Beyond 8 Figures

Lee RichterLee Richter is an award-winning, dynamic business innovator and a visionary recognised for the 7th consecutive year by the San Francisco Business Times as one of their Top 100 Women Business Leaders in 2019. For more than 25 years, she has launched a dozen successful businesses in the financial, education, and lifestyle sectors. Her unique vision and drive revolutionise the industry as her companies produce hundreds of jobs, educate tens of thousands of people and make millions in revenue.What exits has Lee had previously? (4:42)The first exit that Lee had was working as a stockbroker at Merril Lynch in 1984-1998. She stayed with them for around 14 years. She took a 1-year sabbatical after training many people and decided that she wanted to take a break. She spent her year of sabbatical in Key West Florida. Goldie Hawn was filming a movie called Criss-Cross. The film happened to be in the hotel that Lee was staying in at the time. Lee had the opportunity to get to know the crew over that period. Lee asked the hotel owner what he was planning to do with the restaurant after the movie, and he said he did not have any plans. Lee bought the business and during her 1-year sabbatical ran the business in Key West because she thought it would be a fun thing to do. She had the restaurant for a year before selling it to her chef who made a massive success of it.It had cost about $100,000 to buy the business, and Lee ended up walking away with seven figures. What were some of the things from a marketing perspective that Lee did to bring attention to her businesses? (22:30)Lee created a marketing team inside the organisation. So within her PR and marketing company, she had a team specifically on the veterinary hospitals and in the veterinary industry. A critical moment was in 2007-2009 when they had a market crash around them, especially in Silicon Valley. Lee’s business was thriving more than others during that time.Their vendors go to many hospitals, drug wraps, cardiologists and radiologists, Some of them would go up to 100 hospitals and mention how busy Lee’s business as compared to all the others. This made Lee evaluate her business, and she realised she was consistently connecting with the community regularly. Having started in 2001, she did marketing plans and figuring out what their non-profit was going to do next and how they would do it. They started meeting with the community, and they would apply for awards. They wrote a book and published it. They had about 13 different tactics.They had 13 weeks for each quarter and decided to implement and try each strategy each week. Which business was most exciting to Lee and which one has the potential for the largest exit? (44:47)50% of Lee’s enterprises are in her Husband’s wheelhouse. This was because they were in the veterinary and pet industry.The other half is in her wheelhouse, which is PR marketing. Even her veterinary hospitals and other business pay her PR marketing company as a vendor. The PR Marketing business is legit. When she sold the veterinary hospital, there was a $250,000 line item just for the logo. They created a package in the brand, for a $250,000 line item to the PR company just for the IP. The pet concierges have products that they have launched. They just passed their 4th month launching a product that has done successfully so far and is considered valuable. The product is called NutriaThrive, and they have sold 90,000 units in their 4th month of launching. It is mostly about word of mouth and people are validating that the product works the way it says it’s supposed to. They are planning four more products next year, so lee believes that they are headed for the 9 figure range with Pet Concierge. They are adding a lot of value to the community as well by coming up with products that help pets. Richter CommunicationsRichter Communications and Design Group comprises industry-transforming companies and organisations ranging from Pet Health Care, Event Planning, Marketing Consulting, Business Scaling, and Personal Growth.ResourcesConnect with Lee: LinkedInRichter Communications: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nyasha Gwatidzo was born in a rural village in Zimbabwe and came over to the UK in the 1970s. Nyasha is a distinguished businesswoman, social entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has, over a 30-year career, launched and built successful multi-million-pound businesses and social enterprises in the United Kingdom, generating a cumulative $130 million turnover. Nyasha is a qualified psychotherapist, social worker, coach, and mentor.What does Nyasha do and how did she get to this point? (1:45)About 32 years ago, Nyasha was running a children’s home for children in need of therapeutic care. It was the first of its kind to be set up by someone independent of the local authority and charities in London. During that time, Nyasha saw a remarkable behavioural change in the children receiving therapeutic care. She asked her staff if they would look after the children in their own homes and they said yes. After years of looking after the children, Nyasha thought that every child has a right to live in a home and not a children’s home. They were tiny with only six children at the time. Nyasha’s first foster carer was a member of her staff who started working in her kitchen in her house in South London. Now the agency is a vast National Agency all over England. They look after and manage over 300 foster families, and annually they look after more than 300 children. Each child has developed and grown into