The Small Business Safari

From Subfloors to Cash Flow: A CPA’s Journey to Profitable Small Business | Marika Ponton

• Chris Lalomia, Alan Wyatt, Marika Ponton • Season 4 • Episode 213

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Marika Ponton, CPA and founder of Profit Truths, shares how she built, sold, and pivoted her way to helping business owners find clarity, profit, and calm. From Big Four beginnings to entrepreneurial coaching, Marika reveals how small business owners can master their numbers, reallocate marketing spend, and finally take control of cash flow.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube:
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💡 GOLD NUGGETS (Key Moments)

  • Big Four lessons that translate to small business grit
  • Why networking beats waiting for franchise leads
  • Subfloor to sales: detailed quotes as a differentiator
  • Selling while you’re the rainmaker and still getting value
  • Financials that tell a story buyers trust
  • Marketing spend benchmarks by industry and region
  • Fixing gross profit before chasing net profit
  • Judgment-free coaching and honest KPI dashboards
  • Cash flow tactics, payroll timing, and owner salary
  • Benchmarking, reallocating ad spend, and growing margin

🔗 Guest Links

Marika Ponton – Profit Truths
• Website: https://profittruths.com

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marikaponton

🌍 Follow The Small Business Safari

• Instagram | @smallbusinesssafaripodcast

• LinkedIn | Chris Lalomia

• Website | chrislalomia.com




SPEAKER_03:

Starting to sound like Trump.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. She is very, very, very, very, very, very.

SPEAKER_03:

Very meaningful. Very beautiful.

SPEAKER_04:

And I'm going to call it like it is. Uh, not doing politics here, but don't want Trump on the podcast. You wouldn't? I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_04:

You know why?

SPEAKER_03:

Why?

SPEAKER_04:

Because it wouldn't be about you. Right. We know ourselves here. I can't have him on there. Oh. Room's not big enough for the two of us, big guy. It's true. We're doing the deal. Yeah. I admit it. I get a big ego. All right. But but I would share the stage. No, I wouldn't. All right. Let's get back to shall we? Falsely magnanimous. There's no way it's happening. So uh if on the other side, just in case you're wondering what's that, I wouldn't do it with Obama either. Unless we were doing a final, we were doing the final six. So you want to get Governor Kemp on the show. 100%. And I'll share the stage. And I will Yeah, that'd be interesting. Because that guy has done some really good things.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And uh he is for me and my business. Yes. The moves he's made, I'm totally curious. Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls, and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your extent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through this safari. Alan, we're gonna drop it to the floor today. I'm flowing from bottom up. I'm coming from the bottom. I'm working my way up because you got to start at the bottom. You gotta start at the floor sometimes in your business and your life, whatever's gotta happen. But if you don't have a great foundation, you can't go up. You know what I'm saying? I'm saying, huh? Follow me? Start from the floor. Wax off the way up, wax off. That's right. Miyagi's in the house, baby. I have a great guest today. I'm excited. You are a little excited. I am. I'll tell you why. I have uh rekindled to take your pills. I rekindled our relationship. Is that a wood joke?

SPEAKER_03:

He's good at that.

SPEAKER_04:

I am, right? You like that?

SPEAKER_03:

That's two little dad inferences right off the bat. So I don't think kindling and owning a flooring business should be in the same joke.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, but it's wood. I I would if I would if I could. Chuck Chuck. Here we go. All right. Can we restart this? Guys, we have a great guest. So what did Alan and I do? What do we have in common? Well, we both were in the corporate world. And we are both, grantedly, we'll say it, successful. Oh. We were. We were bald. We are both bald. Bald. We are both have faces built for radio. Exactly. So he can fill in the gaps here. This is like mad libs. So uh we definitely have a guest who definitely not as bald as us and definitely not as bad looking as us.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that the best thing you've ever heard? You're not as bald as us.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, your life is complete.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

I've been I've been known as the uh Cyreno de Bra Debragerat, whatever you say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the compliments were so good.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's we we have the corporate refugee. She had that job. She's getting it out, everybody. That's why we do it. Hey, you're driving around here in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_03:

It's legendary in my family.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh you're driving around in Australia, you're driving around in Tasmania. And I've got to believe you can get across Tasmania quicker than you can actually get from Decatur, Georgia to Johns Creek. That's two suburbs of Atlanta at 5 p.m. Which Atlanta, the only place you're always an hour away from.

SPEAKER_03:

Especially when you look at the map, it's not that far down. No, not at all. And it's not at all. A horrible drive.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But you know, look what I get to come hang out with.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, lucky you. You know, life's decision amazing the path that he uh chooses to walk.

SPEAKER_04:

All right, let's get into it, guys. Marica is here, and um, we met because she bought a franchise in the floor coverings world. Um, so I don't want to say the name of the franchise, but I think we just kind of got through to it. And um she met the she talked to the guy that we used to work with, and he said, Hey, you might want to talk to Chris. And so she she texted me and said, Hey, would you be willing to give me um some time just to talk about what I've done to myself? She'd say it like that. I'm like, sure. So where do we go? She uh graciously enough comes up to my office out of the cater into Norcross, but she says, Look, I'm kind of a bubble tea gal, so we have to go to a bubble tea place. And uh I went and I did. I said, uh, okay, I I okay. I don't even know what that meant. I actually had to look it up. I talked to my daughter and texting her. I'm like, what's bubble tea? She goes, Dad, you're so old. I'm like, I know. So we we met, and uh immediately I knew that she was too sharp for the world she was getting into. But she had she had that optimism we all have when we start a business. I had it. Alan, you remember those days. I do you vaguely even if you I think she will look back and she will go, Chris, you gave me some good advice, but you told me it was a great idea. And I was like the whole time telling her, Oh my god, get out, get out, get out.

SPEAKER_00:

Was that in your eyes?

SPEAKER_04:

I was trying so hard to tell you to get out, but but the bubble tea was so good. But the bubble tea was good, and I was chewing it. Yeah, it was chunky tea. You're like, ooh, bubbles. I chunk, I had chunky tea. That's it, not just bubbles, it wasn't effervescence, it was bubbles.

