June 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Solving the $10,000 Problem: Your Path from Personal Brand to Investment-Ready Business
What separates thriving businesses from struggling ones? According to Grant McGaugh, CEO of Five Star BDM, it's the ability to solve high-value problems while building a multi-dimensional business strategy. In this illuminating session, Grant shares his journey from corporate IT professional to business advisor, revealing how a layoff in 2019 became the catalyst for creating a comprehensive business framework that now serves entrepreneurs worldwide.
The cornerstone of Grant's approach is what he calls "the $10,000 problem" - identifying and addressing challenges that represent significant financial value to potential clients. This threshold matters because it's where prospects stop scrolling and start engaging. As Grant explains, "If what you're doing is not solving at least a $10,000 problem, most people will just keep scrolling past you." This insight forms the foundation of the BRAVE Blueprint - a methodology encompassing Brand identity, Research, Assets, Visibility, and Execution.
Grant reveals how his business operates across three interconnected dimensions. Personal branding serves as the entry point, creating the know-like-trust factor essential for attracting clients. Business development transforms individual expertise into scalable frameworks, recurring revenue models, and operational efficiencies. Finally, investment banking strategies position businesses for capital raises, strategic partnerships, or eventual exits - requiring demonstrable competitive advantages, protected intellectual property, and reliable financial forecasts.
For entrepreneurs feeling stuck, Grant offers a refreshing perspective on business growth: "Senior leaders typically aren't operating in the present, they're operating in the future. They're creating the future that we're going to experience." This forward-thinking approach includes developing specific milestones, building financial reserves, and sometimes considering acquisition rather than organic growth when time-to-market is critical.
Ready to transform your business from personality-dependent to investment-ready? Connect with the Black Business Network every Friday and Saturday from 8am to noon Eastern time to learn more about growing your business and accessing this global community of entrepreneurs.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning, good morning.
Good morning, good morningeveryone, and welcome to the
Black Business Network.
My name is Grant McGaugh, ceoof Five Star BDM and host of the
award-winning Follow Brandpodcast and TV series, and I am
your business moderator for thissession on the Black Business
Network.
Business moderator for thissession on the Black Business
(00:26):
Network.
The Black Business Network is a24-hour business network
showcasing Black businesses,business owners, entrepreneurs
and thought leaders worldwide,and we have speakers from North
Carolina, london, singapore,africa, japan and cities all
over the United States.
The Black Business Network is aglobal community sharing its
business knowledge to empower,inspire and educate businesses
(00:53):
about business, and I will beyour business guest right now on
the Black Business Network.
I want to talk to you aboutmore about what Five Star Medium
is all about.
That's Brand DevelopmentMasters, many of you and I thank
you all for tuning in to myshow, tuning in to my podcast
(01:14):
and tuning in to my guestappearances on the Black
Business Network, where I amblessed to always be able to
bring to you for four hours, 8am to noon on Friday that's
Eastern time on Fridays and alsoSaturday, where I will bring on
my particular guest to talkabout their business in the
Black community and how they aremaking substantial change.
(01:38):
And some of you are like well,I'm not familiar with Five Star
BDM, who, first of all, just gotnew offices in Omaha, nebraska,
that's right, and they're smackdab in the middle of the United
States, is where we have nowrelocated our home office, still
have offices in Miami, florida,that have operated for about 28
(02:00):
years, and also in St Croix,the Virgin Islands, and all of
this is done strategically andtactfully to bring together an
ecosystem of Black businessesthroughout the United States, as
well as the archipelago and theCaribbean islands and into the
African nations and thenworldwide, as we'll talk about a
(02:23):
little bit later.
So when we talk about five-starBDM, what is that all about?
I first want to start with whatwe'll call my origin story,
right?
How did this begin?
Now, I've got 25 years ofexperience in information
technology and I've worked forsome very, very large Fortune
(02:45):
500 companies during that time,like Avaya and Cisco and Lumen,
which at the time was calledCenturyLink.
This is where I learned veryhigh-tech enterprise technology
for systems throughout the world.
Then I got into healthcareabout 10 years ago as a vertical
(03:06):
to help the healthcare industrywith new technology and ovation
, and I learned a lot aboutinfrastructure from the ground
up.
So people hear about cloudcomputing up here, but actually
it's very terrestrial.
It really starts at the groundlevel.
When we're talking about cloudcomputing and what it's all
(03:27):
about, you've got to have datacenters, and those data centers
needed to be linked.
They need to operate at maximumcapacity to be able to
distribute networks just likethis in real time time.
(03:49):
So back about I'm going to saythe year was 2019, because I'm
going through an opportunity formyself, working for another
large company called Zones andpresenting them an entire slew
of services.
I had about 200 differentproducts and services that I was
familiar with and I could bringto the table for hospital
systems, integrated deliverysystems they call IDNs or you
have healthcare clinics and thelike, medical systems, things of
(04:11):
that nature to begin to helpthem on their technology journey
.
But our company went through adownturn in about 2019.
And during that time, evenbefore that, I was branding
myself.
I mean, I was putting myselfout there specifically on social
media, on LinkedIn, to tell mystory so people would become
more familiar with me and thenwhen I would then interact or I
(04:34):
would send them an email or givethem a phone call.
They kind of knew who I was.
People like that.
They like to say hey, grant,you've really built a brand for
yourself and we know who you arewhen you knock on our door.
This was good, but I didn'treally realize the value of that
until 2019.
And the reason was that's whenI went through a layoff and in
(04:55):
October of 2019, because ofdownturn in business, they got
rid of the entire division.
So my healthcare division that Iworked for, healthcare
technology, was now gone, right,and I had to really do some
introspection about who I wasand what I was going to do
moving forward.
Now, in the past, I've beendoing this for, like I said, 28,
25 years a long time.
(05:17):
Never gone through any longperiods of layoff.
Usually the phone was ringing,people were recruiting me, they
wanted me to work for them andthat kind of thing.
Well, that was slowing down.
Now this is right before COVIDand I said you know, I'm getting
kind of older in my life.
I need to start thinking aboutmy future.
I can't be starting all over,over over again or be dependent
(05:41):
on another company's P&L, theirbooks and their revenues and
what they're doing.
I just started thinking how amI going to take the skills and
the tools and what I've learnedover time and make them into a
good business?
And I really was thinking aboutthis and I went to a conference
for the this was the NationalAssociation of Health Services
(06:03):
Executives for the NationalAssociation of Health Services
Executives, strictly for Blackhealthcare executives throughout
the nation.
And I had been a part of thisassociation for a number of
years and people started comingto me and saying hey, I
understand, you're a free agent,I can't hire you full time.
These are people that called onhealthcare systems but they
didn't have a presence in SouthFlorida that I had built out.
(06:23):
So why don't we hire you as aconsultant for you to then bring
us into your book of businessor your creative network that
you already have built out?
Went off for me is hey, I hadbuilt out the presence I had
(06:49):
built out.
What most people think is thehardest thing to do an audience
of potential clients.
I already had them.
What I needed was a product orservice to then offer that
particular audience, to createopportunities, to create a
business.
So I had to think about what isthe big problem that I solve?
You know, what can I bring tothe table?
(07:09):
How can I elevate someone elsein what they're doing?
And I did want to get into highticket information technology
solutions, but that's reallylarge.
Some of these are five, six,seven figures.
I don't want to carry that onmy books, but I could help
businesses accelerate through myunderstanding of business, my
(07:31):
understanding of healthcare andmy understanding of how to gain
capital access in acquiringtechnology for use.
