“Marketing is just hocus pocus and pixie dust” — does that feel familiar? Most of us are tired of wasting time and money on the latest marketing strategies that never seem to work. Jennifer Zick of Authentic Brand shares why one of her clients said this (and why it’s one of her favorite quotes of all-time) on today’s show. Not only did her company coin the phrase “Random Acts of Marketing,” Authentic Brand provides fractional chief marketing officer (CMO) services that get businesses back on track and making better marketing decisions for the long-term. Jennifer’s mission is to help bring big company marketing resources and planning to the middle market, so tune in to learn a few things about strategy and team alignment to achieve your sales and clientele goals particularly in the B2B space. We go over how to eliminate the random acts of marketing, including all the associated costs, headaches, and — most frustrating of all — lack of progress that comes with them. Authentic Brand’s unique approach combines marketers, methodology, and mindshare to deliver real revenue results for any business owner.   What You Will Learn What makes an elite fractional CMO Why the key truths of marketing hasn’t changed with new tools and technology The questions you have to answer when marketing - and why they haven’t changed What random acts of marketing means and why most companies are doing that When to use an agency versus a marketing leader How marketing helps the long term view for all divisions in a business How sales is different from marketing and how they are similar How to identify proof points - how to know if a plan is working when community building How to budget for a community building plan that reaps its rewards years down the road What marketing investment strategies have in common with baseball Why it’s so important for your marketing leaders and resources teams to be focused on the main goals The ways people are pivoting their marketing strategy when the supply chains are all messed up   Bio: With nearly twenty years of B2B marketing experience in innovative, entrepreneurial, and accelerated-growth companies, Jennifer brings a wealth of experience to B2B growth organizations.  Jennifer’s career has included several leadership roles for high-growth B2B professional services organizations, primarily centered on sales and marketing innovation through digital and SaaS technologies. Prior to launching Authentic Brand, Jennifer led marketing teams and programs for Magnet 360, PwC, and Corporate Visions. Jennifer is Past-President of the Minnesota Chapter of the Business Marketing Association – a national non-profit business association focused on B2B marketing – where she also served a prior term as VP of Events & Development. In 2014, Jennifer was honored by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal as the recipient of their “40 Under 40” award which recognizes young leaders who have been successful in business, while also making significant contributions to their communities. More recently, Jennifer has leveraged her network to create “two or more“- a grassroots community service movement that brings together business professionals from across the Twin Cities to volunteer, serve, and support local charities and social causes.   Quotes: 11:13 - “[Our CMOs] know what it takes to be at ground level and build from there, as good stewards of those resources. Right? Because there’s not established brand and market share already that provides this assumed brand air cover.” - Jennifer Zick 12:29 - “There are thousands of tactics, hundreds of channels, thousands of technologies. The amplification and the diversification and the complication of the marketing ecosystem has just blown up.” - Jennifer Zick 17:24 - “But if your brand is not strong and your message is not strong, you’re just going to make your message suck faster to more people.” - Jennifer Zick 20:06 - “Your market is not everybody. You’ve gotta drill down deep. And once you know who should matter to you and why you should matter to them, then you need to ask (to your point), ‘Then where do we intersect their world?’” - Jennifer Zick 24:04 - “It feels like you’re using random acts of marketing.” - Jennifer Zick 26:05 - “Data is part of [marketing]; it’s not the whole.” - Jennifer Zick 34:42 - “[In B2B], everybody deserves credit for every win. The most toxic thing you can do in a B2B culture, is try to separate out the credit for who got which deal.” - Jennifer Zick 34:58 - “There is no straight line to revenue in a B2B organization.” - Jennifer Zick 42:05 - “But guess who’s really influential in the search for authentic brand services? Not just the CEO, but their operator. Their integrator. Their COO or CFO.” - Jennifer Zick   Links and Resources: Jennifer Zick LinkedIn Authentic Brand Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.  

