Podcasts about episode highlights mike

In this hilarious and wild episode of Dam Internet, You Scary!, Tahir Moore and Patrick Cloud are joined by viral TikTok sensation Mike  @MikeCakez   famous for his iconic catchphrase "Sir, Sir!" Mike shares behind-the-scenes secrets of going viral, his journey from engineering to content creation, and how he deals with constant bans from social media platforms. They also dive into some of the creepiest stories on the internet, including turning ashes into diamonds, preserving tattoos from loved ones as keepsakes, and poisonous plants that leave their victims smiling in death! S/O TO OUR SPONSORS SKIMS https://www.skims.com/diys PRIZE PICKS Download the app today and use code DIYS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! BLUE CHEW Try your first month of BlueChew FREE when you use promo code DIYS -- just pay $5 shipping. https://www.bluechew.com KIKOFF Building credit can happen faster than you expect with Kikoff. Don't wait and get your first month for just a dollar at https://www.GetKikoff.com/DIYS.

On this episode of the Nooo Degree Show, the crew kicks things off with a big reveal as Mike shares exciting news. From there, the conversation flows into the realities of modern life, as the team discusses the challenges and dynamics of today's relationships and societal pressures. Next, they dive into the latest Jay-Z and P Diddy allegations, unpacking the drama surrounding these celebrities. The episode wraps up with Mike recounting a hilarious (and cautionary) tale from his wild Tyson fight party experience.

In this episode of the Insurance Town Podcast, Mayor Heath Shearon sits down with Mike Mathwig, and they discuss how he "lucked" into becoming a Multi-millionaire through hard work and mergers and acquisitions. Whether you're considering selling your agency, growing through acquisition, or simply curious about the dynamics of agency sales, this episode delivers the goods.Episode Highlights:Mike kicks off by sharing his early career journey, from an internship at Northwestern Mutual to stints in banking and back to the insurance industry. His story showcases the twists and turns that can lead to discovering your true professional passion. Mike talks about the sell of his agency,  offering a behind-the-scenes look at how these deals are structured. He breaks down the key factors agency owners should consider before making the leap, including valuation, timing, and buyer compatibility. Heath and Mike discuss the importance of building strong relationships during the M&A process. Mike emphasizes how trust and transparency between buyers and sellers can make or break a deal.Preparing for Sale: Mike shares actionable advice for agency owners to maximize their agency's value, including cleaning up financials, developing strong processes, and showcasing growth potential. The conversation takes a big-picture turn as Mike discusses trends in the insurance market and how M&A activity is shaping the future landscape.Key Takeaways:Plan Ahead: Mike outlines why a well-prepared agency is more attractive to buyers and how owners can start planning years in advance for a successful sale.Understand Your Value: He explains what factors most influence an agency's valuation and how to position your business for top-dollar offers.Know Your Buyer: Not all buyers are created equal—Mike highlights the importance of finding the right fit, whether it's a private equity firm, aggregator, or local competitor.Train your kids up right: he talks about the lessons he is teaching his kids and the next generation about building your own generational wealth. Episode Quote:"Selling an agency isn't just about the numbers—it's about finding a partner who aligns with your values and vision for the future." – Mike MathwegSponsors:A big thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible!Smart Choice: Looking for a great partner to help grow your agency? Check out Smart Choice for all your agency needs.Canopy Connect: Want to simplify the way you collect client information? Visit UseCanopy.com/heath to see how Canopy Connect can help streamline your agency's processes.Olde School Marketing: For all your marketing and promotional needs, Olde School Marketing has you covered. Reach out today to level up your marketing game!

In this episode, we dissect the San Antonio Spurs' preseason opener and the key players to watch this season. Alamo City Sportscast Ep.235 Introduction Welcome to another thrilling episode of the Alamo City Sportscast, right from the vibrant city of San Antonio! In today's episode, your host Joe Garcia flies solo initially as our guest, Mike Jimenez, is fashionably late—as usual. This episode is packed with a fiery roast of Mike, a deep dive into the current ups and downs of the Cowboys and Saints, and an early analysis of the Spurs' preseason performance. Prepare for laughs, debates, and the best sports insights straight from Alamo City. Main Discussion In this episode, we dissect the San Antonio Spurs' preseason opener and the key players to watch this season. Joe takes the early reigns discussing the Cowboys' better-than-expected record compared to Mike's beloved Saints, setting the stage for some classic banter. Once Mike arrives, the discussion heats up, leading to a passionate debate over the effectiveness and potential of Spurs player Jeremy Sochan. The conversation also touches on the Spurs' depth chart, preseason performance, fan reactions, and what's expected from key players like Wemby as he steps into his second season. Episode Highlights Mike's Tardiness Roast : Joe roasts Mike for his habitual lateness and sets the tone with some good-natured ribbing. Cowboys vs. Saints : Analysis of the Cowboys' and Saints' current records, with Joe celebrating the Cowboys' superiority. Spurs Preseason Opener : Key takeaways from the Spurs' first preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Jeremy Sochan Debate : A heated discussion on Jeremy Sochan's effectiveness and what constitutes a successful season for him. Spurs Depth Chart : An overview of the Spurs' power forward options and their current roster strengths and weaknesses. Wemby's Leadership Expectations : Insight into what fans can expect from Victor Wembanyama in terms of leadership and performance this season. Fan Interactions : Engagement with listeners' live comments and questions, adding dynamic perspectives to the podcast. Key Talking Points Join us for this action-packed episode of the Alamo City Sportscast, where sports, humor, and expert analysis collide. Make sure to subscribe and join the conversation with your feedback and comments. Subscribe and Follow: Don't forget to subscribe to the Alamo City Sportscast on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social media for the latest updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes action. Subscribe To The Alamo City Podcast YouTube Channel You can now help support the Alamo City Sportscast by tipping us at our Buy Me A Coffee link: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlamoCitySportscast //Make Sure To Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel & Hit That Like Button! //Social Media:

While it's true that everyone has rough days at work, few people have ones where they find themselves dropped into the middle of a fishing boat mutiny, tasked with getting the bleeding Captain to safety. Today's guest is one of those precious few - and, in fact, that day wasn't even close to his most difficult assignment! 20-year U.S. Coast Guard veteran and Aviation Survival Technician (AST)/elite Rescue Swimmer, Mike Romano, joins Sandra and Sandy today to share his incredible journey from collegiate athlete to Search and Rescue specialist where he routinely performs daring rescues in the most perilous conditions. Highlighting the resilience, responsibility, and rigorous training required for his role, Mike discusses the intense physical and mental demands of his training, the crucial teamwork and communication needed during missions, and the importance of adapting to unpredictable situations. Mike's firsthand accounts of high-stakes rescues, specialized equipment, and valuable advice for aspiring ASTs underscore the bravery and dedication of Coast Guard rescue swimmers, and will undoubtedly leave listeners both amazed and inspired by their unwavering commitment to saving lives. Episode Highlights: Mike's journey to rescue swimming Rescue swimmer training Mike's team and its structure Planning ahead and improvising Transporting rescuees in the helicopter CRM and ORM training Mike's medical training His law enforcement role The equipment and technology he uses Some of Mike's more perilous experiences The feeling after a successful mission Contact with rescuees after the mission Dealing with the unpredictability of the job Mike's career rescue stats His advice for those considering entering the field Key Takeaways: "Don't have a backup plan. Have this be your one and only goal. Work hard. Just know as physically exhausted as you think you are, you can do more." "Coast Guard rescue swimmers are some of the most elite yet unsung heroes in our military." "They physically drain you as much as possible to make you try to think and just have that mental toughness." "When we get on scene, a lot of times it's very different. You've kind of got to be very flexible and roll with all the punches." "You just kind of put yourself in the mindset of 'so others may live' and stick with that motto." "The pridefulness of it, the, like, 'Hey, I did a great thing.' It's an incredible feeling to pull somebody out of their most difficult situation." Keep the adrenaline rush going at: Homepage: theadrenalinezone.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadrenalinezone/ X:  https://twitter.com/Adrenalinezonep TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theadrenalinezone Mike's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrromano/

Unconventional Collaborations RebelRebel Podcast host Michael Dargie sits down with Mike Brevik, the founder and chief marketing officer of CyberDogz. Mike shares his journey from aspiring cartoonist and illustrator to establishing a cutting-edge marketing agency. He recounts his childhood interests, his foray into corporate life, and his ultimate return to his creative roots by founding CyberDogz.  The episode delves into Mike's unique approach to branding, his adventurous collaboration stories, and his philosophy of marrying fun with business. The conversation reveals Mike's perspective on taking risks, his approach to unconventional collaborations, and his vision for CyberDogz, making it a must-listen for entrepreneurs and creatives alike. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Mike's transition from aspiring artist to marketing maven. The founding story and philosophy behind CyberDogs. Insights into unique brand collaborations and projects. Mike's take on blending creativity with business strategies. The importance of risk-taking and innovation in entrepreneurship. LINKS FROM EPISODE CyberDogz Marketing Janus Motorcycles Milwaukee Tool Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Lincoln Design Co.

In this episode, James talks with Mike Fusco, CEO of Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services. To learn more about Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services, visit https://foagency.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike mentions that he learned valuable lessons in efficiency and multitasking in the general business world from working in a call center to managing a team of agents and starting his agency. (6:57) Mike shares his experience working at an independent agency with no structure, where they had to create their opportunities and eventually manage a challenging sales team. (14:54) Mike believes in constantly pushing for improvement and not settling for comfort, as competition and the desire to be the best motivate him to always strive for growth and success. (24:54) Mike discusses the mistakes made in his business journey, and the success of hiring and developing a dedicated team, bringing in effective management, and providing value-added services to clients beyond insurance. (28:31) Mike mentions that the key to successful policy renewals is effective communication with clients throughout the process, whether it's manual or automatic, to show that you value and prioritize their needs. (37:24) Mike discusses how breaking down into smaller teams has helped his agency maintain a personal touch with clients and ensure accountability for each team's book of business. (44:56) Key Quotes: “When I start to think back to our challenges and what we've been through, it's actually incredible that we're at the point where we are because we've had so many of them.” - Mike Fusco “At the end of the day, I want to have the best reputation. I want our clients to like us the most. And of course, you're not always gonna have clients that like you the most, but I want our employees to enjoy working here. I want them to get the ultimate level of growth from their career, and satisfaction and pride in what they do.” - Mike Fusco “We have to be more advisory, more consultants to our client, and really understand business, not just insurance.” - Mike Fusco

In this episode, James talks with Mike Fusco, CEO of Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services. To learn more about Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services, visit https://foagency.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike mentions that he learned valuable lessons in efficiency and multitasking in the general business world from working in a call center to managing a team of agents and starting his agency. (6:57) Mike shares his experience working at an independent agency with no structure, where they had to create their opportunities and eventually manage a challenging sales team. (14:54) Mike believes in constantly pushing for improvement and not settling for comfort, as competition and the desire to be the best motivate him to always strive for growth and success. (24:54) Mike discusses the mistakes made in his business journey, and the success of hiring and developing a dedicated team, bringing in effective management, and providing value-added services to clients beyond insurance. (28:31) Mike mentions that the key to successful policy renewals is effective communication with clients throughout the process, whether it's manual or automatic, to show that you value and prioritize their needs. (37:24) Mike discusses how breaking down into smaller teams has helped his agency maintain a personal touch with clients and ensure accountability for each team's book of business. (44:56) Key Quotes: “When I start to think back to our challenges and what we've been through, it's actually incredible that we're at the point where we are because we've had so many of them.” - Mike Fusco “At the end of the day, I want to have the best reputation. I want our clients to like us the most. And of course, you're not always gonna have clients that like you the most, but I want our employees to enjoy working here. I want them to get the ultimate level of growth from their career, and satisfaction and pride in what they do.” - Mike Fusco “We have to be more advisory, more consultants to our client, and really understand business, not just insurance.” - Mike Fusco