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, they're like little gummy balls, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

No, so I snuck in the back of my head. I was ready for it, and I did have one. But what we learned is that she did come, and uh, I I feel like I feel like I was giving her some good advice. I don't know if it was or not. She's about to tell us, and you guys will figure it out after four years whether this advice is any good or not. But um, maybe it stuck, maybe it didn't, maybe she doesn't even remember that, except that I took bubble tea at in on Jimmy Carter Boulevard. So Marika is here, so she has left the world. She is actually out there to help you get your project.

SPEAKER_03:

She's wondering why she drove from Decatur.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh no, she's gonna so Marika, let's back up. Now we'll not talk about Chris just yet. What were you doing before you decided to start your own business?

SPEAKER_00:

Makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_04:

Here we go.

SPEAKER_00:

I am a CPA by background, I was doing audits in big public accounting firms.

SPEAKER_04:

And not only just like little all of them.

SPEAKER_00:

I tried them all. Really? I thought they would be different. You just kind of go and no, no, that's the same, just different colors.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, she was in all the big four. Um, and she didn't audit little companies, she audited some big companies and some hefty accounts, bro. Absolutely. I mean, she saw some serious numbers and worked some serious hours. That's one thing. What would you say? Uh I go back because I was an Accenture, you know, and I feel like that training for me was amazing. Right. What would you say were some of the best traits that you picked up from that that helped you in your business?

SPEAKER_00:

Treats or traits? Traits. The treats were good. They always tried to bribe you with treats. Of course they did. The traits were here. I can tell you exactly what it is. I mean, other than just, you know, knowing how to read and manage a financial statement, what it really was, and this is for every single business owner, anyone current or going, thinking about getting into business, it was hey, here's your new client. You don't know anything about it. It's in an industry you know nothing about, learn it. And that is what set me up for success in every single business I've ever owned. Is that it's the grit. You're going to go learn, you're going to go dig in, you're going to figure it out. When I bought the flooring company, I remember thinking in one of the trainings, they were giving us, you know, all about the basics of flooring. And I remember thinking, what's a subfloor? I remember you asked me.

SPEAKER_04:

Did I? Good. You did. Exactly. You said it's like you said the subfloor thing. So what is that? What should I be knowing at what's right? What should I be looking for in subfloors?

SPEAKER_00:

And you laughed.

SPEAKER_04:

I did.

SPEAKER_00:

But look at think about that. Think about really that is how little I am. We all know, I want all of us, but you know, those of us that know anything about construction now. I mean, the subfloor is the whole thing. You gotta know all about it. It's so important. And I laugh about it now because that's how oblivious I was, and I went and bought this company. I learned, I learned a lot, and I learned all the details, and I did very well in the flooring.

SPEAKER_04:

So she went in to uh and it's a franchise system, and I knew uh three other owners besides her. Um, all three are out of it.

SPEAKER_03:

Same franchise.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. And I would tell you that the other three besides her would not say the same story. No, they would not say I was successful, I was happy, I was satisfied with my exit. I will no, none of them, not the other three to a person will say no to all of it.

SPEAKER_03:

What did Marika do different? Let's find out.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, going back to you said asking, was that advice you gave me good? It was, of course, if you know Chris. Also, it's all Chris throw it down exactly. His advice, I mean, it was just it was kind of like what I would tell anyone starting like learn, dig in, get out there, meet people. And I that was my nature anyway, even though you wouldn't think a CPA was like that. That's some of my differentiator. And I did that. I networked, and he had told me to do that as well. So that's where I started. And that's where when all the things, you know, close down when your Google leads aren't coming in or marketing's not working, your relationships are sending you business. And I got commercial jobs from that from relationships, not from spending money on you know, leads coming in from digital marketing.

SPEAKER_04:

It is easy for as we've heard this a lot, Alan. And uh, Alan uh obviously has a background in franchising, not only as a franchise owner, but it actually went and helped the franchise. When they buy that business, they sit there in that office and they go, All right, we're my leads. All right, help me make money. And it's not that way at all, is it? There's nothing.

SPEAKER_03:

No, and I mean, usually the franchise or has this uh process and that you're supposed to follow it and then it's supposed to work, but then you kind of find out like you did. Okay, that that's a good start.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I mean, there is a base, yes.

SPEAKER_03:

So how do you how do you make your business say I'm assuming you sold the business? I did.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, I did.

SPEAKER_03:

And when you are the rainmaker, how do you sell the business and extract and get the value that you want when you're the key?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_03:

Rainmaker. A key? I could rainmaker. I couldn't I couldn't come up with a Rainmaker S. Yeah. So did you notice it was a good question, even though it was like it was a good question, but you didn't really land the planet.

SPEAKER_04:

I didn't we're gonna give you a half credit on that one. No, no, no. I think it's it's full credit, a little asterisk, maybe. Oh, okay. You give yourself full credit on stocker.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, that's it's a good question because I'll I'll tell you why. How did I do that? It's what my current business is now that was created out of all this experience from being in public accounting, owning multiple businesses, how did I sell it successfully? It all goes back to your financial statements, owning them, living in them. They don't have to be perfect, but do they tell the story of this business well? And that's what I do, and that's what I help business owners with now.

SPEAKER_03:

See, not only was it a good question, it's set up. Great answer because she does. It is it was I said good.

SPEAKER_04:

That's right. She was excited. Way to go, Alright, perfect. So she said, Are you calling me Captain Obvies? Yes, you were definitely, and you're you're I mean your arm. Have you broke your arm slapping yourself on the back of this one? I mean for the love. Come on, we gotta keep moving.

SPEAKER_03:

For once, I bring a little attention to myself. Be here, you're out and Chris gets jealous, he does, and then suddenly easily extra faces kind of, yeah. I'm right, yeah. You can look me up on YouTube. All right, I mean, why aren't you sitting here where I am? I'm in the middle. Look at this.

SPEAKER_04:

We look at me, I'm in the middle. We because Alan, I'm giving you a little show, I'll give you a little extra time on YouTube. You go check him out, he's in the middle with a great question. But let's go back to Marika. Can we please all right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's not always all it set me up so well, though.

SPEAKER_04:

Again, it was yeah, it was good because let's reflect on that for a moment. Um, no, we'll come back to that. So you sold the flooring business again. It's a man's world big time. Uh, but you that's a terrible follow-up question.

