In episode 41 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden is joined by Keith Gause, the Blue Collar Advisor. They discuss the similarities between business owners and salespeople when it comes to their ability to generate income. They also discuss the importance of having the right support and guidance in business, especially for sales professionals. Moreover, Ken and Keith touch on topics such as private equity and the role of a COO in growing a business.
Tune in for valuable insights and strategies to make smarter money moves.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:04:09] Gift of entrepreneurship.
[00:09:07] The Current State of the Economy.
[00:11:22] Liquidity and Emergency Funds.
[00:19:38] Getting Smarter with Money.
[00:22:59] Scaling and Preparing for Sale.
[00:27:03] The Gap Between You and Your Leadership Group.
[00:30:58] Selling Assets for Business Growth.
[00:32:46] Responsible Business Ownership.
[00:35:10] Learning How to Handle Money.
[00:41:07] Business Scalability and Growth.
[00:42:57] Setting Ambitious Goals.
[00:46:01] Business Infrastructure for Growth.
[00:53:33] The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Employee.
[00:55:37] Finding the Right Person.
[00:59:06] Networking and Mentorship.
In this episode, Ken Baden and Keith Gause emphasize the importance of seeking guidance and making informed decisions in different situations. By having a trusted advisor, individuals can make smarter choices and potentially improve their financial outcomes.
Furthermore, Ken and Keith stress the importance of business owners having accessible cash reserves and being prepared for economic changes. They acknowledge that as business owners, individuals have a responsibility not only to themselves but also to their employees and families. Hence, Ken and Keith discuss the potential impact of government actions on the economy. They note that when the government increases the money supply and reduces interest rates, people tend to start spending money, leading to a rebound in the economy. However, they emphasize that it is not solely about predicting the direction of the economy but rather about how business owners and individuals can prepare for it.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKenBaden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecollarcloser/
Keith Gause
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecollaradvisor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithHGause
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithgause-tidelandfinancial/
WEBSITE:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Intro/Outro00:03 - 00:12
Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
Ken Baden00:15 - 01:01
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Kitchen Table podcast. We are here in the old studio because we couldn't figure out how to make the new studio work without my video production guy who is in Jamaica. So thank you so much, Roger. But I got my good friend Keith Gause in the house, the blue collar advisor with the blue collar closers. So it's going to be an awesome show. Keith, what's up, brother? Well, I'm a man. How are you? Good now that we got this working man. Keith was very patient. He's a man after my own heart. I'm sure he probably would be in just as bad of a boat. Maybe maybe not if he didn't have his intellectual help. When it comes to these types of things. I can barely work my phone, dude. So let alone trying to like work the cameras and all this stuff in the new studio. I'm like, yeah, we're going to the old one.
Keith Gause01:01 - 01:14
visionary integrator, bro. I just have a vision and how it works. Who knows? I need someone to plug me in there. So I hear you, dude. Same shit. I get my ass kicked in this stuff all the time. Like I told you, this is what it is.
Ken Baden01:14 - 03:16
Visionary integrator, as he's talking about referencing EOS, which we brought up many times on this show. And if you don't know what that is, I encourage you to read the book Traction and then the book Rocket Fuel, and it'll explain a whole lot more. But it's a great integration into your business. Both of us, I'm assuming, have have added that. as a huge piece. I know it has been for me. So Keith, you are the Blue Collar Advisor. We've used your services. I mean, you've come on the Blue Collar Baller Facebook group totally just to do a free live stream. I mean, you're such a giving dude. That's one of his, you know, one thing I can say about Keith, you know, we've developed a friendship now through our different mastermind groups, or excuse me, our business association that we both belong to. But, uh, The guy's a giver, man, and he knows his shit, and he knows his shit specifically when it comes to financial planning and strategic accounting, et cetera, et cetera. So this is gonna be a really fun episode for me, selfishly, because I'm kind of in that space. But guys, right now, this is probably the best guest that I could possibly have on for you in terms of giving, because I have to admit, I myself am a little concerned given the bleak outlook today. I mean, I was probably putting it mildly, Keith, but you made a post the other day that I wanted to bring up and you, your post was referencing the possibility of them dropping rates next year. And what will that do? And, and will people be so quick to forget, et cetera, et cetera. Before we get all into that, tell us first, no dude, you're a big tattooed mammoth, a man after my own heart. And as far as just kind of like, people probably wouldn't piece together what they see when they see this or hear this super professional gentleman on the other end of the phone. And I get the same thing. But how'd you get here? How'd you get into this world? You know, talk about your story. And I know a little bit about it, but I'd love for you to tell everybody else.
Keith Gause03:16 - 06:10
Yeah. So my background is, uh, hated school, went into the military and, uh, you know, it was 2000, 2005 ish. as you could probably guess where I spent most of my time during that special season after the terror attacks. So I was deployed a ton. I got out in 04, came home and with all anticipation, like running my dad's plumbing company. And he had been an entrepreneur my entire life. He raised me, mom wasn't around. So I got to watch that journey of like, open business, build business, fail business, start over, right? The entrepreneur shuffle. And that kind of gave me what I consider like my gift of entrepreneurship, just being around it. And the other piece of the puzzle is, you know, I just determined, right? So growing up with that vision, that roadmap of failure, rinse and repeat, to watch him finally build a business that was ultra successful. I thought I was going to come take that over and allow him to retire. We are not meant to work together, right? So American Chopper, Paul Sr., Paul Jr., going after it. Two grizzly bears in the same room, shit didn't work out. So I went and I was having withdrawals too from excitement and dopamine rush of the military. So then I went into law enforcement and spent 05 to 2011, 2012 doing that. In that season, my wife got pregnant. We had a kid. I was like, shit, dude, $38,000 a year doesn't quite cut the cheese when you have a baby involved. Right. And my vision was like, as soon as we have kids, my wife wasn't going to work. Right. That's been kind of always my vision. Let her have that season of life to grow the babies and do that. So I had to figure it out. I started a bounce house company in 2009. We grew that from one bounce house out of my garage and a Nissan Armada to over 500 inflatables with several trucks on the road. Sold it in 2011, got my ass kicked in taxes, learned a lesson, which kind of led me to financial planning, honestly. I quit working law enforcement after that because we had money and I was tired of doing that shit. And I self-studied and kind of tinkered around with some other companies and helped a buddy scale business and sold it. And then I got recruited to Northwestern Mutual where I kind of got my teeth cut as a quote unquote financial advisor. Quickly realized that that shit was for the birds and I hated selling life insurance.
