609: Make the Leap into Entrepreneurship, Narrow Focus, and Find the Right Partner with Business Plan Answer Man David Brown

Speaker 1 0:00 Marketer of the Day episode 609, make the leap into entrepreneurship narrow focus and find the right partner with business plan. Answer Man, David Brown,

Robert Plank 0:15 Hey everyone, and welcome back to the marketer of the day podcast. And we are also back with a return guest. David Brown, the business plan answer. Man. Dave is a leader in business planning, and his message is designed to help entrepreneurs understand the need of a business plan and remove the fear and the pain of writing that plan, to create that living document so you know how to make those decisions, so you know what your business is supposed to be. And you can check out David's first appearance on our show at marketer of the day forward slash, or marketer of the day.com I should say forward slash 497 that's episode 497 and he talked about how to create that document, what sorts of things should be in there. So if you're interested in creating that short, simple, concise, but powerful business plan, then check out that interview. Marketer of the day, comm slash 497 and his website, D brown company.com, so David, glad to have you back. How things been last 90 days or so?

Speaker 2 1:11 Well, thanks for having me back. Oh, it's been busy. Things are growing. People are starting new businesses and needing some help. So I'm having fun helping people out and want and see them be successful.

Robert Plank 1:23 Awesome. So like, what sorts of businesses and where have they been needing your help?

Speaker 2 1:28 Well, a lot of them are brand new starts, or they've left corporate employment from one reason or another and then decided that I want to take my talents I was using and start a business, and I've worked with DJs, videographers. Right now I'm working with an elder care facility. I've got some folks coming up that we're going to be working with some entertainment ventures and things. So it's a little bit all over the board, but they've got a concept. They've getting it to the paper, but it's trying to get it all the details that's needed. So when they go to seek funding, you know, what do I need to have in here that somebody's going to consider giving me money to get started?

Robert Plank 2:12 Awesome. So on one hand, a lot of switching gears of all these different professions, but on the other hand, how boring would it be if you had 10 clients that were all ditch diggers and wanted to start their own ditch digging business, right? So, so it's like a little busy, but you have fun kind of jumping into all these different industries, right?

Speaker 2 2:32 Oh, absolutely. And I love the research aspect of it, trying to help them get all the right supporting documents that they need to build the case as why their service is needed out there. I've been spending the last hour here just digging through aging populations, and it scares me, as I age, what's going to happen, but there's so much to learn, and like you say, is by the different industries. Sooner or later down the road, I might find one or two that are more interesting to me and others, but right now, it's in the early stages of what I've been doing, helping these folks that just how do I get started? Where do I go? And they have no clue where to even start the whole process at. And it's very fundamental pieces that I get to teach them, even on our discovery call, whether they choose to work with me or not, I may give them a couple tips that they can start using right now to grow their business.

Robert Plank 3:28 Yeah, and so. So, yeah, I can definitely relate to that feeling that maybe some of those people who are taking the leap have of saying, well, like, where do the heck do I even start? Do I register my business entity. Do I get business cards? Do I make a sign? Do I get my first client? And so where should people be starting?

Speaker 2 3:52 Well, my first question is, why do you want to start the business? Because what I found is, sometimes they have a hobby that they think may be a good business, but it should still be a hobby. People over the years, they see the grandeur of what happens after four or five years of giving in, you know, 7080, 90 hours a week as an entrepreneur, not thinking that. You know, all this work is behind the scenes, but they just see the good things that have happened from all that work and well, I want to be like you. I don't, you know, go play golf here, there, do this. But they don't realize all the work that went in to get you to where you're at that level of success that you've wanted to build to. So they don't have an idea when we start talking about, are you prepared to put in 7080, hours a week. And some of them say what, you know, or they don't want to go seek money investors or loans, but they need money to start up, and they don't have it, and they just want everything to come to them. And so I just try to figure out, okay, what makes you know? Want to do this. And so that's the starting point before we even go any farther. And then once we get to that point, then we start talking about, right? What are your goals? What do you what's the picture your business? What you have it like? And so some of them will take and have this great big picture. Well, the picture is where they want to go. So it becomes that vision that we put into the plan. But in the early stages, we scale it back and start out and start moving forward. One of the things that I've been able to use, that I had to create out of necessity was a checklist. And as I start my business, what do I need to do? There's no good checklist that I have found out there. So what I did is I went through and I created one, you know, the find a need, fill the need. And so I may have been able to use that to help clients get started. As you get into this, you're going to need to do all these things, not necessarily in the order we have them listed, but it's all why do I need to do it? Where are we going to have the business? Is it something I can work out of my house, or is it something that's going to have to go farther and we're going to have to go rent a building and things like that? So it's just that helping them decide which way is going to be the best way to start out.

