important it just it's an exercise really is what it should be.01:06:53.521 --> 01:06:55.125


But, like I said, most people do it now.01:06:55.125 --> 01:06:57.831


99% of people do it for other people.01:06:57.831 --> 01:07:03.945


They do it because they're trying to raise investment or because their grandpa told them they should have it, and then they'll give them 20 grand to start the business.01:07:03.945 --> 01:07:08.384


You know, it's like you do it as an exercise for you and you happen to be able to use it for that stuff.01:07:08.463 --> 01:07:09.025


Yeah, oh.01:07:09.025 --> 01:07:19.443


And then you can reflect like one of the things that I did was coming from the idea of KPIs I looked at I was like, okay, here were my ideas, you know 10 years, 10, 11 years ago.01:07:19.443 --> 01:07:21.668


And here's what I've done.01:07:21.668 --> 01:07:25.362


It's not perfect, but I got to see what worked right.01:07:25.422 --> 01:07:49.059


What worked, what comparatively like in the business versus on paper, and then also got to see sort of almost like looking back in time and saying, okay, here's things that I need to think about further or develop further right, things that might be working, that were just a random bullet point that could be extrapolated into something that maybe grows even more business than you ever thought possible.01:07:49.059 --> 01:07:54.023


So I do think you know as as lame as it sounds, kpis can be found everywhere.01:07:54.503 --> 01:07:58.492


Oh, absolutely, and I like I kind of bolster KPI is reward systems.01:07:58.492 --> 01:08:01.592


So, like the world is built on reward systems.01:08:01.592 --> 01:08:06.347


You know it's like you look at big companies that have the reward systems drawn up wrong for the CEO.01:08:06.347 --> 01:08:08.012


Look at what they do with the company.01:08:08.012 --> 01:08:12.469


Right, they'll do what's best for their pocketbook and not necessarily for their company quite often.01:08:12.469 --> 01:08:21.011


So KPIs, reward systems, the same thing you want to have, like those situations set up in a way that is conducive to the success of yourself, your business.01:08:21.091 --> 01:08:28.648


You know it's like you could have a KPI all day long that says you know like, um, we get you know how many views on Instagram.01:08:28.648 --> 01:08:34.595


You know it's like, but if there's not a KPI in there, it's like what that actual will convert to.01:08:34.595 --> 01:08:38.038


Right, then like, should it convert to a product?01:08:38.038 --> 01:08:39.743


Should it convert to awareness?01:08:39.743 --> 01:08:40.564


Should it convert to?01:08:40.564 --> 01:08:41.948


You know it's like the.01:08:41.948 --> 01:08:44.962


Then it's a KPI for nothing, right, it's a vanity KPI.01:08:44.962 --> 01:08:46.765


So there's a better way to describe it.01:08:46.765 --> 01:08:50.451


Make sure you're not just pushing in on vanity KPIs.01:08:50.451 --> 01:08:56.789


Real reward system backed KPIs and most KPIs in small business should be in some way connected to the P&L.01:08:57.721 --> 01:09:14.125


So I think it's important because when I was first starting my practice and I know a lot of small businesses feel the same way if you had to say what are like some five KPIs that a small business that's just starting could start tracking If you could come up with a few.01:09:14.641 --> 01:09:31.380


You know, like I'm a big fan of like really embracing your numbers right and so like and really analyzing that through your profit and loss sheet, and so it depends on the business too what I would suggest there.01:09:31.380 --> 01:09:34.304


But overall, like, everything has to make sense in the P and L.01:09:34.304 --> 01:09:49.141


So I'm less about KPIs and more about the P and L Right, and I'm more in assessing and properly breaking down data in a way that you can understand what your business is and so, like I actually don't spend a lot of time with small business people on KPIs.01:09:49.141 --> 01:09:54.921


You know it's like, and you know that's where I kind of like disagree with the big business world because I want it all to hit in your bottom line.01:09:54.921 --> 01:10:00.582


You know I want you to have your cost of goods aligned to your actual revenue stream, your sales stream.01:10:00.582 --> 01:10:03.770


You know, and I want you to be able to see that data in that bucket.01:10:03.770 --> 01:10:06.385


You know what that's actually making in your business.01:10:06.385 --> 01:10:12.935


