Unlock the secrets to entrepreneurship with business consultant extraordinaire Mr. Bob Breaux, our distinguished guest on Money Matters. His journey from a paper route to owning several companies brings a unique perspective to the show, where he candidly shares the highs and lows of his business ventures. As we unpack each chapter, seasoned and aspiring entrepreneurs alike will gain invaluable advice on creating robust business plans and the importance of resilience in overcoming the trials of entrepreneurship.
Venture into the world of business ownership as we dissect the recent surge in post-pandemic start-ups and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives them. Together with Mr. Breaux, we expose common myths about entrepreneurship, like the fallacy that starting a business always requires a hefty bankroll. Our conversation traverses the practical steps of selecting a business structure and the critical role of personal financial health. The stories of persistent founders and the realities of long work hours shed light on the dedication needed to thrive.
In our final chapter, we discuss the transformative shift from working in your business to working on it. This episode isn't just about fueling passion but also about cultivating efficient business systems that are key to sustainable growth. Mr. Breaux and I provide a roadmap for anyone ready to embark on their entrepreneurial quest, from assessing market demand to understanding your financial readiness. Join us to harness the collective wisdom of those who've navigated the entrepreneurial landscape and emerged victorious.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Unlock the secrets to entrepreneurship with business consultant extraordinaire Mr. Bob Breaux, our distinguished guest on Money Matters. His journey from a paper route to owning several companies brings a unique perspective to the show, where he candidly shares the highs and lows of his business ventures. As we unpack each chapter, seasoned and aspiring entrepreneurs alike will gain invaluable advice on creating robust business plans and the importance of resilience in overcoming the trials of entrepreneurship.
Venture into the world of business ownership as we dissect the recent surge in post-pandemic start-ups and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives them. Together with Mr. Breaux, we expose common myths about entrepreneurship, like the fallacy that starting a business always requires a hefty bankroll. Our conversation traverses the practical steps of selecting a business structure and the critical role of personal financial health. The stories of persistent founders and the realities of long work hours shed light on the dedication needed to thrive.
In our final chapter, we discuss the transformative shift from working in your business to working on it. This episode isn't just about fueling passion but also about cultivating efficient business systems that are key to sustainable growth. Mr. Breaux and I provide a roadmap for anyone ready to embark on their entrepreneurial quest, from assessing market demand to understanding your financial readiness. Join us to harness the collective wisdom of those who've navigated the entrepreneurial landscape and emerged victorious.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. Now here is your host, ms Kim.
Speaker 2:Chapman, welcome to another edition of Money Matters. I am your host. Kim Chapman, do you have a desires to be your own boss? Today we're diving deep into a topic that many of you have been eagerly awaiting how do you start a business? I know late-night late-night have late-night those epiphanies or coffee-fuel daydreams of starting your own business. But how do you move from that thought bubble into a tangible, thriving enterprise? Well, today we're going to try and simplify that process. I have an expert with me here, mr Bob Bro. He's a business consultant and he's also representing SCORE. Thank you for joining me, mr Bro.
Speaker 1:Well, you're welcome. Thank you, Great to be here.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about what you do and what makes you the expert that I listen to, should be perking up and listening to about starting a business today.
Speaker 1:Well, that's twice you've called me an expert. Can I just soak that in for a minute? I'm not sure what an expert is as someone that I think is enthusiastic and loves what they do and that's exactly me, I guess. From that standpoint. I got business, particularly small business, running through my veins. Dad was a business person. He had his own business. My grandfather and my mom's side had her own business and his own business. Maybe it's just in my DNA.
Speaker 2:You took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say it's just in your DNA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean it just felt like it did, but it didn't start out that way. I mean, other than in the seventh grade I delivered newspapers. You're kind of working for the newspaper people, but you're employed or working for yourself what's a newspaper? Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:Some things we now have to give explanations for.
Speaker 1:That is true. That is true. I did deliver that. For those that didn't know, they delivered it at six, seven o'clock in the morning. When you're in the seventh grade on your bicycle and then collecting once a week. That's kind of like a taste of business. You're on that little sense of freedom, of being in control. My background is I have an accounting degree that I got from a university of Houston Not typically my type of, with my personality style I'm not that much of a left-brain individual. So I did go to work in marketing and sales for some big companies over the years and then I bought a printing company. After two years of some really strong education through bad experience, I started a computer company. So over the years I have had I bought companies, I bought franchises, I've started companies. The most successful was my business, the total computer systems that we ran for 30 years, closed it and sold parts of it in 2008 and have been doing consulting ever since.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you've done a little of everything, so we're going to go ahead and pick your brain. So, for starters, I mentioned Score Earliest. Can you tell us a little bit about who Score is and what they do?
