What if you could transform your life's biggest challenges into your greatest successes? Learn how Gary Wilbers from Ascend Business Strategies did just that, overcoming a challenging upbringing to become a thriving business owner. Discover how his initial dream of coaching football shifted to the business world, leading him from sales in precast concrete to owning a mobile phone company. Gain insights on how personalized customer service, like handwritten thank-you notes, helped Gary build strong client relationships in the early days of the mobile phone industry.
Have you ever wondered how the mobile phone industry evolved from bulky devices to today's advanced technology? Gary takes us behind the scenes, sharing stories from his journey of growing a wireless business from just two employees to over 100, spanning 15 locations across Missouri. He highlights the importance of recognizing industry shifts to be adaptable, strategic business succession, and the critical role of continuous learning and self-education. Get practical advice on navigating business partnerships, understanding market changes, and preparing for the unexpected.
Unlock the secrets to business success through self-awareness and effective communication. Gary reveals how transitioning from a hard-driving leadership style to a more communicative approach significantly impacted his business and personal relationships. Learn about the benefits of business coaching, DISC assessments, and the holistic approach of mastermind groups. Explore key components for building a successful business, from cash flow management to tiered pricing strategies. This episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiring stories that can help you take your business to the next level. Tune in and be inspired!
What if you could transform your life's biggest challenges into your greatest successes? Learn how Gary Wilbers from Ascend Business Strategies did just that, overcoming a challenging upbringing to become a thriving business owner. Discover how his initial dream of coaching football shifted to the business world, leading him from sales in precast concrete to owning a mobile phone company. Gain insights on how personalized customer service, like handwritten thank-you notes, helped Gary build strong client relationships in the early days of the mobile phone industry.
Have you ever wondered how the mobile phone industry evolved from bulky devices to today's advanced technology? Gary takes us behind the scenes, sharing stories from his journey of growing a wireless business from just two employees to over 100, spanning 15 locations across Missouri. He highlights the importance of recognizing industry shifts to be adaptable, strategic business succession, and the critical role of continuous learning and self-education. Get practical advice on navigating business partnerships, understanding market changes, and preparing for the unexpected.
Unlock the secrets to business success through self-awareness and effective communication. Gary reveals how transitioning from a hard-driving leadership style to a more communicative approach significantly impacted his business and personal relationships. Learn about the benefits of business coaching, DISC assessments, and the holistic approach of mastermind groups. Explore key components for building a successful business, from cash flow management to tiered pricing strategies. This episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiring stories that can help you take your business to the next level. Tune in and be inspired!
All right, welcome to another Small Business Pivots. Today we have a very special guest and you better buckle up, because we have two business coaches on here again. So I know that no one can introduce themselves like yourself, so I'll let you do the introduction of yourself and your company.
Speaker 2:
I'm Gary Wobbers with Ascend Business Strategies and I help business owners overcome that overwhelming chaos to really thrive in their business and life.
Speaker 1:
That sounds overwhelming. That's right, but achievable because? But it's achievable, right, exactly, exactly. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast designed for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, a small business coach and founder of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success, so that you can own a business that runs without you. To learn more, go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom and be sure to hang out until the end of this episode for my recap and free Coach's Corner, where I share one actionable item that can move the needle in your business. So where are you coming to us from on this beautiful planet? You've got mountains behind you.
Speaker 2:
I always love to go to the mountains, so I like putting them behind me, but we have no mountains in Missouri, so I'm in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Speaker 1:
Fantastic, well, appreciate your time today. We got a lot to talk about Anything you want to start with as far as a trial or tribulation, that kind of maybe blocked your mindset growing up, because I know a lot of business owners have one.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, well, I think probably the biggest thing is you know I was a son of a father that was an alcoholic, and you know I don't like getting in deep details with it, but you know he was a good father.
Speaker 2:
But the challenge is I really felt like I lost my childhood because he didn't play with me, didn't do those type of things. I remember trying to go out and play catch and you know he would have to go get a drink and so for myself, I feel like I've grown up. I'm the youngest of six children too, and my oldest sister is quite a bit older than I am that's our eldest. So I was kind of a little bit of that only child syndrome and stuff on that side of it. So I felt like his progression as it got worse, I grew up a little faster than maybe some people would have in that case, in that scenario, because I felt like I was a little bit of that only child and needed to do it on my own and I had a great mother and she definitely gave me my competitive spirit that I have in business.
Speaker 1:
Fantastic, fantastic. Well, I appreciate you sharing because typically we all have some type of journey that challenges us when we get to the adulting world. So what was your original destination as far as you thought you would be at this age, when you were growing up? What did you want to do?
Speaker 2:
Well, when I first started I wanted to be a football coach.
