In episode 59 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden interviews Thomas Bennett, from Shield Advisory Group, as he shares his entrepreneurial journey, from door-to-door solar sales to now helping businesses with funding and tax credits. They also dive into the importance of funding for businesses, especially during uncertain times, and discuss the various options available for entrepreneurs.
Tune in as they explore the current landscape of business funding, the impact of the upcoming election season, and practical advice for entrepreneurs to ride out the unknown.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:50] Entrepreneur Journey and Business Growth.
[00:05:04] Employee Retention Credit (ERC).
[00:09:18] Self-Employment Tax Credit.
[00:13:00] Innovation Tax Credit.
[00:15:52] Business Funding Insights.
[00:20:02] Importance of Having a Line of Credit.
[00:25:14] Financing Options for Scaling Businesses.
[00:28:28] Diversifying Financial Options.
[00:29:55] How to Identify Legit Businesses.
[00:33:57] Small Business, Big Moves Podcast.
In this episode, Ken Baden and Thomas Bennett highlight the importance of businesses considering a line of credit as a financial safety net. It provides flexibility, financial security, and readiness to address unforeseen circumstances or capitalize on growth opportunities. By having a line of credit in place, businesses can better position themselves to navigate the dynamic and unpredictable business landscape.
Moreover, Thomas specializing in offering funding options for businesses, emphasizes the importance of providing capital quickly and transparently, especially during uncertain times. His approach is to help businesses secure the funding they need promptly, whether it's for working capital, lines of credit, or other financial needs. He highlights the significance of having access to capital, particularly in times of volatility and economic uncertainty.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkenbaden/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKenBaden
Thomas Bennett
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomas.mbennett/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100051244177576
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-mbennett/
WEBSITES:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Blue Collar Ballers Union: https://bluecollarballersunion.com/
Small Business, Big Moves: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/small-business-big-moves/id1718453918
Welcome to the kitchen table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the kitchen table podcast where business gets done. And very excited to have my good friend in today. Now, Tom actually was supposed to be on a couple of days ago. And so I really appreciate the fact that you were being you were so flexible and able to to work with a very hectic schedule. But we're able to get him back in. Very excited. Tom, how are you doing today, my friend?
Doing great, man.
Thanks for having me. I got to say, man, normally I'm the guy in the blazer. And this day, it just so happens that I've got like my actual feel of field gear on. I'm usually suited and booted, but It's a long story, but for whatever reason I find myself here dressed more for the field and you're sharp dressed man. So you know I've got to play well. I'm sure nobody gives a crap about that, but me, but you know, I certainly caught it so good. Good on you for looking sharp and showing up prepared man. Here I am homely with my hat on in my PCR gear, but will make do. Absolutely. But yeah, man, so look, tell us a little bit about, uh, kind of, you know, how you got to, you know, you were shield advisory group. I know that you mentioned you guys do like funding and working in capital, working capital for different businesses, probably very much like the ones, uh, the entrepreneurs and perspective entrepreneurs that are listening to this show. But before we get into the specifics of that, you know, I'm sure you didn't just fall into that. Right. So take us through your entrepreneur journey, sort of how you came to where you're at and what attracted you to, you know, this world.
Yeah, no, definitely. Right. So I I'll take it way back. Right. I got into I got into sales about 10 years ago. Right. I was working in the food service industry. I always wanted to get into business, more specifically sales. And I was always told like, oh, if you want to do anything, you got to go to college, got to get a degree, all that stuff that they tell you. So I was sitting in the office one day and said, I got to get into sales and figure it out. One of my buddies reached out to me to get into door-to-door solar sales. So I had no idea what I was doing, just got thrown out here in Massachusetts, pounding on people's doors trying to sell solar. That's where it all started. And then that was 100% commission-based. At the time, I was still learning everything. So I figured, let me try something that's base pay and commission. So I then fell down that corporate path, probably spent about 7 or 8 years in there. And then a few years ago, I made the switch out and went all in on myself. I got into partnered up with Shield Advisory Group. I was offering similar services and then connected with the CEO and thought we could do big things together. So that's what got me into that. Started out with really all things business tax credits, right, a lot of the pandemic relief, employee retention credit, a lot of those things that were going on, we really hit it hard with that, alongside the business funding. And then both really kind of took off. And now I just focus on really helping businesses get funding, whether it's tax credits, working capital, lines of credit, anything else you can think of. So that's really a nutshell of the 10-year journey that got me to where I am now.
