Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Tim Mercer.
Author of Bootstrap Millionaire and CFO of Cadence Ventures, Inc.:
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
To inspire and educate aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals by sharing Tim Mercer’s journey from humble beginnings to financial success, emphasizing the importance of hard work, faith, planning, and leveraging government contracts and nontraditional financing.
🗝️ Key Takeaways
-
Background & Journey
- Tim Mercer grew up in Mullins, South Carolina, in modest circumstances.
- His path to success began with military service, which broadened his worldview and led him to entrepreneurship.
-
Bootstrap Millionaire Philosophy
- The term “bootstrap” symbolizes hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance.
- Mercer emphasizes that success doesn’t come overnight—it requires grinding, planning, and faith.
-
Importance of a Business Plan
- A solid business plan is essential for securing funding and guiding business growth.
- Mercer shares real-life examples of people failing to secure support due to lack of planning.
-
Cadence Ventures, Inc.
- A boutique private equity firm offering nontraditional financing for real estate investors.
- Focuses on investment properties and uses the property itself as collateral.
-
Government Contracting
- Mercer began in government contracting in 2012 and credits it with helping him scale his business.
- He stresses that while it’s complex and paperwork-heavy, it’s a valuable opportunity for minority-owned businesses.
- Free resources like SAM.gov and Georgia Tech’s GT PAC can help entrepreneurs navigate the process.
-
Success Requires Sacrifice
- Mercer highlights that every successful person has a story of struggle and sacrifice.
- His book’s first chapter, “See the Glory, Don’t Know the Story,” encapsulates this message.
💬 Notable Quotes
- “If you want to have the things tomorrow that other people won’t have, then you got to be willing to do the things today that other people won’t do.” — Tim Mercer quoting Les Brown
- “There’s no success without sacrifice.” — Tim Mercer
- “You can only make as much as the customer that you have.” — Tim Mercer on scaling through government contracts
- “See the glory, don’t know the story.” — Chapter title from Bootstrap Millionaire
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Chris submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My guest is the
author of a very popular book called Bootstrap Millionaire. He's
also the CFO of Cadence Venture's, Inc. Is a boutique
private equity firm that invests in private mortgage notes and
offers non traditional financing to real estate investors, builders, and developers.
(00:44):
Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Tim Mercer.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How you doing, Tim, I'm doing quite well, Rashan, How
are you doing about it?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well? First of all, I know you're busy, Tim, Okay,
lodly No Bootstrap Millionaire. Okay, that book has been This
is not the first time I've interviewed this young man,
so I know this book. We're gonna talk about this book.
We're also gonna talk about his career. How did he
get to this point to be able to share this
information with us? Give us some backstory about you, Tim
before we get into the interview.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, well, first of all, I want to thank
you for the opportunity to be on today's show. Thank
and a huge fan of of what you're doing, so
so it's certainly an honor. A little bit about myself.
Originally from a small town in South Carolina called Mullins,
South Carolina, grew up in some very humbled beginnings. Didn't
(01:33):
didn't grow up with a lot financially anyway, obviously, you know,
one of the greatest gifts that my mother really gave
to me was the gift of faith right in believing
in God, which has carried me a very long way.
But Mully, South Carolina grew up in Moulla, South Carolina.
Was fortunate enough to go into military after graduating from
(01:53):
from high school, and the military really is what opened
my mind up to to to to what the possibilities
in life was and was able to go into military
and then eventually found a way back into college right
because I didn't go to college initially coming out of
high school, ended up going to military first and then
(02:14):
ultimately got involved at early age of entrepreneurship, which is
which was a journey in itself, but it led me
to some great opportunities that have put me where I
am today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Wow. First of all, thank you for serving us and
protecting us and allowing us to have the freedom that
we have in this country. I will not understate the
value of your contribution to protecting this country. So thank you.
Thank you. There, Tim, Why the military, you know, you know,
like I said, a lot of people don't see that
as an outlet, don't see that as an opportunity. What
(02:47):
did you see in the military that made you make
that your first step as a career choice.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, for me, when I graduated from high school, I
didn't really see myself going to college. I didn't I
didn't have the grades, I wasn't certainly didn't have the money,
you know, my parents didn't have the money to send
me to college. The military really was kind of my
last resort, right or it was my only option. I
had a cousin that was in the military, and I
(03:15):
was fortunate enough to see him in the military, and
I saw that there was you know, he traveled the world,
he lived in Germany, and and and and and it
was just intriguing to me. And so with me not
having many options, I saw the military as a way
to get out of all in South Carolina and just
see the world in a different light. And and it
(03:35):
truly was that I was able to go to Germany,
live in Germany for several years and travel the world
and see meet a lot of different people that I
probably would have never met if I hadn't gone to
the military. So for me, the military was a safe,
my saving grace.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Think you know, there's really a lot of travel does
that for me? I always tell people I am who
I am based on my journeys in bursed, on my
opening experiences because basically, you from other in South carolina's
no different from me. And being in a small community
in Houston, Texas, which was filth Ward where I was born,
a very low income not you know, your stereotyped when
(04:13):
you come out of communities like that. But it's up
to you and the journeys that you achieved when giving
it opportunity. The military gave you opportunity. And now we're
talking about an author of a book popular book called
Bootstraped Millionaire. Now the word bootstrap. How's the word bootstrap
which which really means a lot of hard work? You know,
you put it through straps on that boot you're about
(04:33):
to go to work. And the word millionaire millionaire you're
supposed to be like in the money. You're supposed to
be enjoying life. So you putting a hard working adjective
description next to the word millionaires. Please please explain to
us why is that title so important that you put
it on a book?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, again, I think the most important word in that
title is bootstrapped. And my hope was when we titled
that book, my hope was that it would let readers
know that number one, if you do work hard and
you have faith, they're great things that can come from it.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
It doesn't happen overnight. Right, it takes time, it takes
hard work, it takes patience. And that's what bootstrap meant
for me. I mean, it's coming out of the mud, right,
doing the things that most people wouldn't do. I remember
a phrase I learned years ago was from great Less Brown.
