Latest / Forget The Noise / 26. Foundations that Matter | Featuring Kale Goodman

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26. Foundations that Matter | Featuring Kale Goodman · Forget The Noise

• speaker-0: They say motivation something you want. Discipline is something you need. Obsession is something you have to have. I'm gonna show you what I wanted, how I got it, and how I was obsessed to get there. Alright, another week on Forget the Noise podcast. This one was a haul to get to 3,000 miles across the country into another country to visit Kale Goodman. Over the years, I've watched this guy be a serial entrepreneur initially. He was just a successful business over owner, and then he's proven himself over and over again. And now he's on to another venture. He was like, we're fortunate enough to get into like his shared workspace here, get a podcast studio set up. So, first off, thank you for that. we met through him being the co owner of real business owners, co owner of easier accounting, and now he's moved on to coffee and kickstart. Right? So like okay, so you know, I'm gonna give you the floor on that one and then let you kinda explain that whole kind of process so everyone kinda understands where we're going because they haven't watched you through the process I feel like yeah. Over what, five I think this is the first time we're actually meeting person. speaker-1: No, Matt. Didn't you come out to the Dallas event and the Didn't you come out to one of these out here? speaker-0: Not the Dallas. I did three years ago. maybe yeah, maybe three three years ago. Either speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: way, I feel like over the years it's like you know the social media thing you're always cheering each other on and kind of following along. It's kinda like, yeah, I know that guy, he's my buddy, like you know what I And you meet him like once or twice in person. So yeah, so open floor with you. Tell him about where you've been, what you've done. The coffee experience, the kickstart, what you're doing now because I I love what you're doing now because I think that's kind of a hole in the industry like as a whole, because you hear business owners three years later and they're kinda like, Well, was I supposed to do that? It's kinda like, Yeah. All right, yeah man, yeah, you're kinda supposed to do that. So yeah, no, floor's yours. Well break it open, man. First speaker-1: of all thanks for flying three thousand miles just to see me speaker-0: Brother. speaker-1: no but yeah dude you know I don't know where to start like when s so like I have always just been a guy spearhead stuff and And so, you know, like I've had my old business partners, you know, I recently sold my equity from easier accounting and RBO and sixty day credit repair to those guys because Yeah, speaker-0: an entrepreneur before that too though. Yeah. speaker-1: yeah, Trevor worked for me. He was an employee, same with Coulter. Me and Jeremy were partners. We launched our first company, Day Trading Forex, together and then we created a whole educational course out of it and he's like, Do you think we got something here? And I'm like Dude, if you can coach it, I can sell it, you know? And so like I created this whole coaching model, sales model. He created the whole fulfillment model, and dude, it was actually really successful. and then, you know, like we have some regulating bodies here, one of them called the NFA, they stepped in and really just kinda like made, you know, you had to go get securities licenses in order to advise on those things, and which is fine. I mean, long term, I don't think that that was something there was no passion in it. It was just like, we got something, let's build it, you know. but you know what before that I came from a tax and accounting company as a sales and onboarding advisor. And so and I loved it, man. I loved that industry and which was surprising to me because I wasn't some accounting nerd, you know, but I did grow up in a house with a blue-collar dad, had his own business, I worked in it, and I watched him have money troubles after money troubles, even though he'd make great money. And he could never get ahead of the IRS. He didn't know what he didn't know. And so that accounting job changed my life, dude, because it taught me so much about what's actually going on in business. Cause I grew up thinking, why would anybody want to be a business owner? The IRS can just take everything from you, you know? And they did. They took yeah they took his home, they levied his bank account, you know, my mom went and got a job, they garnished her paychecks. And so like I like, I don't ever want to be a business owner, you know? But but dude, you know, like Once I learned, like, my dad just didn't know what he didn't know. He didn't have the right help. He didn't stay on top of nobody wants to stay on especially blue collar guys, dude. Nobody likes to go home and, you know, double check invoices and their books and, you know, get their accountant all the information to do their taxes and then you've gotta know taxes because, you know, if you don't know taxes and you just take what you know, y you have, they're like, you know, they're like You know, they're just doing what you give right? And so you have to know enough to be like, Hey man, what can we do here? What about this strategy that I've been hearing about, reading about, whatever? And so nobody wants to do that part. So it all gets avoided and that's what happened to him, you know, and so that turned into a couple different partnerships on tax and accounting. and then, you know, we and then Trev, he was working he was working for me great sales leader, in a in a different company, and it kinda morphed into you know, this whole business funding credit repair business that it's evolved now into like sixty day credit repair. And so, but when you know, you're young and you don't n you know what you're doing and you got your dudes, you know, and you're like, hey, you know, I'm ending this partnership, let's build another one, you know, another tax company. And so it went from like just, you know, we brought Trevin as a partner after being a sales leader for a lot of years and then it morphed into, you know, ownership of like you know, easier accounting and then sixty day credit repair, like all these things, right? And so, and so that's kinda what, you know, the ha how those all different things evolved, you know? And so but dude I've just always been more passionate about the the accounting and tax side of business, specifically tax, you know, because they're and I've been very passionate about the more foundational entrepreneur because dude like we we evolved Easier accounting into doing some higher level tax planning, like all the you know, higher level fifteen, twenty thousand, twenty-five thousand dollar, fifty thousand dollar, you know, clients is what we're chasing. And you know what, dude? I don't like that entrepreneur as much as I like the n the new guy that's like a sponge, you know, and they're like, you know, and they're like Yeah, speaker-0: Smart enough. speaker-1: they're smart enough to come in and be like, hey man, like I'm worried about taxes and like How do I avoid taxes and you mean I can get money back right now even though I'm not profitable yet? And it's like, yeah, d like so there is, there's like a big market there, you know. speaker-0: with the young guys versus the old guys I as you know I just started the business solutions company and I like working with the people that say I want to rather than I have to. Like I we have some people walk in where the business is established and they're like, Yeah, I kinda feel like, you know I have to do this at this point because I'm a million dollar business, right? Another like young entrepreneurs are like, I want to do this so it's easier. I'm like, fuck yeah, let's do that. Like that's where I want to help you. Like, you know what I mean? Like the other ones feel like they just hit this benchmark where it's kinda like, well, now it's time to do this. Like a CRM system. They're like, Well, now we should get a CRM system. It's like the young guy that, you know, only has 10 clients, I'm like, dude, this is gonna benefit you so much more when you have fifty clients or a thousand clients. So knowing that you wanna do it now versus you have to do it when you're Overwhelmed or you you how many leads have you lost if you don't have a CRM for the first two years? Yeah. dude. Because you can't circle back to them, right? Like it's or you can go through your line notebook. Like you know, we've all done that, right? Like that notebook you find is like, yeah, fuck, I used to write that down, right? Like yeah, no, so I get that. so you've kind of done full circle right back to with Kickstart. speaker-1: Yeah, you know, you know, really like in the old business, man, it was like and this will lead into the coffee thing you're talking about too. but you know, like we we got to a point where we were like, hey, let's focus more on RBO, you know, it does help feed the businesses that we have as well as like you know, i it was cool, like we're out giving value and like we're we're building community and you know, there's definitely some passion in that, you know, and and Trev had a different vision for it and I had a different vision for it. And eventually eventually that just turned into butting heads, you know, and so but I brought in this CEO guy and put a deal together and and you know, had the other partners meet him. He had a great resume and we went through several meetings where we're like this is the pressure points in the business, the hard parts, the good parts. And you know, that guy actually said, No, I'm not looking for something like this, you know. And a couple months went by, we're looking for we were interviewing other people to come in and just be this, you know, more operations head that could could run the business, you know, remarkably while we'd go and do, you know, this RBO thing. Well, dude, he was there for a couple a little over a couple years and and it just it just turned out ugly. And part of that was, you know, they they were like, well Let's buy let's buy the guys out that are inactive because I was still active there and then Trev and I decided to part ways on RBO and then you know this so I'm in the business trying to like get it going again and there was this this misalignment on those CEO's vision, you know, Trev and the other guy's vision, Jeremy J D, my vision, our sales manager's vision and it dude it just got ugly, bro. And then finally I w you know the The CEO wanted to buy the company with me from those guys. And it just turned into conflict, man, once we made that that you know, that kind of like that offer, right? And so and there was just a lot of egos, including my own, involved there. But during that time of the CEO running the company, I wasn't as active in RBO anymore. I had met in RBO, I had met, you know, Eric and Destiny and Me and my wife were getting ready to launch a family business around her hair business. We were gonna come out with our own product lines. Okay. And and we had some really cool ideas around