February 28, 2024 • 41 mins
Welcome to the first Wednesday Wisdom Series LIVE event.
This episode's guest is Tina Meeks from SCOREE Services and she's sharing 3 Proven Strategies to Sustaining Profitability for businesses.
Tina Meeks' diverse and in-depth knowledge, ranging from Financial Controller to IT Data Analyst, coupled with three proven strategies for mastering sustained profitability across various industries over the last 20 years, enables her to solve problems in weeks that would typically require a small to mid-size business to hire a group of 8-11 positions for the same collaborative efforts in 30 days or less.
About the Wednesday Wisdom Series
Unless you've discovered the secret to everlasting life, you don't have enough time to learn everything there is to learn about how to grow and scale your business on your own.
The Wednesday Wisdom Series is where experienced professionals share their wisdom on running, growing, and scaling a business.
Follow Wisdom & Wayfinder
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ali Taylor (00:32):
All right, hello, hello. Welcome to the very first
Wednesday wisdom series here. Iam Ali Taylor. I'm the founder
and CEO of wisdom and Wayfinder,where we help licensed
professional service brands getto a clear path for growth and
profitability. And the wholething with the Wednesday wisdom
(00:53):
series is that listen, unlessyou've discovered the secret to
everlasting life or immortality,you don't have enough time in
the world to make all themistakes and learn all the
lessons there are about running,growing and scaling a business.
And so I've spent the last 10 to15 years of my professional
life, developing relationshipswith experts and professionals
(01:16):
who are at the top in theirfield in different areas. And
being able to bring in thosepeople to address certain
problems, situations that comeup inside of a business. And I
am very fortunate to have one ofmy favorite new people that I've
met recently. She's also mycousin from Krypton, we have a
shared love of Superman, andSuper Girl. But here with me
(01:39):
today is Tina Meeks from scoringservices. Tina has a diverse in
in depth knowledge ranging fromfinancial controller to it data
analysis analyst. In thissegment, she will be sharing
three proven strategies ofmastering sustained
profitability in variousindustries in the last 20 years,
(02:00):
which allows her to solveproblems in weeks that would
require small to mid sizedbusinesses to hire a group of
eight to 11 positions in thesame collaboration efforts in 30
days or less. I told you she wasSuperman or Supergirl before I
met it. And so say hello, Tina.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (02:17):
Oh, I love it. Thank you, Ali, for
all the kind words. Thank you.
Hi, everybody. It's a pleasure,Ali as well. Thank
Ali Taylor (02:25):
you. Yeah, of course, of course. Well, again,
thank you for being here today.
And so I'd like you to justshare a little bit about how you
got started in your business.
What's the thought behind storylike, how do you get started,
and you know, what inspired youto start this business?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (02:44):
Well, I've always been a problem
solver ever since I was fouryears old, learning how to
French braid, one of my friendshair. And then I realized I had
a knack for technology when Iwas at started computers in
school at 15. And then startedreally getting the computers
have a job and then program myfirst memory writer, typewriter
(03:04):
18. So I just evolved from therebecame a problem solver. And
then I ended up in accounting 20years ago, after building an,
you know, an ERP or businesssystem, ERP they call them. And
I learned accounting. And then Ifelt that, ironically, my
obsession and addiction togaining profitability by
(03:27):
watching data straight throughand back again, also was offered
with timing, reporting andvisibility, fixing those
problems, and the profitabilitywas the benefit. So it was very
interesting. And I've done it solong now on every position, I'm
always trying to streamline andfigure something out and solve a
problem reduce man hours, that'sjust like my addict. And it's
(03:51):
just been interesting. So Ifigured, well, I've done this so
much with other businesses,imagine how many businesses that
can help being a consultant. Soif you're a man,
Ali Taylor (04:01):
yeah, that's awesome. And it's interesting
how our paths have sort of, sortof aligned in that same way of
just wanting to solve problems.
And you sort of pick up allthese different skills because
you see a new problem and you'relike, Okay, well, let me figure
out how to solve that. You cansee the benefit to the other
people. And so you just keepadding all these different
skills and superpowers, if youwill, to be able to help them.
(04:24):
So yeah, so tell me a little bitmore about, you know, why
financial services and why, andparticularly for the wisdom and
Wayfinder audience, I focus onlicensed professional services.
So that's, you know, theinsurance agencies, the
accounting firms, the law firms,you know, chiropractors,
therapists, like all of thosedifferent types of brands, but
(04:47):
why did you get into theaccounting part of it and what
is it that you see forbusinesses in terms of
profitability and growth?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (04:58):
Well, the accounting part of like
counting the financial part ofit as an umbrella is, what is
the benefit of what I do? Myfocus is streamlining processes,
fixing processes, whether it'sthrough the system and also day
to day processes, because thosetwo components along with an
input the right employee in theright seat, or is what's
(05:20):
valuable, really inprofitability. So if you have a
system you're using, and somecompanies depend on how much
bigger they are, they have twoand three systems that are
integrating with each other.
Well, who's keeping an eye onthat integration? What about the
enhancements when a code ischanged? You someone's got to be
knowledgeable to know when thatcode gets changed to look at any
hiccups, because then you've gotbottlenecks going on with data,
(05:43):
transactional data, and that'saffecting your income. And you
may not know it, you know,reports, updating reports, and
then your day to day processes.
So how many people out therehave standard operating
procedures that they have fortheir company and keep them
updated? So as times change, sodoes your standard operating
(06:03):
procedures or aka SOPs, as thosechange who's updating them, so
you've got turnover, new peoplecoming in, you don't want to
keep reinventing the wheel,because if it worked like a well
oiled machine, you want to keepthat well oiled machine going,
no matter who comes in andgetting, you know, the right
people in the right positions,the financial part is just the
(06:23):
benefit, because I have a lot ofknowledge on that part, and
reference to the profitabilitythe costing a lot of your
clients, for example, or feedriven Ali. So these also need
to be looked at and you know,you got market strategy you want
to look at in reference to I dohave clients that are attorneys,
property manager, real estateinvestors, those are all fee
(06:44):
driven companies. So you alsowant to value your fee schedule,
how long has it been? Sinceyou've updated it? How often do
you do a market survey? Sothere's a lot of other things
that are looked at, and it's allpart of my systems and
processes, and then reducingexpenses to maximize your
profitability when it's all saidand done. So that's really what
(07:05):
I what I love to do. It's moreit level driven, but the benefit
is the accounting component ofit all.
Ali Taylor (07:13):
Yeah, that's really fantastic. And, and I'm just
imagining a business ownerlistening to this being like,
yeah, yeah, I need to do allthat I need to do all that, like
everything you said, like therewas checking off a box. But it's
like, where should? Where dothey need to get started? Right?
Because I can guarantee ifyou're asking a business owner
or busy business owner aboutstandard operating procedures or
(07:37):
systems checklist, it'ssomewhere in there floating
around in their brain, or it'son a napkin somewhere in the
bottom of their drawer, if theydon't have any of this stuff.
Maybe they hired somebody awhile ago, and it's buried in
some email. But if they weregoing to try to do this for this
year, you know, 2024, what'slike the first thing that you
(07:58):
would recommend for them to do?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (08:00):
The first thing we need, the first
thing they want to do is youhave what I focus on my
strategy. One is let's look athow much is hitting your age
receivables report, where's yourbilling at right now is any of
your billing manually beingdone? Are you behind on getting
the billing in, and then youwant and then of course, I focus
on fee structure or costaccounting and where you are
(08:21):
depending on what industryyou're in, in reference to that.
So that's that's the threecomponents were the look at
those focus on cash flow first,because then when we get the
cash flow coming in, then therest of it, you know, the rest
of it is then we get into theexpenses, then the standard
operating procedures, because wegot to get some normal
consistent patterns going in, inyour day to day operations.
(08:45):
Because you do want to focus onthe finance and handling the
customer service and make sureyou're delivering the product,
the end stage that is feedback,I apologize, the end stage of
operating and making sure thatyou know you have this
(09:09):
consistency going forward. Andof course, I'm just not
abandoning effect either. Once Icome in and I get the cash flow,
then we look at all the expensesand I have my my army with me as
we call the Justice League, Ihave a bunch of business
referral partners and I willbring them in with their value
and their expertise to get youre quoted looking at your
(09:31):
policies. Let's look at this.
