Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Growing Your Business in Uncertain Times with Brian Johnson

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Growing Your Business in Uncertain Times with Brian Johnson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  You built a plan that only is supposed to succeed when times are good, then it wasn't a
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  plan.
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  I mean, you gave away control of your business at that point.
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  So we try to talk to people and just say, like, look, you may have to adjust.
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  You may have to make changes, but where you were headed was where you were headed anyways.
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  Like, it may slow down.
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  It may speed up.
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  Don't abandon that strategy simply because it's getting harder to execute it.
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  3, 2, 1, 0, ignition,
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the smallbizchat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure.
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  And she'll give you the information you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to another episode of the Small Bishop podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, small business lady, your host, and I'm America's number one small
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  business expert.
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  If you are interested in growing your business in these uncertain times, you're in the right
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  place.
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  Now listen, I know you guys have heard those statistics out there.
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  2023 is supposed to be a doozy for our economy, but that doesn't mean your small business is
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  gonna struggle.
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  We're gonna give you tools and tips today so that you can position your business to be one
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  of the winners out of 2023.
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  Now here at the small business chat podcast, We bring you small business experts from multiple
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  angles to give you different perspective.
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  This is advice that you really be expensive for you to pay for, but we always make it available
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  because I want you to win in your business.
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  The mission of small business chat is to end small business failure.
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  And that is what we are about here today.
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  The small business chat broadcast can be seen on my small business lady YouTube channel and
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  also on my small business lady Facebook page.
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  If you haven't already done so, like my page.
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  Leave a comment and let us know if we are saying something that is resonating with you
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  right now, in your business.
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  Now it's time for me to introduce my guest, Brian Johnson, CEO of Maine and Johnson, A
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  Charlotte North Carolina based business consulting and coaching company aimed at seeing
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  small and medium sized businesses thrive, not just survive, made in Johnson partners with
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  business owners to bridge the gap between what success they had and the success they seek.
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  Find his team specialize in project based consulting to provide both assessment and
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  strategic process as well as deliver, and they also will deliver on the execution phase.
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  The organization has subject matter experts that are adept at looking at a wide range of
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  desirables and deliverable with any organization, whether it's people, process, or
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  performance.
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  For more information, head over to mainandjohnson.com.
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  Brian, welcome to the Small Bishop Park app.
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  Hey, Melinda.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  I'm excited to be here.
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  Oh, gosh.
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  Well, you tell me your bags are in because you grew up in corporate America.
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  You built big divisions of some Fortune 500 companies.
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  So I gotta know what made you walk away from that to start working with small and medium
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  sized businesses.
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  Yeah.
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  It's it's kind of interesting.
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  I mean, everybody has their own story, right, and and not all of them are, you know, gonna
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  follow the same path.
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  But for me, I I'll start with what got me out and then go back to, like, what got me in, but
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  getting out was really when you get to that point where, like, you just enjoyed what you're
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  doing, but you want more control over your lifestyle and things like that.
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  You know, you feel like I've learned a lot.
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  I worked for great companies.
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  This, like, I had to get out because it was a bad situation.
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  It was, choice to get out because I wanted to, you know, improve my own situation.
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  And, you know, I kinda didn't wanna be on a plane all the time.
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  Well, guess what?
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  I'm back on a plane all the time.
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  But at least I made an honest approach to try to, be a little bit more community based.
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  And I I had not lived in Charlotte my whole life.
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  I'm actually from Ohio and got relocated down there.
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  So know, you get a little bit warmer weather, a little bit more southern lifestyle, and, you
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  know, you kinda start to say, like, do this forever.
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  You know?
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  And then my company that I lack work for their headquarters was in Ohio, their global
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  headquarters.
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  And, there there was always going to be a direct path back to Ohio.
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  And, I got to the point where I was like, think I'm I'm comfortable here, and I wanna stay.
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  And, then just said, take inventory what you're good at and what you like doing.
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  And how do I form a business that just does that and get rid of all the stuff I don't like?
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  And, that's what I did.
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  And how long have you been in business?