He said that if you want to have the things
(05:31):
tomorrow that other people won't have, then you got to
be willing to do the things today that other people
won't do, and I took that to heart and I
start and I would do those things. So bootstrapping, to
me is just really grinding, working hard, making the sacrifices,
going against the status quo, and putting yourself in the
(05:52):
position where you could and defy the odds. Right and
fortunate enough for me, I think I was able to
do that in business. He was able to defy the
odds that were against me. A lot of things were
against me growing up the way I grew up and
coming from my background, but through through, through the help
of God and the faith that I had, I was
able to defy those odds. So that's why the term
(06:14):
boostrap was. It means so much to me, right.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Because a lot of people, you know, I have nothing
wrong playing the lottery trying to get there that way.
Put a lot of faith in that lottery. But it's
always about a plan, a plan of action. You're a CFO,
so you're numbers man, and a numbers man understands the
logic two plus two is four, Okay, four plus four
is eight. That usually start adding up the right numbers
then you can win. But the bottom line is that
(06:38):
business plan you got to you have faith. But please
explain to my audience the importance of a business plan,
because you in the investment business, private mortgage notes and
dealing with non traditional financing. When someone comes to you,
they just can't come to you with a good idea,
correct him.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you're absolutely right, I think, I mean a business plan,
which you see so many people don't do it right.
To your point, a lot of people will come and
they want financing for their business, they want financing for
real estate projects and things of that nation. They really
don't have a plan. But you you got to have
a plan, right. You got to have a vision for
(07:16):
what you are trying to achieve, and you got to
write it down. Right. A business plan, to me is
just really your vision being written down. And of course
if you you you tie it in with some projections
and numbers to give yourself and others maybe investors, bankers,
or people that you want to want you who you're
looking to help you establish or grow your your your
(07:40):
business or grow the idea. You have to give them
a plan of action. You have to show them some
projections and numbers as to what you anticipate that venture
or that business in doing and if you can't, if
you can't articulate that, then it's gonna be hard for
anyone to buy into the vision or buying to the
(08:00):
idea that you have. So I think that having a
sound business plan, write me down, making it plane and
sper doesn't have to be anything elaborate. But you have
to be able to put it on paper so that
others can see the vision and and and therefore you
can be able to track others that may want to
help you in that division.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I give you a quick example a business plan. When
people come borrow I want to borrow money from me,
I'd mean less asked for a business plan, And I
mean that would that would make you you turn, You
turn so fast they're like they wouldn't even stand in
front of you. And I give you example. Tim, guy
who does my lawn service. Uh, he came to me.
He said that, hey, Ri Sean, I need some help.
(08:41):
All my lawn and guarden stuff was stolen. You know,
remember it was a big thing in Atlanta. That's why
I'm based in Atlanta. And uh, and people parked your truck.
People just steal your stuff, and they stole all this stuff.
And I and I came, and he came. He said,
couldn't helped me out. I said, his repayment was just
going to be he wouldn't charge me for a need
lawn care you know, that year, And that was my right. Fine,
(09:03):
that's fine. So then he came to me a couple
of weeks ago. He said, well, Jean, he used to
He said the wrong thing. He came at the wrong thing.
He said, look, I want to start my business and
I want you to see me some money. I said, okay,
where's your business plan? Right there? Quiet? Quiet, He's kind
(09:24):
of like, I got you. I got you. And then
he texted me like three hours later, well how about
just giving me half of that? And I went, wow,
where is your business plan? Crickets. I have not heard
from him since then, because right there, I gotta you know,
it really does a mount to something when you're trying
(09:45):
to find out what are you gonna do with that money?
You know how you gonna outlie that It's not so
much about the payment plan. I'm just trying to help
him out. And understand, you gotta have a plan no
matter how where you get the money from, and you
and and this is something you should do with your relatives.
No matter what, everything got to be put in paper,
Everything has to be put in writing, everything has to
(10:06):
have a payment plan. But it has to be more importantly,
why are you giving them the money?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Am I right? Tim? Talk to them? Absolutely? Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And you see so many, unfortunately, so many entrepreneurs today
that don't do that. I see it all the time
that the same example that you just gave what people
would want to I want to buy some real estate
and I want to do a fix and flip on
a home, have no plan, have no budget for it,
don't understand how they're going to exit out of the deal.