Speaker 1:Okay, score is a nonprofit organization that was founded well over 50 years ago by the Small Business Administration, as we call the SBA. We are not a government agency, we are a nonprofit, although we are attached still to the SBA because we get a lot of funding from them. So everyone, except for the people at the home office or volunteers, we are experienced business people from all walks of life that want to give back and to share, to help others for the dream of being a business owner. So we do seminars, we do workshops, we do one-on-one mentoring and since COVID we are doing almost all of this virtually. We used to have offices and chapters in every major cities in Louisiana. Now we have only two. We have what I call Louisiana, which is housed in Baton Rouge, covers all of this state, and then there's another chapter in New Orleans that takes care of New Orleans, but nationally. We have mentors and speakers and we have some very, very deep resources. So Scoreorg is the place to go.
Speaker 2:You know, you mentioned COVID a few minutes ago and there were so many statistics that came up that said people went home from their jobs and decided to start a new business. So why? Why start a new business?
Speaker 1:Well, you know I've dealt with hundreds, if not thousands, of people over the years. I've been a volunteer with Score for 30, 35 years. I started actually not supposed to say this, but Score started out as a service corps of retired executives. We quit using that about 10, 15 years ago because we wanted to bring non-retired people in. But at the time I was deep into my total computer systems business and running the business. But they were doing workshops and I helped them with workshops. So we've had a lot of experience with people wanting to have more control in their lives. In the book E-Myth by Michael Gerber and the E stands for the entrepreneurial myth he talks about how many of us are working for the man, for working with the job, and we decide, as you call it, that why don't I go into business for myself. Michael Gerber calls that having an entrepreneurial seizure and for a lot of entrepreneurs like myself we have those seizures almost constantly. Difference is not. Everyone acts on that or they don't know how to act on that Exactly.
Speaker 2:We all have gifts and talents. So how do you determine if you're a talent, a hobby or just the ideals that are floating around in your head? How do you determine if that's going to be a sustainable business or just something you should do in your spare time?
Speaker 1:Well, we know that the statistics report we quote this a lot 55%, and pretty much I've done my own studies and research 55% of the people who start businesses fail, as we say. I don't know that they necessarily fail, but they go away in five years. And why is that? And you can, there's lots of research. People say, well, cash flow or the market wasn't just right, or this wasn't right.
Speaker 1:Basically, I think it comes down to one thing and they didn't plan, there wasn't a business plan. Too often they did just what Michael Gerber said. They had that entrepreneurial seizure and they grabbed that idea and they charged, you know, like a bullet in the China cabinet, without and trying to make the story and make it happen as they go. So we tell people to stop. I've done it both ways. My first I bought a business, a very long successful business, that didn't go well Because I didn't have a business plan at that time. So when that failed and when I got out of that business, I went back into marketing and sales with a big national firm and two years later I said I got to do this again and I started total computer systems. Now my wife didn't take this quite as well as I did. She said, you know, just get a job, and so we have that consistent amount of money that's coming in every day.
Speaker 2:I don't care for some of it.
Speaker 1:I don't want to. I mean, I said, take a big breath because I've already been in the water and I like being and I'm going to jump back in the pool as soon as I get two nickels together. And two years later we did that.
Speaker 2:So let's shift gears just a little bit. So what are some good characteristics of an entrepreneur? If I'm trying to see you know, do I have what it takes? What type of characteristics do you think a good, successful entrepreneur would have?
Speaker 1:The first word when I hear that is persistence. I mean you need to be persistent. You know you're going to have some days when you're going to get up and you're going to fall down and you're going to stomp your toe and you know things aren't going to go away. But you've got to go, get over those challenges and you've got to be able to move forward. You've got to see the good in everything. You've got to just go through it.
Speaker 2:You've got to work through it, that's easy, that's full kind of person.
Speaker 1:Right and you've got to. It's easier if you've got a plan. I mean stop, and people get terrified. Oh my God, you know a plan is too much work, but that's what scores for. That's why the other organizations that we have today are there to help you.