Let's look at this expense. Andso we're looking at that to see
where our expenses and then thethird strategy is keeping up
with you making sure you knowlooking at your expenses, making
sure that you're getting taxstrategies taken off, because a
lot of times at the end of theyear they're so exhausted, you
know every business owner thatI've ever met and there's no
fault because it's not their cupof tea. Every smile that's on my
(09:54):
plate for next week. And beforeyou know it we're at Tech
season, we're at the end of theyear. And now we've got to get
everything ready for taxes, andthey're so overwhelmed. And the
CPA doesn't have time to answer50 questions that you should
have and had all year long. Sothen you get to that part, and
you're like, Just do it. Andthen all of a sudden, because of
(10:14):
that lack of ability to be ableto get that done, you are
probably paying for five to sixtimes higher in tax tax to Uncle
Sam than he probably shouldhave. So having someone like me
come in and literally see itfrom the very beginning all the
way through your processes andback and monitor keep you
(10:34):
healthy, and sustainable. Youare, I promise you, you will pay
much less at the end of theyear, and I pretty much my
position would pay you literallytwo, three times less than what
you would have paid to UncleSam. So there's great value in
that. And then just imagine theholidays, right? Most people are
wanting to spend time with yourfamily. But a lot of people in
(10:56):
the finance world are dealingwith urine processes. Just
imagine all of that going away,and your staff being able to
just focus on thing today andhave that time with their family
and have someone like me comingin and keeping you healthy and
sustainable. Basically, youknow, that person behind the
curtain just keeping you goingand less stress, work life
balance and profitability whodoesn't want to have more money
(11:19):
in their pocket at the end ofthe day?
Ali Taylor (11:24):
Yeah, I don't know anybody who would say no to
that. Yeah. So there's therewere a couple of things that you
said there that I really loved,especially with, you know, I
talked about, you know, growthand profitability and a clear
path to growth andprofitability. And I think
there's two ways to get therefor growth, right, you can
either grow through expansion,which is either increasing the
(11:46):
prices, increasing the number ofcustomers that you have
increasing the frequency atwhich you're selling your
products or your services,there's a growth through
expansion. And then there's thegrowth through contraction,
which is reducing thoseexpenses, you know, mitigating
those risks, or, like you said,in terms of, hey, if we get all
these processes in place, first,and we have, you know, we
(12:09):
review, whatever you're payingfor your insurances, or for your
different policies, where you'refreezing your fee structure, we
can reduce the amount thatyou're paying to the silence,
but ever greedy partner, that isUncle Sam. Everybody's business,
right? So I really love what yousaid about those two things.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (12:31):
Yes, definitely. I mean, Uncle Sam
gets enough, right? You needmore money in your pocket in
order to stay as successful andget to your legacy business that
you started out. However, thatwas two years, six years, 10
years, 20 years, whatever thatis.
Ali Taylor (12:48):
Yeah, yeah. Can you tell me so can you share with
me, you know, a particularexample of someone that you did?
Have that sort of result withit? What? Not necessarily in
their business, but on the otherside of their business? What did
they get to do that they weren'table to do before, because they
were so locked in and trapped bytheir own success of their
(13:11):
business. That you were able tohelp them do that?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (13:16):
Yeah, um, well, I have a current
client, who is in the legalfield. And he has been doing it
all on his own, since he startedthe company and how he has done
that on his own. So I startedwith him in September, mid
(13:37):
September. And again, what Iwant to stress is small changes
make big differences. We startedoff with heart, we started with
the age recording, making surethe billing was there, we
tackled that, then we were ableto bring in an assistant, a
legal assistant, I was able totrain the legal assistant, get
them started, take that off hisplate, let him focus on his
(13:58):
legal side. Then once we gotthat we were able to do some
automation, get some thingsautomated and had that ability
to do that. While I continued towork on the collections and
billing and kind of getcustomized with their his
customers. And then as ofMonday, we now brought in a
second legal system. So it's anew thing. So literally in just
(14:20):
a few months, he's he's blownaway. He's like, I cannot
believe how I did this all bymyself. And now I have you know,
you you know you as aconsultant, kind of guiding me
through what I need technologywise, we're about to implement
the phone system for him. Andjust bring in now into
assistance, get them trained,you know, find the right people
(14:40):
for the right seats, and thenget them trained and then
building this the standardoperating procedures as we go
and now we're getting ready tofully automate on an intake
level side. All his social mediahas been updated. So again, all
of this is mid September, andwe've really started focusing
middle to end of October. SoWe're now at February 7. So you
(15:02):
just imagine the impact ispretty quick, you will notice a
difference very fast. Smalldifferences, small changes make
big differences.
Ali Taylor (15:12):
Yeah, that is so cool. And I'm sure one, he
probably just looks so muchyounger, right? Because he's
actually getting sleep now.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (15:23):
Yeah, it's it's important. I mean, he
has two young, young youngdaughters, and he's married. And
you know, you want to keep thatwork life balance, you know,
it's so very important, becauseyou will eventually burn out and
just get exhausted. And that'smy thing, I look at the overall
the overall picture of where wecan tackle first, that's going
(15:44):
to make the greatest impact,then we go to Strategy two, then
we go to Strategy three, forlong term goal. And it works
every single time with anyoneI've ever done in any industry
of any professional at any area,it works. It's not that hard.
It's just finding that rightperson to make all the puzzle
pieces match up. Because everyin that and you know, you hear
(16:06):
people always say, Well, I'mjust stupid. That's technology's
just not my thing. I said, youknow, it's ever stupid. It's an
inexperience. It's a newexperience. And it's not your
cup of tea. So why would youwant your lawyer? Why would you
want to deal with technology? Orfinance? Why would you want to
deal with finance, that's myarea. That's what I love to do.
I love to watch theprofitability grow that call
(16:28):
that an addiction, call that anobsession. That's what I do.
When I see that happen. And Ican cash forecast and project
and double and triple your yourcompany. That, to me is well
worth everything. Because Iknow, in the end, that's what
matters is keeping yousustainable in the current
climate that we're in right now.
Ali Taylor (16:49):
Yeah, I'm so glad that you say that, like, because
so many business owners, I don'tknow, I don't know where this
idea came from. I know, Icertainly subscribe to it. For a
while when I was getting mybusiness started. It was like,
No, I have to do everything, Ihave to hustle, I have to grind.
I'm gonna learn all thesedifferent areas of my business.
And there's just that feeling ofshame. Like, I can't ask for
(17:12):
help, right? Because then maybeI'm not a good business owner,
maybe I don't have any business,you know, being a business
owner. And so I love what yousaid about it's not You're not
stupid, you're justinexperienced. Because yeah, if
you're a lawyer, that's thething that you went to law
school for. That's the thingthat you wanted to develop that
(17:34):
expertise in, you shouldn't knowbe a tech takut expert, you
shouldn't be an expert, allthese other aspects of your
business, that's where you gotto hire those people. But you
can't hire those people, unlessyou have the funds to do that.
And you don't have the funds todo that. If you're wasting more
time than money to get the rightpeople get those right processes
(17:55):
in place so that you canactually get to that place to do
that.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (17:58):
Right.
And that's the number one thingthat is a shock factor. You
know, my daughter has been asuccessful entrepreneur for
eight years. And I wanted her tofocus solely on her passion of
what, why she's doing what she'sdoing. And I never wanted her to
lose that. And I guess that was,you know, she was my inspiration
starts gorgeous, just like morepeople need you for what you've
(18:20):
done for me and what you've donefor everybody else that people
don't even know, Mom, you got toget out there and do this,
because you can help so manypeople, you're so knowledgeable,
and she never had to focus onmore or, you know, on the
financial side, we brought in apart time person, she never
thought that the small changes Imade made a big difference. And
(18:41):
she went from 26,000 to 107,000in sales in less than three
years. So it's proof but youknow, it does happen. You just
got to find that right personthat can see the overall picture
of the business, and then makethose changes, just make those
changes that are needed andtrust the processes.
Ali Taylor (19:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, so I know one of thethings that you were, we had
talked about a while back washow, I guess you taught a lot of
the kids in your neighborhoodabout finances and stuff. Can
you share a little bit aboutthat briefly? Oh,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (19:20):
yeah.
So you know, me being in thefinance world, my children, I
always gave them the good, thebad, the ugly and whatever their
father was disabled. very youngage. He became disabled when
they were three and five. So Ialways knew I grew up very poor
in the city of Philadelphia, youknow, born and raised in
Kensington nama Kensington girlwill always hold those roots but
(19:41):
I learned a lot from that world.
And my you know, I knew we werereally poor. You know, I knew we
were really poor and and Iwanted to make sure that my kids
understood how to handle lifestruggles, whether it was good
or bad or whatever. So I taughtmy daughter was able to balance
you No checkbook at 13. My son,they would know if things were
(20:04):
tough financially, they had alittle board, they would write
their little wish list on and weweren't honored if we could
never sheltered financialstruggles with them at all. And
then their friend's parents, youknow, didn't share that. And the
kids would come over to thehouse or whatever. And I was
like, Oh, Mom, could you showthem how to write a check? Mom,
(20:24):
can you? Can you share this. Andthen as these kids went into
college, and then the financialaid, I was helping them with
their financial aid, and I washelping them with doing credit
cards and car getting car loans,and it just kept escalating
before I knew it. And many ofthem were now successful. It's
just the little things that makea difference. Don't shelter your
(20:45):
kids. And financial literacy isvery important for me, because
kids need to know from the verybeginning about financial
understanding and not whenthey're an adult, because that
is the that's not the time tohit them with the shock factor.