Ken Baden06:12 - 06:24
I was gonna say, when you said Northwestern, man, I've had so many buddies, even one, even guys that have recruited here is so ruse. And they say that, and then they're like, yeah, it's really just they bring you in, then you're cold calling for insurance. I was like, Oh, okay.
Keith Gause06:24 - 07:13
But you know, here's the thing, dude, it was like, it was like a new door to door sales guy, right? Just getting his ass kicked on a day to day basis, but finding some success. So I was cold calling my ass off, begging people for referrals, but I found success doing it. So I knew that I had an act to build rapport and kind of do things the right way. And so I put together what I like to do, right? And that is work with business owners and help business owners grow and scale and not just have to rely on the traditional financial planning of this world. And that, you know, that's where Tideland Consulting came into play. And now we work with blue collar companies all over the country and it's fucking, it's epic. And I, and I'm not selling life insurance as, as the entry point. So it's even better.
Ken Baden07:13 - 07:27
Yeah. And you love, I love the blue collar advisor moniker. And I mean, is that, did that just kind of happen organically? Like you work in with a lot of blue collar businesses or were you purposely like looking for blue collar folks?
Keith Gause07:27 - 08:14
You know, I don't know if it happened on purpose, but you know, I as all other business owners, I did some self talk and kind of like, hey, if if I design my perfect day, who are the people that I'm working for on a day to day basis? Who am I wanting to talk to? And I just found myself coming back to your roofers, your plumbers, your guys who are out there fucking getting the job done and building epic businesses. And, you know, and those are the people that I could just sit across the table from. I could be authentic. And we got together, you know, it just works. And so when I realized what my perfect day was all about, then I just cut all of the rest of it out. And that's who I kind of landed with and who I run with.
Ken Baden08:15 - 09:13
Probably no coincidence why we got along so well right off the bat. So I and I was really impressed with Keith's, you know, his the way he thinks. And I think I would imagine that probably helps in your line of work, having that sort of. I don't know what I would call it, brain, but, you know, it's certainly different than mine, right, mine's more abstract, right, whereas. you know, you seem to have the plan kind of, kind of all there. And it was right in line even with what our trust in the state's attorney, which, you know, that's the highest, my wife's an attorney and she's like, Kenny, those attorneys are like the attorney's attorney as far as education. And you know what I mean? And you had the same outline, man. You know what I mean? You had the same outline, like, yeah, this is what we want to do. And it was presented to us the exact same way with them. And I'm like, wow, okay. Keith knows his shit, man. So having said that and getting back to, sort of your post. What do you think about what is going on right now, man? I mean...
Keith Gause09:14 - 12:12
Yeah, I mean, look, there's been ebbs and flows, just like you and I see in business. There's ebbs and flows in the economy. And there are signs and specific things to pay attention to. And there's really two seasons, there's loose money, and tight money seasons. Right now, we're in a tight money season, meaning interest rates are high, inflation is high, loans are not easy to get. Banks are offering us 5% for savings accounts because they want all of the money. And we love it because, shit, man, we're getting 5% in a dicey economy, so why not put all of our capital there? And they're preparing. And they're preparing for interest rates to drop. They're preparing for the loose money season to come back. And it's the same thing that happened in 2008 and 2009. Interest rates go up, inflation, real estate bubble. It wasn't quite the same, but it's the same result. As soon as interest rates went back down and things started to simmer down, people went out and bought a ton of real estate, banks were buying up neighborhoods, the foreclosures, and we quickly forgot as Americans how quote unquote tough that recession was. And the same thing will happen now. You know, the government will loosen the supply of money, interest rates will drop, and my post was reflective of them saying that they're going to reduce interest rates by 275 basis points, which is about 2.75%. And as soon as that happens, man, people are going to start spending money like they forgot about what's been going on for the past two years. And shit will be back to normal. So the reality is this. It's not about where the economy is heading. It's what we can do as business owners and individuals to prepare for it. And if you have, you know, that's why, like the very first things that we talk about with our clients, like, hey, man, what is your reserve? How much cash do you have accessible to you right now? regardless of if it belongs to you or someone else, but how much cash can you go out and grab right now? And we wanna talk about liquidity because the reality is this, as business owners, we're not only responsible to ourselves, but now we have employees and families that we're fucking responsible for. So just having your two months of an emergency fund just ain't gonna cut it. If shit happens and go sideways and your state gets shut down again, you may not be the emergency personnel able to go out and produce capital. So you have to be able to go out and grab money. So here's the thing, right now, and what we've always been talking about for probably the past two years is like, go get as much liquidity as you can possibly get. Lines or credit, key locks on your house, loans against investment accounts, like hard money relationships. Because at that point, it doesn't quite matter what the economy is doing, you just gotta be a little bit more diligent on where you're spending cash.
Ken Baden12:12 - 12:34
So funny you say that, I literally just, you just, Since the last talk we had on the Blue Collar Ballers Facebook group, we scheduled a meeting with the local bank here. Our big bank is not giving us points on money, et cetera, et cetera, or on accounts because it's a very big bank. And I guess they're not there yet. But one of our local banks is, what's that?
Keith Gause12:34 - 12:37
The big banks don't have to.
Ken Baden12:37 - 13:45
Yeah, exactly. Right, right, right. So they're not. And to your point, so we went and saw one of our local banks. They will, exactly what you said, 5%, 4.9, but whatever, right? 5%, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So we didn't just pull it all out because there are some other variables to consider. We work with third-party checks a lot with insurance companies, and we carry a specific endorsement where we're at, et cetera, et cetera. we will start an account there and we will make sure everything's cool. And if it is, there's all this incentive to go there. But really right behind that is what you mentioned, which is a business line of credit, which we never entertained before because we were like, we don't owe anybody anything. Why would we want to do that? Well, you said something on that call that stuck with me and it was, I'll pay 12% to save my company any day. You know what I mean? And that, that stuck with me like, damn, you know, I would do the same, you know, if I had to, I never anticipated or, I mean, I think, you know, you know, we we do a pretty decent job at trying to keep some capital there. And but still, man, like you said, well, the what if factor is just so high right now. At least that's what it feels like.
Keith Gause13:45 - 14:24
Yeah. And the reality is this, dude, if you got to burn 12 percent money to save not only your business, but your family and your employees and their families, like 25 percent interest money would get spent, in my opinion, doing that. So, yeah. That being a very small percentage of what truly happens, what really we're after is like the ability to then fire that money off when the right circumstance goes up. And what I mean by that is like, dude, if these interest rates drop to 2.75%, there's gonna be shit for sale. People are gonna be buying real estate and there's gonna be all kinds of shit going on.