So I started thinking about howcan we integrate some of these
things, how can we use thebranding that I had meaning the
reputation that I had and beginto utilize that for
(07:54):
opportunities for businessesthat did not have the same
recognition in the marketplace.
So I started to understand theproblem that I could solve the
limited access that othercompanies had in the market that
I already had created right,and they were woefully
underserved.
I didn't understand what thatcould look like and there's a
(08:18):
lot of fragmented solutions outthere.
So I started to really thinkthrough what these problems were
.
So when you want to start abusiness, you have to first
understand what is the bigproblem that you solve.
And, as I started to get alittle bit more training around,
that, it's not just the bigproblem, it's the financial
(08:40):
problem that you solve.
If what you're doing is notsolving at least a $10,000
problem, most people will justkeep scrolling past you, right?
Because the problem that you'resolving is not big enough for
them to stop, pay attention andbegin to evaluate this type of
(09:02):
solution that you couldpotentially bring to their table
to solve this expensive problemthat they have.
Right, you have to do your duediligence in understanding truly
what you are doing and howyou're solving that equation.
That equates for at least 10Kor more in potential savings for
(09:24):
them to engage with you, andthat's all in.
That's profit, right?
What does that look like?
So for me, in the informationtechnology space and
understanding how you can getbetter efficiencies, better
operational efficiencies and toimprove your delivery of goods
and services, I thought I coulddo that.
(09:44):
Right, I can bring you to anopportunity within my audience
that's going to solve for themat least a $10,000 problem.
Of course, I would be then paidhandsomely for doing that type
of thing right, and that becamethe basis of Five Star BDM First
started started out as businessdevelopment manager, because
(10:05):
that was my title back in 2019.
And then I started to changethat to brand development master
because it expanded my scope.
It expanded what I was doingright, because I understood
branding, marketing, salestechnology within a specific
(10:25):
vertical of healthcare in whichI was seen as an expert in.
And that's when another, Iwould say, light bulb went off.
Personal branding what does thatmean?
What is your personal brand?
Separated from the businessbrand, right?
Separated from the businessbrand right?
Right In today's world, youneed to have a strong personal
(10:47):
brand and that means a strongpersonal story.
People like doing business withpeople that they know they like
and they trust right, and theydon't always trust, you know,
just because you throw a logoout there.
Well, what is that?
You know there's no pulse,there's no magic to that, right,
but if they see a face behindit, they begin and they're like,
(11:09):
ooh, wow, that's Grant McGaughbehind five-star BDM.
That is starting to becomesomething I'm interested in
because I know what he does andI'm beginning to know why he
does it.
People, and especially whensomeone's going to invest in
your business, they prioritizefounders that have a strong
(11:31):
personal brand, a strongpersonal story, a strong why to
what they do right.
Leadership is in your personalbrand and then what you're
bringing to the table is yourproduct or service Solving for
them again that $10,000 problemthat they had right.
(11:52):
You need to uncover what thatis, so you have to establish
your credibility and immediatelyunderstand what their problem
is and when you demonstrateunderstanding.
Remember, you haven't pulled outyour product, you haven't
pulled out your service, youjust pulled out your brand and
you want to then understandtheir problem, understand what's
(12:14):
making up that $10,000 problemor more, right?
What does that look like?
And then, after you define thatand your client has even
greatly more defined that foryou you can then start talking
about solutions.
You need to understand themarket opportunity that's in
(12:36):
front of you.
What can you bring to the tableto truly solve and liquidate
that problem and then accelerateeven beyond that, so they see
you now as that trusted advisor.
That's the category you want tobe in.
A lot of people they say well,when I do business development
or sales, everybody, no onelikes doing sales.
(12:57):
And I tell them so I don'ttruly understand that.
Because if you're really doingsales without sales, truly
understand that.
Because if you're really doingsales without sales, nothing
transacts, there's no businesswithout sales.
So when you tell me that youdon't like sales, that you're
telling me you don't likebusiness, right, because that is
the business.
You have to sell your product,services to someone else to have
(13:20):
a transformation take place.
How, how are you going to helpthem?
Right, and you lead with thosethings.
And then most people lovehelping someone else with a
problem.
That's what selling really isYou're helping someone else out
that has a problem and you havea solution for them.
(13:40):
There's nothing wrong with that.
What people don't like this iswhere sales gets a negative
connotation.
When someone approaches youwith a product or service that
you have absolutely no need for.
Right, let's just say you'vegot a fairly good car, you're
driving down the road orwhatever, and then maybe
somebody's calling you up on thephone and saying hey, you know
(14:01):
what?
I got a sale on a brand new car.
You need to come and look at it.
Well, you already have a car.
You have zero interest in that.
And then, if they keep sendingyou emails about it, keep
calling you on the phone aboutit and they keep pestering you
about it, you just becomefrustrated with them, and this
is the type of thing that givessales a bad name, because
(14:23):
there's misalignment of value.
Right, because you're startingoff with.
You're pushing solutions atsomeone who has never
demonstrated a problem.
They don't have a problem.
In that case, there is no$10,000 problem.
There's no problem with whatthey're doing right now.
The car is perfectly fine.
Maybe in the future, but rightnow that's not really an issue.
(14:45):
We're going to keep going, butif you keep pushing at them,
they're going to begin to getturned off by you.
You need to have alignment inyour sales process and
understanding what you're doing.
I always start with personalbranding.
Why is that?
Because I'm using social mediato put my, my, my value out in a
(15:05):
visible format so people cankind of see what it is that I'm
doing and who I am helping inthis process.
A lot of times, as you start tosee now in my podcast, is that
I will bring on guests, that Iwill ask them how did you feel
about the brave blueprintstrategy that I just took you
(15:27):
through?
And they will tell you what itis in real time.
You know that is a videotestimonial.
That was impromptu, it was notscripted, and they just tell you
exactly what it is.
It's powerful because peoplesee it, especially if they had a
similar problem.
Like, hey, he solved thatproblem for them.
Whether it was for careerdevelopment, business
(15:48):
development, what it may be, hehelped them.
Wow, I wonder if he can help me.
I wonder how does he help them?
He helps them with a blueprintstrategy which is a step-by-step
project.
He helps them understand how toutilize AI tools.
He understands media visibility.
He understands financialstrategy Right, because five
(16:09):
star BDM operates in threedifferent levels Personal
branding, business development,but then also investment banking
.
At the higher level, once youreach a certain goal attainment,
a lot of companies they'llstart looking at.
I need a capital raise becauseI need to roll out a new service
.
Right Now I'm already amulti-million dollar business,
(16:30):
but I need to get to that nextlevel and in order to get that,
I need a capital-infused netright.
We help you do that Capitalraise right.
When it comes to, you know what.
I need to bring in anotherstrategic partner to help me to
either do a majority I'm sellingparts of the company as a
majority or I'm going to take aminority stake and I want
(16:53):
someone else to help me in thatrespect.
That's M&A work, that's mergersand acquisition.
When you get to a certain level,you're operating in a seven
figure world, eight figure world.
These are the things you startthinking about and you start
thinking about your exitstrategy.
Is it time to sell the businessright, and how do I get there?
You can't just usually just youknow what.
(17:14):
I'm just going to sell thebusiness and that's it.
It's a process that you gothrough.
You start to make thatdetermination.
This is something I do want todo, and you know it's going to
be usually a one to two to threeyear journey until you finally
get to the point of selling thebusiness.
These are things you startthinking through.