Yeah,
Ali Taylor (21:01):
we spent, we got taught so much about how
mitochondria is the powerhouseof the cell, nothing about how
to balance a checkbook, nothingabout how to do financing,
nothing about how to do taxes,like in high school. That is
100%, the thing that isnecessary today. And God, I wish
there were like a million Tina'srunning. Back when I was in high
(21:25):
school, because I can onlyimagine how much difference a
lot of people's lives would beright now, we wouldn't certainly
wouldn't have a student studentloan crisis, if people were just
more educated, more aware ofwhat they were getting into and
signing those contracts, youknow, they might have said, Hey,
I don't actually want that. Ormaybe I don't want to go this
(21:45):
traditional path, maybe I mightwant to explore, you know,
entrepreneurship or going to atrade school or something like
that, you know, something togive them more options, more
freedom inside of how they wantto earn their money. And then
what they want to do with thatmoney once they get it.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (22:00):
Yes, definitely that shiny penny into
the city, the whole, you know,we talked about this, that sales
pitch terminology. And that's Ithink, kind of like some of my
limiting beliefs I had on thatword sales is because of that,
that, look at this little card,this is what it's going to do
for you. And this is and youknow, they sell it to them as
(22:23):
this glorious thing. And thenbefore you know it, they maxed
out a card, and now their creditshot when they go to get married
or buy a car and you're like, ohmy god, that happened when I was
in college. And they're stilldealing with the the damage to
their credit, from theirinexperience of getting credit
cards and college and whatnot.
So that's the thing that thatalways bothers me when I hear
(22:44):
the story. And then I work withtrying to help someone repair
their credit. I don't do it asmuch now that the kids are old,
or you know, much older. Butback then I was I was the
driving force. If someone had afinancial issue, I helped
anybody that needed me.
Ali Taylor (23:00):
Yeah, but I'm also sure that that that plays a part
in businesses today, especiallyif they're trying to qualify for
loans or get funding. A lot ofthose, you know, those mistakes
from an experience will crop upand affect their ability to get
that funding that they need.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (23:16):
Yes, and that's the that's the
biggest thing. See, only a lotof times they will tell you why
they're denying you. But I knowwhy they're denying you. I can
look at your financial healthwhat your p&l is, you know, I
have comedy and analogies. Andwhat do I explain so your p&l,
it's looking crazy, it's an EKGmachine, we're your KPIs, that's
(23:37):
what I call a thermometer. So ifyou relate to things like that,
then it's not too overwhelming,because that's not their term
terminology depends on you know,once you get to the big
corporations and stuff, and thenyou've got that everybody
understands that language, butthey don't understand it. And
when your p&l Looks like an EKGmachine, and you've got some
write offs, it doesn't matter.
You're gonna get denied andextension of credit, you're
(23:59):
gonna get die from loans andgood, I don't understand I made
you know, say $200,000 in profitthis year, why am I being
denied? That is why
Ali Taylor (24:12):
Yeah, cuz it's not your ability to make money. It's
your ability to manage managedebt, I should say,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Ser (24:18):
correct.
Manage the income and theexpenses that are going in and
out. And as long as you looklike you are getting it
together, and you have thathealth, that's what matters.
It's the it's just like yourcredit score in a lot of ways.
It's just like your creditscore. You've got to maintain
that stability andsustainability in order to for a
bank or an investor to look atyou and go okay, they're not as
(24:40):
high risk because you're checkedoff on a box based on your risk
factor, how long you've been inbusiness, what industry you're
in, and all of that other youknow, that other stuff so yeah,
and they a lot of businessowners don't understand that
either.
Ali Taylor (24:56):
Yeah, that just for my or I just had a thought In
terms of, you know, a lot ofbusiness owners, a lot of
entrepreneurs are risk takers.
And they might have the appetitefor risk. But that doesn't mean
that everybody else does,especially the banks. Yeah. So I
think sometimes there's adisconnect between, well, I see
the train, I know what it isthat I'm calling for, I know how
(25:17):
this can work, while everyoneelse is looking at, but these
are all the ways that it canfail, and you just haven't done
enough work to mitigate therisks and all the ways that the
business could fail, to make mewant to invest in it. And I
think there's a place wherebusiness owners kind of, you
know, it takes a lot of ego andsort of confidence, almost a
(25:38):
little delusional, in some ways,especially as economy in this
environment, say, like, Yeah,I'm gonna go out on my own no
safety net, I'm gonna jump offthe cliff, I'll build my plane
on the way down, it takes alittle something to be able to
do that. And if you want to getother people on board, you have
to do as much as you can tobring that level of safety that
(26:01):
to bring that level ofconfidence in terms of the risk
and managing that.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (26:08):
Right.
Right. And, and just know, it'sokay to ask for help, right? If
you happen to get to a pointthat you're so far down, and
what I see a lot of times isbetween that two and six years,
right, right, where you're kindof coming out of your small, you
know, you're in your smallbusiness, and you're starting,
then then between your six yearswhere you're, you know, trying
(26:28):
to expand or grow or whateveryou're trying to do. But there's
that that stability issue that'scoming up, you may have had high
turnover, but don't know why. Orall kinds of work, have it maybe
had to do some cutbacks, or somechanges, and turnover is not
healthy in itself. I mean,that's very, that's expensive to
someone and hire them and trainthem. And that's the thing
(26:49):
people need to look at, it'sokay to ask for help. That's
what we're here for. We're hereto help keep you sustainable and
financially growing, becausenothing makes me happier than to
see that. And I know you cancall it whatever you want to
call. But that's just what Ilove to do. It's just the
greatest reward for me to beable to offer that to a
(27:11):
business.
Ali Taylor (27:14):
Yeah, same. Same I'm drinking out of my mug, it says
be the guide. So this was backfrom when I was a story brand
certified guide with DonaldMiller. And a whole thing of
function of that marketing andmessaging piece was that you as
a business owner, your businessis no longer the hero of the
story, your customer is the heroand that you want to play the
(27:35):
guide. And so when we were whenwe were on your Summit, five
areas and World Summit lastSaturday, you know, you talked
about how I show up as like aSherpa, like climbing up the
mountain with people side byside. And so I hear that with
you as well in terms of yeah,we're we're guides were shoulder
to shoulder with people, guidingthem to the next level guide
(27:58):
them into the next area ofgrowth and development inside of
this business. I think so manybusiness owners just carry
around a lot of sort ofinternalized shame, about asking
for help, or having to admitthat, hey, you know, I don't
feel qualified in his area, or,you know, I'm really good at
going out and selling thebusiness, but I have no idea how
(28:21):
to manage your team, or managethe finances of it so that
people really understand that itis okay, as a business owner to
ask for help. I don't care howmany articles or op eds have
been written about, you know,billionaires that are that are
hit her in our economy rightnow. They didn't do it without
(28:44):
help. The whole segment,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (28:46):
right, even though it looks like they
didn't There's people behind thescenes. And that's, that's,
that's what I always was, youknow, I was the wizard behind
the curtain for so many yearsand my little fishbowl, now I'm
in the big ocean, swim, and swimand swim and down the Jetstream
with the turtles. And it's justbeen a great, great experience
(29:06):
to learn about a lot morebusinesses and help you know,
help them grow and prosper andget to that that area that they
want to be in because that's thethat's the value you bring to
this economy right now. Andanything that we can do, I'll
link in our Super Girl andSuperman mentality. That's what
it's all about.
Ali Taylor (29:25):
Yeah, well, speaking of superheroes, right? A lot of
the superheroes they kind of getthat conviction through some
type of tragedy that occurred,right with Superman. It's the
death of obviously his planetbut also the death of podcasts.
With Peter Parker, it's thedeath of you know, Uncle Ben. So
for you, can you share like acritical moment in your business
(29:51):
that was like a challenge andobstacle that you had to
overcome? That really cementedthe clarity and a vision and a
purpose that you Have for yourbusiness now.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (30:03):
Well, yeah, I think the the the
challenges I've had is reallygrowing a new network, right my
network and my fishbowl wasgreat everybody knew me I was
you know referred here referredeverybody knew me now I'm in a
bigger network on there longerin you know little Burlington,
North Carolina now nationwide.
You know, some people know meglobally. So it's that part of
(30:25):
it is the network broadeningyour horizons and finding the
right people right? Sometimesit's may not be the right people
in your same city or the samestate you do have to broaden
because there's all this stuffbig world out here. big ol
Goshen, no fishbowl. And so justlearning that and networking
more, with more, folks is whatwhat I had to learn. And believe
(30:48):
it or not, I'll a getting oncamera and speaking to people,
because who has the time to goto every door now though? Hello,
I'm Tina Meeks here. Welcome.