Robert Plank 6:13 Okay, great. So I'm getting a bunch of things from you so far. One is that that there's that, that initial phase of getting over to the hump right, of breaking through. It looks really easy. If someone is that DJ, and they're working for someone else who's been in business for 20 years, and they say, Oh, why am I doing all the work? The other guy is getting most of the money. I can go and jump out and do this on my own. Well, yeah, but now you're sort of starting over. You're starting from scratch. And so you're saying that people need when they're creating this business, they need to put in these long hours at least at first, at least for a while, to get things up and running. And they need to figure out where their funding is going to come from, because everything costs money. Even living existing costs money. So we need to figure out where, where that's coming from. And also you're saying that it's important to know your why, to know why you're starting that business, so that way you'll have that drive to keep going when you put in those long hours, when you come across those difficulties. And so the first question is, why did why do you want to start this business? And if it's just to make money from their hobby, that might not work. And then Step number two is to figure out those goals and to go through that checklist and to get some of those those boxes ticked. And I definitely think in the same way as far as that checklist, because it's like, well, everyone else has, you know, other solutions for all kinds of things out there. And it's like, well, you know, we want to have we have our own uniqueness, right? We have our own superior way of doing things, but we don't want things to be overly simplified or overly complicated. So by having that checklist to put things, puts things in black and white terms, it's like, well, have I done these tasks or not? I'm not going to skip things. I could jump around and do things in different orders, but I won't forget things if I, you know, won't forget I am number 72 because it's right there on that checklist. So you said in there that some people are going into business for the wrong reasons, or the wrong kind of business, because they're trying to make money from their hobby. So how do people know if this hobby is going to make the money? Is it a matter of like looking at other businesses out there, or how do they know if it should stay a hobby or become their business?

Speaker 2 8:31 Well, what we talk about when we make that decision is, have they been selling their product, that they've been creating or doing, and what kind of market is out there? If it's just a little woodworking piece, they might be better suited just to continue to go into craft shows, if they just want to sell an occasional, well, I don't want to do this, or I want to work, you know, just on the weekends, or, you know, doing this. So we help decide whether there's a viable market. And, you know, is there somebody else doing that close by that could take competition from both ways, you know, to and from given they see, well, we get this, well, this guy's got this, I want to go do business with them, or vice versa. So we help look at, is there a true market for their product, and if so, what kind of difference is it going to be? Why should they do business with you versus the guy down the street? And so we help them look at all those pieces to make sure that, once I do create this business, if I go forward with it, am I going to be able to take it to market, and so many things they don't do the research on pricing. Then we figure out, all right, well, what have you been selling it for? And I don't know, I've been giving it away. Well, how can you take that in there? You got to get a whole different mindset from doing it for fun and doing it for a business. And so we help kind of look at what's in the marketplace, and how can we adapt into that marketplace for this particular product? Product. It helps make them different. So that's a key place where we look at making that determination.

Robert Plank 10:06 So it seems like you're the guy that asks those questions that that new business owner won't ask, right? Like it seems like maybe they are a little bit emotionally invested or just too deep into it themselves to take that step back and figure out, you know, how can they differentiate? What's that competition look like? Is it viable? And you're making me think, like when I was a kid, I saw some article in the newspaper back when we had those where there was some, some person made these really complex models of whole cities, and was like, Really, all this attention to detail. And it took this person maybe a year or two to make these really detailed, beautiful model designs. But then when they took them to these craft shows itself for about 1000 bucks. So it was like, you know, worth 1000 bucks, and they put a lot of love and effort put into it, but just not sustainable as a business, but it is sustainable as a hobby. So when you deal with these new clients, these new eager, hungry business owners, are they like, are you seeing like, are they, for the most part, like business minded, or do they need help with the business or just like, what's kind of their their mindset going in? Are they like, uh, overly like, shy about it, or are they overly arrogant? What? Where do they like going in?

