Intentional Growth

Want to know what it took for a Black woman CEO to succeed in Silicon Valley in the early IBM years — and still be at the top of her game today?  If you’ve ever felt like you’re facing insurmountable odds, this episode is for you. Shellye Archambeau shares her incredible journey to show you how staying true to your values and aligned to your long-term vision while making (sometimes ruthless) decisions will get you to your goals.  As her new book suggests, Shellye is unapologetically ambitious and thinks you should be too. Listen as she highlights the importance of having cheerleaders on your side as well as standing your ground when your convictions are challenged. As her new book suggests, Shellye is unapologetically ambitious and thinks you should be too.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview The similarities in being a CEO and running a club Why it was the "right, holistic decision" to return to work after only five weeks of maternity leave to further her career (and why later she would commute for three years instead of move her family) The difference between choice and sacrifice Why she can’t stand the term "work/life balance" How washing a pie plate changed her entire life The importance of having a shared long-term vision with key players in your life and seeking help along the way to avoid burning out before achieving your potential What your "backpack" looks like, how everyone’s is slightly different and what this means for our interactions How cheerleaders helped Shellye overcome major issues and why you should recruit your own Why it’s ridiculous to compare yourself to other people When you should swerve or stay the course and how to adjust your goals accordingly How planning makes it easier to step into ambitious roles and achieve aspirations   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: Shellye Archambeau is one of Silicon Valley's first Black women CEOs. MetricStream, a recognized global leader in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) software solutions, was recognized for growth and innovation under her leadership and made the top ten of the“Deloitte Technology Fast 50” as well as was named a global leader in GRC by leading independent analyst firms for nine consecutive years. Shellye has also served on a number of boards, helping build brands, high performance teams and organizations. Her first book, Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms, is one of Fortune’s best business books of 2020 and a summation of her journey thus far. Her new focus is to impact and inspire the next generation of professionals so they can improve their odds of achieving what they want out of life.    Quotes: 05:10 - “What has to be true for me to actually achieve it.” – Shellye Archambeau 07:19 - “If I just did what everyone else did, I wasn’t going to get very much.” – Shellye Archambeau 11:19 - “I was sick and tired of – especially women and people of color – ‘Oh, you’re ambitious,’ and it’s not meant as a compliment. Which is ridiculous.” – Shellye Archambeau 12:25 - “Everyone--EVERYONE--has the right to be ambitious and no one should have to apologize for it.”  – Shellye Archambeau 13:50 - “What having that goal, and the plan, does is it gives you the framework so you can better optimize your choices and decisions so that you are able to improve your odds to achieve the success you are trying to create for yourself.” – Shellye Archambeau 20:44 - “‘Mom, I am not willing to work as hard as you work and end up with the smallest piece of pie.’ And she said, ‘Shellye, I don’t care about that pie. I have everything that I care about, so you decide what you care about and go after that. The rest of it? Doesn’t matter.’” – Shellye Archambeau 22:13 - “I cannot stand the term work-life balance.” 22:21 - “A balance is a fixed structure. It’s static; even on both sides at all times. I don’t know about you, Ryan, but my life is not static. My life is ups-and-downs and curves.” – Shellye Archambeau 22:54 - “I believe in work-life integration. I am one person with one head; therefore, I take my professional priorities and my personal priorities, I put them together and I prioritize – ruthlessly. And what that typically means is that there are some things that aren’t going to get done or I have to find someone else to do them. And that’s okay.” – Shelly Archambeau 23:53 - “Integrate your life in a way that it is one life and you are getting done what you need to get done across the spectrum.” – Shellye Archambeau 25:50 - “I was giving 100% of myself away.” – Shellye Archambeau 28:50 - “Life is hard. People just don’t tell you. Given that life is hard, we need help. So take help and get help along the way. Because this is just too hard to do yourself.”  – Shellye Archambeau 37:29 - “Decide for yourself what you’re willing to be judged on.” – Shellye Archambeau 44:40 - “Don’t let them impact how you feel. Don’t let them win.” – Shellye Archambeau   Links and Resources: Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms by Shellye Archambeau Shellye Archambeau official website Twitter: @shelarchambeau LinkedIn: Shellye Archambeau Instagram: @ShelArchambeau 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’s show is all about growth rate: the rate you should target, how to identify that rate, what you can do to manage your growth and how much you can expect that growth to cost you. Listen in as Kevin Trout, former founder and owner of Grandview Medical Resources, Inc. — a fast-growing and award-winning specialty medical equipment distributor to hospitals and healthcare providers — explains how he landed on his optimal growth rate of 20% and gives specific examples of the tactical marketing they implemented to scale the company and compete with the industry giants. Kevin started out with a maxed-out credit card and sold the business years later when they were doing millions of dollars of revenue, multiple product lines and over 60 employees.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview The way Kevin’s focus led to doubling revenue within six months How Kevin went from maxing out his credit cards to a $1 million line of credit and 23% growth rate What the maximum sustainable growth rate is for distribution companies and how Kevin challenged it The importance of understanding where your financing comes from because you’ll just keep eating your float otherwise and grow right into bankruptcy Why Kevin started with the end in mind when deciding the growth rate Your P&L statement shouldn’t be a surprise to you Why Kevin set out to capture the patients most underserved by hospitals and how this impacted his bottom line How to achieve excellent profits through rentals How vertical integration works, why more companies need to be focusing on that, and how incentive plans typically encourage horizontal integration and are missing big segments of the markets they already serve The value in complementing vs competing and winning clients through good service rather than aggressive sales What “flanking the enemy” means in marketing and how to pull it off with style The false dichotomy of offense and defense and how it hurts your strategy How knowing he was building to sell let him The benefits of maximizing profits, paying down debt and investing in technology before you sell your company Why, despite an intentionally designed and successfully executed sale, Kevin wishes he’d known more about the impact of culture, EOS, how to build value and exit planning How building a business is like driving a manual transmission — you need to know when to push in the clutch   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: Kevin Trout is the former founder and owner of Grandview Medical Resources, Inc., a fast-growing and award-winning specialty medical equipment distributor to hospitals and healthcare providers. Kevin is now a Vistage Chair, where he leads four private peer-advisory boards and coaches, mentors and advises CEOs and business owners on strategic growth, leadership skills, and developing and retaining their top talent. He is also a past president and long-time board member of the Independent Medical Distributors Association of North America, so he truly knows his industry. Kevin holds a degree in Pre-Law/Criminology with a minor in Business from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, as well as a degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business — Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence.   Quotes: 09:14 - “We were selling a little bit of everything, not enough of anything.” – Kevin Trout 12:28 - “I risked it all with the credit cards.” – Kevin Trout 17:48 - “It was really about knowing where I wanted to go and coming up with a plan on how to get there.” – Kevin Trout 23:23 - “Horizontal integration is adding more customers to your customer base. Vertical integrations is selling more products to the customers you already have.” – Kevin Trout 26:24 - “We just had to do a better job than them to get the business.” – Kevin Trout 26:41 - “I’m not here to compete; I’ll complement. I’ll take over where they leave off, and if you really like working with us, you may give us their business at some point in the future.” – Kevin Trout 34:59 - “I think you have to be intentional--very intentional--about all the things we talked about. Have I seen that in other companies? No.” – Kevin Trout 36:10 - “They’re always talking about lowest price wins, but that’s not really true; it’s about the value that you deliver for the dollar you charge. Only 7% of buyers buy based on lowest price—93% buy based on value.” – Kevin Trout 40:07 - “It’s not like it’s my baby. I started it with the intent to sell it somewhere down the road.” – Kevin Trout 41:35 - “We went from $124 million in revenue to $24 million four years later.” – Kevin Trout 44:33 - “Technology is less expensive than employees.” – Kevin Trout 54:36 - “If I were to go back and talk to myself at the time I started the company, it would be something along the lines of understand how to control your growth and build value, and know where you want to end up in 5 to 15 years.” – Kevin Trout 58:23 - “You’ve got to delegate to elevate.” – Kevin Trout   Links and Resources: Kevin Trout email: kevin.trout@vistagechair.com Vistage website Kevin Trout 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.

