June 26, 2025 • 31 mins
Growth ≠ scale, and too many founders learn that the hard way.
In this episode, I sit down with Michael Straza of Straza Consulting to unpack what actually holds back firms from reaching the next level and why more sales won’t fix a broken structure.
They dive into:
- The difference between running a business and truly being in control
- Why poor delegation crushes growth (and team morale)
- How Straza helped firms jump from $5M to $15M, then rebuilt profit
- Real stories of operational friction, founder bottlenecks, and burnouts
- How to tell if your company’s outgrown its team (and what to do next)
If your firm is scaling in size but not in profit or if you’re starting to feel like the bottleneck, this episode will help you reset your foundation and scale the right way.
👉 Tap play and learn how to grow past $10M without breaking your business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of CFO
Chronicles.
We have an amazing guest today,michael Straza from Straza
Consulting.
We get into what it means to bein control of a company versus
being busy running it.
We get into the biggestmistakes that small and large
companies make the most commonmistakes.
And we also get into the numberone bottleneck that holds back
(00:23):
founders from growing to thatnext level.
Cannot wait for you to checkout the episode.
As always, let us know yourthoughts and enjoy.
I'm so excited to hear a littlebit more about your story, how
you got into the space and whatyou're doing to positively
impact the industry.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
No, thanks for inviting me.
I'm excited to share some moreof insights and learn from
others.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Perfect.
So, michael, first question foryou, coming out of the gate a
little hot, yeah what's?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
the difference between being in control of a
company and just being busyrunning it.
In control versus busy runningit Control.
I guess you look at it as youare making decisions, daily
decisions, depending on whatthat is.
So if you're a CFO CFO, c-suitewhat area do you try to stay in
?
And sometimes a lot of C-suitepeople try to be in control of
everything, which is sometimesdangerous.
You need to rely on the peoplethat you have that are helping
(01:21):
you with that Running a business.
You're running it, depending onwhat that level is.
Are you that person that goesout and you're part of sales?
You're part of just the image.
So you're running it.
You're making sure everyone isstaying on the mission and the
vision that you have is a, let'ssay, an owner or CEO trying to
say here's where you want to goand you let everyone else just
(01:42):
run your business.
It depends how involved and howyou could call it micromanaging
or however you want to call it.
It just depends on what youvalue the most and what you feel
is success.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Interesting.
Is that something that you'veever kind of teetered on that
line as you've built your firmof?
Maybe like?
Has micromanaging ever been athing for you in the past?
Are you really good atdelegating and letting go of
that control and here's my team,they can run with it or is that
something that you've had todevelop and learn that skill
(02:17):
over time?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, definitely it's a development skill over time.
I've been doing this for many,many years, so hopefully, I've
been always learning and growingmyself, and that's something I
always encourage anybody I workwith or works for me is we
continue growth, continueeducation, learning.
How do we be better, not justat the specific thing that
(02:39):
you're working on If it'sfinances, it's production, it's
whatever that is Learning howyou can be a better manager,
better owner, better C-suiteperson, but also to a better
person and what you're trying todo is accomplish how do you
communicate to your clients andhow do you communicate to the
people you work with or work forin your organization to really
(02:59):
bring that up a level andthere's so many things involved
in that, and you just have toreally continue learning a level
, and there's so many thingsinvolved in that.
You just have to reallycontinue learning.
So when I did this, when Istarted off owning and operating
companies, was probably over 25years ago, and so you're trying
to learn and you're trying todo as much as you can on your
own and realizing you can't doeverything.
(03:19):
There's just too much to do inorder for it to be successful
long term.
So a lot of it is trying tolearn what can you delegate and
learning that delegation thingand being okay with saying
here's some deadlines, here'sthings I want, and trusting the
people that you've hired orpeople that work with you to say
, yeah, they can do it andthat's always.
It's a balancing act, becausesometimes I did great and other
(03:42):
times I really blew it.
Balancing act because sometimesI did great and other times I
really blew it and I'm like, wow, I have to go back and probably
apologize.
Well, not probably.
I did apologize to peoplesaying, hey, I didn't handle
that well or I communicated innot the best way.
So over the years I've grownand continue to, you know,
always learn how I can do betterthat's so good.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
What's one of the things that maybe stands out to
you as far as if you were tospeak to yourself five years ago
, Michael, hey, this is what youneed to be doing.
This will really help you outin the future when it comes to
delegation.
Is there anything?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
you can say to the listeners.
Yeah, well, yeah, a lot of it isfive years ago.
It's just again.
You're always evolving as abusiness owner, as a fractional
CFO, your other people that youwork with, trying to trust what
they're doing and also makingsure you have the right people
with you.
Sometimes you work with whatyou have and that is fine, but
(04:56):
also, too, learning that it'ssometimes certain groups, people
, organizations are going to getyou so far and then you have to
find someone, and that's inrevenue, growth, hr, where
you're growing as a company andthere's like someone can help
you build something up to acertain level, but then after
that it's a stress and that'snot the best fit for them.
(05:18):
So you have to find the personthat's the best fit and
sometimes it's you're hesitant.
I was hesitant at times to say,hey, I need to find someone else
for this space, because it'sjust not, we can't get any
further in this area and they'vereached the max of what that
person can do.
And that's not a wrong thing,it's just like, well then, how,
where can they go next?
How can I help them find aposition in the company or to
(05:39):
another company to make surethey are the best who they can
be, because that's something Iwant to do is making sure how
can I make you better?
And is it here or is itsomewhere else?
And I was making sure I followthrough that and make sure I'm
really, you know, taking care ofwhoever is working for me or
for another?
organization.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I love that always having their best interests at
heart, and it's not a failure.
If it's not the best spot forthem in your current company,
where can you go and succeedelsewhere?
I think that's a really goodframe.
Staying on the topic ofdelegation and growing firms,
you've had a chance to work witha lot of big firms and, I'm
(06:19):
sure, a couple of smaller teamsfrom time to time.
What are some of the commonmistakes that you see either
small or bigger firmsconsistently?
What are some of the commonmistakes that you see either
small or bigger firmsconsistently running into,
regardless of the size?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean, the biggest thing that I've talked about and
something I've learned since Iwas young, is communication.
It was like it's such a simplething.
It's like, well, obvious, yeah,you just communicate and it
should be fine, but it's like weall come from different
backgrounds, life experiences,everything, and we communicate
differently in how wecommunicate, how we project our
voices and how we look and carryourselves.