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  So, I've I've had my business for about five and a half years.
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  So, I mean, you you mentioned statistics and things like that about small businesses.
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  Here I am.
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  But, you know, you hit the 5 year mark and, you know, things start to to look forward rather
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  than try to you know, continue to tread water.
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  So we're we're excited because we're growing, and I like being an employer and hiring people
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  and bringing people in to do what they do best.
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  So, it's it's a it's a great opportunity for me and and my company.
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  So excited about the future.
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  Alright.
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  Well, let's talk about what you actually do.
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  Your specialty is helping people row in good or bad times.
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  And That's right.
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  So I wanted to talk to you about how much does customer retention have to do with sort of,
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  like, any growth strategy for a small business.
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  Yeah.
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  I I get into this discussion a lot, and some people are like, oh, my customers only buy here
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  and there.
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  You know, I mean, know, they come in, they shop, then they leave, and that there there's
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  not a lot of need for them recurring, but your your customers that come in and already like
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  you and are already raving fans of you, Those are the ones you wanna nurture because, I mean,
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  you you you have a couple of ways that you can make money.
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  Obviously, get new customers.
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  Those are great.
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  Everybody kinda gears their Salesforce around Let's go acquire new customers.
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  Do it.
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  Please do, but your existing customers can buy more, and they can spend more when they buy.
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  So why are we not, like, spending more time making sure that those people are taken care
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  of?
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  And, we we all know, like, the cost of acquiring a customer is greater than keeping
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  the ones you've got.
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  Like, we we all know the numbers on that, but being very intentional to maximize the lifetime
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  value of a customer is something that we try to focus on with people.
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  It's, you know, kinda like the grass isn't always just greener on the other side.
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  Like, let's fertilize and mow the lawn we've got.
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  And, you can do a lot with that.
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  I could not agree with you more.
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  I'm a big, big harper of of customer retention.
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  You know, it's cheaper to keep a customer than it is to go out and get a new one.
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  And and they become a Salesforce for you too.
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  100%.
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  100%.
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  So now every day right now, we've been hearing about more blue chip companies laying off
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  thousands of employees, there's real indication that we're either in a recession or one is
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  looming this year.
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  How do keep yourself calm, especially if you, somebody like me, I've been in business 23
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  years.
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  So I lived through 2008, 2009.
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  Right?
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  So You know, how are you talking to your customer?
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  What are you talking to people about?
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  How to stay calm and not panic?
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  Well, I think it comes back to what your your baseline is.
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  Where you're at where you're headed.
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  And that reality, if you built a plan that only is supposed to succeed when times are good,
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  then it wasn't a plan.
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  I mean, you gave away control of your business at that point.
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  So We try to talk to people and just say, like, look, you may have to adjust.
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  You may have to make changes, but where you were headed was where you were headed anyway.
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  Like, it may slow down.
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  It may speed up.
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  Don't abandon that strategy simply because it's getting harder to execute it.
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  Now I we'll we'll get into other things like different strategies that you can employ.
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  But the most of this is is that, like, when you see blue chip companies getting rid of good
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  people as an employer in a business, that maybe isn't that big or isn't a blue chip company,
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  that's an opportunity because good people now need good places to work.
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  And why are you not that person or that does And I think that's where it's great where a lot
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  of times you wanna kinda conserve and be, you know, a little bit more pragmatic in your
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  approach to business when things are up, but actually the best time to invest.
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  I mean, why buy high?
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  Go put your money in things right now when it's easier to get, and people are giving it away at
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  a discount.
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  And you can go get employees now that you're gonna need in the future.
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  Maybe cheaper than it will be when you have to fight for them.
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  So I understand.
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  I I completely agree with you.
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  And You know, as I think about recessions, right, you know, there were people even during
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  the pandemic that were winners, and there were people that were losers.
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  And I feel like the businesses that tend to win when things are down are the people that keep
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  marketing.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  100%.
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  I mean, the most foolish thing I've ever heard is I've got a cut out my marketing.
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  So that's basically saying like, I'm gonna cut my hands off, but I still expect to eat.
