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The Unexpected Path to Success: Max's Journey in BooXkeeping and Franchising · The Accounting Leads Now Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success the go-to podcast for fractional CFOs and accounting firm owners who want to attract more high-paying clients and increase their revenue.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hosted by James Donovan from Nine Two Media, this podcast dives into marketing strategies specifically designed for lead generation and client acquisition.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: In each episode, you'll hear from industry leaders sharing their success stories and expert tactics to help you sign more lucrative clients and grow your business.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Tune in and discover actionable insights to transform your marketing efforts and boost your bottom line to your bottom line.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Max, thank you so much for hopping on.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to speak with you today.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I know we originally met back in the spring at GrowCon.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: For those who don't know you, do you mind just telling us a little bit about who you are, what you do and who you work with?
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: So first of all, it's great to be here, james, thank you for the opportunity and it's good to see you again.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: It's been a while.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: So bookkeeping started about 13 years ago and we provide bookkeeping services to small medium-sized businesses all over the United States.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: By accident, we started doing bookkeeping for franchises about seven or eight years ago and now we are a preferred bookkeeping provider for about 95 franchise brands.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: And from that, being around Franchisor gave me an idea that, hey, we can sell our own bookkeeping franchises.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: So now bookkeeping is a franchisor, so we're actually offering franchises to people in the local markets throughout the United States.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: We, as of today, have 11 franchisees and should have a couple more in the next few weeks and should have a couple more in the next few weeks.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: We are available, I'd say, in over 40 states.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: And then from that business of talking about franchises being around franchises, being a franchisor myself, I've added the franchise brokerage.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: That's where we offer franchises about 600 plus different franchises that are not bookskeeping, but our services are completely free when we can talk to somebody and suggest for them what would be a good business to buy, navigate them and then help them to connect with the right franchisor.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: And again, as I said, the service is free.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: We get fully paid by a franchisor if a candidate buys their franchise.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, how did you accidentally get into franchising?
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: So you brought on a couple of clients that had lots of locations.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: That was interesting, that piece you mentioned at the very start.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: This kind of was an accident.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: but like it was an absolutely it was an accident.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: But I believe that, you know, nothing happens for no reason.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: So they got there was a reason.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: So, um, pretty much, we were just introduced to, uh, a franchisee of a company who was local, and they were looking for bookkeeping and we started doing bookkeeping for them and they they in for bookkeeping and we started doing bookkeeping for them and they, they, in turn, said, well, there's going to be a franchise show in san diego, about two or three blocks from my house where I used to live, and our franchisor is going to be there.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: And I looked, I looked at it and the price to have a booth wasn't that much and I'm like, why don't we have a booth there?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: So we just got a booth going.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I was pretty much not having a booth.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: It was a tablecloth and a small banner smaller than the one you have in the background.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: And we talked to this franchisor and it took a while before they started sending us clients.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: But we got probably one franchisor who was interested in working with us and then I'm like well, I like it, I think there is an opportunity.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: And then we started growing, growing.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: As I said, we now do it, for I think it's 98 now franchise brands, so we're going to hit 100 really soon, and some of the brands are national, such as Sport Clips, fast Sign, signarama.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: So working with companies like that it's awesome, but as a job we don't discriminate.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: We work with smaller people as well Somebody who is just starting, and they might have three locations now, but they can sell 50 in the next few months.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, we work with one franchise.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: When they started working with us, they had 12 locations.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: In three months they sold 800 locations.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, 800 in three months.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: It's the fastest growing franchise.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: They're not all open, but we do over a hundred of their locations now throughout the United States, so you never know which franchise is going to be the next hit.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: No kidding, that's crazy to think what your business would look like if you didn't go to that event.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, probably, but we'll figure out to do something else, but then again, we definitely wouldn't be offering the franchises right now.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: That's definitely a byproduct of being around franchisors, because most of the franchisors are really fun people willing to help and wanting to be there for you, and when I grow up, I want to be like one of them.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: That's really what it was.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: So you've been very successful with all of this.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Max, Are you able to tell us about some of the more challenging times that you faced as an entrepreneur and getting bookskeeping up and running?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Or maybe there was a different struggling time prior to bookskeeping?
