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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is gonna be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Business RadioX. If you’re a business coach or consultant who’s tired of being a best kept secret, set up a call with Stone Payton at bookstonephone.com to unlock your perpetual prospect pipeline. Today on the show, we have senior business consultant with Global Business Consultants, Eric Parker. Welcome.

Erick Parker: How are you doing?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Global Business Consultants. How are you serving folks?

Erick Parker: Great, great. So Global Business Consultants is a business management consulting firm that specializes in working with business owners to help with bookkeeping, back office support, and business advisory services. We work with business owners from start up to exit strategy, helping them to navigate the challenges that they may face on a daily basis, or to see potential opportunities that they may be missing because they’re typically working in the business instead of on the business.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Erick Parker: So I used to work for a business management consulting firm, Chicago, traveling around the country doing what we call turnaround and improvement consulting, where we would actually be on site for 50, 55 hours a week, me with a project manager, and we would run that project on site for 50, 55 hours a week, and the project will last anywhere from 2 to 7 weeks. The gap that I saw is that very effective model, but a few things. One, I would 100% travel. We leave on Sunday, come back on Friday. And number two, it was extremely expensive because you’re on site built by the hour, paying for airfare, hotel per diem and car rental. Uh, and, and so the gap was, is that I saw that there could be an opportunity for us to be able to assist business owners for a longer period of time on a flat rate basis that would allow us to work with them for years instead of weeks. Also, what I call budget based consulting and advisory services, where we’re providing value on a flat rate basis, not hourly. So the owner of the businesses can budget by that and get ongoing support for years instead of weeks. And I don’t and I don’t have to travel.

Lee Kantor: So then you decide to go out on your own.

Erick Parker: Yes, yes. We, um, decided to start a business consulting firm that would allow us to be able to to work longer with the business owners at a much lower cost, to provide more value.

Lee Kantor: Now, what types of businesses do you typically work with? Are they kind of smaller firms or are they enterprise level? What is your kind of niche?

Erick Parker: Both. You know, and I would say it depends on where the business is at. Right. We work with start up companies, uh, that start up and in our largest company is, as a matter of fact, uh, just a little bit, a little bit of a backdrop on that. Uh, they started in October 2022. Um, two gentlemen as the owners of the company sold their first, uh, job in December 2022. And initially we were doing the bookkeeping, accounting, some advisory work. And, um, the next year they did 15 million. The next year they did 30 million. Last year they did 151 million. Last month I did 23 million. Um, so if we can work with business owners and help them from the beginning and help them grow, that’s that’s great. Um, but if they’re already large and doing numbers, we can also get in and do what we call process improvement, help them to streamline operations, reduce expenses, increase revenue, and, um, and really look at where those pain points are, what they can do to build and grow the business while we focus on the back end operations, uh, to help them focus on what I call income producing activities.

Lee Kantor: So now do you, uh, typically kind of start out as doing kind of basic bookkeeping and then the project evolves as you uncover, um, maybe opportunities where the business could grow or maybe areas where they might need some triage.

Erick Parker: Yeah. So, uh.

Erick Parker: I use this other example as the perfect example. We start out doing bookkeeping and accounting for them, right? But then they got to a point where they hired a CFO and a controller. So there was no need for us to do that part anymore. Um, then we would also assist them with some human resource, um, matters. But then once they got to the point of having not to have like 300 employees, they brought in a human resource director and, um, and so now what we help them with is really expansion into other states had gone from one office to they’d have about seven offices now or seven states, 20 locations. And we help with the compliance part with each state contractor registration, state registration, um, compliance, things like that. So the role changes depending on what the business needs are and based off what their, you know, what their need is, right? Um, so it starts off typically with bookkeeping. Um, but we try to expand on that because it’s not just about doing the bookkeeping and providing financial statements is about doing the bookkeeping and then helping the business owner use the financial statements as a roadmap to move to the next level. Right. And the next level doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve got to go to 250 million. It could just mean having more work life balance. It could mean hiring an employee. It could mean expanding to another city or another state. Or it could just mean putting yourself in a position to be able to retire, even if you’re a solopreneur. What can we do to put you in a position if you can’t sell your business, to be in a position to retire when that time comes?

Lee Kantor: So that’s now when you’re working, when you’re working with a client as a bookkeeper, are you also their CPA?

