Business RadioX ®

BRX Pro Tip: Not Now is Okay

by

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Not Now is Okay
Loading
/

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Not Now is Okay

Stone Payton : And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you told me the other day, “Stone, not now is okay.”

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Putting things on the back burner is totally fine. You can’t – not everything that you’re doing or you run into or you stumble over is a priority. You don’t have to look at everything as a fire that needs to be immediately put out.

Lee Kantor: So, definitely dump things on the back burner. But just make sure if you’re doing that, and especially if you notice you’re doing it a lot, make sure that you have some sort of a system in place that lets you revisit these back burner ideas and these back burner plans to see if the time is right to pursue one of them.

Lee Kantor: So focus your time and attention on the things that move the needle in your business, but periodically go back to your back burner to see if there’s any projects or ideas or initiatives that you – the time might be right to take that action and move them to the front burner because the front burner is where the work gets done. But to have a system where you capture these ideas and you don’t lose them is important as well.

Adam Fineberg with My Personal Recruiter

by

HVR-Adam-Fineberg-Feature
High Velocity Radio
Adam Fineberg with My Personal Recruiter
Loading
/

Adam-FinebergWith global experience in building and selling companies, Adam Fineberg is a serial entrepreneur who has mastered recruiting across Europe, Asia, and the US.

As the owner of Jackson Square Company, Rock My Resume, and My Personal Recruiter, Adam’s ventures offer comprehensive career services, including talent acquisition, executive search, professional resume services, technology, mobile applications, reverse recruiting, and more.

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode My-Personal-Recruiter-logo

  • Starting a successful business
  • Selling a business
  • Job searching
  • Job market
  • Reverse recruiting

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. This is going to be a good one. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with My Personal Recruiter, Mr. Adam Fineberg. How are you, man?

Adam Fineberg: Thank you. I’m great. Stone, it’s a pleasure to be here. And thank you for having me on the show.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s a delight to have you on the broadcast. I’ve got so many questions, Adam. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think a great place to start would be if you could share with me and our listening audience. Mission. Purpose. What is it that you and your team are, are really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Adam Fineberg: Yeah, absolutely Well, to sum it up, we really I love helping people, and I’ve always been like that since I was a kid, just just helping people in need. And the way that we go about doing that is by essentially helping people find careers. Right. So for the vast majority of people, you know, we need to work. We got to make a living. And I’ve experienced how challenging it can be trying to find a job and really not having anyone in my corner. So I have I have a few companies now, and most recently I sold one of my one of my companies. But all of my companies are related to helping people with their career, helping them find jobs, and just making the process just a little bit more, uh, um, you know, easier for them to, to kind of get from where they are now to where they need to be.

Stone Payton: So what’s the backstory, man? What has your career path been?

Adam Fineberg: Oh, man, I don’t know if we can. I don’t know if we could fit all of that into this one show, but uh, the short version is I had a great opportunity to to to live in different countries around the world. So I lived in the Middle East, I lived in Europe, I lived in Asia. And and when I came back, I, you know, I was working in finance and sales. But when I came back to America in 2019 and I was used to making six figures and I couldn’t find a job, after 4 or 5 months, I couldn’t find a company that would be willing to compensate me what I felt that I was worth. So I actually thought about, you know, I wanted to hire my own personal recruiter. I want someone who can who can work for me to help me find that next position. But unfortunately, that type of service just wasn’t really available back in 2019. So, um, so, you know, I started a recruiting agency actually. So instead of instead of getting a job, I started, you know, tapping back into my entrepreneurial spirit, um, and I started a company called Jackson Square Company where we did recruiting and we still do recruiting for. Sales, marketing, healthcare and legal and finance. But we’re kind of. Generalists for the most part. And then when Covid hit, all of my clients called in the same week and they froze hiring.

Adam Fineberg: So, you know, naturally, my income had froze. So I decided to instead of focusing on the businesses to start helping individuals. So I started a company right after right around the pandemic in mid 2020 called Rock My Resume. And that’s, of course, a resume company where we help people with their resume. We do, you know, a la carte career services like, uh, you know, career coaching, LinkedIn optimization, resumes, cover letters and things of that nature. And, uh, and as I continued to provide services for individuals, a lot of people would purchase 4 or 5 different services from me. So I thought to myself, you know, now is a perfect opportunity for me to build a company kind of side by side with my resume. That will be more like an all inclusive service for job seekers, where it covers all the aspects from the writing of the resumes to the applications, to networking, to to coaching. And and that’s exactly what I did. So, so in the beginning of last year, we started offering this service called Reverse Recruiting. So as you may know, Stone traditional recruiting is where a recruiter works for a company and they help that company find a candidate. What we do with reverse recruiting is we reverse that process. So instead of working for the company to find candidates, we work for the candidate to try to help them secure as many interviews and offers as possible.

Adam Fineberg: So as we had somewhat of a test run with Rock my resume, we had a tremendous results. We had clients who were very happy as we were helping them find jobs. And that’s when in October of last year, I started my personal recruiter and you can check us out at my personal recruiter.com. But essentially that’s exactly what we offer. It’s a it’s an all inclusive subscription service, and our clients pay on a month to month basis. We have different tiers of service that we offer and and we have some tremendous results so far. So we’ve helped already hundreds of people this year find employment. And and I tell you, Stone, this is extremely fulfilling work because one day you speak with someone and they’re kind of down in the dumps. They don’t know what to do next with their career. And then 2 or 3 months later, they’re thanking you and they’re writing a great review for you because you helped them get to where they needed to be. So that’s the short version of kind of how we got to where we are today. But we’ve had some incredible results, and I have an incredible team behind me. And and as you know, you can’t do great things by yourself. You have to do them with great people around you. And that’s exactly what I have.

Stone Payton: So you’ve clearly had some experience, and it sounds like success getting a business, multiple businesses off the off the ground. Did you run into especially early on, any surprises that were like, man, I wasn’t expecting this at all.

Adam Fineberg: Oh man. It’s almost like a it’s a cycle. It’s almost like every month or two months. There’s something that says, you know what I ask myself sometimes, why am I still doing this? You know? Um, but yes, to answer your question, getting getting a business off the ground, you need grit. And, you know, I love following, you know, Uber successful people like, you know, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban. You know, there’s so much to learn from people who have done this in the past. And I think one determining factor that you see across all entrepreneurs is they probably didn’t succeed on every single project. But like Mark Cuban said, you really only need to be right once, right? So you get one, you have one exit that is six figure or seven figure exit. And then you can take that money and allocate that into your new project. So I just sold a 90% of rock my resume. So I’m still a minority shareholder. But it’s actually we just had our four year anniversary, uh, earlier this month. And it’s such a it’s such an amazing feeling to, to build something from scratch and then to watch it turn into its own entity, eventually to the point where you can sell it.

Adam Fineberg: And now, you know, it’s it’s still operating successfully without me having to be there. So, um, you know, every and another quote that I love, which I don’t want to, uh, to, to, to ruin it. Um, Elon Musk says, you know, being an entrepreneur is like chewing glass and staring into the abyss. It’s like, you know, no sane person would want to do this because all of the all of the biggest problems that the company funneled down to the CEO or the founder, and they’re the only person who can really resolve those types of problems. So, uh, so yeah, the biggest, um, advice that I’d give to someone going into going into, you know, starting their first small business, um, is just sticking with it, you know, and, and, and there’s so many fantastic books that you can read out there that will, will allow you to do this in a better way. And I always like to look at the recommendations of Warren Buffett and, and people who are, uh, you know, extremely successful. And, and these individuals are recommending great books. So if you look at some of the books that they’re recommending, you know, those are the types of books that I read.

Stone Payton: So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a firm like yours? How do you get the new business?

Adam Fineberg: Mm, yeah, that’s a great question. A big part of what we do is referrals, right. So of course we have, you know Google that we do advertising on we have social media manager as well. But a big part of what we do is we want to help people. And because it’s a subscription service, some people are maybe a little bit leery in the beginning saying, hey, if I’m if I’m paying you guys every month, what’s your incentive to help me find a job? And the truth is, our reputation and helping people is our incentive, right? If we can get someone a job in less time than they can get, you know, by themselves, and they recommend us to their friends and family, you know, that’s a successful relationship. So I think a lot of people that are in business don’t prioritize referrals as much as they should, but that is how we’ve been able to scale our company to a tremendous amount. And we have just actually started the process of raising capital, and not because we’re essentially in need of capital, but I want to have more people on kind of the advisory board. And we already have, you know, opportunities to exit as well with this company. So I just started this company in October. And, you know, I don’t want to share too much about the finances, but we’ve had some incredible results this year, and it hasn’t even been one year yet. So we have had, uh, several offers that I’ve declined to acquire my company, uh, you know, 100%. But I don’t want to settle, and I want to hold out until I get the valuation that I want for this company. And meanwhile, I will be, you know, raising funds from different VCs and and angel investors as well.

Stone Payton: Well, good for you. All right. So so let’s let’s dive into the work a little bit. If you if you’re up for it, kind of walk me through. If I elect to join this subscription what happens.

Adam Fineberg: Yeah. Great question. So, um, you get assigned a team of people. Okay. So you have a resume writer, a recruiter, a career coach, and a customer success manager. And these 3 or 4 individuals, excuse me? They work together for the common goal, which is really helping you secure interviews and prepare for interviews. So, for example, the writer will prepare all of the documents the resume, cover letter, thank you letter, any document needed for your for your job search. The resume writer will produce. The recruiter will find and apply for jobs on your behalf. So especially this is especially good for people who are busy who just don’t have the time to search. Or maybe they don’t know where to search, but finding a job is kind of a job in itself these days. Aside from the recruiter finding and applying for jobs, they also can submit resumes on different job boards. So they post the resume publicly. And we also have a network of recruiting agencies. So we have over 230 recruiting agencies that we partner with. And we send candidate profiles to them every day. So we’re in constant communication with these recruiters. So that’s the recruiter. The third person is a career coach. And naturally this person will help to develop a job search strategy, help implement that strategy And then of course, provide coaching and guidance as needed.

Adam Fineberg: So this is relating to interviewing, networking or anything really relating to the job search. And then the fourth and definitely last but not least person. This is someone who is a customer success manager, who ensures that our clients are receiving all of the benefits that they they subscribe to, so that ensuring that the resumes are accurate, ensuring that the applications are being submitted and on time and in volume, and just ensuring that the client is having a great experience. But of course, our overall objective is helping them secure an offer in a short period of time. So that’s the team. Aside from that, we have developed a client portal. So the technology aspect is where we have everything organized in one place. When we’re submitting hundreds of applications for our clients, it’s easy for things to get lost unless we have an organized way of compiling and organizing all that data. So on this client portal, clients could see all of their applications, the status of each application, the number of applications being submitted. We have, the interviews, the offers, you know, so we have a lot of great tools and resources like LinkedIn optimization video series. They also have messaging templates for cold prospecting and live chat for their, uh, that they can communicate directly with their recruiter. But Stone, as you could tell, our service is very robust.

Adam Fineberg: It’s very complex and there’s a lot of moving parts. So our objective is for our clients to have a very seamless approach to the job search, and that we cover all of these different aspects. All we need from them is to complete the onboarding. And from there, we hit the ground running and start assisting them with finding a job. So it is a monthly subscription and they can the subscription tier will determine kind of what benefits that they’ll be receiving. But we had some incredible results and we have only five star reviews online, so I’m very happy that we haven’t even had a three star or even a four star review. Um, so, you know, we’re pretty consistent in that sense. But being that we’ve only been in business for about ten months, you know, we still got to give it some more time as we continue to build that momentum. But but yeah, that’s just a quick summary of what we offer. And it’s, it’s there’s a lot of moving parts. I tried to cover all of it here today, but uh, naturally as we built the company, we’re constantly making improvements, making things better and always looking to to, to, to to streamline the process and to take a lot of that, uh, you know, heavy lifting away from the client and putting it on our shoulders instead.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds incredibly robust to me. And I’m just, you know, thinking as you were talking, I it’s it’s I’ve got a whole team working on my behalf and I’ve got technology and systems and experience and expertise. Right there in my corner and and from more than one person. People with very highly specialized knowledge and expertise in these specific domains.

Adam Fineberg: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I mean, this is such a needed service this day and age. And if you look around and you and you’re actually finding it looking for jobs on average, you’re going to find that there’s probably 3 or 400 applicants for each job post. Wow. So if you’re pulling a name out of a hat, you know you got less than a 1% chance of getting your name pulled. So that first means that we need an efficient approach. And secondly, you can’t just submit 20 or 30 resumes anymore expecting a call back. You got to get into 50, 60, even 100 resumes or excuse me, applications or more. Um, if you’re looking to, to take your job search seriously.

Stone Payton: So I don’t know where you would find the time, but I’m going to ask anyway. When you’re.

Stone Payton: When you’re not building companies, selling companies, helping people find the kind of work that they desire, any other pursuits, hobbies, interests, passions. A lot of our listeners know that I like to hunt, fish, and travel. Anything you do to kind of get away from it for a little bit and recharge and come back.

Adam Fineberg: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’m a big traveler. I love to travel. I’ve been to over 40 countries. Um, and I just got back from Japan and South Korea actually about a month ago, uh, had an incredible time there. And I definitely would encourage anyone to visit Japan as it is just such an amazing country. From the big city of Tokyo to the smaller towns and Kyoto, everything was just simply incredible. But traveling is definitely my passion. Um, and, and you know, I do love to hunt as well, so there’s definitely that. But I don’t get a chance to to go as often. And, and being down here in Florida. I actually recently moved here back in, uh, back in March. Um, and I was in North Carolina prior to this. Uh, I definitely miss hiking. You know, the hiking back in North Carolina, they have some beautiful mountains. And I like to go hiking with my dog, who’s, who’s about a a medium sized dog. He’s a Jack Russell terrier. And I’m concerned that if I let him off the leash and we go hiking somewhere here, that I might not see him again with all the alligators and all the animals around here. So, uh, so definitely hiking is one of those. But we don’t we don’t get a chance to do that as often as we’d like to.