(06:53):
Sometimes it's this that iswhere people get misunderstand
what you're trying to say, andother times it's just bad
communication when you think whyI said this.
Well, that wasn't much detail.
So that is one of the corethings I think is something that
we all need to continue to workon is how do I communicate
better to my clients, to peoplewho I work with, and making sure
(07:15):
that everyone is reallyunderstanding and actually
giving time for people to askquestions.
So that's one of the other oneof the big things Just
understanding your area, yourexpertise, if you're trying to,
whatever it is, if it's infinances or something like that.
I've been working withorganizations recently, some
(07:36):
pretty big ones and some smallerones and they have the same
thing.
It's like people have been putin these positions and you
assume they know everything andit's nothing wrong.
They, you assume they knoweverything.
And it's nothing wrong if theydon't know everything, because
everything there's littlenuances in every company in
trying to make sure they trulyknow what they're doing when
they're talking about financialstuff, operational, because
(07:57):
maybe they haven't.
They've been in a small company, they've grown with the company
, but they've never learnedanything outside of that company
.
And sometimes it's better tohave experienced other
businesses, other philosophies,other you know ways of doing
things, because then you learnfrom that and you can take those
to the next place you go.
And sometimes you've never have.
You just don't know what's outthere, you're just unaware.
(08:18):
So then trying to bring peoplealong and saying, hey, have you
done this, have you done thiseducation?
Let's look at trying to get you, you know, some additional
support and that's not somethingI'm a big believer in and I've
done that year after year isgetting people into places where
it's like, hey, let's get youin this class, let's get you in
this study, let you reallyunderstand this so you can be
(08:39):
better at this.
And if I, if you, and that fearis, oh my gosh, now I got you,
you know, you learned it.
Now you're going to leave.
Well, that's a risk I'm willingto take.
But I'm willing to take thatrisk because I want to see them
elevate themselves, elevate thecompany to where there's, you
know, everyone wins at the endof this yeah, that's so good,
(09:00):
that's.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It's such a scarcity mindset, I think to feel like,
all right, I've built you up,I've built up your skill set,
now you're going to leave.
But or they have built you upand now you're now that roi for
what you're going to be able todo inside my business or in that
, whatever business it is.
It's, it's so big.
So I I love that you're sayingthat, transitioning a little bit
(09:21):
.
I think that's a good segue intogrowing firms are you give us a
real world example of howimproving structure so not just
sales has unlocked major growthfor either your firm or other
clients that you've had a chanceto work with yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So some real, real life you know examples is, in
the last couple years I'veworked with some, you know some
smaller organizations where theywere, uh, revenue-wise let say,
you know five million dollarsin revenue and they've grown to
10, 15, 20 million.
They've stepped up.
And what I've done is when I'vegone in there is kind of
overall again, looking at theirstructure, their operational
(09:58):
side of things or find it thefinancial side of things, and it
is making sure all those alignwith what the mission and the
vision of the CEO has and tryingto see do these all align?
Do you have the right people inthe right places?
Is everyone going the samedirection?
Are you all rowing in the samedirection?
Are everyone going oppositeways?
(10:18):
And by doing that is when I'vegone in there and kind of like,
look at things, how are going,why things maybe take longer
than they should, what the cashflow is, and trying to make sure
all that is going the rightdirection.
I have put implemented things,some operational things in there
and some financial goals andstrategies, not just sales.
I mean.
Sales, of course, is important,especially in your business.
(10:40):
If you don't have sales, it'shard to bring in money, because
there's a lot of us that are inorganizations that we're not
revenue generators.
We improve the revenue we makeoperational, so you can reduce
your costs, your expenses.
But for sales, they have to bein a certain mindset and you
(11:01):
have to make sure they're doingwhat is best for the company and
making sure that they'realigned to make growth happen.
And then basically, with that,all the other groups, you're
saying, okay, how do we makeyour department better?
How do we and it falls in linefrom HR to financial you know
the finance department to youknow, if you're on a assembly
(11:22):
line or something like that, youhave to find the things that
need to be tweaked a little bitto make it more efficient.
And I always look at it and Isay this to myself, so it's not
just to people out there who areworking in a certain area of
field.
It's like we can all improveand that's something I always
believe in.
It's like you're not sayingthat you're doing it wrong.
It's like how do we make it?
(11:42):
Each day we make ourselvesbetter.
How do we make ourselves abetter person?
How do we do that?
And there's so many levels andlayers of that that defines what
makes someone better 1% betterevery day right.
Yes, especially if you'reoperating at a low percentage.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So, yes, how do you make sure that ops and finance
are working together?
Because I think for the longesttime and the more I get
(12:24):
ingrained in the industry Ialways run.
It's really an interesting rolebecause it's not just or at
least a good CFO is not juststaying inside the books,
staying inside of finance.
You're really getting a whole30,000 foot view on the business
.
You can get super into theweeds and others and then you
back out.
So how do you tie thosedifferent departments to one
(12:45):
another?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
coming in, Well, one of the things an advantage I had
personally is, like I said,over about 25 years ago, ran and
operated a couple of differentcompanies, owned a couple of
them, and I was on theoperations side and the finance.
So, because we were a smallcompany at that time, I had to
do both.
So I had to learn both and itwas trying to understand how
(13:06):
operations work and how finance.
So, yes, I agree, as a CFO orfinancial person, you can get
into the numbers.
You can be like you know justall about numbers and
spreadsheets and all thesemetrics and stuff like that, and
you can get lost in it.
And if you don't step out ofthat to look at what is
operations doing, what is thisdepartment doing, and you have
(13:27):
to really understand how all thegroups work together.
And that's where I think iswhere sometimes it's lost with
companies is that they don't dothat.
It's just we're all siloed offand we just stay in our area and
we don't want to ask questions.
We don't want to you know, looklike we're trying to, you know,
get involved in something weshouldn't, but it's like we
(13:48):
should be involved.
Operations should know whatfinance is doing.
Finance should know whatoperations is doing and that's
something I felt like has alwaysbeen important and has been
very successful for me and forthe companies I work with is
really looking at that.
And that's something I likedoing is observing, observing
how people work and interactwith each other and trying to
figure out how to close that gapof why aren't they
(14:09):
communicating.
And I had this recently in agroup that I work with that is,
you know, pretty largeorganization and every
department.
They just didn't work together.
They were just everyone wassiloed.