In this episode, James talks with Mike Richardson and Erin Richardson, Co-Owners of Richardson Insurance. To learn more about Richardson Insurance, visit https://www.insurewithrichardson.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike shares that he is the fourth generation in their family agency and after reviving the agency, they consider themselves a 90-year-old startup. (3:30) Erin shares that she just celebrated her 20th year in the insurance industry, and that before joining Mike at the agency, she worked on the carrier side in claims and underwriting. (4:07) Mike shares his difficulties in moving from the stone age of genuine file cabinets to the current day. (8:57) Erin and Mike explain the vibe and culture of their agency, where everything is lead-driven, they work in teams and don't have outside producers. (11:04) Mike shares that they are heavily involved with real estate agents and mortgage brokers, like many personal lines agencies, and in the customer experience for their partners and customers in terms of finding prospects. (12:07) Mike mentions that it took them a long time to figure out how engaged they want to be in all transactions. (18:03) Mike shares that they just switched away from Active Campaign to Automate 365 since it is directly linked to NowCerts. (20:49) Mike and Erin discuss how they differentiate themselves in a competitive market and how they ensure their staff is confident in the product they're providing. (25:48) Erin shares that she has been President of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce for a few years and has come to know many of the companies and individuals in town through that role. (27:45) Mike explains that their overall goal is to humanize insurance and make the insurance side of things more efficient so that they can focus on relationships. (30:12) Mike and Erin discuss what type of advice they would offer themselves if they were just starting out. (45:12) Key Quotes: “We believe in team and doing things together. We don't have individual agents that are handling things, and we don't actually have any outside producers. Everything's done by inbound leads.” - Mike Richardson “We have gotten our team's buy-in too and we're very open and candid with them about what our mission is, and who our ideal clients are. And, we've funneled down in our office, the types of insurance and the types of clients that we're going to write. And so it makes their jobs a lot easier.” - Erin Richardson “We just tried to do things to stand out and be different. So, if everyone's doing a happy hour, we're going the other way. We're trying to find something different to do that, that these people want to get out and do.” - Mike Richardson

In this episode, James talks with Mike Richardson and Erin Richardson, Co-Owners of Richardson Insurance. To learn more about Richardson Insurance, visit https://www.insurewithrichardson.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike shares that he is the fourth generation in their family agency and after reviving the agency, they consider themselves a 90-year-old startup. (3:30) Erin shares that she just celebrated her 20th year in the insurance industry, and that before joining Mike at the agency, she worked on the carrier side in claims and underwriting. (4:07) Mike shares his difficulties in moving from the stone age of genuine file cabinets to the current day. (8:57) Erin and Mike explain the vibe and culture of their agency, where everything is lead-driven, they work in teams and don't have outside producers. (11:04) Mike shares that they are heavily involved with real estate agents and mortgage brokers, like many personal lines agencies, and in the customer experience for their partners and customers in terms of finding prospects. (12:07) Mike mentions that it took them a long time to figure out how engaged they want to be in all transactions. (18:03) Mike shares that they just switched away from Active Campaign to Automate 365 since it is directly linked to NowCerts. (20:49) Mike and Erin discuss how they differentiate themselves in a competitive market and how they ensure their staff is confident in the product they're providing. (25:48) Erin shares that she has been President of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce for a few years and has come to know many of the companies and individuals in town through that role. (27:45) Mike explains that their overall goal is to humanize insurance and make the insurance side of things more efficient so that they can focus on relationships. (30:12) Mike and Erin discuss what type of advice they would offer themselves if they were just starting out. (45:12) Key Quotes: “We believe in team and doing things together. We don't have individual agents that are handling things, and we don't actually have any outside producers. Everything's done by inbound leads.” - Mike Richardson “We have gotten our team's buy-in too and we're very open and candid with them about what our mission is, and who our ideal clients are. And, we've funneled down in our office, the types of insurance and the types of clients that we're going to write. And so it makes their jobs a lot easier.” - Erin Richardson “We just tried to do things to stand out and be different. So, if everyone's doing a happy hour, we're going the other way. We're trying to find something different to do that, that these people want to get out and do.” - Mike Richardson

In this episode, James talks with Mike Stromsoe, Founder and Lead Coach of The Unstoppable Profit Producers. To learn more about The Unstoppable Profit Producers, visit https://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike shares his background story and what led him to create The Unstoppable Profit Producers. (3:45) Mike discusses the need for leadership, leadership training, and other types of training in independent insurance agencies. (6:41) Mike mentions that if somebody is interested in investing in strong leadership skills, he could recommend the Hero's Journey Leadership Program, which he believes is a game changer. (9:44) Mike explains that feeding the mind with the right things is important because what we choose to put into our minds can make or break us. (14:23) Mike explains the idea of the Be Unstoppable Bootcamp 2022 event and how much they believe in what they're doing. (18:54) Mike believes that feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable is crucial because nothing grows in the comfort zone. (21:19) Mike mentions that he is well aware that finding excellent people is difficult in today's society, which is why they've developed systems focused on people, processes, and promotion to assist individuals in finding those excellent people. (23:45) Mike explains why core values are important for any business. (33:10) Mike reminds the listeners that people will always miss 100% of the shots that they do take. (54:11) Key Quotes: “My encouragement if you're a leader in today's business world, insurance agency, industry, or otherwise, become a better leader and find a way to get into a program, invest in yourself to become a better leader.” - Mike Stromsoe “In the comfort zone, nothing grows…because everything's comfortable. You've got to get comfortable being uncomfortable.” - Mike Stromsoe “Culture eats strategy and everything else for breakfast and if you get a weak link or something goes sour within the orchard, if you will, unfortunately, sometimes you need to cut it.” - Mike Stromsoe

In this episode, James talks with Mike Stromsoe, Founder and Lead Coach of The Unstoppable Profit Producers. To learn more about The Unstoppable Profit Producers, visit https://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/. Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@agencyfreedom.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe. Episode Highlights: Mike shares his background story and what led him to create The Unstoppable Profit Producers. (3:45) Mike discusses the need for leadership, leadership training, and other types of training in independent insurance agencies. (6:41) Mike mentions that if somebody is interested in investing in strong leadership skills, he could recommend the Hero's Journey Leadership Program, which he believes is a game changer. (9:44) Mike explains that feeding the mind with the right things is important because what we choose to put into our minds can make or break us. (14:23) Mike explains the idea of the Be Unstoppable Bootcamp 2022 event and how much they believe in what they're doing. (18:54) Mike believes that feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable is crucial because nothing grows in the comfort zone. (21:19) Mike mentions that he is well aware that finding excellent people is difficult in today's society, which is why they've developed systems focused on people, processes, and promotion to assist individuals in finding those excellent people. (23:45) Mike explains why core values are important for any business. (33:10) Mike reminds the listeners that people will always miss 100% of the shots that they do take. (54:11) Key Quotes: “My encouragement if you're a leader in today's business world, insurance agency, industry, or otherwise, become a better leader and find a way to get into a program, invest in yourself to become a better leader.” - Mike Stromsoe “In the comfort zone, nothing grows…because everything's comfortable. You've got to get comfortable being uncomfortable.” - Mike Stromsoe “Culture eats strategy and everything else for breakfast and if you get a weak link or something goes sour within the orchard, if you will, unfortunately, sometimes you need to cut it.” - Mike Stromsoe

Mike stopped everything he was doing today to welcome a SPECIAL guest to the show. An expert joins him in small business and insurance - and for those entrepreneurs, you cannot afford to miss this episode! Episode Highlights: Mike's very special guest, daughter, Ava Fusco, introduces herself to the audience, and shares her age and grade level. (3:56) Ava informs everyone in second grade that third grade is fun and encourages them to do well in school. (4:40) Ava shares her understanding of a what a business is. (5:29) Ava discusses some of the good businesses she knows and how they operate. (7:47) Ava explain what insurance means to her and how it can help people. (9:52) Ava shares the advice she gave her dad after watching Mike's latest YouTube video. (11:39) Ava discusses why people who make YouTube videos should not use foul language and provides an alternative method for making videos more entertaining to watch. (12:34) Ava mentions her interest in attending the University of California, Santa Barbara for college and shares which type of business she wants to work in after graduating from college. (18:07) Key Quotes: “I'm going tp let you know everybody out there in second grade, third grade's really fun. But you know, get those good grades, all right? Get some A pluses, people out there.” - Ava Fusco “So basically, what I think a business is as a big group, they work together, and they make a great insurance.” - Ava Fusco “If you are out there and you make YouTube videos, don't cuss. No, do not cuss because all people watch YouTube. Kids… I watch YouTube. I hear cussing. And cussing is not good.” - Ava Fusco Resources Mentioned:   Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn

On this special episode, Dale and Brian sit down with someone who has been a person of impact in their lives: Pastor Mike Castelli. Mike walks through his unique and winding journey of pursuing a hard rock band career, becoming a NASA engineer, and then being called to pastor a church in Green, Ohio where he still resides. Listen in as Pastor Mike takes a deep dive into the question, “How do you know you are being called?” and gives advice for individuals walking through low points.This episode of Impact Without Limits is full of tangible bits of wisdom that can be applied to every person's life. If you are searching for your calling, walking through a valley, or just in need of perspective and inspiration, you've come to the right place. Welcome back to Impact Without Limits.Episode Highlights: Mike's family background and bio.From hard rock to NASA engineer.The difference between a gift and a talent.How do you know where you're being called?Advice for getting through the valleys. Being a person of impact through your low points.Find More on Guest:The Green ChapelLinks Mentioned in Episode/Find More on ForeverLawn:www.foreverlawn.comInstagram: @foreverlawnincGet Grass Without Limits HereVisit our show notes page HERESubscribe to Our Newsletter HERE

Cold calling cowboy Justin Middleton is back on the line as he calls Mike to introduce PRL. Mike is just a startup and said that they are more of an inbound and would be scaling not earlier than next year. Things may seem to be over in this call until Justin started handling it like a true cowboy. Watch out for how he handles the objection in this latest episode of Outbound Sales No Fluff.Episode Highlights:Mike is a startup and still growingWill be scaling by next yearThe cowboy handles the objectionConnect with Ryan and follow him with the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salesdevelopmentrepresentative/Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/outbound-sales-no-fluff-the-podcast/id1551086628Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1in8poGtsAQvucRaUX2YUBOrder a printed copy of Outbound Sales No Fluff, download it on your Kindle, or download the Audiobook here: https://www.amazon.com/Outbound-Sales-Fluff-millennials-something-ebook/dp/B077Y49KF4Subscribe and hit that notification bell!

In this episode of Agency Freedom Podcast, James talks with Mike Creamer. Mike is an Executive Underwriter and the 2021 winner of the Small Business Underwriter of the Year award from Chubb. Episode Highlights: Mike shares his journey to becoming the Small Business Underwriter of Chubb. (9:25) Mike elaborates on the practice of underwriting, how they analyze business, and what constitutes good judgement in terms of underwriting. (14:58) Mike explains some unique traits that he would consider using to determine if an account is a great one. (22:48) Mike shares that the “Internet of Things” is one of the current trends that may have a positive or negative impact on the industry. (27:18) Mike explains how underwriters and commercial insurance as a whole have been affected by COVID. (29:55) Mike shares that not having a correct understanding of what your prospect should be insured with is one thing he sees as a common mistake of retail agents. (32:02) Mike discusses a couple of points about how the relationship between a great agent and an underwriter should be. (37:30) Mike shares that wholesalers are one of the classes of business that most underwriters would like to write for. (40:07) Mike mentions that one of the things he likes about working at Chubbs is that it is one of the largest pollution writers and defence-based writers. (49:57) Key Quotes: "This is a fiercely competitive business. We're all out there both, you know, competing against our peers, but also, we're invested in success." - Mike Creamer "The partnership is only as good and as open as the partners are. And, you know, we're all here to do the same thing, ultimately is to hopefully toss a couple of extra nickels in the bucket at the end of the day and have that effort pay off." - Mike Creamer "The only surefire way as an underwriter to never pay a claim is to never write any business. You have to find that line of, how likely is my bad day to come? And, when my bad day comes on this account, how many zeros are on that check?" - Mike Creamer Resources Mentioned: Learn more about Chubb Insurance here: https://www.chubb.com/us-en/business-insurance/small-commercial.html Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@riskwell.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe.