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, we got her set up to talk about how she helps people. All right, fine. Preparing the statements and all that.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, okay, we'll go back to it. Is a man's world, it is a man's world. But if you can find your own confidence in anything you do, it doesn't have to be flooring. I stuck out like a sore freaking thumb in flooring, but find your what are makes you different. And there was something. I love the design aspect, I love the colors, but also it was a combination. Having someone who has a corporate background that can that is a numbers person that can go in with these quotes that I would do that were detailed, you know, specific. And that just made me stand out that much more. People are not expecting that in flooring.

SPEAKER_04:

So to Alan's question, uh, truly you are a unicorn because you're able to do the design, and that's the aesthetics, the uh dream with me, but also given the analytical and the background. And I think as a customer, that's where they're up again.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a very detailed quote that I spent time with. It wasn't just like slap something out, pump it out, close it in the home. Um, I went home, I was thoughtful. You know, hey, how much quarter round specifically do we all those little things that went in? So when they got that quote, it was real and they respected that and appreciated it. And my follow-ups were on point because I came from corporate.

SPEAKER_04:

You're right. You knew you knew that a professional uh so you exited the flooring business, and this is where um I did not know much about the next. So, what did you get into again? Well, you you brought another company.

SPEAKER_00:

What did anyone to I did because this fabulous gal, I think you know Essie, um, I had used Office Angels when I was in the flooring company because I couldn't in the beginning, I couldn't afford, nor did I need a full-time person right away. But you still need that admin help. You still need people helping you. So I utilized this outsourced, outsource office services for someone to answer the phones, set appointments, and that person helped me grow the business significantly. And I didn't have to, you know, hire the person full-time because I couldn't afford it. And that's what I tell people now. If you can't afford it, don't do it because it'll take you down. There's other ways to get help.

SPEAKER_03:

You mean you you're uh so most people would say go for it. I mean, you know, think big, dream big, absolutely, and invest, and then you'll grow into it.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's your bottom line. Can you afford it? Is it gonna take you down? I mean, there's if you can afford it and it makes sense, yes, take a chance, but not to the point where it's going to cripple you because those three people, multiple other franchisees, did things like that. They went and bought warehouses and hired all these people, they couldn't afford it. And I saw the financials. They would come to me and ask me, Hey, what's going on? Why am I not doing well? I can tell you very easily. So, look, if it makes sense, do it absolutely. But if it doesn't be real with yourself, you don't have to hire a full-time person right away.

SPEAKER_04:

And that's where you help people uh with that gut check, with that be real with yourself. Because as an entrepreneur, it is easy to not be real with yourself. So you did things a little bit different than a lot of us because I would have said, I'll just uh I'll sell my way out of it. Yeah, I'm gonna grow my revenue, I'm gonna grow my top line.

SPEAKER_03:

You can't grow unless you kind of, you know, you gotta build the infrastructure, right?

SPEAKER_04:

It's a balancing act, uh, and that's what Marika's talking about, right? It's that because you can you can go out there and say, I need a I need a fractional CFO. I'm not gonna get the whole CFO, I'm just gonna fractional. I'm just gonna get a piece of CFO. All right. And then you go, huh, did you grow your sales? Did it help you win? Is your bottom line better, or is it worse? Oops, a daisy. And usually, let's face it, it is worse for a little while because you got to adjust. Yeah, it's gonna be more expense than it is profit, but you got to be busting your butt to get that revenue up, right? Right, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

And again, it might make sense. You know, you might be struggling for a little while, but get advice, get someone else to look at it. Don't just go cold without getting let's talk this through. Does this make sense? Because I also saw a lot of well, you want to look like you're running this big company, you've got these employees, and things are happening, but you can't even pay yourself. I mean, how are you buying groceries? But you've got employees, so it looks good.

SPEAKER_04:

My vanity line looked really good, Alan. My vanity line looks really good. I've talked about that in my book. I am killing it, bro.

SPEAKER_00:

I got exactly I've got a lot of vanity.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

It was good. It's rusty. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04:

It's called From the Zoo to the Wild. The vanity line looks really good. But the sanity line, there are days, there are weeks. Bumping up against that. Well, let's call it like it is. There are years in my 17 years where I go, How'd that sanity line look? Um, like I was insane. I was totally insane. Right. Um, never missed a payroll, but also didn't pay myself for a lot of the 17 years. Um, I gotta go back and total it up because I used to say it was a lot higher, but I think it's down to three of the 17 where I did not pay myself.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, and in our last guest just talked about you gotta have a company that you can pay yourself first with.

SPEAKER_04:

I know.

SPEAKER_03:

And I'm like, didn't that didn't happen for how does that work out? Yeah, exactly. Didn't happen for this guy for three years. But I still pay yourself first and then you'll be, you know, murdered in the parking lot.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah. That's the I was about to tell, I was gonna bring that up in our last episode. Is that uh look, uh the last time uh handyman uh worked when I said, Hey, don't worry about it, man. I'll pay you lotto tickets. Hey, don't worry about it. I'll catch you next week on your paycheck. Yeah, it was a 100% zero, never happening. Right because if they don't get paid, they're gone.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, exactly. And I'm a hundred percent always paying your people before yourself. But let's look at how are we getting paid? How am I making this? What's all this effort worth? I gotta be getting something out of this, right?

SPEAKER_04:

The juice gotta be worth the squeeze. Yeah, Marika's gonna help you with that. All right, so what business did you because I'm dying to know? You left flooring and you went, oh my god, if I never see another freaking hammer or floor in my life, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, wait, can I can I ask one before that? Why why did you sell the business? It was doing well.

SPEAKER_00:

It was doing well. My mom got sick again. Oh, and I was the main person, I was the rainmaker. If you weren't out there, flooring is not something that you get recurring revenue all the time. It is, you know, a seven-year turn, usually. Every now and then you can get something, but if you're not out there hustling, you need to be getting jobs all the time. And that was becoming too much of a struggle taking care of my parents.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So I needed something where I didn't have to be the one out there selling.

