The Small Business Black Holes with Alan Pentz

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Clint Fiore, President of Bison Business. Join them as they break down business brokerage, touching on how to find your first clients, what exactly makes a business sellable, and the disparity between the number of buyers and sellers around.Clint is President of Bison Business, a modern Business and M&A Firm that removes the mystery of finding, buying, selling, financing, and marketing businesses. Prior to this, he was VP of MeWe Network, VP of Business Development at Nature Blinds, and Volunteer Teacher at Kerrville Homeschool Co-Op.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"If you solve problems for rich people, you'll do well, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with all these creative ideas". "If I could have an unlimited stream of sellers, I'd probably rule the world"."The [businesses] that almost can't be sold regardless of the financials are ones that really revolve around the owner. There's a lot of small businesses, there's millions of them, that I would say they're really just self employed people with extra steps".Episode Resources:Clint Fiore on XClint Fiore on LinkedInClint Fiore WebsiteBison Business WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by author Eric Jorgenson. Join them as they break down the benefits of releasing books and building your brand through them, why they are considered a different platform for your voice than blogs or podcasts, and how addictive the writing process is.Eric Jorgenson is an acclaimed author, having written several successful books, including The Almanach of Naval Ravikant. He is further the host of Smart Friends and invests in early-stage technology companies. Eric is also CEO of Scribe Media, GP at Rolling Fun, and Founder of Magrathea.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"A book is a commitment signaling mechanism. It is a coherent, cohesive, single piece of work that takes an investment. It takes a long time commitment. It's a discrete thing. And, to your point, exactly, people think about it and talk about it in a very different way because of how much investment has to go into it". "It's pretty common to see every two or three years people come out with new books, but it's addictive, man. Once you go through that process and you feel what it's like to go start to finish on a creative project like that, and see it out in the world, and start to get feedback from people who've read your book and loved it and had it change their life …it's just really energizing, and it makes you want to pick it up and do it again"."No marketing department is short on ideas, so there's a few different sorts of broad directions. [Marketing a book] is almost always a very custom kind of thing when you get into the larger marketing investments because everyone is starting with a different thing". Episode Resources:Eric Jorgenson on XEric Jorgenson WebsiteEric Jorgenson on LinkedInAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Jay Broyer, Co-Owner of St Cyr’s Pool and Spa. Join them as they explore the challenges that come through business growth and acquisitions, from generating demand and increasing profitability to the importance of efficient management.Throughout his 23 years in the pool and spa industry, Jay Broyer has built a wealth of experience in internet marketing and advertising. Until 2019, he worked as a Sales Manager at Precision Pool Construction, helping grow the family-owned business in a harsh economic climate and the new digital age. This gave him the unique perspective of following a customer journey from digital touchpoints to brick-and-mortar sales, which he has carried into his work as Co-Owner of St Cyr’s Pool and Spa, a company that is expanding from Massachusetts into New Hampshire.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"We finally got our stuff together and feel like we're on a good path to organizing our management structure, and it's like, oh, we gotta go back to selling stuff now. You gotta work on the sales side of this because it has slowed down, and it's not just order-taking anymore". "Free trial is a newer thing in the last couple of months that we intentionally did because we saw that our organic growth for that maintenance contract service was slowing, was parabolic almost there for a little bit, and then it just slowed up. So OK, we're at critical mass. This third truck is a little light. We need to build that up. How do we get more customers over there? And the free trial was something that we intentionally came up with". "So there's now an opening for me to coach on how we lead follow-up, and it's opening up a lot on the sales side for, whether that's hot tubs or new pool leads. And I feel very optimistic that even if the market itself stays flat, our execution on our new warm leads is gonna make up for that, and we could actually see growth in those areas this year". Episode Resources:Jay Broyer on LinkedInSt Cyr’s Pool and Spa WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Dylan Chatterjee, Partner at Onbench. Join them as they discuss challenges and strategies for growing a small business, including how to find new leads when you’ve exhausted your existing network, knowing when to sell and buy, and how to learn from people ahead of you in the journey.Dylan is a Partner at Onbench, a professional services firm that builds and scales software teams for leading brands, startups, and services companies. Having previously worked in the entertainment industry at Warner Bros, Dylan has established himself as a serial entrepreneur.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"I know this podcast isn't about convincing people to be small business owners, but like I would say that if you feel like if you're at a job that's not using more than 60-70% of what you have to offer, consider running your own business because it will probably use 110% of what you've got to offer". "Sometimes I think we can still hit the bull's eye with the current gun we have. I don't want to bring in a bazooka and blow it up because then, man, the cost of being wrong”."I think that was one hump that I personally had to get over was feeling inauthentic talking about business. If I didn't have this to talk about, I might not ever reach out to this person. So I actually just kind of was like, Hey, I'm doing this. If it's not interesting to you all good, I would love to catch up, see how you are doing. And I think that there's a personality type for that, too, and I was kind of tapping into that version for me".Episode Resources:Dylan Chatterjee on LinkedInOnbench WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

Sam Bacon, President of Green Circle Demolition, discusses the benefits of group captives, LP investing in real estate, and managing inconsistent revenue streams. They delve into the challenges of owning scrap yards and the risks and benefits of joining insurance group captives. They also touch on environmental concerns, investment strategies, liquidity management, and the impact of macroeconomic factors on the construction industry.