that. And I think we'll still do it too. We had a great name, we had everything lined up, and my wife's like, I'm just not feeling it right now. Like I already got mom Gill, I already like, you know, I'm in the hair business. I'm looking for something different if we're gonna do something. And I was like, I have to do something, right? I'm not running that company, I'm not running this company. speaker-0: You've gotta kudos where kudos do though, because like you put something shiny in front of someone, right? And they're like, Hey, this is all you, this is your industry, you're gonna run it, I'm gonna follow through, I got the experience. Yeah. For her to turn around and say, like, no, you know what, let's pump the brakes and everything. Like, you what I mean? Like, sounds like my wife. My wife's like, you know, the kind of like mediator and everything. I'll come home like, babe, we're gonna sell snails and she's like, What the fuck are you talking about? Sell snail? Calm down, take it down a notch, right? So no, I can appreciate that, right? So go on, yeah. So you kinda kibosh the hair speaker-1: Yeah, and dude, I've learned to just trust my wife's intuition over the years. You know what mean? Like 'cause I you know, I I am a charger and I'm just like, you know, I have a lot of confidence around just launching things and so, you know, but when she was like, I don't feel it right now, you know, I just I've just learned over the years to trust her intuition. Just like there's been so many bad deals where s that she told me not to get involved with and I did anyway, and so anyway, I like, Okay, yeah, we'll look at something else and and dude, Eric and Disney landed on our feet. And we be kind of became friends and and then we spent time together and then my wife really liked their branding and everything that Destiny had created there and the model that, you know, her him her and Eric had created and so she's like, I'd be interested in doing something like that. So I told Eric and Destiny, I'm like looking at some of their numbers. I'm like, dude, put me down for ten trucks, you know? 'Cause they were right at the time they're only in coffee trucks, which that is definitely not the plan anymore. Yeah. but we did. We got a couple we got a couple trailers that you know, have it's been a great business, but the whole vision on it was like, hey, let's yeah, let this week and involve the kids, we can do kind of something fun. Easier's running itself, you know, like let's let's have some fun. Let's build something together. And and dude it was harder than I thought it was gonna be. And then the whole easier deal fell apart, you know, and then the beef between the partners started happening when we w wanted to try and figure out how to buy them out. And anyway, so it got so bad Over the la over the last couple years I was like finally I was just like, Look, dude, I can't get your guys this number. I can't make that valuation work. Like, it just is what it is. It's easier to buy out one than buy one buy out three. So, hey, you know, buy me out. And they're like, Well we can't give you what what we want. So and I'm like, I I know. It's okay. I'm very confident at building something else. Yeah. W just tell me your number. They threw out a number, I said, Done, that's fine. Yeah. Totally good. I was like, but I'm not gonna sign like any weird non competes, non-solicitations. I won't solicit like your current client base, but like my network's my network, man. I'm gonna harvest from it. Sales guys don't wanna stay here, they wanna go with me, so you guys wanna wind that down anyway. So if you guys are willing to, you know, do that deal for that little about a little of money, like cool, let's do it. And so and we did it. And it and it went through in a like a month or two and you know, they you know, bought me out of both companies and speaker-0: And it's good to hear because I feel like a lot of our guests are at that hitting the million dollar mark, hitting the maybe three million dollar mark. Yeah. And hearing like they have this like deferred life theory where it's kinda like, okay, once I get to three million dollars, my company will coast. My company will do its thing. It's kinda like that's a perfect example where like the company's doing better than it's ever done and it can instantly fall apart. You can crumble from underneath you. On top of that, other side ventures with the guys that are at that one or two, I find the one million dollar mark is a shiny object syndrome I'm starting to see. Yeah. You start to get that sh shiny object syndrome and they're kind of like, my company revenue is a million dollars. I'm like, well you haven't made a million dollars. Yeah, no, you sold a million dollars, you haven't made a million dollars, and now you're like kind of detouring to this. It's kind of one of those like when you said with the coffee thing it was harder than you thought. Yeah. Like that's perfect for someone to hear because like someone listening right now, because again, this podcast is a passion. Yeah. I want guys to get value. So it's like a lot of people that watch it are in that shiny object syndrome. This guy's just telling me he wants to open a go-kart track. I I don't know. speaker-1: Fun stuff. speaker-0: Right? And I'm like, but Just because you think you figured out your business, every business doesn't work like that. So like you've got what 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur behind you before you started coffee and you just openly admitted said it's harder than I thought. Yeah. You know what I mean? So like people gotta realize, like, just because you run one well and you get into something brand new, like, there's gonna be a learning curve to it. There's gonna be hurdles, there's gonna like puddles to jump over. Like it it sucks, right? It does. We were just talking about before the camera's on how like with the business solutions thing. I'm like the hardest part is like restarting the business. It's like if I knew what I knew now, I would have talked to an investor and just gone and bought another business. And done the like, you know, point B to C instead of A to B kind of phase of it, right? Kind of thing. okay, so what's been You have a lot of different angles. Like, okay, so how am I gonna do this? Like, what's been something that's kind of stood out to you over all the experiences? I was kind of like, fuck yeah, that was fun. Yeah. You know what I mean? speaker-1: what was fun? Yeah. speaker-0: Like what you know I mean though, like everyone has this thing. Like, I remember like the first time. I built I know this can sound really fucking boring, but like an SLP. And I was like, hold on, if I just do it the same way every single time, it can save me hours and hours of work. I'm like, fuck, I'm gonna do this for everything. Like that like an aha moment. Like almost like an aha moment or something fun or something was like memorable to you where it's kinda like something just click. Like over like I guess the trading, the accounting, the credit repair, the coffee. Fuck, this is a long list. You know what I mean? was there something that stood out to you that's kinda like I would do that a thousand times over? Like I I missed that one thing. speaker-1: I mean, dude, the funnest times are also the dumbest times. You know what mean? And like when I think back, you know, I didn't know like I was kind of the secret ingredient on bringing deals together, people together, leads together, employees together. Like I look back now and I was like, dang bro, like I was like this pretty awesome, magnificent, like you know, secret sauce in the whole equation. And and I don't say that to be cock cocky, it's like I you know, like I I realize now looking back, like, dude, I'm a freaking rainmaker, right? Everyone's got their thing, you know? Like, but like so it was very easy for me because I it to to this day it's still really hard for me to like say no to things because I want everybody to win. Truly. I really do. You know, I I've got employees right now that I've put on this profit share program and they're like What's next? Can we do this? Can we do that? And I'm like, no. I'm doing this to build this thing for all of us. And we're it we're gonna take a lot of you you're on profit share, man. We're gonna take a long time building this thing before we harvest a lot from it. We'll harvest along the way. but back then the funnest times were like You see, I mean dude, it like we're like frat boys, you know what I mean? Like it like, Come on, dude, come on, yeah, be a partner. You do this, you do that, and like it was just let's go to these events. speaker-0: I remember that. I remember And we were serious. speaker-1: Yeah, let's let's buy a jet, man. We got all this cash flow and, you know, millions in the bank and it was like it was it was pretty fun. that first year of Real Business Owners was really fun too because it was like, you know, like nerve wracking and it was kinda like speaker-0: Were you guys still in Arte at that point? Yeah. Yeah, you guys were still in it, right? Multiplaying speaker-1: We're going to speaker-0: what that is because that's a lot of people I is still round. speaker-1: Yeah. is it yeah? Yeah. and I and I I'm not in it anymore, but you know, it was like a mastermind group with two levels. It had the high level that was like seventy grand a year, and then it had the lower level that was like two hundred bucks a month. Yeah. You know, it was just Zoom calls and but it was it's owned by, you know, Andy Priscilla and Ed Milette, which were s just some big influencers in the business space and I still listen to Andy to this day. But but anyway, yeah, you had to ply, get accepted, your business had to be doing at least ten million a year and so so anyway, we had a lot of fun up into and up into that point and we started going to these events and meeting really cool people. So it was just kind of fun because it was like dude people are actually listening to us, you know. so it was cool, man. It was a fun time, you know, but if I you know if I went back and I knew my value, I would be like still wanting to build people up to win and like creating these amazing roles, but I would be like, yeah, equal ownership for you, equal ownership for you, and equal ownership for me, you know. Like I wouldn't be doing that. But that's the stuff you learn as you go, you know what I mean? Like there's a lot of insecurity. Like I didn't know how speaker-0: In a mastermind group, I just learned that and I just built out like a tier system. So it's fourteen tiers. Tier I think nine to eleven is profit sharing, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. There's equity, but it's stacked it it's staggered equity. So like we have to do a full full financial assessment at that point. Companies worth a hundred grand. Anything above hundred grand will give you five percent equity. Like yeah, it it's smaller increments, but it's giving them like light at the end of the tunnel, like a thing, but speaker-1: turn into a great exit strategy for you because ESOPs are some of the best freaking exits ever, you know what I mean? speaker-0: Kind of my plan is kind