(10:40):
That's what the business plan does, right. It puts together
all the tasks that's involved, what you plan on doing
when you plan on exiting and out of the deal,
How much is it going to cost, how are you
spending the money? Is those things and it's more important
for you than anyone else because it gives you, It
gives the entrepreneur a road map on how they want
(11:00):
to accomplish that particular thing. But it's so unfortunately because
we a lot of business owners today just don't do that.
But yet we complain about the fact that we can't
get finance, and we can't get funding and all those
types of things. And that's probably one of the most
important reasons why you can't get funding.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Absolutely because I funded him the first time on a
sad story. You know that his equipment was stolen. I said,
I understand that I'm gonna help you out. But when
you're coming back to me, I see equipment. Equipment has
not been stolen, and you're talking about starting a business.
I need to see a business plan. I don't care
if you're selling chicken. I don't care if you've got
(11:38):
a car wash service, I don't care if whatever. How
are you going to do? What is your plan? What
if a hurricane comes through time, What if a thunderstory
the power goes out. What if you get in a
car accident, what happens? All these things have to be
put into your business plan. It has to be part
of that model, because it can't be. You open your
doors and everything you offer is being sold out. That's
(12:00):
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's not gonna happen. Absolutely not not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Before we go to the break, I'm talking to the
author of Bootstrap Millionaire's name is Tim Mercer. Tim tell
them how they can get in contact with you before
we go to break, because when he comes back, he's
gonna be talking about One of the things I wanted
him to talk about was government contracts because I hear
so many people talking about government trap. You get these
emails government contract, pay me a thousand dollars, pay me
all this, all this, And I'm not saying they scams.
(12:26):
But when you listen to Tim, he's gonna tell you
how to get in the game the right way. But Tim,
before we go to break, please tell them how to
get in touched you the author of Bootstrap Millionaire.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah. So my social handle on Facebook and I G
is Tim t Mercer, so you can always find me there.
That's my social handle. Our website, our company website is
Cadence V. That's c A d E n Ceesan the
letter v dot com and you can also reach me
via email at t Mercer at cadenced dot com. Home.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Stay with us more money Making Conversation master Class coming
up next. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation master Class
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation Master Class
continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and follow Money
(13:22):
Making Conversations master class on Facebook X and Instagram. Let's
explain this to us exactly what that is Cadence Ventures
and how do you what role you play in it?
When I mentioned all those things about non traditional financing
real estate investors, builders and developers, Tim Mercy.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, so you got to look Caden's Ventures is pretty
much we're in private banking, right, That's the best way
to look at it. No more different. If you wanted
to go and get a loan for your personal home,
you typically go to a bank and and the bank
will lend you money for it. Now, we we don't
(14:00):
do loans for for homes that people live in. We
we focus mostly on investment properties property single family homes
or small apartment builders. And we're mostly in the small
in the small space, so we we work we help
builders and developers and just investments in generals who are
(14:22):
wanted to get financing for investment property and a lot
of times they can't go to the banking get financing
right either either the either they don't have the maybe
they got too much debt right, personal debt right that
that may be preventing them from doing it. And that
not to say that they don't have the money. They
just may have a debt to income racial issue. Whereas
(14:42):
when we when we finance those properties, we finance the
properties based strictly off of the property itself. Particularly Yeah,
that as the collab right, Yeah, So we we do
private financing for those loans. Will will fund those deals,
and we work with a lot of large insurance companies
that will you know, basically buy the private notes from us.
(15:04):
So we'll fund a deal and then but then you know,
thirty to forty five period day period of time will
end up selling the mortgage notes to institutional investor like
an insurance company. So in that'sence, we do the exact
same things that banks do, but we just do it
on a private level.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Wow, that's important to understand how that exactly works. That
you're doing business here, but that business can be down
the line with somebody else, and getting this entry points
in doing business and doing big business. Now, government contracts,
I'm gonna tell you, I got an opportunity to have
a win a government contract, to participate. I never won one,
but I participated in the government contract. And it's a
(15:41):
lot of work. It's a lot of work, a lot
of paperwork. So tell us about the actually the misreads.
I should say that people hear about government contracts and
tell us, is there a road map to becoming a
person who can benefit from government contractor is yours? Kim?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I mean so yeah. I got started in government
contracting back in twenty twelve. So government contracting was the
first company that really whereas where I started doing well
for myself and then of course able to venture into
me and my wife starting Cadence Ventures. But government contracting
to me, I feel that if you are a small business,
(16:29):
particularly a minority owned small business, and you're not doing
business with the government, you're doing yourself, doing yourself a disservice.
Right now, I'm not saying government the government is perfect
in this regards, but the government tries to provide business
opportunities to small businesses, and in fact that according to
(16:49):
the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the government is supposed to put
out bids to small businesses first before those contracts go large.
The problem is that there isn't enough small businesses that
are raising their hand and saying that they can actually
do the work. So for me, I got started in
(17:10):
the government contract It is a lot of work. It's
a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of compliance that
you have to adhere to. It's not a get rich
quick scheme, by no means you have to have your business.
