Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / Fractional CFO Secrets: Wealth Growth Mindset and AI Leadership Strategies with Mike Straza

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Fractional CFO Secrets: Wealth Growth Mindset and AI Leadership Strategies with Mike Straza · King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights

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Not, not everything's going to be done.
0:01
I'm not going to be able to just like here's this nice little
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gift of it, solve all your problems.
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And that's 90 days. This is like more of the, let's
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get to know you understand who you are as a, as a person, the
0:12
CEO, the founder, but also to know your organisation.
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So I can do that. So a lot of it is the very
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beginning. It's just learning who you are,
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what your mission is, and see if your mission lines up with the
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people that are working there, what you're doing.
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Welcome to The Kingdom's podcast, where we share the
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stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics
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that shape our world. From visionary leaders to
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trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy,
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and grit behind greatness. Whether it's business, culture,
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or personal growth, we ask the real questions.
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This isn't just conversation, it's transformation.
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The Kingdom's podcast, your next breakthrough starts here.
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Music licencing reimagined. We are live.
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Ladies and gentlemen, once again, welcome to The Kingdom's
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podcast. And today I have a me, a very
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important personality VIP out of Illinois Chicago.
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Welcome, Mike, the fractional CFO and COO.
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Strasser How old you, Mike? Good.
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Thank you for having me. Well, for admitting you probably
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thought you were a fighter when I started this podcast, I used
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to speak with a lot of fighters, especially MME fighters.
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You know, my I have a very, very big, you know, I feel fighting,
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you know, me as a finance guy, as a numbers guy.
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But what you probably do not know about me is I'm also a
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fighter fighter in life as well. You know, you know by I trains
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Taekwondo, karate and of course transitioned some point in mixed
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martial arts and very, very big in the community of mixed
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martial arts. I contribute to the African
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Fighters podcast. Impressive 0.
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Wow. You're welcome.
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You're welcome, my man. You know, and of course I have,
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I have a positive bias out towards you.
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Of course, you are in the same business line as myself, you
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know, a fractional CFO, you know, just a fractional CFO,
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You're highly, highly experienced and highly
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resourceful fractional CFO. So from me to you, it is welcome
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and well done for the great work that you do.
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You're highly appreciated, my man Thank you.
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You're welcome. So, you know, you have had a
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really fascinating journey, you know, from IT project management
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to become an A fractional CFO and COO.
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What is this part of this evolution of yours and how did
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you come about to where you are today?
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Yeah, a lot of what from where I started, after I got out of the
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university, I was just kind of looking to, I wonder, I've
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always wanted to be an entrepreneur, a business owner.
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How do I do that? So I started working with some
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companies doing research and development.
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Then I got into IT where I self-taught myself how to
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programme a certain programming languages.
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And as I was doing that, I realised that IT was not, I
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didn't want to be in front of a computer putting in code.
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Why it's I people love it. I maybe it would have done
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really well in it, I don't know. But I realised that wasn't for
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me. And when I was working for a, a
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company that we worked with the marketing and work with large or
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Fortune 5100 companies, they realised I had a great way of
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talking with the client and they thought maybe I should do that
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instead because they were having troubles with the client.
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And they like, what can you be that interface between US and
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them because we're struggling a little bit with them.
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So they brought me in to, to work with them.
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And then I realised that I love talking with people, problem
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solving, getting things done. So then I moved out of the IT
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world. And then I bridge both of those
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where I was working, working with IT people that developed
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code and I was the manager of those people to the company that
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we worked with. So it was really honestly one of
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the first ones I did this combination was working with the
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first data mining back and then. So when you talk data mining now
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where it is now, we are doing the very infancy of that back
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then for a large computer company.
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Data mining that big data. So we started that big data and
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we're learning and digging through that when it was not
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well known back then. If you look back that's, and I
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didn't realise at the time what that was called.
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We're just taking information and mining it and trying to
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figure out what's the best way to sell or to leverage the
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information they have to, to, to their clients.
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So went from that to then after that I was like, OK, learned a
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bunch of information things how you know from finances to
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contract negotiations to working with people.
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Then I started running a physician business and grew that
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to a sizable amount. And that's where learning
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operations and learning finances was where I learned it.
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You know my background's economics, but to really get
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into the nuts and bolts. If I got his economics.
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Yeah. I do have a Fest degree in
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economics as well, so you'll recognise the real.
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So, yeah, it's, it's something, it's just, you know, that's
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where again, always learning. I mean, that's something I
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always tell people, continue to learn because you don't know
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where your pathway is going to be.
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I knew I wanted to help organisations, companies grow
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them, problem solve, but it's like just continue to take those
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steps, you know, continue to move forward, continue to learn
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and knowing that you can evolve and reinvent yourself all the
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time. Just saying what do I want to
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do? How do I then mission?
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And my purpose was to how do I help people?
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How do I grow companies? How do I help them be the best
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they can be? And that's kind of where you see
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me now as a fractional CFOCOO has taken all the things I've
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learned and getting good people around me and making sure that
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they are knowledgeable, understand, and that's where I
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take it from there. So yeah.
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You know, our problem solving is very, very important part of
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what we do as consultants. The only reason why these people
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pay us the big box that they pay us is for us to come address the
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pin points. And that's, you know, one of the
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reasons why I love to help the younger generation to improve
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their problem solving skills. Speaking of which, for example,
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one of the charity table works that we do, you know, with my
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company and the Kingdom's broadcasters are sponsoring the
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annual economic students conference in Buffalo University
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in Nigeria. So that's a conference that's
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been attended by 10 University. And we have actually put
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together a package wherein we incentivize the students by way
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of prizes for the first, second and third students in a
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competition. So what's a competition about?