Ken Baden14:24 - 15:33
That is an excellent segue, by the way. Yeah. Not to cut you off, but that's a, that's a selfishly like, cause honestly, I'm just being real. I didn't know what the hell that meant when you put that post. And I'm like talking to Ryan about it or whatever, or somebody, I said, okay, well, what does that really equate to? You know? And like you said, like two and a half percent or so, I'm like, is that, is that enough to like really make a dent, you know what I mean? But Ryan said the same thing. He's like, well, yeah, it's enough for the, for the, for the masses to like, go back to normal, to your point. Oh, there we go. Lost you for a second there, Keith. But yeah, he said it's enough for the masses to kind of go back to normal. But I guess my point is, A is two and a half percent. How is that seemingly trivial amount enough to like get people back going. And if it does, what should we be preparing for to take advantage of it? We as blue collar or, or whatever, if you're listening to this show, what can you do to get ready to take advantage of that?
Keith Gause15:33 - 17:15
I think it's just finding liquidity where you can find it. Right. You get started by your P and L. and figuring out where you're bleeding money. Like P&L the other day, and there's $700 a month of Apple subscriptions and Netflix and all the bullshit. And he's like, dude, cut that shit right out. But I had forgotten that I was paying for it. It's the old Planet Fitness model. It's a $10 charge here and there, and we don't even look at the shit. And then no one cancels their membership. They've got way more people that have never been to a gym that are members. It's genius marketing. But the reality is that's where we start. We'll start at the P&L, kind of dig through there, figure out where your shit's going, make sure you're not overpaying for old cell phone lines and things like that that we just overlook. And then the reality is that that's where your liquidity starts. The other piece is really simple. If you own a house and there's equity in it, go get a HELOC. Get phantom equity on the table that you can use in an opportunity to go out and buy some things. Yeah, there's plenty of other opportunities. You can do lines of credits, you can do loans from banks, like you said, credit cards with 0% interest, getting hard money relationships like Ryan, right? Having access to people that you can call and say, hey, I need X amount of money quick. And they're good for it. And not really caring about the percentage of cost. Right? Because again, if 12% money is what it takes to save your company, that's well worth it.
Ken Baden17:15 - 17:17
No, I couldn't agree more, man.
Keith Gause17:17 - 17:30
Yeah. And that's where we're at with those types of things, man. And just making sure that when the right opportunity presents itself, you have an at-bat. And to have an at-bat, you need cash.
Ken Baden17:33 - 17:42
You know, you mentioned the HELOC and we have, and you do other things too. You do tax advisement and stuff like that, correct? Or am I saying that wrong?
Keith Gause17:42 - 18:01
Uh, tax strategy planning, you know, I don't, I don't prepare tax returns and, uh, fill out a million boxes on a piece of paper. Uh, but we, we do work with our clients to make sure that they're taking advantage of all the, uh, appropriate strategies that are out there and accessible.
Ken Baden18:01 - 18:06
You work right, like sort of in line with the CPAs, I guess I would say, right?
Keith Gause18:06 - 18:11
Like if you're working with- Yeah, I run the point guard for them, for the CPA, for sure.
Ken Baden18:11 - 20:05
Yeah, like we just, you know, we had talked in the future, you know, we just brought in CPA firm we were using, and we were kind of like, you know, looking for a more all in one system. And we thought like, just we just flat out misunderstood what all you had, and we're like, oh, Keith has all that, we're just gonna go do that. And then it's like, well, works with. And now we actually just brought in that same CPA firm that's going to kind of like do the accounting stuff with us. So we were going to be reaching out to you actually next to see if, Hey man, that's actually what he suggested was like, Hey, we need an actual like financial advice that do that. So funny because we were already talking to my buddy that was going to do all of this. Now you're doing this internally. And you're suggesting the adverse, which is he was like, hey, we work with. So we'll, uh, that's a really winning combination. You having a good CPA and then someone to tell you what to do with your money, right? Like as business owners and sales folks, if you're listening to this, this podcast, you're probably one or the other. We're really good at making the money. I can speak for myself here, but I also have seen a number of sales reps. And given the different NLP pieces and psychological components and attributes and distests and Myers-Briggs, I can tell you that it's probably more often than not that we're all more alike than we are not. And we're typically very good at making money. And usually it would behoove us to have somebody like a Keith or somebody who we can lean on and say, Hey, what's the smart play here. Right. Uh, so I would suggest now being that season, as he said, to, uh, to start looking at where we can get smarter, man. And he just mentioned some great avenues, but I mean, for blue collar businesses, we talked about private equity, Keith, you mentioned HVAC and stuff and. You know, is that, isn't that something that you kind of help like facilitate to like the path to that? Do you work with any specific private equity companies or.
Keith Gause20:05 - 20:40
I have a few partnerships, but I mostly work with our clients who are selling. Right. So making sure that, uh, we're, we're getting them in the best position for the exit to, to turn the $20 million company into 20 million. You know what I mean? Like. The reality is there's, there's very specific things that need to happen financially along the way for a business to be attractive to a PE firm. And like we're, we're walking a path with a couple of roofing companies right now who are exiting for ridiculous six to 10 to one, even almost at like a 12 multiple.
Ken Baden20:40 - 20:48
Are you walking that path of anybody that we both know? a few. Yeah. That's what I, uh, anyhow, we'll talk later, but yeah.
Keith Gause20:48 - 22:02
So, you know, the reality is like understanding the vision of the client to understand where, what, what direction their compass needs to be pointing. Right. Because there's, there's ultimately a few different ways of business that there's lifestyle companies where we don't really want to show a profit. We don't really care to grow. We just want it to pay for everything that we want to do. Those aren't bad companies. There's just nothing to really do there other than make money, spend money. You've got companies that are generational. Hey, I want to give this to my kids. That needs to be, you know, a certain way so that your children don't inherit, you know, just a tremendous tax issue. Right. So there's certain things and implications and things we need to look out for there. And there's companies like you. Hey, man, I want to scale this bitch to the moon and sell it and then buy back in and then sell again in five years. And there's a very particular way of planning for that to attract the right individuals. So it's really knowing what the canvas is, what's the end painting need to look like, and then reverse engineering to make the progress steps and build out the blueprint. But everything from how you're structured in the business and opening new companies to exiting is where we consult and are part of the team.