So, when you start thinkingabout five-star BDM and when you
(17:36):
start thinking aboutconsultancy and a premium
advisory service that I offer, Iwant you to start thinking
about frameworks.
He actually has a BraveBlueprint framework that he has
and that he can either and I'mstarting to do this now in Miami
, and also I'll be doing it inSt Croix, where I can license
(17:57):
that particular framework outthat you can utilize it.
Right, so you can be a brandambassador for the Brave
Blueprint strategy.
You start looking atreoccurring subscription it.
Right, so you can be a brandambassador for the Brave
Blueprint Strategy.
You start looking atreoccurring subscription models
right, so all the differentthings that I'm doing that you
can then take advantage of.
That's going to give you moreknowledge, more experience and
more opportunity to expand yourmarket.
(18:18):
You start looking at.
You know what I want to do,something similar to what
Grant's doing, what he did withhis podcast and his tv series
and how he's creating revenuethat way since media
monetization.
What does that look like?
And all that wraps into allthat I do.
It's very important to have anunderstanding of what you do and
the market you penetrate and inmy particular case I I operate
(18:41):
in about a $200 billion globalmarket.
It's pretty big $200 billion,right and it has a growth rate.
And what is the growth rate?
They call the CAGR or the CAGRof that.
It's about 10%.
So you've got $200 billionmarket.
You have a $20 billion growthrate, right, and those are those
(19:02):
three big sectors that I talkabout.
A lot of that is small businessowners like yourselves.
It could be in healthcare.
It could also be a minorityowner, and I like working with
people that need to have abetter understanding of what
they can do and how they do itright, because I've already been
down that road.
So when you start looking athealthcare, you start looking at
(19:31):
technology, you start lookingat finance all these things I
have a pretty good domainexpertise in and then I can
bring in a group of experts, ifneeded, in what that is.
So a lot of my clientele that Iwork with on a daily basis.
They can deliver AI solutions.
They build this every singleday, right?
That's what I work with.
Agile InfoWays.
They are a 200 person business,have been in international
(19:56):
markets for the last 19 years.
They have offices here in Miami, florida, as well as Dallas,
texas, and then also in India.
I can do anything fromartificial intelligence to
machine learning, to agentic AIsolutions, custom-made software
engineering.
I can do all of those thingsright.
(20:17):
When it comes to the financeworld, I work with Kornhusker
Capital right, I am the subjectmatter expert in technology for
core and husker capital.
When you start looking at thelower middle market and when you
start looking at M&A activity,as I described a little earlier,
when you need a capital raiseor you start looking at an exit
strategy, I have that technicallens that I bring to the table.
(20:39):
People again like working withpeople that understand their
business.
That is what I do.
Then I have massiverelationships in healthcare,
whether it's the NationalAssociation of Health Service
Executives, whether it's HIMSS,which is the Health Informatics
System Society.
I also work with groups likeACABA, i-c-a-b-e for Black
(21:01):
Enterprise and, of course, withthe Black Business Network,
because I am here to help peopleto execute their strategies and
their tactics to growexponentially throughout the
world.
That's what I would love to seehappen, and I do that by
bringing relationships that youdon't have to the table right,
(21:22):
and that's where we have majorcompetitive advantage.
There's a lot of differentcompanies that may offer
personal brand or personal brandcoaching.
It may have AI, or someone elsemight have AI branding tools.
Another one may have a boutiqueinvestment firm.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Nobody has all those three together.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
That is my uniqueness in what I bring to the table.
This is very, very important.
You need to understand howyou're unique, how you are
different.
What do you bring to the table,and does that bring traction to
a business?
Right, and I talk to a lot ofthem.
A lot of times it's like what'syour biggest problem?
Sales Marketing I just I'm justnot visible in the market that
(22:08):
I'm looking to influence.
Then you say, well, how are youdoing it today?
And you kind of go throughthose scenarios and then that's
how we say this is how I canhelp you.
Right, that's from a personalbranding perspective and also a
business development.
Sometimes the business is justnot right sized or it's just not
optimum in its operations andwhat it's trying to accomplish
(22:29):
Right, so we need to take a lookat that.
And how do we get you to apoint where you have actual
assets, intellectual property,domain expertise, things that an
investor community is going tobe interested in, so you get out
of the commoditized zone andyou become a valuable resource
(22:49):
for someone else?
That takes you to the nextlevel of investment banking.
What do they look at?
These are the things thatthey're going to be looking at
If you get to a point where youwant to sell your business, or
you need money to operate yourbusiness at a higher level, or
you're looking to bring in astrategic partner.
They're going to be looking atall these different things.
What makes up the revenue modelthat you truly have, and is it
(23:15):
sustainable?
Is it something that hasmonthly recurring revenue, if
possible?
Right, you start looking atthose things.
If you don't have it today, youstart to develop those things.
Right, I start to help you likewell, let's see how we can
develop a model that's going tobe attractive to a bot.
What does that look like in thefuture?
You don't do it immediately,right now, but you start
(23:37):
building up to these points,right.
So you start building up yourbrand, you start building up
your business.
Then you start building on yourinvestment portfolio that makes
you more attractive to theseparticular markets and that is
going to make you sustainable.
It's very, very important to beable to do that.
(23:57):
We want to start looking atwhat you have for success
metrics.
How does that story get told?
What are your case studies inthe framework that you're doing?
What are?
How does that story get told?
What are your case studies inthe framework that you're doing.
What are the challenges thatyou've had?
Do you have a media strategy?
What does it look like?
Is the solutions embedded inthat media strategy?
Were there results that gotback?
(24:19):
And then do you have just aslew of client feedback?
Is anybody will tell you thatmy solution is the best?
That is not.
That's such a worn out sloganthat everybody expects you to be
.
No one's going to sit therelike you know what I'm kind of
at the bottom.
No, I kind of suck, but youknow I can help you.
(24:40):
Like.
Nobody's going to say that.
Everybody says that they're thebest, but how do you prove that
?
How do you?
What's your proven factors thatyou're the best?
Do you have any kind ofintellectual property or
governance strategy or somethingthat says how you are truly
better than someone else?
Is it trademarked right?
(25:01):
Is it copyrighted right?
Is it something that's tangible, that can be traded in the
world of commerce?
You start thinking about thesethings, right?
A lot of people have AI tools.
Maybe it's your use of your AItool that's unique in how you do
things.
All these things are veryimportant as you start to
understand your assets and whattrue assets truly look like.
(25:25):
So, as you're listening to me,you're starting to understand
what I call my brave framework.
You have to have a brandidentity.
You've got to do your researchright.
You have to understand assetswhat are your assets?
And then you have to understandis it visible?
Is it visible to someone elseor is it visible to the target
(25:47):
audience that you're looking toinfluence?
It's very, very important.
Then, how are you executing onthat strategy?
It's one thing to say thesethings, but is it demonstrable?
Investors don't buy pitch decks.
I had this conversation withanother gentleman about a month
(26:07):
ago.
He's like everybody wants tocome out with this slick pitch
deck that kind of puts out thechallenges and solutions of what
you're putting together.
That is not why somebody isgoing to buy your business, a
person is going to invest inyour business or someone's going
to do business with you.
It's nice that you articulatedwhat you're doing, but that's
not the reason why they need tounderstand your competitive
(26:29):
advantage.
They need to understand thefinancial overview, they need to
understand the use of funds andit has to make absolute sense.
And they need to understandthat this is a solid investment
opportunity with very low riskand has a maximum return that is
quantifiable.
Anybody can say you know, I havea $10 million company, I'm
(26:52):
going to grow it to $10 million.
