March 19, 2025 • 30 mins
What if the key to business success isn't just working harder but choosing the right market? Alan Claypool's journey from IT project management to entrepreneurship is a powerful lesson in the importance of business models, demand, and strategic pivots.
After two decades managing complex IT projects, Alan founded TAC4 Solutions with a commitment to delivering results with integrity. But despite his expertise, his business was stuck in an unpredictable cycle—some years were highly profitable, while others left him without clients. The turning point? Realizing that a sustainable business depends on three factors: high market demand, low competition, and recurring revenue.
Alan’s initial business—IT project management for insurance companies—wasn’t built for long-term stability. However, he had already started offering statutory accounting services, an area that perfectly fit his criteria. Every insurer needs this service regularly, there are few qualified providers, and the work never stops. By pivoting, Alan transformed his business into a steady, thriving company.
Beyond strategy, Alan emphasizes the power of organizational culture. His approach—establishing clear behavioral ground rules—helped create high-trust, high-performance teams that outpaced competitors.
Key Takeaways:
- The right business model is more important than talent or effort—look for high demand, low competition, and recurring revenue.
- Pivoting to a sustainable niche can make the difference between struggle and success.
- Company culture directly impacts business success—clear behavioral expectations lead to better teamwork and outcomes.
- Entrepreneurship isn’t just about sales skills; it’s about finding the right market fit.
Tune in to hear Alan’s journey, the hard lessons he learned, and how you can apply these principles to build a resilient, profitable business.
About Alan Claypool:
Mr. Claypool is the President of TAC4 Solutions, which runs successful project implementations for insurance companies by instilling organizational health into a cohesive project team. Alan is also President of ARC Strategic Services that performs statutory accounting for insurance companies.
Connect:
Website tac4solutions.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/t-alan-claypool-6834205
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:01):
Entrepreneur, founder , author and financial advisor,
Marc Bernstein helpshigh-performing business owners
turn their visions into reality.
Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus Forums, Marc
connects entrepreneurs toresources that fuel their
success.
Founders Forum is a radio showand podcast where entrepreneurs
share their journeys, revealingthe lessons they've learned and
(00:24):
the stories behind their success.
Join Marc and his guests for amix of inspiration, valuable
insights and a little fun.
Now let's dive in.
Marc Bernstein (00:34):
Good morning America.
How are you?
This is Florida, on 103.9 HD2,and also Fort Myers 96.5 FM,
bonita Springs 101.5, and Naples105.1.
(00:58):
And we were also heard inPhiladelphia during most of the
year on WWDB.
All part of Beasley Media Groupand happy to have with us today
again Roger Marley as engineer.
He's a great collaborator, agreat guy to work with, and in
the studio we have Alan, whoI'll introduce in a few minutes,
and Alan and I met because ofwhere I live when I'm in Florida
(01:21):
, which is Babcock Ranch, andI've mentioned it once or twice
on the show before.
So this show is all aboutlooking forward.
You know, in my mind,entrepreneurs generally are
visionaries to some extent, orthey're always visionaries to
one extent or another.
And the idea of forward focusour brand, my brand, is Forward
Focus Forums, of which theFounders Forum is one of the
(01:44):
programs that we do, and we'realways forward-looking.
And I am so excited aboutBabcock Ranch that I talk about
it a lot.
But I want to have anotherperspective on it today and for
that I'm going to ask Alan yourtake on that, how you find
Babcock Ranch as aforward-looking.
It's officially promoted on itswebsite as the home of tomorrow
(02:06):
, and what's your take on allthat?
Alan Claypool (02:10):
I very much believe that's what it is.
I mean, they've got InnovationTower, for instance, as the most
visible place on the lake, andit's just a fantastic community.
I love living here.
I'm so glad we made the choice.
Marc Bernstein (02:23):
What do you like about it?
I love living here.
I'm so glad we made the choice.
What do you like about it andwhat is forward-looking that you
see about it?
Alan Claypool (02:30):
Well, I've certainly drank the Kool-Aid of
Babcock Ranch.
They've got a video in thesales center that we informally
call the Kool-Aid video.
And I totally drank it when Iwatched the video.
I wasn't even looking to move toFlorida or to really anywhere.
I was in Nashville at the timeand loved Nashville and a friend
(02:51):
of mine was down here and hewas interested in moving and so
he said, come, just look at itwith me.
And so we did and we toured thewhole community, the whole city
.
I love Founder Square.
I think Founder Square is justa happy place, which is kind of
the downtown area where it's ona lake.
(03:13):
It's got a band, shellrestaurants, a lawn, big lawn
area where there's, as you know,food trucks every Friday night
and band every Friday night, andjust nice community.
And then I watched the Kool-Aidvideo and I totally drank it
and you know it feelseverybody's smiling, everybody's
riding their golf cart andwaving at each other and it can
(03:33):
be a little Truman Show if youwish, if you will, but for me
it's like Truman Show.
That's real.
It's truly a happy place for me.
I'm super glad, in fact we'vesold the Nashville place, our
clothes on it next week andwe're going to be here
permanently.
I just love it.
Marc Bernstein (03:49):
Well, it's a happy place for me too, but I
should add some of the things,so some of that could also
almost sound like the villagesyou know, which is a whole
different kind of place.
Alan Claypool (03:57):
It is yeah.
Marc Bernstein (03:58):
In Ocala, but some of the things that are
obviously different.
It's the first solar powercommunity in America.
It was built to be hurricaneproof, which really attracted my
wife and I.
Alan Claypool (04:09):
Which has proven to be the case as well.
You know, Ian was terrible inthis area and Babcock Ranch
survived it wonderfully and eventhe two more recent hurricanes.
Babcock Ranch was the placepeople evacuated to right,
because we were thought to be acouple thousand people in the
field.
Marc Bernstein (04:28):
Yeah for a week for several for quite a while
they were yeah and uh.
Also, I don't know if you'rearound for this, but I know they
experimented with autonomouslike cars.
Um, that wasn't no, no and um.
I've heard talk of autonomousboats down the road to take you
across Lake Babcock.
Alan Claypool (04:46):
I've seen the beginnings of that.
Marc Bernstein (04:48):
Have you, yeah, which look wonderful.
So that is a real thing, welland even the park system.
Alan Claypool (04:53):
It was in the advertisement for a while and I
was like where is this parksystem?
It's because it wasn't thereyet.
It just got finished or it'salmost finished.
Most of it's finished by now,but around November they
finished the park system, whichis really this two and a half
mile walking trail with six verynice and unique parks along it
and they're not just very nice,they're crazy nice.
Announcer (05:13):
They're beautiful.
Alan Claypool (05:14):
One of them is an outdoor gym, a lagoon for
fishing.
It's just terrific.
It's really really nice.
Marc Bernstein (05:23):
I'm at the park system all the time.
I need to have grandchildren,just so I can go there.
Alan Claypool (05:28):
I go there on my own, without grandchildren.
Do you really?
Announcer (05:30):
yes, I really do my trainer and I work out on the
hill.
Alan Claypool (05:31):
Oh, really yeah, and and at the outdoor gym and
even the little parks for kids.
