Cash Flow: Your Business's Hidden Treasure | Mike Milan

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Ever wondered how some businesses seem to have plenty of cash while others with similar revenue struggle to make payroll? The secret lies in understanding the financial gap between money coming in and money going out—and nobody explains this better than Cashflow Mike.

In this eye-opening episode, Mike Milan shares his remarkable journey from state trooper to financial expert, revealing how accident reconstruction mathematics gave him the breakthrough he needed to understand business finances in practical, applicable ways. "I didn't understand math until I was a state trooper," Mike explains, describing how connecting abstract concepts to real-world scenarios transformed his relationship with numbers.

Mike introduces us to the counterintuitive concept of "growing broke"—being so successful that you actually run out of money. Through colorful stories about his experiences running multiple businesses (from janitorial services to restaurants and property management), he illustrates how extending payment terms to clients while still needing to meet regular expenses creates a dangerous cash flow trap that can sink even thriving companies.

The heart of this episode focuses on Mike's Clear Path to Cash program and how it helps businesses identify hidden cash through analyzing just nine key numbers from financial statements. This approach has helped his clients uncover over $150 million in hidden cash without increasing sales. Rather than chasing revenue, Mike emphasizes focusing on gross profit—the only cash available to cover operating expenses or contribute to net profit.

For business owners feeling the cash crunch despite solid sales, this episode provides practical insights into six key calculations that reveal where cash is hiding in your business. Whether you're running a construction company, a service business, or any small to medium enterprise, Mike's accessible approach to financial analysis will transform how you view your business finances.

Ready to find the hidden cash in your business? Visit cashflowmike.com for a free Seven Minute Conversation course that will help you understand your business finances better than you have all year.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But there's some math to it and, like I said earlier,
I didn't understand math untilI was a state trooper.
People are going what does thatmean?
I still don't know what thatmeans, but okay, so check this
out right In high school college.
I've got an MBA from BaylorUniversity here in Texas.
You might have heard of themSick and Bears, right.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey Sick and Bears, that's where my son's going law
school.
Is it really Very excited?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Yep, they come bears, right on, right on, so I.
So here's what I didn't do.
I wasn't that great at math andschool, it just wasn't clicking
.
They sent me to a school as astate trooper, to this thing
called accident reconstructionschool, where they actually
teach you either calculus ortrigonometry or geometry to be
able to calculate people's speedbased on the evidence on the

(00:44):
roadway right, I mean, how farsomebody skid, how slick the
surface is, hey, if they go downinto a ditch and then launch
and then take off into the air,what the ramp angle is, you know
, rise over run.
As soon as they started talkingto me about math in those terms
, everything made sense.
So I took what I learned frombeing a trooper and started

(01:05):
going.
Oh well, when I do this inbusiness, these are the actions
that represent X or Y orwhatever it is.
If you can connect it tosomething real that you do every
single day, math comes to life.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help
guide you to avoid those traps,pitfalls and dangers that lurk
when navigating the wild worldof small business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggetsof information and invite guests
to help accelerate your ascentto that mountaintop of success.
It's a jungle out there and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal

(01:38):
and professional goals.
So strap in Adventure Team andlet's take a ride through the
safari and get you to themountaintop.
Oh my god, alan, we're gettingready to rock and roll.
You know, I was just uh, I wasjust uh.

(02:00):
Of course, yeah, I had tobecause, well, um, guys, every
once in a while we're gettingolder and Al and I are getting
ready to rock and roll.
We've got a bourbon ready torock.
We're going to have a greattime helping everybody out a
little bit.
But let me tell you a story.
So I was at one of ourmastermind groups here in
Atlanta, and my man says so I'mworking with everybody across

(02:22):
the world.
I'm working with people fromEurope.
I'm working with everybodyacross the world.
I'm working with people fromEurope.
I'm working from people withAsia.
I'm working from people withCanada.
I'm working for people inMexico.
I'm working with people fromTexas and we're like, uh, the
Texas is another world.
Oh, hell, yeah, it is.
We got we got a cashflow mic onfrom San Antonio, texas.
And why do I know that Texasthinks it's their own damn state

(02:44):
?
Because my son has moved thereand I got to see that in full
flavor.
I'm like, holy shit, they donot think they're a part of us
in the US, texas Republic.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Oh, I love it.
They're going to save us allone of these days, I think.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I will say one thing though yeah, I said he did.
We actually said you shouldhave said California, because
that can be its own state.
I'm good with that, 100%.
But Texas, no, you got to bringthem in.
So we got Mike.
We're going to be talking money.
Who doesn't want to talk aboutmoney?
It's your favorite thing Money.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's like you're Oprah, my favorite things, just
money, you get money and you getmoney, and you get money.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oprah, where was my money?
I've actually seen one ofoprah's houses out of napa that
is not fair because oprah couldgive everybody g6 and I just
wanted.
I've seen oprah's house insanta barbara, montecito
specifically right, yeah so it'slike it's one of those things
who's seen oprah's houses,everybody's seen oprah's houses.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know I have an oprah story I want to tell you.
One of these days she healed mywife.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
There's no way.
Yes, there is.
You gotta tell that story.
You gotta tell the story.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Mike's gonna have to wait.
We're gonna have to hear howyour wife was healed by Oprah.
We were at a big event inAtlanta and she was actually the
guest and she dropped a milliondollars on Morehouse College
and it was a big surprise and mywife was almost nine months
pregnant.
And all of a big surprise, andmy wife was almost nine months
pregnant and all of a sudden thenoise and the excitement and
everything just was too much andI'm like, oh, she's going to
get sick.
So my nine-month pregnant wifejust blows through the back

(04:15):
doors at this big black tieevent and I'm chasing after her
and I actually see there's somebig guys outside the bathroom.
Why are they standing so closeto the bathroom and they try to
stop her.
But there was no stopping mynine month pregnant wife.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I don't care who the fuck you are.
Oprah, you could be the queenof England If you're a nine
month pregnant lady.
Every lady would understandthat girl needs to go to the
bathroom.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
She's in the bathroom and she's washing her face.
Oprah comes out of the stalland sees my wife and she sees
she's in pain and she goes, areyou okay?
And next thing you know she'sstroking her face.
Of course we were making jokeslike did Oprah wash her hands?
And that kind of thing.
Out of the other stall comesCoretta Scott King and the two
of them are standing on eitherside of my wife comforting her

(05:04):
in this bathroom at this massiveevent where oprah's the star of
it and she's dropping all thismoney on morehouse college the
best part of this story,everybody, if you have not been
listening for the last three anda half years because the small
business safari has been rockingit, judy uh is not an extrovert
.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
judy is not the one that you are going to see this
happening to.
So the fact that these twoincredibly well-known ladies are
helping her Figures strokingyour face and just making sure
that she's okay.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Oh, come on, mike, what do you think of that?