Straight from the leading global expert, this episode is all about trust: how you get it, how you grow it and how you get it back if you lose it. And we do lose it, every day, unless we’re actively putting in effort to prevent the attrition. How you constantly and consistently show up for people — whether they’re employees, vendors or customers — is how they’ll trust you to show up, so ask yourself: what message are you sending? The big takeaway is that trust is the most important thing that makes the world go round. Trust is more important than capital. Capital comes after people trust one another. The most important thing you can do is to earn the trust of all your stakeholders. Growing the value of your business comes after earning the trust of others.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview Howhis 8 pillars of trust can solve every organizational or leadership issue The practical metrics that help you build the skills required to build trust How to engage with contrary viewpoints and start productive conversations Coaching advice for employers and managers looking to improve engagement and results What healthy coaching is and how to build a workplace culture that encourages it How speaking his truth lost him a client temporarily but ultimately deepened the client’s trust in him for the long-term The importance of accountability groups that operate as trust circles where you’re held to what you say and forced to examine your level of truthfulness Three places you can find good advisors and how to evaluate if they’re a fit for you based on the number of touch points you share The benefit of actively pursuing alternative points of view to increase your ability to build trust in others Tips on building (and rebuilding) trust in any relationship Why saying “I’m sorry” makes you a lying apologizer if you don’t follow-through on your new commitment (the real purpose of an apology)   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: David Horsager (MA, CSP, CPAE) is CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute and a global authority on helping leaders and organizations become the most trusted in their industry. He is the inventor of The Enterprise Trust Index™, director of the annual study The Trust Outlook™, and national bestselling author of The Trust Edge and Trusted Leader: 8 Pillars That Drive Results. With clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to professional sports teams and global governments, David has taken the platform across the United States and on 6 continents.   Quotes: 08:12 -  “The number one reason people want to work for an organization is trusted leaders.” – David Horsager 08:49 - “I believe nothing affects the bottom line more than trust. I believe trust is always the leading indicator.” – David Horsager 09: 13 - “The biggest Harvard studies show that diversity on its own pits people against each other unless you increase trust. The only way to get the great value of diversity is by increasing trust.” – David Horsager 11:19 - “Trust takes a long time to build! It can, but in a moment of crisis like 9/11, complete strangers trusted each other in a second if they’re running in the same direction.” – David Horsager 11:38 - “Your fastest opportunity to build trust is in crisis. You have a massive opportunity if people are ticked off at you to build trust than at any other time.” – David Horsager 14:49 - “Atrophy is guaranteed without intentional action.” – David Horsager 15:51 - “Every relationship you have is atrophying every single day because of two things: time and change.” – David Horsager 18:55 - “If you get the right language, you have a chance at solving it.” – David Horsager 26:44 - “Show them the impact that they’re making, but some will not get it.” – David Horsager 34:46 -  “When you have a healthy organization, they can push you or mitigate your weaknesses.” – David Horsager 35:59 -  “If you’re doing leadership alone, you’re doing it wrong.” – David Horsager 42:33 - “The people that I trust are reading things different than themselves.” – David Horsager 49:06 - “Institutional trust is down and has gone down drastically since Watergate in the US.” – David Horsager 50:30 - “People are trusting businesses and entrepreneurs to do what’s right for the best of all more than about any other institution.” – David Horsager 52:37 - “The question we want to ask is: is that loving to all? Is that loving the customer? Is that loving my employees?” – David Horsager 55:27-  “Attrition costs 2.5 hiring costs.” – David Horsager   Links and Resources: David Horsager official website The 8 Pillars of Trust that Will Accelerate or Destroy a Company Ep. #182 with David Horsager The Trust Edge (How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line), by David Horsager Trusted Leader: 8 Pillars that Drive Results, by David Horsager Intentional Growth listener freebies from The Trusted Leader website Trust Edge Coaching Trust Outlook 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.