Erick Parker: Yes, we can be this. We have CPAs on staff. If they don’t have a CPA they’re already working with. Um, then we, we have CPAs that, that, um, can assist. Uh, but even if they do have a CPA that they work with on a regular basis. My thought is, let’s always get another opinion, right? Another view, another way to look at things. So we’re looking at things from a tax strategy standpoint, and you’ve got your CPA that you’re currently using or your accountant. What we want to do from an operational standpoint is look at how we can attack things from an operational and attack strategy standpoint, and then they can take that information back and reconfirm it with with their current CPA, just to give them something else to think about that maybe they hadn’t thought about because they’re not involved in the operational side.

Lee Kantor: Right. Well, it just I’ve interviewed so many people and they’re, they’re the CPA a lot of times sells them on the concept of what you’re saying is that I’m going to help you be proactive. And we’re going to look at all this stuff strategically. But at the end of the day, they just end up just doing your taxes.

Erick Parker: That’s correct. You know, so here’s the here’s the thing that I was thinking, you know, I look and the CPAs we have on our team, you know. They’re great, you know? But sometimes when you’re talking to a CPA, you’re right. They’re, you know, they’re, they’re, they’re methodical and they’re strategic. So sometimes, you know, they’re thinking about things from a tax strategy standpoint, which is okay, but we have to look at things from an operational standpoint, right? How can is the tax strategy matching up with the operational side? Perfect example. You have somebody say, hey, for tax strategy side, I am losing money so I don’t have to pay taxes. I had this conversation with the client last week. I said, you know, if, if you’re looking at things from a tax strategy standpoint and all you’re ever doing is writing off everything so you don’t have to pay taxes, you’re looking at things from a refund mentality instead of a business growth mentality, right? You can’t grow the business if you’re always operating on a refund or no tax strategy, right? So paying taxes isn’t a bad thing we want to do is be able to utilize the taxes that are out there, the tax laws that are out there to your benefit. That’s going to allow us to grow the business. And I’ll give you an example. You write everything off 30 years later, 15 years later, you decide to sell the business, but you haven’t made any money. Who’s going to pay you any money for a business that hasn’t made any money? Right. And that’s the reality that a lot of business owners, they, they, um, they say, well, I’m losing money. I’m not paying any taxes. Okay. But when you get to the bottom line, if you ever want to go get a loan, grow the business, sell the business, you don’t have any income to do that. So we have to be strategic about how we how we move the ball forward in that area.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, that makes perfect sense. I mean, I just it’s refreshing to hear from somebody in your seat that talks out this way because in my experience, there’s been a lot of folks that, you know, they think they’re hiring an accountant or CPA to do what you’re saying, but they end up just telling them, here’s your tax state. You know, here’s the the tax forms filled out. And you know what? Next year you should have done this instead of what you did do. Like they’re always looking backwards. They’re not looking forward.

Erick Parker: Exactly exactly exactly. They’re being they’re being reactive instead of proactive. Right. And that’s really where the rubber meets the road, you know, uh, but, you know, I think, I think a lot of times when you’re, when you’re working in the business, you’re just trying to really get through the next day, the next week, the next month. And we’re trying to do is we’re trying to look at helping you get through the day or even the month, but also we want to look long term. How is what we’re doing today going to impact what we’re doing next week, next month, next year, you know?

Lee Kantor: Well, it sounds like you’re like kind of a real partner in your client’s business. You’re trying to kind of watch their back and handle kind of the bookkeeping operations side of things, not just fill out their tax forms at the end of the year.

Erick Parker: Oh, that’s absolutely correct. So the other thing too, from an operational side is certified in in lean and agile. And so what that means is this if we can look at how we can move the business forward by streamlining operations or looking at other opportunities. That’s what we want to do. I’ll give you another example. I have a client that was part of a franchise and the franchise. He was doing $1.3 million a year doing okay for the last 12 years. I said, well, you know, you’re doing well. I said, everything’s going great, but we can come in, we can do the bookkeeping, the accounting. But part of this strategy is we have to look at it and say, okay, what happens if if the franchise that you’re working with loses their accounts? What are you going to do? We had never thought about that. Right? I’ve been doing this for 12 years. I’m making 1.3 million a year. Things are going great. What do I need to consider? Anything as a possibility at this point. So I said, what we need to do is we need to establish another company. We need to get you some accounts under that company so that if your franchise ever loses their accounts, you’re still protected, right? From a, from a, a livelihood perspective, you can still eat, live and move forward.