Speaker 1 (05:35):
one Dude.
Hey, live from San Antonio.
I feel like I'm jumping intosomething special here.
You guys are just all over theplace Mike's in for San Antonio.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
This is the way it always is We'll get you in here.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, we'll get you in a minute, all right.
So, oh my God, I mean honestly,you know you could say oh, I
don't like Oprah or this or that, or the world that we're in
with the politics and thebullshit that's going on out
there guys.
But look, promise you, beinghere from Atlanta, that's a very

(06:06):
special lady.
That was a big deal.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
That was a big night and they didn't need to do it
and they could have been like,oh, get away from me.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
And they showed their true people.
Yep Right.
100% Loved it, and I thinkthat's the part that we don't
all get closer together than wethink.
This is not a political podcast.
This is not a Liskumbayapodcast.
This is a how the hell can Imake some money in my small
business podcast?

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Let's get it going.
Who can we talk to aboutfinding hidden money?
I don't know who can we talk to.
Let's go to San Antonio, Mikecome on.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I've been calling him money Mike.
I was calling him magic Mike.
He goes no.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
I'm cash.
I was calling him magic.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Mike, yes, you were big guy.
That's another special thingthat we're not going to talk
about and we're not doing anystroking.
All right, let's get back tothis.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
What's Mike going to do with that?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
I've got to tell you what.
This is the most incredibleopening to a podcast I've never
been part of right.
So you guys are bringing theheat man.
I can feel my blood racingthrough my veins right now just
listening to you.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Mike, let's get pumped up.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Mike, you're from Texas, let's go man, we had to
bring him.
He's from Texas.
We got to bring the heat.
Don't mess with Texas.
Hey, don't mess with Texas,right?
Don't mess with us.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
I love it.
All right, Mike, welcome to theshow.
All right, man, tell us alittle bit about who you are,
what you do.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, so it's interesting, right?
So I'm Cashflow Mike and I findhidden cash in businesses.
I'm actually training a lot ofadvisors right now to help their
businesses.
I'm on a mission to eliminatecash flow as a reason that
businesses fail.
So think about that.
Right, I'm on a mission to dothat, and the way I do it is
through a program I built calledthe Clear Pad to Cash.
Anybody can do it.
I mean, I'm a former statetrooper and I finally learned

(07:48):
math.
And so now I can actually teachothers how to understand it as
well.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Let's talk about this a little bit more, because
we've talked about this often.
And this month, this year, thissummer, we've got a intern at
our place here at the trustedtoolbox, loving luke, which goes
by lukie bear.
Can't get into that, I'm notgonna touch that.
But because our it guy uh, it'shis, uh, it's his stepson, and

(08:17):
uh, they had to set up hiscomputer and his daughter
thought it'd be funny if shecould set up her brother's uh
computer and uh, so we saw it.
We came up and like, hey, uh,lukie bear, how about doing that
in front of like 15 handymanand five project managers in the
construction world?
And his computer pulled up,lukie bear, oh, this kid's got
it going on, but he owned it.

(08:38):
It was good, all right.
So let's get back to this.
Can we talk about our guest?
No, we're getting back to lukiebear.
So I was telling him he wantedto know he goes.
Chris, is there?
Any way?
You could tell me a little bitmore about business and what
should I be looking for?
I said look, here's the onething I'm not going to tell you.
In college, man, cash is king.
Revenue drives your business.
Revenue looks like this You'vegot to have sales man.

(09:00):
I said that's why I get outthere and hump it and sell every
single time I can.
That's why I train myestimators.
That's why you always hear meyelling to them about sales.
I said but cash is king, and ifyou don't have the cash you
can't do a lot of things.
So let's talk cash man.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I want to know before we talk cash.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
how on earth do you go from being a state trooper in
the Republic of Texas to beingMagic Mike the cash king?
It is super easy.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Cash flow, mike.
Yeah, there you go, he's notdancing for money Put those
dollar bills away Alan, rightnow.
No.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
It's super easy.
Here's how it happens.
Your family outgrows yourincome.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Necessity.
There you go.
Yeah, it's a mother of allinventions.
Another entrepreneur isextruded from society.
That's right.
There you go.
Yeah, it's a mother of all.
Another entrepreneur isextruded from society.
That's right.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
There you go.
Every entrepreneur built out ofnecessity.
All right, so you built thisthing, but tell us how you got
this idea.
Where'd you see this?
Because it sounds easy, but weall know it ain't.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, I mean first of all you have to.
You have to follow the worstpath in the world and start 14
businesses and take secondmortgages out on your house and
max your credit cards and fightwith your wife and all those
things first.
So you got to do that for about14, 15 years before you figure
out cash flow.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I'm at 17.
Check, okay, 17.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Right.
So, yeah, so you're on the backend of it.
I mean, you're already past allof that now.
I am You're on the all of thatnow.
But really that's what happened.
You know, I was in the NationalGuard as well.
So I mean, I did 16 years inNational Guard.
So the two skills I had cominginto the entrepreneurial world
was, well, being a policeofficer and being in the Army.
Neither one of those reallytranslate to civilian world.

(10:40):
So what happens is you learnhow to clean in both of those
jobs, in the barracks in thepolice academy and then all the
barracks at the army as well.
So I built a janitorial companythat quickly became a hotel
staffing company.
You're like, oh wait, how'dthat happen?
Right, yeah, I had this knackfor recruiting right, because I

(11:02):
had a connection with the paroleoffice in a janitorial company
and I mean this is, yeah, truehow it happened.
So I had a client that went andbecame a hotel manager and says,
hey, I can't hire you as acleaning company, but how can I
recruit, how can I just getpeople from you?
So I started just offloading oroffshoring not offshoring, it's

(11:24):
a what's that called Staffingright, temporary staffing into
the hotel we were providingheart of the house positions
such as housekeeping, housemen,landscapers, people that did the
dishes and banquet serving allthese heart of the house
positions and that's how youquickly can grow is niche down
into hotel staffing, but it'salso how you can also run out of

(11:46):
money.
I had a phenomenon calledgrowing broke.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Right, you ever heard of that?
I've heard this one, yeah, butI haven't.
Well, no, I lived it.
Yeah, talk about it, yeah, go.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, I mean.
Well, growing broke is, verysimply, you're so successful
that you run out of money.
Right is very simply, you're sosuccessful that you run out of
money.
Right, so successful, you runout of money Because what had
happened was Marriott got a holdof the business model that I
had and it was quite simple I'mgoing to take away people's
reasons not to go to work, right?
So that's what I had going inmy favor is that if somebody
says I can't come to workbecause I don't have a

(12:19):
babysitter we had a list of 10babysitters If somebody said
they had to take Uncle Joe tothe doctor, you go to work, I'm
going to take Uncle Joe to thedoctor.
So that's basically my wholebusiness model was making sure
people went to work, because ifyou didn't go to work and get
paid, neither did I.
Right, based on the model thatwe had opened 27 offices in nine

(12:45):
states in three years, right,it had a couple hundred people
working for us every single day.
And when you do that, marriotttends to sit on your invoices,
right, they'll sit on yourinvoices for 60 or 90 days.
And guess what happens on myside every two weeks You're
paying.
Payroll comes out every twoweeks.
So that's how you run into acash crunch real fast.
So when I learned about, cashflow was right there.