On today’s show, we’re going to dive into Andres Moran’s entrepreneurial journey and the lessons he learned from three exits, particularly as they relate to the various roles an owner can play. Currently he is the head of a division at WunderKind which is a SaaS company that helps ecommerce companies decrease their bounce rates and shopping cart abandonments. Prior to WunderKind Andres was the co-founder and Head of Business Development of Fundera - which was sold to NerdWallet. Fundera is a SaaS platform that compares multiple small business loan options at once (think Kayak for business loans). Andres had two businesses prior - his first company was a medical spa in Miami that he started with his sister, which was acquired several years later. His second venture was an online exercise rewards company called Earndit, which was acquired in 2013 by Higi, a company that measures and attaches a score to your personal health. We’re going to be diving into Andres’ entrepreneurial journey and the lessons he’s learned. One theme that continued to resurface was how important it was to understand the different roles we all play as business owners and entrepreneurs - and that is the difference between the job we have (our management role) which we get income for performing compared to our ownership role (our equity as an investor) and how these two roles need to be separate and dealt with differently. Both of these roles need to be designed based on the stage of the company and the personal needs of the founder. They need to be aligned with the future potential for value creation in the company (what Andres refers to as a lottery ticket or paper wealth) and the need to have our desired level of personal income. There is no universal prescription for this challenge but one thing is for sure - you need to understand the differences between these two roles and all the decisions that come with them. There is no better way to learn than to hear someone else’s story OR  by taking the Intentional Growth™ online training   What You Will Learn  Why investors in a startup can act as gatekeepers during an exit How to think about your management role (job) versus your ownership role (investor) The pros and cons when getting into business with family What Andres means by paper wealth and lottery tickets Why it can be difficult to compensate people who have both jobs and equity in the company How to build an “orbit” with competitors and potential buyers, and what that means The extra step to take when a private company is acquiring your company Why you shouldn’t mentally (or in reality) spend the money until the deal is done and the wire transfers are complete What Andres learned from his out-of-the-blue offer Finding the middle ground between your entrepreneurship bug and being “employed” The benefits to entering a well-funded company after a couple of exits and the growth potential there Why it’s important not to regret your decisions for less equity or higher salary based on your current living situation   Bio: Andres Moran is a serial entrepreneur with three exits under his belt. Currently, he is the head of a division at WunderKind, a SaaS company that helps ecommerce businesses decrease their bounce rates and shopping cart abandonments. Prior to WunderKind, Andres was the co-founder and Head of Business Development of Fundera, which was sold to NerdWallet. Fundera is a SaaS platform that compares multiple small business loan options at once (think Kayak for business loans). Andres’ first company was a medical spa in Miami that he started and sold with his sister. His second venture was an online exercise rewards company called Earndit, which was acquired in 2013 by Higi, a company that measures and attaches a score to your personal health.   Quotes: 12:33 - “We never reduced our pricing. I’m very averse to discounting. I’m much more in favor of premium pricing, premium product, premium experience.” - Andres Moran  17:05 - “Yeah, it gets tricky when you start talking about both the cash compensation and the equity compensation.” - Andres Moran 19:54 - “We, unfortunately, found ourselves in a commodity business, when, in the beginning, we did not believe it was going to be a commodity business but it became one, unfortunately.” - Andres Moran 20:05 - “I like businesses that operate in a, sort of, gray area of regulation.” - Andres Moran 20:56 - “If you’re in a commodity business, you better have a strong brand.” - Andres Moran 31:46 - “When it’s private company equity, there’s that extra step of, ‘Well, now we need a line on your equity.’ That’s the conversation we need to do under the hood, right?” - Andres Moran 32:22 - “You’ve traded one lottery ticket for another lottery ticket, but don’t be fooled. You’re still just hanging onto a lottery ticket.” - Andres Moran 47:55 - “The maturity date on these lottery tickets, when you’re dealing with private company stock, tends to be several, several years.” - Andres Moran 49:34 - “Typically, if I’m working at a company I didn’t start myself, my mind starts to wander and go into more entrepreneurial endeavors. And so I get distracted. Wunderkind is not a company I started myself. However, I have a real strong sense of home here. A sense of belonging. A sense that I am making an impact in the company.” - Andres Moran   Links and Resources: Wunderkind Andres Email: andres@wunderkind.co LinkedIn Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