There's this little spinnerthing that I get on, just you're
gonna have to show me thatsometime yeah, it's ridiculous,
I go to the dog the the park,the bark park, yes, it really
they had a dog park and it wasjust like, okay, it was a dog
park, this one's beautiful.
Marc Bernstein (05:49):
It's a great place to hang out, meet people
and have the dogs meet peopleseem to really appreciate it
like it's.
Alan Claypool (05:56):
It's I'm not crowded in the way that you
don't want to be there, but it'salways got people there, you
and they're all friendly andit's.
It's a great place, it'samazing.
Marc Bernstein (06:04):
So, arlo I talk about arlo because he's sort of
the mascot of the show and heloves the bark park.
You know this is a big anyway.
So so my guest today.
Let me formally introduce himas alan claypool.
Alan is here because he'sfounder and president of tack
for solutions and arc strategicservices I almost said arc
(06:25):
because it's in capital letters,and Alan is the president of
TACFOR, as I mentioned, whichruns successful project
implementations for insurancecompanies by instilling
organizational health into acohesive project team.
He's also president of ARCStrategic Services that performs
(06:47):
statutory accounting forinsurance companies.
So all of that.
You know I've spent a lot oftime in the insurance industry.
It could sound boring.
The interesting part of this,though, is how Alan created
real-life, successful businessesout of sort of a boring
(07:07):
necessity.
You know, was that a good wayto put it?
Alan Claypool (07:09):
it's very true.
The insurance.
You think of systems.
Sometimes people think that'sboring.
Uh, you know, like accountingsystems, for instance,
accounting, some people thinkthat's boring insurance you
think that's boring.
So put all this together yeah,that makes for boring and it's
not at all boring, it's actuallyvery hard and energizing, and
new things every day.
Marc Bernstein (07:28):
So let's start with your sort of humble
beginnings.
You know, I always say I don'tknow how humble they were, but
you know what you were doing, um, and your experiences that led
you to starting the business.
Alan Claypool (07:39):
They were definitely humble.
My beginnings were certainlyhumble my dad's a farmer and
yeah, we had humble beginnings.
I worked for about 20 years asan IT project manager it was in
the utilities industry and itwas for a consulting firm.
We did financial software forutility companies and I was a
project manager for thoseusually large companies, the
(08:01):
Fortune 500 companies, and sovery complicated projects, very
long projects, usually two,three, four year projects, and I
was in charge of running thoseprojects, so there'd be two,
three, 400 people that would beon the projects and you know,
and.
I'm in charge of every singlething along the way, which is
hard.
It's very, you know, it takes alot of skill, a lot of
(08:23):
communication, and I worked fora company that was it's a good
company.
It's very, you know, it takes alot of skill, a lot of
communication.
Um, and I worked for a companythat was it's a good company.
It was leader in the industry.
And um, but they didn't sellthings the way I would prefer
them to sell things, you know,sort of like the typical uh,
dilbert, if you will, vendor, um, that just over-promised, and
you and I, as a project manager,would have to be the person to
(08:44):
deal with that inconsistency ofwhat was promised versus what we
were going to deliver.
That was always hard for me andI thought I think I could go
out on my own and do somethingbetter.
Little did I know I'm a verygood project manager.
Little did I know thatentrepreneurship and being good
at what you do those almost havenothing to do with each other.
Marc Bernstein (09:05):
Just before we move on, though, it was really
like your values weren't aligned.
Alan Claypool (09:09):
That's correct, right, right, right.
I mean I, I now, in my currentworld, we are very dedicated to
only deliver, only selling whatwe know we can deliver.
Um, we are a very high trustconsulting firm, meaning our
clients trust us to the max.
We sell things and theyabsolutely know that's what
(09:29):
they're going to get and that iswhat they get, and so that was
my value deliver what youpromise, keep your word at all
times and not to malign my priorcompany, they are like most
every vendor, they just soldwhat they could sell and did
whatever they could, but usuallydidn't care as much about that
word, and that's how I thinkmost vendors are, and we are
(09:51):
sort of a boutique specialtyfirm that cares a lot about
trust and we, we trust ourclients, our clients trust us.
Marc Bernstein (09:59):
Um, by the way you mentioned I love that you
said keep your word.
Um, I, I, you and I have talkedabout this a little bit offline
and you can't always keep yourword because some things come up
you just can't do it.
But I call my sort ofdefinition of integrity, which
very much intersects with yours,is, you know, do what you say
(10:21):
you're going to do, do it, it ontime and if you can't do it on
time or you can't do it for somereason, to honor your word by
getting out in front of it and,uh, which is just an interesting
.
I know we share that value verymuch, and yet a lot of the
business world does not, and Iand I understand you know it's,
it's part of our success is that.
Alan Claypool (10:43):
So what I?
What I ended up doing?
I left my prior company tostart a firm that did IT project
management.
So we would run projects.
My first project got sold intothe insurance industry and I've
actually niched down into theinsurance industry and so on.
Our very first project, we hada.
I was at a client, a companythat just was sort of a cultural
(11:04):
nightmare.
I was at a client, a companythat just was sort of a cultural
nightmare.
People talked behind eachother's backs all the time.
One department would blameanother department.
It was just a mess.
It was just sort of a culturalmess and it started impacting
our project.
This culture impacted theproject and so I said why don't
we try something different?
Like to the core team?
I created a set of behavioralground rules.
Marc Bernstein (11:25):
Core team of that company.
Alan Claypool (11:31):
Yeah of client people that were helping with
the project.
I was leading the project.
They were helpers and supportteam for the project and their
culture was starting to impactour project negatively, and so I
created a set of behavioralground rules that said how about
we?
Live this way instead, and it'sthings like don't complain, but
take action instead.
When you're frustrated withsomeone, care about their needs.
Don't just try to slam them andget your way.
(11:53):
Instead, care about what theyneed as well as what you need
and very much what you saidalways keep your word and we've
got a whole presentation.
We'll honor your word, yeah,honor your word and so keep your
commitments.
And if anything comes up noless than halfway from when you
promise to when it's due, you'regoing to show up and say I'm
not sure I'm making it.
(12:14):
In fact, I just did this 10minutes ago outside here, while
I was waiting for this to begin.
I knew that I'm struggling tomeet a deadline, for very normal
reasons.
So I contacted the person thatI had promised and I said here's
what I'm struggling with.
What are the needs of thatdeadline?
Marc Bernstein (12:30):
So you couldn't keep your word.
You honored your word.
Alan Claypool (12:32):
Well, I'm not sure I might be able to keep my
word, but I am definitelyhonoring the word, like you're
saying.
Marc Bernstein (12:36):
That's right, because you can't sorry about
that.
I just pushed my water bottleover, so I don't know if you
heard that on the radio, anyway,but you're you know, there are
times you just can't keep yourword.
Sure, but honoring your word issomething I think it's a
healthy way for people to thinkabout that and I admire and love
(12:57):
that you have that integrated,because I know that's a big part
of your company today.
Alan Claypool (13:01):
It is, and I think a lot of people just sort
of believe that they keep theirword all the time, but if you
ask them more details, they'regoing to miss deadlines and not
mind it.
So bad, and not just that Otherways of not keeping your word.