Now you can tie that back to to your marketing right and can tie that back to to your marketing Right and so like, let's say, I have a cost of goods for Snickers bars, right.01:10:12.935 --> 01:10:18.157


I properly bucket, did that in my books and now I have a revenue line for my Snickers bars.01:10:18.157 --> 01:10:22.019


Now I can come over and I can see that month how much I made on Snickers bars.01:10:22.100 --> 01:10:27.100


But guess what I also happened to do that month I ran a Facebook campaign for Snickers bars, right.01:10:27.159 --> 01:10:34.090


Specifically, how did that affect the bottom line in the PNL that month versus the month I didn't, right, and there's other ways to analyze that.01:10:34.090 --> 01:10:40.729


You could say KPIs on like oh so we ran that campaign right On Snicker bar on Facebook.01:10:40.729 --> 01:10:51.628


We got this many views and for that many views we got this many clicks and for this many clicks we got this many sales, right, you know, we could study each one of those KPIs and we could say those many views laid to this many clicks.01:10:51.628 --> 01:10:53.551


So we want to get more views, more clicks.01:10:53.551 --> 01:10:54.394


You know that sort of stuff.01:10:54.394 --> 01:10:56.769


But ultimately, what are we after?01:10:56.769 --> 01:11:10.234


More sales of candy bars, right, more Snickers bars was what our goal was there, and so that's why I think it's more important to analyze the financial data and then build your KPIs backwards.01:11:10.234 --> 01:11:16.679


So if I like the longest way possible to answer your question, it would have to do with what specifically we were talking about.01:11:16.679 --> 01:11:20.110


I don't think there's five raw KPIs that you could just throw out of business.01:11:20.873 --> 01:11:25.126


I think on a service business that's not doing online sales right.01:11:25.166 --> 01:11:31.135


Because online sales, example, is great, but also, like for someone that's, you know, use it as a knowledge worker.01:11:31.135 --> 01:11:31.396


That's.01:11:31.396 --> 01:11:39.502


That's pretty out there, unless you're doing like you know, influencer style, you know webinar stuff, where you are running ads inherently.01:11:39.502 --> 01:11:58.203


Yeah, one thing that I think is time consuming but and I it's kind of a loose KPI, right it's it's not really KPI in the traditional sense, but tracking where your referrals are coming from and tracking where those referrals were made.01:11:58.203 --> 01:12:08.306


So it all connects back to sort of in my world, right, you go to a networking event, you meet five new people.01:12:08.306 --> 01:12:17.980


Those five new people go to coffee or lunch with you and then, let's say, six months from now, you've gotten referrals over time and you're tracking where those referrals are coming from.01:12:18.421 --> 01:12:50.444


Maybe you find out what through that, right, you're not going to necessarily be able to crunch the numbers on that, but at least you can look back on your year and say, okay, I met so-and-so at X event and I also met four other people from that same event and those people have all been referring to me and maybe that's an event or a group or an organization that I should double down my time on, right, and then you look at other groups that maybe you went to every event and you've got nothing out of it.01:12:50.444 --> 01:12:56.894


You can at least feel confident that that's time that you could claw back and spend elsewhere.01:12:56.894 --> 01:13:03.190


So it's more like a review on like how good your time usage has been over the course of a year.01:13:03.530 --> 01:13:05.962


I totally agree and it's a great way to look at it.01:13:05.962 --> 01:13:18.301


The worry that I have with KPIs too is they get so linear and focused that, like now, let's say in your example just humor me for a second Like you've done a really good job, you found out which networking group is you know.01:13:18.301 --> 01:13:26.092


Like you've, uh, you've assessed those people on how many times you had to go to coffee and then like how many times that led into like actual income, right.01:13:26.092 --> 01:13:28.882


But what if you were charging the wrong rates?01:13:28.882 --> 01:13:30.909


Right.01:13:30.909 --> 01:13:34.564


So now you've KPI really well in what's getting you more clients.01:13:34.564 --> 01:13:38.963


But you also have to think about, like, did I actually make money, money off of those clients?01:13:38.963 --> 01:13:39.326


Right.01:13:39.646 --> 01:13:44.625


And so that's where I worry with small business people is they'll get so worried and hyper-focused on this KPI.01:13:44.625 --> 01:13:47.582


They'll pay attention because what, what gets paid attention to gross?01:13:47.582 --> 01:13:53.967