Like well, that's great.
How are you going to get there?
What is the strategic blueprintthat you can articulate to me
with a pretty certain, idealcertainty that you're going to
get there, that I can believe in?
Remember, I got to believe inthat, your, your investor pool,
(27:16):
whoever is investing in you,it's got to believe there's
someone's going to do businesswith you, someone's going to buy
your product and service.
They have to believe in it andyou have to demonstrate that
belief.
You can't willy-nilly about it.
It's like show me the truth,people from Missouri, show me.
That's the, show me straight.
(27:36):
You got to show people whatthat looks like.
You've got to understand yourfinances and your projections at
a glance.
That will get you to that levelof belief in the people that
you're looking for right.
So if you're looking to raisecapital, you've got to break
those things down intocategories product development,
(27:56):
you go to market strategy, yourbrand expansion, your team
hiring because your team no onecan overstate the power of a
team because you're bringinghuman capital to the table.
They need to understand thatthe human capital is going to
stay there.
They invest this money into you, right?
(28:17):
How are you going to maintainthat advantage that you have?
So you have to understand yourhuman capital, understand your
working capital.
What the reserves that you havein mind, all these things like
your working capital, what thereserves that you have in mind,
all these things like wow, Ididn't know, firestar BDM got
involved in all of this.
I thought he was just thisbrand guy, he was this personal
brand.
I said that's just thebeginning, because you've got to
(28:39):
begin.
But the ultimate ending is toget into this investment banking
model that your company hasvalue, that is worth something
to someone else, that'sdemonstrable, that's
quantifiable, that can beacquired.
Or you start thinking aboutacquiring a business.
Right, you're the one who saysyou know what?
(28:59):
I need to open up offices inother cities and franchise my
model out, right?
So you get to start thinkingthrough these things and start
looking at that, because it's alot easier to buy a business
that's already operated at acertain revenue level that you
could potentially acquire andgrow time to do these things.
(29:30):
And you start to measure time.
What is the measurement of timeand money in real life?
What does that look like?
So you start looking at that.
Is it easier for me to make acertain amount of investment by
that company?
Or did I take that same cashand try to develop that company
over time?
So wow, and if your goal is tosay it was, you know I need a $5
million business operating inthree years you start to start
(29:52):
thinking what's the quickest wayfor me to get there, right?
So you start thinking about dothey have licenses?
Is there a monthly recurringrevenue model?
There Is the.
Have they already been acquiredbefore?
Do they understand?
I mean, this is if you're goingto buy this company, at the
same time, somebody's looking atyou the exact same way.
So you start to understand yourmilestones and your roadmap
(30:16):
over time and what that's goingto look like and that's going to
help you to maintain aconsistency in what you're doing
.
You have a strategy and aroadmap and an understanding of
where you're going and you'renot willy-nilly, you're not just
.
You know here we are now goinginto June.
This will be the last month ofJune, right?
(30:38):
So Q1 and Q2 will be in thebooks, q3 and Q4 will be in
there.
You should know what you'regoing to be looking like, and
then that's just the next sixmonths.
What are you going to look likeNot only six months, but also
in one year, within three years,within five years?
And this is what senior leadersdo, and a lot of times,
(31:00):
salespeople don't understandwhat senior leaders are looking
at.
These guys typically aren'toperating in the present,
they're operating in the future.
They're creating the futurethat we're going to experience
Like right now.
Here it is, you know, 2025,right, in late May.
And this particular present wassomeone else's future, probably
(31:25):
four or five months ago or sixmonths ago.
Right, and that's why you wantto get into forecasting.
How can you accurately forecastyour business to be at a
certain revenue point?
Right, and that is verypredictable.
Let's say you want yourbusiness to operate like this.
Let's say you're starting outin Omaha, nebraska right, and
it's going to be 1,500 miles toMiami Florida.
(31:46):
Right, and it's going to befifteen hundred miles to Miami
Florida.
Now you understand the resourcesthat you're going to need to
get there.
If you're driving by car, it'sgoing to cost X amount, it's
going to take X amount of timeto get there and, with a great
deal of certainty, if I have theresources you know to, to to
invest in my vehicle.
To invest in my vehicle to makesure my car is at an
(32:09):
operational level that it canget there, that it has enough
resources to get there, it hasthe direction to get there and
then, with a great deal ofcertainty, I will get there.
Giving there's always going tobe some tailwinds and then what
we call headwinds things aregoing to come across.
You know that, you didn't know.
Oh, wow, you know I had a flattire, this or that happened.
(32:30):
Now I've got to have resourcesthose are your reserves to then
reinvest in your vehicle to getit back on track, get it down to
Miami, florida in the time thatyou're looking at.
I need to get there at, let'ssay, if I started out today and
I was driving, I'm going toprobably be there in two to
(32:51):
three days.
You want your business likethat.
So you know, if you'reoperating a certain revenue
point today and you wanted tooperate at a different revenue
and profit in the future, youneed to understand how you're
going to get there and theinvestments you need to make
that happen, that happen.
All this is very important.
I wanted to give you thatoverview what five-star bdm does
(33:14):
from a personal brandperspective, a business
development perspective and aninvestment banking perspective,
because they all work togetherto create a multi-million dollar
business that each one, whetherin the lower middle market or
not, can benefit from.
You know what I like how hedoes personal branding.
(33:34):
I want to take advantage ofthat and I said great, and can
we get that to a careerdevelopment model?
Because there's a purpose tothe personal brand, right For my
lens.
What is that purpose?
The purpose is usually careerdevelopment I want to scale
higher.
Or it's career development Iwant to scale higher.
Where's business development?
I'm going to scale higher,right.
And then business developmentreally is how do we scale the
(33:56):
business and where are ourroadblocks?
Where do we need the investmentin in order to get to our next
level, which would be, again,investment banking?
Why is that important?
I need a capital raise to getto where I want to go, right.
I need a strategic partnershipto come in to get me to where I
want to go.
Or you know what?
It's time to sell the business.
(34:17):
So I need to put myself in aposition to make the business
the most attractive, to get themost valuation for the business
so that it can be acquired atthe higher level and, again, I
achieved my goal.
All this is important for youto understand, so I wanted to
bring all that to the tabletoday, so we can begin to move
(34:40):
forward as a community, andunderstanding what Five Star BDM
does, and if any of thisresonates with you.
If you're looking to brandyourself, you're looking to
develop your business at ahigher level, you're looking to
scale, you're looking to acquireassets for your business, these
are the things I want you totalk to me about.
(35:02):
Let's get you on track to reachyour desired state.
Who's your favorite podcaster?
Man.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Grant man I love Grant's podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well, who's Grant?
I'm going to send you the linkI love Grant.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I love the interview.
I've done a lot of these andthis is a great one.
It's always great to talk topeople who know what they're
doing, and it's clear you're agreat host and you've done this
many times before.
I feel great, great that we'rehaving this conversation here I
met a new person in business whoI previously didn't know.
It was an amazing podcast.
Grant is an amazing interviewer.
I learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I really enjoyed this .
Great questions, great talktrack.
Super appreciate you having meon.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
It's been a very fun episode to talk about a lot of
things that I don't always getto dive into, so this has been a
fantastic conversation.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I wouldn't be where I am here today, of course, not
on this stage, However not in mycurrent business projection and
my current business modelwithout working with you.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Follow the Brand TV broadcast host, grant McGaugh,
as he visits with top executivesand entrepreneurs to find out
their secrets of success withtheir personal brand.