In today’s episode, we’re talking with Pete Seligman. Pete is here to talk about his experience diving into the world of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) after leaving corporate America. He is going to share what his journey has been like now that he has bought five companies, been the CEO of three of them and successfully worked himself out of the job, sold two of the companies and sold a partial stake in the other three. Pete has the track record to prove that entrepreneurship through acquisition is not only possible but extremely accessible if you put your mind to it, create a plan and execute like hell. He proves that it is possible to buy a company, swoop in as a CEO who gets to know the people and industry, build a plan to grow enterprise value - ON PURPOSE- and successfully work yourself out of the business so that you can have options to keep growing other companies, choose to sit on the board and take distributions or sell the business.   What You Will Learn Why it’s important to calculate risk before investing Why Pete chose businesses he understood and how important it was when he was getting started Why you should grow and sell businesses that you know and are passionate about - plus how to delegate tasks to get growth you desire the importance of reinvesting back into a small business for future growth and value Pete’s favorite way to invest and how to manage his vision while recruiting people to do the things he can’t The three questions you should ask before placing a bid on a business Why you need to be able to work with the people in a small to medium business Why Pete didn’t take dividends for years and how doing that helped him sell fast Why Pete spent a lot on recruiting people when reinvesting in the business Understanding capacity is super important in a service business Why you grow by taking more market share rather than the market growing The relation growing a small business and starting a campfire have in common Why managing multiple businesses starts with acquiring the skill of delegation Outcomes are derived from how well you can coach your team - so long as you have the same idea of the course you need to go on The positive mindset business owners should have when they have sold their business   Bio: Pete Seligman one of Australasia's most experienced practitioners and a leading voice for Search Fund and ETA insights and advice.   Quotes: 06:37 - “I tried things and I failed. I wanted it to hurt, you know? If I fell off a bike, I wanted to actually skin my knee. Whereas in big corporate environments, all sorts of things can go wrong but because it’s such a big beast, you’re not really close to the action.” - Pete Seligman 19:26 - “What difference am I going to make? If there’s nothing that I can do that’s going to make it better than anyone else, then how am I, firstly, going to compete in the bidding process? And secondly, how am I going to make anything of it after I’ve bought it?” - Pete Seligman 24:37 - “Raising kids, there’s this concept of ‘quality time.’ I was reading in a book the other day, and it’s not actually about quality time; it’s about just time. In order to spend good time with you kids, you actually need to spend a lot of time with your kids, right? Because you never know when the quality is going to show up. And it’s similar with the relationship-building process with a vendor.” - Pete Seligman 38:18 - “I think it’s really important to make sure your house is in order. It makes for a better business and it makes for a more profitable business, but it also means that if someone does come knocking, you’re not scrambling, trying to figure out how to make your business look good.” - Pete Seligman 49:07 - “It’s unlikely you’re not going to find value in business operations and sales marketing in terms of top-line growth.” - Pete Seligman 57:51 - “The delegation thing is a really big challenge. It’s not easy. If anything, it’s the biggest reason why founder-led businesses hit the glass ceiling, because they can only make it to a certain number of people. Because if you get bigger than that, you need to delegate.” - Pete Seligman   Links and Resources: Pete Seligman’s website Pete’s LinkedIn Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp! You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

You can learn a lot from a world driven by growing enterprise value from day one. Let the expert who wrote two books on the subject walk you through the world of startups — from fundraising to exit — to show what focusing on the end goal can do for you and your company, starting today.Alejandro Cremades is a serial entrepreneur, M&A advisor, and author of the books The Art of Startup Fundraising and Selling Your Startup. He’s even been recognized by Barbara Corcoran of “Shark Tank” and is well-known for “The Deal Makers Podcast,” so to say he knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship is an understatement. Be ready to get pumped up about growth in this episode designed to help small- and mid-sized businesses navigate the funding landscape and achieve their long-term goals.   What You Will Learn Why Alejandro thinks exiting is 10x harder than raising capital What types of investors are out there any why they invest The differences between a strategic acquisition vs a financial acquisition and when each exit makes sense Why Alejandro says the biggest mistake is when founders think “they are the company” The different rounds in fundraising - and what the requirements and expectations are for each round The art of the deal when negotiating the valuation of your company with an investor (let them talk first so you can talk them up) How to balance your priorities with an investor’s priorities while scaling the company Why it’s important to have an M&A advisor in an exit and how to avoid bad decisions under stress The one question you need to ask when seriously considering an investor Why VC competition has expanded globally vs what it was like 15 years ago Which businesses are going to suffer when a market corrects itself What Private equity and venture capital truly invests in (numbers vs founders)   Bio: Alejandro Cremades is a serial entrepreneur and the author of The Art of Startup Fundraising (foreword by ‘Shark Tank‘ star Barbara Corcoran) and recently released Selling Your Startup. Most recently, he started Panthera Advisors, a premier investment banking and financial consulting firm after his own exit. Alejandro built and exited CoFoundersLab which is one of the largest communities of founders online with over 500,000 members. Prior to CoFoundersLab, he worked as a lawyer at King & Spalding where he was involved in one of the biggest investment arbitration cases in history ($113 billion at stake).  Alejandro is an active speaker and has given guest lectures at the Wharton School of Business, Columbia Business School, and at NYU Stern School of Business. He have been involved with the JOBS Act since inception and was invited to the White House and the US House of Representatives to provide his stands on the new regulatory changes concerning fundraising online.   