You mentioned something that I actually have an interest in because, you know, a lot of us, when I'm sure a lot of ears perked up when you mentioned like ERC, that's something that we've heard a lot about, you know, can you talk about that a little bit? I mean, there's a lot of controversy. I mean, I don't know if you're, you're probably not naive to, you know, we've been warned like, Oh, you know, be careful with, you know, who you do this with or whatever. But I've also talked to several of my peers that are like, Hey man, it's legit. We got this and, um, maybe clear up without giving away too much, kind of. who is eligible, who isn't, or, or just some general like rules of thumb to kind of steer clear from the, the nonsense or just what your opinion is on that period. Cause I know it's a big topic, especially for business owners.
Yeah, I know. I'm glad he pointed that out. So I just a quick backstory on that. So I was working with, um, I worked with paychecks. I worked for another local, um, HR payroll company to really win. the employee retention came out and everyone was all in on it. Now, at the time, the misunderstanding was people thought you either can take PPP or the ERC. So a lot of people missed out on ERC because obviously everyone took PPP. We always joke that the IRS doesn't have a marketing arm. So that's where we come into play. And then we really hit it hard with the employee retention credit. I was already offering it through corporate companies. And then I teamed up with Shield Advisory Group and went all in with it on them instead. We helped probably close to 1000 clients get the employee retention credit. Or at least qualify for it. And I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. There was a huge pause on the employee retention credit. Main reason for that was because towards the end of when they were moving away from the credit, they had, it was an insane number, like something about like 40 to 60% of all the claims they received over like that two to three year span. had all come in the last 90 days. So they had a ton of fraudulent claims going through. They had companies that were trying to qualify businesses that already claimed ERC. They took the full credit in saying, we can amend this for you again, and try to double dip. And people were falling for it. So there was just a ton of fraudulent claims that went through, where it got to the point where Any business that was getting over $200,000 in their return was pretty much just put on pause. So we have a lot of clients that are still waiting to receive the credit. We're expecting that to hopefully pick up pretty soon. But obviously, we don't have an exact timeframe on when that switch is going to flip over. So just kind of waiting on that is obviously our clients are as well. And then yeah, that's pretty much where it's gone right now. So obviously, it's unfortunate that the clients don't really have an expectation of when they'll get the credit. Obviously, we can't tell them you're going to start receiving it soon. But I think things are starting to look promising. And hopefully with When all the election stuff starts to pick up, they start start paying some of this out and businesses can get a little happy for that.
I was going to say I have I have a sneaking suspicion it'll closer it gets to election time. Whoever wants those businesses votes will make sure they get paid. But you know, that's the other thing. Is it too late, you know, like say someone like myself, and I'm not saying that, you know, it's just I'm one of those examples of like, I don't know, you know what I mean? And so like, is that if you haven't done it now, forget about it kind of deal or I don't know, I'm just.