Erick Parker: Well, help them secure a $600,000 contract. And about a year and a half later, that franchise lost 90% of their business in the area. So what happened was all of the people that were franchise owners in the area lost 90% of their income. But because we had strategically set him up to move forward, now he’s doing okay. Even though he lost 90% of the business over here, he was at a pick pick up 600,000. Actually, actually, we just, uh, secured another client for him. So he’s now around $700,000 a year just from that. So those are the things that he probably wouldn’t have been thinking about. Or just if you’re just doing the bookkeeping or the accounting and you’re not looking at other ways or other opportunities or other things to minimize liability, then that can be detrimental to a business owner. But if we’re looking at those things, we can kind of navigate it and minimize the liability of what could happen to them before it happens.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. It’s like you can see around corners. You’re really, you know, you have a been there, done that kind of attitude that you’re able to help them deal with things that they might not even, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know. And it sounds like, you know, a lot more than your clients do a lot of times so that you’re able to proactively help them.

Erick Parker: Yes, yes. That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with somebody, let’s we have a lot of listeners that are consultants themselves and their coaches and things like that. And so there are small firms or solopreneurs, what some of the low hanging fruit that they should be paying attention to when it comes to their, you know, maybe their books or their operations.

Erick Parker: So I would say the low hanging fruit is, you know, one is, you know, work with anyone, even a new company, right? Even someone starting out, sometimes people have a situation where they say, I don’t want this type of client that’s doing X amount of revenue. I mean, you’re trying to land what I call the whale, right? You’re trying to land a big client that’s going to pay you X amount of dollars, which is which is okay. Still do that. But we also have to look at and this is for any business, you also have to do what I call, you know, um you have to take a little bite of the apple, you know, every step of the way, even even if I want to say the little guys. Right? Because you start out with the little guys and you work with them, they may be to the point where you’re getting 250, 100, you know, 100 million, 150 million. So, you know, you work now, you got to be strategic about who you select to work with or clients or customers that you choose to work with. Um, because on the other side, you don’t want them just draining you for your time and energy. But at the same time, you know, you have to look at every potential customer as an opportunity. And maybe if you jump in and you help them, maybe if you jump in and you advise them or assist them, maybe then they would get to that million dollar mark or a $10 million mark with your help, right? So, um, so I just said, you know, don’t leave any stone unturned in terms of who you’re willing to help. Um, because you helping them will eventually help you.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you find that, um, companies don’t invest the time on maybe pruning that they have a lot of waste and there’s some inefficiencies because they start, especially with all the subscriptions that people sign up for, like at one point, that sound like a good idea and they’re never going back to check if it’s still a good idea. Is that kind of low hanging fruit to like, kind of just going through your books and seeing what you’re using or not using anymore?

Erick Parker: Yes. And, and, you know, and that’s a good point that you said because, you know, you can, you, you can have a lot of subscriptions to a lot of tools that you’re not using. Right. And, and when I say tools, it could mean that you’ve got too many people, maybe you have dormant people in your payroll that you’re paying for paying for those seats, and then they’ve been on your payroll. Or it could be, like I said, you’ve got all these subscriptions. Good examples. We’ve got a lot of AI platforms out there now. So you’re going to subscribe to all these platforms and you’re paying this money, but you can’t be an expert. First of all, stick to what your business is, right? If you’re not an AI expert, stick to what you do and hire an AI expert to show you what to do, right? So you’re not taking your eye off the ball. Number two, you know, if you are going to use multiple AI subscriptions, then you need to have an expert in each one that can advise you on how those can help your business. But you definitely want to go through the PNL and balance sheet or on a line by line basis to see what those expenses are, and to see what can be done to minimize those expenses.

