Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Do you think company culture is just for
big corporations?Think again.
Today we're exploring how small
businesses can build thriving
cultures without breaking
the bank. Of course, we're going to talk
about the bank because that's what we do
in this podcast. And we also want to talk
about how they are often able to build
(00:22):
better cultures. Than the big guys.
Not the bank, but the small businesses.
Yeah, for sure. Plus, we're going to
reveal why profitability isn't just about
numbers. It's about creating a workplace
where both owners and employees can
flourish. Whether you're a solopreneur
planning to hire or already managing a
full team, this episode will show you how
(00:43):
to create a culture that attracts and
retains great talent
in a world where chaos seems to reign
supreme. Where uncertainty lurks around
every corner and financial markets are
now more unpredictable than ever, there's
one place you can turn to to find clarity
(01:04):
and control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep
in the world of personal and business
finance to assist you in navigating
through the chaos and building the
financial future you deserve. We believe
when conventional financial. thinking
doesn't get you where you want to go. You
(01:26):
need Wealth Wisdom. So if you're ready to
take control of your financial destiny,
tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Podcast. Because in a chaotic world, your
money shouldn't be. Subscribe now and
never miss an episode.
Now, when most people hear company
culture, they picture tech startups with
(01:48):
ping pong tables and free lunch, or
corporate giants with elaborate benefit
packages. But here's the truth. Company
culture isn't about perks. It's about
creating an environment where both the
business and its people can
flourish. And for us, it all starts
with profitability. Yeah,
I talk to a lot of. uh,
(02:11):
business owners, right?And I hear this a
lot of times, all, almost all the time,
is they will pay themselves at some rate,
they'll eventually do it, and the
culture of that business, and then they,
they're all stressed out and freaking out
because money's not coming in and they
fire everybody or something happens,
(02:31):
right?And so that is a, a
stressful culture, right,
for the owner,And the
people who are depending on the job,
right?And so, uh, culture really does
matter. I think about that from our own
experience. Uh, we used to own a coffee
shop called Overflow, and,
(02:53):
uh, if we are the top of the the fountain
fountain and we're not taking care of
us, then we can't overflow to
other things. And our team is an
extension of us and it starts with having
a good culture. Yeah. And in fact, the
business can implode if there's not, you
know, water to flow, right. There's not
(03:13):
cash to flow. There's not profits that
can benefit everybody. Yeah. So it's
interconnected too, like finances, faith,
fitness, all those things. And I, we
learned that firsthand and why our
company culture matters. Yeah. So let's
talk about this from the employee
perspective. And it might kind of seem
counterintuitive, but also when you think
about it, it's very logical. That it's
(03:35):
very different working for a profitable
business versus one that's struggling.
And of course, we've experienced both
sides of these coins as employees, as
business owners, and the difference is
night and day. And let's talk about
how it's just and not just about the
money. So in a profitable business,
employees can focus on their work instead
(03:56):
of worrying about whether their paychecks
are going to clear. Yeah, that that's no
fun. There's room for growth both
professionally and financially. Stress
levels are lower because there's a
cushion for unexpected challenges, which,
again, in business, challenges happen.
Yeah. Innovation is possible because
resources aren't constantly stretched
(04:17):
thin. When there's an idea, there's
actually money to put behind that idea.
So more ideas happen, right?And the
workplace atmosphere overall is just more
positive because people aren't operating
from this scarcity mindset. Think about
it like a garden. A profitable business
is like rich, well-maintained
soil, and everything you plant there has
a better chance of growing. An
(04:38):
unprofitable business is like trying to
grow plants in sandy, nutrient-poor
soil. You can add the
fertilizer, all the perks that you want,
but until you fix the soil itself.
Nothing is going to thrive.
So this brings us to our first key point.