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It's about having the students listen to the podcast and take
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any of the episodes, the learnings, you know, the
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educational content from the episode and apply it to solving
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a relevant economic problem in Nigeria.
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So they make a 5 minute presentation on the content and
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we would evaluate the students based on the quality of their
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presentation, the feasibility and practical ability of the
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solutions that they are providing.
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And I think that's a really, really wonderful thing and very
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much aligns with, you know, what yourself and myself stand for.
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I guess maybe I'll give it. Obviously you can teach and help
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people be critical thinkers. Critical thinking is so
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important, these guys. Yeah, So I didn't think, yeah,
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just I love what you're doing is like you're having people learn
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and understand and try to say how do we solve current issues
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in our own country, our own city?
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How do we, you know, what is that?
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Because that's the reality is we are going to, we're in real
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life. There's always going to be
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decisions to be made good and bad.
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And what are you know, there are going to be mistakes, but it's
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OK. How do you learn from those and
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how do you overcome those? And then how do you, what are
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you going to do to lead and make something better for the future,
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for the future generations? As you're saying, you're working
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with younger people. It's this is what you're trying
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to do. It's like it's, it's beyond me.
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Once I'm gone, it's like I want the next group, next generation,
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you know, come up with better ideas.
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And but I want to give them something to say.
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Here's here's a starting point, here's some things to think
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about, and then do whatever you can to make it better for the
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next generation. Exactly, you, you, you, you get
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the assignment. And of course, you know, I'm,
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I'm giving you an open invitation to be on the panel of
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judges, you know, to evaluate the submissions.
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And let's, let's lead the next generation in, in the right
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pathway because that there's a lot we have to give.
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We do a lot of impactful work. We actually help our clients to
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grow by way of our resourcefulness.
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But I I strongly believe in the concept that there is no success
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without a successor. No, it's true.
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You definitely you have to have a success or to whatever has
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been laid before you and you know, having a plan and a a
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mission. I think it's just great that
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people, you know, thinking that way.
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If we all thought more that way, you just think what more can
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happen. You know, we always have to pay
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forward and you know, talking, talking back about you, your
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careers actually span diverse industries, you know,
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healthcare, SAS, our real estate.
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But what core strength, or would we say superpower, has
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consistently guided your success?
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Really a lot of it is this continual learning is the thing
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and also asking for help when I need help understanding.
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I love that. I just think never felt like so
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at all. Yes, I love one thing.
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You know about those of ours that are super consultants and
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we pride ourselves not in the fact that we know it all, but we
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pride ourselves in the fact that we know where to get the
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information whenever we need it. That's the important thing.
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I think people are about not knowing everything.
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You cannot possibly know everything.
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That's a surround. Myself with people that do know
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things and other areas, disciplines that I don't have a
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firm grasp on. And that's why I rely on the
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people around me and, you know, go to their, their strengths and
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their expertise and they pull in their information and I'm, I
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gather it and then I present it or I execute it.
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So it is done in a full, you know, the best way possible.
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So then the client or whoever is getting, you know, a lot of
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expertise and it's, I might be the persons presenting it or
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explaining it to them, but there's a lot of people behind
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it that are involved in that process.
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I love that. So you know from your own back
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and like what are the common yet overlooked signs that a business
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is stock? Some of the signs of their
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stock, is that what you're asking?
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Yes. Yes.
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So a lot of it is for science versus people are stock.
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It's really is you can see their growth isn't there.
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The revenue numbers aren't well, they're they're just they just
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can't get past a certain point and they're they're frustrated.
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They're, they're Staffs frustrated because they're
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struggling. It's just it's, you can tell
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the, the CEO, the leader, the visionary is overwhelmed and the
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staff's overwhelmed. And I've seen that where, you
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know, when things are going great, everyone's excited, you
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know, everyone's willing to work all those extra hours and be
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part of it. And then all of a sudden the
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grind and the it's not getting any better.
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I'm putting more hours in, but just doesn't seem like it's,
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it's improving. And that's where coming in and
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basically looking at say, you know, talking to the CEO or the
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owner or the founder and saying you look stuck, you're
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frustrated, you're worn out, you're, you're not getting,
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you're not getting what you want from sales, you're not getting
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it from your operations, your finances or stagnant.
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So looking at those things and trying to figure out what it is.
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And sometimes it's the owner is doing too much is not it's
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gotten passed to a point where the owner or a couple of the
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people, let's say you have close friends or people that started
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this company and they just they cannot continue that the pace
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they're doing because they're not the expert.
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But that's cheaper to pay on versus paying five people to do
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that job. And that's The thing is where
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you have to realise after a period of time, can the saying
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grow and scale to beyond where it's at?
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Or is it just like this? It's it's just not going to go
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anywhere. That's where you kind of that's
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where I look at it is OK, what what are the problem areas?
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And then trying to understand by interviewing people and find it
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out, you know, is it consistent why they're the growth has
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slowed down. You know, there are quite a
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number of things to unpack what you said.
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Let's start from behind. You talked about scalability.
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You, you, you, you, you talked about, you know, the operational
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inefficiencies and you also touched on using the appropriate
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human resource to achieve the outcomes that you're trying to
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chase. So you always talk about
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operational inefficiency as a silent business killer.
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I'd love for you to share a vivid experience.
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You know of a real world example where you were able to turn
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around a business that was struggling with operational
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inefficiencies. Yeah, one of the, you know, so
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one of the things, one of my clients a couple years back,
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they were just struggling, like I mentioned a little bit ago
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this they can't figure out what's going on.
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They're just they're losing money.
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They're they're, they're having high turnover.
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They're just struggling with day-to-day business and they
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can't figure it out. They were successful for a
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period of time, but then they hit a, a stagnation, you know,
14:38
in the 10 to 15 year range. And they're like, we can't
14:41
figure out what's going on. So as I go in there and try to
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look at what is going on, you interview the, the employees,
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you interview the owner and everybody else and just trying
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to understand where they at, why, why is this the case?