functioning adults, and recently they have registered as an adult placement agency as well. What led Nyasha to this in the first place? (9:26)Nyasha’s late mother always said she was not surprised that Nyasa was doing what she was. Nyasha has always loved children.She grew up in Zimbabwe, and the first memory she has is when she was four years old, carrying a baby to her bed. Her love for children has stayed throughout her life. When she was 12, she left Zimbabwe and came to the UK for university. She was going to become an academic, studying chemistry and math. She left all of that her tutor pointed out how much Nyasha lit up when talking about children. So Nyasha ended up training to become a social worker or child psychotherapist. She also did a PhD in chemistry. The comment from her tutor sparked the idea, and Nyasha’s passion for children kept it alight. Did Nyasha have any competitors? (16:21)In London, other similar agencies have appeared since Nyasha started. There were only around 11 national agencies in the whole of England. The other agencies were supportive of Nyasha, some of them mentoring her during startup.The first few months Nyasha just asked all of the agencies how they did what they did. Even though most of the agencies had different models, they were all pretty similar. Nyasha collected all the information she needed from these agencies, the structure, damage to the church, local authorities, how much they pay, how much they care, etc. BanyaBanya is an independent fostering provider. Banya supports foster carer households in Greater London and beyond. Hundreds of children and young people have benefited from placements with our foster carers since Banya was founded in 1997. They aim to provide a high standard of foster care for a range of children and young people. Banya has developed specialisms in placing sibling groups, unaccompanied children and young people from overseas, children with special needs, and troubled teenagers.ResourcesConnect with Nyasha: LinkedInBanya: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parham Parastaran discusses how personal growth is the key to growing and succeeding in business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bjorn Oste, CEO of Good Idea Exited Dynasoft for More Than 10 Million Dollars.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Think long term and strategy building for a strong exit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Chip Conley shares his inspiring journey of starting a company from scratch and eventually exiting for $10 million. Discover how Chip transformed inner-city motels into the second-largest chain of boutique hotels and helped guide the Founders of AirBnB to create the world’s most valuable lodging brand.About Chip Conley:Rebel hospitality entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, Chip Conley disrupted his favorite industry… twice, first with Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV) where he transformed a small motel into one of America’s largest boutique hotel brands, and later as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, playing a crucial role in shaping the company’s growth. Recognized as the “Most Innovative CEO” by the San Francisco Business Times and honored with the Pioneer Award in hospitality, he continues to make an impact as Airbnb’s Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership.Chip has authored several influential books including “Learning to Love Midlife“, “Wisdom at Work“, “Emotional Equations“, “PEAK“, “Marketing That Matters“, and “The Rebel Rules” providing valuable insights on personal growth, leadership, and marketing strategies. Through his writings, he inspires entrepreneurs to achieve success, find fulfillment, and embrace their individuality in the business world.For detailed reviews of these exceptional books, please visit: Marketing That Matters, Rebel Rules, Learning to Love Midlife, Peak, and Wisdom at Work (Book Reviews) Best Advice I Ever Received:Richard Branson, who wrote the Foreword for my first book, told me when he’s creating a new company, he always repeats the mantra, “I am the market, I am the market, I am the market” as a reminder that he wants to thrill himself as a customer.Best Advice I’d Give to Someone Who Wants to Build A $10m+ Business:Focus on a niche that you can own with clear differentiators.In this episode, Steve, Mary, Richard, and Chip discuss:How Chip got started in the hospitality business and getting investors to invest.How to handle an unstable market and shrinking revenue due to recession.Hiring and building the team you need to better manage your own time and your business’ growth.How hospitality has changed in current culture and what changes have occurred in businesses.Key Takeaways:Be a part of your market so you can always stay in tune with the desires of your clients and industry.Understanding investments will help you grow your business and flourish.Building a company that people want to work for makes a stronger team and smoother process.Balancing your consumer base is the key to growing your businesses.“People liked our company.” — Chip ConleyConnect with Chip Conley:Twitter: @ChipConleyFacebook: @chipconleyauthorWebsite: http://www.chipconley.comInstagram: @ChipConleyFollow Beyond 8 Figures:Website: Beyond8Figures.comTwitter: @beyond8figures Facebook: Beyond 8 FiguresInstagram:@b8fpodcastAffiliate Disclaimer: Some links in this episode are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Rest assured, we only promote products/services we believe will benefit your entrepreneurial journey. 