In this episode of Agency Freedom Podcast, James talks with Mike Creamer. Mike is an Executive Underwriter and the 2021 winner of the Small Business Underwriter of the Year award from Chubb. Episode Highlights: Mike shares his journey to becoming the Small Business Underwriter of Chubb. (9:25) Mike elaborates on the practice of underwriting, how they analyze business, and what constitutes good judgement in terms of underwriting. (14:58) Mike explains some unique traits that he would consider using to determine if an account is a great one. (22:48) Mike shares that the “Internet of Things” is one of the current trends that may have a positive or negative impact on the industry. (27:18) Mike explains how underwriters and commercial insurance as a whole have been affected by COVID. (29:55) Mike shares that not having a correct understanding of what your prospect should be insured with is one thing he sees as a common mistake of retail agents. (32:02) Mike discusses a couple of points about how the relationship between a great agent and an underwriter should be. (37:30) Mike shares that wholesalers are one of the classes of business that most underwriters would like to write for. (40:07) Mike mentions that one of the things he likes about working at Chubbs is that it is one of the largest pollution writers and defence-based writers. (49:57) Key Quotes: "This is a fiercely competitive business. We're all out there both, you know, competing against our peers, but also, we're invested in success." - Mike Creamer "The partnership is only as good and as open as the partners are. And, you know, we're all here to do the same thing, ultimately is to hopefully toss a couple of extra nickels in the bucket at the end of the day and have that effort pay off." - Mike Creamer "The only surefire way as an underwriter to never pay a claim is to never write any business. You have to find that line of, how likely is my bad day to come? And, when my bad day comes on this account, how many zeros are on that check?" - Mike Creamer Resources Mentioned: Learn more about Chubb Insurance here: https://www.chubb.com/us-en/business-insurance/small-commercial.html Visit our website to join our email list, get the scoop on our LIVE coaching calls and never miss an episode: https://www.agencyfreedom.com Connect with Agency Freedom Podcast on Facebook at the Agency Freedom Podcast group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/agencyfreedom Email us at podcast@riskwell.com with ideas, questions, complaints or your favorite grilling recipe.

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Mike Crowley, Vice President of Crowley Insurance Agency. Mike discusses what they observed and learned during the pandemic, and how they are utilizing technology to improve the service they provide for their clients. Episode Highlights: Mike explains how much COVID changed and impacted his company. (3:50) Mike mentions that he has seen people change but they did not change their guidelines. (10:27) Mike believes that flexibility is the key to catering to multi-generation clients. (15:30) Mike shares the traits of a great independent agent. (18:52) Mike shares how he integrates the technology into his sales team. (26:09) Mike talks about the great benefits of having the extra two minutes mindset. (32:25) Mike mentions the importance of building people up from the bottom rather than chasing that person at the top. (40:12) Mike talks about his life as a parent and how he gives time and connects with his kids. (51:29) Tweetable Quotes: "In everything you do, if you take an extra two minutes to do anything, it has become the answer to solve probably all your problems." - Mike Crowley "If you don't have a process for everything, it falls back on you. if you don't have somebody responsible, it falls back to you." - Mike Crowley "Stop chasing these things, these people out there and start holding yourself, your team and your agency to that same level, building people up from the bottom not chasing the person at the top.” - Mike Crowley  Resources Mentioned: Mike Crowley LinkedIn Crowley Insurance Agency Inc David Carothers Kyle Houck Florida Risk Partners The Extra 2 Minutes

This episode's Community Champion Sponsor is Catalyst. To virtually tour Catalyst and claim your space on campus, or host an upcoming event: https://www.catalysthealthtech.com/ (CLICK HERE) --- After studying the healthcare industry from the inside out for over 25 years, our next guest was inspired to create a company that would bring other leaders together who have a passion for succeeding, learning, and delivering improved access and value of the healthcare dollar.  Mike Waterbury, CEO of Goodroot, joins us to discuss how he and his team are developing a community of businesses to improve the current state of the healthcare industry and reform and replace inefficiencies that hold the industry back. In addition, Mike shares his vision in creating a solution for better health plans to reduce the burden of medical debt for patients across the nation. Join us for this inspiring conversation as Mike shares how he's bringing passionate leaders together to reinvent healthcare one system at a time. Let's go! Episode Highlights: Mike's eye-opening revelations about the healthcare system Goodroot's family of companies that's focused on reinventing healthcare, one system at a time Why Mike believes medical debt is healthcare oppression and how we can end the cycle Goodroot's focus on creating solutions that they can offer to all customer types    About Our Guest:  For over 25 years Mike has studied the healthcare system from the inside out. He advanced from a financial role to an executive leadership role at Oxford Health Plans, and then Magellan Health Services. While at Magellan, Mike pioneered the integration of ICORE Healthcare, a company focused on solving specialty pharmacy challenges, and the development of a new medical pharmacy program. Mike was inspired to create a company that could be built from his years of industry expertise, the result—RemedyOne. He wanted to bring together talented minds—people who, like him, had a passion to succeed and to learn, and who pay attention to the details necessary to make real and lasting change, regardless of how complex the situation. Most recently, to further the RemedyOne mission, Mike has launched Goodroot, building a team and community of companies committed to dedicating their time and careers to reinventing healthcare one system at a time. That team has created a passionate culture Mike is proud of, and has produced outcomes that have changed thousands of lives for the better by saving over $800M in healthcare costs. Today, he continues to free and amplify talent to join the Goodroot cause working towards a goal of saving the healthcare system $30 Billion in the next five years.  Links Supporting This Episode: Goodroot website: https://www.goodrootinc.com/ (CLICK HERE) Mike Waterbury LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-waterbury-76a7467/ (CLICK HERE) Goodroot Twitter page: https://twitter.com/Goodrootinc (CLICK HERE) Clubhouse handle: @mikebiselli Mike Biselli LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebiselli (CLICK HERE) Mike Biselli Twitter page: https://twitter.com/mikebiselli (CLICK HERE) Visit our website: https://www.passionatepioneers.com/ (CLICK HERE) Subscribe to newsletter: https://forms.gle/PLdcj7ujAGEtunsj6 (CLICK HERE) Guest nomination form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqk_H_a79gCRsBLynkGp7JbdtFRWynTvPVV9ntOdEpExjQIQ/viewform (CLICK HERE) Support this podcast

We are just so excited to bring you another episode that will help us all build great apartment communities! For today, we are grace by Mike Simmons! Mike Simmons has been in the business since 2013 and has helped several entrepreneurs start, build and scale their business to 7 figures. He is as well a speaker, a podcaster and an author. This is indeed a must-listen to episode so get ready to take notes and begin your journey to creating a 7-figure business! Episode Highlights: Mike talks about his book Level Jumping Acknowledging the value of positioning ourselves for growth Using the language of possibility Seeking people out who are much more experienced that you are Mike talks about “Collapsing Time” and the things that allowed him to do it What to look for in an ideal “Core Team” Listen as Mike breaks dow his proven marketing strategies Systems Mike use to distribute his marketing campaign Golden Nugget: You can use peoples' hindsight as your foresight Connect with Mike LinkedIn  Facebook - Just Start Real Estate    About Our Guest As the owner of a successful real estate investing company, lending company, and also a partner in one of the country's largest real estate mentorship/mastermind companies, Mike Simmons specialize in helping entrepreneurs create systems, processes, and automations that allow them to work on their business and not be a slave to it. He is also the producer and host of my own online show, Just Start Real Estate, and have conducted over 350 interviews with entrepreneurs who run 6, 7, and 8 figure businesses. Additionally, I have a new book that is now available on Amazon: Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in 12 Months.   --- Did you enjoy today's episode? Please click here to leave a review for The We Build Great Apartment Communities. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out! Do you know someone who might enjoy this episode? Share this episode to inspire and empower! Connect with John Brackett and We Build Great Apartment Communities Instagram @webuildgreatcommunities Facebook @buildingreatcommunities LinkedIn @brackettjohn Website www.fidelitybps.com Subscribe to The We Build Great Apartment Communities Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Do you think you would be a great fit for the show? Apply to be a guest by clicking . Fidelity Business Partners, Inc. 6965 El Camino Real Suite 105-190 Carlsbad, CA 92009 D: 760-301-5311 F: 760-987-6065

In this solo episode of the Team Business podcast, Mike Fusco provides three quick and easy tips to improve your company culture for remote workers.  Episode Highlights: Mike reveals that some of the people they work with have had a difficult time adapting to this new hybrid, long-term remote type of work. (1:24) Mike mentions that they had people working remotely for a long time prior to the pandemic. (2:34) Mike discusses the advantages of implementing a chat or messaging system to help your team stay connected in a remote/hybrid work environment. (3:02) Mike explains why you should do something fun, do something out of the box with your team. (4:45) Mike mentions that it is also important to hold some get-togethers outside of work. (5:34) Key Quotes: “How do you continue your company culture, your working culture, your camaraderie in the office, your teamwork, you know, getting to know people when you know, maybe half or a third, or maybe nobody is in the same office environment working together on a day to day basis?” - Mike Fusco “Have regular meetings. It helps people feel like they're still connected. It helps those that are not in the office, see people that are in the office or vice versa.” Mike Fusco “Hold some get togethers outside of work, of course if safe for you and comfortable for everybody, for team bonding or team building experiences, even if it's once a quarter, twice a year, or maybe even now during the holidays, something where everyone can get together and feel part of the team.” Mike Fusco Resources Mentioned:   Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn 

In this throwback episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers, and co-host Kyle Houck interview Mike McDonough, the leader of Worker's Comp Renegade and director of McDonough Insurance Services. Mike talks about how he shifted his career from being in the food industry into the insurance services, the Worker's Comp Renegade being a strategic partner, and the impact that the Worker's Comp creates in an employer's life.     Episode Highlights: Mike shares his background story and the key to his success. (5:52) Mike explains how he handles different personalities when management changes. (7:57) Mike attributes his success with Farmers to his training at State Farm. (10:29) Mike shares how they evolved through the insurance business and industry. (11:32) Mike realized that controlling Worker's Comp makes an impact on an employer's life. (12:07) Mike explains how they help employers, primarily by setting up a proactive program and working with them throughout the claims procedure. (18:46) What's the biggest obstacle Mike faces when trying to engage with an employer that has an issue? (19:15) Mike shares that there are employers that will consider a deductible, and there are employers that will look at a self-insured program. (25:34) Mike states that when you're self-insured, you're involved in the whole claims process, and you're hiring a TPA that's in alignment with your company. (26:23) Mike explains why their litigation rate is below 15% because of the triage. (40:57) Mike shares the advantage of having a bilingual on his team. (42:51) Mike believes that brokers can really do a good job and help employers to improve their bottom line. (1:02:18) Mike says if you don't understand worker's comp, contact people that do know workers comp, and are willing to mentor you. (1:02:54) Mike states that if you're going to write a worker's comp, do yourself and your clients a favor, and learn as much as you can about it because that's the only way you're going to benefit them. (1:04:10)   Tweetable Quotes: “I'm just a firm believer that if you do the right thing, the money will come”. - Mike McDonough “They make mistakes. We all make mistakes, but the bottom line is that you need to have accountability”. - Mike McDonough “The worker's comp is a huge profit center for these PEOs.” - Mike McDonough   Resources Mentioned : David Carothers LinkedIn  Kyle Houck LinkedIn Mike McDonough LinkedIn Workers Comp Renegade McDonough Insurance Services

In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez discuss the growing trend known as "THE GREAT RESHUFFLE," which is the movement of employees and laborers to new employers. How does a business owner combat this and keep their key people? Listen in for tips! Episode Highlights: Mike and Ray share their experience over the weekend. (0:41) Mike and Ray talk about the struggles that clients are dealing with now as employees and laborers move to new employers. (1:30) Mike talks about working conditions and how they are changing. (3:04) Ray talks about a hybrid work environment. (4:42) Mike talks about Key Performance Indicator (KPI's). (8:16) Mike shares more about Team Business. (12:58) Mike shares the advantage of using LinkedIn to attract new employees. (14:26) Key Quotes: “What we did is I kind of played a reactive role and realized that, hey, we have to give people the option and the opportunity to work where they want to work.” - Mike Fusco “I mean, speaking for myself, as a consultant, and what I do, I've been doing this for a little while, it's like, I guess that I like that little old school method of being in the office, getting up in the morning, getting ready to be somewhere.” - Ray Ramirez Resources Mentioned:   Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn

It's "Business Talk" on the Team Business podcast!  In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez discuss the state of the labor market and trends in hiring for small and medium-sized businesses. They also share valuable information and advice on how to attract top talent to your firm. Listen in for great information. Episode Highlights: Mike mentions that he and Ray talk with small to medium-sized business owners on a daily basis. (1:11) Ray mentions that they have heard a lot of conversations and dialogue about what owners have been experiencing in the market over the last two months. (1:39) What does Ray observe happening in the business's employee benefits side? (2:45) Ray mentions that they always advocate for employers to take care of their employees because they are the business's most valued resource. (3:48) Mike and Ray talk about blue-collar and white-collar businesses. (4:55) What should or might a small business owner feel about folks sitting at home receiving extra unemployment benefits and not going to work when they could? (6:32) Ray discusses what company owners can do to get people back to work. (8:43) Mike adds that on the PNC side of the business industry, keeping employees safe and offering a safe and healthy work environment may help business owners bring people back to work. (9:30) Mike explains that they are leveraging their business knowledge to help others understand what they are doing to enhance the workforce. (11:02) What was Ray's strategy for finding new employees? (11:37) Mike and Ray discuss using LinkedIn and other platforms to find great talent. (12:23) How can a company know if their service and benefits packages for workers are competitive? (13:21) Mike mentions that this is a great time for business owners to attract a skillful workforce who can help fill out the company and organization. (14:09)  Key Quotes: “We're just using our experience in our business to kind of help you and help our audience understand some of the things that we're doing here to enhance our workforce.” - Mike Fusco “Don't try to do everything. Don't try to wear all hats. I think now's the time to really attract some top talent and improve your business.” - Mike Fusco “We're all about cost management. I mean, outside of the traditional market, there's a multitude of funding options to how you fund your claims. And we were able to leverage that, depending on where you are in the admin flow of your business and the size your business. So we have solutions for a small group, mid-market and large group.” - Ray Ramirez Resources Mentioned:   Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn

Michael Scaringe, owner of Skyview Landscapes Inc, joins the podcast to discuss growing his business in the Capital Region and what we can all learn from his experience. Don't miss this episode... Episode Highlights: Mike shares his background. (2:30) Mike mentions what Skyview Landscapes can offer to their customers. (4:02) Mike explains what RPI has taught him. (7:45) Mike shares how the business has changed in the last 10 years. (9:07) Mike mentions why a conference is a good indication of what they do. (10:18) What's something that Mike's seeing out there that could be the next big thing for the future? (17:06) Mike shares how many employees they have and what the other employees are working on. (20:43) Mike explains what field managers do at Skyview Landscapes. (22:51) Key Quotes: “Me, as the contractor, I know where everything's gonna go.I feel very comfortable knowing that at the end, once we put the first shovel in the ground, where the end is going to go because of design.” - Michael Scaringe “If you're going to invest the money, invest in some sort of designer or architect. Because they know the trends, they know what works best, and how it will fit perfectly for your backyard.” - Michael Scaringe “I wanted to be a business owner, I'm not the best guy to maybe go work in a financial firm or county firm and do that sort of thing. So, I always knew that I wanted to be a business owner, but, it just has to be landscape because I kind of had a passion for contracts.” - Michael Scaringe Resources Mentioned: Michael Scaringe LinkedIn Skyview Landscapes Reach out to Ryan Hanley Reach out to Michael Field

In this episode of The Ryan Hanley Show, the all-powerful, Mike Stromsoe, the founder of Stromsoe Insurance Agency and the Unstoppable Profit Producer, joins the podcast for the first time to drop absolute knowledge bombs on growing your agency through the adversity of COVID and everything else. Don't miss this conversation...Episode Highlights: Mike shares how producers can start to refocus. (1:35) Mike explains why you should be willing to live out of your comfort zone. (2:49) What are the attributes of high achieving people? (4:16) What does Mike recommend for agents feeling isolated during Covid? (8:47) Mike shares what he learned about personal development. (16:54) Mike shares why we must position ourselves to avoid distractions. (23:10) How can people get back into their habit train? (28:20) Mike shares why agility is the number one character trait that we need to possess, as entrepreneurs. (40:55) Key Quotes: “Our mindset is our skillset. And there's absolutely no question about that. So, I could go on with a long set of acronyms about what comes to my mind when I hear that...I guess the only other one that I will add to that is what we perceive is what we believe.” - Mike Stromsoe “We're all privileged to have our life. If you're fortunate to have a life with health, and great people around you, you're extremely privileged. So, we have our life and ultimately, at the end of the day, we have to understand what is it? We have to know where we're going and knowing our destination is all we need to get there. So, at the end of the day, we don't have to do anything...We get to design our own life.” - Mike Stromsoe “Those who make the greatest progress in this world are those who are willing to live outside of their comfort zone. Progress begins outside of your comfort zone. You've got to get comfortable being uncomfortable if you're going to be in the high achievement realm in today's business and personal world.” - Mike Stromsoe Resources Mentioned: Mike Stromsoe LinkedIn Stromsoe Insurance Agency Unstoppable Profit Producer Reach out to Ryan Hanley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Ryan Hanley Show, the all-powerful, Mike Stromsoe, the founder of Stromsoe Insurance Agency and the Unstoppable Profit Producer, joins the podcast for the first time to drop absolute knowledge bombs on growing your agency through the adversity of COVID and everything else. Don't miss this conversation... Episode Highlights: Mike shares how producers can start to refocus. (1:35) Mike explains why you should be willing to live out of your comfort zone. (2:49) What are the attributes of high achieving people? (4:16) What does Mike recommend for agents feeling isolated during Covid? (8:47) Mike shares what he learned about personal development. (16:54) Mike shares why we must position ourselves to avoid distractions. (23:10) How can people get back into their habit train? (28:20) Mike shares why agility is the number one character trait that we need to possess, as entrepreneurs. (40:55) Key Quotes: “Our mindset is our skillset. And there's absolutely no question about that. So, I could go on with a long set of acronyms about what comes to my mind when I hear that...I guess the only other one that I will add to that is what we perceive is what we believe.” - Mike Stromsoe “We're all privileged to have our life. If you're fortunate to have a life with health, and great people around you, you're extremely privileged. So, we have our life and ultimately, at the end of the day, we have to understand what is it? We have to know where we're going and knowing our destination is all we need to get there. So, at the end of the day, we don't have to do anything...We get to design our own life.” - Mike Stromsoe “Those who make the greatest progress in this world are those who are willing to live outside of their comfort zone. Progress begins outside of your comfort zone. You've got to get comfortable being uncomfortable if you're going to be in the high achievement realm in today's business and personal world.” - Mike Stromsoe Resources Mentioned: Mike Stromsoe LinkedIn Stromsoe Insurance Agency Unstoppable Profit Producer Reach out to Ryan Hanley

In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Todd Cooper, the owner and founder of Waxelene. Todd discusses how he operates and grows his business with the help of outsourcing. Episode Highlights: Mike and Ray discuss the types of things Todd outsources in his business. (2:49) Todd talks about the history of his company, the services he offers, and the type of clients he serves. (4:21) What are the challenges Todd faces as he builds his team? (7:54) Todd shares how he manages to keep the momentum and progress going within his work structure, as a CEO during Covid. (11:36) Todd talks about the big transition of their digital presence about five years ago. (14:58) If Todd wasn't an entrepreneur, what would he be pursuing? (16:00) Todd shares where to find Waxelene natural personal care products. (24:41) Todd talks about the importance of supporting local businesses. (25:45) Key Quotes: “The main thing for team building is having a clear plan and setting it out.” - Todd Cooper “The take-home message is that the business model works really well because it's very plastic...You know, it's very flexible. You can mold it to whatever it needs to be” - Todd Cooper “Instead of bringing everyone in, you can just outsource what you need. They have all the professionals that you need right there. They say, it's really all about the relationships. You're still establishing those relationships with them...But, they're not your employees, you know?” - Todd Cooper. Resources Mentioned: Todd Cooper LinkedIn Waxelene Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Michelle Flores-Gonzales, COO & VP at Flores Financial Services. Michelle talks about the financial services that they offer, the dynamics of working in a family business, and the importance of their company culture. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Michelle Flores-Gonzales. (7:53) Michelle mentions that Flores Financial Services is a family business, and she has been working there since 2002 when her father acquired and took over the company. (8:24) Michelle shares that they're an outsourcing company that specializes in accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, human resources, and they recently added consulting services to their business portfolio. (8:34) Michelle mentions that they have a high focus on the hospitality industry. Therefore, most of their clients are the restaurant business with a high focus in the San Diego markets, and grocery stores as well. (8:46) Michelle shares that what kept her to continue working in the company was her passion to continue the family business and build upon what her father has started, and also the entrepreneurial side of it. (10:43) Michelle shares that over the past few years, she tried to hire team members that would fit in their core culture, have a passion and drive to partner with their clients, and to be a valuable part of their team members. (12:11) Michelle thinks that they have a passionate investment in the services that they offer to their clients, and making sure that they're doing a good job. (12:29) Michelle mentions that finding the dynamic with her father and making sure its balance, is something that they're working on. (13:10) Michelle mentions that their main focus was on finding the resources that were available to help their clients. (14:30) Michelle mentions that this year, they focused on and pivoted to consulting services. (15:10) Michelle shares that they developed the HR COVID handbooks to help employers get back to business, and ensure their employee's safety in the workplace. (16:11) Michelle mentions that today is a great time for new clients to reach out. Because it's time to start preparing, advising, and planning for the next year. (25:03)   Key Quotes: “We have a core focus, we are a family business. But no matter how big we grow, we don't want to go to that corporate mentality. So we try and treat all of our employees as family members, that's one of our core values.” - Michelle Flores-Gonzales “So, just making sure that we're available and letting our clients know that we're there to support them, and get through this with each other. So, that was the big portion of our services.” - Michelle Flores-Gonzales “I'm in this, and I enjoy the entrepreneurial side of it, as hard as it is. There's also something very rewarding, and you guys know this as well, of owning your own business and being part of something and being able to provide for team members.” - Michelle Flores-Gonzales Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Michelle Flores-Gonzales Flores Financial Services, Inc

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Brad Wise, the Executive Chef and Owner of Trust Restaurant Group. San Diego's Chef of the year in 2019, Brad talks about his journey in the culinary industry, how their company survived amidst the pandemic, and how their campaign has helped small businesses and the local economy. Episode Highlights:   Mike introduces Brad Wise. (7:20) Brad shares that when he finished culinary school, he moved out to San Diego in 2006 and worked at Eat, Drink, Sleep Hospitality Group for 10 years. (8:18) Brad mentions that when he decided to step up his career, he partnered with Steve Schwab and built the Trust Restaurant Group. (8:45) Brad mentions that they opened Cardellino on February 7, six weeks before the shutdown. (10:24) Brad shares that he's a risk-taker and he always encourages his team to try new things and new projects. (11:29) Brad shares that his job is to bring out the best in every employee and let their talents be recognized, and make them successful. (12:02) Brad mentions that in this industry, everyone has an opinion, and if you hire the right people, they're going to have educated opinions. (14:21) Brad shares that gathering ideas and information from his team is where a lot of inspiration and creativity comes from, and they make sure that each dish hits all the elements. 14:45) Brad shares that when they reopened due to the shutdown, they followed the necessary guidelines and put measures in place that they felt comfortable doing to make their workflow easier. (19:22) Brad mentions the biggest element that helped them is their teamwork. (24:31) Brad shares that they try to be optimistic as much as possible, and complain as little as possible because everyone is in their worse positions than they were. (25:23) Brad explains how they created the event with the help of their wine director and how he became a huge part of the team. (26:06) Brad shares that Trust Restaurant Group was built off of industry people that are near and dear to their hearts. (28:17) Brad explains how the Rare Society Industry steak night donations have been helping a lot of people amidst the pandemic. (29:49)   Key Quotes:   “I can't do anything without the people that are working for me. But with me there, everyone is individually talented in their own ways. They all have great strengths, trustworthiness, and the name of why we got into this.” - Brad Wise “My job is solely to extract the best in everybody, recognize their talents, and try to use that as best as I can to make them successful, and we always like to use your success as our success. So, a lot of times people don't even know their strengths until they're shown what they are.” - Brad Wise “If you put the time and effort, I'm going to let you work on ownership, I'm going to let you work on all these things that are going to eventually make you successful. So, we kind of have that common goal and it's a two-way road, people want to be here, as much as we want and need them to be here.” - Brad Wise “I always say, this is the best. The best way of creativity is when your back is up against the wall, right? Oh, yeah, you have to fight your way out to make sure you survive.” - Brad Wise   Resources Mentioned:   Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Brad Wise Instagram Trust Restaurant Group  