It's like don't talk to finance, and finance is like I'm not
talking to anybody else becausethey'll send me emails, I'm just
going to ignore them.
And it's like we can't do that.
We have to bridge that gapbecause you don't want someone
(14:32):
from operations or someone elsein the organization to be afraid
to ask a question becausethey're thinking they're going
to get this awful response or noresponse.
So that's where you have tobuild those relationships that
are so important for the successof an organization, a company
or just the people in general.
It's like how do we, how do yousucceed if you basically just
(14:53):
shut yourself off from everybody?
You can't just say, well, themetric shows that we're doing
well.
Well, what metric is that?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, I often.
I'm a massive hockey fan, beingfrom canada, um, but I a lot of
times just like watching sportsin general.
It could be hockey or football,whatever it is.
I often think about a team inbusiness and a sports team.
You need every, every position,every offense, defense, the
(15:22):
coach, the goaltending, whateverit is.
Everyone needs to be going inthe same direction.
It sounds like that's exactlywhat you're saying, like it
would.
You would never think of ahockey team or any any sports
team in general.
Well, forwards, don't speak tothe d and if they speak to you,
don't, you know, speak backbecause that will ruin things.
And expect to have achampionship team like that
sounds ridiculous ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
No, I agree, I mean, you can I always.
I'm a big sports person and Ialways look at, as you look at,
some of the great groups outthere, some of the you know
hockey, football, whatever.
You can see how theorganization is set and it's
like you know, if the owner isnot great, the GM, you go down
to the players, the coach, Imean it falls all the way
through there and it's like, oh,we have a great ex-players, you
(16:06):
know, on this team, or we havethis great coach, but then
everything else is dysfunctional.
It doesn't work.
It never you we talk about, weget excited about every year.
I'm sure you have a favoritehockey team that hopefully
they're doing well this year orthey're still in the playoffs, I
assume.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
They made the playoffs.
They were out in the firstround, but it was exciting.
It was their first time makingit in eight seven years, so yeah
, okay, it was good they finallymade it this year.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Not to interrupt your point no, no, no, but that's
the thing is you always, everyyear, you talk about your team
and you're like, oh, this isgoing to be the year, that's
going to be the year.
And it's like, ah, it's thecoach, oh, it's that one player,
oh, it's the gm, it's the owner.
I mean, I see that in all thesedifferent things, it's like
constantly this dysfunction.
Then you look at other teamslike how are they successful?
Year after year, they're eitherin the playoffs or in the
(16:53):
finals, or something.
It's like how is this possible?
And it's like they look like agood group, but it's like, but
they continue to show up andyour team is like what is
happening here?
It's like can't we you know?
And it's just and that's again,it's a failure somewhere in the
organization, that there's afailure.
And that's where, for me,that's where I thrive in trying
to figure out where is thatfailure point and figure out how
(17:16):
do we improve on that.
It's like, okay, you learn fromyour failures.
Okay, we, sooner or later, youhave to learn from them, or
you're just going to be whereyou're at, and is that okay?
Maybe the owner's like I'm finewith that, I'm making plenty of
money, people come to the games, plenty of people or my
business is making plenty ofmoney, but I'm okay with it
being just okay and I thinkthat's where it is.
(17:36):
What is that vision you havetruly for your organization?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
The Toronto Maple Leafs might need to hire you,
Michael, because they have allthe talent in the world.
They keep running through theregular season, they get to the
playoffs and it's just adisaster.
So if there's Leafs fanslistening probably enjoy that
(18:06):
comment.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yes, what should a founder be doing today to
prepare for scaling tomorrow?
A founder is trying to say whatis your goal as a founder is
trying to scale?
You're really looking to say doI want to grow revenue?
Am I trying to scale?
What does that scale mean?
Does it mean I want to be in acertain area, so I'm a certain
city.
Do I want to go beyond thatcity, country?
You know, it's kind of like thatwhen, when I had owned a
company years ago, that wassomething we first started was
(18:29):
like we want to be more thanthis, so what does that look
like?
So we grew and we grew like 20,30% a year and it was like, ok,
we're going so fast.
It's like, but is this what weneed to do?
Is that's?
That's not scaling, that's justgrowing and you're just doing
work after work after work andmoney's going through the place.
So scaling is trying to say,okay, where do we wanna go?
(18:49):
How does that vision look like?
And then what does that growthlook like?
Is it organization, employees,locations and what is our
ultimate goal?
Because sometimes you scale andyou're like I'm making less than
I did when I was a $5 millioncompany I'm making 10 to 15.
It's like, oh, the revenue's up.
(19:10):
But it's like, yeah, but it'scosting me more to do this.
That's not scaling.
That's basically saying becausewhat happened is you basically
needed more people to run atthat level and before you had
multiple people doing the samejob and you could get away with
it.
So you have to determine isyour job, is your company,
scalable to get to the nextlevel, to where, okay, 15
(19:31):
million isn't the break evenpoint?
You got to be the 30 in orderfor it to make more profit than
you did before.
You wouldn't.
That wouldn't make that any.
Most people would say thatdoesn't make sense.
It's like, well, I was a 5million, now I'm 15.
I'm making more.
It's like you are making morebut you're making less.
So you figure that out, thatbreak point.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
That's such an interesting piece you shared
there.
Can.
How can you simplify that again, like the difference between
growing and scaling?
And then I have a follow upquestion for you on that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yeah, so growing is you're just basically you're
growing as an organization.
So you are your revenue andexpenses, if you're, you always
want to make sure if you want tobe profitable.
You know, sometimes I just wantto break even, so you find that
fancy way of breaking even soyou don't pay taxes, I don't
know.
So that's.
There's a lot of people outthere that'll, you know, manage
(20:26):
that to where they basicallylook like they didn't make any
money and that's.
That's a whole different daystory.
Um, and then you have the otherissue is, okay, so you're
growing.
You go from 5 million to 10million.
15 million, it's like well,like well, we're growing, that's
growth in this, but yourexpenses are exceeding your
revenue.
So all of a sudden it's likewell, at 5 million, I was making
(20:48):
a million dollars in profit.
10 million, I'm losing amillion, or however you want to
say it, all the way up to 15,it's like, wow, we're working
harder, we have more peopleworking for us.
Our overhead is beyond what weshould be If you're not in the
usual realm.
Back in the day it was like 18to 20%, as your overhead cost
(21:08):
should be compared to everythingelse.
So if you're just constantly,your overhead continues to grow
at a higher rate and you're justlike well, we're just not
making any money.