of do that, and then you know, by the end of it, I'm hoping it's in their best interest to keep it growing. So make numbers easy, right? So it's like it's in your best interest to grow to two hundred thousand dollars, and then you're maxing until the next stage, right? Kind of thing. Yeah. but like you're saying, you're kind of the rainmaker, right? Just want to bring this up because I want your experience on it. It's like I feel like I'm in that stage where I feel like I've helped so many people network and get referrals and build their business and give them like Like free insight. And I feel like I see all these people like taking off this way and I'm kind of like just dragging behind now. I'm like, when's he gonna fucking pay off for me? Like I'm giving these people advice. I'm doing all this stuff. I feel like I'm stuck in the same spot. Like, do you ever get that feeling? Because I really like I'm in like that lonely, really low, low chapter of like almost the second time around. Like first time was just kind of like being the first business owner around friends that weren't, and that was like a lonely chapter. I got through I'm like, I run a business, I go to work every day and when it turned into like My business was structured like a nine to five. I was like, okay, well Now I feel like I'm I fit in a little more because I feel like I'm just waking up going to work, not just scrambling at the seeing my pants every day. Yeah. I feel like I have a job like everyone else, not just like something I'm trying to like make a mountain out of a moan h molehill here. Yeah. But now I'm in this other chapter where I feel like there's so many businesses that started after me, started at the same time as me, getting ahead and I'm like, but they're actually like excelling and like half the reason they're getting further ahead is because of the shit I told them. I'm like, No it almost seems like unfair in this phase, right? So do you ever have a phase in that where it's kinda like felt unfair where it's kinda like Well, I'm doing all the legwork and like I'm the only one not winning here. Yeah. Like you know what I mean? It's kinda speaker-1: Absolutely, man, absolutely. And and you just if I could give advice on that is you've got to be intentional about the the networking that you do and and the how you do your deals, right? Because on one hand it's like somebody's gotta be the f first one to give. You know what I mean? and and that's most of the time I am the first one to give. But like for example, if you're going to like we talked about a minute ago, like going to B and I groups. You know, it's just it's just a mixture of business owners. You know what I mean? But where I spend a lot of my time networking is I'm I'm going to events of guys that are hosting events that are like teaching people how to launch a business or start a business and and like that fits my business model. Cause what's one of the first things they should do? Well, they should form entities, get business bank accounts set up, make sure it's organized, make sure you know what I mean? Like make sure they got their ducks in a row of a little bit of tax planning ahead of time, like all those things, right? And so I go to these events or I go to these communities online and then I'm like, hey, you know, like, like I had one gal not too long ago. She's like, I'm throwing my first event and I ran out of money. I was like, give you a loan. And she's like, What? I've never taken a loan from anybody. I've bootstrapped everything. I was like Girl, I'm in your community. Like people love you. You have something. You're helping people make money. You're helping people launch stuff. They need what I do. And like we had talked about what I do, but she wasn't like like, that's the greatest thing ever. Here, let me refer all my clients to you. So I saw this opportunity where I'm like, let me give you alone. And it's it just like changed everything, right? And she's just like, I can't believe you would just do that for me. Like we we barely getting to know each other. I like, no sweat. We're gonna drop a little agreement, super simple, but you're gonna pay me back in leads. And then she's like, my gosh, so I brought this solution, right? I have other guys that I'm like, you know, they're like, hey man, I'm I'm building out my program. Like I have this guy he does TikTok shop lives and they actually like rent people to actually like do the video stuff for them and they put together the brand deal or the product deal and he's like dude like and he's blown up already. But he's like, But dude, I need more leads, I'm depending on TikTok for everything. I'm no problem, bro. Like I know so many advertisers in your space that that's all it is is like business opportunity, people looking for stuff online to make secondary speaker-0: That guy's a middleman. speaker-1: And so I'm like, hey man, like I let let me introduce you to some guys. They're highly successful what they do. I've known them for years. you know, and they have onboarding processes, they can help you out, all this stuff. Well these guys need more people to like buy their, you know, marketing services or their leads. This guy needs more leads. And so I just tell him like, hey, all I want in return, you know, bro, is like start putting us in your model. And he's like, what does that mean? And he did, he put me in his Discord model. Hey, one of the first things you should do when you start a business is you should get your entity forms. Don't go to one of the big platforms where you're gonna basically end up doing it yourself and get all these upsells and pay three, four, five hundred dollars anyway. Go to I've got to deal with Kickstart. They'll form your entity. They'll take it all off your hands. They'll do it after they advise you and figure out your goals. It's white glove for basically the same price. You know, and so now we talk to his customers every time they onboard. And so I'm like, and I teach them this. I'm like, look, dude, no one raises their hand to have a tax consultation. Because it's a no one no one cares. They don't want to deal with taxes until they have to. You know, but it's pretty exciting when we're like, hey. You're paying $7,500 to get in the TikTok shop thing? That's a lot of money for some people starting a business. Yeah. You know, did you know you could put all that money back through your pocket through tax write-offs? Like, we could teach you how to make a hundred percent tax deductible this year, which most cases it's not. Most cases you're gonna write off $5,000 and then every other expense gets thrown in the startup bucket, which gets amortized over 15 years. And so I'm like, let me just sh tell you the sexy parts of accounting. You get to make more money because I'm gonna pay you referral committee. speaker-0: I don't think I've hold on, I don't think I've ever heard that phrase that phrase. Yeah. The sexy part of accounting. Yeah. I don't think I've ever heard that. No one ever said that to me. speaker-1: It is like you know I mean it's pretty you know, it's pretty sexy when something goes wrong in your business and your insurance picks up you know, picks up and covers the liability, right? It's like whew, you know, and it's ta a ca taxes and accounting's like that when you're starting a business. If you don't make money, dude, you wanna put that money back in your pocket. You wanna pay off that credit card or that loan. Yeah. You know, you wanna like have more dollars to put back into your business if it's getting a little bit of momentum. But most businesses aren't profitable their first year. No. You know, and so when we can actually build them a plan that's like Dude, write off a hundred percent, take all your lifestyle, make it deductible, pass it through, take it against your husband's income that works at the hospital, your spouse's income over, you know, whatever. And it's like, dude, there's thousands of dollars sitting there we're gonna put back in your pocket, w win, lose, or draw, right? And so when the influencers hear that, they're like, dude, that actually could lower my cancellations on people that get cold feet. That could actually, you know, hel help me put more money back in my pocket, you know, like. There's a lot of value there. I'm like, that's exactly what our consultation is about. So to answer your question in a really long way, dude, like you need to start identifying, like, because you give a lot of great advice and you're helping these guys, and you should keep doing that when it's like available to you. But like, you're like, dude, I still want to excel, man. Like, you know, and so you've got to get really intentional about the connections that you make, and not necessarily like we are withholding it or anything. I'll make a connection with anybody anytime if I can help them. But but I'm spending my effort to like make sure I'm talking to guys that are like in the areas that can also feed my team and my business because I gotta help them win too. Yeah. And so, you know, I don't go to B and I's dude. I go to events like right now I got one coming up car called RAL and it's called Residential Assisted Living Conference. They teach people, typically like nurses, that are like, I'm I wanna do my own thing. how to go buy homes and turn them into a care facility for elderly. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: You know what I mean? Dude, that and and it's expensive. They're buying a home, they're buying an asset, they're spending thirty thousand dollars to get the training. And so that's a big scary investment for people. So I what am I doing? I'm like, hey bro, I'm gonna sponsor your event. I'll I'll be there October fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth. Yeah, sure, I'll speak. You know? Well, dude, I'm gonna go down and make an impression and then the owners of the company are gonna be like, dude, That was a great talk. Like w how can we start having you more in the mix? I've already been talking to his team about it, planting seeds, you know. Like, hey man, I need to talk to the owner when I get there. Need to talk about coming to your guys' workshops, doing some trainings. There's a lot of pe I've already talked to some of your customers. They do not know anything about multiple entity structures, Wyoming LLCs. They don't know about these things. Well now the owner's catching wind of this stuff and he's looking forward to meeting me. I'm looking forward to talking to his community. There's gonna be a deal there, man. You know what I mean? But I was willing to just sponsor his event. They needed more sponsors. They got five hundred people coming, you know? They needed some more sponsors in the hallway. I hate doing sponsorships, bro. But I'm gonna take a couple of my guys off the phone. We're gonna go down, we're gonna post up the booth, we're gonna speak, we're gonna mingle with the community, we're gonna bring as much value as we can, and eventually we're gonna just become part part of the training. You know, hey, you just so for your business you've gotta identify like, okay, man, like, what are the rooms where I can you know, create a win, a win, and a win, a triple win, right? Like