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I challenge every small business owner.

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If they take credit cards, they should take their statement out.

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They should take the total of fees and divide it by their revenue and find out what percent

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they're paying.

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And if they're paying above 2.3, 2.29, 2.2, they need to really look into it because I have

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seen companies that are paying 6%.

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There is absolutely no need for that.

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[MUSIC]

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Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast, a show for the new generation of leaders.

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Join Melissa R. Skog as she speaks to a wide variety of guests that bring new insights into

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leadership, prosperity, and personal growth.

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While knowing has all the answers, by building a community of open-minded and engaged leaders,

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we hope to give you the tools you need to help you find your own path to success.

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[MUSIC]

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Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast.

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I'm excited to have Jeremy with SARS here with us today.

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Jeremy, let's jump right in.

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Can you give us an overview of your journey into Fintech, SAS, and leading eight successful

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exits?

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>> Absolutely.

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Well, first of all, great to hang out with you today.

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My background is really, really simple.

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, built and sold some companies along the way, had a good career

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in marketing communications, was a vice president of a big company.

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Husband and really now, I'm just on a journey to start to have some balance.

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So it's really more about the balance and less about the work.

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Still operating companies, still building things.

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I'm love ideating new things, not a great operator, so I like to build them, get them to

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go point and hand them off to those who are really good at operating.

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And that's been my journey.

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My journey has been a lot of from one business to another and extremely diverse markets,

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filling in the blinks as I saw them.

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So if you look at my first company, it was really, I had moved out on my own, I had no furniture,

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and I wanted to get into the furniture business because I could buy furniture cheap because

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I found a wholesaler.

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So from that all the way into FinTech, all of those little companies that I built and sold

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were really filling in the gaps where I found ideas or things that I could help myself

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in my business with.

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It started with e-commerce, and so I was starting to learn how to develop and build tech.

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And I did it kind of bootstrapped, so I stayed on that path until I had my career.

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And then as I got into having a career and building side hustle businesses, I was able to accelerate

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to financing myself until I started really getting into bigger companies where I did raise

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a little bit of capital for a couple of them, but not a ton.

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But it all successful for me in terms of learning what worked for me until I learned that I

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wasn't a great operator.

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I think I have what I call squirrel moments where I'm like, "Oh, look at this, I want

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to go do this."

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And then I find another gap, like somebody should do that.

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No one's ever done this before.

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I'm looking, there's no solution, so maybe I can fill the gap.

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So it's been a journey of doing those things, and as I learned who I am and where I fit

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and where I'm most successful, I was able to continue down that path to build better, faster,

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stronger, and more in alignment with how I wanted my life to be.

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So now it's more about balance, and I've been trying to build things that really improve

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my life.

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But take over my life.

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It was, you know, early on it was more about building things to survive.

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I came from that kind of survivalist mentality.

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I moved out at a really young age and having done that and kind of had some hardships early

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on, that was really just about money.

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Like I built things for profit-sake.

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And then as I grew up and started making better choices and decisions about how I was building

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things, it was more thoughtful about how is it going to be?

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How is it going to impact me?

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How is it going to impact my day to day?

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What does my work life look like?

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And some of that came from my wife more recently in the last, you know, seven years of just

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understanding where the balance needs to be in terms of having work and life.

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And because of that now I'm building enterprises around how my lifestyle should be and what

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I can do to impact versus profit.

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So it's really, that's been my journey from, from kind of hardship to now more impact

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and how I can impact others.

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And so my more recent ventures, not necessarily focused on passion where I think everyone tries

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to drive towards that.

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I was more driven towards how can I impact others?

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Because now I'm in a position to do that.

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And how can I do that in a way that doesn't destroy my life and make it a 18 hour day,

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seven days a week, you know, stuck behind a desk?

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So that's really been my journey.

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I identify with what she said, squirrel moments.

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The goal is in the squirrel moments I find.

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So I first nugget of our podcast here, scrolling is okay.

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Scrolling is okay.

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And you know, kind of what you were talking about a bit, Fintech, Technology, SAS.

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It has changed a lot with AI and new ways of doing business.

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How do you think technology is changing the payments landscape?

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Wow, that's a big one.

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I think payments have become awesome.

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Like, you know, how it used to be to make a payment to secure your money to, you know, transact

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overseas.

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Like all of that has become seamless.

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I can walk into a store and almost walk out with the product without ever having even

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talk to anyone.

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So I think the payments landscape has made us, made buying things so much easier.

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And that's great for the company side.

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It's also great for the consumer side where I've seen kind of a really bad light in payments

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has been how sticky it has become and how predatory that landscape has become on the small

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to medium size company.

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So I actually started a company in this space and over the last couple of years, which is

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just looking at the cost of payments.

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And we actually utilize, I'm going to say machine learning.

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It's not AI, but we use a machine learning tool to look at the cost for trying to make

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transactions for credit card processing.

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And we utilize that data to identify how much profit is being, you know, taken from these

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companies.

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And we found in a study that we put together, $50 billion a year in just the US.

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And I would say 80% of that burden falls on small to medium companies.

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The companies that can't afford to spend it have the heaviest burden.

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So we built a tool to effectively identify and utilize that data to negotiate with their

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existing vendors so they don't have to make changes to their operational systems or POS

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systems or terminals or by new equipment or set up new accounts.

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It's such a headache and it's so impactful to the company.

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But we found ways to put money back to their bottom line without them making any changes.

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So that's been a big focus for me because I see how heavy handed some of these processors

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can be the guys who need it the most, right?