How clear is your company’s BHAG? Are you the best person to run the day-to-day operations of your company? Today’s episode is a perspective shift as we speak to Ron Alvesteffer, the key employee behind massive culture and fiscal shifts at Service Express, who took the company from $2.8 million to $240 million. Ron highlights the importance of a clear BHAG and how it aligns the company’s strategic plan, financials and core values. He shares how trusting your staff to do the jobs you hired them to do and the impact training future owners, not just employees, has on your bottom line. This is not one to miss if you’re looking for a practical way to implement systems and processes that will bring a higher valuation and greater corporate culture to your enterprise.   What You Will Learn In Today’s Podcast Interview The importance of clarifying and executing on your BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) How Service Express maintains double-digit growth almost every year Why the mindset Ron had as the president and non-owner helped him focus on growing enterprise value The importance of getting clear on what you want, where you’re going and what you’re willing to do to get there How having his founder mentor him set the bar for Ron getting all of his staff to think like business owners What Ron learned the first time they tried to exit the business Why you should stop working hard in the business and instead work on it What each round of private equity financing did (and didn’t do) for his business Why the business chose not to bring in a strategic buyer or an operating partner when looking for growth opportunities How to identify and categorize your needs as a seller so you can rate potential buyers The value of understanding the size of your market opportunity, how you position against competitors, and getting clear on your strategy, plan and financial projects What impact repeatable processes and systems without customer or location concentration has on valuation How to grow your staff to be capable of the jobs you trust them with   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: Ron Alvesteffer is the President and CEO of Service Express, which sells service contracts to finish server, storage and networking gear in large, corporate data centers. Since 2001, the company has averaged double-digit growth that Ron attributes to the unique corporate culture called The Service Express Way. Ron’s passion for ongoing education and building better leaders extends past his work day as he speaks to companies and organizations about leadership development and building winning workplace cultures. He has served as both the Chapter Chair and the Education Chair for the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and he’s also on the board of the Spectrum Health Foundation.    Quotes: 07:05 - “You can get a degree in sales. There was none of that when I was starting in the 90s. Business was either marketing or accounting and finance. It wasn’t sales, right?” – Ron Alvesteffer  11:32 - “Standardized everything, brought in training and taught the team and things just took off from there.” – Ron Alvesteffer  11:54 - “No one has an instinct for hiring.” – Ron Alvesteffer  13:34 - “I think you should name me president and just be an investor; let me run the company.” – Ron Alvesteffer 18:37 - “What’s the goal and does everybody have a shared goal?” – Ron Alvesteffer 21:05 - “The longer we talked, the terms got worse.” – Ron Alvesteffer 28:45 - “The right private equity investor will buy into what your vision and strategy.” – Ron Alvesteffer 33:30 - “There’s a difference between people who spend time wanting to know the people and the culture and thinking about how not to disrupt that going forward, backed up by reference calls and checks to their firms to make sure they’ve demonstrated that they have done that.” – Ron Alvesteffer  41:45 - “If we’re going to accelerate investment here in years one and two, when does that investment pay out? What’s the projection for that and then measure against the projection so you know if you’re working or not.” – Ron Alvesteffer     Links and Resources: Ron Alvesteffer websiteService Express websiteService Express Facebook pageService Express InstagramService Express Link TreeService Express LinkedInMastering Your Cash Flow Digital CourseARKONA Boot CampReach 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 have David Hauser, former founder of Grasshopper — a virtual telephone service — which sold for $165 million in cash and $8M in stock to Citrix. David is a metric master and shares with us some of the marketing and operational strategies that enabled them to grow from zero to $30 million in 12 years. He breaks down how to leverage key metrics like client acquisition costs (CAC) and the lifetime value of a customer (LTV) to exponentially scale a business. We talk about goals, failures and opportunities met along the way as David became a serial entrepreneur and how his ability to keep his learning high and wide-lens helped him stay strong in new markets as an angel investor.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview Why David says running a good business is the most valuable — and value-building — thing you can do The missing piece of advice when it’s time to sell your business How to attract business just by acting with integrity and following through on what you say you’ll do The value of doing each job yourself before you hire for the role Why Grasshopper used paid marketing, how much they put into doing it and how they evaluated the outcome The power of routine How David achieved 30% of his business from referrals The way David funded Grasshopper’s growth, the company he took from zero to 30 million, and sold after 12 years Why you should see business profits as growth capital rather than income What blended client acquisition costs (or CAC) are and how to evaluate their efficiency The difference between marginal and total CPA How much can (and should) you spend to catch up on churn Our success metrics and how they fail us while still being what we have to strive for, plus what you can do about that   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: David Hauser is an American entrepreneur, speaker and angel investor. He is best known for co-founding the Grasshopper Group, a virtual telephone service acquired by Citrix Systems for $170 million in 2015. Hauser is a founding member of National Entrepreneurs' Day and has co-founded a number of tech companies, including Grasshopper, Chargify, Spreadable PopSurvey, Deck Foundry and others.     