It is, and I'm glad you brought that up just so I can kind of explain that to everyone listening as well. So we start taking claims towards the end of 2023. Really what happened was the IRS was supposedly picking. So I'll go back to so there was like on top of all these delays, the IRS pretty much shut down all credits for like the last three months of 2023. So we stopped taking credits applications leading up to end of December of 23. And then the IRS was supposed to get back to processing these credits in January and start picking that up, which I think it's slowly happening. We'll see one like here and there that the client received their check, we get our success fee. But those are still been pretty slow on that. So we're not taking on Any new applications, the way it worked was they could amend their 941s or returns for three years. So during like those 2020 and 2021 years, which we can't amend anymore, we do have some other credits available as well. One of them being the 1099 or self-employment tax credit. which you and other businesses that anyone that's really anyone that's a 1099 employee or self-employed can qualify for the credit, they can get up to $32,220 essentially for working during the pandemic, right? Anyone that can attest to missing time due to COVID, caring for someone due to COVID, taking care of a child or anyone during the pandemic. Pretty much anyone that was working can kind of attest to that and qualify for some of those wages. And that's 2020 and 2021, right? So they can get up to $32,220 for any 1099 employee, which obviously a lot of your listeners that are in the contracting place, probably whether it's them or their employees may benefit from that.
Yes, them or their contractors. But yes, I hear what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. Definitely, for sure. But yeah, I hear you, man. That's actually really interesting. I mean, you're right. Probably most of the listeners are going to be, you know, especially if it's that solar or home service space. There's a lot of that's kind of the traditional model, right? Like a lot of the sales folks, especially are going to be 1099s. They stop their feet at anything else, really. And I get it because I was always 1099. So I'm trying to push and get more into like, we've definitely all of our leadership positions have broadened into w two, we're kind of like, I just think that's an easier overall, you know, I like the element of control, frankly, but that's when it comes to 1099. So, um, but to your point, most folks here are running that. And, uh, even still myself with like most of our sales folks, but they're true, you know, their businesses. So of course you're probably at least a little bit experienced. There's like a separate 1099. That's like a different classification. That's a direct sales 1099, but I don't know enough about the nuances there. Um, I'm sure you probably do, but. So your advice, I would suppose, would be if you missed the train on that, which was apparently real, but it was also real that there was a lot of scams running out there. So maybe don't beat yourself up too much. But they could call someone like you and I, by no means, by the way, are any of these episodes or shows ever like, oh, hey, call John up on, you know what I mean? Like, that's just not the way it works. But. If you wanted to see, uh, you know what you could get, I don't know. I mean, I would suppose they could reach out to you and you'd be able to help them out. So, you know, check it out, give him a shout and see if he can do something for you. Is that fair enough to say?
Yeah, definitely. No. And then while we're on that too, I'll just throw one other, um,
a tax credit out there may not, it may apply to actually there's, I'm sure to say, if you're listening to this and you don't want to hear about possible tax credits, I mean, you're probably listening to the wrong show. Anyhow, I thought about you, but I'm all about like, Hey dude, tell me where the free money is that I can get legitimately and take advantage of it. Cause I, you know, Hey, I'm all about that. It's the issues that we have with like the scams and the BS, like no thanks. Right. But if it's legit, tell me all about it.
Definitely. Yeah. The other one is the, um, it's the research and development credit. Um, we call it the innovation credit and it's funny because it was put into effect back in the eighties, right. When Reagan was in office, no one ever really talked about it. A lot of businesses don't qualify or it's not worth them going through with it. But if you are a business that did anything new or innovative or invested time and money into R&D, so like I know we do see some construction companies, we do see some solar companies, there are certain industries that are out there doing things that are new or improved. And they typically get about 10 to 15% of that spend back in a tax credit. So if they're spending a significant amount of money over the last 3 years on anything new or innovative, then we can get a lot of that spend back for them.