Ken Baden22:03 - 23:04
And we'll talk, obviously, uh, we're at that point now where we're locking in those key. Leadership components and trying to get into these couple of new areas, which is like, you know, the next step to the scaling process and ultimately getting to where we need to get to, but it's just so prevalent now in these blue collar spaces, man, if you, if you're not, at least if you haven't considered it before. And I can speak on this because I've been in the industry 16 years and there was a time where like people would say, oh, I'm going to sell it one day. And that meant nothing because nobody, there was nobody buying it. Now everybody is right. And so. you know, even for myself, uh, and we'll, again, we'll jump on after this, but you know, it behooves me to get ahold of some of these guys now and say like, Hey, like, how can I prepare with Keith to get to the place to where, when we're ready in the very near future, we don't have to scramble or clean things up or anything like that because we've already had things planned, right? Like we've got the LLCs under a holding company, under a management company on et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But, uh,
Keith Gause23:06 - 24:16
Yeah, running a business, it's a game of chess. You got to put the right people in the right spots and have the right relationships and be able to call the right individuals in. And here's the deal, it's the same thing on scaling the company and kind of like us being a part of these business associations. We pay to get into those rooms to shorten the pain, right? And I think I even said this in the last one, everyone eats a shit sandwich in business. You can eat it in little nibbles and eat it over a 10-year period, or you can take the route you and I take, which is like, I'm willing to invest in myself, which means paying to get in certain rooms, to be at certain tables, to learn certain things, to eat that same shit sandwich in two or three bites. I'm not trying to have that as a delight every day. Get it out of here. We all go through that growth pains. We all go through the failure of missing out. And oh, my God, this doesn't work. Burn it to the ground and start something new. The reality is, you know, we just got to get the right people to come into our ecosystems at the right time to help us through those motions.
Ken Baden24:16 - 25:42
Ibrahim was on yesterday and was just on that call, and he just absolutely killed it. He's such a good culture guy, man. And I've been going through that, man. You know, I can And I can tell you, man, the people commodity or the people, people are just, they're everything. You know what I mean? They're everything. And I had, I had a very high retention rate and Ibrahim was talking about his retention rate, you know, which is unheard of in real estate, but he's got this 97 plus percent retention rate. And at one point we had one that was right around that, if not higher, but you know, some of these guys were guys that probably should have been let go. two years ago, you know what I mean? So like, in that same vein, it's like, well, for me, and I know he's not dealing with that. But for me, I had to take a real long look at, okay, where are we going? What did we have? What gets you here won't get you there, etc, etc, etc. But ultimately, to like, I'm learning a very valuable lesson as it pertains to leadership, man, like, look at some of these bigger companies that I have, and like the guys that they have that are in those rooms for leadership. And they're just They're just that, I don't know what else to say. They're leaders, they exude it, they look it, they walk it, they talk it. And finding that, man, is just its own art. And I'm kind of in that right now, learning that as we're going like, man, I need at least two or three of these. You know what I mean? And it's hard enough to find one.
Keith Gause25:42 - 25:57
Yeah, yeah, it's tough. It's tough, man. But to your point, it takes that person to go to that next level. And once you uncover who that individual is and get him in the right spot, curtain call came over.
Ken Baden25:57 - 26:25
We've got a couple really, really good guys. You know this guy Rick Scott, Josh, a couple guys that just came in that that I've been really, really impressed with, but. You know, a few more, man. And like you said, dude, it clicks. Right. And now it's like, OK, we're set here, here, here. Let's freaking go. Now we push for sales guys and we don't just have 50 sales guys under one me or something like that. That doesn't do us any good. That isn't sustainable, isn't scalable.
Keith Gause26:25 - 26:49
Yeah. Cultures, cultures where it's at, man, once you get, you know, a part of the right people, And, you know, they're they're absolutely, you know, they wake up fucking ready to rumble and go to work because they're excited to be around their buddies and do good things. They start drawing attention in and they recruit people. And then, you know, it takes the recruiting off of your shoulders and people start recruiting for you.
Ken Baden26:49 - 28:17
Yeah, that's what that's what Ibrahim said yesterday. I want to actually share this with you all, because it's a great point. He said he recruits his people over and over every day. So they recruit for him. And I think that's just so smart, man, you know, like, and then there's the gap. And I think that was such a nice, a nice little tidbit he mentioned, which is the gap between you and your leadership group, the wider that gap. basically like, you know, you're here, you're the visionary, you've got all the ideas, you're you know how you want this to look. But the gap between you and that next person is how wide it is. And how far you two are apart is how slow your company will grow. But when you shrink that gap down to next to nothing, you're unstoppable. And so I just think it's just so important, man. And so for us during this time, like he said, we've been focused on getting liquid, dude, I'm selling the vet. I'm selling the bat, um, and everybody, you know, and I, and I was going to make a cool story about it and everything. And like, cause I don't have to, you know what I mean? But like a lot of it was post your meeting and then post a TWS comments. And I'm like, man, you know what? to his point, where can I go get liquid, right? Like, that right there is not a necessity. It's winter, I can't even really drive in the winter because it's such a sports car. It's so souped up. It's like, just doesn't like the winter. So I'm like, every winter for the last two winters, I've thought about it like that. But you know, I put so much time and work into it.
Keith Gause28:17 - 28:26
But yeah, but think of it this way, right? So so you sell the car and sell for 100,000 bucks, right? Whatever, whatever it is.
Ken Baden28:26 - 28:27
Yeah, that's what I'm looking for.
Keith Gause28:28 - 29:17
Yeah, and you and it sits in the bank account for the next couple of months, and we get through the storm. And now you go buy two pieces of real estate with that hundred grand that are producing 1500 bucks a month of profit to your pocket. Well, then you go buy whatever car you want. And now you have assets that are paying for that car. So it's not really an issue, you're not losing money. So the reality is like, yes, let's get liquid. Let's give up some luxuries right now. To your point, I don't have to sell my car, but I look at it and I'm like, I'm not even driving it. It's getting winter. I could use the cash that I have parked into it and let's get liquid and tighten the balance sheet up. To me, that's being a respectful and business owner.
Ken Baden29:17 - 29:18
Yeah, I agree.
Keith Gause29:18 - 29:30
You got to respect what you've built and you've got to be able to do the hard shit in the hard times and be selfish and kind of put the shit on the back burner. It's not like we can't go out and buy another one.
Ken Baden29:30 - 30:59
Right, exactly. And that's what I, it's funny you said that because I, you got me thinking, but, but originally the plans for the liquid there was my fractional CFO, Kevin, who you mentioned, you know, I'm, I'm like, man, here's what we're doing over winter. Well, what I'm proposing is getting these leadership pieces in place while our leadership pieces outside of a few are actual employees, which thereby increases overhead. And he is not a fan of increasing overhead in the winter when it's already slower, when it's a volatile market. And that's kind of his job, right? However, I know that we only have the winner to do the things we need to do in order to get to spring to hire and do all these things has to start now. And I can't hire a whole bunch of sales reps without the leadership pieces to run said sales reps in this state, in this state. So my dilemma was, okay, how do I keep him from thinking I'm just an idiot? or we're just going to be at odds with the visionary and the money guy. So I said, you know what, dude, I'm going to sell a vet. I'm going to take that money. I'm going to park it in an account. That money will pay for two months, three months salary for a couple of guys. And if I'm wrong, company doesn't take a hit. But if I'm right, and those are the guys, when it will take us into the next level that we needed to be at anyhow. And frankly, the additional income that it'll make, uh, you know, I'm not going to feel too bad when I go out and get what I want next year. Right. So. Right.