Speaker 2 11:33 Well, that was, that was my next point. You read my mind here. The other part of that is, you know, some of these folks that have left the corporate job and or they they're in corporate job, and, you know, they're making all this money. I'm making it for the the company I work for, and they think, Well, I can do this on my own. But what they don't realize is all the things that go on behind the scenes, all they see is that little piece that they're doing. And so a lot of people don't even have a clue when it comes to keeping their books. It's a little more different animal than when you get into balancing your home checkbook. And so people want to, they don't have that business acumen to say, well, I need to do this, and they need to budget for this, this and this. And you start talking those different aspects, and all of a sudden you can hear silence on the other end of the phone. They haven't a clue when it comes to operating a business, all they see is, oh, I can make money. I've been doing it, but they don't know how to track it, sustain it, and pay the bills from that backside of it that people run into I had a lady call me. She says, I've met with so and so they told me, I need a business plan. Great. She says, What's a business plan? And I says, you know, I think that you need to rethink everything that you're doing, because if you have to ask that question, oh, what a business plan is? She says, I don't even I've never heard of it. What should I do? You know, just do a little more soul searching before you take this leap, if you have to ask the very basics of what it is. And so trying to get them to understand what that business realm is, that you realize the employers are providing that you have to do on your own

Robert Plank 13:21 right? And so this seems like somewhat of an email situation, right? Like that classic problem of, you know, Susie's working in the pie shop and has fun, you know, doing the worker stuff, and that's her passion. And then you and then you have that you come across that roadblock where you say, Well, you could either sell 10 pies a day, or be the business person to systematize and have hire your own workers and scale and franchise and basically be the McDonald's and then now you're selling 1000 pies a day. And so it's like, you know, there's there's been the worker, and there's been that business owner, and you know, the worker does all those fun, kind of passionate tasks, and the business owner pushes the buttons and, you know, makes things happen. And it seems like when, when you transition from being being the worker to being the business owner, it seems like it takes a lot of the fun out of it, right? When you're talking about, you know, the books and budgeting and business plans. So is there a way to for us to have our cake and eat it too. Here, have our pie and eat it too, to have that business, to work those hours, but then also have fun and not get lost in the, you know, the accounting and the legalese and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 14:34 Well, there is, and that's where a partner comes in. You may want to bring on a partner to help you somebody, uh, give you an example. I had a friend of mine come to me one day and he said, I got this idea. And he's thinking of always thinking five to 10 steps out. No matter what day of the week it is. He can tell you five to 10 steps out. He's that high energy guy, but he knows how to run a business. He's got three successful business. Businesses, but what he does, and so he came to me and we partnered up on this particular business. I'm the guy behind the scenes doing the books and all this stuff. He's the high energy guy out in the field, drumming up business for us. And so it's a perfect fit. I do behind I'm happy doing stuff that needs to be done on the business end, all the filings for the state taxes, and get your numbers and all these fun things that we don't think of while he's out there, building up the customer base. And it's a perfect match. And so by finding that thing, so you can have somebody that's doing their thing, doing, as you said, baking the pies, I'm having a blast. I can do this. This is what I want to do, but you've got somebody else that's helping you for a share of the profits, which is, if you want to do that, is an excellent way to do it. So you making sure you have all the paperwork drawn up, but you can put together a nice business like that, or even a spouse. You may want to have the spouse be the business person behind if that's their understanding, and then you do the fun stuff. So there are ways around it. It just depends on what your outlook and how you want to structure your business.

Robert Plank 16:08 That's really cool, and that's a really nice option. And what you're, you're making a little bit of a light bulb turn on in my head here, because that what you just described there. That's sort of what I've done, like I, you know, I used to go through. I used to, you know, have a business partner here and there for a couple of years, and then we'd go, you know, create a few businesses, and then go our separate ways. And then the business partner I'm with right now, I've been working with him for about 10 years, and I think that what you're making me realize at this very moment is that for years and years, it didn't work, because we were both the fly by the seat of our pants type of person. We were all the, you know, having fun, going out there, taking risks, and then, and then, you know, I'd create all these products, create all these websites, and have have trouble keeping focus. And then the business partner I'm with right now, he, you know, was really good with, with the books, the accounting, and he would, he would, he said, Well, you know, you're making all these products. You're doing all these things. Why don't we go back and revisit stuff and remarket all things, as opposed to just, you know, making all these things up as as we go along. And there's a little bit of a yin and a yang situation here. And it's not like I'm completely the fly by the seat of my pants spokesperson, and it's not like he's completely the numbers guy. It's probably like 80, 90% of each thing. There's like a tiny little bit of overlap there, but yeah, like what you're describing there, that's kind of kind of, what I've lucked into, by accident, is me kind of being the one that that goes out there and does new things, and then he's really good at, you know, being on the ball and making sure that all all the details are taken care of there. And I know a couple other people who kind of have a similar relationship there, where one's the kind of the spokesperson, the marketer, the inventor, and the other person is the one making sure that everything's working. So that's pretty cool, that that that's like a kind of seems like a common way to to have your fun, but then also make sure that those state taxes and everything else get paid on time, right?