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Ryan Sisson, the CEO of Moniker Group. Ryan talks about his role in the company, and how his leadership approach in business gives an opportunity for impact. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Ryan Sisson. (8:48) Ryan mentions that he studied at San Diego State University and earned a business degree. (10:04) Ryan shares that Moniker Group has been in the industry for about 10 years, and they have 7 different business units. (10:26) Ryan shares that what they do is to bring people together because that's what's valuable and vital to them. But unfortunately, due to the pandemic, everything has been challenging. (12:36) Ryan mentions that their company is run by 50 employees and they have a total of 6 physical locations, with different types of products and concepts. (13:10) Ryan shares that the businesses work together when they need to, but they all have their own story. (16:36) Ryan mentions that its structure as the parent company holds the key to all the back end operations. (16:55) Ryan shares that he sees size as an opportunity to find ways and to grow, without him as the producer. (18:54) Ryan shares that they have intentionally invested in culture with the team and care about each other's success and well-being in life. (21:04) Ryan mentions that the key elements of success are seeing individuals that are willing to stick with you, through thick and thin. (23:04) Ryan mentions that they're not a technology-driven business because most of their team requires physical interaction to function. (26:49) Key Quotes: “My job is to make sure that the people that are great at what they do have everything they need to be successful. So I compare my leadership approach to that of a bulldozer driver. I don't make things pretty, I just get stuff out of the way.” - Ryan Sisson “As a generalist, like you kind of want it, you just have this innate desire to have your hands in everything, because there's nothing that you're specifically passionate about enough to just be focused on that.” - Ryan Sisson “There's a realization that everyone that works for you is never going to work for you forever, is a big one, and I think what that does is it releases the pressure to make this person, the person. So, we've always kind of had open hands with the way that we brought people on.” - Ryan Sisson “I think just not putting too much pressure on certain people to be the end all be all for your company and, championing them over the long haul to do what is it that they're bes att, and if that's not within your business, that's okay.” - Ryan Sisson “Look around your neighborhood and find those businesses that are trying to make it to that finish line and go and figure out what you can do for them. That would be a huge lift for us as a company as well.” - Ryan Sisson Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Ryan Sisson LinkedIn Moniker Group

In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Matt Sedlock, the Owner of Western Lighting & Energy Control Solutions. Matt talks about his knowledge and expertise in the lighting industry and how the culture they've created has made an impact on their business. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Matt Sedlock. (3:32) Matt shares that he graduated from Central Michigan University in 1988, with a degree in Marketing and Sales Management. (8:54) Matt mentions that his first job was in Cooper Lighting as an outside sales representative, focused on the electrical distribution channel. (9:22) Matt mentions that working in the lighting industry was his dream job since childhood. (9:52) Matt shares that he was challenged by not having any experience and minimal training, but he realized that it was an opportunity for him to educate himself and learn the industry. (11:01) Matt mentions that he's looking for individuals that have a strong work ethic, individuals that can work efficiently with others and they must be willing to be part of the team. (13:33) Matt thinks that their employees enjoy working at Western because of their culture, and the transparency that they manage. (13:57) Matt shares that they want their employees to learn the financial side of the business, to understand the inner workings, and not only about going out and acquiring the next sale. (13:46) Matt shares that the biggest product on the market right now is a product by Lutron, called Ketra, and it's currently the most advanced lighting product on the market. (20:52) Matt mentions that they're currently focusing on adding more structure to the company, and it takes every individual to speak up and share their ideas about how they can be better at what they're doing. (27:08) Key Quotes: “We learned a lot through this COVID situation, and we hope to be a better company coming out of it than when we went into it, we found efficiencies and some of those efficiencies will forever remain part of our company moving forward. We learned how to run the business differently, and better.” - Matt Sedlock Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Matt Sedlock LinkedIn Western Lighting & Energy Control Solutions

On this segment of HyperFast Wealth, host Dan Lesniak speaks with Mike Wolf, a former realtor, now real estate investor from Canada. Mike has built a diverse portfolio in real estate that allows him to live on passive income, while teaching others to do the same! Episode Highlights:  Mike is from Canada, invests in the United States, and is currently “wintering” in Mexico. Like most high schoolers, Mike had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, going into college to gather a massive amount of debt. After buying his second property, the market took off and Mike quit his job to become a real estate investor and agent. Mike recommends that all real estate agents learn basic investing skills to be able to help more people. Completely dropping his real estate license helped Mike speed up his investment game. Dan and Mike compare the time investments between becoming an agent and an investor. Mike's other real estate business in Atlanta is completely automated, but it took time to get there. Not all people want the same things for their houses and that's where being an investor comes into play. Present multiple options so that you can always do what is in the best interest of your client. COVID is going to put a time limit on homeowners that find themselves in financial troubles. Mike is able to live off the passive income from his turnkey business and rental properties that he has gathered over the last 20 years. During COVID, Mike has focused on his online-training services to teach others how to get started in real estate. Just because someone can benefit from providing a solution to someone in trouble doesn't mean they are evil. Back in 2007, Mike created a business that helped people who were facing foreclosure by lending them money in a time of need. By helping people who lost their jobs, Mike was able to help people in their networks who also lost their jobs. People that are using all this extra time presented by COVID to learn and grow are going to come out the other side way ahead. Let go of the responsibilities that you don't want so that you are maximizing your time. Mike used a line of credit as his down payment for his first house, letting the amount season in his bank account for 90 days. Mike teaches his students how to buy properties with or without their own resources by building their networks. Assisting people financially helps them in so many other areas of their life that you don't know about. People need to learn how to find great deals and turn them into a paycheck, then it will be easy to find partners. Money is not going to disappear as we go deeper into the pandemic, but it will be transferring hands. Even without COVID and the instability of the government, there will always be opportunity in the future. The most important thing in real estate investing is to get started; don't let money stop you. Mike's ego presented many challenges early on in his career, but now he focuses on personal development to continue growing. Email Mike about his event and say you heard him on this show to get the discount. 3 Key Points: It would behoove real estate agents to gain investing skills because it allows them to help more people, open more doors, and attract other investors. Mike has diversified his portfolio with multiple revenue streams including rental properties, training sessions, and his turnkey business. Too many people think that because they don't have a lot of money, they can't invest in real estate. You don't need to use your own money to get into real estate investing. Resources Mentioned: Learn more about Hyperfast Academy; Send your clients to Dan and Keri HERE Dan Lesniak Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram,  Mike Wolf: E-Book | Event | YouTube | Facebook Email Mike Wolf at info@mikewolfmastery.com to get the $49 Masterclass pricing for HFA Podcast listeners

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Paolo Pirjanian, the Founder and CEO at Embodied, Inc. Paolo talks about his passion and love for technology and how he developed a robot called Moxie that helps children promote their social, emotional and cognitive skills. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Paolo Pirjanian. (9:12) Paolo mentions that he studied in Denmark, got his master's degree, then got a Ph.D. in computer vision and robotics. (10:06) Paolo shares that he moved to the US 20 years ago, to achieve his dream job, which was working for NASA JPL. (10:16) Paolo mentions that in 2012, they got acquired by iRobot, which is a company that created a robotic vacuum cleaner. (11:48) Paolo thinks that he's always been driven by his curiosity for the unknown. (12:30) Paolo shares that they have a culture document in their company which has become the foundation for everyone in the company. (18:04) Paolo mentions that the trust between the team members is significant. (19:49) Paolo shares that Moxie is an animated companion robot that can interact with you, using eye contact when you sit in front of it. (20:34) Paolo shares that Moxie's core purpose is to help children promote their social, emotional, and cognitive skills. (21:40) Paolo mentions that Moxie's other feature is their companion app for the parents that runs on a smartphone, which enables the parents to keep track of how their child is doing, on various metrics that they're measuring. (27:47) Paolo mentions that they're still currently doing the beta testing with families. (29:29) Paolo shares that they have been developing Moxie for the last five years, and having the ability to share what they have built is exciting. (39:06) Key Quotes: “I think that core talent required by anyone wanting to build a company is team building. It starts and ends with a team, the success of a company, I believe. So, over the years I have developed a lot of my skills around understanding how to build a motivated team and expand the team to grow, to thrive together, to pursue missions that seem impossible.” - Paolo Pirjanian “What brings success in life is having those soft skills. So, we are trying to help children with promoting those social, emotional cognitive skills that are essential for having a successful personal life, as well as successful career life.” - Paolo Pirjanian “I love technology. That's the muscle I've trained myself on over the years. But also, it combines with the fact that we can have an impact on many children. And beyond that other parts, our society can benefit from the technology we have developed as well.” - Paolo Pirjanian Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Paolo Pirjanian LinkedIn Embodied, Inc. Moxie

In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Grant Botma, the Founder of Culture Course and Stewardship. Grant talks about his knowledge and expertise in the financial services industry and how to establish genuine relationships with people. He also shares their online course that helps in hiring the right people, and he also shares his book, entitled The Problem Isn't Their Paycheck: How to Attract Top Talent and Build a Thriving Company Culture. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Grant Botma. (3:32) Grant shares that he's been in the financial services industry for about 20 years, and they have stewardship, which includes home loans, insurance, and investments with wisdom and love. (7:33) Grant mentions that he built Stewardship because of arrogance and hate. He also explains the reason behind it. (8:16) Grant shares that to build a better team, humility is one of the keys. In other words, he had to recognize and figure out that he couldn't do all the things. (10:30) Grant shares that he would certainly relate the competition and goal to what they do at Stewardship, they have to compete, to genuinely put other people's needs ahead of our own. (11:29) Grant mentions that the unique part about Stewardship is what they call, a unified purpose. (12:05) Grant shares that he never thought their company has done better than what they did and they have completely broken records, on every single line of business, and every single one of his producers is nationally ranked as a top performer. (14:09) Grant shares that there are a lot of elements that he teaches in the Culture Course, and what he did together with his team is significant. One of the things that are more motivating to employees than money, is freedom and autonomy. (15:40) Grant mentions that a lot of people wanted him to teach culture. Because the way he teaches was different and unique than what's taught in management school. (18:07) Grant discusses his book entitled The Problem Isn't Their Paycheck: How to Attract Top Talent and Build a Thriving Company Culture. (19:35) Grant shares that one of the bigger things that he would advise people when building a team is to make sure that they're going to be a culture fit first. (23:42) Grant mentions that the core of every business is serving other people. If you're not serving other people, you don't have the business. Therefore, if you're selfish, you're going against the core of what makes a business fundamental. (26:44) Key Quotes: “I wanted to create a place where people get their finances handled in the best way possible, whether they knew it or not. And in my arrogance, I thought that I had the right answers to everything, and I could fix it and I could figure it out.” - Grant Botma Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Grant Botma LinkedIn Culture Course Stewardship