It's awesome, man. I mean, I can't think of anything proprietary or research research and development here. But yeah, if you if you think that you can, man. Obviously, shield advisory might be the way to go reach out to our boys here. So what about so you're in solar your door to door you transition from door to door to here, which by the way, I think the best I think door-to-door is just the best way to cut your teeth, get out there in sales. There's no better. There's no better proving ground or training ground, in my professional opinion, than door-to-door. And you find yourself like someone like yourself or someone like myself, and you're in a very different position later on in life. But I attribute, there was a time when I I was hired by a company called power and I was hired directly into in home sales where I skipped the canvassing department. And I thought that was like, just the bees knees at the time. Then later in my career, I would find myself back on the doors through solar. And it's ironic and that like what I thought was originally this awesome benefit was a disservice, right? Because like, really, I learned so much more on the door. You know what I mean? And then you get this like mindset of like, oh, I'm not, I'm not doing that. But then you see the price tag associated with, well, you might want to consider it cause you could make this and it's like, well, all right, maybe I'll do that. But it's just such a great skill set. You can't lose it once you have it. And then now you're in something where I'd imagine you, you know, you're more B2B, right? So you're not really, you're not banging on doors as much as helping other businesses, uh, with funding or tax credits. Is that more your, your, your deal these days is like the tax credits and stuff like that? Or is it, is it. What would you say the percentage is like, and what you guys do more of, because when I think of like the possibilities or our listener base, right? Like you've got early adopters or you've got your guys are just getting going. That might need some funding. How prevalent is that these days? So I guess it's two part question. Uh, what percentage is, is the taxes, the tax credits versus like funding and your typical stuff that you need for business? And the second question is, we'll get into that actually afterwards. I'll actually answer that first. So what do you do the most?
Yeah, that's a great question. I honestly say it's probably like 60, 40 right now. Um, maybe at the current moment it might even be 70% funding. Right. I say that because, I think every business needs funding or capital. And that's really where we've shifted the huge focus to. Especially probably the past three to four months, I've just seen a ton of businesses trying to get all the cash or capital they can get. So that's been a huge focus. And then other reason for that is these tax credits They take time to get right, like, we're looking at, I mean, besides the delay on the ERC, that was already like at least four to six months to begin with, with no delays, the R&D is you're looking at like six to eight months typically. So businesses, it's IRS, they're not rushing to send out the money. where the funding, we can get people funded pretty quickly. Just like most people offering funding, we got options where we can fund as quick as same day. We have other options that we get commercial real estate or other things involved and those may take a month or so to fund. So different options depending on people's needs. But yeah, I would say it's probably 60-70% funding. And even when we're working on the tax credits, we typically help them out with even if it's a line of credit or something. In the meantime, tax credit comes in and then they can just use that to pay off whatever sort of funding they use from us.
So talk to me about funding. And I'm bringing that up because that's something that like I've never I never entertained that, you know, fortunately, a lot of what I've done requires very little upfront capital. If you do it the right way, if you're willing to go out, boots on the ground, hit the doors yourself, you know what I mean? And organically grow this thing. And at the time, that's what I did. And that's what I was committed to do. And I've kind of run that model over and over and over. But there's also the other end of that spectrum, which is what you just said. It requires capital, requires like, okay, I'm going to make my hires now. I'm going to set things up now. I'm going to get my leads and stuff set up now. And in order to do that, I need capital, right? I'm not going to go bang doors by myself and do this true blue organic paycheck to paycheck. So if someone's listening to this or somebody who was a new business, or they're even find themselves like wanting to start a new business, you have a couple of businesses, right? Like, and I forget, you know, I just checked one of my accounts before I got on with you. And I was pissed, to be honest with you, because I find this weird merchant charge and it's a very new business and it really hasn't made money yet, but it should have made a little teeny bit. And there was a negative account balance in there from some BS merchant charge that's like hitting me for these obscure amounts. And I just don't check it because it's again, it's a new business. So now I have to take my butt into, uh, the bank tomorrow and say, what in the hell is this? Right? Like, I don't use this card at all. Like, what are you charging me for? Who is this one? And two, like, how easy is it to get those funds? What are the qualifiers like, you know, like, I don't think people know Like what's available, right? Like it's not something I had considered, but I had a guy on not too long ago who was like, you know what, man, given the circumstances these days, it's important, you know, it's available because for me, I'd pay 12% if it meant keeping my business afloat. And when he spent it like that, I was like, that's a good point. And since then, my partner, my partner, my final fractional advisor, and my fractional CFO, and financial advisor, we all spoke and it's like, you know what? Let's talk to some banks and let's just see what's out there, right? We haven't firmly said anything, but it's nice to, it'd be nice to have a line of credit, even if we never touched it. Right. Um, to talk to us about that, like the value or the ease or like what would go in or, you know, folks that are like, wow, I don't think I'd qualify for that. Well, you don't know, you know, but I just think it's important these days, man, because you could, you could, not have it and wish you had it versus having it never touching it. I'll take the latter.