if I connect this, you know, plumbing outfitter that's really looking to scale with whatever, this appraisal guy over here, you know what I mean? Like I don't know the whole blue collar industry anymore. But it's like you gotta like just have some intention around like, well how how can we create a triple win together? Because I can bring you this and I can bring you that, but like all I need dude is I need more Whatever. Leads of homeowners looking to do what you do. So speaker-0: Like that. Do you feel like opening the doors to talk at events or sponsor events? The credibility you built over the years has helped out with that. I think we've I've done what, three events, four events I spoke at. And it's gotten three, yeah. So it's gotten better for like your first step in that door, dude. It's like people really dial into you. Like, you what I Like you especially social media, like I don't care to post that I'm waking up at four fifteen. But I feel like now I have to like I have to do it because it builds that credibility where it's like in five years it's gonna pay off that I'm actually doing it. You know what I mean? Like you know, my company social media, I gotta constantly post that we're still working because I gotta show like it's an actual successful business. Like you know anyone can have a construction business on the back end. But if I'm doing the construction business, but I'm out doing the gym, talking to an event, you know, traveling to Utah, like doing all these things on top of my business running, it builds that credibility where it's kinda like Yeah. He's built a business and he's doing stuff on the side, so like clearly the business is doing okay. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like that's what I'm finding is the hard part about it, getting into like events and stuff. It's like that, like you have to have that credibility. You have to you have that little bit of a resume built to do kinda do that. speaker-1: Dude, I think that's great, especially with where you're going too, man. You got a great product, you're building automations for construction companies. You know the industry really well. It's like, absolutely, dude, start making connections to people that can get more contractors in their ecosystem and community and you become the automation guy that builds their CRMs out for them. You know what I mean? Like those deals are there, you know what I mean? And and you're on the right path 'cause you're already like, you know what? speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: I'll be willing to suck and get up and just speak, not being some seasoned speaker, you know? Everybody has to start somewhere and so and I did I still ha I don't I don't wanna say I hate speaking 'cause there's so much good that comes from it. But dude, I stress myself out over it. I'm not like some, you know, Jesse Itzler that can just go out and just entertain the crowd naturally, you know what I mean? So like yeah, it's it's tough and it takes a lot of courage to do. speaker-0: I find it's hard being natural but still bringing value. I'm okay in front of a crowd. You put me in front of a crowd naked, I'm okay. Like I'm I'm good. I I don't I'm not worried about embarrassing myself. I'm I I make my I make an ass of myself all the time. So I'm like that's not new. Yeah. Right? But it's like what I'm talking about is this gonna bring value. Yeah. Kind of thing. Like I just did a networking event and it was like a local B and I kind of thing and I was like they kind of gave me the open floor. Yeah just speak and I'm like and I just put out my book and stuff like that and I'm like, well it's a networking event. I'm just tired of everyone kind of selling me at networking events. So I'm like, let's talk about networking but more in Like the personal development aspect of it and like the relationship aspect rather than closing a sale, yeah, kind of thing. So I just did a speech that way, right? But I'm like, it was hard for me to kind of figure out like what am I gonna talk about that's gonna bring value? Yeah, like you that's the hard part. I fumbled my words, I don't care. Like I guarantee no one even noticed it. In my head, I did, but you know, so I've learned I've got past that part of it. But the whole, like, is it bringing value kind of thing, or is it like relevant? Yeah, it's like you know, because I tend to ramble. You're the same way like when we first walked in, you're like I'm just gonna talk. I'm like, cool. Yeah, that's it, right? ideas are easy, execution is everything. Yeah. Where's your head at now? Like what are you doing in the weeds? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean dude I'm doing deals right now, you know what mean? Because our our company has volatility right now. So it's like what do I gotta do to gre create consistency? I've gotta feed the engine, you know, and so I dude and I have an amazing team. but like I have an integrator, you know. I've got help dude, hey, I need help with this, da da da boom, he's Claude Code, done. You know what I mean? Email drip is alive, whatever, right? And so like I don't mess time I don't mess around with that kind of stuff very, very often at all. We'll sit down and do a little strategy on it and he'll go to work and he's very fast and he's very quality. I got amazing sales team, I've got amazing fulfillment director, I got an amazing, you know, finance manager that handles our numbers and so dude we just have a system already that's like the gate. Client comes on and moves through the cycle, you know, referral commission reports and all that stuff. It's all built in, it's automated week by week. She knows who to pay, how much, everything, and it's just it's all it's all just pretty systemized out of the gate, dude, because we took a team that was already working and went over here, made a few adjustments. So while I spend all my time right now out putting deals together. You know, like the gal I get the loan for, like booking some events where I'm gonna sponsor. It was ten grand up front and I'm gonna pay probably another five grand putting my team down there and ro hotel rooms and flights. Whatever. You know what I mean? Like we got cash flow to do it. I don't need to harvest from the company right now. so I'm just out putting deals together because, you know, a lot of these guys that build, you know, that are in the opportunity space and they're in they're they're serving our ideal customer, you know, like they'll have five sales one week and then they'll have twenty five another week, you know? And it's like, you know, you your your sales guys up there, they all need ten, fifteen leads a week to make, you know, with the money they're used to making. And so there's you know, like this week we're actually low on leads and so I've dude, I've been on the phone freaking 'cause you know I'm going hunting tonight. And so I've been on the phone like, dude, send me that file, bro. Send me those referrals. Dude, how many people came through your funnel? Hey man, like you know where we You know. So that's all I'm doing though right now is just putting deals together, making sure that the beast is fed and and and then we'll fine tune as we go 'cause we have a good system in place. speaker-0: So you're finding you're pretty consistent now, or you still in that work speaker-1: We're consistent speaker-0: Like the baseline's consistent, just top end. Yeah. That's why I'm finding a lot of people right now. They're kinda like, Well I'm steady, but then I get a blip and then I'm steady and I get a blip. It's not like a c it's not a readable kind of ebb and flow. It's more of a peak like spike or something like that. speaker-1: September second was our first year anniversary. We did like three point four million dollars, right? And I I was shocked by that 'cause I wasn't watching, bro. My head's been down just feeding the beast. But it's crazy. Like some weeks these guys will onboard a hundred thousand dollars in new business and upfront money collected for one off services and then we have some reoccurring that's been growing. but dude, some some weeks they'll bust a hundred, hundred and ten thousand dollars, some weeks they're down at thirty thousand dollars, dude. You know what I mean? And so it is a roller coaster right now, but As we continue to build our presence back online and we go make more connections and more things, like it's it's only gonna just keep raising it. Eventually it'll be two hundred thousand and a bad week's eighty thousand, you know. But that's how it always was, even at our old accounting companies, you know. speaker-0: just moving the decimal point now. Yeah. It's kinda like you I mean like right now a ten thousand dollar month might be great. Yeah. And a five thousand dollar month might be horrible and then give it three years, you know, a hundred thousand dollar a month might be great, fifty thousand dollar a month might be bad. But all you do is move the decimal point because it's relevant to what you're carrying. Like you said, you're building the building. You know what I mean? Like the new office and stuff like that. It's like, well that's new overhead and you know fixed you know, expenses and stuff like that. It you get to that point where it's kinda like, well The percentages are still the same. We're just making more money but we have more outcome output. Like it's one of those like there's a decimal spot keeps moving. Hopefully in the right sp in the right direction, but speaker-1: Dude, absolutely. And there's a lot of fears around it though. Even being doing this twenty years, it's like the bigger your payroll gets, the more it owns you a little bit too, 'cause those are people that depend on you, you know, and it's like, you know, if you have a few bad months in a row, you're like, Daddy doesn't get to touch any of the money. It all has to go to feeding your teen. And so and I've been through those times as well. Those are some of the toughest times, dude, when you're like You're just taking care of your people and then you're going home and telling your other people, your wife and kids, like, hey, it's tighten up time, you know, like we gotta do what we gotta do. And so, yeah, but yeah, dude, we'll we're willing to ride, dude. I don't know any different anymore. Like I literally after I sold out the last time, I was really on the fence about being like, just go work for someone else for a while, dude. Like then I don't have to be the guy. You know? 