(13:06):
When I'm stressed out, when Idon't know if I'm going to make
payroll, I'm not paying myself.
And that was all during theearly 2000s.
So how did I solve it?
Well, I actually spoke with thebank and learned this thing
called the financial gap.
It's the difference betweenmoney coming in versus money
going out, and the smaller thegap between those two, the less
money it takes to run yourbusiness, right, and that's what

(13:27):
your working capital issupposed to cover, right?
Is that gap?
Well, nobody ever tells youthat.
That's what it's for.
They said you have so muchworking capital.
They don't tell you how muchyou need, they just tell you how
much you have.
So once I figured out anequation to be able to come up
with how much I need, it made ita lot simpler, because I know I

(13:50):
could pull some levers likereduce payroll or reduce the
amount of time it took me to getpaid, and that actually made
the gap smaller, right?
Well, with that in mind, Ibought a restaurant because I
was getting paid in 90 days atsome point in time.
With Marriott.
I bought a restaurant because Icould get money coming in every
single day.
Let me tell you why You're amasochist.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
You're fucking crazy.
You're insane.
Not only did he say he was inthe army, but he's also a
policeman.
Thank you for your service, butoh my God, you're insane, bro.
You started a restaurantbusiness.
Got to tell me why.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, because it was a cash-based business and not
only that, it worked right, so Ifound this poorly managed.
You get your money that day.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah, but it's not a net 90, net 60.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
It worked so well that I built a restaurant.
Then I bought a building with arestaurant in it.
Then I bought nine morebuildings apartment buildings
and all three of those worked.
All five of those now propertymanagement.
Three bar restaurants and ahotel staffing company worked at
once Because I could take thehousekeepers out of the hotel,
clean the apartments.
I had a two-man repair crew forthe apartments that also fixed
the restaurants and then I hadthe same POS ran it like a

(14:56):
franchise.
These three restaurants alltogether and I'm telling you it
was working, it was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
You have a beautiful mind, because that's a lot of
work.
I'm just a handyman and this iseven for me.
I'm like, wow, he builtsomething.
He saw something early.
Uh, I felt like there was abutt coming now.
Is there a butt?

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, yeah, the butt is that's.
I mean that's how I solved theproblem.
But the butt was you can'tscale it and you're going to
burn out fast.
I think about three to fouryears in a restaurant business
of owning three of them at atime is all I could stand.
I was burnt out.
The only way to scale arestaurant is open another
restaurant.
The only way to scale a hotelstaffing company is go get more

(15:38):
hotels and open more offices.
And the only way to scaleapartments is buy more real
estate.
So it's one of those thingswhere I was stuck in my own trap
.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
But I mean, isn't that the definition of scaling?
I mean well.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think that, yeah, that's the traditional norm,
yeah, right.
So what are we missing here,mike?
Mike, help me.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
This was 2012.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, this is 2012,.
Right, what was happeningaround 2012?
All of the internet commercewas starting right.
All the internet commerce wasstarting right Because the
bankers had already burnt downthe world, which made it harder
for me to get money.
Yeah, I saw Chris's face go.
What Like?
Yeah, in 2008, the bankersburnt down the world.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
I was a banker and started this in 2008.
Then you know exactly what I'mtalking about right.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, we burnt down the building.
Yeah, Go ahead Sorry.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
No, yeah, no, you're right, no, you're right.
There was no money to be found,so here we go.
Gee thanks, chris.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, here we go.
Gee, thanks, chris.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, chris, yeah, so chris got dodd frank passed
chris burnt down the world andnow here he is, hiding out in
his basement doing a podcast.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
That's what I do now if I had in my pocket?
I'm in my basement.
I know I'm drinking bourbonwith my buddy.
I don't want to come out.
Mom, don't make me some lasagna, all right, let's get back to
Mike Lasagna, all right.
So I obviously I crushed yourdream, mike, and I apologize.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
You didn't crush my yeah, you didn't crush my dream,
you actually made it better,right.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
All right, let's talk .
I'll tell you what.
Don't let him out Mike.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
I'm not letting him out because there's a moral.
I have none.
It's after there you go, thereyou go.
So after 2008, the banks leftthe space because it was just as
expensive to do a $50,000 loanas it was a $5 million loan
because they had to do the sameamount of paperwork.
So they all went upstream.

(17:33):
That gave rise to alternativeand marketplace lenders.
So Cabbage and On Deck andLending Club, lendio all these
places started popping up to beable to give small business
loans.
Well, they exploded becausesmall businesses gravitated
towards them.
Well, I sold my company to alarger competitor in 2011.

(17:54):
I was looking for something toscale and, like I said,
e-commerce was kind of hot atthe time.
Right, amazon had alreadyfigured it out.
You know how to do this stuff.
So I wanted to get intosoftware.
Darn hard to get into softwarewhen you're a restaurateur, a
trooper, a soldier, you know,hotel staffing manager.
I had no coding experience orwhatever, but what I knew was
how to finance small business.

(18:15):
So I found a company in Seattlethat was creating a product
it's called Finnegraph thatautomated the data collection
for banks, right To make theprocess of lending to small
businesses easier.
And I'm like, hey, I should beable to get in there.
So I pretty much begged theseguys to let me into their
company and what I did was I wasable to go talk to the banks

(18:40):
about how to talk to the smallbusiness owner.
So I built a program that Icalled how to talk to me, right,
how to talk to the smallbusiness owner, and build what
they call relationship banking.
Now, right, which is gettinginvolved, cause there's three.
There's three big complaints Ithink we all have about the bank
.
Do you know what they are Smallbusiness owners have about the
bank?
No, hit us All, right.

(19:01):
So, first one, I call LottoL-O-T-O, which is loan officer
turnover.
I feel like I got to tell thesame story to a different guy
every single week, right?
Yep, it's just like.
And then he moves to a new bankand he tries to steal me and
bring me over to his new bankwith him, right?
So it's all this turnover ischaos.
I don't like that about the bank.
The second thing I don't likethe bank is that they never stop

(19:21):
by, and the only time they stopby is to sell me something like
oh, here's my new credit cardoffer of the week.
I had no vehicles on my balancesheet, except for one to go to
the restaurants and the hotelmine.
Why would you offer me fleetleasing, right?
So they're not paying attentionto my business, right?
They're just trying to sell mewhatever they're pushing that
month.
The last thing was they're dumbD-U-M-B.

(19:42):
Not dumb as in unintelligent.
It means I don't understand mybusiness, right, they didn't
understand my business, that isawesome.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
I mean, could you?

Speaker 2 (19:53):
I wish I would have said that back when I was at the
bank.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Oh, that's so good yeah right, I understand your
business, bro, oh my God.
But Mike, he'll use it in oneof his next.
I wrote the book on it.
Employee meetings oh my God.
Good news is.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Oh, you already wrote the book.
I can't steal that one.
Well, you'll steal it, you justwon't publish it.
I'll steal it and then I'lltell Alan Mike has created a
book, so he just flashed thebook.
Man, flash it again for us sowe can all tell everybody the
title, because I know you're alldriving around in your trucks
doing your thing.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Get it going.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Don't be a dumb B-D-U-M-B business owner.
That's Mike Mylan or Mylan.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
It is.
It was Mylan.
You're right.
I mean, you're the first personthat's ever got it right.
I got my island right.
How about that?
Yeah, I usually have to teachpeople a song to be able to
remember it Right.
Let's hear it.
All right, this land is yourland.
This land is my land.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Don't be a dumb business owner now.
Here we go.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Is that the craziest thing that is?