Stone Payton: All right, before we wrap, let’s leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable pro tips. What should they be reading? Thinking about doing, not doing. If they’re getting ready for a serious, structured, properly constructed job search? And look, gang, the number one pro tip is reach out and have a conversation with Adam or somebody on his team. But yeah, let’s leave him with a couple tips. Adam.

Adam Fineberg: Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, I’ve always been a big advocate of self-awareness, and one of the things that has allowed me to become successful, and a lot of the people that I know who work their way up into C-suite or board positions is just knowing what they’re good at. And you know this very well, Stone. You don’t have to be great at everything in life. You got to be good at one or a set of things and and just focusing your energy on those things. And then another thing is, if you are going into your job search, making sure that you have the right tools in place, and that doesn’t mean just your resume. That also means your your mentality and and the know how. There’s a tremendous amount of great information out there just for free, right? Like your podcast, for example. You know, there’s a tremendous amount of knowledge that one can get from listening to to so many episodes but, you know, even going on YouTube, you know, doing some research on what are the best, you know, practices for interviewing, what are the most common interview questions, and how can you answer those? You know, um, these are these are so crucial to, to to your job search.

Adam Fineberg: So one of the things that we do at my personal recruiter is we also offer Disc assessments. And these Disc assessments just allow our, our, our clients to know who they are better and know what they’re good at. So between those two aspects, when you’re looking for a job, just, you know, be aware of of what you’re good at and focusing your energy on those things and then just making sure that you’re prepared. The resume is definitely important. You know as well. We have a partner company called Rock My Resume. And once again, I still am a minority shareholder of that company. We’re CPR w certified, so I can assure you we’ll provide you with great quality resume. But you know the that. Truthfully, there’s enough information online for most people to go ahead and write their own resume. So make sure that you’re prepared. Make sure that you have that self-awareness before you take that next step in your career.

Stone Payton: I am so glad I asked. That’s that’s quite marvelous.

Adam Fineberg: Me too. Yeah, absolutely.

Stone Payton: All right. So what’s the best way for our listeners to tap into your work, connect with you whatever you feel like is appropriate, but let’s give them some coordinates.

Adam Fineberg: Absolutely. So we have three websites that I own. So once again, Jackson Square Company, which is a recruiting agency. If you’re a company looking to hire people, you know, we can definitely help you find that right candidate. We have my resume for individuals who want to purchase just one resume, or they want to just get coaching. And then we have my personal recruiter. This is for individuals who are usually a little bit later in their career, who either don’t have the time to search for a job themselves, or they just want to be able to leverage the expertise of people who are professional job seekers. So my personal recruiter.com is my is a fairly newer project, but we’ve been able to help hundreds of people in less than a year secure their position. So those are those are the few coordinates that I would say. You’re also welcome to to connect with me on LinkedIn. Um, at it’s forward slash Adam Feinberg. Feinberg is spelled f I n e d e r g. And yeah, I’m happy to connect with people. I think I’m getting close to the limit of how many people that I, that I can connect with on, on LinkedIn, but, um, but you’re welcome to follow me as well. Um, on, on Instagram or Facebook. Um, and you can just type in Adam Feinberg and, and you’ll see my image right there.

Stone Payton: Well, Adam, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast today. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. Thank you for your enthusiasm. I mean, it makes me feel recharged and want to go back and grow Business RadioX more to see all that you’ve done and all that you’re going to be doing. But what you’re doing for the marketplace and for these individuals is it’s such important work, and we sure appreciate you, man.

Adam Fineberg: I appreciate that, man. And, you know, I love helping people and it’s really fulfilling work when you get a chance to help someone. And I think you’re doing an amazing job with this podcast. So so kudos to you and your team for building such an amazing platform.

Stone Payton: Thanks, man. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Adam Feinberg with my personal recruiter and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Corporate Prospective on the upcoming WBEC-West 21st Annual Procurement and Awards Conference and Why Participate in Matchmakers!

by

WIM-Erika-Castro-Feature
Women in Motion
Corporate Prospective on the upcoming WBEC-West 21st Annual Procurement and Awards Conference and Why Participate in Matchmakers!
Loading
/

In this episode of Women in Motion, host Lee Kantor is joined by Erika Castro from Salt River Project (SRP) about the crucial role of women in corporate procurement and supplier diversity. Erika emphasizes the importance of building relationships with women business owners, effective networking, and preparation for events. She highlights SRP’s commitment to community engagement and collaboration with women-owned businesses.

The episode also previews an upcoming procurement conference organized by WBEC-West, stressing the value of face-to-face interactions and proactive networking for business growth. Erika provides practical advice on articulating value, seeking feedback, and maintaining connections.

Erika-CastroErika Castro is the Supplier Diversity and Supplier Management Manager at SRP Salt River Project.

SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit organization providing reliable, affordable and sustainable water and energy to more than 2 million people in central Arizona.

Follow the Salt River Project on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Erika Castro with the Salt River Project. Welcome.

Erika Castro: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Please share a little bit about Salt River Project. How are you serving folks?

Erika Castro: So, Salt River Project, also known as SRP, is an Arizona company. It’s a public water and power utility with over two million customers here in the Valley. And the Valley, we kind of refer to like the Phoenix metropolitan area. But, yeah, water and power utility, that’s what we do. That’s our bread and butter.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s your background? Have you always been in that line of work?

Erika Castro: Yeah. So, I actually have been with the utility for I’m going on 16 years, so definitely have enjoyed being in the utility space. And my background is in corporate philanthropy, but most recently within our supply chain area working in supplier diversity.

Lee Kantor: Now, you are one of the corporate representatives at WBEC-West. Can you talk a little bit about why it’s important for your firm to be a member of WBEC-West and to be a corporate rep?

Erika Castro: Yeah. So, SRP has been in the Valley for over 100 years. And SRP’s establishment was actually established pre-statehood, so it’s really important for SRP to just really be engaged with the community, and more importantly, with the business community because, obviously, SRP can’t do all of the things that we do if we don’t partner with suppliers that can get us the services and good to be able to provide reliable, affordable power and water.

Lee Kantor: So, when WBEC-West has an event, like they are having in Henderson coming up September 17th through 19th, their 21st Annual Procurement Conference, how do you kind of attack that? Is that a must attend event for you and your team? Can you talk a little bit about how you kind of get the most from the corporate side of the table?

Erika Castro: Yeah, absolutely. So, I’m also a proud member of WBEC-West and I truly believe in its mission of advocating, supporting women business owners, and ensuring that they have the opportunities necessary to compete for sustaining contracts and opportunities. And so, for SRP, really, it’s an imperative. Like I mentioned, we are not able to do the great work that we do at the utility if it wasn’t for many of our women business owners. And so, in this case, it’s really important for us to be there.

Erika Castro: WBEC-West is our regional partner for WBENC, and not only are they just an amazing team – so I am going to brag on the team – but secondly, they’re very intentional with everything that they do. And that means a lot for SRP because we know that when women business owners are competing for contracts, they’re ready. They’re ready and they’re well-prepared, and they’re winning contracts.

Erika Castro: So, like I said, for us it’s really important to be there. It’s an imperative for us to be there. So, we are planning on attending with several members of our procurement team, which is super exciting because we always like developing the connections with our women business owners, but women business owners, also – we call them WBEs – they’re super excited to meet our procurement folks. And so, just making those connections, I think is really important because at the end of the day, we’re kind of the funnel and the advocate for women business owners and the utility. But procurement, who knows about the projects, those folks are the ones that is really important for WBEs to meet, so we’re really excited to go with a team of folks to the WBEC-West conference.

Erika Castro: And you asked a great question, Lee, about just preparing, and so we do prepare in advance for the conference to make sure that if there’s anything upcoming that we need, that we’re looking for those things at the conference.

Lee Kantor: So, we talk a lot on this show with WBEs, but we don’t talk a lot with the corporates, so I’m just trying to give the WBEs a little insight into how the corporates prepare, and how you’re kind of getting the team ready, and how they’re kind of gathering the information that’s important to them so that the WBEs have an idea of maybe how to kind of anticipate some things so they’re better prepared. So, can you share a little bit about, you know, when you’re in a meeting with the procurement folks and you’re saying, “Okay, this conference is September 17th through 19th, here’s the game plan. Here’s the best way to kind of get the most out of it.”

Erika Castro: Yeah. So, we kind of approach it from the perspective that each one of our procurement individuals that will be attending, they kind of have their area of responsibility. So, someone may be very specific that all they do is, you know, IT support, someone else may just do, let’s say, marketing and communications and environmental support. But once we kind of have this conversation with our procurement individuals, we kind of go at it from the perspective that you are representing our entire supply chain at SRP. So, really, the goal is to ensure that we are talking to everyone else and we’re kind of getting a feeler out there for everyone else in procurement of what is needed or what are the big things that are kind of coming down the pipeline where we may need additional sources of WBEs.

Erika Castro: And so, that’s really kind of how we approach it. We have a discussion and we kind of just survey, survey all of our peers on what they need. So, in that way, when we go to the conference, we know the types of things that we need. And obviously for the types of things that we don’t need, I always tell this to anyone that I meet, whether it’s at SRP or not, is that it’s so important, I think, to always give some positive feedback to WBEs, because, one, they look to you for that experience from the corporate perspective.

Erika Castro: So, although there may not be opportunities in business, it’s so important to make sure that you’re giving them feedback and that you’re giving them some honest, good feedback that they can take back for other potential relationships for them or other potential opportunities. Because the last thing that I want is, you know, to have our team prepare and go into this conference making everyone believe that everyone’s going to do business with SRP tomorrow, and that’s just not really the reality.

Erika Castro: So, one, it’s kind of just knowing what it is that we need going into it. But two, if we know that there’s not a fit, still making sure that we’re, one, accessible – and that is one thing that I’m really proud of at SRP is that we have a great team – and you can be assured that if you reach out to anyone from our team, they’re going to get back to you. And oftentimes, I think there’s a lot of folks that are reaching out to procurement and supplier diversity, and I think just the fact that there’s not a lot of resources in those departments, it just takes a little bit longer maybe to get back to someone. We have a great team and we have a strong team, so that’s one thing that we really pride ourselves with is that we love to provide feedback just in the true essence of helping develop one another.

Lee Kantor: And it sounds like relationship part of this is very important. You don’t want this to be transactional. You don’t want it to be like, I sell widgets. I don’t need widgets. Buy. You want it to be more human to human.

Erika Castro: I mean, one of the things that I always talk about is, you know, the relationship part should always come first. And even when we talk about matchmaking, whenever a WBE and a corporate gets into a matchmaker, I really don’t like being in a space where it’s just like you get someone’s 30-second pitch, and then you don’t really learn anything about that person. I want to get to know you. And I know that for anyone that has gotten a contract, really, they say people do business with who they trust, and so, for me, I think definitely it’s developing those relationships.

Erika Castro: And I know that a lot of folks would agree with that. It’s developing the relationships, the work comes after. Because kind of what I mentioned, even if there’s not an opportunity immediately, if I’m in conversation with someone internally, or even externally because there’s a huge network of us folks that talk outside, so it’s other corporate representatives talking to other corporates, and even if we can’t use them, if we’ve developed this relationship with a certain individual, a WBE, we’re more likely to recommend them. “Oh, you know what? We haven’t been able to use this person but, man, they would be great.” And so, yeah, absolutely, relationship building I think is the number one that I would say coming in here and really trying to develop that and just being yourself.

Lee Kantor: Now, I’m glad you brought up this matchmaking event that’s going to happen there and sharing a little bit about how you prepare your team to kind of go into that event. Is there some kind of do’s and don’ts? You know, like these are red flags. These are green flags. Are there things that you can share with the WBE? Like you mentioned one, I want to know a little bit about you as a human, not just your elevator pitch. But can you share a little bit about things that you like and don’t like?

Erika Castro: Yeah. I mean, I really appreciate when we can come into a conversation and when a WBE will ask for feedback. There is one event in particular that I attended where I heard a pitch of a company, and this is a great example of kind of being open to feedback is that this company kind of talked about they were in the painting industry and they talked a lot about doing business with a certain segment and government work and a ton of government work. And it sounded like a lot of their work really was focusing on in this particular segment of homebuilders.

Erika Castro: And so, you know, one of the things that I proposed to her after that conversation is, “Well, have you thought about procurement with large corporations because the type of work that you do -” and it was a specialty type of painting “- if you’ve seen any of these large corporations, they have beautiful facilities, have you not thought about getting into procurement with large corporates?” And she hadn’t thought about that.

Erika Castro: So, going back to your question, I think one of the things that I really appreciate as always that I’d like to recommend in any sort of matchmaker, you’re always seeking out either advice or just open to any feedback. I think that’s always a great thing. And I guess things that you want to stay away from is, one, obviously, I think in any matchmaker setting, you have limited time. And so, the last thing that you want is to take up the entire conversation. If there’s five people in the table and you’re going on for now three minutes, it’s not being mindful, I guess, of the other folks at the table. So, I think just kind of having the awareness of how much time do you have, how many people do you have, and not kind of overtaking that conversation because I think that could be perceived negatively.

Erika Castro: So, that’s what I would recommend that we definitely be mindful of others, but, two, also be open to the feedback and suggestions of whoever’s there, not just from a corporate standpoint, but I think there’s a lot of great feedback and suggestions that can be made from other WBEs. Because you might have a WBE there that’s been in business for 20 plus years and someone that’s just starting out, and I think there’s a lot of great feedback and advice that can come from someone that has a seasoned business or an experienced business.