There's no doubt about that, and that's why I always go back to the P&L, because I want them paying the most attention to the P&L.01:13:53.967 --> 01:13:58.167


You know it's like because that's where the value in the business truly is right.01:13:58.167 --> 01:14:03.328


It doesn't matter how many times we go to coffee overall, unless it's impacting the P&L in a positive way.01:14:04.412 --> 01:14:09.345


Well, I was thinking you could be going to coffee and find out that all the coffee is just costing you money in the P&L.01:14:09.345 --> 01:14:10.886


There's nothing coming from it.01:14:10.926 --> 01:14:13.131


You totally, could you know, and so.01:14:13.131 --> 01:14:16.215


But time usage is also another like opportunity cost.01:14:16.215 --> 01:14:21.161


Like the second I've learned about opportunity cost in life, you know, is like that's a big deal.01:14:21.161 --> 01:14:29.784


You know, it's like if your time is valued at $350 an hour, theoretically anything you're doing outside of that $350 an hour that's worth less money.01:14:29.784 --> 01:14:33.711


Let's say you're cleaning your house, which could be hired out to $20 an hour.01:14:33.711 --> 01:14:36.395


Your opportunity cost is actually $320 an hour.01:14:36.395 --> 01:14:42.127


You're better off sitting in your office and making the three 20 an hour.01:14:42.127 --> 01:14:43.372


Now I always tell people too there's an X factor to that too.01:14:43.372 --> 01:14:44.479


You know, I still do my own landscaping.01:14:44.479 --> 01:14:45.681


We talked about that this morning.01:14:45.681 --> 01:14:47.484


You know, is that worth my time?01:14:47.484 --> 01:14:48.025


Right?01:14:48.025 --> 01:14:51.011


Tyler values higher than he could hire a landscape to do.01:14:51.011 --> 01:15:00.109


But then there's a mental KPI as well, you know, and so like those are kind of the things that like really help set business apart, is like, and that's way too.01:15:00.149 --> 01:15:12.573


When you're like, especially when you're first starting in business and you're the only person, it's like, the first thing you should start doing is analyzing the jobs that you're doing that aren't worth the rate that you're worth, and those are the things that have to get hired out.01:15:12.573 --> 01:15:14.096


Great example is the landscaper.01:15:14.096 --> 01:15:27.023


If you're hanging out around your business and you're so busy you're thinking you need to hire somebody else Like the first thing you do is you start taking things off your plate that are worth a lot less than what your opportunity cost value system is right.01:15:27.023 --> 01:15:29.987


Usually, for most people that's pretty easy to assess too with.01:15:29.987 --> 01:15:31.149


With a lawyer it's super easy.01:15:31.149 --> 01:15:32.971


It's like you know what you bill out at right.01:15:32.971 --> 01:15:35.215


It's like that is your opportunity cost.01:15:35.215 --> 01:15:39.288


Anything else you're doing outside of that you know like is not valuable.01:15:39.288 --> 01:15:43.766


You need to do more of that thing that you know unless, for instance, my X factor.01:15:43.766 --> 01:15:45.091


Nobody involves the X factor.01:15:45.091 --> 01:15:48.083


That's why I always do, because the landscaping is good for my soul.01:15:48.283 --> 01:15:49.947


It makes me feel like I accomplished something.01:15:49.947 --> 01:15:56.743


You know it's like that is more valuable to me than the time that I'm losing in money, right, and so you do want to assess those things too.01:15:56.743 --> 01:15:59.490


Or let's say you love doing your marketing in your business.01:15:59.490 --> 01:16:01.243


You like that's your favorite part of your business.01:16:01.243 --> 01:16:03.350


I'd still say do a little of your marketing.01:16:03.350 --> 01:16:11.708


You know it's like, even if that's hired out at a lesser rate usually, you know like you also have to love and passion for the things that you do in the business.01:16:11.708 --> 01:16:15.153


That's why you can't just always use math or a KPI either.01:16:16.175 --> 01:16:17.676


Absolutely yeah, for sure.01:16:17.676 --> 01:16:20.186


Well, the passion is what drives you forward.01:16:20.528 --> 01:16:20.729


It is.01:16:21.119 --> 01:16:22.125


Yeah, I would agree with you.01:16:22.125 --> 01:16:36.292


I mean, inherently as a new business owner, you're going to find things that you love about running and operating your own business and you're going to find things that you absolutely hate, and some of it will be because you're a numbers person.01:16:36.292 --> 01:16:38.583