You have to do real business, right, it's not a
hustler game. Right, you have to have your books set
(17:32):
up correctly. But if you but if you're a small
business owner that are looking to do real business and
the government is it should be your customer because the government,
for me, was the only way in which I was
able to scale my business to millions and revenue. Right.
A good friend mine used to always say, if you
want to make millions, then you have to do business
(17:55):
with a customer that spends millions, right, because you can
only make as much as the custom that you have.
And if so, so, the government for me was that customer.
Because if I wanted to scale my business to the
point where I was generating millions and revenue, I needed
to be able to do business with a customer that
was spending millions. And the government was that customer for me.
(18:16):
And and it's been a blessing you know since since
doing business with the government.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Hey tell me, you know, I get a lot of
emails with these from these I guess the agencies that
tell me if you sign up with me, you know
you get you get first look on RFPs, or you
register over here, I can get you on you know SAM.
It's the big platform and it's free. By the way,
you should be paying nobody to be a member of SAM.
(18:41):
And SAM is where you can go find all the
the government rps and they'll notify you if you fifty
the cold criteria for your company. How can you talk
us about Tell about audience, how should they react when
they get these type of emails. I'm not saying they're
bad emails. They could be entry points for you if
that's the way you want to go. But you know
(19:02):
you did it the traditional way. You you learned, you
were patient, and you built a business.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Talk to them an audience, Tim, Yeah, I agree with you.
I think I think you have a lot of companies
or service providers, service providers that take advantage of the
fact that when small businesses get sign up within SAM
and they get registered to do businesses with government. They
know that those small businesses don't really know what to
(19:31):
do right. And I think that a lot of those
service dividers take advantage of that to your point there
that you don't have to hire someone to do a
lot of these things. Right. Signing, getting registered in SAM
is a free service, right, Getting access to RSPs and RFIs,
that's that's a free service. The government has to put
(19:51):
those things out to general public to to those to
those vendors that are registered in SAM. So you don't
have to pay someone to to send you emails because
the only thing they're doing is going to the SAM
site getting those opportunities and just forwarding the emails to you.
So the same website to do that for you. You
(20:13):
just have to be diligent enough to do the work right.
You can't assume that someone who's got the magic bullet
it's just going to make it easy for you. Just
do the work right. I'm here in Georgia, which is
where I got started in government contracting. There's a service.
Georgia Tech has a service that I think it's called
(20:34):
gt PACK, which called Georgia Tech Procurement Acquisition Center. They
are funded by the government. It's a service that's offered
through Georgia Tech, but it's the gt PACK is funded
by the government and they offer a free service that
will teach you these things. You know, they have online classes,
they have in person classes, and that's how I started learning.
(20:56):
Skirts started learning government contracting is by going to those
free gt PAC classes and and of course there are
a lot more advanced things that you can learn, you know,
when you get deeper into government contractor. But I think
a lot of it would just come through trial and error.
A lot of it you would learn on the job.
So so I agree with you. I don't think that
(21:17):
you have to pay a lot of money for those
things that a lot of these service advisers are offering.
You just got to be willing to roll up your
sleeves and do the work, and you will figure it out. Right.
The government will even assist you in figuring things out.
Contracting officers and SBA representative. There's a whole ecosystem that
(21:37):
has been put together by the government to help small
businesses in getting the better understanding how to do business
with the government.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Hey, Tim, but that's the bootstrap part of your book title.
That's the bootstrap, that's the hard working part of it.
As we wrap up this interview, you know, and I
just wanted to tell people like you said, you're gonna
make money on who you do business with, if you
make if you hain't out with people, you're number one
customers delivering hundreds of dollars to you. That's how much
money you're gonna make. Thousands of dollars, that's how the
(22:07):
money you're gonna make, millions of dollars. That's how much
money you can make. So don't be angry at the
system or the ecosystem or the financial world I've created.
You have to advance beyond it. And that's my biggest
takeaway when I read The Bootstrap Millionaire is that I
wanted to bring a gentleman on the show to show
where he come from, come South Carolina, and now he's
(22:29):
in the position. He didn't let that stop him. He
saw options. He's seen the world through a military experience.
He's now sold government contractors, been doing this to twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
He takes.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
When he dove in, it was a lot of frustration.
There's a lot of frustration. He didn't get no contracts
up up from jump. Nobody does, nobody does, nobody does,
nobody does. But the part of the conversation is he
is a book out there. In that book, if you
have to, if you wouldn't write the book if you
just read the book yourself, Tim, what will be your
(23:01):
takeaway from Bootstrap Millionaire.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Man? I think the most important thing for me in
the books is I think it's the first chapter in
the book. I think the chapters title see the glory,
don't know the story. Every successful person out there, whether
they're entrepreneurs or whether they are professionals, they all went
through something to get to achieve that success. No no one,
no one achieved success without sacrifice. So the takeaway from
(23:28):
me would be just that knowing and understanding that there
is a story behind every successful person's situation, the whole
not and so you can see the glory, you can
see all the things they may have achieved. But until
you know the story, and until you were ready to
(23:48):
drink from the cup that they drank from, then then
you have to understand that. You know, that's the most
important thing, right. There's a verse in the Bible that
talked about the brothers that wanted I think the parents
wanted them to sit at the right and left hand
side of Jesus at one point in time, and Jesus
asked them, are you prepared to drink from the same
(24:10):
cup right, are you prepared to go through what I'm
about to go through? So that's what I would tell
people that when you when you're striving for success, just
understand that there is no success without sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Bootstrap Millionaire, that's the name of this book. He's the author,
he's a visionary, but he's also the CFO of Cadence
Ventures Incorporated. Thank you for coming on my show again, Tim,
I said again, because he's also been on my syndicated
TV show, He's been on my podcast. He's a friend
of the family. Again. His advice is always welcome. Tim.