Keith Gause30:59 - 31:21
And you go buy it and then you go buy a brand new Ferrari or whatever. Right. Cause you make. you know, you put 100 grand of pain, call it in the box, because you didn't want to get rid of your car, but you did. And 100 grand hires three more people that get to feed their family that then produce another half a million dollars revenue to your bottom line. The shit works. Yeah, shit works.
Ken Baden31:21 - 32:05
Yeah. And I mean, they're and they're and they're leadership candidates, which again, it opens up an entire that opens up two new markets for us. And then they're there by hiring, who knows? I mean, that could be three to 7 million in a year, right? Three to five, realistically. But either way, I mean, to your point, it's betting on yourself. And it's the things that I thought it was a cool story, man. I thought it was a sellable, cool little, like, let's make some reels. And Roger, the guy who isn't here right now, was like, whoa, I don't know, man, I don't think we should put this out. I'm like, what? Why? He's like, man, you know, people are going to think what he was insinuating was like, they would take that as like, I'm going broke or something. I'm like, what? Really? Like, I don't I don't think so, man.
Keith Gause32:05 - 32:09
You got to tell the right way. And I would put it out.
Ken Baden32:09 - 32:23
I agree. I think it's a great story. Like, hey, look, here's why I'm doing this. I think it is a very good story of like responsible business ownership. It's not a necessity. You've seen our you know, our reserves. I mean, I don't have to do that.
Keith Gause32:23 - 33:13
But what I just said is, yeah, sure. Yes, it's a story. And that's commendable. Because the reality is that a lot of dudes like us that do it across the country and keep it on the low because they're afraid of people. Oh, to that to your point. Oh, he was just a flash in the pan. Well, no, I've got receipts. Yeah, I can make it. And we can pull the receipts out. But the reality is like, why not tighten the balance sheet up? I'm doing it not to really save the company, because I'm doing it because I know what's on the other side of this is huge buying opportunity. Yes. And so I'm going to go and 10x my money. Right. And the reality of that is we're, you know, then we can hire and do more cool shit in the business and grow it too. So
Ken Baden33:15 - 33:38
And not to mention the other opportunities, like, you know, I could take it, invest in real estate, which I really want to do. I mean, I had another, I had Brandon on for a few minutes. I want to learn real estate so bad, but, and that's more of what we can, I'm sure you could help with. Speaking of which, if there's a business owner here listening, Keith is not exclusive to Florida. He's helping me here in Maryland. How do they get ahold of you for your services?
Keith Gause33:38 - 33:39
Yeah. Personal cell phone. 904-401-9327.
Ken Baden33:43 - 33:50
We'll put that in the show notes as well. And he's also on Facebook and stuff, all that stuff. Where are you at on there?
Keith Gause33:50 - 33:53
Uh, uh, blue collar advisor on Instagram.
Ken Baden33:53 - 35:12
And then Facebook, just my personal name, Keith Gauss G a U S E, but blue collar advisor on the, uh, on the Insta. But I'm telling you, man, I mean, this is the stuff that I personally believe because look, if you're in sales, we've all done it. We've all done it. We've all had that hot year and you learn the lesson. And what I'm talking about is you didn't do the things that everybody told you to do, which is save your money in the winter or prepare for winter or save your tax money. Trust me, we've all done it. I've done it. I've seen a million new reps do it, but guys like Keith can help you at least try and prevent from doing that, but also be smart. And I think there's a lot to be said with Keith. And you and one of the reasons too, you know, with your car, you know, I was really thinking like, man, you know what? And it's not just the car, man. There's other capital resources like watches. Right. I bought a few watches. Um, and Ryan was like, dude, that's a great way to, to, if you ever need to just offload them. Now I bought a few that I shouldn't have because they weren't, they weren't great. Uh, like this one here, it's a Rolex and they, they retain value very, very well. However, the other couples that I got. apparently don't. And that's they didn't cost any less. That's for sure. But, uh, whatever.
Keith Gause35:12 - 35:17
There's some growing pains with learning how to handle money too, but yeah.
Ken Baden35:17 - 36:41
So, uh, cause I'm like, yeah, I'll just offload some of those and get real. Cause honestly, man, post we're referring to a TWS, uh, who was over in Gaza and we're praying for him to him and his team to get back safely. But he's on the front lines of what's going on right now, regardless of your political opinions. Nobody wants anybody to suffer or, you know, man, don't get me started on that. But. He made some very cryptic, like, Hey, here's a real dose of reality and what could happen and what could happen. And it could happen. And if it does, you need to be prepared. So be liquid, be smart, have options. Uh, and that really got me thinking like, okay, what have I done that I could go and get, like, I thought about you. What can you access? What is real liquidity? And you said stuff that you can access within what 24 hours, 24 hours. Right. So to that point, you know, the vet. wasn't a 24 hour deal really, but you know, uh, and then the watches, et cetera. So, you know, I'm not selling everything. It's no wholesale again. I didn't have to do any of that, but what I don't want is for me to dip into the business's pot. If that happened, I want it to be excess money that was already there for that purpose before it ever gets touched from anything from the business that otherwise would have been sitting there. So if I have the ability to add that layer of protection, I'm absolutely going to. Because you're right. We're responsible to other people, man. Yep.
Keith Gause36:42 - 36:44
And they'll make new ones.
Ken Baden36:44 - 36:54
And I think it sets an example. Like you said, all guys ever want to show is like, I don't know. No one shows that. No one shows that. So I wanted to show that and I'm going to do it now.
Keith Gause36:54 - 37:27
The day they buy it. You know, look at me. I got some new shit. Yeah. But again, like we don't have to, but there's a million of us across the country that are doing the same shit, selling boats and selling and just tightening up. And no one's talking about that as as being a business owner and going through that part. But then there's people out there that are that are also doing the same shit because they have to. And that's commendable as well. You're right. Part of like, dude, if this bitch is going to go down, I'm going to be the last one on board and everyone else is going to get off. We got to figure out how to make that happen.