Speaker 1:To take a look and go back to your original question that I kind of got on how do I know that that sidekick or that hobby or that thing that I'm doing is the right thing? We have to do a plan. That's the purpose of the plan. Now, many of the times even score when you start reading their stuff. They're designed to say you do a business plan so you can take it to the bank and go get funding. That's not what the business plan is for. It's for you, you, the owner, to help you decide whether this is a go or no go. Can it sustain, can it do? How much money do I need? How much money am I looking to do? What is my goal? So you know, basically, when I'm working with people, I want to take them on a personal level. Let's start with where you are.
Speaker 2:What does that business plan look like? Do they all look alike? Is it a standard form? Is it customized to each person? What are the major parts? If I want to do a business plan, what information should I come to the table with?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, when you come to the table, you won't have all the information you need. That's what we're going to help you work with, and it is. We have templates. For instance, if you use the one that I hand out, I think it's 23, 24 pages. If you listen to this, take a deep breath. Your business plan should not be more than about 10 pages, because obviously some people are going to be retail, some people are going to be service, and so some of that template will be for you and for now.
Speaker 1:But for the most part, you've got the cover sheet, you've got the table of contents, and then the very first page of the real business is your executive summary. Tell me what you're planning to do. And it's like writing a paper, and when you were in English in high school or college, they told you to write a three or four page paper, one of the things I learned after my very first time. I made a D on it and he sat me down and he said and the first paragraph tell me what you're talking about. Then give me the detail in the next few pages and then the last one, wrap it up and tell me what you just told me. So the executive page. So if I'm looking to invest in your business, that's going to be the bait that's going to get me to turn the page. I mean, I read a lot of business plans and that's got to catch.
Speaker 1:Now we often tell people to wait and do that at the end. Do that page at the end because it's going to change as you go through. But I'm going back now to write it now We'll change it again, but start. We need to have a start. So give me that executive overview. I'm going to be an electrician and I'm going to because I am an electrician and I'm going to go into the business, working mostly with commercial people, and give me a little outline. And then the second page. You start telling me about your services and what's special about it and what's your niche or your products. Then we get into marketing. How are you going to sell? Some people think we've got this great idea. That's one of the myths and that is all I need is a good idea.
Speaker 2:Well, certainly Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly we need a good idea, but now we take that idea and we put it down on front of us and we start doing the research and we start and writing the business plan. The business plan is not carved in stone. It's flexible, it's something that grows and evolves with us, so that is something that is going to guide us. I had a couple, a married couple, that came to me a few years back and they said we know you're going to talk to us about a business plan, but we don't want to do a business plan. We don't need that business plan. I said really, you don't think so? No, we know what we're going to do. I said that's fine. I said how about if I do this? I said y'all are married, y'all live together. You've been talking about this. I said I'll separate you. I'm going to put $20 on the table and I'm going to separate you and I want each of you to give me the five key points to get started. If you can match three, I'll give you the 20 out.
Speaker 2:So what happened?
Speaker 1:They wrote a business plan so we may have, you know, I'll hold up my telephone, you know, to you and say, describe it. Well, it's got a different view from my end, right, I mean, so we have got to take that cell phone or that coffee cup or whatever and and open it up and raise it. You don't build a house, I tell people in my seminars. You don't decide you're going to build a house and call Lowe's or Home Depot and say, hey look, I'm going to build this 1800 square foot house. Wanted to be a single story, three bedrooms, two baths. Could you deliver the bricks and the concrete into wood?
Speaker 2:Well, you're probably going to get somebody hanging up on you Right, are you going to end up with a nice luxury doghouse?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like what is that? You know they can't do that. They don't know, so they're going to want a list and so the business plan is going to give you that. That's the number one thing we do in the business plans. We talk about creating that startup list. What is it that you're going to need? Add it up. And so now we know the dollars. Can we get those dollars to get this started, or how we're going to get those dollars in funding? And then we move on to the full financials.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned earlier, 55% of those businesses closed those doors within the first five years. So what are some of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make and how can they be avoided?
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to go back to again my favorite book, the e-Bit. They had that entrepreneurial seizure. They didn't do a business plan, and so most of them they don't have the cash flow. The other experience I bring to the table over the last seven or eight years is I've been working with franchises, and so franchises are fairly new. When I started my business in 83, there weren't. I mean, we certainly had McDonald's and we had that, and when you think of franchises you think of the fast food restaurants, but today, franchises exist in every aspect of businesses a roofing, electrical, plumbing, massage therapy, nutrition, dog, all of the things and so what they've done is the franchises have created that business plan, so to speak, and that package for you, and all you got to do is pick it up.