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  Like, why would you do that?
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  Right.
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  So I and and, again, marketing, like, right now, There's tons of avenues to market.
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  It's becoming less expensive as things go on.
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  Why would you cut that out?
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  That you're you're correct.
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  That's probably the most common thing is, like, I'm gonna cut out all the things I invest in my
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  business on because times are tough.
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  Okay.
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  Then what happens when you get out of those tough times?
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  Your competition got way ahead.
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  Got no pipeline.
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  And you've got no pipeline because you because you didn't invest in keeping it going.
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  No.
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  I couldn't agree with you more.
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  Now when I think about growth strategies, you know, I I I go back to my graduate school days.
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  I go back to director of university and I say, okay.
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  4 basic growth strategies, market penetration, market develop, product development,
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  diversification.
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  Is that still is that is that archaic in this one or what?
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  No.
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  They're they're they're always tried and true.
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  I mean, they they always work.
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  You just I always say that it's it's not the actual theory.
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  It's the articulation of it that has to adjust with the times a little bit.
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  So maybe you know, the the peace and the, you know, trying to make everything sound really
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  unshield is part of it.
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  But, I mean, we we try to tell people, especially businesses that, like, that we work
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  with that might be in that mid range that, like, couple 100,000,000 in revenue that are
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  they're succeeding, but they may have succeeded based on an ideal that they started with, and
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  now they have to adapt.
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  And I see a lot of businesses in this moment have lived in this great market growth era
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  where this is oversimplification because that's what I do, but you walk outside and people are
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  trying to spend money.
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  So your job is to present them with an opportunity to spend their money with you.
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  And that's your job.
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  And once they do that, it's great because, like, my effort now is making people aware that
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  I'm available to buy from.
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  But what happens when they stop waving the money?
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  We kinda say, like, there's a market growth strategy.
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  And for the last 10 years or so, I mean, you mentioned the 2008, 2009 scenario.
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  Right?
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  People most businesses, especially smaller ones, weren't around 10 years ago.
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  I mean, statistics say they weren't.
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  Right?
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  And so they're looking at things saying like, wow.
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  This is great.
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  I just show up to work every day and people buy from me.
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  What happens when they're not trying to spend their money with you anymore?
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  You've gotta go get it.
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  And so that market growth strategy is like, Hey, I've got a pie that, like, I'm involved
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  in, and I have a slice.
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  And as long as the whole pie keeps growing, my slice grows, and I'm happy.
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  But what happens if the pie stops growing?
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  What do you do then?
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  And then you have different strategies that you can look at, like share gain.
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  Like, how do I take a bite out of somebody else's slice without the pie getting bigger?
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  So my slice gets bigger and somebody else's gets smaller.
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  Or how do I transform the market or the pie that I'm in in a way that the pie gets bigger
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  They might might buy for my competition, but do I care?
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  Cause if I have a share game strategy, I'll go take it later, but I'd rather have a bigger pie
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  to fight over than a smaller pie and have to keep fighting back and forth on it.
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  And then adjacencies are just things that you might be able to get involved in that you have
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  a core competency on and it's a slight sidestep You just say, you know what?
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  I'm gonna participate in this pie even though I'm gonna have a little sliver instead of a
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  whole slice, but who knows?
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  Maybe that'll grow.
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  And so when we talk to business owners and and look at that, we'll look at it and say, like,
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  what you're fundamentally doing is the right thing But do we have to pivot a little bit on
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  how you approach attacking the market in the way that allows you to win?
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  And COVID was a great example because a lot of businesses retracted.
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  The businesses that succeeded, they pushed forward.
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  I mean, think about, like, what are people doing and how can you impact that?
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  My business actually skyrocketed during COVID because people wanted advice.
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  They wanted to know what do I do?
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  Where do I go?
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  And so you've gotta lean into that and rather than look at everything and say, like, hey.
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  This is the time I've gotta be conservative.
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  Well, you just talked about, you know, a couple of different strategies, but when times are
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  uncertain, how do you figure out that next step?
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  Right?