'Cause there's a lot of pressure that comes with that. speaker-0: I was just talking to my wife about that and my father in law was staying over with us And he's like, Do you ever get nervous like running a business? And I'm like, You do, but you get used to the nerves. Like you you get used to like, well fuck, I I gotta pay ten thousand dollars tomorrow and I have no money. I'm like, pfft, Yeah, I'll figure it out. Like like literally no money and you're like, I owe ten thousand dollars tomorrow. It's kinda like your your skin's just so thick at it, right? Yeah. But then I said, I go, you know what, the worst thing that ha that can happen, I shut down my fucking business, I go work for somebody else and my wife's like, Yeah, you could do that and I'm like, I'd probably get a better job than I had before because of my experience in business. Do you think you That would be you. Like, do you feel like you can bring that value to a company now where you kind of like say, Hey, I built this, I built this, I built this. Yeah. I want a top tier position because like the experience I bring is like worth it. Like I never thought about that. Like, even if you like to anyone going out to start a business, I'm like, go and try. Yeah. Because worst case, like I think you're gonna come out with more value. To offer an employer than you would just going to an employer and never trying your own business. See, I never thought of it from that mindset, but I spun it the other day. I'm like, I'm like a high school drop build, I was a construction worker. I made it to like field supervisor, right? Where I was doing like paperwork, running crews, stuff like that. And I'm like, Well, now that I've done all the business part of it, I'm like, pfft they die from me back. Like I'd I'd be killer in there. I'm like, this might be a thing, right? Yeah. So spun on it? And never thought of it like that, right? What like what are your thoughts on that? Do you feel like speaker-1: I think I'd be the same as you. Like if you just needed that time to kinda rehab a little bit. Like, you know what, dude, I don't need forty people like all dependent on me. That's a lot of pressure. I'm just gonna work for someone else for a while. You know, there there could probably be some therapy in that. Yeah. You know, but did it the speaker-0: But would you look for a top tier position if you went to go work for someone else? f speaker-1: For sure. speaker-0: or would you be you know some people are just kinda like let's say blue speaker-1: I gotta take care of my family. speaker-0: collar, right? Yeah. Some guys quit their business and say, you what, dude, I'm just happy swinging a hammer. Yeah. I just want to go back to that. Like they don't want to be the project manager, the construction manager. Yeah. They're just like, I just want to go back to the basics, right? I don't see myself doing that. I see myself like I'm gonna go be the entrepreneur then. Yeah. You know what I mean? Kind of speaker-1: I would be basically if I got into an organization blue collar, I'd be like, I'll get you more jobs. Yeah. But you're gonna, you know, put me in the lead, give me a couple guys, and we're gonna go out and start feeding your thing. But you've gotta have operations on c under control and make sure that you're in a position to be scalable because that's the stuff I don't wanna deal with right. So speaker-0: Exactly. No, exactly. speaker-1: that's probably the conversation to be had if like, you know, whatever, some home services company was like we're hiring. I'd be like, Well I'll get you more jobs. Yeah. You know, but you know, I would probably end up starting my own thing in a year or two, you know, and that's speaker-0: Look at my sales, I got this company. Let me become a marketing company for all the other construction companies. Like I i that's a squirrel brain of an entrepreneur, right? Like that's a like your vision never goes away, right? I speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: never thought of it like that. Like a lot of people I find walk away from business, want to go back to simplicity. I'm like, I don't think I'd go back to simplicity. I think I'd go for a new challenge. Yeah. But I would go for the challenge. I don't know if I'm ready to give up entrepreneurship. I'm loving it, but if I ever did, I'm like, I might not go that way. I might go the other way, right? For sure. Public companies think in quarters, family businesses think in generations. Mm-hmm. So let's dive into the coffee thing. Okay. I really want to know about that because like I love how you did that. And I'm like, if I could do something for my family to do that, like even my son, for instance, like he came to me and he's like, he's got the entrepreneurial itch. My daughter's like already starting to do like lashes and beauty on her friends and stuff. Yeah. And she's already got the entrepreneur itch. Like my son, I'm like, What do you want to go school for? He's like, Accounting. And I'm like, that's cool, right? I What do you gonna do with accounting? He goes, Well you said, you know, you hire people and they're like fractional CFOs, so I'll just get really good at accounting and then I'll just get hired as fractional CFO. And he's already got that like that itch, that mindset kind of thing. I'm like, Yeah. Alright, and then I see you doing the grit and grind, like how do you like Are you tying your family in that? Like how much do they help? Was that the big vision from day one or was it just another kale idea? speaker-1: I just did not want to do business with people anymore. I just like I didn't want business partners anymore. Did I was just like, this sucks. If I'm going to like have business partners, you know, like I mean not that my kids are my business partners, you know, in some ways they are, you know. but like dude business is tough. You know what I mean? And it's like, why am I wasting my time stressing about what they think or their direction and net what they where they want to go and you know, like we're sitting in here, you know, beefing about all this stuff. Like if I'm gonna go do that, man, I'm gonna go mentor my kids and go like teach them how to actually build something from the ground up and teach them how to you know, supply and demand and profit and net profit and overhead and like you know what I mean? And a coffee business was perfect for that because Dude, that's a lot of like little sales and you've got sales tax filings and you're like, you think you're profitable and you're like, well, we didn't move the sales tax money over to that account before we pay sales tax yet. And so there's like all these little moving parts, you know, and you know, there's orders and how we bring order costs down. Cost of goods sold. I've done never done a business with cost of goods sold. It's always been service based stuff. And so you know, so I had to like learn how to actually, you know, cut cogs and and like look for nickels. vers and pennies versus like you know, thousands of dollars to cut costs, you know, that all make a big difference. And so, you know what, dude, it like it all it's done is make me a better business owner, but like, yeah man, I just like and my kids are like proud of it. They're like, you know, 'cause we're kinda by the high school they go to in the elementary school and they're like, yeah, we're great and run, you know what mean? It's like that's pretty valuable, dude. You teach your kids to like build stuff that that's they're proud of in the community, you know? And so, I own Four locations. the two of them aren't built out yet. And so the next ones are gonna be brick and mortar. you know, with drive throughs and I'm actually looking at a couple land deals. Dude, that's a pretty cool thing. I'm looking at two deals right now in the one town over, one of them's a corner lot on a main road. Well they both are actually. W they're only a couple miles from each other. And it's like, okay, well I've got enough space I could build a commercial plaza with our coffee shop out on the corner. And the other one hour already has a building on it, I could turn that into a commissary kitchen where other, you know, mobile food people or bakers or event planners or I mean caterers, like they all need commissary kitchen. So like I'm like, I could rent this house out, put a drive through there on this corner lot, and turn it into like a cool little event venue, you know, because there's a lot of space in the back of it where you could actually build like a cool little you know, small event center. Yeah, yeah. You know, but I'm like I started doing the numbers, I'm like, bro, that's only a five hundred thousand dollar deal with the building on it. Like, you know, that's a thirty two hundred dollar a month overhead. Like I could I could make that pretty profitable even before I put the coffee business on it. So I'm just I'm thinking these things and I'm teaching my kids and I'm talking about these things with my kids as we're like looking at these potential deals and it's like they're gonna learn like, you know Do I self-fund it or do I get funding? What is the interest rate? How does that affect me over five or ten years? Like, you know, how to be creatively thinking about all the different revenue streams off this one piece of dirt right now or this one building right now. Like, you know, and how to how to put that design together and how to make that vision come to life. And so, dude, I'm stoked I get to teach my kids that stuff. You know what I mean? But the coff like I said, the coffee business was hard, dude. At first we're just like, Getting pulled back into the business. My wife's business was getting she was getting pulled back into hers when we decided to do it. We were both kind of like, we have plenty of time, you know, so let's do this coffee business. Well, that's just how the universe works, bro. It just finds ways to test you. and then we jump in. I'm dude, I'm literally going down to this little trailer at six in the morning and opening because I don't have employees yet, and learning how to make coffee as I go and lattes. I'm a broista. And I'm the guy opening and I'm the guy doing the dishes and I'm the guy training draining the you know, the grey water tanks and I'm like I'm like, what am I doing? you know. So anyway, my wife's been huge on that. She started hiring all these younger girls to come in and cute little baristas that you know Yeah, they like it. speaker-0: They have fun doing it. It's fucking bullshit. speaker-1: Yeah, I knew that was. I was going down there for three, four hours and then I was going into easier and then I'm like trying to put deals together and trying to make sure that thing gets back making money again 'cause when we brought that CEO in, bro, it tailed. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it cut in half tailed. It's crazy. But cool speaker-0: Well speaker-1: thing about all the guys, even though we've kinda split up and s you know, some relationships are still there, some aren't, you know, but like everybody cared about people, you know, and so We don't wanna fire anybody. Yeah. You know, revenue gets cut in half, profit gets cut even thinner to the point where there wasn't any profit. It's like no one's li we're like not letting people go because we care about people, you know? And so I was just trying to put deals together and keep the coffee king going and my wife's trying to keep her salon going. And we're trying to, you know, keep easier going. It was crazy, dude. So everything worked out though. This has been a huge blessing, all of it. The the turbulence has been a blessing, so speaker-0: One thing I found with my kids is talking to them in bigger numbers opens their eyes a lot. Yeah. Like you know I mean, like if we have a ten thousand dollar day, tell my kids we have a ten thousand dollar day. I find makes them I guess almost resilient to like a closed minded closed mindset. Yeah. You mean like instead of hearing like, you know, their friends, I'm gonna go to university, I'm gonna become this and make a hundred thousand dollars, like talking to my daughter or son saying, Hey, you know, like we had an eighty thousand dollar month it's kinda like To them it's almost like, well, I can make more than that. Like it it teaches them to think bigger. Because like when I first became an entrepreneur, to hear a million dollars, I was like, that's impossible. You can't do a million dollars. Like who does like one in a million does a million dollars? Like but then w as you're around more people, hence like part of my trip coming down here, yeah is putting yourself around people like that. Yeah. Where it's like that's a normal conversation to make a million dollars. Yeah. But you're just saying with the deal, it's like, well, it's only a five hundred thousand dollar deal. Most people would be like Five hundred thousand dollar deal, that's insane. Like I would never step into that. Like you know what I Yeah. So I find talking to my kids, it's really open their eyes and like give them a sense of hope of like you don't have to be restricted here. Like you don't like it the w it's yeah, endless what you can do kinda out there where speaker-1: Absolutely dude. Teach to just take chances and speaker-0: okay let's talk about Kickstart now. Yeah. In detail. Okay. What do you guys do and what do you guys offer? Yeah. speaker-1: so we are really good at helping new entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that are already starting to take off and they're like, I know there's some foundational things I need to do different here. We're really good at helping them identify what is the best foundation for them to take full advantage of their business expenses and their business profits in those early days, because most of them don't get that education. so we form entities and we form with a plan. We don't just I mean, dude, anybody can go on their state website or they can go on to l Legal Zoom and form an entity. And I've gone through all those funnels myself and we're building out our page where people can check out right online with a plan, you know, but you know, because people don't know when's the right time to switch to an S Corporation or C corporation or if should I be a partnership? What does that operating agreement look like? I've got a network attorneys that sign off on all that work. so the entities and the trusts and the and the operating agreements, all that kind of stuff, we're really good at helping people get that foundation set up for their business. And then we do books and taxes and we do consulting throughout the year. and we've got really good systems for that. But what we're really good at is helping that entrepreneur understand from day one, why am I just being an LLC? You know? speaker-0: Let's get into that. So because in because most of the listeners are in Canada, right? So we have I'll tell you what we have and you tell me in relevance of what it is kind of for you guys. So we have just the I guess we have our solo proprietorship or sole proprietorship, which is just it's your name on against your personal taxes. You can have an operating name, but when you file all your business stuff, it goes under your personal tax to get taxed as a personal I I guess personal. Yep. Right? Yeah. Then we have a partnership, which is an actual business between two people. And then we have I guess a soul no, we have Corporation. Corporation. We have a corporation, which is like your separate entity than the actual business. And then we have a holding comp or hold co, which is can only hold fixed assets, trade, investment fund, stuff like that. Cool. And that's how we kinda have it. You have like you you yourself are the business, you and someone else are business, the business is itself, or you kind of have a hold co that's not it's just a numbered company, not relevant to anyone, not tied to anyone, just holds assets. Yeah. So how do you guys have it down here in the States? Yeah. speaker-1: We're very similar. You know, we have sole proprietorship, just doing business to your name. Then we have LLC, which is limited liability company. It's not a corporation, but it separates you. You get your EIN number, which separates that from your social security number. So it is separation. And people do that mainly for liability reasons, right? You know, if they sue you, they can't sue the business unless there's commingling and things like that. so there are ways to steal, you know, hold liability if you don't run it properly. Yeah. but an LLC in the in the States, what it allows you to do is it you can 'cause if you started as a corporation, for example, up in Canada and you're totally separate and then you start creating partnerships and then, you know, you you know, or extra companies or corporations, like, you know, it can get messy, right? Same with down here. But what the L what the you know, what in the US what they've done, which is really cool with the limited liability company is like The last thing they want you to do is like go get an EIN number, build business credit, get loans, get your business license, get insurance policies, get you know, all these regulatory things built up and then you're like, man, I actually need to be a corporation. Which gets a new EIN number, identification number. And so now I have to go back and redo all that stuff. I get it. New merchant accounts, new bank accounts, new business licenses. Like what a pain in the butt. So the LLC allows them to just elect to now be a corporation without changing the EIN. And you could do an S corporation or you could do a C corporation. The only difference between those, well, there's a lot of differences, but an S corporation is still passed speaker-0: notes. speaker-1: through, and the C corporation is not passed through. And in order to be a like a publicly traded company or if you're doing crowdfunding or things like that, you've got about a BSC corporation that's totally not passed through. What that means is like the expenses and the profits don't pass through to you. You gotta you have to take legitimate, you know, corporate dividends and you gotta take, you know, draws from the entity the right way. And then you still gotta pay taxes on what's left over under the corporate taxes. So what business pays you, you gotta pay taxes on and then If you don't zero it out and you don't get very strategic, your comp your corporation's gonna have a tax liability as well. So there can be some double taxation. Whereas the S corporation, even if it's an LLC that's now elected to be an S corporation, you can actually pass all the expenses through. So if have a bad year, and let's say, you know, you were profitable, but now you're not, and your wife's a nurse making $120,000 a year at the hospital, and you've got like a loss on this business that was profitable, well you can still pass those deductions through against her income and put some money back in your pocket through those ta from from that tax harvesting. You know, and so and so that's that's kinda how they're built. But it's the profits are passed through as well. But the cool thing about the S corporation for you know, versus sole proprietors and LLCs that are taxes partnership with sole proprietors is in the US you we have Social Security. What do you guys have? speaker-0: s social insurance. Social insurance. Yeah, the SIN number, yeah. speaker-1: It's like the Yeah. and so Social Security is for, you know, basically supplemental retirement, you know, money that you have to pay into throughout the year. Well, employees, employers match that. So if you're if you came to work for me, I'm in your W two, you'd see a social security tax on everyone of your paychecks, and I match that. Well, in the US, they they say, Okay, well, you're self employed. And so you don't have an employer matching it, so you've got to pay the full fifteen point three percent. And so you pay your state, your federal income taxes, and your fifteen point three percent self-employment taxes. I mean, dude, profitable businesses end up getting reamed forty-five, fifty percent of their tax liability gone. And so the S corporation doesn't have to pay any self employment tax. It eliminates that fifteen point three percent. Yeah. As long as you do a fair and reasonable salary, you actually like create a payroll, you know, and and actually pay yourself a little something. So And you're allowed to do this, but in the US, like you know, depending on your duties of the business, if it's something you could hire out for 25 grand a year, business is running itself, just pay rose up 25 grand a year. Take the other several hundred thousand dollars in S corporation distributions, and you don't have to pay that fifteen point three percent. You know, so it just really helps the business owner give control of that while still having the pass-through benefits. So we have sole proprietor, LLC that can be taxed as any of them, and then we've got partnership S Corp, C Corp. speaker-0: Okay. What do you find majority of business owners should be sitting in? LC? speaker-1: L L C to start. Yeah, most most business owners need to form an L L C for the liability protections and the organizational reasons, right? Like people tend to when they're operating as a sole proprietor, they're just like going to the farmers market and they're taking their business income, putting it right in their personal checking account, like it's all commingled. An L L C one mentally is like, Okay, this is a real operation. Like It helps business owners go all in when they're like, I got a business bank account and I got an LLC. But there's liability protection and the separation opens up the door for more tax strategies to keep those potential taxes very low or non-existent until you really start hitting some strides. I can show almost any business owner with an LLC how to make about a quarter million dollars a year and pay no taxes on it. speaker-0: Yeah, see that that but people don't realize they need that help. Yeah. That's what I'm reali I'm finding like it's an administrator. Like I have so many friends who are like, How do you keep up with everything? I go, fucking hire someone. Yeah. Twenty five, thirty bucks an hour, twenty hours a week, they will change your life. Like, I don't have the money for that. And I'm like, You just bought a new truck. Yeah. That you didn't need. Like that could have paid them for a year. Like you know what I It's kinda yeah. I don't I don't understand the relevance of it. But like okay, so you guys kinda have the same thing we do because I know I was a sole provider first year, just got fucking hitmered with personal tax. Like the other personal taxes at I think I landed at thirty eight point point five. Yeah. Versus I could have been sitting at that fifteen or twenty corporate. Just like game changing. I'm like pfft and now we you know, if I have extra money like personally, like I have, you know, we sold something or s a stock does well, I dump it in into the company, I have a due to shareholder loan that I can pay back to myself tax free and you know, like