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The small pizza place, your dry cleaner, the place you get a massage, I mean all of these

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little businesses, they're carrying sometimes 5 or 6% to just transact money.

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And it's almost predatory.

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I mean, I hate to say that because I'm sure there's going to be a season to assist at some

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point.

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But I would tell you that it has been part of my new journey to help small to medium-sized

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companies because it impacted me so heavily early on.

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In my furniture company, when I was really young, I owned a company called furniturestock.com,

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chargebacks made a huge impact on me, almost put me out of business before I sold the company.

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As I started growing up into more tech-focused organizations, it was always determined as

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high risk.

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So I always paid a high risk fee.

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So it was like really difficult early on for me.

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Now that payments are secure and seamless and it makes it very effortless to go through

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a checkout process like you can go online and buy anything in two seconds now.

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It's great.

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That used to be like a seven-page step-by-step thing.

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There's value to that.

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There's value in security, there's value in the technology.

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But I also see that they're over-valuing that technology.

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And if you're a big company, you have a lot of leverage.

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So the big companies don't pay what the little companies pay.

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The little companies pay way more.

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And in some cases, I've seen six, seven, even eight, nine, ten percent, just a transacted

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credit card.

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It's just not right.

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So it's been a new journey for me to focus on that company I started called Payment Brokers,

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which is purely that.

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We use AI and ML to negotiate rates and fees using data.

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So it's a fun product.

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It's also putting money back to people's bottom lines.

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I hate to even call it a sale.

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It's the easiest thing I've ever done to help a company.

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So that's been my journey with that.

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I think in general, AI is such a unique thing.

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I'm actually in the midst of writing an article about where I think AI is going to go and

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how it's going to impact handcrafted, hand-processed, human interference things.

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Because I think there's going to be a much bigger effort and more value placed on things

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that are done by hand.

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And not everything AI.

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So I think the craft business may really see a really unique boost because of this.

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And so I'm really focused on that.

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I love handmade the stories, the humanality of a company and not necessarily like, yeah,

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our CEOs of robot and all of this is done by machine and all this is pre-programmed.

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And we've been following you around using AI.

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And I know everything you're going to do before you do it and predictive ordering and like,

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I don't know if I like that world.

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I think I much rather like actually talk to people and shake hands and actually interact

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with humans.

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So I think there's going to be a bigger value placed on things that are done manually.

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And more from a luxury branded perspective, that's going to change everything.

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I don't know that I want an AI designed house.

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Everything was built and machined by AI and everything is AI.

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So I feel like that's going to be a little bit of a resurgence of kind of a second renaissance

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of craft.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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As you were talking about how easy it is to use payments, I kept thinking about when I'm

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writing trains in Europe, how easy it is to use my Apple Pay to scan in and Bob and

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Bob have to go up to the machine and buy a ticket and put a credit card in and enter

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my pin and that whole process is gone.

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It's seamless now to get on a train and off a train and I laugh because as a woman, I

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used to be one of those big bag women that carried all my cards and all my things and all,

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you know, a giant wallet.

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I don't have a wallet anymore, right?

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I don't have to use a wallet anymore.

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So it makes lugging around cards and things so much easier to like human should transact

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and do businesses.

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So I do love the ease of that at times I'm a little concerned cyber from a cyber security

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and security perspective.

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You know, I do have some concerns on how they're used now, but I think it is so much easier

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now and to use, you know, Apple Pay and other methods of payment and people want to take

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out money from an ATM now, they could charge anywhere from $2 to, you know, like you said,

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it's $6,9% to get $20.

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So if you need $20, they're charging you $9, you know, these businesses, some of them are

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keeping some of that money if they're larger organizations, right?

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And others are giving it back to other organizations.

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So I do see that from my side and in my industry as well.

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But I mean, you see it every day.

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I mean, you go to a restaurant now and there's a 3% service fee and you're like, what's

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that?

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Well, if you pay cash, we don't charge you the 3%.

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Okay.

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So I want my rewards, I want my miles, I want all my stuff, right?

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I'm just going to pay it.

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So we have immediately hyperinflated the market because everybody said, well, I think

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it's like 3% that we're being charged.

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So we're just going to pass it on to our, pass it on to the consumer, which you're going

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to do anyway, right?

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Whether it's baked into the price or whether it's, you know, on a fee, it's going to happen.

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And so everybody targeted Visa and Mastercard and American Expressor, like these are the bad

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guys.

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So they went after them.

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And there's a bunch of legislation that they're really attempting to pass right now.

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There was a recent settlement for billions of dollars in potential fees that they're going

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to reduce.

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And then a week later, they raised the pricing.

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So I mean, it's unfortunate that we're targeting them when the problem isn't really Visa

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Mastercard.

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It's the technology company that layers over the top.

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It's the processor and then the reseller who sold the processing and the reseller of

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the rese-- I mean, there's so many layers of people now touching the customer.

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There's transaction and the transaction fees have gotten out of hand.

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And there are even companies who know they're doing it.

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And I have, you know, emails from them saying, we don't care.

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We're, it's, we're a sticky solution.

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It's like, that's not really free market choice.

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And I get it, you know, if you provide a tremendous value and there are companies that do, you

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know, there's a really well-known service industry software that everybody uses.

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And they, they partnered with a processor and they're like, you have to use our processing.

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You cannot use a third party.

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And they just charge whatever they want.

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And because their software is so good and it's kind of an industry standard, they know

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they can get away with it.

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So they can charge 3%, 4%.

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No one's paying attention to it because it's the cost of doing business.

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But it's like hyper inflating the market immediately.

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And so now Visa Mastercard came back and said, you know what, we're going to, not only help

233
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you do this, we're going to help you push that right before they fought it.