Absolutely not. And that's what that's what's spot on about the lines of credit, right? I mean, I always say every business should have a line of credit because you're paying on what you draw on, right? So if we got you, whether it's 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, whatever number that might be, If we get you a line of credit, you have the access to that. You may decide you don't touch it, but three months down the road, someone needs to go buy a new truck or they have to go buy some new equipment. They can just pull on that or whatever they need that quick capital for, going to make payroll or whatever it is, draw on that and pay it off and then that balance is just right there. So as far as mingos, we have options on the business side. They all want to see at least $10,000 a month in revenue. There's no one that's going to want to work with a business that's doing $5,000, $6,000, $7,000 a month. All the banks just look at that. That's a hobby and not a business. It's just how they all look at it. So they want to see at least $10,000 a month. And then obviously, The more revenue you're doing, the better the revenue. Typically, the better the program you're going to get. They also look at personal credit score. Now people get that confused sometimes. Obviously, there's personal credit and business credit. I know a lot of people don't know much about business credit. But when you get business funding, they want to know on the personal side that you can pay your bills, that you're on top of things. The better your personal credit, also the better the program you're going to get. Once you get the business funding, that's not tied to your personal credit score. So if you have $100,000 line of credit, and you're using 99,000 of that, that's not impacting your personal credit score. You have a late payment on it. Obviously, I'm not recommending that at all. But that's not going to hit your personal credit. So different options for everyone. And then on the startup side, Unfortunately, there's not many options outside of different investors for startup funding. So we have a program or a lot of people have a program where they want to see... It's more personal funding. So whether it's you or someone you know, as long as they have at least a 680 credit score, we can get them monthly term loans where they typically use those to start up the business. So I know I just do a lot at you, but those are probably the main, some of the main options that we have.
Oh, that's huge, man. I mean, again, you may be listening to this and thinking, like I said, man, even someone like myself, it's like, Hey, you know what, you know, we've never considered it, but Should it be something that we at the very least have just in case, right? Like this, this winter would be a perfect example. We're scaling, right? We found ourselves like, oh man, you know, like we already knew, uh, it's a slower time of the year where we're spending more money because we're scaling. And then, oh, by the way, we were looking at 300 X this year. Well, you don't do that organically. Right. Uh, so that's going to cost money. And they're just some things that were like, well, okay, we, we, uh, we, we underestimated sort of what this was going to cost. And we're watching the account, which is normally sitting here, start to sit here and here. And it's like, wow. So I went and actually sold the vet, which again, that's not going to be like the difference maker and like changing the course of the whole year. It's it's, it helps her a couple things for like a month, maybe, maybe, but that wasn't the point, you know, for me, it was more like, Hey, you know, I, a month, It helps me feel a little bit better as far as my contribution towards some of these oversights. I don't really care about it, but, uh, that's a perfect example of where it would have been nice maybe to have that line and say, all right, let's tap into, you know, a couple 20, 30, 40 grand. Pay off a couple of these things here, recruiting, consulting things that you need in order to help, you know, do this three, 400 X, like I said, I mean, to assume you're going to organically do that would be a little foolish. And so it's been an interesting learning experience. So take it from me, consider it if nothing else. And it's still something we're considering. We've actually, you know, we can talk, but we want to put together our best course of action in terms of like, what's the best option we have for the possible line of credit that we have just in case. You know what I mean? So I do think that's important. We still want to talk about it. So I think you and I will have to at least see, you know, with, I'll jump on with Kevin, our fractional CFO and see what you guys got versus like M and T was a bank that we just went and jumped in with just to see like, Hey, you know, what, what are your options? Right? Like we don't intend to use