things like I know how I don't know how you guys are with like an investment accounts, but we can do Like R R S P like a retire registered retirement savings plan. Yeah. And that goes against your taxes X amount per year. So I think it's like fifteen thousand dollars a year you can put into that. That goes against your taxes. When Kenda as a sole owner of a corporation, you can put that in plus the company can match it and that goes all goes against your personal taxing. But again, these are things that people aren't talking to companies like yours about to plan. Yeah. Like you know what I mean? I'm like I have friends going putting money into an RSP, but they're taking it they're pay they're paying themselves an extra thousand dollars a month yeah on their paycheck so they're taking it out of the company, paying themselves an extra thousand dollars a month, which is technically like thirteen hundred dollars a month because now they have to pay payroll tax on that to the government and EI and CPP and stuff, and then they have their thousand dollars left over and then they put it into the account. I'm like, Yeah we just paid three hundred dollars a month over the course of twelve months every year extra that you didn't have to do. Yeah. You know what I But and they're like, Well how'd you know do I'm like, I fucking talk to someone. Yeah. I I phoned somebody. Like you know, I literally phoned somebody. I I don't know, it just it doesn't make sense to me. speaker-1: Because I I mean I say this not just to sell like what we do at Kickstart, but like people will go and drop ten thousand dollars, fifty thousand dollars on a coaching package with a website build. You know what I mean? Cause they just want to go start their business. And that and I'm not saying don't do that. But it's like, dude, for a couple thousand bucks you have everything set up right and have a plan and know exactly what you're doing to protect those investments. But most people don't do that. You know what I mean? And so that's really kind of why, you know, cause most accounting firms, the CPA firms and even legal groups that form the entities and the legal structures Like dude, they don't care about the startups. They're all chasing the dude that can, you know, pay fifty thousand dollars a year in compliance work and they want, you know, they want a hundred of those clients. Like they don't they don't want some brand new business owner that doesn't have a ton of money cash flow. speaker-0: Even then the legal aspect of it, right? Like you call me, I'm like, okay, Kale, what do you want to do? I want to run a business. Okay, let me open you a business. Like at the end of the day, I've made you a happy client. I've given you exactly what you wanted. I didn't go above beyond for it. So like I have no repercussion at that point. That's all you want to do. In out the door, right? Yeah. And they do it so many times it's repetitive instead strategically making the plan for that individual, it's like it's easy. It's just kinda like, okay, click a button, what's name? Okay. Yeah. You know, then that's it, right? Mm-hmm. The best way to predict the future is to invent it. So what's next? Well I know you I I know you're gonna be going with Kickstarter for a while now, but I'm speaker-1: my plan is about six, seven more years of Kickstart, and I wanna hand it over to I'm gonna do an ESOP, which is an employee stocks option purchase. And so I'm gonna basically use the cash that we stack along with, you know, my team up there, one of them being my son. I'm I'm gonna have them take it over, dude. So but The reason I want to do that is I have a number in my mind, liquid cash net, that I want to use to do some things that I want to do next. Like I wanna get into some funding, you know, privately, private funding, you know, stuff. And like I feel called to that world. I know there's a lot of like loan sharks and things out there that don't do the best business, but I've been mentored by some guys. one of them's cool, he just bought his own island down in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago and You know, he parks his hundred and twenty foot yacht in front of it. Well, dude, he just started funding guys like you that don't want to deal with the red tape of the banks and they want to go spec build a house and you know what I mean? And he's like, dude, I've never had to he's like one time I had to actually go take a property from somebody and finish it and sell it to you know, and it was from bad management. It wasn't from you know what I mean, it was like a predatory thing on their end, right? And so ever since I've, you know, known this guy for the last, you know, eleven, twelve years, 'cause I actually met him through my wife, I'm just like, dude, I wanna do that, you know what I mean? And he started with a couple of million bucks. I mean nowadays things are different. You gotta start with a little bit more than that. Yeah. You know, but like, yeah, do you wanna go I wanna go be a bank, you know, private bank. You know? and so I wanna f I wanna fund deals without all the red tape and you know, like speaker-0: Are you looking at just the financing the deal and getting your kickback? Or are speaker-1: Yeah, but very similar thing. speaker-0: you looking at an equity stake and possibly businesses and stuff like that? Like are you looking for portfolio thing or are you looking for just an ROI? I mean I'm a speaker-1: open to it, you know, but yeah, I'm looking for I'm looking for providing a solution to guys that don't want to go wait three, six, nine, twelve months. I want to build a book of business of guys that can go use me to spec build over and over and over again and they they're willing to pay a little more than they would pay a standard bank because they don't want to jump through all the the hoops and the declines and all the stuff that they go through. And so that's something that I've been very interested in for quite some time now and I'm gonna go do it after I kind of flip seats here with my team and so so like that profit share team I've been talking to you about, like they're gonna end up buying me out in the future and then I'll still sit on the board, right? 'Cause I when I do something I you know, I care about I care about the vision and I care about the mission, but I care about the people more than anything. And so I might still be like a minority ten percent owner or something. Yeah. But yeah, that's my plan. speaker-0: part of the reason you want to go through the brick and mortar with grit and grind next is so you get an experience on actual spec and building and stuff like that or is it just not you speaker-1: Really dude? speaker-0: just find the brick and mortar you think is gonna do better than the trailer. speaker-1: That business is like a cool to me it's just to own some assets. You know what I mean? If I own the buildings with the business in it, like one day I can sell the business. I can sell the building and keep the business. Like there's a lot of different things you can do. You own the dirt. But like listen, being a tax guy, and that's what I'm so grateful for getting into the tax industry before I became a business owner, like I understand the value of owning assets and using the tax strategy, like depreciation against that income. like dude, you can make a lot of money in in you know commercial real estate, residential real estate, short term rental real estate. But here's the thing, there's like do you know how depreciation works in the US? You're you're depreciating the building against even your personal income, right? b if you do it properly. Well, there's a lot of red tape around that. Like you gotta get real estate professional status and all this stuff. Well it's like I can go buy commercial real estate and I can it's a one, it's an asset that appreciates. A business or a tenant is paying down the equity over time and you know, like it keeps me from paying taxes for a really long time. And so the coffee thing I'm actually looking at that now that I'm in the business, I'm like, I'm gonna buy some I'm gonna buy some real estate, I'm gonna develop. and I'm gonna be doing that while I build Kickstart. So that way I have some hard assets myself that when I liquidate for my number in Kickstart. And I start jumping into that new world of private lending. I also have a lot of assets that are, you know, paying me and appreciating that I can leave to my family one day and they're keeping me from paying taxes, right? And so but there's a lot of depreciation out there right now, dude. Like there's this you know, company here that one of my sales leaders left to go build a you know, work with and build a company with, and they sell like these workforce housing units. Which is cool, like they can sell to oil fields, they can sell to, you know, ch R V parks, like they can do all these things. But dude, that's a mobile home. Like it's not gonna appreciate in value, really. Yeah. You know what I mean? And there's also like heavy equipment, there's gaming machines. People can put twenty grand into a heavy equipment fund and buy three million dollars worth of farm equipment and lease it to a farmer. Pays for itself and it d takes down the depreciation. for their personal income taxes and no one's gonna taxes, but at the end of the day, dude, that tractor's gonna depreciate in value just like a truck. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I like real estate, dude, for that reason. It appreciates yeah pays itself down and it eliminates taxes. speaker-0: I see. Well it's good that you have that asset behind you, right? That that's the goal is to kinda have something that that just sits there and does its own thing, right? okay, this is always a tough question for the guests. What would you want to be asked? Yeah, speaker-1: What would I want to be asked? speaker-0: you're up on ESPN's panel, hundred reporters standing there, and you're like, I wish someone you would just ask me this. Mine, like to give you an example, is like When is it enough? That's my thing. Because I I d that's a question I can't answer. It's one of those like I don't I I don't know. Like I'm just gonna keep grinding. I'm just gonna keep going until I burn out, like and see how far I can push myself or what my limit is. Yeah. On what I can do, right? Kind of thing. So that would give you an example, like that would be mine. Yeah. speaker-1: probably want to be asked, since I do business with family members, I would probably wanna be asked, and I would only want to be asked this now. I wouldn't have been wanted to be asked this last year or the year before. But I would want to be asked like, what is you what do you think your wife and kids think about you and what you're really like to work with stuff that they don't even tell you or their peers, right? And I would want to be asked that now because like dude things are better than they've ever been. And it's Taken me making some really stupid, selfish mistakes and really working on some things to get to where our marriage and our family is right now and it did it feels better than ever, you know. So I would want to be asked that question because I could be