SPEAKER_04:

So you got the exit, you got what you wanted. All right. Of course, we always want more, but we got what we wanted. Yeah. And then you went back, took care of mom. And by the way, that's when we rekindled our relationship. She said that she's uh actually very close to mom and dad, doing a lot of helping them in the house, which again, as the sandwich generation that Ellen and I are, um, uh, we kind of know what we're up against. Um, in fact, uh dad's up in Michigan. The sandwich are we again? Oh, we're right in the middle, bro.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

We got we got it. Yeah, we got we got we had a sandwich raising our kids. I'm mad. And next thing you know, next thing you know, your kids have gone. Yeah. So so you went back, did the right thing. I again you can't get back those days. I know we absolutely Alan and I have talked about this before. Could could we we would all could do we could trade a lot of money right now for a couple more days with our parents, exactly. But yes, you so you've done it, you did that, then you decided to leap back in. So, what'd you leap back into?

SPEAKER_00:

I bought Office Angels.

SPEAKER_04:

So you bought Essie out. I did. I did not know that. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. And it wasn't even, I didn't even that wasn't anything on my radar. I when I sold the flooring, I was like, I'm just gonna go do my own thing, bebop around and figure out what I'm gonna do while I'm taking care of my parents. She approached me and said, What do you think about buying my business? Because we had been working together through the flooring business. And I said, Hey, no, hey, no, oh no, thank you. And you if you know her, um, she is persistent. She is, she is persistent, and she's a wonderful, you know, business person. And the more I learned about it and the more I saw about it, it made sense. So, yes, I bought it.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow, yes, oh my gosh, I never knew that all these years. Okay, yes, right. So you buy office angels, which they say part-time, I can give you a bookkeeper, uh, receptionist, everything you need, everything, all the office staff absolutely put together on an outsource basis.

SPEAKER_03:

How hard was that to just buy a business from a friend?

SPEAKER_00:

Was it that's a whole other podcast? Oh boy, yeah, really, truly. I mean great question. Yeah, it was. He is good, yes.

SPEAKER_04:

That's the excellent. No, I should give you extra two points on that thing for the next podcast. I would for this one, it's still zero. Yeah, you got one self-greater.

SPEAKER_00:

I would recommend buying businesses cold.

SPEAKER_03:

Arm's length.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes, because you're personal when you love this person, it makes it harder to make change, you know, it makes it harder to do things in the business long term, especially a business uh with that kind of longevity of 25 years. And you're like, Yes, yes. So then, and you know, that person is revered and loved. Um, so highly recommend. I mean, look, you you can do it, but you need to think about things. And that's also again going back to what I'm doing now and what I'm focusing on, taking all these things I've learned to help people in their transactions. All right.

SPEAKER_04:

So you bought her business, Essie, which um Alan does kind of actually know who she is. And if he doesn't, he knows that a lot of people in Johns Creek do know who she is. Absolutely. Her networking years. Um you networked in with the office angels everywhere. Um, so did you sell that business as well? I did. And so you've it's a church.

SPEAKER_00:

Buying their candy. They're candy. I mean, buying it.

SPEAKER_03:

You're like a Brazilian corporate raider. Yeah, I just know this as she is too.

SPEAKER_00:

It's I mean, you know, if it when it suits your life, buy the business. When it doesn't, sell the business.

SPEAKER_03:

How about that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, it sounds so simple, Alan. So, what was the catabolism for selling this one?

SPEAKER_00:

This one, it was I'll tell you what it was. It was all the years of people coming to me, like I mentioned before. How are you successful? How are you doing this? How can I be more profitable? Help me. And I was doing that on the side for free for years.

SPEAKER_03:

I should be making money for years.

SPEAKER_00:

And even when someone would call for Office Angel, we'd be talking about this, that, or the other thing, they need an admin, they need a bookkeeper. Then, oh, they'd open up and start telling me things. I'd say, let me take a look at your financials. Happy to. And that kept happening so much. And they'd come back, oh, that was such good advice. What else you got for me? Well, I finally profitability coached myself and I said, This is a need. People need it, want it, they're coming to me, and I love doing it, which is why I was doing it for free all those years. I loved it, a ton of joy.

SPEAKER_04:

So you find your passion, your joy. Like, this is what I should be doing. Find your passionate if you don't work another day, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, and I've never felt that. I mean, public accounting, I mean, never felt that a day in public accounting. I mean, it was a grind. But yes, that's what it was. So it was like, I really only want to focus on one thing, and that's this. It's the profitability coaching.

SPEAKER_04:

So you sold it so you could focus on your joy. Yes. And get back to it. And I absolutely well, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So the two businesses that you sold, what vehicle did you use to sell them?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh myself.

SPEAKER_03:

Really?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Always bet on yourself. That's why you do it. That's why you get into business. And she found a way to sell because I would tell you that the franchise way would have not yielded nearer the success and nearer the out uh output that she would. To find the franchise way. The franchise way is you go back to them and say, I want to get out, and they go, Okay, well, you're under this, you're under that, you're under this. And um, we take our fee and we find somebody else who's a joker and uh and they go run your business and run into the ground so they can sell it again. Yep, I call it like it is.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, especially 100% right on that, but that's uh with the option with this one, I'm feeling better.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm feeling better about this one.

SPEAKER_00:

To anybody out there, there are ways. You know, there's brokers, absolutely. You can do it on your own. I mean, there's so many ways. Don't feel like you're stuck.

SPEAKER_04:

But what are the stats? Uh, every business that goes up for sale, what's the percentage that actually gets sold?

SPEAKER_03:

It's uh it's low, it's not good. It's less I mean, it's kind of like we don't want that information to be out there because all the small business people would not be happy, not do anything.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, the reason is, I mean, I for me, I think the number one reason is um I think my business is worth at least two billion dollars as a handyman company here in a left. Thank you. Yeah, he rounds up a little bit. I I I I tend to embellish my numbers, um, especially when it comes to my bandity line. Anyway, uh, but yeah, so gotta be realistic here.

SPEAKER_00:

We gotta be realistic.

SPEAKER_04:

You gotta be realistic, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And are your financials in order? Tight, is or tight clean. Is there tight to anybody today?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, no, today, yeah. Today, yes. Uh, when I met Marika, no. I told everybody they were and I had to get them straight, and I did. Um, we've been flying straight, you know, 17 years in business. And yes, guys, uh, you guys have heard me talk about this. I am still thinking and working on an exit. When? I don't know. How? Don't know yet. Well, I bet on myself, a hundred percent. Yes. Uh so when Marika said, how'd you and you asked the question, how'd you do it? She goes, Me. I'm like, I know. I don't know if I need a business.