Announcer (13:14):
And we really go for a high bar of integrity.
Alan Claypool (13:17):
On making sure.
And this has been part of whyour projects are successful
because we instill these groundrules on the project team, and
so people are behaving well andproducing good results and
staying very trust-oriented andunified on a project which
produces success.
Marc Bernstein (13:33):
So we have a break coming up, but before that
, I do want to just follow up onthat.
We're going to go back to yourstory afterwards, because we
haven't really talked about thestory of how entrepreneurialism
began.
But I know that culture is areal important part of your
company today, and I also knowthat you help other companies
(13:53):
even when you're not doing yourproject work in that.
Alan Claypool (13:57):
So why don't you?
Marc Bernstein (13:57):
just talk to that for a minute, and then
we'll take a break and come backto the story.
Alan Claypool (14:01):
Sure, we were doing these projects and it was
very successful projects, but wewere in a company that maybe
didn't have that behaviorthroughout the rest of the
organization, and so our clientsstarted asking us do you do
corporate wide culture change?
And we didn't at the time, soI've begun doing that as well.
So we've also got a programthat works with executive
leadership teams helping toinstill these behaviors and
(14:23):
other good culture aspects atthe executive level and
throughout the rest of thecompany doing culture change.
Marc Bernstein (14:30):
So after the break we're going to talk about
the evolution of TACFOR and thechallenges you had, and also ARC
and how that came about,because it's a very interesting
story.
So we'll be right back onFounders Forum.
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Marc Bernstein (15:43):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, alan Claypool and Alan.
We touched on this lightly, butlet's talk about the beginning
of TAC4 and how that happened.
Alan Claypool (15:53):
Sure, I started the business, or actually I left
my prior company without anyclients or even knowledge of how
to get clients.
Probably a very stupid move.
I advise not doing that.
I did some prep work.
Yeah, that's how manyentrepreneurial businesses, I
guess.
Marc Bernstein (16:09):
Don't do that if you're listening.
Alan Claypool (16:11):
Yeah, so I did some prep work with no income,
which is fine.
I had some savings.
But I did some prep work as towhat I would sell, how I would
run projects, that sort of thing.
And I just happened to have afriend who was a controller at
an insurance company, so he wasable to get me in for a sales
call and we were able to sell itto leadership, and so that was
(16:32):
our first project it was theculture one that I was just
talking about and it went well.
And then, after that projectfinished, I did a second project
that I also sold because I knewsomeone.
So there was someone else, Iknew a relative that introduced
me somewhere and we were able toget another project going that
went on for about a year.
Also went very well and Ithought great, I know how
(16:55):
entrepreneurship works, I knowhow to sell.
This is wonderful.
And then I ran out of friendsand so I didn't sell anything
else for a little while.
It was really a long stretch anddifficult and I realized and
I'd already been in salestraining and many other things
and it was a hard knock when Iwent about a year without
(17:15):
selling anything after a projecthad finished.
Then we sold something.
It was not a direct result ofall of the sales processes I had
.
It was just sort of likeProvidence dropped in my bucket,
a client, and so we worked that.
And then I went another yearwithout a client and then sold
something and then went anotheryear without a client and it was
this roller coaster of everyother year.
(17:37):
I'd make a lot of money, andevery other year I'd make zero
money and and I just didn't knowI thought I was a terrible
salesperson I didn't know, umwhy I had this major financial
roller coaster and not justfinancial, it was operational
roller coaster in my company.
Um, and a few years ago, maybefour years ago, I went to a
(17:58):
conference where I was itconference where it had a piece
of it on entrepreneurship.
Marc Bernstein (18:03):
I want to back up just for one second.
I don't mean to interrupt, butpart of the reason it was
difficult because we've talkedabout this several times is that
it was the nature of the workthat you were doing too, because
it's a kind of compliance thingfor insurance companies that
they only do every so many years.
Alan Claypool (18:19):
Yeah, Well, so it's.
It's about putting in systems,new systems and like new
accounting systems.
People keep their accountingsystems for 30 years, and so
it's only every 30 years thatthey really need somebody like
me to run a very complex project.
Um, and even when they decideit's time to put in a new system
(18:39):
I am not their first thoughtthey know that they need a
vendor, someone that comes withsoftware but they don't know
that they need a client-sideproject manager, which is what
we are Now.
They do need us.
Statistics show that 70% ofcomplex projects fail, and so
they need someone like me toguide it.
Marc Bernstein (19:00):
well, but they don't know that, and you also
have a limited pool of customersInsurance companies about 3,500
.
Alan Claypool (19:07):
They only need me every 35 years and when they
need me, they don't know thatthey need me Right.
So there's the dilemma it is,and so I thought I was a bad
salesperson.
And what I learned at thisconference was that there's well
, this guy gave a definition ofgood business and he defined
good business as high marketdemand, low competition and
(19:31):
recurring revenue.
And he he also said goodbusiness trumps good management.
And in that moment I just itwas like God was telling me you
are a good manager in a crappybusiness, because I met, I'm
extremely low market demand, andeven when there is demand, they
(19:52):
don't know that they need me,so it's not even perceived
market demand.
And so I was in a very lowmarket demand.
There's no recurring revenuebecause once they're finished
with the project, they don'tneed me anymore.
They love me, they trust me,but they don't have big projects
and they've got people on staffthat can do the easier projects
, so they don't need me anymore.
So no recurring revenue.
(20:13):
Competition wasn't really muchof an issue.
But such low market demand andno recurring revenue, I was in a
bad business and thankfully, aclient of ours, probably a year
prior to that, had come to usand asked us to do insurance
statutory accounting work.
That's probably not a term mostpeople know, but the insurance
(20:35):
industry knows what it isbecause it's basically reporting
that every single insurancecompany has to do to the
government every quarter, andit's complex.
It's not just standardaccounting, it's specialized
accounting for insurance, and soa client had asked us to do it.
We started doing it justhaphazardly.
We weren't trying to sell it, wejust knew how to do it, because
(20:58):
we were putting in accountingsystems for insurance companies.
We had people that knew how todo it, so we had a couple of
clients by the time I went tothis conference and in the
moment that I realized I'm in abad business, if you will by
that definition I realized I hada good business already begun,
because it's recurring revenueEvery single quarter.
(21:19):
They need it.
It's high market demand because100% of insurance companies
have to do it, or they go out ofbusiness, and they know they
have to do it, or they go out ofbusiness.
And it's low competitionbecause there's a shortage of
accountants.
There's especially a shortageof statutory insurance
accountants, and we had accessto them.
And so I, on that very day Iwent to the conference, I called
(21:40):
my salesperson and I redirectedall of our sales efforts away
from the project side over tothis good business definition
and within two months we hadsold two new clients.
And then a month later, we solda client.
A month later, we sold a client.
A month later, we sold a client.
A month later sold a client.
A month later sold a client.
A month later, we sold twoclients, two clients, two
clients.
Almost every single month.
Since then we've sold two newclients.
(22:01):
So it's building, it'srecurring revenue, it's covering
all of our costs and we're agrowing business and I'm just so
grateful to have learned thisdefinition that I like to scream
it from the mountaintops.