234
00:14:28,220 --> 00:14:33,780
They were like, we don't agree with you charging customers this fee to what's called cash

235
00:14:33,780 --> 00:14:35,280
discounting.

236
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,060
And so if you pay cash, then they're going to lose business, right?

237
00:14:38,060 --> 00:14:39,480
So they didn't like that idea.

238
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:44,900
But they do like the idea of, hey, why don't we just charge your customer directly the 4%

239
00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:45,900
here and lies the major problem.

240
00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:49,980
And there's no controls like they can just charge whatever they want.

241
00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:53,260
And there's really the merchants like, why have to take credit cards?

242
00:14:53,260 --> 00:14:56,300
So I feel like there's going to be a big shake up at some point.

243
00:14:56,300 --> 00:14:59,100
I'm targeting this $50 billion reduction.

244
00:14:59,100 --> 00:15:02,060
And again, that's mostly on small to medium business.

245
00:15:02,060 --> 00:15:06,380
But in the interim, people just need to be more aware and like, take out your statement

246
00:15:06,380 --> 00:15:09,100
and your credit card processing statement and look at it.

247
00:15:09,100 --> 00:15:11,300
That's a first, you know, pass.

248
00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:16,900
The second piece is like, the more this gets technologically integrated, the harder it's

249
00:15:16,900 --> 00:15:18,460
going to be down plug from it.

250
00:15:18,460 --> 00:15:21,660
Like you just said, it's so easy to just tap.

251
00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:24,500
What a great way to get impulse buys.

252
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:27,060
Like I've done it and went, oh man, did I just do that?

253
00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:28,060
Right?

254
00:15:28,060 --> 00:15:30,100
It's so easy to pay now.

255
00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:31,580
And there's no more cash.

256
00:15:31,580 --> 00:15:33,900
I mean, and it costs money to get cash out.

257
00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:37,100
Like what you were just saying, there's a game around ATMs.

258
00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:39,140
Like, hey, we're going to charge you a flat $6.

259
00:15:39,140 --> 00:15:40,140
So what would you do?

260
00:15:40,140 --> 00:15:41,140
Take out more cash.

261
00:15:41,140 --> 00:15:42,580
Well, we're going to cap.

262
00:15:42,580 --> 00:15:45,100
You can only take out a hundred bucks.

263
00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:47,100
So like no matter what, they're getting 6%.

264
00:15:47,100 --> 00:15:48,100
Right?

265
00:15:48,100 --> 00:15:49,380
It's crazy.

266
00:15:49,380 --> 00:15:53,740
So it's bad, but it's also like, okay, there is a convenience part of this.

267
00:15:53,740 --> 00:15:58,740
Even banks now like to deposit cash, they charge you.

268
00:15:58,740 --> 00:16:01,980
So even if you're a business and you're like, I'll take a bunch of cash, don't forget you

269
00:16:01,980 --> 00:16:03,220
got to get brings.

270
00:16:03,220 --> 00:16:04,620
They got to come pick up all that cash.

271
00:16:04,620 --> 00:16:06,900
They got it cost money to move that money.

272
00:16:06,900 --> 00:16:08,420
They're security involved in it.

273
00:16:08,420 --> 00:16:11,340
You can have an employee take it and not show up to the bank.

274
00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:14,500
I mean, so there's all these like weird oddities with this.

275
00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:18,740
And I feel like at some point, there's going to be some leap frog technology.

276
00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:25,420
I know everybody pushed a lot of eggs in the baskets for cryptocurrencies, which I'm not

277
00:16:25,420 --> 00:16:27,540
an advocate for at all.

278
00:16:27,540 --> 00:16:33,060
But I would say there's going to be some point where this just is not going to work.

279
00:16:33,060 --> 00:16:37,020
And I feel like the consumer is going to drive that, the merchants are going to drive that.

280
00:16:37,020 --> 00:16:43,380
Meanwhile, like Visa, MasterCarder, they're posting record numbers, absolute record profits.

281
00:16:43,380 --> 00:16:45,180
So I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.

282
00:16:45,180 --> 00:16:49,060
Now, I like my 2%, 2.5% cash back.

283
00:16:49,060 --> 00:16:50,700
I like my rewards.

284
00:16:50,700 --> 00:16:53,820
I like going on trips for the spend that I normally have anyway.

285
00:16:53,820 --> 00:16:55,300
I wouldn't give that up.

286
00:16:55,300 --> 00:16:57,100
So it's a hard unplug.

287
00:16:57,100 --> 00:16:58,100
That's for sure.

288
00:16:58,100 --> 00:16:59,100
Yeah.

289
00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:04,100
And I think that's the other thing you made another good point is, are people actually looking

290
00:17:04,100 --> 00:17:05,100
at their statements?

291
00:17:05,100 --> 00:17:12,340
Are they looking at so convenient now to take the money out when you're somewhere to Amazon

292
00:17:12,340 --> 00:17:14,340
things?

293
00:17:14,340 --> 00:17:19,660
There's so much happening regularly in a month for people that are buying things.

294
00:17:19,660 --> 00:17:25,260
And that's partially why Visa is posting some of the profits, right?

295
00:17:25,260 --> 00:17:28,340
People want things now today and they're willing to pay for it.

296
00:17:28,340 --> 00:17:30,140
They don't want to wait for shipping.

297
00:17:30,140 --> 00:17:31,140
They don't want to wait.

298
00:17:31,140 --> 00:17:32,540
They want it today now.

299
00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:34,300
And that is the world we live in.

300
00:17:34,300 --> 00:17:37,660
They want to have their products.