Ken Baden37:27 - 38:32
And that is commendable. You're absolutely right. And so I'm not dismissing like those of you who are doing that because you have to do that. Hey, God bless you, man. Like, I respect the hell out of that, you know, we're, we're in preventative. Nothing means more to me than protecting the people here, you know, from a guy that came from. a background that I came from where I didn't trust myself or bet on myself to do anything. And not to mention, you know, I worked at a lot of companies where the sales guy went out and decided, you know, I can be a business owner and shocker. He was terrible with money. And, uh, he ruined a lot of people's financial situations along with his own. So for me, it was imperative that I don't be that. And that's why I was so quick to get a fractional CFO and get with guys like you and jump on an opportunity to invest in myself and learn the right moves and make them. And so, you know, it doesn't make you a loser. It makes you a very smart businessman if you want to start learning what you can and can't do and how you can get a little bit more savvy. Keith is the guy to talk to. I mean, bottom line, educate yourself.
Keith Gause38:34 - 38:39
That's it. I don't, you know, and I'm here to educate everybody. I don't care if they use me or not use me reality.
Ken Baden38:39 - 39:58
That's what I fucking love about you. And I don't mean to be, I swear to God, this guy so far, I believe, I believe I've paid zero and he has worked with us over and over and over. Now we're going to, but you have to understand how that gets to that. The dude's a fucking giver, but there's a man, there's something to be said there. Hermosi talks about this, give and give and give and give. And eventually. You know, the first name that popped up when we got to the point where like, hey, we have to get it was Keith. Right. And. I'm sure that would have already maybe, you know, because we're buddies or whatever. But the fact that he's given so much thus far, one, it lends to his credit. If you know that you can give because you have something to give of real value that only helps come back or what's the word I'm saying here? Like that only creates when someone's ready for what you offer. They know this guy's got his shit together. I need his services. Right. Because he's already worked with me on this and this. Let's get him on board. And so here we are ready. And we're coming to you, big boy. We need to get you ready for that stuff too. But we'll talk all about that. Yeah, we just pulled on the CPA firm last week. And so we need to add you in. And we've got the team, dude. We've got the financial guy, the CPA team, and Kev, the team to do it. Now we just need to hire. Now we just need to do $50 million.
Keith Gause39:58 - 40:03
Let's get that EBITDA to $25 mil and then peace out.
Ken Baden40:03 - 40:07
$25 mil. All right, all right, all right. EBITDA at $25. We're going to up those goals, Rick.
Keith Gause40:10 - 40:57
Let's get it. Let's get it. No, I mean, you know, here's the deal. Like once you get all the players in the right seat, then it's just a numbers game to business scalability and growth. If you did 12 million and you have eight sales guys and you want to do 24 million, then, you know, you need eight more sales guys who can produce the same way your core eight produce. So once we get the right players to run the right routes, then it's all a matter of, okay, if I want to double, I double down on my personnel. If I want to triple, I triple down on it. Because you've got the culture, you've already proven that it works. You've got a method to the madness. Now, this eight need to pour into the new eight, and the new eight need to become the old eight. And once they become a unit of 16, the bottom line doubles.
Ken Baden40:58 - 41:02
You know, it's fucking preaching right now, son.
Keith Gause41:02 - 41:07
It's stupid. It's that easy. It's that fucking easy.
Ken Baden41:07 - 41:14
And I love to overcomplicate. Don't we all go? Don't we all just love overcomplicating shit? I can overcomplicate eating a fucking sandwich. I swear to God.
Keith Gause41:14 - 41:15
Oh, OK.
Ken Baden41:17 - 44:25
Well, that's what we love to do, right? We're deep thinkers over here, right? But, uh, swear to God, dude, my God, dude, I'm like, oh, there's got to be another answer. Like, dude, get 35. You know who said that? Andy, Andy Elliott. God love him, dude. Like, you know, Ryan is, you know, my coach. And I was so weird about like doing anything with anybody else because I felt like it was like cheating. I'm a loyal motherfucker. Even my barber, dude, I tell you what, I'm a very loyal dude, you know? And so like, I got in with Andy's team and Sean Pollard, he's an apex, right? And so I really wanted to do something, right? And I wanted to learn like what they were doing. And lo and behold, there was an opportunity was like, hey, if you add this element to it, you get to work directly with him. I'm like, well, you know. I don't know, man, you know, I, I need to make sure. So look, they reached out to Ryan and we're like, Hey, is this cool? Your guy over here is being kind of weird. Is it cool? He was like, dude, I'm fine with that. So, uh, and I made sure, but just the same. So Andy's like telling me, and he's very different than Ryan, right? He's, he's, uh, they're just, I can learn a lot from both, but they're different. Um, and that's exactly what I think you want, by the way, because if they're both spitting the same stuff on, I have two, coaching, uh, figures that are just telling me the same shit. Well, you know, and he says, all right, well, here's the deal. You need a, we're going to go, you need to have 35. He said, you need a hundred reps by next year, a hundred reps. And I was like, holy shit, a hundred reps. Okay. And then in a year and it's, you know, he's going to have the core values, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But in reality, that would translate to about a hundred million dollars. Right. And so I. I finagled that to a more, okay, and I'm not saying that that's not, I'm not saying I don't want to do that, but in a year's time, if we get across three markets, which we will, because we're opening Delaware, we're opening Virginia, which are, we've done all the licensing requirements for those, right? The next step is to get the team lead pieces in place, the regionals, the ops, and the admin to run that office, to then put the sales place, et cetera, et cetera. 35 reps, however, is entirely plausible. Seven here, seven here, seven here. We have the model already across four or five companies that I've either directly built to and others that I've been a part of building. that we know the method of getting that, like, you know, five to seven number. That is, I'm very, very, probably a lot of people are comfortable there, man, but you know what? We know we can do it really quick, right? Like year one or two, we should be able to do it year one, really. That being said, now you take a go say, okay, five to seven, five to seven, five. Well, that's, you got a $20 million company, 35 reps, you got a $35 million company. So that level of a jump, is feasible with the right pieces in place, but I don't see it without the right pieces in place, without, you know what I mean? Because think of that, like magnitude of that. We're currently set up to do about 10, 12, totally easy peasy, take the winner, restock, retool, hire some more leadership pieces to be able to sustain 35, right?
Keith Gause44:25 - 44:31
And I just think that- You gotta have a solid foundation if you're gonna build upon the foundation.
Ken Baden44:32 - 44:33
And that's what I was getting at.