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Nikolas Hulewsky, Partner of CoFounders. They share advice on buying your first business and explore how you can leverage technology, data, and social media for growth and success.Nikolas is a Partner at CoFounders, alongside business partner Chris Koerner. CoFounders is designed to help undergraduate and MBA students start and buy companies by merging traditional business models with next-generation operators and technology. In his entrepreneurial career, Nikolas has purchased nine companies, started five, successfully exited seven, and currently owns five.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"If you want to be successful, you need to narrow down, like just be specific with what you're looking for, and specificity starts with: where do you want to be? … What kind of business do you want to operate? … I think that's really important to identify where you feel most comfortable because where you feel most comfortable and what you're most passionate about, you'll be successful in that space." "Twitter is about compounding. You've got to, over a long period of time, post consistent good content, and over time you will compound … Reddit is different. On Reddit, you can write, and as long as it resonates with a few people, then it starts to pick up." "That was like my epiphany to this. It was like, Twitter is fantastic, and if I could find other growth-minded, hyper-successful, or at least focused people, that'd be a really cool group to continue to expand." Episode Resources:Nikolas Hulewsky on LinkedInNikolas Hulewsky on XCoFounders WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Patrick Dichter, Owner of Appletree Business Services. They explore how small businesses can upgrade their accounting practices as well as the challenges of company acquisition.Patrick has been helping small businesses grow for over ten years, working at RevLocal and Cultivate Advisors before buying Appletree Business Services, a quality bookkeeping and tax firm focused on small businesses. He specializes in partnering with owners to hit their goals and get their lives back, holds an MBA from the University of Denver, and is an all-around small business growth expert.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"Our model is like, ‘Hey, we do year-round accounting and tax. We're vulnerable, keeping the tax together so that you have a clear picture of where your business is at, and we can be more proactive with your taxes.’" "There's a lot of commonalities with an accounting firm and a marketing agency, but an accounting firm has a lot of things I like better. The clients are stickier, I think the margin is a little bit better, and I'm competing with people who aren't as good at business.""Previously, I'd worked with salespeople and entrepreneurs who are like, let's go climb a mountain, let's go break stuff, and then most accountants, they really don't like change at all, and they're already kind of overworked." Episode Resources:Patrick Dichter on LinkedInPatrick Dichter on TwitterAppletree Business Services WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Malcolm Marshall, CEO and Owner of POOL-ology. They discuss the challenges and growth opportunities for POOL-ology, as well as delve into cash flow challenges, marketing strategies, and the importance of retaining top talent. Discover how Pool plans to revamp their marketing, improve customer experience, and achieve their growth targets.Malcolm’s career started as the VP of Finance at Nutrabolt, a fast-growing, global, active health and wellness company. While there, Malcolm learned from best-in-industry executives while helping grow the business from $9 to $300 million in revenue in just nine years. Now, he is CEO and Owner of POOL-ology, a swimming pool design and construction company that is hoping to be the industry leader in employee happiness and customer satisfaction.Quotes:"Taking on the additional overhead of pre-hiring hits the bottom line, and you don't see cash growth. However, our acquisitions give us a long runway, and at this point, it's hey, we need to grow into the overhead to right-size the margins." "We found a fractional CMO to help us with ads and funnels and really tried to find that expertise and add it to the team. Austin moved our website into a more SEO-focused company to try to make sure that we're capitalizing on the SEO side of things, too.""So each year, we can help people save about $1500, and we're matching their short-term savings using a company called Secure Save. They have a platform, they go in, they log in, and they set their deductions, and then we match it." Episode Resources:Malcolm Marshall on LinkedInMalcolm Marshall on Twitter/XPOOL-ology WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by Ujwal Velagapudi, a serial acquisition entrepreneur. They explore Ujwal’s journey from selling Pokemon cards in high school to completing fourteen acquisitions. Tune in to discover his unique approach to buying businesses, his thoughts on valuations, and his advice for budding entrepreneurs.Ujwal’s professional career began in supply chain management in the aerospace and automotive manufacturing industries, which he left to pursue his entrepreneurial ventures full-time. With over ten years of entrepreneurial acquisition and operational experience, Ujwal has completed fourteen acquisition or sale transactions and learned priceless lessons along the way. He currently owns UV Holdings, HiByron, and Second Phase.