Speaker 2:
I had a great football coach in high school up to my junior year and really idolized him and thought I was going to go into history, teach history and be a football coach. And it all kind of changed as I because number one I found out I didn't really like the history classes that I was taking in college. So that kind of changed my direction and I got into the business side of it and got into a group called Students and Free Enterprise in college and that really kind of stirred my interest in the business world. And I was already working, I was putting myself through school and college and it was really kind of intrigued me to really kind of take it to that next level, cause with that group I got to meet the likes of I met Sam Walton once um shake his hand and really realize that those people that's what they do, they put their pants one leg on at a time, just like you and I do. So it really kind of inspired me to kind of go into the business world.
Speaker 1:
So after college, did you go straight into the business world, or did you? What did you do?
Speaker 2:
I started out selling precast concrete items. I tell people that's a fancy name for septic tanks. So I sold for a living.
Speaker 1:
That is a fancy term. Hopefully we can say that on this podcast.
Speaker 2:
But you know we all have to do it. But I started out in sales, just direct sales, doing that. And then after I was with that company about four or five months, the only challenge I had was it was a family-run company, it was going in the wintertime and they were starting to get slow and I got a little worried. Normally you don't let go your salespeople, but I was the only non-family member so I figured I was going to go before some of the others were. So I started looking and I got into the mobile phone business today what we call the old wireless business. But back in 1990, you know, it was just a mobile phone and it was brand new to Jefferson City and I went in the sales.
Speaker 2:
I went to work for a company doing direct sales, selling mobile phones, and I needed to sell 11 a month to hit the top tier commission to be able to make it. And it was scary because of course I was living on my own, already had my expenses, had expenses from college that I still had some debt from. But I decided I need to make that transition and make that change and it was one of the best things I did because I worked for the company for about three months. They made me sales manager. Of course I was sales manager, michael, for a bunch of direct sales reps, meaning commission only reps. So I mean they came and gone, but as quick as anything. But it was one of the greatest experiences because it gave me that opportunity.
Speaker 2:
But that opportunity then gave me when they decided to move out of Jefferson City. There was a husband and wife team. The gentleman that actually owned the company out of St Louis called me and wanted to know if I would take over the company. But instead of going to work for him, we ended up I bought the company from him and started running it. So it was one of those scenarios that you know, sometimes you take risks. Looking back now it was kind of crazy, but by taking those risks it put me in a position to be able to own my own company at a very young age.
Speaker 1:
That's incredible. So when you were in the sales position, what were some of the key things you learned about sales coming straight out of college? Because I know a lot of business owners, that's the one thing they don't like. So what were some things? So you were a little timid back then. It was brand new. You were fresh into sales, taking yourself back. What were some of those things that you could give advice to business owners that are feeling the same way?
Speaker 2:
I think the biggest thing is make your people that you're doing business with create a relationship. I think that's something that really I worked on. But I felt like when I worked with someone number one, I did it back when I was in a part-time sales position I wrote handwritten thank you notes to people that bought from me. And I did it back when I was in a part-time sales position. I wrote handwritten thank you notes to people that bought from me. And I did that in the wireless phone business too. When I get into the mobile phone business, when somebody bought from me, I wrote them a personal handwritten thank you note and today that's a lost art. But even in the 90s it wasn't like it was. Everybody did it. You'd get something from them when you purchased, but a lot of them were the preformed type thing. I actually wrote mine out and wrote a message to them and I think that was the thing that really set me apart, because then they started referring people and you got to think about it.
Speaker 2:
In 1990, we didn't sell everybody. Everybody didn't have a wireless phone. It was considered a luxury, it was considered only for business people or people that made it because you know they went to a pay phone booth to get call in their orders. But by me doing that they would refer other people to me and made my job a lot easier because my phone started ringing and I kind of create that relationship and then if they ever sent me a referral I would again send them another note that I appreciate or thank them for sending me that person and would put in there thank you for sending me, michael Morrison. You know I really appreciate it. He just got purchased a phone from me. I really appreciate that. It was just little things that make the difference and I think that's the key in customer service and really in business. It's the small, little things that you do makes a difference for your clients.
Speaker 1:
Amen. And for those of us that have been around a few years, like myself and you, I get kind of agitated with some of these acronyms. They continue to use customer service like CX, like the customer experience. Well, that's been like. You didn't just create that, that's always been the fact of how you make sales. Is that customer experience? Well, that's been like. You didn't just create that, that's always been the fact of how you make sales. Is that customer relationship? So you bought the business? How much did those phones weigh? Are those the big ones?
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, they were the big ones. We either installed them or, back in the days, remember when they looked like a purse and you could carry them on your side and you had a battery pack that lasted maybe four hours if you didn't use it, maybe about 20 minutes of talk time, but you were really cool on that. You know five to five pounds that you were carrying on the side, but you were never so proud to be able to carry it. I'll never forget the first phone I got. People would ask me to use it and I'd look at my clock and say, well, we've got to wait till after 8 pm because that's when I had free nights and weekends. Buddies would want to use it and it's like, well, let's wait a little bit, it's only 7.30 and 30 minutes you can make a call because you had those free nights and weekends.