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Christopher Lynch, Co-Founder of Everyday California. Chris talks about how they built their business from a small kayaking tour company to the ocean adventure and lifestyle brand it is today. He also shares how their business has adapted to the pandemic and working remotely.  Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Chris Lynch. (5:22) Chris mentions that his first job was at a pizza parlor. (6:59) Chris shares how him and his business partner obtained the permit to start their kayak tour company. (7:50) Chris mentions that his mother was one of the first-ever Navy female salvage divers. (9:42) Chris shares that they officially took ownership of the OEX Dive and the permit, on November 1, 2010. (10:44) Chris explains that during their first year, they built a little store in La Jolla, near the beach. (11:06) Chris shares that they came up with the name Everyday California in 2012. (11:49) Chris explains that the bear in their logo was originally from OEX Dive and the bear was in a kayak. Since surfing is popular in California, they moved him out of a kayak and holed into holding a surfboard. (12:16) Chris mentions that they launched their ecommerce store in 2014 and everything has grown from there. (12:41) Chris shares that they were planning to launch a sunscreen this spring, but the pandemic happened. Therefore, they decided to launch it in March 2021. They have created a fully custom formula, using blue algae and kelp. (13:38) Chris mentions that his team works with three to four separate agencies that are running their Facebook ads, SEO, and Google AdWords. (16:16) Chris explains that the business has grown steadily and organically. (17:29) Chris shares that they had a record-breaking month in August and September, and they are on pace to break records in October, as well. (21:34) Chris mentions that from a communication standpoint, Slack has been very useful for them to keep the team together. (24:05) Key Quotes: “I do not hover, I'm not micromanaging anybody. Because there is so much going on, that I think it's important to give everybody their space and trust that they're going to take care of their end of the business.” - Christopher Lynch “We've always grown pretty slowly and very organically. We do spend a lot of money on advertising, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and all those good things. But we do it in a way that is not a loss leader, we're always looking for the profitability side.” - Christopher Lynch “Every guy I talked to has learned so much, changed so much, and adapted. And you're gonna have to adapt to survive. You know, it has always been that way no matter what it is, there's always something new, there's always a new technology, there's always a new marketing platform, and there's always something that's going to happen.” - Christopher Lynch Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Christopher Lynch LinkedIn Everyday California

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Chase Birky, CPA, President and Co-Founder of Dark Horse CPA. Chase talks about the significance of technology in the CPA and accounting industry. He also shares the business model they created that allows them to have the best of both worlds. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Chase Birky. (3:58) Chase mentions their vlog called This Week This Morning that they release every Friday morning. (8:54) Chase shares one of the things that they did before the pandemic was they realized the opportunity of an online presence, being searchable on Google, and a great website that's useful for potential clients. (9:41) Chase mentions that the vast majority of small firms use their website as a business card. (10:08) Chase shares that it's significant for them to have an online presence and reviews that clients use to vet a business before reaching out. (11:08) Chase shares that technology is beneficial for them because they know that the accounting industry is going to automate furthermore compliance-related work. (12:13) Chase mentions one of the things that's been sorely lacking is the focus on a forward-looking advisory for their clients. (13:14) Chase thinks that there are very strong parallels between team sports and business. (16:57) Chase shares that what motivates him is the business model that they created, which allows CPAs to come in and build a book of business in six months, and leverage the resources they have, from technology to staffing standpoint. (17:28) Chase shares that Microsoft Teams and Zoom is their way to keep in touch and have conversations. It has been a huge tool for them and has become the backbone of their communication. (22:56) Chase mentions that from their standpoint, there is a moral imperative for them to give their best in a situation where all of the information isn't available. (26:37) Key Quotes: “Our real philosophy on all this is that you can't do anything to slow technology down, we all know that and you can't bury your head in the sand. So you got to embrace it and for us, it became about, okay, let's find ways to make technology improve our work-life, by doing and automating the things that we don't like doing.” - Chase Birky “Team sports are not the only way, but it's one of the best ways to learn how to be a good team member at a company, how to be a good employee, and how to be a good leader.” - Chase Birky “I think everything is a perception, and that's based on whatever data and whatever experience a given person has. So I tend to change my focus more from what people don't know about us, to let's just lead by example and show them.” - Chase Birky Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Chase Birky LinkedIn Dark Horse CPA This Week This Morning

In today's episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Brian Morales, Founder and CEO of Pro-Cal Lighting Inc. Brian shares his knowledge and expertise in the lighting industry and how he built Pro-Cal Lighting. Episode Highlights: Mike introduces Brian Morales. (4:37) Brian thinks that hiring people with skills and qualified attributes are a huge part of helping your business grow. (11:14) Brian mentions that he started Pro-Cal Lighting over 5 years ago, and he's been in the lighting industry for 15 years. (12:44) Brian mentions that your weaknesses can become your strengths. (17:17) Brian shares that they started with energy efficiency because there was a huge push on their national infrastructure and local infrastructure to be more energy efficient. (17:52) Brian mentions that one of his biggest ventures is trying to get into the LA Olympics. (20:57) Brian shares that their culture is summed up in an acronym called SHINE, and it stands for Safety, Honesty, Ingenuity, Nobility, and Excellence. (22:57) Brain shares that as a business owner, there's great marketing that can happen around participating in the community. (26:37) Brian hopes that after the election, the small businesses get noticed and help them survive during the pandemic. (29:44) Brian shares that they brought in software that will help their means of communication during the pandemic, and they started having directors meetings every Friday. (32:05) Brian mentions that being able to participate, and help other agencies to survive and grow, allowed them to enjoy their work better. (41:57) Brian mentions that they're currently working on creating an agency for content creators. (42:37) Brian shares that he's creating opportunities beyond what Pro-Cal Lighting can do, and there are other aspects of the lighting industry that he's trying to develop further. (43:08) Key Quotes: “As much as I want to have everybody in great synergy and sync together, it is hard work to keep everybody in line, and to make sure that we have the same vision that I'm promoting, encouraging, and getting everyone to do their best. That takes up 99% of my time as a CEO.” - Brian Morales “We all have the right timing when it comes to what we plan to do. So a big thing I tell everybody is if you tried it out and it failed, don't give up. There's going to be a time when it's perfect.” - Brian Morales “Honesty, that's such a common thing. But it's one of those things that if we're not constantly reminding ourselves that, that's a part of our culture, not just a value, but a part of our culture, that we always need to be honest, even when we mess up.” “We understood early on that if we were going to do anything and be successful at it, we had to make sure that it wasn't just a money success. It was beyond that it involved our community and created a positive movement for our nonprofits around us.” - Brian Morales Resources Mentioned: Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services Mike Fusco LinkedIn  Ray Ramirez LinkedIn Brian Morales Pro-Cal Lighting Inc

During this episode, you'll hear Mike Cuevas and Valerie Van de Zilver present at the HyperFast Digital Deep Dive Event. Listen to learn how they create compelling videos that help them capture attention and expand their audience.    Episode Highlights:  Mike paints the picture of the viral video he presents. Val wasn't scared to step outside of the box. She embraces video. This video has over 50,000 views. Hear the audio for Mike and Val's viral video. Understanding your brand allows you to be yourself on camera. Creating content is about capturing attention. Val walks through what happened after she released the video. Val encourages you to get in front of the camera and put yourself out there. When you're creating video consistently you're fighting for the attention of your database. 72% of people will close with the first agent they speak and meet with. Video is about reminding people you are in real estate.  You don't need to use your videos to sell. Use them to sell your personal brand. When you think about what sets you apart and make that part of your voice, you will stand out. We all need to find something that makes us different from everybody else. Build your brand by creating content consistently. Your personal brand is recession-proof no matter what the market is doing. Content creation is not lead generation. Mike shares the example of how Bed Bath and Beyond coupons work. You have to remain in constant communication with your audience. Few of your competitors are creating video content. Don't overthink creating videos. Create a strategy based on knowing who you are. Authenticity will attract your audience. Don't send your database to a landing page. Send them to your site. If you really want to build your brand, YouTube is a great ad platform. 3 Key Points:   Be willing to put yourself out there when creating video.    Remember that your job isn't to sell on video, it's to build your personal brand.   Video is about reminding people that you are in real estate.  Resources Mentioned: Learn more about Hyperfast Academy; Get 100 Free Tips from Dan here Keri Shull: Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram Mike Cuevas - Real Estate Marketing Dude website, YouTube, Instagram, podcast Valerie Van de Zilver website, YouTube Mike and Valerie Home Protection video  