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.Quotes:"So I came from a very different path through buying stuff off of Craigslist and just kind of hustling and really learning the more professional side of things today. Only in the last couple of years interacting with more proper buyers, professional buyers in the PE world and the banking world. I didn't know what a searcher was till I was on a date with a girl". "So I'm thinking, OK, if the business is good, fundamentals are good. Should I just pay up? Should I just buy it?""Everyone's looking for deal flow. Get on the phones, knock on some doors, go get some deal flow." The Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers

In this episode of the Small Business Mentor podcast, Alan Pentz is joined by John Matzner, President at Lazy Leverage. They delve into using global resources efficiently, cautioning against over-leveraging with debt, the importance of humility and adaptability in business, and the power of output thinking. They explore the challenges of entering different industries and highlight the value of building solid systems, particularly in using offshore talent effectively. Additionally, they discuss the importance of maintaining authenticity and integrity in business dealings.Jon is a seasoned national security expert and accomplished business leader who divides his time between Dubai, UAE, and San Diego, California. With a robust background in government service, Jon was recently stationed in the Middle East, traversing the globe on behalf of the US Government. His tenure involved collaborating extensively with local and regional allies, focusing on non-proliferation and counterterrorism strategies. Transitioning from public service, Jon ventured into entrepreneurship, founding multiple businesses, selling three, and acquiring numerous others. He's deeply passionate about "Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition," employing systematic approaches and tapping into top-tier global talent to revitalize traditional businesses. Jon also shares insights through his free newsletter, Lazy Leverage, offering valuable entrepreneurial perspectives. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.Quotes:"I don't think people realize how not. I don't wanna say profound, but just how important? What I just said was,  if you can pay 20% more for labor, for auto mechanics without raising your price to customers, you can put companies out of business in the war for talent, and nobody knows how you're doing it". "It's a way to do business that uses global talent, but it's not limited to just hiring somebody for six bucks an hour. It's a way you do end-of-day reports. It's the type of technology you use. It's the way that you give them a feeling of belonging rather than just being up at four in the morning by themselves in the dark. All of that stuff is how you make it work. It's not just like I go to work and get somebody for the flat box”."You should either do long slow distance at 12 minutes or sprints at six-minute pace, but you don't want to be in the middle, and what I think is gonna happen to our it's it's they call them garbage miles, basically barbells. And one of my theories that I've been working on these days that I think makes sense is that people with their staff get stuck in the garbage middle, which is either you should pay for somebody who's 100 and 80 gs a year, or you should go global".“The one that he uses a lot is Grandma knows how to make Thanksgiving dinner without a recipe. She just knows how to do it. But the minute you try somebody else to make that Thanksgiving meal, if they don't have a recipe, they're not gonna make it. And so a lot of businesses are run like grandma. Oh, I just know when it's done, and when you try to build a business, not just a job, you have to think in outputs, which is a 365-degree internal temperature of the turkey. Not when Grandma thinks it's done”.Episode Resources:Jon Matzner on LinkedInJon Matzner on TwitterLazy Leverage WebsiteAlan Pentz on LinkedInCorner Alliance WebsiteThe Small Business Black Holes Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so Check out our three most downloaded episodes:Defining and Tracking Outputs: The Key to Employee Performance with John SeifferSmall Business Strategies and Market Dynamics with Jon Matzner, President at Lazy LeverageFranchising: The Best Business Model with Brian Beers