We're working harder, we'respending more money and we're
making less profit.
So then you have to look at iswhat point does that switch over
?
(21:28):
When does that cross back overto where the revenue is more
than your expenses and sometimesthat is an operational thing,
to where you have to figure outyour operations, because you
didn't grow as a company,meaning you didn't.
Basically you did certainprocess, procedures and what you
did finances when you were 5million, because this is what
(21:49):
you could do.
Now you're more sophisticatedin some of the things.
You have to learn how to manageyour money, from depreciation
to all these other thingsmanaging properties and
locations and people and youhave to leverage all that to
really figure out how you youcome up.
You know you, basically yourrevenue is above your expenses
and that's where your scale,you're able to scale to where
(22:09):
you're not.
Your overhead is not costingmore than your revenue is, if
that makes sense, I made it morecomplicated, oh that's helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
What would be maybe an indicator that someone, a
business owner, could look attoday to be like are we just
growing, are we scaling, and howdo we get onto the scaling side
of things?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, I think you look at your.
Basically, you're looking atyour, the metrics of just seeing
where are we at.
You know, looking to alwayslook at history.
Take your history points, yourcertain points in your history
of how long you've been around.
You know you've been around ayear, five years, 10 years, 20
years and seeing what does thatlook like?
What do we notice?
What is the trend when our salesteam is doing, you know,
(22:53):
growing at this amount?
What's our percentages?
That we think that we're makingoff the work, the widget,
whatever it is, that we'remaking off the work, the widget,
whatever it is, is that trulywhat it is?
And trying to determine howthose line up and saying, okay,
this is looking like we arehonest with our costs and stuff
like that and we're notborrowing money and leveraging
(23:16):
things.
So I think it's just a matterof you have to just kind of look
at is where are we at yesterday, where are we at today, where
are we going to be in the future?
And seeing, is there a trend towhere you're saying this is more
than just a growth phase,because you'll be able to see
right away in your expenses,your finances.
It just can't keep up.
And that's the thing is.
(23:36):
It's like you are borrowingmore money, you are putting more
into debt and you're just notseeing that relief where it's
like, okay, we're starting tosee a trend where we can sustain
ourselves.
If you stop today as we've seensome critical things over the
last so many years like if yourbusiness stopped today for
whatever reason, can you sustaingoing longer?
(23:59):
Or is it pretty much you'redone?
And that's the thing is, ifcash flow isn't happening 24-7,
you're always like spending andthen you're hoping for that
check to come in or whatevertransfer of money that will tell
you something that there'sprobably something that's broken
in your company that you needto look at a little bit more
seriously.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You spoke earlier about communication being one of
the most common mistakes or, Iguess, issues you see in
companies like, regardless oftheir size.
What's one of the most common,like hindrances or bottlenecks
you see in founders that youwork with that prevents them
(24:39):
from growing beyond wherethey're currently at when you
come in?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
A lot of times the founders are.
They say they want change.
And the hard thing is it's hardto make change because they're
the founder, they're they're theones that you know, probably
the one that came up with thisidea, this, this concept or
whatever they're doing.
It's like they're holding sotight with it.
They're just like they don'tthey.
They say they want help andlike okay, you come in, you can
tell that you, there's going tobe only a small percent, there's
(25:06):
going to be a percentage.
I always look at it as you'regoing to be able to make change
in an organization.
For them, it's like becausethey're only gonna allow you to
do so much.
They're like it's the comfortlevel.
It's like, okay, I'mcomfortable to this point, I'm
willing to do these changes andcontinue to keep those things in
place, but I'm not going to doeverything.
It's like they're never goingto come to 100 of like you know
what you're right, but that'swhy they're the founder.
(25:27):
They're like I'm the ideaperson, I'm the visionary,
they're that person and they'relike you're having someone come
in there and they know there'ssomething's broken, but they're
only going to allow you to fixso much.
And that's where you have torealize okay, this is what I can
do, the percentages going inalready, knowing that this is as
far as you're going to be ableto take them for this moment in
time.
Maybe come back later and say,okay, let's do a little bit more
(25:48):
.
But that's where you have to getthe buy-in from the founder to
do so much and them knowing thatit's going to take some time.
This is not something you'relike, like you're going to come
in.
You're like I'm going to get itdone in three months.
It's like nothing changes.
It's a six plus month processto get you know.
(26:08):
Habits and things like thatchange and even for a founder
you have to get the habitschanged.
And another real big thing thathappens too with founders is if
they ever want to sell theirbusiness, they're the ones that
are going to be the hardestbecause they've been through all
the ups and downs, the moneyand the sacrifices of family
life or whatever, and they'regoing to be.
The value of their companymight not be on.
(26:29):
That report that says this iswhat they think it is and this
is what really reality it is.
And that's where sometimes I'vetalked to founders about when
they're selling is like.
I understand why you think thisdollar amount is worth it, but
it's not really.
That's not that.
So that's a tough discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I was going to say that must be a tough one telling
someone maybe their baby's alittle bit ugly, or you know?
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Not as cute as you think it is.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But hey this is a pretty nice amount, and I think
you should run with this whileyou have the offer on the table.
Last question for you, michaelwhat's the best piece of advice
that you've ever received?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Best piece of advice.
One of them has been don't takemyself so serious.
Sometimes I get a little tooserious about things.
I get focused and so intenseabout it for my own self or put
so much pressure on beingperfect, and I think that is
something.
That's something I continue tohave to learn about.
(27:32):
Is not, everything is not goingto be perfect, everything's not
going to be successful.
You will fail, we will all fail, it's just what do we do after
that?
And that's the thing is.
It's like like what are we?
What's the next step?
Okay, we failed or somethingwasn't what you wanted to be,
but then what's next?
Don't let that hinder you frombeing successful or to continue
to push forward fail your wayforward.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yes, that's awesome, michael.
Thank you so much for coming onand for an awesome conversation
and sharing so much insight onhow you view your role and how
you help other firms and foreveryone else listening, what
they can implement right away.
This has been a fantasticconversation.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
(28:16):
continue the conversation withyou?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
with you.
Yeah, so there's two ways on mywebsite, straza consulting, or
consult Straza calm.
Or you go to my LinkedIn page.
You can find me, michael Straza, and it's fractional CFO out
there and, yeah, I post up allthe time and it's just.
Those are the two best ways toreach to me to say, hey, I'm
would like more informationabout how you could help.