(24:41):
Good luck man, and we will definitely talk soon. Tim Mercer,
the author of bootstraped Millionaire, Thank you for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listen need an
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to register to be a guest on my show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
(25:11):
Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to always
leave with your gifts. Keep winning
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Chris submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My guest is the
author of a very popular book called Bootstrap Millionaire. He's
also the CFO of Cadence Venture's, Inc. Is a boutique
private equity firm that invests in private mortgage notes and
offers non traditional financing to real estate investors, builders, and developers.
(00:44):
Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Tim Mercer.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How you doing, Tim, I'm doing quite well, Rashan, How
are you doing about it?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well? First of all, I know you're busy, Tim, Okay,
lodly No Bootstrap Millionaire. Okay, that book has been This
is not the first time I've interviewed this young man,
so I know this book. We're gonna talk about this book.
We're also gonna talk about his career. How did he
get to this point to be able to share this
information with us? Give us some backstory about you, Tim
before we get into the interview.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, well, first of all, I want to thank
you for the opportunity to be on today's show. Thank
and a huge fan of of what you're doing, so
so it's certainly an honor. A little bit about myself.
Originally from a small town in South Carolina called Mullins,
South Carolina, grew up in some very humbled beginnings. Didn't
(01:33):
didn't grow up with a lot financially anyway, obviously, you know,
one of the greatest gifts that my mother really gave
to me was the gift of faith right in believing
in God, which has carried me a very long way.
But Mully, South Carolina grew up in Moulla, South Carolina.
Was fortunate enough to go into military after graduating from
(01:53):
from high school, and the military really is what opened
my mind up to to to to what the possibilities
in life was and was able to go into military
and then eventually found a way back into college right
because I didn't go to college initially coming out of
high school, ended up going to military first and then
(02:14):
ultimately got involved at early age of entrepreneurship, which is
which was a journey in itself, but it led me
to some great opportunities that have put me where I
am today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Wow. First of all, thank you for serving us and
protecting us and allowing us to have the freedom that
we have in this country. I will not understate the
value of your contribution to protecting this country. So thank you.
Thank you. There, Tim, Why the military, you know, you know,
like I said, a lot of people don't see that
as an outlet, don't see that as an opportunity. What
(02:47):
did you see in the military that made you make
that your first step as a career choice.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, for me, when I graduated from high school, I
didn't really see myself going to college. I didn't I
didn't have the grades, I wasn't certainly didn't have the money,
you know, my parents didn't have the money to send
me to college. The military really was kind of my
last resort, right or it was my only option. I
had a cousin that was in the military, and I
(03:15):
was fortunate enough to see him in the military, and
I saw that there was you know, he traveled the world,
he lived in Germany, and and and and and it
was just intriguing to me. And so with me not
having many options, I saw the military as a way
to get out of all in South Carolina and just
see the world in a different light. And and it
(03:35):
truly was that I was able to go to Germany,
live in Germany for several years and travel the world
and see meet a lot of different people that I
probably would have never met if I hadn't gone to
the military. So for me, the military was a safe,
my saving grace.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Think you know, there's really a lot of travel does
that for me? I always tell people I am who
I am based on my journeys in bursed, on my
opening experiences because basically, you from other in South carolina's
no different from me. And being in a small community
in Houston, Texas, which was filth Ward where I was born,
a very low income not you know, your stereotyped when
(04:13):
you come out of communities like that. But it's up
to you and the journeys that you achieved when giving
it opportunity. The military gave you opportunity. And now we're
talking about an author of a book popular book called
Bootstraped Millionaire. Now the word bootstrap. How's the word bootstrap
which which really means a lot of hard work? You know,
you put it through straps on that boot you're about
(04:33):
to go to work. And the word millionaire millionaire you're
supposed to be like in the money. You're supposed to
be enjoying life. So you putting a hard working adjective
description next to the word millionaires. Please please explain to
us why is that title so important that you put
it on a book?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, again, I think the most important word in that
title is bootstrapped. And my hope was when we titled
that book, my hope was that it would let readers
know that number one, if you do work hard and
you have faith, they're great things that can come from it.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
It doesn't happen overnight. Right, it takes time, it takes
hard work, it takes patience. And that's what bootstrap meant
for me. I mean, it's coming out of the mud, right,
doing the things that most people wouldn't do. I remember
a phrase I learned years ago was from great Less Brown.