Erick Parker: It could also be, as an example, uh, it could be health insurance, it could be business insurance, it could be those type of things, because it could be as we’re looking at those things, maybe what we do our research on your behalf, maybe you’re paying too much for the coverage you have, or maybe you could get more coverage at the same price, right? So those are leaks in the system. Uh, one thing that, um, that someone said, you know, the, the worst To waste. The most dangerous waste that you have is that that you cannot see. Right. So you don’t even know you’re losing money because you’re not you don’t see it. But if you hire somebody that can step in and I can see those things, you know, then they can help move the ball forward to help you minimize the waste, plug those inefficiencies, and help move the ball forward so you can, you know, every dollar counts, right? Every dollar helps. So you want to make sure you’re plugging those inefficiencies, bringing more money to the bottom line. So you can use that money to move the business forward.

Lee Kantor: So now what’s it like to work with you? Uh, first let’s start with what’s the pain that a new client’s having right before they hire you? Are they, um, you know, what struggle are they going through or what’s the issue that’s keeping them up at night where, uh, they say, I better call Eric and his team.

Erick Parker: Yeah. Most of the time, it’s it’s it’s them not, uh, not either doing their bookkeeping correctly. Right. Uh, not. Well, I should say they’re probably either not doing it at all. They’ve hired a family member to do it, or an employee that they’ve appointed to do it, that that’s not their area of expertise. Um, but most of the time it’s us stepping in and helping them to get caught up on their past bookkeeping, uh, helping them to get it in place, helping them get organized, and then helping them to understand what this really means. Right? I had a client that was in a manufacturing business. He brought us in and helped to implement an ER, a new ERP system. And so as we were going through the process and I’m looking at his financials, which he hadn’t hired us to do that part, but I’m looking at the financials and I said, um, you know, you’re losing money on every you’re losing money on every job. So we did an analysis and we were able to find out the leak and plug the hole of where his inefficiency was so he could stop losing money on every deal, on every customer. Right. Um, and so when you’re doing the bookkeeping and accounting, it’s really a matter of looking deeper into it to find out where the leaks are, where the inefficiencies are.

Erick Parker: And then you can determine what do I need to change from an operational standpoint to fix that. And when I say change it from an operational standpoint, what I also mean by that is that they can outsource to us. We can help fill that gap so that they’re not having to do it. They don’t have to worry about, uh, trying to recruit, hire, train, right? Everyone on our bookkeeping staff has, has a degree in accounting. Uh, we’re certified in multiple accounting platforms, you know, so they can actually scale by using us as a back office support so they don’t have to worry about, well, if I get five more clients, how am I gonna, how am I going to service those clients? We’ve got it covered. Calls receivable, accounts payable, compliant sales tax, payroll access to capital. Negotiating with creditors. Negotiating with lenders. You know, making sure that they’ve got the right coverage for their, you know, business insurance or health insurance or even even when you look at it from a standpoint of, um, you know, what other opportunities can I look at? What other avenues can I, can I use to create, to create value, to create more revenue?

Lee Kantor: So then is this, uh, like, how do you charge once you get in? Is this, um, just a negotiated rate between you and the firm? Or is it hourly? Like, how do you kind of work with your clients?

Erick Parker: So what I call is I call it budget based consulting services, right? We charge a flat rate. And that flat rate that we charge is going to be based off the scope of work of what we’re doing. Right? So, um, initially going in, you know, we charge a flat rate and I know that we’re going to be, it’s going to be essentially a loss leader at the beginning, because I know we’re going to be doing more work to get things caught up and get any business back on track, you know? Um, but instead of coming in and charging you the hourly, like the company I used to work for will come in, we’ll get you back on track. Now what we’re, our goal is, is to build a long term relationship, even though our agreements are just month to month. My thought is if we’re doing our job the way we’re supposed to do it, and we’re adding value to the to the client, even though our agreements are month to month, there’ll be clients for years because of the service that we’re providing now.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how you work with your clients? You mentioned one earlier with this very the a company that grew extremely quickly to a very large size. Is there kind of a typical, um, you know, way that you work with somebody that you can share maybe the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them kind of, you know, stabilize and then maybe, uh, then just kind of methodically grow.