Mike is the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, a provider of accounting software in the cloud for self-employed professionals. Built-in 2003 after he accidentally saved over an invoice, Mike spent 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from his parents’ basement. Since then, over 10 million people have used FreshBooks to save time billing and collect billions of dollars.What did Mike find didn’t work while starting up? (3:52)There are trade-offs. Pricing is one of the things you can do to do your business, and business model work differently depending on which customers you are seekings.Mike’s company started with a freemium model before moving to a free trial. They could change it up again according to what objectives they had at the time. They also like to focus on what would be best for their customers.They found that having a free trial is an excellent way to have people experience the product before actually buying it.They are giving people time to experience their product to be sure that they do want to adopt it and change their behaviour coming from Word or Excel. It helps people find value in your product and give them a goal to work towards. Many people then choose to stay a customer for years after if their experience is positive. What started the idea in Mike’s mind? (6:32)Mike was using Microsoft Word one day and his clients, and he saved over a prior invoice for reasons unknown. Mike snapped and figured there must be a better way to do this.So he started building on that idea mostly for his convenience. It was a scratch your itch, write your book endeavour. He did not have global ambitions, but today they have to pay customers in over 120 countries, more than 20 million people have used the software since Mike started it. He was just building it for himself to get invoices in front of clients, and he made a simple web application to do that. Over time he figured other people could use the software too. So he figured out how to market it towards them, and now Mike’s company is a successful Software as a Service business. How did Mike differentiate himself from competitors? (19:01)They did and are still playing the field with competitors. What they do is they are invoicing and accounting software that solves your billing issues.Firms with billing problems related to invoicing, not point of sale or retail restaurants can find use from Mike’s software. When they started, they were only doing online invoicing. Mike felt like an Attack Vector on a big platform. He found a sliver of the tech and made it better. Some people did not like the desktop software, but no one else was doing online invoicing as comparably well as FreshBooks were. That was their hook that got customers coming back and eventually. They grew to know their customers and what they expected from the software. They adjusted it accordingly and started adding other things customers might need like estimates and quotes.What was the most challenging period for Mike? (26:46)Challenges change according to each stage of your business. You need to morph and contort yourself to solve the different problems that arise. It is always challenging, and the challenges will always be present. The whole, while you learn how to lead and what running a company, is really like. There are many different problems to solve many other vectors, but it is also the fun of starting a company. It is not for everybody, but it can be a gratifying process. If mike went back and did it again, he knows he would be able to do it so much faster than before, and that is why so many people back repeat entrepreneurs. FreshBooksFreshBooks is an online invoicing and accounting software designed for self-employed professionals and small business owners and their teams. As a cloud solution, it is highly accessible but secure enough for sync and integration with banks, credit card companies, payment centres, and other cloud productivity apps.ResourcesConnect with Mike: TwitterFreshBooks: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sabri Suby is a serial entrepreneur who runs Australia's fastest-growing end-to-end digital marketing agency. Having originally founded King Kong in 2014 from his bedroom, Sabri has bootstrapped his company since day one and in under five years has successfully built a team of 54 specialists now achieving $14 million+ in revenue. As a pioneer in the digital marketing arena, his business has impacted 250,000 businesses in 42 different countries and has generated more than $400 million in sales for him and his clients.What are Sabri and his company about? (3:27)They are an end to end marketing agency.  