He said that if you want to have the things
(05:31):
tomorrow that other people won't have, then you got to
be willing to do the things today that other people
won't do, and I took that to heart and I
start and I would do those things. So bootstrapping, to
me is just really grinding, working hard, making the sacrifices,
going against the status quo, and putting yourself in the
(05:52):
position where you could and defy the odds. Right and
fortunate enough for me, I think I was able to
do that in business. He was able to defy the
odds that were against me. A lot of things were
against me growing up the way I grew up and
coming from my background, but through through, through the help
of God and the faith that I had, I was
able to defy those odds. So that's why the term
(06:14):
boostrap was. It means so much to me, right.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Because a lot of people, you know, I have nothing
wrong playing the lottery trying to get there that way.
Put a lot of faith in that lottery. But it's
always about a plan, a plan of action. You're a CFO,
so you're numbers man, and a numbers man understands the
logic two plus two is four, Okay, four plus four
is eight. That usually start adding up the right numbers
then you can win. But the bottom line is that
(06:38):
business plan you got to you have faith. But please
explain to my audience the importance of a business plan,
because you in the investment business, private mortgage notes and
dealing with non traditional financing. When someone comes to you,
they just can't come to you with a good idea,
correct him.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you're absolutely right, I think, I mean a business plan,
which you see so many people don't do it right.
To your point, a lot of people will come and
they want financing for their business, they want financing for
real estate projects and things of that nation. They really
don't have a plan. But you you got to have
a plan, right. You got to have a vision for
(07:16):
what you are trying to achieve, and you got to
write it down. Right. A business plan, to me is
just really your vision being written down. And of course
if you you you tie it in with some projections
and numbers to give yourself and others maybe investors, bankers,
or people that you want to want you who you're
looking to help you establish or grow your your your
(07:40):
business or grow the idea. You have to give them
a plan of action. You have to show them some
projections and numbers as to what you anticipate that venture
or that business in doing and if you can't, if
you can't articulate that, then it's gonna be hard for
anyone to buy into the vision or buying to the
(08:00):
idea that you have. So I think that having a
sound business plan, write me down, making it plane and
sper doesn't have to be anything elaborate. But you have
to be able to put it on paper so that
others can see the vision and and and therefore you
can be able to track others that may want to
help you in that division.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I give you a quick example a business plan. When
people come borrow I want to borrow money from me,
I'd mean less asked for a business plan, And I
mean that would that would make you you turn, You
turn so fast they're like they wouldn't even stand in
front of you. And I give you example. Tim, guy
who does my lawn service. Uh, he came to me.
He said that, hey, Ri Sean, I need some help.
(08:41):
All my lawn and guarden stuff was stolen. You know,
remember it was a big thing in Atlanta. That's why
I'm based in Atlanta. And uh, and people parked your truck.
People just steal your stuff, and they stole all this stuff.
And I and I came, and he came. He said,
couldn't helped me out. I said, his repayment was just
going to be he wouldn't charge me for a need
lawn care you know, that year, And that was my right. Fine,
(09:03):
that's fine. So then he came to me a couple
of weeks ago. He said, well, Jean, he used to
He said the wrong thing. He came at the wrong thing.
He said, look, I want to start my business and
I want you to see me some money. I said, okay,
where's your business plan? Right there? Quiet? Quiet, He's kind
(09:24):
of like, I got you. I got you. And then
he texted me like three hours later, well how about
just giving me half of that? And I went, wow,
where is your business plan? Crickets. I have not heard
from him since then, because right there, I gotta you know,
it really does a mount to something when you're trying
(09:45):
to find out what are you gonna do with that money?
You know how you gonna outlie that It's not so
much about the payment plan. I'm just trying to help
him out. And understand, you gotta have a plan no
matter how where you get the money from, and you
and and this is something you should do with your relatives.
No matter what, everything got to be put in paper,
Everything has to be put in writing, everything has to
(10:06):
have a payment plan. But it has to be more importantly,
why are you giving them the money?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Am I right? Tim? Talk to them? Absolutely? Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And you see so many, unfortunately, so many entrepreneurs today
that don't do that. I see it all the time
that the same example that you just gave what people
would want to I want to buy some real estate
and I want to do a fix and flip on
a home, have no plan, have no budget for it,
don't understand how they're going to exit out of the deal.
(10:40):
That's what the business plan does, right. It puts together
all the tasks that's involved, what you plan on doing
when you plan on exiting and out of the deal,
How much is it going to cost, how are you
spending the money? Is those things and it's more important
for you than anyone else because it gives you, It
gives the entrepreneur a road map on how they want
(11:00):
to accomplish that particular thing. But it's so unfortunately because
we a lot of business owners today just don't do that.
But yet we complain about the fact that we can't
get finance, and we can't get funding and all those
types of things. And that's probably one of the most
important reasons why you can't get funding.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Absolutely because I funded him the first time on a
sad story. You know that his equipment was stolen. I said,
I understand that I'm gonna help you out. But when
you're coming back to me, I see equipment. Equipment has
not been stolen, and you're talking about starting a business.