Follow the Brand TV broadcasthost as he focuses on brand
development to build betterrelationships, bring value to
your business relationships andcareer.
(36:21):
You will enjoy listening toeach episode that is tailored to
speak to you directly.
If you're looking for this typeof clarity in terms of building
your brand, you have tuned intothe right station.
Each episode will help you toshape a conversation in the
five-star BDM network of 20,000professionals and become a
(36:43):
springboard for your corporateengagement and business
opportunities.
Each guest will frame theirstory in the areas of personal
branding, business development,career development, financial
empowerment and technologyinnovation.
Grant McGaugh explains why heis the CEO and owner of his own
professional career.
(37:04):
Grant is an accomplishedbusiness leader and entrepreneur
who wants to give back toindividuals to grow their
personal brand strategy.
Tune in as he weaves his storyabout new possibilities, while
to you exceed expectations.
If you love storytelling, thisshow will make for fun.
Good morning, good morning.
Good morning, good morningeveryone, and welcome to the
Black Business Network.
My name is Grant McGaugh, ceoof Five Star BDM and host of the
award-winning Follow Brandpodcast and TV series, and I am
your business moderator for thissession on the Black Business
Network.
Business moderator for thissession on the Black Business
(00:26):
Network.
The Black Business Network is a24-hour business network
showcasing Black businesses,business owners, entrepreneurs
and thought leaders worldwide,and we have speakers from North
Carolina, london, singapore,africa, japan and cities all
over the United States.
The Black Business Network is aglobal community sharing its
business knowledge to empower,inspire and educate businesses
(00:53):
about business, and I will beyour business guest right now on
the Black Business Network.
I want to talk to you aboutmore about what Five Star Medium
is all about.
That's Brand DevelopmentMasters, many of you and I thank
you all for tuning in to myshow, tuning in to my podcast
(01:14):
and tuning in to my guestappearances on the Black
Business Network, where I amblessed to always be able to
bring to you for four hours, 8am to noon on Friday that's
Eastern time on Fridays and alsoSaturday, where I will bring on
my particular guest to talkabout their business in the
Black community and how they aremaking substantial change.
(01:38):
And some of you are like well,I'm not familiar with Five Star
BDM, who, first of all, just gotnew offices in Omaha, nebraska,
that's right, and they're smackdab in the middle of the United
States, is where we have nowrelocated our home office, still
have offices in Miami, florida,that have operated for about 28
(02:00):
years, and also in St Croix,the Virgin Islands, and all of
this is done strategically andtactfully to bring together an
ecosystem of Black businessesthroughout the United States, as
well as the archipelago and theCaribbean islands and into the
African nations and thenworldwide, as we'll talk about a
(02:23):
little bit later.
So when we talk about five-starBDM, what is that all about?
I first want to start with whatwe'll call my origin story,
right?
How did this begin?
Now, I've got 25 years ofexperience in information
technology and I've worked forsome very, very large Fortune
(02:45):
500 companies during that time,like Avaya and Cisco and Lumen,
which at the time was calledCenturyLink.
This is where I learned veryhigh-tech enterprise technology
for systems throughout the world.
Then I got into healthcareabout 10 years ago as a vertical
(03:06):
to help the healthcare industrywith new technology and ovation
, and I learned a lot aboutinfrastructure from the ground
up.
So people hear about cloudcomputing up here, but actually
it's very terrestrial.
It really starts at the groundlevel.
When we're talking about cloudcomputing and what it's all
(03:27):
about, you've got to have datacenters, and those data centers
needed to be linked.
They need to operate at maximumcapacity to be able to
distribute networks just likethis in real time time.
(03:49):
So back about I'm going to saythe year was 2019, because I'm
going through an opportunity formyself, working for another
large company called Zones andpresenting them an entire slew
of services.
I had about 200 differentproducts and services that I was
familiar with and I could bringto the table for hospital
systems, integrated deliverysystems they call IDNs or you
have healthcare clinics and thelike, medical systems, things of
(04:11):
that nature to begin to helpthem on their technology journey
.
But our company went through adownturn in about 2019.
And during that time, evenbefore that, I was branding
myself.
I mean, I was putting myselfout there specifically on social
media, on LinkedIn, to tell mystory so people would become
more familiar with me and thenwhen I would then interact or I
(04:34):
would send them an email or givethem a phone call.
They kind of knew who I was.
People like that.
They like to say hey, grant,you've really built a brand for
yourself and we know who you arewhen you knock on our door.
This was good, but I didn'treally realize the value of that
until 2019.
And the reason was that's whenI went through a layoff and in
(04:55):
October of 2019, because ofdownturn in business, they got
rid of the entire division.
So my healthcare division that Iworked for, healthcare
technology, was now gone, right,and I had to really do some
introspection about who I wasand what I was going to do
moving forward.
Now, in the past, I've beendoing this for, like I said, 28,
25 years a long time.
(05:17):
Never gone through any longperiods of layoff.
Usually the phone was ringing,people were recruiting me, they
wanted me to work for them andthat kind of thing.
Well, that was slowing down.
Now this is right before COVIDand I said you know, I'm getting
kind of older in my life.
I need to start thinking aboutmy future.
I can't be starting all over,over over again or be dependent
(05:41):
on another company's P&L, theirbooks and their revenues and
what they're doing.
I just started thinking how amI going to take the skills and
the tools and what I've learnedover time and make them into a
good business?
And I really was thinking aboutthis and I went to a conference
for the this was the NationalAssociation of Health Services
(06:03):
Executives for the NationalAssociation of Health Services
Executives, strictly for Blackhealthcare executives throughout
the nation.
And I had been a part of thisassociation for a number of
years and people started comingto me and saying hey, I
understand, you're a free agent,I can't hire you full time.
These are people that called onhealthcare systems but they
didn't have a presence in SouthFlorida that I had built out.
(06:23):
So why don't we hire you as aconsultant for you to then bring
us into your book of businessor your creative network that
you already have built out?
Went off for me is hey, I hadbuilt out the presence I had
(06:49):
built out.
What most people think is thehardest thing to do an audience
of potential clients.
I already had them.
What I needed was a product orservice to then offer that
particular audience, to createopportunities, to create a
business.
So I had to think about what isthe big problem that I solve?
You know, what can I bring tothe table?
(07:09):
How can I elevate someone elsein what they're doing?
And I did want to get into highticket information technology
solutions, but that's reallylarge.
Some of these are five, six,seven figures.
I don't want to carry that onmy books, but I could help
businesses accelerate through myunderstanding of business, my
(07:31):
understanding of healthcare andmy understanding of how to gain
capital access in acquiringtechnology for use.
So I started thinking about howcan we integrate some of these
things, how can we use thebranding that I had meaning the
reputation that I had and beginto utilize that for
(07:54):
opportunities for businessesthat did not have the same
recognition in the marketplace.
So I started to understand theproblem that I could solve the
limited access that othercompanies had in the market that
I already had created right,and they were woefully
underserved.
I didn't understand what thatcould look like and there's a
(08:18):
lot of fragmented solutions outthere.
So I started to really thinkthrough what these problems were
.
So when you want to start abusiness, you have to first
understand what is the bigproblem that you solve.
And, as I started to get alittle bit more training around,
that, it's not just the bigproblem, it's the financial
(08:40):
problem that you solve.
If what you're doing is notsolving at least a $10,000
problem, most people will justkeep scrolling past you, right?
Because the problem that you'resolving is not big enough for
them to stop, pay attention andbegin to evaluate this type of
(09:02):
solution that you couldpotentially bring to their table
to solve this expensive problemthat they have.