Speaker 2 (20:54):
That's good, all right.
My island, all right.
Hit us, keep going.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
So that's what bankers did, and so you were
filling that gap, yeah, and wewere trying to build trust,
credibility and authority as abig startup or a small startup
at the time a big startup, it'shard to get into a bank.
You're not going to trust theseyoung guys.
One guy's never been a bankerand the other two worked at
Microsoft.
Right, and we did have somebodyon the board that was a vice
president at Bank of America,which I think that means he was

(21:22):
the janitor but branch manager.
He was bigger than that.
But I mean we didn't have a lotof name recognition.
But through that seminar seriesI caught the attention of the
CEO at the Pacific Coast BankingSchool at the University of
Washington.
They asked me to come talk tothe group and from there I got

(21:42):
the reputation of being able tobe a small business banking
expert, believe it or not.
So now I'm on the graduateschool of banking faculty at the
Colorado University of Coloradoand I spent five years at the
LSU at Louisiana StateUniversity, at the Graduate
School of Banking.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, hey, about that .
Huh, Come on now go Bayou.
That's where Troy's from mybuddy.
We talk about him.
He'll never listen to thisfucking thing, so it doesn't
matter, and I shouldn't give himany shout-outs.
Who cares?
He's just a judge.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, that's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Well, he's kind of a big deal, but he'll never listen
to this podcast because hethinks he's above small business
.
But he is a Bayou Bangle.
So our phone rings tonight.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I know, so I was listening.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Make it ring Della.
Tell him that I just talkedabout Troy on my podcast and I
am pissed that he went onsomebody else's podcast before
he ever went, he did.
He did Alan.
What a traitor, yeah, and youknow what, even if I'm your best
friend and you know what?
He's coming into town and I gotsome great tickets.
We're going to the Braves and alot of us are going to the
suite.
You know where he's going?

(22:44):
I hope in the nosebleeds he is.
I'm putting him way up there inthe third deck now because he
pissed me off.
I can't believe he went onsomebody else's podcast before
mine.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
He's probably still celebrating the national
championship.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, so the football one, I mean the double
championship football, but theyalso just recently won baseball,
which is, yes, he is definitelystill celebrating that one,
because that counts, it does, itdoes.
It was actually a good one Ifyou didn't watch that.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
I didn't.
No, the College World Serieswas great, though it was oh,
Coastal Carolina.
I am a huge fan of that tooWell, oregon State, I mean.
The fact that a rainy state hasa three-time national champion
and they made it deep again isunbelievable.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
I tell you, college baseball is a lot of fun because
you get to see the true.
You see true passion, which isagain back to business.
Let's talk about this becauseit'll all tie back True passion.
You get to see true fallibility.
I mean these guys.
I mean I watched a guy drop afly ball that no pro leaguer
would have ever done, but ithappened and it let a guy come

(23:50):
in.
Another guy lost.
He came in for what would havebeen an amazing catch in any
level.
He missed it.
His team got bounced Arkansasand he is sitting out there
inconsolable in right field,wouldn't even come off the field
.
They had to go out and get him.
I mean, when you see that andeverybody, especially in today's
jaded world, we're all like,well, I can't believe he's doing

(24:13):
that.
I can't believe this guy'sripping his chest off and
showing passion and showingexperience and showing
excitement.
And then this kid is justabsolutely crushed and people
are out there just hating.
I'm like, oh God, I love youhaters, because welcome to small
business.
We got tons of haters and wenever get a chance to plant the
flag and go God, we just rippedoff our shirt and go we're the

(24:34):
best ever.
We just don't get that.
So here we are, running a smallbusiness.
Nobody likes us.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
You've taken your shirt off a lot on social media.
Well, I do.
It's a different story.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Back to Mike, shall we All right?

Speaker 1 (24:47):
What you're saying is true, though right, whether
you're ripping off your shirt oryou're crying in the outfield.
That's the thing you can'tteach.
You can teach somebody skill.
You can't give them the heartskill.
You can't give them the heartyou can't teach them heart right
.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
So that's an important entrepreneur skill.
Yeah, you hire for heart.
In my opinion, hire, yeah, hirefor that character and teach
them the skills.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Starting that business, though you got to have
it and then I think thatpassion that I watched with
these kids, especially in thecollege world series, was so
much fun.
It's just different than themajor league baseball.
You know, I'm a big Braves fan,tigers fan, detroit and Atlanta
, but these guys are at thepinnacle.
And so in small business we'renot at the pinnacle.
We're the small businesseswhich, according to the US

(25:29):
Census, it's US Bureau, it's 50million and below I'll take that
, I'll take 50.
Can I get 50?
Yeah, I'm a tenth of that.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Talk about your book a little bit Dumb.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, I got three books, but I'll talk about this
one.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
I'm super bored, right Is that your favorite one
Alan, you just assumed he hadone, because you're sitting with
guys who just had one.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
I just got one, so this was the first one, right,
don't Be a Dumb Business Ownerwas the first one, and it's
actually the foundation of myprogram called the Clear Path to
Cash.
It's eight techniques tomaximizing cash in a business,
and it's written from a businessowner's point of view, right.
Even though I teach bankers andI work with accountants, that's
written from my point of viewon how we actually did it.

(26:13):
Every time you read a textbook,it's about somebody's theory
and concept and this type ofstuff.
This is actually what happened,right.
It's stories that kind of backit up.
So you're teaching a principlethrough your experience.
Yeah, exactly right, butthere's some math to it and,
like I said earlier, I didn'tunderstand math until I was a
state trooper.
People are going what does thatmean?
I still don't know what thatmeans, but okay, so check this

(26:33):
out right In high school college.
I've got an MBA from BaylorUniversity here in Texas.
You might have heard of themSick and Bears, right.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Hey Sick and Bears, that's where my son's going law
school.
Is it really Very exciting?

Speaker 1 (26:46):
yep, Sick and Bears, right on, right on.
So here's what I didn't do.
I wasn't that great at math inschool, it just wasn't clicking.
They sent me to a school as astate trooper, to this thing
called Accident ReconstructionSchool, where they actually
teach you either calculus ortrigonometry or geometry to be
able to calculate people's speedbased on the evidence on the

(27:08):
roadway right.
I mean, how far somebody's skid, how slick the surface is.
Hey, if they go down into aditch and then launch and then
take off into the air, what theramp angle is, you know, rise
over run.
As soon as they started talkingto me about math in those terms
, everything made sense.
So I took what I learned frombeing a trooper and started

(27:29):
going.
Oh well, when I do this inbusiness, these are the actions
that represent X or Y orwhatever it is.
If you can connect it tosomething real that you do every
single day, math comes to life.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
You know that amen to that.
I think that's where we'rereally failing people in school.
You know we've talked aboutthis before.
Actually, we've been doing thispodcast for three and a half
years, alan.
That's a lot of math.
That's a lot of math.
But we'll go back to what wetalked about Trade schools.
I mean not against it, it youknow, while I've got a son in
law school, um, he was not builtfor the trades, uh.