301
00:17:37,660 --> 00:17:39,500
They want to be the perfect way.

302
00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:41,500
They want it now today.

303
00:17:41,500 --> 00:17:42,980
No, they don't want to work out.

304
00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:43,980
Immediate gratification.

305
00:17:43,980 --> 00:17:45,820
Immediate gratification, that's dope.

306
00:17:45,820 --> 00:17:46,820
Yeah.

307
00:17:46,820 --> 00:17:48,580
Yeah, you push a button.

308
00:17:48,580 --> 00:17:52,860
There's a comedian that talks about, you order a pen and you're like, I just want to ship

309
00:17:52,860 --> 00:17:53,860
one pen.

310
00:17:53,860 --> 00:17:56,540
You know, prime now it shows up today.

311
00:17:56,540 --> 00:17:58,180
You're like, that's amazing.

312
00:17:58,180 --> 00:17:59,180
Right.

313
00:17:59,180 --> 00:18:00,180
You're a little excessive.

314
00:18:00,180 --> 00:18:01,180
A little excessive?

315
00:18:01,180 --> 00:18:02,180
Yeah.

316
00:18:02,180 --> 00:18:04,780
A little excessive, but the convenience you pay for it.

317
00:18:04,780 --> 00:18:05,780
And it's unfortunate.

318
00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:09,100
I don't think businesses even look at their statements.

319
00:18:09,100 --> 00:18:13,220
Even the consumers aren't doing it, businesses aren't doing it either, they just chalk it up to

320
00:18:13,220 --> 00:18:14,860
the cost of doing business.

321
00:18:14,860 --> 00:18:18,180
But then you ask why all of these small and medium-sized companies fail.

322
00:18:18,180 --> 00:18:19,580
They're just not paying attention.

323
00:18:19,580 --> 00:18:20,580
They're just thinking about it.

324
00:18:20,580 --> 00:18:21,580
That's a good point.

325
00:18:21,580 --> 00:18:24,660
And that's one another good takeaway for the listeners.

326
00:18:24,660 --> 00:18:28,700
Check your statements and look at what you're actually spending money on because I think

327
00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:30,900
you'll be shocked as we all are.

328
00:18:30,900 --> 00:18:34,740
There's things on there you may not have purchased or you maybe went out to dinner and

329
00:18:34,740 --> 00:18:38,220
the bill is $50, but it's $150 bucks on your statement.

330
00:18:38,220 --> 00:18:41,140
So call the restaurant, get it reversed, it's an error.

331
00:18:41,140 --> 00:18:43,740
I want to put it a little bit.

332
00:18:43,740 --> 00:18:44,900
Here's a tip, I'll just give you this.

333
00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:46,420
I think it's an important one.

334
00:18:46,420 --> 00:18:49,220
So you're talking about your credit card statements.

335
00:18:49,220 --> 00:18:53,500
And for small business, I challenge every small business owner.

336
00:18:53,500 --> 00:18:56,740
If they take credit cards, they should take their statement out.

337
00:18:56,740 --> 00:19:00,860
They should take the total of fees and divide it by their revenue and find out what percent

338
00:19:00,860 --> 00:19:01,860
they're paying.

339
00:19:01,860 --> 00:19:08,180
And if they're paying above 2.3, 2.29, 2.2, they need to really look into it.

340
00:19:08,180 --> 00:19:13,660
Because I have seen companies that are paying 6%, there is absolutely no need for that.

341
00:19:13,660 --> 00:19:16,500
I mean, it's crazy that they have silent partnerships.

342
00:19:16,500 --> 00:19:18,020
Anyway, it didn't mean to interrupt.

343
00:19:18,020 --> 00:19:19,020
No, no, no, definitely.

344
00:19:19,020 --> 00:19:20,020
That's a really good point.

345
00:19:20,020 --> 00:19:22,660
I'm glad you run it up.

346
00:19:22,660 --> 00:19:24,380
I want to ask a question.

347
00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:27,460
I know 8 successful exits is a really big deal.

348
00:19:27,460 --> 00:19:33,340
And I think that is a true testament to you as a leader, as a visionary.

349
00:19:33,340 --> 00:19:38,140
One of the questions I want to get your perspective on is how do you grow?

350
00:19:38,140 --> 00:19:42,580
When scale these businesses, do you have any tips, strategies that you can share with our

351
00:19:42,580 --> 00:19:45,100
listeners on how you are able to do that?

352
00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:53,380
So I always pause when we talk about 8 exits to clarify what 8 exits looks like.

353
00:19:53,380 --> 00:19:55,060
Because everyone goes, wow, that's so glamorous.

354
00:19:55,060 --> 00:19:57,260
And you did all these, you know, so all these huge companies.

355
00:19:57,260 --> 00:19:59,700
First of all, that's not the case.

356
00:19:59,700 --> 00:20:01,620
Some of them were out of necessity.

357
00:20:01,620 --> 00:20:04,540
Some of them were absolutely on its last leg.

358
00:20:04,540 --> 00:20:09,140
Having hemorrhaging money had no idea how it was going to prop it up and I was fortunate

359
00:20:09,140 --> 00:20:16,100
enough to learn the M&A side of exiting and was able to find operators that took over and

360
00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:17,100
took the home.

361
00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:19,540
So there have been some really great exits.

362
00:20:19,540 --> 00:20:21,940
So I'm not discounting the good ones, but there are some bad ones too.

363
00:20:21,940 --> 00:20:23,820
Ones that I'm not super proud of.

364
00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:24,940
And then I've had some micro exits.