Well, we don't have that timeanyway, you know, we don't have
that time. And we don't peopledon't read newspapers as much.
So you can't put those littleinserts we probably remember
from the 80s and 90s. So nowit's very important for you to
(31:11):
get out there and get your faceon camera and let people know
what you do. Because peoplepeople have to know and see you
and say, Oh, wow, she is real.
And then eventually you cantouch me and say yes, she's
real. But that's how it is. It'slike if you're afraid to get on
camera, and you're a businessowner, and you're out there
servicing your community, it'sgoing to be vital to the health
(31:34):
of your company, because peopleneed to see you, they need to
know you, they need to like you,they need to know that you can
solve their problem. And if youcan't get on camera, there's
going to be a problem to be ableto speak to people.
Ali Taylor (31:49):
Yep, I can tell you right now that that piece that
you said right there is gonnaget clipped and it's going to be
shared over and over and overagain, I will try a lot of the
businesses back when I wasfocusing on the marketing stuff
with Dell marketing designstudio. In terms of advising
clients, and I had about luck,you got to get on camera.
(32:12):
There's a lot that I can do interms of behind the scenes and
graphics and creating stuff andall that but people need to see
you they need to hear directlyfrom you, they need a hearing in
your words. If you're relying onchat GBT or AI or all these
other tools to sort of outsourceyour identity and your presence,
(32:34):
it's just not going to besuccessful, successful or
sustainable in the long run.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (32:39):
No, and you are you're dead right
there it has to be becauseanybody can write a beautiful
paragraph about you to be ableto be confident in what you do
to offer that service. Becauseif you are not confident and
lack that ability to speak, eventhough you can master it right
(32:59):
behind the scenes, trust me. Butif you're not confident enough
to implement that, and make thathappen, for them, there's
somebody else's, they're gonnafind that it's gonna be able to
do that same service for thesame price, most likely, and
they're gonna go there, becausethat's just what it's about.
It's a different world now thanit was 1020 years ago. People
want to visually see you.
Ali Taylor (33:22):
Yeah, they want to, they want to be able to connect
with you, they want to be ableto get a sense of who is it that
I'm gonna be handing my moneyover to? Who am I gonna be
handing over my, you know, mybusiness? My, you know, if
you're somebody who's doing mywills, estates and trusts or
whatnot, who am I handing overthose documents and relying upon
(33:43):
to set me up? In all the waysthat I need to be set up, you
know, secure my future, like,who am I really doing that
business with. And if you're notable to put your ego aside to be
able to say, like, I get it,people don't like public's
public speaking, they hate thesound of their voices, they
don't like the way that theylook on camera, that's fine. But
when it comes to really havingyour skill, your expertise to be
(34:08):
out there, people need to beable to see that even if it's
just one video of you talkingand just really demonstrating
the breadth and the depth ofyour experience and your
knowledge. And that's all thetime you get it. The fact that
it's out there and people cancome back to it, right? We live
in this digital world wherethose things can go on a
perpetuity. If you can just makethat one asset. It will do so
(34:31):
much more for your business. Andwe make our jobs easier to
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (34:34):
write exactly. And trust me I'm I'm
the poster child of not wantingto get on camera. I had seven
people on my business. I didn'thave I didn't hardly use
Facebook, Instagram, all of mystuff was locked down. So trust
me, I can guarantee you it'svery tough to come out of that
but you have to break thatbecause you can do it. You know,
(34:57):
you can definitely do it and benice I mean, or you weren't nor
not whatever you choose.
Ali Taylor (35:04):
Yeah, I think it just comes back to that thing we
were talking about in terms ofbeing a guy, when you put aside
your ego, and you're like, whois it that observing, right?
What do they need, if you canget over yourself to be in
service of other people, that'swhat's gonna make your business
really successful.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (35:25):
It's what it's about serving others,
right? You help if you helpyourself, you'd help strengthen
your client base, you bring inmore positivity throughout your
employment, your team, throughthe community, it just, it just
ripples, and then you're takingit home for your family and
you're showing all of itgreatness, that you are, you
(35:45):
know, just exude operating outof yourself, and you're no
longer in that position you'rein and you're showing some
prosperity and growth andprofitability, nothing makes
someone more happier knowingthat they've got somebody right
there with them hand withshoulder to shoulder this to
(36:06):
fist right there with them.
Because that's what it's about.
Yeah,
Ali Taylor (36:09):
that's what we need.
I feel like it's so manydifferent ways. Like, there's so
many resources that are outthere for that the government
does provide for smallbusinesses, but for you to get
access to them to even find outabout them. Sometimes it feels
like you're like you have to gothrough a labyrinth. Like you've
got to answer you know, theriddles three in order to get
access to the resources that youreally need. And so I love, you
(36:32):
know, like what we're doinghere, being able to make this
more accessible to people, sothey can get access to other
people's wisdom and experiencesand stuff they have. And so my
next question for you is, so foryour, for your business for your
company, what is the vision thatyou have for what you want to
(36:52):
accomplish this year?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (36:56):
Um, yes, my vision is to grab, you
know, be able to service morecompanies in different
industries. My focus, of course,is the licensed professionals,
the property management, theattorneys, small, firm
attorneys, real estateinvestors, but I do work with
midsize to larger corporationsif needed. I just continued it.
(37:20):
But you know, whatever I can doto help and then continue to
grow my team. I've definitelyhave, you know, a roster of
people looking forward toworking with me, and I'm honored
for that. People that have knownme for years that would say, if
you ever started a business, letme know. And so, you know, I'm
calling all those people andthey are on standby. And it's
just the greatest feeling toknow that you made such an
(37:43):
impact as a leader or team leadand a company that you work for
people that know, you know, mydaughter or whatnot, it's a
great feeling to know that Ihave people that are so ready to
work with me. And I don't liketo say work under me, because I
don't look at the superiorinferior thing. It's a team
effort. I always say that ittakes a village score II is not
(38:05):
going to be successful just byTina beats alone. It's going to
take my entire team, and all ofthe collaboration of everybody's
mindset to make everythingsuccess. So I continue will
continue to grow. I'm lookingforward to going to a narco,
which is the NationalAssociation of real estate
property management conferencein Charlotte, the end of this
(38:25):
month. And so I've kind of getmy heels wet a little bit in
that arena. And yeah, sopossibilities are endless. I
really look forward tocontinuing to work more outside
of North Carolina as well.
Ali Taylor (38:38):
Yeah, awesome.
Awesome. All right. So I haveone more question. But before we
get to that, if somebody wantedto work with you, you know,
what's the where should they go?
What do they need to do? Do youhave any kind of like offer for
anybody that's watching this?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (38:55):
Yeah, yes, I have a calendar on
Calendly. You should be able tofind all the access to it on my
website. It's for E one to eservices.com. And I have two
sections. One is for the midsize to the corporations, I
offer a 30 minute discoverycall. And then I have for the
(39:16):
sole sole solopreneurssolopreneurs. And maybe the
smaller companies. We do like a15 minute review to see what
their needs are and then we gofrom there. But I offer those
free because my thing is to makea difference. And talking to you
is where that where you start.
That's the first step toprosperity.
Ali Taylor (39:37):
Awesome. Awesome.
All right. Well as ourconversation comes to a close,
what is one piece of wisdom thatyou would like to leave our
audience with? For thejournalists in their business?
Oh, a
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (39:51):
lot of good wisdom. Hmm, well, you
have only one I would say Havefun, laugh, have a sense of
humor. And no matter whathappens in any event, or any
day, find the positive. In yourday, don't go to bed with a
(40:15):
negative attitude, find thepositive what I call the silver
lining and everything. Nothingis ever a mistake. Nothing is
ever I shouldn't, you know,shouldn't have done that wrong
choices. Everything is alearning experience. Just take
whatever comes at you and say,wow, I've learned something new
today, and ended with a positivethought in your mind and move
(40:36):
on. That's what I say.
Ali Taylor (40:39):
Yeah, that's a great piece of wisdom. I think a lot
of people would do themselves afavor, by just finding something
to you know, be grateful forlaugh about at the end of the
day, because you got to becauseyou got to get up and do it
again tomorrow.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (40:56):
That's right. Yes. I'm always a
character. Never a dull momentaround me. I always have
something funny or comical, or,I mean, being in the world of
finance, I guess I had todevelop that funny bone.
Ali Taylor (41:09):
To be a pretty, it could either be a dry topic or
depending on the state ofsomebody's finances, it could be
a very devastating topic. Sothat sense of humor. really
necessary.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (41:22):
Yeah, you want to relax them as best
you can without giving them acup of brandy or whatever. We
want to relax them on. I want tokeep them well, well above to
answer questions and yeah, justhave a sense of humor about it.