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And what I did as I, as I interviewed HR, finance, the
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C-Suite, all the C-Suite people understanding where they're at
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and trying to understand what's going on.
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And so a lot of it was just communication.
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So they were just not communicating with each other.
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Everyone was in a silo. Everyone was like working hard
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and getting things done. But they never communicate with
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the other departments. So then nobody had any idea what
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was going on other than what you get an e-mail or something in
15:20
passing. So they were just struggling
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with that. So really teaching and walking
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through how do you communicate with each department and why
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they're doing it? Not because they're saying
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you're doing it wrong. It's just like they just need to
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understand why you're wanting things.
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So it's really clearing that up, but just making sure the
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communication is good. And then looking at the next
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step for me was to then look and see are the people in the in the
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right places, in the right seats?
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Are they doing the things that need to happen?
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Are they do they have the skill sets and if they don't can teach
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it, or is it something you can't teach?
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And sometimes during this example is there are some people
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that just they were never going to get it.
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They were they are at their capacity of what they.
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You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
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The old dog needs to move on or something.
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But, and again, great person is never, I never come in and tell
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someone they have to leave. It's just a matter of hey, do
16:13
you want to do this? This is where it this is where
16:15
you need to be at to get to that level.
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And you know, and that's something each person has to
16:20
decide. Do I want to continue?
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Do I want to be a continual learner and learn new things or
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do I'm just like, I'm good where I'm at?
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Well, we're going to someone else is going to have to fill in
16:30
that spot because in order for this organisation to grow vision
16:35
that's being casted by the the top leadership.
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This is where we're going. We want you to come along.
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But if you're not interested and that's, you know, times I've had
16:44
to tell, you know, the CE OS like, Hey, you need to be honest
16:47
and be with your employees and saying, here's where we're
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going. We want all of us to go this
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direction, but this is the commitment.
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And this is not just like work harder, work more hours, all
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that. It's more like this education
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you need, I need you to do these things.
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I'll pay for it, but you have to do it and you have to pass it by
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this certain time. So incentives to do that.
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But you'd be amazed how some people they have those
17:11
incentives in front of them and they just pass on it because
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it's like, that's just not for me.
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I wanted to stay where I'm at and I'm I'm good with status quo
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of, you know, coming to work and leaving work and you give me a
17:23
cheque and I'm happy. You know what a great way to
17:27
separate to my next question for you and if you want to know what
17:32
the next question is. Sure.
17:35
What? What do you have for me?
17:36
How do you balance honesty and tact when helping business
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leader front difficult shoots about their operations?
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That is always, that is always a tough one.
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I'm not saying I've done it right all the time, that is for
17:52
sure, honestly. That's a difficult conversation
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to have. Yeah, it's it's a tough one
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because you can really, you think you're what you're saying
18:04
is being honest, but the way you deliver it is a little too harsh
18:09
because sometimes it's the first time they've heard this and it
18:12
becomes a little like, wow, you just said something really awful
18:15
to me. And it always, it meant nothing
18:17
that way, though, my made my deliveries too dry or something
18:20
like that. But it's like you're trying to
18:22
give someone here's where you're at, this is where you need to
18:25
be. And sometimes it's having that
18:28
tack, that ability, but also to cutting through some of that
18:32
stuff and just being honest because sometimes depending on
18:34
the leadership or the owner founder is like, sometimes I
18:38
just like it blunt, but you say in a nice way, But you have to
18:41
you have to figure out what that is.
18:42
And sometimes it's a hit and mess with people I've worked
18:46
with where it's like, oh, I think this has been this.
18:48
I laid it out really nicely, you know, made it real friendly.
18:52
And other times is like, OK, I delivered that pretty harshly.
18:56
Maybe that that was not they weren't ready to hear, hear the
18:59
full everything. So sometimes I have to do it in
19:02
parts and pieces to get them to a certain point.
19:06
Because you've rehearsed it. We've all, you know, it's like
19:09
having a conversation. You have a conversation with
19:11
yourself multiple times, but you're the only ones had that
19:13
conversation. Then when you say it to
19:15
somebody, they're like, wow, that was that wasn't ready for
19:19
that. So again, it's just trying to
19:22
figure out the best way to deliver a message and knowing
19:26
the intentions is truly you want to help them grow and to be
19:29
successful. And that's the that's the thing
19:32
they have to, it has to come across that way.
19:35
I totally, you know, I've what I say, this is something and this
19:40
is me being open and vulnerable is something I have quite
19:45
struggled with in my own lifetime.
19:48
My, my father still till this day fights me, you know, from
19:52
time to time about the way I deliver harsh, you know,
19:56
messages to people. I sort of have always taken
20:01
comfort in the fact that people get angry in the short run, but
20:07
they get happy in the long run because I am delivering a metro
20:11
of a place of genuine care. And you have to take it for your
20:19
own good. However, people do not always
20:22
see things, you know that way. And it, it, it made me realise
20:25
that a lot of us, you know, consultants and what I business
20:30
professionals, we actually do need to employ tact.
20:35
And that put me on a journey of trying to study how to
20:41
communicate more efficiently. And of course, I discovered
20:44
something that a lot of us professionals actually have very
20:48
high Iqs but very low EQ. That is low emotional quotient,
20:53
right, about very high intellectual coaching.
20:57
And of course, the most successful people are people who
21:00
are well-rounded, who can balance, you know, this.
21:03
And the interesting thing is that you can actually improve on
21:06
your EQ significantly within a very short period of time, but
21:10
that's not very possible for your IQ.
21:12
Your IQ is, I see, more genetic in nature.
21:16
It can be improved, but it's interestingly more, would I say,
21:20
easier to improve your EQ than your IQ.