And if you're an entrepreneurout there, make sure it's in a
high market to be in business.
Marc Bernstein (22:15):
By the way, we hadn't said this before I was
thinking about.
We were talking earlier thismorning about, um, you know, the
advent of satellite radio, andwho would ever thought you'd pay
for radio?
Right, but there's reasons why,because if you want to listen
to what you want to listen to,you can't really find it on
radio anymore.
No no offense to our listenerson b103.9 or anywhere else, but
it's very, it's become verysegmented, so so basically,
(22:39):
you're in the subscriptionbusiness.
You don't call it that, butthat's right.
Alan Claypool (22:42):
But we are, but that's what it is.
And subscription business isrecurring revenue.
That's great business, right?
That's the goal, right I?
Marc Bernstein (22:47):
imagine not that you'll get all 3500, but if you
get 3500 companies on thatsubscription, you would never
have to turn back again.
Alan Claypool (23:01):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean we've got I don't know40 clients right now after
several years of building it andwe're doing very well and that
you asked earlier.
You talked about what my threeyear goal might be, and really
it's just to double down on whatwe're doing, because the growth
rate that we've got right nowis very nice and I don't think
we've really tapped into theultimate market cap.
We're nowhere near that,probably, so I don't think we'll
ever get even a thousandcompanies.
(23:23):
I don't need a thousandcompanies, but a hundred or two
would be fantastic and it wouldbe a really good.
It's already a really goodbusiness at the 40 or so that
we've got.
Marc Bernstein (23:32):
So we've talked about challenges you've had
getting to this point, and weall know that entrepreneurship
in general is can be a rollercoaster kind of ride.
Yes, and you're trying to levelthat out, but what challenges
in terms of if you want todouble or triple the number of
customers, what are yourchallenges there in looking
ahead?
Alan Claypool (23:53):
I'm embarrassed to say this.
I don't think there are a lotwhat Meaning when you're in a
good business.
What this conference guy saidwas, when you're in a good
business, things that had beenhard before become easy.
So, for instance, on the priorbusiness of doing project work,
I worked for years and years onmessaging, paid tons of
(24:15):
marketing, people spent so mucheffort on messaging and a slogan
and we never got a slogan thatwas really good In the good
business.
I spent five minutes less thanfive minutes coming up with the
slogan and it's perfect.
Same thing with the logoPerfect.
What is the slogan?
We remove your statutory burden.
And to someone who doesn't knowinsurance, that doesn't mean
(24:39):
anything.
But if you are in insurance,you absolutely know what that is
.
And we remove their burden andit resonates to them and I'll
never have to think about thatagain.
And in the same way, to yourquestion of what are my hurdles
of doubling the business, I meanI'm sure there are some but I'm
telling you, just do what we'redoing and it grows.
Marc Bernstein (24:58):
One thing is people to do the work and I know
right now you don't have asupply issue with that, because
we do not lots of people outthere.
However, most of those peoplethat know how to do this kind of
work, it's because they'vethey're aging and they're maybe
not working for the bigcorporations, so they may not
last forever, that's true.
Alan Claypool (25:17):
The people that I've got are mostly former CFOs
or controllers of insurancecompanies, but there's always
going to be CFOs and controllersof insurance companies, so I
kind of feel like who are timingout or whatever, yeah they're
aging out.
So they want to hang out withgrandkids.
But then they find out hangingout with grandkids every minute
of the day is maybe not whatthey want, but half the time
(25:40):
great.
And guess what?
We offer part-time work.
Most of our people arepart-time, Some are full-time,
so even the supply of people.
It's been really good.
When you're in a good business,things get easy.
It's not simple.
(26:01):
I mean, it's hard work, bothfor my consultants and for what
I do managing the business.
Marc Bernstein (26:03):
It's hard, but it's not hard like what I used
to be beating my head againstthe wall.
I understand, so I know it's amuch brighter future.
But when you say it's hard work, what kind of?
Where's the hard, where's thedifficulty coming in now in
terms of looking forward?
Alan Claypool (26:12):
Sure Well, just the hard work itself to be a
statutory accountant is you'vegot to be extremely experienced.
You probably have to have satin the seat of a controller for
at least a decade before youwould be good at what we do.
Marc Bernstein (26:25):
And I imagine the regulations change over time
, and that's the other part Iwas going to is absolutely.
Alan Claypool (26:30):
The regulations change all the time, and so
we've got a process to keep themup to date on that, but it's
not simple and yes, theregulations change all the time,
and so we've got a process tokeep them up to date on that.
But it's not simple and, yes,the regulations change all the
time, so that's a hurdle, butit's also an opportunity for us.
If the regulations change allthe time, the insurance
companies have to meet that andthey may not know how, but we
can help them with that.
Marc Bernstein (26:47):
And coming full circle back to your company
culture, because I know thethings that you do for insurance
companies, you do for yourself.
Internally, yes, how will yourculture be a strength in terms
of that forward movement?
Alan Claypool (27:00):
Yeah, as you grow .
I mean, people are hard right.
In general, everybody is flawed, and put two people together
and flawed people aredysfunctional just by nature of
who we are, of who we are, andso as we grow, without a very
directed culture, that couldbecome, you know, create people
(27:25):
problems all over the place.
People step on each other, notlike in the way one person dealt
with an issue or whatever, Withour ground rules that we have
in place inside.
It just makes people issuespretty good.
Now, my people are pretty greatanyway, because they're former
CFOs and controllers ofinsurance companies, so they've
already had a lot of trainingand managerial experience, some
very self-starter type people.
They're very solutions-orientedpeople by nature.
(27:45):
And then we add on these groundrules and culture and other
good parts of who we are on topof it and it's really a pretty
happy place to work in that livein Babcock Ranch, so I'm
actually a really happy guy atthe moment.
So I'm in a happy business, ina happy place.
Marc Bernstein (28:00):
I'm happy, you're happy.
Alan Claypool (28:02):
It's great to see that.
Marc Bernstein (28:03):
But it hasn't been easy getting here.
Oh, my word, it was quite theroller coaster.
Alan Claypool (28:07):
I'm telling you and by the way, we also, by
nature of being in insuranceaccounting departments, we still
get project work that comes tous now, I'm sure.
Announcer (28:16):
So it's more easy.
Alan Claypool (28:19):
It's almost no selling because we're already in
there.
And oh, by the way, we do thiswork and so we've gotten some
ancillary work on the projectside thanks to having this, so
it's a really good lead in.
Marc Bernstein (28:30):
So we have about one minute left, so I've got 30
seconds per question.
I want to ask you, number oneif you could speak to your
younger self, what advice wouldyou give you?
Alan Claypool (28:41):
Wow, Well, if I was going into entrepreneurship,
it would certainly be learnthese basic rules of high market
demand and recurring revenueearly, early, would I even tell
younger self to start a business?
Probably so.
Yes, I would say, do start thebusiness.
I wish I had done it earlier.
Um, I think there's a lot ofcharacter development that you
(29:03):
get when you're inentrepreneurship.
You kind of become the bestperson that you could be as a
business owner.
Marc Bernstein (29:09):
You have just so many ethical challenges and
other personal, real quickquestion what book are you
reading and why?