Or you say this is what I needhelp with.
So, yeah, those are the twobest ways.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Awesome.
We'll put that stuff in theshow notes so people can reach
out.
I encourage everyone to get intouch with Michael.
Again, thank you so much forcoming on.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
(29:06):
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
(29:27):
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Your growth is just one strategic move away.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
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Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
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Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
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Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
(30:14):
business's potential.
Welcome back to another episode of CFO
Chronicles.
We have an amazing guest today,michael Straza from Straza
Consulting.
We get into what it means to bein control of a company versus
being busy running it.
We get into the biggestmistakes that small and large
companies make the most commonmistakes.
And we also get into the numberone bottleneck that holds back
(00:23):
founders from growing to thatnext level.
Cannot wait for you to checkout the episode.
As always, let us know yourthoughts and enjoy.
I'm so excited to hear a littlebit more about your story, how
you got into the space and whatyou're doing to positively
impact the industry.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
No, thanks for inviting me.
I'm excited to share some moreof insights and learn from
others.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Perfect.
So, michael, first question foryou, coming out of the gate a
little hot, yeah what's?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
the difference between being in control of a
company and just being busyrunning it.
In control versus busy runningit Control.
I guess you look at it as youare making decisions, daily
decisions, depending on whatthat is.
So if you're a CFO CFO, c-suitewhat area do you try to stay in
?
And sometimes a lot of C-suitepeople try to be in control of
everything, which is sometimesdangerous.
You need to rely on the peoplethat you have that are helping
(01:21):
you with that Running a business.
You're running it, depending onwhat that level is.
Are you that person that goesout and you're part of sales?
You're part of just the image.
So you're running it.
You're making sure everyone isstaying on the mission and the
vision that you have is a, let'ssay, an owner or CEO trying to
say here's where you want to goand you let everyone else just
(01:42):
run your business.
It depends how involved and howyou could call it micromanaging
or however you want to call it.
It just depends on what youvalue the most and what you feel
is success.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Interesting.
Is that something that you'veever kind of teetered on that
line as you've built your firmof?
Maybe like?
Has micromanaging ever been athing for you in the past?
Are you really good atdelegating and letting go of
that control and here's my team,they can run with it or is that
something that you've had todevelop and learn that skill
(02:17):
over time?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, definitely it's a development skill over time.
I've been doing this for many,many years, so hopefully, I've
been always learning and growingmyself, and that's something I
always encourage anybody I workwith or works for me is we
continue growth, continueeducation, learning.
How do we be better, not justat the specific thing that
(02:39):
you're working on If it'sfinances, it's production, it's
whatever that is Learning howyou can be a better manager,
better owner, better C-suiteperson, but also to a better
person and what you're trying todo is accomplish how do you
communicate to your clients andhow do you communicate to the
people you work with or work forin your organization to really
(02:59):
bring that up a level andthere's so many things involved
in that, and you just have toreally continue learning a level
, and there's so many thingsinvolved in that.
You just have to reallycontinue learning.
So when I did this, when Istarted off owning and operating
companies, was probably over 25years ago, and so you're trying
to learn and you're trying todo as much as you can on your
own and realizing you can't doeverything.
(03:19):
There's just too much to do inorder for it to be successful
long term.
So a lot of it is trying tolearn what can you delegate and
learning that delegation thingand being okay with saying
here's some deadlines, here'sthings I want, and trusting the
people that you've hired orpeople that work with you to say
, yeah, they can do it andthat's always.
It's a balancing act, becausesometimes I did great and other
(03:42):
times I really blew it.
Balancing act because sometimesI did great and other times I
really blew it and I'm like, wow, I have to go back and probably
apologize.
Well, not probably.
I did apologize to peoplesaying, hey, I didn't handle
that well or I communicated innot the best way.
So over the years I've grownand continue to, you know,
always learn how I can do betterthat's so good.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
What's one of the things that maybe stands out to
you as far as if you were tospeak to yourself five years ago
, Michael, hey, this is what youneed to be doing.
This will really help you outin the future when it comes to
delegation.
Is there anything?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
you can say to the listeners.
Yeah, well, yeah, a lot of it isfive years ago.
It's just again.
You're always evolving as abusiness owner, as a fractional
CFO, your other people that youwork with, trying to trust what
they're doing and also makingsure you have the right people
with you.
Sometimes you work with whatyou have and that is fine, but
(04:56):
also, too, learning that it'ssometimes certain groups, people
, organizations are going to getyou so far and then you have to
find someone, and that's inrevenue, growth, hr, where
you're growing as a company andthere's like someone can help
you build something up to acertain level, but then after
that it's a stress and that'snot the best fit for them.
(05:18):
So you have to find the personthat's the best fit and
sometimes it's you're hesitant.
I was hesitant at times to say,hey, I need to find someone else
for this space, because it'sjust not, we can't get any
further in this area and they'vereached the max of what that
person can do.
And that's not a wrong thing,it's just like, well then, how,
where can they go next?
How can I help them find aposition in the company or to
(05:39):
another company to make surethey are the best who they can
be, because that's something Iwant to do is making sure how
can I make you better?
And is it here or is itsomewhere else?
And I was making sure I followthrough that and make sure I'm
really, you know, taking care ofwhoever is working for me or
for another?
organization.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I love that always having their best interests at
heart, and it's not a failure.
If it's not the best spot forthem in your current company,
where can you go and succeedelsewhere?
I think that's a really goodframe.
Staying on the topic ofdelegation and growing firms,
you've had a chance to work witha lot of big firms and, I'm
(06:19):
sure, a couple of smaller teamsfrom time to time.
What are some of the commonmistakes that you see either
small or bigger firmsconsistently?
What are some of the commonmistakes that you see either
small or bigger firmsconsistently running into,
regardless of the size?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean, the biggest thing that I've talked about and
something I've learned since Iwas young, is communication.
It was like it's such a simplething.
It's like, well, obvious, yeah,you just communicate and it
should be fine, but it's like weall come from different
backgrounds, life experiences,everything, and we communicate
differently in how wecommunicate, how we project our
voices and how we look and carryourselves.
(06:53):
Sometimes it's this that iswhere people get misunderstand
what you're trying to say, andother times it's just bad
communication when you think whyI said this.
Well, that wasn't much detail.
So that is one of the corethings I think is something that
we all need to continue to workon is how do I communicate
better to my clients, to peoplewho I work with, and making sure
(07:15):
that everyone is reallyunderstanding and actually
giving time for people to askquestions.