21:23
And I think that's one thing we should try to sensitise our, you
21:26
know, cool professionals, you know, on.
21:29
It's important to understand our clients from an emotional
21:33
perspective and of course, know the timing, you know, in terms
21:38
of, you know, providing information, you know, gauge,
21:41
you know, their mood, you know, watchful in terms of the cadence
21:45
and the tone, you know, of our communications.
21:48
And also try to be empathetic and, you know, diplomatic,
21:54
delivering our messages. And of course, I think that
21:57
would actually hit a home run better and help help them
22:02
basically in terms of, you know, their growth and their
22:05
development. So talking about like the power
22:08
of fractional leadership before we started the sport, but we we
22:11
were sharing in some of our shared experiences about how
22:14
clients do not even understand the fractional model and what
22:18
you are actually there to help them with.
22:21
Clearly, a fractional CFO or COO has roles that combines multiple
22:29
skills, but why is this blend particularly powerful for meat
22:33
market companies? I mean, having the the
22:37
combination of both CFO and CEO for me has been really a good
22:42
advantage because I understand both operations and finance,
22:45
because sometimes you're in just finance, you're so focused on
22:48
numbers and you get buried into numbers and you don't look
22:50
outside of how things operate, how people interact.
22:54
How as we're just talking a second, as you're mentioning,
22:58
you have to figure out how you deliver conversations, how you
23:01
deliver finances and how you deliver operations to people
23:04
because you're dealing with multi when the consulting we
23:07
probably both do is we deal with multi generations of different
23:11
generations that have different ways they communicate and, and
23:15
the same thing with finances. So the terminology and the
23:19
emotional part of understanding how that emotional IQ and how
23:24
you emotion intelligence is how you deliver this message because
23:28
your message might be delivered completely different for someone
23:31
that's a certain age, older age, young from Gen X to Boomer to
23:36
whatever level. To somebody.
23:39
Z and it's just like it's still the same you're still delivering
23:43
the same information. You just have to deliver it in a
23:45
different way. It's it's the delivery system is
23:48
different and it's not saying all you're softening and you're
23:51
doing this. No, you're just like you're
23:53
learning that as you work with everybody in different
23:57
generations, but also multicultural things too, is
24:00
like you're, you're now, because the way our world is, we can
24:05
talk across the ocean and we can have these discussions, have
24:08
these meetings and there's there is ways that everyone approaches
24:12
how they interact, how they start introductions, how they,
24:16
you know, want to know how you are or this, this and this, and
24:18
that's very much built in their culture.
24:20
But if you come in, they're like, I'm coming right at it and
24:23
just going right to the point. Sometimes that comes is more of
24:26
a negative things. They have a a process.
24:29
So again, the emotional, the IQ, the emotional intelligence and
24:33
understanding when is it appropriate to how you present
24:37
or how you do it? You can still have the same
24:39
ending or effect, it's just a matter of how you knowing your
24:43
audience is the biggest thing. Very, very important and know
24:47
your audience just like KYC and know your customer or know your
24:52
client. So are you able to walk us
24:54
through your 90 day approach to transform struggling businesses?
24:59
So what makes your process uniquely effective?
25:04
Really as going in there is not having this for me for that 90
25:09
days, knowing that we lay out the saying and say here's 90
25:12
days. It's not not everything's going
25:14
to be done. I'm not going to be able to just
25:15
like, here's this nice little gift of it, solve all your
25:18
problems in the 90 days. This is like more of the let's
25:22
get to know you understand who you are as a, as a person, the
25:25
CEO, the founder, but also to know your organisation.
25:29
So I can do that. So a lot of it is the very
25:31
beginning is just learning who you are, what your mission is,
25:35
and see if your mission lines up with the people that are working
25:37
there, what you're doing. And then basically interviewing
25:40
people for the first so many weeks or months of really
25:44
understanding your process, understanding for your
25:47
employees. And then then from there,
25:49
understanding who your client is and making sure all those match
25:52
because you can have all these things that you're doing, but
25:55
it's like none of them match. And it's like, well, how in the
25:57
world are you even existing? Because you say this, your
26:01
employees do this and your clients are thinking something
26:04
else. And it's like you have to 1st
26:06
see if they'll get the alignment.
26:08
And that's the first part of what I do is really the
26:12
psychology of it is a big portion of numbers, operational
26:15
efficiency. Those are all very important,
26:17
but we're not going to get to those the first month because I
26:20
need to understand more about who you are and not jump in with
26:24
these already preconceived ideas of what your problem is.
26:27
So first learning and listening and just observing.
26:30
And then as those steps go on is trying to then start digging
26:34
into the inconsistencies of like, OK, what is happening
26:38
here? This, you say this, but this is
26:39
happening. So understanding why things
26:42
don't match and that's something for me is very, I've been very
26:45
fortunate to have this. You call it a gut feeling or
26:50
just however you want to do it, but it's just, I have that
26:52
ability to discernment and observation and realise what
26:56
people are saying to me isn't necessarily what's really
26:58
happening and not necessarily telling them right away.
27:01
I don't believe you or I don't think this is what's happening.
27:04
Just continue to take my observations and then continue
27:08
to draw a conclusion to what it is before I would share it with
27:12
them. You know, we do have a mutual
27:15
friend and that is Scott Rezimer.
27:18
Of course, he is the he's the author of the book The Founders
27:23
Evolution. So in Rezimer's book, he talked
27:28
about transitioning from the reluctant manager phase to the
27:34
dissolutioned leader. And it can be really challenging
27:39
how to use support leaders, you know, navigating these stages.
27:44
Yeah, when you look at that and how you look at the reluctant
27:46
manager and just how you, you know, a lot of what happens, and
27:50
I've done this for myself and working through companies and
27:53
organisations, like when you start a business, it's just a
27:56
small group sometimes and you're doing multiple jobs.