Quotes: 05:05 - “The reason it worked is we were solving our own problem.” – David Hauser 05:33 - “Before we hired anyone for anything, one or both of us did that job.” – David Hauser 08:10 - “The most value in selling a business just comes from operating a good business.” – David Hauser 09:50 - “How do I strip out the income I have to have to live and think about the rest as growth capital.” – David Hauser 11:10 - “I didn’t want to make money on salary. I wanted long-term growth.” – David Hauser  11:55 - “There’s no additional happiness in that delta.” – David Hauser 18:28 - “The emotional shift from wealth generation to wealth preservation is very hard.” – David Hauser  24:00 -“Recurring, repeatable revenue is a game-changer.” – David Hauser  38:00 - “No matter what’s on paper, we’ll always try to do what’s right.” – David Hauser 39:05 - “I think there’s a false narrative around this ‘it needs to be competitive’ kind of thing.” – David Hauser   Links and Resources: David Hauser website 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 have Mike Smerklo, author of Mr. Monkey and Me: A Real Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and co-founder of the VC firm Next Coast Ventures, which helps the best entrepreneurs in the world as they build disruptive businesses. The team at Next Coast Ventures has raised over $7 billion in capital and created exit values of over $30 billion. He’ll share the mindset that brought him success, how he gained it and what he learned along the way. I’m excited to have him on the show because most people think what he’s accomplished is out of reach, and that’s just not the case. We’ll do a deep dive into the mechanics of his three rounds of financing so you can see just how doable it is. Listen for tips on managing and treating customers, the benefits of going IPO and how to get your team on board, and why he’d never make a deal without tying equity to both sides of the table. Mike has achieved 40% year-over-year, so this is an episode you don’t want to miss. My big takeaway from this episode is, even someone as successful as Mike (with all of his achievements), the fact that he still second-guesses his success is proof that we’re all human. You should recognize that the things that you intentionally accomplish over time is well deserved. A really clear plan will help dissolve that impostor syndrome. Education is another thing that will help dismiss and get rid of impostor syndrome and will ensure that you’re living and working intentionally.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview Mike’s background and story How poorly a “must be nice” mindset serves you and how to break out of that head space. Why Mike hates the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it” and what he believes people should do instead. Not all experts are the type of expert you need and you have to be able to identify what specific expertise you’re looking for. The incredible value in having a coach, no matter what stage you’re at. Why he chose the search fund model over all the others. How his company managed the ups and downs of the tech market, including the ways he had to raise cash during the downturn of 2008. When you should tie equity to performance on both sides of the deal table. The pragmatic way of looking at sprucing up your business and how it compares to renovating a house. The benefits of having a “maniacal focus” on customers. Mike’s three questions for evaluating how well you’re treating your customers. Why your executive team needs to stand up for what they’re talking about and how that gets reflected in your company. How Mike and his team determined to go IPO and gained consensus.   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 Smerklo is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and business leader driven by the desire to turn ideas into reality. Having bought and scaled a small business into a publicly traded company worth nearly a billion dollars in value, he has a deep understanding of the hard work, dedication and grit that truly powers successful entrepreneurship. Today, as the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, Smerklo is a champion for a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. His new book, Mr. Monkey and Me (Scribe Media, Nov. 17 2020), is a “real talk” guide for entrepreneurs who want to cut through the noise to cultivate a mindset that supports greatness.   Quotes: 7:13 - “A lot of entrepreneurs have a chip on their shoulders.” – Mike Smerklo 11:00 - “Well, I’m the entrepreneur. I’m the CEO. I should know everything.” – Mike Smerklo 18:28 -  “If you ask people they’re good drivers, and all ten people raises their hands, there shouldn’t be any accidents, right?” – Mike Smerklo 21:22 - “Go find someone who has sold a similar business recently who can give you practical advice.” – Mike Smerklo 29:52 -  “My economic relationship with my equity investors was tied to performance.” – Mike Smerklo 45:08 - “Whenever you’re going to raise capital, think about what the person who is giving you money is expecting out of that transaction.” – Mike Smerklo 50:05 - “We expect 30-40% to fail. We expect there to be a pretty high failure rate. We expect that a couple will do okay. And then one or two are going to blow it out of the water.” – Mike Smerklo   Links and Resources: Mr. Monkey and Me: A Real Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs, by Mike Smerklo Mike Smerklo’s Official Website 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.