Speaker 2:
But seeing the industry change just kind of amazing to see and I wish I could say I saw the picture and I saw that's exactly what happened. But who would imagine the day that we have a computer in the palm of our hand? I mean I can't even imagine it now. When I first started, I mean our hardest thing, Michael, was telling people when they had to dial the number, they had to hit the send key.
Speaker 1:
And when they were done.
Speaker 2:
Make sure you hit in, because if you don't hit in, you're still paying the bill.
Speaker 1:
Oh my Wow, I forgot all about those special instructions. And then you get a special invoice if you forget those special instructions. I've seen a few of those special bills. Yeah, wow. So what was your journey like with that business? Did you have it very long? Did you take it to the next level?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I was in that industry for 22 years up to 2012. 1994, I had a partner for a short amount of time. 1994, I bought out of their partner A lot of challenges with partnerships. I tell anybody if they're in business or thinking about getting in business, make sure you have an agreement up front, especially in a partnership, a very good operating agreement, because I'm still married to the same woman that I've married 29 years. But it's kind of like a marriage and if it ever splits up it becomes pretty ugly. So it's something that people need to really think about. But I was able to grow that industry. There was two of us at the start and we grew it to about 100 to 150 employees. We had 15 locations throughout Missouri. It was a really good-sized organization. But I saw the industry start to change in 2009. And if you remember the song by Kenny Gambler, you know you got to know when to hold them.
Speaker 2:
You got to know when to hold them and I felt like it was just getting that time and I told myself, my wife, somewhere around 2009,. I said I think it's time we get out of the wireless industry and back then now we would call it the wireless industry in 2009. Text messaging, email, all those things started going. But I started seeing that trend change and I really saw we had what we call an agency agreement with the carrier. We were with AT&T at that time and we would get five-year contracts. It was the first time they were reducing those to three-year contracts and I saw a gentleman that was in the industry and I would say he was one of them that would. He caused a lot of his own problems, but he didn't get renewed on his contract date and that was the first time we ever saw that. So they started consolidating the industry, just like we saw with a lot of small businesses doing currently today and have been over the last 10, 15 years, and I saw that happening. So I decided I was going to get out before they put me out.
Speaker 2:
The only thing I did differently is I sought out my buyers, where a lot of people they would go directly to the carrier and they would say I want to sell and then they would dictate who they'd sell to. Well, the problem is, you don't get your best dollar then. We couldn't sell to just anybody because we had a recurring revenue stream that came and it had to be someone in the industry. So I sought out my dealer and found another gentleman that was in the marketplace that we were, but not in the same markets that I was in, a gentleman that was in the marketplace that we were, but not in the same markets that I was in, and we worked out an agreement and stuff. And October I'll never forget, I was going to a Cardinals playoff games and we talked. That was the first time we talked and we closed by 12-31-2012.
Speaker 2:
I exited that industry and it was a great industry to be in. But again, you got to know your industry too, and any small business owners. What's going on in your marketplace, what changes do you have to make? And if you don't make those changes, the challenge you get into you could be put in a position you don't want to, that you don't want to be in. So I tell anyone know the marketplace Doesn't mean you get out at that moment, but find out what works for you. Anyone that's out there. They want to sell, they're ready to get out. You don't get out that day because the problem is you're going to get the bottom dollar. Then what do you got to do to get yourself prepared? Or, if you want to do succession planning, you're ready to exit your business and stuff. Make sure you put the right things in place. That's why I'm sure probably similar why you became a business coach. That's why I became a business coach. I made mistakes, but I'm trying to help other business owners not make those same mistakes. I did.
Speaker 1:
Hey, man, and you mentioned a couple of things. One of them is business partnerships, and you mentioned how hard it was and for those that have listened to this podcast before, they know that we have a program, an online course, about business partnerships. Our two heads better than one. But you mentioned how hard being married was. You know, 50% is kind of the average statistic that we hear of marriages that don't last. 70% don't last in business partnerships. So I really encourage small business owners not promoting the course at all.
Speaker 1:
Just if you are considering a business partner, make sure you know why you're doing it, for what reasons, make sure you have all the agreements and all that good stuff. So that's solid advice. And I want to ask real quick before we move to your coaching, because you and I can talk forever on this next segment, but taking your business coach hat off, what would you say is probably one of the things you wish you would have done differently. Not knowing anything about owning a business, because that's where most business owners are. They've never owned a business before. So, looking back, what would you say is maybe one or two of the challenges that you had that you would have done differently?