SPEAKER_03:

But what does me mean for the listeners? I mean, what how what did you do?

SPEAKER_00:

You post, I mean, you post it online. I mean, it's not like I'm going out door to door. Okay. Um, but then it was, I did not use anybody for any services whatsoever. But you have to remember, I'm a CPA, I've been through this, I have the technical skills to do that myself. So I do recommend people still talk to people, get a proper valuation, get this stuff up front. I mean, going it alone, you gotta look at your own skills and your own experience. But as far as the sales and the closing, that was a hundred percent me. And that's why it happened so quick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

All right. I'm ready to switch a hundred percent. You ready? Let's go or Chris one. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Why not?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, thank you, Alan.

SPEAKER_00:

It's been fun so far.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Let's do this. All right, tell me about your childhood. So no, no, no. Let's go back to the code. No, let's go. This is really simple. CPA. Yeah. Revenue minor cost of goods sold is gross profit.

SPEAKER_02:

Boom.

SPEAKER_04:

Gross profit minus the rest of the shit is net profit.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04:

When you go look at companies and you've been looking at a lot of companies since you started this, where is our biggest problem?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a great question. Oh, yeah. I I mean it is.

SPEAKER_03:

Your other two? That's one of those.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know what? Apparently she says great question a lot, but stop it.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, just trying to, you know. She likes to be better.

SPEAKER_00:

Witch bold guy.

SPEAKER_01:

You really got loud, loud. Damn it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Do you know one of the biggest things I see? And people think all I do is just cut costs. I really hear that all the time. Oh, you're just gonna tell me to spend less. No, right, not at all. Oftentimes, not spending enough in the right areas.

SPEAKER_04:

All right. Where should we spend more? Or where have you seen and we're just with like a detailed plan?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. I mean, it depends on the business. This is the CPA answer. I mean, the attorney kind of sounds like an attorney, but I see a lot in marketing. Not spending enough in the right things.

SPEAKER_04:

So that's a big one. I think um, because I I actually just went through this where um I've had to downsize a little bit of my business because it wasn't going the right way. Um back to looking at my own numbers. Revenue minus cost of goods sold. GP looked like shit. So I got rid of it. Okay, I had to make a hard call. And then I said, All right, wait a minute, let's look at my advertising.

SPEAKER_03:

If your GP's not good, you have no shot at the NP.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's exactly. Oh, guys, please, you gotta watch those numbers. And I watched them and I started separating the divisions, started really looking at it. But to Marika's point, I just said that. Uh I went, hmm. So I could slash my advertising budget because I was going after this part, which is the remodeling, or I could shift that money over to handyman and start killing handyman for a day, which is what we talked about a little bit earlier. And that's where I've seen some uptick already. But so advertising, and that's you know, everybody says, Oh, give me a percentage, give me a percentage.

SPEAKER_00:

No, you can't. You can't no, each business, each industry is so vastly different, and that's something I really I utilize a lot of very specific industry um information based upon the specific industry codes where we can pull down your competitors' info based on revenue, based on region, but in that specific industry code, and that's often where I start. Let's see what everybody else is doing. Where are you at? And that pops things so quick, so quick. I mean, and one of them in particular, just recently, it was you know, the hundred competitors or whatever it was in that same industry code in the same region were spending four percent on marketing, and this company was spending 0.03. Oh. I mean, and you wonder why sales are flat.

SPEAKER_04:

I can't figure it out. Right. What am I doing wrong?

SPEAKER_00:

Confused.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, totally confused. You need to spend more money. No, I need another answer. Uh, what else do I need? Um, you need to spend more money there. No, no, no. Give me another one.

SPEAKER_00:

How obvious, right?

SPEAKER_03:

If you had found that they were spending 8%, then you do need to know it's a bad ad plan.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. So it's all let's look at the data. Let's look at the data. I mean, it could go either way, but we want to assess it.

SPEAKER_04:

And she gets you access. I mean, think about that. She just found a hundred of your competitors and said, Hey, look, here's what the other people are doing. I mean, I wouldn't even know how to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Because you have to have specific software.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Oh, yes. You get with Rika, you get specific software.

SPEAKER_00:

You do. It's very powerful, very meaningful. I mean, I love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It's starting to sound like Trump. Yes. She is very, very, very, very, very. The most powerful hair. She has way better hair.

SPEAKER_03:

Most powerful software. Very meaningful. Very beautiful.

SPEAKER_04:

And I'm gonna call it like it is. Uh not doing politics here, but don't want Trump on the podcast. You wouldn't? I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04:

You know why?

SPEAKER_03:

Why?

SPEAKER_04:

Because it wouldn't be about you. Right. We know ourselves here. I can't have him on there. Oh. Room's not big enough for the two of us, big guy. It's true. We're doing the deal. Yeah. I admit it. I get a big ego. All right. But but I would share the stage. No, I wouldn't. All right, let's get back to rooms, shall we? Falsely magnanimous. There's no way it's happening. So uh if on the other side, just in case you're wondering what it's like, I wouldn't do it with Obama either. Unless we were doing a final, we were doing the final six. So you want to get Governor Kemp on the show. 100%. And I'll share the stage. And I will be able to do that. Yeah, that'd be interesting. Because that guy has done some really good things. Yeah. And uh he is. For me and my business, yes, the moves he's made, I totally cheering.

SPEAKER_03:

That's an interesting thing to think about, Chris. After four years.

SPEAKER_04:

I will do it. In fact, uh, he's still on the hook. He said he would do it after he gets out of office. He did? He did.

SPEAKER_03:

I like it.

SPEAKER_04:

I got a confer I got a confirmation on that. I don't never leave office. I don't know if we have term letters in Georgia, but there shouldn't be. Unfortunately, he's gonna have to leave. All right, so let's get back to our audience that's in Tasmania, Australia, um, over there in Europe. But we've got to talk. Marica has a very unique name here for where is it from? It's German, isn't it? Greek. Greek. Marica. Marica. Say your last name.