Keith Gause44:33 - 45:29
No, no, no one builds a house from the roof down. Yeah. So the reality is to your point, like, could you do 100 if your foundation was 100% solid, and you were so compelled that that was there, which means are the right advocates in your circle, the right people in place, your right team leads. If all those are yeses, then going to 100 reps is not shit. Because you'd have you'd have confidence in your foundation. And so when business owners start to say, well, is it doable? Yes, because we're alpha males and we're not gonna say, hey, you're full of shit, do 100. 35 is what I believe I can do. The reality is that's just saying that there's still more foundational work that we need to do to make sure that we can sustain 100. And I couldn't agree more. So you circle back to the foundation piece there and then you scale to 100, call it a day.
Ken Baden45:31 - 47:57
And that's like you said, man, it's not any more complicated than that. But what is complicated is. simply finding the right people. But it's a, it's a search, man. I mean, it's, are the guys, you know, I really want the guys that are here to be that right, those right people. But, you know, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes it does, or sometimes it's like, Hey, they're the right people for this or this, but are they the right people for this seat? Right. So finding that out, exhausting who I have currently here now versus, you know, who do we need to bring in on the outside? But, um, It's just so important, man. I mean, there was a young man that was involved in a conversation we were having. He was like, man, if we hit our goals, you know, if we did in our goals are 35 by the end of next year. And again, that is best case scenario. That's what we're shooting for. But we got to first things first. We're in step one. A right. And he's like, if we did that tomorrow, we'd be in trouble. And I'm thinking about that and I'm like, well, yeah. If we did that tomorrow, we would definitely be in trouble. You know what I mean? Like, but we're currently set up to do this, which everyone knows you are a higher that you also know is, you know, a piece of the leadership. You know what I mean? Like, what are you saying? But that's neither here nor there. My point is you're yeah, of course. Right. If we just quintupled business overnight, I think any business that's set up to sustain one number and it quintuples business overnight, it's probably going to have some, some, uh, in that scenario. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, uh, if we do the right pieces, put the right pieces in place, get the right foundation in place to sustain Sammy said it best, the wise Sammy, uh, He said, Kenny, do you have a business infrastructure right now to do 20 million? Let's just say, right. Like that was the goal. So do you have the people right now to sustain 20? And this was at the time when I was like, cause I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's what I want to do. He said, well, do you have the people now? I said, no, I mean the infrastructure, right. The admin pieces, the ops pieces, like, you know, uh, there's a certain level of growth where if you have a crazy storm or something, it's just coming. But like without that, like. And I said no, and there was a point of his where it was like, well, do you want to wait until you get it and then try to put it together? Or do you want the team, at least the back end team that's able to support that and then go get it? And for me. I'd like to have a that those leadership pieces at least in place. And then go get it, you know.
Keith Gause47:57 - 48:32
For me, yeah, yeah, well, I mean that. because you're the business owner, that makes you feel more confident. I'm the same way. If I know I'm going to go grow the bookkeeping business and I go, I need 12 bookkeepers. Well, if I don't have the infrastructure built for 12, then I'm probably not going to go there and do it because I don't feel confident in it. So it's all planning. It's all planning. And on that topic, your assets should be doing 2024 planning right now. Or be done right.
Ken Baden48:32 - 48:36
So 2024 planning right now or be done. That's what he said.
Keith Gause48:36 - 48:42
Yeah. Should have that locked in so that you know what pieces of the puzzle you need to put in first in January.
Ken Baden48:42 - 50:28
And to his point, that's exactly why we're doing what we're doing currently, because that's our goal next year, right? Okay. What, what needs to happen right now? And sometimes, sometimes that means trimming some fat, right? Like what we decided was okay. We need a singular focus. We've got this division, this division, this division, and that was all designed to expedite our overall, uh, you know, volume goals. And it didn't work out that way. Right. And that's, that's a lesson we learned. So we trimmed the fat and we said, okay, we're focusing on roofing and exteriors. That's our baby right now. Then we have a whole room full of amazing sales folks, but. We need leaders, right? Like those sales folks, can they, can that room be the room that runs the next wrap up? Like you said, right? The leaders that run the next batch. And it just kind of came to be where it was like, okay, let's, we've got our core values. And one of our core values is tenacity. And without hitting a certain benchmark. The answer is no, because they're not reading our core values because they're not constantly and consistently. And will we have a company that just is nothing but sales dogs all the way down? That's very difficult. But can we have a core? Of that, I think we can and I think we need to require that. And so we kind of trim some pieces that weren't bad. People weren't, they just weren't going to be that core. And we decided we're going to slim down. We're going to get down to that core because I know unequivocally that with that core, we can then we can get the sales pieces, right? Like that's something I've been very blessed with being able to do. But the foundational pieces of the sales room, the leadership pieces are just so effing crucial, man. I don't know why I said effing so fucking crucial. This isn't we were with kids over here, dude.
Keith Gause50:28 - 50:30
I was wondering, dude, I was like, what's going on over there?
Ken Baden50:30 - 50:36
What the freak, dude? Freak. But yeah, I don't know.
Keith Gause50:36 - 50:49
You say that you say that they're hard to find, you say that, you know, and they are crucial. I agree with you there. They're not hard to find them. Mental block for us is that we're not willing to pay.
Ken Baden50:49 - 50:54
Yes, there you go. Let me rephrase that hard to find in the on a budget.
Keith Gause50:54 - 51:01
Yeah, we're not willing to pay what the real cost of that seat is going to.
Ken Baden51:01 - 51:03
He's preaching right now, boys.
Keith Gause51:03 - 51:32
Now, if you swallow that pill and you pay that person what they're worth, they will triple the cost, if not a lot larger numbers. It'll come back, it'll come back. So, and I've seen this over the past 12, 15 years and doing this shit is like, the moment we get over the fear of cost of that person, the shit takes off.
Ken Baden51:32 - 53:30
He is. speaking absolute, I'm telling you, look, again, I don't care. I'm candid. I don't give a shit. Right? Frankly, I'm building a brand, but if nothing else, hopefully that brand is like, look, if nothing else, I'm real, baby. You know what I mean? I'm real. But I'm also not afraid to tell you guys the fucking truth. And that is yeah, dude. Part of what I was trying to do is find all these amazing people on this very tight budget. And he's fucking right, dude, you want to, you want a guy that's capable of coming in and just taking a whole division off your hands. I mean, that guy's going to cost you every bit as a six figure. He might be a C-suite guy. He might be 200. That's what's going to happen, right? That's what it's going to cost. I mean, uh, but think of what that would open up. I think about it for me, like a guy that comes in, I'm going to pay him 200. I know it. I know it. And that's probably conservative, but I know at least 200 something, right? Maybe a quarter. But that guy takes everything off my plate on this one area and just runs with it. And what we could do. And it's like, you know what? Hence the vet, boys and girls. We, we, we still were, you know, we got a couple of fish out there and some creative ideas and, and cause we do that, man. Right. Like I've got a couple offers that I've thrown out there, like that don't necessarily cost a whole lot of upfront money, but a lot more backend, uh, tying into the exit, et cetera, et cetera. But ultimately you're not wrong, man. You're, you're absolutely right. Uh, so yeah, that's the hints of that, right? Like, I know, I know I am, I'm going to have to pay, uh, it's time. And that's, that's really the main was like, you know what? I'm willing to bet on this because you're right. And you get the right guy. That's going to cost the right amount. The right guy is going to cost the right amount. Otherwise you're looking for the perfect fucking situation, which is a unicorn. Exactly. Right. Right. And you're looking to recreate that times 10. And it's just not, you know, you get, maybe you get lucky with one of those.