Speaker 1:I've seen the difference between how a well-run, thought-out plan works as considered, compared to that that just grabs the idea and charges out there without a plan. They're trying to make it go on their own. So there's too many obstacles, too many things that are going to trip you up. Cash flow, though, is probably number one. They don't realize how much money they need or what it takes, and so we've made it very easy.
Speaker 1:We have some elaborate spreadsheets that the funding banking people like to see. When the typical person looks at it, they're terrified with it, but so little of that spreadsheet needs to be filled out by you and the rest of it just happens automatically. When we dig and do that, it helps to have a mentor. It helps to have someone that they can bounce off of. There's a lot of people that are willing to help today and there's a lot of organizations that'll help. So, typically, if you go and read the studies, why does 55% pretend? Because they may say cash flow or they say things, but, to be honest with you, it was a lack of a business plan.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned franchise, and so, of course, I did a little research and it talks about three paths to business ownership starting your own business, buying a business or, of course, franchise. Can you tell us a little bit, maybe? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Speaker 1:Well, in 1983, when I had this idea to start my own computer business, I mean I remember that it was like being in the swamps of Louisiana with your hip boots up beyond your waist and your pith helmet on and your machete in one hand, fighting off the mosquitoes and the alligators and trying to find a path, and that is exciting and fun. That's what gets my adrenaline pumping. That's why I like to help people During that. After that, after we're getting that story in God, I bought a company. So I had failed once before I said that earlier buying a company. So the difference is you get to create your own path, you get to research it all, you get to do everything. Now, that's the positive. The negative is you have to do it all, you have to do research and it's just a lot of work. Okay, you need to get some mentoring. The most negative of starting your business from scratch, like that, is getting funding. I mean you have no experience, you have no background.
Speaker 1:We look at score. We have a gentleman 30, 25, 30 years ago that came to us they did not come to me and he had gone to the University of Georgia and he was working at a chicken finger place and he had all these ideas and he kept telling the people ideas, his owners, and they said, son, just go do your homework, do your work, let us run it. He got frustrated and stopped. He came back to Baton Rouge, joined with a friend who was working on his MBA and LSU on writing a business plan. They brought that business plan to score. As the rumor has it, he made like a B on the business plan in class because his menu did not have a broad enough selection.
Speaker 2:Just had chicken.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm not taking a shot at the professors, but I've had those. I guess. Some of my professors, I think, were born on campus. They never got out of the box and I can't imagine being the person that said that's not a good idea. We probably recognize that I was racing Keynes today, and racing Keynes is still. Got a small. What do you got? You got the small box, the medium box, the large box and a lot of the tea and lemonade that they sell a lot of.
Speaker 2:There you go Signature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so that's not a big menu, but he's got. What is it? 1500 stores across, so he has done quite well. Definitely he had a business plan. He focused it. Now when he went looking for funds again, he had the experience. He says, hey, I worked at a chicken place. Well, that ain't the same thing as running it. And so he got turned down and he went and got other work. I won't get into other story, but he got other work and for two or three years doing some pretty hard labor stuff, and he came back to those same banks and I can't imagine sitting across to the table and seeing someone that did that. But they still said no, because he had no experience. He took that money, ran it in a monstane, ran it in a truck, drove through Louisiana and Texas and, buying up old equipment, opened up his first store and after that happened the bank closed.
Speaker 2:The rest is history, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but so do you have that kind of persistent? How many of us would just fold After about the sixth or seventh bank, said no, just say this is not a good idea, but he had a goal. So the persistent is the word consistent, persistent.
Speaker 2:Gotta just stay the course. So, beyond, of course, we've got this great idea, we've come up with a business plan, we've got that grit. We're gonna be persistent. What are some of the first legal steps in terms of coming up with our name, registering our trade name? Secretary of State business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's pretty easy. Secretary of State here and in all states have made it fairly easy. Here in Louisiana. You just go to GoBiz, g-e-a-u-x-b-i-zgov, ororg, I don't know. I mean it comes up GoBiz, it'll pop up on Google. You will fill out an application, okay, and they want they're gathering information that they need for the Secretary of State to register you for the state of Louisiana. But then they take you and start gathering information for the Department of Labor and then the Department of Revenue and then they'll get you to help you with the federal EIN number, your federal ID number. So that's an easy application online.