And some of it is going to be because you're a words person.01:16:38.583 --> 01:16:43.226


And some of it is because you work worse and not a marketer, or vice versa.01:16:43.266 --> 01:16:55.967


You're the marketer and you don't want to be chained to your desk doing all the work, and so I think only once you're in the, in the, you know trenches and operating, or do you get to see sort of more about your, learn more about yourself in many ways.01:16:56.208 --> 01:16:59.003


People can be surprised by what they actually embrace too.01:16:59.003 --> 01:17:05.408


It's like when I first started in business, you could have never convinced me that I would become, like, so passionate for accounting.01:17:05.408 --> 01:17:07.579


You know, never convinced me of that.01:17:07.579 --> 01:17:09.844


You know it's not like I started out as an accountant.01:17:09.844 --> 01:17:10.685


You know it's like.01:17:10.685 --> 01:17:16.015


But then, like, once I realized, like I love data right, I love data to make good decisions with.01:17:16.015 --> 01:17:27.301


And once I realized, the more I focused on my accounting aspect, the better the data got to make decisions, it was like having a crystal ball, finally a way to make decisions that were educated, you know, outside of.01:17:27.301 --> 01:17:31.613


Like reaching through the hallway trying to find something in the dark.01:17:31.613 --> 01:17:34.364


You know now, all of a sudden, you had legitimate data backing it up.01:17:34.364 --> 01:17:47.421


So, also, like, I guess a fundamental aspect in starting is like I think this is my personal opinion, you know, like everybody says there, we have this big theme on the internet these days and my show is the antithesis of what's on the internet.01:17:47.421 --> 01:17:49.024


You folks know that already.01:17:49.324 --> 01:17:52.551


You know it's like they always say if you're working in your business, you're doing it wrong.01:17:52.551 --> 01:17:55.037


Fuck that, not possible.01:17:55.037 --> 01:17:58.047


Because, number one, if you're starting from nothing, you're a bootstrapper.01:17:58.047 --> 01:18:00.198


Impossible not to work in your business.01:18:00.198 --> 01:18:04.641


Oh, I don't have any money and I don't have a team and I have nothing, but I'm not going to work in my business.01:18:04.641 --> 01:18:09.631


You're going to work in your business, and not only that, but it's like I make this point all the time when I took my MBA.01:18:09.631 --> 01:18:13.012


They don't teach me how to be the biggest world's financial genius.01:18:13.012 --> 01:18:15.755


They don't teach me how to be the best marketer in the world.01:18:15.755 --> 01:18:23.405


What they do is they teach me a lot of these different things on fundamental levels so I can manage them, and that's what I would implore you in your own business too.01:18:23.405 --> 01:18:31.472


For a lot of reasons, it's like I want you to know enough to be dangerous in all these things, and the reason I want that for you is worst case scenario.01:18:31.472 --> 01:18:32.173


You can manage it.01:18:32.173 --> 01:18:34.386


Later on You'll know if somebody's ripping you off.01:18:34.606 --> 01:18:44.847


I had this guy that was a landscaper on the show and he built from one lawnmower all the way up to a $10 million business, sold that company and then he started a tech company and he wanted to.01:18:44.847 --> 01:18:46.591


They're kind of like the Uber of lawn care.01:18:46.591 --> 01:18:51.851


You can order up like lawn people to come to your house, you know, and so, and what he started with.01:18:51.851 --> 01:18:53.916


What's what everybody fundamentally thinks you should do?01:18:53.916 --> 01:18:56.603


Like you hire out the technology because that's what you're good at.01:18:56.603 --> 01:19:02.970


He got robbed, completely spent all this money, nothing to show for it and that's what I get.01:19:02.970 --> 01:19:11.569


All the time is like you need to know enough to manage it Right and by getting involved in your books, getting involved in your marketing early on, getting involved in all these things.01:19:11.930 --> 01:19:17.645


There's nefarious creatures that dwell in marketing, that dwell in your accounting, that dwell in your website production.01:19:17.645 --> 01:19:20.881


Be able to know whether they're robbing you or not or making impact.01:19:20.881 --> 01:19:22.225