Not every entrepreneur’s journey ends with them running a unicorn. Scratch that. Most don’t. On today’s show, Sandra Shpilberg and I talk about alternative funding to venture capital, switching from a service-based business model to a SaaS, as well as a host of great examples of how to make your niche work for you to achieve the entrepreneurial dream—all while making a compelling argument for entrepreneurs to foster a beginner’s mindset at all stages of your career. Tune in for a lesson in unconventional funding and the impact being intentional about how you raise funds has on the long-term.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview The three questions VC firms ask let Sandra know they weren’t going to be a good fit for her. How differentiating her business in the market and going after niches her competitors deemed too dangerous brought her success. What pushed her from a service to a software business and her unique take on the SaaS market. Why Sandra chased recurring revenue rather than VC funding and the success she found doing a deep dive into her niche. What the beginner’s mindset is, from Sandra’s book New Startup Mindset, and why it’s better than the mindset that you’re an expert since this often means you’re set in your ways. The impact of over-confidence is underestimated and why you should stay humble. How an executive coach helped Sandra think through the impact of two out-of-the-blue offers and what she wanted her exit to look like. Customers can become more like partners as you grow, and the value of doing this for both parties. Why Sandra has no seller’s remorse, despite selling early, especially in light of the pandemic. The VC formula and the rarity of seeing the success it sells you.   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: Sandra Shpilberg is the cofounder and CEO of a KOL discovery and management platform called Adnexi. Their mission is to accelerate drug development in order to benefit patients. This is her second startup after selling her first startup. In addition to being an entrepreneur, she is also the author of the bestselling and award-winning book New Startup Mindset: 10 Mindset Shifts to Build the Company of Your Dreams.   Quotes: 05:57 - “It began as a service. Then very quickly I realized that was just the beginning of the product-market fit for this particular need and there was more that our company could and needed to provide.” – Sandra Shpilberg 11:40 -“My customers are paying for a product that works.” – Sandra Shpilberg 13:25 - “Here’s a white man, he had to go to 70 meetings to get two. How many meetings do I have to go to?” “Instead of going to 140 meetings with venture capitalists, I’d rather go to 140 customer meetings because those customers are likely to buy my product and pay me to use it.” – Sandra Shpilberg 16:40 - “What is it that I’m trying to do here and why am I doing it? It became easier when I was intentional about what I wanted to do to that I didn’t really go convince others to give me funding in exchange for equity.” – Sandra Shpilberg 18:25 - “They were areas that our competitors deemed really difficult to work in.” – Sandra Shpilberg 22:15 - “If you’re able to come up with a premium B2B software offering, the price tag could be in the 6- or 7-digit area.” – Sandra Shpilberg 29:00 - “Having the mindset of a beginner is actually really useful.” – Sandra Shpilberg 36:50 - “It’s always good to give people the option to respond anonymously.” – Sandra Shpilberg 41:00 - “I was in the middle of the marathon.” – Sandra Shpilberg 43:49 - “By the time the third company showed up, I had pretty good clarity on what I wanted and I told them and I sold the company in year three.” – Sandra Shpilberg 47:57 - “Going into the third company, I was in a completely different position. I know what I want, I know what this is worth, and I know what you’re talking about!” – Sandra Shpilberg   Links and Resources: Sandra Shpilberg “New Startup Mindset: 10 Mindset Shifts to Build the Company of Your Dreams” LinkedIn: Sandra Shpilberg Twitter: @SandraShpilberg Instagram: Sandra Shpilberg 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.