So that's one of the other oneof the big things Just
understanding your area, yourexpertise, if you're trying to,
whatever it is, if it's infinances or something like that.
I've been working withorganizations recently, some
(07:36):
pretty big ones and some smallerones and they have the same
thing.
It's like people have been putin these positions and you
assume they know everything andit's nothing wrong.
They, you assume they knoweverything.
And it's nothing wrong if theydon't know everything, because
everything there's littlenuances in every company in
trying to make sure they trulyknow what they're doing when
they're talking about financialstuff, operational, because
(07:57):
maybe they haven't.
They've been in a small company, they've grown with the company
, but they've never learnedanything outside of that company
.
And sometimes it's better tohave experienced other
businesses, other philosophies,other you know ways of doing
things, because then you learnfrom that and you can take those
to the next place you go.
And sometimes you've never have.
You just don't know what's outthere, you're just unaware.
(08:18):
So then trying to bring peoplealong and saying, hey, have you
done this, have you done thiseducation?
Let's look at trying to get you, you know, some additional
support and that's not somethingI'm a big believer in and I've
done that year after year isgetting people into places where
it's like, hey, let's get youin this class, let's get you in
this study, let you reallyunderstand this so you can be
(08:39):
better at this.
And if I, if you, and that fearis, oh my gosh, now I got you,
you know, you learned it.
Now you're going to leave.
Well, that's a risk I'm willingto take.
But I'm willing to take thatrisk because I want to see them
elevate themselves, elevate thecompany to where there's, you
know, everyone wins at the endof this yeah, that's so good,
(09:00):
that's.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It's such a scarcity mindset, I think to feel like,
all right, I've built you up,I've built up your skill set,
now you're going to leave.
But or they have built you upand now you're now that roi for
what you're going to be able todo inside my business or in that
, whatever business it is.
It's, it's so big.
So I I love that you're sayingthat, transitioning a little bit
(09:21):
.
I think that's a good segue intogrowing firms are you give us a
real world example of howimproving structure so not just
sales has unlocked major growthfor either your firm or other
clients that you've had a chanceto work with yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So some real, real life you know examples is, in
the last couple years I'veworked with some, you know some
smaller organizations where theywere, uh, revenue-wise let say,
you know five million dollarsin revenue and they've grown to
10, 15, 20 million.
They've stepped up.
And what I've done is when I'vegone in there is kind of
overall again, looking at theirstructure, their operational
(09:58):
side of things or find it thefinancial side of things, and it
is making sure all those alignwith what the mission and the
vision of the CEO has and tryingto see do these all align?
Do you have the right people inthe right places?
Is everyone going the samedirection?
Are you all rowing in the samedirection?
Are everyone going oppositeways?
(10:18):
And by doing that is when I'vegone in there and kind of like,
look at things, how are going,why things maybe take longer
than they should, what the cashflow is, and trying to make sure
all that is going the rightdirection.
I have put implemented things,some operational things in there
and some financial goals andstrategies, not just sales.
I mean.
Sales, of course, is important,especially in your business.
(10:40):
If you don't have sales, it'shard to bring in money, because
there's a lot of us that are inorganizations that we're not
revenue generators.
We improve the revenue we makeoperational, so you can reduce
your costs, your expenses.
But for sales, they have to bein a certain mindset and you
(11:01):
have to make sure they're doingwhat is best for the company and
making sure that they'realigned to make growth happen.
And then basically, with that,all the other groups, you're
saying, okay, how do we makeyour department better?
How do we and it falls in linefrom HR to financial you know
the finance department to youknow, if you're on a assembly
(11:22):
line or something like that, youhave to find the things that
need to be tweaked a little bitto make it more efficient.
And I always look at it and Isay this to myself, so it's not
just to people out there who areworking in a certain area of
field.
It's like we can all improveand that's something I always
believe in.
It's like you're not sayingthat you're doing it wrong.
It's like how do we make it?
(11:42):
Each day we make ourselvesbetter.
How do we make ourselves abetter person?
How do we do that?
And there's so many levels andlayers of that that defines what
makes someone better 1% betterevery day right.
Yes, especially if you'reoperating at a low percentage.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So, yes, how do you make sure that ops and finance
are working together?
Because I think for the longesttime and the more I get
(12:24):
ingrained in the industry Ialways run.
It's really an interesting rolebecause it's not just or at
least a good CFO is not juststaying inside the books,
staying inside of finance.
You're really getting a whole30,000 foot view on the business
.
You can get super into theweeds and others and then you
back out.
So how do you tie thosedifferent departments to one
(12:45):
another?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
coming in, Well, one of the things an advantage I had
personally is, like I said,over about 25 years ago, ran and
operated a couple of differentcompanies, owned a couple of
them, and I was on theoperations side and the finance.
So, because we were a smallcompany at that time, I had to
do both.
So I had to learn both and itwas trying to understand how
(13:06):
operations work and how finance.
So, yes, I agree, as a CFO orfinancial person, you can get
into the numbers.
You can be like you know justall about numbers and
spreadsheets and all thesemetrics and stuff like that, and
you can get lost in it.
And if you don't step out ofthat to look at what is
operations doing, what is thisdepartment doing, and you have
(13:27):
to really understand how all thegroups work together.
And that's where I think iswhere sometimes it's lost with
companies is that they don't dothat.
It's just we're all siloed offand we just stay in our area and
we don't want to ask questions.
We don't want to you know, looklike we're trying to, you know,
get involved in something weshouldn't, but it's like we
(13:48):
should be involved.
Operations should know whatfinance is doing.
Finance should know whatoperations is doing and that's
something I felt like has alwaysbeen important and has been
very successful for me and forthe companies I work with is
really looking at that.
And that's something I likedoing is observing, observing
how people work and interactwith each other and trying to
figure out how to close that gapof why aren't they
(14:09):
communicating.
And I had this recently in agroup that I work with that is,
you know, pretty largeorganization and every
department.
They just didn't work together.
They were just everyone wassiloed.
It's like don't talk to finance, and finance is like I'm not
talking to anybody else becausethey'll send me emails, I'm just
going to ignore them.
And it's like we can't do that.
We have to bridge that gapbecause you don't want someone
(14:32):
from operations or someone elsein the organization to be afraid
to ask a question becausethey're thinking they're going
to get this awful response or noresponse.
So that's where you have tobuild those relationships that
are so important for the successof an organization, a company
or just the people in general.