Quotes: 11:56 - “When people raise money, they don’t realize that when you’re raising money, there is money in with expectations of money out.” - Alejandro Cremades 12:35 - “The way you raise money today is going to impact the way that you raise money tomorrow but then also, they way that you can exit your business.” - Alejandro Cremades 15:14 - “You should never think about fundraising as money. You need to think about fundraising as networks. It’s all about turning around the money and really thinking–more than anything–about who is giving you the money and how you can leverage their network in order to get to where you want to be, because companies, every eighteen to twenty-four months, they transform.” - Alejandro Cremades 29:55 - “You think you are the company, and that is a mistake because eventually, that company is going to die. It’s going to merge. It’s going to go bankrupt. Or whatever, but that company is not going to be in business forever.” - Alejandro Cremades 37:59 - “That’s why I find that, when you’re going through an exit, you need to have a team that is able to take the reins and really, to avoid as much as possible, the impact that is going to be caused by you being distracted from the execution.” - Alejandro Cremades 47:11 - “I think there’s going to be a correction on the market. We’ve been on this bull run for such a long time.” - Alejandro Cremades 56:23 - “One of the things that I always come across (in terms of, like, what are those similarities) is that those [successful] entrepreneurs really care about listening.” - Alejandro Cremades   Links and Resources: The Art of StartUp Fundraising DealMakers Podcast Email: Alejandrocremadas.com Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

My guest today is Chris Yeh, entrepreneur, investor, writer, and mentor with two Bachelor’s degrees with distinction from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. Chris co-authored the New York Times best-seller The Alliance as well as the book Blitzscaling with Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn). Chris wrote Blitzscaling with Reid to explain how some of the largest companies in the world like Amazon, AirBNB, and Uber use a very specific set of offensive, competitive strategies that prioritize speed to achieve massive scale at incredible speed. In this episode, Chris is going to demystify what some of the world's most valuable companies did in order to reach their highest highs and then break down his concept of blitzscaling. He’ll even go over the principles and methodologies in his book and how they apply to any idea or business. We’ll break down the different principles and methodologies in the book and how they can apply to any idea or business.   What You Will Learn How to compete and grow faster than the competition in a winner-take-all market The three key principles of blitzscaling and how they work Business model innovation Strategy innovation Management innovation How the world's most valuable companies use a framework for growth called blitzscaling The five stages of growth a blitzscaling company will go through Why tying your ego in with the company is extremely dangerous Ways to evolve that all-important culture as your company grows How the blitzscaling growth model has changed the world and created the most valuable companies What the network effect is and how it fits into a company’s flywheel Why you must define “what is better” compared to “what currently exists” How to intelligently calculate risks — and why risks are beneficial in innovation Why it’s “better to be a pirate than join the navy” and what that means Current thoughts on raising money and the truth about valuations   Bio: Chris Yeh is a writer, investor, and entrepreneur who has had a ringside seat in the world of startups and scaleups since 1995. He has authored such books as The Alliance and Blitzscaling (co-authored with Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn), the book that explains how to build world-changing companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Airbnb in record time. His books help founders, venture capitalists, corporate leaders, policymakers, and everyday people better understand how the internet has changed the way we work together to build amazing organizations.   Quotes: 13:20 - “It really is the case that these feedback loops are getting stronger and stronger. [...] The feedback loop of talent and capital. We’ve seen this happen. Companies that breakout to an early lead find it much easier to attract great talent and the follow-on capital and that’s because people love a winner.” - Chris Yeh 13:53 - “Think of the number of millionaires that have been minted by the Facebooks and the Googles and the AirBnBs of the world.” - Chris Yeh 14:40 - “There’s a little bit of a controversy there because the term Blitzscaling is explicitly modeled on the term Blitzkrieg, which you may remember from your history lessons of WWII. It’s the concept of a lightning war, where your forces go out ahead of their supply line, and is moving faster than anyone is possibly anticipating. It’s a high risk, high reward strategy.” - Chris Yeh 16:00 - “The associations with blitz are very different but they all share the same thing. When you hear the word blitz–whether you’re thinking about it from a historical perspective or a modern sports perspective– you’re thinking about taking a risk and really going for it.” - Chris Yeh 30:15 - “I think a big part of [successfully breaking out of that traditional mold] is having comfort with uncertainty and risk.” - Chris Yeh 32:56 - “The piratical approach has been long worshipped at Silicon Valley. Now we are very careful to distinguish between the lovable rogue and the sociopathic killer.” - Chris Yeh 36:56 - “You have to adapt and adjust. What happens is, as you grow your company, you’ve got these marines that have taken this beach for you, you’ve got to find them another beach. Cause taking a bunch of marines and telling them, ‘Now you’re going to be cops.’ Bad idea.” - Chris Yeh 42:38 - “When you grow quickly, all the normal processes break down.” - Chris Yeh 43:20 - “The reason that culture is important is because when a company grows that quickly, the founder can’t be everywhere. There’s not just enough you to go around. In order for people to make the right decisions when you’re not there, you have to be able to build a culture.” - Chris Yeh   Links and Resources: Wasabi Venture Partners Chris’s Website “Blitzscaling 08: Eric Schmidt on Structuring Teams and Scaling Google” Youtube Video Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