28:00
So yeah, wear multiple hats. And you do this thing over time
28:04
and all of a sudden you're just like, well, I'm the only one
28:06
that can do this. I'm the only one that can, you
28:08
know, do this, this and this. And I know where I want to go.
28:10
So it's faster for me to do all these, you know, these five
28:13
different jobs at once. And the reality is it's not,
28:17
it's just it got you to where you're at.
28:19
Doesn't say you're, you're not successful, but you're only,
28:22
you're only going to have to reach a certain level of success
28:25
with that mindset. So then they're getting burned
28:28
out. They are the the owners, like,
28:30
OK, I can't keep this up, but they still believe, well, I'm
28:33
the only one that can do it. And so really coming in there
28:36
and saying, OK, we need to look at can we separate what you're
28:40
doing? You need to be the the
28:42
visionary. You need to be the person that
28:44
who is coaching and pushing, you know, getting people in the
28:47
right places and, you know, empowering people to do the
28:50
things they need to do. Finding the right people to take
28:53
over your job. Basically, you're not doesn't
28:56
mean you're not doing it. But as I think Scott put in his
28:59
book, you know, kind of like you become the coach, the encourager
29:03
you are, you're you're you're not the player anymore, as he
29:06
put it in his, his, I think in his book, you're more of the
29:10
person who's managing the teams, you're overseeing.
29:13
You're making sure that they're staying with the vision.
29:16
But you're not day-to-day, you're not in the trenches
29:19
constantly doing the things like you have other people can do
29:22
that people are better, more efficient, has a background in
29:25
that you can do it, but should you be doing it?
29:28
And that's the thing you have to, we have to get the owner to
29:31
realise like just because you can do it doesn't mean you
29:33
should. And it's very important, very
29:35
important for efficiency. Yes, and you know, it looks
29:38
efficient when you're doing it, but when you were step back and
29:41
you when I I'm going to pull people owners out of that, that
29:44
mindset and they're moving to the next phase of more coaching
29:47
and they're still running the company, they're still doing
29:49
things, but it's like they're looking at a different
29:51
perspective and they're like, now they can actually see more
29:54
things that they could do or their company can do because
29:58
they're not so focused internally all the time.
30:02
They can take a little bit bigger view and see the pieces
30:05
moving and see how it can be more efficient.
30:07
But when you're in, when you're in it all the time, you can
30:10
never. You're just not going to be able
30:11
to see it. Exactly.
30:14
You know, that leads us to the distinction between growth
30:20
versus scale. You emphasise the distinction
30:24
between scaling and growing a business, so how you clarify the
30:29
distinction with practical examples?
30:33
And with growth and scaling, what I always I've experienced
30:36
and what I've as I walk through this with companies in the
30:39
recent time is you can grow, you know, the large size and
30:44
whatever that growth is, is it revenue?
30:46
Is it employees? Is it, what is it market share?
30:49
So you could grow. And what happens is let's say
30:52
you're making a profit of your company is doing well, you're a
30:57
$5,000,000 company and you're making a good healthy profit.
31:01
But then you grow to where now you're expanding.
31:05
Either it's you're, you need more employees or you're taking
31:08
more territory. You're kind of, you know, take
31:10
your, your product or your that. So when I was working with
31:14
somebody, they were trying to grow beyond the area of the city
31:18
that they were in. So they're kind of going further
31:19
out to the state and then nationally and then
31:23
internationally while they were growing at such a rapid rate
31:27
that their expenses became so high and their revenue was going
31:32
up, but their expenses were well past their revenues.
31:35
So they were more profitable about between 5:00 and 8:00
31:38
million than they were when they're at 15 to, you know, 20
31:40
million. So I was like, what happened
31:42
there is like, I'm making twice the amount bringing it.
31:46
I'm growing and I'm making more revenue than I ever have, but
31:49
I'm, I'm actually losing money or I'm making less profit
31:53
because of that. It's like, so all of a sudden
31:55
your expenses went well past your revenue and you're like,
31:58
well, what do I do? Do I go back to, is it I'd
32:00
rather make more profit? So I'm going to go back to being
32:03
smaller. And some people have done that
32:06
or other people say, well, what do I'm going to have to do?
32:08
What do I have to make 30 million in revenue a year?
32:12
Do I have to make? What is that number to finally
32:14
cross back over where the revenue is more than your
32:15
expenses? And that's where you look at the
32:18
scalability and saying, how do I scale to the point where I'm I'm
32:23
not in debt. I'm not my expenses are not I'm
32:26
over my revenue and trying to look at as where's that that
32:28
cross point where you're trying to finally to say, Hey, I
32:31
finally have now crossed back over to where I'm making a nice
32:35
profit and I can grow and I can scale to where it's not
32:40
detrimental to the company where I'm taking on more debt.
32:43
So that's where is I've taken these companies and I feel like,
32:46
OK, here's your here's your choices.
32:47
What do you, you know, what do you want to do?
32:49
Do you want to grow your company?
32:51
Do you want to scale your company or do you want to sell
32:53
your company? So then you, you have those
32:56
choices and based off what your answer is, I will direct you.
32:58
And that's what I did. I've done that with several
33:00
companies where they just wanted to grow.
33:02
So I said, OK, here's what I'm going to, I'm going to grow it
33:04
and you want to sell it. So I'll prep it for sale.
33:06
And this is what you need to do to show that if you're looking
33:09
to scale and want to be, you know, state, national,
33:12
international, here's what you're going to have to do.
33:15
And this is what I've done before where they've been and
33:17
it's very successful to where it's like, oh, and it's just
33:20
these tweaks that they just could not see how to navigate
33:23
that. And I would show them through
33:25
their operations how they need to be more efficient in
33:28
reorganising how they do distribution and how they, you
33:31
know, drop things in one place or another because they're
33:33
working in multiple states. And it's like, well, how do we
33:36
do that? So I had to work on the.