It's like how do we, how do yousucceed if you basically just
(14:53):
shut yourself off from everybody?
You can't just say, well, themetric shows that we're doing
well.
Well, what metric is that?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, I often.
I'm a massive hockey fan, beingfrom canada, um, but I a lot of
times just like watching sportsin general.
It could be hockey or football,whatever it is.
I often think about a team inbusiness and a sports team.
You need every, every position,every offense, defense, the
(15:22):
coach, the goaltending, whateverit is.
Everyone needs to be going inthe same direction.
It sounds like that's exactlywhat you're saying, like it
would.
You would never think of ahockey team or any any sports
team in general.
Well, forwards, don't speak tothe d and if they speak to you,
don't, you know, speak backbecause that will ruin things.
And expect to have achampionship team like that
sounds ridiculous ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
No, I agree, I mean, you can I always.
I'm a big sports person and Ialways look at, as you look at,
some of the great groups outthere, some of the you know
hockey, football, whatever.
You can see how theorganization is set and it's
like you know, if the owner isnot great, the GM, you go down
to the players, the coach, Imean it falls all the way
through there and it's like, oh,we have a great ex-players, you
(16:06):
know, on this team, or we havethis great coach, but then
everything else is dysfunctional.
It doesn't work.
It never you we talk about, weget excited about every year.
I'm sure you have a favoritehockey team that hopefully
they're doing well this year orthey're still in the playoffs, I
assume.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
They made the playoffs.
They were out in the firstround, but it was exciting.
It was their first time makingit in eight seven years, so yeah
, okay, it was good they finallymade it this year.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Not to interrupt your point no, no, no, but that's
the thing is you always, everyyear, you talk about your team
and you're like, oh, this isgoing to be the year, that's
going to be the year.
And it's like, ah, it's thecoach, oh, it's that one player,
oh, it's the gm, it's the owner.
I mean, I see that in all thesedifferent things, it's like
constantly this dysfunction.
Then you look at other teamslike how are they successful?
Year after year, they're eitherin the playoffs or in the
(16:53):
finals, or something.
It's like how is this possible?
And it's like they look like agood group, but it's like, but
they continue to show up andyour team is like what is
happening here?
It's like can't we you know?
And it's just and that's again,it's a failure somewhere in the
organization, that there's afailure.
And that's where, for me,that's where I thrive in trying
to figure out where is thatfailure point and figure out how
(17:16):
do we improve on that.
It's like, okay, you learn fromyour failures.
Okay, we, sooner or later, youhave to learn from them, or
you're just going to be whereyou're at, and is that okay?
Maybe the owner's like I'm finewith that, I'm making plenty of
money, people come to the games, plenty of people or my
business is making plenty ofmoney, but I'm okay with it
being just okay and I thinkthat's where it is.
(17:36):
What is that vision you havetruly for your organization?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
The Toronto Maple Leafs might need to hire you,
Michael, because they have allthe talent in the world.
They keep running through theregular season, they get to the
playoffs and it's just adisaster.
So if there's Leafs fanslistening probably enjoy that
(18:06):
comment.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yes, what should a founder be doing today to
prepare for scaling tomorrow?
A founder is trying to say whatis your goal as a founder is
trying to scale?
You're really looking to say doI want to grow revenue?
Am I trying to scale?
What does that scale mean?
Does it mean I want to be in acertain area, so I'm a certain
city.
Do I want to go beyond thatcity, country?
You know, it's kind of like thatwhen, when I had owned a
company years ago, that wassomething we first started was
(18:29):
like we want to be more thanthis, so what does that look
like?
So we grew and we grew like 20,30% a year and it was like, ok,
we're going so fast.
It's like, but is this what weneed to do?
Is that's?
That's not scaling, that's justgrowing and you're just doing
work after work after work andmoney's going through the place.
So scaling is trying to say,okay, where do we wanna go?
(18:49):
How does that vision look like?
And then what does that growthlook like?
Is it organization, employees,locations and what is our
ultimate goal?
Because sometimes you scale andyou're like I'm making less than
I did when I was a $5 millioncompany I'm making 10 to 15.
It's like, oh, the revenue's up.
(19:10):
But it's like, yeah, but it'scosting me more to do this.
That's not scaling.
That's basically saying becausewhat happened is you basically
needed more people to run atthat level and before you had
multiple people doing the samejob and you could get away with
it.
So you have to determine isyour job, is your company,
scalable to get to the nextlevel, to where, okay, 15
(19:31):
million isn't the break evenpoint?
You got to be the 30 in orderfor it to make more profit than
you did before.
You wouldn't.
That wouldn't make that any.
Most people would say thatdoesn't make sense.
It's like, well, I was a 5million, now I'm 15.
I'm making more.
It's like you are making morebut you're making less.
So you figure that out, thatbreak point.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
That's such an interesting piece you shared
there.
Can.
How can you simplify that again, like the difference between
growing and scaling?
And then I have a follow upquestion for you on that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yeah, so growing is you're just basically you're
growing as an organization.
So you are your revenue andexpenses, if you're, you always
want to make sure if you want tobe profitable.
You know, sometimes I just wantto break even, so you find that
fancy way of breaking even soyou don't pay taxes, I don't
know.
So that's.
There's a lot of people outthere that'll, you know, manage
(20:26):
that to where they basicallylook like they didn't make any
money and that's.
That's a whole different daystory.
Um, and then you have the otherissue is, okay, so you're
growing.
You go from 5 million to 10million.
15 million, it's like well,like well, we're growing, that's
growth in this, but yourexpenses are exceeding your
revenue.
So all of a sudden it's likewell, at 5 million, I was making
(20:48):
a million dollars in profit.
10 million, I'm losing amillion, or however you want to
say it, all the way up to 15,it's like, wow, we're working
harder, we have more peopleworking for us.
Our overhead is beyond what weshould be If you're not in the
usual realm.
Back in the day it was like 18to 20%, as your overhead cost
(21:08):
should be compared to everythingelse.
So if you're just constantly,your overhead continues to grow
at a higher rate and you're justlike well, we're just not
making any money.
We're working harder, we'respending more money and we're
making less profit.
So then you have to look at iswhat point does that switch over
?
(21:28):
When does that cross back overto where the revenue is more
than your expenses and sometimesthat is an operational thing,
to where you have to figure outyour operations, because you
didn't grow as a company,meaning you didn't.