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  Cause you can make this big plan, but it's like, okay.
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  The bank is is tightening up people's lines of credit.
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  Okay.
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  This is going on How do I know what my next step is?
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  Yeah.
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  I I think the first thing is identifying where you're at.
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  And a lot of a lot of businesses don't assess where they are because they're always thinking
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  in the transition.
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  Where am I gonna be?
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  Where am I aspiring to be?
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  Like, well, who do I wanna be like?
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  Like that sort of thing.
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  So the reality of understanding where you are dictates a lot.
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  And I think when you understand that, you have the ability from there to kind of decide What
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  is the right strategy?
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  What is the right approach?
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  Where do I go next?
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  I mean, in the end, business owners that I talk to We have three things at our disposal at all
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  time.
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  We have our time, like as a business owner, how much time do you wanna spend?
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  Send in emails and doing stuff that's not value added?
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  Versus the strategic stuff.
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  So then you got your team.
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  Like, what can you do with your people?
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  And then you've got your money.
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  Those are your 3 resources.
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  I'm team and money is really kind of what you got and how do you take that and make that into
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  your next step.
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  And so when you ask, like, do you figure out what your next step is?
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  Is first where am I at?
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  What's going on around me?
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  And what's my what's my opportunity?
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  And if you're thinking instead of opportunity, you're thinking about how do I protect, then
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  you're going to retract.
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  But if you think about opportunity, like where can I press in and and lean forward, and it may
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  not be in all your revenue streams, you could be in a business where you're like, hey?
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  These 3 or 4 things right now are just going to have to be maintained, but this 1 or 2 things,
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  this is where I've gotta lean in and really try to grow.
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  That really, really makes a lot of sense.
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  Alright.
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  Listen.
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  When we come back, we are gonna talk even more with Brian Johnson about how to grow your
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  business in these uncertain times.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business lady.
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  You're watching the small fish chat podcast.
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  And we will be right there.
• 14:21
  Are you ready to become a boss?
• 14:23
  Hi.
• 14:23
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady.
• 14:26
  Click the button below and take my free boss quiz.
• 14:29
  This assessment will help you learn your entrepreneur type and find the right business
• 14:34
  model for you.
• 14:35
  Get this information about the number one asset in your business.
• 14:38
  Yeah.
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  That's you.
• 14:43
  Welcome back everybody to the Small Vischett podcast.
• 14:46
  I'm Melinda Emerson Small Visley to your host, and we have just been talking with Ryan
• 14:51
  Johnson, CEO of Maine Johnson.
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  And we're talking about growing your business in uncertain times, which is going on right
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  now.
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  And so, right, I wanna pick back up with the conversation that you were having about.
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  Sometimes people think about where they wanna go versus where they're at.
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  Yep.
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  And, you know, and and how realistic sometimes I mean, do you find that you really have to
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  force people to kind of be like, Look at what's going on.
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  We we do.
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  Is it so aspirational, or is it like, no.
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  No.
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  Let's look at what happened last quarter.
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  And, you know, like, how how granular do you have to get with people?
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  We we we get pretty deep into it.
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  So one of the things that we do, we do a basic 90 day assessment on businesses, and it's it's
• 15:39
  a very popular thing that we have going for us right now because business has realized, like,
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  I know what I was trying to do.
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  Things are changing around me, and I hear what you're saying, Brian, we need to understand
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  where we're at.
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  So we kinda come in and do, like, a full under the hood view of their business and and sort of
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  give them a road map.
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  Like, here's where you can go from here.
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  And it's a very it's a very process oriented approach but we customize it very much to the
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  individual business as we go through it.
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  And I only say all of that to say that, like, that's probably the missing piece that a lot of
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  businesses have is they're not properly assessing where they're actually at, not just
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  where they're at according to their goals, but where are they in the marketplace according to
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  their competition?
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  I think people miss that as, like, uncertain times makes everybody think it's all happening
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  to me.
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  Like, this recession is all about me.
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  It's not.
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  It's happening to everybody.