(28:03):
But look back on it.
I think if it was really putupon me, I probably would have
gone that way, because you learna lot of applied mathematics
when I worked in the machineshop and, um, a lot of stuff.
But it made it made engineeringa lot more tangible and real.
So when I was in school doingthe theoretical stuff, I knew
what it was like to machine orto put together a 120 circuit or

(28:26):
a 240 circuit in electrical.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
All right, math is boring.
So, mike, you're a statetrooper.
Come on, we've got to get onegood story.
What's the dumbest thing youever saw out there?
The dumbest excuse that you hadsomebody give you, or the
dumbest thing they ever did witha car?

Speaker 1 (28:42):
all right, the dumbest thing about now.
Is it the dumbest?
Should I do the dumbest orshould I do the most exciting?
Yeah, most exciting.
Let's do two, one of each.
Oh, okay, cool, yep, all right,I'll start with the most
exciting right, because this isone that I thought I was going
to get into a lot of legaltrouble for.
Starting off good, yeah, so I'mworking an overtime project and

(29:06):
because, again, we didn't makethat much money, so I volunteer
for overtime projects.
Which is, you know, I'm sittingthere watching a construction
site and somebody comes throughand barrels through the
barricades and you know, kind ofit's just the rubber ones,
right and he just knocks it over, goes in and out.
I'm like shit, he could killsomebody.
So I pull him over.

(29:26):
He's drunk Whoa, go figure,drunk, right, so you got to.
So I take, take him into theheadquarters.
Right, I take him to thehighway patrol headquarters in
St Louis County.
At the time you don't put peoplein jail for DWI, right, you

(29:49):
don't put people in jail, youactually just let them go after
you take the breathalyzer testand all that type of stuff.
This person didn't have anybodyto call.
It's three o'clock in themorning, he didn't have anybody
to call.
So for an hour I'm sittingthere waiting for somebody to
come pick this person up.
I have to be there untilthey're released.
Well, finally my sergeant goeshey, just take him home.
So I put him in the patrol car,not under arrest.

(30:12):
I'm just going to drive thisperson home and as I go across
the exit ramp and start to getdown the highway.
We're on, you know, kind of theramp coming down to the highway
they go oh, I'm going to throwup, and I'm going not my patrol
car right, because I take mypatrol car home, you're not
doing that.
You're not throwing up in mypatrol car.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
I don't care if it's your patrol car.
No, you do not.
That's a hard.
No, you do not throw up son.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
No.
So I slam on the brakes, pullover to the shoulder and I got
these big blue shop towels rightIn the back and I opened the
door.
I reach across them, open thedoor, push him out right.
Just push him out the door sohe gets out there, cause I have
to clean it up If not.
Well, I made the fatal error.
We had this thing called anextender in the trunk, right.

(30:56):
So every time a police officergets out of the car, there's
this little switch that you flipand it turns on the extender.
Other than that, you get allthis squeal and feedback inside
the car with too many radiosgoing at once.
I didn't hit that switch.
So I get out of the car, openup the trunk and I'm trying to
get the shop towels to go aroundand hand them, you know, so

(31:20):
they can wipe their face off.
And guess what?
Another car comes by, slams onhis brakes, slides by.
My car stops in front of me.
It's a smaller car with ahatchback and two Rottweilers in
the back just going crazy.
These two dogs are just goingcrazy.
So I've got a person that'sdrunk puking out the side of a
patrol car.
Now I got this other personthat jumps out of their car with
two barking dogs coming back atme.
I go, oh, wait a second.
So the person runs up to me andgoes hey, you got to help me.

(31:43):
It's a bloodbath at my house.
And I look at his hands.
There's cuts all over his handsand there's, like you know,
blood all over him.
I said, hey, hey, hey, what doyou mean?
He goes, my wife, somebody'sgot to go help my wife right now
.
I asked him for his ID.
He pulls out his wallet andthere's bills this thick in his
wallet just absolutely crazyamounts of money inside this

(32:03):
wallet Two inches thick.
Yeah, two, three, whatever thefit, right.
So there's so much money inhere that I'm afraid to touch
the wallet.
I don't want to get involvedwith that.
I'm like, hey, just take yourlicense out for me.
So he takes his license out, Igrab it and I put it in my
pocket because he's acting soerratic and crazy and I don't
know.
Again, his hands are cut up andhe's just said his shirt, right

(32:23):
.
So I'm like, hey, I'm going topat you down for a second.
No, no, I got to go.
So I just want to make surethat your wife's OK, I'm going
to call it in.
Have somebody go check on her.
I just want to make sure thatyou and I are OK here.
So I turn him around, have himput his hands on the back of his
car and as he does that hespins and we're in a fight.
Remember, I still got someregular person back behind me

(32:48):
puking out the side of thepatrol car.
We end up kind of tussling overtowards the barricade.
There's a barricade where theouter road is and a fence.
You guys have seen that.
So you got the exit ramp.
Then there's some concrete anda fence.
We're against this fence and Isee this guy starting to look at
my weapon, my gun.
Right, he's looking down,looking down, looking down.
I'm saying, oh no, we're goingto that now.

(33:08):
So I don't have a radio because, remember, I didn't flip that
switch.
I didn't flip the switch.
So I can't call anybody.
You're on your own, on my own.
So I just rear back and justpunch him.
Pow, just punch him, and I goback to the car, flip the switch
.
He jumps in his car and takesoff.
So now I've got the person's IDand all that, but now I think

(33:30):
I've got In your pocket.
I got this murderer right, Ithink I got a murderer Right.
Right, that's what I wouldthink who went and grabbed all
this cash and he's going to beon the run.
But he felt bad all of a suddenand wanted to make sure his
wife was okay.
Well, I get back in the car.
I still got the person pukingin the back and pull them back

(33:52):
inside the car.
I say, hey, you okay.
And he goes Go get that son ofa bitch.
I said buckle up.
He buckled up and off, he went.
All right.
So there's where I've committeda violation of general order.
Right, general order is likethe rules.
You don't get into a pursuitwith a civilian in the car.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Happens in the movies , I'd sign off on it.
I'd say, go get him.
Go get him Money.
Mike, we're going to go takesomebody down Yeehaw.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Hey, six lanes, right , we're going across six lanes,
just six lanes.
He's weaving out of traffic.
He's got so much stuff in thecar he's throwing it out the
window.
I mean, there's like a gardengnome.
There's all kinds of just crazystuff coming out.
I'm dodging things behind himas we're going, you know, a
hundred plus mile an hour downthe interstate.
It's three in the morning,there's not a lot of people, but

(34:43):
one of the people hits thegarden dome, blows their tire
and they kind of go off on theside of the road and I'm finally
getting all the people aroundto shut down the interstate.
Right, we're shutting down theinterstate.
Cops are coming down backwardson the ramps to shut everything
down and we get them stopped,not in on the shoulder, we get
them stopped in lane three ofsix.

(35:03):
Oh my God, it just stops andsits.
And now, now, now, it's likegoing, okay, well, this might be
.
You know, it's a standoff withthis guy who, I think, killed
his wife.
We don't know what's going tohappen next.
And there's these two big dogsinside the car just going nuts.
Right, oh my God.
Yeah, we get a team together,we go up.
You know, three on one side,three on another side of the car

(35:25):
.
I open the car door, pull thisguy out and pull him out and
shut it so the dogs don't getout Right.
So I got this guy on the ground.
I love how we laugh.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
I love how you kind of chuckled Holy shit.
I'd be like, oh, I'm going tokill you.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
The person that's in the car, I say, hey, whenever
this car stops, you just go andrun, just run to the side.
I'll find you later.
Just go run.
So that's what they did.
So we finally get this personto cuss.
I got him on the side.
We're trying to clean it up.
Got a tow truck coming to getthe car.
I mean trying to figure outwhat to do with the dogs.
And he's a veteran.
Right, he's a veteran.