33:37
Efficiency. Yes, the efficiency that is the
33:41
biggest thing. So there's again walking through
33:44
the efficiencies and then also to looking at as what is holding
33:47
you back, you know, financially, what is it?
33:51
Is it your borrowing power, your cash flow and improving their
33:54
cash flow? That's the other thing I've done
33:56
a lot with companies recently is their cash flow is horrible.
33:59
Their receivables are awful. They owe a lot of people and
34:02
they're just trying to stay afloat of, you know, staying
34:04
ahead of the payables. And it's like we got to get you
34:07
more money coming in on a consistent basis.
34:09
You can make plans, you can make adjustments on when you need to
34:13
and not do it out of fear that you're going to have to, you
34:16
know, fail or take a loan out or whatever you have to do.
34:22
Yeah, I'm smiling because you are actually hitting the nail on
34:25
the head. And I like to summarise that
34:28
this way. I tell my clients my very, very
34:32
one responsibility to you is to help you achieve a sustained net
34:41
positive cash flows. Simple.
34:45
Why? Of course, revenue is vanity,
34:49
profit is sanity, and cash is king.
34:52
Or you can call cash your. And my business model is to help
35:02
businesses start up, scale up and sell out.
35:07
They're simple, but you have done the great job of forgiven
35:11
them, you know, expatiated long form, good solid analogy,
35:16
analysis, explanation of what we do.
35:21
And of course, you know, God bless you for that.
35:23
You know, I just like to give them the bullet points.
35:26
It's, it's interesting how sometimes these actually work to
35:32
their own detriment. I, I do understand that you have
35:36
business owners that are fantastic in like different
35:40
subject matter areas, you know, the different subject matter
35:44
experts, but they are not finance experts and they are not
35:48
business, you know, growth and development experts.
35:53
And we always have to come to their rescue.
35:56
You know, you, you talked about how something as simple as your
36:00
supply chain can cause, you know, operational inefficiencies
36:06
and tend to erode your profit. You know, sometimes these
36:11
businesses should not see the point wherein the operational
36:18
expenses, the OpEx, you know, tends to climb faster or rise
36:25
faster than the rate of revenue. And in that case, you, you, you
36:30
see your business growing or you're making less profit.
36:34
So in what scenarios EO proactively engage a fractional
36:40
CFO/COO, right, as opposed to be actively responding to a crisis
36:52
now, all of the scenarios, right?
36:55
At what point should ACEO proactively engage the services
37:00
of a fractional CFO or COO as opposed to be actively
37:05
responded, you know, to a crisis situation?
37:09
Yeah. I think for response, I think
37:11
ACEO has to look at a fractional CFO and CEO.
37:13
When to bring them in is I think they have to.
37:17
That's the hard thing is getting people to understand when they
37:20
need to bring someone in you don't want to.
37:22
You know, crisis is a lot of times where I've been brought in
37:24
because they're at the last, they're at the end of things.
37:28
They can't figure this out. I've even had bankers, banking
37:31
institutions reach out to me and saying we, you know, there's a
37:33
so and so group. I can't say who they are.
37:36
I've been telling them to go to you and they have been
37:38
struggling for, you know, a year or two years and they're just
37:41
coming to a point. And it's like, you know, I just
37:43
encourage them to say go back to them and say encourage them to
37:47
do this. This is not a knock at them.
37:48
It's not a failure. It's just you're concerned with
37:51
their well-being as a company, as an owner to engage in this.
37:55
So it's just trying to get, I would prefer more with when
38:00
they're not in crisis mode because then you, you, you have
38:02
to move fast and you have to, things are going to have to be
38:05
decided a little bit quicker. But I work well in crisis mode.
38:09
That is just something I've always, all my life.
38:11
I've always, when the alarm is sound and people somehow always
38:16
find me and that's when I come in.
38:18
And the success rate's been very good, but it's very stressful
38:21
for everybody because it's just that that's this the nature
38:24
because you're coming in. It's like when you, you, you're
38:27
sick and you go to the doctor, it's like you're, you know,
38:29
like, oh, I've had this pain and well, how long you had it for
38:32
over a year. Why did you wait till now to,
38:35
to, to come to me to, to help me help diagnose and treat you.
38:38
And that's sometimes what we do is we're willing to, we get used
38:42
to the pain, used to the discomfort and think it's OK.
38:45
And then all of a sudden it's you get to the point where like,
38:48
hopefully I can help you, you know, yes, I can, I'll try.
38:52
But sometimes it could be past the point of what you can do.
38:55
Other times I would say if you're in a growth phase or
38:57
scalability thing, that's when you reach out to a fractional
39:00
CFO CEO because they can go and look at this and doesn't mean
39:04
you don't already have a CEO and a CFO in your own organisation.
39:06
This means now I'm you're bringing an expert in for the
39:09
growth and scalability part of it that maybe they don't they've
39:12
not experienced themselves. They're they've been with the
39:15
company and now you need someone that has an expertise.
39:19
It's like, hey, I've done this before, I've done this in this
39:21
industry. Let me show you, I'll work
39:23
alongside you. I'm going to give you the the
39:25
tips and tricks of how to do this and I'm going to walk you
39:27
guide you through this for your success.
39:29
I'm only here for a fraction of the time and by the time I
39:33
leave, you're going to be on next step of success that you
39:37
want to have as a company and think that is where too is where
39:41
they the, the C-Suite, the owner founder should be bringing in
39:44
people like myself and you to basically say, hey, we're ready
39:48
for the next step and we want to do this the right way and not
39:52
the wrong way. That's the best way to do it.