I need to see a business plan. I don't care
if you're selling chicken. I don't care if you've got
(11:38):
a car wash service, I don't care if whatever. How
are you going to do? What is your plan? What
if a hurricane comes through time, What if a thunderstory
the power goes out. What if you get in a
car accident, what happens? All these things have to be
put into your business plan. It has to be part
of that model, because it can't be. You open your
doors and everything you offer is being sold out. That's
(12:00):
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's not gonna happen. Absolutely not not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Before we go to the break, I'm talking to the
author of Bootstrap Millionaire's name is Tim Mercer. Tim tell
them how they can get in contact with you before
we go to break, because when he comes back, he's
gonna be talking about One of the things I wanted
him to talk about was government contracts because I hear
so many people talking about government trap. You get these
emails government contract, pay me a thousand dollars, pay me
all this, all this, And I'm not saying they scams.
(12:26):
But when you listen to Tim, he's gonna tell you
how to get in the game the right way. But Tim,
before we go to break, please tell them how to
get in touched you the author of Bootstrap Millionaire.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah. So my social handle on Facebook and I G
is Tim t Mercer, so you can always find me there.
That's my social handle. Our website, our company website is
Cadence V. That's c A d E n Ceesan the
letter v dot com and you can also reach me
via email at t Mercer at cadenced dot com. Home.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Stay with us more money Making Conversation master Class coming
up next. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation master Class
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation Master Class
continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and follow Money
(13:22):
Making Conversations master class on Facebook X and Instagram. Let's
explain this to us exactly what that is Cadence Ventures
and how do you what role you play in it?
When I mentioned all those things about non traditional financing
real estate investors, builders and developers, Tim Mercy.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, so you got to look Caden's Ventures is pretty
much we're in private banking, right, That's the best way
to look at it. No more different. If you wanted
to go and get a loan for your personal home,
you typically go to a bank and and the bank
will lend you money for it. Now, we we don't
(14:00):
do loans for for homes that people live in. We
we focus mostly on investment properties property single family homes
or small apartment builders. And we're mostly in the small
in the small space, so we we work we help
builders and developers and just investments in generals who are
(14:22):
wanted to get financing for investment property and a lot
of times they can't go to the banking get financing
right either either the either they don't have the maybe
they got too much debt right, personal debt right that
that may be preventing them from doing it. And that
not to say that they don't have the money. They
just may have a debt to income racial issue. Whereas
(14:42):
when we when we finance those properties, we finance the
properties based strictly off of the property itself. Particularly Yeah,
that as the collab right, Yeah, So we we do
private financing for those loans. Will will fund those deals,
and we work with a lot of large insurance companies
that will you know, basically buy the private notes from us.
(15:04):
So we'll fund a deal and then but then you know,
thirty to forty five period day period of time will
end up selling the mortgage notes to institutional investor like
an insurance company. So in that'sence, we do the exact
same things that banks do, but we just do it
on a private level.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Wow, that's important to understand how that exactly works. That
you're doing business here, but that business can be down
the line with somebody else, and getting this entry points
in doing business and doing big business. Now, government contracts,
I'm gonna tell you, I got an opportunity to have
a win a government contract, to participate. I never won one,
but I participated in the government contract. And it's a
(15:41):
lot of work. It's a lot of work, a lot
of paperwork. So tell us about the actually the misreads.
I should say that people hear about government contracts and
tell us, is there a road map to becoming a
person who can benefit from government contractor is yours? Kim?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I mean so yeah. I got started in government
contracting back in twenty twelve. So government contracting was the
first company that really whereas where I started doing well
for myself and then of course able to venture into
me and my wife starting Cadence Ventures. But government contracting
to me, I feel that if you are a small business,
(16:29):
particularly a minority owned small business, and you're not doing
business with the government, you're doing yourself, doing yourself a disservice.
Right now, I'm not saying government the government is perfect
in this regards, but the government tries to provide business
opportunities to small businesses, and in fact that according to
(16:49):
the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the government is supposed to put
out bids to small businesses first before those contracts go large.
The problem is that there isn't enough small businesses that
are raising their hand and saying that they can actually
do the work. So for me, I got started in
(17:10):
the government contract It is a lot of work. It's
a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of compliance that
you have to adhere to. It's not a get rich
quick scheme, by no means you have to have your business.
You have to do real business, right, it's not a
hustler game. Right, you have to have your books set
(17:32):
up correctly. But if you but if you're a small
business owner that are looking to do real business and
the government is it should be your customer because the government,
for me, was the only way in which I was
able to scale my business to millions and revenue. Right.
A good friend mine used to always say, if you
want to make millions, then you have to do business
(17:55):
with a customer that spends millions, right, because you can
only make as much as the custom that you have.
And if so, so, the government for me was that customer.
Because if I wanted to scale my business to the
point where I was generating millions and revenue, I needed
to be able to do business with a customer that
was spending millions. And the government was that customer for me.
(18:16):
And and it's been a blessing you know since since
doing business with the government.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Hey tell me, you know, I get a lot of
emails with these from these I guess the agencies that
tell me if you sign up with me, you know
you get you get first look on RFPs, or you
register over here, I can get you on you know SAM.
It's the big platform and it's free. By the way,
you should be paying nobody to be a member of SAM.