it, but like Keith said, man, we'd rather have it and never need to use it than need it, not have it. Absolutely. Given the unknown, the territory that we currently find ourselves in, we're up against, you know, the back half of this, but it's 2024. We just had a freaking Facebook and everything else go down today. There's all kinds of wacky stuff. And it's the beginning of the year, right? And like you said, as things continue to progress towards election season, I have no doubt it's only going to get more and more interesting. And one of the things people continue to talk about is the volatility of the market. precarious nature, to say the least. You know, what are your thoughts for entrepreneurs and somebody in your position of like, I mean, obviously funding would be one, I'm sure, but just maybe some advice, maybe some insight on the rest of this year, how you see it playing out, perhaps some some advice to some entrepreneurs, both new and seasoned on what you might suggest helping ride out the unknown as we see it, at least until I think we'll have a better idea where we're going after the end of the year. But until then, it's going to be a little wacky, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yeah, no, I mean, it's There's no hiding from it, right? I mean, we all see what's going on out there. We can't really predict where things are going to go. But I definitely, I think it's safe to say that capital, as we see is just getting more scarce, it's getting harder to get the requirements are going up. Like I said, we have options for just about everyone. But it may not be the best option, right? We have I hate to offer those revenue-based finances, cash advances. Unfortunately, we're seeing people that have to take them that 6 months ago said, I'd never even look at a cash advance. Now, it's the only option they have. We have SBA-backed programs that we have a few that we have access to that Any business that was pretty well established and doing decent for themselves could get this 10 year term loan $150,000. No issue and get that in typically under a month. Last week, they started cracking down some of the requirements there and raising those up a little bit. Right. So it's just like you said, it's early in the year. We're already starting to kind of see these things and I don't anticipate it getting better right away. So just just want to be transparent about that and kind of lead him back to what we said. Any business that can get a line of credit, I'll go back to that and just say if you can qualify for one, not a bad thing to have because we've seen it before where people will kind of dry up and stop giving out lines of credit or even go back and limit some of people, people fell below some of those qualifications. So it's, I mean, we've seen it where people have taken lines of credit away from people because they're can't pay it or they're falling below where, where the requirements are. So it's just something I would say, if you are, are able to get that, it's something that doesn't hurt to have.
I couldn't agree more, man. And on that note, I think we would need to maybe talk, like I said, we'll see what you guys have to offer. But you've reminded me, because it was just, you know, you don't think about these things, because fortunately, we're in a space where like, you know, something is seemingly, seemingly trivial is like, wow, yeah, I'll sell the vet, right? Which, which, again, like, okay, great, it pays two bills for the month. Awesome, right? Like, everything's fixed. But in all seriousness, a nice real solution, just in case, God forbid, never want to ever have to experience never had have to experience it. But doesn't mean you know, it's, it's sincerely worth considering and prepping. And I think this year, if nothing else, it's worth Considering that among other things, right? And so I really truly just the timing man and having you on I think that It's important. I think folks should consider taking advantage of all of these things And I'm not I get nothing from him or anybody else on this show I'm just sincerely as a business owner or if you're a 1099 salesperson and you probably are and you're listening to this like There's a lot of options out there that probably won't be available in the very near future, right? And I would say it's worth exploring, right? Explore what you can and protect you and your family. That's all there is to it. Nothing else matters, right? And stay away from the shadesters, man, right? Like, how do you do that, right? Like, that's one last piece of imparting wisdom because How do you know, right? Like, obviously you can do your due diligence, but like, you know what I mean? Like, that's why people don't, I feel like explore a lot of these things. Cause it's like, oh, I heard. And then it's like, boom, shut down. Not looking at it. Like what's a good indicator on somebody who's legit and is not.