Lee Kantor: Right. And there’s a lot of synergies that might be just waiting there if you’re kind of open to that. Now, when it comes to working with your company, how important is kind of doing the homework and research and really understanding? Because if you’re a WBE and you can’t go to every single corporate matchmaking, you can’t go with everybody, so you’ve got to pick a handful, is it important for you to hear some of the kind of key words and some of the hints that maybe they have done some homework and that they have kind of at least understand some of our pain points and some of the opportunities within our organization?

Erika Castro: I mean, especially being in the utility space with a lot of our upcoming initiatives and our renewable initiatives, I think there’s a lot of value to be had and someone just making sure that they’re prepared. And I always think this way, if there’s a corporation and we know what we’re looking for going into it, I think the same concept could be made for a WBE that they come prepared to the conference knowing which corporations they would like to target, because, like you mentioned, you may not get face time with everyone that maybe you’d like.

Erika Castro: So, understanding, let’s say, that if a utility was in my area of focus, that if I haven’t talked to one of the utilities, that I will make it a point after the fact to connect with them or to reach out. And I always think that it’s also important to note that, one, yes, doing your homework, but, two, if you maybe haven’t done your homework because maybe you just haven’t looked at this company, maybe it’s someone that’s out of state, a company that’s out of state, I think it’s understanding, you know, come with some questions like what kind of questions can you ask the company that’s going to help them solve their needs, and what types of maybe new innovative things are happening where maybe you could help solve a problem for them.

Erika Castro: And so, absolutely doing your homework, but then also having a plan going into it because I think sometimes, especially with some of the conferences and the amount of people, it can be a little overwhelming for WBEs. And so, if they come prepared, they know that they kind of have a plan in place. And if they meet additional corporate’s along the way, well, that’s just a cherry on the top.

Lee Kantor: Right, that’s the bonus. Now, is there any advice you can share when it comes to maybe following up and networking with folks that, like you mentioned, you’re going to see some of them at this matchmaker event, but you’re going to just see some of them, maybe you’ll go and attend one of their speaking events or maybe you’ll run into them at lunch, how would you kind of navigate the networking part of this with the corporates because we respect your time and we don’t want to be so forward that we assume that you’re going to make time for me. How would you do that from a networking standpoint in order for me to maximize my best chances of interacting with you and, maybe at some future point, doing business?

Erika Castro: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s important to always lean in. I know this is kind of maybe a played out term, but I always say just lean in. And even if you can’t have a five minute conversation because, to your point, people are busy and they may be talking to others, just introduce yourself. Make it a point to introduce yourself and maybe provide a business card and ask them for theirs so that you can kindly follow up after.

Erika Castro: And the other thing, I think, is just making sure that you clearly articulate what it is that you do in any sort of follow up. Whether you do get a chance to talk to folks on site or whether you’re following up, it’s just being able to clearly articulate that, because I think many times you hear of companies that they kind of say, “Oh. Well, I do X services?” And you’re like, “Okay. Well, what about X services?” So, I always like to ask for examples, “Well, give me an example of something that you’ve done.” And if they have examples for me for the utility space, “Well, do you have examples specific to the utility space?” If they do, great. If they don’t, then I just ask for an example, period, because I think that can kind of help me figure out, “Okay. Yeah. Then, that would be a great person to introduce to X person internally.”

Erika Castro: Because our job really is to be the connector and the conduit between the WBEs and our internal businesses. And so, I think just making sure that you’re being seen, and if you know that there’s three corporate representatives there, make sure that at least touch base with one of them. And if there’s only one, then obviously you want to try to at least get them to give you their card or follow up. But definitely if there’s more than one, then make sure that you at least touch base and make a connection with at least one of the corporate reps.

Lee Kantor: Now, for you, this event in the past, has there been a story you can share, a memorable moment from a previous conference that you would like to share that maybe you made a connection or you helped somebody or something that you remember.

Erika Castro: Yeah. So, last year, we had a WBE that attended in the construction space, and they hadn’t been as connected with WBEC-West in a little while, and they were so thankful and appreciative that, one, we invited them to join us – and they’re an existing supplier – and two, that they were able to make all these additional connections, because one of the things that I know WBEC-West is big on and I always talk about is that this network is such a supportive network. Women help build each other. And although, you may not be able to do business with maybe a corporation, there’s probably another WBE that you can team up with or subcontract for.

Erika Castro: So, in this case, the company that I was mentioning, it’s ensuring that we were introducing them to a lot of other women, one, that they could mentor because this business has been in business for a while. And two, that they could have also kind of this network of people that they could then team up with or partner with on future projects. And so, coming out of there, this WBE was just super excited and very appreciative. And we have just seen their business flourish and grow not just with SRP but as a business. And I do think that a lot of that is a direct result of continuing to be engaged in events like this.

Erika Castro: You know, especially out here in Arizona, there’s a lot of growth, especially in the construction space. So, if there’s anything in that area, then it’s also kind of just knowing what area you live in and what are kind of the hot areas that are growing and developing, and how can I potentially work with the business like that to get future opportunities.

Lee Kantor: And this event is an opportunity for you to get in front of corporates that can really make a difference in your business. I mean, this to me is a must attend event. If you’re involved in the community and you’re a member, I think it’s super important to invest the time to attend here because meeting face-to-face with these people like yourself, it can be a game changing account if you can land a Salt River Project account for some of these WBEs. So, I wouldn’t sleep on this opportunity. I think this is a must attend event this September 17th through 19th. I mean, how often do people get a chance to meet with you and your team face-to-face like this? It’s probably not that frequently.

Erika Castro: I mean, there’s a few times a year, and then also the fact that I mentioned that we’re bringing folks in procurement. Oftentimes, myself and maybe someone else on the team gets to attend, but we’re not part of the procurement team that’s actually making the decisions with the internal client. That’s why I think this is just so important because, one, you have a team of folks that are going to be there. And then, two, I just think that just professional growth, who doesn’t want that? Who doesn’t want the professional and business growth?

Erika Castro: I think a lot of things that you may learn at an event like this could also help propel your business to the next level. And I think oftentimes we think, you know, I’m going to come out of here and I’m going to get a contract. And I think if you walk out of there and you made X amount of connections, you kind of have to make a goal for yourself and you come out with those connections. And you came out with all these additional learnings that can help you grow your business, I mean, that’s a win, because we all know that a contract won’t happen overnight.

Erika Castro: And so, I think, one, it’s just making that first introduction. And then, secondly, is that there’s just so many other opportunities for personal growth and development, both on a personal level and also at a professional level through your business.

Lee Kantor: And the dates again for this event is September 17th through 19th. It’s in Henderson, Nevada. You can go to wbec-west.com to learn more. This is the 21st Annual Procurement Conference. I think it’s a must attend event if you’re a WBE and you’re already investing in the community, take this next step and learn from your peers in person, meet them face-to-face, get in front of a bunch of corporates that can help your business get to a new level. I think that you should really attend this event. What do you think, Erika?

Erika Castro: I say it’s a great investment, like I said, in yourself and in your business, so I agree with you. As many people that can sign up and register, like you said, it’s just having access, and we all talk about having access to opportunities, this is it.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. This is where it happens. So, Erika, if somebody wants to connect with you and learn more about Salt River Project, what’s the website there.

Erika Castro: So, you can find us at srp.net/supplierdiversity. That will take you to our site, one, to where you can register to be a prospective supplier to SRP, and then two, it does have all of our forms of communication. It has our phone number, our email. And then, it also has just some other additional fun things that we’ve been doing, like tracking our economic impact in our community, so that’s on there as well. And I’ll say the website again, it’s srp.net/supplierdiversity.

Lee Kantor: Well, Erika, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Erika Castro: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Should You Hire a Business Podcast Coach?

by

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Should You Hire a Business Podcast Coach?
Loading
/

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Should You Hire a Business Podcast Coach?

Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, today’s question, should you hire a business podcast coach?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that’s a question that I get asked a lot because a lot of folks think they can do it alone. Having a business, especially a B2B podcast, doing it alone, is not a difficult thing when it comes to kind of the technology of doing the activity of podcasting.

Lee Kantor: So, you definitely can do it alone. Just watch some YouTube videos, subscribe to a couple of blogs, and you’ll see it’s pretty easy to produce and publish a podcast. That’s really not the hard part. And I think this is where a lot of folks kind of go off the rails because they think that that’s the hard part. But if you look at any of the stats, you quickly realize that 90% of B2B business podcasters and really podcasters of all kinds – all kinds of podcasters, they publish less than four episodes and then they quit. And if it was really easy, that wouldn’t be the case.

Lee Kantor: And so, it’s easy to start. It’s just difficult to maintain it over time and get the results that you were trying to get. So it’s one of those things that seem easy. But without really the right systems in place, it’s nearly impossible to sustain and even more difficult to get the results that you were hoping to get.

Lee Kantor: So, the people that work with Business RadioX are professional service providers who don’t have the time to go on this kind of learning curve. Most of them don’t cut their own hair, or they don’t change their own oil, or they don’t mow their own lawn. They’re the people who value their time and want to have and work with kind of a best-in-class system to get the job done and get the result that they desire, the result from doing the activity, which is the result of doing a B2B podcast. You don’t have to do everything unless you want to, and it’s just a really difficult thing to do right.

Lee Kantor: So when you’re ready to get help from experts who can deliver an easy-to-implement system to execute a business podcast that reliably delivers measurable results, then contact Business RadioX. We can help you do it yourself. We can do it with you, or we can do it for you.

Brian Shields with Handoff Partners

by

BABNM-Brian-Shields-Featurev2
Buy a Business Near Me
Brian Shields with Handoff Partners
Loading
/

Brian-ShieldsBrian L. Shields is a business development and acquisition expert with 15+ years of experience. Throughout his career he has owned, operated and invested in over 15 industries, and has worked on over $4 billion in various investments.

Brian has had a lot of experience acquiring businesses from retiring entrepreneurs. In the last 5 years, he’s led 16 transactions and put over $16m to work. His most recent business rollup sold for ~3x it’s original purchase price, after significant hands-on operational improvements were implemented.

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Buy a Business Near Me now. Here’s your host.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Buy a Business Near Me. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Guys, you are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Handoff Partners. Brian Shields. How are you, man?

Brian Shields: I’m doing great. Stone, thank you so much for having me on today.

Stone Payton: Well, I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. Brian, I got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but. But I think a great place to start would be if you could just share with with me in our listening audience mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man.

Brian Shields: Yeah. So with hand off partners, myself and my partner, we really endeavor to be the best stewards of businesses from retiring entrepreneurs. And we look to shepherd in the next generation of entrepreneurs to run those businesses. So we really think of ourselves as a part of an ecosystem that we’re building to ensure that people who have toiled and labored and built something that’s meaningful get rewards for their hard work and and also play a role in ensuring that their legacy continues on by supporting the folks who are going to take over and see it into the next generation.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds like a noble pursuit and good work if you can get it. But I gotta know, man, what is the backstory? How did you find yourself doing this kind of work for these kind of folks?

Brian Shields: Oh, man. Well, big picture. I went to Morehouse College, actually. So, you know, my cell phone is still a 404 number, and I got recruited into Wall Street from there, which is great. And I learned about this thing called private equity. And I was like, what is that? And I came to learn that it is, at its core, really about maximizing the value of an asset that you own, which was super cool. But then something about me for that felt like unfulfilled. And I realized what I really liked doing is actually having a hands on ownership and involvement in the day to day of the businesses that I work with, and so that sent me on a journey that ultimately put me in a position where, while I was at a venture backed company, I acquired 12 small businesses. They were property management businesses from people who wanted to retire, wanted to shift their lifestyle a bunch of different reasons. And I realized, hey, there are some great businesses out there, and B, we are, you know, in the early innings of a generation of people looking to retire, but not having people to hand off the business to. Whether that’s internally or their family. You know, a lot of people have built businesses to put their families through college or support them through the ups and downs. But, you know, now their kids are lawyers or doctors or software engineers and they don’t want to take over the, you know, accounting business or the, you know, like the stone cleaning business or whatever. And that’s where we come in.

Stone Payton: Well, if you’re up for it, I would love for you to walk us through kind of a use case. Of course, you know, you don’t. You may not want to share any names, but everything from identifying a good. I don’t even know what you call it. Target a good business to to acquire to to valuating that business to, you know, just the the whole process of making sure that you are buying what you think you’re buying because this is a whole new world for for me.

Brian Shields: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I’m happy to jump into it. Well, so. So I spent like, almost two decades now, like, looking at businesses and stuff like this. So I’ll break it down for you. So there’s an here’s an example. There’s a business that was a software enabled business we were looking at recently. Um, the owner, super great guy, um, experienced some family tragedy a few years ago and from that suffered a lot of burnout and has started to step more and more away from the business. Uh, that tragedy unfortunately, put him in a position where he did not have a family succession plan anymore, but had a great business, um, a team that wasn’t really ready to sit in the ownership seat, but were great at their jobs and with the right guidance, could potentially grow into leadership. But they were looking for someone who understood how to modernize businesses, how to tweak them so that they could grow a little bit faster, and who could shepherd that talent to reach a little bit higher than where they were today. So we got connected and we started doing diligence. And so I would say first, like in just finding a business, a lot of it’s just talking, man. Like doing, having conversations like this, being in the market, I suggest to people all the time, if you are currently a CPA or you work in procurement at a large company you likely already have relationships with, like the vendors of those companies or in your industry to just start having conversations about what people’s succession plan is.