And we have like 30 seconds.
It's a book called Choice.
Alan Claypool (29:20):
The subtitle is Cooperation, Enterprise and
Human Action by Robert Murphy.
Robert is a scholar at theMises Institute.
It's basically an economicsbook that's a survey of another
economics book called HumanAction by Ludwig von Mises, and
so this is a sort of simplifiedversion of the economy.
(29:41):
It's sort of trying to explainthe basics of economy.
It's so good Economics shouldbe something that everybody
understands.
It's a great book.
Marc Bernstein (29:50):
Excellent Thanks , alan, for being here.
It was great.
We're out of time and we willcontinue this conversation
offline, I'm sure, and thank youall for listening.
Thanks for being here with usat Founders Forum and we'll see
you next week.
Announcer (30:05):
We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum
and that you found value to takewith you throughout your day.
Join us again next week foranother episode of Founders
Forum on WXKB 1039 HD2.
Entrepreneur, founder , author and financial advisor,
Marc Bernstein helpshigh-performing business owners
turn their visions into reality.
Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus Forums, Marc
connects entrepreneurs toresources that fuel their
success.
Founders Forum is a radio showand podcast where entrepreneurs
share their journeys, revealingthe lessons they've learned and
(00:24):
the stories behind their success.
Join Marc and his guests for amix of inspiration, valuable
insights and a little fun.
Now let's dive in.
Marc Bernstein (00:34):
Good morning America.
How are you?
This is Florida, on 103.9 HD2,and also Fort Myers 96.5 FM,
bonita Springs 101.5, and Naples105.1.
(00:58):
And we were also heard inPhiladelphia during most of the
year on WWDB.
All part of Beasley Media Groupand happy to have with us today
again Roger Marley as engineer.
He's a great collaborator, agreat guy to work with, and in
the studio we have Alan, whoI'll introduce in a few minutes,
and Alan and I met because ofwhere I live when I'm in Florida
(01:21):
, which is Babcock Ranch, andI've mentioned it once or twice
on the show before.
So this show is all aboutlooking forward.
You know, in my mind,entrepreneurs generally are
visionaries to some extent, orthey're always visionaries to
one extent or another.
And the idea of forward focusour brand, my brand, is Forward
Focus Forums, of which theFounders Forum is one of the
(01:44):
programs that we do, and we'realways forward-looking.
And I am so excited aboutBabcock Ranch that I talk about
it a lot.
But I want to have anotherperspective on it today and for
that I'm going to ask Alan yourtake on that, how you find
Babcock Ranch as aforward-looking.
It's officially promoted on itswebsite as the home of tomorrow
(02:06):
, and what's your take on allthat?
Alan Claypool (02:10):
I very much believe that's what it is.
I mean, they've got InnovationTower, for instance, as the most
visible place on the lake, andit's just a fantastic community.
I love living here.
I'm so glad we made the choice.
Marc Bernstein (02:23):
What do you like about it?
I love living here.
I'm so glad we made the choice.
What do you like about it andwhat is forward-looking that you
see about it?
Alan Claypool (02:30):
Well, I've certainly drank the Kool-Aid of
Babcock Ranch.
They've got a video in thesales center that we informally
call the Kool-Aid video.
And I totally drank it when Iwatched the video.
I wasn't even looking to move toFlorida or to really anywhere.
I was in Nashville at the timeand loved Nashville and a friend
(02:51):
of mine was down here and hewas interested in moving and so
he said, come, just look at itwith me.
And so we did and we toured thewhole community, the whole city
.
I love Founder Square.
I think Founder Square is justa happy place, which is kind of
the downtown area where it's ona lake.
(03:13):
It's got a band, shellrestaurants, a lawn, big lawn
area where there's, as you know,food trucks every Friday night
and band every Friday night, andjust nice community.
And then I watched the Kool-Aidvideo and I totally drank it
and you know it feelseverybody's smiling, everybody's
riding their golf cart andwaving at each other and it can
(03:33):
be a little Truman Show if youwish, if you will, but for me
it's like Truman Show.
That's real.
It's truly a happy place for me.
I'm super glad, in fact we'vesold the Nashville place, our
clothes on it next week andwe're going to be here
permanently.
I just love it.
Marc Bernstein (03:49):
Well, it's a happy place for me too, but I
should add some of the things,so some of that could also
almost sound like the villagesyou know, which is a whole
different kind of place.
Alan Claypool (03:57):
It is yeah.
Marc Bernstein (03:58):
In Ocala, but some of the things that are
obviously different.
It's the first solar powercommunity in America.
It was built to be hurricaneproof, which really attracted my
wife and I.
Alan Claypool (04:09):
Which has proven to be the case as well.
You know, Ian was terrible inthis area and Babcock Ranch
survived it wonderfully and eventhe two more recent hurricanes.
Babcock Ranch was the placepeople evacuated to right,
because we were thought to be acouple thousand people in the
field.
Marc Bernstein (04:28):
Yeah for a week for several for quite a while
they were yeah and uh.
Also, I don't know if you'rearound for this, but I know they
experimented with autonomouslike cars.
Um, that wasn't no, no and um.
I've heard talk of autonomousboats down the road to take you
across Lake Babcock.
Alan Claypool (04:46):
I've seen the beginnings of that.
Marc Bernstein (04:48):
Have you, yeah, which look wonderful.
So that is a real thing, welland even the park system.
Alan Claypool (04:53):
It was in the advertisement for a while and I
was like where is this parksystem?
It's because it wasn't thereyet.
It just got finished or it'salmost finished.
Most of it's finished by now,but around November they
finished the park system, whichis really this two and a half
mile walking trail with six verynice and unique parks along it
and they're not just very nice,they're crazy nice.
Announcer (05:13):
They're beautiful.
Alan Claypool (05:14):
One of them is an outdoor gym, a lagoon for
fishing.
It's just terrific.
It's really really nice.
Marc Bernstein (05:23):
I'm at the park system all the time.
I need to have grandchildren,just so I can go there.
Alan Claypool (05:28):
I go there on my own, without grandchildren.
Do you really?
Announcer (05:30):
yes, I really do my trainer and I work out on the
hill.
Alan Claypool (05:31):
Oh, really yeah, and and at the outdoor gym and
even the little parks for kids.
There's this little spinnerthing that I get on, just you're
gonna have to show me thatsometime yeah, it's ridiculous,
I go to the dog the the park,the bark park, yes, it really
they had a dog park and it wasjust like, okay, it was a dog
park, this one's beautiful.
Marc Bernstein (05:49):
It's a great place to hang out, meet people
and have the dogs meet peopleseem to really appreciate it
like it's.
Alan Claypool (05:56):
It's I'm not crowded in the way that you
don't want to be there, but it'salways got people there, you
and they're all friendly andit's.
It's a great place, it'samazing.
Marc Bernstein (06:04):
So, arlo I talk about arlo because he's sort of
the mascot of the show and heloves the bark park.
You know this is a big anyway.
So so my guest today.
Let me formally introduce himas alan claypool.
Alan is here because he'sfounder and president of tack
for solutions and arc strategicservices I almost said arc
(06:25):
because it's in capital letters,and Alan is the president of
TACFOR, as I mentioned, whichruns successful project
implementations for insurancecompanies by instilling
organizational health into acohesive project team.