Speaker 1:But what I tell people is, once you fill out that application, the second item on that website people ignore and that is the checklist. Print out the checklist because people call me all day long saying I'm in Alexandria, louisiana, and I'm gonna do XYZ. What certifications I don't know Nobody. I mean it's depending on the parish or the city and the product and the services that you're selling. They know that They've got that. It's in a matrix, so fill it. You don't have to register. You can fill out the application to get that and then, when you're ready Now you can create a C-Corp, an S-Corp, an LLC which you can talk about.
Speaker 1:We can show you and give you some information to do some research on that. I try not to be the attorney or the CPA. We just give you the information and let you decide. But most people are gonna keep it simple and make it an LLC. And what does that do for you? That makes you a legal entity that separates your business from you Now from tax purposes. They're gonna be merged back together and off for tax purposes, but for the most part that gives you some protection and it reserves your name in the state of Louisiana.
Speaker 2:And so when somebody comes to school and they get a mentor, what can they really expect from that mentor, and at what stage in the game should they even seek a mentor?
Speaker 1:Well, we tell them to get in early. The earlier you get in, the better. So we have a series of workshops called the Simple Steps. Simple Steps for Starting your Business. The first is the basics, kind of a lot of what we're talking about right now. The second and third one we're gonna combine into marketing. We're not doing that right now but we have others that we can point you to. The third one is on finance, where we talk about the spreadsheet. We give you some basics of what accounting and what you need to look at At someone with an accounting degree. I like the numbers. I mean I want to see the numbers. Can this work? Can we make the numbers? I mean I'm challenging people. I've got one right now. I think he's a good idea. I don't think he can do the numbers. And I'm challenging I'm not saying I'm not trying to be that professor that you know, but you know, do you really think we can do this? So we're, you know we're working with that.
Speaker 2:You mentioned that, of course, all the mentors are volunteers, so is there any cost at all for the person that needs it, for the mentee?
Speaker 1:No, none. So we have the seminars as far as telling you. But in the meantime you know you need to get yourself a mentor, introduce yourself, let them know, you take the workshop, you go back to them and so you meet with them. I've got several that we meet weekly. I read a lot of business plans from time to time and you know, and I mark them up and I send them back, tell them what my ideas are. There's no fee. There may be. Sometimes an all day seminar may cost you 50 bucks or something like that. We haven't done that in a while, particularly since we're virtual. That doesn't mean we won't, but mentoring is always, always free. It's pretty much all virtual now, or email or telephone.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I want to tackle a couple of myths. I know you've mentioned a couple of them and you've definitely talked about the funding. So one of the myths you know it says you need a lot of money to start a business.
Speaker 1:You need more than most people think, but you don't need a lot of money to start a business. You know a lot of people, for instance, who are might be afraid of going into a franchising because they say it's expensive. Well, it's not expensive. I mean, if you want to do a McDonald's, it's not that big a deal. Three, three and a half million dollars, that's all.
Speaker 2:That's all right. That's all Okay. Well, most of that we're talking about Just a five-liter ticket?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're not going to get. Yeah, if I had that kind of money, why would I be working? I'm sorry, I'm not that motivated, you know so. But for the person that might be, I'm going back using my example as an electrician, I'm working for the man and decides he wants to be in business for himself. I mean, you need a truck and some tools. We make a to-do list. I just help someone put a business plan together with a food truck, okay, and the budget is under $30,000. Now that's something that might be a lot of money $30,000, including the truck. I mean, remember, there's a truck involved. Even I was kind of stunned with that.
Speaker 1:I was in my head because I deal with franchises. Typically, a franchise is somewhere about 80, not the franchise fee, but somewhere low-end total investment. Everything you're going to need somewhere around 75, 80,000, up to a millions of dollars, depending on the franchise. Obviously, if you're in the retail, that's the hire, no matter what the product is, because you've got rent and stuff like that. If you're in the service business, it's, as we say, the truck and the truck man and the man. Keep it simple.
Speaker 2:So this shows up under a myth too. The US federal government and or state and local government have funding and grants for me to start up a new business.
Speaker 1:No, no, that's my favorite. We've been trying to drive the stake through the heart of that myth for years and people that even should know better and I did most of it I keep thinking. I tell people there's that free money, please tell me where it's at, go get yours.