Speaker 2:
looking back, Number one would be myself Really pouring into myself of getting more knowledge. Today it's very much available. You got resources to get it. But to be able to get that, help of myself. And the reason I say that is your leadership determines the direction of your organization, determines the altitude that you're going to make, determines the altitude that you're going to make. We'll use the mountains that I got in the background and stuff, because it's so true.
Speaker 2:
Because once you hit your ceiling, then of course, how are you going to tap out of it? I mean, I started I was a young college kid, just getting out of college. I didn't know much, had a lot of vigor, had a lot of hard work, had all those things in place, but I worked my tail off, you know, and you're going to have to in business. I understand that. But the thing is, if I would have done more learning about how to grow a business, I would have been able to be there quicker and faster. Instead, I kind of held my own ceiling. Now I was lucky in 1998, I started getting a business coach and I started moving some of those ceilings and I went through different programs and I was able to get that.
Speaker 2:
But early in my years it was just OK. The only thing I'm going to do is I'm going to work so darn hard that I'm going to be able to make this successful and literally putting in 60, 80 hours, whatever it needed. So that would be my number one. That I would say. And number two is it goes really along with that is when we know ourself, we become a better communicator. And I would definitely get I do extended disc. I don't care what assessment it is, but know thyself, because self-awareness of yourself makes you a better leader.
Speaker 2:
And early in my career I was a terrible leader, michael. It was gosh, you know. It was bound to fist. And today that people say, well, that won't work, no, it won't work, but there's still people out there trying to do it. They're doing it by force versus by communicating with them. When I learned more about myself and I started communicating, that's how we grew from two, five, 10, got up to over 100 employees. Because I became a better communicator and realizing where's the vision, where am I going, what do I want to achieve? And then being able to share that with the team and then getting them to buy in. And getting them to buy in when they do that Guess what. They bring their best self to work, and they want to have a purpose and a reason. They're doing it too. So those would be the two big things. They both kind of rely on that individual business owner, because the better they make themselves, the better their organization's going to be.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. I often say until I change, nothing around me changes. So it's similar to you. Any business owner got to work on yourself first. And for those, you mentioned DISC and a lot of people that I ask have you heard of DISC? They don't know what that is. So can you explain shortly what that is, because we offer it also.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, disc is basically an assessment, is what I would call it. I call it a communication assessment because it literally allows you to know it's D, I, s, c. You're going to fall into one of those categories. You may not be just one, you could be up to three. I'm, of course, pretty high on the D side, which means I'm a driver, I'm dominant, those type of things with my personality. But when I learned that, then I learned the other styles. Now, when someone comes in from another style, I can understand theirs. Like, my wife is an S, that's the supportive style and she is a great supportive person, has been all along in my business and everything. But what does my style do? I could trounce that because I'm a driver, I'm dominant and stuff. No, but if I'm willing to listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you Michael, I do that all the time she would disagree if she was here, but I am so much better at it today than I was before, because before I didn't want to hear it.
Speaker 2:
Just go do your work, you know whatever it is, and then you do that with your spouse. Guess what happens? There's some pretty ugly arguments that come from that. So it's learning the self and then learning to communicate. And the best part is, if you're in sales, you want to know the different styles, because if you know what style, even if you're wrong, and you adjust your style, guess what happens? You become a better communicator to that person. You're more likely you're going to get more sales from it by knowing those different styles. That's there. So to me it's a communication tool. But it also allows us to look at ourselves and say, okay, I know what I am, now I need to know what those other people are. And then when you start communicating, you communicate to the different styles.
Speaker 1:
Very well said. It's very powerful in business, sales, marketing, relationships, family, all those things. So very well said. I appreciate you sharing that. So let's jump from your sale of the business. Did you get into the business coaching after that, or what kind of?
Speaker 2:
happened between now and then. No, I had several other businesses that I had going and then, around 2016, I really noticed because one thing we did in our business, especially the last 10 years, 12 years that I had in the 2000s, that I had the wireless business, we did a lot of coaching and training with our team. I became a Franklin Covey certified facilitator. I had other people on our team be facilitators and we tried. At the time I didn't have this philosophy, but I now look back and really it was the philosophy I had. I wanted to make them better after they were with me and we were in retail sales. So a lot of these people were fresh out of college or fresh out of school and things of that nature. But my goal was I wouldn't even tell them in onboarding I want to make you better if you're here three months, six months, 12 months, well, three or five years, but whatever the length that is, when you leave us you're better than when you came with us. So it was a natural progression to kind of get into the business coaching and training that I do, because really that allowed me to really take that passion that I had in the business and now kind of follow a purpose that I wanted to follow helping others and then business owners.
Speaker 2:
Small business owners that's just my passion, because that's where I grew up, and just realizing that we need more small business owners in the world. Because when there's a recession, guess who don't lay people off? The small business people don't. And so that becomes the challenge. We've got to get more of those out there and getting them to get started.