He's also president of ARCStrategic Services that performs
(06:47):
statutory accounting forinsurance companies.
So all of that.
You know I've spent a lot oftime in the insurance industry.
It could sound boring.
The interesting part of this,though, is how Alan created
real-life, successful businessesout of sort of a boring
(07:07):
necessity.
You know, was that a good wayto put it?
Alan Claypool (07:09):
it's very true.
The insurance.
You think of systems.
Sometimes people think that'sboring.
Uh, you know, like accountingsystems, for instance,
accounting, some people thinkthat's boring insurance you
think that's boring.
So put all this together yeah,that makes for boring and it's
not at all boring, it's actuallyvery hard and energizing, and
new things every day.
Marc Bernstein (07:28):
So let's start with your sort of humble
beginnings.
You know, I always say I don'tknow how humble they were, but
you know what you were doing, um, and your experiences that led
you to starting the business.
Alan Claypool (07:39):
They were definitely humble.
My beginnings were certainlyhumble my dad's a farmer and
yeah, we had humble beginnings.
I worked for about 20 years asan IT project manager it was in
the utilities industry and itwas for a consulting firm.
We did financial software forutility companies and I was a
project manager for thoseusually large companies, the
(08:01):
Fortune 500 companies, and sovery complicated projects, very
long projects, usually two,three, four year projects, and I
was in charge of running thoseprojects, so there'd be two,
three, 400 people that would beon the projects and you know,
and.
I'm in charge of every singlething along the way, which is
hard.
It's very, you know, it takes alot of skill, a lot of
(08:23):
communication, and I worked fora company that was it's a good
company.
It's very, you know, it takes alot of skill, a lot of
communication.
Um, and I worked for a companythat was it's a good company.
It was leader in the industry.
And um, but they didn't sellthings the way I would prefer
them to sell things, you know,sort of like the typical uh,
dilbert, if you will, vendor, um, that just over-promised, and
you and I, as a project manager,would have to be the person to
(08:44):
deal with that inconsistency ofwhat was promised versus what we
were going to deliver.
That was always hard for me andI thought I think I could go
out on my own and do somethingbetter.
Little did I know I'm a verygood project manager.
Little did I know thatentrepreneurship and being good
at what you do those almost havenothing to do with each other.
Marc Bernstein (09:05):
Just before we move on, though, it was really
like your values weren't aligned.
Alan Claypool (09:09):
That's correct, right, right, right.
I mean I, I now, in my currentworld, we are very dedicated to
only deliver, only selling whatwe know we can deliver.
Um, we are a very high trustconsulting firm, meaning our
clients trust us to the max.
We sell things and theyabsolutely know that's what
(09:29):
they're going to get and that iswhat they get, and so that was
my value deliver what youpromise, keep your word at all
times and not to malign my priorcompany, they are like most
every vendor, they just soldwhat they could sell and did
whatever they could, but usuallydidn't care as much about that
word, and that's how I thinkmost vendors are, and we are
(09:51):
sort of a boutique specialtyfirm that cares a lot about
trust and we, we trust ourclients, our clients trust us.
Marc Bernstein (09:59):
Um, by the way you mentioned I love that you
said keep your word.
Um, I, I, you and I have talkedabout this a little bit offline
and you can't always keep yourword because some things come up
you just can't do it.
But I call my sort ofdefinition of integrity, which
very much intersects with yours,is, you know, do what you say
(10:21):
you're going to do, do it, it ontime and if you can't do it on
time or you can't do it for somereason, to honor your word by
getting out in front of it and,uh, which is just an interesting
.
I know we share that value verymuch, and yet a lot of the
business world does not, and Iand I understand you know it's,
it's part of our success is that.
Alan Claypool (10:43):
So what I?
What I ended up doing?
I left my prior company tostart a firm that did IT project
management.
So we would run projects.
My first project got sold intothe insurance industry and I've
actually niched down into theinsurance industry and so on.
Our very first project, we hada.
I was at a client, a companythat just was sort of a cultural
(11:04):
nightmare.
I was at a client, a companythat just was sort of a cultural
nightmare.
People talked behind eachother's backs all the time.
One department would blameanother department.
It was just a mess.
It was just sort of a culturalmess and it started impacting
our project.
This culture impacted theproject and so I said why don't
we try something different?
Like to the core team?
I created a set of behavioralground rules.
Marc Bernstein (11:25):
Core team of that company.
Alan Claypool (11:31):
Yeah of client people that were helping with
the project.
I was leading the project.
They were helpers and supportteam for the project and their
culture was starting to impactour project negatively, and so I
created a set of behavioralground rules that said how about
we?
Live this way instead, and it'sthings like don't complain, but
take action instead.
When you're frustrated withsomeone, care about their needs.
Don't just try to slam them andget your way.
(11:53):
Instead, care about what theyneed as well as what you need
and very much what you saidalways keep your word and we've
got a whole presentation.
We'll honor your word, yeah,honor your word and so keep your
commitments.
And if anything comes up noless than halfway from when you
promise to when it's due, you'regoing to show up and say I'm
not sure I'm making it.
(12:14):
In fact, I just did this 10minutes ago outside here, while
I was waiting for this to begin.
I knew that I'm struggling tomeet a deadline, for very normal
reasons.
So I contacted the person thatI had promised and I said here's
what I'm struggling with.
What are the needs of thatdeadline?
Marc Bernstein (12:30):
So you couldn't keep your word.
You honored your word.
Alan Claypool (12:32):
Well, I'm not sure I might be able to keep my
word, but I am definitelyhonoring the word, like you're
saying.
Marc Bernstein (12:36):
That's right, because you can't sorry about
that.
I just pushed my water bottleover, so I don't know if you
heard that on the radio, anyway,but you're you know, there are
times you just can't keep yourword.
Sure, but honoring your word issomething I think it's a
healthy way for people to thinkabout that and I admire and love
(12:57):
that you have that integrated,because I know that's a big part
of your company today.
Alan Claypool (13:01):
It is, and I think a lot of people just sort
of believe that they keep theirword all the time, but if you
ask them more details, they'regoing to miss deadlines and not
mind it.
So bad, and not just that Otherways of not keeping your word.
Announcer (13:14):
And we really go for a high bar of integrity.
Alan Claypool (13:17):
On making sure.
And this has been part of whyour projects are successful
because we instill these groundrules on the project team, and
so people are behaving well andproducing good results and
staying very trust-oriented andunified on a project which
produces success.
Marc Bernstein (13:33):
So we have a break coming up, but before that
, I do want to just follow up onthat.
We're going to go back to yourstory afterwards, because we
haven't really talked about thestory of how entrepreneurialism
began.
But I know that culture is areal important part of your
company today, and I also knowthat you help other companies
(13:53):
even when you're not doing yourproject work in that.
Alan Claypool (13:57):
So why don't you?
Marc Bernstein (13:57):
just talk to that for a minute, and then
we'll take a break and come backto the story.
Alan Claypool (14:01):
Sure, we were doing these projects and it was
very successful projects, but wewere in a company that maybe
didn't have that behaviorthroughout the rest of the
organization, and so our clientsstarted asking us do you do
corporate wide culture change?