They help clients grow their revenue by increasing their traffic leads and sales. It could be anything from building a high converting landing page to running Facebook ads or building out a sales funnel or a webinar for clients. It’s all about getting traffic to some asset online and then helping that traffic convert into actual sales and leads for their clients. Examples of companies Sabri worked with and what he managed to help them do. (3:53)One of Sabri’s clients is a pilates instructor business; in other words, he teaches people to be pilates instructors. They took him from a struggling 200k at most a year to do about $3 million yearly now. They work with anyone from small to medium sixers businesses. One of their clients is the most prominent home builder in Australia, ranking somewhere around a $1 billion company.No two days are the same. They are always working on entirely different projects.They took a property client to $250 million within their first three months with King Kong. It’s crazy the results you achieve once you find something that works and you can then scale it quickly. They took a client in a niche property market where he was selling houses to a specific demographic market, and they built him a landing page as a primary funnel and took him from zero to $50 million in under three months.Where did Sabri come from before founding King Kong? (10:03)Sabri started when he was 16. He was doing direct selling, telemarketing, and everything in between. Sabri failed miserably at that in the beginning, but it was the only job he could find at the time. It was his first full-time job, and the business owner saw something in Sabri even though he was doing terrible at the time. It was the combination of believing in Sabri and being back into the corner from possibly losing his job, something snapped within Sabri, and the very next day he approached the sales game in a completely different way. He quickly became the top salesperson for the company. Over the next few years, he travelled the UK and the U.S  selling, and He was always the best salesperson at each company he worked at. After spending 2-3 years abroad, he returned to Australia and went off to university.He had a part-time job where he was selling Google AdWords for a company. One of the clients had said he did not want Google AdWords, and he wanted to be on the left-hand side of the page with SEO. This got Sabri thinking and being the ambitious person that he is he said he could do that for that person. He told his manager that he had just sold SEO and his manager said that it was not a service that they offered. Sabri figured out how to supply this service to the client, and that was how he started in the world of digital marketing. After figuring out SEO, he thought that he could run the company better than the person currently running it. And so Sabri started his own business from his bedroom, he was mostly cold calling clients during that time. He decided to drop out of university and focus solely on his business. With his business partner, he managed to grow the company up to $1 million in revenue in 18 months. He sold that business and founded a few more, some of which he exited successfully and others that ran into the ground. He did a few joint ventures with AFL, which is the Australian equivalent of the NFL. With all of those businesses and the time he had spent in them, he realised there were fundamental problems in trying to acquire new clients that other people just weren’t solving. This is what led him to start King Kong.  King Kong King Kong is a digital marketing agency that specialises in social media marketing. It offers services such as traffic generation, conversion, retargeting, and nurturing. It provides custom digital marketing plans by analysing its client’s target market, competitors, sales, and goals.The company provides services such as search engine optimisation, conversion rate optimisation, social media marketing, web design, Magento web design, and landing page design. King Kong was founded by Sabri Suby in 2014 and is headquartered in Prahran, Victoria.ResourcesConnect with Sabri: LinkedInKing Kong: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marx AcostaMarx Acosta is the founder of Onestop, a company that makes 30+ million dollars in annual revenues selling print cartridges. Marx dropped out of law school to become an entrepreneur. He is also an investor and consultant who shares his wisdom with other entrepreneurs to save them from falling into traps that might paralyse them and keep them from living the life they want to be living.  Marx believes that family comes first, and they became his inspiration for rising again.How did Marx’s company get value? (4:43)Businesses sell for a multiple of revenue rents usually EBITDA, so EBITDA was about six times multiple.The challenge with these kinds of businesses is that there are no contracts by which you can have customers.When the business crashed, they sold it. Later on, they repurchased the assets, which they had to build once again from scratch.Marx’s secret sauce which he figured out himself. (10:46)He was voted least likely to succeed when he was in high school. He is an introvert and would be happy if you sit him in a corner and give him a book.The thing that he figured out early was that he was doing something different. He was utilising things that others weren't doing.His secret is in the way that he speaks to the other person. He puts forth a good ego and authoritative character. He uses the term “assume” which puts him in that position.What makes or breaks the business? (33:11)You're only one to three moves away from greatness or disaster, it’s not 50 or 100 but as little as up to three movements, and this is not always noticeable.The one move that caused the downfall of Marx’s organisation was a wrong hire. He realised that he had made the mistake of advocating and neglecting four areas at some point.Once he got a hold of that, everything started to change for him.The purpose of building an organisation is to grow it. If you succeed, it will be “attractive.” At some