Speaker 2:
So I love working with small business owners because I see some of the same mistakes and everybody thinks well, one business is different than another. It doesn't matter if you're doing plumbing or if you're in technology sales. As far as business goes, they're very similar and when you learn from each other. And I've done mastermind groups and things of that nature and that's where I really felt like it was a benefit to me. So I started my own mastermind group with's, where I really felt like it was a benefit to me. So I started my own mastermind group with them because I really felt like that could be the real key for them to break through. And I do some one-on-one coaching too. But the mastermind I love because you get that group thing. It's more that one plus one doesn't equal two Instead. One plus one equals 10 or 20, and you get more out of them.
Speaker 1:
Some of the parts yeah, I know a lot of business owners are brand new to being a business owner, and so a lot of us. We try to read a book, read another book, read another book and nothing changes. And so I encourage people to look at your masterminds, because it really does make a difference to actually talk to a human Someone. I mean, the books are good, they're good little nuggets, they're good to have the information to understand a business framework and all that. But the power of talking to someone that's lived it, just like your story today you know the things you've already shared is you don't get that in a book.
Speaker 2:
That's for sure. And I tell you, the thing that it helps too is you realize you're not on an island, you're not isolated as business owners. A lot of times we feel isolated because the challenge is, unless you know other business owners of your size, the problem is you think you have all the problems and, man, they've got such a good life.
Speaker 1:
Wow, yeah, I remember those days.
Speaker 2:
And then when you start talking to them in a mastermind group, it's like, well shoot, they got people problems. Well shoot, they have issues with their marketing. Well shoot, they have issues with this. And you find out you're not alone. And part of that is it really kind of it can re-energize you about your business, because I've seen several times I've talked to people they're ready to sell their business and then you start working with them and you get them into a group and they see they're not the only one with the problem and it's like, well, wow, it's not just me. It's kind of that's how business works and it really kind of sometimes will re-energize them and say, no, I don't want to sell, I want to put effort into this, I want to make some changes in those processes to make it easier and then they're able to really get a successful business.
Speaker 2:
Because that's why I talk about business and life, Because, man, you can put everything in your business. I did it and you can put everything there, but you can lose it. You know, my company name is Ascend Business Strategies, and that's because if you ascend to the top of the mountain, you're there by yourself. Guess what happens? You know it's pretty lonely up there on the top of the mountain.
Speaker 1:
You're listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is sponsored by Boss, where business ownership is simplified for success. Boss helps business owners create a business that runs without them, with business consulting from business coaches who have actually owned businesses before small business funding and loans, some in as little as 24 to 48 hours, online courses, workbooks, classes and much, much more. Go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom to learn why small business success starts with Boss. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to stay up to date with all of our episodes, make sure to hit that subscribe button, give us a thumbs up or leave a positive review. Let's get back to our guest now. What were some of the things that you learned through those different businesses getting up to the business coaching?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is really looking at your operations system and what I mean I call it now a small business operations blueprint. You have to have something there. I've talked about the first one already. That's your leadership First starting with you and then with your team of your leadership of the people in your company and stuff. But then you've got to look at your marketing and a lot of business owners are not good marketers Because. But then you've got to look at your marketing and a lot of business owners are not good marketers Because why? That's not their expertise. But you've got to figure that part of it out, because if you say, oh, I'll just hire that out, you may end up paying a lot of dollars and not getting the results you want. So you have to know something about that marketing. You don't have to know everything, but you've got to know the levers so you know what you're paying for and you're getting the results that you want. And then I think the third one is sales. You've got to know your sales side. Again, not everybody I came from sales, but a lot of people come from what they come from. I know how to manufacture this or I know plumbing, but I don't know the sales side of the business, but you've got to know that sales side. And then it's about the products. What are you going to offer? What are you going to offer as your products and services that you're going to have available, if you just have one product or service? You know some people want to know and they always talk about good, better, best. You know, do you have packages that can build them up to that? Good, better and best? That's there.
Speaker 2:
And then I think it's overhead and operations. You know this is one as you scale. I got my organization up to about 15, $20 million in sales and the challenge is then guess what happens overhead. You know, when I had a hundred employees, when my head hit the pillow, it wasn't Gary worrying about Gary, I was worried about the hundred employees I had on that If I didn't make it, they would be without a job, without a paycheck and stuff. So you've got to keep that overhead and operations intact.