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  I mean, if if you believe we're in a recession, it's it's Worldwide or it's nationwide or
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  whatever, but that doesn't mean that you're stuck in the spot of but we all have, like,
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  conservative now.
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  You know, you just may have to redirect where you're gonna be aggressive and and focus that
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  in a different way.
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  And and that that kind of assessment approach is why we give business owners like, here's
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  just where you're at.
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  This is the reality.
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  This is what your business is worth.
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  This is the strategy you've used its work.
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  Here's what your customers say about you.
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  Here's, you know, the level of loyalty your employees have about you and Go from there.
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  I mean, leverage what you're good at.
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  Do you find that businesses come to you because they're trying to build their valuation.
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  They're trying to build the value of their business because they're looking maybe to
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  figure out their exit strategy.
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  A little bit I I mean, I'll be honest.
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  We do a lot with exit exit strategy planning and evaluation for that, but we try to
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  encourage businesses.
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  Like, you should know how much you're worth at all times.
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  I mean, How many times have you looked online to see what your house is worth and you don't
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  plan on moving?
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  Right?
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  You just kinda wanna know, like, what equity do I have?
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  Like, what do I what am I building?
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  Like, everybody thinks, like, I don't need to know how much I'm worth until I sell, and you
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  should know how much you're worth every day.
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  So we should be having that conversation a lot more, and we get a lot of lot of companies work
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  with us, not because they're trying to sell, but they wanna know, like, how much am I worth?
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  Like, where is my value being generated from?
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  Not just in dollars, but, like, internal capability.
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  I mean, we always kinda laugh because, like, you go to meet with a broker, and and you're
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  gonna get the Kelly Blue Book value of your car when you talk with them.
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  Because they can't know everything until they literally get under the hood.
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  And so that's what we try to spend our time doing is I wanna see your whole business and
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  tell you that, yeah, this this modeling tool will tell you you can get a multiplier of 5 x,
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  and it's probably right.
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  But that company that's looking at buying you, if that's the route you're going, They're gonna
• 18:12
  find out there's a lot more to what you've got because we took the time to, like, diagnose it.
• 18:17
  And if you're not looking to sell, this is an even more valuable tool because now I know what
• 18:21
  to build on.
• 18:22
  Like, valuation is not simply around what am I gonna get when I exit?
• 18:26
  What do I have right now?
• 18:27
  And why am I not looking at that more solidly and and planning around that?
• 18:32
  Feel like you're preaching, Brian.
• 18:34
  I mean, I'm like, yes.
• 18:35
  Yes.
• 18:35
  I just need an Oregon.
• 18:36
  I just need an Oregon.
• 18:38
  Please tell them.
• 18:39
  Please tell the people.
• 18:40
  So listen.
• 18:41
  I I've got one last question for you.
• 18:43
  What is the best business advice that you have ever received?
• 18:48
  Oh, okay.
• 18:48
  Wow.
• 18:49
  I've had some good ones.
• 18:50
  Probably the thing that I think resonated the most to me was when you're not sure what to do
• 18:56
  next, do the last thing that you were successful at.
• 18:58
  And I feel like that gives you something to allow you to continue to accomplish, even if
• 19:03
  it's harder, even if it's slower, It doesn't mean that you don't change, but until you
• 19:07
  figure out what you wanna do, keep doing what you're doing well.
• 19:10
  Thank you so much, Brian Johnson, for me and Johnson, his company coaches businesses.
• 19:17
  And, you know, now I know why because you got it going on.
• 19:20
  Thank you so much, Brian.
• 19:22
  I appreciate it, Melinda.
• 19:23
  When we come back, we're gonna be talking about what it's like to run a family business and how
• 19:29
  we can all be more successful at it.
• 19:32
  With that, I'm gonna leave you with this.
• 19:34
  You never lose in business.
• 19:36
  Either you win or you learn.
• 19:38
  God bless everybody.
• 19:42
  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 19:46
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join next Wednesday for more
• 19:52
  fantastic information and interviews.
• 19:54
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 19:59
  website succeed as your own boss.com.
• 20:02
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.