A great question. I wish there was a secret hack to find out upfront. And I gotta say that there's a lot of people in this industry that shouldn't be doing business or in the industry. We have some of those cash advance businesses. And I've seen people that are paying over 100% in interest. I was talking to a guy that got $200,000 in cash advances and he was paying back over $400,000. I don't know. I don't know how some people see that and don't realize that that's a scam. But people do it. They take the money and they'll do whatever they need to do to get the business to survive. I think just asking questions and kind of vetting out any of the vendors you're talking to. I'm just upfront with everyone the whole time I tell them, I like to tell them all the fees and what everything's going to look like up front. Just because there's a lot of people that don't do that. So I would say, like, I guess at the end of the day, if you are talking to someone in the tax credit or funding space, I would say make sure that whether it's you or someone else, just making sure that everything's buttoned up and that you're reviewing everything, whether that's any sort of agreement they're sending you, fee structure, whatever that looks like. Obviously, if you're going to move forward and take an offer, make sure it's something that, one, that you can pay back and two, something that's not going to
Shut your business down or put you under i think of the most important things what the terms are and pay attention to the fine print. Exactly and look i guess if you have any anything to shady or concerning you can hit my man up here and you'd be happy to at least. tell you, you know what I mean? Thomas being in the circle of like the blue collar baller space, right? Like we all kind of look out for each other, um, which is why I love the community itself. And I know some of you listening to this, like what the hell are you talking about? It's a Facebook group where we're all in there and, and you know, it's not a prerequisite to being on this show, but I believe he's all correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we're in the same Facebook group, right? Yes, definitely.
I know we're in a few groups together. Exactly.
Yeah. So it's, it's, you know, home services and he probably has several folks like myself and his, uh, his, his world and we got to protect each other, man. So, uh, if you are in the group or if you're not in the group, join the group. It's a free Facebook group. Um. And that's just the power and being able to sort of kind of back each other up and why I believe the value of groups like that existing, as long as it's not like you're in there pumping all day, every day, like, hey, I can do that. You know, like, hey, here's something to look out for. Here's value. I'll continue to provide value for free. And if you want to do some business together, man, that's awesome. Right. And that's the way to move. I've seen you only move that way so far. So I'm happy to come on here and have you. And I think you provided a ton of value again for free. Right. Like so. Thomas, where can we, you know, if we wanted to seek your services or find you period on social media, where can we find you?
Yeah. So I'm all over social media, Thomas Bennett. Um, Instagram is actually Thomas dot M Bennett. I couldn't, couldn't secure the Thomas Bennett there. Um, and then I actually get a podcast as well, small business, big moves that I'll have to get you on there sometime as well. But those, those are probably the main ways to find me. I kind of, link everything through there. And like you said, I'm always happy to talk to anyone in your network and just free conversation, find out if we can help them or not, or if there's any value I can provide. I'm always happy to do that.
Small business, big moves. That's it. Check it out, man. Small business, big moves. Yeah. I'd love to hop on their small business. I got an Andy coming on at the end of the week. Uh, Elliot. And yeah, it's awesome. I saw it. That's exciting, man. Yeah, yeah. Well, he was all I was on his, but he's fine. He's just jumping on Zoom. I mean, all those guys, Ryan, him, like, you know, they're all they're big time, dude. And they're like, yeah, yeah, fly out flying. I'm like, man, I can't do that right now. I still run a business like I my fly outs are fairly limited at this point to the actual blue collar ballers like events, because that's something that I need to be at. But other than that, man, it's like, bro, I got I got to run this, man. Like, make sure this does exactly so. Then I can go and ride off into the sunset and do all that cool stuff. So until then, I'm a humble business owner trying to make sure my stuff's secure and my people are good. But guys, check Thomas out. Check out his podcast. Jump in the group if you have any questions, or just DM him directly, man. I'm sure he wouldn't mind that one bit. If you've got any concern about anything or any kind of questions, I'm sure he can help you out. And Thomas, you and I will be talking here, man, and see if there's something we can't work out. Thank you so much for coming on. And I look forward to talking to you soon on the small business, big moves podcast, and in the future in the group. Thank you, my brother. Thank you. Appreciate it.
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