It's okay. It really is okay. Atthe end of the day, it's going
to be okay. It always will be.
Ali Taylor (41:42):
Yeah, absolutely.
All right. Well, Tina, thank youso much for joining me today on
no points. No Wednesday wisdomseries. This is Ali Taylor from
wisdom and Wayfinder and I willsee you next week. Thank
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (41:55):
you, Ali. Take care everybody.
All right, hello, hello. Welcome to the very first
Wednesday wisdom series here. Iam Ali Taylor. I'm the founder
and CEO of wisdom and Wayfinder,where we help licensed
professional service brands getto a clear path for growth and
profitability. And the wholething with the Wednesday wisdom
(00:53):
series is that listen, unlessyou've discovered the secret to
everlasting life or immortality,you don't have enough time in
the world to make all themistakes and learn all the
lessons there are about running,growing and scaling a business.
And so I've spent the last 10 to15 years of my professional
life, developing relationshipswith experts and professionals
(01:16):
who are at the top in theirfield in different areas. And
being able to bring in thosepeople to address certain
problems, situations that comeup inside of a business. And I
am very fortunate to have one ofmy favorite new people that I've
met recently. She's also mycousin from Krypton, we have a
shared love of Superman, andSuper Girl. But here with me
(01:39):
today is Tina Meeks from scoringservices. Tina has a diverse in
in depth knowledge ranging fromfinancial controller to it data
analysis analyst. In thissegment, she will be sharing
three proven strategies ofmastering sustained
profitability in variousindustries in the last 20 years,
(02:00):
which allows her to solveproblems in weeks that would
require small to mid sizedbusinesses to hire a group of
eight to 11 positions in thesame collaboration efforts in 30
days or less. I told you she wasSuperman or Supergirl before I
met it. And so say hello, Tina.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (02:17):
Oh, I love it. Thank you, Ali, for
all the kind words. Thank you.
Hi, everybody. It's a pleasure,Ali as well. Thank
Ali Taylor (02:25):
you. Yeah, of course, of course. Well, again,
thank you for being here today.
And so I'd like you to justshare a little bit about how you
got started in your business.
What's the thought behind storylike, how do you get started,
and you know, what inspired youto start this business?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (02:44):
Well, I've always been a problem
solver ever since I was fouryears old, learning how to
French braid, one of my friendshair. And then I realized I had
a knack for technology when Iwas at started computers in
school at 15. And then startedreally getting the computers
have a job and then program myfirst memory writer, typewriter
(03:04):
18. So I just evolved from therebecame a problem solver. And
then I ended up in accounting 20years ago, after building an,
you know, an ERP or businesssystem, ERP they call them. And
I learned accounting. And then Ifelt that, ironically, my
obsession and addiction togaining profitability by
(03:27):
watching data straight throughand back again, also was offered
with timing, reporting andvisibility, fixing those
problems, and the profitabilitywas the benefit. So it was very
interesting. And I've done it solong now on every position, I'm
always trying to streamline andfigure something out and solve a
problem reduce man hours, that'sjust like my addict. And it's
(03:51):
just been interesting. So Ifigured, well, I've done this so
much with other businesses,imagine how many businesses that
can help being a consultant. Soif you're a man,
Ali Taylor (04:01):
yeah, that's awesome. And it's interesting
how our paths have sort of, sortof aligned in that same way of
just wanting to solve problems.
And you sort of pick up allthese different skills because
you see a new problem and you'relike, Okay, well, let me figure
out how to solve that. You cansee the benefit to the other
people. And so you just keepadding all these different
skills and superpowers, if youwill, to be able to help them.
(04:24):
So yeah, so tell me a little bitmore about, you know, why
financial services and why, andparticularly for the wisdom and
Wayfinder audience, I focus onlicensed professional services.
So that's, you know, theinsurance agencies, the
accounting firms, the law firms,you know, chiropractors,
therapists, like all of thosedifferent types of brands, but
(04:47):
why did you get into theaccounting part of it and what
is it that you see forbusinesses in terms of
profitability and growth?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (04:58):
Well, the accounting part of like
counting the financial part ofit as an umbrella is, what is
the benefit of what I do? Myfocus is streamlining processes,
fixing processes, whether it'sthrough the system and also day
to day processes, because thosetwo components along with an
input the right employee in theright seat, or is what's
(05:20):
valuable, really inprofitability. So if you have a
system you're using, and somecompanies depend on how much
bigger they are, they have twoand three systems that are
integrating with each other.
Well, who's keeping an eye onthat integration? What about the
enhancements when a code ischanged? You someone's got to be
knowledgeable to know when thatcode gets changed to look at any
hiccups, because then you've gotbottlenecks going on with data,
(05:43):
transactional data, and that'saffecting your income. And you
may not know it, you know,reports, updating reports, and
then your day to day processes.
So how many people out therehave standard operating
procedures that they have fortheir company and keep them
updated? So as times change, sodoes your standard operating
(06:03):
procedures or aka SOPs, as thosechange who's updating them, so
you've got turnover, new peoplecoming in, you don't want to
keep reinventing the wheel,because if it worked like a well
oiled machine, you want to keepthat well oiled machine going,
no matter who comes in andgetting, you know, the right
people in the right positions,the financial part is just the
(06:23):
benefit, because I have a lot ofknowledge on that part, and
reference to the profitabilitythe costing a lot of your
clients, for example, or feedriven Ali. So these also need
to be looked at and you know,you got market strategy you want
to look at in reference to I dohave clients that are attorneys,
property manager, real estateinvestors, those are all fee
(06:44):
driven companies. So you alsowant to value your fee schedule,
how long has it been? Sinceyou've updated it? How often do
you do a market survey? Sothere's a lot of other things
that are looked at, and it's allpart of my systems and
processes, and then reducingexpenses to maximize your
profitability when it's all saidand done. So that's really what
(07:05):
I what I love to do. It's moreit level driven, but the benefit
is the accounting component ofit all.
Ali Taylor (07:13):
Yeah, that's really fantastic. And, and I'm just
imagining a business ownerlistening to this being like,
yeah, yeah, I need to do allthat I need to do all that, like
everything you said, like therewas checking off a box. But it's
like, where should? Where dothey need to get started? Right?
Because I can guarantee ifyou're asking a business owner
or busy business owner aboutstandard operating procedures or
(07:37):
systems checklist, it'ssomewhere in there floating
around in their brain, or it'son a napkin somewhere in the
bottom of their drawer, if theydon't have any of this stuff.
Maybe they hired somebody awhile ago, and it's buried in
some email. But if they weregoing to try to do this for this
year, you know, 2024, what'slike the first thing that you
(07:58):
would recommend for them to do?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (08:00):
The first thing we need, the first
thing they want to do is youhave what I focus on my
strategy. One is let's look athow much is hitting your age
receivables report, where's yourbilling at right now is any of
your billing manually beingdone? Are you behind on getting
the billing in, and then youwant and then of course, I focus
on fee structure or costaccounting and where you are
(08:21):
depending on what industryyou're in, in reference to that.
So that's that's the threecomponents were the look at
those focus on cash flow first,because then when we get the
cash flow coming in, then therest of it, you know, the rest
of it is then we get into theexpenses, then the standard
operating procedures, because wegot to get some normal
consistent patterns going in, inyour day to day operations.
(08:45):
Because you do want to focus onthe finance and handling the
customer service and make sureyou're delivering the product,
the end stage that is feedback,I apologize, the end stage of
operating and making sure thatyou know you have this
(09:09):
consistency going forward. Andof course, I'm just not
abandoning effect either. Once Icome in and I get the cash flow,
then we look at all the expensesand I have my my army with me as
we call the Justice League, Ihave a bunch of business
referral partners and I willbring them in with their value
and their expertise to get youre quoted looking at your
(09:31):
policies. Let's look at this.
Let's look at this expense. Andso we're looking at that to see
where our expenses and then thethird strategy is keeping up
with you making sure you knowlooking at your expenses, making
sure that you're getting taxstrategies taken off, because a
lot of times at the end of theyear they're so exhausted, you
know every business owner thatI've ever met and there's no
fault because it's not their cupof tea. Every smile that's on my
(09:54):
plate for next week. And beforeyou know it we're at Tech
season, we're at the end of theyear. And now we've got to get
everything ready for taxes, andthey're so overwhelmed. And the
CPA doesn't have time to answer50 questions that you should
have and had all year long. Sothen you get to that part, and
you're like, Just do it. Andthen all of a sudden, because of
(10:14):
that lack of ability to be ableto get that done, you are
probably paying for five to sixtimes higher in tax tax to Uncle
Sam than he probably shouldhave. So having someone like me
come in and literally see itfrom the very beginning all the
way through your processes andback and monitor keep you
(10:34):
healthy, and sustainable. Youare, I promise you, you will pay
much less at the end of theyear, and I pretty much my
position would pay you literallytwo, three times less than what
you would have paid to UncleSam. So there's great value in
that. And then just imagine theholidays, right? Most people are
wanting to spend time with yourfamily. But a lot of people in
(10:56):
the finance world are dealingwith urine processes. Just
imagine all of that going away,and your staff being able to
just focus on thing today andhave that time with their family
and have someone like me comingin and keeping you healthy and
sustainable. Basically, youknow, that person behind the
curtain just keeping you goingand less stress, work life
balance and profitability whodoesn't want to have more money
(11:19):
in their pocket at the end ofthe day?