(36:02):
He'd been out for I don't knowfive, 10 years, something like
that.
But he'd spent the last threeyears in prison for armed
robbery.
And he had just gotten out andhis wife wasn't talking to him.
Right, because we went to hiswife's house and she goes no, I
won't let him in the house, he'scrazy.
So wouldn't let him in thehouse.

(36:23):
He all of a sudden goes nutsand wants to go somewhere and do
something else.
Well, I'm asking you know whythe hands?
Why are you?
What's wrong with your hands?
You know, because I don't haveto take him to the VA hospital
for a psychiatric evaluation.
And he says you see that?
Uh, you ever seen those on theside of the road, those black

(36:43):
velvet paintings like dogs,playing cards and Elvis yeah, he
had like three or four of thesein the car Poker painters.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
What is it?
I call them dog poker painters.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
That's funny.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
He got two Rottweilers and a bunch of
velvet paintings in the car andbloody hands.
All right, that's funny.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
He got two Rottweilers and a bunch of
velvet paintings in the car andbloody hands and Elvis, yeah,
and he said one of them stunk sobad he couldn't stand it.
He took a knife in the carwhile he was driving and he was
cutting up this thing andthrowing it out the window and
he cut up his hands while he wasdoing it.
That's really what happened.
He had the money because hedidn't have a bank account
because he'd been in jail for solong.
He just took any cash that hemade with cash and check and
that's why I had all the money.

(37:20):
So there was no murder.
There's no anything.
He just had a psychotic break,right, and he'd help.
That's a crazy story, right,because then I get called yeah.
Then I get called in front ofthe captain and everybody else
and have to explain all this.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
All right, so let's go back.
So the original DUI guy I'llbet you he's never driven drunk,
ever, ever again.
Yeah, there's no way.
Talk about scared straightafter that.
I'd be like dude, I ain'tdrinking and driving ever again.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Don't you think he's also telling this story?

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh yeah, he is.
He is telling the story, buthe's like I'm not doing that
ever again because I'm not anadrenaline junkie.
I just was drunk one night,probably had too many pops at
the bar, blew it and oh my God,he's probably right now on
another podcast.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
There's three and a half million podcasts.
He's telling that story.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
You know this one actually.
I know the podcast.
This story should have been onno-transcript.
I feel like sometimes some ofmy days have been like that.
I think every day is like thatfor you.
It really is.
I swear to God, I gotRottweilers I have.
Today, I saw Chow Chow, I'veseen, I've got I can't name

(38:30):
enough dogs.
How about, every time you walkup to a house, the next thing
you know, as soon as you openthe door, a big puff of weed
comes out.
You're like, yeah, this isgoing to be a good estimate.
Okay, let's, what are welooking at today in the house?
Okay, this is gonna be fun, allright.
So, mike, tell us how to makesome more money.
Find the cash.
What can you do to help us all,cause we're coming to the end?

Speaker 1 (38:51):
All right.
So the first thing you gotta dois you gotta look at your
business from two differentdirections, right, and I call it
vertical and horizontal, andyou're like, what does that mean
?
Well, vertical things arecalled cash generating
activities.
It starts with sales, and youkeep subtracting things out
until they get to profit.
That's vertical.
It's easy to follow.
I sold this much, I spent thismuch, and this is what's left

(39:13):
over.
The other part of that, though,is the timing of it.
How long does it take for thisto happen?
Just because I recorded a sale,just because I recorded an
expense, doesn't mean I paid thebill or got the money from the
sale, so there's a horizontalpiece that goes with it at the
same time.
So what I did was I created acalculation set and a visual

(39:34):
that goes with it, called miningyour business for hidden cash,
and, by plugging in nine numbersoff the income statement and
balance sheet, I can tell youwhere your biggest problem is in
your company in minutes, right,and tell you exactly where it
is to go find hidden cash, and Ifound over $150 million worth
for clients in the past threeyears.
Good, Lord.

(39:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Yeah, and that's not increasing sales, because I
think this is where Chris and Idiffer.
He goes oh revenue, you got todo revenue, revenue, revenue.
Revenue to me is just ameasurement of how much work you
did.
Gross profit is where you wantto focus.
Gross profit is the only cashyou can get to spend on your
operating expenses or your netprofit.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
I will agree there.
I was just saying I wasexplaining to him.
Is that is that?
I mean you can, cash is king,but you can't save yourself down
to the bottom and you've got tokeep growing that engine as
long as your profit's good.
But profit, especially in myworld, is so hard to get.
It's a home services is a toughnet, you know, I actually just
got done talking with some otherhome service companies.

(40:39):
But here's the cool thing weall think everybody else is
killing it.
Oh, my God, that guy's killingit.
Oh, oh, he's HVAC.
He's killing it, which is, bythe way, what I said.
This HVAC guy here in Atlanta,he's the third biggest in
Atlanta.
I said well, I know you'rekilling it, he goes.
Well, what are your, what'syour net?

(41:04):
And we shared our nets and atthe end of the day, man, none of
us are over 10 percent.
It's just not what it is.
He goes, no, he goes.
What do you think I'm doing?
He goes, no, he goes.
If I had to do it all over again, I said if I had to do it all
over again, I'd start an HVACbusiness.
He goes, he said.
He said I'm starting to figureout how to start a handyman
business.
I'm like don't do that, brother.
I said I already figured thatthing out.
This sucks.
No, it doesn't, but it's still.
That's the thing.
The grass is always greener,right, you've heard that phrase

(41:25):
and it's so trite, but the proofof the pudding is the same
story In home services, which isa great business, it's still a
very hard business, and ifyou're in commercial real estate
, where they're truly justkilling it, which I know you are
, alan.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
You're killing it.
That's why I'm zooming in frommy yacht.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
That's right, but that's the problem.
And so what he'll talk about isthat yeah, but it's feast or
famine for me, right?
I can go six, seven, eightmonths before I get a
transaction and a paycheck.
I'm like, oh no, I get apaycheck every two weeks.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
It's a little one, but it's there.
So, Mike, I like how you'retalking about this, Mike,
without telling people how thesausage is made.
What are?
Where are some of these areaswhere you're looking for the
hidden cash?