365
00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:26,540
Things where I'm like, I built it.

366
00:20:26,540 --> 00:20:28,900
I don't know what to do with it or how to operate it.

367
00:20:28,900 --> 00:20:32,940
And other companies saw much bigger value in it and took it way further than me.

368
00:20:32,940 --> 00:20:36,060
For the ones that I built and scaled, I had amazing mentors.

369
00:20:36,060 --> 00:20:42,940
So I would say if I would had to start over and do it all over again and I didn't have

370
00:20:42,940 --> 00:20:45,340
those, that would be the first thing I would invest in.

371
00:20:45,340 --> 00:20:50,020
Would be some kind of mentorship, some kind of advisory, some kind of outside influence

372
00:20:50,020 --> 00:20:55,140
help because there was no way I could have done half of the things I did without the mentors

373
00:20:55,140 --> 00:20:56,660
I had.

374
00:20:56,660 --> 00:21:03,860
My former bosses in my career, working at a very large manufacturing group, the CEO of that

375
00:21:03,860 --> 00:21:09,900
company was absolutely pivotal in my success and a lot of the things I did from a growth side.

376
00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:16,140
I had another mentor who was extremely balanced and had a balanced life and was mentoring me

377
00:21:16,140 --> 00:21:18,460
not to be an idiot along the way.

378
00:21:18,460 --> 00:21:23,140
And you know, fiscal responsibility, which apparently I just, I didn't get the memo early

379
00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:24,140
on.

380
00:21:24,140 --> 00:21:33,500
So I think in general scaling requires all focus on only growth and I feel like what ends

381
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:39,300
up happening is these small companies get diverted in a billion directions and they don't

382
00:21:39,300 --> 00:21:45,220
look at what's the most important thing, which typically is sales, sales cures all things.

383
00:21:45,220 --> 00:21:47,060
So long as it's profitable.

384
00:21:47,060 --> 00:21:51,380
And I feel like everybody's like, our logo has to be perfect and this has to be right and

385
00:21:51,380 --> 00:21:55,700
it's like too much focus on things that don't make impact.

386
00:21:55,700 --> 00:22:02,860
And so scale for me fortunately was all focus on sales and I'll fix everything else, you

387
00:22:02,860 --> 00:22:06,580
know, it was like jumping off the cliff and we'll be able to play on the way down.

388
00:22:06,580 --> 00:22:10,740
And we did that with sales first and then we were like, let's fix all of the things as

389
00:22:10,740 --> 00:22:12,820
we go to this path.

390
00:22:12,820 --> 00:22:15,660
And that was successful for some of them, not all of them.

391
00:22:15,660 --> 00:22:21,580
The second was not and this is just for me, so I don't recommend this for everyone, but

392
00:22:21,580 --> 00:22:28,340
bootstrapping changes everything when it's your money and you work 40 hours a week to invest

393
00:22:28,340 --> 00:22:29,340
in it.

394
00:22:29,340 --> 00:22:33,820
The way you invest is very different than if you, your first start up, you go raise a bunch

395
00:22:33,820 --> 00:22:38,780
of money because it's not as important to you when it's your own.

396
00:22:38,780 --> 00:22:43,980
So if you start by bootstrapping, everything else gets much, much more clear on what should

397
00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:47,580
be focused on first because you're trying to get to profitability.

398
00:22:47,580 --> 00:22:52,300
And that's the last piece for me was I was fortunate to not have to bleed my startups because

399
00:22:52,300 --> 00:22:53,100
that had an income.

400
00:22:53,100 --> 00:22:55,020
I was the king of side hustle.

401
00:22:55,020 --> 00:22:59,620
So I had a normal career while I built many of these companies and my career afforded

402
00:22:59,620 --> 00:23:03,220
me the opportunity to not have to take blood from a rock.

403
00:23:03,220 --> 00:23:08,860
There's not money there to take and I feel like startups often take, take, take, take,

404
00:23:08,860 --> 00:23:12,020
they're like the second money comes in, they're like, I need a new car.

405
00:23:12,020 --> 00:23:16,540
So they end up hurting the money, the money is that needed to be reinvested in these

406
00:23:16,540 --> 00:23:17,540
startups.

407
00:23:17,540 --> 00:23:19,780
Don't get back there because they're like, hey, it's starting to make money.

408
00:23:19,780 --> 00:23:20,780
Great.

409
00:23:20,780 --> 00:23:21,780
I'll start taking that out.

410
00:23:21,780 --> 00:23:26,780
So those are some things that helped my early stage growth growth beyond that was purely

411
00:23:26,780 --> 00:23:33,500
networking, being around the right people, luckily at the right time in some cases and

412
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:39,300
continuing the growth path by focusing on sales, sales, sales, sales.

413
00:23:39,300 --> 00:23:44,820
If I could get more sales, I could cure some of the problems along the way and I did it

414
00:23:44,820 --> 00:23:47,620
more recently from the bottom up.

415
00:23:47,620 --> 00:23:54,060
Now when you have the ability to pause and do things more thoughtful, you grow profit,

416
00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:55,340
not revenue.

417
00:23:55,340 --> 00:24:01,340
And so more recently, everything I focus on is how do I grow profit up, not top line down.

418
00:24:01,340 --> 00:24:05,140
So when you're like in the bootstrap, I'm just trying to make things work.

419
00:24:05,140 --> 00:24:08,180
Everybody starts revenue because it's the only thing you have.

420
00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:12,940
When you have a little bit more time and can be patient about growth and you grow profit

421
00:24:12,940 --> 00:24:19,220
first, it's a game changer for longevity of the company, stability of the company.