Keith Gause53:30 - 54:29
Here's the last piece of that. The search, your unwillingness to give someone $225,000 is going to cost you a million and a half of the wrong employee in the seat. Because you're going to hire four or five or six people to be in that position that fuck everything up and cost you a million and a half dollars when you should have hired the one guy five years prior who would have made you $12.5 million of profit over that stretch of time, or whatever the number might be. And dude, I've seen it time and time again. But it's the big fear. Here's the thing. We look at this individual, we're like, fuck, it's going to cost us $250,000 to hire Keith. No, it's really going to cost you three months of that salary, because in three months, if the guy's not the guy, he's out. So the big thing is like, oh, I need to hire this position. It's going to cost me the whole year. No, it's not. It's not. If he's a shitbag, get rid of him.
Ken Baden54:30 - 55:43
There's a recruiter I just talked to today that specializes in, and it's just so funny that I've been dealing with this. And then my, one of my mentors here locally, Adam Champagne and, and a couple of the other big, big companies, right? These guys are big. Uh, um, they had worked with them and so they had picked up, I don't know how they got my name, but I was flattered. But, uh, when I heard who they had worked with, I was like, ah, How much, you know what I mean? Like, uh, let's hear, let's hear that. Cause I mean, I said, yeah, I know who the guy is. He's my mentor, but I'm not him, you know, not yet. I will be, but, uh, it wasn't anything crazy. I mean, you know, 20, 20, which is that's 20 that retain their services and get you to find, but 20 K finds the guy and then the guy does cost two 50. Right. But to your point, They don't charge until the 20, they don't charge until you got the guy in, and then there's like a 90 day, which you just said, right? And then if it doesn't work out, they find you someone else, and man, that's not, that could change the trajectory of your business forever. And I can promise you this, if you don't do it, it won't. I mean, you're looking for unicorns, and I've been spinning my wheels doing that, trying to grow the unicorn. Trust me, I've done it all.
Keith Gause55:45 - 56:21
Think Shark Tank. These guys go up and they spit out their designs and their business and they're looking for capital investors. And what does it cost them to get the right person in the seat? 20%, 30%, 50% of the business. And you're talking about a 200 grand to get a COO in there that you can then dish off 80% of your responsibility to. And go spend that 80% of your time making new networking friends and building new relationships bringing more business in, because that's what you do as a business owner, right? You're the chief sales guy.
Ken Baden56:21 - 56:52
And your job as a visionary and where we're at currently, if you're doing it the correct way, it's high-level relationships. It's selling elsewhere in terms of maybe not directly out there, residential door-to-door, something like that, but you're selling to distributors and you're getting the best possible price point and the best returns that you can with your distributors, your marketers, making high-level relationships, making high-level referral partners. etc, etc, etc, right? Like, it's just, you just don't have the time if you're if you're still working in the business, instead of on the business.
Keith Gause56:52 - 57:35
I said this to a client the other day, and did it just kind of hit the hustler has to die for the CEO to emerge. Right? So the hustler dies to bring out the life of the CEO. But that doesn't mean that you quit working and hustling. It's a different level of hustle. To your point, instead of working in the business being the hustler, now you're the CEO, the visionary. Now you go hustle division. So the hustler's got to die for the CEO to emerge. And that's a fact, dude. And that's the biggest pivotal moment in most businesses. Guys fail to get the fuck out of the way.
Ken Baden57:36 - 58:10
of their own way. And I can, again, attest to that. Hustler's gotta die for the CEO to emerge. Boy, fucking fire on the call today, ladies and gents. Red room or not, dude, we got it. We got the fire in here. Keith, dude, that was, I mean, what did we even do? What did we start, 2.30? A little bit after? I don't even know. We had a long, I don't care, dude. Lots of good, good info here with my man, Keith. Brother, I think that's a good, I think that's a mic drop moment right there. If there ever was one, do you have anything else that you'd like to grace our ear holes with?
Keith Gause58:10 - 58:17
No, man, I just appreciate you, bro. Appreciate your story and what you're doing and glad to be a part of it.
Ken Baden58:17 - 59:46
I appreciate you, man. I really do. I know. Again, to, you know, think about this, what we just talked about, right? Part of that for me was jumping out and getting uncomfortable and traveling and going to these business associations, but the networking, the connections, you know, guys like Keith that can help us working towards an exit, guys like Kurt Linnington, guys like, uh, Zach Price, dude, that's getting ready to set the knee how all these guys that have either done it or doing it and that are kind enough. And because we're in the same business association and a lot of them come from similar backgrounds that are willing to help. And now we have the blue collar ballers group. Right. And, and, and you've been an integral part in there. And it's just like, man, networking, networking, networking, mentorship, getting in the right rooms with the right seats, being willing to pay to get in the right rooms, the right seats. Like once you start investing on that and that level, and then you have somebody see my issue, and I'm going to be very candid before we jump off. My issue has been trying to stay here and go there. And that's just not going to work. Right. You can't stay here and go there. Right. You either got to go out there and that's your name. That's now you're that's that's you now the CEO. Right. You got to hire the guy that can be here and run things while you take us there. Right. Because only one person can take in a new new new new markets, facilitate new higher level management, excuse me, now higher level partnerships, et cetera, et cetera. And that's usually the visionary. And and for us to work the way it's supposed to, that's what's supposed to happen.
Intro/Outro59:47 - 59:48
Right.
Keith Gause59:48 - 59:54
So yeah, can't violate that. But no, man, I appreciate it. Let's get this going, man.
Ken Baden59:54 - 01:00:16
Yeah, dude, I'm going to I'll we'll talk here in just a second. Thank you so much, my brother. I love you. And we will get you on the next one here very soon. We should have you on early part of twenty twenty four, maybe conveniently, if not before then, but maybe conveniently when they do the right thing and see where we're at. Well, I'm down. All right, brother. Thank you. Until next time.
Intro/Outro01:00:18 - 01:00:38
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