point, someone will come and knock on your door if it's a good company.Marx’s vision around particular businesses. (33:11)Marx’s vision right now is around his kids as they are all heading to college.Some entrepreneurs keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and the reason for this is because they're not working on their mindset.What drives results are behaviour, so if you want results, you need the right actions, and what drives behaviour is belief.Marx Acosta-RubioMarx Acosta-Rubio helps you with creating a selling system. They help owners transform average salespeople into extraordinary income producers using their predictable sales system that never fails.ResourcesConnect with Marx: LinkedInMarx Acosta: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sharran SrivatsaaSharran Srivatsaa is the CEO of Kingston Lane, a push-button technology execution platform for real estate. Sharran is a serial entrepreneur, sought-after keynote speaker, and a respected thought-leadership resource for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, SUCCESS magazine, Huffington Post, and Forbes.What income range does Sharran have, and where does it come from? (2:21)Sharran exited a business around the 8 figure mark, although he is not allowed to disclose the final sales amount due to selling to a public company. He chose to share some of the other exciting stats.They owned a real estate brokerage which Sharran fell into. They grew it to 10x the size it was when Sharran started in five years. They had over 600 agents and did about 3.6 billion in top-line sales, which were about $83 million in revenues, and they had 22 offices.  By the end of 2017, they had been acquired by a public company out of New York called Douglas Elliman.It was the largest transaction Douglas Elliman had ever done. Even though the sales number is a $3.6 Billion number and the one published the most, Sharran wants people to know that that is not what he walked away with. Gross revenues for the firm were $83 Million. Was there a unique way that Sharran acquired customers? (7:20)At some point, the business was in red ocean waters. It is a commoditised business, and everyone believes a brokerage is a brokerage.You have to figure out whether you are going to get clients and hand leads to your agents or how you are going to get great agents and support them. You have to figure out your business model from the start. The industry is primarily based on an agent to client relationships. An agent to client relationship is tough to displace. Sharran did not go down the path, worried about how he was going to acquire new clients. He decided to instead focus on how he would build an operating model that can support an agent trying to gain more clients. This was the core value proposition of the company. So for the first six months, it was all about how to get to the heart of building a value proposition. Sharran wanted to be able to give a one-sentence pitch to clients which would make them like the offer they were getting.How did Sharran get a foothold in the market? (37:17)Sharran has no people on the ground. They started building a partner model. They have someone in every country, promoting them. They have a major real estate network in Australia which had a substantial real estate conference.Sharran was there as a keynote speaker, and that grew into a 3D keynote that eventually developed the brand. They found the right kind of person to become partners with.It could be a portal, a coaching company, or even another brokerage, but it’s mainly about helping with the delivery of your service. In Australia, there are no buyer side commissions, so the company quickly realised that buyers are not taken care of in Australia. There is no incentive to look after buyers in Australia because they are not getting paid. It ruined half of Sharran’s original pitch about understanding agents well. Therefore learning local market nuances is super powerful.What does Sharran recommend entrepreneurs do to address a shortage of listings? (42:14)You have to have a singular focus which is what you wake up and obsess about every single day. You need to have a cadence of accountability.You have to have a fair process that drives good results. A lot of entrepreneurs will hack stuff.Teles’ singular focus was recruiting agents that were selling at least ten homes a year or more.They incentive their agents even more by saying if you get seven or more listings a year you get 52 days off in that year. Sharran would also tell all his sales managers and recruiting managers the same thing. Once Sharran managed to get the employees on board, he could deliver the service. TelesTeles Properties is a full-service, luxury real estate firm headquartered in Beverly Hills. They have 21 offices strategically located in California’s most prestigious markets. From the highlands of Carmel to the island of Coronado as well as a presence in Boulder, Colo. Recognized for four consecutive years by the prestigious Inc. 500|5000 lists as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, Teles has become an industry disruptor, attracting top broker talent and elite leadership from invaluable and complementary sectors such as marketing, technology, finance, and law.ResourcesConnect with Sharran: LinkedInTeles Properties: WebsiteBeyond 8 Figures: WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.