Today we’re interviewing Baird Hall, an entrepreneur who has successfully built a business from scratch and exited with a smile on his face. As a sales engineer selling data integration systems at a startup in Charleston, he was always looking for a creative outlet. Something where he could do his own thing. This longing led him to choose the path of entrepreneurship. In this episode, he offers lessons he’s learned along the way. We’re going to be talking about how he started, scaled, and sold Wavve, a SaaS company built for sharing podcast audio clips. He talks about the right mindset and how to “stay in check” so you can stay true to yourself and do everything for the right reason - if you let your ego get in the way you will hit those anxiety periods - and you have to know how to course correct. Software as a service (SaaS) is an increasingly popular sales and business model that has a unique ability to discover and solve issues in unserviced markets. On today’s show, we’re doing a deep dive into one SaaS industry entrepreneur’s journey—from bad investments to seven-figure deals—to show how it’s possible to do a lot of good while making money. Baird Hall shares his greatest success of selling Wavve to Calm Capital after only four years in business and how it allowed him to realign his long-term vision with his career by solving real issues in an intentional and self-aware way through entrepreneurship. Learn how his personal drivers kept him in check when he got off track and how he grew from zero to over 200,000 users and $1.5M in ARR in this episode   What You Will Learn Why it’s important to build your business off of your personality traits How Wavve scaled to 200,000 users and $1.5M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within only a few years How to reflect on those anxiety pits that can surface when you are not in “the zone” Why failure can be a great thing, but you shouldn’t “fail fast” The difference between educating a market and listening to the market When Baird and his partner decided to start pulling money out of the business What methods Wavve used to maintain their growth How your personal drivers play a big part in your business—and what happens if you veer off course Why creativity and growth go hand in hand when scaling a SaaS business The importance of building social capital with different stakeholders How to plan out a successful scale by setting goals tied to target MRR The pros and cons to hiring a business broker to sell your business How Baird negotiated the sale of Wavve completely through Slack Understanding what your priorities are (what do you want from the business and why) in the exit is in the best interest of both parties How to identify some signs that it may be a good time to sell Listening to customers to help you grow—and how that’s different with B2C vs B2B Why failure helps you figure out what you want to learn   Bio: Baird Hall is a four-time SaaS founder with broad experience in the market. He has no trouble sharing his failures right alongside his successes because he knows the value of the lessons he’s learned from both. Baird now works to reduce churn through customizing and improving offboarding experiences through his company Churnkey.   Quotes: 10:07 - “But then it was just, we felt the pull. It’s hard to explain that if you haven’t felt that pull in your business before. People would just come to our website to ask, ‘How do I do this? How can I make this better? How do I do X, Y, and Z to my video?’ And you can just feel it.” - Baird Hall 14:13 - “When I’m focused on outcomes, it’s usually my ego that gets in the way and that always throws me off course.” - Baird Hall 15:07 - “[When I’ve had anxiety] it’s always been around trying to fit some model of success that I think other people have. Selling the business was definitely one of them. That was definitely a badge I thought I should get from an entrepreneurial standpoint. But looking back, I mean, nobody really cares. Looking back, I need to be focused on why I am doing things.” - Baird Hall 19:59 - “What’s the point of failing fast? The point of failing is to learn. If you can learn what doesn’t work and what is not a good fit for you, that’s going to help you. It’s easier to just cross things off the list than to pick the most optimum outcome.” - Baird Hall 30:41 - “It seems like, in B2B, you need to build up social equity.” - Baird Hall 57:12 - “There was a guy that was on my show years ago (I steal this quote all the time now), he goes, ‘Now as an entrepreneur, I’m professionally unemployable.” - Ryan Tansom 57:42 - “What do you personally want? What is it that you want out of life? And, I think, there are a lot of people that just don’t distill that down. They need to figure out and write that down. It’s hard to get a bunch of things out of life, but you can always get a couple.” - Baird Hall, on his definition of intentional   Links and Resources: Baird Hall’s Linkedin Baird Hall’s Twitter Churnkey Churnkey blog post about acquisition Baird’s YouTube video about Churnkey’s acquisition Previous episode: THE GREAT GAME OF BUSINESS – THE ONLY SENSIBLE WAY TO RUN A COMPANY with Jack Stack Previous episode: WHAT IS AN ESOP: A DEEP DIVE HOW EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLANS WORK with Dave Diehl Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