Brian Shields: And that’s the framing I like to use for myself. And I also suggest other people use, because it opens the conversation in a way that that feels approachable to the potential seller. Um, and then, you know, you got to do a whole bunch of things like look at is the industry the kind of industry you want to be in? Is this business type the kind that you want to own? So in that diligence packet, we usually look at the unit economics of the business or service. Right. Does this thing, once we sell the thing, do we make 50% margin? Do we make 20% margin? When I say margin, I mean profit. Do we make barely any profit, etc.. And like that’s one benchmark. We also look at the financials for the last few years just to understand the trends. And is this on the upswing. Is it on the downswing. Is it struggling. Is it stable. So we can pay the right price for the risk that we’re taking. And there’s a bunch of other like odds and ends that go into that. But ultimately we want to be able to look ourselves and our investors in the eye and say, we looked at this business.

Brian Shields: We think that it’s stable and we can keep it stable. We think that it’s needs a little bit of TLC, but we know how to get it there. We have the team in place and we’ve structured a deal that protects everybody involved, and we think the industry is one that’s going to be here for the next 20 years. So once we have all of those pieces in place, then you get down to having a conversation with the seller and say, hey, look like this is what we think that it’s worth, and we’d be willing to pay. What do you need? What’s important to you? How can we get creative, etc. and start really starting to find middle ground, right? That reach across the aisle kind of energy that helps you get to agreements and compromises that everybody’s happy with. And so, you know, we not every deal goes through. I would tell people that I think the statistic for most people who are like searching for a business to buy is they they acquire something like less than 5% of the businesses that they look at. So you have to have some comfort with with rejection and with failure because it’s all a process, right? But you only need one, you know, instead of it being YOLO. I tell people, yo know, you only need one.

Stone Payton: So I got to believe that given your experience, you’ve probably seen some patterns and, you know, have your your key list of I’ll call them red flags. Like, you know, if we see this, this and this, you know, we’re out. We’re not taking it any further. Is that accurate?

Brian Shields: Oh, yeah, man. I’ll tell you. So one big red flag is usually when people position their business as tech enabled. And, you know, we’ve talked to a couple of businesses that have tried to sell us on the fact that they are technology enabled when in reality. And as a derivative of that, that means that they want a valuation based on their revenue, not on their profits, which is a Silicon Valley metric. There’s a bunch of reasons why that exists. Um, but not every bit. Most businesses don’t qualify for that. But people try to get that right and listen like, if you can get it, fine. You’re not going to get it from me, stone, because I get it. I understand what creates a business that should be valued on RR. Most of them aren’t. So that’s one red flag. I would say. The other red flag, honestly, is we spend a lot of time talking to the sellers about why they built the business, the values that they run the business from. You know, I described our mission to you in, in a, in the context of values, right.

Brian Shields: Like not necessarily in the context of investment returns and stuff like that, because truly we’re motivated by our values. And when we talk to the seller, a lot of times we can suss out, you know. Excuse me. Excuse the abbreviated French, but like, if they’re an a hole or not. Um, and and like that that has downstream impacts on the team on how they feel, on how they deliver the service or the product to the customer, what they think is acceptable in terms of excellence and performance. And like you start to see all these little things that come out of how the founder and the owner operator holds certain values in their lives and how that imputes down to the company. So that’s like a big red flag. Like, we like to work with people that hold high standards for themselves and maybe don’t take themselves super seriously, but take the work and their obligations seriously. And you can tell in a conversation and like, you know, spending some time across the table from someone where they land on that side of the fence.

Stone Payton: So what are you finding at this point in your career? What are you finding the most rewarding. What’s the most fun about it for you these days?

Brian Shields: You know, I love the creativity of sitting across from somebody and hearing what’s important to them in their life, whether it’s they’re ready to retire and they want to have ongoing income, or they want a big cash payout now so they can make investments that set them up for success because they need to take care of elderly parents or, you know, some people are just ready to move on to the next thing because they’re burned out. And I have experience with burnout myself. So I respect that. And and being able to come up with creative solutions for that. Right. It’s just a ton of fun to get creative and just like, take out a blank sheet of paper and start sketching out stuff and be like, oh, I think this might work. And this will address what they want. But this also saves me from what I’m worried about and just kind of connecting dots. That’s a ton of fun. And outside of that, honestly, I just love the discussions, right? You get to learn about new industries, about new ways that people have built things and solved problems for people in those spaces. And there’s always something new to learn. And I think you said this to me on our pre-call. But, you know, it’s just nice to be a lifelong learner. There’s a lot of things that you don’t know and I don’t know. And I’m like, I just love learning more stuff. So it’s it’s a fun day to day.

Stone Payton: Say more, if you would, about your experience with burnout, because this really has shaped your character. It shaped your approach to to serving. Yeah. Say say more about that.

Brian Shields: Absolutely. So so I had acquired a business in 2019 and then sold it in 22. Um, had a really successful exit. Um, you know, sold ahead of schedule. Like, wasn’t intending to sell it. So I remember when we had when we closed. My daughter came up the stairs with this banner that she had made and little crayon, and it said congratulations. And I was like, cool, thanks. Just like that. Very flat. Like I didn’t have emotion. And she walked back downstairs, kind of disappointed. And I was like, what was that? What’s wrong with me? And so I started to recognize that I was so emotionally drained, having turned around the business. Uh, navigated it through Covid, ensured that we integrated with the acquirer. Well, that I was really, really, really, really exhausted to the point where not only were my decisions not as sharp, my attentiveness not as consistent, but also I didn’t have enough energetic and emotional capacity to deal with what was coming, which I didn’t, you know, obviously know this was happening. But we got pregnant with our second kid and my wife had a really hard pregnancy. So, you know, I’m holding down the house, the daughter making sure my wife is okay and she’s not sick. And then we moved into a new house and like, you know how that is when you move in, new stuff’s happening around where you live. And then the cherry on top was my father passed away that year. And so and I and I had this realization stone that I was the same age that he was when he had me. And I was about to have a son that year. And so I was like, man, if this is halfway like, I’m a terrible dad right now, I’m a terrible husband.

Brian Shields: I’m a terrible leader. And it’s all due to this stress. And so I had to take time off. And I took a year off. Didn’t intend for it to be a full year, but it ended up being that. And through that really kind of found my connection to the value of rest and recovery and recharge and have started to look at it differently because the first part of my career was all just like full speed ahead, power through the work, keep grinding, and at some point, mostly in line with the change in responsibility, being in charge, being an owner, I had to come to appreciate, and it took me a while to appreciate this, that you really do have to approach things differently. It’s not all about the grind. It’s about like the mental capacity and the quality of decision making and the energetic reserve that you have to recognize trends and issues ahead of time without having to grind at it. And so I’ve taken a different approach to how I work now, which has been really, really fabulous. It’s unlocked a huge amount of productivity for me. And yeah, I’m sensitive to all those business owners out there who have, you know, buried themselves to make sure that the business is working, to make sure that their employees are taken care of and their livelihoods are protected, and that their customers and clients are getting the promise of what they asked for. But you know that that crown weighs really heavy on you. And so I’m just here to say, I see you and I hear you and I feel you.

Stone Payton: I know in our business, but my business partner, Lee Kantor and I, we own the Business RadioX network and we’ve had some success. But in our business, there are at least a handful. I’ll just call them myths, but preconceived notions, just fundamental assumptions that are really largely off the mark, at least in our experience, in terms of the best ways to truly leverage this platform to help people and make money. I got to believe there’s probably at least a handful of myths or misconceptions or just some misinformation out there about buying and selling businesses. Is that accurate?

Brian Shields: Oh man, there’s so many. The first one I would say that’s probably like well-trafficked in the interwebs is you can buy a business for no money down and listen. I mean, that is technically possible, but it is factually inaccurate as an example. Typically, how that works is you have some other assets to leverage to get you cash to use as a down payment and then get more debt on the business asset you’re buying. So then in total you’re effectively buying with all debt. So one of my buddies bought a business recently. He refinanced his house, took the equity that he’d built up, used that as a down payment, then got an SBA loan for the remaining 90%. So his business was 100% financed by debt. And, you know, you have to personally guarantee the SBA, SBA loan. And obviously your mortgage is backed by your house, so he’s in effect bet the house on this business. So I would say like, don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s just like a risk free, no money down, like free and clear opportunity like there is a lot of risk tied into that. And that is a very difficult thing to pull off. So I’d say that’s number one. And number two. Listen, man, the grass isn’t always greener. Uh, a lot of people who come to me are employed at a corporation and have a nice, steady paycheck and benefits and an assistant who will, you know, call to schedule doctor’s appointments for them, and then they’ll say, oh, man, you know, I’m just tired of this bureaucracy.

Brian Shields: And I want to I think I want to go do my own thing. I want to go run my own business. And I’ll say to them, hey, if you water your own grass, that grass will be just as green as the grass on this side of the fence, because it’s hard being an owner man, I know you can speak to this like you are responsible for everything, whether it’s the, uh, the the Comcast account that sets up your internet and making sure that that’s good to go to the contracts that go out to your clients to protect you and them from each other. It’s all on you, man. And so understanding that it’s like being a parent, like you don’t really understand it until you’re in the seat and then you’re like, oh, this is this is different. Like every all the books I’ve read, all the stories I heard, that was just tip of the iceberg stuff. But, you know, for those of you who it does fit for, I welcome you with open arms because it is a it is a unique fraternity to enter into. And, you know, really only other entrepreneurs understand what entrepreneurs go through.

Stone Payton: Okay, let’s talk about me for a minute. It’s my show. Oh, so no, I mentioned Lee Kantor. He’s my business partner. We’ve been at this a while. You know, we’ve been in this business for a little over 20 years. We’re not there yet, but we want to carefully plan our exit. And there I’m operating under the impression that there are some things we should be doing now, even if we’re five, ten years out to get ready. And I suspect that there are things that someone that wants to acquire the kind of business that we have, they need to think through. Okay, what’s the best way to work with, you know, a couple of guys like that that spent their, you know, much of their career building this baby. So yeah, any counsel you have on either side of that equation would be great, man.

Brian Shields: Oh, yeah. So I’ve looked at enough media businesses to have a perspective. So don’t hold this as gospel, but just hold it as like, you know, like a parable. Yeah. So I think the number one thing for businesses in your space is to just demonstrate a real strength of consistency of audience, right. And that might mean having a few shows that monetize like a certain demographic consistently. So we always get, you know, X amount of people from this demographic across these shows. Right. Um, and or your ability to have a like, own a topic That is presented to different audiences in ways that capture the diversity of those audiences. So I think an example would be, um, uh, The Ringer Network, right? Like, I’m a huge basketball fan. Mhm. Uh, and so Bill Simmons approach was kind of like, hey, number one, traditional media is dying. People are moving into their cars and want something to ride along with them. That’s like sports radio, but more customizable, more intimate. So he got off ESPN, built, uh, a podcast network, right. And was able to consistently capture the attention of, you know, male adults between the age of, let’s call it like 25 to 50 and get a demonstrably, demonstrably, demonstrably consistent, uh, amount of time from them. Right. Like they, on average listened to 60 minutes of our podcast a week, a day, whatever, because that then communicates to a buyer that there is consistency in an asset and you have a market that you own.

Brian Shields: Right. And so that that makes it acquirable. Right. I can step into your shoes. And I know that if I believe in this market and its growth or its, you know, value because these people love to spend money on, uh, you know, buck knives and coffee and basketball shorts and whatever, then I can take that audience and market it to all the different advertisers that, you know, we can we can generate revenue from. And I can add in additional shows, additional experiences. So capturing that audience and then having consistent metrics that are clear, number one thing for you. Number two thing is just consistent financials man. Like like just demonstrate that this is a financially viable business. Right. Uh, and like you’re off to the races. So I think I would look at those two things as like steps for you first, which I suspect you’re already doing. And then the last thing, honestly, Stone, would be to start networking. Like, I can’t tell you how useful visibility is to the people who could potentially acquire your business, right? Like if you were to just have friends at Sirius, at Spotify, at Yahoo, at other places that I probably can’t think of off the top of my head and just like, be in relationship with them, play golf, ride bikes, you know, whatever.

Brian Shields: Have a poker game. But just keep that, keep top of mind. I will tell you as they will watch your ascent. Right? And I think the best deals are built out of watching a trend line. Right. Like not making a bet at a point in time, but saying, hey, I’ve seen you over time and a stone and Lee and Lee are good people. Um, so they they like to my values point. They’re not going to they didn’t build, like, a house of cards. So cool. Then second, I’ve seen them grow and I’ve seen them consistently own and capture this audience. So there’s something there and oh, they’re ready to retire. Mm. Well, you know, we could be interested in that or. Hey, we’re Spotify. We’re looking to get into that market specifically. We’d love to own some content and some audience there. Bring them in. And I thought of you first, Stone, because, you know, you know, we’ve been playing golf for the last three years. So so I think those three things combined will help position you to be in a good spot when.

Stone Payton: You’re on the acquiring side of things, how important is it or is it important at all really to try to keep, um, I guess some anchors in place, like keep some of the, the key cultural dynamics the same, and surely you’re going to come in and make changes and improve the business if you can. I mean, is that an important factor or just that’s just a case by case thing?

Brian Shields: Hugely. So one of the number one questions I get and things that I hear sellers care about is I want to take care of my team. Right. And it’s tough, man. It is so hard because I am not you. Right. So there’s just going to be a basic difference between you and me being in charge, just from a vibes perspective. Um, and then if I am, say, a private equity firm with institutional investors and a ten year fund life, or a search funder who has a ten year fund life, I’m going to manage the business and create a culture of accountability that is different than someone who has a little bit of patience, a little bit of flexibility, who understands some of the cultural dynamics that are going on in the business. Right. And so that just creates discomfort in different ways for the team. And so yeah, man, like it is as an acquirer, it’s important to preserve that insomuch as it allows me to accomplish the financial goals that I’m setting out with this investment. And so yeah, things can change. Right. Like if you I don’t know, like let’s say you gave everybody free coffee and lunch every day. And if we get into a position where, hey man, that’s cool. But that is a not the same as what other radio networks do and be costing us a ton of money. And we need that for debt service, because I bought this business with a lot of debt, then that’s going to change. And then you can imagine what that does to the morale, right? That shifts things. Or on the other side. I’ll give you an example from my last business. I brought in a project management system so that I could understand what people were working on.