And we didn't at the time, soI've begun doing that as well.
So we've also got a programthat works with executive
leadership teams helping toinstill these behaviors and
(14:23):
other good culture aspects atthe executive level and
throughout the rest of thecompany doing culture change.
Marc Bernstein (14:30):
So after the break we're going to talk about
the evolution of TACFOR and thechallenges you had, and also ARC
and how that came about,because it's a very interesting
story.
So we'll be right back onFounders Forum.
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Marc Bernstein (15:43):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, alan Claypool and Alan.
We touched on this lightly, butlet's talk about the beginning
of TAC4 and how that happened.
Alan Claypool (15:53):
Sure, I started the business, or actually I left
my prior company without anyclients or even knowledge of how
to get clients.
Probably a very stupid move.
I advise not doing that.
I did some prep work.
Yeah, that's how manyentrepreneurial businesses, I
guess.
Marc Bernstein (16:09):
Don't do that if you're listening.
Alan Claypool (16:11):
Yeah, so I did some prep work with no income,
which is fine.
I had some savings.
But I did some prep work as towhat I would sell, how I would
run projects, that sort of thing.
And I just happened to have afriend who was a controller at
an insurance company, so he wasable to get me in for a sales
call and we were able to sell itto leadership, and so that was
(16:32):
our first project it was theculture one that I was just
talking about and it went well.
And then, after that projectfinished, I did a second project
that I also sold because I knewsomeone.
So there was someone else, Iknew a relative that introduced
me somewhere and we were able toget another project going that
went on for about a year.
Also went very well and Ithought great, I know how
(16:55):
entrepreneurship works, I knowhow to sell.
This is wonderful.
And then I ran out of friendsand so I didn't sell anything
else for a little while.
It was really a long stretch anddifficult and I realized and
I'd already been in salestraining and many other things
and it was a hard knock when Iwent about a year without
(17:15):
selling anything after a projecthad finished.
Then we sold something.
It was not a direct result ofall of the sales processes I had
.
It was just sort of likeProvidence dropped in my bucket,
a client, and so we worked that.
And then I went another yearwithout a client and then sold
something and then went anotheryear without a client and it was
this roller coaster of everyother year.
(17:37):
I'd make a lot of money, andevery other year I'd make zero
money and and I just didn't knowI thought I was a terrible
salesperson I didn't know, umwhy I had this major financial
roller coaster and not justfinancial, it was operational
roller coaster in my company.
Um, and a few years ago, maybefour years ago, I went to a
(17:58):
conference where I was itconference where it had a piece
of it on entrepreneurship.
Marc Bernstein (18:03):
I want to back up just for one second.
I don't mean to interrupt, butpart of the reason it was
difficult because we've talkedabout this several times is that
it was the nature of the workthat you were doing too, because
it's a kind of compliance thingfor insurance companies that
they only do every so many years.
Alan Claypool (18:19):
Yeah, Well, so it's.
It's about putting in systems,new systems and like new
accounting systems.
People keep their accountingsystems for 30 years, and so
it's only every 30 years thatthey really need somebody like
me to run a very complex project.
Um, and even when they decideit's time to put in a new system
(18:39):
I am not their first thoughtthey know that they need a
vendor, someone that comes withsoftware but they don't know
that they need a client-sideproject manager, which is what
we are Now.
They do need us.
Statistics show that 70% ofcomplex projects fail, and so
they need someone like me toguide it.
Marc Bernstein (19:00):
well, but they don't know that, and you also
have a limited pool of customersInsurance companies about 3,500
.
Alan Claypool (19:07):
They only need me every 35 years and when they
need me, they don't know thatthey need me Right.
So there's the dilemma it is,and so I thought I was a bad
salesperson.
And what I learned at thisconference was that there's well
, this guy gave a definition ofgood business and he defined
good business as high marketdemand, low competition and
(19:31):
recurring revenue.
And he he also said goodbusiness trumps good management.
And in that moment I just itwas like God was telling me you
are a good manager in a crappybusiness, because I met, I'm
extremely low market demand, andeven when there is demand, they
(19:52):
don't know that they need me,so it's not even perceived
market demand.
And so I was in a very lowmarket demand.
There's no recurring revenuebecause once they're finished
with the project, they don'tneed me anymore.
They love me, they trust me,but they don't have big projects
and they've got people on staffthat can do the easier projects
, so they don't need me anymore.
So no recurring revenue.
(20:13):
Competition wasn't really muchof an issue.
But such low market demand andno recurring revenue, I was in a
bad business and thankfully, aclient of ours, probably a year
prior to that, had come to usand asked us to do insurance
statutory accounting work.
That's probably not a term mostpeople know, but the insurance
(20:35):
industry knows what it isbecause it's basically reporting
that every single insurancecompany has to do to the
government every quarter, andit's complex.
It's not just standardaccounting, it's specialized
accounting for insurance, and soa client had asked us to do it.
We started doing it justhaphazardly.
We weren't trying to sell it, wejust knew how to do it, because
(20:58):
we were putting in accountingsystems for insurance companies.
We had people that knew how todo it, so we had a couple of
clients by the time I went tothis conference and in the
moment that I realized I'm in abad business, if you will by
that definition I realized I hada good business already begun,
because it's recurring revenueEvery single quarter.
(21:19):
They need it.
It's high market demand because100% of insurance companies
have to do it, or they go out ofbusiness, and they know they
have to do it, or they go out ofbusiness.
And it's low competitionbecause there's a shortage of
accountants.
There's especially a shortageof statutory insurance
accountants, and we had accessto them.
And so I, on that very day Iwent to the conference, I called
(21:40):
my salesperson and I redirectedall of our sales efforts away
from the project side over tothis good business definition
and within two months we hadsold two new clients.
And then a month later, we solda client.
A month later, we sold a client.
A month later, we sold a client.
A month later sold a client.
A month later sold a client.
A month later, we sold twoclients, two clients, two
clients.
Almost every single month.
Since then we've sold two newclients.
(22:01):
So it's building, it'srecurring revenue, it's covering
all of our costs and we're agrowing business and I'm just so
grateful to have learned thisdefinition that I like to scream
it from the mountaintops.
And if you're an entrepreneurout there, make sure it's in a
high market to be in business.
Marc Bernstein (22:15):
By the way, we hadn't said this before I was
thinking about.
We were talking earlier thismorning about, um, you know, the
advent of satellite radio, andwho would ever thought you'd pay
for radio?
Right, but there's reasons why,because if you want to listen
to what you want to listen to,you can't really find it on
radio anymore.
No no offense to our listenerson b103.9 or anywhere else, but
it's very, it's become verysegmented, so so basically,
(22:39):
you're in the subscriptionbusiness.
You don't call it that, butthat's right.
Alan Claypool (22:42):
But we are, but that's what it is.
And subscription business isrecurring revenue.
That's great business, right?
That's the goal, right I?
Marc Bernstein (22:47):
imagine not that you'll get all 3500, but if you
get 3500 companies on thatsubscription, you would never
have to turn back again.