SPEAKER_00:

Pontin, not Greek.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Well I didn't uh she did, but she was ponton. I mean, all you need is Marika. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_02:

That's why you're just she only needs one name. She's like Cher. She is Cheryl. Yeah. She is Cher. I'm right. It kind of looks like Cher too. I mean I mean she does. Let's call it like it is. We're turning back time. We are that way. That's good.

SPEAKER_03:

She turned back time. All right, let's wait for somebody to break in the song. Oh, I can't think. But uh it's coaching. Interesting. How about that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Huh? Let's go back, shall we? All right, so here we are.

SPEAKER_00:

Are we here?

SPEAKER_04:

We're back to numbers. So how many people do you work with at a time?

SPEAKER_00:

It's one-on-one, the coaching.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, 10 to 12 clients because we're going deep. It's one-on-one. That's my focus.

SPEAKER_04:

And it's been successful. I know because when I when I met you and uh we rekindled the relationship. We did.

SPEAKER_03:

She's been the third time you've dropped the Kindle. It's worse every time. No, you're not thinking any other kind of woods.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a rekindling. We hadn't seen each other in years. It was nice.

SPEAKER_04:

We mopped the floor up. No, I don't know. I try. I'm digging now. All right, back to this. But she uh she said, Hey Chris, it's going really well. And you're like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then again, I did remember our first conversation. She kept it very real with me, and I felt like I kept it real with her. And I was like, Good. Because you always get that person who says, Oh, I'm killing it. Oh, I'm killing it. Right. You're like, all right. But I was like, no, you know what? She actually was very understood about it. Yeah. Uh it she kind of mentioned that she was doing all right. I was like, no, we got to get you on the podcast because I want to hear about this. Because I think a lot of people could benefit from that. Basically, what is she? She's a fractional CFO with a business owner with a business background. She can look at your books and probably within 30 minutes, probably tell you the stuff you didn't want to hear.

SPEAKER_03:

She'll probably deliver it with like a oh honey. Oh honey.

SPEAKER_00:

No honey. No honey. I'm from the West Coast. Oh. But there is my whole brand based around judgment free. And that's very important because a lot of the stories I've heard of people I've talked to over the years, not even just when I started Profit Truths. Well, I don't want to show people my books is embarrassing. I've made a mess of it. I, you know, what are you going to see in there? And I understand that. So I've seen a lot of other coaches as well berate people for what's in those books and make them feel bad and shame. And that is the exact opposite of what I am going to do.

SPEAKER_04:

She does not shame you at the book. There's no shaming on the book. Because why? Because you're already there. Right. You're taking it to yourself. We all have the imposter. I mean, we all I already do have shame. Yes. A lot of shame. I mean, I did not want to show anybody my books. You know, when that when the coach came into our mastermind group and said, Hey, I can dissect your books. And again, in 15 minutes, he actually said, I don't know much about your business, but why is that wrong? I'm like, so is this 15 minutes more? I'm done. Right. Bye-bye. I've already got that out of there. Oh, so bad.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, no, no. That I do not want that. That does no good because we want to change things. We want to fix things. And going forward with feeling shame, you're just going to close down.

SPEAKER_04:

You're right. Because we do, because again, as entrepreneurs, we have that grit you talked about early on. And then we also have that uh that just eternal optimism that we will fix everything right tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03:

But you have to deliver a lot of bad news.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. That's the name. I mean, the name of my brand is Profit Truths. I was gonna say bad news, but it's truth, which can be good or bad. It's all in the delivery, which is why I was so good in flooring and the sales. I mean, that's sales. It's like I need to sell this to you, so you want to do something to change it. I don't want to make you feel bad. It's in that delivery of how you say it. But it's always gonna be candid, it's always gonna be truthful. We're not gonna gloss over and say this is good if it's not good. What's the point?

SPEAKER_04:

How about that?

SPEAKER_03:

Truths. Yes. Go look it up. Alan. So how do you deliver the bad news?

SPEAKER_00:

It depends on the client.

SPEAKER_03:

So you give them a lollipop.

SPEAKER_00:

No, there's no lollipops. There's no lollipops, but hopefully we've done work to build them up to find out what's important to them.

SPEAKER_04:

I just want to bagel first. No.

SPEAKER_00:

Bagels and lollipops, you're easy.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I am easy.

SPEAKER_00:

I better come in.

SPEAKER_01:

I could do that. Right. Yeah. But you have to build up to it.

SPEAKER_00:

You've got to build up and knowing again what's important to them, that's how we start the coaching. It's like, what is your goal here? Because everyone's is different. Some people, of course, want to grow so they can exit. Some people want to grow or just even stay the same, but take more time for themselves in the business. There's so many different goals. What is their freedom look like? And that's where we start. And then so when you have to give challenging news or news that they don't want to hear, challenging, good. Yeah, exactly. They you've already fucked.

SPEAKER_03:

We've showed you basically. We don't say that. Why would you done that?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, dumb for you, Alan. So we're not hiring for other coaches. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

None of that. None of that. I mean, again, it's not like soft and cushy and they do. And I give it. But we've got to know, they've got to know that I have their back and I'm trying to make them better and help them make more money. And when we start with that, again, what is their freedom? What does it mean to them? Then the news that is more challenging comes easier because we know we're working towards that positive goal.

SPEAKER_04:

So you interview a client. Uh, let's go through uh because we're coming towards the end. So we're interested in your services. What's that first call look like? What's that? Tell us what you because you're probably interviewing us as much as you're in there.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, this happening right now. What do you think this is? That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So do we like Marika? Do we not like Marica?

SPEAKER_03:

The answer to us both is no. Oh, I got that already. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a certain niche, even quite the profile. Yeah, ideal client profile. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's tight. We are not the avatar.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It is a conversation. Speak for it. Is what I would say. It's an absolute, it is like this. It's a conversation. I'm learning about them as a person. I'm learning about their business. I'm learning about what's important to them. I'm learning about what keeps them up at night. That's such a cliche, but it's true. Because I think you said that. I will never forget one of the things you said to me when we had that bubble tea.