Right, you have to do your duediligence in understanding truly
what you are doing and howyou're solving that equation.
That equates for at least 10Kor more in potential savings for
(09:24):
them to engage with you, andthat's all in.
That's profit, right?
What does that look like?
So for me, in the informationtechnology space and
understanding how you can getbetter efficiencies, better
operational efficiencies and toimprove your delivery of goods
and services, I thought I coulddo that.
(09:44):
Right, I can bring you to anopportunity within my audience
that's going to solve for themat least a $10,000 problem.
Of course, I would be then paidhandsomely for doing that type
of thing right, and that becamethe basis of Five Star BDM First
started started out as businessdevelopment manager, because
(10:05):
that was my title back in 2019.
And then I started to changethat to brand development master
because it expanded my scope.
It expanded what I was doingright, because I understood
branding, marketing, salestechnology within a specific
(10:25):
vertical of healthcare in whichI was seen as an expert in.
And that's when another, Iwould say, light bulb went off.
Personal branding what does thatmean?
What is your personal brand?
Separated from the businessbrand, right?
Separated from the businessbrand right?
Right In today's world, youneed to have a strong personal
(10:47):
brand and that means a strongpersonal story.
People like doing business withpeople that they know they like
and they trust right, and theydon't always trust, you know,
just because you throw a logoout there.
Well, what is that?
You know there's no pulse,there's no magic to that, right,
but if they see a face behindit, they begin and they're like,
(11:09):
ooh, wow, that's Grant McGaughbehind five-star BDM.
That is starting to becomesomething I'm interested in
because I know what he does andI'm beginning to know why he
does it.
People, and especially whensomeone's going to invest in
your business, they prioritizefounders that have a strong
(11:31):
personal brand, a strongpersonal story, a strong why to
what they do right.
Leadership is in your personalbrand and then what you're
bringing to the table is yourproduct or service Solving for
them again that $10,000 problemthat they had right.
(11:52):
You need to uncover what thatis, so you have to establish
your credibility and immediatelyunderstand what their problem
is and when you demonstrateunderstanding.
Remember, you haven't pulled outyour product, you haven't
pulled out your service, youjust pulled out your brand and
you want to then understandtheir problem, understand what's
(12:14):
making up that $10,000 problemor more, right?
What does that look like?
And then, after you define thatand your client has even
greatly more defined that foryou you can then start talking
about solutions.
You need to understand themarket opportunity that's in
(12:36):
front of you.
What can you bring to the tableto truly solve and liquidate
that problem and then accelerateeven beyond that, so they see
you now as that trusted advisor.
That's the category you want tobe in.
A lot of people they say well,when I do business development
or sales, everybody, no onelikes doing sales.
(12:57):
And I tell them so I don'ttruly understand that.
Because if you're really doingsales without sales, truly
understand that.
Because if you're really doingsales without sales, nothing
transacts, there's no businesswithout sales.
So when you tell me that youdon't like sales, that you're
telling me you don't likebusiness, right, because that is
the business.
You have to sell your product,services to someone else to have
(13:20):
a transformation take place.
How, how are you going to helpthem?
Right, and you lead with thosethings.
And then most people lovehelping someone else with a
problem.
That's what selling really isYou're helping someone else out
that has a problem and you havea solution for them.
(13:40):
There's nothing wrong with that.
What people don't like this iswhere sales gets a negative
connotation.
When someone approaches youwith a product or service that
you have absolutely no need for.
Right, let's just say you'vegot a fairly good car, you're
driving down the road orwhatever, and then maybe
somebody's calling you up on thephone and saying hey, you know
(14:01):
what?
I got a sale on a brand new car.
You need to come and look at it.
Well, you already have a car.
You have zero interest in that.
And then, if they keep sendingyou emails about it, keep
calling you on the phone aboutit and they keep pestering you
about it, you just becomefrustrated with them, and this
is the type of thing that givessales a bad name, because
(14:23):
there's misalignment of value.
Right, because you're startingoff with.
You're pushing solutions atsomeone who has never
demonstrated a problem.
They don't have a problem.
In that case, there is no$10,000 problem.
There's no problem with whatthey're doing right now.
The car is perfectly fine.
Maybe in the future, but rightnow that's not really an issue.
(14:45):
We're going to keep going, butif you keep pushing at them,
they're going to begin to getturned off by you.
You need to have alignment inyour sales process and
understanding what you're doing.
I always start with personalbranding.
Why is that?
Because I'm using social mediato put my, my, my value out in a
(15:05):
visible format so people cankind of see what it is that I'm
doing and who I am helping inthis process.
A lot of times, as you start tosee now in my podcast, is that
I will bring on guests, that Iwill ask them how did you feel
about the brave blueprintstrategy that I just took you
(15:27):
through?
And they will tell you what itis in real time.
You know that is a videotestimonial.
That was impromptu, it was notscripted, and they just tell you
exactly what it is.
It's powerful because peoplesee it, especially if they had a
similar problem.
Like, hey, he solved thatproblem for them.
Whether it was for careerdevelopment, business
(15:48):
development, what it may be, hehelped them.
Wow, I wonder if he can help me.
I wonder how does he help them?
He helps them with a blueprintstrategy which is a step-by-step
project.
He helps them understand how toutilize AI tools.
He understands media visibility.
He understands financialstrategy Right, because five
(16:09):
star BDM operates in threedifferent levels Personal
branding, business development,but then also investment banking
.
At the higher level, once youreach a certain goal attainment,
a lot of companies they'llstart looking at.
I need a capital raise becauseI need to roll out a new service
.
Right Now I'm already amulti-million dollar business,
(16:30):
but I need to get to that nextlevel and in order to get that,
I need a capital-infused netright.
We help you do that Capitalraise right.
When it comes to, you know what.
I need to bring in anotherstrategic partner to help me to
either do a majority I'm sellingparts of the company as a
majority or I'm going to take aminority stake and I want
(16:53):
someone else to help me in thatrespect.
That's M&A work, that's mergersand acquisition.
When you get to a certain level,you're operating in a seven
figure world, eight figure world.
These are the things you startthinking about and you start
thinking about your exitstrategy.
Is it time to sell the businessright, and how do I get there?
You can't just usually just youknow what.
(17:14):
I'm just going to sell thebusiness and that's it.
It's a process that you gothrough.
You start to make thatdetermination.
This is something I do want todo, and you know it's going to
be usually a one to two to threeyear journey until you finally
get to the point of selling thebusiness.
These are things you startthinking through.
So, when you start thinkingabout five-star BDM and when you
(17:36):
start thinking aboutconsultancy and a premium
advisory service that I offer, Iwant you to start thinking
about frameworks.
He actually has a BraveBlueprint framework that he has
and that he can either and I'mstarting to do this now in Miami
, and also I'll be doing it inSt Croix, where I can license
(17:57):
that particular framework outthat you can utilize it.
Right, so you can be a brandambassador for the Brave
Blueprint strategy.
You start looking atreoccurring subscription it.
Right, so you can be a brandambassador for the Brave
Blueprint Strategy.
You start looking atreoccurring subscription models
right, so all the differentthings that I'm doing that you
can then take advantage of.
That's going to give you moreknowledge, more experience and
more opportunity to expand yourmarket.
(18:18):
You start looking at.
You know what I want to do,something similar to what
Grant's doing, what he did withhis podcast and his tv series
and how he's creating revenuethat way since media
monetization.
What does that look like?