If you only think of fast food restaurants when you think of Franchising, then this podcast will completely shift your mindset. Jon Ostenson is on the show to demystify how Franchising works, how it can be used to scale your current company, as an investment asset class to grow your wealth, or as a way to start your entrepreneurial journey (on 3rd base). Jon got his start in corporate America working for Accenture before he left to become President of a Shelfgenie - a national brand with 200 locations. Now, Jon is the CEO of FranBridge Consulting, a franchise investor himself, author of 'The Franchise Path', and international speaker specializing in the area of non-food franchising.   What You Will Learn Franchising can be a strategy to grow your brand with other people’s money Why franchising is a great alternative to starting from scratch Why franchising forces the owner to view their business as a financial asset You don’t have to go into a industry that you know - or have experience in Franchising could mean faster scalability The importance of additional support for franchisee’s and how it relates to royalty free Where success comes from as a franchisee Why markups are super profitable as a franchisor and how to make it a win-win for everyone People love the “non-sexy” spaces Getting started on the FDD (franchise disclosure document) and how to begin your franchisor endeavour Why outsourcing your sales team from the start is a great idea as a franchisor How the franchise industry can play a part in the generational wealth transfer   Bio: Jon is a consultant, investor, author, and international speaker specializing in the area of non-food franchising. He draws on his experience as both the President of an Inc. 500 franchise system and as a multi-brand franchisee in serving clients across these capacities. Jon serves as CEO of FranBridge Consulting where he helps clients understand all aspects of non-food franchising in the process of introducing them to opportunities from the over 300 high growth brands that he represents. Additionally, Jon oversees FranBridge Capital where he and his partners own 17 territories across 5 property service franchises. Jon is the author of 'The Franchise Path' and is a frequent contributor and thought leader for publications on the topic of franchising and franchise investments. Prior to FranBridge, Jon was the President of ShelfGenie, a national franchise system with 200 locations. Prior to ShelfGenie, Jon was the Vice President of Sales for Carter’s Inc., responsible for over $350M in annual sales. Jon began his career as a Consultant with Accenture, often working Internationally on behalf of clients. Jon has BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Georgia and lives in Atlanta, GA where he and his wife have 3 children and are active in the community.     Quotes: - "Private equity has been looking for places that will get a decent return without taking insane risks..." - "Private Equity is getting more aggressive in the Franchising space because - by the nature of the industry - the companies have to build sustainable business models that are scalable." - "Most people, when they think about franchising their company, think that their only revenue stream is through franchise fees." - "When becoming a franchisee, you understand that you have all your marketing material, sales assistance and technology in place. However you need more than proven systems In order to succeed. Just like starting a business from scratch, you need to hire rock star players to be the face of your company." - "Food is not the only option when it comes to buying a franchise. Especially now a days those “non-sexy” blue collar businesses are really turning a profit in the franchise world."   Links and Resources: Jon Ostenson, email Jon Ostenson, Linkedin FranBridge Consulting Book mentioned: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

My guest today is Mike Sowers. Mike rehabbed, flipped, wholesaled, and rented over a thousand properties in his first decade of investing, He was on the podcast sharing how he sold his residential rehab company for millions of dollars and all the things he learned (before and after the sale). Hegot involved in commercial real estate investing after selling his business and has done over $150 million in real estate transactions. As the CEO and founder of Commercial Investors Group, author of Commercial Real Estate Investing, a step by step guide to finding and funding your first deal and the host of the Creative Commercial Real Estate Podcast, I thought he would be a wonderful guest and could give great insight on his process for investing in real estate. In fact, he has a 7 step process commercial real estate investing and he happily delves into that as well as his comparisons to investing in commercial real estate and viewing your company as a financial asset. Namely, how to view them both and how to grow value. Mike is the real deal. This is not some BS fluffy episode about theories. He has real live stories from things he’s done and that are super actionable. He hands out tips that he has learned from his experience and shares stories about his journey into real estate.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview Mike Sowers’ background and real estate journey How to invest in commercial real estate How real estate investment compares to owning your own business The perks of buying real estate The seven steps to successful commercial real estate investment Mike’s tips on how to invest in commercial real estate The perks of real estate partnerships and investing   Are You Growing The Value of Your Business Take The 2-Minute Assessment To Get Your Intentional Growth Score™ And 1-Page Vision Board. Are your company's current initiatives intentionally designed to increase the value of the business? Do you know what you want from your business long term and why? Do you know what your company is worth? Do you know the differences between Management, Family Transitions, PE Firms, ESOPs and Strategic Buyers? Does the business have a written strategic plan on how to achieve the desired normalized EBITDA and valuation?   About the Guest: Mike Sowers rehabbed, flipped, wholesaled, and rented over a thousand properties in his first decade of investing, but decided he was ready for something bigger. A LOT bigger. So he sold his multimillion-dollar remodeling business, modified his residential investing system for commercial use, and added an extra digit to every deal. As of Today, Mike has done over $150 million in real estate transactions. He is the CEO and founder of Commercial Investors Group and the host of the Creative Commercial Real Estate Podcast. He cracked the code on how to automate a commercial real estate investing business and his team has done some mega deals netting multiple 7 figures per deal. He gives you the exact strategy he uses in this book to consistently generate off market deals and fund them by structuring equity partnerships to split the profits.   