Building a company culture starts with
(05:00):
creating a profitable business. Let me
say that again. Building a great
company culture starts with creating a
profitable business. So if you want a
great company culture, build a profitable
business. If you want a profitable
business, that will help you have a great
company culture. And that's where
now, if you've got that right, profitable
(05:21):
business, you're ready to go after that
great company culture, make it better and
better. That's where creative profit
sharing comes in. Now, most business
owners think profit sharing means setting
up a 401K with an employer match. Now,
while that might be valuable for you and
your team, there are so many other ways
to share your prosperity with your team.
You're retaining the talent you've
(05:42):
attracted. We're going to explore some
creative options after the break. We
promise to use regular language and stay
away from technical jargon,
so please stick with us.
Ready to take the next step towards
(06:03):
securing your financial future?Whether
you're planning for retirement, saving
for your dream home, or you just want to
make your money work harder for you, the
team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready
to assist you. And now it's easier than
ever to see how we might give you a boost
on your financial journey. Schedule a 15
minute discovery call with one of us
today. And let's discuss your questions
(06:25):
and your financial goals together. Don't
wait any longer. Your financial freedom
awaits. Schedule your discovery call at
www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now you might be thinking, I can barely
cover payroll. How am I supposed to
(06:48):
share profits?This is where
creativity comes in. Here are some
approaches we've either used ourselves or
seen work well for other small business
owners. So the first thing is maybe you
set up a quarterly or annual bonus
system. This is where you want to set
clear, achievable targets tied to
business performance. You make those
(07:09):
metrics transparent so everyone knows
what they're working toward and you
consider both individual and team based
goals. And you can start small, even with
a modest bonus that can be motivating
when there's a clear path to earn it for
those things. Yeah, we get to see each
other's strengths. Yeah, OK, third idea
is skills and professional development.
(07:30):
Work with each member of your team to
create a professional development
strategy. Then have each of them set
aside an hour or two each week to. work
on the strategy and develop
professionally. You can let employees
choose training that interests them,
things they want to grow in or learn
about. And this is going to benefit them,
right?No matter how long they are with
you, they're going to be developing
(07:50):
skills and expertise that they can take
with them, but also benefit the business.
You got well-trained, well-developing
employees that are going to do better and
better the longer they're with you. I
think this goes back to the Dan
Sullivan book of who, not how.
Right. So if they learn things and and
they're always seeking professional
(08:12):
development or or we have the place for
it, then they're going to know things and
learn things that you might not know.
You, of course, we would put it in a SOP,
the standard operating. Yeah. All that
stuff. So then they then can
transfer it on if if need be. But that's
creating a culture of learning and
that you're not the linchpin in case
(08:34):
something happens. Yep. And the number
four idea is flexible scheduling and
time off. As profitability improves, you
can offer more flexibility. This could be
additional PTO days or maybe flexible
scheduling. And this really shows that
you value what they call work-life
balance, although it's not always a
balance. Actually, I'll throw this in
(08:54):
here. Didn't plan to share this. I'll
my first job out of college. I had a
great boss. ruined me on bosses in terms
of he was so great, I could never have as
good of a boss as him. And he taught us
like, this is the definition of work-life
balance. Some weeks
work wins, some weeks life wins. Yeah.
Family, right?Those kind of things. But
(09:16):
overall, you should always feel like
you're winning. Yeah. I mean, I
think about it this way for
us specifically. My
son tomorrow is going to be out
of school and so
the teacher development day. Didn't know
about it. And then something happened
(09:37):
where Amanda has to be out as well. So
with with the babysitter,
which is a gay mother-in-law.
So they're gone. And so work life
for us means bring your son to work
day tomorrow and being OK with
that as a both business owner
(09:58):
and you know as a team. Maybe that's
going to happen with our team at some
time. Yeah, so, so being OK with that.
Now if you're in a non safe
work environment, those kind of things
you have to be aware like don't don't
bring them behind the bar to. Business
like food service kind of thing or that
(10:18):
that but but being able to embrace
some of the family, some of the mess on
both sides. Yep. OK, now we get to
the extra special part. You
ready for this?If you've zoomed out,
zoned out, come back here. One of our
favorite approaches is what we call the
profit first participation plan, and
(10:39):
here's how it works. You set aside a
small percentage of your quarterly profit
distribution. You're doing those right.