422
00:24:19,220 --> 00:24:23,580
And I think in general growth becomes really easy because people recognize when you're hungry

423
00:24:23,580 --> 00:24:25,740
to grow, right?

424
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,260
You can smell it from mile away.

425
00:24:28,260 --> 00:24:36,220
When you're not, the indifference makes a difference to the client, the customer and everything

426
00:24:36,220 --> 00:24:37,460
around you.

427
00:24:37,460 --> 00:24:41,860
So when you have that kind of passion and desire to grow things profitably, people can see

428
00:24:41,860 --> 00:24:42,860
it.

429
00:24:42,860 --> 00:24:46,580
And I feel like it definitely makes an impact long term for the business.

430
00:24:46,580 --> 00:24:51,940
Yeah, I love to hear that as a revenue driver, sales professional.

431
00:24:51,940 --> 00:24:53,340
I would absolutely agree.

432
00:24:53,340 --> 00:24:57,500
There's always going to be flashy things to spend money on, a bright new office and you

433
00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:00,380
know, fancy pens and all these things.

434
00:25:00,380 --> 00:25:03,020
But I think I absolutely agree with what you said.

435
00:25:03,020 --> 00:25:07,440
You said it's focusing on the revenue driving sales.

436
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:12,960
And then the other thing just to touch on that I love you said is focusing on what matters,

437
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:13,960
right?

438
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,120
There's so many pulls of all of our time.

439
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:21,360
You know, I think it's really focusing on the business and what needs to happen today

440
00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:24,600
that's driving the revenue is really key.

441
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,520
And then one other thing that I love is you're such an entrepreneur.

442
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,960
I love the spirit you have that drives you forward to these businesses because they're

443
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,600
all so different.

444
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:44,120
So can you talk a little bit about like what is that drive for you and how has it, like,

445
00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:48,480
maybe the question is, talk to me about your entrepreneur going from W2 employee to an

446
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,600
entrepreneur and what's driving that for you?

447
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:58,560
So my father started it really young and he was a serial entrepreneur.

448
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:04,160
So growing up, I watched him build car wash, I watched him build a detailed shop and

449
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,160
all these little businesses.

450
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,880
And so I just saw it early on.

451
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:09,960
I jokingly, and I wrote an article about this.

452
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,080
It was more about my father from an early age.

453
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:17,560
I was in a stroller at like prepaid legal services, multi-level marketing.

454
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,240
I was literally a baby going to MLM meetings.

455
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:25,840
My parents were like, really, they got indoctrinated really, really like, AMOA global.

456
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:27,280
I was a baby.

457
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:32,280
So I think I grew up this like thinking grow rich was a book I heard about when I was like

458
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:33,280
three.

459
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:38,200
So growing up, I was always around like, hey, we're going to do this or we're going to start

460
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,240
this detailed shop or we're going to do this thing.

461
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:41,800
So I saw them do it.

462
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,720
And then at six, I started this lemonade stand.

463
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,240
I wrote a huge article about this.

464
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:46,240
I love it.

465
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,080
Kind of my claim to fame was I started this lemonade stand.

466
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,160
My father was like, I wanted these like this, I don't know what you'd call them, but they're

467
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:54,720
like building blocks, but they're life size.

468
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,160
So I built a lemonade stand.

469
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:00,320
My father borrowed me money showed me how to like account for it and I owed him interest.

470
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:05,960
And that lemonade stand netted me thousands of dollars that year, over a summer.

471
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:12,760
And to me, it was like my first taste of entrepreneur and being an entrepreneur and from that point

472
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,240
forward, it was on.

473
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,200
So like I took that money invested in arcade game, which I thought everybody's going to put

474
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,200
coins in it.

475
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,080
So I'll still only arcade, but I'll have this other income.

476
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:23,800
No kids put any money in except me.

477
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:24,880
And if it was a failure.

478
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:30,120
So I got my first taste of success and failure like back to back in one summer.

479
00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:35,480
And that point for it, it was just a journey of what I thought I wanted to be.

480
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,160
I was always focused on money.

481
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:39,480
It was a survivalist mentality.

482
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:40,480
I lived in a car.

483
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,680
There was a lot of hardship to try to like balance out with let me go make money.

484
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:49,560
I'm going to be this multi million dollar international businessman entrepreneur like that

485
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,640
was a vision when I was like six.

486
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,920
So from that day forward, I think it was just about that vision.

487
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,120
And as I chased it and started to get to those things, I recognized that's not what I really

488
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:02,840
wanted at all.

489
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,000
And it wasn't until I had a mentor who brought some balance.

490
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:13,360
A former business associate, and his name is Eddie Booth, lived in or lives in England.

491
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,480
And was a customer of mine who like took a liking to me because I was a really young running

492
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:23,320
a business and he was a customer and he was like, I see an absolute train wreck if I don't

493
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:25,640
step in because I was just trying to make it work.

494
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:30,400
I was propping everything up and I had, you know, living on my own really young, just trying

495
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,240
to make ends meet.

496
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:39,480
And he kind of gave me this different path, which was more thoughtful, more focused on

497
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,680
why I'm doing it and not what I was doing.

498
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:43,960
So I took a little bit of that.

499
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,000
I didn't take a full dose, if you will.

500
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,200
And I started incorporating that into my life and it made big changes really quickly.

501
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:58,280
And so I went from these little tiny, crazy idea entrepreneur things to, I need some stability

502
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:04,080
first and then I'll side hustle my way through it, which was kind of what I was told to do.

503
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:05,960
I mean, he said, go get a good job.

504
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:07,040
You're going to get a great job.