In part two of the incredible exit of Mike Jackness's Colorit, we are hearing his first-hand perspective on what the process is like from the side of the seller. Mike honestly and openly goes through the process, from the letter of intent through due diligence, all the way to the handoff and transition. He reveals the humbling moments, the surprises, and things he would do differently. This episode is for anyone thinking about being on the seller or the buyer side of the acquisition process. Ending your involvement in a business can happen more easily and smoothly if you are in a good position and absolutely prepared no matter what. The takeaway to all business owners is put your business in that position from inception in case of an eventual sale. Episode Highlights: Mike's background and how he found himself in the coloríng business. How the due diligence process went and how in many ways it was harder work than running the actual business. The things that came up during the process that were surprising and how to approach number discrepancies in due diligence. The value of using a professional firm for due diligence. Why early preparation is critical. The creation and review of the asset purchase agreement and how it went for Mike. The small things he relayed to the buyer in order to make the transition smoother. Why in-person meetings are very important during the hand-off. The importance of doing everything you can to facilitate while still creating limits to your involvement in the process. What's next for Mike. Transcription:   Mark: Mike Nuñez. Yes, Mike if you're listening to this podcast congratulations for sending in the right answer to the movie quote. And which one was it; that was the Boiler Room, right? Joe: I think so. You expect me to remember. I don't know. We need Chris Moore our content director on here. Come on Chris. Mark: Hey Chris, we need your show notes for before we actually record these. But I do know that Mike you sent in a correct answer. Thank you for doing that. I don't know the prizes although the next time I see you I'll buy you a drink for sending that in and getting the right answer. Joe: For people that don't know, why don't we tell who Mike Nuñez is? Mark: Yeah, Mike Nuñez is an old friend of Quiet Light Brokerage. He is also a buyer with Quiet Light Brokerage and what are we getting out Joe what am I missing? Joe: Doesn't he run AffiliateManager.com? Mark: He does run AffiliateManager.com. Joe: He's huge in the affiliate space so if there's anybody out there with products that are looking for a great affiliate company to connect with look up Mike Nuñez on Linked In and connect with him. He's one of the nicest guys in the country and you'll love working with him and his company. Mark: You know what this movie quote is going to become, right? All of the show vendors, all of the other vendors out there that want us to make a pitch on the podcast are going to start sending in the right answers to us here on out. So those of you listening whatever the movie quote was send us an email and let us know what that's from. We'll give you a shout out on the podcast. But now let's talk a little bit about today's podcast episode. I'm excited about this. I love the actual stories of selling some of his business. Joe, you've been working with Mike Jackness is on ColorIt.com getting his business sold and today we're continuing the story. We already have one podcast on this where we talked about getting the offer, preparing the business for sale, going through all that, and now we're looking at the other side of it. And that is preparing for the close and doing that due diligence and some of that stuff that gets pretty difficult towards the end of a sale. Joe: Yeah the 1st podcast was right up until the letter of intent and now we're talking honestly and openly about the process that we had to go through; that Mike really had to go through with his team from the moment you're under a letter of intent all the way through the due diligence, that financial trusted exam if you will, negotiating the asset purchase agreement, meeting the buyers face to face, working with transitioning your virtual assistants over to them, closing, and training and transition after. We go through all of it. Nothing is left out. Mike is honest and humbled and surprised in some cases. I don't mean to plug people but Centurica did the due diligence and Mike—we'll let people listen to it but Mike made a promise to Bryan at Centurica and he said something about this process and his accounting and how it's going to work out and Bryan said yeah okay we'll see and Mike was a little humbled and surprised in the process. Mark: Well, that's great. Mike is a good guy. We plugged him before. He's been on the podcast now a few times. Let's get over to this because I think anyone that is thinking about selling or even if you're a buyer and you're going through this process, it's so useful to get that perspective of what it's like to go through this process as a seller. Because boy it can be frustrating sometimes, it can be stressful and just getting to the psyche of what's going on there I think is invaluable. Joe: And not to go on too long but one of the most important things you're going to hear is what Mark and I say all the time but you're not going to hear it from us, you're going to hear it from Mike. He's built, he's bought, he sold, and he's gone through this process most recently as a seller. And there are some things if he could turn back time that he would absolutely do and he would have made more money. But he was at a certain emotional state and life state where he wanted to sell and we made that happen. And we achieved his financial goals but if he could turn back time that would have changed things a little bit. So we're hoping that the lesson that you'll get out of this is planning; planning your exit eventually. If you may wake up one day and decide okay today's the day I need to reach out to Joe or Mark or anybody at Quiet Light and begin that process what will you plan well in advance for that? That's part of the mistake that we talked about with Mike. So that's it, let's go to the podcast. Joe: Hey folks it's Joe Valley with Quiet Light Brokerage and we have another great episode of the Quiet Light Podcast here with our good friend Michael Jackness. How are you today Mike? Mike: I'm doing good man. Joe: It's good to have you back. I know that we've been chatting a lot lately because we just closed a transaction together. Mike: We did. It's good to be on the other end of it now. Joe: It is and it's been a process. We're recording this folks on April 18th and we started in mid-December. And we ended up closing the transaction on April 5th. So giving you a little bit of a recap; this is Part 2 of the process of selling Mike's business Color It. Mike those that are just tuning in and didn't hear it the 1st time why don't you give a 60 second background on yourself so they know who you are. Mike: Yeah. So I always joke that this background story gets longer and longer as I get older but the short version is that I have a background in IT. I'm an entrepreneur by heart and was doing affiliate marketing. I quit my day job in 2004 and I've been out on my own doing various things since then. I got into e-commerce in 2012 when we bought Travelo.com and sold that—had an exit to that in 2015 in January. Four e-commerce brands one of which we just sold through you. And we've been blogging and podcasting about that journey since 2015 at EcomCrew. Joe: And you're being a little humble there because you really travel all over the world and speak now. Not just with EcomCrew but also on your email marketing campaigns that you do with Klaviyo. So I'm going to boost you up a little bit. Mike: Thank you. Joe: You're famous man, I'm humbled just having you on the podcast and to call you my friend I think. Mike: Inaudible[00:07:06.7] has this show notes that say famous on Amazon I had one that says famous in my own head. Joe: I'm famous in my house but the least famous according to my family. There you go. Alright, so just a quick recap; again we launched Color It for sale in mid-December against my better judgment but you're influential and you pushed me and we did it anyway. But we try normally to have three to five conference calls in the 1st 30 to 45 days and at least one acceptable offer. We had three or four. We can't remember. We talked about this the other day and I didn't bother looking it up. But we had enough so that we got two offers. We ended up under LOI on Feb 5th, intentionally chose not to close for 60 days so you could move three of the brands out of the seller account into other seller accounts and that was a fun process, right? Mike: Oh yeah. Lovely. Joe: And then we ended up closing on April 5th, roughly 60 days later after going under the LOI. So we talked about the process, getting to LOI in the previous recording. Let's talk about what happened afterwards and talk about due diligence. How was your experience in due diligence; how painful was it, how good was it, how easy, all that good stuff? Mike: It was a lot less enjoyable than receiving the wire. Joe: Is this a yes or a no that you really worked harder getting the business sold than you did actually operating the business? Mike: I'd say absolutely. It was a lot of work. It was stressful just because—I kind of strive for perfection and I wanted everything to be exactly what we had communicated in the preliminary process. But Centurica is really good and they found stuff that I didn't even know about my own business which was really frustrating for me. It was a little bit unnerving. I was worried about how that would be perceived if it would—how it would affect the deal. What I realized I guess eventually was that every one of these deals I think that goes through due diligence stuff comes off and we were kind of within that normal boundaries of acceptable tolerances I guess or whatever they would call it and I probably was making [inaudible 00:09:12.1] but for me at the moment that it was happening I was pretty upset. Joe: Yeah so we had two or three things that came up where the P&L wasn't exactly right; the discretionary earnings wasn't exactly right for the trailing 12 months. And it's funny I had a call this morning, I'm working on launching a listing tomorrow and the owner of that business said well what happens in due diligence if that happens? And he was worried that the whole deal would just fall apart and you start from scratch. That's not normally the case. Normally you just use logic and math and say okay if you're off by $1,000 and your multiple is a 3 time you take $3,000 off the contract price of the business. That's really important when you build that trust that you've built over the last two or three months with the buyers of your business Mike. But in your case we didn't make any adjustment at all even though your numbers were not exactly the same as in discretionary earnings, right? Mike: Yeah and I think a few things kind of happened and number one as we were going to do diligence and working towards closing our January numbers came out and our February numbers came out and eventually we kind of knew what March was looking like and we were up significantly year over year. So I mean it was getting to be to a point where in some respects I was kind of hoping the deal will fall apart just like be realistic for money. Joe: Yeah. Mike: Obviously, that wasn't what I wanted to happen because I didn't want it to go through [inaudible 00:10:37.3] but that certainly probably helps. And I think a little of the trust kind of was established like you said that they knew that there was nothing the fairest going on there or at least they hope that that's what they were thinking. I'm sure that's what they were thinking obviously. And I also think that just based on talking to Bryan over at Centurica like after the whole thing was done it was basically like when a report comes out it's always going to be—there's always something that's kind of found and I just—it's kind of like a home inspection. When you go buy a home there's going to be a home inspection and there's always going to be stuff that that guy finds. Some of the stuff you can try and negotiate for to lower the price of the home but a lot of it you just accept. It's just like there are things that you're going to just go okay well I didn't know that when I signed the agreement to buy this house and put it in Escrow but I want to buy the house nonetheless and here I am and I'm going to just go ahead and still do it. So I think all of those things combined and I just I mean legitimately was willing to walk away. I wasn't willing to sell it for less. Because I feel like the number that we picked in my mind was the least I was willing to sell the business for. I was willing—we had talked about willing to—because we had already started separating our companies and making things better that if we waited another year we would have gotten more money for it. But at the same time, I also had set my mind to sell it. So I mean there was a bunch of things going on there but luckily all kind of worked out in the end. Joe: Yeah, you were emotionally ready to sell. There's no question about it. I talked to you three times about waiting; separate them all out, wait another year or so, and you definitely were ready. Mike: It wasn't about the money. I mean it was just a lifestyle adjustment and realizing we had too much going on and leaving some money on the table for this transaction to almost certainly put us in a better situation moving forward. So all and I think we're going to do much better by selling one of these businesses. Joe: Yeah, and you're going to be able to narrow your focus with the sale. So with regards to Centurica; for those that are considering using them or are fearful that you're under LOI and your buyer is hiring Centurica. I've never had a deal go sideways with Centurica. What they do is they find out like Mike said what the issues are with the business and really what it is, it's a little scary but for the buyer of the business it's really things that can be fixed and it's a path towards future growth and making the business stronger. So I like it when somebody else steps in on a buyer's behalf and really digs into those numbers. It helps the process and instills confidence in everybody that it is a good investment and that nothing's going to come back to you Mike in this situation after the sale if you closed and the buyer found something after the fact. It's better that they find it during due diligence like we did here. Mike: I think the only reason you really need to be fearful is if you are hiding something and you know it. And these guys will find it. I promise you—I mean they're incredible. And if I ever go buy a business I will absolutely hire them. They are incredible. I almost want to hire them just to tell them to come do an audit on our existing businesses to make sure we'd get things fixed before we go sell it—another piece of it a year or two from now. They're really good. Joe: It's not a crazy idea preparing in advance for the sale of a business 12 to 18 months out. You know now that that is critical. We've talked about it recently. You got a good value for Color It but I think realistically if the brands had all been separated out and you had clean tax returns, a staff that was delegated just towards Color It, it's possible you would have gotten a higher multiple. And with your January, February growth numbers and December was just killer, there's no doubt that the buyer of your business is really excited and didn't even think about making an adjustment because some of the numbers were off by a little bit. Because the numbers were so high for January and February he knew that he was getting a great business. And he told me personally that he thought that this one is probably the best of the three Amazon FBA businesses that he's bought for me in the last eight months. So we got through due diligence, it was a little painful, a little tough. Centurica helped. We had some trust built early on so we didn't make any adjustments and mostly because of that trust and because of you keeping your foot on the gas in terms of the numbers and the growth of the business. The worst thing you can do folks is once you're under LOI have a bad month or two during due diligence. It scares the buyer. They're making a lifetime investment putting their life savings on the line and they want to see positive numbers, not negative numbers. So we got through it and the next phase sort of when we got most of the way through it was to end up drafting, editing, and signing a 30 to 45 page asset purchase agreement. And that can be kind of scary and overwhelming in itself but the situation was pretty smooth, don't you think Mike? Mike: Yeah. I mean it was incredible. I expected it to go one way. This is actually funny, I expected due diligence to go one way and it kind of went a different way because I was building to Centurica when I had did the kickoff call that this will be the most accurate—I forgot exactly how I said but I really hear myself on that [inaudible 00:15:57.3] accurate company that have ever gone through diligence with you, you're not going to find anything off here by a penny. He was like yeah we'll see about that. That went one way and then the legal actions in my career and the ones where the other party drops the agreements are usually just an awful experience of their lawyer is dropping the agreement on behalf of their clients and all the things that they would want in a perfect world for their client with complete disregard to what the other party would want to see in that agreement knowing exactly what they want. They already know what the 3rd party is going to want but they don't care about that. They hope that of a hundred things that are in there you only asked to change 50 or something and the other 50 stays in the other party's best interest. So what I got was an agreement and—so I'm not a lawyer and I've been through these a million times and I don't really get emotional about this. I just send it immediately off to my attorney I was like let me know and I was expecting pages of stuff that were going to be really difficult to go back and forth on. And I really hate this part of the negotiation process because you've already signed a deal and now you're negotiating over a bunch of other points that you weren't expecting to have to fight over and there was none of that. Like she just like make sure you fill in the blank for this number and they haven't created this LLC that they're talking about in the agreement and make sure that that's done so it's actually a legal entity before you sign. I mean there was little pebbly stuff like that, there was a couple of small things that had some substance but it made me so happy not to have to go through a tough process. It kept our legal fees down only spending 2,500 bucks reviewing and editing the APA which I was expecting 