39:55
You know, Speaking of the pressure that comes, I'd say
39:57
diamonds are made under pressure.
40:01
I guess I made a lot of diamonds in.
40:03
Absolutely, absolutely cut reason mercies.
40:08
Success at one stage oftentimes, you know, becomes a challenge at
40:12
the next stage. So have you actually found this
40:14
to be true, and how do you try to address this challenge?
40:17
That was a good question. Many thanks.
40:21
Shout out to Scott Rezimer. Actually, big shout out to you
40:24
brother. We appreciate your body of work.
40:26
Yes. So I'm trying to think what
40:29
Scott put in there. Yeah, I have to go back and look
40:31
at that. I don't know.
40:32
Scott would be a, you know, in. The best in the best position,
40:35
you know, to, to, to answer that.
40:37
I think it's more more about, you know, when people do the
40:41
hard work, especially in terms of the the efficiencies.
40:44
Like what what has brought you here?
40:46
Would not, you know, take you far in the next phase of the I
40:50
guess that's what he's probably trying, trying to say.
40:53
But yeah, we would hear from the horses more soon.
40:56
We would have him on the broadcast.
40:57
On the broadcast 3 readers book, You know, before we let you go,
41:03
we know you are a very busy man. Would like for you to share an
41:06
inspiring client story where your intervention not only
41:10
improved their financial outcomes but also significantly
41:14
enhanced their organisational culture.
41:17
So, so, he said. Inspirational.
41:20
This something that I've done with that group before is that
41:22
you're asking. Basically, you know how your
41:25
intervention with the company I was able to have them improve
41:29
their financial performance. Yeah.
41:31
So, yeah, just recently as I was working with an organisation
41:36
that's so probably about I would say 405 hundred employees, very
41:39
large organisation. And the savings and actually
41:43
money that I was able to find them was, you know, over
41:46
$1,000,000 just in the first 6-8 months of working with them is
41:51
looking at their overall organisation and looking out
41:54
just the processes and how to break down some of the silos
41:57
they had. And that's just the initial part
42:00
of it is just saying, OK, here's what you've done.
42:03
Here is what how you can improve.
42:05
And this is kind of where I, you know, in this recent success is
42:10
taking something, being there for a very short time and then
42:13
saying, hey, by making this small change and doing this
42:16
communication with this department, this is going to
42:20
save you money. In which that does is then you
42:22
can now forecast and be more efficient and have a reason to
42:28
hire or to expand your area that you're trying to do and to be
42:33
able to do, you know, to expand your company to other locations.
42:37
And that's what they've done in a short time.
42:40
And that was just me looking from a bigger from stepping back
42:44
and not being in the weeds of it.
42:45
And that was how I was able to help.
42:47
Them interesting. I am going to proceed to the
42:51
quick fire round all. Right.
42:55
Questions for you quick fire. Just tell me what comes to your
42:58
mind first. So #1 What's the most
43:02
influential book every entrepreneur should read?
43:06
Wow, there is so many books out there.
43:08
That's The thing is, I've read so many books over the time and
43:11
it just depends on the mood that I'm in.
43:13
I've been reading a lot of psychology books lately.
43:17
Just are kind of influential to me to because of understanding
43:22
who you are and what makes you make the decisions to there's,
43:26
you know, anywhere from, let's say the the body keeps the
43:29
score, which is a more of a psychology book to where is your
43:33
past and what things have done to you is how you adapt and how
43:38
you remembers the traumas and all those things.
43:41
And it's like, how do you interact and how do you talk and
43:45
relate to people? And that just again, it
43:47
relationships, no matter if it's not particularly for your
43:50
business is how do you interact with your employees, How do you
43:53
interact with your clients? And a lot of it is has to do
43:56
with how you grew up and how you perceive things, how your body
44:00
is perceived things. So it's the emotional part that
44:03
is a big key that there's the what is it?
44:08
I can't remember if it's never split the difference.
44:11
There's, I think I can't remember the gentleman's name,
44:13
used to be a former FBI profiler.
44:16
And it's just more of how you negotiate and how you
44:19
communicate and command a room or command a certain situation.
44:22
So again, it was just more of a, for me, it was more
44:25
psychological. It's like, how do you, when you
44:28
see somebody and you look at them and they between their
44:30
facial expression, their eye movement, things like that,
44:34
their hand movements, how are they communicating?
44:36
How do you communicate something that you want something to
44:40
happen, but is it your voice, your tone, the expressions or
44:44
faces that killing off the deal? And that's some of it too, is
44:47
learning the from that and that not just for me as a sales
44:50
saying, but also too as you're working with people who help
44:55
them realise that maybe the way they're saying it is not the way
44:58
people are interpreting. It exactly.
45:00
I think you, you just, you know, touched on what I, I spoke about
45:03
earlier, you know, in terms of my own journey on a self
45:07
development. Yeah, I did have to read, you
45:09
know, those books and psychology, you know, especially
45:12
emotional intelligence, very, very important your tone, your
45:16
cadence, your your pitch, you know, does affect people.
45:20
People are very sensitive and you have to be compassionate and
45:25
of course, picking up being compassionate.
45:27
I recently interviewed Bruno Signaco.
45:31
He wrote the book The Art of Compassionate Business.
45:34
I think it's a book I strongly, strongly recommend for every
45:37
entrepreneur. That's is a book that addresses
45:41
what you have just said. And of course, you should also
45:47
get a couple of that book, a very, very fantastic book.
45:50
So your favourite prodigity or two?
45:54
What would that be? Yeah, I was trying to think, I
45:57
was thinking about that. It's just more of, I know I can
46:00
forget the gentleman's name, but it's just one of the things is
46:02
like if there's something you can accomplish in 2 minutes or
46:05
less, make sure those are out of the way.