Speaker 2:
And then the last one is really the cash. We've all heard cash is king, but it's about that cash flow. How is it coming? How is it going out? Do you have enough? And I believe in setting up certain accounts. So you have that set up so you're prepared. You know, like COVID None of us expected a COVID, but if you didn't have any reserves you were hoping and praying. Hopefully you got the triple P to be able to make it. But the thing is you've got to set your company up and I believe in having that three to six months reserves available for those tough times. Because when cash is not there, guess what? Payroll still comes up at the first of the month and the 15th and whatever you have at pay mine was the first and the 15th it still comes up the first and 15th and you've got to have some money in that cash flow that's there. So I think when you look at those blueprint, it's about working on those dials, what needs to be done in those areas, and you don't have to be an expert in everyone, but you've got to understand all.
Speaker 2:
I had a gentleman one time I was coaching Michael and he told me on the finance side of it and stuff, well, I have someone take care of that. And I said how do you know it's right. Then I said how do you know those things? And so we sat down and we worked through it on his financial side of it and what I wanted him to look for. I said you don't have to spend hours here, but I said I want you every week getting this report and looking at these numbers and then looking at your sales forecast. Well, nice thing. I ran into him about a year later, two years later and stuff, and he moved on from my coaching and stuff and he says I still know my numbers. And I said great, I still look at them every week. I said great, because that makes the difference of him running his business.
Speaker 1:
One thing you mentioned earlier was business owners think that everybody else has these or that I'm the only one that has these problems. No one else does. I do want to share a story that I had. Someone approach us and I sometimes ask them you know, what's kind of the ideal company that you see that you'd like to kind of mimic your company after, just so I can kind of see like how big they want to go. If they say Amazon, I'm thinking big, big. If they're just talking about somebody across town, that's kind of average, then you know, kind of gives me an idea. But anyways, they mentioned this one company and I said why do you like that company? They started listing all these things. They just got it together. Well, this other company was one of my clients and I had to bite my tongue Like you don't even know they are if they make it till tomorrow. Every day is we're working on making it till tomorrow, you know.
Speaker 1:
So you, I want to give that sense of hope, or that voice of hope to business owners that what you see on the outside is not what's going on in the inside and every single business has a challenge, no matter who it is Amazon, walmart you mentioned, or Sam Walton, whatever. Every business has a challenge. They're just to different degrees, they're different reasons, they're different, two different degrees. There are different reasons, there are different seasons of business, and so that leads me to your business coaching, because you mentioned all these facets of business, so that we can kind of keep on that direction of helping business owners. Stand it that you don't, you're not the only one that has these problems. What are some of the common challenges, you see? So they can go okay. Maybe I am kind of in the ballpark.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think number one is they see in the marketing side of it they don't understand it and they're not even doing the basics On some in the local markets. They're not even on Google, my Business, they don't even have that done and realize that those testimonies when they get referrals in there that can bring them business. I have a Hivac company, used to have a Hivac company and he had over 400 and some reviews on Google. You know what it did to his business. It grew it even more and then he kept getting new ones. He didn't just stop, because the problem is if you stop and they see they're a year old, then of course it's not going to rank the same. But the thing is he kept getting those. So every time it came up and somebody had heating and air conditioning needed repairs, what came up, he came up quicker and faster and then because of the reviews he had even though they don't may not know any of those people he ranks higher and stuff and he would get the first phone call and stuff. So it really helped his business there. So marketing is one knowing your market, knowing again, you don't have to know everything about it, but you've got to know what do you got to do in marketing to make your phone ring or get your leads in to be able to make the sales ultimately you want? And then I think the other one is the overhead. I think that's one that people they just start hiring people and they really haven't thought about how much it costs and how much revenue they've got to have to be able to replace that person and bring that person in. They've got to have to be able to replace that person and bring that person in. So really understanding that overhead in your operations that you know when you bring somebody on there's a cost to that. So what's your return on the investment there? I believe people are investments. It's not a cost if you know that going in. But if you just put them on and hope that another person and hope sales are going to go up or we're so busy, then that's going to cause you challenges there. And then that third one is cashflow.
Speaker 2:
Today, with all the tools out there, even in the service industry, you now can collect that point of sale. You don't have to leave it. I had another customer that they used to go in. They did all this type of service work. He had four to five guys out doing service every day. Every month. They had a stack of bills that they billed every month and some of them were like $80 to $100 bills, so not huge numbers. That was there because they had a quick service that they could do. But the only thing is they were going in and out. They changed over and went to having iPads now and what did they do? They go in everything's electronic. They get an electronic showing what they did.
Speaker 2:
And then how do you want to pay for that Credit card? Or you want to pay as a check? And before they leave they collect. Now they don't collect for everything, but 80%. Now they're collecting up front. The big stack of bills have become a small stack. Guess what that does the cash flow.
Speaker 2:
So, just changing our mindset, how can we look at things differently than we did before? You don't have to bill everyone. In my mastermind, we bill ahead. You know we don't bill for the month of your service, we bill ahead for that service. They know that in that process Some of the other programs I have, I have where you know, yeah, you can pay me a down payment, but then you're on a monthly cycle and we know, okay, on the first or 15th, it's going to be withdrawn from your checking account if they wanted ACH or if you want it on your credit card.