Brian Shields: And when I got a call from a client, I wouldn’t be like, oh, I don’t know. I got to get back to you in like two hours. I could answer their questions right then. And people struggled with that because it was very quickly evident that there were some people who were knocking their work out of the park. Right. Like if you ask them to do ten things, they got 7 to 9 things done by the end of the week. But then there were some people who came in and were like, you asked me to do ten things, and I got to two of them and then the rest I forgot about. But now you can see that I was BSing, and you’re holding me accountable to that. And that then creates like this environment where people were feeling like, oh, I could kind of get away with stuff. And then they start freaking out about that. And like, it can create some temporary discomfort. But it’s kind of like the positive discomfort that you want. So so it can go a lot of different ways, man. And I will tell you personally, the reason we ask about values up front is because we want to ensure that there is as much alignment as possible, like, I’m going to hold all of my teams to a high standard of excellence, but I’m also like a super cool dude. Like I’m just chill, man. Like, I would love to just hang out, like, do stuff that’s fun, like create culture so that people want to work there. Because I do fundamentally believe that happy teams produce better than teams that feel on edge.

Stone Payton: So what’s next for you, man? Anything in particular on the horizon over the next? I don’t know, 6 to 18 months?

Brian Shields: Well, we expect to have a first close for this fund. So, you know, happy to have conversations about that. Um, and we expect to close on a business acquisition in the next six months for sure. We have an offer out on one right now and you know, fingers crossed everybody send up some prayers for us. We’ll hopefully get that done. Um, outside of that, man, you know, we’re just trying to enjoy life with two kids and a wife and, you know, all the crazy stuff that that God puts in my path.

Stone Payton: Okay. What’s the best way for our listeners to tap into your work, connect with you, maybe, uh, have a conversation with you or someone on your team, learn more about this arena, whatever you feel like is appropriate. But let’s let’s make it easy to for for them to come into your circle, if it makes sense.

Brian Shields: Absolutely. Um, you can find all of my stuff and bio on my website. It’s Brian Lee shields l e e e um. Com Brian Lee shields. Com. And then, um, you know, there will be a bunch of podcasts and stuff there. I’ll put this, uh, this, this conversation on there as well, so you can kind of get to know me that way. And then if you want to chat, man, just find me on LinkedIn. I’m super active on LinkedIn. Brian Lee shields on there. Just DM me. Happy to chat if it makes sense. We’ll get on the phone. Like I try to be as available as possible. You know, I don’t have infinite time, but I make time for conversations.

Stone Payton: Well, Brian, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast this afternoon. Thank you for the insight, the perspective, the enthusiasm. You’ve got my wheels turning. I can’t wait to tell Lee that that we had this conversation on air. Man, you are doing really important work, meaningful work. And we we sure appreciate you.

Brian Shields: The pleasure’s been mine, stone. Keep up the good work. And I and I look forward to chatting again soon.

Stone Payton: Oh my pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Brian Shields with Handoff Partners and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you again on Buy a Business Near Me.

 

Unlocking Local Success: Community-Centered Marketing and Growth with Globafly

by

WIM-Globafly-Feature
Women in Motion
Unlocking Local Success: Community-Centered Marketing and Growth with Globafly
Loading
/

On today’s Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Mariya Palanjian, CEO of Globafly, a marketing and advertising agency. Mariya shares her journey as a serial entrepreneur and discusses her innovative “city takeovers” strategy, which focuses on targeted, city-level marketing campaigns. She emphasizes the importance of understanding local markets and leveraging technology to make advertising accessible for businesses of all sizes. The conversation also covers the significance of government contracts, the impact of the pandemic on industries, and Mariya’s commitment to helping smaller businesses grow through training and education in marketing.

Mariya-PalanjianMariya Palanjian is a serial entrepreneur with extensive expertise in city-takeover marketing and tech startups, bringing together a proprietary process that harnesses community-centered + 360° Tech marketing campaigns.

She owns two companies: Globafly, a city-takeover marketing agency that serves a diverse clientele including Fortune 500 companies such as The New York Times, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, and Next (recognized by Forbes as a Billion-dollar company), and works with tech startups like LegalZoom, ZipRecruiter, and Boll and Branch, as well as government entities and socially impactful programs including the National Job Corps Association and the Department of Labor.

Her second company, Romaleaf, is a health and wellness brand with a flagship store in Studio City, dedicated to adding relief to millions of people’s routines. Roma Leaf has been featured in national outlets including GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Spectrum1, Good Day LA/Fox11, and others.

Mariya also hosts “Startup to Success,” a radio/podcast show based in Los Angeles, where she dives into her entrepreneurial journey and gathers insights from some of today’s most influential figures.

An MBA graduate from Woodbury University, Mariya is a fervent advocate for women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship. She serves on the Board of Directors for The Origin Fund and Woodbury’s Alumni Advisory Council. Her dedication has been recognized with the Devoted Alumna Award from Woodbury and the Impact Award from the SBA. Mariya was also nominated for the LA Times Inspiration Women Award.

When she’s not taking over cities for her clients, you can find Mariya at the beach with her husband and three children, or inspiring women to become entrepreneurs.

Connect with Maria on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Mariya, with a Y, and she is the CEO of Globafly. Welcome.

Mariya Palanjian: Hello. Hello. Thank you so much for the warm welcome.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to get to know you and your business. Tell us a little bit about Globafly. How are you serving folks?

Mariya Palanjian: Oh, God. Well, I want to give you a little bit of a backstory on Globafly, because every time people ask me about how I got into advertising, it’s I love sharing the why behind things. And it kind of goes with Mariya with a Y, because everything I do has to have a why.

Mariya Palanjian: And so, I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for many years, since grad school actually. And when I started my startups, a lot of them were online back from 2002, I realized that I was really good at marketing and sales. And one of my companies, that was a shoe company, I ended up getting VCs invested in it. And the VCs pulled me aside and said, “How do you sell $3,000 shoes online?” And I basically, I gave them a few pointers, but then as a joke, I said, “You have to pay me to get the rest of the secrets.” And that’s how I got into advertising.

Mariya Palanjian: And so, to sum it up, what we do is we do city takeovers and we utilize multi-channel approach and community, very community-centered. But it’s a combination of traditional channels as well as emerging channels, like podcast, audio streaming, programmatic ads. And as an entrepreneur, as a serial entrepreneur, it’s very important for me to really help shine a light on some of these amazing brands that are out there providing great products and services.

Mariya Palanjian: So, in a sense, I feel like I’m continuing to be a serial entrepreneur through the journey of helping our clients grow continuously because they are all in different sectors. We’ve got the government sector, we’ve got smaller startups that are in the beauty industry and much, much more.

Lee Kantor: Now, you used the term city takeover, can you talk about what that means and what it’s like when you do a city takeover?

Mariya Palanjian: Yeah. And actually the idea came to me when I was working at New York Times, spearheading the Influencer Marketing Department. I was a director of an execution team. And a lot of the brands back then were coming in, and I’m talking about Louis Vuitton and Cartier and Royal Caribbean, huge brands that would just spend so much money on influencers. And a lot of the times, the complaints were we don’t know what’s happening with our ad dollars, you know, we’re spending all this money on influencers.

Mariya Palanjian: And so, the idea came to me because I was trying to solve that problem of trying to understand what is happening to our clients’ money. Are they seeing results? And I suggested to run the campaign at a city level rather than a national campaign. And what we did is we ran a campaign that was targeting four or five cities, approximately. And we ended up looking at the data analytics, trying to see how the campaign impacted sales.

Mariya Palanjian: And when you’re talking about a big brand like Cartier, it’s extremely hard to tell how the campaign impacted. But when you’re looking at the city level, you’re able to see it. And so, really, the concept came from working with larger brands and trying to help them understand what’s happening. And I sort of took that approach, and I fell in love with the idea of really understanding each city that we’re going in.

Mariya Palanjian: And it’s not just about, you know, understanding the data and looking at analytics and saying, “Oh. We tested in Los Angeles, did a campaign in LA, and now our sales grew 10 percent. That means our ads are working.” It’s not just that. It’s really connecting with the community, making sure that the ads are relevant to the people that we are talking to in that specific community.

Mariya Palanjian: And sometimes, like, for example, Los Angeles, where I’m from, LA has subcommunities. So, when a client comes and tells me, “Oh. I want to market to everyone in Los Angeles.” I’m like, “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. There are so many subcommunities in Los Angeles and you can’t take that same creative approach and try to go after all of them.” And so, that’s where we come in, where we’re very sensitive to different, diverse communities, and we make sure that the creative content resonates with the audience that we’re trying to reach.

Mariya Palanjian: And a good example of that would be, you know, if we’re trying to, let’s say, reach the Middle Eastern community in Los Angeles, well, we first partner with Middle Eastern influencers. And the influencers aren’t necessarily only influencers on social media. They could be radio hosts. They could be T.V. personalities. They could be moms and pops. It all depends on who we’re trying to reach. And then, we have these people act like the ambassadors of the brand. They create the content. And then, that’s where we come in, helping the brands connect with these influential people in these diverse communities.

Mariya Palanjian: And then, once the content is created by these individuals, then we amplify the content through traditional media, like billboards as well as digital billboards, and then streaming and audio, and so on. So, it’s a very community-centered but also 360 tech-driven approach.

Lee Kantor: And then, how long does the takeover last? Is it something that once you go to a market, then you’re there permanently? Or is it like a —

Mariya Palanjian: It all depends. It all depends on our clients’ budgets. We have clients that are doing it ongoing and they’re literally running national campaigns in different cities. We started with a few cities, tested the model, and then realized what works, which channels work for them, and then just duplicated that model across many different cities.

Mariya Palanjian: But, generally, when the client comes to us with, let’s say, $100,000, we won’t take that money and spread it all over the nation. You know, we’ll just focus on the top few cities that they are interested in growing and then come up with a strategy, partner them with the right influential people, and then start the campaign. And, again, it all depends on what the goal of the campaign is, and are we trying to get customers for them, or is it just brand awareness. And then, depending on that, the money can go as far as it can based on the goal, the KPI of the campaign.

Lee Kantor: And do you work primarily with B2C brands or B2B or government or non-profits? Is there a niche that you’re in?

Mariya Palanjian: Great question. So, I started in the tech space initially, LegalZoom ZipRecruiter, MeUndies, Blue Apron, Boll & Branch. Those were really the tech companies that we became really, really good at helping them scale and grow really rapidly using a lot of the traditional as well as emerging channels, like the podcast, and radio, and audio space. But then after that, we started – not after. While we were growing in the tech space, we started taking on more auto brands.

Mariya Palanjian: And then, when the pandemic happened, I decided to utilize our buying power and help some of the amazing government programs that are out there. And that’s when I became actually WBEC certified to be able to take on federal contracts and be able to assist government entities, like Department of Labor to promote their amazing programs that they have out there, whether it’s for youth or underserved communities, and so on.

Mariya Palanjian: So, I would say we have a really good diverse client base. It kind of goes across the tech space, all the way from tech to the government sector, corporations, as well as Fortune 500 and 100 hundred companies. But in terms of specific industries, we’re really good at pretty much anybody who’s trying to reach direct to consumer, is trying to promote a product or a service direct to consumer.

Mariya Palanjian: B2B, we’ve obviously helped B2B as well. I would say LegalZoom and ZipRecruiter are the best two examples that, you know, we’ve seen a lot of success. And it’s utilizing radio shows, for example, that we know small businesses are listening to and promoting business related products and services to them. So, I would say probably both leaning more towards B2C, but we are pretty good at helping B2B companies as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, a lot of the listeners of this show are business owners, and you are an expert in marketing and advertising, any advice for them when it comes to marketing and advertising in order to get the most bang for their buck? Like, what advice would you give an entrepreneur listening on how to leverage marketing and advertising in their business?

Mariya Palanjian: That’s a great question. So, recently I was part of a webinar where, actually, a woman-owned business owner asked if she could do a billboard advertising. And the host who was promoting or teaching them about marketing said, no, billboards are so expensive. And here I am listening to the webinar and I’m just like, no, they’re not. Please don’t give up on the idea.

Mariya Palanjian: And so, the reason why I’m bringing this example is I want the listeners to know that technology has given us the ability to be able to buy anything and everything that we want that 10, 20 years ago wasn’t possible for small businesses to touch. You know, like, for example, if you want to have T.V. ads, T.V. ads ten years ago were so expensive only the large corporations could do. But nowadays, a small brand that has $2,000 can have a T.V. ad because of the way things are available now, there’s programmatic buys, there’s programmatic audio buys, where, you know, if you want to partner with a radio station, there are ways to buy it inexpensively and test out that channel.

Mariya Palanjian: So, the advice I have is don’t just assume and say, “Oh. This channel could be too expensive for me to try” or “I’m not there yet. I can’t afford this.” Technology has changed so much to the point where you can be on a billboard for $500 a month. And, yes, I’m going to repeat that, you can be on a big digital billboard for $500 a month, and these are $18,000, $20,000 billboards, but you can get in for $500 a month. What you do is you buy a few hour time slots per day versus paying for 24 hours. So, that’s one example of how everything that is out there can be so possible and attainable for any business at any size.

Mariya Palanjian: So, I would encourage them to maybe just simply reach out to me and I can give them the advice and tell them where they could go to purchase some of these channels and be able to test, because there are a lot of technical technologies out there that are making it available for anybody to do it themselves too. You don’t need an ad agency necessarily to buy these media channels for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, who is your ideal client? Do you work with the cities to attract more brands to the city? Or do you get the brand first and say what city do you want to go to?