Erick Parker: Sure. So I’ll give you an example of a, of a lady that, um, came to us. She had been working with, uh, she’s a local with her employer for 19 years. Uh, and after Covid, she was the only employee running the office generating 3 million a year in sales, making 28% commission off gross gross revenue. Gross revenue. So, um, so when I met her, I said, hey, you know, she said, the business owner is going to retire and he’s going to probably sell me the business for a nominal fee, $50,000 somewhere in there that would allow me to keep the contract, the, uh, the dealer agreements in place. I’ll take over the business, I’ll keep running the business. And, uh, so as we were moving forward, the seller was an attorney, and I’m not an attorney, but I’ve been through this enough times. So I call up the attorney and I say, hey, you know, you’re wanting to sell the business to a client. She’s been there for 19 years. Um, you know, we’ve gone through the financials and, uh, I just wanted to get an idea of what you thought you would sell the business to her for, you know? Now, remember, my client is thinking 5000. So then he comes back and he says, well, I’m gonna, I’m gonna sell it to her for, for 200, 000. I said, well, where did that number come from? He said, well, you know, you look at the net income, you take a multiple of that and, you know, and that’s how you come up with the number. I say, yeah, but she’s the only employee. And if she wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have 3 million in sales, right? You’re an absentee owner, so we’re not going to pay you $200,000 for this business.

Erick Parker: So when we say 50,000, he got offended. And I told the client, I said, so here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to close out the rest of the agreements with him that you have signed right to, to make sure that we’re not, um, you know, we’re not stepping on any toes or we’re not doing anything unethical or anything like that. We’re going to close out everything with him. You’re only going to make your 28% on those deals, but we’re going to start a new company and we’ll start that new company. We’ll get you business insurance. We’re going to get you set up with payroll. We’re going to get you a loan, which we did for 250,000. And then any new sale that you make, you put under the new company, which she did. So we swear to save her $200,000 to help her start her own company, get a line of credit for $250,000, save $200,000 because she didn’t buy the other gentleman’s business and she was able to move forward. So now she’s, you know, she’s got, you know, two employees, she’s moving strong, she’s making sales. And, um, and she, and so that’s a, that’s an example of, of, of an individual that because they talked to us before making any decisions, we were able to help them navigate that process or navigate that scenario for her and put her in a better position versus her trying to navigate it on her own or trying to figure out what am I going to do? Or how am I going to do this? I’ve been here 19 years. Um, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do if he sells the business from under me. So we were able to help navigate that, that particular scenario.

Lee Kantor: Now, speaking about exiting a business, is there any kind of advice you can give for someone that, um, is going to exit their business? I would imagine this is something that you don’t want to be thinking about a month before you want to exit, that you should be starting the process many years, months, if not years earlier.

Erick Parker: Yes, yes. Um, so I would I say that we, you know, now we always hear, you know, begin with the end in mind, right? Stephen Covey begin with the end in mind. So when you start the business, you want to look at where you want to be down the road right at the end when you’re ready to exit. So just like a retirement plan, the earlier you start, the better off you are when you get there. Same thing with business. You know, we have to move forward and start off thinking from that standpoint of how are we going to exit the business before we get there? And again, you can’t write everything off and expect to sell the business, right? And I would even argue that if you are writing everything off, you’re not going to be able to maximize the amount of money that you can put in your retirement account. Again, I’m not I don’t sell retirement accounts, right? That’s not what I do. But we can be in a position where we can work with the business owner to help them, from an operational standpoint, generate enough revenue to put enough money in retirement So if they can’t sell the business or don’t sell the business, they can retire right comfortably, you know? So, um, so you definitely want to be thinking about it beforehand and as soon as possible, but you know, it’s never too late. If you think when you exit the business, we can still get in there and start working with you to put you in a position to, uh, be able to retire. It just may not be next year, right? If, if that’s the thought process, right?

Lee Kantor: Because you want to do it on your terms in the most optimal manner, you don’t want to just say, oh, I’m going to retire at 65 and you turn 65 and you just find somebody around the corner to sell it to. You want to be strategic.

Erick Parker: That’s exactly right. Exactly right. You know.

Lee Kantor: So now if somebody wants to learn more about your practice, um, and get on your calendar, is there a website? What’s the best way to connect.

Erick Parker: So they can go to ask erick dot com, askerick.com, again, askerick.com. Uh, fill out the contact form. It’ll be a free 30 minute consultation, uh, to just find out where they’re at, what their needs are. And, uh, and if there’s something we can assist them with. And even if they don’t move forward, maybe there’s some information that we can give them that can help them move the ball forward, you know, um, or give us some ideas of what they can do differently from what, what, what they’ve been doing.

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

Erick Parker: I appreciate you too. And thank you. Thank you very much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.