Speaker 2:
With all the tools available now, cashflow should be actually easier. But what would you got to do If we're still in the old system? We've got to convert ourself into the newer way of doing business and allowing people to get on board with that new business. Now will some people say, oh, I don't want that, I want you to just bill me yet. Yes, but the only thing is you let them know, okay, we'll do that this time, or however you want to work it out, but starting this date, we do start collecting. You'll lose less than 10% of your business.
Speaker 2:
And then the other third one I'd say with cash flow and kind of overhead, is everyone looking at right now. With inflation, it's still going up. I had people look at it a year or two and they had made adjustments and I told my group of mastermind members I said go back and relook at that, because in March they said 3.4% inflation went up again. It's continuing to grow. So if you stay in your pricing mechanism that you had even two years ago, you're behind the eight ball then with keeping up with prices and what's going to happen to keep people. Our cost for people are going up because of that inflation number that they're paying, so you're going to have to pay them more. So I think that's when you're looking at your pricing strategies. Make sure you keep that in mind as you look at your prices.
Speaker 1:
I agree and I see this all the time, where business owners are afraid to raise their prices because they're afraid to lose customers, and I want to share that. You will lose customers if you raise your price 100%, but if you stay up with the economy maybe every year at 5% or whatever most people they don't care about a $5, $10, $15, you know increase. But when you go from we're charging a hundred bucks and now we're charging you 200 bucks, that's a reason for people to shop and so that's that's good advice to say know your numbers, always review them and stay current.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and that's the thing, and realize you will lose some. But the only thing is, let's use the easy math. We have 100 customers, only 100 customers. We lose 10% of them. We're down to 90, but we raise 10%. Let's say that's the number we raise. You've got a greater increase than what you left those 10 customers.
Speaker 2:
Nobody likes losing anybody, but then again, were they the ones that you had a hard time collecting from? Were those the ones that were the pain in the? You know what you know. So you have to think about sometimes you want to lose that bottom, that lower side of customer, because they're the one costing you more money and they're the ones that keep you. You end up spending more money to take care of them. So that's one thing to think about as you're doing there, and sometimes that can be a benefit to you.
Speaker 2:
But I agree with you, you don't raise it just to raise it. You raise it in what truly is that matter, and you're still competitive in the marketplace. You don't have to be the cheapest, though. If you provide a good service, you don't have to be the cheapest. Now, if you're lousy on service and you don't have very good people, yeah, then you're going to have to be price conscious. Everything's going to have to be the lowest dollar. But that's where you bring value in of what you do in your business versus others that say, oh, I'm just open for business To bring value in.
Speaker 1:
I encourage everyone to consider a mastermind group, but not everyone knows what they are or they may have had a bad experience. So share with us your mastermind groups or they may have had a bad experience.
Speaker 2:
So share with us your mastermind groups. Yeah, a mastermind group is basically a group think I call it, and stuff. It's all business owners that own their own business and they're operating their business. We won't allow a proxy to come in, so they have to be one of the owners of the business and have a stake in the business and basically what we do is group think. What we really do is we talk about challenges, opportunities, but we also talk about what I call positive wins, the positive focus that we have.
Speaker 2:
So what's going right In my mastermind? We really talk some about the professional side. We talk about six key areas that we talk about, but we also talk about the personal side and we talk about six life domains, and those life domains are in the health area, the relational area, the relational area, of course, your professional, your career side of it and stuff. We talk about financial, the learning side of it, and then we even talk about the spiritual side. So we bring those six life domains in to where, basically to give you some accountability on, because the other challenge you have is a lot of business owners. They're basically a week or two away from a heart attack. You know they're not very healthy.
Speaker 2:
I can tell you my story. I was 275 pounds, big old cheeks, and you know when I was 38 years old and I lost 75 pounds and I've maintained that weight loss because I know what it's done. And the other thing is, by getting exercise in my life, what I found when I lost that weight, I was more creative in my life. What I found when I lost that weight, I was more creative in my business, I was more energetic. It really gave my business a boost. But at the time I didn't think that. I mean, I loved every buffet that was out there and I went to every buffet, especially if somebody else was buying Lots of business lunches.
Speaker 2:
Exactly, but it cost me because it was really hurting my creativity. As I lost that weight, I got more creative about my business, I had more energy with it and, plus, it allowed me the energy then at home with a young family, to be able to have that time with them because it goes fast. I've got a 25, 23 and 21 year old now and got to see them all this weekend and we had a great time together. It's fun when they're young adults, but they wanted to be with us and I will tell you early in my career that wasn't me early when they were born. Luckily, they hardly remember it, because my youngest son, born in 1999 and in 2006, is when I really started making some of the changes that I needed to make, not only health-wise but also with my family, and so they don't remember it as much, but dad remembers it and now, luckily, we've been able to turn that tide. But if you're not around your children when they're young, they're not going to be around you when you're old.