Mariya Palanjian: Another great question. So, ideally, it’s the brands that are trying to grow in a particular city will come to us and say here’s what we need. And a lot of times, you know, being a serial entrepreneur and having so many startups of my own, I’ll look at their budget. And a lot of times, I might say, “Listen, this is something you can do in-house. Let us train you and teach you how to do it in-house. This will be more cost effective.” A lot of times, you know, if they don’t have the bandwidth or they do want us to provide that service for them, we’ll go ahead and execute it for them.

Mariya Palanjian: But, generally, brands will come to us and say, “These are the top cities we want to be in. Help us get in and acquire new customers.” Like I said, you know, we provide two different services. It’s either training your in-house team on how to do this yourself, which can be very affordable, because there is no minimum budgets that you have to abide by. And you could just simply start and add campaigns as you go or you could just hire us to help you with strategy as well as the execution piece, the advertising campaign.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community? You mentioned you were kind of hoping, I would imagine, to leverage to get access to government contracts, but was that kind of the reason at first and maybe it’s expanded since then?

Mariya Palanjian: Yes. Yes. That has been the reason from the beginning, to be honest with you. I love helping the tech industry. I really do. But obviously the pandemic impacted a lot of industries, not just the tech, but the auto industry as well. And I just felt like I wanted to do something that was a little bit more impactful and really helping my community.

Mariya Palanjian: And when I started researching all these different government programs, I realized that they’re still so old fashioned in the way that they communicate to the public and share the programs that are out there, especially specifically the ones that are targeted towards youth. And I decided that I want to use my buying powers and help some of these programs. And as I was researching, I realized that, you know, I need certain certifications to qualify for the federal contracts.

Mariya Palanjian: And, honestly, I’m so thankful for WBEC-West specifically because, I want to say, two months after I got my certification, I ended up getting my first contract with the Department of Labor. And then, in the last three-and-a-half years from that one contract, I went on to 23 different contracts now. And so, I’m very thankful for the certification.

Mariya Palanjian: And now I’m going above and beyond where now I’m looking into more corporate accounts or clients that I can potentially go in and help the team get trained, if needed, or just sort of expand a little bit more. But mainly I would say, my WBEC certification was and has been helpful for the government sector for me specifically.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of right now for Globafly and your growth kind of trajectory, and how can we help you?

Mariya Palanjian: Oh, thank you. No one ever asks me that question, I love it. I would love to be able to help and train a lot of the smaller businesses and show them the way that they can really grow their brands effectively and use a lot of these emerging channels that are out there.

Mariya Palanjian: I love teaching and training. I’m one of those people where instead of upselling, I tend to down sell. You know, if a client comes and they’re like I want to do this. I’m like, “Wait, wait, wait. Don’t waste all your money on this. Let’s do this first and make sure that it’s generating ROI before we jump onto the next one.” And I think it’s probably because I’ve had my own startups where I had to be bootstrapped and just my heart gets so soft towards women, especially women entrepreneurs.

Mariya Palanjian: And so, I would say, I just would love the opportunity to train and teach others on how to develop a really solid marketing team internally, because with AI and everything else that’s available to us, there’s no reason why every company should not have a really solid marketing team or department in-house. So, my hope is to do that, to teach and train for everybody out there to be able to have advanced marketing strategies and campaigns and grow, be able to promote and grow. Because without marketing you cannot grow. You have to create awareness about your product or service in order to grow. And sales is the key for any business to succeed.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more about Globafly or connect with you, what is the website? What is the best way to connect with you?

Mariya Palanjian: Just reach out to me through Globafly, globafly.com or mariya@globafly.com, or they can just follow me on Instagram and connect me through Instagram, @mariya.with.a.y.

Lee Kantor: And the website is G-L-O-B-A-F-LY.com.

Mariya Palanjian: Correct.

Lee Kantor: Well, Mariya with a Y, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Mariya Palanjian: Thank you so much. I appreciate the work that you do, too, shining a light on all these amazing women out there. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Take the High Road

by

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Take the High Road
Loading
/

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Take the High Road

Stone Payton : And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, at this point in my career I have quite a few, I’ll call them, operating disciplines, working disciplines, many of them born from your vision and strategic direction. But they’re important all the time. But they’re particularly important when things get a little sticky or hairy or tough. Speak to that a little bit.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I don’t remember who said it, but it happened on one of the shows that we were doing many years ago, and I don’t know if they invented it, but it always stuck with me. They said, “Take the high road; there’s less traffic.” And that really resonated with me.

Lee Kantor: And two reasons I think why it’s better to take the high road. Number one is this enhances your reputation. When you’re consistently taking the high road, you will positively impact how others perceive you. You’re demonstrating reliability, integrity, and professionalism. So that’s number one reason to take the high road.

Lee Kantor: Number two is it’s going to build positive relationships over time. When you respond to conflict and challenges with grace, you’re showing and demonstrating maturity and empathy, which is going to strengthen the relationships with the people who matter most to you.

Lee Kantor: So those are two examples of why I believe taking the high road is the only road to drive on.

Sal Rehmetullah with Worth AI

by

HVR-Worth-AI-Feature
High Velocity Radio
Sal Rehmetullah with Worth AI
Loading
/

Worth-AI-logo

Sal-RehmetullahSal Rehmetullah, Founder and CEO of Worth AI, is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and business leader, known for his innovative contributions to the payments technology industry.

As the co-founder and president of Stax Payments, Sal has led the company to over a 140+ Million in ARR and to becoming a leading provider of cloud-based payments technology solutions, serving clients across a wide range of industries.

Sal has been recognized for his leadership by Inc’s 40 Under 40 and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

Connect with Sal on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Advice for new entrepreneurs with a big idea of vision
  • Mentors and the impact of mentorship
  • About Worth AI
  • How Worth empowers enterprises to make more informed/effective decisions and instill confidence in approving more customer
  • Finding product market fit (PMF)

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Worth AI, Mr. Sal Rehmetullah. How are you, man?

Sal Rehmetullah: Oh, I’m living the dream. So happy to be here.

Stone Payton: Well, we’re delighted to have you on the show. I got a ton of questions, Sal, I, I know we’re not going to get to them all, but this whole idea of AI and its application for a variety of businesses, and candidly, our business at the Business RadioX network just fascinates me. Uh, but I think a good place to start would be if you could share with me in our listeners mission. Purpose. What are you and your team over at worth? I really out there trying to do for folks, man.

Sal Rehmetullah: Yeah. I mean, at the end of it, um, you know, I’m sure we’ll get into my background here shortly, but, uh, we really want to just level the playing field for small and medium sized businesses to have access to capital, access to loans. Um, it’s easy for a lot of consumers out there to really think about their personal credit score and know how to leverage that when they need their own credit card or they’re buying a car. But when you think about that same concept, when it goes to growing your business, there’s nothing out there that exists. There’s no business credit score that exists. There’s no standard way to be able to underwrite loans or get business credit cards or get an SBA loan approved. And so our goal is to standardize that, create equality for all, and, um, you know, bring way more data into the ecosystem so people can get a loan or a credit card in their businesses and minutes. Not in months.

Stone Payton: Well, your instincts are right on track. I do want to know about your backstory. How in the world did you land here doing this for? For these kind of folks?

Sal Rehmetullah: No, it was, uh, it was a rainy day. September 2nd, 1989. No, I’m just kidding. Um, you know, I was I was born in the United States and, uh, a big background for us, obviously, just being immigrant children in the, in the US. And, you know, we were blessed to have, um, you know, a great education. I went to school, I went to I worked for Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, I did a variety of things, and I ended up starting a business with my sister. So I started a payments company called Stax Payments, where we integrated and provided think credit cards, ACH for small to medium sized businesses. And we grew that business from just the two of us to over 40 billion of payments, 100,000 small, medium sized businesses, and we were the first folks to sell that business for over $1 billion. Uh, we were the first unicorn founders out of Central Florida. First brother, sister team out of Florida. First Muslim Americans to do it. Uh, and so it was a crazy ride, but, uh, just been in the entrepreneurship journey and we, for some reason, were always around small and medium sized businesses.

Stone Payton: And you couldn’t just hang it up and sit on the beach and drink cocktails. Now you’re doing this. Tell us what compelled you to start this new venture.

Sal Rehmetullah: You know, that’s a great question. We get that. I always get two questions. They always ask me, like, why would you do this again? And then the second one’s usually followed up with, why would you do this again with your sister? Um, but I’ll answer them both for you. But, um, you know, we were absolutely blessed to have built an amazing business. We had great partners, and we really wanted to provide tool sets for small, medium sized businesses when it came to payments. You know, when you think about what’s really rapidly changed in the last ten years, all of us can buy everything off our phone. We tap, we jump in the cars. We, you know, have payments through Ubers or Lyfts and all sorts of things are sort of just dominated by payments. And we were sort of at the beginning of, of really making and enabling small and medium sized businesses to have access to that technology. And so it was something that we felt, you know, compelled to do and really excited to have delivered the results we did. And you’re right. We, uh, we went, you know, we saw a couple beaches. We worked on our golf game. Um, but I think that when you’re an entrepreneur, you you find yourself, um, always wanting to solve problems. And, and I will say when at least I’ll speak for myself. When I left Stax, there was this feeling of, um, almost like mourning. Like if you if you lose a loved one, you know, being and building that business for ten years, having, I don’t know, 500 or so employees here in the United States and a few international. It just became a part of my identity and not having that anymore, um, felt kind of like a loss.

Sal Rehmetullah: It was like, how do I contribute to society? How do I, you know, add value back into this world? And it’s a space that we really knew. And, um, to your point, we were really blessed to have had a great outcome. So personally, financially, everything was sort of checked off. But we really wanted to see how we can make a broader impact and leave a legacy behind. And, um, you know, we had this crazy idea that was like, well, why is there no business credit score? And why has nobody ever, you know, been able to solve this? And the more we unpacked it, um, it was just very complex. It was something that everyone struggled with and it was very hard to do. And that’s sort of where the magic happens for us. And so we all got into a room and kind of thought about it and said, well, let’s be the ones to go figure this out. And so we’re really excited to have the first, you know, business credit score called the word score. That brings in almost 100 data points for any SMB with frankly, just a few clicks and really excited to empower not just the enterprises to be able to use it for making decisions, but also for all the small businesses out there to be able to see your own credit score very similar, like how you would manage your own personal credit on a credit karma or or things along those lines, but giving you visibility in how to manage your business, which frankly, is seem to not have always had the best of resources. And so we felt compelled to do it, and crazy enough to get back on the saddle to go solve it.

Stone Payton: Well, I got to tell you, you have my attention. As you know, my business partner, his name is Lee Kantor. He and I own the Business RadioX network, and we’ve been fortunate. We’ve been blessed. We’ve made we’ve made a comfortable living. We feel like we’ve made a dent in the universe by helping people leverage this platform to share their story and promote their work. But also we now have, you know, studios around the country, not nearly as many as we want. And they’re able to do that. And if if Lee and I really felt like we just absolutely cracked the code on on scaling to the level we want to, and we wanted to go borrow money to get that going. Um, I mean, based on my body of knowledge around it, I think he and I are still putting our own personal, um, financial. You know, we have to put our, our house up or whatever. Our own personal scores, right? We we don’t know anything about this.

Sal Rehmetullah: No, you nailed it. And your story right there is a story for almost every American, let alone business, frankly, in the world. And it comes with a couple of reasons, right. So when you think about like how why can I go on, you know, and buy a car in 15 minutes and use my Fico credit score and my W-2 and get it. But if I try to go buy that exact same car using, let’s use your example, the radio station and the P and L, they require two years of tax returns, three months of bank statements. They want me and my partner to both sign personal guarantees. And the reason is, is they just don’t know how to underwrite and understand your business, your viability and the growth. And it’s as simple as that. It’s the fact that businesses are just so unique. You know, if you grab Sally’s Shoe Store versus Joe’s Pizza Shop down the road, both of them have wildly different profit and loss statements. You know, one of them might have $10,000 of inventory just like the other, but Sally’s shoe store might be rising if they’re, you know, collectible Louboutins versus $10,000 at the pizza store, you know, in dough may go bad if the electricity runs out.

Sal Rehmetullah: And so how do you manage all of that differences when it comes to businesses? And that was sort of the challenge. But we sort of landed in this perfect world. Nowadays where you have all of this area of concepts of AI, large language models that can digest all of this information. And we had this crazy phenomenon of Covid that happened, you know, in 2019, 2020 that actually pushed all the businesses to go digital. And so even if you think about your radio station, you probably adopted a lot of the tool sets, from online banking to ACH and payroll to paying all your bills through autopay. So you actually started to contribute a lot more information into the ecosystem on a digital world that now we’ve been able to harness, but nobody’s ever consolidated it together. And so what we did is we said, well, can we give you an entire viewpoint and a holistic view of your business and now allow the banks and, or, as you mentioned, opening new studios to be able to see that history rather than just having a personal guarantee of your personal credit score or your net worth attached to the all the work that you put into the business to leverage it for growth.

Stone Payton: Man, I love it. Okay, so let me get clear about who is the customer. Maybe the answer is both. Is it me and Li or is it the the people who should be willing to loan us some money or both.

Sal Rehmetullah: You know, you’re spot on. So where we started, like anything else, to make change at this level, you need the large enterprises to adopt the fundamentals, right? So the first place we started off is we went to the large banks. We went to the Department of Defense in the small business associations. We went to the large enterprises that provide, frankly, risk and underwriting, you know, within these organizations. And what you learn from them is like anything else, any all of us have probably purchased a home or gone through some sort of credit risk underwriting. They’re laborious, they’re paper driven. There’s so many documentations and it’s sort of a pain for both parties. And so the first thing we said to them was, well, what if we can help you bring all of this information together by just a few clicks? Right. And that is the first place we started with the large enterprises. And as we evolved and learned with them, we then started to show them our word score. We started to show them that they don’t need to grab all of these documents. What they really need is just to give authorization to a few of these accounts, and we can really predict out the future of these businesses for them. And that’s sort of where we landed first.