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: But is there something you can share that you feel is really carved into?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Find who you are as an entrepreneur today.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: For sure, and I mean we can talk about bookskeeping franchise and the fact that we got the approval to start selling franchises the day we went into lockdown.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: That was an awesome timing, as you can imagine.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: So for the first year and a half we weren't really selling anything, even though we got an approval.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: We're just paying for, you know everything.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Because we had to pivot the existing bookkeeping business, because bookkeeping has multiple offices in different countries of the world and, um, we thought the us got hit hard by covid.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: No, I mean the rest of the world got hit way harder because, like some of my like, we have an office in Barcelona, spain.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: People could leave house for like literal 30 minutes a day, or maybe an hour, so they couldn't come to the office.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: So I had my employees sneaking in at night picking the computers and like, seriously, like you know, a movie and then running, you know, in the back streets with laptops so they can work from home, because you know they just shut it down.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, similar happened in Philippines, where we have an office.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: So, but this wasn't, you know, like I wouldn't say it would define me as the entrepreneur.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Prior to going to accounting, I had a landscaping company that I joined family business and went from three employees.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: I grew it to 96 employees and we were very successful until, you know, they stopped building new truck homes.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: We went to the recession, oh, eight or nine, and we got stuck with 20 trucks, cranes, equipment and no income, pretty much.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: So we had to sell the house, with one baby and one baby on the way.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: It was a very fun experience fun being, you know, quote, unquote and then paid every employee and that's it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: We had to start from scratch.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: We didn't have a choice.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: But we had to declare bankruptcy and that was hard.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: It was hard financially, it was very hard mentally and the economical situation in the country wasn't that much fun at the time, but nevertheless we survived.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: We opened the company again, only concentrating in maintenance, and then we able to sell, uh, that business later on.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Um, by doing that.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: That gave me and my uh wife, uh, who is a co-founder of bookskeeping, an idea that if we had a bookkeeping company doing our books on time, uh, on budget, we would probably catch that way early and it probably wouldn't be as painful as it was.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, we both are accounting and finance graduate, so we understand the numbers, but we're so busy growing the business that we just not concentrate on the bookkeeping portion of the accounting portion.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: That's crazy, that's wild.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: A landscaping business that you're selling, restarting it and then jumping to bookkeeping.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: How important would you say the numbers are for bookkeeping?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I know every business needs one.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: A lot of businesses, I think, overlook it.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: They should probably have a bookkeeper earlier on in their business.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: So how important would you say it is to have a bookkeeper, and when would you recommend maybe?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: At what annual revenue size should a business really consider having a bookkeeper in place?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to be biased and I'll say the company needs to have a bookkeeper pre-revenue before they start making revenue.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: They want to start making revenue fast Because if you don't know your expenses and you don't know how much you spend on the pre-opening of a business, you're probably not going to be successful.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: You can be successful, but there is a better chance for you to succeed if you actually know all these numbers, because it's very easy to burn cash.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: So if you don't know where you're burning it, let's be honest, not everybody in this world is going to protect your interest.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, some people are going to be thinking about their own interest and how I can make more money on this person.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: So if you don't know where you're spending your money, you'll go through it really, really fast.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: So I'm going to argue that you need a bookkeeper before you go live.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: That's why a lot of franchises we do bookkeeping for they actually make somebody to pick a bookkeeper before they even go live.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Just before we're recording this podcast, I had somebody from a franchise.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Um, they are not even haven't even picked a geographical location yet.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, they, they are in colorado, they know the city, but they don't know where it's going to be located.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So they're probably about four or five months out before they do the all the construction and everything else and actually open.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: But the franchisor makes them talk to us now, so four months out, which I think is great.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: They don't need our services today, but they'll probably need it in about two months.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: So definitely you know, bookkeeping is important and bookkeeping is actually a fast-growing industry.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: That's why we're successful in selling franchises, because everybody needs it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: People don't realize that, but bookkeeping and payroll just the outsourcing piece of it is about $70 billion a year in the US alone.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: So it's huge.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: So talk to me a little bit about how you communicate that value, how your team communicates that value to new businesses who maybe they don't know what, they don't know about bookkeeping.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: They feel like it's a couple hundred dollars a month and it's an added expense for them.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: So how do you guys go about communicating the value to where this is an absolute no-brainer and we're actually going to help you out and this is going to become a really low cost instead of this is an expense every month that they're not really happy with.