505
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,120
People are going to recognize that you're talented.

506
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,120
And I did.

507
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,080
I got a really, really great job.

508
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:18,360
And I took all of my side time and money and I would burn 20 hours a day, nine days a

509
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:19,360
week.

510
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,080
Like, there was no nights or weekends.

511
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,560
It was just burned through idea after idea after idea and I loved it.

512
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:31,880
It was a dicking to a point that like any addiction, it affects your life.

513
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:37,000
I lost friendships, relationships, you know, other things that like I didn't have a life

514
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:38,600
outside of business.

515
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,280
It became like, but it was a drug.

516
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,640
It was my hobby.

517
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,840
I was in, I only wanted to talk about business all the time.

518
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,320
My friends were kind of like they're in a sports and all these other things like didn't care,

519
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:52,800
didn't care at all.

520
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,720
It wasn't even on my radar to like the fact that somebody could pull up stats and read

521
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,040
somebody's baseball stats, I care less.

522
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:00,960
Like, what is that doing for you?

523
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,600
And I just again focused on survival.

524
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,440
It was just about making enough money to do the next thing, the next thing, but then too

525
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:10,720
much is never enough.

526
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:16,640
So you just keep growing and growing and along the way, you sacrifice everything.

527
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:17,640
Literally everything.

528
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:24,080
Health, friends, family, everything was secondary to me being successful.

529
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:30,480
And then you get there and you go, I'm here by myself with nothing.

530
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,360
Like I have everything, but I have nothing.

531
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:34,360
Yeah, I, yes.

532
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,720
So that was the pivotal moment of, what did you just do?

533
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:43,280
My health was failing, my teeth were bad, like my eyes were shot, my hands hurt from being

534
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,600
on a computer, my back was art.

535
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:50,400
All of the health things, all my friends had gone on about their lives together and built

536
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,640
great friendships that I was never a part of and never showed up to anything.

537
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,080
I was just focused on work.

538
00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,120
And so I had gotten there, made a bunch of money and now I'm like, all right, let's celebrate.

539
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,760
And then it was like, I've been seeing you in like two years.

540
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,640
What do you mean?

541
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:10,960
So then it became more about thoughtful growth and development of how I can do things better.

542
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:17,040
And again, still focused on success, but just a little bit more balanced.

543
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:21,080
And that, I think that's key is, is, you know, I want to zone in on some of the things you

544
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:22,080
said.

545
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,880
And, you know, I, I, I laughed that she said, the lemonade stand and the MLM, one of my

546
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,840
first mentors was a diamond and amwin.

547
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:34,120
I used to be at eight and I would listen to his pitches and his meetings and he was a

548
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,520
partner at a firm and he was like, Melissa, you got to listen, you got to learn.

549
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,120
And so I thought it was only me that had the lemonade stand.

550
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:46,520
He made me do one summer and, but the other thing that I wanted to touch on is, I used this

551
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:52,120
word a lot when I speak in, you know, either talking about tech or leadership.

552
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,720
I think you nailed it on mindfulness and stepping back out of your own self no matter what

553
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:02,160
your goal is, whether it's to build, you know, to, to build a business, to find a spouse,

554
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,080
to raise good kids, stepping back and, and analyzing where you are.

555
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:07,400
Am I living my best life?

556
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,800
Is this in line with my values?

557
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:11,760
I'm building a business, but my health is suffering.

558
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,280
I have no friends.

559
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:18,240
So I think, you know, one key point is in, in, in to the listeners, a lot of you guys are

560
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:22,120
executives, leaders, leading big teams doing big things, but how is your personal life?

561
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,160
How is your health?

562
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:25,320
Have you been to the doctor?

563
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,000
Have you gotten that report card?

564
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:32,600
And so really taking a step back, like you said, is really key in your journey, professionally

565
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:33,840
and personally.

566
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:39,720
So switching a little bit, you know, I think back again, eight exits.

567
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,040
When is the right times to sell?

568
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:46,560
I know I have a lot of friends that have really big, really big businesses and they don't

569
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:52,400
want to walk away or maybe really small businesses, but they've lost the passion for that business.

570
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:58,360
Can you talk a little bit about when's the right time to sell or, and, and negotiate the

571
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:03,000
sell and maybe, maybe what have you learned from selling eight?

572
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,640
There's no right time.

573
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,640
There's no, there's no formula for this that I have.

574
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:15,320
I mean, I, I think I knew when it was time for me, when my passion was gone completely, when

575
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:20,840
the frustration was at a, at a point, and my distraction was so focused on something else

576
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:22,840
already.

577
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:30,640
And I think my number one telltale sign for me was, I had already moved on, but the company

578
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,320
was still operating.

579
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,280
And it was, by the way, people are going to go through pain.

580
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:40,280
So I hate even telling people if it's not for you move on, like that's not always the case.

581
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,760
You have to push through some of the pain.

582
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:47,280
So don't just jump because it's not what you want to do anymore.

583
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:52,680
I mean, there are definitely valuation points in a business that you should recognize and

584
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,080
just know where you're at.

585
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,400
Knowing the value of a company is important because at some point, people build things

586
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:03,840
not knowing what the end value is and then when it's time to sell, they, they just spent

587
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,360
10 years building something that's worth two years worth of revenue.

588
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,080
And they're like, wait, what?

589
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,120
I thought this would be worth millions of dollars.

590
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,640
It's like, it's not.

591
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,200
Check the industry, understand what you're building and the valuation of what it's going

592
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:19,040
to be at exit.

593
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,040
But most people don't get into a business thinking about the end.