Ali Taylor (11:24):
Yeah, I don't know anybody who would say no to
that. Yeah. So there's therewere a couple of things that you
said there that I really loved,especially with, you know, I
talked about, you know, growthand profitability and a clear
path to growth andprofitability. And I think
there's two ways to get therefor growth, right, you can
either grow through expansion,which is either increasing the
(11:46):
prices, increasing the number ofcustomers that you have
increasing the frequency atwhich you're selling your
products or your services,there's a growth through
expansion. And then there's thegrowth through contraction,
which is reducing thoseexpenses, you know, mitigating
those risks, or, like you said,in terms of, hey, if we get all
these processes in place, first,and we have, you know, we
(12:09):
review, whatever you're payingfor your insurances, or for your
different policies, where you'refreezing your fee structure, we
can reduce the amount thatyou're paying to the silence,
but ever greedy partner, that isUncle Sam. Everybody's business,
right? So I really love what yousaid about those two things.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (12:31):
Yes, definitely. I mean, Uncle Sam
gets enough, right? You needmore money in your pocket in
order to stay as successful andget to your legacy business that
you started out. However, thatwas two years, six years, 10
years, 20 years, whatever thatis.
Ali Taylor (12:48):
Yeah, yeah. Can you tell me so can you share with
me, you know, a particularexample of someone that you did?
Have that sort of result withit? What? Not necessarily in
their business, but on the otherside of their business? What did
they get to do that they weren'table to do before, because they
were so locked in and trapped bytheir own success of their
(13:11):
business. That you were able tohelp them do that?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (13:16):
Yeah, um, well, I have a current
client, who is in the legalfield. And he has been doing it
all on his own, since he startedthe company and how he has done
that on his own. So I startedwith him in September, mid
(13:37):
September. And again, what Iwant to stress is small changes
make big differences. We startedoff with heart, we started with
the age recording, making surethe billing was there, we
tackled that, then we were ableto bring in an assistant, a
legal assistant, I was able totrain the legal assistant, get
them started, take that off hisplate, let him focus on his
(13:58):
legal side. Then once we gotthat we were able to do some
automation, get some thingsautomated and had that ability
to do that. While I continued towork on the collections and
billing and kind of getcustomized with their his
customers. And then as ofMonday, we now brought in a
second legal system. So it's anew thing. So literally in just
(14:20):
a few months, he's he's blownaway. He's like, I cannot
believe how I did this all bymyself. And now I have you know,
you you know you as aconsultant, kind of guiding me
through what I need technologywise, we're about to implement
the phone system for him. Andjust bring in now into
assistance, get them trained,you know, find the right people
(14:40):
for the right seats, and thenget them trained and then
building this the standardoperating procedures as we go
and now we're getting ready tofully automate on an intake
level side. All his social mediahas been updated. So again, all
of this is mid September, andwe've really started focusing
middle to end of October. SoWe're now at February 7. So you
(15:02):
just imagine the impact ispretty quick, you will notice a
difference very fast. Smalldifferences, small changes make
big differences.
Ali Taylor (15:12):
Yeah, that is so cool. And I'm sure one, he
probably just looks so muchyounger, right? Because he's
actually getting sleep now.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (15:23):
Yeah, it's it's important. I mean, he
has two young, young youngdaughters, and he's married. And
you know, you want to keep thatwork life balance, you know,
it's so very important, becauseyou will eventually burn out and
just get exhausted. And that'smy thing, I look at the overall
the overall picture of where wecan tackle first, that's going
(15:44):
to make the greatest impact,then we go to Strategy two, then
we go to Strategy three, forlong term goal. And it works
every single time with anyoneI've ever done in any industry
of any professional at any area,it works. It's not that hard.
It's just finding that rightperson to make all the puzzle
pieces match up. Because everyin that and you know, you hear
(16:06):
people always say, Well, I'mjust stupid. That's technology's
just not my thing. I said, youknow, it's ever stupid. It's an
inexperience. It's a newexperience. And it's not your
cup of tea. So why would youwant your lawyer? Why would you
want to deal with technology? Orfinance? Why would you want to
deal with finance, that's myarea. That's what I love to do.
I love to watch theprofitability grow that call
(16:28):
that an addiction, call that anobsession. That's what I do.
When I see that happen. And Ican cash forecast and project
and double and triple your yourcompany. That, to me is well
worth everything. Because Iknow, in the end, that's what
matters is keeping yousustainable in the current
climate that we're in right now.
Ali Taylor (16:49):
Yeah, I'm so glad that you say that, like, because
so many business owners, I don'tknow, I don't know where this
idea came from. I know, Icertainly subscribe to it. For a
while when I was getting mybusiness started. It was like,
No, I have to do everything, Ihave to hustle, I have to grind.
I'm gonna learn all thesedifferent areas of my business.
And there's just that feeling ofshame. Like, I can't ask for
(17:12):
help, right? Because then maybeI'm not a good business owner,
maybe I don't have any business,you know, being a business
owner. And so I love what yousaid about it's not You're not
stupid, you're justinexperienced. Because yeah, if
you're a lawyer, that's thething that you went to law
school for. That's the thingthat you wanted to develop that
(17:34):
expertise in, you shouldn't knowbe a tech takut expert, you
shouldn't be an expert, allthese other aspects of your
business, that's where you gotto hire those people. But you
can't hire those people, unlessyou have the funds to do that.
And you don't have the funds todo that. If you're wasting more
time than money to get the rightpeople get those right processes
(17:55):
in place so that you canactually get to that place to do
that.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (17:58):
Right.
And that's the number one thingthat is a shock factor. You
know, my daughter has been asuccessful entrepreneur for
eight years. And I wanted her tofocus solely on her passion of
what, why she's doing what she'sdoing. And I never wanted her to
lose that. And I guess that was,you know, she was my inspiration
starts gorgeous, just like morepeople need you for what you've
(18:20):
done for me and what you've donefor everybody else that people
don't even know, Mom, you got toget out there and do this,
because you can help so manypeople, you're so knowledgeable,
and she never had to focus onmore or, you know, on the
financial side, we brought in apart time person, she never
thought that the small changes Imade made a big difference. And
(18:41):
she went from 26,000 to 107,000in sales in less than three
years. So it's proof but youknow, it does happen. You just
got to find that right personthat can see the overall picture
of the business, and then makethose changes, just make those
changes that are needed andtrust the processes.
Ali Taylor (19:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, so I know one of thethings that you were, we had
talked about a while back washow, I guess you taught a lot of
the kids in your neighborhoodabout finances and stuff. Can
you share a little bit aboutthat briefly? Oh,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (19:20):
yeah.
So you know, me being in thefinance world, my children, I
always gave them the good, thebad, the ugly and whatever their
father was disabled. very youngage. He became disabled when
they were three and five. So Ialways knew I grew up very poor
in the city of Philadelphia, youknow, born and raised in
Kensington nama Kensington girlwill always hold those roots but
(19:41):
I learned a lot from that world.
And my you know, I knew we werereally poor. You know, I knew we
were really poor and and Iwanted to make sure that my kids
understood how to handle lifestruggles, whether it was good
or bad or whatever. So I taughtmy daughter was able to balance
you No checkbook at 13. My son,they would know if things were
(20:04):
tough financially, they had alittle board, they would write
their little wish list on and weweren't honored if we could
never sheltered financialstruggles with them at all. And
then their friend's parents, youknow, didn't share that. And the
kids would come over to thehouse or whatever. And I was
like, Oh, Mom, could you showthem how to write a check? Mom,
(20:24):
can you? Can you share this. Andthen as these kids went into
college, and then the financialaid, I was helping them with
their financial aid, and I washelping them with doing credit
cards and car getting car loans,and it just kept escalating
before I knew it. And many ofthem were now successful. It's
just the little things that makea difference. Don't shelter your
(20:45):
kids. And financial literacy isvery important for me, because
kids need to know from the verybeginning about financial
understanding and not whenthey're an adult, because that
is the that's not the time tohit them with the shock factor.