Alan Claypool (23:01):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean we've got I don't know40 clients right now after
several years of building it andwe're doing very well and that
you asked earlier.
You talked about what my threeyear goal might be, and really
it's just to double down on whatwe're doing, because the growth
rate that we've got right nowis very nice and I don't think
we've really tapped into theultimate market cap.
We're nowhere near that,probably, so I don't think we'll
ever get even a thousandcompanies.
(23:23):
I don't need a thousandcompanies, but a hundred or two
would be fantastic and it wouldbe a really good.
It's already a really goodbusiness at the 40 or so that
we've got.
Marc Bernstein (23:32):
So we've talked about challenges you've had
getting to this point, and weall know that entrepreneurship
in general is can be a rollercoaster kind of ride.
Yes, and you're trying to levelthat out, but what challenges
in terms of if you want todouble or triple the number of
customers, what are yourchallenges there in looking
ahead?
Alan Claypool (23:53):
I'm embarrassed to say this.
I don't think there are a lotwhat Meaning when you're in a
good business.
What this conference guy saidwas, when you're in a good
business, things that had beenhard before become easy.
So, for instance, on the priorbusiness of doing project work,
I worked for years and years onmessaging, paid tons of
(24:15):
marketing, people spent so mucheffort on messaging and a slogan
and we never got a slogan thatwas really good In the good
business.
I spent five minutes less thanfive minutes coming up with the
slogan and it's perfect.
Same thing with the logoPerfect.
What is the slogan?
We remove your statutory burden.
And to someone who doesn't knowinsurance, that doesn't mean
(24:39):
anything.
But if you are in insurance,you absolutely know what that is
.
And we remove their burden andit resonates to them and I'll
never have to think about thatagain.
And in the same way, to yourquestion of what are my hurdles
of doubling the business, I meanI'm sure there are some but I'm
telling you, just do what we'redoing and it grows.
Marc Bernstein (24:58):
One thing is people to do the work and I know
right now you don't have asupply issue with that, because
we do not lots of people outthere.
However, most of those peoplethat know how to do this kind of
work, it's because they'vethey're aging and they're maybe
not working for the bigcorporations, so they may not
last forever, that's true.
Alan Claypool (25:17):
The people that I've got are mostly former CFOs
or controllers of insurancecompanies, but there's always
going to be CFOs and controllersof insurance companies, so I
kind of feel like who are timingout or whatever, yeah they're
aging out.
So they want to hang out withgrandkids.
But then they find out hangingout with grandkids every minute
of the day is maybe not whatthey want, but half the time
(25:40):
great.
And guess what?
We offer part-time work.
Most of our people arepart-time, Some are full-time,
so even the supply of people.
It's been really good.
When you're in a good business,things get easy.
It's not simple.
(26:01):
I mean, it's hard work, bothfor my consultants and for what
I do managing the business.
Marc Bernstein (26:03):
It's hard, but it's not hard like what I used
to be beating my head againstthe wall.
I understand, so I know it's amuch brighter future.
But when you say it's hard work, what kind of?
Where's the hard, where's thedifficulty coming in now in
terms of looking forward?
Alan Claypool (26:12):
Sure Well, just the hard work itself to be a
statutory accountant is you'vegot to be extremely experienced.
You probably have to have satin the seat of a controller for
at least a decade before youwould be good at what we do.
Marc Bernstein (26:25):
And I imagine the regulations change over time
, and that's the other part Iwas going to is absolutely.
Alan Claypool (26:30):
The regulations change all the time, and so
we've got a process to keep themup to date on that, but it's
not simple and yes, theregulations change all the time,
and so we've got a process tokeep them up to date on that.
But it's not simple and, yes,the regulations change all the
time, so that's a hurdle, butit's also an opportunity for us.
If the regulations change allthe time, the insurance
companies have to meet that andthey may not know how, but we
can help them with that.
Marc Bernstein (26:47):
And coming full circle back to your company
culture, because I know thethings that you do for insurance
companies, you do for yourself.
Internally, yes, how will yourculture be a strength in terms
of that forward movement?
Alan Claypool (27:00):
Yeah, as you grow .
I mean, people are hard right.
In general, everybody is flawed, and put two people together
and flawed people aredysfunctional just by nature of
who we are, of who we are, andso as we grow, without a very
directed culture, that couldbecome, you know, create people
(27:25):
problems all over the place.
People step on each other, notlike in the way one person dealt
with an issue or whatever, Withour ground rules that we have
in place inside.
It just makes people issuespretty good.
Now, my people are pretty greatanyway, because they're former
CFOs and controllers ofinsurance companies, so they've
already had a lot of trainingand managerial experience, some
very self-starter type people.
They're very solutions-orientedpeople by nature.
(27:45):
And then we add on these groundrules and culture and other
good parts of who we are on topof it and it's really a pretty
happy place to work in that livein Babcock Ranch, so I'm
actually a really happy guy atthe moment.
So I'm in a happy business, ina happy place.
Marc Bernstein (28:00):
I'm happy, you're happy.
Alan Claypool (28:02):
It's great to see that.
Marc Bernstein (28:03):
But it hasn't been easy getting here.
Oh, my word, it was quite theroller coaster.
Alan Claypool (28:07):
I'm telling you and by the way, we also, by
nature of being in insuranceaccounting departments, we still
get project work that comes tous now, I'm sure.
Announcer (28:16):
So it's more easy.
Alan Claypool (28:19):
It's almost no selling because we're already in
there.
And oh, by the way, we do thiswork and so we've gotten some
ancillary work on the projectside thanks to having this, so
it's a really good lead in.
Marc Bernstein (28:30):
So we have about one minute left, so I've got 30
seconds per question.
I want to ask you, number oneif you could speak to your
younger self, what advice wouldyou give you?
Alan Claypool (28:41):
Wow, Well, if I was going into entrepreneurship,
it would certainly be learnthese basic rules of high market
demand and recurring revenueearly, early, would I even tell
younger self to start a business?
Probably so.
Yes, I would say, do start thebusiness.
I wish I had done it earlier.
Um, I think there's a lot ofcharacter development that you
(29:03):
get when you're inentrepreneurship.
You kind of become the bestperson that you could be as a
business owner.
Marc Bernstein (29:09):
You have just so many ethical challenges and
other personal, real quickquestion what book are you
reading and why?
And we have like 30 seconds.
It's a book called Choice.
Alan Claypool (29:20):
The subtitle is Cooperation, Enterprise and
Human Action by Robert Murphy.
Robert is a scholar at theMises Institute.
It's basically an economicsbook that's a survey of another
economics book called HumanAction by Ludwig von Mises, and
so this is a sort of simplifiedversion of the economy.
(29:41):
It's sort of trying to explainthe basics of economy.
It's so good Economics shouldbe something that everybody
understands.
It's a great book.
Marc Bernstein (29:50):
Excellent Thanks , alan, for being here.
It was great.
We're out of time and we willcontinue this conversation
offline, I'm sure, and thank youall for listening.
Thanks for being here with usat Founders Forum and we'll see
you next week.
Announcer (30:05):
We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum
and that you found value to takewith you throughout your day.
Join us again next week foranother episode of Founders
Forum on WXKB 1039 HD2.
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