Quotes: 13:49  - “Most people know about depreciation. I find that a lot of people don’t know about bonus depreciation.” – Mike Sowers 16:17  - “You can participate in different forms, whether you’re super active or passive, but it’s about understanding the game and I think entrepreneurs like to participate a little more than handing over a little over a portfolio to a Schwab account and having no control.” – Ryan Tansom 46:33  - “So after the funding, you’re basically underwriting the deal, raising the equity, and you’re raising the debt.” – Mike Sowers 58:08  - “The last thing you need is to attend another seminar or read another book to get you excited. You’re either already excited or you're not. What you need to do is figure out if you’re an active or a passive investor.” – Mike Sowers 59:17  - “One of the hardest things for people to do, when they get started in this, is to walk through a property and put together a scope of work and a price.” – Mike Sowers   Links and Resources: Mike’s previous episode, “Rebuilding with Purpose” Mike’s email Free PDF of Mike’s book, Commercial Real Estate Investing “Commercial Real Estate Investing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding and Funding Your First Deal” by Mike Sowers Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp! You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.  

On today’s show, Karen Laine from HGTV’s ‘Good Bones’ will be talking about business transitions and planning. She will also be talking about what it was like to take a backseat while her daughter took over the business and took it to the next level. She goes over all of the successes and challenges that came with that transition, and she’ll also offer some tips on how to overcome some of those challenges. She’s also a mom, a lawyer, a renovator, and boss. She practiced law as a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney in the 1990s. Then, in 2007, Karen and her daughter Mina began to transform and rehabilitate neighborhoods in Indianapolis. In 2014, they were approached by High Noon Entertainment (the same production company who made Fixer Upper). They met via Skype and after some negotiations, Good Bones was born and aired on HGTV. In 2021, season six of Good Bones will premiere as the production of season seven is ongoing. If you’ve worked in a family business with multiple generations, you know all about the different challenges and the various relationships involved in this sort of partnership. How do you align your visions alongside the transitions, family buyouts, and all of the other ingredients that go into that blender? Karen and Mina are so open about these challenges on the show and Karen is just as open as she answers my questions in this episode.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview Karen’s transition from mother to lawyer to businesswoman The journey to HGTV Challenges associated with partnering with family Pros and cons to different mindsets in a business partnership Healthy communication within a multi-generation business partnership Knowing when you need to wear different hats The division within the business What to do when your visions evolve and possibly misalign How different generations can work well together Finding appropriate outlets for creativity The importance of reinventing yourself and redefining yourself after an exit   Are You Growing The Value of Your Business Take The 2-Minute Assessment To Get Your Intentional Growth Score™ And 1-Page Vision Board. Are your company's current initiatives intentionally designed to increase the value of the business? Do you know what you want from your business long term and why? Do you know what your company is worth? Do you know the differences between Management, Family Transitions, PE Firms, ESOPs and Strategic Buyers? Does the business have a written strategic plan on how to achieve the desired normalized EBITDA and valuation?   About the Guest: Karen Laine is a businesswoman, attorney, TV personality from her show Good Bones, and mother.  After growing tired of her regular routine as an attorney, she discovered her love of renovating. She paired up with her daughter Mina and started “Two Chicks and a Hammer,” a home renovation business.   Quotes: 05:07 - “Lawyer was after mom. So I was a mom and then I went to law school and became a lawyer. [So diapers, then paperwork.] Yes, right. It, kind of, prepares you. ‘Cause what you find in diapers is often what you find in legal cases. It’s the same.” – Karen Laine 13:33 - “I’ll be out in public and someone will say, ‘Hi Karen.’ And I’ll say, ‘I don’t remember where I know you from.’ And they will say, ‘You don’t know me. I know you from TV.’ Oh, that’s right. I have a TV show.” – Karen Laine 16:15 - “She is more motivated by the financial aspect, which is really important when you’re in a partnership with someone like me, who is more motivated by the emotional aspect.” – Karen Laine 34:25 - “I think part of it was the different personalities. I saw my value as intellectual property. And Mina saw her value as time property.” – Karen Laine 35:41 - “That’s the problem with doing business with family, is that it’s not just business. It’s not. All the family stuff gets brought into the business and so things that don’t belong in the business become emotional triggers for business decisions.” – Karen Laine 43:51 - “The main thing is, family is way more important than any business. It just is. If business is creating a conflict in any family, the business is what has to go, because the family is what has to stay.” – Karen Laine   Links and Resources: Twitter: @mammachick1 HGTV | Karen E Laine TikTok: @kelaine217 YouTube: Karen E. Laine Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course ARKONA Boot Camp Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.