Speaker 2:We all want to know yeah.
Speaker 1:If there's free money, please tell me Now. I believe there was that guy with the orange suit with the dollar signs all over. They came up at 3 o'clock in the morning for those that had insomnia and couldn't sleep and he was selling a book on how to get all this free money. And there is some free money out there. There is grant money from the state, I mean from the federal government that is for defense, that's for education and for health, For the electrician, for the beauty shop.
Speaker 2:That's not trickling down, so very industry specific yeah.
Speaker 1:And then when you read about all the money coming down from the federal government, there is but and it is a lot of it earmarked for small businesses, but the word startup is not in there. Okay, so that's not to say I'm not trying to discourage people. Money, there is some money to be had. There are places, there are some small grants, but the thing is most of us in small businesses start our businesses on the shoestring a little sweat equity, and so we're taking a higher risk because when we get into those crunches, we making decision under stress and it's hard. So we try to eliminate that.
Speaker 1:We want you to know how much money it really is going to take going. This is why you know when I come in, I go. Let's start with you first. First, tell me why you want to go business. Do you have the motivation? I want you to go deep down and pull out that motivation. Then, two, let's look at your personal, let's look at your credit score. If you and we got so many credit credit scores five, 50, you know and I want.
Speaker 1:Yes that's a whole nother show. Yeah. Yeah, that's another subject. We got to work on that. Now we can do that, but we got. We'll help you determine where you, where you are, where you need to be, before you can get started to have any idea of success.
Speaker 2:And I think the attraction for a lot of people, of course, having your own business is being your own boss, like you said, not having to work for the man. So it comes up under a myth If you're on your own business, you don't have to work long or hard hours.
Speaker 1:Well, I always tell them. My seminar is that my wife and I both started a business at the same time and we, we were focused and determined that Sundays are family day, church days family day, and we don't work on Sundays. But we worked the other six days we can. We only worked part-time, we only worked half days, so, but still I can tell you, 12 hours a day is a long time.
Speaker 2:That's quite quite a long day. So what challenges should a new business expect in the first year you mentioned? You got to be persistent. So you know what are some of those challenges and is there anything that you can really do to prepare yourself for it?
Speaker 1:Business plan. That back to that business plan. I'm going to go back to the business plan. But but what it, what it's going to prepare you for? When I say 55% of small businesses fail, you've only got about 10% of franchises fail, you know, and it may be a little harder than that the franchises do why? And number one is they have a plan, they have some experience, obviously, that we we might not have as a small business, but they spend money on marketing. Okay, I had a.
Speaker 1:I had a gentleman outside the state of Louisiana I was dealing with and for about a a year or so and and somewhere in the middle of that he just we were meeting weekly and it he quit taking the calls and something happened. There was some life changes and he called me back about four or five months later. So when school starts, you know we're, we're back on track. I said okay, and he calls me and he was up in the north. He had moved almost across the country and he was looking for a B2B, a business to business, and we had. When I was invited to a validation call in the franchise business. That's where we might go and talk to a franchisee who has been in the business a year or two years to talk about their experience.
Speaker 1:This gentleman had kept his full-time job. He had his full-time job and he bought a franchise and it required two or three employees and he was about to. It was. It was a, a kitchen remodeling company, a man with a CPA. He didn't know how to use a hammer, so he hired the people but they did marketing, they did marketing, they did marketing. The phone ring. They had a salesman that went out, did a quote got the jobs and they had someone that installed and did the work and he was about to finish his first year with $1.2 million in sales Wow. So I told William, my my client. I said I know you're looking for B2B, but I was kind of impressed with this and I thought maybe you go look at it. He went to look at it and he was impressed and he finished his first year with $3.6 million.
Speaker 2:I think you've gotten the attention. Now what?
Speaker 1:he learned he also, he was ready to be. He was going to be buying a new franchise every year or so at the beginning. That has not happened because he finally said you know, he says I'm not invincible either. I mean, things have been very successful, but there was problems with that as well. So we have to be that persistence that we have to, we have to care, and now, of course, I'd rather be, I'd rather have those issues than the issues will be out of, out of money.
Speaker 1:But but there were still trying to find the people. They had the business, and I asked him though. So here's, here's the point of my story is where's what's that? First thing, you've got to spend money on marketing. He was spending $10,000 a month, wow, on marketing.