Sal Rehmetullah: And we’ve had amazing adoption in the large enterprises we’re in, you know, a variety of large banks that you would know names of, or in a lot of large credit card providers and loan originators. And after we did that, the first aha moment was, well, now we have all this information on the SMB. We understand why people are approving. We also understand why people are denying. And so why wouldn’t we give people like yourself that information to help you grow your business? And if you do want to open more studios, well, what does that actually have to look like for you? And we sort of followed the model. If you’re familiar with like Credit Karma or managing your own, you know, individual credit, they provide you a bunch of solution sets to say, hey, did you know your credit got hurt because you didn’t pay this bill. Did you know that because you have so much money on this credit card that’s costing you so much, you’re getting dinged? Well, if we have that same information on your business, let’s expose that to you. And so that’s our word score platform. Um, that works directly for you and your partner. And that comes out in early Q1 this year to really enable you to manage your own business credit.

Stone Payton: I’m excited. I, I tell you what, gang, if you want to meet some really smart people and get a leg up on whatever you’re trying to accomplish, get yourself a radio show. Man, this is this is fantastic. So now that you’ve, uh, been at this new venture for a little while, what are you. What are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you these days, man?

Sal Rehmetullah: You know, um, I think it’s it’s just rebuilding again. I think you get to see real impact. And and to your point is just hearing your story, right? Like the the reality is, it’s so true for so many Americans, so many folks out there in the world that are all coming across a variety of these challenges, and you sort of get everybody just nodding their head of like, yes, I’ve experienced that. And and being at that forefront of actually making a material impact in that world. And, you know, you and I could probably all know that the statistics of what loan approvals probably look like for, you know, specific folks of color or women, etc., and other, you know, youthful businesses, um, being able to make an impact at that level. And, and I truly I see the world with rose colored glasses, and I believe the banks and associations really want to do the same. But it’s not always easy because that data hasn’t existed and immaturity of their models are there. And so for us to be able to be at that forefront of really paving the way to think about the future in this style of business, I think is just something that’s, uh, just very fun to be in a space that’s sort of unchartered and having to sort of set the new guidelines and new areas. And I think that’s probably the most fun part about it.

Stone Payton: I know the answer to this has to be yes, but I’m going to ask anyway because I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy where you take it. But I am interested to know to what degree have you had the benefit of one or more mentors to help you navigate some of this crazy new terrain?

Sal Rehmetullah: You know, you nailed it. I think my dad, he passed away a few years back, and he used to always tell us, me and my sister, as I said, we work together. He always said it to us is if you’re the if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. And, uh, and, you know, providing that statement, Senator and I have been huge proponents of surrounding ourselves with really, really smart people. And so when you think about some of the words that I said, and I might have said them quickly, but being able to walk into the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to talk about the Small Business Association and how to change that to partnering with Equifax, which is the largest data holder across private citizens and business citizens. To have a strategic partnership with us with worth, um, doesn’t just happen because we walked in the door and, you know, had a really, really cool product, right? We want to believe that’s the case. But you have to have the right mentors and the right folks. And, um, we’ve been blessed with, obviously, our history to have met so many different pioneers along the way, um, that have sort of opened that door for us. And so, you know, we’ve worked with a lot of the old executives that we knew, um, we forged great partnerships with folks at Equifax, etc., that have all really opened the right doors for us to share in the mission and vision that we’re trying to accomplish. And so, um, it’s definitely, I think the old age saying is that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together. And so that’s that’s sort of the mission we’re on here.

Stone Payton: Yeah. So talk to me a little bit if you could, about getting the the product properly aligned with the market. And and this is very personal to us because we’re wanting to work through some larger systems like we’re of the opinion and it’s purely hypothesis. Here’s Stone getting some free consulting again. But it’s it’s our opinion that there are professional services businesses and groups of them, like even franchisors that have like a lot of, let’s say, coaches or business brokers, that might very well be served by having their own business, radio X studio, in their community to serve their community at large and to help them do all the things that our platform does. But you know this, Lee and I have not been either of those things like, like talk, talk about. I guess that’s the right term, right? Like product, market fit, alignment. Speak to that a little bit if you would.

Sal Rehmetullah: Yeah. Look you that’s probably one of the hardest things that as an entrepreneur, uh, you have to go through. Right. So all of us have high conviction. We’re slightly crazy. Uh, we’re willing to take on sort of the leaps of faith. But what you do learn is when you get out into market is that your thesis generally is correct, but there are a lot of things that you thought would be there that aren’t. And that that’s been true from, you know, the day of every single startup I’ve worked with to every single thing that we’ve done and to the large businesses that I mentioned, billion dollar businesses we have built, we have pivoted on a consistent basis. Right. And so if there was, you know, a screen saver I’d put on there, it’s that famous friends episode where I think Ross is, you know, yelling pivot, pivot, pivot. Um, that that’s sort of the way that you see every single day. And so even when we came up with the word score, um, our first intent was to be able to just have a business credit score. You know, we thought, oh, it makes so much sense. Well, when you got into those enterprises, Prizes. Well, they have 15 data scientists, and they’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on this. So the first question is like, well, why is your score better than mine? Or why? Why is it that I have all this information and you think you can do a better job? And so all of a sudden you have to start to be like, oh, well, I can’t just prove it to them by saying I’m better.

Sal Rehmetullah: I have to think about, well, what’s the way I’m going to describe it, what’s my explainability? And so you start to like break it down. And then the more you unpack you start to learn their biggest challenge. And for us, with worth, you know, as much as we wanted to start with the score, what we really realized is the reason people struggle with data scientists and scoring was capturing information from small to medium sized businesses like your business, the way that you use QuickBooks or ADP or whatever systems you use are wildly different than probably another radio station to let alone a different small to medium sized business. And so the first thing we had to think about with them was, well, can we help them on this onboarding journey of collecting information from folks like you and helping them onboard them quickly and easier, which would then lead to a score. And yes, the score is a great outcome and that’s where they want to be. But we had to sort of tweak the way we went to market. We had to meet them where the conversations are had. And the biggest other thing that we learned was when you’re an innovator and you try to drive this, people, um, you know, challenge status quo and challenge, um, why it’s important now.

Sal Rehmetullah: And so a lot of times you have to meet them with what they’re used to buying. And so for us, we were like, okay, yes we’re doing scoring. Yes, we’re doing this. But you also still have to do risk and compliance. You still have to bring all these things as part of a business. Let us sell to those departments that are already used to buying those solution sets. Let’s pivot to have conversations with them. And that’s what I would tell you in any other person is like product market fit is just an iterating approach where, um, you’re probably in the ballpark, but how do you get there? And so I think for you, you’re spot on. I would definitely think that it’s a great concept, but maybe you do it as an incubator. Maybe you do it inside of startup communities. Maybe you find that your niche is inside of weworks or industrious, where there’s a ton of traffic flow. And I’m not saying any one of those are right, but I think that that’s going to be your, your, your constant tweak is going to say, hey, how can we do this? Quickly pivot and learn. And I think that’s what really drives great entrepreneurs.

Stone Payton: So now given where you are in your timeline, what’s the how’s the whole sales and marketing thing? Is it is it just getting the word out about it, or do you have people that are out there selling to these two different constituencies? Yeah. What’s how are you going to sell it? Yeah.

Sal Rehmetullah: So we have a we have a team of over 50 people now. Oh, wow. Um, and we’re, we’re focused on, as I mentioned, the enterprise side primarily right now, um, our wort score. Com which you can join the waitlist to be able to get your own word score for your business goes live in February. Um of early next year. And that will be fully digital. Fully online. Um, you know and people can can go to the website and be able to attain that. And for us, that’s going to be done a lot of marketing, a lot of specific areas of being able to advertise, frankly, you know, your own business health. And we really believe in the mission of being able to see that. And we’re going to have very, very low cost barrier to entry, because we really believe that the power of the solution comes by providing that information to those SMBs. And so our goal right now is to, you know, work with the large enterprises that are looking to solve this problem. And, you know, we’re blocking and tackling every single day. And, um, you know, so if there are banks or, you know, credit card companies or people that are in fintech or payments that are out here listening, that are looking to improve their risk and underwriting, uh, give us a call. But that’s we’re tackling one at a time right now.

Stone Payton: Well, Sal, I’m excited for you. But quite candidly, I am excited for us. I mean, me and Lee and our Business RadioX team. This is fantastic. So, uh, before we wrap, I wonder if we could leave. Uh, leave our listeners with a pro tip or two, and I guess I’m really talking to those new entrepreneurs or those entrepreneurs that, you know, they’re not just opening another ice cream shop. They’ve got their, you know, they’ve got a big idea or vision. Maybe you can share some lessons learned or maybe a do or a don’t or something they should be reading or thinking about. Let’s just leave them a pro tip or two.

Sal Rehmetullah: Yeah. Look, I think, um, you know, you mentioned it whether you meant to or not. Over the course of the call, as you brought up your partner multiple times, uh, you automatically aligned with, you know, he’s dealt with some of the financials. You said, I think we signed our personal guarantee. And what I gather from all that is that you guys have roles and responsibilities and places where each of you contribute. And so as a entrepreneur, that’s building a new business, I think it’s important to understand where you’re good and understand where you could use help. And being able to find partners that can help bridge those gaps for you. Right. And so I do work with my sister every day. And Sierra is a marketing genius, great at being able to have creativity and product vision. I’m a sales and execution guy and our third partner knows how to build technology, and so can all three of us help each other? Can all three of us do parts of our job? Of course we can. But I think the biggest thing I’ve learned across this journey is knowing your strengths and building a really good team around you, and trusting them to do their parts of the job. I think you can do so much more. And so for any entrepreneur that’s out there, finding the right partners that you can trust and really, really build and share a similar vision, I think is something that’s very, very impactful for for you to make it.

Stone Payton: Yeah. So I’ve already written down here in my notes worth score. Com I am going to go go there for sure probably right after this conversation. But let’s leave our listeners with whatever coordinates are appropriate to continue to tap into your work. Follow what you’re doing, whether it’s a website, LinkedIn, whatever. But let’s make sure that we can follow what’s going on here.

Sal Rehmetullah: Yeah. No. So once again, Sal Rahmatullah, um, feel free to reach out to me always, always willing to help new entrepreneurs mentor, uh, in that space. And so you can feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or Instagram. My handle is just Sal Rahmatullah. Uh, and then I mentioned, uh, word score. Com sign up for the waitlist. If you’re a business owner. Um, you know, we’d love to have you in our early stages and provide you with solution sets and hopefully free solution sets to really help you grow your business and be really successful in your own journey.

Stone Payton: Sal, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, and for what you’re creating here. Man, you I think I mentioned the phrase earlier, put a dent in the universe, man. If anybody’s doing that, you’re doing it. The work you’re doing is so important. And we we sure appreciate you, man.

Sal Rehmetullah: Well, I appreciate you guys. And I share the same sentiment. It’s great. Great to be able to tell a story. And, uh, a fan of the show and all the other, you know, entrepreneurs and folks that have been on prior.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s absolutely my pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Sal Rehmatullah with worth, I and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Donny Bradley with Lola Beans

by

CHBRX-Lola-Beans-Feature
Chattanooga Business Radio
Donny Bradley with Lola Beans
Loading
/

Donny-BradleyDonny Bradley, Founder, Lola Beans.

Our first thoughts of opening a drive-thru coffee shop came during our family’s time living in Alaska. Drive-thru coffee huts were on every street corner, in every city, accompanied by smiling sweet faces. This kind of friendly service with a hot cup of coffee in hand, was very appreciated on any day. In awe of their ease and quick service, my wife and I regularly mused about what a neat concept this was… thinking this may be a “one day in the future” kind of idea…

That was back in 2014 when I was traveling heavily between Alaska and Chattanooga for business. The time away was wearing on me and my family, so we made the bold, but awesome decision to move everyone up. My wife and our 3 children all accompanied me as we moved to Soldotna, Alaska for 5 months. This was an amazing, once in a lifetime kind of experience for me and my family to be in all the midst and beauty that Alaska has to offer.

Part of our daily routine started to include a quick run through these coffee shacks. We ended up becoming regulars and favorites among a few of the shacks that were closest to us. We were able to get to know everyone by name, making personal connections with our family and theirs. It got to the point that they knew exactly what we wanted to order as soon as we pulled up to their warm welcoming windows! Lola-Beans-logo

With this sort of concept in mind and genuine interactions we experienced, my wife and I went for it. After 25 years in medical device focused in spine and biologics, my career path has completely shifted to what is now Lola Beans. This dream of ours points back to a special time spent with family, experiencing change and fear but being welcomed with love and of course some coffee.

We believe we have expanded and hopefully perfected the concept of “drive-thru coffee”. Our desire is to create a positive, familiar, hometown feel while providing the highest quality available to our customers and friends.

Connect with Donny on LinkedIn and follow Lola Beans on Facebook and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Donny’s upbringing and backstory leading up to Lola Beans
  • What makes Lola Beans different
  • Long term vision for the company

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s time for Chattanooga Business Radio. Now, here’s your Business RadioX hosts.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Chattanooga Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Lola Beans. Donny Bradley. How are you, man?

Donny Bradley: Stone, I’m great. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: Well, we’re delighted to have you on the show. I don’t think it’s any secret to our listeners, uh, here in the Atlanta area, certainly not to more and more friends in Chattanooga, we are, in pretty short order, going to have a physical studio there in the Chattanooga market. But I wasn’t going to wait on that, man. I wanted to get you on the air. I got a ton of questions. I know I’m not going to get to them all, but, uh yeah. Tell us a little bit about what compelled you to get into the into the coffee business? And, uh, and a little bit about the backstory, man. How did you land here?