If you're profit first, you should be.
And if you don't know about profit first,
reach out to us because we'll help you
understand it. Then creating clear
criteria for how it's shared could be
equal splits, could be based on tenure or
rule, right?You kind of you got to create
that clear criteria. Say that 10 times
(11:01):
fast. Create the clear criteria.
And then make it a teaching opportunity
about business and personal finances. So
for example, these business, these
bonuses could fund a bank on yourself
type policy with a cash value that the
staff can use while they're, you know,
still employed with you and you know, buy
that next car, pay off that debt,
whatever it might be. And the money still
(11:23):
grows to create funds that supplement
their retirement. They and they can
refill that money on their own schedule.
How different and more awesome of a.
Profit sharing plan is that versus, you
know, 401K that they can't touch and you
know what or have lots of fees and
different things. And we help build those
for business owners and clients all the
(11:44):
time. Yeah. And then as your
profitability grows, you can just
continue to share those rewards and
continue to expand the profit first
participation plan. There you go. That's
just one. I mean, there's so many kinds
of plans you can build. you know, and
ways to make sure that the
culture is not just talked about, but
it's actually implemented through
(12:06):
strategies and tools. Yeah, you can make
sure that the types of profit sharing
that you do match your culture rather
than distract from your culture. And this
is where we wouldGo
into lots of technical jargon. So we're
going to wrap up now instead and hope
that you'll reach out to us to learn
(12:26):
more. Actually, we've got a way for you
to do that. But first, let's recap. So
remember, culture isn't built
overnight. It's a result of consistent
actions that align with your values. So
start with getting profitable, then focus
on sharing that prosperity in ways that
make sense for your team and your
business. And continue to
(12:48):
go in that consistent direction. I kind
of think about that like a gym, you got
to actually show up to the gym, right.
And and that's the
profitability part of a business.
And then you're consistent and then you
add on the little things, yeah. And then
a profitable business with a strong
culture actually becomes
self-reinforcing. Kind of like you work
(13:09):
out at the gym, your muscles become
stronger. It's easier to work out the
next time, right?But in this case, you've
got happy employees. They provide better
service. Better service leads to more
satisfied customers. We wrote in our very
first business plan how we treat our team
is how our team will treat our customers.
Like if you want a better customer
experience, you got to have a better team
(13:31):
experience. And of course, we all know,
hopefully satisfied customers generate
more revenue. They send more referrals,
they do more business with you, you know,
they become fans and you know, those kind
of things. And of course, more revenue
creates opportunities for greater profit
sharing. And greater profit sharing has
better team dynamics. And that cycle just
continues and reinforces itself, gets
(13:53):
better and better, kind of like compound
interest or the overflow principle. Yeah,
I don't know. I was like, wow, that's the
overflow principle, just in a different
way. Yep. So now we're going to
give you the chance to see some technical
jargon. If you're ready to build a
culture of prosperity in your business,
which we hope you are, we created a
profit sharing strategy guide
(14:14):
that includes a comparison of some common
methods of profit sharing. So like it
lists the the common methods and then
some of the pros and cons of each, so you
can choose which one might fit your team
best. And get that in the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Community at
wealthwisdomfp.com/community. There
you'll find a community of business
owners building sustainable, profitable
(14:36):
cultures. How many times can I say
community?It's
wealthwisdomfp.com/community. Go there,
join us today, make sure you get that
profit sharing strategy guide. Dan, I
don't remember what I was saying over and
over again last time. I'm going to try
not to do that this time. But thanks for
joining. Don't forget. Oh, it was. It
was. Don't forget, hit the subscribe
(14:56):
button and live long and
profit and leave us a review. The
topics presented in this podcast are for
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investment advice. On such matters,
please consult a professional who knows
your specific situation.