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Well, I mean, I'll just tell you the six
calculations.
It's sales to assets ratio, andeverybody's like what?
I've never done a sales toassets ratio.
What that tells you is how muchshould you be generating with
your stuff?
Right, you're already currentlydoing something.
So if you're doing that,compared to what the industry
average is for sales to assetsratio, that's how everybody else

(42:33):
is generating assets with thesame thing.
Then it's your gross profitpercentage, right?
How are you doing compared toyour goals?
Or everybody else?
Net profit the same way.
So that's pretty standard.
That's not secret sauce oranything like that.
The other is just inventory.
How much inventory do you needto keep up with sales?
Most people go in and just kindof guess.
They're like, oh, give me 10 ofthese and 15 of these and 25 of

(42:54):
those.
Well, there's an actual formulathat you use to determine how
much you need to just keep upwith your sales value.
You don't need more than that.
You don't need less, becauseyou'll run out, but you need the
right amount Then A-R-A-P.
So this isn't a secret sauce,it's just put in a visual way
where you instantly see whereyou need to spend your time.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Alan, Wow, that was insightful.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Alan Great great feedback that was great feedback
wow, thank you.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (43:24):
mike went well.
I brought three.
No, after three and a halfyears and you know, chris hardly
ever lets me talk and I'm justwaiting for him to just jump all
over that.
I was going to talk about you alittle bit more.
I was because we really know Iwas.
I use that much on this episode, did we have?
You actually let me tell thewhole Oprah story.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
I know I love that one, by the way.
Finally, alan, get back to Mike, shall we?
Mike?
All right, we keep going, we dothis stuff.
So who are you engaging with?
Who are your clients?
Who are you working with mostly?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, so I mean mostly right now I'm working
with advisors, so accountants,bookkeepers, fractional CFOs but
I also work with businessowners.
I mean early on I just onlyworked with business owners and
then I decided that I could getbetter reach to more business
owners if I went through theiradvisors, right so?
But if you're a business owner,I mean there's a person that

(44:13):
licensed my book called theseven minute conversation that's
how to analyze your financialstatements and seminars, or
lefts.
One person licensed it to makea contractor addition.
So if you're a contractorthings like that we've got
specialists in my inside mycommunity for that home services
company I've got I work with.
You know, one of the largestprivate first and, uh, you know
clear pat the cash professionalsin the country out of Idaho,

(44:36):
rathdrum, idaho, of all places.
She's focuses and specializeson home services companies, even
has a podcast about it.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Ooh, look at her Idaho, though.
But there's not that many homesout there in Idaho.
I've got to talk to this girlbecause I've got 6.2 million
right here in Atlanta.
We've got plenty of homes towork on.
But no, I love that.
It's funny because I joke.
Let me give you guys the insidejoke.
So in my mastermind group thatI'm part of you guys all know
about this, maybe you don't oneof the guys in my group has sold

(45:07):
, and sold to a big, largeprivate equity.
They're rolling it up and hesays, hey, I was the biggest, I
was the third biggest in Atlanta, and I just found somebody who
is 15x me in utah, utah, this isgarage stores, bro.
And you're like, I didn't knowthere were that many homes in

(45:29):
utah and you guys know this ladyhas dominated the market, and
that's the thing.
I don't care about idaho,because you look it up, not a
lot of people are a lot ofpeople.
Listen to this thing are allacross the us, everywhere,
everywhere, from missouri to toCalifornia.
You're in Texas, we're up inNorth Carolina, new Jersey, new
York.
We got a lot of people inIllinois listening.

(45:50):
It's just interesting when youthink about that, because listen
, man, it all kind of goesaround, comes back together.
So you're working on Profit,working on the contractor
edition.
How do we find that contractoredition?

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Yeah, it's on Amazon.
It's a it's one of my CPCPsclear path to cash professionals
.
His name is Larry Weinstein.
He's the cashflow cowboy out ofHouston, texas.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Cashflow cowboy, that's what he calls himself.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Now I was thinking Floyd.
I get it, it's the.
That's what he calls himself.
Now I was thinking Floyd.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
I get it.
It's the bourbon.
It is too.
All right, Dude, this has beenawesome.
Man, Mike, this has been coolstuff.
How does everybody find you?
Let's go get back to the normal.
We talked about one of thebooks.
You got three.
How does?

Speaker 1 (46:34):
everybody find all of your ideas.
Best way to find me iscashflowmikecom, right,
cashflowmikecom, and I'll tellyou what.
Right underneath, and when youask me, my perfect customer it's
the company that's pre-CFO.
You're not quite big enough tohave your own CFO on staff, but
you still need help, right?
So that's generally 15 millionor less, I guess.
I don't know what the number is, but if we put a number on it,

(46:55):
that Any business, because Iteach agnostically, which means
it works for all industries andall businesses.
But right now, if you go to mywebsite, cashflowmikecom,
underneath the header video,right, right, the big thing says
hey, I'm cashflow.
Mike is a free course and it'son the seven minute conversation
.
It's a free video course.
You get a spreadsheet.

(47:15):
You get the uh, the digitalcopy of the book, the seven
minute conversation.
You get a spreadsheet.
You get the digital copy of thebook, the seven-minute
conversation.
You get all that for the low,low cost of an email address.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
That's all you get there.
You go Put it in man, go checkit out.
Cashflow Mike, spam me becauseI love that.
I talk about this.
All the time is that I justwant your email.
But you know why?
Because we stay top of mindthat way, man, and this stuff
sounds really good stuff thatyou want to be top of mind with,
right yeah?

Speaker 3 (47:40):
no, yeah, I love that whole niche of pre-CFO because
there's a lot of companies outthere who they really need a CFO
and they actually can't affordto not have one.
They think they can't afford tohave one, but they can't afford
to not have one, and you're theperfect bridge to that.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
And you don't know when you know and that's a great
point that we've talked aboutit's like well, no, I'm not big
enough to have a CFO.
Well, let's talk about thisfractional CFO.
And they go find somebody andthis person drops a huge number
on them because they're notbeing truthful with who they are

(48:17):
and what they're doing.
And this one this gives you agreat diagnostic of where you're
at.
You just trash all fractionalCFOs.
No, I didn't.
I'm actually trashing peoplelike me in small business.
And you're like you know, dude,I went and get that.
Next thing, you know, I'm goingto grab somebody who was a
fractional CFO for a Fortune 200company.
I can't afford those rates andI'm not ready to move enough

(48:38):
money around to really move theneedle.
Use this one as aself-diagnostic.
Go, take a look and then figureout your path.
That's where I'm at, alan.
Am I good You're?

Speaker 3 (48:46):
good, all right.
Thank you, alan.
The free seven-minuteconversation that's what they
get on the website, right?
That's what we get.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
And I'll tell you what you just talked about
somebody doing a big number onyou, like dropping a big number,
not going to do that.
Because if you're not afraid todo some self-help, right, use
my video courses, use my stuff.
If you're not afraid to come tosome live coaching and get my
help, ask me questions and getmy help, but in a group setting,
right, you don't have to sayyour company name or anything

(49:12):
like that, but in a groupsetting, I need some help.
Here's what's happening Ifyou're willing to do those two
things, I've got courses, livecoaching and a software app that
does all this for you for about249 a month.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
249 beats 4 000 a month.
Yeah, so there you go.
For 250 bucks a month, you getsome help.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Good math, chris you like that yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:33):
we've been talking about numbers.
I actually just had somebodythrow that at me.
I'm like, well, do I mean?
So I won't go into that guy'sstory, cause we're coming to the
end.
Guys, go check this thing out.
It's definitely worth checkingout.
I mean, what's an email worth?
Right?
Guys, go check it out, let'sfigure it out.
Figure out if that's for you.
I think it sounds awesome.
Now we're going, let's try it.