Speaker 1:
There's a famous song about that, isn't there, yeah, yeah. So the mastermind groups do they meet once a month? How do those work? What's the commitment and typically kind of the investment?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I have basically a mastermind that works basically once a month, but then I'm also in the process of building one and we haven't decided if we're going to go twice a month or every other week type process. That's there. I've talked about doing that because that's going to be a virtual group and with my group we do have two live events each year also, where they come in they have to pay their travel expenses but I pick up their hotel. We have a book club, that's in it. But when they come in, we have speakers that come in and speak at those events, some of them virtually, some of them live. That's in those, so on.
Speaker 2:
With my mastermind it starts out at basically it's a 6,000 for the first six months, but we also build what I call their clarity navigator.
Speaker 2:
So we build their three year plan out of what they want to achieve, their bigger vision, and then we bring that down to a one year and then we bring that down to 90 day in all six of those life domains. So part of what I do is I get to see the big picture where they want to be in three years, but then I bring them back. Ok, what are we going to try to accomplish in one year. What are we going to get done in 90 days to be able to start accomplishing that? So we've got a real focused intent and over those three years they really grow what they want. And then the goal is, after they get done with three years, we create the next three-year plan and kind of keep it moving so they really achieve it. Because most business owners have the vision of where they want to go, but they have no clarity whatsoever how they're going to get there, and so my goal is to help them with that clarity.
Speaker 1:
You have podcasts, social media platforms I do. Yeah, with that clarity. You have podcasts, social media platforms I do.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you can find me smallbusinessanswermanbiz or smallbusinessanswerman on any of your favorite podcasts. We go out weekly with our podcast, and then I also am on Twitter I guess X now Everybody has a hard time remembering the name, but I'm on Facebook, linkedin, any of the social media side of it that you can check me out. And our website is goascendbiz. It's G-O-A-S-C-E-N-D dot biz and that's where our website is.
Speaker 1:
What is your podcast about? So people have an idea your podcast about.
Speaker 2:
So people have an idea. I have different people on basically covering really about those six areas we talked about. As far as operations, overhead, marketing, sales, I want to bring in experts on those to be able to talk about them. And then I also get some business owners that talk about their challenges and their struggles that they've had in business and it really allows them to be able to open up and share their wisdom and share their knowledge with others.
Speaker 1:
Fantastic. So last question of the day if you were a speaker in front of a group of different size business owners, what is one piece of advice that you could give them that would be applicable to all?
Speaker 2:
I would go back to the work on yourself, you know, because the better you make yourself, the better your business will be, the better your life will be, and that kind of being takes all facets of it together. It's really going to put it together. But work on yourself. You have to determine what that is. What's right for you is not right for the next person. But determine what that is, because we all hit that ceiling of complexity and the way you break through that ceiling is learning more of what you need to do and what you should be doing. It's totally different when you're in startup phase with two people than what it is when you have 100 people. And that's the thing. If you're willing to change, you can grow from that size. But the only problem is most people do what they allow their self to get stuck and then they never get out of the hamster wheel of life. They feel like they're always on that hamster wheel and living that cycle, and I believe there's a lot more to it than living on that hamster wheel.
Speaker 1:
I agree, my friend. You've been a blessing to many people today. Appreciate your time and wish you continued success.
Speaker 2:
Michael, thank you for having me, and I love what you're doing, and you've got to join my podcast sometime too.
Speaker 1:
We'll have you on Will do All right, appreciate you. Welcome to the Recap and Coach's Corner, where I recap the episode and share actionable coaching advice to help you create a business that runs without you. In this episode, we learned the essentials for success from Gary Wilber's journey, from personal struggles to business success, emphasizing the importance of adaptability, strong customer relationships and financial literacy. From this episode alone, you have an abundance of nuggets to implement in your business to move it to the next level. For today's Coach's Corner, here is one actionable item you can implement based on Gary Wilber's insights. Your Coaching Corner actionable item is this Based on his insights, take time this week to implement a good, better, best pricing strategy for your products or services.
Speaker 1:
This approach can help you appeal to a broader range of customers and increase your revenue without significantly altering your offerings. Start by identifying three tiers of pricing and value, then clearly communicate these options to your customers. This strategy not only enhances customer satisfaction, but also boosts your business's profitability. If you need help, my company boss has coaches and services that can help you implement this action item faster. You need help creating a business that can run without you, or you need a fast business loan or line of credit? Go to our website businessownershipsimplifiedcom and schedule a free consultation to learn why small business success starts with Boss. If you want to talk anything small business related, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.