On today’s show, I’m talking with Pete Martin, who started, scaled, and sold four of his previous companies (including car leasing, systems integration consulting, business process outsourcing, and software distribution). Pete will share how he intentionally applied what he learned in the first couple exits to his last venture in order to scale up EntryPoint to sell to KPMG for 12x EBITDA without having to go with the sale or take an earn out. This is a very rare story because many times professional services companies are valued around 1x revenue or a small multiple of EBITDA with an earn out.  Pete explains how he created a company manifesto at the very beginning, created a very unique service and pricing model and then scaled up using very little cash… all on purpose.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview   How and why Pete created a company manifesto on day one How seeing his business as an asset helped Pete achieve his goals Why Pete declined a $5M customer contract Why you should look at 5 years for an ROI on each hire What polling your employees about culture and values will tell you about your business When to hire full-time or part-time employees and what that means for culture The underappreciated impact of invoicing on your cash flow and company (for employees and customers) Ways to scale your company without using any capital How to balance cash flow when hiring, whether contractors or salaried positions What happens when a company lives in accordance to its values, as well as the long-term client Pete secured by owning up to an expensive mistake How to get out of the owner’s trap (when you are the key employee) How to build a narrative that allows a strategic buyer to buy into the reasons they should acquire your company How Pete got the business sale unstuck within 30 minutes after talking to the VP of KPMG The difference between a strategic buyer vs a financial buyer of a business  What happens when you tie outcomes to your Net Promoter Score and get your employees aligned with that Clarify Your Path Towards a More Valuable Business and Turn Your Vision into Reality CLICK HERE to get 5 Videos to help you clarify your vision and start making progress    About the Guest: Pete Martin worked in sales, operations, and executive management for over 25 years beginning in sales at IBM, executive management at SAP, and then building six of his own companies. Pete has been personally involved in the sales of over $1 billion dollars of software, services, and technology to global companies including Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Eli Lilly, and Continental General Tire, as well as small to medium-sized businesses. Pete started, scaled, and sold four out of four previous companies (two remain active including AskMyBoard) including car leasing, systems integration consulting, business process outsourcing, and software distribution. His last firm was sold to the global auditing giant, KPMG.   Quotes: 07:08 - “Even though I made, pretty much, nothing on the exit, the learning in the time that I owned it was pretty much priceless. That was basically a million dollar MBA.” - Pete Martin 12:00 - “Let’s just go build a really, highly valuable company. Because when you do that, you have lots of options.” - Pete Martin 15:36 - “Those first couple of hires that you bring on board will pretty much, irreversibly, set the culture. So you’ve got to be really mindful of what you do up front.” - Pete Martin 23:57 - “We used to take our employees through, we called it, Finance 101 because we wanted them to understand the impact of ‘not getting your timesheet in so we can invoice’ has on the company.” - Pete Martin 26:35 - “The value of a business that has a bunch of independent contractors is not worth the lot, because anybody can go replicate that tomorrow.” - Pete Martin   Links and Resources: Pete Martin AskMyBoard.com Email: pmartin@askmyboard.com Intentional Growth™ Training and Digital Course Reach out to me if you have questions about the Intentional Growth™ Training Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!   You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io, or on my LinkedIn.