Speaker 2 18:16 Absolutely, and it's if it's, you know, happens to be a spouse or significant other. I mean, you're keeping all the income in but I'd rather take a small percentage of something than all of nothing,

Robert Plank 18:28 right?

Speaker 2 18:29 And and so what we've done with our model is, because we've come together, we formed this and we searched for the right person that's actually running that company for us so he could, because he's got two or three other businesses. I've got a couple of other businesses that I'm in the middle of. They report to us. We have a weekly call, but we've given them the authority as an Executive Vice President to speak, to go out and hire fire and do all this, and it's where it's been a good model for us. We still have our hands in in the pie, watching over it, but it alleviates us from being in 10 different places at the same time. And so we've been able to partner up and use each other's strengths and find one that fits in the middle of that to run everything. And so now we've diversified revenue streams build another company. We're all having fun, because the people that we bring on, they're loving what they're doing. So they concentrate on that. We concentrate on everything else. And it's a win, win win for everybody, including our customers. And they just think the world is great with us. And so I said, you know, this is a model that people need to look at, and I've suggested that to a couple clients that I've talked to that just like you said, they want, they don't want to do the back behind the scenes, stuff that's necessary. So find you somebody that does. And it's a great concept that people come sometimes overlooked because they don't want, oh, I can do all this myself. But no, if you're not familiar with it, you're really going to take a learning curve. You still need to be on top of it and learn, but you need somebody else that can really keep you going.

Robert Plank 20:06 I mean, yeah, and that's an important I mean, there's a few important lessons there for us to remember that you need that other person sometimes to help you, keep you going. You can't always do it all yourself. And then sometimes the other person makes it look easy, because that's just what they're naturally good at. Just like, you know, we ourselves are naturally good at other things and bad at others. So it's sometimes easy to see how easy it is for someone else, or how it just seems to be a breeze, how they, you know, can can figure out all the paperwork, or figure out the scaling, the budgeting, the hiring and firing, and they make it look easy, but then it's, it's one thing to see someone do something, and another for us to jump in and do it ourselves and stick with it every single day. It might be, it might be tempting for us to try to do it all, but then we're end up going to hate ourselves once we do it and we're running out of time in a day, right? There's only 24 hours in a day. There's only so many things that that you can do. So, so, yeah, partner up with someone, so that way we get that problem solved. I mean, you make it sound so easy. So as we're winding down, I'm curious about what are some common like pitfalls or problems that you're seeing people come against when they're making these new businesses work?

Speaker 2 21:19 Well, the biggest thing is, when it comes to market, they don't want to narrow their focus down to a couple real tight pockets. They want to be the end all be all to everybody. And I've been able to explain because I've learned the hard way on that particular area, because I tried to do that in my early years in insurance, and I almost went out of business because of it. So I use what I've learned and say, All right, let's just pick, pick a road which we're going to be on. And so we can do that real tight knit focus, and I get them to understand that concept. If we're spending dollars to market, it's easier to market and check your return on a small segment, it is everybody, because you're going to see a return, versus just throwing a net out there in the ocean and expect to catch fish. If you go in looking for specific bait fish and using the right bait, you're going to catch those. And it's going to be easier, because you're going to put in less work in the long run. So we focus on that concept, and that's the biggest piece, is we start building their plan, and their marketing is all right, who are we going after? How are we going after? And then we lay out that planet to do it, and it gets them attractive to run on it, and keeps their focus. So that's been one of the key pieces I've been able to help a lot of people

Robert Plank 22:42 with, yeah, what's the saying? Don't half ass, a bunch of things. Whole ass, one thing. And so

Speaker 2 22:47 there you go.

Robert Plank 22:48 Do you? So you mentioned that you, like, you yourself, overcame this focus problem where, you know, you were kind of spread super thin, and then you figured out that, okay, I need to, like, go make some progress down one road and not a little bit of progress down 10 roads. So can you unpack that story a little bit, or do you have a quick story like that, of going from being scatterbrained into being focused?