Speaker 1:And I said now and he had, his background was advertising, so he understood it, but he was following the franchise or, you know, path, and I said what do you? What did they tell you you should expect for the 10,000? He's, for every 10,000 I spend, I should be getting a hundred thousand dollars in sales. That was their plan. That's not across the board. He said, but I'm getting about 1.25, you know, 125 thousand dollar. And and then he started spending. I mean, obviously, if you're getting that, you take that 10,000, you make it 15,000, or if you're getting too much, you back it down. But we don't do that in small businesses. We think the old thing if I build it, they will come right. You know, all I need is that website. What our website is hidden behind Gazillion other websites. You've got the market it. You've got the market market. Nobody marks market is better Than the owner themselves.
Speaker 2:Okay, absolutely so. As we wrap up, give us a little information in terms of how our listeners can register for the webinars with score, and then how can they contact score if they're interested in having a mentor.
Speaker 1:Okay, all of it the good points to the website. Score Brorg, just go to score dot org. Score dot org will Bring you to the national website, except that knows where you are, because you know, everybody knows where you are on the computer right, no more except me and so it'll probably bring you to that.
Speaker 1:But a score br or score slash Baton Rouge area score dot org will get you there and you can. You'll see all of the websites. You can register for our email so that you'll get all the information you can get. Mentoring you can go up there there. You can go. Choose us a few. We have a few of us that are on the website, Others, you know they they're waiting to be assigned and so we do have someone the administrator that takes the requirements and tries to fit them to the person.
Speaker 2:That's the best fit and if they want to reach out to you personally you know and have you becoming a Consultant for them how can they reach you?
Speaker 1:the same thing. I'm on the website you can find me on the website. I'm one of those five or six. I was a lurch out there, so they they can reach me. We're also looking for volunteers, so for those that might be listening, that is interested and you've got some bad business experience, you like to do workshops, so you like to do mentoring. You, you want to give back to the community Welcome, we'd love to have you well, mr Bro, you've definitely given us a lot of information.
Speaker 2:Seems that persistence definitely sticks out, that you got to be persistent. Gotta have that business plan. So any last thoughts.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I, I think, talking about businesses come in two flavors as far as I'm concerned. Again, going back to the e-beth, that's what he said is the small businesses fail because we, we spend all of our time doing the work of the business and not working on the business. And what's the difference when? And he said most the entrepreneurial myth in this country is small business people are not Entrepreneurs, are small business people. They had that epiphany. They would go out and they're just. All they did was create a job for themselves.
Speaker 1:The number one reason people fail in businesses they're focusing on the service and our product, which is important, but they don't focus and realize that the vehicle to supply and the is the business itself. You, marketing doesn't just happen, accounting doesn't just happen, delivery doesn't just happen. So you have to work on the business. You know, ultimately, if you want to be a small business person, you want to be that chuck in a truck, that's nothing, that's perfectly fine, but at the end of five, ten, fifteen, twenty years that you want to sell it. What's the sell? It's you and the drug and you, you have the relationships. You know that's what I learned ten, fifteen years into my business. I was the business, you know.
Speaker 1:And after I read that book and realized and tried to change and started working more on the business instead of doing the work of the Business, and then the company you know really took off and grew I mean, I still was working in the business there were certain things that I really like to do, but that's okay. What one last thought you know with things that we probably grew up on this is you know you need to do what you love to do. You know I and and I tell people, be careful with that, because once you make it a job, that thing you love to do May not be your favorite thing anymore, because so you know. But but if you know, if that's your vocation, if that's that's your love, then then you know, make it it's easier to work when you have money. So do it right, plan Work and focus on the business, not just the work of the business.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, mr Bob Bro. I appreciate you stopping by and I'm sure we'll have you back again, because there's so much more to talk about when we're talking about starting a business right, we didn't give anybody an MBA in 40 minutes, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Deciding to start a business is a significant life decision that requires start for consideration. Here are a couple of tips to help guide your decision-making process. First, start by doing a self-assessment. Reflect on your motivations why do you want to start a business? Next, investigate the demand for your product or service. Is there a gap in the market? Can you offer something unique? And then assess your financial stability. Do you have the same financial stability? Do you have the savings or access to funds that support their business and the personal needs during the startup phase? And then finally, check out neighbors. Fcuorg 4 slash financial education to learn more on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want.