I see it every single day.01:19:22.225 --> 01:19:23.989


We're in the hire out generation.01:19:23.989 --> 01:19:29.787


I applaud people for that because, yes, opportunity costs, but at first, know enough to be dangerous or you will get robbed.01:19:29.787 --> 01:19:32.090


That's what's going on in the current business environment.01:19:32.090 --> 01:19:39.328


You know that is literally it's bad consultants that are running the show these days and that's what's destroying businesses more than anything I see.01:19:39.328 --> 01:19:44.020


So know it enough to be dangerous and at the same time, you never know what you're going to love and embrace.01:19:44.020 --> 01:19:45.322


You know it's like.01:19:45.322 --> 01:19:46.463


No, I'm no good at accounting.01:19:46.463 --> 01:19:47.064


Try it.01:19:47.064 --> 01:19:49.608


I promise you it's easier than you think.01:19:49.608 --> 01:19:52.511


And then, once you have that data to run your business successfully, you'll love it.01:19:52.511 --> 01:19:55.414


So I think we've given them enough today.01:19:55.414 --> 01:19:55.515


What?01:19:55.536 --> 01:19:55.855


do you think?01:19:57.421 --> 01:19:59.305


You got any final words for people?01:20:00.327 --> 01:20:14.520


I think, uh, you know, at the end of the day, don't let anyone deter you from starting a business, because the first thing you'll do is be excited and tell everyone you know and love that you're going to start a business in whatever industry, you're doing whatever.01:20:14.520 --> 01:20:19.069


And people are going to be naysayers and I would say don't listen to a word they say.01:20:19.740 --> 01:20:21.386


Oh it's, it's so well put.01:20:21.386 --> 01:20:24.250


They won't believe in you at all until you do it.01:20:24.250 --> 01:20:27.751


And then they all believed in you forever Yep From the start, yeah.01:20:33.300 --> 01:20:34.081


Always knew, always knew it.01:20:34.081 --> 01:20:41.240


You know and I'll bolster that with the advice that I'm a thousand percent sure that if you start the right business in the right way and you don't quit, you will make it.01:20:41.240 --> 01:20:52.533


Right now I will promise you that you start the right business and you do a little bit of background research and you start smart, you will make it I've never seen, and you don't quit.01:20:53.100 --> 01:20:53.521


Don't quit.01:20:53.702 --> 01:20:56.149


Aligning those things will help you, not quit.01:20:56.149 --> 01:21:00.152


That's why you have to start with the right idea right, and it's not what you think it is.01:21:00.152 --> 01:21:04.988


That's why you have to have a plan, because it makes it easier and you can't quit.01:21:04.988 --> 01:21:08.679


These two things help you not quit and no quit.01:21:08.679 --> 01:21:10.042


I guarantee somebody will make it.01:21:10.042 --> 01:21:12.170


I've never, ever, seen somebody fail.01:21:12.170 --> 01:21:13.502


If they do that.01:21:14.505 --> 01:21:15.627


Agreed A hundred percent.01:21:16.127 --> 01:21:21.444


And that, my friends, is another episode of underdogs, bootstrappers, game changers.01:21:21.444 --> 01:21:23.350


Paloma is a good friend of mine.01:21:23.350 --> 01:21:24.271


I'm going to have her back.01:21:24.271 --> 01:21:32.984


We'll talk about stage two, so feel free to contact me and tell me anything we missed on this episode and we'll pick it up again later.01:21:32.984 --> 01:21:33.988


Thanks for joining us.01:21:33.988 --> 01:21:40.411


Hello and welcome to underdogs, bootstrappers and game changers.01:21:40.411 --> 01:21:49.210


This is for those of you that are starting with nothing and using business to change their stars, motivating people who disrupted industry standards.01:21:49.210 --> 01:21:52.408


This is the real side of business.01:21:52.408 --> 01:21:53.564


This isn't Shark Tank.01:21:53.564 --> 01:21:58.368


My aim with this podcast is to take away some of the imaginary roadblocks that are out there.01:21:58.368 --> 01:22:02.988


I want to help more underdogs, because underdogs are truly who change the world.01:22:02.988 --> 01:22:05.569


This is part of our Content for Good initiative.01:22:05.569 --> 01:22:10.399


All the proceeds from the monetization of this podcast will go to charitable causes.01:22:10.399 --> 01:22:12.287


It's for the person that wants it.