Yeah,
Ali Taylor (21:01):
we spent, we got taught so much about how
mitochondria is the powerhouseof the cell, nothing about how
to balance a checkbook, nothingabout how to do financing,
nothing about how to do taxes,like in high school. That is
100%, the thing that isnecessary today. And God, I wish
there were like a million Tina'srunning. Back when I was in high
(21:25):
school, because I can onlyimagine how much difference a
lot of people's lives would beright now, we wouldn't certainly
wouldn't have a student studentloan crisis, if people were just
more educated, more aware ofwhat they were getting into and
signing those contracts, youknow, they might have said, Hey,
I don't actually want that. Ormaybe I don't want to go this
(21:45):
traditional path, maybe I mightwant to explore, you know,
entrepreneurship or going to atrade school or something like
that, you know, something togive them more options, more
freedom inside of how they wantto earn their money. And then
what they want to do with thatmoney once they get it.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (22:00):
Yes, definitely that shiny penny into
the city, the whole, you know,we talked about this, that sales
pitch terminology. And that's Ithink, kind of like some of my
limiting beliefs I had on thatword sales is because of that,
that, look at this little card,this is what it's going to do
for you. And this is and youknow, they sell it to them as
(22:23):
this glorious thing. And thenbefore you know it, they maxed
out a card, and now their creditshot when they go to get married
or buy a car and you're like, ohmy god, that happened when I was
in college. And they're stilldealing with the the damage to
their credit, from theirinexperience of getting credit
cards and college and whatnot.
So that's the thing that thatalways bothers me when I hear
(22:44):
the story. And then I work withtrying to help someone repair
their credit. I don't do it asmuch now that the kids are old,
or you know, much older. Butback then I was I was the
driving force. If someone had afinancial issue, I helped
anybody that needed me.
Ali Taylor (23:00):
Yeah, but I'm also sure that that that plays a part
in businesses today, especiallyif they're trying to qualify for
loans or get funding. A lot ofthose, you know, those mistakes
from an experience will crop upand affect their ability to get
that funding that they need.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (23:16):
Yes, and that's the that's the
biggest thing. See, only a lotof times they will tell you why
they're denying you. But I knowwhy they're denying you. I can
look at your financial healthwhat your p&l is, you know, I
have comedy and analogies. Andwhat do I explain so your p&l,
it's looking crazy, it's an EKGmachine, we're your KPIs, that's
(23:37):
what I call a thermometer. So ifyou relate to things like that,
then it's not too overwhelming,because that's not their term
terminology depends on you know,once you get to the big
corporations and stuff, and thenyou've got that everybody
understands that language, butthey don't understand it. And
when your p&l Looks like an EKGmachine, and you've got some
write offs, it doesn't matter.
You're gonna get denied andextension of credit, you're
(23:59):
gonna get die from loans andgood, I don't understand I made
you know, say $200,000 in profitthis year, why am I being
denied? That is why
Ali Taylor (24:12):
Yeah, cuz it's not your ability to make money. It's
your ability to manage managedebt, I should say,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Ser (24:18):
correct.
Manage the income and theexpenses that are going in and
out. And as long as you looklike you are getting it
together, and you have thathealth, that's what matters.
It's the it's just like yourcredit score in a lot of ways.
It's just like your creditscore. You've got to maintain
that stability andsustainability in order to for a
bank or an investor to look atyou and go okay, they're not as
(24:40):
high risk because you're checkedoff on a box based on your risk
factor, how long you've been inbusiness, what industry you're
in, and all of that other youknow, that other stuff so yeah,
and they a lot of businessowners don't understand that
either.
Ali Taylor (24:56):
Yeah, that just for my or I just had a thought In
terms of, you know, a lot ofbusiness owners, a lot of
entrepreneurs are risk takers.
And they might have the appetitefor risk. But that doesn't mean
that everybody else does,especially the banks. Yeah. So I
think sometimes there's adisconnect between, well, I see
the train, I know what it isthat I'm calling for, I know how
(25:17):
this can work, while everyoneelse is looking at, but these
are all the ways that it canfail, and you just haven't done
enough work to mitigate therisks and all the ways that the
business could fail, to make mewant to invest in it. And I
think there's a place wherebusiness owners kind of, you
know, it takes a lot of ego andsort of confidence, almost a
(25:38):
little delusional, in some ways,especially as economy in this
environment, say, like, Yeah,I'm gonna go out on my own no
safety net, I'm gonna jump offthe cliff, I'll build my plane
on the way down, it takes alittle something to be able to
do that. And if you want to getother people on board, you have
to do as much as you can tobring that level of safety that
(26:01):
to bring that level ofconfidence in terms of the risk
and managing that.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (26:08):
Right.
Right. And, and just know, it'sokay to ask for help, right? If
you happen to get to a pointthat you're so far down, and
what I see a lot of times isbetween that two and six years,
right, right, where you're kindof coming out of your small, you
know, you're in your smallbusiness, and you're starting,
then then between your six yearswhere you're, you know, trying
(26:28):
to expand or grow or whateveryou're trying to do. But there's
that that stability issue that'scoming up, you may have had high
turnover, but don't know why. Orall kinds of work, have it maybe
had to do some cutbacks, or somechanges, and turnover is not
healthy in itself. I mean,that's very, that's expensive to
someone and hire them and trainthem. And that's the thing
(26:49):
people need to look at, it'sokay to ask for help. That's
what we're here for. We're hereto help keep you sustainable and
financially growing, becausenothing makes me happier than to
see that. And I know you cancall it whatever you want to
call. But that's just what Ilove to do. It's just the
greatest reward for me to beable to offer that to a
(27:11):
business.
Ali Taylor (27:14):
Yeah, same. Same I'm drinking out of my mug, it says
be the guide. So this was backfrom when I was a story brand
certified guide with DonaldMiller. And a whole thing of
function of that marketing andmessaging piece was that you as
a business owner, your businessis no longer the hero of the
story, your customer is the heroand that you want to play the
(27:35):
guide. And so when we were whenwe were on your Summit, five
areas and World Summit lastSaturday, you know, you talked
about how I show up as like aSherpa, like climbing up the
mountain with people side byside. And so I hear that with
you as well in terms of yeah,we're we're guides were shoulder
to shoulder with people, guidingthem to the next level guide
(27:58):
them into the next area ofgrowth and development inside of
this business. I think so manybusiness owners just carry
around a lot of sort ofinternalized shame, about asking
for help, or having to admitthat, hey, you know, I don't
feel qualified in his area, or,you know, I'm really good at
going out and selling thebusiness, but I have no idea how
(28:21):
to manage your team, or managethe finances of it so that
people really understand that itis okay, as a business owner to
ask for help. I don't care howmany articles or op eds have
been written about, you know,billionaires that are that are
hit her in our economy rightnow. They didn't do it without
(28:44):
help. The whole segment,
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (28:46):
right, even though it looks like they
didn't There's people behind thescenes. And that's, that's,
that's what I always was, youknow, I was the wizard behind
the curtain for so many yearsand my little fishbowl, now I'm
in the big ocean, swim, and swimand swim and down the Jetstream
with the turtles. And it's justbeen a great, great experience
(29:06):
to learn about a lot morebusinesses and help you know,
help them grow and prosper andget to that that area that they
want to be in because that's thethat's the value you bring to
this economy right now. Andanything that we can do, I'll
link in our Super Girl andSuperman mentality. That's what
it's all about.
Ali Taylor (29:25):
Yeah, well, speaking of superheroes, right? A lot of
the superheroes they kind of getthat conviction through some
type of tragedy that occurred,right with Superman. It's the
death of obviously his planetbut also the death of podcasts.
With Peter Parker, it's thedeath of you know, Uncle Ben. So
for you, can you share like acritical moment in your business
(29:51):
that was like a challenge andobstacle that you had to
overcome? That really cementedthe clarity and a vision and a
purpose that you Have for yourbusiness now.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (30:03):
Well, yeah, I think the the the
challenges I've had is reallygrowing a new network, right my
network and my fishbowl wasgreat everybody knew me I was
you know referred here referredeverybody knew me now I'm in a
bigger network on there longerin you know little Burlington,
North Carolina now nationwide.
You know, some people know meglobally. So it's that part of
(30:25):
it is the network broadeningyour horizons and finding the
right people right? Sometimesit's may not be the right people
in your same city or the samestate you do have to broaden
because there's all this stuffbig world out here. big ol
Goshen, no fishbowl. And so justlearning that and networking
more, with more, folks is whatwhat I had to learn. And believe
(30:48):
it or not, I'll a getting oncamera and speaking to people,
because who has the time to goto every door now though? Hello,
I'm Tina Meeks here. Welcome.
Well, we don't have that timeanyway, you know, we don't have
that time. And we don't peopledon't read newspapers as much.
So you can't put those littleinserts we probably remember
from the 80s and 90s. So nowit's very important for you to
(31:11):
get out there and get your faceon camera and let people know
what you do. Because peoplepeople have to know and see you
and say, Oh, wow, she is real.