Basically you did certainprocess, procedures and what you
did finances when you were 5million, because this is what
(21:49):
you could do.
Now you're more sophisticatedin some of the things.
You have to learn how to manageyour money, from depreciation
to all these other thingsmanaging properties and
locations and people and youhave to leverage all that to
really figure out how you youcome up.
You know you, basically yourrevenue is above your expenses
and that's where your scale,you're able to scale to where
(22:09):
you're not.
Your overhead is not costingmore than your revenue is, if
that makes sense, I made it morecomplicated, oh that's helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
What would be maybe an indicator that someone, a
business owner, could look attoday to be like are we just
growing, are we scaling, and howdo we get onto the scaling side
of things?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, I think you look at your.
Basically, you're looking atyour, the metrics of just seeing
where are we at.
You know, looking to alwayslook at history.
Take your history points, yourcertain points in your history
of how long you've been around.
You know you've been around ayear, five years, 10 years, 20
years and seeing what does thatlook like?
What do we notice?
What is the trend when our salesteam is doing, you know,
(22:53):
growing at this amount?
What's our percentages?
That we think that we're makingoff the work, the widget,
whatever it is, that we'remaking off the work, the widget,
whatever it is, is that trulywhat it is?
And trying to determine howthose line up and saying, okay,
this is looking like we arehonest with our costs and stuff
like that and we're notborrowing money and leveraging
(23:16):
things.
So I think it's just a matterof you have to just kind of look
at is where are we at yesterday, where are we at today, where
are we going to be in the future?
And seeing, is there a trend towhere you're saying this is more
than just a growth phase,because you'll be able to see
right away in your expenses,your finances.
It just can't keep up.
And that's the thing is.
(23:36):
It's like you are borrowingmore money, you are putting more
into debt and you're just notseeing that relief where it's
like, okay, we're starting tosee a trend where we can sustain
ourselves.
If you stop today as we've seensome critical things over the
last so many years like if yourbusiness stopped today for
whatever reason, can you sustaingoing longer?
(23:59):
Or is it pretty much you'redone?
And that's the thing is, ifcash flow isn't happening 24-7,
you're always like spending andthen you're hoping for that
check to come in or whatevertransfer of money that will tell
you something that there'sprobably something that's broken
in your company that you needto look at a little bit more
seriously.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You spoke earlier about communication being one of
the most common mistakes or, Iguess, issues you see in
companies like, regardless oftheir size.
What's one of the most common,like hindrances or bottlenecks
you see in founders that youwork with that prevents them
(24:39):
from growing beyond wherethey're currently at when you
come in?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
A lot of times the founders are.
They say they want change.
And the hard thing is it's hardto make change because they're
the founder, they're they're theones that you know, probably
the one that came up with thisidea, this, this concept or
whatever they're doing.
It's like they're holding sotight with it.
They're just like they don'tthey.
They say they want help andlike okay, you come in, you can
tell that you, there's going tobe only a small percent, there's
(25:06):
going to be a percentage.
I always look at it as you'regoing to be able to make change
in an organization.
For them, it's like becausethey're only gonna allow you to
do so much.
They're like it's the comfortlevel.
It's like, okay, I'mcomfortable to this point, I'm
willing to do these changes andcontinue to keep those things in
place, but I'm not going to doeverything.
It's like they're never goingto come to 100 of like you know
what you're right, but that'swhy they're the founder.
(25:27):
They're like I'm the ideaperson, I'm the visionary,
they're that person and they'relike you're having someone come
in there and they know there'ssomething's broken, but they're
only going to allow you to fixso much.
And that's where you have torealize okay, this is what I can
do, the percentages going inalready, knowing that this is as
far as you're going to be ableto take them for this moment in
time.
Maybe come back later and say,okay, let's do a little bit more
(25:48):
.
But that's where you have to getthe buy-in from the founder to
do so much and them knowing thatit's going to take some time.
This is not something you'relike, like you're going to come
in.
You're like I'm going to get itdone in three months.
It's like nothing changes.
It's a six plus month processto get you know.
(26:08):
Habits and things like thatchange and even for a founder
you have to get the habitschanged.
And another real big thing thathappens too with founders is if
they ever want to sell theirbusiness, they're the ones that
are going to be the hardestbecause they've been through all
the ups and downs, the moneyand the sacrifices of family
life or whatever, and they'regoing to be.
The value of their companymight not be on.
(26:29):
That report that says this iswhat they think it is and this
is what really reality it is.
And that's where sometimes I'vetalked to founders about when
they're selling is like.
I understand why you think thisdollar amount is worth it, but
it's not really.
That's not that.
So that's a tough discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I was going to say that must be a tough one telling
someone maybe their baby's alittle bit ugly, or you know?
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Not as cute as you think it is.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But hey this is a pretty nice amount, and I think
you should run with this whileyou have the offer on the table.
Last question for you, michaelwhat's the best piece of advice
that you've ever received?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Best piece of advice.
One of them has been don't takemyself so serious.
Sometimes I get a little tooserious about things.
I get focused and so intenseabout it for my own self or put
so much pressure on beingperfect, and I think that is
something.
That's something I continue tohave to learn about.
(27:32):
Is not, everything is not goingto be perfect, everything's not
going to be successful.
You will fail, we will all fail, it's just what do we do after
that?
And that's the thing is.
It's like like what are we?
What's the next step?
Okay, we failed or somethingwasn't what you wanted to be,
but then what's next?
Don't let that hinder you frombeing successful or to continue
to push forward fail your wayforward.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yes, that's awesome, michael.
Thank you so much for coming onand for an awesome conversation
and sharing so much insight onhow you view your role and how
you help other firms and foreveryone else listening, what
they can implement right away.
This has been a fantasticconversation.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
(28:16):
continue the conversation withyou?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
with you.
Yeah, so there's two ways on mywebsite, straza consulting, or
consult Straza calm.
Or you go to my LinkedIn page.
You can find me, michael Straza, and it's fractional CFO out
there and, yeah, I post up allthe time and it's just.
Those are the two best ways toreach to me to say, hey, I'm
would like more informationabout how you could help.
Or you say this is what I needhelp with.
So, yeah, those are the twobest ways.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Awesome.
We'll put that stuff in theshow notes so people can reach
out.
I encourage everyone to get intouch with Michael.
Again, thank you so much forcoming on.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
(29:06):
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
(29:27):
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Your growth is just one strategic move away.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
(30:14):
business's potential.
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