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, james, it's not a cost.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: It's investment in the business.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Okay, this is not a cost.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: If you look at it as the cost, then you're going to treat it as such.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: This is an investment.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: You're investing in your future.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: So if you don't understand your numbers, you're not going to be successful.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: So that's just my strong belief.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: But you know the way we communicate it through education and through telling people the horror stories, and it's actually work.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, I can say that part of the reason that we had to go into bankruptcy is because we didn't know our own numbers.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: So, um, again, that was pretty uh hard for us to go from you know being very successful to you know starting from scratch again.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: And, um, if we would have known our numbers, we would have catch the wave way early and we would figure it out Again.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: It was like a perfect storm.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: So it wasn't just that we did a lot of it.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: It's not that we bought 25 expensive cars and 30 expensive watches and that's how we burn cash.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: That did not happen, I can promise you.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: But we were overcapitalized, we had too much of equipment and then the revenue went to zero practically overnight.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's so interesting.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, you can explain that to people firsthand, how important it is and what you went through.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: You can help them avoid that ditch.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: So I can see how that would.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: That's a very powerful message.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: For sure, for sure.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: And then our franchisees they see the need in their local market.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: So I can see how that's a very powerful message For sure.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: And then our franchisees they see the need in their local market.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: So they're very interested in buying the franchise.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: We recently sold a CPA firm out of Las Vegas, nevada, because they're great doing taxes.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: But they always have issues how to get a bookkeeping of the ground and we provide them staff.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: We provide all the marketing, provide all the training.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: It's funny uh, you and me both know Roger I mean we didn't talk about it, but Roger's picture is behind your banner but uh, universal is doing um, bookkeeping accounting training for all of my franchisees.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: So they actually go through accounting training with Roger's school.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: They also get six months of sales training and they also get one year of executive coaching.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: So the sum of these three trainings in dollar value is actually more than the franchise fee.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Bookkeeping franchisees paying us and it's all free for them.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Everything is paid by us, that's awesome, that's great.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: What are some of your proudest moments, max, with bookkeeping or, in general, as an entrepreneur?
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: What keeps you going each day?
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Well, on the bookkeeping franchise, seeing the success of my franchisees, like seeing when they're making it and when they follow the system and eventually it works, it's actually really great and then I know we're doing something right.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Also, I'm very happy to see the success of our employees.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: We have one employee, catherine.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: She started with us.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: It's going to be 10 years in about two weeks and she came as a part-time junior processor and for her it was like a temporary gig that she just needed some extra money.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: And I told, told her, which I tell all of our employees um, sky is the limit and everybody, okay, yeah, sure.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: So fast forward.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Cat now is the director of operations for bookkeeping and she's my right hand I have several right hand, uh, people, but cat is that and she is a huge part of training for all our franchisees and for the employees and we wouldn't be able to do it without her and the rest of the team, of course.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: So I'm very proud to see when, when, when that happens and just knowing that we go back that that far, and her daughter calling me uncle, you know just that's really awesome because it goes way beyond.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: You know just the word Plus.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Culture is a huge thing.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: It's probably one of the most important.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Our hashtag is cool bean counters and we choose strategically who would be part of this culture.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: So we actually said no to quite a few potential franchisees because we just knew it's not going to be a good match to our culture.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: They could be the greatest people on earth, it's just not who we're looking for.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: So some French candidates don't realize that we are betting them as much as they're betting us.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: So we also say no when we talk to them first the sales team, then me, then me and the sales team and then the rest of the team.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: We all talk among each other and at any point anybody can say you know what, I didn't like this and that about this person.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: I don't think he or she is going to be a good match and we are, uh, you know, have a right to say you know what, we would love to work with you, but we think that this is a good match.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: And you know, uh, now that I offer, you know, a franchise brokerage, that actually a little bit an easier conversation, because, hey, we might not be a good match, but we can talk about possibly, you know, steering you towards a different industry, and that's usually a more pleasant conversation.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: That's so awesome Max.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: what is Bookkeeping doing now to keep growing on the marketing front?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: How do you keep getting your name out there?