594
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,800
So they're like, I'm going to build this thing up and it's going to make millions of

595
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,600
dollars and then reality sets in that it's not.

596
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:32,600
And it's not exactly what they thought it was going to be because not enough people spend

597
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,280
time researching upfront about all of those things.

598
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,080
They just get into business, which is great.

599
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,000
I actually think that's a better way to do it than research.

600
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,000
What is it called?

601
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Analysis paralysis.

602
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:47,040
You know, so knowing when to exit, I don't think there's a right answer.

603
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:51,560
I think you will know when it's time or put it on the market and see what it's worth

604
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,320
and get a general sense if you feel like it's time.

605
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:57,000
There are ways to do that through brokerage.

606
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,320
There are ways to just do it on your own and, you know, kind of FSBO for sale by owner style

607
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,480
marketplaces where you can put it out and just get a general sense of what you're dealing

608
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:06,560
with.

609
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:08,080
It's not easy to exit either.

610
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:09,600
This is not something you do in a week.

611
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:10,760
It takes months.

612
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:12,840
There's a lot of transitional time.

613
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:16,400
You're kind of married to the business even for a period of time after you sell it unless

614
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:21,680
the company is just so far advanced and can integrate better or they buying you to shut

615
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,160
you down for some strategic reason.

616
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:30,480
I mean, I think there's different reasons to exit, but most people, it's all about valuation.

617
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:31,480
Yeah, I agree.

618
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:37,840
99% of the time it's just about, listen, I don't want to make $250,000 a year anymore.

619
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:39,600
I'm done doing this.

620
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,200
This thing's worth a couple million dollars.

621
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:46,680
Is that going to, you know, provide for you and hold you up and take taxes out where

622
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:47,680
you left?

623
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,080
Are you sure you're ready to exit?

624
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,440
Is this where you want to be?

625
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:51,760
Do you want to put an operator in place?

626
00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,240
There's other ways to exit a company without selling it.

627
00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:59,800
So I think in general, it's just trying to find what's right for the current ownership

628
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,560
or operator.

629
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,960
And then you put people in place and then you find out, this is actually makes sense to

630
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:07,360
do.

631
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,600
For me, it was like, I got a couple of them.

632
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,200
I had no choice.

633
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,400
I was approached by an investor.

634
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,560
They gave me a great offer.

635
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,360
I had not yet recognized that I was a, not a bad operator.

636
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:21,280
I'm just not built to operate companies.

637
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,160
I'm a builder.

638
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,840
Just like, you know, some people are builders and some people are homeowners.

639
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:26,840
It's the same thing for me.

640
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,920
I've identified early on that I'm not a good operator.

641
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:34,040
And so when I found a good operator who was willing to value it at something that was

642
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,360
valuable to me, then I was out.

643
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:37,760
It made sense.

644
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,120
It goes with a lot of heartache for those.

645
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:41,120
Very true.

646
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,120
Very true.

647
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:47,040
A couple last things before we close into be mindful of time.

648
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,040
Just maybe some final two final questions.

649
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,680
An area maybe that you're bullish on as far as technology.

650
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:58,560
And then any advice, just your final thoughts on what you, are you bullish on and then any

651
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:03,920
advice for people that are growing businesses in the spaces that you're in and that you

652
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,280
want to leave the listeners with?

653
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:07,800
Bullish.

654
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,880
I would say, I mean, look, AI is really a unique tool.

655
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:17,120
And I feel like everybody's putting a lot of chips on the table, but these horses are racing

656
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:18,960
and we don't know who's going to be the winner.

657
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:24,920
So I'm not necessarily saying I'm not bullish, but I'm very cautious about putting any kind

658
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,440
of chips on one horse.

659
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:28,880
There's just too many.

660
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:34,160
And things are happening at a almost unrealistic pace.

661
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,600
And every day I see some new, you know, Gen AI coming out that I'm like, what is that?

662
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:39,600
What?

663
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,760
That could put this one out of business and this could change this.

664
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:47,240
So I think people have to take a step back a little bit and look at this more holistically

665
00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:48,680
as a tool.

666
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:53,040
Use the tools, like get embedded, invest in them, put them in your business.

667
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:56,840
Just don't prop your business up on them yet.

668
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:57,840
They're moving too fast.

669
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:03,320
They're too dynamic and they can shift overnight and drastically put these companies out of business.

670
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:08,280
So it's a weird position to be in with tech because I don't think we've, I've never seen

671
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:09,440
a tech that's been like this.

672
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:10,760
That wasn't speculative.

673
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:15,520
Crypto a whole different discussion for another time, but I would say, I am really bullish

674
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,920
on as a tool and people should leverage every bit of it.

675
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,920
It's made me super efficient and a lot of things I do every day.

676
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,000
I think people should use that crutch to the best of their ability.

677
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,800
Just be careful on building a business around it.

678
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:29,680
So that's my bullish and my advice.

679
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:30,680
I love it.

680
00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:33,520
That's great advice both.

681
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,000
Thank you so much for being here, Jeremy.

682
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,040
And thank you for sharing your knowledge and your time with the listeners.

683
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,040
I know they'll get a lot of great value out of what she shares.

684
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:44,320
And that's all for the executive connect podcast.

685
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:50,360
You've been listening to the executive connect podcast.

686
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:55,440
If you have questions or ideas on how to bring leadership to the next level, email us at

687
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:59,840
executiveconnectpodcast@gmail.com.

688
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,960
And don't forget to subscribe so you can catch every new episode.

689
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:04,800
Until next time.

690
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,380
(upbeat music)

691
00:39:07,380 --> 00:39:09,960
(upbeat music)