And all that wraps into allthat I do.
It's very important to have anunderstanding of what you do and
the market you penetrate and inmy particular case I I operate
(18:41):
in about a $200 billion globalmarket.
It's pretty big $200 billion,right and it has a growth rate.
And what is the growth rate?
They call the CAGR or the CAGRof that.
It's about 10%.
So you've got $200 billionmarket.
You have a $20 billion growthrate, right, and those are those
(19:02):
three big sectors that I talkabout.
A lot of that is small businessowners like yourselves.
It could be in healthcare.
It could also be a minorityowner, and I like working with
people that need to have abetter understanding of what
they can do and how they do itright, because I've already been
down that road.
So when you start looking athealthcare, you start looking at
(19:31):
technology, you start lookingat finance all these things I
have a pretty good domainexpertise in and then I can
bring in a group of experts, ifneeded, in what that is.
So a lot of my clientele that Iwork with on a daily basis.
They can deliver AI solutions.
They build this every singleday, right?
That's what I work with.
Agile InfoWays.
They are a 200 person business,have been in international
(19:56):
markets for the last 19 years.
They have offices here in Miami, florida, as well as Dallas,
texas, and then also in India.
I can do anything fromartificial intelligence to
machine learning, to agentic AIsolutions, custom-made software
engineering.
I can do all of those thingsright.
(20:17):
When it comes to the financeworld, I work with Kornhusker
Capital right, I am the subjectmatter expert in technology for
core and husker capital.
When you start looking at thelower middle market and when you
start looking at M&A activity,as I described a little earlier,
when you need a capital raiseor you start looking at an exit
strategy, I have that technicallens that I bring to the table.
(20:39):
People again like working withpeople that understand their
business.
That is what I do.
Then I have massiverelationships in healthcare,
whether it's the NationalAssociation of Health Service
Executives, whether it's HIMSS,which is the Health Informatics
System Society.
I also work with groups likeACABA, i-c-a-b-e for Black
(21:01):
Enterprise and, of course, withthe Black Business Network,
because I am here to help peopleto execute their strategies and
their tactics to growexponentially throughout the
world.
That's what I would love to seehappen, and I do that by
bringing relationships that youdon't have to the table right,
(21:22):
and that's where we have majorcompetitive advantage.
There's a lot of differentcompanies that may offer
personal brand or personal brandcoaching.
It may have AI, or someone elsemight have AI branding tools.
Another one may have a boutiqueinvestment firm.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Nobody has all those three together.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
That is my uniqueness in what I bring to the table.
This is very, very important.
You need to understand howyou're unique, how you are
different.
What do you bring to the table,and does that bring traction to
a business?
Right, and I talk to a lot ofthem.
A lot of times it's like what'syour biggest problem?
Sales Marketing I just I'm justnot visible in the market that
(22:08):
I'm looking to influence.
Then you say, well, how are youdoing it today?
And you kind of go throughthose scenarios and then that's
how we say this is how I canhelp you.
Right, that's from a personalbranding perspective and also a
business development.
Sometimes the business is justnot right sized or it's just not
optimum in its operations andwhat it's trying to accomplish
(22:29):
Right, so we need to take a lookat that.
And how do we get you to apoint where you have actual
assets, intellectual property,domain expertise, things that an
investor community is going tobe interested in, so you get out
of the commoditized zone andyou become a valuable resource
(22:49):
for someone else?
That takes you to the nextlevel of investment banking.
What do they look at?
These are the things thatthey're going to be looking at
If you get to a point where youwant to sell your business, or
you need money to operate yourbusiness at a higher level, or
you're looking to bring in astrategic partner.
They're going to be looking atall these different things.
What makes up the revenue modelthat you truly have, and is it
(23:15):
sustainable?
Is it something that hasmonthly recurring revenue, if
possible?
Right, you start looking atthose things.
If you don't have it today, youstart to develop those things.
Right, I start to help you likewell, let's see how we can
develop a model that's going tobe attractive to a bot.
What does that look like in thefuture?
You don't do it immediately,right now, but you start
(23:37):
building up to these points,right.
So you start building up yourbrand, you start building up
your business.
Then you start building on yourinvestment portfolio that makes
you more attractive to theseparticular markets and that is
going to make you sustainable.
It's very, very important to beable to do that.
(23:57):
We want to start looking atwhat you have for success
metrics.
How does that story get told?
What are your case studies inthe framework that you're doing?
What are?
How does that story get told?
What are your case studies inthe framework that you're doing.
What are the challenges thatyou've had?
Do you have a media strategy?
What does it look like?
Is the solutions embedded inthat media strategy?
Were there results that gotback?
(24:19):
And then do you have just aslew of client feedback?
Is anybody will tell you thatmy solution is the best?
That is not.
That's such a worn out sloganthat everybody expects you to be
.
No one's going to sit therelike you know what I'm kind of
at the bottom.
No, I kind of suck, but youknow I can help you.
(24:40):
Like.
Nobody's going to say that.
Everybody says that they're thebest, but how do you prove that
?
How do you?
What's your proven factors thatyou're the best?
Do you have any kind ofintellectual property or
governance strategy or somethingthat says how you are truly
better than someone else?
Is it trademarked right?
(25:01):
Is it copyrighted right?
Is it something that's tangible, that can be traded in the
world of commerce?
You start thinking about thesethings, right?
A lot of people have AI tools.
Maybe it's your use of your AItool that's unique in how you do
things.
All these things are veryimportant as you start to
understand your assets and whattrue assets truly look like.
(25:25):
So, as you're listening to me,you're starting to understand
what I call my brave framework.
You have to have a brandidentity.
You've got to do your researchright.
You have to understand assetswhat are your assets?
And then you have to understandis it visible?
Is it visible to someone elseor is it visible to the target
(25:47):
audience that you're looking toinfluence?
It's very, very important.
Then, how are you executing onthat strategy?
It's one thing to say thesethings, but is it demonstrable?
Investors don't buy pitch decks.
I had this conversation withanother gentleman about a month
(26:07):
ago.
He's like everybody wants tocome out with this slick pitch
deck that kind of puts out thechallenges and solutions of what
you're putting together.
That is not why somebody isgoing to buy your business, a
person is going to invest inyour business or someone's going
to do business with you.
It's nice that you articulatedwhat you're doing, but that's
not the reason why they need tounderstand your competitive
(26:29):
advantage.
They need to understand thefinancial overview, they need to
understand the use of funds andit has to make absolute sense.
And they need to understandthat this is a solid investment
opportunity with very low riskand has a maximum return that is
quantifiable.
Anybody can say you know, I havea $10 million company, I'm
(26:52):
going to grow it to $10 million.
Like well, that's great.
How are you going to get there?
What is the strategic blueprintthat you can articulate to me
with a pretty certain, idealcertainty that you're going to
get there, that I can believe in?
Remember, I got to believe inthat, your, your investor pool,
(27:16):
whoever is investing in you,it's got to believe there's
someone's going to do businesswith you, someone's going to buy
your product and service.
They have to believe in it andyou have to demonstrate that
belief.
You can't willy-nilly about it.
It's like show me the truth,people from Missouri, show me.
That's the, show me straight.
(27:36):
You got to show people whatthat looks like.
You've got to understand yourfinances and your projections at
a glance.
That will get you to that levelof belief in the people that
you're looking for right.
So if you're looking to raisecapital, you've got to break
those things down intocategories product development,
(27:56):
you go to market strategy, yourbrand expansion, your team
hiring because your team no onecan overstate the power of a
team because you're bringinghuman capital to the table.