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: How do people find out about you?
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: What's generating sales opportunities for you guys?
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Well, a lot of educational things.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: And then also, honestly, seo works too, and I'm glad I listened to my marketing team because they were telling me, well, let us do our work and then you'll see the results.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Letters and I'm like, yeah, but why is this taking so long?
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Like max, you have to relax.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: It does take time.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: But now in a lot of categories, we are organically on number one page of google and a lot of times we are in number one position organically.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: That's in the united states, and there are 120 000 bookkeeping companies in the us being on the first page of Google.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: So that works a lot.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: But then I'm doing a lot of interviews, podcasts, working with partners for bookkeeping franchise.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: We work with brokers throughout the United States.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: So we do a lot of different avenues.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: One thing that I tell people that what worked prior to covid does not work anymore.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Okay, so you have to pivot and you have to be open and just say that, hey, you know it's not, it's not gonna work, like you know.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Um in again, this is just my opinion and we can go into argument and talk about it.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: But what I've noticed?
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: That the print media is not doing what it used to do because you know I don't see uh that much return on investment if you do like an advertisement in you know a newspaper or magazine like it was before.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: But let's be honest, uh how often do you see somebody reading a newspaper in a in starbucks anymore?
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: It used to be, a lot of people were doing it.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: I don't think they even sell the newspapers there anymore.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: I remember just a few years ago it was available.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: You could go and buy you know a local paper, a wall street journal.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Now it's all digital.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, everything, everything's digital now it's.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: It's very rare to see someone with the newspaper like you mentioned.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Um, you made a point there, max.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I thought was really interesting.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: When you had some marketing strategies running, you felt a little impatient but you wanted to wait.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: You wanted, you were told this is going to work.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: It's going to take time and maybe at the front end you were you're fighting and going against the grain a bit, but now you're seeing the fruits of all those labors.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: So what would you say to other firms who are investing in marketing?
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: They're trying things out, but they're they're a little impatient, they want the result immediately, but you, you're on the other side of it now.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: You know that things take time and now you're seeing, seeing the rewards of that well, if you want your return immediately, go to vegas, put everything on you have on 17 black, and then you'll know in a matter of seconds if you're going to win or not.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: So that's what I, that's what I would tell them.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: And, um, of course, of course I'm joking, but, um, there is no immediate thing.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, you do that professionally, so you know it's not going to be the case.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: So what I would suggest pick the company that you trust.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Just take your time, do due diligence, do homework, talk to other people, pick the company you trust and the company you want to work with and let them do their magic.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: Okay, so don't rush them, because it's just not going to happen, because I was doing it.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: I mean my marketing company.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: They love me, but they hate me.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: They love me because I'm coming up with new businesses all the time, so it's more work for them and it's actually exciting and creative.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: But they hate me because I'm on their butt Like hey, where, all the time.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: So it's more work for them and it's actually exciting and, you know, creative, but you know they hate me because I'm on their butt like hey, you know where, where is the result?
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: I want it now, now, now, now.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: So that's just me, the type a personality.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: I know it's, it's challenging for a lot of my members, of my team, but I am who I am.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: You know I'm trying to change as much as I could, but it's very, very, very hard.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: I'll be honest with you.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: But yeah, just just just let it run its course.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Perfect, that's awesome, max.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: For anyone who wants to get in touch with you, how can they reach out to you?
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: So you people can find us on bookskeepingfranchisecom.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: But actually to make everybody's life easier, because some people would be interested in probably, advice of buying a franchise maybe it's a passive income and might not be accounting.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Um, they can just go to franchise with maxcom, franchise with max and it'll take people to three different websites.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: I It'll take people to a site that's offering bookkeeping services, the bookskeeping franchise, and then main entrance franchise consulting.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: That's my business, where we help other people either franchise their concept or buy an existing franchise.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Awesome, max.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I hope people listening go check out your site.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: They get in touch with you.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I know you guys are doing awesome things.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Like I said, we had a chance to meet at an event last spring as a both, both partnering or both sponsoring the event, being able to have a conversation there.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I love what you guys are doing and I hope people go and check out and learn a little bit more from you.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming on today.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Thank you, james, it was great, I appreciate it.
• 24:27
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• 24:32
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