Speaker 2 23:10 Well, what happened is, I was in insurance, and everybody needs insurance, so everybody's my, my prospective client, and so I was trying to do that. And then I got around people that were marketers, and they, you know, and I was losing my shirt basically because I was spending money not getting a return. And so they said, No, wait a minute. They sat me down and explained to me, right, that concept, let's go after that pinpoint approach, pick a couple segments and start identify your natural market. And you know my age, I start looking at people five to years on either side of my age brackets right narrowed it down to a 10 year age range right now we've got somebody that I'm comfortable talking with, versus me as a baby boomer talking to a millennial. Sometimes that can be different when explaining insurance because we've got different mindsets. So I did that, and then I say, What products do I have that they need? Not are required to buy, like car insurance, but what do they need, like life insurance, long term care, some investment things. So I was able to focus on two or three products that fit into that 10 year window. So we just started focusing on that. I started making money. Lo and behold, the mentor that I picked up at that point in time says, you know, I told you, well, that's why I went to a mentor. I kind of started reading a little more marketing, but I found somebody, and that's why I tell people, you know, find somebody that you can ask questions on and guide you through the process. And that, again, I learned that by accident and the hard way to when I found that mentor and they educated me, all of a sudden, I turned my business around, and so I was able to stay in the business till I was ready to leave it after 25 Five years

Robert Plank 25:01 amazing. So we all need to get that mentor, and we need to basically 8020 things. If we're trying to be everything to everyone, then maybe let's think about who can we serve best, what kind of narrow age range, demographic, things they need, and all of that. So that that way we we know them inside and out. That way, we're not trying to figure out like that way. When we do these sorts of discovery calls or prospecting, or whatever we're we already know them almost as good as they know themselves. As far as the insurance or the thing we're selling is concerned, right? Because we've, we've spoken to this exact type of person again and again, and not having to scramble and not having to rediscover every single time. So that's really great advice, and to have that mentor so that way when we get stuck, we can ask questions, or when we're doing something stupid and going down the wrong path or spinning our wheels, wasting our time, whatever that person can tell us, wait, stop it and do this instead. So that's a really good thing for us to to remember and for us to think about. And so if people here said, Man, this David guy, he's got this he's got a lot of business skills and knowledge here, and he can solve a lot of our problems, especially by being on on the, you know, the outside of the business, looking in, and he's seen all these people come down my way before, you know, jump on this entrepreneurial path. So if people are super duper, we're impressed with you, and they want to check out your book, check out your website, get in touch with you. How the heck can they do that?

Speaker 2 26:34 Well, they can send me an email at Dave, at business plan answer man.com D, A, V, e at business plan answer man.com or they can visit my website at business plan answer man.com there's some resources in there. I also have our podcast listed on there that you and I did earlier. So there's a great information there. There's some templates that they can get a hold of. Email me in any of the listeners, if they want to want that checklist I mentioned, have them just send me an email Dave at business plan answer man.com and in the comment section, subject line, just put checklist, and then I'll turn around and send it right back out.

Robert Plank 27:19 Fantastic. So once again, just to make sure that everyone has that that is Dave at business plan answer man.com and then the website is business plan answer man.com and don't forget to put in subject line checklist. That way. You can get that checklist that way to that way. Today's podcast episode is not just another distraction, right? Because if you're if you're building your business. If you have things to do and you you listen to some podcast episode, and you kind of get a few ideas in your head, but you don't follow through, then that's something that distracts you from your main focus, but, but if and when you send that message to Dave at business plan, answer man.com and you get that checklist, then now some of the the ideas that you've gotten from today's discussion. Now you can take that checklist and put it into action, and then you get some results from that. Maybe you can reach out to Dave again and say, Hey, Dave, I put some of your things into practice. Now. What now? Now that I've gotten, you know, a few of those small wins. Now, how can you help me out with those larger wins? And you know, even, even if you're not at all interested in the checklist, which you should be, but it always helps to just shoot out an email and say, hey, hey. David Brown, thanks for hopping on Robert plank podcast. At least tell them that you got some kind of value. And you know, so few people reach out. A lot of people are lurkers, and it helps so much to get that added validation, get that extra drive going. So make sure that you go to business plan answer man.com and Dave at business plan answer, man.com grab that checklist. Tell Dave that some of your advice helps him. And if there's something specific, tell them that too, because that way we can repeat and expand and, you know, continue on the path that's helping the most number of people in the best way. So make sure to go to business plan answer man.com and thanks David for stopping by and telling us what we need to know about making that entrepreneurial leap. Glad to have you back as guests. Got to have you back again soon.

Speaker 2 29:14 Thank you, Robert. I always enjoy our conversations and sharing what we know to help people out there that are getting ready to start that business and take that leap. So I appreciate everything.

Robert Plank 29:25 Thank you for listening to marketer of the day. Subscribe and listen to other shows at marketer of the day.com/episodes, you.