Day traders and entrepreneurs have more in common that you might think. Maceo Jourdan and I take a deep dive into how market trends control both, and what lets the smart entrepreneur and trader know when to get in . . . and when to get the heck out as well. We’ll even go into how a mistake cost him $8 million and what you can do to avoid a similar fate. This episode is for you if you’re looking to be more market-savvy and find the right trend to hitch your wagon to.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview What entrepreneurs can learn from day traders (and what that means for your bottom line). The incredible value of data and how to apply it successfully to your business for growth. How entrepreneurs kill the value of their companies by not understanding true value. Why Maceo waited to jump into the financial world and started a newsletter first. Wal-Mart’s profit model and how it can work for anyone able to work on a larger scale. Why you should look at trends first and capital efficiency second. The importance of building in a buffer when making important decisions in emotional circumstances. How Maceo recovered from a mistake that cost him $8 million. Where to find small, concentrated pockets of value to capitalize on. The effect the internet has had on market trends and value. Why day traders understand business valuations better than first time entrepreneurs. How Maceo grew a company from a $25,000 loan to $50 million in revenue. The cost of being unaware that you’re running a job, not a company, and what to do about it. Why Maceo says your business is not your baby.   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: Maceo Jourdan is a master day trader who uses his intimate knowledge of market trends—and how to predict them—to build better businesses and better entrepreneurs. He’s on the board of directors for Retire3 Media and cofounder of Canexxia, a company committed to acquiring in the home health care and hospice industries to execute on a buy-and-build strategy to improve quality of care and ease of access.   Quotes: 08:17 - “What traders intimately know that entrepreneurs don’t is value.” – Maceo Jourdan 14:56 - “The biggest risk as an entrepreneur is that you’re going to sell something and you’re not going to have enough buyers to relieve you of all of your inventory.” – Maceo Jourdan 18:41 - “Your solution is running to obsolescence.” – Maceo Jourdan 20:19 - “You can eat a lot off of a million contracts, but it’s going to end.” – Maceo Jourdan 20:30 - “Entrepreneurs don’t really dig down from this huge space that’s their market into a pocket of value.” – Maceo Jourdan 21:09 - “The internet gives us the ability to connect more pockets of value.” – Maceo Jourdan 22:51 - “Reverse-engineer your company to provide that, in a legitimate way.” – Maceo Jourdan 25:28 - “Go out and find where people are spending money.” – Maceo Jourdan 26:33 - “The real power of the internet is you can aggregate the long tail.” – Maceo Jourdan 30:54 - “As a business owner, you have to look at things how they are, not how you want them to be.” – Maceo Jourdan 37:27 - “The successful funds will make you see a psychologist.”  – Maceo Jourdan 40:58 - “No rational person is going to spend the decades it takes to amass 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 million in cash and then drop a couple of million on you without having a selection program.” – Maceo Jourdan 46:32 - “As the entrepreneur, you have to understand where your value comes from.” – Maceo Jourdan 50:51 - “How deep is your fund’s pocket?” – Maceo Jourdan 64:25 - “What we observe in the world is really a by-product of where somebody came from.” – Maceo Jourdan   Links and Resources: Maceo Jourdan Official Website Twitter: @maceojourdan LinkedIn: Maceo Jourdan 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.

The tradeshow industry was one of the hardest-hit in 2020 and while 30% of companies managed to take full advantage of unstable markets, 30% scraped bottom or worse. Rising from the bottom third, Mark Johnson ended the year with more cash than he started. Listen in to hear how he accomplished remarkable pivots to keep the entrepreneurial dream alive while safeguarding his clients during some of the most volatile times in recent US-history. Our conversations focuses on the fourth principle that we cover in our Intentional Growth Course: strategic planning. When Mark and his company found themselves in a bind because of what COVID did to their niche market, they didn’t just roll over. They decided to pivot. Today Mark talks about how he did it (and the steps to how that led them to become an even bigger business), why and how building an intentional business has led them to even bigger success, and how to identify markets that align with your business’s niche and values so you can do the same thing.   What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview What improv and leadership have in common. Mark’s core business philosophy of being “fast, flexible and fun” and what that drives in his culture and growth. Being arrogant and having a big ego can cause you to miss market trends and opportunities. How Mark and Star Exhibit recovered from the sudden death of his 37-year-old partner Tom. The devastating impact 2020 had on the tradeshow industry. Why Star Exhibit ignored going into the PPE industry when making pivoting choices during the pandemic. How Mark created a culture that enabled one of his front-line employees to take an idea all the way to the NHL. The importance of picking up on market trends and how to identify emerging markets that align with your company’s resources. How his company pivoted into pop-up office spaces to solve the need for isolated work areas that are separate of the distractions of home life. Why building an intentional business allowed flexible thinking and quick decisions when time was of the essence. Diving into the “Blue Ocean” annually is beneficial for your business, not just your blood pressure. Mark shares the importance of updating business plans each year to keep alignment and ROI high. How Star Exhibit climbed back from two employees. The value of human-centric design in fulfilling market demands (and when you might pass on an opportunity that doesn’t fit).   