Donny Bradley: Yeah. So, um, so I am a medical distributor, uh, by trade. And I had a surgeon that relocated to the the Kenai Peninsula, um, up there in Alaska, in Soldotna, Alaska, on the Kenai Peninsula. And so, um, I was in between reps. So we, uh, uh, picked the family up and we moved the wife and our three kids up to Soldotna for a little six month stretch. Um, and this was back in 2016. And so while we were up there, they had all of these little, like, drive thru coffee shacks, like, uh, almost like some, like a little shed that you would see out in front of Home Depot. And they would make them look all cute and kind of put different branding on them. And then they would sling coffee out of them. And I kind of really liked that concept. And we we ended up, um, really kind of blanking one up there in particular true Blue because of the owner, Jenna. And we would go through the line, she’d have the window open, there’d be music playing. She’d have 2 or 3 cars on each side, and she is just slinging espresso drinks. But while she’s doing that, she is talking to my wife about different shops in the, in Soldotna and, you know, giving my wife some information.

Donny Bradley: She’s asking my daughter about snowboarding and learning how to snowboard at Alyeska. And I’m like, oh my gosh, this is not just, you know, here’s the coffee. Give me the money a transaction. This is more about, you know, building a relationship. And I just love that. And so I had a little piece of property that I owned on East Brainerd Road. And I said, Missy, we got to do this. I want to do this. I want to open a little coffee shop. So I thought I was going to just buy a Home Depot shack, slap it on this piece of property, and start slinging coffee. And then I learned about, um, you know, city building codes and all the zoning and everything else that goes that goes on with that, you know, got a quick education. But then we we opened that first little store in September of 2020. Um, 280ft² and just got going. But, um, it was true blue coffee out of Soldotna, Alaska. That really gave me the inspiration and the fact that it was, you know, it was more of a connection and a relationship versus just transaction. And that’s what got me going.

Stone Payton: So here’s a shout out for Missy, because I’m trying to put myself as a as a fly on the wall. When you’re sharing this idea with Missy, I’ve had some friends and colleagues in the medical device world, and I know that can be a very lucrative career. And now, now here you are saying, you know what? We’re going to do the coffee thing. She must have been incredibly supportive at some point, if not right out of the box, huh?

Donny Bradley: Yes, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t be able to do this without without her. She was awesome. She was she was supportive in the fact, like, hey, Missy, we’re going to pull the kids out of school and we’re going to go to Alaska for, you know six months. And she said, okay, let’s do it. So yeah, she has been she’s just awesome. She’s been supportive. I couldn’t I couldn’t do the things I do in business without without her and the type of person she is. So it’s been she is she is great. Fantastic.

Stone Payton: Well you touched on it briefly talking about building codes and all that kind of stuff, but yeah, talk a little bit about the the learning curve and maybe some of what you’ve learned getting this thing off the ground.

Donny Bradley: Well, so I have been um, I have been extremely fortunate. I’ve had some, some really good business mentors, and I have gotten connected with, um, some great people that are in the restaurant industry. So I’ve, I’ve kind of seeked out a bunch of counsel and I’ve, I’ve had a chance to get connected with people that have a lot of experience, have done some national stuff. And so it’s um, it’s been I mean, it’s, it’s it’s fun and I love it, but it, it has been a, you know, a big learning curve and, and things that I need to be focusing on. And you know, what you look at, you know, day in the life of week in the life of month in the life of. So I’ve had some really, really good people that have have helped me with that. And then a, you know, another, another friend of mine had connected me with one of his really good friends that had started, um, ASP pools and had franchised that business. And I had gotten to know him over the years. And he has, um, he has been really instrumental in helping me look at this and, and, and start the franchising process and get it going and, and kind of give me ideas on how to improve the store economics and get things, you know, tightened up to be able to franchise. And then he also connected me with some amazing consultants that were like basically vetted out. He’s, you know, he’s, um, worked with them for a while. And so it’s kind of like he’s passed on some of his people versus me just kind of having to roll the dice and, you know, hope I find the right type of consultant. So, um, I’ve been fortunate in terms of having really good people to kind of, you know work with and pick their brain and just help me while I’m while I’m learning this new business.

Stone Payton: So now that you do have this thing going, you’re starting to get your sea legs, as it were. What’s the what’s the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Donny Bradley: It’s the it’s the team. You know, it’s the it’s it’s our it’s the been team without without a doubt like 100%. When I was getting into this, I had people telling me, you’re going to be dealing with employees and it’s you’re not gonna be able to find anybody to work, and it’s going to be a pain in the butt. And, um, it has been the exact opposite. So we have, uh, um, you know, we’ve got a great team of like, it’s it’s young kids. It’s, you know, they’re primarily in college. We have a few seniors in high school, but they’re all, um, they’re all just great young adults that have, like, plans for their future and are studying stuff and are just, um, you know, we’re we’re performance based. We we we show right from the get go that we are a performance based drive through. I’m calling it Fun Beverage. And it’s not a slow downtown coffee shop. And they they work great together. They take pride in working together and clearing cars and having good shifts. And you know, the whole a players like to work with other A players. It’s um, that’s been by far the best part is getting to work with these, the team and watching how they, um, take care of our guests and, and help really help me grow this business.

Stone Payton: So it strikes me as a pretty competitive arena. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a business like this? And then, if you know, yet, maybe also speak a little bit to the sales and marketing of this franchising because it sounds like you’re on the path for that as well.

Donny Bradley: Yeah, yeah. So, so for, um, for our current stores, we, um, you know, we’re we’re heavy social media, so we’re social media, um, digital advertising and then community events as many community events and golf tournaments and things we can do. And then we also connect with, um, in Cleveland, we connect with Lee University as much as we can. We just we just did their welcome back to school, um, this past Friday, that event. So it is it’s just focused on that. And then it’s the and then it’s the culture of um, you know, drive the team making connections with our customers. We have regulars that come through. We’re we’re it looks like they’re coming through, you know, 14 to 19 times a month. We create buttons on the handheld. So we come out and and take orders right at the car with a with a handheld device. You don’t you don’t come through our line and order at a speed with a, you know, at a speaker box or a menu. So we get to know our regulars, um, you know, the regulars that have their, their drinks, we create their own buttons and we try to do things to, you know, to make them feel recognized and seen and connect. And so that’s basically our, you know, our marketing right now in a nutshell.

Donny Bradley: It’s, you know, just that social media, digital advertising and then community events, um, for the for the franchise development, we’re going to do a, um, we’re going to start with like a little crawl, walk, run, uh, plan that we’ve put together. And we’re trying to stay in like the Knoxville, Nashville, um, Huntsville, Birmingham, North Atlanta area initially. And we are going to try to find 1 to 3 franchisees the first year, uh, have them close where we can get to them, support them over, support them, try and get store economics going. Um, and then, you know, really, uh, you know, try to do another four or so the next year and get to that first ten where they’ve got great store economics, they’re supported, they’re wanting to open more and then they’re great validators for the brand. And so we’re going to um, we’re going to try and pick the right people. Um, you know, high culture, high character, people that can develop a team that will then, you know, take care of the of their their new customers. So that’s the and we’re doing most of that on LinkedIn right in the beginning. Um, the franchise development part and maybe a little direct, um, little digital advertising.

Stone Payton: I have to confess, going into this conversation, I guess I had your business very soundly planted in the middle of a, I guess, the best way, a transactional frame. Right? Like, this is a transactional business. But I in talking to you, I think maybe nothing could be further from the truth. This is strongly grounded in relationship, isn’t it?

Donny Bradley: Exactly. No, that is that is it 100? 100%. It is all based around, um, the culture that we’re trying to create and then the connection that we make with, with our customers that come through. I mean, we want this to be, you know, we’re so we’re, you know, we’re taking, you know, fun beverage, the espresso drinks, all the energy drinks infused lemonades, infused teas. We’re you know, we’re taking that product and we’re kind of moving it into a drive through model. If you’re the 14th car in line, we want you through in seven minutes or less, but we still want to be making those connections. And so that’s um, you know, that’s the goal. We’re not we’re not dealing with raw food. We’re not dropping, you know, we’re not dealing with fryers and grease and a big kitchen. We are taking drinks and it’s combinations of sauces and sirups. And so I really feel like, you know, like a teacher would be great at this. A, you know, football coach is former military, uh, youth pastors, people that can, uh, develop a team, have a heart for kids, um, and can create a culture and make connections within their community would do absolutely fantastic at this. You don’t have to be a hard core, you know, grizzled, veteran restaurant person to to do this.

Stone Payton: Well, no. Clearly the linchpin in your system. Certainly a linchpin. Maybe the linchpin is the the character and the quality of the people. And it sounds like you’re parallel to that, really going to great lengths to provide, you know, repeatable processes and transferable tools for all the key tasks that have to be executed. But again, it’s, uh, man, it’s the people. You just have to make a real effort. And it sounds like you’re doing it of bringing the right people on board, whether it’s employees or franchisees. Huh.

Donny Bradley: It’s done. That is it. That’s that’s what it’s going to boil down to, is if I can and I and you know what? I, you know, just just seeing some of my, my kids coaches and, and being around different people that have heart for kids. I mean, you know, I love this, but I know there’s people out there that are a lot better that could be a lot better at this than me and could be more organized and, you know, could take the start that we’ve got and all the all the systems and everything we put in place. And they could absolutely thrive with this. I mean, it’s you know, I know there’s people out there a lot better than me. Than than me at doing this. And I’ve seen it just from, you know, watching how coaches connect and, you know, certain people connect with, um, you know, with youth and build teams and, you know, have those natural leadership abilities.

Stone Payton: Man, nothing builds a business like just getting out there and doing good work and being coachable and open to other people, because we might not just because we got the thing off the ground doesn’t mean we have all the answers. Huh?

Donny Bradley: That is that is so true. That is it. That is it.

Stone Payton: I know we have quite a number of aspiring entrepreneurs or people who are very in the very early stages. Some of them may have designs on replicating, franchising, licensing, others just may want to scale their business to a certain point. But before we wrap up, I’d love to to leave our listeners with a couple of, uh, pro tips, you know, a couple of actionable items, some things maybe, and maybe some of this was, uh, you know, a little scar tissue that you picked up over the last couple of years. But, uh, I don’t know, something to be reading. Maybe a do or a don’t. But let’s leave them with a couple of things to be thinking about. Those who are kind of wanting to follow in a in a similar path and grow something.

Donny Bradley: Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, one of my, one of my favorite books is, um, The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham. And, um, he, he was a real estate guy CEO that got wiped out in the late 80s in the, in commercial real estate. And he just kind of he just wrote this book that, um, you know, it really just takes out the gray and makes it black and white and we kind of know what we should be doing in business and the standards we should be setting and, and how we should be doing things. And he, you know, he helps you avoid the what he calls avoid paying the dumb tax. And when you just read a book like that and get back to the fundamentals, it just gives you that solid foundation for for trying to grow a business. And, um, you know, they say the failures and, you know, like every failure in leadership is from, um, stems from the lack of, or not wanting to have the difficult conversations or being afraid to have those difficult conversations. And, um, you know, it’s just a, it’s just things like that that you can take from it and that.

Donny Bradley: And then there’s also an awesome book, um, by, um, Jocko willing. Um, oh, gosh, I’m drawing a I’m drawing a blank on it, but it’s, um, extreme ownership, I’m sorry, extreme ownership. And it’s just about, you know, you’re responsible. Um, and when you know you’re responsible for how the team reacts, you set the tone. And, you know, always, you know, look inward first, uh, before you start kind of blaming people and look at what your role was and take ownership of things. So those two books have made a huge difference. And then that along with, you know, you know, just seek counsel and talk to people that have done it before and can help you speed up your, um, you know, speed up your growth, but also help you avoid all those, um, those potholes that, you know, and the potholes are always there and they’re always the same type of potholes, you know? I mean, for for all the businesses. So if you can learn to avoid those and, and speed up your growth by, by, you know, getting that intellectual capital, um, you know, you’re going to be you’re going to be better off.

Stone Payton: Well, I am so glad that I asked because those are two titles I have not read. I have absolutely paid the dumb tax over the years. Yeah.

Donny Bradley: Yeah, we could have a whole nother 2 or 3 episodes on on me paying the dumb tax and learning over the years. But yeah, but.

Stone Payton: That’s two new titles that’ll make it to my nightstand. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect with you? Certainly we want to know where your, uh, location is, but also, maybe if they want to have a conversation with you or someone on the bean team, I think you call them, uh, about maybe, you know, being a franchisee.

Donny Bradley: Yeah. So we have, um, there’s a link on our website. It’s, uh, you know, Lola beans coffee comm. And then we are also on Instagram, uh, at Lola Beans Coffee. And then I’m on LinkedIn, and, um, it’s just Donny Bradley. Um, Lola Beans coffee founder on LinkedIn.

Stone Payton: Well, Donny, congratulations on the momentum, man. It’s exciting work that you’re doing and the kind of work that you’re doing and the example that you’re setting for the community, but also just other aspiring entrepreneurs who genuinely want to serve. It’s, uh, man, it’s important work. And we sure appreciate you.

Donny Bradley: I appreciate you, I appreciate you having me on. This was fun, Stone. Thank you.

Stone Payton: Absolutely. My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Donny Bradley with Lola Beans and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you again on Chattanooga Business Radio.

 

Our Mission

We help local business leaders get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession.

We support and celebrate business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignores. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

Sponsor a Show

Build Relationships and Grow Your Business. Click here for more details.

Partner With Us

Discover More Here

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy

Connect with us

Want to keep up with the latest in pro-business news across the network? Follow us on social media for the latest stories!

Business RadioX® Headquarters
1000 Abernathy Rd. NE
Building 400, Suite L-10
Sandy Springs, GA 30328