And then eventually you cantouch me and say yes, she's
real. But that's how it is. It'slike if you're afraid to get on
camera, and you're a businessowner, and you're out there
servicing your community, it'sgoing to be vital to the health
(31:34):
of your company, because peopleneed to see you, they need to
know you, they need to like you,they need to know that you can
solve their problem. And if youcan't get on camera, there's
going to be a problem to be ableto speak to people.
Ali Taylor (31:49):
Yep, I can tell you right now that that piece that
you said right there is gonnaget clipped and it's going to be
shared over and over and overagain, I will try a lot of the
businesses back when I wasfocusing on the marketing stuff
with Dell marketing designstudio. In terms of advising
clients, and I had about luck,you got to get on camera.
(32:12):
There's a lot that I can do interms of behind the scenes and
graphics and creating stuff andall that but people need to see
you they need to hear directlyfrom you, they need a hearing in
your words. If you're relying onchat GBT or AI or all these
other tools to sort of outsourceyour identity and your presence,
(32:34):
it's just not going to besuccessful, successful or
sustainable in the long run.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (32:39):
No, and you are you're dead right
there it has to be becauseanybody can write a beautiful
paragraph about you to be ableto be confident in what you do
to offer that service. Becauseif you are not confident and
lack that ability to speak, eventhough you can master it right
(32:59):
behind the scenes, trust me. Butif you're not confident enough
to implement that, and make thathappen, for them, there's
somebody else's, they're gonnafind that it's gonna be able to
do that same service for thesame price, most likely, and
they're gonna go there, becausethat's just what it's about.
It's a different world now thanit was 1020 years ago. People
want to visually see you.
Ali Taylor (33:22):
Yeah, they want to, they want to be able to connect
with you, they want to be ableto get a sense of who is it that
I'm gonna be handing my moneyover to? Who am I gonna be
handing over my, you know, mybusiness? My, you know, if
you're somebody who's doing mywills, estates and trusts or
whatnot, who am I handing overthose documents and relying upon
(33:43):
to set me up? In all the waysthat I need to be set up, you
know, secure my future, like,who am I really doing that
business with. And if you're notable to put your ego aside to be
able to say, like, I get it,people don't like public's
public speaking, they hate thesound of their voices, they
don't like the way that theylook on camera, that's fine. But
when it comes to really havingyour skill, your expertise to be
(34:08):
out there, people need to beable to see that even if it's
just one video of you talkingand just really demonstrating
the breadth and the depth ofyour experience and your
knowledge. And that's all thetime you get it. The fact that
it's out there and people cancome back to it, right? We live
in this digital world wherethose things can go on a
perpetuity. If you can just makethat one asset. It will do so
(34:31):
much more for your business. Andwe make our jobs easier to
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (34:34):
write exactly. And trust me I'm I'm
the poster child of not wantingto get on camera. I had seven
people on my business. I didn'thave I didn't hardly use
Facebook, Instagram, all of mystuff was locked down. So trust
me, I can guarantee you it'svery tough to come out of that
but you have to break thatbecause you can do it. You know,
(34:57):
you can definitely do it and benice I mean, or you weren't nor
not whatever you choose.
Ali Taylor (35:04):
Yeah, I think it just comes back to that thing we
were talking about in terms ofbeing a guy, when you put aside
your ego, and you're like, whois it that observing, right?
What do they need, if you canget over yourself to be in
service of other people, that'swhat's gonna make your business
really successful.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (35:25):
It's what it's about serving others,
right? You help if you helpyourself, you'd help strengthen
your client base, you bring inmore positivity throughout your
employment, your team, throughthe community, it just, it just
ripples, and then you're takingit home for your family and
you're showing all of itgreatness, that you are, you
(35:45):
know, just exude operating outof yourself, and you're no
longer in that position you'rein and you're showing some
prosperity and growth andprofitability, nothing makes
someone more happier knowingthat they've got somebody right
there with them hand withshoulder to shoulder this to
(36:06):
fist right there with them.
Because that's what it's about.
Yeah,
Ali Taylor (36:09):
that's what we need.
I feel like it's so manydifferent ways. Like, there's so
many resources that are outthere for that the government
does provide for smallbusinesses, but for you to get
access to them to even find outabout them. Sometimes it feels
like you're like you have to gothrough a labyrinth. Like you've
got to answer you know, theriddles three in order to get
access to the resources that youreally need. And so I love, you
(36:32):
know, like what we're doinghere, being able to make this
more accessible to people, sothey can get access to other
people's wisdom and experiencesand stuff they have. And so my
next question for you is, so foryour, for your business for your
company, what is the vision thatyou have for what you want to
(36:52):
accomplish this year?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (36:56):
Um, yes, my vision is to grab, you
know, be able to service morecompanies in different
industries. My focus, of course,is the licensed professionals,
the property management, theattorneys, small, firm
attorneys, real estateinvestors, but I do work with
midsize to larger corporationsif needed. I just continued it.
(37:20):
But you know, whatever I can doto help and then continue to
grow my team. I've definitelyhave, you know, a roster of
people looking forward toworking with me, and I'm honored
for that. People that have knownme for years that would say, if
you ever started a business, letme know. And so, you know, I'm
calling all those people andthey are on standby. And it's
just the greatest feeling toknow that you made such an
(37:43):
impact as a leader or team leadand a company that you work for
people that know, you know, mydaughter or whatnot, it's a
great feeling to know that Ihave people that are so ready to
work with me. And I don't liketo say work under me, because I
don't look at the superiorinferior thing. It's a team
effort. I always say that ittakes a village score II is not
(38:05):
going to be successful just byTina beats alone. It's going to
take my entire team, and all ofthe collaboration of everybody's
mindset to make everythingsuccess. So I continue will
continue to grow. I'm lookingforward to going to a narco,
which is the NationalAssociation of real estate
property management conferencein Charlotte, the end of this
(38:25):
month. And so I've kind of getmy heels wet a little bit in
that arena. And yeah, sopossibilities are endless. I
really look forward tocontinuing to work more outside
of North Carolina as well.
Ali Taylor (38:38):
Yeah, awesome.
Awesome. All right. So I haveone more question. But before we
get to that, if somebody wantedto work with you, you know,
what's the where should they go?
What do they need to do? Do youhave any kind of like offer for
anybody that's watching this?
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (38:55):
Yeah, yes, I have a calendar on
Calendly. You should be able tofind all the access to it on my
website. It's for E one to eservices.com. And I have two
sections. One is for the midsize to the corporations, I
offer a 30 minute discoverycall. And then I have for the
(39:16):
sole sole solopreneurssolopreneurs. And maybe the
smaller companies. We do like a15 minute review to see what
their needs are and then we gofrom there. But I offer those
free because my thing is to makea difference. And talking to you
is where that where you start.
That's the first step toprosperity.
Ali Taylor (39:37):
Awesome. Awesome.
All right. Well as ourconversation comes to a close,
what is one piece of wisdom thatyou would like to leave our
audience with? For thejournalists in their business?
Oh, a
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Services (39:51):
lot of good wisdom. Hmm, well, you
have only one I would say Havefun, laugh, have a sense of
humor. And no matter whathappens in any event, or any
day, find the positive. In yourday, don't go to bed with a
(40:15):
negative attitude, find thepositive what I call the silver
lining and everything. Nothingis ever a mistake. Nothing is
ever I shouldn't, you know,shouldn't have done that wrong
choices. Everything is alearning experience. Just take
whatever comes at you and say,wow, I've learned something new
today, and ended with a positivethought in your mind and move
(40:36):
on. That's what I say.
Ali Taylor (40:39):
Yeah, that's a great piece of wisdom. I think a lot
of people would do themselves afavor, by just finding something
to you know, be grateful forlaugh about at the end of the
day, because you got to becauseyou got to get up and do it
again tomorrow.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servi (40:56):
That's right. Yes. I'm always a
character. Never a dull momentaround me. I always have
something funny or comical, or,I mean, being in the world of
finance, I guess I had todevelop that funny bone.
Ali Taylor (41:09):
To be a pretty, it could either be a dry topic or
depending on the state ofsomebody's finances, it could be
a very devastating topic. Sothat sense of humor. really
necessary.
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Servic (41:22):
Yeah, you want to relax them as best
you can without giving them acup of brandy or whatever. We
want to relax them on. I want tokeep them well, well above to
answer questions and yeah, justhave a sense of humor about it.
It's okay. It really is okay. Atthe end of the day, it's going
to be okay. It always will be.
Ali Taylor (41:42):
Yeah, absolutely.
All right. Well, Tina, thank youso much for joining me today on
no points. No Wednesday wisdomseries. This is Ali Taylor from
wisdom and Wayfinder and I willsee you next week. Thank
Tina Meeks, SCOREE Service (41:55):
you, Ali. Take care everybody.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.