like, dude, I think my family thinks that I am a great leader and I show up for them when I dude, I wouldn't have been able to say that, you know, even a year or two ago, you know. speaker-0: I did an episode with my wife and that's one thing I learned is where I always thought I was a squirrel brain. Yeah. And like during the episode it was one of those like, How do you feel like being married to me, knowing I come home with an idea tomorrow and it's like, I'm gonna do this and she goes, At first it was skeptical. Yeah. And as the years went on and you did different stuff and you continuously succeeded on it, I don't even bat an eye now. I just trust you to do it. And I thought she was the opposite. Yeah. So it's amazing how much you learn like working with someone side by side where it's kinda like yeah, I always thought you always thought I was an idiot. Yeah. Like you know what I It's always one of those like you have a new like I'm I I was scared to come home to c and say, Hey babe, I have an idea. Let's do this, right? Meanwhile, she's on the other side saying, you know, yeah, go ahead. In her head. Like it's one of those like, yeah, do what you have to do. In my head, I'm like, okay, this is gonna be a fight and I'd have to like over justify it. Okay, babe, I wanna start Doing this and she goes, Okay. I'm like, but listen, I'm I'm gonna do it like this, okay. And then I'm gonna do this. Yeah. Okay. And in my head I'm like, I had to fight for that. And she's just kinda like I just said okay. So it's cool that, you know, yours was working with family because I'm really s at that phase where I'm starting to resonate of what working with family, what the kids see, what Casha sees, like stuff like that. speaker-1: Yeah, dude, I don't care about anything else but my my little world right now. Yeah and it's my family and it's my team here at work. And but dude, two years ago, man, like if you were my wife would probably be like, dude, he's checked out. He's he doesn't do what he says he's gonna do. There's something sus about him, you know what I mean? And so well, we were already repairing two years ago. Five years ago was the worst, but dude, we've worked on it the last three, four years and she's the one that told me recently, like our our marriage is the best it's ever been. And my kids are happier than they've ever been. You know what I mean? And I recognize it. And so I've been really proud of that, dude. I've been really proud of where we're at right now. Dude, I wanna hold on to it as long as I can, you know, but I know there's always gonna be other challenges ahead. Yeah. I just pray that they're different challenges, dude. I don't ever wanna be like, you know speaker-0: But at least you didn't miss the boat on it being good right now. I feel like I just went through that where it's like I don't know if I'm just good by myself. So like my family life is good, my personal life is good because I'm by myself so much. It's kinda like when I'm around my family, I'm like checked in, I'm like, okay, this is what we're doing. Yeah. This is what wanna do. And I thought to myself, I'm like, imagine I was in the hustle and bustle and like enjoying like this is a phase it's in. Because my kids are well how old are your kids? speaker-1: Twenty five, twenty, six in, eleven, and six. speaker-0: Okay, so I got I got seventeen and fourteen right now, right? But they're at that teenager age where you can have a dull conversation with them and stuff like that. I'm like, I couldn't imagine my home life being a mess and missing this phase. Yeah. Like it would suck. Yeah. Kind of thing, right? Like speaker-1: when you're doing that. But that's the worst, dude, when your family knows you're checked out. Is that depressed? speaker-0: I think every business owner goes through that one point. I think everybody does. I think that's part of the process. Yeah. okay. What would you name this episode? speaker-1: geez, dude. Probably something like foundation that matters. Foundation like that. I like that one. And it's because we've talked about a lot of foundational things in business, but also family. You know what mean? one thing I'm really proud of, and I was talking about this with my wife the other day. I was like, you know what? If you think about it. All the stuff that we've started together and separately is still running. You know what I mean? Like we've had little side projects where like, we're not gonna do this or anything. And things have morphed into other things, but like even the stuff we sold to our old partners, man, still up, running. And it's like, you know, because we really put our heart and soul into, you know, building something that was that was had a good foundation. You know, and that doesn't mean just taxes and corporations, you know what I It's about it's about speaker-0: At the whole and you're talking about the people not firing them, keeping them around, revenues in half, profits even thinner, and you're still not firing like that's yeah, it shows that yeah the foundation is there. Like it really is there. speaker-1: Sure. So I mean I would probably maybe name it something like that, you know? speaker-0: Well we didn't know what to name the first episode and then episode two I'm like I'm just gonna start asking the guests. Like let let them do it, right? speaker-1: I think it's a great question. Am I still that for you as I start podcasting again, you know? speaker-0: okay, so camera's all yours. Plug your businesses, personal anything you got going on, tell people who you are, what you're doing. Well it's all yours man. This one? Yeah. speaker-1: Okay, well first of all, AJ's an incredible person and obviously he's, you know, made a lot of sacrifice to come out here and and have a show and you know be willing to, you know, put us on this platform. And so, first of all, I would just say, you know, keep watching this guy. He's an incredible guy, he's gonna do a lot of amazing things. And as far as what we do, you guys know from the episode, like if you're starting a business, launching a business, I mean we ca we can do a lot. to make sure that your foundation is set up properly to win for years and years to kin or years and years to come. you know, because you know, building these businesses matters, you know, like people do it mainly for their families and their legacy and, you know, their communities. And so reach out. Let us, let us we can help you, give us a call, you know, go to kickstartcompanies.com. You can book a call there. Bottom line is is like we genuinely love helping business owners start properly, restructure properly. And really just set set it up to set up their system to win, you know? So give us a call, we'd love to help. speaker-0: Would you ever dabble in Canada? speaker-1: Dude, I've been getting asked a lot of that that chick I told you I gave a loan for half of her le clients are in Canada. speaker-0: We have nothing like that. Like I I try to help a lot of the people I know, but like with the tax and the like registration stuff, I'm like, Yeah, I can't do it. Like that that's not a me thing and everything. And we have like CPAs who only do tax. We don't have like financial advisors. Does that make sense? Like pe they'll come and do planning, but it's very like, Okay, Cale, you need to do, you know A million dollars 'cause your expense are eight hundred thousand dollars and we'll put two hundred thousand dollars, we'll figure out what to do with it after. See you at the end of the year. There's no one that meets with you consistently. Yeah. That does that planning, hand holding, or anything like that, right? And I like even when we're thinking about we were talking, I'm like, that would be something bad in Canada. Like I I could name ten guys off the top of my head where I'm like, Yeah, they can use it. speaker-1: this social selling and you know digital marketplace stuff is getting big in Canada dude. Like like half of like both the TikTok guy and the other gal that does the digital products that I did the loan to, she's literally like, Can you please like help my Canadian clients? And I'm like, I can't, you know, like there's just enough nuances there where you know it's it's it's like I just don't have the expertise and the connections to actually fulfill yet. but if somebody came along that was like, look, man, I've got a compliance company here, they know how to do the paperwork, they don't know how to sell, they don't know how to consult, they don't know how to advise, then I could definitely build an alliance and be like, Look, you know, here's how you get leads for that type of business owner to attract that avatar. My sales team could sell the crap out of it all day long, and we could pass it up to the peop and and advise, you know, and then pass it up to people to actually do the tax. preparation, the actual compliance work. You know, if I had a connection like that up there, I could do it. I could launch it. You know? So speaker-0: Might know so I think that's someone in mind. Fuck you in an email. Yeah. yeah, because I think Canada's really missing out on that. I mean Kanda's missing a lot of like we were talking about before, the collaboration with business services. Like w it's all competition. It's like if you need an accountant, you only call an accountant. There's no like Yeah, well the account's gonna refer you to someone else or you know you know what I mean? Or it's people just overextending themselves. Yeah. People thinking they can do this and this. It's kinda like You don't do both, man. You don't like you know what I mean? You just don't. Anyway, yeah, so I appreciate you coming on, man. Dude, my pleasure. It's been awesome, great conversation, great catching up. Yeah. A lot of value for business owners out there, like a lot of value out there. And these few episodes in the next few weeks are actually special to me because we traveled to come see some special people, some like really fucking heavy hitters. Like, you know, we're talking like eight, nine, ten-figure kind of people that built up the businesses, have the experiences. And you can see they still go through the hardships. Yeah. They still have the highs and lows, just like you feel like we talked earlier, you have a hundred thousand dollar problem or a ten thousand dollar problem, he has a hundred thousand dollar problem, but they hit just as hard at home. They literally do their stuff with family, just like you feel like you're going through some hardships at home. Like Cale just admitted, like he's better than he's ever been, but he was checked out before. And I've been in the checked out stage. Like it's part of the process you have to go through. And it's just Ups and downs that you're constantly gonna go through over and over. And look at him, he's exited, he's built multiple businesses, everything like that, and he's back in at the grassroots stage. He's rebuilding it. He just started a coffee business. On top of that, it's passion project. It never ends. Once you get that mindset, it never ends. So until next episode, forget the noise, stay tuned, thank you for tuning in. And I guess we have a lot more coming. And that's it. Age Cap Chief signing off. speaker-1: Yeah.