46:07
I'm an efficiency person. I'm a your list, you know, I'm a
46:10
list person, you know, let's get through all these things knowing
46:13
that certain things take more time, but if ones that are you
46:16
can just take off the list right away, get those out of the way
46:19
so your mind is free to focus on the bigger tasks.
46:22
So anything that's is something you can obtain and do in less
46:25
than two minutes, do that. Do those things.
46:29
That's kind of a thing I do is like, what are the easiest
46:31
sayings? Move those out of the way so you
46:33
can focus on the use your brain power for the things that are
46:36
going to be a little more complex.
46:38
Rock sands and pebbles. Have you ever heard of that
46:42
analogy? Productivity.
46:45
I'm curious. Tool.
46:47
I don't really have a particular tool that I use for
46:50
productivity. I've just used a lot of just
46:53
different things. Just trying to look at just more
46:57
efficiency. I'm just trying to look at see,
47:00
there's not one particular tool I use just pretty much anything.
47:03
Pretty much all my experiences, I just take those and kind of
47:06
put those all together and just, I wish I had a definitive thing.
47:10
I could say this is the tool to use but.
47:14
You know something, You know what I think?
47:16
You know what I think is the most underrated productivity or
47:20
project management tool? Do you know what I think it is?
47:23
What's that? Your digital calendar, that is
47:28
very, very important, you know, even for friends and family,
47:33
when they need me to dress something, I tell them put time
47:36
in my calendar. And some people feel offended
47:38
about it. But trust me, that is the most
47:42
efficient tool that has been created by mankind.
47:46
Let's let's help Steve ourselves.
47:47
It helps you manage your time properly.
47:49
Yes, I live by my calendar. I have to do that just because
47:53
there's things that are pulling me all different directions and
47:56
it's just best because I can give you all the time I need, if
47:58
that's all. Yeah, fantastic #3 what's the
48:03
toughest visas lesson you've learned in person?
48:07
Toughest thing I've learned is, oh man, at times I think it's
48:12
more of I can't do everything on my own.
48:14
I'd like to try. And that has been something I
48:18
always continue to have to always learn is like I need to
48:23
bring in certain people, certain experts or learn that that's
48:27
just, you know, I can't do it all, but I will sure try.
48:32
It's a fine oiled machine or something like that.
48:35
It's just more of like everything's just got to be
48:37
running smooth. You got to make sure everything
48:39
is operation moving. Like you think about like a
48:42
clock. It's just how all the mechanisms
48:44
in a clock are moving and how efficient they are.
48:47
And you almost want to make sure all the gears, everything is
48:50
just done right. And it's just like you ever
48:52
look, you open up a, a timepiece and you look at how well it's
48:56
put together and how well it moves.
48:59
And it's just like that is what you're trying to do is you're
49:01
trying to make everything efficient and it moves and it
49:05
fits just perfectly in there and trying to see can you can you
49:08
accomplish that in keeping that thing even good time.
49:12
One daily habits that helps you maintain clarity and focus.
49:17
Yeah, For me it's the stepping away from some of the things I
49:21
do. So I always on a daily basis for
49:24
me is exercise. I, you know, work out.
49:27
I run. So in the morning I get up
49:29
early. Mind body synergy, very
49:31
important. I do have an episode on on that
49:34
issue. You should go check it out.
49:38
Oh man, it's quite interesting that we have actually come to
49:43
the end. But I'll give you an opportunity
49:46
to give one last advice to business owners.
49:49
You know, as a Big Brother that you are, but I always say
49:54
something on the podcast. An attitude of gratitude is good
49:58
attitude and anytime a person shares their time with you,
50:02
you're sharing their life with you.
50:04
The SI unit for sharing before measuring life this time.
50:08
So a very big thank you to you, Mike Strasser.
50:11
I am very, very grateful. I do have a positive bias to
50:15
achieve the course of the kind of professional that you are,
50:20
but I always have to be an objective person.
50:22
You are, you're a great individual.
50:24
You're a fantastic person. I wish you the very, very best,
50:27
you know, in all that you do. And of course, it would be great
50:30
to have you on on the platform sometime again in in the future.
50:35
I want to encourage our own. You go check out the great work
50:39
that you do. And of course, if you want to
50:41
work with you, your website isconsultstransit.com.
50:44
Is that is that correct? And of course on LinkedIn you
50:48
are Michael Strasser, that is.linkedin.com/IN/michael
50:53
Strasser. I will have that in the show
50:55
notes in the description. So guys, go check out on Michael
50:59
Strasser. Do you want to leave a shout out
51:01
to anyone before you leave? And of course, what's your last
51:05
piece of advice to you from our boarding entrepreneurs out
51:08
there? No, it's just more of, you know,
51:12
if you have a dream out there, I just look at it as continue
51:15
everyone to continue to dream big and find the people that can
51:18
help you. And it's just, you know, define
51:21
your thing of success and find the people that can help you be
51:23
successful. And that's kind of what I just,
51:26
I hope that's people be inspired to invent, to create and to be
51:32
better for their community and to be able to share their their
51:37
experiences and their knowledge. Interesting stuff.
51:40
And of course, our audience. Please do the right thing guys.
51:44
Go like, comment, subscribe, share with your friends, your
51:49
family and of course we do have a weekly competition.
51:52
The individual with the best engagement on the platform gets
51:57
to bring 50 Great British pounds.
52:02
So he wants a slice of the cake guys.
52:04
So go do the right thing. And of course from me to Mike
52:08
Strasser, it is love and respect to you brother.
52:11
And of course you guys out there.
52:13
Love and respect to you guys. And of course to come your way
52:16
against the out of trouble. And of course, keep pushing for
52:21
your goals. Always push you something very,
52:23
very important. And of course, making impact.
52:25
Guys, it's bye for me for now.