SPEAKER_01:

Bubble tea.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. You said, you know, making payroll has kept me up at night in years past. And that stuck with me. It did. It's like you're thinking about that. How do we make that? And that's all goes back to cash flow.

SPEAKER_04:

Cash is king. Or queen. Or queen. Sorry. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. Sexus on my brain.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

A little bit. Y'all. Again. Y'all. Cash is emperor.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. I'll do cash is Empress. Don't damn it.

SPEAKER_00:

Really? Is it really?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh Alan U sexus. Either.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't care. I just I like Queen because it's different.

SPEAKER_04:

That is cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I can do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, can I do that? Uh we'll come back to that one. All right. So cash is cash is important. Very revenue, though. That's and you gotta get those sales. Yep. But you got to bring those things in because that brings the cash, right? And you're uh you're right, Marika. That has kept me up. And you think after 17 years, um, it doesn't, and it does.

SPEAKER_02:

It does.

SPEAKER_04:

You're like, oh boy, this is a big week. Oh my god, this is three payrolls in one month. Oh boy, suck it up. Six months with the three payrolls.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

So like, how'd that happen?

SPEAKER_04:

I would say, even in my business, back to cash flow management in my business with uh carpenters and uh painters, plumbers, electricians, used to being paid on the weekly. Yeah, I pay my guys on the bi-weekly. And I have I can't tell you how many people come out to me when I tell them that they're like, No way, how'd you pull that off? I'm like, I did. And I told them why because they know it's coming. Because they know it's coming. And then we also have a training, and one of our trainings was financial management.

SPEAKER_00:

Nice.

SPEAKER_04:

Like, I can pay you what you earned, I can pay you what you're worth, I can pay you what you've done this month, but I cannot help you spend less. You have to actually take what I give you and spend less than what I give you. And guess what? You come out ahead. So we give them financial management help, but that's a different story for this.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what? I'm gonna say though, just what you just said, it gave me chills because what you did was I had to. Come on. I had to because talking about it.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, talking about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Talking about things, just like what I do in my business. Let's talk about it. If you don't talk about it, things get uglier.

SPEAKER_04:

That's true.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, in anything in life, right?

SPEAKER_04:

So, Marika, how could everybody find you? Give us the uh website, let's go check you out.

SPEAKER_00:

Profitruths.com.

SPEAKER_04:

And you're on LinkedIn very well.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course, I live on LinkedIn. All right, yes, Marika Ponton. Yes, you can't find there's not there's no one else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's but she's one word. I mean Marika.

SPEAKER_00:

Marika, that's decided upon that. Yes, yeah, beautiful. No, find me on LinkedIn, a lot of good thoughts on there, a lot of digging into um just ideas of how to improve your business. That's all what my marketing is.

SPEAKER_04:

I think this has been a dynamite episode, Alan. So too. Yeah, we've had some fun with it. Quick, but I know it has, but we got to go with the final four questions. Oh, let's go. You ready? Yep. What is a book you would recommend to our audience that's not your own? I know one's coming. Or Chris's. Of course, Chris's has been about, but a book that I would recommend.

SPEAKER_00:

There is a book I can't I forgot the author, but it is called The Courage to Be Disliked.

SPEAKER_04:

Ooh. It is don't know that one.

SPEAKER_00:

That oh you knew Oh, you haven't read that?

SPEAKER_04:

Courage to be disliked.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my goodness, I live by it. I can't lean into that one.

SPEAKER_04:

I I've actually I've written that down.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you write it? Actually, that's the author. Yeah, no, um, no, the courage to be disliked. It is, it's the one I always say I should know the author off the top of my head. But it is you can only almost read a chapter at a time because it's so intense, it makes you think so much, and it just all goes back to your confidence in your own self. It's okay if everyone doesn't like me.

SPEAKER_04:

Courage to be disliked. I love it. All right. Next question What is the favorite feature of your own home?

SPEAKER_00:

My new driveway.

SPEAKER_04:

See, see, a small thing, it's a foundational thing. Get what I did with that from the floor. Top floor. So there's a floor. But see, so now your teeth don't jiggle when you're driving up the driveway.

SPEAKER_00:

No, what that was awesome. What it actually was, my house was built in the 50s, so it just had the one just very thin driveway. So you'd just be like one after the other. Well, then I got another car, but I wasn't getting rid of my awesome FJ cruiser. So then it was like I was constantly backing out and having to pull this one in and back, and you've I was using this one, so it was like I extended the width, which just changed so you can just pull in on either side one car. I mean, simple, but like life altering.

SPEAKER_04:

Again, simple, so simple altering, right? Do you want a boat? Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Do you want a jet? Uh, I would like to have a jet, yes.

SPEAKER_04:

All right, but do you like the fact that you could pull your car in and out without any moving around of anything when your kids are gone? Yeah, yes, right.

SPEAKER_00:

It was just I fought it for a long time, but then it was just like once you commit to doing it and you then it happens, I mean, how did I live without this?

SPEAKER_04:

I know, right? Yeah, it's silly. No, it's not silly. Yeah, this is exactly what we're talking about. Oh, I gotta have that jet. I want the big go fast boat. I want the I want, you know what? I want the fountain boat that absolutely blows people away on my little lake up the mouths.

SPEAKER_03:

You want you want like fishermen and sailboats and people flying off their boats when you think ride in danger fields. I know. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I do see it, yeah. Yeah, I'll just but what do I have? A little 26-foot pontoon boat. I can't blow anybody away, but my speaker system. But it's cute, but it's cute. Yeah, it's the entire lake knows when I'm out there. Yeah, it's not cute. They don't love me, but I do, and I could rock it out, baby. All right, Stevie Ravon, let's keep going. So we haven't talked about this, but we have talked about a little bit. Customer service is one of the big things because we're kind of customer service freaks. Oh my I mean what's a customer service pet peeve of yours when you're out and you're the customer.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh everything. Oh, she's I mean, well, I mean, it's just but you know what? I'm gonna go back to like I said about the driveway. It is a simple thing, truly. It's in customer service to me, it's simple as well. Thank you, please. Those little tiny just niceties instead of rolling up on my table with a tune on your face, like, why are you here? Almost that I just I mean, how can even a business owner even allow that?