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: Mark Johnson is the CEO and founder of Star Exhibits, a strategic face-to-face marketing solutions company as well as CEO and founder at myBackyardStudio, which offers attractive and affordable space options addressing the need to do more from home. His passion to deliver human-centric solutions spills over from his for-profit endeavors as he is known for taking an active part in ensuring the safety and security of his clients. Mark has served on the board of international and national industry associations, as well as multiple non-profits.   Quotes: 07:36 - “We were coming into 2020 thinking we were going to have a fabulous year.” – Mark Johnson 09:12 - “In 2020, IFES, International Federation of Exhibition Services, posted a 70-90% drop in revenue in our industry worldwide.” – Mark Johnson 10:36 - “We’re not going to put this on our website, but we have customers that are in trouble and we have a shop full of guys who know what they’re doing, let’s go help them board up stores and protect their assets.” – Mark Johnson 17:09 - “You gave us the business, but we don’t have any orders yet.” – Mark Johnson 19:47 - “You know, we don’t live in Cuba! We’ve got to figure out some other way to to do this.” – Mark Johnson 26:26 - “Ideas are currency. Can you come up with good ideas and solutions?” – Mark Johnson 33:44 - “A good percentage of [businesses that Mark talked to] were just like, ‘No, I’m worth 3 million! I’m worth 30 million!’ and, just… Not today, sorry.” – Mark Johnson 35:57 - “The key thing is, ‘When will companies and employers let their employees travel?’” – Mark Johnson 47:53 - “I think where my strength has been is, I know what I know but I know more of what I don’t know and I’m really willing to go talk to other people and find out about it.” - Mark Johnson 53:38 -  “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to lean into it.” – Mark Johnson   Links and Resources: Engage Star website My Backyard Studios website 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.

Hitting on all cylinders requires focus and intention. Terri Soutor, CEO of FastBridge, recognized that early on and chose dedicated partners who had a great idea and, through amazing service, could deliver high value to their target clients. This approach scaled their SaaS-based business 10x over four years, without having to raise outside capital, before ultimately selling to the perfect strategic buyer. Terri shares the strategies behind their exponential growth and what they did to maintain their mission, vision and values along the entrepreneurial journey. What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview How the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center helped fund and launch Terri's EdTech startup, FastBridge. The differences between academics and business, why it’s hard to commercialize ideas and research, and how FastBridge solved this problem. What FastBridge did to market and monetize their research. Strategies to increase up-front payments from clients to fund company growth. What FastBridge did to bootstrap their growth from 0 to 10 million dollars within 4 years. How FastBridge maintained 70-80% margins without sacrificing their high-quality service. Why knowing your ‘magic number’ way before an exit is crucial. How to stay true to the original vision of your business while getting ready to exit. Terri’s definition of managed growth and how it applies to any industry. What Terri and her partners did to correct dissonance when things became less ‘fun’ and different priorities started competing for resources.   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: Terri Soutor is a talented C-suite leader and strategist skilled at building and growing SaaS companies.She took FastBridge Learning from zero to 10 million USD in a four-year span, earning it the rank of second fastest-growing private company in the Twin Cities. Because of her efforts in her field, Terri made the list of The Real Power 50 by Minnesota Business and received the Titan of Technology award from the Minneapolis / St. Paul business journal. She is still dedicated to her original mission of improving teaching and learning in schools through effective, evidence-based innovations in education.   Quotes: 22:20 - “But at the end of the day, the research basis and the quality of the product was what was fundamental to the go to market.” – Terri Soutor 31:20 - “We grew really fast. How do we make sure that we weren’t getting out over our skis? So there was a constant rebalancing that I was doing in terms of how we were investing the dollars that we were earning through sales.” – Terri Soutor 35:55 - “We were very intentional of our mission, our goals, and our values.” – Terri Soutor 36:08 - “Before we talked about anything around the business, we talked about mission, purpose, and values and what kind of business we wanted to build with intent. And that really drove most (if not all) of the decisions we made about the business. We always came back to our mission and values.”  – Terri Soutor 41:26 - “Every decision we made started with mission and vision and values.” – Terri Soutor 44:57 - “No one wants to replace the roof; we’d rather remodel the kitchen.” – Terri Soutor 62:54 - “We didn’t need to sell, so it really gave us the time to evaluate the why behind the what.” – Terri Soutor 68:14 - “The minute lawyers get involved, it gets messy.” – Terri Soutor 69:27 - “When you’re going through this kind of a transaction, everybody that’s engaged stands to make money.”” – Terri Soutor  84:23 - “You can plan not to sell, but be intentional about it.” – Terri Soutor   Links and Resources: LinkedIn: Terri Soutor Website: Terrisoutor.com Email: terri@terrisoutor.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.