(18:41):
And SAM is where you can go find all the
the government rps and they'll notify you if you fifty
the cold criteria for your company. How can you talk
us about Tell about audience, how should they react when
they get these type of emails. I'm not saying they're
bad emails. They could be entry points for you if
that's the way you want to go. But you know
(19:02):
you did it the traditional way. You you learned, you
were patient, and you built a business.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Talk to them an audience, Tim, Yeah, I agree with you.
I think I think you have a lot of companies
or service providers, service providers that take advantage of the
fact that when small businesses get sign up within SAM
and they get registered to do businesses with government. They
know that those small businesses don't really know what to
(19:31):
do right. And I think that a lot of those
service dividers take advantage of that to your point there
that you don't have to hire someone to do a
lot of these things. Right. Signing, getting registered in SAM
is a free service, right, Getting access to RSPs and RFIs,
that's that's a free service. The government has to put
(19:51):
those things out to general public to to those to
those vendors that are registered in SAM. So you don't
have to pay someone to to send you emails because
the only thing they're doing is going to the SAM
site getting those opportunities and just forwarding the emails to you.
So the same website to do that for you. You
(20:13):
just have to be diligent enough to do the work right.
You can't assume that someone who's got the magic bullet
it's just going to make it easy for you. Just
do the work right. I'm here in Georgia, which is
where I got started in government contracting. There's a service.
Georgia Tech has a service that I think it's called
(20:34):
gt PACK, which called Georgia Tech Procurement Acquisition Center. They
are funded by the government. It's a service that's offered
through Georgia Tech, but it's the gt PACK is funded
by the government and they offer a free service that
will teach you these things. You know, they have online classes,
they have in person classes, and that's how I started learning.
(20:56):
Skirts started learning government contracting is by going to those
free gt PAC classes and and of course there are
a lot more advanced things that you can learn, you know,
when you get deeper into government contractor. But I think
a lot of it would just come through trial and error.
A lot of it you would learn on the job.
So so I agree with you. I don't think that
(21:17):
you have to pay a lot of money for those
things that a lot of these service advisers are offering.
You just got to be willing to roll up your
sleeves and do the work, and you will figure it out. Right.
The government will even assist you in figuring things out.
Contracting officers and SBA representative. There's a whole ecosystem that
(21:37):
has been put together by the government to help small
businesses in getting the better understanding how to do business
with the government.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Hey, Tim, but that's the bootstrap part of your book title.
That's the bootstrap, that's the hard working part of it.
As we wrap up this interview, you know, and I
just wanted to tell people like you said, you're gonna
make money on who you do business with, if you
make if you hain't out with people, you're number one
customers delivering hundreds of dollars to you. That's how much
money you're gonna make. Thousands of dollars, that's how the
(22:07):
money you're gonna make, millions of dollars. That's how much
money you can make. So don't be angry at the
system or the ecosystem or the financial world I've created.
You have to advance beyond it. And that's my biggest
takeaway when I read The Bootstrap Millionaire is that I
wanted to bring a gentleman on the show to show
where he come from, come South Carolina, and now he's
(22:29):
in the position. He didn't let that stop him. He
saw options. He's seen the world through a military experience.
He's now sold government contractors, been doing this to twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
He takes.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
When he dove in, it was a lot of frustration.
There's a lot of frustration. He didn't get no contracts
up up from jump. Nobody does, nobody does, nobody does,
nobody does. But the part of the conversation is he
is a book out there. In that book, if you
have to, if you wouldn't write the book if you
just read the book yourself, Tim, what will be your
(23:01):
takeaway from Bootstrap Millionaire.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Man? I think the most important thing for me in
the books is I think it's the first chapter in
the book. I think the chapters title see the glory,
don't know the story. Every successful person out there, whether
they're entrepreneurs or whether they are professionals, they all went
through something to get to achieve that success. No no one,
no one achieved success without sacrifice. So the takeaway from
(23:28):
me would be just that knowing and understanding that there
is a story behind every successful person's situation, the whole
not and so you can see the glory, you can
see all the things they may have achieved. But until
you know the story, and until you were ready to
(23:48):
drink from the cup that they drank from, then then
you have to understand that. You know, that's the most
important thing, right. There's a verse in the Bible that
talked about the brothers that wanted I think the parents
wanted them to sit at the right and left hand
side of Jesus at one point in time, and Jesus
asked them, are you prepared to drink from the same
(24:10):
cup right, are you prepared to go through what I'm
about to go through? So that's what I would tell
people that when you when you're striving for success, just
understand that there is no success without sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Bootstrap Millionaire, that's the name of this book. He's the author,
he's a visionary, but he's also the CFO of Cadence
Ventures Incorporated. Thank you for coming on my show again, Tim,
I said again, because he's also been on my syndicated
TV show, He's been on my podcast. He's a friend
of the family. Again. His advice is always welcome. Tim.
(24:41):
Good luck man, and we will definitely talk soon. Tim Mercer,
the author of bootstraped Millionaire, Thank you for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listen need an
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to register to be a guest on my show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
(25:11):
Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to always
leave with your gifts. Keep winning
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