10 or 20k just from previous experience of having to go back and forth. And it was such a great experience. I actually emailed the buyer afterwards and I was like dude I just want to let you know that I really appreciate this because somebody along the way from your team said do not send an agreement off to Jackness and Terran that's just lopsided. Like, make this a middle of the road agreement from day one. Like that was clearly someone communicated that because otherwise, I think it would have been the other way. Joe: Yeah. This is the 4th transaction I've done with Matt and his attorneys; the 1st one years ago and the last three within the last eight months. And every one of those contracts had been fair and balanced and turned around very quickly. And we actually have an attorney referral list now where we just want people to have good attorneys because we've had situations where people have awful attorneys. So we started gathering a list and we put this firm Jones and [inaudible 00:18:35.7]. if anybody is working on an asset purchase agreement and doing it directly with another buyer or seller and you want a referral to an attorney, shoot me an email at joe@quietlightbrokerage and I'll be happy to send it off to you; I'm happy to do that. So that's good, we got through that APA and we actually signed it. It's interesting because we signed it on the 14th of March and normally when we sign it money goes into Escrow and then we're right off to closing. But in this case, we waited almost another three weeks. So it could have been even longer. Mike: It did [inaudible 00:19:16.7] Escrow. You might not recall but there was like a $25,000 deposit. Joe: Yeah because of the request—actually it was necessary because you moving things out of the seller account. It was a nonrefundable $25,000 earnest money that was put in Escrow after signing the asset purchase agreement. I think it was nonrefundable. But that went to the attorney Escrow agreement and then the balance was sent in just prior to closing. It all worked out very well. We ended up closing on March 5th. But prior to that, we had to have some calls and some meetings and doing some planning but there were times when you were a little nervous because there wasn't a whole lot of planning and a whole lot of conversations going on. Mike: Yeah, and it was from my point of view like I wasn't worried about me because like I knew the money was going to be there. But I'm the kind of guy as you know that I'm looking out for the other guy. They just spent a lot of money, I want to make sure it's a good experience for them. And I was just like guys you're buying this business in a couple of days and we haven't talked about changing passwords and billing and things are going to just start breaking if you aren't paying attention to them and the team needs kind of a handoff to know exactly where to look for things etcetera. So it was a little bit weird to me that it didn't seem to be—like they were the kind of guys like everything was like T's crossed I's dotted, really highly motivated and passionate about everything that they're doing but that didn't seem to be as big of a concern. And I think we were talking a little bit—I think it was a combination of they just purchased another business like right before that. Joe: Yeah. Mike: I was also coming to visit them for two days like a couple of days after closing to be with them two, four days in person which I think probably they were just mostly waiting for that to happen. And I think the last part is that they just basically trusted me by that point that I was a good guy and wasn't going to rake them over the coals. But there were definitely some moments where I just like I—if I wanted to like really screw these guys [inaudible 00:21:09.4] kind of I was like thinking that and more just from the perspective of I think they probably should just be more careful because not everyone is a good person and I've seen scribbly stuff happen. Joe: And remember you didn't read every line of the purchase agreement. I'm sure whatever the potential screwing was or could have been was covered there. Mike: There's probably, I did not read the agreement. My lawyer read it but yeah I'm sure there was some legal stuff on there that had I screwed them—I mean again that wasn't even like—I was [inaudible 00:21:39.9] that I was just more—I'm worried for them. Joe: Yeah. Mike: The biggest was that if a wire did come in and we still had that lump in the Amazon accounts and—who knows someone could just like catch a fly out of the country and really see it later and it was a little bit scary for me on their behalf. I just worry about stuff like that. Joe: Yeah. Well, I think that the last minute stuff was due to they had just closed one so they were busy with that and they also knew what was coming. And they are so busy they have so little capacity for anything about what's in front of them that they were like we'll get to that when it's necessary and it's necessary just after closing; after the money is wired. The other thing you mention was that you went to meet with them in person. You happened to be going on a road trip and going to be in their neighborhood just after closing. So that worked out perfectly. Mike: Yeah. Joe: I always recommend to people, to buyers in particular regardless of the size of the transaction that if you can; if there's any possible way, you get in a car, you get on a plane and you go visit your seller during due diligence. Once you're under a letter of intent get in front of them; have lunch with them, have dinner, get a tour. You don't want to let the staff know that the business is forsold, the large part until the APA is signed. But you could go in as a consultant or at the very least meet them so that you can gain that level of trust because it makes a huge difference. The worst situation I've ever had—I actually had a guy from San Diego where you're from. Early on when I 1st started back in 2012, he bought a business from me that was $35,000 and there was about $40,000 worth of inventory. He flew from San Diego in January to Minnesota and he didn't have a winter coat and I was trying to talk to him because I grew up in Min and I'm like you really—you don't know what 10 degrees is and with the wind chill factor of 20 below but it worked out. And he said to me later, he said look if I hadn't met them in person and learned everything I learned in due diligence I would have walked away because due diligence was tough when you've got a business that's $35,000 and there's $40,000 worth of inventory. But he met them in person and that made a difference. He still owns it today. I saw him at the Prosper Show a few years ago. So definitely in person meetings are really, really important. So let's talk now about those two days; in most transactions, there's a transition period, a training period that is part of the purchase price. The standard asset purchase agreement says up to 40 hours over the 1st 90 days after closing. I don't think you're going to use 40 hours or they're going to use 40 hours from you but you put in a couple of very long days right after closing, right? Mike: Yeah. I mean I don't know that it was required and I committed to be there whatever but I'm again that type of guy and I want to see them have success with this business; bottom line. And part of it is just treating others like I like to be treated. And I have been in transactions before when I bought Ice Wraps on the wire hit the guy ghosted me. It was like I literally never heard from him again. Joe: That's why we do hold backs people. Mike: Yeah but I mean it was a $50,000 purchase. It was actually the exact same situation as going—I went to Michigan, it was also in January. I also didn't have a winter coat. And I was also [inaudible 00:25:13.8] I thought you're talking about me for a second. But the employees did help me with the transition. The owner just was gone. And there were a couple of things that I could have used his help on that would have just taken him 30 seconds to answer. So again I just would never want to be that guy. And there is a lot—I mean a lot of things are going on in our business that I probably needed to hand off you realize it is all complicated; they are but it seems so easy to you because you learned them one day at a time. And when you're trying to take five years of something that you learned one day at a time that for me they're like sending orders into Amazon or you have something come from our 3PL or coming from China go to a 3PL and go to Amazon or deal with the customer service issue or do Facebook Ads, I mean all the different pieces of the business it all just seems so 2nd nature to me. It's no different than breathing. But when you try to start explaining to somebody you realize like just how much there is. And so I actually made a list of like 40 items as I just started thinking of them over and above what they were asking for or things that I thought that I needed to explain to them. And I just I wanted to feel like when I left there that I felt good about myself that they had everything from me to make sure that they were going to be successful. Now what they do with things from here on out isn't really—I look at that and that's not my problem. I mean I've done everything I can it's up to them now if they want to end to the ground there's nothing I can really do about that. I'd rather that they'll make a billion dollars with it. I'd be much happier with that result but I want to tell they felt good about me. Like I gave them every tool possible to be successful and I'm still there for them. They still have been in contact with me but they've been really good about it and respectful. And I've been spending 10 to 15 minutes a day maybe since I left there helping them which I think is completely reasonable. And I see the light at the end of the tunnel in that within two to three weeks I'll probably never hear from them again other than to say hi and maybe have a drink some day because they're really awesome guys. I really like them and I'd love to hang out with them just on a personal level next time we're in the same city. But they're obviously not going to take advantage. That's when I would get upset is like if the other parties are taking advantage and like asking you to continue to do stuff and spend eight hours a day helping them and just taking advantage. And they're not doing that and again I just want to make sure that I do the best that I could and I can feel good about myself with the hand off. And that's kind of how things transpired. Joe: Yeah. And that's why as far as the taking advantage that's why it's called transition and training. It's not operating the business. Mike: Yeah. Joe: So we've always got a certain period up to and over, the reality is that even after three months they may send you a note, a Skype message, a text, an email with a quick question that you're going to respond to. It happens. There's just no way that you can pack everything that's in your head inside of a two day training period. Because they're going to come up against something that may not happen for four months and it's new to them and it wasn't covered in training. It's just the nature of all of the pieces and parts. But at the same time, it's not overly complicated. These businesses are fairly easy to transfer and the training is fairly easy. It's just running on its own now and it's the key thing that I always tell people is especially people that are leaving the corporate world and are used to working 60 hours a week and they take over a business like yours that might take 15 hours a week on a high side that just put in 30 but 15 working in 15 observing and training and don't fix anything that's not broken. I see that happen too often. People come from the corporate world and they're just fixers; they want to fix things even if it's not broken so they do break it. So that's the big piece that I try to have them not do which is really important. Okay, so we're doing a video here. Most people listen to audio but you've got the EcomCrew shirt on so I want to talk about that a little bit. I want to know; we've closed, the money is in the bank, you've dropped one of four brands so you've got a little bit more free time. Not a lot, I know you're crazy busy but what's next for Mike Jackness? Mike: Well immediately following as just I have the EcomCrew shirt on is because we're doing an EcomCrew webinar right after this. That's what's immediately next but I think you're talking bigger picture. I'm trying to get—I have some life goals, I do a podcast every year about yearly goals and a couple of big themes are less is more. I think that would be just trying to do too much. We've been successful in spite of ourselves, in spite of running at full scene. I'm concerned about burning out because I've been there before and I can kind of feel that coming to [inaudible 00:30:01.6]. So before running off the rails and feeling like I'm completely burned out, I wanted to make some changes. And one of those things was selling one of those businesses to make sure that the burnout thing doesn't happen. And overall like the thing that I really enjoy doing is the teaching and education part with EcomCrew. It's just been awesome. I talk about how I feel like I have enough in life. I mean it's always nice to make more money. I'm not going to be one of those guys that's like I'm not going to take any money when I have enough to make money but there's different ways to make money. And one of the things that have been really cool is just to help others while doing that. It might be a situation where I might make 10,000 instead of $20,000 but somebody else might make $100,000 so it's like a net win for the role and it's still good for me and it's still in an environment where I get way more enjoyment out of it and it's a lot better than coming to the office every day and just kind of grinding which is not really for me. That was the reason why I left my day job in 2004. So those are kind of some big picture things that we're working on. I also want to get into an e-commerce business I have just a personal interest in. I think that that's really important after just being in e-commerce and business stuff over a long period of time. The things that you are personally interested and passionate about are just way easier. And Color It was an amazing business, amazing brand for a whole bunch of reasons that we don't time to get into here but it's just not something that I'm personally into. And the same thing with Ice Wraps and Tech Miner and Water Baby, those are just things that they make money. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, I think a really good business person at heart like I am very strappy. I will figure out a way to make money doing just about anything but it's not just about that. It's doing something that I actually have an interest in and enjoy which I think will be a lot better. So those are some big picture things for me. Joe: But I think a lot of that estranged and left comes with age and experience; hustled in the past and you did what you had to do and you got ahead and you're giving back. For those that have not listened to EcomCrew, the podcast, I highly advise it. We talk about it often here on the podcast for people that have just purchased businesses or even those that have them and are trying to expand their channels either to Amazon or email marketing or anything like that. You got to tune in and listen to Mike and Dave on EcomCrew. They've got a great series, Under the Hood, we're going to try to do something like that on valuations here at Quiet Light someday but Mike is one of those guys that has been there, done it, and now he's helping. He's not teaching because he had nothing else to do. He's teaching because he's been very, very successful in sharing his experience with others. So I appreciate that. Mike, any last thoughts, any last words in terms of what you'd say to people that are thinking about selling in the future and how to prepare? Mike: Specifically, on thinking about selling and how to prepare, the 1st thing I would say is that everything comes to an end at some point. So even if you're like I'm never going to sell my business that's complete B.S. because everything comes to an end. And what I've learned in life, entrepreneurial life is a lot of times it sneaks up on you. You think you're in a good spotting and you're happy with what you're doing but there's a lot of things that happen in business that are irritating and wear on you. And eventually one day you might just throw your hands up and you'll be like I've had enough of this. And if you're in a better spot to sell and you're prepared to sell all along the way that can happen a lot easier and smoother than if you haven't prepared. And you'll also get way more money for your business if you have prepared. So it's something that you should be thinking about at all times. It will probably make you a better business person and make your existing business better anyway because if you're always thinking about it from the perception of I might need to sell this business any time it will force you to have better procedures in place. It will force you to be looking at your accounting every month and scrutinizing all your expenses. Making sure that your net profit is always as high as possible. There's a lot of [inaudible 00:34:09.9] benefits having that thought process. And even if you “never do sell” it will probably put you in a better position no matter what. So if there are things that I wish I'd—if I could go—if you try and go back and change things and I was thinking a lot about this; our plan was to sell the whole thing as like a big conglomerate originally. But things changed and so I wasn't—I had been marching towards to sell everything as a conglomerate goal, everything was together and I thought one day e when I was done with e-commerce I would just be done with e-commerce. But that's not how it worked out. What ended up happening was we got too big for what I was comfortable with in terms of risk to reward and I want to take some money off the table and I still immensely love e-commerce and I want to be involved in e-commerce. So I could have better prepared ourselves for that by having multiple LLC's for each brand that maybe one LLC owned each one of those and it still would have been that conglomerate thing and structured in a better way. You can't foresee the future all the time but you can definitely plan—put yourself in a better position when the unexpected comes. Joe: I don't know if I could have said it any better than that so we're just going to wrap this up, Mike. Mike: [inaudible 00:35:20.4] Joe: It's about a complete pleasure working with you. I'm glad to have been your broker in helping you achieve these goals and maybe another year or two we'll do it with the next one. Mike: I'm looking forward to it. Joe: Alright, thanks, Mike.   Links and Resources: ColorIt.com MIke's Podcast Email Mike Centurica