They need to understand thatthe human capital is going to
stay there.
They invest this money into you, right?
(28:17):
How are you going to maintainthat advantage that you have?
So you have to understand yourhuman capital, understand your
working capital.
What the reserves that you havein mind, all these things like
your working capital, what thereserves that you have in mind,
all these things like wow, Ididn't know, firestar BDM got
involved in all of this.
I thought he was just thisbrand guy, he was this personal
brand.
I said that's just thebeginning, because you've got to
(28:39):
begin.
But the ultimate ending is toget into this investment banking
model that your company hasvalue, that is worth something
to someone else, that'sdemonstrable, that's
quantifiable, that can beacquired.
Or you start thinking aboutacquiring a business.
Right, you're the one who saysyou know what?
(28:59):
I need to open up offices inother cities and franchise my
model out, right?
So you get to start thinkingthrough these things and start
looking at that, because it's alot easier to buy a business
that's already operated at acertain revenue level that you
could potentially acquire andgrow time to do these things.
(29:30):
And you start to measure time.
What is the measurement of timeand money in real life?
What does that look like?
So you start looking at that.
Is it easier for me to make acertain amount of investment by
that company?
Or did I take that same cashand try to develop that company
over time?
So wow, and if your goal is tosay it was, you know I need a $5
million business operating inthree years you start to start
(29:52):
thinking what's the quickest wayfor me to get there, right?
So you start thinking about dothey have licenses?
Is there a monthly recurringrevenue model?
There Is the.
Have they already been acquiredbefore?
Do they understand?
I mean, this is if you're goingto buy this company, at the
same time, somebody's looking atyou the exact same way.
So you start to understand yourmilestones and your roadmap
(30:16):
over time and what that's goingto look like and that's going to
help you to maintain aconsistency in what you're doing
.
You have a strategy and aroadmap and an understanding of
where you're going and you'renot willy-nilly, you're not just
.
You know here we are now goinginto June.
This will be the last month ofJune, right?
(30:38):
So Q1 and Q2 will be in thebooks, q3 and Q4 will be in
there.
You should know what you'regoing to be looking like, and
then that's just the next sixmonths.
What are you going to look likeNot only six months, but also
in one year, within three years,within five years?
And this is what senior leadersdo, and a lot of times,
(31:00):
salespeople don't understandwhat senior leaders are looking
at.
These guys typically aren'toperating in the present,
they're operating in the future.
They're creating the futurethat we're going to experience
Like right now.
Here it is, you know, 2025,right, in late May.
And this particular present wassomeone else's future, probably
(31:25):
four or five months ago or sixmonths ago.
Right, and that's why you wantto get into forecasting.
How can you accurately forecastyour business to be at a
certain revenue point?
Right, and that is verypredictable.
Let's say you want yourbusiness to operate like this.
Let's say you're starting outin Omaha, nebraska right, and
it's going to be 1,500 miles toMiami Florida.
(31:46):
Right, and it's going to befifteen hundred miles to Miami
Florida.
Now you understand the resourcesthat you're going to need to
get there.
If you're driving by car, it'sgoing to cost X amount, it's
going to take X amount of timeto get there and, with a great
deal of certainty, if I have theresources you know to, to to
invest in my vehicle.
To invest in my vehicle to makesure my car is at an
(32:09):
operational level that it canget there, that it has enough
resources to get there, it hasthe direction to get there and
then, with a great deal ofcertainty, I will get there.
Giving there's always going tobe some tailwinds and then what
we call headwinds things aregoing to come across.
You know that, you didn't know.
Oh, wow, you know I had a flattire, this or that happened.
(32:30):
Now I've got to have resourcesthose are your reserves to then
reinvest in your vehicle to getit back on track, get it down to
Miami, florida in the time thatyou're looking at.
I need to get there at, let'ssay, if I started out today and
I was driving, I'm going toprobably be there in two to
(32:51):
three days.
You want your business likethat.
So you know, if you'reoperating a certain revenue
point today and you wanted tooperate at a different revenue
and profit in the future, youneed to understand how you're
going to get there and theinvestments you need to make
that happen, that happen.
All this is very important.
I wanted to give you thatoverview what five-star bdm does
(33:14):
from a personal brandperspective, a business
development perspective and aninvestment banking perspective,
because they all work togetherto create a multi-million dollar
business that each one, whetherin the lower middle market or
not, can benefit from.
You know what I like how hedoes personal branding.
(33:34):
I want to take advantage ofthat and I said great, and can
we get that to a careerdevelopment model?
Because there's a purpose tothe personal brand, right For my
lens.
What is that purpose?
The purpose is usually careerdevelopment I want to scale
higher.
Or it's career development Iwant to scale higher.
Where's business development?
I'm going to scale higher,right.
And then business developmentreally is how do we scale the
(33:56):
business and where are ourroadblocks?
Where do we need the investmentin in order to get to our next
level, which would be, again,investment banking?
Why is that important?
I need a capital raise to getto where I want to go, right.
I need a strategic partnershipto come in to get me to where I
want to go.
Or you know what?
It's time to sell the business.
(34:17):
So I need to put myself in aposition to make the business
the most attractive, to get themost valuation for the business
so that it can be acquired atthe higher level and, again, I
achieved my goal.
All this is important for youto understand, so I wanted to
bring all that to the tabletoday, so we can begin to move
(34:40):
forward as a community, andunderstanding what Five Star BDM
does, and if any of thisresonates with you.
If you're looking to brandyourself, you're looking to
develop your business at ahigher level, you're looking to
scale, you're looking to acquireassets for your business, these
are the things I want you totalk to me about.
(35:02):
Let's get you on track to reachyour desired state.
Who's your favorite podcaster?
Man.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Grant man I love Grant's podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well, who's Grant?
I'm going to send you the linkI love Grant.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I love the interview.
I've done a lot of these andthis is a great one.
It's always great to talk topeople who know what they're
doing, and it's clear you're agreat host and you've done this
many times before.
I feel great, great that we'rehaving this conversation here I
met a new person in business whoI previously didn't know.
It was an amazing podcast.
Grant is an amazing interviewer.
I learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I really enjoyed this .
Great questions, great talktrack.
Super appreciate you having meon.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
It's been a very fun episode to talk about a lot of
things that I don't always getto dive into, so this has been a
fantastic conversation.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I wouldn't be where I am here today, of course, not
on this stage, However not in mycurrent business projection and
my current business modelwithout working with you.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Follow the Brand TV broadcast host, grant McGaugh,
as he visits with top executivesand entrepreneurs to find out
their secrets of success withtheir personal brand.
Follow the Brand TV broadcasthost as he focuses on brand
development to build betterrelationships, bring value to
your business relationships andcareer.
(36:21):
You will enjoy listening toeach episode that is tailored to
speak to you directly.
If you're looking for this typeof clarity in terms of building
your brand, you have tuned intothe right station.
Each episode will help you toshape a conversation in the
five-star BDM network of 20,000professionals and become a
(36:43):
springboard for your corporateengagement and business
opportunities.
Each guest will frame theirstory in the areas of personal
branding, business development,career development, financial
empowerment and technologyinnovation.
Grant McGaugh explains why heis the CEO and owner of his own
professional career.
(37:04):
Grant is an accomplishedbusiness leader and entrepreneur
who wants to give back toindividuals to grow their
personal brand strategy.
Tune in as he weaves his storyabout new possibilities, while
to you exceed expectations.
If you love storytelling, thisshow will make for fun.
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