(49:54):
All right, here we go.
What's a book you wouldrecommend to our audience that
you didn't write?

Speaker 1 (50:03):
See, Good one Gotcha.
Uh-oh, you know I'm still a fanand this is back from when I
went to.
You know I was at Baylor, right?
Master's degree in Baylor.
I still think Good to Great isa good one to start with.
Yeah, I agree, I mean, it'sstill the classic.
It talks about where I takeaway from it is the concept of

(50:25):
putting the right people on thebus.
And, Alan, you said it right,you hire for heart, right.
If I can find the right person,the right fit, I'll create the
job for that person right andfigure out where we're going.
It's not about the jobdescription first.
Unless you're a carpenter, Ineed you to be able to do
carpentry stuff, but mostly Ihire for heart and build the job
around them.
I don't get stuck to the jobdescription I wrote five years

(50:48):
ago.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
My biggest part from that one is the flywheel.
It's just guys running abusiness.
You're not going to be aninfluencer overnight, and
definitely with Ellen and I's.
Look, there's no reason we'regoing to be on tv anytime so we
will not be reality tv, you'renot going to be an influencer,
you're not going to make amillion dollars tomorrow you're
going to hear all these stories.
It's all bullshit.
Right, there's a.

(51:09):
It's point.
One point zero, zero, zero, onepercent.
So it's good to great.
Is a fly wheel effect?
Right, you just got every day.
Get up, solve a problem, makeit happen, keep going, keep
moving forward.
So that's right, that's one ofthe biggest ones for me.
On that one.
All right, let's keep going.
So let's go.
What's the favorite feature ofyour house?
Because I'm looking at someparts I like right now all right

(51:30):
.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
What?
This is the office?
Matter of fact, it's gettingready.
This whole thing is gettingready to be taken out.
We're doing built-ins.
This is to become a speakeasyoffice.
I've got my bourbon back there.
A whole wall of it.
Now you cheers to that.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
That's why I'm looking at your bourbon
Speakeasy in your own house.
How's that going to work?
Is it going to be like a hidden?

Speaker 1 (51:47):
door to get in.
I won't tell Courtney where itis.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Okay, solid Brother, we're coming.
We're in San Antonio, alan, andI get an invite.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
I love Texas, I love San Antonio.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
I have not been.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Oh it's a great town, great golf there too, great
food.
Golf food is amazing.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Make sure you look me up if y'all come.
All right, we're doing it Allright.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
So one of the things that we're kind of very
passionate about we've talkedabout customer service, but
we're kind of working our wayinto it this way.
But Alan and I are kind ofcustomer service freaks.
We're kind of crazy about this.
What's a customer service petpeeve of yours?
When you're out there andyou're the customer?

Speaker 1 (52:27):
When I'm the customer .

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, okay, so I'm receiving it, yeah Well you've
got a restaurant business, whichis an easy pick, but pick
something different.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
All right, so I'm not giving customer service.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
Pick something different, All right so I'm not
giving customer service.
No, you're receiving customerservice and it drives you nuts
and it just absolutely pissesyou right the F off.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
Yeah, I think it's vague, being too vague with me.
What I mean by that is if I aska question and you can't answer
it, you don't know the answer,you can't do it.
I mean, I get really frustratedwith like going oh, why don't
you know this?
This is part of your job, right?
I don't say that to them.
I mean they should know whattheir job is.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
This is a great one because there are two schools of
thought.
It was either easier to sell inthe 1960s and 70s or it's
easier to sell now.
If it's easier.
In the 60s and 70s you didn'tknow the cars you were up
against.
So when somebody came in Icould spew a whole line of
bullshit and you'd have no idea.

(53:24):
But you might buy the carbecause I was full of shit.
Today, if you come in and youask me about this car and I spew
a whole line of bullshit andyou're like but the Internet
said it's this, this and thisand this and that.
But if you don't know yoursubject matter, when somebody
comes to you and you're just asales guy trying to spew shit,
you're gone, man, you're gone.

(53:45):
So vague does not win, being abullshitter it does not win.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Well, and I think what you're saying is somebody
trying to pretend like they knowwhat they're talking about, as
opposed to just owning.
Hey, you know what they'retalking about, as opposed to
just owning.
Hey, you know what.
That's a really good question.
Let me find out and get back toyou.
You would have tolerance forthat.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Yeah, I think he called it right with bullshit
right.
Thank you, alan.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
Bullshit no, I mean, but I mean, come on, mike, I
thought you were on my team.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Well I am, I'm agreeing with you.
Yeah, I would rather somebodysay I don't know what I'm
talking about, I don't get it,or rather than dance around and
try to lead me down a path,today's buyer is educated, right
, they just are right.
So you got to be prepared totalk to an educated buyer.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
every single time Agreed.
All right, let's talk aboutthis one.
I love working on homes.
That's why I got in thisbusiness.
I'm a handyman, areconstruction guy, do a lot of
remodeling.
Give us a DIY nightmare story.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
I'm still living it All right.
So Courtney asked me to do awhat's that wall called, the
wall thing where you, I don'tknow, you don't even know what
it's called, but you make likesquares out of it.
So it looks like a.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
So you're doing your own trim on your wall in your
dining room or something like anaccent wall accent wall, all
right.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
so she wants an accent wall in in the bedroom,
all right, I'm like, oh, I cando that, so I do it.
It everything's perfect, exceptfor the fact I didn't really
measure correctly, uh, because Iput up some plywood as kind of
the base, right, but some reallywhat's?
That's that one-eighth, or Idon't know?
You guys know all this stuff Igot it All right, so I got that.

(55:23):
And then I got the one by foursI think it's one by fours and we
kind of cut those into squaresand I did perfect math on the
squares.
Everything is perfect as far asshe didn't want partial squares
, she wanted full squares.
So I did perfect math there.
What I didn't do was adjust forthe seams of the plywood behind
it.
All right, so I got plywoodstack like this.

(55:45):
What the professional wouldhave done is make sure that the
one by four covered that seamand I wouldn't have the problem.
Guess what Mike has now?
Mike has like a line acrosswhere it's separated because he
didn't cover it and hide it likea normal pie.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Mud it right.
Well, you know what Mike'sgoing to have to tell Courtney.
That's called the love line.
Baby, that's a love line, soyou could use that.
It's called character.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah, I just said.
You know, every time we haveall the activities, that thing
pops open.
I've tried, I've tried, I'vetried, I've tried to caulk it,
you know it's a love line.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
There you go.
I love DIY.
You know what?
That's actually one of myfavorite stories.
There are so many times I hadthat one and I did not use my
line, um, so, yes, I've had alot of other ones, but that's a
good one.
Guys, go figure it out.
Mike, how can we all find you?

Speaker 1 (56:35):
again, cashflowmikecom.
Go get that free course andlearn more about your business
in seven minutes than you knewall year.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
All right, man, we've got to keep making it happen.
Every week, every day, everyhour, every morning, get up,
solve a problem, come figurethis thing out.
Let's go make it happen.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
We've got to get out of here and go, make it happen.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Cheers everybody.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Small Business
Safari.
Listening to this episode ofthe Small Business Safari.
Remember your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in a wild world of small
business ownership.
And until next time, make it agreat day.