SPEAKER_04:

Simple manners, yeah. Alan, uh, I know Alan's a Chick-fil-a freak. Uh, I just was at a conference seminar, right? The my pleasure did not come from Chick-fil-A. True Kathy saw that at another restaurant and I said, I think we should do this. We should be asking, we should be saying this. Uh, that's according to this guy who told the story. And I was like, there you go. I mean, it's not that he originated it, but he rocked it. He rocked it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, he took a good level. So, I mean, just the niceties. Don't have a snarl on your face. That just kills me, and it's everywhere. I'm like, it just makes me want to leave. Why am I here? What am I doing here? Why am I spending money here? Happens all the time. It's sad.

SPEAKER_04:

We need attitude adjustments here, Alan.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, it was in the what? Oh, I see. Oh, oh, okay. Oh, yeah. Okay. How about bad parenting? I went to just bad parenting. I went into uh no, I mean it has to be my logic here. No, no, it's terrible. I mean, I just moved my son into his uh high-rise luxury apartment, you know, down near Georgia Tech. Night, and it just nobody's holding a door for somebody that's got an arm full of stuff. Yeah, and and they're actually trying to push their way in front of you instead of like, oh, let me help you with that. Who is teaching these kids? No one, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like, oh, you can become a little engineer and stuff, but hey, you throw a little bit of pleasantry in there and world as your oyster.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but they I mean, that's just it's a success thing in business, too. And anything you do, just you stand out if you're nice. 100%. I mean, that's sad.

SPEAKER_03:

Actually, you know what I was going? Really sad. I tell a lot of people, I'm like, you think it's you versus eight billion people. Well, we can eliminate a lot of people with education, and we can eliminate the rest with manners. It's you against about 20 other people.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, man. I was going with a totally different business plan. Al and I are gonna start the we'll smack your kids for you.

SPEAKER_00:

We should there is potential there.

SPEAKER_03:

I think I'm the last generation where I actually had an arrangement with my neighbor. He's like, he goes, If you catch my kid, you know, you can beat him. And I'm like, Okay, well, you can do the same for mine. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I know they oh, my dad had that across the board. Chris had to run a little bit, and he wasn't the fastest kid, but but I got for you.

SPEAKER_03:

I got yeah, my god. You were you were determined, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Only only one of my friends broke his arm uh because he was at my house and my dad keep pulling up the driveway. I'll never forget this one. And they had the same arrangement. His dad told my dad, if you see our kids doing something stupid, and what were we doing? We were on the we were on our garage roof, which is a standalone garage, and uh, we were up there when my dad came in jumping up, and so he jumped off, broke his arm, and uh we were in football season and he was our nose guard, and uh I was not happy about that. And what did I do? Dad, why'd you do that? And he goes, Uh, what were you doing on our roof? I'm like, let's not get there. I was I was I was a negotiator from the beginning, and then I had to start running because I thought he was gonna run me over there and have his dad be my so I know oh yeah, it was on. I mean, hey, back to Manders, yeah. Yeah, so I wish you talked about that much. Yeah, all right, last one means a lot. So I know you're in flooring, I know you've had a lot of contractors, but we want a DIY nightmare story that you did. What did you do? I'm talking about putting nails through fingers, uh, which I've done. You can see them, they're bad. Um, I want to talk about floods, fire, or making daughters cry. That was another one we just heard. That's a new one.

SPEAKER_02:

Who did that?

SPEAKER_04:

I know one of our last where it hurts. That did because my daughter has never cried on that one.

SPEAKER_03:

Whoa. I think your daughter's made you cry more than you you've made her cry.

SPEAKER_04:

Actually, if you want to count it up, you're probably right. Even though I've tried her. She's just uh I've raised a tough, independent young lady.

SPEAKER_02:

And how old is she?

SPEAKER_04:

She is 27.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, she is. She's tough and independent. But yes, um, so DIY nightmare story.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know if I have one. I I haven't done a lot.

SPEAKER_03:

I hire a people you were doing nothing. It was such a good podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, until then, I let you down. I let you down. And here in the 11th hour, we just went. I let you down. Yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_04:

What? Profit truth.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I don't have time. I'm doing too much in my business. Yeah, I mean, really, you know what I'll say? It's not me, and I shouldn't do this to my dad. My dad did something. Does that count? Does it sure would yeah? He put on, I won't tell him I was on this podcast. Um, he put on one of those covers when it gets cold to like protect your faucet.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Because that's all I mean, you should, right? Here in the south, we don't have to do a lot. Right. Not here. This was back in the west. Okay. I guess something went wrong. It wasn't put on right, or maybe it was left on too long. I don't know. But it backed up something. The pipes froze and couldn't get out, and it blew out my whole condo talk. When you said flood, that's the one thing I thought of. And it flooded the entire condo.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's fun. I love doing that, especially because now you're dad and everybody. Dad. Right. Yeah. So now what's she doing? She's helping dad, helping mom. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

Where out was that was in Reno, Nevada.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yes. Yeah, so cold. Biggest little city in the world.

SPEAKER_00:

You know it.

SPEAKER_04:

I've been there. All right, guys. Prophet Truth, Marica. No last name necessary. No, none. You will find it. Yes, correct. She's only taking a select few people. So you might want to go try to find her out. You could probably take a double.

SPEAKER_03:

I know that.

SPEAKER_04:

And you know what? Yeah. Let me know. Hey, guys, by the way, don't forget, rate, review us. Tell us other people you wanted to have on their podcast because this one was Dino Might. I was excited to have her on when I saw her, and uh, I'm she did not disappoint Dishi Ellen. Only the last question. Last question.

SPEAKER_03:

No, she did. She kind of rallied a little bit. Okay. She did a good. You know, the only disappointment was the three uses of Kindling. I mean, come on. You know, you've got Oh, so you're bringing me on this.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. You know what? And we're gonna end this podcast right now. So, guys, it's up to you. Go ahead and take it. By the way, you know who runs this show. Let's make this show happen. It's you who runs this show. Absolutely. Make it happen. Keep going up that mountaintop. It's tough. You gotta have that grit. Make it happen. Know your numbers and make this shit happen. Let's go. Yes. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Department. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world of small business understanding. Until next time, make it great.

People on this episode

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Chris Lalomia

Host
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Alan Wyatt

Co-host